"Jade"
Jade learns the flow of Tao …
"Jade"
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Summary:
Taoist Apprentice ...
After my last adventure, I took myself up the mountain behind the abbey to recover and meditate. As I was returning, I recall seeing one who was gravely ill and begging. After giving the beggar a few coins, I was accosted by a military looking guy who leveled a gun and fired at me. Seems even at home, my Enemy can get to me. Last thing I remember is being caught by the diseased one and being told, "You have much yet to learn, young one…"
Next thing I know, I'm being woken up by someone bandaging me up and asking me how I got to where I was, not that I had ANY idea as to where I was at that point in time. We appeared to be in a hotel room and after going downstairs met a Sergeant and a gentleman from I think Spain. Now I've met these two before, though my recollection of those events is what led me to seek refuge up the Mountain in the first place.
We ended up in a rather large house that turned out to be one very large and complicated trap, with many other traps within. The entire building was one trap layered after another after another. I was got caught in one room, and had to somehow survive a gas of some sort being pumped into the room. Some quick thinking by the professor looking guy and the sergeant got myself and another who was caught in a similar situation. After a long search, whilst avoiding being trapped again, we figured out a way to go into a hidden cellar/basement. Down there we found a rather nasty looking room with many medical implements and supplies. Somehow there was a copy of "Huangdi Neijing" (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon). A quick browse through this copy, revealed to me that this was NOT only a rare copy, but somehow had managed to survive the trials to time and decay. A further search of this room led us even further down to what appeared to be a control area for the entire building. A final trap lay in wait for us here; we were somehow sealed in by a skeleton and what appeared to be a very dangerous explosion having been initiated. As an act of balance, the professor looking person, who started the explosion initiation, was able to secure our escape route out of the cellar. Myself and the Spaniard ran for our lives and were the first out of the building; next came the professor and the other lady who was caught in the gassed rooms, though they looked definitely the worse for wear, and as the explosion came to be, the sergeant somehow miraculously survived and was able to be helped out of the smoking crater that was once the trap ridden house.
At this point, we made our way to "X Marks the Spot" where I began the process of making my way back home to the Abbey.
Blessed are the spirits … As I traveled back to the Abbey, I was able to take some time and peruse the manuscript that was somehow in that horrific mansion. Absolutely amazing, there recipes in here for potions that I had only read hinting glances and obscenely vague references too.
Upon returning to the Abbey, I was able to secure time in the apothecary to continue my study of the manuscript. Not quite sure if I should let the Abbess know where I'm getting my recipe from, but I definitely see that there is a LOT to learn from this manuscript.
A FAIR??? What was Abbess thinking?
Here I am studying my manual after several "excursions" to the West and trying to keep a low profile while turning out different ointments and "teas" for the Abbey, when said Abbess assigns me as an envoy from our Temple. I'm not even under any vows, but they have given me a home and instructions after all these years.
So I travel to Detroit in the States as a sword dancer and Yì Jīng reader as a way to garner more money for our Abbey, even though I know we "COULD" sell some of my ointments and "teas" as well…
Out of the blue, a streetwalker (I really do think she's a whore) comes up to me with a picture and says that I need to be at a meeting… great … I end up gathering the local whip dancer, who isn't TOO bad with his weapon of choice and go to the meeting place. Where upon our arrival, all hell breaks lose. I start to make a run for it, as I'm already in a bi of trouble with the authorities over an incident in Indiana (don't even get me started on that), when I'm very clearly STOPPED by a rather frightening man with Power that I only barely got out of my mind.
Turns out that this is another one of these "excursions" that happen every so often and I figure that I may as well, since I'm already here in the States. Long story, shortened of course, we end up fighting this zombie/demon-like creature who's trying to kill off her living children. The others manage to Burn her out, but not after I lost one of my swords to her…
An elderly woman is kneeling before an altar, which is dedicated to the many "Dieties" of Taoism. There is incense in the air and on prominent display is a sword. The sword and sheath are fairly unremarkable, except that it doesn't seem to have ANY specific markings at all.
A knock can be heard in the silent room. The Abbess speaks from her meditation at her altar, "Enter, Jade."
The door slides open and a young novitiate steps in, or rather a young lady in novitiate raiment steps into the room. She closes the door behind her and bows toward the altar as she stands behind and to the side of the Abbess in respectful silence.
"Please, Jade. I'm not upset with you. You're performance and assistance with the traveling show was most admirable according to reports and has, in it's own way, kept that which is not named at bay. I called you here today cause I noticed that among your packs, you were missing a sword."
Jade blushed, "Yes, mi'lady. There was another excursion that led to a fight with a demon of sorts, and I lost my sword in that battle. The demon was eventually killed, but I was never able to retrieve my blade."
"No need to be ashamed, Jade. It happens from time to time, especially with young warriors like yourself, " the Abbess looked thoughtful for a second, "we here may not be the most skilled Abbey when it comes to the martial arts, but our other Arts do make up for that. I think that it's time for you to have this."
The Abbess reaches out and hands the sword from the Altar over to Jade, "This blade was made many moons ago by our founding Abbess. I see a lot of her in yourself. Maybe it will help you in your journeys. I would recommend that you take a break from your medicinal studies and study our Archives and learn what you can about this blade and it's previous owners."
The Abbess returns to her meditation and Jade leaves the room, understanding the gentle dismissal for what it is.
A few days had passed since the Abbess gifted me with the Sword. I had read references to the original Abbess and the Sword, but didn't know that the Sword was still here. Honored doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this gift. Unworthy is more like it, but still, questioning the Abbess just isn't done here. After taking her advice and doing some reading and searching the Archives about the Sword and it's Abbess, I learned that it was supposed to have "Heavenly" properties and would adapt for it's owner. I'd heard of such things in legend, but didn't know that they had actually existed. Maybe it really does, or maybe it's just legend.
I was out in a courtyard sparring with another novitiate to get to know the Sword better. All of a sudden I'm blinded by a bright light and then falling through the sky with a parachute strapped to my back. I was clearly heading towards a jungle of some sort and not really sure what was going on; at this point I'm presuming that another "excursion" is taking place as I begin to manage a decent of sorts towards the canopy. I then notice that I'm not alone this trip and after making it to the ground, screaming starts. I make my way through the jungle and find the Russian streetwalker suspended from the trees in her parachute. After getting her down, we are then joined by the Snake Charmer and Whip performer from the last "excursion." What followed our gathering can only be described as just short of Hell. We would randomly be attacked by giant stakes cast through the air. All while trying to make sense of our surroundings, there was also a stampede of rather large tiger/bovine animals. I am just grateful that I had previous been able to make more sense out of the Huang Di Nei Jing, and was able to make poultices to keep us all from being killed by the natives. What seemed like a week had passed with us scrounging along by our wits and what seemed like sheer luck. Somehow we managed to kill at least one of the natives and then were eventually sent back "home."
After "returning" from the last 'excursion', I realized that I had actually become more attuned to the Sword and understood it more. I seem to be able to make more sense of the ancient manuscript as well. The Abbess seems to be more content with my learning more from the Manuscript as well as my increasing comfort with the Sword. Now would be a good time to figure out a balance of sorts between my studies of the Manuscript and the Archives …
Apparently these 'excursions' do somewhat occur on a regular basis. The abbess doesn't seem to mind that I take so much time away from the Abbey; wonder why?
Anyways, I was practicing my forms in the courtyard when I noticed I'd gotten nicked with a dart from out of relatively nowhere. After and unsuccessful chase, I realized that I'd been poisoned. My recent understanding of the Huang manuscript did prepare me to have a relative antidote nearby, but it wasn't enough to completely cure me. The abbess recognized the poison as the "Fluttering Breath of the Lotus," a relatively devastating toxin whose only known antidote was to be found an a very isolated island in the South Pacific. And the warning from the Abbess, was to "stay calm."
After managing the flights to arrive on the island, it turned out to be another 'excursion' as I met up with the Snake Charmer, the Russian "Lady," the Whip performer, and the guy who's heart is in a box. They were apparently sent here to stop some sort of army, I was after the antidote. Surly scientists, enforced isolation, and a very very very hungry army of rather large ants later … we lost the "heart in a box" guy to the ants and apparently a very pissed off scientist who wasn't what she seemed. After a rather interesting gunfight and a constrictor and some luck, we took her down, and it turned out she was a hive mind creature that had taken control over the island's very nasty ants.
After returning from the island, the Abbess helped me to make the antidote for the "Fluttering Breath of the Lotus." I wonder if she added something to the antidote. It knocked me out for a couple of days, and after I made it through the recovery portion, I felt a new power stirring within me. Some understanding of the Tao seems to have come through and I must meditate on it …
I thought that I'd read many moons ago that the Black Plague had been eradicated. Lo' and Behold, I'm sent to somewhere in Russia to find and stop the cause of something that turns out to be another Plague, that's already taken out several villages and is apparently threatening to become an epidemic.
A short flight out of Beijing landed me in Moscow and in a meeting room of sorts with the Bill: the whip performer, the snake charmer, a medic of some sort, a photographer, and a rather outspoken rural fellow. Upon the table was nothing other than a map, a set of keys, and a note saying something to the effect of stop the spread/find the source/contain the disaster. Turns out that the the Whip guy had a claim ticket of some sort that I swiped and went to go look at. A cargo container saying Dangerous was the item, so I quickly left it there and went back to the meeting room. Apparently, while I was gone, nothing really productive happened. Upon returning the claim ticket to Bill, they decided to go and examine the cargo container itself. Inside was a young man, may the Heavens guide his soul, who seemed malnourished and more than a little different from the rest of us. They decided to bring him along, and then we were off to the villages. Once there, with his help, we found a doctor's office that lead to the fact that a Plague had taken root in the area and was quickly decimating people. After some searching we ran into some people who were burying the dead. Somehow as part of the conversation, the young man decided to simply kill one of those burying the dead. He was then quickly restrained and left tied up in our vehicle as part of the group split off into the nearby woods in an attempt to trace back the source of the contagion. I was basically left out of the conversation and ended up following the snake charmer and the boy off into the woods after the first part of the group. We eventually found our way into a cave that didn't seem to quite belong there. Exploring the cave uncovered some traps that didn't quite make us very excited to be inside. We eventually found ourselves in a ritual "temple" of sorts that housed what turned out to be the source of the contagion, a magical sphere. The boy ran his way towards the sphere and Bill also ran after him. I circuited around the room, while the others were focusing on finding a way to drain the "tar" pool that they had inadvertently lit up.
I made my way around the room and attempted to shoot the sphere. Since that didn't work, Bill tried to grab at the sphere and ended up stuck to it. Some discussion ensued which ended with the strange boy chopping at Bill's hands and basically severing one of them. Eventually, said sphere ended up being thrown down a pit and shattered. After bandaging up Bill, I became rather distraught at seeing hiss hand mutilated like that and proceeded to act very angrily and killed the kid. May Heaven forgive my act…
After returning to the Abbey, I confessed to the Abbess what I had done. She dictated that my penance would be an increased regimen of martial arts training, in the hopes that I would be able to find my center and peace amongst the many forms …
One day recently, there was this "young" girl who stopped by the Abbey, unattended. She seemed young, yet she spoke such an old dialect of Mandarin, that it took me a few to decipher it. I received from her a ticket to the States, heading towards Alaska. The plane trip took a very long about route through New England and I met up with the other members of the "team." One Stefen DeVris, a guy who knows mirrors, Trevor Holmes, one who knows guns, Sam, a reporter of sorts, Irina Jones, a lady of the night, Alfonse d'Rage, a fencer from Spain, and some guy with a weird colander hat/cap/helmet thing.
Once in Alaska, we were asked to go towards a Tavern, where I tried to comply with local laws and waited outside. I was quickly directed inside … this is now several times that They have called me into various establishments that I am not supposed to go into in the States.
It was eventually determined that we were being asked to save a man known as Santa Claus from some non-believers. After a few moments of being told exactly who this Santa was, the group reviewed some papers and figured out that we were to head over to Stockholm and there foil the would be holiday destroyers. We were given the use of an old sled of sorts and even though I was hesitant to get it, apparently I wasn't being given an option and was "lifted" in anyways.
Off to Stockholm we went, with the weird hat guy at the reins … even though we didn't exactly see any means of propulsion on this thing. En route, we believe we saw said Santa making his deliveries. As we were observing this, we ran into a flock of small airborne creatures with rather sharp teeth and nasty dispositions. At this point a small melee ensued, during which the weird hat guy decided that the proper course of action would be to have something explode OUT of his head and into our sled My sword quickly made short work of that thing, though it did leave a dead team member in our midst. I think I heard something about catch them before they fell onto the city, but I was rather occupied with trying to keep the sled moving versus the free fall we had entered with the death of the hat guy. After successfully gathering those creatures we could and not finding any others, I managed to keep the sled under some sort of control as it lead us back to the North Pole and there we were well received and met Mr. Claus himself.
Apparently this Santa is a giver of gifts during the winter season. I received a scarf from him, white with silver/white Chrysanthemum and snowflake patterns. It is quite a wonderful scarf and I've learned that it's has a few tricks that it is capable of doing …
I was rudely interrupted during my morning exercise by another would be assassin. After dealing with him (this is getting to be a little old …), I was met by an elder monk whom I vaguely resemble. I was asked to then head down to Hong Kong and take care of a disturbance that would interfere with the celebrations, and ensure that none of the perpetrators escape to their homeland of Japan. I was met down there by the American Lawyer, Lassiter, and the lady of the night, Irina. There appeared to be another gentlemen, a tall Arabian looking guy that was praying in the middle of Temple Street.
That was strange, but not as strange as the monks who soon interfered with the parade with their "peaceful" demonstration of self immolation. I was able to see that a few of these monks were Japanese, but that was only barely acknowledged as the crowd was soon pummeled with strange crossbow bolts being shot from the buildings overlooking the street. There were other monks in robes firing into the crowd from those buildings. I and the Arabian dashed into the buildings and worked our way thinning out the numbers of those firing at the innocents. We managed to stop quite a few of them, but we soon discovered that some of their number had escaped. Some careful detection auguries on my part led us eventually towards the docks, where there was a boat making it's way out to sea.
I managed to leap onto the boat and eliminate most of the monks on the main deck before I was chased off the boat by a black oily substance/creature that followed me back as I hurriedly swam to the docks. There I got to play a no so fun dance away game with it, as the Lawyer's bodyguard and the Arabian lit the damn thing on fire. In the mean time I had discovered that nothing I could do would hurt it; my swords passed cleanly through the beast without leaving a single mark.
After disposing of that creature, we boarded the boat to find the other monks/cultists locked up in a deep temple/working room. Soon we were attacked by what appeared to be the Triads of the area looking to not only stop the monks but also keep us from interfering. I lost track of Irina and managed to get the rest of us somewhat hidden in a back room. A desperate plan was hatched to possibly turn the monks/cultists against the Triad goons that had us sandwiched between them. Fortune and luck were on our side as they managed to take each other out. We did finish off a couple of cultists and find Irina, who let us know that the Triad goons had called back up. With that knowledge we quickly dove off the far side of the boat and swam away to safety. A few hours later we parted ways and I quietly made my way back to the Abbey.
After returning to the Abbey, I took some time to meditate and try to figure out what to do with my new found knowledge from the manuscript and the interesting training regimens that the Abbess was putting me through. I know that the Enemy that took away my family was out there somewhere and had managed to find me here in the Abbey, where I had thankfully gotten to grow up relatively safely and in obscurity, with due appreciation given to both the Abbess and her fellow nuns. My recent excursions out into the world outside the Abbey have taught me many things and have given me new experiences. Maybe I'll have to ask the Abbess if she knows anything about these …
Morocco, what a lovely place to visit. I ended up going there to meet the contact for the next outing. Doing some shopping, I found a cute little monkey and some nice clothing that I hadn't seen at any of the shops in Hong Kong. We were being sent to Cairo to find a man, protect him as he finished a translation of some scrolls, and deliver said translation back to our contact. Some Danish guy, I believe, was last seen at a particular hotel and then basically disappeared. Lassiter, Irina, a skater named Jo, myself, and Lovelace were being sent on this assignment. Lassiter was able to book us a flight into Cairo, and from there we started our search.
I was able to make contact with the "King of the Beggars," a guy named Kalid. I brought Irina to this person and he outright rejected her offer to garner his aid. Jo then asked me to take her to Kalid, where she felt she could get his help. We ended up bargaining the return of the original scrolls for what information he had to offer, and we were somehow bound/geased into keeping our word, or I think we would've lost our lives.
We were sent towards the poor district of town, as Kalid believed that the gentleman was hiding in that part of town. Lassiter offered money as a reward for anyone who could bring him to us. Jo and I noticed that there were several guys who had the look of knowing where to go, and we followed them. Turns out they knew exactly where the guy was; we basically spooked them into letting us have the guy. After breaking into the room, we found that he had escaped through the window. I then jumped out after him and Jo found her way to the street level. I finally caught up with the guy, and somehow Irina was taken hostage by a shadow that passed overhead. I took the guy down to street level and we headed back towards our hotel, where he could continue his translation work.
A few hours into the translation, we received a phone call from Irina. Apparently she was going to be offered as a trade for the scrolls, or else … We didn't really like the idea of losing Irina, but the others did discuss it. They were able to determine that a sufficiently made photograph would allow for the translation to be completed. We were able to arrange that Kalid be the "neutral" party in the exchange of Irina for the scrolls. Jo and I made the exchange at Kalid's place. And we returned to the Hotel to allow the man to make his translation complete. We were able to then deliver the translation to the contact and complete our task.
A gentle breeze ruffles some parchment stacked upon the Abbess's desk. Atop the parchment is a brush and inkwell, whilst next to the stack of items is a small manuscript. The Abbess is having a cup of tea at a bench by the window, overlooking the courtyard. There are students and novices practicing their forms and meditating in various parts of the courtyard. Jade is among those practicing their forms, guiding those who were still learning the forms. Smiling to herself, she motions for the novice on duty to go and ask for Jade to come to her office.
Jade quickly cleans up and makes her way to the Abbess's office. Composing herself she knocks lightly upon the door.
"Come in, Jade."
"You called for me?"
The Abbess left the window and headed back towards her desk. "Jade, I see you've been very helpful with the novices and students. Thank you for that. Your studies seem to have been going very well; I've noticed that you've matured a little bit since your first excursion out into the World."
"Yes, Abbess. It has been my pleasure to be of help. I do what I can in honor and thanks for all that you have given me over the years."
The Abbess nods her head in acknowledgment, "Your dedication to all of your tasks, studies, and even your adventures out in the World is well noted and very much in line with your training here at the Abbey. Today I have something that I hope will be an asset to your studies and help you further along your path and destiny."
With that she reaches down and picks up the stack of parchment and ink along with the manuscript. Bringing these over to Jade, "You had once brought back some parchment and said that there was some form of magic involved that used them. Here … These are for you. Take some time to read through the manuscript and when you are ready, I'll begin teaching you the techniques that go along with the book."
Jade accepts the package and quickly bows in thanks to the Abbess. The Abbess smiles and helps Jade to her feet, "I think you are ready for this now, Jade. Your enemy has kept you very busy and hopefully these new techniques will help you keep them at bay."
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