I stride calmly over to the center of the square, leaning heavily on my spear, then in anticipation of the attack I cast mage armor.
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I listen, obviously more intent on the mining operation I am running in my nostril. When I find my personal gold, i turn to our host. "Whatever this black blemish may be, I will see it rooted out. No force can stand before the natural order." After my brief statement, I begun looking for a convenient place to stash my nasal treasure, settling on the bottom of my tea cup.
I nod curtly, affirming my desire for an introduction, though the motion sets off a belch I don't bother to stifle.
I hoark a phlegmy green ball onto the street, barely missing me 'servant's'. The spittle hisses and sizzles unnaturaly, as though some small fleck of fire essence had suffused it. "Rain comes, Lies tell, a room a meal. Go we now."
DM:
Spoiler: I am figuring the circumstances of ooChai's birth are less apparent then they seem. With your permission he is really the illegitimate son of the current lord, the product of his rolling of a brother's wife. This is not something that anyone knows, except mamybe the spirit folk who trained me. It doesn't put me any closer to the throne, actually farther since I am an unaknowledged bastard, but adds some depth to the character.
OoChai was born as a minor cousin of the noble house. The only signifigance of his birth being that he was the seventh son of the seventh son of the old Daimyo. When he was four, an unnatural plaque swept the land. Stones rose in the fields, water receeded, fires were fitful to start, but burned violently out of control once lit. Shingo Yamamoto, a Wu Jen, and one of the spirit folk appeared one day, and offered to calm the angry spirits, in exchange for me. At Shingo's insistence, I was branded and tattooed with the family crest, so that I would be known. The next fifteen years were a whirlwind of abuse and training. My friends were the trees and the rocks, and the other elemental spirits. Shingo was harsh, never uttering my real name, nor any praise. Instead each and every movement, and sound were rigidly corrected until I had mastered all he desired to teach me. Finally, in the darkness of a new moon, he simply left me on the gates of my families compound. A scroll bearing an odd wax seal, meant only for the master of the house was my only posession. I was greeted with a cold familiarity, grateful that the lost son had returned, but fearful of the changes his ordeal had wrought. Though I walked the halls as a full member of the family, I did not fit in, nor did I attempt to. Instead I savored the difference, talking to the stones, and flames, and making them my friends, as I always had. I was given a boon of gold from the house coffersm though I knew not what to spend it on. Instead, from the armory, I drew a single long spear to carry as my weapon. I savored the opportunity to get away from the house, the lord had tasks to do, adventures were the whispers in the halls, and so I volunteered. Most were just as glad to be rid of me, though my companions may not savor the opportunity to place their lives in my hands. --- My starting possessions are a set of clother, a spell component pouch, and a long spear, and the balance of my starting gold.
Greetings from a wu jen |