Bandits of Mt. Hua (Zhou Tai/Xu Huang)

[Kazami Yuuji]

Three days ago in the capital Lou Yang, Kazami Yuuji had been dragged into the main office of HSDF to receive new orders from his handler Liu Ye. When she dragged him in for a personal interview like that i was universally a bad sign, she either wanted to yell at him over some mistake or...she had some annoyingly difficult mission to thrust onto him. This time it turned out to be the latter. Although perhaps he should be grateful it was not another assassination mission to be carried out on the orders of the 10 attendants, they had been leaving a very bad taste in his mouth and he didn't want to have to wonder how many people he killed didn't deserve it. This time at least, he was sure his orders were actually in the national interest instead of only 'supposedly' in the national interest. According to the brief bandits had taken over a camp atop Mt.Hua in Yongzhou and were causing the locals trouble. Normally this would be a job for the standard armed forces of the Han empire, no need for their specialized black ops unit to get involved at all. But these were desperate times too many soldiers were busy putting out the fires of rebellion elsewhere and the local ruler Dong Zhou was considered 'highly unreliable' by his organizations leadership. So it was the job fell to him and a few other 'volunteers' he was to meet up with at the village in question. So after sighing loudly and complaining to Liu Ye that she never gave him anything but trouble, he accepted the mission collected his things and set out for Mt.Hua.

Captain Kazami, as he had assume the disguise of a Han officer once again walked down the road that led to the little village. They said that if you had seen one village in china you had seen them all and their was a certain truth to that. The small thatched houses, the rice paddies the tiny mud paths, it was all the same but even so this place looked very poor indeed. No doubt the bandits would have already taken just about everything of value their food, coin and probably even some of the local women if these bandits were of the really serious scum type. Yuuji had meet that type before, he had been taken in by bandits for a short time after his parents deaths, just about the worst time of his life, they had abused physically and mentally, raised him to fight. Until his master rescued him from that life. It wasn't the sort of thing he preferred to leave in the past.

It also seemed he was the first to arrive, so he headed into the village wanting to speak with whoever was in charge of this little place. His mission brief had been pretty vague on details, so he needed someone to fill him in. As he arrived he called out to the locals. "Don't be concerned i am with the Han army. Could anyone point me to you're village elder?" He asked politly putting on a fake smile to try and reassure them that he didn't mean them any harm.

Words: 597
Tag: Zhou Tai/Xu Huang/Open to anyone else
Outfit: Wearing a standard issue Han Military Uniform for the time. Under that he is wearing his HSDF Outfit
Weapons: Armed with his re-curve bow and carrying two concealed daggers. A standard issue Han sword is just for show
Location: Mt.Hua a village near Chang An

[Xu Huang]

     Xu Huang loved to travel, he wanted to travel all around China for many reasons. He loved seeing new sights, meeting new people, and learning new people. He searched for new knowledge and he sought out bandits and other people who abused the People for their own gain to help rid the world of such scum. Every fight Huang was in made him stronger, wiser, and led him one step closer to becoming the Perfect Warrior. He hated seeing the people suffer, so when he came across a call for aid from the people near Mt. Hua he couldn't help but answer the call.

     He ran his white horse as fast as he could, making record time to the village. As he arrived he tied his horse up by the tea house and went inside. He gave the owner of the tea house extra gold to get himself a drink as well as to get some food and water for his horse. He knew he needed to rest for a little before he could be any help to these people. He waited an hour, speaking to the villagers of their plight, paying for their drinks and getting to know them better. Once he felt ready to begin, he stood up and went to the tea house owner. "Please show me to your village elder, I am here to help with the bandit problem." The old man smiled largely as he started to jog outside to lead the way when Xu Huang noticed a man, a soldier of the Han, standing a little ways away. Close enough to hear, he heard what was said, he spoke out to the tea house owner. "Please wait a moment, I believe this man is here to help as well." Huang made his way over to the man and put a fist into his other hand and bowed slightly. "Greetings soldier of the Han, have you been sent to get rid the mountain of the bandits? This place could use all the help it could get." Huang was glad to see someone from the Han army was sent to help, it gave him a glimmer of hope that the Dynasty was not as bad off as it appeared. 

Words: 374
Tagged: Zhou Tai Huangfu Song Kazami Yuuji

[Zhou Tai]

"Why in the lord is Lord Sun Quan sending me to take care of bandits?"
Zhou Tai thought to himself as he exited the palace. He wasn't complaining but it was a bit awkward to say at the least since it didn't effect Wu itself, Of course he had no problem getting some exercise in with his sword arm as well as leaving the palace not something he did often due to being the most important bodyguard after all. From what he was told he was to head to a village at the base of Mt. Hua in the Yong Province. Zhou Tai wasted no time in grabbing his Kai Ma Dao and donning his Mountain pattern cataphract armour and made his way to the royal stables where equipped himself with a royal white stallion and galloped to the Yong Province within the day before spending the night at an inn as the sun was setting and decided to have some alcohol before hitting the hey for the night. At dawn, Zhou Tai awoke, paid his tab while also buying some supplies before heading off again on his white stallion and after a few hours, he finally arrived at the village. The Village itself looked fine for the most part with most of there housing intact and there market place fine although there were a few burnout houses most likely from there last attack Zhou Tai guessed. He rode his stallion through the village and decided to tie his stallion at the tea house before deciding to check out the burned out houses first. He decided he rest up later after doing some homework. As he approached the burned out housing he noticed a few villagers whispering to each other, probably about him but he simply shrugged it off as he examined shacks which most of it laid burned obviously and the ground scorched. He had wondered if the fire was originally started by the bandits or accidentally by the residents that once lived here as he picked through the ruins, even picking up an old plank revealing the charred remains of a person. Zhou Tai lowered his head, closed his eyes and crossed his chest with his left in respect of the dead.

"Those bastards......they pay for this......."
Zhou Tai muttered to himself quietly 

He wasn't expecting the remains of a person still being in these ruins and would expect them to be buried or cremated by now. He would later come back and bury the body himself but for now Zhou Tai looked up and decided to look upstairs after walking around the burned out houses first floor. Unfortunately the stairs had burned down and most of the second floor however it was still stable. Zhou Tai stepped out of the ruined house and walked around showing the back wall still sturdy. After some hesitation, he began to climb the wall through the openings in the structure and after a few time of almost falling, he pulled himself into a window, revealing smoke on the mountains pass,the large forest covering around the village and a path that lead into the mountain pass from what he could tell. Guess he knew where these bandits could be as most people never lived on mountains. After scouting the mountain pass from what he could see from the window, he carefully climbed down before the ruins became slightly unstable. Zhou Tai sighed and took a heavy breath in before letting it out, thankful the remains of the house didn't come down on him. He then walked through the village before finding the path to the mountains but hesitating in the middle of the road leading to the mountains.    

[Kazami Yuuji]

Yuuji or he supposed that should Captain Kazami at the moment, was taken aback when a large man carrying an oversized axe approached him out of the local tea house, he had thought himself the first to arrive but maybe he had been tarried too long looking over reports, someone else had beat him here to the punch. Which was all well and good now they could go together to get the full story of what was going on here. He judged the man who had yet to introduce himself as a warrior quite clearly, probably in the service of one of the local warlords given his words. That lot had been given increasing amounts of power recently to deal with rebels, the idea was that saved the Imperial Court from having to pay the upkeep for so large an army themselves, saving coin for the Emperor's pocket. But in practice it was foolish, inevitable those who tasked to put down rebellions might start one themselves if they were allowed so large a standing army. It was one of the top concerns the HSDF had at this this but their dire warnings in this direction had been repeatedly ignored by the Emperor and the 10 attendants. Looking at the axe wielding warrior's uniform his master appeared to be Yuan Shao, a man who was supposedly renowned for his loyalty to the court.

"Those are indeed my orders sir. Captain Kazami Yuuji." He said introducing himself with a polite formal bow as he had been taught by his own master, it was always wise to show some respect to those he suspected had talent. Or at least his master had once suggested to him that doing so saved you trouble down the line. Not that Yuuji minded a little trouble ever now and then, it tended to keep life interesting. He waited for the warrior to introduce himself before he notice another warrior standing at the end of the road that led up toward the mountain. His head turned that way as the sound of a collapsing house alerted him to the man's presence. He called out loud enough to get the man's attention.

"Yet their! I would not go alone if i were you, bandits although these villains might be, it's never wise to underestimate you're opponent. Getting a little information first is always wise in order to come up with a plan of action. Why don't you come along with us instead, if you are here to help these poor people." Yuuji shouted out to warn him, not wanting the man to rush off on his own and maybe risk being captured. Yuuji had been tortured and worse for months by bandits when he was only 11 years old and frankly, he would not wish an experience like that on anyone.

Words: 482
Tag: Zhou Tai/Xu Huang/Huangfu Song/Open

[Xu Huang]

     Huang's eyes opened wide for a second when he recognized his foolishness. He bowed deeply, "My apologies sir, I am Xu Huang of Yang, officer of Yuan Shao. It is a pleasure and an honor to work with an officer of the Han to deal with these evil bandits." Huang knew the Han had their problems but it was still ruled by the Emperor and Yuan Shao was still a loyal retainer of the Han. Also, Huang knew that the Han still had many capable and honorable officers. He did not know him enough to judge but so far Yuuji seemed to among those officers. Huang looked back when Yuuji called out to someone else and smiled. The Heavens seemed to have brought together a formidable group to deal with these villains. Huang began to move towards the stranger wishing to get a closer look at him.

     "Yes, mighty warrior, with us three together we should make quick work of any bandit that got in our way. I am Xu Huang of Yang. Please, join us in this mission." Huang did a deep bow once he got close to the man. He could easily tell just by the aura the man exuded that he was a warrior, a mighty one at that. He did not recognize him or his outfit but he figured sometime in the future this warrior's name would be spread throughout the land. Heaven has indeed brought together a mighty force, and Huang would make sure Heaven's Will was done. "I was on my way to visit the Village Elder before I met the two of you, to get some information. I suggest we go ahead and meet with him to learn what we can about this bandit group."

(OOC: Sorry for not writing much, busy night) 
Words: 294
Tagged: Zhou Tai Kazami Yuuji 

[Deleted]

The elder rushes up to the group of men, near panic in his eyes.

"Tell me, have you come to help us? Please say that you have?"

He looks back over his shoulder, almost as if he were terrified the bandits were sneaking up on him even at this moment.

"You must help us. Kill them, we'll pay you. They are up in the mountains. Go, go!"

With that, not even offering any more information, as if in fear of his very life, he runs off. Several of the other people in the village look on with slight disgust.

(In a hurry for this bit, so I thought I'd move it along. One of you can use one of the disgusted peasants to RP a bit more detailed direction into the mountains, if you like.)

[Zhou Tai]

Zhou Tai turned around as an elder ran up to a few men near the center of the village compared to him. Normally he would have trouble what he said but the man was yelling his lungs out to them that they needed them to kill some bandits. Likely they already knew that by the way the two were dressed. He assumed those two would be joining him soon enough, most likely for more information. It worked for him as he would scout ahead to see if he could find anything while they gathered information on there enemy then they would catch up as after all he was on foot. He wasn't going to use a horse as any true warrior would see they as an easy way out. Even walking would be considered to any true warrior and he wasn't any exception to that list unlike those he served such as the Bearded King. Zhou Tai led off a quick solute with his index and middle fingers together before turning around and began walking down the path to the mountains and where that smoke would be found. After awhile the village exited his view as he must of been far enough before noticing dirt road had been used very recently with horse tracks and footsteps of metal armor. Zhou Tai was no tracker of course but the tracks were fresh and this part of the road was wet with mud in the middle of the road. He kneed and followed the tracks with his eyes until his eyes led him to a split off in the roads forming two roads. Getting off his knees after whipping himself off, he walked around the mud to not get caught in the mud as he would like to not wash his boots later after the mission. As he approached the split off showing two roads now, he noticed the foot prints from the armored boots and the horse leading in the right path that lead up to the mountain pass and decided to go that path until Zhou Tai heard a voice of a man that jumped out from the nearby tree's with a Guan Dao.

"your money or you life old man!"

The man screamed out as he pointed his Guan Dao at Zhou Tai only a few feet away from him. Zhou Tai on the other hand just laid a serious death look on his face with his arms crossed.

"How about......I just give you....Steel Death!"

Without any hesitation, he released Dusk from it's prison and came at the bandit with unrelenting speed as the bandit stood in a Kwan Guan stance as he tried to go on the defensive with a vertical strike on Zhou Tai. Unfortunately for him, Zhou Tai  immediately recognized this form as he was an expert of many martial art fighting forms and immediately switched to kwan Kai to counter it with precise maneuvering and fast attacks. Zhou Tai was quickly able to judge where to move and at the right moment he ducked and stepped to the right before going diagonal as the bandit lifted his Guan Dao and immediately went in with the kill with Dusk being aimed directly at the Bandit's neck. Zhou Tai gave him the death look before yelling at him

"YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE YOUR LITTLE HANGOUT IS WITH ALL YOUR BANDIT FRIENDS.........OR ELSE!

The bandit only looked at him before sighing.

"Those idiots aren't work dying over....The hideout.....it's in a cave system in the mountains....There's two entrances....One at the base near us but we barely explored it and we don't know where the tunnels connect if they connect......The top the entrance to our base....NOW  LET ME GO! IVE TOLD YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW.......PLEASE!"

Zhou Tai looked at he man, obviously he was trying to save his own skin willing to sell his comrades out just like that. Zhou Tai hated men like him, willing to trade there life for there family even if they were bandits. Zhou Tai would kill the man but he was an honorable man and would let go of him if he would change.

"Fine BUT only if you give this life of being a bandit"

The Bandit nodded in agreement so Zhou Tai released the bandit and fell to his knees in defeat before running off back into the forest a few moments later. Zhou Tai then decided to take a little break and take a seat on a stump near the middle of the split off of the two roads before continuing on his way. He would also need to come up with a plan on how to approach the upcoming danger.

[Kazami Yuuji]

"A pleasure." Yuuji said simply as the warrior introduced himself as Xu Huang, not that he was trying to be rude or anything he just wasn't especially a very good when it came to meeting new people. Probably because a good number of them were either trying to kill him or he was supposed to kill. The life of a government assassin didn't usually help you make any new friends. At least not with living people. "Humm where did he get off to?" He wondered aloud as he turned around and found the other warrior had already run off, perhaps scouting ahead. He certainly was eager to get started, Yuuji was the more cautious type honestly. He didn't intend to go anywhere until he had a better idea what they were facing. Some might consider it cowardly but he preferred to keep living and he had seen over and over how fragile a man's life could be.

As the elder told them basically nothing, he waited for one of the others to walk past him before his arm shot out as quick a striking cobra, seizing the man by the shoulder, as throwing on a fake smile he asked him in a tone of voice he thought was friendly. "Just what exactly is going on here my friend. No need to rush us off, we came here to help after all." He said and although he was clearly making the man nervous he seemed to decide it would be easier to answer Yuuji's questions than to try and escape his iron grip.

"It's been going on for a month now, they live up atop the mountain in some caves them come down to take whatever they want from us, usually food and coin but some times they take people as well. We don't see them again." He said before Yuuji pushed him for further details. "That road their will lead you all the way to the foot of the mountain, if you stick to the trees they might not see you coming." He suggested before Yuuji finally let him go. "Thanks." He said simply before heading over to speak with the warrior who called himself Xu Huang.

"I don't trust people who don't seem happy that i've come to help them, so why don't we keep an eye open huh." He suggested as they left the village to meet up with Zhou Tai. Not that the warrior had bothered to introduce himself yet either. Perhaps everyone here was a little antisoscial, bloody typical he would get assinged to anti soscial mountain...could this be one of Liu Ye's littles jokes. Maybe a punsihment for teasing her so often?

Tag: Zhou Tai Xu Huang
Words: 451

[Xu Huang]

     While Huang believed the Heavens brought them together, he started to have his doubts. This wasn't the most normal group that was for sure, and he felt somewhat uncomfortable in this scenario. Huang, while polite, wasn't always the best communicator when not in fierce combat. He decided he would just follow Yuuji's orders, the man who very much seemed in his element. One that could be trusted to lead such a expedition. Huang bowed, "Yes, sir. You have me under your command, I shall do as you wish." He followed behind, deciding to stay quiet until called upon.

     Huang did feel like this village was off, the atmosphere seeming weird. Perhaps it was from the fear of the bandits? Maybe something more was going on and they were just not letting Huang in on it. He shook his head slightly, realizing he would get nowhere if he kept thinking about these kind of things. He just needed to put his mind and all his efforts into the task before him. He would listen to Yuuji, and do his best to make sure this mission was a resounding success. He also hope he would get more than his fair share of bandit scum to kill. Huang took hold of his axe, using it as a sort of walking stick, he made his way over to Zhou Tai. 

Words:228
Tagged: Zhou Tai Kazami Yuuji

[Zhou Tai]

(pulling an Empress lol)

Zhou Tai looked up noticing a warrior with a large battle axe in hand. He thought for an instance he would be an enemy but the garb he wore and the weapon he had were completely different from the bandit he fought earlier. He wonder where he was from as anyone could tell he wasn't around her but neither was him. He also took notice of another man behind him, much younger wielding more regular weaponry from what could tell and was looked like a han soldier but he looked far too young to be even a conscript...something was off about him he swore but he didn't know what.

Zhou Tai had looked at the man with the battleaxe with a smile as he joined his hand together and lowering his head in respect for the the two.

"Hello, My name is Zhou Tai, Champion of Sun Quan and Vanguard of his army. I have been sent to route out the enemy."

He put his right hand behind his back

"Sorry about earlier, since you two decided to gather intelligence in the village I decided I would go up ahead and scout the area for anything. While you two were in the village, I was attacked by a bandit here at the road. I managed to defeat him in single combat and interrogated him for information. Apparently there two's ways we can tackle this bandits...We can do it the fun way or the stealthy approach. There base of operations are at the top of the mountain in a cave. The entrance at the top is noticeable from here but that will be hard doing a frontal assault. I was told the cave system runs throughout the mountain and an entrance to the cave system is here at the base of the mountain......problem is if we use that well have trouble getting through since the base of the cave system been barely expored.....fun work indeed huh?......So what do you two think? What to do......"

[Kazami Yuuji]

Yuuji was a little surprised that Xu Huang had decided to follow his lead given the difference in their respective ages usually experienced warriors just shrugged him off as little more than a kid. Perhaps he was reacting to the confidence with which Yuuji moved and seemed to know what he was doing instead of reacting to his youthful appearance. Not that Yuuji minded it made his job a hell of a lot easier when people were not second guessing everything he did. Although now their was someone else that might suffer if he made a mistake, so he had better not make any.

They soon found the warrior from before who introduced himself as Zhou Tai as well as kindly sharing the information he had extracted from an enemy prisoner. The knowledge even turned out to be useful for a change, at least if like Yuuji you preferred the sneaky approach to a direct fight every time. Not that he was scared to fight these people head on, he was just didn't see any reason to take unnecessary risks, the under handed approach was almost always more effective and you tended to live longer that way too. Yuuji would rather play dirty and live than play fair and die a hero given the choice. "Nicely done Zhou Tai my friend." He said trying be polite and maybe going a little overboard with it as he congratulated the warrior, throwing on a fake smile for good measure.

"Personally i would rather take my chances with the cave. If it turns out to connect we get a free sneak attack if it does not we have only wasted our time, if we are careful and leave markers we won't get lost either." Yuuji said from the confidence in his voice and way he knew what to do it was apparent he had 'experience' in finding his way around dark places. To be honest his night vision was excellent and he probably had a bigger advantage fighting the enemy in the dark anyway. But the other two might disagree and prefer a direct confrontation. "So unless their are any objections how about we try to sneak threw and hit them in the rear. That way if they have any hostages from the village we might be able to rescue them before they get hurt." He suggested more to make them go along with the plan than anything else but he supposed it was a fair point as well. The hostages would be kept toward the rear so they could not escape.

Tag: Xu Huang Zhou Tai
Words: 434

[Xu Huang]

     Xu Huang said nothing as he met with the now named warrior. The name actually sounded familiar, but he could not remember where he had heard it from. Though he did know he was from the Southlands, and that the Southlands were blessed to have such a mighty warrior on their side. Huang listened closely to the information that was gathered, and he went into deep thought. Xu Huang was good at fighting, he could charge into a group of enemies and come out 8 times out of 10 without injury. He was confident in his skills, but there was one thing he was more confident in. That 3 weapons were better than 1, and that three heads were better than one. To make sure this mission ran smoothly, they should use their intellect and quick thinking to one up the bandits, allowing the bandits to be cut down even easier. The most important part was to make sure not a single bandit got away. If one did then the village would still be in danger as the bandit would come back with more people to continue the routine. They needed to be wiped out, and now was the best time for that.

     Xu Huang turned towards Yuuji and bowed low, "I defer to your judgement. If you can lead us through the caves, then I shall follow." Huang turned to Zhou Tai and smiled, he wasn't sure what he would want to do but he figured he would probably want to fight the bandits as soon as possible as well. "What do you think we should do Master Zhou Youping?" Huang also did a slight bow towards Tai as well, waiting for his response. All Huang knew for sure was that they needed to act quickly before the bandits had a chance to learn of the warriors coming their way.

Words: 311
Tagged Zhou Tai Kazami Yuuji