Operation story: IW-6

Operation

Story

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Characters
Blacknight Dusk Kroos Lee Nian Zuo Le Boatman Innkeeper Zheng Liang Xun Miss Du Miss Ning Pole-Carrier Taihe Inn Assistant Street Youth Waregeist
Backgrounds
1 2 3 4 5

Before operation

“

Nian and Dusk reach a mysterious summit somewhere, seemingly in search of someone. Meanwhile, the innkeeper returns home for his blade, in order to duel the pole-carrier. The boatman tells an old legend of three mountains, and everyone is soon to converge on the Field of Forgotten Water.

”

<Background 1>
In one or two more branches' time, the color of dusk will paint the sky. These are the Three Mounts and Seventeen Peaks, though which mount this is, or which peak, is a mystery. The only thing known is that a pavilion sits atop, Shangshu's scenery both past and present visible from within, beauty unparalleled. Yet regrettably, this pavilion is currently deserted, and so no one is there to see it. And on that note, people have come.
[Nian walks to the pavilion...]
Nian	Well, here's the place.
[...followed by Dusk.]
Dusk	......
Nian	What? That depressed about meeting her?
Dusk	She gets on my nerves.
Nian	She's not gonna bug you.
Dusk	That's why she gets on my nerves.
Nian	...*Sigh*. She's our big sister either way. Let's straighten up.
Dusk	She's not even here.
Nian	Nope, she isn't. Why not? With all the fuss down below... taking cover up here in the ranges does kind of smell like her style.
Dusk	How come when I hide you call me a recluse, but when she does it you're like this?!
Nian	Hey... it's not like she's always trying to hide. She's just tipsy and worn out, looking for a nice crag splitting the drifting clouds to lie down on, knocking out for a moment. That's not so bad.
Dusk	Grr. This is discrimination.
Nian	Pull the other one.
Dusk	I just hope she doesn't cause any trouble for us. She's always half-drunk, half-asleep, half-awake. It's those people who'll come give us trouble.
Nian	Yeah, real nice how she can sleep through this. Is she even able to? Say, what'cha think she dreams of?
Dusk	I don't know. Don't ask me. ......
Nian	I hear this peak's apparently meant to be wrecked. Wonder how hard Kroos and the Nothing guy'll have to work finding this summit at all.
<Background 2>
Innkeeper Zheng	*Sigh*...
Inn Assistant	Sir, what do you have there?
Innkeeper Zheng	What comes will come, trouble and all.
Inn Assistant	You bumped into Shang?
Innkeeper Zheng	Yes. He stole the cup.
Inn Assistant	That bastard! How does one man be so single-minded—!
Innkeeper Zheng	Leave it. This whole thing is a mess.
[Zheng draws a sword and swings it.]
Inn Assistant	Heh, good swords always keep the rust away. Been years since I saw you draw it, sir.
Innkeeper Zheng	Blades are ruthless things. Best put to use slicing melons and chopping greens. But if I want my business handed smoothly over to my darling Ye, then I have to settle things with Shang Zhong eventually.
Inn Assistant	Old Shang might be muddled in the head, but he's not the good-for-nothing who'd harass the Miss about paying her father's debts. Sir, you still won't step over that final line, will you?
Innkeeper Zheng	What kind of person could? One storm, two lives. It was my mistake that let his son die. He has a grudge against me I can't argue with. I know more than anyone how he's felt all these years.
Inn Assistant	Sir...
Innkeeper Zheng	Relax. I'll get the cup back, at the very least. If I don't, I won't have anything to report.
<Background 3>
Kroos	Master Shen—isn't there any way to get up the mountains a little quicker?
Boatman	In a sense, but for people who've never taken the mountain passes before, it might be...
Kroos	You're fine, I'm used to this.
Boatman	Alright, then. This way.
<Background 4>
Waregeist	Ao—!
[Lee and Du fights off the Waregeists.]
Miss Du	Gah. What's the deal with these things?
Lee	......
Miss Du	Hey! Lee! I'm fighting for you here! Is this any place to space out?
Lee	...I'm fine. But...
Miss Du	Pull it together. I don't know why these things keep mobbing us, and we've lost the Blacknight lady and the pole-carrier by now. Why aren't you, I don't know, hurrying it up?
Lee	No rush, now, no rush. When I accept a friend's request, I see it through. It's just... We need to find a favorable pavilion near very favorable water for it.
<Background fades out and in>
Boatman	Huff... (At such a young age, her agility is nearly unimaginable...) Such a steep pass, and you're not even gasping for air yet. Have you been crossing mountains all your life?
Kroos	Only got into the habit the last couple of years... And I'm Rim Billiton-born. Might not be quite the Yan style, but it's a life on the wilder side anyhow.
Boatman	I see. The passes around these summits are all hard to traverse. They always said in olden times that Shu's paths tried you. People argue which ones that meant, but it's all of them, in truth.
Kroos	Master Shen, you think there's a reason Mr. Lee told us to find him at Qujiang Peak?
Boatman	When he was looking into the goblet's origins for Mr. Liang, the first place he said he'd head for was Qujiang Peak. And he asked for "Zuanjiang Peak." Only a few locals know that old name; the authorities changed it however many years ago. I was baffled how he even knew it.
Kroos	Maybe Mr. Lee found some kind of lead on it...
Boatman	He did have a lead. He said, he dreamt of it. I assumed he was hiding something, using that reason to parry me, so I didn't follow up... If he really did see it in his dreams, then that's all more curious. Hmm... Qujiang Peak is a high and treacherous one. It gets the least tourists. It's all the more peaceful here, compared to the well-inhabited Nini Peak with its gentle flat paths, or Shuzhou Peak covered with old theater byways. You've seen... the few small villages, buildings left, are all left over from long, long ago. Though...
Kroos	Is there some other hint?
Boatman	Though... when Qujiang Peak was still called Zuanjiang Peak, atop this region of mountain, there was actually another peak. It and Zuanjiang together were called the "Twin Peaks High as the Sun," the two most majestic prominences of the Three Mounts and Eighteen Peaks. And this peak had countless cliffs, the steepest parts almost vertical, like a stone sword against the heavens when you looked from afar. It was a magnificent sight. If you watched from any other peak at sunset, it was as if the sun fell straight on it, as if someone ran it through by their blade. Sadly, later there was a massive Catastrophe, like fire and storm linking hands, and the terrain around here was scarred well. Most of that swordlike peak collapsed and crumbled. That was thirty years ago, now. You can pull aside any Shangshuite on the street of at least some age, and they could all tell you clear and cleanly of the marvel of those black clouds weighing on the city. I regret I wasn't eking my living on this river yet then. I never got to see it with my own eyes.
Kroos	A Catastrophe... And Shangshuites'd call it a marvel?
Boatman	It's a strange thing. It came without the slightest warning. By the time the Imperial Astronomers got the warning out telling the villages nearby to evacuate, it was already barely manageable. There should've been no escape from it... But ultimately, thunder clapped and the storm faded, and apart from a few lightly battered houses, all the residences in the mountains suffered not a single bit of damage, and not one person was afflicted. That was the first wonder. Afterwards, the Tumu tianshi came to inspect the altered mountain terrain. Normally, with a wondrous peak collapsing like that, there should be visible traces left. But apart from half of the rocky "hilt" left next to Qujiang Peak, not a single chunk of boulder or sign of the landslide was found. That was the second wonder. What caused any of that, nobody knows. There's just some wild rumors, barely worth trusting.
Kroos	Never thought something like that happened in Shangshu before...
Boatman	Yan's history and its legends have always blended together. Like how some rumors say Shangshu's birth was to do with the lands in ancient people's dreams. The factual matter of things is beyond anyone's research powers, now.
Kroos	The peak that disappeared—what was its name?
Boatman	The sunseeker. Xunri Peak. But Yan's development has flown by. I fear to the younger generation, things that happened thirty years ago wouldn't be worth the time, being so far in the past.
Uphill Voice	Stay still—!
Kroos	—Who's that?
[Kroos and Shen saw Blacknight fending off the Waregeists dropping from above on her.]
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) Stone the flamin' fowlbeasts!- Light, keep it from buggering off!
Waregeist	Wrrrr—! Aoww—!
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) You just—settle down, love—!
Waregeist	—Wwrr!
[Blacknight tries to catch one of the Waregeists.]
Boatman	Is she... trying to catch that thing?
Kroos	Seems like it...
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) Crikey, just like that, keep it bound tight, eyes glued to it!
[Kroos approaches Blacknight.]
Kroos	(Rim Billitonian) You a Rim Billy, then?
Blacknight	......! ......
Kroos	(Rim Billitonian) Now, quit muckin' about... we're only...
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) Ya wouldn't be Yanese just lookin' at ya.
Waregeist	Aoww—!
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) —Oi help us out. Hrgh! Hey take a squiz at this and lemme know what kinda animal this is?
Kroos	(Rim Billitonian) It's... some Originium Arts creation-type.
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) Originium Arts? Like those stunts the Leithanien lord boys pull? You revvin my cylinder? Had me thinkin' it was some Yan critter I could tame... (Rim Billitonian) Which galah went and made these things up...?! Light! Just let it go, it's as useful as an ashtray on a bike!
Kroos	...... (Rim Billitonian) We're looking for their owner, too. Whadyareckon?
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) I...
Kroos	(Rim Billitonian) You a Messenger's guard? Bounty hunter? (Rim Billitonian) No sense in shootin' a hound if it's gone into the neighbors paddock, wanna work together on this?
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) I don't know you from Bruce, mate, so don't think I'm gonna trust ya
Kroos	(Rim Billitonian) A Billy, though.
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) Not every one of them's so nice.
Kroos	(Rim Billitonian) That's a dead shame, then...
Blacknight	(Rim Billitonian) But getting to meet a Billitonian out here's still got me gobsmacked (Rim Billitonian) Hooroo. See you round like a boomerang, Cautus.
[Blacknight runs away.]
Kroos	......
Boatman	Your countryman?
Kroos	Suppose so... can't shake this dodgy feeling... Ah, whatever. How far left to the summit, Master Shen?
<Background 3>
Pole-Carrier	A road this wide, and you two can't move aside?
[The ones blocking Shang's path are revealed to be Taihe and Zuo Le.]
Taihe	Tough.
Pole-Carrier	What does a mandarin want with me?
Zuo Le	Master Shang. Do you have any idea what that thing on your belt is?
Pole-Carrier	Is it yours?
Zuo Le	Yes and no, but we hope you'll hand it to us.
Pole-Carrier	How do you know me?
Zuo Le	We've heard some rumors.
Pole-Carrier	Hoh. What did Zheng Qingyue tell you?
Zuo Le	If your first reaction is to think of Sir Zheng, then presumably you know where we came from?
Pole-Carrier	The Sui Regulator's Candleholders. But you're so young... You're one I've never met before.
Taihe	If you're aware of our rank, why don't you give up the cup?
Pole-Carrier	Me and Zheng Qingyue need to settle things.
Zuo Le	But it seems like those things and the item at your waist are unrelated.
Pole-Carrier	My son died for this goblet. How could I be unrelated?
[Several Waregeists appear before Shang, Taihe, and Zuo Le, but appears to be afraid to them.]
Waregeist	Wrwwrr...
Pole-Carrier	Fine ability, for one so young. These animals almost seem to fear you.
Taihe	We ask only your cooperation.
Pole-Carrier	What if I say no? Will you rob me in the open?
Zuo Le	I imagine you'll find absolutely no purpose in this cup. But to we of the Sui Regulator, the cup has tremendous use.
Pole-Carrier	What use?
Zuo Le	Bait.
Pole-Carrier	For what?
Zuo Le	Those who bring ruin to the nation and its people.
Pole-Carrier	Yan has known peace for centuries. Where did criminals like those come from?
Zuo Le	That's need-to-know. However, we ask you to believe us. Entrust the goblet to us, and you'll have done a justice great as the heavens.
Pole-Carrier	Hah! A justice... For someone of my sort, it'd mean too little, and be more than I deserve. Move aside.
Zuo Le	I fear that's not for you to decide, Master Shang.
Pole-Carrier	This goblet is to be buried with my son. Zheng Qingyue must come in person... Otherwise, keep shut! I'll wait for him, at the Field of Forgotten Water on Qujiang Peak!
Taihe	Ingrate!
[Taihe attacks Shang, who blocked it with his staff.]
Taihe	—A staff fighter?
Pole-Carrier	Oh—good, strong might. You have some force, old bull.
Taihe	Lord Zuo, this man hides his talents. No good lies in him.
Zuo Le	Get the goods before anything! Don't let him keep you!
Pole-Carrier	Did you ever hear from Zheng Qingyue the words I hate most?
Taihe	Don't fool with us!
Pole-Carrier	—They're "save the goods, then the men."

After operation

“

The first to find the pole-carrier is Taihe, and after a fierce battle, the pole-carrier prevails and flees. At this moment, Kroos's party arrives on the scene. Miss Ning has a heart-to-heart with Liang Xun.

”

<Background 2>
Street Youth	You haven't seen the innkeep anywhere?
Inn Assistant	No.
Street Youth	Weird. He's not at any other of the places, too. Did he finally figure to retire and kick back at home?
Inn Assistant	If only.
Street Youth	What's up, Liu, bud? Something got you down?
Inn Assistant	I-I'm totally fine. Why do you ask?
<Background 4>
[A fight breaks out between Shang and Taihe, with the latter using his earth Arts.]
Pole-Carrier	—Your ability's—soil and stone Arts?
Taihe	Precisely. For all your martial talent, you're a shameful fool to not apply it for good.
Pole-Carrier	Tying my hands with your sand, cracking my pole—what freak fighting style is that?
Taihe	Your pole only lightly splitting against me makes it the strange one here. From whence did it come?
Pole-Carrier	I only use ordinary young bamboo poles.
Taihe	Then my style of engagement must completely lack rigor.
Pole-Carrier	What's your name?
Taihe	Taihe.
Pole-Carrier	Fine name. Incredible. It's lucky I could do battle with someone like you at the very end. You're a mandarin, aren't you? Tell me, what are you planning, here, with the goblet?
Taihe	Peace and prosperity in the realm for the ages to come.
Pole-Carrier	Hahah, that's a grand statement! But sadly, I still can't give this to you.
Taihe	You've got nowhere to run.
Pole-Carrier	So you say.
Taihe	—You dare flee?!
The pole-carrier leaps one step backwards. In ten years scaling the mountains, this is one step among hundreds of thousands. Free as a kite that breaks from its string, he rises as the wind does.
Taihe	Hmm. A hidden technique?
Pole-Carrier	You won't catch me in the mountains. Taihe, tell that boy. The Field of Forgotten Water, at the crest of Qujiang Peak. Don't forget.
[Shang takes a step back...]
Taihe	......
[...and runs away.]
Zuo Le	Uncle Taihe...! You couldn't catch him?
Taihe	It would be simple if I chased him with full vigor. But...
Zuo Le	He's using the goblet as a threat, forcing Innkeeper Zheng to meet with him.
Taihe	In the Field of Forgotten Water at the crest, the two will meet, and one must die.
Zuo Le	Is there no leeway?
Taihe	I learned its root in our fight just now. There is none whatsoever.
Zuo Le	The Field of Forgotten Water, was it? We need to seize the opportunity.
[Taihe and Zuo Le heads off just as Lee and Du reveal themselves, having witnessed the fight earlier.]
Lee	We're lucky we didn't clash with that pole-carrier any. Seeing his moves reminds me of the last I ever saw Huai Tianpei ten whole years ago.
Miss Du	......
Lee	I assume you recognize those two there?
Miss Du	I told you how my dad's on secret orders from the royal court. Those two are their officials.
Lee	Do you know who they are, exactly?
Miss Du	The giant lunk in the front's a bigshot from the Department of Discipline and Supervision, that's all I know.
Lee	I see the picture, then. I'm not keen on troubling Rhodes Island any... but it looks like we'll need to borrow their power, after all... *Sigh* This does put a knot in things, though.
Miss Du	What?
Lee	I didn't hear what they were saying, but judging by the direction they hurried away, they're off to the summit. And I'm appointed to meet Rhodes Island at that very summit. Who ever knew the venue'd turn out quite like this.
Miss Du	So do we ambush them at the summit first?
Lee	Let's not. They're all fine fighters. We'd be asking for trouble.
Miss Du	Well, what do we do, then— —Wait! Quick, hide in here! Don't poke your head out!
Lee	Oh.
[Lee and Du goes back to hiding as Zheng walks by.]
Lee	The innkeeper?
Miss Du	What's dad doing here...? And...
Lee	You look ghastly pale.
Miss Du	Is... Is he carrying his blade there? No, it's been so many years... he's never taken it out... he's...
Lee	He's a swordfighter, is he?
Miss Du	He used to be.
Lee	Then it seems he's revived the trend. That's not encouraging.
Miss Du	......
Lee	Go. The closer to the peak, the narrower the road.
<Background 3>
Boatman	Nearly there now.
Kroos	Is this the final path?
Boatman	The very last one. Beyond this village, a small ways west, you'll see a long, long stone stairway. Past its top is the Field of Forgotten Water.
Kroos	Hm?
[Taihe and Zuo Le shows up.]
Zuo Le	Hm.
Taihe	......
Kroos	Well, there's a fine coincidence, meeting you all here.
Zuo Le	Very much a happenstance.
Kroos	What are you two after?
Zuo Le	The goblet.
Kroos	At the summit?
Zuo Le	There's no point in hiding it now. Yes. And someone unaccounted for has it.
Kroos	Just what in the world is that cup?
Zuo Le	If I told you, would you assist us in taking it back, Ms. Kroos?
Kroos	There's a lot more to your goals than just "taking it back." You obviously want to use it for something. And my guess is your goal happens to be the same as Mr. Lee's. You're all wanting to find its master.
Zuo Le	......
Kroos	So why go to all the trouble?
Zuo Le	Are you asking us, Ms. Kroos, or... interrogating us?
Kroos	I'm no interrogator, here.
Zuo Le	This goblet was made by the hands of a great offender.
Kroos	Offender?
Taihe	The offense wide as the heavens. Court classified. Don't look into it.
Kroos	But you want to use this heaven-wide sinner's work to do something that involves Rhodes Island operators. How am I meant to help out if you don't tell me?
[Mr. Nothing joins in.]
Mr. Nothing	My benefactor is quite right. Though we may be of different standings, there's never any sense in withholding the details when you entrust affairs to people. The proverb puts it well; another's heart is hard to know. Treat each other with candor to get the matter resolved.
Kroos	Here I was worried you'd gotten lost.
Mr. Nothing	Ahahah. An informed concern, benefactor.
Zuo Le	You treat them as your "operators."
Kroos	We do.
Zuo Le	......
The youth falls silent. The youngest of the Sui Regulator's Candleholders, he must weigh the pros and cons, and make his choices. It wouldn't be any startling revelation. But he doesn't want any slip-ups made here.
Zuo Le	A fearsome beast dwells in this goblet. It's only a portion of his consciousness, of course.
Taihe	Lord Zuo.
Zuo Le	I'm within my rights. If any ensuing liability falls on the Sui Regulator, you needn't have mercy, Uncle Taihe. Apply the legal proceedings.
Taihe	......
Kroos	Dwells?
Zuo Le	Contemporary feranmutologists are in consensus that, aside from some form of corporealized body, walking in land beyond land, this ancient colossus also has means to dwell within certain objects. The ancient literary saying, "the beast walks with the generous earth,' actually gives some pointer as to these creatures" characteristics.
Kroos	Er, does any old object work?
Zuo Le	Weapons are fairly common. Whether it's ancient Sarkaz swords or modern, mass-produced staves, we have precedent. But as for the concrete principle, we're still not sure.
Kroos	Same goes for that goblet, then?
Zuo Le	Wherever it goes, Waregeists spring up. We can't say we're certain yet, but we have grounds to suspect it. The cup is alive, yet it hasn't come to life. The objects around it are all dead, yet live because of it. It's been adrift for a long time. It's by a random chance we were able to determine its location.
Kroos	So now you're out looking for that offender.
Zuo Le	No. I said, just now, its maker was guilty. But its present master is someone else entirely.
Kroos	And just who is it?
Zuo Le	A poet.
<Background 5>
Miss Ning	...My Lord.
Liang Xun	Miss Ning.
Miss Ning	The wind is high today. The sun is setting early.
Liang Xun	Early, but not so. The time came before I could notice.
Miss Ning	How long has it been since last you climbed a mountain?
Liang Xun	......
Miss Ning	In antique times, the mountain chains of Shangshu were above human might. Shu's paths try, as climbing atop the heavens.
Liang Xun	It's different nowadays.
Miss Ning	Yet for what difference tolls, some matters shall remain constant. Nowhere in the Three Mounts and Seventeen Peaks may it be found. Will you still search, my Lord?
Liang Xun	I need to.
Miss Ning	You would balk at nothing, deceive me, deceive us all for this need?
Liang Xun	I need to find it.
Miss Ning	Why? Surely you are aware that e'en justified thousandfold, to impinge is still to impinge, and to contravene is still to contravene? Surely you know that should you err once, not only do you forfeit the future, but you bear the brunt of the guilt?
Liang Xun	......
Miss Ning	Surely you understand... I am willing to hear what you say?
Liang Xun	I understand that. It's all the more reason I cannot tell you.
Miss Ning	Why?
Liang Xun	Because as I serve as a city magistrate, I account for that single city's safety and life. Be it brick or tile or stove or kitchen, so long as the slightest harm comes to it, it is my failure in duty. As those that tower above me disagree, all I may do... is try my hardest.
Miss Ning	When first we met in Shangshu, in my early years, I saw that past your occasional obstinacy, you were principled and upright, of vitality whole. I have been staunch in my trust, that should we work as one, 'twould be no trouble we could not surmount. Yet in this moment... ...I cannot help but be somewhat disappointed.
Liang Xun	These words... Are they words of warning, from my friend, Miss Ning, to me... Or a supervisory pressuring, from the Imperial Envoy of Vice-Second Rank, the Assistant Minister of Rites, Ning Ciqiu, upon me?