Nothing for the enemy (Quest/Asa)

[Tsuki (Ancient One)]

Rui grinned as he crept out through the fields and touched the plants to find the driest of them all so it could catch fire the quickest. He knew it would damage the Yellow Turbans in the city since it meant supplies would be ruined so starvation would occur and if Rui's ally Asa Khan could get the wells dealt with then the animals and people would further die and take a great deal of damage.

Rui knew full well that some innocent people would die but that was a sacrifice for the many that would be saved. He soon found the perfect field and he swiftly set a little bit of it on fire with his torch and fled from the area and headed for the next field and continued along until he had gotten most of the fields alight. He decided it was a good time to flee the area before he could get caught. He swiftly put out his torch and ran away from the city to hide in a neighbouring village that would be far enough from the fire to not be touched yet close enough for Rui to admire the smoke that rose up from the blaze.

Rui took the small monkey out from under his coat and held it in his arms and stroked it gently. "I wonder how Asa is doing?" Rui asked himself whilst also directing the question towards Tsu. The monkey just looked at him with beady eyes and tilted its head in confusion. "Never mind, I just hope Asa hasn't got himself caught or killed." Rui blinked and continued to watch the smoke thicken in the distance.

[Asa Khan]

Asa was beginning to sorely regret the decision he had made. Sure, poisoning some wells seemed an easy enough task to accomplish until it had occurred to him that he had no idea how the hell he was going to do it. After conferring with a few of his soldiers, he was directed to a local alchemist, who offered to sell him several vials and pouches of various substances. They had not been cheap, and he had no idea what any of them were, but he was assured that they would get the job done. If not, then the alchemist’s head would be at stake.

The city of Wan was especially intimidating at night, particularly with the grim task Asa had in mind. He eyed every patrol or guard he came across nervously, though luckily for him the darkness obscured it enough not to get him caught. There were a number of wells spread throughout the city, but he decided to go for the ones in the busier areas, hopefully affecting more people with his subtle tactic.

“Damn you Rui, taking the easy task,” he muttered to himself as he came into one of the main streets, his first target drawing into sight with it. “All you have to do is burn stuff. That’s fun!” he said, stopping his monologue abruptly as a patrol passed him. “I have to dump deadly toxins or dead cattle or something into some wells without people noticing!” Obviously, the dead livestock option was quickly ruled out before he came to Wan due to the obvious limitations of carrying a dead cow. There was a man standing there, who left just as he approached it. Easily enough, he pulled a small leather pouch out from beneath his robe and emptied the contents into the waiting well, followed by an ominous hissing sound. Not wanting to be around for the first victim, he scarpered at a brisk walking pace, moving through a few more streets to yet another one.

Time and time again this scene played itself out, each time with a different deadly dose; sometimes with no reaction at all, sometimes with weird effects like a green flaming burst forth from a powder emptied into the well.

With one last flick of a cork, he poured the contents of a conical vial down into the eager mouth of the well, with a faint, misplaced ‘plop’ as the liquids combined. A sigh of relief left Asa’s lips as he returned the vial to beneath his robe. The number of concoctions he was carrying was obscene. Grateful that he was able to remain unnoticed, or at least not confronted, he began to quicken his pace on the way out of town. As he passed the city gates he broke into a run, knowing that it didn’t matter whether or not they noticed him as the city watch, in their heavy armour could not hope to catch him. As he ran, he looked toward the horizon, expecting to see an orange glow, indicating that Rui had been successful; a glow that he saw with great satisfaction.

Asa stopped and looked around him. He wasn’t being followed.

“Good... now I can meet up with Rui,” he said to himself, taking up a gentle stroll toward the neighbouring village in hope that his companion had completed his end of the task.

[Tsuki (Ancient One)]

Rui scratched the back of his neck and removed his hat before placing it on the ground so Tsu could sleep in it for a little while. He sighed as he continued to wait for his friend, he was starting to get rather worried about Asa. "Maybe I should go find him? No, he's a pirate just like me so he'll be fine, I don't need to worry about him getting caught and killed!" Rui told himself aloud, he didn't want to lose a member of his crew. A captain's crew was his family and he didn't know what he'd be like without them.

After some more waiting the faint figure of Asa came into view. Rui smiled with joy and ran towards the man with his arms out-stretched to hug the man. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Rui squeaked sounding like a little girl rather than a tough manly pirate.

[Asa Khan]

Asa was nothihng if not confused by Rui's display of what he assumed to be affection. In his culture he had never encountered such a thing, so he mimicked his actions by spreading his arms similarly.

"Yes, I'm okay. Was there ever any doubt?" he joked.

"Now what say we go collect our reward? I put a lot of effort and planning into that mission."

[Tsuki (Ancient One)]

Rui buried his face into Asa's chest and closed his eyes. He was glad that Asa was safely back with him again, Rui took in the mans scent before pulling away and opening his eyes again. "I was a little worried about you, that's all. You're family so I have full right to worry about your safety." Rui replied whilst beaming a large grin at the man.

"How about we burn more fields to make sure we make our message clear. Burning things is fun and I guess I owe you for helping me with this mission. After that we'll get our reward." Rui chuckled, winking at the man in a playful manner before fetching his hat from the monkey.

[Asa Khan]

The people of this country were indeed strange. Rui's actions, while oddly enjoyable, were not what he was accustomed to, so he just stood for a moment with his arm around Rui. Upon the mention of 'burning things' being 'fun' Asa flinched. It was rare to find anyone who would admit to that. Then, chaos. A thousand fractured, incomplete movements, each intending to do a different thing, took place all over his body as he was too surprised to decisively react. He was so shocked by the statement that he remained completely oblivious to what Rui had said immediately after. Not a good thing to do.

With an inhuman burst of speed, Asa ran toward the nearest torch and tore it out of the ground before turning around and yelling to his companion, "Let's go burn some innocent grain!"

[Tsuki (Ancient One)]

Rui stood with an expression of shock as Asa became over exciting by the idea of burning any remaining fields, he sighed and knew he couldn't do much about it. He fetched a torch for himself and hurried after Asa as not to lose out on the fun, he was quite certain not a single crop was going to be left after they were done. "Let the flames of war burn high tonight!" Rui cheered as they rushed back towards the city of Wan.

The two of them returned to the burning fields and it was clear that some had avoided going up in flames, but that was soon going to change. Rui immediately set to work upon burning the edge of a field and he made sure the fire would spread as he set up more starting points of the fire around the field.

[Lu Xiang]

A nice combination

Asa
15 Unfairness
200 Gold
15 Fame

Tsuki
10 Creativity
200 Gold
15 Fame