RIDING THROUGH HOSTILE TERRITORY! YEAH! [OBJ/Lyle]

[Shen Pei (Tuvlan)]

OOC: Sorry for taking so long today. Friends came over. >_>;;;

For The Mods: Goals for the thread will be updated at the bottom of every one of my posts. However, this may change over time, due to the unpredictability of how my compatriot will react in his posts.

"I Wasn't That Atrocious In My Past Life, Right?"
Theme Song: THE MOST DANGEROUS WAY from the DW Strike Force Series (>.>);;;

...A chase.

A chase and a fight. The shaft of Chin Xiao's spear was on his back, blocking the downward slash of a bandit's sword as his horse chased the empty area of the central plains. Looking back, his ears twitched as heard the straining of a bow---shifting his left leg over his horse, hands still on the reins, an arrow flew up and down to the right side where his leg just was, barely missing the horse's thigh itself. Hefting before jumping himself back onto his horse all the way, Chin brought his spear in a powerful, if wide, swing around him, just as the bandit closeby brought his sword up for another slash, knocking him off his horse.

A wonderful series of "shortcuts."

Of course, in hindsight, it probably wasn't such a wonderful idea taking all those "shortcuts" through the plains, but ultimately, it would get Chin to Ye faster. ...Of course, he wouldn't have been in such a hurry if he knew how many vagrants were wandering about on this particular in search of satisfying their insatiable greed.

Time was of the essence. The sun was starting to make its way over the mountains, where it would hide until the next day. If night came while on the plains, with nowhere safe to hide and sleep, it would simply be a matter of wearing down Chin Xiao...

Their horses continued to gallop. Now seven pursuers down and up from thirteen. Thus far, there had been changes in the terrain and fatigue was on all of them from the past half hour of continuously aggressive, hard riding.

...There! A slight hill! While it may slow down the other horses, Chin Xiao's mountain horse would be perfectly at home there... And there is where he could begin the counter-attack, before his fatigue was drained.

---A bandit pushed his horse's reins with his left hand, raising his spear in his right, poising for a thrust---

Chin Xiao looked behind himself---

---

Goals:

• ESCAPE!
  
• Get To The Hill, Turn Around, Counter-Attack
  
• Find A Place To Rest

Chin Xiao is about to get stabbed!

[Shen Pei (Tuvlan)]

The Beauty Of Time skips

Chin Xiao's head hurt. A lot. The room was blackened out, his eyes were sore, but unlike Shen Pei, his anus was not bleeding. Checking his arms, he found them bound (and rather uncomfortably) behind himself, his legs similarly tied together in a tight mannerism.

A giant man stood up over his tied up body, sword in hand...

"だから、あなたが起こさ、少年ね？"
"So, you've woken, boy?" the man began with a laugh in the strange language. Almost visibly, his fat jiggled around in rippling waves from underneath his foreign armor.

"...What?---"

Suddenly wincing, Chin felt something warm leaving him from his back. Oh, that's right. Blood. He was just sort of stabbed there... who knows how long ago. However, from a wound that small---no. Contorting around a bit, he found it to have been plugged with something that chaffed at his insides. Gritting his teeth slightly, the sweat of the constant pain starting to dawn at him, Chin leaned back on the wall. His eyes squared nicely on the fat man who had gone to get a rather large, fried cow leg to eat while waiting for Chin to adjust again.

Fat Man took a bite. Bits of meat and dribble went over into his beard, which he took the time to lick up with his gigantic tongue.

"あなたは私を理解していない可能性があります..."
"You may not understand me...," spittle and days-old food erupting from his mouth in a fountain of saliva as he licked his chops. Pointing to himself for emphasis:

"しかし、私は今、そしてここから得ることのあなたの唯一のチャンスあなたの希望、あなたの夢をしています。私はトヨタホンダをしています。"
"But I am right now your hopes, your dreams, and your only chance of getting out of here. I am Toyota Honda."

...Finishing the leg in another bite, he threw the bone haphazardly to the side, "Fat Man," as Chin Xiao had quickly dubbed the man in his mind had quickly become "The Chicken Bandit."

"...Alright. So..."

The Chicken Bandit smiled.

While taking a helmet-sized bit out of the fried chicken.

The ground about him was littered with grease, fat, rotted meat, dried up saliva, and a boulevard of broken dreams.

"中国語の私の理解は、限られた可能性があります...しかし、あなたはあなたが誰のために提携している私に教えてくれます。ながら、身代金をオフにそして、あなたは動作します。"
"My understanding of Chinese may be limited... but you will tell me who you are affiliated for. And you will work while we ransom you off."

"ここでは、少年は楽しくなる。 GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA！"
"Have fun here, boy. GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Slapping himself and making the enormous jiggle of fat go around the curvatures of his body for five very long seconds, The Chicken Bandit continued slapping himself and laughing, before walking off. To get another whole, grease-fried chicken.

Soon after he left, two very sickly, but strong-looking men of varying ethnicities waddled into the room, picked up Chin Xiao by the armpits, and dragged him after The Chicken Bandit, where he would be mended and cleaned.

---

Goals:

• ...PLOT DEVICE. CHIN XIAO IS MADE HOSTAGE. WHO WILL COME RESCUE HIM? SHEN PEI?
  
• R.I.P. Chin Xiao.

[Shen Pei (Tuvlan)]

Meanwhile, In Ye:

"UMPHF!"

"NO!"

"MWAOOH!"

"NOOOOOOO!"

"YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"PLEASE STOP!"

"HNI'MGAY!"

"YOU'RE TEARING ME APART!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

...

"I'M DONE!"

...

Silence.

"I SAID..."

"I'M DONE."

A little reluctantly at first, the cheers came from Xu Milong's working staff throughout the building. Hands raised in the air, with palms raised out as if praising Zhang Jiao or something. Xu Milong himself was in a similar position over his recent bit of prey, his old body drenched in sweat for lasting about seven minutes longer then his typical four seconds. Dismounting, the old fellow routinely began to press himself into stretches while his man-servants hesitantly led themselves into the room. Taking the pains to dry off and robe their master as he stretched was no easy task, as Xu Milong was a strong believer in his own version of Tai Chi.

"...Tea," he murmured quietly, at the thought, as he finished up.

Straining themselves to hear him out, the servants quickly disposed of the rather unsatisfied victim, before leading her out of the house by the back door. An infrastructural pun, Xu would comment on, playing on the times that he developed the blue prints of the house. Nervously, a servant soon followed after Xu, as the elderly fellow walked at a relatively brisk pace. It would take a good five to ten minutes for workers to get a willing tea server from the streets, and an added five for one that wouldn't infuriate their master.

Xu himself was perfectly beside himself, feeling around in his pocket for a well-invested for ginseng.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Mm? Yes, what is it?" a disturbed Xu stated rather irritably at his trembling man-servant. The poor fellow stood over his master, a wooden scroll in hand. Eyeballing the scroll, the old man snorted, before putting down his cup of tea rather gently before himself. Standing up from his kneeling position before the small boiling pot where a woman with an incurable twitch in her left brow looked the other way, Xu abruptly took the scroll from the fellow.

"What, another report from Shen? Honestly, am I the man's personal post office?"

"N-No, sir," the poor young man stammered out, wanting to leave to tend to his otherwise standard "cleaning duties." It was the eyes, however, of a rather strict master that rested on the scroll that gave the fellow the strength to say.

"Hmph. Alright. Let's see...---What. What?"

The puzzled look morphed rather violently, as a very eerie, creepy smile took to Xu Milong's face. Turning this rather disturbing look to his currently attending man-servant, he tilted his head rather melodramatically.

"...What is this? Who sent this? What MATTER of a person sent this?"

"A-Ah, um, er..."

The smile began to more curiously reveal the old man's gritting teeth. For an otherwise nameless (at least to his master's consideration) servant, the unspeakable threats of horror of any further hesitation brought forth profound clarity in the young man's mind rather suddenly.

"UM. SIR. SIR, THE MAN WHO... SIR. THE MAN WHO SENT THIS SCROLL LOOKED POORLY DRESSED. LIKE A BANDIT. SIR. UM, SIR. HE HAD A SHEATHED WEAPON AND APPARENTLY WAS DIRECTED TO US... SIR. AFTER THE OFFICIALS AT THE PALACE TURNED HIM AWAY."

...At last, a sincere sneer took to Xu Milong's face, and the fellow resumed normal trembling.

"Very well... f***ing gits that they are, I can't say I blame them... You've done strongly."

"T-Thank you sir---"

"---You'll only suffer Number Twenty-Three and Number Twenty-Five. IF I'm feeling merciful," Xu Milong continued rather wickedly, a sickly smile turning to his face.

"Standard procedure. Nothing more."

Cold sweat turned to absolute fear. Feeling a fainting spell coming on him, the man servant risked further infuriating of his master and silently excused himself from the disgusting aura the old man was emanating from himself. Cackling inward in a disgusting, guttural way, Xu Milong opened up the scroll again, scanning at its contents a little more clearly...

Officer Shen Pei Or Fellow Of Similar/Recognized Rank,

This is Toyota Honda's representative. Simply put, we have captured your second-in-command, "Chin Xiao." You will pay XXXXXXX gold if you want him back.

He is a second in command, no? A little harder to replace then the standard soldier. You have---

---Promptly tearing apart the scroll, Xu Milong snorted again, before kneeling down for another cup of tea.

"Shen Pei, I refuse to let you continue using me like this," he said viciously in an underbreath before tossing the broken scroll into the fire.

"F***ers."

The Doomed Chin Xiao

"Oh, ja? So, you think your commanding officer vill pay?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHANO."

Bandits stood around everywhere, swords and spears in their hands under their poorly made huts, close to the rear-entrance to the underground cave. Their hangout, while not particularly difficult, would be impossible to escape from without risking starvation, death by thirst, and various other natural problems due to its rather arid atmosphere. All the while, over a dozen captured people, some soldiers, some not, were all busy mining, digging, planting rice, or even getting raped.

All things considered, not too bad.

Given that the large well by the cave entrance was the biggest source of water in this area was reason alone for people to generally stay away from this area. In terms of food and supply, it was typically just too taxing to go through without a surplus of drink and food. It also gave the bandits a sense of unity and a particular desperation their otherwise easy-going type of actions. For Toyota himself was a costly enough leader that it was necessary to create several "posting stations" to make raiding a warlord's supply lines easier.

As curious as this all was, though, Chin Xiao could not believe the fellow he was planting rice with in the hardly muddy rice field. A giant of a fellow (to the standard Chinese man), he looked older then Shen Pei, had long, white hair, large muscles, many scars about his body, and had a pale-white skin. Smiling, he shrugged with a laugh, used to the rather futile work they were doing now.

"Iz still better then my old country," the man noted with a rather bad accent in Chinese.

Practically naked, with only a pair of shorts on for the both of them, they crouched underneath the merciless sun. The older man's stories were part of what kept Chin sane under these STUPID conditions, making his back ache, but also "...it keeps your body strong, no?"

A man from the far away country, from some sub-standard tribe. Germania. Deustch. Something. The name didn't matter. Still, the fellow was friendly enough in spite of what Chin was increasingly recognizing as a STUPID task that wouldn't produce crops.

"And... zis 'Officer Shen Pei'. He is most likely not in Ye?"

"No."

"Und the ransom note... it most likely was sent to the officials in Ye, yes?"

"...Yes."

"...Und, ze officials in Ye hate Shen Pei."

"You have no idea."

"...Meaning zat zey will give the ransom note to zis noble... zis 'Xu Milong' who will leave you to your doom?"

"In all likelyhood."

"...Vould you be in a better position if zis Shen Pei had received zis message? If he receives this message of ransom?"

"...I'd laugh a bit more, but I'm slightly dehydrated."

"Saddening."

"He'd more likely come by, with all the troops."

"Zat vould be good---"

"...Then, share a few drinks with Toyota Honda."

"...Vat---"

"Then, make Toyota pass out with a few drinks, send in a few whores, and have them rape him. Then he'd return back to his men after COMPLETELY wasting their time and return to Ye after having totally forgotten about me."

"...Pardon me, but zat is almost a little inspirational. Not many leaders would treat their enemies so kindly."

"Sure. Yeah. Well, I'm going to go cry now."

"It vill be good for ze rice. You will probably die from dehydration, but it vill be good for rice."

---

Goals:

• SCHADENFREUDE - It's a GERMAN word for "taking pleasure in other people's pain." This post is intended to be FULL of it.
  
• Establishing an area in the central plains.
  
• Describing the bandits (Troop types not assigned on purpose).
  
• Establishing character relations.
  
• Introducing NPC (Currently Nameless, Profile In The Works).
  
• Prelude to an "Escape" plot that may benefit all the neighboring region's incomes!

[Chen Gong]

(To be honest, I'm a bit confused so I'm just going to cause chaos and see what happens for now.)

"RAAAAAH!"

With loud yell, hundreds of black clad soldiers decended upon the bandits. They gave no indication as why they were there, they only killed all bandits in their way. They ran them down and set fire to their tents and huts.

They waded into the fields and tore up the crops with their marching. Soon enough, soldiers surrounded Chin Xiao and his foreign friends.

"On your knees!"

They swarmed the small party, pushing Chin Xiao down into the mud and quickly executing his new found 'friends'. There was a soldier on top of Chin Xiao, his knee digging into the poor man's back. He looked up at his officer with an evil smirk.

"Captain, we could have some fun with this one, heh heh heh!"

The Captain stepped over to the subdued Chin Xiao and looked at his face.

"Hmmmm...."

[Shen Pei (Tuvlan)]

OOC: Comrade, if I'm going to go about, illustrating the situation that you'll barely even make commentary on, then...

Anything you have not roleplayed will be now used against you, and anything not properly justified will be dismissed/given an alternative view. I'll be going about more liberally, seeing as how these are "imaginary soldiers" lives we'll be playing around with.

MY SWORD, FOOL!

Obviously, if the "hundreds of soldiers" were going to travel this far out with all their armor and weapons, they would be more fatigued then anything else, and would be slowly picked-off by smaller bandit forces in various hit-and-run tactics.

Also, their armor as black. Fatigue was going to be a delightfully unwelcome ally here.

Compare this then to the well rested, knowledgeable bandits who have been doing for years, are well hydrated, well fed, and know the terrain better then the typically more single-minded soldiers that were typically trained by most warlords.

Bandit scouts and messengers from the raiding parties had not been dilly-dallying.

Swords were drawn, bows were nocked, spears were sharpened, crossbows were armed. There were hundreds of soldiers. Weakened soldiers, picked away by raiding groups. There was about a hundred bandits in the camp.

...Not to say that Toyota Honda was going to be sticking around. First wind he'd caught of it from it... he took several chickens, ate two of them, and then rode off on his donkey, placing his second-in-command in command.

Meanwhile, before battle had even started, all the P.O.W.s were quickly being escorted from the fields, from the rape-houses, and all the various areas back into the underground cave, where a good forty of the hundred bandits were waiting.

Any soldiers that went in were quickly cut to pieces, before lanterns from the outside were utilized, and the killing in turn worked their way about.

The large German looked next to Chin Xiao.

"...Vell, zis is a predicament."

"...They haven't chained us."

"Zis IZ a predicament," the German whispered with a smile. "Any word of the invading force?"

"Said to be clad in black..." sweat from the outside's work playing on Chin's face, the inside of his stomach feeling very cool, as he began to steel himself... Trying to remember...

Clad in black.

"Lu Bu's forces. But what are they doing here?"

...However, the German had other plans. Looking around at all the sick and ill people in the singular room, with the armory just in the next... and the "guarding bandits" looking carefully at the entrance.

"...What was your name?"

"...Chin Xiao. Why...?"

"...Call me, 'Shackled'. I'm about to do something crazy."

"What?"

"Help me."

"...What?"

"HELP ME GET MY SWORD!"

---Suddenly, bringing his hands up, the German charged the guard with the spear, side-stepping as the blade grazed his left arm. Coolly, Shackled's hand had already shot out for the man's face, pulled it forward, and headbutted him, before using his other arm to commander the shaft of the spear, right underneath the blade. Smoothing it out into both of his hands into a proper stance, the German quickly brought the head of the spear into the next guard who had been tackled into by Chin Xiao.

Jabbing the spear into the guard he had knocked out for himself, Shackled, checking first with Chin via mutual nods (who had armed himself with a sword), quickly charged into the next room.

Swinging their spears and swords about, thrusting, the guards in that room were no match for a rather well fed, hydrated pair of warlord-trained second-in-command and a barbarian of the west.

Checking to be sure, Chin stood at the mouth of the next corridor, waiting, small lanterns lit to barely illuminate the way. If it was a bandit that approached, he would kill him. If it was a man clad in black...

"...WE ARE P.O.W.'s. THESE ROOMS ARE SECURE. TEND TO THE REST OF THIS MAZE BEFORE YOU GET AMBUSHED!"

Shackled was busy "reclaiming" his old attire and his old weapon. Hefting the heavy thing with easy, he smiled. It was a Spatha.

"...From my times, captured from a Roman soldier..." talking more to himself, before he headed to the entrance. There were about three or five more who had the capability or willingness to fight, who quickly armed themselves, but giving Chin Xiao the time to equip himself with his own old gear, "Shackled" stood at their only entrance way.

"COME ONLY IF YOU SEEK EIZER NEGOTIATIONZ OR TO FIGHT."

...The "door" was nearby, in case of arrow fire or throwing spears... However, unlike the other bandits that were still fighting either outside or in the underground, Shackled did not himself, his sword drawn, held carefully with years of experience before him.

[Shen Pei (Tuvlan)]

OOC: Well, at the time of me writing this, I'm still waiting on updates. This is probably the last post on my behalf of this thread, and I am uncertain if it'll garner an award or not, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyways, as I really want to get Chin Xiao (and now Shackled) back with Shen Pei. Provided Chen Gong allows this...

That said, please enjoy the following, Chen Gong!

THE GREAT MEDIOCRE ESCAPE!

Standing guard in a small corridor underground was... vexing. Tiring, disorienting, and filled with the constant threat of bandits or misinformed troops of Lu Bu rushing towards them, but the duo weren't exactly being given time to plan properly. Behind them were the moans of the overworked and the physically fit who were pushed beyond their normal limits. Surviving this ordeal would mean they would be ridiculously strong... with enough sustenance. Fortunately for Chin Xiao, he hadn't been at the bandit encampment for that long and "Shackled" didn't appear overly fatigued himself in spite of the vaguely long amount of time the foreigner had spent here.

"So..." the German stated, questioningly, his sword and eyes ready to anticipate anything from the relatively dark tunnel ahead of them.

"Mm. It wouldn't be right to leave these people behind. Nor would their safety be absolutely guaranteed if they were left in here,"

"---...Just keep us safe for ten minutes. We can get them ready to move for you."

Chin Xiao allowed himself to look back at the exhausted looking peasant. It was a boy just maybe two or four years younger then himself, pick in hand. Grim looks on the faces of the two other men behind the young boy; one taller and older then Chin, the other shorter and already a old man.

The ones behind them in the "P.O.W." room were all barely able to crawl after the advancing group, some even opting to stay curled up. The deadened eyes of the rape and the raging eyes of the vengeful were plenty.

Although there were few fires throughout the underground cave... the heat seemed amplified, large beads of sweat gathering on the back of Chin's neck. Many hands clawed for him, seeking help. Such a large group would slow them down, and if any of the bandits had fled... they would have taken their horses with them as well.

They'd need maybe about... three or four horse-drawn wagons or carriages if they were going to try to get all these people out of there. But the longer they stayed here, the more likely they would all be...

...

Chin Xiao faced forward again, hefting his spear at the ready.

"Eight minutes."

"Hurry."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Gleaming in the shadow of the cavern, the tip of the spear thrust out. A cry and a death were all that were given in response. They were all progressing deathily slow. Having to literally inspect every corridor and kill every soldier out of the way... Typical. Vexing. Chin Xiao's back-wound stab wasn't helping matters, but two years of severe military training helped keep his senses focused. The German didn't seem to notice at all...

Making a quick slash before side-stepping himself back to Chin's back, the two looked about warily.

"...Oye."

"Yeah?"

*STAB*

"I'd like to meet your master, if we get out of this."

*SLASH*

"...Mm. I think I'd rather take you to my master's master---Why?"

Leaning back onto the German's back, the German winded around for a sweeping slash while Chin landed sloppily behind the foreigner, making a wide sweeping motion to the bandits who tried for the "opening." Sadly, he didn't get any, but they were secure again, in front of all the P.O.W.'s as they were being inched closer to the entrance of this corridor.

"I'd like a proper name."

"...Well, we'll see...---"

OOC: At this point, either Chen Gong posts again and his troops find Chin Xiao and Shackled in the underground cave or I'm going to make a time-skip.

Sorry, Chen. I was thinking this would be the most likely to be the last post, but it just doesn't seem as though two trained warriors would just be able to break out in one go.

Will you choose to meet the duo inside? Outside? Or completely bypass them while your forces mop up the bandits outside? If the latter-most, I'll make mention of the niceties about, for your looting purposes before I time-skip ahead. If any of the two former... well, we'll go from there.

EDIT: Coding. >.>