The Gaming Den

You push your way deeper into the bamboo grove, seeing as you do so that your hands have turned increasingly pale, like alabaster gleaming in the sickly moonlight. The hymn grows more discordant as you approach. You step into a clearing to see that the sound is coming from a monk lying on his side, bleeding into the grass from where his brown habit has been slashed near the shoulder. His face is covered in shadow from his hood.

He spots you, and when you try to speak to him he simply chants louder, his song becoming corrupted beyond all recognition into one of ineffable damnation.

• Try to help him staunch the blood flow?
• Seek to silence him by attacking?
• Sing something to drown out his foul chant?

You start to sing the Psalm of Kwon, your voice having an ephemeral quality yet managing to stifle the chant of the other monk, which seems to leave him dazed.

• Try to help him staunch the blood flow?
• Rush in to attack?
• Run on through the bamboo grove?

Mr Shine wrote:If the staunching blood is the same reference as before, than bravely run away.

You emerge from the bamboo grove only to find yourself ankle-deep in blood-soaked rice paddy fields. Countless cursed monks in brown habits seem to battle each other in grim silence with an assortment of weapons, doomed to struggle in endless martial art duels, never resting, never healing, always suffering. They seem oblivious to your presence, but you give them a wide berth nonetheless.

Beyond the series of fields you can make out a pagoda made of dark stone with a twisted roof, which gives off a red glow. It seems to be almost an invitation in the darkness – or a challenge. You steal closer under the moonlight, at times feeling as incorporeal as a shade. You crouch by a tree in the outer courtyard and all is still.

If your bodily sensations were working as normal then the hairs would rise on the back of your neck, as you think you sense movement in the darkness within, but cannot make out anything in the gloom.

• Climb the tree and see if you can spot what is coming?
• Freeze where you are and wait?
• Rush for the pagoda?

You freeze where you are, straining to make out what is moving out there. You do not have long to wait as it draws closer.

A tiger creeps out of the darkness, a low growl escaping its fanged mouth as it picks up your scent.

• Rush in to attack it?
• Hold out a hand to it in a gesture of peace?

You stand before the tiger, your hand out to try and keep the animal calm. It is not the Spirit Tiger, the servant of Kwon that speaks in dreams, but its eyes focus on you in the darkness and you feel Kwon's strength flowing through the animal that represents his power. You may add 5 to your Spirit score.

The creature turns and pads off into the distance. You gather yourself and head for the pagoda.

You step into the open door of the tall pagoda, the entrance lit by a single red lantern. You enter a large hall with matting over the floor bearing the symbol of an inverted cross entwined with a snake. The walls of the hall change every so often, from being plain wood, to a daylight courtyard, to a moonlit garden, and on again. Standing waiting for you there is a figure dressed in red.

(Avenger did not kill Aiguchi the Weaponmaster in the Ring of Vasch-Ro.)

The Grandmaster of Shadows stands before you, a quarterstaff in his grip. By all appearances he is as real as when you first met in the valley of Scorpions. You restrain your instinct to hurl yourself at this enemy whose last act was to destroy your left eye.

'You killed me before the altar of my god, Avenger,' he says, his voice calm and plain. 'You heaped insult upon my Ryu and its students. I think it only fitting that I take your remaining eye now as my trophy.'

Living or dead, he cannot be allowed to stop you. The Grandmaster of Shadows taps the quarterstaff to the floor and the strange visions of the hall are replaced with darkness. Your emerald eye does not seem to serve you in this place. However, familiar with your opponent's ninja magic, you circle silently, listening for any clue as to where he is.

You hear the sound of his quarterstaff swooshing through the air.

• Try to block it and slam a Leaping Tiger kick at the wielder?
• Seek to slide underneath it in a Dragon's Tail throw?