You slide across the floor matting, underneath the swoosh of the quarterstaff and into the legs of the Grandmaster of Shadows. His Defense against your throw is 3. If you hit, note whether the number you rolled was even or odd. If it is odd, then your twisting legs pass straight through your opponent as if you were a ghost.
If you fail in your throw, the lightest of sounds tell you he has skipped aside and is bringing the quarterstaff down on you. Your Defense against this move is 5. If the number rolled is odd, you are too incorporeal to block the attack. His attack is always dangerous if you can block or not, and if you are struck you lose 4 from your Spirit score. If you survive, then somewhere in the dark he is already spinning the quarterstaff against you once more. You have no option but to try and block it, then catch him out with a kick.
Our throw roll is a 7 (+1), so we phase out inconveniently. His return attack is at 8, so we can try to block, even if the odds are bad, and I think it's worth it. Alas, a 6 means we're hit.
Your Defense against the quarterstaff in the darkness is 6. If you are hit you must lose 3 frm your Spirit score. Note whether the number you rolled is even or odd. If it is odd, you have become momentarily incorporeal and cannot block the attack. His attack is always dangerous whether you can block or not.
If you still live, you adjudge the Grandmaster's position in the darkness and lash out a Leaping Tiger kick. His Defense against your attack is 6. If you hit and the number you rolled was odd (after applying your Fate Modifier if any) then your blow passes straight through your opponent. If you fail with your blow, try another Leaping Tiger kick at the top of the paragraph.
If you hit and the number you rolled is even, the darkness clears again as the Grandmaster of Shadows turns to smoke. You find yourself facing a new figure, humanoid but less human.
(Avenger did not kill the demon masquerading as the samurai lord Jikkyu in the rebel encampment.)
Wait,
now the miss chance is determined by the post-Modifier number? Mechanical inconsistency alert! Anyway, his attack is a 5, missing; and our counter is an 8+1. I'm not entirely certain whether last paragraph's block should count against us but it doesn't matter because we phase out again.
Round 2 sees him miss with
another 5, and us whiff with a 3.
Round 3, he hits us with a 10 and we paste him with a 9+1, and then a new challenger has appeared.
The lithe figure before you is a female Dark Elf enshrouded in purple robes. This is Shadazar, the former commander of the forces of the Rift, whom you found leading her army from atop the Palace in Irsmuncast after their invasion of your city. Indeed the ever-changing walls of this hall display a vista as if you stood atop the Palace once more.
At that time you had struck her down to free your city, and now, eyes flashing in her dark-skinned face, she seems intent on revenge. Shadazar says nothing you can understand but instead casts off her robes, muttering eldritch words, and a startling transformation taking place. Her face enlarges, her nose morphing into a hooked beak, her head sprouting grey feathers. Green scaly wings erupt from her back and a long barbed tail extends.
She has become a dragon-vulture, by all logic too large to fit in the room you first entered. You leap aside as her ponderous form shifts, escaping the snapping of her beak, but her barbed tail stabs in at you. Your Defense is 8 and you may not block such a massive tail. If you are hit you must deduct 3 from your Spirit score.
If you are still alive, you drive a Leaping Tiger kick at her exposed neck. Her Defense is 5. If you hit, note whether the number you rolled (after applying your Fate Modifier, if any) is even or odd. If it is odd, then your blows pass straight through your opponent as if you were a ghost. If you fail in your kick, Shadazar turns to lash you with her tail again as detailed above.
If you succeed in your kick and the number you rolled is even, your blow connects and Shadazar roars as her entire form turns to smoke.
Her first tail swipe misses with a 7, and our first kick (sigh) ghosts through with an 8+1.
Her second swipe connects with a 9, and our second kick connects with an 11+1.
The shifting hall brings you to images of a windswept rooftop beneath three black turrets. Your heart would palpitate if only you could feel it within your chest. Yaemon, the Grandmaster of Flame, stands before you, soaked from head to toe in blood, his expression imperious. This incarnation of evil took your birth father and your foster-father from you. Though his soul has been tormented in the afterlife, he speaks with the same calm he held at the moment of death.
'How are you enjoying the Valley of Shadows?' he says, 'a nightmare of Vile created just for you? I know of punishment, Avenger: my punishment for failing to condemn your god to Inferno was a lake of boiling blood. You and I were left with unfinished business, for there is no escape from this torment. However, by the grace of my great god, I can drag you there with me.'
The focus of will you felt that stormy night comes back to you. You use every martial arts move you know one after another, and Yaemon's Defense is 7. If you hit, note whether the number you rolled (after applying your Fate Modifier if any) is even or odd. If it is odd, then your blow will pass straight through your opponent as if you were a ghost. However, your concentration allows you to exert more control over this spiritual battle: before any attack you can opt to deduct a point from your Spirit score in a similar manner to how you would use Inner Force, and doing so ensures you will actually damage him should your attack be successful, whether your roll is even or odd.
• If you have damaged Yaemon three times...
Otherwise, Yaemon attacks you with a combination of kicks and punches based on his mastery of the techniques of the Scarlet Mantis. Your Defense against this is 7. If the number rolled is odd, you are too incorporeal to block the attacks. His blows are always dangerous whether you can block or not, and you must deduct 4 from your Spirit score if he hits. If you are still alive afterward, attack again as detailed above.
• If Yaemon reduces your Spirit score to 0...
Oo, a rematch with our old nemesis with possible unique game over.
Let's see, our post-Tiger-feels Spirit was 18, and we've been clobbered by the greatest hits gallery for 10, so we're going to die in two hits even if we don't spend Spirit, so we may as well spend Spirit to negate miss chance, it's our best hope.
Round 1: Spirit spend, 10+1 is a hit. Yaemon misses with a 5.
Round 2: Spirit spend, 8+1 is a hit. Yaemon beats our butt with a 9.
Round 3: Spirit spend, 7+1 is a hit. Holy balls, victory by toothskin!
Yaemon howls in frustration as he turns to smoke, desperately clawing at you as he is pulled downward to the lake of boiling blood that awaits him in Inferno. The walls return to plain wood, and you are left standing alone on the matting under a red lantern light, although Yaemon's bloodstained footprints populate the matting.
You advance across the hall, through a door to a spiral stone stairway. You see no alternative but to ascend it.
You ascend the spiral stone stairway, your tread wary, passing by red shuttered windows that are sealed firmly shut. At the top step you reach a large stone door. The handle mechanism of the door is an iron dial with the image of four animals on it: a snake, a tiger, a pegasus, and a dragon. Note which animal you choose to turn the dial to.
Whichever you select, the door clicks and opens into a dark room illuminated only by the insipid moonlight through the window. The moon brightens as if by some celestial conspiracy, revealing a figure lying in state in an open casket :a figure identical to you. On your double's chest, marked in ash, is a copy of the animal image you selected from the door. A shadowy shape raises itself up from your double's prone form and flies in at you.
Choose a martial arts move from those of the Way of the Tiger (such as an Iron Fist punch) to counter this threat. Note it before proceeding.
Okay, so we need to choose a door animal and an attack move. Git to.
Fate Modifier: +1
Spirit: 1