Escape from Dukezong
“I’m afraid, princess, that negotiations have broken down. I’ll be going now,” You stand up, rattling the chains. Princess Jinpa looks at you in alarm – she does not seem to have expected this. “You might want to stand back,” you say, tensing yourself as you prepare to break free. She is about to open her mouth to shout for help when you leap. The force of your movement tears the manacles free from the crumbling bricks and sends you barrelling through the wooden bars. Before Jinpa can run, you strike at her pressure points, immobilizing her movement. Your belongings are placed on a table nearby. As you gather them, you find that the princess is still silent, struck dumb by the ease at which you broke free. “I suppose your brother did not find any use for keeping a very secure dungeon. I’ve seen worse,” you say casually. She nods. “Imprisonment was not his favoured method of punishment.”
“All the better for me, then. Aren’t you going to scream for help?”
She does.
“Excellent,” you laugh, and advance on her.
“W-what are you going to do?” asks the immobile princess as she tries to put up a brave front. “I will not surrender to you!”
“Just bear with this for a moment,” you say, chuckling. Then, you bend down and haul her over your shoulder with her face towards your back, like one would a sack of rice. You would have preferred an actual sack to put her in, but you’ll make do with the lack of one. She starts screaming again. “Unhand me, you foul ruffian!”
“Someone’s been listening to one too many cheap stories of kidnapped maidens, I see.” You hear footsteps rushing down the stairs; the soldiers, no doubt. The alarm would already have been raised. The guards of the palace are well-armoured: pressure points would not be an ideal technique for disabling them. Making sure she’s comfortably rested, or at least as well as one can be, you move. The first soldier arrives at the bottom of the steps. He runs into your fist as he rounds the corner, a loud smack echoing around the cells as he falls backward. You step over him and dart up the stairs, surprising the second. He is standing above you – you jump, introducing his nose to your knee. As he falls, writhing in pain, you continue to run without looking back as Princess Jinpa shouts bloody murder over your shoulder.
When you reach the main corridor, you see that it is already barred and guarded. It would take too much time to beat them and unbar the gates; you turn and head upwards as a dozen soldiers chase after you. Vaulting up more flights of stairs, Princess Jinpa’s threats and shouts of outrage turn into pleas for you to stop. “I-I’m getting dizzy! Please let me go! I’ll do anything!” You laugh. “Hold on for just a second. I need to go faster.”
“Faster!?”
You turn the corner with the distressed princess… and find yourself facing six soldiers in an open corridor that overlooks the city below. There are more shouts coming from behind you – it looks like you are trapped. “Unhand the princess!” shouts their leader. Two of them have their spears at the ready, but the others are in an unarmed stance; it looks like they fear harming the princess. That works for you. “Help me!” shouts Jinpa repeatedly, encouraged by the presence of her loyal guards. “Princess! Hold on! We’ll rescue you!” shout the soldiers protectively in return. You give her butt a good slap – it’s a bit bouncier than you expected from her figure, causing her to let out a cute little yelp. “Oh, hush,” you say.
The soldiers come at you, outraged. Grabbing firmly onto the princess with one hand, you dart forward. A fist comes towards your face. You grab the soldier’s wrist, pulling him off balance. Letting go of the wrist, you drive your elbow into his gut. As he falls, you crouch down low, swinging the princess away from an attempted rescue by another soldier. She lets out a agonized moan as you make a sweeping low kick, knocking down two more soldiers. Hopping over them, you kick the soldiers, sending them smashing against the wall hard and rendering them out of the fight.
The remaining soldiers hang back nervously, sweat pouring down their faces. Luckily, their reinforcements arrive… ten, perhaps twenty soldiers, cutting off your path both forwards and backwards and with more arriving every second.
“There’s nowhere to escape, Man Tiger Pig! Give yourself up and hand over the princess!”
You could defeat them, but their sheer numbers meant that they would stand a high chance of managing to grab the princess from you in the process. Besides, you’re not ready to hand the princess over just yet.
“Don’t worry,” you whisper to Princess Jinpa.
“What do you mean, don’t worry?” she asks worriedly.
You throw her off the balcony.
As the soldiers scream in horror, you make your own leap while they are distracted.
Snatching the princess in mid-air before she splatters against the ground, you land on a nearby rooftop slightly heavily, cracking the tiles beneath your feet. It seems that you need a bit more practice. You turn to look at the assembled soldiers up in the palace and give them a polite nod of the head before running off, jumping from roof to roof with your qinggong. They would not dare fire arrows at you while you have the princess in your arms. On her part, she is utterly silent, her eyes blank; perhaps her nerves are still too frazzled at being tossed off the building.
The main gates are closed; no matter how strong you are you wouldn’t be able to open them by brute strength, but you are not planning on using the gates. You nimbly claw your way up the walls. When you reach the top, you peer over it, looking at the outside of the city. Once you disappear into the countryside, your skills will prevent the Tufan soldiers from being able to track you down. As you expected, Qilin and Cao’er are waiting there. You wave at them, attracting their attention. Before you can jump over to the other side, the sound of many hurried footsteps approach you from both ends of the wall. It looks like they were prepared for you to come this way too. Soldiers begin to line the wall, surrounding you.
“Xu Jing.”
It is Jixuan Wuni, the Princess Rinchen standing behind him with a look of concern on her face. “What are you doing with Princess Jinpa?” he asks.
“Why would anyone give up the chance to travel the world and see its sights? I’m just fulfilling her wish. Don't worry, I'll bring her back safely,” you say, looking down at the princess you are carrying. “I didn’t mean it that way!” she shouts angrily.
“Alright, alright. Princess Rinchen,” you call out, causing her to jolt in surprise. “Y-yes?” she asks timidly.
“You wanted to marry your sister to Zhang Manxing, didn’t you?”
“No, I wanted to marry her to you, but to be honest… after what you just did, I am reconsidering it. I should have seen this coming.”
“It’s always wise to reconsider your decisions,” you say. “In fact, sometimes it is better if you take a break from it all. Your position, your status, your comfort, friends, family, lovers… what is most important? Jixuan Wuni, I have not known you for long, but I’ll say this: a relationship is built on compromise from both sides. Accept the compromise that your partner offers.” You really have no idea if it is sound advice - you might be one of the worst people to give a talk on this issue - but you’ll say anything to get him to ensure that he marries Princess Rinchen, whether he runs away with her or not.
“You sound like a preachy mother-in-law,” he replies stoicly.
You laugh. “Well, just think about it. Now…” You turn to leave.
“I cannot let you leave with Princess Jinpa.” Jixuan Wuni steps forward towards you; you see that he is not wearing his chakrams, but he is ready for a fight.
“You want to take her from me by force?”
“No, you’re not going to beat this monster! You’re going to get yourself hurt!” blurts out Princess Jinpa suddenly. “Don’t worry about me!”
“What’s that, little princess? Having a change of heart about someone saving you?” you ask.
“N-no, it’s not…” She goes quiet, and you look at Jixuan Wuni. He seems resolute, but you have no doubt that you can escape with the princess if you want to.
***
A. You have a ‘fight’ with him and allow him to take back Princess Jinpa while you run off with your tail between your legs. This would definitely enhance his standing within Tufan; he would be the one who rescued the princess where all the soldiers could not. He might even be legitimately considered a marriage candidate for Princess Rinchen due to his heroism.
B. You have a ‘fight’ with him and feign retreat due to Jixuan Wuni having the upper hand, trying to create for him the reputation of a man that can match you in battle. You do not hand over Princess Jinpa, however. You will not change the plan now, not when you’re so close; if she stays, she may still get married off to Zhang Manxing, and you can’t stand by and let someone like him happen to her.
