I'm surprised that nobody had mentioned this:
There were also those that whispered of an Imperial decree involved in this assault, that the Wunan Sect had somehow offended the palace.
...
She was currently imprisoned in their headquarters, a small fortress about an hour’s travel from the city that had been granted to them by the prefect of Xiangyang in return for their assistance with keeping order in the countryside.
The Wunan sect pissed off somebody off who was powerful (one of the Grand Eunuchs is a safe bet) so the Black Dragon Society was sent to take them out. Judging by the fact that the Fire Cult is trying to bring foreign values into China and was a potential threat to stability, the BDS was sent after them for the same reasons. This little tidbit is making me more convinced that this group has its fair share of Imperial agents within it.
treave, the BDS seems to operate a bit like an organized crime group in that the authorities will turn a blind eye to a few dead bodies so long as the assassins do their part to maintain law and order; is that true?
First off, fuck A. We can't risk losing her trail and we can't take the chance of her going elsewhere; if she does, how would we find out where? What, are we just going to knock on the doors of the Black Dragon Society HQ and ask them politely where she is now? She is here now, that might not be the case if we wait too long, so we must act now. We're never going to be perfectly, 100% prepared for every situation, so we have to make do with what we have.
ScubaV makes an interesting point that if she does relocate, it might be easier to approach her if she's not in a fortress, but that's assuming (a) we can pick up her trail again, (b) she doesn't end up in another place that's equally fortified and (c) that the BDS suddenly start to think that having a "frigid scarred nutso bitch" around is way more trouble than it's worth and kill her instead. Leaving things up to chance is unacceptable here.
D sounds a little too reliant on the Black Dragons not caring if her former love sees her and I'm not sure what they might ask in trade for that.
Nah, they don't give a shit. Yu is just some wandering scholar, they don't know that he and Chanfeng has a history, I doubt that they give a shit. With D, I think that we can arrange a meeting with her, though of course Yu would accept no less than Chanfeng's freedom. Given that he knows something of our past, I don't think that he is above trying to rat us out to the BDS if we decide to leave Chanfeng to rot without either busting her out or arranging for her freedom in some way (which is pretty understandable in his position). I also am not particularly keen to owe this group a favour, which makes me somewhat hesitant to pick it. That being said,
treave, would we be approaching D with our true identity, as Zhang's apprentice?
That leaves C, which I see as the most attractive choice at the moment. I very much doubt that anyone here will come after Yunzi, mainly because all the assailants that came after her are now dead and because she seems to always wear a mask in public. Nah, I don't think that anybody will know that it's really her.
The real question here is whether to stay secretive or to try and become a member using our true identity. Here are what I see as the pros and cons:
Seeking Recruitment as Zhang Jue's Apprentice
This instantly gives us the respect and fear of those around us who also want to join up with the BDS. The downside is that there might be some punk who might try to fuck with us to make a name for themselves. The other downside is that while we are as proficient as any assassin at killing thanks to our awesome teacher, Master Zhang isn't exactly known for his subtlety, which is pretty important if you're an assassin. Taking on a small army of pugilists, while awesome, might not be what these guys are looking for. However, the biggest issue with C1 is that it seems to me that the BDS is clearly closely linked with certain elements of the Imperial Court, which might be trouble for us down the road.
Seeking Recruitment Anonymously
This makes us no different than any other dickhead who walks in asking to join up. With our injured condition, standing out compared to the other candidates will be extremely difficult. The upside here is that draws less attention on us; keeping a low-profile is crucial since Yunzi is with us.
I'm not sure what to vote for yet, but I'll go wit
D for now.
Edit: removed conditional vote. Conditional voting is cowardice.