In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 2):

You spend a day asking about the whereabouts of these survivors and making contact with them.

After about an hour, you narrow down their location which seems to be the "Pavilion of Profound Charity", quiet place where monks and other beggars would beg for alms. As many of the residents of the town are quite superstitious Buddhists, there are no shortage of people who visit this pavilion to conduct small acts of charity.

Under arrangements by some of the members of the Noble Flame Sect, the refugees are temporarily being housed in one of the enclosed teahouses in the pavilion. With some of their injured being tended to regularly by apprentice monks.

The space in the teahouse is quite tight, and it just has about enough space to allow five people to seat at a table and another five to lie down at a small raised tatami platform inside.

The refugees are all men - with three hunter brothers being quite badly injured and sleeping, and an old uncle and father of the brothers unscathed.

Based on the retelling of the tale by the old uncle and father, they state that the Swamp Hippo is quite uncommon where they live, with only about two sightings every year at most.

The residents of Zhilin village subsist mainly on gathering mushrooms, growing rice and occasionally hunt the deer and catch fish in the nearby swamps - and none could have even thought of provoking such a fearsome beast.

The old uncle says that he is sure that some traveller or malefactor might have enraged the beast and led it to the village to cause trouble.

The father says that even though he says that the people here were the only ones who have escaped, he is sure that a few though badly injured must have survived, in which case he begs you to rescue them before they perish.

Xiao Kang helped the apprentice monks as he asked his questions, washing bandages and dipping them in herbal remedies before tightening them on the wounds of the hunters.

"But nobody new in the village caught your attention?" He hardly imagined who would have something to gain by purposefully setting a monster on such a small village. Rare resources in the swamp, maybe? But even that seemed a pretty poor reason. Maybe the rampage was a consequence and not an objective?

After shaking his head to return to reality he nodded at the father. "I will visit the village. Check for survivors." He then turned to address the healers "Can I bother you for some first-aid supplies? Even just bandages might save lives." His stash of taels was far from fat, but hopefully enough for what he demanded.

Already pretty familiar with the area, he only needed a few more minutes of questions to have a pretty precise idea of a good path to Zhilin village - and even less time to prepare himself for the trip: a travel bag with the near-totality of his worldly possessions tossed over a shoulder, a walking staff that looked suspiciously like a simple tree branch and the wide-brimmed straw hat of a monk - surprisingly convenient when it came to keeping his face in the shadows near to soldiers and guards.

For a brief moment, he considered trying to haggle for a horse - but the harsh reality of his money situation once again kept him with his feet firmly on the ground: the things he needed kept growing, and the means to acquire them shrinking - just taking what he needed would certainly be easier? For a good cause? He found himself biting on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood as he dashed away from the town - and from the temptation of a good-intentions-paved road to hell.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 4):

"Fellow Brother walking the path of Enlightment, though our methods are different, in accordance with the Dharma, we will most gladly lend our aid...! While we members of the Noble Flame Sect would much like to assist these men in plight, our hands are indeed limited at the moment...! Should you succeed, we invite you to visit us in Zhihuo Yuan," the senior looking healer monk speaks as he clasps his palms and motions to his apprentice.

The apprentice retrieves a bundle of 10 medicinal salves from a small wooden chest, and hands it to you.

"Before you leave, may I know fellow monk brother's name?" the senior healer speaks as he awaits you to retrieve the salves.

(Sorry, I'll try to rush less)

Xiao Kang bent into a thankful bow, addressing the elder healer with respect. "Many thanks. My-" He corrected himself at the last second. "-This humble seeker of Enlightment's name is Fu Su. Can I ask for elder Brother's name as well?"

A shorter gesture of thanks towards the apprentice and he gratefully accepted the salves, carefully placing them among his other belongings. "I will make sure to visit upon my return, hopefully with good news."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Fri 16 July 2021.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 6):

The senior healer monk faintly smiles, clearly appreciating your polite tone.

"You me address me as Bao Xing. This is my junior - Bao Shou. It must be affinity that our paths crossed, and no doubt the doings of karma has influenced us to assist you in conducting Dharma."

After a few pleasantries and tearful expressions of gratitude by the survivors towards you, you will as you intended earlier set off immediately towards the northeast road in the direction of Zhilin village.

A few hours pass, and the Sun now hangs high at its highest point in the deep blue sky. The scent of wet earth begins to permeate your nostrils, as you notice the gradual change in terrain from a hilly one to a somewhat swampy one with various dark colored trees dotting the land.

Eventually the sight of blue clay shingled homes enter your sight, but as you approach the faint pall that shrouds what presumably are the homes of Zhilin village, you come to notice that a large number of them are quite terribly devastated...! Furthermore, the muddy ground upon which each building plot sits appears to be covered in large eliptical animal prints half as large as a grown man's torso.

A quick survey of the ruins reveals the bodies of several dead men, most of them with parts of their bodies trampled in a mess of dried blood and smashed bone. Towards the East however, you notice an untrampled path beset by stone lanterns that seems to lead to a Shrine that is completely intact!
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:28, Sat 17 July 2021.

"Om ami deva hrih." With no time for proer funeral rites, Xiao Kang still offered quick prayers to the deceased as he explored the village. He tried examining the animal prints to see if he could discern more about the beast beyond 'huge, strong and angry', but he never was the expert tracker in his group and gave up quickly.

It took him, healthy, young and trained several hours to get there. Adding the time needed for a group of older and injured people to reach Pengquan Luxuriant Spring Town and everything else that happened inbetween and he wasn't exactly optimistic about finding anyone seriously injured by the hippo still alive - even if he hadn't mentioned this thought to the small group of survivors.

Still, there was hope: if the beast was big enough to cause this sort of structural damage, there was a chance to find someone trapped in debris in one of the ruined homes. Not something one would normally hope for - and pretty unlikely, as one doesn't build with stone and heavy woods in swampy terrains, but better than nothing.

With more ease than one would expect of a monk at digging through the rubble of a ruined village he set to do exactly that: check each of the devastated houses for signs of life.

If that failed he planned to instead follow the strangely untouched path to the shrine.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:03, Sat 17 July 2021.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 8):

Despite your unoptimistic search pertaining to the large tracks of the beast that was likely responsible for the carnage in the village - you actually manage to stumble upon something quite curious: It seems that there is probably something stuck at the bottom of the Swamp Hippo's front left foot. Every set of four prints, you can always find a print with a strange diamond shaped depression the size of a teapot - likely left over by some sort of protruding spike of some sort.

After this, while searching the ruined houses - you in fact manage to find an unconscious survivor - though she is likely in very critical condition.

Dressed in a dirt covered robe with hair tied up in a bun, you notice a middle aged woman with a terribly fractured left leg - terribly twisted and dislocated. Her pulse is weak, and her lips are parched. It appears that she feel unconscious from the severe pain of having her bones fractured by the charging Swamp Hippo - as you notice a set of large tracks nearby.

A few moments after you discover her, you hear the faint rumbling of thunder from above as you notice the approach of dark clouds gradually covering the bright blue sky you saw just a moment earlier. A cold wind blows from the west and the scent of rain begins to fill your nostrils.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:47, Sat 17 July 2021.

Xiao Kang didn't dare immediately move the woman, even with the threat of bad weather: he rushed the initial first aid, wetting the woman's parched lips in a soaked piece of cloth to avoid straining her with actual water.
The real problem was that leg: if the bone was badly shattered he wasn't sure he could do something about it without... extreme measures - but he also doubted she could survive the extra blood loss for a rather radical procedure.

Still he did what he could with the help of one of the medicinal salves the healer monks had given him, trying to ease the woman's pain with carefully touched pressure points, checking for less-visible injuries and finally getting her stable enough to move safely and reach some kind of non-broken roof as protection from the mounting rain, her leg blocked with a makeshift splint.

---

19:24, Today: Xiao Kang rolled 64 using 1d100.  Medicine. - versus 54
It looked like the right moment to roll it, feel free to ignore if unneeded. Crossing fingers for a bonus from the salve, because Xiao Kang's Medicine is 54

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 10):

You quick measures to stabilize the woman appears to have bore fruit, especially with the aid of the salve. As you roughly set her bones with her makeshift splint and apply very basic acupressure, you quickly take her pulse and realise that her condition is somewhat stabilized - though she probably would require more rest before she would wake up. You imagine through your experience that the pain from waking up would probably make her fall unconscious yet again however, and without the use of acupuncture with actual medicinal needles, she would likely not stay awake for long.

Just as you are done with tending to the woman's wounds as much as you can, you begin to feel cold droplets of rain falling upon your head and shoulders and the slowly accelerating tempo of raindrops falling upon the mud and whatever is left of the stone floor of the ruined home you are in.

---

You just met the requirement for the success! Thank god for the salves XD

Great. Rain. Wasn't karma supposed to be on his side now that he was doing good deeds or something?

No use in complaining: weather control and rain-repelling formations were just a liiiittle bit beyond his current skillset, so he had to find a more mundane way to avoid making things worse for the barely-still-alive woman.

He stepped out to quickly survey at the situation: plan A was finding a building with a whole roof and simply carrying the unconscious woman there, shielding her from the worst of the rain with his own body. But plan A relied on luck, so he REALLY felt the need for a plan B.

The roof in this house was ruined but not fully broken - if he thought it could survive the storm without collapsing on everyone under it he could just plug the worst of the holes with items of clothing and other fabric he found in the nearby houses: it wasn't a long-term solution but he didn't need a long-term solution, just a quick fix to get started on the next problem.

Fortunately cloth was the kind of item least likely to be damaged by this kind of attack, so he was cautiously optimistic about the idea - and the villagers sure wouldn't mind him using their stuff to save one of their own? If there ever was a justified reason to loot a house, this was it.

If neither plan was feasible... well, the only option left he could think of was just building a makeshift tent with sticks and cloth, but he really, REALLY hoped he wouldn't have to do that.

In short, Xiao Kang tried every possible trick to keep the woman as dry as possible. He, on the other hand, was young, healthy and had never really been bothered by 'a droplet or two' - so after (and only if) managing to find a safe place for her he just continued to search through the village, flat-out ignoring the rain freely pouring on him: he couldn't move her with this weather but he wanted to be done and ready to set out the second the skies cleared. If that meant a day or seven of coughing and sneezing, so be it.

Worst come to worst he could toss the woman over a shoulder and just carry her to Pengquan Luxuriant Spring Town - but he was hoping to find some sort of cart to help him move her.

Or more survivors.

And he was STILL curious about that shrine.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 12):

You manage to find a somewhat less devastated home that appears to be empty filled with various hunting paraphernalia. The roof is very much intact and sturdy, and only some bits of the wall seem to be crushed indicating that the Hippo likely only grazed it. The home is completely devoid of people, after a quick scan of the area you find a quiver of 10 shoddy iron arrows and a bow that is only stringed on one side. Another quick glance reveals a pair of ancestral tablets with the surname Li - which seems to be the same surname as that of the refugees you rescued.

There is a pretty long rattan bench large enough to lie the injured woman down and shelter her from the rain for the time being.

Surprisingly, while pondering about how to bring the woman back to town, just as you begin to think about finding some useable cart or wagon to use to carry the injured villager you've just rescued, your eyes coincide with what appears to be the tracks of a wagon's wheels drawn across the muddy ground accompanied by a number of footsteps. Judging from the prints, they seem to be rather fresh compared to that of the swamp hippo's.

As you eyes follow the trail left by what is likely wagon wheels, you notice that they lead straight for the shrine to the east surrounded by a swampy grove.

As you ponder about possible actions to do, you hear the distant rumble of thunder, and rain begins to fall at a slightly faster rate.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:08, Mon 19 July 2021.

Xiao Kang decided to do without that newly found, priceless treasure of a weapon - even if it was in good conditions (and it clearly wasn't) he had never been an archer decent enough to make good use of it.
In the future, some training into striking at range could turn out useful: he added it with a mental note to the ever-growing list of things to learn and earn (right next to 'controlling weather')

One last gaze at the dark sky and he shrugged as he felt the first droplets of rain hit his skin. Deciding he had done everything he could for the woman at the moment he gave a quick check to the tracks of people and wheels - at least to figure out if they were a caravan coming from outside the village or if they could be survivors gathering after the attack of the hippo.

In either case he followed them, heading towards the shrine himself at a brisk step: he didn't particularly mind the rain, but that wasn't a good reason to get more soaked than needed.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 14):

As you follow the cart's mud trail you eventually find yourself in front of what seems to be the shrine of Xiawang - The King of the Gorge. He is apparently a local deity to some villages who subsist on hunting and gathering of mushrooms - and many erect shrines in his name to pray for a bountiful hunt.

The shrine's interior is obscured by wooden sliding walls - and strangely, you see that the wagon has been pushed up against one of the walls, as though whoever pushed it there had been unloading a few things into the shrine. As you finally enter the refuge of the shelter of the shrine, you open the sliding door to find the menacing statue of Xiawang himself carved out of scented wood.

The two man tall statue depicts an extremely muscular fatherly looking man with a long moustache that hangs down to his hairy chest wearing a triumphant expression, wearing the hide of what is apparently a dead scaled bear - Wu Teng - which according to folklore was a terrible beast that terrorized the lands in ancient times. By Xiawang's hewing at its flesh, the Scaled Bear's divine blood spilled onto the earth which is according to legend lead to the birth of the many savage creatures in the world such as the Hippos, Tigers, and Rhinos...

What shocks you immediately as someone who had once made some offerings to Xiawang back in the day - is that the offering dishes in front of the shrine are all empty! Which is uncharacteristic for such a village - whose residents are sure to place offerings religiously.

Furthermore, messily placed about the shrine's floor are various bulging sacks and hunting tools - a small pot hung atop an extinguished campfire - alongside a fur bedroll. Other than these things, the shrine is completely empty.

You suddenly see a flash of thunder shine in from outside casting a ferocious shadows upon Xiawang's statue which makes the atmosphere of this shrine feel rather ominous.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:31, Tue 20 July 2021.

This was... strange: this shrine gave him more questions than answers. Still, with the savage roaring of thunder and lightning outside at least part of him was relieved to be investigating under a ceiling - and it was a much more comfortable part to listen to than the one that nagged at the back of his mind, reminding him of the surely coincidental connection between  Wu Teng and Hippos.

Taking care to keep his steps as light as possible he started looking around - the shrine wasn't big and didn't take long to explore.

After a quick survey to make sure nobody was hiding he went to check the on the pot and campfire - how old were they? How far could the last who used them be? Then he proceeded to examine the sacks scattered across the floor, at least superficially: he wanted to make sure bandits hadn't made a home base of the shrine - and if they were full of loot from the village it probably wouldn't take long to notice.

Finally he almost stepped back outside, but stopped and turned on a whim: those empty offering dishes just seemed wrong. He had neither specific offerings or proper incense sticks to burn for Xiawang, but had yet to see a shrine refuse coin. With a quick gesture he flicked two silver taels into the bowl - one for each moment of prayer: the first for the health of the woman he left at the village, the second to help him understand what happened in the village. Hunting for clues was still hunting, after all, no? Either way it couldn't hurt - except for his pockets.

Another moment of hesitation, then a third coin clinked into the bowl - this one for protection: he could never have enough luck on his side if he ended up face to face with the enraged Hippo.

The last place to look at was back outside, in the storm again: he wante to see if he could see the direction where the tracks continued before the rain washed away the last trace, as they clearly didn't stop here.
And he also wanted to check the wagon in the same way he did the sacks inside.

---

If it makes no sense as offering, feel free to mention what would be a reasonable amount and I'll adjust to it.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 16):

The pot seems to contain traces of some food - and you can faintly smell the scent of stewed dried mushrooms and wild turnips.

The campfire seems to contain some ash - and was likely extinguished quite early in the morning.

In the sacks you find a total of 22 silver taels, and large bundles of 510 copper cash. Other than that, you see a 12 pieces of silverware and 3 shabby boxes of jade. The bulk of the other sacks contain common cooking ingredients like garlic, ginger, shallots, turnips and rice - likely enough to prepare meals for one person for almost a month.

Another sack placed closer to the campfire reveals a set of fletching tools, alongside a quiver of 2 crossbow bolts.

As you place the taels in the bowl, hear another rumble of thunder - but one that is much softer.

As you emerge from the shrine, you notice that the rain is considerably gentler than before, and you catch the sight of tracks from the east side of the shrine heading into the swamp.

Meanwhile, the wagon appears to be completely empty apart from a bundle of rope.

Xiao Kang caught himself in the middle of the almost automatic motion of pocketing the money he found, barely stopping it midway. Old habits died hard.

The rest of the shrine was not particularly interesting, as could probably have guessed at the first glance - but at least it told him there was someone out there armed with a crossbow and, presumably, trained in its use.
Once outside he let his gaze wander back to the village - he had no real idea what sort of trouble he was going to get himself into, but as he was already here he might as well just see things through to the end.

With just a tinge of regret he grabbed the rope from the wagon, easing the bundle to carry it like a sash: resting on shoulder and opposing hip. He had no idea exactly how dangerous the swamp was going to be, but until he learned how to walk on murky, deceptive water this rope could still save his life - he'd return it later, with many excuses if necessary.

It wasn't the most comfortable sash he had ever worn, but he could slip free of it with a pretty swift motion if needed, so... better than nothing, probably?

Once so equipped, he set to following the tracks deeper into the swamp.

Nothing bad could possibly come from that.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 18):

You spend a few minutes following the tracks, and eventually you reach a small swampy clearing - which seems to have only been recently made into a clearing by some terrible force.

Before you in the slight rain is the sight of around 5 large trees that seem to have been forcefully knocked down - snapped from their bases.

And stuck at the bottom of a tree appears to be some grizzled but pale skinned strongman whose legs seem to be crushed by the trunk of a large fallen tree.

You can see that he is armored in furs and leather straps, and next to him seems to be a sack of his things and a destroyed crossbow.

He bears an extremely weary expression, but when he sees you, his eyes lighten up slightly as you hear him speak.

"You... you there...! Come close...!"

You can see in his face that he's desparately holding back from screaming in agony from the terrible state his body is in.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:52, Thu 22 July 2021.

He was getting closer to the Hippo. This was obvious, but not a good thing by any sane interpretation of 'good': these trees looked uprooted more recently than the village's homes.

Xiao Kang wasn't sure about the identity of the man: he dressed like a bandit - or, to be generous, a hunter. But he was clearly in need of help so any other consideration or suspicion would have to wait for later.

He approached the fur-and-leathers-clad man with an eye on the surroundings: he really, really wanted to believe the Swamp Hippo to big for sneakiness, but one could never be sure - and he read unpleasant stories even if it was hard to distinguish reality from fantasy.

"What happened?" He got closer, surveying the damage before risking to make things worse by carelessly moving the log. He didn't bother asking if he was okay: he clearly wasn't. "Any important wound I'm not seeing?" Even if his words were direct and not particularly gentle, his actions spoke louder: after checking for more injuries and making sure he could survive it he set to freeing him from the tree, at first trying to lift it enough for the other to crawl out with sheer force of muscle and, if that ended up not being enough, tying the rope for better leverage. "Who are you?" He had been collecting questions since he arrived in the village, and this was the first conscious person who could possibly have answers.

"Do you know what angered the Hippo?" A simple strategy, asking a direct question and hoping that the man would betray himself if he was at fault.

Crushed bones probably made it harder to hold a poker face up.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 20):

The man withdraws a strange dull black gem the size of a die used for gambling in the shape of a dodecahedron from his sleeve and hands it to you while whispering.

"Brandish... at Hippo... Cave... Northwest... Bring... to Four Yin Sect... Miefeng Mountain... Zhanbei... To Duan Jie..."

After speaking these few words, the man collapses and ceases breathing.

Should you check his pulse, you will discover that the beating of his heartbeat has ceased.

Xiao Kang accepted the small gem before he could even fully understand what was going on and found himself staring at the opaque surface with a mind full of question while the man talked.

And then, the guy died on him.

To no avail the young wannabe monk tried to reanimate the older man with all his tricks, hitting his chest in a steady rhythm to coax a few more heartbeats. He couldn't help but let a colorful curse escape his lips.
Still, first things first - whoever he was and for whatever reason he ended up here, the man just died and deserved at least a token of respect.

Emptying his mind and closing his eyes, Xiao Kang offered a quick prayer here like he just did for the other corpses, spending a few token minutes reciting the Heart Sutra as the man's soul headed to the wheel of reincarnation - even if he didn't have the time or means for funeral rites, he hoped this would help.

Then, he proceeded to explore the man's pockets with a callousness one wouldn't expect of a monk - but if he couldn't ask, any other hint he could find would be on the still-cooling corpse. As he searched he tried to make sense of what the man said - 'Brandish at hippo'? What, the gem? What was it supposed to do? It certainly didnt help this man!

After thoroughly searching for more clues he focused on what he had, examining the gem and hoping to glimpse at hints of what it was, then tried to remember what he knew of the places and people the man talked about: the Four Yin Sect, Miefeng Mountain and Duan Jie - he was pretty knowledgeable on the coming and going of the Zhanbei region.

He couldn't help but focus his gaze northwest - 'cave northwest', probably where the Hippo rested when it wasn't busy wrecking havoc through the neighborhood. Or he could do the sane thing and just return to town with the wounded woman - perhaps have a cup of plum wine before sleep. Hadn't he done enough already?

He was lying to himself, of course - unless the most recent findings proved it to be even more monumentally stupid than he assumed, he was already set to seek the cave.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:02, Fri 23 July 2021.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 22):

As you search the man's pockets, you find a small porcelain vial, alongside a wooden medallion made of blackwood on which the likeness of a snapping turtle is carved. Other than that, his other pouches produce a simple Hunting Knife and a total of 8 steel crossbow bolts.

By examining the Gem, you somehow feel something odd about it as though your focus is constantly being drawn into it, but breaks halfway. This feeling is rather hard to explain as it is rather mild, but perhaps the best way to put it is that: One twentieth of you seems to be falling into a dream in which you seem to fall into the darkness of the crystal that seems to suck in all light.

Based on your knowledge of Zhanbei, you have heard some rumors about Miefeng Mountain. Also known as the Mountain of Extinguishing Winds, it is known to be an extremely cold mountain to the north, where it is said that it is impossible for one to light a fire due to the perpetual strong winds there.

As for the Four Yin Sect, you've never heard of it, but it sounds rather ominous as it is said that those who follow the Devilish Dao often spend years tempering their techniques that harness the profound Yin nature of Qi - where terrible feats such as poison, decay and disintegration are but some of the many horrible arts practicioners of Yin are said to be capable of.

You think of the above matters as you head northwest, until you eventually find the slope of the marsh rising towards a rocky ground. What fills you with unease is that a number of trees towards the northwest appear to have been knocked down! And it is on this rocky ground that you notice that the wet rocky ground is of a strange crimson hue, and the faint scent of iron lingers in the rainy air.

Before you appears to be a large cave connected to a cliff from which you see water rapidly flow down from due to the rain.

Heading to Miefeng Mountains to seek a probably evil sect was definitely NOT on his list of 'fun things to do over the weekend'. And knowing the source, he wasn't sure he trusted the small gem to do anything good, either - even assuming it was supposed to DO anything and that something worked in the first place.
He absent-mindedly started playing with it and running it between fingers - maybe it'd have a stronger effect on the beast than on him and keep it distracted? He hoped it wasn't going to be anything more ominous than that, but had really no way of knowing.

This time he pocketed the man's belongings - he'd have a chance to examine the vial and to ask questions about the medallion once he was back in town.

As he reached the rocky ground the smell of iron hit his nostrils, more familiar than he cared to admit. If the ground was soft enough - or the hippo heavy enough - he set to seek the prints of the beast' front left foot.
If things were as he suspected, he'd find those to be bloodier than the surroundings.

Approaching the cave he peeked inside with a cautious gaze, a careful foot testing the soaked ground for stability and slipperiness. Was the chance of catching the hippo sleeping or as defenseless as it could be be worth the risk? He could probably raise hell outside and lure the hippo out - at least he'd avoid a fight in a cramped, slippery cave if it came to that?

Swallowing his worried feelings he set to explore the cave, trying to be as quiet as possible and if useful helping himself with the rope he was still carrying.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 24):

Your suspicions are proven correct as you notice a few cracks on the harder rocky ground with a vague diamond shaped depression upon which wet muddy prints can be just about seen - but quickly washed away from the downpour.

The cave thankfully has quite a firm ground which gives you much foothold, but is slightly slippery due to you being completely drenched in rainwater.

As you peek inside, you can barely see a thing - as it is pitch black, but you can clearly smell the foul smell of droppings, which indicates the likely presence of the Hippo.

After a few moments, you are surprised by the echo of a rather loud grunt, followed by sounds of shifting and slow plodding. It seems that the Hippo is awake and is slowly strolling towards the entrance of the cave!

Slow movements were good - a charging hippo wasnt the easiest thign to dodge, while this gave him time to be prepared.

Instead of pushing forward to meet the beast mid-cave he carefully backtracked step after step - until spotted he could earn some more seconds, and the more seconds he could earn the higher his chances of survival.
To be honest he hoped he'd be able to honor his Dharma Name with a nonviolent solution (what WAS that story from a faraway land about lions and thorns?), but couldn't overlook the piles of corpses and had to be ready for combat.

He focused on his breath as he tried to once again reach the rocky clearing outside - he couldn't help but be excited at the idea of the coming challenge, even with the risks considered. Not the line of thought of a normal, well-adjusted person... but a normal, well-adjusted person wouldn't be there in the first place.

Along with his breath and heartbeat he felt the familiar sensation of Qi gathering in his Dantian before circulating through his whole body - strong, sharp, metallic in sensation. Someone more skilled than him would probably have been able to imbue the stubborn resilience of metal into his own flesh and bones, with no outwardly visible effects - but he had to go with what worked and what he could do, and natural armor worked: he could feel the chitinous patches along his body enlarge, thicken and take on a dark metallic hue. Most hidden by his clothes, more obvious on the back of his hands.
Similarly he focused on strengthening his fingers - Hippos weren't known to have soft skins, and he didnt want to strike that reinforced hide with non-qi-reinforced fingers.

Done with everything he let the rope slide to the ground and prepared with the dark gem in hand, ready to brandish it at the beast - as the stranger said.

---

Depending on how much time he's sure to have before coming face to face with the Hippo, Xiao Kang will try to activate both Manifest Chitin and the 6 Qi version of Finger Striking Posture. If he's sure he'll have time for both he'll start with Finger Striking Posture, but if he isn't the priority goes to defense.

In reply to Xiao Kang (msg # 26):

As you prepare yourself, the light from the cave is cast upon the large hippo, which you recognize as the large swamp hippo - almost as large as an elephant but with armor-like like bony growths around its mouth.

You notice immediately that the hippo's front left foot is studded with numerous crossbow bolts, with fresh blood flowing in long black streaks across its dull colored hide.

It hobbles painfully and slowly towards the cave entrance, occasionally making weak moans as it trudges forward to the entrance.

It doesn't seem to notice your presence!

Eventually it approaches almost 5m of you, and you begin to hear its rather loud but rough breathing...!