2.1 Along the Way

Flora's body felt weightless. She wasn't sure how long she'd been at the Scholar's Garden, mind empty, but she began to imagine she was somewhere else... everywhere else... in many places at once...

"It is the zeneport," a voice whispers.

"Axe?" Flora does not open her eyes.

"I am not Pangu's Axe." The voice is louder now, more confident, and clearly a woman's.

 

They spar. Flora isn't sure how she got outside, or how long she's been sparring with this woman, but they fight hard. She's not a kid anymore. The Resolute Fist is not going easy on her.

"Don't lose focus," the woman warns her.

"Who are you?"

"I am Sun Young Kim, your ancestor."

"...What?"

Sun Young Kim scores a hit against Flora. "Don't lose focus!"

 

"Are you an ageless dryad, then? You don't look much older than me."

"I was only human, a lowly disciple of Resolute Fist, a local painter."

This isn't real, Flora realizes. This is some kind of vision. She was warned about these. Sun Young Kim represents something inside herself, possibly something she must defeat...

"No," Sun Young Kim responds directly to her thoughts. "I am here to give you my blessing. The zeneport. Though I could not achieve it in my lifetime, I can judge you worthy."

"Oh. Cool. Why do I need it, anyway?"

"You will never reach Dong Huo without it."

"What do I need to do to get your blessing then?"

"You've already done it. But," she pauses, as if considering whether she should speak at all, "beware Shen Su. He knows you have angered forces beyond our understanding. Forces that may rip you from the path. You must not let them. You must be brave."

"No problem," Flora says, as she has had the brave trait since she was a toddler.

 

"Then go now, Flora. Before it is too late. Do what must be done. Save my home."

 

 

 

 

Flora snaps out of it. She has never left the little building. She's still floating in the air, though.

 

"You've done it!" Ho Sung Kim laughs softly, when Flora zeneports to him. "I knew you were the one."

"I thought I was fighting someone who called herself Sun Young Kim. Do you, um...?"

"Know anyone by that name? Yes, I do. It's a common name passed through my family."

"She said I was her descendant..."

 

"Shang Simla is a special place, Flora. Sometimes our ancestors walk among us... quite literally."

Flora frowns. "How?"

"That answer is beyond my understanding. Come... your next trial lies beneath the Terracotta Army. It will lead you into part of the Dragon Cave. Unfortunately, Master Shen Su holds the key to the chamber you must enter."

"Right. Him." Flora frowns, recalling Sun Young's warning. "Do I need to challenge Master Su to a duel or something?"

"I don't know what he will ask of you. I will show you the path to his house."

 

 Ho Sung Kim shows Flora the path, but she must walk it alone.

 

The second Flora reaches Shen Yu's porch, the light drizzling rain turns to hail.

Shen Yu does not flinch. "You have angered Meng Mihuntang," he growls, "you have disturbed sacred items that belong to her and if you do not make amends, we will all be punished."

"Well show me the path to HER house and I'll say I'm sorry!" Flora snaps, as she flails to shield herself from the falling ice.

"Meng Mihuntang is a fearsome shenlong, a bringer of rains. She gave my family life and in return we worship her, but your acts have sent her into a rage and she does not hear us."

"Well she sounds like a c***."

Shen Yu's eyes widen angrily. "I should throw you from this mountain."

"You should give me the key or whatever so I can get on with punching this undead mummy for you."

"Do you assume you are the only one who can defeat Dong Huo?"

"I don't assume anything! You guys act like it's urgent to find a chosen one though. So can you afford to reject me and wait for some other Flora to fall in your laps?"

"First you will promise to honor the dragon."

"Yeah yeah, going into the dragon cave..."

Shen Yu heaves a heavy sigh. "...I'm not talking about the cave. I am talking about honoring Meng Mihuntang."

"I don't think Meng-Meng deserves any honoring if she's going to punish you over things I've done."

"Then you do not care if we are harmed."

"Fine!" Flora groans. "What do you want me to do?"

Shen Yu's cold look turns a bit flustered. He hoped to be able to dismiss this Chosen One, but she has passed every test, and shows willingness to do whatever is asked of her despite the verbal insolence. "Just... remember what I've said. When the time comes. Show respect."

 

"I'll try... but I don't know what kind of respect a dragon wants. I've never met one."

 

"I don't know what you disturbed that was hers, but she'll want something of similar value."

 

"So a gemstone or... something? I sold a lot of those."

 

"The value must be personal. You must sacrifice something to Meng Mihuntang. Something that means as much to you as what you desecrated meant to her."

 

"But I don't know what I desecrated. Or what it means to her."

"Nor I. If we are lucky, she will tell you." Without further harassment, Shen Yu gives Flora the keystone she needs, along with a map. "These tunnels connect several tombs. Follow the route I've marked for you. These locations house the keystones that will unlock chests in Al Simhara. Unfortunately, the Landgraab family of Champs Les Sims stole some of these chests long ago, and we have never been able to retrieve them. When you have the keystones, you must go to France, infiltrate their museums and..."

 

Flora's eyes glaze over.

 

"...they also have several sarcophagi in their holdings," Shen Yu's tone picks up sharply, forcing Flora to refocus on what he's saying, "Remember, Dong Huo will be too powerful to seal if even one of his lieutenants is left still standing before you face him."

The hail has not stopped, and Shen Yu has not moved to allow her to take shelter in his house. He obviously does not intend to. Flora wants to cry. "Okay."

 

 

 The creepy tunnels beneath the Terracotta Army are full of riddles and dangers.

Sometimes she hears footsteps receding, away from her, but when she calls out no one answers.

 

 Wary of the mummies that could be lurking, and of the vampires that supposedly infested these tunnels at one point, Flora does not allow herself to sleep. She uses her mother's Invigorating Elixir instead, and presses forward.

 

The magic axe makes quick work of the piles of rubble that litter the corridors. Flora is scared, every time she clears the way, afraid she'll knock some load-bearing things loose and collapse these old structures down on her head.

I wouldn't let that happen, the axe reassures her.

 

Flora pockets some treasures along the way. 

 

Taymur assured her these items "respawned" and "moved" anyway, and she has seen evidence of that, as she's been forced to backtrack in these tunnels quite a bit. There's something about these tombs that just isn't right or stable.

 

 

"Ah, the most dangerous of traps," she quips, upon encountering a mirror, "facing oneself."

"These came from somewhere under the hot springs? Really?" Relic Merchant Liang Yat Sen rubs his forehead, amazed by Flora's audacity, astounded by her tales of strange, wondrous mazes beneath his city. "Yes of course I can sell them. No they're not cursed. Shen Su and his whole family are a bunch of weirdos. Nobody goes down into those tunnels to enjoy these things, and... his... reanimated corpse certainly doesn't deserve to keep them. Let's just profit and be happy."

Then it's off to Egypt again, where the first thing Flora does is f*** around and find out with a snake.

...Just kidding. She keeps it.

Taymur is unavailable today, so Flora deals with local guide, Dalida Barakat, who wants her help with a "simple matter" before she'll do her part in all this.

 

 So what does Dalida need?

 

Well. Dalida Barakat lost the Insanity Relic. 

 

Wow. Okay.

The tombs in Al Simhara spook Flora out a lot more than the ones in Shang Simla.

 

 

 

 

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Etc.: Sun Young Kim was the mother of one of the heirs in my very first legacy, making her Flora's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. Every fresh copy of Shang Simla includes Sun Young Kim, obviously, but I usually pretend this isn't the case, as it would be a continuity error. She should be long dead!

Flora was randomly matched to spar against her as part of the Dragon Cave quest line though, so I just had to include it.

 

Ho Sung is Sun Young's brother, but the Ho Sung Flora is speaking to here is, in-story, just a distant relative or descendant of that sim... or so he's implying. 

The pics with Shen Yu were not posed at all. He was just standing there looking stone cold while Flora screamed about the hail. So I decided I needed to use those pics somehow too. 

Anyway. Alchemy and adventuring? I recommend it! There is no better way to prepare! I'd say that alchemy breaks adventuring, but... completing all the tombs takes forever even without having to stop for sleep, and creating those potions is time consuming as well, so I feel the rewards are well-earned. 

 

Friendship potions trivialize needing to get locals on your side for various quests, happiness potions prevent the adventurer from becoming lonely, and with enough invigorating elixirs Flora doesn't have to stop to sleep in a tent in the tombs. She can squeeze the most out of her time adventuring.