A Stranger Returns

[DoF Archive]

Date: 6/12/2001 12:37 AM Central Daylight Time
From: OldManZin


Zin Wan returned to that wild and woolly place called Rhy'Din Towne with more than a bit of apprehension. As a native of distant Cathay, Zin was a stranger in the strange land of Rhy'Din, and that made him nervous as he moved through the narrow streets cautiously. He stuck out like a sore thumb even in as wild and diverse a
place as Rhy'Din Towne, that infamous "crossroads to everywhere."

The old man moved swiftly through the cobblestone streets jammed with people and beings of every size shape and color. Jutting above a skyline of shabby shops, heavily guarded storehouses and massive Guild Halls, one building seemed to dominate every other.

As he approached the domineering structure, The old man could feel the ebb and flow of Chi energies surrounding the elaborate four story building known as the Red Dragon Inn, the very source of a mysterious energy called the Nexus. Both consciously and unconsciously the Red Dragon Inn was the center of it all, the eye of a sprawling and at times uncontrollable Typhoon.

It was almost blind chance that Zin heard about the violent sports that went on in the Red Dragon Inn. The Duel of Fists seemed a natural fit. Using fighting abilities honed in the distant lands of the vast and mysterious Middle Kingdom, he tried to make a name for himself in the notoriously brutal Rings of Honor. Eventually, he made it to Jade Rank.

All seemed to be going well, when Old Man Zin heard some pretty wild rumors about efforts to shut down the dueling sports around the Red Dragon Inn. For a time, it seemed to work. The old man saw attendance in the Arena and elsewhere drop dramatically, and the betting rings which lived off the often violent matches soon fell apart.

With no matches to fight the old man soon went back to his adopted home of Tiny China, in the Kingdom of Meldom on the far southern coast of Rhy'Din. He lived quietly for a few months with his teenage daughter and for a short time completely forgot about the so-called Duel of Fists.

Until the rumors started again. Like vultures circling a fresh kill, people came back to the bloody Duels. Old Man Zin boarded a ship headed to Rhy'Din Towne, where he found himself pushing open the doors of the Red Dragon Inn once more. Broke and stripped of his personal honor long ago, Old Man Zin was hungry again... Hungry for blood and glory... Hungry for a Duel.

Deep in the pit of his stomach, a Tiger snarled.



Zin Wan
Tiny China Resident
[
Jade Rank Fighter
of the
DoF