The Let's Play Archive

Live a Live

by Xander77

Part 30: Kung Fu - Update # 1 - The Master Trains On The Mountain and Senses His End

Kung Fu Chapter, Part 1: The Master Trains On The Mountain and Senses His End



He has begun to feel the need of a suitable successor for his technique. His disciples train hard, but only one will come to harness their master's power.



A style of kung fu, generations old, is about to fade away, forever.



Kung fu... To properly control it, one's mind must be as still as a lake in the dead of night. When proper focus is applied, however, even the most placid of water can become destructive! Harden both body and mind, and you will know no equal, in heaven or on earth.





As the bird flies in the sky, and the fish swims in the river, so too does the master train on the mountain. From dawn to dusk he seeks perfection in mind, body, and soul. But he knows time is limited, and perfection may lie beyond his grasp.



He focuses before the stone, the one his master could not break, nor his master before him. The master steels his mind to be calm as the earth, focuses his body to be still as the mountain. Though his muscles and bones soften with each passing year, his technique only grows stronger. His fist lashes out.



The stone does not yield.

: It is as I expected... I've no longer any moments to spare for this. Before my time comes to an end, I must entrust one of strong body, and of strong mind...

Thus the Master begins his search for pupils, to inherit the art of his...



It is worth noting that the name we choose here is actually not the name of the character, but the name of his kung fu style. The main character's name is never given, so we'll just be calling him Ed Ma The Master. The default name literally translates to "heart mountain fist". "Fist" is generally used to denote that whatever is in question is a style of martial art, but I cannot for my life figure out a translation that doesn't sound completely convoluted. The best I've got is "Soul of the Mountain Kung Fu".

Of course, we're not beholden to that, because we're here to rename this junk! I'm giving the crowd until Saturday to pick out a name for the kung fu, so y'all better start now. Keep in mind that we're still limited to six characters, though.

As a head's up, I'm going to be taking a different approach to LPing this chapter. As full of cliches as it is, I adore it far too much to be snarky and comedic. I'm going to be playing this completely straight and cramming in my awful prose when I can. If it's not obvious, anything that sounds "narrative" in this update was my own writing, and just about anything not in dialogue from here on out will be my own addition. Hope nobody minds, but if you do just remember that this thread sat dead for two weeks, so obviously you guys can't mind that much. However, if it is absolutely unanimous that my writing style is beyond all hope, then I'll retool things in a jiffy and make it more palatable.