Mad Monkey Style

After his meeting with the Angel, Bo-Jing consulted with Salt regarding how they would return home. Salt assured him that she had learned much about the arcane workings of the teleportation room. If they wished to return to the familiar surroundings of Banua, she could accomplish that with very little chance of error.

Very little chance that they would be transported underneath Banua, embedded in solid rock. Like 1 chance in a hundred.

An alternative that offered greater, but more attenuated risk, would be the assist the sailors who were marooned on the island. They knew they could repair their ship, but had lost many of their crew. Bo-Jing's skills would be most welcome. The Captain of the ship would make him his first mate, giving him full authority over the ship whenever the Captain was not on deck. The sailors welcomed assistance in repairing their ship and gathering supplies but were fully willing to fulfill these tasks by their own labor, leaving Bo-Jing, Salt, and their friends time to explore the beautiful island.

The island was small but incredibly varied so a day's walk would always thrill the senses in a new way-- waterfalls, luscious flowering gardens, delicious fruit, the songs of birds, all hinting at something even more purely beautiful and soul-enriching-- Bo-Jing mulled over the angel's suggestion that maybe he was home. 

And then one day, Bo-Jing, Bang-qiu and Salt came upon an old man in a sunny clearing, beset upon by two horned giants. Bo-Jing leapt up and hovered in the air, firing arrows at the monsters, while Salt attacked them with her magic. But these monsters had their own magic and also took to the air, drawing their huge serrated blades. This combat suited Bo-Jing very well. He drew his flaming sword and fought both enemies at once. Salt supported him, firing magic missiles into the monsters' eyes. 

The heroes killed the monsters and received the congratulations of the old man who surprised them with a display of his own martial prowess. "You are formidable and honorable warriors. At the risk of immodesty, I assure you that those monsters offered no real threat to me, but this not take away from your righteous valor in coming to the defense of a seemingly defenseless stranger."

He offered to teach them his secrets, "Because, if your life goes the way I pray it does, you will be old one day, and may wander into the forest without your sword."

Bo-Jing, Bangqiu, and Salt agreed, and stepped into a kung-fu training montage . . .