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Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

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[X] Research Disciple 807

I'm going for this because I think we could suprise him with a challenge based on his two primary areas. He helps out regularly with wardings, so a trial where he constructs wards for us to pass seems possible, and I think we could do that. I also think he might well choose dealing with spirits if offered, and again Ling Qi is suprisingly skilled in that sort of challenge area.

804 I think is likely to have more stealth specialised arts, and will be better until we actually do some study of the stealth arts from the archive. So if the challenge could be stealth based we'd be better against disciple 807.

On disciple 812, loud and vulgar for current imperial sensibilities isn't necessarily meaning bad and I'm not convinced Ling Qi's own compositions are considered the height of imperial taste, and are often noted as somwhat gloomy. It's entirely possible that "loud and vulgar" is just her personal taste (important for cultivation). Besides which Ling Qi's most notable composition is her song for Meizhen (which I don't want to share in public) and required a lot of emotion for us to construct, so if she goes for a challenge of composition I'm not certain we'd win.

Plus 807 seems like more of a fun challenge that we could interact with as players rather compared to 812.

EDIT: made some minor amendments.
 
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yrsillar said:
Disciple 804: Mou Shuang
Age 17 Cultivation Green 1/Bronze 1
Elements: Wind/Water
A quiet and unassuming young man, polite to a fault and seemingly well regarded by other disciples. Sociable, seen mingling with other disciples regularly, spoken to by Gu Xiulan, who agrees with the assessment. Scion of an emerald seas baronial clan. Member of the Sect's scout forces. Specialties lie in reconnaissance and infiltration. Generally regarded as a weak duelist, those who have worked with him nonetheless value his contributions. Primarily uses spiritual arts and unarmed fighting style. Is known to have a bound spirit of the third realm fused with his shadow.

Statblock
Qi: C25
Combat Perception: B20
Phys Hit: C25
Spirit Pen. B
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I bet we get a stealth challenge and lose if we challenge this guy.
yrsillar said:
Disciple 807: Xu Zhen
Age 17 Cultivation Green 1/ Bronze 1
Elements: Metal/Earth
Youngest son of a Emerald Seas baron. Dour and unsociable personality, but dutiful and punctual to a fault. Is easily flustered, according to Gu Xiulan. Known for creating and using single use defensive talismans as part of his personal fighting style, as well as regularly helping with upkeep of the Sects defensive wardings. Fights primarily using a staff, and is known particularly for his ability to unravel the trickery of spirits.

Statblock
Combat perception: B
Phys Armor: C20
Spirit Armor: B15
Phys Hit: C20
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Need more info but maybe we've got a shot against this guy..?

yrsillar said:
Disciple 812: Yu Nuan
Age 16 Cultivation Green 1/Bronze 1
Elements: Fire/Wind (music?)
A taciturn and violent girl, surrounded by ill rumor. Member of the previous years graduating class, entering at the bottom of the rankings as a second realm. Either common born or the child of a common cultivator, rumor is unsure. Briefly spotted in the archive by Li Suyin, in the bestiaries section. Practices musical arts with large five stringed lute. Generally considered loud and vulgar in her compositions. No known bound spirits

Statblock
Health: B
Speed: C25, Init. B
Phys Hit: B10
Spirit Hit: C25
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She'd make a great nemesis let's fight her

[X] Research Disciple 812
 
lioli said:
I sincerely doubt Meizhen's Domain is that advanced.
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To address this specific point without undercutting your other parts because I basically agree with them, we know she and Liling have higher rank Domain stats because in the old thread their domain weapon dice were higher and/or Yrsillar outright told us they were.
 
[X] Research Disciple 812

I'm not really all that hung up on the music fight aspect. However, I think that she is the person we have the strongest chance at defeating, either in a duel or a musical competition. Such a challenge doesn't reveal anything special about us or how comfortable we are in stealth and it is a pretty predictable challenge. No one is going to bat an eye at our challenge, and many may actually think that we are doing the right thing knocking Yu Nuan down a peg.

It is the challenge that is least likely to cause waves and ripples in our potential social allies, and the challenge that is not likely to reveal anything new about us while we should be favored to win. She was in the year that Chu Song was in, and only a year older than us. Which means that she has only had an additional year to develop her skills rather than the 2 that the other potential challengers have had.

She doesn't have a known spirit beast and is looking at the bestiary section of the Library. This speaks to me that she is looking at getting a spirit animal soon, one that is suited to her and her style. If she is getting a spirit beast then the time to strike would be just before or just after she has bound said spirit beast.

Out of all the potential challengers we have seen, she seems to be the weakest and the one that has the fewest amount of allies. Let's snap up this chance.
 
@lioli Here's where I'm talking about:

yrsillar said:
Singing Mist Blade Attacks vs Meizhen, Implacable Edge, Terror Phantasm
(Dexterity 6 + Expression 7) *1 + Meridians 9 (SCS 3, FVM 2, AE 2, FSS 2) + Passives 0 = 22
2 1 5 7 4 3 2 7 6 2 10 9 1 6 9 10 7 6 6 9 7 5. 9 successes

Meizhen 48 dice
5 10 8 5 4 2 1 5 1 9 3 1 5 2 9 9 10 8 3 8 1 10 1 2 10 1 7 10 7 3 4 2 4 3 8 7 4 9 3 6 9 5 9 5 9 9 5 8. 21 successes
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She was at least one dot higher than Ling Qi, so it stands to reason she's higher rank Domain natively. Which fits with the 19 week lead thing as well.
 
[X] Research Disciple 812
Getting a music rival is going to be interesting, even though it's probably going to have us failing the contest. Not getting 8GSS next turn is going to be painful though.

Erebeal said:
Lol Suyin has more qi than Kang. Looks like someone skimped out on his foundation~
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She also got more Qi than it is possible to have in yellow unless it's not capped at C.

Likewise, Xiulan somehow got B in Wits and Dex in less than a month since she uncapped those. It's probably better I don't get started on Ji Rong.

yrsillar said:
3: Liao Zhu
604: Wen Cao
640: Bao Qingling
652: Ruan Shen
736: Bian Ya
795: Liu Su
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Interesting that Ruan Shen, with his public cultivation of Green 5, is only ranked 652. I guess @yrsillar is having wide cultivation disparities within the same rank tiers at higher ranks.

Alectai said:
Actually, on further thought.

[X] Research Disciple 807

We are a very strong counter to what has been declared as his build. He's got an elemental build that's all about finding a good spot and making it inassailable, while Ling Qi is all about getting into someone's personal space despite their best efforts and doing things to them. She's a pressure combattant, which means one-shot consumable talismans as a defensive measure aren't the best choice against her (Because Ling Qi is countered by a strong passive defense), and if he decides to make it a "Dare you attack my demonic fortress?" We're good at bypassing and unravelling defensive formations.

Beyond that, if he makes it a straight duel, his elemental spread doesn't suggest particularly great speed... And even though he's been hinted as being good at dispels--Ling Qi literally managed to tank an expensive consumable geared to collapse the magic of a Green 4 through Traveller's End--and this guy lacks the speed to stop us from getting some distance and winding up to Traveller's End.

More importantly, based on his description, he's probably not the sort to take defeat personally. While Yu Nuan is.
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I mean, I am voting for someone I think we'll lose against, but you are forgetting that the guy is specifically good when it comes to dispel. His whole schtick is countering Ling Qi's schitck, and Ling Qi doesn't have any Resist art yet.
BungieONI said:
Or just shiteloads of Way.
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Ling Qi had a shitload of Way... and that's +3 or so.
Humbaba said:
[X] Research Disciple 807

I'm going for this because I think we could suprise him with a challenge based on his two primary areas. He helps out regularly with wardings, so a trial where he constructs wards for us to pass seems possible, and I think we could do that. I also think he might well choose dealing with spirits if offered, and again Ling Qi is suprisingly skilled in that sort of challenge area.
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... He is the one who is going to choose the challenge. He is also flat out better than Ling Qi is at those things.
 
[x] Research Disciple 812

804 is someone we can probably beat in a fight. He's got no reason to duel us and given our own stealth focus has perfect political cover to challenge us in such a contest. If his B20 perception is any indication, he soundly outperforms Ling Qi's stealth, which isn't properly 3rd realm yet. His perception is better than our stealth, his stealth is probably better than our perception, and he's got a spirit which appears suited to actively aiding his stealth attempts whereas we do not. Give us 3-4 months and I'd be more confident in this challenge.

807 is someone I expect we could beat in a fight, despite specializing in dispel which is a vulnerability of ours if anything is. Still a real risk of failure, especially if they decide to pull out their more potent 1-use talismans for some reason. However, it's not obvious what other challenges would be on the table while competing against him either, and my read of him suggests a firmer spread of secondary capabilities than we have, with his perception in particular being peer-level with our stealth. Too risky to commit with our current level of knowledge and general inability to reliably leverage secondary specialties.

812 we can probably beat in a fight, but there's no certainty there. Music is the most obvious secondary challenge, and it's the area in which Ling Qi is qualitatively most capable. The girl's personality also seems like it would test Ling Qi's Composure in an antagonistic context, which serves my meta gaming purposes. Finally, if there is a fight, I fully expect her to put her physical hit B10 to use in smacking Ling Qi in the face with her lute. Which is hilarious.
 
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Arkeus said:
She also got more Qi than it is possible to have in yellow unless it's not capped at C.

Likewise, Xiulan somehow got B in Wits and Dex in less than a month since she uncapped those. It's probably better I don't get started on Ji Rong
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@yrsillar has said on discord that those things are really more fuzzy than the mechanics imply.

Though I do agree that Suyin's qi srems rather high for someone who is only late yellow and a commoner and not snorting super pills like us.
 
Erebeal said:
@yrsillar has said on discord that those things are really more fuzzy than the mechanics imply.

Though I do agree that Suyin's qi srems rather high for someone who is only late yellow and a commoner and not snorting super pills like us.
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Something to think about of course, she had troubles with her physical cultivation, intentional delays and the like. She probably spent that time actually cultivating qi.

Plus fuzzy wuzzy duzzy.
 
yrsillar said:
"Unlikely," Li Suyin replied with a frown. "Um… it might be a little arrogant to say, but aside from Yan Renshu and Fu Xiang, none of them are my match either…"

Yan Renshu was the sticking point. Like Gu Xiulan he was certainly underranked. Ling Qi worried that he would challenge Li Suyin just to spite her honestly.
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A detail, but why is it bad if Suyin gets challenged by Yan Renshu? It means losing 1 rank, which is obviously not something that really matters, and it also means having the opportunity to stretch her production muscle, which is something good.

Maybe I am being weird here @yrsillar, but it seems like Yan Renshu challenging Li Suyin would be doing her a favor?
 
Arkeus said:
A detail, but why is it bad if Suyin gets challenged by Yan Renshu? It means losing 1 rank, which is obviously not something that really matters, and it also means having the opportunity to stretch her production muscle, which is something good.

Maybe I am being weird here @yrsillar, but it seems like Yan Renshu challenging Li Suyin would be doing her a favor?
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Regardless of the rank changing, CP, yadda yadda, in the case of Suyin being challenged and Renshu winning that means in Ling Qi's head that Suyin was basically targeted and the defeat meant to spite Ling Qi. The scale of the consequences is immaterial.

Ling Qi doesn't like seeing her friends lose, is basically what that line says.
 
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