Shards of Awakening

Just found this and at a very good time to given the bonus to dream talent that just popped up. I wonder if there"s a way to aspect arts that we run across to dream. If so it would probably require a letter to daddy until we are a lot higher up.

I'm enjoying the slice of life feeling so far but I do feel that Mei Mei was right about how combat is going to suck after the truce ends especially since we have someone with greater talent and a social dao building a faction against us that can use both hate and the many valuable artifacts that could be stolen after we get beaten up to recruit people.

Looks like the last month is going to have to get doubled down on combat skills
 
Jade green eyes lock with hers and a face that's almost painfully beautiful smiles. "Hi, I'm Quan Jia, who are you?" Xiao Lien's heart thumps painfully in her chest and it feels like she's falling.
So I've been rereading the quest and I think my eyes skipped over this paragraph my first time around.

Xiao Lien possible future gf?
 
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Xiao Lien possible future gf?
To me looks more like a Mei Mei and Quan Jia's mother situation, a parallel between generations.

Or possible waifu. Fox girl is always best girl. Jia didn't show much attraction to any genre, just putting people as "how comfortable they are to sleep on". Between the younger generation, Xiao Lien is in the highest position if I am not wrong? Even with a "potential to grow higher" added from Jia.
 
XP Spending:
+1 Qi (25 - 25 total)
+1 Cultivation (5pts to go - 30 total)
+1 Potency (10pts, 40 total)
+1 Resilience(10 pts, 50 total)
3 left over.
The winning plan has 3 xp left over. Where are those going?
@dmclain2 I think the 3 xp left over from chargen are still just floating around. Could that possibly float into DEJ or SGS from the dream realm? 👀

Unrelated: how are Daoist names earned? And what's our dad's?

...

Edit: Guys we should ask our senior disciples about the Dream Lady
"Three years," Zheng De muses as he reaches out for his pill, "has Lady Shifting Sands succeeded then?"


"The Queen is dead, long live the Queen," is the only response Tang Huan gives, and Zhang De supposes it is enough.
 
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@dmclain2 I think the 3 xp left over from chargen are still just floating around. Could that possibly float into DEJ or SGS from the dream realm? 👀

Unrelated: how are Daoist names earned? And what's our dad's?

Put the points into a turn vote and I'll apply them from there.

I think turn 6 will start with an excerpt on Daoist Names. Shaped Rose Quan Jin.
 
Tea and Incivility Turn 5 Part 4
[] A war of words and civility.

Fabrics stolen from the Dawn ripple in concert with the stately waltz played by an orchestra of spectral figures. Spirits chosen for the blending of colors they offer dance steps older than rhythm. Waves of crimson crashing against cliffs of azure. Silver leaves blossoming from an ebony branch. A star shattering into seven colors as it crashes to earth.

A girl, younger than the morning dew, leans lightly against a balustrade and watches as myth and history play out wordlessly below her. A crone, older than eternity, sits with legs crossed in midair and watches the girl. Between them, fragments spark on dissonant notes, flutter on ungainly wings, and dissolve amidst contradiction.

The girl sips from a saucer filled with a viscous silvery liquid and waits. The crone ponders the ineffable and then speaks, "two sides of a [Dream] are we, one ever in orbit to the other. Yet so stark our differences have never been."

"A progenitor in seclusion. A Court divided," the girl straightens, eyes shifting from the Consumption of Sapphire and toward her counterpart. "Concepts claimed. Battle lines drawn. Is then conciliation still to be sought?"

"No." The crone's mask shimmers. A crimson eye blinks. Disappears. "Oppositional are we now, where once in complement we stood."

"Changed by Interlopers. Given to divide what had once danced in concert," Crimson flickers between strands of dark hair. The girl smiles. A vicious smile. "A third option yet exists."

"An avalanche to bury a solitary sapling." The crone disagrees, "amidst the mantle of Empire, only coexistence purchases survival."

"An ancient place, softened for mortal palate," the girl sneers. "Such is the Path of Dissolution. Of forgetting."

Knotted silvery hair flares as the crone shakes her head, "A welcome brings Novelty. Novelty sows seeds of new growth. Timeworn edifice becomes the soil for Renewal."

"Of change you speak. Of destruction you promise." Tendrils of golden sand wrap around the girl's bare feet as anger grows. "The Arts of a thousand subjects winnowed to winter's bare soil."

"A reliquary: to beasts now extinct, to tribes returned to wandering." Flecks of ebony swirl amidst gold and sand stills. "Worth is in use."

A thousand crimson eyes burn bright as the girl hisses. "Worth is in existence. In memory."

"Thus are lines drawn and Concepts claimed." The crone muses. Sighs with fleeting regret. "Thus is War offered."

"Thus is War accepted," a scowl twists the girl's face into Nightmare.

"The spoils of War: a barrier of Emerald." The crone provides the reward.

"The field of Battle: that which lies twixt Dream and Waking." The girl provides the stage.

"Until a victor is chosen. Until defeat is conceded," the two speak in harmony for the last time.

"For what is a Dream without the Dreamer?"

"For what is a Dreamer without the Dream?"

This was, I think, the least straightforward of the potential choices, but perhaps the most relevant from a plot standpoint.

So to offer an incentive: I'll give 10 XP (to be spent however) to either a poster or the thread as a whole if they nail the underlying issues of this conversation.

-[] Has Dai Qiao's forest grown? It certainly looks darker and more… menacing. Perhaps now was a good time to stop by. Before things explode in violence... or weirdness… or whatever…

Quan Jia had expected the usual handful of relatively mundane things as she had walked out of her front door that morning. Blue sky. Fluffy Clouds. Fried Eggplant… I'll have to thank Meng Chao again for that… and maybe send frowny chef to get the recipe… The sun disappearing behind dark, looming trees as she had approached Dai Qiao's forest really hadn't been one of them. Nor had the foreboding that had risen in the back of her mind as she had continued walking amidst the growing gloom. Someone's been busy, it seems.

Vine Attack: DC 4 - Physical Defense

9d10 = 07 07 07 04 03 04 01 04 08 = 4 successes

Her head tilts to the side as a thorn wrapped vine shreds through now empty space. Well, that at least was predictable… is Dai Qiao really this violent? The next vine splashes harmlessly off of a thin layer of sand and Quan Jia frowns. This really seems kind of rude… someone should say something…

"Why is Mei Mei never around when anyone else needs scolding?" She mumbles to herself. Shrugs. Grins. "Come to think of it, I can do a pretty good Mei Mei impression… so just you wait Dai Qiao and I'll give you a lecture you'll never forget."

Vine Attack: DC 4 - Physical Defense

9d10 = 08 02 03 04 04 06 09 09 08 = 4 successes

Vines whip into sand, carving deep furrows in her defenses, but fail to pierce through. Quan Jia humms thoughtfully as she hops languidly over a patch of forest floor shivering with the motion of roots writhing beneath it. This is actually not bad…

A concussive force crashes into her chest, but instead of stumbling she flows lazily backwards on a thin layer of sand. Momentum bleeds as she slides gracefully and a golden eyebrow raises in amusement as a rain of razor sharp bark peppers the ground where she'd just stood. Exploding trees?... so cool.

Vine Attack: DC 4 - Physical Defense

9d10 = 04 01 01 07 03 10 04 08 10 = 4 successes

Notted eyes blink open from whorled trunks, spit viscous, sizzling, sap, and close. Sand melts, glass shatters to the ground, and Quan Jia smiles. Forget scolding… this was great… just like those courses pops used to make for me…Alas, all good things must end, and this one ends just as Quan Jia begins gathering more sand about herself.

A strident, angry voice calls out, "if you think I'll just let you-." Cuts off as a rather frazzled looking Dai Qiao approaches. A crimson flush suffuses her friend's cheeks as their eyes meet and she starts babbling , "Quan Jia? What are- I thought you- I didn't think-."

"This place is really cool," Quan Jia happily interrupts said babbling. Any consideration of scolding her friend having long since vanished from her mind. "It's like getting to go through an obstacle course and then seeing a friend at the end."

"After what those two said…" her friend trails off. Frowns. Continues. "I didn't think anyone would be visiting."

"Wouldn't all of this just make more people want to visit?" her head tilts in honest confusion. "And why didn't you think I'd come visit?"

"It's not that- I don't blame-" Dai Qiao takes a deep breath. "I just seemed like you were busy with other things and…"

"We still see each other around though, right?" was this a part of friendship she hadn't considered?

"It's not- I just thought you were being polite…" her friend shrugs, looking intensely uncomfortable.

"What, no… eww… that sounds like something that pig would do," Quan Jia scowls a bit at the thought. "We're friends, right?"

"Yes," her friend nods slowly.

"Right," Quan Jia agrees. "And friends should make time for each other, right?"

"It's not- I don't want to-," her friend stutters.

"Right," Quan Jia agrees again. "But friends should say when something's bothering them too, right?"

When no response comes but an embarrassed look, Quan Jia grins, "well, we can work on that later… but first, how did you make all of this really cool stuff?"

"Oh, umm…" a mote of confidence seems to grow as her friend focuses on the spitting tree. "I got lost in the library… trapped on one of the staircases until I found this weird room full of skulls and… maybe it's easier to meet him?"

With those words, a book, easily a foot tall, and twice as wide appears on the ground beside Dai Qiao. The book opens partway, revealing sharp, metallic teeth in an almost comical parody of a smile, "Greetings Mistress Dai, friend of Mistress Dai, I am Seventh Amber Grimoire."

"So cool," Quan Jia whispers, her face lighting up in near unrestrained glee. "I'm Quan Jia. I've never met a talking book before."

Grim… yes that was a perfect name… Grim's teeth interlock perfectly as they snap shut in indignation, "I am no mere book you squalling child. I am the last and greatest of the reliquaries of the Infinite Crafter Shen Hao and I will not stand to be insulted by one such as you."

"Seventh Amber," her friend's voice is a mix of chiding and pleading, but it is enough to halt the book in his tracks. "She didn't mean it as an insult… and you know how you look."

"Very well, Mistress Dai. This once, I shall overlook this rudeness," pages ruffle as Grim sighs in acceptance.

"So the library has talking umm... " Quan Jia trails off, an eyebrow raised at Grim.

"A grimoire is repository of knowledge separated from its mundane kin by virtue of the knowledge contained within," Grim's teeth clack in satisfied arrogance as he answers.

"Seventh Amber contains all of Infinite Crafter Shen Hao's knowledge of spirit-crafting." Dai Qiao jumps in, before Quan Jia's teasing grin can turn to teasing words. "He's been helping me shape böge into defenses…"

"It's not an obstacle course?" disappointment flashes for a moment until it's interrupted by another thought, "wait, what do you mean defenses?"

"This group of girls said some things… about me, about you…" her friend sighs hesitantly, "that they'd hurt me if I didn't stay away from you… that I wasn't worth anyone's time and that you'd forget about me anyway… that it'd be easier if I kept my head down."

"And you built all this in a month?" Quan Jia decides to let the first part go, for the moment, in favor exclaiming over how cool that was. "That's amazing."

"Yeah?" Dai Qiao asks, even as her lips curve in a small, shy smile.

"My mistress is already a most skilled Speaker for her age and under the instruction of Seventh Amber Grimoire, will become a most potent Shaper as well." Grim's smugness made it hard, but for her friend, she'd restrain from teasing him… for now at least.

"Ooh, I forgot to- um… since you're here, do you want to come in for tea?" her friend's hands wring somewhat nervously as she offers the invitation.

"Can Grim drink tea?" well, she'd tried.

"My name is Seventh Amber Grimoire," metal squeals against metal as Grim gnashes his teeth together. "Only my mistress is allowed the familiarity to shorten it."

"Is that a no?" she smirks first at the book and then grins at her friend, "and I'd love to. In fact, I've got a new frowny chef, so if you like mango mixed with smoked meat… no, even if you don't, you're coming to dinner tonight."

"Are you- I still have to-," Quan Jia reaches out and grabs ahold of an arm and starts pulling, happily ignoring the stuttered excuses.

"Of course I'm sure," she agrees as she somehow manages to both drag and follow her friend as they head back toward her cottage. "You can come to dinner every night if you want. In fact, I'll come by and drag you away if you don't show up often enough."

That pig's threatened both of my friends now… I'm going to have to do something about her…


[Turn 6 Vote]

Quan Jia has 4 actions she may take for this turn, of which all 4 can be cultivation. She may cultivate any particular thing up to 4 times per week.

Actions are broken up into categories that use the same general rules.

While there aren't any trap options in the sense of "rocks fall, everyone dies", there are options that are sub-optimal.

Feel free to ping me and ask for clarification or whatever on the particular voting options, if you have any setting related questions, or if you're trying to put together one of the write-in options.

1 Hour Moratorium.

Quan Jia has 16 relevant cultivation level spirit gems. She may use up to 2 (cultivation level + 1) for this week's cultivation (for a total bonus of +6 to all cultivation actions). At least 1 is required to mitigate a 50% penalty on xp gained. Spirit gems apply their bonus to all cultivation actions taken (this rule may be revised later).

Once per month (on an alternating 2 week schedule) Quan Jia may attend either or both of the training classes offered by the sect. While there, the elder will choose what will be cultivated, but they will also provide resources for said cultivation (all pills, elixirs, and any wearable artifacts will apply a bonus to these cultivation classes).

[] Cultivate Attribute
-[] specify which
-[] cultivation resource(s) used

[] Cultivate Qi
-[] cultivation resource(s) used

[] Cultivate Meridians
-[] cultivation resource(s) used

[] Cultivate Base
-[] cultivation resource(s) used

[] Cultivate Art or Technique
-[] specify which
-[] cultivation resource(s) used

[] Attend cultivation class (available once from turns 9 - 10)

[] Attend combat class (available once from turns 7 - 8)

These actions all involve the roll of a d100 to determine the quality and/or utility of the results. Please note that not all of the exploration options have the same breakpoints for tiers of rewards.

[] Write Home. (this option is unavailable until turn 9)

[] Explore the sect.

[] Explore the library.

[] Explore the town.

[] Explore the market.

[] Explore outside the sect.

For current skills: actions may be taken to use those skills (chance of reward, lower chance of skill increase) or to train them (higher chance of skill increase). For all skills: a mentor for that skill may be searched for, when a mentor is used in conjunction with a training action, it increases the chance that the skill will increase. Mentors are required to increase a skill beyond 3.

Some example skills are (but others may be written in): Martial Arts (specify weapon or unarmed), Stealth, Knowledge (specify type: history, culture, politics, etiquette, qi, cultivation, spirits, etc.), Stealth, Commerce, Dodge, Resistance, Strategy, Prospecting, Athletics, Performance, Survival, Craft, Medicine, Larceny

[] Use skill.
-[] specify skill.

[] Train skill
-[] specify skill
-[] specify mentor (Liu Mei may serve as mentor at either 3 or 5 dot proficiency for three skills chosen as part of a plan vote).

[] Search for mentor.
-[] specify skill

Social actions provide no direct mechanical benefit, however, they do allow for an increase in relationship score and may unlock certain quest lines. Social actions will also gradually provide the following information for the related character: derived stats, skills they can mentor, other useful information.

Social actions are only available for characters that have been met previously. If you would like to meet new characters, go exploring (or I suppose wait for me to introduce them during bonus actions…).

Social actions will, for the most part, expire at the end of the month in which they were introduced (i.e. every 4-turn period). At which point they will be replaced by other options.

[] That weird shadow girl, what was her name… oh right, Ma Liqiu had stopped by to ask if Quan Jia, not Lady Quan, would be willing to join her at a teahouse. Maybe she wouldn't be so boring after all.

[] Last time they'd met, she and Shao Cuifen had sparred and then slept together. This time they were going out to get a nice lunch at that one fancy restaurant in the marketplace. Something about the order of those things seems off...

[] Libraries were a severely underrated place to nap. Between the smell of old parchment and the violent enforcement of quiet, not to mention the hundreds of cozy reading nooks, napping was almost inevitable. Or it would be if Tang Huan weren't lurking around being weird. What do creepy guys even need with books?

[] Well, she'd promised that she'd or rather Mei Mei would test her two cute maids for cultivation potential, and now was as good a time as any. It would be cool to have a pair of combat maids...

[] Sand swirls into silvery lettering and a crude map of the outer sect. A red X marks a spot miles away from anywhere she'd wandered before. I do love a tea party...

Quest actions will follow the same general rule as social action: voters have 4 weeks to select a quest action before it disappears.

Quest: How to Save a Life
Mitigate Luo Lifen's attempts to turn disciples against Xiao Lien and by extension Quan Jia. Failure will result in Xiao Lien's departure from the sect and possibly in her death.

[] Xiao Lien thinks that now would be a good time to demonstrate her new strength by sparring with Shao Cuifen and has asked Quan Jia to arrange something. Is she ready for someone that strong though?

[] Meng Chao has identified a third year disciple, Late Quartz Souled, and an expert in wards. He's offered to organize a meeting between Quan Jia and Gao Bo. It couldn't hurt to meet him, I guess...

Quest: Imagine.
Assist Meng Chao in the uplift of White-Caps upon Stone. There is no concrete time-table for success, although a lack of effort in assistance will result in a fracturing of the relationship between Quan Jia and Meng Chao.

[] There's an invitation from Meng Chao sitting on the dining table. It invites Quan Jia and associates to a casual gathering of like-minded individuals. I should probably bring a few people with me, but who?
-
[] write in Quan Jia's invitees

Mini-Quests:
Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands and advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.

This is something I want to try to mirror the freedom that tabletop rpgs offer. So how this will work is: I have and will continue hinting at upcoming interpersonal issues, storyline quests, or sect wide events. If voters wish to identify and address them before things explode they can do so here by writing in what the issue is, how it should be addressed, and an alternative action to take if incorrect. If it's correct (and whatever necessary criteria are met, e.g. relationship score) we'll start that event early, otherwise, we'll perform the alternative action.

Additionally, if voters want to go completely off the board and do something not at all reflected in the turn votes, that can be written in here.

[] Write in issue.
-[] general approach.
-[] alternative action.
 
Okay! We have options in the Quest folder now. We should definitely take those next week.

As for this one, I think it's been agreed on we'd do a mono-cultivation turn. The question is how many actions we put into SGS and DEJ. SGSx3 and 1 DEJ with the 3 spare xp added to it feels like the best option. DEJ will have a bigger boost with the talent bonus.

Something like

[] Plan Training Montage
-[] Cultivate Art or Technique
--[] Sleep's Glittering Sands (x3)
--[] Dreamer's Endless Journey (+ spare 3 xp)
--[] 2 spirit diamonds
--[] Kaleidoscopic Pill

Everyone making a plan should remember this btw
Put the points into a turn vote and I'll apply them from there.
 
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So to offer an incentive: I'll give 10 XP (to be spent however) to either a poster or the thread as a whole if they nail the underlying issues of this conversation.
Dropped my Literary Analysis class but I'm down to make a guess with what I remember.

Someone in the Imperial City, maybe a group, maybe even the Empress herself, is taking advantage of the nature of Spirits and turning Major Courts against themselves?
 
@dmclain2 Are you ok with conditionals for the free xp, as long as they're not too wordy?

I.E. -[] If it'd push it to level 3 put the 3xp on SGS, otherwise put it onto DEJ.
[] Plan Training Montage
-[] Cultivate Art or Technique
--[] Sleep's Glittering Sands (x3)
--[] Dreamer's Endless Journey (+ spare 3 xp)
--[] 2 spirit diamonds
--[] Kaleidoscopic Pill
Originally I was planning on getting DEJ Lvl2 and SGS Lvl3 with 6 actions total, but with the free 3xp (and maybe 10 more) we should be able to do it in 5 assuming our luck isn't below average.
Depending on if my conditional for spending the xp is ok then we can go with your plan for the actions, which hopefully gets us SGS 3 and puts us 1 action away from DEJ 2.

Then next turn we can do something like 1 Combat class, 1 DEJ, 1 Xiao Lien Quest action, then one social?
[] Sand swirls into silvery lettering and a crude map of the outer sect. A red X marks a spot miles away from anywhere she'd wandered before. I do love a tea party...
Ooh.
About the Ma aka shadow girl, when will we talk with her?
The annoying thing is I want to talk to her, but with our shiny pills being what they are we basically have to use them on full cultivation turns, which means everything else has to make room. If we did her this turn we'd have to put off our art turn until Turn 7 or 8, which further puts off all our other pill turns until later, which is also complicated by the fact that combat class needs to happen on Turn 7 or 8. Annoyingly it looks like our best bet is to hope her option remains in a changed form on Turn 7.

Luo Lifen might have said words to her, but maybe our actions during the spar are enough to get her to ignore that?
 
Fabrics stolen from the Dawn ripple in concert with the stately waltz played by an orchestra of spectral figures. Spirits chosen for the blending of colors they offer dance steps older than rhythm. Waves of crimson crashing against cliffs of azure. Silver leaves blossoming from an ebony branch. A star shattering into seven colors as it crashes to earth.

A girl, younger than the morning dew, leans lightly against a balustrade and watches as myth and history play out wordlessly below her. A crone, older than eternity, sits with legs crossed in midair and watches the girl. Between them, fragments spark on dissonant notes, flutter on ungainly wings, and dissolve amidst contradiction.

The girl sips from a saucer filled with a viscous silvery liquid and waits. The crone ponders the ineffable and then speaks, "two sides of a [Dream] are we, one ever in orbit to the other. Yet so stark our differences have never been."

"A progenitor in seclusion. A Court divided," the girl straightens, eyes shifting from the Consumption of Sapphire and toward her counterpart. "Concepts claimed. Battle lines drawn. Is then conciliation still to be sought?"

"No." The crone's mask shimmers. A crimson eye blinks. Disappears. "Oppositional are we now, where once in complement we stood."

"Changed by Interlopers. Given to divide what had once danced in concert," Crimson flickers between strands of dark hair. The girl smiles. A vicious smile. "A third option yet exists."

"An avalanche to bury a solitary sapling." The crone disagrees, "amidst the mantle of Empire, only coexistence purchases survival."

"An ancient place, softened for mortal palate," the girl sneers. "Such is the Path of Dissolution. Of forgetting."

Knotted silvery hair flares as the crone shakes her head, "A welcome brings Novelty. Novelty sows seeds of new growth. Timeworn edifice becomes the soil for Renewal."

"Of change you speak. Of destruction you promise." Tendrils of golden sand wrap around the girl's bare feet as anger grows. "The Arts of a thousand subjects winnowed to winter's bare soil."

"A reliquary: to beasts now extinct, to tribes returned to wandering." Flecks of ebony swirl amidst gold and sand stills. "Worth is in use."

A thousand crimson eyes burn bright as the girl hisses. "Worth is in existence. In memory."

"Thus are lines drawn and Concepts claimed." The crone muses. Sighs with fleeting regret. "Thus is War offered."

"Thus is War accepted," a scowl twists the girl's face into Nightmare.

"The spoils of War: a barrier of Emerald." The crone provides the reward.

"The field of Battle: that which lies twixt Dream and Waking." The girl provides the stage.

"Until a victor is chosen. Until defeat is conceded," the two speak in harmony for the last time.

"For what is a Dream without the Dreamer?"

"For what is a Dreamer without the Dream?"
A court of spirits finds itself at an impasse with how to proceed in reflecting their nature. For spirit courts all form around one spirit who in turn shapes the court to reflect aspects of themselves. But here, the original seed of power which formed this court of dreaming spirits hides its face away from the world and the court that once reflected that solitary spirit is now divided between two heirs. One heir seems to represent the triumph of ending dreams and in the ending to remember fondly what occurred. The other revels in the beginning of dreams, of escaping hardship and rejoicing in the creation of something new. While the original seed spirit held dominion over the court, these two spirits were complementary, for there can be no ending of dreams without the beginning of a dream and there can be no beginning of a dream if the dreamer was never awake.

Now though, without the original spirit, they find themselves opposed, and in their conflict they will shape the future of this court. One will hold dominion over the court and the other will fade from the court's purview.

In essence, it seems like a split between a large spirit court is happening. This will have fall out for everything that is governed by that court in the area. Given how pervasive dreams are, it seems like this split and conflict will likely be felt pretty much everywhere. I find it likely that Lady Dreaming Sands is involved in the conflict as well as her Court of Hidden Sands. Either as a subservient court to one of the heirs for this larger spirit court or as one of the major players in this divide.


So, to try and put it more succinctly, the underlying issue is that a spirit that originated a Spirit Court has gone into seclusion. There are two spirits who could take up the mantle, but neither could exist in the other's court. This is because when they were reflecting the original spirit they were complementary, but without that spirit to reflect they are oppositional. So they are in conflict until one can achieve dominion over the court.
 
Turn 6Train DEJXiao Lien Quest actionMa Liqiu socialExplore the Library (research DEJ changes)
Turn 7 (Dream Pill)Train DEJTrain SGSTrain SGS x2Train SGS x3
Turn 8Combat ClassSocial?
Turn 9Cultivation ClassLetter to Dad for the good shit
Turn 10 (Attribute or Base Pill)Dex or BaseDex or BaseDex or BaseDex or Base
Turn 11Combat Class?
Turn 12Combat Class?
I wanted to see what would happen if we socialed Ma Liqiu, so I mocked up a vague action layout up to Turn 12. It's got a lot of blank spaces in there (3 of which would have to be Unarmed training with Mei Mei), but overall if we want to keep alternating shiny pills with actually talking to people something like this is what I see happening.

If we want 3 dot Qi before breakthrough (which I do), we might be able to spend a couple of actions on it somewhere here, but more likely it'll come after, as without a shiny pill we can spread it's actions around. I'd lean more towards doing the Base Pill before the Hero/Attributes Pill, as it'd tell us what the needed successes are to reach Peak Late Diamond Soul, and we need to know how much effort we'll need to put in to reach it.

[] There's an invitation from Meng Chao sitting on the dining table. It invites Quan Jia and associates to a casual gathering of like-minded individuals. I should probably bring a few people with me, but who?
-
[] write in Quan Jia's invitees
Meng Chao's get-together looks interesting, but for now I'm tempted to hold of until we find someone to invite who'd be interested in helping. Obviously if we can't find anyone then we'll just have to attend on our own, but there's no harm in looking.
Though, sounding people out for helping like that is probably going to be a write-in.
 
[X] Plan Training Montage
-[X] Cultivate Art or Technique
--[X] Sleep's Glittering Sands (x3)
--[X] Dreamer's Endless Journey (+ spare 3 xp)
--[X] 2 spirit diamonds
--[X] Kaleidoscopic Pill
 
Meng Chao's get-together looks interesting, but for now I'm tempted to hold of until we find someone to invite who'd be interested in helping. Obviously if we can't find anyone then we'll just have to attend on our own, but there's no harm in looking.
I think we should bring our maids and our chef. We should have mortal perspectives around when we're trying to help mortals.
 
[X] Plan Shadow Girl and Connections
-[X] Cultivate Art or Technique
--[X] Dreamer's Endless Journey
--[X] 2 spirit diamonds
-[X] Explore the Library
--[X] Also look into what kind of changes were made to your Dreamer's Endless Journey.
-[X] That weird shadow girl, what was her name… oh right, Ma Liqiu had stopped by to ask if Quan Jia, not Lady Quan, would be willing to join her at a teahouse. Maybe she wouldn't be so boring after all.
-[X] Meng Chao has identified a third year disciple, Late Quartz Souled, and an expert in wards. He's offered to organize a meeting between Quan Jia and Gao Bo. It couldn't hurt to meet him, I guess...
I think we should bring our maids and our chef. We should have mortal perspectives around when we're trying to help mortals.
Hm. I can see that being insulting to other participants depending on who actually attends. Having mortals to advise us is one thing, having them there as guests is another. Quan Jia might be able to make it work, but if we do we should probably stick to one of them (probably the older sister).
 
[X] Plan Training Montage
-[X] Cultivate Art or Technique
--[X] Sleep's Glittering Sands (x3)
--[X] Dreamer's Endless Journey (+ spare 3 xp)
--[X] 2 spirit diamonds
--[X] Kaleidoscopic Pill
 
QM said that the social options stay open for a month, right? When we meet the Shadow Girl? Week 2 or week 3?
 
Plan Shadow Girl and Connections
To clarify, the main reason I made this plan was that Ma Liqiu's social action will be expiring this turn, and I'm unsure if it'll reappear next turn so I'd rather pick it now.
QM said that the social options stay open for a month, right? When we meet the Shadow Girl? Week 2 or week 3?
IIRC it appeared 3-4 weeks ago.

Also, as far as write-ins go it's probably a good idea to try and find that Zhang Bao guy from the prologue (who's dad is one of our dad's chief retainers), though I don't know when we'll have the time.
 
Quan Jia might be able to make it work, but if we do we should probably stick to one of them (probably the older sister).
I'd go with the chef. He has actual experience in mortal business.

To clarify, the main reason I made this plan was that Ma Liqiu's social action will be expiring this turn, and I'm unsure if it'll reappear next turn so I'd rather pick it now.
Oh shoot! Didn't realize. We can train next week. Also, the dm mentioned we still have 3 extra xp left over from chargen we can attach to any cultivation actions in our plans.

[X] Plan Shadow Girl and Connections
 
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To clarify, the main reason I made this plan was that Ma Liqiu's social action will be expiring this turn, and I'm unsure if it'll reappear next turn so I'd rather pick it now.
I dont see why we should go for the library, can you not change for a cultivation action or the Xiao Lien quest action?
 
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