Befriending or at least being amiable with Zhuan Kun is not a bad idea.
It will help Zhi in not being taken for granted by Mo, and it might reduce at least slightly the chances of Geng and Zhuan teaming up.
The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)
- Thread starter Vesvius
- Start date
- Original
-
- Tags
- original xianxia cultivation quest
Befriending or at least being amiable with Zhuan Kun is not a bad idea.
It will help Zhi in not being taken for granted by Mo, and it might reduce at least slightly the chances of Geng and Zhuan teaming up.
I don't like the strength idea as that seems like it wouldn't be worth much if it was just a passive increase with no cost and if it was an active cost and boost then it's just yet another thing eating into our Anam pool in a fight and it would probably eat an action to use. And the only tech it would benefit is BSA anyway because none of our other techs have Zhi hit things in the face.
I don't like the tree idea because it sounds like it would have my issues with the strength enhancement but just worse. It would probably have a fat initial cost and then a maintenance cost to retain the form.
My idea is completely passive with no additional Anam cost or actions needed in the fight. It also has amazing synergy with BSA along with the Anam regen benefit for when we're not fighting.
*sigh* Well, I knew ignoring the spar invite wouldn't be popular.
[X] Plan Victory Feast
[X] Plan Victory Feast
- Location
- Australia
[X] The Caretakers are our Family
-[] You are now a member of the Eighth Circle, and as such, your time is no longer your own. Elder Siani and his Caretakers require your service. (This action counts as 2 Actions. This action is mandatory.)
-[] You have recently begun searching for the Lord's Regalia, the crown jewels of the ancient Moloth people. If anything will have become a Natural Treasure of Royalty in the last several thousand years, it will be that. You do not have much to go on, but you will pursue it with every last idea in your mind.
--[] Inquire with Xu Yun and the Court of Preservation about the Green Stone Hall you saw in the mural depicting the Regalia
-[] Your puzzle has taken shape beneath your skilled hands, but it is not yet perfect. You will continue honing your creation until it's glory reflects that which you see in your mind. X 4
--[] Use Shatter the Mirror while crafting.
-[] Sun Yijun has received the same warnings about the Warren that you have, telling you not to explore the darkened floors of the Caretaker's Headquarters without being fully prepared. What could fortify you better than working together? The two of you will begin poking through a quiet floor and see what comes next.
-[] The only true way to walk your path is to cycle the anam of the world. You will do so.
--[] Second of Eternity
---[] Shatter the Mirror
-[] You are now a member of the Eighth Circle, and as such, your time is no longer your own. Elder Siani and his Caretakers require your service. (This action counts as 2 Actions. This action is mandatory.)
-[] You have recently begun searching for the Lord's Regalia, the crown jewels of the ancient Moloth people. If anything will have become a Natural Treasure of Royalty in the last several thousand years, it will be that. You do not have much to go on, but you will pursue it with every last idea in your mind.
--[] Inquire with Xu Yun and the Court of Preservation about the Green Stone Hall you saw in the mural depicting the Regalia
-[] Your puzzle has taken shape beneath your skilled hands, but it is not yet perfect. You will continue honing your creation until it's glory reflects that which you see in your mind. X 4
--[] Use Shatter the Mirror while crafting.
-[] Sun Yijun has received the same warnings about the Warren that you have, telling you not to explore the darkened floors of the Caretaker's Headquarters without being fully prepared. What could fortify you better than working together? The two of you will begin poking through a quiet floor and see what comes next.
-[] The only true way to walk your path is to cycle the anam of the world. You will do so.
--[] Second of Eternity
---[] Shatter the Mirror
- Location
- In the closest Zoo
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
Any plan about starting Fa's Axe?
pblur
Reminiscing over the halcyon days of Ymaryn
- Location
- Lawrence's Wagon
Probably as soon as we finish the charm we're working on. Those Phantom Point bones make an excellent base.
- Location
- In the closest Zoo
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
Alright then. The comission was made so long so I am a little worried to lose points with Fa
Taking a crack at an old axe concept:
A Citadel of Hawthorn
Materials: Bones of the Beast (Steel 16) Wooden Hooves (Wood 10 x 2), A Still-Growing Sapling (13 Wood/Life)
Design: The Sapling is hollowed out, filled and then ringed with bone and is capped at each end with one of the hooves. The head is made from regular steel infused with ground bone to make bonesteel.
Effect: Upon activation, the Citadel of Hawthorn bursts forth with a thousand growing limbs of Wood and Steel anam, which coalesce into a domed cage of steel-hard, thorned wood that encases the wielder and one or more nearby combatants and restricts enemy's movements. The cage is under the wielder's control and can move with the wielder to avoid encumbering her, open holes to let allies pass through, or grow spear-length thorns to strike at enemies, and regenerates quickly when damaged.
Is an axe that casts Steel Cage Match blatant Ves fanservice? Maybe. Is it wrong? I don't think so!
A Citadel of Hawthorn
Materials: Bones of the Beast (Steel 16) Wooden Hooves (Wood 10 x 2), A Still-Growing Sapling (13 Wood/Life)
Design: The Sapling is hollowed out, filled and then ringed with bone and is capped at each end with one of the hooves. The head is made from regular steel infused with ground bone to make bonesteel.
Effect: Upon activation, the Citadel of Hawthorn bursts forth with a thousand growing limbs of Wood and Steel anam, which coalesce into a domed cage of steel-hard, thorned wood that encases the wielder and one or more nearby combatants and restricts enemy's movements. The cage is under the wielder's control and can move with the wielder to avoid encumbering her, open holes to let allies pass through, or grow spear-length thorns to strike at enemies, and regenerates quickly when damaged.
Is an axe that casts Steel Cage Match blatant Ves fanservice? Maybe. Is it wrong? I don't think so!
It's definitely the next charm we'll make but we're probably going to focus on finishing our Wonder hunt so we can integrate our new techniques. Shouldn't take too long, we have a solid idea on where to find a Smoke Wonder, we have a Steel Wonder, so the only one that should take a bit to find is the Regalia for Royalty.
As for designs here's mine;
The Tyrants Executioner
-Materials
Shaking Anvil, Brass Knocker, The Monsters Bones, Ifeagrass
-Anam: Steel 23, Force 10, Blood 3
Steel: strengthens the axe, sharpens the edge, and helps with the connection to the Tyrants Blade
Force: as the Axe's Blade encounters resistance it will automatically apply an equal amount of force to counter that resistance. The more resistance it encounters the more applied Force it applies against it. If the Axe meets more resistance than the amount of force it can produce on its own the user may channel additional Anam into the Executioner to further increase the Force it can bring to bare.
Blood: provides pathways for Tyrants Blade to flow along (aka vein analogs)
-Form
A large single bladed Axe made of the Anvil with a long haft made of The Monsers Bones and a pointed pommel made of the Brass Knocker. From pommel to blade the Axe has shallow Blood Red grooves and channels carved throughout that all interconnect and flow throughout its entirety, painted with paint made of the Ifeagrass.
-Function
Fa is able to channel her technique, the Tyrants Blade, through the carved channels and grooves that run over the entire Axe so that she may combine the capabilities of both. This makes use of Steels nature and ability to be molded and formed from separate pieces of metal into a single cohesive whole.
I'm thinking about using more Ifeagrass in case Chui Dao's Steel Anam thing targets the Blood Anam so it won't eat all of it.
- Location
- a place
Does that necessarily have to be the case?
After the Nokai scene was resolved we time skipped over to Zhi talking about it with Mo Hanying, who expressed that she wanted to join but couldn't due to being busy. Zhi pressed her on it, and then she went on to say she was busy with work from her seniors in the Imperial Hand.
Which is a pretty reasonable excuse and not exactly a unlikely thing to happen. It's also a really bad lie to use on Zhi, because you know who else is in the Imperial Hand who could falsify that alibi, had publicly become friends again with Zhi in a way that would literally be impossible for her not to not know, and would love to put a wedge between them? Mei Deiyu.
Mo Hanying is a literal noble with countless sycophants and entanglements to be involved, with all the political obligations that entails. Their a billion and one way better, less easy to fall apart lies that she could have constructed for why she couldn't make it.
It's not as if this was some out of nowhere thing where otherwise she always has free time, both she and Nokai, her literal roommate, have both commented how often she busy throughout the quest.
Looking back at the quest, she has previously shown a fairly tight relationship with Nokai, both in omakes with the two, both characters talking alone about the other to Zhi, and scenes where their both present in. For instance, does anyone remember the scene after Nokai taught Zhi the Warhound Cry? Mo Hanying thanked Zhi for doing that and assured him that it meant a lot to her.
Keep in mind, that said teaching cost Zhi a social stress box because of how prejudiced people are against her, and it's worth remembering that Mo has done a good bit more then sneaking off with her by that point in the story, from publicly being her friend, choosing her as a teammate in a duel that was watched by almost the whole circle, and even living with her. Considering how few friends Nokai really has and how much she hates Geng Tu, it's not exactly hard to believe she didn't have to go to that extent if all she wanted was having her in her corner against the guy.
And while I know people are going to say that meaningless because she's a noble and a shrewd political operation, but it's worthwhile to point so is her enemy, who could very easily and probably has used that connection to draw support away from her to his camp by appealing to people's bigotry.
Obviously the specifics of the personality and relationships matter here, but I don't think we're supposed to completely discount the pretty explicit relationship chart Ves lays out either. I don't think Mo would go to the same lengths as Xu Yun to help us in a time of crisis for instance, but Xu Yun is quite literally the most moral and self sacrificing character in the entire story who would go out of his way to help a perfect stranger, I don't think literally every friend needs to be held to that standard for us.
We haven't really had that many interactions with Mo either, and certainly spent more time with former two then her despite a bunch of chances to hang out, so I don't really see why this is a strike against her. Shouxi is also the character whose been the most busy in terms of being open to hang with and we've had quite a few arcs in the narrative that heavily featured Xu Yun, from the initial fight club, to the duel, to the deeps. I feel like the specifics of our Mei relationship, if anything, help my point as well.
First off, that is hilarious and Xu Yun is very cute.
But second of all, I want to make it clear I'm not arguing she's a saint. A lot of of this come from the fact that I find her convos with Zhi entertaining to read, I really like her friendship with Nokai esp from the omake bits we saw of the two, and honestly just find the cunning schemer archetype in these stories sorta cool. If you dont like that stuff, It's pretty understandable to not be that invested in he character.
It's fine to be cautious around her, but I think it's also important to actually keep in mind that she's a person with self intrests that generally along with our own and who has every reason not to stab in the back even from a purely pragmatic standpoint, from her other relationships with people, what we have to offer her, the relationship between our moms, and the fact she doesn't have much if anything to gain from it.
I also think that it's worth while to point out while I don't think she'd be willing to take a bullet or anything for Zhi, not that I'd expect us to vote for Zhi to do the same, I don't think that should be a impediment to trying to be better friends with her. Look back on say, our initial relationship with the Fa's for instance.
It started with Jai planning to physically expel Zhi from the tower until Shouxi had to stop her. We went to a class with them once and proceeded to ignore them till Zhi ICly felt like he was being a poor roommate, with the real start of their amicable relationship being a explicit transaction for a pill in exchange for a charm, with Shouxi saying in no uncertain terms that he wasn't looking out for his and his sisters intrests first in that conversation. A lot of our interactions after involved helping Jai get mats for Shouxi or working together on sect assignments, while with Shouxi almost everything has involved ordering pills from the guy or doing something on his path, whether it's testing his concoctions, helping gather ingredients, or even connecting him with Mo Hanying.
However Shouxi's gone on to be pretty integral to us via his pillmaking buisness and here we are, fairly worried about his mental health and planning actions around helping him out of the overwork he's placing on himself.
Meanwhile Fa is our second closest friend compared too Nokai. I don't know that we'd have to same level of trust and willingess to self sacrifice for eachother with Mo if we put in a similar amount of updates hanging with her, but I do think had we written the Fa's off due to shady stuff or how a lot of their initital back and forths were largely about what the two parties could do for eachother Zhi probably would have been worse off for it.
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Uh... friend? Sorry to disappoint but the sapling is a sapling. It is nowhere near large enough for that. Like, it wouldn't be inaccurate to call it the size of a large twig if you ignore the roots.
If we're being pedantic you're thinking of a seedling not a sapling. Saplings can be several inches in diameter. I looked it up.
pblur
Reminiscing over the halcyon days of Ymaryn
- Location
- Lawrence's Wagon
Fa axe crafting idea:
The Teeth Of Discord
Materials: The Monster's Bones (Steel 16), A Still Shaking Anvil (Steel/Force 7), and Ghastly Horns (Deception 18)
Concept: An elaborate axe with a haft made of bones and bone strips woven together like willow branches, with each covered in intricately carved runes. The handle is made of strips of bone that have been softened and wrapped around and through the haft bones for a solid, comfortable hold. On the other end a quivering steel bit is embraced in a lattice of bone and horn, which also supports a reinforced horn spike on the back of the bit.
Function: This axe functions as a mastercrafted weapon with the nature of Steel reinforcing it handle, haft and bit. The Steel in the handle shifts the center of mass closer to the wielder, and makes the axe have an unexpectedly agile feel in the hands. But the true masterstroke of the axe is in its effect on the target; a combination of Force and Deception anam creates a potent illusion (backed up by a Force from the side or back) that the blow did not come from Fa, but rather from an ally of the target. The tactical advantage of this combined physical and mental attack should give enormous benefit, especially when fighting groups.
Basically, I was trying to come up with a charm concept Aunt Bi would be proud of. Too many of the designs I've seen and come up with are little more than 'axe with an additional damage type or more damage.' This is the best I could come up with. The name is an allusion to Dragon's Teeth in Greek mythology, and the classic method of defeating their spartoi.
The Teeth Of Discord
Materials: The Monster's Bones (Steel 16), A Still Shaking Anvil (Steel/Force 7), and Ghastly Horns (Deception 18)
Concept: An elaborate axe with a haft made of bones and bone strips woven together like willow branches, with each covered in intricately carved runes. The handle is made of strips of bone that have been softened and wrapped around and through the haft bones for a solid, comfortable hold. On the other end a quivering steel bit is embraced in a lattice of bone and horn, which also supports a reinforced horn spike on the back of the bit.
Function: This axe functions as a mastercrafted weapon with the nature of Steel reinforcing it handle, haft and bit. The Steel in the handle shifts the center of mass closer to the wielder, and makes the axe have an unexpectedly agile feel in the hands. But the true masterstroke of the axe is in its effect on the target; a combination of Force and Deception anam creates a potent illusion (backed up by a Force from the side or back) that the blow did not come from Fa, but rather from an ally of the target. The tactical advantage of this combined physical and mental attack should give enormous benefit, especially when fighting groups.
Basically, I was trying to come up with a charm concept Aunt Bi would be proud of. Too many of the designs I've seen and come up with are little more than 'axe with an additional damage type or more damage.' This is the best I could come up with. The name is an allusion to Dragon's Teeth in Greek mythology, and the classic method of defeating their spartoi.
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- Pronouns
- she/her
[X] Sparring and Spa
While I'm generally fine with all the plans, we really need that guaranteed mental stress recovery. No matter how unlikely, I'd rather not risk getting a mental debuff or becoming braindead.
Edit:
I like all the axe plans, but I REALLY like this one. Can't wait to see what Zhi ends up crafting for Fa.
While I'm generally fine with all the plans, we really need that guaranteed mental stress recovery. No matter how unlikely, I'd rather not risk getting a mental debuff or becoming braindead.
Edit:
I like all the axe plans, but I REALLY like this one. Can't wait to see what Zhi ends up crafting for Fa.
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Mo being malicious isn't the problem, her being an utter and complete pragmatist is.
With quite literally with a word, she can cost us (at least) 2 talents out of our allowance. By just telling her mom to stop hanging out with our mom. Suddenly we haven't fulfilled the task set by our family and boom there goes our allowance. That's the threat that Mo Hanying represents.
Hell we saw this first hand in the recent Rumormill Side-story. Look how often various people were forced to switch patrons or retreat into seclusion to recoup the loss of said patronage.
What's our fallback? Where's our golden parachute if Mo moves out the way and let's Geng have a go because she wants to lowball us on a task?
Imo longterm that's the reason that any actions we spend building a rapport with Zhuan (or hell even another noble like Xiong Eryu) would be worth it many times over. Not because Kong Zhi is actually a schemer or would actually break away from Mo (she'd honestly probably find such attempts adorable), but because she's rational enough to realize that gives us a bit more leverage and will deal more fairly with us as a result.
With quite literally with a word, she can cost us (at least) 2 talents out of our allowance. By just telling her mom to stop hanging out with our mom. Suddenly we haven't fulfilled the task set by our family and boom there goes our allowance. That's the threat that Mo Hanying represents.
Hell we saw this first hand in the recent Rumormill Side-story. Look how often various people were forced to switch patrons or retreat into seclusion to recoup the loss of said patronage.
What's our fallback? Where's our golden parachute if Mo moves out the way and let's Geng have a go because she wants to lowball us on a task?
Imo longterm that's the reason that any actions we spend building a rapport with Zhuan (or hell even another noble like Xiong Eryu) would be worth it many times over. Not because Kong Zhi is actually a schemer or would actually break away from Mo (she'd honestly probably find such attempts adorable), but because she's rational enough to realize that gives us a bit more leverage and will deal more fairly with us as a result.
- Location
- a place
Getting close to Zhuan is one of the very few things are parents actually ask us to do, and considering our father has risked his life and the collectvie fortunes of our clan to help with our disfigurement, is probably the least we owe the guy so yes even setting aside how supportive our mom is, we 100% owe it to them to atleast make the attempt to become friends with the dude.
My feelings towards Mo haven't changed and can be summed up thusly. Mo is not our friend. She is an ally. There are many valuable relationships you can have without friendship and this is one of them. If you want, you could say friendship means something different to her, but it amounts to the same thing. Keep one eye open during our dealings and never expect her to do anything against her self interest and we should be alright. Forget those things and we will get taken advantage of.
Personally I would prefer to keep the axe relatively simple in function because 1. It's a Giant Axe and giving it some extra and fancy secondary function beyond cleaving the other guy in two simply doesn't fit my sense of aesthetic and 2. Fa is a straight forward, blunt, and practical persona so I think keeping the axe relatively simple fits her. Deception Anam especially doesn't fit Fa at all.
Plus I'm not a fan of how the Deception function relies on there being additional enemies as that would make it useless against a singular foe.
pblur
Reminiscing over the halcyon days of Ymaryn
- Location
- Lawrence's Wagon
I don't think the illusion would be useless against a singular foe. If your enemy feels a blow come from behind when he thinks he's alone with you, it's bound to throw them off. They may think that you have an invisible ally. Or have an unseen flying weapon.
And even if they manage to figure out that it's an illusion, the force is NOT illusory; they still have to fight against you without being able to brace themselves for your blows (because they're coming from unexpected directions.)
No, I think it would be quite effective against single targets.
For the thematics... I mostly just disagree aesthetically. This sort of Deception is exactly the sort Fa is comfortable with. It's direct and tactical, rather like a feint. It's not tricksy, and doesn't require creative application. Swing axe => Disorient opponent.
In your design you specified that it would deceive the target by making think that their ally was the one that attacked them and that the force was there to help sell that. Without that I don't think the Force would do as much as you're thinking as there isn't a whole lot of it and it isn't linked to the blow of the axe but rather being generated somewhere else mid-air. That to me doesn't seem like it would deal much damage if any and if it isn't damaging it's ignorable.
Either way that still leaves the Deception Anam without anything to do.
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ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
I feel like people make Mo Hanying out to be more of a boogeyman then she is. Reading the earlier bits where she interacts with Kong Zhi - the time we hid from Geng Tu at Nokai's place, the duel, hanging out with Mo at various points afterwards - she very much does not come across as any kind of evil mastermind (except when she ruins Jin Yazhu). She mostly comes across as friendly, and it's only later, after the incident where Geng Tu insulted Nokai at Zhao's ascension, that she started acting cagy. And that likely has something to do with needing to be careful about directly opposing the Geng.
Ya'll need to stop treating Hanying like she's going to backstab us at the drop of a hat. She mostly seems like a nice girl who happens to have strong social skills and an important family. She scares people because Kong Zhi can't read her well and Mei Daiyu hates her guts for things that really aren't Mo Hanying's fault, and that leads to her having a far more negative reputation in this thread then she deserves.
Ya'll need to stop treating Hanying like she's going to backstab us at the drop of a hat. She mostly seems like a nice girl who happens to have strong social skills and an important family. She scares people because Kong Zhi can't read her well and Mei Daiyu hates her guts for things that really aren't Mo Hanying's fault, and that leads to her having a far more negative reputation in this thread then she deserves.
The fact Mo Hanying manipulated her into a duel she was intended to lose, thus publicly humiliating her, isn't Mo's fault?
Facts. Honestly I'm just kinda sitting here having fun watching the paranoia over Mo. The odds of her turning against Zhi are disgusting slim.
She is fond of Zhi, the fact that her social score is at 2 is all the proof you need on that front. She is very good friends with Nokai and turning on Zhi means making an enemy of Nokai. Zhi is the best Charm Crafter in the Circle and thus a very useful ally. Zhi is also a member of the secretive Caretakers, a useful connection indeed. Their mothers are also making connections with eachother.
It would take something incredibly bad for Mo to turn on Zhi.