Lifeandlice
Practitioning side-character
- Location
- Usa
[X] Plan Get Our House In Order (Sister Version)
Nobility on the Golden Plains [A Clan Builder / Cultivation Quest]
- Thread starter Arcanestomper
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
-
- Tags
- original xianxia cultivation
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Get Our House In Order
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Because right now 3 TP on Iridescent Toxin saves a whole action raising it later (it gets us to the point where one action will increase it to 5) and gets it to 4, which seems like it might be needed in the shorter term before we have actions free to increase anything...we have a lot to do.
It hits a nice breakpoint, basically. I think that's worth it given we probably won't be spending actions on it for a few rounds.
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Thats the sister one right?
Looks like it didn't go well? Guess I am glad it wasn't with the Mother?
Turn 4: (Year 1/Winter)
Turn 4: (Year 1/Winter)
[X] Plan Get Our House In Order
-[X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. (School of the Iridescent Toxin)
-[X] Bring them back
-[X] Negotiate with the Iron Fist Sect (Goal 15/20)
-[X] Study the Mystic Scrolls on the Knight realm
--- [X] Who are you asking for the scrolls? Our Mother.
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 0/20) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. (School of the Iridescent Toxin)
-[X] Bring them back
-[X] Negotiate with the Iron Fist Sect (Goal 15/20)
-[X] Study the Mystic Scrolls on the Knight realm
--- [X] Who are you asking for the scrolls? Our Mother.
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 0/20) (Stress: +1)
It takes many more weeks of arguing, but finally a compromise position is reached. The Zhuge clan does not recognize the Iron Fist sect's claim to the road, but they do agree to pay a small sum in exchange for the sect to send additional disciples to guard the herb caravans as they travel. It is not quite what the Iron Fist sect was asking for, but they seem to realize that pushing any harder would irritate the Zhuge clan more than the spirit stones are worth.
Most of the negotiation process you simply oversaw while trying to look official. But you did manage to insert a few key passages that redirect the responsibility for this agreement from the medicine pavilion to the escort branch. It doesn't change much, but it means the Iron Fist payments aren't coming out of your budget.
As far as agreements go it is not the worst nor the best that the Zhuge clan has ever made. It is just one more among the dozens or even hundreds of contracts, oaths, and verbal agreements that bind together the Zhuge clan and its vassals. The rumors that reach your ears however do not paint you in a flattering light. To take half a year to reach such a simple agreement strikes many as excessive. Whether the cause was indecision or incompetence most think you should have dealt with the situation more swiftly.
Iron Fist Sect Disposition: +1
Removed Clock: Missing Shipments [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Face: -1 Indecisive
You approach your mother to ask about the scrolls necessary to advance along your cultivation path. You were rather hoping that she would be able to teach you personally. It is always better to have a more experienced cultivator guide you on such profound matters. Unfortunately the Kasjan dispute seems to be taking up all of her time. She simply throws you the key and tells you to only study the scrolls for now. Then she dismisses you and returns to her work.
She didn't actually tell you what the key was for, but it's easy enough to guess. You head to the back of the complex where the Zhuge Clan ancestral manor has been carved into the mountain. You pass by the celebratory halls and display cases full of past trophies until you arrive at the family archive. It is full of the most important documents. Genealogies, stories of honored ancestors, and ancient blood oaths. At the back is a locked door to which the key fits perfectly.
Beyond it is another far more dusty archive. The scrolls here look ancient and you peruse the placards carefully to find the one you are after. When you find it it is only marginally less dusty than the others, and you wonder who last read it. Your sister most likely. You take it to the lone table and use a minor wind technique to clean the dust off before you sit down.
The summary of the process of breaking through the Lord realm is relatively straightforward. You have to transform your spiritual core into a seed, which you will plant in your soul and nurture into a mighty tree. The tree's fruit will become a golden core indelibly linked to your path.
Of course questions immediately arise. How do you turn your spiritual core into a seed? How exactly do you plant something in your soul? Are you really going to be growing a tree inside yourself? The answers to this are far more esoteric and involve more profound principles of cultivation than you have encountered so far. You can see why exactly your mother told you to wait before putting any of them into actual practice.
Still there are two parts that seem relatively simple. You will need to nurture your spiritual core with ample wood qi. And you will have to determine what path of enlightenment you will make the foundation of your cultivation going forward.
You make decent progress cleaning out the Silver Grass pavilion. You and Miss An Lia audit all of the most recent assignments checking who took what project and how much they spent on it. You identify four main categories of behavior. There are those who took the project, spent reasonably, and delivered on time. There are those who claimed more lucrative projects from other alchemists. There are those who requested more ingredients than they needed. And there are those who took far longer than expected. And of course there are those who did some combination of all three.
The ones who took more lucrative projects are easiest. Their goal was simply to appear more frequently in the view of the nobles and elders who requested such things. Their crime was one of ambition. And as long as they were otherwise efficient in completing the task you decide not to question them too deeply. A little bit of competition for the best tasks is probably not a bad thing.
The ones who took too long are either lazy or incompetent. You note their names down and instruct An Lia to keep an eye on them to determine which it is. You'll have a word with them either way, but her report will determine whether the contents of your meeting will be a reprimand or additional alchemy lessons.
Finally the worst are those who requested too many ingredients. Either they were embezzling the ingredients to sell directly or make additional potions. Or they were so incompetent as to waste valuable spirit herbs. The first is unforgivable and you will expel them from the pavilion immediately. The second is no excuse either. Spirit herbs are extremely valuable, and if they could not make potions right the first time they should have taken more time as the previous group did.
For now there are too many potential variables. You will need more information before you can decide which alchemists to keep or not. But at least you have divided your alchemists into those who have given you no trouble, and those who need watching.
Trouble Clocks
The Kasjan Dispute [X] [X] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]Special Actions
Alchemist Bonus--- [ ] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. [Cultivation, School of the Jade Cauldron, School of the Iridescent Toxin]
Turn Actions
You may personally lead 3 actions without penalty.Remember that you can also write omakes for other members of the clan to deal with issues you can't.
Cultivation (+6) [Cultivation]
[ ] Cultivate: +.2 TP for every point on the roll--- [ ] Select a trait, skill, or technique to boost with the XP gained.
------ [ ] Who benefits from this boost?
[ ] Plant the Seed (Goal: 50)
Nurture your spiritual core by providing it with plenty of wood qi. Prepare a space in your soul to accept it by obtaining enlightenments as to your path. You will need to have a firm conviction and understanding of yourself in order to provide sufficient insights for the core to take root.
Your mother has asked you to wait before doing this.
[ ] Watering the Roots (Goal 100)
Locked
[ ] Pruning the Sapling (Goal 150)
Locked
[ ] Breakthrough: Eating the Fruit (Goal: ??)
Locked
Administration (+2) [Administration]
[ ] Recruit More Alchemists (Goal: 0/10) (Spirit Stones: $1)Send An Lia out into the city to hire more alchemists for the pavilion. There are always small alchemist shops and loose cultivators that can be recruited by a large clan like the Zhuge. They won't be the best or most loyal, but that can be fixed with time.
Size: +1
[ ] Request More Alchemists (Goal: 0/10) (Reputation Test)
Request that the clan elders assign more alchemists to the silver grass pavilion. Despite your low clan influence this is still likely to be accepted simply because it isn't a very large demand. There are thousands of alchemists scattered among the various pavilions around the province.
Unless you happen to catch the clan elders in a bad mood these will likely be better than the alchemists you can recruit on your own.
Size: +1
[ ] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 12/20) (Stress: +1)
It will be rather difficult, but you can track down all the cases of corruption in the Silver Grass Pavilion and put an end to it. Many of the alchemists likely just need a warning, but some will need to be removed entirely. But it should get easier as you weed out the worst of the bunch.
Size: -1
Discipline: +1
Alchemy (+8) [Leaf Cauldron + Core]
[ ] Brew Flowing Ivy Elixir (Goal: 3/5 Repeatable) (1/3 Stress Free)It's always good to have some healing elixirs on hand. You already have the recipe so it shouldn't be too hard to brew a few elixirs. You will gain 1 elixir for each five points of progress.
[ ] Research a new Recipe (Goal: ??)
--[ ] What kind of elixir are you trying to make?
You can try to figure out the recipe for a new pill or elixir. You are quite talented in alchemy so you can try to make nearly anything, but more complex and potent recipes will be harder. They may also require more exotic ingredients.
[ ] Use a Flowing Ivy Elixir (1 Elixir)
-[ ] The Target
Use 1 elixir and your wood qi to fully heal a cultivator of the Knight realm or below.
[ ] Assign the Silver Grass Pavilion a Task
-[ ] Elixir or research
You are the head of the pavilion. You can assign the pavilion as a whole tasks to complete. Even in its current state the alchemists will still carry out your orders. Though their output will be limited.
Automatically carries out a task.
Will continue every turn until stopped.
[ ] Purchase New Equipment (Goal: 0/10) (Spirit Stones: $5)
You can purchase some better pill cauldrons from the markets in Fragrant Lotus City. This won't be cheap. You'll need to save up for some time, ask the elders for more stones, or find another way to make money. But it should noticeably improve the output of the pavilion's alchemists.
Facilities: Fine -> Good
[ ] Lead a Grand Project
-[ ] Write in Goal
In order to increase the loyalty of the alchemists in the Silver Grass Pavilion you need to prove that you are a capable leader who can provide them with benefits in the future. You aren't sure how exactly to do that at the moment, but you can start by proving that you are a capable alchemist.
The best way you can think to do that is to marshal the entire pavilion into a grand working producing a rare pill of high grade and realm. This will be a complex endeavor. So your first step will be figuring out what you want to try and make.
Quest (+4) [School of the Iridescent Toxin]
[ ] Go on an Adventure (Goal: ??)You probably shouldn't be heading out to explore ruins and look for treasures on your own, but you don't have anything else particularly pressing to do. Take some time off to go slay monsters, search ancient palaces, and roam the wild lands looking for fortunate encounters. (Depending on the roll you can find useful locations, harvest rare materials, loot treasures, tame spirit beasts, increase your cultivation, and possibly reduce stress.)
Learning (+5) [Sage]
[ ] Teach Senior Alchemists (Goal: 0/10) (Face Test) (Stress: +1)You are the best alchemist in the silver grass pavilion, and you could teach even the most senior alchemists in the pavilion a thing or two. Unfortunately many of them are significantly older than you and unlikely to listen well. You'll have to force them to accept your teachings.
Expertise: +1 Grade
[ ] Teach Promising Apprentices (Goal: 0/20)
Alternatively you can pick out promising apprentices to take on as disciples. This will take more of your time and the results won't be quick, but you will be able to oversee all aspects of their training. And in the end should gain several highly trained alchemists with excellent loyalty.
[ ] Write an Alchemy Manual (Goal: 0/20)
You could also collect the current training materials that the apprentices are using and collate it into an alchemy manual. You are unlikely to provide any exceptional insight in your manual. You aren't an alchemy grandmaster. But the benefit is that all the apprentices would be learning alchemy in a way that is both standardized and fitted to your personal style of alchemy.
Incremental improvement to Expertise and Disciple
Diplomacy (+0) [Diplomat]
[ ] Request a Larger Budget (Goal: 0/20) (Reputation Check) (Stress: +1)The clan elders are unlikely to grant the Silver Grass Pavilion more money, but you can always ask.
Budget: +?
[ ] Request a Personal Stipend (Goal: 0/20) (Face Check) (Stress: +1)
You could also ask the elders for a personal allotment of spirit stones. You'd be free to use these spirit stones in any way you wish. If they agree to grant your request of course.
Spirit Stones: +?
Personal [Automatic success]
[ ] Spend Time with your Family (Automatic)You could try to spend some time with your siblings, or even your mother. You don't know who would be available so it would be up to fate who exactly you can pull away from their duties.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
No, the winning plan went with our mother. And it's a good thing too - she's Friendly towards us, so we still got the scrolls. It would have been far worse with our sister.
Shouldn't it be 12 because of Administration +2?
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Yes, fixed
Ok, so, looking at our options, I'm thinking we finish up dealing with corruption, start a project of the hall to improve our reputation, and then take some time to either train up some better alchemists, or work on our own Alchemy, to boost it to a point where it is recognisably superior and our subordinates won't throw as much shit over us trying to teach them better.
[X] Plan Prove our Worth
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 12/20) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Lead a Grand Project
--[X] Create a pill that can boost the potency of the techniques of a Wood Qi Cultivator in the Lord Realm
-[X] Teach Senior Alchemists (Goal: 0/10) (Face Test) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. (School of the Leaf Cauldron)
Does this seem good? I'm iffy on the senior alchemists, could be convinced to switch it to apprentices.
[X] Plan Prove our Worth
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 12/20) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Lead a Grand Project
--[X] Create a pill that can boost the potency of the techniques of a Wood Qi Cultivator in the Lord Realm
-[X] Teach Senior Alchemists (Goal: 0/10) (Face Test) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. (School of the Leaf Cauldron)
Does this seem good? I'm iffy on the senior alchemists, could be convinced to switch it to apprentices.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Alchemical Improvements
-[X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. (Cultivation)
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 12/20) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Teach Promising Apprentices (Goal: 0/20)
-[X] Cultivate: +.2 TP for every point on the roll
--- [X] Train ourselves in Leaf Cauldron
Okay, this is my first thought. Putting our free TP towards Cultivation from here on out for a while now as discussed.
We're sorta in a bit of a Catch-22 with a lot of improvements to the actual alchemy hall where we need reputation as well as money in order to get the things that would give us reputation and money, but we can at least improve our own alchemy here. And training promising apprentices, while definitely a long term goal, bills itself as a very beneficial one when we've completed it, and does use our literal highest skill.
There's an argument to be made for improving Administration instead of Leaf Cauldron here, but due to averages and breakpoints I think we should wait at least a turn for that, while raising Leaf Cauldron can be done any time, in theory anyway.
-[X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. (Cultivation)
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 12/20) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Teach Promising Apprentices (Goal: 0/20)
-[X] Cultivate: +.2 TP for every point on the roll
--- [X] Train ourselves in Leaf Cauldron
Okay, this is my first thought. Putting our free TP towards Cultivation from here on out for a while now as discussed.
We're sorta in a bit of a Catch-22 with a lot of improvements to the actual alchemy hall where we need reputation as well as money in order to get the things that would give us reputation and money, but we can at least improve our own alchemy here. And training promising apprentices, while definitely a long term goal, bills itself as a very beneficial one when we've completed it, and does use our literal highest skill.
There's an argument to be made for improving Administration instead of Leaf Cauldron here, but due to averages and breakpoints I think we should wait at least a turn for that, while raising Leaf Cauldron can be done any time, in theory anyway.
I'd argue that we need a Grand Project of our own to prove we have what it takes, now we're not dealing with a succession of crises we should try and invest some actions into something major to help build up our reputation.
Between us and our Sister, having a pill capable of helping a Lord Realm Cultivator with Wood Qi seems both doable (if hard) and actually quite useful to have on hand, and it will show how capable we are.
Between us and our Sister, having a pill capable of helping a Lord Realm Cultivator with Wood Qi seems both doable (if hard) and actually quite useful to have on hand, and it will show how capable we are.
I have a discord server if anyone wants to discuss there as well.
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Lifeandlice
Practitioning side-character
- Location
- Usa
Our sister is our rival and wants us to do better because she thinks we are as talented as her, just lazy. It's a disservice to her to say it would have been worse when we cannot know that.
Mother has no time for us however, which should have been expected given it was already a noted trend of hers to essentially stop paying attention to her previous kid when a new one comes along. She's an ally, but she's unreliable as she prefers to ever focus on her next project.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
I feel like we should increase our alchemy prior to starting one, but I don't really disagree. Starting on that instead of raising Leaf Cauldron is very defensible if willing to work with the alchemy we have. My big objection to your plan is not using our 3 free TP on cultivation, honestly. I doa also prefer apprentices, obviously.
I do actually agree with this in the longer run, it's just that doing that before we raise Cultivation, on average, takes an extra action to get to a reasonable amount of those skills.
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A Grand Project seems excessive at this point, developing the other gold level drugs and poisons seems like something we should do first.
Once we have improved the pavilion in various ways and our own Alchemy, then seems to be the start of research time, like developing Lord level poisons or combat enhancements.
I mean the Gold level poison was stated as being able to effect Lords, so just learning the recipe for that would be enough to get started. And getting the gold level Qi pill would help cultivation.
Once we have improved the pavilion in various ways and our own Alchemy, then seems to be the start of research time, like developing Lord level poisons or combat enhancements.
I mean the Gold level poison was stated as being able to effect Lords, so just learning the recipe for that would be enough to get started. And getting the gold level Qi pill would help cultivation.
- Pronouns
- He/It/Argh!
But we are on a clock here. A visible one for the Kasjan Dispute and an invisible one for the Clan to suddenly decide that they want our medicine pavilion to produce something immediately.
Efficiency < Speed in this situation.
[X] Plan: Poison Prince
--- [X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. [School of the Iridescent Toxin]
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 12/20) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Research a new Recipe (Goal: ??)
--[X] A poison that can injure lords
-[X] Go on an Adventure (Goal: ??)
--- [X] Select a technique to boost with 3 TP. [School of the Iridescent Toxin]
-[X] Clean up Corruption (Goal: 12/20) (Stress: +1)
-[X] Research a new Recipe (Goal: ??)
--[X] A poison that can injure lords
-[X] Go on an Adventure (Goal: ??)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We average one less action to raise them if we wait one turn and increase Cultivation with our free TP on both of them. It's literally waiting one turn. We're on a clock but not quite that severe of one, and not waiting only speeds things up meaningfully if we spend multiple actions this turn or something like that.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Alchemical Improvements
It's good that this was dealt with throughly and in a way that make the Iron Fist Sect like us. Shame about the Face loss but the MC has enough to spare.
She's very hands off. Also the Clan has history and it shows.
It's good to know the details of advancement even if it's very far off.
The main issue is the embezzling and incompetence.
Taking our time with this is a good idea.
Leaning into the powerbase is a good idea.
A Grand Project would be useful long term but I think that setting up the powerbase first is a better idea.
Improving those skills will be very useful.
Sister thinks the MC is a lazy softie, Mom has basically went I raised you so now succeed on your own, Brother is become politically useful, the Twins are little shits, bio dad is basically a sperm donor.
[X] Plan Alchemical Improvements
Working on personal skills and the powerbase seems like a great idea.