Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
Meh, things are pretty clear. The main issue is that Tenchifew hasn't updated his post as he is away, and TheLastOne refuses to do so for... reasons, but everyone that has voted since the new formatting began has used it except a couple votes.
The more people votes, the more it's used, and the less important the few people who didn't use it are.
[X] Plan Grinning Flame
[X] [Moon] Grinning Moon
[X] [Companion] Gu Xiulan
So the Grinning Moon wants Ling Qi to retrieve the favor she bestowed upon someone in the past whose used it in a manner that displeases her? Well it is certainly a cliche mission, but the individual in question targeted Xiulan so let's get dangerous.
In regards to my preference of asking Xiulan to undertake the trial over Meizhen others have already stated most of my reasons, but in addition to those to me it seems IC for Ling Qi to ask Xiulan in the hopes that in doing her friend will be a little bit closer to becoming the Haughty Blood Knight she wants to be.
Also undertaking the trial with Xiulan will make it more challenging because she is more average for her cultivation level whereas Meizhen is well Meizhen.
[X] [Moon] Grinning Moon
[X] [Companion] Gu Xiulan
So the Grinning Moon wants Ling Qi to retrieve the favor she bestowed upon someone in the past whose used it in a manner that displeases her? Well it is certainly a cliche mission, but the individual in question targeted Xiulan so let's get dangerous.
In regards to my preference of asking Xiulan to undertake the trial over Meizhen others have already stated most of my reasons, but in addition to those to me it seems IC for Ling Qi to ask Xiulan in the hopes that in doing her friend will be a little bit closer to becoming the Haughty Blood Knight she wants to be.
Also undertaking the trial with Xiulan will make it more challenging because she is more average for her cultivation level whereas Meizhen is well Meizhen.
[X] [Companion] Gu Xiulan
[X] Plan Gearing Up to Gear Up.
[X] Plan Grinning Moon
[X] [Moon] New
[X] [Moon] Full
[X] Plan Gearing Up to Gear Up.
[X] Plan Grinning Moon
[X] [Moon] New
[X] [Moon] Full
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
I... hadn't thought of that. I really should have. It seems so obvious now that I think about it. We knew the guy was stealth based and had support stealth art of some kind, so... yikes, this is going to be fun.
It shouldn't seem obvious. It is a conjecture, and one we have NO evidence. We should put as much credence into this as we do in the belief that Su Ling is romantically involved with Li Suyin.
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
... It seems obvious now that you point it out.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
It's plausible I think.
And anyway, we have a grudge with him to begin with, given how he basically hobbled our friends and tried using them as bait. Tweaking his nose seems a suitable vengeance, getting a new Art out of it that might fit nicely into our build is icing on the cake--and we'd get his blackmail book with it too.
And anyway, we have a grudge with him to begin with, given how he basically hobbled our friends and tried using them as bait. Tweaking his nose seems a suitable vengeance, getting a new Art out of it that might fit nicely into our build is icing on the cake--and we'd get his blackmail book with it too.
By the way @yrsillar, I really liked Gu Xiulan's anger. The combination of teenage romantic angst and deeper resentments really worked for me.
edit: where is everyone getting stuff about the Moon phase tasks? The only clues I got from this update were from the Full Moon about Xuan Shi and learning formations, and from the Crescent somehting about cutting our puppet strings. Was it a previous update?
edit: where is everyone getting stuff about the Moon phase tasks? The only clues I got from this update were from the Full Moon about Xuan Shi and learning formations, and from the Crescent somehting about cutting our puppet strings. Was it a previous update?
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Plausible, but it doesn't really change the price of rice.
We already knew this guy was dangerous, and a bit about his skillset. Even if he was also a moonboy that wouldn't really affect our approach.
I suppose we'll be finding out if we take the mission.
I've said it in discord but im not sure I've said it here, this is a good time to advance our relationship with Cai Renxiang. Right now we're a council member and one given a certain amount of autonomy due to our power and promise, but we aren't much else.
Cai doesn't talk to us about things, ask us our opinion, nor takes us anywhere for trials or anything.
Long story short, we aren't that close.
This is a good opportunity to become actual friends and plant a seed for advancement and further benefits from the Cai government :U
We already knew this guy was dangerous, and a bit about his skillset. Even if he was also a moonboy that wouldn't really affect our approach.
I suppose we'll be finding out if we take the mission.
I've said it in discord but im not sure I've said it here, this is a good time to advance our relationship with Cai Renxiang. Right now we're a council member and one given a certain amount of autonomy due to our power and promise, but we aren't much else.
Cai doesn't talk to us about things, ask us our opinion, nor takes us anywhere for trials or anything.
Long story short, we aren't that close.
This is a good opportunity to become actual friends and plant a seed for advancement and further benefits from the Cai government :U
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
We have seen this update that Yan Renshu uses purple mist, but yeah.Grinning Moon said:
People are theorising it's about a trial as there was a basalt door in the serpent's treasure one, but who knows.Hidden Moon said:
Striking back at the person who made a doll to frame Ling Qi, seems the most straight forward.Bloody Moon said:
Guiding Moon said:
- Location
- The Beach
. . . Ya know, given how many saucy romances have 'deeds committed under the light of the moon', I wouldn't be surprised if the Moon Spirits are all hardcore shippers.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, four choices. Sad we missed dreaming.
Guiding is a formations focus, which isn't our strong suit, and bloody is quite probably pretty dangerous as a patron.
That leaves Grinning and Hidden as viable choices, either of which I'd tentatively be okay with.
It's probably been noted, but for quests...
Hidden: Trial we were given, going full Indiana Jones is fun, and a relatively direct thing we'd do this week anyway. It's possible this mission will be instant, and if it isn't, it's a new trial hinted at us (which we should go find anyway if we can).
Bloody: Find the puppetmaster and take revenge, may or may not literally require us to murder someone in the sect. Either way, the fact that murder is implied is a strong reason to avoid this one for now, both as its a dark path and for the trouble it could cause.
Grinning: Steal a jade slip from someone in the (hopefully) outer sect. This has potential for extra gains, but also a lot of conflict, it's a decent fit for Ling Qi, but honestly just seems like a ton of trouble.
Guiding: Study formations? Befriend Xuan Shi? Our relative lack of formations (and our specific specialty) suggest that htis may not be a great path for us. The nautical focus isn't great either. OTOH, the moon that isn't a dick gives a pretty sedate trial
For patrons now, the easiest choice here is fairly clear. The Hidden Moon's trial has no real strings attached and gives us a solid sidequest. It's either the trial we're about to do (in which case it's easy) or we just got a free hint on another trial and should pursue that either way. In neither case do we go out of our way on this one. Both something that fits us, and something that doesn't start a fight with a stranger that potentially hasn't done us any harm, which is a nice direction to go as a character.
The companion choice here is really hard....
[X] Plan Grinning Flame
[X] [Moon] New
[X] [Companion] Bai Meizhen
- Location
- United States of America
I arise from the depths of dusty tomes, to come back and discuss more aspects of FoD!
Alright, so we have a formatting system for the votes, that seems half implemented. Yeah.... Until I get confirmation from @yrsillar about how this is going to play out I'm going to abstain from voting. I know what I want to vote for, but I don't want to have to revote because of an organizational shuffle.
Moving on to more meatier issues, I'm seeing some discussion regarding what the target are for our quests from the Moon Spirits and what they mean. Occam's Razor indicates that Yan Renshu will be the target for both the Waxing Moon and Waning Moon. He is the only one who has any purple related to his character that I can remember. Furthermore, he deals with stealth, seems like to be the guy who is the spider pulling the webs of intrigue, and would have a reason for another young stealth based character to be discredited (might drive her to work for him, or might put her under greater scrutiny allowing him to work more freely). So yeah, I think Yan Renshu is actually our number 1 or number 2 individual who is against us on a practical and industrial level (I don't want to say for certain because guys who hide in the shadows are always hard to pin down).
Moving on to what the missions mean though. I'm only going to focus on the Waxing Moon and the Waning Moon as I feel that the other missions are fairly self-explanatory (do formations!) or ambiguous (Location where? Location get!). Let's start off with the Waxing Moon, as I feel that is the easiest to discuss. We were once attacked by a puppet look alike who was attempting to sow distrust and get us targeted by Cai's justice. We have a personal reason to go after this dude and make sure that he doesn't do it again. As such, the mission is that we get ourselves retribution and "justice" by ensuring that he receives punishment for his actions against us. We also make sure we are protected from further actions by him. I don't particularly know how we would make sure that he can't do it again (the cutting of the ties between him and the puppet) but hopefully it doesn't involve a killing because we aren't allowed to kill and that would be a huge line to cross for Ling Qi.
On to the Waning moon! The imagery here is a boy with purple mists, a room lit by green fires, and a book and jade slip. As noted above, the target is most likely going to be Yan Renshu and the other two images are indications of where the target is and what the objective is. Every good thief should have these three pieces of information: who we are stealing from, where we are stealing from, and what we are stealing. If we are stealing from Yan Renshu, this makes this job very tricky proposition, as there are the wards that divide men and women's residential areas. Knowing this, that indicates two possibilities: either the room is on the men's side of the residential divide and the wards are able to be bypassed, or the room in question is outside of the men's residential areas. These are fairly good assumptions either way, as it is a boy in the image (unless we are supposed to work with the boy, but that doesn't seem like a goal of the Waning Moon).
Focusing on the book and jade slip for the moment then. The Jade slip is of particular note, as is the fact that it is lying beside the book. This probably means that the book and the jade slip are related somehow. How they are related/connected is fairly uncertain, but I have my guesses. At this point, I am full blown diving into the assumption pool, so follow me if you dare! The primary purpose of books is the storing of the written word or pictures, both of which are actually the communication of information. Thus, a book can be said to be a repository of information that is desired to be accessed at a later date. The primary purpose of a jade slips, to our awareness, is the holding and communication of esoteric information, primarily arts and other highly valuable and difficult to convey information. In fact, to our knowledge, jade slips are only used for arts.
Should Jade slips only be used for arts, then it may be that the jade slip holds an art which was used to acquire the information which was written in the book. What that information is, and how the possible art works are completely unknown, so unknown that I don't even have any guesses.
So there you have it, my analysis of what the Waxing and Waning Moon quests may entail. Primarily focusing on the Waning as there was more information there than any other quest. In conclusion for the Waning Moon quest, I think it is: theft mission against Yan Renshu in order to breach a secret room in order to acquire a book and an information gathering art.
Alright, so we have a formatting system for the votes, that seems half implemented. Yeah.... Until I get confirmation from @yrsillar about how this is going to play out I'm going to abstain from voting. I know what I want to vote for, but I don't want to have to revote because of an organizational shuffle.
Moving on to more meatier issues, I'm seeing some discussion regarding what the target are for our quests from the Moon Spirits and what they mean. Occam's Razor indicates that Yan Renshu will be the target for both the Waxing Moon and Waning Moon. He is the only one who has any purple related to his character that I can remember. Furthermore, he deals with stealth, seems like to be the guy who is the spider pulling the webs of intrigue, and would have a reason for another young stealth based character to be discredited (might drive her to work for him, or might put her under greater scrutiny allowing him to work more freely). So yeah, I think Yan Renshu is actually our number 1 or number 2 individual who is against us on a practical and industrial level (I don't want to say for certain because guys who hide in the shadows are always hard to pin down).
Moving on to what the missions mean though. I'm only going to focus on the Waxing Moon and the Waning Moon as I feel that the other missions are fairly self-explanatory (do formations!) or ambiguous (Location where? Location get!). Let's start off with the Waxing Moon, as I feel that is the easiest to discuss. We were once attacked by a puppet look alike who was attempting to sow distrust and get us targeted by Cai's justice. We have a personal reason to go after this dude and make sure that he doesn't do it again. As such, the mission is that we get ourselves retribution and "justice" by ensuring that he receives punishment for his actions against us. We also make sure we are protected from further actions by him. I don't particularly know how we would make sure that he can't do it again (the cutting of the ties between him and the puppet) but hopefully it doesn't involve a killing because we aren't allowed to kill and that would be a huge line to cross for Ling Qi.
On to the Waning moon! The imagery here is a boy with purple mists, a room lit by green fires, and a book and jade slip. As noted above, the target is most likely going to be Yan Renshu and the other two images are indications of where the target is and what the objective is. Every good thief should have these three pieces of information: who we are stealing from, where we are stealing from, and what we are stealing. If we are stealing from Yan Renshu, this makes this job very tricky proposition, as there are the wards that divide men and women's residential areas. Knowing this, that indicates two possibilities: either the room is on the men's side of the residential divide and the wards are able to be bypassed, or the room in question is outside of the men's residential areas. These are fairly good assumptions either way, as it is a boy in the image (unless we are supposed to work with the boy, but that doesn't seem like a goal of the Waning Moon).
Focusing on the book and jade slip for the moment then. The Jade slip is of particular note, as is the fact that it is lying beside the book. This probably means that the book and the jade slip are related somehow. How they are related/connected is fairly uncertain, but I have my guesses. At this point, I am full blown diving into the assumption pool, so follow me if you dare! The primary purpose of books is the storing of the written word or pictures, both of which are actually the communication of information. Thus, a book can be said to be a repository of information that is desired to be accessed at a later date. The primary purpose of a jade slips, to our awareness, is the holding and communication of esoteric information, primarily arts and other highly valuable and difficult to convey information. In fact, to our knowledge, jade slips are only used for arts.
Should Jade slips only be used for arts, then it may be that the jade slip holds an art which was used to acquire the information which was written in the book. What that information is, and how the possible art works are completely unknown, so unknown that I don't even have any guesses.
So there you have it, my analysis of what the Waxing and Waning Moon quests may entail. Primarily focusing on the Waning as there was more information there than any other quest. In conclusion for the Waning Moon quest, I think it is: theft mission against Yan Renshu in order to breach a secret room in order to acquire a book and an information gathering art.
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- Location
- Cyberspace
Alright - so:
1. It's a choice between phases, and
2. It's not a truly permanent choice.
So I feel no reservations in Ling Qi sticking with the Grinning Moon. Both out of sentiment, and because I find that path more interesting to see at this point. Granted, I feel interested as well in the New moon... but I think that it might make a future "official" meeting with Yin a touch awkward.
Now, the benefits - so until Ling Qi chooses, she's not going to advance (at least not as fast) beyond early Green/Bronze. Dice for base cultivation are now matching or exceeding Argent Soul's best... except, of course, for meridians. Which offers an interesting possibility, actually, with EPC cultivation being stalled until decision and no urgent push on Spirit/Physique right away; switching to Argent Soul and picking up a couple meridians.
At any rate, Argent Soul is better for meridians, EPC is better for qi... and for arts (and for spirit).
And poor Xiulan. She's still very much unhappy with Han Jian, and Fan Yu's not really growing on her either. And yeah, nothing Ling Qi can do other than be a comforting shoulder to cry on, as it were.
Now... growth! First of all, I see Ling Qi's got a Formations specialty, "disabling". Interesting - I feel like it's worth pursuing further... not this week though, I think. Dexterity's almost reached Xiulan's 6, and several other attributes (Resolve, Wits, Presence and Manipulation) are getting close to improvement. I'd like to see Intelligence and Composure increase faster though - those are pretty helpful in non-combat situations.
War didn't improve, unfortunately. Investigation and Intimidation could use an omake point each to put them over the top. Perhaps a few more into Persuasion... maybe into Expression, if Ling Qi's going to look for Hannyi's mother again.
Speaking of which, I think it's reasonable for Ling Qi to do so. Not just because she's improved in both flute-playing and in FVM, but perhaps the spirit might have some perspective on the moon sisters that might be interesting to hear.
Trial... either Meizhen or Xiulan. Ling Qi sorta-owes Meizhen such an opportunity... and, on the flip side, if there's a singular reward, Meizhen owes Ling Qi one in that respect. And yet, Gu Xiulan is looking pretty rocky with Han Jian not visiting because of *his* trial... Ling Qi doing the same would be kind of awkward. Plus, she'd probably gain more from the trial.
As for arts to train... well, TRF has been a pretty potent addition so far. There's always the old standbyes of SCS and FVM, of course. And starting up a Zephyr Breath successor is appealing.
1. It's a choice between phases, and
2. It's not a truly permanent choice.
So I feel no reservations in Ling Qi sticking with the Grinning Moon. Both out of sentiment, and because I find that path more interesting to see at this point. Granted, I feel interested as well in the New moon... but I think that it might make a future "official" meeting with Yin a touch awkward.
Now, the benefits - so until Ling Qi chooses, she's not going to advance (at least not as fast) beyond early Green/Bronze. Dice for base cultivation are now matching or exceeding Argent Soul's best... except, of course, for meridians. Which offers an interesting possibility, actually, with EPC cultivation being stalled until decision and no urgent push on Spirit/Physique right away; switching to Argent Soul and picking up a couple meridians.
At any rate, Argent Soul is better for meridians, EPC is better for qi... and for arts (and for spirit).
And poor Xiulan. She's still very much unhappy with Han Jian, and Fan Yu's not really growing on her either. And yeah, nothing Ling Qi can do other than be a comforting shoulder to cry on, as it were.
Now... growth! First of all, I see Ling Qi's got a Formations specialty, "disabling". Interesting - I feel like it's worth pursuing further... not this week though, I think. Dexterity's almost reached Xiulan's 6, and several other attributes (Resolve, Wits, Presence and Manipulation) are getting close to improvement. I'd like to see Intelligence and Composure increase faster though - those are pretty helpful in non-combat situations.
War didn't improve, unfortunately. Investigation and Intimidation could use an omake point each to put them over the top. Perhaps a few more into Persuasion... maybe into Expression, if Ling Qi's going to look for Hannyi's mother again.
Speaking of which, I think it's reasonable for Ling Qi to do so. Not just because she's improved in both flute-playing and in FVM, but perhaps the spirit might have some perspective on the moon sisters that might be interesting to hear.
Trial... either Meizhen or Xiulan. Ling Qi sorta-owes Meizhen such an opportunity... and, on the flip side, if there's a singular reward, Meizhen owes Ling Qi one in that respect. And yet, Gu Xiulan is looking pretty rocky with Han Jian not visiting because of *his* trial... Ling Qi doing the same would be kind of awkward. Plus, she'd probably gain more from the trial.
As for arts to train... well, TRF has been a pretty potent addition so far. There's always the old standbyes of SCS and FVM, of course. And starting up a Zephyr Breath successor is appealing.
Remember that we can't use AS bonuses anymore since they only work until late.
- Location
- United States of America
One last quick note before I must depart for more dusty tomes and knowledge being poured into my brain.
Zhengui, he breathed superheated ash! Yes, he is growing up to be a fine young Xuanwu.
Quick thought on what arts he might have as a result of the information. Since it is superheated ash, it would seem to be a fire/wood art. I could be wrong though, as the other ash art we had access to was fire/wind, and so the fire element might itself be enough to have an ash component. However, if it is a fire/wood art, then it is possible that he has a fire/fire art and a wood/wood art.
So I'm thinking three arts Fire/Fire, Fire/wood, Wood/Wood. It could also be two arts, Fire/Fire, and Wood/Wood. However, this is all assumptions at this point.
Zhengui, he breathed superheated ash! Yes, he is growing up to be a fine young Xuanwu.
Quick thought on what arts he might have as a result of the information. Since it is superheated ash, it would seem to be a fire/wood art. I could be wrong though, as the other ash art we had access to was fire/wind, and so the fire element might itself be enough to have an ash component. However, if it is a fire/wood art, then it is possible that he has a fire/fire art and a wood/wood art.
So I'm thinking three arts Fire/Fire, Fire/wood, Wood/Wood. It could also be two arts, Fire/Fire, and Wood/Wood. However, this is all assumptions at this point.
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TheLastOne
Person of impeccable tastes (for destruction)
Because if I change, @Empere and @angelofwhim suddenly aren't voting for any phase or friend at all. I won't orphan voters.
- Location
- Cyberspace
[X] Plan Grinning Flame
[X] [Moon] Grinning Moon
[X] [Companion] Gu Xiulan
Good point; I keep overlooking that...
[X] [Moon] Grinning Moon
[X] [Companion] Gu Xiulan
Good point; I keep overlooking that...
- Location
- Spain
I have to say, it still surprises me that apparently the guiding moon favours us more that the dreaming one. We should value our music more.