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So, what exactly does this do? Do the meal provide a temporary buff so that it's better to wait until we plan some kind of combat action?

We're just a few successes from leveling up Lind's fighting style so we should def. do that. The technique is also not far off from leveling.
Immortal Cuisine usually provides temporary boons, but a strong enough meal might include lesser permanent benefits. Choosing when to have a meal might thus be wise, but on the other hand, the squid won't last forever.
 
Immortal Cuisine usually provides temporary boons, but a strong enough meal might include lesser permanent benefits. Choosing when to have a meal might thus be wise, but on the other hand, the squid won't last forever.
How temporary is temporary for the purposes of this quest? Like two to five turns? Could we cook and eat it this turn then cultivate next turn and hunt the turn after that without the buff dropping?

Or does the buff slowly drop off in potency or something? Like +3 to strength rolls the turn its eaten, then +2 the next turn. +1 the turn after then it wears off.

Or does it like depend on the food?
 
[X] Plan Karnax

This seems the best option at the moment, assuming the goal is still to harangue the Hand.
While improving stats via cultivation does help, it isn't as good as direct combat training at the moment.
And we may wish to explore a bit more before we go deeper into our cultivation. Our only option at the moment is to cycle fire/earth.
May as well find out what the Immortal Cuisine actually does now, rather than try to optimise an unknown. And depending on what happens, we might want to attempt some demon demolition next turn anyway.

Other actions for consideration:
Lots of money gaining options. Not sure we can buy our way into the Sect, but could be fun.

[] Vijaya Paranthapa has been seen gathering mountaineering gear and eyeing one of the sect's mountains. If she is planning an expedition up one of the peaks, perhaps she would be willing to accept some company?
We have suitable skills for this action. Could be fun and rewarding.

We are also very close to advancing Coursing River Arrow to level 2.
 
How temporary is temporary for the purposes of this quest? Like two to five turns? Could we cook and eat it this turn then cultivate next turn and hunt the turn after that without the buff dropping?

Or does the buff slowly drop off in potency or something? Like +3 to strength rolls the turn its eaten, then +2 the next turn. +1 the turn after then it wears off.

Or does it like depend on the food?
There's a bit of a Try and Find Out element here, but I don't intend to screw you guys over with it.
 
Vote Closed
Adhoc vote count started by Wynter on Jun 7, 2022 at 8:43 AM, finished with 14 posts and 7 votes.

  • [X] Plan Karnax
    -[X] The last time you saw Bai Ping he looked in trouble, almost fleeing the grounds of the sect. Is everything alright with him? Maybe you should track him down, just to be sure.
    -[X] Jin Jiayi told you to come back whenever you wished for more lessons in the art of combat, go test yourself in the ring against your fellows. (Random Encounters, Train in the Valiant Champion Style)
    -[X] The Immortal Kitchens are home to meals of all manner. If you can afford them of course. (Immortal meals are worth 5 Silvers. This cost can be offset by bringing your own game.)
    --[X] You have the spoils of the Kraken to supply for your meal (Grade 2 Squid) – Cost 2 Silver Coins.


I'll close it here, update tomorrow potentially.
 
A Coarse DIsagreement
Morning is subdued as Liu Zhiqiang remains yet to return from his travels. Your first hint is his door, still ajar like it was yesterday. Shao Suyin confirms it as you ask about his whereabouts when you join her.

"Do you know when he'll be back?" You ask Shao Suyin as you ready yourself for the morning.

The woman looks up from her work, re-stringing her bow and checking her arrows. "I believe he was given a task by the head of the Immortal Kitchens. Should he return successfully then he will have passed his first trial."

"Already?"

Two trials, two markers. You had yet to even catch a whiff of what you could do for either and your fellow peer was already on his way to claiming his first.

"Yes…" She says, trailing off as she glances at your clenched fists. "Liu has devoted himself to hunting from the moment he arrived. While he is close to earning one marker, he is far from the next."

Is she… Trying to comfort you?

No, you don't think Suyin is the type. You leave your furs hanging up on the rack as you go to head outdoors. You won't need them where you're going today.

"Lind."

You freeze in your step as her voice carries through to you.

"Keep your focus. If you focus too much on everything around you, and you will find time has run out before you even start to chase your own goals."

Words seeking to encourage you, motivate you maybe though they're just words. It's up to you to act on them or not.

"Thank you for your wisdom," you say with a bow in her direction. "I will ponder your words today."

Ponder them long however, you do not as your travels with the ship are still fresh in your mind. That night spent sparring with the men and women of the crew and that gap between your skills and theirs. Helpful and supportive though they had been, a part of you wanted to surprise them should you ever step foot on their ship again. You could feel yourself on the verge of something when you'd practiced with them. An aspect of the technique managing to elude you, tantalisingly just beyond your grasp.

To seize that knowledge meant that you needed to train, and who better to help you than the man who had taught it to you in the first place?

For the second time in two weeks, you stand in line in front of Jin Jiayi, the combat specialist smiling as pleasantly as always as he leads you and those assembled to the sparring grounds. Along with you is the girl with the sword you saw the first time, trying to tempt Jin into a duel all the while that you walk. Behind them and you a group that dwarfs any number you've seen yet. At the back Qing Liao waves politely at you when you make eye contact, though the lion's share of your attention is directed at the centre of the whirling maelstrom of compliments and waving limbs.

Lord Li Jiang, the only noble you're aware of amongst your group. Most of your knowledge of him came from the blonde girl at the back of his group. Every step the young man takes isone he must fight his own people to take, such is the aggressive attention they dote upon him How wonderful his hair today, how elegant his regal presence, how they wish to learn anything he deigns to teach them.

Despite the suffocating presence of his own people, the lord himself is composed, hands clasped together underneath his robes as he answers their questions. Otherwise, he follows along with Jin Jiayi. Perhaps you stare too long, because after a few moments he stops speaking and his eyes narrow on you.

You look away and continue to walk in silence. Sidling up alongside you is the long-haired boy you'd met on your first day walking into the sect. His hair is no longer in a ponytail, but a messy style which hangs around his shoulder. His clothes are no longer stained rags but those of the sect's traditional style. If anything, he looks even bigger than the last time you'd seen him. Those months on the road may have thinned him out, or now that he was at the sect, he finally had a proper diet. While he doesn't meet your eyes, he's just as broad as you if not more so, sleeveless arms rippling with corded muscles.

And far at the back, burning a hole in your visage is Quan Xia. Late, the last to arrive even, running to the line after you'd already left yet seemingly offended that you had the audacity to join her training session.

You ignore her as you make your way onto the sands. Jin Jiayi takes a seat and instructs you all to find a partner and spar and you glance in the direction of the fisher, before you promptly about face and meet with one of Lord Li Jiang's men before the girl can attempt to goad you into conflict.

Valiant Champion Training:

Physical Prowess 3 + Close Combat 0 (Unarmed 1) + 1 (Jin Jiayi - Success threshold reduced to 6)

5d10(6) - 10 2 8 10 9 – 6 Successes

5d10(6) - 7 7 2 7 9 – 4 Successes

5d10(6) - 2 4 6 2 3 – 1 Success

5d10(6) - 7 9 1 7 6 - 4 Successes

5d10(6) - 5 1 9 1 6 - 2 Successes

Valiant Champion Level 2 15/15 Completed!

Valiant Champion Level 3 15/20

Valiant Champion Level 2

-2 Defense dice, +4 Attack Dice (New Defence Die 1 – New Attack Die 8)

One rank of Unarmed advanced to Close Combat.


You are inexperienced, still adjusting to the growing pains of combat. Yet, as Jin Jiayi walks around the sands and lends instructions, his small suggestions and advice help you significantly. It's also a credit to your sparring partner, one operating much closer to your level than the force that is Vijaya Paranthapa. You both make mistakes, mistakes which you can stop, pause, and identify before you continue to spar, aiming to help each other as much as possible. Jin Jiayi's advice, is both punishing yet rewarding, much like the style of combat you have chosen. While he provides advice on footwork, and movement his other advice is not to do with evading blows. Instead, he teaches you to identify what blows you can take, to deal more damage.

By the end of first session your arms are tired, your legs burn like you've been hunting prey for miles and your body is peppered with lights bruises. As you stand on the sands of the makeshift arena though, you feel confident. The last time you had been here, you'd known nothing about fighting. Even now there is little you have to share about the history of combat. You do not know the great fighters of centuries ago the Valiant Champion the only name on your tongue. But now you know how to handle yourself, at least against those of your cohort. A rematch with Vijaya Paranthapa could lead do a different result, maybe, if fortune would happen to work in your favour.

Lord Li Jiang's follower, who introduces himself as Yi Cheng goes with you as you reach over to the trowel and scoop some of the water. Cool to the touch, the water pours down your throat dousing the flames of thirst which had threatened to overwhelm you. You pour some over your head, ruffling your hair to try and refresh yourself and shake out the dirt and sand.

"You seem practiced…" Yi Cheng says.

You wait for him to continue as you pour another drink, but he doesn't.

"I've trained a couple of times." You tell him and he leaps on your answer like a lifeline.

What follows is one of the most stilted, awkward conversations you've had since you arrived. Coming from you, that says something, as your answer is followed by more questions which rapidly turns into what feels like an interrogation instead of any actual attempt at companionship.

Where are you from? How did you arrive to the sect? What have you done since arriving? Where were you when the village burned?

You fight through the onslaught of questions, sharing what feels like as much as half your life story in the process before in the middle of answering one you look up to find Yi Cheng staring past you. You follow his gaze to find the swordswoman striding purposefully towards Jin Jiayi, handle at the sword on her hip.

"I request an exchange of pointers, Jin Jiayi." The girl says, loud enough to catch the attention of the entire arena.

You remember her trying to coax him into battle this morning, warm and friendly banter between a pupil and her trainer. That warmth was now removed as she unsheathes her sword, sunlight reflecting off blue steel.

The mentor, busy with another group looks up from his ministrations with a frown.

"What's brought this attitude about, Wen Xifeng?" He asks her, "I said I was more than willing to spar with you as reward for your acceptance into the sect."

"I apologise but I no longer wish to wait." The girl says simply. "I know that last year you fought a disciple on these very sands on his first day. I wish to claim that honor for myself."

"What she means to say," another voice chimes in. "Is that she is more than willing to disrespect your wishes and advice in favour of her own ends, honoured Elder."

Xifeng glares at the intruder, Li Jiang standing with his arms crossed, a small smile on his face. "Li, go back to your sycophants. This is a conversation between two artists, not one that should be sullied by your intrusion."

Yi Cheng bristles at the slight to his liege and pushes past you, running forward. "How dare you insult the young master!" He bellows. "Have you no shame?"

Li Jiang stands unmoving as Cheng runs towards Xifeng and swings. The girl ducks under his blow with ease and strikes him over the head with the base of her sword. Cheng crumples into the sand with a groan.

"Honorable." She says, staring at Cheng. "But misguided and wasted. Especially on one such as him."

"Xifeng." Jin Jiayi scolds her, as he kneels over Cheng's form and checks the fallen initiate.

"Not wasted at all." Li Jiang says as he strides forward coming face to face with Xifeng. The two stare at each other momentarily, before he drops down, beside Jiayi and helps Cheng to his feet. "Loyalty is one of the strongest assets one can have and Yi Cheng has that in abundance." He says as he pats the disciple on the back. "It's natural for nobles to recognise and help cultivate talent, and loyalty."

Xifeng snorts. "So happy to prop up those who serve you in place of those who deserve to advance. Resources that could be spent much better on those born unfortunate, instead going to those who'll swallow their pride and bow in exchange for the easy route."

"Am I to take your opinion of nobles as one shared by the Sect?" Li Jiang asks. "I'm sure that my family would love to hear of the high regard in which you hold them."

"No, it is not, Lord Jiang." Jiayi soothes him as he rises to his feet. "As for our spar, Wen Xifeng, given your behaviour today, I do not know if I will make myself available at any point in the near future."

"Good."

You know that voice.

Qian Xia, the one who had been receiving Jin Jiayi's advice before the intrusion snorts at the four of them.

"If the noble and the child of the sect are done discussing my disadvantages, instead of allowing me to remedy them, I would appreciate it if they both went back to their own training and that you could give me the guidance I require, honoured Elder."

The words strike all three in different ways. Li Jiang's face twists into a scowl as he looks at the daughter of a fisherman, mocking him to his face. Jin Jiayi looks contrite at the fact he's been taken away from his duties in teaching. Wen Xifeng however, almost seems proud at the way in which Qian Xia has seemed to reprimand the three of them. Despite this, neither Li Jiang or Wen Xifeng move and Jin Jiayi stands between all three of them, unsure of what to do.

It seems that you will get no more training done today until whatever this is, can be resolved.

[] It seems like Wen Xifeng has a point. The Nobles don't earn their way, they pay for it and without their leg up they'd fall behind quickly as would the rest of their followers. Stand with her.

[] You are surprised one would question the role of nobility, those who come from the greatest fighters of the nation. The glory of the noble houses is earned, back Li Jiang and stand with him.

[] Qian Xia has a point. Both have started off with advantages far greater than any of you mere commoners could hope to possess and to squabble about you in front of you is improper conduct.

[] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.

[] You're here to fight, not to play politics. Say as much and tell them to get back to training. Or else.

A/N Went through a few rewrites, sorry for the delay!
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.

Fuck all those guys, I'm going with the himbo option.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
Ain't nobody got time for this politics nonsense, and trying to get them to stop would be interrupting the grind. Priority number 1 is to stay on the grind.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
IMO Lind doesn't know enough about the politics of those involved to get involved himself, and that includes the last option.

[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.

Urgh. People.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
[X] Over by the dummies the shaggy haired boy you met the day you walked into the sect is currently practicing his skills. Invite him for a spar and leave this foolishness behind you.
 
Technique Unlocked – Waterborn

Water courses through you, it courses through everyone. Now though, you feel this intimately.

+ 1 Affinity to Water (1.1 multiplies To Dice Rolls when cycling Water Qi, reduced thresholds for tech development) – Lind can also breathe underwater in areas with high Qi concentration aka Qi Spots.

Affinities – When you have cycled enough of one type of Qi (This will be at the discretion of the QMs) you will gain an affinity for cycling that Qi aspect. This will be shown through bonus dice, or reduced requirements to develop a Technique

Location Unlocked – The Forgotten Tyrant – Water/Beast Qi Spot
@Wynter The stuff we got from studying the underwater statue and our combat gains from today's update aren't on the character sheet.

I'm enjoying the quest so far. It looks like we might want to talk to other people in the town just in case it turns out hunting the demon hand isn't enough to get a token.
 
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