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Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)

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yrsillar said:
[] Disguise herself and enter through the front door. No need to play with walls and traps
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If this relies on manipulation and persuade we might be ok. If craft is in any way involved we're screwed. Poor idea. Really high risk/high reward.

[] To aim for one of the small but impossible to remove gaps in guard coverage and sneak in.
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Plays to our strengths. On the other hand the enemy has clearly prepared against darkness type qi users. But the solution to an enemy trying to counter your strengths is not necessarily to change tactics. Most personally dangerous, but uses our best skill.
High risk/high reward.

[] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
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They have around 12 stealth dice and significantly less perception. That's around 4 successes average. It's difficult to know how useful that is.
Low/moderate risk. Significant chance of no reward.

@yrsillar How does the ossuary scout work? The description is contradictory.
yrsillar said:
The scouts stealth and perception are equivalent to the creators without any auto successes granted by cultivation or arts.
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This indicates they don't get any autosuccesses at all, including those from level of cultivation.
yrsillar said:
For the purposes of opposed rolls, scouts count as two levels below their creators cultivation.
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Wheras this seems to suggest that they get autosuccesses equivilent to being an early yellow.

I'd assume it's the former? As the latter makes ossuary scouts virtually useless against anything not a realm or two lower than their creator.
EDIT: I meant the one where they get some autos.
 
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What does the "2nd (3rd 4th) breakthrough roll" mean though? 2nd etc for the turn it is taken, or 2nd etc total for either spiritual or physical? Like you get one success on spiritual then the next roll is 2nd breakthrough? Or if it's 2nd etc roll per turn, do they all have to be for one of spiritual or physical, or do both count towards the same thing?
 
Humbaba said:
If this relies on manipulation and persuade we might be ok. If craft is in any way involved we're screwed. Poor idea. Really high risk/high reward.


Plays to our strengths. On the other hand the enemy has clearly prepared against darkness type qi users. But the solution to an enemy trying to counter your strengths is not necessarily to change tactics. Most personally dangerous, but uses our best skill.
High risk/high reward.


They have around 12 stealth dice and significantly less perception. That's around 4 successes average. It's difficult to know how useful that is.
Low/moderate risk. Significant chance of no reward.

@yrsillar How does the ossuary scout work? The description is contradictory.

This indicates they don't get any autosuccesses at all, including those from level of cultivation.

Wheras this seems to suggest that they get autosuccesses equivilent to being an early yellow.

I'd assume it's the former? As the latter makes ossuary scouts virtually useless against anything not a realm or two lower than their creator.
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I'm not very concerned with the reward. I'm more concerned about not entering the well defended fortress bathed in magical sunlight with few, if any, shadows.
 
[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
yrsillar said:
and soon she had three mouse skeletons curled up in a pouch on her belt, ready to be deployed.
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I though the Plan said two ? is this an other exemple of Ling Qi over-achiever mentality ? :D

yrsillar said:
Blood of Father Sky: Allows the user to reduce all second, third and fourth breakthrough rolls by five

Milk of Mother Earth: Allows the reroll of a single breakthrough roll, and on failure prevents lost progress. Effective on second, third and fourth breakthroughs
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AH! Breakthrough pills, how conveignant !
If Kang Zihao really is attempting a breakthrough, it'll be pretty good target for when Ling Qi infiltrates the Fortress. Not only does messing his attempt mean negating a relatively important Sun support for a little while, but he should also have breakthrough loot !
ChronOblivion said:
Holy shit. Well, getting our third breakthrough just got a lot easier. These seem to be permanent buffs that only affect these breakthroughs in particular, but I'm not certain, especially for Milk.
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I think the father pill applies to all rolls done in a single week, while mother only applies to a single roll.
So if we make a closed door week with 6 breakthrough action, eat both pills, we'd get +5 to all six rolls, but "only" a single reroll.


yrsillar said:
"So… what would it be like then, being her retainer?"
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Sooo... that minor didn't really give us anything new to work with. Besides feels and a poor EPC roll.
Obey your lord (CRX), get resources. Yeah, that was kinda obvious.
Meizhen approves of CRX. Also obvious.
I guess it's not a complete waste to have the info IC, but still...
The only thing we learned is how Sect Elder might not be the comfy life some might think it would be.
Guess we'll have to wait for next week's CRX minor(s) for some relevant info.

yrsillar said:
As Fu Xiang reported, at each corner and halfway down the length of each of the four walls, a globe of brilliant, blinding light stood atop a bronze stand or hanging from a similar sconce. Shadows were reduced to ragged scraps in its vicinity, not nearly large enough to take advantage of.
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AH! We definitively made someone paranoid about shadows! Feels good :)

yrsillar said:
[] Disguise herself and enter through the front door. No need to play with walls and traps
[] To aim for one of the small but impossible to remove gaps in guard coverage and sneak in.
[] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
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Tough choice. Best case scenario:
1: We get in with no issues.
2: We get in with no issues and have a way out.
3: We get information on what is going on inside. Triple chance of success (3 scouts)
Worse case scenario:
1: The entrance guards notice Ling Qi = one or more groups of hostiles already there.
2: Patrol guards notice Ling Qi = one or more groups of hostiles incoming. Potential trap (leaving a way only to trap it is basic def tactics).
3: Triple chance of happening (3 scouts). Loss of scout(s). Someone notice them as spies = defense array gets upgraded.

I think #2 has the best reward without having the worse downside as even if Ling Qi screws up she can outrun pretty much anyone.
Also stealth is our best skills out of the three (1: manip+disguise, 2: stealth+speed, 3: ... luck ?)

[X] To aim for one of the small but impossible to remove gaps in guard coverage and sneak in.
 
Kelenas said:
Does anyone else find it kinda worrying that Ling Qi somehow isn't capable of recognizing what are pretty clearly mementos? Children's toys, jewelry and accessories, that sort of thing?
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Considering she has one in the flute that she recognizes as such and her thoughts along with what she did when it broke, yes it is definitely worrying that she somehow missed that.
 
Ayashi said:
I note that a big reason why Ling Qi is to tank-y is because of the epic Violet Lotus Gown .
The more normal "Soothing Streams Gown"* only gives 1 def dice.

*now that i think about it, that thing would make a great gift for Ling Qi's sister: a little def, +1 charm and self-repair would be pretty damn awesome for a mortal kid, and probably motivate her to towards cultivation. Also it's kinda useless to us.
Mom should be handy enough with a needle to make it fit the young girl. And it will give her (do we know her name ?) an other possible goal in life than prostitute.
We need to get the little girl into the habit of cultivating from a young age. Meizhen started at eight so young age isn't that much on an issue.

I mean, "did you brush your teeth?" doesn't have the same impact as "did you spend an hour cultivating before going to bed?".
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Wasn't the money Ling Qi sent back home ridiculous amounts in the terms of mortals of our social background?
Kinda figured mom and sis were now basically living much more comfortable than they ever expected and could make do with what we sent for quite a while.
Not sure it was enough money to basically last forever, but it was almost certainly enough that sis isn't remotely gonna grow up expecting to have to be a prostitute. I'm uncertain she'll even know that was her mother's background unless she puts various clues together or gets outright told by someone.

That aside, even if we arranged for sis to start cultivating early (Do we even know she has the talent for it? Ours might have come from the other parent or been a freak accident or sis might just be unlucky), I kinda expect that by the time it becomes relevant we'll have actual holdings of our own.

And I don't believe we'll need that much work to convince a kid that she wants to get superpowers like her elder sister who rules the land and owns the mansion she lives in now because said sister was just that good at getting superpowers.


Basically, I think fluff wise actions to send literally magical stuff home to spoil our little sister would be really cute and fun, but I doubt there's much need to think about what might instill proper cultivation work ethics at this junction, because we neither know if she even can cultivate nor do we know in the slightest what she or her relationship to us will even be like, until we get to go for a visit at least.

For all we know issues regarding our sister will develop much more along the lines of us being seen as a distant prodigy sibling she can never measure up against or being kinda unable to relate with each other because she never really went through the "daughter of a prostitute" thing in the same way Ling Qi did, also never lived as a street rat and the upbringing she gets from mom also has very little overlap with our experience of life as a busy cultivator.


Kelenas said:
Does anyone else find it kinda worrying that Ling Qi somehow isn't capable of recognizing what are pretty clearly mementos? Children's toys, jewelry and accessories, that sort of thing?
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Pfft. Were are you even getting this? There were no flutes or even combs in there.
Bit more seriously, yeah, it's kinda depressing. Along the same lines of "But where is the secret cultivation advantage hidden in these adventure novels?", but more stinging.

Probably an outgrowth of how transient life as a street rat was though, rather than something directly cultivation related.
Then again, I'm not sure I can rule out the latter reinforcing the former in the same way it might with other eccentricities.

I don't however believe there's an easy fix for this along the lines of just picking up a lake art or two and I'm unsure there's really anyone stable enough around to help her confront this kinda thing.
Consistently taking more of the not necessarily beneficial but decompressing actions might be the only thing here that really does something.
 
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[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
Ayashi said:
*now that i think about it, that thing would make a great gift for Ling Qi's sister: a little def, +1 charm and self-repair would be pretty damn awesome for a mortal kid, and probably motivate her to towards cultivation. Also it's kinda useless to us.
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And probably count as a downright priceless gift even for a rich mortal, let alone the daughter of a random prostitute. If we do send it to her, we might want to see if we can hire one or two very low end cultivators just to go there and make sure she does in fact keep it, specially if we do it now, during a time where we can't go there ourselves.
Kelenas said:
Does anyone else find it kinda worrying that Ling Qi somehow isn't capable of recognizing what are pretty clearly mementos? Children's toys, jewelry and accessories, that sort of thing?
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Not really, just very sad. It's probably an artifact of her young age, before cultivation, that didn't really allow much space for things of emotional value that don't really have an use in themselves, at least not to the extent of protecting it so much more than actually useful stuff as the Shaman apparently did. We are far from proud of it, but we did cling to life by all means and lived a wretched life, with the single most important thing being survival.
 
[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
Can't Ling sneak in by using One With The Shadow on an entering cultivator? Or does the strobe lights also affect the guards shadow?

The mice have a large chance of getting caught, and if Ling Qi tries to sneak and gets caught at the start she can simply flee at full speed (with flight).

Edit: Also, what realm are the guards?
 
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Ayashi said:
I though the Plan said two ? is this an other exemple of Ling Qi over-achiever mentality ? :D


AH! Breakthrough pills, how conveignant !
If Kang Zihao really is attempting a breakthrough, it'll be pretty good target for when Ling Qi infiltrates the Fortress. Not only does messing his attempt mean negating a relatively important Sun support for a little while, but he should also have breakthrough loot !

I think the father pill applies to all rolls done in a single week, while mother only applies to a single roll.
So if we make a closed door week with 6 breakthrough action, eat both pills, we'd get +5 to all six rolls, but "only" a single reroll.



Sooo... that minor didn't really give us anything new to work with. Besides feels and a poor EPC roll.
Obey your lord (CRX), get resources. Yeah, that was kinda obvious.
Meizhen approves of CRX. Also obvious.
I guess it's not a complete waste to have the info IC, but still...
The only thing we learned is how Sect Elder might not be the comfy life some might think it would be.
Guess we'll have to wait for next week's CRX minor(s) for some relevant info.


AH! We definitively made someone paranoid about shadows! Feels good :)


Tough choice. Best case scenario:
1: We get in with no issues.
2: We get in with no issues and have a way out.
3: We get information on what is going on inside. Triple chance of success (3 scouts)
Worse case scenario:
1: The entrance guards notice Ling Qi = one or more groups of hostiles already there.
2: Patrol guards notice Ling Qi = one or more groups of hostiles incoming. Potential trap (leaving a way only to trap it is basic def tactics).
3: Triple chance of happening (3 scouts). Loss of scout(s). Someone notice them as spies = defense array gets upgraded.

I think #2 has the best reward without having the worse downside as even if Ling Qi screws up she can outrun pretty much anyone.
Also stealth is our best skills out of the three (1: manip+disguise, 2: stealth+speed, 3: ... luck ?)

[X] To aim for one of the small but impossible to remove gaps in guard coverage and sneak in.
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I think the risk isn't just getting caught on the way in, but also getting caught while inside, where there are probably no shadows
 
Ha Ha, nope.
Traps within traps.
[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?

At this rate we lose nothing by sending in some scouts to give it a go, because they're already expecting us to make an attempt at them anyway. Them finding the scouts just loses us some spirit stones and mouse bones, rather than all the clothes off our back and the contents of our space ring.
 
So after talking to yrsillar on Discord, here are how the choices are gonna work:

-Disguise
Worst choice. Its the Subterfuge option, and our Subterfuge is 2 dots. We've barely trained it in comparison to other stats. Definitely not a good idea.

-Personal stealth
Highest risk, highest reward. We can actually use our arts and our higher cultivation bonuses and other benefits to have a higher chance of getting in and adapting to the circumstances, likely allowing for greater gains. Unfortunately its the riskiest option with the greatest chance for being screwed over due to anti-Ling Qi measures. Especially that sapping light which removes 2 auto successes and the use of Shadowport, and also makes FS and CG harder to use.

-Scouts
The scouts have Dex 6+ Stealth 6+ EPC 2+ SCS 2 for a total of 16 dice and 4 autos due to Early Yellow. They don't get equipment bonuses and can't actively use any of our arts. Most good guards are also gonna get 2 autos for perception on the mouse (especially if they have a perception art).

It should be noted that the dice check for the mouse sneaking in is lower than the dice check for Ling Qi sneaking in. Yrsillar confirmed this on Discord because a mouse sneaking into a guard's pocket is easier than Ling Qi sneaking in. The problems with this is:

Scout is Early Yellow, susceptible to autos. We only have 3 scouts to use. If a scout is found, then they're gonna know somebody is snooping around and go on high alert, making things harder. They'll also be on the alert for bone mice, which would make our scouting job harder. They also have only 1 hour's worth of memories, which isn't that great for extensive scouting and infiltration.

Overall, less risk and less reward, but its also the cautious approach. I might change my mind, but for the time being:

[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
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yrsillar said:
a globe of brilliant, blinding light stood atop a bronze stand or hanging from a similar sconce.
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*tilts head*
So, I'm guessing it's unlikely these are an active art. I suppose it could be, but ~8 day(?)-long duration casts seems unlikely even for Green, and dividing it up amongst many would be noticed refreshing them and still seems like it would be an expensive time sink to learn the appropriate art.
So, either a formation across the whole structure that manifests at those points, 8 instances of a formation that creates them or the sconces/stands create it. If the later, how fragile are they to, say, lightning arrows, and how expensive are they?
 
[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
Kelenas said:
Does anyone else find it kinda worrying that Ling Qi somehow isn't capable of recognizing what are pretty clearly mementos? Children's toys, jewelry and accessories, that sort of thing?
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Barbarians aren't people, silly you.

[x] To aim for one of the small but impossible to remove gaps in guard coverage and sneak in.

Subterfuge would also be amusing, and nothing bad could happen with that choice beside not getting in at all. We do have rerolls for both stealth and subterfuge though.

Not sure Ling Qi can succeed stealth, but it's the one with the highest reward with success, and there should be no real issues if we do fail considering Ling Qi's abilities when it comes to running the fuck away. Also, we have a reroll for stealth.

Beside that, I want the stealth check for EPC successes.
 
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[X] To remain outside and slip a scout onto returning disciples, with orders to return in an hour. At least one would make it out, surely?
 
All I'll say is that if we were going to try to sneak in under disguise, someone should put a point into Subterfuge to bring it up to three dots.
 
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