... Are you implying she is going to pee in the street?Suyin turned to her and said, very seriously: "No. I really have to pee."
"Ah," said Ling Qi.
"Do you think you could-"
Ling Qi scratched her cheek, embarrassed, as she dismissed her bow and took out her flute.
"Sure."
As she began to play and mist filled the area,
Wait what.The completing half of the Spring's End Aria, a song with it's roots in the bleak, frozen lands that lie beyond the Wall.
Maybe if we offer enough sacrifices to the dice gods, they'll give Sun all the 4s that we'd otherwise have rolled?
Wait until you check out FSA...Goddamn, Hoarfrost Caress is crazy. 6 armor piercing, 6 DV, and 3 bonus damage is just great. I am so happy with this art.
The not!Himalayas to the south. You know where the cloud tribes lives? Check the first sentence of the quest.
I think that's the kind of thing we now have to pay attention to the political implications of. Not that we couldn't necessarily do so if the situation comes up, but we'd have to at least talk to Meizhen and Cai Renxiang before planning to.A few people suggested just surrendering if we ended up fighting Meizhen just a day or two ago as a way to let her save resources for the Sun fight.
The not!Himalayas to the south. You know where the cloud tribes lives? Check the first sentence of the quest.
I'll edit in the changes to FVM later, but for now here is FSS.Unlocked By: +250 Successes
Learned On: Week 46
Passive Effects
-Cold effects by the user gain armor piercing24
-User gains armor35 vs cold effects
-Basic unarmed and music attacks by the user gainonetwo bonus cold damage
-The user receives athreefour die bonus to all expression based offensive clashes
-The user gains a two die bonus on all intimidate tests
Springs End Aria: oo
Cost 5 qi
Instant
The first notes of the users song herald the end of warmth, draining the heat from the area and around them and crystalizing the moisture in the air into snow and ice. Enemies within fifty meters suffer athreefour die penalty to spiritual defenses as the song saps their will, and the user gains a three die bonus to their own spiritual defense.The user becomes the nexus of the cold, draining the energy from their opponents attacks. Unsuccessful clashes vs the user allow them to recover one qi per three spent on the clash by their opponent(min. 1). Enemies without qi suffer one cold damage per turn. This effect lasts six turns.
Hoarfrost Caress: ooo
Cost 6 Qi
The user's song becomes the howl of of a blizzard in the depths of winter as they focus the expression of their will upon a single enemy. This triggers a spiritual attack with a bonus of five and an additional armor piercing of two. On a successful clash, the target finds frost spreading across their body as their blood and qi alike runs sluggish. This attack is DV46, with one bonus damage, with all damage being semi perfect. On damage, the target suffers a four die penalty to all clashes for the next two turns. On hit, damage is applied again on the following turn.
Winter Eternal Cadenza: ooo
Cost 8 Qi
The completing half of the Spring's End Aria, a song with it's roots in the bleak, frozen lands that lie beyond the Wall. Usable only while Spring's End Aria is active, this technique unleashes if only for a moment, the absolute cold of a winter without end. This technique triggers a spiritual attack against all enemies within fifty meters at a bonus of two. This attack is DV6, and deals semi perfect damage. The user gains one qi for each point of damage dealt to a target which has at least one level of cultivation. On hit, targets have their speed penalized by 5 and their initiative by 2, as well as suffering a two die penalty on all clashes, this effect lasts two turns.
I didn't vote to swear vassalage to Cai, but that was in fact our vote. Since we swore to follow her lead, let's actually let her know when something is so directly in her purview.
[X] Take the matter of Yan Renshu to Cai Renxiang.
Did you catch the thing about their cultivation only being Early Green? It looks like the way yrsillar addressed the issue of Sixiang being too-high in cultivation is to say that "nope, actually they are at your cultivation level; they were just artificially boosted to that level for security". And it does kinda make sense, since Spirits do have this whole "merging into each other" thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Sixiang's grandmother literally lent them some of her own cultivation for the interim; not like it is a big penalty for a spirit of that level.
There is the /85 being done twice there, so we should have 86Qi. Likewise, there is ten spiritual successes missing in the first black pool action of FVM.Bonus Qi roll:
Talent 6 + YSS25 + GSS20 + Pills 33 + Larceny 5 = 89 dice + 28 autos (18 Mystic Vale, 5 Green, 5 EPC)
5 4 1 10 9 3 4 6 7 5 9 7 5 7 3 6 4 4 10 3 2 5 4 2 6 1 4 10 3 8 1 7 1 3 6 1 7 2 9 4 6 7 2 10 3 4 7 9 9 8 1 2 2 4 3 9 6 6 10 8 5 1 7 6 5 4 8 2 7 6 5 2 3 6 4 7 1 2 7 1 10 7 2 3 2 6 2 9 3. 49 successes
Rerolling 8
4 8 2 3 4 2 3 2. 7 successes. 28 auto. 84 successes
95/84
+1 qi
11/85
Reroll all successes thanks to Qi Sea pill
10 9 8 4 6 8 1 10 10 3 1 5 6 3 7 3 6 7 4 2 7 8 1 6 6 3 1 4 4 3 1 5 3 1 8 8 10 10 9 10 2 9 6 10 1 2 2 7 1 5 10 7 3 1 5 10 3 7 4 8 9 6 2 3 8 9 10 8 10 8 9 2 7 4 1 7 8 4 5 8 9 5 4 3. 40 successes
Rerolling 10
7 3 6 9 5 10 10 2 1 4. 5 successes. 45 total
56/85
SCS:
Talent 6 + YSS25 + GSS20 + Tutor 10 + Black Pool 6 + EPC 15 + Pills 15 + Spine 4 = 101 dice
4 9 2 1 5 7 6 1 6 8 7 5 9 5 6 4 9 3 9 9 7 6 2 10 5 4 7 6 3 5 3 6 5 5 8 9 3 5 1 8 2 7 3 10 3 10 6 2 4 4 10 3 9 3 2 5 7 10 10 1 5 4 8 1 10 6 2 2 10 2 2 2 1 4 3 5 5 8 6 9 3 6 1 3 10 2 7 6 1 8 6 7 2 4 10 1 1 1 5 10 4. 56 successes
Rerolling 11
9 2 6 9 6 4 10 8 3 3 7. 4 successes. 60 total
182/250
1/4th to spiritual, 1/10th to domain, improves resilience and resolve.
411/1200
96/200
Bonus Qi roll:
Talent 6 + YSS25 + GSS20 + Pills 33 + Larceny 5 = 89 dice + 28 autos (18 Mystic Vale, 5 Green, 5 EPC)
4 2 5 7 1 10 7 6 3 2 2 8 2 2 7 8 10 1 4 6 10 1 1 9 8 3 6 2 9 9 1 4 10 7 2 2 9 8 7 1 10 1 9 3 2 7 10 3 8 5 8 7 7 1 5 4 5 10 6 3 10 8 6 1 6 7 3 4 7 1 5 6 1 5 10 4 1 1 9 10 6 8 7 2 8 3 8 5 5. 44 successes
Rerolling 13
1 5 9 1 5 10 8 9 4 2 7 9 7. 6 successes. 28 auto. 78 total
134/85
+1 qi
49/85
Reroll all successes thanks to Qi Sea pill
6 7 4 1 6 10 4 9 3 8 3 10 9 2 4 10 1 5 7 5 1 4 2 10 1 9 5 10 7 7 8 4 5 2 5 10 3 8 1 5 7 5 4 7 7 10 7 7 4 5 4 4 8 7 6 1 7 2 2 3 8 9 9 4 10 3 6 5 2 6 9 8 10 3 6 8 2 2. 39 successes
Rerolling 6
4 1 8 9 7 10. 2 successes. 41 total
90/85
+1 qi
5/86
*cough cough*. WEC is also DV6 like HC, it is WEC that recovers 1 point of Qi per damage, and WEC also gives a 2 dice penalty to all clash on hit.Finally, we have a new tech. Winter Eternal Cadenza is a group attack tech that also grants Qi drain, much like AE's Black Earth Voraciousness. To compare the effect to Hoarfrost Caress:
- WEC costs 8 qi to HC's 6.
- HC's attack is DV6 + 1 bonus damage + 2 AP, at +5 dice. WEC's is weaker; merely DV5 + 2 dice.
- WEC requires SEA to be up, unlike HC.
- WEC's attacks hit all enemies within 50m (the same range as SEA). HC is of course a single-target attack.
- On Hit, HC's attack causes an echo effect; the same damage is applied against next turn. On Hit, WEC's a penalty of 5 speed, 5 initiative, and 2 speed.
- Finally, HC recovers 1 point of Qi per damage dealt to anyone with a cultivation level. Presumably, mortals don't count, though it is unclear whether constructs or the like would.
Pretty sure only 1 bonus damage works with it. The 2 from passives still seems to only be with basic unarmed and music attacks, not techs. Correct, @yrsillar?Goddamn, Hoarfrost Caress is crazy. 6 armor piercing, 6 DV, and 3 bonus damage is just great. I am so happy with this art.
Am I missing something obvious?
Ling Qingge, looked down at the polished instrument in her hands, a mix of nostalgia and concern on her face. "It is a small thing," she replied quietly. "Why in the world would you have a flute in your hands during a… fight, though?" Her mother asked uncertain and a bit out of her depth.
Ling Qi grinned cheekily. "My music is one of the most feared weapons on the mountain," she replied lightly. "Men cower and dragons bow before my melodies!"
Ling Qi's not inaccurate boast had the desired effect of making her Mother smile, though she had a feeling her Mother didn't quite believe her. "I see, if this old flute has given you some protection, then I have no complaints," her fingers still lingered on the mouthpiece, the most intact part of the old flute, though.
"Even with Biyu running about?" Ling Qi replied with a smile, raising her head.
"Even so," Ling Qingge replied dryly. "That girl is too much akin to her sister. She does not appreciate it when I… hover."
Ling Qi let herself laugh, recalling when she had come by earlier in the week and taken the task of watching her younger sister. Only to be bored silly watching the little girl intently searching through the garden, refusing help as she attempted to hunt down and catch one of the little frogs which lived in the central pond.
"Maybe so," Ling Qi replied in an amused tone, letting the deflection and change of subject lie. "You know," Ling Qi began carefully. "If you need something to occupy your time, you could always attempt to cultivate, at least a little."
Ling Qingge frowned, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepening. "I was given to understand that I am too old for such things," and not talented enough to be selected to begin with, was left unsaid.
"I've been doing a little studying on that," Ling Qi replied. "In your situation, it shouldn't be completely impossible," highly unlikely maybe, and a struggle to even awaken, given the dearth of medicines that an adult mortal could safely handle, and the reduction in quality of the medicinal energies from all their impurities, she had come across oblique mention of a few options. "It might take a very long time… but even a little cultivation would…" she trailed off, not quite able to put it into words. It would let her Mother live a little longer, and healthier.
Things didn't all go well though. Ling Qi had taken to checking on Xiulan every other day or so to see if she had emerged from seclusion, and what she found one morning turned her stomach a bit. Her friend had succeeded in breaking through… but reaching the Green Soul stage had only exacerbated her wounds. Flames now openly burned on the girls arm, snapping and crackling loudly and carrying the scent of burnt flesh, from a limb that was now nearly skeletal.
It seemed that the inner sect lacked in prominent darkness cultivators.. Or at least none of them were up for tutoring, but the lesson on domain effects and spiritual matters was helpful anyway, and the heavily veiled and shrouded young lady who had answered her request had a few insights to offer for her arts, even if she only used darkness techniques in a tertiary role.
Even with all of her progress, Ling Qi was surrounded by reminders of the time passing, with each day of training. Zhengui was growing again, visibly so, as his cultivation rose in potency. When She sparred with Meizhen, further mastering the art Zeqing had given her, she couldn't help but notice the increasingly definition and independence of her friends shadow, and Cui once again vanishing to wherever it was that she went when she was growing and shedding.
Which was how she ended up standing at the edge of a little banquet hall, feeling incredibly awkward as she held a conversation with the girl whose bedroom she had broken into during her first mission from Fu Xiang.
"It is regrettable that Lady Cai herself could not afford to attend," the perfumed, impractically dressed girl in front of her said, seeming perfectly sincere and polite. "Not that I am displeased by your presence, Miss Ling. It is a delight to have a rising star such as yourself attend in her place."
Ling Qi kept her expression perfectly pleasant, doing her best to keep her eyes on the girls face and not the ridiculously elaborate arrangement of flowers and ornaments in the girls hair. It was a bit hard to look at Wen Ai and not feel a pang of old jealousy. The girl was more than a head shorter than her, dainty and pale, the very picture of a traditional beauty. "Lady Cai expresses her great regrets in being unable to attend," she replied formally. "And I thank you for accepting my humble presence in her stead," she added with an appropriate bow. Her eyes wandered a bit as she bowed, the little hall was full of a score or so of late second realm disciples. Wen Ai herself was the only one who had pierced the barrier to reach the third realm, and even then her aura had the slightly wobbly feel of a recent breakthrough.
Wen Ai's smile had an indulgent cast, Ling Qi thought, but perhaps she was just being unkind because she didn't want to be here. "I do not mind at all, it is a shame that you have not had a chance to attend more of these little gatherings, given your talent," she continued on, her voice sweet, melodious, and just a touch empty. "And your companion! Where did you find such a rare spirit?"
Sixiang, standing beside her, glanced over, his head cocked slightly in curiosity as he examined the little clumps of people quietly conversing throughout the hall. The currently male spirits expression was bemused, and a bit disbelieving.
"Just a bit of good fortune," Ling Qi replied lightly. "I am afraid I might find myself in a little trouble if I was more exact," she replied, lying through her teeth.
"Of course," Wen Ai replied, seeming to accept her answer. "We all must keep our little secrets," there was definitely an edge there, she wasn;t just imagining it. "In any case, please enjoy Miss Ling, I am afraid I must greet the next guest. I do hope we can speak later though. I am of course honored to finally be receiving some further attention from Lady Cai."
"How can you have a party without dancing?" Sixiang asked, sounding scandalized.
"You did say that you wanted to see a human party," Ling Qi shot back, amused. At least she wouldn't suffer alone. "This is how human's do it," she said lightly. "We stand around and talk while pretending we like each other."
She then flushed a bit as a young man nearby shot her an amused look over his cup. Even if people couldn't hear her, they could probably read her lips, or even hear through more esoteric means. Thankfully, he waved off her budding apology with a gesture of his hand. It seemed like she had been lucky there. No one else seemed to be paying attention.
"I think I might like a human binder, at least for a time," Sixiang mused. "Of course, I wouldn't really be all that useful, so who knows.
"What do you mean?" Ling Qi asked, Sixiang had the highest cultivation she had seen among disciples and their spirits.
"I am only just third realm myself, the rest was grandmother making sure I could handle trouble on my vacation," Sixiang replied. "Plus, you know, I am a muse. I don't like fighting much."
...
She wasn't sure whether to be pleased or disgruntled by the end of the party. Finding out that a literally inhuman fairy was better at small talk with other people than she was stung a little bit.
- We get a second point of bonus damage on all "Basic unarmed and music attacks". Not sure what counts as "basic". Does this mean that anything with a tech doesn't work? If so, it is going to be kinda useless...
To me the biggest appeal of Sixiang is that we would have boosts to core stuff that we use instead of boosts to random elements.Did you catch the thing about their cultivation only being Early Green? It looks like the way yrsillar addressed the issue of Sixiang being too-high in cultivation is to say that "nope, actually they are at your cultivation level; they were just artificially boosted to that level for security". And it does kinda make sense, since Spirits do have this whole "merging into each other" thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Sixiang's grandmother literally lent them some of her own cultivation for the interim; not like it is a big penalty for a spirit of that level.
Thanks for catching my typos.*cough cough*. WEC is also DV6 like HC, it is WEC that recovers 1 point of Qi per damage, and WEC also gives a 2 dice penalty to all clash on hit.
I'm pretty sure her darkened shadow indicates her Shadow spirit is getting stronger not her Domain.
Oh, absolutely. You don't have to sell me on Sixiang. Even aside from the things you mentioned, if nothing else I think her help outside of combat could be invaluable.To me the biggest appeal of Sixiang is that we would have boosts to core stuff that we use instead of boosts to random elements.
We also might have more synergy with Sixiang on the battlefield than the average cultivator, although I don't think we've seen explicit duet music arts.
FSS now has WEC, which is a "pick off lower level cultivators and gain Qi" tech.Our basic flute attack from FVM is gradually accumulating bonuses as we roll along. It could be decent if we want to keep FVM going while we pick off lower level cultivators without investing any extra qi.