[X][Social] You receive a letter inviting you to "Trade pointers" with "Young Mistress" Daphne Greengrass. Also in the envelope is a single-use transport talisman you're starting to become quite familiar with.
[X][Social] The address you got from Harry really isn't that far from you. If you wanted, you could incorporate a dozen or so miles into your morning run with little issue and swing by.
[X][Social] Hermione has invited you and Dad to meet her own parents, to tell the adults comforting stories about your time at Hogwarts and set their minds at ease.
It's been a while since the last update and, checking the QM's profile, a while still since he's been online. I miss all the discussion and the fantastic time I'd been having thanks to it! <3
But most of all, of course, I miss the quest itself. I hope that everything's alright with you, Karf, and that you've just been busy and/or uninterested in continuing the story. And if that's the case, I hope you come back to it, eventually, because it's given me, and I'm sure many others as well, so much joy and entertainment! You'll always find an eager reader and quester in me. ^^
[X][Social] You receive a letter inviting you to "Trade pointers" with "Young Mistress" Daphne Greengrass. Also in the envelope is a single-use transport talisman you're starting to become quite familiar with.
[X][Social] You've decided to set apart a day to be the model daughter. Starting with breakfast a-la-Qi, followed by a trip to the art exhibition at the local gallery, a picnic lunch, then a free afternoon to do whatever he'd like. In short, spend time with dad.
[X][Social] The address you got from Harry really isn't that far from you. If you wanted, you could incorporate a dozen or so miles into your morning run with little issue and swing by.
Training
The summer holidays reduce your stats by 2 levels. Tokens can be spent to counteract this effect.
Ancient Runes with token I
Pool: [earth 2, metal 1, earth 8, fire 4, water 19, water 14, fire 12, metal 17]
Rolls: [wood 41+50, earth 59+50] > total: 200
Progress: 0 > 200/150 - 200/350
Ancient Runes with token II
Pool: [water 10, wood 1, fire 8, metal 13, fire 22, water 18, metal 18, wood 8, metal 9]
Rolls: [wood 47+50, fire 54+50, fire 7+50] > total: 258
Progress: 200 > 458/350 - 458/550
Ancient Runes III
Pool: [metal 6, fire 2, wood 6, earth 4, wood 5, fire 8]
Pool: [wood 2, wood 15, water 4, water 16, fire 2]
Rolls: [fire 1+30, water 14+30] > total: 75
Progress: 484 > 559/550 - 559/750
Results:
Ancient Runes basic:
Learn about runes
Charms and Divination thresholds 15>14
Maximum simultaneous runes 3
Ancient Runes beginner I:
1 runeword studied
Charms and Arithmancy thresholds 14>13
Care of Magical Creatures beginner II:
Astronomy and Herbology thresholds 13>12
The Athelas Mossball learns something
Progress capped until Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation
Once home, you make sure to quickly establish a routine, both because it's good practice and because you hope it'll help keep your mind focused. You're up and about at the crack of dawn for a light workout, returning just in time for when Dad leaves for work. The hours before noon are then dedicated to your familiar. The little guy is still painfully shy, and it took some convincing to get Dad to believe that the clump of moss under your bed is alive and sentient.
You spend time just talking to it, telling it about the things it sees and interacts with. Showing it how a sink works takes a load off your mind about helping it keep the moss healthy and vibrant, at least, and watching it master the faucet is an endless source of both pride and amusement. In return, you get a magnificent pillow. The Mossball doesn't feel pressure as such, so you resting your head on its body means nothing to it. That's not to say that it doesn't feel any physical sensation - you quickly learn that it's not fond of heat, or more accurately, dryness. Thankfully your windows face north, providing at least some shielding from the summer heat of urban London.
However, there are more serious concerns to tackle as well: such as what you should call your new friend. You asked before, of course, but the answer was not something that could be put to words. A spirit's name, after all, is quite important to defining the spirit, especially as they're not limited like you are. You're a thousand different things all at once, but for the sake of convenience, you're also just Rei. For spirits, at least relatively simple ones like the Mossball, such an abstraction isn't necessary, expressing the whole of their concept in Qi is rather natural, and having a singular name isn't on their list of priorities. Still, after some discussion it understands the concept, and has given you the equivalent of a shrug and a blank pass on naming it.
[][Name] Florilegium
[][Name] Fuzzy Wuzzy
[][Name] Dapperling
[][Name] Grisette
[][Name] Rex
[][Name] Let the Mossball pick from a hat
The QM-names choice, will default to this if there's no singular winner.
Once that's decided, the two of you also work together on its abilities as a familiar in general. While you're still a stage off of being able to house it in your dantian, that doesn't mean you can't help it brainstorm new ideas about what it could do. Having the equivalent of what you estimate to be a three-year old to talk with also helps you keep your mind focused. Doubly so as the conversation happens wholly through Qi, letting you coat yourself in a layer of your own energy. It can be a bit exhausting at times, and you can't truthfully say that it's the good kind of exhaustion, but you do your best to not let your troubled mind taint what the mossball gets from you. And the inquisitive, although shy and furtive returning tendrils of Qi absolutely help.
[][COMC] Woodwind tricks I
You've noticed that your familiar can call on tiny gusts of wind generated by wood Qi when it grooms itself. While the effect is no stronger than a simple exhale from a human, that should be sufficient for generating audible sounds. As for the proverbial voice box - you have some minute experience with a flute, and the stick-hands of your familiar are something it makes anew from scratch every time.
Every 3 wood aspect progress rolls adds 4 to the next wood aspect pool roll this turn.
[][COMC] Water retention I
You've seen your familiar soak up truly prodigal amounts of water - in fact, several times its own volume. Likely, water Qi must be involved, but then, could it call up the stores on command? Or use the effect on some other liquid, like paint, or potions? What about pressure? This calls for experimentation.
For every pool which has water as the most frequent aspect (or tied with it), reroll the lowest result roll of the whole turn, keeping the higher number.
[][COMC] Natural springy ball I
With the help of Qi, your familiar can reach Olympic jump heights for its size. In an inversion of earth Qi, it turns its body into a ball that can bounce in complete defiance of physics. You'd like to improve on that some more, and not only because it makes the moss even softer to cuddle.
For every earth aspect result roll 25 or less, add an earth aspect pool die to the next action this turn.
In the afternoons, when the scorching heat of summer gets a bit too much for the little guy and it hides away in the bathroom, you devour books and go over your notes from your time at the Hogwarts library. You carefully ration the chits you have, and make sure to use your time at the sect with utmost efficiency. Your topic of choice for the first month of summer is Ancient Runes, and so you find yourself in the office of Elder Babbling.
If someone told you to picture a librarian, you'd imagine Elder Bathsheda Babbling. She's a short, wrinkled and stick-thin old woman wrapped in shawls and scarves, a pair of bottle-bottom glasses held precariously on her slightly crooked nose. The office is situated directly between the depths of the archives and the general public library, and despite the Elder's severe looks, the whole room could generously be described as organized chaos. The ceiling is literally shadowed, the tower growing upwards with no end in sight. Stacks of books rise like tree trunks from the ground - or in some cases, you notice, the air - some ancient enough that the candles perched on the tip of a 'branch' have completely caked the tomes in yellowing wax.
"Speak," the command is given in a low voice, the Elder never looking up from the scroll open in front of her.
"Honored Elder," you dip into a slight bow, "this one comes seeking your guidance in the art of Ancient Runes."
"Why?"
Except for the times it has, straightforwardness hasn't let you down yet. "I am curious about them. Crafting charms was fun, but the underlying logic escapes me, and I was hoping that knowing a bit more about symbolics could help."
"Sit," a scraping of wood on stone signals the arrival of a rickety three-legged stool that has left behind another floating mound of books. You comply.
"First rule: striking a rune must be done carefully," the Elder continues. "Second rule: striking a rune must be done with surety."
She rolls up the scroll right in time for a book to come tumbling down from the hidden ceiling, slamming into her table, and making you jump. "Bah, you must not let minor distractions bother you, girl. The tiny trinkets that pass for charms in this day and age simply bleed into mundanity if you make a mistake, but if you mess up a rune, you'll feel the consequences for years, if you're lucky."
"But honored Elder," you manage to slip into the pause, "I don't even know how to 'strike' a rune."
"Did you come to waste time? Carefully, and with surety. You said you have crafted charms, no? Show one."
You pull out the towel from your sack, and hesitantly let it loose on a corner of the Elder's desk. The woman says nothing for a while as she watches your creation valiantly enter battle against decades of scuffs and splatterings of wax. Eventually, she appears to be satisfied, "Adequate. You do what you did for the charm, on yourself."
You blink. It certainly hadn't ever occurred to you that human beings could be turned into charms. The more you think about it, the harder and more strange it seems, however.
Elder Babbling lets you stew for a moment before continuing. "Third rule: it is forbidden to use runes on another cultivator. Not only would it not work, you'd cause great suffering. A runic enchantment on a person does not hold for forever. A person changes, and their Qi will slowly but surely overcome any runeword. Through that tribulation, you'll gain more power, but only if the enchantment is carefully crafted, and well planned. It takes time for the effect to build up within you, and that time in turn affects the rune even more. You'll find some that are appropriate for novices in this book."
The tome that fell from the ceiling shakes itself off and bounces into your lap.
"This one should also say that placing too many dams on your Qi can be fatal. At your level... well, at your level I have no recommendations, but certainly no more than the rule of three states."
"The rule of three?"
"Three, girl."
You fight off the blush threatening to rise to your cheeks - when discussing things that can apparently be fatal, you'd expect it best to make sure of such things. Elder Babbling however just continues, "You may go. Return when you erroneously think you're ready to strike your first rune. I'll make sure you won't commit suicide."
You stand with another bow, tome held to your chest, and beat a retreat to the library nearby, fingers itching to get at the knowledge held within the book.
Keen eyes may notice that as of posting this, the mechanics post claims that Ancient Runes affects Divination and Arithmancy. However, as this story continues to be written 'live', things change. It makes for a much more cohesive narrative to have runes tied to charms, so I'm invoking my right to have been wrong in the past, and making changes now. Hopefully it's not too disruptive. Runes now reduces the DC for Charms and Arithmancy. Arithmancy affects Transfiguration and Divination.
So what are runes? If Care of Magical Creatures provides benefits across one turn's actions, then Ancient Runes works across whole turns. It starts with 'striking' a rune, which begins a countdown, during which the rune gathers power based on Rei's rolls and choices. The specifics are individual to each rune. Once the countdown reaches 0, the benefits kick in for that turn, and the rune itself goes on cooldown until it can be struck again.
For example: a rune has 3 turns of gathering power, then a 3 turn cooldown. Rei makes plans to strike the rune in September. She'll do so at the start of the month, so the rune gets the first turn of gathered power in September, the second in October and the final one in November. At the start of December, the effect kicks in - December's dice are affected by whatever the rune does. Simultaneously, as the rune is no longer struck, it starts the cooldown. December-January-February the rune can not be applied again. In March, Rei can again get it going, reaping the next set of rewards in June.
At the moment, Rei is limited to 3 simultaneously active runes, i.e. 3 may be gathering power at the same time. When a rune is already gathering power, the same rune can not be tapped again unless otherwise specified.
[][Runes] Rune of Perception
A rune meant to boost your ability to notice and recount details to the limit. It is supposed to build up a vault of memories over time, which, when released, let you work with yourself - your past self - to grant you a better perspective about which flows of Qi end up being important and which are just background noise.
Gain a stack for each metal aspect pool success.
Upon release, gain +15 progress in one chosen skill for every stack.
3 turns to release from striking, 2 turns of cooldown upon release.
[][Runes] Rune of Alacrity
A rune to limit your physical speed, placing your perception of yourself at odds with the world. When you release the blockage on your Qi, the actual hard part of becoming faster with the use of your personal store of mystic energy is already done, meaning you'll just have to get used to your new-found abilities, rather than train them from the ground up.
Gain a stack for each fire aspect pool success.
Upon release, exactly duplicate one chosen action per 15 stacks. The action is chosen as part of the plan, i.e. before rolling.
5 turns to release from striking, 1 turn of cooldown upon release.
[][Runes] Rune of Rest
As much as you push yourself, or more accurately enjoy pushing yourself, you also know that there's a time and place for relaxation. Still, there's definitely a part of you that itches to... optimize the resting part as well. The Rune of Rest should, when released, stretch out your perception of time while you dream, letting sweet dreams last just a bit longer, even if you're not actually sleeping any more. Since the body of an immortal can recover remarkably fast, the bottleneck to recuperation is usually the mind, and pleasant fantasies are a cure like no other.
Gain stacks equal to your bonus for each result roll 10 or less.
Upon release, gain progress equal to the stack amount in the skill that received the least (non-zero) progress since the rune was struck.
2 turns to release from striking, 4 turns of cooldown upon release.
Having expanded your horizons as much as time allows, and hemmed and hawed until the very last second, the day you get to choose a reward for your jade chit has finally arrived. Madam Pince, who some might say is difficult to get along with, takes the token from you, and carefully inspects it for whatever she's expecting to find. To be fair, you've always done your best to keep on her good side, and the inspection for the third year boy in front of you took an order of magnitude longer.
You know you've no reason to feel nervous, but the scrutiny still rankles a bit. Thankfully whatever she was looking for, she either does or does not find in your favor. With a curt nod, she waves you through the steel barred door and into an actual elevator, rather than a trademark moving staircase. That's about as far as normalcy goes at Hogwarts, however.
The cabin shakes, then starts rotating, instead of moving up or down or even sideways. You pride yourself on your spatial awareness, so when up becomes left and down is forwards, as best as you can tell, you firmly believe you've ditched the usual cardinal directions in favor of something more exotic, and give up on trying to keep track of where... when... how... whatever the elevator is doing.
After a few minutes, the motion slows to a halt, and the portcullis of the door opens again, revealing a simple stone room with a central dais, upon which rests a jade statue.
[][Chit] Which technique? (see library informational threadmark) You wish you could say that you can find just as much joy in London as you can in Hogwarts. You wish... but you can't.
You've heard jokes and passing comments about 'closed door' cultivators - immortals who do nothing but meditate on their own, never leaving their seclusion. To your shame, you can't help but feel like maybe they have something of a point. Your own room is slowly getting saturated with your Qi again, much more potent now than it has ever been, and the familiarity you're rediscovering breeds contentment. With your borrowed books and your familiar, things almost feel normal - that is, Hogwarts normal.
However, when you venture out, the fragile illusion shatters. It's not any one little thing, but a constant barrage of minute disappointments and irritants. You find yourself feeling snappish at tiny annoyances, from the discoloration on the poorly washed windows to the car of your neighbor which you somehow always manage to cut off on your morning run breaking just a bit too late, jostling the man inside. Things that your rational mind assures you are of no consequence to you, which only makes matters worse because it then continues to reason that since realistically there's nothing wrong with what's bothering you, it must be you who's at fault. But it's only human to not want to be at fault... And the spiral continues from there.
On the one hand, it's exactly the kind of problem that meditation should solve, but on the other, deliberately channeling Qi makes the contrast between you and the world all the more stark. The temptation to brute-force your way through remains strong, but you've no idea how long meditating until you feel better about the situation would take.
As you continue to mull over your options and feelings, you also develop a countermeasure with quickness born of necessity. An aimless shroud of your own energy wrapped around you helps, but the process is exhausting. With goal number one being to not have Dad worry about you, you can alternate days of snappishness and tiredness, faking cheer from different angles decently enough that he never outright mentions anything. Still, you know yourself well enough to know that you won't let the problem simmer forever, and a significant amount of your willpower is used to come up with a plan for self improvement. Now if only you had more than a heading and a blank page staring back at you.
[][Home] Write-in
First encountered during the visit home for the winter holidays, Rei will be doing battle with her own (sub)consciousness. She will succeed, come hell or high water, but the cost is still undetermined. Either she'll need most of her energy to make progress, leading to her becoming quite the recluse, or she'll succeed and maintain her usual schedule. This is your chance to improve her odds by whispering points about metaphorically "putting herself out there". The appeals can be logical, emotional, surreal or anything in between.
[][Home] QM pick
The status quo option, with the caveat that well thought out rebuttals to hermithood can be chosen to represent Rei's thoughts regardless of the (minority) vote.
[X][Social] You receive a letter inviting you to "Trade pointers" with "Young Mistress" Daphne Greengrass. Also in the envelope is a single-use transport talisman you're starting to become quite familiar with.
Roll: 51
The talisman you'll be using to get to Daphne's place arrives in the wee hours of the morning, delivered by a regal dark spirit owl. Apparently, windows are more of a suggestion to the beings, as you awaken to the sound of beating wings. The owl waits just long enough for you to pen back an affirmative reply before taking off with the note. You tell Dad you'll be visiting some friends, and that you fully expect to be home before he is, but if you're not, he shouldn't worry. His acceptance of the idea takes a nosedive when you tell him that he can't phone anywhere should you not be back on time, but between your otherwise stellar track record and some light emotional manipulation of strategic wide-eyed earnestness gets him to relent. That, and you point out that you could have just ripped the talisman once he's gone for the day and if you were back on time, he'd be none the wiser; and how he really shouldn't stifle your trust like that. Well... perhaps 'light' is not the best word for your work, but it does get him to acquiesce.
Thus, you make sure your familiar has enough water around to make it comfortable, and rip the slip of floral print in two, disappearing into a swirling vortex of Qi and grass. With your trips to Hogsmeade, you're getting quite used to the near-instantaneous travel, and no sense of vertigo hits you as you slide into the realm of not-reality and back out. Or at least, that's your best guess as to how portkeys function. Regardless, it lets you not make a fool of yourself on arrival, although the effect is likely ruined by your expression as you take in your new surroundings.
It makes sense that immortal cultivator clans are wealthy, but the difference has never been quite so starkly cast. There must be acers of well maintained, perfectly clipped grass behind you. You can only just make out a wrought iron fence in the far distance. In front of you stands a three-story country manor, complete with a courtyard and two smaller wings on either side of you. A fountain fills most of the open area, crystalline water flowing up a green metal trellis in defiance of physics before falling back into the pool as tiny raindrops, scattering rainbows into the fresh summer air. Between the wings and the main building, you can just glimpse what must be the gardens in the back, yet more neatly trimmed trees quickly receding out of sight behind the connecting structures' roofs.
A deep breath also confirms that it's safe to let your Qi fall into its natural rhythm - the air is thick with each of the five elements. The fountain and fresh grass sprinkles water, intermixed with the wood of the trees. The ground itself pulses with earth, in contrast with the summer morning sun casting rays of warm fire over the estate. The manor itself provides the metal, but unlike the overpowering amount you get in London, here, the spark of industriousness complements the elements, rather than smother them.
You can't help but feel a little self-conscious in the middle of a Victorian era veritable castle, dressed in your school robes thrown over your training outfit. The feeling only intensifies when the doors open and a girl in her late teens steps out - a girl you don't know.
"Mistress Young, this one is glad to welcome you to our humble compound. If you please, I've been instructed to lead you to young mistress Daphne upon your arrival."
"This one would be pleased," you awkwardly reply, giving a bow too shallow for a respected senior but too deep for someone below you. At least, you think... Regardless, you do your best to gather your wits and think like a posh cultivator. For all of a few heartbeats, you even succeed as you regally stride up to the stairs and step into the foyer after the unnamed woman. Then you promptly give up, because since when has being a cultivator meant following arbitrary social rules.
"What's your name?"
The teen's Qi gives a slight jump at the sound of your voice, confirming your suspicion that she's either at or even below your level of cultivation.
"I am Cereus Greengrass, first daughter of Gareth Greengrass, Daphne's uncle."
Which, if your hunches are right, makes her another one of your cousins. She does indeed look significantly more like you than Daphne, with dark hair and a marginally less pale complexion. Your next question would be something along the lines of why Daphne isn't here to greet you herself, perhaps phrased more politely, but the sound of your peer's voice breaks that line of thought.
"Enough, Astoria! This does not concern you, and you'll just have to wait, oh, two months. The horror! Now leave."
The argument reaches you from the open doors in the middle of the hallway, and right before you arrive at the entrance, another girl nearly bumps into your guide. From the petulant expression on her face, you can only assume this is the chastised Astoria - she looks about ten, and essentially like a brunette Daphne. Even despite the last remnants of baby fat and a frustrated expression, she strides out with purpose and regality, like a 'young mistress', rather than a petulant child.
"Mistress Cereus, it seems this one's esteemed sister has once again found a better use of her time than I. Shall we meet in the usual garden for training?" she keeps her nose turned up, which would be bratty, if it didn't make it seem like she was gazing up at you in awe. For once in your life, someone is shorter than you!
"Ah, my apologies. Greetings, mistress Young. Or rather I should say, senior sister. I shall, after all," she takes a dramatic pause as she turns away from you, "see you," another pause as she flicks her hair, "at Hogwarts."
"Thank you, Cereus," Daphne calls out from within what you can only describe as a dojo, "My apologies for once again asking a service from you, but you know how she gets."
The older girl merely gives a knowing nod. "It's no trouble, young mistress. Is there anything I could get the two of you before you start?"
The blonde gives you a quick look, and interprets your silent stare correctly. "Nothing, thank you again. Greetings, sect sister Young. Please, join me for our warm-up stretches."
You step into the training hall, replete with semi-soft mats on the floor and a ceiling cris-crossed with beams far too high to fit into the already massive manor, unless space was made to serve Qi, not the other way around.
"Sect sister Greengrass," you nod back as the older teen gives one last bow and closes the door behind you.
"On behalf of my clan, I apologize for the antics of my sister. She received her Hogwarts invite this week, and she's been completely insufferable ever since. I hope you won't hold it against her."
"Not at all," you reply with a smile, remembering your own giddiness at the thought, and how much more it must mean when one has context beyond the bare minimum you had.
"Is this facility to your liking, or do you usually have a separate regiment for physical cultivation?" Daphne continues, and when you shake your head, waves to the row of pegs behind you, "You may leave your robe there."
The whole interaction is quite awkward. You're not actually anything more than acquaintances, if that. You place your robe on the indicated wall and cycle your Qi again, more out of habit than anything intrusive. At the very least, you confirm that somewhere between your last meeting and now, Daphne has also broken through to the Qi Condensation stage. Still, if you're going to have an actually productive discussion, you need to lower some barriers.
"Congratulations on your breakthrough... may I call you Daphne?"
"Thank you, yes," she sighs, recognizing the attempt and almost failing to reciprocate, before she rallies. "Have you tried a handstand walk? I've recently found that my hands hold a lot of metal Qi, and pulling from the earth grants me extra endurance."
"Sounds... interesting?" you offer, unsure of where she's going with this.
For a minute you're both silent as you limber up your wrists and shoulders before the two of you take an inverted stroll around the room. The silence is broken once you reach the far side, directly under a plaque with tiny engravings of names.
"I did not, in truth, pick this hall on a whim," she flips herself upright and you follow suit, casting your eyes onto the tablet. Up close, you can see that you're standing in front of the Greengrass family tree. Most of it is written in what perhaps looks like Mandarin to you, although you can't really say for sure, but the last handful of generations use the Latin alphabet. Daphne noticeably cycles her Qi, and you mimic her, taking in what you feel in front of you.
The main branch, currently ending with Daphne's own name, stands out as different. Different, and strangely solitary. Generation after generation there's only a single line from every set of children to the next. The base is self-explanatory, you'd be much more shocked if there were names below Daphne and Astoria. The next level up is the sole exception to any main line branching. There's Daphne's mother and uncle, the latter of which has a child of his own. Before that, the last time anyone not the oldest child had anything resembling a lineage reaches back to the 15th century.
"It's no secret that all clans have secrets," the blonde trails a finger over her own name, "Some are just unacknowledged fact. For example the Weasleys are known to produce almost nothing but sons. I believe sect brother Ronald is the sixth of the current generation, and only ever the seventh child born to the clan is a girl. With us Greengrasses, the inverse is true." Indeed, as far back as you can read, most names not marrying into the family you would guess belong to women.
"Probably not much of a secret if anyone can see the family tree?"
"Yes, as I said, just unacknowledged facts. I, or anyone else, could disclose that wherever, whenever. The next tier gets a bit trickier, and differs from clan to clan. Do you know anything about unbreakable vows?"
You shake your head, although if the name is anything to go by, you could hazard a guess.
"It's a promise between cultivators, and to break it is to cast away your own Qi. If you're powerful enough of course, it holds no sway. Rather it'll just be a reminder that you're about to break an oath, but usually spreading the secret is not worth the cost." She pauses to let you ask questions, but not for long. It's a pretty straightforward concept, barring extreme caveats. "I have sworn at least one such oath. There are some topics that I can only discuss on land owned by my clan. The existence of such limits is one of them. Then there's the actual secrets, that I can only discuss with those who have sworn the same oath."
The implication is clear. "So you had to get me here to tell me that I need to take this vow thing to continue our last discussion?"
"Yes. That the secrets you learn about the clan can only be discussed with those who have taken the oath to not speak of clan secrets outside the clan's lands."
You blink, trying to look for traps and loopholes in what she's saying. "That's the exact wording?"
"Only amidst trusted emerald fields shall my lips utter the secrets entrusted to me," Daphne mutters, responding to your raised eyebrow with one of her own, although the tips of her ears look a bit pink. "It's a centuries old traditional spell. That it works through the ages and several translations is a testament to the ingenuity of the Greengrass ancestors."
On the one hand, a burning mystery that's just a promise away. On the other, oaths backed by losing your Qi sound like the type of thing not to jump headfirst into. Dad would definitely want to clear it with a corporate team of lawyers first kind of stuff.
"Good, don't say yes or no immediately. You were invited here to trade pointers. Shall we?"
A bit of a refresher on an actual fight could indeed serve to clear your head. The last match between the two of you could at best be described as academic, with neither side ready for the impromptu intrigue improvisation Daphne pulled. You kick off with a surge of Qi, landing in the middle of the room, legs spread shoulder width apart and, sadly, missing your claymore. While the prime purpose of your visit is learning about the secrets surrounding your mother, a not insignificant part of you has also been looking forward to really cutting loose again, testing yourself against your peers.
[][Tactics] Write-in
Nothing lethal in this circumstance, but Rei knows that herself - she can dial down her most dangerous weapon (diffindo) to reasonable levels. Beyond that, just about anything goes.
[][Tactics] A cautious approach against a mostly unknown opponent
The status quo option. You don't know how much Daphne herself has prepared either.
[][Vow] Agree
You're not really agreeing to anything horrific, just to keep a secret. Hopefully it's not demonic-cult-human-sacrifice level dark, but even then it's not like you could be forced to participate.
[][Vow] Refuse
You don't want to be dragged into unknown magics by a girl you've barely met. She's given no indication that the offer won't stand later, and you'll just have to figure something else out... in spite of your lack of other leads.
Rest of training (Mossball's technique, rune, chit)
The fight against oneself.
Pending results from the above, a day out with Jonathan Young, commonly known as Dad. And visiting the Dursleys.
The end of the beginning of the Greengrass plot.
Please vote for one option in each or any of the following categories (no plan vote necessary):
Name, COMC, Runes, Chit, Home, Tactics, Vow
Uhh... Hey! Sorry for the 2 month break. Suffice to say that no matter how well intentioned plans might be, life sometimes gets in the way, and between theory and practice, only the latter has any actual say.
The voting period will be a bit longer to let people actually gather their bearings again. And I must further apologize for the chapter itself. You'd think that with this much time, it'd have some polish, but I am not at all happy with the start and the overall flow of the whole thing. Still, I suppose the fact that it's possible for anyone to read it in the first place is testament to the fact that I don't consider it worse than nothing.
The unexpected break also happened in a terrible place, which makes this the third apology. I always intended to take a breather between school years - take a look at patching the hodge-podge of systems, refractor my own simulators, etc. Maybe even bring the informational posts up to date. Post a review of my own work under apocrypha and so on. Now it'd feel especially shitty to dip back in for only a few chapters before ghosting people again. So we'll see how all that goes. Especially the patching and info rewrite still needs to happen, so don't expect the same breakneck pace of the initial hurrah.
I'll vote in a separate post but a quick quality of life request, for the pool and progress rolls can you include their thresholds?
The bolding of the successes is awesome and I now wish everyone did that but listing the thresholds will be useful for new people and rereading old posts when the stat page will have moved on.
[X][Name] Fuzzy Wuzzy
[X][COMC] Water retention I
[X][Runes] Rune of Rest
[X][Vow] Agree
[X][Chit] The Chroma-caller Technique
[X][Home] FriedIce Write-in
Votes are all vibes, no math. In terms of home/tactics, we should probably write something in, but I don't have a good idea what yet so I'm leaving that blank for now.
Is this a hanging sentence, or more of a "Mossball learns" general thing?
[x][Name] Dapperling
very dapper
[x][COMC] Natural springy ball I
When we saw the Greengrass estate, my mind wandered to making a home with moss instead of grass for the outside, and to have said moss be bouncy for many reasons.
An active artist's house where instead of awe, it depicts wonders like the scene we painted when we got our familiar.
[x][Vow] Refuse
A vow where we won't be able to tell dear old dad? I don't think I can accept this.
On the others, I have no idea as of yet.
Edit: additional votes I like.
[X][Home] FriedIce Write-in
-[X] The life of an artist is to suffer. This is axiomatically true. However, an artist's life is not suffering. You will emulate the greatest artists in history and channel your suffering into your canvas. Your frustration with the Muggle world will shape your brushstrokes, your isolation from your dad will imbue your pallet choice and your qi-deprivation will decide your subject matter. And if you feel better at the end of it, well that comes second to having made good art, right?
[X][Tactics] Midrange dazzler (disorient, range can float but you're probing, fading, and trying to use light tricks to disguise and distract).
Odds of hitting the cap were ~25% and 88% respectively, so I'm not too surprised at this, though CoMC just scraping over the line is lucky.
[X][Name] Rex
I've already stated my reasoning for this before. It fits with Athelas meaning noble, it's funny if people think we own a dog, and it's a name which still works when we grow up and become an adult.
[X][Runes] Rune of Perception
This one seems best. It has the shortest overall turnaround time of the 3 (5 turns from striking to being free to use, as opposed to 6 turns for the others), and if it's not limited to whatever skill we're training in the turn it activates we can pick skills which are close to a level up without having to spend actions on them.
[X][Vow] Agree
It's going to be incredibly difficult to find out any other way, and I'm sure there's something we can figure out to tell Dad, even if it's nowhere near everything.
For the technique I'd actually argue we should max out Lumos(Chroma Caller). If we don't spend a jade Chit on it we have to wait to complete it until we actually train Transfiguration manually, which could be as late as December with current speculation as to plans. I'd rather have our signature technique complete going into Hogwarts.
[][COMC] Woodwind tricks I
You've noticed that your familiar can call on tiny gusts of wind generated by wood Qi when it grooms itself. While the effect is no stronger than a simple exhale from a human, that should be sufficient for generating audible sounds. As for the proverbial voice box - you have some minute experience with a flute, and the stick-hands of your familiar are something it makes anew from scratch every time.
Every 3 wood aspect progress rolls adds 4 to the next wood aspect pool roll this turn.
[][COMC] Water retention I
You've seen your familiar soak up truly prodigal amounts of water - in fact, several times its own volume. Likely, water Qi must be involved, but then, could it call up the stores on command? Or use the effect on some other liquid, like paint, or potions? What about pressure? This calls for experimentation.For every pool which has water as the most frequent aspect (or tied with it), reroll the lowest result roll of the whole turn, keeping the higher number.
[][COMC] Natural springy ball I
With the help of Qi, your familiar can reach Olympic jump heights for its size. In an inversion of earth Qi, it turns its body into a ball that can bounce in complete defiance of physics. You'd like to improve on that some more, and not only because it makes the moss even softer to cuddle.For every earth aspect result roll 25 or less, add an earth aspect pool die to the next action this turn.
-Woodwind tricks: every 15 result dice on average, we likely (but not certainly) get +4 to one pool die (d20+).
-Water retention: every 5 actions on average (slightly less than 5 because of the tie factor?), we get 1 not-worse reroll of the turn's lowest result die.
-Springy ball: every 20 result rolls on average, we get to roll 1 extra pool die.
As things stand (i.e. considering the average result rolls we get every turn), water retention is the best one. I'm not sure about scaling for the future.
I should have time to post about the runes and the other votes later.
[][Runes] Rune of Perception
A rune meant to boost your ability to notice and recount details to the limit. It is supposed to build up a vault of memories over time, which, when released, let you work with yourself - your past self - to grant you a better perspective about which flows of Qi end up being important and which are just background noise.Gain a stack for each metal aspect pool success.Upon release, gain +15 progress in one chosen skill for every stack.3 turns to release from striking, 2 turns of cooldown upon release.
[][Runes] Rune of Alacrity
A rune to limit your physical speed, placing your perception of yourself at odds with the world. When you release the blockage on your Qi, the actual hard part of becoming faster with the use of your personal store of mystic energy is already done, meaning you'll just have to get used to your new-found abilities, rather than train them from the ground up.Gain a stack for each fire aspect pool success.Upon release, exactly duplicate one chosen action per 15 stacks. The action is chosen as part of the plan, i.e. before rolling.5 turns to release from striking, 1 turn of cooldown upon release.
[][Runes] Rune of Rest
As much as you push yourself, or more accurately enjoy pushing yourself, you also know that there's a time and place for relaxation. Still, there's definitely a part of you that itches to... optimize the resting part as well. The Rune of Rest should, when released, stretch out your perception of time while you dream, letting sweet dreams last just a bit longer, even if you're not actually sleeping any more. Since the body of an immortal can recover remarkably fast, the bottleneck to recuperation is usually the mind, and pleasant fantasies are a cure like no other.Gain stacks equal to your bonus for each result roll 10 or less.Upon release, gain progress equal to the stack amount in the skill that received the least (non-zero) progress since the rune was struck.2 turns to release from striking, 4 turns of cooldown upon release.
-Rune of Perception: across 3 turns, for every between 11 and 15 pool dice on average (rounded and generalized for convenience, sorry), we get +15 free progress points. 2 turns of cooldown so the effect applies 1 turn every 5.
-Rune of Alacrity: across 5 turns, every between 11 and 15 pool dice on average (rounded and generalized for convenience, sorry), we duplicate a predetermined action as a whole. 1 turn of cooldown so the effect applies 1 turn every 6.
-Rune of Rest: across 2 turns, every 10 result rolls on average (but less than 10 depending on interaction with the Horizon Slicing technique bonus?), we gain 50 progress points in the skill that got the least while the rune was active. 4 turns of cooldown so the effect applies 1 turn every 6.
Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the Rune of Alacrity looks like the best to me, and by far.
In case we wanted to use a Chit for Runes or CoMC, @Karf , could you tell us what advancement looks like for either? The names of the CoMC options hint at something for the latter, but they could be interpreted in different ways, anyway. It's okay if you'd rather not answer, for whatever reason.
Also, could you tell us what we should expect from winning/losing the friendly spar with Daphne, either mechanically, narratively or both? I'm unsure about the stakes, sorta.
Every 3 wood aspect progress rolls adds 4 to the next wood aspect pool roll this turn.
Every 15 successes generates about 1/6 of a success. this chance will go down as we increase charms.
Water retention I
For every pool which has water as the most frequent aspect (or tied with it), reroll the lowest result roll of the whole turn, keeping the higher number.
Every action has about a 30% chance to functionally generate an extra die. This chance will go down very slowly as we get more dice (28% for a pool of 12)
Natural springy ball I
For every earth aspect result roll 25 or less, add an earth aspect pool die to the next action this turn.
Every 20 successes generates an extra die
Woodwind is solidly worse than springy ball. Water retention is better until we hit a pool of 12 for a dc of 14, springy ball is very slightly better at a pool of 10 for dc 11.
Based on our current stats
Rune of Perception
Gain a stack for each metal aspect pool success.
Upon release, gain +15 progress in one chosen skill for every stack.
3 turns to release from striking, 2 turns of cooldown upon release.
We can get 105 dice over 3 turns which represent 9-15 metal aspect successes depending on dc. so 135-225 progress every 5 turns
Rune of Alacrity
Gain a stack for each fire aspect pool success.
Upon release, exactly duplicate one chosen action per 15 stacks. The action is chosen as part of the plan, i.e. before rolling.
5 turns to release from striking, 1 turn of cooldown upon release.
We can get 175 dice over 5 turns which represent 15-25 fire aspect successes. Essentially, right now this is one action every 6 turns
Rune of Rest
Gain stacks equal to your bonus for each result roll 10 or less.
Upon release, gain progress equal to the stack amount in the skill that received the least (non-zero) progress since the rune was struck.
2 turns to release from striking, 4 turns of cooldown upon release.
We can get 70 dice over 2 turns which represent 3-5 successes that qualify. Essentially, right now this is 150-250 progress every 6 turns.
Since even at a dc of 15 we average 300 progress from a single action, Alacrity is solidly the best. Additionally, it is also the rune that scales the best, giving us more per success as our various stats increase. Perception doesn't scale at all in reward per success, and Rest scales only with transfiguration, while Alacrity scales with pool size, dc, ect. as well as transfiguration.
Uhh... Hey! Sorry for the 2 month break. Suffice to say that no matter how well intentioned plans might be, life sometimes gets in the way, and between theory and practice, only the latter has any actual say.
The voting period will be a bit longer to let people actually gather their bearings again. And I must further apologize for the chapter itself. You'd think that with this much time, it'd have some polish, but I am not at all happy with the start and the overall flow of the whole thing. Still, I suppose the fact that it's possible for anyone to read it in the first place is testament to the fact that I don't consider it worse than nothing.
The unexpected break also happened in a terrible place, which makes this the third apology. I always intended to take a breather between school years - take a look at patching the hodge-podge of systems, refractor my own simulators, etc. Maybe even bring the informational posts up to date. Post a review of my own work under apocrypha and so on. Now it'd feel especially shitty to dip back in for only a few chapters before ghosting people again. So we'll see how all that goes. Especially the patching and info rewrite still needs to happen, so don't expect the same breakneck pace of the initial hurrah.
As someone who's been writing an original story for almost three months and is only 5k words in you're light years ahead of me, even with the break! Honestly, though, trying to do original writing myself has made me much much more impressed by anyone who can turn out tens of thousands of words, especially ones as good as yours. This stuff isn't easy.
One minor suggestion, and it is only that, but if you wanted to maintain a slightly faster pace whilst still doing the backend reworks I don't think anyone would object to you splitting the chapters up a little more, so instead of two mammoth updates an in story month we'd have four or five?
