- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X][Plan] More Rites
[X][Finance] Nameless financial advisor on mortal boards
[X][Chit] Natural springy ball II
[X][Finance] Nameless financial advisor on mortal boards
[X][Chit] Natural springy ball II
Hogwarts Sect of Witchcraft and Wizardry
- Thread starter Karf
- Start date
- Fantasy
- Location
- Earth
[X][Plan] Different Rites
[X][Chit] Natural springy ball II
[X][Finance] Shadowy backer of immortal business
Mortal finances would allow us to set up a financial safety net for our dad in the case that we ascend.
Edit: to tie things again so we aren't cultivator arms dealers
[X][Chit] Natural springy ball II
[X][Finance] Shadowy backer of immortal business
Mortal finances would allow us to set up a financial safety net for our dad in the case that we ascend.
Edit: to tie things again so we aren't cultivator arms dealers
Last edited:
Vote closed
Appreciation post time!
Elder Vector was an amusingly familiar character in an interestingly familiar field, or at least that's the feel of them I got: an efficient and direct math/physics professor, basically. I enjoyed her whole scene very much, from the modification to the portkey as a relatively tangible example of theart science, to the comparison with CoMC and Runes (speaking and writing the language of Qi compared to Arithmancy as its grammar), as well as the elemental summary and our first substantial hint at polarities, which I assume refer to Yin and Yang (side note, it's interesting that a modified fire and metal technique is considered heaven aspected in the quest, as per an example in the Mechanics spoiler tab). I'm curious to see what, if anything, the Elder ends up saying about our modified techniques.
Like I already mentioned, I absolutely loved the shit out of Divination and its scenes. First, the explanation, examples and hints at the relationship between Qi and time. Very cool stuff. We had already gotten some of it in the past but I very much enjoyed how this update expanded on it. The impression that Trelawney always experiences (or maybe even lives in) different times was clear and yet subtle, which only served to further my fascination with the concept. Speaking of the Elder, I adored her creepy look and manners, her colorful and atmospheric domain, and her gloomy and cryptic comments. "Enjoy your month, Rei," smelled enough of a meta remark to be super eerie, and "You will lose yourself at a crucial moment, and there's nothing left to do but fix and fix and fix," was an intriguing prospect.
As for Divination itself, I really liked the split between its two forms, a sort of dichotomy between a clinical study and an emotional interpretation (the example of the cloud was beautiful in its simplicity, or maybe even because of it). The Fire-Omen Rite was captivating and its mechanical effects cool, although it boosting the lowest social die felt weird, given that we had just been told that fire "appears at, and amplifies peaks" (compared to earth which "smooths out the lowest lows"), but I can see it making sense in a roundabout way, if you think that <10 events are narrative peaks (we sure got into a lot of fights because of them!), maybe.
The Diagon Alley scene was very nice, too. It was interesting to read how most patrons at the Leaky Cauldron were older than 50 and yet were our peers or close in cultivation, and I loved how our 90+ roll gave us a vote to explain our money, creating a potential plot thread we can follow, rather than, for example, just finding/buying us something with a mechanical bonus, like the Bag of Holding perhaps. Interestingly enough, we bought a backup one during this shopping spree, among other things, and I'm especially curious to see what "daring" means in regards to our choice of dress, and what our plans are for the silver locket with a blank inside (our doodle action, maybe?). The mention of Lockhart was expected but welcome.
All in all, another fantastic update to this fantastic quest! Thank you very much for writing it, @Karf !
Elder Vector was an amusingly familiar character in an interestingly familiar field, or at least that's the feel of them I got: an efficient and direct math/physics professor, basically. I enjoyed her whole scene very much, from the modification to the portkey as a relatively tangible example of the
Like I already mentioned, I absolutely loved the shit out of Divination and its scenes. First, the explanation, examples and hints at the relationship between Qi and time. Very cool stuff. We had already gotten some of it in the past but I very much enjoyed how this update expanded on it. The impression that Trelawney always experiences (or maybe even lives in) different times was clear and yet subtle, which only served to further my fascination with the concept. Speaking of the Elder, I adored her creepy look and manners, her colorful and atmospheric domain, and her gloomy and cryptic comments. "Enjoy your month, Rei," smelled enough of a meta remark to be super eerie, and "You will lose yourself at a crucial moment, and there's nothing left to do but fix and fix and fix," was an intriguing prospect.
As for Divination itself, I really liked the split between its two forms, a sort of dichotomy between a clinical study and an emotional interpretation (the example of the cloud was beautiful in its simplicity, or maybe even because of it). The Fire-Omen Rite was captivating and its mechanical effects cool, although it boosting the lowest social die felt weird, given that we had just been told that fire "appears at, and amplifies peaks" (compared to earth which "smooths out the lowest lows"), but I can see it making sense in a roundabout way, if you think that <10 events are narrative peaks (we sure got into a lot of fights because of them!), maybe.
The Diagon Alley scene was very nice, too. It was interesting to read how most patrons at the Leaky Cauldron were older than 50 and yet were our peers or close in cultivation, and I loved how our 90+ roll gave us a vote to explain our money, creating a potential plot thread we can follow, rather than, for example, just finding/buying us something with a mechanical bonus, like the Bag of Holding perhaps. Interestingly enough, we bought a backup one during this shopping spree, among other things, and I'm especially curious to see what "daring" means in regards to our choice of dress, and what our plans are for the silver locket with a blank inside (our doodle action, maybe?). The mention of Lockhart was expected but welcome.
All in all, another fantastic update to this fantastic quest! Thank you very much for writing it, @Karf !
Last edited:
Initial combat simulator
So, while we slowly come to the closing of first year, I figured that maybe someone could potentially be interested in either the hows or results of some of the various rollers. As something that needs to be refactored to high heaven and back, I'm releasing the code for rolling combat encounters.
If you're interested in coding as a professional, please look away, as I'm sure it'll make your eyes bleed. If you've (like me) ever wondered just what goes into running a quest, perhaps this serves some purpose.
For the grand majority of people whom this even applies to at all however, the bit to actually input stats and get out results is on the very bottom, under labels "p1" and "p2". P1 is your own stats (either Rei's or the Ravenclaw team's), whereas P2 is whoever you're going up against. Hopefully the names are self-explanatory. The final bit to modify is the line "activePotions", where you can choose your preferred cocktail of performance enhancing drugs. Just pick any from the list above it and slot them in.
You'll get out the result of a single combat encounter, as well as the chance of a player victory over 10000 of such encounters.
As for why it needs refractoring, you'll note that there's no place to include enemy (or ally) potions. This needs to (read I want it to) change. How exactly I'll achieve that I don't know, but I'll figure something out.
The code can be run on any python compiler, including online ones. Personally, for quick and dirty testing, I use this one.
A couple of simulations later, you might notice that combats tend to be brutally short. In some sense, it's a good thing, but on the other hand, I'd still prefer for there to be a few more rounds of narrative tension. Thankfully, there's a pretty simple fix: improve health scaling - both what you gain from physical cultivation and the base number. This is a result of transfiguration bonuses growing larger, which means that even a single success is enough to reliably wipe out most of a health bar. Numbers are still being considered, but expect that to be one of the end-of-year changes planned.
Something similar applies to quidditch: the other players' stats have always been brought down to Rei's supposed level. This is an arbitrary abstraction for the sake of the story, and I don't think anyone really minds. However, as Rei grows, so too do the stats of the enemy team. Next year, a generic disciple's stats are 7d24 for a pool, +50 bonus. The same multiplicative system applies as before. Also, I'll be looking at whether the bonus scaling is still necessary, although I'm not sure about that either way as of yet.
If you're interested in coding as a professional, please look away, as I'm sure it'll make your eyes bleed. If you've (like me) ever wondered just what goes into running a quest, perhaps this serves some purpose.
For the grand majority of people whom this even applies to at all however, the bit to actually input stats and get out results is on the very bottom, under labels "p1" and "p2". P1 is your own stats (either Rei's or the Ravenclaw team's), whereas P2 is whoever you're going up against. Hopefully the names are self-explanatory. The final bit to modify is the line "activePotions", where you can choose your preferred cocktail of performance enhancing drugs. Just pick any from the list above it and slot them in.
You'll get out the result of a single combat encounter, as well as the chance of a player victory over 10000 of such encounters.
As for why it needs refractoring, you'll note that there's no place to include enemy (or ally) potions. This needs to (read I want it to) change. How exactly I'll achieve that I don't know, but I'll figure something out.
The code can be run on any python compiler, including online ones. Personally, for quick and dirty testing, I use this one.
A couple of simulations later, you might notice that combats tend to be brutally short. In some sense, it's a good thing, but on the other hand, I'd still prefer for there to be a few more rounds of narrative tension. Thankfully, there's a pretty simple fix: improve health scaling - both what you gain from physical cultivation and the base number. This is a result of transfiguration bonuses growing larger, which means that even a single success is enough to reliably wipe out most of a health bar. Numbers are still being considered, but expect that to be one of the end-of-year changes planned.
Something similar applies to quidditch: the other players' stats have always been brought down to Rei's supposed level. This is an arbitrary abstraction for the sake of the story, and I don't think anyone really minds. However, as Rei grows, so too do the stats of the enemy team. Next year, a generic disciple's stats are 7d24 for a pool, +50 bonus. The same multiplicative system applies as before. Also, I'll be looking at whether the bonus scaling is still necessary, although I'm not sure about that either way as of yet.
Python:
from random import randint
# Structure to store and print round info
class CombatRound:
roundNo: int
oldInitiative: bool
initiative: bool
playerPool: []
playerSuccesses: int
enemyPool: []
enemySuccesses: int
playerName: str
enemyName: str
playerHP: int
enemyHP: int
dmg: []
def __init__(self, roundNo, oldInitiative, initiative,
playerPool, playerSuccesses, enemyPool, enemySuccesses,
playerName, enemyName,
playerHP, enemyHP, dmg, totalDmg):
self.roundNo = roundNo
self.oldInitiative = oldInitiative
self.initiative = initiative
self.playerPool = playerPool
self.playerSuccesses = playerSuccesses
self.enemyPool = enemyPool
self.enemySuccesses = enemySuccesses
self.playerName = playerName
self.enemyName = enemyName
self.playerHP = playerHP
self.enemyHP = enemyHP
self.dmg = dmg
self.totalDmg = totalDmg
def __str__(self):
return f"Round {self.roundNo}\n" \
f"Initiative: {self.playerName if self.oldInitiative else self.enemyName}\n" \
f"{self.playerName} pool: {self.playerPool} = {self.playerSuccesses} successes\n" \
f"{self.enemyName} pool: {self.enemyPool} = {self.enemySuccesses} successes\n" \
f"{self.playerName if self.initiative else self.enemyName} deals {self.dmg} = {self.totalDmg} damage\n" \
f"{self.playerName} HP: {self.playerHP}\t{self.enemyName} HP: {self.enemyHP}\n"
# Basic helper function to find how many numbers are greater than threshold in pool
# input (List[int], int) -> return int
def countSuccess(pool, threshold):
count = 0
for die in pool:
if die >= threshold:
count += 1
return count
# Determine initiative for multiple combatants
# input (tuple(int, int)) -> return 1/0
def initiativeRoll(participants):
# Initialize Count
counter = 0
# Separate participants
friendlyCount, enemyCount = participants
# For clashes, roll for however many there are on the smaller side
minority = friendlyCount if friendlyCount <= enemyCount else enemyCount
for i in range(minority):
friendlyWin = randint(0, 1)
counter = counter+1 if friendlyWin else counter-1
# All unopposed combatants automatically win their clashes
diff = friendlyCount - enemyCount
counter += diff
# In case of a tie, opponent win, player win
if counter == 0: return randint(0, 1)
elif counter < 0: return 0
else: return 1
# Primary function
# Input player stats, enemy stats, whether the player has initiative, how many people are engaged on either side,
# and all active potion effects. Output the rounds and a winner.
# input (dict, dict, bool, tuple(int, int), List[str]) -> return List[combatRounds], str
def combatSimulation(player, enemy, playerInitiative=None, participants=(1, 1), potionList=None):
# Initialize values before battle commences
# Potion list initialization if necessary
if potionList is None:
potionList = []
# Set round counter to 1, combat log to empty list
roundNumber = 1
roundsOfMatch = []
# By default, no protected initiative
initiativeProtection = 0
# Running HP totals
playerHP = player["hp"]
enemyHP = enemy["hp"]
# Base pool sizes
playerPoolSize = player["poolSize"]
enemyPoolSize = enemy["poolSize"]
# Combo tracker
consecutiveInitiativeCounter = 0
# Thresholds to beat
playerThreshold = player["threshold"]
enemyThreshold = enemy["threshold"]
# Pool die type
playerDType = player["dType"]
enemyDType = enemy["dType"]
# Roll bonus
playerBonus = player["bonus"]
enemyBonus = enemy["bonus"]
# Initiative protection potion
if potionList.__contains__("Astronomer Hawk"):
playerInitiative = 1
initiativeProtection = 1
# Unless already determined, roll for initiative
if playerInitiative is None:
playerInitiative = initiativeRoll(participants)
# Start combo counter (for potion)
cachedInitiative = playerInitiative
# Main loop while both sides are still fighting
while (playerHP > 0) and (enemyHP > 0):
# Initialize pools and round damage
playerPool = []
enemyPool = []
dmg = []
# Combo tracker (for potion)
if cachedInitiative == playerInitiative:
consecutiveInitiativeCounter += 1
else: consecutiveInitiativeCounter = 1
cachedInitiative = playerInitiative
# Healing, can not overheal (for potion)
if potionList.__contains__("Careful Sommelier"):
if playerHP <= player["hp"]-10: playerHP += 10
else: playerHP = player["hp"]
# Populate player pool
# Potentially deal damage (for potion)
for i in range(playerPoolSize):
roll = randint(1, playerDType)
if potionList.__contains__("Brave Snowflake") and roll >= 18: enemyHP -= 5
playerPool.append(roll)
# Player rerolls (for potion)
if potionList.__contains__("Rapid Steward"):
smallest = min(playerPool)
reroll = randint(1, playerDType)
smallestIndex = playerPool.index(smallest)
playerPool[smallestIndex] = reroll if reroll > smallest else smallest
# Populate enemy pool
# If tracking combo (for potion)
if potionList.__contains__("Sleepy Sandman") and playerInitiative == 0:
for _ in range(enemyPoolSize - (consecutiveInitiativeCounter - 1)):
enemyPool.append(randint(1, enemyDType))
# Populate enemy pool otherwise
else:
for _ in range(enemyPoolSize):
enemyPool.append(randint(1, enemyDType))
# Determine round winner
playerSuccesses = countSuccess(playerPool, playerThreshold)
enemySuccesses = countSuccess(enemyPool, enemyThreshold)
successes = playerSuccesses - enemySuccesses
# Deal with ties
if successes == 0: successes = 1 if playerInitiative else -1
# If player won round
if successes > 0:
# Gain initiative
playerInitiative = 1
# Calculate damage
for _ in range(successes):
dmgRoll = randint(1, 100) + playerBonus
dmg.append(dmgRoll)
if potionList.__contains__("Deafening Tooth"):
dmg[dmg.index(min(dmg))] = randint(1, 125) + playerBonus
# Deal damage (never negative)
totalDmg = sum(dmg)
enemyHP -= max(totalDmg, 0)
# If opponent won round
else:
# Lose initiative, flip successes sign
playerInitiative = 0
successes = -successes
# Calculate damage
for _ in range(successes):
dmgRoll = randint(1, 100) + enemyBonus
dmg.append(dmgRoll)
# Deal damage (never negative), fix rounding to 5 digits (for potion)
totalDmg = sum(dmg)
if potionList.__contains__("Pebble Elemental"):
totalDmg = totalDmg - 10 if totalDmg*0.1 <= 10 else round(totalDmg*0.9, 5)
playerHP -= max(totalDmg, 0)
playerHP = round(playerHP, 5)
# Create record of round data, store in memory
roundsOfMatch.append(CombatRound(roundNumber, cachedInitiative, playerInitiative,
playerPool, playerSuccesses, enemyPool, enemySuccesses,
player["name"], enemy["name"],
playerHP, enemyHP, dmg, totalDmg))
# Initiative protection check (for potion)
if initiativeProtection == 1 and playerInitiative == 0:
playerInitiative = 1
initiativeProtection = 0
# Increment round number
roundNumber += 1
# Separately save victor for convenience
winningTeam = player["name"] if playerHP > 0 else enemy["name"]
# Return list of all rounds, winner's name
return roundsOfMatch, winningTeam
# For statistical analysis
# Input desired sample size, player stats, enemy stats and a list of active potions
# input (int, dict, dict, List[str] -> print to console
def statSimulator(sampleSize, player, enemy, potionList=None):
wins = 0
for k in range(sampleSize):
rounds, winner = combatSimulation(player, enemy, potionList=potionList)
if winner == player["name"]: wins += 1
print(f"Player win chance over {sampleSize} samples: {100 * wins / sampleSize:.3f}%")
# Print battle including preamble
# Input player stats, enemy stats, initiative, combatant count and active potions
# input (dict, dict, bool, tuple(int, int), List[str]) -> print to console
def combatPrinter(player, enemy, playerInitiative=None, participants=(1, 1), potionList=None):
# Starting initiative if necessary
if playerInitiative is None: playerInitiative = initiativeRoll(participants)
# Preamble
print(f"{player['name']} versus {enemy['name']}\n"
f"Starting initiative: {player['name'] if playerInitiative else enemy['name']}\n"
f"{player['name']} HP: {player['hp']}\t{enemy['name']} HP: {enemy['hp']}")
# Active potions
if potionList: print(f"{player['name']} active effects: {potionList}\n")
else: print()
# Combat simulation
rounds, winner = combatSimulation(player, enemy, playerInitiative, participants, potionList)
# Print by round
for r in rounds: print(r)
# Declare winner
print(f"{winner} wins!")
# Stats for the player (to whom potions apply)
p1 = {
"hp": 180,
"poolSize": 5,
"threshold": 13,
"dType": 21,
"bonus": 30,
"name": "Rei"
}
# Stats for the opponent
p2 = {
"hp": 200,
"poolSize": 7,
"threshold": 14,
"dType": 20,
"bonus": 30,
"name": "Daphne Greengrass"
}
# Keep track of implemented potion names
allPotions = ["Careful Sommelier", "Pebble Elemental", "Astronomer Hawk",
"Brave Snowflake", "Rapid Steward", "Sleepy Sandman",
"Deafening Tooth"]
# Active potions during combat
activePotions = ["Careful Sommelier", "Pebble Elemental", "Rapid Steward"]
combatPrinter(p1, p2, potionList=activePotions)
print()
statSimulator(10000, p1, p2, potionList=activePotions)
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- Location
- United States
I now expect a Hidden Master to wander by and be so insulted by your trash tier technique that they force you to destroy all records of it and instead use the Heavenly tier technique they give you.
Damn forgot about the vote!
Would have picked [Finance] Nameless financial advisor on mortal boards instead of the other two, money would help our father and mortal connection and tech would have been interesting, the winning choice is poor one do hope we can change mind if the reality is not to our liking lster on.
Would have picked [Finance] Nameless financial advisor on mortal boards instead of the other two, money would help our father and mortal connection and tech would have been interesting, the winning choice is poor one do hope we can change mind if the reality is not to our liking lster on.
CedeTheBees
Probably high right now
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I don't think we can. We picked what our mom invested her money in and we can't really go back in time to change her mind.
We could change the terms of the deals or stop them altogether, though, since it sounds like they're sort of on-going. It would probably come at some kind of cost, but I'd be surprised if we were completely stuck with our mother's investments, no matter what.
I'm not advocating we should, by the way... not until we get a closer look at them, at any rate.
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- Location
- United Kingdom
I've been trying to figure out what our Arithmancy adjustments will do to the techniques.
For Whip Shear, earth being the element of stability and stagnation, my first thought is some kind of blunt version of cutting? If it still has to be related to Severing, I guess it could cut in a different manner, though I have no idea how.
Chroma-caller seems easier to guess. Wood is the element of self-propagation, which we can see in the Horizon slicing technique. At first glance wood seems to have nothing to do with precision, but I think what it does there is just take the original Whip Shear technique, and make it self-propagate out to a set distance. So the same technique, just further away. For Chroma-caller I'm thinking we could create a light that could spread in the same way. I'd considered light which could respond to external stimuli, but I think that'd come under metal?
I've also been looking at the progress requirements for this year. 1st year needed 3,300 minimum (900 each for base cultivation, 750 each for two skills to Apprentice), and with the progress for Arithmancy and Divination we're currently at 9,037. If the trend's continued since May(?) we're likely still third after Harry and Draco.
It'll be interesting to see if having the electives give us enough of an edge to catch up to them, both due to the familiar bonus/Rune but primarily because of the threshold reductions they give that the other two'll lack.
The minimum we need to come back for Year 3 is higher than I'd have guessed, 37,200 total progress (33,900 not including the minimum from 1st year).
Considering the expected student drop-off rate there shouldn't be a problem with us achieving that barring either poor planning on our part or horrifically bad luck.
We've got Whip Shear (metal) with added earth, and Chroma-Caller (water) with added wood.
For Whip Shear, earth being the element of stability and stagnation, my first thought is some kind of blunt version of cutting? If it still has to be related to Severing, I guess it could cut in a different manner, though I have no idea how.
Chroma-caller seems easier to guess. Wood is the element of self-propagation, which we can see in the Horizon slicing technique. At first glance wood seems to have nothing to do with precision, but I think what it does there is just take the original Whip Shear technique, and make it self-propagate out to a set distance. So the same technique, just further away. For Chroma-caller I'm thinking we could create a light that could spread in the same way. I'd considered light which could respond to external stimuli, but I think that'd come under metal?
I've also been looking at the progress requirements for this year. 1st year needed 3,300 minimum (900 each for base cultivation, 750 each for two skills to Apprentice), and with the progress for Arithmancy and Divination we're currently at 9,037. If the trend's continued since May(?) we're likely still third after Harry and Draco.
It'll be interesting to see if having the electives give us enough of an edge to catch up to them, both due to the familiar bonus/Rune but primarily because of the threshold reductions they give that the other two'll lack.
The minimum we need to come back for Year 3 is higher than I'd have guessed, 37,200 total progress (33,900 not including the minimum from 1st year).
Considering the expected student drop-off rate there shouldn't be a problem with us achieving that barring either poor planning on our part or horrifically bad luck.
Some possibilities I see:
Whip Shear + Earth (stability, reliability, smooths the lowest lows, peace, calmness, stagnation, non-violent death, solidity, endurance)
-slow but precise cuts
-cutting non-thin objects and/or also a second object beneath/behind the first
-creating an actual blade of some kind
-piecing something back together
-causing the object to crumble/be severed in a natural way
Chroma-caller + Wood (creation, birth, growth, kindling, life with all of its love and hate)
-color that self-sustains
-color that spreads
-color that makes surrounding colors more/better
-color that responds naturally to conditions
-color that changes and goes through the whole light spectrum
(On some of these at least, you can safely replace the word "color" with the word "illusion(s)", and it makes more practical sense.)
Edit - I kind of forgot that polarities and inverted/Yin elements are a thing (though the lists of the elements' characteristics that I put in parenthesis above arguably recognized that already), so there are more possibilities on that front, too.
We'll see how/if things change after the QM's refactoring and system-tweaking take place, but currently, we know that by the end of year 2, we're gonna need 7664 points for History, 7607 for DADA and, almost unarguably, 4774 for Transfiguration. Then, around 10k points for the two other skills required, plus whatever the next Breaking Through entails. Like you say, it shouldn't be a problem.
I don't particularly care if we catch up to Harry and Draco, and I hope Rei doesn't either, but I very much like being competent, efficient and all that jazz, so if that just happens naturally as a result of our plans/choices, I'd be more than fine with it.
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Could I ask for clarifications about technique modification? What would these become if we used Arithmancy milestones on them?
2) If a metal aspect result roll is within 10% of the maximum roll, roll and add another fire aspect die to the results.
2) If a metal aspect result roll is immediately followed by a earth, water, fire (or a different set of 3?) aspect roll, add the lowest roll of results to it as bonus.
3) Only fire can be used to modify this particular technique, keeping the original set of 3 aspects.
2) Split a wood aspect result roll inclusively between 20 and 50 into two metal aspect rolls between 1 and 30.
2) If a metal aspect result roll is surrounded by non-wood aspect rolls, roll it again, keeping the higher result.
Sorry for the bother, @Karf , but even though at least some of the answers seem to be obvious, better safe than sorry! ^^
1) If a metal aspect result roll is within 10% of the maximum roll, roll and add another metal aspect die to the results.
2) If a metal aspect result roll is within 10% of the maximum roll, roll and add another fire aspect die to the results.
1) If a metal aspect result roll is immediately followed by a metal, wood or earth aspect roll, add the lowest roll of results to it as bonus.
2) If a metal aspect result roll is immediately followed by a earth, water, fire (or a different set of 3?) aspect roll, add the lowest roll of results to it as bonus.
3) Only fire can be used to modify this particular technique, keeping the original set of 3 aspects.
1) Split a wood aspect result roll inclusively between 20 and 50 into two wood aspect rolls between 1 and 30.
2) Split a wood aspect result roll inclusively between 20 and 50 into two metal aspect rolls between 1 and 30.
1) If a metal aspect result roll is surrounded by non-metal aspect rolls, roll it again, keeping the higher result.
2) If a metal aspect result roll is surrounded by non-wood aspect rolls, roll it again, keeping the higher result.
Sorry for the bother, @Karf , but even though at least some of the answers seem to be obvious, better safe than sorry! ^^
1) If a metal aspect result roll is within 10% of the maximum roll, roll and add another metal aspect die to the results.
1) If a metal aspect result roll is immediately followed by a metal, wood or earth aspect roll, add the lowest roll of results to it as bonus.
1) Split a wood aspect result roll inclusively between 20 and 50 into two wood aspect rolls between 1 and 30.
2) If a metal aspect result roll is surrounded by non-wood aspect rolls, roll it again, keeping the higher result.
I think those are the versions I'd go with.
Also, rolling some dice for September, so I could write about divination in more detail.
Thanks for the clarification!
And only middling results on our 3 Divination pools, which I don't think anyone will want to keep. Unfortunate, but hopefully we got mediocrity out of the way so that we only get crits next! ^^
On a different topic, I was thinking about our next charm, the one we're gonna make for our final Beginner milestone, likely soon. I have my preferences based on flavor and my preferences based on mechanics (which zinay calculated recently enough to not be too outdated, so to speak), but I was also considering this from another point of view:
If I stretch either the fields' definitions or the charms' workings enough, I could justify any pairing, potentially, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they all happened to fall under completely different categories not mentioned in the quote above.
Is there anything you could tell us on this front, @Karf ? And on a related note, could you say if any charm among the options in the Library could affect combat and/or Quidditch, rather than just training actions? I'm assuming the bludger for the former, but what else?
As usual, don't worry if you'd rather not answer any of these questions, for whatever reason.
And only middling results on our 3 Divination pools, which I don't think anyone will want to keep. Unfortunate, but hopefully we got mediocrity out of the way so that we only get crits next! ^^
On a different topic, I was thinking about our next charm, the one we're gonna make for our final Beginner milestone, likely soon. I have my preferences based on flavor and my preferences based on mechanics (which zinay calculated recently enough to not be too outdated, so to speak), but I was also considering this from another point of view:
Currently, we have an animated towel (whose 4-turns countdown started in May, by the way, which means that whatever that implies should take place soon) which mostly falls under the field of motion, and a paint-producing brush that's all about conjuration. The next steps would be a spacial charm and one centered on a living being, but I don't know if either type is represented in our Library, right now. Most options there seem to be generally motion-based (the proto-bludger, the self-filling bottle and the page turner, at least), and I'm not sure how the rest fits. How would you categorize the gloves that clamp to any surface? The earrings that whisper distant noises to you? What about the plushie that records sounds?
If I stretch either the fields' definitions or the charms' workings enough, I could justify any pairing, potentially, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they all happened to fall under completely different categories not mentioned in the quote above.
Is there anything you could tell us on this front, @Karf ? And on a related note, could you say if any charm among the options in the Library could affect combat and/or Quidditch, rather than just training actions? I'm assuming the bludger for the former, but what else?
As usual, don't worry if you'd rather not answer any of these questions, for whatever reason.
- Location
- The US
I don't think the roll number has that much of an effect beyond above 90s and below 10s being critical successes or failures. The benefits of a critical success are really good, and the crit fails we've had so far have been interesting, so I'm in favor of throwing out the rolls... all the results are above average. I'll vote to keep them
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Yeah, there's no difference between an 11 and an 89 on a social roll, and only 1-10 and 90-100 results actually affect the narrative (and give some mechanical malus and bonus, respectively). In the QM's words:
Edit - Also, we can only keep a single pool, anyway, so 2 of those results are getting discarded no matter what. But if we're ever going to keep any roll that's not a 1-10 or a 90-100, it's got to be a 69, right? XD
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FriedIce
The Authentic Fake
- Location
- Hyperreality
Heh, funny number.
I was doing some thinking about potential new combat tactics with our techniques and I've got a couple:
1) Chameleon Skin - use chroma caller to change our colour to vaguely match whatever whatever room/environment we're in. This could be really effective In Quidditch if we change our colour to map to the sky making the chasers struggle to see which goal we're guarding.
2) Wannabe Grue - use Light Eater to douse all light in as wide an area as possible, including over our opponent. Now this will rob us of our senses too, but the difference is we're expecting it.
3) Enhanced strobe lighting - use a combination of Light Eater into Light Bringer to make the strobing even more effective. Douse all light around the opponent and let their eyes adjust to having no light, before switching that off and turning into a miniature sun with Light Bringer.
I was doing some thinking about potential new combat tactics with our techniques and I've got a couple:
1) Chameleon Skin - use chroma caller to change our colour to vaguely match whatever whatever room/environment we're in. This could be really effective In Quidditch if we change our colour to map to the sky making the chasers struggle to see which goal we're guarding.
2) Wannabe Grue - use Light Eater to douse all light in as wide an area as possible, including over our opponent. Now this will rob us of our senses too, but the difference is we're expecting it.
3) Enhanced strobe lighting - use a combination of Light Eater into Light Bringer to make the strobing even more effective. Douse all light around the opponent and let their eyes adjust to having no light, before switching that off and turning into a miniature sun with Light Bringer.
Unless I'm misunderstanding something, they're not. We voted to learn another rite, twice, last turn, which means that we added two pools of 1 die each to the one we got by default (the Fire-Omen's).
Gilded days II
- [X][Divination1] Learn of another rite
- [X][Divination2] Learn of another rite x2
- [X][Arithmancy1] The Chroma-caller Technique, Wood
- If the aspect from the previous result roll to the next one changes from fire to water or wood, or from water or wood to fire, add +30 to the result as bonus.
- [X][Arithmancy2] The Whip Shear Technique, Earth
- Split a metal or earth aspect result roll inclusively between 20 and 50 into two metal and earth aspect rolls between 1 and 30.
- [X][Chit] Natural springy ball II
- Replace natural springy ball I. Gain 2 earth aspect pool dice for every earth aspect result roll 40 or less instead up from 1 die per roll 25 or less. The final action (before this modifier is applied) now affects the first action.
- [X][Finance] Wheeler and dealer of the spiritual kind
- Spirits are to immortals what immortals are to mortals - often incomprehensible, and existing in entirely different spheres. Why a fairy mercenary outfit is willing to pay for cold steel toothpicks with wooden handles twice their equivalent weight in pure gold is a mystery, but evidently an extremely profitable one. You've unknowingly been funding several such trading operations, with you providing the initial capital and reaping the majority of the benefit, alongside some direct contracts with powerful spirits that have grown to trust and respect your stable business, if only because you haven't been mucking about for nearly a decade. It might be unclear how exactly you could leverage such a reputation, but you're a clever girl, you'll figure something out.
The Fire-Omen, while amplified by the Elder especially, is a fine thing, and you'd be lying if you said you didn't enjoy staring at a flame... at least from a safe distance. But fire has never been the most 'you' element. Sure, the Lightbringer Law is primarily fire, but that doesn't have to define you as a person. Then again, neither do the rites you end up studying after bulldozing through a handful of tomes.
The first one you decide on is one you have some familiarity with. Which definitely helps, because otherwise you wouldn't have picked it in a million years. Lavender's tea-leaf reading is a form of divination called tessomancy, even if she does her schtick by instinct alone. Tessomancy itself however, is merely one form of haruspexy - or in more familiar terms, reading the future from entrails. Pagan rituals of slaughtered livestock don't appeal to you, but once it becomes apparent that plant life sacrifice or the stains of leftover food on a finished plate also count, you find yourself engaged.
The reading happens by inverting wood Qi, and seeing what the element of growth and creation does once released from its mortal coil. Knowing yourself, you'll be experimenting for quite a while to see what exactly works best for you, but examining the sear patterns on fried eggs doesn't sound nearly as gruesome when phrased as such, rather than dissecting the burnt remains of once potential baby chickens.
The second rite you pursue in depth is the art of predicting not just the weather itself, but the future based upon meteorological phenomena. The clearest results come from listening to the biggest bodies of water you have access to, as something that amplifies even the smallest changes in air pressure. From tides and the energy of the moon to complicated atmospheric weather patterns, bits of the future are encoded in nature by its own laws, and that's before Qi even enters the picture.
Qi doesn't have any single personality, you suspect, but it does have different flavors to it, and some run stronger than others. The strongest of them all is its desire for auspicious patterns, it's cyclic desire for and creation of wonder; your own reputation performing cartwheels over your first few months at Hogwarts a prime example. While it's hardly impossible for a funeral to be held on a sunny day, Qi conspires to have such things happen on overcast ones. A storm harbors change, a rainbow hope and joy. There are finer examples too, of leaves blowing in a westward wind bringing melancholy to a ray of dawn being witnessed through a gap in mountain peaks giving hope.
Taken together, with a few hours of intense concentration under open skies, you can build quite a detailed picture of what Qi intends to have happen to you. Provided you interpret the signs correctly and that you actually have accurate models to work off of. All things that come with practice.
Thus, you set aside a day near the end of August, and finally give your best effort to determine what the future holds for you.
The Fire-Omen is simple enough to set up. A quick visit to a crafts store nets you a scented candle, and for once you skip your morning workout in favor of meditating on the flame. The fire is uniform and calm, the candle burning down evenly, with few disruptions. Your own breath doesn't accidentally hit the light, and even the thin vine of vanilla scented smoke doesn't break into eddies. Still, a lack of omens good or ill is a sign in and of itself. Should you choose to take the advice given to you by the fire Qi to heart, you most likely won't have anything earth-shattering happen to you. Well, for a week or so, at least; you don't delude yourself about your mastery of recognizing subtler signs, or lack thereof.
For reading the weather you sneak onto the roof of your apartment complex. Next month, you'll have the great lake at Hogwarts to tap into, but you doubt that you could find a suitable place to observe the Thames. Instead, you bring a blanket, a bottle of water for Rex and lay down to watch the clouds. The sky is not completely overcast, although with your improved senses, there really is no such thing as a monotone grey cloudscape. Perhaps if you had ordered things differently, you could have had a chance to gaze at cumulus clouds, with expressive shapes that are easy to interpret. Alas, you didn't, so you're left staring at stratocumulus fog banks as the wind slowly picks up. Once you get used to it, however, you spot a friendly looking cloud drifting over you, shaped like a heart with a smile etched into the middle. It's a high cloud, so rather than rush past you at speed, it takes its time, and you have the chance to study it properly. Nice and white and fluffy, and as it blocks the sun, it gets Rex's approval as well. If anything, you wouldn't mind this one being the omen to describe your future.
Haruspexy, in contrast, works best in the dark. Although you try to scrub its inherent morbidity as much as possible, there's still a mildly ominous atmosphere to your egg boiling. Then again, you can lean into that as well, as a balancing factor more than anything. You chose to go with an egg, painted it with a few edible dyes, and now watch it get over-cooked. Before long, the brittle shell gives way along invisible fault lines and a bit of the white peeks out, drifting and solidifying in the pot. In a confirmation of your other two readings, the crack doesn't break into any of the positive symbols you drew, but neither does it destroy the negative ones, snaking between miniature art pieces. Other than tasting a bit rubbery for your tastes, it too suggests a rather ordinary start to your school year. Which, you suppose, is better than the worse alternative.
- Aeromancy
Number of omens: 9
As the world determines weather, weather determines Qi, and Qi determines the world. Global quantities of water Qi can hide within itself information about the changes that the Qi of mutability is going to cause. A wide-reaching rite with many moving parts and different aspects, mastery of Aeromancy can take a long time indeed.
For each improvement past omen unlock, switch around the digits of the roll for which it would lead to the greatest change in magnitude.
- Haruspexy
Number of omens: 5
There is power in all endings, and each of those ends is a new beginning for something in the future. The art of haruspexy deals with creating and recognizing the process in-between those states, and the extraction of information relevant to the practitioner from that. In theory, the more wood Qi gets released, the more there is to glean, but some lines are not meant to be pushed, let alone crossed.
For each improvement past omen unlock, a wood aspect result roll has a 50% chance to replace the lowest haruspexy roll (even if it would reduce that roll).
The divination dice for the next turn will get rolled at some point before you make the plan/social votes for that turn. They will be rolled on-site, but I'll also include them with the update text itself. For the month of September, Rei rolled 3 dice, of which you get to keep up to 1 (or you can choose none of the below).
Fire-Omen rite: 62
Aeromancy: 69
Haruspexy: 58
Fire-Omen rite: 62
Aeromancy: 69
Haruspexy: 58
Spirits don't learn like humans do. You could spend all day lecturing Rex about something he clearly should be capable of, but if your approach doesn't click for him, you'll have made absolutely no progress. On the other hand, once you find the right ways to convey your thoughts, he can expand his abilities at a pace so astonishing you could swear that he was just messing with you and holding himself back, just so you would spend more time on him.
When you gave a description of what you were looking for, Madam Pince responded with a reserved 'hmm?', which is more positive than you've ever seen of the woman. Whether it was because of a first year disciple asking for spirit rearing techniques, or the fact that you were looking to expand upon something Rex does naturally you've no way of knowing. Still, while you've never doubted Hogwarts' library-ly capabilities, you are happy to confirm them all over again as you return home with a light green... peat brick statuette? Rather than a scroll or abstraction, what you get is more like a small stele.
The instructions are the same as last time, and with Rex placed in your lap, you pull in your Qi. Somewhat to your disappointment you don't get a front row seat to how your familiar views the world. Instead, you find in your mind a rather dry series of instructions and Qi-speak that would best communicate to mossballs the natural expansion of their encompassment abilities. You decide you like your name more, but what you can't deny is their effectiveness.
In scant days Rex goes from being kind of soft at times to literally being able to support your weight on a single strand of fiber. Punches and kicks - once you've made sure he understands that this is only for training and only so long as he's okay with it - come to a steady halt, as if you were striking into gradually denser and denser liquid. Although your falling tests are nowhere near as thorough, you can't imagine why the same principles wouldn't hold up.
The other notable effect from your sessions is rather more strange, at least for you. Normally the little guy is still somewhere between the size of your fist or palm, depending on how puffy he's feeling, but when he wants to be bigger, he just... is. Rex can stretch out to nearly your whole height, if not quite your volume in size, without the moss part of him looking at all taut or spread thin. When you try to interrogate him on where he's keeping his extra bulk, you simply get confusion in reply. Apparently his moss isn't exactly confined to three dimensions, and for him, it's always there, folded neatly inside himself. When you ask if growing like that is tiring for him, the best you get back is a feeling of walking without bending your knees - not difficult or unpleasant, but awkward and unnecessary all the same.
As usual, you also make sure to jot down your current thoughts in detail, so that when you next get the chance to really push Rex, you'd be starting with a good and organized mindset.
- Parachute
With just how light and... elastic Rex can be, you do some research on the proliferation of mosses. It turns out that spores that get carried on the wind are absolutely a thing for most species, and athelas is no exception. If the symbolic link exists, and the physical capabilities seem present, perhaps your familiar can go so far as to slow himself down mid-fall, rather than on impact. Vague ideas are starting to take root in your head of moving around on a floating pillow of luxurious greenery.
For every even wood aspect die (pool or result), add 4 to all result dice of the next action as bonus.
The way creating colors with the chroma-caller technique feels most natural to you is by changing an already existing color into something else. It's also how you could best contextualize your experience as light and meeting said spell in action. You were one thing, and became another. But who's to say that what's really happening isn't instead the creation of an entirely new color.
At least, that's your thought process. From your research, wood and water are reasonably complementary elements, and as such you decide that having one replace the other shouldn't be too tricky as a first test of your theories.
In many ways, your intuition proves correct. The formulas for replacement turn out to be rather simple to solve, the two end results' diagrams looking very close to identical. What you struggle with is reconceptualizing things in your mind. You push in wood Qi as best as you are able, and everything seems to be working, but the spell lacks a logical endpoint, a stable configuration. Try as you might, you either end up smothering an output of transformation grounded in water Qi with wood, or don't give the technique enough oomph to properly materialize.
Returning to your calculations doesn't help - everything has been triple-checked and simply feels correct. There should be no quantifiable difference between the amount you push in as water or as wood. Indeed, nothing is going wrong on the starting line, it's the finish that you can't seem to land. And the problem isn't Qi, at least according to the raw numbers, the problem is in your understanding, which calls for introspection.
In the meantime you finish your essay and return to Elder Vector for advice, only to receive a list of recommended literature that should last you about two years and a gentle rebuke to figure things out on your own. So, meditation it is.
You'd like to think you have a pretty good understanding, at least on a relative basis, of transfiguration. Of the changing nature of things and how Qi can be used to bring about almost any imaginable state, and then some. Indeed, you're pretty confident that the conflict can not be because you are misinterpreting the role of the technique. Not only can you perform it just fine without adjustment, but the conflict is explicitly between your inputs and outputs, not the result and expectation of such. Even more so because you can get it to almost work, for brief moments the colors created by your mind bursting into reality with unparalleled vibrancy. There's a realness to the product of your illusions that doesn't quite happen with a water natured transformation, which is faster to take hold, and more malleable - at least you suspect that part, your experiments not lasting long enough to properly verify such claims.
The next bit to get taken to the microscope is your understanding of light. And again, you can't find yourself wanting. You've nearly a year of experience with creating, twisting, controlling and even becoming light. If there was something fundamental you were missing, you doubt that simply thinking hard about the issue would solve things. And while giving up and passing the problem over to smarter future-Rei does have its appeal, it also has significant drawbacks, not the least of which is your burning curiosity about why your efforts bear no fruit.
Still, you come awfully close to doing that before an epiphany strikes you: you falter not because of what you're doing, but what you're not doing. You've replaced one element with another, and been successful, but you never took into consideration how the two should interact themselves. Somewhere along the way, a harmony between different types of Qi gets lost. You've been trying to pare things down, to simplify and replace, but perhaps it's okay that a modification makes things more complicated. You've been trying to take out water and put in wood, when you should have been trying to just add wood to an already working technique.
You push and prod, going so far as to get your wand out to help you entwine and combine the primal elements into something new, a higher order of Qi, and to your surprise and delight, it barely takes a few tries to see initial success. Describing Qi can always be a bit tricky in your mind, precisely for the reasons that Elder Flitwick once explained to you. Perhaps it is your work with light-waves and elementary particles - thank you Elder Vector's reading list - that has you thinking in terms of vibrations and frequencies.
There are five completely independent forms of Qi: the primal elements you're already familiar with. Most of the real world however is essentially noise, a seemingly random mish-mash of waves on turbulent seas. But you have to ask yourself: why? Why are there specifically five frequencies, when Qi can do anything you will it to. Wood and water can exist in the same space without interacting, but why should they? With a little mental twist you push the two together, still separate entities but linked by your will.
Well, maybe you're underselling the complexity a bit. It's almost a physical limitation on your non-body that suddenly clicks into place, an eureka moment of 'huh, guess I can do that,' which leaves you feeling a bit dizzy for the next few hours. However, once you've done it once, it's almost trivial to do so again.
The first thing you do with your new knowledge is go through your theory base again. After a few minutes, you resolve to have something similar to Elder Vector's blackboard, as the symbols and operators suddenly feel as though they describe a whole new dimension, but slowly you push through. To your relief and also a small amount of surprise, you discover that your old work is essentially still correct, which is why you achieved any result at all, and your failure truly was a matter of mindset.
There is but one thing left to do, and that is to name your new aspect. Well, extremely unlikely to be yours in the classical sense, but still. Truth be told, there isn't much hesitation; a combination of wood and water, of growth and change has already been labeled in your subconsciousness - you've created the aspect of life.
With your new harmony, the technique comes to life once more. Now that you know how to have the two elements working together, its a simple matter to reduce the prominence of one until your spell does exactly what you want it to.
To the untrained eye, the resulting cavalcade of color could be interchangeable between your old and new approaches, but a closer examination lends credence to your initial observations. It's easier to cycle from color to color with water, to shift the light you create from one wavelength to the next, and actually a bit taxing to keep it as a steady light. Wood on the other hand has a feel to it. A warmth, although not a physical heat, or perhaps a presence to the colors that make you firmly believe that the football you conjure up is actually truly real, despite your knowing full well to the opposite. If anything, it's your third eye that's the most fooled, insofar as it can be fooled at all.
Emboldened by your success and armed with new understanding of matters, it takes you much less headache to find the right twist to apply to the Whip Shear technique, but this time the switch itself takes more effort to theorize through.
To combine the reliability of metal and the support of earth comes quite naturally, and the resulting Qi feels more solid and physical than just about anything else, a reassuring, but also an inevitable presence in your mind. Mighty and unyielding, you feel that the right term for it is mountain Qi, but applying the concept to a cutting technique gives you pause. How do you combine the element of unity and solidity with a technique meant to separate?
Again, thankfully the math behind it comes to your rescue. Although there's much more work to be done, once you're finished, having truly worked through the process gives you a better grounding to understand. If metal acts as the tool which cuts, then earth is the force that can't be stopped by something as mundane as physical barriers. Rather than have a clean slice, when you push on the earth aspect, the cuts are almost ground away from the target material. Your speed suffers tremendously, anything thicker than paper taking noticeably longer to split apart, but whereas the metal natured cutter, if it cannot cut something, dissipates with little evidence to show for your efforts, the earthen version does not care.
The toughest object you wouldn't feel too bad about damaging is a solid metal handle of a construction debris bin. Your regular cutter barely cracks the paintjob before coming undone, but when you switch the aspects, the spell simply keeps going. After a handful of minutes of concentration, you steal away into the early morning one steel slice richer. Sure, the cut isn't as perfect when your attention wavered, you can even see what look like drilling marks when you thought someone was going to spot you vandalizing property, but those imperfections would only count as such if viewed through the exacting eyes of an immortal. For everyday purposes, your cuts are plenty smooth.
- [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.
- Roll: 39
"Come on, Rei. This is the correct place, right?"
You blink to clear your thoughts and give a nod, rushing the last few steps to the front door, Rex squeezing his head out of your handbag. A moment after you ring the doorbell you're greeted by a blond man.
"Good evening, Mr. Granger," you curtsey.
"Lovely to meet you, Miss Young. Hermione has told us quite a bit about you. And please, call me Hubert."
Your father takes the proffered handshake. "Jonathan. Thank you for inviting us."
You're ushered inside and through the house towards the back yard. Your hosts have decided to make the most of the ebbing days of summer and a grill is set up on the patio.
"The womenfolk are just putting the final touches on the salad. Ever since Hermione came back from that school, she's been adamant about being involved in the cooking process, and to be honest with you, I have no idea how we'll ever cope without her again. I feel like I've been eating like a horse, but it's the darnedest thing - still losing weight."
Dad gives a knowing nod, "I know exactly what you mean. Rei, why don't you see how you can help out. Let us worry about the meat, there's some tricks in these old bones yet."
You've no idea if Dad has ever actually grilled anything in his life, but you recognize a dismissal for what it is and take your exit with grace. "Sure, Dad. I'll let you two have boy-talk."
You slip back inside, and while it would be simple enough to follow the faint sounds of people to the kitchen, you decide on a slight detour, your feet carrying you to the living room, Rex looking about with as much curiosity as you.
There's a TV set into a cabinet display, but it's covered in a small layer of dust, the remote discarded on top of the thing. Instead, the rest of the wall is full of books. A full set of Encyclopedia Britannica dominates a few shelves, but your attention is instead drawn to the lower works, the ones with colorful spines and wonky fonts, on eye level for a small child.
The first name you recognize is Winnie-the-Pooh, followed shortly by the works of Lindgren and a thick tome of fairytales by the brothers Grimm. Then comes Tolkien, although the final part of the famous trilogy is preceded by a few you've never heard of. The next shelf up starts with a framed photograph showing the Grangers and a knee-high girl that could only be Hermione in front of the London Coliseum. The first book is an abridged version of Hamlet that looks brand new, followed by a much more worn adult version.
"Rei?"
You spin around, chagrined. Hermione's head is poking out of the hallway, a bowl of leafy greens in her hands. Your familiar scurries behind your leg.
"Hey, sorry, I got lost."
"No you didn't," she says, placing the salad on a cabinet, and gives you a hug. "It's so good to see you."
"And you," you reciprocate. "Listen, while we're out of earshot, do we need to get our stories straight?"
She leans away, giving you a dry look. "You do realize I don't risk my life on a daily basis, unlike some people I know."
"I don't do that every day!"
"Probably not for the lack of trying. But don't worry, my parents are only peripherally aware of quidditch."
Rex bounces to your shoulder then; evidently anyone who hugs you can't be too dangerous. Hermione blinks.
"What's that?"
"Oh, that's right, you never met. Hermione, meet Rex; Rex, Hermione. This is my familiar."
A little stick pokes out next to your ear and gives a wave.
"So you went for Care of Magical Creatures? Not my first choice, but you better still tell me everything."
"Well, I kind of went for everything, but I'll try."
For a brief moment, you think you see annoyance bubble up in her Qi, but she sighs and the emotion slides away.
"You are so lucky. How do they expect others to keep up when you get two whole extra months of personal tutoring... Come on, we'll get the dinner out of the way so I can interrogate you properly."
You let out a laugh, then trail off as you realize Hermione is completely serious, and already dragging you back towards the patio.
Dinner is a pleasant affair, with you at the center of attention and Hermione backing you up with explanatory commentary. You make sure to never outright mention just how high up quidditch is played, or how quickly a bludger can go from zero to sixty - or that they can go to sixty at all. If they come away with the impression that it's like lacrosse on horseback, well that's on them for making assumptions. You are however, quite glad to note that Dad and the Grangers seem to have hit it off quite well. When Hermione badgers you into her room to show her your notes at the first possible polite moment, you're not worried about things becoming awkward at all.
- [X][Social] You've got Dad to agree to a weekend trip to the countryside for you, visiting Mandy's clan and reservation.
- Roll: 57
Thankfully it's not difficult to pick out your chaperone. A young man in either his late teens or early twenties dressed in hiking gear stands on the platform, and a quick peek confirms that his Qi is very much awake and present. Cautiously, you make your way over.
"Hi?"
The man gives you a disarming smile. "You must be the young mistress. This one is Albert Brocklehurst. Shall we?"
You fall in step next to him as he leads you to a small gate in the back fence, which opens to an overgrown park path lined with wild daffodils. For your benefit, Albert continues to narrate. "Don't worry, we needn't walk for long. Just a few bends until we're safely out of sight. Have you ever travelled via apparition?"
"I understand that it's a more advanced version of portkeying."
"Your knowledge gives you credit, but unfortunately I'm not quite as talented as what Hogwarts would have produced for you. My style is called the Seven League Step technique, and I hope you aren't afraid of heights or tight spaces, even if it'll only take a moment."
"I'm not," you confirm, "is there anything I need to do?"
He casts about, and once he's satisfied that no one is nearby, offers you his elbow. "Merely hang on."
As soon as you grip his sleeve, the world rushes away below you, as if you were getting sucked up by a vacuum cleaner. What feels like bark is pressed against you on all sides, and your breath catches in your throat. Ground blurs, urban roofs replaced by meadows and then forests. You'd look up, but the feeling of motion in your inner ear forcibly brings your concentration back to your feet, as if you were running at breakneck pace over rough terrain. Thankfully, just as suddenly as the experience started, it ends. You stumble and gasp for breath.
"My apologies for any inconvenience, young mistress. It can be easy to let standards slip when you need to be your own overseer. I shall endeavor to refine my proficiency for the future."
"It's no- no trouble," you make sure you're not still dashing forward, and take in your surroundings, letting the clearly mystical air wash over your skin. While your issues with mortal Qi have found some outlet from wearing down your mind, the effect itself is still very much real, so it does you good to stretch-shrink-tighten-relax your metaphorical muscles.
If the Greengrass manor was a place of metal Qi, every element carefully placed and cultivated to perfection, then the little village before you now is almost a polar opposite. You stand on top of a low valley, on the edge of a copse of elms, with log cabins dotted on the slope and between impossibly humongous trees. In the valley below, the forest gives way to a fen, little ponds dotted between reeds and mosses. Your eyes are drawn to a dragonfly, which must be the size of a horse, as it perches on a beech sapling, bending the young tree precariously low.
"Mandy!" someone 'shouts' from the canopy, and you place the familiar tone with your sixth sense.
"I leave you in the care of junior cousin, young mistress," your escort gives a shallow bow, subtly angled towards one of the cabins. You return the courtesy just before the door creaks open.
Mandy has always towered over you, both because of an earlier growth spurt as well as her build in general, but you could swear that she's shot up another handspan since you last saw her. Somehow you never ran into her at Hogwarts, likely because while you were dabbling in subjects you barely comprehended, so was she, except what's hard for her is rather behind you.
"Billy, don't do it!"
Some things change, but others stay the same. You barely have time to spot the little monkey hanging by his tail on a branch far above you before the creature unfurls his tail and drops. You could interfere and catch him with ease, but your friend has things in hand. Between one blink and the next she explodes into motion, a surge of Qi accompanying her mad dash to catch her suicidal familiar. From her speed both mental and physical, a small worry falls away from your heart - Mandy is finally in the second realm with you.
"During training, Billy, T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G!" she scolds in English, her intent carrying through with context, but not without it.
"You might want to specify that it's your training, not his."
With all the spiritual commotion, Rex has also woken up, and the top of your backpack springs open. A single tendril of moss hiding a furtive yellow glow peeks over your shoulder, appraising the situation.
"His training is learning human-speak," Mandy says with a growl, "which he very well knows. Hey, Rei."
"Hey, yourself," you manage to keep your face straight for a whole second of silence before your grin leaves your control and you rush over for a hug.
The plan for the weekend is hiking and camping. You circle the valley on the first day, foraging mushrooms and grilling them for a late lunch, Mandy showing off her two new techniques of incendio and aquamenti to great effect. Your own contribution of slicing and dicing the spoils is overshadowed by Rex who disappears for a few hours only to return with a load of berries stuck in his proverbial hair. You call it a day on the bank of a small stream, and dinner is fish stew, with Billy showing off his own hunting skills and delivering a bounty of mussels for carp bait.
The two of you hardly need a tent, and thankfully the skies are completely clear, even as the last red glow of the sun fades and a brilliant tapestry of shiny pearls reveals itself. The fire made of dried pinecones and sap-filled branches crackles merrily, throwing its own contribution of sparks up every once in a while, and you push yourself to paint each speck, while also adding some that are made purely of Qi. Mandy meanwhile has to guess which are real and which are your creations.
Still, eventually you fall into a content stupor.
"Hey, Rei, you asleep?"
"Mm?" your face is buried in Rex, but you shift to look at Mandy lying next to you, staring at the sky.
"How did you break through to the Qi Condensation realm?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's about harmony and understanding, right? What did it take you to break through?"
"I pushed myself pretty hard in April, and almost messed up, cycling all five types of Qi simultaneously before I really knew what those were. Elder Flitwick helped me out, and gave me some advice then. That I needed to form my own understanding of the elements. I get the feeling that this won't be the last time I'll need to do that, but they were all things I had sensed before."
Mandy is silent for a while, petting Billy who's curled up on her chest.
"That's for your third eye. Was that all it took for your breakthrough?"
"No," you admit, "it's sometimes hard to voice, but I think I simply acknowledged what Qi is."
Another silence descends as you gather your thoughts, but before you find the words, Mandy turns to you.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry into personal subjects."
"It's not that," you shift around to lie on your back, looking up at the starry sky and the gently swaying sparse canopy. "See the stars way up there? Each one is a sun, full to brim with Qi and potential, incomprehensibly vast and beautiful in its own right. But to me, it's still just one little light in the sky. It's amazing when you think about it, but so is the leaf that's blocking my view of the big dipper right now. You could say it's just a leaf, but through Qi, it's also so much more. All of its past and future, how it could affect things, what impact it can have in my world is not so different from that of a star. When I just let go during meditation, I get this sense of wonder. I think that's what Qi is."
"Thank you."
Another branch cracks in the fire, sending up a fresh shower of sparks.
"How about you?"
Mandy sighs. "I wish I had a way with words like you do."
You remain silent.
"I used to think that Qi is what made us better people. That we cultivate so we could do more. We - my clan I mean - maintain and slowly grow this valley and the surrounding lands not just for ourselves, but for future generations, and the spirits who live here. But we don't actually need Qi to do that. I have cousins who have done more for this place than I would in ten of my lifetimes, and they never even got invited to Hogwarts. But on the other hand, it's harder and harder to keep this place growing. My father had to step into mortal business just to stop the creation of a road that would cut down the Leamwood, all for the sake of a twenty minute shortcut. He spent all year on that, because he chose not to use Qi, and I don't really understand why he did that."
She stops herself, Billy's tail twitching around in his sleep breaking her train of thought. When the little monkey calms down, she continues. "I don't think that Qi is might either, don't get me wrong. I went to Elder Flitwick right before my breakthrough attempt. He told me that sometimes doubting our convictions is an enlightenment unto itself. He was clearly right, but it still doesn't sit well with me that I don't have an answer... Sorry, it's just something that's been on my mind. I'll meditate on what you've told me."
"Right back at you," you shoot her a small smile, and even out your breathing as the last embers slowly grow dimmer and night claims you.
- [X][Social] You've managed to bring a doodle or two off the page - literally, in some cases - but you'd like to strive for more. Find a model and really put your skills to the test, both artistically and in the realm of Qi animation.
- [X] Dad
- Roll: 1
The simple silver locket you bought during your shopping trip shall play a central role, but you also make sure to sharpen the bristles of your Rainbow Brush to a fine point and get a proper fixture stand and a magnifying glass from the local crafts store. You'll be working in miniature, and there's really only one subject that fits: Dad.
The notes you once promised to return to the younger Creevey brother see daylight again as you go over every detail you can hope to understand. If there's one thing you've learned, it's that you need an intimate understanding of what you're trying to bring to life, and Dad is head and shoulders above any other candidate. You know his little ticks and quirks, you know his expressions, his voice and his reactions. You know about the singular grey hair behind his left ear, you know about the little crease of concentration hidden by his right eyebrow. In short, there is no subject you could possibly know better, nor any other that you'd wish to wear around your neck.
It's simple enough to relocate your evening hangout from your room to the living room, and Dad works with the door to his own bedroom open, providing you with a perfect view of him in profile.
Painting the background is simple: a corner of a bookcase and the familiar pastel floral print of your home's wallpaper. Each groove and scuff, each mark left by his existence gets imprinted on the sheet of paper that shall form the static background. With your knowledge of the various aspects that go into what any one object is you do your level best to imprint the feeling of home into the art. Of the books you know are contained on the shelf, of the vague memories you have of getting scolded for scrawling on the wall, thankfully with pencils not markers. It has to be a room where Dad could be, and to you, that means home, even if it's just a fake panel of oak over sawdust and the wallpaper is faded from age, not marbled walls and ebony furniture.
That forms the first, base layer of the locket, but the next work is even more delicate. On a glass wafer so thin you doubt mortal hands were involved in crafting it, you'll paint the image of your father. A kind-hearted, withdrawn man with love for you that knows no bounds. A picture of Jonathan Young, who sometimes lacks drive but never hesitates to move mountains when he cares, and who always cares for the right things. A picture of Dad, with all his flaws and his infinite awesomeness.
The quality of your picture is beyond reproach, of course. If you dedicate your full attention to a single detail then false humility aside, creating a lifelike depiction is never in question. But there's more that goes into your work. Mystic power flows from you until the apartment is filled to bursting and beyond. Carefully, so as to not disturb him, you coax out Dad's Qi to join yours. It's a wild, unrefined thing, clearly not belonging to a cultivator, but no less defining for it, the energy of a living, breathing person. You use it to paint in feelings, your brush never stopping or wavering as it barely touches the unconventional canvas, taking samples from the very air around the open pot of paint it's nominally linked with.
On the fourth day, as you're adding hints of his love for the smell of dark tea under his nose, the image scrunches his nose, irritated by the fine hairs of your brush. You almost mess up the whole project in surprised elation, but thankfully manage to pull back rather than push on, shattering the glass. From there, you're forced to slow down even further, as the picture slowly gains an awareness of your actions adding to it. Still, on the last day of August, you're forced to concede that nothing else strictly needs to be added. The wafer joins the background in the locket and a thicker layer of protective glass locks the artwork in, your Dad smiling back at you. With a final click - and an immense feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment - you close the jewelry and make sure all your necessary possessions are packed away for your imminent return to Hogwarts.
The very next morning, with Dad suppressing yawns even more often than usually, you give him one last hug and shred your ticket to platform nine and three quarters.
- Pick 3 to 5 training actions, you may pick the same one multiple times:
-[][Training] Spiritual cultivation
-[][Training] Physical cultivation
-[][Training] Herbology
-[][Training] Potions
--[] Which potion (see library)
-[][Training] Charms
--[] Which charm (see library)
-[][Training] Transfiguration
--[] Which technique (see library)
-[][Training] Astronomy
-[][Training] Meridians
- Optional point expenditure (you have 0 points):
- Optional technique application:
-[][Meridians] Adjust
--[] Write-in order
- The Rainbow Brush
- Whip Shear Technique
- Rune of Alacrity (4 stacks)
- None
- None
- Not all of your time is spent on the path to enlightenment, your peers also demand some of your attention, and when you one day look back, some events would stand out:
[][Social] You have no patience to wait until you arrive at Hogwarts, you want to find out who made it through and who didn't. Give your best impression of a social butterfly and get a brief overview of where your peers stand - and which of them join you at all.
[][Social] Although you're hardly privy to the affairs of the elders, there's no missing the fact that Elder Quirrel has been replaced by one Sir Gilderoy Lockhart, notably missing the usual honorific title. Conveniently however, it would appear that the man is not a recluse, going so far as to host open discussion hours in his classroom every week.
[][Social] Lord Potter has decided to start the year off with a bang. You didn't see him at the start-of-year feast, but knowing full well that he made the cut, you were merely perplexed, not worried. Still, you were not the only one to take notice, and by the next morning, there were rumors abound of soul projections fighting the Whomping Willow to haunted monsters of steel and metal fleeing into the Forbidden Forest. You'd like to think that you have better chances than most to get the truth straight from the source.
[][Social] Properly touch base with the members of your own house, see what they were up to over the summer and reestablish the erstwhile study group.
[][Social] Quidditch season is not starting until November - or in other words, it's right around the corner. A mere mention of the idea of an early gathering would probably light a fire under Cho to get any organization taken care of, and you could see your teammates again.
[][Social] You remember your promises, and a Colin Creevey was in fact sorted to Gryffindor. Find him once he's had a few days to find his footing and make good on your deal.
[][Social] Ravenclaw tower is freshly host to a new batch of first-year disciples. While the second year students in your own time mostly kept to themselves, there's no rule against being friendly. Who knows who you could meet.
[][Social] Although neither of you has said so out loud, you're pretty sure you have not just one, but two members of your extended family in the house of Slytherin. Perhaps you could try to consolidate your on-again-off-again contact with Tracey and touch base with Daphne at the same time.
[][Social] Although you managed to solve your own issues with the muggle world, you feel it would be a good idea to check in with the other members of Justin's group of muggleborn disciples.
[][Social] You're back at Hogwarts! The thought alone fills you with glee, and that replaces any fear you might have about getting lost in the twists and turns of the castle. You want to run deep inside and poke every brick just to see what would happen.
[][Social] Write-in
- Due to your knowledge of potential future events, you may choose one of the pools below to apply to your social rolls. Rolls are applied in descending order to respectively less popular social action choices:
[][Divination] Fire-Omen - 62
[][Divination] Aeromancy - 69
[][Divination] Haruspexy - 58
[][Divination] None
Please place training actions in plan format, then vote for however many social actions you'd like, with the top selections getting picked depending on how many free timeslots you have (minimum of 3).
There is a roughly 2 hour moratorium.
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Wow, that nat 1 combined with the above quote, the title for the action, 'Art of the Soul', and no explicit downside is incredibly worriesome. The action describes Rei weaving in her dad's Qi, and now I'm worried that she may have accidentally sucked out some of his soul/years of his life when animating the portrait, resulting in the observed increase in lethargy.
CedeTheBees
Probably high right now
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Nice! That's exactly what I was hoping for when we first picked this art
....What the fuck did we do??
Nando
they, them
I like those divinations explanations - and the effects seem fun, too.
@Karf quick question about the Haruspexy effect: what exactly would it mean for us, if the effect were to trigger? Do we still know the result beforehand? Do things that apply to wood rolls apply?
Could be worth it to get (some of our) divination techniques up to two or even three rolls, no?
Regarding the drawing: Yeah, best case: Dorian Grey. Worst case...we just killed dad. Or, well, trapped him in a drawing. Was there something like that in that Hogwarts: A Mystery game?
@Karf quick question about the Haruspexy effect: what exactly would it mean for us, if the effect were to trigger? Do we still know the result beforehand? Do things that apply to wood rolls apply?
Could be worth it to get (some of our) divination techniques up to two or even three rolls, no?
Regarding the drawing: Yeah, best case: Dorian Grey. Worst case...we just killed dad. Or, well, trapped him in a drawing. Was there something like that in that Hogwarts: A Mystery game?