Honestly with how underleveled we are for our job we wouldn't be able to go treasure hunting or using the ones we have found for a while if we go purely on that logic. Most people with our job are what level 6 or so and that's not including the fact our family as a whole is quite a lot weaker than we ought to be for a major can due to the...unfortunate recent events. Not to mention our main rivals are fire users, the element we're weakest against. Whilst I am not saying we should forsake leveling completely as even the OP pointed out it is important, I do want to point out that we shouldn't expect levelling to pay off for a while. We can't just ignore treasures until we're relatively secure, because chances are that's a long way away and said treasures might be the thing that keep us in the game so to speak.
One of the reasons I want to level fast, is that the last group of adventurers were close to our level. We need a better cushion or we will be pushed around. Also, we are passing off our lack of qualifications as our family trying to consolidate our holdings after the family scuffle. We got the fief in order mostly, and after raiding season, we have some time so we should try to get stronger
[X] Something was knocking chunks of spirit stones free so they floated down the river. That something might eat you. Perhaps you should note the location and move on.
Encounter Roll 1 of 4: 1D100+10 => 59
Encounter Roll 2 of 4: 1D100+10 => 21
Discretion was the better part of valor. You had no idea what lived in that cave and you would only find out once you were substantially more powerful and able to handle anything the world threw at you. That was the sensible approach to the unknown, particularly with such a valuable site left unexploited. There had to be a reason no adventurer cashed in on the bounty or tried to sell the location to a previous Lord. Probably because they explored that cave and died.
The sun was high in the sky as you gathered your retinue and continued your search of the mountains for sites of interest. If there was one cave with such a bounty, surely there might be others and perhaps those others might be more accessible, more valuable locations. One could only hope.
The search was vigorous, even commoners understood the bounty they had just witnessed and knew they might get a share of the prize if they found another such place. Your men scoured the mountains for days at a time, eager for riches. Unfortunately, it seemed that cave was the only source of spirit stones in the area that you could discover. Thousands of man hours had gone into searching for another and none were found.
So you noted the cave on your map of your fief and moved on.
After a couple days of travel, your retinue stumbled across a stunning young woman who appeared to wander the dangerous Tian Shen mountains unarmed and alone. She greeted your men with a smile, completely carefree despite the fact she was alone and unarmed. This naturally set off all sorts of alarm bells given the fact some men tended to be rough with women in positions of vulnerability. This woman was old enough to have experienced that sort of encounter once or twice, yet, she was completely unconcerned while being surrounded by nearly a hundred men.
You rode to the front of the retinue and said simply, "Hello there, why are you out here all alone?"
The woman's head tilted to one side at an odd angle as she debated her reply. It was an odd movement.
The woman replied, "Why not go for a walk in the mountains all alone? Is there something I should fear?"
You arched an eyebrow and said, "Spirit beasts for one. Even adventurers get mauled from time to time in these mountains, they are far too dangerous for a woman traveling alone."
The woman shrugged and said, "The beasts of these mountains are harmless if you do not offend them. Hardly cause for concern."
You frowned at that. You had several knights, over fifty cavalry, and your advisers with you precisely because they were cause for concern. Spirit beasts were violent monsters in many ways, particularly the predatory ones that only cared to devour someone and their spirit core. To be alone out here, unconcerned and unafraid was the sign of either a disturbed mind or a very, very powerful cultivator.
So you did what came naturally and closed your eyes, inhaled deeply of the cold mountain air and searched with your spirit sense only to encounter a vast, impenetrable barrier inches from the woman.
She huffed, "Rude."
You shrugged and said, "My apologies. I was concerned for your safety and curious if I needed to escort you back to civilization."
She shrugged in response and replied, "You could just ask a lady if she was a cultivator, no need to get invasive."
You stared at her for a moment and answered, "And if you were of unsound mind? You might say yes or you might say no or maybe nothing at all. I am protective of all my people, even the disturbed ones."
She starred at you for a moment with her deep brown eyes and smiled. She said, "How chivalrous of you. A rarity in a Lord. Normally they are all ruthless pragmatism and violence. The last one was, anyway, until he became ill and died. Now if you don't mind, I think I will resume my walk."
A nod was the totality of your response. Whoever this mystery woman was, she was clearly powerful enough that you had no intention of giving cause for offense. You did note down that there was a crazy, probably powerful, cultivator wandering barefoot in the mountains. That was the sort of thing that was relevant to your life.
You had your men setup camp near where you met the woman, on the banks of a lovely stream filled with chilly snow runoff. It was a good place to water the horses and it was surrounded by a lovely mountain meadow with plenty for the horses to eat. You went about your business and slept soundly in your tent in the center. It was a lovely thing, sleep.
The chilly mountain morning roused you from your sleep and you dressed yourself in your silky white robes, as befit both your station and your inclination. You had no great spirit treasures to protect your flesh from the violence of this world, a detail you should probably remedy at some point.
You partook of a breakfast of rice porridge, a bit beneath your station but there was only so much in the way of fresh rations after several days in the mountains. Rice was cheap and easy to transport so it made sense and the fact you did not eat better than your men helped build some camaraderie between you. Other Lords were too into their luxuries to accept a few days of hard living, it is likely why no one had dared survey the mountains before except adventurers.
It was another few days of hard riding until your scouts reported the presence of an orc raiding party moving through the mountains toward Xidi. An unfortunate thing.
The question was, did you fight in the mountains with your men? Or did you fight in Xidi with the backing of a local militia and an extra knight who hopefully has recovered from his injuries?
[ ] Ride to Xidi to publicly and openly defend your village from attack. More likely to result in good publicity but also more likely to result in damage to the village and death of some of its people. ( Gain Trait: Ruthless, Character is more likely to make ruthlessly pragmatic decisions without player input.)
[ ] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
Note: Map updated with the Gash and the Spirit Stone Mine Location.
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
Is it wrong that I mostly chose this to show off to the strong cultivator lady?
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
The "little more" is the life of few professionals or a cost in silver bar ?
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
The "little more" is the life of few professionals or a cost in silver bar ?
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Ride to Xidi to publicly and openly defend your village from attack. More likely to result in good publicity but also more likely to result in damage to the village and death of some of its people. ( Gain Trait: Ruthless, Character is more likely to make ruthlessly pragmatic decisions without player input.)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
Hopefully the fight can start with a ambush from our side so the cost of the actions are lower.
Adhoc vote count started by ChaosCircle on Sep 17, 2020 at 1:03 PM, finished with 19 posts and 16 votes.
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
[X] Ride to Xidi to publicly and openly defend your village from attack. More likely to result in good publicity but also more likely to result in damage to the village and death of some of its people. ( Gain Trait: Ruthless, Character is more likely to make ruthlessly pragmatic decisions without player input.)
[X] Fight hard in the mountains using only professionals. It might cost you a little more for victory and you would not have the public acclaim that came with openly defending a village against attack but it would save lives. (Gain Trait: Protector, +1 Martial)
Bai Shen (Uninjured)
Bai Chenshen (Uninjured)
Liu Chen (Uninjured)
Wong Hui (Uninjured)
Knights: 7/15
Bloody Hand: 20/20
Cavalry: 70/100
There was only one response to orc raiders. You would not allow them to approach your villages, your city. You would crush them in the mountains without remorse and protect your people. There was no mercy in your heart for orcs, you would kill them all.
The first order you gave to your knights was a simple one, "Take no prisoners. Orcs are not human and therefore their lives have no value."
Cultivator society was ruthless so the order to take no prisoners did not come as a surprise, nor did the declaration that an orc's life was less than that of a human's. People who lived this close to the border, who experienced the rape and pillaging of orc raiders, understood to value an orc life was to show weakness to a heinous enemy. Your knights had lived their whole lives in Bloodthorn Valley, experienced these raids. They understood.
The dawn light was at your back as you moved your retinue into position to strike at the heart of the orc raiders' camp. The assumption that went into that tactic, that their leadership would be in the center of the camp, was based on the behavior of human lords but it was a sound idea. No leader wanted to be in a vulnerable position, to risk being killed before they could react.
The orc camp itself was a group of teepees made of animal fur. You could count a hundred and twenty of the things, technically a force that outnumbered you but that did not matter. You were the shield that guarded the realms of men and you would stop them before they could kill the people under your protection. The orcs had few sentries, used to traversing the mountains in relative safety but you could see them shout in alarm at the sight of your glorious force.
You shouted at the top of your qi-enhanced lungs, "Charge!"
And the drumbeat of steel horseshoes against mountain stone filled your ears as your hundred man force charged towards the enemy. You were justice, you were honor in this moment. You were all that was right with mankind as you charged your foul, dishonorable enemies. These creatures that would rape and pillage civilian populations.
The orcs stumbled out of their tents, half-dressed and unready for battle. Their crude iron short swords their only defense against a charge of proper Imperial cavalry. A weakness easily exploited, that.
Your horsemen hurled their javelins at the unprepared orcs. Steel points met unprotected flesh. A couple dozen orcs went down, too badly injured to continue the fight.
It was then the leader of the Orcs showed himself. He called down the wrath of heaven upon your cavalry and you could smell burnt flesh in the aftermath of a volley of lightning bolts.
Your charge lost momentum then, with a dozen or so men turned into charred meat.
The Orcs sensed an opportunity and charged in response, swords at the ready to cut at the legs of horse or man.
Your glorious charge turned into a melee of individual men against individual orcs. They fought to blade to blade and some on each side fell but you knew your target.
You jumped off your horse and invoked the Ironwood Fortress as you charged the leader of the Orcs, your true opponent.
Lightning scorched your flesh, leaving black marks that harmed you little more than if you burned yourself while cooking.
You shifted into Stallion's Charge as you jumped and tried to land a solid blow on the Orc leader's head.
The Orc was quick, quicker than you at any rate, and evaded cleanly. The monster hurled a massive bolt lightning at your chest only to find you unscathed, except for some damage to your silk robes.
You performed Stones Falling Down the Mountain to perfection as you jabbed your fists at your prey in quick succession, each blow narrowly dodged by your opponent.
It seemed your opponent only had one trick, thankfully, and another blast of lightning slammed into you to minimal effect. Sure, it drained your pool of qi but you had plenty to spare if this was the best this man could do.
You danced with the Orc and executed Boulder Up The Hill with precision.
Whatever heavenly grace the Orc possessed that allowed him to dodge your previous attacks seemed to fade as you caught him in the jaw and knocked him to the ground.
You were on him immediately, landing blow after blow. Each time you could hear the crunch of bone breaking as you pulverized the orc with your preternaturally strong body.
This was your victory.
You ripped out the spirit core, the soul of the Orc and had it halfway to your lips before your brain caught up to what you were doing. You hungered for his power, you could taste it in the air. The power of Heaven. Why not take it? This was a lowly orc after all.
[ ] Devour the Orc's spirit core, consuming his soul and ending his cycle of reincarnation. (+30 Power, +Heaven Technique, +Devouring Path Cultivation Unlocked Permanently, +4 Corruption)
--- [ ] Gain Heaven's Grace - A technique to boost your speed and reflexes.
--- [ ] Gain Heaven's Wrath - A technique to conjure bolts of lightning and slam them into your enemies.
[ ] Toss the spirit core aside and burn it with the rest of the bodies. (Devouring Path Cultivation Permanently Locked. No more opportunities to devour a spirit core will be presented. Thrice offered, thrice refused.)
After you dealt with the beast's spirit core, you found yourself surrounded by a victorious army. The Orcs had been crushed with a few fleeing into the mountains to carry news of your victory to their kin. There was a new sheriff in town and he would take no prisoners in his dealings with orcs.
However, despite your victory, there was a cost. You lost another twenty-four men between the fighting and the bolts of lightning cast by the Orcs' leader. A butcher's bill that saddened you beyond words. Another 96 silver bars spent to pay their families for their service.
The matter settled you had your men drag the bodies onto a crude pyre so that you could honor the fallen, orc and human allike. There might be no mercy in you for Orcs but you would not dishonor their dead.
You and your men rode about half a day before you setup camp beside a lovely creek amid a nice mountain meadow for the horses. It was the sort of place where you could settle for a night in relative comfort. You were happy there, with the stars shining brightly above your camp.
Bai Shen (Uninjured)
Bai Chenshen (Uninjured)
Liu Chen (Uninjured)
Wong Hui (Uninjured)
@ChaosCircle before I make my vote, if we do use the Devouring Path, is that going to force us to eat spirit cores and eventually going to lead to us needing to eat/hunt human cultivators, and will it affect other aspects of cultivation?
