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Rock the Cradle: A cultivation story

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Tylansimov said:
You know, I'm actually curious if this is true. Has this been stated explicitly? Cheng is certainly the best in the city, but the kingdom has quite a few Underlords.
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Yup! It was actually the first thing shared about him in the quest, from the "Belatedly Jade" update where he was first mentioned:

"'Your Grace'," Miss Luxe corrects. "You must get in the habit, before you meet with her, as you may do. She will punish discourtesy harshly. But they are the other two Underlords in Great Crevasse. It is the second-largest city in the Seishen Kingdom, so three of the great Underlords are there. Underlord Cheng is the best refiner in the Kingdom, and it is to him that I bring the voidberry bush. He can make something of it. Underlord Ju Dao is one of the three Underlords of the Brightflare school, and the current youngest Underlord. The Brightflares are the opposite of the Luxe family: their school did not want to swear loyalty to King Dakata, and had to be brought to heel by force, a few years before I was born." A sharp smile briefly appears on her carefully perfect face. "There is a certain tension between our factions, even now."
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Every Underlord has one or more areas of notorious focus, and for Cheng, that includes that he is essentially unrivaled within the Kingdom in general skill as a pill/elixir refiner.
 
VagueZ said:
Yup! It was actually the first thing shared about him in the quest, from the "Belatedly Jade" update where he was first mentioned:



Every Underlord has one or more areas of notorious focus, and for Cheng, that includes that he is essentially unrivaled within the Kingdom in general skill as a pill/elixir refiner.
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Has it ever been said what's so important about this city? It has LotNS, the Kingdom's best refiner, and the (presumably) youngest and most promising Brightflare Underlord.

Does it just happen to have a lot of vital aura? Was just already a big city (and thus valuable to maintain influence in) before Dakata took over?
 
VagueZ said:
There's been a few votes that weren't taken that would have given Keras more free spending money. Right now, Keras is probably theoretically reasonably well-off, but all the money is being handled by Luxe accountants and they won't take instructions from Keras, so in practice Keras doesn't have easy ability to spend money.
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Thanks, that's fair. I was wondering if not having taken those money making options early would cause the answer to be no, so this makes sense to me.
 
[X] Remnants you can take home with you
[X] A glove created to help a healer
[X] A codephrase you lack context for
 
beowolf said:
In general, probably yes. Specific Remnants that are actually suited for a Dragon path and a Death path (the third one I don't even really remember is probably easier)? I don't think he can find them on his own to buy them.
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Naia's a fisherwoman, so she's probably on a water Path of some kind.

Olerac's using Earth and Death, so my assumption is Keras'll be getting him something for Earth (especially since they don't know that some people have realised that Olerac is still trying to use the Death half of his Path).

Argen I think is using Dragon and Sword madra, so presumably the latter would be easier to get a Remnant for? Just out of availability.

Though this is assuming Keras gets them something matching their current Path, instead of one which gives them access to a new element.
 
[X] Remnants you can take home with you

The Healer glove is actually a good second place option, but I think Keris would still err on the side of helping their friends. Also I kinda want to keep them relevant power level wise and while I'm sure the narrative gods would provide something, its a good idea to show them where we are invested.

[X] Some specifics of the inciting event

These choices are a little more mutable. Knowing the specifics of how close we came to war might be useful as it would tell us which big wig is standing where. The Code phrase would likely be something from the mysterious conspiracy group, but I think we're sufficiently distant form them that its unlikely to matter before the whole thing blows into the open. But knowing for sure how the first bit incident went down might give us alot of little clues we could back track.
 
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[X] Meat and soil that strengthens Beti
[X] A glove created to help a healer
[X] Some specifics of the inciting event
 
Karnax626 said:
Argen I think is using Dragon and Sword madra, so presumably the latter would be easier to get a Remnant for? Just out of availability.
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It's worth noting Dragon madra is not a thing.

A "dragon Path" is simply a Path used by dragons, with any of the normal madra types. It can have pretty nasty side effects when used by a human — Blackflame tends to drive human users crazy. But that's specifically called out as a side effect of the Destruction madra, so other dragon Paths are probably safer.

Edit: just checked, Argen's new path is Fire/Sword
 
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[X] Meat and soil that strengthens Beti
Between all of these grateful people, they can arrange food that only increases your partner's power. Right now, she's only marginally a Truegold in strength, but she will become a much stronger tree when they are done. Beti finds this arrangement satisfying.

[X] Remnants you can take home with you
Between all of these grateful people, they can find ideal Remnants for your friends back home. When you return, you'll have what Olerac, Naia, and Argen need to reach Gold. What could be more satisfying than helping some people that lets you help other people?

[X] Some specifics of the inciting event
 
[X] Remnants you can take home with you
[X] A codephrase you lack context for

This is a surprise tool that can help us later
 
Ok was just looking back through some things and I noticed something. Last update we learned something.

VagueZ said:
You nod. "That was so weird, the fact that they all had those eerie, still faces."

Prachi tilts his head, clearly not expecting that. "That is a Goldsign of the Winter's Blade," he says.
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Remelyn, Chengs other assistant, is explicitly pointed out as never have facial expressions...so she might have the traditional Winter Blade goldsign, even though she doesn't appear to use any related powers of that path, at least obviously anyway. Might be nothing but it could be another data point for people keeping track of the conspiracy stuff. After all someone has to be backing the Protest Lobby and bankrolling Risshon's stuff and some discontent Winter Blades arn't the weirdest options out there.

Bah, just musing.
 
Artanis Prime said:
Ok was just looking back through some things and I noticed something. Last update we learned something.



Remelyn, Chengs other assistant, is explicitly pointed out as never have facial expressions...so she might have the traditional Winter Blade goldsign, even though she doesn't appear to use any related powers of that path, at least obviously anyway. Might be nothing but it could be another data point for people keeping track of the conspiracy stuff. After all someone has to be backing the Protest Lobby and bankrolling Risshon's stuff and some discontent Winter Blades arn't the weirdest options out there.

Bah, just musing.
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I'm pretty sure Lyn is not in the conspiracy. We've seen some hints she's suspicious of Risshon. eg. she was giving him a weird look when Keras discussed the protest.

VagueZ said:
Risshon shrugs. "I told you about it before, remember? The King lured in those he gave noble titles to by giving them significant legal privileges. Someone else loses out if that happens, and it will remain a source of tension until something happens to get all relevant parties to accept a new equilibrium." For some reason, Remelyn is watching Risshon closely as he speaks. "I'm not unsympathetic to their views, but in the end angry Lowgolds won't ever be a direct threat to Truegolds and Lords. Their leverage is indirect. If they're wise, they won't push things too far."
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Artanis Prime said:
Bah, just musing.
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Don't know about her political inclinations, but she does use ice madra.
VagueZ said:
Moments later, the door swings open, and Remelyn slinks in. You're sure she can smell it, too, but what she doesn't do is have any visible expression on her face, like always. "King's messenger's here for you," she says. "Library four."

"I'll go see what our king wants, then, shall I?" Cheng says, then holds up a palm and a spike of ice that Lyn threw at him shatters into nothingness as it touches him.
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Karnax626 said:
Don't know about her political inclinations, but she does use ice madra.
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My mistake she does use Ice at least.

And as pointed out above Remelyn isn't in on the conspiracy. But thinking about it, she and maybe even Cheng might be Winter Blade ex-pats. After all Cheng might have technically been Winter Blade before King Dakata took over a swath of their territory, and its not like Cheng would care who he has to bend the knee too as long as it doesn't get in the way of his work.

Could be Risshon is intending to make whatever part in this he plays looks like it leads back to the Winter Blades, weather or not there is any truth in that. After all how hard would it be for some people to believe Cheng isn't as disinterested in politics as he seems and had been plotting REVENGE! or some other nonsense. Or the Winter Blade connections might be just coincidence.
 
Artanis Prime said:
My mistake she does use Ice at least.

And as pointed out above Remelyn isn't in on the conspiracy. But thinking about it, she and maybe even Cheng might be Winter Blade ex-pats. After all Cheng might have technically been Winter Blade before King Dakata took over a swath of their territory, and its not like Cheng would care who he has to bend the knee too as long as it doesn't get in the way of his work.

Could be Risshon is intending to make whatever part in this he plays looks like it leads back to the Winter Blades, weather or not there is any truth in that. After all how hard would it be for some people to believe Cheng isn't as disinterested in politics as he seems and had been plotting REVENGE! or some other nonsense. Or the Winter Blade connections might be just coincidence.
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Cheng I don't think was affiliated with the Sect (other than maybe doing business with them or something). I'd say it's more likely Lyn works for Cheng because he's famously apolitical, so she can stay uninvolved. It's hard to say without having taken any vote options with her, but I'd peg her has just trying to live her life?

Which would make it ironic if true considering Risshon seems to be using Cheng as cover for his own much shadier goals as well.
 
Artanis Prime said:
And as pointed out above Remelyn isn't in on the conspiracy. But thinking about it, she and maybe even Cheng might be Winter Blade ex-pats. After all Cheng might have technically been Winter Blade before King Dakata took over a swath of their territory, and its not like Cheng would care who he has to bend the knee too as long as it doesn't get in the way of his work.
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Cheng I could see as Frozen Blade? He's Sword and Lightning. Lightning would be odd for them, but Sword fits.
 
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