- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
If we are talking about icons then my personal theory is Keras connecting to the Growth Icon.
Rock the Cradle: A cultivation story
- Thread starter VagueZ
- Start date
- Fantasy Action
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Intentionally ambiguous
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I have to admit, I did not expect a Squirrel Stapler reference today.
Keras and Lindon are about the same age. The events in "Skysworn" happen when Lindon is about 17, so it doesn't line up! No Dreadgod should be active at that time in the canon timeline; it's a divergence for Rock the Cradle.
This doesn't directly intersect your speculation, but soulspaces and void keys aren't totally interchangeable. Keras doesn't have any real way to know the differences yet, but they do exist.
For the latter part of the speculation... uh, I'd already been working on a scene... for the next update... ...stop reading my notes.
unObservant
Just drifting along, really
- Location
- USA
never...stop reading my notes.
can't stop won't stop, gonna keep speculating about my favorite quest forevermore
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[X] Intentionally ambiguous
[X] Opposite of yesterday
Gender is Keras' instrument and they play it like a fiddle
[X] Opposite of yesterday
Gender is Keras' instrument and they play it like a fiddle
WhoTheHeckity
But no one ever asks HowTheHeckity
- Location
- Murica 🦅
[X] Opposite of yesterday
Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
For some reason I want to talk about this Garrin dude.
It does seem like he is very focused in what it wants and only in what it wants. He is gonna get himself killed if he doesn't change that.
The fact that he is grining like this does indicate that he is very confident in himself or in his Ruler, so either it is a recently refined technique or an straight up new one he added to his arsenal. It does remind me to the time when Argen used his Striker move against Keras for the first time and it didn't deal as much damage as he expected.
Here we see a way to tell the kind of fighting styles he has fought against before from either other Luxes or in the school. Individuals who overcommit in their weapon usage, and in turn, focus their attention to the weapon of their enemy, leaving them open to other kinds of attacks.
Seems that is also the reason why he opened up with the gauntlet attack, expecting them to mainly focus on his sword, he must have done it against others with favorable results. He expected Keras to be the same as them, but with the Dessicated Valley making it easier for him to inadvertently limit his perception to only focus on Keras' axe, it only went downhill for him.
It does seem like he is very focused in what it wants and only in what it wants. He is gonna get himself killed if he doesn't change that.
The fact that he is grining like this does indicate that he is very confident in himself or in his Ruler, so either it is a recently refined technique or an straight up new one he added to his arsenal. It does remind me to the time when Argen used his Striker move against Keras for the first time and it didn't deal as much damage as he expected.
Here we see a way to tell the kind of fighting styles he has fought against before from either other Luxes or in the school. Individuals who overcommit in their weapon usage, and in turn, focus their attention to the weapon of their enemy, leaving them open to other kinds of attacks.
Seems that is also the reason why he opened up with the gauntlet attack, expecting them to mainly focus on his sword, he must have done it against others with favorable results. He expected Keras to be the same as them, but with the Dessicated Valley making it easier for him to inadvertently limit his perception to only focus on Keras' axe, it only went downhill for him.
Bemossed
Edge of the Sphere
- Location
- Null Space
[X] Intentionally ambiguous
[X] Opposite of yesterday
Really, I think a combination of these two would be ideal, to give Keras as much freedom of expression as possible.
(I do, however, understand that the more complicated the choice is, the more work the gm has to put into implementing it.)
Edit: Maybe that's what "Opposite of yesterday" is offering? It's described as being fluid, but the name itself seemed to imply flipping back and forth on the binary, excluding the ambiguity offered by "Intentionally ambiguous".
[X] Opposite of yesterday
Really, I think a combination of these two would be ideal, to give Keras as much freedom of expression as possible.
(I do, however, understand that the more complicated the choice is, the more work the gm has to put into implementing it.)
Edit: Maybe that's what "Opposite of yesterday" is offering? It's described as being fluid, but the name itself seemed to imply flipping back and forth on the binary, excluding the ambiguity offered by "Intentionally ambiguous".
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- Location
- scrabbling
[X] Leaning more femme
My personal preference.
[X] Intentionally ambiguous
My personal preference of what's likely to win.
My personal preference.
[X] Intentionally ambiguous
My personal preference of what's likely to win.
A picnic
New
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Content note: mild, abstract discussions of dysphoria in the first section of the update.
Winning vote:
[] Intentionally ambiguous
"I think my usual is best for this meeting, too. Unless Mother or you think differently, of course."
"Of course, Young Scion."
Even before you say anything, Charitra has an outfit set out. You're just expected to say something, because theoretically this is all officially on your say-so. Your outfits these days usually incorporate some dark green (for your madra) or silver (to match your Goldsigns), though sometimes other colors are prominent if you're supposed to be with a set of other people. What they all have in common, though, is that they tend to be in multiple layers and sit loosely on you. You actually got the impression that the tailors contacted for this enjoyed working on these things, as a stimulating sort of mild challenge, finding good ways to work in styles and fabrics that just don't really scan as for a guy or a girl.
The fact that it doesn't sit tightly on you will be more important as you get older. The fact that you haven't started a growth spurt yet doesn't mean that you won't... but it does make it less likely. It makes you wonder how much of dad's height and natural muscle comes from his Iron body, but on the other hand your brother and sister aren't exactly short. As for the rest of what you'll go through as you grow up... well, puberty still is something you'd rather not think too hard about yet. Whenever it comes, you'll be ready, and you've already practiced refining some of what you'll take to keep your body from changing in ways you don't want it to. You'll have a lot more control than some people would, because you were prepared so young and learned the things you have. Still, you can't help but hope puberty will stay away for a bit.
Your outfits, thus, are well-crafted and appropriate for your new station, but mildly exotic, drawing from styles more common to the Seishen Kingdom's south, such as the ruana. As long as it's not too hot, you can wear such things, poncho-style, as an outer garment with collars, sleeves, and pant legs peeking out. Everything has decorated fringes. You like the effect. You sometimes get a few looks from people who don't know you like they're trying to work out a riddle. You kind of like that, too. It's also flexible enough that sometimes all you need to do to shift from being on an excursion with Beti to meeting with a tutor is to change the outer garment. That's convenient.
You don't look like you are blood relation with your adopted family, but that's alright because no one is trying to act like you are. The style you have matches with others here, but is distinct. The end result of what all you've experimented with and ended up with for your outfits is, basically, that you look like you belong with your adopted family, even if not identical to them.
That's something you can live with.
This is a meeting that could absolutely have been a letter, and not even a long letter. Baron Rao doesn't really have much in the way of genuine business with Miss Venka—Mother—but because he's traveling through the area, it's appropriate for him to call on her.
Both of them had a gift to go to the other: the Baron gave the Grand Duchess a painting, and she gave him a little statue head. A bust, right, that's the word. You wouldn't be too surprised if both will get 'gifted' to another noble later on as a low-key way to not have to worry about things.
Beyond that, it's mostly just idly catching up and checking in on each other, just done formally. Mireya and the baron's sons seem very used to it. Mireya stands calmly, her white wings neatly folded up and a small, passive smile on her face. The older of the baron's sons is fifteen, and he's almost as good at being part of the scenery as Mireya is, though his version has him standing ramrod-straight with feet planted like he's in a military recruitment poster. His younger brother is only seven or eight, and he keeps fidgeting with a little toy he tried to discreetly pull out of a pocket. You noticed, and you think everyone else did, too, but he's not disturbing anything so it seems the appropriate thing to do is to let him amuse himself. It's not like he's a big kid, after all.
Besides, Baron Rao is slightly confusing to you. He has a fake beard. You don't know why he has a fake beard. You've seen plenty of not-so-great fake hair pieces, and probably a lot more good ones that you didn't notice, but that's mostly for people who want more hair on top of their head. The baron's hair is as dark as most people in the Kingdom, but it's far curlier than most, and the fake beard is a chestnut color, completely straight, and reaches to his solar plexus. Even the straps that go around his ears aren't particularly trying hard to be skin-colored.
Mother doesn't comment on it, so neither do you. As the titled nobles go through their dance, you let your mind wander a bit, but there's not much else in the small library serving as the meeting room for this informal reception to hold your attention, since you can't go read the books. You're quietly cycling the Mighty Heart of Oak, as one useful thing you can do, but that doesn't take up all your attention, so you mentally poke Etaja. <What is that fake beard for?>
{Not sure why you think I'd know your culture better than you do.} He sounds amused. {But it's clear that it's intentional: the fake beard is taking some of its purpose and meaning from being openly fake. It probably has a historical reason.}
You try to figure out what that could be as you stand there, forcing madra through your skin and muscles, waiting for the meeting to end. At one point, the baron actually completely removes the beard to have a drink without getting it wet.
"It is a historical curiosity," Venkata explains to you. Now that the meeting has concluded, she's taking you and Mireya out for a picnic, traveling to a private park a little out of the city via a flying Thousand-Mile Cloud. "The Rao have been a power in these lands for over two centuries. When they first rose to prominence, under the leadership of Underlord Rao Phelim, the Underlord believed that only men could be trusted with power."
"Why?" you ask, raising your voice a bit to be heard over the rush of the wind.
Venkata elegantly spreads her fingers in the most careful not-quite-a-shrug you've ever seen. "Who knows? But that was when he instituted the tradition of the Bearded Council, that all Rao raised to his inner circle must maintain a beard. After he died, the tradition continued, but eventually the beard became the ceremonial look you saw today. Everyone wears it, even those who also wear a natural beard."
You're getting used to some of the contours of the Kingdom's politics. You know you lack the intuitive grasp that Venkata and Mireya have, and you're still catching up on simple knowledge, but you're getting there. The Rao are a Count level as a family, but the way that the King has managed groups like the Rao and Luxe is to give the family some ability to hold multiple titles: the King had let Grand Duchess Luxe, Venkata's mom, nominate someone to become Margrave or Margravine, Venkata's old title. Soon, Venkata will suggest someone to take her old title, and the King will almost certainly accept. It's a bit awkward as a system, but it hasn't led to any major problems yet. Count Rao is their current Underlord, while Baron Rao is a Truegold from a different branch of the family. Things like that are all over. It's weird.
Even this outing is something of a working lunch. After indulging your curiosity, Venkata takes the time to quiz you a little on your progress and plans as you eventually land. She's willing to let you do most of your own planning as long as it's useful. This includes letting you decide if you're going to help Damir, when you explain that. "You are in a novel position," she explains, as she handles the cloud while you and Mireya set up a blanket on a grassy hill. "No one yet knows what to expect of the adopted Young Scion. If you wish to get involved, you may. If you cannot spare the time, no one will think that odd. Be wise with what you prioritize. A trustworthy contact within the Brightflare would be useful, but may not be worth it. Expectations will lock you in once you are more known."
You accept that. As the two women situate themselves on the blanket, you take the job of opening the basket and distributing food. Mireya takes the first package, wrapped in paper. "What did you bring for your favorite aunt?" she asks, sounding totally serious.
You pause. After a couple of seconds, you say "What?"
"My honored sister is your adopted mother, is she not? Or do you have a different aunt you prefer over me?" It takes you a few more moments to process this, which is enough for Mireya to giggle before schooling her features again.
"Now I get to see you surprised," Venkata comments, with some satisfaction.
"I hadn't... I just wasn't thinking about that!" You're almost certainly blushing. "I haven't had aunts or uncles before!" When you were young, it was just your siblings and your parents. Your grandparents died before you met them, and you are very passingly aware your mom had some siblings of her own you've never met. Now, your family has grown: Beti, and your sister's husband, and now you've got a big extended family. "They're lettuce wraps. Rice and pheasant and some veggies. There's some toppings and sauces set aside in here, too."
Conversation is light as you all eat. Apparently some of the family has been trying to experiment with calling Venkata the "Lady of Rainbows" to match her mother's moniker, but she's quietly trying to discourage that. There's plenty of ambitious Highgolds and Truegolds within the clan that are angling for her favor, or for other advantage, but she seems like she is mostly telling you about this as opposed to getting you involved. It's important to avoid putting a foot wrong when someone might jump on it, but that's not supposed to be your focus. She'd rather you keep learning elixir refining, instead. It shifts out from there to other news, gradually getting more serious.
One thing you still pick up from this is the fate of the Stars Below: Elder Keywan, it seems, has been executed. That's hardly surprising. For the first time, though, this finally gives you enough information to understand their overall structure: Keywan had been the instigator, pulling together another Brightflare elder who had both necessary sacred arts and a grudge she apparently knew about, a well-off refiner who was willing to be vocal about his desire to see reforms, and the leader of a group of killers-for-hire. Risshon had helped fund things through a loose network of people like Fendi: concerned citizens would slip funds in when they could, passing it up a chain, and this was the result. Not all of these people even knew how much violence was employed in the Stars Below's efforts. Venkata isn't too interested in pursuing them, it seems. It's their Truegold killer who is the real enigma, but also the one she'd be most interested in knowing more about. Where they came from, where they were trained, what else they'd ever done: it's a mystery.
"Paths like that don't come from nowhere," Venkata explains. "Even singular geniuses tend to leave a record. If someone looked into your history, Keras, they could trace out which parts of your Path were inspired by Bronze Serpents and which parts came from your birth family's line. You have developed your own direction, but it didn't come from nowhere. For that Truegold? Nothing. Even my own mother's training is more publicly known, and she tried to suppress the records."
"Is it still a secret, with her retired?"
"A family secret," Venkata confirms with a nod, but then she continues. You suppose that means she's pretty serious that you're actually a Luxe now. "She was a genius of shadow madra, reaching Highgold at only at twelve, and Truegold at age twenty, being named a Luxe elder shortly after. She had formed her own path that was intended to mix her shadow madra with the Luxe's signature light, but its balance was... fraught. Over months, she would gradually see her madra tilt in one direction, and then the other, never quite finding a balance. She claimed it was intentional, but over time both other Luxe and our rivals realized it was out of her control. So, one day, slightly after she turned thirty, she disappeared. For over a year, she was gone. Then, with no other public ceremony, an Underlady strode confidently out of a cave mouth under Great Crevasse, and announced that she would now lead the Luxe. She was the first Luxe to reach that stage of advancement, and her madra control had increased exponentially. Never again did she show any complications of her madra types. I know little more: she told me that she stayed underground here, but no more details, nor has she created her own path manual yet."
You absorb that, and, eventually, you try to catch Etaja's attention. <Hey. Do you think that that...?> It feels an awful lot like it could be connected to that natural light-snuffing script circle you stumbled across when you retrieved Cheng's lichen from underground.
{Maybe!} Etaja seems unusually delighted by this revelation. {I thought it was totally natural, but maybe it's a kind of echo, yeah? Now, here's the part I'm really curious about: do you think that she balanced her conflicting madra types and then advanced, or did she advance and that helped her balance them? I feel like there's something there that might actually connect to the higher advancement ranks, stuff beyond your Kingdom's powers.} You turn that over in your head, exchanging possibilities with Etaja, until the others leave you be, clearly seeing that you're absorbed in thought.
Meanwhile, Venkata gets the Thousand-Mile Cloud ready again and flies perhaps thirty feet in the air. "Mireya, why don't you try to fly up to me?"
Mireya nods, and kneels down. She kicks off, a powerful leap, and beats her glowing white wings as hard as she can, cloud madra stirring to try to haul her further. It gets her to Venkata's height, but she struggles there. Keeping herself aloft, whether in place or moving around, is clearly an enormous struggle. After a few seconds, she starts to flag.
When she does, Venkata reaches over and clasps Mireya's hand, hauling her onto the cloud. Even with your distraction, you notice Mireya's surprise. "Take a moment," the Grand Duchess says. "Then glide back down and try again." Mireya nods.
If there's one regular meeting you have that hasn't changed, it's Prachi. When you sent word that you were healthy again, you got a time and date to meet. He asked you to demonstrate things to see how much you'd deteriorated while you couldn't practice. Then he nodded and you both got back to work.
You hadn't lost as much edge as you were worried you might, which was why you could handle things like the fight with Garrin so well. It doesn't take too long to be working more on the edges of things again, worrying about small and precise errors. Like always, the solution to these issues is practice. Mind-numbing, endless practice, which feels like it does nothing right up until you look back and can realize how much you have actually improved.
At this point, you spend a fair amount of your time together sparring at half speed: you don't need to just internalize the movements, but need to string them together, need to evaluate what is and isn't a proper reaction to things, and avoid falling into predictable ruts or other bad habits. Prachi doesn't have your youthful stamina, so these are mixed in with drills where you work while he rests, but the spars themselves are full contact and with the use of various techniques from both of you.
One day, however, you can't help but ask: "How much are you still holding back?"
"Beyond moving at half speed and not trying to actually kill you? Not at all."
You're almost drawn up short by that, but you're in the middle of executing a sequence meant to break a hypothetical grapple, so you finish that before you react. Then, you stop to look at him. "Really? But I know you've defeated Highgolds."
"You are wondering why you aren't unmatched among Lowgolds if that's true." He taps his walking stick on the ground for emphasis. "Two reasons. One: I am not what I was, physically. Two: I have no patience for concerns of honor. My successes were ambushes. I gave my foes no chance I could prevent."
That's actually a pretty good explanation, you realize, as you think about it. When you fought Risshon, the fact that he had no idea what to expect from you had been necessary for you to handle the situation. Elder Geneil had been hurt and Meira's back attack had probably been the most damaging single attack. He had been focused in the wrong direction.
That means that, even though you're pretty good at picking up on things and you're pretty resilient, you could suffer the same sort of fate. Peers, even ostensible lessers, could easily defeat you if you are surprised or take a fight on arrogantly. You'll probably be a potential target for would-be hot-shots once you advance to Highgold. Most people who'd want to do that wouldn't want to actually hurt or kill you, just prove that they could outdo you.
After a couple more repetitions from you, Prachi moves to stand opposite you, and you switch to a ready pose to spar with him. Your training axe and his walking stick clash three times as he almost casually says, "If you tried to kill me, you would probably succeed." He gives you one breath to think about that, then demands, "Tell me why."
You lean to one side to escape from a Striker attack of his, then slide back half a step to find footing to stop a slash from his walking stick, following up with a Goldsign hand trying to hit him with a gut punch. As expected, he slaps it aside, with his own Enforcer move's sword-aspect painfully trying to pierce the Goldsign. The fight continues like that as you reply. "I'm physically stronger and have more endurance, and I can heal myself. I know your style pretty well. It would be hard for you to put me down. I have techniques that can tie you up pretty well." As you say it, he has to fight off the approach of Clinging Vines to try to lock down his madra and movement. "And, most importantly, you don't want to kill me."
"Good." A Striker technique of his hits your shoulder and staggers you. Where did he find time to launch that? "That focused intent is important. Hold." You stop at the command. Surprisingly, he takes a moment to scrutinize you. "How are you holding up?" It's in a kinder tone than normal.
You know what he means. You killed someone a couple months ago. You shake your head. "I don't... I think I should regret it more than I do? But I don't. The Elder was ready to kill me and my friend, and when I put it in terms of 'him or us', it wasn't hard to make the call. I'd do it again, but I don't want to."
Prachi sits lotus-style on the practice field, so you do the same. He's still looking carefully. "It's good never to be cavalier about taking life. How you will react afterwards? No one knows ahead of time. If, eventually, you are no longer sanguine, reach out for support. There are people who can help. Do not self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs." He reaches out with the walking stick to poke you in the forehead, then repeats himself. "Do not self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs."
A Goldsign waves his stick off before he can poke you again. "I won't, I promise! I'll ask for help if I need to. There's lots of things I need help on, and one more isn't a bad thing."
"Easy to see why my aunt adopted you," he says, flashing a brief smile. You suppose that makes him your cousin, even though he acts a bit more like you would expect a grandpa to. A grandpa that fights you all the time. "There will be some aggrieved parties elsewhere in the clan, though who think that the Grand Duchess should have adopted their child, instead. They're vultures. Try not to get drawn into their level. She will probably handle most of them, but do your best to deny them ammunition."
You don't really like that you believe the warning.
Thankfully, some of the other things you are involved with are a lot nicer. The community outreach thing that Mother told you she wanted you involved with is rolling, now. For the moment, they're monthly, so this is the second one.
It's not just you. Various Luxe functionaries set things up in one of the public parks closer to the Luxe side of the lifts. There's some people who are set up to share job postings, collect donations for or provide guidance to various charities, and more. Others have quickly expanded the event. Since it's drawn people in, often people who are gawkers, some people showed up to sell food. Since there was already a bit of economic fare going on, others showed up to busk with musical instruments or sell various forms of entertainment, ending up with most types of mobile business you can think of showing up, even an optimistic furniture salesman. Things kind of grew quickly.
There's an eternal stew going, which has led the three women organizing it to have to explain the concept at least a dozen times that you've heard, not including the arguments about if it should be called something else, since some people seem to have heard of it under different names. The concept is that people add whatever ingredients they can, then those who need to can have a bowl. Some people get the principle and are bringing a fairly large side of beef or a big bag of potatoes to balance out those who can't offer more than a handful of flour or a bit of milk, and there's talk of moving this somewhere else during the times that this event isn't ongoing, so it can really be eternal.
Gardenia and her dad's mom showed up to the first event, and are here again today. They're not here for charity, but to sell some of the long-term stable poisons Gardenia makes. Perhaps surprisingly, they seem to have found a group of buyers: there's a circle of a dozen hunters who are avidly interested in all getting equivalent levels of poison for what sounds like ongoing competition. "—should have a time limit, if the target lasts beyo—" "—really about tuning the launcher constructs—" "—skip a week and then use two weeks' quota at once? The scoring—" Grandma Mia mostly lets Gardenia do the talking, with the hunters, though you've heard her give a tongue-lashing to one of the hunting club that tried to lowball Gardenia too much. It's easy to see where some traits come from, sometimes.
There's a dozen other knots of activity. The hope is that organizing these events will lower tension and raise goodwill so that the Luxe can spend less on security, saving money overall while doing something good. How well it will work out? That's still to be seen.
For you and Beti, you're kind of at the middle of things, and there's also Bronze Serpents who are here on contract to provide their services, too. They probably could have been convinced to show up for free, but they do need money to operate, so this is really a better thing. Beti serves as the visible centerpiece of things, and people approach you when needed.
You've set a couple of broken bones and sped them to a quicker recovery, as well as healed a few other things like some lacerations, black eyes, and other simple things. Some flu-like symptoms are handled by the Bronze Serpents, with their shapeless brown robes and snake Goldsigns, but some people would rather be seen by the Miracle Tree Kid.
It's not just normal healing, though. You flash a smile when you see a face you recognize from the first thing of these. "Tejal!" He's in a wheelchair, being pushed by his parents. "I have something to try, if you would."
The young man smiles back, if a bit less energetically. "I'm willing to give it a shot." Last time around, you and one of the more experienced Bronze Serpents had gone over Tejal carefully. For years now, he'd had a terrible time standing. Physically, he should be fine: there's nothing wrong with bones or nerves or muscles or tendons. You'd checked. But when he tries to stand for longer than a few seconds, he collapses with no memory of why. Unfortunately, his family aren't very well-off, with the parents working a collection of odd jobs, so they couldn't afford anyone to look into things until this opened up.
"I have two things, actually. Do you mind if I scan you while you stand?" Tejal nods and stands up. He's a Jade of about sixteen, and a lot taller than you, but not so tall you can't hold him up by supporting him under the armpit. You do so, scanning him as you do. Your Jade sense focuses on his torso, listening and watching. After a few seconds, he sags in your grip and you gently set him back in the wheelchair.
In a moment, he groggily wakes up, looking like it was after a nap. Once he's together enough, he asks, "What were you checking?"
"Your heart. It's the one thing I didn't think about last time. When I looked up possibilities for your case, one thing it could have been is blood flow to the brain. If your circulation was too bad... well, it wasn't that. But I have one other thought to try, and this one's probably more likely." You gesture for Beti, and she lowers one of the branches she's holding your things in. You take a little leather thing with glass beakers from her. "I made an elixir that should fix the other thing. Try one of them."
Tejal does, then pauses for a few moments. He shakes his head. "What did that do?"
"It's meant to deaden one of your inner ears. Try to stand up now."
Again, you and his mom are right there, but this time Tejal just... stands up. He frowns, but he doesn't struggle or faint or anything, though he holds onto the chair out of caution and being out of practice. He's fine. He touches one of his ears. "That feels funny. But... what happened, then?"
"I'm sorry," you have to say. "This started right after you advanced to Iron, right?" You get a round of nods. "It looks like a defect in your Iron body. Your inner ears are going wild in an awkward way, that doesn't match with each other. Your body thinks you're falling in two separate directions at once. That's why you collapse." For some reason, the family still looks relieved to hear it, so you make sure that they understand the issue. "Take the rest of these; it didn't make sense for me to try to make a smaller batch. It'll help in the short term. It's not a difficult recipe, but it'd be expensive to keep a lot of these. The other solutions I know of would be a surgery that's well beyond me or undoing your advancement—if you undo the Iron body and revert all the way to Copper, you can try to make it again, and probably you won't have the defect. You'd have to advance all the way up again if you did this. I don't think there's a great way around it. I'm sorry."
"We'll talk it over," Tejal's father says. "Even if it's hard, at least now we know what the problem is, and can look for options. Thank you." No one cries in relief, but it feels like a near thing.
As they make their escape, a muscular woman of about forty comes up to you, having been the next one in line. "You the Miracle Tree Kid?"
You're not exactly ready to seize the name, so you just say "I'm Luxe Forrester Keras, yes."
"I can't close my left hand when I can hear certain noises. The Bronze Serpents said they couldn't help. Can you?"
You blink, but marshal your thoughts. This one sounds even more like a terror to try to diagnose, never mind fix, but you can certainly try. You gesture for Beti to give you your current notebook.
Young Scion Keras is, again, somewhat overwhelmed with calls on their time, no matter if name and title may have changed. For the moment, things seem to have settled down. Keras may have a new perspective, and seemingly a clear line to advancement and long-term vocation, but there are many possible paths to take while traveling in this direction. What does Keras prioritize? You may vote for as many as you like. The most popular four options will be chosen.
As usual, these are all discrete things. Although there are two vote options for Damir, you can select just one, both, or neither; it represents how much and in what way Keras gets involved in his affairs. Likewise, there are two with Cheng. If Keras takes neither one of these, Keras will have a future vote about if they continue to work with him at all. If Keras takes at least one, that indicates that Keras is accepting working with a (now more tractable) Cheng, who has at the least learned something about what boundaries he shouldn't push.
[] Join up with Damir as he fights for honor and advantage
He's choosing carefully, the better to make use of you, and his assistance allows you to refine your Striker technique further. In exchange, you will be roped into supporting his jockeying for position within his School.
[] Provide refiner's creations to Damir and his faction
It's not your specialty, but you have some ideas on creating boosting items for Damir's people, like you helped Cheng with. Damir will help refine your Striker technique further in exchange for this useful, quiet assistance.
[] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
You will take a jaunt outside the Seishen Kingdom, meeting the powerful but wild sacred artists of the Wasteland, including a Sage and a Herald. You will learn how they live, and learn something of the wider world.
[] Leverage your new connections while serving as Cheng's assistant
There is a big difference between a random Lowgold and a Young Scion. You'll attract attention as you and Cheng take commissions, but your overall refining skill is definitely that of a professional, and all of Great Crevasse knows that now.
[] Following the clues you have, you head underground
You haven't suffered the sort of imbalances that Venkata's mom did, but there is much to be learned from her example about how to best handle seemingly incompatible madra, sharpening your control and revealing something of higher advancements.
[] Foraging in the King's lands, you find a grand haul
Making use of your new permissions, you bring home powerful and interesting ingredients, allowing you to expand your repertoire while creating new projects of your own. You are certainly a professional refiner in skill, now.
[] You support Mother in a significant internal Luxe affair
As warned, there are vultures among the Luxe. Venkata would rather keep you out of them, but when she cannot, you present a convincing public showing of your value. This strengthens her position significantly, and she does not forget debts.
[] An incident occurs during one of the community outreaches
Although things are trending well, this doesn't mean that everything is good. A complicated event happens during one of the events, which you steer by a well-placed moment of kindness, which people will remember. It is an unhappy moment for you, even so.
[] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
They've finally had the chance to get away and come see you. It's an interesting meeting, just for everyone seeing what you're like after this long apart, but they've brought with them a strange Remnant that they want you to look at.
[] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
You've rejected becoming a dream artist, but you can, potentially, learn the rough ability to see the future still, though your methods will be time-consuming and... odd. One's path becomes more set with age and advancement; if you do not select this now, you will never be able to learn any future sight... which is normal for Cradle and not something most expected of you, anyway.
Winning vote:
[] Intentionally ambiguous
"I think my usual is best for this meeting, too. Unless Mother or you think differently, of course."
"Of course, Young Scion."
Even before you say anything, Charitra has an outfit set out. You're just expected to say something, because theoretically this is all officially on your say-so. Your outfits these days usually incorporate some dark green (for your madra) or silver (to match your Goldsigns), though sometimes other colors are prominent if you're supposed to be with a set of other people. What they all have in common, though, is that they tend to be in multiple layers and sit loosely on you. You actually got the impression that the tailors contacted for this enjoyed working on these things, as a stimulating sort of mild challenge, finding good ways to work in styles and fabrics that just don't really scan as for a guy or a girl.
The fact that it doesn't sit tightly on you will be more important as you get older. The fact that you haven't started a growth spurt yet doesn't mean that you won't... but it does make it less likely. It makes you wonder how much of dad's height and natural muscle comes from his Iron body, but on the other hand your brother and sister aren't exactly short. As for the rest of what you'll go through as you grow up... well, puberty still is something you'd rather not think too hard about yet. Whenever it comes, you'll be ready, and you've already practiced refining some of what you'll take to keep your body from changing in ways you don't want it to. You'll have a lot more control than some people would, because you were prepared so young and learned the things you have. Still, you can't help but hope puberty will stay away for a bit.
Your outfits, thus, are well-crafted and appropriate for your new station, but mildly exotic, drawing from styles more common to the Seishen Kingdom's south, such as the ruana. As long as it's not too hot, you can wear such things, poncho-style, as an outer garment with collars, sleeves, and pant legs peeking out. Everything has decorated fringes. You like the effect. You sometimes get a few looks from people who don't know you like they're trying to work out a riddle. You kind of like that, too. It's also flexible enough that sometimes all you need to do to shift from being on an excursion with Beti to meeting with a tutor is to change the outer garment. That's convenient.
You don't look like you are blood relation with your adopted family, but that's alright because no one is trying to act like you are. The style you have matches with others here, but is distinct. The end result of what all you've experimented with and ended up with for your outfits is, basically, that you look like you belong with your adopted family, even if not identical to them.
That's something you can live with.
This is a meeting that could absolutely have been a letter, and not even a long letter. Baron Rao doesn't really have much in the way of genuine business with Miss Venka—Mother—but because he's traveling through the area, it's appropriate for him to call on her.
Both of them had a gift to go to the other: the Baron gave the Grand Duchess a painting, and she gave him a little statue head. A bust, right, that's the word. You wouldn't be too surprised if both will get 'gifted' to another noble later on as a low-key way to not have to worry about things.
Beyond that, it's mostly just idly catching up and checking in on each other, just done formally. Mireya and the baron's sons seem very used to it. Mireya stands calmly, her white wings neatly folded up and a small, passive smile on her face. The older of the baron's sons is fifteen, and he's almost as good at being part of the scenery as Mireya is, though his version has him standing ramrod-straight with feet planted like he's in a military recruitment poster. His younger brother is only seven or eight, and he keeps fidgeting with a little toy he tried to discreetly pull out of a pocket. You noticed, and you think everyone else did, too, but he's not disturbing anything so it seems the appropriate thing to do is to let him amuse himself. It's not like he's a big kid, after all.
Besides, Baron Rao is slightly confusing to you. He has a fake beard. You don't know why he has a fake beard. You've seen plenty of not-so-great fake hair pieces, and probably a lot more good ones that you didn't notice, but that's mostly for people who want more hair on top of their head. The baron's hair is as dark as most people in the Kingdom, but it's far curlier than most, and the fake beard is a chestnut color, completely straight, and reaches to his solar plexus. Even the straps that go around his ears aren't particularly trying hard to be skin-colored.
Mother doesn't comment on it, so neither do you. As the titled nobles go through their dance, you let your mind wander a bit, but there's not much else in the small library serving as the meeting room for this informal reception to hold your attention, since you can't go read the books. You're quietly cycling the Mighty Heart of Oak, as one useful thing you can do, but that doesn't take up all your attention, so you mentally poke Etaja. <What is that fake beard for?>
{Not sure why you think I'd know your culture better than you do.} He sounds amused. {But it's clear that it's intentional: the fake beard is taking some of its purpose and meaning from being openly fake. It probably has a historical reason.}
You try to figure out what that could be as you stand there, forcing madra through your skin and muscles, waiting for the meeting to end. At one point, the baron actually completely removes the beard to have a drink without getting it wet.
"It is a historical curiosity," Venkata explains to you. Now that the meeting has concluded, she's taking you and Mireya out for a picnic, traveling to a private park a little out of the city via a flying Thousand-Mile Cloud. "The Rao have been a power in these lands for over two centuries. When they first rose to prominence, under the leadership of Underlord Rao Phelim, the Underlord believed that only men could be trusted with power."
"Why?" you ask, raising your voice a bit to be heard over the rush of the wind.
Venkata elegantly spreads her fingers in the most careful not-quite-a-shrug you've ever seen. "Who knows? But that was when he instituted the tradition of the Bearded Council, that all Rao raised to his inner circle must maintain a beard. After he died, the tradition continued, but eventually the beard became the ceremonial look you saw today. Everyone wears it, even those who also wear a natural beard."
You're getting used to some of the contours of the Kingdom's politics. You know you lack the intuitive grasp that Venkata and Mireya have, and you're still catching up on simple knowledge, but you're getting there. The Rao are a Count level as a family, but the way that the King has managed groups like the Rao and Luxe is to give the family some ability to hold multiple titles: the King had let Grand Duchess Luxe, Venkata's mom, nominate someone to become Margrave or Margravine, Venkata's old title. Soon, Venkata will suggest someone to take her old title, and the King will almost certainly accept. It's a bit awkward as a system, but it hasn't led to any major problems yet. Count Rao is their current Underlord, while Baron Rao is a Truegold from a different branch of the family. Things like that are all over. It's weird.
Even this outing is something of a working lunch. After indulging your curiosity, Venkata takes the time to quiz you a little on your progress and plans as you eventually land. She's willing to let you do most of your own planning as long as it's useful. This includes letting you decide if you're going to help Damir, when you explain that. "You are in a novel position," she explains, as she handles the cloud while you and Mireya set up a blanket on a grassy hill. "No one yet knows what to expect of the adopted Young Scion. If you wish to get involved, you may. If you cannot spare the time, no one will think that odd. Be wise with what you prioritize. A trustworthy contact within the Brightflare would be useful, but may not be worth it. Expectations will lock you in once you are more known."
You accept that. As the two women situate themselves on the blanket, you take the job of opening the basket and distributing food. Mireya takes the first package, wrapped in paper. "What did you bring for your favorite aunt?" she asks, sounding totally serious.
You pause. After a couple of seconds, you say "What?"
"My honored sister is your adopted mother, is she not? Or do you have a different aunt you prefer over me?" It takes you a few more moments to process this, which is enough for Mireya to giggle before schooling her features again.
"Now I get to see you surprised," Venkata comments, with some satisfaction.
"I hadn't... I just wasn't thinking about that!" You're almost certainly blushing. "I haven't had aunts or uncles before!" When you were young, it was just your siblings and your parents. Your grandparents died before you met them, and you are very passingly aware your mom had some siblings of her own you've never met. Now, your family has grown: Beti, and your sister's husband, and now you've got a big extended family. "They're lettuce wraps. Rice and pheasant and some veggies. There's some toppings and sauces set aside in here, too."
Conversation is light as you all eat. Apparently some of the family has been trying to experiment with calling Venkata the "Lady of Rainbows" to match her mother's moniker, but she's quietly trying to discourage that. There's plenty of ambitious Highgolds and Truegolds within the clan that are angling for her favor, or for other advantage, but she seems like she is mostly telling you about this as opposed to getting you involved. It's important to avoid putting a foot wrong when someone might jump on it, but that's not supposed to be your focus. She'd rather you keep learning elixir refining, instead. It shifts out from there to other news, gradually getting more serious.
One thing you still pick up from this is the fate of the Stars Below: Elder Keywan, it seems, has been executed. That's hardly surprising. For the first time, though, this finally gives you enough information to understand their overall structure: Keywan had been the instigator, pulling together another Brightflare elder who had both necessary sacred arts and a grudge she apparently knew about, a well-off refiner who was willing to be vocal about his desire to see reforms, and the leader of a group of killers-for-hire. Risshon had helped fund things through a loose network of people like Fendi: concerned citizens would slip funds in when they could, passing it up a chain, and this was the result. Not all of these people even knew how much violence was employed in the Stars Below's efforts. Venkata isn't too interested in pursuing them, it seems. It's their Truegold killer who is the real enigma, but also the one she'd be most interested in knowing more about. Where they came from, where they were trained, what else they'd ever done: it's a mystery.
"Paths like that don't come from nowhere," Venkata explains. "Even singular geniuses tend to leave a record. If someone looked into your history, Keras, they could trace out which parts of your Path were inspired by Bronze Serpents and which parts came from your birth family's line. You have developed your own direction, but it didn't come from nowhere. For that Truegold? Nothing. Even my own mother's training is more publicly known, and she tried to suppress the records."
"Is it still a secret, with her retired?"
"A family secret," Venkata confirms with a nod, but then she continues. You suppose that means she's pretty serious that you're actually a Luxe now. "She was a genius of shadow madra, reaching Highgold at only at twelve, and Truegold at age twenty, being named a Luxe elder shortly after. She had formed her own path that was intended to mix her shadow madra with the Luxe's signature light, but its balance was... fraught. Over months, she would gradually see her madra tilt in one direction, and then the other, never quite finding a balance. She claimed it was intentional, but over time both other Luxe and our rivals realized it was out of her control. So, one day, slightly after she turned thirty, she disappeared. For over a year, she was gone. Then, with no other public ceremony, an Underlady strode confidently out of a cave mouth under Great Crevasse, and announced that she would now lead the Luxe. She was the first Luxe to reach that stage of advancement, and her madra control had increased exponentially. Never again did she show any complications of her madra types. I know little more: she told me that she stayed underground here, but no more details, nor has she created her own path manual yet."
You absorb that, and, eventually, you try to catch Etaja's attention. <Hey. Do you think that that...?> It feels an awful lot like it could be connected to that natural light-snuffing script circle you stumbled across when you retrieved Cheng's lichen from underground.
{Maybe!} Etaja seems unusually delighted by this revelation. {I thought it was totally natural, but maybe it's a kind of echo, yeah? Now, here's the part I'm really curious about: do you think that she balanced her conflicting madra types and then advanced, or did she advance and that helped her balance them? I feel like there's something there that might actually connect to the higher advancement ranks, stuff beyond your Kingdom's powers.} You turn that over in your head, exchanging possibilities with Etaja, until the others leave you be, clearly seeing that you're absorbed in thought.
Meanwhile, Venkata gets the Thousand-Mile Cloud ready again and flies perhaps thirty feet in the air. "Mireya, why don't you try to fly up to me?"
Mireya nods, and kneels down. She kicks off, a powerful leap, and beats her glowing white wings as hard as she can, cloud madra stirring to try to haul her further. It gets her to Venkata's height, but she struggles there. Keeping herself aloft, whether in place or moving around, is clearly an enormous struggle. After a few seconds, she starts to flag.
When she does, Venkata reaches over and clasps Mireya's hand, hauling her onto the cloud. Even with your distraction, you notice Mireya's surprise. "Take a moment," the Grand Duchess says. "Then glide back down and try again." Mireya nods.
If there's one regular meeting you have that hasn't changed, it's Prachi. When you sent word that you were healthy again, you got a time and date to meet. He asked you to demonstrate things to see how much you'd deteriorated while you couldn't practice. Then he nodded and you both got back to work.
You hadn't lost as much edge as you were worried you might, which was why you could handle things like the fight with Garrin so well. It doesn't take too long to be working more on the edges of things again, worrying about small and precise errors. Like always, the solution to these issues is practice. Mind-numbing, endless practice, which feels like it does nothing right up until you look back and can realize how much you have actually improved.
At this point, you spend a fair amount of your time together sparring at half speed: you don't need to just internalize the movements, but need to string them together, need to evaluate what is and isn't a proper reaction to things, and avoid falling into predictable ruts or other bad habits. Prachi doesn't have your youthful stamina, so these are mixed in with drills where you work while he rests, but the spars themselves are full contact and with the use of various techniques from both of you.
One day, however, you can't help but ask: "How much are you still holding back?"
"Beyond moving at half speed and not trying to actually kill you? Not at all."
You're almost drawn up short by that, but you're in the middle of executing a sequence meant to break a hypothetical grapple, so you finish that before you react. Then, you stop to look at him. "Really? But I know you've defeated Highgolds."
"You are wondering why you aren't unmatched among Lowgolds if that's true." He taps his walking stick on the ground for emphasis. "Two reasons. One: I am not what I was, physically. Two: I have no patience for concerns of honor. My successes were ambushes. I gave my foes no chance I could prevent."
That's actually a pretty good explanation, you realize, as you think about it. When you fought Risshon, the fact that he had no idea what to expect from you had been necessary for you to handle the situation. Elder Geneil had been hurt and Meira's back attack had probably been the most damaging single attack. He had been focused in the wrong direction.
That means that, even though you're pretty good at picking up on things and you're pretty resilient, you could suffer the same sort of fate. Peers, even ostensible lessers, could easily defeat you if you are surprised or take a fight on arrogantly. You'll probably be a potential target for would-be hot-shots once you advance to Highgold. Most people who'd want to do that wouldn't want to actually hurt or kill you, just prove that they could outdo you.
After a couple more repetitions from you, Prachi moves to stand opposite you, and you switch to a ready pose to spar with him. Your training axe and his walking stick clash three times as he almost casually says, "If you tried to kill me, you would probably succeed." He gives you one breath to think about that, then demands, "Tell me why."
You lean to one side to escape from a Striker attack of his, then slide back half a step to find footing to stop a slash from his walking stick, following up with a Goldsign hand trying to hit him with a gut punch. As expected, he slaps it aside, with his own Enforcer move's sword-aspect painfully trying to pierce the Goldsign. The fight continues like that as you reply. "I'm physically stronger and have more endurance, and I can heal myself. I know your style pretty well. It would be hard for you to put me down. I have techniques that can tie you up pretty well." As you say it, he has to fight off the approach of Clinging Vines to try to lock down his madra and movement. "And, most importantly, you don't want to kill me."
"Good." A Striker technique of his hits your shoulder and staggers you. Where did he find time to launch that? "That focused intent is important. Hold." You stop at the command. Surprisingly, he takes a moment to scrutinize you. "How are you holding up?" It's in a kinder tone than normal.
You know what he means. You killed someone a couple months ago. You shake your head. "I don't... I think I should regret it more than I do? But I don't. The Elder was ready to kill me and my friend, and when I put it in terms of 'him or us', it wasn't hard to make the call. I'd do it again, but I don't want to."
Prachi sits lotus-style on the practice field, so you do the same. He's still looking carefully. "It's good never to be cavalier about taking life. How you will react afterwards? No one knows ahead of time. If, eventually, you are no longer sanguine, reach out for support. There are people who can help. Do not self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs." He reaches out with the walking stick to poke you in the forehead, then repeats himself. "Do not self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs."
A Goldsign waves his stick off before he can poke you again. "I won't, I promise! I'll ask for help if I need to. There's lots of things I need help on, and one more isn't a bad thing."
"Easy to see why my aunt adopted you," he says, flashing a brief smile. You suppose that makes him your cousin, even though he acts a bit more like you would expect a grandpa to. A grandpa that fights you all the time. "There will be some aggrieved parties elsewhere in the clan, though who think that the Grand Duchess should have adopted their child, instead. They're vultures. Try not to get drawn into their level. She will probably handle most of them, but do your best to deny them ammunition."
You don't really like that you believe the warning.
Thankfully, some of the other things you are involved with are a lot nicer. The community outreach thing that Mother told you she wanted you involved with is rolling, now. For the moment, they're monthly, so this is the second one.
It's not just you. Various Luxe functionaries set things up in one of the public parks closer to the Luxe side of the lifts. There's some people who are set up to share job postings, collect donations for or provide guidance to various charities, and more. Others have quickly expanded the event. Since it's drawn people in, often people who are gawkers, some people showed up to sell food. Since there was already a bit of economic fare going on, others showed up to busk with musical instruments or sell various forms of entertainment, ending up with most types of mobile business you can think of showing up, even an optimistic furniture salesman. Things kind of grew quickly.
There's an eternal stew going, which has led the three women organizing it to have to explain the concept at least a dozen times that you've heard, not including the arguments about if it should be called something else, since some people seem to have heard of it under different names. The concept is that people add whatever ingredients they can, then those who need to can have a bowl. Some people get the principle and are bringing a fairly large side of beef or a big bag of potatoes to balance out those who can't offer more than a handful of flour or a bit of milk, and there's talk of moving this somewhere else during the times that this event isn't ongoing, so it can really be eternal.
Gardenia and her dad's mom showed up to the first event, and are here again today. They're not here for charity, but to sell some of the long-term stable poisons Gardenia makes. Perhaps surprisingly, they seem to have found a group of buyers: there's a circle of a dozen hunters who are avidly interested in all getting equivalent levels of poison for what sounds like ongoing competition. "—should have a time limit, if the target lasts beyo—" "—really about tuning the launcher constructs—" "—skip a week and then use two weeks' quota at once? The scoring—" Grandma Mia mostly lets Gardenia do the talking, with the hunters, though you've heard her give a tongue-lashing to one of the hunting club that tried to lowball Gardenia too much. It's easy to see where some traits come from, sometimes.
There's a dozen other knots of activity. The hope is that organizing these events will lower tension and raise goodwill so that the Luxe can spend less on security, saving money overall while doing something good. How well it will work out? That's still to be seen.
For you and Beti, you're kind of at the middle of things, and there's also Bronze Serpents who are here on contract to provide their services, too. They probably could have been convinced to show up for free, but they do need money to operate, so this is really a better thing. Beti serves as the visible centerpiece of things, and people approach you when needed.
You've set a couple of broken bones and sped them to a quicker recovery, as well as healed a few other things like some lacerations, black eyes, and other simple things. Some flu-like symptoms are handled by the Bronze Serpents, with their shapeless brown robes and snake Goldsigns, but some people would rather be seen by the Miracle Tree Kid.
It's not just normal healing, though. You flash a smile when you see a face you recognize from the first thing of these. "Tejal!" He's in a wheelchair, being pushed by his parents. "I have something to try, if you would."
The young man smiles back, if a bit less energetically. "I'm willing to give it a shot." Last time around, you and one of the more experienced Bronze Serpents had gone over Tejal carefully. For years now, he'd had a terrible time standing. Physically, he should be fine: there's nothing wrong with bones or nerves or muscles or tendons. You'd checked. But when he tries to stand for longer than a few seconds, he collapses with no memory of why. Unfortunately, his family aren't very well-off, with the parents working a collection of odd jobs, so they couldn't afford anyone to look into things until this opened up.
"I have two things, actually. Do you mind if I scan you while you stand?" Tejal nods and stands up. He's a Jade of about sixteen, and a lot taller than you, but not so tall you can't hold him up by supporting him under the armpit. You do so, scanning him as you do. Your Jade sense focuses on his torso, listening and watching. After a few seconds, he sags in your grip and you gently set him back in the wheelchair.
In a moment, he groggily wakes up, looking like it was after a nap. Once he's together enough, he asks, "What were you checking?"
"Your heart. It's the one thing I didn't think about last time. When I looked up possibilities for your case, one thing it could have been is blood flow to the brain. If your circulation was too bad... well, it wasn't that. But I have one other thought to try, and this one's probably more likely." You gesture for Beti, and she lowers one of the branches she's holding your things in. You take a little leather thing with glass beakers from her. "I made an elixir that should fix the other thing. Try one of them."
Tejal does, then pauses for a few moments. He shakes his head. "What did that do?"
"It's meant to deaden one of your inner ears. Try to stand up now."
Again, you and his mom are right there, but this time Tejal just... stands up. He frowns, but he doesn't struggle or faint or anything, though he holds onto the chair out of caution and being out of practice. He's fine. He touches one of his ears. "That feels funny. But... what happened, then?"
"I'm sorry," you have to say. "This started right after you advanced to Iron, right?" You get a round of nods. "It looks like a defect in your Iron body. Your inner ears are going wild in an awkward way, that doesn't match with each other. Your body thinks you're falling in two separate directions at once. That's why you collapse." For some reason, the family still looks relieved to hear it, so you make sure that they understand the issue. "Take the rest of these; it didn't make sense for me to try to make a smaller batch. It'll help in the short term. It's not a difficult recipe, but it'd be expensive to keep a lot of these. The other solutions I know of would be a surgery that's well beyond me or undoing your advancement—if you undo the Iron body and revert all the way to Copper, you can try to make it again, and probably you won't have the defect. You'd have to advance all the way up again if you did this. I don't think there's a great way around it. I'm sorry."
"We'll talk it over," Tejal's father says. "Even if it's hard, at least now we know what the problem is, and can look for options. Thank you." No one cries in relief, but it feels like a near thing.
As they make their escape, a muscular woman of about forty comes up to you, having been the next one in line. "You the Miracle Tree Kid?"
You're not exactly ready to seize the name, so you just say "I'm Luxe Forrester Keras, yes."
"I can't close my left hand when I can hear certain noises. The Bronze Serpents said they couldn't help. Can you?"
You blink, but marshal your thoughts. This one sounds even more like a terror to try to diagnose, never mind fix, but you can certainly try. You gesture for Beti to give you your current notebook.
Young Scion Keras is, again, somewhat overwhelmed with calls on their time, no matter if name and title may have changed. For the moment, things seem to have settled down. Keras may have a new perspective, and seemingly a clear line to advancement and long-term vocation, but there are many possible paths to take while traveling in this direction. What does Keras prioritize? You may vote for as many as you like. The most popular four options will be chosen.
As usual, these are all discrete things. Although there are two vote options for Damir, you can select just one, both, or neither; it represents how much and in what way Keras gets involved in his affairs. Likewise, there are two with Cheng. If Keras takes neither one of these, Keras will have a future vote about if they continue to work with him at all. If Keras takes at least one, that indicates that Keras is accepting working with a (now more tractable) Cheng, who has at the least learned something about what boundaries he shouldn't push.
[] Join up with Damir as he fights for honor and advantage
He's choosing carefully, the better to make use of you, and his assistance allows you to refine your Striker technique further. In exchange, you will be roped into supporting his jockeying for position within his School.
[] Provide refiner's creations to Damir and his faction
It's not your specialty, but you have some ideas on creating boosting items for Damir's people, like you helped Cheng with. Damir will help refine your Striker technique further in exchange for this useful, quiet assistance.
[] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
You will take a jaunt outside the Seishen Kingdom, meeting the powerful but wild sacred artists of the Wasteland, including a Sage and a Herald. You will learn how they live, and learn something of the wider world.
[] Leverage your new connections while serving as Cheng's assistant
There is a big difference between a random Lowgold and a Young Scion. You'll attract attention as you and Cheng take commissions, but your overall refining skill is definitely that of a professional, and all of Great Crevasse knows that now.
[] Following the clues you have, you head underground
You haven't suffered the sort of imbalances that Venkata's mom did, but there is much to be learned from her example about how to best handle seemingly incompatible madra, sharpening your control and revealing something of higher advancements.
[] Foraging in the King's lands, you find a grand haul
Making use of your new permissions, you bring home powerful and interesting ingredients, allowing you to expand your repertoire while creating new projects of your own. You are certainly a professional refiner in skill, now.
[] You support Mother in a significant internal Luxe affair
As warned, there are vultures among the Luxe. Venkata would rather keep you out of them, but when she cannot, you present a convincing public showing of your value. This strengthens her position significantly, and she does not forget debts.
[] An incident occurs during one of the community outreaches
Although things are trending well, this doesn't mean that everything is good. A complicated event happens during one of the events, which you steer by a well-placed moment of kindness, which people will remember. It is an unhappy moment for you, even so.
[] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
They've finally had the chance to get away and come see you. It's an interesting meeting, just for everyone seeing what you're like after this long apart, but they've brought with them a strange Remnant that they want you to look at.
[] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
You've rejected becoming a dream artist, but you can, potentially, learn the rough ability to see the future still, though your methods will be time-consuming and... odd. One's path becomes more set with age and advancement; if you do not select this now, you will never be able to learn any future sight... which is normal for Cradle and not something most expected of you, anyway.
- Location
- A nondescript grave
[X] Leverage your new connections while serving as Cheng's assistant
[X] Following the clues you have, you head underground
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
[] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[] You support Mother in a significant internal Luxe affair
So many good options
[X] Following the clues you have, you head underground
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
[] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[] You support Mother in a significant internal Luxe affair
So many good options
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Following the clues you have, you head underground
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] Provide refiner's creations to Damir and his faction
Forest Sage feels like the most important one.
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] Provide refiner's creations to Damir and his faction
Forest Sage feels like the most important one.
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- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Veering into being a diagnostiction a bit could be interesting.
[X] Provide refiner's creations to Damir and his faction
It's not your specialty, but you have some ideas on creating boosting items for Damir's people, like you helped Cheng with. Damir will help refine your Striker technique further in exchange for this useful, quiet assistance.
[X] Following the clues you have, you head underground
You haven't suffered the sort of imbalances that Venkata's mom did, but there is much to be learned from her example about how to best handle seemingly incompatible madra, sharpening your control and revealing something of higher advancements.
[X] Foraging in the King's lands, you find a grand haul
Making use of your new permissions, you bring home powerful and interesting ingredients, allowing you to expand your repertoire while creating new projects of your own. You are certainly a professional refiner in skill, now.
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
They've finally had the chance to get away and come see you. It's an interesting meeting, just for everyone seeing what you're like after this long apart, but they've brought with them a strange Remnant that they want you to look at.
It's not your specialty, but you have some ideas on creating boosting items for Damir's people, like you helped Cheng with. Damir will help refine your Striker technique further in exchange for this useful, quiet assistance.
[X] Following the clues you have, you head underground
You haven't suffered the sort of imbalances that Venkata's mom did, but there is much to be learned from her example about how to best handle seemingly incompatible madra, sharpening your control and revealing something of higher advancements.
[X] Foraging in the King's lands, you find a grand haul
Making use of your new permissions, you bring home powerful and interesting ingredients, allowing you to expand your repertoire while creating new projects of your own. You are certainly a professional refiner in skill, now.
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
They've finally had the chance to get away and come see you. It's an interesting meeting, just for everyone seeing what you're like after this long apart, but they've brought with them a strange Remnant that they want you to look at.
Keras is part of the Luxe but also distinct from it which is a position they like.
The mental shift in thinking even if it's just for business is interesting.
Keras isn't really used to this stuff.
It's a pretty new system that's cobbled together.
Keras wasn't ready for the oh I'm your aunt now bit.
Good to know the order of things and how it functioned. But the death path is still a mystery.
That's really neat and following in the footsteps of what made her an Underlord and enhanced her control could be useful.
Nice to see them all having fun together.
Grumpy Soldier Teacher grandpa remains himself.
Keras has gotten really good and their stats really help as well. Mindset very much matters when it comes to fighting and ti's good keras is keeping their mortality in mind.
It's good that Keras is aware of that.
He's pretty much Keras's grandpa and is very concerned for how Keras is holding up.
Keras is having fun doing weird healing and helping people without means to get proper healing.
Keras has gotten good at the weird kinds of healing.
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
Learning more of the wider world, going to the Wasteland and meeting a Sage and Herald will be aweome.
[X] Foraging in the King's lands, you find a grand haul
Becoming an even better refiner is great.
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
Mystery box stuff seems really cool.
[X] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
I really really really want the ability to learn future stuff and the ability to do so with Life and Death stuff will be really neat. Plus this is the last chance for it to be possible.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Following the clues you have, you head underground
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] You support Mother in a significant internal Luxe affair
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] You support Mother in a significant internal Luxe affair
[X] Following the clues you have, you head underground
[X] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[X] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
- Location
- Earth
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
- Location
- United Kingdom
[X] Your mom and dad visit with an interesting discovery
[] Foraging in the King's lands, you find a grand haul
[X] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[] Following the clues you have, you head underground
[X] Provide refiner's creations to Damir and his faction
Meeting the Forest Sage would be dope, and I'd definitely want to see what Keras and Etaja could pick up with their senses.
Touching base with Mum and Dad would be fun, and 'a strange remnant' sounds like insight into whatevers up with the Hinterlands.
Providing refining help to Damir helps keep us in contact with him and improves our own skills (and Striker technique), and should combine well with the finding a grand haul option.
Other than that I voted for the fate readers last time, so if this is the last chance for something like that I want to go for it, and heading underground wouldn't just help us for when we aim for Underlord, but it could also be useful for Beti.
[] Foraging in the King's lands, you find a grand haul
[X] Meet with a Luxe oracle to see what you can still learn
[X] Travel to the Forest Sage with Underlord Cheng
[] Following the clues you have, you head underground
[X] Provide refiner's creations to Damir and his faction
Meeting the Forest Sage would be dope, and I'd definitely want to see what Keras and Etaja could pick up with their senses.
Touching base with Mum and Dad would be fun, and 'a strange remnant' sounds like insight into whatevers up with the Hinterlands.
Providing refining help to Damir helps keep us in contact with him and improves our own skills (and Striker technique), and should combine well with the finding a grand haul option.
Other than that I voted for the fate readers last time, so if this is the last chance for something like that I want to go for it, and heading underground wouldn't just help us for when we aim for Underlord, but it could also be useful for Beti.
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