Hmmm... Luo Lifen wants us to give up the 8th best pillow we've encountered? A pillow that may even rise up the ranks to 7th, or perhaps 6th, should their tail come into play? And the way she approached has about the same grace and talent as a lame ox has.
This year is certainly going to be interesting if this petty rivalry blooms into something much more because of our choices in friends.
@dmclain2 If you are still in the mood for answering questions, I've got some niggling at the back of my brain.
Will there be any use of cultivation sites that we can't use, such as trading them to others for knowledge?
Do the nobility generally disdain the act of buying/selling/bartering directly, or is Meng Chao not particularly unusual in his fascination with wealth?
Luo Lifen mentioned an Assessment Tournament, are those regularly scheduled events where we will know ahead of time, or more spontaneous whims of the Elders?
I look forward to seeing how we are able to do in this Sect! We've already got a rival lining up to push us forward!
Also, I should probably vote.
[X] Visit the gardener neighbor.
We choose the botany skill, let's see if we can't make friends with others who share our interest!
The other thing is that Jia's anger on behalf of Lien here came on really strongly, much moreso than I'd expect for how short a time they know eachother.
Do the nobility generally disdain the act of buying/selling/bartering directly, or is Meng Chao not particularly unusual in his fascination with wealth?
To shine some light on these comments, and maybe a bit more besides... a conversation that Quan Jia probably doesn't really remember from a few months back on what her peers resonances were.
"So Shao Cuifen is sword," Quan Jia mutters, sprawled out on a divan and too full to easily fall sleep.
"My lady's powers of observation are truly astounding," Mei Mei, still wearing that ridiculous fluffy thing she'd worn to the banquet, offers a probably sarcastic reply.
"Don't be mean," she pouts, which when directed at the ceiling because she can't sit up is even less effective than it normally is. "What about Meng Chao then... he talks about money alot, but they're rich, right? It can't be that simple can it?"
"Rather than money, why not think about the transaction itself," the smell of peppermint and ginger fills the sitting room and before long she hears the light click of a tea cup being set beside her head.
"So it's the give and take that's important," Quan Jia manages to wriggle herself upright enough to reach out for the steaming cup of tea, "but how... like exchange or trade or something?"
"In a way," her attendant manages to only look slightly absurd as the poofy parts of her dress practically engulf her as she sits gracefully on a nearby chair. "Though I rather think it's the connection that comes from the exchange that's important to him."
"What about pig-girl," she muffles a yawn with the back of her hand. "There wasn't anything there, was there?"
"My lady should remember to use the names of even her rivals, so that she doesn't begin to underestimate them." Well that was an old piece of advice that Quan Jia just flatly refused to take, "but isn't the fact that you didn't notice anything something to notice?"
"I'm too full for riddles Mei Mei," she sighs, feels her stomach lurch uncomfortably, takes a sip of tea, and despite her complaint begins to think aloud. "So it's something subtle... eating, no that takes the insult too far I think... talking... well she never seems to shut up... what else... nope, I can't think of anything. Come on Mei Mei, give me something more?"
"Perhaps if my lady were to consider an inversion of Meng Chao's resonance."
Quan Jia nods at encouragement, talking... no, rather something social had been the right start, "Meng Chao wants connections, but his trades are always weird... he says they're fair to him though, and I don't think he's ever lied about that so..."
"So if you took this idea of connections but shifted the focus from fairness..." Mei Mei trails off leadingly, and with it that obvious even Quan Jia can see what her attendant is getting at.
"Some kind of manipulation then?" When she receives an agreeing nod, Quan Jia sighs and flops back on the divan, feeling much more comfortable now that the tea had gotten to work settling her stomach. "What a weird thing to want carved into your soul..."
Since even knowing that rolls were made can effect things, I'll tend toward only showing rolls that Quan Jia will know whether she succeeded or failed on (e.g. if she triggers a trap and the room collapses, yes, if she triggers a trap that only comes into play three rooms away, maybe not)
As is probably unsurprising, social focused resonances aren't entirely uncommon, though they tend to be more subtle than any sort of outright mind control or similar effects.
Will there be any use of cultivation sites that we can't use, such as trading them to others for knowledge?
Luo Lifen mentioned an Assessment Tournament, are those regularly scheduled events where we will know ahead of time, or more spontaneous whims of the Elders?
At her level Quan Jia can definitively identify the bonuses for cultivation sites that she is compatible with. Increasing a skill (e.g. cultivation or something like exploration) would allow her to identify other, less sympathetic, sites. At which point she would have enough knowledge regarding the value of a site to sell or trade it.
Both larger events announced ahead of time and smaller events announced as they occur.
It looks like we are going to see the gardener! Let's hope they are interesting and not boring. It shouldn't be too hard, I mean they have a moving vine around their house which is fairly unusual.
Hearken young raider of the Woad, to the tale of He Who Wanders.
In the time before time, when our people yet dwelt beneath the Cyprus trees along the gentle rivers of our birth, millennia before the Wind heralded the descent of the Children of the Sky. In those halcyon days, the whispers of Elsewhere spoke through a herald of futures unwritten.
Ptahmose, born amongst the reeds of the Great River and a true child of the endless dunes, on the day of his Becoming spake of words annihilation unto the God King. In his wroth at this prophecy did the God King order Ptah dismembered, and in arrogance did he place The Wanderer's head as an ornament on the dais of his throne. It was in this action that the God King sealed his doom and delivered his people from theirs.
For there did the head of Ptahmose tell of an Age of Loss and an Age of Wandering and then finally, blessedly, an Age of Ven- (remaining script illegible.)
Translation of Unnamed Cuneiform Tablets (Indigo Restriction, Imperial Vaults), translated by imperial scholars, 2nd Age, 13th year of Emperor Li Geming's Reign.
[] Visit the gardener neighbor.
Putting Luo Lifen's bizarre change from rival to what seemed to be a genuine enemy wasn't the easiest thing, but by the time they had returned to the the cliff-face that overlooked a high mountain lake and housed their estate, Quan Jia had managed it.
After all, how could anyone ever nap if they spent all their time worrying about things they couldn't fix.
Before walking down the paved stone walkway to the promontory that their estate was situated on, she stopped at the foot of a sandy path that twisted back into a nearby copse of oak and redleaf.
"So we're agreed on the plant neighbor? No last minute changes to something like… music right?" when she gets nothing but a blank stare in response, Quan Jia shrugs, "Fine. If they're boring, I'm taking back your decision making privileges, for at least a day."
"And if the music neighbor were boring," her friend raises an eyebrow in a manner remarkably similar to Mei Mei… did they practice that together?... "would you lose those privileges too?"
"Of course," she lied without a moment of hesitation, "fairness is very important."
"Agreed," her friend replies blandly, "as is honesty."
"What do you mean by that," Quan Jia attempts a wounded expression, though based on the increasingly bland look she's getting from Xiao Lien, it's not really working.
"Just an idle comment, no deeper meaning at all," that's it, she was going to have to ground Mei Mei again, this time for sharing forbidden knowledge. This is worrying... I'll never win if there's two of them…
Shivering away that horrifying thought, she takes the first step from paved walkway onto sandy path, "Let's go then." Her friend falls into step beside her without further comment, and together they walk toward the thick stand of trees.
As they step between the split trunk of a redleaf tree, day shifts to twilight as the canopy blocks out all but a few errant rays of light. The air around them grows thicker with the rich scent of loam and forest, and the deep silence of untouched wilderness envelops them.
"Well this is different," Quan Jia grins in delight at the way her voice seems both somehow muffled and echoey, "OOooOOoo spooky."
"Do you think that maybe they don't want visitors?" a faint starburst pattern radiates from Xiao Lien's forehead as the soft glow from a pair of luminescent wings wrap around her.
Tutorial on static DCs.
At various points in here time, Quan Jia will run across situations that require her to pass a static DC (this can be from traps, trials, skills, etc.). In cases like this there will be a set number of successes she must achieve, with each success (A success is any number >/= 7 when rolled on a d10) above or below the target number contributing to either degrees of success or failure (these degrees will be reflected narratively).
The description of the check will match what Quan Jia (or her teammate(s)) are able to notice and will contain the relevant dice pool that's being utilized. Thus:
Vine Attack: DC 1 success - Physical Defense
Since Quan Jia has plenty of qi, relative to the cost of her technique, she will freely use Sleep's Glittering Sands to defend herself, thus her defense dice pool is 8. She also receives a bonus or malus depending upon the cultivation stage and level of the check (if applicable). In this case, since her cultivation is one stage higher than the cause of this check she gets an additional 1 dice. Thus her total pool is 9.
Roll 9d10: 01 07 09 09 09 03 07 03 04 = 5 successes = 4 degrees of success
A check with no successes and a 1 is considered a crit. failure.
A thorn wrapped vine shoots out from a patch of shadow and collides harmlessly against a disc of golden sand. "Hmm, you might be right," Quan Jia comments idly as another vine whips uselessly against sand. "Still, shouldn't they put up a sign or something if they don't want visitors?"
Feathers spear through a vine as it attempts to lash out at Xiao Lien and her friend shrugs, "maybe they haven't had time to set up warnings… too busy with killer vines, I guess."
"I think I'm more interested in meeting this person now than I was before the vines," Quan Jia yawns ostentatiously as the sand swirling around her quickly abrades the vicious, crimson tipped, thorned vines down to almost comically wiggling green ribbons.
"That sounds about right," a feather pins the vine sneaking up behind Xiao Lien and her eyes flare golden as she looks up into the higher branches of a nearby tree. "Should we take care of whatever this is and go on?"
"It's not really bothering us is it," the flailing vines had started slowing, either because they were running out of animating qi or from the accumulated damage, "besides, wouldn't it be a bit rude to-"
"Böge no," a slightly frantic, high pitched voice echoes out from the forest, somehow not muted in the way hers and Xiao Lien's were, "I've told you a hundred times you can't just lash out at anything that moves, you have to look for intent… Intent böge, not movement."
The vines still at the sound of that voice and droop defeatedly, before somehow managing to convey sheepish apology as they wiggle back into the darkness of the canopy above.
"I'm so sorry," a figure wearing the bright red robes of a first-year disciple careens into the clearing, long tail of braided silver hair fluttering behind them. They stumble to an awkward halt almost halfway between her and Xiao Lien and bow deeply to the space between them, "I've been really working with them, but böge don't really do well with new places, and I wasn't expecting anyone to come visit so soon, and I thought I'd have a few days to shape the runestones, but everything's happening so fast, and here you are, and I'm so sorry, and-"
The somewhat glazed look in Xiao Lien's eyes is clearly disinterested and indicates with the way she makes no effort to do anything that this is someone else's problem to deal with. Said someone ponders for a moment whether to let the other figure continue a babbling that's slowly rising in pitch and speed before taking pity on them.
"Hi, I'm Quan Jia," her cheerful voice cuts through increasingly nonsensical babbling, and slowly, the other disciple raises their head. "And this is Xiao Lien, we're staying at the estate up the hill, and I thought if we were going to be neighbors we might as well try being friends."
"Yes!" the figure practically shouts, "Sorry, I mean, I'm Dai Qiao and friends are always good, right?"
"Right, as long as they're not boring," Quan Jia nods happily, though when no further agreement comes, her gaze shifts over toward Xiao Lien.
"Right," her friend replies eventually with a curious mix of indifference and… something.
"So, umm did you want to, I think I have some tea or…" she trails off, "something."
Why does this feel so… hmm… ohh I get it, Dai Qiao's like one of those little birds, the ones that always fly away when I try and get too close. New plan Quan Jia…
"How about you show us around? I don't think these trees were here when we first arrived," she looks over at Xiao Lien for confirmation and receives another uninterested look in response. "And you can tell us about böge and runestones too, pops never liked using them."
"Your father?" she pauses, looks more closely at Quan Jia, and some kind of realization flashes across her face, "Ahh, oh, I can do that. And I guess runes aren't really a common practice anymore, so sure, I'd be happy to."
When no further words are forthcoming, Quan Jia hides an amused smile behind curiosity, and continues the conversation, "how'd you get this place to feel like a real forest? It's like a tiny little spot of deep wilderness right next to everything."
"It's really more the böge," having a question to answer seems to help the other girl relax, at least a little, "umm, that's what my grandmother called them. I think by imperial classification they'd be nascent spirits-"
"What're those?" Quan Jia smiles at her now older friend, it was good to see her getting comfortable too.
"Pre-sapient spirits… they're like moderately intelligent dogs. They've Awakened the spirit equivalent of a Diamond Core but lack the potency to imbue it with a resonance." Dai Qiao holds up one hand and a flickering ball of blue light drifts down from the canopy above to settle in that outstretched hand.
"Ooo, so pretty," her eyes widen in delight, this wasn't boring at all, "can I touch it?"
"Sure, be gentle please, they're fragile." Quan Jia doesn't need any more approval than that and with a hesitant reach, she traces her fingertips along the glowing ball of qi.
"It tickles," she smiles at the tingling sensation petting the böge provides. "Want to try Xiao Lien?"
"Maybe later." That was fine, it just left more for her.
After a long moment, Quan Jia finally pulls back and takes a clearer look at her newest friend. Her hair looks soft, but she's even smaller than I am… would a smaller pillow work? Mei Mei and Xiao Lien are both taller… hmm, something to figure out later.
As cover for those inappropriate thoughts, she asks, "Aren't nascent spirits rare, and kind of scared, or something, of cultivators?"
"Normally yes," the nascent spirit bobs in a seeming bow before floating off of Dai Qiao's hand, "but grandmother says I'm a Speaker?"
"You can talk to them?" that's so cool, "is that why that vine thing did that? What do they say? Can you teach me?"
Confronted with a babbling excitement remarkably similar to her own, Dai Qiao can do little except smile and finally, fully relax, "for these little ones… It's more like I can feel what they think, and they can understand me in turn. The vines were just supposed to keep the local predators away. I don't think I can teach it, grandmother says it's a gift I was born with."
[Relationship with Dai Qiao unlocked at 2]
Over the next few hours, two girls gushed over sparkling nascent spirits as they danced in and out of reality, and one girl's studied indifference slowly thawed. But eventually, it was time to part, or at least that's what Mei Mei said, and with a promise that she'd stop by soon, Quan Jia waved goodbye to her newest friend.
"We've got combat training in the morning," Quan Jia yawns from where she's sprawled half out of her chair, stomach pleasantly stuffed from rice noodles and vegetables, "but the afternoon's free, right? I want to try and do something fun, but what?"
"We could cultivate, I guess," Quan Jia doesn't even bother trying to sit up and offer that suggestion the scowl it deserves. Though apparently Xiao Lien recognizes her disinterest in the suggestion because she continues, "or we could meet one of our other neighbors."
"While I could stock the estate with provisions and other items necessary for continued residence," Mei Mei comments idly as she clears empty plates from the dining table, "I do know that my tastes are often counter to what my lady would consider… fun."
"Ooo, we could explore the sect, find a good nap spot, that earth one was ok, but I want something more… sleepy, you know?"
[] Explore the sect.
[] Buy things from the shops in town.
[] Meet one of the remaining neighbors
-[] specify musician or potter.
[AN]
Decided to stop this one here because things keep getting away from me. Next chapter will be the combat demo and one whatever gets voted on here and the start of weekly turn votes.
