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Shards of Awakening

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  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by dmclain2 on May 10, 2021 at 1:38 PM, finished with 25 posts and 9 votes.
    • [X] Plan Growing a Foundation
      -[X] Cultivate Base
      --[X] 2 Spirit Gems
      -[X] Cultivate Art or Technique
      --[X] Sleep's Glittering Sands
      --[X] 2 Spirit Gems (see Base cultivation)
      -[X] Attend cultivation class (available once from turns 5 - 6)
      -[X] Has Dai Qiao's forest grown? It certainly looks darker and more… menacing. Perhaps now was a good time to stop by. Before things explode in violence... or weirdness… or whatever...
      [X] Plan Pig Hunting
      -[X] Cultivate Base
      --[X] 2 Spirit Gems
      -[X] Attend cultivation class (available once from turns 5 - 6)
      -[X] Explore the library.
      --[X] Try to find info on what happened with your Art.
      -[X] Quest: How to Save a Life
      --[X] Bring Xiao Lien around the sect and have easily eavesdroppable conversations with her in crowded areas, gushing over her fine clothing and her strength. If she's comfortable with it, try and get her to socialize with other disciples to humanize herself to more people.
      --[X] See if Meng Chao wants to join in and spread the good word about Xiao Lien around his own circles.
      --[X] See how Shao Cuifen feels about her as well. Having the other two nobles be at least vaguely on your side could be a huge boon.
      [X] Plan Foundation of Shadow
      -[X] Cultivate Base
      --[X] 2 Spirit Gems
      -[X] Cultivate Art or Technique
      --[X] Sleep's Glittering Sands
      --[X] 2 Spirit Gems (see Base cultivation)
      -[X] Attend cultivation class (available once from turns 5 - 6)
      -[X] That weird shadow girl, what was her name… oh right, Ma Liqiu had stopped by to ask if Quan Jia, not Lady Quan, would be willing to join her at a teahouse. Maybe she wouldn't be so boring after all.
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  • Voting
    • In other news, we might actually get to Level 1 in our technique by just these two cultivation actions. That Mirror is a real dozy when it comes to promoting the cultivation of techniques!
     
    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)

    Might as well go for this one.
     
    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
     
    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
     
    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)

    Looks like we'll be using our dream pill on 4 SGS actions.
     
    dmclain2 said:
    SGS
    11d10 (affinity) + 6d10 (gems) + 2d10 (affinity) = 19d10
    02 10 04 07 09 09 07 08 04 10 04 03 07 07 06 06 10 06 09 = 5 XP * 1.5 = 7 XP (rounded down)
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    Shouldn't the Gyre apply to this roll?

    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
     
    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
     
    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)

    Bluhhhh being practical sucks
     
    [X] "You're wrong," Quan Jia's pronouncement reverberates in her ears as she scowls at Mei Mei, "I'll prove it to you." (Find another way to defend yourself. Success: ????. Failure: -1 to Liu Mei's Relationship Score.)

    I think this is the only option that actually fits. Quan Jia is hurt. Like, as in, physically, internal-bleeding-style hurt. I don't think anyone could keep themselves from being spiteful in this situation. Physically hurting someone generates an extremely strong fear response. I see Liu Mei attacking us as a complete betrayal of trust and would expect it to damage the relationship score by at least 1 point, if not more, regardless of what option is picked.
    Also, from Quan Jia's words, it sounds like Liu Mei has physically injured her before, so her general attitude near the event doesn't make sense. It seems like it should be more reminiscent of an overly-kicked puppy, or otherwise more scared.
    I probably shouldn't vote on this; this situation is so, so close to things that happened in my past it brings up the same feelings that are brought up when I think about those things. But I do think that the spiteful option is the correct one here.
     
    [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
     
    dmclain2 said:
    (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
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    dmclain2 said:
    Skills advance as a function of either training or of use and require XP = (Current Level + 1) * 10.

    In contrast to xp gained while cultivation, xp gained from skills is the sum of all d10 rolled.

    Training: when being trained by a mentor, Quan Jia receives xd10 with x being equal to the mentor's skill level.
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    dmclain2 said:
    For gameplay reasons, I'll let voters pick 3 skills that she can train at a 3 dot effectiveness. If any of those skills are representative of skills she should/would have as a consequence of narrative descriptions, she will train those skills at 5 dots.
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    I was looking at the skill training mechanics and from what I can tell we could get Rank 3 unarmed in 2 or 3 actions training with Mei Mei, depending on if she train's at 3 or 5 dots.

    For the Sands technique I was wondering if the goal is get 25+50 xp, or 25+50+75 xp?
    Considering we're at lvl 1 right now the former would get us to lvl 3, but then it seems kinda at odds with Mei Mei's talk of determination of her goal is something we can reach in one week?
    It does make some sense from the PoV of: we haven't actually trained any of our combat arts or stats since we arrived, so any progress is good progress in her mind?
     
    Karnax626 said:
    I was looking at the skill training mechanics and from what I can tell we could get Rank 3 unarmed in 2 or 3 actions training with Mei Mei, depending on if she train's at 3 or 5 dots.

    For the Sands technique I was wondering if the goal is get 25+50 xp, or 25+50+75 xp?
    Considering we're at lvl 1 right now the former would get us to lvl 3, but then it seems kinda at odds with Mei Mei's talk of determination of her goal is something we can reach in one week?
    It does make some sense from the PoV of: we haven't actually trained any of our combat arts or stats since we arrived, so any progress is good progress in her mind?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Some of this is a gameplay constraint: with the pills and artifacts Quan Jia has 75 xp shouldn't be too hard to reach. 150 xp would be possible, but probably a pretty severe constraint on actions otherwise (something I didn't really think was fair). So it's an easier goal to achieve than it may have been otherwise. As far as skills go I may take another look at the XP (though it wouldn't apply until after this particular mini-quest). I don't think there's much narrative support for Liu Mei being an unarmed specialist, so it's more likely to be level 3

    Math Man said:
    I think this is the only option that actually fits. Quan Jia is hurt. Like, as in, physically, internal-bleeding-style hurt. I don't think anyone could keep themselves from being spiteful in this situation. Physically hurting someone generates an extremely strong fear response. I see Liu Mei attacking us as a complete betrayal of trust and would expect it to damage the relationship score by at least 1 point, if not more, regardless of what option is picked.
    Also, from Quan Jia's words, it sounds like Liu Mei has physically injured her before, so her general attitude near the event doesn't make sense. It seems like it should be more reminiscent of an overly-kicked puppy, or otherwise more scared.
    Click to expand...
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    I don't think I really conveyed the tone of this interaction the way I wanted it too, and it's rather bothered me as I've continued to think about it. To some degree it's a function of the medium, but I knew something wasn't right as I was reviewing it, and this helped crystallize what I couldn't quite put into words. So thanks for the feedback on it.

    As a general announcement: I'm going to go ahead and close the vote here, redo that portion and reopen voting when I finish (probably later today).
    Scheduled vote count started by dmclain2 on May 15, 2021 at 4:02 PM, finished with 14 posts and 9 votes.
    • [X] "You're right," Quan Jia nods slowly, accepting both the advice, and the mild remonstration that it had come with it. "I'll just have to try harder." (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands or advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
      [X] "You're wrong," Quan Jia's pronouncement reverberates in her ears as she scowls at Mei Mei, "I'll prove it to you." (Find another way to defend yourself. Success: ????. Failure: -1 to Liu Mei's Relationship Score.)
    Click to expand...
     
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    Remonstrations and Relaxation (Revised) Turn 5 Part 1
  • Threadmarks
    • [] Plan Growing a Foundation
    -[] Cultivate Base
    --[] 2 Spirit Gems
    -[] Cultivate Art or Technique
    --[] Sleep's Glittering Sands
    --[] 2 Spirit Gems (see Base cultivation)
    -[] Attend cultivation class (available once from turns 5 - 6)
    -[] Has Dai Qiao's forest grown? It certainly looks darker and more… menacing. Perhaps now was a good time to stop by. Before things explode in violence... or weirdness… or whatever…

    An inevitable consequence of occupying the Imperial Palace is death. In one sense this is a rather mundane consequence of all things save one: only the Glorious Ascendant has ever succeeded in severing the thread of death itself. In another it is a remarkably consistent consequence of the cultivation site that is the Imperial Palace. To understand the nature of the Imperial Palace and those who grace its halls is to understand a story whose roots stretch back to the ashes of the First Age. It is a story as well understood as it is mysterious. It is a story told in three parts: communion, reclusion, and dissolution.

    The first and most frequent of the phenomena is communication, though to what and with whom the imperial head communes is as unknown as the subject of those exchanges. All that is known is that on numerous occasions an Imperial Head has interrupted normal operations within the palace with what can only be described as a one-sided conversation. Within these conversations, concepts of surpassing Mystery have been overheard, Mystery that confounds the efforts of even the empire's greatest of sages, and despite the Dao displayed in those conversations, not a single mote of Enlightenment has ever been grasped.

    Reclusion, the second of these phenomena, is a more easily understood concept, and while the specifics of it may change, the rhythm of it does not. Over time, an Imperial Head will begin to devote more and more time toward closed door cultivation. This common practice is rendered remarkable only as the length extends uninterrupted into decades.

    Finally comes dissolution. Though, perhaps rather than the implication of death such a word connotes, disappearance is the more appropriate term. Regardless of the context, though, the outcome for this final act of the story is as immutable in outcome as it is inexplicable in means. Simply put, one day, the doors to the Imperial Palace will shut for the final time on the Imperial Head, only to reopen decades later and reveal an empty throne.

    Death and Renewal within the Eternal Empire, Scholar Ma Xia. 2nd Age, 93rd year of Emperor Li Geming's Reign.

    SGS
    11d10 (affinity) + 6d10 (gems) + 2d10 (affinity) = 19d10 * 1.2 (Gyre) = 23d10
    02 10 04 07 09 09 07 08 04 10 04 03 07 07 06 06 10 06 09 02 02 08 01 = 8 XP * 1.5 (Mirror) = 12 XP

    First Dune:
    XP: 0/25 -> 12/25

    Base
    11d10 (affinity) + 6d10 (gems) + 3d10 (estate) = 20d10 * 1.2 (Gyre) = 24d10
    10 09 02 01 08 01 08 04 10 03 06 09 07 01 01 04 09 03 04 05 02 03 04 02 = 14 XP

    Cultivation
    Level: Diamond Soul
    Stage: Mid
    XP: 9/40 -> 23/40

    Scythes of something like shadows mixed with steel are almost entirely unhindered as they carve through loose layers of sand. Green eyes widen in a moment of focused panic and Quan Jia hurls herself to the side in a languid, rolling motion. Sliding along a layer of sand and thin threads of qi, she flips upright several paces away and aims her most potent pout at her sparring partner.

    Mei Mei is as ever unfazed and simply raises an eyebrow in mock question, "My lady relies overmuch on her natural dexterity, and not enough on the potency of her techniques it seems."

    "I've been busy," she complains, ducking low to avoid another blade as it cuts through her defenses with a spray of sand. "And there's a time for talking and a time for sparring. Mei Mei, shouldn't confuse the two."

    "Busy," her attendant's head tilts in consideration. "I suppose making connections is important, but one wonders what my lady will do once the moratorium on violence is no longer enforced?"

    "Well, I gue-," her words cut off as a silver crescent flicks inches past her eyes. Strands of blonde hair flutter away and Quan Jia frowns, "so rude…"

    "Perhaps," Mei Mei accepts the condemnation with an agreeing nod. "But one wonders how my lady will handle the end of the moratorium on violence?"

    "I've got Mei Mei and some new friends… it won't be that bad," Quan Jia slides back on a thin layer of sand as the ground below her dissolves into pitch black shadow.

    "The support that I may offer is limited, my lady," spikes of silver tipped hair whip through the space where her head had just been, "I and all other bodyguards have been constrained by the Sect Head and while I doubt there are two elders capable of detecting my actions if I do not desire it, dead disciples will draw questions…"

    "Who wants dead disciples… well maybe... no not even that pig, humiliated yes, but…" Quan Jia tries to frame thoughts in the space between frantic dodging. "Mei Mei needs to learn restraint."

    "I could perhaps cripple any disciple that attempted to injure my lady," her attendant muses, and for a blessed moment the relentless assault ceases. "But a living victim can be made to recall events with far more clarity than a dead one, and even I cannot anticipate the full breadth of skills the sect has available to it."

    "That's not really restraint, Mei Mei..." Quan Jia stops dodging altogether as she focuses on the conversation and the blade of shadow which had been streaking toward her dissipates inches from her face. "Besides, does it matter that much? Getting beat up doesn't sound like fun, but I'm tougher than Mei Mei thinks."

    "Anyone that truly hurt you would die screaming," Quan Jia isn't quite sure whether she's meant to hear that or not, but that doesn't stop the complex weight of emotion sinking in her chest. "An attack on my lady is an attack on Lord Quan Jin and such things must not be tolerated."

    A frown flickers across her face at that… it always comes back to pops, doesn't it?... and she tries to put together the rather surprisingly inarticulate words from her attendant. "So Mei Mei wants me to be strong because otherwise she'll have to go around beating up people that bother me?"

    "My lady has a true knack for understatement," there, that was closer to her Mei Mei. "but it is a matter of honor, duty, and obligation that would necessitate my actions."

    "And just that…" Quan Jia smiles as she trails off with some of the mockery Mei Mei normally used on her.

    "And the love I bear for your mother and you." it's a surprisingly vulnerable admission from Mei Mei, and one that apparently signals the resumption of sparring, as an almost comically slow ball of shadow floats toward her.

    "Well, Mei Mei should know that I love her too," Quan Jia admits easily as she drifts around the ball of shadow, "but she really needs to learn to gauge the mood of things better."

    "Hmm, perhaps," Mei Mei's mocking smile seems somehow more directed at herself rather than Quan Jia, "but my lady understands now why I cannot be the same protector I have served as in the past?"

    "I guess so," she twists, stumbles, and a spear of shadow jabs that should have impaled her jabs bluntly into her shoulder instead. "But I've been meeting cool people and making friends too, so maybe we can protect each other, and Mei Mei can use her free time to do other fun stuff…"

    "Friends that will leave you behind as they amass strength and my lady plays idle games with mortals," her attendant steps sideways, a second Mei Mei appearing in the space she had just left.

    "Well if you would have done that, we wouldn't have needed maids," she spins, twists, slips along a bed of sand as two Mei Mei's work in concert to punch through her defenses. "And being friends isn't about strength, it's more important than that."

    "Will my lady go everywhere with her friends? Turn them into her bodyguards in practice if not name?" Shields of sand fracture under shadow wrapped fists, but it buys the moments necessary for Quan Jia to retreat.

    "They wouldn't be friends then, would they?" Quan Jia responds as she attempts to turn the ground beneath Mei Mei into quicksand. "Besides, that would be kind of boring wouldn't it?"

    "Then my lady has a bodyguard who is not allowed to protect her and to remedy this cultivates allies who won't even be there defend her?" Threads of shadow slip through her control over sand and her technique unravels futilely.

    [] "I guess that does sound kind of foolish when you say it out loud like that," Quan Jia admits after a moment of thought. "What do you think I should do?" (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands and advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)

    [] "Exactly," Quan Jia nods in agreement, "pops doesn't go around beating everyone up that disagrees with him, so there has to be another way, right?" (Find another way to defend yourself. Success: ????. Failure: -1 to Liu Mei's Relationship Score.)

    Please note that the difficulty of the first option has been increased a bit. I do think asking for both better reflects Liu Mei's desire that Quan Jia seek strength. Though I do apologize for anyone who feels that there's been a bit of a bait and switch here.

    So I had mentioned that I didn't particularly like how the original post had been written. Fortunately I got some feedback that help me understand exactly what was wrong with the narrative. It was supposed to be a discussion on strength and self-sufficiency.

    In the first attempt I wanted to convey that through Liu Mei obliterating any defenses Quan Jia could have offered as a sort of object lesson, however, that ran rather counter to the established characters and also raised some narrative questions that I would have had difficulty navigating. In short it didn't work the way I wanted it to. Hopefully this one works better.

    "So what do you think?" A cool wind ruffles through Quan Jia's hair as she breathes in lethargy and breathes out fatigue.

    "Fu Zian wonders many things," the shark-like boy takes a slow sip from a saucer filled with an iridescent liquid. "But in this moment he wonders why Quan Jia has brought this concern to him?"

    "You're, you know," her hands flap around, gesturing at the hut where the probably alchemist had made his home. "And all my friends probably have the same advice… plus, we're all kind of in the same situation, so…"

    "So a disinterested observer was what Quan Jia sought?" pale silver eyes meet her own for a moment before looking off into the distance.

    "I guess," she shrugs, exhaling torpor. "Is it really even that bad, the… violence or whatever?"

    "Has Quan Jia ever observed a bucket of crabs? How they claw and scrape against each other in order to escape?" he grins that sharp-toothed grin, "disciples are perhaps not so different from those crabs."

    "That doesn't really say much about us, does it?" she muses idly and drifts off into a momentary silence before curiosity prompts her next question. "How'd you do it then? You've got a lot of cool pills..."

    Something... fathomless... crosses through silver eyes as they bore into her own, "this is Fu Zian's mountain. Few can approach unless he wills it."

    "Ahh," Quan Jia ponders his words for a moment, "thank you for letting me in then."

    "As long as she doesn't overdo it, Quan Jia will always be welcome," he smiles, an expression somehow completely different than his grins. "But Fu Zian thinks that Quan Jia's answer was not his answer."

    "I don't think I could hide away on a mountain like this," she shrugs, grins, "no offense."

    "Youth is a time for exploration, of people and places and ideas," he returns the grin, "seclusion is for the old, the tired… and despite Quan Jia's Resonance, Fu Zian thinks that is not the Aspect she seeks."

    "Naps are fun. Dreams are cool. But enervation just seems so… empty," Quan Jia raises an eyebrow, "but why do you hide away then? You're not old, and you don't feel that kind of tired..."

    "Does Fu Zian hide away," he muses with a look somewhere between sly and amused, "or does he just prefer to invite those who can hear? After all, Quan Jia is here now sharing her woes and her company in the afternoon sun."

    "I guess," she agrees somewhat reluctantly, "but with how hard the invitation was to follow the first time I can't imagine you get many visitors."

    "More some years than others, but never many." he admits with a nod, "Fu Zian would hardly want to craft for the shambling hordes who wander with eyes still closed would he?"

    "Probably not…," she pauses, searching for the right way to say… "it'd be like making my frowny chef cook things I want rather than what he wants."

    "An artist in a lonely castle, imprisoned by necessity, chained to convention. A rainbow road, a seeker, and an offer… liberation," the words are spoken in a peculiar sing-song cadence. "To re-immure in chains… a valid subversion, but an unkind one."

    "Right," she agrees, ignoring the things her companion says that don't make sense… subversions? "But back to my original question, what do you think?"

    "Isn't that obvious," his head tilts in what seems to be genuine confusion, "Quan Jia should follow the Path she has chosen with eyes opened."

    "But... I guess it is that simple, isn't it," she murmurs more or less to herself and then lapses in to silence.

    [] Write in questions.

    [next post will be cultivation class. Yi Qiu will be covering breakthroughs in a general sense, but if you have any questions write them in here. I'll take the first however many (probably 3 - 5) that make sense. Feel free to ask for specific mechanics or narrative or worldbuilding or whatever else.]
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] "I guess that does sound kind of foolish when you say it out loud like that," Quan Jia admits after a moment of thought. "What do you think I should do?" (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands and advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)

    [X] Are there any known ways to increase Talent that might be somewhat attainable for us?
     
    [X] "I guess that does sound kind of foolish when you say it out loud like that," Quan Jia admits after a moment of thought. "What do you think I should do?" (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands and advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)
     
    [X] "I guess that does sound kind of foolish when you say it out loud like that," Quan Jia admits after a moment of thought. "What do you think I should do?" (Advance to the third dune of Sleep's Glittering Sands and advance to 3 dots in unarmed martial arts by the end of turn 12. Success: Liu Mei is impressed by Quan Jia's dedication. Failure: Liu Mei is disappointed by Quan Jia's laziness.)

    [X] what is involved with knowing techniques before breaking through.
     
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