[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
In regards to crit fails, they are definitely going into affect next update, and I am going to turn them into Crit Glitches to catch the edge cases where there's enough 1s for a crit without actually failing. I am also going to keep whatever happens more a matter of "interesting" rather than overtly punitive. I.e, you shoot a gun. It crit glitches. Instead of exploding in your hand, I'll just say it jams
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
The situation is a lot more complicated than it should be, but this seems like a good middle road between negotiating and demanding. Pretty much demanding politely.
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
@warumono shouldnt we have gotten some earth defying path successes there? We used it for the whole day after all. Thats basically training it
[/QUOTE]
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
This should be AGI (6) for a total dodge of 13 + 2 rerolls.
How will this work with rerolls? Will the dice be rerolled first, then have it be determined if the roll was a crit fail?
[X] Talk and trade? This will require a Persuasion roll. Hua Yin will lose 1 success from the cultivation class action and 1 die from the cultivation action results if he chooses this option. He missed two whole days of class and cultivation after all.
Its a risk but if this guys is really a sage its worth it to try and get something from him even with the cost.
If he was actually a sage I'm skeptical he'd be impressed and feel like teaching someone that decided they needed to pay for stolen goods from a mortal. It's not really a compelling look.
Adhoc vote count started by CedeTheBees on Jun 19, 2022 at 12:02 AM, finished with 38 posts and 28 votes.
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
[X] Talk and trade? This will require a Persuasion roll. Hua Yin will lose 1 success from the cultivation class action and 1 die from the cultivation action results if he chooses this option. He missed two whole days of class and cultivation after all.
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
Cool hilt and guard details yo. Nice to see you've put in the ridge work for the blade fuller too!
But for the life of me, how can you forget our sordboi's polished tip!?
You know, where we thrust into people with!
As for vote:
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
Thanks! The pommel took me a while and many napkins to figure out. Glad it came out alright
And I don't mind
Also, is it possible to ask you to put that into the next test that only needs one more success to pass? If not, putting it into base cultivation works.
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
Critical Glitch: If more than half the dice results are 1s on a primary roll, something interesting happens. This can happen on a success or failure. Rerolls do not count to the glitch calculation. For example, Hua Yin rolls 1, 5, 1 on a swimming test. He fails the roll so he can't swim. Further, because more than half of his result are 1s, he suffers a critical failure. As such, as he attempts to swim he meets a rip current. Not only does he fail to get where he wanted, something bad happens. In this case, Hua Yin got a muscle cramp and meets a shark.
[X] Write in - Polite
-[X] Politely inform the tinkerer that you are here to gather berries the behest of an Inner Disicple who has an agreement with the farmer Ju An who owns this land. As harvesting the berries is too dangerous for the farmers, you do not see an issue with the tinkerer taking some for himself. However as the tinkerer is infact poaching, Hua Yin shall fill his bag first.
Hua Yin sighed. There was nothing for it. He would just have to approach and insist that he get the first shot at whatever berries were left. He made his way down the steep sides of the crater, half falling and half sliding. Without his training and his cultivation given strength and agility, he would have tumbled. But he was likely going to need the Earth-Defying Path to get back up there. Yet another drain on his Qi. He felt like he was about halfway through his capacity. It might not be enough if there were more Rabbits, and he definitely did not want to try and cultivate out here.
He made no secret of his presence as he made his way to the thinker. However, he kept Jianshu sheathed and made an effort to look unthreatening. To be fair, Hua Yin generally didn't look like a threat. He was larger than he had been, but he was still somewhat small for his age. Hua Yin didn't have a hard face or carry himself with an air of menace. He just came off as a regular, albeit very good looking, teenager.
The tinker didn't seem to notice Hua Yin. The tinker just kept munching away at the berries. As he came closer, Hua Yin's initial observations seemed to bear out. The tinker was on the outer-edges of middle age and carried himself with a disheveled exhaustion belied only by the speed with which he was picking and eating berries. All of his clothing and equipment had seen better days. The leather of his backpack was stained and cracked. An old discarded doll was strapped such that its head poked over the man's left shoulder. The man's graying hair wasn't so long that it draped, but it was long enough that parts of it were tied back with a number of dirty ribbons. Tarnished tools hung off of him. He looked tired. Hua Yin watched as the man collected berries, popping them into his mouth one by one, hands moving like sewing in reverse.
Hua Yin waited to be acknowledged because that was the polite thing to do. And waited. Eventually he coughed. Once. Twice. Still nothing.
Wondering if the man was obtuse or if he was blind and deaf, Hua Yin called out, loudly and clearly, "Uncle!"
The tinker started and jumped before turning around. His mouth was stained with yellowish juices. One hand was halfway to bringing a berry to his mouth, which hung open in surprise. "Wha…?"
Hua Yin gave the tinker a martial salute, calling out, "Hua Yin, Outer Disciple of the Sect of the Broken Tree, greets uncle."
"Greetings nephew, call me uncle Bu Mi. Here, have a berry!" The tinker threw the golden nugget he had in his hand at Hua Yin. His voice was smoky, with a hearty rasp, but it was warm and inviting for all of that. He had an accent, but it was barely there, and Hua Yin could not place it.
Hua Yin was caught a little off guard at the informality. Maybe the tinker didn't recognize that Hua Yin's robes came from the Broken Tree? But his reflexes were good, and Hua Yin caught the berry before it fell. The little sphere was the color of amber and had a soft inner glow. It was heavy with juices.
Why not? Inner Disciple Fan Liu had indicated that they were edible. Just one berry wouldn't make or break him.
He ate it. A burst of flavor and just a bit of Qi. A juicy explosion of sweetness reminiscent of a summer's day. Hua Yin savored for a moment. He got the hype. These berries were worth the trip. He wished he had brought another pack so he could collect some for himself.
"Gratitude uncle Bu Mi. May I ask if you are affiliated with the Ju Family that owns this land? They did not tell me anyone would be here."
"This land, this land here? Don't see any signs nephew. Don't see any fences or sign posts or guide stones neither."
Hua Yin considered. The tinker wasn't wrong. But he responded, "As far as I understand it, uncle, we are in the middle of the fields they keep fallow for flowers."
"Like I said, ain't nothing indicating such. Even if'n there was, this patch looks like it's domesticated to you? See any rows or patterns or neatness?" The tinker picked another berry and threw it at Hua Yin, before popping another into his mouth and chewing with relish.
Hua Yin caught it idly before looking at the bushes. Again, the tinker wasn't wrong; the patch did look like it was growing wild. He noticed that the berries seemed to be shining brighter, and he could detect a faint aura about them. Maybe the light grew stronger as the day went on? Hua Yin popped the berry in his mouth and was again greeted with the impression of honey and sun on an idyllic day.
"Golden Honeyberries like these, they only grow wild. Don't take to domestication, you see."
For whatever reason, Hua Yin began to feel warm. Blood rushed to his face. His heart seemed to beat the tiniest bit more quickly.
Hua Yin shook his head to clear away the cobwebs, "Be that as it may, inadequate signage aside, this patch is on Ju land." His words were slowing for some reason. "Further, I am unfortunately bound to bring these berries back to the Sect of the Broken Tree." Hua Yin idly hoped that the name drop would get the tinker to back down.
"A sect? Any chance it be needin' some pots mended? Chance of discarded items need fixin' and lovin'?"
Hua Yin was slightly confused. Who hadn't heard of the Sect of the Broken Tree?
"Uncle, the Broken Tree likely does not need any tinking-tinker-tinkerbell-tinkering." Hua Yin had no idea why he had so much trouble with a single word. He slowed as he forced himself to say, "Tinkering. The Broken Tree likely does not need any tinkering. But maybe the Jus do. And you can likely find some discarded items to fix in Arbor's Rest, the town nearby."
The man seemed to think for a moment, idly popping yet another berry into his mouth. "Alright nephew. I'll let you lead me to the Jus if'n ya do me a favor. Share a meal with me, entertain an old man with some stories."
Hua Yin did not have time for this. "Uncle, I am in a little bit of a rush-" Hua Yin paused. The world spun for a moment. Hua Yin shook his head again, this time a little more forcefully as he said, "My apologies. I don't know what's coming over me." He swayed slightly.
The next thing Hua Yin knew, the tinker was there, lending Hua Yin a steady hand placed on Hua Yin's elbow. "There, there. Probably just a little tired." Bu Mi gently sat Hua Yin down. "Uncle Bu Mi'll make some rice, and you'll feel all better."
Hua Yin nodded once. He would have nodded again except the world was spinning. Hua Yin closed his eyes. It didn't help. Hua Yin's face scrunched up. Hua Yin thought that he could try to force normalcy but that didn't work either.
Hua Yin felt something being pressed into his hands. Hua Yin took it. It was a waterskin. Bu Mi's voice was soft and kind as he said, "Here, have some water."
Hua Yin realized that his mouth was a desert. He was parched! He drank. It was probably the best water he ever had. Sweet wetness with just the hint of cool from being in the shade. Hua Yin gulped it down. This was the most water-like water he had ever had. It was an exemplary example of its breed. Hua Yin drank so fast that he coughed.
His eyes were still closed so he heard rather than saw Bu Mi's chuckles.
A moment later, Bu Mi's chuckles stopped and were replaced with the sound of a pack being dropped to the floor, pieces of metal clanging. A moment after that, almost as if he was nodding himself awake, Hua Yin felt warmth that wasn't just the blood rushing to his face. Opening his eyes, Hua Yin saw that Bu Mi was standing over a small fire. Blink. Hua Yin looked again, and there was a little metal container in the flames. Bu Mi was sitting across from Hua Yin. Catching Hua Yin's eyes, the older man smiled. His teeth were shiny.
"Seein' as I'm preparin' the food, s'up t'you to provide the entertainment."
"Huh?" Hua Yin asked half-heartedly. That was a surprisingly large effort.
"Tell me a story. Tell me yours. Somethin' that's kept up with you. Anythin'll do. Just somethin' t'keep the time going."
Hua Yin breathed deeply. He shook his head once. He forced his head to be clear. "Alright uncle. You make the rice, and I'll tell the story… Let me think…"
What story does Hua Yin tell? The write-in can be a brief synopsis or a full story.
[ ] Refuse.
[ ] Something from his childhood. Write-in.
[ ] Something from his time at the Imperial Academy of Xiaoming. Write-in.
[ ] When he Awoke.
[ ] Something from his time at the Broken Tree. Write-in.
-----
Physical Training
Hua Yin was helping Gao Jin today. Gao Jin had found a mortal martial technique that he wanted to integrate into his style, the Gambler's Last Roll. The Last Roll was a fast step into a spinning, arcing elbow. If it landed, it was devastating. Unfortunately, it was a little inaccurate because it required the attacker to spin and lose sight of the opponent for a moment. So Hua Yin had volunteered to help. Hua Yin picked up his wooden practice sword, got in front of Gao Jin, and prepared himself to be a training doll.
Off to the side, he saw Mo Xiang and his lackeys. They were sparring with one another, as dedicated to their craft as Hua Yin and his friends. Mo Xiang had broken through during the week. Now, Pinnacle Initiate didn't feel so special, even if most of the first-years hadn't even broken through to Low Initiate.
Mo Xiang's faction was the largest in the first-year class and in the physical training group. It also had most of the nobles in it. Thankfully, the Broken Tree was largely meritocratic, and the group hadn't received any special attention or training.
Yang Genji had started her own little group, and her hangers-on watched as she sparred three on one, her buckler and sword moving in hypnotic circles. Breaking through to the Spirit Realm had made the already formidable noble into an even greater powerhouse. Almost no one could keep up with her, so she had to spar against multiple opponents in order to get a work out.
+3 Successes to Edged Weapons Progression.
Hua Yin has reached Edged Weapons +2.
+3 Successes to Athletics (AGL) Progression.
+1 to Numberless Stars Progression.
-----
Cultivation Class
"Your Qi system is malleable. It changes. It grows. It adapts. It becomes more familiar, and thereby more efficient. This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the Qi system can grow used to high-Qi environment of a Font, making Fonts less effective over time, such that high-level cultivators are constantly in the search for more puissant Fonts at which to cultivate. On the other hand, when we work with a particular type of Qi over a long period of time, we can develop an Affinity for it. Developing an Affinity means that you sense Qi of that element more easily, and you can cycle it more easily. Developing the Affinity is a natural process that will happen as you cultivate. The type of Font you are cultivating plays a big factor. If you cultivate at a Lightning rich Font, you are more likely to develop an Affinity for Lightning Qi, same thing for Shadow, for Fire, for Earth. Many of the Fonts of the Broken Tree are Life, Earth, and Wood aspected, which is why we have so many cultivators with those Affinities. The School on the Lonely Mountain has many Wind cultivators because its Fonts are strongly tuned to the sky. Alright, enough lecturing. Sister Zhe Chao, why don't cultivators develop Affinities with all sorts of Qi considering it sounds like you just need access to the right Fonts?"
"Senior sister, a soul can only develop so many Affinities at a time…"
+2 Successes to Knowledge: Cultivation Progression.
-----
Cultivation at the Kiss of Tribulation
It had been a quiet week on the plateau. Tianlang had barely been around, though his pork buns were always gone by the next day. All of the boys, even Li Gai, were seen on the Kiss during the week. It seemed everyone was dedicated to their training and their cultivation.
Nice I dont know about the story but I think we can go in an adventure with guan zhi after the Duel. Also next turn if we double dipped cultivation we should be able to reach spirit realm unless our rolls suck massively.
"Tell me a story. Tell me yours. Somethin' that's kept up with you. Anythin'll do. Just somethin' t'keep the time going."
Hua Yin breathed deeply. He shook his head once. He forced his head to be clear. "Alright uncle. You make the rice, and I'll tell the story… Let me think…"
What story does Hua Yin tell? The write-in can be a brief synopsis or a full story.
Re-read the quest and thought Jianshu looked cool. Felt like drawing it.
