I just caught up and was wondering about rainbow eyes too. Seems like it is worth someplace between 10-15 points of cycling progress based on activity bonuses (0.9-1.5 & rounding and not counting possible re-roll successes).
Does that line up as equivalent to like 1 ~pretty good cycling action (2 10d10s6?? checks) at a minimum or like 2+ normal to poor cycling checks?
I'm trying to check my understanding without diving into math-math.
People usually do a simulation on this for the specific numbers whenever we go to cycle something. Yeah, it's usually about break-even; 1 action to repair it and saves us about 1 cycling action.
Wow, Kumi's been down at least 60 levels of the Warren? That's... a lot bigger than I thought this building was. Is it actually uncountable, or is there an end?
Sorry but you triggered my math me.
I'm pretty sure that of anything, floors are countable, infinite but countable (like integers or rational numbers), rather than uncountable (like reals).
Otherwise we would have a very, VERY, weird topology and no concept of "next floor".
So, I'm really hoping that the challenge of trying to track Nokai will be the impetus to use SEG as more than just a way to deaden senses and expand his sixth sense. It can also be used to heighten more mundane senses, like sight and smell, which would seem to be incredibly useful for tracking. Of course, there are drawbacks (losing some senses) but I feel this would be the best environment to actually start using SEG like this, instead of in a situation where there are higher stakes.
"Thank me by taking care of it!" Kumi responds. "I had to go over sixty floors deep to get that ring! Covet it like the treasure it is, and bond it. Sooner rather than later!"
"Bond it?" you ask. "Like my Cloud's Breath?"
Your senior nods along with your question. "Exactly like that. It is not a difficult procedure. A few drops of blood and running your spirit through it should be enough. Once it's bonded, the ring can still be taken, but getting into its contents becomes substantially more different.."
You waste no time in putting Kumi's advice to use. A quick nip at your thumb draws a bead of blood, and a slight change in your breathing allows a bit of your anam to course through the ring. The band warms on your finger for a split second, heating to a point just shy of pain. Right as you're reaching to take it off, the metal cools, returning to its previous inert state.
"See? All done," Kumi cheers. "And now almost no one, besides you, can open your precious treasure trove unless you break the bond or you die- but at that point, you won't really be worrying about the fate of your ring, will you?"
That is a lot of floors. I'm guessing we may eventually hit a wall where we need to up our skills before diving in the lower floors again. But until we hit that point, we should probably consider throwing an action toward it every week or so.
Also, good to know that our items are more secure now.
When you push Xue away from your face, you find Nokai almost sagging with relief. "Oh," she sighs. "Fine. Good see." She reaches out and claps your shoulder, squeezing it tightly as the tension leaves her body.
After a moment she lets go, straightening up once more before looking you up and down. "Change!" she barks out. "Form nice! Color good."
I just caught up and was wondering about rainbow eyes too. Seems like it is worth someplace between 10-15 points of cycling progress based on activity bonuses (0.9-1.5 & rounding and not counting possible re-roll successes).
Does that line up as equivalent to like 1 ~pretty good cycling action (2 10d10s6?? checks) at a minimum or like 2+ normal to poor cycling checks?
I'm trying to check my understanding without diving into math-math.
Repairing Rainbow Eyes banks about 10 + Spiritual Talent = 14 Cycling successes.
One Cycling action should now give a mean value of 18 Cycling successes, so it is no longer action efficient to use.
The poor thing isn't even likely to survive three Cycling actions.
Repairing Rainbow Eyes banks about 10 + Spiritual Talent = 14 Cycling successes.
One Cycling action should now give a mean value of 18 Cycling successes, so it is no longer action efficient to use.
The poor thing isn't even likely to survive three Cycling actions.
Yeah that is one whole cycling action. KZ now throws 40 dice with one action, so about a tenth of those will be 1s. So on average it will burn through 4ish charges per action.
*(That is actually an underestimate, as that isn't accounting for 1s that could be generated by exploding 10s or rerolled 1s. The poor charm could quite easily burn out from two actions.)
Yeah that is one whole cycling action. KZ now throws 40 dice with one action, so about a tenth of those will be 1s. So on average it will burn through 4ish charges per action.
*(That is actually an underestimate, as that isn't accounting for 1s that could be generated by exploding 10s or rerolled 1s. The poor charm could quite easily burn out from two actions.)
Sorry but you triggered my math me.
I'm pretty sure that of anything, floors are countable, infinite but countable (like integers or rational numbers), rather than uncountable (like reals).
Otherwise we would have a very, VERY, weird topology and no concept of "next floor".
Not necessarily. It could well be something like an infinite dungeon, where floors are generated in response to the delver's encroachment. If the number of steps it takes you to reach a new floor is different every time, as are the contents of that floor, it could make sense to talk about "the next floor" but not "the seventeenth floor". Instead, there would merely be the seventeenth floor that you encountered on a particular descent, which is almost certainly not the same as the seventeenth floor you or anyone else would encounter on any other trip. This satisfies a condition for uncountability; even if you were able to descend an infinite number of floors an infinite number of times, there would be possible floors that you do not encounter on any given descent.
Not necessarily. It could well be something like an infinite dungeon, where floors are generated in response to the delver's encroachment. If the number of steps it takes you to reach a new floor is different every time, as are the contents of that floor, it could make sense to talk about "the next floor" but not "the seventeenth floor". Instead, there would merely be the seventeenth floor that you encountered on a particular descent, which is almost certainly not the same as the seventeenth floor you or anyone else would encounter on any other trip. This satisfies a condition for uncountability; even if you were able to descend an infinite number of floors an infinite number of times, there would be possible floors that you do not encounter on any given descent.
Infinite number of infinities can still be countable.
But yeah, if space for "any other descent" was continous rather than discreet (like not quantised time of descent) there's possibility of uncountable rooms.
A/N: A big thanks to the 42 people who have pledged to me on Patreon! If you'd like to join them, you can do so here. Or, if you'd like to make a donation without the monthly committment (which would be especially welcome over the next two months), you can buy me a cup of Ko-Fi here.
> Nokai. Her path is almost non-existent, but still, It's the last thing she'll expect.
----------------------------
Zhao's trail is enormous and would likely be simple to follow. Lan's is smaller, but festooned with strands of white hair. Even you could follow such a path. Xue's trail, on the other hand, looks like it would be a greater challenge. He is a small hound, and his weight barely broke the twigs he stepped on. Still, he is not the most subtle of beasts. You could likely track him down as well if given enough time.
But you do not direct Lu towards any of those trails. Instead, you point at a disturbed leaf on a bush, a half-print in the mud, and a handful of broken blades of grass: the only signs of Nokai's passage. "We are going to follow her," you almost whisper.
Lu's spine stiffens and the dark hound glances up at you, surprise writ large on his canine features. Doubt screams from every facet of his body language; it could not be clearer if he stood up on his hind legs and started giving a speech on the subject. Lu spins in place twice, before smacking his paw against the ground and turning, giving Zhao's trail a longing gesture.
"No, no," you respond. "We can do this! The others are expecting us to try and track them! But Nokai? She is so confident in her own skills that she thinks we won't even try! The start of her trail may be tough to pick up, but once we are on it, she will certainly let down her guard!"
The dog does not seem convinced. But at the very least, he stops looking at Zhao's trail to give you his full attention. You take full advantage of his focus. "Besides, so what if we find one of the others? Do you think that will be the end of it? No, your mistress will likely have us hunt down all of them to make sure you have learned! If we find her right away, we can skip the whole process."
Your fist clenches and you hold it up, determination coursing through you. "We can find her. It will be the last thing she expects. And then… then it will be her turn to be bait."
Lu pauses. He stares at you. Then he drops to his hindquarters, giving you a look that can only mean, '...sure. Good luck with that.'
<Mu! MuGhiGhiGhi!>
At least someone was inspired by your stirring words. You sigh and shake your head, staring at Lu. "You asked, I answered. We are going to search for her. Now let's get to it."
A canine grumble emerges from Lu's mouth, but he doesn't argue any further. The small dog lowers his whiskered face to the ground and begins to huff loudly, sniffing the air around Nokai's trail for any sign of her scent.
Lu sniffs and huffs and snorts at the air for minutes on end. He paces back and forth in the area Nokai was standing in for another few moments. Then, finally, he picks a direction and begins taking off at a halting trot. You follow him for only a few dozen feet before he pauses- and stops. Lu circles this new spot of his again and again, sniffing all the while. Finally he comes to a halt and lets out a series of plaintive whines to let you know that he's lost whatever trail he found. You suppose that you must take it from here.
The next few moments are spent stumbling through the underbrush, glancing around for any sign of Nokai's passage. Your theory that she may have let down her guard once she was away from your starting position quickly proves to be wrong. If you didn't know that she had to have come this way- and Lu hadn't managed to follow her scent for the short distance he did- you would never suspect that your Sunholder friend was even in the Forest of Pearls.
You and Lu forge on, eyes wide and noses to the ground. Every now and then, the tiny dog lets out a huff of joy- then stops, grumbling as he realizes that what he thought he scented was just a figment of his imagination. You don't let those failures discourage you though. The trail may be cold now, but all you need is a single clue and you will be right back in the hunt.
And then, right as you begin to think that you should turn around and find the start of Zhao's trail after all- you spot it.
A fallen branch sits atop the roots of a nearby tree. The branch itself is nothing spectacular; it seems to have fallen from the tree due to a nest that had been built too heavy for it to bear. But there on that branch, dangling from one of the gnarled twigs at the end of it floats a thread so fine that you would have missed it if the afternoon breeze was not making it dance in the air.
You reach out and pluck the thread from the branch, running it between your fingers slowly. You know this coarse material well: you're wearing it. This could only have come from one of the Delving Heart's sect robes. Nokai has been this way.
With one clue, your hunt is rejuvenated. You continue on with a new life. Around the branch are further signs of passage now that you know to look for them.A broken blade of grass here. A slight scuff in the dirt there. A bird given flight off in the distance. The signs begin to grow, getting more and more common the more you go.
Then finally- you spot her.
You almost miss her at first glance as she crouches in the tall grass near a creek bed. It's the light that gives her away; as the sun begins its descent towards the horizon, it catches her ash blonde hair at just the right angle to draw it to your attention. You can barely suppress a laugh as you realize that it's the sun that gave Nokai away. It is as though a poet were writing it..
Lu notices her at the same time you do and moves to run, no doubt planning to charge his mistress and tackle her as you yourself have been tackled many times over the course of this afternoon. You stop him though, raising a hand and gesturing for him to stay back. Surprisingly, he does, which is just as well for Lu; you would have bowled him over if he insisted on racing you to Nokai.
After all, this is all her fault. She's the one who subjected you to this afternoon of indignities. You will claim your vengeance, no matter who stands in your way!
And so you move. You carefully creep around the creek bed, holding your breath and moving as quietly as you know how. Then, right when you are in her blind spot, you stop-
-and you strike.
Nokai senses your presence a fraction of a second before your impact. She twists to face you, shock on her face. That reaction is the only thing that saves her from being bit in the scruff of the neck for a change, and though she escapes the strike, your tackle will not be deterred. You press on, burying your shoulder in her exposed midsection and tackling her to the ground.
Your friend is not one to let you keep an advantage. She twists as you bear down on her, sliding out from under you like an eel and flipping you over so that she comes down on top of you. But you resist, your motion making it so that she can't get a good grip, and you come into this fall with an enormous amount of momentum. You are able to reverse her grip and roll again, ending up on top once more.
Nokai's hands fly beneath you as she searches for any possible advantage. You move to defend, your own ruby palms slapping away her fingers before she can get a single drop of leverage. Still, you roll, trading positions again and again. You are on top for a moment before Nokai gains the advantage after which you snatch it back-
Finally, your rolling struggle takes you into the creek. You hit the water with a splash and it rises up, dousing the two of you and forcing your eyes shut.
When your eyes clear, you blink- and find yourself on top. Nokai is pressed into the river mud, your hands on her shoulders, water pooling around her face and soaking her half-trimmed hair. Even now, she tries to escape, but between your greater size and the help of the mud, there is no escape.
Not that she seems to mind her plight, though. She stops fighting a moment later and a fierce smile beams up at you from below soft brown eyes. A low chuckle burbles up from Nokai's throat. "Kong Zhi better than thought," she says, the chuckle transforming into genuine laughter. "Need find better hiding next."
...oh.
You have never really thought about it before, but here, in the water and mud, with Nokai pinned beneath you, you are forced to confront one fact that hadn't really registered with you before this very moment.
Nokai is...
You let go of your friend like she's suddenly hotter than a coal and fall back, behind landing squarely in the creek as the knowledge squashes your competitive fire like it never existed. Nokai takes advantage of your change in position to sit up, leaving the mud behind with a squelching noise. The muck does nothing to dim her smile; she could not possibly look any more pleased.
Lu trots up to her and, perhaps belatedly, nips her on the back of the neck. The Sunholder's chuckles turn into a loud bellow of laughter. She reaches down and pats the dog, turning to scratch the side of his face when he moves to give her better access. "Good boy!" she coos. "Did so good! Such good hunt!"
The look she gives you leaves no doubt in your mind that she knows exactly who did the lion's share of the searching. "So good!" she says again, this time encompassing you with the praise. "But… can find again?"
You banish the strange feelings your realization stirs in you and shake your head. "Excuse me?"
"Can do again?" Nokai repeats. "I go hide. Try one more and-"
You will never get as lucky as you did back then. The odds of Nokai just happening to brush against the wrong twig again are infinitesimally small. You cannot imagine it happening more than once. If you let Nokai take off again, you will be here all night. "No, no!" you interrupt. "I… perhaps it would be more helpful to Lu if we… went over some of the tricks you used to muddle your trail!"
The look on Nokai's face tells you that she's on to you, but thankfully she doesn't argue. Instead, she pushes herself from the creek- only to drop back down next to you, pressing her side against your as she scoops Lu up in her arms. "Fine," she huffs. "Stay. More comfortable than mud."
...but you're still in the mud.
Nokai doesn't seem to care about that. Instead, she looks to Lu. "Lose trail simple," she starts. "Need break scent first. Water good, but if no, travel with wind. Then no wind carry scent. Still need moss cover body scent, but no wind give time…"
And so begins your further education on how to lose a tracker. It is honestly very interesting stuff, the kind of thing you will use extensively when trying to hunt down anything with a modicum of intelligence- like Spirit Beasts, for example. Still, you are only half paying attention to Nokai's words.
Skill Up! +1 Survival!
You are somewhat distracted by how close and warm she is beside you.
***
Nokai's lessons end soon after. Despite the distraction, you still pick up a few things. Not only is the information interesting and helpful, but Nokai clearly loves imparting a bit of her knowledge on a willing subject. But eventually, you have to beg off. You have other commitments that demand your time- commitments involving Nokai's roommate.
And so you pull yourself from the muck, pat Lu and Xue, trade nods with Lan and Zhao, rinse off, and receive a quick embrace from Nokai before turning and jogging away. You make your way from the Forest of Pearls at a quick pace, heading for the Spire for a change of clothes before you leave again, heading towards Mo Hanying's amphitheatre.
It is finally time. Months ago, Mo Hanying asked you to serve as the judge for her charm crafting competition. You may not have gotten involved until late in the event, but now you cannot wait to see what the finalists have brought for you. Today, you will pick a winner, and the sect will have a greater understanding of the glory of charmcrafting.
A great number of your courtyard beat you to the ampitheatre. The hubbub of their conversation proceeds them, and when you walk into the room it is like walking face-first into a wall of noise. But the sound quickly begins to diminish as you stride through the vacant work stations and take your place beside Mo Hanying and Fan Zhao beneath the enormous scorpion mural
By the time you sit down, you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. You glance behind you to find every eye in the room trained on you. The audience is gaping at you, the contestants are all wide-eyed, and even Fan Zho can't seem to believe what he is seeing. You are barely able to keep from grinning at his gobsmacked expression.
See? See what happens when you do not stick rigidly to one form of charm?
You do not say that though. Instead, you turn to the only person who appears to have expected your new appearance. "Good day, Mo Hanying," you greet her. "Are we ready to proceed?"
The noble gives an elegant nod in return. "Almost," she answers. "Though we still have one matter of business to attend to before we can begin."
"Oh?" you prompt. "What is left?"
"Why, the opening remarks, of course!"
Fair enough. It would not be a Mo Hanying-sponsored event if she did not stand up and say a few words first. "Of course," you echo. "Just let me know when you are done and I will call up the first finalist."
Mo Hanying shoots you a quizzical look. "Oh, no, Kong Zhi," she states. "I may be the sponsor here, but you are the proctor. And it is the proctor's job to deliver remarks! I cannot wait to hear what you have in store for us today."
A snort of laughter bursts from your nose. You? Give a speech? That's… ah, that's a good one. You needed the laugh.
Mo Hanying's eyes don't change. They barely even blink. Only her smile shifts, growing wider and wider the longer she stares at you.
...oh no, she's serious.
"Well?" she says, arching an eyebrow. "Go on. They are already hanging on your every move." Sure enough, the audience and competitors are still staring at you with various degrees of shock and surprise on their face- and something else on Ta Riou's. You glance at her, trying to read her expression, before falling into your breathing pattern on instinct.
…is she generating anam?! What aspect even is that?!
You shake your head. That's not important right now. What is important is that you apparently have to speak.
Wonderful.
Mo Hanying has informed you that you are delivering the opening remarks for her tournament finals. What do you wish to say?
[] Write-In (Please do not write out a full speech. Just give me the gist.)
