When were they said to be allied with the Sun?
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
That's a weird take.
That she never says having too many meridians type is bad for you doesn't mean she says it's good for you, which is what you were saying. It's doubly true when she was talking about the dangers of over-abundance of a single type, so it would have been a strange aside for her to say "don't take more than 3 elements". The actual people saying we had too many elements were our tutors.
Also, mmh.... Ling Qi asked if a perception art is how CRX new she had broken through after Meizhen said how much Qi she had, not 'how many meridians I have'. Not to say Meizhen's perception art is not better than AM (it is), but that wasn't what they were talking about.
Ji Rong
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
Mmmh, feels a bit too Zuko there. Not sure I approve.Took me a while, but here it is. Now for Ji Rong studying in the archive.
Hate the hands so much. also messed up partway through in some parts
@yrsillar some more sir. Also gotta ask if CDE is gonna get trained as well before we go adventuring.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Hmmm.....Is it the hair? or scar?
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
I think it's both in combination.
Grossly misreading the points:
-The first point is that diversity of elements is not inherently harmful, only that it makes drugs, spirit beasts and sites harder to optimize. This is important on a clan basis, because a budding clan cannot after all maintain a diverse spread of powerful cultivation sites like the Sect could.
-The second point is that we know qi perception arts vary in quality and that means that the tutors giving helpful advice are not in possession of the full picture, which is:
--Nobody in a position to have a high resolution perception art capable of counting individual meridians like Meizhen or Renxiang had ever commented on our element spread being a bad thing.
--Nobody in a position of substantially better cultivation(Moon Sempai, Elders, etc of Cyan and up) had ever commented on our element spread being a bad thing.
--Every tutor that commented are of greater, but not insurmountably greater ability(mid or lower Greens), they'd be seeing something like Major Darkness, Water, Wood, Heaven, Music, Moon in the abstract and vague visions they'd be getting like we are now. Assuming a meridian spread more typical of a First Year Disciple(without White Room, Rare Drugs compounding high Talent to make opening meridians effortless), they'd reasonably expect us to be splitting 15-20 meridians 6 ways. Which would suggest we had like 2-3 meridians per element, which would indeed be very bad.
Instead when viewed in detail, we have something like 1-3 meridians for the splash elements, 4-5 for the middle element of the week(as we shift our arts around), and Darkness/Water were packing 10-ish. But not everyone can see this. Ling Qi can't even do this herself to someone in Yellow.
The Future Changed: Human's didn't
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
The Future Changed, Humans Didn't
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sixiang, time?"
"Ling Qi, you have 10 minutes left before you have scheduled yourself to Jack In."
"Thank you Sixiang."
Ling Qi stretched as her apartment swam before her eyes. She was exhausted. A great deal of effort, money, and favors had been spent to get this trash heap of an apartment. But it was in the outskirts of New Angeles and more importantly all the blueprints, utility bills, and city records stated that this apartment was in a completely different district. Perfect for a runner who didn't want to get tagged. Under her breath Ling Qi muttered her mantra.
"Getting tagged puts you in a body bag."
A faint chime echoed out before Sixiang gave an update.
"Ling Qi, you have 8 minutes left before you have scheduled yourself to Jack In."
"Yes, yes, Sixiang. Please begin running your watchdog routines and begin silent mode."
A single chime was Sixiang response before the apartment fell back into silence. Carefully Ling Qi made her way over the piles of DIESEL tm energy drinks towards Zhengui, her pride and joy. The truly massive computer took up most of the apartment and was to Ling Qi a work of art. It allowed her to blast ICE codes to dust and once she had what she wanted it gnarled the fragmentary codes left by her attack into a virtual forest that would take even the best sysops hours to untangle. By that time all traces of her would be gone and the sysops would have no way to track her down.
Ling Qi pressed the hidden latch to open up Zhengui and carefully settled into the chair situated in the middle. While Zhengui closed back up she made sure to plug in the life monitoring equipment into her wrists. A Wayland run was scheduled for tonight and while Wayland wasn't known for trying to flatline runners but it paid to be careful. With a flick of her fingers Ling Qi opened up the ports on her neck and plugged herself in. The rumbling power of Zhengui that flowed through her neck always gave Ling Qi the most comforting feeling. Here she was queen. Here she wasn't another urchin in BosWash. Here she wasn't getting beaten because she had stolen an implant. Here she wasn't starving on the street corner. Here she was power incarnate.
"3, 2, 1, Jack In!"
The shell of Zhengui surrounding her bled away as the color of the Net exploded into being. No longer in a ratty apartment the towering cityscape of information surrounded her. Ads filled every wall and unencrypted information flowed around her. Zhengui took the form of a Xuan Wu here in the Net. No longer shackled to a single location Zhengui chirped happily and started to eat an ad for Jinteki's newest product line. A light slap was all Ling Qi needed to remind Zhengui of tonight's target. Weyland had added more ICE recently to a server which was a sure sign that something important was hiding there. Wayland was predictable like that.
Moving with Zhengui through the Net was an exercise in patience. The massive power draw of Zhengui warped everything around him and often broke unprotected code. Zhengui tried to fix those as quickly as possible so as to leave as little of trail as possible in the Net. Yet movement was slow to give Wayland as little warning as possible. Nevertheless eventually Ling Qi and Zhengui came to the edge of a no man's land between the regular net and a corporate server. Once they crossed into that information dead space Wayland sysops would be alerted. Zhengui chirped a question and Ling Qi grinned back.
"Initiate run!"
With a great bellow Zhengui abandoned any pretense of stealth and charged straight towards the server and the ICE protecting it. His shear weight and power was enough shatter the first piece of ICE with ease. A great wall of crystal crashed down around them as Zhengui twisted the codes around him into worthless junk. Already Ling Qi could feel power beginning to flood the server in front of them as it's defenses were roused from their slumber. They surely kicked a hornet nest with this run!
Yet before the next piece of ICE could fully activate Zhengui and Ling Qi had blasted past it. The half activated defenses offered no resistance to Zhengui's hungry maw. If the information Ling Qi had purchased was correct then there was only one more piec…
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! THE REALM BEYOND IS FORBIDDEN!"
The bellowing cry had an almost physical weight to it as a massive information attack struck Zhengui. As they skidded to halt under the weight of the information trying to bind them Ling Qi looked up at giant standing in their way. Holding a massive shield and a great trident this piece of ICE looked like the guardian of the gods themselves. As it's shield smashed into Zhengui devouring maw thunderous sounds resounded throughout the server.
With a light tap Ling Qi transferred a new plan to Zhengui. With an earth shattering bellow Zhengui swelled in size until it was even larger than the ICE blocking them. The piece of ICE in front of them barely held off the behemoth Zhengui by shoving it's shield into the gaping maw of Gui preventing Gui from snapping it's arm clean off while the trident blurred into a dizzying pattern to keep Zhen from injecting it with junk code. Yet, even with this unparalleled defense cracks appeared in the ICE under the weight of the immense attack. Cracks that Ling Qi could slip through.
A burst of speed allowed Ling Qi to slide down the trunk sized legs of Zhengui and through the cracks in the ICE caused by the battling titans. As Ling Qi panted for breath she was glad the gambit had paid off and the titan behind her was the last piece of ICE defending this server. The server before her pulsed with information, all of it hers now. Ling Qi started to copy and store as much of the information as she could. Such unlimited access would only last the briefest of instances before the sysops started to use other tools to get rid of her. Flashes of information passed through her head as she went around copying what she could. A sea breeze, dusty roads, ocean vistas, restaurant reviews, assassination plans, olive oil prices, and more all flooded into her mind as she went about her work.
A soft chime in Ling Qi's head was her only warning before Sixiang spoke.
"I have detected a trace being launched from the Beanstalk. You need to Jack Out."
Ling Qi replied with a grunt as she reached up to her neck and tore it open.
She dry heaved as she slowly began to unplug herself. A hard Jack Out like she just did was always difficult. But it was necessary, one did not just let Wayland have free reign on a trace. After all getting tagged puts you in a body bag.
Ling Qi managed to gasp out the question burning in her mind between the dry heaves.
"Trace status!?"
Sixiang quickly chimed the answer. "Hanyi has managed to draw away about half of the traces strength to ChiLo and freeze it there. However, it looks like the trace was able to get a partial lock onto this apartments location".
Ling Qi started to wobble towards the window at her apartment. As she fell against the window she pulled the blinds open to let the light of New Angeles shine in. Her gaze though turned away from the glittering diamond of New Angeles, away from the prosperity, away from the promise of a better future, and towards the dimmer outer districts were everyone struggled under the yoke of poverty.
Sixiang broke the silence again. "Retaliation in 3,2,1."
Ling Qi watched as an apartment block several districts away began to glow with light that rivaled that of the arcologies of New Angeles. This light though was not from the ads or parties of an arcology, but of hungry flames that ate the apartment block and anyone inside alive.
With a tired sigh Ling Qi turned away from the already dimming fire as emergency vehicles started to fight the disaster and slumped against the wall.
"News please Sixiang."
A dim video screen with spiderweb cracks puttered to life in a corner of her dark apartment.
"This is an NBN breaking news segment. A devastating fire has erupted in Quinde and we have a statement already from a Wayland spokeswomen. Ma'am, do you have knowledge about what has happened in Quinde?"
"Yes, this is a terrible tragedy. In response to a plea from several Wayland workers and their families a Wayland security team was dispatched to an apartment block in the Quinde district in hopes of increasing protection for workers feeling the pressure under the expanding gang known as 14K. The workers fears were well founded as shortly after beginning their protection detail a fire fight between the Wayland security team and members of 14K erupted. Shortly after the fighting began a fire blazed out of control and destroyed everything in the apartment block. The current belief that Wayland has is based on the footage taken during the fighting and is that a 14k member threw an illegal incendiary grenade into a large drug lab. The resulting fire quickly grew out of control and caused the disaster. Waylands is deeply saddened by this disaster and is already moving to help rebuild the apartment complex and is currently offering free shelter for any survivors of this tragedy."
"Thank you Ma'am for Wayland's statement. If you are a survivor of this horrific tragedy please use any of NBN kiosks near you and Wayland personal will pick you up and bring you to temporary quarters while your homes are being rebuilt. For now let's move onto a panel already discussing the growing gang pro…"
"Sixiang, news off."
With a groan Ling Qi pushed herself up the wall and looked out the window again. This time towards the sight that inspired her everyday. Against the darkness of the night sky the Beanstalk looked like a gleaming sword of diamonds splitting the entire world in half. One day Ling Qi would be on the opposite end of the Beanstalk. Instead of looking up she would look down upon the world expanding away from her. She would have the finest of drinks and the finest of foods. Zhengui would finally have enough power that he wouldn't need to be on sleep mode for weeks at a time and could roam the Net freely. Sixiang and Hanyi would finally be placed in a bioroid body and everyone could explore both realities as the family they were. Ling Qi just needed to get the money and she would ascend the Beanstalk to complete all of her dreams.
"Sixiang contact Mr. Li. See if he has a buyer from the Mediterranean mirco-nations interested in knowing about some false flag operations. It looks like Wayland wants to start some more wars over there. We will also need him to help us set up the new paperwork for this apartment. Also contact Aseop and see if any runners are interested in the defenses for Wayland server X-974. Set a standard price."
Ling Qi resolved herself. She would do anything for her dream of a family.
A.N:
So this a story of a Ling Qi is based in the cyberpunk world of Android:Netrunner. This is a world where almost everyone has personal A.Is and Mega corporations run almost everything. Runners are those who use the future internet to steal stuff from those corporations. Or just break things. The Beanstalk is a space elevator and New Angeles is the city that sprung up around it. It is a very fascinating world that was the basis for a card game that is now sadly discontinued due to licensing disagreements. This was just a massive plot bunny that wouldn't go away but, I hope you enjoy cyberpunk Ling Qi!
@yrsillar Omake for the Omake throne!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sixiang, time?"
"Ling Qi, you have 10 minutes left before you have scheduled yourself to Jack In."
"Thank you Sixiang."
Ling Qi stretched as her apartment swam before her eyes. She was exhausted. A great deal of effort, money, and favors had been spent to get this trash heap of an apartment. But it was in the outskirts of New Angeles and more importantly all the blueprints, utility bills, and city records stated that this apartment was in a completely different district. Perfect for a runner who didn't want to get tagged. Under her breath Ling Qi muttered her mantra.
"Getting tagged puts you in a body bag."
A faint chime echoed out before Sixiang gave an update.
"Ling Qi, you have 8 minutes left before you have scheduled yourself to Jack In."
"Yes, yes, Sixiang. Please begin running your watchdog routines and begin silent mode."
A single chime was Sixiang response before the apartment fell back into silence. Carefully Ling Qi made her way over the piles of DIESEL tm energy drinks towards Zhengui, her pride and joy. The truly massive computer took up most of the apartment and was to Ling Qi a work of art. It allowed her to blast ICE codes to dust and once she had what she wanted it gnarled the fragmentary codes left by her attack into a virtual forest that would take even the best sysops hours to untangle. By that time all traces of her would be gone and the sysops would have no way to track her down.
Ling Qi pressed the hidden latch to open up Zhengui and carefully settled into the chair situated in the middle. While Zhengui closed back up she made sure to plug in the life monitoring equipment into her wrists. A Wayland run was scheduled for tonight and while Wayland wasn't known for trying to flatline runners but it paid to be careful. With a flick of her fingers Ling Qi opened up the ports on her neck and plugged herself in. The rumbling power of Zhengui that flowed through her neck always gave Ling Qi the most comforting feeling. Here she was queen. Here she wasn't another urchin in BosWash. Here she wasn't getting beaten because she had stolen an implant. Here she wasn't starving on the street corner. Here she was power incarnate.
"3, 2, 1, Jack In!"
The shell of Zhengui surrounding her bled away as the color of the Net exploded into being. No longer in a ratty apartment the towering cityscape of information surrounded her. Ads filled every wall and unencrypted information flowed around her. Zhengui took the form of a Xuan Wu here in the Net. No longer shackled to a single location Zhengui chirped happily and started to eat an ad for Jinteki's newest product line. A light slap was all Ling Qi needed to remind Zhengui of tonight's target. Weyland had added more ICE recently to a server which was a sure sign that something important was hiding there. Wayland was predictable like that.
Moving with Zhengui through the Net was an exercise in patience. The massive power draw of Zhengui warped everything around him and often broke unprotected code. Zhengui tried to fix those as quickly as possible so as to leave as little of trail as possible in the Net. Yet movement was slow to give Wayland as little warning as possible. Nevertheless eventually Ling Qi and Zhengui came to the edge of a no man's land between the regular net and a corporate server. Once they crossed into that information dead space Wayland sysops would be alerted. Zhengui chirped a question and Ling Qi grinned back.
"Initiate run!"
With a great bellow Zhengui abandoned any pretense of stealth and charged straight towards the server and the ICE protecting it. His shear weight and power was enough shatter the first piece of ICE with ease. A great wall of crystal crashed down around them as Zhengui twisted the codes around him into worthless junk. Already Ling Qi could feel power beginning to flood the server in front of them as it's defenses were roused from their slumber. They surely kicked a hornet nest with this run!
Yet before the next piece of ICE could fully activate Zhengui and Ling Qi had blasted past it. The half activated defenses offered no resistance to Zhengui's hungry maw. If the information Ling Qi had purchased was correct then there was only one more piec…
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! THE REALM BEYOND IS FORBIDDEN!"
The bellowing cry had an almost physical weight to it as a massive information attack struck Zhengui. As they skidded to halt under the weight of the information trying to bind them Ling Qi looked up at giant standing in their way. Holding a massive shield and a great trident this piece of ICE looked like the guardian of the gods themselves. As it's shield smashed into Zhengui devouring maw thunderous sounds resounded throughout the server.
With a light tap Ling Qi transferred a new plan to Zhengui. With an earth shattering bellow Zhengui swelled in size until it was even larger than the ICE blocking them. The piece of ICE in front of them barely held off the behemoth Zhengui by shoving it's shield into the gaping maw of Gui preventing Gui from snapping it's arm clean off while the trident blurred into a dizzying pattern to keep Zhen from injecting it with junk code. Yet, even with this unparalleled defense cracks appeared in the ICE under the weight of the immense attack. Cracks that Ling Qi could slip through.
A burst of speed allowed Ling Qi to slide down the trunk sized legs of Zhengui and through the cracks in the ICE caused by the battling titans. As Ling Qi panted for breath she was glad the gambit had paid off and the titan behind her was the last piece of ICE defending this server. The server before her pulsed with information, all of it hers now. Ling Qi started to copy and store as much of the information as she could. Such unlimited access would only last the briefest of instances before the sysops started to use other tools to get rid of her. Flashes of information passed through her head as she went around copying what she could. A sea breeze, dusty roads, ocean vistas, restaurant reviews, assassination plans, olive oil prices, and more all flooded into her mind as she went about her work.
A soft chime in Ling Qi's head was her only warning before Sixiang spoke.
"I have detected a trace being launched from the Beanstalk. You need to Jack Out."
Ling Qi replied with a grunt as she reached up to her neck and tore it open.
She dry heaved as she slowly began to unplug herself. A hard Jack Out like she just did was always difficult. But it was necessary, one did not just let Wayland have free reign on a trace. After all getting tagged puts you in a body bag.
Ling Qi managed to gasp out the question burning in her mind between the dry heaves.
"Trace status!?"
Sixiang quickly chimed the answer. "Hanyi has managed to draw away about half of the traces strength to ChiLo and freeze it there. However, it looks like the trace was able to get a partial lock onto this apartments location".
Ling Qi started to wobble towards the window at her apartment. As she fell against the window she pulled the blinds open to let the light of New Angeles shine in. Her gaze though turned away from the glittering diamond of New Angeles, away from the prosperity, away from the promise of a better future, and towards the dimmer outer districts were everyone struggled under the yoke of poverty.
Sixiang broke the silence again. "Retaliation in 3,2,1."
Ling Qi watched as an apartment block several districts away began to glow with light that rivaled that of the arcologies of New Angeles. This light though was not from the ads or parties of an arcology, but of hungry flames that ate the apartment block and anyone inside alive.
With a tired sigh Ling Qi turned away from the already dimming fire as emergency vehicles started to fight the disaster and slumped against the wall.
"News please Sixiang."
A dim video screen with spiderweb cracks puttered to life in a corner of her dark apartment.
"This is an NBN breaking news segment. A devastating fire has erupted in Quinde and we have a statement already from a Wayland spokeswomen. Ma'am, do you have knowledge about what has happened in Quinde?"
"Yes, this is a terrible tragedy. In response to a plea from several Wayland workers and their families a Wayland security team was dispatched to an apartment block in the Quinde district in hopes of increasing protection for workers feeling the pressure under the expanding gang known as 14K. The workers fears were well founded as shortly after beginning their protection detail a fire fight between the Wayland security team and members of 14K erupted. Shortly after the fighting began a fire blazed out of control and destroyed everything in the apartment block. The current belief that Wayland has is based on the footage taken during the fighting and is that a 14k member threw an illegal incendiary grenade into a large drug lab. The resulting fire quickly grew out of control and caused the disaster. Waylands is deeply saddened by this disaster and is already moving to help rebuild the apartment complex and is currently offering free shelter for any survivors of this tragedy."
"Thank you Ma'am for Wayland's statement. If you are a survivor of this horrific tragedy please use any of NBN kiosks near you and Wayland personal will pick you up and bring you to temporary quarters while your homes are being rebuilt. For now let's move onto a panel already discussing the growing gang pro…"
"Sixiang, news off."
With a groan Ling Qi pushed herself up the wall and looked out the window again. This time towards the sight that inspired her everyday. Against the darkness of the night sky the Beanstalk looked like a gleaming sword of diamonds splitting the entire world in half. One day Ling Qi would be on the opposite end of the Beanstalk. Instead of looking up she would look down upon the world expanding away from her. She would have the finest of drinks and the finest of foods. Zhengui would finally have enough power that he wouldn't need to be on sleep mode for weeks at a time and could roam the Net freely. Sixiang and Hanyi would finally be placed in a bioroid body and everyone could explore both realities as the family they were. Ling Qi just needed to get the money and she would ascend the Beanstalk to complete all of her dreams.
"Sixiang contact Mr. Li. See if he has a buyer from the Mediterranean mirco-nations interested in knowing about some false flag operations. It looks like Wayland wants to start some more wars over there. We will also need him to help us set up the new paperwork for this apartment. Also contact Aseop and see if any runners are interested in the defenses for Wayland server X-974. Set a standard price."
Ling Qi resolved herself. She would do anything for her dream of a family.
A.N:
So this a story of a Ling Qi is based in the cyberpunk world of Android:Netrunner. This is a world where almost everyone has personal A.Is and Mega corporations run almost everything. Runners are those who use the future internet to steal stuff from those corporations. Or just break things. The Beanstalk is a space elevator and New Angeles is the city that sprung up around it. It is a very fascinating world that was the basis for a card game that is now sadly discontinued due to licensing disagreements. This was just a massive plot bunny that wouldn't go away but, I hope you enjoy cyberpunk Ling Qi!
@yrsillar Omake for the Omake throne!
Last edited:
- Location
- United States of America
I did, I really did. Thanks for the omake, I loved it!
The Inquisition has Arrived
- Location
- United States of America
The Inquisition has Arrived
First Lieutenant Garush felt the vibrations from his footfalls reverberate throughout the eerily silent halls. While the hall was decked with the appropriate iconography befitting a vessel of the Imperium, it felt like there was an absence in every shadow, a hunger in every flickering candle, a crawling whisper in every whiff of incense. Normally he would brush it off as an errant thought and promise to devote more time in prayer to the Emperor, but with who lay in wait at the end of this stretch of hallway, he couldn't say for certain that it was simply his mind playing tricks. Eventually, he stood at the door leading to the Inquisitor's chambers and knocked politely. He felt the chill down his neck as a soft voice spoke from inside the room.
"Please come in First Lieutenant Garush, the door is unlocked."
Opening the door revealed a sparsely decorated room. The expected furnishings were there: skulls, candles, Imperial Aquilae, incense, and the Inquisitorial symbol dotted the room, but they all seemed lesser compared to the woman sitting at her desk before him. Clothed in dark midnight purple accented with silver, she had a quiet unassuming air about her. A cup with a frosted lip was to her left on the desk, and a deck of the Emperor's Tarot was being shuffled in her hands. It was almost hypnotic the way the cards moved between her fingers as if dancing to an invisible melody. He saw Inquisitor Ling look up from her shuffling and smile. A cold sweat broke out upon his back at the sight, which was never a good sign.
"Come in First Lieutenant Garush," the Inquisitor beckoned, "have a seat."
With a deep breath, he began his rehearsed line, "I'm sorry Lady Inquisitor, but I've been sent to escort you to the bridge upon the Captain's order. He wishes to consult with you about possible entry plans into the system and we are soon exiting the warp."
"And he need not worry First Lieutenant, you shall do your duty as soon as you have sat down for a couple of minutes. It would be impolite to barge into a lady's quarters and demand she leave immediately when there's not a true emergency, would it not?
He looked at her smiling face and knew that she would not budge before he sat down. With a swallow, he nodded and pulled out the chair in front of the desk and sat down. This was going to be simply terrible, wasn't it?
"Tell me First Lieutenant, have you ever had your fortune read with the Emperor's Tarot?"
"Ah… no, I haven't Lady Inquisitor"
"Hmm… such a shame," Inquisitor Ling whispered, "let's take a moment to see what your fortune is, shall we?"
With dawning horror, First Lieutenant Garush watched as four cards darted out of the rhythm between her fingers and laid face down in front of Inquisitor Ling. They were elegant cards, finely crafted, and represented information that he was better off not knowing. Knowing the future always made the present duty harder. The other cards were set down on the desk, and then she cupped her hands in her lap
With no hesitation, Inquisitor Ling began her reading, "The first card is the past, the second card is a present struggle, the third card is a potential solution, and the fourth is a future tragedy. Let us begin shall we?"
He tried to rise to his feet and give protest, but his muscles refused to move and his voice died in his throat. The pressure in the room had become immense, the candles swirled erratically and shadows danced in response. A chill permeated his bones as the temperature dropped precipitously. Inquisitor Ling seemed to pay it no mind as she flipped over the first card.
"The Dishonored Scion, but inverted. Intriguing. You're not nobility yourself, so you must have attached yourself to a rising star amongst the nobility to gain the rank you hold today. Perhaps the Captian of our fair vessel? No? Then the Flag-Lieutenant. You seem to have friends in high places."
The Inquisitor flipped the next card over, and all but one candle were suddenly snuffed out. There, on the table lay The Shattered World.
"The Shattered World," she murmured, "it seems that your friendship with the high and mighty is nearing its end. He is taking actions you disagree with, actions which you deem to be ruinous. Yet you stand helpless to stop it and should he succeed you will be damned but should he fail your time in the navy will end. I would imagine you find neither outcome particularly attractive."
He knew that already! But each solution he had would cost him everything. His position in the fleet, his status amongst the nobility, his wealth, and his privilege! It would likely even cost him his fiancee! As the Inquisitor reached for the third card, he prayed to the Emperor, that something, anything, would stop this nightmare. Suddenly the cabin lurched, and the candles reignited banishing the shadows and casting everything in warm light.
"It would seem that we have exited the warp slightly ahead of schedule. Hopefully, we have entered the Uivis system and nothing even more unexpected occurred. Now, First Lieutenant, I do believe you were to escort me to the bridge? It appears that now would be an excellent time to do that."
He swallowed, stood up, and gestured towards the door, "After you Lady Inquisitor. I am positive that the Capitan will be delighted to see you."
The Capitan was pleased to see the Lady Inquisitor. He was even more pleased to have a ready reason to send an officer to supervise the party heading down to the Mechanicus research center on the Deathworld of Uivis. An officer who had dallied in bringing the Lady Inquisitor to the bridge.
A/N: I do have more planned for this but I felt like this was an adequate place to end the scene. Ling Qi is an inquisitor in Warhammer 40k, a setting where there is nothing but war and the dream of peace is a lie. She is a powerful psyker who has trained extensively in the divination arts, specifically using the past to predict the future. As a tidbit to the next section, there is a familiar face in charge of the Mechanicus research lab which deals extensively with the horrors that live, kill, and die on this death world. This character doesn't know Ling Qi well and as such sees the side of her that most people in the outer sect saw. Which is to say not a pleasant person to those who aren't part of her in-group. However, she has plans for First Lieutenant Garush.
As always, I hope that you enjoy the read, and critiques and critisms are welcomed.
Also, @yrsillar another omake for the omake throne!
First Lieutenant Garush felt the vibrations from his footfalls reverberate throughout the eerily silent halls. While the hall was decked with the appropriate iconography befitting a vessel of the Imperium, it felt like there was an absence in every shadow, a hunger in every flickering candle, a crawling whisper in every whiff of incense. Normally he would brush it off as an errant thought and promise to devote more time in prayer to the Emperor, but with who lay in wait at the end of this stretch of hallway, he couldn't say for certain that it was simply his mind playing tricks. Eventually, he stood at the door leading to the Inquisitor's chambers and knocked politely. He felt the chill down his neck as a soft voice spoke from inside the room.
"Please come in First Lieutenant Garush, the door is unlocked."
Opening the door revealed a sparsely decorated room. The expected furnishings were there: skulls, candles, Imperial Aquilae, incense, and the Inquisitorial symbol dotted the room, but they all seemed lesser compared to the woman sitting at her desk before him. Clothed in dark midnight purple accented with silver, she had a quiet unassuming air about her. A cup with a frosted lip was to her left on the desk, and a deck of the Emperor's Tarot was being shuffled in her hands. It was almost hypnotic the way the cards moved between her fingers as if dancing to an invisible melody. He saw Inquisitor Ling look up from her shuffling and smile. A cold sweat broke out upon his back at the sight, which was never a good sign.
"Come in First Lieutenant Garush," the Inquisitor beckoned, "have a seat."
With a deep breath, he began his rehearsed line, "I'm sorry Lady Inquisitor, but I've been sent to escort you to the bridge upon the Captain's order. He wishes to consult with you about possible entry plans into the system and we are soon exiting the warp."
"And he need not worry First Lieutenant, you shall do your duty as soon as you have sat down for a couple of minutes. It would be impolite to barge into a lady's quarters and demand she leave immediately when there's not a true emergency, would it not?
He looked at her smiling face and knew that she would not budge before he sat down. With a swallow, he nodded and pulled out the chair in front of the desk and sat down. This was going to be simply terrible, wasn't it?
"Tell me First Lieutenant, have you ever had your fortune read with the Emperor's Tarot?"
"Ah… no, I haven't Lady Inquisitor"
"Hmm… such a shame," Inquisitor Ling whispered, "let's take a moment to see what your fortune is, shall we?"
With dawning horror, First Lieutenant Garush watched as four cards darted out of the rhythm between her fingers and laid face down in front of Inquisitor Ling. They were elegant cards, finely crafted, and represented information that he was better off not knowing. Knowing the future always made the present duty harder. The other cards were set down on the desk, and then she cupped her hands in her lap
With no hesitation, Inquisitor Ling began her reading, "The first card is the past, the second card is a present struggle, the third card is a potential solution, and the fourth is a future tragedy. Let us begin shall we?"
He tried to rise to his feet and give protest, but his muscles refused to move and his voice died in his throat. The pressure in the room had become immense, the candles swirled erratically and shadows danced in response. A chill permeated his bones as the temperature dropped precipitously. Inquisitor Ling seemed to pay it no mind as she flipped over the first card.
"The Dishonored Scion, but inverted. Intriguing. You're not nobility yourself, so you must have attached yourself to a rising star amongst the nobility to gain the rank you hold today. Perhaps the Captian of our fair vessel? No? Then the Flag-Lieutenant. You seem to have friends in high places."
The Inquisitor flipped the next card over, and all but one candle were suddenly snuffed out. There, on the table lay The Shattered World.
"The Shattered World," she murmured, "it seems that your friendship with the high and mighty is nearing its end. He is taking actions you disagree with, actions which you deem to be ruinous. Yet you stand helpless to stop it and should he succeed you will be damned but should he fail your time in the navy will end. I would imagine you find neither outcome particularly attractive."
He knew that already! But each solution he had would cost him everything. His position in the fleet, his status amongst the nobility, his wealth, and his privilege! It would likely even cost him his fiancee! As the Inquisitor reached for the third card, he prayed to the Emperor, that something, anything, would stop this nightmare. Suddenly the cabin lurched, and the candles reignited banishing the shadows and casting everything in warm light.
"It would seem that we have exited the warp slightly ahead of schedule. Hopefully, we have entered the Uivis system and nothing even more unexpected occurred. Now, First Lieutenant, I do believe you were to escort me to the bridge? It appears that now would be an excellent time to do that."
He swallowed, stood up, and gestured towards the door, "After you Lady Inquisitor. I am positive that the Capitan will be delighted to see you."
The Capitan was pleased to see the Lady Inquisitor. He was even more pleased to have a ready reason to send an officer to supervise the party heading down to the Mechanicus research center on the Deathworld of Uivis. An officer who had dallied in bringing the Lady Inquisitor to the bridge.
A/N: I do have more planned for this but I felt like this was an adequate place to end the scene. Ling Qi is an inquisitor in Warhammer 40k, a setting where there is nothing but war and the dream of peace is a lie. She is a powerful psyker who has trained extensively in the divination arts, specifically using the past to predict the future. As a tidbit to the next section, there is a familiar face in charge of the Mechanicus research lab which deals extensively with the horrors that live, kill, and die on this death world. This character doesn't know Ling Qi well and as such sees the side of her that most people in the outer sect saw. Which is to say not a pleasant person to those who aren't part of her in-group. However, she has plans for First Lieutenant Garush.
As always, I hope that you enjoy the read, and critiques and critisms are welcomed.
Also, @yrsillar another omake for the omake throne!
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- Location
- Canada
Hmm... Loving the omake, but I'm not sure if Inquisitor is the right position for Ling Qi within the 40k hierarchy. She's subordinate to CRX, after all, and CRX is subordinate to her mother and otherwise below various other full nobles as well. Would that make CRX a Lady Inquisitor, or would it fit better for Ling Qi to be an Interrogator under her and Shenhua is a Lady Inquisitor above Inquisitor Rexiang?
- Location
- United States of America
Well, there's a couple of reasons why I had Ling Qi being an Inquisitor in her own right. First, I'm not planning on having Cai Rexiang actually be an inquisitor. Given her desire to create order and justice combined with her propensity for bureaucratic paperwork, in this story thread I have her a high ranking member of the Administratum seeking to reform that nightmare from within. Which means that while she has control over the bureaucratic mess that controls an entire sector, Ling Qi wouldn't be her direct underling as they work in different branches of the Imperium.
The second reason for that is... it would be pretty boring if every person I dragged over from Threads was a psyker and there are pretty strict rules in the Imperium regarding Psykers. In that vein, Ling Qi was found to be a Psyker early in her life, was placed upon the Black Ships, and then found to be strong enough to serve in the Inquisition. The other members of the cast that I'm placing in the story aren't psykers and so they didn't get that treatment.
The last reason is that this isn't a one to one transition. Cai Shenhua isn't a thing in the story. Cai Renxiang does have a mother who is a powerful noble (which is why she was able to rise so quickly in the Administratum) but now Cai Renxiang arguably has more influence over the sector than her mother did. I didn't want to simply copy everything over on a one to one basis because I wanted only Ling Qi to be a psyker and that causes significant ripples right from the beginning.
Thank you for the feedback though!
- Location
- Europe
I liked it, both for what it is and for what it makes me think about.
Personally, for example, I would have pegged Cai Renxiang as the kid of a Rogue Trader. Then Ling Qi would be an early part of her retinue, as Oppression Mom prepares her kid for the time when she will rule the Dynasty. Should she measure up to what the magos biologist promised, at least.
Edit: Also now I've got the image of some sort of fleet based school for Rogue Trader Kids where the major dynasties Bling at each other with their gold plated multi kilometer warships and what not.
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Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
I think that a mid green perception art can catch up for meridian resolution of a late yellow better arts, and easily at that. Obviously Bian Ya and archery tutor weren't the best, Bian Ya likely was still Green 2/3, and is from a noble clan of enough influence that she was invited by CRX to sit with her in the tournament.
I would say though that at the time they saw us? we were that bad. We had something like 6 Dark meridians, 4 wind ones, 2 Water ones, 2 Wood ones, 2 mountain ones, 2 lake ones, 1 fire one, 1 music one, 1 thunder one and so on. We got much better since then.
Excellent, soon we will have The League of Extraordinary Ling Qi's.
Turn 4: Arc 2-1
It was a little unsettling, Ling Qi found, to be looking at herself from multiple angles. To study and analyze her own appearance and aura with supernatural precision. To see the hairs that were out of place, the imperfections in the subtle applications of her cosmetics, and the unsteadiness and minute errors in the flows of her qi. Things easy to fix in the moment, but difficult to keep fixed.
Yet, turning those lines of visions outward, she couldn't help but feel that it was worth it. The silent broken stones of the dream grove stood all around, and she knew them perfectly. If she had to fight here, she was certain that she could navigate it perfectly, could read the way the flow of natural qi here would affect her techniques, or allow her to hide her own aura in plain sight, completely without thought.
She understood Xin's words to her better now. This was the basest root of personal divination, a perfect analysis of your immediate surroundings, such that it became obvious what would occur in the moments to come. Of course, she was alone, and so it was easy to feel like she had mastered the skill, though she knew she was far from it.
She could know which leaf would fall next from the tree to her right with decent accuracy, but if she tried to predict the next action of the sparrow perched in its branches… Well, her success rate was still abysmal.
"Big Sister, are you done sitting around playing with lights yet?" One of her points of vision swiveled to see Hanyi sitting atop a crumbling stump of a wall, kicking her legs in irritation. Ling Qi could not help but notice the snarls in her qi, clogging the meridians in her body related to motion and movement. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be going to meet that weird guy now."
Ling Qi blinked, and the 'eye' constructs of her new art vanished in glittering light, collapsing her vision back to a single perspective. "Is it that late already?" She asked, squinting up at the cloudy sky.
"It's been hours," Hanyi said with the sort of put upon exasperation that only the young could manage.
Ling Qi grimaced, she had only shifted her cultivation plans to prioritize the Curious Diviner's Eye art because of Xuan Shi's invitation in the first place, it would be embarrassing to miss her appointment because of her cultivation. She had been quite surprised a few nights ago to find the odd boy on her doorstep with a request. Still he had helped her enough in the last year that she wasn't going to refuse, even if the thing he wanted assistance with wasn't an apparent challenge site.
"Well we should get moving then," Ling Qi said. "Thank you Hanyi."
"Of course," the young girl preened at her thanks. "Your gonna have to wake up that big doofus though."
"What happened to Zhengui?" Ling Qi asked curiously.
"He ate and fell asleep," Hanyi huffed. "See if I sing a bunch of deer to him again," she grumbled darkly as she hopped off the wall to lead the way.
Ling Qi chuckled, of course it was something like that, with a thought she gave Sixiang a mental nudge to stir them from their own cultivation. She got a blurry sort of response, something like 'five more minutes' if translated into words. Ling Qi let out a huff, there were some things she would have rather Sixiang not pick up from her.
"I hope I did not make you wait long," Ling Qi said politely as she approached. She had chosen to travel on the ground, to preserve qi, and to make it easier for Hanyi to skip off and follow her for awhile when she got tired of bantering with Zhengui in her head.
The book snapped shut in his hands, and Xuan Shi straightened up, giving her a nod of greeting. "The baroness did not delay unduly," he replied simply. "This one thanks you for your agreement."
"There is no need to call me that," Ling Qi chided. "And I would hardly refuse a request like this. How did you find this place anyway?"
Xuan Shi glanced to the side, tugging his hat down to cover his eyes. "...Study of a text may reveal many hidden things."
How evasive," Sixiang mused.
Ling Qi narrowed her eyes, thinking back to the many times she had seen Xuan Shi in the Outer Sect archives. "Just what sort of text?" Ling Qi asked lightly. "I might need to start reading more."
"...This one discovered a cipher, within a certain series of novels. The final volume was filed among the shelves of the inner sect.," Xuan Shi replied after a moment.
"Huh, I never would have guessed," she said, bemused. "Do you mean those books I saw you reading in the archive last year? Why would they have a cipher leading to a place here?"
"In the days before the Great Sects, the author resided here, when not voyaging himself," She could detect a hint of excitement in the boys tone as he began to speak on the subject. "This one sought out the placement in this Sect for that purpose."
"So you figured out the cipher before you ever came here?" She asked curiously. She supposed that he really was a smart guy.
"...Yes, though the goal remained shrouded, the path of course intrigued this one," Xuan Shi agreed, perhaps a bit too quickly.
"Your a bad liar mister," Hanyi said, emerging from the trees behind Ling Qi. She then shot Ling Qi a dirty look. "Big Sister is mean, walking so fast on her stupid long legs."
Ling Qi shot her a cheeky grin, which earned her a frustrated huff, but in her head Zhengui responded suspiciously. "Yeah, why is he lying? Big Sister, you should be careful."
Ling Qi rather doubted it was a dangerous lie, and she really did need to look into why Zhengui always seemed so… snappish around Xuan Shi. However, Hanyi wasn't wrong. She gave Xuan Shi an expectant look all the same.
He sighed. "This one merely wished to read the final two volumes, which were archived within the Sect alone."
Well that was kind of silly, but it was hardly the worst thing ever. Even if it was weird to imagine caring so much about a book as to travel all the way across the empire to get at it.
"We had better get going then," She said instead of voicing her thoughts
"Indeed," he said, seeming relieved. "Adventure awaits."
The odd boys barely concealed eagerness was kind of infectious.
The path was not a long one. Ling Qi followed Xuan Shi down the winding remains of the ruined road, down into a tiny vale between two large peaks. The road soon came to run beside a tiny stream, which bore the signs of having been a greater flow in the past. At the bottom of the vale, the road reached its end in a crumbling structure of stone. At first glance, Ling Qi had been unimpressed thinking the old ruin to be their destination, but it quickly became clear that it wasn't. Old but well maintained flows of qi radiated through earth and stone, forming the shapes of a complex array that once she noticed , she could not fail to see running through the entire vale.
"So, what's the trick?" Ling Qi asked quietly as they strode into a crumbling hall, the faint light of afternoon streaming through the holes in the rooftop. Xuan SHi still seemed confident and showed no sign of needing aid, so she restrained herself from using techniques for now, but she was curious as to what this huge array could be for.
"The appearance of destitution deflects avarice, but the ruin is merely the door," Xuan Shi replied, words punctuated by the tapping of his staff on stone. As they reached the end of the hall, he swept the staff out and tapped a handful of stones in sequence, and the wall faded away before her eyes, the thick qi of earth and stone dispersing and transforming into the qi of air and wind. Beyond lay a flight of stairs that, if the building was as it appeared, would have lead up into open air.
Mounting the stairs, they came instead to a high ceilinged room, though a great skylight in its center allowed in light. Here, the floor was paved with incongruously well maintained tiling, the jade gleaming as if it had been newly placed. For all their polish though the tiles were arranged chaotically, without any thought for aesthetics. However… Ling Qi narrowed her eyes, reading the lingering qi in the stone.
"It's a big puzzle," Ling Qi said, bemused. The floor was grooved, such that the tiles could be slid around into new positions, using two empty tiles, but what was the goal?
"One which this one knows the solution to, and has completed before," Xuan Shi agreed. "The colors present are those of the voyaging heroes' ship. The way does not remain open however, Miss Ling, this one will have to ask that you follow instruction."
"I think I like whoever built this place," Sixiang said amused.
"Ling Qi is fine," she said absently. "Alright, just tell me what to do," it would take much longer with only one person sliding tiles.
With Xuan Shi already knowing the solution, it didn't take too long to move the tiles, making them form, instead of a chaotic mess a striped pattern with an eight pointed white star its center. The moment the last tile clicked into place however, a flash of qi ran through the puzzle and mist boiled up from the star in a roiling column, only to quickly slow and flow into a coherent shape. Stairs formed of cloud and mist now rose in the center of the room, rising up to the skylight.
"Is there any reason why we couldn't have just flown up there?" Ling Qi asked.
Xuan Shi gave her a mildly aggrieved look. "Without the stair, you would only exit the ruin."
"Tch, how annoying," Hanyi grumbled in her head.
"Big Sister, We won't be able to help you in the sky," Zhengui added worriedly.
If need be, she could always ride Zhengui back to earth, she thought, which seemed to mollify him as she began to mount the stairs beside Xuan Shi. The cloud felt odd, it was as solid as stone, but also slightly springy and smooth as silk. As they passed through the skylight, Ling Qi found herself in a brightly lit room seemingly carved from cloud as welll. Before them was stone gate, and in its center, rather than a latch or a lock, was the symbol of Yin and Yang, with circular arrays the size of a hand where the small circles of color would normally be.
"This is why you invited me huh?" Ling Qi asked.
"The way will open only for a man and a woman together," Xuan Shi agreed, stepping toward the gate. "This one does not understand the purpose of such a lock, but perhaps it will be explained beyond."
Ling Qi eyed the symbol, briefly scanning it for any hostile seeming characters, but it seemed a fairly standard locking formation with a kind of weird key condition. She saw no connecting characters that might set off some other effect, and she was fairly sure Xuan Shi would have already checked more carefully than she could after all.
Stepping forward, Ling Qi raised her hand and placed it in the array on the Yang side of the formation, while Xuan Shi did the same with the Yin side. The Arrays lit up as they both laid their palms flat against the gate and then, with a grinding groan, the gates opened inward revealing…
[] A corridor seemingly composed wholly of roses and thorny vines, that split and twisted into the distance, forming a great labyrinth
[] A softly lit temple, with sparking qi barriers blocking the way toward its rear. Behind them, you can see the looming shadow of a great statue of some forgotten great spirit.
[] A pier and a little boat tied to it, floating on a river that flows into the yawning mouth of an ominous cave.[/spoiler]
Yet, turning those lines of visions outward, she couldn't help but feel that it was worth it. The silent broken stones of the dream grove stood all around, and she knew them perfectly. If she had to fight here, she was certain that she could navigate it perfectly, could read the way the flow of natural qi here would affect her techniques, or allow her to hide her own aura in plain sight, completely without thought.
She understood Xin's words to her better now. This was the basest root of personal divination, a perfect analysis of your immediate surroundings, such that it became obvious what would occur in the moments to come. Of course, she was alone, and so it was easy to feel like she had mastered the skill, though she knew she was far from it.
She could know which leaf would fall next from the tree to her right with decent accuracy, but if she tried to predict the next action of the sparrow perched in its branches… Well, her success rate was still abysmal.
"Big Sister, are you done sitting around playing with lights yet?" One of her points of vision swiveled to see Hanyi sitting atop a crumbling stump of a wall, kicking her legs in irritation. Ling Qi could not help but notice the snarls in her qi, clogging the meridians in her body related to motion and movement. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be going to meet that weird guy now."
Ling Qi blinked, and the 'eye' constructs of her new art vanished in glittering light, collapsing her vision back to a single perspective. "Is it that late already?" She asked, squinting up at the cloudy sky.
"It's been hours," Hanyi said with the sort of put upon exasperation that only the young could manage.
Ling Qi grimaced, she had only shifted her cultivation plans to prioritize the Curious Diviner's Eye art because of Xuan Shi's invitation in the first place, it would be embarrassing to miss her appointment because of her cultivation. She had been quite surprised a few nights ago to find the odd boy on her doorstep with a request. Still he had helped her enough in the last year that she wasn't going to refuse, even if the thing he wanted assistance with wasn't an apparent challenge site.
"Well we should get moving then," Ling Qi said. "Thank you Hanyi."
"Of course," the young girl preened at her thanks. "Your gonna have to wake up that big doofus though."
"What happened to Zhengui?" Ling Qi asked curiously.
"He ate and fell asleep," Hanyi huffed. "See if I sing a bunch of deer to him again," she grumbled darkly as she hopped off the wall to lead the way.
Ling Qi chuckled, of course it was something like that, with a thought she gave Sixiang a mental nudge to stir them from their own cultivation. She got a blurry sort of response, something like 'five more minutes' if translated into words. Ling Qi let out a huff, there were some things she would have rather Sixiang not pick up from her.
Meridians
3 6 1 7 5 9 6 5 4 2 6 4 9 4 4 6 4 10 10 2 8 10 9 9 6 6 5 4 8 5 10 2 2 3 8 7 3 3 1 6 7 6 2 7 2 5 3 5 7 2 6 4 4 7 4 9 4 9 4 1 5 3 4 6 7 2 2 9 6 3 5 4 10 6 3 1 2 5 8 8 8 3 3 1 1 7 1 4 5 4 6 9 9 10 4 5 3 8 4 8 2 10 4 1 5 6 4 8 2 1 8 9 5 10 2 6 6 4 1 2 8 7 10 8 8 6 2 10 5 7 9 6 6 4 8 2 9 1 2 10 3 9 1 8 8 4 5 6 7 7 7 6 5 9 3 2 6 7 3 10 3 2 5 9 5 2 2 6 5 3 7 7 3 9 6 3 2. 93 successes
Rerolling 12
2 3 6 6 7 9 4 1 2 4 1 6. 5 successes
98x1.2=111 successes
111/40 Head Meridian opened
61/41 Lung Meridian opened
Curious Diviner's Eye
1 7 1 9 4 1 10 8 9 3 7 5 8 5 8 6 6 1 5 3 1 1 2 7 9 6 3 6 6 7 1 6 3 3 4 8 4 5 5 2 7 2 8 5 8 6 2 5 8 7 10 1 9 1 7 9 6 9 7 3 7 9 10 9 2 3 6 5 10 3 8 6 6 6 2 3 3 4 9 2 2 8 2 10 8 8 10 5 8 6 9 4 5 8 4 8 3 2 2 2 4 1 7 1 8 1 3 2 6 3 4 7 1 5 8 10 5 7 7 4 3 5 8 9 3 3 6 5 4 9 6 9 1 4 9 9 4 3 2 9 8 5 7 10 2 4 9 8 1 5 1 3 10 10 3 4 3 8 8 8 6 5 9 6 8 7 6 4 2 8 4 9 4 1 8 5 4 8 2 4 3 3 8 4 4 10 9 6 9 8 6 4 2 4 2 1 2 7 6 3 6 10 3 10 2 10 4 5 8 8 1 2 2 10 7 5 2 5 1 10 2 8 6 5 1 9 5 2 5 3 7 3 2 9 2 3 1 5 9 8 4 1 1 5 3 9 10 4 5 2 5 8 9 2 2 1 10 8 2 7 10 10 9 3 9 10 7 9 6 8 8 10 8 10 4 10 8 3 5 2 4 10 9 4 1 2 4 3 9 8 9 1 7 7 5 5 6 2 5 1 9 4 10 8 3 6 10 10 8 4 1 4 5 1 9 8 4 3 10 5 10 8 5 8 6 9 5 1 2 9 3 10 3 3 10 7 8 9 7 7 4 9 2 9 10 1 8 3 3 9 7 4 6 3 3 3 4 7 3 5 8 5 7 2 9 6 8 8 6 4 5 9 5 6 7 4 8 6 8 10 4 7 5 1 1 10 3 6 6 5 1 3 2 9 6 10 6 4 8 1 9 4 9 3 1 8 8 9 3 8 10 7 6 7 9 6 6 2 2 1 8 4 6 9 2 1 1 7 6 10 7 5 5 7 7 5 4 5 3 7 2 3 5 7 9 3 4 6 6 7 6 4 10 3 4 3 6 6 9 1 7 7 7 1 4 4 8 9 10 2 7 3 4 1 1 4 6 4 1 3 1 9 6 2. 243 Successes
Rerolling 46
8 8 6 3 1 4 6 8 1 2 10 3 4 1 4 3 3 10 5 3 1 1 6 8 2 1 9 3 7 5 9 6 4 4 8 4 10 5 1 10 7 3 5 10 5 10. 27 successes
270x1.9=513
533/120 Second Insight
410/160 Third Insight
250/200 Fourth Insight
50/280
3 6 1 7 5 9 6 5 4 2 6 4 9 4 4 6 4 10 10 2 8 10 9 9 6 6 5 4 8 5 10 2 2 3 8 7 3 3 1 6 7 6 2 7 2 5 3 5 7 2 6 4 4 7 4 9 4 9 4 1 5 3 4 6 7 2 2 9 6 3 5 4 10 6 3 1 2 5 8 8 8 3 3 1 1 7 1 4 5 4 6 9 9 10 4 5 3 8 4 8 2 10 4 1 5 6 4 8 2 1 8 9 5 10 2 6 6 4 1 2 8 7 10 8 8 6 2 10 5 7 9 6 6 4 8 2 9 1 2 10 3 9 1 8 8 4 5 6 7 7 7 6 5 9 3 2 6 7 3 10 3 2 5 9 5 2 2 6 5 3 7 7 3 9 6 3 2. 93 successes
Rerolling 12
2 3 6 6 7 9 4 1 2 4 1 6. 5 successes
98x1.2=111 successes
111/40 Head Meridian opened
61/41 Lung Meridian opened
Curious Diviner's Eye
1 7 1 9 4 1 10 8 9 3 7 5 8 5 8 6 6 1 5 3 1 1 2 7 9 6 3 6 6 7 1 6 3 3 4 8 4 5 5 2 7 2 8 5 8 6 2 5 8 7 10 1 9 1 7 9 6 9 7 3 7 9 10 9 2 3 6 5 10 3 8 6 6 6 2 3 3 4 9 2 2 8 2 10 8 8 10 5 8 6 9 4 5 8 4 8 3 2 2 2 4 1 7 1 8 1 3 2 6 3 4 7 1 5 8 10 5 7 7 4 3 5 8 9 3 3 6 5 4 9 6 9 1 4 9 9 4 3 2 9 8 5 7 10 2 4 9 8 1 5 1 3 10 10 3 4 3 8 8 8 6 5 9 6 8 7 6 4 2 8 4 9 4 1 8 5 4 8 2 4 3 3 8 4 4 10 9 6 9 8 6 4 2 4 2 1 2 7 6 3 6 10 3 10 2 10 4 5 8 8 1 2 2 10 7 5 2 5 1 10 2 8 6 5 1 9 5 2 5 3 7 3 2 9 2 3 1 5 9 8 4 1 1 5 3 9 10 4 5 2 5 8 9 2 2 1 10 8 2 7 10 10 9 3 9 10 7 9 6 8 8 10 8 10 4 10 8 3 5 2 4 10 9 4 1 2 4 3 9 8 9 1 7 7 5 5 6 2 5 1 9 4 10 8 3 6 10 10 8 4 1 4 5 1 9 8 4 3 10 5 10 8 5 8 6 9 5 1 2 9 3 10 3 3 10 7 8 9 7 7 4 9 2 9 10 1 8 3 3 9 7 4 6 3 3 3 4 7 3 5 8 5 7 2 9 6 8 8 6 4 5 9 5 6 7 4 8 6 8 10 4 7 5 1 1 10 3 6 6 5 1 3 2 9 6 10 6 4 8 1 9 4 9 3 1 8 8 9 3 8 10 7 6 7 9 6 6 2 2 1 8 4 6 9 2 1 1 7 6 10 7 5 5 7 7 5 4 5 3 7 2 3 5 7 9 3 4 6 6 7 6 4 10 3 4 3 6 6 9 1 7 7 7 1 4 4 8 9 10 2 7 3 4 1 1 4 6 4 1 3 1 9 6 2. 243 Successes
Rerolling 46
8 8 6 3 1 4 6 8 1 2 10 3 4 1 4 3 3 10 5 3 1 1 6 8 2 1 9 3 7 5 9 6 4 4 8 4 10 5 1 10 7 3 5 10 5 10. 27 successes
270x1.9=513
533/120 Second Insight
410/160 Third Insight
250/200 Fourth Insight
50/280
Potency: Green 2
Max Level: 5
Current Meridians:Head x2, Lung x2
Needed Meridians: Head (5)
Keywords: Academics, Intelligence, Perceptiveness, Projection, Moon, Secrets, Water, Yin
Experience: 280
The arts of the great diviner have spread far and wide with time, their secrets no longer held in trust. This art has been said to be a descendant of the impeccable arts of the great horned sages. Perhaps as a starting point for more inquisitive youths. The curiosity and seeking nature of the new moon is clear in its influence here.
Passives
+15 to Combat Perception
+5 to Social Perception
+10 to Spiritual Avoid
+10 to Formations when deciphering arrays
+10 to Academics when researching new information
Inquisitive Study: D
Duration: Persistent
The user's eyes gleam briefly with a silver sheen as they study the object of their curiosity. The users perception increases greatly for up too two tests in a single scene, allowing them to discern many details that they might otherwise miss.
Seeking Moon's Eyes: C
Duration: Long
Conjures three reflective silver wisps the size of a coin. Expressions of the Diviner's curiosity, these wisps seek their parents interest eagerly. The wisps ignore wholly physical obstacles but cannot travel further than Close distance from their creator. The creator may see from the wisp's position as if they stood there themselves, though only in one direction at a time. This greatly increases their combat perception in the areas within which this sight overlaps.
Statblock
Health: G
Speed: D, Initiative: E
Avoid: C, Armor H
Watchful Moon Analyisis: D
Duration: Immediate
Used in tandem with an damaging art, allows the users thoughts to far outspeed their limbs, greatly slowing their perception of the world, and allowing the user to pick out minute details that might otherwise be missed in the flows of an enemy or obstacles qi, and adjust the course of their blow. Through this the user ignores the effects of a single defensive technique of D rank or lower, or if none are active, penalizes the targets armor or avoid at the users discretion.
Fifth Insight 50/280
Max Level: 5
Current Meridians:Head x2, Lung x2
Needed Meridians: Head (5)
Keywords: Academics, Intelligence, Perceptiveness, Projection, Moon, Secrets, Water, Yin
Experience: 280
The arts of the great diviner have spread far and wide with time, their secrets no longer held in trust. This art has been said to be a descendant of the impeccable arts of the great horned sages. Perhaps as a starting point for more inquisitive youths. The curiosity and seeking nature of the new moon is clear in its influence here.
Passives
+15 to Combat Perception
+5 to Social Perception
+10 to Spiritual Avoid
+10 to Formations when deciphering arrays
+10 to Academics when researching new information
Inquisitive Study: D
Duration: Persistent
The user's eyes gleam briefly with a silver sheen as they study the object of their curiosity. The users perception increases greatly for up too two tests in a single scene, allowing them to discern many details that they might otherwise miss.
Seeking Moon's Eyes: C
Duration: Long
Conjures three reflective silver wisps the size of a coin. Expressions of the Diviner's curiosity, these wisps seek their parents interest eagerly. The wisps ignore wholly physical obstacles but cannot travel further than Close distance from their creator. The creator may see from the wisp's position as if they stood there themselves, though only in one direction at a time. This greatly increases their combat perception in the areas within which this sight overlaps.
Statblock
Health: G
Speed: D, Initiative: E
Avoid: C, Armor H
Watchful Moon Analyisis: D
Duration: Immediate
Used in tandem with an damaging art, allows the users thoughts to far outspeed their limbs, greatly slowing their perception of the world, and allowing the user to pick out minute details that might otherwise be missed in the flows of an enemy or obstacles qi, and adjust the course of their blow. Through this the user ignores the effects of a single defensive technique of D rank or lower, or if none are active, penalizes the targets armor or avoid at the users discretion.
Fifth Insight 50/280
***
With her spirits gathered up, she soon reached the place where Xuan Shi had asked her to meet him, near a ruined old road that wound a ways into the mountains. When she arrived, she found Xuan Shi leaning against one of the weathered distance markers, paging through a thin volume.
"I hope I did not make you wait long," Ling Qi said politely as she approached. She had chosen to travel on the ground, to preserve qi, and to make it easier for Hanyi to skip off and follow her for awhile when she got tired of bantering with Zhengui in her head.
The book snapped shut in his hands, and Xuan Shi straightened up, giving her a nod of greeting. "The baroness did not delay unduly," he replied simply. "This one thanks you for your agreement."
"There is no need to call me that," Ling Qi chided. "And I would hardly refuse a request like this. How did you find this place anyway?"
Xuan Shi glanced to the side, tugging his hat down to cover his eyes. "...Study of a text may reveal many hidden things."
How evasive," Sixiang mused.
Ling Qi narrowed her eyes, thinking back to the many times she had seen Xuan Shi in the Outer Sect archives. "Just what sort of text?" Ling Qi asked lightly. "I might need to start reading more."
"...This one discovered a cipher, within a certain series of novels. The final volume was filed among the shelves of the inner sect.," Xuan Shi replied after a moment.
"Huh, I never would have guessed," she said, bemused. "Do you mean those books I saw you reading in the archive last year? Why would they have a cipher leading to a place here?"
"In the days before the Great Sects, the author resided here, when not voyaging himself," She could detect a hint of excitement in the boys tone as he began to speak on the subject. "This one sought out the placement in this Sect for that purpose."
"So you figured out the cipher before you ever came here?" She asked curiously. She supposed that he really was a smart guy.
"...Yes, though the goal remained shrouded, the path of course intrigued this one," Xuan Shi agreed, perhaps a bit too quickly.
"Your a bad liar mister," Hanyi said, emerging from the trees behind Ling Qi. She then shot Ling Qi a dirty look. "Big Sister is mean, walking so fast on her stupid long legs."
Ling Qi shot her a cheeky grin, which earned her a frustrated huff, but in her head Zhengui responded suspiciously. "Yeah, why is he lying? Big Sister, you should be careful."
Ling Qi rather doubted it was a dangerous lie, and she really did need to look into why Zhengui always seemed so… snappish around Xuan Shi. However, Hanyi wasn't wrong. She gave Xuan Shi an expectant look all the same.
He sighed. "This one merely wished to read the final two volumes, which were archived within the Sect alone."
Well that was kind of silly, but it was hardly the worst thing ever. Even if it was weird to imagine caring so much about a book as to travel all the way across the empire to get at it.
"We had better get going then," She said instead of voicing her thoughts
"Indeed," he said, seeming relieved. "Adventure awaits."
The odd boys barely concealed eagerness was kind of infectious.
***
The path was not a long one. Ling Qi followed Xuan Shi down the winding remains of the ruined road, down into a tiny vale between two large peaks. The road soon came to run beside a tiny stream, which bore the signs of having been a greater flow in the past. At the bottom of the vale, the road reached its end in a crumbling structure of stone. At first glance, Ling Qi had been unimpressed thinking the old ruin to be their destination, but it quickly became clear that it wasn't. Old but well maintained flows of qi radiated through earth and stone, forming the shapes of a complex array that once she noticed , she could not fail to see running through the entire vale.
"So, what's the trick?" Ling Qi asked quietly as they strode into a crumbling hall, the faint light of afternoon streaming through the holes in the rooftop. Xuan SHi still seemed confident and showed no sign of needing aid, so she restrained herself from using techniques for now, but she was curious as to what this huge array could be for.
"The appearance of destitution deflects avarice, but the ruin is merely the door," Xuan Shi replied, words punctuated by the tapping of his staff on stone. As they reached the end of the hall, he swept the staff out and tapped a handful of stones in sequence, and the wall faded away before her eyes, the thick qi of earth and stone dispersing and transforming into the qi of air and wind. Beyond lay a flight of stairs that, if the building was as it appeared, would have lead up into open air.
Mounting the stairs, they came instead to a high ceilinged room, though a great skylight in its center allowed in light. Here, the floor was paved with incongruously well maintained tiling, the jade gleaming as if it had been newly placed. For all their polish though the tiles were arranged chaotically, without any thought for aesthetics. However… Ling Qi narrowed her eyes, reading the lingering qi in the stone.
"It's a big puzzle," Ling Qi said, bemused. The floor was grooved, such that the tiles could be slid around into new positions, using two empty tiles, but what was the goal?
"One which this one knows the solution to, and has completed before," Xuan Shi agreed. "The colors present are those of the voyaging heroes' ship. The way does not remain open however, Miss Ling, this one will have to ask that you follow instruction."
"I think I like whoever built this place," Sixiang said amused.
"Ling Qi is fine," she said absently. "Alright, just tell me what to do," it would take much longer with only one person sliding tiles.
With Xuan Shi already knowing the solution, it didn't take too long to move the tiles, making them form, instead of a chaotic mess a striped pattern with an eight pointed white star its center. The moment the last tile clicked into place however, a flash of qi ran through the puzzle and mist boiled up from the star in a roiling column, only to quickly slow and flow into a coherent shape. Stairs formed of cloud and mist now rose in the center of the room, rising up to the skylight.
"Is there any reason why we couldn't have just flown up there?" Ling Qi asked.
Xuan Shi gave her a mildly aggrieved look. "Without the stair, you would only exit the ruin."
"Tch, how annoying," Hanyi grumbled in her head.
"Big Sister, We won't be able to help you in the sky," Zhengui added worriedly.
If need be, she could always ride Zhengui back to earth, she thought, which seemed to mollify him as she began to mount the stairs beside Xuan Shi. The cloud felt odd, it was as solid as stone, but also slightly springy and smooth as silk. As they passed through the skylight, Ling Qi found herself in a brightly lit room seemingly carved from cloud as welll. Before them was stone gate, and in its center, rather than a latch or a lock, was the symbol of Yin and Yang, with circular arrays the size of a hand where the small circles of color would normally be.
"This is why you invited me huh?" Ling Qi asked.
"The way will open only for a man and a woman together," Xuan Shi agreed, stepping toward the gate. "This one does not understand the purpose of such a lock, but perhaps it will be explained beyond."
Ling Qi eyed the symbol, briefly scanning it for any hostile seeming characters, but it seemed a fairly standard locking formation with a kind of weird key condition. She saw no connecting characters that might set off some other effect, and she was fairly sure Xuan Shi would have already checked more carefully than she could after all.
Stepping forward, Ling Qi raised her hand and placed it in the array on the Yang side of the formation, while Xuan Shi did the same with the Yin side. The Arrays lit up as they both laid their palms flat against the gate and then, with a grinding groan, the gates opened inward revealing…
[] A corridor seemingly composed wholly of roses and thorny vines, that split and twisted into the distance, forming a great labyrinth
[] A softly lit temple, with sparking qi barriers blocking the way toward its rear. Behind them, you can see the looming shadow of a great statue of some forgotten great spirit.
[] A pier and a little boat tied to it, floating on a river that flows into the yawning mouth of an ominous cave.[/spoiler]
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- Location
- Actually pretty lost
Oh god, they were romance novels, weren't they?
A man and a woman only (not very progressive) and a choice between walking through a maze of roses, a boat and a cave - one of those "tunnel of love"s no doubt - and a softly lit temple that I'm sure is dedicated to a fertility goddess or some such.
...How do we feel about this guy?
A man and a woman only (not very progressive) and a choice between walking through a maze of roses, a boat and a cave - one of those "tunnel of love"s no doubt - and a softly lit temple that I'm sure is dedicated to a fertility goddess or some such.
...How do we feel about this guy?
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globalwarmth
ruining the weather.
- Location
- Polar ice caps
[x] A corridor seemingly composed wholly of roses and thorny vines, that split and twisted into the distance, forming a great labyrinth
wood!!!
wood!!!
- Location
- Cali
That's adorable. Xuan Shi's true secret is that he's a nerd who likes books.
What kind of books were those again? This seems like it might get... salacious.
There's probably no trap choice here, but let's talk about the themes and potential adventures we can have. Don't think about rewards, they're probably heavily paired Yin Yang arts, and I don't think Yrs is going to do anything close to dual cultivation.
Good start.
- Location
- United States of America
[X] A softly lit temple, with sparking qi barriers blocking the way toward its rear. Behind them, you can see the looming shadow of a great statue of some forgotten great spirit.
This just sounds so New Moon that it is making me salivate. A forgotten Great Spirit? What secrets does it hold? What information could be gleened? A temple dedicated to a forgotten Great Spirit will be chock full of mysteries and secrets, long forgotten by the history that marched on by it.
This just sounds so New Moon that it is making me salivate. A forgotten Great Spirit? What secrets does it hold? What information could be gleened? A temple dedicated to a forgotten Great Spirit will be chock full of mysteries and secrets, long forgotten by the history that marched on by it.
[X] A softly lit temple, with sparking qi barriers blocking the way toward its rear. Behind them, you can see the looming shadow of a great statue of some forgotten great spirit.
RPGs tell me temples got the best puzzles. Labyrinths tend to be annoying.
RPGs tell me temples got the best puzzles. Labyrinths tend to be annoying.