Through A Mirror Darkly [A:tLA Quest, with a few other influences]

[Scia]

[x] Lixue's stories about the spirits are pretty interesting! Sometimes you imagine you can see the spirit world, too...

 

[Bill The Galactic Hero]

Votes thus far:

[3] Watching Pingyang hunt or helping Lixue gather ingredients for her rituals is way more interesting than you let on. Why didn't anyone tell you nature was so full of stuff?

[1] Lixue's stories about the spirits are pretty interesting! Sometimes you imagine you can see the spirit world, too...

[2] Pingyang makes learning how to fight way cooler than boring old Master Fu! She even let you hold the Heavenly Spear once~

[1] Playing in the frequent winds storms is best though. Sometimes you feel like it could carry you away.

Please note: I will be out of town until Monday, and it turns out I won't have internet access while I'm gone.

 

[WizardOne]

[X] Pingyang makes learning how to fight way cooler than boring old Master Fu! She even let you hold the Heavenly Spear once~

fo sho.

 

[Fallenblades643]

[X] Watching Pingyang hunt or helping Lixue gather ingredients for her rituals is way more interesting than you let on. Why didn't anyone tell you nature was so full of stuff?

Work on that update K? And tell your questers when your leaving town.

 

[Bill The Galactic Hero]

Work on that update K? And tell your questers when your leaving town.

Click to shrink...

I did! In my previous post, two above yours, in fact.

Voting is called, btw. Hopefully I will get the chance to post in the next couple days.

[X] Watching Pingyang hunt or helping Lixue gather ingredients for her rituals is way more interesting than you let on. Why didn't anyone tell you nature was so full of stuff?

 

[Bill The Galactic Hero]

[X] Watching Pingyang hunt or helping Lixue gather ingredients for her rituals is way more interesting than you let on. Why didn't anyone tell you nature was so full of stuff?

You try to pay attention to Lixue's stories about spirits, but she honestly lost your interest when you discovered that there was a lot more to do with shamanism than punching unruly nature-spirits in the face. And, well, the stories are cool but you've seen some of the rituals she's performed, and they are slow and boring. Dances and chants and painstakingly inked paper talismans - so very not your thing.

On the other hand, helping her prepare her herbal concoctions was surprisingly fun! Sometimes, you and Lixue would hike up and down the mountainside, gathering up ginseng and cinnamon, cannabis and garlic, and then spend hours grinding, crushing, boiling, and generally mutilating your findings into tinctures, tisanes, and teas. She lectured you all throughout the process - on the properties of this plant or that animal, what combinations and formula are healing as opposed to lethal, and so on.

For her part, Pingyang took you hunting for your dinners every few days. You're still too little to help with the actual killing, yet, but she showed you how to walk without a sound, how to find signs of game, and even how to fish with just your hands! The last one was super cool, even if you lost your grip on the alligator-catfish at the last second. It was hard at first, staying still and silent for so long, but after a few weeks of less-than-successful attempts, you started to enjoy it. You could sink into a trance, waiting still and silent until the fish began to dart around your legs as if you were another part of the landscape -

That was when Pingyang started flicking pebbles at your head. "Can't let yourself get distracted, little dragon!" she'd laughed, when you confronted her on the matter. "Letting you do that would make me a bad sifu, it would!" Then she'd ruffled your hair and sent you back into the river. After that, you learned to sense the telltale signs of a flung pebble, and even how to shift out of the way without disturbing your stance. It was proper wu xia training, you decided grudgingly.

(That didn't stop you from planning vengeance, though.)

Now, though, you are a mere half-day's travel from the great Azure Dragon Temple complex. Pingyang is sleeping and Lixue is softly chanting as she shapes mudras with her hands. You learned from experience that she is not distracted at all - you certainly won't be sneaking away! That's alright, though; you're just taking advantage of this moment of relative peace to meditate without distracting pebbles or confusing koans.

You've been aware of...something happening, when you are in that perfect, unthinking state. With the ease of long practice, you drift free of the everyday concerns of your mortal body and turn inwards. There is a presence, when you concentrate - a feeling of both you and other simultaneously.

[23:20] * QQ-Dicebot --> "laundreu rolls 6#d10 and gets 6, 6, 10, 1, 2, 9." 26+5 Wu Wei

It changes when you change, and it changes when the world around you does, and you change when it does - and it hurts, it hurts - you can feel the slow steady thrum of the chi of the stones around you, and it doesn't fit, you can feel the ebb and flow of the chi of the stream and it doesn't fit, both try to shape your own chi and you can feel the conflicting pressures tearing at your spirit as everything fades to white -

------

In one line - what do you see?

[ ] Write in. Choose your path!

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Five?!?!? elements converging... mixing, forming, flowing from one into another. You hear the roars of the dragons, children of the celestial empress... and you feel larger... grander.

 

[Fallenblades643]

[X] Five?!?!? elements converging... mixing, forming, flowing from one into another. You hear the roars of the dragons, children of the celestial empress... and you feel larger... grander.

This works.

 

[Bill The Galactic Hero]

In response to advice, I will put up some sample choices:

[ ] A blooming lotus, its golden petals gleaming in the sun.

[ ] A howling storm, the darkness lifted only by the flash of lightning.

[ ] A roaring fire, consuming all in its path.

[ ] The moon rising over a vast plain of ice.

[ ] A tangled mangrove swamp, mist drifting through the trees.

[ ] The night sky, the stars shining like diamonds on black velvet.

Whatever is run with will inform your future power set! (As an example, moon + ice will not lend itself well to learning the Ten Fire Sutras style of kung fu.)

 

[Scia]

[x] A tangled mangrove swamp, mist drifting through the trees.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

[X] Night sky and stars.

Lets go with this, sure.

 

[Jiven]

[X] A tangled mangrove swamp, mist drifting through the trees.

 

[Plotvitalnpc]

[X] A great black beast, a hungry cosmos bound as a wolf's form, who's head is the end of things, and who's tail is their beginning

 

[Pipeman]

[X] The night sky, the stars shining like diamonds on black velvet.

 

[Larekko12]

[X] A howling storm, the darkness lifted only by the flash of lightning

come one.


This should be a well no brainer if you've heard of it.


Wu Wei the effortless effort of Airbending.

 

[R.A.G.]

[X] A tangled mangrove swamp, mist drifting through the trees.

both water, and earth which fit the place we are in, and what was described at the end of the snip.

you can feel the slow steady thrum of the chi of the stones around you, and it doesn't fit, you can feel the ebb and flow of the chi of the stream and it doesn't fit, both try to shape your own chi and you can feel the conflicting pressures tearing at your spirit as everything fades to white -

c'mon guys, synergy bonus!

 

[Vindictus]

[X] A tangled mangrove swamp, mist drifting through the trees.

 

[GoC]

[X] A tangled mangrove swamp, mist drifting through the trees.

 

[Bill The Galactic Hero]

Calling the vote, with 5 for the mangrove option.

 

[Bill The Galactic Hero]

[X] A tangled mangrove swamp, mist drifting through the trees.

You wake up eye-to-eye with a dragonfly-bee the size of your hand. It buzzes its wings at you for a second, and you shriek (in a very manly way) and hurl yourself away. You've heard of those things, they're supposed to be incredibly vicious and - wait, where is the ground, why is there nothing beneath you -

You drop into the blood-warm water with a splash. After a moment's panicked, waterlogged flailing, you manage a passable eelhound-paddle and drag yourself up on to a broad tree root. You spit out a mouthful of brackish water, wipe the swamp-slime from your face, and feel thoroughly miserable.

"Lixue?" you call. "Pingyang?" Nothing - that's not good. You shuffle a bit closer to the trunk of the tree, looking around carefully.

You're in a swamp of some kind. Coastal, maybe, since the water's salty? The closest thing to a swamp you had dealt with before now was when Big Sister Shan was practicing her Earthbending in the wrong spot and flooded the courtyard gardens. That doesn't help you at all. And how did you even reach the swamp, anyway? The last you remembered, you were bedded down on the slopes of an inland mountain.

You wrack your brain, trying to remember anything that could help, but Pingyang had been concentrating on the forests and grasslands you had been traveling through, and all you can think of is a little rhyme your father taught you for when you were in trouble.

Remember, Xiaolong, he would say. When in danger, or in doubt - run in circles, scream and shout.

You are pretty sure your dad is a jerk.

Maybe you should try climbing the tree? It only takes a little bit of scrabbling for you to climb up to where the tree branches out - and, oddly enough, the branches reach out and connect to other trees. You've never even heard of that.

((8:36:49 PM) laundreu: roll 6#d10

(8:36:50 PM) ***QQ-Dicebot --> "laundreu rolls 6#d10 and gets 6, 4, 2, 6, 7, 9." 26+5 = 31 Survival)

You grin and move across the branch, arms held out for balance, looking every which way. The water is flowing, very slowly, and you follow the current from your (super cool!) arboreal highway. Pingyang told you to follow the water if you get lost, you'll always find your way to people eventually. You'd thought it'd be hard to apply that to a swamp, what with being surrounded by water on all sides, but - did that log just move?

That log just moved. You freeze, balanced on the thick branch, and stare down at the log floating in the water - and moving against the current. After a few minutes, it reaches the shore, and drags itself out of the water. It's huge, bigger even than an ox-goat, with short, stocky legs and webbed, clawed paws. Its broad head has an almost comically short snout, and it's still probably almost as big as you. The thrashing eel-carp it has in its mouth is certainly larger than you are.

It's an ottergator! You're almost giddy with excitement. They're reclusive beasts, and most people go their whole lives never seeing one - even people who spend all the time in the same environment, like fishermen or sailors!

You're pretty sure they are not supposed to have three tails, though.

"Correct," rumbles the ottergator, lashing one of those three tails. "Took me quite a while to relearn how to swim when I sprouted the second one."

You blink. Did the ottergator just...talk?

"That was a bit of a surprise, too," the ottergator admits, settling down on the shore and propping its head on its forepaws. "Of course," it continued, sounding contemplative, "speaking gave me cusses. Useful things, your human cusses. Much better than the typical grunts and growls."

You want to stop and stare for a while - ottergators are awesome, and talking ones are even more awesome! ("Thank you," the ottergator says.) - but Lixue's stories always made a point of being polite to things that talked when they weren't supposed to. "Hello, honored elder uncle!" you say, and bow. "My name is Li Xiaolong, what's yours?"

The ottergator rumbles, deep in its throat, and after an instant's panic you realize it's chuckling. "Don't rightly have one. Not terribly useful for ottergators, names." It pauses for a moment, grumbling and muttering like the majordomo's grandfather did at home sometimes. Finally, it says, "You can call me Kumawani, though."

"Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Kumawani!" You shift, until you are sitting on the tree branch. Kumawani plants one large paw on his dinner's head, seizes the body in its mouth, and yanks. You wrinkle your nose up in delighted disgust when the eel-carp is torn in two.

"Nice to meet you, too, child," it says, after a moment's chewing. "What're you doing in my swamp, though, is what I'd like to know. Only human folks I've seen 'round these parts are those whatchamacallits, the Foggy Swamp Tribals, and you definitely don't look like one of them."

You've never heard of the Foggy Swamp tribe, but you have heard of the Foggy Swamp. "I don't know how I got here," you admit. "Last I knew, I was camping out with both of my sifu, but that was at the base of Southern Mount Heng, and that is hundreds of miles away!"

"Hrm," the ottergator says, lifting its head up and sniffing the air. "More like a thousand, child. Never fear, though, I know what to do." It stares fixedly at you, eyes gleaming like jade. You stare back. "You need to wake up," it intones, its voice ringing like a bronze bell. You jerk back, gasp -

- and open your eyes to a bright blue sky. "Up you get, slugabed," says Pingyang cheerfully, prodding at Lixue's sleeping furs. You and the shamaness share a look of mutual sympathy; Pingyang is one of those hatefully cheerful early risers. "We'll be reaching the Azure Dragon Temple by early afternoon, you guys!" The spearwoman turns to you, seizes the edge of your bedroll, and mercilessly yanks it out from beneath you. "Xiaolong, we'll be staying for a few months while Lixue does her shaman-thing, so what's say you and me pick these monks' brains for kung fu?"

You grin despite your tiredness; you are always up for kung fu! You sink into the morning routine of stretches and simple kata, beneath Pingyang's watchful eye. The whole time, though, you are thinking about your - vision? Dream? You're not sure how to take it, honestly. Maybe you were just tired and stretched yourself too far last night...

[ ] Do you talk to Pingyang and Lixue about the swamp affair? If so, how do you want to approach it?

Pick one option from each category to study while you are at the Azure Dragon Temple:

[ ] External Kung Fu! The direct arts of combat. Mechanically, they will provide bonuses to your six combat stats as seen on your character sheet in the second post. Do note that only one style may be used at a time.
- [ ] Heavenly Mountain Fist, practiced by the monks! Strong, tough, and direct, this style is definitely Earth Kingdom.
- [ ] The Way of the Flowing Universe, from Lixue! A style modeled after the movements of the moon and the ocean. It specializes in defense and counterattacks.
- [ ] Storm Dragon Style, from Pingyang! A linear, aggressive style, tremendously destructive and frighteningly quick.
- [ ] Eight Trigrams Guardian, from Pingyang! A style that requires a long-ranged weapon, the practitioner learns to control the area around them and so control the flow of combat.

[ ] Internal Kung Fu! The manipulation of chi. Here lie the more blatant supernatural effects - hardening one's body enough to deflect a sword with a palm, poisoning a foe with but a touch, deflecting a strike before you even detect it.
- [ ] Iron Mountain Method, the monks' secret techniques! Users train until their body is as hard as iron and tough as the mountain.
- [ ] Arts of Discernment, from Lixue! Supernatural perception in a can, basically.
- [ ] Way of the Fox-Spirits, from Lixue! Deception and illusion. Turn your foe's instincts and sixth sense against them!
- [ ] Heavenly Lightning Methods, from Pingyang! Grasp the nature of the thunderbolt, and use it to slay your foes and save your friends.
- [ ] Your chi is unsettled; it feels like it's pulling on something, or something's pulling on it - especially near the temple's bodhi-tree. Perhaps something can be made from this...

 

[Pipeman]

[X] Do you talk to Pingyang and Lixue about the swamp affair? If so, how do you want to approach it?
-[X] Yes and just tell them what happened.

Pick two things, one from each category to study while you are at the Azure Dragon Temple:

[X] External Kung Fu! The direct arts of combat. Mechanically, they will provide bonuses to your six combat stats as seen on your character sheet in the second post. Do note that only one style may be used at a time.
- [X] The Way of the Flowing Universe, from Lixue! A style modeled after the movements of the moon and the ocean. It specializes in defense and counterattacks.

[X] Internal Kung Fu! The manipulation of chi. Here lie the more blatant supernatural effects - hardening one's body enough to deflect a sword with a palm, poisoning a foe with but a touch, deflecting a strike before you even detect it.
- [X] Your chi is unsettled; it feels like it's pulling on something, or something's pulling on it - especially near the temple's bodhi-tree. Perhaps something can be made from this...

 

[Vindictus]

[ X ] External Kung Fu! The direct arts of combat. Mechanically, they will provide bonuses to your six combat stats as seen on your character sheet in the second post. Do note that only one style may be used at a time.
- [ X ] Storm Dragon Style, from Pingyang! A linear, aggressive style, tremendously destructive and frighteningly quick.


[ X ] Internal Kung Fu! The manipulation of chi. Here lie the more blatant supernatural effects - hardening one's body enough to deflect a sword with a palm, poisoning a foe with but a touch, deflecting a strike before you even detect it.
- [ X ] Iron Mountain Method, the monks' secret techniques! Users train until their body is as hard as iron and tough as the mountain.

 

[Biigoh]

[X] External Kung Fu! The direct arts of combat. Mechanically, they will provide bonuses to your six combat stats as seen on your character sheet in the second post. Do note that only one style may be used at a time.
- [X] Storm Dragon Style, from Pingyang! A linear, aggressive style, tremendously destructive and frighteningly quick.

[X] Internal Kung Fu! The manipulation of chi. Here lie the more blatant supernatural effects - hardening one's body enough to deflect a sword with a palm, poisoning a foe with but a touch, deflecting a strike before you even detect it.
- [X] Your chi is unsettled; it feels like it's pulling on something, or something's pulling on it - especially near the temple's bodhi-tree. Perhaps something can be made from this...

[X] Do you talk to Pingyang and Lixue about the swamp affair? If so, how do you want to approach it?
- [X] Yes. Approach it as an odd dream you had... that you are uncertain about.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

[X] Storm Dragon Style
[X] Way of the Fox Spirits

Alright, so we can make ourself seem like we're harmless, and then open up a sudden can of murder when their guard drops? Alright.

 

[Balatro Philologus]

[X] Do you talk to Pingyang and Lixue about the swamp affair? If so, how do you want to approach it?
-[X] Yes and just tell them what happened.

[X] External Kung Fu!
- [X] Eight Trigrams Guardian, from Pingyang! A style that requires a long-ranged weapon, the practitioner learns to control the area around them and so control the flow of combat.

[X] Internal Kung Fu!
- [X] Your chi is unsettled; it feels like it's pulling on something, or something's pulling on it - especially near the temple's bodhi-tree. Perhaps something can be made from this...

 

[Scia]

[X] Do you talk to Pingyang and Lixue about the swamp affair? If so, how do you want to approach it?
-[X] Yes and just tell them what happened.
- [X] Eight Trigrams Guardian, from Pingyang! A style that requires a long-ranged weapon, the practitioner learns to control the area around them and so control the flow of combat.
- [X] ] Way of the Fox Spirits

 

[Bill The Galactic Hero]

VOTES THUS FAR:

1 vote - The Way of the Flowing Universe, from Lixue! A style modeled after the movements of the moon and the ocean. It specializes in defense and counterattacks.
4 votes - Storm Dragon Style, from Pingyang!
2 votes - Eight Trigrams Guardian, from Pingyang!

2 votes - Way of the Fox-Spirits, from Lixue! Deception and illusion. Turn your foe's instincts and sixth sense against them!
Heavenly Lightning Methods, from Pingyang! Grasp the nature of the thunderbolt, and use it to slay your foes and save your friends.
3 votes - Your chi is unsettled; it feels like it's pulling on something, or something's pulling on it - especially near the temple's bodhi-tree.
1 vote - Iron Mountain Method, the monks' secret techniques!

Also, a very clear majority is for just telling them what you saw.

Still hoping for more votes (specifically from Jiven; the man wants his druidry, it'd be unfair to deprive him of his input.) I'll call things no later than Friday, possibly before if I don't think there's more votes coming, or if I just kind of feel like it.

 

[Bloodshifter]

[X] External Kung Fu! The direct arts of combat. Mechanically, they will provide bonuses to your six combat stats as seen on your character sheet in the second post. Do note that only one style may be used at a time.
- [X] Storm Dragon Style, from Pingyang! A linear, aggressive style, tremendously destructive and frighteningly quick.

[X] Internal Kung Fu! The manipulation of chi. Here lie the more blatant supernatural effects - hardening one's body enough to deflect a sword with a palm, poisoning a foe with but a touch, deflecting a strike before you even detect it.
- [X] Your chi is unsettled; it feels like it's pulling on something, or something's pulling on it - especially near the temple's bodhi-tree. Perhaps something can be made from this...

 

[R.A.G.]

[X] External Kung Fu! The direct arts of combat. Mechanically, they will provide bonuses to your six combat stats as seen on your character sheet in the second post. Do note that only one style may be used at a time.
- [X] Storm Dragon Style, from Pingyang! A linear, aggressive style, tremendously destructive and frighteningly quick.(For when we need to open a can of Whoop Ass)
[X] Internal Kung Fu! The manipulation of chi. Here lie the more blatant supernatural effects - hardening one's body enough to deflect a sword with a palm, poisoning a foe with but a touch, deflecting a strike before you even detect it.
- [X] Way of the Fox-Spirits, from Lixue! Deception and illusion. Turn your foe's instincts and sixth sense against them!(Illusions work great with the swap, especially that one swamp we were in. )

While I am tempted by the mystery option I figure we are going to explore our weirdness enough as it is. No reason to focus exclusively on it. Also it seems like it may be plant manipulation which ,while easily used, means we are screwed if we ever fight somebody from the fire nation. compared to illusion which should effect everybody (unless they have special senses).

 

[Nekraa]

[X] External Kung Fu! The direct arts of combat. Mechanically, they will provide bonuses to your six combat stats as seen on your character sheet in the second post. Do note that only one style may be used at a time.
-[X] Storm Dragon Style, from Pingyang! A linear, aggressive style, tremendously destructive and frighteningly quick.

[X] Internal Kung Fu! The manipulation of chi. Here lie the more blatant supernatural effects - hardening one's body enough to deflect a sword with a palm, poisoning a foe with but a touch, deflecting a strike before you even detect it.
-[X] Way of the Fox-Spirits, from Lixue! Deception and illusion. Turn your foe's instincts and sixth sense against them!