I don't own Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation nor D&D content.
/ O _ O \
Wei Ying leans upon the desk to get a better look at the metal. The characters are rather odd, there's this character with a tiny circle and then an incomplete circle looking part with a line in it. This character is rather eye catching, given it's between odd triangles, with long hanging ends. The coloring of the triangles are red with the compact circle character being a dark purple, at least, when he tilts his head to the side.
The two lines that comes before the first triangle are also in that same shade when Wei Ying looks at it in the right way. All of this is top center of the flat metal surface and he kind of... wants to touch the characters, lines, and triangles as it seems they are raised up too. The corners are also raised while it looks like leather occupies the sides and yet, it's got the impression of scales.
Closing his eyes and taking a few breathes to do his best to gain control over his urges, the nine year old feels his shoulders relax a touch after a few breathing exercise he'd been taught. Feeling the itch of curiosity loosen, the child opens his eyes and this time, looks at the strange painting that's both colourful and sports clearly non-humans in some battle scene with some huge gray with bluish tinted lizard sporting four pairs of limbs that sport rather thick claws and semi red spines upon the back.
The non-humans are wearing cloths that aren't robes. There's this one that's got tusks like a boar and dark skin that's got a bear chest while fighting with an oversize axe. The one next to this tusk being is clearly a woman... only she's short and is wearing odd metal armour while welding an other oversize item, this time a hammer. The hair is yellow brown and eyes sporting a lot of green.
Then there's the final two that sport almost human looks but something is clearly off. The taller one sports long pointed ears along with navy blue hair with purple eyes. The cloths don't have metal on them while there's a staff sporting some carved bird at the top. A glowing bright green upon the hand that's near the chest while the other holds the staff.
The final one is tiny compared to the three along with sporting a crossbow as a weapon. The hair is rather bright, it being a light blue and eyes being a purple blue color. The skin color being a light shade of gray and might, also, be a woman. At least, it kind of seems like the chest's clothing gives that suggestion?
It's rather odd, given that the tiny one might be the size of a young child or older toddler. Wei Ying isn't sure if he's guessing right, in either case, in regards to that tiny looking person. The other details of the image appears to be of some place deep underground, what with the pointed cones of stone that can be seen, one large one pointed downwards and two smaller ones pointing upwards.
There's a creak and he hears Jiang Cheng scold him from the other side of the slightly open door. "Hurry up! Bring it over here!" The Young Master of the Jiang Sect demands and yet, Wei Ying still has misgivings about following through with the demands of the other boy.
After all, Wei Ying is sure that this metal thing isn't something he should touch. Particularly as his curiosity is slowly growing and that urge to touch is making his fingers itch to feel the metal and the scale leather. "I don't think we should... I think that's what it wants." He replies in a hush tone as he gets down from where he'd been perched, to take a few steps back.
"It wants? It's not alive! None of the others reported noticing any Qi coming from it!" Scuffs Jiang Cheng, who fully opens the door and enters. Marching up to the desk while giving Wei Ying scratching looks, clearly thinking that Wei Ying is just being too cautious and playing at being a coward.
"Don't!" Wei Ying warns upon noticing how Jiang Cheng is about to grab the item, after moving about to get onto the chair to stand over the desk. "We should go!"
Wei Ying might not be living on the streets any more but that doesn't mean that the instincts homed during his years on them have left him. The metal item is far too enticing to be natural! "It's dangerous!" He states as he glances between the two.
There's a huffing sound from Jiang Cheng after the other boy studies the metal's surface. "How ugly!" The Young Master whines, finger tapping the surface. Then noticing him flinching each time the finger taps, the younger slaps his hand upon the top, causing Wei Ying to almost jump.
"Dangerous? How's this dangerous! It's not doing anything!" Jiang Cheng snaps, going so far to show the palm of his hand in Wei Ying's direction. "See?" A clear sneer upon his face.
When Wei Ying stays quiet, Jiang Cheng snorts and then looks at the metal once more before fingers brushing about the sides. As Wei Ying begins to inch towards the door, the Sect Heir picks the thing up, there's a bit of surprise upon Jiang Cheng's face at how easily he does so while Wei Ying pales at the action. Yet again, Wei Ying feels something is going on, he just can't put his finger on what until they arrive at Jiang Cheng's room.
"Too easy. It was too easy to take it." Wei Ying mutters to himself while Jiang Cheng tries to figure out how to open it.
"Scaredy Cat." Scoffs Jiang Cheng as his fingers get under one of those raised corners. They both jerk when it flips up with a thunk.
Once Jiang Cheng recovers, he's quick to do the same to each of the remaining corners, which then causes the top to begin rising up, revealing metal pushing it up. Soon enough, there's a floating almost desk. It's something that Wei Ying knows isn't normal, particularly given Jiang Cheng's reaction.
In the pass nearly three months of having been in Lotus Pier, Wei Ying is still getting a feel for his place within the Sect, never mind the Jiang Family and thus, he's gotten to be fair when it comes to reading Jiang Cheng's expressions. Moving away from the floating metal as best as he can, Wei Ying is getting the feeling of dread that's chilling him to the core.
Young Master Jiang approaches the floating almost desk and upon touching something, a voice sounds out, "Welcome to Adventures and Adversaries Second Edition! The latest and most advance version to date! We now have a difficulty setting and new win conditions! Including optional Skill Grinding Game System instead of having Levelling Game System!"
The voice sounds light hearted and upbeat and yet, it doesn't explain anything of what it's saying. It's clear Jiang Cheng has no clue anything as the voice continues to list things they didn't have a clue has to do with playing a game. And yet, it seems that Jiang Cheng seems eager to make use of this 'game'.
"I'll go fetch Shijie." Wei Ying says and bolts out of the still open door. It wasn't long for him to find her, as she's just leaving her room.
"Shijie! Shijie!" He states as he hurries towards her. Rushing through the bow, which Jiang Yanli nods at in acknowledgement.
"What's wrong A-Ying? Where's A-Cheng?" The eldest child of the Jiang couple inquires, the beginnings of worry upon her face.
"You know that metal thing that got brought back by Senior Li and the others?" Wei Ying asks and there's a slight look of confusion, which has him giving her the summery of the incident along with how skittish the group had been and how relieved they'd been when it had been turned over to Uncle Jiang, who had it at his desk but had to do other things, in particularly, Madam Yu had returned in a foul mood and an injured hand maiden.
And so, the pair of children head for Jiang Cheng's room. Jiang Cheng seems to be rather absorbed by the strange metal almost desk. When Jiang Yanli approaches, Jiang Cheng scowls and seem to want to cover something but stops upon seeing that it's his older sister. "Jiejie! You have to play with us!"
"Oh, and, Wei Ying, go... get some snacks from the kitchen." There's a particular look in Jiang Cheng's eyes upon regarding Wei Ying. It's clear that it's just something to get rid of him, and while Wei Ying is now on edge for another reason, he glances at Maiden Jiang.
"Go on, A-Ying." Jiang Yanli says. "I would like to speak with A-Cheng alone for a bit."
Nodding, Wei Ying does leave, not happy as there's a sense of doom in the future. As he manages to get out of the door, he closes it and stands there for a few seconds, trying to make sense of... well, everything. With a sharp command from Jiang Cheng, "Hurry up and go!"
And so, he does. While at the kitchen, Wei Ying finds a pair of servants chatting about overheard conversations going on with the returning group of Disciples. Fixing his face behind a bright smile and doing his best to cover his nerves, he engages the pair in conversation with intent to get the latest gossip with hopes of getting something that might help in regards to that 'game' that Jiang Cheng seems incline to play.
| X _ X |
Hawk is the name that's next to Name. Race is Aasimar with Background being Urchin. His Level is 1 and his age is 9. There's nothing next to Class.
Other then his Int and Str, all his Stats are 10, his Str is 8 while his Int is 18. There's not much more to find on this page, well, besides an image of what he looks like as Hawk, which is bright white hair and bright golden eyes while wearing worn cloths with a brown mouse poking out of a vest pocket. Looking up at the top, he notices the 'Tabs' and touches the next one, which is entitled Skills and the next one is Features.
Two Skill boxes coloured in are Sleight of Hand and Stealth is all that he finds under Skills 'Tab'. Under Features 'Tab', there's more to be found, like the Tool Proficiencies which have under it just two things, for now, Disguise Kit and Thieves' Tools. At another section of this page is Background Feature which has City Secrets written there and goes into details of what that means for him as Hawk. Sure, there's a lot of blank spots on this page as well, which are just waiting to be filled.
Looking up at the Background 'Tab', Wei Ying touches it and it's here that information concerning his Race is and to the side, taking up the larger portion of the page, is History, which is Hawk's life story and hints to personal involvement. All in all, it's not all that different then his own history, only there's a hint of not just one party looking for him? There's portions that note his Personality Traits, which is rather bemusing to read, although Rats have replace Dogs as what he fears, then again, there's mentions of stories concerning Wererats, an urban lycanthrope type that are generally evil and how some types of rats could spread that kind of Curse on their own.
As for that mouse he saw in that image of Hawk's pocket? It's name is Timid and his character nursed it after finding it injured. The mouse refused to leave and thus, Hawk got a pet, which means that Wei Ying has a pet to be mindful off, which is rather different then previous experience.
The final 'Tab' is Equipment but the one before it is Quest Line. There's little under Equipment and just few Copper Coins. Changing to another 'Tab', it's then that he finds that there's a Quest in progress, which entails just surviving a year before the Main Questlineline begins. It seems that this Quest is a 'Tutorial' of the game, to become familiar with how this world is and his new rules that govern him as Hawk.
As there's nothing more for him to do, he closes it and Wei Ying closes his eyes as he lets himself feel whatever for a bit before opening his eyes, resolve to get into the role of Hawk and to begin figuring out what he wants as a Class. He has time and this part of the game should be easiest part, well, he hopes so, then again, it's not like he's inexperienced with this kind of thing...
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Jiang Cheng, well, Drake Holden, looks out at the courtyard with a smirk. The lack of that servant's son in this House is well worth it, in his opinion, particularly as the other boy hadn't been given time to make a Character for the game, which means that the servant is likely in his actual station in life, unlikely capable of pursuing the Main Questlineline, when the time comes. After all, a servant's place is in the servant quarters doing servant's work.
And when I win, my wish of having him out of my life will happen. Mother will be happier, with that mother of his out of existence too! Drake thinks with a dark spark of satisfaction.
He'd done everything to ensure his Character starts with every advantage he could get. Sure, there's some Hindrances to even out the Privileges, like, sadly, to be a member of the Imperial Family, he wouldn't be the first born, he wouldn't be the Heir, the Prince Apparent. Drake is third son, but he'd read up on things and found that he'd have an easier time leaving when the Main Questline begins as he won't have any duties or lessons keeping him at the Palace.
Jiang Cheng had been sure to have high Str, Dex, and Con while not caring all that much about Int, Wis, and Cha, which he has under 10. He'd picked Sorcerer for his Class, after all, that's the one where he's able to use magic without studying it. Jiang Cheng picked out his Spells, which aren't many as of yet, but it's only a matter of time before he Levels up.
Yawning, Prince Drake feels a touch sleepy and his eye lids are getting kind of heavy. He finishes the tea before allowing himself to fall asleep.
oxxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Prince Drake is dead." Reports the assassin and Prince Justin smiles. "It seems he forgot to put on his mother's gift this morning nor did he seem to notice that I wasn't his usual man servant." The assassin includes, offering up said necklace.
"I see." Prince Justin remarks. "My elder brother will be devastated, I imagine. Particularly given that our Draconic Lineage had shown up in the younger Prince."
"Ah, I will have to think of what I want to wear for the funeral." The uncle of the now dead Drake Holden muses while admiring the pendant upon the golden chain. "I wonder which bastard brother will bring in to replace my poor, dead nephew?"
The assassin doesn't response, merely waiting for a clear dismissal. Which comes as Prince Justin pockets the necklace and stands up. Picking up the wine glass, Prince Justin walks over to stand before the large portrait of his brother that's above the fire place.
"Long live the king." Remarks Prince Justin.
[Death by Poison]
[Rebirth Conditions are Not Met]
[Reincarnation Conditions were Disabled]
[Player Cheng Jiang is in Limbo until Game Ends]
[A&AII would like to thank Player Cheng Jiang for playing!]
All Jiang Cheng could do is curse out the game while ignoring the highlighted portions of his Hindrances list, namely that Tutorial Quest had been skipped along with a rather long list of Enemies, the name of Prince Justin Holden, younger brother to King Vincent Holden is highlighted.
oxxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Jiang Yanli, or rather, Kimberly Summers brings up the Party Notice she'd had received nearly four years back. The one that informed her that her brother's Character had died. The fact that barely three hours into the game when it came up. The cause of death had been poison along with mention of it being caused by a NPC, Non-Player Character.
It had taken some time to learn what became of Drake Holden's body, in the vain hope that she could recover it in order to pay for Revival but, given he'd been a member of the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Stone Den. And so, her brother's Character's body is out of reach. Which means that it's on Jiang Yanli to win and hope that in doing so, Jiang Cheng will be alive at the end of it, after all, the game did understand that only Wei Ying was the one who was to die in a permanent manner... right?
The grief she felt as it sunk in that her little brother might be dead for good... Jiang Yanli had tried to talk her A-Cheng from enabling Permanent Death and had been sure that he'd changed it. It should have been Wei Ying who died. Jiang Yanli thinks darkly as she dismisses the Party Notice and then does her best to smooth out her expression.
While her brother had went for Royalty, Jiang Yanli hadn't spent so much time on doing anything concerning her Background, which was Noble, same as A-Cheng's. Although, unlike her A-Cheng, who stuck to Human as his Race, she'd gone for Half-Elf as Elves are noted to being beautiful but she hadn't wanted to be something totally non-human. She'd painstakingly describe her looks, Jiang Yanli hadn't wanted to look mediocre and given she had the chance to look... not mediocre, she took it.
Going so far as to pick something from the list of Privileges to ensure it. Jiang Yanli had been a touch more careful concerning the Hindrances compared to her A-Cheng, although she's not sure why Invoking Love at First Sight could be a valid Hindrance, in her opinion, it seems like a blessing. Either way, the first year had been... she'd enjoyed being an only child. Her parents were nice but also busy, leaving her to be raised by a nice nanny who was a Halfling older woman by the name of Lyre Coals.
As for Lord and Lady Summers, the social standing is an Earl, which isn't all that high up in the rankings but there are those holding lower positions under them. It had been a bit of an adjustment to have superiors who aren't her father but there's a certain freedom, when compared to what Jiang Yanli had been raised in, it's clear that, as Kimberly Summers, as long as she keeps to a certain standard, she'd be free to pursue whatever takes her fancy.
It's not an uncommon tradition for member of Nobility to spend a few years as an Adventurer. This tradition also allows for women to do so as well. And so, when the Tutorial Year passed, she'd been able to ask for permission to do so. Her Class, after all, is that of Wizard, which allows her to, as long as she's able, to modify Spells or create Magical Items, as long as she has both the time and money.
Jiang Yanli recalls when she'd been able to pick a School of Wizardry, well, Necromancy was among the choices for the simple reason she had been hoping to find a way to bring back her A-Cheng. But, in the end, she'd gone with Lorehold in hopes that the Ancient Companion would be of aid in her pursuit of both, the Main Questline and finding a way to bring A-Cheng back to her.
Regardless of School, it hadn't stopped her form learning spells from the School of Necromancy. Jiang Yanli had also been doing her best to work out a spell or find an item that will ensure she's able to locate her A-Cheng's soul. After that, well, there's methods she can use to store her A-Cheng's soul until she has a vessel ready to act as A-Cheng's new body.
Looking down at the table and then back up, Jiang Yanli returns to watching the Quest Board where she'd posted a lead concerning the Main Questline. It's her way of trying to find Wei Ying as A-Cheng hadn't given the boy a chance to make a Character, which means that the boy could have ended up as anything and with any Class. Without a name, let alone known which Race to keep an eye on, Jiang Yanli is having a hard time trying to find Wei Ying in order to fulfill her A-Cheng's wishes along with an option when it comes to ending the game early.
If either Party is wiped out, the game ends with the surviving Party winning. And given Jiang Yanli's lead in regards to the Main Questline requires her to enter into the Skeleton Grove... Well, she's not sure she can trust anyone not to betray her in the middle of it as it's a place that few have come out alive. Those that have come out Cursed or crippled, be it having lost a limb or one of their senses being gone. A blind man with working eyes... A woman unable to feel pain...
And so, when a Halfling approaching the Quest Board, Jiang Yanli takes a moment to study him. Black hair that's slightly wavy... The cloths are purple as well. And yet, she knows that a lot of people have black hair and favour purple cloths. It's when the Halfling picks her bait Quest does she allow herself to feel hope.
The Halfling's eyes are hazel green when he turns around and then heads for the counter to speak with the bar keep. It's a bit before a group enters into the Adventure's Traven and they are all wearing purple, just different shades and in different amounts. The Halfling waves and calls the group over, Jiang Yanli hears the name of this Party and she isn't sure if she should just cut her losses, given this Party has been famous about tackling difficult Quests.
Weed Heart is the Party's name and they take after their name sake a little too well, which is a very common plant about the continent. The Party numbers ten and the leader is a Ranger by the name Garth Flare, who's a Tiefling. The Second in Command is a human woman named Ellen Nightbane, who's a Druid. There's a white haired kid she spies next to the Ranger and it takes her a bit to muse at the sight of Garth's Ward. Although some wonder if he isn't the Tiefling's bastard son.
After all, Tieflings don't always breed true and given how old Garth is, to had hair going gray, it might be true. The Ward's name is a bird, which is rather bemusing given Rangers do have Animal Companions. In some ways, the white hair and yellow eyes do remind Jiang Yanli of many different animals, not all of them being birds.
And as Jiang Yanli's gaze switches from the unimportant boy to the Half-Orc with the group that have settled at a table. The Half-Orc is a newest Party recruit and is a rather odd one at that, given Rave Bloodmist and is a Wizard, of the War Magic School. On either side of the Half-Orc are the Tabaxi twins, one being a Rogue and the other being a Fighter. Both have black coats but different white markings and she doesn't know which is which besides that the Rogue's name is Coal and the Fighter's is Night.
It's then she recalls the Halfling is Cro Bernard and is the Party's Cleric, his Deity is Leira, who's the Goddess of Illusions. Cro's wife isn't with the Party at this moment but Vivian Hope is a well known Bard. Taking in the members of Weed Heart, the remaining three members aren't always around but they are Elves and are Monks, just of different paths. Butterfly of the Mercy Way, Monkey of the Drunken Master, and Owl of the Shadow Way. Those three have responsibilities towards their respective Monasteries along with being wanders.
So, Jiang Yanli considers how to approach Weed Heart. After all, she needs to figure out which of them had the potential of being Wei Ying.
| X _ X |
As she comes too, Jiang Yanli blinks before doing so once more. "How did you think you'd get out of the fall out concerning failing to turn in the Sapphire Orca?" A voice inquires, a young one and it isn't that surprising to find Hawk leaning at the door frame.
"General Young wasn't impressed, you know, when he heard about the killing of Lieutenant Hammer, you know." The Warlock continues on to explain, Jiang Yanli recalls Lieutenant Hammer, the Dwarf had look so similar to Wei Ying that... Well, it hadn't really mattered on top of the fact that he'd been a child of rural peasants, thus another similarity to who she'd been hunting for.
"Clover hadn't known your reasons while Ivan? You know, your travel partner for nearly eight months? He noted a... trend when it comes to those you seem incline to kill." Hawk adds after a bit of a pause. "Black hair, gray eyes, and of low birth."
"Nothing to say?" Hawk asks after a bit and Jiang Yanli doubts anything she'd say would help, particularly given it sounds like Ivan hadn't minded his own business as they'd had agreed upon when they first met. "Well, I suspect that they'll have some way to get to along with ensuring you'll be willing to speak while subject to the Zone of Truth."
She presses her lips together in displeasure, given how far she is from where her parents are... Jiang Yanli isn't as sure that she's got the social standing to be turned over to where she's from. But, what really matters is, the Ghost Fruit isn't in her possession and thus, her progress concerning the Main Questline now comes into question. She'll have a year, now, in order to get back on track or else, she fails.
Which means, once she's dealt with this fall out, Jiang Yanli will need to track down Weed Heart to learn what they did with the Ghost Fruit, while hoping they still had it, and then find information concerning the Gunn Brewery to turn that Ghost Fruit into Spectral Wine. That she currently lacks her equipment and is wearing simple garb that is rather cheap along with mostly meant to cover her up.
"You don't feel guilty, do you?" The golden eyed Warlock inquires. "Not a single bit, over the lives you've taken so unnecessarily?"
"I have my reasons." Jiang Yanli states as her gaze moves to settle at the Warlock. "I need to win."
The Warlock seems to look sad and away for a bit before resolution eclipses the sadness and returns to looking at her. "So, that's how it is? How fair is that?" The Warlock asks but she hardly cares about the opinions of this almost teen.
"I wonder, will they decide to have you executed? Will you be sorry then?" Jiang Yanli rolls her eyes, after all, this is all just a game, it's not real, in the end. Nothing matters besides winning. Her gaze is towards the barred window.
"Well, farewell then, Ms Summers." Hawk states, doing a bit of a bow. "I suspect that we'll never meet up again."
The door closes with the Warlock gone. There's nothing for her to think of nor are there other prisoners being held within the cell across from her. Even when it opens, it's the clicking of the keys that suggests it's a guard.
And then, there's a particular voice that sends a shiver of dread down her back. "Ever so beautiful and ever so cold, my dear." Reynard states.
Her head and gaze turn towards the Elf, who she knows is a Artificer on top of being a rich merchant. Red hair, leaf green eyes, and sporting somewhat tanned skin. Then again, that's likely from working at a forge. Reynard had been, still is, enamoured with her, having done his best to pick gifts that he had thought she'd like.
"I had told you, didn't I?" Reynard remarks once he's near the bars of her cell. "We would meet again and that you will accept my advances when said meeting happens?"
"You really should have picked other means to go about your... hobby but, well, you were young and oh so sure that nothing could track it back to you! Ah, how filled with youthful certainty young people are and so sure you'd encounter who it is you hunt without needing to put any... true... effort into it." Reynard continues on speaking.
"Your wrong." Jiang Yanli states, but her heart is thumping rather rapidly within her chest. The Elf hadn't changed much from the last time they met, which was nine, perhaps, ten months ago.
"I don't think so." Reynard states. "In the end, I doubt it matters. After all, your own conduct has alienated you and allowing people to tack whatever accusations upon you, namely being an agent of a rival kingdom or a part of a terrorist cell."
"You've worn out a lot of goodwill and left a lot of loose ends, in more then one manner." Reynard states. It's clear what emotion is within those green eyes and Jiang Yanli feels disgust and yet, a hint of terror, given how little ability she has to defend herself.
"So then? Shall we come to an arrangement?" Reynard asks in a light tone.
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[Winning Conditions Met]
[Hawk played by Ying Wei Wins!]
[Congratulations!]
[Ultimate Prize consists of Ziyuan Yu, Yanli Jiang, and Cheng Jiang being Erased from Ying Wei's World]
[Would Ying Wei wish to sell everything and convert all money into currency of Ying Wei's culture?]
[Yes] [No]
All around him is a white area and Wei Ying feels numb as he can't help thinking over the Ultimate Prize that they'd been playing for. "They wanted... they wanted me gone? For my mom to... to..."
And then Wei Ying feels sick to his stomach along with realizing that neither of the siblings had come to care about him. Not like he had. It's not long for him to be overwhelmed by the emotions while tears trailing down his face. His nose getting stuffy.
It takes a fairly long time for his emotions to become exhausted. Wei Ying feels drained and rung out. And so, not really wanting to be reminded of this, picks [No].
[All equipment and money to be stored for any future use by Ying Wei?]
[Yes] [No]
Staring at the options, he sighs and picks [Yes], after all, Wei Ying just wanted to get out of this. And the next message was a simple farewell for now and things get so bright that he closes his eyes. Holding them closed until he hears something odd and then a bunch of clicks.
Opening his eyes, Wei Ying finds himself in a room and he looks around, it's bare and looks like nobody had ever lived within it. Looking down, he finds that he can read the language upon the metal box. Getting to his feet, Wei Ying takes a few minutes before deciding to take it back to Uncle... no, Sect Leader Jiang's office.
Once he's put it back, Wei Ying wanders a bit about the building, coming to stand by the Ancestral Hall. It takes a bit for him to realize something is different and he approaches a pair of plaques that he's sure weren't there from his previous visits here. On one of the plaques is the character Wei, the same Wei he has.
"Ah, A-Ying, come to pay your respects to your parents again?" As he's about to brush his fingers against the wood, Wei Ying holds still before turning to look over at Jiang Fengmian, who's approaching him. And Wei Ying isn't sure what is the source of the surge of emotions threatening to overtake him once more.
"Let's light up some incense together, shall we?" Wei Ying nods, unable to think he'd be able to speak. Already some tears are falling from his eyes.
A gentle head pat and within minutes, there's a pair of incense sticks burning in an incense pot. "It'll be supper soon, so be sure to be along soon, ok?" Uncle Jiang suggests and he nods his head once more.
Soon he's a lone in the Ancestral Hall and Wei Ying feels so... so guilty and in need of confessing, even if it's not what he'd wanted to happen. Still, telling his parent's plaques about the game, of his time as Hawk the Celestial Warlock, and of the 'prize' he'd won from winning the game. Even though he'd been about to finish the second last Quest concerning the Main Questline when something had happened that saw him winning without finishing the Main Questline.
Feeling a bit lighter, Wei Ying gets up and does his best to wipes his face. "I'll be back." He promises his parents' plaque.
And so, Wei Ying eats with the other Disciples, but so did Uncle Jiang. Looking around, there's a lot more older Disciples about, who Wei Ying hadn't known or encountered. There's no mention of Jiang Yanli nor Jiang Cheng, let alone mentions of Madam Yu or that Uncle Jiang is married.
After supper, he seeks out those that had brought Adventures and Adversaries II back. They seem to be having a meeting of their own. "Seniors... Jiang Cheng wanted to play that game." Wei Ying begins and eyes widen, it's clear they knew who that was.
He's hurried into the room and after a bit, Wei Ying gives a summary of the events that led up to the game starting along with mentioning how he'd been unable to create a Character upon returning from taking the tray of dishes back to the kitchen, once they'd been eaten while the two had created their Characters while snacking on such dishes. There's little he sees fit to share about his time as Hawk nor with Weed Heart besides having to need to find a way to get a Class, given he didn't start out with one and having formed a Party with Garth and the others.
There's some questions concerning the messages at the end, it seems that, besides asking about selling that stuff and converting it into proper currency, they didn't get any other messages. As Wei Ying becomes quite, the others talk among themselves over the very idea of playing the game once again and about who it was that picked that 'Ultimate Prize'.
In the end, it's clear that someone would need to examine the set up that the Jiang siblings had put in for that game session. As the discussion disperses, the others seem to remember that he's there and they are quick to assure Wei Ying of his lack of blame on this matter, that there's nothing for him to feel guilty of. That the siblings clearly hadn't thought about the what if Wei Ying would succeed in winning their game session.
Wei Ying is once more wiping tears from his face for what feels like a third time of the day. In the end, he gets sent off to bed as they work out how they'll try to check the game's settings. It's doubtful they'd be able to undo it without playing the game on settings similar to what were used.
x = Epilogue = x
Without Madam Yu, there isn't many musings concerning Wei Ying's parentage nor about Sect Leader Jiang cheating on her. Well, given that to the world at large, Sect Leader Jiang isn't married and thus doesn't have anyone in his life to cheat on. And so, Sect Leader Jiang is a rather popular bachelor, one that many feel hope will begin thinking of marriage now that Wei Ying, son of his Sworn Brother, is a part of his Sect.
Rumours circulate around the odds of Wei Ying getting adopted by Jiang Fengmian and becoming his Heir. A few muse over the idea that bringing Wei Ying is a trail run about bringing in a bastard son. The odd rumour is the one that goes so far as to suggest that Wei Ying is Jiang Fengmian's bastard son, it's not overly popular one, given that Wei Ying didn't get legitimized right away, thus ensuring that the Sect had an Heir should anything happens to Jiang Fengmian.
Given that Madam Yu never existed, those Disciples that had seceded from the Sect during the years of said marriage, well, no marriage meant they never did. The general mood of the Disciples are light and the local merchants generally lack gossip concerning the Main Family, given Jiang Fengmian is the only member of the Main branch. And when one speak of Madam Yu, it's the wife of Sect Leader Yu instead of the third sister of said Sect Leader.
As for Wei Ying and his feelings concerning the Jiang siblings, he recovered from complicated feels concerning the pair. After all, Wei Ying had thought that the pair had liked him, had begun to think of him as a brother, despite their mother's attempts to keep them from interacting much. But for Jiang Yanli, who'd been so kind to him, to be the one going around killing those that remind her of Wei Ying... Well, it didn't all that long for him to do so.
The group who brought A&A 2 to Jiang Sect, they continued on being Disciples of the Sect and had discovered what game settings the late Jiang Cheng had enable and as none felt overly incline to risk their lives to play the game to bring the three back. After all, none of them had cared much for Madam Yu and it's clear that Jiang Cheng was more like his mother then his father.
Given what kind of Character the gone boy had created, after all, didn't the kid know that Sorcerers need a high Charisma to be able to cast spells? Never mind when they gave the lists of Privileges and Hindrances a quick skim, which already had alarming insight to what it is that Jiang Cheng ultimately valued along with how short sighted the boy already is and the doubt that the kid could grow out of it. None of them were surprised that he'd died so quickly within the game.
Looking at Jiang Yanli's Character, they did find a more well balanced Character but that she also used the Privileges and Hindrances... Then they read over her in game history did they sigh at the many failure to stick to finishing various Quests, well, aside from the Main Questline. Not that doing so was overly impressive, given the penalties of being unable to pursue it or out right failing to complete the linked Quests.
Before closing up the game, they did give their shidi's Character a look, knowing that the other had been at a disadvantage in not having been allowed to create a Character. Seeing what the other had to work with in both Stats and Skills, at least for a year in game and then, well, their respect for the younger boy increases given the many hardships he'd overcome with a good attitude, empathy, and solid reasoning.
They did change the settings, ensuring that the next group to accidently trigger the game won't have a chance to die right off the bat nor get erased. Which might be a good thing, given that Sect Leader Jiang had taken the game to a Discussion Conference and, well, things happened that caused the Wen Sect to intervene, who hadn't been in attendance, thus unaware of what it is they claimed ownership of.
All they know is that the game caused some kind of schism among the other Sects and, thus, might be of beneficial to study it for future use.
As for the Sects in question, well, they were a bit more concerned with the actions of Sect Leader Jin had taken while in the game. Even those Sect under the Jin banner weren't thrilled by the treachery that cost not just the defeated Sects but all of them to lose the game. None had been able to convert any of the money and belongs they'd worked for had been allowed out of the game in either into actual money or into what the equivalent is in their world.
None of the Cultivators in question were happy about not having access to the game but at the same time, they can't match the Wen Sect's numbers nor quality of their Cultivators. Many pray that the Wen Sect doesn't get the game to work while a few hope that they might alter the settings so they might be more lethal, perhaps some of them might end up dead.
Either way, the game ends up in a secure room, forgotten for years. Charging away from curious eyes, after all, that last game session had cause it to develop a massive world compared to the previous sessions. That a certain someone didn't have it generate the money he earned was one of the reasons why it had the minimum power to generate a game session for so many people.
That a certain Sect Leader had been a touch too greedy was a blessing. And so A&A II rests, it can already guess at how many Players it'll have to entertain during the next session.