| 6 |
With the peeking sun threatening to melt your party, you decide to retrace your steps back through the portal for now, and return when you are better prepared to withstand the harsh weather.
A refreshing alpine breeze soon welcomes you back to Yinshin-Pintai, and you begin to look around for an equipment store. As you walk, you curiously ask your guide about the island's trigons.
Tsu-Ko: "A trigon is a group of three towns linked together by two-faced portals. Well, technically, the portals are the only essential part of a trigon — they could be built out in the middle of nowhere, but that wouldn't be practical.
The name comes from the shape you get when you connect the dots on a map. It's easier to imagine that way."
Tsu-Ko illustrates by drawing a triangle in the air with a hoof.
Moonflower: "Ohhh. And there's more than jus' one?"
Tsu-Ko: "There's a lot of them. As far as I know, every other town is part of a trigon."
You ask the sprite if she knows why the towns are grouped into trigons.
Tsu-Ko: "Convenience. Before the Empire, the kingdoms were forced to trade what they had for what they didn't, and even so, routes to faraway kingdoms could span weeks, if not months of travel.
In a kingdom like Nan Yunjishan, you would've had to be nobility to so much as taste a piece of kelp from the Shi-Wan coast. Nowadays, it's as common as rice and beans — even tourists like you can have it."
You conclude that the law of supply and demand must have shaped the trigons in each province.
Tsu-Ko: "You're not far off. More than that, all trigons are designed as part of a greater whole; with all of them combined, you can travel from anywhere to anywhere else on the island within a week."
Moonflower: "Oooh, so there's portals all over the island, and ya gotta remember where they all go?"
Tsu-Ko: "If you can read the signs, it's not any different from using regular roads. Speaking of signs, there's an equipment store right here."
You thank Tsu-Ko, and follow her lead into the store. As you enter, you are greeted by a young unicorn mare with a friendly smile who seems eager to help.
Shopkeeper: "Ah—! Hi! Ar' — yu — rost'o?"
You tell the shopkeeper that you are looking to buy some gear.
Shopkeeper: "Ahh, okay okay! You're in the right place; take a look around!"
| BuyingZen | |
|
Oaken Dart
DEX. A throwing dart made of oak.
|
25 |
|
Divine Script
A paper talisman imbued with divine power.
|
34 |
|
Oaken Sword
DEX. A light curved sword made of oak.
|
200 |
|
Bamboo Hat
A conical hat made of bamboo that protects from the sun and rain.
|
250 |
|
Oaken Staff
DEX. A long plain staff made of oak.
|
300 |
|
Crystal Staff
INT. A casting staff set with a clear crystal.
|
350 |
|
2 Bamboo Legplates
Padded foreleg plate armour made of bamboo.
|
500 |
|
Bamboo Chestplate
Shouldered chest plate armour made of bamboo.
|
1000 |
|
Sidereal Bag
A bag that exists in another dimension.
|
1000 |
|
Kirinese Sword
DEX. A light single-edged curved sword.
|
2500 |
Enter a comment
Afterward examine the other goods. Ask the shopkeeper to tell us more about the oak sword. How durable is it? Can you use it in actual combat? And what's the purpose of the paper talisman?
- The Oaken Darts sound more like a thing Moonflower would use.
- The Divine Script talisman is pretty intriguing; we might want to ask what it's for. Is it like a blank runestone?
- An Oaken Sword doesn't sound particularly effective; I assume it's a training weapon?
- A Bamboo Hat is what we came here for.
- The Oaken Staff is a decent option if we want to get a weapon that's cheaper than the sword. I would have some questions about the weapon mechanics though. In real life, weapons (even just wrapping some cloth around your fists) tend to be far more effective than bare fists. I wonder if that's how it works here, though. Hooves are supposed to be hard. IRL quarterstaves are a form of polearm and have decent reach, like spears.
- The Crystal Staff is interesting, but we haven't gotten to understand the purpose of staves yet in our magic studies.
- The Bamboo Legplates and Bamboo Chestplate we don't really need because we have both shin guards and a breastplate already, which are made of (more effective?) metal.
- The Sidereal Bag we already have. It's interesting to see that they seem to be decently common though.
- The Kirinese Sword is quite enticing to me for reasons of vanity 😆, but I'm not sure if it will provide sufficient value compared to our hooves.
When have we actually used our weapons, and which weapons are we most experienced with by now? In the tournament, we used a sword (2016-09-18) and when fighting nightcrawlers, we used our hooves (2020-12-21).
We have Light Sword Mastery 2, Unarmed Mastery 2 and Light Polearm Mastery 1. So we are equally good with light swords and in hoof-to-hoof combat.
That said, unarmed combat has always been treated as a serious option (2015-09-04), so maybe that's not an issue. I'm not sure though — most fighters we've seen do use weapons, e.g. at the tournament.
Using horseshoes powered up by enchanted gemstones is a viable option for combat. The downside is that it gives our enemy an opportunity to hit our hooves with his own weapon (or his claws/jaw). So investing in armor to protect our exposed hooves is a wise choice.
Moonflower is probably fine with her existing hat though, since it also keeps sun out of her eyes already, and I think she has some sentimental attachment to it. I'm ok letting go of the desire for everyone's clothing to be matching.
But if we decide to buy one, we should take a detour back to Shui-Ti and find a trader willing to exchange more of our Bits into Zen.
I wouldn't be opposed to having extra Zen left over at the end; I would just donate it to the Voyager guild to help the next voyage here.
If we spring for the sword, then I'd be a bit more worried about our Zen. (For perspective, apparently 250 bits is equivalent to three weeks of our wages, lol.)