[[Open]] MANTA Promots and Catch-All

[yuezun]

Who: Dongfang Qingcang and you!
Status: Open
Where: All Over!
What: MANTA Quests and Crew-Related
Warnings: None at current; will update as needed


A Strange Shopping List
Having been convinced by Rem that a ship of their own, set up with the equipment and libraries needed, would be more useful in conducting the research they were interested in, Daqiang has done his own research into how mortals of the world go about acquiring one. There were the usual mentions of sometimes having ships stolen out from under a captain - particularly if a Corsair was boasting about taking a ship previously owned by a Paladin. But the most common consensus was that if you wanted a ship that would match your needs, you should gather appropriate materials and 'offer' them to the God-Beasts.

What sort of materials? Well, besides the usual wood and cloth and such, it seemed that items and components that would have significance or relevance to the ship the God-Beast was creating for you were just as important. As such, Daqiang had inquired with Rem and then Kimmuriel about what they felt was appropriate and came up with a short, but very odd, list: Magitech Items (still determining what sort), Stainless Steel, Black Jade, and one Dragonfly. And since it was so odd, gathering the materials became an exercise in visiting multiple ports for both information and discussions with merchants.

During the first half of December, Daqiang can be found on Elah, Eltrut, Nogard, and Antam speaking (or arguing) with various merchants over the costs of stainless steel, out in the wildlands of the leviathans chasing down rumored veins of black jade. Maybe you've chosen to help him in acquiring the materials and that's why you're knee deep in mud while Daqiang releases yet another dragonfly you caught because it's 'not good enough'.

Recruiting
If you've been invited to join the Raiders of the Lost Arts or have heard the rumors of them recruiting, and have yet to meet the strongest in the Three Realms, the great devil and Moon Supreme, Dongfang Qingcang, well he's not that hard to track down. His inquiries into procuring a ship have made it easy for anyone unfamiliar with him to get pointed his way by most merchants and port authorities.

On Nogaurd he is easiest to find onboard the Stormbringer as he still has a cabin there. If he's not immediately available, go ahead and hang out with Deathstar, the large, black, warrior cat that Daqiang took on as a 'servant' but whom gets treated more like minor royalty himself. He's very friendly and affectionate and would enjoy a shoulder ride even if he's too big for shoulders in question.

On Elah or Eltrut, he is largely keeping to the merchant quarters and around midday, you're certain to find him enjoying a meal at a private table set up where he can watch the various mortals walk by. He's the perpetually grumpy one dressed like he just walked out of a royal court.

MANTA quests TBA and Linked from Comments
Bite-Sized Blessings (General)
Fey Fighters (General)
Picture of Dorina Grey (General)
Magitech Madness (General)
Coins of the Crescent (Corsairs)
A Steamy Winter's Heist (Corsairs)
Poke 'N Prance (Corsairs)
Untitled Goose Bounty 2 (Bounty)

Wildcard
If the non-quest prompts aren't catching your fancy and the quest prompts aren't what you want either, feel free to put up something else and we'll go!

Comments

[cursedwords]

Despite his comment, he allowed the instruction all the same. He trusted him to know more than he did. Observation didn't do much, and even still, his plan for how to avoid being hit was not going to be half as easy with his hands full.

When he mentioned his feet, he glanced down at them and he nodded. Overhead, and a thrust. That wasn't really what Yuta did, but this was probably a different style. He understood that people had different styles with weapons. The sword would give him a longer range, but could be a bit big for him. He wouldn't know unless he swung it.

"Salmon." He said, more to acknowledge that he was listening.

[yuezun]

Daqiang stepped away from him and retrieved his own sword, then moved to stand in front of Toge about five paces away. He brought his sword up, ready to block Toge's strikes. Usually one did not provide a living target for a new student to hit. But considering the amount of people involved in the training on the deck and how that limited their space... it would be better to have himself between Toge and the rest.

"Strike."

[cursedwords]

It would surprise him to know that. At Jujutsu Tech, they only provided live targets, which was why he was certain he could deal with a sword aimed at him. That was only half the equation however.

The odds of him getting that coffee was diminishing, but he was learning something new so it wasn't all bad.

An overhead strike came first, just as he was told to do. His strength was there, but there was a wobble on the strike. He wasn't used to holding something so heavy and swinging it. That kind of strike for him wouldn't nearly be as high as most people either because he was so short, but it was probably very easy to block, at least.

[yuezun]

It was easy to block and Daqiang did so, slipping backwards half a step to keep plenty of space between them. Both to observe the strikes and to give Toge room to move forward as he'd instructed. He kept his sword up, ready to parry the thrust that should follow and force it to one side or the other, depending on which side Toge struck from.

[cursedwords]

This was harder than it looked. The block pushed the blade back, but while Toge moved forward alright, he lost his momentum and couldn't go into the parry, the tip of the blade touching the deck.

Huh. It sounded easy enough, it looked easy enough. Just like Yuta realized using his technique was a bit of a nightmare in itself, he was realizing that Yuta's sword skills were not so simple.

[yuezun]

"The blade is too heavy for you," Daqiang declared as the tip not only dipped, but dipped far enough to touch the deck. "Stop. We will have to find a different blade. One that is weighted better. Is this your preferred style?"

Daqiang's own blade was a straight, double-edged jian. Shorter than the katana-like blade Toge had picked. The thin, curved, saber-like blade of Toge's choice was not his preference, but he knew enough forms for it that he could continue training Toge in it's use. At lease enough to make sure he knew how to stab someone properly.

"Have you considered daggers?"

[cursedwords]

That didn't surprise him. Toge had only chosen it because of how it looked.

"Tuna mayo." He responded after a moment, it was one he'd seen used before. The second question had him shaking his head.

"Fish flakes. Tuna." He had not considered daggers, and he did not know how to use a weapon, just in case Daqiang wondered. Not any kind of weapon.

[yuezun]

That was not a good answer. No weapon training at all?

Daqiang held out his free hand and wiggled his fingers in a 'give it here' manner toward the katana Toge held. They were going to switch to daggers and knives.

[cursedwords]

"Sujiko." Toge murmured under his breath. They didn't teach him a whole lot, frankly.

Those were his own problems though, and not something he had to deal with at the moment.

[yuezun]

Daqiang took the katana and went to put it up. He also put the sword he'd chosen up as well. When he came back, he twisted his hands and a pair of matched daggers with handles made of the femur of some animal appeared. One in either hand.

He held out the one in his left hand for Toge to take, "The weight on this will be better. You'll need to find some to practice with later, but for today, this venerable one will show you how to stab effectively and where to do it."

[cursedwords]

"Salmon." Toge responded with a smile, as though he hadn't just been complaining to himself about something or other.

The dagger was smaller and lighter, which kind of made sense. It wasn't that he wasn't strong enough to hold a katana, but it put him off balance all too easily.

[yuezun]

Daqiang spent the next twenty minutes or so showing Toge how to grip the dagger and how to hold his arm when stabbing with it. Enough for Toge to get a feel for how it was without any resistance.

Then he stepped in front of Toge and brought the tip of the dagger to a point on his body where - if Toge stabbed straight through - there would be no internal damage or danger to Daqiang's life. He moved his hand to Toge's wrist and started to pull the dagger so that it just breached his skin.

"Push slowly," he said as he released Toge's hand. "Keep your wrist straight. Take the time to feel the resistance and understand what it should feel like when you strike true. Push all the way to the hilt."

[cursedwords]

The lesson itself was good, he was getting a feel for having a weapon in his hand, although how that would translate in battle would be another matter, probably.

What he wasn't expecting was Daqiang offering himself up as a pin cushion so he could feel what stabbing was like.

Toge hesitated. "Fish flakes!" He protested.

[yuezun]

To Daqiang, it was a simple matter of ensuring the lesson was learned properly and the easiest way - barring the ability to drag someone else over to act as pin cushion, and he couldn't guarantee that person would stand there and take it - was to monitor the injury done to himself. It certainly wasn't going to be enough to kill him.

Grabbing Toge's wrist, he jerked it and the blade forward, burying it about an inch into his own side as he responded to the protest with a stern, "Do not hesitate."

[cursedwords]

Were they sparring, Toge wouldn't hesitate. He had no problem inflicting damage. If they were sparring, wounds would be Daqiang's own fault, or so the philosophy went. This was something else.

However, he'd mounted a necessary protest. Whatever the point was that he was trying to get across, likely the feel of it, he wanted him to feel it. Unorthodox, sure, but...

"Ikura." Toge swore, but sure enough he didn't hesitate, he pressed forward with a relatively fluid motion and buried the dagger in to the hilt.

[yuezun]

When one had no training with weapons, knowing how much pressure to apply was the difference between success and failure. What a blade would feel like breaching a body in a place that wasn't life threatening vs a place that was vs the bone were all important lessons.

Daqiang, for his part, didn't even flinch as it went all the way in. He nodded and looked down, his fingers pulling the cloth of his robes aside to study the wound.

"Good. Now pull it out," he ordered, unperturbed. "There will be more resistance than when it went in."

[cursedwords]

It was definitely different, at least, Toge recognized that. He pulled it out a little too firmly perhaps, that might hurt someone more but the warning was well heeded.

"Takana?" Was he really alright? Not making a sound, not flinching, was something he was trained to do, so that didn't necessarily mean anything to him. This seemed like an unnecessary sacrifice for a lesson. Presumably, Daqiang didn't need the pain to remember the lesson. It would make much more sense to him if he was being stabbed.

Although he'd been stabbed before, it wouldn't be new.

[yuezun]

Daqiang shot Toge a frown. Did Toge really have such little faith in him and his ability?

He pressed his hand to the wound and shut his eyes. Because it hadn't hit anything vital, it was a simple matter of circulating some energy to get it to close. He wiped the skin with his fingers and then held the gash in his robes open to show the now intact flesh. Then snapped his fingers to remove the blood and fix the hole in his robe. No harm had been done that could not be easily remedied.

"You should seek to acquire your own dagger set in the coming weeks," he said. "We can practice more after this venerable one acquires his own ship."

[cursedwords]

It was less that he didn't have faith in his abilities, but he didn't know his abilities. He wasn't someone he trained with on a regular basis, the things Daqiang could do always surprised him.

He was relieved he could heal it. That made sense. Like RCT, he thought, which very few people could use. He was not one of them. He had the good fortune of healing from wounds the old fashioned way.

"Salmon." He certainly could do that, although his brow furrowed. "Tuna mayo?" Why did he think he should, though?

Toge raised his hand and touched his throat. That was his power, after all.

[yuezun]

Daqiang lifted his own hand to follow Toge's, hovering just out of reach.

"Too much and you must rest your voice for a time," he explained. "Your power over the chaos of creation is formidable, but once it is used, you are vulnerable."

[cursedwords]

"Salmon." Toge agreed, and then considered that, how long would he be out of commission if he hit his limit? He didn't have Ieri-san here to fix it for him. He would need rest, but surely it wasn't that long.

"Tuna mayo." He waved his hand back and forth to emphasize that he thought that was a maybe. He was pretty strong on his own, just not with a weapon.

"Mentaiko." He'd managed one way or another.

[yuezun]

"Furthering your skill in a weapon is still a worthy pursuit for ensuring you are never caught unable to defend yourself. A sharp edge in the right place can still do damage that a punch may no longer have the strength to give."

Toge was capable in his own ways and Daqiang trusted him to know his own ability better than Daqiang could. So mostly he was ensuring that Toge understood the value in learning rather than any real attempt to convince him to continue. Toge was not yet his soldier or lieutenant to command. He was, however, currently what Daqiang considered an ally and as such, Daqiang did have an interest in ensuring Toge lived up to his potential.

[cursedwords]

He considered that and nodded slightly, smiling a little bit behind his face covering. "Tuna." They wouldn't teach him anything like this.

"Sujiko." At home, they were all too fine if he up and died, he admitted. If Daqiang had encountered someone like him, in that position with that kind of mindset, he might know that the ability for self-preservation might be impacted.

He was not his soldier, but that was what Toge essentially was.

[yuezun]

Daqaing understood that kind of soldier mindset. Usually it was only among those that were not elites and had proven that they were not going to have the capability to become one. After all, the more skilled and powerful a soldier was, the more enemies they could face alone. But even fore the common soldier, who could be expected to have to sacrifice their life earlier than others, there was also the understanding that they should learn both how to attack and defend themselves with every weapon they possibly could. No one relied solely on their cultivation.

For someone with the power that Toge had to be treated like even less than the most rank and file soldier in the Moon Tribe... it was an unfathomable waste of resources.

"You have been failed by your superiors in your world," Daqaing said after a moment more. "This venerable one will not see that mistake repeated."

[cursedwords]

"Salmon." Toge could agree, they definitely took steps to actively restrict his talents and make him do what they wanted. They restricted a lot of things.

"Tuna mayo." They were afraid of him, and probably should be. He was losing patience - but he wasn't willing to tip people off on that. Fortunately for the moment, he was shielded from the worst they could come up with, because Gojo wouldn't put up with it.