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alias_sqbrI'm having a great time and excited to see what happens next!
Masterlist of posts
I have the choice to lead a boat race or join someone else's. I remember this being tricky, but Lian has turned out to be a very YOLO character. So let's run a team and see if it crashes and burns!
Man, these letters are hard to read, it's all handwriting fonts on splotchy paper. Anyway, someone is sending me dire warnings, and the previous Jiyel delegate I replaced turns out to have been threatened into leaving. I have entirely forgotten what happens with all that asides from some assassination attempts, I think maybe it was the douches from Revaire? Maybe Blaine? Seems like their sort of thing, though it's hard to see why they'd care about a nobody like Lian from another country.
Now that the speech is done I'm fuzzy on what goals I should be pursuing. I vaguely recall that the upcoming horse ride has a skill check to do with animals/plants, so let's go rambling with Emmet! Then maybe I'll do some exploring.
I like how the narration takes Lian's background into account, she's always focussing on whether or not things are logical and will wax lyrical about books unprompted.
THE THREATENING LETTER WAS LACED WITH IN AN INCURABLE POISON
I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT
So of course Lian goes straight to the library and decides she's going to keep researching until she finds a cure all by herself.
And the Emmet finds out she's not feeling well and makes her a herbal tea using rare plants he found?? SWEETIE.
I didn't do a lot of exploring of the castle last week because I was focussed on (needlessly) improving my history score. There's special scenes sometimes but I've seen the only one that feels very relevant to Lian this week, which involved being trained in poise by Jasper. Otherwise, you just get a plotless skill boost.
But I feel like Lian would visit the Grand Library library at least once on principle, even though the academia boost is the one thing I definitely don't need lol. HA and I had a bad luck roll and learned NOTHING. OH WELL.
I decided not to look up a walkthrough when choosing my boat race team and just followed my gut so that'll be fun!
Ride was a success despite someone trying to get Lian's horse to bolt over a cliff. Thanks Emmet! Also had a nice little chat with Cordelia. It was nice of Harad to come and give Lian some advice on dealing with assassination attempts even though I don't think I've ever talked to the guy this playthrough.
Heard Yvette and Jasper discussing Secret Oaths in the Small Library ooh. I don't think I ever found out exactly what's up with all that, there seems to be some mostly-good secret society battling against the forces of Evil or something. There's a bunch of Secret Meetings and Plots you can uncover during the game but I decided not to worry about all that this time.
Aw, a nice breakfast with Penelope. Who turns out to be as much of a flower nerd as Emmett, they'd make a good pair (except he belongs to Lian)
I decided to go walk along the cliffs to increase Lian's courage and defensive instincts. It felt IC for her to go "I lost my nerve when my horse bolted, and nearly fell off these cliffs, time to force myself to get braver". She bumped into Gisette and Jarad presumably discussing her assassination, but her insight is low enough that she was all HI GUYS :D and learned nothing haha. I think that scene is only supposed to trigger before the ride but I guess it works as the two of them going "Dammit, why isn't she dead".
Hung out with Cordelia, I don't have the persuasion to get her to open up so conversations with her stay on the level of polite smalltalk. But I find her endearing, this gentle rules-oriented girl who finds life as a pirate stressful, and it's nice to know Lian following the rules of politeness around her helps her feel comfortable.
My team (Claremont, Ana, Emmet, and Cordelia) lost the boat race but it was pretty close.
End of Week Two!
Going into week three, for upcoming events there's the second event I can host, and more importantly the second matchmaker interview! If you fail that you can be sent home, though may be not in Story mode.
Of the three events I can host, two require persuasion but it looks like I might be able to skate by on just book smarts for the "Onvu".
Looking up the interview requirements, I want to be at 50 for as many things as possible (except manipulation at 75 and secrets at 25, but I am super low on both of those so eh)
At or above 50: Leadership, intelligence, etiquette, poise
Near 50, and how much more I need: Eloquence (5), insight(15), Charm (15), courage (15), beauty(20)
Exploring your room in week 3 gets 5 each of eloquence, grace, and courage. The cliff will get me another 5 courage. The parlor gets me 5 charm and 5 likeability. Beauty tips with Ria will get me at least 5 beauty, maybe 10 if she's in love with me (I'M NOT TRYING TO SEDUCE MY MAID BUT THESE THINGS HAPPEN)
Story mode means these numbers might be off, so I'll do each of these once then see where I'm at. Also there's a friendship scene with Cordelia in the gazebo.
Ooh I get to invite someone on a date and buy people presents. Jasper implied I will need to spend some money on my event but the walkthrough doesn't say how much!! HOW TO BUDGET??
I have 95 gold. And...oh my god this spreadsheet is INCOMPREHENSIBLE what do all these columns MEAN?? WHERE is the 'attached comment' with extra info??
But I can at least tell that of the characters I've gotten close to, Ana likes the 10 gold embossed scabbard, Penelope and Claremont like the free heartfelt letter (score!), Emmet likes the 5 gold historical travelogue, Cordelia likes the 10 gold gloves. That only adds up to 25, which hopefully won't break the bank. And I sent Lisle a letter too, as Penelope's brother.
Helping my maid Sarya defend another maid from sexual harassment, and I have the choice to do it because of female solidarity, or because it's my duty as a noble and general ethical person. Hmm! I think the latter. I think Lian is kinda agender.
Aw, Jasper gave Lian a present. And also told Ana she wasn't allowed to give a sword, so instead Lian gets a very large and sharp letter opener haha.
Nice smelling flowers from Emmet, a book of history from Yvette, chocolates from Penelope, a fan from Cordelia who is evidently grateful to have made a friend, and makeup from the maids.
Oop, Matchmaker's Breakfast turned out to be a significant event with a lot of tests. But they seem to have mainly involved etiquette and quick wittedness, of which I have plenty, so I did fine.
Ah, Onvu is a board game! And the cost is only if I choose to offer a prize. I'm not sure if I'll need money again later so let's pick the middle one for ten gold.
Wellen delegate: I don't want to marry some disgusting foreigner!
Arland delegate: I'm not saying foreigners aren't disgusting, but we have to do our duty.
Wellen delegate: Lady Lian, you're a heathen foreigner, don't you think we should all stick to our own kind?
Haaa and I have the option to ignore them and just down a goblet of wine. But let's go for distracting everyone by faking a fainting spell.
Yep I have apparently made Ria fall in love with Lian just by being nice.
Lian uses her book smarts to alleviate her poison symptoms with a herbal tea! I don't think this check actually used her plant knowledge but it felt IC that she has it. It's kind of funny how rarely the game brings up that you're DYING OF AN INCURABLE POISON and pursued by UNKNOWN ASSASSINS. Possibly two unrelated sets of assassins, even!
Woot I have all the stats I wanted to raise at 50. I guess I'll...have her study politics? She should probably know more about that.
Scraped through the Matchmaker interview but only because Jasper vouched for me. She berated me for not stringing more people along romantically lol.
Hmm. Might work on Insight and People by going to the guest hall.
Haaa and now the game is making sure I remember who I invited on a date.
Lian and Emmet both said they see each other as special! It was super cute.
Aww and then Ria made a shy attempt to express her feelings and I thanked her for being Such A Good Friend. Sorry, Ria. Not seducing my maid this time.
And now I'm engaged to Emmet with the Matchmaker's approval! Ana takes it with good grace, offering to punch him if he ever makes Lian unhappy and saying they will be good friends. And I mean, I never had Lian express any interest, she was just being friendly! Lian does not like to deliberately play the field, very unlike my usual playstyle.
Claremont is a little sad she didn't pick him but also thinks it would have been a bad idea and wishes her well. Unlike Ana, the matchmaker did not suggest him as a match, I'm not sure why off the top of my head if he likes Lian that much, some political thing I'm missing? Maybe there'll be some sneaking around and angst when/if I do romance him.
And Emmett of course is endearingly delighted :)
Week four starts with a bang but I think I'll end the post here, and start on the NEW AND EXCITING content in a new shiny post.
Masterlist of posts
I have the choice to lead a boat race or join someone else's. I remember this being tricky, but Lian has turned out to be a very YOLO character. So let's run a team and see if it crashes and burns!
Man, these letters are hard to read, it's all handwriting fonts on splotchy paper. Anyway, someone is sending me dire warnings, and the previous Jiyel delegate I replaced turns out to have been threatened into leaving. I have entirely forgotten what happens with all that asides from some assassination attempts, I think maybe it was the douches from Revaire? Maybe Blaine? Seems like their sort of thing, though it's hard to see why they'd care about a nobody like Lian from another country.
Now that the speech is done I'm fuzzy on what goals I should be pursuing. I vaguely recall that the upcoming horse ride has a skill check to do with animals/plants, so let's go rambling with Emmet! Then maybe I'll do some exploring.
I like how the narration takes Lian's background into account, she's always focussing on whether or not things are logical and will wax lyrical about books unprompted.
THE THREATENING LETTER WAS LACED WITH IN AN INCURABLE POISON
I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THAT
So of course Lian goes straight to the library and decides she's going to keep researching until she finds a cure all by herself.
And the Emmet finds out she's not feeling well and makes her a herbal tea using rare plants he found?? SWEETIE.
I didn't do a lot of exploring of the castle last week because I was focussed on (needlessly) improving my history score. There's special scenes sometimes but I've seen the only one that feels very relevant to Lian this week, which involved being trained in poise by Jasper. Otherwise, you just get a plotless skill boost.
But I feel like Lian would visit the Grand Library library at least once on principle, even though the academia boost is the one thing I definitely don't need lol. HA and I had a bad luck roll and learned NOTHING. OH WELL.
I decided not to look up a walkthrough when choosing my boat race team and just followed my gut so that'll be fun!
Ride was a success despite someone trying to get Lian's horse to bolt over a cliff. Thanks Emmet! Also had a nice little chat with Cordelia. It was nice of Harad to come and give Lian some advice on dealing with assassination attempts even though I don't think I've ever talked to the guy this playthrough.
Heard Yvette and Jasper discussing Secret Oaths in the Small Library ooh. I don't think I ever found out exactly what's up with all that, there seems to be some mostly-good secret society battling against the forces of Evil or something. There's a bunch of Secret Meetings and Plots you can uncover during the game but I decided not to worry about all that this time.
Aw, a nice breakfast with Penelope. Who turns out to be as much of a flower nerd as Emmett, they'd make a good pair (except he belongs to Lian)
I decided to go walk along the cliffs to increase Lian's courage and defensive instincts. It felt IC for her to go "I lost my nerve when my horse bolted, and nearly fell off these cliffs, time to force myself to get braver". She bumped into Gisette and Jarad presumably discussing her assassination, but her insight is low enough that she was all HI GUYS :D and learned nothing haha. I think that scene is only supposed to trigger before the ride but I guess it works as the two of them going "Dammit, why isn't she dead".
Hung out with Cordelia, I don't have the persuasion to get her to open up so conversations with her stay on the level of polite smalltalk. But I find her endearing, this gentle rules-oriented girl who finds life as a pirate stressful, and it's nice to know Lian following the rules of politeness around her helps her feel comfortable.
My team (Claremont, Ana, Emmet, and Cordelia) lost the boat race but it was pretty close.
End of Week Two!
Going into week three, for upcoming events there's the second event I can host, and more importantly the second matchmaker interview! If you fail that you can be sent home, though may be not in Story mode.
Of the three events I can host, two require persuasion but it looks like I might be able to skate by on just book smarts for the "Onvu".
Looking up the interview requirements, I want to be at 50 for as many things as possible (except manipulation at 75 and secrets at 25, but I am super low on both of those so eh)
At or above 50: Leadership, intelligence, etiquette, poise
Near 50, and how much more I need: Eloquence (5), insight(15), Charm (15), courage (15), beauty(20)
Exploring your room in week 3 gets 5 each of eloquence, grace, and courage. The cliff will get me another 5 courage. The parlor gets me 5 charm and 5 likeability. Beauty tips with Ria will get me at least 5 beauty, maybe 10 if she's in love with me (I'M NOT TRYING TO SEDUCE MY MAID BUT THESE THINGS HAPPEN)
Story mode means these numbers might be off, so I'll do each of these once then see where I'm at. Also there's a friendship scene with Cordelia in the gazebo.
Ooh I get to invite someone on a date and buy people presents. Jasper implied I will need to spend some money on my event but the walkthrough doesn't say how much!! HOW TO BUDGET??
I have 95 gold. And...oh my god this spreadsheet is INCOMPREHENSIBLE what do all these columns MEAN?? WHERE is the 'attached comment' with extra info??
But I can at least tell that of the characters I've gotten close to, Ana likes the 10 gold embossed scabbard, Penelope and Claremont like the free heartfelt letter (score!), Emmet likes the 5 gold historical travelogue, Cordelia likes the 10 gold gloves. That only adds up to 25, which hopefully won't break the bank. And I sent Lisle a letter too, as Penelope's brother.
Helping my maid Sarya defend another maid from sexual harassment, and I have the choice to do it because of female solidarity, or because it's my duty as a noble and general ethical person. Hmm! I think the latter. I think Lian is kinda agender.
Aw, Jasper gave Lian a present. And also told Ana she wasn't allowed to give a sword, so instead Lian gets a very large and sharp letter opener haha.
Nice smelling flowers from Emmet, a book of history from Yvette, chocolates from Penelope, a fan from Cordelia who is evidently grateful to have made a friend, and makeup from the maids.
Oop, Matchmaker's Breakfast turned out to be a significant event with a lot of tests. But they seem to have mainly involved etiquette and quick wittedness, of which I have plenty, so I did fine.
Ah, Onvu is a board game! And the cost is only if I choose to offer a prize. I'm not sure if I'll need money again later so let's pick the middle one for ten gold.
Wellen delegate: I don't want to marry some disgusting foreigner!
Arland delegate: I'm not saying foreigners aren't disgusting, but we have to do our duty.
Wellen delegate: Lady Lian, you're a heathen foreigner, don't you think we should all stick to our own kind?
Haaa and I have the option to ignore them and just down a goblet of wine. But let's go for distracting everyone by faking a fainting spell.
Yep I have apparently made Ria fall in love with Lian just by being nice.
Lian uses her book smarts to alleviate her poison symptoms with a herbal tea! I don't think this check actually used her plant knowledge but it felt IC that she has it. It's kind of funny how rarely the game brings up that you're DYING OF AN INCURABLE POISON and pursued by UNKNOWN ASSASSINS. Possibly two unrelated sets of assassins, even!
Woot I have all the stats I wanted to raise at 50. I guess I'll...have her study politics? She should probably know more about that.
Scraped through the Matchmaker interview but only because Jasper vouched for me. She berated me for not stringing more people along romantically lol.
Hmm. Might work on Insight and People by going to the guest hall.
Haaa and now the game is making sure I remember who I invited on a date.
Lian and Emmet both said they see each other as special! It was super cute.
Aww and then Ria made a shy attempt to express her feelings and I thanked her for being Such A Good Friend. Sorry, Ria. Not seducing my maid this time.
And now I'm engaged to Emmet with the Matchmaker's approval! Ana takes it with good grace, offering to punch him if he ever makes Lian unhappy and saying they will be good friends. And I mean, I never had Lian express any interest, she was just being friendly! Lian does not like to deliberately play the field, very unlike my usual playstyle.
Claremont is a little sad she didn't pick him but also thinks it would have been a bad idea and wishes her well. Unlike Ana, the matchmaker did not suggest him as a match, I'm not sure why off the top of my head if he likes Lian that much, some political thing I'm missing? Maybe there'll be some sneaking around and angst when/if I do romance him.
And Emmett of course is endearingly delighted :)
Week four starts with a bang but I think I'll end the post here, and start on the NEW AND EXCITING content in a new shiny post.
