Difference between revisions of "ZCW notes Lucky Chang"

Revision as of 14:26, 16 July 2010

Scroll 1 notes regarding Lucky Chang

In the Port of Auspicious Voyage, a ninja showed up to attack me. Someone (possibly the ninja) deposited a coin bearing Lucky Chang's symbol into Wei Han's purse before the attack. The Hunter's Map, which always shows my location (at some scale appropriate to the viewer) was dropped by the ninja.

I never had a good explanation for that attack--my assumption at the time was that it was a preemptive strike, because of my association with Madame Song, who has had some trouble with Lucky Chang in the past.

Later, in (the Precincts run where we had to cut new orders for Wei Han), my best guess of what was going on was that Lucky Chang was trying to separate Wei Han from me to make me an easier target. But all that we know for sure is that Lucky Chang engineered a transfer of Wei Han to the Bearers of Swift Response, which was unsuitable on several levels.

Master Takanata read my I Ching, and one of the lines therein was "When his enemy is victorious will the game be unmasked". We're pretty clear that this refers to Lucky Chang's victory at Bear Mountain, and the visions of the Butterfly King's investigations. If so, then the game referred to in the reading is a much bigger game than whatever I thought was going on between myself and Lucky Chang. It may still be a personal game to me, somehow, though I don't see how at this time. (I mean, yes, it's personal for all of us to some extent, but that's not what I mean.)

I'm now re-evaluating these things somewhat, because while I was at the Temple of Eternal Dream, I did a little dreamwalking, searching for insight into the reason why I was important to Lucky Chang. I found myself looking at the Hunter's Map, reflecting on the fact that all it has is an X where I am--nothing personal about me, not even a fox icon or anything. Very impersonal.

How to beat Lucky Chang? Ideas:

• His preparations are careful, and his luck-related talents allow him to get very improbable results. This generally adds up to a small margin of error, so even a small act of interference could be effective. Easier if he can anticipate the plan.

• Prepare to beat him head-to-head. It's hard to see how I can manage this without learning some comparable talents to his. I will, of course, be working on this. Final victory will probably require a head-to-head beatdown; but it will be a long time before I'm ready for that.

• He's much better at making enemies than making friends, so if we can find more of them, we may have help. I already know a couple.

• Provoke division among the Legs of the Spider. They're all highly ambitious. If we can figure out how their internal dynamic works, we can figure out what kind of misinformation campaign might work against them. For example, "Machan Li" thought his plan against the Butterfly Kingdom was so great that somebody must have been working against him. Any chance of convincing him that Lucky Chang thwarted him in order to win points?

Questions:

• Does Lucky Chang even know who I am? I had assumed (from the first ninja) that the answer was yes, but it now appears possible that he did not. As I have not been careful in investigating him, he surely knows my name now if he cares to. But does he even know of my connection with Madame Song? (i.e. I originally assumed that that connection was the reason for his attack; if it's not, maybe he doesn't know/care about what she's doing.)

• If the X on the Hunter's Map is not concerned with me personally, but rather something that I am or have, what is that thing?

• What purpose does the coin serve? Was it just a calling card, as we originally assumed? Does it matter that we've kept it?

• When Wei Han was transferred (a "move in the game", according to Willow), was it really a move against me, or a move against Wei Han? Or if both, which was the most important?

• In the Savanna of Tears, Lucky Chang bet the Namgung clan chief that he could best the chief's personal guard. He arranged for the time and place of the combat to be in a field which was due to be flooded, and he showed up with inflatable water wings and beat up the guard, winning the bet. Was that just another Lucky Chang Beatdown, or was it part of the Spider Plan?

• In the Hon'eth Arcade, Lucky Chang won a humiliating victory of some kind over Malkoha. (I haven't asked for details.) Again, was this just another Lucky Chang Beatdown, or was it part of the Spider Plan?

• Was Lucky Chang's victory, at the place formerly (and one day again to be) known as Bear Mountain, the culmination of a Grand Ritual, or was it some other thing that we don't yet understand?