Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

I've been convinced.

[X] Aid neither, leave them too it and go elsewhere, to try and figure out what is going on in this dream.

We are here for one simple reason, to gain power from this dream. It might be selfish of us, but we really have no quarrel with the Weilu or the Tree and neither one will be able to, or possibly willing, to tell us what this dream is about.

Learning more about this dream, what horrors it has to show us, what atrocities occurred here to scar the land with a literal memory of this night, is the best way to understand what power we can take from this dream. What insight we can glean from the past.

The likelihood of arts is slim as this predates the Argent Sect by a significant amount of time (unless the argent sect can slip stuff into a dream like Elder Jiao was able to, but then the question becomes why?) and any information we gain about politics or conflicts will be so outdated as to be terribly useless.

The power we can get from the dream is then likely to do with geography (a powerful cultivation site created by the event), the treasures of the dead who fell here, or insights into how dreams interact and affect reality. My hope is finding the location of another Weilu Tomb, but that seems unlikely.

All in all, I don't see how helping either side will give us any insight into what this dream can provide us or why the dream still exists. I think we need to do some serious digging around to figure out what is going on. The object of the vengeance of the forest is long gone and our obligation to help humans is inconsequential when they are dead and we are unable to meaningfully assist them.

No, I think our best bet right now is to figure out how this dream is anchored to reality, what power and knowledge the dream can impart to us, and how to leave the dream on our own power. I don't see how helping either side figures out the first, the second, or the third objectives.

[X] Aid the spirit, something about the prince set her on edge.

It's a bit of a stretch, I will admit. Because the Horned Prince isn't going to look kindly on 'Soldiers' disobeying orders and fucking off on their own if he wins. And he's pretty likely to win based on the stat readouts, especially if he has some good Arts that massage them a bit.

You go poking around for secrets when you're not risking an angry horned boy wanting to make an example of you.

Basically, it assumes that we can decode what this dream is doing before that fight gets resolved, that we have the ability to do it at all, and that the answer we get isn't "Deal with the fight going on one way or the other to move on to the next story beat." It's not necessarily wrong, but it is a risky pick, and doesn't really play to Ling Qi's strengths.

[X] Aid neither, leave them to it and go elsewhere, to try and figure out what is going on in this dream.

[X] Aid the spirit, something about the prince set her on edge

When in doubt, err in favor of not helping oathbreakers, because odds are they'd turn on you gladly.

Alectai said:

It's a bit of a stretch, I will admit. Because the Horned Prince isn't going to look kindly on 'Soldiers' disobeying orders and fucking off on their own if he wins. And he's pretty likely to win based on the stat readouts, especially if he has some good Arts that massage them a bit.

You go poking around for secrets when you're not risking an angry horned boy wanting to make an example of you.

Basically, it assumes that we can decode what this dream is doing before that fight gets resolved, that we have the ability to do it at all, and that the answer we get isn't "Deal with the fight going on one way or the other to move on to the next story beat." It's not necessarily wrong, but it is a risky pick, and doesn't really play to Ling Qi's strengths.

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I don't think that this fight is the one that matters. A battle between two green appraisal cultivators should not produce a memory that lasts for over 8,500 years. No, that is some higher level stuff, like Cyan or above. We know that there is more combat happening all around in the memory,

yrsillar said:

From all around, the sounds of combat rang out. The crack of shattering trees reached their ears and the earth shook underfoot from terrible blows… and yet those distant things could not draw her attention, for in front of Ling Qi's eyes a battle raged.

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Which makes it strikingly unlikely that this bout of combat is the relevant combat. No, I think that the fight that the Weilu's father is in, or even a higher ranked Weilu, is the fight that matters.

As for not assisting the Prince, I agree, he's not going to like it. But in this situation, I would think that he would rather rush to his father's side then track us down and make an example of us. And killing the Prince isn't going to make his father like us at all.

I think that there is much more going on and figuring that out is more beneficial to our goals than helping the Angry Tree or the Furious Prince.

Not related to this discussion but I am going to lay down a prediction this event will go for at least three updates, this one and two others.

I am making this prediction based on how the vote is laid out. Specifically that the third option leads into setup of go looking for information -> find information -> do something with information. It will absolutely go for two updates and the first and second option lead easily into things at least three updates long with pick who to fight -> fight them and get a story -> make decision based on that.

regarding the 'aid neither' vote: the prince considers us (or rather Shen Hu) as soldiers of his forces and not helping him now would basically be desertion, which is traditionally not too popular with superiors. This means that we would most likely have to support the spirit side either way, if the prince survives this fight and I think he will. So in a way I consider that option just a delayed 'join the spirits' vote

Seriously tho, why Curious Diviners Eyes?

It's not the dedicated stealth art, it's not larceny and super flight combo, its not even the one that le s you perceive the bonds between people.

naths said:

regarding the 'aid neither' vote: the prince considers us (or rather Shen Hu) as soldiers of his forces and not helping him now would basically be desertion, which is traditionally not too popular with superiors. This means that we would most likely have to support the spirit side either way, if the prince survives this fight and I think he will. So in a way I consider that option just a delayed 'join the spirits' vote

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Something to consider with the whole "prince will be on our ass" line of thinking, since we are in a dream. Stuff is transient and strange. Tree and boy may well just cease to exist if we go away.

TotallyNotEvil said:

Seriously tho, why Curious Diviners Eyes?

It's not the dedicated stealth art, it's not larceny and super flight combo, its not even the one that le s you perceive the bonds between people.

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Because of some of the bonuses we acquired after the art list, it's absurdly fast to train. Like, possibly mastered in 3 actions fast once we start training it with GSS. Also because of those bonuses and how we plan on using GSS, it's very difficult for us to waste art training as we're actually likely to run out of arts to train before we hit Foundation and again after. That means we stop training stats, which is bad. We're likely going to have to pick up several arts that are less than perfect.

It's possible CDE won't actually end up being a primary art we use, but it lets us train some stats/skills we need and it fills in a gap in our training schedule, and is handy for exploration and jobs besides.

SynchronizedWritersBlock said:

Because of some of the bonuses we acquired after the art list, it's absurdly fast to train. Like, possibly mastered in 3 actions fast once we start training it with GSS. Also because of those bonuses and how we plan on using GSS, it's very difficult for us to waste art training as we're actually likely to run out of arts to train before we hit Foundation and again after. That means we stop training stats, which is bad. We're likely going to have to pick up several arts that are less than perfect.

It's possible CDE won't actually end up being a primary art we use, but it lets us train some stats/skills we need and it fills in a gap in our training schedule, and is handy for exploration and jobs besides.

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Fair enough then.

TotallyNotEvil said:

Seriously tho, why Curious Diviners Eyes?

It's not the dedicated stealth art, it's not larceny and super flight combo, its not even the one that le s you perceive the bonds between people.

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We can't afford to pick up either ENM or AFL at this time, as we don't have the Meridians to use either Art without unequipping either PLR or SCS or unlocking a new Meridian. Removing either Art strikes me as foolish, and we lack the resources to ensure that we can open said Meridian without compromising on training SCS.

HDW and CWY are both tilted heavily towards Social Perception, with some neat combat tricks. However, both of those Arts train more slowly, meaning we couldn't squeeze in the first level in a single AP at this time.

CDE, on the other hand, is focused on Utility with some neat combat perception boosts. It has a hefty focus on exploration and uncovering secrets, both of which are things we want to obtain ASAP, so that we can find and then leverage the secrets, trials, and sites of the Inner Sect more easily. It also trains fast enough that we could squeeze the first level in with one AP.

Lastly, it has the neat side effect of allowing us to use SCS to go through solid walls at the first level of the Art.

SynchronizedWritersBlock said:

Because of some of the bonuses we acquired after the art list, it's absurdly fast to train. Like, possibly mastered in 3 actions fast once we start training it with GSS. Also because of those bonuses and how we plan on using GSS, it's very difficult for us to waste art training as we're actually likely to run out of arts to train before we hit Foundation and again after. That means we stop training stats, which is bad. We're likely going to have to pick up several arts that are less than perfect.

It's possible CDE won't actually end up being a primary art we use, but it lets us train some stats/skills we need and it fills in a gap in our training schedule, and is handy for exploration and jobs besides.

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I'll point out we can train stuff with jobs. Like, yes it's not as good, but stating "we stop training stats" like we completely can't is inaccurate.

Tentatively:
[X] Aid the spirit, something about the prince set her on edge

Floom said:

I mean, I suppose we could try fighting both? If you feel doing something risky. Maybe try to halt the fight and ask everyone what the fuck's going on?

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[X] "Halt! The Duchess demands an explanation!"

archangis said:

The moon map talked about the prince, not the treant. I am going to trust the moon here.

[X] Aid the prince, it was better to err on the side of the human

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Remember that moon quest we had that set us against Yan Reshou ?
Yeah, just because the dude is mentioned doesn't mean the goal is to help him ...

[X] Aid neither, leave them too it and go elsewhere, to try and figure out what is going on in this dream.

BungieONI said:

I am making this prediction based on how the vote is laid out. Specifically that the third option leads into setup of go looking for information -> find information -> do something with information. It will absolutely go for two updates and the first and second option lead easily into things at least three updates long with pick who to fight -> fight them and get a story -> make decision based on that.

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I don't really get why you, and some other people, thing that the neutral option is anything other than a <flee battle> button. To be rewarded for not fighting, not taking sides, is pretty much contrary to everything that is a cultivator.

Ayashi said:

I don't really get why you, and some other people, thing that the neutral option is anything other than a <flee battle> button. To be rewarded for not fighting, not taking sides, is pretty much contrary to everything that is a cultivator.

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Because I don't hold the same basic assumptions you do and the writing of the vote itself.

[X] Aid the spirit, something about the prince set her on edge

[X] Aid neither, leave them too it and go elsewhere, to try and figure out what is going on in this dream.

I see a lot of people assuming that because someone says "Oathbreaker" that that term instantly becomes true. Can't you imagine a situation where overzealous enforcement of a contract leads to both sides believing that they're in the right? Oh wait, that happens all the time. In fact one of the main tropes of spirit stories is how they hold the letter of contract to absurd standards.