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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[X] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.

Voting for this since it minimises risk of violence (for both us and spiders) while giving reasonable chance of positive payoff.
 
Really need to keep the wisps or something like that in any successor art we get. They are to bloody useful to not have and LQ has been getting a lot of use out of em.
 
[X] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.
 
yrsillar said:
Ling Qi frowned. Down the middle path there were a few rooms, filled with the rotted remains of furniture, it seemed like a small barracks or waystop, beds, a few racks of weapons, there was a small chest that radiated the energies of spirit stones. Something to check later. On the right was a room with three equally spaced pools of clear clean water, over which hung a contraption of brass and mirrors, now tarnished and cracked. She wasn't expert enough to say for sure, but it looked like some kind of clairvoyance set up.
"Disused scrying chamber on the left, barracks in the middle," Ling Qi said.
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This place seems like it would make a really nice waystation for any future visits to the Ice Nation. A couple of beds for crashing and some scrying pools to survey the area to see if there are any surprises before heading off. Depending, of course, on how intact the other features are and if this hideout can withstand having the illusion protecting it removed.

In addition, I have to wonder just how much is in spirit stones in this out of the way place. Probably not too much, or it would have been taken when it was abandoned, but if we can sense the spirit stones, it should be a fair amount.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle
 
[X] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush.

I have the perfect plan! We set up two alcoholic drinks, saying that one of them is poisoned and the other of them is not and that the Hui spiders get a choice of which they want to drink (with us drinking the other). The Hui spiders will then go through an extremely convoluted series of logical steps before selecting one.

Naturally the reality is that they are both poisoned with something that is only toxic to spirit beasts.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.
 
[x] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.

Intimidation roll time.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.
 
[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.
 
[X] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush
 
[X] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush.

Edit: changed my vote. Outwitting bunch of spiders sounds more interesting.
 
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[X] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush.
 
[X] Pretend that you have not noticed their duplicity and play polite for as long as possible to draw out information. Subtly set yourself up to counterattack their ambush.

Honestly, I'd prefer to spring the trap. Last time we negotiated with a spirit we ended up bargaining away one of Zhengui's dreams: if they attack us we have cause to either a) just kill em all up and move on b) beat them and demand free passage or c) end up running away.

To me, all are superior options to a potential fistfight over a possible toll negotiation.

Edit: By this I mean that it's possible (even likely) that the spiders will demand a toll in order to save face if we just boldly march in.
 
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[X] Refuse to enter, demand that they speak with you out here. You will not be trapped. If they refuse, have Zhengui seal the tunnel before you leave.

It said that most of the spiders were at least as powerful as us and that there were at least one or two higher. I don't know if we could actually intimidate them into doing whatever we want. We've also heard from this update that Hui practiced arts to defend, ward and fight against each other even more so than outsiders. When this was said, it was indicated that it would be similar to our arts. I don't think we should be confident that we can take em so easily.
As for the other option, I don't see the point in playing along diplomatically when they clearly aren't interested--I doubt they have that useful information for us to retrieve either. Its not like this is one of our Cloud Tribe enemies, its an isolated bunch of Hui spirits that have been out of touch for a long long time.

Edit: I also doubt that Xia Lin will keep up the false facing required for option 3.
Edit:Edit: since obviously this option won't be winning, I will add another one because this vote has come pretty close and I prefer to have my vote make a difference.

[X] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.
 
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Lena27 said:
It said that most of the spiders were at least as powerful as us and that there were at least one or two higher.
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Spirit beasts run on a different scale. Assuming equal cultivation the Imperials can punch several stages up against Spirit beasts. Since Ling Qi can fight multiple peers of her own cultivation, she can fight multiple spirit beasts of her own cultivation or slightly higher.
 
[] Enter and engage, but be prepared. Use the trappings of Cai authority and your own power to intimidate them into backing down. If they attack anyway, this is a grouping you can handle.

I'd be all for []Pretend, except that Ling Qi didn't communicate the enemy's plan to Xia Lin, and I'm not entirely confident she'd remember to flute-telepathy that information with some message like, "hey, this is an ambush, I know it's an ambush, play it cool." Without that, this is basically when a Dramatic Unfortunate Misunderstanding would happen and Xia Lin would fuck up the ambush-the-ambushers plan, probably by noticing the obvious ambush and trying to be helpful.

Which sucks, because that would be a way more interesting scene. Boring-but-practical it is, I guess.
 
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yrsillar said:
Such a blatant use of a good faith request annoyed her. She would have to let Sixiang inform Xia Lin, whatever they did.
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Anderein said:
d be all for []Pretend, except that Ling Qi didn't communicate the enemy's plan to Xia Lin, and I'm not entirely confident she'd remember to flute-telepathy that information with some message like, "hey, this is an ambush, I know it's an ambush, play it cool." Without that, this is basically when a Dramatic Unfortunate Misunderstanding would happen and Xia Lin would fuck up the ambush-the-ambushers plan, probably by noticing the obvious ambush and trying to be helpful.
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Ling Qi is going to have Six play invisible messenger whatever we do so I don't think communication is an issue here
 
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