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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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>Talk about manipulating others, personal pride, and gaining power
>"You're in a really good mood because you're getting some, aren't you?"

>Enter creepy mansion and meet with its dread mistress, who emerges from a hole in the floor atop a massive zombie spider
>"This lifestyle is making you fat and lazy."

Ling Qi has excellent friendships. And is an excellent friend.
 
[X] Treat the destination as a surprise. (More chance to speak with Xuan Shi about other things. More engaging conversation for Ling Qi)

Surprise him
 
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SU LING AND XUAN SHI AND SUYIN ARE SUCH A GREAT COMBINATION OF PERSONALITIES!>!?!!

gotdam. Seriously I was worried Su Ling would still not be socializing, and/or that Xuan Shi might be feeling isolated and stuck in his head, but networks of friendship really do be like that huh? 10/10

I, for one, want to know more about Xuan Shi. Even if I want to also talk about other things with him, I'd like to hear him be excited and ramble about something he's passionate about <3

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and Meizhen is Best Snek. As always. Great to see her <3

she'd have an . . interesting perspective on what happened to Renxiang. Bai are known for particularly brutal treatment of their young cultivators for the minor power gains (and more importantly, the major personality shaping). It's complicated, the feelings that come about from such things. I trust Meizhen to be Best Snek but I think her perspective would be interesting regardless
 
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[X] Treat the destination as a surprise. (More chance to speak with Xuan Shi about other things. More engaging conversation for Ling Qi)
[X] Tell him right away where you intend to take him (Get your ear talked off by a fan, learn more about Xuan Shi personally.)

I will wait for someone to analyze the options in depth before choosing ...
 
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Juli Freixi said:
I will wait for someone to analyze the options in depth before choosing ...
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Alright I'll take a swing at starting a breakdown.

[] Treat the destination as a surprise. (More chance to speak with Xuan Shi about other things. More engaging conversation for Ling Qi)

LQ having more fun with the conversation is good narratively. Also alternate topics may include things we want to know (info related to Zhengui or what he's been doing in the war so far)

[] Tell him right away where you intend to take him (Get your ear talked off by a fan, learn more about Xuan Shi personally.)

Background on characters is usually good if we plan on keeping them around and if we're trying to potentially recruit him for our envoy mission that's a good thing. Also might be a few steps in the direction of a bond increase.

I don't have any strong feelings either way, but I think I lean towards the first.
 
Honestly, any of the 2 is good.

Also, is there now a chance for a surprise ship between Su Ling and Xuan Shi?

Guess Gan-boy will have to work hard to keep Su Ling interested.
 
But would Suyin really deny us if we offered to take her with us? She's all grown up and wrecking rivals, twitterpating boys and sassing Lan Lan, but she still might prioritize our needs due to her sense of gratitude. She does deserve to make her own choice. But while I would straight up offer Su Ling the opportunity to join clan Ling or pledge 7rs of service under mama ling in return for buying out her army debt, I would strongly suggest that Suyin stay at the sect as that's the most beneficial for her immediate development. Twin tails can totally hermit it up on our mountain, but despite our wicked loots, I dun think our undeveloped mountainside will be able to support Suyin's lil shop of horrors / hero genisis lab. OOC, let that prize cow graze in the sects pastures, she gonna give us the milk anyway. Suyin has a family and maybe wants to resurrect her broken clan. I dun see her giving up her name to join clan Ling. I suppose Li fam could become our vassal, but why take that demotion.
Totally wanna poach Ma twins as well, might help laying foundation as an expert music clan. But without an offer to heal / protect their sick / crippled family, I dun see them opting to be our subordinates on the frontier over managing their own interior city.
Gobbling up the talented loners, YN and SL works out, but our friends are generally just too bad ass to formally be our subordinates right now. Maybe long term the Li, Gu, Ma and Ling Baronies will all be allies. Did we make friends with any other unaffiliated scrubs in the outter sect. If they have no chance of getting to the inner sect and getting better resources, they might wanna pledge as vassals to an ascendant clan with our big name connections.
 
I wonder if Li Suyin keeps up her creepy mad scientist theme when her parents are visiting, or if she shoves all of her skeletons, spiders, and spider skeletons in a closet until they leave.
 
[] Tell him right away where you intend to take him (Get your ear talked off by a fan, learn more about Xuan Shi personally.)

Bring on the awkward, I want to see this so hard :lol:
 
yrsillar said:
Sixiang snickered along with her, but Ling Qi raised her head in surrender as Meizhen began to glare. "Sorry Meizhen. Someone has to tease you though, and unfortunately I can't rely on Lady Cai for that."

"Hmph," Meizhen replied wordlessly, giving her a look that promised vengeance. Ling Qi resigned herself to being embarrassed in the future, the vengeance of a Bai was unstoppable after all.

"I can sense when I am being made light of," Meizhen sniffed.
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Imagine Bai social counterattack arts.
Then imagine counterattacks proccing off counterattacks
 
Meizhen paused, glancing back at the frozen pond and scattered ice. "I worry for the both of you. That you are pushing too fast and trusting too quickly. I can't imagine my family looking upon this matter with approval."

Ling Qi lowered her head a little. She had expected that.

"Which is why I expect you to be invited to speak with us, come the tournament," Meizhen finished, and Ling Qi looked up in surprise.

"Well, Lady Cai will be invited. You will no doubt attend as her retainer," Meizhen acknowledged. "While my Aunt will be busy, representatives from among her supporters will come, both for Xiao Fen's sake and to maintain the connection with the Duchess."

"Oh," Ling Qi said, feeling a little nervous. "Will they be ill disposed towards us, do you think?"

Meizhen was quiet for an uncomfortably long time. "...They will be the friendliest audience you can expect, among my family."

"That doesn't give me any confidence at all," Ling Qi groused.
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Hm.
-Access to otherwise unavailable cultivation insights and resources.
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Yea I wouldn't be surprised if the Bai send someone whose goal is test the conviction of the Cai heir, and her subordinates after they decide not to join in on the round 2 of the Sun throw-down, which is what the Bai want from an ally... well at least the none radical ones like Meizhen. Like being able to social test the mettle of someone who is not adhering to the expectations of the hierarchy, and force them to either step up, or hammer them into place like a nail via a insight appropriate for their "station".

Also doubles as a way to give heart demons to your competitors within the Clan* insuring they do not exceed their appropriate "station", and given the hilariously complex social structure of the Bai your family will almost certain have one way to make it viewed as socially acceptable by other Bai.

*Obviously not Family as those are people you can trust.
"I had hoped to give you and Cai Renxiang both a degree of coaching," Bai Meizhen said, ignoring her words. "Do you think your schedules will allow it?"

"I already asked Xuan Shi to clear his schedule over the next few days. And I have a meeting with Bao Qian yet this month," Ling Qi said, chewing her lip. She needed to clear time for Zhengui too, although that could be done in the evening and early morning."But yes, please and thank you. I am sure Lady Cai will say the same."

"Then it seems, we will be seeing one another more often, Qi," Meizhen said, smiling slightly.
"That is a silver lining," Ling Qi said, smiling back
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Hm. Hopefully this extends to Gan Guangli, or at the very least Xiao Fen gives him some coaching as they're going to be unhappy. Also if Sun Shao agreeing to marry the Sunflower goddess allows him to leave hell-jungle while holding his land he should keep it a secret until the inter-sect tournament, and arrive as a surprise triumph from "conquering" the western territories, which makes it Shenhua's problem.
 
TimEd said:
Honestly, any of the 2 is good.

Also, is there now a chance for a surprise ship between Su Ling and Xuan Shi?

Guess Gan-boy will have to work hard to keep Su Ling interested.
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I was hoping for Xuan Shi/Li Suyin. He's at least as much her intellectual equal as Du Feng is, but lacking pretty much all the flaws that make Li Suyin reluctant to commit to that guy. I don't expect that romance to come fast, Xuan Shi is still recovering from his last 2 crushes turning him down, and Li Suyin still needs to get a bit bolder if she's going to approach a Ducal scion, but it could happen.
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Yun said:
Hm.
Yea I wouldn't be surprised if the Bai send someone whose goal is test the conviction of the Cai heir, and her subordinates after they decide not to join in on the round 2 of the Sun throw-down, which is what the Bai want from an ally... well at least the none radical ones like Meizhen. Like being able to social test the mettle of someone who is not adhering to the expectations of the hierarchy, and force them to either step up, or hammer them into place like a nail via a insight appropriate for their "station".
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That's not what the tournament is. If anything the tournament was a potential event we'd have to work with Sun Liling at, since she's a fellow Argent Sect disciple. Us not participating in the tournament will give her more opportunities for doing things and regaining face, but the absolute worst thing we might have inflicted on her at the tournament was not inviting her. It was not a potential 'Round 2.'
 
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Elsecaller said:
We are bringing him to meet the sword of that elder that wrote the books he loves so much. We met the sword right before we started our trip. He's gonna geek out!
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Oh, right. That, yes.
Yun said:
Well right up until he learns the site is a place of despair.
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Ah.

That... Hrm. So, in the scenario where we tell him about the place first, do we tell him about the 'but its a place of depression' part too?

As, I'm a little worried that what'll happen is: we tell him --> he gets excited and has expectations about it and imagines what it'll all be like --> we arrive at the place, and its pretty somber and melancholy --> ???

If we don't tell him though, he won't be thinking about what the place will be like for the whole of the trip, and it'll be a surprise. But whether a pleasant surprise or not...

... Actually on the other hand, it could be that the "tell him the location right away" is the one where he isn't unpleasantly surprised by the condition of the place because, well, because obviously we first tell him where we are taking him.

--------------------

Or, frankly, maybe I should just be viewing it through the perspective of:

Do we let a fan geek out and listen to his ramblings and having fun?
Or,
Do we make conversation about something else?

i.e. Maybe this is just a question of "Do you want to allow a fan to geek out for a bit on the way to the destination?"

[] Treat the destination as a surprise. (More chance to speak with Xuan Shi about other things. More engaging conversation for Ling Qi)
[] Tell him right away where you intend to take him (Get your ear talked off by a fan, learn more about Xuan Shi personally.)

... Hm, well. Learning more about Xuan Shi personally might be nice.
 
yrsillar said:
"But my growth has been good," Bai Meizhen said. "I will not be far behind Qingling in achieving the sixth stage.
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Damn. Is she saying she's already in the fifth stage? Really makes it feel like Ling Qi is falling behind in her cultivation. I know she's probably not, but compared to Forge of Destiny and the beginnings of Threads, it feels like Ling Qi almost never actually cultivates anymore, just works on Arts. I think it's been just over a full turn for spiritual and more than two turns for physical. Granted, I'm not the most in the know on the specific quest details so maybe there's a mechanical reason we're just not doing it anymore?
 
Go_Magikarp said:
Damn. Is she saying she's already in the fifth stage? Really makes it feel like Ling Qi is falling behind in her cultivation. I know she's probably not, but compared to Forge of Destiny and the beginnings of Threads, it feels like Ling Qi almost never actually cultivates anymore, just works on Arts. I think it's been just over a full turn for spiritual and more than two turns for physical. Granted, I'm not the most in the know on the specific quest details so maybe there's a mechanical reason we're just not doing it anymore?
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I think the biggest thing to take away is that Ling Qi is super ahead of the curve. We are not, in any way, falling behind. We are hitting our maximum efficient actions towards spiritual and physical fairly often. We are also cheating in extra spiritual dice with the art modding, an effect of our cultivation art. This turn should be the huge physical turn where we pop pills that boost it significantly. All in all, Ling Qi is doing super. There will be blocks ahead, we need certain amounts of insight, but we are easily hitting all projected milestones with our arts and base cultivation.
 
Go_Magikarp said:
Damn. Is she saying she's already in the fifth stage? Really makes it feel like Ling Qi is falling behind in her cultivation. I know she's probably not, but compared to Forge of Destiny and the beginnings of Threads, it feels like Ling Qi almost never actually cultivates anymore, just works on Arts. I think it's been just over a full turn for spiritual and more than two turns for physical. Granted, I'm not the most in the know on the specific quest details so maybe there's a mechanical reason we're just not doing it anymore?
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Favored ducal scion resources go brrr.
She has a literal country funding her, good talent and cultivates just as hard
 
Vote's open.

[X] Tell him right away where you intend to take him (Get your ear talked off by a fan, learn more about Xuan Shi personally.)
I can't think of anything I want LQ to talk to him about and I'd rather let him self-exposit.
 
[X] Tell him right away where you intend to take him (Get your ear talked off by a fan, learn more about Xuan Shi personally.)
 
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