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

NotteBoy97 · Jun 19, 2021

Anyways no matter what the Li clan's relation to Li Suyin one thing I can say for sure is I really doubt their planned rebellion/betrayal bypassed all the Hui's nets because lol we're just finding this info super easy in the Dream without even looking for it and the Hui iirc weren't slouches in the Dream department.

Jiven · Jun 19, 2021

So...

Bleeding Mountain : Li clan history (maybe Li Suyin)
Burrowing Behemoth : Zhengui's mom
Nightmare of the Long Knives : something about the Dream Idol/Dream Cults

FallenPears · Jun 19, 2021

yrsillar said:
You know, it's always been weird to me," Sixiang commented, jarring her from her thoughts with their sudden words. "Why did you go chase after the Hidden Moon before coming to Grandmother. "Was it just because of Auntie?"

Ling Qi pursed her lips as she continued to walk the path of the great behemoth's back. They had passed the churning leg's and reached the widest part of the scaly spine and ridges as tall as she rose , making her weave through the angular forest of scales. "I think it was at first," Ling Qi said quietly. "It just seemed… ungrateful, not to give her some due. Even now I still just like her you know?"

"I get it, but you have to admit its kinda flimsy to hang a third of your cultivation on," Sixiang said, pinching her ear with tiny fingers.

It does occur that though that sort of simple reasoning following action seems a bit flippant, it is very Grinning Moon of Ling Qi.

yrsillar said:
"Seems like this is our stop," Ling Qi said. But in the distance she saw a rising shadow, for the first time, she got a glimpse of the silhouette of the behemoth's head. It was wide, with a blunt snout and a thick neck. For a moment, she remembered the sound of insects crawling over each other, and the sight of regenerating flesh stirring with verminous life in a cave deep under the earth. She saw a flash of bright jade green, the opening of one of the creatures tremendous eyes as it fell upon them for only a moment.

It made her think of her little brother.

She shook her head as she leapt off drifting like a leaf on the rising wind as she floated toward the mountainous pile of twisted construction. Whatever it was, it was a reflection, and... Not what she was here for, right now.

Is that some sort of ghost echo of Zhengui's mum?

Hmm, even if I doubt Zhengui cares for his biological parents, it could be good for his cultivation, especially considering he's all about that destruction and renewal.

karmaoa · Jun 19, 2021

yrsillar said:
Her eyes opened a crack, and she saw out of the corner of her eye, the black silhouette of a mountain lay in the distance, rising from a sea of yellow white debris. A great tunnel yawned through it's center, and for all that it was only stone, she felt like she stared into an open bleeding wound.

That sounds like Black Lotus Mountain. Seems like the "assassination" Ogodai used to start everything was actually less than subtle.

yrsillar said:
For a moment, she remembered the sound of insects crawling over each other, and the sight of regenerating flesh stirring with verminous life in a cave deep under the earth. She saw a flash of bright jade green, the opening of one of the creatures tremendous eyes as it fell upon them for only a moment.

It made her think of her little brother.

Huh, an echo of Kohatu. Learning more about Zehngui's parents would be nice.

yrsillar said:
At the muse's shout the idol winked out, and Ling Qi felt more than heard the distorted laughter echoing up from the tunnel as if from a thousand thousand voices.

And this is probably about the past of the Dream Cults and why they got, effectively, shattered.

globalwarmth · Jun 19, 2021

yrsillar said:
It's weird to have a past and a future, you know? It hurts."

Six is a meeseks

DaftWully · Jun 19, 2021

yrsillar said:
[x] Make for the door, and find what lies behind the throne. (Gain location access, The Shattered Gaol.)

I vote for the spooky pond.

Yun · Jun 19, 2021

In her hands, the compass was aglow, casting light on her face, but Ling Qi didn't notice at first, because there at the end of an long open hall that descended into the face of the debris mountain she saw something floating in the air, casting a faint golden glow in the darkness. It was the dream idol, and light now glowed in slim crescents from beneath still closed eyelids. For a moment Ling Qi felt the urge to begin walking down the hallway.

On her shoulder, Sixiang sucked in a breath. "Oi, get outta here!"

At the muse's shout the idol winked out, and Ling Qi felt more than heard the distorted laughter echoing up from the tunnel as if from a thousand thousand voices.

"What was that," Ling Qi hissed.

"...That's nightmare territory down there, where the dreams have… curdled," Sixiang seemed a little unsure of her terminology. "I don't think you want to contend with a whole swarm of those things in their home territory yet."

Ling Qi pursed her lips and glanced down, the compass was pointing to the right, down a vine lined path made of decaying roofs and awnings

Huh so based upon there being a false Dream Idol with slim crescents likely a reference to the Grinning Moon they appear to be useful for finding places in the Dream associated with the 8 Maidens?

Liminal Exploration target gained
Nightmare of the Long Knives:
Extreme Danger. Recommended Dreamwalker Skill of 10

Based upon the name it is likely a reference to the Night of Long Knives irl, and pertains to some type of political coup. Based upon the ES history there are many sources to choose from the Xi getting eliminated to Weilu infighting, or it might even be a single coup.

TehChron · Jun 19, 2021

Time to follow on up methinks

[] Make for the door, and find what lies behind the throne. (Gain location access, The Shattered Gaol.)

Humbaba · Jun 19, 2021

yrsillar said:
[] Enjoy the revel, and mingle with the echoes of the long dead and the dream spirits which might wear their faces. (Gain location access, The Fantasian Revel)
[] Make for the door, and find what lies behind the throne. (Gain location access, The Shattered Gaol.)

I'm a little torn here.

The Fantasian revel harks back to our conversation with Sixang and making more space for the Dreaming moon in our life. I want that.

OTOH, I do want to know more about the pool, which has been a vague background plot element for a while.

Ultimately, I'm going for [] The shattered Gaol. Partly because it also fits with Ling Qi's earlier point about letting her curiosity grow, rather than have her hidden moon affiliation simply be because of gratitude, since that seem liable to lead to a heart demon later on.

P_Tigras · Jun 19, 2021

So we have a bunch of cosplaying spirits re-enacting their version of a historic revel for kicks. Sounds fun, but any info we obtain is likely to be of questionable value due to Lao's First principle of the liminal.

The potentially not quite fully dead horned skeleton in the maze of broken space with the black flowers growing from its eyes in the Weilu tomb on Sect grounds OTOH has been teased several times in the past. Not sure what's going on there, but the New Moon seems connected, or at least interested in having Ling Qi learn more.

JowKeen · Jun 19, 2021

the Li were broken by the invasion of Ogodei 500 years ago, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Hui:
had no knowledge and let them be shattered out of self-obsessed ignorance
had paranoid suspicion that their loyal fighters could be killed deniably at the pass and denied aid
had paranoid suspicion that allowing fighters to marshal to the pass would allow the Li to collect all their forces in one staging area, and denied aid
had knowledge of the betrayal and let them be hit without aid
had knowledge of the betrayal and sabotaged the Li
had knowledge of the betrayal and gave Ogodei the information needed to assassinate their Patriarch

or any number of combinations of these things given the factitious and paranoid nature of the Hui.

Later: the Li clan would use their flesh crafting arts to become prominent physicians despite the massive loss of holdings/lives/prestige due to the events at the Pass. At some point they were punished by Shenhua for a betrayal, including the crippling of Suyin's ancestor on her mother's side. Her father is from a Li clan, but her mother was an inheritor of this Li clan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is an interesting party that could reveal to us some songs of Weilu and some of how they lived. That, however, is something that could be gathered from more common sources and I expect no shortage of such areas within the dreams given the Weilu's extreme focus on the Dream.

The Shattered Gaol, however, is a mystery which has been simmering for quite a long time. My preference, on this Hidden Moon motivated journey into Dream, is to pursue this long standing mystery. We know the flavor text of Moonless Saboteur's Smile mentions how quickly courts fell once they lost the favor of Hidden Moon, and I think The Shattered Gaol has opportunity to illustrate such for us.
Or perhaps an advancement in our understanding of Hidden overall.

The context, having just discussed how we began asking "Why" after survival was secured, dovetails neatly into this mystery surrounding the province. Why is the Emerald Seas, noted to this day for it's excellent spiritualists, so completely unable to find lasting stability.

Once the Weilu had finally secured their survival at the top of the hierarchy, why did they decline into oblivion?
Why have the Bai, Zheng, Xuan and even many clans within Emerald Seas all outlasted the ducal powers of the Emerald Seas (and even some Imperial Dynasties)?

I'll be voting for The Shattered Gaol. I suspect we'll be left with more questions than answers afterwards, but I accept that as the price of admission <3

Apocalyptic Loon · Jun 19, 2021

I know it's wayyyy too soon to discuss the longer-term effects of the systems change, but these last few updates have gotten me very optimistic. It feels like I have more energy going into the update. Not that I didn't enjoy the story before, of course, but I have been extra eager to read these last few since the change.

TedBear · Jun 19, 2021

Audacious said:
[] Enjoy the revel, and mingle with the echoes of the long dead and the dream spirits which might wear their faces. (Gain location access, The Fantasian Revel)

My initial feeling is to deepen our understanding of the revel, but I'm prepared to be persuaded to visit the spooky pond.

Danger? Gimme! It feels like it's been forever since LQ was actually in danger.

While some excitement and potential danger would be good, taking this now would be really getting ahead of ourselves. Our current Dreamwalker talent is 1. Given the recommend is 10 I say we wait until we have a talent of at least 8 until considering approaching this or we happen to into the liminial with an avatar of one of the moons faces (since that is legitimately something that could happen at some point).

Also its labelled extreme danger. I can't remember the last time Yrs used something like that, so I'm inclined to take that label seriously.

TedBear · Jun 19, 2021

For the vote I'm on board with the spooky petals skeleton. The long running thread (haha get it) has more appeal to me than the revel.

I'll also point out that we are definitely doing dream revels in the future with PLR (phantasmagoria of lunar revelry --- the one that makes ghostly dancers in Ling Qi's mist) cultivation projects (specifically The Dreaming Gala) while we don't know when the next opportunity to visit Mr. Skeleton will be, if ever.

[X] Make for the door, and find what lies behind the throne. (Gain location access, The Shattered Gaol.)

Kiera · Jun 19, 2021