And Cannai is also the one S-ranker who doesn't treat Hazou like dogshit
Hey Kumokōgō treats him better than anyone!
Also @RandomOTP could I convince you to move the Kumokōgō section up from miscellaneous to its own scene? The Cannai section is a bit thin by itself and would like to get as much info on nature chakra as possible.
Also, apparently we have never probed Cannai for information on The Five. I suspect he'll know something, considering we know for a fact that Pantsā does (see quote). Is there room to ask about this?
Personally I think we would get much better results interrogating Kumokōgō about the he five. Since that's theoretically something that is related to sealing things beyond mortal comprehension by the sage. Any insights she has could be useful for us to help contain the dragons.
 
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Why do you want Hazou to look into additional personal power ups immediately when he is no condition to make use of them?
Because if we get them now we have them for when we we are healed instead of having to waste time afterwards. Prep work is a good idea and important

Why do you not want to look into obtaining personal power ups when we have the opportunity to?
It's like 250 words!
I didn't mean in plan length I meant in screen time length. You'll note that I don't want to add any content I just want to rearrange things
 
@_The_Bomb, an apocalypse that can de defeated by casting MEW over it once every few thousand days is a relatively underwhelming Apocaclypse :D
HAZŌ: Aaaa the world is about to end! How did nobody see this coming?

KAGOME: [sighs] It's a brilliant loophole, he said. I can't believe nobody thought to use MEW this way before, he said.

HAZŌ: Kagome-sensei, I know we're all panicking, but this is no time to be making kitty noises!
 
The poem claims the Sage went 'beyond the trees' to rest, and that 'truth or death' could lead to him.
  • Did he go to the Naraka Path? We might've seen those trees once...

That's not really what the poem says,

Beyond the trees my rest shall be
I leave there seven rocks with seven locks
Each rock a treasure's home
Treasures bright shall guidance give
Truth or death, no equal chance
To find the way to me.

Regardless where the Sage made his rest, that's simple ignoring most of poem for the death part.

And why shouldn't multiple Path's have trees?
There are at least three Path's with trees as far as we know, the one we are on, the seventh path and the one we found (likely Naraka, yes).

If we want to know more about the Naraka path thenwe should ask about the King of Naraka, who was summoned by Nagato:

The abomination rising from the ground was every bit as horrific as he'd described. She didn't doubt for a second that it was a demon king from the Naraka Path, something that could only be summoned by a man who was an abomination himself. She needed only to look into its deep, baleful eyes, which were completely identical to Pain's.

Maybe Cannai has heard about him? And any other connection between Death/Jashin/King of Naraka.


Who're the Lost Ones? Does this refer to the Sage's Five companions Cannai mentioned?

Shikamaru wanted to have some names about that specifically:

"The reference to the Sage's band of five troubles me, however. You should see if Cannai can offer you names or descriptions. For my part, I will investigate the archives, but Nara information on the Seventh Path is sparse, so I make no promises."

But sure, let's ask some questions.

[x] Action Plan: Puppies, Power, and the Power of Puppies
 
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That's not really what the poem says,
IV expressed something similar to me when I wrote the plan fragment, so I'll say what I said to him: the goal here isn't to be correct, it's to generate the most useful info from Cannai and I think the question still does that well. Part of the reason we're speaking to him is to advance necromancy when we can't visit the Rift Site. Prompting discussion about Naraka/the Paths helps with that
 
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IV expressed something similar to me when I wrote the plan fragment, so I'll say what I said to him: the goal here isn't to be correct, it's to generate the most useful info from Cannai and I think the question still does that well. Part of the reason we're speaking to him is to advance necromancy when we can't visit the Rift Site. Prompting discussion about Naraka/the Paths helps with that

Maybe we can just ask normal questions?

But I am sure this is going to be fine, don't worry about it, what's the worst that could happen anyway?

we all know Orochimaru does not care and isn't gonna come

I don't really blame you, but I find this way too funny.
 
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If Hazō is going to investigate it then I don't see why he couldn't ask the others to do the same. I appreciate your concern, though.


I suspect that EDC is so standard for you that it reads like a word, but I wasn't familiar with it, and as such it feels like using an acronym to reduce word count. Please either skip it or spell it out.

Added asking the Pangolins and the Toads, also added the Everyday Carry with the full spelling.

Also @RandomOTP could I convince you to move the Kumokōgō section up from miscellaneous to its own scene? The Cannai section is a bit thin by itself and would like to get as much info on nature chakra as possible.

Sure, no problem.

Regardless where the Sage made his rest, that's simple ignoring most of poem for the death part.

And why shouldn't multiple Path's have trees?
There are at least three Path's with trees as far as we know, the one we are on, the seventh path and the one we found (likely Naraka, yes).

If we want to know more about the Naraka path thenwe should ask about the King of Naraka, who was summoned by Nagato:

The main thrust of this point is to try and unlock Sage Mode, with the side benefit of possible necromancy lore. Trying to get more necromancy lore adds wordcount and detracts from the main goal: Sage Mode.

[x] Action Plan: Puppies, Power, and the Power of Puppies
Word Count: 368
  • Cannai
    • How're the Dogs doing? Need assistance? Should be healed in a few weeks.
    • We've mulled over Cannai's poem, and have some questions.
      • The poem claims the Sage went 'beyond the trees' to rest, and that 'truth or death' could lead to him.
        • Did he go to the Naraka Path? We might've seen those trees once...
      • Sage also left 'seven rocks with seven locks' and the Great Seal is, basically, a giant lock made of rock. There're seven paths... are there six more Great Seals somewhere?
        • What does Cannai know about the other Paths?
      • Who're the Lost Ones? Does this refer to the Sage's Five companions Cannai mentioned?
        • Is Jashin a Lost One? Has Cannai heard of Jashin before?
        • Verbal Description: cult's symbol is an upside-down triangle inside a circle.
      • Trees of Iron or Stone? Are those buildings? Why is their shade dangerous? Is it because the Lost Ones reside in them?
    • Pantsā told Kei that the denizens of the Seventh Path absorb 'nature chakra' from it, which is why stronger denizens are harder to Summon. Jiraiya also told us draining a Summon could be dangerous. Is nature chakra toxic to humans? Would Hazou get sick from staying here too long? Mareo seems to have managed it.
    • Jiraiya said that Nature Chakra is dangerous for humans, but not for denizens of 7th Path. Y'all can use your non-human-standard elements just fine on the Human Path (which doesn't have nature chakra). Can Humans use Nature Chakra?
  • Kumokōgō:
    • We know how Human Path chakra interacts with seals, but we're less sure on Nature Chakra.
    • Minor seals have been fine, but when stabilizing something like the Great Seal, "fine" isn't enough...
    • Do you have any way of sensing/interacting with Nature Chakra?
  • Yuno
    • Celebrate Birthday
  • (Offscreen)
    • Hidan:
      • Request Jashin's holy symbol back (Hidan might return)
      • Start carrying high-quality, sealed peppermint tea (delay tactic)
        • Make every day carry
    • Review information gathered from the Rock facility.
    • Kagome: please review Summoning notes
    • 7th Path
      • Kei/Noburi: Ask Summons about Nature Chakra, and if Humans can use it
      • Ask Hornets if they have a Summon Scroll.
      • Have Hornets/Arachnids finished learning how to operate seals?
      • Inform Asuma about the Mareo's situation.
 
Updated Action Plan. No content changes, just word count optimization. Ping me if you have feedback.

[x] Action Plan: Puppies, Power, and the Power of Puppies
Word Count: 356
  • Cannai
    • How're the Dogs? Need assistance? Should be healed in a few weeks.
    • We've mulled over Cannai's poem, and have questions:
      • The poem claims the Sage went 'beyond the trees' to rest, and that 'truth or death' could lead to him.
        • Did he go to the Naraka Path? We might've seen those trees...
      • Sage also left 'seven rocks with seven locks' and the Great Seal is, basically, a giant lock made of rock. There're seven paths... are there six more Great Seals somewhere?
        • What does Cannai know about the other Paths?
      • Who're the Lost Ones? Does this refer to the Sage's Five companions Cannai mentioned?
        • Is Jashin a Lost One? Has Cannai heard of Jashin before?
        • Verbal Description: cult's symbol is an upside-down triangle, inside a circle.
      • Trees of Iron or Stone? Are those buildings? Why is their shade dangerous? Because the Lost Ones reside in them?
    • Pantsā told Kei that denizens of the Seventh Path absorb 'nature chakra' from it, which is why stronger denizens are harder to Summon. Jiraiya also told us draining Summons could be dangerous. Is nature chakra toxic to humans? Would Hazou get sick from staying too long? Mareo seems to have managed it.
    • Jiraiya said that Nature Chakra is dangerous for humans, but not for denizens of 7th Path. Y'all can use your non-human-standard elements just fine on the Human Path (which doesn't have nature chakra). Can Humans use Nature Chakra?
  • Kumokōgō:
    • We know how Human Path chakra interacts with seals, but we're less sure on Nature Chakra.
    • Minor seals have been fine, but when stabilizing the Great Seal, "fine" isn't enough...
    • Do you have any way of sensing/interacting with Nature Chakra?
  • Yuno
    • Celebrate Birthday
  • (Offscreen)
    • Hidan:
      • Request Jashin's holy symbol back (Hidan might return)
      • Start carrying high-quality, sealed peppermint tea (delay tactic)
        • Make everyday carry
    • Review information gathered from Rock Facility.
    • Kagome: please review Summoning notes
    • 7th Path
      • Kei/Noburi: Ask Summon Bosses about Nature Chakra, and if Humans can use it
      • Ask Hornets if they have a Summon Scroll.
      • Have Hornets/Arachnids finished learning how to operate seals?
      • Inform Asuma about Mareo's situation.
 
The main thrust of this point is to try and unlock Sage Mode, with the side benefit of possible necromancy lore. Trying to get more necromancy lore adds wordcount and detracts from the main goal: Sage Mode.

That's fine. But both the King of Hell and the names of five are part of the Naraka/necromancy lore.

Maybe you can still add under the Lost one section:
  • Ask Cannai about names, description, symbols or weapons of the Five companions.
All of this could have somehow survived on our Path and could help track down clans or legends, especially if it's not the Five we suspect, including the Jashin cult.
  • Has he ever heard about one or multiple kings on the Naraka Path?
And this one somewhere? Both should keep us under 400.

edit:
Yeah it is funny. And he wouldn't have come except for Snake politics we couldn't have known about so I don't really feel bad about making that assertion.

The good part is that we now know that the snakes are more social than Orochimaru.

It might actually be easier to get a few snakes to the Great Seal long before the Bosses. And we did send a condor to the snakes.
 
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That's fine. But both the King of Hell and the names of five are part of the Naraka/necromancy lore.

Maybe you can still add under the Lost one section:
  • Ask Cannai about names, description, symbols or weapons of the Five companions.
All of this could have somehow survived on our Path and could help track down clans or legends, especially if it's not the Five we suspect, including the Jashin cult.
  • Has he ever heard about one or multiple kings on the Naraka Path?
And this one somewhere? Both should keep us under 400.

edit:


The good part is that we now know that the snakes are more social than Orochimaru.

It might actually be easier to get a few snakes to the Great Seal long before the Bosses. And we did send a condor to the snakes.
Works for me. Updated plan accordingly. 1 more hour for content changes, and then I'll be working on word count thereafter.
[x] Action Plan: Puppies, Power, and the Power of Puppies
Word Count: 373
  • Cannai
    • How're the Dogs? Need assistance? Should be healed in a few weeks.
    • We've mulled over Cannai's poem, and have questions:
      • The poem claims the Sage went 'beyond the trees' to rest, and that 'truth or death' could lead to him.
        • Did he go to the Naraka Path? We might've seen those trees...
      • Sage also left 'seven rocks with seven locks' and the Great Seal is, basically, a giant lock made of rock. There're seven paths... are there six more Great Seals?
        • What does Cannai know about the other Paths?
      • Who're the Lost Ones? Does this refer to the Sage's Five companions Cannai mentioned?
        • Ask Cannai about names, description, weapons of the Five companions.
        • Has Cannai heard of Jashin before? Is Jashin a Lost One?
          • Verbal Description: cult's symbol is an upside-down triangle, inside a circle.
      • Trees of Iron or Stone? Are those buildings? Why is their shade dangerous? Because the Lost Ones reside in them?
    • Pantsā told Kei that denizens of the Seventh Path absorb 'nature chakra' from it, which is why stronger denizens are harder to Summon. Jiraiya also told us draining Summons could be dangerous. Is nature chakra toxic to humans? Would Hazou get sick from staying too long? Mareo seems to have managed it.
    • Jiraiya said that Nature Chakra is dangerous for humans, but not for denizens of 7th Path. Y'all can use your non-human-standard elements just fine on the Human Path (which doesn't have nature chakra). Can Humans use Nature Chakra?
  • Kumokōgō:
    • We know how Human Path Chakra interacts with seals, but we're less sure on Nature Chakra.
    • Minor seals have been fine, but when stabilizing the Great Seal, "fine" isn't enough.
    • Have any way of sensing/interacting with Nature Chakra?
  • Yuno
    • Celebrate Birthday
  • (Offscreen)
    • Hidan:
      • Request Jashin's holy symbol back (Hidan might return)
      • Start carrying high-quality, sealed peppermint tea (delay tactic)
        • Make everyday carry
    • Review information gathered from Rock Facility.
    • Kagome: please review Summoning notes
    • 7th Path
      • Kei/Noburi: Ask Summon Bosses about Nature Chakra, and if Humans can use it
      • Ask Hornets if they have a Summon Scroll.
      • Have Hornets/Arachnids finished learning how to operate seals?
      • Inform Asuma about Mareo's situation.
 
Even with strained finances, a single purchase of tea, no matter how high-end, isn't going to make a dent in the Gōketsu monthly operating budget. It's going to be like the time Noburi was tasked with gathering literal tons of extremely expensive luxury goods for the toads to test his worthyness as a summoner (or that time recently when he gave those imported, extermely expensive spices and pipeweed to Ma and Pa). It's literally trivially easy for us to aquire this stuff; it doesn't make any signficant impact and stays entirely in the background. And if, against all odds, it truly is significantly more expensive than "two tons of high-quality tobacco and half a ton of wakeleaf," than Gaku will defintely just tell us and procure the best avalible in Fire instead.

Besides, Hidan is already crazy for peppermint tea (it's his second favorite fluid, right after blood). Imagine how much he'll enjoy having the literal best peppermint tea the world can offer. It's in the same vein as buying the expensive spices and pipeweed for Ma and Pa. It's an appeasement offer designed to get the superpowerful beings capable of making things go extremely poorly for us in a better mood, perhaps even slightly grateful. Hidan can get "high-quality" peppermint tea in any city in the world so we'll need to pull out the truly good stuff to impress him.

As for the "Add to EDC," I suppose context is probably enough. EDC stands for "every day carry" and refers to the items kept on one's person at all times. I doubt Hazō wouldn't keep the storage scroll with him but I added it to the end for clarity, since without it we're technically just adding some nice to the Gōketsu storage.
@RandomOTP, is there no way for me to convince you to use the line I suggested with the "world's best" language? I'm willing to dig through the quest and produce quotes showing how much more expensive purchases have been trivially easy for us, if that's still your concern.
 
@RandomOTP, is there no way for me to convince you to use the line I suggested with the "world's best" language? I'm willing to dig through the quest and produce quotes showing how much more expensive purchases have been trivially easy for us, if that's still your concern.
I mostly think it's superfluous and redundant, but it doesn't add to the word count, so sure?

  • Start carrying world's best, sealed peppermint tea (delay tactic)
    • Make everyday carry
 
@faflec, fact check please:

1. Cannai and Enma are not the original Bosses of their respective clans.
2. Pantsā...is? Is not?
3. There was at least one pangolin mentioned in story who had hung out with the Sage. Who was it?
 
@faflec, fact check please:

1. Cannai and Enma are not the original Bosses of their respective clans.
2. Pantsā...is? Is not?
3. There was at least one pangolin mentioned in story who had hung out with the Sage. Who was it?
I can answer number three.
Kei thought about that. "The Sage lived a thousand years ago," she said carefully.

Pandā nodded. "Yep. My grandfather used to tell me stories about him. Apparently he was a really funny guy when he wanted to be."

Kei thought some more. "Your grandfather...knew the Sage of Six Paths?" she asked carefully.

Pandā puffed out his chest. "Yep! They used to play hshthk-stones every week." He looked sad. "Mom told me that there were sketches of Grandad and the Pantokrator in the archive at the Great Academy. I wish I'd been able to see them."
 
@_The_Bomb, an apocalypse that can de defeated by casting MEW over it once every few thousand days is a relatively underwhelming Apocaclypse :D
At the very least, we will have a convenient opportunity to investigate this when we next head back to the rift site to use our diagnostic seals. Even later, when we'll want to make a permanent outpost there to control the rift site and manage expedition logistics, we'll have to deal with the issue, but we can easily address the problem if we go back and suddenly get an itch of 'hrmmm I should double check that the other two rifts aren't being problematic'. Even better is if we take a Hyuuga along this time too, because then they can just tell us with their cheaty eyeballs.

That's the minimum, what we can accomplish without going out of our way to fix this. By all rights the world war should only last a few months so I think we'll very likely be back there before the vines break free, and then we'll know the threat.
I really feel the need to point out that we only have two data points right now:
0 inches of penetration on Day 0
1.5 inches of penetration on Day 233

From only this data, we have absolutely no way of knowing that the root is tunneling at a linear rate. Narratively speaking, it makes far more sense for the roots to be tunneling faster and faster as time goes by. A linear rate would take half a decade to be a problem and could be easily solved with lots more walls whereas an exponential rate would be a serious problem for us players.

We need a third data point. If it's expanded another 0.5 inches in the 73 days since we last saw it, we have time to take care of this. If it's tunneled significantly more….

We currently have 10.5 inches of leeway so we can afford to wait a few months for the war to end, but we shouldn't wait much longer than that. Exponential rates spiral very quickly.
 
1. Cannai and Enma are not the original Bosses of their respective clans.
For the second half of this:
"Speaking of Marsh, the Porcupine Clan's border with my people is one giant swamp. I passed through it about two hundred years ago—this was before I ascended to my current rank, of course—when I decided that I was going to journey west for a time. Ah, the wonders I saw. There was this one time—"
Since the Monkey Clans is likely more than 200 years old, yes, Enma wasn't the original boss.
 
Given our different ages, I suspect you are far wiser than I, and therefore I am your inferior in that area."

"How old do you believe I am, Hazō of Clan Gōketsu?"

"Uhhh...I mean...the other Bosses that I know of all seem to be several hundred years old or more. I assumed—"

"Do not make assumptions. It leads to missed prey and empty bellies."
Cannai similarly implies that he is not as old as the Dog Clan ought to be. Not stated explicitly.
"My understanding of these seals is that they are extremely dangerous. I recall Chizuru saying something about 'tentacles everywhere!' Granted, she was a bit excitable." He paused. "Also, that was more than four hundred years ago, so perhaps your seals have improved."
Though at least 400 years old?
 
Pfuh. Just did a binge from the last few chapters. It felt a lot like taking a deep breath then swimming deep, deep under the pool to emerge on the other side. I'm quite sad we didn't get a scene with Hinata. She really came in clutch there and it would have been worth thanking and owing her. Surprised also Akane didn't join us for Tsunade convo.

Thanks for the updates QMs and thanks to planners for not getting us all killed/experimented on!
 
1. Cannai and Enma are not the original Bosses of their respective clans.

"Oh, very well." He wriggled a little bit, getting more comfortable, and then began speaking in a slow, formal voice. "Now hear me patiently, children of the Clan of Dog, for this is a poem of the creator in The Time Before."

The four younger dogs settled down, lying stretched out on the grass with their heads up in interest. Hazō took seiza, struggling to sit erect instead of leaning forward in eagerness.

"It is one that I speak for you in care," Cannai continued. "With care, for I was not there and I know not the sides of the story, the shades of gray that run at its sides. Hear my words and accept them with care.
Cannai's last line here implies that he never met the Sage, or at least wasn't present for his leavetaking. If we assume that the first Clan Bosses were there (probably reasonable) that implies that Cannai is not the first Dog Boss.

As an aside, I just reread the poem in question and it really is a very nice piece of work.
 
Stat Progressions for Kei

I made a spreadsheet which calculates the rate of Kei's character progression over time, you can find it here (Resolve Grinding (Kei)).

Feel free to play around with this: edit the order in which numbers are raised or pick different stats, or to adjust base XP rates to see how the timings change. Takeaways, for those who don't want to get into the mechanics:
  • Kei's progression is very straightforward, she has an easy to balance pyramid and few extraneous stats to consider raising.
  • Kei doesn't have many buff ninjutsu compared to the other members of the party.
  • Kei will be hitting the top ranks the fastest of the team, getting to 80 RW/70 Ath/60 Alt in around 650 game days, or 1 year and 10 months, under certain assumptions about in-game XP rate.
  • Noburi's assistance saves us around 3 months, under these XP rate assumptions. This ignores the effects of Noburi on other forms of SC training than Resolve. EJ has mentioned that narratively, it would be impossible to SC-train a chakra-expensive technique like PKH without Noburi's assistance.
Which of the progressions plotted out here do you like the most? Discussing the end result with a clear picture in mind for what that means is, I think, very helpful for our ability to start charting a different course now. For instance, if we decide we don't like the buffs available to Kei, then we should start picking out other ones in order to slot them into her pyramid at Detour 1.
 
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