The Thousandth Peak

You stand before an obelisk so black it doesn't seem to reflect any light. It towers so far above you that you cannot see the tip past the clouds, and it stands so wide it would take your mortal body minutes to walk to the other side.

SENSITIVITY - It towers above you in more than just height.

BLOODLINE - Your blood feels heavy in the tower's presence, it's conceptual weight almost more than your body can handle.

INSTINCT - YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE

ENLIGHTENMENT - Should the carp flee from the dragon's presence? No matter how far it swims, an errant thought from a dragon can kill everything in the river.

INSIGHT - The tower is not alive. It has no will to direct.

FORTITUDE - And yet it can kill everyone here all the same.

LORE - It has before. Before it was subjugated by the Honored First Venerable of the Thousand Peak Sect. Before the Second Emperor claimed this land. Before it was more than just a line on the horizon.

SLAUGHTER - It was death. The Black Tower has killed more than anything else in this realm ever has, and ever will.

MANIFESTATION - And it will do it again. It stands as a monument to our failures. It stands as the inevitable end to all.

HEART - It will not as long as humanity has the will to stand against it.

The obelisk's presence upon you grows stronger, as if it hears your thoughts and takes offense to them.

PROCESSING - The people around you stagger and fall onto their knees under the strengthened pressure, and the innumerable runes on the tower seem to glow with malevolent glee.

FACE - To kneel to the enemy of mankind, how shameful.

TEMPERANCE [Impossible: Success]- We shall not bend the knee. We shall not give in.

TALENT - The heavens smile upon those who have the will to face the enemy.

ATTACHMENT - And what an enemy this is. We will remember this. And when we grow strong enough, we will make it know this feeling.

ENCYCLOPEDIA - 26 Cultivators past the Immortal King stage have tried and failed to destroy The Black Tower.

TALENT - Then we must climb higher. High enough to topple this accursed tower.

HEART - Then we shall. We must.

CALCULUS - Then we should start at the beginning. To look that far into the future is pointless.

LORE - And here we stand. At the foot of the Black Tower. At the entrance to the Thousand Peak Sect.

ENCYCLOPEDIA - There are only 999 mountains in the Thousand Peak Sect.

LORE - There is one peak nobody has fully climbed yet. And it is only then that the sect will truly live up to it's name. It is said whoever conquers it would become the true Second Sect Leader.

DEBATE - Some would claim that the peak is true immortality. Others would say that the goal is to reach the peak of The Black Tower.

HEART - If we must do both, we will.

LORE - And here begins the tale of you. Of us. A month off of 13 years old. To become a member of the Thousand Peaks.

INSIGHT - WHO ARE YOU?

1. [ ][Name] Zhu Lang
2. [ ][Name] Ling Li
3. [ ][Name] Chen
4. [ ][Name] Write-in

MANIFESTATION - WHO ARE YOU?

1. [ ][Gender] Male
2. [ ][Gender] Female
3. [ ][Gender] Write-in

LORE - WHO ARE YOU?


(Please vote by plan.)

This quest uses a skill system based on Disco Elysium, which represents each skill (and a few other things) by way of voices in your head. In DE, there are twenty-four skills, six for each of four attributes. The value of skills not only determines the outcome of skill checks, but also influence the attitude and behavior of the protagonist; a high Encyclopedia has more information about the world, but also means he's more likely to go off on tangents or rudely correct people on minor details.

While this quest is inspired by Disco Elysium, I've made my own skills to fit a cultivator.
Other differences is that your character starts with 22 skills, instead of 24 as their personality has not fully developed yet (they are 12 years old at the start of the quest).


There are two types of skill checks in Disco Elysium. Both test against a preset difficulty value, but in different ways: passive checks test the skill value (attribute + skill training + other bonuses), while active checks test the skill value plus 2d6. Active checks are further subdivided into white checks, which can be repeatedly attempted as you train your skills, and red checks, which can't. For the purposes of the quest format, I'm using passive checks as essentially a narrative device where I as a QM say "yeah this skill influenced this scene". Similarly to how they're presented in DE, active checks will always be part of votes, with difficulties and chances of success specified - these votes will also indicate if the check is white/repeatable, or red/a one-time opportunity.

Note that succeeding on a check isn't necessarily better for the big picture than failing one! Succeeding massively on executing a terrible idea means you get the consequences of that terrible idea, while failure might just end in a quiet, personal humiliation.

Gonna close votes here.

Eng Hong

Age: 12
Cultivation: Qi Condensation

Skill Points: 0




Techniques:

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