Remove ads

The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)

Voting is open for the next 10 hours, 21 minutes
Reader mode
The last time we entered the village, we likely died there in the grass because of us throwing the villagers off their scripts. I think cornering one of them is a bad idea due to this, if we want to communicate with them it has to be subtle. Like the childrens rime, the idea of writing a message down, or asking the Headsman during which Emperor the last examination happened (so Zhi gets a glimpse at the scale of it all).
 
[X] One thing the visions made clear is that there is something very wrong with the villagers in this nameless town. Kong Zhi will try to isolate one and gain answers from them whether they like it or not.
-[X] The woman weaving upon her Loom. Her skill transcends what should be feasibly possible for a mere Seated
--[X] Ask Mei to use the Twilight Horizon and see for herself.
 
Well... I guess I was dead wrong about items not being involved in the loop.

Good news though, Twilight Horizon comes through as a powerhouse in figuring out when something is very, very wrong. Good luck trapping us in a large scale scholar effect with this technique in our arsenal!
 
Thor's Twin said:
Good news though, Twilight Horizon comes through as a powerhouse in figuring out when something is very, very wrong. Good luck trapping us in a large scale scholar effect with this technique in our arsenal!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It does make it more likely that we are trapped in a scholar technique, instead of the anomaly being created another way. Since it reads a bit similar to how SeG beat the Farmers scholar technique. There's of course the possibility that it just looks similar, but that bit might become important down the line.
 
My concern is that whatever time loop effect is happening turns out to be anam based, and therefore might overload the testing treasure.
 
[X] One thing the visions made clear is that there is something very wrong with the villagers in this nameless town. Kong Zhi will try to isolate one and gain answers from them whether they like it or not.
-[X] The woman weaving upon her Loom. Her skill transcends what should be feasibly possible for a mere Seated
--[X] Ask Mei to use the Twilight Horizon and see for herself.
 
Last edited:
[X] One thing the visions made clear is that there is something very wrong with the villagers in this nameless town. Kong Zhi will try to isolate one and gain answers from them whether they like it or not.
-[X] The woman weaving upon her Loom. Her skill transcends what should be feasibly possible for a mere Seated
--[X] Ask Mei to use the Twilight Horizon and see for herself.


It's interesting to see a plot involving local timetravel and should give us a good insight what is possible in the future; hopefully after we got out of this time loop.
 
Silly crack theory:

The source of the loop is Ni. He was driven mad due to the pressures of the Examination and his failures in the Summit and it awakened his spark. Somehow he obtained a bit of of time anam and started this loop which starts with him in a good mood and it resets every time he finds no candidates in the village
 
KreenWarrior said:
Silly crack theory:

The source of the loop is Ni. He was driven mad due to the pressures of the Examination and his failures in the Summit and it awakened his spark. Somehow he obtained a bit of of time anam and started this loop which starts with him in a good mood and it resets every time he finds no candidates in the village
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Less cracky, but what if Ni and our group are being brought into the loop entirely because of his good mood? People have noticed that there's this whole "perfect day" thing going on. Ni is in a great mood. He's going to do testing. He's going to find lots of candidates. It's a perfect day for him! And Brother Crab? He got to spar with Zhuan Kun, and get inspired to go on a journey. How perfect!

What if we're dealing with a Time/Joy kukuni, that is trying to make the best, most joyous day possible repeat on loop?
 
Some thoughts for future attempts:

Pretending to be the couriers that the Elder is waiting for might give us a bit more leeway in what we can do.

We should ask Daiyu what the Gossamer Blade has to do with the Emperor in Tides and the Empress in Silver. We might even be able to call her a nerd when she can't stop talking.
 
Looking at the leading vote, I'm not sure going after the kids is the best use of our time right now. We more or less spent the last loop chasing and trying to interrogate the kids and got some useful hints. Other villagers might have more info, or doing the record-keeping would let us interact with a bunch more villagers and maybe see if anything crazy happens in the village center while the loop happens.

I guess it's a question of going deep versus going broad in our search for information.
 
Vesvius said:
She just looks… tired.

But the expression is gone as quickly as it appeared. She ducks around the corner of a hut and I guide Quishu after her, tracking her as she scampers. The girl weaves between barrels, under the sagging boughs of a tree, and towards the gate of a pasture. Not even pausing as the gate swings closed behind her, the ringleader vanishes into the herd of beasts. I am left once more with nothing but the plucking of strings and the scent of rain.

I pull Quishu to a halt before she runs into the fence and slide from her saddle. The loamwalker lets out a discontented snort and I reach over, idly patting her muzzle as I tie her reins to the pasture. Bringing Quishu in amidst the cows and pigs seems a poor idea-

-Quishu lets out another furious bray. I glance around for the source, and it is not hard to find.

On the other side of the fence is a large, brown dog with shaggy fur and a stump for a tail. One of its ears is worn and ragged from an old wound, and its muzzle is similarly scarred, but its eyes are sharp and alert as it faces Quishu and I. It stands perfectly still for a long moment- until Quishu lets out another bray, which is met with a chorus of booming barks.

I let out a low breath and straighten up. Alright, now there's a dog. If there's one thing I'm certain I can deal with, it's dogs. Spending all that time with Nokai and her pack has made normal hounds seem almost tame. If I can deal with Zhao's disregard, I can handle whatever ails this one. I move towards the beast- but pause.

Its barks come even faster now. Furious and bassy, they seem to explode out of the hound one after the other. It vents its rage at Quishu. No, wait- not at Quishu. The hounds attention isn't on the loamwalker, its charges, the girl hiding amongst its charges, or even on me. It's on something in the distance. The coming storm?

The grass rustles behind me- then silence.

I straighten, a hand on my still-quiet hammer, and-
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

We also got a great result on our roll to investigate the children during the last loop, only to be unable to actually corner the girl when we tried to do so. I don't think trying again and failing similarly over getting new information will be helpful. If we want to follow up on the hints we got last time, I like the idea of asking Daiyu about the story they mentioned a lot more. That should also be possible in a subvote, so we get even more information.

Us stopping the children from playing might have also led to something coming after us in the grass last time. The loop might not have really ended, just Zhi's live during that loop. If that's true, then cornering the children will just get us killed even faster.
 
[X] Briefly explain what you saw and suggest Daiyu uses the Twilight Horizon just as you did.
-[X] We need to investigate the village, but without arousing too much suspicion yet. Zhi will take a different role in the examination when Clerk Ni next begins his testing.
--[X] Zhi will handle the administration, recording records of those who have passed or failed.
—-[X] Ask Daiyu about the story of the Gossamer Blade, the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver
 
Last edited:
[X] Briefly explain what you saw and suggest Daiyu uses the Twilight Horizon just as you did.
-[X] We need to investigate the village, but without arousing too much suspicion yet. Zhi will take a different role in the examination when Clerk Ni next begins his testing.
--[X] Zhi will handle the administration, recording records of those who have passed or failed.
—-[X] Ask Daiyu about the story of the Gossamer Blade, the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver

That way we hopefully see the end of the loop, to learn whatever we can get from it. Maybe there's something obvious like a disaster that destroys the village, a monster, or something similar. If the loop just randomly resets during or after the perfect day, then that's also useful information.

Asking Mei about the story we learned about from our last roll also seems like free information. It could have been a hint like some people speculate, so why not ask about it.
 
[X] Briefly explain what you saw and suggest Daiyu uses the Twilight Horizon just as you did.
-[X] We need to investigate the village, but without arousing too much suspicion yet. Zhi will take a different role in the examination when Clerk Ni next begins his testing.
--[X] Zhi will handle the administration, recording records of those who have passed or failed.
—-[X] Ask Daiyu about the story of the Gossamer Blade, the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver

I'm down for this
 
Yeah, after some rereading and consideration, I'm changing my vote. While the children gave us some cryptic hints, they still ran away from Zhi... and they specifically went as far away as possible from the Examination.

Vesvius said:
Another cry jars me from my near-stupor. The children are still hard at play, scampering through the village without a care in the world.. All of their focus is squarely on their game as the ringleader guides her flock towards the pastures at the edge of the village, almost in the exact opposite direction from where Clerk Ni is preparing the examination.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The children were either leading us to whatever caused the reset, or... they were avoiding the examination because the thing that causes the reset happens there?? Either way, we probably will not get more information from the children.

I think it might be better to lay low-ish and switch with Daiyu. And also, to ask her what the full story between the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver.

[X] Briefly explain what you saw and suggest Daiyu uses the Twilight Horizon just as you did.
-[X] We need to investigate the village, but without arousing too much suspicion yet. Zhi will take a different role in the examination when Clerk Ni next begins his testing.
--[X] Zhi will handle the administration, recording records of those who have passed or failed.
—-[X] Ask Daiyu about the story of the Gossamer Blade, the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver
 
Last edited:
[X] One thing the visions made clear is that there is something very wrong with the villagers in this nameless town. Kong Zhi will try to isolate one and gain answers from them whether they like it or not.
-[X] The woman weaving upon her Loom. Her skill transcends what should be feasibly possible for a mere Seated
 
Last edited:
[X] Briefly explain what you saw and suggest Daiyu uses the Twilight Horizon just as you did.
-[X] We need to investigate the village, but without arousing too much suspicion yet. Zhi will take a different role in the examination when Clerk Ni next begins his testing.
--[X] Zhi will handle the administration, recording records of those who have passed or failed.
—-[X] Ask Daiyu about the story of the Gossamer Blade, the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver
 
[X] One thing the visions made clear is that there is something very wrong with the villagers in this nameless town. Kong Zhi will try to isolate one and gain answers from them whether they like it or not.
-[X] One of the children. The one that seemed to be in charge of the pack.
--[X] Ask Mei to use the Twilight Horizon and see for herself.
—-[X] Ask Daiyu about the story of the Gossamer Blade, the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver
 
Changing my vote as well, let's see what the examination pulls up. Hopefully we can see whether something force-reset the loop, or it always ends at the same time.

[X] Briefly explain what you saw and suggest Daiyu uses the Twilight Horizon just as you did.
-[X] We need to investigate the village, but without arousing too much suspicion yet. Zhi will take a different role in the examination when Clerk Ni next begins his testing.
--[X] Zhi will handle the administration, recording records of those who have passed or failed.
—-[X] Ask Daiyu about the story of the Gossamer Blade, the Emperor-in-Tide and the Empress-in-Silver
 
Y'all can skip the first 7k words of this update.

It's literally just a rehash of everything we did last time around.

I've heard of setting the tone for a time loop, but just copying and pasting 7K words is a bit extreme. . .
 
There's actually differences in some smaller events here and there to show that this time thing shifted ever so slightly.

So no, I would not skip it.
 
KnightofTempest said:
Y'all can skip the first 7k words of this update.

It's literally just a rehash of everything we did last time around.

I've heard of setting the tone for a time loop, but just copying and pasting 7K words is a bit extreme. . .
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's a color difference that shows what's new and what's not. It's subtle on the default theme, but it's very effective on a light mode:

 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Voting is open for the next 10 hours, 21 minutes
Remove ads
Back
Top