The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)

Vesvius said:

Technique Altered! Sear -> The Everdistant Flame!
...
A small part of my mind observes them with keen interest. What are they? They look like flames, but there is no heat. It is almost as if they are the ghosts of flames long past, or perhaps shadows of flames yet to come. What do they do? How can this be used? How will it dovetail with my existing arsenal? It feels far more powerful than Sear did, that is for certain.

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So this looks like it will be a super interesting ability. Can we pull up a fire that was in the area in the past, or one that will be there in the future? Could we light all the combat arenas on fire one night and then use this technique to light the specific arena we duel in on fire?

What would happen if we use this at the Firesnake's Coil? Would we see the fire that the Firesnake used before it died?

Could we carry a torch around with us for a bit, and then use this technique to light the flame that had been next to us whenever we wanted?

Making or renting a charm that spews a torrent of fire in front of us has become very appealing to me right now, just so that we can see if we can tap into that torrent in the future.

Could we tap into a flame charm that we might make in the future? That would be hilarious!

[X][SMALL] Describe to Zhuan Kun the Garden of Beasts game you played with the not!Zhuan Kun. Draw out the game's map, the terrain, the natural wonders. See if he can provide a read on this opponet you faced.

[X][SMALL] Describe to Zhuan Kun the Garden of Beasts game you played with the not!Zhuan Kun. Draw out the game's map, the terrain, the natural wonders. See if he can provide a read on this opponet you faced.
[X] [SMALL] Consult with Zhuan Kun about the game of Garden of Beasts your opponent presented to you.
[X][SMALL] Run down the team on the what happened on the last loops to have all three rub braincells together.

Trying to push up these votes beyond the 50% threshold.

[X] [APPROACH] In the past, Kong Zhi wandered freely through the village. Perhaps that was a mistake. We will continue the examination as normal, only Zhi will take a different role.
-[x] The guard for the examination.

I suspect acting as a record keeper is a waste of time as I don't think anyone is going to show up. As record keeper don't we just stand outside the building waiting to interview people? The Kukuni isn't going to give us access to anyone real.

I want to join Clerk Ni and the headman in whatever central building they set up in. Otherwise we lose access to Clerk Ni, the headman, and the building.

This means disabling the Fractal View but I think that's fine. If the loop resets we'll go right back to normal. I'm not worried about appearing shocking because our enemy is doing everything they can to keep everyone complacent and has called out our previous disruptions as successes against them. It's not like there will be a real exam to disrupt anyway.

[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu and Kun that they absolutely shouldn't stick out or interrupt the villagers routines, just observe them and look for discrepancies.
[X][SMALL] If people don't break their routine to get tested, convince Clerk Ni to pretend everything is fine. For our collective safety.
[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu to use Twilight Horizon
[X][SMALL] Check on Chui Dao's wellbeing, memories and any kukuni senses that might be helpful.
[X][SMALL] Keep a look out for any clues about where the disturbance to the local anam is coming from, or any sources of Time anam.
[X][SMALL] The group should keep an eye and ear out for anything that might be used to date when this loop started.
[X][SMALL] If an opportunity arises, ask what message the headman sent to Twelve Fields. Conversationally.
[X][SMALL] Is there anything significant about the incoming storm?
[X][SMALL] Read Daiyu and Kun into what is going on so far and what you have figured out. Three heads are better than one after all.
[X][SMALL] Run down the team on the what happened on the last loops to have all three rub braincells together.
[X] [SMALL] Consult with Zhuan Kun about the game of Garden of Beasts your opponent presented to you.
[X] [SMALL] Describe to Zhuan Kun the Garden of Beasts game you played with the not!Zhuan Kun. Draw out the game's map, the terrain, the natural wonders. See if he can provide a read on this opponet you faced.

Edit:
[X][SMALL] Do any information sharing with the team inside the Wandering Estate, to avoid the eyes of any strangers.

[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu and Kun that they absolutely shouldn't stick out or interrupt the villagers routines, just observe them and look for discrepancies.
[X][SMALL] If people don't break their routine to get tested, convince Clerk Ni to pretend everything is fine. For our collective safety.
[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu to use Twilight Horizon
[X][SMALL] Check on Chui Dao's wellbeing, memories and any kukuni senses that might be helpful.
[X][SMALL] Keep a look out for any clues about where the disturbance to the local anam is coming from, or any sources of Time anam.
[X][SMALL] The group should keep an eye and ear out for anything that might be used to date when this loop started.
[X][SMALL] If an opportunity arises, ask what message the headman sent to Twelve Fields. Conversationally.
[X][SMALL] Is there anything significant about the incoming storm?
[X][SMALL] Read Daiyu and Kun into what is going on so far and what you have figured out. Three heads are better than one after all.
[X][SMALL] Run down the team on the what happened on the last loops to have all three rub braincells together.
[X] [SMALL] Consult with Zhuan Kun about the game of Garden of Beasts your opponent presented to you.
[X] [SMALL] Describe to Zhuan Kun the Garden of Beasts game you played with the not!Zhuan Kun. Draw out the game's map, the terrain, the natural wonders. See if he can provide a read on this opponet you faced.

[X] ShyGuy

[X] ShyGuy

Consolidating.

I'm fine consolidating around this

[x] Shyguy

Alectai said:

I mean.

To be honest.

This looks ludicrously out of our league. We almost got fucking Unmade by whatever the fuck is hanging out here.

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On the other hand I am pretty sure literally no one in the entire world(that could be contacted and trusted) is better equipped to deal with this. I'm pretty sure they'd just try to ward people away and pretend it doesn't exist which seems like it happened before, admittedly that probably is the smart thing but whatever.

Omegahugger said:

[X] CedeTheBees

I like this distribution of actions.

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Unfortunately, I think you have to post all the options yourself to have the vote countes.

Talace said:

I mean, if getting stuck in the time loop (for what I presume has been much longer than expected) gave us some upgrades... why not stay for even longer? It's not like we're losing any time

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Whatever spirit has been sustaining the loop has been using the disposable, mortal pieces to grow. Now that we're here, it has the potential to grow off of artists.

ShyGuy said:

Alright, I think people need to calm down a bit. There is a way to win this. Hell, this was basically specifically made for us to win. The Time guy coming across a problem with Time. If there was someone uniquely suited to solving this problem, then it is Zhi.

In regards to running, I'm definitely against that for a few reasons. First being that the person probably most suited to solving this is the person that just stumbled into it.

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I wanted to make a not of this because yeah, Zhi probably is the best suited for this. The Zhuan family map makers can't find this place, which means it isn't always here, and that means that if the spirit gets what it wants it could get up and leave, taking the village with it. Considering this is only one village, it might not be worth the time for someone like a teacher to hunt it down, and it might be able to hide from a Farmer. Zhi might be the only chance these people get for a long, long time.

FalloutCow said:

I mostly agree. The main issue I see is that Kong Zhi is simply too inexperienced for this.

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Whatever spirit we're facing is also notably inexperienced. It seems like it's been isolated here with nothing but mortals and the crab, if it's even able to benefit from the crab. Without a proper power source, and with the strange techniques to loop time and manipulate anam very subtley, I'm thinking that this could be a kukuni that took their version of a proscribed step rather than the soldier's or farmer's step. A kukuni is supposed to become more solid as it advances, while this one is, if anything, much less solid. I think that whatever it did, it didn't have access to any more knowledge on kukuni advancement than Kong Zhi does, and has spent quite a lot of time crippled.

thamuzz said:

Oh, and leaving now means we give up the chance to find a time-dog for Nokkai.

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Also this would be an unforgivable loss and we need that dog immediately 🐕 🐕 🐕

[X] CedeTheBees

[X] ShyGuy

And +1 for the "git dog" plan

[X] [APPROACH] In the past, Kong Zhi wandered freely through the village. Perhaps that was a mistake. We will continue the examination as normal, only Zhi will take a different role.
-[X] The record-keeper for the examination.

Yeah, the votes named after other threadpeople (?) won't count.

[X] [APPROACH] Shoubiao's Wake is dangerous, and the wise thing to do would be to retreat. Zhi will attempt to redirect the examination towards Twelve Fields, where a more learned expert may be contacted.

I would go so far as to Shatter for a Kong Zhi who spent all their focus on going fast to send a message back to the Heart.

Asherterix said:

Yeah, the votes named after other threadpeople (?) won't count.

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They do. The system basically just throws your name behind whatever the last thing the person voted for voted for.

It is dangerous tho as if the shyguy edits his vote or makes a new one everyones vote will follow his.

Still i have yet to see someone misuse that power.

Thor's Twin said:

So this looks like it will be a super interesting ability. Can we pull up a fire that was in the area in the past, or one that will be there in the future? Could we light all the combat arenas on fire one night and then use this technique to light the specific arena we duel in on fire?

What would happen if we use this at the Firesnake's Coil? Would we see the fire that the Firesnake used before it died?

Could we carry a torch around with us for a bit, and then use this technique to light the flame that had been next to us whenever we wanted?

Making or renting a charm that spews a torrent of fire in front of us has become very appealing to me right now, just so that we can see if we can tap into that torrent in the future.

Could we tap into a flame charm that we might make in the future? That would be hilarious!

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

These definitely feel like good ideas to try out in the future, when we have the technique integrated and want to bait out Insights.

At the very least, I really dig the idea of Zhi walking into a room and all the torches turning themselves on automatically.

[X] ShyGuy

Parabola said:

These definitely feel like good ideas to try out in the future, when we have the technique integrated and want to bait out Insights.

At the very least, I really dig the idea of Zhi walking into a room and all the torches turning themselves on automatically.

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Bonus points for the torches not having been installed yet. Like a videogame where the models failed to load.

@Vesvius @Cteatus Will you be using 50% of total [SMALL] votes, or 50% of the total total?

[X][SMALL] Describe to Zhuan Kun the Garden of Beasts game you played with the not!Zhuan Kun. Draw out the game's map, the terrain, the natural wonders. See if he can provide a read on this opponet you faced.
[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu and Kun that they absolutely shouldn't stick out or interrupt the villagers routines, just observe them and look for discrepancies.
[X][SMALL] If people don't break their routine to get tested, convince Clerk Ni to pretend everything is fine. For our collective safety.
[X][SMALL] Read Daiyu and Kun into what is going on so far and what you have figured out. Three heads are better than one after all.

[X] [APPROACH] In the past, Kong Zhi wandered freely through the village. Perhaps that was a mistake. We will continue the examination as normal, only Zhi will take a different role.
-[x] The record-keeper for the examination.

I think this may be a mistake, but we are uniquely qualified for this.

[X][SMALL] Describe to Zhuan Kun the Garden of Beasts game you played with the not!Zhuan Kun. Draw out the game's map, the terrain, the natural wonders. See if he can provide a read on this opponet you faced.
[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu and Kun that they absolutely shouldn't stick out or interrupt the villagers routines, just observe them and look for discrepancies.
[X][SMALL] If people don't break their routine to get tested, convince Clerk Ni to pretend everything is fine. For our collective safety.
[X][SMALL] Read Daiyu and Kun into what is going on so far and what you have figured out. Three heads are better than one after all.

[X] [APPROACH] In the past, Kong Zhi wandered freely through the village. Perhaps that was a mistake. We will continue the examination as normal, only Zhi will take a different role.
-[x] The record-keeper for the examination.

I'm going to try and promote some of the less voted-for Small options. I especially like the idea of describing the Garden of the Beasts game to Zhaun to get a feel for what his input is.

[X] [APPROACH] Shoubiao's Wake is dangerous, and the wise thing to do would be to retreat. Zhi will attempt to redirect the examination towards Twelve Fields, where a more learned expert may be contacted.

CedeTheBees said:

@Vesvius @Cteatus Will you be using 50% of total [SMALL] votes, or 50% of the total total?

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The total total. If half the total voter base can't even be bothered to vote for something, it's not worth doing.

[X] [APPROACH] In the past, Kong Zhi wandered freely through the village. Perhaps that was a mistake. We will continue the examination as normal, only Zhi will take a different role.
-[X] The record-keeper for the examination.

[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu and Kun that they absolutely shouldn't stick out or interrupt the villagers routines, just observe them and look for discrepancies.
[X][SMALL] If people don't break their routine to get tested, convince Clerk Ni to pretend everything is fine. For our collective safety.
[X][SMALL] Tell Daiyu to use Twilight Horizon
[X][SMALL] Check on Chui Dao's wellbeing, memories and any kukuni senses that might be helpful.
[X][SMALL] Keep a look out for any clues about where the disturbance to the local anam is coming from, or any sources of Time anam.
[X][SMALL] Use SEG to subtly look for a nearby Natural Wonder.
[X][SMALL] The group should keep an eye and ear out for anything that might be used to date when this loop started.
[X][SMALL] If an opportunity arises, ask what message the headman sent to Twelve Fields. Conversationally.
[X][SMALL] Is there anything significant about the incoming storm?
[X][SMALL] Read Daiyu and Kun into what is going on so far and what you have figured out. Three heads are better than one after all.
[X][SMALL] Consult with Zhuan Kun about the game of Garden of Beasts your opponent presented to you.