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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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reality deviant said:
lovely chapter! i wonder, what would be a 'greater success'? an actual dragon or qilin?
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Probably a better Thunder Beast to be honest. It's likely the lower realm ones that would be low enough in the atmosphere to be herded towards where Yu Nuan is playing. Going up to where they reside is likely going to interest the more powerful spirits. Binding a Green spirit right off the bat will be extremely useful to Yu Nuan, for while a yellow spirit could certainly make it to green, I think that there won't be enough time to get said spirit to green before Yu Nuan is tasked with military work.
 
Yu Nuan will ultimately decide, remember she's still being fairly reticent about her requests, so meta wise your suggestion is telling her that your okay with going further with your efforts
 
yrsillar said:
"I was, but if you're helping…. I might as well get ambitious," Yu Nuan replied, giving her a curious look. Ling Qi noticed then that she had slipped back into more common modes of speech. She really was tired. "I want to bind a Thunder Beast," the other girl said with finality.
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Yu Nuan is trying to be ambitious, and Ling Qi's suggestion seems fitting to Yu Nuan's wants. So I like the idea of flying to approach the thunder beasts.
 
I think we should explicitly say that if we fail now, we can try again. It's more important to us to have a personal connection who is strong, than a less personal connection who is middling. People want it to be Shen Hu and like, I duno as far as we can tell his political situation will prevent him from ever being really incorporated up here.

Yu Nuan, by contrast, seems to be a punk rocker who distrusts all political authority, including our boss. She's got personal connection to the tragedies involved with Shenhua's ascent, and would be an interesting contact in terms of perspective and empathy. Friendly (Rival) that respects us doesn't really exist, and having a fellow music cultivator that we can workshop the Music Shaman stuff with would be cool!

Honestly, this is a social link that has interesting legs. Plus, we're kinda outing ourselves as commoner what with being so tired.
So yeah, I'd be willing to risk a second outing if it doesn't work this time! Maybe we'll advance skill working in musical harmony with another music cultivator! That'd be sick!
 
As Thor's Twins note above, we are sufficiently powerful that Yu Nuan isn't going to discount our ability to back up our words with action. Meta-Wise the vote isn't leaving her with an option it's deciding that narratively we are going to go for broke.

As for those saying she shouldn't be made if we fail and she has to try again, she isn't going to be able to reuse the same song as before and will have to design a new one for attracting the Thunder Beasts as well as lose the time she would have otherwise used for other activities. It's like if we paid for a library trip and we got help from a Librarian-Cultivator who said they could definitely help us refine and do a better job of searching for arts only to then get told by the Librarian, "Whoops, we angered all the books, we'll have to come back again next month and you don't get anything."

If we fuck up, she's gonna be upset about it, not furious or mad but almost certainly upset about the lost time and wasted effort. She might not do anything about it in regards to Ling Qi because we are the politically and physically stronger one in this dynamic but it'll be a solid hit to the relationship that's already started with one of our other friends fucking with her and ruining her last attempt to get a spirit.

I'm not opposed and am in fact in favor of going for the better option, but i don't want to go into this with some delusion about the vote meaning that she might not be upset and annoyed if we fuck up or that the vote is not us making use of the meta to decide for Yu Nuan that she will be deciding to push the envelope.

Tactically, we are only down our more iconic arts (SCS, FVM, FSS, and ENM) while everything else is at full power. We can certainly play a combination of keep-away and herding cats, we simply are not likely to be able to meaningfully contribute beyond defense and support but I feel that Yu Nuan should still be able to make that work for her.

So, yeah, my vote is to aim high on this one.
 
I'm not saying that the only motivation here is to form a literal "Power Band" of Six, Hanyi and LQ. But a power band that occasionally "Features" other music cultivators sounds lit as hell <3 <3 <3 <3
Zhengui is the stage and also Treasured Brother. Maybe he'll get Bass Boosted but you know. He's precious regardless <3
 
JowKeen said:
I'm not saying that the only motivation here is to form a literal "Power Band" of Six, Hanyi and LQ. But a power band that occasionally "Features" other music cultivators sounds lit as hell <3 <3 <3 <3
Zhengui is the stage and also Treasured Brother. Maybe he'll get Bass Boosted but you know. He's precious regardless <3
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Shame we don't have time to learn that summon backup singers art.
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)

If you're gonna be ambitious, might as well go for broke
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)

Give her the option at least.
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
 
[] Follow Yu Nuan's plan, circle through the clouds herding Thunder beasts toward her performance. (Guaranteed Normal Success)
We should do this, gets her a spirit for sure, it's safe, we're depowered a tad, good stuff.
Yes, I am fearful of failure, I-
yrsillar said:
Yu Nuan will ultimately decide, remember she's still being fairly reticent about her requests, so meta wise your suggestion is telling her that your okay with going further with your efforts
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[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
AMBITION HO!
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
yrsillar said:
carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds
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The real question is how we're planning on carrying her in the first place.
Piggy back?
Our arms under her shoulders?
Princess carry?
 
[x] Follow Yu Nuan's plan, circle through the clouds herding Thunder beasts toward her performance. (Guaranteed Normal Success)

Because "normal" is already shooting way beyond her standards. Honestly, i have doubts she could even control whatever super spirit we'd get her with the other option.
Yu Nuan is hardly a friend or a potentially useful peer, i just don't see any reason to try and invest extra time and effort in her when we already have a ton of stuff to worry about.
Add the fact that Ling Qi is currently wounded and (temp) almost crippled.
And the significant risk of failure for maybe a better reward is just shit icing on the crappy cake.
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)

I don't see why not, really.
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)

I will show you the world...(punk rock remix)
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)

Unless we get WoG that the odds are really bad, I say gamble ho
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
 
[x] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
 
yrsillar said:
Instead deep in a misty valley of pacified spirits, between the Inner Sect mountains, there was a series of great monoliths of white jade, on which names were carved, each name glittering a color of the rainbow. Elder Guan Zhou's name blazed violet, dark and brooding, but his was not the only name carved during the ceremony. Seventeen names in pale and faded Green marked the monolith, fifty eight in ephemeral yellow, and one hundred and sixty four names in dull and somber red. Ling Qi had not heard anyone count the mortal casualties.

Ling Qi still felt a little awful for the flood of relief that had filled her thoughts when she had seen that there were no names which she recognized on the list of the fallen. Standing here, with the bulk of the Inner Sect gathered, all who could be spared from their duties. The ceremony had blurred in her thoughts. Incense burning, Elders and Core Sect members speaking of the fallen, the sky weeping a fine rain stained with far too much emotive qi to be natural.
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So, Zhou was the only person above Green to be killed, no Core Sect or other Elders. Spiked very hard on simply killing the most important enemy, and the lower forces tried to weaken the lower level officers.

yrsillar said:
"My disciples, though this is a time of mourning, it must, by needs also be a time of preparation," Sect Head Yuan stood over them, upon the raised platform of marble and jade which the monolith rested upon. His voice echoed with the thunder of a distant storm, tinged with righteous fury.

...And yet, Ling Qi could not help but notice the differences, between now and when she had last seen him. Sect Head Yuan's white hair seemed thinner and wispier now, his shoulders a little less broad, the lines of his face a little deeper.
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Damn. Pretty sure Zhou was his likely successor.

yrsillar said:
"The time for competition and games among yourselves is over," the elder cultivator's voice still cracked through the air like a whip despite that though. "As of today, the challenge system is suspended. Sect services will continue, but your rank will be determined by your contributions to the Sect. There is no need for such proxy conflicts at this time."

It said something about the Sect Head's presence that there was not even a murmur of discontent among the five hundred disciples. Ling Qi glanced ahead looking at the back of her Liege's head. What that meant for them and the Duchess' challenge… She could not imagine that Cai Shenhua would let a little thing like a border war alter the parameters.

"You have time as the Sect prepares and plans for the days ahead disciples. I suggest you use them well. Those of you who were injured, take the time to recover and reflect on your battles. Those of you who were not, gird yourselves for such trials. We must all be ready for the days to come."

"The Sect will not allow this insult to stand."
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Welp, those points are gonna come in quite handy. Gonna be a lot of war turns coming up.

yrsillar said:
However, Zhengui was still in a restorative sleep. The way he had forcibly broken through to the next stage and forced the evolution of his techniques all at once had exhausted him, her poor little brother had not stayed conscious for much longer than her. The sheer quantity of diseased ichor that had stained him didn't help matters, weakening his regeneration a great deal. The Sect's physicians had assured her he would wake within two days however.
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Rest easy, you did amazingly.

yrsillar said:
She had already visited her family, hugged her trembling mother and oblivious little sister. It was a bit ironic, no physical danger had come near them, the soldiers assigned to her home had come at her Mother's call to kill the thing that had tried to crawl out of the basement, but with things remaining safe otherwise, Biyu's distress seemed wholly born from sensing their Mother's. Mother on the other hand… being awakened, she had been able to sense just enough to know that something was terribly wrong. Ling Qi would return in the evening, once the chaos in town had subsided and hear their story in full.
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Good, they were totally safe. I do wonder if Qi will hide the extent of her injuries and how close she came to dying.

yrsillar said:
Suyin was busy, dragged off to collaborate with several remarkably high realm disciples
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That Impurity focus is now very valuable.

yrsillar said:
It didn't help that her wound still throbbed even now, even with Gu Yanmei's intervention, a great deal of flesh had been ruined, and the physicians had to cut it away and induce the growth of new flesh to replace it. Her throat had been saved by the sheer concentration of qi which moved through it, thanks to her specialties. Yanmei's healing did have a downside however, the raw solar qi poured into her veins as misaligned her cold and dark meridians, leaving those techniques difficult to use for a time. It would pass in a few days, but it still left her feeling itchy and intemperate.
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Yikes. That poison fucked her up.

yrsillar said:
"That's just a dumb story," Yu Nuan huffed. "They're powerful, aligned with wind and thunder, can even grow to cyan now and then. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not much of a fighter. I need something that can keep enemies back while I play. It's not like I'm gonna find a qilin or a dragon so a Thunder Beast is my best bet."
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Yu Nuan, you don't know what Qi thinks of your "ambitious".

yrsillar said:
"You want me to play sheepdog?" Ling Qi asked, amused.

"...That's about right," Yu Nuan replied, chagrined.

Ling Qi hummed, she wished the girl would stop being so leery of her, but…. It was to be expected she supposed.
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Really doesn't want to demand too much.

yrsillar said:
Yu Nuan will ultimately decide, remember she's still being fairly reticent about her requests, so meta wise your suggestion is telling her that your okay with going further with your efforts
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This is more than enough to convince me.

[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)

This is a challenge that seens to have less dire consequences, even if we fail. One way or another, we will learn and advance at stuff, so it is good to be ambitious. Plus, we can earn gdnuine gratitude from Yu Nuan... AS LONG AS we do NOT end up recruiting the super ultra rare beast we were trying to get Yu Nuan, for ourselves. Ling Qi is the kind that might eadily luck out like that.
 
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