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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Somebody who can actually pull this off is not a soldier. They'd be someone cultivating specifically to be an assassin, using a Hidden Moon or other related focus. They'd be Jiao.
And a particularly edgy assassin at that. A Way designed around that seems like it'd include concepts like "all things die" "nothing has no weaknesses" "if it doesn't kill them it's useless" "I am the weapon needed to kill my target, nothing more", and similar ideas. You can see why the cultivators we've seen with intrigue-heavy Ways have been seriously damaged people compared to other cultivators. Han Jian's Empty Man, Meizhen's father, Elder Jiao; all of them diverge wildly from what you'd call a healthy human mindset, or even what you'd expect from other cultivators of their rank, because devoting yourself to coldbloodedly killing people or tearing down their plans is itself very distant from what humans are good at and naturally do.
 
Turn 10: Arc 1-6 part 2
The roaring of beasts and the sound of song drowned out all else.

Snarling beasts, leapt, stalked and crawled over one another to get to the enemy. They were a veritable lake of fur and feathers and claws. Yet the shishigui was like an island in that lake, unmoved by the lapping of the waves.

But that was starting to change. Ling Qi could feel it, a burgeoning warmth, the notes of the her own melodies growing stronger and more pronounced, their volume rising. Below her, Ruan Shen strummed his instrument, and a second lute whirled wildly around him, playing itself, a one person duet.

From their supporters, twin flying swords, one carved of rock, the other of steel shot out, and were parried by whips of filth, carving sizzling arcs through the air. Yet, as the armored creature strode forward, a shadowy beast, eyes aglow with the light of spring lashed out, and scored a line across scorched armor with its claws.

Above her, Cai Renxiang's star blazed, and Ling Qi felt her dantian burn. Power rushed through her meridians, and she felt light rush through her. She knew at this moment, that she looked like no more than a wraith of liquid shadow, outlined by burning light.

She sang the Hoarfrost Refrain and the creature slid back on the frosted stone, patches of flesh on it's crossed arms blackening from the cold.

Roots lit by incandescent green light from within erupted from the caldera wall overhead, and the barbarians supporting it nearly crashed headlong as they tried to gain altitude, and instead met the same harsh refrain from a younger voice and missiles of stone and steel.

But the shishigui was hardly helpless. The air darkened and putrefied despite Cai Renxiang's scouring light. Black droplets sizzled and boiled under the radiance but did not evaporate. It burned Ling Qi's lungs with every breath, it sapped her qi, and left her skin itching. She heard the fan wielding girl below her cough, and her breath emerged as a mist of red.

Whips of frothing filth put all other thoughts from her mind. Even as she sang her Hoarfrost Refrain, she was spinning in midair, dodging, flying, to avoid their touch. The lashes had split, two becoming four, becoming eight, becoming sixteen. Ling Qi bit back a scream as one carved across her back, it's acid touch dissolving every defence to leave a line of blistered skin and tattered silk.

Everyone scattered to avoid the lashing tendrils, Ruan Shen scooping up the coughing girl under one arm and vanishing in a burst of flower petals, and the young man shielding himself beneath a dome of stone that burned with Cai's light. Zhengui rumbled and endured. Volcanic ash already drifting from his shell.

But Hanyi fell, her song dissolving into a scream as whip carved through the mass of snowflakes she had dissolved into. Hanyi rematerialized in an instant, clutching her neck and the ugly black welt that stretched across her throat.

The caldera shook with the stamping of paws and hooves, and the air vibrated with roars and brays of reveling beasts, a hundred voices raised not in cheer, but demand. Ling Qi's song rose into the shriek of a blizzard, rising until it became silence.

The Shishigui vanished in an explosion of snow and rime as every droplet of moisture within a dozen meters flash froze under the silence of the End.

The cloud of snow exploded outward. Steam rose from rippling armor of liquid filth that wrapped around the creature like a second skin. Chunks flaked off from it into mounds of filthy slush, revealing unharmed armor and flesh.

Cai Renxiang fell upon him even as he raised a hand toward her. Ruan Shen's melody rose to crescendo, and Cai Renxiang's colorless radiance blazed like a second sun. Liming's spiritual shriek reached such volume that Ling Qi felt her ears ring. Cifeng's edge met the beast's upraised bracer, and the floor of the Caldera shattered, the ground beneath the creature's feet sank downward three full meters, circular cracks and legs radiating outward from the point of impact.

And, deep in the smoke and dust, Ling Qi heard a thump as a single armored claw fell to the ground.

For just an instant, there was silence as the smoke cleared and revealed the shishigui, his right arm severed halfway to the elbow, black blood pouring from his stump. Cai Renxiang hovered overhead, sword already rising again. Ruan Shen and the others stood at the rim of the crater, on your right, and on your left, Zhengui hunkered down, surrounded by a writhing rampart of wood, Zhen curled protectively around Hanyi.

Above only the barbarian musician remained battling a half dozen Argent Sect Disciples, who stood and leaped and fought from the platforms of wood that Zhengui had summoned from the walls.

It was at that point that the sky tore open.

Despite the danger, despite the anger and adrenaline and everything else, Ling Qi found her attention dragged upward, to the clear blue sky above the raggedly torn clouds.

The stars were falling. Ten thousand burning lights lit the sky and drowned out the sun. Her senses burned at the raw power born above her, each one fit to shake mountains and obliterate towns. The pressure that fell upon her, seeking to crush to the ground was so much worse than that day in the tournament, the will of a greater cultivator to kill far surpassing the power unleashed in a spar. The stars fell, and in that moment, Ling Qi knew fear.

She could not escape the light that would cleanse the mountain.

She could not endure the burning heat of the sun

She could not protect even a single thing.

All she could do was die.

A temple gong rang, and a corona of golden light consumed the sky. A tremendous palm, shining like liquid gold, large enough to cup White Cloud mountain it's grip rose into the sky, lightning fast, but made ponderous by it's bulk. The stars fell, and the titan of gold caught them in his hand.

He stood astride two peaks, one foot upon each mountaintop, vast and shining, stretching kilometers into the sky, there was Elder Bei Yongrui. His robes hung open, hundreds of meters of silk trailing from his waist, baring a body that was as thick with muscle as it was with fat. Around his neck, the thick prayer prayer beads he wore had transformed, each one a globe of liquid white flame a dozen meters across. His hands were clasped before him in prayer, and behind him floated one hundred titanic golden hands.

So that was what Gan Guangli was going for, Ling Qi thought absently.

Awareness of her own fight crashed back down as the Elder's presence shielded them from the mind blanking presence of the enemy's elder. Ling Qi's attention snapped back to her enemy, and she saw Cai Renxiang sailing backward, carried on a cresting wave of black sludge only slowly parting before Cifeng's edge.

Even as the world began to shake apart from the clash above, she saw the shishigui kicking his own severed arm up into the air, and felt another thrill of dread as she felt the power gather in the twitching severed limb.

Sacrifice. The shishigui's most powerful arts always involved sacrifice.

Atop Zhengui's shell, Hanyi, still cradling her wounded neck, dissolved, pulled back into her dantian. Around her she felt the disciples activating their defensive techniques. Cai Renxiang's radiance bloomed, and her features were lost, leaving only a silhouette of light as she plowed through the sludge and leveled Cifeng, a great bulwark of colorless light blooming between them and the blooming knot of corruption. Ruan Shen's fingers danced across the strings of his instrument so quickly that they trailed flames, and all the Caldera was filled with flowers and revitalizing qi. Ling Qi channeled the stillness of the lakes, and darkness bloomed as she summoned the Black Mirror.

It wasn't going to be enough.

Ling Qi's mist stirred.

Domain technique unlocked
[] Enlightenment's Unbreaking Mirror: B
Duration: Immediate
In the mist, even truth is blinding. Reduces the damage of spiritual arts within the mist by one rank, applied after other techniques and the user's armor. Enemies attacking the user during activation have their senses seared, reducing all Perception and Hit and Dodge by one rank for a short time.

[] Thousand Year Impenetrable Mist: B
Duration: Short
It is said that in some distant vales, the mist never clears, and the earth has never known the unfiltered light of the sun. Grant all allies within Mist C rank damage reduction against spiritual damage. In addition, affected allies may receive one attack which would remove them from battle and instead be reduced to minimum health


Ling Qi: Moderately wounded, Low Qi
Cai Renxiang: Wounded, Moderate Qi
Ruan Shen: Lightly Wounded, Moderate Qi
Zhengui: Moderately Wounded, Low Qi
Hanyi: Out of Battle
 
Giant Golden Buddha is Giant. We need more Spirits. Think Megazord, people.

I like the Mirror Skill more than the buff to be honest. Thoughts?
 
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Domain technique unlocked
[] Enlightenment's Unbreaking Mirror: B
Duration: Immediate
In the mist, even truth is blinding. Reduces the damage of spiritual arts within the mist by one rank, applied after other techniques and the user's armor. Enemies attacking the user during activation have their senses seared, reducing all Perception and Hit and Dodge by one rank for a short time.
This seems to be based upon the Argent Mirror insight slotted.

[] Thousand Year Impenetrable Mist: B
Duration: Short
It is said that in some distant vales, the mist never clears, and the earth has never known the unfiltered light of the sun. Grant all allies within Mist C rank damage reduction against spiritual damage. In addition, affected allies may receive one attack which would remove them from battle and instead be reduced to minimum health
This is a Thousand Fortress based insight, which is given mist themes. This seems like a "Just this once!" everyone survives at 1 hp sorta deal.
 
Ok, so my reactions:
  • Eeeeeeeee! Elder so coool \o/
  • Narrative beats kinda feel off here - we were doing almost excessively well on our own, but then once our allies arrive and we start getting buffs things begin to blow up? It feels like we had a ninjutsu advantage before and then our allies just removed it. Kinda runs antithetical to the themes of the setting...
w. regards to our upgrades...
Enlightenment's Unbreaking Mirror feels kinda off tbh. I don't feel like it fits [The Mist] or our je ne sai quoi as well. The imagery and the general counterattack theme aren't really how we do things.

Thousand Year Impenetrable Mist otoh fits great in terms of imagery and themes, and really fits our general approach and defensive priorities of "keep all us and all our friends alive".
 
This seems to be based upon the Argent Mirror insight slotted.

This is a Thousand Fortress based insight, which is given mist themes. This seems like a "Just this once!" everyone survives at 1 hp sorta deal.

Personally i prefer the TF 1 hp survivaly one. mostly cus i'm a sucker for the "winning/surviving by a hair's breadth" type victories and this will prob be conducive towards stuff like that.
 
Mmm.

My feeling is that Unbreaking Mirror is better for Ling Qi in the long run, in that it functionally gives her an in-theme Solar Flare disengage and reversal creation. But it's the inferior choice for right this second because the problem is even mitigated by two letter ranks, this thing is probably going to kill some scrubs.

Unfortuante.
 
One seems to go for payback against the enemy who attacked us, ensuring their defeat immediately after tanking their attack.
The other seems to go for ensuring no casualties in the user's team.

So, do we prioritize crushing the nemy even at cost of some of our allies? Or do we prioritize keeping everyone alive?
 
Hmm. I am pretty keen on the idea of making sure everyone lives with minimum health and taking that forward. As Erebeal has helpfully outlined, I kinda feel like Thousand Year Impenetrable Mist (besides being a fuck awesome name yo with a great aesthetic) is more fitting. While the Unbreakable Mirror is nice and sort of fits the Cai Path and the whole Wraith of shadow limned in light thing we have going with her, the protective mist, the desire to answer the horror Ling Qi felt when the stars started falling before Buddha man showed up is more completely answered by Thousand Year Impenetrable Mist.
 
[] Thousand Year Impenetrable Mist: B
Sister Swan-shield~...
Okay that's more like an OC idea but...
This just feels better to me...
Though that said, @Alectai- I'd like to discuss some of your thoughts regarding better for Ling Qi in the long run.

As I see it, the Mirror insight is a counter-move, 'hurt me and I will hurt you back', sort of, but Thousand Year is more 'not today will you take away what is mine!' And I'm more down for the latter. That said, I don't trust that I have the most solid view into Ling Qi's personality and her hang-ups, though I think the current problem she's facing is power disparity, almost? What happens when she's not the strongest or someone she wants to keep is not strong enough to keep up, basically. Although things like Beast Parade can help her get out of her focus on herself, I feel like moving towards 'my strength is protecting others' might help resolve that problem.
 
EUM seems like the choice to do more damage to the enemy and TYIM seems like the choice to get the most allies out alive. On the other hand TYIM seems to just be asking for a double tap or death by Damage over Time and EUM seems like it could shift the battle in our favor so less chance of people on our side dying. Flavor wise I like TYIM better but I think both are workable and Cai could use a mirror mist like some sort of dust explosion except with refraction and light instead of flour and fire.
 
Hm. I'm partial to Thousand Year as the Domain Technique as it can plausibly be Ling Qi starting to work towards find out how she wishes to change the world through having her domain answer that at the very least she'll start by trying to have those around her return to their homes when going on missions together.
 
Given how killy/shooty CRX is, I'm kinda leaning towards letting her have the "offense is the best defense" position, and have us in the "everyone comes home, dammit" position in our little team dynamic, so I'm liking Thousand Year here. I'm dismissing mechanics, because mechanics are a spook.
 
Loads of good points. I just have trouble understanding how valuable the C- rank damage reduction is.
Its on the scale of negating some of our most powerful spiritual attacks, like the damage from the Eagle Yeet and downgrading or outright negating a lot of our damaging fields. It is the outright highest damage reduction rank we've ever seen, and should be useful against the big boom coming, even if the 1 hp save didn't exist. Because of that everyone should survive, but we're going to need to kill the Shishigui beetle dude still if he sticks around. Which he might not.


Given how killy/shooty CRX is, I'm kinda leaning towards letting her have the "offense is the best defense" position, and have us in the "everyone comes home, dammit" position in our little team dynamic, so I'm liking Thousand Year here. I'm dismissing mechanics, because mechanics are a spook.
Honestly fair and fucking valid assessment yo.
 
Also people have talked about how Mirror seems like it builds off AM, while Impenetrable Mist builds of TRF - but the thing here is that we haven't really used that AM tech at all - certainly not this year. While Impenetrable Mist has a nice callback to our use of TRU back in the village attack, and would better show off the idea of our slotted arts influencing our domain that seems to be going on here.
 
[X] Thousand Year Impenetrable Mist: B
 
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Enemies attacking the user during activation have their senses seared, reducing all Perception and Hit and Dodge by one rank for a short time.
This part will probably make it easier to take out the Shishigui after the attack, too. Because it'll be blinded and have a much harder time avoiding any counter-attacks, or running away. Without it, maybe it'd be able to disengage and run away.

This is a pretty useful thing in general to be honest; a "punish" in addition to the defense thing. Great for activating when an enemy uses their Ultimate attack; to then survive it, and to be able to turn the tables on them right back, leaving them vulnerable after their moment of exertion.
 
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