- Location
- US
[x] Enjoy the revel, and mingle with the echoes of the long dead and the dream spirits which might wear their faces. (Gain location access, The Fantasian Revel)
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
"You're already dead"
*Explodes*
- Location
- Random place
[X] Make for the door, and find what lies behind the throne. (Gain location access, The Shattered Gaol.)
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Hmm. The thing is that it's awkward basically just because it hasn't been explored? If you limited the scope of Ling Qi's harsh world/isolation theme-building to only what's happened in fights, it would also look awkward and silly. Honestly, the combat performance of those themes has most often not been that compelling. Revelry is also a subject that's particularly unsuitable to being explored during combat situations, particularly in a foundational capacity.
It's not reasonable to expect themes to sell themselves purely through combat experience, and it's misleading to compare them to the success of other themes which have had much broader spaces to acquit themselves in. Aesthetic preference is a perfectly fine rationale that stands firmly on its own merit. Doesn't need the support of unfair arguments.
Thinking about it more, the real problem is that LQ blacked out for the Moon revel. That meant that we have no experience of hers to ground the Art in and, without there being a scene dedicated to it, it almost definitionally can't influence her character.
As such we are ultimately left with the existing LQ characterization which strongly encourages her to have her cultivation be built around quiet and intensely personal interactions with her friends. LQ practicing her dancing while Meizhen is in the room is basically the opposite of revelry. Her blades practice with CRX is also not much of a revel, despite that being another part of her interactions with Dance. Aside from the Moon revel, all the parties she's gone to are extremely controlled things where every action is measured and delivered with intent.
Yeah. Going back to my old line, I always expected PLR to be explored through the lens of Ling Qi re-discovering her fuzzy memories of the night she got it, or something. But that, and other related non-combat scenes, just didn't happen.
And so here, in an explicitly introductory arc with Sixiang, it strikes me as deeply awkward that we're now striking out in a totally new paradigm and again leaving our long-unfinished thematic exploration unstarted. If this system is going to work, we can't keep getting distracted from the core subjects of the arcs we start. Especially not in introductory or reintroductory arcs.
We're still doing Dream, obviously, and that's one of the subjects of the arc. And Hidden/mystery, which we chose. But that's not all that's going on here, not all the arc was a commitment to. One of the best things about this arc so far is how Sixiang has been presented as a participant, even in a primarily advisory role. Helping Ling Qi stay together, even small things like waving off fairies, Six has been directly interacting with the scene in a way they usually aren't able to. It's a really good thing to see.
It's unlikely we'll be seeing that in the gaol. Certainly less likely. I doubt it'll be as bad as with Liming, but it's definitely the route that pushes Sixiang's participation more towards Witness than Actor, or even honestly Mentor.
Last edited:
Turn 13: Arc1-5
"This isn't what I'm here for," Ling Qi murmured to herself. She looked down at the table full of food and drink. She glanced to her left and right to take in laughing faces.
"I thought you didn't know what you were here for?" Sixiang asked. "What's wrong with this place."
"I don't think I'll learn what I'm looking for here," Ling Qi said. She let out a breath and dispersed. Vanishing from her place on the bench, she reappeared midstep, taking advantage of the movements of the crowd to mask her appearance.
"Oh, did you figure that out," Sixiang asked," their tinny voice tickling her ear.
"I said it before," Ling Qi said, weaving between guests. She felt a longing in her heart, to stop and observe, to listen to poetry and song, to drink from their cups. To belong here safe and content. She hardened her mind against the creeping intrusion of foreign identities and when a laughing man grasped at her arm, she spun elegantly to the side, leaving him grasping a stylized phantom in her likeness who led him away in the dance he sought.
"I want to know why," Ling Qi murmured, her eyes fixed on the door. This, this is all how and what, that's important too, but I can't learn why things are as they are here."
"Well I won't gainsay you on it, even if I wish we could stay," Sixiang sighed, looking out over the revelry.
"We'll find our time for fun," Ling Qi said.
"Liar," Sixiang chuckled. "You're bad at that, but how do you intend to get in there?"
Ling Qi wondered at Sixiang's question as she moved around a pair of laughing women their arms thrown over each others shoulders. Her eyes fell again on the closed door, only now a man stood in front of it. His expression without the merriment of the revelers. She recognized his scanning gaze and alertness.
It would not normally be a problem to avoid so mundane an obstacle, but she knew somewhere in her gut that trying to pass immaterially through that door would go poorly for her. No, scanning the threshold and frame, she understood instinctively that she would need to turn the handle and open the portal manually.
"Heh, well let me assist, I think I've finally found a new twist that works," Sixiang chuckled.
On her shoulder the faerie sized muse dissolved, and Ling Qi blinked as she felt a rushing feeling like the tide running over her feet and around her ankles. A few meters away, where the man stood she saw him blink and then grow slack for just a moment. Then she straightened up and shot her a grin, familiar but made alien by the features that wore it.
Ling Qi covered the remaining distance swiftly, keeping an eye on the other revelers, echoes and spirits that they were.
"Fancy huh," said the man, in a voice with a touch too high a pitch, as he stepped out of the way. Behind them people were beginning to turn with furrowed brows, and the music faltered.
Ling Qi twisted the handle and stepped through just as a keening wail began to rise from a hundred throats, dragging 'Sixiang' through the darkened portal after her. The door slammed shut behind them and there was silence.
"Fancy," Ling Qi said dryly, shooting her companion a look. "Explain."
Already the form of the man was beginning to waver and dissolve, but he still wore Sixiang's grin, and Ling Qi saw a faint outline of rainbow flames burning like a crown upon his head. It glowed brightly in the ssucking darkness of the cellar-like stone stairwell they found themselves in.
"Well, I figured if I can manifest myself, why not just steal other people's work?" Sixiang said cheerfully as the form collapsed, leaving only a glittering column of light from which their voice emanated. Those folks were all constructs and spirits like me anyway. I don't think I could hijack a human or a beast for very long."
"I'm a bad influence on you," Ling Qi sighed, despite her smile. Whatever else happened if these dreamwalks encouraged Sixiang to grow too then it was worth it. Already she was considering the uses their ability could have. Even if it was only limited to qi constructs and other immaterial spirits…
"How would you feel about being an eagle?" Ling Qi mused, thinking of her phantom summoning art.
"Ugh, That thing's so drab," Sixiang muttered, rematerializing on her shoulder. "Not fabulous at all. Besides I'm not sure it'd offer much advantage over just controlling it yourself yet. I guess I could ride it away from you to jump into something else?"
"Something to work on," Ling Qi said absently. "But I guess we shouldn't get distracted right now."
There was no sound nor sign of the revel from the other side of the door, and Ling Qi did not need immortal senses to perceive that the wood of the door had swollen fusing with its frame. She would leave putting her fist through the thing as a last resort. She gazed down the stone passage, listening to the faint drip of water from far below and eyeing the organic glisten of damp mold and moss on the ceiling and walls.
Sixiang made a face. "Ugh, we left the party for this?"
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. They were wide and shallow, but surprisingly dry despite the moisture in the air. "Although… are we descending into a nightmare?"
Sixiang was quiet for a long moment as they descended. "You know I'm not sure, but…"
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. They were wide and shallow, but surprisingly dry despite the moisture in the air. "Although… are we descending into a nightmare?"
Sixiang was quiet for a long moment as they descended. "You know I'm not sure, but…"
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. Something twisted in her gut, and she felt intense nausea. They were wide and shallow, but surprisingly dry despite the moisture in the air. How many times had she taken the first step?
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. Ling Qi felt her temples throb and on her shoulder Sixiang hissed in pain.
"Don't-" Ling Qi shut her mouth, nearly biting her tongue as she focused hard and leapt off the first step. On her shoulder, Sixiang's qi rippled out chaotic and disruptive.
Ling Qi landed palm first on the third stair and vaulted forward as she felt her thoughts begin to run backward and twisted in midair, forcing herself away from the shimmering bubble of altered time. She landed, pressing herself against the wall, breathing harshly as moon qi flooded the meridians that ran through her head, intensifying her every sense.
Even then it was barely possible to make out the places where space broke. It was not the usual chaos of the Dream realm, it felt jagged, like she was standing in the midst of a hall full of glass shrapnel frozen in the moment just after an explosion.
Ling Qi stayed where she was eyeing her surroundings warily as first seconds, then a minute ticked by.
"Sorry," Sixiang winced. "I should have noticed that before you stepped in it."
"No, I should have noticed too," Ling Qi said. She didn't think she had become incautious. She was just used to the sharpness of her senses doing most of the work. Here, in the Dream things just didn't quite work the same and it left her struggling.
"Alright, take two," Ling Qi said, slowly turning to examine their path down. One foot in front of the other, she resumed her descent. It was difficult and soon her head was throbbing as navigating the maze of broken reality forced her to sometimes take steps in directions she couldn't give a name too or turn at angles which she was quite sure didn't exist in the material world.
This… this was why time techniques were rare, and so limited she thought as she paused upon a stair, kneeling and holding her head as she tried to shut off the painful feeling of having been thinking her thoughts in reverse while her body moved to signals arriving from somewhere sideways to the present.
Even cultivators were not meant for such things. Could reality as she knew it even exist without the Law of Causality?
"Oof, even I feel a little nauseous," Sixiang groaned, their face looking a little green.
Ling Qi let out a weary laugh as she knelt there. "What do you even have to feel nauseous with?"
"I dunno, but I've managed it," Sixiang said, wincing. "Ling Qi, do you think keeping up this descent is a good idea?"
She pursed her lips, peering down the stairs. Far, far away in the dark, something pale green glinted. "No, but neither was attending your grandmother's party."
Sixiang raised a finger, opening her mouth as if to respond, then closed it. "....I have no reply to that. Darn, you really are a bad influence on me."
"Having a survival instinct isn't bad," Ling Qi said wryly, rising back to her feet. Sometimes you just had to know when it was wrong.
And right now, she knew in her gut that there was something worthwhile at the bottom of these stairs.
She continued her descent this time keeping her eye on the flicker of green that she had spotted. It helped to focus on something, more than descending without purpose, having a goal helped to keep her thoughts running in the correct direction and her body reacting to her own commands rather than those of fragmented signals from fleeting alternative selves.
Forward, no turning, no retreating. That was the key.
When she came to the bottom of the stair it was abrupt. One moment she had been placing a foot forward onto another dry stair, the next it had sunk into swampy muck.
She beheld the site of a low, wide cavern with a sense of creeping familiarity. It had been over a year since she had seen this place last, but she had seen it. Sluggish black water lapped at the muddy shore and she remembered the treasures pulled from it. The shard of solid darkness from which her domain blade had been carved, the deathly mirror whose sale had funded her cultivation for a year now, and the near forgotten seed pods still resting in her storage ring in the material world.
And, in the center was the horned skeleton, wrapped in vines, covered in black flowers, bleeding the liquid that filled the pool, driven into the earth at its side was a bronze spear, but now the thing flickered with a ghastly green radiance.
As she beheld it, she sucked in a breath as the bare skull twitched and rose to regard her with sockets full of black flower petals.
"I see you," The voice that emitted from the skeleton dug into her mind with claws of icy cold, painful and ragged. Yet, through the pain Ling Qi could feel no malice in those words. If anything they seemed almost wonder filled.
She felt a sharp pain in her chest then, and felt something part her skin from within. She looked down to see the point of her domain blade pulling free, glistening and black. It shot from her chest, and it took everything she had to halt it middair, vibrating with tension. It felt like someone had just yanked on her arm hard enough to dislocate it.
"My blood, you will not come?" The worn whisper of the skeleton scratched at her ears. It's jaw didn't move she noticed, it's voice seemed to be born from the rustle of petals and dried vines.
"Honored Elder, you are mistaken," Ling Qi ground out through grit teeth, feeling the strain of holding her blade in place, humming in the air between them. "I only took the gifts freely offered, I am not your blood."
The worst thing somehow was that she could feel the futility of her effort. She could feel the strength of the thing, if it exerted itself just a little more she knew, it would have her blade.
"Liar," its voice was scolding but fond. "But what thief does not lie."
Air shimmered in a veil of glittering color and chaotic qi washed out over the room like a tidal wave as Sixiang meterialized in front of her at full height. "Let her go," the muse hissed, their expression strained.
She jerked back as the pressure on her domain blade loosened, and yet the grip was not wholly gone.
"How greedy," whispered the skeleton not seeming angered by the interference. "You deny a lonely elder their first company in an age?"
"If she doesn't want to be here you bet I do," Sixiang's words no longer came from their lips but rather on the sounds of increasingly violent tide.
"Thank you Sixiang," Ling Qi said with a wince, laying a hand on the muse's shoulder. "Honored Elder, unfortunately I cannot stay. I have many obligations."
"Young, so young. So much remains to be seen, to be taken," the voice crooned. "Go, and come visit again. Bring with you your tales, and let us share as one thief to another."
The grip vanished, and Ling Qi nearly stumbled, staring at the skeleton warily. "Why do you trust that I would come back?"
"Ling Qi don't question the thing," Sixiang hissed in alarm.
Somehow the thorny vines framing fleshless jaws seemed to convey a smile. "Curiosity, Want, Power."
Ling Qi felt something like an impact against her stomach and a rushing sensation like flying at top speed. Her back slammed against wood, and cherry blossoms rained down. She found herself starring up at the boughs which surrounded her starting point. The Dream idol floated soundlessly above the shimmering ring gates and all was serene.
But a familiar dark oaken door now stood at the edge of the clearing, it had no frame, or hinges. Just a simple handle.
Ling Qi shut her eyes. "I think that's enough for one session."
"I thought you didn't know what you were here for?" Sixiang asked. "What's wrong with this place."
"I don't think I'll learn what I'm looking for here," Ling Qi said. She let out a breath and dispersed. Vanishing from her place on the bench, she reappeared midstep, taking advantage of the movements of the crowd to mask her appearance.
"Oh, did you figure that out," Sixiang asked," their tinny voice tickling her ear.
"I said it before," Ling Qi said, weaving between guests. She felt a longing in her heart, to stop and observe, to listen to poetry and song, to drink from their cups. To belong here safe and content. She hardened her mind against the creeping intrusion of foreign identities and when a laughing man grasped at her arm, she spun elegantly to the side, leaving him grasping a stylized phantom in her likeness who led him away in the dance he sought.
"I want to know why," Ling Qi murmured, her eyes fixed on the door. This, this is all how and what, that's important too, but I can't learn why things are as they are here."
Mystery Concept Advanced to I
1/ 2 till next level
The first question asked in life is how do I survive. The second is why.
1/ 2 till next level
The first question asked in life is how do I survive. The second is why.
"Well I won't gainsay you on it, even if I wish we could stay," Sixiang sighed, looking out over the revelry.
"We'll find our time for fun," Ling Qi said.
"Liar," Sixiang chuckled. "You're bad at that, but how do you intend to get in there?"
Ling Qi wondered at Sixiang's question as she moved around a pair of laughing women their arms thrown over each others shoulders. Her eyes fell again on the closed door, only now a man stood in front of it. His expression without the merriment of the revelers. She recognized his scanning gaze and alertness.
It would not normally be a problem to avoid so mundane an obstacle, but she knew somewhere in her gut that trying to pass immaterially through that door would go poorly for her. No, scanning the threshold and frame, she understood instinctively that she would need to turn the handle and open the portal manually.
"Heh, well let me assist, I think I've finally found a new twist that works," Sixiang chuckled.
On her shoulder the faerie sized muse dissolved, and Ling Qi blinked as she felt a rushing feeling like the tide running over her feet and around her ankles. A few meters away, where the man stood she saw him blink and then grow slack for just a moment. Then she straightened up and shot her a grin, familiar but made alien by the features that wore it.
Ling Qi covered the remaining distance swiftly, keeping an eye on the other revelers, echoes and spirits that they were.
"Fancy huh," said the man, in a voice with a touch too high a pitch, as he stepped out of the way. Behind them people were beginning to turn with furrowed brows, and the music faltered.
Ling Qi twisted the handle and stepped through just as a keening wail began to rise from a hundred throats, dragging 'Sixiang' through the darkened portal after her. The door slammed shut behind them and there was silence.
"Fancy," Ling Qi said dryly, shooting her companion a look. "Explain."
Already the form of the man was beginning to waver and dissolve, but he still wore Sixiang's grin, and Ling Qi saw a faint outline of rainbow flames burning like a crown upon his head. It glowed brightly in the ssucking darkness of the cellar-like stone stairwell they found themselves in.
"Well, I figured if I can manifest myself, why not just steal other people's work?" Sixiang said cheerfully as the form collapsed, leaving only a glittering column of light from which their voice emanated. Those folks were all constructs and spirits like me anyway. I don't think I could hijack a human or a beast for very long."
Sixiang
Cultivation: Foundation Green (9)
Primary Concepts: Chaos, Creation, Dream, Expression.
Secondary Concepts: Freedom, Want.
Fantasia's Grandchild(G) 10: The children and grandchildren of the Emerald Dancer are without count. They swarm and throng in every place where humans dwell and many where they do not. Untouchable by the wholly material, muse and fairy dwell wholly in the realms of mind and dreams.
Emerald Muse (G) 10: Born from the thoughts, impulses and whimsy of artists of all stripes, Sixiang is a dabbling master of many artistic pursuits, though music and poetry most of all. By the same metric they perceive easily what lies under the masks humans where and the nature of their impulses, even if the they yet lack some understanding of the origins of human desire.
Dreaming Masque (G) 1: Born from dream and thought it is not such a stepto leap from one vessel to another, if only temporarily. Sixiang may seize control of summoned constructs and even lesser spirits, layering themself over it like a mask. Theoretically possible to do to a human as well though difficult.
Chaos Locus (G) 5: Thought and Dream are counterpart to Matter and Reality, neither can exist long without the other, yet the muse is a creature wholly of the liminal realm and where their presence goes the hard order of matter grows somewhat soft and less certain.
Painter of Winds (G) 3: Air and light are funny things, and by wielding wind you may twist light, though its order is forever beyond your reach. By holding the air in your hands and molding it like clay you may carry or muffle the voices of the world. The wind is a canvas and you its painter.
Active Abilities
Chaos Phase (10):
Technique Type: Dispel
Drunkenness is the closest mortals may come to the realm of Dream in the waking world, and among the earliest cults of man were those of brewing, who made the elixirs to achieve that holy state. The muse may induce this in foes and even the patterns of arts, disrupting concentration and the continuance of techniques.
Lunatic Stirring (10):
Technique Type: Summon, Empowerment
To manifest fully in the physical world is difficult for a muse, yet Sixiang has managed it. Yet they are still not of this realm. Where Sixiang manifests the effect of their Chaos Locus traits intensify, and the effects of Dream and Chaos techniques grow stronger.
Whirlwind Revel (9):
Technique Type: Bind
While manifested, Sixiang can grasp an enemy and whirl them away briefly into the liminal realm, trapping them for a time.
Cultivation: Foundation Green (9)
Primary Concepts: Chaos, Creation, Dream, Expression.
Secondary Concepts: Freedom, Want.
Fantasia's Grandchild(G) 10: The children and grandchildren of the Emerald Dancer are without count. They swarm and throng in every place where humans dwell and many where they do not. Untouchable by the wholly material, muse and fairy dwell wholly in the realms of mind and dreams.
Emerald Muse (G) 10: Born from the thoughts, impulses and whimsy of artists of all stripes, Sixiang is a dabbling master of many artistic pursuits, though music and poetry most of all. By the same metric they perceive easily what lies under the masks humans where and the nature of their impulses, even if the they yet lack some understanding of the origins of human desire.
Dreaming Masque (G) 1: Born from dream and thought it is not such a stepto leap from one vessel to another, if only temporarily. Sixiang may seize control of summoned constructs and even lesser spirits, layering themself over it like a mask. Theoretically possible to do to a human as well though difficult.
Chaos Locus (G) 5: Thought and Dream are counterpart to Matter and Reality, neither can exist long without the other, yet the muse is a creature wholly of the liminal realm and where their presence goes the hard order of matter grows somewhat soft and less certain.
Painter of Winds (G) 3: Air and light are funny things, and by wielding wind you may twist light, though its order is forever beyond your reach. By holding the air in your hands and molding it like clay you may carry or muffle the voices of the world. The wind is a canvas and you its painter.
Active Abilities
Chaos Phase (10):
Technique Type: Dispel
Drunkenness is the closest mortals may come to the realm of Dream in the waking world, and among the earliest cults of man were those of brewing, who made the elixirs to achieve that holy state. The muse may induce this in foes and even the patterns of arts, disrupting concentration and the continuance of techniques.
Lunatic Stirring (10):
Technique Type: Summon, Empowerment
To manifest fully in the physical world is difficult for a muse, yet Sixiang has managed it. Yet they are still not of this realm. Where Sixiang manifests the effect of their Chaos Locus traits intensify, and the effects of Dream and Chaos techniques grow stronger.
Whirlwind Revel (9):
Technique Type: Bind
While manifested, Sixiang can grasp an enemy and whirl them away briefly into the liminal realm, trapping them for a time.
"I'm a bad influence on you," Ling Qi sighed, despite her smile. Whatever else happened if these dreamwalks encouraged Sixiang to grow too then it was worth it. Already she was considering the uses their ability could have. Even if it was only limited to qi constructs and other immaterial spirits…
"How would you feel about being an eagle?" Ling Qi mused, thinking of her phantom summoning art.
"Ugh, That thing's so drab," Sixiang muttered, rematerializing on her shoulder. "Not fabulous at all. Besides I'm not sure it'd offer much advantage over just controlling it yourself yet. I guess I could ride it away from you to jump into something else?"
"Something to work on," Ling Qi said absently. "But I guess we shouldn't get distracted right now."
There was no sound nor sign of the revel from the other side of the door, and Ling Qi did not need immortal senses to perceive that the wood of the door had swollen fusing with its frame. She would leave putting her fist through the thing as a last resort. She gazed down the stone passage, listening to the faint drip of water from far below and eyeing the organic glisten of damp mold and moss on the ceiling and walls.
Sixiang made a face. "Ugh, we left the party for this?"
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. They were wide and shallow, but surprisingly dry despite the moisture in the air. "Although… are we descending into a nightmare?"
Sixiang was quiet for a long moment as they descended. "You know I'm not sure, but…"
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. They were wide and shallow, but surprisingly dry despite the moisture in the air. "Although… are we descending into a nightmare?"
Sixiang was quiet for a long moment as they descended. "You know I'm not sure, but…"
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. Something twisted in her gut, and she felt intense nausea. They were wide and shallow, but surprisingly dry despite the moisture in the air. How many times had she taken the first step?
"Don't be a baby Sixiang," Ling Qi replied absently, taking the first step down. Ling Qi felt her temples throb and on her shoulder Sixiang hissed in pain.
"Don't-" Ling Qi shut her mouth, nearly biting her tongue as she focused hard and leapt off the first step. On her shoulder, Sixiang's qi rippled out chaotic and disruptive.
Ling Qi landed palm first on the third stair and vaulted forward as she felt her thoughts begin to run backward and twisted in midair, forcing herself away from the shimmering bubble of altered time. She landed, pressing herself against the wall, breathing harshly as moon qi flooded the meridians that ran through her head, intensifying her every sense.
Even then it was barely possible to make out the places where space broke. It was not the usual chaos of the Dream realm, it felt jagged, like she was standing in the midst of a hall full of glass shrapnel frozen in the moment just after an explosion.
Ling Qi stayed where she was eyeing her surroundings warily as first seconds, then a minute ticked by.
"Sorry," Sixiang winced. "I should have noticed that before you stepped in it."
"No, I should have noticed too," Ling Qi said. She didn't think she had become incautious. She was just used to the sharpness of her senses doing most of the work. Here, in the Dream things just didn't quite work the same and it left her struggling.
"Alright, take two," Ling Qi said, slowly turning to examine their path down. One foot in front of the other, she resumed her descent. It was difficult and soon her head was throbbing as navigating the maze of broken reality forced her to sometimes take steps in directions she couldn't give a name too or turn at angles which she was quite sure didn't exist in the material world.
This… this was why time techniques were rare, and so limited she thought as she paused upon a stair, kneeling and holding her head as she tried to shut off the painful feeling of having been thinking her thoughts in reverse while her body moved to signals arriving from somewhere sideways to the present.
Even cultivators were not meant for such things. Could reality as she knew it even exist without the Law of Causality?
Causality Concept advanced to I
1/ 2 till next level
Action precedes reaction. Time flows forward, ever forward.
1/ 2 till next level
Action precedes reaction. Time flows forward, ever forward.
"Oof, even I feel a little nauseous," Sixiang groaned, their face looking a little green.
Ling Qi let out a weary laugh as she knelt there. "What do you even have to feel nauseous with?"
"I dunno, but I've managed it," Sixiang said, wincing. "Ling Qi, do you think keeping up this descent is a good idea?"
She pursed her lips, peering down the stairs. Far, far away in the dark, something pale green glinted. "No, but neither was attending your grandmother's party."
Sixiang raised a finger, opening her mouth as if to respond, then closed it. "....I have no reply to that. Darn, you really are a bad influence on me."
"Having a survival instinct isn't bad," Ling Qi said wryly, rising back to her feet. Sometimes you just had to know when it was wrong.
And right now, she knew in her gut that there was something worthwhile at the bottom of these stairs.
She continued her descent this time keeping her eye on the flicker of green that she had spotted. It helped to focus on something, more than descending without purpose, having a goal helped to keep her thoughts running in the correct direction and her body reacting to her own commands rather than those of fragmented signals from fleeting alternative selves.
Forward, no turning, no retreating. That was the key.
When she came to the bottom of the stair it was abrupt. One moment she had been placing a foot forward onto another dry stair, the next it had sunk into swampy muck.
She beheld the site of a low, wide cavern with a sense of creeping familiarity. It had been over a year since she had seen this place last, but she had seen it. Sluggish black water lapped at the muddy shore and she remembered the treasures pulled from it. The shard of solid darkness from which her domain blade had been carved, the deathly mirror whose sale had funded her cultivation for a year now, and the near forgotten seed pods still resting in her storage ring in the material world.
And, in the center was the horned skeleton, wrapped in vines, covered in black flowers, bleeding the liquid that filled the pool, driven into the earth at its side was a bronze spear, but now the thing flickered with a ghastly green radiance.
As she beheld it, she sucked in a breath as the bare skull twitched and rose to regard her with sockets full of black flower petals.
"I see you," The voice that emitted from the skeleton dug into her mind with claws of icy cold, painful and ragged. Yet, through the pain Ling Qi could feel no malice in those words. If anything they seemed almost wonder filled.
She felt a sharp pain in her chest then, and felt something part her skin from within. She looked down to see the point of her domain blade pulling free, glistening and black. It shot from her chest, and it took everything she had to halt it middair, vibrating with tension. It felt like someone had just yanked on her arm hard enough to dislocate it.
"My blood, you will not come?" The worn whisper of the skeleton scratched at her ears. It's jaw didn't move she noticed, it's voice seemed to be born from the rustle of petals and dried vines.
"Honored Elder, you are mistaken," Ling Qi ground out through grit teeth, feeling the strain of holding her blade in place, humming in the air between them. "I only took the gifts freely offered, I am not your blood."
The worst thing somehow was that she could feel the futility of her effort. She could feel the strength of the thing, if it exerted itself just a little more she knew, it would have her blade.
"Liar," its voice was scolding but fond. "But what thief does not lie."
Air shimmered in a veil of glittering color and chaotic qi washed out over the room like a tidal wave as Sixiang meterialized in front of her at full height. "Let her go," the muse hissed, their expression strained.
She jerked back as the pressure on her domain blade loosened, and yet the grip was not wholly gone.
"How greedy," whispered the skeleton not seeming angered by the interference. "You deny a lonely elder their first company in an age?"
"If she doesn't want to be here you bet I do," Sixiang's words no longer came from their lips but rather on the sounds of increasingly violent tide.
"Thank you Sixiang," Ling Qi said with a wince, laying a hand on the muse's shoulder. "Honored Elder, unfortunately I cannot stay. I have many obligations."
"Young, so young. So much remains to be seen, to be taken," the voice crooned. "Go, and come visit again. Bring with you your tales, and let us share as one thief to another."
The grip vanished, and Ling Qi nearly stumbled, staring at the skeleton warily. "Why do you trust that I would come back?"
"Ling Qi don't question the thing," Sixiang hissed in alarm.
Somehow the thorny vines framing fleshless jaws seemed to convey a smile. "Curiosity, Want, Power."
Ling Qi felt something like an impact against her stomach and a rushing sensation like flying at top speed. Her back slammed against wood, and cherry blossoms rained down. She found herself starring up at the boughs which surrounded her starting point. The Dream idol floated soundlessly above the shimmering ring gates and all was serene.
But a familiar dark oaken door now stood at the edge of the clearing, it had no frame, or hinges. Just a simple handle.
Ling Qi shut her eyes. "I think that's enough for one session."
Shattered Gaol Location acquired
Quest Line: Tales from the Crypt began
+2 Successes to Power Concept 2/ 3
30 Spiritual XP Acquired for completing Hidden Project
30 Bonus XP attained for Arc completion
80 Bonus XP total for arc actions.
Quest Line: Tales from the Crypt began
+2 Successes to Power Concept 2/ 3
30 Spiritual XP Acquired for completing Hidden Project
30 Bonus XP attained for Arc completion
80 Bonus XP total for arc actions.
- Location
- Elsewhere
That was extremely interesting. That repeated first step was very effective - my eyes kept skipping around until I figured it out.
Also, I love petal skeleton.
And that's...4 concept successes and 80 xp? So a little more than a project, but without advancing an art.
Also, I love petal skeleton.
And that's...4 concept successes and 80 xp? So a little more than a project, but without advancing an art.
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NoxOfUmbra
Shadow of the night
- Location
- Colombia, South América
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
What do we have here? This plotline has hooked me once again... interesting, very very interesting. Let's do something more lively next time tho.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Stories told are experiences induced, and this style of telling was cleverly done and quite effective.
...Affective. Trippy, much as Ling Qi was tripping over her step through time.
Some small hours spent providing company to one long alone is a kindness worth doing... but to call Ling Qi a liar?
Sincerity is part of who she is!
Ngl, I'd be inclined to shout philosophy at those old bones about how criminality does not necessitate deception, and even in the times where deception might be the only good path, sincerity in intent and deed can shine through.
Edit:
This bit though. This bit makes me sad. He does not get it. It's not about taking, it's about need.
Ideally he might be open to change, but high level cultivators are by definition set in their ways, and I expect this goes doubly so for the dead.
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- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
We made a friend! :D
I just want to say very well written with the time wrap on the step. At first I thought it was a typo, and then confused by the repetition before it all made sense. A little thing, but as an amateur writer I appreciate what you did there.
On the actual story: Loot! Well, not literal, but stuff. I also really like the sound of a new quest line and I've been a long time fan of the imagery of Mr Spooky Skeleton. What is he anyways? Is this the skeleton/spirit/echo of a Weilu (horned lord)? We know that Ling Qi is technically related to the Weilu (very very distantly admittedly) from that tapestry, so if that's the case, then he's not wrong when he calls her his blood.
He mentions being a thief himself, a nice shared point, and really wants company. I see a chance to get on friendly terms with a very old and dangerous entity (spirit?). That worked well last time, lets do it again.
We get a little reminder that the seed pods are a thing. If they aren't already set aside for use in the garden with Zhengui, I'm going to put out we should do that. Two reasons: 1) it would be good to add something special to the project and I'm interested in what they are; 2) honestly, we don't really have anything else appropriate to use them on.
Finally, just going to right out and say that I am totally voting for continuing this new quest line on the first chance we get.
On the actual story: Loot! Well, not literal, but stuff. I also really like the sound of a new quest line and I've been a long time fan of the imagery of Mr Spooky Skeleton. What is he anyways? Is this the skeleton/spirit/echo of a Weilu (horned lord)? We know that Ling Qi is technically related to the Weilu (very very distantly admittedly) from that tapestry, so if that's the case, then he's not wrong when he calls her his blood.
He mentions being a thief himself, a nice shared point, and really wants company. I see a chance to get on friendly terms with a very old and dangerous entity (spirit?). That worked well last time, lets do it again.
We get a little reminder that the seed pods are a thing. If they aren't already set aside for use in the garden with Zhengui, I'm going to put out we should do that. Two reasons: 1) it would be good to add something special to the project and I'm interested in what they are; 2) honestly, we don't really have anything else appropriate to use them on.
Finally, just going to right out and say that I am totally voting for continuing this new quest line on the first chance we get.
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Not what I would have initially assumed to be Ling Qi's definition of Mystery; though, now that yrsillar presented it, I can't think of anything more fitting. Ling Qi's character has always been preoccupied with the demands of survival -- her whole thing about power and want, her thoughts on the function of community and family, etc. -- thus, the knowledge she seeks as a follower of the Hidden Moon would be rooted in the need to survive.
You know, do we actually know who this elder is? That is, is he the High King whose shade we met in the Bloody Moon Dream, or is he the city-builder brother?
We know that the battle in the Bloody Moon Dream was inconclusive in reality -- that both sides, both kings, lost and died -- but we don't know who survived to imprison this particular elder behind wards of shattered spacetime. (Possibly the city-builders, judging by the stone and metal used, but that could also be a later addition.)
By which I mean, the city-builders were characterized by their breaking of traditions and development of a more human-centric and xenophilic paradigm. The skeleton's words imply he followed the Grinning and Hidden Moons, in forms that seem to suit the city-builder king rather than the Bloody Moon-aligned king met in the Dream. Are we going to see how this ancient Weilu is delighted at how many cities there are in Emerald Seas, opposed to how Ling Qi thought the number of cities were so few during her moon vision quest, like how the Grinning Moon implied the original Wind Thief would be delighted at how many humans Tonghou had as opposed to how Ling Qi just saw how miserable they were?
Quick question:
Is this dream idol, magic circle, door thingy in the cherry tree clearing just going to sit there as our little place? Cause that would explain how other would find out about the dream idol. Even if they don't disturb our little set up, pretty much anyone could stumble across it and with the idol just floating there, well its not exactly hidden.
Is this dream idol, magic circle, door thingy in the cherry tree clearing just going to sit there as our little place? Cause that would explain how other would find out about the dream idol. Even if they don't disturb our little set up, pretty much anyone could stumble across it and with the idol just floating there, well its not exactly hidden.
Absolutely loved that Chapter! We got a new Weilu Thief Uncle!
Also:
Also:
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That just raises more questions!
Xin: Yessssss
Xin: Yessssss