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

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So, my concern is the language regarding "secur[ing] Li Suyin" and what that actually means. Given the discussion, it seems like you are under the impression that we will be carrying Li Suyin, or having her attached to us somehow while we descend into the pit above the beast's gaping maw. This seems completely antithetical to the premise of the plan which is "get in close, keep the creature's attention focused wholly on you."
No thats just me engaging a humorous straw man of Erebeals.

I don't actually believe that that is what will happen, and instead am leaving it to Yrsillar to come up with a simple approach that isn't idiotic rather than hash out action economy under the newest system after @Black Noise flipped out over me proposing to just put a TRU on her and be done with it. It just seems like a waste of time over nitpicking.
 
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Hey guys, I was doing some research, and I actually came upon simulation footage of what would have happened to Zhenli and Li Suyin if we weren't here.

 
Then I'll call it an engregious act of bad faith debating?
If your argument is that we should ignore what plans say they're doing, then, uh....

If you intend something different then phrase it differently.

Edit:
Or we could just clean up our plans and keep them simple:

[x]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
-[x] Use TRF to free Suyin to move (DWV or TRU?). Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Stay on the ground and close to it to try to make it focus on hitting us rather than bringing the cave down with its gravitational field.

Alternatively:
[]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
-[] Make sure Suyin is safely out of the sinkhole. Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Use flight to stay out of the range of its jaws.

or
[]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
-[] Use TRF to free Suyin to move. Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Use flight to stay out of the range of its jaws.
 
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Looks good, this is situation where we need to fight like Superman (protect Metropoliscave and BatmanSpiderwoman first)

[X]Erebeal
Adhoc vote count started by OneArmedYeti on Feb 8, 2019 at 12:38 AM, finished with 103 posts and 22 votes.

  • [X]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
    -[X] It's threat comes from the ability to summon forth the pull of the Earth through it's shrill cry, but you know that it is mere sound. Quickly secure Li Suyin and descend into the pit above the beast's gaping maw while flying and raising your own defenses, then use the Spring's End Aria to freeze and mutilate the organ and as much of the earth around you as you can reach. Whether it can scream through frozen and shattered tongue and vocal chords or not, its a stationary target and thus an all-too-perfect victim. Ensure that it stays that way, using Hoarfrost Caress and Winter's End Cadenza to further stop it from being able to fight back or escape.
    -[x] Reinforce Suyin and yourself with Vital Qi and attempt to free her movements as you close in and make yourself the main target. Try to stay close and incite it to focus on physical attacks instead of its gravitational fields in order to reduce the risk of cave-in, dancing around it as an annoying shadow. Avoid the use of flight. Offensively, simply attempt to destroy it quickly with our Frozen Seranade, though be prepared to unleash Winter's End if necessary to manage smaller beasts.
    -[x] Use TRF to free Suyin to move (DWV or TRU?). Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Stay on the ground and close to it to try to make it focus on hitting us rather than bringing the cave down with its gravitational field.
    -[X] Reinforce Suyin and yourself with Vital Qi and attempt to dispel what ails her as you close in and make yourself the main target. The end of the spring will herald the end of its spiritual defences and allow yourself to blast all the monsters at once if need be, though a more targeted caress against the main threat is preferred. Do not be afraid of flying, though our mobility should be more than up to the task without.
    [X] KIll it as quickly as you can, the straining ceiling worries you,
    -[X] Use TRF to shore up Li Suyin, then proceed to kill the Antlion dead with FSS. Fly as needed, but only get close if it tries to get at Suyin somehow, stay at a distance otherwise.
 
[x]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
-[x] Use TRF to free Suyin to move (DWV or TRU?). Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Stay on the ground and close to it to try to make it focus on hitting us rather than bringing the cave down with its gravitational field.
 
[x]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
-[x] Use TRF to free Suyin to move (DWV or TRU?). Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Stay on the ground and close to it to try to make it focus on hitting us rather than bringing the cave down with its gravitational field.
 
[x]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
-[x] Use TRF to free Suyin to move (DWV or TRU?). Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Stay on the ground and close to it to try to make it focus on hitting us rather than bringing the cave down with its gravitational field.

Yeah, I am concerned that flying around its head will tempt it to use the gravitational pull trick, and we don't want that to be used all that often.
 
I am also super excited because this is going to be a great chance to dig into the new battle mechanics. Super excited for this fight!
 
Do you know what would be terrifying? If Yan Renshu ever had the chance to descend to this chasm of madness and was able to bind something like the Impure Antlion. I mean, he would be pretty much invincible under the ground then, having his huge worm and Antlion just ambushing anyone who came into his underground domain.

Speaking of binding... is it even possible to bind these impure things? I mean, I assume that they are like other spirit beasts, just in the opposite direction. They gather impurities rather than do whatever normal spirit beasts do to advance.
 
-[] Use TRF to free Suyin to move (DWV or TRU?). Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Stay on the ground and close to it to try to make it focus on hitting us rather than bringing the cave down with its gravitational field.

There are other things that I think are also worth discussing here. TRU was challenged before as slowing us down and taking more time than Deepwood (though I'd note that "instant" and "response" no longer exist as clearly defined tech properties). If, however, we are intending to bait the Antlion like this I'm inclined to think that having TRU up is actually a rather good idea, giving us both potent defenses as well as immunity to grabs etc. (remember that DW is no longer a long term defensive buff).

That being said, leaving that decision up to yrsillar might be the correct decision here.
 
Do you know what would be terrifying? If Yan Renshu ever had the chance to descend to this chasm of madness and was able to bind something like the Impure Antlion. I mean, he would be pretty much invincible under the ground then, having his huge worm and Antlion just ambushing anyone who came into his underground domain.

Speaking of binding... is it even possible to bind these impure things? I mean, I assume that they are like other spirit beasts, just in the opposite direction. They gather impurities rather than do whatever normal spirit beasts do to advance.

Presumably there's a non impure version of this spirit YR could bind. I'm guessing this is an ailment, not a breed.

At any rate, I'm expecting that the next time we see YR, he won't even be an Enemy, but rather an Ally of Circumstance against the true antagonist of the next arc: Wen Cao.*

As far as the rest goes, I'm reminded of something that Yrs said early in the last thread when someone asked him what would happen if someone cultivated impurity and expelled qi instead of the other way around.

His response was something to the effect of "That's a valid Write-In, if you want to find out"

Hmm. ......

Maybe this subterranean impurity is a byproduct of the production of Argent Liquid/Mist. It would explain why the defense elder is Earth specialized.

*this statement is pure speculation.
 
Presumably there's a non impure version of this spirit YR could bind. I'm guessing this is an ailment, not a breed.

At any rate, I'm expecting that the next time we see YR, he won't even be an Enemy, but rather an Ally of Circumstance against the true antagonist of the next arc: Wen Cao.*

As far as the rest goes, I'm reminded of something that Yrs said early in the last thread when someone asked him what would happen if someone cultivated impurity and expelled qi instead of the other way around.

His response was something to the effect of "That's a valid Write-In, if you want to find out"

Hmm. ......

Maybe this subterranean impurity is a byproduct of the production of Argent Liquid/Mist. It would explain why the defense elder is Earth specialized.

*this statement is pure speculation.
I have numerous theories and such! The ideas of impurities and the Gnawing Ones are something that often plague the early hours of my mornings.



I'M NOT SAYING THEIR GNAWING ONES, BUT THEIR GNAWING ONES.

So my current theory about this pit deals with the nature of Qi and it's counter part impurities. Basically my theory is that qi rises and impurities descend. I wrote a ton about this idea and I don't think people want me to ramble on for pages about it again. So you sort of get this middle ground where normal people live lets say 50/50 qi impurities. (The exact ratio is not super important just the idea that there is a ratio) Get too far out of this ratio and things begin to become toxic. Like having to much co2 in the air. As one ascends one gets too much qi. If one descends one gets too much impurity. ( A major hole in this theory is the idea that high level cultivators could come down into common cities and not die from toxicity. Maybe their durable enough to withstand it? I don't know.)

Anyway we know that life comes into existence everywhere in this world. Both from the spontaneous generation of spirits to spirit beasts. Cloud dragons for example inhabit layers that should be primarily qi if my theory is correct. We also know that they are super powerful in cultivation and imperial cultivation could be said to be a descendant of dragon cultivation. If dragons appeared and adapted to those level of qi then why couldn't something appear and adopt to similar levels of impurities? My current theory is that gnawing ones and the creatures in this cave are example of beings who have adopted to levels of impurities way outside of the normal ratio. Normal dantians and spirit beast cores (presumably because it was stated that spirit beast cores act like dantians for the spirits) gather and refine qi to strengthen the owner. Yet the "cores" of the beasts down here do the opposite gathering impurities. If these beasts require impurities to become stronger than it makes sense that the weaker beasts are closer to the surface where the amount of impurities to gather is less and the stronger beasts (and gnawing ones, can't forget about those guys) lie further below us where impurities are in greater numbers.

So in response to your statement about this being an ailment and not a breed I firmly disagree. I believe that this is the first part of an entire ecosystem that runs off of impurities instead of qi and I am super excited to learn more.

Now the disclosure here. This theory is really built off of secondary and tertiary resources. Because of this many of my ideas are super weak and filled with conjuncture instead of facts. However despite this I feel like there is a line of truth here and am super hopeful that this expedition will help provide insights into this and provide more hard facts to further refine my theory or help me discard it and thus aid in a better night sleep. Either way I am super excited for the future of the GNAWING ONES and their related theories.
 
[x]Get in close, keep the creatures attention focused wholly on you,
-[x] Use TRF to free Suyin to move (DWV or TRU?). Attempt to burst down as fast as possible using FSS. Stay on the ground and close to it to try to make it focus on hitting us rather than bringing the cave down with its gravitational field.
 
I keep looking at this fight and wishing we could drop Meteor Turtle when it uses that gravity...
Nah, he's still napping, but it would be handy for our future Gravitonic Meteor Turtle Slamming needs if we knew someone we could make alliances with who was strongly Earth aligned and liked Turtle themed solutions to problems.

If only.
 
I am going to say though, in all seriousness, the Antlion does appear to have decent offensive stats. Theoretically, yes, our art advantage from things like Deepwood, TRU, and full power GCD should allow us to handle it, but it is actually a legit threat to us statwise.

My plan of baiting it into melee attacks could be argued to be risky, and based on excessive paranoia about the risk of cave-in via graviga.

Flying could, in theory, be said to be safer - though of course if we're genuinely out of its reach it does run the risk of it going for Suyin (though it could also be argued that it's not going to go for her when we're busy blasting its face with all the DPS).

I think these issues should be seriously considered.
 
Of course, if we get injured or put ourselves in harms way to protect Suyin, it might just be the thing to make Ling Qi feel better about herself!

Being risky here could be a good character decision!
 
My plan of baiting it into melee attacks could be argued to be risky, and based on excessive paranoia about the risk of cave-in via graviga.

Flying could, in theory, be said to be safer - though of course if we're genuinely out of its reach it does run the risk of it going for Suyin (though it could also be argued that it's not going to go for her when we're busy blasting its face with all the DPS).

My support for it is largely narrative. Whatever the actual stats involved (and those stats are not dominant, but they are in our favor), the image of Ling Qi distracting the monster and shadow dancing between its sweeping attacks is a compelling one. It plays well not only into Ling Qi's narrative inertia, but also the inherent weaknesses you get when you are a giant Ape Beetle. Such an active distraction also plays well for Suyin not just being safe, but being able to contribute from afar while the monster pays her little attention. I think that if Ling Qi does get into trouble, Suyin will be unhindered and be able to get her out of it.
 
Im pretty sure that woodwind is used since its the highest music skill. As compared to all the stuff that goes on in narrative where its just Zeqing or Ling Qi or Hanyi singing without the aid of instruments lol
So you think that narratively FSS looks like LQ is singing and not using her flute?
 
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