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

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So the options are to provide flanking for Cao Chun to get the culprit or to grasp the vector before it disperses too far for forensics.

I'd note post facto forensics is nigh impossible, the vector is too fragile. That says its distinctive.

I'd also note the pursuit has Cao Chun AND Zheng Fu on it most likely, Qi is great at it but may not be necessary when theres both a higher realm and a Zheng on the case
 
veekie said:
So the options are to provide flanking for Cao Chun to get the culprit or to grasp the vector before it disperses too far for forensics.

I'd note post facto forensics is nigh impossible, the vector is too fragile. That says its distinctive.

I'd also note the pursuit has Cao Chun AND Zheng Fu on it most likely, Qi is great at it but may not be necessary when theres both a higher realm and a Zheng on the case
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I read it as Cao Chun being busy with the distraction at the main hall, and Zheng Fu doing damage control on something that's hatching. Jin Tae is the one that's calculating where the weapons came from, and is asking if we want to pursue those coordinates
 
yrsillar said:
She was sorry for this. She would have to hope this man would be okay. Her hand knifed into the mass of bubbling thoughts, grasped the slick sickly warm marble of a bubble, and snatched it from the greater mass.

Out in reality, she felt and saw the man outside stagger.

And the bubble in her hand burst into a melting mass of ooze, only the faint impression of writhing and skittering legs rising from the aborted hatching.
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Note if we Steal it out of the guy we immediately can disprove southerner involvement because:
1) They live in too cold an area to cultivate warm rot
2) Thats a spider egg
 
Vote's open (and wow the phrasing is weirdly unrelated to the question, which is "pursue?").

[X] Yes, the man could be examined at leisure, by cultivators and physicians greater than she.
 
[X] Yes, the man could be examined at leisure, by cultivators and physicians greater than she.
 
I'll probably reread the update and rethink this vote, but we are [Communication] :V!!! Time to show our chops in getting lost evidence, and leave the chasing to the boys.

[X] No she would leave that to him, there was something more here.

Edit: After rereading, I have concluded that this is the best option based on the reasons in the post below.

Post in thread 'Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)' Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny) Original - Users' Choice!
 
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[X] No she would leave that to him, there was something more here.
 
[X] No she would leave that to him, there was something more here.

Speed is not a good fit here, our enemies are more likely to know about our advantages and have prepared for it. I think by choosing to leave it to others, we are exactly following our adversary's plan and setting ourselves in a trap.
 
So hear me out... remember that before the scribbler died, two of the lesser Hui in the bunker betrayed te third, killed him and fucked off, leaving the scribbler alone ?
I sayour saboteur is one or both of them, who noticed something big going on near their old ome and decided "F shenhua and the Empire, I/we're sinking this"
When scholar speak about this in years to come, they'll call it "the last Hui conspiracy"*
 
veekie said:
Note if we Steal it out of the guy we immediately can disprove southerner involvement because:
1) They live in too cold an area to cultivate warm rot
2) Thats a spider egg
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But that doesnt truly draw us closer to identifying the actual culprit, which is the goal here

And by default, getting a tail on the true culprit also accomplishes that

[X] Yes, the man could be examined at leisure, by cultivators and physicians greater than she.
 
[X] Yes, the man could be examined at leisure, by cultivators and physicians greater than she.
 
yrsillar said:
We are uncertain yet if this is a matter of subjects inserted among the work crews or some effect or object which will arrive through liminal passage. In the case of the latter it is a most subtle method, which my non destructive investigatory techniques cannot detect.
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Hmm, so it sounds like Cao Chun may result to destructive investigatory techniques if the situation requires it?

yrsillar said:
"Hey you got this, specially with me around to be your wind, eh. You'll fly there and stop the bad guys no problem. Bang. Pow. Woosh."

She would like to think she was a little more elegant than that. Zheng Fu seemed more the 'Bang. Pow.' type.

"Okay. I hold Woosh is still valid."

Fair. Smiling a little, Ling Qi turned from the balcony and headed inside.
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So glad to have Sixiang banter again!

yrsillar said:
"No no no no no, we're at capacity ya jerk!"

Sixiang's presence washed out, winking lights and laughter, the smell of wine and fresh incense.
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Oof, we were about to get possessed, weren't we?

yrsillar said:
Shu Yue paused. "It is possible. Be aware, this method cannot be easily achieved, it is only my Master's artifice which makes me…. Human enough to exist within this role. If I were to name a method effective for detecting one such as I. You already practice it, though the difference in our power is too great."

She furrowed her brow. What-

"It's me you dummy. We're bound so closely, and share too much. Rolling it over in my head. I think I could stop something at our level that tried something like that. This space is at capacity you know. I don't want or need any more roommates."

Oh, that was what Shu Yue meant, Sixiang, and their shared senses.
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Yikes! Sure hope Zheng Fu is okay over there.


[X] No she would leave that to him, there was something more here.

Something about corrupting a memory of her is going on with the spores?

If she leaves, are there still spores floating around waiting to corrupt the workers? She had a whole cloud of them and couldn't steal any. She couldn't steal the corrupted memory for keeps even. I'm not sure just stealing again would work here outside of a spontaneous upgrade to Thief of Names... though that would be really cool.

She hasn't been able to collect physical evidence, but her instinct told her to look and she did observe a change in a part of a subject! Maybe her observation will be enough to piece together more later ?

[X] Yes, the man could be examined at leisure, by cultivators and physicians greater than she.

Chase the other sporebomb and hope it returns to its creator? It's probably third-realm quality if even Sixiang's dispel didn't completely kill it, so maybe valuable enough to want to recover.

Cao Chun is pursuing the disruptor at the hall. Zheng Fu is still punching the thing that hatched at the other site?

Risking the delay in the first place was so that we'd get a shot at catching someone with their hand on the trigger. I'm inclined to go follow that trigger.
 
So it's between

yrsillar said:
"Objects dispersing. There may be a window to backtrace to the source,"
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and

yrsillar said:
Already every sign that there was something wrong was disappearing from the man.
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Both are intriguing and present different risks vs rewards. Staying seems like we'll be the only one to glean insight into the swiftly dispersing thing that even higher cultivators up till now hadn't noticed before, however the perpetrator gets away. Chasing is riskier because we may not catch them and end up with nothing, however if we do catch them it could lead to "the source".

[X] Yes, the man could be examined at leisure, by cultivators and physicians greater than she.

Chase scene chase scene!
 
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[X] Yes, the man could be examined at leisure, by cultivators and physicians greater than she.

Pursuit and Identification. Free to steal Secrets from the Dreams of our foes
 
Couple things.

First, the guy who had a seed/egg/icky thing activate in him was one of the people Ling Qi rescued from the mountain heart/cave mishap. If the current attack is activating something that was planted prior, that earlier event of sabotage is a decent candidate for when it happened. Doesn't seem like immediately useful info, but it would show that these attacks are multi-purpose, with contingencies. Good to know. Also that everyone involved in the op should probably get a thorough checking over during debrief.

Second, I think our greatest asset at the moment is Ling Qi's perception, whether we stick around here or pursue. Seeing around and between layers of obfuscation and misdirection is valuable in either case. Staying here, we could identify the nature of the attack absent any surrounding spoofing, spot lingering traps in our people, and maybe build a cohesive profile on the perpetrator from tiny scraps of residual intent or something. In the chase, we could see through decoy trails meant to throw off the pursuit/indict others, catch wisps of the true trail despite obfuscation, or spot a foe trying to blend into their surroundings to hide.

In either case, our sharpening eyes, and our more open perspective on what possibilities are in play, is going to be one of our greater advantages.

[X] No she would leave that to him, there was something more here.
tbh, I think we can't afford to not pick either of them, they're both too important and fruitful vectors. But we have to, so this is the one I'm prioritizing, mostly just cause I like the excuse to root around in people's heads.
 
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[X] No she would leave that to him, there was something more here.
yrsillar said:
A sense of intuition made her gut churn, and she swept her eyes over the inchoate collections of bubbles the minds of the workers appeared as in her senses here.
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Looks to me like we barely made/missed the roll to notice, but haven't rolled well enough to know everything and/or save the victim(s) from after-effects. Even if the suspect does succeed in running away, it's just more opportunities to work together with the ministry in tracking them down. On the other hand, I'd very much like to know what is happening here (perhaps it happened before but we missed it, after all :

yrsillar said:
Even a month, or a week ago, she would have missed it, the shine of the bubble going just a little dull, a little gray.
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