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.
- Location
- earth
So since that voting is done, I'm going to shill my omake now since it got posted right before yrs updated 5-2 and I'd like a few more people to see it.
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny) - Original | Page 728
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny) - Original | Page 728
- Location
- scrabbling
In keeping with recent thread laments, no one voted for his socials
People preferred to continue investing in characters who already had investment over investing in anyone new
also in a completely unrelated complaint, they killed my boy gu tai, they did. even with only three actions he got ling qi's heart a-thumping dammit
I honestly didn't dislike Gu Tai.
I was just leery of agreeing to marriage that early, as well as the whole "living in the radioactive haunted desert" part.
Fighting mummies in a radioactive desert was a big plus for Tai Bro
For some people.
Personally, I didn't want Qi mom or little sis within a hundred miles of the place.
Plus, you know, sand is just awful. It's course, rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere.
Family Honor and Monumental Tasks
- Location
- United States of America
Family Honor and Monumental Tasks
Sunshine cascaded over the land as the sun leisurely began to rise over the horizon. Light from the sun banished the darkness covering the Yundong encampment, as well as the silence which had so comfortably smothered the camp. With the break of dawn, individuals left the safety and comfort of their respective yurts to begin preparations for the day ahead. Fires were quickly encouraged to flare and burn from the embers they had rested in, scouts were sent out to ensure that nothing dangerous moved closer, and the night guards were relieved of their duties. The entire clan, and their servants, had successfully maneuvered from the previous resting ground to the current one, and all but one family had made it on time as well. With the arrival of that family late in the previous day, today was a day of celebration and relaxation, to revel in another successful migration and spread tales of tricking, bargaining, or fighting terrestrial spirits which grew more outlandish and ridiculous with each telling. And as with all good and proper revels, it began the moment after the morning meal was finished and would likely last long past dusk.
Yundong Caifu avoided the revels and outlandish tales, however. Even though his family had been the first to arrive, due in part because the bargains he had struck last year had continued over to the current year or were easy enough to re-establish, and as such should have been central to the merriment. Instead, he watched as rays of sunlight played over the southern mountains, casting the eastern faces into sparkling light while painting the valleys and western faces of those same mountains in the deepest shadows. The contrast was beautiful, made all the more interesting as the light slowly moved, shifting the colors and shadows as if the light was flowing honey.
Even still, indignation churned in his gut. Tradition dictated that the first family to arrive at the gathering grounds was to be honored by the head of the Yundong family. That hadn't been the case this year though. No honor was given to his family, no rewards or encouragement, not even acknowledgment that they achieved what few families of the Yundong ever could, continuous treaties of passage with the terrestrial spirits. The Head had made it clear long ago his disdain for Yundong Caifu, and disgust at the methods he employed to acquire lasting passage for a pittance of the cost, and now that disdain and disgust were corrupting and twisting the traditions which had been established generations ago.
Even now a thread of unease and disquiet could be sensed from various members of the Yundong clan, buried underneath the joy and excitement of the day. His uncle was a fool if he thought that refusing to hold to the traditions would have no consequences for him. Tomorrow was another day, and already some elders had conferred with him their intention to confront Yundong Zhenshi about his actions in refusing to grant honor to the family first to arrive. Yundong Caifu didn't think that anything would come of it, not right away. But the seeds were being planted that when his uncle passed away, another family would be chosen by the Elders to lead the Yundong. It was ironic, that the seeds which would reduce his uncle's family would be sown by that very same uncle, all in an attempt to increase the prestige of that same family.
Turning back to the sight of the mountains, Yundong Caifu resolved to push such unfilial thoughts out of his mind. Today was a day of relaxation and the enjoyment of life, and it was not suitable for plots and lies. He listened and enjoyed the laughter of his children playing with their cousins, and took amusement from the fact that his wife and her friends were shielded by laughing winds from eavesdropping. She did so enjoy the trading of gossip with the wives of other families. However, he was content, for today, to simply watch the interplay of light and shadow on the mountains and commit them to memory. Perhaps he would paint the memory and gift it to the Ling for a favor or two, or perhaps sell it to a member of the Bao clan he was familiar with for the wealth to support his family even further. But that was another day's decision.
Hours flittered by, like sand passing through cupped hands. The sun had long ago reached its peak and was slowly sliding past the horizon to the west. With the dying of the light, the merriment of the Yundong only grew. Blazing bonfires born from precious wood lit the evening, and rowdy circles gathered around them laughing, cheering, and dancing, their shadows playing an eerie mockery of their actions behind them. Yundong Caifu still sat gazing at the mountains, watching the light retreat, deepening the shadows within the Wall. Some cousins of his had attempted to pull him into the revel and enjoy the merriment after the mid-day feast, but he gently refused and deflected their attempts. Enjoying the festivities would have been difficult for him knowing the honor that had been refused his family, and he was loath to sour the joy others were expressing.
However, something did pull his attention away from the mountains as the last light fled their peaks. A commotion of some kind had suddenly begun at the edges of the encampment. Even though his senses should have been able to pick out who, or what, caused the commotion, there appeared to be nothing there. Standing up, Yundong Caifu turned towards the commotion and saw a woman being escorted to Yundong Zhenshi. While the spiritual identity of the person was blended expertly with the background qi of the encampment, they had, likely as a courtesy, not shrouded their physical features. The woman was tall with tan skin and hair which sparkled like the midnight sky. Such features only appeared in one clan in the Emerald Seas. It would appear that the Ling had a task of some importance for their vassals if one of them had come personally to deliver the news.
Yundong Zhenshi took her personally to the Head Family's yurt, to have some modicum of peace and privacy for the communication. This unusual event only slightly disturbed the revel though, and soon enough the majority of families had forgotten about the Ling cultivator in their midsts, memories dulled with an excess of alcohol. Not Yundong Caifu, though. As the moon rose and shined an entirely different, softer, light on the mountains which made up the Wall, he pondered as to the news the Ling had which required one of their own to approach a baronial clan such as the Yundong. All the possibilities led to a singular conclusion though. There was going to be a lot of work in the near future.
As night fled the day after the Yundong revel, the head brought together the core families of the clan to discuss the news that the Ling had given him. The great Living Mountain, Zhengui, had awoken from his 1,000-year slumber. With his awakening, Zhengui had declared his next destination and the route he would take had been mapped. Growing tired of being a solitary mountain in the depths of the Emerald Sea, the Living Mountain decided to be closer to the Wall and disguise himself as one of the many mountains there. The Yundong had been tasked with bargaining with some of the weaker spirit beasts which held territory in Zhengui's path to ensure that no undue conflict would arise from the journey. Resources which would be needed to bargain and persuade those spirits would be handled by the Ling, but as few resources as required was preferable.
To Yundong Caifu, it seemed that there would be little time for painting with the monstrous amount of work this task would require. However, to be a part of history, of easing the Living Mountain's travels, was sure to be a magnificent reward itself. Songs would be sung in the Clan of this task and their completion, or failure, of it. And, if he was clever and hardworking enough, the songs might even mention him by name. To be remembered for as long as songs were sung for his accomplishments, what better and greater honor was there?
A/N: This omake has taken many different twists and turns in my mind. However, I'm pretty happy with where it ended up. Taking place in the far future, the Yundong clan is a baronial clan dedicated to traveling and appeasing the terrestrial spirits which inhabit the earth through clever wordplay, tricks, riddles, and gifts. This omake was inspired by the moon quest that Ling Qi undertook last arc as well as Ling Qi's new cultivation art. I hope that you enjoyed the omake as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always, critiques and criticisms welcomed.
Also, @yrsillar another omake for the omake throne!
Sunshine cascaded over the land as the sun leisurely began to rise over the horizon. Light from the sun banished the darkness covering the Yundong encampment, as well as the silence which had so comfortably smothered the camp. With the break of dawn, individuals left the safety and comfort of their respective yurts to begin preparations for the day ahead. Fires were quickly encouraged to flare and burn from the embers they had rested in, scouts were sent out to ensure that nothing dangerous moved closer, and the night guards were relieved of their duties. The entire clan, and their servants, had successfully maneuvered from the previous resting ground to the current one, and all but one family had made it on time as well. With the arrival of that family late in the previous day, today was a day of celebration and relaxation, to revel in another successful migration and spread tales of tricking, bargaining, or fighting terrestrial spirits which grew more outlandish and ridiculous with each telling. And as with all good and proper revels, it began the moment after the morning meal was finished and would likely last long past dusk.
Yundong Caifu avoided the revels and outlandish tales, however. Even though his family had been the first to arrive, due in part because the bargains he had struck last year had continued over to the current year or were easy enough to re-establish, and as such should have been central to the merriment. Instead, he watched as rays of sunlight played over the southern mountains, casting the eastern faces into sparkling light while painting the valleys and western faces of those same mountains in the deepest shadows. The contrast was beautiful, made all the more interesting as the light slowly moved, shifting the colors and shadows as if the light was flowing honey.
Even still, indignation churned in his gut. Tradition dictated that the first family to arrive at the gathering grounds was to be honored by the head of the Yundong family. That hadn't been the case this year though. No honor was given to his family, no rewards or encouragement, not even acknowledgment that they achieved what few families of the Yundong ever could, continuous treaties of passage with the terrestrial spirits. The Head had made it clear long ago his disdain for Yundong Caifu, and disgust at the methods he employed to acquire lasting passage for a pittance of the cost, and now that disdain and disgust were corrupting and twisting the traditions which had been established generations ago.
Even now a thread of unease and disquiet could be sensed from various members of the Yundong clan, buried underneath the joy and excitement of the day. His uncle was a fool if he thought that refusing to hold to the traditions would have no consequences for him. Tomorrow was another day, and already some elders had conferred with him their intention to confront Yundong Zhenshi about his actions in refusing to grant honor to the family first to arrive. Yundong Caifu didn't think that anything would come of it, not right away. But the seeds were being planted that when his uncle passed away, another family would be chosen by the Elders to lead the Yundong. It was ironic, that the seeds which would reduce his uncle's family would be sown by that very same uncle, all in an attempt to increase the prestige of that same family.
Turning back to the sight of the mountains, Yundong Caifu resolved to push such unfilial thoughts out of his mind. Today was a day of relaxation and the enjoyment of life, and it was not suitable for plots and lies. He listened and enjoyed the laughter of his children playing with their cousins, and took amusement from the fact that his wife and her friends were shielded by laughing winds from eavesdropping. She did so enjoy the trading of gossip with the wives of other families. However, he was content, for today, to simply watch the interplay of light and shadow on the mountains and commit them to memory. Perhaps he would paint the memory and gift it to the Ling for a favor or two, or perhaps sell it to a member of the Bao clan he was familiar with for the wealth to support his family even further. But that was another day's decision.
Hours flittered by, like sand passing through cupped hands. The sun had long ago reached its peak and was slowly sliding past the horizon to the west. With the dying of the light, the merriment of the Yundong only grew. Blazing bonfires born from precious wood lit the evening, and rowdy circles gathered around them laughing, cheering, and dancing, their shadows playing an eerie mockery of their actions behind them. Yundong Caifu still sat gazing at the mountains, watching the light retreat, deepening the shadows within the Wall. Some cousins of his had attempted to pull him into the revel and enjoy the merriment after the mid-day feast, but he gently refused and deflected their attempts. Enjoying the festivities would have been difficult for him knowing the honor that had been refused his family, and he was loath to sour the joy others were expressing.
However, something did pull his attention away from the mountains as the last light fled their peaks. A commotion of some kind had suddenly begun at the edges of the encampment. Even though his senses should have been able to pick out who, or what, caused the commotion, there appeared to be nothing there. Standing up, Yundong Caifu turned towards the commotion and saw a woman being escorted to Yundong Zhenshi. While the spiritual identity of the person was blended expertly with the background qi of the encampment, they had, likely as a courtesy, not shrouded their physical features. The woman was tall with tan skin and hair which sparkled like the midnight sky. Such features only appeared in one clan in the Emerald Seas. It would appear that the Ling had a task of some importance for their vassals if one of them had come personally to deliver the news.
Yundong Zhenshi took her personally to the Head Family's yurt, to have some modicum of peace and privacy for the communication. This unusual event only slightly disturbed the revel though, and soon enough the majority of families had forgotten about the Ling cultivator in their midsts, memories dulled with an excess of alcohol. Not Yundong Caifu, though. As the moon rose and shined an entirely different, softer, light on the mountains which made up the Wall, he pondered as to the news the Ling had which required one of their own to approach a baronial clan such as the Yundong. All the possibilities led to a singular conclusion though. There was going to be a lot of work in the near future.
As night fled the day after the Yundong revel, the head brought together the core families of the clan to discuss the news that the Ling had given him. The great Living Mountain, Zhengui, had awoken from his 1,000-year slumber. With his awakening, Zhengui had declared his next destination and the route he would take had been mapped. Growing tired of being a solitary mountain in the depths of the Emerald Sea, the Living Mountain decided to be closer to the Wall and disguise himself as one of the many mountains there. The Yundong had been tasked with bargaining with some of the weaker spirit beasts which held territory in Zhengui's path to ensure that no undue conflict would arise from the journey. Resources which would be needed to bargain and persuade those spirits would be handled by the Ling, but as few resources as required was preferable.
To Yundong Caifu, it seemed that there would be little time for painting with the monstrous amount of work this task would require. However, to be a part of history, of easing the Living Mountain's travels, was sure to be a magnificent reward itself. Songs would be sung in the Clan of this task and their completion, or failure, of it. And, if he was clever and hardworking enough, the songs might even mention him by name. To be remembered for as long as songs were sung for his accomplishments, what better and greater honor was there?
A/N: This omake has taken many different twists and turns in my mind. However, I'm pretty happy with where it ended up. Taking place in the far future, the Yundong clan is a baronial clan dedicated to traveling and appeasing the terrestrial spirits which inhabit the earth through clever wordplay, tricks, riddles, and gifts. This omake was inspired by the moon quest that Ling Qi undertook last arc as well as Ling Qi's new cultivation art. I hope that you enjoyed the omake as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always, critiques and criticisms welcomed.
Also, @yrsillar another omake for the omake throne!
- Location
- Canada
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
Nice snippet! But the whole thing made me incredibly curious about just what these methods are that would have the head so against them.
- Location
- United States of America
So, the reason why the Head of the Clan despises the MC of the omake is that they have wildly divergent views on how to entreat and deal with the spirits they encounter. The head believes that promoting healthy, respectful, and prosperous relations with the spirits who control the land they move through is the best way to establish long-lasting deals and compacts which protect the tribe as they move through the said territory. However, as one might imagine, that can become very expensive, very fast, and so balancing the budget becomes difficult and problematic.
The MC sees this as empowering something so that it can kill things better in the hopes that it doesn't kill you. In other words, expensive, dangerous, and more likely to backfire in the long term once the spirit doesn't see the value of continuing the pacts. He takes a totally different approach. Politic the spirits into killing each other, and offering his assistance to the one most likely to value his assistance and provide the terms he wants in the pact. To that end, he lies, steals, twists, and betrays the spirits to set up a scenario where the spirit who is left feels obligated to uphold their bargain. It takes a lot more work than the former method, as he needs to deal with three or four times the number of spirits, but it doesn't require a lot in tribute and doesn't empower a spirit over time. Once he sets up his favored spirit to be in control, however, it takes little work to remind them of services rendered and the... consequences of being disagreeable.
The Head values truthfulness, manners, fair dealings, and respect even if it is empowering a single spirit past the point of safety in the long run. The MC values trickery, cunning, blackmail, and deceit even if it ruins the potential of positive long term relations with spirits.
That's why the Head didn't want to give the MC's family the honor of being the first family to reach the gathering ground, as it would have been giving credence and credibility to their methods, which he sees as damaging and destructive to the relations the clan is trying to build across the Emerald Sea. These relations, the Head hopes, will allow the Clan to get more resources safely so that they can grow stronger. The MC sees those long term relations to be impossible until the clan is powerful enough to meet those more powerful spirits on equal footing, which requires resources. Resources which are instead being spent on empowering those spirits.
So that is the fundamental disagreement between them. They each have radically different ways to approach the problem, with different goals both short and long term.
Like a phantom in the woods huh?
Easily even. Ling Qi is very very good at partitioning people into Friends, Scenery and Enemies.
Granted, theres no path down the road where being squeamish about killing would be good for her, she has a barony to defend from people like these, and she has a decade in the army.
And bandits are basically hostis humani generis, even without factoring in a deathworld. They may be forced to the circumstance, but enough of the world is trying to kill everyone that sparing bandits is putting your own people at risk.
As a reminder on criminal justice, imprisonment is really expensive in premodern times. Keeping someone fed when they aren't doing any work is crazy, keeping a cultivator imprisoned requires expensive formations, to the point where unless(and even if) they were politically unsuitable for execution, they just make an end of it.
Its why punishments largely wound up being one of the below:
-Fines - Pay for the damage you did. Problematic here because of very large wealth gaps across cultivation tiers. Its compensation, but not punishment
-Humiliation - Doesn't work on bandits, damaging social standing only matters as a deterrent if you're in a social structure. Without one its just making them mad without reducing their ability to do something about it.
-Temporary damage - Whipping, beatins, etc as a deterrent is problematic because supernatural healing deals with the normal lingering pain, and also because a cultivator is supernaturally durable, any such punishment is difficult to impossible to impose without their full cooperation and a peer cultivator.
-Permanent damage - Branding, maiming, etc makes them less dangerous, but also directly reduces their value as a cultivator AND is very expensive to impose, as unhealing damage types are rare, so its actually cheaper to chop something off than to brand them
-Forced labor - Really hard with cultivators, the cost of keeping them under forced employment, as we learned from the Renshu incident, is prohibitive.
So you know, just kill them.
Group stealth arts I guess, masking the tracks.
Oh ninjas. Late Yellow ninjas tells me Army Regulars.
Not a bad way to ambush a Green certainly.
That gear looks significantly better than you could expect of bandits, with matching talisman weapon and armor.
And they apparently have an art or technique we recognize.
These DO look like real bandits. Maybe they co-opted a real bandit group?
I'd also note that their mishmash equipment actually indicates that these are experienced bandits. Fresh deserters tend to have more coherent equipment. You don't get to random scrap talisman gear until your old stuff starts wearing out and you looted at least a few harder targets.
The crossbows stand out a bit. Multiple matching items is unusual unless they looted an organized group, caravan guards don't tend to have standard gear.
Bait.jpg
Oh an auto-dispel spirit.
Got pancaked like the dispel talisman
Good plan, but I don't think that's enough to cut it. Not if the Yellow cores can't hold.
And theres that crossbow again.
Poisonous qi arrows isn't THAT unusual, the question is specialty talisman arrows or poison arrow art.
The invisible snipers may well have been rogue Bai units, since the only one of our friends noted to move unusually is Meizhen, and we know the Bais start with uncapped Dex so they move like snek.
PLR is a lot less funny and a lot more creepy when people are facing a phantasmal celebration while they're going to die huh?
Joyous Toast especially
Raid Instance started.
Oh thats a good idea. Group defensive art and group perception art means you let the mooks not die and let them hit.
Then let attrition do it.
Area attack, undodgable?
Either way that cancels us out of perfectly dodging everything.
RIP Yanmega.
Zhengui's multi-action is REALLY savage to see in play.
And he's not even used Rolling Forest Regrowth yet. That'd really stick an oar in the non-fliers.
Pity Ashfall has no IFF or Ashfield Flowering would be really nice on allies.
Cheap domain weapon?
That sounds like he made Green AFTER going bandit. Since Domain weapons don't degrade like other talismans, if he had a standard army issue domain weapon when he went rogue it'd still be in good condition.
I reckon that proves our quality against peer army units. Ling Qi is horrifyingly effective at peeling people out of formation.
Probably not talismans if they're spamming. That sounds like archery arts with stacking buff fields
...well I suppose the dragonfly had a fine core and the master couldn't unsummon the dragonfly because he's trapped in Mist isolation from all allies, even their spirits?
Zhengui ate it in combat. Live.
He's like a siege engine.
That dispel is pretty strong, but still below Renxiang grade.
Hanyi scores one. Seems Zhengui covers her well enough.
Oh yeah, this is gonna be good. Remember Renxiang was training this instead of her duel arts?
And theres the false flag.
He doesn't seem to fight much like the Bais we know though.
Which branch were the brown sneks again?
Anyway, good-ish news! We managed to catch yrsillar on discord and ask about people cutting holes in our mist. Apparently it's "basically using a tech to force a qi construct out of a given space", and is "the equivalent of parrying a sword strike, in combat terms".
Most importantly, however, "it runs off dispel rules ... it just has a lower success threshold since they're not really dispelling it".
That means we should theoretically be able to stop this perfidy if we can get enough Resist. Train Resolve! Get more Resist Arts!
Most importantly, however, "it runs off dispel rules ... it just has a lower success threshold since they're not really dispelling it".
That means we should theoretically be able to stop this perfidy if we can get enough Resist. Train Resolve! Get more Resist Arts!
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
In practical terms, a Green 5 managed to do this on a JT MotV that had its resist buffed by Sixiang, but TE was enough to counter it. In "at first glance", 'Green 5' cultivation advantage counters JT + Sixiang Buff, so someone of our cultivation level would have trouble doing so against a JT+Sixiang buff, while if we hadn't done those buff TE alone wouldn't have worked. I am not sure we used Intractable roots.
If we go in the nitty gritty (which I think in this case is something a bit awkward as it probably wasn't done for the scene), JT should have also buffed Sixiang's own buff to MoTV resist, so JT+ Sixiang Buff should actually be 'stronger' than 3 cultivation level... except it's not stronger than 'better arts at those cultivation levels'.
In the short term, getting resolve B gives 15/20 to resist and will help a bit. In the mid term, I think this means that it's better to have Resolve A than Presence A.
EDIT: Also, the 'narrative impact' of Resolve B/A are much greater than just +15/20 to Resist.
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Agreed on Resolve. It's also important because it's what allows us to soak spiritual counters.
(of course, I'm also of the school that Presence should never be higher than Manip - 1 at most)
I think we did due to this line about a dispel attempt against PLR:
crx and Qi gotta get some walkie talkies, a simple "inbounds" and "aim here" would've made a better surprise alpha strike.
We do know that there are some long-ish ranged communication techniques. I'm just not sure if we'll have time to train them.
Got a lot on our plate already.
- Location
- UK
Don't even really need that tbh, just hand signals and PLR.
Enemies will be rather confused when a moon phantom suddenly jumps out of the mists and makes a cross with its arms in a different direction. Until said phantom is cored by a laser which goes on to take out three of their allies in the mists anyway.
[X] Relax and Recupirate
- Recover from the mental strain you're under.
[X] Talk with Prof. Adiva Zeiman
- The harrowing experience of last night and the oppressive atmosphere of Ravenwood is... disconcerting. You have realized somewhat now that those who are potentially in the know with the occult are surprisingly many in number. The good professor said that it's fine to ask for aid to. She was also a close friend of the dead doctor.
[X] Explore the Academy's Library
- Ravenwood has a sizable library of varying literature, who knows? You may find something interesting.
- Recover from the mental strain you're under.
[X] Talk with Prof. Adiva Zeiman
- The harrowing experience of last night and the oppressive atmosphere of Ravenwood is... disconcerting. You have realized somewhat now that those who are potentially in the know with the occult are surprisingly many in number. The good professor said that it's fine to ask for aid to. She was also a close friend of the dead doctor.
[X] Explore the Academy's Library
- Ravenwood has a sizable library of varying literature, who knows? You may find something interesting.
- Location
- United States of America
Uhhh....
I think... you're in the wrong quest. Although I do agree that exploring libraries can be very interesting.
Whoa I chalk that up to sun, liquor, and shitty mobile explerience
Yes, it is why we can pop 2 meridians with 1 AP now