#bailu companion mission

[atalante241]

Why do people want Dan Heng to be Dan Feng. Like actually, where does this come from.

The molting rebirth is literally a person going in an egg, incubating for a while and basically de-aging and coming out as another person.

And if you want to bring up the whole thing of Dan Heng’s molting rebirth being all wonky that still doesn’t take away from the fact that that’s a whole different person.

It’s the whole thing with amnesia plot lines all over again. It’s the persons choice of what they want to do, if they can’t or don’t want to be the person they were before they don’t have to be. Yes others might get sad, but that’s a person with autonomy and shit.

From what I’ve seen and remember from HSR canon, vidyadhara regard reincarnations as new people and the old incarnation/version as having died. Literally just listening to how Bailu reacts to learning that the-nice-lady reincarnated is enough to get this. And yes, some leave instructions for their next reincarnations like taking care of certain things or getting to know people. But that isn’t the same as being the same goddamn person.

And doesn’t the fact that Dan Feng got forced to do a molting rebirth basically mean that he was executed for the (frankly confusing) crimes he did?

I just, for some reason it annoys me when I see it: it feels like you’re reducing Dan Heng to just being Dan Feng with amnesia and not a whole different person with different life experiences and a whole ass found family.

[jamrroll]

I love HSR dialogue options

[m-i-r-p]

You can pry father-daughter dan heng and bailu from my cold dead hands

[daz4i]

i feel like. a lot of people talking about horror miss the true horror factor in many stories and esp in body horror. the horrifying part is what's happening to the characters, yes, but when you sit down and think about it... the implications, if that's the right word, are scarier

take smth like a werewolf transformation. it has to be painful, even if you get used to it eventually, the unnatural changes to your body have got to hurt, and you don't recognize yourself by the end of it

the horror isn't the mere transformation, but the physical pain, and the psychological aspect

now take stories like i have no mouth and i must scream, or long dream, or the jaunt. yes, they all have their own horrifying aspects, but also elements that others might not consider horrifying - in particular, a long life, or even immortality. some people truly strive for that. yet, here they are presented as horrifying. and i think that's for the same reason

i think. the true horror in most horror media. isn't the monster itself or the killer or the machine etc. it's consciousness

think about it. why does a slow death sound horrifying? it's your awareness of the pain you're going through, as well as the knowledge that you're about to cease to exist. the actual death is normally considered a mercy in these situations, because your suffering stops. your suffering stops once your consciousness stops.

and! this idea is true about both in-universe and on a meta level. a lot of horror relies on keeping things juuuust out of sight to get your mind going and scare itself better than any sfx or verbal descriptions ever could. your own brain working against you, the same way it works against the characters in the story.

the common thread between any horror that i, at least, find scary, is the human brain itself

and it's scarier, bc this is real. this is smth you experience every day. you wake up and think thoughts and are generally aware of what's going on for most of the day, for better or worse. this same level of awareness can be applied to the most horrific situations, and so, bam you've got yourself quality horror. and you're always just one accident or one mistake away from it, too. you just try not to think about it, because, well, your own brain is scarier than any monster it can conjure.

[mynameis-a]

best part of star rail is the fact that you can just find the playable characters standing around

[strawbeb]

no luocha but i got e1 yukong… and used the stuff id prefarmed for luocha to level her up…

[ihatechosingnames]

Stelle is funny, she doesn't miss the chance to diss Dan Heng for "Cold Dragon Young" .

Continuing my journey on HSR:

Our options of dialogue are everything in this game, I love them, they are so funny and it makes our heroine a gremlin of chaos.

On a side note, it's funny that when we said "he's pretty handsome" about Jing Yuan, something so true, even March can't say anything against it:

[trashyvanillabean]

So, not gonna lie, I do have a few gripes with how the writers handled Taoran. (Image below taken from the fan wiki.)

NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED/ARE STILL PLAYING 2.5, BEWARE THE SPOILERS!

His first “appearance” (just his voice) was in the Myriad Celestia Trailer: “History of the Xianzhou: Exodus of the Five Dragons.” Anything else so far (because there might be things that I personally missed) comes from the “Preceptor Assembly Chronicle Fragment” readable, which has him and Preceptor Fenghuan accusing Preceptor Xuepu of attempting to replace the High Elder system with the council of Preceptors (basically accusing her of being power-hungry, which is rather hypocritical as some of us will have undoubtedly noted come version 2.5).

The problem with Taoran’s introduction is that, unless players have tried to dig into the lore, this is probably their first time ever seeing, hearing and/or reading about him; so, what small amount of time he has on screen is most likely going to be somewhat lukewarm and have players asking, “Who the fork is this handsome muddlefudger?????” (Not even gonna hide this under a strikethrough: his design is 🔥 but it’s wasted on this lame old man. 🙂‍↕️ No one even points out his horns, unless that turns out to be common among the Preceptors rather than just the High Elders. <- It’s been a while, I can’t remember this part more accurately.)

And while I greatly enjoyed watching Dan Heng get as close to making this guy some kinda piscine-reptile kebab as he might be willing to…Taoran’s first physical introduction is otherwise slightly lukewarm. What little buildup we have comes from Lingsha, Jing Yuan and Dan Heng carrying out their investigations in the Shackling Prison. After that, he’s only given one scene confessing right out of the gate to colluding with Sanctus Medicus and aiding the borisin in freeing Hoolay, throwing out excuses that it’s all to preserve the Vidyadhara from extinction, and trying to hide behind Bailu and the oath between the Vidyadhara with the Xianzhou Alliance to not harm any Vidyadhara on their territory (which should honestly be rendered null in the event where the Vidyadhara in question is a criminal, and could potentially be evading arrest, like what the fudge).

I think it would have gone better if Taoran was introduced much earlier when we first arrived at the Luofu during or after version 1.0, like during the main trailblaze mission when we visit the Alchemy Commission and Scalegorge Waterscape, or during Dan Heng, Bailu or Jingliu’s companion missions. Either set him up as an ally at first, and then have us finding clues and be warned by a few people (Qingzu, Fu Xuan, or Jing Yuan himself <- just tossing Jing Yuan in here as just an example) to not trust Taoran and the Preceptors. Or, have him try to stop us from reaching Scalegorge, and that’s unfortunately where that idea stops because I can’t think of anything else. Sorry. 😅

One thing I liked was the “boss fight” that followed, but that actually felt a bit worse than his introduction…? Like, again, lukewarm, but definitely more like tap-water-that-hasn’t-really-been-boiled-long-enough lukewarm. 😅 (Or maybe my team comp was just that strong enough to bring him and his mooks down in a few hits.) Even the confrontation with him before that fight didn’t feel threatening at all, just…pretty annoying, like having to sit in a really boring lecture in a classroom.

Even Skott’s mechs put up more of a fight, and Skott himself riled me up much more just by opening his mouth. (Note: I was listening to Skott’s English voice, and I think they did a great job of making him obnoxious.)

Taoran was just all pretentious “blah blah blah.”

I’m suddenly reminded of that one post comparing Taoran to the Abundant Ebon Deer, and some people might think I’m crazy for thinking this, but I just… *heavy sighs* I feel like the writers really wasted potential for an interesting villain and following up with a stronger boss fight (even if I hate fighting that darn deer). 😞

Oh well, at least we got to enjoy Dan Heng in the spotlight~ 🥰

@artheresy tagging you in this for funsies. 👀

I’ll also put screenshots of that readable I mentioned under here and the map location, in case anyone wants to read it immediately before searching for it on their own.

[yanderehsr]

Thank you so much for the part 2 of the sanctus medicus storyline. I love it so much!!!😆

Expanding on it more. You mentioned that Bailu would be the one taking care of the reader through her medicine. Bailu sees Banxia in you and she sees the clear distress you’re in when your with either Jing yuan anr Yanqing. She even witnessed Yanqing suffocating you with his very tight hugs. Reader pleads and downrights begs bailu to save them and take them away from here. Bailu may not have been able to save banxia but she will save you.. she must. So cue platonic yandere bailu sneaking reader out and escaping to the only place she thinks that is safe and out of Jing Yuan’s control.. the astral express, she may have even been helped by Tingyun as the skyscriff acassador to avoid Jing Yuan cloud knights.

But Jing Yuan is very meticulous as soon as he sees you not where you supposed too he puts the whole xianzhou on lock down and orders every single Cloud Knight to track you down even going to as far as use the Diviner to track down your location and retrieve you himself. Yanqing is downright pissed at Bailu for her betrayal.. he will hunt you back down and eliminate any “threats” that gets in his way.

Its a race against time.. you and bailu (maybe even Yandere tingyun) hastily hiding and running from the cloud knights hoping to board the Astral express and get the heck out of there while Jing Yuan and Yanqing are fast approaching willing to get rid of anyone that get in their way.

-Thank you for reading and I am really grateful for answering my past requests. I just love your writing and the recent post just gave me inspiration!

I will admit, tears fell in Bailu's companion quest😭

Trigger Warning: Yandere, Obsessive behaviour, Possessive behaviour

Bailu was scared of them, they threatened her to take care of you, to give you treatment. The more time she spends with you, the more you remind her of Banxia. You are not a raplacement but the resemblance is enough for a connection to grow, and that connection turns into an obsession.

Bailu believes it is her mission to not only cure you, but to also save you from Yanqing and Jing Yuan, she gets help from Tingyun, it was not cheap but it was worth it. She helps you onboard the astral express and sits besides you, finally she has saved you.

But Yanqing and Jing Yuan was not happy, this was a betrayal of the highest degree, they were supposed to keep you safe, but now they can't. Bailu gets a wanted poster, she is a criminal of the Xianzhou Luofo, they will make sure to get you back, no matter how long and no matter how many corpses.

"They can't get you here on the astral express, don't worry, you're safe with me"

Well, was this what you imagined, I'm curious🤔

[daily-imbibitorlunae]

drawing Imbibitor Lunae (🍁 Dan Heng ) everyday part 39:

100% totally real spoilers of imbibitor lunae's companion mission in 1.3 this is actual screenshots from the game ok

thinking abt how when they announced this at the 1.3 livestream that dhil is gonna go visit bailu and it aligns with my hc that blade lurks around the luofu to watch bailu from afar (with the context of the baiheng = bailu theory thats going around)

[haunted-xander]

Hsr age headcanons except I also explain my reasonings bc I read everyones lore to get it more accurate.

(Also, a few things to note that will be relevant to my explainations: Some of these I'm not 100% certain of the age groups I put them in here, so some might not be as specific. Blade will be considered his age prior to being mara-struck for the sake of this post. Imbibitor Lunae is a stand in for Dan Feng.)

Let's begin, shall we?

Child (6-12)

Hook: I believe she's around 7-8. She's very obviously a kid, but I don't think she's like, a toddler or anything. She's smart enought to pull the clever little tricks she does, and has enough awareness to understand some harder topics (like Fersman's declining health and the reality of her birth parent's deaths).

Clara: I originally figured she was around 14 or so, but since one of her stories claim she's of similar age to Hook, and one of Hook's stories has her note Clara is a few years older than her, I think I'd put her around 11-12. Maaaaaybe 10, but that feels a bit too young for her.

Early to mid teens (13-17)

Arlan: Probably around 17 or so. We know he's younger than Asta, who met him when he was a kid and offered him a job for her family, and she also mentions that she took him in during her companion mission. Herta also says in her voice line about him that he's probably one of the "exceptionally gifted" kids Asta gave money to.

Lynx: She's much younger than Gepard and Serval, obviously, but she's also probably around the same age as Pela (who is confirmed to be 16) given how close they are and how they interact. Her companion mission also largely revolves around her trying to escape her older siblings protectiveness, which I feel is relatable to a lot of teens lol.

Late teen (18-19)

Silver Wolf: Tbh I don't have any solid justification for this, mostly just vibes. She's definitely younger than Kafka, but other than that I don't really have much to go off of. Probably 19, but I could see her maybe being early 20s too.

Guinaifen: I'm not completely sure about this one tbh. She's definitely a teenager, she says she's close to but not yet an adult to Bailu after we chase her and the Heliobus possessing her. She's also very close friends with Sushang, (who is confirmed to be around 16-17) so it makes sense for Gui to be a similar age too. The thing that's tripping me up is that one of her stories says she spent all her teenage years on the planet she lived on prior to coming to the Luofu, which would make her 19 at minimum. It could also just be exaggerating, or not counting 18 & 19 as teen years (that one seems unlikely though).

Young adult (20+)

Trailblazer: Well, obviously, Trailblazer is actually like a few months old at most seeing as we start the game by being "born" but, ya know. They're treated as an adult by everyone around them, not to mention they're clearly meant to be around the same age as March and Dan Heng, who are also depicted as adults (Dan Heng has been seen drinking in official art, for example). I think maybe like, around 20-22 would fit.

March: There's what I mentioned previously of course (being close in age to Trailblazer and Dan Heng), but the whole "girls like me/my age all like this and this" thing is a very typical mindset of late teens & very young adults. The way she talks about taking pictures of food in one of her stories also sound very much like how a young adult would explain it lolol. Like Trailblazer, probably around 20-22. Tbh I'm not sure how to explain my reasoning when basing it off of her behaviour without it sounding like I'm saying all girls her age do this, I'm not 😅 but it is common enough I feel like it adds to her feeling that age, ya know?

Asta: As mentioned with Arlan, we know she's notably older than him. I would say her position on the space station means she has a decent amount of life experience for her to do it so well, but this is Hoyoverse and anyone can do anything regardless of age, so that doesn't really work lol. That said, she clearly has had the position for a long time, so even if she wasn't an adult when she started, she definitely should be now. Probably around 23-24.

Bronya: She's been in the Silvermane Guards for long enough to be well-known and trusted for her skills, and with how easily she took up the position of Supreme Guardian, she has a lot of public faith and trust as well. She needs to have been serving for a good amount of years, to get all that. That said, I do think she started young, so I'd put her at around early-to-mid 20s. probably around 23-24 like Asta.

Seele: Canonicly around the same age as Bronya, so probably about 23-24 again.

Luka: Not much concrete to go off of, but he's probably around the same age as Seele given their interactions. He's also obviously an adult, or Hook would've dropped the 'honourary' part and just make him a proper Mole lolol. Around 23-24 again.

Topaz: In her voice line about Bronya she says they're around the same age. March also notes that she's pretty young for an executive, and her character stories explain that she started working for the IPC at a VERY young age. Probably around 23-24 yet again.

Adult (30+)

Sampo: He's a notorious scammer who's being doing his work in Belobog for a long enough time to become notorious, so him being in his 30s seems likely. I don't have any other reasoning besides that, really. probably around mid 30s, like 35-36 or something.

Himeko: She had already finished college when she found the express, so she was already an adult then. It's been many years since then, so she's definitely not some young 20-something year old lolol. probably mid-to-late 30s, like 37-38 or the like.

Gepard: Mid-to-late 30s. He's younger than Serval, so he's below 40 (not that I really thought he was middle-aged anyway) and he's probably older than Bronya, as in one of her stories he comforts her after the first death to happen under her leadership, clearly having already gotten used to it. Also, apparently he has a bachelor's degree? (According to the fandom wiki's trivia section). Anyway. Around 37-38 probably.

Luocha: I couldn't really find anything that indicates anything in particular, so I'm just gonna say he's mid 30s based off of vibes alone. Like 35-36 or something.

Kafka: Her age is only ever stated as "unknown" and, like Luocha, I couldn't find anything that indicates anything in particular. So I'm just gonna say she's mid-to-late 30s like Himeko and call it a day. 37-38.

Argenti: His character stories show a variety of different scenes throughout his journey as a Kmight of Beauty, so he has experienced a great deal. Mid 30s, probably. Like 35-36. I don't have much else to go off of.

Middle aged and beyond (40+)

Herta: We know she's like, really old. Like really really old. I don't know exactly HOW old, but old. I think she's still within a human lifespan though, so maybe like 70-80 or something. Physically speaking though, she herself states that her current puppet body looks "70% like I did as a child" so. Yeah. Baby grandma.

Natasha: She raised Seele and was the main caretaker at the orphanage she grew up in, so she ain't exactly young (despite what hyvs aversion to portraying older people properly will tell you). Probably late 40s to early 50s. 49-50 maybe.

Serval: Canonicaly the same age as Cocolia, who raised Bronya for most of her life. Bronya also recognizes Serval as Cocolia's old friend from when she was a child. Mid-to-late 40 probably. 45-46 maybe.

Blade: Yingxing is refered to as 'middle-aged' in-game at around the time it all went down, and he's shown with visible aging and with grayed hair (that is, assuming Blade's current black hair is his natural haircolor?). Probably late 40s, like 48-49 or something.

Canon age

Pela: 16, as stated by Lynx in her & Lynx's companion mission. People have pointed out that this is a plot hole due to other information we have about Pela, but 1) the only thing that goes against this is the claim she was a founding member of Serval's band, which I can 100% believe is either a mistranslation or a case of a writer not cross-referencing properly. (also, I don't remember where this is ever claimed in-game, so if anyone can point me to it I'd appreciate it.) And 2) her being a teen makes more sense with how she's written, imo, so I don't really care if it's actually a plot hole.

Sushang: One of her stories says she's "around 16 to 17 years old". Obviously, this isn't her REAL age since she's a Xianzhou native, but it is the age she is equivalent to for a short-life species.

Welt: 80+. He arrived in the hsr universe at the time of APHO, which takes place in 2025. Since Welt was born in 1947, this would make him 78. While we don't know exactly how long he's been here, he seems to have been here a quite a while, so, 80+ it is.

Long-life species

(equivalent to) Child (6-12)

Bailu: She's been described as a child many, many times, including by herself (multiple times). Although she's probably older than she looks, as both she and several others remark that she has trouble growing bigger for some unknown reason. I'd say maybe around 10-11.

(equivalent to) Early to mid teen (13-17)

Qingque: She reads to me like a 14 year old being forced to take up a summer job by her parents because 'you need to get experience so you can get a job easier when you're older!'. Actually I think that's literally what's going on except summer jobs don't exist on the Luofu so now she has a full-time job at 14 years old. Yeah I don't actually have anything else to go off of other than the level of control her parents have over her life.

Yanqing: His character stories say he is 1) not yet of age (so below 18) and 2) a teenager. Very simple. Not sure why people are arguing about his age so much when it literally says right there in the game that he is a teenage boy. Probably 15.

Huohuo: Honestly not much to go off of. Probably around 14, based solely on vibes.

(equivalent to) Young adult (20+)

Dan Heng: Depicted as a young adult of similar age to Trailblazer and March, as mentioned previously. Pretty simple. That said, I do want to note that one of Blade's stories describe him as a teen. But, based on the way it's written, this seems to be Blade's first encounter with him, so it's probably not accurate to Dan Heng's current age.

Tingyun: Her stories describe her as pretty young, but the way she carried herself and the sort of businesses she did makes me think she was at least 20. Like 20-21 probably.

Fu Xuan: Once again, not much concrete to go off of. Her stories give me the impression she joined the divination comission rather young, and I think she's been the master diviner for quite a while now. Maybe early 20s, like 22-23 or something.

(equivalent to) Adult (30+)

Dan Feng: We don't really know how old Dan Feng was when everything went down other than that he was older than Dan Heng is currently. I'd put him in mid 30s, solely on vibes. I mean, he got engaged and quite literally made a child, so I'd say 30 fits. Ignoring the fact neither of those things have much to do with his age at all. 34-35 maybe.

Hanya: Honestly I have no clue and her stories just confused me. She has the vibes of a 30-something year old so I put her here. My view on her age will probably change once Xueyi is out if only bc I might be able to figure Xueyi's age out better and Hanya would then be somewhere under that.

(equivalent to) Middle aged and beyond (40+)

Jing Yuan: Listen. He's seen shit. He has lived a long ass time. And it's canon he basically raised Yanqing, he's a dad ya'll. probably early-to-mid 40s, like 44-45 maybe. I don't know.

Yukong: She's old. Like actually old. Technically much younger than Jing Yuan, but since foxians lifespans are shorter than other long-life species, she's equivalent to a lot older than he is. She's 249 and foxians live up to 300. She's OLD. I'd say she's like 70 or something.

Jingliu: Also old. She's like, 2000 years old or something, she's a grandma. Probably equivalent to up to 80-something. Except she looks 30 bc Mara. And also long-life species don't actually age past a certain point, so she physically is not capable of looking above 30.

[blue-pastel-cat]

HSR X Pokemon AU

I opened a can of worm that is Pokemon AU. These are just personal HC of their 6 pokemon team. Might write a long explanation on all of them later haha. I do plan to make a long series of most of them. Start off with our fav dragon boy.

Rayquaza is like the pokemon that accompanied the Imbibitor Lunae throughout each reincarnation. Only when fighting did it gain the Mega Evolution form. However, when Dan Feng committed the unpardonable sin, it parted ways with him. No one has seen it again after the sedition. When Dan Heng came to be and left Luofu, Rayquaza didn't follow him. Thinking that the Imbibitor Lunae no longer worthy of its companionship. It wasn't until Dan Heng came back to Luofu, parted the sea and defeated Phantylia did it emerged again. That was when Rayquaza helped Dan Heng and Bailu sealed the Ambrosia Arbor and they reconciled. While it didn't usually go with Dan Heng on his travel, when he calls, Rayquaza will cross the sea of stars to help him no matter how far they are apart.

Now for the rest of the team hahahahaha, this is where the fun begins. Started off with Dan Feng's team! Dan Feng is a powerful high elder, pokemons, especially the dragon type all respected him. It isn't rare to see them all surround him or submit into his service.

Dragapult - She and the Audino are the two that help him taking care of the young Vidhayara eggs! Since it is the job of high elders to making sure his people are reborn properly. She is quite motherly and also the second fastest pokemon Dan Feng has.

Audino - While she helps with Dan Feng job as high elder, the other job is to make sure that the HCQ and their pokemon are in check because they could be reckless.

Kingdra - Submit itself into service ever since he's a Horsea. Dan Feng is quite impressed with its determination.

Vaporeon - The HCQ rescue a group of Eevees and decided to each adopt one of them. Dan Feng's one evolved into Vaporeon. Milotic - Now here's the funny one. He's the FIRST pokemon Dan Feng caught. Because somehow when it is still a Freebas it wasn't the brightest of the bunch.

It kinda didn't know that Dan Feng is the high elder from look alone. And so everyone was quite surprised when this Freebas completely IGNORE Dan Feng. So out of curiosity, he fought and caught it. Wasn't a hard fight. This Freebas lacked every common sense it should have. So Dan Feng thought that it is kinda funny in its own way. After a while, he decided to train it and it is said to be one of the most beautiful pokemon in Luofu. After the Sedition, Jing Yuan took care of all his team until the all passed away from illness and old age.

Now for Dan heng's team. Dan Heng never have a Pokemon until he came out of prison. They are fiercely loyal to him and would fight till the last breath with him. Most are caught or rescued!

Lucario - Dan Heng's first companion when he traveled out of Luofu. Dan Heng rescued him as a Riolu from an illegal death fighting ring because he couldn't stand watching little thing get killed for losing. They became each other archor on Dan Heng's journey.

Dragonair - Dan Heng caught this one on his journey with Astral Express. It is also the first pokemon he caught as a nameless. She is really good at survelience when they are on a mission. She evolved into Dragonair throughout his journey

Smeargle - Dan Heng's second pokemon that he caught as a Nameless. He wasn't really good at fighting and mainly stays on the Express to halp Dan Heng maintain the Archive and Data room. Very shy and reserve.

Umbreon - Received as a gift from Jing Yuan upon his return to Luofu and receive pardon from his exile when it was still an Eevee Egg. The reason he didn't go on Penacony is because he needed to make sure it hatch safely. It hatched only a few moments before Boothill board the Express and later evolved into Umbreon when Dan Heng was battling the Borisons in the Shackling Prison.

Gyarados - So remember the funny story of Dan Feng and Freebas? Well it happened again but with Magikarp for Dan heng. This Gyrados was an accident of a sort. Dan heng knew Dan Feng had a Milotic and so he thought he might try to get a Freebas as well and somehow he only got Magikarp in his fishing hunt. It kept ruining his pity so upon a challenge via March, he ended up rasing one. It evolved.

I plan to make this a series of course! Already have Jing Yuan's team planned hehehe.

[kasuna-kotonoha]

Have some thoughts about the 1.4 quests, spoilers past the cut

So the IPC. They can get out of here with their capitalist bullshit. At least Topaz managed to make me sort of like her by the end. Leave Jarilo VI alone you mfs, come on!

I felt really bad for Bronya, honestly. She didn't have an easy decision to make.

Also, really wanted to shake Topaz by the shoulder when they were walking through the Museum and she was only looking at the monetary value of the exhibits. Ma'am, you do realize that this museum contains 700 years of history, right? ...right?

Also really liked March's new outfit! Very pretty. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but was that outfit supposed to be remenicient of Elysia? Or no?

Himeko showing up out of nowhere was a surprise, but a welcome one.

Also, are all of Topaz's colleages named after gemstones? Are they aliases? Wouldn't surprise me if they were.

Also, Also, Penacony and Pier Point. Topaz it seemed will be having business there, and Pier Point is where Silver Wolf is headed, in case anyone forgot about that. And something is absolutely up with Xipes followers "The family"

As for the Jingliu companion mission, omg.

Jing Yuan was totally about to say Luochas name was Otto Apocalypse. Also very curious about how Luocha came to be involved with Yaoshi. (and we still don't know whats in that damn coffin, Hoyo. care to share?)

Was wondering whether they were going to say anything about the Baiheng/Bailu theory. While they didn't say anything directly, the fact they had Jingliu visit her seems to suggest as much. They didn't have to have her visit a doctor on her tour.

High Cloud Quintet lore!! Also, it seems Jinglius idea of "Paying the price' is different from Blades. For her, its Dan Heng never being able to escape the shadow of Dan Feng, and for Blade its the curse of immortality and what that comes with.

Jingliu somehow manages to match, maybe even surpass, Blade in edginess. My god. She pretty cool though (pun intended)

Also not Jing Yuan being the only one who gave Dan Heng a choice in whether he wants to be involved or not. As cool as Blade and Jingliu are, they are pretty much actively choosing to not accept that Dan Heng is not Dan Feng. I think it was implied for Blade, but Jingliu was fully aware of the rebirth and still didn't, or couldn't give him that autonomy.

It's not that it doesn't concern Dan Heng at all, but whether he chooses to take responsibility for Dan Feng should be up to him and him alone. (Also f*ck the preceptors for denying a proper rebirth) He has autonomy, but is constantly being denied it by what feels like basically everyone on the Luofu except the Astral Express and Jing Yuan.

The fight scene was cool though. Wonder if Kafka was nearby at all.

Blade, honey, could you maybe chill for two minutes? I get you want to die, but I don't think going after Dan Heng is going to fix anything.

And thats about it. Overall a solid couple of quests.

[inou-ie]

So I just finished doing Jingliu's companion mission and I'm crying...

Spoiler under the cut.

I've seen theories about Bailu being the reincarnation of Baiheng and... Jingliu saying meeting Bailu provided healing more than anything... sobbing, crying, bawling-

okay, I'm done crying, gotta go study again.

[hornkneebee]

Since finishing Bailu's companion mission, I feel I want her too in my team. 🤗

[revserrayyu]

Hey saw your analysis of the new hsr quest. And I wanted to mention that as faras I remember regarding Jingliu.

We get told during Dan Heng's character questline that Jingliu and Luocha are both currently in the shackling prison. Specifically Jingliu is awaiting sentencing from the Judges commission (It's implied that basically it's taking time due to the number/complexity of her crimes, and also the fact that the arboreal crisis judgements are taking up resources and are priority)

We also get told that there are multiple sectors of the shackling prison. And it makes sense for her to be in a different sector as Hoolay.

But as far as we know Jingliu is still in the Lufou in the shackling prison.

The main issue is that I’ve completed the companions missions so long ago that I don’t remember all the finer details, such as if either of these two mysterious people were mentioned during Dan Heng’s quest with Bailu.

I do remember Jing Yuan encountering both Luocha and Jingliu in the Shackling Prison at the very end of the main Xianzhou story. Then during Jingliu’s mission, we accompanied her as she carries out some personal wishes during her “last day” on the Luofu before her trial, some chatter between Jing Yuan and Luocha before the latter is sent away with some Cloud Knights and Yanqing before that whole High Cloud Quintet gathering at Scalegorge Waterscape that ends with Jingliu fighting with Blade. The mission sorta ends after some more short discussions and that’s where my confusion comes from I guess. If her returning to the prison was a cutscene instead, I’d probably have an easier time of remembering, but if it was just mentioned in passing then yeah, I forget.

I do know that Luocha is listed as “departed” in the guestbook aboard the Astral Express though, so that makes sense he can randomly visit if he’s locked up.

While I believe Jingliu and Luocha are both locked up, I did hear some people say that perhaps they’re in a different Shackling Prison among one of the other Xianzhou ships. If Jingliu was imprisoned on the Luofu, then I’d imagine Hoolya might’ve sought her out in a spur of revenge, since it was her who originally defeated him. Of course he could’ve prioritized his freedom and focused solely on escaping first, but I digress.

Either way, if we could get just a glimpse of Jingliu and Luocha somehow before this quest ends in 2.5, I’d be happy.