Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 23: We Wonder Where Who Wanders When Watchers Wane

[X] Taylor Takes A Break In A Few Days
[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Fix Relationship With Kali
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process
[X] Aisha Heads For Missy
[X]WMS - 3 XP - Linguistics ●○○○○
[X]EOA - 2XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X]FPoP - 3XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X]WoRI - 9XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●●○○

VNodosaurus said:

People are being extremely liberal with XP. Remember it's not necessary to buy all three dots of Ally (GU)....

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There's no reason not to spend it, and that's easily the best thing to spend it on sans the Linguistics dot.

Also, this is my xp choice, because honestly nobody has made convincing arguments for anything else, and some of it is obviously bad ideas.

VNodosaurus said:

People are being extremely liberal with XP. Remember it's not necessary to buy all three dots of Ally (GU)....

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At the moment, each Alchemical earns 1XP per full update, and Assembly XP generates 2.5XP per full update.
We have 31 XP in total in the pool at the moment, and will add more between now and Tuesday.

Our remaining Exalt candidates all have multiple years of parahuman warfare between them, from Vista's ~3 years at the low end to Miss Militia and GU's two decades plus, ensuring LOTS of XP should they be exalted.
It's not an issue.

And I cannot imagine why we wouldn't buy full dots of GU.
We want the second-most powerful parahuman bound tightly to Saki, not loosely.

The All-Mother Needs Her Nightcap: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Takes A Break Now
-[X]STUNT: Nostrils flaring in the cold air, Taylor stared down the length of the Calgary, Alberta ski run, resolutely ignoring the sneaked glances of the other late season skiers. "Dunno how I let you talk me into this" She muttered into her headset, adjusting her goggles. Dragon's low chuckle was her only reply. She exhaled sharply."Here goes nothing" And kicked off. (61 words)
I like the stunt well enough, but I want Taylor to leave for vacation immediately. Could still change my mind.

Faustian Bargains Don't Honor Refunds: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
-[X]STUNT: Bastard Son stepped out of the bathroom in the early morning light, towelling his hair vigorously as the steam billowed around him. He whistled as he turned to the mirror, slathering shaving cream on his face as he reached for his razor. Then stopped. On the mirror was finger-painted a message in the condensation: Seven days =^._.^= ∫ (61 words)
I like the stunt a lot.

Interesting Times: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Fix Relationship With Kali
Could still change my mind, but let's try to help Prayer keep her stress levels down.

Praying For Fun And Profit: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process

Let's Get This Party Started: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Aisha Heads For Trouble
-[X]STUNT: "Why?" Valefor moans piteously as the pummeling continues. "I don't even know you!" "What a coincidence!" Aisha crowed, never ceasing in her beat-down of the Fallen cape. "I don't know who you are either!"
I know what I said earlier; this is mostly because I love the stunt.

XP Expenditures
[X]WMS - 4XP - Linguistics ●○○○○
[X]EOA - 2XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X]EOA - 3XP- Ally (Armsmaster) ●○○○○
[X]FPoP - 3XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X]WoRI - 9XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●●○○
I want mah drones.

@Gromweld
You mentioned once that all of our Exalts have a signature charm (outside of their shard charm). I remember that Taylor's is her Omnitool Implant, but what are the others'?

Laurelin said:

I'm not really sure how exp and stunts work and don't want to screw anything up, so I'll just give my votes for the offered options, can't do no harm with that, I think.

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Stunts work by giving a quick description of what you want the character to do, or the environment they will be in, and that nets you a bonus in doing it. 69 words max.

uju32 said:

At the moment, each Alchemical earns 1XP per full update, and Assembly XP generates 2.5XP per full update.

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Total: 6.5 per update automatically. You're spending a lot more than that - more, even, than the 31 in the pool!

(Edit: Mind you, it makes perfect sense to vote for more expenditures than you actually want to win, due to the 50% rule, but we don't have the XP for your vote to become reality.)

GU (as Armsmaster and Contessa) is a matter of personal preference for what you want to see in the narrative, and of course we disagree on that quite firmly.

Monotov said:

Also, this is my xp choice, because honestly nobody has made convincing arguments for anything else, and some of it is obviously bad ideas.

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Sirkalla needs more Medicine dots for diagnosis.
At the moment she relies mostly on other people to tell her if a person needs healing. Taylor will not always be there to do so.
As evidenced by her going on vacation.

Armsmaster Ally 2 is insurance against him being killed offscreen.

It was the same thing that saved Wyld/Amy's life during the Nine attack, else Burnscar would have killed her. It also makes him more useful to Taylor, because he will help with Tinker projects and help with his connections.We STILL haven't finished that nanotech healing/ Essence conversion project we started discussing when we were in Brockton Bay that would allow us convert individual people to Essence using nanobots, and he's the nanotech guy.

The Stealth specialty helps Saki get close enough to brainwashed people to spike them without causing alarm.
She is going to have to deal with the Butcher and people brainwashed by the Fallen while Taylor is away, remember? And she needs options that don't draw the attention of combatants.

Aisha needs Medicine for much the same reason everyone needs at least minimal competency.
Taylor won't always be around to hold people's hands.

Aisha needs the Ride specialty to make her better at dodging cars while her power is active.
Word of God is explicit that it will be necessary to be good at it, because the other drivers can't see her with her power active.

I shouldn't have to argue for GU.
If people can't fathom why you'd want as tight a grip on Ciara as possible.....

EDIT

VNodosaurus said:

Total: 6.5 per update automatically. You're spending a lot more than that - more, even, than the 31 in the pool!

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Because we can afford it.
Because I'm adding XP to it before the voting period is over, and we can go into XP debt even if I did nothing else.

VNodosaurus said:

GU (as Armsmaster and Contessa) is a matter of personal preference for what you want to see in the narrative, and of course we disagree on that quite firmly.

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Oh yeah. You're one of the heretics.

VNodosaurus said:

(Edit: Mind you, it makes perfect sense to vote for more expenditures than you actually want to win, due to the 50% rule, but we don't have the XP for your vote to become reality.)

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Because people keep forgetting this, I will quote WoG:

Gromweld said:

I will point out that XP Debt is a thing we can use if we feel strongly enough about securing something immediately. Basically, we can spend more XP than we have at the moment, which puts that XP pool into the negative and prevents any further spending from that pool until it goes back up to at least 1 XP in its pool (not just back up to 0). For an example:

Say we want Shiny Thing A for Saki. Shiny Thing A costs 9 XP, but Saki only has 1 XP and the Assembly Pool only has 3 XP in it. We can vote to buy Shiny Thing A, which empties Saki's XP pool then pulls the rest from the Assembly pool as usual - making the final total -5 XP in the Assembly Pool. This means that Saki now has Shiny Thing A, but no further purchases may be made from the Assembly XP pool until it gets back up to 1 XP.
This has always been the case, for what it's worth, it's just that we haven't really made use of it outside of a few rare times.

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This is the justification for spending 9XP on Ciara/GU.
Like I said, I'm confident of paying it off before the next XP vote, alone or with help.

Question: do abilities like Medicine and Linguistics cost 3 XP, or 4 XP? The quest mechanics on the 1st page say 4 XP, but everyone voting so far seems to be using 3 XP per dot.

uju32 said:

We want the second-most powerful parahuman bound tightly to Saki, not loosely.

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Agreed. Ciara is so ridiculously powerful that I'd honestly be arguing for spending a full 5 dots on her if the option was available, XP debt be damned. Note that this is the case regardless of whether or not she becomes our Orichalcum; either we get an enormously powerful parahuman as a dedicated ally, or the XP investment gets refunded when she is exalted. It's an amazing XP investment either way.

Well, that, and I find the idea of the PRT simultaneously panicking and salivating at the prospect of a pet Fairy Queen to be too hilarious to pass up.

(Although one does wonder what the PRT top brass are going to think of Saki for managing to both capture and brainwash enlighten Glastig freaking Uaine in... what, only about a week? Combined with her world-spanning teleportation, personal pocket dimension which nullifies the abilities of all known capes, striker power that can rewrite a target's personality, and nation-scale charisma (as alluded to Legend) -- we're looking at a Master 10+ threat rating, paired with a 9+ Mover/Trump. Do not be fooled by her cute appearance; this Moebot is utterly terrifying.)

Sapient_Ham said:

Question: do abilities like Medicine and Linguistics cost 3 XP, or 4 XP? The quest mechanics on the 1st page say 4 XP, but everyone voting so far seems to be using 3 XP per dot.

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3XP/dot for the first 3 dots.
4XP/dot for the fourth and fifth dots.

uju32 said:

3XP/dot for the first 3 dots.
4XP/dot for the fourth and fifth dots.

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You sure? To directly quote the relevant bit:

Gromweld said:

- Ability: 4 XP
- Ability Specialty: 2 XP
- Background (1-3): 3 XP
- Background (4-5): 4 XP

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Unless there was a mechanics change that I missed, it seems like people might be confusing Background XP cost with Ability XP cost.

Well, it's a minor quibble either way. It's not like I'm going to complain if purchasing abilities is a bit cheaper than I thought.

Sapient_Ham said:

You sure? To directly quote the relevant bit:

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Sapient_Ham said:

Unless there was a mechanics change that I missed, it seems like people might be confusing Background XP cost with Ability XP cost.

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Urg.
You're right; fixed.

[X]FPoP - 3XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○

[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
-[X]STUNT: Emily resisted the urge to sigh and massage her temples as she stared at her Senior Agent-In-Charge. "Weaver brokered a truce with the Elite. During the concert. In Pittsburgh". Prayer's- Sirkalla's- foot twitched, then stilled, but her face remained impassive as she nodded. "I received an email this evening. Burner account. Dossiers,known associates, and hideouts, here and over the river."(63 words)
[X] Taylor Takes A Break Now
-[X]STUNT: Nostrils flaring in the cold air, Taylor stared down the length of the Calgary, Alberta ski run, resolutely ignoring the sneaked glances of the other late season skiers. "Dunno how I let you talk me into this" She muttered into her headset, adjusting her goggles. Dragon's low chuckle was her only reply. She exhaled sharply."Here goes nothing" And kicked off. (61 words)
[X] Aisha Heads For Missy
-[X] STUNT: Missy shrieks and falls backwards from her seat on the porch as, out of nowhere, an enormous silver panther slams down right in front of her, scattering the chickens she'd been feeding. "Get on, loser!" shouts the equally silver girl with a manic grin from atop the beast, "We're going shopping!"
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Keep Taylor Sane
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process
[X] WMS - 3 XP - Compassion ●●●○○
[X] WMS - 6 XP - Linguistics ●●○○○
[X] EOA - 6 XP - Ally (Armsmaster) ●●○○○
[X] EOA - 2XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X] FPoP - 3 XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X] WoRI - 9 XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●●○○
[X] WoRI - 2XP - Stealth (Completely Harmless ●○○)

[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
[X] Taylor Takes A Break In A Few (9) Days
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process
[X] Aisha Heads For Missy
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Keep Taylor Sane
[X] WMS - 3 XP - Compassion ●●●○○
[X]WMS - 6 XP - Linguistics ●●○○○
[X] EOA - 6 XP - Ally (Armsmaster) ●●○○○
[X] EOA - 2XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X] FPoP - 3 XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X] WoRI - 9 XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●●○○
[X]WoRI - 2XP - Stealth (Completely Harmless ●○○)

[X] Taylor Takes A Break In A Few Days
-[X]STUNT: "Oh Maker, why didn't I try this sooner?" Taylor's moans of appreciation are barely audible over the whir and hum of the large and impressive (dammit, Saki, not like that!) array of instruments worked their magic on her tired shoulders. Abstractly, she knew that the Solars had been brought down by outlandish decadence but here she could find no fault.

[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
-[X]STUNT: Emily resisted the urge to sigh and massage her temples as she stared at her Senior Agent-In-Charge. "Weaver brokered a truce with the Elite. During the concert. In Pittsburgh". Prayer's- Sirkalla's- foot twitched, then stilled, but her face remained impassive as she nodded. "I received an email this evening. Burner account. Dossiers,known associates, and hideouts, here and over the river."(63 words)

[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Fix Relationship With Kali

[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process

[X] Aisha Heads For Philadelphia
-[X]STUNT: A brisk wind blew off the Delaware, ripping at the clothes of the figure standing on the tip of the spire of the Liberty Place skyscraper. She smiled wickedly. "Betcha I can make it from here." The earpiece in her ear squawked in increasing negation as her outfit rippled, transforming into a wingsuit. "Watch."And she jumped off the building.(61 words)

XP Expenditures
[X] WMS - 3 XP - Temperance ●●○○○
[X] WMS - 4 XP - Medicine ●○○○○
[X] WMS - 4 XP - Linguistics ●○○○○
[X] WMS - 2 XP - Ride (Like It's Stolen ●●○)
[X] EOA - 4 XP - Performance ●●●○○
[X] EOA - 2 XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X] EOA - 6 XP- Ally (Armsmaster) ●●○○○
[X] FPoP - 4 XP - Medicine ●●○○○
[X] FPoP - 3 XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X] WoRI - 2 XP - Stealth (Completely Harmless ●○○)
[X] WoRI - 9 XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●●○○

Total: 43 XP, for -12 XP , to be alleviated with art and time (XP debt ho!)

Note to those voting for 2 dots of linguistics: you really don't need to do that, unless you want Aisha to pick up a third language in preparation for the Autochthon expedition, or something. Her current 0 Linguistics means she can only speak and understand Old Realm, while each additional dot represents becoming fluent in another language. She only needs 1 dot for now.

The All-Mother Needs Her Nightcap: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Takes A Break Now

Faustian Bargains Don't Honor Refunds: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Does Not Honor Her Deal With Bastard Son

Interesting Times: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Keep Taylor Sane

Praying For Fun And Profit: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process

Let's Get This Party Started: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Aisha Heads For Missy

Something like this. Not sure about XP, and maybe will change stunts if someone would write better one.

The All-Mother Needs Her Nightcap: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Takes A Break In A Few Days
-[X]STUNT: Riley whined, hands twisting in genuine agitation. "I don't want you to leave." "We don't always get what we want, Riley." The tween slumped into a beanbag, arms crossed. Taylor sighed and joined her on the beanbag. "Look, I'll make you a deal. You promise to be good for Kelly, and I'll help you add a few upgrades to your dragonpuppy Smoke. Deal?" (63 words)

Faustian Bargains Don't Honor Refunds: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
-[X]STUNT: Emily resisted the urge to sigh and massage her temples as she stared at her Senior Agent-In-Charge. "Weaver brokered a truce with the Elite. During the concert. In Pittsburgh". Prayer's- Sirkalla's- foot twitched, then stilled, but her face remained impassive as she nodded. "I received an email this evening. Burner account. Dossiers,known associates, and hideouts, here and over the river."(63 words)

Interesting Times: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Fix Relationship With Kali

Praying For Fun And Profit: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process

Let's Get This Party Started: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Aisha Heads For Philadelphia
-[X]STUNT: A brisk wind blew off the Delaware, ripping at the clothes of the figure standing on the tip of the spire of the Liberty Place skyscraper. She smiled wickedly. "Betcha I can make it from here." The earpiece in her ear squawked in increasing negation as her outfit rippled, transforming into a wingsuit. "Watch."And she jumped off the building.(61 words)
XP Expenditures

[X]WMS - 4 XP - Medicine ●○○○○
[X]WMS - 4 XP - Linguistics ●○○○○
[X]WMS - 2 XP - Ride (Like It's Stolen ●●○)
[X]EOA - 4 XP - Performance ●●●○○
[X]EOA - 2 XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X]EOA - 6 XP- Ally (Armsmaster) ●●○○○
[X]FPoP - 4 XP - Medicine ●●○○○
[X]FPoP - 3 XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X]WoRI - 2 XP - Stealth (Completely Harmless ●○○)
[X]WoRI - 9 XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●●○○

The All-Mother Needs Her Nightcap: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Takes A Break In A Few Days
-[X]STUNT: In the Library of Congress Taylor sat in a comfy couch, her legs curled beneath her. Taking a sip of hot tea from her thermos, she turned the page of her book. Piles of read books and too-be-read books surrounded her. A swarm clone told the Librarian of Congress "Thanks again for letting me use my powers in here."(59 words)

Faustian Bargains Don't Honor Refunds: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
-[X]STUNT: Bastard Son stepped out of the bathroom in the early morning light, towelling his hair vigorously as the steam billowed around him. He whistled as he turned to the mirror, slathering shaving cream on his face as he reached for his razor. Then stopped. On the mirror was finger-painted a message in the condensation: Seven days =^._.^= ∫ (61 words)

Interesting Times: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Fix Relationship With Kali

Praying For Fun And Profit: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process

Let's Get This Party Started: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Aisha Heads For Missy
-[X] STUNT: Missy shrieks and falls backwards from her seat on the porch as, out of nowhere, an enormous silver panther slams down right in front of her, scattering the chickens she'd been feeding. "Get on, loser!" shouts the equally silver girl with a manic grin from atop the beast, "We're going shopping!"

XP Expenditures
[X]WMS - 4 XP - Medicine ●○○○○
[X]WMS - 4 XP - Linguistics ●○○○○
[X]WMS - 2 XP - Ride (Like It's Stolen ●●○)
[X]EOA - 4XP - Performance ●●●○○
[X]EOA - 2XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X]EOA - 6XP- Ally (Armsmaster) ●●○○○
[X]FPoP - 4XP - Medicine ●●○○○
[X]FPoP - 3XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X]WoRI - 2XP - Stealth (Completely Harmless ●○○)
[X]WoRI - 9XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●●○○

uju32 said:

Because people keep forgetting this, I will quote WoG:
This is the justification for spending 9XP on Ciara/GU.
Like I said, I'm confident of paying it off before the next XP vote, alone or with help.

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Just because we can semi-constantly go into XP debt doesn't mean it's a good idea, mind. Chasing after unnecessary Ability purchases now could very well come back to bite us when something important shows up, and oops, can't get it because we're in XP debt.

Not knowing Exalted mechanics particularly well, which of the Compassion/Temperance votes would put us closer to Aisha from the end of Worm? I'm thinking the Compassion boost, since she was still impulsive but she cared, but I'm not sure on that.

Anyway, preliminary vote, may change later. (Some comments copied from previous voters.)

The All-Mother Needs Her Nightcap: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Takes A Break Now
-[X]STUNT: Nostrils flaring in the cold air, Taylor stared down the length of the Calgary, Alberta ski run, resolutely ignoring the sneaked glances of the other late season skiers. "Dunno how I let you talk me into this" She muttered into her headset, adjusting her goggles. Dragon's low chuckle was her only reply. She exhaled sharply."Here goes nothing" And kicked off. (61 words)
I like the stunt well enough, but I want Taylor to leave for vacation immediately. Too many shoes waiting to drop otherwise, and the truce with the Elite gives us a short period of calm starting now. Could still change my mind.

Faustian Bargains Don't Honor Refunds: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Taylor Honors Her Deal With Bastard Son
-[X]STUNT: Bastard Son stepped out of the bathroom in the early morning light, towelling his hair vigorously as the steam billowed around him. He whistled as he turned to the mirror, slathering shaving cream on his face as he reached for his razor. Then stopped. On the mirror was finger-painted a message in the condensation: Seven days =^._.^= ∫ (61 words)
I like the stunt a lot.

Interesting Times: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Sirkalla's Focus For The Next Few Days: Fix Relationship With Kali
Could still change my mind, but let's try to help Prayer keep her stress levels down. Plus helping Taylor is less necessary if Taylor goes on vacation immediately.

Praying For Fun And Profit: (Choose ONE, NO Stunt)
[X] Work With The PRT To Start Ciara's Parole Process

Let's Get This Party Started: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)
[X] Aisha Heads For Philadelphia
-[X]STUNT: The duty officer tensed as the stunningly beautiful woman walked into the lobby of the building, trailed by the biggest godawful animal that he had ever seen. Cape, he thought to himself, a hand inching towards the panic button as he saw the ready squad subtly reorient towards her. She stopped in front of his desk with a brilliant smile "Guess Who's back?" (63 words)
While I would like to see more of Missy, I also don't want to disrupt her therapy, and I like the precedent that Aisha would seek out Taylor first to at least check in.

[X] WMS - 3 XP - Compassion ●●●○○
[X] WMS - 4 XP - Medicine ●○○○○
[X] WMS - 3 XP - Linguistics ●○○○○
[X] WMS - 2 XP - Ride (Like It's Stolen ●●○)
[X] EOA - 3 XP - Ally (Armsmaster) ●○○○○
[X] EOA - 2 XP - Craft (Drones ●●○)
[X] FPoP - 3 XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●○○○○
[X] WoRI - 6 XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●○○○

That's 26 XP, which should be pretty affordable. It doesn't put as many points into some things as people would like, but the allies get enough that they won't get killed offscreen, which is the important part for now. I'm still considering boosting Taylor's Performance, since watching her weaponize theatrics is fun, but I'm not sure on that yet.

EDIT: Added Medicine training for WMS.

landcollector said:

[X] FPoP - 6 XP - Mentor (Contessa) ●●○○○
[X] WoRI - 6 XP - Ally (Glaistig Uaine) ●●○○○

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Why not drop that second dot of Contessa for another of GU? Contessa is bad news, GU is actually helpful.

[X] uju32

A bit of in-character clarification, @Gromweld: would Sirkalla choosing to focus on something besides helping Ned with Ash Beast involve delaying her 'appointment' with the two, and do Sirkalla and PRT intelligence (read: Dragon) believe it would be safe to do so? Do both think it would be a good idea?

It looks like a lot of voters would like Sirkalla to focus on personal relations first, but I don't think we or Sirkalla herself would prioritize repairing relationships over the safety of an ally, civilians, or maintaining professional obligations. Mind, this is Crawler we're talking about, so he may just treat an extended bout with Ash Beast as a welcome extension of his paid vacation.

landcollector said:

Just because we can semi-constantly go into XP debt doesn't mean it's a good idea, mind. Chasing after unnecessary Ability purchases now could very well come back to bite us when something important shows up, and oops, can't get it because we're in XP debt.

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This is true, but so is the inverse: just because we can save XP for a rainy day doesn't mean it is always a good idea to so. There is very little point to saving XP for better options if those better options are already right in front of us. Doubly so with the new XP training mechanic; passing up on good training opportunities today means multiple chapters may pass before we see them again, if at all.

Those of us arguing for splurging on XP expenditures today are basically positing that the current chapter's XP options are unsually good, even the low priority picks likely better than the options we'll see next chapter. Beyond that, it's paired with the last chance to upgrade Aisha's character sheet without training. So we're spoiled for (excellent) choice on multiple limited time offers, and might as well take advantage. Finally, the incurred XP debt isn't likely to be all that large; it probably won't cut into next chapter's XP purchases significantly, if at all.

The All-Mother Needs Her Nightcap: (Choose ONE, ONE Stunt Allowed)