A Simple Transaction I

So, is it just me or does Vengeance+Sword indicate that the Hero might actually be low key suicidal? I mean, what sort of person would decide to go all in on spiteful revenge, but then also forgo immediate power when he knows there is a good chance of death, denying him his revenge. It's like he only considers two outcomes, victory over the unknown puppetmasters or death, and he doesn't seem to be too picky about which one he gets.

What a dangerous character. It almost makes me want to pick the option just to see that twisted thought process at work.

If I were to offer to sell my vote, would anyone actually be interested in buying it?

EDIT: By "buy" I mean to trade votes. I'll select your prefered option now for a marker that I can call in later.

Addio said:

THOU MUST
1180 words
~~~

This was the end, Ximander thought.

His supporters imprisoned. His friends vanished or turned. His assets seized. His sword entombed. His body itself, suborned to the impulses of the implant.

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I like the (unintentional?) parallel to Control. Really emphasizes just how far up the creek he is.

Addio said:

The king beckoned, and Ximander walked with uniform gait to the altar. Behind him the princess followed, hair twined with gold, modestly pregnant, demurely averting her eyes from the hero.

Ximander had loved her, inasmuch as he imagined love was like. He thought she loved him too, might have turned to his perspective given more time. In the end she had loved him, had produced the chemicals he perceived corresponded to those sentiments. She had just loved her father, and her kingdom more.

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For a second I read it as "hair twinned with gold" and thought she was a blonde tsundere princess with twin tails, which I imagine would have led to a very different sort of omake. Interesting that he's perceiving brain chemicals; there'd be nothing quite so reassuring as actually seeing your partner's brain release that cocktail of sex hormones and neurotransmitters whenever you touch.

Too bad it wasn't enough.

Addio said:

Never trust a woman, Colin had said, smirking, piratical and roguish. They don't live in the same world we do. Colin had died buying time for him to retake Mortifactor's Keep. Perhaps that act of sacrifice had rebalanced a lifetime of petty grievery. Ximander liked to think so.

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The thing about assholes with hearts of gold is that most of the time they're just assholes. But in the end, good is not the same thing as nice and your bottom line matters a lot more than your attitude when the chips are down. Too bad the latter is more important than the former in times of peace and plenty. RIP Colin, your sacrifice will probably be forgotten by the world at large in all honesty.

Addio said:

He knew it was difficult for people to overcome habits, especially those formed over a lifetime. But like many things, he was unlike normal people. His power of observation was unmatched, but understanding was a gift he had not received, and eventually he realised that all the data in the world was nothing without a theory to constrain it. And there was no generalised theory to account for every human mind like there was for human interaction. Like the soul of old, it remained free of the surly bonds that chained all else to the mortal world.

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That's quitter's talk, Ximander. As with many problems that plague Cursebearers, this could be easily resolved if Ximander was willing to engage in a little bit of indiscriminate mass murder or mind control. While there exists no generalised theory of the mind, you could probably build one for your own and when you're the last human alive, you'd perfectly understand all human minds. Or just fuck off into the wilderness.

Addio said:

They reached the altar, a singular plane of viridian crystal shot through with veins of gold, the length of a hundred men. Distant citizens below began to yell and holler in exultation, an uprising of noise like a crashing wave. Upon the foremost edge lay the Guillotine, the inverted porcupine, a behemoth monstrance of inward projectors and capacitors. Ximander himself had built it, requisitioning the enchanted weapons of the old families, every dwoemer and charm of sharpness, spears that enhanced strength and uprooted mountains, arrowheads of leashed lightning, constructing a device to channel and focus every disparate form of murder into one sufficient for the Dark Lord. Into a man, these energies would destroy. With this he had forged his sword, the glassmetal blade with a core of liquid light capable of withstanding the forces his body could exert.

Looking now, that same needle of sunlight was perched directly above the cradle. So that's where they put it, Ximander thought.

The intent wasn't to kill, of course. Ximander had submitted to the physical tests, spearheaded the studies himself. A hero's body contained a phenomenal outpouring of energy that emanated from crystals embedded in the valves of the heart, the formation of which corresponded with the rise of Dark Lords. Within a man, that energy translated into strength and speed and senses without peer, a coruscating nova of power. Extracted and properly converted, that energy outpaced even the quantities of nuclear reaction. What hero would not give his life for the nation?

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Lord of Light and Creatures of Light and Darkness are some of my favourite books for precisely this kind of blurring of the lines between science and sorcery. Not the kind of artificial fusion you see with stuff like magitech but just destroying the distinction between the two disciplines entirely. Interesting to see they know about nuclear reactions or that nuclear reactions are even possible under these laws of physics. Also neat to see the form and potency of at least a part of their magic.

Addio said:

The king was making a speech. Per the implant, Ximander's body made the appropriate gestures and expressions of resolve. Far below, his inverted face was mirrored in the hologram panes. Ximander knew the king derived some pleasure from puppeteering him. This, at least, he finally understood.

He was pulled aside by the princess, stumbled, stabilised by his wife. Had he his full strength, not even his own arc missiles could have shaken him so. The princess had schooled her face into an agonised mien of heartbreak. "Please, my love, don't do this." Her tears were genuine, even if the sentiment was not.

"I must," Ximander's mouth spoke. Gently he pried her grip from his shoulders. He could not hurt her, even if he were inclined; the king loved his daughter, one of the few things he did.

The king himself awaited by the Guillotine. Waving away the attendants, he had volunteered to strap the harnesses himself. I am killing my son, he said, tearful. I owe him the respect to do it by hand. The straps were tightened sharply, painful in their grip. Ximander's face contorted into the restrained discomfort a mortal would express.

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I can't lie, I found this part deeply uncomfortable, which I suspect was the intent. The idea that the king is actually getting his rocks off the piloting the Hero and is willing to make the world engage in this farce is horrifying and makes it clear that most of the people involved with this are a bunch of sick fucks who don't deserve to live, no matter what justifications they might have espoused. How can you make your own daughter kiss his husband before you fucking murder him in the name of putting on a good show? Ximander might not hate you but I'm sure any sane reader would. Guess that's why we're not Heroes.

But seriously, what the fuck, your majesty????????

Addio said:

How long has the king nursed this hatred, Ximander wondered. Insisting on this farce was unnecessary. If it were Ximander in his place, he'd have simply had his hero asphyxiated.

The princess approached, one last time. She gave him a kiss, passed him a capsule through their conjoined mouths, before hurrying off in a teary fit. Ximander tested it with his tongue, feeling the imprinted mark.

A poison capsule? What for? If this was mercy it was a little late. Ximander spat it out.

The truth was, Ximander did not hate the king. He didn't hate anyone. He understood most of all what it was to put your life below that of the millions, to become the bedrock for the future to rise. He was, after all, the one who designed the process and the Guillotine. He was intending to do this eventually. But he supposed the king had disliked some of his proposed reforms, or could not bear the thought of handing the crown to someone so antithetical, heart and soul.

Perhaps kings also lived in a different world to him. Late as always, he understood.

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Perhaps his corpse will one day be a museum exhibit, entombed in his own device for all eternity. The Hero: A Transitional Power Source.

What a shockingly hardcore guy to shove himself into an Avenging Cradle to bring light to the masses. Still, to be betrayed by your father in law and sent to your effective execution and still not feel hate is the sign of a heart purer than I can comprehend. He's not even willing to engage in one last act of spite by dying before they can extract every last drop of value out of him, instead blaming himself for not understanding more. For all that this thread glorifies the Dark Lords of the world, its nice to be reminded that Heroes can and often are worthy of their title. Also good to see that our boy didn't fall in love with a complete sociopath.

Addio said:

The sun was setting. Ximander stared unblinking into the coral expanse, the Guillotine humming around him like the steely aureola of a blacksmith saint. His sword, the centrepiece and keystone, grew red with killing power, a crimson thunderbolt awaiting the fall. This moment he memorised: the million faces below, the king, glee disguised, the princess, resigned but remorseless, the unending sky, the radiating sun like the jewel crowning the world. As last memories went, he'd seen worse.

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I'd comment on this but it would just be gushing over the gorgeous prose here. Fucking hell, this is why I really love these quests, both for the stories themselves and the top tier fanworks that pop up. It's quite the motivation to improve my currently dogshit writing skills.

Addio said:

"...About that."

Ximander blinked, then realised he could do so of his own volition. It seemed the world had fallen silent, the light of their souls frozen and muted. And next to him, a man standing. There was the air of magic around him, a horrific sorcery that scraped through muscle to pluck at bone.

That power, he knew it. No, not again. How? Ximander burst free of the harness, leather and steel floating to a standstill as he moved away. "Zasima! You--how?"

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I wonder if Zasima actually looks like the Accursed or if that's just how Ximander is trying to rationalise the effects of the Brand. I wonder if there's a reason he uses "the light of their souls frozen" to describe other people being timestopped. Given the very physical bent to the magic here and his reference to "the soul of old" earlier, I wouldn't have expected that out of him. Is that why souls are no longer relevant; because the hero has mapped them out and now understands them?

Addio said:

"I am not the man you slew, nor his patron," said the man. "The presence of my servant eons ago left impressions in the fabric of this reality, impressions your enemy was able to divine and interpret, and imitate. A poor imitation, but cataclysmic for your society, and provoking a proportionate Stabiliser."

Zasima was... copying scrawls left from the palimpsest of the cosmos? "That's bullshit," said Ximander. "You're saying you're so powerful, just your presence did this?"

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I really like this part. Maybe I'm reading into it but it feels like Ximander is almost having a mental break, literally ignoring what the Accursed has said. The idea that this being is so absurdly powerful that even a servant of his could define his life so utterly by just passing through is unbelievable even for someone as seemingly rational as our boy is. Its a nice glimpse of inner humanity for someone who honestly strikes me as a little inhuman.

Addio said:

"Believe it or not." The man shrugged. "Anaximander of Rulle. Son of the alderman, Coriolanus. Son of the seamstress, Mijera. Having remained pure of mind but sullied of body, you are an imperfect candidate. Nevertheless, having fulfilled the other requirements of my selection process, you qualify to receive an adjusted offer."

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Really gotta know what the Accursed has against people who fuck. I thought he was a First Age Solar once, one would imagine Lealope roped him into all sorts of debauchery.

Fumbles said:

I fulfilled my goal of getting a Rihaku protag killed early back with OG Seram.

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Hey, he didn't technically die, he was just near death and got forced to agree to some bad deals under duress. I would be happy if that was all that happened to Vendetta+Sword, really.

Enohthree said:

Getting even a single extra Lesser Wish could be spent on a ton of things, including Royal Praxis. Ideally we'd want to always be working towards one anyway, because it's either a non-Imperial Praxis level super power or it's at worst comes to worst insurance for our loved ones and at best a century or so of extra progression in order to better protect them. If you can become 4 times as stronger or stronger given a century to power level a system, that that basically resets the clock on Lunacy. 3/4 of your power sealed away? Need to become the hulk and endanger your loved ones to use your full might? Nope, exchange a one time 'become 4 times as stronger' potential in exchange for basically an obviated curse, with an even stronger super form hulk if worst comes to truly worst.
Basically we would need any power system, lesser remittance, or similar where a century of practice and training lets you bowl over things four times as good as year one version would.

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Conjured Blade said:

Searching for mitigation methods for Plenary Brand and dealing with people trying to suborn or kill us?

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But why would we keep spending effort to get more power when the objective is to live a happy life with our family? Even if bad shit is inevitable, spending our whole time powerleveling just in case bad shit happens seems to miss the point of the plan. Hell, if someone threatens our family, why wouldn't we use our power to just move to another world? Why would we even go out and influence the world if not just for the hell of it?
Again, I can see the very occasional trips to keep up with Plenary; but why the hell would we tangle ourselves in stuff that's not our business. Again, if someone tries to involve us, we can just move. We'd already have abandoned a world before, what's doing it again? Heck, we likely wouldn't have as much attachment to this new world anyway.

Chronic said:

So, is it just me or does Vengeance+Sword indicate that the Hero might actually be low key suicidal? I mean, what sort of person would decide to go all in on spiteful revenge, but then also forgo immediate power when he knows there is a good chance of death, denying him his revenge. It's like he only considers two outcomes, victory over the unknown puppetmasters or death, and he doesn't seem to be too picky about which one he gets.

What a dangerous character. It almost makes me want to pick the option just to see that twisted thought process at work.

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Yes, yes! I glad someone sees it too. I too think it would be interesting to play, but was just stuck implying stuff because I didn't know if someone would see the appeal.

runeblue360 said:

If I were to offer to sell my vote, would anyone actually be interested in buying it?

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Shame on you, trying to subvert the rightous democratic process through moneyed interests! People these days...

Forsaken Mask seems to me like it's asking for the Wife and Child to get killed again. It will be so much more tragic when we do it ourselves, I guess?

Current vote count?

BrainInAJar said:

Hey, he didn't technically die, he was just near death and got forced to agree to some bad deals under duress. I would be happy if that was all that happened to Vendetta+Sword, really.


But why would we keep spending effort to get more power when the objective is to live a happy life with our family? Even if bad shit is inevitable, spending our whole time powerleveling just in case bad shit happens seems to miss the point of the plan. Hell, if someone threatens our family, why wouldn't we use our power to just move to another world? Why would we even go out and influence the world if not just for the hell of it?
Again, I can see the very occasional trips to keep up with Plenary; but why the hell would we tangle ourselves in stuff that's not our business. Again, if someone tries to involve us, we can just move. We'd already have abandoned a world before, what's doing it again? Heck, we likely wouldn't have as much attachment to this new world anyway.

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The difficulty of mitigating Plenary is going to go Up because that's how Curses work. The trips are going to be progressively larger undertakings. The rest can among other things be family members developing friends and those friends having problems, a shortage of hospitable ideal worlds to raise a family in without long exploration trips to find them, heroic ideals/player character whims, etc.

Tally incoming @Rihaku

[X] Dread but Dreaming - A force of nature more than a man, but perhaps that is for the best. With power such as this, the dream of a society aligned to his ideals is not so far away. But even if it's what they would have wanted, would it not be even better to have - them - back? Perhaps he recoils from even their memory. To face them would be too much. Sleep beckons, its insensate span anesthetizing the soul. Disturb not he who lies dread but dreaming, for he means you no harm. His task is done, and these long slow eons are not durance, but requiem.
-[X] Keep the Plenary Brand, gaining 3 more Lesser Remittances.

[X] Vendetta
-[X] Remittance: The Sword

Conjured Blade said:

Tally incoming @Rihaku

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Huh, I haven't evaluated arguments yet, but looking at omake power it seems like Vendetta has a pretty sizable lead.

Sickul said:

Forsaken Mask seems to me like it's asking for the Wife and Child to get killed again. It will be so much more tragic when we do it ourselves, I guess?

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Well, there are ways to avoid it - strongly commit never to go berserk while they're in range (though this does effectively cripple your power), find a Geas compatible character, become really fucking good at using the 25% of your power you can access, etc.

We struggled in the first world as Seram even taking the immediate power option. How much more will we struggle with a magic system we don't have any understanding in?

Even still that's better than Slumber, which is the Curse that most restricts long term potential. Going to be hard to really explore the Praxis when we don't have the advantages of a Progression Cursebearer and we have half the available time. Starts Strong ends up falling flat.

Hoping that the King's sceptre will have a good power to both heal and expand upon the Hero's Power. Let's combine the power of a Progression Cursebearer, with the Will of a Hero who was willing to do anything to win, and the Purpose of a Man betrayed by the Gods.

Rihaku said:

Huh, I haven't evaluated arguments yet, but looking at omake power it seems like Vendetta has a pretty sizable lead.

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Ugh, how much time is left here? Time to take my rusted writing skills...at 2 40 am.

"Alright my fans, by overwhelming majority vote, I'll be reacting to the A Simple Transaction anime! According to the manga-only crowd, this thing really picks up from the end of the first arc, so whatever happens then I guess t's something to look forward to. Now remember guys, please keep the spoilers in chat to a minimum, I'd rather see what happens myself."

Episode 1: "Man, generic intro is generic. Hero buys a lottery ticket, somehow wins the grand prize and it turns out to be a chance at isekai. Big whoop. Goddess appears and grants the Hero the Blessing of Destiny(tm), nothing we haven't seen before. It's interesting that the Goddess talks about this like an exchange, where the Hero is getting payed via plot armor. Guess that's where the title comes from. I do find the fact that they're choosing to brazenly display the Hero's Plot Armor interesting, but self-awareness does not make a particular series good. Whatever, let's see what else we've got."

Episode 2: "Oh hey, look, it's the exact same idyllic fantasy town that appears in every isekai ever. And of course the Hero has absolutely no trouble BSing his way into becoming an adventurer, because Plot."

Episode 5: "Whelp, the Party has officially been assembled. Elf Archer, shady rogue, smart wizard, dwarven paladin. It's like a whole *lineup* of tropes vomited themselves on to my screen."

Episode 7: "I bet you $20 that this 'Tyrant' guy who's conquered an eastern kingdom was called 'Demon Lord' in the Japanese dub."

Episode 8: "Please Hero, you must defeat Badguy McEvilFaace and save our world! Sure, whatever, alright, they needed a way to introduce the Big Bad. Let's just keep going."

Episode 15: "Oh woooow, the Tyrant is conducting a Mega Bad Doom Ritual and the Hero and his plucky band of side-characters must stop it! This has never before been done and is completely original. Next thing you'll tell me is that they'll have to beat Four heavenly Generals to make it to the Tyrant on time."

Episode 20: "Well now that the four heavenly generals are dead (along with the secret fifth member), we're finally ready to face off against the Big Bad. It only took entirely to many minutes of monoluging, but we're here. Whatever, let's watch the Hero bat the Big bad and discover that there's actually a bigger Bad and act shocked."

Episode 21: "what the fuck the ritual worked that's a dead Goddess right there guess that means no more plot armor what the fuck"

Episode 22: "Whelp, that's a TPK except for the Hero. Damn, that was... that was something. Just... just give me a bit to process that. That's one way to get the audience to think of the Big Bad as actually, threatening, I guess. And I guess that's where the title comes from. This turned out to not be a simple transaction after all."

Episode 27: "New party members are gained and the hero has a cool eye patch now, so I guess we're relatively back to normal? Clearly what's going to happen is that the Hero wins because he's learned to take things seriously. Oh, and the Tyrant has conquered another country."

Episode 33: "Another TPK. Tyrant doesn't fuck around, I guess. RIP Witch-chan, you were kinda cute."

Episode 44: "Yet another TPK by the Tyrant. Man, I'm beginning to think the end of this thing is just going to be the Tyrant winning."

Episode 68: "Y'know, this whole 'guerilla warfare against a higher power' thing really brings me back to the days of Sonic SatAM. If, y'know, SatAM was willing to show the supporting cast being butchered by the villain."

Episode 76: "Oh hey, the Hero payed a literal arm and the leg for more power. Dangit man, just because the Dark Side has cookies doesn't mean you should join them!"

Episode 120: "Here it is, the final showdown. Hero+Waifu vs Tyrant. There's literally no one else left who can oppose the Tyrant. One way or the other, it ends now. Lemme get my bucket of popcorn, and then we're hitting play on this thing."

Episode 121: "holy fuck waifu's dead tyrant's dead hero wins but has to bury his wife and unborn child could it get any more depressing?"

Episode 125: "Evidently, it can. RIP Hero-kun, cut down trying to spread Democracy like a good [AMERICAN] citizen. You will be missed. Well, I guess that's it for this series. Man, that was a real rollercoaster of emotions, not gonna lie, and the bait-and-switch early on got me good. Still, I feel that it was - Wait. The heck do you mean there's more after this?"

---------------------------------------------------

Fanwork for the Fanwork God, Bonuses for the Bonus Throne. Here's some more of my okayish-to-terrible writing. Hopefully we can earn a second bonus Lesser Remittance before the vote closes, although that's not looking likely. Well, unless that remains open for the next voting period, anyway.

[X] Vendetta
-[X] Remittance: The Sword

Sickul said:

We struggled in the first world as Seram even taking the immediate power option. How much more will we struggle with a magic system we don't have any understanding in?

Even still that's better than Slumber, which is the Curse that most restricts long term potential. Going to be hard to really explore the Praxis when we don't have the advantages of a Progression Cursebearer and we have half the available time. Starts Strong ends up falling flat.

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Slumber doesn't have to restrict your long-term potential if you use the power of thinking positive! Just look at Balance!

Maragas said:

Ugh, how much time is left here? Time to take my rusted writing skills...at 2 40 am.

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I don't intend to close this vote when I post the native magic systems, we'll run them in parallel since it looks like a lot of people haven't voted / seen the vote update yet.

KidFromPallet said:

Fanwork for the Fanwork God, Bonuses for the Bonus Throne. Here's some more of my okayish-to-terrible writing. Hopefully we can earn a second bonus Lesser Remittance before the vote closes, although that's not looking likely. Well, unless that remains open for the next voting period, anyway.

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You will have the chance to learn Lesser Remittances until the time comes to vote for Lesser Remittances. You guys do have a pretty good number of omakes for that already, consistent (non-spammy) discussion of sufficient volume would have a comparable marginal effect at this phase.

[X] Vendetta
-[X] Remittance: The Sword

Ultimately, the real meta-purpose we have is learning more about Praxis. Besides, it's a Rihaku quest- blatant power-leveling, omake mining and gaining any possible edge necessary for survival is Rihaku Questing 101.
And I liked Baenlixnaire. The thought of him somehow being more antisocial, through Tyrant's Doom, is honestly hilarious.

runeblue360 said:

Really gotta know what the Accursed has against people who fuck. I thought he was a First Age Solar once, one would imagine Lealope roped him into all sorts of debauchery.

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Possibly another Curse, or his procedure is based on some Magic with pretty moral constraints.
He is giving away Curses, after all- so far we never had a chance of sharing our Curses with others... as far as I remember.

PurposefulZephyr said:

Ultimately, the real meta-purpose we have is learning more about Praxis. Besides, it's a Rihaku quest- blatant power-leveling, omake mining and gaining any possible edge necessary for survival is Rihaku Questing 101.

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The difference is that any advantages you gain from fanwork or thread participation don't convert into safety if you take the Sword, because the Lesser Remittances that can grant immediate power only do so if your Primary Remittance gives you some to start with! The 33 to 66% lethality ratio is taking the thread's efforts into account already.

runeblue360 said:

Really gotta know what the Accursed has against people who fuck. I thought he was a First Age Solar once, one would imagine Lealope roped him into all sorts of debauchery.

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Perhaps it's not a matter of disadvantage but relative advantage.

BrainInAJar said:

But why would we keep spending effort to get more power when the objective is to live a happy life with our family? Even if bad shit is inevitable, spending our whole time powerleveling just in case bad shit happens seems to miss the point of the plan. Hell, if someone threatens our family, why wouldn't we use our power to just move to another world? Why would we even go out and influence the world if not just for the hell of it?
Again, I can see the very occasional trips to keep up with Plenary; but why the hell would we tangle ourselves in stuff that's not our business. Again, if someone tries to involve us, we can just move. We'd already have abandoned a world before, what's doing it again? Heck, we likely wouldn't have as much attachment to this new world anyway.

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...where is it implied that we could just leave whenever? If that was the mindset then there wouldn't be danger in sticking around our old place, we could duck out when/if things got too hot.

One thing that makes me sad is that we won't be able to waifu anyone since the end goal will be to revive our dead wife, and unborn child as well as killing the secret puppeteers. This is gonna disregard Rihaku giving us flashbacks of when she's alive which will assuredly and inevitably guilt us away from that path.

[X] Vendetta
-[X] Remittance: The King's

While I don't think it has much of a chance of winning, it's a lot less risky, and while the lack of praxis sucks, it's still would be really interesting.

As much as I want to vote for the sword, I have played far too much Xcom to gamble with those odds...

Enohthree said:

...where is it implied that we could just leave whenever? If that was the mindset then there wouldn't be danger in sticking around our old place, we could duck out when/if things got too hot.

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Rihaku said:

*Your power will include some means of travel between worlds, allowing you to depart this wretched realm.

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He leaves because he hates the place.

Xalvitor said:

While I don't think it has much of a chance of winning, it's a lot less risky, and while the lack of praxis sucks, it's still would be really interesting.

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I think it has a good chance to make a late showing. If it looks like Vengeance is going to win people might hop over in order to not just lose in a hilarious but ultimately unsatisfying way.

[X] The Forsaken Mask

I feel like having some fluff right now. Or tragedy when Lunacy triggers on someone else.

...What would happen if Lunacy triggers on our baby kid? That has potential to go very, very wrong.

@Rihaku How does Lunacy interact with Three Wishes, and how many Least/Lesser/True wishes do we actually start with?

Conjured Blade said:

Searching for mitigation methods for Plenary Brand and dealing with people trying to suborn or kill us out of fear of our full power? Or figuring out what appeals for help to take if any?

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Honestly, I'm not sure we'll have much of the capability or need to do any that, because we'll be immediately be burning our Lesser Wish to get our wife and kid back, and our True Wish is a big enough beatstick that no one should be trying to kill us, even if we can't use it offensively. All we'll have for offensive/proactive use out the gate is a Least wish and whatever capability we have as a crippled Hero who's burned out most of his power beating the Dark Lord, with most of even those scraps sealed by Lunacy. Sure, no one can dare attack us for fear of the True Wish, but that doesn't mean they'll have to do as we say, either.

[X] Vendetta
-[X] Remittance: The Sword

I was swayed by the power of the blurb. I'm also keen to get back to a more Odyssial style protaganist. The last few quests have been fun but I prefer the insane determinator over the slackers we've had lately. Sword is too thematically cool not to pick, sure we might die but that's always the case in these quests and if we don't die it'll be super cool!

[X] The Forsaken Mask

It seems Plenary is better than Slumber for a QoL perspective. I didn't expect that.