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A Simple Transaction I

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[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke


I basically agree with Xalvitor, we've got much better options for Arete than the low price ones(although I'll admit King of Thieves looks nifty) and we shouldn't need them so long as we actually fucking play as a Nightmare Praetor instead of yelling "YOLO" and charging forward like we went for a pure combat build. As such, better to grab some decent free options now, and save up for the real goodies.
 
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For reference, the hero was well-rested for the fight in this update.

LordOfMurder said:
I'm pretty sure our affinity to it is related to the curse given that's it's lessened immediately after we mitigated it for a time.
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But what does it mean...

Conjured Blade said:
King of Thieves is kind of tempting for starting a Guerilla warfare/Assassination build with Fell-Handed Stroke. Might help us reduce our risk of injury as the journey goes further.
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Well, it gives Stealth and Agility, both means to avoid harm! King of Thieves is quite interesting, it basically turns you from a warrior into a semi-gestalt warrior / rogue. Could provide a lot of value in the long run!

Plus, heroes stealing shit is a time-honored tradition! Where else are you going to get your epic weaponry from!?

Xalvitor said:
I somewhat feel like you like to mock us of Logos, forevermore outside of our reach!
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Options like Logos and Dead But Dreaming are included, not to mock the voter base, but on the off chance that thread activity at the point of introduction was actually high enough to afford an EFB. All sorts of Black Swans can occur that you didn't plan for, positive and negative!
 
Hirorubie said:
I hope you don't mind me asking, but if you had to pick one other quest of yours (besides this one of course!) for a fan to read which would you choose?
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Welcome aboard, hope you enjoyed EFB's wild ride! Don't be afraid to chime in here. I'd recommend the first A Simple Transaction, which gives some grounding for this quest. Most High is amazing, though it's the second reboot of an older quest and benefits from being conversant in Exalted's lore.
runeblue360 said:
Also also also Baenlixnaire and the Diagram. I'm hopeful this quest will inspire such ardour in time.
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Me, after reading the EFB preview: Man, I sure hope we don't wind up wasting time playing support with this Diagram crap.
A month later: THE LOGOS IS WITHOUT BEGINNING OR END.
runeblue360 said:
EDIT: 22 staff posts fucking hell.
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To put it charitably, We Stand in Awe lived up to its name.

Speaking of awe, bozhe moi, these options. Dead but Dreaming's effectively worth 11.36 Beyond Points! Amusing, to think that we have exchange rates between the currency of different threads; how much is that in koines, I wonder? But it could well be worth it, especially to expand To Shatter Heaven's scope beyond Accretion. The survivability bonus of not dying when killed's a hell of a perk too. Costly in terms of time to work on our Geas task (Outer Sorcery might let us advance our goals while dead and/or asleep?) and in Decimator ticks, not to mentioned whatever the Apocryphal Curse will have cooked up while we're dreaming, but death becomes merely a setback.

Evening Sky's interesting as well, makes me wonder about the man we just killed. He asked for mercy at the last and the mantle implies a backstory, some significance to him. As any EFB participant knows, the ability to speak in bold or colored text is not to be underestimated. Stacking charisma boosts, a replacement for our armor, and a really sick aesthetic. Hm, if we snagged King of Thieves, would the option pay for itself by discounting our Abduction of Evening Sky? I get the feeling the latter's a one-off opportunity, unlike the Forebear's Blade upgrades which'll stick around because its ours despite the name.
 
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke

I kinda want Undying Echo, but I think this is a strong enough power up and I'd like to save our Arete up for fancy stuff.
 
cheesyme said:
I basically agree with Xalvitor, we've got much better options for Arete than the low price ones(although I'll admit King of Thieves looks nifty) and we shouldn't need them so long as we actually fucking play as a Nightmare Praetor instead of yelling "YOLO" and charging forward like we went for a pure combat build.
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Can you really expect the thread not to do that, though? Better to plan for the worst...

BrainInAJar said:
I think the opening blurb for EFB was more compelling and didn't rely so much on previous knowledge for context. This is basically a quest for the fans from the conception. Not that over 100 pages in 8 days is in any way slow.
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Hm... I personally can't tell, but the opening blurb of this quest doesn't require any prior knowledge. It may be that the initial Curses section is too long, but SV's posts / day has been on the decline for a while now.

LordOfMurder said:
Quests in general have seemed to decrease in popularity over the last couple of years.
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Yeah, the split from SB actually harmed them quite badly in retrospect. Bleach Quest could get 2000 posts in a day, and the curve was only going up until the split happened.
 
[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves - It is the prerogative of the hero true to take the implements of his enemy and turn them against him. For what righteous weapon could deny the verity of his cause, or the valor with which he pursued it?
[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just - While sleeping, the character is massively more difficult to harm or physically move, and may choose to deny interruptions to his slumber, allowing his body to be used as a potent shield.
 
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Let me see if I understand Decimator's Affliction correctly here
[ ] The Decimator's Affliction - You will naturally absorb the total fundamental life force of the realm you currently inhabit at a rate of 10% per year. Area affected is exceptionally large and scales with your own power; a weak Progression-type might only affect half a continent, while a Combat-type would affect an entire solar system. In the absence of sufficient life force, you will begin to bleed essence, losing components of your powers, skills, identity, memories, and ontological veracity at a proportional rate. Though there are many paths of mitigation available, none of them are pleasant or easy.
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We claim 10% of somebody's life force in a year. 1/10 divided by 12 gets us 1/120th of somebody's life force per month

Baseline Hunger Sated(5/120th or 1/24th peoples life force in 6 months):
Month 1: 0 Life Force Consumed
Month 2: 1/120 Life Force Consumed
Month 3: 1/120 Life Force Consumed
Month 4: 1/120 Life Force Consumed
Month 5: 1/120 Life Force Consumed
Month 6: 1/120 Life Force Consumed

Quelling(1/240th life force per month or 1/40th peoples life force in 6 months):
Month 1: 1/240 Life Force Consumed
Month 2: 1/240 Life Force Consumed
Month 3: 1/240 Life Force Consumed
Month 4: 1/240 Life Force Consumed
Month 5: 1/240 Life Force Consumed
Month 6: 1/240 Life Force Consumed

Based on this and the mystery box, it is worth it from a utilitarian standpoint to pick Quelling, assuming we have no chance of finding another thing to give us Decimator's affliction free time within a 6 month period. There's also whatever mitigation for it we can get out of Gisena to stack on top of that, possibly lowering our consumption over 6 months even further.

Edit: And then having 6 months gives us more time to find ways to keep our Decimator's Affliction at the current level.
 
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Orm Embar said:
Hm, if we snagged King of Thieves, would the option pay for itself by discounting our Abduction of Evening Sky?
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There is synergy between the two options, but not such that it would reduce the Arete cost. You'd get some great value for Arete, though!

George said:
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke

I kinda want Undying Echo, but I think this is a strong enough power up and I'd like to save our Arete up for fancy stuff.
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Are you sure? The hero does live in interesting times...
 
Yeah, the thread choose the option least-suited to combat, then proceeded to not use the charisma that they had just gained in parlay.

And now after gaining some degree of short-term power, the thread wants to...acquire more short-term power in the form of low-arete options.

The only exception, I would argue, is thief, since it would give us access to some interesting avenues of power in the future.
 
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Honestly tho,

[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves - It is the prerogative of the hero true to take the implements of his enemy and turn them against him. For what righteous weapon could deny the verity of his cause, or the valor with which he pursued it?

Lord Hunger knows that all things rightfully belong to him, as he is the highest authority.

[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just - While sleeping, the character is massively more difficult to harm or physically move, and may choose to deny interruptions to his slumber, allowing his body to be used as a potent shield.
-[X] 2 Arete: Slumber of Aeons - Increases well-rested threshold to 10 hours per day, but hours of sleep can now be banked up to a month in advance. Dramatically increases strength gained with age.
 
Rihaku said:
Are you sure? The hero does live in interesting times...
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In interesting times, certainty is a luxury we can't afford!!

JustGazzer said:
Honestly tho,

[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves - It is the prerogative of the hero true to take the implements of his enemy and turn them against him. For what righteous weapon could deny the verity of his cause, or the valor with which he pursued it?

Lord Hunger knows that all things rightfully belong to him, as he is the highest authority.

[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just - While sleeping, the character is massively more difficult to harm or physically move, and may choose to deny interruptions to his slumber, allowing his body to be used as a potent shield.
-[X] 2 Arete: Slumber of Aeons - Increases well-rested threshold to 10 hours per day, but hours of sleep can now be banked up to a month in advance. Dramatically increases strength gained with age.
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we don't have 4 arete to spend
 
Conjured Blade said:
Based on this and the mystery box, it is worth it from a utilitarian standpoint to pick Quelling, assuming we have no chance of finding another thing to give us Decimator's affliction free time within a 6 month period. There's also whatever mitigation for it we can get out of Gisena to stack on top of that, possibly lowering our consumption over 6 months even further.
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It's good but I don't think it's a significant enough improvement to spend 2 arete on it. Especially considering no drain for a month means a month where we aren't weakened if there's nothing living around us.
 
George said:
In interesting times, certainty is a luxury we can't afford!!
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Are you certain you wish to take the greedy Arete-conserving option after taking the greedy +Int / +Cha instead of combat power option? I mean, that's just asking for trouble...

LordOfMurder said:
It's good but I don't think it's a significant enough improvement to spend 2 arete on it. Especially considering no drain for a month means a month where we aren't weakened if there's nothing living around us.
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You're in the Voyaging Realm, though! There's life all around you!
 
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke

Yeah, with the clarification that buying lower Arete options is less value-for-money, let's just save up and pass the marshmallow test. Yes, initial power compounds itself by generating opportunities, but with the King's Scepter and this recent victory there's no need to cash out just yet. Also, it may be lucky that Power didn't win, since apparently affinity with Verschlengorge's correlated with the Decimator's Affliction. I do like the aesthetic we've got going here, though, 'he who hungers' could become a hell of an epithet.
 
[] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear

[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just
-[X] 2 Arete: Slumber of Aeons

If I understand it right this should be correct. If not I will change it.

My reason is this; first we need some more combat power. Second, the sooner we take the increased strength gain from aging, the more we will benefit from it. Plus storing excess sleep for rainy days is a great preparation tool.
 
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Orm Embar said:
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke

Yeah, with the clarification that buying lower Arete options is less value-for-money, let's just save up and pass the marshmallow test. Yes, initial power compounds itself by generating opportunities, but with the King's Scepter and this recent victory there's no need to cash out just yet. Also, it may be lucky that Power didn't win, since apparently affinity with Verschlengorge's correlated with the Decimator's Affliction. I do like the aesthetic we've got going here, though, 'he who hungers' could become a hell of an epithet.
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It's not just that initial power generates opportunities, it also keeps you safe from the random encounters Letrizia generates! And the random encounters Hunger himself generates, which are worse by far...

Compared to A Force Unto, you'd have +Might +Agility and Fell-Handed Stroke vs ++Might (+++Strength), ++Agility, +Wits, and Regeneration / Lifesteal!

Maragas said:
My reason is this; first we need some more combat power. Second, the sooner we take the increased strength gain from aging, the more we will benefit from it. Plus storing excess sleep for rainy days is a great preparation tool.
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Yup, that's correct. You can take any suboptions you can afford along with 2 main options.
 
Slumber of Aeons is really good. It removes most of the downside of having to sleep by letting us bank hours when we have time and dramatically increases the rate that we passively power up. Plus we get to tank attacks by falling asleep! Maybe we can learn to fall asleep on command or something and use it in combat?
 
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke

Falling in line with the 'save Arete' thought, since I someone...forgot that we could save it for long-term?

Hopefully this isn't the last time that we see Dead But Dreaming. It is a Hunger option, and if Hunger works like Truth from EFB, we should be able to invest in it at a later date.
 
Rihaku said:
EFB had a catchier name? I dunno, it just had a larger audience from the outset.

There are a number of trends which may be contributing. SV's daily users / day is basically stagnant compared to SB. Don't know if that's due to site policies, marketing or some other factor. As to why the existing user base isn't posting as much, could be any number of factors. All we can do is create the right incentives and hope the baseline conditions are amenable to catalyze success, or move on to other ventures if turns out they're not.
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Personally, I found myself not really engaged too much by the earlier posts, especially after Freedom was eliminated. It felt like 'been there done that' in terms of the basic premise (namely, being a progression cursebearer trying to ramp up ASAP). This was compounded by a few factors, namely:

1) Too many curses. 4 curses just felt excessive and conjures up images of playing a heavily crippled character. Also, having to take 4 curses when previously we played a progression type with less automatically makes people compare them unfavourably. (If a power in a videogame is nerfed, its playrates plummet even if it remains a viable or even high-tier pick, after all. Loss aversion, etc.)

2) Initial powerset not inspiring me, especially the Scepter. A powerset that comes down to 'you will get a useful combat power' doesn't really tell me much or gets my imagination going, because it could be pretty much anything. To be honest I still do not know what Scepter actually got us, haven't we just used our old magic and lesser remittances...?

3) There was neither a setting nor any characterisation of the PC to initially get me interested. The quest pretty much started right away with several rounds of build votes.

Now that we've actually arrived, things are starting to change with character interaction and our companions are amazing, but I can see how some people would definitely jump ship before that.
 
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear - Cloud-shadow of the Forebear's might. Legendary strength and speed, and the resilience to exert them. Can be taken multiple times. [+Might, +Agility]
[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves - It is the prerogative of the hero true to take the implements of his enemy and turn them against him. For what righteous weapon could deny the verity of his cause, or the valor with which he pursued it?

Apparently King of Thieves is unique to this update. Given that Abduction was Hunger's ultimate technique, and lead to his current ruined state, increasing how easy it is to use is enticing.
 
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