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Evening Sky"
The color of sunset in the wake of hurricanes and volcanic eruptions, how fitting. The Hero is no mere man but natural disaster given flesh, not through personal power yet perhaps, but at least through the very Decimation Curse he carries. Even without the Tyrant's Doom we would have been hard-pressed to make peace with any civilization sufficiently advanced to notice it, the Doom simply accelerates things for us and robs us of any remaining illusions.
...Is there a
Morning Sky out there somewhere? A
Night Sky? Or do we have to worry about big brother
Endless Sky coming out of the woodwork when we least expect it? It's not like I expected this to be the end of it no matter what we do, because Apocrypha, but here's to hoping that killing Tyrant-lite has pushed those consequences off a bit farther into the future.
The man had attacked them without provocation. Now that the tides had shifted he wanted to parley? Absurd. His audacity was impressive, but a tactic that disingenuous didn't even deserve a response.
Well, yes, he probably thought that even if his assault fails, we'd be too busy with the Rift to chase after his ship. Unless he's the kind of young idiot to try attacking something without having a plan of retreat. Whatever the case, it was the wrong choice, as he's about to learn.
He struck, a terrible reaving arc of blade-force meant to split the pirate from shoulder to sternum, but the black-armored man reacted quickly and caught the blow on his shield. The sheer pressure of the attack tore a gouge in the metal, shards spraying upwards in a flying plume as the man visibly staggered under the blow. Hunger was already moving, swapping knife-edge to pommel as he closed to strike the man across the helm.
...
Voterbase: Ok, this is going to be a difficult fight.
Voterbase: But never fear, we've got all those 'clever' tactics-
Hunger: Me sword him very hard! It is very effective!
Voterbase: ...Alright. An unexpected gambit, but you're the Hero, you know what works.
Voterbase: So about those tactics-
Hunger: Me smash his face! Very very hard!!
Voterbase: ...What are we even doing here?!
Well, we knew Tyrant-lite had smashed the Hero's berserk button pretty hard, so this reaction isn't that surprising. The whiplash was still funny when I was reading this though.
This time. This time he wouldn't need to be rescued, by his wife or anyone else. This time he would end the threat before it could claim them. Whatever cost necessary would be paid from his own body.
Thankfully the price didn't end up being too grievous, but it made me real nervous when I first saw this sentence. The Apocrypha didn't have to dig too deep for that trauma, did it? The wound must be quite raw still, exacerbated by how it should be one of his clearest memories, the one he wouldn't burn no matter what, even the tiniest bit.
And this won't be the end of it, the Apocryphal Curse will dredge up every single weakness and strike at them full force. Hmm, I wonder if there is some way we could exploit that in the future. Can we try to anticipate Apocrypha based on our emotional weaknesses and faults in our build? A tall order, but an intelligent build may be well-suited to trying it.
His blow struck true; the pirate's helm tolled like an evening bell as it deformed, deflecting and radiating the strength of the blow as force became sound's echo. He was forced back, repelled by the dispersed strength of his own blow. Still the power of ruin was not easily denied; blood dribbled through the slits in the pirate's visor.
Quite the nasty thing it is, this power of Ruin, especially when it is directly transferred to his flesh.
We really should have thought of that, seeing how well-suited blunt force is against heavy armor, but worries about getting too close into grappling range blinded us to the possibility. Not that they were completely unwarranted...
Despite the prodigious ferocity of his assault, the enemy was not totally hapless. In one decisive motion the pirate discarded his shield and lunged forward just as Hunger made to withdraw. They toppled in an ungainly grapple, impossible weight of the pirate's armor bearing down on him, pinning him to the deck. He struck with his sword through a gap in the armor but felt resistance beneath, as if punching through clay. Shadows curled and boiled off that armor, pinning him to the deck, obstructing his sight.
I bet Gisena would have wiped the floor with him. He thinks he's so cool with his super-armor and his mad wrestling moves, but he doesn't know that against a true master of dragging things down to her level, his efforts are insignificant. She's going to tease us
so much about this should she find out.
And the armor's darkness proved to be as ominous as it appeared to be, not only deflecting a strike from the Sword of Ruin, but also restricting us with... say, it's probably too dark to see, but those weren't tentacles, right? Our Hero doesn't need more trauma!!
The pirate reared back and smashed his head into Hunger's own. For a moment the world went static and white, then bright agony ripped through his side. With desperate strength he heaved forward, hurling his opponent back and retreating to the middle distance. A sharp pain in his torso brought him up short, and he looked down to see the violent-flame blade of his enemy hanging from his side. Luckily it had slid between his oblique muscles, missing his liver and intestines. The pain was terrific, horrible, but a meagre shadow of the least cut from the Tyrant's personal blade. Even the flames of this blade sheeted and sputtered away from his flesh, as if afraid to burn him.
We've underestimated the guy, but were lucky enough not to lose our internal organs for it.
More of our internal organs. Or is this Apocrypha's attempt to instill further symmetry by removing one of our kidneys? Who knows what kind of trauma those crazy Cursebearers managed to inflict on the Curses so far, maybe it's suffering from OCD and taking it out on us.
Nice to see Accretion Rank at work when resisting that magic. He has a mysterious armor of darkness, an awesome magic sword that burns with a corrupt flame, but that hardly matters in the face of just
not being good enough. Even if you outfit a scrub with the best equipment, levels will tell.
He raised his eyes to the enemy, who was panting heavily, gathering himself for another strike. He shook his head. This man wasn't the Tyrant. He wasn't even a poor imitation.
Has the Hero finally calmed down? No matter how amazing the berserker charge was to watch, it doesn't fit the Hero's new modus operandi very well. We're admittedly at fault here by letting the situation provoke us, but his is the purview of cold calculation and ruthless exploits rather than hot-blooded mano-a-mano action.
Blood dripped steadily from his wound. He pulled the flame-blade free and tossed it overboard. Foolish of him to get wounded. Reckless to rush in without knowing the armor's capabilities. Pommel to the head would murder most armored knights, but he'd been over-eager, closing the distance against an opponent with all four limbs and greater mass than his own.
No, that shiny sword! Tell me we didn't completely forget about it in the aftermath. What sort of adventurer throws away the loot anyway, tactical concerns be damned!? Magical loot at that! I know the Hero wants to prove his fidelity to the Forebearer's Blade and that he'll never ever switch it out for another weapon, but a sword is not a wife!
...That wasn't a challenge, by the way. I know our questers, they can waifu
anything.
Haah, jokes aside, perhaps we should have suggested trying to do some reconnaissance first. Not sure he would have revealed those magics or whether we had the time, but it might have instilled more caution. Doubtful given the earlier reaction, but every little bit helps.
His enemy was just a skilled thug with a formidable suit of plate, deprived of a weapon that wasn't worth one-tenth of the Forebear's Blade. Fury had ruled Hunger, made him sloppy. No more. Today, there were people counting on him still. He would dismantle this enemy properly.
This begs the question of just where the 'skilled thug' got that armor. Just luck or connections? Either is possible in a dungeon like this, but with Apocrypha in play I would tip on the latter.
The pirate juked to the side, going low, hand outstretched for the ballista bolt embedded in his comrade. Hunger sent a blade-wind into those fingers, shearing off dark scraps of plate and throwing the man off-balance. He followed with a thrust projection, pure killing force that shivered through the air and struck the pirate's chest, knocking him onto his ass. Given the weight of his armor, there was no recovery from that position.
Even if the pirate had miraculously succeeded at snatching that bolt, it likely wouldn't have helped much. The Hero is just too fast in comparison and can simply dismember him from a distance. The moment he didn't manage to win that grapple and lost the flaming sword, the fight was as good as lost for the pirate.
Hunger drew deep upon the well of power within him, summoning forth a tide, a tempest of murderous cuts; sword-breath that hummed and pulsed like a buzzsaw's edge, that curved and shrieked like carrion birds.
Ah, the pale shadow of the Fell Tempest we could have had if Unshattered won...
Still, good job following the dragon theme with the sword breath, Hero! Who needs fire when one has the pure power of Ruin at one's disposal?
With each blow the armor rang, reflecting and dispersing the main power of his strikes, but the persistence of his onslaught had the plate chiming lower and lower, its efforts grown feebler and feebler, until the battered darkness bled from the armor and fled into the crevices between worlds, abandoning its wearer to his doom. The ring flared upon his finger, a fresh well of power flooding him once more.
Huh, so the darkness wasn't really part of the armor's effects but rather a symbiote (hello, Venom) - we even got XP for defeating it! Does this monster stem from the more 'local' Astral Realm or does it have foreign origins? And it is even capable of moving through the void freely, how curious!
Considering how it is another likely candidate for why the pirate attacked us - maybe it can drain magic and thought we looked delicious - now I'm really, really interested in catching it. If only we had more Arete...
Victory, though the price had been steep.
Force Unto would have just shrugged the flesh wound off and maybe even regenerated a limb or two with this victory. Would have had a different set of major problems, naturally, like less funny dialogue with Gisena, less cute Letrizia scenes, and a lot less beauty sleep.
How funny, does the Hero look like the kind of guy that would respond to begging for life?
Now he advanced to melee range, kicking open the man's visor to reveal eyes of deep blue, trembling and terrified.
*wince*
Didn't really want him to have a face. Now I'm feeling kind of guilty for pushing this. Not
that guilty, - he's still a pirate that attacked us, - but human instincts, what can you do?
The Forebear's Blade descended, a swift and painless ending. While he lived in interesting times, best not to keep any enemies alive lest they fester and grow strong.
A sensible approach, except maybe when it comes to young masters. Then it becomes 'kill one and an elder comes out, kill the elder and the sect hunts you down'. Then again, probably wouldn't have made much of a difference if one left the young master alive, he would have simply called for reinforcements personally.
As the man died a new sensation emerged from the ring, an onrushing infusion of blood and vigor, vitality wound so tightly within him that it seemed fit to burst. Hunger, and the Curse of Hunger, the Affliction of the Decimator that drained life from the world, would be sated for a time.
Curious how that works. Not at all related to the actual energy quantity, because I doubt this scrub could have sated even a small fraction of our Hunger. It devours countries and continents, potentially planets and
worlds, his puny lifeforce shouldn't even merit a mention.
Yet here we are, the Decimation pacified for a time through a single kill. Several possibilities come to mind, one being that it was some kind of strange interaction between Apocrypha, Accretion and Decimation, with one Curse feeding off another - but no, the Apocryphal Curse wasn't weakened even a tiny bit.
The largest possibility that I see then is that healing Hunger's trauma somehow also soothed the Curse. The human Hunger is healed, and through him by association through Accretion the Hunger Curse, even if the effect is weakened and temporary? It sounds doubtful that the way to deal with this Curse would simply be to heal ourselves, there should be other prerequisites... then again, we cannot fully heal till we've at least dealt with those Hidden Masters, Vendettaboy that we are, so maybe it isn't
that easy. Is that one of the reasons why we were picked as a Cursebearer, that perhaps there are beings that are inherently better suited to Mitigating some Curses than others?
That had been closer than it looked. If his opponent's blade had been positioned more adroitly, if he'd failed to rally and properly create distance... the man was not skilled enough to overcome him in full, but he could have ended up far more grievously wounded.
Yeah, we've walked on a knife's edge here, worse dice rolls would have seriously f*cked us over. But the rewards, the sweet, sweet rewards! What else can soothe a quester's soul better than the delightful sound of Progression and stacking loot?
No time to dwell. He turned and fired his grappling hook, attaching it to the Armament, and ran up the rope. Blood leaked continuously from his side. The pain would distract him, hamper his mobility, but the power of his legend and the Forebear's Blade would ensure his survival and eventual recovery.
...Would have been quite awkward if we'd managed to break the grappling hook in the fight and had to cover the distance by normal means. Maybe deadly for our companions too.
Gisena had taken a few wounds of her own, a deep gouge in one shoulder and cuts across her midriff and face. Blood flowed freely from a thin laceration of her cheek, a pale red curtain that spilled past neck and shoulder. She smiled brightly at his approach, dancing between a pair of Rift creatures to reach his side.
Oof. While she has superhuman constitution and would hopefully have been fine for a while, this is still much worse than I hoped, though better than I feared. She seriously needs some protection if she's going to get into melee.
"Aw, were you worried about me? You shouldn't have. This gun is so much fun to play with! Propulsion of a kinetic impactor via chemical energy, what an ingenious idea..."
"Stand back and don't bleed on me."
What a heartwarming reunion! Our Hero sure knows the way to a woman's heart, what a Casanova!
Can't wait till we get our hands on some more advanced toys, then Gisena can
really shine. And there's nobody to take a nerfbat to her, not when she's a personified nerfbat herself!
"My, how dashing!"
"Thanks. I'm the veritable flower of chivalry, killing pirates and now monsters."
"Such a dainty flower, I may just swoon!"
If we get a flower Legend because of Gisena, we'll be having words.
They cleaned up the Astral beasts in short order and Gisena sealed the rift. Luckily, no further surprises were waiting for them on the river bank.
Seems like Apocrypha decided to let us off for now, or is simply busy cooking up a present for our next proc.
Letrizia, prepared as always, had medical supplies in her cockpit, but Gisena waved them off.
"As cute as I'd look with a bandaged cheek, it's better to save our resources. The Grace of the Maiden means I'll heal faultlessly and without scars!"
He looked grimly down at his own wound, one more scar for the tapestry. "How convenient."
Hey, look on the bright side, I bet we can somehow turn the scars into power! Just because we've abandoned the pure path of Muscle Wizardry doesn't mean we can't draw inspiration from it. If a name can be used for empowerment by Accretion, then surely something as visual as scars can too. Like, everyone knows that chicks dig scars, so we get a Charisma bonus for them. Then we don't need to be envious of Gisena anymore!
She grinned, learning forward. "Isn't it? I know you'd just be heartbroken if my dazzling beauty was marred."
"You should work on your dazzling ego."
I fear it's a lost cause, Doctor. Even amputation might not help, she'd just grow a new one out of nothing.
"That's just empirical self-assessment, a scientist's first technique! Speaking of which, how is your wound?" She laid a gentle finger on a spot near the injury.
"How do you think? It fucking hurts."
She giggled. "I'd offer to kiss it better, but you haven't quite earned that, have you?"
How sweet, I think my teeth are rotting. Gisena didn't seem to be that enthusiastic about Seram and was more interested in setting him up with Jeanne. Then again, that's the Brand of the Wretched for you, flushing the Cursebearers' dating prospects down the drain is in its job description.
"I'd rather have one of Letrizia's bandages."
Letrizia perked up. "I've got medical salve as well! It'll numb the pain and promote healing."
He nodded. "Good to hear."
Made from nanobots, surely!
Opening her medical kit, she began applying the cream. "You'll be good as new in no time!"
"Or my money back?"
"Huh? ...A-As if you're paying me enough for this! Be honored that a Duchess is tending to you personally!"
"You're supposed to be paying me. And Gisena and I are both nobles."
"W-well, consider this a bonus!"
What is this, set up flags on all the routes day? I'm having Suizhen and Aurelia flashbacks. Our Hero can't be that flirtatious!
He glanced past the pilot to her Armament, the beast's head silent and staring vigilantly forward. The sense of affinity between them seemed to have dulled somewhat, the sharp edge of its keening blunted by some unseen factor.
Well, isn't that ominous. The moment we've managed to Mitigate our Hunger somewhat, our connection to the Devourer weakened, what a coincidence! Maybe piloting it is not quite as safe as we assumed. Are we about to get Kong'd? 'Hohoho, foolish Cursebearer, I've been waiting for you to try piloting me, now you'll have to make dinner for me,
forever!'
"I'm hungry. After you're done, let's go fishing."
"F-fishing?"
"You use a rod and line to catch fish. Haven't heard of it?"
"That's rather primitive," Gisena interjected. "I've got a better idea! Find a school of fish, then drop chemical explosives near them. Water is hard to compress, so it'll be even more effective than on land! We can re-purpose the defunct munitions launcher on Verschlengorge's shoulder..."
I was enthused about giving her more technology, but now I'm starting to get worried. Eh, how bad can it get? Not like she'll turn into a mad scientist that we'll have to spend an arc dealing with.
---
The winning vote was [X] Knowledge and [X] No Quarter. You have are at roughly 82% of your health but due to your Accretion Rank are fighting at 91% of full strength.
The pirate's dead; what spoils did the ring of power extract from his defeat? You currently have 2.8 Arete. Choose 2 of the options below, along with any suboptions you can afford. A number of the options below are unique to this point in time.
So we chose Knowledge after all. Shame about that Power, but with the latest news about
Verschlengorge it may behoove us to proceed with caution. Besides, we're finally getting that world lore!
[ ] 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]
-[ ] 2 Arete: Undying Echo - The Forebear could withstand unbelievable punishment, only to rise again. [+++Constitution]
A steady choice, probably one we'll have to take many times in the future to build up our foundation. Like it or not, physical stats are our bread and butter, so investing here from time to time is a must.
[ ] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke - A devastating blow of unutterable magnificence from which no recovery is possible. A powerful, but draining strike that inflicts cursed wounds from which spirit and will leak as freely as blood. Resists healing.
-[ ] 7 Arete: A Thousand Cuts - In the Forebear's grip could even a common knife blaze with fell power. All melee attacks made with the Forebear's Blade now apply cursed wounds. Septuples the power and speed of the Fell-Handed Stroke and allows it to be used with blade projections. Such horrific offensive power allows one to challenge foes vastly stronger.
What's this? Even a common knife? Does that mean an evolution of A Thousand Cuts would allow the Hero to channel Ruin's power through other objects in the future? That would expand our arsenal quite a bit.
For now the base option is also a very good choice. We're somewhat lacking in the offense department, which this would neatly make up for.
[ ] 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?
[++Agility, +Stealth, +Theft], and combat experience now yields some degree of thieving skills. Increases ease and power of the Abduction Forbidden Art.
You know what, I
like this one. Not just for the mechanical effects, which are pretty impressive, but also because this is
our Legend. This is the Hero that Stole the Forebear's Sword and carried it to victory. Not the Tyrant, not the Curse,
us. While the name doesn't sound very encouraging - Ganondorf's ultimate fate is hardly an inspiration to us all - it is what we make of it. Though the Abduction Forbidden Arts probably won't be good for our mental health, increased ease of use or not...
[ ] 7 Arete: Evening Sky - Star-stuff and velvet darkness in a mantle like billowing clouds. The power of this mantle withstands supernal force and deflects the merely mundane, granting comprehensive protection against many of the ills of the mortal realm and beyond. Abducted by he who hungers, cast now into his thrall. He who dons this mantle speaks with the voice of Evening and shares its haunting majesty. Progression can unlock further abilities.
[++Protection, ++Charisma, grants superior resistance to a wide array of status effects such as poison, mental interference, suffocation, bleeding out, etc. Somewhat vulnerable to dispellation, but acts as an ablative layer to protect the wearer from such.]
Ahh, the honorable tradition of killing enemies and taking their stuff. We'll need that Charisma when we reach civilization, and the Protection isn't anything to scoff at either, especially since we don't have any at the moment! Getting another hint about dispellation doesn't worry me at all...
[ ] Hunger - Sleep of the Just - While sleeping, the character is massively more difficult to harm or forcibly move, and may choose to deny interruptions to his slumber, allowing his body to be used as a potent shield.
Is this... could it possibly be... the call of
Justice?! Strange that it would implore us to sleep, but perhaps it is yet another pathway that doesn't involve punching people in the face or being cute. Mayhaps we have to join it in its slumber first in order to have a chance of awakening
Justice!
It's not like we would dogmatically proclaim ourselves Just like some kind of Tyrant, that would be silly!
-[ ] 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.
Seriously enhances the base power. With this pick we're no longer bound by circumstances, able to store up sleeping hours during relaxation time in order to be awake and alert in times of danger! Well, we might still be a little sleepy, but that's not the Hero's fault.
-[ ] 25 Arete: Dead But Dreaming - That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons... Death merely induces slumber in the wearer until the heavens align for his emergence once more. Gain access to the [Outer Sorcery] skill, by which means one's dreams may twist reality towards one's purposes. Apply the effects of To Shatter Heaven to [Outer Sorcery].
Accretion meets Cthulhu and they connive to fill that terrible gaping hole left in our souls in the wake of the unresearched Logos. They fail, of course, but what an extraordinary failure it is!
With this we don't need to find any other excuses for our laziness anymore, for it has transcended mundane definition and turned into a mighty weapon. Win by sleeping! What? We've suffered an unexpected setback? Win by sleeping some more! And if that doesn't work, clearly we weren't sleeping enough.
Nameless must be weeping in envy somewhere out there.
---
A Hunger Sated - Temporary condition that causes the Decimator's Affliction to abate completely for a time. You may upgrade it with Arete. By default: Reduces progress from Hunger by 10% for a month. During that month the Decimator's Affliction slumbers.
[ ] 2 Arete: Quelling - Instead halves the drain rate of the Decimator's Affliction for six months. Additional unknown effect.
[ ] 7 Arete: Conclusion - Reduces progress by 25% instead, but lasts 2 years. It is easier for the hero to find some measure of peace with regards to the losses suffered at the Tyrant's hands, and is less likely to be emotionally compromised by events that remind him of such. Gives you the moral high ground and the ability to travel to lands barren of life, like outer space. Additional unknown effect.
The names are almost as interesting as the Mitigations themselves. I recall one of Seram's possible quests after Diminishment by Gisena being named "The Queller", a fun coincidence.
Wonder if the options lead to opening other Mitigation options in the future and that's what the unknown effects are. Maybe the Queller won't just reduce the drain but also allow to quell the Hunger again by killing certain kinds of enemies? Or feeding it our health/memories/soul?
Speculation about Conclusion is more difficult, but as some suggested, it's probably the one the Accursed would like the most, given that it completely Nullifes our Affliction for the length of two years.
The primary means to gain Arete, as opposed to Experience are:
*Thread participation in the form of (non-spam, non-GM) posts and discussion. Calculated every story/major update.
*Fanworks of all kinds, including reactions, etc
*A sizable additional bonus is applied for non-voting discussion. Almost all discussion unrelated to the current vote qualifies - story & setting or character discussion, making long-term plans, commenting/reacting to sections of the update not related to the vote, commenting/reacting to others' fanworks and speculations, etc.
The dream of the 25-Arete option is still dead (but not forever!), yet the hope of reaching 6 points to take one of the 7-point options still lingers.
Also, changing votes because Justice is dead. Long live the King!
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke
[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves
