A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Another one for the pile.
Fun fact: I've actually taken up cloudwatching and stargazing as a way to destress after reading Even Further Beyond. The sky is more beautiful than I ever really gave it credit for or bothered to notice. There's more to it than sunrises and sunsets, enough that I'm actually motivated to go outside. Just a tangible effect of my experience in that thread. Not super relevant but I do hope to continue the theme to this quest too. I don't think we've covered the darkness of the evening sky after all, a sky neither the blue of day nor filled with the stars of night.
I see we're really leaning into that Tyrannical attitude. I wonder if he'd be more or less disdainful of this fellow if we'd gone with the truce-breaking ambush. On the one hand, perhaps a more Heartless hero would appreciate the chutzpah and the swift response to changing circumstances. On the other hand, he might just think of this guy as a moron for actually believing in parlay between a pirate and their attempted victim.
A lot weaker than I expected. I thought this guy would be miniboss tier maybe but the armour is a lot shittier than I thought it would be, if we can smash chunks out of it with only our well rested levels of strength. I should look up some historical sword fighting manuals; we're not at the levels of superhuman where they'd become entirely irrelevant. Better yet, knife fighting manuals. The Forebear's Blade is ruined enough that most of the maneuvers there might be helpful and people were pretty hard core about them.
cool cool cool no doubt no doubt no doubt
More seriously, I feel like this is a hint that we should've taken Unshattered and should probably take Conclusion when we can. Psychological health might sound like its for chumps but if it turns the otherwise cold and calculating Nightmare Praetor into this significantly more reckless hero, I'm all for some Progression enforced therapy. The Apocryphal alone will probably end up putting us in situations where we'll get turbofucked because Gisena or Zia get taken hostage or we throw ourselves into danger the shield them.
While the hero got a double dose of Heartlessness, I'm not sure if he could take seeing his companions die because of him again, especially when his immediate presence in their lives is literally killing them every second. Moreso because of the Apocryphal since that would give him good reason to believe that some of the stuff they get tangled up in is entirely his fault. And it's not like he'd be wrong to think that either.
It tolls for thee, fucker. Neat that the power of ruin isn't purely physical and seems to almost seek to do harm. Would be cool if one potential upgrade would be to make it more intelligent in causing harm, to have the force of our blade begin actively seek our weaknesses and cracks in the enemy's defenses. Seems like it would be in theme for the power of the Forebear.
In hindsight, grappling with a dude in bizarre enchanted fullplate when you've only got one arm was probably not the best idea. Really gotta look up those sword/knife fighting manuals, though I suppose this is one of those times they wouldn't have helped overmuch due to enchanted weaponry. Magical martial arts are really hard to design and deal with.
For a guy who attacked a mecha with a boat, this guy is pretty smart. At the very least, he really knows how to use his head
More seriously, interesting passage here. Did Accretion protect us from this pale reflection of the Tyrant's blade, our legend having overcome its superior immunizing us from its fire? Really, really glad that we didn't get stabbed worse here, while Hunger's pain tolerance is a thing of legend and Accretion's keeps our combat strength up, getting knocked out of commission on this trip would make our return to civilization a lot harder. I can't imagine the helplessness would do much for Hunger's psychological health either.
I feel like this is a hint that we shouldn't rely on Hunger to filter our tactics for competence, not after we turned down Balance (for the levelheaded calculation) or Unshattered (for the psychological health and degree of inner peace). While he might be more intelligent than us, he's got a lot of mental blindspots and vulnerabilities that mean we can't count on his judgement when they come into play. He might be similar to First Age Odyssial but he's also less competent and has us holding him back. While a bit of aggression to get ourselves established might be okay, we've gonna have to keep a cool head from now on if we want to survive long enough for vengeance on the Hidden Ones.
It's a shame we've lost the flame-blade. Not nearly as good as the Forebear's Blade, sure, but it would've been nice to examine and perhaps sell for supplies on our way to civilization. At the very least, examining it would give a bit more insight into the magics of this world. Hopefully there'll be some documents on the ship that might give us a bit more insight into life in this place.
Buddy tries for the jukes but he just doesn't have what it takes. Hunger is too on point now after he took a hit rushing in because his trauma button got hammered. I guess he is a miniboss though if he could shave off a fifth of our HP. Might've been better off just spamming the blade-wind, even if its significantly more exhausting. His shield would be a problem but with a bit of agility and a good angle, we could potentially knock him of balance. Funny though that the hero fought like a swashbuckler while the pirate fought like a knight.
Also, turns out the Evening Sky comes from the Astral. Interesting, is it a sentient symbiote that attaches itself to humans? But for what purpose? The real big brain maneuver would be to take it with some Repose options and use it as the ultimate blanket, the snuggliest pillow. While we turned down the Forsaken Mask, that doesn't mean we can't pursue comfiness through the power of Progression. What's the point of eternity if you spend it grim and miserable?
Also, we better get a gauntlet or some armour as soon as possible. We've invested too much of our power into it already; between that and the Doom we're just begging for the Apocryphal to create a Last Alliance and arrange things such that in a shocking, completely unpredictable turn of events, our finger gets cut off and we lose all the power we've put in it.
At least none of these fuckers know Abduction.
Oh boy. That last bit is really worrisome. Next thing you know he's gonna be punishing the nine generations of a family, neither chickens nor dogs being spared. If he says he needs to pull an enemy O U T B Y T H E R O O T S, I'm gonna have to bail. We should really get into the habit of showing mercy more often, if only because it'll make conquest harder if our enemies think we'll put them all to death if they try negotiate.
Amazing that a Curse can be held at bay for 2 entire years through just mortal effort, even from a Progression-type Cursebearer. Makes me wonder about the nature of the Affliction. For it to be sated by by something like that indicates that the key to mitigation might now just be in growing infinitely stronger and attacking them with increasingly sophisticated and powerful forms of conceptual+++ assault.
Is this the result of the Accursed providing some indirect help? Perhaps a High Cursebearer assigned to ease the burdens of their brethren when they make worthy choices? That seems spectacularly unlikely but I suppose if there was any time to provide covert aid to a Progressor, it would be in their infancy. Nothing too obvious or its likely they'd never have the strength to become truly great but a little bit here and there might help. Seems pretty unlikely though; while I imagine the Accursed is sympathetic to our desire for vengeance, he and his mightiest servants are probably busy with hypercosmic eldritch horrors or mitigating their own, incomprehensibly worse Curses.
It's fortunate Gisena's an anime character and not a hero of folklore or those wounds might actually stick. Pretty amazing combat tactics on her part to manage for that long. Might be hard to repair her clothes though, unless her genius applies to needlework and we happen to have adequate supplies. I can almost hear her teasing already. We should get to civilization to find some replacements as soon as we can.
What a charmer our hero is.
Also, the absolute savagery of that last line. Gisena calling us out for being so messed up when the worst thing she got fighting monsters largely immune to her powers with a sidearm was a cut in the shoulder. She's not wrong though, we really should've done better with what we had. I'm pretty sure the gun is giving her Ideas for what they could've done in the Manifest Realm to allow mundane soldiers to hold off the orcs. Not super useful against Jotarun but it would do a lot to staunch the bleeding from normal battles.
Don't be so down on yourself, Hunger, some people really dig scars. We already know your face is literally superhumanly gorgeous and I'm sure Accretion wouldn't do you dirty in this regard. They'll just end up making you rougish and/or attractively grizzled, not a carpet of torn flesh. Gisena really proving herself the MVP of this mission with tactical relevance and elevation of moral. Learn well, Letrizia.
Well, she's not wrong, on any account. Though I agree with Orm when he said Gisena II might have been the equivalent of assassinating Franz Ferdinand, I'm not sure what we've got currently is better. At least then, there would be two clear sides: Gisena and not Gisena. The longer we wait, the more candidates will pop up and the fiercing the fighting will become when it happens. I suppose we might get (un)lucky and get another Imperia, Aurelia or Kaguya situation, which would put a halt to any shenanigans before they could truly begin.
That said, kissing wounds like that is deeply unsanitary Gisena. Please don't even joke about that, you're not a vampire-elf.
The cutest in the world.
I fully agree with Gisena, let's keep her. It's good to see her banter skills are slowly getting better even if she keeps getting dunked on, though it makes me want to take more Charisma options so we can keep widening the gap keeping being the big booli.
Hardly sporting, Gisena. I understand you're excited about your degenerate sci-fi isekai fantasies being fulfilled but there's no need to apply technology and high explosives to every possible endeavour. Besides, everyone knows fishing isn't about something as pedestrian as catching fish anyway. Fishing is about sitting in a boat for several hours, trying to pretend that the silence between you and your companions is comfortable and a sign of your strong friendship rather than just having nothing to talk about when exiled from modernity.
Then again, I doubt we could have ever enjoyed that experience with her in tow. She's just too fun!
P.S 1922 words.
Fun fact: I've actually taken up cloudwatching and stargazing as a way to destress after reading Even Further Beyond. The sky is more beautiful than I ever really gave it credit for or bothered to notice. There's more to it than sunrises and sunsets, enough that I'm actually motivated to go outside. Just a tangible effect of my experience in that thread. Not super relevant but I do hope to continue the theme to this quest too. I don't think we've covered the darkness of the evening sky after all, a sky neither the blue of day nor filled with the stars of night.
I see we're really leaning into that Tyrannical attitude. I wonder if he'd be more or less disdainful of this fellow if we'd gone with the truce-breaking ambush. On the one hand, perhaps a more Heartless hero would appreciate the chutzpah and the swift response to changing circumstances. On the other hand, he might just think of this guy as a moron for actually believing in parlay between a pirate and their attempted victim.
A lot weaker than I expected. I thought this guy would be miniboss tier maybe but the armour is a lot shittier than I thought it would be, if we can smash chunks out of it with only our well rested levels of strength. I should look up some historical sword fighting manuals; we're not at the levels of superhuman where they'd become entirely irrelevant. Better yet, knife fighting manuals. The Forebear's Blade is ruined enough that most of the maneuvers there might be helpful and people were pretty hard core about them.
cool cool cool no doubt no doubt no doubt
More seriously, I feel like this is a hint that we should've taken Unshattered and should probably take Conclusion when we can. Psychological health might sound like its for chumps but if it turns the otherwise cold and calculating Nightmare Praetor into this significantly more reckless hero, I'm all for some Progression enforced therapy. The Apocryphal alone will probably end up putting us in situations where we'll get turbofucked because Gisena or Zia get taken hostage or we throw ourselves into danger the shield them.
While the hero got a double dose of Heartlessness, I'm not sure if he could take seeing his companions die because of him again, especially when his immediate presence in their lives is literally killing them every second. Moreso because of the Apocryphal since that would give him good reason to believe that some of the stuff they get tangled up in is entirely his fault. And it's not like he'd be wrong to think that either.
It tolls for thee, fucker. Neat that the power of ruin isn't purely physical and seems to almost seek to do harm. Would be cool if one potential upgrade would be to make it more intelligent in causing harm, to have the force of our blade begin actively seek our weaknesses and cracks in the enemy's defenses. Seems like it would be in theme for the power of the Forebear.
In hindsight, grappling with a dude in bizarre enchanted fullplate when you've only got one arm was probably not the best idea. Really gotta look up those sword/knife fighting manuals, though I suppose this is one of those times they wouldn't have helped overmuch due to enchanted weaponry. Magical martial arts are really hard to design and deal with.
For a guy who attacked a mecha with a boat, this guy is pretty smart. At the very least, he really knows how to use his head
More seriously, interesting passage here. Did Accretion protect us from this pale reflection of the Tyrant's blade, our legend having overcome its superior immunizing us from its fire? Really, really glad that we didn't get stabbed worse here, while Hunger's pain tolerance is a thing of legend and Accretion's keeps our combat strength up, getting knocked out of commission on this trip would make our return to civilization a lot harder. I can't imagine the helplessness would do much for Hunger's psychological health either.
I feel like this is a hint that we shouldn't rely on Hunger to filter our tactics for competence, not after we turned down Balance (for the levelheaded calculation) or Unshattered (for the psychological health and degree of inner peace). While he might be more intelligent than us, he's got a lot of mental blindspots and vulnerabilities that mean we can't count on his judgement when they come into play. He might be similar to First Age Odyssial but he's also less competent and has us holding him back. While a bit of aggression to get ourselves established might be okay, we've gonna have to keep a cool head from now on if we want to survive long enough for vengeance on the Hidden Ones.
It's a shame we've lost the flame-blade. Not nearly as good as the Forebear's Blade, sure, but it would've been nice to examine and perhaps sell for supplies on our way to civilization. At the very least, examining it would give a bit more insight into the magics of this world. Hopefully there'll be some documents on the ship that might give us a bit more insight into life in this place.
Buddy tries for the jukes but he just doesn't have what it takes. Hunger is too on point now after he took a hit rushing in because his trauma button got hammered. I guess he is a miniboss though if he could shave off a fifth of our HP. Might've been better off just spamming the blade-wind, even if its significantly more exhausting. His shield would be a problem but with a bit of agility and a good angle, we could potentially knock him of balance. Funny though that the hero fought like a swashbuckler while the pirate fought like a knight.
Also, turns out the Evening Sky comes from the Astral. Interesting, is it a sentient symbiote that attaches itself to humans? But for what purpose? The real big brain maneuver would be to take it with some Repose options and use it as the ultimate blanket, the snuggliest pillow. While we turned down the Forsaken Mask, that doesn't mean we can't pursue comfiness through the power of Progression. What's the point of eternity if you spend it grim and miserable?
Also, we better get a gauntlet or some armour as soon as possible. We've invested too much of our power into it already; between that and the Doom we're just begging for the Apocryphal to create a Last Alliance and arrange things such that in a shocking, completely unpredictable turn of events, our finger gets cut off and we lose all the power we've put in it.
At least none of these fuckers know Abduction.
Oh boy. That last bit is really worrisome. Next thing you know he's gonna be punishing the nine generations of a family, neither chickens nor dogs being spared. If he says he needs to pull an enemy O U T B Y T H E R O O T S, I'm gonna have to bail. We should really get into the habit of showing mercy more often, if only because it'll make conquest harder if our enemies think we'll put them all to death if they try negotiate.
Amazing that a Curse can be held at bay for 2 entire years through just mortal effort, even from a Progression-type Cursebearer. Makes me wonder about the nature of the Affliction. For it to be sated by by something like that indicates that the key to mitigation might now just be in growing infinitely stronger and attacking them with increasingly sophisticated and powerful forms of conceptual+++ assault.
Is this the result of the Accursed providing some indirect help? Perhaps a High Cursebearer assigned to ease the burdens of their brethren when they make worthy choices? That seems spectacularly unlikely but I suppose if there was any time to provide covert aid to a Progressor, it would be in their infancy. Nothing too obvious or its likely they'd never have the strength to become truly great but a little bit here and there might help. Seems pretty unlikely though; while I imagine the Accursed is sympathetic to our desire for vengeance, he and his mightiest servants are probably busy with hypercosmic eldritch horrors or mitigating their own, incomprehensibly worse Curses.
It's fortunate Gisena's an anime character and not a hero of folklore or those wounds might actually stick. Pretty amazing combat tactics on her part to manage for that long. Might be hard to repair her clothes though, unless her genius applies to needlework and we happen to have adequate supplies. I can almost hear her teasing already. We should get to civilization to find some replacements as soon as we can.
What a charmer our hero is.
Also, the absolute savagery of that last line. Gisena calling us out for being so messed up when the worst thing she got fighting monsters largely immune to her powers with a sidearm was a cut in the shoulder. She's not wrong though, we really should've done better with what we had. I'm pretty sure the gun is giving her Ideas for what they could've done in the Manifest Realm to allow mundane soldiers to hold off the orcs. Not super useful against Jotarun but it would do a lot to staunch the bleeding from normal battles.
Don't be so down on yourself, Hunger, some people really dig scars. We already know your face is literally superhumanly gorgeous and I'm sure Accretion wouldn't do you dirty in this regard. They'll just end up making you rougish and/or attractively grizzled, not a carpet of torn flesh. Gisena really proving herself the MVP of this mission with tactical relevance and elevation of moral. Learn well, Letrizia.
Well, she's not wrong, on any account. Though I agree with Orm when he said Gisena II might have been the equivalent of assassinating Franz Ferdinand, I'm not sure what we've got currently is better. At least then, there would be two clear sides: Gisena and not Gisena. The longer we wait, the more candidates will pop up and the fiercing the fighting will become when it happens. I suppose we might get (un)lucky and get another Imperia, Aurelia or Kaguya situation, which would put a halt to any shenanigans before they could truly begin.
That said, kissing wounds like that is deeply unsanitary Gisena. Please don't even joke about that, you're not a vampire-elf.
The cutest in the world.
I fully agree with Gisena, let's keep her. It's good to see her banter skills are slowly getting better even if she keeps getting dunked on, though it makes me want to take more Charisma options so we can keep widening the gap keeping being the big booli.
Hardly sporting, Gisena. I understand you're excited about your degenerate sci-fi isekai fantasies being fulfilled but there's no need to apply technology and high explosives to every possible endeavour. Besides, everyone knows fishing isn't about something as pedestrian as catching fish anyway. Fishing is about sitting in a boat for several hours, trying to pretend that the silence between you and your companions is comfortable and a sign of your strong friendship rather than just having nothing to talk about when exiled from modernity.
Then again, I doubt we could have ever enjoyed that experience with her in tow. She's just too fun!
P.S 1922 words.
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
-[X] 2 Arete: Undying Echo
[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves
I prefer martial to precede magic. There's real charisma in a person whose exploits extend beyond the bounds of one skill-set.
-[X] 2 Arete: Undying Echo
[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves
I prefer martial to precede magic. There's real charisma in a person whose exploits extend beyond the bounds of one skill-set.
Well, we did conveniently find it while inside a giant artificial Universe filled with lush wildlife and distorted space-time...
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
I think I worked out a way to be sure what does and doesn't need consolidating(Go over the tally in notepad to track similarities and move them together) so plan based tally incoming.
Maragas
Nothing to see here.
- Location
- Tree House
From the tally up there
Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear: 25
-With Undying Echo: 13
-Without Undying Echo: 12
Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke: 24
Hunger - Sleep of the Just : 14
-With Slumber of Aeons: 8
-Without Slumber of Aeons: 6
King of Thieves: 15
Quelling: 2
If wrong or has any problems, tell me I will fix it.
Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear: 25
-With Undying Echo: 13
-Without Undying Echo: 12
Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke: 24
Hunger - Sleep of the Just : 14
-With Slumber of Aeons: 8
-Without Slumber of Aeons: 6
King of Thieves: 15
Quelling: 2
If wrong or has any problems, tell me I will fix it.
- Location
- USA
Changing the Arete totals mid vote almost necessitates a consolidation. Think another way to do it would be to have the first line of the vote be number of Arete spent, and the winner there decides how far down the winning votes we go.
Even that would give most likely give lower numbers an advantage because of people who don't check and change their vote.
Even that would give most likely give lower numbers an advantage because of people who don't check and change their vote.
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
-[X] 2 Arete: Undying Echo
[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just
-[X] 2 Arete: Slumber of Aeons
The one true tank build! Get extra con for tankiness and then sleep of the just to become 200 times tankier than that while asleep!
Was going to take King of Thieves but Rihaku's comments reminded me that our power system is based on other peoples impressions of us so we'd have to actually play a thief.
-[X] 2 Arete: Undying Echo
[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just
-[X] 2 Arete: Slumber of Aeons
The one true tank build! Get extra con for tankiness and then sleep of the just to become 200 times tankier than that while asleep!
Was going to take King of Thieves but Rihaku's comments reminded me that our power system is based on other peoples impressions of us so we'd have to actually play a thief.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Decimator's Affliction gives us too big a signature to be an effective heist criminal if authorities connect the dots. On the other hand it may help us survive when they inevitably because Apocrypha notice Decimator's Affliction is draining people. Who knows?
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Then, during the Consolidation we hit Arete 6, necessitating yet another consolidation..
- Location
- Brazil
One theory about decimation would be that it's tied to the user's desires, rather than just raw power. We call ourselves hunger, have a ring of hunger, and the curse is sated when we fullfil, at least partially, our desires.
Hunger was suffering from not being able to defeat the Tyrant, he hungered for a chance to make things right, and the pirate was enough like him to give a small sense o closure.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking it.
Hunger was suffering from not being able to defeat the Tyrant, he hungered for a chance to make things right, and the pirate was enough like him to give a small sense o closure.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking it.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
I'd complain about y'all posting thousands of words of reactions when I'm trying to reach the end of the thread to vote, but it's awesome.
As for my reaction... that fight was a disaster. Not in the sense that the consequences were terrible, Hunger got off with a moderate wound, but going maximum overberseker caused me to wince. I actually did google "how to fight someone with a sword and shield," but after seeing mostly "It depends" in response, I decided to let Hunger's knowledge of combat take care of it. Didn't want to pollute it with Swordfights 101 from the internet. Hit at the sword hand when it's extended, etc.That was a mistake.
I read a suggestion about feinting for the head and then going for the leg, but apparently going for the head and just beating the shit out of him works too.
Using the hilt was smart, at least. Hooray for video games, telling me to use blunt attacks on plate armor. Seemed very effective.
Not sure why Captain Evening tossed away his shield here, even if it was dinged up. "Shields can be used to attack" was another of the obvious bits of advice from the internet that I didn't relay, but I certainly don't know how that applies in a grapple. Seems odd that Hunger is pulling back, but then I reread that the force of his own blow pushed him away, so he thought it better to move with it. Something to remember for the future? I can't tell how much of that was the helmet's power, but Accretion is pretty anime physics anyway.
And now we're grappling with a guy in armor, wonderful. Then we get stabbed through the side.
I only intended to comment on the fight, but at this point I might as well make a full reaction post.
Particularly for the protagonist, who lost everything, lost most of himself, took two hits of mental corruption, and is guaranteed a stressful life, the risk of becoming (more) callous to life is immense. Cursebearers really do bear curses.The fact that the ring amplifying his desires is more protective than harmful at this point is kinda sad. I'm inclined to vote for not-being-a-dick actions now.
But really, screw Captain Evening.
Good of Mysterious Duchess Z to lend her gun.
Disgusting.
That's 747 words of reaction, looks like.
Voting time.
I don't actually want the rogue archetype, if King of Thieves pulls up in that direction. I mean, it's great, incredibly appropriate for the character so far, and I especially like getting thieving skills out of combat levelups, but. Eh. Taking your enemies' greatest artifacts and using them against them is Hunger's thing, but that's not necessarily the same as having sneakery in day-to-day, which is less interesting to me. Not bad, but I don't want to vote for it.
I don't want to vote for Quelling, because the month without Decimation should give us more time before it's tracked to us than six months of half-power. Not that I'm prepared to defend this position on a moral basis, because, whoo boy.
Slumber of Aeons is way better than I thought, now that I've seen Rihaku's clarification. Sleep of the Just is goofy, so I don't want it without spending Arete, though.
Fell-Handed Stroke probably would have been very helpful in this fight, which makes me want it much more. I also want Undying Echo, so hm. I'm not super eager to save Arete here, we've got an eternity to earn it IC, contingent on us not dying. Of course, we don't have an eternity to play this quest, so I'll split the difference for now and think on it more.
Edit: I like the way LordOfMurder thinks.
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
-[X] 2 Arete: Undying Echo
[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just
-[X] 2 Arete: Slumber of Aeons
As for my reaction... that fight was a disaster. Not in the sense that the consequences were terrible, Hunger got off with a moderate wound, but going maximum overberseker caused me to wince. I actually did google "how to fight someone with a sword and shield," but after seeing mostly "It depends" in response, I decided to let Hunger's knowledge of combat take care of it. Didn't want to pollute it with Swordfights 101 from the internet. Hit at the sword hand when it's extended, etc.That was a mistake.
There was one recommendation of using a spear in response. In other words, use greater reach. Maybe don't charge the dude with a sword, shield, and armor with a broken sword and a mountain of salt. Hunger pls.
I read a suggestion about feinting for the head and then going for the leg, but apparently going for the head and just beating the shit out of him works too.
Using the hilt was smart, at least. Hooray for video games, telling me to use blunt attacks on plate armor. Seemed very effective.
Not sure why Captain Evening tossed away his shield here, even if it was dinged up. "Shields can be used to attack" was another of the obvious bits of advice from the internet that I didn't relay, but I certainly don't know how that applies in a grapple. Seems odd that Hunger is pulling back, but then I reread that the force of his own blow pushed him away, so he thought it better to move with it. Something to remember for the future? I can't tell how much of that was the helmet's power, but Accretion is pretty anime physics anyway.
And now we're grappling with a guy in armor, wonderful. Then we get stabbed through the side.
At least he realizes it. Bladewind spam saves the day, and it's much stronger than I expected. I was treating it as a shitty substitute for a ranged attack useful only because we don't have any weapon but a sword, but it can carve up the super shield and super armor. We were told that a few dozen attacks could break the ship, but I guess that bounced off my brain. This is amazing, because presumably it'll scale amazingly.
I only intended to comment on the fight, but at this point I might as well make a full reaction post.
Quick hop back to the beginning; Hunger's perspective is incredibly questionable, but I feel the same. What a jerk. Actually, I think there's a danger of empathizing too much with the protagonist, here. The Doom of the Tyrant, the Decimator's Affliction, have broadened my mind a bit. I generally try to avoid acting like a jackass, and often succeed! Some level of jackassery and mass-murder is now mandatory, so I can't file it under "off-limits" and might go too far even when it isn't mandatory. Bad habits, you know.
Particularly for the protagonist, who lost everything, lost most of himself, took two hits of mental corruption, and is guaranteed a stressful life, the risk of becoming (more) callous to life is immense. Cursebearers really do bear curses.The fact that the ring amplifying his desires is more protective than harmful at this point is kinda sad. I'm inclined to vote for not-being-a-dick actions now.
But really, screw Captain Evening.
Checking back in with the team, Gisena is... doing better than we are! Embarrassing. I underestimated her, particularly the effects of the physical coalescence buffs. Why did we have to carry her again?
Good of Mysterious Duchess Z to lend her gun.
I can't tell if she's throwing shade at Hunger's performance, but I certainly hope she is. Please rub it in until the lesson sticks.
Zee tries to join in on the banter, and critically fails! That doesn't even make sense. Luckily Hunger can nudge her on to the right track.
I want to gasp at her destructiveness here, but the... 503rd worst part of the Decimator's Affliction is that we lose the moral high ground in basically any argument. God, Gisena is just going to be, like, the worst. Not looking forward to that conversation from Hunger's perspective, but it should be beautiful from this side of the screen. Setting aside how she's probably going to mitigate it, thereby saving countless lives... pretty good for a nihilist. She's gonna get so much perverse enjoyment at being such a hero.
Disgusting.
That's 747 words of reaction, looks like.
Voting time.
I don't actually want the rogue archetype, if King of Thieves pulls up in that direction. I mean, it's great, incredibly appropriate for the character so far, and I especially like getting thieving skills out of combat levelups, but. Eh. Taking your enemies' greatest artifacts and using them against them is Hunger's thing, but that's not necessarily the same as having sneakery in day-to-day, which is less interesting to me. Not bad, but I don't want to vote for it.
I don't want to vote for Quelling, because the month without Decimation should give us more time before it's tracked to us than six months of half-power. Not that I'm prepared to defend this position on a moral basis, because, whoo boy.
Slumber of Aeons is way better than I thought, now that I've seen Rihaku's clarification. Sleep of the Just is goofy, so I don't want it without spending Arete, though.
Fell-Handed Stroke probably would have been very helpful in this fight, which makes me want it much more. I also want Undying Echo, so hm. I'm not super eager to save Arete here, we've got an eternity to earn it IC, contingent on us not dying. Of course, we don't have an eternity to play this quest, so I'll split the difference for now and think on it more.
Edit: I like the way LordOfMurder thinks.
[X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
-[X] 2 Arete: Undying Echo
[X] Hunger - Sleep of the Just
-[X] 2 Arete: Slumber of Aeons
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Highly unlikely. Unless this incident was at the tail end and we're going to be out shortly, we've got another month in here. The curse will be at whatever level of mitigation Gisena can provide only if Quelling is not taken right now once we enter the city. Full power in the worst case scenario.
- Location
- Pindorama
Morally, the best option is to somehow reach 7 Arete in time for the vote consolidation, if it even happens that is. The spend nothing vote might just win.
I don't think needing to play into King of Thieves is going to be a problem; stealing stuff is already part of our legend and between our charisma and intelligence we are pretty rogue-ish already. Arguably, this expansion of means of attack is just the continuation of Praetor; it's a build that benefits heavily from preparation and initiative, and thieving and stealth skills greatly help both of those things; in that sense, it's the most synergistic with previous options.
I don't think needing to play into King of Thieves is going to be a problem; stealing stuff is already part of our legend and between our charisma and intelligence we are pretty rogue-ish already. Arguably, this expansion of means of attack is just the continuation of Praetor; it's a build that benefits heavily from preparation and initiative, and thieving and stealth skills greatly help both of those things; in that sense, it's the most synergistic with previous options.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Hmm. If we had taken Brand of The Champion.. this would have been a rather meme journey. The pirate would have issued a quest immediately, Gisena would insist we do something before helping kill the monster.. As for Slumber, the pirate would probably have shown up while we are in our mandatory sleep period, because the curse is an ass.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
I realized the Stealth abilities granted by King of Thieves may provide a form of Decimator's Mitigation once taken to conceptual levels so Fark it/YOLO:
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke
[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves
[X] 2 Arete: Quelling
[X] Forebear's Blade - Fell-Handed Stroke
[X] 2 Arete: Sword That Was Stolen - King of Thieves
[X] 2 Arete: Quelling
Rihaku
The Internet
You guys aren't far from 5 Arete!
This would be more like early Solar Ulyssian very shortly!
Hm? Why would you have to fear that? Just because he told a would-be overlord who was nameless to live in interesting times, or something?
GISENA: Why does it sound like you'd enjoy that?
Well, a skilled thug to Hunger's like is well into "capable knight" for the average person. Hunger's standards are those of an endgame melee protagonist, after all!
There is a proud tradition of killing and absorbing one's mightiest or most relevant foes to sate the hunger within! Of course, those who rely on such means find themselves returning to that well over and again, a reckless habit to make...
Perhaps! For some cases the latter really is what's required...
She has CON 50, she'll live. And so will Hunger! Unless he dies of embarassment first...
This would be more like early Solar Ulyssian very shortly!
Hm? Why would you have to fear that? Just because he told a would-be overlord who was nameless to live in interesting times, or something?
GISENA: Why does it sound like you'd enjoy that?
Well, a skilled thug to Hunger's like is well into "capable knight" for the average person. Hunger's standards are those of an endgame melee protagonist, after all!
There is a proud tradition of killing and absorbing one's mightiest or most relevant foes to sate the hunger within! Of course, those who rely on such means find themselves returning to that well over and again, a reckless habit to make...
Perhaps! For some cases the latter really is what's required...
She has CON 50, she'll live. And so will Hunger! Unless he dies of embarassment first...
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
If it was purely about stats I'd be voting for king of thieves plus slumber of aeons but since our power apparently includes characterization I'd rather not steer into thievery.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
We need to find some sleepifying magic to use this in combat. I'd say "or supertech anaesthetic," but there may not be anything that acts quicker than a few seconds as it gets to the brain.
Baddies use their ultimate technique and Hunger activates "This is boring, I'm taking a nap," and tanks it. Stat boosts aside, it's such a power move.
Maragas
Nothing to see here.
- Location
- Tree House
Easy, we will do it like Luffy and Garp (and Ace but who cares he died)
- Location
- Earth
voidspace Hello Kitty backpack is a go
- Location
- Pindorama
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
If the Devourer does give curse mitigation I really doubt it's going to be Decimation mitigation. Unless it's the sort of mitigation where if we eat enough people it suppresses our death aura.
Maragas
Nothing to see here.
- Location
- Tree House
And now I have truly no salt left for taking Gisena rather than Ceathlynn.
voidspace Hello Kitty backpack is a go
Supporting it for the thread image of course.
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