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A Simple Transaction I

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Immortalizing your battle this update as a Feat is something you may want to pursue for character considerations regardless of mechanics - it doesn't do anything to the character sheet, but treating this episode as significant can definitely affect Hunger's psyche in a variety of ways. More willing to use deception in combat, more willing to use literal social combat, more careful, more aware of lateral means of attack, but also somewhat more ruthless, etc. It's slight, but could be relevant down the line if tendencies are reinforced.

One question I would pose to you guys is: given your current level of power, is it the proper time to be chasing utility effects, or should you make a serious effort to raise your baseline stats? There is a strong case to be made for the latter. Echo of the Forebear has not been offered so many times just because it's simple! Whether it's brute physical power or the highly-encompassing Rank, fundamentals are key to strength early game and late.
 
Healing is more vital than a mere utility effect though, as it's been repeatedly shown by now. And if we are so afraid of Apocryphal, we definitely need to restore Letrizia to fighting capacity; one way or another. I still want Scent for all of this, despite also being "just" utility however. It's a good reason to use the prep bonus we have for one. Makes hunting for both mitigation and just stat ups way more efficient for another. It's not immediate stats, but it can definitely pay for itself.
 
Once and Future is stomping right now, which also increases the incentive for A&T... I still feel like an immediate tailored response is just very likely to make our near through mid term future much more manageable though.
 
Dark Abstraction said:
[X] Once and Future
[X] Hunt for Healing
[X] Evening Sky - Amaranth Star
[X] Feat - Age and Treachery
[X] Fury
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I do have some analysis of why I chose this as a vote, so enjoy some words written up in an exhausted stupor at 2:20am!



Once and Future is just more interesting to me than Pillars, for all that both are very relevant to us. The narrative opportunity is simply of greater significance to me for thematic reasons. And it's a huge benefit to the godstat, which is always important.

We need to pursue healing, there is simply no other consideration which outweighs the need to heal Letizia, Gisena, and Versh, to say nothing of needing to restore Hunger himself.

And on that note, Rains is essentially a trap option currently, because it makes Hunger more combat capably by killing himself piecemeal. And frankly, even if it would be entirely viable later on I'm not particularly interested in making Hunger's combat strategy involve mutilating himself as a key component. It just feels like gore porn.

Amaranth Star gives some excellent stat increases which are agnostic of Pressure, and also mitigates all instances of Tired and Exhausted now and in the future by 25%, which is pretty huge. We are going to end up getting one or the other later on in this quest. It's not an arguable point. Rihaku wouldn't have made them into quantified statuses if he didn't expect to use them often enough to be worth quantifying. So this is an option which takes a quarter of the bite out of those occasions. I'd call it greed since it's effective long-term, but since it would be actively affecting the Exhausted status we're experiencing right now it's actually OPTIMAL GREED. Long- and short-term benefits.

Age and Treachery was an incredibly fascinating insight into Hunger and I think that drawing a parallel to the Tyrant for him, even as he otherwise is growing more akin the the Tyrant's very Forebear, is a good thing to choose for developmental reasons as well as mechanical. Taking a hard-earned lesson from his enemy and repurposing it into something tempered less cruelly but no less sharply. And Rank 3.75 to Rank 4 is a substantial boost to overall capabilities, which will help in conjunction with Amaranth Star in order to achieve success hunting for healing vectors.

Fury is a requirement to achieve the synergy I've expressed, so there isn't really an argument to be made for choosing it besides its raw necessity. That should be more than enough.
 
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Unelemental said:
I know, I know, we're such a disappointment to the Forebear.
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Huh. It was a joke, but now that I think about it, is it possible that the Forebear is our distant ancestor too, one of his descendants or even he himself getting dimensionally displaced to Earth and fathering our family tree? Which might be part of why the Blade acquiesced to being used against another descendant of his so easily.

Though maybe I'm reading too much into it and it's just our talent with Abduction.
 
It's interesting to think about how previous votes could have played out... if you had saved one of the 7 Arete options, esp. Azure Moon, there could potentially be many more combinations for this vote!
 
Rihaku said:
It's interesting to think about how previous votes could have played out... if you had saved one of the 7 Arete options, esp. Azure Moon, there could potentially be many more combinations for this vote!
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Unfortunately save 2 options wasn't a valid vote, else I would have argued for that.
 
I can't believe this, we are badly injured and people are still refusing the damn healing power, instead deciding that going into an hunt is somehow an good idea? Honestly, at this point, if we die, we 💯 deserve it.

Edit: As long as we fucking survive, we can figure out a way to heal Liz perfectly, we are an progression type Cursebearer. J
 
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Rihaku said:
Idly he wondered if claiming the ring's title had affected his cooking in any way. On the run for years on end, he'd developed a competence at preparing his own meals, though his skills in that area paled compared to his wife's.

He stopped eating for a moment, looking into the distance. As Letrizia continued to feast, Gisena intercepted her chopsticks with her own.

"Such a spoiled Duchess. Save some for the chef!"

"Bwuht it's soh good!" Letrizia whined, attempting to angle around the Sorceress' guard. Gisena, with superhuman dexterity, was sadly much too agile for her.
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I started this out intending it to be just like a bad 10 minute doodle of Hunger looking out into the distance with true sorrow glimmering in his eyes mid-meal as a warmup for Versch

two hours later I have no idea how I got here

edit: oh shit Hunger's missing a Hunger, can't have that

will fix in the morning
 
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Dark Abstraction said:
And on that note, Rains is essentially a trap option currently, because it makes Hunger more combat capably by killing himself piecemeal. And frankly, even if it would be entirely viable later on I'm not particularly interested in making Hunger's combat strategy involve mutilating himself as a key component. It just feels like gore porn.
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While I feel you on that point, I don't think not taking Fury will really stop that sort of thing from happening. Some of it is just Rihaku's writing style, and some of it is Hunger's already established personality. He's perfectly willing to set himself on fire, if doing so makes him more likely to win. Accepting hits to finish a fight faster and with a higher probability of taking fewer overall injuries is already a staple of his fighting style.
 
Microwave MKII said:


I started this out intending it to be just like a bad 10 minute doodle of Hunger looking out into the distance with true sorrow glimmering in his eyes mid-meal as a warmup for Versch

two hours later I have no idea how I got here
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Love Gisena looking absolutely flawless while Hunger looks like he was keelhauled by a horse to this dinner. Appropriately enough, Letrezia looks the most anime. Also, fuck that cloak looks cool as hell.
 
Microwave MKII said:


I started this out intending it to be just like a bad 10 minute doodle of Hunger looking out into the distance with true sorrow glimmering in his eyes mid-meal as a warmup for Versch

two hours later I have no idea how I got here

edit: oh shit Hunger's missing a Hunger, can't have that

will fix in the morning
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its a great picture but hunger looks like a sad speedwagon and i can't unsee it
 
[X] Once and Future
[X] Hunt for Healing
[X] Evening Sky - Amaranth Star
[X] Feat - Age and Treachery
[X] Fury

Puts us at rank 4, lessens the Tired Conditions, Raises Agility, searches for a way for us to heal.

Only thing I'm wondering is if spending the 2 Arete here is a mistake, we may want it to secure a better healing power for ourselves. But great is the enemy of good so let's just get a good power in Amaranth Star while it's there.
 
Dark Abstraction said:
And on that note, Rains is essentially a trap option currently, because it makes Hunger more combat capably by killing himself piecemeal. And frankly, even if it would be entirely viable later on I'm not particularly interested in making Hunger's combat strategy involve mutilating himself as a key component. It just feels like gore porn.
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The point of Rains isn't to intentionally injure ourselves for a power-boost, it's to ensure that when we inevitably get injured again it doesn't push us into a death spiral. It's not a good thing generator that should be triggered as often as possible, it's a bad thing preventor that can get us out of being worn down over time.
 
Dark Abstraction said:
And on that note, Rains is essentially a trap option currently, because it makes Hunger more combat capably by killing himself piecemeal. And frankly, even if it would be entirely viable later on I'm not particularly interested in making Hunger's combat strategy involve mutilating himself as a key component. It just feels like gore porn.
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"But Amarath Star is a trap option since it encourages us to become Encouraged and Tired."

I mean.. I don't like this style of arguments, cause one can then just as well us it to say:

"But Opalescence will encourage us to enter a literal meatgrinder to utilize the protection bonus." or "Echo of the Forebear will encourage us to get into a swordfight with Suizhen right now, making it a trap option." or etc.
 
Alright, why do you pick Rain? Obviously, it outright fixes all our current issues - healing Zea, issue of our own injuries and lack of healing and short term power. It's somewhat inefficient, as we are paying three options(or two options and some Arete) for something that is realistically worth 2.5 or so, but that's fine. Because Rain is ultimate short term option, a reset button that destroys our current death spiral and allows us to make a clean break.

But that's not all, because Rain also means absolutely no Arete expenditure, making it likely that we will get a shoot at 7 Arete next proc.

So you get both short term security and long term scaling thanks to getting 7AP option faster on top of immediately healing Zea. What's not to like?
 
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