Damn it, I liked that one. Heavens forbid Balance should overcome naked extravagance.
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
[X] Aggressive
[X] Bright Vanquisher
[X] +.1 Rank
Voting for Bright Vanquisher since Murderer's Panoply is gone...
Don't really understand the popularity of Regiment + Conservative combo. Might sound strange since we're talking about the Temple, but this choice looks too cautious, like an instinctual swing back from the YOLO votes to the other extreme.
Regiment's defenses allow Hunger to tank much greater punishment, so it seems sensible to use it to its full potential, i.e. go into more dangerous areas of the Temple. Get the most bang for your Arete. Go Aggressive, tank traps and enemies with Con & Nullity, get enough XP asap to patch up the offensive hole in your build.
If we insist on playing it safe(r), might as well swap to Barest Cut: it actually greatly benefits from the lower danger of Conservative, leaves us with more Arete when we do move in deeper, and it's pretty safe for Hunger's companions.
On the topic of their safety, the combination of Regiment and Conservative also seems somewhat redundant for it.
Remember, we have less than two weeks until Apocryphal is active again. Ideally, we want to be done with the Temple by then, which is more likely with Aggressive. We already lost half a day going around the temple.
Staying around the entrance guts the momentum we got from the Quickest Route even further, both in time and effectiveness. "I am the Danger" bonus is very synergetic with Regiment build, with its comparatively low attack. Losing half its effect right from the start will lower Hunger's killiness, and thus his speed of afvancement, even more. Perhaps even more importantly, it will affect Hunger mentally. "This choice may substantially affect characterization". It feels like making Hunger so adverse to risks when he is a) on a timer and b) has the strong defensive capabilities of Regiment may negatively impact his future growth in the longer term, which is pretty bad for a Hunger Ring build and Apocryphal Curse.
Every minute, Ber is getting stronger. Remember the Draurg meme? The Temple was chosen in big part to stop it from happening. Let's maximize our gains while we can. Either by getting another major pick from Barest Cut, or by playing more aggressively.
[X] Bright Vanquisher
[X] +.1 Rank
Voting for Bright Vanquisher since Murderer's Panoply is gone...
Don't really understand the popularity of Regiment + Conservative combo. Might sound strange since we're talking about the Temple, but this choice looks too cautious, like an instinctual swing back from the YOLO votes to the other extreme.
Regiment's defenses allow Hunger to tank much greater punishment, so it seems sensible to use it to its full potential, i.e. go into more dangerous areas of the Temple. Get the most bang for your Arete. Go Aggressive, tank traps and enemies with Con & Nullity, get enough XP asap to patch up the offensive hole in your build.
If we insist on playing it safe(r), might as well swap to Barest Cut: it actually greatly benefits from the lower danger of Conservative, leaves us with more Arete when we do move in deeper, and it's pretty safe for Hunger's companions.
On the topic of their safety, the combination of Regiment and Conservative also seems somewhat redundant for it.
- With Conservative alone, Hunger will be close enough to help Letrizia in case of an attack (plus she would have Gisena's help). With Regiment alone, she will be protected automatically.
- Considering Apocryphal, taking both might even endanger her more, since it has a higher chance of an Apocryphal strike when Hunger is deeper inside with Gisena, and Letrizia is alone outside.
Remember, we have less than two weeks until Apocryphal is active again. Ideally, we want to be done with the Temple by then, which is more likely with Aggressive. We already lost half a day going around the temple.
Staying around the entrance guts the momentum we got from the Quickest Route even further, both in time and effectiveness. "I am the Danger" bonus is very synergetic with Regiment build, with its comparatively low attack. Losing half its effect right from the start will lower Hunger's killiness, and thus his speed of afvancement, even more. Perhaps even more importantly, it will affect Hunger mentally. "This choice may substantially affect characterization". It feels like making Hunger so adverse to risks when he is a) on a timer and b) has the strong defensive capabilities of Regiment may negatively impact his future growth in the longer term, which is pretty bad for a Hunger Ring build and Apocryphal Curse.
Every minute, Ber is getting stronger. Remember the Draurg meme? The Temple was chosen in big part to stop it from happening. Let's maximize our gains while we can. Either by getting another major pick from Barest Cut, or by playing more aggressively.
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Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
A very good question in relation to the Temple, but he seems to be pondering the village that sprung up around it? Does he need the "Money can be exchanged for goods and services" talk?
The Temple, anyway, has the purpose of being mondo bait, above all else.
That's just not true, Hunger, and potentially dangerous. Right? Please be self-aware of your limitations, she does have to be careful how she speaks to you if she wants to contribute.
This is a nice line, because Hunger's judgment is indeed supernal. Not that it's always good, but it is Rank-backed and therefore could be described as celestial.
Which still doesn't give her supernal judgment, in that sense. But it's incredibly interesting; might Gisena start at a higher Rank if she figures out how to use it? Would it work in reverse, with Hunger finding some magics easier with his big shadow?
She really is. Maybe what I just said was part of what Sorcerous Advancement 1 was about? Not that I regret my choice to heal the robot, especially if Gisena comes inside with us.
The banter is getting a bit repetitive in places, but isn't that just what a meme is? Again I'm tempted to overanalyze the conversations of Cha monsters, particularly since Gisena is being very blatant about avoiding Tyrant procs here. A warning of some kind? Zee seems a bit sullen, maybe deliberately being antityrannical after the Temple could be nice.
This is, of course, garbage. Only to be expected with all the spacewarping going around. I wonder what happens if you look too closely at that? Can you see the changes, or do gribblies get injected straight into your brain?
Or maybe just a very small robot, or maybe friends that weren't dead. Isn't it sad?
I guess brooding productively is what gave us .5 Arete, but it still seems almost like an oxymoron. Thinking of what would have been useful in past problems does seem to fit the bill, though. Does this mean that Hunger is aware of Arete? Or the building thereof, I suppose, the moment of brilliance like when he captured the evening sky was definitely obvious. No, no, I'm confusing mechanics for reality again.
She has no shoes to throw at us this time, it appears. I worry that "ethereal, languid, and inescapable" applies to the temple as much as Gisena.
Normally, Hunger seems to be roughly even with Gisena in the bants (though she gets bonus points for doing the hard work of being the aggressor), but he absolutely lost this one. Not only was it a lame comeback, but she had an excellent reason to talk about the weather! Step up your game, bro.
I don't have much to say about the moon being in exactly the right place from any angle that they haven't said. Paranoia intensifies. Watch out for fuckery.
The sun, on the other hand, isn't welcome in the Temple of the Moon. Makes sense, but is the temple weaker during the day, or just more grumpy? Might have to find out the hard way.
What a mealy-mouthed resolution, but I agree. "Until the end" would be too bold, here.
And now I'm sad. Why can't there be happy endings? Here's hoping tomorrow's sun with bring warmth with its heat. We can make it so, if we don't die by taking stupid risks.
I normally approve of FULL POWER, MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION dungeon bypassing, but I really don't want to tick this thing off given our relative weakness. I'll pass. Cutting it open is even worse!
Luckily, this convenient and not-at-all suspicious thing happens! Would be nice if it let us out as easily, but I have my doubts. The relationship doesn't seem obvious to me; the Temple is greedy, holding the moon past its time. It offers challenge, which the Ring seeks. Moon and Ring are round, but that's shitpost logic. Blood in the Temple? Blood+Moon=Blood Moon (also menstruation, that's certainly not it), so combining with my time-based speculation, is there an eclipse coming up? Check with Zee, this might actually have potential.
Thinking back to the unwarm heat of the sun, the moon occluding it makes me more confident in this idea.
Definitely getting Hobbit vibes here, although the Ring there wasn't connected to the moon and the door.
That "If" is something I feel is more relevant the more I read this. Hopefully (I've been thinking that word a lot) she and Verschlengorge are alright, and that we are. Won't be much of an Immortal Vanguard if we prove that none of us are actually immortal.
Fanwork#803 Words
This update had a lot to make me think about, but not as much to type about as I thought. @Unelemental wrote way more, looks like stepping up the speculation game and nostalgia is the way to really flesh reactions out and make them work.
Seriously, though, eclipses gotta be important.
Edit: The Temple resonates with the Ring and not the awesome Evening Sky? I want a refund.
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Rihaku
The Internet
I know right
TwistedJester
Tired Lurker King
- Location
- Hell
Why so little support for Absolute Focus? It gives a flat percentage increase that seems to trump the mystery box, and the marginal power level increase. While it does cost some growth it allows for a superior chance of success.
I find it more strange that more Conservatives didn't vote for Ring affinity. If one focuses on careful exploration, wouldn't it make sense to actually try and follow the puzzle?
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The full moon of January. I'm curious to know where this theme is coming from; the Diagram had the stars woven into their existence from our first introduction but known of our powers seem particularly Moon adjacent except for our Mitigation. Probably not Evening Sky, which seems much more holistic in general. Is this due to our general night/sleep theme?
I'd talked about it in this vote's argument but it's interesting how Hunger conceptualised his Progression as a form of harvest. I suppose when your growth so far has been so intimately tied to combat, that makes sense. But now I'm curious to see how the nature of the choices offered change when we stop powerleveling through murder. Would out talking an enemy let us learn lessons from them? Could high stakes crafting make us better at McGuyvering? How about commanding troops?
Regardless, we should head to Letrizia's civilization as soon as possible. I don't really like the idea of Hunger associating combat and combat alone with strength, we'll need to be more flexible to actually complete our Geas task.
I'm glad to see Hunger's reasoning isn't too self flagellating or otherwise unproductive. He's doing this because he doesn't want Letrizia to suffer pain, not because of any misplaced guilt or responsibility. He assessed the risks of this course of action both to him and to them and decided the expected value was worth it.
Glad we didn't go with Tyrant Beast now, I can't imagine the mentality required to think "lol I'll leave them alone for 10 hours and intentionally trigger the Apocryphal because I feel so bad that she got hurt". That would probably be a much less pleasant version of Hunger to play as.
Daw, he really does care about her. I'm enjoying the male tsundere energy we've got going on with Hunger. They're becoming closer on a more emotional level now, presumably after the romantic moonlit night of soulful staring. Given Rihaku's previous comment that +s could translate to power in sufficient quantities or with an appropriate ability, I'm wondering if we can unlock perks for them with enough +s. Is that why a consistent strategy when picking thread participation bonuses is a good idea?
Damn Hunger, just gonna destabilise an ecology right off the bat, huh? I really didn't think he'd go for carving a path of destruction through a bunch of innocent fantasy woodland creatures would have been his go to, though given he took the Decimator,I suppose he can't give much of a shit about the environment. Not that there's much of an environment to ruin here. I imagine we wouldn't have had to do that with King of Thieves. I really regret not grabbing some supernal stealth honestly, it was super strong for a 2 Arete option. And the additional magical systems would be pretty overrated anyway, Accretion is more than enough for us now.
Also, given how it can manipulate encounter rates, Rank proves itself to be the only stat that really matters. Except for Luck, which we should also start raising immediately. Considering how the hero's life has gone, his is probably in the negatives.
Good of Hunger to carry his thoughts from his fight with Seralize here, getting this thing to let down its guard with a bunch of pointless attacks before landing a truly telling blow. Interesting that the power of ruin can attack spirits themselves but perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. Hmm, could that be another potential series of upgrades? Expanding what we can target with the power of ruin? Maybe some kind of phantasmal sword intent to strike at the mind or an aura of ruin that empowers the attacks of our allies and acts like explosive ablative armour against the weapons of our enemies.
Also, what an incredibly rad monster. Yet another thing I like about Rihaku's writing is the ability to imagine up shit like this on the fly, making it fit both the name of the option and the powers it coughs up.
Huh, no wonder the Mire Wolf got absolutely wrecked when we could strike directly at his spirit, I'd imagine he'd just kick it as a ghost if we hadn't. Does that mean enemies that can strike directly at our spirit can damage our Second Form? Because that would be deeply unfortunate, especially if Pristine Star just doesn't work on wounds of the spirit. Hopefully, further progression will allow us to fix both of those things.
Damn it, Hunger! When we talk about making a phylactery, this is absolutely not what we mean. Becoming a punch ghost is rad and all but it's not even close to lichdom. I guess we've still got the ring for that and the Forebear wasn't a little skeleton nerd so I suppose it's not irredeemably bad.
To continue the speculation above, I wonder if we can switch between healing ghostfire to the power of ruin? I imagine passing through someone when you're made of the essence of destruction would really fuck up their day and probably the rest of their life.
When I first read this, I actually let out a startled "holy shit" because I was absolutely not expecting to go from "I now have a rad spirit form" to "better kill myself so I can take it on a test drive." Seriously Hunger, what if you'd gotten attacked by something actually dangerous?
I get that you're eager to test your magic ghost powers and all but there's no need to be in such a rush to become one. Could you not have waited at least until you had access to some level of medical attention and also maybe not stabbed yourself in the fucking heart?
>death is a major inconvenience
I had to laugh. Is it, Hunger? Are you sure? Because considering how eager you where to kill yourself, I'd have thought you'd think of it as a minor hassle more than anything else. I suppose the clothing damage might be an issue, what with you stabbing yourself in the heart and all. Too bad Pristine can't fix that up.
More seriously, is the stamina required for phasing spiritual? If it's not, then this is great since intangibility is a pretty useful movement option and we'll get better at it as we up our CON. It's not like the people of this universe can infuse locations with Pressure or anything, though I suppose a significant enough place might have a level of conceptual weight in its own right.
Ghost Hovercraft is some powerful energy. I wish it came with some more developed spectral powers but hopefully that will come in time. At the very least, we should be able to possess people and shit.
And now, time to massively over analyse dialogue.
I wonder how Gisena would react if she actually found out that we stabbed ourself in the heart intentionally to take on this shape when we were basically fine otherwise? She puts on a great facade of chill and banter most of the time but it can't be easy to see someone you care about throw themselves into terrible peril due to a lifetime of exactly that. Especially when you find out all his friends died for him and he's probably got some issues over that.
Would be cool to see a conversation between the two just talking about their pasts and their life but since wordcount is limited I suppose that must be left for omakes.
I think Hunger would've been a good father. He seems like the type of person who needs someone to care for to remain mentally healthy*, which is good because Letrizia needs and deserves to feel cared for. I wonder if she's an orphan or if her parents are just cold hearted bastards? Regardless, five +'s seem like a lot to earn over the course of a week but perhaps that's just our top tier charisma putting in work. Really curious to learn more about the circumstances of her life now.
*after his family died, he just did the big dick Odyssial thing and decide to care about everyone in the world. What a hero.
Eyyy, maybe it's just the shipping goggles now welding to my face but this seems like a very different response to earlier. Hunger is actually flirting back and not just ignoring her completely. How fortunate. Do your best Gisena, the Hunger route might seem long but he's really not as cold as he pretends to be.
The cutest in the universe.
Time for a play by play:
>she touches us
>she warns us that we're vulnerable to her powerset and she could extinguish our life accidentally
>we respond by saying that we consider a minor inconvenience to be a worse problem
Was this an actually very sweet low key expression of trust between the two? Because that's adorable and made all the better for being hidden in the usual banter they share. Man, if this is what +social gets us, we should take it more often. It's good stuff.
Or maybe I'm just hallucinating all of this.
Nope, I'm 100% correct, that ++Gisena vote is probably our best choice yet. Definitely worth using a marker to get. Might we have ended the waifu war before it could even begin? I suppose an overwhelming alpha strike is one way to get peace in our time.
Hunger is deeply uncomfortable with the sentiments sincerely expressed and so decides to deflect by poking at an entirely and accepted weakness of hers.
Subtle hint from Gisena telling our boy to heed her previous advice and be temporarily content with the success he's found? Or just banter? If it's the former, it's unfortunate we took the Temple of the False Moon, she might have to stage an intervention for us at this rate. Would be neat to see Gisena in srs bsns mode, even if the circumstances surrounding it wouldn't be ideal.
Real talk, other than cooking, what skills does Gisena not know? And which ones has she just not gotten around to mastering yet?
P.S: 1681 words.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
Thoughts.
The laser cannon goes without saying, but we gotta get Gisena a hoverboard. And a few backups. For now she can be our backpack again, I can't believe I forgot that.
Worrying about Ber is for people who aren't Temple-entering lunatics, we'll be ahead of the curve if we aren't dead.
Cut has to kill a monster, I recommend cutting it. Rage is weird to plan for, but better if planning is a total failure.
I'm scared.
The laser cannon goes without saying, but we gotta get Gisena a hoverboard. And a few backups. For now she can be our backpack again, I can't believe I forgot that.
Worrying about Ber is for people who aren't Temple-entering lunatics, we'll be ahead of the curve if we aren't dead.
Cut has to kill a monster, I recommend cutting it. Rage is weird to plan for, but better if planning is a total failure.
I'm scared.
Planning for Rage is easy!
Step 1: Monster eats our heart, we turn ghostly.
Step 2: Monster eats our heart again, we get angry.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit?
Step 1: Monster eats our heart, we turn ghostly.
Step 2: Monster eats our heart again, we get angry.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit?
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Poor Seram. Don't worry, wanting beautiful women to step on you is an omniversal constant. I doubt anybody will judge you for liking a little bit of rough stuff after the shit that the Geas would take them through. Could this be a defense of his purity? Virginity is what gave him Progression, why would he ever give it up for such a temporary and meaningless thing as sex? Better to condition yourself to flinch away from those you might be attracted to entirely. Or maybe he tried to do the latter and it resulted in the former.
Sometimes, when you read translated literature, you get the impression that what you're reading has genuinely lost a lot in the process of translation. Not for your generic, forgettable xianxia but never have I wanted to know Chinese more than when I read Nightfall because that seems like a story that would be genuinely amazing in the original language, considering how good it is when in English. My House of Horrors is another novel like that, though perhaps part of the problem is my reluctance to read it as night with terrifying music playing in the background.
Cowardly, I know.
Agreed, but only after he does the Rihakuverse Battle Fantasy High School Dating Sim AU quest that we've all been waiting for. I think he'd be quite good at horror too, considering his comedic timing and ability to create tension in the voters. Those skills don't perfectly translate to a new genre but I don't think it would take too much to adapt them. And god help us when he turns his imagery to describing violent murder.
Ah, the worst part of supernatural horror: the end is never the end. In these worlds, being slain beyond the possibility of recovery is a luxury.
One of my favourite TRPG campaigns I ever played was as an entirely normal mortal in this kind of urban horror setting, though that was less paranormal and more cosmic. This part is so effective at setting up that exact kind of atmosphere, where you live in a world filled with murderous sociopaths, psychotic bastards and people so desperate to survive that they're willing to do whatever it takes.
What I really love though is how it then tacks on "and also ghosts exist, which sucks too, huh?". It's a very "mortal in the World of Darkness" vibe, which is more or less what I got out of My House of Horrors, though Chen Ge is absolutely, 100% an Ascension Mage in most of the ways that really matter, if one with a weird paradigm.
Fuck yeah.
Probably the easiest and most likely to lead to real happiness and success for our protagonist. Plunder the surface levels secrets of the supernatural for an insurmountable advantage in mundane affairs. You don't need to have Chen Ge's menagerie of horrors to massively improve the quality of your day to day life in this kind of hell world.
Trouble with an interview? Just figure out what your interviewer likes ahead of time with the Pen Spirit and customise your approach. Rival at work? Terrorise the fuck out of them with your ghost buddy until they can't even think straight, let alone compete with you. Mysterious disappearances in your town? You're not a clueless chump and have disposable income, you can just leave.
Moreover, this one is well suited for that kind of cursory foray since he's going to be pretty good at dealing with low level shit. Instinct for danger and knowledge of tropes would let him avoid triggering the worst sorts of traps and hauntings while running skills would let him escape fairly well whenever he fucks up. And even after his first spoopy encounter, he can keep going since he's not a total coward.
His weaknesses are pretty easy to deal with too since both can be resolved with money; just dip your toe into one or two supernatural events, use whatever resources you get to find a job. From there, hiring a prostitute and getting a more secure place with some transport is pretty easy, even if the former might lower our spiritual purity.
Of course, it's that exact easiness that limits his route's potential; this guy doesn't actually have a reason to stay in the game outside of thrills. The first time his life is in actual, mortal danger he's going to bail. Honestly, getting to 40% completion would be pretty crazy under these conditions. Therefore, while it might lead to happiness and a good ending, it's not really my thing. 3 Star are the very most.
The top streamer in the world? Jesus, that's a lot of money, even if it does rely on him putting himself into likely mortal danger. Hopefully we can leverage that initial burst of immense popularity into something more sustainable that a life or death exploration of a haunting every single time. Maybe by documenting his preparations and general vlogging stuff?
Wouldn't draw as big of an audience as putting himself in mortal danger but it would be a good stopgap and give him time to rest without entirely abandoning the thing that made him so popular. While he'll have to reinvest a lot of it into actually purchasing various lifesaving materials, he might still have enough on the side to put away into stonks or something to prepare for retirement.
And this guy is absolutely, 100% going to retire. While the threat of starvation and the temptation of success will keep him going on this road long enough to get into the real shit, I doubt he'll make it to the Blood World or anything or if he does it'll only be an unplanned accident that happens when a stream goes horribly wrong.
Still though, until then the money would do a lot to make him much safer, especially if he picks up an ablative meatshield or three. Between strong social skills, the fame of his channel and being old enough to have the naivety beaten out of him, I think he'd be able to recruit and direct them as necessary. Would pair well with an option that improves his read on people.
I'm leaning towards this one. Resources mean we don't have to deal too much with mundane bullshit while their source gives us a clear direction to keep heading. Most importantly, while he's going to delve deeper than the Enthusiast, he's not nearly as in the know as the Exorcist. That's ideal since a little bit of mystery can add a lot to a horror story.
Wow, I didn't know we'd get to play as a Cursebearer candidate.
I'm guessing this is a bit more action/horror than pure spoops or maybe those spoops will come from the terrible, terrible conditions of life as a homeless person. Sadly, our spiritual condition likely precludes the possibility of abusing the supernatural for secular gain. Maybe find sanctuary in an underground church group? I'm sure there's some things we can do without being unethical.
On the paranormal side of things, I'm guessing this is our route to the ultimate final true ending where we figure out what's wrong with this place and try to fix it. Despite being stronger in almost all attributes than the other two, this might actually be the hardest route of them all. The lack of resources hampers our ability to utilise our knowledge severely and our fugitive status makes finding a sufficiently powerful sponsor much harder than it would otherwise be, as does the lack of ID.
A strong option, even at the level of a Beginner. Perfect night vision alone does a lot to up our survivability and being able to perceive Spectres makes us less likely to blunder face first into horrible death. The intel on the Blood World would do a hell of a lot for an Exorcists trying to figure out what's wrong or attempting to exploit it. And of course, understanding humans better is useful for pretty much everyone.
I'm guessing future advancements might lead to a level of precog, postcog and pericog involving violence or ghosts and perhaps the ability to perceive the sins of others through the lens of metaphor. It's a really strong option, even if the eye might throw some people off or make the Exorcist easier to identify.
Good pick with the Exorcist since it manages to mitigate the worst parts of being homeless and makes the Blood World significantly easier to deal with logistically., important for the pick that's most likely to go on expeditions there. I don't think the other two benefit quite as much from this but the resistance to pain and ghost chills is pretty strong given how relatively soft they are. That it has no external signs is also nice but not being able to get drunk is kinda rough.
Future advancements might include improvements to stamina, the ability to derive strength from their consumption,
Damn, being able to communicate with spectres clearly is great and echolocation is on the level with darkvision. Could be really good for a ghost army build since it lets you get right into the negotiations immediately. Also helpful for the Exorcist, both to free ghosts from their torment and to get some sweet lore on what the fuck is up with this place.
I'm guessing future advancements involve speaking the Spectral Tongue, supernaturally good foley work and ventriloquism, maybe a charisma boost. Solid for a social build
Deeply, deeply suspicious of any option that involves black blood, especially when the sick blurb meant to sell it calls it an omen of evil. Being able to draw in ink on the fly could be helpful for rituals though, as is the general survivability it has. Could feeding enough of our blood to a Specter over time rank it up permanently? Would be nice to have if we managed to snag ourself a Zhang Ya. Best for an Exorcist build, don't think the others have the skills to really take advantage.
Beyond Journeyman, I can see increased blood generation, making your blood more metaphysically potent, perhaps a level of control or influence over those Spectres that consume it.
Who needs artifacts or sensory powers when you can PUNCH a GHOST in its stupid FACE! Make like a Dr. McNinja and just beat the shit out of the spoops with your bare hands, literally squeeze their heads off with your kung fu action grip. Probably not optimal but definitely hilarious; I'd love to take it with Enthusiast and turn it into a classic revenge story where he trains to destroy the people that killed his crew and then retires on the royalties from his book + movie deals. Probably not enough to defeat a Red Specter of serious power though, no matter what additional artifacts he might get.
Further advancements clearly include the Ghoul's Claws, the Reaper's Chokehold and becoming Yasutora Chad. More seriously, maybe an upgrade to the psychometry to expand the domain and accuracy of the results, a chilling touch that repulses ghosts and possibly a vitality drain effect.
Not great for the Enthusiast, who isn't going to head to the Blood World and who could be seriously affected by the anemia. Nor is any Spectre he'd have a chance of capturing be worth the effort and care necessary to make use of it.
The Enthusiast might find it a bit easier, if only because he can afford for people to donate blood to him. Repelling minor Specters is the opposite of what his job needs him to do though so it becomes significantly less viable.
The Exorcist could really get some use out of this thing though. The ability to see into the Blood World lessens the need for the Eye and not being subject to attrition while within would do a lot for his survival chances.
Probably the best for the Enthusiast. He's unlikely to have a long career anyway so its finitude doesn't matter that much and he's not going to end up in the Blood World either. Given that, this is a good lifesaving treasure since it does double duty of allowing us to perceive the monsters and then dunking on them.
That said, it's not bad for either the Enthusiast or the Exorcist. A trump card is always helpful and a chi is like a foot long so it won't get used up too quickly. I don't think it's worth taking for a Curse of Karma in the former's case though and the latter has the knowledge and skills necessary to survive anyway.
Pen Spirit is really powerful, being the only form of semi-precise divination available. Having the ability to prep for encounters is invaluable for all builds, as is an insight into those around them. It's even stronger if it can divine the history and nature of Specters, though I doubt it would work on any spirit of significant power.
Could be really helpful for the Exorcist or Enthusiast since perfect tracking is an incredibly valuable service to offer. I'd say something about wacky supernatural police procedurals but… I don't think now is a good time. Good for PvP against other people in the know or against serial killers and such.
Literally all of these are (appropriately enough) horrifyingly bad. Letting people take three is insane, even one is a burden that would define your playstyle. Then again, the greedy are often the first punished in a horror story.
Ouch. I'm assuming this disables your ability to use all the traditional rituals and superstitions that get passed down. Probably a death sentence for the Enthusiast, without access to common spirituality he had absolutely zero defense against the supernatural, being ignorant and dirt broke. Not ideal for the Entertainer either; while he can afford to purchase protective items and wards, he doesn't have the ability to sift through the bullshitters and charlatans.
The Exorcist might be able to get by; he's enough in the know to realise what the issue is and potentially take countermeasures. Could be a cool story too, the newest Exorcist seeking an end to a curse placed on his line by some ancient evil his ancestor defeated long ago.
Obviously nonviable for the Exorcist. I don't know what the tier below Sinful is but I'm sure it can't be good, so the Entertainer is out too. Might be alright for the Enthusiast though, that guy's naivete could do with a little bit of tarnishing.
Obviously trash for the Exorcist. Might shorten the route for the Enthusiast if he doesn't even have the ability to stand a few spooks and scares, even if his running ability makes his escape pretty likely. Not sure how it interacts with the Entertainer's danger sense but if it makes us chicken out before we get good footage, that's gg for our streaming career. Or maybe his obvious mortal terror will be entertaining to the masses, I'm not sure.
Can't get murdered by a serial killer if you are the serial killer thonk.jpg
I imagine picking this with Exorcist leads to the Kotomine route, which would be as awful as it would be hilarious. Bad for the streamer too, the public's attention is laser focused on him and he doesn't have the connections or resources to ignore a serious scandal while still having the will and ability to indulge.
Have absolutely no idea what this would look like in the Enthusiast though. Does he just become a true banana? Does he feel a longing for everything American, from guns to apple pie to cowboy hats to extrajudicial murder? I don't know if I can live that life.
Kinda tempted to take this with Excorsist, to just see what happens. Would our boy become tsundere towards his family traditions? "I don't actually believe in you or anything b-b-baka!"
Probably best with Enthusiast though, he's already been shaken by spirits in the past so he'd be less stubborn about it and it pairs well with his special ability. Moreover, he's got the money to hire other people to do rituals for him. Can't tell how it would go with the Enthusiast; either he'd lose all his genre savvy or he'd be unaffected due to reflexive defiance of horror movie tropes despite his disbelief. Not worth the risk in that case.
As a side note, does the difficulty mean that rituals are powered by or in some way connected to the individual's belief?
If this also applies to Spectres, it might be the worst disadvantage of them all. You can get a hell of a lot of mileage out of allying with them. Also makes our boy a lot more vulnerable to serial killers or manipulative sociopaths, which the intro makes clear are just as serious of a danger as the supernatural.
In the end, I gotta go with:
{X} Plan Hail Satan
-{X} The Entertainer
-{X} Pale Fingers
-{X} Blood Eye
-{X} Rationalist
Probably not optimal but Mr. Satan as a Ghostbuster was just too tempting of an idea. Blood Eye lets us see Spectres and build up a good support crew while Pale Fingers lets us just punch them. Meanwhile, Rationalist should make him a bit less afraid if he assumes everything he sees is fake, which could offset the weaker heart. The tactic of vlogging our preparations might make him less likely to go out half cocked while the Eye might make him stick to people who genuinely believe they have power and away from hucksters.
P.S: 2922 words
P.P.S: Working on the other omake, it's just slow going.
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Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
The Temple of the False Moon is going to fucking eat us.
Update is called the solitary moon... because it kills everything else? Warning that there's only one moon, and this isn't it? I don't understand the exact relationship between the "moon" and the moon, but anyway we're getting Decimated right now.
Edit: Sharp Ellipsoid=Tooth? Fishing? The bait is fractal.
There is no atmosphere on the moon, and why would hiding it in the Sky protect it from air? Smh Hunger, why would that work.
The terrain fuckery has an obvious correspondence to the sun/moon cycle, trees=sunlight and waste=moonlight.
There is no vegetation around the Temple of the False Moon. Photosynthesis aside, the Temple has drained the life in the area. The Hunger parallels are more obvious now.
Which is why nobody stays there. If only someone could have warned us, lol. Tell Zee to hide further away.
"The skull of the world itself jutting free" is possibly more true than I would like it to be, if this thing is a virus on the planet about to burst free. It's a false moon.
Update is called the solitary moon... because it kills everything else? Warning that there's only one moon, and this isn't it? I don't understand the exact relationship between the "moon" and the moon, but anyway we're getting Decimated right now.
Edit: Sharp Ellipsoid=Tooth? Fishing? The bait is fractal.
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Rihaku
The Internet
Well, this vote is really close. Immortal Regiment has solid arguments and fanworks with more votes, but Bright Vanquisher has a substantial lead on fanworks overall now... the question is if that's enough to bridge the gap!
The update will be somewhat later tonight, maybe around 2 AM EST like yesterday, so the vote won't close for a while yet. In the meantime, it's still useful to brainstorm tactics for the two builds assuming that Conservative wins like it looks like it will.
I suppose we can go ahead and eliminate the Barest Cut as it doesn't quite have the support to compete with the two leading options.
The update will be somewhat later tonight, maybe around 2 AM EST like yesterday, so the vote won't close for a while yet. In the meantime, it's still useful to brainstorm tactics for the two builds assuming that Conservative wins like it looks like it will.
I suppose we can go ahead and eliminate the Barest Cut as it doesn't quite have the support to compete with the two leading options.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
[X] Immortal Regiment
[X] Conservative
[X] Ring Affinity
In light of that, Ring Affinity might be important. Also maybe Aggressive, to spend less time here? But I'm not switching on that yet, gotta think. Also bringing Gisena in seems less great now. Hm.
[X] Conservative
[X] Ring Affinity
In light of that, Ring Affinity might be important. Also maybe Aggressive, to spend less time here? But I'm not switching on that yet, gotta think. Also bringing Gisena in seems less great now. Hm.
Rihaku
The Internet
That was the basic Fell-Handed Stroke, actually.
Thanks!
Raw power is rather important too, you know! Some might say much more so, in these trying circumstances...
Talace
It must be raining somewhere else!
Sadness. Well, I'm equally lukewarm about both builds, since my only real preference was Cuts, but I don't think either are strong enough to compete in Aggressive.
[X] Conservative
[X] +.1 Rank
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
But surely someone would have noticed or said somethaaaaahhh
Gisena Null us null us nullus
Edit: Actually that might be good standard practice
How mindfucked are we right now? Is the temple giving us the Arete? Is this why Rihaku was arguing so hard against the town, and not that we have different views on human behavior?
Gisena Null us null us nullus
Edit: Actually that might be good standard practice
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Talace
It must be raining somewhere else!
maybe he just enjoys brooding
It was "inspirational" landscapes on a "really scenic" route. While it's possible we've been hypnotized to he'll and back, Occam's Razor says it was just irony. EFB experience tells us we get Arete for doing awesome stuff and acting in line with our nature iirc. The second hasn't been applicable all too often lately, though circumventing the camp has been one such case, but going YOLO on the way to the Temple fits the former pretty well.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
That sounds reasonable.
However. Have you considered.
Moon's haunted.
However. Have you considered.
Moon's haunted.
There is no moon! Or maybe there are too many moons and that's why it's eating them? Maybe it's doing it in the name of environmental protection.
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
Agreed! That is what I've been after!
I think it's actually just the front door is not a good place to enter if you don't have an invitation. Gisena can act as our +1, and the temple open its door for us.
Most other adventurers probably would face whatever hidden guardians the front door certainly has.
Or it may be like the dungeon from Wandering Inn where the secondary entrance lets you skip right to the looting - at a massive increase in immediate danger and difficulty retreating.
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Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
Wait a minute. We get to Focus Absolutely, and not gain Arete (which is to say, mindfuckery/moonmadness), for an effectiveness bonus? Sold. Get the fuck out of my head.
[X] Immortal Regiment
[X] Conservative
[X] Absolute Focus
Edit:
...a lunatic. *shades*
Rihaku's egging us on has been biased, so as to simulate the moon's hypnotic effect. (I think The Forbidden was the opposite, to be fair, with him trying to bail our sorry asses out. Pity nobody went for it).
I've been shitposting a bit, but I'm absolutely serious. The lunacy is real.
As @Wolfy so eloquently said,
X
Edit2: Guys? The way nobody is responding to me is making me feel like a crazy person screaming about how the psychic moon is going to eat us. I was going to mention my idea of eating the moon before it could eat us (+Tactics! Can we dump Satiation?), but I don't wanna double post.
[X] Immortal Regiment
[X] Conservative
[X] Absolute Focus
Edit:
Ah, there it is. Hunted down that post that stuck in my mind, because it was bizarre. Nobody could possibly think that was true, unless they were...
...a lunatic. *shades*
Rihaku's egging us on has been biased, so as to simulate the moon's hypnotic effect. (I think The Forbidden was the opposite, to be fair, with him trying to bail our sorry asses out. Pity nobody went for it).
I've been shitposting a bit, but I'm absolutely serious. The lunacy is real.
As @Wolfy so eloquently said,
X
Edit2: Guys? The way nobody is responding to me is making me feel like a crazy person screaming about how the psychic moon is going to eat us. I was going to mention my idea of eating the moon before it could eat us (+Tactics! Can we dump Satiation?), but I don't wanna double post.
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