Sky Above Sky Reaction Post (Also Librarian arguments) #1860 Words
Hunger had an uneasy feeling as he carved through the legions of the Outer Temple, rushing headlong towards the Middle once more. He was making visible progress every day, growing in strength and proximity to the Imprisoned, but some ill premonition dogged him still, a feeling that, despite the life-and-death battles he'd participated in, the real challenge was still to come.
This was super ominous when I was first reading the update. I have to say, with all the panicked discussion that was taking place beforehand, and the fact that the update came around later then anticipated, I had gotten really worked up over whether we were going to survive or not! This opening did a good job of playing into my worries.
Focused exclusively on blood enhancement, his strength, speed, and regeneration all had increased prodigiously after the fight with the Archer, though his ranged attacks had benefited most of all. Now his blade-winds and projections struck with singing force, curving and dancing across the battlefield with easy fluidity, far less taxing to employ than before. With a substantial exertion of self, he could compress the power of his strikes even further, folding seven cuts into a single blow that would rend flesh and spirit alike.
Such power had served him well, rendering the entirety of the Outer Temple a trivial exercise, and yet...
Quickening+Thousand Cuts is pretty good, yes. And we're at the stage where we can just ignore the Outer Temple! Getting closer and closer to finally clearing this place - it's been fun, but it will feel good to deal with normal challenges and not the crazy high-stakes battle after battle we've been doing. Remember when any chance of Hunger dying at all was too scary to consider? Heh.
The residents of the Middle Temple treated the Outer as nothing more than ablative armor, its autonomous armies culling the chaff from those unfortunates bound to the Temple's call. Any who made it to the Middle were controlled via carefully selected incentives, the carrot of bribery and the stick of the Outriders acting in concert to neuter the outsider threat. Even the weakest Outrider patrols seemed a match for the mightiest beasts of the Outer Temple.
The moon-slavers do have a pretty good setup for dealing with adventurers. It's not infallible though - all it takes is one Progression-type Cursebearer getting lucky to bring down their whole setup.
...Given how rare and OP people with the growth rate of Progression-type Cursebearers are, maybe their precautions are sufficient for any reasonable circumstance. However, circumstances are not actually compelled to be reasonable, and it always pays to be ready for if a bigger fish shows up. There's always a Sky above the Sky after all! Or even a Sword above the Sky above the Sky!
I do wonder what the temple residents would do if they were clearly outclassed by a threat. I guess we might find out soon.
If the Middle represented so great an increase in sophistication over the Outer, then what did that bode for the Ring's guardian itself? For all that his rate of progression had been absurd, was he growing strong enough, fast enough, in the fields that mattered against so versatile and well-resourced a foe? This was no single monster, to be baited and easily hunted. It was an entire civilization bent to the purpose of keeping their Ring imprisoned and extracting its value thereby. Was his own power too linear, too physically focused, to overcome them?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the way to fix this is to get a power that is not physical, is more versatile, and has non-linear applications! Librarian solves all the problems raised here in neat fashion, allowing us to focus on just gathering more power to back up our expanded capabilities.
But for all that he could doubt his chances of success, there was no doubt as to his course of action. He would cut through, until the Ring was freed.
Or we could not doubt our chances of success. Cutting through is so much easier when you can teleport right up to the thing you want to cut.
Mid-morning saw him in the Middle Temple again, deep past the bucolic pastures of its outskirts and into civilization proper, densely-populated towns of high medieval architecture separated by sweeping, carefully regimented fields of crops. In the valley between two towns he spotted an ongoing battle: A one-armed swordsman in grey Outrider leathers against a figure clad in unadorned plate. It was going poorly for the latter, puncture holes dotting their torso, the heavy steel of their armor rent and ruptured around each exit wound.
And we get our first glimpse of our opponent, and our temporary ally that we never even learned the name of. Poor unnamed automaton. I wonder what the (his? her? it?) they're story was. Actually, this raises interesting questions about the Call of the False Moon - does it affect even non-fleshy creatures? Is it anything with a soul?
Also, our unknown ally was an R-type. One who shows rapidly increasing power, like ourselves. Was the construct in question self-improving somehow? Some kind of Megaman deal? We may never know...
The swordsman spotted him out of the corner of his eye and swiftly attacked, jabbing with his blade in Hunger's direction. His movement was a blur even to the Cursebearer, and scarce had Hunger interposed the Evening Sky before it was pierced easily through, a wound sprouting across his lower torso. Whipping his cloak around he sprinted behind a nearby hill, blocking the swordsman's line of sight.
A perfect shot to the liver, punching clean through to daylight. Were it not for his Ring of Blood, it would quickly become a lethal wound. As it was, the relatively small cross-section of the attack meant it would only be the inconvenience of seconds. And yet there was no time to lose. Once the outrider dispatched his current opponent, Hunger would be next, and the enemy's incredible speed meant that pursuit would not favor him. What did he know so far? High physical parameters, already wounded, ranged thrust attacks with apparently infallible aim. His best solution was to meet offense with offense.
And right away we get nailed. Vanrier does not mess around. Notably, cover seems to work against him, and he can pierce through anything - so it must be breaking line of sight that gets him. A thrust must be precise, after all, and you can't be precise against something you can't see. You know what would be perfect for that? Invisibility. Teleportation would also be great, get into melee distance and meeting offense with offense becomes much easier.
Also, Chief Dominion and Quickening Regeneration are pretty good. Self-healing is not to be underestimated.
Wasting no further instants, he quickly leapt out from the hillside, launching a sevenfold blade projection directly at the swordsman as he charged. Eyes flickering briefly, the enemy intercepted his blade projection with one of his own, the thrust every bit the equal of the cut, spearing it in twain. Collapsed blade-force carved a meters-deep divot into the ground as the attack folded in on itself.
Hunger was already lunging, sword like a flickering thresher as he fired forward consecutive blade-winds, Ring of Blood flaring to exacerbate the outrider's wounds and repair his own. Without hesitation the swordsman turned to face him, effortlessly countering the swarm of blade-winds while a strategically placed thrust put a hole through Hunger's heart.
A critical organ for most, but not for the bearer of the Blood Ring. Without so much as breaking stride Hunger continued brazenly forward, and the swordsman was forced to leap back in order to avoid a close-range grapple. At that moment the armored figure fired, its arm falling away to reveal a cannon-like apparatus before launching a thunderous salvo.
Several things happening here! Set up for the later killing blow with that ground collapse. Vanrier is better then us at range game, countering all our moves and landing a "killing" blow. To bad Hunger took those double +Heartlessness back in the day! He doesn't need his heart! Also more seriously Chief Dominion+Quickening saves the day again. I guess for 16 Arete they better be able to save the day!
You know how we can get 14 Arete worth of purchase, for 2 Arete? Yeah ok I'll stop.
Also, unknown construct has an arm cannon. Very Metroid-esque.
With unerring grace the outrider shifted in midair, blur of his sword a deflecting dance to answer the storm of bullets. Hunger joined in, charging again for the grapple, exerting the full power of his Ring to denude his enemy's blood in erratic, disorienting fits. At last the swordsman appeared to falter, but sensing a feint Hunger juked to the side in the moment before contact. Wisely so, as the outrider spun and thrust twice, displaying heretofore-unseen speed even as his blood was further suppressed. Light jabs both, but Hunger felt his eye put out all the same, and a corresponding groan from the armored figure.
Oh hey the erratic blood-manipulation tactic made it in! Didn't seem to help much though. Also who needs eyes when you have a R I N G?
Blind, but he still had his blood sense. No time for despair. And yet what could he do? The enemy was simply too fast, his reflexes too sharp, form and instincts impeccable, every attack landing exactly where it was placed. Desperately he exuded raw Pressure, sheer murderous intent, the cruel shining sun of his spirit blazing ceaselessly over his foe. At this finally the swordsman relented, reeling under that supernal might. For all his strength, there was a seam in this outrider's spirit, a thin dividing line that was only imperfectly sealed.
And yet, how to exploit this weakness? His uttermost extrusion of Pressure had given the man pause, but it was not feasible to continue for long. A spirit-rending attack could harm him for sure, but he had no way of targeting that specific fault-line, and no way to reliably land such an attack against an enemy of this speed. If he let up the pressure for even a moment, the outrider would have time enough to prepare a serious thrust targeting Hunger's brain, and that would be the death of this flesh body. His ghost form, bereft of blood to enhance, would be completely outclassed by this foe. Idly he noted that the armored figure, his erstwhile ally, had no blood at all.
Rank does work, but it doesn't win battles on its own unless you have truly overwhelming amounts. Also, if we had a soul-affecting attack, we could target that fault-line, all it would take is making enough of an opening to cast the spell. Not easy, but definitely easier then what we ended up going for! Also, the reveal that our armored friend is not fleshy. Actually, I've been assuming they're a construct, but could they be some kind of other bloodless being wearing armor? The arm cannon seems to point towards robot, but it could just be a Metroid-style power suit on a non-robot. They could be undead or some kind of bizarre alien.
He felt more than heard that figure's next movement, steamroller charge of pure crushing force, fury and clangor like an ironworks onrushing. Hunger redoubled the expulsion of his Pressure, hollowing himself out, pinning-in-place the outrider by sheer verity of spirit. Even so, at the last moment he felt the enemy throw off his influence, violent force as the outrider's very soul seemed to nearly rupture in twain, one-half of it absorbing the brunt of his assault so that the other could go free.
Almost got him, but funky soul shenanigans are used to pull off a last-minute upset. Now if only we had a soul-targeting attack to follow this up with.
Blind and briefly spent, Hunger could barely react to the outside world as he marshaled his reserves once more. Through his bloodsense he saw the figure of the swordsman, blade outstretched, and heard the tinkling of armor plates falling to the ground.
Slowly his Ring's regeneration restored his sight. The swordsman was a ragged ruin, raw muscle and bone naked to the winds, blood dribbling and pooling from countless tears across his form. In the last instant he must have met the incoming armor with a counter-charge of his own, a full-bodied piercing lunge that cored out the mass of plate in a single fell stroke. Indeed, there was a swordsman-shaped exit blown out the back of the hulking machine, which now slowly toppled. Of course, such an attack left no protection for its executor against the terrible crushing momentum of the armored figure's charge.
Ah ok IGNORE MY EARLIER SPECULATION ABOUT IT NOT BEING A CONSTRUCT, I FORGOT ABOUT THIS PART. Anyway, it's rather cartoony for the guy to make a person-shaped hole through the robot. And we finally injured him! At the cost of our ally's life. RIP robot friend. Also we're too exhausted to follow up.
Panting, Hunger gave his opponent a nod of acknowledgement. He could respect the tenacity, the sheer force of will behind his unswerving technique.
Politely, the outrider inclined his own head. Neither had the strength in this moment to summon an attack capable of bringing his opponent low. Hunger could only hope that the Ring of Blood rejuvenated him faster than the swordsman adapted to his own wounds. Trauma that would have killed a normal man seemed to only briefly faze him. Under the influence of his Ring, very little blood now remained in the man's veins, but the outrider stood stoic and nearly upright, a blade bent but unbroken. And like a blade, chipped and marred, damage to his physical form would weaken, but fail to render useless, so long as the edge was sharp.
Vanrier is a tough one. "I don't need blood I AM SORD." Very inspiring, much wow.
"Vanreir, Amarlt," said the outrider, breathing heavily still, his voice a whispery croak. "The strength, of your spirit, is commendable."
"The spirit," Hunger remarked, his breaths equally ragged, "is willing; but the flesh, is weak."
Vanreir raised his hand and waved it slightly, as if to say that he had seen worse.
Slowly, painfully, he turned his blade to face Hunger, its tip pointed unsteadily at his eye.
"I, regret, the necessity of this," he said, "but know, that it's for, a good cause."
The respect between warriors thing is always touching to me for some reason. Maybe because they recognize that if they weren't on opposite sides they might have been friends, they're similar people after all. And because they both push themselves so hard - they both see the other one as someone who deserves to win, if someone that they can't let win.
Fighting through the exhaustion, Hunger took up his own stance, blade raised and poised to cut. The world contracted, static fuzzing in at the edges of his vision. He'd gone too far again, spent too much of his own essence pursuing an impossible feat. Still he dredged up what pitiful slivers remained, enough perhaps for one concerted attack.
He would let the man kill his flesh body, and hope that the surprise of his ghost form's emergence outweighed its now-lacking strength and speed. It was perhaps a vain hope. For the entirety of this battle Hunger had not landed a single physical blow upon this opponent.
Hunger's out of steam and left considering ideas that probably won't work. Seriously, "surprise him with my much slower ghosty form?" It's not "perhaps" a vain hope, it's definitely a vain hope. I guess Form of Rage could have carried the tactic - but as it turns out, we didn't need it!
"I understand," Hunger said, steadying his blade. "Cut through, even if it cannot be cut. It must be quite the cause."
The swordsman frowned, eyes sharp. "You..."
Sensing an opening, a moment of weakness, Hunger still did not strike. He allowed his opponent to gather his thoughts.
I love this. "Sensing an opening, a moment of weakness, Hunger still did not strike." Sometimes the greatest strike is not an attack at all. It is allowing your opponent to attack themselves.
"Hmph," Vanreir shook his head. "What are the chances... my father once said something very similar. I'm not one to believe in fate, but I'm glad you were my final opponent. A worthy enemy can be rarer than even a true friend."
"Well said," Hunger replied, idly scanning the battlefield. He raised his hand, setting his opponent's heart to beating, restoring some volume of Vanreir's blood. "Shall we decide properly which of our swords is the greater?"
AGE. AND. TREACHERY. This is the moment when Hunger sets up for the win. If Vanreir was more cunning and less blinded by mutual respect he would have realized that Hunger restoring his heart and blood could only have been the setup for a trap. Why buff an enemy? Vanreir felt a deep respect for his opponent in that moment, and assumed the buff was because the feeling was mutual. Who says you can't use intelligence and charisma in a swordfight?
Incidentally, this is why Uttermost is bad. Debuffs to Wisdom and Charisma would make us less able to use these kind of tricks and make us more susceptible to such tactics from opponents! Also, you know which choice gives increased Intelligence? That's right, Inheritor:Librarian.
"If you wish," Vanreir said, with the air of a man granting a final request. Hunger circled around to a particular point on the battlefield, matching the angle of his initial entry, where the sun fell in neither swordsman's eyes. Slowly he raised his blade aloft, jewel on his finger grim and subdued. The pallor of mortality was like a shadow across the battlefield. Each man knew that this moment could be his last.
Vanreir walked to match him, taking up the stance of his signature thrust. Now within melee range, tip of his blade aimed squarely at Hunger's brain pan, the crystal-steel edge caught and splintered the sun's rays, a daytime thunderbolt.
Enough of sword-projections. An opponent such as this deserved the physical blade.
Funny that he then proceeds to win with a sword projection....
On the same count they inhaled. An unspoken understanding passed between them. Time compressed, congealed, folded over on itself like molten amber. On came the thrust, that viperous lash of silver like lightning made steel. Hunger's blade descended, but slowly, far too slowly to land any serious blow. By the time Amarlt's thrust loomed before him, his hand had managed only to interpose itself between the enemy's sword and his own head.
There was a clang of steel against silver, a clarion note of pure deflection. The Forebear's Blade fell from nerveless fingers.
Like an inverse kingfisher Amarlt was pointed skywards, his blade thrusting forwards and up, the all-piercing force of his strike no match for the indestructible Ring in its path, which had been bound to Hunger's finger by the Accursed himself. Hunger pressed downwards with his right foot, titanic strength collapsing the weakened ground around the divot that his very first blade-projection had created.
Falling rapidly, the bones of his hand a shattered ruin, the Foebear's Blade was level now with his mouth. Snatching it in his teeth, he fired a single blade-projection, one last absolute exertion. Committed still to his thrust, Vanreir could not change his trajectory. Cleanly bisected, chest from sternum, still his arms and eyes and blade could only face up, up, up: turned forever heavenward, as if to pierce through the sky itself.
But there was always a sky above the sky. One could pierce for all eternity without finding its limit.
This has to be one of my favorite moments in any Rihaku quest. The set-up, the clash, the realization, and the conclusion. A single brilliant ploy, utilizing the power of the Accursed in such a clever, lateral-thinking way, taking advantage of something the opponent could never have anticipated to win against superior abilities. Incredibly well-written as well. It's just, amazing. I'm so glad I spent all that time arguing for Breach the Middle if it lead to this result.
Age and treachery had prevailed again, though victory tasted like ashes in his mouth. Slowly he examined the Ring, its jewel flaring crimson, the pulse of its inhalation drawing a thundering sea of power.
Jewel and band and finger all were whole and untouched. Of Vanreir Amarlt's final attack, no evidence remained, not even so much as a scratch.
And then this section, which is rather sad and poignant. Vanreir Amarlt, a man Hunger respected and could probably see himself in. Undone in his climactic moment of triumph, by not martial skill but trickery. It had to be done, though.
[ ] Punctured Soul - Rank reduced by 10%, physical attributes by 20%, mental attributes by 30%, and social attributes by 40% for 1 month.
[ ] True Maiming - Liver wounded on a metaphysical level. Permanently reduce CON and CON improvements by 10% and suffer 400% increased vulnerability to poison and supernatural disease. Suffer severe damage upon strenuous exertion for the next three days.
[ ] Lingering Exhaustion - Exhausted for a week and Tired for the week after. Any interruption of rest may worsen Exhaustion.
And our rewards! Punctured Soul is nasty, not because of the rank reduction or moderate physical debuff, but because of the massive debuffs to mental and social. Given how much we used our mental and social skills in this update, I'm very against this one.
True maiming seems like the least bad of the lot. 10% Con reduction is significantly less debuff then Punctured Soul, and three days of forced rest is better then a week of the same. It makes up for these benefits with hideous vulnerability to poison+disease and being permanent, unlike the others which have a duration. However, it's likely we can come up with something via Ring of Blood to patch this up partially or entirely. And if we take it we have three days downtime anyway, might as well spend them trying to figure out how to get rid of the debuff.
Lingering Exhaustion is probably the worst. A week of lost time, lost Apocryphal-free time at that. With the other choices, a week's worth of Progression is probably enough to fully make up for the conditions they impose, and leave us in a better position when we cure those conditions due to having a week more of Progression. In short, Lingering Exhaustion is terrible and should not be picked. It's slightly less bad with Inheritor since we can spend the week getting to know our new magic system, but I still don't like it.
You have 4 picks and have special dispensation to spend up to 2 Arete, assuming that your Arete generation this update will cover it.
And now our actual rewards! I'll only be covering the new things, because this has run on long enough already.
[ ] The Ring of Power - Inheritor (3 picks, 2 Arete)
He whose soul contains multitudes, may inherit the legacy of those fallen.
Defining Advancement. You may only have three Defining Advancements.
*Choose one Soul Evocation user you have slain. You may use their Soul Evocation at a substantial fraction of the original wielder's skill. Apply [To Shatter Heaven] to their Soul Evocation, but gain fragments of their selfhood.
*+50% to the value of that user's highest Attribute +s.
*+50% the value of that user's second highest Attribute +s.
*-10% to the value of future Rank +s, but you may train Rank manually.
*++Mental Contamination from the user you target. Their soul lives on as your prisoner.
*Available Evocations: The Librarian. The Correspondent. The Unerring.
The best choice. Librarian gets us so much stuff it's crazy. I've talked about this extensively before and will likely continue to do so in the future.
[ ] Feat: Kinslayer - A true opponent's worth. Set Rank to 5. (4 picks)
It's a lot of Rank. It has far worse versatility then Inheritor, but if people don't want a Defining Advancement because the DAs all have downsides of some sort, I guess this would be the best choice for them.
[ ] Forebear's Blade - Uttermost (4 picks)
Focus beyond absolute focus. To cut what cannot be cut. To pierce what cannot be pierced. To go further and even further beyond in the unrelenting pursuit of perfection. To exert every iota of self, turn every faculty of purpose, bind every testament of will towards a single, unswerving ideal: that is what it means to do one's uttermost. There are no compromises for he who walks the path of the blade.
Do, even if it cannot be done.
Defining Advancement. You may only have three Defining Advancements.
Cannot mitigate the Doom of the Tyrant beyond its original state
Expends and sacrifices the Form of Rage
Increase by 30% the value of all Rank +s
Reduce by 30% to the value of Luck, Protection, Wisdom and Charisma +s
+++++++Willpower, ++All Other Stats
First Blade: Restores the Forebear's Blade. Apply the effects of the Fell-Handed Stroke, including modifiers, to all basic attacks with no surcharge. You may upgrade [A Thousand Cuts] to [Cut Through] for the difference in their Arete costs.
This is really good and really bad at the same time. Good because it gets us a lot of raw power. Bad because it permanently debuffs Luck, Protection, Wisdom, and Charisma. This entire fight was about superior mental and social skill triumphing over raw physical power, and people want us to dump the things that let us win for raw physical power?
And that's not even getting into the fact that it prevents us from mitigating one of our curses! Mitigating curses is actively encouraged by the Accursed and really good for us besides! Giving up on mitigation feels absolutely awful to me, and combined with my earlier observations I have to conclude that this is in fact a bad pick. Maybe if we had a way to buff Wisdom and Charisma back up I'd find it more palatable.
Finally, like I mentioned earlier we just won a fight using mental and social skills to defeat superior combat ability. Taking from that a Defining Advancement that's all about dumping mental and social in favor of combat power makes no narrative sense! It's the opposite of the lesson we should have taken from this fight.
[ ] Hunger - Stranglethorn (4 picks)
Age and treachery made flesh.
The might of beasts is not the only province of the ring Hunger. It bears witness to a deeper and elder power as well, the strength of root and stem that bleeds life from the earth itself to thrust upwards towards heaven. The might of oaks, ancient and thousand-ringed, which crumbles stone and blunts steel, which repels the wind and absorbs the tide, which stands unscathed even in the face of heat and fury. That juggernaut stubbornness like a gnarled fist: the power to push through problems with patient, unyielding strength, to break them down and see them crushed beneath you.
Defining Advancement. You may only have three Defining Advancements.
Increase by 20% the value of all Rank +s
Double the value of Strength and Constitution +s
Double the value of Willpower +s
Reduce by 20% the value of Agility +s
Establishment: By committing meaningful resources towards a given context, and staking out a solid position, you slowly but increasingly accrue power and influence within that context, becoming ever-more inescapable and impossible to dislodge.
Less bad then Uttermost, because it actually makes narrative sense what with "Age and Treachery made flesh." I still consider it worse then Inheritor, because we're going to reach a point where "More physical stats" doesn't get us as much benefit, and we need new ways to apply strength instead. Inheritor gets us new ways to act on the world.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Yikes, that was a long one. Ah well, it's a worthy cause.
