DkArthas
CAPITAL IS TO BLAME
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- They
Perhaps, hit up an Civ for an trial run of Tyrant's Doom before going to the Empire?
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
I'm happy to do a little exploration. We still have a long time to actually conquer the place so I'm not in a rush on that end. I think this is probably a great time to just get to know our team on a deeper level, get our Armament a little healed up and see what wonders await.
Assuming we, you know, live.
If we ran into a civilization on the way, assuming we can scout a bit and ensure we are way more powerful than the local forces, i'm happy to say hello to the locals and see whats up.
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
It will depend a bit on our power level at the time. We want to not be utterly outclassed by Armaments when we get to her civ, and some Tyrant trial runs in actual civilization is probably wise. Letrizia doesn't seem to be in much of a rush, either. Especially if we can keep repairing Versch.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I... there... there's an after? are you sure?
Maragas
Nothing to see here.
- Location
- Tree House
While it's going to depend on how we finish the Temple, I prefer exploring while slowly making our way to the Letrizia's civ.
Strange9
hdellaverson@gmail.com
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
Assuming we live, I'm going to assume that we've also temporarily outscaled the Apocryphal Curse, and so have some latitude to do non-accumulation-of-immediate-power options.
If that's the case, I'd be most interested in hitting up a civilization! I'm eager to see what's up with the Human Sphere, but would prefer to both bond with Letrizia some more and explore the Voyaging Realm some more (I don't think we've adequately explored it at all!). A man wonders what kind of civilizations are formed in this Realm, with its diverse incentives.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Hit up a Civilization for a few updates. Pick up a new magic system if we don't have one already (hopefully we will). Then do some hunting while making our way towards Letrizia's civ.
I feel like we've made Letrizia take a big delay already with the whole Temple thing, we don't want to stall for too long. But I also believe we should get some experience with civilizations we don't care about before we try to interact with Letrizia's people.
Getting a magic system is higher priority though. Although we might get one next update if the vote falls the way I want, in which case that drops in priority.
We should make sure to level up some on the way as well. We should try to stay ahead of the Apocryphal rather then letting it determine when and where we fight.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
I think it depends on the endzone of the Temple!
Seriously though, our itinerary looks like:
*Rescue the Ring
*Defeat Bearic
*Get Letrizia Home
*???
*Conquer The Human Sphere, Take Vengeance On The Hidden Masters. (In the opposite order?)
*Resurrect everyone we lost, have our happy ending.
- Location
- Pindorama
Vanreir was kind of totally outside of our level scaling though. Even with Uttermost I'd expect we'd win against his thrusts. They're just powerful, not mostly unblockable and unerring like his Thrusts. More utility would have been much more helpful than more power there. Not to mention it's erroneous to say Librarian doesn't boost our offense; indeed, it boosts them in many more ways than just more attack power. A lack of weakness is power in it of itself after all.
Hit up a civ sounds good; especially after the insanity that the Temple is right now. Hopefully we'll be able to mitigate Tyrant before then; but one vote option kind blocks that. We'll have to see after that.
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
We're going to be outclassed by Armaments by the time we get there. It's just not feasible to reach the High Ranks in such a short timescale, not unless we bum around the Voyaging Realm for a few years while picking up Once and Future, which isn't viable given the changing political circumstances of the Human Sphere.
We would've absolutely wrecked him if we could hit him with a Fell-Handed Stroke, which would be a lot easier to do with the First Blade.
Nah, it's more:
*Conquer the Human Sphere
*Move on to the next task in our Indenture
*Eventually resurrect our family
*Try enjoy a few years with them, assuming they even recognise us and we aren't infinitely beyond them across every attribute
*Move on to the next task in our Indenture
*Eventually transcend linear time
*Take revenge on the Hidden Ones
*Move on to the next task in our Indenture
*Move on to the next task in our Indenture
*Move on to the next task in our Indenture
Until we either die or a few octillion years have passed and we're free.
-
As for what to do once we get out of this place of suffering, depends how powerful we are. If we're still like a B-tier adventurer, I'd rather just keep grinding for STATS. If we could expect to be more or less the most powerful person we meet barring Apocryphal prepping some bullshit, I wouldn't mind heading to civilization for a period to relax, pick up some luxuries and generally take a sec to chill from the constant life or deaths struggle we've been dealing with. From there, make way to Letrizia's civ, with maybe a bit of work on Verchlengorge, practicing the Ring, getting some +Relationship and killing some neat monsters along the way.
Not sure, I've been too busy writing an omake about Hunger's funeral for much thought about that.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
This is a terrifying for all the reasons people have mentioned, and even more so because I'm not sure Hunger even qualifies as the first sky, yet. We're just a frog in a well! An old, treacherous frog. With a long tongue that can reach the sky? How horrible.
I, too, have had an uneasy feeling ever since I foolishly abandoned the Not Dying faction and voted to come here. Sorry about that, bro. The only consolation is that we're skyrocketing in strength, which will help us survive if we learn our lesson from this.
The description of the new powers is beautiful to see.
The system seems to be optimized for the lowest fuck requirement on the part of the Inners. And the slaughter of adventurers, too. I'm not the one who should be advocating for diplomacy first, but the current system results in a lot of death and still allowed three powerful adventurers to the Middle just today. I suppose it's not a normal day, though, and our perspective as a Cursebearer is a bit skewed. Still, what dicks.
The truest expression of Tyranny, taking on an entire civilization. Hunger says it isn't a single monster, but they are pretty mean and he's not not baiting and hunting them. As Vanreir would say, one policy for all enemies! Well, he died because of that, so actually I take it back.
I don't think I've seen Hunger's musings about the limitations of the warrior build before, but he has a point, shared by the librarianbros. On the other hand, overcome even if etc. That's one meme that's definitely going to become overused, and it'll be my fault in part.
Gotta wonder, though, what the Inner Residents even do all day. Scheme against each other, apparently, and forge things. Those are good ways to spend time, but the isolationism seems a bit extreme.
Hey, Hunger, maybe there should be a little more dou- *is cut*
Nope, death or glory it is.
Another glimpse of the civilization in the Middle, and this is at least closer to being worthy of the Ring than the outskirts. They're at least taking advantage of magic for higher population density and better farming, I think. It's still a shame, the Inner better be all crystal spires and shit.
Damn, our R-Type friend is already half dead, and they don't even get a good description. They have a plate, with holes. A holey plate, this is clearly another paladin. Don't worry, we'll save you! (Spoilers: We didn't.)
Off to a bad start, this guy is even faster than I was expecting, and just as unerring. Thank Rank for that convenient hill, for the voters, who suggested breaking line of sight, and hopefully the holey knight that can take advantage of the distraction.
...how did he know we were an enemy, exactly? I mean, Hunger is incredibly suspicious, but seems like he had a description. Or maybe his judgment is just as Unerring as his blade.
Thank you, Ring, for allowing us to survive past the first hit .001 seconds in. That would have been an embarrassing way to die. This guy's speed is no joke, I figured that it would be kind of extraneous for his perfect accuracy build, but Hunger can't have nice things.
As it is, though, Hunger's going to cut through! What happens when an unstoppable force meets an unstoppable force? Debilitating drawbacks all around, yay!
It's one thing to hear Rihaku say that his basic attack is equal to our best effort, but seeing us get shut down so completely is humbling. I recall suggesting that we should cut his thrust, but he thrust our cut instead. the overwhelming enemy class really is made of overwhelming enemies.
At least it's the ground that took the debilitating drawback from this clash.
Oof, has bladewind spam failed us? No, it is I who have failed bladewind spam. I must repent.
But yeah, I was assuming that perfection required time, but Justinian has long since paid that cost.
But hey, we're already getting stats out of this fight! +Heartlessness.
Some people wear their heart on their sleeve, but Hunger wears it on his finger. Beat through, even if it cannot be beaten? In the circulation sense, here. Fuck, I am going to annoy so many of you by repeating that meme, because it's so easy. Consider yourself warned, Uttermost voters.
At least grappling seems like it was a good idea, since he doesn't want it to happen. And yes, Megaman did take advantage of the distraction to fire some Buster shots.
I adore the contrast between this fight and the Magus one, instead of seeing what whacky bullshit he's going to pull out next, he just keeps thrusting, even against problems that I did not expect that to be effective against. Which, that's the idea, but I feel like the other half of a printer go brrrr meme. Sword go shiiiing?
Blood debuff disorientation does not cause the Unerring to err. Who could have predicted this? Ah, well, it was worth a shot.
And fuck, when I was complaining about how fast he is earlier he was still holding back.
Don't fight the First Sword, he'll put your eye out, kid. This guy is making me salty, he hasn't even lost his cool.
Props to Hunger for not falling for the feint, that's some amazing instinct, and props to Vanreir for feinting in the first place, despite his mindset.
Ring is definitely doing work this fight. Nothing works? Time for Plan B, no Gisena version. Fuck it, everything dies. Fortunate that the enemy had a secret weakness, otherwise he would have wasted his energy for nothing.
Pressure is cool, I want to drown my enemies under my awesome more often. The update continues talking about how outclassed Hunger is, which I do believe I've picked up on by this point. I reiterate: we absolutely should not have won this fight.
Luckily, we're not alone, and Megaman did... something, and we coordinated our super attacks. Well, his super attack, and Hunger's flailing. He should be much weaker now! Key word is should, we might have just made him mad.
Uh, well, it did a lot of injury, but this time it's the enemy who should be dead, and I'm still not sure it did more than make him mad. His skin's off? It's just a flesh wound. Amusing looney tunes scene with Megaman's death, and I don't think I realized how big he was before this point.
Vanreir can thrust with his whole body, which is variety I absolutely did not expect from Mr. practice a single strike until you die. Not that it matters now, the basics are still more effective against us.
Oh, nope, he isn't even mad, but he is exhausted. If only we weren't as horribly off, we could take advantage. Interesting that he can survive such injury without more serious wound penalties, this guy's screw-the-rules levels are higher than I expected. Though the Blade sacrificed himself, it seems Vanreir is still a blade.
As with magic systems, I prefer that only Hunger has absurd force of will, all enemies should be weak and still give 10 picks. Anything else is cheating. *nods firmly*
Diplomacy time. Really, it's a stretch to call it that, but Hunger never said he was going to be reasonable about what constitutes dialogue. And when would Vanreir have seen worse, he's about to drop dead after this fight. How hardcore.
Wouldn't expect him to be unsteady, even at this point, but I suppose he doesn't have to be steady to hit. It just helps.
Right back at you, V-man, your death will serve the greater good of making the thread happy, you're not even a real person. Wait, no, that's too meta.
Time for a pathetic fight of two guys who can barely move flailing at each other. Somehow, those fights are often the coolest of all possible fights.
He said the thing! Not that the cause has to be good to receive such Willpower, Uttermost gives Wis penalties after all.
Is this honor? No, just a refusal to interrupt the enemy when making a mistake.
It's odd for Vanreir to say final opp- oh, he doesn't think we're going to win, he's just going to retire after this fight no matter what. And with Justinian's sacrifice, his end might be nearer than ever. As I've said before, worthy enemies suck, and it's even worse if that applies to morality as well as power. You're a goofy musclehead.
Here, have some blood back. Hopefully he's not doing a Goku.
Everything's so goddamn honorable, which is terrifying because he's straight better than us. We haven't hit him once, yet, except with pressureblasting which we're too drained to use.
Sun reference continue to menace my paranoia, even though I'm 99% certain that's just Rihaku's aesthetic.
It's odd to reserve the blade itself as a higher compliment, since I think the projections are actually stronger. But Vanreir doesn't know that, we're actually weaker than he thinks. Wait, what a terrible secret.
In the end, we only needed one blow that tells. Let's ignore the thousand ineffective and desperate attacks before, shall we.
I had never considered using the Ring as a shield, and it's brilliant. Of course, it's very blatantly a desperation move, 'cause that thing's tiny. I had no idea that the broken ground from our first, apparently not-so-futile attack would become relevant. I'm amazed that mouthswording was actually helpful, even if it's another obvious bit of desperation. Hunger is just so awesome. Night falls for Vanreir.
I like that the world slowed down to make this more dramatic, that's how this place rolls.
I would say that the Voyaging realm has a limit, but with spacewarping it could probably keep moving around so the attack never reaches it.
Even though Hunger is beat to hell, and retains the mark of the first attack, Hunger is perfectly fine.
Age and Treachery has won, but damn if Youth and Vigor wouldn't make all these fights easier.
Fanwork#1686 words, I'm too drained to go into the votes. I'll be fine with any 4-pick or defining one, really, but I think True Maiming sucks the least. Every one of you are cool, and so is Arete.
- Location
- Pindorama
We did wreck him when we hit him with a Fell-handed Stroke, the problem was hitting him. Something we literally weren't able to do before we made an opening. Considering the speed of his thrusts in general and the he was viable even against Form of Rage, I don't think Uttermost would have let us outmuscle him. While we did in fact out play him here, more power wouldn't have helped, while more utility likely would've. Uttermost is just too linear.
[X] Forebear's Blade - Uttermost (4 picks)
[X] Lingering Exhaustion
How do you lot expect to become a proper High Cursebearer if you don't take the opportunities to be moreUly Ody Accursed-like when they're set before you????
can't mash parry without giving your uttermost, dummies
sir arm unrelated
[X] Lingering Exhaustion
How do you lot expect to become a proper High Cursebearer if you don't take the opportunities to be more
can't mash parry without giving your uttermost, dummies
sir arm unrelated
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Uttermost wouldn't have needed an opening since it doesn't need to bother with a windup for the Fell-Handed Stroke and attacks with sevenfold speed and strength. First Blade is just such a hilariously powerful effect that it really doesn't give a shit about lame stuff like "versatility".
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My dude! Good taste. I kinda fell out of it, but that one's a classic.
[X] True Maiming
[X] The Ring of Power - Inheritor
-[X] The Librarian
[X] Evening Sky - Opalescence
A lot of fantastic points made in the discussion today. I wouldn't be at all upset with the Uttermost coming out on top. The power it offers is direct and overwhelming, and the drawbacks are manageable. I do still prefer the Inheritor. I want the versatility that Hunger pined for in the update, I think Inheritor is less likely to branch in a manner which discourages Ring purchases, and I'm actually pretty fine with either of the competing variants, the Unerring or the Librarian.
I feel strongly that the maiming is the most appropriate choice for our situation. Just as immediate power is preferable to a progression-type, long-term costs are the way to go. If we can stretch out our penalties across a longer period of time, we can out-earn the loss in the meantime. Further, the poison and disease weakness is specific enough to account for in planning. We can pursue medical options and means of mitigating it, which isn't really an option with the more short-term Exhaustion. Perhaps a solution could be found to the punctured soul as well, but it is a greater drawback in combat than maiming, and combat is where we're likely to go.
Speaking of the necessity of battle, if that's a problem then Inheritor actually helps a bit. Training rank would be a great boon for our downtime, or when we out scale local opponents.
Ultimately, I'm looking at it as an opportunity to diversify Hunger's skillset. This would mean we as a thread have more combinations to examine, and more opportunities for clever tactics. Not to imply that clever tactics aren't possible with Uttermost! They certainly are. I just prefer to play with a big box of legos, rather than a single exquisite action-figure.
I'm not personally considering Stranglethorn. I think it's strong, incredibly so, but I think its strength is focused in areas which we don't currently need in order to continue to press our face into the mountain. If we're going to keep at it, we need new angles of attack and/or a qualitative change in ability. We've reached a good place for stats, and if this was a vote going out of the temple, I'd be all over the efficiency and long-view look of Stranglethorn. We're in it to win it, and so we need the lever which Uttermost would provide.
Likewise, Kinslayer is excellent, and probably my third choice, but it doesn't provide as much direct power as Uttermost or Inheritor.
I'm partial to Librarian over Unerring for the same reasons that I prefer Inheritor to Uttermost. I do think Unerring would be effective, I just have an easier time playing with a surplus of choices and doing combinatorics than I do plumbing the depths of a more refined and exclusive tool set.
I also wanna reiterate, great job guys! Hunger's still alive, coming up on halfway through the extremely deadly temple. We need to consider every argument carefully, and work to follow up on our build choices, but we can win this.
- Location
- Canada
It depends how many Arete we have at that point. I definitely want us to start building towards Ruling Ring as soon as it's safe to do so and to get Ruling Ring we'll have to hunt monsters offering the Preeminence. But of course, there's no point in hunting down such a monster if we don't have the Arete for Preeminence.
If we don't have the Arete? Just try to have Hunger grows in power in a safe and sustainable manner while we save Arete. Could mean hunting, could mean hitting up a civ to get access to some compions, equipment or even a magic system... Not sure if it's particularly safe to go to Letrizia's civ given Doom of the Tyrant and they have Rank 10 Armament, but maybe that's safer than staying in the Voyager's Realm, waiting for Ber to ambush us... On the other hand, Letrizia would want to go back home so we should probably do that if it's at all safe.
Enohthree
Hypersane
Let's compare just the stat bonuses of defining advancement
Knight of Holly
+++Agility
+++Strength
+++Constitution
+Protection
+Luck
In Knight's Form of Rage the stat bonuses are lost
Inheritor assuming Wizard which people seem to be picking
+Intelligence
++Wits
In Inheritor's Form of Rage which is not expended
+++Intelligence
++++++Wits
Not sure which two stats would be picked up if we took the guy we just killed
Uttermost
+++++++Willpower
++All Other Stats
Stranglethorn
+++++++++++++++Strength
++++++++++++++++++Constitution
In Stranglethorn's Form of Rage which is not expended
++++++++++++++++++++++++Strength
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Constitution
Knight of Holly
+++Agility
+++Strength
+++Constitution
+Protection
+Luck
In Knight's Form of Rage the stat bonuses are lost
Inheritor assuming Wizard which people seem to be picking
+Intelligence
++Wits
In Inheritor's Form of Rage which is not expended
+++Intelligence
++++++Wits
Not sure which two stats would be picked up if we took the guy we just killed
Uttermost
+++++++Willpower
++All Other Stats
Stranglethorn
+++++++++++++++Strength
++++++++++++++++++Constitution
In Stranglethorn's Form of Rage which is not expended
++++++++++++++++++++++++Strength
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Constitution
[X] True Maiming
[X] The Ring of Power - Inheritor
[X] Fierce Quickening
Stranglethorn is losing and I'm not a fan of Uttermost, so changing to this so we can finally get some new magic and hopefully we get a guy as a voice in our head. I love head-voices. And hey, maybe we can use this to learn the secret weaknesses of some/all of our enemies. Not voting for a person, I like both leading options equally.
I'm willing to gamble that a true ruling ring can fix liver problems, the same way it can fix missing limbs and such. We'll see.
[X] The Ring of Power - Inheritor
[X] Fierce Quickening
Stranglethorn is losing and I'm not a fan of Uttermost, so changing to this so we can finally get some new magic and hopefully we get a guy as a voice in our head. I love head-voices. And hey, maybe we can use this to learn the secret weaknesses of some/all of our enemies. Not voting for a person, I like both leading options equally.
I'm willing to gamble that a true ruling ring can fix liver problems, the same way it can fix missing limbs and such. We'll see.
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
Just marry Gisena! Problem solved.