For once, the title of a terrifying fight update does not fill me with dread! Hunger clearly isn't the one paying the price, that's the Azure Ring's color right there. It's Azure, I realized how stupid that sentence was after I wrote it.
Baenlixnaire would probably tsk at this level of revenge, though. We came here to kill Immortals and free the Ring, but there's always a price above the price and death isn't nearly as terrible as the gigatortures he prefers. How could we even call ourselves Avengers? (Same for the Avengers, really, terrible name for a superhero team).
The Ultimate Price should be the Penultimate Bossfight, let's get the hell out of here.
The last few hours had been a whirl of activity; they'd consolidated control over a full nine-tenths of the Inner Ring, with many of the last holdouts falling to his direct assault, The activity had reminded him of his Geas task and the vast swathe of time it portended: fifty years to rule, twenty-five hundred years the limit, and that vast span less than an eyeblink compared to the full scope of the Geas itself, nine hundred thirty-seven octillion years of service. He'd been shaken from his contemplations by the arrival of Aeira and Gisena herself, the latter at last complete with her meditations.
Her evolution into self-proclaimed 'High Sorceress' had certainly augmented her powers; there was a nearly-tangible current of findross in her wake, a shimmering presence of something greater than mortal life. There was a capricious yet graceful quality to even her slightest movements, her beauty now almost cruelly captivating, every feature unbearably shapely and clear. Her sparkling green eyes caught him and she winked, daintily skipping over as the troops of House Alynne watched.
Hunger's not playing, taking over (almost) an entire city in a matter of hours is pretty legendary. He's probably overcompensating for being a Ranklet, but it's not about the size, it's how you use bladewinds. And also it's about the size, but 5 is perfectly normal.
It won't be nearly enough to take over the Human Realm, but we have plenty of time (knock on wood) to grind our way up there. And we have even more time to come to terms with our arbitrarily long Indenture. It doesn't bother me that it lasts for basically eternity- well, as the one who doesn't have to deal with it, of course I'm not worried about it- but I think I'd be fine with having to do chores for an octillion years, personally. It'd be less onerous than having to go to work to stay alive, an annoyance but not one that has to be all consuming, and eventually it'll probably be as normal as breathing. That's just the length, though, I'd actually just die if I had to assassinate a hero or conquer anyplace no matter how many superpowers I had, so don't take this for any kind of boast. No point in Hunger worrying about it now, regardless, it's almost bossfight time.
That is definitely favoritism I detect. We weren't even talking about Gisena, her +Cha is just so overwhelming that she gets a "herself" for showing up. Really, though, she deserves it for
finally leveling up days after her homework was due. It was worth the wait, she's beautiful and terrible even to Hunger. Aeira's cortisol levels must be through the roof; being a teenager with a crush (romantic or otherwise) is stressful enough without superhuman nonsense coming in to the picture. And that was yesterday, now she's even more ridiculous. And the plan is to give Gisena the Ring, I'm sure that won't help. At least when we Ennoble Gisena for +Charisma the +Will we'll drop on Aeria should more than cancel it out? We need to give her more sovereignbux as hazard pay for being around Gisena.
All those guards are probably almost as impressed, but I don't feel sorry for them because a quick glimpse of +30 Cha is an experience rather than a torture.
"Hey hun, did you miss me?" She asked sweetly, arms behind her back.
He frowned. "Stop showing off, we've got a Ring to save. Is that going to be permanent?" He nodded towards her aura of findross.
"Aww," Gisena pouted, extending her arms and twirling around. "Can't a girl celebrate just a little? I haven't had a makeover in ages! We've been traveling in such grueling conditions, too. And you needn't worry about the aura, it's just a side effect of my transformation! Should go away in a couple hours."
"Yes yes, you're the fairest of them all," he said dryly, forcing himself not to be distracted by her now-transfixing exquisiteness. He had parlayed with Lords and Ladies of the Fae that were nearly as beautiful, though that had been at the apex of his former might.
If the
findross aura (why does it always get italics, by the way? Most magicy words just get capitalized) is a temporary thing, I'd love to try to capture some outside of a body for experiments- but that would've been the Thousand Cuts option, and we made our choice. Poor Gisena. She just wants praise for being and Hunger's like "Explode, normie." ;_; He only likes me for my Nullity.
Internally, though, Hunger's desperately convincing himself that everything is fine, he's dealt with worse. Well, actually, this is the worst he's dealt with by a hair, but the conditions are different! Yeah, he had, uh,
more resistance back then. Thank goodness for Guile-Defeating Stance, it not only prevents backstabbing, but it also stops you from stuttering in front of pretty girls!
The backstory is teasing me, we've heard about the Fae before, but the last world seems to be on the "medieval shithole" side of fantasy, just with high power levels, and they don't perfectly fit that image. The world's a big place with room for all sorts, though, and the conditions were probably a result of the Tyrant, but I wanna know more. Gotta grab some EFBs for lOrE.
"Good, praise me more," Gisena said happily, coming around to take his arm. "So hun, what's the plan? Have you met any of the big, bad, Immortals mentioned in Aeira's papers?"
"No," he shook his head, "You're going to deal with them for me."
"Hm? I've just shown up and I get handed all the work?"
"That's right. It's the reward for a job well-done."
Gisena giggled. "Then I suppose I can't complain. I did ask you to praise me more!"
Luckily, we haven't lost the banter; Gisena's going easy on us for a while, I bet. It's the sportsmanlike thing to do.
She will be incredibly useful, but although she's going to exert herself a lot it's Hunger that'll be taking on most of the risk. So we're not
entirely taking advantage of her, lol. I'm incredibly glad that we waited for backup instead of Cutting Through; even if it was more effective and didn't lead us into a deathtrap, it's way more fun to do things with help. I mean, we are charging into the fight alone, but only physically.
Aeira was apparently too flustered to say anything to either of them, taking instruction quietly and acknowledging their directions with a shaky nod. With the Immortals entrenched in the tiny Innermost Temple, Hunger would wrap himself in a shell of dense edeldross and transport Gisena to one of the outlying buildings on the border of the Innermost. From there she would unleash her Ultimate Nullity, the "Plan B" that had wiped all wonder and magic from the world. With her powers recently enhanced, the radius of effect would be more than enough to cover the Innermost Temple - and a good fraction of the Inner as well. No Immortal would escape the effect.
He expected to lose the Evening Sky temporarily, even with his maximal edeldross output, but the Immortals should suffer far more greatly than he. Aeira would cloak them in shadow before they went; none expected her Element to overcome the perspicacity of the highest Immortals, but every bit could help.
Initially all went as planned, his edeldross cocoon and the cloak of Evening below both withering before Gisena's onslaught, but leaving his body untouched. With not a moment to waste, he sped towards the Innermost at forty times the speed of sound, a lightning blur springing unimpeded towards the final prison of the Ring.
We gotta drop some +Will on Aeira, I'm even more convinced now. But there's no more time for banter, we're jumping in to the plan right away. I'm already seeing some of the tactics that people suggested in the positioning of the Ultimate and Aeira's buff, that's always gratifying. Even more so is that the plan hasn't yet gone awry, although I struggle to see how this first blast could have been complicated, it's the easy part.
The last number we got, I think, was "the speed of 200 men" versus Vanreir, so Mach 40 would be 1200* times faster, assuming 25 mph for the humans. With ++Agi from Uttermost, ++++ from Quickening, +++++ from WeDS, and the 30% Edeldross boost, yeah, 6x faster seems a bit high if anything. Ah, right, we dropped the -5% and -15% physical debuffs, didn't we. And our blood buff is much stronger, even if it's not exactly quantified. On the other hand, we did just eat bits of a Nullity Ultimate, so it seems clear that we shouldn't concern ourselves with the diminishing returns of +'s just yet. The numbers going up tickle my monkey brain, heehee. Incidentally, that's fast enough to circle the Earth in less than an hour, we're at an insane level of Sanic now.
*Don't trust these numbers, I did math twice and got 3x speed rather than 6x the first time and I can't figure out why.
At last it came into view, the charge he'd pursued with unswerving determination these past weeks: caught, in artful symmetry of the Temple itself, within the pale ivory fingers of a precisely-manufactured vise, each point of contact alight with crackling agony, spilling siphoned power in thunderous bolts.
Surprisingly, two Immortals still stood, their powers undepleted by Gisena's attack. One man and one woman standing unfortunately close to the Ring. The man was dressed in plain tunic and pants with rainbow wisps fading about him, while the woman was clad in more conventional plate, bearing a broadsword whose steel flashed clarion blue. If Larissa's description was correct, these were Evangeline Worldkeeper and Quiet Sten, two of the mightiest Immortals, though she hadn't expected either to withstand the bomb of Gisena's Nullity unscathed.
Somehow I imagined that the final fight would be more spread out and further away from the Ring's prison, but that would leave the Ring much too open, this makes more sense. I'm more surprised by Hunger's surprise, he gets paranoid about convenient fishing spots, since when was he so optimistic? Can't ding him for the spacing concern since I shared it, but you can't escape the final boss fight so easily. Perhaps he just has a huge amount of trust in Gisena, that's cute of him.
It looks like ducking back outside to break the moon-clutching fingers there would've been a mistake, if the actual Vise is in the Innermost and much smaller. The symmetry probably reduces the power requirements because symbolism and magic nonsense. Unless it's literally the same object, space warping would allow for that even if it would hurt my brain more.
Stenallon's aura is described as a rainbow wisp now, wherefrom his un-Ulted perspective he was covered with shadowy shards of stained glass. Threw me for a bit, but I guess that is what his shadow would look like while dissolving. Evangeline has a weapon. And armor. Geeze, on top of "is the most competent" all the descriptions of her jive with a high threat level but don't really give me a handhold to figure out how to beat her. The blueness of her sword might indicate a connection to the Ring- ah, no point making tactics at this point, anyway.
Without hesitation they leapt at him, swiftness nearly the equal of his own. The man hunched forward like a dog taught to kill, his limbs colossal, barrel-like arms near twice the width of Hunger's own. He was a broad bear of a man, though he stood only half a head taller, nowhere near the old marshal's stature who had confronted him at the boundary of the Inner Temple. The woman tacked to the side, sword held defensively, examining Hunger's figure with a critical eye. Buoyed by the imminent prospect of its kin's rescue, his Ring flared crimson, and he felt their blood falter and tremble before him. Let it be enough.
Drat, Eva's as fast as Sten is, I was hoping she'd have worse Agi. On the flip side, our blood debuffs are actually effective, I wasn't sure they'd land even after the Nullity. Sten is huge as befitting his insane Strength, but I can't grok his posture. More readiness for lunging? He doesn't outstat us enough for that to be a good opening move, but to be fair he doesn't know that. They'll soon learn, though, with Eva dissecting our every move through mundane skill alone.
We've grabbed 2 25-point Advancements, a new magic system, two stances, capped a blood tree, started down the other, and grabbed a new party member, so the idea that it wouldn't be enough is ridiculous- except for the fact that we spent so much on potential and didn't just grab ADS, hah. No regrets. Unless we die, or lose an artifact or a ton of rank, in which case lots of regrets. Yeah, I'm scared enough to write this in support of a less risky powerup option.
He feinted at the man, committing hard to an attack on the breastbone; then switched last-minute to half-sword, shifting the angle of his strike down towards the man's groin. His opponent reacted with admirable speed, stepping sideways to avoid the cut, but Hunger released his Blade with his left hand and punched him in the face. The Power of Ruin infused in his strike left a crater of splintering skin and bone, but Hunger's own fist rebounded harshly, bones shattered by the terrible sharp tenacity of his opponent's flesh. It was like punching a cliff crag of pure adamant; and though his foe seemed equally surprised that the Ringbearer had hurt him, Hunger fell back, jaw gritted in frustration.
Here Hunger demonstrates the benefit of not being Vanreir, he can do his Uttermost while still not committing totally to an attack. He feinted for the groin after fainting for the chest after feinting for Sten, who he punched in the face even though Eva was the target the whole time. I think each of those moves were suggested individually, but as usual Hunger turns them into something further beyond.
Nice bit of humor in this incredibly fast paced fight. The shared incredulity of "That barely hurt him?/That actually hurt me?" is great, and an acknowledgement of all the +Str we've been stacking recently. And here I thought Zweihander's non-Stance ability would never pay off. We're as hurt by that attack as he is, though, both his hardness and (I think) the remnant of his Soul Evocation broke our hand, so I think Round 1 is a draw. Maybe a slight advantage to the Immortals, depending on what Eva learned from this.
He knew his time was limited. It would not take long for the other Immortals to recover their powers as the Groundskeeper had. He had to finish these two great threats and steal their strength before then.
Only brief instants to think as his hand healed. Neither opponent had used their Soul Evocation; Gisena's attack had at least disabled that. He might be wrong but he was doomed anyway if that were the case.
Going for the Ring was too risky while it was flanked by both defenders. They clearly wanted him to duel Quiet Sten, so it was best to take out Evangeline first. The Forebear's technique had not failed him yet; he could only hope it would suffice to cut through these final guardians. But best not to rely on uncertainties when possible. He leapt backwards again, blade lashing out to send sword-winds screaming across the bare chamber of the Innermost. In all directions they curved and hummed; impossible for a foe of equivalent speed to intercept them all. The intent was clear: at least one enemy would have to close the distance or be worn down at range.
Hunger lists out all the reasons why this is a terrible situation, many of which he can't control, but I have faith in him! More than that, I have faith in the Bladewind Spam. Like the Accursed, it is so powerful that its enemies (Rihaku) can only hope to seal it away through treachery... the field is now ours!
Evangeline clicked her tongue. Quiet Sten spread wide his arms and charged into the mass of the blade projections, the swarm scoring his torso but failing to deal more than superficial damage. Evangeline leapt back and parried with her blade, each sword-wind carving a tiny but perceptible nick into that clarion saber. A single stroke made it past her guard and slipped beneath her armor, carving a broad deep line through her lower torso.
On first read, I thought Eva's reaction was an expression of irritation, but it's probably also a code. Looks like Eva has more control over Sten in combat than outside of it, or at least that they know when to set aside their animosity.
All the meming I do about bladewinds aside, I didn't actually expect it to result in such a clean hit this early in the fight. And even the "superficial damage" on Sten is rad for an attack intended only to control the space. Eva's sword is slowly getting ground down, too, which would have surprised me had we not just taken WeDS, I'll have to remember how easy and effective-ish this tactic is for longer fights.
And then Stenallon was upon him, blotting out all sight, hands crooked like claws as he descended like a falling sun. Hunger blasted the ground with edeldross, hurling himself back and away, bouncing off the curved chamber wall to spring towards Evangeline. Sten bellowed in rage, leaping with thunderous strength straight upwards to intercept him.
Shit. The man was so strong that even a slight twitch of his foot sufficed to propel him at awesome speed. He'd waited until Hunger was midair to spring his trap.
You've heard of rocket tag, how about extreme air hockey? Some pretty crazy mobility is happening here, but it looks like taking to the air was a mistake, sorry for my part in suggesting that. Sten used his strength to... push off the ground and move towards Hunger quickly. Because strength equals go faster. But not for normal running, only jumping into the air? Because to run, you have to hit the ground repeatedly, and using too much force moves you away from the ground. Meaning goofy Naruto runs are more effective because they move you more X and less Y. So Sten's posture makes sense. But geeze, I'd still have thought that being able to maneuver in midair would be more of an advantage, Sten must be meteoric right now.
If I understand that right, blasting Edeldross backwards and up should keep us more firmly on the ground, allowing us to go faster. Basically, the opposite of what we did here. Round 2 is definitely the Immortals' victory.
No time for fancy work. Hunger struck one-handed with the Forebear's Blade directly at Sten's center of mass. Swiping with a single paw, Sten tore Hunger's arm off at the elbow, and reached out with his other hand to trap him within a crushing grapple.
As expected. Hunger recalled the falling Forebear's Blade towards his left hand, summoning it point-first into Sten's right kidney. With the same gesture he conjured a last-ditch wall of edeldross: far from enough to withstand the charge but sufficient to break Sten's momentum. The grapple fell short and Hunger recalled his Blade again, driving and twisting it in Sten's obdurate flesh as the weapon sought its master.
I distinctly remember Rihaku saying that we were in for a bad time if Sten got his hands on us, and that's exactly what happened. But as it turns out the bad time happened before the grapple, and it was some kind of keikaku anyway. Since his arm being off truly is just a flesh wound, he took the opportunity to TK his sword into Sten's kidney. That damage wouldn't have been enough to stop Sten, but he has another tactic. Huh.
'Kay, so he blocks Sten just a bit with a wall of edeldross. I wouldn't have suggested that at all out of fear of buffing Sten, but it looks like it didn't do that? Is our control good enough to hit people with edeldross without buffing them, now, or did I just misunderstand how the green lantern constructs work in the first place?
Well, I'm grateful for it, because we've traded an arm for a kidney, the extra wigglesword trauma, and, most importantly, no longer being in Sten's hold. Round 3 goes to Hunger.
Evangeline had by this point recovered some portion of her Soul Evocation; she pointed at Hunger and bright bolts of gold issued forth from her finger to strike at him. Where they touched, they seared and boiled his flesh, scouring down to the bone. But that bone remained untouched, and free of Sten's reach Hunger fired another burst of edeldross, propelling him like a missile into Evangeline. She hopped back, dodging the impact crater, but the Ring of Blood brought him unnatural resilience. Recovering in an eyeblink he simply leapt forward, jamming the razor-sharp shard of his amputated elbow into her chest wound. Hobbled by that same wound, Evangeline could not dodge, choosing instead to skewer him on her brilliant flashing blade; the metal parted Hunger's flesh easily, punching clean through his shoulder, but force of that magnitude could hardly stop him now. Finally in knife-range he slammed his forehead into hers, shattering her face; sent reeling, she did not see the Forebear's Blade tear itself free of Sten and leap contentedly into Hunger's left hand.
The Sea of Nullity is wearing off quickly, I should have added to Round 3 that Sten's maneuver also granted the Immortals time. Evangeline's attacks seem to have a similar effect as Aobaru's in that it burns and destroys matter, though the specifics are different. What's so special about bone that her attacks leave it alone? Nothing on Hunger's end, I think, the only parts of his human form that are particularly interesting (in a positive way) are his blood and his zweihander-powered arm. A connection between a Grand Oracle and bone would be... ha! It would make sense to use bones in divination, was that a utility spell to quicky get rid of all the unnecessary meat that she converted into a weapon? I love it.
Edeldross flight is quicker than I thought it would be. Does it scale off of our Agi? I assumed it was, like, a physical thing, but that was probably foolish since edeldross is a liminal substance. We took more damage from our kamikaze attack, but small injuries like that are meaningless with our regen, so let's not shelve that tactic quite yet. And then-
KNIFE! So metal, much brutal. Hunger is the bone of his sword. Pierce through, even if your sword is thataway. And then get pierced through in return, but use your much higher Con to deal with that. The Immortal Faces Broken counter increments to 2, and I think we're about to see a re-reenactment of Seralize's death. Everything is so fast, has Sten even hit the ground yet? Round 4 is absolutely Hunger's.
A battle of two extremes. Sten with overwhelming strength and fortitude but whose technique and instincts were rusty, and Evangeline whose wits and blade were quick but could not match Hunger's own physicality. Just as the battle would be over if Sten grappled him, so too was it over if Hunger grappled Eva. He hooked her leg with his own and brought them to the ground, shrugging his shoulder back to prevent her retrieving her sword. Blindly she struggled but his strength was by far the greater. Whipping them to the side he dodged Sten's last desperate charge and brought his Blade around to cut through Eva's neck. Its edge flashed harrowing blue as it slid across her jugular; one clean stroke to take off her head. The Ring of Blood pulsed only once in triumph, as if reminding him that this battle was not yet complete.
Well, Hunger is demonstrably correct because he won the battle after grappling Eva, but I still don't necessarily agree. Grappling is a great idea for the enemy with higher Strength, but not so much if you're facing two peer enemies at a time. Sten woulda fucked us up for that if he was closer- but he wasn't closer, so I guess this was a 1v1 fight for that short period.
Again Hunger traps a sword inside him by flexing really hard, high regeneration and Willpower makes that a good option to prevent additional stabbings. And it gives nice shock value, as a plus. Probably a worse idea against higher Str opponents that could just carve through, or against a barbed whatever that could be twisted for more damage, I think.
We couldn't dodge Sten at all last time, and we did it casually here, so I'm pretty sure it's the difference between the X and Y axis. And Eva's dead because Sten couldn't reach us quickly enough, if we want to be a jackass and break him mentally there's some ammo. Round 5: Hunger just won't stop winning.
Hunger leapt back as Sten extricated himself from the chamber wall. Assessing himself, he finally realized that his Ring was still with his severed right arm; though diminished, he could feel its presence strongly. Was this a general property of the Ring or merely its depth of resolve to save its sibling? Perhaps their connection had grown so that, like the Forebear's Blade, it could come to him when called?
Hunger smirked to himself as Sten faced him again. No, the Ring was not the Blade; it held a different sort of power and could not affect the world in so gross a way. Sten glared at him with eyes devoid of hate; gray obligation filled those dull eyes, a tireless duty that had never once wavered.
It was no easy thing, to bear a Ring, but far harder still to contain one unwillingly. And yet he could not bring himself to pity this sad thundering jailer. This was the chief architect of the Azure Ring's torment. He would pay nothing less than the ultimate price.
Sten entombs himself in a wall by charging, like this is some kind of video game. That Hammerer guy in Runescape, what a chump. D'oh, the Ring was on the hand we sacrificed? Yeah, Round 3 was actually only a draw.
Aside from that possibly being a huge problem, I think he's treating the Ring as a separate entity for the moment. He hasn't ever mentioned the Crimson Ring's resolve to save the Azure Ring before, only his own. All that worry about Blade contamination and Hunger might actually have a will separate from Hunger, too. Hardly a problem, but it's fascinating, we should take the "Commune with Ring" option that was available back when if it comes up again.
More immediately, Sten ain't even mad, so tactics designed to take advantage of his insanity might be less effective than hoped. He won't rage so easily, but we already know of his conflicted feelings about his duty. We could use that to flip him, but we also have to take into account how merciful Hunger
isn't at the moment. I'm inclined to just kill him, after reading the update again, so I might change my vote on that.
