- Location
- NY
I think SV hugged it to death
I think SV hugged it to death
DSB says it's like 100 MB of images. If you click it and let it load in a separate for a few minutes you should be able to get in.
[ ] Lucent Thorn - The deadly A-class blade which hunts Ring and wielder alike has set its eyes on Miss Gisena Allria, wielder of the Azure! Lest the horrors of unbound Artifice be loosed upon the universe again, Justice Blade Lucent Thorn is here to punish you in the name of the True Moonlight! Will the evil Sorceress-Queen Gisena finally be felled? Or will her contract with the devastating handsome and also evil Ring-Lord Hunger allow her to cling to unseemly life!? Find outnext timein several dozen more episodes!
Though if our associates in the Astral continue to price their services so aggressively, we may want to start stockpiling high-end barter anyway.We are at level when "money" is completely abstracted into "effort of civilization". As it is, our "money" is our Rank, boosted by SitS once we get that.
We are at level when "money" is completely abstracted into "effort of civilization". As it is, our "money" is our Rank, boosted by SitS once we get that.
"Halt, Universe Emperor! You've no further chance, for I! Am Here!"
...I don't think the guy at the hotdog stand is going to accept that.
More seriously this would absolutely work in places where we rule but I'm wary of trying this in foreign countries. Throwing our rank around may not always be a good idea. You never know what kind of attention that could get you. It worked in Nifel but that was just to track down information and no small amount of luck was involved in that. Besides I don't think Hungers honour, or any common sense he has left, would allow him to throw around his power just to get free stuff. Having hard cash on hand is just practical.
Plus, what will Hunger tell Aeira and Aobaru if he can't actually pay them?! Even if they don't leave, could be awkward...
It's genuinely great. I'm really enjoying it.
We're a progression-type Cursebearer, with the ability to outscale anything else in the universe outrageously, superhuman charisma, and world-bestriding Pressure. We really just need to find someone or many someones willing to loan us currency at a reasonable interest rate and just treat it as something else to outscale. There must be *someone* in the Voyaging realm that's willing to loan us enough money to deal with the salaries of our retainers at least!
Broke: Hunger OnlyFans
Sorry bub, gisena already cornered that particular market back in the Elixir Kingdom.
Letrizia was hurt and they had no means of supernatural healing. Gisena as well, though not so profoundly. His own state was nothing to envy; the charred husk of his arm could barely maintain its grip on the Forebear's Blade. Despite all they had lost, there had been gain as well. He was beginning to better understand the power of Progression that manifested in him, the lens through which it channeled his growth.
With each enemy beaten he grew in power. He could use that power to spin away parts of that enemy's legacy, taking them for his own. The jackal-dragon had given him a dragon's longevity. The King Fish, its furious might. The pirate captain's armor had become his cloak of stars. Already some fraction of Seralize's speed had invested him, reflexes heightened to keening sharpness.
That wasn't all. He could direct that power towards an existing aspect of his panoply instead, enhancing the Blade's destructive might or his Evening Sky's protection.
If he could find a beast with the power of healing and harvest its strength for his own, Letrizia's left side could be mended. She would not suffer the horrific pain and permanent damage of her burns. It was more than worth the risk.
"Watch her," he told Gisena. "I'll find something that can heal."
"All right," Gisena said quietly. She laid a hand on his own. "I'll keep her safe. Don't push yourself too hard, hero."
He smiled. "Look who's talking. Next time, just wake us up instead of spending an hour blasting away at the empty air."
"And interrupt your beauty sleep? I couldn't bring myself to do that. But don't worry, all I'm going to do is sit here and wait! The very picture of restraint and poise." She winked.
"Good."
He sped off, tacking past the lake and into the wetland mire beyond, past the murk and gloom of woods thick with rot, the sea-brine estuary wind stinging his nose and cheeks. Deep in the swamp he felled creature after creature, cleaving stringy muscle and shell-sloughed carapace in pursuit of his monstrous grail. This was not blind ambition: the murder of Seralize had restored a portion of his Rank alongside his speed, and he willed now the same world that had given him the Lake produce a monster worth the killing.
After an hour's steady slaughter it finally appeared, roused by commotion or simple deprivation of prey. A sinuous fusion of direwolf and alligator, its fangs ivory knives, its flesh living stone, with a tail of corded muscle half again its length. Ghostfire flickered in its eyes, and every wound he struck seemed hollow and inconsequential, the flesh separate from the animating force.
But the Forebear's Blade could pierce more than physical flesh. As it asserted itself with an indolent swipe, confident in its invincibility, he plunged his blade-shard into the soft meat beneath its shoulder-plates, channeling fell power to bleed mind and spirit directly. At this the beast finally reacted, yowling in surprise and anguish. He backed away, evading its retaliatory swipes with newly-bought speed, and darted around the back to strike another gap in its armor with the same technique.
Slowly and piteously it fell, deathless strength yielding to the attrition of the Blade. As he took its heart, its ghostflame resilience passed into the ring, an unearthly light that bound essence and corpus together. The knowledge came to him: those who bathed in its glow would recover even from grievous wounds, as whole in body as they were in spirit.
But a few days ago he'd speculated about continuity after death, persisting as a being of spirit so long as his artifacts survived. He'd expected such an achievement to be the product of years, but perhaps if he focused it into the Blade, most deeply connected of all artifacts...
Yes. He and the Blade were one. So long as it persisted, he could survive even decapitation as a semi-physical wraith, though he'd remain vulnerable to physical harm. The fulsome density of ghostfire that animated his "corpse" would restore his body in a matter of hours, leaving him healed and rested upon resuming human existence.
He plunged the Blade into his heart, assuming the state willingly, eager to test its bounds and limitations. Ghostfire flickered, emerging from his body like an unfurling flower. A pale simulacrum of his right arm filled out the seared and skeletal husk of its physical presence. His left, cleaved away by the Tyrant's own blade, did not appear at all, nor did his missing eye.
The ghost-flesh was light but also effervescent, incapable of exerting quite as much force as his true body. But that was also its strength, capable of phasing momentarily through solid matter at a substantial cost in stamina. That it required the temporary death of his body was a major inconvenience.
Nonetheless, it was good enough. This would work. By his wraith-form's light he navigated the gloaming dark of the swamp, returning swiftly to the shores of the lake. Gisena waved at him from a distance. Swift as an evening wind he billowed across the lake's surface, too light and fast for gravity to drag beneath, and reached her in the span of a breath.
.. I have no words"Oh my." Gisena looked down forlornly. "Are you Hunger's pale shade, come to bid us a final farewell?"
"Only because I can't tolerate your company any longer. My new life as a ghostly adventurer beckons."
"Poor Letrizia. Better for her to think you dead, than abandoned so abruptly!"
"You won't guilt me out of this." He dropped to a knee, laying a semi-corporeal hand against her forehead.
"...How is she?"
"Alive," Gisena said, "and blissfully unconscious on my lap, as you can see. It's supremely comfortable, as I said! Jealous?"
"Should I be?" He raised an eyebrow.
Gisena giggled. "I hope your current state's not permanent!"
"Me too," he deadpanned. "But the light it gives off will slowly heal Letrizia, and that's all that matters."
As if in response, Letrizia mewled quietly, curling up in Gisena's lap, charred flesh crinkling softly. Her pain assuaged by the ghostfire's light, she did not awaken.
oh, I didn't consider this! Something to remember."Hmph," she brushed a finger against the wraithflesh, marveling at it semi-corporeal state. "You'll have to be careful in battle. Your very person is vulnerable to dispellation now."
"Worse, I'm constantly just a little bit cold," he remarked. "Maybe I'll switch back in the morning."
"The conquering hero's return," Gisena smiled softly. "I'll have to think of a proper reward."
"So long as it's not your cooking."
"Maybe I'll make you something! Would you prefer a bouquet of flowers? A triumphal wreath, some laurels for you to rest on?"
"Flowers would be wonderful, thank you."
"Great! I know just the prettiest arrangement," she raised a finger perkily. "Look forward to it! You'll wake up literally smelling of roses."
"I can hardly wait."
---
so we REALLY went for the 2 arete plan. I'm actually surprised, it's not common for Rihaku questers to be so conservative.The winning vote was [X] Mire Wolf with [X] Pristine Star, [X] Second Stage. You are suffering the Condition: Chill of the Grave: Perhaps a bit too eager to pierce the curtain between life and death. -5% effectiveness to all actions for 1 month.
With Letrizia stable, the threat of the blue swordsman looms large. Rest is required, of course. Hunger is exhausted still. But that leaves 28 more days of Decimator-free existence. With the crucial window of portal investigation fallow, you've run low on leads for Ber's location. What now to do?
[ ] Make For Civilization - Your Rank having been augmented by recent efforts, you can navigate the Voyaging Realm nearly as well as Verschlengorge himself. Though the Tyrant's Doom afflicts you still, at least your Decimation is absent. Morally it's a good idea to take care of any civilized business in this window. Logistically, civilization confers the power of multitudes to solve your problems. Perhaps there are new magics you could acquire, items of power to equip Gisena and Letrizia with (your arsenal being full), even supplies to repair the Armament?
You'll let Gisena do most of the talking, so as not to provoke your Doom.
*Wide range of outcomes, available options will be determined by a combination of thread participation, fanworks and random chance.
*Low-Medium Risk, Moderate Reward is the likeliest outcome
*Potentially outfit your existing party members, and acquire new party members!
*Can sell your giant pearl for lots of money
*You can't reach Letrizia's civ, so you're looking for native societies.
[ ] Hunt - Power flows from the tip of a sword. For you, that's quite literal.
*Available targets will be determined by a combination of Rank, pertinent abilities, thread participation, fanworks and random chance.
*Variable Risk, high reward to risk ratio
*Kill cool monsters and take their (ability to?) shit
[ ] Temple of the False Moon - The message in a bottle yielded a map, its surface writ with silver-shimmering ink. Quickly it began to discorporate in the oxygen of the naked air. Though you've sheltered it with the Evening Sky, it slowly continues to disintegrate. The silver ink shifts with the Voyaging Realm, tracing a path to the Temple of the False Moon, within which treasures beyond all reason are promised.
Instinct tells you that this is a trap. But the most alluring traps carry the most valuable bait.
*Very high risk, extreme reward
*You will be able to somewhat influence the outcome, including mitigation of risk, via tactics & thread participation now and later. Intelligent decision-making and sound strategy will be the key to victory, so risks can be dealt with.
*To Boldly Go: Taking this option will grant 2 Arete and defray activations of the Apocryphal Curse for two weeks.
*You have Gisena to dispel any magical defenses, and your own form which can now persist even in the face of death. How bad could it possibly be?!
*You are not Exhausted anymore and no longer suffering from any wound penalties, so it's literally now or never with the map disintegrating.
Thread participation has yielded a reward. Choose carefully, a consistent strategy here can pay dividends:
[ ] +0.5 Arete
[ ] +Letrizia
[ ] +1 pick during next Experience spend
You certainly seem like you're managing to get more than one reaction post per update cycle, and you're around 1/5 of the way through the thread right now, so the odds aren't great but I'd say they're non-zero at least. Plus if we have to keep this thread on life support like EFB, having your reactions to keep the heartbeat going would be nice.so, as I sort of predicted in my previous reaction, in the end it came down to pristine star + second stage vs shine bright + second stage.
arguments had convinced me of the value of undying vanguard, but I maintain that a lower arete expenditure will be better in the medium/long term, as long as we get what we need: healing for our allies, and possibly healing for us.
both options are good, but I'm partial to the 4 arete plan. I'm also VERY happy tyrant beast lost. Until now there wasn't really that much of a risk of death, that would have been the greatest risk thus far bar none.
The battle that came closest was the one against Ber, but with getting into it as "mostly exhausted" I think our chances of death were lowered by a LOT. Really, the highest risk was that of losing Letrizia and Veschle, not really to lose Hunger himself.
Shame that none of these abilities are good enough to heal our various old wounds, but what can you do... healing those is just a matter of time. We'll get there.
now, on the update. I wonder how much Arete I've generated thus far?
You know, I don't regret any of the choices up to now. I've read a lot of bitching and salt about the fish, but even that choice was, in my opinion, worth it.
We got relationship boosts and astral rank boosts, and these will pay off once we stop being exhausted and constantly in danger.
Maybe the one thing I regret a bit is not taking Unshattered, but knowing we'll one day restore Hunger's body to his prime is, in my opinion, worth it, even if Unshattered would have put us at least a couple of months ahead of the curve. On the other hand just how many of the options we've seen until now we wouldn't have had access to if we took that? At the very least I expect we wouldn't have had access to the cloak.
I wonder if Apocryphal would have been able to send us even stronger challenges, or if we would have been somewhat safe for a few weeks/months while it prepared and caught up with our newfound strenght..
I like the relationship that has been developing between them.
I'm calling it now: Gisena will come with us to the next world, and Letrizia will remain as the new god-empress of humanity!
(yeah, she's definitely not good enough to come with us in the multiverse I think, and we need to leave someone behind to take care of the empire, or there will be chaos the moment we disappear!)
this explains exactly HOW we can manage to find the right sort of monster without getting the tracking ability.
It likely also helps us getting back. After all we were already told that the Voyager Realm changes, so it would have been possible (and horrible) to unknowingly cross the border of our local "zone", and not be able to go back to our allies. Sure, the usual "zones" of the Voyager Realms are, if I recall correctly, as big as countries if not more, but would apocryphal care about that? Maybe we casually would have been right at the border...
Isn't it nice when they continue to underestimate us?
mh.. it seems like the 4 arete plan won, though technically speaking that could also refer to the 2 arete version...
and so "stab yourself for power" comes back! I'm not 100% sure it's a good idea to stab yourself immediately, but then again we JUST went through an apocryphal proc, so it's probably the best chance we'll get. It also raises the chance of keeping this ability hidden, after all if we went into another battle without doing this we'd likely have to reveal it in order to survive. Also we sorta need our arm, it's the only one we have left!
I'm still a bit annoyed at not getting arm/eye back, but I suppose I have no choice but to wait for a stronger ability.
well, that was quick. Moving on!
.. I have no words
slowly? So it's the 2 arete plan.
Well, we're making progress for the 7 and 25 options, so that's good too!
oh, I didn't consider this! Something to remember.
ah, this banter. Gisena was our best pick yet!
so we REALLY went for the 2 arete plan. I'm actually surprised, it's not common for Rihaku questers to be so conservative.
Not that it's a bad thing, mind you! It just means we might actually get a 25 arete pick relatively soon!
Now we need to take advantage of these 28 remaining days as much as possible, so after we rest... what will we do? Maybe we'll grind a bit?
It's probably too late to follow Bert..
so navigating the Voyaging realm is quite literally just an application of one's astral rank. Does that mean a rank 10 would simply be able to go from one corner to the other in minutes?
If we're going to do this at all this is likely the best moment. Getting new magics for either us or even for Gisena could certainly help, as it would finally equipping them appropriately.
We still only have the one set of clothes! Gisena only has a single pair of shoes! That's unacceptable!
Also this should give us the chance to actually recover from Tired as well.
the grinding option. Always good, especially for Hunger.
The Mistery box! It could be anything! (it could even be a boat!)
time limited pick we unlocked thanks to the fish, it ALSO grants 2 ARETE and a temporary reprieve from Apocryphal.
...let's be real: we're going. The whole point of saving Arete was that we're trying to work toward a 25 point pick. This one grants 2 points, plus potentially high rewards, and Gisena is certainly well suited to it.
If we're willing to risk it this is a good pick. Otherwise I suppose we could play it safe and reach for civilization... But I doubt it will happen.
And I'm fine with it.
+1 pick, no question. I'd say an extra pick is worth more than a 0.5 arete... though, admittedly, it also incentivizes us to spend more arete at that time...
1056 words. Why am I even doing this? Will I actually manage to reach the end? is this worth it?
I don't know, but I suppose I'll find out if I continue to write!
it's inspirational, keep up the good work! plus, you'll have mad omake power attached to your vote when you finally catch up1056 words. Why am I even doing this? Will I actually manage to reach the end? is this worth it?
I don't know, but I suppose I'll find out if I continue to write!