No thank you, but I am sure TooSlow or Zampano might want to buy your vote. I would try to win with my own 2 hands and writing omakes instead of dabble in that shit show again.
EDIT: @Zampano, dazzle this gentleman and buy his vote
No thank you, but I am sure TooSlow or Zampano might want to buy your vote. I would try to win with my own 2 hands and writing omakes instead of dabble in that shit show again.
EDIT: @Zampano, dazzle this gentleman and buy his vote
If you think that Cursebearer's Strain has boosted the next Apocryphal proc into a death sentence, then the currently winning (non-favor) plan should be completely unacceptable. If you really think that Forced Induction activated because of a likely bad end, then taking three pure potential options is actively suicidal.
Let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that Orm's 900$ lesser wish only activated because Hunger's build & party is going to be utterly helpless in the face of an Apocryphal proc where Gisena's mitigation efforts aren't in effect. What would the best response be? Well that depends on the problems that need to be addressed!
If Cursebearer's Strain was truly a blunder like we haven't seen in months of questing, then there are two tiers of obstacles to overcome: First there's the immediate danger of this unprecedented Apocryphal Proc that has between 90 and 120% of the baseline curse's power, and which has spurred the Accursed to action. Second, there's the long term danger of the thread's voters who have delved too greedily and too deep. Continued risks during the quest and untenable risks leading to the epilogue are going to make this cycle repeat again and again... What recourse does the conscientious voter really have?
Problems:
1. An unmitigated Apocryphal Proc, bad enough to trigger Orm's wish that he paid for in August, is about to hit Hunger (with disastrous results)
2. A pattern of greedy behavior guarantees this will not be the last emergency we need to deal with in the Quest
3. A precedent of greedy behavior reduces the chance of getting a good Epilogue once the voters lose control of Hunger
So, there are some levers that we can pull that will influence each of these issues. The most contentious option is Grace:
[ ] "I wish for the Seraph's grace." - Once per Geas task, Haeliel turns aside any foe that has attained an otherwise-insurmountable edge against Hunger, or any one negative circumstance that would otherwise overcome him.
Coverage not quite as encompassing as a defensive Lesser Wish from the Accursed, but can be used much more frequently in most cases. Good for long-term survival.
Whatever else gets said, I have to admit that Grace does what it says on the tin. Grace is a guard rail that can activate every single time there is an insurmountable Geas Task. The Geas of Indenture lasts a very long time, so making a choice to make it easier now, two months into our very first task has an enormous cumulative influence on Hunger's chance of dying offscreen.
However, some of the limits of Grace are worth considering as well. The most important one for me is a meta-level consideration: the word count of the quest is finite and Grace is likely to activate onscreen at most once. Spending a full third of our 50 Arete + $900 Wish payout for something that might not be seen onscreen at all is a real bummer.
The second concern is that the Geas of Indenture is not the most pressing threat that Hunger faces right now! Investing in defenses that operate on the scale of eternity strikes me as hubris of the kind that led to a 90%-120% strength Apocryphal proc. (Remember that we're stipulating that the Forced Induction was because Hunger was going to hit a Quest End.)
If it is true that the Strain boosted proc is an emergency that needs all hands on deck, then it might be a little premature to be investing in picks that apply to the second Geas task which is as much as 2500 years away. So the obvious lever for problem #3 isn't a silver bullet. It leaves us vulnerable in the short term, does nothing to address the non-Geas enemies that have been the focus of the quest so far, and activates rarely in the quest overall. Maybe problem #2 is more tractable.
...
Problem #2 is absolutely more tractable. The thread makes risky decisions, but those decisions are pulled from a list of options determined by Hunger's own thought processes. Improving Hunger's choices will give the thread fewer chances to make a greedy decision as dangerous as getting hit with an Apocryphal proc of 90-120% the baseline strength of the curse. The lever to accomplish this is Guidance:
Hi, this is Haeliel Cursebearer. You might remember her from such classics as "Honey, I shrank the Hero of Myth" or "Man vs. Curse: The Road to Victory." Haeliel's Advice Corner will introduce a recurring character who says things like "What matters power in the true consideration" and "just call me Big Sis" in the same paragraph. Delightful. Haeliel's Advice Corner is also Haeliel's Ordinal Spiral Academy for Naughty Children, which is another long-term investment in (probably) Gisena's potential.
The features of this option really do seem likely to improve Hunger's long-term choices, with an added +potential for Gisena and +advice for Aobaru's use of True Vigorflame. Neat. Furthermore, improving Hunger's choices and expanding the party's utility toolset with the Ordinal also helps to address problem #3: Hunger is less likely to run headlong into a party wipe if there are abilities in play, more ways to run away and survive. Changing Hunger's risk tolerance helps to solve the Epilogue problem!
But... remember how we stipulated a Quest Ending catastrophe because the voters were greedy enough to boost the Apocryphal proc to 90-120% of the initial baseline severity? Haeliel's charming dialogue, magic lessons with Gisena, and good example to Aobaru don't exactly solve that problem. So if we're going to take [ ] Grace and [ ] Guidance then our the third winning vote better be a pretty dramatic powerup leading into this impending crisis!
Just to reiterate, Grace eases the consequences of our poor choices, but has some limitations in when we can use it and will not show up on screen often (if at all). Guidance curbs our tendency to make poor choices, but does nothing to solve our immediate problems.
...
The third place (non-favor) vote right now is Defer:
[ ] "I wish my reprieve be deferred." - Saves a wish for later, though be aware that Haeliel is not at your beck and call. Useful if you wish to safely revive Catherine at a later date, the wish to be employed to deter the notice of the Hidden Ones. It would be unwise to bring Catherine back into the jaws of a high-tier Apocryphal proc, and staggeringly wasteful to spend a second wish on the revival and transport, when the latter is far more within Hunger's reach than would be deflecting the Hidden Ones.
Also generally useful if you encounter some circumstance in the future which Hunger cannot deal with, and must. Can be taken multiple times.
...oh no. This option explicitly defers getting any benefits from Haeliel's sponsorship. The blurb focuses on the logistical details of reviving Catherine, and explicitly warns against reviving her into an Apocryphal proc. Alternative uses are briefly mentioned, but the blurb notably does not discuss immediate empowerment to address the current Strain Proc.
If Defer wins, it is extremely likely that the strong Catherine Contingent will lobby aggressively to allocate the wish towards resurrection. This is a third option that operates on a timespan way beyond the immediate problem of Inevitable Bad End due to Strain.
There are also some logistical obstacles to using this wish as a form of future Apocryphal mitigation: Haeliel is not always available! If we wake up to a dimensional incursion, like the first Ber encounter, then there wouldn't be time to call our big sis the Seraphim for a rescue.
If you look at the leading build, Defer + Grace + Guidance invests a lot in very long term problems while leaving the immediate concern, a massively boosted Apocryphal proc that hits with 90-120% of the Pirate fight, completely untouched.
There is a single boon power option, although it is not currently a viable alternative based on preliminary vote counts. Exaltation of Aobaru (Or Letrizia!) promises firepower and utility, including a solution for the Currency Crisis if the Distillation rolls go poorly:
[ ] "I wish for my junior's exaltation." - Haeliel will enormously empower Aobaru's inherent Progression and ultimate ceiling. There is a small chance she will accidentally kill him instead, reincarnating him to a different realm with his enhancements intact.
Can provide an immense degree of firepower (through Vigorflame) and utility (through the subordination of Voyaging Realm elements) in the medium-term if successful.
Can be taken multiple times, though empowering any non-Aobaru character is less safe and not as effective. The potential utility is still vast... Letrizia's also a strong candidate!
First of all, nobody has discussed empowering Letrizia. That's gotta be worth a few discussion posts. Thread Posts for the Thread god, etc.
More immediately, the risk of killing Aobaru and activating the Apocryphal Onslaught has rightly spooked the voting population. I don't really know how to argue for this one considering that it is described as a medium-term solution. If there is a party wipe coming down the pipeline then even a chosen hero of legend might not be enough to solve it. (RIP A Chosen Purpose.)
[ ] "I wish for the Seraph's favor." (2 wishes) - How forward. Haeliel will give Hunger her handkerchief, an oriflamme to be worn wrapped around his right arm or the Forebear's Blade. Takes up a Panoply slot, but does not provide Advancements on its own.
Grants +Heroic Progression: Hunger will always benefit from the next stage of [Once and Future], currently [Once and Future] II, without fulfilling the requirements or taking the Mental Contamination from that stage.
Enhances Holy Shit: Some entities will recognize Haeliel's favor and thus refrain from meddling with the bearer. Especially likely to deter foes that might otherwise be unassailably potent. This will sometimes (~5%) foil the plans of the Apocryphal Curse.
Remember that we stipulated an impending party wipe. Remember that none of the other build options wholly solve the immediate issue of an impending party wipe. Remember that solving problem #2 also addresses problem #3. This option gives you everything you want.
If it is true that Hunger is about to get hit with a bad end from an AC proc he isn't powerful enough to survive, then Indenture Task safety nets are irrelevant, advice & ordinal instruction are irrelevant, and resurrecting Catherine is irrelevant.
Access to Once and Future 2 provides a good boost of immediate combat power (including a boost to an already perfect ranged attack from Deathly Star). Its ISH buffs also provides a competence boost via the exact mechanism of decision making critiqued earlier. OaF2 makes Hunger axiomatically smarter, luckier, wiser, etc. These are the attributes used to generate the plot blurbs that have led to the dire straits of a 90%-120% AC proc!
What I'm saying is that [ ] Favor prepares for the impending bad end in a way that none of the other options even attempt, while also improving the selection of options that we voters will choose from during each plot vote. Favor directly addresses problem #1 (proc) and problem #2 (bad choices). By improving the options on the thread's ballot, it indirectly touches on problem #3 as well. Once you take seriously the idea that Cursebearer's Strain is a quest ending threat, then Favor seems to become mandatory.
The other blurbs only adequately address problem #2.
...
This is the 1540 word mark (here) so I'm going to count this as my fulfillment of 1.5 T0 Zampano Vote Markers, activated by @Orm Embar
...
But there's one more issue at stake: we get to pick more than one boon. What's the best way to address a quest ending crisis, moderate Hunger's risk tolerance, and work towards a better epilogue state?
One build would be Favor + Grace. This creates almost too much safety. With the backing of a High Cursebearer will Hunger even bother to seek out the safest pathway to each Indenture task? Wouldn't it be more efficient to bait out a major strike by the major player of each new universe, hide behind Big Sis Haeliel, and then mop up the survivors of her wrath? This combination gives stat buffs but also moves Hunger onto a much larger theater of operations. Strong coverage of problems #1 & #3, moderate coverage of problem #2 (ISH boost to mental stats).
Another build would be Favor + Defer. This likely commits Hunger to resurrecting Catherine as fast as possible. I'm under marker activation so I can't critique this particular goal with any more ire. I will say that if the Catherine Crew is defeated, wishing for power while benefitting from Favor would elevate Hunger solidly into the Armament tier. Soloing the Human Sphere would maybe become a viable plan... I am very happy with this vote, even though I'm not optimistic about defeating the CC when fighting over the deferred wish. Strong coverage of problem #1, moderate coverage of problem #2 (ISH boost to mental stats). Depending on your opinion of Catherine, chance for very positive Epilogue effects.
A third build is Favor + Guidance. This augments the power of Haeliel's favor with lessons about how to use it responsibly. Advice about mitigation strategies, ordinal lore, Haeliel screen time. Everything here is neat. Strong coverage of problem #1, very strong coverage of problem #2. Fixing Hunger's risk tolerance affects the Epilogue in a similar way to Grace, though probably not as dramatically.
A fourth build is Favor + Exaltation (Aobaru). I like Aobaru and would be sad if Truck-Kun takes him away from us. On the other hand, smelting ingots of Myth would be a very comprehensive way to end the Nilfel currency subplot. It would also provide an income stream to passively unlock Signs via money empowerment. Strong coverage of problem #1, moderate coverage of problem #2 (ISH boost to mental stats). Lateral utility in mage extraction, currency, and Chains subplots.
Finally, consider the currently winning build one last time. It has a lot of very interesting long-term effects, but does not prevent our gory death due to Strain. If you think Strain is a catastrophe, you should not vote for this combination.
One of the implicit assumptions of Favor is that ISH bonus to STR, DEX, etc are correct in resolving the crisis. Could be incorrect, and we might rather Grace or Deferred to wish away the issue. I believe it has been a strong assertion that Deferred can be used immediately for the Apocryphal proc if it's too much.
A bit of a crime story again. I suggest reading some of my other stories to understand this. Read AST Noir to know who is Mr. Humphrey and read this to know who Victor and Mind Mistake Not... are
And now:
A murder amongst SORDS - 3850 words
It was one of those days. I was in a restaurant waiting for my date to come when I was joined by a friend. Inspector Celerick was an interesting fellow who liked to sell his pills everywhere he goes. He even offered people to make pills by what materials his clients provided.
"Hey Humphrey, please let me work with you on this juicy new case"
Detective Humphrey – that's me. A famous detective who the press loved to romanticize as an unfaultable force of good and defender of women. In reality I did not have a good case in the past two months and the only women I had a relationship for more than one week tried to murder me.
"What case Celerick? And can you fuck off, I am waiting for my blind date."
"A leggy blonde right? I know your type Humphrey. Also stop pretending, I will be real with you man, I need money and the pill market has crashed recently. Let's solve the case of the poisoned Mind together. What do you say?"
"What poisoned Mind? A SORD Mind?" I still could not follow and the headache was killing me. Perhaps binge watching "True Detective" last night and no sleep was the culprit.
"Stop pretending man, somehow the old SORD Mind Mistake Not was killed and the main suspect is the MAEG gang"
Oh, shit. The city was a dumpster fire most of the time and this incident was a rain made of gasoline ready to be poured from above.
Then she entered the fine establishment
She was a leggy blonde, with 14 or 15 legs, way too fucking many legs. Shit, I should not have explicitly stated that I want leggy blonde on that damn blind date site.
=========================
Long story short, the date was awful and I got slapped in the face and kicked 15 times. Honestly I think I dodged a bullet. My father always used to say to avoid girls with odd numbers of appendages.
As I entered my office I pulled out a cigarette and a bottle of almost empty whiskey with an expiration date from the last century and cracked open my favorite book – the collection of ten books from Titus Livius. I started reading my favorite chapter – book 3 chapter 26.
As I was enjoying the calmness I heard steps approaching the office.
Then she entered my office
She was all dame, legs that went all the way to the bottom of her torso. She had arms, the kind of arms that had elbows. Her brown eyes were brown as the brownest crayons or muddy water.
She pulled out an envelope and put it on the table
"Please Mr. Humphrey, save us you are my only hope. I was sent by the MAEG gang, please help us clear our name. This is a deposit and ten times the amount if you manage to clear our name"
I took the envelope and put it on my chair and then I sat on it. I briefly moved my ass to assess the amount of money and I was left satisfied.
"I guess the issue is with the dead Mind, Miss…"
"Helen, and yes. Please go and see the crime yourself and come talk to us after that"
She left briefly after that while I contemplated the mess I was getting into. An inter gang war was not something I wanted any part of, but the rent was due in 3 days and I spent my money on horse racing so I had no choice. My landlord was a vicious woman that would not hesitate to throw me out and probably file a restraining order if I try to reason with her.
Still my head was killing me so I went to sleep on the sofa and try to think of something.
================
Next morning was still shit but at least I did not have a headache. Outside it was raining, hopelessly trying to wash all the shit and grime off the street. I went outside and the smog was mixed with the air. It was stifling. I wanted to make like a cow patty and hit the trail … but there was pressing business to attend to.
I went to SORD Gang HQ and just had to wave my badge a few times to let me in.
A young man come to me and shook my hand.
"My name is Victor, a junior Mind. Please to meet you Mr. Humphrey, I hope you would be able to find the culprit of this terrible crime"
"Thank you, what was your relationship with the venerable Mind"
"I was his apprentice, but it was not I who discovered it. It was Lady Athsleiep that found the body."
"And she is…"
"Oh, she is, or was his wife. She is also the SORD Gang most successful executioner. It is said that she is at her most beautiful when she kills a person. I have never seen her but the story goes that the venerable Mind Mistake Not saw her in action and was instantly in love. After that the Mind made an edict that no one is allowed to see her when she is killing somebody."
…what is going on in this degenerate Gang!?
"I…see"
===================
I was led to a room where the body was on the ground. In the middle was an almost finished painting of the most beautiful blonde I have ever seen. I would have declared my undying love to the painting alone.
"Enjoying the picture Mr Humphrey" I heard a silk voice behind me
I turned around and there she was, a goddess in human flesh. I knew I was gaping and I was pretty sure I was flushing. Still some part of me managed to get a control of my libido and offer some condolences which I am pretty sure were just mumbled words. I tried to cover it of course. Yet I had a weird feeling that somehow the picture portrayed an even more beautiful woman.
"Your husband is a great painter"
"He was" her sad smile awakened protective instincts that I have thought have atrophied by now "but he was so focused on his work when painting that he missed the most obvious stuff. I had to remind him of the time or once that he had ran out of paint. He was so focused on painting but the result was always worth it."
"I would need some statements regarding the situation"
"Of course, I was with Mistake Not, Victor came and brought us some tea"
"Any possibility of it being poisoned" I hopefully asked
"None, we both drank from the cups. Unfortunately we drank it all. Victor tea is always delicious. Do you know he is the youngest Mind in the history of the Gang and also tends to the private gardens of the Gang? The tea he made is from these gardens and it is highly sought after"
"You flatter me Lady Athsleiep. But the tea was prepared by me personally. And Lady Athsleiep also drank from the tea and she is fine"
"After that my husband started choking. He had almost finished painting me and he fell – you can see the paint line. I called for help but he grabbed a card from the deck on his desk and then collapsed. His dying action was to point at the painting at the wall"
I looked at the corpse on the ground and the outstretched hand that pointed towards the oil painting on the wall. Okay, I had to admit I knew nothing about art so I had to ask
"Is this supposed to mean anything?"
"The painting is called the Adoration of the Magi.A doublet of mage."
My only thought was: Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
"Full disclosure, I was hired by the MAEG gang to try to clear their name"
"We know that Mr. Humphrey. But by the look on your face I know what you think. Was it Helen who hired you? She hates me a lot – I killed three of her brothers and the rest was tortured into insanity by the beautiful lady here"
"…You mentioned a card in his hand." I could only mumble
"Yes a king of diamonds, I don't know what it means. Perhaps he was trying to throw it at the painting. He was a master thrower of cards. He could extinguish a life from 30 steps with a plastic card." Victor was smiling a bit too friendly to be innocent.
I took a bit of hair from the body to be tested from my friends in the lab and made photos of the crime scene and especially few of the painting. Those were going into my private collection.
"What is going to happen now?" I asked
"In two days, in the morning, we annihilate the MAEG Gang, this is what happens" Victor eyes were bloodthirsty
"Can you give me some time to prove their innocence?"
"No Mr. Humphrey, but if you prove the culprit is someone before 48 hours have passed we will stop the attack"
========================
Time to visit the MAEG Gang HQ. It was a dingy small building on the side. I knew they were hoping for some miracle for the 7th Sign.
Shit… I have forgotten about [Most High], the update cycle has been slowed down to a crawl and I had rent to pay and without much intrigue everything went to shit. This fucking city man, it was a bad week in a bad month; maybe even a bad year. The AST Times was calling it the worst update drought the city had ever seen.
I entered the building and was immediately met by a young girl who pushed a deck of cards into my face.
"Please pull two mister, pretty please"
I always had been weak to genuine smiles so I pulled two cards – a turned down tower and a devil. What is this weird shit with the Gangs lately?
The girl giggled and ran away. The building was full of manlets (AN: Men below 163 cm height) with bearded faces and glasses. A lot of bottles of soy milk could be found lying around. What a fucking dump.
I continued down the corridor and saw Helen waving at me.
I sighed to myself and went to her.
"Why didn't you tell me your brothers have been killed by the SORD Gang?" I started without preamble.
Whatever greeting she started to say died on Helen's lips. She just scowled at
"Because it is not of your goddamn business."
"It is a motive and the SORD Gang is ready to kill you guys"
"Victor is a bloodthirsty and ambitious monster that hates our guts. I don't know why you listen to him when I am your client"
"Because I don't want to risk my life for someone who lies to me" I started shouting
"I did not lie, yes Victor killed my brothers and that whore tortured my last remaining brother to insanity. Now he is in Saint August and not speaking to anyone"
"…look I am sorry, I would see what I can do but I don't promise anything"
Helen looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"Please do your best. I saw it in the Tarot card today – you would be our savior"
Great, more magic mumbo jumbo. At least I know what type of card I picked from the girl at the entrance.
"If you know stuff about cards, what does king of diamonds mean?"
"Julius Caesar" Helen's answer was immediate.
She saw my slack jawed expression and started explaining
"The king card is the oldest and most universal court card. It most likely originated in Persian Ganjifeh where kings are depicted as seated on thrones and outranking the viceroy cards which are mounted on horses. They represent four different rulers – the king of spades is David, the king of hearts is Charlemagne, the king of clubs is Alexander the Great and finally the king of diamonds is Julius Caesar"
"The "Et Tu, Brute?" guy?" A horrible hypothesis started to form in my mind.
"Yes, why are you asking me this?"
"…Nothing, I would keep in touch"
===============================
I was in the crime laboratory waiting for analysis of the hair that I took from the body.
Shit – I was against an ambitious SORD Mind who wanted to destroy the MAEG Gang and the only clue was a card.
The lab guy came to me and broke my pity party.
"The guy was killed by a modified Cardiac glycoside"
"What is this? I don't speak nerd speak"
"Well it is a poison, found in a flower called Lily of the valley, but unless your killer has a private garden I doubt you can find it anywhere in this shithole of a city"
"How fast does it act?"
"Between 20 and 30 seconds. Unless you are immune you would definitely be dead in 35 seconds"
"…thank you doc, I would need the report if you please. One last question, can you synthetize a bit of this poison"
"Sure, but it would cost extra and you have to fill a lot of forms"
"…fucking bureaucracy"
============================
It was almost midnight and I was banging my head against the desk. I did not know what to do – say that the guy that is probably the next Leader of the Gang is the true killer. How cliché is that? My reputation would be in tatter and I would be evicted by my landlord for not paying rent.
I called the Pagan Hotline (managed by the MAEG Gang as an alternate source for income) and asked for Helen. I did not wait long and she answered.
"What did you find?"
"What does a reverse Tower mean in tarot?" I knew I caught her off guard with that question.
"The Tower acts as a signal of some kind of major disaster, change or revelation when played upright, avoidance of disaster when played in reverse. Why are you asking me such stuff when our existence is on the line?"
"What will it do if I hit it with Draw-Four-Wild Uno Card?"
"…fuck you asshole, we might die as a Gang and you are there joking. Don't ever call again?" the line was cut.
When nervous I resorted to sarcasm, it was a cope mechanism and I knew it was shitty but it was mine.
With nothing left to do, I went to bed. Tomorrow I have to visit the crazy house.
=================================
I went to the madhouse to see the brother of Helen. I doubted it would make her hate me more anyway.
I entered the yellow building and asked for Helen's brother. Explaining it and with a bit of help of passing a few Arete bills I managed to get to the room of Helen Borigard – tortured by Lady Athsleiep and now legally insane. Has not spoken a word for more than a year. I had 3 minutes and then I had to be out. So find something from a crazy mute guy that has not spoken for a year and I have a limit of 180 seconds. Perfect.
I entered the room and the guy was just sitting on the bed watching the wall with unblinking eyes.
"Hey buddy"
No response
"I need help man or your sister would die"
No response
"I will kill you"
No response
Fucking zombie, I doubted he knew anything. Still I had one last thing to test. I opened a picture of the painting of Lady Athsleiep on my phone and showed it to him.
"Do you know thi…" I did not get to finish the sentence as he started pointing to the phone and screaming "Same expression, same expression, same expression" over and over again.
Shit, I had to run. I quickly left the room and jumped through the window. What the hell was that?
================================================
It was hot in the afternoon and I was at my office, staring at a vial of the synthetized poison. I had no clue what to do next when the phone rang.
"Detective Humphrey speaking"
"Mr Humphrey, I am Paris, the husband of Helen. She was kidnapped by the SORD Gang and they plan to execute her and then attack the HQ. If you have any evidence now is the time. Please help us"
Shit, shit, shit. And then just like that, the entire situation got solved in my mind. I smiled and I knew if someone was near me they would shudder. I felt it again – the sense of pride and accomplishment after solving a difficult case.
"Mr Paris, I would save your wife. I promise you that. Please don't do anything rash"
I cut the line and called Inspector Celerick
"Yo, Celerick. Want to help solve the case? I need you as a backup in the Sord Gang in 30 minutes but first I need you to make some pills" I eyed the poisonous vial.
==========================
The SORD Gang HQ was on high alert when I went there with Celerick but I managed to convince them to let us through.
In the main hall I saw Victor with Lady Athsleiep and Helen in chains on her knees in the middle.
"Wait, wait, you got the wrong person!" I shouted
"This does not concern you Mr. Humphrey, we found the culprit. She sold a poisoned deck of cards to the venerable Mind and that is what killed him"
"Interesting theory Victor. I have a better one – you are the one that killed the Mind. The poison is from the gardens you look over. And now you want to spark a war against the MAEG Gang to fuel your ascendancy to the leader of SORD Gang"
"Oh god Victor, I had a suspicion but I never believed it" Lady Athsleiep paled and moved backwards towards the crowd. She sat down on a chair and started hyperventilating.
"Celerick give her some water and aspirin." Celerick quickly poured a big glass of water and dissolved two pills of aspirin inside and gave it to the lady. I knew he was in a daze from her beauty but he did his job without giving anything away. I looked at the clock – 12:59:14.
"Unless you apologize for this vile insults and slander I would have your head Mr. Humphrey" I did not notice how the blade was at my throat
"This is hypothesis so I would be glad if you let me tell what I think happened"
"Thread carefully, for this is the closest member I had. I considered the Mind Mistake Not a father and if you want to insult his memory I would cut you down"
"The Mind Mistake Not… was in the room painting the picture. I guess you entered with the tea and presented it to Lady Athsleiep who gave it to the Mind because as she said he was in his own little world. You leave the room and one minute later you hear screams. You find your father dead and pointing at a picture of the Three Magi and holding a card that symbolizes a traitor"
The clock moved to 13:00:00 and emitted a small cha-ching sound. Lady Athsleiep had drink half of the glass and I motioned to Celerick to bring it to me.
"And Victor, I am sorry to say is that your father figure had painted his killer"
Several gasp were heard across the room.
"Explain" Victor was a statue
"The Mind Mistake Not… painted the picture of Lady Athsleiep" I showed the picture on my phone "and as you can see, she is in a state of absolute bliss. Remember what you said how the Mind fell in love with her. He saw her killing somebody and fell in love with that expression. Shame it was the last expression he painted in his life"
"Are you out of your mind, I was happy to be with my husband. What is this? Do you like you MAEG harlot? She would die for what she did"
I continued without stopping
"I went to the brother of Helen who she tortured. He was mute for an year and yet he started screaming "Same expression" when I showed him the painting"
"Is this all, a word of a madman?"
"No, meet my associate – Inspector Celerick, he is good at making pills and mixing them up. I asked him to make a mix of dissolvable aspiring and the synthetized poison that killed your husband. The lab assured me that any person, unless immune would die in 35 seconds. You drank this mix 2 minutes ago, and yet you show no signs of death. Funny how that works"
The sword tip left my throat and was pointed against Lady Athsleiep. Victor took my cup and gave it to the attendant near him
"Drink this. All guards, if something happens to my butler in the next 40 seconds you are to kill Lady Athsleiep immediately."
These were the longest 40 seconds of my life but we all saw how the guy collapsed clutching his throat. Several things happened after that - Lady Athsleiep lunged at me with a knife in hand but Victor intercepted her and stabbed her in the heard. He held her gently while lowering her
"Why?"
"The city of AST will burn. The DEATH Gang will win. We will win the vote, the boosted bonobos you call population do not vote for immediate power. Lord Hunger will die and the AST city would die with him. Heil DEATH GAN…" she died with fanaticism in her eyes.
Well shit.
Victor released the chains of Helen and bowed to her.
"We have made a grave mistake, please forgive use. We would pay the fee of Mr. Humphrey – no matter the cost"
This was my chance
"144 Arete – that was my fee" Helen looked at me with affront and just shook her head and walked past me without saying a word. The last word she muttered as she walked past me was "asshole"
==================
Well another case closed and I had the money to pay my vicious landlord. I decided to call to tell her the good news.
"What do you want?"
"Hey mom, I have the money. 30 Arete, they just got transferred to my acocunt"
"Good, you can come to dinner tomorrow"
"Okay mom, love you"
I closed and felt a bit lighter than I have felt in years. Things are looking good it seems. Of course, this all stopped when a black car stopped near me and a familiar face walked out of the car.
"No time to explain Mr. Humphrey, get in the car. We have a city to save" Cain, the boss of MiB, which was the secret service of AST City wanted my help. Well, here we go again.
To be continued in "Vote DEATH or die trying"
AN: The card stuff about the kings is true. The tarrot of the devil means scapegoat and Lily of the valley is poisonous, just not to that extent.
The name of Lady Athsleiep is anagram of Ephialtes who betrayed the spartan legions and is commonly used to mean traitor/betrayer.
One of the implicit assumptions of Favor is that ISH bonus to STR, DEX, etc are correct in resolving the crisis. Could be incorrect, and we might rather Grace or Deferred to wish away the issue. I believe it has been a strong assertion that Deferred can be used immediately for the Apocryphal proc if it's too much.
Correct but the only way not to burn a Wish is voting for Favor.
Apocryphal proc:
Favor + Wish - best case scenario we don't burn a wish if we are stronger, worse case we have to sacrifce it to live
Non-Favor: We burn a wish anyway
The only chance not to burn a Wish is Favor so forgive me for hoping for the best as the other voters "plan" is - burn a Wish lol, such big brain plan
There's no practical difference between burning defensive wish or burning stored wish to stop the proc. In fact, burning defensive wish might be preferable if we can choose to transform stored wish into defensive one later on, which would a layer of (likely pointless) flexibility.
I've slowed down more than I expected. Will I even reach the end before this quest ends?
so, onwards to reaction 28!
small preamble: I'm against the winning vote here as well. This is twice in a row now, while I basically was never TRULY against the previously winning votes.
I think, after alll the arguments and clarifications, I'd likely have gone with a vanquish stance + either swift as death or the "protection" option, both for 2 arete.
It did not sit well with him to stay idle while his physical body regenerated, but neither could he afford to take undue risks in this state. He resolved to scout the surrounding area and pick off any isolated knights that presented themselves. If other enemies appeared, he would do his best to withdraw until he had an idea of their capabilities.
The knights were sparsely dotted across these grassy plains, many of them situated in locations of tactical import - hills and fens, caves and groves, wherever a vantage point or natural fortification might present itself. He passed by a gently babbling brook that was, disappointingly, utterly devoid of life. Not that he had a fishing pole at the moment, with Letrizia's supplies beyond the Temple gates.
He wondered what, if anything, the people in here ate. Was it possible to live off the land, did adventurers simply bring their own meals?
Speed and strength having been bolstered by the first knight he felled, and wise now to their tactics, he dispatched further singleton knights without issue, though not without the occasional wound or two. It seemed a somewhat sustainable means of harvesting power without undue risk, though increasing patrols of heavily-armored knights began to appear in the region he frequented, as the hours ticked by and their isolated comrades died. They even attempted to pincer him into an ambush, with a lone knight on a tall hill serving as bait, but he sniffed out the attack when he entered the armored giant's sight and was not immediately pounced upon.
Tedious and increasingly risky. His enemies were no strategic geniuses, but neither were they fools. They had some basic conception of cause and effect, the ability to organize and call reinforcements as they fell. Should this continue he had little doubt this region of the Temple would be swarming with the things, and who knew if there was any limit to their number, to say nothing of greater escalations.
And now I wonder just how many we would have ended up fighting with the slayer knell. It might actually have been a pretty rewarding pick if leveraged correctly.
Of course once we started killing them by the hundreds there's a decent chance of a mob boss spawning, and if it didn't count as part of the farmed "type" that could very well spell our end.
With that in mind, he called it a night and withdrew, but was intercepted along the way by an enormous burrowing wurm-creature, its titanic length erupting from the green earth in a world-sundering burst of noise and motion, tides of heaving pitch-black loam, shattered-stone shrapnel in a furious geyser as it snapped at him. Its quadruply-segmented jaw, thick with stone-cracking fangs, was mercifully slower than the wind-light mass of his spirit body; though the heaving bulk of its follow-through, like an onrushing train, caught him out with its whiplash speed. He was thrown back and away, cratering the hard earth as he landed, vision gone blurry for a moment as fragments of his spirit-corpus lost coherence and dispersed. And then, quick as it'd come, it was gone, disappeared beneath the earth once more.
Like a bomb going off the worm had appeared: sudden destruction and chaos to be followed by a long, ear-ringing aftermath of tense silence. Now that he was attuned to it, he could hear the mountainous rumble of its passage beneath, gliding smoothly through dirt and stone, circling about its intended prey. How much strength, how much sheer force of momentum, was required to move so effortlessly through the solid earth?
wellm magic probably helps him move the earth and itself. It's unlikely to be only raw strenght.
Also I think I remember reading something about some mythological giant desert worm that's basically this one. It might or might have not included some kind of acid weapon though.
quick google search... ah, yes, the Mongolian Death Worm of the Gobi Desert.
this basically looks like that one, but on steroids.
No. It would not be here, not now, not to this overgrown muckraker. He ran, sprinting for the antechamber, pounding footfalls alerting the beast to his location as he moved. Coming across a rocky hill, he climbed it, pacing across its length as if undecided as to his next destination.
There. The rumbling of its movements had paused. Some might take it that the pursuer had given up. He knew it for what it was. Unnatural stillness, like a serpent coiled to spring. Waiting to ensure its target would not spook or startle before it committed to the attack. The Tyrant had been fond of movements such as this. One did not spring the trap until the bait was claimed.
He closed his eyes, become still and silent, attuned to the world around him, the whorls and eddies of Pressure as it twisted the skeins of chance, bringing the physical world in alignment with his wishes. The ring of power blazed on his hand, crimson light like an anglerfish lure, enticing the creature's avarice, its hunger. Now, he prodded it. Strike now and fill the gnawing emptiness within.
And so it did, thunderous blast of roaring sound as its jaws swallowed earth and sky, the hill given way in a instant, plunged within the monster's gullet. But he was already gone, sprung away in that final moment, now attached like a limpet to the creature's side, running down its length, splitting its carapace with the Forebear's Blade to carve himself a crevice. A makeshift warren, cut into the monster's absurdly thick armor, within which he could withstand the awesome pressures of the creature's movement underground. Inside he climbed, as sun and sky disappeared, his world become a blind narrow place of heat and abrading force, this subterranean ocean where errant stone and branch passed with speed enough to splinter limbs and shatter bone.
But ensconced in its armor he felt none of that, and steadily cut himself further in, a fell-handed excavator cleaving the outer crust to the treasures secreted within. At last he reached a vein, springy flesh yielding tenderly to the Forebear's Blade, and where he struck huge gouts of acid spat outwards and at him, the monster's pressurized digestive juices or perhaps merely its blood. The Evening Sky wrapped around him, he stubbornly cut onwards, even as the outer boundary of his spirit-flesh began to waver and burn away. Before long he reached a pocket of empty air, esophageal flesh coated with mucus, and tucked himself inside, the stars of his cloak his only light. By their illumination he ran, up and through the monster's digestive tunnel, instincts guiding him to an organ of greater import. Acid dribbled off his form, coating his footsteps as he ran. There was pain but he ignored the pain, easy to do in this body of wraith-flesh.
There. A cluster of nerve endings, synapses as thick as his fist, sheltered within a calcite growth of hardened stone. Thickly spooled nerves radiated from the organ, spiraling into the creature's musculature, wrapped densely around translucent reservoirs of bright green acid. It pulsed steadily in time to the wurm's movements, part part action potential, part heartbeat.
Likely not the only such organ in a beast of this length, but he only needed the one. Marshaling his energies he struck down with the Forebear's Blade, attacking mind and spirit more than flesh, and at this the wurm jerked, twisting and tunneling in a futile attempt to dislodge what was already within. Again and again he stabbed downwards; each steady, gruesome blow left a wound leaking pale-white soul matter out into nothingness. The wurm convulsed, acid ducts widening, mucus flooding the tunnel in an attempt to sweep him free, drown him out, but it was too slow by far. He attacked unrelentingly, drawing upon his uttermost reserves of energy, and by the time he was knee-deep in mucus half a dozen soul-fraying wounds were buried in its nerve cluster. Positioning himself sideways against its esophagus-wall, he continued to run, occasionally striking out with another fell blow as his energies recovered.
Its primitive mind and soul bled dry by his onslaught, the creature did not last long. For all its towering physical might, it was, in the end, only a worm, and though the force of it spirit was unusually bountiful, still it had no way to stem the bleeding, no means to replenish what his attacks irrevocably stole. Eventually it ground to a slow, shuddering halt, meters-thick layers of muscle twitching and undulating stupidly, its intellect utterly banished, dispersed into the aether by the Forebear's cruel power. Unable now to control or regulate its internal functions, it was a helplessly breathing corpse, meat to the slaughter. He decoupled Blade from belt and began the bloody work.
The advantages of directly harming the spirit/soul: we don't need to worry (too much) about redudant vital organs, which is especially usefull against giant enemies (and ones with regenerations too).
I wonder how this fight would have gone with other winning options. swift as wind could have maybe played a game of whack-a-mole with it, progressively tiring and wounding it while staying above ground, but it might have lacked the needed strenght to actually finish it without basically trying this same move, which would nullify the agility advantage. On the other hand it would also have led to meet this monster with better health too, as we'd have regenerated health each hour while in ghost form.
protection... well, it would have helped tanking the initial strike. Maybe we could have gone inside him from his mouth?
A Slayer Knell build would have likely needed to resort to Rage Form though.
Funny enough, I was just wondering this. Apparently Hunger needs to deliberately use the potential power he gains to actually grow stronger, much like a game character needs to distribute his stat points. We already saw this before, but this is the first time it actually became relevant in terms of mechanics.
Well, this will heavily depends on just what are the picks. a 4 pick option could very well be worth the small arete expenditure for example.
So we could basically take a 7 arete pick IF we don't spend the 2 arete for the extra pick. Otherwise we'd have at most a 2+2, or maybe the one 5 pick option we saw until now.
[ ] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear - Cloud-shadow of the Forebear's might.
Legendary strength and speed, and the resilience to exert them. Can be taken multiple times. [+Might, +Agility]
[ ] Evening Sky - Opalescence - The soft light of evening before which all attacks falter.
Improves defensive parameters. [+Protection]
[ ] The Ring of Power - Dominion: Life - 2 Arete
A ring of power does not exert influence casually. It has its own will, its own preferences, and if that will should be inseparable from its owner's, its sway thereby shall be greater for it.
Select a domain of influence. While acting within its domain, [Ring of Power] effects are substantially less taxing and more potent; the effects of this can be abstracted as follows: treat the owner's Rank as if it somewhat* higher for related actions. You may select this advancement multiple times, choosing a different domain each time. If multiple domains apply, their bonuses do not compound.
Life - Applies to the manipulation, augmentation, or restoration of biology or life-force.
oh, necessarily life this time? It's actually a good choice right now, as it would likely help us heal a bit more easily/quickly, though I think I'd prefer war as our first dominion (to quickly boost with the 7 point evolution)
[ ] The Ring of Power -Gardener's Hallow (7 Arete, 2 picks) - Unto this land, I give my blood.
By infusing vegetation or livestock with his blood, the wielder may impart upon it supernatural properties. These range from the basic (consuming this fruit grants you an Echo of the Forebear) to the incredible (consuming this cow awakens your full Astral Rank from your Defensive Rank and remove the Defensive Rank penalty) to the spectacular (consuming this fish ignites a meta-singularity of findross within you; should you survive then you may theoretically wield the True Quintessence). Similar effects don't stack.
All efforts beyond the basic take considerable amounts of time, effort, and unique resources to cultivate. These can be lessened via the other advancements of the Ring of Blood, especially its Chief Dominion and pre-requisites.
..this is a REALLY good combo with dominion:life (and later Ring of Blood). just the basic is a nice short term boost to our companions, but being able to awaken their astral rank would be invaluable, and there are NO WORDS for how usefull a Maiden-like Gisena could be to us mid/long term.
She might actually be able to scale up enough to stay relevant for at least some time, and some of the Graces were actually about granting powers to other beings, like Seram's "give one high-level Grace to someone every 10 years, or a random one every year (max 1 per person)", which could give either US or Letrizia some more power.
..You know, I'm now imagining Gisena granting a Grace to Veschle. That would be pretty interesting
In any case this is more of a medium-long term pick, as in the short term we're only giving them a pretty modest boost, but there's POTENTIAL here.
[ ] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing (7 Arete, 3 picks) - The best defense is the Forebear's bearing.
Requires Undying Echo. Gain +++++++Constitution, +Protection. Gain 50% resistance to the Tired Condition, stacking multiplicatively with other sources of resistance, and 25% resistance to the Exhausted Condition. If you have, or later purchase, the [Iron Curtain] Advancement, you receive its benefits permanently rather than needing to activate them, and may choose to Ignore Exotic Attacks via a Constitution check rather than Deflecting them.
Choose: Sharp of Eye - Regrow your eye. ++Wits, +Cha. You now have depth perception, making ranged attacks more effective. You may take options that require two eyes; there are surprisingly many. Rune King - You may not regrow or replace your eye by any means. +Int, +Wisdom, Apply the effects of [To Shatter Heaven] to all magics you learn from now on.
THIS IS SO GOOD! Not only we get a MASSIVE bonus to con (and some protection, and res to tired and exhausted), but we also get some mental bonuses, and either our eye back or TO SHATTER HEAVEN TO ALL MAGIC WE EVER LEARN FROM NOW ON!
..This is the first time I'm tempted of actually accepting Hunger crippling himself for power since Unshattered, and even that one I only started to consider long after it had lost!
..of course we still don't actually KNOW other magics, but this would make it a good sinergy for new systems we learn...like Graces..
Yes, I'm definitely interested in this one! The value of an arete+multiple picks option is higher than I expected.
[ ] Forebear's Blade - Ruinous Valor (3 picks) - Where he advanced, so did the tide of entire wars, the shock of his blade like a hurled epicenter, the trail of his passage but wasteland and rubble.
[+++++Strength]
Power of Ruin now scales upwards depending on your Strength.
Choose: Einhander - You may not regrow or replace your left arm by any means. Substantially reduces the cost and increases the range of special attacks made with the Forebear's Blade. This Advancement grants Might instead of Strength (+Might = +Str, +Con). Zweihander - Regrow your left arm. Your barehanded strikes now carry the full destructive power of the Forebear's Blade.
If Einhander is taken, unlocks One Arm Fury.
If Zweihander is taken, unlocks Martial Stances: Forebear's Blade
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 currently have no more than 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.
well, if we don't want to spend the arete needed for Dreadnought's Bearing but are willing to spend for the 4th pick, this is the obvious choice.
From what I understand the doubling and increse should be applied to past picks as well, which means this gives a noticeable short-term power gain to accompany the increase power gain in the future, and "Establishment" could even help with the temple if we end up staying here for long (probably not that likely, but who knows...)
...and if we take Stranglethorn or Ruinous Valour, why, we can also double down by spending arete on 0-picks options!
Depending on arete generation A thousand cut might not be available with Stranglethorn, but then again Undying Vanguard also benefits from the raised rank and constitution!
[ ] Keep Up Momentum - You got lucky. You won't always perform so well. Now is the time to seize the moment and capitalize on these gains by slaughtering all who come before you. Though you may be wounded, the greater portion of your power still slumbers, locked away in the event that you need it. [+Increased % chance of finding enemies you can handle, +0.5 Arete]
[ ] Retreat to the Antechamber- You got lucky. Now stop gambling. Besides, you want to show Gisena your cool new... whatever.
...I'm conflicted. Depending on what we pick our massively increased power plus the raised chance of finding enemies in our level range makes Keep Up Momentum pretty attractive, but there ARE risks in fighting while wounded, ESPECIALLY if we went for the 4-pick options that has us even MORE wounded than otherwise.
I think I might be fine with Keep Up Momentum if we went for 3 picks, but not with 4.
And about the picks themselves, I think I'd go with one of the following combinations:
1)Dreadnought's Bearing. 7 arete, 3 picks. I'd probably regrow the eye, but I'm admittedly tempted by the alternative.
2) Stranglethorn + Undying Vanguard. 4 picks, 2+5=7 arete. Thousand cuts is good too if we get the needed arete (9 total)
3) Ruinous Valour + Thousand Cuts. 3 picks, 7 arete. Maybe the best option if we want to press the advantage and continue the offensive, thanks to MASSIVELY increased offensive power and relatively good health.
I'm a bit sad I can't find it in myself to pick Gardener's Hallow, but we really need IMMEDIATE power while in the temple, and that pick requires too much time (or other ring picks) to really give a return on the investment. It would help strenghten our basic enforcers once we get an empire to rule though, making it much easier to actually maintain that rule for the required 50 years. Hopefully it will come back at a more appropriate moment.
1312 (1350 counting the following) words. Very interesting picks in this update. The monster/fight itself was a bit boring in comparison to previous ones though. It's probably it's nature. I just can't find a giant worm that interesting
This is not the only opportunity to get more power. The proc after this one will only be at 70% strength so it will require less power than this one, and if we pick Grace rather than Favor we will have better safety for Hunger at the cost of potentially using up our defensive wish we get from it for this Geas task whereas if we pick Favor we may have enough power to overcome this proc but we won't have defensive wishes for every Geas task after this one.
Yes but the ISH boost is for all of our abilities and stats! So it'll help regardless of what kind of task it is. Also the mental and luck stat boosts will help us with the platinum creation as well!
There's no practical difference between burning defensive wish or burning stored wish to stop the proc. In fact, burning defensive wish might be preferable if we can choose to transform stored wish into defensive one later on, which would a layer of (likely pointless) flexibility.
Yes but the ISH boost is for all of our abilities and stats! So it'll help regardless of what kind of task it is. Also the mental and luck stat boosts will help us with the platinum creation as well!
My hope for Deferral is to use it pretty much immediately, either as a power boost or to not die to Apoc-chan
Rezzing Catherine has some issue for me, as it introduces.. another party member. We already have too many! If only Dearly Departed had won, the narrative focus would have been narrower, with less character and with greater depth of focus... I suppose the issue will eventually be resolved with the Geas teleport. But still. What if we ended up developing something like Heavenly Tomb? The risk might be too great.
Another consideration w/r/t using Grace to deal with Cursebearer's Strain:
Burning Grace on our next AC proc completely squanders its ability to handle high tier HS enemies. Grace is a resource that could be used to completely dislodge a major roadblock to completing our current Indenture task. Using it to survive a single Apocryphal Proc before we even begin the Human Sphere plot line feels very wasteful. Threats stemming from the Geas of Indenture are scaled to be "within your given capabilities to achieve." For Hunger, that means a timeline of up to 2449 years during which he can grind power and XP. By contrast, Apocryphal Curse activations are "usually not be beyond your ability to overcome" with an occasional curveball that forces us "to dig deep and discover whether you are truly worthy of the Accursed's mantle."
What pours salt on the wound is that Grace's activation conditions are very specifically targeted towards the Geas of Indenture: "Haeliel turns aside any foe [...] or any one negative circumstance". This isn't ironclad protection against the AC! Suppose that the Chains Terminator shows up right when a Contest of Primacy is initiated from the Human Sphere. That would be two foes, or two negative circumstances. The AC can easily work around the protection of Grace, which is designed to resolve Indenture issues.
On top of that, there's the issue of Haeliel relationship management: I don't want her to be forced to rescue us on the very first Apocryphal proc she ever sees us attempt. Rihaku writes fine banter but the teasing for the next 937 octillion years would just be too much.
I wouldn't mind Rez Catherine and Favor winning. I'd miss the Guidance, but it seems somewhat plausible that Favor is the way to get more of these options as EFBs.
So, in the spirit of consolidation, who all would like to switch to Favor/Reprieve? I'll do it if I can get *checks tally* 23 people to agree with me. Heck, given how little argument power seems to be behind Guidance specifically, I'd do it if I can get 20 provisional votes.
Who'd be with me?
Even possessed of superhuman strength and speed, putting down the wurm was the brutal work of an hour, and digging free of its underground tomb several long minutes more. His wraithflesh was wreathed in sickly-gray acid burns, and the contours of his ghostly outline had grown faint and uneven, but in the end he'd prevailed, reaping a solid bounty of power from his victory. He could only hope that no further monstrosities intercepted him on his way back to the antechamber.
Luck, or perhaps merely the wariness of the Temple denizens, was with him this evening, as he returned to that marble-lined hall without further incident. For all that he was badly injured, it had been a singularly productive day, and in the morning he would be whole and hale again to start anew.
Hunger made his way past the comforting radiance of the braziers, up to the great gates which barred his way out, and saw that the moon-sign hung upon the steel was nearly filled. He sat down on the unyielding tile, basking in the antechamber's welcoming warmth, and allowed himself to slip briefly into reverie.
He was torn on whether their coming to this Temple had been a mistake. The inhabitants of this unnatural place were fearsome opponents, well beyond his own level at the start of the day, and it was only by grit, cunning, and the all-killing power of his Blade that he'd prevailed today. Would it be wiser to retreat, despite the impairment of the false moon's Calling, content with the strength he'd gained today?
Perhaps. But it was not within him to yield so easily. A decade of stubborn insurgency against the Tyrant had seared his psyche with hatred and determination in equal measure. He was fully aware of that, but felt no need to change his essential nature. To give up now merely because the threat was dire would be a refutation of everything he was, the personal legend that comprised his supernal shadow, his much-vaunted "Astral Rank." Faced with a threat like this, he could only rise to the occasion or die trying. To cut through, even if the problem could not be cut.
But that did not entail a wholesale rejection of strategic thinking. That he had resolved to finish the matter was one thing; how he chose to go about it was another entirely. In his war against the Tyrant there had been countless fewer sallies than withdrawals, countless fewer triumphs than bitter retreats.
On the whole I think coming here was a very good decisions, if a risky one.
As a reminder it hasn't been even 2 weeks since we came to this world, and our power has grown MASSIVELY. It helps that we've usually taken time-efficient options too.
Now we need to either finish the temple before the apocryphal comes back in strenght, or at the very least we need to reach the upper tiers of this dungeon's monsters in strenght. We can probably afford apocryphal procs once we reach a certain level of strenght, and we should have enough time to become that strong if we continue like this.
The moon-gauge on the doors had come full. He rose, and raised his hand to the ponderous gates, ring-light blazing. As if in response to his will, deep gears whirring in the walls, the doors opened with a click, revealing the empty plain beyond, bathed in the light of the stars. He stepped out, and the Calling intensified, strobe of the humming with nearly-painful urgency. Grimacing, he put it out of mind and walked forth.
small aside: sometime when i try to quote a paragraph it only actually quotes a word from it. That's pretty annoying, even if it's easy to just copy and paste the actual piece.
That said, I wonder how bad this would have been if we didn't have the Ring.. then again, as I said before, we probably wouldn't be here in that case. Without the ring's exp multipliers from combat we definitely wouldn't have been strong enough for the temple in such a short timespan.
...also I just realized that Apocryphal won't be bad only INSIDE the temple. We could very well come back to find an assault/ambush from the adventurers, our companions dead or captured. Or we could meet a large enough adventurer expedition in the temple itself.
Now I'm certainly even MORE motivated to finish before the curse comes back to full strenght, though we could still risk it if we really have to.
Letrizia was parked several kilometers away, in a small outcropping next to a grove of rugged, sinewy trees. She and Gisena were having a mid-evening picnic, ration bars illuminated by campfire and temple-grasped moon.
"You're hurt!" Gisena rose, coming to his side. He'd wrapped himself in the Evening Sky to conceal the worst of his wounds, but perhaps there was no hiding from her Sorcerous sight.
"It's manageable," he dismissed, waving off her concern. "More importantly, I'm hungry. Do we have any fish left?"
"Just a little!" Letrizia said, taking a thin sliver of smoked meat from the picnic basket. She stared at it pleadingly, as if willing it to multiply before her plaintive gaze.
"Barely a mouthful," he scoffed. "Shall we split it?"
"Okay!" Letrizia delightedly cut the meat into thirds, quickly swallowing her own portion. She smiled contentedly, luxuriating in the taste. Faintly salivating, a forlorn expression crossed her face as she remembered there was no more.
How shameless! Is Gisena slightly warming up to Hunger? (answer: obviously yes).
Does she have a chance as a waifu? (answer: most likely. Let's be real, I doubt we'll stay true to the memory of a character we never even saw! Also there's going to be quite the distance between them once we resurrect her anyway, and Hunger will most likely not be the same man that fell in love with her anyway).
Gisena giggled. "So greedy! How do things taste in spirit form?"
"It's not greed, but Hunger," he shrugged. "And they taste mostly the same. A bit lighter, more delicate. The ghostflame is replicating the effects of my physical body, or I would be mostly incorporeal."
"Hmm, how boring."
"You're one to talk about powers that are boring, Miss Nullity Sorceress."
"It's Lady Nullity to you, Lord Hunger!" Playfully she huffed, turning her face. "And I'll have you know, I don't need powers that are wondrous to make something extraordinary!"
"I believe you." He said, looking up at the stars. "If we live through this, then someday, you'll make great things."
"Aww, you!" She hugged his arm, laying her head on his shoulder. "I like this ghostly form of yours. It's much nicer than your real body!"
"As you said. I'm vulnerable to dispellation right now."
Would he be able to build great things as well, one day? Or had the funnel of his experiences shaped him only into a destroyer? It was an illogical fear, now that the power of Progression was open to him. But for some reason he couldn't quite shake it. Even having gained this power, most of what he'd done with it was to make himself a more perfect killer. And if the greater part of that had been necessity, still there'd been the element of desire as well. The power to hurt others was also the power to protect them; that was one lesson of countless that Blade and Tyrant had imparted to him.
Was that enough to justify strength of such magnitude, turned only to the power of murder? In his old Earth they'd feared the power of the atom bomb, a weapon so terrible as to threaten the end of war. Had the weight of that threat succeeded, or had they only destroyed themselves?
Do you really want to do good, Hunger? Then I'll make it simple for you.
First, grow strong and complete the Geass' quest. For that destructive power is more often than not the best pick, but you'll get a smattering of utility picks as well. Then use the 10 years reprieve you get to make things better before you're forced to leave.
Apocryphal will undoubtedly make things harder for you, but by the time you reach the 10-years reprieve between a quest and the next you're likely going to be, if not the strongest being in that dimension, at least pretty close to it.
Half a day ago the giant knights had been peer-level opponents. Now, having killed maybe a dozen of their number, he was their unambiguous superior. That was, as the Accursed had promised, growth beyond his wildest dreams, power beyond all reason, progression without plateaus or bottlenecks, the endless perfecting march against which neither law nor obstacle could stand for long. He was unaccountably lucky to have been chosen, unaccountably graced, but what did it mean for the Accursed to believe that power such as this was appropriate for him?
The hour was late. His body was weary, be it flesh or ghost. In the embrace of his cloak which mirrored the heavens above, he drifted off, dreaming of sword-light.
It's a bit sad that we're likely never going to see High Cursebearers in action, but that level of power such beings would wield is not really suited to a quest.
It would be hard to even understand, really. Once we get a few steps above the different levels/cardinalities of power, it's simply too hard to really understand what that level of strenght actually means!
[X] Return to the Antechamber, has, obviously, won! The build vote has gone to consolidation below. What is the plan for tomorrow? 11 days of Apocryphal-free traversal remain.
[ ] Sweep the Outskirts - No need to move on too aggressively. Though you don't gain much from the knights anymore, it's clear there are greater creatures in the area immediately beyond the antechamber that you've yet to outscale. Until you are confident you've conquered the outskirts, there's no reason to push on unduly. And if you kill enough knights, surely you'll progress at least a little more... [+1-2 picks during next Experience spend, tactics help]
takes our time to really master our zone before moving on to the next. Sensible, probably best if we go for a not-immediate-power build like, say, the garden thing.
[ ] Push in Further - Cut through, even if it cannot be cut. You will resolve this matter of the Calling as soon as humanly possible. There is a difference between discretion and cowardice. One can eschew the latter while keeping the former in mind. Else how could it be the better part of valor? [+0.5 Arete, +0.1 Rank, +?% chance of high-level Artifact, compounding advantage for each non-build red option further taken, tactics will help]
If we take a good enough build this is pretty attractive. A small rank bonus, we keep the curse of the false moon at bay by going in deeper, we continue to grow fast.
[ ] Search for Humans- Now that you've grown significantly in overall strength, it should be safer to interact with other humans even with the Doom looming over you. Worse comes to worst, you can always drive them off. It would interesting to get some context for this place, learn how the Calling affects those without a Ring of Power, and be made of aware of any traps you've not foreseen. [+?, +information?, tactics will help]
This is an interesting options. We're definitely much stronger now, and if we were to also take Undying Vanguard (or a +cha pick) we could gain a lot from peaceful interactions.
I don't actually have a clear favorite yet, I can see the value in all three possibilities.
As you're stronger now, you're confident you can keep Gisena safe against most of the monsters in the outskirts. You may bring her with you if you choose [ ] Sweep or [ ] Search, and will automatically bring her with you if a choice with Undying Vanguard is selected.
[ ] Bring Gisena - The power of dispellation, and a shrewd lady of the nobility whose social maneuvering may bring you advantage yet.
[ ] Don't Bring Gisena - Letrizia won't be as bored! [+Letrizia, +0.1 Arete]
I think I'd leave her here. Not only is the +Letrizia nice (the 0.1 arete too, i guess...), but I wouldn't want to risk Gisena being subjected to the Call too. We have no idea if her Nullity is as good as the Ring after all, and she doesn't have an (active) Rank to affect, so it might hit her nullity powers instead! What if, say, it suppresses one of her graces?
What was the shape of the power he gained from the hill-eater wurm? You're at 8.75 Arete, an impressive sum! All plans spend 7 Arete except for Apex, which spends none at all. Choose carefully, your decision here may determine the future of your strategy...
[ ] Dreadnought - Echo, Dreadnought's Bearing -[ ] Rune King -[ ] Sharp of Eye- But see below.
*Massively increases durability and resilience to physical status effects
*Importantly allows you to fight at somewhat optimal effectiveness while Exhausted, and nearly allows you to ignore Tiredness.
*In your current situation, Rune King would be recommended, as Sharp of Eye spends too much of the option's value on restoring an eye rather than metaphysical power. +Intelligence and +Wisdom are also more pertinent to more situations. However, if you wish to purchase Sharp of Eye anyway, I won't stop you. Rune King pays dividends in the short-medium term, while Sharp of Eye offers relatively less, in exchange for the eye itself.
*One of the two recommended configurations for a warrior-mage strategy
...yeah, i give up. I'd take Rune King over Sharp of Eye. In the end we can get around the loss of an eye thanks to a wide number of sensory abilities. It's not quite as important as the arm, and the benefits of giving up the eye are much greater than the arm equivalent as well!
Also it reminds me of Odin, and Odin is usually pretty cool.
*Saves your Arete to purchase some form of magic system in the short term, whether Chief Dominion, Azure Moon or Philosopher's Wreath.
*By focusing on physical prowess and Rank, gains a well-rounded bonus to most actions that leaves it at least somewhat competitive in terms of power with most other options here. Likely to get magic the fastest of the options.
*The highest Agility option here. High Rank provides a formidable Form of Rage.
*The second of two recommended configurations for a warrior-mage strategy.
*The long-term benefits of compounding magic systems can hardly be overstated.
[ ] Strong Sword-Arm - Echo, Ruinous Valor [Zweihander], A Thousand Cuts
*Incredible destructive might and tactical versatility
*Passively improves melee-combat in three compounding ways: increased Strength, increased Power of Ruin, and Fell wounds applied to each strike
*Restores the hero's left arm and hand, allowing for many maneuvers hitherto-thought impossible...
*Advantages in both the martial realm and without
+/- Can take Gisena in a princess carry...
*As unarmed attacks can now utilize the Fell-Handed Stroke, can kill the fuck out of many enemies before they have the chance to do much.
*Vulnerable to enemies that it can't kill the fuck out of due to lower overall stats.
*Recommended for a pure combatant or warrior-lord strategy.
Overwhelming offensive power, but I kinda want to go for more magic... It's objectively a good plan though, and it also gives us back our arm!
...I wonder how Gisena would react to us suddenly having our arm back. "what, you're telling me arms don't grow back in your world? That sounds annoying"
[ ] Root and Branch - Stranglethorn, Undying Vanguard
*Powerful long-term potential at the cost of reducing your AGI/growth
*Yields a truckload of raw STR and CON to compensate
*Good versatility and sustain with Undying Vanguard
*Vulnerable to fast enemies or enemies with overwhelming physical might
*Suffers a minor (-5%) penalty for 1 day due to how badly you were wounded the previous day
*Can Establish yourself in virtually any context, growing ever more difficult to resist or dislodge with time, though the effect is slow.
*Recommended for a warrior-lord strategy.
Admittedly tempting, this gives us quite the bounty of physical stats, future rank boosts, and immediately improves our companions.
I think I'd go for either Rune King or Root and Branch, but There isn't a plan I actually dislike here, they're ALL good.
i'd likely go to talk with other people with Stranglethorn, as the extra tankiness of our companions would make me feel better about putting them at risk, and I'd likely be fine considering it with Rune King as well. I'd probably prefer to go back in the temple with the other two plans though.
The second concern is that the Geas of Indenture is not the most pressing threat that Hunger faces right now! Investing in defenses that operate on the scale of eternity strikes me as hubris of the kind that led to a 90%-120% strength Apocryphal proc. (Remember that we're stipulating that the Forced Induction was because Hunger was going to hit a Quest End.)
The wording for Grace states that it turns aside any foe that obtains an otherwise insurmountable edge over Hunger or any one negative circumstance that would otherwise be impossible to overcome. It would in fact be applicable to the Apocryphal proc that was boosted by strain.
Finally, consider the currently winning build one last time. It has a lot of very interesting long-term effects, but does not prevent our gory death due to Strain. If you think Strain is a catastrophe, you should not vote for this combination.
Correct but the only way not to burn a Wish is voting for Favor.
Apocryphal proc:
Favor + Wish - best case scenario we don't burn a wish if we are stronger, worse case we have to sacrifce it to live
Non-Favor: We burn a wish anyway
The only chance not to burn a Wish is Favor so forgive me for hoping for the best as the other voters "plan" is - burn a Wish lol, such big brain plan
If Favor wins we will get guidance so we won't have a wish to sacrifice to live if Favor turns out to be insufficient. The only way we will be able to guarantee our survival is to get the defensive wish from Grace.
Well, we never really get to see what that would look like; any time we have Arete, most of our choices spend it. Only if we had none would we get the full menu of free choices
guess i'll avoid the thread until I've caught up!)
