A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
[X] Myth and Legend
[X] Least Foresleep
Goodbye Ruling Ring... again.
[X] Least Foresleep
Goodbye Ruling Ring... again.
As opposed to backward, the direction that common sense dictates we should be running. There's a wealth of meaning we could mine from this single word. Hunger's direction seems to have been determined; it's been a while since we got any traumatic flashes as something reminds him of his wife or other companions or musings about his previous world. Honestly, we never knew that much: it has mythril, fae, Accretion as magic without much of a system, and an infestation of nobles vying for the right to be crowned the biggest ratfuck. Part of that's on the Shattering Blow and the accompanying sacrifice of identity.
But we also chose Hunger and his eponymous Ring enhances life's little pleasures; we took Gisena too, whose habit of clinging to our hero like a limpet could questionably be termed one of them. I don't exactly regret advocating for the Ring, because it's been so character-defining it's difficult to imagine a quest without it. No Will mechanic (the least enjoyable part of the original AST, otherwise one of my all-time favorite quests), the protagonist's name, and of course the incentives we've followed right off the cliff, Wile E. Coyote style. Instead of the Baenlixnaire or Primordial War Odyssial experience promised by Vengeance Hunger's been his own flavor of ride. That's neither good nor bad, but it is worth commenting on.
Our man's moving forward rather than looking back. Deferring a Wish for Catherine's resurrection lost. Gisena's appeal to sanity and pragmatism in the name of achieving vengeance before this very battle bounced off, Haeliel having rekindled the flame of his heroism. It's... somewhat sad, honestly. A bittersweet sensation. I've always been a sucker a tragic hero raging against the heavens and in a cosmology where resurrection's at least theoretically in the cards, why should vows be until death do us part? Catherine would add another character to our ever-growing stable, but hell, she'd be a better use of word-count than Aeira and Hunger deserves happiness.
'Dire need' is debatable. The erosion of Nilfellian national prestige isn't the kind of thing Hunger should make a habit of risking his life for. Having glimpsed a fraction of the Forebear's life and fought the Tyrant, the face of true evil should be familiar to him. The Republic is admittedly kind of awful and the more we see of them, the more weight I'm inclined to give Letrizia's propaganda, but it pays to remember that these are just soldiers serving the Republic's interests.
Procyon being the name of a binary star system's a nice touch, both for descriptions like this and a nod to the fact that no Armament's complete without a pilot. Substance abuse aside, Dr. Amarlt's taste in names was impeccable. I'm guessing he coined Procyon, which is why it differs from Fervenweirr and Verschlengorge's more German sensibilities.
This helps underline how broken the Refinement of Quickness is, even if Procyon's not making any particular effort right this second. The Plenary Armament's got a very Pacific Rim vibe to it, as opposed to Versch's biomechanical horror. A piledriver, powerful as it is blatant. Anyway, there's no way a war machine intended for interstellar strife overlooked the possibility of going over the Walls of Myth. I wonder how they ward against that? The Nilfellian military has flying units, we know because Hunger killed some, but he also just jumped off the top of the Walls with no issues. Maybe mythic magic has good IFF.
This paragraph earned its expletive. Hunger calling this the strongest strike he's ever attempted is really something, coming from someone who's performed the Shattering Blow. We spurned Skywards Claim and turned our nose up at the holy grail of +Int, but by the Accursed the promised firepower was worth it.
A great description that I'm probably going to subconsciously steal at some point in the future. The results aren't as great. Damage equivalent to an 'eye or hand' is the minimum that can be inflicted by an attack augmented by Artful Thorn. Hopefully Deathly Star did more than superficial harm, because the follow-up wasn't very effective.
I'm not sure taking Night's Ambition screwed us over here, since Deathly Star was part of Hunger's alpha strike and Moonlight Delusion's subtle windup might not have mattered. But perhaps we'd have landed a deadlier strike and hit the core if it wasn't so blatant. That part of the vote was an unfortunate casualty of the contentious debate between which Wishes to take and got left by the wayside as people copied others' plans, despite the relevance of power in the present to our predicament.
Ah, yes, it's just my old buddy bone-deep fatigue. Must be a slow Tuesday! Never change, Hunger... is what I'd say if I hadn't been halfway anticipating a gruesome end to this update. Possibly do change a bit? At least Follow Through didn't win, seeing Recklessness as a stat's bad for the blood pressure. But hey, that's Hunger in a nutshell: Ringbearer of Blood and a man who thrives in high-Pressure situations.
3874 words. I'm not Birdsie by any stretch of the imagination, but this fight scene cried out for a reaction and - as always - we need more Arete. Index update forthcoming when I find the time & energy or an Arete incentive is offered.The rest of the reaction said:
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Among Hunger's few vices, hypocrisy is perhaps the foremost. Self-sacrifice is nonsense except when he does it, manipulating others through personal affection is terrible unless truly necessary and of course, taking breaks to gather strength is absolutely vital for anyone who isn't a Praehihr. If he weren't superhumanly charismatic, one wonders if he would have any parental authority left!
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Man, Myth and Legend is so good. Not just good, but it just feels so nice. Not having to deal with Condition? Nice. Upgrading Thorn? Nice. Bunch of rare mental stats to go with OaF 2? Nice. It just feels so good.
Hero's Reward is likely extremely valuable. Consider that this is essentially a companion EFB, and those are usually many times more effective because they can't be applied to Hunger. Still, having to tank Conditions is somewhat yikes, not gonna lie. With that in mind
[X] Myth and Legend
Comfy
Hero's Reward is likely extremely valuable. Consider that this is essentially a companion EFB, and those are usually many times more effective because they can't be applied to Hunger. Still, having to tank Conditions is somewhat yikes, not gonna lie. With that in mind
[X] Myth and Legend
Comfy
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I do honestly want to know what Haeliel would have to say as to Hunger's actions here. As Follow Through mentioned, just because an option earns Haeliel Points, that doesn't make it something she'd consider advisable. Considering how Hunger only started huffing the Herojuice after she showed up, she might even dissuade him! He's not exactly good at self-care and you can't save anyone if you're dead. Perhaps it might even be worth some -Recklessness?
Rihaku
The Internet
Bone-deep fatigue? What is that to a man accustomed to doing his Uttermost?
As Catherine would have said, winning is all that matters. Awaken the heroism and you awaken also the Hero, he who slew the Tyrant.
Hm... I wonder how much of Myth and Legend's advantage comes from it being placed last here and thus having the final argument? Refinement of Purpose + Sword in the Stone is in many ways equally nice, after all, especially considering the laundry list of advantages and survivability upgrades that Sword offers!
Genesys
(Discrete Mokona)
- Location
- California
praxis best, so really, there were only two options
and the deciding factor there is hating consequences lel
we've always hated actually suffering consequences, so the early lead of myth and legend is not really surprising
[X] Myth and Legend
[X] Least Foresleep
and the deciding factor there is hating consequences lel
we've always hated actually suffering consequences, so the early lead of myth and legend is not really surprising
[X] Myth and Legend
[X] Least Foresleep
King is very strong(likely strongest pure power option right now), thanks to OaF doubling and insane amount of power offered by Purpose and it does have additional utility of SitS, but you still got to tank Condition and stuff. It doesn't feel as good, to me at least.
Like, man, we also get to work on Trinity and push our Rank to 10/10.2/11.2. That's SJUC away from fabled Rank 12 Bloodcasting!
[X] Armory of Night
- Location
- USA
God, Myth and Legend is nice looking but Im going into this trying to think which advancement we want to use Heroic on and Myth doesn't really have one unless we are able and willing to use it on the Adorie one.
But Something like Refinement of Purpose upgraded to Heroic is probably going to be crazy good, as it looks to be rare itself.
Myth goes further into a party dynamic, but we have already sunk a lot of arete into a pretty elite party and our training realm benefits from being able to take in the most skilled people available to us. But it seems to give a lot of long term value, as it both frees up Gisena for full time research and makes Adorie much more capable. Could we take Rank 10 Adorie into the Pillars and have her come out with a better plan for a good enough admin to run without the party present?
For all that the Helial option is possibly the most powerful by far, it's so hard to take a mystery box when the other options are this good.
A King for All Season's is probably the right pick though. When we joined the Cursebearer's association I think Rihaku said something about too bad we didn't take SitS earlier (might be misremembering this honestly). Also people we literally hoping for an rez ability between this update and the last and here it is. It also gives two great choices for a Heroic Advancement. SitS sounds like it opens up a lot of new ways to gain rank through feats as well.
[X] Myth and Legend
[X] A King For All Seasons
[X] Grievous Exertion
Picking Exertion with it because I'm thinking with that many + stats to Might and Agi we can survive -20% of the exertion.
But Something like Refinement of Purpose upgraded to Heroic is probably going to be crazy good, as it looks to be rare itself.
Myth goes further into a party dynamic, but we have already sunk a lot of arete into a pretty elite party and our training realm benefits from being able to take in the most skilled people available to us. But it seems to give a lot of long term value, as it both frees up Gisena for full time research and makes Adorie much more capable. Could we take Rank 10 Adorie into the Pillars and have her come out with a better plan for a good enough admin to run without the party present?
For all that the Helial option is possibly the most powerful by far, it's so hard to take a mystery box when the other options are this good.
A King for All Season's is probably the right pick though. When we joined the Cursebearer's association I think Rihaku said something about too bad we didn't take SitS earlier (might be misremembering this honestly). Also people we literally hoping for an rez ability between this update and the last and here it is. It also gives two great choices for a Heroic Advancement. SitS sounds like it opens up a lot of new ways to gain rank through feats as well.
[X] Myth and Legend
[X] A King For All Seasons
[X] Grievous Exertion
Picking Exertion with it because I'm thinking with that many + stats to Might and Agi we can survive -20% of the exertion.
[HP] Slytherin
The best house and we save Hallows in the process? Sign me up. Though chatting with the ghost of one of the Founders is tempting and this take on the Hufflepuff ethos could be compelling with a protagonist who was willing to lean into it, volunteering to assist his peers. Both Rowena and Hufflepuff House were underutilized in the books. But then, that can be said of many things.
[X] Accursed Implement
[X] Lessened
Anyway, might as well throw my hat into the ring for Accursed Implement. Finishing Fisher King early is very valuable for time-skips, since it gives us lengthier Satiation periods and a method of weathering lean times without targets by shouldering two Afflictions. Hunger is fully healed now, so Mutilating is manageable if Gisena makes him a prosthetic leg & arm, and his stratospheric Rank is indifferent to physical stats being nerfed. Also, it's +10 Accursed Favor! He just got done saving Hunger's again, surely we can experiment with mitigation as thanks.
Accursed Implement isn't a glamorous choice. Apart from the name anyway, a phrase that's been glorious ever since Versch first said Praehihr. But we're going to continue finding reasons to put Fisher King's completion off, other shinies fresher in the minds of voters, so we might as well lock it in here. Like M&L, Implement builds toward another Trinity-style bonus if we get offered Orb again. Also like M&L, we can minimize the vulnerability incurred by the Condition, in this case by taking Lessened and burning ten Arete. It hurts, but currently it's a price we can afford.
With some farming over the next three weeks the five picks can be negated as well, without opening a window of opportunity for another Apocryphal proc. We got into this mess by taking Cursebearer's Strain and letting the Curse put the screws to us, so we should bear than in mind going forward. On that note, Least Foresleep seems... strongly overrated to me. Do we really want another Major Curse for two years? It says it can't be mitigated, does that mean Hunger won't benefit from Might's Repose for the duration? For reference, over the next two years Hunger will lose fully half of that subjective time.
It's a ridiculous level of risk when compared with the other options. Myth and Legend's strong (if we're willing to leave Nilfel in the lurch and abandon Adorie's benefit of Apocryphal deflection), the aforementioned Accursed Implement combo deals with the consequences completely, or we could take Armor of Night + Grievous Wound and hide behind the upgraded Versch for the last week of the debuff after leaving Pillars. By contrast, Least Foresleep costs us a year of waking time. The Apocryphal Curse'll abuse Slumber and if Gisena invents temporal acceleration through the Azure or Graces, Hunger won't be able to benefit.
There's an argument to be made for maximizing the value of a five pick decision point and angling for A Hero's Reward, but remember that comes with a death chance. Re-rolls can't save Hunger should the Seraph fumble when his life is in her hands. Even if they could, it's not clear Hunger has any left; winning this fight burned one of the most precious resources we have. Though in the end, this is a beautiful decision point packed with appealing options. Even A King For All Seasons is tempting, but it's long past time we headed for the Human Sphere. Letrizia is not an ostrich, she can't bury her head in the sand after being confronted with blatant evidence of war.
The best house and we save Hallows in the process? Sign me up. Though chatting with the ghost of one of the Founders is tempting and this take on the Hufflepuff ethos could be compelling with a protagonist who was willing to lean into it, volunteering to assist his peers. Both Rowena and Hufflepuff House were underutilized in the books. But then, that can be said of many things.
I believe Refinement of Purpose remains unlocked from the partial Shattering even if not purchased here, so it can theoretically be acquired down the line. By contrast A Hero's Reward is now or never, so it benefits from FOMO. Myth and Legend lets Hunger wriggle free of the consequences of his actions, always an appealing prospect... especially when paired with potential lore bonuses!
[X] Accursed Implement
[X] Lessened
Anyway, might as well throw my hat into the ring for Accursed Implement. Finishing Fisher King early is very valuable for time-skips, since it gives us lengthier Satiation periods and a method of weathering lean times without targets by shouldering two Afflictions. Hunger is fully healed now, so Mutilating is manageable if Gisena makes him a prosthetic leg & arm, and his stratospheric Rank is indifferent to physical stats being nerfed. Also, it's +10 Accursed Favor! He just got done saving Hunger's again, surely we can experiment with mitigation as thanks.
Accursed Implement isn't a glamorous choice. Apart from the name anyway, a phrase that's been glorious ever since Versch first said Praehihr. But we're going to continue finding reasons to put Fisher King's completion off, other shinies fresher in the minds of voters, so we might as well lock it in here. Like M&L, Implement builds toward another Trinity-style bonus if we get offered Orb again. Also like M&L, we can minimize the vulnerability incurred by the Condition, in this case by taking Lessened and burning ten Arete. It hurts, but currently it's a price we can afford.
With some farming over the next three weeks the five picks can be negated as well, without opening a window of opportunity for another Apocryphal proc. We got into this mess by taking Cursebearer's Strain and letting the Curse put the screws to us, so we should bear than in mind going forward. On that note, Least Foresleep seems... strongly overrated to me. Do we really want another Major Curse for two years? It says it can't be mitigated, does that mean Hunger won't benefit from Might's Repose for the duration? For reference, over the next two years Hunger will lose fully half of that subjective time.
It's a ridiculous level of risk when compared with the other options. Myth and Legend's strong (if we're willing to leave Nilfel in the lurch and abandon Adorie's benefit of Apocryphal deflection), the aforementioned Accursed Implement combo deals with the consequences completely, or we could take Armor of Night + Grievous Wound and hide behind the upgraded Versch for the last week of the debuff after leaving Pillars. By contrast, Least Foresleep costs us a year of waking time. The Apocryphal Curse'll abuse Slumber and if Gisena invents temporal acceleration through the Azure or Graces, Hunger won't be able to benefit.
There's an argument to be made for maximizing the value of a five pick decision point and angling for A Hero's Reward, but remember that comes with a death chance. Re-rolls can't save Hunger should the Seraph fumble when his life is in her hands. Even if they could, it's not clear Hunger has any left; winning this fight burned one of the most precious resources we have. Though in the end, this is a beautiful decision point packed with appealing options. Even A King For All Seasons is tempting, but it's long past time we headed for the Human Sphere. Letrizia is not an ostrich, she can't bury her head in the sand after being confronted with blatant evidence of war.
MaouShoujoElla
Organics Automata
- Location
- Dark Bramble
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Myth and Legend
[X] Grievous Exertion
[X] Grievous Exertion
So, lets consider what Myth does, shall we:
- We get Feat: Saber. This increases our Combat and Bloodcasting Rank to 10.2 and 11.2 respectively. Later, especially, should be quite tasty given how well Blood preformed with "just" 10.7. This will get us even closer to that Rank 12 Blood. Additionally, this gets us close to Feat Trinity, which should be suitable impressive, and unlocks Inheritance: Pierce Through. Speaking of which:
- Inheritance: Pierce Through. Man. I don't know what to say, it upgrades out broken ass Thorn and it makes its cost linear so we can spam it. This is just godly, given how crucial Thorn was for our combat
- And then we have Oath of Winter, Adorie's Companion EFB. To begin with, we make Adorie jump to Rank 10.5, which is pretty insane. Consider that's 1 whole Rank above our current Combat Rank! This will have obvious utility with things already described in the blurb, most important being vastly increased Sign research speed. Very relevant given upcoming Pillars proc!
- She gains power of Preservation. In short term, it means that we can just ignore current Condition - which is quite a lot of Arete, or having to lock crucial Praxis or having to cede Pillars proc etc. That alone has huge amount of short term value. Better yet, it opens many opportunities to use Preservation to do stuff in future, which should do well with out increased Blood Rank. Finally, it also boosts our Praxis casting pool, which has amazing synergy with Pierce Through and general value of Praxis
- She makes it so everyone opposing her gets -0.5 Rank. While -0.5 is not quite as good as +0.5, this is still very powerful upgrade for the simple reason that it actually stacks with our Blood and Combat Rank! Imagine Armament knocked down to Rank 9.5 vs Rank 11.2 Bloodcasting Hunger.. We will want to make sure that "opposing Hunger" is the same as "opposing Adorie" in order to benefit from this bonus at all times. It's basically scaling 0.5 battle Rank that stacks with other scaling effects, thats just nuts!
- Finally, she confers her bonuses to Hunger. Lets talk about Rank first - this would make us Rank 10 Base, and while our boosts won't benefit from this, this does help with general social and rank dependent stuff, such as Enclosure summoning. What makes this exceptionally good, however, is that it makes Rank 10 our floor - even if we were to get below that amount because we spent Rank on something Adorie's ability would just set us at 10 again. That's an amazing fall back option
- And, of course, 10 All Stats. While this doesn't offer sheer amount of power Purpose does, it does offer comparable amount of value. 10 int, 10 wisdom, 10 luck etc are all supremely valuable, and our stat interactions mean that we gain additional Might, Agility and Prot. In total, this would amount to about 120 or so stats, good portion of which are pretty rare
- Additionally, this may unlock Status: Foremost Maker for our companions. I don't know what it does, but I'm sure it's quite nice, given the prerequisites
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- Location
- Europe
[X] Myth and Legend
[X] Least Foresleep
Personally I'm a big fan of A King for all Seasons, since it lets Hunger turn his Kingdom into a source of scaling value. As his Rank rises so does his nation, as his nation rises they may raise him up in turn.
In that context Least Foresleep is the obvious cost, since his nation is now broadly capable of defending him and dealing with lesser apocryphal procs in his stead, also they cannot be target by Apo directly, which means that Hunger gains an method of scaling that cannot be directly tainted by Apo-chan.
However, I don't think the thread actually wants to play that kind of quest right now. If the goal is to go to the human sphere as fast as possible, without building up a a real military force first, then a heroic focus on Hunger and his party seems the preferred perspective.
For that I'd personally prefer Myth and Legend. Of the costs Least Foresleep is the one which we can manage best if it is only partially ameliorated.
[X] Least Foresleep
Personally I'm a big fan of A King for all Seasons, since it lets Hunger turn his Kingdom into a source of scaling value. As his Rank rises so does his nation, as his nation rises they may raise him up in turn.
In that context Least Foresleep is the obvious cost, since his nation is now broadly capable of defending him and dealing with lesser apocryphal procs in his stead, also they cannot be target by Apo directly, which means that Hunger gains an method of scaling that cannot be directly tainted by Apo-chan.
However, I don't think the thread actually wants to play that kind of quest right now. If the goal is to go to the human sphere as fast as possible, without building up a a real military force first, then a heroic focus on Hunger and his party seems the preferred perspective.
For that I'd personally prefer Myth and Legend. Of the costs Least Foresleep is the one which we can manage best if it is only partially ameliorated.
I see... you chose the words that would hurt me the most, didn't you?
In case of emergency, Hunger can threaten to withhold headpats! His are hardly Haeliel level, but they're still desirable. Anyway, Letrizia offering to sacrifice herself is oddly touching. I know she mentioned it as a last ditch option before the Procyon arrived and Gisena exists, but it's still above and beyond the call of duty. When the time comes Hunger should just waive the matter of payment, it's a disgrace to have mercenary transactional relationships within a party this tightly knit. Who knows, maybe it'll inspire Aeira and Aobaru to do the same?