Ooof. Maiden stronk and yes it looks like Vendetta is our best option. God, i hate gisena hissing intensifies :V

Anyway, is the discord still a thing? Wouldn't mind a link.
 
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Alright lets consider Maiden:
  • "It was not in her nature to hesitate, only to prevail.". This sentiment was unsubtly mentioned through this chapter a couple of times, and is clearly a key to our overall victory. Maiden is decisive and willing to commit to calculated risks, and thus we are capable of using Age and Treachery to have her overcommit, just as Vanreir did so long ago
  • Maiden is willing to commit to fighting within our sanctum to see us undone. This could perhaps allow us to leverage some conceptual advantage(Tyrant, Tower and Maiden) by choosing battlefield that is more suitable to ourselves
  • Maiden mostly uses light and fire based attacks. Binding with Aobaru might allow us to gain great deal of advantage over her when it comes to standard exchange
  • Maiden is used to eternity of training. For better or ill, this is her one true battle
  • Maiden can't fully control her Beauty. As such, there is some possibility that we can turn it against her, perhaps use Space and Law to invert it or what have you. Maybe we could trap her with her own Beauty within out Tower, that would be pretty cool
  • Maiden is using same "destroy herself to dodge being destroyed by us" thing TIM did, since our abilities sealed her natural ability to dodge stuff. Since we already know she is doing that, we might do various things to make use of this which would eventually force her to take actual damage. Do fake attacks that would have her inflict damage to herself for no reason, empower damage she herself inflicts on her, feint to make her destroy wrong part while we attack elsewhere etc.
  • Maiden is ready to die to take us out. We don't mind dying if we get to be resurrected later. This gives us some leeway when it comes to final clash
  • As for final contingency itself, it is either something like Sundering Blow including sacrificing Daylight Realm, or has something to do with Cat's connection with Hunger's wife. I assume it would be the later
[X] The Cavalry

And as for the vote itself, well, we have 200k words worth of Arete spent on kids not dying. Might as well put it to good use.
 
[X] The Cavalry

Wolfy does make a good point that this is the most effective way to capitalize on our substantial Arete bonuses. This also seems like the most Age and Treachery option IMO.
 
[X] The Cavalry

"Gisena commits cannibalism" is... Not exactly my first choice here. The Cavalry does have the issue that if the charge fails we auto-lose, but we were losing already anyway. Also this does cash in on the strengths of Blood Halo.

I do wonder how things would have gone with the other options. Inheritance would probably have inverted the time limit dynamic - instead of the Maiden's supreme grace prevailing in the end and Hunger needing to land a decisive blow before that, Hunger's infinite rank and ruin would eventually have brought down the Maiden, and she would have needed to deliver the finishing blow first. However, Blood Halo does have more stats, striking power, and the +1 ISH in battle, so the Maiden would likely have had the upper hand in direct conflict. Yeah, basically a straight inversion I think. Hunger needing to dodge overwhelming attacks while his rank wrecked the Maiden.

Imperishable Night would have been a slugfest, but that version of Hunger... really doesn't have the ability to actually damage the Maiden as we've seen her in this update, only stall her. We would really be banking hard on that +Progression paying dividends.
 
The Maiden and Hunger have achieved some measure of parity in this conflict. She dodges better and has much better healing, he only needs a few hits to finish her. Of course neither are going to simply wait things out, there are still cards they have to play. Were this a simple fight between normal humans instead of whatever these two are, I would tend towards having Hunger unleash as much power as possible immediately and try to kill her quickly, before she has a chance to reveal her trap.

But this fight is as much narrative as it is physical and magical. And trying to gain an advantage so soon just sets Hunger up for the inevitable upset when she unleashes her hidden weapon.

Also, Hunger hasn't revealed his true scheme yet, the Age & Treachery we know and love him for. To have the most impact, it needs to happen at his lowest point! When all seems lost and the Maiden is utterly sure of her victory, he would be all "you fell for it" and show her that you don't fuck with Tyrants.

So stall and show weakness, feed her ego and her arrogant belief in her victory, right until it's time for a decisive strike.

[X] The Cavalry

I feel a bit bad about risking our Companions for this, and even worse for this choice echoing that first fight against the original Tyrant, where his friends sacrificed themselves one after another for a slim chance at victory, but they're all in this together, sharing both weal and woe.
 
And as for the vote itself, well, we have 200k words worth of Arete spent on kids not dying. Might as well put it to good use.
Interesting outcome, Wolfy. I'd actually half-expected you to vote for Vendetta.

In any case, as much as I'm a proud and stalwart part (indeed, the president, perhaps) of the Aobaru Gang, I believe he already shone briefly enough, and I'd like a chance of victory. As such, I'll vote for...

[X] The Cavalry
 
Fumbles — Today at 1:44 PM
I don't understand if stats matter any more and I'm scared to step out and say they do

R' — Today at 1:44 PM
It's okay
Just say +.3 ish
That's like going from quicksilver to the flash

Birdsie — Today at 1:45 PM
Might won't win us this contest, Fumbles
Haven't you learned this yet
The power to decide who shall win
lies in Age and Treachery
And these things alone

R' — Today at 1:46 PM
It's like going from ssj1 to ssj3

Genesys — Today at 1:45 PM
hunger's already in meme tier ish isn't he
so really it's just memes

Fumbles — Today at 1:46 PM
I do think treachery is the obvious angle, but I haven't come up with anything compelling beyond sacrificing our allies in a heartless manner or faking death, and both seem well withing the Maiden's calculations.

R' — Today at 1:46 PM
Age and treachery is a force multiplier

Birdsie — Today at 1:46 PM
So what we need to do is something outside of her calculations
What wouldn't the Maiden be able to predict, in all her genius?

R' — Today at 1:46 PM
You need to actually be strong enough to kill seralize with a single stab
Or Procyon with a single thrust
 
Huh. She had to cut off all communication with Us. Like as a concept. Maybe calvary is the play here... force her to be unable to communicate with them take away her Beauty ...or.. can we turn her beauty against herself? Force her tired self to gaze upon herself infintly reflected..or bring down a Law the Beauty unmatched is Agaisnt The Sphere Itself? I don't quite grok how conceptual we can be. If communication is impossible what of we made defending a attack a from of communication?
 
Interesting outcome, Wolfy. I'd actually half-expected you to vote for Vendetta.

In any case, as much as I'm a proud and stalwart part (indeed, the president, perhaps) of the Aobaru Gang, I believe he already shone briefly enough, and I'd like a chance of victory. As such, I'll vote for...

[X] The Cavalry
It is indeed my preferred option, however I'm nothing if not practical
 
On Discord, Rihaku's been dropping pretty much near-constant hints that we should vote for Close the Fist and just sword her. He's also implied that Close the Fist might open a diplomacy ending, so who knows?

[X] Close The Fist
 
[X] Close The Fist

Yeah sure. "Grab +0.3 ISH and smash her face in" is a pretty valid plan on consideration. And we wouldn't have the "instant death if you fail" drawback of The Calvary either.
 
I'm sympathetic to the CtF bandwagon: +0.3 ISH is even more potent now that we're at such high native elevation. Our casual actions already inflict damage, so elevating the harm from bad fashion choices will tax her healing even more. And it has been described on discord as the jump from ssj1 to ssj3, or Quicksilver to Flash. I'll bandwagon if it looks like that's how things are going.

But this is a vote about what plan was devised ahead of time. Fusing Gisena and letting her eat the Arcanist leans into Hungers +Prowess(Battle Ringcasting) because it grants Gisena revenge for the Maiden's curse of nullity. Remember that even the Surgecraft fountain would only have generated more nullity! To leach all wonder from the world of a researcher who loves the exceptional was truly an act of violence. The Ring of Battle contains a specific carve out for effects of symbolic weight.

Vendetta also slakes my endless thirst for Foremost L O R E. We know now that becoming a Maker "in truth" would have been an advancement with outsized importance for Gisena or Adorie. Waking up the Arcanist was one of the votes that hurt the most for me to lose, and then we spent some Apocryphal mitigation on keeping her asleep. The narrative foundation has been laid; any success via this method would certainly be earned at this point.

Resurrecting Augustine also provides options when we leap into the next Geas task. If Adorie prefers to stay with her Kingdom then we would retain a Prisoner for Archmage, and one who fully deserves to be locked up. Moreover, Augustine's genius was significant enough that a moral rehabilitation from spending a few years in the Gilded cage could result in a meaningful ally for the Good.

Finally, my understanding is that the Maiden is unable to use proper Foremost Sorcery because of her time in the Daylight Realm. If that is a meaningful restriction at all, then the Arcanist is the best way to capitalize on it.
 
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