Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Have Gisena figure out the plot points instead of everyone else?
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
I'm going to assume she stayed home while Hunger went off on a fishing trip.
- Location
- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
1305 Words
Kinda ran out of steam at the end, there, but I think I got in under the wire
This really is Hunger whole build, huh. The Ring of Blood massively boosting his +Progression from fights and basically making training worthless, his Decimator mitigation being based around killing stuff (IIRC, it's been a while since I reread that part?), on top of the Tyrant making it much easier to murderhobo in the Voyaging Realm than exist as a normal person in a society, AND the Apocryphal Curse yeeting peer-level opponents at him at the slightest provocation.
Wait. Hang on. This almost seems like it was planned out? Did the thread... come up with a curse + remittance combo plan that function well together and supported a main overarching strategy? Is this the legendary "synergy" that I've heard whispers of?
I assume this is the effects of the King's Scepter remittance revitalizing Hunger, not just the transfusion of power necessary to make him a Progression-type Cursebearer, right? My assumption is that we wouldn't have gotten this revitalization if we'd picked the Praxis.
Digging a little deeper into the background lore, I'm curious exactly what the Accursed changes in someone to make them into a Progression-type? Like, a Combat type seems fairly straightforward, a transfer of knowledge and puissance in the Cursebearer's chosen field. Presumably a Combat-type who chose the Praxis would get immediate access to the early Praxis runes, maybe even Refinement of Battle? That is to say, the knowledge and skills associated with the use of those elements of the Praxis (presumably plus a bunch more options that we've not see due to only being able to use the Praxis through the medium of swordplay). Anyway, I'm getting off-track here. The question was what the Accursed actually changed about someone to give them the rapid progression and ability to disregard the conventional limits of an magic system that characterizes the Progression-type? If we accept the theory that the Accursed is Odyssial (which I think is pretty clearly true, but it hasn't really been confirmed yet, as far as I'm aware, so🤷♂️), then I assume the core abilities of a Progression type bear some similarity to an Exaltation, though obviously the remit of the Progression-type is far broader than an Exalt. So some fundamental transformation of the soul? Does the Accursed have some +Progression boosting ability (or some highly synergistic panoply of +Progression abilities, more likely) that he grants part of to each Progression-type? The process of becoming a Cursebearer is framed as "receiving and fraction of [the Accursed's] power"...
Interesting to note that, while his physical injuries are the most noticeable of Hunger's wounds from the long battle with the Tyrant, he's also wounded in both soul and memory. Have we seen any mechanical effects or indications in-story that his wounded soul is impairing Hunger at all.
Actually, now that I think about it, there have been those upgrade options that make us choose between repairing Hunger's body or some kind of big power boost... It's possible we could see something like that for Hunger's soul in the future? Or maybe just defeating the Hidden Masters and resurrecting his family would fix that wound(Or how about just smooching Gisena, that'd probably work right?)
Alternatively, maybe options like Rune King represent repairing his soul at the cost of his body?
I'm also curious what we can do about his lost memories. Were those completely destroyed when Hunger burned his very selfhood to kill the Tyrant? Are they lost forever? Or will we eventually be able to recover them somehow. Gisena'll have to work harder if Hunger starts recovering all the cute memories of his wife!
I have to wonder at how much the Accursed controls which person he offers his power to, and when. And how much can he predict and exploit Hunger's reaction to his generosity. The Accursed is a monstrously powerful being, and it doesn't seems out of the question that he'd choose to approach Hunger because he knew that Hunger would remember that generosity and, to an extent, dedicate himself to repaying the Accursed's generosity. Granted, this might be overly cynical of me. It's entire possible that the Accursed is so restrained that his choices of who to empower are such that he needs to approach anyone that he remotely vibes with.
Although, now that I'm coming back to this thought a few hours later, I have to recognize that once you make your contract with the Accursed, you're kinda going to give him what he wants (or at least what I assume he wants), Curse Mitigation, whether you like it or not. Presumably throwing down with the pawns of his cosmological enemies through the Geas of Indenture is just a bonus at that point. The Accursed, very smart guy apparently.
Yeah, maybe I am being to cynical. Nevertheless, if there's one thing fiction has taught me it's to be skeptical of mysterious entities handing out superpowers. There's always a catch!
I'm genuinely curious how the nobles who ordered Hungers assassination felt about all this. Dude was already a legendary outlaw, and he just up and vanished before they could recover his body? They must be nervous as hell at the moment.
Pity that Hunger'll take a while to return to the isekai world
Meanwhile, on to the Voyaging Realm!
"Live, and grow strong" might as well be the tagline for the quest, tbh. Or, given the threads priorities, "Grow strong, and hey, maybe also live as a side effect. Anyway, get them shinies"
Here's another indication of how much of his memory Hunger's lost. He doesn't even know what part of earth he's from... Hang on, he doesn't remember the country he's from but he remembers enough about Evangelion to roast Letrizia about it? Hunger was a huge weeb confirmed.
More seriously, I'm growing increasingly interested in the idea of recovering some of Hunger's memories. Being able to more clearly remember the good times that he spent with his friends and allies against the Tyrant would, I think, end up being good for him! Or at least help him make a more fitting memorial for the fallen. (Also, selfishly, I'm curious about the particulars of Hunger's isekai world and I want to know about his old friends)
I'm curious how this is going to end up more complicated than we expect. Seram discovered that the Hero out of Legend of his world was actually the orc conqueror Jotarun, which honestly made killing him a lot less morally dubious that killing someone who may have actually been a nice person who happened to be chosen by destiny. I have no doubt that Rihaku has some kind of twist on the nature of the Human Sphere that will complicate its conquest in some annoying way. Or maybe that Ringbearer who got mentioned by the Apocryphal Curse will try to pull a Muad'dib (Or, more concerningly, an God Emperor of Mankind).
Between the high-tech Human sphere and the sorcerous bullshit of the Voyaging Realm, there's certainly a lot of room for unexpected developments.
I like how Hunger's ultimate goal kinda mirror's the Tyrant's feat of defeating destiny. Casting down the supernatural forces that have decreed your end and such. I suppose that was also Nameless' ultimate goal in EFB...
I have to wonder how this fight would have gone had we taken The Sword That Ends The World. We handled the basic enemies of the Voyaging Realm fairly easily with the King's Scepter, but I suspect without that power we'd have ended up running from them. And probably needing to be ignominiously saved by Gisena. Surely a worthy sacrifice for the Imperial Praxis!
These were just basic-ass Astral Beast, right? I assume that the dissolving effect is not a normal thing even for the residents of the Voyaging Realm. Seems like more of a spooky space monster move to me.
Kinda ran out of steam at the end, there, but I think I got in under the wire
This really is Hunger whole build, huh. The Ring of Blood massively boosting his +Progression from fights and basically making training worthless, his Decimator mitigation being based around killing stuff (IIRC, it's been a while since I reread that part?), on top of the Tyrant making it much easier to murderhobo in the Voyaging Realm than exist as a normal person in a society, AND the Apocryphal Curse yeeting peer-level opponents at him at the slightest provocation.
Wait. Hang on. This almost seems like it was planned out? Did the thread... come up with a curse + remittance combo plan that function well together and supported a main overarching strategy? Is this the legendary "synergy" that I've heard whispers of?
I assume this is the effects of the King's Scepter remittance revitalizing Hunger, not just the transfusion of power necessary to make him a Progression-type Cursebearer, right? My assumption is that we wouldn't have gotten this revitalization if we'd picked the Praxis.
Digging a little deeper into the background lore, I'm curious exactly what the Accursed changes in someone to make them into a Progression-type? Like, a Combat type seems fairly straightforward, a transfer of knowledge and puissance in the Cursebearer's chosen field. Presumably a Combat-type who chose the Praxis would get immediate access to the early Praxis runes, maybe even Refinement of Battle? That is to say, the knowledge and skills associated with the use of those elements of the Praxis (presumably plus a bunch more options that we've not see due to only being able to use the Praxis through the medium of swordplay). Anyway, I'm getting off-track here. The question was what the Accursed actually changed about someone to give them the rapid progression and ability to disregard the conventional limits of an magic system that characterizes the Progression-type? If we accept the theory that the Accursed is Odyssial (which I think is pretty clearly true, but it hasn't really been confirmed yet, as far as I'm aware, so🤷♂️), then I assume the core abilities of a Progression type bear some similarity to an Exaltation, though obviously the remit of the Progression-type is far broader than an Exalt. So some fundamental transformation of the soul? Does the Accursed have some +Progression boosting ability (or some highly synergistic panoply of +Progression abilities, more likely) that he grants part of to each Progression-type? The process of becoming a Cursebearer is framed as "receiving and fraction of [the Accursed's] power"...
Interesting to note that, while his physical injuries are the most noticeable of Hunger's wounds from the long battle with the Tyrant, he's also wounded in both soul and memory. Have we seen any mechanical effects or indications in-story that his wounded soul is impairing Hunger at all.
Actually, now that I think about it, there have been those upgrade options that make us choose between repairing Hunger's body or some kind of big power boost... It's possible we could see something like that for Hunger's soul in the future? Or maybe just defeating the Hidden Masters and resurrecting his family would fix that wound
Alternatively, maybe options like Rune King represent repairing his soul at the cost of his body?
I'm also curious what we can do about his lost memories. Were those completely destroyed when Hunger burned his very selfhood to kill the Tyrant? Are they lost forever? Or will we eventually be able to recover them somehow. Gisena'll have to work harder if Hunger starts recovering all the cute memories of his wife!
I have to wonder at how much the Accursed controls which person he offers his power to, and when. And how much can he predict and exploit Hunger's reaction to his generosity. The Accursed is a monstrously powerful being, and it doesn't seems out of the question that he'd choose to approach Hunger because he knew that Hunger would remember that generosity and, to an extent, dedicate himself to repaying the Accursed's generosity. Granted, this might be overly cynical of me. It's entire possible that the Accursed is so restrained that his choices of who to empower are such that he needs to approach anyone that he remotely vibes with.
Although, now that I'm coming back to this thought a few hours later, I have to recognize that once you make your contract with the Accursed, you're kinda going to give him what he wants (or at least what I assume he wants), Curse Mitigation, whether you like it or not. Presumably throwing down with the pawns of his cosmological enemies through the Geas of Indenture is just a bonus at that point. The Accursed, very smart guy apparently.
Yeah, maybe I am being to cynical. Nevertheless, if there's one thing fiction has taught me it's to be skeptical of mysterious entities handing out superpowers. There's always a catch!
I'm genuinely curious how the nobles who ordered Hungers assassination felt about all this. Dude was already a legendary outlaw, and he just up and vanished before they could recover his body? They must be nervous as hell at the moment.
Pity that Hunger'll take a while to return to the isekai world
Meanwhile, on to the Voyaging Realm!
"Live, and grow strong" might as well be the tagline for the quest, tbh. Or, given the threads priorities, "Grow strong, and hey, maybe also live as a side effect. Anyway, get them shinies"
Here's another indication of how much of his memory Hunger's lost. He doesn't even know what part of earth he's from... Hang on, he doesn't remember the country he's from but he remembers enough about Evangelion to roast Letrizia about it? Hunger was a huge weeb confirmed.
More seriously, I'm growing increasingly interested in the idea of recovering some of Hunger's memories. Being able to more clearly remember the good times that he spent with his friends and allies against the Tyrant would, I think, end up being good for him! Or at least help him make a more fitting memorial for the fallen. (Also, selfishly, I'm curious about the particulars of Hunger's isekai world and I want to know about his old friends)
I'm curious how this is going to end up more complicated than we expect. Seram discovered that the Hero out of Legend of his world was actually the orc conqueror Jotarun, which honestly made killing him a lot less morally dubious that killing someone who may have actually been a nice person who happened to be chosen by destiny. I have no doubt that Rihaku has some kind of twist on the nature of the Human Sphere that will complicate its conquest in some annoying way. Or maybe that Ringbearer who got mentioned by the Apocryphal Curse will try to pull a Muad'dib (Or, more concerningly, an God Emperor of Mankind).
Between the high-tech Human sphere and the sorcerous bullshit of the Voyaging Realm, there's certainly a lot of room for unexpected developments.
I like how Hunger's ultimate goal kinda mirror's the Tyrant's feat of defeating destiny. Casting down the supernatural forces that have decreed your end and such. I suppose that was also Nameless' ultimate goal in EFB...
I have to wonder how this fight would have gone had we taken The Sword That Ends The World. We handled the basic enemies of the Voyaging Realm fairly easily with the King's Scepter, but I suspect without that power we'd have ended up running from them. And probably needing to be ignominiously saved by Gisena
. Surely a worthy sacrifice for the Imperial Praxis! These were just basic-ass Astral Beast, right? I assume that the dissolving effect is not a normal thing even for the residents of the Voyaging Realm. Seems like more of a spooky space monster move to me.
Duquette7
I am Fire, and I am Rain
Couldn't we have just gotten Silver, and then saved the 7 Arete for ADS, putting us two updates away from victory?
I honestly don't get the drive to take thorn here, not when we're 7 away.
DarkSideBard
Flying, without moving on
Well, the alternative is maybe just outright failing at defeating the Rotbeast? And being exhausted while failing.
And we weren't given the opportunity to take Silver with pick debt, just Praxis stuff.
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
i voted for shears, but the idea of dying with 22+ Arete in the bank fills me with a dread completely unprecedented in my adult life
If we don't take Thorn or any of the other Cut Through options, there is a high risk that we get a time skip so less updates before the Ber showdown and less Arete generation over all.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
I like Thorn, so having the chance to take both Thorn and Silver was nice. We can save for ADS later, we've got two weeks until our deadline after all.
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
If rank is 2 picks then we'll just get silver by doing some hunting afterwards. Now that we have the Arete we can get it whenever.
A Fire Woken
Rihaku
The Internet
A Fire Woken
Hunger repelled another wave of stifling, noxious poison and adjusted his grip. The path the Forebear would have taken was clear. If he could not find a path, he would simply have to cut one. The natural evolution of the Forebear's technique. The purpose of his cut was to murder; if he could not murder simply by slicing through what lay before him, then that was a failure of execution, not of the path itself... For surely the Forebear had faced foes more terrible and esoteric than merely this.
He gathered it once more, the despair, rage and sorrow of his long and ruinous path, the barely-kindled hope of his new life as a Cursebearer, and most of all his unswerving determination to avenge all who had suffered at the hands of the Hidden Ones. The Blade sang true; there was no foe in all the wide breadth and span of this universe, that could resist the Forebear's Cut placed properly. All that barred him from the realm of that strike were the simple matters of aim and reach.
It was not a concept he was unfamiliar with. If one could not aim at the body, then target the mind. If one could not aim at the mind, then target the spirit. He'd done just that against the Tiller Wurm, and had entered this monster with the intention to do so as well. Would he be stymied by a mere lack of nerve clusters?
The Light of the Praxis had opened his eyes to new levels of endeavor, speed that could elude the unerring and race the untouchable, speed to match or exceed Vanreir's inescapable strike. His initial epiphany against the Prime Rotspawn had already elevated the offensive techniques of his blade to that level, but without the means to travel beyond mere space his Cut had been trapped within its coordinate plane. The Refinement of Quickness provided the solution, movement elevated to a conceptual level, power enough to slip the bounds of physicality, to intrude upon deeper realities for an action's fleeting span.
Long enough to dodge one strike, or to perform one.
All he had to do was use those techniques in unison.
Hunger scoffed. The drain of such an exertion might well kill him if unmitigated. The Forebear's Cut demanded enormous conviction; the Refinement of Quickness depleted him on a fundamental level. In combination they could render him an insensate vegetable. He could not allow irrational exuberance to dominate practicality, not utterly.
He'd not been idle as he thought, steadily plunging deeper into the Rotbeast's unchanging core. But neither had his opponent, the virulence and density of its poisons ever-increasing, now an opaque fog that bore down upon every inch of him with terrible ferocity, not just his extremities but his body entire a gruesome weeping sore. Even the protection of the Outer Shadow was steadily wearing away, though it'd outlasted the Evening Sky by many long seconds.
Time was running out. He wracked his mind for a solution, firing a pillar of Edeldross into which he curtly stepped, outputting as much of the element as he could possibly withstand. The strain was enormous, his reserves quickly depleting; he would pay for it later, but later he'd be dead if things did not change. Too much depended on him. He absolutely could not fail now.
Cut through, even if it cannot be cut. Cut away all that was extraneous, strip the Refinement of Quickness of all components except those necessary for a single attack, committing forthrightly as the Forebear's Cut demanded, technique matching intent in form, then in function...
He blurred, blade twisting sparsely, executing just a fragment of the Refinement, less than one-fourth the entire invocation, and felt the world shift into the chasm of speed that portended its activation. He stepped forward just so, destination already in mind, not an act of movement but the opening step of an offense, a charge whose purpose was not any transition of space but merely to meet the enemy.
Yes. In this place, halfway to the Realm of Forms, the Rotbeast was not just its physical morass but all-that-was-the-Rotbeast, its form and essence, its mind and spirit, and further 'beneath' the fuzzily-coherent mass of its core concept and ontological basis. No time to gawk; only to strike, blade cleaving indiscriminately at mind and form and essence, fading back to physicality halfway through the stroke, sinking softly into mere flesh once more.
Beneath him the titan shuddered, trembling slowly. The ground its flesh began to list, ever so slightly off-balance.
Hunger braced himself again and gripped the hilt firmly with both hands, again performing the truncated rune, again barely managing a cut. The Rotbeast's listing worsened, tipping like a ship in rough seas.
Each repetition was exhausting. To be safe, he could do no more than three in total; until he had a chance to rest, the damage to his own essence would scale up exponentially with each performance.
Again. And that was three. The Rotbeast paused, density of poison beginning to dissipate, the gray morass around him slowly melting away. But instinct told him this was only a feint, so he clenched his grip and forced himself to cut...
Again. Now the dissolution accelerated, vast swathes of grey flesh peeling away like a discarded rind, tissue become air like frost at dawn's coming. The Rotbeast was reeling, but even this it could survive, if it left, if it escaped to recuperate-
He did not strike again, though it would have been the fatal blow.
Instead he rushed backwards and outwards to the Rotbeast's surface, where the poison was thin and clear enough to see through, and from there began methodically to hack away at the monster, separating great chunks of its mass and steadily destroying them. It wriggled helplessly, furiously beneath him as he destroyed it, hounding it to the last, but was powerless to escape, powerless to resist, incapable even of a final suicidal thrust against the Sovereignty as he prioritized those pieces of it closest to the line of defense.
He was drained, and bitterly so, but even operating at half strength he was more than capable of dismantling this hapless prey. Some flicker of reassurance curled up from the Forebear's Blade, half-remembered instinct of the Forebear himself who had pushed this far in countless battles without hint of fatigue or hesitation. If he'd made the fifth Cut things would not have been so easy, but he'd refrained from that exertion and preserved the vast majority of his power.
As the final fleeting dregs of grey fell to the Power of Ruin embedded in his Blade, his Ring kindled bright and blinding with crimson light, a victory-flare over the battlefield as the shadow of the Rotbeast was wiped away at last.
That was the end of the war, but not the battle; many Rotspawn still remained and had breached into the city proper, rampaging among the civilian populace and slaughtering them by the thousands. No longer occupied with the Rotbeast itself, Hunger was freed to hunt down these stragglers alongside the Sovereignty forces, and made short work of the monsters that remained.
Afterwards they lauded him, pointlessly lionized him, asked him to be their champion, their general, even their King. He managed a smile, half-grimace, and said little to their pleas.
"Three cheers for the Reckoner!" They acclaimed him. He was too exhausted to do more than twitch at the unwelcome title.
"The Reckoner of Rotspawn!"
"The Rotbeast's Reckoner!"
"LORD HUNGER!!"
This, too, was the burden of he who would call himself a hero. But he doubted strongly that Letrizia had been entirely uninvolved in setting up this display.
And he would be avenged.
---
"Hunger!"
As he departed the celebrations in search of Verschlengorge's pilot, Aobaru caught up with him on the road. The redhead was panting heavily, face pallid; it was clear he'd never used his Vigorflame as intensely or as extensively as he'd been forced to today.
"Aobaru. You fought well out there."
"Heh. Nothing compared to you, though! Hey, I know you hate wasting time so I'll cut to the chase: take me with you as a mercenary."
Hunger raised an eyebrow. "Aeira was hired to provide a specific support ability. We don't need another primary combatant, even one as relatively capable as you."
Aobaru winced. "Eh. You don't mince words, huh? Well, I'm fully capable of filling a support role as well. My Vigorflame can enhance the physical durability of objects, or the overall physical ability of living beings. It's quite versatile and should stack with your Edeldross. Even if it only makes you ten percent stronger and faster, that'd be totally worth it, right?"
Hunger frowned. The boy had clearly given it some thought. "And you want Aeira's rate as well? What brought this on?"
"My dad was an Armor Commander in the corps. He fell during the fighting. My mom's stay-at-home and he was our only source of income. I've got five brothers, so..."
Hunger grunted. "It's dangerous to travel with me. I'll pay you a bonus. You helped train my Edeldross, more so than any of you classmates. It should be enough to keep your family comfortably for a few decades."
"T-that's really appreciated, sir, but it's not the only reason I want to join up!" Aobaru raised his fists. "I can already see it. If I stay here, I'm only going to stagnate. Slaying the Rotbeast has brought us a reprieve, but that'll only last a few years at most. Bigger and bigger threats are wandering across the Voyaging Realm and none of us are going to be ready when the next one hits. The Rotbeast isn't even the tip of the iceberg and it would have annihilated us without you!"
"So, you want not only to join my party, but to be taught by me as well."
"If it's not too much trouble. And only when you have time. I can pull my weight, I promise!
"...And you want to be paid for the privilege."
"Yeah." Aobaru gulped, but kept his eyes focused and gaze level. "But my services will be well worth it, I can definitely make you stronger! Actually I'm planning to ask for a bit more than Aeira's rate. I am the strongest Elementalist here and I'm confident I can maintain that. If I ever fall behind, you're free to dock my pay however you like!"
---
The winner was [X] Cut Through. Hunger has acquired [X] Artful Thorn. You have exactly 19 Arete, but may spend as much as you can generate this update.
What to acquire from the power of the Rotbeast?
[ ] Sovereignty (all picks, 20 Arete) - Feat: Reckoner and Silver of Evening. After multipliers increases your Rank by .375. It seems only fitting that, in felling the Elementalist's bane, Hunger's own Element would be elevated by ascension into the pantheon of Evening...
[ ] Outer Darkness (all picks, 25 Arete) - A rare Advancement. The supreme sublimation of Outer Shadow and Evening Sky, night unimpeachable as a saint's halo and inescapable as darkness itself. As the Outer Sky was not acquired, the cost in Arete is not discounted, and the cost in picks has increased. It seems only fitting that, in felling a titan of shadow and rot, Hunger's own command over shadow should be supremely magnified.
*You may now communicate with eldritch and gargantuan monstrosities, who will treat you as peer, subject or superior depending on your relative levels of ability.
*+++++Willpower, diminish all Sanity-targeting attacks on the wearer by one step along the Infinite Singularity Husk.
*+200% Might and Protection
*+2000% Health
*The Outer Darkness automatically defends allies within its reach, vastly improving their survivability.
*Fuses the Outer Shadow and Evening Sky as per the Outer Sky, providing magic resistance of a similar form, and permitting the lossless use of the Outer Shadow for offensive maneuvers.
*Qualifies for Trinity.
[ ] Elixir (all picks, 20 Arete) - Feat: Reckoner, adding .375 Rank and upgrades Edeldross to 25-point version. A rare Advancement. Sufficient refinement of Edeldross can create a substance ontologically equivalent to findross in potency but different in character: fairer, nobler and brighter, a power not for shining paragons but for heroes of legend; not the pristine beauty of the stars, but the blinding incandescence of the Sun itself!
*In conjunction with the Ring of Blood, allows Hunger to induce the Fairbright Bloodline in himself once his effective Blood Rank exceeds 8.0. If successful, mitigates the Apocryphal Curse by one half-stage.
*Vastly expands the space of possible Graces and enormously expands their potency.
*Does not disqualify Hunger for Trinity later, as Arete spend towards his Element is not classified as belonging to any one Artifact.
*Edeldross can now heal Hunger's eye, liver, and lung. Discounts Final Form by 7 (!) Arete.
*Hunger will learn what the Fairbright Bloodline actually does. --Heartlessness.
*Lucenthorne shall seek you as an ally, for any who wields the Fairbright Essence cannot be its enemy. You need not wield it personally; it has resided in the hands of ruler and champion both.
---
Do you intend to take Aobaru with you?
[ ] Yes - Pay 10 Currency units per quarter, vote on his Element Strength, below.
[ ] No - It's not safe, no matter what he claims.
Aobaru's Element, Vigorflame:
[ ] Vigorflame - Vigorflame is treated as a 2-Arete Element. Currently grants +10% to Physical Attributes and causes targeted substances to explode if overloaded. This can be resisted.
[ ] Grand Vigorflame - [2 Arete] - Vigorflame is treated as a 7-Arete Element. Grants +30% to Physical Attributes and causes targeted substances to explode if overloaded. This can't be resisted if overloading is successful, though beings not reliant on physical corpus may survive.
[ ] True Vigorflame - [7 Arete] - Vigorflame is treated as a 25-Arete Element. Grants +70% to Physical Attributes and scales upward without limit. Can eventually elevate targets by fractional amounts along the Infinite Singularity Husk. Can be safely imbued into targets for extended durations (up to one day). Causes targeted substances to explode if overloaded. This can't be resisted and works on substances with conceptual or abstract parameters, though training and practice are required to utilize this effectively.
---
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Hunger repelled another wave of stifling, noxious poison and adjusted his grip. The path the Forebear would have taken was clear. If he could not find a path, he would simply have to cut one. The natural evolution of the Forebear's technique. The purpose of his cut was to murder; if he could not murder simply by slicing through what lay before him, then that was a failure of execution, not of the path itself... For surely the Forebear had faced foes more terrible and esoteric than merely this.
He gathered it once more, the despair, rage and sorrow of his long and ruinous path, the barely-kindled hope of his new life as a Cursebearer, and most of all his unswerving determination to avenge all who had suffered at the hands of the Hidden Ones. The Blade sang true; there was no foe in all the wide breadth and span of this universe, that could resist the Forebear's Cut placed properly. All that barred him from the realm of that strike were the simple matters of aim and reach.
It was not a concept he was unfamiliar with. If one could not aim at the body, then target the mind. If one could not aim at the mind, then target the spirit. He'd done just that against the Tiller Wurm, and had entered this monster with the intention to do so as well. Would he be stymied by a mere lack of nerve clusters?
The Light of the Praxis had opened his eyes to new levels of endeavor, speed that could elude the unerring and race the untouchable, speed to match or exceed Vanreir's inescapable strike. His initial epiphany against the Prime Rotspawn had already elevated the offensive techniques of his blade to that level, but without the means to travel beyond mere space his Cut had been trapped within its coordinate plane. The Refinement of Quickness provided the solution, movement elevated to a conceptual level, power enough to slip the bounds of physicality, to intrude upon deeper realities for an action's fleeting span.
Long enough to dodge one strike, or to perform one.
All he had to do was use those techniques in unison.
Hunger scoffed. The drain of such an exertion might well kill him if unmitigated. The Forebear's Cut demanded enormous conviction; the Refinement of Quickness depleted him on a fundamental level. In combination they could render him an insensate vegetable. He could not allow irrational exuberance to dominate practicality, not utterly.
He'd not been idle as he thought, steadily plunging deeper into the Rotbeast's unchanging core. But neither had his opponent, the virulence and density of its poisons ever-increasing, now an opaque fog that bore down upon every inch of him with terrible ferocity, not just his extremities but his body entire a gruesome weeping sore. Even the protection of the Outer Shadow was steadily wearing away, though it'd outlasted the Evening Sky by many long seconds.
Time was running out. He wracked his mind for a solution, firing a pillar of Edeldross into which he curtly stepped, outputting as much of the element as he could possibly withstand. The strain was enormous, his reserves quickly depleting; he would pay for it later, but later he'd be dead if things did not change. Too much depended on him. He absolutely could not fail now.
Cut through, even if it cannot be cut. Cut away all that was extraneous, strip the Refinement of Quickness of all components except those necessary for a single attack, committing forthrightly as the Forebear's Cut demanded, technique matching intent in form, then in function...
He blurred, blade twisting sparsely, executing just a fragment of the Refinement, less than one-fourth the entire invocation, and felt the world shift into the chasm of speed that portended its activation. He stepped forward just so, destination already in mind, not an act of movement but the opening step of an offense, a charge whose purpose was not any transition of space but merely to meet the enemy.
Yes. In this place, halfway to the Realm of Forms, the Rotbeast was not just its physical morass but all-that-was-the-Rotbeast, its form and essence, its mind and spirit, and further 'beneath' the fuzzily-coherent mass of its core concept and ontological basis. No time to gawk; only to strike, blade cleaving indiscriminately at mind and form and essence, fading back to physicality halfway through the stroke, sinking softly into mere flesh once more.
Beneath him the titan shuddered, trembling slowly. The ground its flesh began to list, ever so slightly off-balance.
Hunger braced himself again and gripped the hilt firmly with both hands, again performing the truncated rune, again barely managing a cut. The Rotbeast's listing worsened, tipping like a ship in rough seas.
Each repetition was exhausting. To be safe, he could do no more than three in total; until he had a chance to rest, the damage to his own essence would scale up exponentially with each performance.
Again. And that was three. The Rotbeast paused, density of poison beginning to dissipate, the gray morass around him slowly melting away. But instinct told him this was only a feint, so he clenched his grip and forced himself to cut...
Again. Now the dissolution accelerated, vast swathes of grey flesh peeling away like a discarded rind, tissue become air like frost at dawn's coming. The Rotbeast was reeling, but even this it could survive, if it left, if it escaped to recuperate-
He did not strike again, though it would have been the fatal blow.
Instead he rushed backwards and outwards to the Rotbeast's surface, where the poison was thin and clear enough to see through, and from there began methodically to hack away at the monster, separating great chunks of its mass and steadily destroying them. It wriggled helplessly, furiously beneath him as he destroyed it, hounding it to the last, but was powerless to escape, powerless to resist, incapable even of a final suicidal thrust against the Sovereignty as he prioritized those pieces of it closest to the line of defense.
He was drained, and bitterly so, but even operating at half strength he was more than capable of dismantling this hapless prey. Some flicker of reassurance curled up from the Forebear's Blade, half-remembered instinct of the Forebear himself who had pushed this far in countless battles without hint of fatigue or hesitation. If he'd made the fifth Cut things would not have been so easy, but he'd refrained from that exertion and preserved the vast majority of his power.
As the final fleeting dregs of grey fell to the Power of Ruin embedded in his Blade, his Ring kindled bright and blinding with crimson light, a victory-flare over the battlefield as the shadow of the Rotbeast was wiped away at last.
That was the end of the war, but not the battle; many Rotspawn still remained and had breached into the city proper, rampaging among the civilian populace and slaughtering them by the thousands. No longer occupied with the Rotbeast itself, Hunger was freed to hunt down these stragglers alongside the Sovereignty forces, and made short work of the monsters that remained.
Afterwards they lauded him, pointlessly lionized him, asked him to be their champion, their general, even their King. He managed a smile, half-grimace, and said little to their pleas.
"Three cheers for the Reckoner!" They acclaimed him. He was too exhausted to do more than twitch at the unwelcome title.
"The Reckoner of Rotspawn!"
"The Rotbeast's Reckoner!"
"LORD HUNGER!!"
This, too, was the burden of he who would call himself a hero. But he doubted strongly that Letrizia had been entirely uninvolved in setting up this display.
And he would be avenged.
---
"Hunger!"
As he departed the celebrations in search of Verschlengorge's pilot, Aobaru caught up with him on the road. The redhead was panting heavily, face pallid; it was clear he'd never used his Vigorflame as intensely or as extensively as he'd been forced to today.
"Aobaru. You fought well out there."
"Heh. Nothing compared to you, though! Hey, I know you hate wasting time so I'll cut to the chase: take me with you as a mercenary."
Hunger raised an eyebrow. "Aeira was hired to provide a specific support ability. We don't need another primary combatant, even one as relatively capable as you."
Aobaru winced. "Eh. You don't mince words, huh? Well, I'm fully capable of filling a support role as well. My Vigorflame can enhance the physical durability of objects, or the overall physical ability of living beings. It's quite versatile and should stack with your Edeldross. Even if it only makes you ten percent stronger and faster, that'd be totally worth it, right?"
Hunger frowned. The boy had clearly given it some thought. "And you want Aeira's rate as well? What brought this on?"
"My dad was an Armor Commander in the corps. He fell during the fighting. My mom's stay-at-home and he was our only source of income. I've got five brothers, so..."
Hunger grunted. "It's dangerous to travel with me. I'll pay you a bonus. You helped train my Edeldross, more so than any of you classmates. It should be enough to keep your family comfortably for a few decades."
"T-that's really appreciated, sir, but it's not the only reason I want to join up!" Aobaru raised his fists. "I can already see it. If I stay here, I'm only going to stagnate. Slaying the Rotbeast has brought us a reprieve, but that'll only last a few years at most. Bigger and bigger threats are wandering across the Voyaging Realm and none of us are going to be ready when the next one hits. The Rotbeast isn't even the tip of the iceberg and it would have annihilated us without you!"
"So, you want not only to join my party, but to be taught by me as well."
"If it's not too much trouble. And only when you have time. I can pull my weight, I promise!
"...And you want to be paid for the privilege."
"Yeah." Aobaru gulped, but kept his eyes focused and gaze level. "But my services will be well worth it, I can definitely make you stronger! Actually I'm planning to ask for a bit more than Aeira's rate. I am the strongest Elementalist here and I'm confident I can maintain that. If I ever fall behind, you're free to dock my pay however you like!"
---
The winner was [X] Cut Through. Hunger has acquired [X] Artful Thorn. You have exactly 19 Arete, but may spend as much as you can generate this update.
What to acquire from the power of the Rotbeast?
[ ] Sovereignty (all picks, 20 Arete) - Feat: Reckoner and Silver of Evening. After multipliers increases your Rank by .375. It seems only fitting that, in felling the Elementalist's bane, Hunger's own Element would be elevated by ascension into the pantheon of Evening...
[ ] Outer Darkness (all picks, 25 Arete) - A rare Advancement. The supreme sublimation of Outer Shadow and Evening Sky, night unimpeachable as a saint's halo and inescapable as darkness itself. As the Outer Sky was not acquired, the cost in Arete is not discounted, and the cost in picks has increased. It seems only fitting that, in felling a titan of shadow and rot, Hunger's own command over shadow should be supremely magnified.
*You may now communicate with eldritch and gargantuan monstrosities, who will treat you as peer, subject or superior depending on your relative levels of ability.
*+++++Willpower, diminish all Sanity-targeting attacks on the wearer by one step along the Infinite Singularity Husk.
*+200% Might and Protection
*+2000% Health
*The Outer Darkness automatically defends allies within its reach, vastly improving their survivability.
*Fuses the Outer Shadow and Evening Sky as per the Outer Sky, providing magic resistance of a similar form, and permitting the lossless use of the Outer Shadow for offensive maneuvers.
*Qualifies for Trinity.
[ ] Elixir (all picks, 20 Arete) - Feat: Reckoner, adding .375 Rank and upgrades Edeldross to 25-point version. A rare Advancement. Sufficient refinement of Edeldross can create a substance ontologically equivalent to findross in potency but different in character: fairer, nobler and brighter, a power not for shining paragons but for heroes of legend; not the pristine beauty of the stars, but the blinding incandescence of the Sun itself!
*In conjunction with the Ring of Blood, allows Hunger to induce the Fairbright Bloodline in himself once his effective Blood Rank exceeds 8.0. If successful, mitigates the Apocryphal Curse by one half-stage.
*Vastly expands the space of possible Graces and enormously expands their potency.
*Does not disqualify Hunger for Trinity later, as Arete spend towards his Element is not classified as belonging to any one Artifact.
*Edeldross can now heal Hunger's eye, liver, and lung. Discounts Final Form by 7 (!) Arete.
*Hunger will learn what the Fairbright Bloodline actually does. --Heartlessness.
*Lucenthorne shall seek you as an ally, for any who wields the Fairbright Essence cannot be its enemy. You need not wield it personally; it has resided in the hands of ruler and champion both.
---
Do you intend to take Aobaru with you?
[ ] Yes - Pay 10 Currency units per quarter, vote on his Element Strength, below.
[ ] No - It's not safe, no matter what he claims.
Aobaru's Element, Vigorflame:
[ ] Vigorflame - Vigorflame is treated as a 2-Arete Element. Currently grants +10% to Physical Attributes and causes targeted substances to explode if overloaded. This can be resisted.
[ ] Grand Vigorflame - [2 Arete] - Vigorflame is treated as a 7-Arete Element. Grants +30% to Physical Attributes and causes targeted substances to explode if overloaded. This can't be resisted if overloading is successful, though beings not reliant on physical corpus may survive.
[ ] True Vigorflame - [7 Arete] - Vigorflame is treated as a 25-Arete Element. Grants +70% to Physical Attributes and scales upward without limit. Can eventually elevate targets by fractional amounts along the Infinite Singularity Husk. Can be safely imbued into targets for extended durations (up to one day). Causes targeted substances to explode if overloaded. This can't be resisted and works on substances with conceptual or abstract parameters, though training and practice are required to utilize this effectively.
---
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I remember that empowered Rotbeast is now a 4 pick fight with Thorn and Silver each requiring one leaving us to work with 2 picks.
Yes. The answer to questions like 'was it part of some masterfully executed plan' is always yes. Take the Temple for example, lesser minds might presume that it was a series of random actions that somehow worked out due to Arete spam, but in reality we were playing 5d chess all along, we just didn't realize our own genius.
We tried. It didn't work.
Edit: oh wow
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Well, it's worth noting that we've already seen one ability that can allow even normal Cursebearers to share their Progression: Retinue. It's very possible that the transaction that allows for the transference of Curses uses a similar mechanism.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
If only we had taken Outer Sky. It would have discounted this! It's so damn cool! Do you see what ya'll have wrought, rejecting +Progression for temporary saving?
Oh well. Sovereignty is also a good choice. And I will laugh very hard if Elixir is taken, but I don't expect it.
Rihaku
The Internet
More importantly, what to do with Aobaru? He's clearly very relevant to the central story somehow... perhaps even the protagonist!
[X] Outer Darkness
[X] No
I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE TENTATIVE
[X] No
I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE TENTATIVE
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Just when I asked about an ability to summon or create monster minions, the Most High provides. It would be quite the pivot though.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Actually, Elixir might be viable, Lucent Thorne was like a 5-pick fight right? Getting that on our side would be crazy. Not to mention lots more Graces, more powerful Graces, Apocryphal Mitigation, and we finally find out what the deal with Fairbrights is. Except this time, we are the Mesovore!
Rihaku
The Internet
Would be pretty nice to wield the Artful Thorn with Lucenthorne...
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
[X] Sovereignty
[X] Yes
[X] True Vigorflame
Outer darkness is cool... but damn is that a lame name. Also it doesn't give rank which was sort of the entire point of this psychotic adventure. Also the team needs more guys. I don't want this to become a harem quest.
[X] Yes
[X] True Vigorflame
Outer darkness is cool... but damn is that a lame name. Also it doesn't give rank which was sort of the entire point of this psychotic adventure. Also the team needs more guys. I don't want this to become a harem quest.
- Location
- Brazil
Elixir is prety much a pure potential EFB. Gives us little immediate power, but the sheer long-term potential...imagine getting silver later. We also are very close to be able to use it to gain the fairbright legacy. If we then get Lucethorn...
I honestly love this option. My favourite EFB that i have seen in a long while...
However.
[X]Microwave MKII
I think Microwave deserves this EFB to be honest.