A Simple Transaction I

[Birdsie]

Accept
The Path of Reincarnation
Angelic Magic

I'm a simple guy. I see normal life and waifu, I'm going for normal life and waifu.

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The high-school anime path, when compared to Rihaku's Kryptonian build, huh? Good choice, though! Angelic pure waifus are the best.

You guys do have a lot of Arete as well... as to whether Hunger will have a chance to acquire picks from Evening to spend that Arete, it may depend on your strategy, and how much damage you're willing to let enemies cause.

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I'll leave the strategizing to the specialists. I am simply here to open my Arete Quarry and sell large stone bricks at discounted prices.

 

[ReaderOfFate]

Well, we have 21 days in the Realm of Evening before the Armament strikes.

I'm confident that we can at the bare minimum acquire two picks for OaF II, so with the Ribbon we'd have effective OaF III. Power enough to Ruin an Armament into cosmic dust.

(Or at the very least, enough to make it a fair 1v1.)

EDIT: Actually, before I start saying nonsense, how good is OaF III, @Rihaku? You said it was really strong, but is it good enough on its own to make fighting Procyon viable?

 

[Orm Embar]

[ ] Persistent Stasis - The power to maintain and normalize.

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So much for reaching Heaven through violence, it turns out violence has already reached Heaven! It is a shame about Karkatriel and the Realm of Paradise her peers presided over, but no victory was ever won without sacrifice. Hers will be remembered.

[X] Devour
[X] The Path of Reincarnation
[X] Crest Magic
[X] Persistent Stasis

The angle here's obvious, I think. Persistent Stasis comes at an All-Being-damned high price in Grace, but provides a comprehensive defensive suite. Immortality, near-invulnerability, all quite nice. But the important thing is the ability to stop time; Crest Magic is the strongest option in the very long run and outright mentions the possibility of delaying the Final King's arrival to exploit its scaling. Reincarnation's taken to maximize the window of time before his arrival to allow experimentation with Persistent Stasis and Crest growth. If elements exiled from reality are outside the flow of time that could be a promising avenue of development, assuming a naive timestop doesn't cut it.

 

[Lealope]

She laid a hand lightly upon Hunger's head, who shivered at the touch, and made to depart.

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!!!

R'10/29/2020
you can't experience the transcendental pleasures of being headpatted by Haeliel or something
R'10/29/2020
it's so much better than any possible experience that could occur under mortal or ordinary conceptual parameters that there's no comparison

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my god, haeliel headpats

now there's some motivation to try reach High Cursebearer.

 

[LeMat]

Accept
The Path of Resubstantiation
Unexpected Dynamism

Choosing Accept because we can hardly be messianic and enlightened if we perma-kill the last angel. Unexpected Dynamism should make things very interesting since it and Final Entropy counter each other so powerfully. And Angelic Magic seems like a bad call because the angels already lost to this guy. The extra Grace point will be good to have once we get more information and options.

 

[Orm Embar]

"I get it, it's a lot of pressure," Letrizia frowned.

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Hey, according to Aobaru Hunger wasn't even using his!

The magus accompanying them, a young woman with hair in braids of neon pink and green, was only halfway through her warning shout before they were laid all at his feet.

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Perhaps it's just her hair color, but is this the Wandering Magus we were offered as an alternative to the Elixir Sovereignty? She did show up alongside a Republic fireteam and was calling out a warning before her incapacitation, implying divinatory powers. These assholes had to have found Letrizia somehow, although there was that Astral Lord backing Bearic.

"...Besides, even if I fall Miss Gisena will surely find some way to bring me back."

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Looks like the one thing she didn't find a way to do is filter her ridiculous APP. Useful as it is for interrogations, that's got to be inconvenient in terms of inter-party dynamics. But a means of resurrection will become relevant in the near-future anyway, since Archduke Artriez is almost assuredly dead.

 

[Wolfy]

With SitS we should be capable of utterly trouncing Armament. We'd have Combat Rank 11.7 which would then be elevated by 0.4 ISH stages, we'd have stats at around 1.8~2 ISH, which should be enough to match or eclipse Armament Stats, we'd have Armor of Midnight(+0.4ish) to stall Procyon's Ultimate and our own Deathly Star to ulti back.

However, we do need to unlock SitS, which means either purchasing OaF II, FK or somehow getting 0.3 Rank. FK is the easiest here(and we want it anyway as we need to get Hunger Sated proc within the Pillars), but it does require us to spend 12 Arete and two picks.

SitS itself should be simple to proc here, given that we are fighting cowardly assassination of our ward.

Of course, Apo can empower Procyon or otherwise mess with us, so there's that to consider as well.

 

[vali]

To its wearer, no such ambiguity existed. It emitted a bone-deep, soul-deep radiance, something like light and heat but invisible to the mundane perception, an echo of an impression of the Seraph's notice which declared, you can be more. The weight of that impression settled on him like a mantle, and he felt the power of Progression itself stir in response, augmented by its presence, shifting into a higher calibre to reinforce his every word and deed.

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OaF 2 elevates "all the character's Attributes and abilities". Given that the Ruling Ring gives ++Progression it seems Progression itself is a stat that can be buffed by OaF II. That's a pretty staggeringly powerful ability, one that will grow even more powerful if/when we take Ruling Ring.

On another note, taking OaF II means Hunger can't manifest a Shroud (though taking Letrezia's undead EFB would probably let him have one anyways). Rank has some parallels to Cultivation so here is what Titans get.

[ ] The Extrusion [Heterodox] - It is said that the Ego Barrier of a sufficiently Cultivated self transmutes into a gradient of filtration. Having never undergone Titanic Ascension, Nameless knows little of the process, but understands enough to know that a linked Reality - typically the Titan's Inner Realm - is critical to that process. Nameless has no internal Realm, but he is hardly lacking Realms altogether...
...
Emanation - A constantly active aura surrounding the Titan's body. Influences reality around him, typically in a tactically advantageous manner, though the specific effect differs by Dao. The Ego Gradient in its typical state.

Extrusion - Titanic Ascension is the stage of Dominion, whereby the lesser reality without is suppressed by the greater Reality within. A Titanic Extrusion is an expression of that Dominion. It can take the form of a weapon, technique, or even sub-being from within the Titan's Reality. It embodies something about the Titan and their Dao, a physical representation of abstract qualities, and thereby has access to powers beyond the remit of ordinary Cultivators and their Reality Effects. Destruction of an Extrusion can damage the psyche for years.

The Gradient inverted, to expel rather than draw in, negative pressure to maintain a higher being's coherence within the lesser void.

Incarnation - The supreme form of the Titanic arsenal. Turned to the purpose of violence, it is a Dao made the self, and the self made a weapon. The Great Maker becomes the Gunstar, the man becomes the Dawn Caste. "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

The Gradient becomes the Barrier again, drawn around him as armor, to hold and condense the fury of power within.

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And here is the shroud.

Super Juggernaut - The character may manifest an Armament Shroud even if they are not Rank 9+. His Pressure has no influence outside the Shroud. Within the radius of the Shroud, the character's effective Pressure is massively intensified, massively increasing the difficulty of opposition to him and allowing for the manifestation of character-unique effects.

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My guess would be that a shroud is roughly analogous to a Titan's Emanation. Reaching a point where our rank exceeded reality itself, such as rank 10.1, would possibly unlock something new the same way Extrusion became possible once the Titan grew stronger than the world containing them.

So the fact that OaF II prevents a shroud, the same way as All Paths blocked Emanation/Extrusion/Incarnation, is interesting.

Titans must create inner realities because they've outstripped the reality they currently inhabit and it can no longer contain them. All-paths circumvented this requirement because Nameless was able to create an artifact that let him continue gathering power regardless. Perhaps OaF II does something similar, and rising higher on the ISH allows Hunger to exist in a world too weak to normally contain him?

"Naturally I wouldn't let you die," Gisena said breezily. "Though you do seem... mightier in some indescribable way. How dashing! I assume your sponsor has already departed? And they left you with this cute kerchief? Hmm, should I be jealous?"

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I lov Gisena.

"You absorbed Augustine's power, which has been percolating ever since..." Gisena began, tapping a finger on her chin. "She was able to compress days, maybe even weeks, of preparation into a single hour. Had any results digesting it?"

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I was assuming we'd be the only people in the Pillars of Creation but perhaps some others have broken in as well? Or maybe Evening is large enough for everyone to get their own little plot of land without interfering with each other.

with the kerchief expanding his abilities, and the Ring of Blood already operating at a heightened Rank in its chief domain, he could simply use his own blood as a vehicle of essence to infuse the platinum in question, with the Ring manifesting the desired result so long as he could afford to pay the cost.

He would be diminished thereafter, but it was a small loss in comparison to the power Haeliel had granted him; nothing that was unrecoverable with time, and unlikely to make the difference in any serious fight. There was something to be said for discharging his obligations to Adorie swiftly. While he was at it he could grant his companions a sympathetic blood-bond to himself, such that it would be infeasible to physically harm or slay them without overwhelming the regenerative power of his Ring.

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In EFB Elven artifice involved sacrificing your essence, an act that drove elves mad but that humans were relatively tolerant of. Especially Nameless, who was forever earning essence then spending it on cool new artifacts. And now here Hunger contemplates something similar.

I'm a little leery of this plan though, mostly because Hunger has already made a habit of sacrificing himself rather recklessly and I don't want to encourage it.

"Thanks," Aobaru said flatly. "I really feel better about myself now."

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OaF II is cool but I'm still sad that uplifting Aobaru lost.

"Nilfel is the most defensible land we've come across," Hunger stood, eyes scanning the horizon. "If we have to fight, we'll fight. I'm confident I can withstand an Armament, at least defensively, with proper forewarning."

"It's not just their Rank," Letrizia said worriedly. "The effects of that Rank are magnified enormously by their Shroud, and then you have their Curse-specific abilities as well... How could things break down like this? I've been gone less than two months!"

"Their raw strength and speed will be an issue as well," Hunger continued, "If they can move quickly enough to be relevant at interstellar scales, and destroy flotillas by hand. But I have more than a few tricks of my own. You needn't be worried. I've directed my growth in ways to counter Armaments for some time. I should be able to hold my own. In some ways it's exciting."

"If they're coming for someone like me, then that almost certainly means war," Letrizia said. "And not just a border skirmish, or they'd have just left me lost in the Voyaging Realm. Assassinating a Duchess and an Armament Pilot... diplomacy must have broken down completely. And there's no way they'd go against an Armament without deploying one of their own, because who knows how badly Versch was hurt, if at all? Hunger, you don't have to do this."

"Of course I do," he scoffed.

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The line about equaling an Armament defensively is clearly a reference to the Armor of Midnight. But the Armor explicitly states it would fail against the Armament ultimate attacks while inside their shrouds. OaF II should empower the armor but I'm not sure it'll be enough. The rank burn is also pretty brutal. And while Hunger can equal or exceed their speed with the praxis, that ability can only be used a limited number of times.

It's a crazy dangerious fight but Hunger is mostly just excited. I'd complain, but I'm mostly just excited as well. It's taken 200k words and several months but we've forged Hunger into a perfection reflection of the voters and I couldn't be more proud.

...


I think basically everyone, myself included, expected further assassination attempts. But sending an Armament is something else. It seems clear that the original attack on Letrezia, Ber's attack, and now this are all part of the same Republic campaign to eliminate as much as the Empire military as they can before the war goes hot.

My best guess is for Hunger if he fought an Armament right now while wearing the armor is 5% chance of total victory with the Armament as spoils, 50% of a draw where the hostile Armament retreats, and the rest is Hunger loses.

Total victory would likely be Hunger uses the Death Star's raw power and pin-point precision to disable or injure the enemy Armament enough to drive it off.

Most likely cause of a draw is that the enemy Armament retreats when faced with a peer-level opponent. Armaments are so critical to the military, so essential, that I suspect the pilot would be under orders to fall back and not engage if possible.

Most likely cause of defeat is the enemy Armament survives the death star and turns the fight into one of attrition. All of Hunger's best abilities are limited, and once he's burned through them he's in big trouble. Against peer-level opponents he's a glass cannon.

I'd rather not burn rank and I'd REALLY rather not die, so let's hope Hunger finds some good power-ups in the Pillars of Creation.

Alternatively, maybe the pillars will be able to heal Versch fully and we'll finally, FINALLY, get ourselves a proper mech fight.

730 words

 

[Wolfy]

We know that OaF II overrides SUJC in Shroud matters.

In theory we could get some other advancement later on that specifically lets us get Shroud, but that's another thing entirely.

 

[Unelemental]

Too bad about Catherine, but I'm soothed by the idea of finally getting an Armament fight. Without getting stomped instantly, that is. We'll probably need a few more power-ups and a whole lot of preparation to avoid that dire fate, but the rewards will surely be worth it. Plus the sheer WTF levels the Republic authorities are going to reach when they hear that a swordsman beat their Armament. Why pilot a giant robot when you can just Cut Through one?

 

[vali]

In the past Rihaku has said that the quest is always winnable without needing all the extra arete/efb/xp, so if that's the case here then an arete-less Hunger could have gone straight to the Human Sphere without being trivially slaughtered with no hope of survival by an Armament. I guess that if it wasn't for the Apocryphal then Hunger and company wouldn't have needed to fight anything more powerful than Ber and some armor prototypes.

Also it's been a while since a suicidally powerful foe came to us rather than the other way around. Not since Ber, really. For all of our other foes we could have just walked away.

 

[Wolfy]

Alright, let's consider our foe.

Procyon, The Plenary Armament

Curse: The Plenary Brand. Allows us to gleam his power level and capabilities in the fight. Stops attempts at stealth.
Rank: 10, get amplified within the Shroud. Let's assume it's 11 within the Shroud.
Stats: Hyper advanced robotics and weapons that allow for massive speed, damage output and durability. Likely Titan+. Stats are furtherer amplified by Rank. Let's assume we are talking about 1.9 ISH for combat stats. Additionally, Armaments are quite big.
Abilities: Every Armament has special abilities tied to their Curse. With Procyon, we can reasonably expect number of mental attacks, similar to what Haeliel was doing unintentionally. It's also possible that Procyon can amp himself in some way using his powers. His powers are likely very AoE in nature, so it would be nice if we fought him way from Lands of Myth.
Ultimate: As per above.

Additionally, it's entirely possible that Procyon will be deployed with backup and such. Other than general implications of having backups(either to buff Procyon or to hinder Hunger, or take hostages), it's important to note that Procyon can likely use Plenary Brand to taunt Hunger into only attacking Procyon and ignoring his backup.

Finally, as mentioned before, it's likely that Apocryphal Curse will empower Procyon in relevant ways.

Did I miss anything?

 

[Prospalz]

It literally uses Rank as its HP, so any - respectable - damage dealt reduces its offensive capabilities. Unlike, say, Sten it is not going to perform at 100% until it is dead.

If there is an opportunity to, say, start the fight with Death Star'ing it, that would be wonderful. Regrettably, we do not have the pre-req upgrade for that tactic.

 

[Unelemental]

Having us and our allies bombarded by Plenary's mental effects (and whatever Curse-derived abilities the Armament has) is going to be pretty bad, but on the plus side, it will have a hard time fighting alongside its own allies, depending on how far the Brand has Progressed and how it has been Mitigated.

It says in the description of the Curse that 'even ostensible allies will likely foment contingency plans', so maybe we should interrogate the Kill-Team for that or perform some divinations to discover those plans. I doubt it's anything that can directly harm Procyon, but even some psychological weaknesses of its pilot would be nice to know.

Since Procyon is going to be far more noticeable than Hunger&co, maybe we could lure them somewhere where they would attract the attention of some baddie, like some monster from deep within the Voyaging Realm (Arcanist?) or the Astral Realm? Kind of risks them teaming up against us with Apocrypha in play, of course, so maybe something to do in the worst-case scenario.

I wonder if we can use Nightmare Flight on hostile entities. Maybe we could determine the terrain by forcefully teleporting the Armament somewhere else, like the aforementioned deep areas of the Voyaging Realm. We would naturally need to divine those first, but that shouldn't be impossible with the might of Nilfel's magics behind us. Too bad we can't teleport right back, or it would have been easy to put this confrontation off semi-indefinitely.

 

[Strange9]

If its general capability is tied to its HP, then a strategy of blitzing it (with a combination of Death Star + Thorn spam [which is guaranteed to cause significant damage]) would seem to be very effective.

 

[Wolfy]

Hmm, I haven't consider Shard, but Apo having Procyon wake it up is an actual possibility.

Still, whatever the case might be, I think that getting SitS is likely the most efficient solution? We'd likely have to ignore RR for now, which sucks, but getting FK into SitS into Hunger Sated should be doable within this Pillars proc.

If not, we can just get OaF II. We do have it unlocked, and OaF III should be suitably impressive, surely.

 

[BrainInAJar]

I guess our plan to solo the Human Sphere is starting earlier than planned!

It literally uses Rank as its HP, so any - respectable - damage dealt reduces its offensive capabilities. Unlike, say, Sten it is not going to perform at 100% until it is dead.

If there is an opportunity to, say, start the fight with Death Star'ing it, that would be wonderful. Regrettably, we do not have the pre-req upgrade for that tactic.

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Well, thanks to the Outer Shadow and the Ring we are going to fight 100% till we die. Man, we haven't seen the Outer Shadow in a while, I forgot we even had it! Poor Outer Shadow. Maybe it's nullification effect will work on Rank? This Pillars trip would be a good opportunity to pick up Outer Sky and not leave it behind...

 

[Unelemental]

Kind of wary of excessive mental contamination from OaF II, but yes, it's something to consider. Maybe OaFIII would focus on stats? We're still a bit lacking in that department. Or SJUC for another immediate power boost. Too bad we don't get the Shroud anymore, but it has some very nice bonuses even without that.

Rihaku seems to hint that we're going to get attacked before the Evening proc, so we'll either have to escape and let Nilfel serve as an ablative for Procyon's fury or find ways to delay them until the proc. We can afford to take some heavy damage, since the Realm of Evening will heal it all, so maybe we could fight it defensively and take on the damage.

 

[Zampano]

You guys do have a lot of Arete as well... as to whether Hunger will have a chance to acquire picks from Evening to spend that Arete, it may depend on your strategy, and how much damage you're willing to let enemies cause.

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This is a very generous GM Hint. If we are willing to let Nilfel tank some damage for us, it might be possible to abscond into the Realm of Evening before fighting the Armament for the first time. But that will involve a day's worth of damage caused by cutting edge prototype suits and a fully maintained Armament.

If that's the tradeoff, it doesn't feel as punishing as an Apo proc is meant to be. I think there's gonna be a twist: Apo intervenes right when we are about to go into the RoE and we're forced to choose one or more party members that aren't close enough to come with us. Maybe Aeira and Aobaru react just a little too slow and we spend 3 weeks in a time-stop knowing that they are frozen in the first instant of a major battle. In this scenario Adorie gets left behind but Gisena gets full research potential. Letrizia probably comes with us. The alternative vote has Hunger lunge for Adorie + Aobaru and leave Gisena behind. This nerfs the Pillars time chamber effect, but allows the noncombatants 3 weeks to scale enough to survive the fight. Gisena is strong enough and Letrizia is inside Versch.

This idea about acceptable tradeoffs is something we're already being primed to think about. Letrizia says we can't heroically sacrifice ourselves for her. Cool. But I'd probably be okay heroically sacrificing the new liver or eyeball or lung that we just regenerated. I'd be okay letting the walls of myth be assaulted by the fully functional Armament, but there's probably a limit to the amount of damage that would be tolerable.

Also: We have all jumped immediately to 1v1 combat tactics, but there are lots of alternative approaches that are worth considering:

• We could hand over Letrizia and Versch.
• We could use CHA to Imperius the enemy pilot when they're outside the robot.
• We could pay them to go away.
• We could abduct the enemy commander and bring them to the Realm of Evening.
• We could convince Letrizia to turn traitor and sign on with the Republic.
  • We could compel Letrizia to stay in the Voyaging Realm in exchange for the Republic leaving her alone
• We could weaponize the enemy magus as a carrier for a fast acting bioweapon.
• We could run,
  • making a big show of leading the enemy away from Nilfel
  • while sending a message to the Empire via Sovereignty + Voyaging City.
• We could pretend to run using one of our Astral summons.
  • (There are lots of things we could do with the Astral summons)
• We could negotiate with the Arcanist Shard for an assist.
  • We could bait the Republic into range of the Arcanist.

Anyway, Armament hype!

 

[Prospalz]

TBH, depending on how exactly Evening works, boosted RR picks from the Evening might be a viable path to achieving Enough Power to fight off the armament.

Just ramming the OaF/SiTS button is probably more power in the short term, though.

 

[Garlak]

@Rihaku is it possible to use the Silver of Evening's "Once per sidereal week, perfectly defeat any one hostile effect to which the wearer would otherwise be subject. Applied against a Curse, grants two stages of mitigation for one day and one night. May apply even to the Doom of the Tyrant." effect against this oncoming super-powered Apocryphal Proc? For the 2-stage mitigation? Or... huh, actually, how would it work. It works for one day and one night, so if we applied it to this Apocryphal Proc, how does that work? Does it not work at all, because the Apocryphal already proc'd? (If so, could we have declared usage against it, as it happened?)


Also also, at some point, the Media threadmarks need to be increased and/or updated; @runeblue360 had to use another post for Hunger's Character Sheet, because his first post ran out of space. (Though, that one was last updated September 28... Then again, we hadn't gotten too many more advancements or anything since then. But.) Or at least, you could probably edit your old character sheet post with a link to the new character sheet.

Though, it's a bit uncertain where exactly we are... For example, exactly how much Rank do we have? Did we gain any from Augustine and Nilfel adventures? When we had that one update where we had 3 picks, and picked a 2-pick thing and were told that the 3rd pick would be automatically assigned by Hunger to be efficient and all, what was the 3rd pick used on? Just an Echo of the Forebear? Something else? It was never said, but... what was it? What was the outcome of the "Be The Change" option for the Elixir Kingdom? Did it turn out well, bad, meh, very well, very bad? How are the Temple and the Elixir Kingdom doing, since we've last seen them? And since Adorie was being installed as Regent?

How to Make $$$

1: Find a pure source of myth. Adorie's blood is possible. Alternatively, we could produce pure Myth from Edeldross. This would require refining Edeldross at least once in order to become Elixirdross, and possibly a second time if Elixirdross's "heroic legend" is separate from "myth". Or maybe they have a pure enough sample for our purposes sitting in a vault somewhere.

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(Versch might be a source of myth. Or the Oriflamme we just got. Though it might need us to get an Advancement for it, or Elixir-dross or whatever...) (Or maybe the Tears of Winter, with domains of grandeur and beauty and truth and purity... Actually, they might be more relevant due to being relics of the Realm of Myth and Adorie's family treasures, thinking about it. They are an object of myth. Especially when empowered by Hunger's Accretion. Maybe Hunger could get an Advancement in the Tears of Winter/Trueheart Phial that will help make this possible?)

But! My main question and thought here was, and which I started writing this whole post in the first place for (before getting pretty distracted by many things)...

Well, thinking about it, Adorie is the only party-member who currently doesn't have a Surgecrafting element, doesn't she? And in the Realm of Evening, she could probably get it, couldn't she?

I think it was said somewhere -- or maybe it was just speculated, but it seems reasonable to me -- that, since we spent time at the Elixir Sovereignity's springs, that when we got the Realm of Evening, we could probably produce a copy of the Elixir springs in that Realm. Meaning, if we take Adorie with us to the realm, we could actually get her a Surgecrafting Element. And it, potentially, could be a really good one.

(For a more amusing idea: take Versch into the Realm of Evening, and park him in an Elixir-spot, since we could afford to do that unlike back at the Kaguya. Won't get him an Element, but will work to heal him. Or you just feed Versch healing items outright, if you want to be serious instead of funny about it. Bah.)

Thinking about it, I wonder if we could recreate the Opalescent Tower and the Walls of Myth -- and maybe even the Tower of Earth? -- in the Realm of Evening? So that, if it's relevant, it would boost Adorie while she's in there. Assuming that the Tower and/or Walls interact with Adorie's power, and the Tears of Winter Trueheart Phial, then... It might mean that Adorie's bloodline power is really boosted while in the Realm of Evening. Especially given the Ring of Blood.

... Huh, I guess that would mean that Hunger could practice the Praxis to an even greater degree, because he'd have access to immediate healing, and a boosted Adorie too. Huh. Now that I think about it, I guess you could do Praxis-training in the Realm of Evening, especially with Adorie along. Well'p.

Using the Realm of Evening to add bloodlines to ourselves -- by getting sources of bloodlines in the Realm, and then using our Ring of Blood, and making it permanent or copying it or whatever -- could be cool, too.

But mostly, I just really want to know what Adorie's Surgecrafting Element would be! It could wind up being something really handy. Either in general, for the oncoming crisis in specific, for rulership, for buffing, for currency, or something, I don't know.

I'm betting that it might be a bit more powerful on her homeground, too. i.e. If she remains in the Realm of Myth, it'll be boosted a bit. Or at least, prevented from existential diminishment which could work out to a boost. (Since, if going from "Elixir Source ---> Person bathed in it" is a diminishment in potential and power of the whatever-Elixir-is, then, that would mean that Adorie would, uniquely, be really good at making sure that there was no hypothetical drop-off in power unlike there would have been for every other Surgecrafter.) (Or alternatively... What if Adorie's bloodline power -- "resist existential diminishment" -- interacts in some way with our usage of the Realm of Evening? Allowing her to keep a little bit of the boosts of the Realm of Evening, even once leaving it? That'd be a neat minor benefit, if it happened.)


On another note...

IV. The Tears of Winter

The Crown Jewels of Nilfel are myth crystallized and spun into sharpness and light; they are pinnacle treasures beyond mere power or worth, transcendent droplets of pure creation rained down from the empyreal. Yet what is the value of a treasure, no matter how priceless, for a House that has lost the wherewithal to wield it, and the position to display it forth? Thus they are given to you, to rest in a Princess' crown, or a Duchess' necklace of jewels.

You may give the Tears of Winter to any titled noble with the power to wield them; channeling your own Accreted Pressure through the jewels to empower yourself and their bearer. Valid targets are Princess Regent Gisena I, Duchess Letrizia Artriez or Princess Adorie IX.

The Tears grant ++INT, ++APP, +AGI and +0.3 Rank to both bearer and beneficiary. Their dominion includes: ice, cold, rulership, intellect, calculation, beauty, finesse, quickness, overwhelming power, the season of Winter, grandeur, truth, and purity. In addition, they grant unique bonuses depending on the character they are granted to:

Adorie Mirellyian - Trueheart Phial. Doubles the Attribute and Rank bonuses provided by the Tears of Winter. Guarantees Adorie as a companion if desired (starts with +++++Adorie). Adorie's bloodline allows her to absorb and resist existential diminishment; empowered by the active Tears of Winter, she reduces your Praxis Exertion to 1/4th its previous level.

I want to see what kind of Advancements the Tears of Winter can get us! (And the Oriflamme too, since we just got it.)

I really want to see what a 25-Arete Advancement for the Tears and the Seraph's Favor would be like, in fact. Hell, it involved a lesser wish and 50 Arete as an opportunity cost to pick it up... it's got to have some cool advancements possible! I also wonder how it'd do if we had the Lucenthorne and Elixir-boosted Edeldross, too.

(I'd really like to get some hints of it in Blurbs, in fact. Oriflamme and Tears of Winter Advancements and EFBs. I'll bet if they showed up as teaser Blurbs, and fully in Patreon, a lot of people would be tempted. On the other hand, them being in Patreon would mean us not getting it in-thread, so... =/ )

It would also be interesting to see what the Trueheart Phial -- with dominions of intellect, calculation, finesse, and truth -- might achieve when cooperating with the Ring of Truth. Wonder if Gisena and Adorie working together could accomplish something neat? ... I guess that would be one of those Conjunctional: Teammates options/advancements, thinking about it. This time being Conjunctional: Adorie and Gisena.

Hmm, truth and purity might resonate with the Oriflamme too... And "overwhelming power" too, technically. I wonder there might be some Conjunctional Advancements of the Tears of Winter and the Seraph's Favor? Eh, thoughts for another day.

 

[Lealope]

[Angel] Rihaku

yeah, sure, i'm down to be a boddhisattva.

Anyway, let's consider the abilities of an Armament and what we can do to match or counteract them.

Physical Attributes

A significant problem. If Armaments have Rank commensurate to their stats, they're likely at the level of a Stage 15 Cultivator in this regard i.e. transfinite across the board, likely corresponding to ISH 2.0. A while back, word of Rihaku pegged us at ISH 1.6 at our baseline. With Once and Future II, that should be elevated to 1.8 and with Aobaru providing us his Vigorflame buff, we should be at 1.9, if not higher. We've got a few options to make up the rest of this gap.

One would be by purchasing Sword in the Stone and allowing the Hour of Reckoning to proc. This would outright elevate us above the Armament, both in our stats and our Rank while also providing significant benefits to areas other than fighting, which makes it quite attractive. Its also quite risky though, since it cedes the initiative to the pilot (unless Hunger considers him to have already committed an unforgivable offense), which is both tactically risky and likely to cause significant collateral damage.

Other unconfirmed but likely to be possible solutions include, in descending order of probability: Once and Future III; giving Aobaru extreme training during Pillars time for more buffs; a buffing Grace from Gisena; some kind of treasure from the Realm of Myth; looking up the Shard of the Arcanist; somehow rushing the 6th Sign and really, really hope the Evening variant can help us out.

The Shroud

A nonzero problem but probably not something we can address easily. We've already gotten a significant level of Combat Rank and with our ability to quarter any bonuses they receive. I suppose we could also buy some kind of specific anti-Shroud technique through the Praxis or something. Otherwise, I think we might just be kinda fucked on this account.

Shroud Effects

While Armour of Midnight should get us through the normal attacks, we've got to be wary of the Ultimate techniques they've got available, as well as their various non-ultimate utility/mobility powers. Shatter the Pane would be ideal here since that would dovetail very well with the way Armour of Midnight weakens powers. Perhaps the combination would take us over the edge and allow us to block them with our other defenses. Hopefully, that would open up a window of vulnerability that would let us counterattack.

Skills

Another potentially significant issue is the combat skills Armaments have, as indicated by Hungry Vim. Our easiest solution to this would be Honing, which would do a lot to narrow the discrepency, though in somewhat different ways. Another alternative would be to look through the FDS tree for an anti-prowess tech, which seems like a plausible thing to exist. Alternatively, some kind of Praxis based skill elevation in sword based combat, which might also be elevated with a +1 ISH due to Cut Through.

 

[Sharkey_smt]

This is a very generous GM Hint. If we are willing to let Nilfel tank some damage for us, it might be possible to abscond into the Realm of Evening before fighting the Armament for the first time. But that will involve a day's worth of damage caused by cutting edge prototype suits and a fully maintained Armament.

Click to shrink...

When the other option is death I prefer to let Nilfel tank a few shots, we literally destroyed part of it already. And when inside Realm of Evening - RoB Praxis could solve our issue with stats and of course the forbidden pick - Opalescence.
SJUC is a possibility if we can unlock it - getting 1.3 Rank would be nice. Do we have any idea about what OaF 3 does?

 

[Garlak]

Oh, I guess for another possibility for ways to solve the currency issue, weee... could take a giant chunk of platinum (and gold, and silver*, and gems and etc) with us into the Realm of Evening, and then see if there is a method to turn platinum into mythic platinum there. Some process of infusing myth into metal. We only need that process. Then, the actual physical platinum we brought with us, would already be transformed, and thus able to be carried out.

Some other thoughts. Maybe the actual, physical, Evening Sky artifact might be relevant somehow. That is... The cloak has this property where, it deteriorates as it provides its defense, right? So, in a sense, you could say that there's a cost that it pays in order to achieve an effect. And it recharges over time. So maybe... Maybe taking physical pieces of the cloak from the cloak, could be turned into magical energy or magical material or something? And that could be used in enchanting platinum, somehow?

... Actually, there's a much simpler and less tenuous connection than that.

The cloak was fed with tons of mythic platinum. (And this actually worked to power it up. To advance research into the Empyrean Signs.)

The cloak takes damage and deteriorates, as ablative armor, for Hunger.

The cloak regenerates over time.

Why the hell shouldn't we be able to do that backwards? To turn the essentia of the Evening Sky, back into Platinum? Or into myth-infusing thingummy, which we stuff back into some platinum.

And then, we simply use the cloak's natural ability to regenerate over time, to eventually grow back. And thus be able to use it as a source of mythic platinum.


*Sidenote: I really want to see what Magical Gold and Magical Silver might do, together. (Mage the Ascension's Primium was made of 'alchemically purified gold and silver.' So... a Magical Electrum, maybe? Also, another reason I was thinking of this, is... A MtA quest also 'explained' that the reason that gold and silver would combine to make the awesome metal of Primium, instead of being weak because gold and silver weren't exactly super-tough metals individually, is due to an ancient thing. Namely, the Solar and Lunar Exalted. That gold and silver coming together produced Primium due to... well, that. So, that was that quest's and author's way or referencing and drawing on the oWoD-Exalted connection. And, that sort of inspiration, and association, is what I'm drawing on...) Could we get mythic platinum that way? Also also: I really want to see Gisena given some silver, and told to take a crack at it with her ring's Artifice facet. I feel like there's potential there.

Heck... Given that the Evening Sky holds a "Silver of Evening", then maybe... If the cloak can't spit out platinum directly, maybe the cloak can enchant or produce Magical Silver? And then, that Magical Silver can be given to Gisena, and she can turn it into something useful?

And... hrm, yes. Maybe something with Aobaru and Gold. Probably get him to smelt some gold. And then, you bring the Magical Silver and Magical Gold together, and get Magical Electrum or something. Probably was mentioned before.

Certainly, the usage of Vigorflame to smelt metals was brought up, when thinking of ways to solve this, of course. I just don't recall if Gold specifically was brought up, in those brainstorming sessions. So, here is me associating Aobaru and Gold, and Gisena and Silver. And going on to wonder whether by getting two magical metals of those, we could then get Magical Electrum. And then either that could replace Mythic Platinum, or be transmuted into Mythic Platinum. Perhaps the transmutation would/could be done by the cloak of the Evening Sky, again. Since it was what devoured Platinum in such amounts. (Or perhaps the Trueheart Phial and Adorie's powers would kick in here.)

 

[Lealope]

Haeliel's favor appeared to the eye, and all mystical senses, merely to be a handkerchief of exceptional materials and design - yet held an ineffable presence that all but declared it was something greater.

Defying every conceivable method of supernatural accounting, and yet somehow supernatural nonetheless. That was one way of impressing the object's importance onto even formidable observers, while to the common folk it might seem a relic like any other, perhaps even debatably so.

Click to shrink...

Huh, that's pretty interesting as far as methods of making patronage clear go. You don't necessarily need to know of Haeliel to be made wary out by something that is obviously supernatural but is nonetheless seemingly mundane. I can also see how this would be certain to ward off the more potent Apocryphal procs: the more you master your reality, the more scary something that exists unquestionably beyond it would be. Meanwhile, scrubs would just assume they need to get good to pierce whatever protections it uses.