Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
In case this is the end I just want all of you randos to know that I don't possess any strong feelings about any of you one way or the other.
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
On The Sword
Rihaku
The Internet
On The Sword
Their interrogation of the Republic kill-team had been fruitful, his and Gisena's combined charisma sufficient to crack the operatives with a minimum of conversation. Nonetheless, the picture they painted was not pretty. These seasoned Voyaging Realm infiltrators were merely the advance wing of an Armament-lead strike force deployed to kill Letrizia.
With the full Rank of an undamaged Armament behind them, navigation of the Voyaging Realm was relatively swift and easy, and they further had access to specialized diviners capable of tracking Letrizia's position, albeit with a few hours' delay. It had likely only taken them a few days to traverse the length of the Realm, despite Nilfel's position at the furthermost reaches from Voyaging City.
"We can run or fight," Hunger surmised. "The night of the new moon is tomorrow. If we delay until then, the cloak will finish absorbing Augustine's power and our chances will be enormously improved. But that would leave the people of Nilfel to suffer the Republic's depredations in the interim."
"I know the Republic's pretty bad," Aobaru said. "We've all heard the stories, and the way their kill-teams act goes to show it's not all hyperbole. They're willing to do just about anything to bring more mages under their control, even if they can only use most of 'em in the Voyaging Realm. But if we immediately teleport away and Adorie rolls over, letting them investigate all they want, would they really just start snatching Nilfellian magi left and right? Letrizia's got to be a higher priority, right?"
"You don't get it," Letrizia declared, shaking her head. "You've only seen the holovids and Versch's crippled form, so you don't really understand how fast an Armament should be. A fully-powered Armament is more than quick enough to capture or kill millions of mages while also going door-to-door to search for me. The laws of physics are nothing more than a suggestion to it! Even one hour could cause untold damage to Nilfel, let alone the 'several' it'll take for them to confirm my location has changed."
Letrizia exhaled, eyes shining. "I've seen the after-action reports from past wars. The Republic are total scum who will massacre entire colonies at the drop of a hat. If Nilfel opens the gates, there's no way they won't take full advantage. They don't see Voyaging Realm societies as anything but lucre to be exploited!"
"Hmph." Hunger grunted. Letrizia was biased, but he couldn't afford to disregard her entirely. It was unlikely, almost farcical, that the Republic would be so unreasonable... yet this deep into the Realm, were they actually to commit such atrocities, there was no power in reach able to bear witness, much less hold them to account.
No one save himself.
Hunger looked briefly at the Favor on his arm, then shook his head. "If they're truly so quick in-atmosphere and so potent, why haven't any of your polities used Armaments to exploit the Voyaging Realm before?"
"The organization I worked for was making inroads to that goal," Letrizia said softly, hugging her knee. "Armaments are critical to the functioning of the Human Sphere. Pilots don't just intercept Astral Beast incursions, we also stabilize the Astral Realm so that inter-planetary commerce can occur. Previous efforts to engage in Voyaging exploration have seen the Armaments continuously ambushed by Sovereign-class Beasts until they were no longer combat-viable - basically the same thing that happened to Verschlengorge. It was considered too great a risk for uncertain gains, especially with the Realm's protections against magus extraction. The fact that it didn't affect this Republic Armament..."
"So the Republic has somehow allied with the Astral entities." Hunger said. "Concerning, but a problem for a later date. Let's say that retreat would be unacceptable. Where would we make a stand? Tactically there seems to be only one viable location."
"The Walls of Myth." Gisena whispered dramatically. "A fitting place for a final stand. But can we really call retreat unacceptable? The future is always uncertain, but your power of Progression has no limits. Even if they raze all of Nilfel to the ground, you could eventually bring them back. A full-strength Armament is beyond you right now, but not if you wait just two days longer..."
"I can't countenance reasoning like that," Hunger shook his head. "Once we set that precedent, anything can be justified. The temptation would be too great."
"The stakes are too great not to take the most reasonable path, even if it hurts," Gisena said softly. "Please, hun. If not for yourself, then for your ultimate goal. If you want to make it to your true enemies, this could well be the smallest such sacrifice!"
"I'll make it to them," he said, red of his Ring blazing forth like a sun. "And I'll stand, here. Here, and tomorrow, and however many battles henceforth, no matter the odds, no matter the forces arrayed against me, until they are ripped from their thrones and put to the sword. That is what I am and I can be nothing less."
He paused. "...If I should fall today, it means only that I was unfit for that purpose."
"For no lesser being can ascend to those heights, hm?" Gisena smiled sadly. "Alright hun, you win. Such a tyrannically fearless leader we have. But if you weren't both one and the other, I suppose you wouldn't be yourself!"
"What about you?" He scoffed. "None of you are obligated to this path. Following your 'intuitive feeling' even to your doom?"
"Whatever doom attempts to befall us, I'm sure my fearless leader will protect me," Gisena said lightly, coming around to take his arm. "Isn't that what you just said? You'll win. No matter the odds."
---
The Walls of Myth were tinged with frost, bleakly reflecting the endless azure of the sky opposite; vast and serene and unyielding, like still waters presaging entrance to a world wholly mirrored.
But they were not unbroken, though the gates were shut and the ramparts bristling. A single hairline crack had spread along that shining redoubt, product of Procyon's unceasing assault. The Plenary Armament laid into that barrier with steely regularity, brute catastrophic blur whose echoes of impact rumbled across the breadth of the Mythic Realm, hurling now-molten earth in sky-filling waves from the incidental shock of its blows. Behind, a battalion of Republic support vehicles and Armor Prototypes sheltered, their specialized shields barely sufficient to withstand the lashing magma.
This was Procyon, one of two Armaments forged by humanity on Old Terra, long eons after the disappearance of the Foremost. Though its makers lacked the prowess of their Builder counterparts, the emergence of an Elder Implement could not be constrained by mere technology. Once fitted with its Core and imbued with its Curse, even the steel and simple hydraulics comprising Procyon's body could stand toe-to-toe against Armament-flesh.
Armaments would arise in their own time and for their own purpose, and neither physical reality nor astral could deny that immanence. Had Dr. Amarlt forged Procyon, or had Procyon, working through the good Dr, caused itself to be forged? The professor's imperfect explanations afterwards only heightened such ambiguity; for every nine volumes of incoherent nonsense there was one shining gem of applicable truth, humanity's bridgehead into the Astral Age.
Hunger stood atop the gatehouse and looked upon Procyon. The Cloak of Sky rippled and danced in the wind of its faraway thundering, opalescent surface dappled now with the blood-red light of dawn. He tightened his grip on the Forebear's Blade and turned to address the soldiers behind him.
"You all know the plan. Stay back and focus on support. I'll attack first, try to draw it away from the Walls. Only when I've weakened it should any of you emerge. Aobaru, Aeira: after you've dropped your enhancements, fall back to the center of Nilfel, this is not your fight. Letrizia, Gisena - pick your shots carefully, we've only got one chance. Adorie, stay close as possible without endangering yourself."
Disguised as a common garrison-soldier, the Queen of Nilfel nodded in affirmative. The power of her bloodline would reduce the exertion of the Praxis, so it would be advantageous for Hunger to corral the battle into her rough vicinity. Protected by the Walls, she was reasonably sheltered from collateral damage, but the risks were still potentially enormous. A stray shockwave could slay the Last Mirellyian, though the similarly-disguised royal guards around her would do their utmost to absorb the brunt. It was an awkward arrangement, but they needed every single advantage at this point.
They had mobilized quickly, knowing that their moment of greatest opportunity existed only while the Walls still held. Procyon had yet to deploy its Shroud, and it was hoped - perhaps vainly - that an ambush from Hunger using the full arsenal of his Praxis could weaken it enough for all of them combined to have a fighting chance.
Hunger raised the Forebear's Blade and channeled the Fifth Sign of the Empyrean. The Cloak of Sky fluttered once as it adopted Evening's colors once more, flowing and hardening into articulated plate around him: shining with voids and nebulae beyond number; an entire universe's light.
He shuddered once as the spell's monumental cost passed from him, diminishing him permanently - but only by a hair with Adorie adjacent. The former Princess smiled brightly, lips wavering only slightly, as she gave him a thumbs-up. The fate of her nation rested on them once more.
He smiled grimly. "Cheer up, warriors of Nilfel. You've already won. Death may come today, or it may not, but glory lives on forever."
A roar answered him, and din of stamping spears, shield crashing against sword and exhortations to valor. He saluted them once, and then there was no further time for words.
Lord Hunger shot out from the Walls, sheer blur of speed trailing a crimson oriflamme: blade cleaving space, time and fundament all, reaching for the blue of the Praxis.
---
Maybe Haeliel was a bad influence on you guys...
Time to fight for your life, and more importantly, for your purpose. What is Hunger's opening gambit?
[ ] His Shroud Was Down - It's too much to hope that Procyon will fail to block in time, but Letrizia says that raising an Armament's Shroud is no trivial process, and exhausting to maintain over the long hours of a battle. That Procyon's has not yet deployed its Shroud despite encountering meaningful resistance from the Walls would seem to correlate this data. Therefore his best chance is an all-out assault from the beginning, hoping to weaken the Plenary Armament enough that the subsequent battle will not be a one-sided rout. Use Nightmare Flight and the Refinement of Quickness to deliver an Artful Thorn while simultaneously unleashing the Deathly Star upon this Armament, and throw every iota of your Pressure into the Crimson Ring to dampen its blood and its essence.
The latter is less effective than it would be against the likes of Versch, who is flesh and blood beneath its technological carapace. Procyon being a simpler construct, and barely biological (except perhaps for its core?) is unlikely to be heavily effected, but perhaps Rank such as Hunger's might suffice to affect the pilot in Totality... ?
*Hunger can see Procyon, so he knows this has a pretty good chance of working, though how much it'll actually diminish the Plenary is unknown.
*He doesn't need to kill it, he just needs to weaken it enough that it can't kill Hunger through his Ring-based regeneration, Outer Shadow wound resistance and Armor of Midnight before its Shroud is exhausted. It's a long shot, but a better strategy than most.
*If this first strike fails to do meaningful damage Hunger will have committed almost all of his trump cards for little gain. Victory would be exceedingly unlikely thereafter.
[ ] Seize the Day - The Republic wants Letrizia, but are is Procyon's pilot willing to sacrifice his entire accompaniment to secure her? Procyon itself may be beyond Hunger's power, but if Hunger can use the Refinement of Quickness to bypass its presence and strike at its allies, he can easily take the pilot's commanding officer and entire retinue hostage with the Ring of Blood. All he has to do is feed them some story about how he's the Champion of Nilfel and they're entirely willing to surrender Letrizia and Verschlengorge, so long as the Republic is willing to wait three days for them to finish studying the two and bring them over. Perhaps with Procyon's overwhelming might they would not normally be inclined to negotiate, but would the Armament's Pilot really sacrifice everyone around him and fight a non-negligible threat just to save a few days?
*Of course, if they bring out magi capable of certifying oaths or the like, Hunger will have to word his promises carefully as he has no intention of actually surrendering Letrizia, and such legalistic phrasing would provoke enormous suspicion in his counterparties.
*In the unlikely, but possible, event that it does work, you can avoid fighting until after Hunger takes a dip in the Realm of Evening, massively improving his chances - though it'll be difficult to bring any allies along since he has to keep the Republic commanders at swordpoint outside the Walls.
*At least the mages have to be somewhat valuable, right!?
*Even if it doesn't work, there's always the chance that Procyon's pilot will hesitate to inflict massive collateral damage on his own troops, potentially giving Hunger a brief edge.
[ ] Follow Through - You talk a big game, but when it comes down to the wire, can you truly follow through? As per His Shroud Was Down, but also use The Shattering Blow. Not even the lineage of the Forebear in his place of power could withstand that uttermost strike, and that was from a Hunger vastly lesser than today's. If even this supreme assault cannot bring forth a conclusion, then he never had any chance at all. +Recklessness, +++Willpower, +3 Haeliel Points, +1 Haeliel Favor.
*The highest chances of crippling the Armament to the point where it would be unable to penetrate the Walls of Myth.
*Obliterates the large majority of Hunger's memories, experiences, spiritual essence (including Rank) and personality. He would still retain the Armor of Midnight for its duration, however.
*Damage done can be ablated through Arete expenditure, though this is extremely inefficient. Each Arete spent will preserve 1% of Hunger's current memories and Advancements, prioritizing those most important to him. You currently have about 41 Arete. A maximum of 75% of Hunger's identity can be preserved.
*Shatters the Forebear's Blade again. Unlocks Refinement of Purpose.
*Identity may persist, or it may not, but heroism lives forever.
Tactics, omakes etc for the parts of the fight to follow can also be relevant!
---
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If you'd like to discuss the quest in real-time or just chat with the questers, you're welcome to join us on the AST Discord! We encourage substantive posts to be made in the thread, and shitposting within Discord.
Their interrogation of the Republic kill-team had been fruitful, his and Gisena's combined charisma sufficient to crack the operatives with a minimum of conversation. Nonetheless, the picture they painted was not pretty. These seasoned Voyaging Realm infiltrators were merely the advance wing of an Armament-lead strike force deployed to kill Letrizia.
With the full Rank of an undamaged Armament behind them, navigation of the Voyaging Realm was relatively swift and easy, and they further had access to specialized diviners capable of tracking Letrizia's position, albeit with a few hours' delay. It had likely only taken them a few days to traverse the length of the Realm, despite Nilfel's position at the furthermost reaches from Voyaging City.
"We can run or fight," Hunger surmised. "The night of the new moon is tomorrow. If we delay until then, the cloak will finish absorbing Augustine's power and our chances will be enormously improved. But that would leave the people of Nilfel to suffer the Republic's depredations in the interim."
"I know the Republic's pretty bad," Aobaru said. "We've all heard the stories, and the way their kill-teams act goes to show it's not all hyperbole. They're willing to do just about anything to bring more mages under their control, even if they can only use most of 'em in the Voyaging Realm. But if we immediately teleport away and Adorie rolls over, letting them investigate all they want, would they really just start snatching Nilfellian magi left and right? Letrizia's got to be a higher priority, right?"
"You don't get it," Letrizia declared, shaking her head. "You've only seen the holovids and Versch's crippled form, so you don't really understand how fast an Armament should be. A fully-powered Armament is more than quick enough to capture or kill millions of mages while also going door-to-door to search for me. The laws of physics are nothing more than a suggestion to it! Even one hour could cause untold damage to Nilfel, let alone the 'several' it'll take for them to confirm my location has changed."
Letrizia exhaled, eyes shining. "I've seen the after-action reports from past wars. The Republic are total scum who will massacre entire colonies at the drop of a hat. If Nilfel opens the gates, there's no way they won't take full advantage. They don't see Voyaging Realm societies as anything but lucre to be exploited!"
"Hmph." Hunger grunted. Letrizia was biased, but he couldn't afford to disregard her entirely. It was unlikely, almost farcical, that the Republic would be so unreasonable... yet this deep into the Realm, were they actually to commit such atrocities, there was no power in reach able to bear witness, much less hold them to account.
No one save himself.
Hunger looked briefly at the Favor on his arm, then shook his head. "If they're truly so quick in-atmosphere and so potent, why haven't any of your polities used Armaments to exploit the Voyaging Realm before?"
"The organization I worked for was making inroads to that goal," Letrizia said softly, hugging her knee. "Armaments are critical to the functioning of the Human Sphere. Pilots don't just intercept Astral Beast incursions, we also stabilize the Astral Realm so that inter-planetary commerce can occur. Previous efforts to engage in Voyaging exploration have seen the Armaments continuously ambushed by Sovereign-class Beasts until they were no longer combat-viable - basically the same thing that happened to Verschlengorge. It was considered too great a risk for uncertain gains, especially with the Realm's protections against magus extraction. The fact that it didn't affect this Republic Armament..."
"So the Republic has somehow allied with the Astral entities." Hunger said. "Concerning, but a problem for a later date. Let's say that retreat would be unacceptable. Where would we make a stand? Tactically there seems to be only one viable location."
"The Walls of Myth." Gisena whispered dramatically. "A fitting place for a final stand. But can we really call retreat unacceptable? The future is always uncertain, but your power of Progression has no limits. Even if they raze all of Nilfel to the ground, you could eventually bring them back. A full-strength Armament is beyond you right now, but not if you wait just two days longer..."
"I can't countenance reasoning like that," Hunger shook his head. "Once we set that precedent, anything can be justified. The temptation would be too great."
"The stakes are too great not to take the most reasonable path, even if it hurts," Gisena said softly. "Please, hun. If not for yourself, then for your ultimate goal. If you want to make it to your true enemies, this could well be the smallest such sacrifice!"
"I'll make it to them," he said, red of his Ring blazing forth like a sun. "And I'll stand, here. Here, and tomorrow, and however many battles henceforth, no matter the odds, no matter the forces arrayed against me, until they are ripped from their thrones and put to the sword. That is what I am and I can be nothing less."
He paused. "...If I should fall today, it means only that I was unfit for that purpose."
"For no lesser being can ascend to those heights, hm?" Gisena smiled sadly. "Alright hun, you win. Such a tyrannically fearless leader we have. But if you weren't both one and the other, I suppose you wouldn't be yourself!"
"What about you?" He scoffed. "None of you are obligated to this path. Following your 'intuitive feeling' even to your doom?"
"Whatever doom attempts to befall us, I'm sure my fearless leader will protect me," Gisena said lightly, coming around to take his arm. "Isn't that what you just said? You'll win. No matter the odds."
---
The Walls of Myth were tinged with frost, bleakly reflecting the endless azure of the sky opposite; vast and serene and unyielding, like still waters presaging entrance to a world wholly mirrored.
But they were not unbroken, though the gates were shut and the ramparts bristling. A single hairline crack had spread along that shining redoubt, product of Procyon's unceasing assault. The Plenary Armament laid into that barrier with steely regularity, brute catastrophic blur whose echoes of impact rumbled across the breadth of the Mythic Realm, hurling now-molten earth in sky-filling waves from the incidental shock of its blows. Behind, a battalion of Republic support vehicles and Armor Prototypes sheltered, their specialized shields barely sufficient to withstand the lashing magma.
This was Procyon, one of two Armaments forged by humanity on Old Terra, long eons after the disappearance of the Foremost. Though its makers lacked the prowess of their Builder counterparts, the emergence of an Elder Implement could not be constrained by mere technology. Once fitted with its Core and imbued with its Curse, even the steel and simple hydraulics comprising Procyon's body could stand toe-to-toe against Armament-flesh.
Armaments would arise in their own time and for their own purpose, and neither physical reality nor astral could deny that immanence. Had Dr. Amarlt forged Procyon, or had Procyon, working through the good Dr, caused itself to be forged? The professor's imperfect explanations afterwards only heightened such ambiguity; for every nine volumes of incoherent nonsense there was one shining gem of applicable truth, humanity's bridgehead into the Astral Age.
Hunger stood atop the gatehouse and looked upon Procyon. The Cloak of Sky rippled and danced in the wind of its faraway thundering, opalescent surface dappled now with the blood-red light of dawn. He tightened his grip on the Forebear's Blade and turned to address the soldiers behind him.
"You all know the plan. Stay back and focus on support. I'll attack first, try to draw it away from the Walls. Only when I've weakened it should any of you emerge. Aobaru, Aeira: after you've dropped your enhancements, fall back to the center of Nilfel, this is not your fight. Letrizia, Gisena - pick your shots carefully, we've only got one chance. Adorie, stay close as possible without endangering yourself."
Disguised as a common garrison-soldier, the Queen of Nilfel nodded in affirmative. The power of her bloodline would reduce the exertion of the Praxis, so it would be advantageous for Hunger to corral the battle into her rough vicinity. Protected by the Walls, she was reasonably sheltered from collateral damage, but the risks were still potentially enormous. A stray shockwave could slay the Last Mirellyian, though the similarly-disguised royal guards around her would do their utmost to absorb the brunt. It was an awkward arrangement, but they needed every single advantage at this point.
They had mobilized quickly, knowing that their moment of greatest opportunity existed only while the Walls still held. Procyon had yet to deploy its Shroud, and it was hoped - perhaps vainly - that an ambush from Hunger using the full arsenal of his Praxis could weaken it enough for all of them combined to have a fighting chance.
Hunger raised the Forebear's Blade and channeled the Fifth Sign of the Empyrean. The Cloak of Sky fluttered once as it adopted Evening's colors once more, flowing and hardening into articulated plate around him: shining with voids and nebulae beyond number; an entire universe's light.
He shuddered once as the spell's monumental cost passed from him, diminishing him permanently - but only by a hair with Adorie adjacent. The former Princess smiled brightly, lips wavering only slightly, as she gave him a thumbs-up. The fate of her nation rested on them once more.
He smiled grimly. "Cheer up, warriors of Nilfel. You've already won. Death may come today, or it may not, but glory lives on forever."
A roar answered him, and din of stamping spears, shield crashing against sword and exhortations to valor. He saluted them once, and then there was no further time for words.
Lord Hunger shot out from the Walls, sheer blur of speed trailing a crimson oriflamme: blade cleaving space, time and fundament all, reaching for the blue of the Praxis.
---
Maybe Haeliel was a bad influence on you guys...
Time to fight for your life, and more importantly, for your purpose. What is Hunger's opening gambit?
[ ] His Shroud Was Down - It's too much to hope that Procyon will fail to block in time, but Letrizia says that raising an Armament's Shroud is no trivial process, and exhausting to maintain over the long hours of a battle. That Procyon's has not yet deployed its Shroud despite encountering meaningful resistance from the Walls would seem to correlate this data. Therefore his best chance is an all-out assault from the beginning, hoping to weaken the Plenary Armament enough that the subsequent battle will not be a one-sided rout. Use Nightmare Flight and the Refinement of Quickness to deliver an Artful Thorn while simultaneously unleashing the Deathly Star upon this Armament, and throw every iota of your Pressure into the Crimson Ring to dampen its blood and its essence.
The latter is less effective than it would be against the likes of Versch, who is flesh and blood beneath its technological carapace. Procyon being a simpler construct, and barely biological (except perhaps for its core?) is unlikely to be heavily effected, but perhaps Rank such as Hunger's might suffice to affect the pilot in Totality... ?
*Hunger can see Procyon, so he knows this has a pretty good chance of working, though how much it'll actually diminish the Plenary is unknown.
*He doesn't need to kill it, he just needs to weaken it enough that it can't kill Hunger through his Ring-based regeneration, Outer Shadow wound resistance and Armor of Midnight before its Shroud is exhausted. It's a long shot, but a better strategy than most.
*If this first strike fails to do meaningful damage Hunger will have committed almost all of his trump cards for little gain. Victory would be exceedingly unlikely thereafter.
[ ] Seize the Day - The Republic wants Letrizia, but are is Procyon's pilot willing to sacrifice his entire accompaniment to secure her? Procyon itself may be beyond Hunger's power, but if Hunger can use the Refinement of Quickness to bypass its presence and strike at its allies, he can easily take the pilot's commanding officer and entire retinue hostage with the Ring of Blood. All he has to do is feed them some story about how he's the Champion of Nilfel and they're entirely willing to surrender Letrizia and Verschlengorge, so long as the Republic is willing to wait three days for them to finish studying the two and bring them over. Perhaps with Procyon's overwhelming might they would not normally be inclined to negotiate, but would the Armament's Pilot really sacrifice everyone around him and fight a non-negligible threat just to save a few days?
*Of course, if they bring out magi capable of certifying oaths or the like, Hunger will have to word his promises carefully as he has no intention of actually surrendering Letrizia, and such legalistic phrasing would provoke enormous suspicion in his counterparties.
*In the unlikely, but possible, event that it does work, you can avoid fighting until after Hunger takes a dip in the Realm of Evening, massively improving his chances - though it'll be difficult to bring any allies along since he has to keep the Republic commanders at swordpoint outside the Walls.
*At least the mages have to be somewhat valuable, right!?
*Even if it doesn't work, there's always the chance that Procyon's pilot will hesitate to inflict massive collateral damage on his own troops, potentially giving Hunger a brief edge.
[ ] Follow Through - You talk a big game, but when it comes down to the wire, can you truly follow through? As per His Shroud Was Down, but also use The Shattering Blow. Not even the lineage of the Forebear in his place of power could withstand that uttermost strike, and that was from a Hunger vastly lesser than today's. If even this supreme assault cannot bring forth a conclusion, then he never had any chance at all. +Recklessness, +++Willpower, +3 Haeliel Points, +1 Haeliel Favor.
*The highest chances of crippling the Armament to the point where it would be unable to penetrate the Walls of Myth.
*Obliterates the large majority of Hunger's memories, experiences, spiritual essence (including Rank) and personality. He would still retain the Armor of Midnight for its duration, however.
*Damage done can be ablated through Arete expenditure, though this is extremely inefficient. Each Arete spent will preserve 1% of Hunger's current memories and Advancements, prioritizing those most important to him. You currently have about 41 Arete. A maximum of 75% of Hunger's identity can be preserved.
*Shatters the Forebear's Blade again. Unlocks Refinement of Purpose.
*Identity may persist, or it may not, but heroism lives forever.
Tactics, omakes etc for the parts of the fight to follow can also be relevant!
---
If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider subscribing on Patreon! Subscribers receive lots of patron-exclusive content, including early updates, timed exclusives, Discord roles, and bonus chapters. A huge thanks to existing subscribers, the amount of support has been breathtaking! Even more content is coming to Patrons soon!
If you'd like to discuss the quest in real-time or just chat with the questers, you're welcome to join us on the AST Discord! We encourage substantive posts to be made in the thread, and shitposting within Discord.
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Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
[X] His Shroud Was Down
[X] Seize the Day
[X] Follow Through
[x] Foe-Defeating Stance
-[] (This is a write-in, posted here in hopes of coordination, but not necessarily endorsed w/o GM Approval. I think it'd be 28 Arete)
[X] Seize the Day
[X] Follow Through
[x] Foe-Defeating Stance
-[] (This is a write-in, posted here in hopes of coordination, but not necessarily endorsed w/o GM Approval. I think it'd be 28 Arete)
Last edited:
- Location
- Eugene OR US
[X] Follow Through - You talk a big game, but when it comes down to the wire, can you truly follow through? As per His Shroud Was Down, but also use The Shattering Blow. Not even the lineage of the Forebear in his place of power could withstand that uttermost strike, and that was from a Hunger vastly lesser than today's. If even this supreme assault cannot bring forth a conclusion, then he never had any chance at all. +Recklessness, +++Willpower, +3 Haeliel Points, +1 Haeliel Favor.
For the +3 Haeliel Points
For the +3 Haeliel Points
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
[X] Follow Through
Oooh. Neat.
Oooh. Neat.
- Location
- US
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
We shouldn't. We really, really shouldn't. It's crazy, insanity of the highest level even by our standards. And yet...
[X] Follow Through
Enohthree
Hypersane
We could have found and fought a one pick fight.
We could have bought an EFB.
We could have bought a bunch of stances, which our rank now allows to hold even more of.
We'd expend Nightmare Flight, and come into this encounter who knows how much stronger.
This was silly. Fighting without sleep or food is only heroic when its the only way, not when you intentionally go without out of fear that you might miss an opening.
Huh, interesting.
Does that mean losing .1 Rank is the spell cost with Adorie's presence, or does it mean Adorie actually reduced that by even more? To something like .025 Rank loss instead? ((I mean, even if it applies, it might not be the same 75% discount as the Praxis exertion, but for simplicity's sake...))
... Or, for an amusing thought: Hunger has about 9.7 or whatever it was War rank with Once and Future, and he has +2 Rank for Blood casting... does that mean that in a hypothetical situation where both Blood and War applies, that that stacks?
That is to say: if he is conducting a war and if, say, at the same time a person's special bloodline power is really really relevant to your battle strategy... does that mean you'd have 11+ish Rank, in that brief niche? Because if so, that would mean Hunger would be benefitting from the effect of... well.
"Reagents: If below Rank 11, burn .1 Rank, otherwise burn .01 Rank."
Of being Rank 11 while casting the Armor of Midnight.
Question. While I'm not arguing in favor of the choice, I'm curious... @Rihaku does Adorie's bloodline power of "resisting existential diminishment" apply to Shattering Blow too? (Or was that already considered, and is the reason Hunger can even spend Arete to save pieces of himself, up to a maximum of 75% -- the exact amount that Praxis exertion are discounted by the Trueheart Phial effect...)
Rihaku
The Internet
"Actions taken to fulfill the mission" are not "actions secondary to the mission." That said, with such overwhelming speed and Rank, there's nothing really stopping an Armament from taking advantage either way...
So; Procyon is mechanical! That's less than ideal. Targetting a Pilot within Totality is nigh-impossible, but the Lord Protector managed it, through a theft which Hunger performed, sort of.
We've got Letrizia and Verschlengorge, Gisena with her amateur runes, and no Dr. Amarlt. Can we cobble together a better targetting vector for the Ring?
Well, almost no Amarlt. One did poke a hole in our liver, which we recently had healed. We kept the scars. Can Hunger force this heir of the old-world Amarlt to pay a price for their cousin's transgression?
We've got Letrizia and Verschlengorge, Gisena with her amateur runes, and no Dr. Amarlt. Can we cobble together a better targetting vector for the Ring?
Well, almost no Amarlt. One did poke a hole in our liver, which we recently had healed. We kept the scars. Can Hunger force this heir of the old-world Amarlt to pay a price for their cousin's transgression?
Rihaku
The Internet
Seize the Day is more like Fall Back in terms of its rewards, but can only be executed if Hunger actually enters the battlefield!
- Location
- Victoria
Better to try to get RoB. Foe will consume HDS and we will lose the 2th Sign bonus.
- Location
- US
[X] Seize the Day
I'll vote this until I see what the confirmation is on snap-buying FDS.
I'll vote this until I see what the confirmation is on snap-buying FDS.
I think FDS would also have an anti-Rank effect, probably.
Rihaku
The Internet
Conditional Rank bonuses never stack with each other unless explicitly indicated, so Hunger doesn't have any way to access Rank 11 for any purposes. Empyreal Signs also typically don't benefit from the 'matters military' bonus of Once and Future.
But Adorie's presence did lower the Rank cost of the Armor substantially.
She did it to a Rank <10 Armament, however...
Hunger may or may not have access to a Praxis pick this fight, though fighting an Armamant in pick debt may not be worth the Praxis bonuses regardless...
The only thing more frightening than certain death is the prospect of actually facing social combat, which we've avoided like the plague. It's time for all this CHA to earn its keep!
[X] Seize the Day
I'm a bit color blind so I spend a few minutes trying to figure out why there's another color tag in this clearly all-yellow option.
[X] Seize the Day
I'm a bit color blind so I spend a few minutes trying to figure out why there's another color tag in this clearly all-yellow option.
