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A Simple Transaction I

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[X] Evening Chill

[X] Adorie
[X] Letrizia
[X] Aobaru

We can put off repairing the Blade for a bit. It'll be nice to have more dialogue focused updates for a while.
 
Fumbles said:
The war story was fantastic Birdie. very Metal Gear.
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The main inspiration for it was Stefan Karaszewski, a soldier who singlehandedly killed eleven Wehrmacht soldiers, including two motorbike riders, and destroyed several tanks on top of that. He committed suicide when he was being surrounded, but the Germans were allegedly in shock because they believed they were fighting, at the very least, an entire platoon of soldiers, and it turned out to be one.
 
Sara said:
[X] Plowshares to Swords
[X] Aoburu
[X] Letrizia
[X] Aeira

Super uninterested in the whole comfiness aspect of this and spending a entire week on it when it's unlikely we'll get back to the evening realm anytime soon. Way too much cool stuff we could be doing or working on for me to want to pull anything into the slice of life stuff, especially given Hunger's about to go headlong into a war.

Plowshares not only fixes our sword problem, which is way, way, way more important then a + to mental stability, but also gives us progress into creating stuff like consumable buffs to augment our power or repair Versch, so the earlier we work on this the better.

While I'd really, really love to train Aeira, Aoboru needs our attention more given his whole hero situation and Letrizea could probably use a shoulder to lean on at the moment given everything thats happened. besides, we really could kind of use Imperial Data given everything that is about to go down in our. Aoboru power increases, meanwhile, are going to do a lot to increase the power of the entire team thanks to how Vigorflame works. Throwing in a Aeira sidevote in case the likely event of Evening Chill wins and all that. Even a single training session got Hunger a scaling stealth boost, she combat progression to help with this, and we know that theirs more interesting options that were unlocked by that ala True Shadowcord and Threnody Sorceress.
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[X] Plowshares to Swords
[X] Aoburu
[X] Letrizia
[X] Aeira

Gotta vote again to fix my typo for Aoburu lol

Strange9 said:
Gisena is going to get a Major Grace with or without Hunger's assistance. Note that we have three weeks, and tripling Gisena's progress allows her to work three times as quickly (to get a Grace in one week).
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Huh, rereading it seems like this is enough the timing is actually perfect for her to gain a Major grace without spending a vote on it. In that case my only real objection, aside from being a lot more interested narratively in seeing the outcomes of the other options, is that fixing the sword isn't a sure bet so getting it out of the way first should probably take priority.

Vocalist said:
On the contrary, now is the best time to take a little breather. Hunger needs his Mental Stability and he's not going to get a better opportunity than this because he's about to go headlong into a war. He just got access to a literal vacation dimension right after pushing himself to his limits to win a 5-pick fight: the sensible choice is obvious.

It's not as if that week off is going to be spent lounging by the hot tub to no benefit. Evening Chill gives an extra socialization option, and those all provide benefits of their own, such as improvements to the Empyreal Signs. And if Hunger improves his control over the Realm of Evening in the first week, subsequent training options will provide greater dividends.

Sure, in numerical terms three weeks of training is probably going to provide a bigger upgrade than one week of chilling + two weeks of training. But I don't just follow this quest for the sake of making numbers get bigger; I also care about the characters. And I don't believe that our QM is going to punish us for vacationing in the vacation realm.
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Hey, just wanted to address this bit here, but i'm kind of hoping nobody sees my votes as a signal that my enjoyment of the quest is about making numbers bigger and not about caring about the characters. I'd be really sad if that's what people think of my voting tendencies. I actually do enjoy the numbers game and arguing about what is more optimal with people, but I try my best, even in strictly build votes, to layer both ic reasonings and ooc reasonings and sometimes those are options i've explicitly argued aren't really the best. Funnily enough, one example was taking a breather with Hunger's party post Temple arc over our Praxis training.

I'm less gung ho about it here for a number reasons. For one, we're already getting social interactions that I'm assuming are going to be written in the update so I don't feel as particularly compelled to go for the purely social option. For another, to go back to what I said about liking Rihaku's characters writing and dialogue, a lot of my favorite bits of those have largely consisted of moments when either the characters were involved in something high stakes or investigating something intresting about the world rather then more down to earth slice of life moments, like Hector seemingly confronting another tragic death with his master, or Kaguya's reaction back in magus quest to her master delving into the mysteries of well, Mystery with his regression or a very different sort of magician bonding with Homura during a hunt.

From a IC standpoint, I also think it's pretty in character for Hunger to be grasping at every way to prepare himself for the Human Sphere given he knows it's about to or already has been embroiled in a intragalactic war which his abilities could feasibly make a difference in saving countless lives. Presumably, their will be other times where their not such a pressing and obvious need for it as the one we've really recently been given, even if we assume the worst and say it would have to be between geass tasks which I find kind pessimistic. Their's also squaring away the threat of Decimation which is way more personal moral obligation the guy has which his time here is pretty well suited to do so. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to start arguing the guy is a monster if he doesn't or that we'll definitely get BTFOd in the human sphere for picking Evening Chill. But on the latter count, Hunger doesn't necessarily know he's in a Quest, so it's hard for me to apply that same logic in character esp when he also ICly knows he has the apocryphal spanner in the works gathering power.

From a totally OOC standpoint, a lot of the options introduce worldbuilding stuff that I love reading about, like exploring the nature of the forebear's blade along with the evening realms more practical considerations, getting a more indepth look at how the various Dross actually work with Gisena, or just seeing what sort of cool enemies the evening realm ends up throwing at us or how their created. In a world where this time skip wasn't in the Pillars of Creation and we had topics I was less intrested in reading about as these as listed choices like farming rank or training praxis i'd probably be more inclined to vote for a Evening Chill equivalent.

So yeah, wasn't sure if those last two sentences were meant to show a contrast towards my percieved motivations in which case I understand, no big deal, or if I'm just reading into things in which case also no big deal, but hope this clarifies i'm not just some minmaxer and actually enjoy reading the quest and about the lives of the people in it.
 
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[x] Evening Chill
[X] Adorie
[X] Letrizia
[X] Gisena

Next turn blade

final turn Hunting with Socialize Aobaru and Verschlengorge.
 
Imagine not voting to socialize with Versch kappa

[X] Evening Chill

[X] Gisena
[X] Letrizia
[X] Aobaru

If only there was a choice to vote for Gisena and Letrizia combo multiple times
 
Hmm, how annoying, it seems that my master plan's biggest chance of fruition comes with voting for Chill. Also it will likely be more efficient from a socialization perspective to just take Mantle of Grace next week and Combat the final week and just spend the rest of our time in the realm using Grail mitigation and hunt for something outside.

[X] Evening Chill
[X] Adorie
[X] Letrizia
[X] Aeira
 
Lady Winter, and an oath that makes the oath-taker ruler of their nation and grants fabulous magical power? I guess we'll have to hope this oath doesn't screw over the speaker like the last winter oath did...

Rihaku said:
Lady Winter tapped her chin. "If such is my intention, and the wording of the oath properly formalized, then it could count as willing consent, yes. It would not bind their hearts, but body and mind could be made to submit.
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Hunger came here to vacation; perhaps Winter, in one of her many mortal incarnations, had the same idea?
 
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Hmm. Y'know, something to consider would be using the Something Else option in an effort to fully commune with Verschlengorge, if not now, then later. He might be able to provide significant information on the Foremost and the lore of this universe, especially now that he's repaired and Hunger isn't a total scrub anymore.
 
Depending on our Arete situation, I would actually want our second week to be the devoted to Combat and finishing "the essentials"; meaning Fisher King and Ruling Ring. Then in the third week we can see if one option was enough to let us conjure a Hunger Sated target, and if not we could just use Grail mitigation in Realm while we help Gisena or train Aobaru or even chill out more. It's a path that covers both poetntial options while acquiring stuff we want to get anyway; so it seems quite good.
 
There is a certain species in existence. A collective of powerful, unstoppable, and unbreakable creatures who seem to be able to win no matter what and possess infinite potential. It doesn't matter how low the odds are and how bad the situation gets, they will always win. The secret to this is a set of special and esoteric abilities that they channel. The powers of love, friendship, and fighting spirit. Others outside this species are able to channel these abilities as well but only at a fraction of what they possess.This species is known and feared by almost all the forces of evil in existence. Those who don't know of them or disregard them do not last long.
This species is known as teenagers. It just so happens that we have a number of them with us at the moment and it would be foolish of us to ignore them. Vote for teenagers and watch all our enemies crumble before their corny one-liners and sappy displays of affection.

[X] Evening Chill
[X] Aeira
[X] Letrizia
[X] Aobaru
 
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vali said:
Lady Winter, and an oath that makes the oath-taker ruler of their nation and grants fabulous magical power? I guess we'll have to hope this oath doesn't screw over the speaker like the last winter oath did...
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I know, right?! But they seem to have been favored by Winter, perhaps one can count on her clemency in such cases?
 
Speaking of the Oath, I can't help but wonder if exploiting a previous invocation of the Oath, maybe even provoking a situation where the royal family was tricked or forced to do it, was how Augustine so quickly rose to solidify her power.
 
[X] Plowshares to Swords
[X] Adorie
[X] Letrizia

Adorie and Letrizia are simply the logical choice. We will soon be leaving for Human Sphere so we need Information while Adorie is needed to optimally deal with Nilfel, we have out so much focus on it and it would be a waste if we cause some problems due to ignorance. It also gives us power so yay.
 
[x] Evening Chill
[ ] Plowshares to Swords
[X] Adorie
[X] Aobaru
[ ] Letrizia


Strategically voting here. I'd like to do something big brained like Plowshares + VR Natives, but Letrizia's commanding vote lead means that Aobaru only gets screentime if Evening Chill wins. That means that the Blade needs to wait a week.

I will say that I currently predict week 2 in the RoE will have larger bonuses than week 1 did. Maybe ++Mental Stability, once we've figured out how to operate the reality warping ability?
 
[X] Something Else: Shape the heavens of your realm so that the stars shine a blessing upon you and your companions. Given how close you have been to defeat you and you beloved partners need more Plot armour.


[X] Adorie
[X] Aeira
 
Sword repair is pretty yikes. You spend actions, maybe two or more, in order to generate close to zero value. While sword wound introduces a weakness, that is a weakness we already have, with Praxis Endurance limiting the time we have to fight peer level foes. Even if we fix the sword, our ability to fight against peer-level foes for prolonged periods of time is still limited. "But Wolfy what if Apo attacks that weakness!". If you waste your shit on just repairing this thing we would just get ganked by four Armaments because we didn't do things that would allow us to fight this(i.e. get OaF 2 or SJUC).

Only way we can repair sword in a way that makes sense would be getting picks here, getting RR(with 1p 25ar as we are not capable of getting Passion here) and then using Progression++ to ensure we can do the repair in 1 turn. Not getting a combat EFB is eh though.

Chilling is pretty decent. We are getting Mental Stability back and we set up SJUC. Probably the most optimal course of action.

Grace research is pretty good. If Gisena gets two Graces she could end up with speed Grace + Temporal Auspice which should allow her ~Armament level speed, plus that 3 second timestop means that she can do some fun stuff with Nullity bombs. It kinda doesn't build into other options, however. With all that in mind

[X] Evening Chill

[X] Gisena
[X] Letrizia
[X] Aobaru
 
[X] Plowshares to Swords
[X] Adorie
[X] Aobaru

If it wasn't for the ominous warnings about fighting multiple Armaments at once later on, I would be more inclined to chill out. As is, the Forebear's Blade needs fixing yesterday before we can even consider getting into dangerous fights. Plus this option seems a precursor to all sorts of interesting crafting applications?

Gisena can't use the local materials to make Artifacts for outside, but maybe even short-term stuff could prove useful if the base material is good enough. Or she could use it for training her Artifice. Or cheat and use Realm of Evening wonders to enhance base matter from the outside? The sky's the limit, and in a place like this that's a high ceiling indeed.

As for who to focus on during our first week... Adorie seems like a no-brainer for one. We've spent a whole lot of time fighting desperately against insurmountable odds and setting up a government at her side, but very little actually talking to her and getting to know the Princess as a person. Since it seems she'll follow us around as a Companion, we better fix that.

I don't have strong feelings about the second person, but it seems to me that Aobaru has fallen by the wayside lately. A bad thing to happen when our own survival hinges on him overcoming that destined enemy of his. If we're going to mentor him, we better do it right instead of hoping that he'll somehow learn everything on his own.

...Though I think we'd better leave the 'charge at the Armament when in doubt' part of our lessons out till he's a bit more advanced.
 
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