The Curtain Rises
Last time the winners were [X] Seraph's guidance, Seraph's favor and Night's Ambition.
yeah, that was obvious.
Except for Night's Ambition, but I mostly expected that as well. Hoepfully we don't end up regretting this once we see the next signs..
An Armament approaches, likely Procyon, which was forged at the hands of the first Dr. Amarlt back in the days of Old Terra. The Plenary Armament wields power immeasurable within mere physicality, but you are not without recourse. Letrizia believes the only other Armament to be stationed near the Voyaging Realm would be Fervenweirr, the Lunatic Armament, runt of the litter and weakest of the lot unless direly provoked - but should that occur the hope of direct resistance would be slim, as the Doom of Lunacy empowers its totality with an unstoppable berserker rage.
Eh, I don't know. Berserker rage usually leaves a lot of openings to take advantage of, and between cut through, refinement of quickness and deathly Star..
Unless by "direct resistance" it's referring to NILFEL resisting. In that case, yeah, they might be able to argue and gain some time against the Procyon armament/pilot, but if the "Lunatic Armament" goes berserk..
..actually, could we try and use our overwhelming social/mental stats to persuade the pilot instead of actually fighting? I imagine Totality might protect him/her from this approach, but it
might be worth a shot.
Also it sounds like each armament yet introduced has its own curse. I wonder if we'll see a few original ones.
How many armaments even EXIST?
Still, best to plan for the most probable case - direct invasion of the Voyaging Realm by the more reliable Armament, Procyon. The probable presence of two Armaments in the area means that a Nightmare Flight-enabled counterattack is unlikely to draw the offensive Armament back to Voyaging City.
is this supposed to mean that we can't simply run away and hope Procyon will leave Nilfel alone?
According to your captives the attack is no more than a few hours out. Republic forces have likely already reached the Walls of Myth, or will reach them in a matter of minutes. From then on it's unknown how long it will take the Plenary Armament to breach its bastions of supernal pressure. The Republic has a team of diviners working to track Letrizia, but they are slow. Unfortunately this means there is no reasonable way to shield Nilfel from the consequences of this incursion short of repelling the Armament directly.
If Hunger & Letrizia were to leave immediately via Nightmare Flight, the Republic would still attack Nilfel for several hours looking for her. If they were to leave by more conventional means in a way visible to Republic forces, then the greater physical speed of the Armament would outpace and catch them, especially with its Rank turning all circumstances towards its favor.
ok, it seems so.
Yeah, escape is not an option.
Or not a good one, at least.
Procyon - Pilot is reserved but professional, a reasonably calm and logical individual and Republic stalwart. His father is a Senator, his mother chief scientist at a biotechnology firm. The Armament possesses a formidable mental/spiritual Special Attack which Hunger should be able to resist by virtue of his Cursebearer nature. Due to its Curse, Procyon is absolutely incapable of any form of guile in combat and relies on clean execution of classical techniques. Republic military science being somewhat more advanced than their Imperial counterparts, its weapons should be considered highly dangerous and infused with enough Astral spectrum to injure mythically potent beings.
The Accursed deserves all the thanks we can offer for these spiritual/mental/scrying protections.
Truly.
Still, Procyon seem the perfect match-up for us, as far as Armament go. We
should be capable of resisting his ultimate, and while it's stronger than us in terms of stats and rank, we have
Age and Treachery on our side. Signs, Tricks, Edeldross... we have a decent chance.
Fervenweirr - Pilot is an idiot, according to Letrizia, who is also a coward and socially awkward. He apparently only got in due to a combination of nepotism and sheer luck, and has nearly non-existent combat skills. Nonetheless, the sheer power of an enraged Fervenweirr eclipses even Attramemnar in a direct contest. If enraged, probably the strongest Republic Armament overall and certainly the strongest in a melee fight, virtually inescapable once it has your scent.
mh.. the strongest, eh?
I might have underestimated his berserker rage then.
Still, we have Age and Treachery on our side! Hunger is quite the tricky opponent, so we might actually be able to trick him. It all depends on if the Armor is enough to withstand his berserker attacks long enough for us to take advantage of an opening (and if we can stop the Armament from causing too much collateral damage.
With the power of Haeliel's favor infusing his every act, direct resistance is possible even in the face of an Armament. But is it wise?
better question: can we NOT face it, and still call ourselves heroes worthy of her favour? ESPECIALLY if it means leaving Nilfel vulnerable?
yeah, I thought so.
Of course heroic doesn't have to mean
stupid. If we can find allies or gain time, that's certainly an option. But there's only so much we should be willing to risk/sacrifice.
[ ] Hold the Line - Who cares for prudence? A hero knows a hero's duty. He does not cower from battle merely because it would be expedient, nor does he expect innocent lives to withstand the brunt of his own Curse. The Walls are an asset, best make use of them. Gird yourself in the Armor of Midnight and prepare for one more fight of your life, alongside the legions of Nilfel atop the Walls. A red day, a sword day, a tide of blood and Ruin, and ere the night falls will the outcome have already been decided - victory and freedom, or death and glory.
*Assuming the enemy is Procyon, victory grants 5 picks, +1 Heroic Upgrade to an Advancement of Hunger's choice, and +2 Haeliel Points. A Heroic Upgrade will grant the Advancement a unique, highly powerful, and otherwise difficult-to-replicate enhancement. This does not mean that Haeliel would encourage Hunger to pursue this course of action. Haeliel Points have no mechanical effect.
*Hunger will of course try such tactics as attempting to persuade the Republic commanders to stand down with his unnatural Charisma, but Letrizia says Armament Pilots typically have the authority to operate independently if command is compromised.
*The Legions were unable to withstand a single Combat Rank 9.4 entity (Hunger), so it's unlikely they will do much against the Armament on their own, even sheltered by the walls. But their heavy abundance of mid-Rank captains should allow them to tear through any conventional forces the Republic sends to support, which Procyon may feel obligated to defend.
*This is certainly the valiant and heroic, if almost idiotically over-optimistic, thing to do. Perhaps Daylian would have supported this path wholeheartedly, confident in your chances of victory...
*You're unlikely to get picks from anything short of the Armament itself, as even elite-tier Republic kill teams are basically paper before Hunger's might.
*Hunger estimates he has a decent, but nowhere near assured, chance of prevailing with the help of Aeira, Aobaru, Letrizia, Gisena, Adorie, and all the forces of Nilfel at their disposal. His bloodcasting at the very least should be reasonably effective against the Armament so long as it hasn't deployed its Shroud, and so long as he avoids the Shroud radius he can use Refinement of Quickness to temporarily outrun it. Tactics can modestly improve your chances.
..it's a 5 pick fight.
...
I hoped it was only a 4
ok, this is probably a bad idea.
My thoughts, in no specific order
1)The Heroic Upgrade is new, and I'd like to see just how good it is. I'm also pretty curious about these Haeliel points. As they apparently have no "mechanical" effect, I imagine they'll influence her disposition towards us at our next meeting, and maybe help in unlocking her "committed" version at some point.
2)Yeah, it would be nice if we could persuade the enemy away.. unlikely to happen, though. Armament
3)Taking Armor was a good choice. As Above could have worked as well, maybe by boosting either a teleport (and teleporting the Armament away), or by getting an improved summon/a super Deathly Star, but the lesses buff of the noonday sign would NOT have been enough, I think.
4)...You know, I'm very slightly regretting not taking one of the other cursebearers. Having Daylian here might have been suicidal, but I'm imagining Curse Might assaulting the Armament, and I can't find it in myself to care for the death-chance he would have saddled us with.
Then again, I'd probably be feeling differently if he was ACTUALLY here...
5)The Legions are basically as durable as wet toilet paper against the armament.. but couldn't we get some buffs? Really, every little bit counts!
6) We should DEFINITELY use a summon with this. Don't they all hate armaments? fighting one should be something we could negotiate for a lower cost than usual! (though we might have to give up on having Verschle fight on our side. Then again, a powerful summon should be slightly stronger than him, shouldn't it)
All in all, not an optimal decision, but something we
could decide to take, depending on the alternatives.
[ ] Call Up - Attempt to locate a source of suitable allies or challenges, such as the Shard of the Arcanist that was Augustine's mother. Powers absorbed could turn the odds in your favor, and the Arcanist might have some insight into the nature of Armaments in general, even if this one was not formed by Foremost hands. Uncertain chance of success; failure could end up with your time wasted and the Walls breached, the peoples of Nilfel subject to whatever horrors an irritated Armament might be inclined to inflict on them. And considering how Verschlengorge treats the matter of enemies...
*A reasonably prudent gamble, but one that fails to stoke the spirit. No Arete bonus or penalty.
*Tactics can't help that much for this one, but re-rolls can and you do have a few.
*Generate some source of picks with which to spend your huge reserve of Arete
*Hunger estimates a 50-70% chance of discovering something worthwhile, but has no idea what the true odds actually are
*Even if you find the Arcanist, you have to ensure you don't die to her, either, or that she does not become an Augustine-shaped thorn in your side. Ideally one of her Chromatic Beasts will be at least a two-pick, but who knows how large the gap is between minion and monster...
yeah, with all the arete we "should" have (I have no idea how much it is, though I think it should be at least >10 at this point) we migt be able to get another EFB. If we could unlock OaF III, that would probably be enough to cover the difference. And there's also Sword in the Stone.Maybe another stance could help as well, if we have extra arete without picks? I think right now we have Hero Defeating and All Defeating. there's the other components of... what was it, world defeating or enemy defeating?
In any case, we still should have one or two stance slots open, and every little thing helps.
I wonder what's more dangerous, the Shard or Procyon? we know so little about her... were these chromatic beasts actually mentioned anywhere? Are they the minions/floor bosses of her dungeon?
[ ] Fall Back - In less than thirty-six hours you'll have access to Augustine's power, in whatever form your Cloak has digested it. If you leave via Nightmare Flight, you can (hopefully) return in two days with the power to overcome this challenge. Gisena seems certain that it will be the solution to your problems, but are you willing to sacrifice Nilfellian lives to purchase those improved odds?
*Coldly calculating, sparing nothing. Certainly the path which preserves the highest chance of victory, but at what cost? -2 Arete, but you can easily afford that.
*Might make Hunger more prudent in the future, or at least less likely to risk his own life on improbably difficult fights.
*Letrizia believes the Republic are scum that will resort to war crimes with the slightest provocation. Hunger is not so certain, but they are abundantly ruthless enough to deploy kill-teams throughout the Voyaging Realm pursuing all sorts of nefarious goals.
*Adorie will command Nilfel to take actions that might minimize the number of casualties, such as surrendering to the incoming forces and allowing them to loot and investigate without restriction, though if the Republic begins kidnapping mages or performing crimes of similar magnitude, the Nilfellians will have no choice but to fight back with all their strength, futile though it might be. Regardless, Adorie's popularity will take a substantial hit. Nilfel is highly nationalistic and proud of their mighty empire: to go from victory unimpeded under the Lord Protector to soundly humbled under Adorie Mirellyian will invite unflattering comparisons.
*It bears repeating that this will actually maximize your chances of winning, and thus surviving and successfully protecting Letrizia. There are costs, but your opponent is a full-power Armament, an existence near-trivially capable of tearing stars asunder, of striding headlong into the tidal flows of a singularity and emerging utterly unharmed. No amount of physical force can so much as faze it when its Shroud is deployed, nor can any density of matter resist it. The final word in military might within the entire Human Sphere, so far ascendent above other options that no state without one has ever survived independent.
*Live, and grow strong.
..Letrizia is probably biased, but she's our only source of intel on the enemy. I don't think I'm willing to risk the civilian casualties.
Maybe we could use some diviners from Nilfel to see what the Republic teams would do if we escaped/their plans for Nilfel? Depending on the damage we might actually consider the escape.
Then again, I imagine that if we COULD predict their actions, we'd already have that information in the vote itself.
..And still, as the option itself states, our enemy is an Armament. A weapon capable of crossing singularities and destroying stars.
...And STILL, I don't think we can take this. or, to be more precise, we could, and it's the most pragmatic option.. but I don't think the players have it in them to actually vote for this.
With our Arete reserve, Call Up sounds like the obvious choice.
We have rerolls to mitigate the worst results, we can get a LOT of power out of even 1 or 2 picks (OaF 2/3: 2 picks. Fisher King: 2 picks. Ruling Ring: 4 picks (honestly it's actually tempting to take the dull price version... still, it's not like RR is a good pick for this fight), 6th/7th sign. Praxis.)
Apocryphal is
so inconvenient. Could it not wait just one more day!?
At least, as long as we survive, wounds probably don't matter. we can heal both ourselves and our party in the Evening Realm.
With Hold the Line or Call Up, you can also choose to gamble on the Sixth, or possibly even Seventh, Empyreal Signs providing what you need. Acquiring the Sixth by blood-essence conversion would drop Hunger a full Rank, while acquiring the Seventh would require Hunger to blitz the mythic platinum reserves of every other Mythic nation, drop five total Ranks, and suffer a moderate equivalent of the Shattering Blow in terms of core essence loss. Who knows if the Signs provided will be relevant to your situation, or if your crippled Rank would even be able to fully exploit them? Still, desperate times...
This is only a realistic option at all due to Bastion of Myth reducing the Armament's Rank advantage against you. Even then, it may not be worth it unless the spell acquired is as directly suited for combat as Deathly Star or Armor of Midnight.
Select one or none:
[ ] Aggressive Research: Attempt to acquire the Sixth Sign of the Empyrean.
[ ] Full Measure: Attempt to acquire the Seven Sign of the Empyrean. If the spell attained is agnostic to caster's Rank and at all combat-relevant, this should all but ensure victory.
A majority will have to select these options for them to prevail.
I'm against it.
Our best attack right now it's Deathly Star, and it scales to rank.
1 rank is an INCREDIBLY high cost to pay. and if 6th evening sign is not suitable, we'll have to give up the 7-signs combo, and take on of the others.
Full Measure is a hard pass as well. I mean, FIVE ranks? This is basically bringing Hunger back to his start-of-the-quest rank level!
Sure, our power is NOT in the rank anymore, but paying such a high cost will make us VERY vulnerable. Apocryphal will have LOTs of threaths for us at that level, especially if the signs we unlock end up having a long cooldown.
We really need to summon an ally, though. I doubt they can ask for a price higher than the signs, and it should help at least some.
