A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- 1
yeah, as far as I can tell the original path votes for Conservative- though I would say more that Conservative-ness was spotty, not nonexistent. The first choice after entering the temple on Conservative was Pick Off Stragglers, the option which says Much time will be consumed in travel(...) but this task should not be overly risky. (rather than the +2 Pick chase-down-grouped-knights path)... however this led directly into a surprise ambush from the Tiller Wurm, a 3-Pick fight- not by threat choice, but poor luck, i assume.
afterwards the next choice was to retreat, which is conservative. In the subsequent enemy selection (after the conservative search-for-humans defeats the aggressive cut), the Magus was chosen; but the Magus, though a more difficult fight, also plays to Gisenas strengths, where in the others she's not so helpful, and Veterancy was chosen for a reroll, so... waves hands noncomittally
the follow-up decision was likewise unaggressive, tending to gisena; followed by a middle-ground between aggressive and not with the outriders.
this was followed by an unambiguous aggressive choice (breach the middle) into an conservative followup (opportunistic raiding) and conservative recovery (Dialogue and Resolve) and then Hunger headed to the Elixir Sovereignty.
So on the whole:
Conservative choices: 6
Ambiguous Shrug: 1.
Neutral-ish Choices: 1
Spontaneous Danger: 1.
Aggressive choices: 1.
Retreats: 1.
Hunger only made one properly Aggressive choice in the first chunk of the canonical Temple arc, and that choice led directly to Vanreir (though, most of the other 'Aggressive' choices Hunger didn't make also didn't come with a 4 Pick warning. that was an unusually impactful time to choose Aggression)
afterwards the next choice was to retreat, which is conservative. In the subsequent enemy selection (after the conservative search-for-humans defeats the aggressive cut), the Magus was chosen; but the Magus, though a more difficult fight, also plays to Gisenas strengths, where in the others she's not so helpful, and Veterancy was chosen for a reroll, so... waves hands noncomittally
the follow-up decision was likewise unaggressive, tending to gisena; followed by a middle-ground between aggressive and not with the outriders.
this was followed by an unambiguous aggressive choice (breach the middle) into an conservative followup (opportunistic raiding) and conservative recovery (Dialogue and Resolve) and then Hunger headed to the Elixir Sovereignty.
So on the whole:
Conservative choices: 6
Ambiguous Shrug: 1.
Neutral-ish Choices: 1
Spontaneous Danger: 1.
Aggressive choices: 1.
Retreats: 1.
Hunger only made one properly Aggressive choice in the first chunk of the canonical Temple arc, and that choice led directly to Vanreir (though, most of the other 'Aggressive' choices Hunger didn't make also didn't come with a 4 Pick warning. that was an unusually impactful time to choose Aggression)
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
Sword + Gisena + Intensify + Retinue
Can Hunger survive long enough to even meet Gisena!? What does he even get called without the ring that gave him his name!?
Can Hunger survive long enough to even meet Gisena!? What does he even get called without the ring that gave him his name!?
- Location
- Europe
This time I will be a little looser with my choices. To compensate for the lack of custom advancements I will be picking from all advancements that have been revealed up to that point. I will also allow myself to interfere with minor choices which do not interfere with major events.
The next fight is Vanreir, so if possible I'd like to have Rihaku's guesstimate of Hungers odds before continuing. It's difficult to judge, since I'm the one who came up with the Build.
Words: ≈700 without repeats, maybe? 1129 in total
Doing this on mobile is suffering.
Edit: I'd judge Hunger's social skills as a little less than canon. So he needs to roll for it. Greater than 25 and he lives. So this Hunger dies, a shame, but he had a solid chance.
- Part 1: Age and Treachery to Once and Future
- Part 2: Honor unstained to Death
The next fight is Vanreir, so if possible I'd like to have Rihaku's guesstimate of Hungers odds before continuing. It's difficult to judge, since I'm the one who came up with the Build.
Words: ≈700 without repeats, maybe? 1129 in total
Doing this on mobile is suffering.
Edit: I'd judge Hunger's social skills as a little less than canon. So he needs to roll for it. Greater than 25 and he lives. So this Hunger dies, a shame, but he had a solid chance.
Last edited:
Rihaku
The Internet
Unless you're trying to get a Vanreir-related Advancement, it may be advisable for most builds to avoid him or only fight him with Gabrielle's help, unless their Hunger has equal or superior healing and social proficiency to canon! It's very hard for Hunger to beat Vanreir through conventional stats.
- Location
- Europe
I'm not particularly invested in shanking Vanreir, though Feat: Kinslayer would be great for overcoming the current Rank defecit as opposed to canon. However, Vanreir is sort of the hidden Final Boss, since he's so lethal.
I'm assuming this Hunger would probably die?
Rihaku
The Internet
If he's about as socially adept as the original Hunger, he should survive given how well you guys rolled that fight.
LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
Here's an omake about my ideal ending to the quest written in only the fanciest of prose
A Perfect Ending
Enter the Maiden, flirtily
"Bwa-ha-ha none can defeat my powers of winking meaningfully and also sashaying!"
Hunger: "Oh no I'm so tired I can barely maintain my edginess, how shameful"
Enter Gisena looking especially perfect
"Halt villain/hero/maker, I'm the only flirty character allowed in this quest!"
Then Hunger and Gisena teamed up and foughtcrime the Maiden!
They were cutting and blasting and escalating cardinaliting but then the Maiden said "ah-ha you've activated my trap card! Don't you know the side that reveals their trump card first always loses! Behold my ultimate yet mysterious final attack/transformation/ability!"
But then Gisena used Genius, it was super effective! "No U" she said and the Maiden was so shook by her Genius that Hunger sucker cut her and that was that.
Gisena promptly released thefusion dance close the fist technique, and Adorie and Augustine immediately exited the scene, knowing they were unwanted by the author.
Gisena proceeded to be extremely smug, Hunger and Gisena flirt with each other excessively and then they have a little victory kiss.
Rihaku writes a description of Gisena's feet.
We flash forward and Hunger and Gisena are still powergaming like pro's and Hunger is now a high cursebearer while Gisena has managed to stay relevant through sheer Genius, thankfully allowing someone to smooth some of hungers edge off.
Happy End
256 high quality words
A Perfect Ending
Enter the Maiden, flirtily
"Bwa-ha-ha none can defeat my powers of winking meaningfully and also sashaying!"
Hunger: "Oh no I'm so tired I can barely maintain my edginess, how shameful"
Enter Gisena looking especially perfect
"Halt villain/hero/maker, I'm the only flirty character allowed in this quest!"
Then Hunger and Gisena teamed up and fought
They were cutting and blasting and escalating cardinaliting but then the Maiden said "ah-ha you've activated my trap card! Don't you know the side that reveals their trump card first always loses! Behold my ultimate yet mysterious final attack/transformation/ability!"
But then Gisena used Genius, it was super effective! "No U" she said and the Maiden was so shook by her Genius that Hunger sucker cut her and that was that.
Gisena promptly released the
Gisena proceeded to be extremely smug, Hunger and Gisena flirt with each other excessively and then they have a little victory kiss.
Rihaku writes a description of Gisena's feet.
We flash forward and Hunger and Gisena are still powergaming like pro's and Hunger is now a high cursebearer while Gisena has managed to stay relevant through sheer Genius, thankfully allowing someone to smooth some of hungers edge off.
Happy End
256 high quality words
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
A short wish-fulfillment CYOA of sorts.
Wordcount: 3.4k
Illustration (CYOA)
Hello there, I am the business representative of a large quasi-technological conglomerate of stellar beings, serving on the behest of a vast clientele and field of investors. Although our name is difficult to translate into present-day English, the best equivalent would be 'Illustration.'
After a recent cosmic perturbance, your homeworld of Earth and its universe have crossed an experiential threshold that many nascent realms do, and shall now be subject to a grand many changes. Ahead of you is a time of magic, villains, heroes, and hundreds of disparate forces: myth and legend, fiction and dream, movie and book; ideas and worlds crashing together into a single gestalt. They shall come to haunt the daily lives of you and those around you. The world is going to experience great tragedy and awesome glory in the coming days, changing its course and its form.
Normally, you'd be in this situation without any remit: a mortal among seas of mortals, under the yoke of these great and titanic beings.
However, as a firm eager to invest in embryonic worlds and their development, we'd be interested in extending a simple transaction to you. We'll offer you sufficient security, power, and potential to reach significance in your world, and sometime in the future, you'll pay us back with reasonable interest.
If you agree, proceed below, and place your signature here.
Basic Handouts
Although the existence ahead of you is difficult, we'll make sure you're equipped adequately. These improvements are gratis, and won't add to your total debt. They're simply the expected minimum we provide to all of our general clientele.
If you wish, you may abstain from them, but we don't see any reasonable cause as to why you should.
Equitas - Any permanent, genetic, psychological, or psychosomatic conditions you suffered from are going to be removed. This may include fairly mundane physical conditions such as the absence of a bodypart, near- or far-sightedness; or more complex afflictions of the mind, such as major depressive disorder or schizophrenia. Furthermore, you're capable of remaking your body once, within any reasonable human specifications, to suit your aesthetic preferences and general desires. The new body is guaranteed to come with no coordination issues and to perform slightly better than the expected human average.
Salvos - Attain biological immortality, incapable of aging physically or mentally past your prime. Any meaningful degradation (but not necessarily modification) of your genetic structure is undone over the span of a single day, so even acute and intense radiation is rarely going to affect you past the physical damage it may incur.
Potentia - A complete guarantee and axiomatic certainty that you'll possess a great deal of talent and inherent aptitude when it comes to anything else you choose to acquire in this transaction. Already has been accounted for in the content descriptions below.
Magic System
First, you must select a Magic System, the keystone and basis of your development.
The Magic System you select is going to be your greatest tool and ally in the incoming days of peril. Sadly, it seems your potential for most of our Classic Systems is gated and imperfect, and you likely wouldn't be able to safely afford them as a result. Instead, we offer these alternatives, still great in potential, versatility, and might.
Alternatively, you may choose to forgo a Magic System to receive (3) more Picks in Utilities. Alternatively, you may give them up to gain a single Pick in Special Offers.
[ ] Wishcraft - The djinn's craft, making of wishes into reality; simple to learn, it requires only the comprehension of what you want, and the wisdom to wish for the right things. If reality defies your desires, then reach out and grasp them.
Once a month, you may cast a Minor Wish. Although such a Wish is highly limited in both scope and power, it's nonetheless capable of resolving issues of moderate relevance to a supernatural being: restoring a destroyed organ perfectly, creating or summoning a mundane humanoid servant, or slaying a human enemy in visual range. Alternatively, a Minor Wish can grant one of your Basic Handouts to any sapient being of your choice.
Once a year, you may cast a Least Wish. A Wish of this level is defined as anything you could accomplish given a year's worth of effort, knowing what you know now, and given your present capabilities. As an example, you could discredit or heavily damage a troublesome organization, slay a city's population, or make yourself popular.
Once, upon learning this Magic System, you may cast a Lesser Wish. A Wish of this level is defined as anything within reason, though it may not excessively surpass your current power level or that of the reality in which you currently reside. It may be used to gain an additional superpower, but nothing close to the Magic Systems below.
All Wishes can be accumulated and stockpiled as needed. Large masses of Wishing power can be utilized to realize effects beyond the scope of the expected level.
[ ] Arts of Magic - Creativity manifest in the world, like a bloom of a hundred fields; the yearning and questing voice of your soul transmuted into sparks of power through the lens of human crafts. Among humans, you are the artist, whose destiny is to enrich the world.
The Arts revolve around the creation of stable, reproducible, yet novel magical effects inspired by works of artistry. Its effects are divided into a great many domains, one for every pursuit in the humanities and then some. Regardless of your previous preferences and specialties, your advancement in all of the Arts is made swift and resolute, and your creativity and application of your powers are bolstered to rare levels; a month of training in a given Art shall give you enough power to destroy or create buildings and enforce modestly esoteric effects. Once you're advanced enough, it should be possible to tutor others into becoming enlightened Artists themselves.
Below is an abbreviated list of possible effects for each of the domains mentioned above, but more exist, waiting to be discovered. There are hidden and powerful synergies between the Arts. For instance, an expert in Theatre, Music, and Dance would be capable of transforming reality around themselves into a musical.
Painting - Create animate portraits of characters or existing people to receive their advice and wisdom. Paint modest sub-realms contained within a painting depicting said realm. Make an individual immortal by off-loading aging, sickness, and injury to a portrait of theirs.
Prose - By writing a noun in a notepad and ripping away the paper, create a pure and standardized specimen of that noun. By creative application of adjectives, you can modify the result to give it different properties. Form entire complex beings through such description.
Poetry - By crafting elegant poems with the proper meter and rhyme, you may alter local reality in limited yet potent ways, essentially casting spells. The power of your poem rises with its overall length. The efficiency increases and the failure chance decreases with its overall refinement.
Architecture - Design supernaturally beautiful and obdurate constructions, and eventually, craft buildings with supernatural effects and properties. Eventually, create spaces that are bigger on the inside and that modify the laws of space-time and physics in various advantageous ways to benefit its occupants.
Sculpture - Create a living and intelligent sculpture that serve you unfailingly and protects you as a bodyguard. Create a variety of magical artifacts, realizing limitless potential out of a single block of stone. Eventually, sculpt flesh using your tools to alter living organisms.
Photography - Capture a given moment in space-time within a picture, capable of revisiting it. Entrap a target's soul within a photograph. Make a photograph of a location, person, or object and edit it using software to change the real equivalent's parameters.
Music - Play a single chord that ruptures stone or destroys the eardrum of anyone in hearing range. Improve the equipment quality, morale, and physique of an entire army with a marching tune. Design grand orchestrations that produce nation-sized effects. Start an earthquake by banging on a drum. Challenge Satan to a rock-off and beat him.
Dance - By dancing continuously, increase your grace, appearance, charisma, and agility for the duration of the dance. Empower yourself to dodge almost every attack as long as you use a dance move to do so. Empower your other magics and mundane actions by giving the zest of movement to them.
Theatre - By putting on a believable costume, become closer to the character you're playing and become more convincing when attempting to pass yourself off as such an individual. Gain modest superpowers and broad expertise appropriate to your role.
Cuisine - Create delicious and nutritious meals or diet plans for specific individuals even with minimal ingredients and poor-quality tools. Create a meal with significant dairy contents edible by someone who's lactose intolerant. Create foods that permanently empower the consumer.
[ ] Assassination Arts - Assassination, too, can be honed into an artform of its own; made beautiful not by its gruesome nature, but rather, by the sheer expertise and masterful elegance of its executors.
The Assassination Arts are a somatic form of magic, expressed primarily through coarse physicality, rather than the orthodox invocation of signs and incantations. They have a particular focus on delivering expiry to a chosen target using the most exquisitely functional means available. The enlightenment of Assassination is a great and callous power. By its touch, even a complete and hapless novice who'd never once held a combat knife before is immediately rendered into an unbelievably talented fighter and hitman of great prowess. They acquire a deep intuition for navigating back alleys as much as the criminal underworld itself.
Its executable components, rather than spells, are commonly referred to as techniques, and you have mastered a number of them, to begin with, and are capable of learning more and training endlessly. Any number of effects can be achieved, so long as their ultimate purpose is to kill a target or grant yourself an advantage in combat. Even a novice Assassin with little talent would be capable of talents and techniques that cross the realm of the apex mortal and dip into the paranormal: piercing through steel with one's hand, jumping a vertical distance of fifteen meters, adhering to a wall or ceiling like a spider, enhancing the senses and body to track quarry like a bloodhound and run faster than the wind, outfighting ten masters of karate simultaneously, aim-dodging enemy gunfire, and instantly snapping the neck of anyone in arm's range.
Its use exhibits itself primarily with a loss of physical energies - rather than magical ones - which renders it fatiguing to use.
However, your talent for the Assassination Arts is truly immense, and you may in time achieve virtually any deed within the professional domain of a hypothetical supernatural assassin: transcending supernatural boundaries and brushing against the memetic. Cut a spray of incendiary bullets out of the air with a store-bought katana, install cybernetic enhancements into your own body, or create a regiment of shadow-clones to pursue a number of tasks simultaneously.
[ ] Fable's Door - Have you ever dreamt of greatness beyond mortality? Have you created and erased worlds in your mind? Have you ever lied awake, imagining a state of being kinder and more perfect than your own? Have you ever wanted to cross over? Now you can.
The Magic System of Fable's Door revolves around creating a fictional 'virtual space.' Your fictional space begins completely blank, a perfectly white and meaningless void. You may channel your determination and creativity to slowly knead its pluripotent nothingness into latent Potentiality, and then a Realization of your vision. The development of your fictional world is a slow and painstakingly delicate process, and its level is limited. There's only so much power your soul can safely channel at the same time; any changes and additions to your fictional world require you to expend Potentiality into Realization, and the more drastic the Realization, the more it costs.
The logic of your fiction works mostly along narrative lines, rather than strict, physical rules. Creating a galaxy, a planetoid, or an apartment room might cost you the same amount of Potentiality, as would adding minor features to them, such as placing a specific kind of black hole in the galaxy, a research station on the planetoid, or an advanced gaming console in the apartment room. The difference here lies in the narrative weight; the amount of Potentiality these masses inhabit. The room is smaller than the galaxy, but it holds equal narrative weight to it. And though a black hole is indubitably more massive and energetic than a console, the console can be more relevant.
Likewise, creating a defined and established character might see them equal in scope to an entire group of less important characters. As an easily-digestible example, a single ninja can be equivalent to an organization composed of ninjas. It's possible to non-artificially develop the narrative by pushing it onward with hooks; a character that has undergone an entire ten seasons of development and peril has a more established and powerful narrative than one who's newly hatched.
Given time, you'll learn to access your fictional world in certain ways. It might become possible to formalize a ritual by which you can summon the fated hero to your doorstep, open a small portal through which the alien civilization can hand you a raygun, or cast spells based on metaphysical rules you established. However, the Attributes and Things you create are limited in their realization by your Potentiality; it'd take years and years of incessant work to create a sapient being that's capable of freely warping reality and bending the laws of physics outside of your established narrative.
Your fictional world needn't be a single universe or even a single genre; create as many spaces as you wish, and set their narratives crashing into each other as you please.
Utilities
Make 2 free Picks. Any option here can be selected an unlimited amount of times, compounding their benefits favorably.
[ ] Instant Resources - Acquire $10,000,000, divided into any discrete properties you desire: stock in companies, private property, businesses of your own, and so on. If you desire, you may choose a certain portion of this money to be transferred to your bank account directly. Every seven years for the duration of the next century, you gain another million dollars worth of assets, accounting for inflation. Regardless of the form society takes at that time, somehow you'll acquire this amount of assets anyway.
[ ] Personal Servant - An incredibly powerful and competent servant: your choice of butler or maid. They possess a general and adequate competency in many fields expected of housekeeping staff, such as cooking, laundry, and cleaning. However, the servant's true value lies in helping advance your agenda, whatever it may be - your servant possesses their own Magic System and powers. A specific request can get you a servant that possesses choices similar to your own and act as a trainer. After seven decades, your servant is going to be replaced by another one.
[ ] Super-Serum - A briefcase containing six pencil-sized vials filled with an experimental superpower serum is going to be delivered to your doorstep by means of a portal. Unfortunately, the superpowers granted are largely randomized but can be vaguely guided by your personality, demeanor, and expectations. They are generally synergistic and a single one is powerful enough to make you a street-level superhero. Don't question the fact they look, smell, and taste like mercury.
[ ] The Artifact - Design a powerful magical object or concept, on par with a multifunctional mid-tier Noble Phantasm. It'll be delivered to you through a magical portal. Additionally, the Artifact in question is insured against thievery and destruction.
[ ] Final Frontier - If you select this option, you'll undergo a fast and relatively painless implantation process, granting you a Fragment of Genius. The Fragment of Genius can be utilized to craft works of mad science on par with the likes of Lex Luthor or Dr. Doom, expanding your capabilities with training.
[ ] Spaceship - A recent Battle Royale in another universe ended in great tragedy as both sides ended up contaminating their Earth in nuclear waste and dying off. However, we've managed to recover this pristine Guardian-Class LXR-50 Stormcruiser from the wreckage. It has full VTOL capabilities and can achieve in-atmosphere speeds of Mach 120 with no sonic booms. Outside the Earth's atmosphere (or any other planet's atmosphere), it can achieve relativistic speeds without experiencing any time dilation. Outside of the Oort Cloud (or similar range from other star systems) it can achieve greatly FTL speeds. It's also equipped with a transdimensional portal projector.
Special Offers
No free Picks. Must acquire Debt to purchase a Special Offer.
[ ] The Reflection - An alternate version from you, who became the Supreme God of their Earth, has elected to aid you in your activities. Once you're ready, call upon them, and for the duration of a single year, they'll aid you in a plethora of ways. They are significantly more powerful than you and capable of passing their magics and a good portion of their powers and supernatural Attributes onto you. They don't demand you to do anything in return but leave your world with the expectation that you'll do something equally nice for one of your alternate selves sometime in the future.
[ ] The Inheritance - Good news. You've inherited an impressive sum of supernatural power from a distant and estranged relative of yours, who, as it turns out, was a supernatural and interdimensional explorer. Although we're not certain why, they specifically demanded that we propose a fair portion of their fortune and powers to you as one of our Special Offers. Make a choice here, and play through any CYOA in the thread, making any selections you wish, but incapable of selecting drawbacks. Grant yourself everything contained in your build over time, the frequency of your improvements and the duration until full attainment dependent on your power level.
[ ] The Investment - Become an investor in our company, acquiring a single share. This epic investment shall pay you an annual dividend in the form of magical power, trinkets, coupons, and miscellaneous services. Over the span of a single century, it should be possible to attain several further picks in Utilities, even without any significant work done. Around two millennia from now, you may find arising opportunities to purchase further stock with your accumulated fortune. Obviously, you should always do so when possible, as this will multiply your profits.
[ ] The Write-In - Any conceivable and reasonable effect: a powerful companion, a magic system, a great artifact. More powerful than anything offered in Utilities, but it cannot conceivably exceed the options within Special Offers.
Debts
By default, you owe our company a single unquestionable favor, to be returned sometime in the span of this millennium. The favor isn't going to be particularly difficult; expect the dalliance of a season. Should your favor require locomotion, means of travel can be arranged for no cost.
However, should you wish to indebt yourself further to Illustration, we can provide you with additional powers. If you select all three drawbacks, you may convert your Picks into a single selection in the Special Offers section.
[ ] Cursed - Recently, we'd been contacted by a mysterious and extremely powerful hyper-being. It offered a great amount of boons to our company board in return for distributing some of its maladies amongst our clients. Select any canonical Curse; it comes pre-mitigated to Stage II, although further mitigation is as difficult as usual.
[ ] Hunted - Hell's forces are converging on Earth. Although we're doing our best, it'd be a significant help if you could take on a part of the responsibility in fighting them back. As a result of your commitment, Beelzebub, the Fourth of Satan's Generals, is hunting you. Even should you be incredibly competent and prepare optimally, don't expect the fight to be an easy one.
[ ] Indentured Servitude - After around a half-century of enjoying your powers, you'll be conscripted to act on behalf of Illustration for the minimum duration of seven decades. The exact form of your servitude depends on your areas of competency. One of the possibilities is to become another client's Personal Servant. No time is going to pass in your own reality during your servitude. Only a single period of Indentured Servitude is permissible for a client to undertake, in accordance with our company charter.
Wordcount: 3.4k
Illustration (CYOA)
Hello there, I am the business representative of a large quasi-technological conglomerate of stellar beings, serving on the behest of a vast clientele and field of investors. Although our name is difficult to translate into present-day English, the best equivalent would be 'Illustration.'
After a recent cosmic perturbance, your homeworld of Earth and its universe have crossed an experiential threshold that many nascent realms do, and shall now be subject to a grand many changes. Ahead of you is a time of magic, villains, heroes, and hundreds of disparate forces: myth and legend, fiction and dream, movie and book; ideas and worlds crashing together into a single gestalt. They shall come to haunt the daily lives of you and those around you. The world is going to experience great tragedy and awesome glory in the coming days, changing its course and its form.
Normally, you'd be in this situation without any remit: a mortal among seas of mortals, under the yoke of these great and titanic beings.
However, as a firm eager to invest in embryonic worlds and their development, we'd be interested in extending a simple transaction to you. We'll offer you sufficient security, power, and potential to reach significance in your world, and sometime in the future, you'll pay us back with reasonable interest.
If you agree, proceed below, and place your signature here.
Basic Handouts
Although the existence ahead of you is difficult, we'll make sure you're equipped adequately. These improvements are gratis, and won't add to your total debt. They're simply the expected minimum we provide to all of our general clientele.
If you wish, you may abstain from them, but we don't see any reasonable cause as to why you should.
Equitas - Any permanent, genetic, psychological, or psychosomatic conditions you suffered from are going to be removed. This may include fairly mundane physical conditions such as the absence of a bodypart, near- or far-sightedness; or more complex afflictions of the mind, such as major depressive disorder or schizophrenia. Furthermore, you're capable of remaking your body once, within any reasonable human specifications, to suit your aesthetic preferences and general desires. The new body is guaranteed to come with no coordination issues and to perform slightly better than the expected human average.
Salvos - Attain biological immortality, incapable of aging physically or mentally past your prime. Any meaningful degradation (but not necessarily modification) of your genetic structure is undone over the span of a single day, so even acute and intense radiation is rarely going to affect you past the physical damage it may incur.
Potentia - A complete guarantee and axiomatic certainty that you'll possess a great deal of talent and inherent aptitude when it comes to anything else you choose to acquire in this transaction. Already has been accounted for in the content descriptions below.
Magic System
First, you must select a Magic System, the keystone and basis of your development.
The Magic System you select is going to be your greatest tool and ally in the incoming days of peril. Sadly, it seems your potential for most of our Classic Systems is gated and imperfect, and you likely wouldn't be able to safely afford them as a result. Instead, we offer these alternatives, still great in potential, versatility, and might.
Alternatively, you may choose to forgo a Magic System to receive (3) more Picks in Utilities. Alternatively, you may give them up to gain a single Pick in Special Offers.
[ ] Wishcraft - The djinn's craft, making of wishes into reality; simple to learn, it requires only the comprehension of what you want, and the wisdom to wish for the right things. If reality defies your desires, then reach out and grasp them.
Once a month, you may cast a Minor Wish. Although such a Wish is highly limited in both scope and power, it's nonetheless capable of resolving issues of moderate relevance to a supernatural being: restoring a destroyed organ perfectly, creating or summoning a mundane humanoid servant, or slaying a human enemy in visual range. Alternatively, a Minor Wish can grant one of your Basic Handouts to any sapient being of your choice.
Once a year, you may cast a Least Wish. A Wish of this level is defined as anything you could accomplish given a year's worth of effort, knowing what you know now, and given your present capabilities. As an example, you could discredit or heavily damage a troublesome organization, slay a city's population, or make yourself popular.
Once, upon learning this Magic System, you may cast a Lesser Wish. A Wish of this level is defined as anything within reason, though it may not excessively surpass your current power level or that of the reality in which you currently reside. It may be used to gain an additional superpower, but nothing close to the Magic Systems below.
All Wishes can be accumulated and stockpiled as needed. Large masses of Wishing power can be utilized to realize effects beyond the scope of the expected level.
[ ] Arts of Magic - Creativity manifest in the world, like a bloom of a hundred fields; the yearning and questing voice of your soul transmuted into sparks of power through the lens of human crafts. Among humans, you are the artist, whose destiny is to enrich the world.
The Arts revolve around the creation of stable, reproducible, yet novel magical effects inspired by works of artistry. Its effects are divided into a great many domains, one for every pursuit in the humanities and then some. Regardless of your previous preferences and specialties, your advancement in all of the Arts is made swift and resolute, and your creativity and application of your powers are bolstered to rare levels; a month of training in a given Art shall give you enough power to destroy or create buildings and enforce modestly esoteric effects. Once you're advanced enough, it should be possible to tutor others into becoming enlightened Artists themselves.
Below is an abbreviated list of possible effects for each of the domains mentioned above, but more exist, waiting to be discovered. There are hidden and powerful synergies between the Arts. For instance, an expert in Theatre, Music, and Dance would be capable of transforming reality around themselves into a musical.
Painting - Create animate portraits of characters or existing people to receive their advice and wisdom. Paint modest sub-realms contained within a painting depicting said realm. Make an individual immortal by off-loading aging, sickness, and injury to a portrait of theirs.
Prose - By writing a noun in a notepad and ripping away the paper, create a pure and standardized specimen of that noun. By creative application of adjectives, you can modify the result to give it different properties. Form entire complex beings through such description.
Poetry - By crafting elegant poems with the proper meter and rhyme, you may alter local reality in limited yet potent ways, essentially casting spells. The power of your poem rises with its overall length. The efficiency increases and the failure chance decreases with its overall refinement.
Architecture - Design supernaturally beautiful and obdurate constructions, and eventually, craft buildings with supernatural effects and properties. Eventually, create spaces that are bigger on the inside and that modify the laws of space-time and physics in various advantageous ways to benefit its occupants.
Sculpture - Create a living and intelligent sculpture that serve you unfailingly and protects you as a bodyguard. Create a variety of magical artifacts, realizing limitless potential out of a single block of stone. Eventually, sculpt flesh using your tools to alter living organisms.
Photography - Capture a given moment in space-time within a picture, capable of revisiting it. Entrap a target's soul within a photograph. Make a photograph of a location, person, or object and edit it using software to change the real equivalent's parameters.
Music - Play a single chord that ruptures stone or destroys the eardrum of anyone in hearing range. Improve the equipment quality, morale, and physique of an entire army with a marching tune. Design grand orchestrations that produce nation-sized effects. Start an earthquake by banging on a drum. Challenge Satan to a rock-off and beat him.
Dance - By dancing continuously, increase your grace, appearance, charisma, and agility for the duration of the dance. Empower yourself to dodge almost every attack as long as you use a dance move to do so. Empower your other magics and mundane actions by giving the zest of movement to them.
Theatre - By putting on a believable costume, become closer to the character you're playing and become more convincing when attempting to pass yourself off as such an individual. Gain modest superpowers and broad expertise appropriate to your role.
Cuisine - Create delicious and nutritious meals or diet plans for specific individuals even with minimal ingredients and poor-quality tools. Create a meal with significant dairy contents edible by someone who's lactose intolerant. Create foods that permanently empower the consumer.
[ ] Assassination Arts - Assassination, too, can be honed into an artform of its own; made beautiful not by its gruesome nature, but rather, by the sheer expertise and masterful elegance of its executors.
The Assassination Arts are a somatic form of magic, expressed primarily through coarse physicality, rather than the orthodox invocation of signs and incantations. They have a particular focus on delivering expiry to a chosen target using the most exquisitely functional means available. The enlightenment of Assassination is a great and callous power. By its touch, even a complete and hapless novice who'd never once held a combat knife before is immediately rendered into an unbelievably talented fighter and hitman of great prowess. They acquire a deep intuition for navigating back alleys as much as the criminal underworld itself.
Its executable components, rather than spells, are commonly referred to as techniques, and you have mastered a number of them, to begin with, and are capable of learning more and training endlessly. Any number of effects can be achieved, so long as their ultimate purpose is to kill a target or grant yourself an advantage in combat. Even a novice Assassin with little talent would be capable of talents and techniques that cross the realm of the apex mortal and dip into the paranormal: piercing through steel with one's hand, jumping a vertical distance of fifteen meters, adhering to a wall or ceiling like a spider, enhancing the senses and body to track quarry like a bloodhound and run faster than the wind, outfighting ten masters of karate simultaneously, aim-dodging enemy gunfire, and instantly snapping the neck of anyone in arm's range.
Its use exhibits itself primarily with a loss of physical energies - rather than magical ones - which renders it fatiguing to use.
However, your talent for the Assassination Arts is truly immense, and you may in time achieve virtually any deed within the professional domain of a hypothetical supernatural assassin: transcending supernatural boundaries and brushing against the memetic. Cut a spray of incendiary bullets out of the air with a store-bought katana, install cybernetic enhancements into your own body, or create a regiment of shadow-clones to pursue a number of tasks simultaneously.
[ ] Fable's Door - Have you ever dreamt of greatness beyond mortality? Have you created and erased worlds in your mind? Have you ever lied awake, imagining a state of being kinder and more perfect than your own? Have you ever wanted to cross over? Now you can.
The Magic System of Fable's Door revolves around creating a fictional 'virtual space.' Your fictional space begins completely blank, a perfectly white and meaningless void. You may channel your determination and creativity to slowly knead its pluripotent nothingness into latent Potentiality, and then a Realization of your vision. The development of your fictional world is a slow and painstakingly delicate process, and its level is limited. There's only so much power your soul can safely channel at the same time; any changes and additions to your fictional world require you to expend Potentiality into Realization, and the more drastic the Realization, the more it costs.
The logic of your fiction works mostly along narrative lines, rather than strict, physical rules. Creating a galaxy, a planetoid, or an apartment room might cost you the same amount of Potentiality, as would adding minor features to them, such as placing a specific kind of black hole in the galaxy, a research station on the planetoid, or an advanced gaming console in the apartment room. The difference here lies in the narrative weight; the amount of Potentiality these masses inhabit. The room is smaller than the galaxy, but it holds equal narrative weight to it. And though a black hole is indubitably more massive and energetic than a console, the console can be more relevant.
Likewise, creating a defined and established character might see them equal in scope to an entire group of less important characters. As an easily-digestible example, a single ninja can be equivalent to an organization composed of ninjas. It's possible to non-artificially develop the narrative by pushing it onward with hooks; a character that has undergone an entire ten seasons of development and peril has a more established and powerful narrative than one who's newly hatched.
Given time, you'll learn to access your fictional world in certain ways. It might become possible to formalize a ritual by which you can summon the fated hero to your doorstep, open a small portal through which the alien civilization can hand you a raygun, or cast spells based on metaphysical rules you established. However, the Attributes and Things you create are limited in their realization by your Potentiality; it'd take years and years of incessant work to create a sapient being that's capable of freely warping reality and bending the laws of physics outside of your established narrative.
Your fictional world needn't be a single universe or even a single genre; create as many spaces as you wish, and set their narratives crashing into each other as you please.
Utilities
Make 2 free Picks. Any option here can be selected an unlimited amount of times, compounding their benefits favorably.
[ ] Instant Resources - Acquire $10,000,000, divided into any discrete properties you desire: stock in companies, private property, businesses of your own, and so on. If you desire, you may choose a certain portion of this money to be transferred to your bank account directly. Every seven years for the duration of the next century, you gain another million dollars worth of assets, accounting for inflation. Regardless of the form society takes at that time, somehow you'll acquire this amount of assets anyway.
[ ] Personal Servant - An incredibly powerful and competent servant: your choice of butler or maid. They possess a general and adequate competency in many fields expected of housekeeping staff, such as cooking, laundry, and cleaning. However, the servant's true value lies in helping advance your agenda, whatever it may be - your servant possesses their own Magic System and powers. A specific request can get you a servant that possesses choices similar to your own and act as a trainer. After seven decades, your servant is going to be replaced by another one.
[ ] Super-Serum - A briefcase containing six pencil-sized vials filled with an experimental superpower serum is going to be delivered to your doorstep by means of a portal. Unfortunately, the superpowers granted are largely randomized but can be vaguely guided by your personality, demeanor, and expectations. They are generally synergistic and a single one is powerful enough to make you a street-level superhero. Don't question the fact they look, smell, and taste like mercury.
[ ] The Artifact - Design a powerful magical object or concept, on par with a multifunctional mid-tier Noble Phantasm. It'll be delivered to you through a magical portal. Additionally, the Artifact in question is insured against thievery and destruction.
[ ] Final Frontier - If you select this option, you'll undergo a fast and relatively painless implantation process, granting you a Fragment of Genius. The Fragment of Genius can be utilized to craft works of mad science on par with the likes of Lex Luthor or Dr. Doom, expanding your capabilities with training.
[ ] Spaceship - A recent Battle Royale in another universe ended in great tragedy as both sides ended up contaminating their Earth in nuclear waste and dying off. However, we've managed to recover this pristine Guardian-Class LXR-50 Stormcruiser from the wreckage. It has full VTOL capabilities and can achieve in-atmosphere speeds of Mach 120 with no sonic booms. Outside the Earth's atmosphere (or any other planet's atmosphere), it can achieve relativistic speeds without experiencing any time dilation. Outside of the Oort Cloud (or similar range from other star systems) it can achieve greatly FTL speeds. It's also equipped with a transdimensional portal projector.
Special Offers
No free Picks. Must acquire Debt to purchase a Special Offer.
[ ] The Reflection - An alternate version from you, who became the Supreme God of their Earth, has elected to aid you in your activities. Once you're ready, call upon them, and for the duration of a single year, they'll aid you in a plethora of ways. They are significantly more powerful than you and capable of passing their magics and a good portion of their powers and supernatural Attributes onto you. They don't demand you to do anything in return but leave your world with the expectation that you'll do something equally nice for one of your alternate selves sometime in the future.
[ ] The Inheritance - Good news. You've inherited an impressive sum of supernatural power from a distant and estranged relative of yours, who, as it turns out, was a supernatural and interdimensional explorer. Although we're not certain why, they specifically demanded that we propose a fair portion of their fortune and powers to you as one of our Special Offers. Make a choice here, and play through any CYOA in the thread, making any selections you wish, but incapable of selecting drawbacks. Grant yourself everything contained in your build over time, the frequency of your improvements and the duration until full attainment dependent on your power level.
[ ] The Investment - Become an investor in our company, acquiring a single share. This epic investment shall pay you an annual dividend in the form of magical power, trinkets, coupons, and miscellaneous services. Over the span of a single century, it should be possible to attain several further picks in Utilities, even without any significant work done. Around two millennia from now, you may find arising opportunities to purchase further stock with your accumulated fortune. Obviously, you should always do so when possible, as this will multiply your profits.
[ ] The Write-In - Any conceivable and reasonable effect: a powerful companion, a magic system, a great artifact. More powerful than anything offered in Utilities, but it cannot conceivably exceed the options within Special Offers.
Debts
By default, you owe our company a single unquestionable favor, to be returned sometime in the span of this millennium. The favor isn't going to be particularly difficult; expect the dalliance of a season. Should your favor require locomotion, means of travel can be arranged for no cost.
However, should you wish to indebt yourself further to Illustration, we can provide you with additional powers. If you select all three drawbacks, you may convert your Picks into a single selection in the Special Offers section.
[ ] Cursed - Recently, we'd been contacted by a mysterious and extremely powerful hyper-being. It offered a great amount of boons to our company board in return for distributing some of its maladies amongst our clients. Select any canonical Curse; it comes pre-mitigated to Stage II, although further mitigation is as difficult as usual.
[ ] Hunted - Hell's forces are converging on Earth. Although we're doing our best, it'd be a significant help if you could take on a part of the responsibility in fighting them back. As a result of your commitment, Beelzebub, the Fourth of Satan's Generals, is hunting you. Even should you be incredibly competent and prepare optimally, don't expect the fight to be an easy one.
[ ] Indentured Servitude - After around a half-century of enjoying your powers, you'll be conscripted to act on behalf of Illustration for the minimum duration of seven decades. The exact form of your servitude depends on your areas of competency. One of the possibilities is to become another client's Personal Servant. No time is going to pass in your own reality during your servitude. Only a single period of Indentured Servitude is permissible for a client to undertake, in accordance with our company charter.
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ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
A corporation? Being benign and fairly generous? Now that's really fantastical.
At first glance, going for a special offer instead of a magic system seems really good. I'm sure there are CYOAs in this thread that can be absolutely broken with the right build, or just go with Reflection and see what you get. Or fully customize your powerset with The Write-In. Compared to that, all the magics except Fable seem pretty lackluster, but maybe I'm underestimating how good the others are.
At first glance, going for a special offer instead of a magic system seems really good. I'm sure there are CYOAs in this thread that can be absolutely broken with the right build, or just go with Reflection and see what you get. Or fully customize your powerset with The Write-In. Compared to that, all the magics except Fable seem pretty lackluster, but maybe I'm underestimating how good the others are.
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Every Magic System scales to stupendous levels, except Wishcraft, but Wishcraft has the greatest versatility as a trade-off.
With Arts of Magic, you begin capable of making virtually any mundane object in virtually unlimited quantities, giving them supernatural properties, altering reality around yourself, acquiring superhuman attributes, etc. It's also worth noting that Arts of Magic applies to other domains not mentioned, so you could apply it to something else, like an external magic system. It'd be pretty easy to take over a good portion of the world by going full Music Meister, making lich-style phylacteries, or empowering yourself further by cooking really good food. And that's simple benefits, all of which you could simultaneously achieve in <1 year of effort. Given a decade or more, you'd be capable of reciting a poem so refined it grants you immunity to any form of attack, singing a song so beautiful it enchants the universe into supporting you, etc.
Assassination Arts starts off by making you a being that's comparable to a high-interpretation Agent 47 with very explicit supernatural powers. It eventually scales into making you a gestalt of Naruto, Hei, Hassan-i-Sabbah, Silva Zoldyck, and Koro-Sensei, and unlocks Vergil Status Meme Compilation-tier feats, such as an ultimate move in which you conjure a whirling tornado of rideable lightsaber-katanas that you can use to cut through space, molecules, and concepts, and which magically refold themselves a thousand times every nanosecond. By that point, you'd be capable of assassinating virtually any conceivable being, including omnipotents.
And Fable's Door is pretty self-explanatory, yeah. Given enough time, it allows you to create literally anything you can think of and bring it over to the real world.
RedV
Refuelling
- Location
- Right here
Probably something like
Fable's Door + 2x Resources + Indentured Servitude for the Investment, I guess.
Fable's Door lets me develop a comfier version of one of my RP settings and later just TP inside and spend most of my time there after it's developed enough (maybe I can offer other people insertions / reincarnations too and be their GM as they adventure later), Resources is no commitment and probably the most useful option, and assuming Indentured Servitude won't be able to force me to do something too abhorrent I'm fine with it (if it does, drop the Investment).
ngl I'm feeling CYOA burnout from how many we've gotten in a small period though
Fable's Door + 2x Resources + Indentured Servitude for the Investment, I guess.
Fable's Door lets me develop a comfier version of one of my RP settings and later just TP inside and spend most of my time there after it's developed enough (maybe I can offer other people insertions / reincarnations too and be their GM as they adventure later), Resources is no commitment and probably the most useful option, and assuming Indentured Servitude won't be able to force me to do something too abhorrent I'm fine with it (if it does, drop the Investment).
ngl I'm feeling CYOA burnout from how many we've gotten in a small period though
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Rihaku's making another CYOA? Sounds really cool, I feel like his stuff is a step above the rest of us (although Wish Upon a Star is definitely up there as well, maybe some others I'm forgetting. We really do have a lot of CYOAs).
Introducing a new CYOA to obsess over though, when I still haven't made any progress on my Rune King vs the Moon Temple draft... The perils of wanting to write full faux-updates with prose and new options instead of just re-combining existing advancements. Maybe I should be less ambitious...
Introducing a new CYOA to obsess over though, when I still haven't made any progress on my Rune King vs the Moon Temple draft... The perils of wanting to write full faux-updates with prose and new options instead of just re-combining existing advancements. Maybe I should be less ambitious...
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
Maybe this belongs in a bigger effortpost, but this quote of Hunger's thoughts from threadmark 'Impunity' feels relevant to the CtF/Maiden argument:
Hunger has to get stronger because the Apocryphal Curse will keep throwing greater threats at him. Dismissing the value of CtF because it is not a permanent solution to CtF ignores the ground truth that Hunger has signed up to need a constant flow of additional power to keep his head above the Apocryphal Curse's rising waterlevel. That's literally the Transaction.
Perfect Merger provides immediate Apocryphal mitigation, but the question you really need to ask is whether that mitigation is the best way to get Hunger through this particular threat. The Maiden is here, now. Keeping Hunger's head above water is what matters. I think that Hour of Destiny accomplishes that. The next Apocryphal danger will be met by a Hunger that has Progressed even further. While every proc will be interesting, it is not the case that every activation will be dangerous on the level of the Maiden.
It certainly is not the case that Hunger's power level is irrelevant to his survival chances in the next round.
Hunger has to get stronger because the Apocryphal Curse will keep throwing greater threats at him. Dismissing the value of CtF because it is not a permanent solution to CtF ignores the ground truth that Hunger has signed up to need a constant flow of additional power to keep his head above the Apocryphal Curse's rising waterlevel. That's literally the Transaction.
Perfect Merger provides immediate Apocryphal mitigation, but the question you really need to ask is whether that mitigation is the best way to get Hunger through this particular threat. The Maiden is here, now. Keeping Hunger's head above water is what matters. I think that Hour of Destiny accomplishes that. The next Apocryphal danger will be met by a Hunger that has Progressed even further. While every proc will be interesting, it is not the case that every activation will be dangerous on the level of the Maiden.
It certainly is not the case that Hunger's power level is irrelevant to his survival chances in the next round.
Is there an Accursed Disappointment point you can earn for not mitigating Apocryphal at all and just letting your girlfriend carry the team? 'Look, I know you gave me this power so I could take some of the load off your back, but if I let Gisena handle everything then I have more time for fishing.'
RedV
Refuelling
- Location
- Right here
we did neglect a lot of mitigation chances 
like becoming a Fairbright, or picking the Archmage build with additional half-step Apoc and Decimator mitigation.
I think Hunger still made a pretty good effort, like picking Fisher-King, but perhaps we lack true commitment when it counts. Though, after this Hunger should be strong enough to do more mitigation via Archmage since we powered up massively. We just need to survive long enough to take the Archmage config that lets useat fuse with Novahkhron.
like becoming a Fairbright, or picking the Archmage build with additional half-step Apoc and Decimator mitigation.
I think Hunger still made a pretty good effort, like picking Fisher-King, but perhaps we lack true commitment when it counts. Though, after this Hunger should be strong enough to do more mitigation via Archmage since we powered up massively. We just need to survive long enough to take the Archmage config that lets us
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Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
Rereading these early chapters is really great. Here's Hunger remembering his victory over the Tyrant as part of his attainment of [] Cut Through:
I bolded some phrases that have parallels with the Maiden fight. The Maiden is inhabiting the local-version of Hunger's wife Cat, which would seem to provide both parties an intimate familiarity with the other's reflexes and instincts. However, the Forebear's Cut is a wholesale rejection of Beauty and Grace, which are the things that the Maiden relies on.
(Honestly this passage is a pretty good argument for Inheritance.)
The Cut of Hunger is only a component of the Blood Halo, which also relies heavily on sacrifices and symbolism. Essentially, BH can deploy Trickery in a way that the Forebear would not need to.
Mechanically, Rihaku has shown us that Trickery can be activated by referencing a Truth about the story-world that the readers did not previously know. We saw this during the reveal of Procyon's crush on Letrizia. Thus, Treachery against the Maiden will involve dramatically capitalizing on some extremely convenient Truth about Cat that Hunger knows.
One line of reasoning that comes to mind is that a perfect version of Cat might have the same patterns of attack, defense, and flourishes. That doesn't need to be weakness in her technique, but it could be a familiar or predictable one for Hunger, who has certainly spent countless hours sparring with his own Cat.
Another line of reasoning is some non-gross version of invoking Hunger's unborn child. His wife was pregnant. Since the Maiden's influence relies on enacting a more perfect template of Cat then it is possible to point out or create some kind of ontological dissonance between Maiden!Cat's perfection qua Maiden and Hunger!Cat's perfection qua Mother.
This line of reasoning is gross, but revealing Hunger's infidelity to Cat (with Gisena) might count as a scheme rather than Rhetoric, for the purposes of Blood Halo's attacking enemies with regular actions.
Maybe someone else can take these rudimentary tactics and run with them. I do think that additional discussion of the Maiden fight is worthwhile, even if it gets lost in the deluge of CYOA mining.
Edit: Hunger's Edeldross gave us a +Catherine!
I bolded some phrases that have parallels with the Maiden fight. The Maiden is inhabiting the local-version of Hunger's wife Cat, which would seem to provide both parties an intimate familiarity with the other's reflexes and instincts. However, the Forebear's Cut is a wholesale rejection of Beauty and Grace, which are the things that the Maiden relies on.
(Honestly this passage is a pretty good argument for Inheritance.)
The Cut of Hunger is only a component of the Blood Halo, which also relies heavily on sacrifices and symbolism. Essentially, BH can deploy Trickery in a way that the Forebear would not need to.
Mechanically, Rihaku has shown us that Trickery can be activated by referencing a Truth about the story-world that the readers did not previously know. We saw this during the reveal of Procyon's crush on Letrizia. Thus, Treachery against the Maiden will involve dramatically capitalizing on some extremely convenient Truth about Cat that Hunger knows.
One line of reasoning that comes to mind is that a perfect version of Cat might have the same patterns of attack, defense, and flourishes. That doesn't need to be weakness in her technique, but it could be a familiar or predictable one for Hunger, who has certainly spent countless hours sparring with his own Cat.
Another line of reasoning is some non-gross version of invoking Hunger's unborn child. His wife was pregnant. Since the Maiden's influence relies on enacting a more perfect template of Cat then it is possible to point out or create some kind of ontological dissonance between Maiden!Cat's perfection qua Maiden and Hunger!Cat's perfection qua Mother.
This line of reasoning is gross, but revealing Hunger's infidelity to Cat (with Gisena) might count as a scheme rather than Rhetoric, for the purposes of Blood Halo's attacking enemies with regular actions.
Maybe someone else can take these rudimentary tactics and run with them. I do think that additional discussion of the Maiden fight is worthwhile, even if it gets lost in the deluge of CYOA mining.
Edit: Hunger's Edeldross gave us a +Catherine!
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LordOfMurder
Bhaal
- Location
- Australia
I mean it also makes Gisena strong enough to compete with the maiden while getting bonuses against her so it's not like Perfect Merger is relying on apocryphal mitigation alone.
Perfect Merger is at least as strong as supreme close the fist and it does it without sacrificing future advancements.
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
I really don't think that this has been established. The PM Fusion is as powerful as Hunger is now, but Hunger himself is falling off quickly. Vendetta's strategy explicitly avoids going All-in, but without Supreme CtF Hunger is left with an extremely limited Praxis-pool to draw from:
Vendetta asks Gisena to checkmate the Maiden in the contest of Domains, or else nullify each contingency that the Maiden has prepared. These contingencies include known Graces (Archsmith's Hammer, and I think Octarine posted a Grace that lets her punch a soldier and harm the General commanding their army) as well as unknown capabilities from the Realm of Daylight. The Maiden has explicitly simulated countless possible Advancement Paths that Hunger might follow, and has a counter for each of them:
One of these contingencies is described as her "final recourse". We did not grant Cat access to the Shattering Blow, but some extremely high level psychological warfare has to be expected, and is by nature much harder for Gisena to simply counterspell!
The contest of Dominions shifting to Hunger's side does little good if he is killed by the Maiden in the meantime!
I recognize that I'm not going to convince you to vote against Gisena. I find Perfect Merger to be extremely tempting because of the FOREMOST LORE represented by eating the Arcanist. But the actual benefits of the blurb don't get me across the finish line:
-Baseline Vendetta mentions the contest of Dominions, which an unappealing win-condition due to Hunger's Praxis exhaustion from Refinement of War
-PM's first ability boasts of generating minions on the level of Turn E!, but a taxidermied Verschlengorge was susceptible to the Maiden's Beauty. Minions are unlikely to provide combat support imo. Non-combatants will struggle to be relevant outside of the Army of the Shogun ability, but possibilities include some sort of Chains of Destiny repeat that could distract the Maiden, or maybe healing Hunger by reversing the runic wounds that were threatened during the Tower confrontation.
In either event, it's tough to see any number of Turn E!-level minions making a big difference at this level of ISH combat.
-The Season's Greetings defensiveness bonus is a very strong argument for PM Fusion! It could allow Gisena to provide a momentary distraction during close-quarters combat ideally without sacrificing herself and provide a symbolic resonance for the Domain of Battles to activate.
- - I will admit to being afraid that we spend 50A on PM, Gisena takes a hit for Hunger like the original Cat, and then Hunger has to use the Shattering Blow with no real Arete Bank left over.
-The Foremost Mitigation might allow for some kind of negotiation without Tyrant, but if the Maiden thinks she is winning then I'm unclear why she'd take a lesser victory. I'm open to brainstorming here.
-+1ISH RW is likely the bare minimum for Gisena to even participate in this fight. If the fusion had happened 9 months ago I'd be more optimistic about this component, but then the Maiden would have intel on Fusion!Gisena's abilities.
Essentially I just don't see a win condition with taking PM. The contest of domains and close combat are both ruled out by Praxis exhaustion, which undermines the chances for diplomacy. Gisena's own performance in close-quarters-combat has not been terribly impressive as far as I can recall, so it still seems like a win for the Maiden in 12 exchanges.
(I'm open to hearing a different vision of how this will play out, so I hope this reply hasn't come across too confrontational. Everybody else has gotten so distracted by the CYOAs that there's not much discussion of the vote options right now!)