You guys have been gaining Arete at an impressive rate. But I don't think this will be sustainable indefinitely, nor should we expect it to be! Saving Arete and generating it via in-game options is definitely something you should consider. If you Wait and Hope, you could then take Brute Force for good stats and have a great chance of getting 7 Arete before you are inevitably forced to confront an enemy that triggers the Form of Rage.
 
Rihaku does not write trap options, but we nonetheless endeavour to create then..

Stay and Hope, people! It gains 1 Arete, lets us heal, doesn't proc Rage, and lets us prep for a bigger gain down the road. These knights are very much not worth proccing Form of Rage for. Brute Force is a very strong generalist option, provided we don't do something foolish in the meantime.

I actually deleted that post because I thought it was a bit too incredulous and not very persuasive but I really don't think I can help it. Seriously, this is just basic math. Even if you go with the assumption of 1 Arete = 1 Pick (which isn't really true), what happens here is:

Vanquish: We get 2 picks but lose 1 Arete and become Tired in this extremely dangerous dungeon
Stragglers: We get 1 pick, don't become Tired and don't risk a boss fight

Why even risk such an inefficient and terrible trade?

[X] Pick Off Stragglers
[X] Swift as Death


Swift as Death mitigates the worst aspect of Picking Off Stragglers by being fast and intangible, allowing us to dodge enemies and traverse the dungeon much easier and in less time. It also means that we can potentially escape the worst of the encounter rolls through our Agility while becoming very resistant to attrition due to our quick recovery time. It's not even that risky if we encounter something we can't outrun and outfight since we still have the Form of Rage to fall back on.

This also gives us intel on the rest of the dungeon's monsters as well as its general layout, both of which could be very useful later on. That it makes our Second Form into something worthy of the name is an additional but completely worthwhile side benefit. Once we've got this, we can sink the rest of our efforts into +Stats for our base form.
 
Knell doesn't help us against different encounters inside the dungeon though. It's a waste in that regard.
 
Knell doesn't help us against different encounters inside the dungeon though. It's a waste in that regard.
That's fine. Being weaker in some regards means being stronger in others, and with Nightmare Praetor we can expect Hunger to use this boost wisely to farm one kind of opponent before switching to the next one.
 
The double red option being the wise and conservative route is really strange, but it's worth a look. We rest back up (eliminating progress toward Tired), gain one Arete, and muse on the fight/Call, which might yield tactics even if Gisena can't do anything.

Vanquish gives 2 picks if successful, but if we trigger Form of Rage in doing so that can't be called a victory, so it shouldn't be taken with Brute Force. It's not clear that those two added picks will be worth more than the chance to take another 7 Arete option soon, and saving for the latter's far safer.
 
[X] Brute Force
[X] Wait and Hope

Yeah. The option is good, with this we have an chance to see if the Temple opens up once in a while(Thus figure out an escape route), it gives us chance to get enough Arete to make exploring the dungeon actually viable. Don't forget the Ber is still alive, so we need to check up on our minions once in a while.

Once we have 7 Arete, we can proc Form of Rage on an enemy which will give us maximum picks. It's the most optimal path.
 
Last edited:
That's fine. Being weaker in some regards means being stronger in others, and with Nightmare Praetor we can expect Hunger to use this boost wisely to farm one kind of opponent before switching to the next one.
The main problem is that it doesn't help against a novel opponent. For example in this situation we would have suffered just as much. And the rapid exp gain of Hunger means they're invalidated as xp farm pretty fast.
 
There many strategies that can work here. The important thing is coordinating one to consolidate around so that it can remain competitive!
 
That's fine. Being weaker in some regards means being stronger in others, and with Nightmare Praetor we can expect Hunger to use this boost wisely to farm one kind of opponent before switching to the next one.

The issue isn't sensible farming because only a moron would intentionally throw away their biggest advantage. The issue is getting interrupted in our farming by a different random encounter or these knights being able to call upon a boss type enemy that their version of Knell doesn't apply to. Being interrupted by either one would basically guarantee the need to call upon the Form of Rage, which could end up being a waste.

[X] Brute Force
[X] Wait and Hope

Sure, sounds good. Build up a better baseline, don't take more dumb risks than we already have and maybe save up to get Thousand Cuts or something else that let's us hit outside of our weight class.
 
Last edited:
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by runeblue360 on Jun 6, 2020 at 5:34 AM, finished with 108 posts and 29 votes.
 
Having cooled off and come down from the indignation of almost losing to the first mook we came across and having to run away from a group of them, these guys really aren't worth our time. Our initial goal with this build was finding something super-strong to make Raging worth our while, so I'll just continue aiming for that.
 
I've been thinking of how to manage the character sheet system here. We don't have a strictly quantified capability set, and the sheet often changes every 1-2 updates due to Progression. I think the best solution may be to make a character sheet for each fight scene, past and future, and link it in the corresponding update, plus one character sheet that's continuously updated.

For such a system I'll give +.5 Arete and +.2 Arete per month, or +1 to the physical stat of your choice now and every two months.
 
For such a system I'll give +.5 Arete and +.2 Arete per month, or +1 to the physical stat of your choice now and every two months.

My time has come:

Hunger

Health: 100%
Combat Strength: 95%

Conditions

Well Rested
  • Duration: 9 hours.
  • Effect: Provides a substantial bonus to physical attributes and a minor bonus to mental attributes.
A Hunger Sated
  • Duration: 25 solar days
  • Effect. Halts Decimator's Affliction. Reduces Hunger progress by 10%.
Chill of the Grave
  • Duration: 28 solar says
  • Effect: -5% effectiveness to all actions
I Am The Danger
  • Duration: Until the Temple is completed or forces a to retreat
  • Effect: 5% effectiveness bonus to all actions
Attribute Upgrades
  • Charisma: ++++
  • Intelligence: ++
  • Strength: +++
  • Agility: ++++++
  • Constitution: ++++++

Cursebearer (Progression) - This character has agreed to serve as one of the Cursebearers for the Accursed. The character's nature is that of a Progression-type Cursebearer. Link to the Accursed provides comprehensive protection against mental and spiritual interference above the Allowable Threshold. Protection is rated 100% effective for intrusions of less than NaN strength and valid through NaN transfinite escalations of cardinality originating from continuums of less than NaN dimensions. <Soul> decoupled from physical processing substrate. Link to the Accursed provides comprehensive protection against hostile physical or metaphysical influence upon the <Soul>. Protection is rated 100% effective for <all> known intrusion parameters.

Apocryphal Curse
  • First Mitigation: Direct Mitigation - Reduces the difficulty of encounters by roughly 10%.
Decimator's Affliction
  • Area affected: Continental
  • Life force consumed: 10%
  • First Mitigation: Huntress' Moon - Impairs all conventional mitigation attempts by 40%, but dramatically increases the number and availability of targets for A Hunger, Sated. Targets will always be at least minimally challenging or in some way exceptional.
Doom of the Tyrant
  • Baseline mitigation: acknowledges specific instructions from the Accursed
Geas of Indenture.
  • Time remaining: 937e27 solar years.
  • Tasks accomplished: 0
  • Unmitigated

Accretion - A farmer's boy. A sword of fable. A perilous quest. Death or glory..
  • Current rank: 4.1
A form of symbiosis between wielder and object, integrating shared experiences, mythic archetypes, accumulated legendry and personal craftsmanship. The result is a being greater than the sum of its parts, not a man wielding a sword but Arthur with Excalibur, the blade closer to his being than his own sword-arm. That deep conceptual weight, wearing a groove in reality's current, permits the slow unfurling of impossible feats as a product of that partnership.

The power of Accretion is rarely replicable and never easily defined. Its greatest masters turn the tides of battle simply by taking the field, their presence an inexpressible radiance, sharp light beyond sense or reason, that erodes the existential basis of those who would oppose them. You will find them at the crux of fate, the critical point of inflection; there does that power reach its apex, starshine become a blazing sun, light and fire and fury as to bring the world to its knees.

*A power that is somewhat agnostic to the strength of one's foes. Battle Magic will never deflect a supernova; a master of this art might, though they'd have near equal difficulty deflecting a tank shell.

*Operates on a level beyond physical causality. With few exceptions, does not enhance physical parameters at all.

*With time and many shared tribulations, some of a union's powers may become relatively consistent and explicable. For example, the hero wears a suit of dark grey plate, and nothing may slay him short of annihilating the armor entire.

*Forbidden Art: Abduction. The forceful seizing of another's armament, inconsistent in applicable and terribly risky, as aspects of the prior wielder may impose themselves upon you. The hero stole into the Tyrant's Catacomb and emerged bearing the sword of the Tyrant's progenitor. That blade now lies broken, and with it its wielder.

Feat - Age and Treachery. Gain +.25 Rank

[ ] Gisena Allria, the Nullity Sorceress
  • Loyalty: ++++
Physical: **
Social: ****
Mental: ****

On the brink of her execution by a mighty foe, the Nullity Sorceress employed a novel and highly risky application of her powers to tear a hole between realms. Nihilistic, cunning, and disarmingly vivacious, she is an exceptionally talented technologist and socialite. Beautiful, and fond of using her charms to tease, manipulate, and frustrate friend & foe alike.

Modestly superhuman strength, speed, constitution, appearance, and quickness of thought. Her Sorcerous Graces allow her to nullify, negate, or weaken a very broad range of supernatural effects, or, in theory, aspects of reality. Well-suited to Curse mitigation. Can continue to advance by attaining Coalescences.

Duchess Letrizia von Artriez, pilot of the Devouring Armament, Verschlengorge
  • Loyalty: ++++
Physical: ?
Social: ?
Mental: ?

Space Opera Asuka. Cutest in the world. Interested in studying Pressure.

I. The Forebear's Blade

Tenfold strength and speed, and the resilience to withstand such exertions
Infuses all attacks made by the bearer with the power of Ruin
The power of Ruin ravages and destroys without leaving trace, penetrating - at least partially - almost all defenses
Grows steadily in power and refinement alongside its wielder (abstracted as an extra Experience multiplier)

[Thick as Thieves] II - ++Intelligence, ++Charisma, ++Heartlessness

[Fell-Handed Stroke] - A devastating blow of unutterable magnificence from which no recovery is possible. A powerful, but draining strike that inflicts cursed wounds from which spirit and will leak as freely as blood. Resists healing.

[Second Stage] - Those who believed the Forebear felled were in for an unpleasant surprise. Upon reaching 0% health, instead of dying manifest as your Second Stage, a being of wraithflesh and shadow that pierces the curtain of the real. If your Second Stage is not slain, revert to your ordinary human form, fully healed, after a night has passed. Second Stage has [-Strength, +Agility], weakness to certain uncommon types of damage, and minor phasing abilities. Your Artifacts phase with you.

[Form of Rage]

When flesh and spirit both have abraded away, what remains of a man?

His essence at last stands bare and alone, free of the armor that presumes to shelter the world from its glory. A silhouette, bare outline of a figure, through which pale light pours forth without end.

If the form of flesh and the form of spirit are both felled, and if he should still be compelled to fight on, then he may assume the form of Rage, which is pure light and thunder, heft and raw Pressure, the forces of the world arrayed as a fist to strike down his enemies.

The form of Rage can only be entered if one has a compelling reason to fight on, else one dies instead. While in this Form, triple all Attributes for purposes of battle and increase Astral Rank by a significant* amount. The wielder moves like living lightning: the wake of his blows is the crush of thunder, the blaze of his eyes like furious stars, his merest regard like a mountain onrushing.

Use of this Form is taxing in the extreme. Should the wielder avoid annihilation, after the battle concludes he emerges, human once more and fully healed, but diminished as well. Choose one Advancement to revoke or lose 1 point of Arete after re-emergence, and become Tired, or Exhausted if already Tired.

[Undying Echo] - The Forebear could withstand unbelievable punishment, only to rise again. [+++Constitution]

II. Hunger

Imparts noticeable spiritual vigor and a thirst for life's pleasures
Cripples non-combat, non-conflict advancement, but dectuples progression from any conflict with serious stakes

[Ring of Power] - Asserts bearer's will upon the world, bending it to his designs.

[Might's Repose] - Only grow stronger, more glorious and more capable with age, so long as bearer sleeps 9+ hours per day. Life- and healthspan can be indefinitely extended in theory. Modest bonus to physical actions, minor bonus to mental actions when well-rested. Immune to hostile sleep / tiredness effects.


III. Evening Sky

Deflects physical attacks within its coverage less powerful than an atom bomb
Imparts 75% resistance to almost all other forms of damage
Imparts 75-90% resistance to most inimical status conditions
Grants breathtaking majesty of the evening sky [++Charisma]

-Physical attacks stronger than an atom bomb no longer count as "mundane force" - capable of blotting out the sky. Magical attacks reduce this protection proportional to the strength of their magic.
-The attack of a Rank 2 being bearing signature weaponry is slightly magical.

Amaranth Star - Swift fury of vengeance unshackled, and its unremitting resolve. Exhausted and Tired Conditions are 25% less severe. [+++Agility]

Pristine Star - The wearer and those regularly in his presence will always heal completely, without complications or scarring, even from grievous or amputating wounds. Grants resistance to illness and disease. Healing is somewhat accelerated, in that one may expect to recover from even the worst of survivable injuries in about two weeks. Enemy effects may contest this.

A.N: Description of Progression lifted from character sheet while general structure is borrowed from Orm's EFB Sheet. Not sure about loyalty numbers but this should include everything. I'll go over it again to check for mistakes, correct the spacing and also add all the pretty colours.
 
Last edited:
A.N: Description of Progression lifted from character sheet while general structure is borrowed from Orm's EFB Sheet. Not sure about loyalty numbers but this should include everything. I'll go over it again to check for mistakes, correct the spacing and also add all the pretty colours.

I believe your current Rank is at 4.1, or 4.35 if you got a +.25 that I don't remember (the fish, Age and Treachery, then you skipped the Tyrant + Scenic Route's Rank bonus, then +.1 participation bonus).
 
Last edited:
Link to the Accursed provides comprehensive protection against mental and spiritual interference above the Allowable Threshold. Protection is rated 100% effective for intrusions of less than NaN strength and valid through NaN transfinite escalations of cardinality originating from continuums of less than NaN dimensions. <Soul> decoupled from physical processing substrate. Link to the Accursed provides comprehensive protection against hostile physical or metaphysical influence upon the <Soul>. Protection is rated 100% effective for <all> known intrusion parameters.
It's funny how the Accursed gave better protection to Seram's <Soul> then his mind or spirit. Perhaps it's easier to protect?
 
It's funny how the Accursed gave better protection to Seram's <Soul> then his mind or spirit. Perhaps it's easier to protect?
He's not there to babysit his Cursebearers and protect them perfectly against a whole class of enemies, I think. He gives 'basic' defenses to make sure they aren't easily subverted, but in the end it's up to them to prove their worth.
 
I like the idea of going for Brute Force and Vanquish the Pursuers, but if and only if we also buy Undying Vanguard at the same time to gain stupid amounts of stats. As Undying Vanguard apparently has one vote, that's not really a viable voting strategy.

So, next lets look at the winning vote, Brute Force and Vanquish the Pursuers, without Undying Vanguard. Well fuck me. with only Brute Force we might manage it but there's a good chance we'll have to trigger Form of Rage to deal with them. Sure, we'd kill them all, but I don't feel like this group is of impressive enough opponents to use Form of Rage on, so I don't like this idea.

Next, elimination rounds! What options do I want least, and work my way up. Well, Slayer Knell and Swift as Death are both utter shit to be honest. They're both so damn conditional as to be near worthless. Slayer Knell does jack shit against opponent types we haven't fought before, and with the Apocryphal Curse we're going to be fighting such opponents! Meanwhile, Swift as Death only boosts our second stage, not our first and not our current last. It not boosting our first form means that the first form and its hit bar becomes near worthless as peer opponents will be pinging off our total power not our initial power. It not boosting our final form means that anyone that's a serious threat to us basically won't give a flying fuck about its effect. Look Out for Others is the next trap option, it specifically notes that anyone we pick up will be weaker than we are, so its "Summon Mooks/Meatshields, the vote." Near worthless against anyone capable of provoking Form of Rage and thus threatening us. The other options are all decent, so I'll be discussing them differently.

So now what to vote for? There are plans I can see that are good, Brute Force + Pick Off the Stragglers is a good idea, a basic buff saving Arete while taking a safe play so we can get a better option next time. Peerless Shroud + Vanquish the Pursuers is a good one, it'd give us a decent chance of winning(eventually) without having to use Form of Rage. Running either Brute Force or Peerless Shroud and Wait and Hope is actually a decent option, gain Arete and rest so we don't get hit with Tired any time soon, and it plays into Nightmare Praetor so that we'll do better in future fights against the Knights.

The problem with the above plans is that their odds of winning aren't that good. the winning plan right now is Vanquish the Pursuers + Brute Force, which is basically "Trigger Form of Rage on a horde of Mooks and pray that nobody shanks us while we're Tired from doing so." That's basically the worst possible plan and risky as fuck, so my vote is going to be going for the second highest option in both categories, namely


[X] Pick Off Stragglers
[X] Peerless Shroud


The best chance I've got at making sure the Brute Force + Vanquish the Pursuers doesn't win. I don't particularly care which of those takes the lead, I just don't want to risk death while Tired from blowing out trump card on the mooks/common soldiers of this dungeon.

Also, funny thing, on the color selector Form of Rage is 1 off being a mix of Vanquish the Pursuers and Brute Force's colors. Make of that what you will voters.


Huh, 587 word effort post/plan and vote break down, been a while since I've been motivated to do something like this, good job Rihaku! now if only you'd stop posting updates while I'm sleeping. :V
 
Last edited:
I believe your current Rank is at 4.1, or 4.35 if you got a +.25 that I don't remember (the fish, Age and Treachery, then you skipped the Tyrant + Scenic Route's Rank bonus, then +.1 participation bonus).

Thank you for the correction. Working on versions for the past fight scenes now. Should update this with colours etc. once those are finished.
 
[X] Vanquish The Pursuers
[X] Swift as Death
[2 Arete]

People think Swift would be better, so that's that I guess.
1 Arete = 1 Pick (which isn't really true), what happens here is:
It's more like 2 Arete equals one pick. See Undying Echo, Iridescence, Fall, etc. And we gain a substantial chance of winning with Swift:
You could (imperfectly) trade 2 Arete for those picks via Swift As Death. Might still Rage, of course, but it's significantly less likely.

Some risk for essentially 100% profit seems pretty good in my opinion. We are in this place to get stronger and to outpace Ber in particular. Establishing momentum by killing more foes is worth it. And we'd still have additional power in case even more unexpected thigs occur. We voted against a leisurely pace when we voted to come here, so we have to make sure to exploit this place for all its worth.
 
Back
Top