The winning vote was [X] Investigate the School with [X] Fierce Quickening. You now have 17.7 Arete.
What was Hunger doing while Letrizia went 'undercover' on her self-appointed mission? Choose 2.
[ ] Studying the Blade - While they ranted about the shackles of Imperial representation, he studied the Blade. While she participated in frivolous antics, he studied the Blade. And now that the rot spawn are at the gates, they turn to him for help?
Well, fine. But it'll cost 'em.
*Hunger fights the Rotspawn, the semi-undead army created by the Rotbeast, greatly relieving pressure on the town's defenders for a bit. He may encounter either mundane Rotspawn, Elite Rotspawn, or Primary Rotspawn.
*The vast majority of Rotspawn are mundane, but by presenting such an overwhelming threat, it's likely Hunger will force out more powerful specimens.
*50% chance of +1 pick
*35% chance of +2 picks
*15% chance of +2 picks, +.5 Arete, +1 major complication
*You may choose to 'target' a specific type of Rotspawn, greatly increasing encounter chances, by reaching a consensus on discussion of which to target and directing discussion and omake power towards it. You'll still get Arete for those omakes.
*Improves your value in the eyes of the townsfolk, reducing the penalties of any Tyrant proc.
We're a Bladeboy Tyrant, so my fingers almost instinctively moved towards picking this option. One can never have too much XP! This will also recover some of the feel-good experience we've abandoned after deciding not to fight the Rotbeast - though if we get Cut Through before we leave, this decision looks mighty strange - and meshes well with any options that require interaction with the town. Considering our hikkikomori ways, that's not very likely, but the option is there.
The 15% chance of major complication is scary though, as we've barely managed to cast off one or two of our previous ones. And if this is what we'll get against Primary Rotspawn, just how badly would a battle against the Rotbeast have affected us? Maybe the decision not to fight it was sensible after all.
[ ] Pursuing Technological Solutions - While they don't have anywhere near the facilities appropriate for properly maintaining an Armament, the Elixir Sovereignty is still a functioning small-scale technological civilization with sufficient industrial base (mostly automated) to produce outdated Imperial technology. This should really be Letrizia's job, but with her occupied on her mission it falls to Hunger and Gisena to procure repairs for Verschlengorge's armor and hydraulics, as well as re-stock its supply of missiles and kinetic ammunition.
*Improves Verschlengorge's combat capability without increasing its Rank, making it more self-sufficient and relevant in battle
*+Gisena, Gisena weaponry upgrade
*+Letrizia
*+1 day consumed; repairs take time
Relationship+ is always nice to get, it gives us things like the Super Juggernaut Undead Chimera and scenes of giving Letrizia headpats. It mainly upgrades our allies, finally giving Verschlengorge some guns so he doesn't have to bite enemies all the time (might be a minus for some?) and providing Gisena some more toys to play with. As has been repeatedly stressed, Gisena is deadly against magic-wielding enemies, which seems to be the vast majority of them, but with some appropriate firearms her hazard classification must be upgraded by several levels.
For all that the option takes up
precious Apocrypha-free time and might imperceptibly increase the chances of us getting further involved in the fight against the Rotbeast. What if it decides to go on a general attack and breaches Elixir's defenses? We shouldn't be so unlucky given Apocrypha is still busy elsewhere, but sometimes one rolls badly out of entirely natural causes. Getting into this fight might be a positive for some though.
[ ] Relaxing at the Hot Springs - This is supposed to be a vacation, and that means only one thing: the absolute bliss of a worry-free existence at the Elixir Springs! Tomorrow there may be travail and fearsome tribulation, but today there is only the healing power of the geothermally-heated waters!
*+Gisena
*+10% healing chance, +10% Double Healing chance
*Pillars of Creation** is unlocked and can be purchased during any reasonably plausible Experience spend point for 1 pick, 25 Arete.
*Pillars of Creation is extremely powerful utility, offering Curse Mitigation, powerful buffs, and level-appropriate enemies in a reasonably safe environment. It would be extremely useful in the mid to late game.
This is what we came here for, isn't it? In addition to a +Gisena (but not Letrizia? our daughter cannot be so spoiled!) we get improved healing chances for our terrible, awful, unfun complications and even unlock Pillars of Creation, which isn't only an incredibly useful utility EFB - and an Evening Sky one to boot! maybe our Mantle will finally get its due - it also ensures that we'll never lack for relevant enemies, which is apparently a very serious concern.
Like, I don't really see any downsides to the option except for lost opportunities to take something else, that's how good it is.
[ ] Bloodwraith [2 Arete] - There must be a way to overcome the limitations of the spirit form. Its lack of blood renders it an underwhelming combatant compared to Hunger's fleshly body, and given his reliance on it in the past that cannot be allowed. The purview of Progression is the achievement of any feat, no matter how impossible it may seem. Now that he has time to slow down and actually think, might he discover some way of overcoming this weakness? Perhaps the answer lies in Verschlengorge's blood, for, as Letrizia mentioned, its body is spirit and flesh united, a thing not entirely of the physical world. With a sufficiently large sample and diligent experimentation, perhaps he could selectively enhance specific attributes of his own blood such that it could be retained in ghostly form?
*Doom of the Tyrant: Hunger will extract large quantities of Verschlengorge's blood for his experiments without even thinking to ask Letrizia, weakening its Astral Rank to 4. After all, he's its bonded Cursebearer, a position both he and Verschlengorge know is above that of its pilot!
*--Letrizia, -1 future pick
*Hunger's Second Stage is now treated as having corporeal blood for all purposes. It benefits from Quickening, regenerates via the Ring of Blood, and so on. Not only does this double your effective HP, it also allows you to make use of Quickening's benefits alongside the phasing and increased speed of the Second Stage!
We complained about our Blood magic only affecting the physical body. Well, ye ask and Hunger provides. He does so at the expense of our cute daughter and giant robot, but sometimes a man gotta remember his priorities, (Not) Dying chief among them. We can make things up to Letrizia later if we do this, but we won't benefit from +Relationship with her if we're both dead.
Of course there's a few other downsides for such an advantageous option.
For one, it's a -1 pick, as we presumably spend some XP on attaining this ability. But that doesn't seem like a big deal unless we fight some big battle with a lot of picks right after.
For another, we need to... spend Arete on this. Considering there are also magic options we'll presumably have to invest Arete in and that we can't afford wasting too much in general due to our Cut Through 18 Arete reserve, this might be one of the biggest reasons why some would hesitate before choosing Bloodwraith.
A strong contender for the people who want to ensure our party's survival at all costs. Doesn't Bloodwraith sound a lot cooler than a mere ghost?!
[ ] Market Day [2 Arete] - It's been a long time since he's conmingled with the common people as anything but their forlorn champion. Though he's never been much a proponent of enjoying 'normalcy' for its own sake, there is something to be said for walking through civilization with the relative anonymity of the unknown. Though it's somewhat risky given the Tyrant's Doom, there's hardly a safer place than this to learn how to manage it, inasmuch as that is possible at all.
*Extensive practice under potentially risky circumstances yields one purchase of Vigor Itself [++Might, +Cha]
*Gain some potentially priceless experience with the Doom of the Tyrant in a relatively controlled scenario, allowing Hunger to better plan around it when engaging with civilization in the future.
It's an option that has us talking to other people and costs Arete. I'm trying not to laugh, but it's difficult not to feel pity for the option, especially when it's such a wonderful opportunity to check out Tyrant's behavior in a safe setting. It also gives free stats! Echobros, doesn't this touch the strings of longing deep in your soul?
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I'm on the fence about the magics in general. They both look neat, but just how reliable are they? Will they still continue to function after we leave the Voyaging Realm? Perhaps it's premature to think about that given we need as much power as possible for the Temple, but it would suck to invest a lot of Arete (that we might not even have) into the magics only for them to be rendered useless after we finally begin our main quest.
Still, needs must and the Temple beckons. It might be worth it even for a few % chance improvement of our nigh-suicidal endeavor.
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What type of magic did Letrizia discover at the Elixir Springs Prefectural High School?
[ ] Vertex - The design and construction of semi-autonomous magical Vertices, points of power that can be used by anyone initiated into the art. Inset into equipment or orbiting their wielder, these points of light can produce a number of functions so long as they are not destroyed: acting as smart- or dumbfire elemental drones, passively augmenting the Attributes or other aspects of their wielder, ablatively interposing themselves before enemy attacks, and so on. Raw power, complexity of Vertex effects, and intelligence of active Vertices are all determined by separate combinations of skill and Attribute, as well as other factors. For example, the raw power of high-tier effects is influenced in large part by the amount of lifespan the crafter shears away in the process of its creation.
*Can be destroyed by Nullity
*Hunger and Letrizia can theoretically learn to wield and create Vertices, though it's a demanding and time-consuming field, and Hunger would require either picks or Arete to overcome the requirement that one be initiated in one's youth, before the age of twenty-one. You may also buy Vertices even if you don't spend any effort making them yourself, though you'll need something to carry them in.
*The Evening Sky can serve as a natural carrier of Vertices.
We're Accelerator now, vulnerability to dispellation included. I understand this is completely different in both form and effect, but it's hard not to make the association when reading about yet another power with a mathematical name.
It's hard to get a full grasp on what exactly Vertex does. It makes semi-intelligent minions, buffs, shields and probably a lot of other things not written down here. Seems like it's less of a conceptual magic and more energy manipulation to me. Fairly useful and reliable across the board, mostly requires some initial investment to get going.
There's downsides though. If we don't want to spend Arete, we need to spend some picks on it. I'm not sure if those have to be acquired immediately (so Study the Blade) or if Letrizia can initiate us later once we're ready. Gisena is completely disqualified due to age issues, which we'll do our best
to mention repeatedly to avoid bringing up. And the main cost that requires lifespan sacrifice, not a big deal for Hunger but quite a bit worse for Letrizia, who has already sacrificed so much of it on the altar of necessity.
[ ] Surgecraft - A seemingly simplistic but bizarrely powerful art by which its practitioners manifest and control vast quantities of a personal Imaginary Element. These range from the mostly physical (Ironflame, with the stability and density of steel but the heat and mobility of fire) to the highly conceptual (Fellspite, a slow but all-corroding mist that induces hatred and despair in those it touches; Fullmight, which simply amplifies the raw power of anything to which it's applied). Even the weakest Surgecrafter can unleash walls and torrents of their element sufficient to annihilate a large building, but control comes slowly and unsteadily for them, if at all. One can imagine the instability of a society populated by such mages.
*Hunger and Letrizia can theoretically learn Surgecraft, though blood manipulation will be needed for Letrizia to acquire it.
*The quality of Hunger's Imaginary Element, should he decide to pursue this route, will depend in part on Arete spent.
*Though none have accomplished it so far, it's relatively easy for experienced Surgecraft practitioners to unleash blasts of their Element that would be relevant on national, planetary, or even interstellar scales. Simple power is something that it develops easily.
*A Surgecrafter's strength in a given moment depends highly on their emotional context, personal circumstances, momentum of the battle and so on. It is at its heart a spontaneous art that disdains preparation.
Vertex might look more optimal, but damn if Surgecraft isn't much more evocative. There wouldn't even be a question of what to pick if the more interesting and useful elements weren't gated behind a significant Arete cost. It's also a bit hobbled by its anti-synergy with preparation, which is supposed to be a big part of Hunger's schemer character. Still, most of our battles have been full of desperate improvisations, so it doesn't seem that bad to me. Honestly, it sounds like it would fit Accretion's mechanisms with all its dramatism and heroics well.
In exchange Hunger and Letrizia become an even more special snowflake - and I guess Gisena can get some Nullity Elementalism if she hasn't had enough of those jokes - getting a unique power much like a Soul Evocation. We've been told broadly applicable elements will cost Arete, but do we really need that? Sword Praxis already covers a great deal of offensive and defensive options, Blood magic gives us pretty good healing and buffing, so we mainly want utility out of Surgecraft. We could probably get something pretty useful in a narrow field for a fairly cheap price.
So, for the votes:
[X] Relaxing at the Hot Springs
[X] Pursuing Technological Solutions
[X] Surgecraft
Hotsprings was a gimme, both for the healing and the Pillars unlock. The choice between Technological Solutions and Bloodwraith wasn't trivial, but since I chose Surgecraft due to its more interesting theme, I decided to be more thrifty with our Arete, much as I will mourn missing the chance to make Letrizia cry.
1221 words of option analysis.
