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A Simple Transaction I

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[X] Combat
[X] Hero-Defeating Stance

It feels as though posters have become cavalier about the chance of death in combat, and the recent Arete drive and debate may be lending people a sense of premature relief. But Avecarn was and remains the same character who triggered that bount of frantic grinding in the first place. He may be a retired hero who's phoning it in at this point, but it would be unwise to underestimate him. Given the chance to choose an option that all but guarantees Hunger's survival, why wouldn't we take it?

That even Crimson Flare + HDS only amounts to a virtual guarantee is a warning sign; just because odds of dying aren't displayed next to the option doesn't mean they aren't there. It's not like the Hero-Defeating Stance is a bad investment; it compares poorly to the Royal Praxis, but what doesn't? +2 Might & Agility, +1 Wisdom, +0.2 Rank, halving the penalties of being out-Ranked or outnumbered, which we're guaranteed to be in the Inner Temple... and it discounts Once and Future as the cherry on top.
 
I'm sticking with my vote of magic defeating for now for a simple reason.
We'll want to get it eventually, for the curse mitigation if literally nothing else. Getting it before we fight a society of wizards is just prudent.
 
Sigh...
[X] Combat
[X] Guile-Defeating Stance

Orm Embar said:
[X] Combat
[X] Hero-Defeating Stance

It feels as though posters have become cavalier about the chance of death in combat, and the recent Arete drive and debate may be lending people a sense of premature relief. But Avecarn was and remains the same character who triggered that bount of frantic grinding in the first place. He may be a retired hero who's phoning it in at this point, but it would be unwise to underestimate him. Given the chance to choose an option that all but guarantees Hunger's survival, why wouldn't we take it?

That even Crimson Flare + HDS only amounts to a virtual guarantee is a warning sign; just because odds of dying aren't displayed next to the option doesn't mean they aren't there. It's not like the Hero-Defeating Stance is a bad investment; it compares poorly to the Royal Praxis, but what doesn't? +2 Might & Agility, +1 Wisdom, +0.2 Rank, halving the penalties of being out-Ranked or outnumbered, which we're guaranteed to be in the Inner Temple... and it discounts Once and Future as the cherry on top.
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The whole point of that omake grind was to not make purchases the thread found unpleasant and inefficient in the long term. taking H-DS now kind of defeats the point of that. Plus, Guile is better for the general infiltration, even if Hero is better now. If you combine resent challenges plus the future challenges of the Infiltration, Guile does come out ahead in my view, even if it's is merely "good" now. Survival odds are alreday quite good with Guile, why triple down and waste all the effort spent to aoid buying it? It makes no sense to me.
 
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Like legit, H-DS only comes up during the Infiltration when we meet people of higher Rank, but Guile helps with basically all of it. Uncovering Illusions and deceptions? Those seem key to the function of the Inner Temple given their infosec obsession; and Guile would help us defend against our own schemes being interrupted. It's great for the task we actually want to do.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by BrainInAJar on Jul 2, 2020 at 11:47 PM, finished with 459 posts and 62 votes.
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Further argumentation for Stealth, we don't really need that Combat fix for our liver. We're on the precipice of fully body healing fairly soon, either through Ring power or Pillar healing. Those aren't soon soon but they are coming up faster than what I'd expect normal remedies to take. What we can't replicate with omake is the ability to go invisible, and strike from attention defeating cover!
 
Enohthree said:
Further argumentation for Stealth, we don't really need that Combat fix for our liver. We're on the precipice of fully body healing fairly soon, either through Ring power or Pillar healing. Those aren't soon soon but they are coming up faster than what I'd expect normal remedies to take. What we can't replicate with omake is the ability to go invisible, and strike from attention defeating cover!
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I'm in on combat at the moment for greater returns on PW because of her combat progression boost.
 
Enohthree said:
Further argumentation for Stealth, we don't really need that Combat fix for our liver. We're on the precipice of fully body healing fairly soon, either through Ring power or Pillar healing. Those aren't soon soon but they are coming up faster than what I'd expect normal remedies to take. What we can't replicate with omake is the ability to go invisible, and strike from attention defeating cover!
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We can't replicate +Progression with omake either. Her being a viable combatant just makes her more useful over all to me, since she can still stealth well. It makes her able to contribute a lot more often.
 
Conjured Blade said:
I'm in on combat at the moment for greater returns on PW because of her combat progression boost.
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I almost think that stealth works better with PW because there's a single overriding purpose to her Imaginary Element: H I D E

Stealth + PW might let her apply H I D E to situations with more conceptual distance and/or abstraction from normal Rogue stuff, whereas Combat + PW will be restricted to insights about mundane stealth & infiltration.
 
Zampano said:
I almost think that stealth works better with PW because there's a single overriding purpose to her Imaginary Element: H I D E

Stealth + PW might let her apply H I D E to situations with more conceptual distance and/or abstraction, whereas Combat + PW will be restricted to insights about mundane stealth & infiltration.
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Fair enough.

[x]Stealth
[x]Guile-Defeating Stance
 
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Update in 30-40.

He accelerated, world a watercolor blur. There was the Temple.

In through the gates, then quickly across the grasslands, up over the mountains and into the Middle Ring. Edeldross-infused, he pushed forward, faster than he'd gone before, the accumulated power of recent days like thunderheads gathering in his wake. Outriders tried feebly to intercept. Those who could not keep up were ignored, the others slaughtered. The Inner Temple loomed, dome of matte blue like still deep waters, a globe stripped bare of land.

A man strode out to meet him, a solid brick wall of muscle, his face creased and cragged, hair streaked with gray. He wore a uniform of gray and black, a marshal's baton strapped to his side, eyes like coals flecked with bronze.

Hunger flared his Ring and felt the man's blood quail before him, even as the greater portion stood strong. Even with all his newfound powers, this would not be an easy fight.
 
Fanwork#490 words
Nothing is ever truly gone. No one can truly, actually destroy anything. Not the mightiest, not the cleverest, not the most devious, and not the most wise. That is because there is a place that is Destroyed, where everything lost is condemned to wallow.

Destroyed is at the end of the omniverse. It is far, far beyond reckoning, far beyond distance. The journey to it is swift, but the journey from it is nigh-impossible. It's boundary is guarded on one side by the Gaoler Beast and its keeper, the Listener, and on the other by the yawning abyss that is the Every-Nothing, an utter absence which is as empty as the omniverse is full.

Destroyed is where this story begins.

Life in Destroyed is strange, given the cyclical nature of existence there. Nothing is ever truly gone, and in Destroyed this is more true than anywhere else. Without destruction, without death, the struggle is endless, and through that endless struggle, the struggle to reach the Edge and to test themselves against the Gaoler Beast, hones the denizens of Destroyed into blades of exceeding sharpness.

Ruby is not the sharpest of these blades. They are unwilling to let go of the parts of themselves which hold them back, unwilling to let go of their pasts. But where they lacked in sharpness they excelled in steel, and in truth steel is all the more valuable in the eternal struggle that is Destroyed. It is that steel which brought Ruby to the Gaoler Beast's den, to the Listener's hut to tell him their story.

It is that steel, and the golden-hearted ideal it bears within, that earns the opportunity to perform a simple transaction, in the moments before the Gaoler Beast's opening attack.

Bear a fraction of this magnificent horror's burden, and receive a fraction of its power. Ruby would become a Combat-Type Cursebearer.

Ruby answers the only way they can. Yes.



The cost comes first. Choose two curses.

[ ] Flagrant Affliction - Massively increases the Ruby's dietary requirements.

[ ] Plenary Brand - Attracts attention to Ruby. Scales dangerously.

[ ] Doom of the Martyr - Renders Ruby unhelpfully generous.

[ ] Geas of Exile - Forbids Ruby from revisiting places they've left, on pain of death.



Then the reward. Choose one primary remittance.

[ ] Favor - Creates a special connection to the Accursed, allowing for Ruby to accrue Accursed Favor when they substantially mitigate their curses or otherwise exceed the Accursed's high expectations.

[ ] Works - Grants Ruby access to the Praxis, the Accursed's personal casting style. A style of magic that emanates completely from the self, relies completely upon the self, and is developed completely by the self.

[ ] Unity - Perfectly unites Ruby's two halves, allowing for access to both the Dreaming and the Waking simultaneously. Massively increases the power and versatility of Ruby's native abilities, as well as eliminates the physical frailties of an imperfect fusion.

-e

Next ->
 
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[9] An Apostle's Strength: "My followers can't be this weak! Suit up. Prep up. Prove that you weren't a mistake!"
[9] Fight: "Report, Mercenary Nine White."

The only way out is through.

[R] Doom of the Martyr
[R] Plenary Brand
[R] Works

The Praxis is great for a Combat-type. The others are non-issues if we just never talk to anyone and instead focus on grinding, which we should do anyway until we can leave this place of suffering.
 
Aabcehmu said:
Fanwork#490 words
Nothing is ever truly gone. No one can truly, actually destroy anything. Not the mightiest, not the cleverest, not the most devious, and not the most wise. That is because there is a place that is Destroyed, where everything lost is condemned to wallow.

Destroyed is at the end of the omniverse. It is far, far beyond reckoning, far beyond distance. The journey to it is swift, but the journey from it is nigh-impossible. It's boundary is guarded on one side by the Gaoler Beast and its keeper, the Listener, and on the other by the yawning abyss that is the Every-Nothing, an utter absence which is as empty as the omniverse is full.

Destroyed is where this story begins.

Life in Destroyed is strange, given the cyclical nature of existence there. Nothing is ever truly gone, and in Destroyed this is more true than anywhere else. Without destruction, without death, the struggle is endless, and through that endless struggle, the struggle to reach the Edge and to test themselves against the Gaoler Beast, hones the denizens of Destroyed into blades of exceeding sharpness.

Ruby is not the sharpest of these blades. They are unwilling to let go of the parts of themselves which hold them back, unwilling to let go of their pasts. But where they lacked in sharpness they excelled in steel, and in truth steel is all the more valuable in the eternal struggle that is Destroyed. It is that steel which brought Ruby to the Gaoler Beast's den, to the Listener's hut to tell him their story.

It is that steel, and the golden-hearted ideal it bears within, that earns the opportunity to perform a simple transaction, in the moments before the Gaoler Beast's opening attack.

Bear a fraction of this magnificent horror's burden, and receive a fraction of its power. Ruby would become a Combat-Type Cursebearer.

Ruby answers the only way they can. Yes.



The cost comes first. Choose two curses.

[ ] Flagrant Affliction - Massively increases the Ruby's dietary requirements.

[ ] Plenary Brand - Attracts attention to Ruby. Scales dangerously.

[ ] Doom of the Martyr - Renders Ruby unhelpfully generous.

[ ] Geas of Exile - Forbids Ruby from revisiting places they've left, on pain of death.



Then the reward. Choose one primary remittance.

[ ] Favor - Creates a special connection to the Accursed, allowing for Ruby to accrue Accursed Favor when they substantially mitigate their curses or otherwise exceed the Accursed's high expectations.

[ ] Works - Grants Ruby access to the Praxis, the Accursed's personal casting style. A style of magic that emanates completely from the self, relies completely upon the self, and is developed completely by the self.

[ ] Unity - Perfectly unites Ruby's two halves, allowing for access to both the Dreaming and the Waking simultaneously. Massively increases the power and versatility of Ruby's native abilities, as well as eliminates the physical frailties of an imperfect fusion.
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Difficult, but Praxis is great for combat types. Plenary is risky, but might be just worth the immense risk...

[R] Doom of the Martyr - Renders Ruby unhelpfully generous.

[R] Plenary Brand - Attracts attention to Ruby. Scales dangerously.
 
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