[x] Controlled Withdrawal
-[x] You need to know what these guys are capable of, but you have no healers except Miz' regeneration. Have Miz attract attention of the main horde while you and Angels finish off strays, but don't push your luck and retreat once things start looking difficult.
-[x] Gluttony is the main scouting target. Tag him with a couple of attacks, just to see how he handles it.
Jen's Hex is a ranged attack, I think, so it might get through.
As for a strategy to kill them all... I think a viable one would be for Miz to gather the enemies in one place (by tanking the hits), then for Angel to come to the same position and start defending. A few successful rolls would burn them all to a crisp due to AoE aura, but it's risky since Angel doesn't have regen and her def, while decent, isn't perfect.
We should take some healers on the next skirmish, or create some healing potions via sorcery. It really limits our combat options.
[X] Stand and fight. You can handle a horde of Sin-Eaten.
- [X] Tactics? You're on the roof, right? Don't target the first Sin-Eaten, target the roof to drop some of them through it and thin the herd.
"Miz, draw them in! Angel and I will back you up!" you yell, filling your free hand with fire.
As you speak, the world around you disappears, replaced with a rough stone cavern. The walls are slick with what looks and smells like rotting blood and smeared grease. The low ceiling is clustered with dangling sides of rancid meat, just above your heads, low enough that they drip congealing fluids onto your hair and face. The middle of the cavern holds a shallow pit, filled with dimly-glowing coals.
Miz nods, racks the bolt on her rifle, and strolls forwards as though she's headed on a gentle walk through a pleasant flowery meadow, instead of straight towards what must be more than a dozen acid-drooling Sin-Eaten. Angel spins her sword and stalks forwards behind Miz, and you hang back a little, wrinkling your nose at the stink.
You can't spot the Sin Chosen from where you are. He's probably not even in the Circle; you certainly wouldn't be, if you were him. You'd be waiting outside, for when the three Chosen left it, worn down by a horde of your pet Sin-Eaten.
Your opening volley drops one Sin-Eaten in a flurry of sunfire bullets and a wave of crushing gravity, and you burn another to the bone with a stream of white-hot flame that ignites the next Sin-Eaten over with its radiant heat. The acid-drooling men and women keep coming, hands outstretched and mouths open to reveal sharp, jagged ridges of bone where their teeth should be.
Miz steps into the middle of the approaching wave and stands like a rock before a storm. A casual shot from her rifle puts your first target out of its misery, and then she's pushing and ducking and letting the enemy beat themselves to pieces against her peerless defences. Angel charges in to her side, swinging her sword in great, sweeping cleaves that reap down the Sin-Eaten like so much wheat.
You barely have time to layer more flames onto one of the Sin-Eaten while you throw your axe into the chest of another before it's all over. Angel stands tall, chest heaving as she gulps in air, her right arm reddened by a lucky acid splash. Miz just rolls her head lazily, ignoring the blistered skin you can see across her back. It's healing over as you watch.
The Circle shatters to pieces as quickly as it formed, leaving you all surrounded by slumped bodies. They look even more emaciated than they did when they were in their Sin-Eaten form, but you don't have time for that. You can see the Sin Chosen, now, just coming out of the stairwell.
He's a giant of a man, at least seven feet tall, with stretched, skinny limbs. His hands are like enormous brown spiders, and he has a massive, stained, butcher's cleaver dangling from his right, dragging along the ground with a tortured screech of metal on concrete. He's wearing what must have once been a very nice tuxedo, but it's splattered with all kinds of stains and leftover foods. His lips are cracked and split and cannot contain the overgrown tangle of jagged fangs that crowds his mouth. He looks shocked that the three of you broke free so quickly and easily.
"Ah," he says, his voice as deep and resonant as before. "You have me at the disadvantage, ladies."
You point your axe at him and snarl. "Back off."
He stops his slow walk towards you, and tries to arrange his features into a smile. The teeth rather destroy the intended effect; you suspect that he'd look rather less intimidating without them.
"No need for that," he says. "You can't blame a man for protecting his territory, can you?"
"Can when you try to kill us," Angel says.
He shrugs, and lifts his blade up to rest it on one shoulder. The thing must be as heavy as he is. "I thought that you had met Pride's pet, no? Raff should have explained things to you." He pauses, and licks his teeth with a tongue that's more snake than human, and which must be ten times the normal length from the way it winds between the yellowed shards of bone. "Though he does tend to ignore little details."
Miz racks the bolt on her rifle, but doesn't point it his way yet. "You have a point you're getting to, any time today, big guy?" she asks.
"My name is Charles," he says. "The point, ladies, is that this you should not be here unless you wish to join us. My little greeting was simply a warning to you all, hm?"
"You told them they could eat us," you say, letting your flames heat your axe until it glows. "That's not a fucking warning."
"Oh, stop being so dramatic," he says, rolling his eyes. "Have you ever tried to direct a pack of mindless obsessives? They can be a chore to get moving without the proper motivation. Gluttony's Sin-Eaten require food as motivation." He sneers. "Do you see how that works?"
"You wanna tone down the condescension a little?" Angel says. "We still outnumber you three to one, Chucky."
He rolls his eyes again. "Oh. No. However will I cope, outnumbered by little girls in my own territory. It's not as though I have allies or anything." He pauses, and raises one insectile digit. "Oh, wait. The opposite of that."
You can hear the clanking of chains again, coming up the stairwell. There's a soft rush of air and an immaculately-clad young man descends to the rooftop next to Charles, who bows his head mockingly towards Pride's Sin Chosen.
"They come to join us, then? It's inevitable that they'd want to be on the same side as me, of course." Rafael says, not looking at any of you, and instead fiddling with a pack of cigarettes. "I mean, we've only got the one Wrath spot. We could have the two fighty ones kill each other for it? Or, you know, we could have one of them go now and use the other as a backup for when the first one inevitably fails and dies? They cleared the space for the Sloth girl, though. That's, uh, that's you, by the way," he adds, gesturing towards Miz with his lighter. "I think, anyway." He shrugs. "Not like I care enough to keep you all straight in my head. Anyway! Offer's on the table, girls."
"Don't think they want to go for it, Raff," Charles says.
"Ugh, really?" Rafael whines, and takes a drag from his cigarette. "Why are they wasting my time then? I was in the middle of really important stuff when you called me. I thought this was going to be interesting."
"Sorry to drag you away from your mirror," you say.
"You should be. My looks are incredibly important," he says, leaving you dumbfounded for a moment. "So, uh, what's happening here? Hurry up with it, whatever it is."
You look to one side, and Angel raises an eyebrow at you. You look to the other, and Miz shrugs.
What's the plan?
[] Withdraw.
[] Try to draw him into a conversation.
- [] About what?
[] Write in.
This went so quick there wasn't much time for tactics; Angel was going to withdraw back after Round 2 so you could all pull out safely staggered, but, uh, Aura of Strength happened.
MIZ, ANGEL AND CHAMPION VS 16 GLUTTONY SIN-EATEN
ROUND 1
Zone 5: Angel, Champion, Miz.
Zone 4:
Zone 3:
Zone 2:
Zone 1: GSE 1-16.
Miz becomes Calm.
Miz activates Regeneration.
Miz advances 1 position to Zone 4.
Miz holds.
Miz 18/18 Cl. Re.
Angel advances 1 position to Zone 4.
Angel holds.
GSE 1-16 advance to Zone 2.
GSE 1-16 advance to Zone 3.
Miz attacks GSE 1. Rolls 11, hits.
Deals 5 damage to GSE 1.
Miz applies Reflector to Champion.
Angel needs to raise her DEF stat. That was brutal. 12 minions killed off in a single round as collateral damage.
Miz needs more hitpoints, badly. Her Regen and DEF take good care of her, but she is still squishy.
Damn. They have their own warning system, and it's pretty effective. How does Pride manage to get wherever we are so fast? Is it sorcery? Can it be disrupted? I can't help noticing it's only him coming to help the others... does it mean only he has fast transportation magic?
I very much want to know what they are trying to do that's so important. My reason for investigating the Sin Chosen was because I was uncomfortable with their apparent inaction - yet Pride mentions being busy with something big. Even a hint would be fine.
[X] Try to draw him into a conversation.
- [X] About his plans for the city, or whatever 'important stuff' he's been doing. He sure likes to hear himself talk; let him.
Risky as hell, but we do have the highest CHA in the group, and the guy has an enormous ego.
Angel needs to raise her DEF stat. That was brutal. 12 minions killed off in a single round as collateral damage.
Miz needs more hitpoints, badly. Her Regen and DEF take good care of her, but she is still squishy.
-suggests our teammates might be in some trouble if a fight breaks out. We might have the highest CHA, bit are we (Champion) going to be the only one talking, or will a friend pipe up and possibly flub a roll?
The last thing we need is for them to be buying time until Greed can arrive and ambush us from behind.
...
If more argument comes up, I might change my vote, but for now let's bug out.
Although if a fight does break out, we can potentially scissor Pride off from the rest by challenging him to single combat. But that might mean we'd be stuck fighting him alone, too... Ugh...
Although if a fight does break out, we can potentially scissor Pride off from the rest by challenging him to single combat. But that might mean we'd be stuck fighting him alone, too... Ugh...
They can easily kill us one-on-one. They are high level; we barely have one level-up between us, and Light doesn't even have that, having been absent from Lust fight. It's why I suggested killing off Sloth before doing the next fight with the Sin-Chosen - it is extremely dangerous, but at least we can level up from it.
That said, a withdrawal shouldn't be too difficult? I don't know its rules, though, but it was mentioned that Olivia could attempt to flee from us, and she was surrounded 4 to 1.
We are actually the squishiest member of our team, while Miz is the tankiest (and with healing, too). The problem is that Miz has to tank for all of us, and eventually something will go through just because of the law of averages.
Ultimately, this comes down to whether we write today off as a loss, or try to get something out of it with a risky gambit. We have not yet achieved the goal we made today - that is, to investigate a Sin Chosen. We've met Charles, but we are no closer to understanding his abilities or goals, or whatever Rafael is busy with.
Can't say I enjoy playing with fire like that, but everything Sin-related has potential to be fatal in this quest, and these guys are running out of patience. First time they let us go, this time they sent their army as a warning, next time they probably won't be in the mood for speeches at all. I think they will wait for Greed to come over, yes, but that means they will have to keep talking about something that interests us until then?
Angel and Miz could try and spot them. That'd be our cue to bolt.
I think we should bail out. Champion's ongoing insommia is taking it's tool and it sounds like we're just going to ahve to bit the bullet and magically cleanse ourselves or it'll be the other 4 Chosen versus the now angry Sin-Chosen and the Sins themselves...Which is not an appealing prospect.
Well, throw a vote for it then. Currently we stand at 3 in favor of talking to 2 in favor of bailing, but there are two more people leaning to withdraw.
I am not against the better part of valor myself. Just... feeling a bit overwhelmed here. I have no idea how we should tackle the block of three Sin Chosen at once. That makes me want to take risks that at other times I'd consider stupid.
[X] Try to draw him into a conversation.
- [X] "If we took you up on that, the Wrath spot, what would we be doing? I mean, I know why we're fighting, but I'm not getting what you're getting out of working with the Sins; {Insert Lust's name here} was terminally ill, but you're (playing up to his pride) obviously better off than the rest of us put together. What's Pride giving you that you didn't already have on your own terms? You're getting power now, but you'll still be dead in seven years when the Sins are finished eating everyone. What makes that worth our while?"
Or something vaguely like that, however Champion would say it in-character.
Vote results:
[X] Try to draw him into a conversation. - 4 votes.
Part 28
Monday, Week 4
"Before we make any decisions," you say, shifting your axe onto your shoulder. "Mind answering some questions? You can't expect us to sign up with you unless we know what we're getting into."
Rafael raises one immaculately-sculpted eyebrow and takes a drag of his cigarette, then waves his hand to indicate 'go on'. Angel puts a hand on your shoulder and shoots you a dubious look, but you shrug carefully and tilt your head to let her know to trust you. She squeezes your shoulder, once, and lets go.
"So, uh, what's- what's the big plan? What do you want to do with all the power you've got?" you ask, ready to run at any moment.
An emaciated man crawls out of the stairwell, nose first, sniffing hungrily at the air. Charles snaps his fingers and points to the roof next to him, and the man shambles over to sit at his feet. There's a long chain wrapped around the man's neck, and it leads all the way across the roof back to the stairwell and down into the darkness.
"Get wealthy and live free?" Charles says. "It's pretty obvious, girl."
Another Sin-Eaten, a woman this time, comes out of the stairwell and joins the first, on Charles' other side.
"My minion puts it crudely," Rafael says, and you don't miss the sneer that flits across Charles' face at that pronouncement. "But accurately. We'll be wealthy and powerful and never have to worry about anything. Not that there's anything I'd need to worry about, but not everyone can be so perfect."
"But the Sins are gonna kill the fucking world if they aren't stopped," Angel snaps. "Fat lot of good money's gonna do you when you're dead."
"So you say," Rafael says, not looking concerned. He flicks his cigarette butt off to the side and lights up another. "Do you have proof? The Sins are idiot gods. Animals that happen to be nuclear reactors. I know it won't be difficult to contain, control or remove them, should it be necessary. It's a small setback that you removed Sloth's Chosen, but the important word there is small." He holds up his hand, thumb and forefinger separated an infinitesimally small amount.
"He wasn't even working with you," Miz points out, sounding bored.
"He didn't have to be," Rafael says. "We would've simply recruited him when he became necessary. And you, of course, can replace him. As I said. Small."
A suited man emerges from the stairwell, bland and forgettable save for the fact that he's identical to the ones you saw around Greed's Sin Chosen the other day, from his standard-issue black suit to his cheap sunglasses. He walks over to stand behind the female Gluttony Sin-Eaten, and leans down to pick up the chain attached to her with jerky, stop-start movements.
"So your solution to the problem is... you'll wait until it starts to be a serious problem for you, and then you'll think about fixing it?" you say, taking a step back.
Charles rolls his eyes from his position behind the Pride Sin Chosen, and swings his cleaver down off his shoulder so that he can inspect the edge, clearly bored of the conversation. Rafael simply shakes his head slowly, mockingly.
"I can't expect children to understand," he says. "Or, you know, idiots. You're-" he jabs his cigarette towards you, then Angel "-both, by the way. What's the point in living life if you don't enjoy it? Take what you want, because no-one else matters enough to stop you."
"Eat whatever takes your fancy, because no-one is hungrier," Charles adds. "Seize whatever you desire, because no-one else wants it more, as Mel would say."
The two Sin-Eaten snap their jaws at the mention of eat and hungrier, an off-beat clackclackclack that punctuates Charles' speech.
"Whatever," Rafael says. "You could join us and be part of that. Or you could keep struggling to try and make a difference against us, and fail. Over and over, until we just kill you. Or, you know, Charles eats you alive or Mel sticks you in her hoard or something."
A suited woman in the same stamped-from-a-mould outfit as the suited man climbs the last few steps out of the stairwell, takes a moment to look around with the same stop-start motions, and moves to stand next to the first suit.
"Never eaten a Chosen," Charles says, eyes sliding from his cleaver to dispassionately study the three of you. "The one with the wings, first. Lots of meat on her. The little one, I bet she's real smoky. Fire in the blood."
You hold back a shudder at the way his eyes seem to dissect you into neat joints.
"Okay, so we'd just... basically keep doing whatever we wanted, so long as we didn't get in your way?" you say, trying to draw the conversation away from the relative tastes of dead you.
"Essentially," Rafael says. "There'd be things we'd need you to do, but sure. Mostly, you'd just be... you, but angrier. Or you, but lazier."
"I still think we should be offering the Wrath position to the fat one," Charles says. "She's less likely to end up Eaten for it. Give the blonde one Lust."
"Boring," Rafael says. "Who cares if it works? It'll be fun to watch."
Charles shrugs.
"How would that even work?" you say, sliding your feet slowly backwards. "What, we'd just hold a Sin Eikon? We've all done that before, it doesn't change us."
"Well, we'd kill your little glowball friend," Rafael says, and blows out a puff of smoke that lingers in a hovering globe over his right shoulder. "Then we'd have you hold the Eikon until it changed you. Without your buddy-" he pops the globe with an outstretched finger "-you wouldn't be able to stop the transformation."
"And why the fuck do you want us in the first place?" Angel says. She's level with you, now, and doesn't seem to have noticed your slow withdrawal.
"Oh, Mel has a theory," Charles says, sounding genuinely interested for the first time since the conversation started. "It'd make more powerful Sin Chosen, because you've all got power already. Might be able to even make a new Sin." He pauses, and looks back down to his cleaver, bored again. "Haven't eaten a Sin before, either."
You look to Angel, then to Miz, and the two of them look back to you yet again. Looks like you're still stuck as the leader on this. Angel takes a step back so she's slightly behind you again, keeping an eye on the roof behind the three of you, and Miz makes sure she stays level with you as you move.
"Surely you don't need the Eikons," you say, more to try and distract him than to actually try and learn anything. "If you're so perfect, you can't have needed to be Chosen in the first place, right?"
Charles bursts into laughter, a set of surprisingly high-pitched giggles shaking his body as he covers his face with one spidery hand.
"Ah, you seem to be under a misapprehension," Rafael says, glowering over his shoulder at the snickering Gluttony Chosen. "Perfection is something I've attained. I wasn't born perfect, shock though it may be to you-" you find yourself having to resist a compulsive eye-roll "-it was the acquisition of my Eikon that made me truly perfect. Without it, I am merely mortally perfect."
"If you say so," you murmur to yourself. "Look, this, uh, this isn't something we can decide on our own, okay? We need to, uh, go discuss with the other Chosen."
You take several more slow steps backwards.
"It makes no difference to me whether you join now or later," Rafael says. "So long as you don't, you know, drag me away from my mirror next time."
"Next time I see you," Charles says. "I eat you. We don't need you. Mel just wants to play."
Rafael shrugs. "No skin off my nose either way," he says. "Go on, then. Be off with you."
Angel flares her wings, and Miz tenses her legs, ready to jump away. You do the same, and spare one final look back at the two Sin Chosen. They seem to have completely forgotten you exist, now, and are heading for the stairwell. The four Sin-Eaten, on the other hand, stare at you with unwavering focus; the two Gluttony Sin-Eaten are leaning forwards, acid drooling from their snapping jaws, while the two you assume to be Greed or Pride Sin-Eaten are holding onto the chains around the Gluttony Sin-Eaten's necks, stopping them from launching across the roof at you.
The three of you make good your escape, heading away from the areas you know are controlled by the three Sins who still have Sin Chosen left around.
What's the plan now?
[] Find somewhere the three of you can sit down and discuss what just happened.
[] Get all the Chosen together to discuss what's just happened and what you're going to do about it.
[] Split up to get some rest and arrange something later.
[] Write in.
[X] Find somewhere the three of you can sit down and discuss what just happened.
Sit down, discuss it while it's fresh, and then have something more comprehensive to present the others with instead of confused babbling.
Also, talk to the angel-equivalents more about the Sins, about any Sin Chosen, and about the previous planets the Sins have scoured clean in the past. Because if a bunch of teenage girls killed a sin, either there were more than seven when this she-bang started, or there is a way to ressurect a Sin, and we need to know.
Because if a bunch of teenage girls killed a sin, either there were more than seven when this she-bang started, or there is a way to ressurect a Sin, and we need to know.
The Egregoroi were once the same species as the Exousiai, long ago. We took separate evolutionary paths, however, once we were able to travel through space."
You nod. That- sort of makes sense? There's definitely a connection between the two, you figured that much out on your own.
"We chose to name ourselves Exousiai in your languages after a group we considered we were analogous to, and likewise named the Egregoroi for their analogous group. As to why they are on your planet, it is what they do. They are magical parasitoids. Members of their species are sent out in all directions in search of sapient species.
The Sins we know are members of the parasitic Egregoroi species, but they are not the only living members of that species, just the only ones who landed on the planet Earth after a big group of them was split up and sent out in all directions.
The mention of evolutionary paths also implies they have a way to reproduce, since that would be necessary for evolution to happen.
Asking if resurrecting one is possible, so we don't get surprised later, is still a good idea.
Hoo boy. We better not get captured by any of these guys. The transformation into a Sin Chosen doesn't have to be voluntary from what I am hearing.
[x] Get all the Chosen together to discuss what's just happened and what you're going to do about it.
Need a full Council on this one. If we can do anything about it, it will likely involve sorcery - because we lack in raw strength - and that means Light and Shadows anyway. Personally, I want to scry on Raf's mirror and learn about what he is doing, and if there is any way to prevent him from being distracted while we whack his buddies - or distracting him with something else.
