No update yet, but to keep y'all in the loop, I've been hacking away at this, and managed another ~500 words today! Steady progress. Update is incoming, and while there's no new content yet, the quest ain't dead.
No update yet, but to keep y'all in the loop, I've been hacking away at this, and managed another ~500 words today! Steady progress. Update is incoming, and while there's no new content yet, the quest ain't dead.
No update yet, but to keep y'all in the loop, I've been hacking away at this, and managed another ~500 words today! Steady progress. Update is incoming, and while there's no new content yet, the quest ain't dead.
So, our last update before my latest hiatus was introducing us to the new team who'll be our companions for this next mission. Bad time to fall out of contact, right after we've met them, so let's have a quick refresher.
Lyre: Tall, muscular, and unusually dark-skinned by namekian standard, Lyre habitually works with Flute, the two moving about as partners in their adventures in the wider galaxy. One of the team's heavy hitters, Lyre clocks in at 27.3 million. He's a fairly serious and unsmiling man. His friendship with Flute is very much a match of opposites.
Flute: Short and stocky, Flute is Lyre's partner in adventure. Actually the strongest person present on the team -- aside from you -- Flute reads at a solid 29.5 million. He smiles often, usually has a joke, and always has time to get a rise out of Lyre.
Bugle: Bugle is fairly unexceptional in terms of appearance, except for a fairly spectacular scar coming straight through his left eye. He's your team's blaster -- which he says is a specialty he prefers due to poor luck in hand-to-hand fighting. Bugle is fairly withdrawn, but seems to be warm with Bassoon. His power level comes in at 22.4 million.
Snare: Snare is extremely tall and very lanky. He doesn't look like a fighter at all. Indeed, he's not on the team to be a fighter. Snare's power level is only 1.1 million. Most Exiles could flatten him in a fight, and there are plenty of champions in the wider galaxy that could do the same. He's along for his wide network of contacts and extensive experience in getting to know the places of the galaxy; mission control, in other words. He's a loner by habit and fairly unassertive.
Bassoon: Your host, Bassoon has a picture listed back in, "Old Friends," which is still good. Coming in at a solid 20 million, Bassoon is a ki fighter and a momentum mage. Most of his activities deal in regions towards Arcosa and its eternal siege, so he'll mostly be relying on Snare for this one. A refugee called Tariq is still out looking for Bassoon from the last time Bassoon ran the blockade around Arcosa. He's on decent terms with everybody.
Snare: Snare is extremely tall and very lanky. He doesn't look like a fighter at all. Indeed, he's not on the team to be a fighter. Snare's power level is only 1.1 million. Most Exiles could flatten him in a fight, and there are plenty of champions in the wider galaxy that could do the same. He's along for his wide network of contacts and extensive experience in getting to know the places of the galaxy; mission control, in other words. He's a loner by habit and fairly unassertive.
Yep, wasn't implying otherwise. Just an interesting thing to note. He could be an excellent source of Deceit training for Kakara, should we have the spare time/AP to convince him to train her.
SV deleted my draft. I have, since, discovered how to convert an SV draft to BBCode, save it elsewhere, and convert it back into the SV text editor, so I no longer have to worry about drafts vanishing.
That said, I'm not recreating all of the content I just lost.
I'm breaking the update up into smaller pieces and working that way. The sheer size was making it hard to grapple with, anyway. Expect the update tonight.
I am not really up to date on exact powerlevels, but Piccolo seems to be a bit of an outlier for a namekian strenghtwise, so maybe namekian regeneration scales with powerlevel like almost every biological ability in the franchise?
I don't think we know on that count, actually. Dead Namekians tend to die of exhaustion or annihilation, from what I recall.
(Also, Cell's only vital organ is in his head - it's just tiny, and durable.)
that is CLEARLY bullshit. If it was in his head he would have died against Goku's IT Kamehameha.
I think he actually doesn't know about the details of how his regen works. He was taken by surprise when Piccolo regenerated his arm after all, wasn't he?
Piccolo is the result of his "father" coughing his soul into an egg to regenerate in full after Goku smashed a hole straight through his torso at power levels in the low hundreds.
that is CLEARLY bullshit. If it was in his head he would have died against Goku's IT Kamehameha.
I think he actually doesn't know about the details of how his regen works. He was taken by surprise when Piccolo regenerated his arm after all, wasn't he?
This might be a manga/anime difference. I don't think his head got vaped in the manga until his selfdestruct.
That said, fair point on the ignorance thing.
[X] Plan Deathbybunnies
-[X] Sight: 3 (2+1)
--[X] Continue Your Training (1 AP)
--[X] Looking Abroad (1 AP) [Perfect Cell's Perfect Multiform]
--[X] Looking Abroad (1 AP) [The Namek invasion fleet - from where will it stage the invasion?]
-[X] Training: (3+2)
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Kikoho]
--[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Perfect Multiform]
--[X] Style Training (2 AP) [Tien Style]
--[X] New Skills (1 AP) [Ki Overdrive] Use a vision if Kakara thinks it would be helpful.
-[X] Social: 4 (2+2)
--[X] Strengthen Host Bond (1 AP)
--[X] General Training (2 AP)
--[X] Talk to Dazarel (1 AP)
-[X] A Cause: 1 (1+0)
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Ki Refinement]
[X][DESTINATION] Tamrii. Flute makes a good point; loyalty is important for the staging ground for your operations; after the Unsealing, you have a sudden and keen appreciation for making sure that your allies are reliable.
So, our last update before my latest hiatus was introducing us to the new team who'll be our companions for this next mission. Bad time to fall out of contact, right after we've met them, so let's have a quick refresher.
Lyre: Tall, muscular, and unusually dark-skinned by namekian standard, Lyre habitually works with Flute, the two moving about as partners in their adventures in the wider galaxy. One of the team's heavy hitters, Lyre clocks in at 27.3 million. He's a fairly serious and unsmiling man. His friendship with Flute is very much a match of opposites.
Flute: Short and stocky, Flute is Lyre's partner in adventure. Actually the strongest person present on the team -- aside from you -- Flute reads at a solid 29.5 million. He smiles often, usually has a joke, and always has time to get a rise out of Lyre.
Bugle: Bugle is fairly unexceptional in terms of appearance, except for a fairly spectacular scar coming straight through his left eye. He's your team's blaster -- which he says is a specialty he prefers due to poor luck in hand-to-hand fighting. Bugle is fairly withdrawn, but seems to be warm with Bassoon. His power level comes in at 22.4 million.
Snare: Snare is extremely tall and very lanky. He doesn't look like a fighter at all. Indeed, he's not on the team to be a fighter. Snare's power level is only 1.1 million. Most Exiles could flatten him in a fight, and there are plenty of champions in the wider galaxy that could do the same. He's along for his wide network of contacts and extensive experience in getting to know the places of the galaxy; mission control, in other words. He's a loner by habit and fairly unassertive.
Bassoon: Your host, Bassoon has a picture listed back in, "Old Friends," which is still good. Coming in at a solid 27 million, Bassoon is a ki fighter and a momentum mage. Most of his activities deal in regions towards Arcosa and its eternal siege, so he'll mostly be relying on Snare for this one. A refugee called Tariq is still out looking for Bassoon from the last time Bassoon ran the blockade around Arcosa. He's on decent terms with everybody.
Threefold Mystery
As the argument continues, you bow your head in thought. If I were in charge of the invasion fleet, where would I bring it?
All of the possible worlds have their strong points, but you discard Vulkar immediately. People expect things for good reasons. The planet just doesn't work. Set beside loyalty and materiel advantages, the planet whose only advantage is that nobody would expect it on account of it having nothing to offer just can't compare. You can add secrecy. You can't add inherent worth.
Then it comes down to Braigh and Tamrii. This decision is harder...but in the end, only Tamrii really makes sense to you. You'd be lying if you said your recent experiences didn't play into it at all -- the importance of having reliable allies is fairly indelibly burned into your mind, at the moment. Between a population so loyal you can count on them to keep their mouths shut, and industry you'd have to retool anyway to be of any use, and would be of more use in a prolonged campaign than the surprise assault of a single world...you know where you'd lean.
You up through Bassoon's eyes, still fixed on the middle distance as he awaits your response, and say, "Tamrii. They want surprise. They don't have it unless the people they're hovering over are loyal."
Bassoon blinks. "You sound very sure of that. A vision...?"
You shake your head. "No. I'll set some time aside later to have a look ahead to confirm it, but if the person in charge of this knows what they're doing...Tamrii. You can bring in machinery. You can't import loyalty."
Bassoon blinks, then concedes the point with a nod. "All right, then." He refocuses, blinking again, and looks to the arguing namekians. "Kakara votes Tamrii."
The various debaters break off and look to Bassoon. After a moment, Lyre asks, "...why?"
You square your shoulders and take a breath. "Tamrii is loyal to the Empire. That's...important...for secrets. More important than anything else. If I were the royal in charge of this, I wouldn't trust either of the other planets to keep this quiet."
Bugle frowns. "I still like Vulkar for it. Nobody's going to be looking there. Including us, if we go for Tamrii."
"There's a good reason for that," you reply. "Snare, you said it's a tourist planet, right?"
Snare shifts as the focus of attention falls on him again, but answers, "That's right. Now really...big...or anything. It doesn't have tons to recommend it. But if you enjoy just...visiting with friendly people, I guess...then yeah, they're pretty good at that."
You nod. "Any details about the invasion force leak the second a Vulkarite talks to a guest. Nobody's going there. And again, secrecy is the biggest thing. Everything else, you can bring in, but enough loyalty to keep a secret is something you can't import."
Flute smirks. "Well, you are the local expert on how nobility thinks..."
You blink and scowl, glad for a moment that your expression is safe behind Bassoon's skull.
Dazarel stirs on your shoulders. 'Oh, you can hardly blame them, Princess. You struggle with the finer points of anarchist theory, they struggle to articulate the difference between your style of royalty and the arcosians'. I'd say that they'll learn given time, but, well...slugs.'
You roll your eyes. 'Amazingly, you've actually stumbled into a good point there, somewhere past the insults.'
'One has one's moments.'
You turn away from him and tune back into the discussion as Lyre sighs. "Very well. I'll concede to the Scion's...unique perspective...in this matter. And she makes a good point." Flute's smirk spreads into a grin, and Lyre groans. "And don't you start!"
Flute spreads his hands. "I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it," grumbles Lyre.
Flute laughs. "Can't punish a man for his thoughts, now, can you?"
Lyre's eye twitches.
Bassoon spins away before the two return to their argument in earnest, though, and you watch as he puts your destination into the computer. 'We'll want to get moving fairly quickly,' he remarks. 'Just in case your intuition is off, I want enough time to check one of the other worlds.'
"Smart," you admit. "I'll work on a vision to check my logic when I have the energy for it."
'Do,' he replies. 'That's one of the best assets for scouting we could have asked for.'
"Don't rely too heavily on it," you warn. "It has its limits, especially when I'm spending so much energy on training."
'Of course,' he says. 'Still, the ability to go and search for things without actually going there...that's a game-changer. So yes, at your first opportunity: please have a look.'
You smile. "Of course."
* * *
The following day, you kneel on the grass in Bassoon's mind. Bassoon is here in person today, and Dazarel is winging his way overhead, trailing his wings through the clouds. You take int he scene one last time and then close your eyes. "The invasion fleet," you murmur. "Where will it be?"
Imagine begin flickering through your head, and when you open your eyes, you know the characteristic white film clouds them. You drift away-
-to orbit over the planet Tamrii, three months from now.
It is, by all appearances, a hectic day. Law enforcement vessels swarm through space, clearing civilian vessels from the vacuum and back down into the atmosphere. They've hardly finished when the reason for their haste becomes clear.
A massive fleet of warships comes into view at impossible speeds, coming to a halt just barely outside of the atmosphere before disgorging a horde of smaller craft. Those smaller ships fly to and from the planet for hours, shuttling personnel and supplies back and forth.
In the center of the controlled chaos is a massive vessel, at least three times the size of the next largest, and aloof from the flurry of activity.
The fleet does not remain long. You flash between a thousand perspectives, and hear the tale a thousand ways from a thousand lips-
"-too little time, this isn't-"
"-not nearly comfortable enough with the weld, we need at least a day-"
"-expects me to have us back on the road by when? No, no, I heard! Fine. Helmsman, set a course for New Namek. Yes, immediately-"
-and in less than a day, they are gone again, flashing onwards, to New Namek.
...but-
"-that doesn't fit the timing," you murmur, vision flickering back to Bassoon's mindscape for a moment.
Bassoon blinks. "What?"
"I just saw the fleet tearing through Tamrii three months from now and heading straight on," you explain. "But that wouldn't fit the timeline for my premonition at all!"
"No," he agrees, frowning. "That would put them planetside four months from now. Seven from your premonition, and that said a year. Now, maybe you could argue that we'd fall slowly, but I absolutely couldn't see us holding out longer than a month, and for that, they'd have to be arriving seven, eight months from now!"
And then your vision swirls away again, as the Sight carries you along, to a point-
-seven months from now, again over Tamrii. This time, the chaos is nowhere to be seen. Orbit is already cleared. The planet holds its breath in a hush.
Then the fleet arrives. Parades explode into action. Citizens crowd the streets, chanting to welcome their heroes. Again, the fleet of small craft emerges from the larger ships, but this time they form up around the massive flagship, which disgorges a shuttle of its own, itself larger and grander than its escorts. The swarm of craft proceed down through atmosphere, several peeling away to attend to matters of logistics, but the central formation arrives at the capital city undisturbed by such concerns. As the ramp on the drops, the gathered citizens go wild, leaping about as they cheer for the figure coming down the ramp. You catch a flash of bright, bright green-
-but then the inexorable momentum of the vision drives you onwards, looking as weeks of downtime ensue, the fleet ensuring it is fully provisioned and prepared for their final progress onwards, and only once they are truly satisfied do they proceed onwards to New Namek-
-and when you return to the mindscape you are even more confused. "No, no," you murmur. "There shouldn't be two possibilities, I had the premonition, I know that was true, and it said a year..."
Bassoon frowns. "What did you see?"
"Seven months," you say. "They come through quiet, orderly, and with no rush at all. And...the leader is...green?"
Bassoon's eyes widen. "That actually narrows it down a lot. Only two royals have green color highlights."
You blink, distracted. "Which two?"
"One is Taigan. He's...monstrously powerful. If it's him, we're evacuating immediately. We can't beat him. We've annoyed them more than we thought, if they've sent him." He grins, showing teeth. "The other option is Haila."
You nod. "Well, then we have half a shot at being able to pull this off. But why are there two options? I know my premonition was true."
"How?" asks Bassoon? "I mean, I believed you when you said it was certain, but if you're getting multiple choices..."
You shake your head. "You didn't feel it. It was True. I'd stake anything on it..." You squint. "Why do I...why is there more-?"
-Tamrii braces itself in terror.
There is no fleet. The orbit is empty, but not through official action. It's simply deserted. Nothing dares to leave the planet.
You have only moments to wonder why.
A single ship appears in orbit, and the sheer power radiation from that vessel lances straight into your skull. You hardly have a moment to process-
'WHERE ARE THEY?' demands the master of that ship, his voice filled with rage. 'TELL ME WHERE THE FOOLS WHO WOULD ASSAULT MY BROTHER IN THE HEART OF HIS OWN FLEET HAVE HIDDEN THEMSELVES!'
And before the voice of Frigid, Emperor of the New Cold Empire, Planet Tamrii yields up New Namek's location in an instant-
-before you lurch out of the vision, head spinning as it finally, truly ends.
"We cannot directly attack whoever is commanding the invasion force, we absolutely cannot attack whoever is in charge until they're on New Namek," you babble. "Frigid was there."
Bassoon flinches. "Damn," he mutters. "No, if he'd take an interest...no, we absolutely can't until whoever it is reaches New Namek. And this was a third alternative?"
You nod, shivering. "No fleet, just Frigid's ship arriving in orbit, and he broadcast to the whole planet demanding to know who'd attacked his brother."
Bassoon shivers again. "I'll remember. We'll stick to scouting only."
Dazarel comes in for a landing nearby, looking at you. 'So, then. Tamrii it is. The question is when.'
You grimace, remembering the central point of confusion. "There shouldn't be a question!"
'And if I understand your powers right, there shouldn't be options in any event,' points out Dazarel. 'The future is fixed, unless a seer's actions have some bearing on it. But they do have some bearing on it. You're actively involved in this, Princess. I suspect this is just the uncertainty introduced by your actions. Whether we are discovered, whether we are not, and whether we choose to attack an apparent vulnerability. So it seems to me, at least.'
You shake your head. "But my premonition-"
'Perhaps you misinterpreted it. Prophecy is legendary for its vagueness, not its clarity of purpose and vision.' He flutters his wings, stretching. 'Or perhaps there is some meaning to it that we missed. Even with the unique view you have on it, the future is a mysterious place. None of us are truly at home in it.'
You frown, shaking your head again, but you fall silent. You can recognize when an argument is going nowhere.
Bassoon clears his throat. "Whatever we're looking at for prophecy, this is the perfect insight to inform our scouting," he says. "Now we know that Tamrii is the right target. This will give us all the time in the world to gather information. That said..." He cocks an eyebrow at you. "...got any more juice left in you? I'd be curious to tell if you can find what exactly causes all those paths to branch off from one another. Or maybe who's in charge of this fleet, exactly. Or...well, you get the idea. More details in general."
You tilt your head in thought. You had vaguely planned on using a vision to help you work on the principles of Tabe's Ki Overdrive technique. Is this information worth more than the personal increase in power that vision might help you to unlock for the duel you may yet have with the royal in charge of the invasion?
Do you sacrifice any possible vision use on Ki Overdrive in order to attempt to divine more details about the invasion fleet?
[ ] No, do not spend the vision. All of this, if all goes to plan, comes down to a duel between you and the royal. You need to be at peak form for that, and that demands advantages.
[ ] Yes, spend the vision. You may avoid it coming to a fight at all with the proper information, and...you may be developing something of a complex about never engaging on incomplete information, but come on, who can blame you?
-[ ] Focus on trying to find the decision points for the three outcomes you've Seen today.
-[ ] Focus on the identity of the invasion force's leader, narrowing it down beyond the two you've already caught.
-[ ] You still can't move past your premonition. How can these three outcomes lead to that? You're sure that what you felt was Truth, pure and simple. Delve into the future to find out how this relates to your premonition.
-[ ] Write-in.
MANUAL MORATORIUM. APPROVAL VOTING.
Okay. Now, this time, we try to keep updating.
Welcome back, everybody! SV ate this update twice! I have since figured out how to convert to pure BBCode and save updates offsite! This should hopefully get me writing again, it's just that losing all of my work twice really murdered my motivation! But hey, I actually wrote very consistently over the past month, so let's celebrate, Poptart's building good hobby habits again!
To combat demoralization, I've broken the update down into smaller chunks. We'll proceed with some training options in the next update, and probably arrive at Planet Tamrii itself. I hope you've all enjoyed the update!
Look, our precog isn't working here. I'd rather not double down on it and hope we can break through; obviously, it's tractable with enough effort and skill, but whether we can bring that to bear is very much up in the air.
[] No, do not spend the vision. All of this, if all goes to plan, comes down to a duel between you and the royal. You need to be at peak form for that, and that demands advantages.
