I may not know much about the Charms, but I do know they call it GLORIOUS SOLAR BULLSHIT! for a reason.Baughn said:
[Exalted/SMT] Shard of a Broken Sun
- Thread starter Baughn
- Start date
There's an Abyssal laser throwing charm that has a Solar Mirror, only works on Creatures of Darkness though.Baughn said:
Sounds useful. Not to mention Unconquered is probably around somewhere (he's the Unconquered) which means Demons are probably on his shit-list.veekie said:
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Word of God: No. No, he isn't.ShadowAngelBeta said:
... Well, shit.Baughn said:
Forgot to ask, what Essence is needed for that one?veekie said:
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Quantumboost
Now with 50% more dots in Dimensional Science
- Location
- Ensemble Space
Gotta love those native magic abilities.Baughn said:
Oh, and yay Martial and Martial-ready keywords. Using non-Thrown Charms on Thrown attacks.
Saturday's Eclipse 5
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
[X] Plan Alectai
To set the mood, here's a soundtrack for the update. Chrome should play it as-is, don't know about Firefox.
And here's what you've been fighting:
=======
Sorry to keep you waiting, Amu. This is a bit of a pinch, but I've seen worse. Here's what we're going to do… real quick, focus your essence - that big ball of power you used - and make some sign of defiance against the monster that everyone on your side can see. Should help most of them rally, it'll probably help your Chara too! Do it!
"A-all right." She just wasn't - wasn't sure what sort of sign to make, but she didn't have time to ask. Whatever she did would have to be good enough. She was pretty sure it would be, that the gesture itself didn't matter so much as the magic - no, essence - she pushed into it, even if she had no idea how she knew that. Just another instinct? Still, that didn't mean the gesture didn't matter at all.
Conscious of the need for haste, she moved only slightly before starting, taking up what she instinctively (there went those instincts again! This wasn't like with combining with Ran, then she always knew why she was doing things) - what she instinctively thought was a commanding, or possibly inspiring stance. It would do the trick. She hoped. It would probably help that she was glowing like a miniature sun, something that was painfully obvious now that she was paying a little more attention to her surroundings, but she really hoped that would stop soon. Some of the soldiers(?) were actually looking at her in lieu of running away.
She shouted, her voice charged with essence and somehow loud enough to be heard over the din. "Everyone, come to your senses! Don't let the demon beat you!"
If she hadn't been merged with Ran, it would have been mortifying. As it was… she could feel the essence working, trying to counteract the demon's wave of fear, but it had gotten there first. It was helping, but not enough. Few of them were running, but they were still wavering. What should she do? Would trying again help? (No, she instinctively knew.)
The man who'd been standing beneath her tree, whom she instinctively knew to be the leader (and she decided to stop questioning it) stepped forward, giving her an unreadable glance before adding his own contribution. She wondered if she'd had an effect on him as well; she hadn't been able to see him at the time.
"Steady! 1st squad, flyers, reinforce the 3rd! Everyone else, let the Gaeans through if you must, but whatever happens don't let Hikawa escape!"
The effect was immediate enough to make her wonder what she'd thought she'd been doing. The ranks immediately stiffened up, one of the less embattled groups smoothly shifting around to reinforce the near-routed group on her side. Flying demons flowed over the battlefield, sniping the draconic greater demon at every opportunity.
They were also, she could see, sniping the people trying to break out whenever they had the opportunity. It helped keep them from ruining the lines, but they were utterly defenceless, and the dragon was still killing anyone who got within range. Slower, ever since she'd hit it, but that hardly mattered. She thought she should be vomiting, she should be crying, but the feelings were distant and ignorable for the moment.
The dragon seemed to be contained for the moment. It was, wasn't it? It wasn't just taking the opportunity to kill more people before breaking out? She'd had an effect on it, and it had retaliated, but it had only used the fear wave once and it didn't seem like any of the other demons were doing much damage to it. At least the battle seemed stable for the moment, even if it was horrible. That meant -
Looking for Miki and Su, she unerringly turned and immediately spotted them hanging on to one branch of the tree, clinging to each other for dear life but otherwise appearing fine. Physically fine, at least; they looked like she felt, or rather like she thought she should be feeling. Both of them were silently crying.
"Can I help them, somehow?" She quietly asked the voice.
Ah… yes, I believe so! I'm quite proud of… never mind, no time, explain later. You should be able to extend some of your own protections to them with Dream-Affirming Projection; knowing the name may help. It won't undo the fear, and there are some side-effects, but it'll protect them if that demon tries it again. After that, you should try to learn more about the demon. If you focus essence on your understanding of it, you should be able to dredge up old memories, instantly draw connections from what you're seeing, and otherwise more easily comprehend it. Don't know if it'll work, but try it! Your outer pool should still be full.
The more she listened to it, the more it was starting to sound like a particularly distracted schoolteacher. One teacher in particular, actually; Nikaidou-sensei, who was both her favourite teacher and, admittedly, up until recently secretly an enemy. She hoped that wasn't some part of her new instincts trying to hint at her. Of course she still followed the instructions; they had been quite helpful so far.
Thinking of what it said as she pushed a drop of essence at Su, and then a few seconds later Miki, she found them glowing with a gentle golden glow for a second. That dissipated, but afterwards she could still sort of feel them, or rather she could feel the drop of essence sticking to them. Nothing really seemed to be different, but…
"Amu?" Su looked up at her, a woeful look on her face. "What did you do? I feel… I'm not sure. What's happening?"
"I'm not sure," she had to admit. "I… it might help, but I… just stay behind the tree, you two. Please." She didn't want them to get hurt, and if her attacks could affect demons then demons could probably affect them. She was pretty sure she'd be able to dodge anything it threw at her, but the same wouldn't be true for Su and Miki.
They quietly nodded, looking very subdued, but did as she asked.
Taking a deep breath, she looked back at the battle. Not much had changed since last time; there were a few more bodies on the ground, but the dragon was still standing… thinking back, it hadn't tried to hit any of the smaller demons. It still wasn't trying to do that, preferring to slaughter civilians. That was probably a bad sign…
Part of her was screaming, crying for her to stop it even if she had to run up and fight it herself, but she ignored that part of herself. She was already helping as best she could, better than she would have been able to help even five minutes ago, and getting into a fight with that thing was not in any way the path to victory. No, the voice's suggestion was good. If she could, somehow, find a weak point, that would help far more than what she could do on her own.
So study it, then.
She stared, flooding her - somehow flooding her understanding with essence. The golden glare around her intensified slightly.
Half-dragon, half-snake. Scaled, with seven eyes and seven wings. Seven; since antiquity, a meaningful number used for everything from calendars to sacrifices, but in occult lore the number of the more powerful, commonly known beasts. The snake, poison, ambush and cold calculation, in Abrahamaic myths the enemy of God. Sometimes the pawn of God, willing or not. No true damage from demonic attacks, only scuffing, pointing towards great power. Serious damage from her own attack… no, little true damage, but she'd damaged its connection to the world, and the world is pushing it out. It could not simultaneously fight that and her own essence.
Not a physical attacker, powerful force of will, but using physical attacks - because it does not wish to bring its full strength to bear?
Poison of God…
She trembled, almost fell, as for an instant it met her gaze and she comprehended the existence of Samael, Fifth of the fallen. It was not truly here; only a fraction of its strength, on the command of another. In that same instant it looked at her, and saw.
It looked away, returning to its grisly task.
Amu! We've got a problem.
She shakily agreed. The aura around her blunted by far the majority of that gaze, but what remained was still enough to send her reeling. Somehow she kept her footing, but it was a close thing.
=======
The being you are fighting is no mere demon. You do not comprehend it, for you see only the slightest fraction of its existence; it is only barely here, as if it is sticking a fingernail into the world. The closest approximation you have, the best analogy you can use to describe it, is as a third-circle demon - but no third-circle demon ever had this close a connection to its greater self.
When Amu met its gaze, it read her as much as she read it; and through her, it saw you. But it didn't just read her. In that instant of connection it sought out the subconscious, non-sentient probes of Amu's 1st Occult Excellency that were scattering off its skin, and it deliberately fed them the information she was after.
You do not know what to think of this. It is too far outside of your experience, you can only hope one of your past-life gestalts has the imagination to suggest a better course of action. For your own part, you'll revert to the classics.
[ ] Attack, attack, attack. Beam-spam it to someone's death.
[ ] Flee.
[ ] Write-in.
To set the mood, here's a soundtrack for the update. Chrome should play it as-is, don't know about Firefox.
And here's what you've been fighting:
=======
Sorry to keep you waiting, Amu. This is a bit of a pinch, but I've seen worse. Here's what we're going to do… real quick, focus your essence - that big ball of power you used - and make some sign of defiance against the monster that everyone on your side can see. Should help most of them rally, it'll probably help your Chara too! Do it!
"A-all right." She just wasn't - wasn't sure what sort of sign to make, but she didn't have time to ask. Whatever she did would have to be good enough. She was pretty sure it would be, that the gesture itself didn't matter so much as the magic - no, essence - she pushed into it, even if she had no idea how she knew that. Just another instinct? Still, that didn't mean the gesture didn't matter at all.
Conscious of the need for haste, she moved only slightly before starting, taking up what she instinctively (there went those instincts again! This wasn't like with combining with Ran, then she always knew why she was doing things) - what she instinctively thought was a commanding, or possibly inspiring stance. It would do the trick. She hoped. It would probably help that she was glowing like a miniature sun, something that was painfully obvious now that she was paying a little more attention to her surroundings, but she really hoped that would stop soon. Some of the soldiers(?) were actually looking at her in lieu of running away.
She shouted, her voice charged with essence and somehow loud enough to be heard over the din. "Everyone, come to your senses! Don't let the demon beat you!"
If she hadn't been merged with Ran, it would have been mortifying. As it was… she could feel the essence working, trying to counteract the demon's wave of fear, but it had gotten there first. It was helping, but not enough. Few of them were running, but they were still wavering. What should she do? Would trying again help? (No, she instinctively knew.)
The man who'd been standing beneath her tree, whom she instinctively knew to be the leader (and she decided to stop questioning it) stepped forward, giving her an unreadable glance before adding his own contribution. She wondered if she'd had an effect on him as well; she hadn't been able to see him at the time.
"Steady! 1st squad, flyers, reinforce the 3rd! Everyone else, let the Gaeans through if you must, but whatever happens don't let Hikawa escape!"
The effect was immediate enough to make her wonder what she'd thought she'd been doing. The ranks immediately stiffened up, one of the less embattled groups smoothly shifting around to reinforce the near-routed group on her side. Flying demons flowed over the battlefield, sniping the draconic greater demon at every opportunity.
They were also, she could see, sniping the people trying to break out whenever they had the opportunity. It helped keep them from ruining the lines, but they were utterly defenceless, and the dragon was still killing anyone who got within range. Slower, ever since she'd hit it, but that hardly mattered. She thought she should be vomiting, she should be crying, but the feelings were distant and ignorable for the moment.
The dragon seemed to be contained for the moment. It was, wasn't it? It wasn't just taking the opportunity to kill more people before breaking out? She'd had an effect on it, and it had retaliated, but it had only used the fear wave once and it didn't seem like any of the other demons were doing much damage to it. At least the battle seemed stable for the moment, even if it was horrible. That meant -
Looking for Miki and Su, she unerringly turned and immediately spotted them hanging on to one branch of the tree, clinging to each other for dear life but otherwise appearing fine. Physically fine, at least; they looked like she felt, or rather like she thought she should be feeling. Both of them were silently crying.
"Can I help them, somehow?" She quietly asked the voice.
Ah… yes, I believe so! I'm quite proud of… never mind, no time, explain later. You should be able to extend some of your own protections to them with Dream-Affirming Projection; knowing the name may help. It won't undo the fear, and there are some side-effects, but it'll protect them if that demon tries it again. After that, you should try to learn more about the demon. If you focus essence on your understanding of it, you should be able to dredge up old memories, instantly draw connections from what you're seeing, and otherwise more easily comprehend it. Don't know if it'll work, but try it! Your outer pool should still be full.
The more she listened to it, the more it was starting to sound like a particularly distracted schoolteacher. One teacher in particular, actually; Nikaidou-sensei, who was both her favourite teacher and, admittedly, up until recently secretly an enemy. She hoped that wasn't some part of her new instincts trying to hint at her. Of course she still followed the instructions; they had been quite helpful so far.
Thinking of what it said as she pushed a drop of essence at Su, and then a few seconds later Miki, she found them glowing with a gentle golden glow for a second. That dissipated, but afterwards she could still sort of feel them, or rather she could feel the drop of essence sticking to them. Nothing really seemed to be different, but…
"Amu?" Su looked up at her, a woeful look on her face. "What did you do? I feel… I'm not sure. What's happening?"
"I'm not sure," she had to admit. "I… it might help, but I… just stay behind the tree, you two. Please." She didn't want them to get hurt, and if her attacks could affect demons then demons could probably affect them. She was pretty sure she'd be able to dodge anything it threw at her, but the same wouldn't be true for Su and Miki.
They quietly nodded, looking very subdued, but did as she asked.
Taking a deep breath, she looked back at the battle. Not much had changed since last time; there were a few more bodies on the ground, but the dragon was still standing… thinking back, it hadn't tried to hit any of the smaller demons. It still wasn't trying to do that, preferring to slaughter civilians. That was probably a bad sign…
Part of her was screaming, crying for her to stop it even if she had to run up and fight it herself, but she ignored that part of herself. She was already helping as best she could, better than she would have been able to help even five minutes ago, and getting into a fight with that thing was not in any way the path to victory. No, the voice's suggestion was good. If she could, somehow, find a weak point, that would help far more than what she could do on her own.
So study it, then.
She stared, flooding her - somehow flooding her understanding with essence. The golden glare around her intensified slightly.
Half-dragon, half-snake. Scaled, with seven eyes and seven wings. Seven; since antiquity, a meaningful number used for everything from calendars to sacrifices, but in occult lore the number of the more powerful, commonly known beasts. The snake, poison, ambush and cold calculation, in Abrahamaic myths the enemy of God. Sometimes the pawn of God, willing or not. No true damage from demonic attacks, only scuffing, pointing towards great power. Serious damage from her own attack… no, little true damage, but she'd damaged its connection to the world, and the world is pushing it out. It could not simultaneously fight that and her own essence.
Not a physical attacker, powerful force of will, but using physical attacks - because it does not wish to bring its full strength to bear?
Poison of God…
She trembled, almost fell, as for an instant it met her gaze and she comprehended the existence of Samael, Fifth of the fallen. It was not truly here; only a fraction of its strength, on the command of another. In that same instant it looked at her, and saw.
It looked away, returning to its grisly task.
Amu! We've got a problem.
She shakily agreed. The aura around her blunted by far the majority of that gaze, but what remained was still enough to send her reeling. Somehow she kept her footing, but it was a close thing.
=======
The being you are fighting is no mere demon. You do not comprehend it, for you see only the slightest fraction of its existence; it is only barely here, as if it is sticking a fingernail into the world. The closest approximation you have, the best analogy you can use to describe it, is as a third-circle demon - but no third-circle demon ever had this close a connection to its greater self.
When Amu met its gaze, it read her as much as she read it; and through her, it saw you. But it didn't just read her. In that instant of connection it sought out the subconscious, non-sentient probes of Amu's 1st Occult Excellency that were scattering off its skin, and it deliberately fed them the information she was after.
You do not know what to think of this. It is too far outside of your experience, you can only hope one of your past-life gestalts has the imagination to suggest a better course of action. For your own part, you'll revert to the classics.
[ ] Attack, attack, attack. Beam-spam it to someone's death.
[ ] Flee.
[ ] Write-in.
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
JESUS FUCK ITS A SAMAEL GET IN THE CAR
WAIT WAIT WAIT. Hikawa? As in that fucking douchebag from Nocturne? This is HIS Samael?! WTF ASSHOLE!
Okay, now for the guy on the SMT side to shine! Samaels are, by and large, magical attackers with a penchant for using status effects, particularly poison and fear. Even so, most times people meet Samaels in the 30s at the lowest; their general level is roughly 50ish.
As Samaels don't show up in Desu and Hikawa was mentioned, I'm going with Nocturne's sheet. If this is the case, it'll have Mudamadoon and Mahamaon, two instant 'kills' (the Hama skill we should be immune to...maybe? Don't rely on it) and Prominence, a random firey explosion of high damage. Its general weaknesses are Wind or Electric. I would say Holy/Light but I have the feeling if we try, it WILL be the Nocturne one and it'll just be repelled back at us.
We might have to climb the colossus on this matter, get on top of its head where it can't easily attack us.
WAIT WAIT WAIT. Hikawa? As in that fucking douchebag from Nocturne? This is HIS Samael?! WTF ASSHOLE!
Okay, now for the guy on the SMT side to shine! Samaels are, by and large, magical attackers with a penchant for using status effects, particularly poison and fear. Even so, most times people meet Samaels in the 30s at the lowest; their general level is roughly 50ish.
As Samaels don't show up in Desu and Hikawa was mentioned, I'm going with Nocturne's sheet. If this is the case, it'll have Mudamadoon and Mahamaon, two instant 'kills' (the Hama skill we should be immune to...maybe? Don't rely on it) and Prominence, a random firey explosion of high damage. Its general weaknesses are Wind or Electric. I would say Holy/Light but I have the feeling if we try, it WILL be the Nocturne one and it'll just be repelled back at us.
We might have to climb the colossus on this matter, get on top of its head where it can't easily attack us.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Should I take that as a vote for "Flee"?Ardion Prosili said:
Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
- Location
- Bedroom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
oh shit this really is hardo modo
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Hum~dash931 said:
Hard question to answer. You didn't, not really, but you crippled its ability to force its will on the world. Slightly. Give it a while, and it'll probably disappear on its own, now~
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
No! This is a reaction from this player, not a vote! I am merely surprised we are getting a level 50 min right off the bat.Baughn said:Should I take that as a vote for "Flee"?
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
It'll all make sense once you figure out what's going on.Ardion Prosili said:
Also I like your reactions.
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
My reactions are maximum.Baughn said:It'll all make sense once you figure out what's going on.
Also I like your reactions.
Also I'm guessing right now, Hikawa tried to fuck around with the Amalan Drum to trigger a Conception and the Serpentariones didn't much like that.
-SUPER SPECULATION ZONE AHEAD-
Also this probably isn't 'a Samael', that is to say, life energy and belief given the template of Samael, so much as THE Samael, the big name. For those who aren't in the know, SMT demons are either one of two things: randoms, lesser manifestations of greater entities, more or less energy pushed into a certain form by human belief, the kind of things you run into over and over again in random encounters. And then here are the Named. The big wigs. The ones who made the legends. The guys who will never truly die until you kill their undying bodies and immortal spirits.
If my mass speculated assumption is correct, this is a big deal
-ZONE END YOU HAVE 10 RINGS-
Meeeeeh. We can take it. Fire more bullshit cripple-beams. They'll force it out of the world.Ardion Prosili said:
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
Every time I see that phrase, I wince in pain. Just so you know, Pressea
Heh. But seriously, we literally have the world on our side. Just damage its connection some more and this projection will go bye bye. It's even doing us the favor of not attacking us, it's so considerate!Ardion Prosili said:
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Saved me from explaining it. Yep, this is basically the situation, though I've added a third case: Some demons actually exist as species, out there in Amala's inter-world space. Some of those can still sneak in, for one reason or another, under certain conditions.Ardion Prosili said:
Basically, if you find ten cookie-cutter fairies then probably none of them are real. If you find ten slightly different-looking fairies, with their own personalities and motivations, then you're looking at real (but nonhuman) people.
No comment on whether this one is the true Samael, though.
Ardion Prosili
An (im)Perfect Cell
I r best at giving explanations on the matters of the SMT verse. ^_^Baughn said: