It's a Girl's World -- And Lilly wants Adventure

Reader mode
Oy!
Hybrid Siphon is on Evie, who's massively overtaxed atm yeah?
What if we spread 'Cleaver of Fortune' to Myah instead to protect her from divinations and swap her off Hybrid Maw?
It might turn Myah into a blankspot but it might confound people looking for her just the same as we would, and as we're the 'Cleaver of Fortune', if Myah is going to be following in our wake she might be partially shielded via that feature as well. Sound like a plan?
 
Zaealix said:
Oy!
Hybrid Siphon is on Evie, who's massively overtaxed atm yeah?
What if we spread 'Cleaver of Fortune' to Myah instead to protect her from divinations and swap her off Hybrid Maw?
It might turn Myah into a blankspot but it might confound people looking for her just the same as we would, and as we're the 'Cleaver of Fortune', if Myah is going to be following in our wake she might be partially shielded via that feature as well. Sound like a plan?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

My plan is to hope that the "nobody knew her future, not even herself" option will appear when cleaver will expand in the next update and immediately pick that. That would definitely be enough to help Myah, and may be the key to negate the need of sacrificing people to defeat other concordance users.

Alectai said:
... Does Cleaver work to jam scrying?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not yet. We really should try to give to it that ability as soon as we can.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, last time around we picked {Contention Prognosticator} instead.

Hardly a bad choice, except it's only given Lilly the one warning so far. But maybe there's more going on there, like shoring up {The Ladder}'s "incoming threat" scans? The Valerie warnings in 2.4 were relatively timely.
 
As the vote optimisers do their work a few meanderings from me.

One - while the anti scrying is off for Myna that's probably not going to be a problem immediately because Silva is seemingly smart enough to realize that informing Myna's father of her location is a wonderful way of getting on Lilly's bad side. And I think Silva is either the best or only diviner in town. At least I'd hope that Lilly would have realized that Myna's father is able to do that in all her years of knowing her friend.

Two - Given Senus is a thing - we are much more likely to be having problems information wise because of scrying being a thing.

Three - Because I'm very much not a min-maxer I've found myself looking at the dynamic between Lilly's parents. And my conclusion is: Probably in the upper quartile of relationships and still horribly twisted because of how society is here. For starters - does Sarah/Liastris really love Yolun or is that a mix of her being terrified of Flower and her lesser Ethos [Service to Man] making it so that she was looking for someone that she could live with? (At the very least I do think she was able to pick someone that is slightly more willing than average to give her leeway given she did manage to pass Flower's name to Lilly) I want to look at her burning the candle at both ends to stablilize Yolun as evidence towards it and her level 41 ethos despite it being pure support being her finding ways to help him, even if it makes her a horrific enabler.

But... we've been told that Service to Man includes a lot of subconscious things - hence how Sarah/Liatris was able to affect Lilly so much growing up. And Yolun... He was raised in a society where 50% of females take that ethos. He would not see anything wrong with it. More kindly to him, someone that is apparently so very different from his sisters would be something he would appreciate. (Because Liastris' father was at the very least traditional enough that her mother wasn't able to name her at Flower's direction and Liatris was terrified about what would happen if she didn't survive to have her first born daughter). And Sarah/Liatris - well she doesn't trust Yolun completely. How do we know that? Because not only does the power labeling interface calls Liatris Liatris, but the QM does as well - but Yolun calls her Sarah.
 
Alectai said:
... Does Cleaver work to jam scrying?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
...Hrrm. I might have mistaken what it was. I THOUGHT that it did do something like that, but maybe it's more accurate to say it's self-focused Concordance, which screws up other Concordance attempts to 'tell' what Lily will do...
But it can't necessarily STOP say, stare in a pool and see some far-off vista, if I had to guess?
Basically it's a shield, but it's concordance only.
Hybrid Maw could take and eat anything, which isn't quite the same...
 
Kymecho said:
Yeah, last time around we picked {Contention Prognosticator} instead.

Hardly a bad choice, except it's only given Lilly the one warning so far. But maybe there's more going on there, like shoring up {The Ladder}'s "incoming threat" scans? The Valerie warnings in 2.4 were relatively timely.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I don't regret that choice; a lot would have voted to join Waters (after some free days) if we didn't knew the risk.
Also, I think the possibility of countering other concordance users instead of simply jamming some of their powers would probably come from the synergy between contention and the "not knowing the future" power.
 
Zaealix said:
...Hrrm. I might have mistaken what it was. I THOUGHT that it did do something like that, but maybe it's more accurate to say it's self-focused Concordance, which screws up other Concordance attempts to 'tell' what Lily will do...
But it can't necessarily STOP say, stare in a pool and see some far-off vista, if I had to guess?
Basically it's a shield, but it's concordance only.
Hybrid Maw could take and eat anything, which isn't quite the same...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Cleaver counters concordance in the same way that a blind fool counters mastermind's plots. By not really but then doing something unexpected. Cleaver is very very good at subtle string snipping. But part of that subtle is that people are able to think that everything is normal because they can see stuff... up until the point Cleaver/Lilly decides to turn left instead of right.
 
Yeah, I get the vague impression that {Cleaver} probably messes with divining a bit just by nature of being a Concordance Ethos, but probably doesn't actually fully block it right now. Most likely as a 'Diviners can see Lilly just fine, but don't see any of the uses of {Cleaver} until they actually happen' type of effect.

Edit: I also note that {Contention Prognosticator} basically states in its description that it doesn't do too much obviously right now, but has a lot of potential to grow much stronger. Of course, the only real way to train it would be to get into dangerous situations to let it work, which seems a bit risky. Frankly, {Brave Blood} in general looks like it wants us to go and find a bunch of monsters to punch as its idea of an optimal training exercise.
 
Last edited:
Alectai said:
Also, Wow

Picking {The Heat} singlehandedly punted [Brave Blood] from reaching dangerously low Sync to high Sync, and we actually understand now what [Brave Blood] wants.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, Slyvena indicated it would be a major shift in Divergence back after 2.4 as a Secret Challenge reward if you recall:
Slyvena said:
[ ] [BBLU] Her blood burned hot and thick, the enemy knew to avoid its scalding spray. (Sync++) (Div-----)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
it's actually why I switched to {The Heat}, since now we have a decent chance of picking up a Milstone Bonus when [Brave Blood] next expands. I assume the reason it's such a big shift was because getting it was a result of the successful roll to reassert its original path and we're unlikely to see similarly big shifts again any time soon.
 
Razzocnor said:
Edit: I also note that {Contention Prognosticator} basically states in its description that it doesn't do too much obviously right now, but has a lot of potential to grow much stronger. Of course, the only real way to train it would be to get into dangerous situations to let it work, which seems a bit risky. Frankly, {Brave Blood} in general looks like it wants us to go and find a bunch of monsters to punch as its idea of an optimal training exercise.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There's a joke somewhere there that {Brave Blood} suddenly having Divergence and Sync reverse course is it realizing that Lilly doesn't have to go and look for monsters to punch. The monsters are coming to her!
 
Storyteller said:
There's a joke somewhere there that {Brave Blood} suddenly having Divergence and Sync reverse course is it realizing that Lilly doesn't have to go and look for monsters to punch. The monsters are coming to her!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

"I guess being an ICBM is a kind of charging into battle and seeking glory..."

Pithe: "You know what? I'll allow it"
 
Hey, if you're glowing like the sun, and causing everything in your vicinity to spontaneously combust through sheer temperature, nobody can possibly miss where you are on the battlefield. Surely the bards will write about your exploits then! (The ones that aren't on fire, at least).

Edit: We will, however, want to find some magical fireproof armor before doing that though. We don't want to attract the attention of the other kind of bards.
 
Last edited:
TBH, we probably want armor that can make use of all that Heat we're generating anyway, {Melded Carapace} should let us distribute our fire resistance into it by bringing it into our Pithe Resonance, but for best effect we probably want armor made out of [Tower] derived metamaterials
 
Clearly we must pool our resources, practice our craft, and use Tremendous Mechanist with a dash of Constructs to build a huge suit of powered armor. Lilly can do a passable impression of a nuclear reactor, so energy supply isn't a problem.
 
[X] Plan: Triage after Calamity, Mark 2

A few reflections on the updated character sheet.
  • [Shine] has Sync and Divergence swapped with Patron (Automatically maxes out Sync) and Favor (lots of juicy bonuses for following Aurora's directives). Given that we're starting off with Extreme Favor and maxed first Skill, I think Aurora's giving us the deluxe package. …Oh, and given that Grasp isn't a thing for Flow Ethae, Lilly gets to skip the "stumbling around to figure out how this works" phase.
  • "If any of Lord Water's men gets within a football field of me, I can make them start bawling out of guilt."
  • [True Song] won't be repaired until Evie gets better, since she was the one responsible for fixing it. I think we can hold off on that until Evie's in a state of NOT DYING.
  • Looks like [Dream within a Forest] got an Overloaded Anchor as well trying to pull Micah's soul back. I think one commenter was wondering if reaching out to the dead was actually breaking into Inverted Essence territory. Nope, it's still playing by the rules, but just barely.
  • …Um, I'm PRETTY sure that Boundless Ethos has to reset each time and that we're NOT one level away from our next Ethos (by my count, the next one should be coming in at Raw Level 20). Unless this is part of the Aurora Package, in which case BEST AUNTIE EVER!
 
Marigold's Diary

12th​ Day, 3rd​ Moon

Alright, I'm almost there. Now, here's the big question: How should I introduce myself? I mean, first impressions are important, after all. Should I go all dark and mysterious? "Lilly, Daughter of the Flower, I have come to aid you, for you have been burdened with a great purpose." Nah, I can't really maintain that, and unfortunately Flower hasn't actually told me her "purpose", just that I need to keep her safe. Should I play dumb? "Howdy, stranger, I've just a lonesome wanderer, seeking excitement and stories. Anything interesting happen around here lately?" No, she may just deflect, and lying to someone tends to be bad for gaining their trust. So, I think I'll go with casual, let her know that I know who she is, but drop the connection to Flower so she knows she can trust me. Yeah, that'll work.

"Hello, Bloomling. Name's Marigold, how are you doing?"

13th​ Day, 3rd​ Moon

Okay, so apparently that was NOT the best way to introduce myself. I mean, she had a Flow ability that was able to detect my intent, so it all worked out, but when her first reaction was to involuntarily set the grass on fire while prepping to launch herself forward, I started really considering the issue of having to SURVIVE the first punch before my Ethos can activate.
 
Silverking said:
  • …Um, I'm PRETTY sure that Boundless Ethos has to reset each time and that we're NOT one level away from our next Ethos (by my count, the next one should be coming in at Raw Level 20). Unless this is part of the Aurora Package, in which case BEST AUNTIE EVER!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I would be guess that this is more the result of Evie suffering so much damage that the Ethos linked to her is now practically non-existent and almost severed from Lilly.
 
Silverking said:
Marigold's Diary

12th​ Day, 3rd​ Moon

Alright, I'm almost there. Now, here's the big question: How should I introduce myself? I mean, first impressions are important, after all. Should I go all dark and mysterious? "Lilly, Daughter of the Flower, I have come to aid you, for you have been burdened with a great purpose." Nah, I can't really maintain that, and unfortunately Flower hasn't actually told me her "purpose", just that I need to keep her safe. Should I play dumb? "Howdy, stranger, I've just a lonesome wanderer, seeking excitement and stories. Anything interesting happen around here lately?" No, she may just deflect, and lying to someone tends to be bad for gaining their trust. So, I think I'll go with casual, let her know that I know who she is, but drop the connection to Flower so she knows she can trust me. Yeah, that'll work.

"Hello, Bloomling. Name's Marigold, how are you doing?"

13th​ Day, 3rd​ Moon

Okay, so apparently that was NOT the best way to introduce myself. I mean, she had a Flow ability that was able to detect my intent, so it all worked out, but when her first reaction was to involuntarily set the grass on fire while prepping to launch herself forward, I started really considering the issue of having to SURVIVE the first punch before my Ethos can activate.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
...You know, I wonder whether the danger Marigold was sent to aid us with was Valerie, or Lord Waters, or yet another thing.
 
Our next Ethos pick will be when an Ethos reaches Level 6, which is most likely [Dream within the Forest].

[X] Plan: Triage after Calamity, Mark 2
 
Last edited:
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Back
Top