Spoiler: Ranging Party Roster & Rolls
Roles not rolls
. The face is almost like you remember, yet the subtle addition of more canine features to the shape morphs it into a painful parody. Your eyes meet his… and he laughs.
It says through a mouth that holds too many teeth;
It's because of your focus on the Strands that you are able to notice the hostile intrusion. A cold creeping pattern coiling its way along thin sharp lines through your Essence Sight, seeping invisibly closer through the air. Marius notices your body language and via some signal the whole party comes to a halt.
Just as quickly the previously languid coils suddenly leap forward screaming right for each person in long streaming spikes of unseen corruption!
Hmm these incidents combined with past stuff like how apparently the first wolf we saw at the start was in a lesser state of this makes it clear there's some sort of infections component to our enemy. But our enemy is a Rapid Iterator who should be creating facsimiles of living creatures not infecting actual animals and people. Is this part of it being Rampant or does it have to do with the Maw if those are even different things?
Also invisible corrupting tendrils is OP like I bet the watch has some methods of detecting and protecting against it but that's still some bullshit ability. Is this why the Captain wanted to only have 9 people here? Because he knew that there was subversion risk and didn't know if they could protect everyone from it cause even Lilly struggled a bit.
{{Captain Martin}}: "I also suspect foul play. Questions for tomorrow; tonight, we have a job to do."
As the silence returns Captain Martin turns his head to look back at you, arching his eyebrows as much to say 'that last part was for you too.'
Hmm if the Captain suspects foul play than I'm inclined to agree with him. Which means there's definitely some human elements assisting or hiding the crazy dungeon which is concerning since I doubt they'll like us much either.
Also the Captain certainly seems like he's willing to let us know more but not now in disaster situation. Honestly getting Captain Martin as an ally or at least well inclined towards us might be our best reward from this event giving how knowledgeable and experienced he seems to be.
s absolutely ingenious, anyone else would have missed it. Even you are only able to tell because of your simultaneously overlayed Essence Sight and {Stutter Ping} in a place you know so well.
It's an ambush ahead. The efforts taken toward stealth are simply remarkable. Mostly wolves, but you see a couple deer and even a bear (they come this far east?). They are partly merged into the various trees, precisely mimicking their nature. It's actually quite unsettling, looking at something that is quite clearly a wolf yet having half your senses insist quite adamantly it is a tree.
Man these guys have some bullshit stealth where we barely met the requirements to find them because of all our bullshit and this being our forest. I guess our bad guy got really pissed at us no selling his stealth on its wolves. Too bad rapidly iterating can only do so much in the face of our extreme growth.
The Captain's Armour glows in the Glyph of a Lion as a spectral wall of manes and mouths rises out of the ground in a semicircle around your group.
I guess the Captain is a Leo.
The moment before impact space morphs in a nauseating non-sensical jumble before you. The deer, no, stags' previously invisible antlers ripple with warping energy. Just like that a dozen paths in every direction and dozen more deadends spring to life all around the creatures and the crimson thresher is hurtling back toward you as fast as it left.
Wow I wonder how the fuck they iterated into giving deer space powers cause the wolves seemed mostly mundane if unnaturally powerful and coordinated.
Reserve the {Sample Space}; you will need a full second later.
Man the entire bit after this is only a second? Battles take place fast here.
There's a sudden tightness in your chest for a moment that you push through, but it throws off your initiative.
What is this? An enemy action or the Evie level up happening at a bad time?
Rather than biting at you, the rear Alpha pressure sprays out a thin frothing green liquid as you stumble in surprise as it covers the waxy mud magic layer Marius' enchanted onto you earlier tonight.
'Acid!' you internally scream and flail. You are saved when after spending most of its strength to melt through your magic layer you feel some power connected to Evie snatch away the rest of its potency rendering it regular slime and robbing it of the ability to scour your face and body.
Scary how fast these things evolve cause I bet if they could throw acid earlier they would have. Thankfully we have magic armor and Evie but that was almost bad.
"It's the Relay, bring it down," the Captain orders everyone.
Since this thing is supposed to be part of a dungeon I wonder if Relays are meant to be Boss Monsters?
Marius no! It's got reflecti-" you hear someone say, before a burning man missing an arm falls near you. Is it dangerous here?
Man this thing is a beast since it not only seemed to stab us from super far away but also reflected Marius's attack potentially killing the man since losing an arm and being engulfed in flames doesn't sound very survivable.
You're not sure what you just did, but there were a bunch of nasty feeling connecty tendrils between the people-glows and the bear-glow and you like… undid them… or something. You trust Sample-Lilly, she knows what she's doing.
Wonder what type ability this was cause these tendrils seems to be the reflect effect
The bear dies. You don't know how you know, but its dead. The foulness around you shrinking backward further into the forest. You guess. Thinking is really hard right now.
: PRIMARY ERROR: :INCORRECT DESIGNATION: :COUNTERMAND: :INVALID VESSEL: :ABORTING: :OVERRIDE: :REDEFINE: :INCEPTION CHANNEL SET:
Did Evie just steal control of the 'foulness' or is this just her hacking in a method for Foundation Ethos?
Linking to the last scrap of your waking mind, the slumbering part reminds you of something very important. Whatever is left of you tries with everything that it has to keep the Essence Link open to your father, the only thing stopping the foulness for continuing its pollution within him. Right here right now, your life could have gone a very different direction. But on this {Critical Pivot} of a moment, the link to your dad remains strong.
Thank you Cleaver of Fortune even if nothing else you've saved the day more times than I can count.
[ ] [DreamLVL] She noticed even the smallest eddies in the current.
Another detection ability? Pretty useful to have an essence counterpart to our Pithe situational awareness but it's also something we're kind of alright with. A depth vs breadth kind of thing I think
[ ] [DreamLVL] The root grew between the rock for years, until finally it split.
Using Essence to channel into something until it breaks? A direct combat ability for Essene would be good but it seems like it takes a while to take effect and constant attention for it work.
[ ] [DreamLVL] It could not lash out at her, she was friend to all.
A "Do not harm" aura? That could be pretty useful especially with the fact we're about to become a dungeon master since I can easily see it helping control our dungeon beasties if that's the form Foundation takes.
[ ] [DreamLVL] She carried it with her always, no matter how far apart they drifted.
Obviously useful for dealing with the fact our locus is location bound. Something we'll definitely want to be able to do for leaving our starting region. Though hopefully we won't be screwed over even if we don't take this and have to leave our home.
[Dream within the Forest]: Milestone
No real feelings in regards to these things though it is interesting that we can modify our ethos even if it's a bit random chance if our changes happen.
[ ] [CleaverLVL] It looked harmless, but fate told her the truth.
A spider sense type thing? Certainly would be nice to have no matter what.
[ ] [CleaverLVL] A moment to consider. Then she understood her odds.
Isn't this something we already have? Cause I could swear we have a Cleaver ability that tells us the odds it's just low level currently. Yeah Juncture Sense sounds like what this does though JS focuses more on what the consequences are while this tells us the odds so I guess it's different.
[ ] [CleaverLVL] She stabbed him in the heart, to kill his lover.
Casualty/Conceptual bullshit? Or as others theorized a planning ability that has the steps seem to be random but work out? So by stabbing a dude's heart we start a domino chain that leads to his lover dying?
[ ] [CleaverLVL] No one knew her future, not even herself.
Certainly useful given how we know there's people who can see the future and that they maybe enemies. But I certainly would worry about the 'even herself' qualifier since that makes it seem like this could also hurt our abilities. Cause as I said before I could certainly see this messing with Ladder. Maybe it's just forces Ladder to do a little work around but I could certainly see it making Ladder harder to pull off the play by play advice it's been giving in this update.
[Striker] (Lesser): (Pithe)
The application of force is far more than simply being faster, stronger or smarter. There are ways that creation wishes us to move, methods of offense and defence that it favours. The Striker listens to the cumulative tradition of all those who have drawn from the Resonance, their seemingly counterintuitive actions often building to a single devastating climax. Force is pitting your Will and desire against the static and opposing the dynamic. All physical movements are at their foundation actually entirely meta-physical. It is manoeuvring for advantage within this meta-physical realm where all contests are truly decided. The Striker never wastes a single drop of sweat, for even their heartbeat matches the rhythm of fate.
Punch Good the ethos. Really useful for punching and talks a good game about how punching is totally more complex than the physical action but I'm really doubting it goes indepth in special abilities if it's Pith only. Like I would buy that rhythm of fate bs a lot more if it had a Concordance part.
[Quickwrit Stennovoker] (Common): (Mana) | Unique
Your father forced hour upon hour on you learning the most basic of runic carvings to the utmost height of meaningless precision. You harbour a unique and profound dislike for such mind numbing perfection and reject it utterly. Good enough is literally good enough, you will walk a path none before you have ever taken. What others spend hours to etch into unmoving stone to last generations, you instantly manifest into the air itself for immediate effect. You don't need a barrier that will last for two years in two weeks, you need one that will last two seconds now. Your only limit is what you can design.
Quick cast runes which is great and made for us seemingly by its unique tag. Makes me wonder more about what Ethos are if there's unique ones for something that seems rather simple. Cause I don't think it's that unique to think something done fast and now is better than something strong and later.
[My Resolution, Thy Bedrock] (Common): (Essence)
The danger of slowly losing track of who we set out to be is one so terrifying most choose to deliberately ignore it. You need not ever fear becoming what you are not, the truth of your origins will only grow deeper and more firm over time. Others will find themselves more solid and at ease in your presence. Decay will pause, decoherence will suspend, unravelling will be held in place. Whatever someone has been, you can always help them rediscover; no matter how lost they have become. Your very nature is a firm foundation on which the unstable may gain respite. You are the objective constant around which change must orbit.
This certainly seems very useful for our current predicament where Lilly is changing so much and so fast that she fears she's losing herself. Though I worry that this ability will force us to stick to a specific headspace cause part of growing up is changing. But well any port in a storm and Lilly's mindspace is certainly going through a heck of storm. Also seems potential to help others and maybe our father too. It's also Essence which could be good or bad since it's something we're already good at it but it's also not unlocking something new.
[Needlepoint Construction] (Common): (Flow)
The art of singular attention is a mostly lost one. What people call concentration and meditation are poor imitations of a truly sharpened focus. Your patience is an immutable wall, unable to be worn down. Stress that would shatter a paragon of fortitude sloughs off you without finding purchase. Your mind is not simply solid, but polished to a brilliant shine. Every time you try something, you will do it better. When the occasion requires it, there is no idle thought, no distraction, simply the goal and the meticulous steps required to succeed.
Laser focus which comes with endless patience and mental resilience. Very useful but I fear it could lead to tunnel visioning and not having second thoughts. Another ethos where I feel like it has potential downsides. It also uses Flow which is a new power source which would be interesting to use and learn about.
[Overlooked Maiden] (Common): (Flow)
You are exceptional. You know it, the evidence is clearly written on the wall for anyone bothering to look. Yet time and time again no one even considers you might be more than meets the eye. Each uncovered peculiarity is immediately presumed to be your sole defining feature. When something of note is discovered, you are presumed too young or naïve to contribute to the discussion. This is the story of your life, zero to twelve. So be it, ignorance and assumption have been your chains since birth, but you will make your bindings theirs. Be passed over in plain sight, dismissed from suspicion with casual ease. Witnesses won't be able to place your face. After-action reports will conflict with each other. You are the Forgotten Enigma, less than wind.
Another flow power and probably one super useful for our situation where we fear the powers at be are not our friend. It's also kind of scary in it's abilities since somehow it will make all the guards we just helped write us off or something close enough to that. That's a scary amount of mental fuckery. Also unless this comes with an off button we'll have to deal with people constantly overlooking and underestimating us which would be aggravating and make it hard to get allies like the Captain.
[Obstinate Rejection] (Rare): (Oath)
Your commitment is a razor-sharp edge, a crushing force, a scything glaive. You will not be deterred from your beliefs. You cannot be convinced to relent. If the whole world disagrees than it is the whole world that must be corrected for their error. Every denial armours you further, every dismissal further hones your blade. The words that have hurt you are now your sticks and stones, break their bones at your leisure.
A Captain America-esque I'm not moving you move. It's about being stubborn about what you think is right and not being misguided by enemies with sweet words. It also seems like the kind ability to really set us in our ways where either our enemies can't try and convince us or risk powering us up which could easily lead us to creating an echo chamber.
[I Tear the Veil] (Rare): (Oath) {Inverted}
Secrets; secrets everywhere. The spectre of denied knowledge follows you wherever you go, it's enough to drive you crazy! No more! If they will not share their secrets willingly, then you will take them by force. Gain a presence and defiling charisma so meta-physically deep as to reach out and wrench hold of information you should not know. Shape memory and mystery into weapons of rending horror. Mother's will forget their children's names, soldiers their orders, hearts how to beat, lungs how to breathe. You will inflict your own wounds onto your enemies a hundred times over, hollow souls littering your wake. They can tell you the easy way, or have it ripped from their corpse.
Give me answers or give me your life. Very scary in what it can do. Not sure I would like Lilly to go down this path.
[Sorcerer] (Mythic): (Mana)
Magic Focal Concept: Nature (Rare)
The Trees have spoken to you of a deeper truth that lies within all who take breath. The drive that unites all life under its wing. Instinct, wild and feral, the vicious will to thrive in any circumstance. Tap into the core of your own and other's beings, release the potential forgotten by all but the most simple of life. Lead the pack. Split the rock. Burn with passion and ignite others'. You are the catalyst for immense evolution and change, the top of all natural hierarchies. Your very essence shall demand respect. Your innermost self proudly on display, shame can no longer touch you.
Basically super druid which is awesome cause it would allow us to do a lot of things.
I'll be honest I don't really understand the Foundation stuff that well and kind of just want to finish this stuff so I'm just going to vote.
[X] [DreamLVL] She carried it with her always, no matter how far apart they drifted.
I like the ability to adventure at maximum power or at least a good amount of our power. Cause it would really suck to start thinking of Dream as a post our leash is tied to.
[X] [CleaverLVL] It looked harmless, but fate told her the truth.
Never have too many danger senses
[X] [N:FES] [My Resolution, Thy Bedrock]
I really want Lilly to have the comfort of a bedrock given how much change she's had to go through. Hopefully this will also help with dad.
[X] [S:FES] [Championed Uplift | 0000-A, 2
nd Integration Stage Initializer]
Not sure if this is going to count right but I copied and pasted from the update itself so it should work. Anyways Champion Uplift just sounds cool either as a dungeon we can allow companions to go through and fully unlock their stuff or for Lilly to have as a mental palace thingy that she goes through to unlock her bankais. I don't think we need to worry about the warnings too much since this seems like a thing that is normally used sparingly or else it would up end the gameboard but we're in a crisis situation so we won't get smited for stealing with Class Upgrade dungeon.
For the scope of transmutation I'm not going to vote since I really like Core Anchor but I worry that it'll be instantly reveled since the Watch is definitely going to be checking us for injuries after we got knocked out and so the crystal under our clothes will be obvious.
Exalted Flesh is fine but kind of limiting and boring in how safe it is. But it is safe which is really comforting especially since after beating this rouge dungeon I'm not sure what the watch will think if they find we're half dungeon.
Will Form is as Evie puts it "Invulnerable until it isn't" which isn't really comforting cause I imagine we'll be facing a lot of things that could kill us even with the immunity to normal physical attacks.
] [DreamLVL] Access to Limbo for infinite planning-time
