Remove ads

NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

Voting is open
Reader mode
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
The issue is that the probing is useless and achieves nothing if the Spear Guards are up. All it tells us is that he has Spear Guards, which we already know.

Our ranged attacks will also be defended against with the Spear Guards is the thing...we just can't meaningfully probe his defenses at all with those up.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That is admittedly an issue. I think that if we really made it appear like we were up for a long-ranged game of attrition, we might force him to try closing the distance with us and demonstrating some of his other abilities, but it's a gamble.

If we're using Devouring Blaze off the bat, then honestly I'd be tempted to go a little harder on the attack here, to capitalise on this being a turn when he's unaware that we have Devouring Blaze and give us the chance to sucker punch him. Punch up the dice on some of the Firebomb Strikes, maybe. Even for testing the waters, I think they may be on the lower end - Axe Man was throwing attacks at us with more dice than that.
 
Skippy said:
Given it's an ability Halla has had for a while, this seems like something we should poke @Imperial Fister about until he answers.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

We're accumulating a lot of those. Maybe I should collate a list...

Shard said:
We also have Calm Charges. We can get up to 3 extra uses of our Aspects, and this honestly seems like a good time to exploit that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If we need to? Absolutely.

wrecksalot said:
Wouldn't a single high dice attack break through all of them? it's a bit Orthstirr expensive, but with Sharpen we are more efficient, and we can power it with combat dice rather than pure Orthstirr.

It's risky if he has a non-standtill based Contest trigger, but that alone is useful information to know.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Hmmm. That's potentially valid, yeah. Expensive, but maybe not too expensive. Lemme think a bit...

Skippy said:
That is admittedly an issue. I think that if we really made it appear like we were up for a long-ranged game of attrition, we might force him to try closing the distance with us and demonstrating some of his other abilities, but it's a gamble.

If we're using Devouring Blaze off the bat, then honestly I'd be tempted to go a little harder on the attack here, to capitalise on this being a turn when he's unaware that we have Devouring Blaze and give us the chance to sucker punch him. Punch up the dice on some of the Firebomb Strikes, maybe. Even for testing the waters, I think they may be on the lower end - Axe Man was throwing attacks at us with more dice than that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Punching up the dice is viable. If not using Devouring Blaze we want to do that from the first attack onward, but it's doable...
 
Shard said:
How much more or less Standstill compared to us?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Either equal or less. Something tells you he had help learning it, likely from someone with a lot of Standstill.
Shard said:
How much Hamr does he seem to have?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
About equal or more.
Shard said:
Can we Sundersight people to get a feel of their weaknesses?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You may
Skippy said:
Given it's an ability Halla has had for a while, this seems like something we should poke @Imperial Fister about until he answers.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You decide to use it at the start of the round. As you're fighting, it compiles information which is then displayed at the end.
Shard said:
What Armor is Hooknails using anyway? What quality and how much HP left?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Mail, Wondrous quality. Uncertain.
 
Imperial Fister said:
You decide to use it at the start of the round. As you're fighting, it compiles information which is then displayed at the end.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Just to check since this is a concern people raised: Does using it cause temporary blindness or some other sort of really serious side-effect we should know about and Halla would logically have found out about in training/experimenting by now?
 
Alright, dropped Devouring Blaze and punched up the attacks more than a bit.

Imperial Fister said:
You decide to use it at the start of the round. As you're fighting, it compiles information which is then displayed at the end.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Okay we should likely do that then. Added to the plan though I'll remove it if there are issues. Still we can't make use of data the turn we gather it, so if we want to use it we need to start it up a turn in advance...

Do we get anything additional on Hooknails from Feet of Clay or Talent Tell?
 
We should note a contingency to flare our own Aspect if we're caught in IAT or an equivalent.
 
Skippy said:
Just to check since this is a concern people raised: Does using it cause temporary blindness or some other sort of really serious side-effect we should know about and Halla would logically have found out about in training/experimenting by now?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If you were to use it again and again and again, on every single enemy you've battled today, then you'd start seeing spots in your eyes. As it is now, you're fine.
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Do we get anything additional on Hooknails from Feet of Clay or Talent Tell?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Compared to before, he's worked on his aerial combat quite significantly. You suspect he may be able to fly now, though you find yourself doubting that he's perfected it. If you can drag him into a flying battle, then you may be able to win via attrition.
 
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Alright, dropped Devouring Blaze and punched up the attacks more than a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Honestly, if we're trying to hit him with Firebomb-Strikes and other melee attacks, then we should use Devouring Blaze

I realise I was talking about holding it in reserve, but that was in the context on the idea of staying at range and feeling him out. I think we potentially could force him to close the distance with us, by threatening a battle of attrition where we keep nuking his guards with 100d6 Kindle-Spinners fuelled entirely by our combat pool until he runs out of Orthstirr. But since that's not what we're doing, we need Devouring Blaze or we'll likely have a repeat of what happened when we tried rushing him last time.
 
Skippy said:
Honestly, if we're trying to hit him with Firebomb-Strikes and other melee attacks, then we should use Devouring Blaze

I realise I was talking about holding it in reserve, but that was in the context on the idea of staying at range and feeling him out. I think we potentially could force him to close the distance with us, by threatening a battle of attrition where we keep nuking his guards with 100d6 Kindle-Spinners fuelled entirely by our combat pool until he runs out of Orthstirr.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The Spear Guards work just as well at defending against ranged as melee, and apparently he's learned how to fly. Also, he was always better at ranged than melee from what we saw, which does not incline me to engage him in a ranged duel if we can avoid it. It's not impossible, but it's dicey.

Skippy said:
But since that's not what we're doing, we need Devouring Blaze or we'll likely have a repeat of what happened when we tried rushing him last time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The biggest issue with last time was using a Folded Attack. We're definitely not doing that here.

I can pretty readily be convinced to re-add Devouring Blaze, though. What do other people think?
 
Last edited:
Okay, as long as he doesn't surpass our skill in Standstill, we should be okay. That being said, makes me wonder what the fuck kind of price was paid for him to power level to Standstill to around 5 in Two fucking years, couldn't be cheap, and the fact his gear is so massively improved as well is telling. This guy's basically a Heaven's Chosen of the Rogaland Sect by all indications, and losing him will hurt.

Make a note @DeadmanwalkingXI . We are to pivot from using Emberwind and Ignition to fuel EWC, depending on the need, and include a clause to use Veto Motion when appropriate to better evade incoming attacks. He might think his aerial combat is improved, but he has no idea what that means yet.

I'm thinking though, Firebomb Strikes to force him to his defenses, then when he throws up Guards and other Constructs, use Devouring Blaze to purge them, before following that up with a Flashfire Cleave, using Odr to further boost it. This is not the time to be stingy, True Death is on the line, and the Rewards of winning a battle like this are worth massively spending.
 
Last edited:
Alectai said:
Okay, as long as he doesn't surpass our skill in Standstill, we should be okay. That being said, makes me wonder what the fuck kind of price was paid for him to power level to Standstill to around 5 in Two fucking years, couldn't be cheap, and the fact his gear is so massively improved as well is telling. This guy's basically a Heaven's Chosen of the Rogaland Sect by all indications, and losing him will hurt.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm starting to blame the Enemy. Or at least someone influenced by them.
 
Alectai said:
I'm thinking though, Firebomb Strikes to force him to his defenses, then when he throws up Guards and other Constructs, use Devouring Blaze to purge them, before following that up with a Flashfire Cleave, using Odr to further boost it. This is not the time to be stingy, True Death is on the line, and the Rewards of winning a battle like this are worth massively spending.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Hmm. We want to start with FFC, because after even a single hit FBS is actually more damage since the first hit likely penetrates his armor. Other than that, that's probably not a bad call.
 
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Hmm. We want to start with FFC, because after even a single hit FBS is actually more damage since the first hit likely penetrates his armor. Other than that, that's probably not a bad call.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah.

And with the reveal of how Sundersight works in battle, we should definitely spend this round (Which is mostly supposed to be probing anyway), scanning him. That's a Trump Card that we've kept well under our hat so far, and now is the time to play it.

EDIT: Oh, I've got a fun trolly idea, when we purge his guards, follow it up by a weapon hotswap and nail him with Heavy-Shot, even if he's got a shield effect somewhere, that'll still hurt him.
 
Last edited:
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
The Spear Guards work just as well at defending against ranged as melee, and apparently he's learned how to fly. Also, he was always better at ranged than melee from what we saw, which does not incline me to engage him in a ranged duel if we can avoid it. It's not impossible, but it's dicey.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The idea isn't that we'd seriously do that, it's that we'd convince him we intend to do it. But actually since his guards are fuelled by orthstirr and our kindle spinnners aren't and we can fly and use dodge defences with essentially infinite space for Backstep, we could potentially wear him down in a purely ranged battle of attrition whilst he's unable to hit us, forcing him to reveal other abilities or close the distance to counter it.

But this is all irrelevant because it's talking about a different, hypothetical plan than the one you're doing, in which it would make sense to keep Devouring Blaze in reserve.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
I can pretty readily be convinced to re-add Devouring Blaze, though. What do other people think?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Seriously, I cannot emphasise this enough, trying to attack Mr Human Porcupine Made of Spears without Devouring Blaze (or even Slowing Slog active) is a bad idea. Please do not remove it from your plan based on a miscommunication of my feedback, or @wrecksalot suggesting that a single high dice attack will break all of his Guards at once - which if you remember for a second, we know from experience is not universally true. In any case, the thing which tripped us up last time was actually his offensive spear hugareida, which won't even be triggered by an attack.
 
As for why I want to keep Slowing Slog under our hat... It's because I want it to be held in reserve for a simple reason.

That reason is Flame Tending Blade.

This is a Fated Battle, it is going to end in a clash of Finales, but we'll have a much easier time charging that up if he doesn't have the firepower to do more than scratch damage for us, and had no idea we had that bullshit up our sleeve.
 
We should also start abusing our shields. If Hooknails launches like a 40~50d6 attack, we should just shield sacrifice instead of dealing with it.
 
Okay, re-added the Devouring Blazes.

Alectai said:
Yeah.

And with the reveal of how Sundersight works in battle, we should definitely spend this round (Which is mostly supposed to be probing anyway), scanning him. That's a Trump Card that we've kept well under our hat so far, and now is the time to play it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Generally agreed, yeah. I think if we're probing him maybe no Odr this turn? Or not on the attacks anyway? Save that as a bit of a surprise later, since while he knows we have it, he won't be expecting how much?

Alectai said:
EDIT: Oh, I've got a fun trolly idea, when we purge his guards, follow it up by a weapon hotswap and nail him with Heavy-Shot, even if he's got a shield effect somewhere, that'll still hurt him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Hmmm. Maybe. Lemme think on that one.

Skippy said:
Seriously, I cannot emphasise this enough, trying to attack Mr Human Porcupine Made of Spears without Devouring Blaze (or even Slowing Slog active) is a bad idea. Please do not remove it from your plan based on a misinterpretation of my feedback, or @wrecksalot suggesting that a single high dice attack will break all of his Guards at once - which if you remember for a second, you know is not true. In any case, the thing which tripped us up last time was actually his offensive spear hugareida, which won't even be triggered by an attack.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Actually, IF has explicitly said that is true, and that it was handled improperly last time. But I'm down with adding the Devouring Blazes back in nonetheless.

Shard said:
We should also start abusing our shields. If Hooknails launches like a 40~50d6 attack, we should just shield sacrifice instead of dealing with it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This is in the plan as a conditional if he gets through our Guard with something with Puncture or other stuff to ignore Perfects. We don't want to reveal it, but we will to avoid something nasty enough.

Alectai said:
As for why I want to keep Slowing Slog under our hat... It's because I want it to be held in reserve for a simple reason.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Slowing Slog is also much better once Reinforce Shield is broken. I argued last time that it may even be useless with RS up, and that may be an exaggeration, but it's definitely better once RS is gone.
 
So, I think @DeadmanwalkingXI's plan is a solid one and I would encourage people to vote for it or present specific feedback and suggestions if they want something changed. It's been two pages of discussion and not a single vote yet.

The idea of essentially tricking Hooknails into thinking we are taking an entirely different approach to this fight than the one we actually intend to take has stuck in my brain, so I think I may draft a plan along those lines. I don't think it will win, because Deadman has presented a very solid plan and I hope many people will vote for it soon, not to mention that I'm feeling kinda bushed and may not get around to it tonight.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Voting is open
Remove ads
Back
Top