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The God Diversion

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[X] Plan May you have Eyes..
-[X] Aspect: Vision
-[X] Artifact: The Revolver
-[X] Artifact: The Brass Cube
-[X] Loan Penny the Revolver.

[X] Plan Cradle

[X] Plan Bullet and Blade (and Eye!)


[X] Plan: Delving into Mystery
 
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[X] Plan May you have Eyes..
[X] Plan: Eldritch Mysteries
-[X] Aspect: Eldritch
-[X] Artifact: The Revolver
-[X] Artifact: The Brass Cube
-[X] Loan Penny the Revolver.

I like the mystery box : )

Edit: added an eldritch version
 
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So after WoG from the discord, several hours of discussion, and consuming more tea I want to update my analysis.

The main change is the fact that Eldritch isn't getting ignored out the gate. I am willing to settle for it so long as we get Gun out of the bargain (as the Revolver is comically useful even ignoring the Six Sigma Shots). This is because the entity getting jammed in there as a roommate isn't really that malign - as a reflection of Sol's worse traits it'd basically just be a lazy frat with (and this is crucial) a good self-preservation instinct. I still prefer Visions to Eldritch, don't get me wrong, but I am willing to accept the latter as long as we don't get Transgression (which WoG says is signing up to be an asshole).

As for artifacts, things have gotten SPICY. Beyond a desire to have Power Word: Gun, we now have the Book of Not Driving You Insane (Anymore) regardless of what we choose. This means we must now look at everything else. My distrust of the gatcha (i have suffered too long playing f/go) makes the CUBE hard to accept - I would prefer something with a more tangible benefit, as my rough understanding of the last time we had a gatcha (I read over Immersion in its entirety) was Bad Vibes all around. Arguably the Athame has some amount of benefit not as a weapon (as metal as it is) but as a ritual tool - it'll probably do... something for that, and it is also an okay crowd control weapon. The lantern is pretty situational, and as much as I enjoy the repelling of flies surely Sol could Architect a solution pretty easily to that. So basically for me it is split between CUBE and Stabbing Implement - and I favor the stabbing implement.

Now then, several people have suggested loaning Penny one of the things - supposing, of course, that she doesn't get any. If we get it, Athame should be loaned over revolver - we don't have spare bullets.

Overall, my new votes are as follows:
[X] Plan Carnage

[X] Plan Bullet and Blade (and Eye!)
- [X] Aspect: Vision
- [X] Artifact: The Revolver
- [X] Artifact: The Red Athame
-- [X] Loan Penny the Athame, supposing she has nothing else.
 
I like plan carnage it gets us eldrich which is my favorite especially cause it means we're never alone, gets us the sacrificial blade which has several unknown powers and decent combat now, the revolver which can protect us against any super bosses we encounter by loaning to penny, and the necronomicon though every vote gets that. Also unlike other plans which people are currently voting for it has a plan attached to it which might even score us more exp as we're learning towards our role in it.
 
A player's intercession has acquired considerable metadata of the Cube's contents for you. The following is a hint, not a comprehensive layout:

[ ] Cradle - All worlds are born of a spark within the murk of possibility, an event called Genesis, a template reflected within every rung of the Architecture. How something of that nature found its rest amongst the darkest corners of the Gothic World, you suspect you shall never discover.

It's not without cost that you unsealed the Brass Cube that contained Genesis. Indeed, the costs are immense, not even accounting for the months spent on puzzling out the intricate meaning of the seals: the sheer cost of endangered lives, or even the azure eyes drawn in a sudden pull of curiosity.

And yet the results speak for themselves. The world you'll make has the potential to be so much more.
 
I'm not sure it's worth it? Like, we already have dealing with the Apostles, and general exploration, not to mention potential complications from this field trip. Sol isn't the type to be able to spin unlimited plates. Pretty much the opposite.
 
ilbgar123 said:
I'm not sure it's worth it? Like, we already have dealing with the Apostles, and general exploration, not to mention potential complications from this field trip. Sol isn't the type to be able to spin unlimited plates. Pretty much the opposite.
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It might be usable as a training aid though I dunno it might be its own exp sink entirely on its own. But, I imagine it works as training architecture.
 
It's another thing on our plate, but this isn't time critical. It's a ton of potential (birdsie confirmed we could turn the world into our sanctum), and if we don't take it here we won't get offered it again. To me, the option to pursue the brass cube and the insights into architecture it might offer, is worth sacrificing the (imo) redundant safety increase of taking Athame. Whatever Athame can handle, revolver is more than sufficient for.
 
[X] Plan: Eldritch Mysteries
genericname please add rihakus stuff to eldritch mysteries like the working as a magician and handing her the revolver.
 
Birdsie said:
A player's intercession has acquired considerable metadata of the Cube's contents for you. The following is a hint, not a comprehensive layout:

[ ] Cradle - All worlds are born of a spark within the murk of possibility, an event called Genesis, a template reflected within every rung of the Architecture. How something of that nature found its rest amongst the darkest corners of the Gothic World, you suspect you shall never discover.

It's not without cost that you unsealed the Brass Cube that contained Genesis. Indeed, the costs are immense, not even accounting for the months spent on puzzling out the intricate meaning of the seals: the sheer cost of endangered lives, or even the azure eyes drawn in a sudden pull of curiosity.

And yet the results speak for themselves. The world you'll make has the potential to be so much more.
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Interesting! Here are my initial thoughts and some Discord info:

*Genesis is related to the creation of worlds
*If exploited properly we can use it as our Sanctum
*It appears to require a large amount of additional investment in time, effort and potentially, SC
*It appears to invite potentially aggressive and highly powerful scrutiny and opposition (azure eyes = Metaphysician). A higher-stakes and more dangerous quest will be very draining to Sol's extremely limited Will income.

If we go for this, we should almost certainly combine it with a plan that uses Transgression, as we'll need the extra Will and actions to actually make use of a high-investment option that demands "months spent puzzling out intricate meaning." We don't have the Will or SC to spare on every opportunity that presents itself, and world creation, while possessing tremendous utility, has little direct combat impact in the short- to medium-term, nor will help us save Penny and Harrison from dying in Tarot world in most cases.

I'll update my earlier post with a plan that includes this + Transgression for people that want to invest in this line. I personally prefer not to invest in too many plots at the same time - it dilutes wordcount and we haven't even properly explored the one EFB we've bought (King of Magi), nor do we know the requirements for exploiting the 12 SC option we just acquired (Advanced Empowerment). It would definitely be a shame to lose out on the strongest Empowerment because we took a lesser potential-based option merely at the Artifact stage.

I've added the following Plan to my earlier Plans post -

[ ] Plan Cradle
-Take Transgression, Cradle and Revolver. This plan hopes that Revolver provides sufficient safety for us to get away with taking Cradle, and Transgression ensures we actually have the Will to exploit it - else Cradle is basically a wasted option since it's all potential and will require months of work to unlock. We'll also need a serious Will reserve to defend ourselves from the attention Cradle draws.
 
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Honestly I largely agree with Rihaku on this one - Cradle is an investment and we've barely scratched the surface of literally everything else. We would be better off focusing on other things that provide slightly shorter-term benefits.
 
Birdsie said:
[ ] Aspect: Eldritch - Inside of your meager form, an elder power has taken root: research into the forbidden finally bearing fruit as a cohabitator from beyond our stars. The Aspect manifests primarily as a symbiote within the Enrolled's body, an existence that slowly congeals into more dangerous, intelligent, and independent alignments. It feeds off of the Enrolled's mentality and brainwaves, absorbing foremost their least flattering traits. Its presence within the body confers baseline physical benefits: improved condition, accelerated healing, and even rapid restoration of blood. In return, as wounds accumulate, the Enrolled's inhuman truth is revealed, and the symbiote gains more control.

Its Techniques manifest foremost as spellcasting assistance: it can form extrusions that act as capable familiars, enhance the Enrolled's casting reserves, or more crudely, as offensive and defensive tendrils.
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This sounds a bit like a JoJo Stand to me. Being able to buff Sol's body and healing is really useful given how squishy he is. The ability to assist him in casting and his reserves is useful as well. The increased control as the Enrolled is injured is worrying though.

Birdsie said:
[ ] Aspect: Vision - The Eyes That See Dark Truths, an artifact of Gothic provenance and immense Thematic influence, is woven into an Aspect. It metamorphoses the Enrolled's eyeballs into starlike ponds, as black as the cosmic void, with enthralling pinpricks of variegated starlight. Prolonged eye contact produces fascination, eventually developing into suggestive states. Effort channels insanity and madness through the eyes. Passively, they grant enhanced awareness of abstract concepts and ideas with a negative valence: weaknesses, addictions, horrifying secrets, and above everything, dark truths.

Its Techniques allow for the deployment of more permissive madness, as well as improved control: temporary states, instead of permanent breakage; even channeling specific manners of psychic shattering to inflict amnesia, aphasia, dysmetria, and similar conditions.
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While interesting in that it's a Vision/Sight Aspect the madness stuff isn't really something that I'm interested in.

Birdsie said:
[ ] Aspect: Transgression - A superficial guise of humanity concealing moral turpitude and depravity, stemming from an ultimately inhuman nature. In transgression beyond moral limits, strength. As the Aspect's level increases over time, so does your despair and vulnerability diminish, improving the effects and gathering of Will, until you resemble a being of average motivational capability. However, you're also blithely accepting a slow degradation of your moral faculties, every step further down an invitation to continue down the dark path.

Its Techniques center around enhanced charisma, the spread of deviance and corruption, and instincts for inflicting lawlessness on nations and causing the dissolution of social mechanisms in groups.
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This makes Sol's already potent social abilities even more scary. But it comes at the risk of pushing him down a slobbery slope and increasing his despair. Not something that I'd choose.

Birdsie said:
Furthermore, you can select two (2) of the following artifacts:
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Getting two Artifacts is nice.

Birdsie said:
[ ] Red Athame - Found in a cultist's atelier, any cuts made with this crimson-gripped athame do not bleed naturally, instead producing an outpouring of scarlet flame. Its sensation is agonizing, an overwhelming assault on the senses; capable of rendering even the most powerful men insensate with utter torment. The magus responsible for dealing the cut can psychically direct the flame, stoking further injury or assaulting the foe's allies. Flames are fed by blood; inoperational on non-hematopoietic organisms.

It seems to have at least several other properties you have not discovered yet.
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This is a pretty potent Artifact given that it's really able to put on the hurt and whatever else Solomon hasn't learned about it yet.

Birdsie said:
[ ] The Necronomicon - Or a workable copy of the original, at least. It contains over a hundred pages, each one inscribed with tidbits of forbidden lore: summoning invocations for eldritch monsters, binding sigils and alchemical procedures for dealing with and controlling the same, and a cornucopia of surprisingly innocuous and non-malevolent spells, ranging from a one-phrase incantation that shoots forth a bolt of dissolving acid to a dance that creates a field of impassable mud.

It doesn't inflict madness, as it seems the cognitohazardous sections were ripped out by one of the previous owners.
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While it doesn't have the Cognitoharzards and juicer stuff it's still a potent spellbook.

Birdsie said:
[ ] The Spirit Lantern - A metal-and-glass lantern with a hovering azure wisp locked within; the form of an ancient spirit, now made into a flashlight that shines on your way. It can speak to spiritually sensitive individuals within its vicinity, and whispers to you, introducing itself as Frederick von Zonenzarzern. It'll attempt to cajole and convince you to release its seal with a plethora of rhetorical machinations: something your divinations inform you would be unwise.

Its presence strikes absolute fear into spirits lesser than itself, and can even induce a mild, creeping doubt that mounts over time into peers. Furthermore, its light can be released in order to progressively inflict ruin and harm on those same entities, and it can be tapped for energy in a pinch. It also repels mosquitoes.
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Welp this is pretty creepy but I'm not exactly cool with having a ghost in a lantern.

Birdsie said:
[ ] The Revolver - A six-shooter embossed with unrecognizable sigils. As long as the shooter says the words, "I deliver your retribution in steel," before squeezing the trigger, a nearly unbreakable mental effect will compel the target to stand still. Furthermore, it contains six magical rounds that contain the weaknesses of every supernatural creature imaginable, from blood-drinking vampires to howling werewolves to vile magicians, and even the Enrolled. However, nothing can restore the rounds once they are spent, unless you learn to manufacture extra.
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Sounds like it would fit Penny a lot more, it's limited ammo is a problem but Sol could likely make more given that he's the Magician. Maybe we can give it to Penny and get something either goodwill or favors out of it.

Birdsie said:
[ ] The Brass Cube - A rather literal mystery box: six-sided and made of brass, each side demarcated into three sections, each with its own glowing seal. It has stubbornly refused even your most thorough divinations, and so you've not the faintest clue what its contents may be.
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The mystery box that Sol's sight can't pierce. I really want to choose it now.

Rihaku said:
Initial thoughts:

*Given Birdsie's clarifications on Discord (Eldritch isn't dangerous to Sol, Transgression can be channeled into minimally harmful paths), I'm alright with either Eldritch or Transgression. Eldritch best fits our initial goal of a near-fully stacking Aspect that can push us to a 4x Aspect stacking efficiency - something that will save us tens of thousands of XP in the long run - but Transgression as a solution for Will isn't bad either. We can basically become Kazuma - proactive, highly competent but lecherous - which is a huge upgrade in terms of actual play experience compared to being highly competent but crippled by Will requirements.

*Vision seems promising initially, but has two severe flaws. 1) It doesn't do anything against mindless undead, golems, natural disasters, enemies with strong mental defenses... it's an incredibly narrow Aspect that's not really worth spending XP to level more than once or twice. Inflicting madness on others is just an extremely unwieldy and morally questionable method of achieving things. 2) Sol experiences despair at all the things he sees but can't change; if he's empowered to see the dark side of life super-well, it's entirely possible his despair will flare up and become even worse. But really 1) is my main concern; I cannot emphasize enough how huge a mechanical mistake it would be to give up a highly-stacking or actually useful Aspect for something this narrow and bad. It is literally like taking thousands of Will (dozens of individualized classwork actions) and throwing it in the garbage.
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Good to know that Eldritch isn't dangerous to Sol and Transgression doens't mean Sol has to become evil. I agree that Vision isn't really as feasible or useful long term.

ilbgar123 said:
I have bought Necronomicon with real money, so there's no need to worry about not getting it.
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Sweet that's great. Thanks ilbgar123

Birdsie said:
A player's intercession has acquired considerable metadata of the Cube's contents for you. The following is a hint, not a comprehensive layout:

[ ] Cradle - All worlds are born of a spark within the murk of possibility, an event called Genesis, a template reflected within every rung of the Architecture. How something of that nature found its rest amongst the darkest corners of the Gothic World, you suspect you shall never discover.

It's not without cost that you unsealed the Brass Cube that contained Genesis. Indeed, the costs are immense, not even accounting for the months spent on puzzling out the intricate meaning of the seals: the sheer cost of endangered lives, or even the azure eyes drawn in a sudden pull of curiosity.

And yet the results speak for themselves. The world you'll make has the potential to be so much more.
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Okay this is really cool and I want it. I'm now convinced that we should look into the Brass Cube because making our own World will be so useful and cool. We don't even need to do so while we are still learning we can just wait until we are graduated and then study the Cube. Also getting Sanctum up would be really useful in combination to this.
 
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[X] Plan Scumzuma

I'm voting for this primarily because I think transgression is the best pick for an aspect. It's the first real option we've been offered to start solving Sols greatest (current) problem. As WoG seems to have stated, it doesn't mean he will become evil, just replace our chronic laziness with a few undesirable character traits, which in my opinion is a highly worth it trade by itself, even discounting the additional powers the aspect grants (how about convincing one of the Apostles to give in to their base urges, conceptually cutting them off from their archtype and powersource?)

I'm personally not enthused with the lechery path being discussed, but I'd be willing to pay that price if it leads to less despair.

Another option in my opinion would be coldness/cruelty/tactlessness. Sol could be unconcerned with the feelings of people outside his interest, speak uncomfortable and painful truths even when not appropriate, be dismissive of personal sacrifices when weighed against a common good, while still remaining a good person, especially if we stay near Penelope and our jock roommate (what's his name again?) and encourage them to be our moral guidelines.
I like this idea because it ties into our role as seer and magician, as a person that is concerned with structural/wide-angle perspective and divorced from mortal/individual concerns, has a good prerequisite for interesting social interactions with Justice and a friend group in general (and Penelope would be perfectly equipped to recognise that while we look/sound a bit evil, we're good and righteous at heart), and ties into Sols already established character traits, that is, "I'm depressed because I can SEE what will go wrong for all the people around me, but every time I try to help them they dismiss me and make their own situation worse, and that hurts me." This development would mean that Sol will start to care less about this aspect of his life so far, and focus more on what he can influence i.e. Enrolled and large scale systems.
 
[X] Plan Cradle
-Take Transgression, Cradle and Revolver. This plan hopes that Revolver provides sufficient safety for us to get away with taking Cradle, and Transgression ensures we actually have the Will to exploit it - else Cradle is basically a wasted option since it's all potential and will require months of work to unlock. We'll also need a serious Will reserve to defend ourselves from the attention Cradle draws.
 


With Eldritch we get the cheetos eating familiar patterned after Sol's shadow, Transgression gives us the snarky truthsayer, Vision the melancholia from Gothic Horror and Magician's shining eyes.. No matter what we end up picking I'm really happy with this vote. They're all so good.

And thanks to our generous benefactors we bagged the book and cracked the cube too.
 
_brightwing said:


With Eldritch we get the cheetos eating familiar patterned after Sol's shadow, Transgression gives us the snarky truthsayer, Vision the melancholia from Gothic Horror and Magician's shining eyes.. No matter what we end up picking I'm really happy with this vote. They're all so good.

And thanks to our generous benefactors we bagged the book and cracked the cube too.
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uh birdsie was talking about just those two for transgression he says we're choosing some flavor of asshole. Not that its not manageable we can be a sherlock level dick.
 
[X] Aspect: Visions
[X] The Brass Cube
[X] The Revolver

I think the opportunity cost of picking the Brass Cube is minimal. The Lantern seems vaguely sus, and the Red Athame is a melee weapon. It might have hidden potential, but we're already getting the necronomicon and it'd probably be unpleasantly gothic potential; and in terms of immediate safety, I don't think the Athame particularly helps if the revolver is already taken.
picking a Potential-Focused Unmystery Box over a Weapon We Probably Won't Use or a Suspicious Lamp does not mean you're committing to focusing on it! If anything, I think the right plan with Brass Cube is to totally ignore it for a long time. The greater his other powers, the greater the precautions Solomon will have the latitude to take in the process; the lesser the endangerment to innocent lives, and so on. Yes, if we take the thing we want to benefit from it eventually, but that doesn't mean it has to be before graduation. In similar vein, hopefully the growth of Solomon's aspects and such will make it cheaper to unseal the cube.
I vote for visions because it's the least Horror King-y.
[EDIT: hm, it appears someone else voted for the same things first.]
[X] Plan May you have Eyes..
 
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