Remove ads

The Streetwalker's Guide to the Hierarchy

Reader mode
[X] Go Hunting

If it works it works. Just a strong value action all around.

[X] Relax - Perform non-strenuous activities. Accelerates recovery efforts, grants chance for minor Visceral advancement.
-[X] Interact with Linneas

We were advised to take a Relax choice, we have yet to get social action with Linneas and boy he deserves it

[X] Visceral Refinement

First two actions are kinda nonbrainers, so the third is the one we will choose between. Imo this and Containment and Currency are all fine, but there's no reason not to profit from the Visceral epiphany we had


Getting the door artifact is HUUUUUGE(plus we can go to other worlds without losing Street access as seen in this update). This means that we could setup a whole ass kingdom in some world, which would completely change how we approach this. Additionally between Hammer and Japhris buffs and Masks it is not inconceivable that we will be able to expand on powers of this artifact, perhaps having constant access to multiple worlds.
Tetra said:
Andrei should probably also rest at least a bit after all that. We're gonna be on this world for a while, so having some money is valuable. Most importantly, I'd really rather Andrei not have the narrative frailty of 5 men. That sounds very obviously terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It is really funny though!

(also realistically he can fix it himself since gaining rank doesn't seem hard if you have literal superpowers to help you stand out)
 
Tetra said:
Andrei should probably also rest at least a bit after all that. We're gonna be on this world for a while, so having some money is valuable. Most importantly, I'd really rather Andrei not have the narrative frailty of 5 men. That sounds very obviously terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Andrei will be trying to rectify that himself by discussing innovations with the villagers, once he's informed about the rough strokes of how Barakah works, and trying to narratively make himself into a kooky scientist.
 
I'd recommend we start traveling inland. I'm interested in seeing what we might find in the capital of Misrashan, it's a bustling city filled with wonders unique to this world.
 
[X] Relax
-[X] Interact - Andrei

i feel like we have to interact with andrei, we did go through all this effort to save him after all. need to make sure he's alright
other than that i dont really know, anybody else have a plan?

edit:
man is this a difficult choice :/
after a bit more thought i guess ill go for this

[X] Gain Currency
-[X] Sell Masks
as R' pointed out, this was part of the original idea

[X] Train Gamaliel
-[X] Sophisticate
viscerality is in a good place right now, and as wolfy said we can grind barakah in a better locale then in the middle of nowhere. so lets get Gamaliel into a better place, it does have incredible potential afterall
 
Last edited:
Some things Dorian should cover if he needs to buy time, because if we were taking the deal we would want to cover them:
This deal doesn't say Veronica will share her knowledge of the Hierarchy-or-whatever. Was she just bullshitting (Okay, we know she isn't, but Dorian doesn't.)? Or is she unwilling to add that costless sweetener for some reason?

why did she ask Dorian to come through? The Street doesn't like it when the Walker leaves their prescribed area. If he'd complied, thinking her position strong enough to demand it, she'd probably lose her chance forevermore.

Who has priority if Dorian's affairs and hers intersect through no fault on either side? That provision has the potential to be highly onerous, considering the Taure situation, and even more so depending on how this Hierarchy she speaks of works.

'Whenever she wanted' is an unreasonable provision. If she wishes to effectively kill him, she can simply demand he constantly fulfill the Doorknob-world-travel situation over and over, and either he'd engage in it constantly or die for violating the terms; and she has plenty of Soldiers, and no provision stopping her travel from being a brief step through and back. There has to be a maximum average frequency.

Is death the only punishment this contract can exact? Considering Veronica is in some regards a mere representative of Somber Parasite, which for all we know can puppet her body or perceptions, we can't truly trust the contract if so. If not, the contract should be set to actively prevent her from permitting the violation; if she can't control the Parasite, she should be forced to kill it or allow us to do so, or the Parasite must be a signatory as well with a provision that it can't replace itself with its own brood or something.

Veronica does not have the advantage in negotiations she thinks she does. She has a hostage, but we have her hostage, to whatever Hierarchy proc is presumably ravaging Taure and eternal entrapment on that overgrown rock. Both sides dearly desire to get something that only the other party can provide, and neither side has an advantage.
Given this self-evidently correct fact, it behooves her to rewrite the terms to be favorable to us, or at least equally favorable to both sides; I'd argue for the latter, as we offer her life's dream and she offers a man who goaded us into the facelessness blast and we knew for, what, a few months? That's not even considering that we might be able to save his life, uh, somehow- for all she knows, we made a soul-jar-mask in the intervening span or something, so in killing Musorov she'll only set him free and then we'll give him a new body later. If she's unable to rewrite them before the door runs out of charge, so be it; we can continue later, or reject her offer with probability proportional to how unbalanced it is in her favor. If she's unwilling to renegotiate when she makes a bad deal, that's her loss.

Something we should consider: What if we let Veronica through, and then kill her Parasite? it's neither her nor one of her soldiers, so it's a valid target. In the process (so it's not 'afterwards', when we need to avoid her affairs), we could imprison her for therapy until she stops being vaguely evil-somber'd.

(I wonder if the Earbuds have anything to say?) woops took too long to post this.
[X] Relax
-[X] Interact: Andrei
[X] Grind Barakah
(mostly focused on trying to figure out how the system works and its interactions with Masks. Is Barakah just Potential But For People? If we make a Mask with the power to detect Potential and Facelessness and stuff, what lights up? If we get a general magic scanny thing, does Potential look like Barakah?)
 
Wolfy said:
That wouldn't be a repeat of Japrhis though. The issues with Japhris had nothing to do with turning her into a Pawn, and here we are using Pawning offensively so we can use Crimson King's ability to directly affect people with our Viscerality. Needless to say that is absurdly powerful ability as we can just shutdown most foes directly with very little counterplay.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The issues with Japhris were to do with ignoring her and then reacting tyrannically.
Wolfy said:


Linneas being based as usual

best boy
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
What's the picture from? Did JJBA start having assistants draw backgrounds?

Not sure on my vote yet, but I have a question for @Birdsie: What would have happened if we'd asked the Infimecida United Neonclave cashier for 360 of Cure to Cancer® and a literal billion of the Superlative Demonic AnyPill®? I did notice the 'at most 5% multiplicatively' this time, but if it always multiplies the remaining Super Demon Cancer® risk by 19/20ths, 360 would be enough to drop the risk to just under one in a hundred billion.
 
HoratioVonBecker said:
Not sure on my vote yet, but I have a question for @Birdsie: What would have happened if we'd asked the Infimecida United Neonclave cashier for 360 of Cure to Cancer® and a literal billion of the Superlative Demonic AnyPill®? I did notice the 'at most 5% multiplicatively' this time, but if it always multiplies the remaining Super Demon Cancer® risk by 19/20ths, 360 would be enough to drop the risk to just under one in a hundred billion.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It wouldn't have done that; although a very high quantity of cancer pills might've improved your odds moderately.
 
[X] Relax
-[X] Interact: Andrei
[X] Train Gamaliel
-[X] Sophisticate x2

We need to check in with Andrei after his ordeal, that's pretty much non-negotiable.

Now that there's less of a need to grab immediate power, I think we should focus on Gamaliel for a bit: to quote Discord,
Birdsie said:
A sufficiently developed Gamaliel should be indistinguishable from arbitrary reality warping! For one turn you could most likely develop focused offensive Techniques of a very particular flavor (animate environment to attack, fire an elemental blast, create mask-minions,) that might still be somewhat shakily stable, or find ways to enhance traps or weapons you could make.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
General sophistication seems like the sort of thing that pays off in the long run.
 
You actually want raw power right now so we can get as much out of this world as we can and then do longer term stuff in later part of our three month stay once we got the most out of it, not the other way around.
 
I'm surprised that Viscerality is getting ignored. It had been carrying our ass pretty hard last couple of fights, we just expanded its domain, got a training boost and stage skip and also got an additional epiphany to benefit from.
 
"And I think I understand why. You believe this situation can be resolved martially, don't you?"
Dorian didn't answer, staring at her instead.
"Allow me to disabuse you of that notion. You thought I was unprepared to make good on my threat?"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Lol. Lmao even.

"Long time no see," Dorian hacked out.

"Yes - an entire day," answered Andrei, coughing
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
this whole arc has lasted less than a day..
Here, in the aftermath of the wrath and gunfire and invading roots, that entire course of events seemed almost insane, storylike, unbelievable
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
indeed.

And actually,
"It's a shame... I really wanted to show you, how it all really works," she forced out the words, speaking to Dorian.
"Farewell, Streetwalker."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
the lions aren't the only ones being deliberately dramatic here..
And considering the earlier qualities of the fight with the lion:
Their strife was a song to a god of violence, a scene that could've been commemorated eternally on a mural in an ancient city's temple: as beautiful and symbolic as it was simply frenzied and unthinkingly primal
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I wonder how much of this is caused by Barakah.
 
I do wish we'd been able to save Veronica Carrasco. Putting the right sort of mask on her might have been enough.
Interesting that the Somber Mask has pseudo-Viscerality. Dragon-themed, too. But it's a different color, and a different emotion set. Doubt/Jealousy/Greed/Lust-for-Existence instead of Anger/Sensual-Lust/Fear-which-isn't-one-of-the-ten-recognized-Fetters? Presumably taken from Streetwalkers snared like fish by a fisherman, perhaps it's literally just Viscerality but warped fundamentally by the Somber Mask.
 
Last edited:
I was promised mask salesmanship, and we now have a chance to finally make good that promise.

[X] Plan Finally Doing the Thing
-Relax 1x, interacting with characters of Dorian's choice
-Sell Masks 2x, primary focus is not money but the acquisition of favors, valuable information and Barakah. Travel to a larger urban hub if necessary, with your stats and Mask's versatility shouldn't be a major commitment.

Sell Masks. Acquire Profits. If we do not do this at this perfect juncture for it, there was no point in choosing this character in the first place.
 
HoratioVonBecker said:
Interesting that the Somber Mask has pseudo-Viscerality. Dragon-themed, too. But it's a different color, and a different emotion set. Doubt/Jealousy/Greed/Lust-for-Existence instead of Anger/Sensual-Lust/Fear-which-isn't-one-of-the-ten-recognized-Fetters? Presumably taken from Streetwalkers snared like fish by a fisherman, perhaps it's literally just Viscerality but warped fundamentally by the Somber Mask.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Viscerality's generally best described under the umbrella of all passions, desires, and visceral emotions.

As for Veronica's mutations, who knows? The Somber Man is attributed all sorts of strange powers, his convincing voice aside.
 
Okay, I've slept on it and I have some plan thoughts. One of them's a mask proposal for the Lions, so it'll have to wait an hour or so for a proper writeup, but one of them isn't:

@Birdsie, do we still have the vial of Werewolf Blood? Japhris has exactly the right Pawn power to use it safely, and apparently Arcanism is powered by lifeforce gradients.
 
Tally is a bit of a mess.

Currently relaxing with Andrei is in a clear(although by no means insurmountable) lead, with Hunting, Viscerality training and Barakah grinding all coming behind with just two votes each. So basically only a single option has any real impetus behind it, and everything else is just a every man for himself.

On topic of Barakah grind, I do think it is a poor option here. Grinding narrative deed based power in buckfuck nowhere sounds very inefficient. Like we can do it, but I'm sure we will have much better gains once we hit capital where we can larp Count de Monte Cristo.
 
Now that we don't have any truly pressing concerns for once, I think curing dreamless should be a top priority. Gamaliel, maskcrafting and even viscerality (especially with Crimson King) would all likely benefit quite a bit, especially when considering tactics, and we're bound to run into trouble again eventually if we don't.

We have two obvious methods to attempt, japhris+nameless mask or gamaliel. Hammering Brother's Persona and Icarelian together would probably improve the latter (though it may risk losing some other benefit from them.)

But a third option I'm thinking about is trying to find someone who can help further inland in Misrashan. Even if nobody there has any abilities that can directly help, just the moral support of someone with hundreds of Barakah in a suitable spiritual healing or similar aspect would probably help a lot.

that said I think we can spare one full week here before moving on
 
Last edited:
HoratioVonBecker said:
Okay, I've slept on it and I have some plan thoughts. One of them's a mask proposal for the Lions, so it'll have to wait an hour or so for a proper writeup, but one of them isn't:
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
While we are talking about Masks, some thoughts:
  • Earphones yet again didn't do shit. I would like if we could fuse them with Oracle already
  • We have ability to upgrade Masks via Hammer grind. So for example, we co- you know what, I will just vote for it
  • Also via Hammer, we can make Masks and then Hammer them into CK to expand it domain. There are likely thematic restrictions involved and adding additional powers is liable to somewhat decrease the potency of current ones as its power gets moved around, but a correct Hammering should yield great benefits. In particular a lord based Barakah Mask should allow us to better integrate our Barakah with CK, which should have suitably impressive results
Changing vote to:

[X] Relax
-[X] Interact: Andrei
[X] Visceral Refinement
[X] Mask Improvement - Streetwalker. Craft multiple Streetwalker Masks and combine them to increase overall Potency of our Streetwalker Mask

Switching out Hunting for improving Streetwalker. Our voyage to the capital is already noted to have high Street attunement, so this is excellent opportunity to get the most out of it while also maxing out our Streetwalker gains. Together, I think that these three actions have the most value given the context.

Ideally we would end this world with 7-8 Street Attunement, which is just insane.
fame said:
Now that we don't have any truly pressing concerns for once, I think curing dreamless should be a top priority. Gamaliel, maskcrafting and even viscerality (especially with Crimson King) would all likely benefit quite a bit, especially when considering tactics, and we're bound to run into trouble again eventually if we don't.

We have two obvious methods to attempt, japhris+nameless mask or gamaliel. Hammering Brother's Persona and Icarelian together would probably improve the latter (though it may risk losing some other benefit from them.)

But a third option I'm thinking about is trying to find someone who can help further inland in Misrashan. Even if nobody there has any abilities that can directly help, just the moral support of someone with hundreds of Barakah in a suitable spiritual healing or similar aspect would probably help a lot.

that said I think we can spare one full week here before moving on
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Thing is, we kinda have two different Masks that can slowly heal it over time, and we are in no rush so we can kinda let them do their thing.
 
Last edited:
HoratioVonBecker said:
@Birdsie, do we still have the vial of Werewolf Blood? Japhris has exactly the right Pawn power to use it safely, and apparently Arcanism is powered by lifeforce gradients.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yes, although experimentation is expected to happen via Visceral Refinement as an action. Even with her Pawn power, raw lycanthropy is dangerous to work with.
 
Birdsie said:
Yes, although experimentation is expected to happen via Visceral Refinement as an action. Even with her Pawn power, raw lycanthropy is dangerous to work with.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Huh, I thought it was Basically Fine before the moon broke. Couple more questions I forgot earlier:
-Did we get to keep the assembler from Taure? (If so we should Artifact it.)
-Dorian lost his artifact cloak in the fight. Did he get it back?
 
Regarding Barakah, it is interesting to note that we still got some despite our deeds being largely unmonitored. That suggests that there is an objective criteria one has to meet to benefit from it, which has some very interesting implications. However, there is also a subjective element: for example, [Hero That Defeated a Monster] may gain less Barakah than [Hero That Defeated a Monster and Had Tales Told of It], as gaining fame is a significant achievement in itself. As such getting good PR will be important moving forward.

The three months we have here are not enough to establish a kingdom or mount a campaign, though the acquisition of the door artifact helps mitigate this. Instead we would focus more high impact deeds. The easiest one is as always just proving our mettle in combat, so if there is a convenient tyrant waging a war of oppression or monster lurking around, we could set off to defeat them. Alternatively we could bring magic and technology to this world and reap the benefits of that. Depending on how deeds are graded something like "creating an airplane" might be a major deed that is very easy for our team to accomplish.

We still don't know how powerful Barakah can get. Since we've met Lions I've expected top tiers to sit somewhere between 5000 and 7000 men worth of destiny - our overall power should allow us some measure of protection against social of mighty sultans and viziers of these kingdoms, but it would be prudent to slowly dip our toes into the pool before we get eaten by the sharks.

Finally, man three actions are just not enough. I really want to make some money as it would make our lord larp that much easier going forward, but it is super hard to take it over Street Attunement or Viscerality.
 
Anyway, here's what I think we should give the Lions.

Mantichoron
The visage of cherubim. Triangular decahexaflexagons of Hammered paper marble, in imitation of ten-faced pentachora. Each face is painted individually, in the theme of a green lion-ape with hair of quills and tongues of flame; the 'scorpion men' who guard the way to endless life.
Expected powers, in approximate order of development, include poison-quill-hurling tails, omnidirectional sight, heavenly fire, the power to walk and speak as men, and the power to fly in four dimensions.

(I've been looking into flexagon theory for this. The previous edit was square and twenty-four faced, Icosakaitetratetraflexagons, because Octachora - tesserae - are also cool. But I remembered that pentachorae have ten faces, and ten seems more thematically resonant as well as much easier to fold.)

UPDATE: Okay, I've done more research and as-written this doesn't seem to work. It could probably be imitated with pistons instead of paper, though.
 
Last edited:
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top