--Suptg Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=Shadow+Quest+------------------Archive compiled with story posts and pictures for an easier read, as well as ability and metadata tables:(big thanks to contributors, especially Sorry!): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/akcvpyo893vvae6/ieUkT-2X3j------------------Twitter (quest times, cancellations, updates):https://twitter.com/ShadowMaster_tg------------------Theme music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLTQ5PlEWko---------Notes on Rolls and Voting:When I request rolls, each set of three rolls counts for one action. For example, a two-step plan would take the first 6 linked rolls. A particularly bad failure can interrupt a string of actions.When rolling 1d100, I will consider criticals within the first ten linked rolls. Only criticals that occur in the first three rolls will be counted as "supercrits". This is still the case even if you'd have plan long enough to require more than ten rolls.When rolling 1d20, the rules are the same, but I only consider criticals for the first five rolls, rather than ten. Criticals in the first three are still "supercrits".When a plot choice results in extensive debate, I'll try to weed out the most popular trains of thought, and then call a vote on them. When voting, please respond with only a link back to the post and the number corresponding to your opinion. Other votes are discounted, including those with dice rolls or extra spaces.Finally, note that this is not a democracy; it is a benevolent dictatorship.
Recent Events Summary:You unsealed Hecate, and have gotten her up to speed on current events, and on Erebus's original plan. The true motivations of the Lord of Order remain a mystery.You returned to Arland, and briefly spoke with Sandalphon, who brought his angels and his allies from Atlantis - and the Black Lady. For the moment, they appear to be willing to work with your alliance to destroy the demons, but tensions are exceptionally high.After surviving a sudden assasination attempt, you brought your assailant to Fang for questioning. He worked with Auriel to pry what they needed from him. Sandalphon used his dramatic arrival to draw your attention from an assualt on the Nemesis, the goal being to capture Sir Donovan Flint.Adavan attempted to create a portal straight to the ship, but an enemy attack came through the opening and blew away half the foundation of the castle. You dug through the rubble to rescue your allies. Hamil, who had been blasted through the portal before it fell shut, was saved by the timely intervention of Sandalphon.You then immediately left with Abigail and Ila, flying at top speed to intercept the Nemesis's attackers. You joined the battle in-progress, removing the Ragnarok from play by moving it to your pocket.After the ensuring chaos, you faced an angel, one of the Highest. You learned they already captured teleported Donovan to another location, and the only man that knows where is Sandalphon.It seems that the only thing keeping Hyperion from returning is Donovan's life...and they now have him in their grasp.
Ability TreeGREEN abilities have been unlocked and learned.BLUE abilties are unlocked, but are not yet purchased.RED abilities are revealed, but locked due to prerequisites.UNDERLINED abilities are active-use, as opposed to passive. Not all active abilities require mana.All Revealed Ability Descriptions:http://pastebin.com/iLLgXYp0Books the Main Character has read:http://pastebin.com/dAXR00gPCharacter Sheet including learned abilities and other important information:http://pastebin.com/6h1bkpKv
Hard times for Shadow. May the dice be merciful this evening.
Time to fuck up everyone and everything!
Current Statistics:HP: 63/81Mana: 50/76EXP: 1Shards of Order and Chaos:(Retribution) - Strong(Maker) - Normal(Silence) - Strong(Peace) - Strong(Breeze) - Broken(Hammer) - Broken(Ardor) - Strong{Resolve} - Normal{Humanity} - Resonant--Summoned--Wisp - 1 mana to order--Automatons--Vita (Shade)--Equipment--Utility belt with purse--Inventory--Aurora Water Gem (pocket)Shade (pocket)--Teleport Anchor--Haven - Inner Fortress--Current Location--At the border between Arland and Archon------------------Known Mana Pools:Jacob's Field - entrance to Hecate's tomb - SpiritPalthair Mines - Magnock's Lair - SpiritArchon - Spirit District - SpiritArchon - Shadow District - ShadowArchon - Earth District - EarthArchon - Water Distric - WaterHaven - ShadowAbbotsford - ShadowAurora - WaterVa'ad - South Generator - EarthVa'ad - North Generator - EarthArland - Dryfeld - Water
Rolled 14It's been a while since I tried this. Although the fear overwhelms...Rolling for player ability to roll well this thread! AKA a saving roll for Donovan!
>>30534497Please, for the love of the dice gods.
>Open the thread>This is my bannerI'm worried
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBui84bAYpYIla is behind you. She doesn't say anything, but you can feel her."I expected you to kill her.""...did you?" You look up. No angels left in the sky. A dozen of them made it to the ground about a mile away. "...I almost did. I wanted to.""I would have, too, once." Ila says. "I've done terrible things to make people talk. But not anymore. You made the right choice."Abigail lands near you. "What happened? Shadow, where's Sir Flint?""...they teleported him to where the sigil is," you say. "She doesn't know where. Sandalphon gave her the spell's template. He didn't tell them the location. I think I believe her.""...where is she?""I have her secure.""...Adavan can read her mind for us, to be sure.""It doesn't matter!" You put your hand on your face. "It doesn't matter. They have him. They have him. I was too slow. I thought he'd be safe on the Nemesis. I thought - I...why..."The tears don't come. Abigail holds you from behind. You want to cry, but the tears don't come.You look up. The other airship is still wedged in the Nemesis. The battle rages on.Plenty of angels to kill.You straighten. Your eyes flicker with darkness. "Let go of me, Abigail. I've got work to do.""Wait," Ila says. "You said she gave you the template?">con't
Rolled 3>>30534518Adding on to that roll!
"...yes.""If it's in her head, we don't need to know the location, either." Ila walks up to you. "If she won't tell us, we have Adavan peel her brain until she does. We have enough angels in our escort in Arland to get the job done. We open our own portal. We can still do this!""It's too late. They're probably lining up the axe with his head as we speak.""We have to at least try!""Shadow," Abigail says. "You never gave up on me, no matter what. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do the same for Sir Flint.""...neither could I."What do you do?>stay to assist the Nemesis>teleport to Haven, then Manaport straight to Arland>leave your Chosen to assist the Nemesis, but go back to Arland yourself>ask for Hecate's aid. Maybe she knows something you don't.>some other strategy
>>30534537Oh. Right. Can't just do the copypaste thing on gifs.It was paul.
>>30534556PROPOSED LOGICAL PLAN OF ACTION TO SAVE FLINT:1. Kill a ton of angels to save Nemesis, eat a bunch of them along the way for emergency burn EXP, Pocket the other Airship if we can.2. Pocket 5 (6 for redundancy) allied Angels for Lightport before leaving.3. Teleport to Anchor in Dobshire, contact Adavan ASAP without alerting Sandals if he’s still around.4. Wrench sigil from Jophiel’s mind, throw her back in Pocket because fuck her.5. Debate gathering Arcturis/Auriel/Fang/Black Lady to save Flint, I’d recommend Arcturis and Auriel so the other two can keep Sandals busy. If he’s gone already, bring everyone.6. Unpocket angels, Lightport to Flint.7. Engage TSFH Soundtrack and save our Bro.
Okay guys we have to save our Shadow Mages then get to Adavan so we can rip the Template for the lightport spell from the Angels mind, we then get some of our Angel buddies too teleport us, we find and pick up Donovan with a pocket then destroy the spell if possible.
Reminder that Sandalphon probably has multiple angels carrying the teleportation sigil, just in case the first "capture Flint" team failed.If we can shake the right angels down to obtain it, we might be able to get our angels to use it on us, or at least have something to decode.
>>30534556>leave your Chosen to assist the Nemesis, but go back to Arland yourself
>>30534454So reading over the last thread, a few things I found to be pretty funny, especially the fact that SM, I'm going to try an analogy here, hit you guys in the face with such a tenderly cooked haunch of meat, that on impact the meat fell over on plate in front of you and your still obsessed with the bone he threw away.For starters we just acquired>2 new airships>Prisoners of war>And the possibility to still get Donovan
>>30534556>stay to assist the Nemesis>teleport to Haven, then Manaport straight to Arland>Have Adavan pick the brain for the teleport>zoom zoomIn that order please.
Starting now, threadly reminder that it is of utmost importance that we acquire the Sock Puppet skill. Its actual abilities are irrelevant; what matters is the name.
>>30534556>leave your Chosen to assist the Nemesis, but go back to Arland yourselfthis is probably the best option. As a pair, Abigail and Ila will be strong enough to defend themselves from the low-level angels.We need to have Adavan peel Jophiel's brain apart and port to Flint pronto.
>>30534629This, we are on a tight time schedule people.
>>30534556Changing mine from >>30534608 to this:>leave your Chosen to assist the Nemesis, but go back to Arland yourself
SM do we have enough space in our Pocket to grab the other airship too? What's its name anyway.
>>30534604the majority of /tg/ is pessimistic, including me
>>30534556If we eat the Aurora Water gem or the dynamo from the ship we just captured right now, we can buy Mind Reader and peal the sigil out of this angel's head ourself.It would save time.
>>30534661Sacrificing Leviathan when our plan is to bring balance back isn't negotiable.
>>30534556>>stay to assist the NemesisIf we gain 9 XP from enemies sieging the Nemesis, we can unlock Mind Read and do the whole procedure in the field with our allied angels.It's a reasonable bet that if Sandalphon thinks he's already past the point where he can be stopped, he's going to wait until he can be there in person for Hyperion's glorious return.
>>30534653We don't need to, since Abigail and Illa can probably capture it without blowing it up.
>>30534539>"Wait," Ila says. "You said she gave you the template?">>30534556>"...yes."What? Did she give us the template? I don't remember that but if we did, then we don't need Adavan to get it for us. Also, if we go to Adavan without any angels, how the hell are we supposed to teleport to Flint once we have the spell sigil?
>>30534678Then the dynamo.And I still think that Shadow becoming a true hybrid of all the lesser elements is a viable path for balance, but now's not the time for that.
>>30534678not to be that guy, but if we want balance wont we eventually have to bring hyperion back?
>>30534661We're better off eating angels.
>>30534695I'd still like to know if we could.
>>30534661I'm not betting on this. Adavan has centuries of mind magic experience, and we don't. Additionally, the sigil is likely to be a complicated diagram, PLUS we'd probably need a strong Light mage to operate it.tl;dr - We need to get back to Arland immediately and port to Flint with a Battle Team.
>>30534629this
>>30534629This is also a fair choice.
>>30534710Yes but the idea is to save the worst contender for last. It'll be easier to deal with him when all of the more moderate Lords are back (Geb, Logi).
>>30534719Adavan has a few years of experience with mind magic and a few centuries of experience with rotting in a hole.
>>30534701>Also, if we go to Adavan without any angels, how the hell are we supposed to teleport to Flint once we have the spell sigil?>>30534556>We have enough angels in our escort in Arland to get the job done.
>>30534701It should have been "Wait. You said she knew the template?"Got weirdly turned around in my brain as "she gave you the knowledge that she knew the template"
>>30534661We want to keep the dynamo for research purposes, and sacrificing Leviathan will never be a good idea. We can literally be back in Dobshire in less then three minutes.
>>30534719Why don't we fly to the Nemesis really quick and get some of our angels to do the sigil?
>>30534748>>30534745All of my "ahhhhh, okay"
>>30534738We have zero experience with mind magic, so...
>>30534753Because we'd need to eat half of Leviathan for this plan and frankly we need a whole Leviathan if Hyperion is resummoned in the first place.
>>30534763We have "zero experience" with any magic before we buy it, but it works out every other time we need it.I could make an argument for at least having part of Erebus' experience with the magic we unlock, and that's something.
>>30534454SMI HAVENT FAPPED ALL DAY BECAUSE IVE BEEN SO ANGRY
>>30534796I'll go with the anon supporting Adavan template retrieval on this one.
>>30534556>leave your Chosen to assist the Nemesis, but go back to Arland yourselfTell them to have it come to Arland, might as well get it out in the open, and it needs repairs. And we need to put some fucking guns on it god damn.
>>30534796Look, I don't disagree that it's a viable option, I just think it's high risk, destroys half of an Elemental Lord and we're likely jumping to Flint's location, alone and with no support.We can spend the 60 seconds teleporting back to Arland and gather the team first.
>>30534856That's what we're gonna have the Ragnarok for. It's the most DAKKA airship out there.
>>30534856I wonder if we could program it to cast spells.
>>30534753We don't know what the sigil is. We need to read her mind to find out.
>>30534874I said the water gem OR the dynamo. And Sandals is in Arland. There is nobody else strong enough to stop us, even if we're alone.
>>30534914>implying Sandals wont portal right after us if he hasn't already.Cmon man.
>>30534874>We can spend the 60 seconds teleporting back to Arland and gather the team first.I'm a little worried that given the speed with which we got to the Nemesis and our request to Yi Fang to delay Sandalphon if he tries to leave, that if we head right back, Sandalphon is STILL GOING TO BE THERE.Which is going to make the whole process of unpocketing one of the Highest for Adavan to dig around in her brain a little less simple.
>>30534856Shadow Totem?
If Hyperion gets summoned and the world does not end right there, the new plan is too steal the Keystone of Atlantis and free Leviathan right?
>>30534938That's why I advocated porting back to Dobshire and using a max strength Shadowmeld since we can top off from the pool, find Adavan, and get out of his sensory range.
Vote 1:>leave Abigail and Ila to help defend the Nemesis and drive off the angels. You need to get back to Arland immediately.Vote 2:>go for the Nemesis. With enough energy and a few friendly angels, you think you'll be able to read her mind yourself
>>305349621
>>30534938...That is a good possibility.
>>30534938Go up to Adavan, high-five him into our pocket, go to mana pool with a contingent of our angel escorts and some allies, teleport to the Haven pool, begin safe extraction of information and area of reteleportation for the telly template. Srsly, simple stuff.
>>30534953And freeing Geb with Melody and Hecate's help, yes.Basically we need to fight fire with fire here.The unfortunate truth is that we're gearing up for the Elementomachy 2.0, except this team Team Shadow is in much shittier shape.
>>305349622
>>30534938he can fucking deal with it, even with all of is power SandalThong is one man, he won't face the only two other God-Tier level people along with several A-Rank mages in a a straight fight.
>>30534984Actually dis if we can
>>30534938"Shut the fuck up Sandalthong. She is a PoW who attacked my airship, the only airship capable of reaching Xile. The airship is key to the warplan. If you have a problem go ahead and tell me exactly what I don't want to find in there."
>>30534962 2
>>30534962>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=Shadow+Quest+something i wanted to bring up last time, bt didn't because i didn't get here in time:Sandy gave out sigil/templates for the teleport.He also likely gave out more than one - whomever's finds donovan first opens the portal.So there are likely more unused sigils hanging around THIS VERY battlefield.So.... ask her for them before deciding Take THAT sigil, get allied angels, head straight for donovan.Also, we can't leave the nemesis here - we might lose it.
>>30534962cutting off votes
>>30535048>Also, we can't leave the nemesis here - we might lose it.Or it might get attacked again because we have a mole.
>>30535076Solved by kicking all the angels off of it
>>30535094Or it's a shadow/spirit mage that didn't have their soul in the vault room when we nightblazed it.
>>30535094There is no way that is going to fly without us acting OOC or alienating half of our allies. We might get by with mind reading and dream walking. But it will take time.
>>30534984I think we ended up suggesting that we bring four angels or so? I know we wanted to do a 2:2:1 split of Shadow Mages/Angels/Spirit Mages or so to approximate the diversity of Haven.I don't know that finding enough of our people to make the portal (if enough of them even withstood the castle collapse), finding Adavan, and getting everyone to Haven unmolested by Sandalphon or the rest of his elite guard that were designated to distraction duty is going to be quicker than sweeping the Nemesis.>>30535076It was suggested that the mole could have also been someone in Maven Lake, so it isn't necessarily someone on board the Nemesis at the moment.Though it IS far more likely.>>30535061Looks like we're heading back ASAP: can we remember to remind Abby and Ila that there might be a mole amongst the people in Haven (which in retrospect is another reason not to put all the eggs in the 'make a portal in the field with allied angels' basket) and to stay on guard?
>>30535114The thing is, I wouldn't trust every shadow mage either. All the mages kept in a single location? HA, yeah right. I bet there would be more than a few mages that Sandals kept in a different location and only used for special occasions.
>>30535114>>30535131The mole problem is unfortunately not something we have the time or ability to deal with right now.Once Flint is dead we'll have consolidate the team.
I just figured out the reason why Sandels saved Hamil, it's because Hamil knows quite a significant amount of our plans. It's totally within the realm of possibility that he could also whisk him away to be brain scrubbed of all information, Because Hamil would have been too weakened to even kill himself unlike Auriel.
"You two help the Nemesis," you say. "We outnumber them, but the angels are stronger than our mages. The sooner they're driven off, the better. I have to get to Adavan.""Ok," Abigail says. "Be careful."Immediately, you open a portal to Haven and drop into the mana pool, stopping only briefly to regenerate, and to cast a Shadowmeld on your person.>HP: 81/81>mana: 76/76You Manaport to the Dryfeld Water pool in Dobshire. Immediately, you Blink up to the rooftops, and Blink across the city. In less than a minute you're in the castle town. Already, dozens of people have gathered near the inner wall, pressing the guards with questions. They're just as confused as the townsfolk, but it doesn't seem like there's any terrible panic - as the four Imperial Airships are still hovering overhead, keeping watch.You leap over the wall and find yourself at the edge of the field of rubble. The group is standing where you left them, at some distance, engaged in heated conversation. Adavan is in the back, away from the others. None of them notice your arrival.A few notable persons aren't in the group - The Black Lady, Duke Vellik, Harvan, and Hemmelus. Sandalphon's three Highest, Anahita, Raphael, and Charmeine are also absent.What do you do?>call out to Adavan, tell him to meet you in the castle>call to Adavan and some others (specify)>go down directly yourself>some other strategy
>>30535182Tyrael and Hamil are probably about to get ultra gay, so Sandalfucker is going to have to see some things he probably doesn't want to see to abduct Hamil tooAnd that's when spaghetti saved Venia.
>>30535156Unless they're so indoctrinated that they're working with them consensually, someone probably would've noticed the inability to speak against the angelic leadership that typifies the soul slavery we've seen in the past.Unless they also have an undercover angelic handler.
>>30535182Sandalphon won't do shit with the Black Lady, Fang and every other A-Rank mage in the world readily opposing him.
>inb4 Sandalthong nicked all our allies
>>30535224<Adavan and Arcturis, Donovan Flint is about to be killed. If you meet me now and do as I say, there is a chance he can be saved.>Not the time to mince words.
>>30535224>call out to Adavan, tell him to meet you in the castle
>>30535224>>call out to Adavan, tell him to meet you in the castleAlso ask where the highest are.
>>30535224>call to Adavan and some others (specify)Arcturis, ask him where Hemmelus is and to gather him if possible. I'd like to bring the two of them with us since they won't be missed terribly and have a huge investment in seeing Donovan alive.
>>30535224We have to move FAST.Every second counts. EVERY SECOND.Warn Adavan for what we're about to do.<I need you to interrogate a prisoner. I'm going to grab you and get out of here fast. This will be unpleasant.>Then Blink to him, Pocket him, Blink away and get to an interrogation site. I'm thinking back to Haven. Unpocket him, unpocket the prisoner, if she's conscious again, beat her unconcious and bind her with magic. Let Adavan do his thing.
>>30535224>go down directly yourselfSandal has no allies here if his angels have been causing such a massive fucking mess. We do this in the open. We can do it justifiably.
>>30535224>>call to Adavan and some others (specify)Adavan and Arcturis should be a reasonable start, though with Hemmelus elsewhere, Yi Fang might be required to handle the seal itself.And that'd leave next to nobody distracting Sandalphon. (assuming he's still there; it said the three other Highest weren't, but not mentioning Sandalphon being absent probably means he's still there bickering.Arcturis is probably a very good bet, though, as is Hemmelus if anyone knows where he is.
>>30535318His other Highest are probably on the other end of the lightport or on the airships.
Rolled 95Rolling for Sir Donovon Flint survival index.>>30535224>call out to Adavan, tell him to meet you in the castleAlso Arcturius.
>>30535318>>30535306We should also probably get them away from the main cluster of people before pocketing them and running away, since we want to do this as clandestinely as possible so as not to tip our hand to what we're doing.They know that we LEFT via extremely conspicuous high-speed travel, and will be expecting the same to herald our return. We didn't supersonic back, so Sandalphon will likely still be assuming we're out in the field.
>>30535358Looking good Flint! Hang in there!
>>30535229Alright, Adavan and Arcturis
>>30535379Make sure we both telespeak inform them of the situation as they approach the castle, keeping up the pace.
>>30535360We could always make ourselves look like someone else when we go down there.
>>30535437Or we could just speak telepathically with them, and have them excuse themselves to go to the castle.
>>30535437That might very well break our Shadowmeld, not to mention someone unidentified showing up out of the blue is bound to get stopped and questioned out of necessity given the fact that the castle just blew up.
>>30535306That is one of the dumbest ideas I've heard all week. And I was here for the last thread.
<Adavan, Arcturis,> you say, <it's me, John. Listen closely.> You see Arcturis start slightly, but he controls his surprise and puts his head down. To his credit, Adavan doesn't budge an inch. Though, you figure he's more used to telepathy. <I just returned from the Nemesis. They have Donovan, but I have a way to reach him. Meet me in the castle. We have no time to waste.><Understood,> Adavan tells you. He sweeps away from the group.Arcturis inches back, then turns and begins to march away."Where are you going?" Sandalphon asks.Arcturis throws the words back over his shoulder. "To see if any of my subjects were hurt by this latest idiocy!"Fang says something, then - you can't quite make it out, because he's facing away from you - but it definitely get's Sandalphon's attention, because the angel swivels to glare at him. You give him a silent thanks, and then Blink over to the door of the castle.In a few moments, Arcturis and Adavan are inside. "Arcturis, where can we go that's private, and ideally, magically shielded?"Arcturis jumps about a foot in the air. Even Adavan flinches, this time. The Lord of Arland puts a hand on his chest. "Elements, John, don't frighten me like that. Where were you a second ago?""I was standing right here. We don't have time for games.""...Hemmelus's laboratory," Arcturis says. "Come on.">con't
It takes what feels like a lifetime to ascend the stairs to Hemmelus's tower. You burst into the first-floor library. The sage himself is seated at a wooden table, wearing ridiculously large earmuffs. He glances up from his book as the three of you enter. "Gentlemen." He frowns, and sets down his text. "What is it, what's wrong?""The angels attacked the Nemesis. They have Donovan - but I have the template of the sigil they used to transport him." You unpocket the angel, who is dumped onto the ground unceremoniously.>mana: 75/76She looks a wreck. He body is matted with dirt and grass, her face is bloody and bruised. Her arm is still inflamed from when you healed it halfway. She's curled up in the fetal position, shivering and crying."Light!" Hemmelus shouts. "That's Jophiel! What happened?!""I happened," you say bluntly. "Adavan, that template is somewhere in her brain."He immediately knees and grasps the angel's head with both hands and closes his eyes. She falls still."...elements, John," Arcturis mutters. "Was this necessary?""She knows all about their plans for Donovan," you say, "and she gloated about it.""Then I suppose it was," he grunts."What is Adavan doing?" Hemmelus asks. "The mental branch of Spirit was lost in the Elementomachy. If he fools around in there he's liable to leave her drooling!"What do you tell Hemmelus to explain Adavan's knowledge of spirit magic?
>>30535681Fang has a few people who know ancient magic. He is one.It's not a lie.
>>30535681Hahahahawe can't lie to him
>>30535681"I have no problem with leaving another of Sandle's attack dogs broken."
>>30535681All in due time, Hemmy Flemmy Bo-Bemmy
>>30535681"Adavan is the world's pre-eminent expert, and likely only expert on the mental branch of spirit magic. I've seen him work wonders before, and he is the only one I'd trust for an operation like this."
>>30535681We just dumped a half-dead angel in front of him.I think we're at the point where we can trust him with the truth.
>>30535681"Adavan does not fool around."
>>30535681>What do you tell Hemmelus to explain Adavan's knowledge of spirit magic?The Truth. "Donovan's life is on the line, hemmelus. The angels betrayed us, they are killing my people *now*. ""The two liches I brought here are ancient and wise, and you're surprised I've been keeping cards in my back pocket?"
>>30535681"I happened"I AM THE ONE WHO POCKETS
>>30535725Seconding. If he presses further tell him that we'll tell him everything after we save Flint. That's more important right now.
>>30535681"Adavan does not 'fool around'. Not with things like this. If he weren't so engrossed, I suspect he would have words to say to you about the accusation.">>30535725This is fairly reasonable.
>>30535681"Adavan will get the information. If she is left a drooling mess for the rest of her life, that is a better fate than she deserves."
>>30535681"Xile was thought lost in the elementomachy too.:
>>30535725I'll second this, it's all true and avoids the details of his past.
>>30535681"All present shutup and let him work."
>>30535681One word. One word is all it will take."Was."
>>30535725That'll do. If he presses on where he learned this stuff, tell him Adavan can explain himself.
>>30535725Let's go with this one.
>>30535820thiscapcha= anitygr was
If Hemmy presses to know how Addy learned mind magic then the best thing to do would be to... tell him to ask him himself?
>>30535681>"...elements, John," Arcturis mutters. "Was this necessary?">>"She knows all about their plans for Donovan," you say, "and she gloated about it.">>"Then I suppose it was," he grunts.Arcturius is fucking awesome.
>>30535725seems legit
They're going to think that we've been brainwashing people to achieve our alliances now.
>>30535864Can we still call him Hemmy Flemmy Bo-Bemmy?
>>30535881>brainwashing Yi Fang or the Black lady>In a million yearsU wot?
>>30535881We can tell Hemmelus that we have not done that, and it's true that we have not.My god having a lie detector like Hemmy around is so fucking useful... We totally need to take him around for the inevitable sandy questioning.
>>30535881We can truthfully say that we have only once before asked for Adavan's help with this sort of magic, and it was in no small part used in order to forcefully reform a known slaver.
>>30535864>SM liked my idea
>>30535924Well if it took 101 threads for SM to like one of your ideas...
whoops i seemed to forget my name.In other news seems things are going better than expected.also Shade must be having fun running around the airship in our pocket
>>30535937>gif related
"Adavan is the world's pre-eminent and only expert on the mental branch of Spirit magic. I've seen him work wonders before. He is the only one I'd trust for an operation like this.""...I'll let you off for now," Hemmelus says. Well, he knows you avoided a real answer, but at least he'll let it slide."Paper," Adavan mumbles. "Paper."Hemmelus quickly retrieves a stack of unused partchment and sets it before Adavan, along with a quill. Adavan lifts one hand from the angel's head, his eyes still closed. He feels about for a bit, grabs the pen, then starts drawing. His hand works with a will of its own, furiously creating an intricate sigil on the paper. It's vaguely circular, but wrapped with symbols and numerical figures like vines.His hand stops, and he drops the pen. He opens his eyes and gets to his feet, bringing the picture with him. "Done. I don't know what you did to her, John, but I've never had an easier time getting inside. I was expecting a hell of a fight.""May I?" Adavan nods, and Hemmelus takes the picture of the sigil. "...a Lightport. I see...mmm." He lays the sigil on the table, and leans over it, his hands on the wood. He frowns. "...I can duplicate this.""You can?" you say. "I thought it needed five angels!""I can use a few tricks to make up the difference, though, holding it open will be the only thing I can do," he says. "I wouldn't be able to come in after you."What do you do?>No time to waste. Have Hemmelus open the portal, and get through it now.>Get five angels from your entourage. You want Hemmelus for this one.>You need reinforcements. Try to gather a few allies first.>some other strategy
>>30536067>No time to waste. Have Hemmelus open the portal, and get through it now.GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO
>>30536067>No time to waste. Have Hemmelus open the portal, and get through it now.
>>30536067>You need reinforcements. Try to gather a few allies first.We have Arcturis here with us, but I doubt we can bring him.Fuck. Any reports of our allies fighting in the Ring City might just cause a civil war among the alliance.
>>30536067>Get five angels from your entourage. You want Hemmelus for this one.We want Hemmy for the seal and backup support role. Keep Fang here to tie up Sandals for now, see if we can find the Black Lady while we skulk about.
>>30536067>No time to waste. Have Hemmelus open the portal, and get through it now.TEAM BEST FRIEND AND RELUCTANT FATHER GOGOGO
>>30536067Hemmelus saw the Sigil before, and he knows what we're going in there to do.Does he think we have any chance in the world of dispelling the sigil without his help?That said...>>No time to waste. Have Hemmelus open the portal, and get through it now.>>some other strategySet anchor here. Open our less strenuous version after we are through so that Hemmelus can release the Lightport and follow.
>>30536067REINFORCEMENTS
>>30536122DING DING DING
>>30536067>I can use a few tricks to make up the differenceWe need these tricks. He's got a mana potion still in his tower somewhere.
>>30536122This. Set the anchor in Hemmelus's laboratory before we leave.
>>30536122WINRAR
>>30536122Seconding this brilliance.
>>30536122...Yes do this.
>>30536122Lolwut you're a genius.
>>30536067Who do we have available as reinforcements?>Arcturis>Hemmelus>Adavan (haha, no)>Black Lady>Fang>Tyrael
>>30536122this, plus we might need him to open another portal. I don't doubt for a second that they might have used more than 1 portal.
>>30536122I can only imagine Hemmelus' opinion of us after all of this. On top of the fact that if we tell him we put the airship Ragnarok into our pocket he'll know we're telling the truth...
>>30536122You should feel good about this plan.
DON'T FORGET TO RE-POCKET JOPHIEL!
>>30536163Any more and we risk attracting attention. Hopefully Fang can keep sandal busy long enough for him to wait until we catch up a bit before he uses an airship to port to the summoning spell.
Guys do you think there's any chance we could grab Yi-Fang, and have him join us without Sandals noticing? If so, then he would be invaluable.Also, >>30536122 Is literally the best plan I've ever seen in Shadow Quest.Also again, we should grab a few of Hemmelus' mana potions before leaping through the portal.
>we go to sigil room>buncha angels start to battle>can't open portal to Hemmy until it's too latebadonkas
>>30536122This>>30536193And this
>>30536204I doubt it, Fang is literally playing his Crass King card so he can diplomatically lock down Sandals with simmering rage.
>>30536204I wonder how fucking powerful and ancient our portal spell is supposed to be.
Something else we should note, once there, we can call Hecate for help, or to get rid of the Shel'Kath. She is one of the people who could absolutely do it.
>>30536193I'll second this.
>>30536193Why bother?
>>30536253She needs three days to be strong enough to do it.
- Set anchor in Hemmelus's laboratory- pocket Jophiel again??- ask Hemmelus if he has any spare mana potions around- have him open the portal immediatelyVote 1:>yesVote 2:>no
>>30536177><I have an airship in my pocket>><I've eaten a dynamo before>><I'm Erebus>>...>How are you getting around my truth detection?
>>30536193>>30536263>>30536254Can't we just consume the poor girl?(we will need it for the upcoming fight)
>>30536263Because we don't want to leave her somewhere where she can get to Sandalphon and warn him.
>>30536253She said she wasn't strong enough to do it yet, though I suppose that could be different if both ends of the Shel'Kath are in the same place.
>>305362721
>>30536227we stronk
>>30536253shes still restingitll be another two days before she can muster the power to remove it
>>30536193I think we've put her through enough. She had no will to stop Adavan, and we can have someone restrain her.
>>30536276>"Is that an Airship in your Pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
>>30536311your up for consuming?
>>30536272 1
>>30536311We can give her back to Sandalphon afterwards.Hamil did nothing to Sandals.Jophiel participated in a plan to kill Donovan.
>>30536193She's not a threat, and we already decided to spare her.I really think we've done enough damage.
>>30536332then consume her then.
>>30536311yeah. We don't need the angel with us. Leave her.
>>30536332I'd rather not leave any extra baggage chances behind for her to go crying to sandy. If we do have to leave her behind... at least tell Adavan to put her into deep sleep or something.
>>30536350We decided to spare her because Sandalphon helped to heal Hamil.
>>30536350...What part of spare her do you not get?Did you just not read the opening post where Illa said we did a good thing by sparing her?Just torturing her for no reason, or killing her the second she's no longer of use to us, goes... completely against that.What is wrong with you?
Why exactly are we sparing Jophiel? She deserves far worse than just getting stuffed back in the pocket.
Why are people so against consuming?
>>30536372>>30536374Because Sandalphon healed Hamil, and I'd like us to at least return the favor with one of his Highest.
>>30536372>>30536374Because she's already helpless, traumatized, and crying, and all our allies have called us out on that not being like us?
>>30536365ok thats decent reasoning.>>30536369because we had done worse to people deserving less.
>>30536365>>30536369Wow you're actually waifuing Jophiel aren't you?Kidding, but whatever we can do to make sure she can't call/warn Sandalphon is the better idea.
>>30536389Therefore, Pocket.
>>30536388...What does that have to do with anything?
>>30536383>>30536387>Jophiel waifuers
>>30536372>>30536374Jophiel is not like Lucy, Raziel, Micheal, and Metatron. She's a crying mess, not a lunatic trying to fuck us over.
Personally I believe that we should shove Jophiel back into the pocket. It's incredibly harsh, but leaving her behind is way too much of a risk. She helped bring Flint to the sigil, where he may soon die. We have to be harsh and a little bit ruthless. If we leave her behind, even unconcious, Sandalphon could detect her, and then we'll have Shitstorm 2: Electric Boogaloo on our hands. Her sanity may be a necessary price for Flint's survival.
>>30536414But she could fuck us over if she stops being a crying mess long enough to warn Sandy.
>>30536413
We don't know if Jophiel is as bad as the other Angels we've killed.I say we hold off on Judging her.
>>30536410she deserves worse, but because she cried we spared her when before we didn't even let people speak.
Are we /really/ about to compromise our success by showing mercy to Jophoel for no good reason?This is "Let Matthel talk" all over again.
>>30536422This."How'd you get here from attacking that airship?!!?!?" is not a quesiton we want her to be able to answer
>>30536422Eh, I trust in Adavan's abilities to make sure she doesn't become a problem.
>>30536441>>30536438So let's POCKET HER ALREADY. It's quick, efficient, and leaves no chance for her to warn Sandalphon.
>>30536450Can Adavan hide her from being sensed by other angels?
>>30536441I know, it'd be hilarious if it weren't so sad. But it's still a bit hilarious.
>>30536441Except the closing of the last thread and the opening of this one had Illa tell us that our being more merciful is a good thing?
>>30536457I thought we already voted to Pocket and people were arguing over consuming.
>>30536471Different ballpark, anon. We're not doing this to torture her we're removing a level of risk.
>>30536472We are according to the vote, people are just chewing the knobs in force tonight.
>>30536461How the fuck is Pocketing her the same thing as letting Matthel speak?
>>30536492There were a bunch of people saying we should just leave her in our pocket forever.
>>30536471It's not like we spared her, it only looks that way. We knew she was worth more to us alive. If it wouldn't looks absolutely horrible and sketchy as fuck for us to do it right now, we probably would.
>Let's disregard the threat because it's a girl and it criedI fear I might pinch off my nose from this...
Man, I jumped into this argument to tell people we shouldn't eat her and a bunch of people leap at me like I want to leave her for Sandy to find.
>>30536503I think you lost something in the translation there, anon.
>>30536503Because all she needs to do is have sandy sense her, and that is enough for him to know something has gone wrong.
>>30536525So now you're telling me that Sandy can sense her even in the Pocket?Didn't we specifically choose Hemmelus's lab because it was magically shielded?
>>30536505Only your post has the word 'forever' in it, eheheheeh.>>30536514It can help the sinuses, I'm told.
>>30536503How terrifying is it for people watching CONSUME again? Like, can we just intimidate the fuck out of a bunch of minion angels by popping this bitch out, eating her in the most terrifying manner possible, and then burping?
>>30536545I'll reiterate... you're losing some things in translation, anon. Slow down a bit.
>>30536554>How terrifying is it for people watching CONSUME again? Like, can we just intimidate the fuck out of a bunch of minion angels by popping this bitch out, eating her in the most terrifying manner possible, and then burping?Bad idea - the angels were all, collectively, around during the Last Erebus War.They'll recognize it when they see it.That's bad.
>>30536554...What is wrong with you?
>>30536545Ah i though you were arguing for not pocketing her there.
>>30536567Let me guess. Internet sarcasm?
>>30536570Even Hecate didn't know about the consuming thing. Erebus was very discrete with it.
>>30536545>Didn't we specifically choose Hemmelus's lab because it was magically shielded?...maybe we should set anchor just OUTSIDE his lab.Y'know, just in case.Or at least test to make absolutely sure that we can open a portal to the inside of his lab before going through the Lightport. Because nothing would be more of a buzzkill than realizing that the magical shielding that let us get out undetected is also going to somehow prevent us from getting back through.
>>30536545I believe that he's saying that leaving her outside the pocket would make him able to sense her. If we keep her in the pocket with us for a while longer, then she's not a threat in any way, shape, or form.
>>30536570>>They'll recognize it when they see it.Auriel didn't and Erebus pretty much did jack shit during the war, it was his followers doing the heavy lifting while he was making grand plans.
Alright, I think there's a majority in favor of keeping her pocketed; the other side seems split between consume and leaving her there.I think all options are in-character, so we'll go the safe route of keeping her locked up. Shadow doesn't particularly care about her mental state at the moment.To ease fears, a half-day of being pocketed, while rather traumatizing, would allow for full recovery over a few days.Longer than that may result in irreversible mental trauma.Writing.
>>30536600Thanks for setting the record straight SM. Carry on.
>>30536582No, you've mixed up the terms and motivations of the posters since this >>30536503 one, is all. Since the chain up from that one hadn't said what you thought it did at all, is all.
>>30536570Didn't Auriel witness us consume the other one way back when and not immediately go OH SHIT BLACK ALERT? I mean, there was like the whole, do we tell Auriel or not thing.
>>30536600great, lets keep there for a week.
>>30536600>To ease fears, a half-day of being pocketed, while rather traumatizing, would allow for full recovery over a few days.Could you stick this in the pastebin, under Pocket's description, so that we have the information solid and easy to keep track of.
>>30536600>More Pocket time for herYessssssssI can't wait to see what this does to her.Just think, we can suddenly drop her right in the middle of a congregation of enemy angels. The look on their face will be priceless!Or maybe we could feed her to Fang's Magical Realm.
>>30536618Fine. SM's already set this straight anyways.
>>30536600>To ease fears, a half-day of being pocketed, while rather traumatizing, would allow for full recovery over a few days.Good to get a bit of a clarification as to how long is too long for living creatures to be exposed to the nether.also jeez, David has been in there HOW long now?also captcha confirmed for nether.
>>30536633nah i rather consume, giving her soul to that shit is pretty evil.
>>30536600Good to know we are a sensory deprivation torture device. I wonder what it's like inside the pocket.
>>30536643>also jeez, David has been in there HOW long now?700 something years
>>30536651Absolute nothingness. No light, no sound, no nothing. All you can do is breathe and think. According to Auriel, it's very cold.
>>30536647That's the point.We offer her three choices. 1) Commit herself, mind, body and soul to us.2) More Pocket-time3) FANGBOXGotta get in on the mindbreak action.
>>30536643 David is the part of the abyss also gazes into you. So he can keep tabs on the world more or less I think. The void is his home.But yeh, he must be pretty fucked in the head.
>>30536674...I think Fang's Magical Realm is more than enough magical realms for one quest, thanks.
When did the edgy players come back?I thought they disappeared after the Archonium shit happened.
>>30536674I'd like to consume her, really. I mean not for the pitiable amount of XP we may get but more so the Jophiel waifers can't get their angelfoodcake boners anymore.
>>30536692The knobs call to them, anon. They cry out to be chewed.
>>30536674>1) Commit herself, mind, body and soul to us.Get the fuck out.
>>30536696I think part of the reason those people are "waifuing" is because people are voting to be unnecessarily cruel
>>30536699>>30536692so leaving this girl outside of the pocket is smart?
>>30536696Highest tend to give us large amounts of XP, around 20-30. And I thought Abigail was our waifu? Jophiel is an evil bitch who we only spared because Sandalphon healed Hamil.
>>30536703What's the problem, Anon?It's like, helping the consumption process. The Pocket is there to 'tenderize' the 'meat'. If their souls aren't RESISTING our consumption, and want to JOIN WITH US, then we'll get MORE XP.SIMPLE.
>>30536720No. Follow the conversation, anon. You're embarassing us.
>>30536714consuming isn't cruel but nearly breaking her before was.
>>30536714It ain't even cruel, scrub. SM said so! You dirty Jophiel waifuer!
>>30536720Fuck no, after she gets some sense back into her she would run to Sandal, telling him what happened.And I think some of the Edge is back because Shadow is dangerously close to dipping back into the dark side if Donovan dies.
>inb4 light elementals have Donny in Hyperion's Crib
>>30536736Thinking this over and over is making a lot of sense actually.SM can you confirm this? If we mindbreak consumption victims and make them non-resistive, will they give more XP?
>>30536730Abigail is Shadow's waifu in story.That doesn't stop some players from personally waifuing every other female character.
>>30536763I can't wait until we unlock Pure Darkness. DARK like my SOOOUUL.
>>30536738I really feel as if we shouldn't kill helpless enemies, or ones who surrender, because to do otherwise would mean Sandalphon has some moral high ground>>30536730All we know is she's our enemy and is pretty keen on bringing back Hyperion. We have no evidence that she's a shithead like Michael and Raziel, and she isn't currently in our way and refusing to give up like Metatron and Lucifer.
>>30536736Makes a good point. In the pocket the mind suffers, but the soul and body heal and become fine. We have mainly consumed injured targets. Imagine if we ate only healthy people from now on.We don't need mana pots, we just need to pocket 4-5 angels.
>all these people getting upset over some angelfor fucks sakes guys shes not even in the top 10just put her in our pocket and we can eat her later
>>30536786She didn't surrender or even willingly do anything helpful. All she did was cry about how she didn't want to die.
>>30536792You realize that that is probably exactly how Erebus did things right?And he was evil as shit?
>>30536792Let's not do this. This is the action of an evil motherfucker. This is the action of an Erebus or a David.We have actively strived to not be like Erebus or David.
>>30536809Erebus was just misunderstood.
>>30536807She didn't surrender, but she was incapable of fighting us while still being alive. Lucifer was trying to kill us until the very end, and Metatron was already dead.
>>30536807She's probably the wimpiest angel we've met thus far aside from Michael and the "elite" guard.
>>30536809>>30536811LIKEMYSOOOOUUUUL
>>30536786she shot down Illa, and sent donovan to his death, and again because she cried and begged for her life(other people begged for their life and did less), people want to spare her.
>>30536792>>30536776shaduwww masturrrr pls answer if you get the chance
>>30536809>he was evil as shit?Nope magic is evil as shit and nhe needed to cleanse the world of it.
>>30536821I'd like to say his ultimate goal of blowing up Venia was pretty fucking evil, but we still don't know enough about him to make a good judgement.
>gif related>it's my reaction to this entire argument over consuming/permapocketing Jophiel.Seriously guys, we're not going to execute her, we already decided against it. On top of that, we're not going to be unnecessarily cruel and keep her perma-pocketed. That's Erebus level shit that we're trying to get away from.
>>30536863We should too, probably. It'd be nice if we could just... consume everything. Solves most of our problems, that!
>>30536839It's because Sandalphon of all people showed us that just because someone is opposing you doesn't mean they need to die.I'm not saying we should pull our punches, but if we wind up victorious and our opponent is clearly out of the fight yet not dead, then we shouldn't finish the job.I thought we wanted to be better?
>>30536839She's nowhere near as bad as Michael.
>>30536881The only reason I voted not to kill her back at the airship battle last thread was because we needed the sigil info from in her head.Now? She's as good as dead.
>>30536863>Nope magic is evil as shit and nhe needed to cleanse the world of it.Erebus wanted to purge the Void of Venia, because Venia itself is a construct of Chaos.
>>30536881I kept her alive last thread because of the sigil, now that we have it she can be our snack.
>>30536896So you're saying "fuck you Illa, I'm motherfucking Erebus"
>>30536890>It's because Sandalphon of all people showed us that just because someone is opposing you doesn't mean they need to die.Lol anon can't into politics.Your naivety is overbearing, and not cute at all.
>>30536893I wasn't referring about Michael.>>30536890Politics anon, he could have cared less if the traitor lived.
>>30536898And chaos is evil as shit.>>30536912
You guys are getting this edgy. Unnecessarily edgy.>>30536821>>30536863EIDF pls goKeep your eyes on the prize. Save the fuck out of Donovan, try and stop Hyperion from coming back, then give Jophiel to Auriel so someone who actually understands the situation she's in can handle the recovery process and work on seeing if she's too indoctrinated to live.Sandalphon is shitty, but not all angels are shitty. If we're going to work on leaving Venia around and NOT in a state of perpetual war, there need to be people capable of rational thought in positions of power. Everyone important we've eaten so far was either such a zealot that they wouldn't stop even if they knew it was right, or an actual selfish, evil shit. (Metatron was kind of an unknown quantity, but the fact that he went blood-magic-supernova to try and stop us speaks to being unreasonable to have tried to stop him nonlethally.)
>>30536955Our friends are made of chaos dumbass
>>30536964Forgot my picture of how edgy. So edgy you can't even sit down because of how edgy.
>>30536964Amen to that.
>>30536972Yeah we need to eat them too, kinda been just waiting for a good time for it really.
hey sm.after how the last thread ended, and all that dumb useless rage that was. i wanted to say(tried at the end of the thread, but it was 404'd before i could lol); no writer wants their readers to hate them.there is no point in it. not one that does it for the "right reasons" anyway.which you have proved to us time and time again, that you do.there is a difference between putting in a plot twist due to a reasoning of tragedy, and one of moving and enriching the plot. there is no doubt in my mind on which you try to commit to.everytime we thought we gonna be screwed by a crit fail, or a regular one, you managed to direct it in a way that caused the story to be directed in an amazing way;ones that had made this quest the amazing piece of art it is.and i know that "the" nat one, will be used to further the story in exactly this way. there is no hanging sword. only an amazing plot device to come.yes, it will be hard. yes, tears shall be shed. yes, most of us will rage.but it shall be glorious. and this quest will be better for it.what doesnt kill us, makes us stronger.im here, i always was, since the begining.and ill be in every quest youll have, this i swear to you. (haha buoys)keep up the amazing work SM.you wonderfull bastard.
>>30536972I still don't get how that works with Illa and other people who were born Shadow Element.
>Save Donovon>Walk up to Sandals>"Thanks for healing Hamil." ><I guess we don't need to make it five.>>Unpocket Jophiel and leave her at his feet>Moonwalk away
>>30536999I commend your trips, autistic namefag, but little else.
>>30536986Say what you will but Axe eyepatches are fucking awesome
>>30537006This is dumb.
>>30536986I want the ass-daggers.
Rolled 28>>30536999That paragraph was a crit fail
>>30537006You don't dump her back on Sandalphon, because she was obviously in charge of the sigil and WE GOT IT SOMEHOW. And people don't know that mind magic is still around, so everyone will just assume she turned traitor in exchange for sparing her life.Even if he doesn't execute her outright, he has angels hold her eyes open 24/7 while the Clockwork Orange-style propaganda films play until she's back in his court.
>>30537052Sandalphon wouldn't do that, he's the good guy. Why would he save Hamil if he wasn't a good guy?
>>30537052so you want to keep her instead?I doubt she would be willing to help and would likely become a turncoat.
>>30537103We can just have Auriel decide what to do with her.
>>30537097Right, this anon has it. Really, what we should be doing is apologizing to Sandalphon for all the trouble we've caused him, from this point on it would be best to help the sigil complete and gift him Hyperion, I think.
>>30537097because he was keeping face in front of every one.
>>30537103Mentioned what I feel like we should do here:>>30536964>give Jophiel to Auriel so someone who actually understands the situation she's in can handle the recovery process and work on seeing if she's too indoctrinated to live
>>30537130or we could just eat her and not waste everyones time
>>30537130I think Auriel is on team "consume them all" by now.
>>30537129No, because he's a good guy. Saving Hamil doesn't give him anything politically. He knows that Shadow still doesn't trust him and everyone else already likes him anyway.
>>30537164How about let's not be an evil jackass.Also, I get the feeling that there's two GreenEggs namefags in here.
>>30537130That's the evil option like Erebus would do and we want to not be Erebus.
>>30537130Just eat her, problem solved. Or, rather, problem solvent!
>>30537170yeah, i guess your right, sandy is a pretty out standing guy.
>>30537170Arcturis hates him. Melody hates him. Fang hates him. Shadow hates him. Auriel...is ambivalent.Those were the only people who mattered who saw him heal Hamil.
>>30537206You are really bad at this whole internet sarcasm thing, aren't you?
>>30537206Yeah and it didn't change any of their minds.So Sandalphon didn't heal him for politicals. He did it because he's a genuinely good guy.
>>30537185No there isntwhy the fuck is everyone against eating people all of a sudden?she was the one who attacked our ship and threw Flint to the chopping block that would summon hyperionlike fuck guys c'mon
>>30537222Sarcasm?
>>30537206Sandy is the good guy, man, just deal with it and move on. We've got a light elemental to summon, after all.
>>30537169She threw the elite guard guy under the bus for sure, but I'm not sure she's not going to regret the snap decision at least a little later down the line.That said, Sandalphon's elite guard are definitely going to be hardline pro-Hyperion scumbags because that's who Sandalphon would've wanted to surround himself with as direct subordinates, so she probably won't feel THAT bad.>>30537195don't worry, Darkxis, if Auriel thinks she's irredeemable we get to go "Oh, so remember that part where we were helping you to recover from your traumatizing ordeal in sensory deprivation? We were also testing you the whole time and you failed so you get to be food anyway. Sorry!"
>>30536600Shadow Master! We need you! The thread is rapidly devolving into a shitstorm without you!
>>30537248I needed that image, actually.
Guys we shouldn't keep Jophiel in our pocket any longer because that's cruel and it will hurt her. We need to let her out and she can go back because it's the right thing to do. We promised Ila that we wouldn't hurt her because that's what Erebus would do and Ila would have done a long time ago and she knows it's wrong and we know it's wrong too so we promised not to. Sandalphon healed Hamil so we have that to because it's fair to no hurt his friends for no reason because she isn't a threat anymore so it;s wrong to hurt her more and the pocket is torture.
>>30537249Im sure Hitler was a nice fellow once you got to know him, doesnt mean he wont kill millions
Rolled 91>>30537277Operational Security
>>30537277what the fuck?
>>30537242It's called morality.
>>30537301What we're doing to Jophiel is wrong and it needs to stop now.
>>30537277Shutup faggot.she's a bitch.
>>30537277Actually he said that it's only a problem if we keep her in for a half a day or so.Another hour won't do that much more trauma, though it is still a dick move.
>>30537304Get the fuck out
>>30537277
>>30537301I think he's being sarcastic. He's trying way too hard.
>>30537306in this imaginary story?
People that can't into sarcasm are JUST SO FUN.But come back soon SM or I'll have TOO much fun.
>>30537275Glad to be of assistance.
You quickly pocket Jophiel again. She's in no state to put up resistance.>mana: 74/76You set your portal anchor in Hemmelus's laboratory - just in case."We don't have time," you say. "You'll have to open it. Have any more of those mana potions."Hemmelus grimaces, but reaches into his robes. "These aren't a dime a dozen, you know." He hands it to you. "No more than two a day, or you'll get some nasty side effects. It'll be weeks before your full capacity will be restored.""Noted."Hemmelus focuses his magic. You're surprised when not just Light, but Wind, Fire, and Lightning crackle in his hands. The sigil appears on the far wall, expanded in fine, glowing detail, rotating slightly, a portal about to be opened. "Get ready."You position yourself at the front of the line. You're the fastest. Adavan is right behind Arcturis."I don't intend to let Donovan die this day, or any, John," Adavan says. "I never thought I would find a friend in a man born like he is. There is a saying: the Light shines so bright it cannot see itself. But he has never been such a one.""That's all I need to hear," Arcturis says, "even for a wretched one as yourself."Adavan just shrugs.Hemmelus grits his teeth. "Three seconds."You brace yourself against the floor.The portal opens in a ring of all four elements, its middle shining with Light. A destination wavers into view. You leap through it. Arcturis jumps to follow you - The portal slams shut.>con't
>>30537316>mfw
>>30537306YOU SHOULD HAVE JOINED THE OTHER SIDE AND TOLD THEM THAT WHEN THEY SACRIFICED FLINT YOU FAGGOT.THIS BITCH DESERVES EVERYTHING.
>>30537316What's the matter don't like being human?Are you rejecting Humanity?
>>30537318The only people that want to keep hurting her for no reason are the edgelords and they need to leave because this quest is about being a better person and not an edgelord because they lost when we didn't eat Abby the first time and then when we got the humanity shard.
You whip your head back. The portal is gone. Arcturis didn't make it through.You glance back ahead. You're in a cavern - a large cavern, as big as anything you'd find in the Timorian Deep. It's aglow with a hazy green - you recognize it. Adamantium tends to carry its own sort of faint light. Your eyes trail around the ceiling and walls. You can spot a number of wide tunnels and thin passages leading off from the cavern to depths and heights unknown.Where the hell are you?"It's about time. I was starting to think you wouldn't take the bait."You glance back down.There's a woman sitting in a small wooden chair, a few yards away. That wasn't there before.She stands up. She's strikingly beautiful, and wears only a ragged, sooty robe. Her eyes glow red and black. A wicked dagger is sheathed at her waist. She looks like night...but she doesn't feel like it.She feels like...fire. No - Wind, too. Wait - Light. Spirit? And Earth?Every element flows through her. They morph, change, sometimes growing, then fading, warping constantly. But you never sense Shadow.What do you do?>"Who are you?">"Where is Donovan?">attack immediately>some other strategy
>>30537326...hemmelus pls?
>>30537301He's being facetious.This whole argument does raise an interesting question, though: What do we do after the demons are gone? What's going to happen to Sandalphon and all the other Angels? Just something to think about.
>>30537356"sup Hyperion"
>>30537356SM I SWEAR TO GOD.I AM THIS CLOSE.
>>30537356>"Who are you?"Fuck me. The incarnation of Chaos?
>>30537356"Explain yourself."Guys, I'm beginning to think that Sandalphon DID NOT authorize this kidnapping.
>>30537356What in the actual fuck?
>>30537356"...Hello, Chaos."
wow what the fuckfuck thisfuck thatFUUUCK EVEEERYTHINGBut, we can still open a portal to our anchor! Maybe.
>>30537356It didn't have to be this way.
>>30537356>"It's about time. I was starting to think you wouldn't take the bait."Fuck you bitch
>>30537356"I take it you're chaos then?"
>>30537356ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED
>>30537356>"Who are you?""Of course this was a fucking trap. Unless you know literally nothing and this is just a wild goose chase, I can work with this"
>>30537356FUCK OFFSCHATTENKREIG HER
>>30537356"...Nope."Teleport out of here.
>>30537356>"Where is Donovan?"She has every reason to be honest right now.Also, what in the actual fuck?
>>30537356>"Who are you?"
>>30537356"Hello Chaos my old friend."
Oh what the fuck.I GUESS THIS BITCH WAS THE THING WE FELT DEEPER IN THE CAVES 70 OR SO THREADS AGO
>>30537356>>"Where is Donovan?"Get some info out of her, then teleport out.
>some other strategycackle maniacally
>>30537356wow nofuck you SM
>>30537451"I've come to talk with you again"
>>30537356<What are you...>
So who is this?
>>30537356"I have an Airship in my pocket. If you don't explain this bullshit and where Donovan is within five sentences, I am going to throw it at you. And then eat it. And then obliterate you with my Chaos-annihilating black hole spell."
>>30537454Also I'm a little worried the reason Adavan claimed it was so easy was because it was specifically MADE to be easy.The bait was a fake sigil implanted in Jophiel's mind during the time she was pocketed, I guess?
>>30537356
>>30537493She seems to be our polar opposite capable of using every element except shadow.
>>30537509It could be that Sandalphon really doesn't have anything to do with this.
>>30537540PFFFFFTAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAH
>>3053752410bux on her curbstomping us
>>30537540Amazingly enough, this actually fits. She can use seven elements.
So.Anyone else feel that 1 coming? Anyone?
>>30537524HECATE'S TEST ELEMENTAL HAD ALL 8. HECATE CONFIRMED FOR GREATEST MAGIC USER OF ALL TIME.
>>30537540Say this as a joke.
>>30537540THIS THIS THISCatch her off guard.
>>30537561SM was behind the rainbow!WE'RE ALL JUST PAWNS IN HIS GAME
>>30537356>some other strategyJust sit down and scream at her. It's like the entire universe is conspiring to kill Flint.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
>>30537356FJAHSDJAGDALGWD
>>30537356Is there a fucking consensus yet?
>>30537540yeah. go for it.
>>30537627rainbows, followed by where the fuck is flint
>>30537627<Who are you? What are you? A rainbow?>
>>30537627Fuck this nonsense?Hearing the final boss give us a monologue isn't going to save Flint.Unless Flint is already dead and she was summoned instead of Hyperion.
I think Erebus was her dress or something.Makes sense. People are Chaos wrapped in Order, and her clothes are all ragged and shit.
>>30537660So, what? She's about to wear us or some shit? I want to exit Shadow Master's magical realm.
>>30537540
>>30537660So to reclaim our power, we have to consume this mysterious, 'strikingly beautiful' girl's clothes.OUR PERVERSION SHALL BE FOR THE GOOD OF ALL. NOW HOLD STILL.
>>30537627My butt is too busy doing laps around the madpool I'll let you know my vote when it has simmered down.
>>30537686The shard we have been missing this entire time. Fashion.
Where the fuck has this thread gone?
Going with "Hello, Chaos," because it's in-character and I don't think the story could withstand a reminder of the rainbows incident.
>>30537685thats a pretty healthy horse/
Is this our chance to strike a deal with Chaos to achieve balance perhaps? End an eternity of war between Erebus and this Chaos?
>>30537699Up it's own ass, since we're meeting the Architect.
>>30537708AWW ESSS EEEMMMM
>>30537708Aw, come on!
>>30537708what rainbow incident?
>>30537708It would be amazing though
>>30537708>I don't think the story could withstand a reminder of the rainbows incident.BOOOOOOOO
>>30537708I really wanted something about this being a bad time and we really want Donovon back, but I guess we can wait.
>>30537733There was a riddle, much much earlier in SQ.The whole playerbase was retarded and guessed "Rainbow Flag". It was not the answer to the riddle.
>>30537708SCRUUUUUB
>>30537754that might've actually been a CORRECT answer to the riddle, though.C'mon, L&M-friends. People guessed "rainbow" when the ACTUAL answer was "flag".
Fine. Vote on it.Vote 1:>"Are you a Rainbow?"Vote 2:"Hello, Chaos."
>>30537754No. The answer was flag.One anon was dumb and said RAINBOW because, I'll paraphrase, "it was the first thing that came to mind, riddles are totally about whatever you feel like is the answer and not actual thought," and then the rest of the dumb anons joined him while the rest were busy thinking.
>>30537784Try harder, ruselord.
>>30537784I like you.Have I said that before?
Rolled 47>>305377842
>>30537784Almost had me.
>>305377842
>>30537784[RUSE INTENSIFIES]
>>305377841
>>30537784RUSELORD
>>30537784
>people still fall for this
>>30537793>>30537799>>30537815>>30537822>>30537826
>>30537784God fucking dammit, you got me again, you fucker.
>>30537784Jesus Christ, I fall for it every time.Why do you do this to me
Oh that riddle
>>30537784Are you ever surprised that your rusing works so well?
>>30537784Is this the anon who promised to show the other anon a true Ruselord-ing? Because I still remember you promising that, and this was a rather successful Ruse...
>>30537869If it is that guy, then I bow to his ruse-fu.
>>30537869eheheheheheehpromises are meant to be kept after all
>>30537793>>30537799>>30537815>>30537822>>30537826>>30537839>>30537858>>30537889Retards at their finest.
>>30537839Wut, you aren't me.
>>30537869this wasnt even succesfull. first reply is >>30537791There have been much more successful ones.
>>30537933I wouldn't wanna be you, me. Gosh what a twit!
>>30537933yeah, sure, you didn't fall for it.
>>30537935Thankfully this will mean that in the future it shall be impossible to pull off any SM imitation rusing, of course.
>>30537942>using the word twitCut it out VoidRuser. If you're going to impersonate me, please don't make me uncomfortable while doing it.
>>30537952>>30537839>>30537858Namefags pls
What if Shadow pockets himself?
>>30537988That's actually forbidden by the text of the ability itself.>You cannot transport yourself to your pocket.
>>30538002Rules were made to be pocketed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4-TvL1_rYo"...you must be Chaos.""Oh...?" She stands from her chair, and folds her arms behind her back. "What makes you think that? Although I suppose if you've spoken with the sage, or that queen...you might conclude such a thing.""Wo are you, and what do you want with me?""My name..." She stops, cocks her head. A finger goes to her lips. "I've had many names. I don't really have -a- name. But I can tell you what I am. I am the Avatar of Chaos.""...what?""Chaos," she says. She spreads her arms wide. "Pinned for so long by that awful barrier. You couldn't imagine that it would wait there, wait to be sealed up again? No. Opportunity was knocking. And so it made me - evolved me into being. I've been many things."Her shape begins to change. She morphs, warping - and becomes a demon you recognize."...Xella?" you whisper.>con't
>>30538013And suddenly my head is filled with an image montage of shadow pocketing all the things that we have so far, and then some, with the ending being a caption of that line.pls
>>30538020SUCCUBUTT RETURNS
"I've been watching you for some time," she says. Her form changes again. She mutates, growing, until she's a mass of flesh and Spirit. "When you fought Magnock, too. A living Shadow elemental, come alive, able to stand toe-to-toe with a Demon Lord and survive? I had to keep an eye on a threat, you might say..""I thought you were wrapped up when Sandalphon captured you...after I made sure he arrived with enough force to contain you." She changes again, morphing. A male angel, with white, feathered wings, and a hard, angry face, like a thundercloud. Lucifer. "But you escaped with aplomb. It was rather frustrating. But it was so easy to sneak a little something onto that airship."She begins to change again, morphing, settling into her original form. "Easy when you have all the elements on your side. You never knew, did you? Of course you didn't. You can't predict Chaos."Too much is spiraling through your mind too fast. How long has she been tracking you? How much damage has she caused? "Enough of the games! Where is Donovan?!""He's a little tied up," she says. "But he's alive, and will continue to be so...for a time." She smiles. "I bet you'd like to know where he is."What do you do?>try to keep her talking>mention Sandalphon; see if there's some sort of link there>attack immediately>some other strategy
>>30538020DEAR GOD. She's just the energy of the Nether.WISPBRO HAS BEEN A DOUBLE-AGENT ALL THIS TIME.
>>30538037>try to keep her talkingThe more information we get, the better.
>>30538037>try to keep her talkingI highly doubt Sandalphon knows this bitch.
>>30538037>try to keep her talkingSM, I can't. This is too much.
>>30538037>try to keep her talking"So I suppose you've met David, then."
>>30538037>attack immediatelyBRING IN THE CAVALRYUSE ANCHOR
>>30538072This.
>>30538020>xella is an avatar of chaosi call bullshit on this SM. it's like those shitty anime reveals.
>>30538037>try to keep her talking>mention Sandalphon; see if there's some sort of link there
>>30538037>>try to keep her talkingI'd like to see if we could get her to spill whether or not she was Hyperion as well. If THIS was what Erebus was trying to destroy, maybe there's a little bit of the directive that we don't have to can after all.That's really the main reason she would have to break him out, unless she thinks that him being freed from the nether would open it wide enough for her to get out as well.
>>30538037Eeeeerasure
>>30538081Not yet. Keep her talking, see what we can get.If we can teleport in, even through the adamantium on the walls, we can still teleport out.
>>30538086I think this thing is just literally all the demons. When you build a template it's a part of her you're summoning.
>>30538037>some other strategyUnpackage the dynamo.Eat it.Erasure.
She's the avatar of chaos.She would oppose Shadow as order, but maaaaybe she might be willing to cooperate with our new goals of order chaos and fighting can wait? Possibly?>>30538086>What is morphingShe's the fucking avatar of chaos and demons are just the chaos given form. Don't think of her as having been Xella, think of her as having been Xella's life force.
>>30538037THIS IS IT, GUYS.IF WE CONSUME HER, WE BALANCE NOW. NO MORE ORDER. NO MORE CHAOS. ONLY BALANCE.
>>30538126I doubt we're going to beat her without Erebus's full power.
>>30538037The way she talks makes it seem like chaos is sentient. Is that even possible?
>>30538037"I see. So, your grasp of the situation is incomplete and your sight is imperfect. Lovely."
>>30538020>>30538037God dam it releasing Hecate was a bad idea wasn't it?
>>30538126She isn't actually chaos. She's just its avatar. The stand in, if you will.
>>30538154How is Order sentient? That's Erebus. That's what we are.She's probably not native to Venia and might even have a secret hidden chaos castle like us!
>>30538182I think that's what Erebus was as well.
>>30538126>>30538186Erebus is not order itself. He is the avatar of it. This thing is literally Erebus' chaos counterpartç
>>30538037"I would indeed like to retrieve my friend, though I feel that you would not have gone to this trouble to get me here just to formally introduce yourself... So let us converse"
>>30538020>>30538037THIS is the only person actually worthy of sicking Dave on, in fact that might actually end up being our backup plan.
GET ON WITH IT
Here're two little arguments I want to know whether you think that Shadow would think so:"Freedom is precious.Chaos' quest for freedom is understandable and relatable."All life is precious.All three realms (Order, Venia, Chaos) should be preserved.
>>30538252YES, GET ON WITH IT
>>30538037deep focus
>>30538224I don't think so because she has control over all elements other then shadow, meanwhile we only have shadow and the lower elements with probably less control then she does.So yeah only use shadow magic, probably.
Vote 1:>keep her talkingVote 2:>attack immediately, bring in the cavalry
Rolled 100SMYOU ARE RUSTLING MY JIMMIESHARDTHIS TWIST IS STRAINING MY SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF.
>>305383201
>>305383202
>>30538325Dude. Why?
>>30538325Woah damn, calm down there Dice Gods. No need to smite SM.
>>305383201>>30538325don't waste 100s
>>30538325And the voice of the dice gods has appeared.
>>30538320Hey SM, just wondering; since our pocket is technically within the nether, if we try to un-Pocket something, say, an airship, will it cause mumbo-jumbo feedback proportional to the size of the Pocketed item?
>>30538382No, don't worry about Pocket making disturbances. It's its own independent thing.
>>30538260I don't know about ALL life being precious, it doesn't apply if the life is a dick or we REALLY need XP.But mostly that, yeah.>>30538300It makes sense knowing the mechanics of Chaos, though. We can use lower elements because they are more on the order side of things, though they're still chaotic in nature.Because all of the lower elements are still more chaotic than order, she can use them fine, while we're limited to those that are close enough to order to be harnessed by us.And of course that's why she can't use Shadow; Chaos cannot make use of pure Order.
>>30538411It's a space of order in chaos right?
Idea:Ink inside Sandalphon. Unpocket the Ragnarok.
This is the hardest railroading into a plotberg I've ever seen.
>>30538325
>>30538411Dammit, i wanted a reality-warping giant weapon against the Avatar that also notified Legion.Wait a minute.That's us
>>30538411Welp, it's gotten too late for me. I'm out for the night SM. Also, GODDAMNIT WHY!!!
>>30538260>>30538260>Freedom is precious.>Chaos' quest for freedom is understandable and relatable.Sort of? It has a right to existence, but not a right to dominance, and from what we've seen so far, its aims have been closer to the latter than the former.>All life is precious.>All three realms (Order, Venia, Chaos) should be preserved.Given that we don't actually know anything substantial about the first or third, it could be that 'preservation' can only exist within the confines of Venia itself.Even if we've been getting more moderate, we're still not a pacifist or anything, so it's hard to say we view all life universally as precious. It's in our nature to judge, after all.Basically what I'm trying to say is that we're trying to be a force for balance and both of those questions are mostly asking for a hard-line yes-or-no response where our in-character "right" answer is somewhere sort of nebulous and in-between-y.
Rolled 12>>30538462>It has a right to existenceI'm going to just say that not everything has a right to exist. Some things are best left unmade.
>>30538443Pretty much, yeah. I consider all of this entire situation to be the nat 1 itself.
>>30538462>>30538425By "life is precious" I didn't mean we shouldn't kill anyone. It just means that there is some intrinsic value to life and (at least sentients) shouldn't die needlessly.
>>30538505We already have enough shit on our plate trying to stop the demon lords, hyperion, restore balance, fix ourselves, and now this?This is getting utterly absurd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suUtJxccoaU"You'd be right.""It's a terrible thing, to be trapped," she says. "I wonder if you can even begin understand," she says, "being sealed in there like a TOY for that long...by Erebus...that creature, that thing, that D̨́͞҉E͠҉̢T̵͟͞Ę̶͝S̷̵͏T̢͟Ą͘҉̨͘B̵L̵͟Ę̶̶̀ ̶́̕͞E̕͢X̧̕͢ÌS̶̡̕Ţ̷̷҉͘E̴̴̢͞N̛͜͞͞C̸̴͟͠E̴̷̢̛͠...but I digress," she says. "I share the frustration of chaos...but I am merely a representative of its will. You see, all that damage started to accumulate, all that time, all the wear and tear, the strain of supporting Venia itself on a barrier not meant to hold such a thing...enabling...me.""What are you?""I am that which will exact Chaos.""...is Sandalphon working with you?"She laughs. "Oh, I'm using him. He's using me. We're using each other. It's a grand thing. A headlong race toward death. Isn't that a nice thought? Death.""Why did you lure me here?" you say. "Why are you telling me all this?"She cocks her head at you. "I don't get to vent very often, you know. So few people would even begin to appreciate what I am, or what I have to say. But as to the real reason you're here...well, you've fulfilled your role, but now you're becoming a variable I can't easily compensate for, and that just won't do, not when things are about to be at their most vulnerable, and so..."Her smile widens, until it stretches across her face, revealing rows of teeth like daggers. "You'll have to die."7 elements gather before her.Roll 1d100
>>30538505FUCK I FORGOT ENTIRELY ABOUT THE NAT 1
Rolled 46>>30538538
Rolled 13>>30538538Goodbye folks.
Rolled 35>>30538538>Guide my 100
Rolled 98>>30538538Laugh in her face
Rolled 1>>30538538Fuck it, one last roll can't hurt
Rolled 26>>30538538
Rolled 99>>30538538
>>30538503everyone has a right to exist but some have more of a right than others
>>30538566YES IT CAN
Rolled 23>>30538566>>30538562>>30538572Unbelievable.>>30538538
>>30538566I can't even get upset anymore.I'm cackling at this. CACKLING!
>>30538566It can and it did.
>>30538566Welp, I'm an absolute fuck-up. Goodnight Shadow Quest
>>30538566>eatingcrow.jpg
>>30538566Time to kill yourself
>>30538566OH NO OBVIOUSLY NOTPISSING FUCK
>>30538566>one last roll.>LastLASTTHE LAST ROLL.
>>30538566Goodnight everyone
>>30538566I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THIS, YOU MOTHERFUCKER
>>30538443i agree. that's why i dont like the situation. it might have been a great reveal another time and people would get hyped but now...We have a way to save Flint and we have a dozen shit to deal with, suddenly THERE IT IS THE AVATAR OF CHAOS. What the fuck is this shit?
>>30538566YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO EXIST
Rolled 4>>30538538FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKCKKKCKCCKKDS iyhoyjkjsafjouo fibnitajsfldkj
>>30538566Jesus fucking Christ
Rolled 86>>30538538Saving from VoidBearer
>>30538601It's like SM wants to end his own quest. I mean it's happening right now all around us.
Rolled 75>>30538538
>>30538566I hate you so much right now
>>30538607>Farewell SM, it was nice
>>30538596 Actually fuck that, fuck this quest im done
Rolled 30>>30538607Eternal sadness.
>>30538503Seihai-kun wouldn't have settled for just chilling out being a LITTLE bit evil somewhere, y'know.We don't know if Chaos as a force is capable of moderation, and if it isn't then you go look at the second question and see if its right to exist is outweighed by what it intends to do with that existence.>>30538607You should hardly be surprised at this point.
>>30538607It's been a good run, SM.Thanks for everything.
So many ones have happened that I've essentially reached total apathy dealing with them.
>>30538623Yep, I don't even care how it ends at this point. We got led kicking and screaming into an impossible battle.GG no re.Peace.
Rolled 18>>30538607We're in rough waters, SM, and we're on the verge of capsizing.I'll stick it through in the hope that you'll steer us clear, but it's getting hard.
Writing epilogue.This one will take a while, bear with me.
fucking forget it
>>30538671Ruselord pls.Now isn't the time.
>>30538671FUCK YOU RUSELORD
Rolled 27>>30538671Too obvious, rusenoob.Try not to do it twice per thread.
>>30538671I know you ruselord but fuck
>>30538679FUCK YOU 1-BEARER
>>30538688You called?
>>30538671Anon, I already tried it once and it was a half-failure. Trying it another time after that? Ehhh, good luck I suppose.
>>30538688I mean, 9-100's and 2-1's. Chance just kind of gets fucked around me.
>>30538671You are not helping things!
What the hell is with all the people giving up in the face of the slightest bit of adversity lately?This isn't the Shadow Quest I know! GET YOUR BATTLE PLANS OUT GENTS. WAR ROOM IS NOW IN SESSION.
>>30538702Then stop roling you fucking ingrateyoure fucking roll is the one that ruin this quest for me
SM I want you to honestly tell me what the fuck we're supposed to do. You've throw us into a situation we had NO WAY to predict, NO WAY of winning because we are a shadow of the power we SHOULD be, and basically just turned EVERYTHING upside down.Dude, fucking give us something.
i am so frustrated right now...After all this time, we founnd a way to save Flint and dice took it away. Then we found another way and you taki it away with plot SM...Couldn't you give that to us after a hundred fucking threads? You had to pull this shit out right now? I would be happy regardless of what you throw at us after we saved Donovan. You kow carrot and stick and all...Fuck you.i think its better if read this one from the archive...good luck with the dicepeople.
>>30538718We have something. Two somethings.Well, 3 somethings. They're in our pocket and they're chock-full of XP.
>>30538715>implying strategy matters when everything important is determined by rollingits fucking pointless you fool
>>30538566
>>30538716It wasn't a crit fail chill the fuck out
>>30538735No amount of temporary EXP can save us here.
I have lost my faith in you SM.
We have 10exp. Erasure her. Problem solved.
>>30538753Seriously, this is just... bad.
>>30538746A new shard and activating the 100XP dynamo overcharge thing might, though.
>>30538733Yeah, now was probably not a good time to throw this at us.Narratively, it's pretty terrible timing and poorly justified from the reader's perspective.Still better than most every other /tg/ quest, so I'll keep reading.
>>30538741>crit fail role>B-but at least its not a super crit fail right guys?
elega/tg/entlemen, truly these have been the greatest hours of browsing of my time. Thank you
>>30538737>Strategy>Entirely mitigated by rollsIt's like you haven't even followed the same quest I have. We've ALWAYS been able to drag ourselves out of situations like this through timely use of our skills. This is hardly the first time we've rolled a 1 in combat.
>>30538755We have 1 xp.Shoulda ate Jophiel
>>30538758>A new shardStability?
I seem to have com back at the perfect time.
>>30538772Leviathan
>>30538776It's all burning Captain. Have a seat and watch the ashes blow away around us.
>>30538767Strategy only increases the modifiers on our rollsit doesnt matter if we have the fucking answers to the universe when we have to roll
Rolled 87>>30538776Shut up and roll average, middle-of-the-road.I'll settle for average.
>>30538781Fuck that noise.
You know I wonder if we could force-feed her order until she became more like us.
>>30538787Oh i'm sure everything will turn out alright in the end somehow maybe.>>30538793I'll do my best he who rolls high.
>>30538808Y'know what I actually fucking agree with that. Good plan. Let's fucking do it! LET'S JUST FUCKING DO EVERYTHING!FUUUUUUUUUUCK!
GreenEggsAndSlam needs to chill the fuck out.SM put a hell of a lot more time and commitment into this quest than any of us have, he's not going to ruin it all yet. Don't get mad just because we've been led on a wild goose chase.
>>30538828Im going to watch spy academy batsu again and see if that improves my mood
Rolled 95, 10, 38 = 143You try to move, and you manage to get away from the worst of it.The twisting beam of energy slams into the wall next to you. You sprint away at top speed, running with legs and several limbs, but the explosion catches you from behind, throwing you forward.You turn, take the momentum on your shoulder, roll a few times, and then you're back on your feet, supported by five arms. You glance at the center of the room. The creature is gone. Left.You try to dodge, but she's too fast. The punch catches you full on the side. You're flying again.You slam into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Rubble rains down around you. You cough and scrabble to get back up on your feet, peering through the haze. That thing hits like a Demon Lord.A hand grabs your throat and rips you back across the room.An elbow slams into you from above. You impact the center of the cavern.>you've taken 20 damage (61/81)>you've regenerated 3 damage (64/81)You stand in the crater.The Avatar faces you from a few yards away. She tilts her head. "You're tough."She bends her knees.What do you do?>try to dodge>try to counterattack>use magic>some other strategy>rolling perception...
>>30538851see. it could have been a lot worse
>>30538851Grapple her and cover her like a suitCONSUME
>>30538851>try to dodgeWE NEED TO FIND FLINTJUST DODGE AND DEEP FOCUS EVERY ROUND
Rolled 56>>30538851>try to counterattackBlast her with Surge, and then Fast Blink blitz her.
>>30538851will erassure work?
>>30538851MULTISHADE AND BLINK AWAY
>>30538851NIGHTBLAZE
>>30538851>some other strategy>shapeshift into a ball and let her play with you
>>30538851So she's physically powerful and has 7 elements at her command.I say we blast her with Shadow Magic.
>>30538851Blink + Cone of Destruction.
>>30538875We don't have the EXP, we need 9 more.>>30538851Cone of Destruction, followed by a blink away
>>30538869>>30538851This.
>>30538851Make sure that we use Shadow magic, guys.Because that's what would be strongest against this opponent.
>>30538851shadow blast, deep focus to find flint
>>30538851Going with these:>>30538869>>30538880We're outclasses here in our current state, but I have the utmost confidence in our ability to run the fuck away.
>>30538851Guys, I think attacking with ANY kind of elemental damage is a TERRIBLE IDEA. SHE'S MADE OF ALL THE OTHER ELEMENTS. So use Shadow magic or try and beat her physically.
>>30538851>shapeshift into a giant dildo that sings "rock you like a hurricane"
>>30538851>She tilts her head. "You're tough.""And here I was, thinking you had been watching.">>30538869I'd like to focus at least ONE time, just to get the lay of the land. See if we can feel where those tubes lead.
>>30538851If there was ever a time to request help from Hecate it would be now.
>>30538851Cast Confuse on her. She's Chaos, so she's probably weak to it.
>>30538916>she has bent her knees in prep for the next assault>let's stand still and deep focuslolwut...
>>30538920after we know where we should head to. when we have a location, call hecate and go while they are busy.
>>30538930Anons are voting for Fast Blink + Deep Focus.
>>30538930Was linking a suggestion to dodge and focus, but probably should've been more specific with my suggestion.Because yes, I agree that standing stock still is a really dumb idea just as she is getting it into her head to break out the big guns.
Vote 1:>evasive maneuvers; she's coming with more power. Multishade, Blink, then Deep Focus to try and learn moreVote 2:>She's about to charge. Try to catch her with Cone of Destruction
I really don't think Flint is here...
>>305389751
>>305389752
>>30538851If she is a creature of chaos, will consuming her be like consuming demons?
>>30538985Adamantium veins reflect your Deep Focus, amplifying its range.
>>30538993I guess.
>>30538975 2
>>305389752Why don't we just use analyze on her? It's cheaper and does the same damn thing. Would've voted 1.
>>30539010Well, that's a pleasant surprise.Guess the fact that it's not a seamless dome is pretty important.
>>30538975AHAHHAHH YOU CANT TICK ME ANY MORE AHAHAH I FIGURED IT OUT AHAHH ILL TAKE NUMBER 3 "ESCAPE THE ARCHONIUM" AHAHAH YOU REALY HAD ME GOING THERE AHHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Rolled 43>>30539010Sweet.
>>30539029Because we're deep focusing the cave tube system to find Flint and get a lay of the land, not deep focusing on the Avatar
>>30538975cutting off votes
The walls are adamantium. Our deep focus is just going to bounce off and do nothing.
>>30539065666th reply.WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
>>30539041why Would you sAy that. she's going to Kill us, wE can't fool aroUnd with Pretend archonium nonsense.
>>30539072See >>30539010
>>30539072Are you blind or stupid?You have nice hair.
>>30538975Guys.AVOID ALL IN PLANSPLAY CAUTIOUSLY
>>30539131WHAT'S THAT?GAPING MAW?OKAY.
>>30539127....... people actually follow that rule?hahahhahahha mah niggah
Rolled 26And we're going to be fucked by the dice, again.
Rolled 8, 56, 91 = 155You can feel something - a call.Something's calling to you.You've got to dodge this attack.You use Multishade, and five illusions appear, running in five different directions. Four split off, sprinting along the walls. One takes flight. The last charges straight at her. At the same time, you Blink away, crossing to the other side of the cavern.You use Deep Focus!Your senses are amplified by the adamantium. Your focus bounces a hundred times, a thousand, climbing up through the tunnels and shafts and passages carved in the rock under Venia.The tunnels stretch for miles in every direction. You can sense the largest one the easiest. It goes on for at least ten miles, your bouncing, rebounding sense giving you a mental map of its landscape. In any case, you're deep underground. There doesn't appear to be any easy mundane escape route.An explosion of mixed fire and light illuminates the room. Your illusions are vaporized.The Avatar springs into the air. Chaos gathers behind her, flickering light that strobes white, blue, green, red - BOOMRoll 1d100 to react!>rolling for perception
Rolled 18>>30539157And here come more 1's to end the quest while it screeches to a fiery halting explosion.
Rolled 97>>30539157
Rolled 24>>30539157
Rolled 20>>30539157>Roll 1d100 to react!
Rolled 6>>30539157
Rolled 4>>30539157I cast Nightblaze
Rolled 49>>30539157AHHHHHHHHHH
>>30539157Stop rolling!
Rolled 67>>30539161>>30539165>>30539169>>30539170>>30539172Really?
Rolled 86>>30539161>>30539163>>30539165Well, at least I rolled well. So we haven't totally failed.>>30539157
Rolled 44>>30539157i got this
>>30539190go for th hundred, boo, go for the hundrd!
Rolled 93>>30539157
Rolled 76>>30539157
Rolled 24>>30539157WRYYYY
Rolled 8>>30539157
Rolled 41>>30539157
Rolled 4>>30539157The dice are cruel and unknowable gods
Rolled 47>>30539157These fucking dice.
Something is calling.The Avatar's aura coats her in a cone of blazing destruction.The call grows louder. It feels primal. Instinctual. Fundamental.No time. You leap to escape the oncoming comet of Chaos. A third of your body is vaporized as the Avatar passes through you as if you weren't even there. It buries itself in the cavern wall behind you.>you've taken 22 damage (42/81)>you've regenerated 4 health (46/81)You rush to get clear, stumbling, regrowing a few legs to stabilize yourself. You're about halfway across the room when the Avatar emerges from the hole it made in the wall. It places its hands together. Light twists in its palms. It faces them toward you.What do you do?>continue to dodge>counter with Nightblaze>Blink next to her, use Cone of Destruction>some other strategy
>>30539282>counter with Nightblazethen>Blink next to her, use Cone of Destruction
>>30539282>continue to dodgeSo this is just a survival battle.
>>30539282>>counter with Nightblaze
>>30539282>counter with NightblazeDo we have anything that amplifies our hearing?
>>30539282Consume the Aurora Water gem.
>>30539282>>counter with NightblazeThen continue to get the fuck out.
Rolled 48>>30539282Fuck itEat the dynamowe can make more ourselves
>>30539282nightblaze
As of two hours ago today is my birthday, SM.Give us a free 100 for my birtday.For real, though. I like your quest enough that I'm happy that being in it is the first thing I'm doing today. Don't ever stop being good at word making.
>>30539282She's using our attacks against us. Not cool.No more perception rolls, SM?
>>30539282>OtherAnswer the call
>>30539282>counter with Nightblaze
>>30539306No, we're not killing half of Leviathan. If we're going to eat something, then we're eating the Ragnarok's dynamo.
>>30539282>counter with NightblazeWe haven't seen how effective our magic ACTUALLY is against this thing, so it's probably a good time to find out.>>some other strategyCall back.
>>30539324seconding
>>30539282Nightblaze>Answer the Call
>>30539282We're getting chipped to death here.We need to take the offensive a little bit.And we're gonna have to do it using Order powers, not Chaos magics.She' a literal creature of magic, so its a shame we don't have erasure or hammer/moonsong.
>>30539306>>30539311We. Need. Those.If you think things are that bad, why not just vote to teleport out?
Rolled 39, 11, 44 = 94>>30539311The dynamo is part of the ship. You'd have to unpocket the airship and then go inside of it and eat the dynamo. The space you're fighting in is large enough to unpocket the ship, though, if you want to try it.>>30539321Rolling perception...
>>30539282PICK UP THE PHONE YOU ASSHOLE.
>>30539332Seconded. >Call back to the voice.
Rolled 41>>30539282ANSWER THE PHONE, DAVE.
>>30539332>Call back.No. Deny the callThis call is chaos singing to the chaos in US, because we're corrupted now.Instead, we need to listen to Temerity. He's a bro, he's always seen us through this.GUYS DONT LISTEN TO THE VOICE ITS TRAP
>>30539324make us whole again John.
>>30539345answer the banana phone
Roll 1d100 for Nightblaze counterYou'll need six dice for this
Rolled 11>>30539371
Rolled 65>>30539371Sigh
Rolled 19>>30539371WELCOME TO DIE
Rolled 30>>30539371
Rolled 24>>30539371
Rolled 13>>30539371>You'll need six dice for thisShiiiieeet
Rolled 22>>30539371We will all die...
Rolled 43>>30539371
Rolled 91>>30539371
Rolled 54>>30539371
we need to talk shadow, its time you learned the truth
>>30539374>>30539379>>30539382>>30539385>>30539387Seems about right.
Rolled 79>>30539357Temerity is dead, there is only resolve.>>30539371
>>30539374>>30539378>>30539379>>30539382>>30539385>>30539387SM the Dice Gods are going to END YOUR QUEST if something doesn't happen.
Why do we always roll so shit
Rolled 2>>30539374>>30539378>>30539379>>30539382>>30539385>>30539387Really?
>>30539374>>30539379>>30539382>>30539385>>30539387
>>30539410>2 on a d100Really.
Rolled 60>>30539407This is one of those cases where dice induce frustration rather than suspense.Shit sucks, man.
Rolled 34>>30539414Hopefully it means that the worst has passed.Testing...
>>30539371
Rolled 55, 12, 89 = 156>rolling perception
>>30539371>>30539429>This is one of those cases where dice induce frustration rather than suspense.Im just gonna start using Invisible Castle
Rolled 82>>30539371I want our rolls to be ogre
>>30539440hopehopehope
>>30539440rolling perception for...who
>>30539440I wonder if that's her perception or ours.Cause if it's hers, it's just a matter of time until she realizes we're Erebus and then tells Sandalphon.
>>30539440donny wake up
>>30539461Dave and the Order Palace, the two true waifus
>>30539461For the Doctor
Oh wow.OH WOW, the dice has really been out for your guys' blood these last two threads.
>>30539282Voting for confuse again, not that anyone is going to listen.
Can we please go with the shapeshifting into a ball and letting her play with us plan already. This is painful.
Rolled 66>>30539557She can use all seven elements of Chaos, anon. I doubt she'll even be affected by Confuse.
Her Light builds. Your Shadow condenses into a ball in front of you, rolling into a sphere of negative energy.Her Light burns brighter. It fills the cavern. She fires, and a lance of incandescent Light leaps toward you.You fire your Nighblaze. A ball of darkness crackling with purple energy shoots across the room.Dust sweeps up in the wake of the two spells. They collide between you, exploding in a flash of energy. It's unstable, twisting black and white, exploding again, and again. That wasn't Light. That was Chaos.An instinct burns inside of you. Something ingrained into your being.The light is painful to look at. You step back, shielding your eyes. Eventually, the uncontrolled, rampant energy dies away.The Avatar is in front of you, another lance of Chaos in its hand. You take it directly in the stomach.Your bottom half is vaporized. You're flying through the air, end over end, tumbling across the cavern. You smash through a stalactite and grind to a halt.>you've taken 28 damage>you've regenerated 8 health (26/81)You climb up again. Your body repairs itself, piecing together shadow from the darkness around you, rebuilding into lazy half-human, half elemental form, as if too tired to pick one ans stay there.You're hurting. It hurts. You can't remember the last time you were pushed this far.This thing is too strong.Something is calling.The Avatar casts more magic. You flinch - but it's just a light. It pins itself to the top of the room, illuminating the space until the shadows flicker and fade."No more of that annoying regeneration."She puts her palms together again. A lance of Chaos leaps to life, glowing. Rotating. And it flares with every element, growing still brighter than any attack you've seen thus far, so bright and hot and it starts to burn your skin even at this distance. You can hear the shadows hissing on your flesh.>you've taken 1 damage (25/81)>con't
"You never had a chance from the start," she says. "But at least you tried."You're pinned against the wall. If you make one false move, you're dead. Maybe if you can - "You won't make it to that tunnel."Chaos.You feel some strange urge bubble up inside of you. Something you thought you'd forgotten, that you'd put away long ago...when you started being human. WHen you started looking for balance.But it's still there. Waiting.It doesn't begrudge balance. You've just been moving toward it for so long...maybe you forgot the other side.A beam of pure Chaos leaps toward you.>answer the call
You know, I'm actually pretty okay with all of this. If it all goes blooey, then either we get a perspective change (hopefully to fang), or SM can finally start prepping EDGY QUEST.
>>30539587>The Avatar casts more magic. You flinch - but it's just a light.Snuff. Get rid of that
>>30539578"She" also seems mentally unstable already, and confuse seems rather far along in the mental tree already.
Rolled 28>>30539595>Answer the callWhat more can we do?
>>30539595>>answer the callIs this our only choice here, sm?
>>30539595TEMERITY BACK, MOTHERFUCKERS.PUT ON THEM BADASS SHADES WE RUN THIS SHIT
>>30539595>answer the callWELCOME TO DIE
>>30539595>answer the call
>>30539595>let it go to voicemail
>>30539595>dont answer it.>just lie there and rest.
>>30539614>>30539613You can do whatever you'd want. I just didn't feel like bothering with other prompts.
>>30539595>>answer the call"Hello, this is Shadow speaking."
>>30539595Choo Choo.
>>30539640>implying this entire thread since meeting the Avatar hasn't been railroaded by SM and shit dice
>>30539595>But it's still there. Waiting.>It doesn't begrudge balance. You've just been moving toward it for so long...maybe you forgot the other side.I see.We haven't been balancing the scales at all. We've become a combination of Order and Chaos. The thing confronting us is just Chaos. Hardly a level scale.I suppose it's time to make this fight even.
Moshi moshi, Shadow desu.
>>30539595>>30539631
>>30539595Moshi moshi, Shadow desu.
>>30539595Hello, Erebus, I'm calling on behalf of Palatial Construction Ltd. It seems you have an outstanding debt for the construction of a palace in the Void some 800 years ago that you have yet to make any repayments for according to the payment plan. If you don't resume payment immediately we will be forced to repossess your palace
>>30539595>>But it's still there. Waiting.Use Snuff, cancel the light, get regeneraion back.answer the call
>answer the call
>>30539687GREAT. Now we're dead AND in foreclosure. FUCKIN' CHAOS.
>>30539595>>answer the call>It doesn't begrudge balance. You've just been moving toward it for so long...maybe you forgot the other side.We're going to have to use... THAT!
>>30539595snuff the lightanswer the call
wtf was the point in that option?agreenment?
You guys do know we still have that teleport back to Arland, right?
>>30539595"Code Kaiju">and everything was great again
>>30539724illusion of choice
>>30539724Stalling for time to write.And dramatic effect, I suppose.>>30539733And accomplish what?Bring the fight to Arland and let her massacre citizens along with us?Bring in our allies who probably don't stand a chance?I'd much rather use THAT.
>>30539733can't open portal in combat
>>30539738if only we could FIRE THE LIGHTNING
>>30539733Actually we don't.Portal takes two turns to open and is very easy for enemies to interrupt.
This has been the worst thread in all of Shadow Quest.It isn't even the rolls or the awkward railroading.This whole Avatar of Chaos thing is just stupid.Suddenly! New EXTRA Evil BBEG!!!Just fucking stupid. Dropped.
>>30539733Takes two turns in combat to open it, and even if we do get it open the portals are pretty unstable.Maybe if we opened it while taking we would've been able to try and escape, but it's equally likely it just lets the avatar of Chaos just walk whole cloth out into Hemmelus' workshop since it also takes time to close.Maybe we could've Multishaded up into the vents and tried to rely on Chaos getting mixed up long enough for us to open it and flee, but still probably not the best odds.
>>30539772It'd be fine if we weren't even done with the "fail to save Flint at the last second" thing.Also why hasn't she named herself Eris yet?
You suddenly know what you have to do.It's what you do, best, really.YouMustCONSUME-------------------------->Activating Positive Energy Field Rapid Local Conversion--------------------------The oncoming spell is surrounded in a cube of black light. It continues to travel toward you at the same speed, but encased, captured inside some sort of magical trap.It strikes you - and you're waiting, ready. The energy floods into you.--------(Retribution) - Resonant(Maker) - Resonant(Silence) - Resonant(Peace) - Resonant(Breeze) - Resonant(Hammer) - Resonant(Ardor) - Resonant{Resolve} - Resonant{Humanity} - Resonant--------Darkness explodes around you.The Avatar is blown back, off her feet. It quickly catches itself and lands rightside up.Your aura flows around you, covering you from head to toe. You glance down at your hand. You feel different. Every shard is buzzing inside of you, linked together. Some deeper connection has been fused...for the moment."This isn't possible." The Avatar takes a step back. "...what - " It freezes. "Erebus."What do you do?>physical attack>magical attack>Hammer>some other strategy
>>30539816>Hammer
>>30539816Hammer.Hammer until there's nothing but Chaos puree for us to eat.
>>30539816STOP HAMMERTIME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD6SU_BL9QU>HP: 81/81>mana: 76/76
>>30539595"I'm here, David. And thanks."
>>30539816>physical attackWheres Donovan?>PUNCHWhere's Donovan?>PUNCH
>>30539816>some other strategy>shapeshift into a ball and play with her.
>>30539816I KNEW ITI KNEW THE POWERUP WAS COMING AND IT WOULD BE UNEXPECTEDI WAS WAITING FOR THIS>>30539772ALSO FUCK YOUR SHIT
>>30539816>"Erebus died one year ago."Pull out the Hammer."I'm just Shadow."
>>30539816HAMMER
>>30539772thank fucking god.hope you take everyone who thinks like you out as well.people with this line of thought are just idiots.
>>30539848I like your style, GIVE THIS MAN A RAISE!
>>30539816>>physical attackCONSUME THE REST OF HER.
>>30539845...Getting an inexplicable shounen protagonist powerup is hardly a mark of quality.If anything that just cements the perception of this thread as an obtuse cutscene.
>>30539816>Hammer"You took Donovan from me">spawns Hammer"Judgement is here, time to drop the hammer"
>>30539772Actually, I expected Hyperion to be the Avatar of Chaos. What surprises me is that the Avatar of Chaos is already there!Also that it was never intended for us to stop Meta from changing the Sigil's location. There is making a task difficult and then there is having it fail despite great rolls, good plans and the investment of precious resources (shards).But eh, overall it's fine. Would be weird to like every decision another person does.
>>30539857I get the feeling that SM gave us a pity powerup.Then again, considering the BGM, he may have taken advantage of the dice to provide some PLOT.
>>30539845>ALSO FUCK YOUR SHITHe isn't really wrong, this was handled pretty badly.But it's a stall in an otherwise well-running engine, so I give him a pass on it.
>>30539816>"This isn't possible." The Avatar takes a step back. "...what - " It freezes. "Erebus.""I'm not erebus. I used to BE erebus. But no longer. I don't hold his grudges, or his hate for your kind. ""That doesn't forgive what you are doing right now. How you are hurting my friends and companions. I don't care what pass between you and erebus - THIS is what I hold you accountable for"BLink to her, Gaping Maw. Get our TEETH sunk into her, grapple and hold her, and hammer with our free hand.
>>30539816>magical attackPound that bitch with our inky load.
>>30539816I just know that we're not going to get to keep all those Resonant shards after this.A shame.
>>30539848sounds alright
>>30539816>Hammer.You took my best friend from me.*BAM*You made him suffer.*BAM*You made him doubt himself.*BAM*And for that-*BAM*I WILL END YOU.
>>30539816>Activating Positive Energy Field Rapid Local Conversion>It strikes you - and you're waiting, ready. The energy floods into you.Guess this is some sort of Pure Chaos-only absorption dealie, like the Magic to Mana conversion shield but more comprehensive?But mostly...>{Humanity} - ResonantTHIS is something worth noting. The fact that this is still around even in this form is a very, very good sign for our plans and the future we hope to bring about through them.>>30539848I can get behind this.
>>30539886At least we have free reign to fuck shit up till it passes without worrying about the seal
>All these bad one-linersCan't we just shut the fuck up when we kill something?
We'd better get a fucking shitload of EXP for this or I will never forgive you for dragging us on this Wild Ride SM.
>>30539816Something to notice.Humanity and Resolve are the only shards located within {}. The others are all ().
>>30539914>everyone wants us to be Magical Buoy
>>30539845>Unexpected>Shitty reveal followed by shitty power up scene...Is this your first story ever?This whole ordeal was terribly timed. It was disastrous really.Well, i still like the story very much, i am just waiting for this shit to be done with so we can move on.
>>30539816> Everything at once.> Consume
Gentlemen, I think we have our new power source.
>>30539914Shut your mouth. I feel the need for cheese.
>>30539937AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHMaybe?
>>30539816can we activate all shards for an attack?
>>30539816Sure, I'll throw in with this.>>30539848
>>30539908>It doesn't begrudge balance. You've just been moving toward it for so long...maybe you forgot the other side.Erebus is still kicking around in our head somewhere, its giving balance a chance and trying to understand the world around it instead of destroying everything thats not order
>>30539886That depends how much we use them
>>30539816Consume it. Consume the avatar of chaos.Seriously.Look at this.>You suddenly know what you have to do.>It's what you do, best, really.>You>Must>CONSUMEWe get a massive powerup by consuming the energy blase and you guys just want to hit it with the hammer when we could munch the whole shazam.
>>30539945The last time we tried that it ended the Elementomachy.
>>30539924can you blame them?
>>30539816>Order's major schtick is consuming chaos and turning it into more order.I feel retarded. Let's just consume this sucker.
>>30539962I'll second that.JUST EAT HER ALREADY. Unless you're a Chaos waifuer...
>>30539928I'm not saying the reveal was good, but I knew that when we got to full-on "OH SHIT IT'S OBVIOUSLY EREBUS" strength it would come in a way we didn't see coming. And it came, whether the surrounding events are high quality or not.And I hope we get to keep it.
>>30539962Hammer is just to tenderize it maybe?
>>30539962The Avatar is not one spell. We need to beat her into submission before we can CONSUME.
>>30539971No.I wish it could happen
>>30539963;)
You grasp your Hammer.Lines of black light appear around the Avatar. It tries to escape.And now you're in front it it. Breeze's wings have crystallized on your back without your beckoning, accelerating you far past your normal limits. You strike the Avatar with your free hand, and it's pushed back into Hammer's cage.There's a horrible wrenching sound as the space itself is bent and crushed. What was once a cube is now the width of a coin. An explosion of Darkness erupts from from where the Hammer fell.The Avatar crawls out of the destruction, still alive, though ripped and torn, half-melted, not even human in appearance. A beam of light is fired toward you. Peace crystallizes in front of you, a shield of Chaos and Order. The beam is absorbed in its entirety, and the shield fades.What do you do?>Physical attack; beat it into submission>Hammer. Leave no trace.>Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.>some other strategy
>>30540003>Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.
>>30540003>CONSUME
>>30540003>Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.Time for power.
>>30539978>Not seeing this comingyou tought SM railroaded us into death?
>>30540003>>Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.
>>30540003>Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.>some other strategyMake her tell us where Donovan is and Sandolphens plans>Eat something when she refuses
>>30540003>CONSUMEWhat could possibly go wrong?
>>30540003 >Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.
>>30540003>>CONSUME
>>30540003>CONSUMEend this thing before it gets awaylet chaos strain and shuffle to create a new avatar
Oh fuck me. This is just a Sandman rehash isn't it?
>>30540021So the Jophiel treatment?
>>30540003>CONSUME. Add this thing's energy to your own.i am disappoint by that Consume SM
>>30540003>Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.This has been completely unsatisfying, but maybe we can get some EXP out of it?
>>30539962I can't imagine we're just going to one-shot it, y'know. Even in TURBO-EREBUS-EXTREME-MODE.>>30540003>>Consume. Add this thing's energy to your own.I'm a little afraid that this little stunt might've caught some attention, given the magic-amplifying tendrils of adamantium snaking out from deep under the world. Cat might be out of the bag, folks. Honeymoon's over.
>>30540003I don't know if consuming a physical incarnation of chaos is a good idea considering we just reached a balance.But who am I kidding, we're gonna consume it.
>>30540021This. Don't go the whole hog yet.
>>30540041>The Jophiel Methodyeah, unless she's beyond being able to speak
>>30540054We turn Chaos into Order sir. There's no risk.
>>30540003What if there is more than one "Chaos" lords? I mean it's chaos, right? What if they're leaked powers of Elemental Lords that coalesced due to recent disruptions of the core and Demon Lords rising?
>>30540052I am past giving a fuck, this is still spectacularly unfulfilling.
>>30540052>I can't imagine we're just going to one-shot it, y'know. Even in TURBO-EREBUS-EXTREME-MODE.Meh, i agree, but i want to get on with it. Whatever that will keep us from consuming will not show till we try to consume if that's the case anyways, so we might aswell save time.
>>30540003>>CONSUME!. Add this thing's energy to your own.<I see you're still alive. Good.>
>>30540064I'll second that. We'll eat her in the end and maybe even find out where Donovan really is.
>CONSUME"All I wanted was Donovan safe, remember that next time you interfere"
>>30540064I really, really don't expect it to be practical to expect her to give her antithesis the knowledge it needs to go stop her plan from moving forward.Jophiel 'knew' that we were just a man, if a powerful one, and men can be bribed, or reasoned with, or pled to.Erebus is definitely not a man.We could probably find where Donovan is with focus NOW, I'd bet. Erebus' Chaos-Detectors have to be way better than our own.
>>30540124...though given that Deep Focus sends out a ping that can be followed back the other direction, I might not have been thinking this through quite as well as I had hoped.Sending out an Erebus Signal amplified by adamantium veins for thousands of miles is probably not the brightest idea I've ever had.
She knew Erebus enough to fear him, probably fought him. She was sealed down here.I wonder if she was not destroyed for a reason?
>People STILL want to talk
>>30540160She was manufactured by Chaos after the barrier was erected.>"Chaos," she says. She spreads her arms wide. "Pinned for so long by that awful barrier. You couldn't imagine that it would wait there, wait to be sealed up again? No. Opportunity was knocking. And so it made me - evolved me into being. I've been many things."Which means she, in her current incarnation, could never have been around to see full Erebus in power.Recognizing him by feel is probably easy enough, given context, but I can't imagine she had any part of herself that fought against him personally. Until now, I guess.
>>30540161Ain't it funny? I mean, all of this started with letting Matthel speak.I guess people never really learn, eheheheh.
>>30540003use more shards
>>30540185Pretty sure that consume worked.
You leap onto the Avatar.And then you consume it.Starting with the feet.It's not even flesh - just solid magic. Like a demon.It turns back to look at you as you slide upward, dissolving and ingesting its torso. "You won...today. But now I know."Your shadow roils over its head and dissolves it into your being.>you've gained 50 EXPYou stand back up.Whatever was driving you forward starts to break. It wasn't a permanent solution. Just a stopgap. You feel the links between the shards crumbling, snapping. The power fades away.(Retribution) - Normal(Maker) - Normal(Silence) - Normal(Peace) - Normal(Breeze) - Normal(Hammer) - Normal(Ardor) - Normal{Resolve} - Normal{Humanity} - ResonantYou feel...weak. Terribly weak. Drained.That was too much. You have this new energy, but...something else was shoved to the breaking point. Suddenly it's an effort just to stand. Your limbs ache.>Conversion Factor - Absorb any oncoming spell of the 7 elements. This energy can then be diverted to any shard, increasing its stability. (3 EXP)What do you do?>open a portal back to Hemmelus's Lab>try to get out from the tunnels the hard way
>open a portal back to Hemmelus's Labcan we focus or is Donovan just not here and Chaos diverted the Lightport?
>>30540193>open a portal back to Hemmelus's LabSave the EXP debate for next time, for the love of god.
>>30540193>open a portal back to Hemmelus's LabLet's explain what happened to the gang.
>>30540193complete physical shaodw tree
>>30540193I will accept nothing less than working on the physical shadow/shadow magic trees.
>>30540214>Save the EXP debate for next time, for the love of god.yeah no kiddingI've got one more quick post in me and then I'm done for now
>>30540217We have enough for everything left except Lightning Resistance.
>>30540193>open a portal back to Hemmelus's LabWe should buy pure darkness and save for rest of that tree.
>>30540222understandable
>>30540193Your Flint is in another castle.
>>30540222When's the next thread speaking of?
>>30540193A last deep focus. Maybe Donovan is here somewhere and now that we are not distracted we can find him.
>>30540193Finish the grey tree.
>>30540193>open a portal back to Hemmelus's LabIs it safe to say that Shadow knows that he was in the Temorian Rift rift right?
>>30540193BuyEclipseNOW
>>30540229Muh Order Immateria.
>>30540217Agreed. Can we purchase as much of the physical shadow tree as possible? I really want to scratch Pure Darkness off
>>30540233probably Sunday, need a couple days off. Maybe Saturday if I'm feeling bored>>30540240yeah it's a pretty safe guess
>>30540193>"You won...today. But now I know."Yep. There goes the grace period.I mean, it's better than the alternative, but that's pretty rough.>open a portal back to Hemmelus's LabWe don't even know where the hell we are.Quick question: can we set anchor while a set of portals are already open? Like, if we open our portal back to Hemmelus, can we Anchor in the adamantium chamber while leaving the two portals up, go through them, and then close them without messing something critical up?Because it'd be nice to have a direct path back to that place in case it wasn't the actual intended Lightport destination and was something more important than just an arena constructed to beat us up in.
>>30540262>Quick question: can we set anchor while a set of portals are already open? Like, if we open our portal back to Hemmelus, can we Anchor in the adamantium chamber while leaving the two portals up, go through them, and then close them without messing something critical up?...I thought about it, but no, that was never intended.>writing
>>30540193>Conversion Factor - Absorb any oncoming spell of the 7 elements. This energy can then be diverted to any shard, increasing its stability. (3 EXP)Well. Exploding the Sigil doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore.
>>30540271thats a shame
>>30540271what about multiple sets of portals open simultaneously to the same Anchor point?
>>30540217Right now you need to think in the short term. SM pretty much gave us a bunch of free XP to make us better able to save Flint.And the best moves we'd have in this situation are in the Shadow Magic tree.
>>30540271SM, can I just ask what the hell you were thinking when you introduced the Avatar?A new power and more EXP is always nice, but this was honestly a poor example of a plot development compared to your previous stuff.
>>30540297Yeah, that's fine. Portals aren't very stable but if left unbothered they are basically permanent. You could open any number of portals back to your portal anchor, well, within reason. I think the 'anchor' only occupies a limited amount of space, so a good handful or so that would actually be useable.
>>30540303Well, now we can Arbiter Abigail immediately if we want.
>>30540317I'm just gonna say no thanks and... leave it at that.
>>30540317>making an arbiter so soonFuck no.
>>30540317dont start something you cant finish anon
>>30540317Physical and Magical Shadow trees are far more important, ESPECIALLY if we're going to deal with this fucker.
>>30540317Them's fightan words sir.
So how 'bout that Mind Read, eh?
i think we should buy pure darkness ans save the rest.buying tree gift is a good idea too.we shouldn't drop less than 15 exp with so much shit going on. We might need them in emergencies.
Go for Mind Read>then shadow trees
>>30540344>>30540352>>30540354next time
>>30540352I agree.
>>30540352You don't wanna dip further into the powers of darkness?I feel as if we've neglected the spells for too long.
>>30540303It was something I was backed into on account of a lot of things coming together too fast in ways that were being distorted by player agency. I had to have certain things happen or the plot would fall apart to the point that the seems would start to split open. However, to clear something up, people seem to think the double 1's or other dice rolls made Donovan unsaveable, and that is not the case.I'd give myself a C- for the delivery on this one. Not my best. I did what I could with what I felt I had to work with.I'll go hang out in the QTG tomorrow night and field questions if you want to talk about it, I'm a little tired right now.back to writing
>>30540374I want the completion bonus for Physical Shadow tree and Pure Darkness more, but I'm game for Eclipse after before OI.
>>30540352agreed.
We can probably finish the Spirit tree, unless that hidden ability is expensive as fuck.We can -almost- finish the grey tree.We can put a big dent in the purple or Earth trees.We can Arbiter.We can buy that last Earth+Wind Resist and finish the second-darkest-grey.We can buy a bunch of summoning shit if we're feeling dumb.
>>30540402We can save it all for Erasure and Conversion Factor spam.
>>30540352If we're going to the Ringed City to save Flint, Shadow Magic is the best and only option here. We've been putting it off too long and this is when we need it most.
>answering that call>extreme hints that we've been ignoring our basic powers and element>enemy is something that we had to use our more basic urges against in order to win>the thread title is...>SHADOWQUEST 101Nice trick there SM. I guess you really did plan this far ahead.
>>30540391I have a question. Since the pure demon Avatar of Chaos had all 7 chaos elements EXCEPT shadow, how is it that we've seen demon lords use extremely strong shadow magic?
>>30540402>We can buy a bunch of summoning shit if we're feeling dumb.I'm gonna laugh when "Avatar of Order" is a summon
>>30540391...I really don't see how this helped the whole "things happening too fast" or complaints about us lacking the ability to meaningfully accomplish and change things.
>>30540391So youre saying no matter what donovan would have been unsaveablefantastic
You open a portal back to Hemmelus's Lab. It's a strain. You feel like you have to pull the space open with your hands, rather than just will it open like your normally do. You stumble through the resulting hole. Your foot catches the corner of a rug, and you just barely catch yourself on the table."John!""Elements, are you alright?""What happened? Where's Donovan?""John!""John, can you hear me?!""John!"The world drifts away.--------------------To be continuedSunday, probs
>>30540422
>>30540421Order Immateria is the thing i want against them angels, we should buy pure darkness so we can buy it when we gather more exp.
>>30540422Ok, this is pretty good.
>>30540436That wasn't clear to you?Either us failing to stop Metatron completely destroyed SM's plans/triggered his cutscene card, or there would have been a failsafe that would have moved the sigil even after Metatron was dead (like if Fang tried to disarm it).
>>30540440gn SMsleep tight sweet prince.
>>30540440So since Shadow lost his sences is his disguice going to fail too?
>>30540456We can't buy Pure Darkness until we complete the entire middle light grey tree.
>>30540456Are you looking at a different picture than I am?Because Pure Darkness looks pretty red to me.
>>30540402>We can buy a bunch of summoning shit if we're feeling dumb.Trees are pretty balanced anon. Just because we didn't feel like specializing on summoning it doesnt mean the tree is shit. if we completed that tree, i am pretty sure we would get some pretty awesome power ups.
>>30540436I fucking hope not, this nintendo 'in another castle' shit is getting annoying, and if thats the case...
>>30540440so to recap>Donovan still gone>No idea how to find him>He's gonna die in a few days/weeks>Chaos itself knows "Erebus" has returned>Its been working with Sandy and Shadow gaming the fuck outta everything we've planned>and we just supercharged ourselves into a coma while Abby and Ila try to save the Nemesis and everything else collapsesyeah, have a good one SM....
>>30540391>made Donovan unsaveable>madeGreat, so he is already dead.Well fuck this.
>>30540456OI cost significantly more and has dubious value compared to eclipse. Getting eclipse also nets us 2 other useful spells, and it's the most useful power to have considering our allies are mainly shadow and our enemies mainly light.
>>30540480I'm not implying that the Summoning Tree is bad.
>>30540481Flint is doomed, at least SM is no longer trying to trick the players into thinking it was their faults.
>>30540488Abby shoving magical artifacts and whole animals down our throat while we sleep
>>30540508>>30540494>>30540481>>30540436Best prepare our rage-speeches and reactions for Shadow to have when he proceeds to curbstomp Hyperion and Sandals.
>>30540488>Auriel is going to crassly reveal Melody's identity to Fang because we're not there>The alliance will fall apart because we couldn't get DonovanThings are pretty much at the absolute worst they could be without massive amounts of people/nations/countries/friends dying. Oh wait. Several of our friends ARE dying!I judge that SM no longer has the crit fail 1. This was ALL a crit fail 1.
>>30540513>wake up>exp at 999>fuckin christ abby
>>30540499Yeah Eclipse seems like a better investment to me.I also wanna see what two other abilities Void Ring unlocks.
>>30540480I don't think that sinking our xp into summoning isn't dumb because summoning is weak or something, it's probably pretty good.It's dumb because we have hardly any xp already into it. The xp we put into it will only unlock things equivalent in power to what we already have while putting xp into other things will get us higher tier powers faster.
>>30540524I'm not even going to rage if Flint is unsaveable and/or already dead, its just been getting too bullshit, too much of a drag to care anymore.
>>30540536This. We have 76 mana now, let's make some use of it.
>>30540524I'm pretty sure what he meant was that it's still possible to save him even in spite of the bad dice, not that the bad dice were irrelevant and would not have changed the fact that he can't be saved.But, y'know, fuck it, doomsaying is fun.
>>30540543Flint is now Rukia/Orihime.
>>30540524I don't know, I feel that if Flint dies, then we should just... not really care about anything. Like even if we fight Hyperion and Sandalthon, we just be... tired, in a "let's get this over with" sense.Because seriously, this is starting to crumble.
>>30540565Before everything is over Shadow is going be extremely jaded.
>>30540565And if Abby and Ila die, we're going right back to Erebus's KILL EVERYTHING directive.
$5 says while we're passed out Sandalphon jams us into another cage.
>>30540555Having an invisible ship filled by a good deal of skilled mages and angels be completely useless, and the teleportation sigil just exchange time for XP in a meaningless cutscene doesn't really lend credence to your hope.
>>30540565If he dies, eat the dynamo and earth forge him a giant effigy.
>>30540591With Fang, Arcturis, Hemmelus, and the Black Lady around? Not a chance.
>>30540555Even though the reason behind our current fainting spell is to give Sandalphon time to get away?
>>30540565Thats pretty much exactly what I'm feeling about this all right now, we jump through all these hoops figuratively and literally, have his massive fight, and achieve absolutely nothing, except for progressing backwards in our search for Donovan.This is starting to give me flashbacks of the Archonium, I'm just tired of it all.
>>30540603>implying any of them would try to stop him
>>30540595yeah fuck that nonsense, the whole airships fight and the avatar fight were just gigantic wastes of time and energy
Duke Vellik thought it was the Ring City behind the demon lords of Kan-Abar, but now we could tell him otherwise...
>>30540440>>30540391>>30540488>Whelp. Time to drink the pain away.
>>30540595>Having an invisible ship filled by a good deal of skilled mages and angels be completely uselessI will agree that "they threw (magical?) white paint on the invisible ship" is a kind of goofy--if time-tested (throwing flour to detect invisible enemies and the like)--path to victory.Even more so if it had to ACTUALLY be mundane white paint to get around Nemesis' magicproof nature, because that'd be a hell of a way to get your superweapon subverted.
I was going to say this last thread but it 404'd just as i was writing.I told you guys not to tell anyone where we were taking Flint but no, they were all our friends and precious allies right. If nobody but few people in the inner circle knew about this, than sandalphon wouldn't have known Donovan was on that ship. And if the spy was someone among inner circle at least we would know that now. But no, you people had to go and tell it to the whole fucking arland and the ship...Fuck you again.
>>30540663>than sandalphon wouldn't have known Donovan was on that ship.You can track the parasite on Flint...
>>30540663Are you retarded?
>>30540656It's not just that, I thought the Nemesis was also pretty fast as well, and that plus being immune to the skysever should make it almost impossible to catch as long as it focuses completely on evasion, as it should....It certainly should have taken longer than just a day or so.
>>30540663I was for throwing flint in with Hecate
>>30540543Oh, I didn't mean that WE should rage. I mean we should prepare something in advance for SHADOW'S rage.
>>30540682Then they'd know where Hecate is as well, and team up with the Demon Lord because Chaos demands it.
>>30540422jeeze man I wish>>30540428Avatar = pure chaosDemons = like most things on Venia = mix of order/chaos>>30540435Didn't help you. Helped me. Probably why it feels awkward and strained on your end>>30540436Not at all. You guys should have either personally guarded Donovan the entire time or moved him directly to Hecate's Chamber. Putting him on the Nemesis to fly circuits and also leaving him alone, without any major power players, was the failing decision. It left him significantly exposed.By using the word "unsaveable" in regards to Donovan, I meant that you wouldn't be able to immediately save him in this sequence because of that choice. It wasn't set in stone by the dice. It was set in stone by what you'd decided to do beforehand.On a somewhat related note, I'm tired of people blaming the dice for their own bullshit. I've never once in this entire quest let the dice determine absolute success or failure or a major plot point in a single roll. I just don't tell you about it, because I don't feel the need to justify every single word I write, and I don't care to lift the curtain on every mechanistic detail, and I'm definitely not letting you know when I fudge things for the sake of a good story.I don't mean to disappoint people with my writing. It doesn't make me happy when people get frustrated and feel like throwing up their hands and quitting. I want to write a story that can be enjoyed. But you know what? Sometimes, in life, you lose. Sometimes things don't work out. And if this quest was just constantly sunshine and rainbows, then there would be no point, because we'd all be bored out of our skulls.I feel a lot of the current disappointment is being caused by the emotional immediacy of being unable to deal with failure. Put your big boy pants on, give it a couple of days, and we'll keep going.Alright, I'm going to bed now, because I get grumpy when I'm tired.
Am I the only one who miss the Jew hat?
>>30540693I feel as if you could have told us earlier that the Nemesis was actually completely worthless.
>>30540693When every single roll in a entire episode is awful you sort of get upsetyour writing or not its the outcome that mattersthe dice constantly shitting on us doesnt help morale
>>30540693>And if this quest was just constantly sunshine and rainbows>rainbows..I just had to stop reading to chuckle a little. I know it wasn't intended that way, but I just had happy memories, is all.
>>30540693Wait, how was Hecate's chamber an option?I mean the Mana Pool takes us outside it, where there's at least one Demon Lord just endlessly clawing at the door, which Hecate would have to open in order for us to put Flint there.
>>30540715I miss the jew hat
>>30540739Hecate's chamber had an enormous spirit mana pool in it. Hecate herself floated out of the thing when Abby started glowing.
>>30540693>I don't mean to disappoint people with my writing. It doesn't make me happy when people get frustrated and feel like throwing up their hands and quitting. I want to write a story that can be enjoyed. But you know what? Sometimes, in life, you lose. Sometimes things don't work out. And if this quest was just constantly sunshine and rainbows, then there would be no point, because we'd all be bored out of our skulls.We've been losing for the past five threads now.And it doesn't seem as if we're won anything meaningful at all.
>>30540693>unable to deal with failureI don't think thats the exact cause, although for some it might be, I think its just the fact that the rolls have been shit time and time again, and combined with, as another anon said 'he's in another castle', it is very strained on our end, and we're getting tired and down, its not being unable to deal with failure, its just the seemingly endless mass of things constantly not going our way, with seemingly no positive impact from our actions, if anything, time, the most important resource right now, is just being wasted, and thats whats getting us down.
>>30540757Shadow Quest dice are so consistently bad at this point that I remember having to take a break from reading back when I was catching up in the archives, because the massive quantities of constant, never-ending fail-rolls were just making me depressed. And I wasn't even participating at that point.
>>30540621>>30540612Yeah, this is pretty much just the Archonium or Xile all over again. The arcs just keep getting longer and it takes more and more time and effort for anything to actually happen. And I don't just mean that things are harder, I mean that things simply don't happen at anywhere near the pace that they used to happen at. It's getting really dull.
>>30540750That wasn't a spirit mana pool, that was Hecate herself.Do you see it listed on the "Known Mana Pools" section?
>>30540757This happens in all the time whenever something of a certain threshold of 'bad' happens, regardless of the root cause of the bad thing.People got fatigued during Xile, people got fatigued during the Archonium, the tail-end of the summit is grating on people in no small part thanks to feeling like the fates are conspiring against us in dice form.Not to mention all sorts of other mentions of this happening in other quests, and often at far less reasonable thresholds. Things'll be fine. People've just got to chill. And not waste all of your anger before something ACTUALLY terrible happens, because you're going to feel empty if you run out.
>>30540781same here, whenever dice are involved, I just go do something else for a while until the fight is settled
>>30540817>spoilerI feel empty right now after these last threads, don't think I'll last to something of that magnitude
>>30540817Good. Emptiness is the appropriate feeling.
>>30540817WOW IVE NEVER THOUGHT OF TRYING TO CALM DOWN BEFORETHANKS TO YOU IVE GOT A WHOLE NEW LEASE ON LIFE!SURELY THIS ADVICE WILL CHANGE THE PAST AND FUTURE SO WERE SUCCESSFUL!
>>30540817Not only have we failed to make any progress in saving Flint, now all the bad guys know we're Erebus because SM had to have that happen in order to REALLY dick us over.
>>30540693>I feel a lot of the current disappointment is being caused by the emotional immediacy of being unable to deal with failure.I can speak for myself, that's not entirely true. I am bummed we lost Flint but my frustration at this thread is about 'this thread'. Whole ordeal that has happened in this one is just... well it's been said already and you explained yourself about it, and while your explanation doesnt help with my frustration it is kinda understandable why you did things this way so i will just move on.
>>30540716You have no idea how much I want to tell you what to do, but then I might as well post anonymous in my own threads and steer you toward the 'right' decision all the time. I can't break that barrier or the quest loses integrity.>>30540755You freed the slaves from the Ring City and founded Haven. You pulled Abigail out of an ancient magical artifact. You gathered all of your Shards. You helped Steward destroy 002 and gained the alliance of City 001. You have half the world gathered under you in an alliance. You managed to get Arland on your side. You've freed Hecate, the Goddess of Spirit.I'd say those are all pretty significant victories. You're underestimating how much momentum you have.>>30540757>>30540805These are exactly right.I could timeskip you, but you wouldn't let me, not right now.Here's the fundamental problem that I probably shouldn't talk about, because in a way, it's a hint.I'm trying to progress the story; you continue to escalate immediate efforts to force things to go your way. As a result, to keep a huge bulk of the narrative from imploding, I have to continue to escalate the obstacles you face. However, my players are nothing if not stubborn, and will chase their best friend to the end of the earth and back again without blinking. And so then there was an Avatar of Chaos, something that was vaguely planned but should not have shown up in the manner it did, as a final slap to try and get you to move on.See, that's the thing. The pace is slow, and the arc is grinding on, but you guys are turning the pages of the book. The only power I have is to write the pages you haven't seen yet.>>30540810No, there is a spirit mana pool in Hecate's Chamber. It's how you got out of the room.
>>30540810We manaported back out using it. SM must have forgotten to add it.
>>30540861>while your explanation doesnt help with my frustration it is kinda understandable why you did things this way so i will just move on.I appreciate that more than you know.That's enough for now. I will see if I can hop into the /qtg/ tomorrow.I'd much rather have everyone air out their grievances in a reasonable and logical manner. I have to compromise with my players just like any other GM. Your opinions are important, and I read everything you post, even if I don't always respond.
>>30540862>I'm trying to progress the story; you continue to escalate immediate efforts to force things to go your way. As a result, to keep a huge bulk of the narrative from imploding, I have to continue to escalate the obstacles you face. However, my players are nothing if not stubborn, and will chase their best friend to the end of the earth and back again without blinking.Isnt that what a normal friend would do if they were told that their best friend was going to die in a matter of days?
>>30540862...You appear to literally be saying that you just want us to stop accomplishing things that don't fit in to your pre-established plan, so you're just gonna keep throwing bullshit at us until we give in and let you keep that train on the tracks.Do you not really understand how damning what you just said is?
>>30540862>as a final slap to try and get you to move on.fromchase their best friend to the end of the earth and >back again without blinkingwell with what shadow's been through with his friends in all 101 threads, you can see how that would not go over wellalso, for some reason>as a final slap to try and get you to move on.reads to me like you think we should give up on Donovan and get back to the big picture, which if anything, is not helping my emotions right now...
>>30540693> I feel a lot of the current disappointment is being caused by the emotional immediacy of being unable to deal with failure. Put your big boy pants on, give it a couple of days, and we'll keep going.I think the disappointment is because, as it turns out, not only have the past dozen or so threads of trying to get rid of the Shel'kath been rendered totally pointless, but now the entire Xile arc has also been rendered completely meaningless. Since the Staff of Winds was never there to begin with, it would have been pointless were it not for the Nemesis. But it turns out the Nemesis is worthless, rendering all of the threads spent on Xile meaningless. In terms of things actually happening, this quest is slowing down to Berserk level pacing. And unless that changes, and it looks like it won't because you don't seem to think that there is a problem, another day won't help because the entire problem is that things aren't happening even over many days, and weeks, and months.
>>30540862And those things were all part of the story.But now we've reached a part of a story where things get bad only we inexplicably are less happy to play along with that part.
>>30540903>all pointlessYep, thats pretty much what I'm feeling and seeing, and if thats the case, and Flint is dying, and we're just twiddling our thumbs not getting anywhere closer to saving him, then he is as good as dead, so why should I keep caring anymore?
>>30540903As if Xile wasn't bad enough on its own, it was literally all for nothing.
>>30540862I'm not talking about if Shadow has done anything meaningful, I'm talking about if the players have. Because you're saying that the only thing we've been doing is turning the pages of your book, and now you're just filibustering us for not bending over and taking your plot.
>>30540942Seriously that fucking black hand monsterabby losing her handlucywind cult
>>30540693I was under the impression that our ship itself could be considered a power player, but I guess that was wrong. Thanks for clearing that up.
>>30540878>QTGewwAlso, SM, I'm really hoping things pick up, for us, for Shadow, for Flint and everyone, because I would hate to see this quest limp its way to an unsatisfying ending, because thats where its going right now from my perspective.Yes we've achieved great things, and now they are all meaningless, our sacrifices and our friends sacrifices rendered pointless and the near future from what we can see is extremely cloudy and does not bode well in any sense, for the characters, and the players.It seems, to me, like it was all building up to bringing all the factions to the table for the alliance talks, and now is just all downhill and petering off.
>>30540862I meant by our allies telling us our Artifact ship is pretty much just good for decoration.
>>30540967Except next thread, if SM doesn't keep us unconscious, we're blasting into Ring City.
someone want to manually update the archive, this is all valid CC we don't want to lose
>>30540980Why would we?That's not where Flint is.Apparently we're supposed to just forget about him and keep riding the train.
>>30540862> You have no idea how much I want to tell you what to do, but then I might as well post anonymous in my own threads and steer you toward the 'right' decision all the time. I can't break that barrier or the quest loses integrity.I find it interesting that your response is all about why you couldn't tell us that the Nemesis is completely worthless, and nothing about the Nemesis being completely worthless. You're not even trying to deny the fact that it may as well not exist and will never matter.
>>30541000Seriously Artifact appears to be a waste of EXP.
>>30540988>Apparently we're supposed to just forgetyep thats what I'm getting from >>30540862and if thats the case, the fuck that, fuck SM and his glorious plot, I'm just gonna go solely for interactions and actions with our friends and close personal interests at heartbecause fuck leaving Flint to die and move on, fuck that noise>>30540891yeah, its not sounding great at all...
>>30541005Like SM said that every Artifact we make will be equally cool.But it seems as if looking cool is the only thing Artifact does.
>>30541005>>30541000>SM:No matter what you use artifact on it will be awesome and useful, i will make sure of it.>SM:Whoops its useless!
>>30540891>>30540949The decision to move Donovan onto the airship without a guard capable of fending off, say, a handful of the Highest, put him beyond your reach. That had nothing to do with the various events that came afterward, which basically was the equivalent of you chasing after nothing.Imagine yourself standing in front of a brick wall. I feel like I'm there, saying, "hey man, you took a wrong turn. You can't get through this brick wall, you have to go back and go another way.""No, no, if I try hard enough I can get through!" And then you ram yourself into it."No, look." I make it double the width and twice as big. "You really can't get through this right now. It's alright, there are other paths. It's just how it is. Brick wall. No go. I realize Donovan is on the other side, but you've got to try something else.""Screw you! Railroading!" And you smash yourself into the wall again.But what you're forgetting is that I didn't put the wall there in the first place. The players did, via their decision. They cut that route off. That's how it is. Unless we invent time-travel it's over and done with.If you'd like for me to explain the motivations of your enemies, and what was happening behind the scenes, and why you met the Avatar of Chaos then, I can, and in great detail. But are you willing to accept the spoilers not only of other characters but of what's going on in my head so that you can have a chance at a satisfactory explanation?>>30540961The ship was exposed to all of Haven for a long period of time. Its known weaknesses were exploited; a lack of weapons, and a dependency on cloaking and absorption of magical attacks. So they worked around the cloaking and rammed the thing with a pincer attack. You weren't there to see that.Despite being rammed by two other airships, it's still flying and fully functional, but it's not going to come alive and protect Donovan.>>30541000See above. You had a mole that studied the ship.
>>30541005with the way its going, everyfucking this is a fuckign waste of fucking xp
>>30541005Same as Shade. Things that we're not doing ourselves seem to pretty useless.
>>30540862Have you considered fuck your narrative if the players actually have the power to buck it?If not, have you considered dropping the quest and just writing a book since that seems to be what you really want to do?
>>30541041Dude. Let's all just shut up and go to bed before we say something we regret.
>>30541028>which basically was the equivalent of you chasing after nothing.Not how you conveyed it at all...
>>30541051Before I go to bed, I'm just going to say that this has reminded me of another quest. And not in a good way.
>>30541028If it really was as obvious as a brick wall, then apparently Auriel, Adavan, Illa, and Abigail are all as retarded as we are.Don't you give me that bullshit.
>>30541028>Imagine yourself standing in front of a brick wall. I feel like I'm there, saying, "hey man, you took a wrong turn. You can't get through this brick wall, you have to go back and go another way.""No, no, if I try hard enough I can get through!" And then you ram yourself into it."No, look." I make it double the width and twice as big. "You really can't get through this right now. It's alright, there are other paths. It's just how it is. Brick wall. No go. I realize Donovan is on the other side, but you've got to try something else.""Screw you! Railroading!" And you smash yourself into the wall again.What.No, fucking seriously, what...Everything we did after we found out Donovan was in danger was trying to decipher the puzzle of figuring where the angels took him, we fought, we searched, we interrogated which YOU GAVE US THE LOCATION THEY TOOK HIM TOO AND THEN HE WAS NOT THERE AND CLAIM WE ARE STILL BANGING OUR HEAD ON THE BRICK WALL.Fuck that, SM your not making sense right now, and worse, your just making this worse for your players and digging a grave you seemingly can't see for yourself.I'm gonna go to bed before you give me an aneurysm.
>>30541028Yet again you told us that Donovan was being captured, led us straight to the angel who is in charge who then boasted about it.you put us in a position where you held out some candy out in front of you and then a soon as we try to take it you smash us with a hammer and then say how stupid we were for trying to take itim not madim just upset
>>30541028>"No, no, if I try hard enough I can get through!" And then you ram yourself into it.SQ is, and has always been, really bad about making all-in plans and backing them fully and crying when the house of cards of their own creation falls apart around them. it seems the lesson of the Doomocles Roll hasn't sunk in.I, for one, like SM's writing and characterization.But this latest arc seems kinda forced.I mean, why wouldn't the same thing that got donovan out take us to the same place?that fight and clever trap wasn't the bad thing.Its that we didn't try to explore the place donovan WAS AT at all.we beat the boss, and then forgot to collect the loot.
>>30541067He does have a point, SM. Why didn't anyone else suggest posting one of the inner circle with Donovan?
>>30541028>You really can't get through this right now. It's alright, there are other paths...What >>30541067 said, you, the writer, seemingly gave us those 'other' paths and then turned them into more brick walls.Not fucking once, have we been trying the same thing again and again, we've been going after different leads, chasing them all over the place, AND EACH FUCKING TIME, ITS ANOTHER GODDAMN BRICK WALL.
>>30541028You've given me no incentive to believe that we wouldn't be having this talk again regardless of the choices we made.Either the Avatar of Chaos would have made sure all four Demon Lords teamed up to break down Hecate's door, or while we were guarding Flint, our hopes of an alliance would have been destroyed/everyone would have known we were Erebus.
>>30541077>He does have a point, SM. Why didn't anyone else suggest posting one of the inner circle with Donovan?...... oh we did.In fact, the guy who suggested we put him on the nemesis, and keep a guard on him the whole time....THATS who the mole was. We listened to a trusted advisor and got urned
>>30541028>The decision to move Donovan onto the airship without a guard capable of fending off, say, a handful of the Highest, put him beyond your reach. That had nothing to do with the various events that came afterward, which basically was the equivalent of you chasing after nothing.It's amazing that you say it like this was an obvious and given outcome, when we had freaking Auriel AND Fang agreeing that it was the right thing to do. Fuck, man, how are we supposed to even be able to reconsider our options when our best advisors are telling us "Great plan, Shadow!"? For that matter, at no point did you make it seem like going after Flint was a futile effort in any shape or form. There's avoiding spoilers, and then there's outright misinformation.
What's the problem guys, can't handle you made a retard decision?
>>30541064>Ghost questfuck Ghost quest the QM is a complete cunt
>>30541099>There's avoiding spoilers, and then there's outright misinformation.You should know by now that SM's greentext options often include traps, and not-ideal solutions.The point that's lost on everyone is we're SUPPOSED to critically analyze the situation, think about it, then decide - but instead everyone goes 420nightblazelol and votes 1 instead of listening to people who actually do so.
Honestly putting a guy with a beacon on him in an invisible ship doesn't mean shit because they can follow the beacon.>>30541097Wait what?
>>30541119That's why we confer with other characters, who might know something that we missed, before making decisions.And in this case they all supported it. Honestly, what did SM think would happen?
>>30541116Your remark would be apt, if not for the fact that this is basically on par with having everyone you trust agree with your retard decision, encourage it, and go along with it without question, effectively building it all up, and then yanking it out from under you to say "Nope! What were you THINKING you dumbass?! What kind of moron goes with that plan?!" ..apparently everyone we work with, it seems.
>>30541099>It's amazing that you say it like this was an obvious and given outcomeSM, if your still reading, you've had this problem before early in the quest, and I wrote up a long post about author intent VS player interpretation, you said you took it to heart and it looked like you did.And now you're pulling the same shit again, if you can't see that, then I'm not going to waste my time trying to intelligently reason my point again and just not bother with this quest anymore.This whole arc just fucking sucks, no matter what we do, no matter what we try to achieve, you replace our alternate path with a brick wall and then call us retarded for not seeing whats in the innermost depths of only your brain.
>>30541119I guess Fang and Auriel and everyone in our Inner Circle is asstarded then. Also Arcturis and Hemmelus, too, since I just remembered that they were in on the decision and didn't say shit about it either.
>>30541132So is he dead or what?
>>30541028I feel like there was zero hints about a possibility of a mole in our amidst. But I think you should go to bed mostly because neither party is being reasonable right now. Shadow Quest is one of my favorite quests, and I don't want it tainted by anymore pointless arguing.
>>30541131>>30541132Given that the thing that made the option we went with untenable was the fact that a then-unknown mole had been able to study the ship in detail, there's really no reason they would've seen anything more wrong with it than what we did.There might be other points that have some merit, but "our advisers should've been able to know things nobody knew at the time" shouldn't be one of them.Maybe more hints that there was a mole beforehand, but that's really about it.
>>30541128They can follow the beacon anywhere.They could have followed the beacon to Flint AND Hecate, which would have made things worse. And if we guarded Flint, they'd be on our tail constantly and we would have to roll to protect him. Which we'd fail.
So I guess the lesson to take from this is that all things are>All things are traitors>Trust nothing but your own power>Even if it's your own power, it is not to be trusted if it is not directly attached to youI'm not so hot on the artifact hand or arbiter anymore.
So both the Xile and Arland arcs were pointless. Xile took up 14 threads, while Arland has so far taken up 20 threads with no end in sight.So 34 threads, a full third of the quest so far, have been meaningless filler. Great.
>>30541028Jesus Titty Fucking H Christ.SM, step the fuck away from the keyboard, your going to kill the quest at this rate, fuck, don't bother appearing in the QTG, you'll just make things worse.Take a break for a couple of days, then reread this thread and all our complaints and criticisms, then analyze your own response to them, then analyze our responses to yours.Then think long and motherfucking hard about what your going to do next, because your right on a knife edge right now, and your drunk as fuck and about to fall.
>>30541161Then that just turns this into a potential case of >>30541064Which is not a good thing.
>>30541164Hecate's tomb was designed to withstand attacks from multiple elemental lords.And it had a demon lord outside it that they would have had to fight off to even try getting in.
Alright guys, I want to keep talking; I want to try to hash this out. But frankly I feel like I'm getting yelled at, and I'm tired. I did the best I could. If you don't like it, then you don't have to participate. >>30541142I'm still here. I remember.I can't be perfect all the time, anon. I feel like my choices have been justified, but if I make a mistake, does that give everyone the right to just jump on me and call me a stubborn asshole? Should I just give in, nod my head, retcon five threads?I don't like confrontation. I don't like the friction this is causing. But I have to have enough confidence to make a decision and stick by it. I guess I just titled the balance too far one way.Walking this tightrope is tougher than it looks. I'll try to do better in the next thread.
>>30541167Erebus 2.0 endingTrust no oneEat everyoneTrust no oneTRUSTNOONE
>>30541170> Xile took up 14 threads, while Arland has so far taken up 20 threads with no end in sight.> Arland has so far taken up 20 threadsGood god. This really is Berserk.
>>30541203How long was Archonium?
>>30541170yep, and as a reward for stickign through these pointless filler arcs that endlessly drag on with goal posts never in sight, what do we get?we get called retards to our face, for problems not of our cause or manufacture, and our best friend is going to die because the cunt wants us to stop giving a shit about the people we care about and chase after his wonderous plotfuck that this, fuck this, fuck you SM, fuck everything
>>30541189Should I just give in, nod my head, retcon five threads?Okay now im angryDONT FUCKING SWEEP YOU SHIT UNDER THE CARPETFUCKING FIX YOUR PROBLEMS DONT RUN FROM THEM
>>30541189>If you don't like it, then you don't have to participate....Leave.Go to sleep, right now.Maybe have a Q and A session later, for talking and EXP distribution, but right now? You're really not looking good.
>>30541189>I want to keep talking; I want to try to hash this out.Then do so when we're all much calmer and less emotional and have some distance to help see things clearer.
>>30541189Great. Thanks for the thread, SM, now go to bed. Please.
>>30541189> Should I just give in, nod my head, retcon five threads?No. But you might try recognizing that making a solid 34 threads meaningless because of a single choice, that was only the wrong option because of something the players didn't know about, might have been a bad move. Also it might be good to try avoiding it in the future instead of insisting that it was the right decision and blaming everything on other people being babies.
>>30541224Relax, I'm not going anywhere.>>30541230You're absolutely right. Good night.
>People getting emotional over a questFaggots
>>30541189>but if I make a mistake, does that give everyone the right to just jump on me and call me a stubborn asshole? Should I just give in, nod my head, retcon five threads?No, and No.Get some fresh air, wait for everyone to calm down, go over it from as many perspectives as you can in a couple days time, think long and hard on it from all sides and facets, and then work to fix it, work to improve, work to make it all meaningful.
>>30541189The fact that you had to shove in some inexplicable boss when we actually came up with a smart plan to find Flint instead of just throwing our hands in the air and giving up, eradicates my confidence that you would ever give us a chance to have Flint last those three days.Because if you can throw that kind of bullshit at us, then I have no respect in your ability to limit your plans.
>>30541249Nice bait
>>30541189>I don't like confrontation. I don't like the friction this is causing. But I have to have enough confidence to make a decision and stick by it. I guess I just titled the balance too far one way.Frankly, sir, nobody is sane and polite at 3:30am.End Of Thread Meta is great when it ends early and people are still sane/awake.not so much when its angry and dragged on.Also - there's a lot of residual rage from other quests having bad dice and gming slipups lately. You're catching the brunt of JQ doing a similair slipup rolled into all this anger.May I suggest: having discussion threads on offdays? Something where you don't need to be at keyboard all the time, can phonepost and check i - lower-effort planning and meta.
>>30541189I think we're mostly frustrated that you're telling us 'You made a bad choice' when you gave us absolutely no indication in any shape or form towards the notion that it was a bad choice. The only person who could have possibly predicted that this would end this way is you, because you decided it was going to go down this way. Add the endless slew of bad rolls, and can you really blame us for the backlash of hard feelings? I'm not trying to yell at you, at least, but I can't just sit and go 'Oh, sure! We fucked up! Whoops, silly us!' just because you say it's so.The only POSSIBLE way we could've foreseen a mole or a spy is if we were paranoid as SHIT and didn't trust anyone in our own camp. Which MIGHT have been relevant if not for the fact that at every given moment we were shown that Haven was doing great.So whoever the mole was, they integrated themselves perfectly, and had us, Auriel, Ila, Adavan, Donovan, and the entire rest of Haven fooled. Which means that there's no possible way that we could've known this would turn out this way. Which means we DIDN'T make a bad call, or even the wrong call. We made the RIGHT call, based on the information we were given - information you are supposed to give us.So please don't tell us we fucked up, when there's no possible way we could've known, short of actually being able to read your mind.
>>30541259>The fact that you had to shove in some inexplicable boss when we actually came up with a smart plan to find Flint instead of just throwing our hands in the air and giving up, eradicates my confidence that you would ever give us a chance to have Flint last those three days.Fucking This.If we don't end up saving Flint because of this mess, then SM may as well just stop the quest all together and do a 'rocks fall everyone dies', because thats the shitty level of meta-manipulation this is currently at.
>>30541281Honestly I'm convinced there was a hidden gotcha with Hecate and us guarding him personally.And when Flint inevitably got captured, he would have pushed the blame on us.
Can someone care to explain why we just immediately left the place the Sigil told us they took Donovan, so we could fall over and go into a coma? What. The. Fuck. Was. The. Point. Of. That. Entire. Fight. And. This. Entire. Thread.
>>30541304Pretty much this. See >>30541064
>>30541300i am really frustrated first dice then plot prevented us from getting Flint rid of that damn parasite.But now, after these happenings i am hoping Flint dies and give us an excuse to go rampant on sandalphon and kill him.
>>30541321The Sigil was a trap, apparently. Donovan never even there. We had multiple amplified deep focuses tell us that nothing but the Avatar was down there.
>>30541321Because he wasn't there.It was a ruse because apparently the Nemesis was SUCH a "YOU LOSE" option that the outcome was pre-written and fuck us for trying to mitigate the damage by being clever.
>>30541300>>The fact that you had to shove in some inexplicable boss when we actually came up with a smart plan to find Flint instead of just throwing our hands in the air and giving up, eradicates my confidence that you would ever give us a chance to have Flint last those three days.I was expecting to jump out of a summoning circle and fight angels!and instead I got my magical realm
>>30541321According to SM, it's because he wanted the plot to go a certain way, we resisted, and so he threw that fight at us to get us to back off and learn our place.
>>30541337If Flint dies because of this, its going to give me an excuse to find SM and feed him his own tendons then cut open his stomach and continue feeding them to him until his body just shuts down and dies.
>>30541321it was explained here >>30540391>. I had to have certain things happen or the plot would fall apart to the point that the seems would start to split open.Explanation is pretty mcuh PLOT HAPPENS. and it is sometimes shitty plot.
>>30541356We can't do that because we don't want to be Erebus
>>30541339>>30541341>The Sigil was a trapSo the info we got from the Nemesis fight, from torturing the angel, and from Adavan suckign the information from the angels very mind itself, was all an elaborate ruse to send us to fight the Avatar...SM, I hope to god you read this post in the morning and realise how fucking retarded this is, and how much damage you've done by being stupid enough to shove this down our throats.
Well time to blow off some steamget you pastebins open guys, this is going to be a conversation next threadwe NEED to figure out a way to resolve this in a way both parties are happyIf we dont?Dead quest
>>30541356Calm down anon, seriously, fuck.Isn't it a good story if people care for characters this much, though?
Time for Erebus x Avatar hatefuck smut.
>>30541392I honestly can't see how we can contribute to resolving this other than blindly trusting that SM will make it all alright, which this thread has shattered any possibility of ever happening again.I don't know how to fix it, and now I can't even trust the guy running the quest...
>>30541396>spoilerThats the whole reason why this has become such a shitstorm.its because we care deeply enough that we want it to be the bestthat no quest ever was
>>30541392what you need to do is take your mindless rage and fuck off along with your stupid name. you had no positive effect whatsoever.
>>30541392Stop being such a fucking dramatic child. Feel free to fuck right off namefag.
>>30541392>we NEED to figure out a way to resolve this in a way both parties are happy>If we dont?>Dead questMan, I don't remember spending 50 XP to make YOU Arbiter.>>30541404...I miss Sorry.
>>30541370I hope SM reads these posts;>>30541321>>30541370>>30540391And I hope he seriously has an epiphany about how fucktarded this entire situation is because of his need to PLOTBERG ahead.
>>30541425It's true though. This is the breaking point, where it becomes clear that no dictatorship can be benevolent forever.
>>30541425>...I miss Sorry.So do I, where did he go, I like the chats we had in the hugbox IRC, and now he's vanished.
>>30541451Last I heard he pretty much fell off the grid and was on the borderline of going full hikikomori, but that's neither here nor there.
>>30541451>>30541472I thought he joined he army. I know he ran that QM Quest thing for 1 thread, then something else, people were calling him "Enlistment Anon" and then nothing.
>>30541425Hah that was a good call :)()(
>>30541472Well, I hope he does not read this thread and gets better and comes back.>>30541481I do recall he said something about joining up, heres hoping its all going well for him, or at least, better than it is for us currently.
>>30541481Who knows. No real point in speculation.>>30541497I feel tempted to roll for quality of life, but I don't want to wish that on anybody.
B-but we rolled a 95 on the "Flint Survival index"
>>30541532According to SM, this was all decided before rolls.
>>30541481Also, just double-checked, apparently it looks like his enlistment starts in March, so hey. Probably just weaning himself off of us. GOD SPEED.
>>30541532Well, he might survive but how will he survive? Maybe he will lose his soul of light for the spell to call hyperion and we will replace it with a part of ours, one that is of shadow and he will become our arbiter.
Okay, lemme try to summarize what, in my opinion, made this mess.- The 'putting Flint on the Nemesis was retarded' bit, this is not all that bad, its just a case of SM withholding the info we needed to be able to detect it was a stupid decision, it gets worse when all our supporting characters, our trusted advisers and friends, completely miss the mole and the trap, and say its a good idea.Yes it as a bad decision, but only when you consider the full picture, which a large part of was withheld from us, and not conveying any sense or trace of the mole in Haven/on the Nemesis is SM's bad.- The Sigil being a McRuse burger with a double side of trap, this was just outright railroading, to have us go through and succeed in getting that info out of the angel, and our allies confirming it, to be a trap, that is just absurd.This, in my view, it laid squarely at SM's feet, at no time, were we ever given any indication or chance to uncover the fact that it was not what we were looking for, infact we were told the opposite by SM, that it was exactly what we needed to find Flint when it couldn't have been further from the truth.(cont)
>>30541627(cont)- The Avatar debacle, this one I can't even begin to comprehend how this made any sort of sense or may have appealed to SM to shove down our throats, It achieved nothing, it progressed nothing, no story/plot/character development AT ALL was gained from this fight, except some xp which will most likely be useless because of the situation we've been forced into.This, this was fucking inexcusable in my opinion, this was the cherry on top of the turd sandwich on top of a shit sundae on top of a fecal matter cake, forced through our cut open throat. And while I cannot forgive SM for the last two points (the first is kind of understandable, his reasoning behind it, however...), I do believe it can be salvaged and SM can pull his act together and not render the entire quest pointless and meaningless from the last 5 threads.
>>30541638SM said a few threads ago that we'd be getting some EXP. Guess this is what he meant.
>>30541627>>30541638And the best part of all this?We would actually be better of in terms of our current position and attempts to get Flint back if we did nothing at all for a few days after learning about Flint being taken.Fucking nothing, as in, we pulled out a deck chair, and sat on top of what used to be the castle in wherever the fuck we were, I can't even care to recall its name.Seriously, if we sat there, on that deck chair, smoking cigars and imbibing ignorance potions for a couple days, we would be closer to rescuing our best friend who is about to die, that we are right now.Consider that SM...
>>30541638>>30541627Worst thing was the timing of this reveal as i said the moment she showed up. We already have a dozen shit to deal with and Donovan's death is imminent... Some other time, these same turn of events would be a nice reveal of a new enemy and we might have a nice fight. With this kinda shitty timing, it just became a cutscene and a waste of time.
>>30541705He did consider it. It's why the asspull brickwall that was the Avatar got pulled into this. He wanted us to slow down, apparently.Which would make sense, y'know, if not for the fact that it would be completely out of character for us to do so.
>>30541706>We already have a dozen shit to deal with and Donovan's death is imminent...The worst part is that SM deliberately threw this in our face, to try get us to forget about our best friend, the guy we've been with since the very nearly beginning, who we've been through almost everything with.He throws the Avatar in our face, and wants us to forget about Flint and let him be slaughtered just so we would fellate his plot.
>>30541705Like I said, he filibustered us for not kneeling and sucking his plot cock.And he expects us to believe he wouldn't have pulled something similar out of his ass if we did trust Hecate or trust no one but ourselves.If you make the final boss materialize out of nowhere because you realize that you accidentally left a way for the players to logically counter their previous failure, then there's no low I don't think you'll sink to in order to get your way.
>>30541731WHY THE FUCK WOULD HE WANT US TO SLOW DOWN WHEN HE HIMSELF IS TRYING TO SPEED THE PACING UP AND WE'RE TRYING TO SAVE OUR BEST FRIEND.WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING SHADOW MASTER.WHAT THE FUCK.
>>30541758He said he wants to timeskip us.Maybe Flint can only be sacrificed on a certain day, when the stars are right or some bullshit like that?
>>30541742No he doesn't. He railroaded but he was not railroading us to forgetting about Flint.
>>30541768I though it was like, we've got 3 days to find him before he is certainly dead, and he may be dead before that.
>>30541782Nah it's three days until Hecate is strong enough to remove the Shel'Kath.Which doesn't specifically mean Flint's gonna die before then, but it really seems like it's the case because we can't have nice things.
>>30541773Please refer to>>30540862>However, my players are nothing if not stubborn, and will chase their best friend to the end of the earth and back again without blinking. And so then there was an Avatar of Chaos, something that was vaguely planned but should not have shown up in the manner it did, as a final slap to try and get you to move on.>as a final slap to try and get you to move on....
Something I just realized.>Tons of scrubby angels knew about the Nemesis>Because they have a spy in Haven>Fang didn't know shit about the Nemesis and was genuinely surprised by the thing when he heard about it.>Fang is confirmed for having quite a few spies in the Ring City.How did Fang not know our ship was compromised unless he was the spy and he was just pretending to be surprised?
>>30541864Or, rather, the spy works for him and is sharing the info with Ring City.
>>30540862>You have no idea how much I want to tell you what to doSM, have you lost all of your talent as a writer in a horrible fountain pen accident?Because this is the kind of thing that supporting characters, allies and advisers we trust and look to judgement are for.You've used them in the past for this exact purpose, and now?Now you have them cover up your railroading and then blame us when we make the 'wrong' choice.At that point, they are no longer side/supporting characters, allies or trusted advisers, they are hostile DMPCs.
I honestly never expected to have myself think and say this, but here goes.I wish we wake up and find out this was all a dream.Thats how bad this is SM.
>>30541982I feel very much the same, and I've always been of the opinion that everything gets 1 do-over, 1 second chance, 1 retcon, whatever you want to call it.But rarely should they ever be used.This is making me consider arguing for it...
