File: Fate Awakening Mirror.pdf (3.73 MB, PDF)

3.73 MB PDF

For those of you finding the quest for the first time now, here's a PDF of the complete story of Fate/Awakening Mirror up until the last update before this thread, which you'll find much faster reading than the archives.
You will need to read the archived threads for Fate/City Akeldama first, though, as that's the first part of this story.

The three pedestals atop the plinth; the three warriors who attacked you; the resurrection of the dead in a place where men are most often killed by being turned to stone. Seeing the connection between these elements hardly requires an enormous mental leap, and the more you consider the situation, the more this version of things seems to outshine all other explanations in plausibility. In that case, the only means of getting any clue as to whether this plinth holds any significance is to track down the third man, the assailant who prefers striking from the shadows to facing you openly. How you intend to do that is another question, of course; you can hardly chase the man, considering he escaped at some point during your battle with the hoplite, and it isn't as though you've been traveling through some rain-sodden forest, where tracks appear obviously in the mud.

Morosely looking down at the unyielding stone floor, you realize that isn't quite true. It may not be deep mud, but there is a thin layer of dust and grime coating the floor of the catacombs! Here in the chamber of the plinth, as well as in the first few meters of corridor, there's no chance of finding a trail; the fighting has left the floor a complete mess. Beyond the area of battle, though, things begin to resolve. In the less-frequently trod corridor, you can make out the traces of footsteps clearly under the light of your torch. Two sets of tracks, moreover, some of which overlap the others. Either one man went up the corridor and then came back, or a second man fled back over the tracks of the first. Being responsible for the first set of tracks yourself, you know the first scenario holds no water.

You follow the retreating set of tracks about halfway back to Laifos' cell before they finally diverge from your own; they turn right, to descend down a steep set of stairs that seems to plunge right down into the earth, with each step so narrow and far below the previous that they have almost more in common with a ladder. Still, you're not to be deterred now, and you descend the stairs with care, following the continuing tracks of the assassin as you go. At the bottom of the stairwell, a corridor stretches straight on ahead of you into the darkness. It's almost identical to that which you followed above, save for the fact that rather than doors, there are pairs of alcoves set into the walls at regular intervals. Each alcove is just wide, tall, and deep enough to allow a of average height and build to stand within and not protrude into the corridor. Given the purpose of the catacombs, however, you suppose they are meant for neither living men nor decorations, but as a novel way of storing corpses petrified into postures which do not permit for storage on shelves.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this new corridor, however, is the fact that here, the assassin's tracks do not continue. You can observe the faint print of his sandal in the grime which adorns the lowest step of the ladder, but there are no such prints of any kind on the floor of the corridor immediately below. Is it worth continuing, you wonder, or only a very strange dead end?

>[ ] The assassin must have doubled back in his own footprints to avoid you; it's a technique you remember Yumigawa seeing in a movie once, but you'd never expected to fall prey to it yourself. Go back and look for another possible route.

>[ ] The assassin must have found some way of continuing without touching the floor in the hopes of tricking you into turning back. Continue down this new corridor.

>[ ] Perhaps you're following the wrong course in attempting to track the assassin altogether. Go back and ask Laifos if he knows anything about the plinth, or where the assassin might have disappeared to.

>[ ] Do something else. (Write in)

Well, that's great. Our April Fool's gimmick this year has decided I should have this crying face instead of my name and trip, despite the fact that I didn't manage to get this update done until after midnight. Hopefully things will be back to normal in another 6-12 hours.
Aside from that, sorry for the shortness of the update. I've been having a bit of a hard time writing, and just wanted to get something posted. I'll call the vote and write more in 8 hours.

>>4170249
>[X] The assassin must have doubled back in his own footprints to avoid you; it's a technique you remember Yumigawa seeing in a movie once, but you'd never expected to fall prey to it yourself. Go back and look for another possible route.

Wow, so he followed our footprints, split off, made another trail, then doubled back on that one, to follow our trail again.

>>4170249
>[ ] The assassin must have doubled back in his own footprints to avoid you; it's a technique you remember Yumigawa seeing in a movie once, but you'd never expected to fall prey to it yourself. Go back and look for another possible route.

>>4170249
>>[ ] The assassin must have doubled back in his own footprints to avoid you; it's a technique you remember Yumigawa seeing in a movie once, but you'd never expected to fall prey to it yourself. Go back and look for another possible route.

On one hand I doubt he backtracked all the way to Laifos' cell; on the other going further just screams being baited into being baited into a horde.
If this is incorrect can just ask the guy for info when we get there.

>>4170266
>>4170256
>>4170254
>>4170251
>>4170249
COME TO PAPA NURGLE

>>4170249
>[ ] The assassin must have doubled back in his own footprints to avoid you; it's a technique you remember Yumigawa seeing in a movie once, but you'd never expected to fall prey to it yourself. Go back and look for another possible route.
I want to get off Miss Medusa's Wild Ride.

>>4170515
In that case, you'll be happy to know things are starting to draw to a close here. You've already recovered a good deal of your power by cutting down three of the would-be heroes who came here to kill Medusa; a bit more fighting and you'll be ready.

>>4170615
We aren't going to get Rip Van Winkled once we leave right?

>>4170644
Well, you certainly haven't been asleep for a century.

>>4170649
This response doesn't reassure me.

>>4170644
>wake up
>it's been 1000 years since we went into medusa's magical realm
>we're in the land of steel
>gun god just dug us up

>>4170671
Part 3: Fate/Contraction Point.
Fun idea, anon.

>>4170701
Next to the godslaying gun, Gun God finds Alberich, preserved by magic never seen before. In the Bird Drop mission he makes an opening in the body of Type-VENUS with the Black Barrel and flies toward the heart; Alberich cuts its core in half with Heiligöffnungschwert; the two barely make it out of the collapsing body of the dead Aristoteles and are hailed as heroes of the dying world. While Gun God is content to earn his living hunt angels that come from the corpse and spend his free time drinking with an Angel A-Type who happens to be attracted to him, Alberich sets out to gain more power and conquer the world of steel.
One day, Gun God finds that a mysterious angel who calls herself "V/V" has come to his house claiming that he killed her; Alberich, meanwhile, is using his magic to consume the angel minions and increase his power.
While Gun God grows closer to V/V, Alberich expands his influence and becomes a power in his own right. Gun God survives the mission against Type-SATURN because Alberich's participation in the battle allows him to get away without as much damage to his plane.

Eventually, it all comes to a head when the essence of Type-VENUS within Alberich allows him to figure out that it reincarnated as V/V, and he resolves to consume her. Now hopped up on the juice of two Types, Alberich moves against Gun God and V/V, almost killing them before he's driven back by the sacrifice of Gun God's old acquaintance, the Angel A-Type.

Gun God and V/V flee from the City of the World Trees and Alberich's dominion, seeking their last hope in the Witch Swift Umbrella. If there is anyone who can stop the tyrant, it is surely Ado Edem...

>>4170747
Wouldn't it be more likely that Alberich would try to curse her?

>>4170760
Would you settle for having the power of an Ultimate One under your thumb when you could take it for yourself?

>>4170249
>Just leave to face Medusa. Get me the hell outta here
>>4170765
Probably the same reason we chose not to take Medusa's power.

>>4170779
>Probably the same reason we chose not to take Medusa's power.
What, waifufaggotry? Actually, you might be right

File: 1565841916524[1].jpg (73 KB, 350x475)

73 KB JPG

>>4170787
Looking at this, I'd say she's at least a B.

>>4170787
Exactly.

>>4170747
Alberich would be the one getting consumed.
The moment he tries to do something as retarded as steal the power of a Type is the moment he's guaranteed an end to his existence.
Alberich would likely just become an extension of the Type he tried to pilfer power from.
This is the same guy who Angra would turn into a meatsuit.
Not somebody who can fight off entities like ORT and Crimson Moon.

>>4170903
>Angra would turn into a meatsuit
Nah, Alberich is reaching Gilgamesh tier pride, so he can resist the 6 gorillion curses.
Once he becomes a sorcerer, he'll have a better shot at fighting types. I'll agree his chances are basically non-existent now though.

>>4170903
This is why he starts off small. A mindless angel is such a small fragment of Type-VENUS's power that Alberich can easily crush its resistance, so he thinks he can farm them safely. Of course, this backfires because the alien mindset of the Type slowly twists his own.
It's not like he literally runs up to a full-blown Ultimate One and tries to eat it.

>>4170921
>once he becomes a sorcerer
Weren't the 5 True Magicians in Notes barely able to hold their own against the Types?
Even Zelretch in his prime only stopped Crimson Moon because Crimson Moon didn't understand magic.
And in doing so he was also weakened terribly.

He didn't even kill it either.
Alberich isn't ever going to be Type tier.
Hell, even if he became a Beast, that's only an extension of Gaia and thus inferior to Types.

Obviously he's never going to be equal to a Type. If he was Ado Edem wouldn't be able to kill him, which would undermine everything.

>>4170929
It's been a while since I've read notes, but aren't all the sorcerers dead? Gun God is the last human alive.
Zelretch might be around, or he might have fucked off to a more interesting universe, who knows.

It was my understanding that TYPES are the strongest beings of their respective planets.
Given that Alberich has an affinity for converting energy directly into strength, as well as the ability to nope things out of existence, I'd say there's a real possibility he could reach such prominence.

>>4170937
What would it undermine exactly? I haven't paid much attention to nasuverse stuff after Fate Extra.

I'm curious. What happened to the Reverse Side of the World in Notes?

>>4170937
He wouldn't even be able to attempt to steal portions of a Type's power due to them being so horribly alien and Alberich being very much an existence tied to the concepts of Earth.
The conflict of concepts within him might even end up causing his existence to fail completely or some other super dead end.

>>4170950
I'd argue that due to being a conceptual being himself that he'd adapt to it very quickly.

>>4170941
>I haven't paid much attention to nasuverse stuff after Fate Extra.
Well...
Ado Edem is a very strong guy. He's known as the Ether Liner who killed Type-JUPITER in one hit with his Knight Arm, and the ensuing explosion made an entire continent uninhabitable. Because he was so dangerous, everyone else locked him up in the Witch Swift Umbrella.
>>4170948
Wasn't thought up back then.

>>4170941
The Six Sisters are each true magic users.
They all ended up dying either against Ether Liners or against Type-Pluto.

And no, Types embody the will of their respective planets while also being the most powerful lifeforms of said planet. It's essentially a convuluted way of saying they are the planets themselves.

And you should know thatin the Nasuverse, different planets tend to have different concepts.
The concept of death for example is very much limited to Earth, and even then beings like Tiamat don't have it.

>>4170955
He'd just explode even more horribly.

>>4170959
Ado Edem's 'Knight Arm' is a sword called "Slash Emperor", and it grows to match its target's size by consuming the planet. It's so powerful it clears the blood-red sky that repels two Types just by being deployed, looking like a blue aura.
Ado Edem wasn't very well-known before the Ultimate Ones attacked, because there were no enemies big enough for Slash Emperor to show its true worth.

>>4170971
Ok now I'm curious how TYPES can die if the concept is limited to earth. If Gaia's reality marble fell with her death, then how do TYPES die?
They obviously do, otherwise Notes would be a contradictory work.

>>4170973
I'm just not convinced of that. He's proven very malleable so far, absorbing all those souls while remaining himself. And once Conceptual Biology gets to A++ He'll be more more of a concept than a living being. Concepts being able to accept other concepts just makes sense to me.

>>4170977
What does consuming the planet mean? It can't take Gaia's life after it's dead. Does it just eat rocks?

Remember that Alberich's origin is Emptiness, or Hollow; which is to say, a space that can never be filled, and will remain perpetually in the state of consumptive sacrifice in which he was born.
This definitely opens up some rather shocking possibilities with regards to Earth, Humanity, and the power and nature of a Type, if you want to take your situation to the farthest extreme.
That's not even getting into the situation of the Reverse Side of the World, and its relation to Types, which is itself quite interesting. Earth is, after all, the only planet to have sustained Gods.

>>4170993
He was effectively designed by Judas with the intent of taking human and servant souls into him to empower him.

Attempting to do the same with a Type would be equivalent to trying to thread a thermonuclear missile through the eye of a needle.

Types don't die when they are killed.
Except when they do.
Venus didn't.
Nasu is inconsistent.

>>4170995
>a space that can never be filled
>The Third True Magic is a perpetual motion machine
RIP anything that tries to fuck with Alberich.

>>4171003
No, that was the fuel that crystalized his being. He was made out of nothing, so he should be able to adapt to anything.

Just because the concepts are completely alien doesn't strip them of being concepts themselves.
TYPE-MERCURY is hanging out in Gaia's reality marble just fine, proving alien concepts can be processed by earthers.

And as Sweets said, he can't be filled no matter how much you shove in there, but maintaining himself would be the true challenge.

Venus reincarnated.
You can only reincarnate if you die.

>>4171016
>Gaia's Reality Marble
It being a reality marble is headcanon btw.
Also it's really fucking not existing just fine.
It corrupts wherever it goes into Crystals iirc.

I also don't agree with Sweets' conclusion about this at all, his capacity is theoretically unlimited but Types would be fundamentally incompatible.
Types would also always remain superior.
Zelretch is able to casually throw infinite energy about and that doesn't mean shit.
So let's stay away from the no limits fallacies ok Sweets?

>>4171032
>It being a reality marble is headcanon btw.
Really? Then what does it matter if Gaia is still alive or not? If all the concepts it holds together by it's existence aren't represented by a reality marble, then why does humanity need to create those beings that could live in the world without it?

>Be made out of something that can adapt to anything
>These things are incompatible with you
Something does not compute.

Types get killed m8, they're not the end all be all. Just stupid strong.
Zelretch is also limited by how much of that energy he can hold inside his body. Otherwise he would never lose fights, or get weakened.

>>4171054
>>Be made out of something that can adapt to anything
... on Earth, maybe.

>>4171054
You genuinely have no idea how fucked the powerscale of the Nasuverse is.
Take Tiamat, who is massively weaker than a type.
Her Sea of Life is unlimited in volume.
Suddenly an unlimited capacity sounds far less impressive.
>Types aren't the be all end all
>Fate is made by Type-Moon
Hmmmmm
Jokes aside, they really are.
Notes is kind of inconsistent now because Nasu has added so much since then.

Arcueid as Archetype Earth is the best example I can give as to their power.
Where if she dies (through suicide) it would kill everything on the planet in addition to her.
I'm also fairly certain she's aware of everything occuring on the planet at once.
And also kind of grew to a size where she was larger than the planet.

>>4171032
>I also don't agree with Sweets' conclusion about this at all, his capacity is theoretically unlimited but Types would be fundamentally incompatible.
What I said doesn't contradict this. I know I'm being cryptic, but I'll tell you that I wasn't driving at the idea of absorbing Types.

>>4171016
>TYPE-MERCURY is hanging out in Gaia's reality marble just fine, proving alien concepts can be processed by earthers.
Not true. ORT corrupts the area around it into the Reality of Mercury.

>>4171080
>You genuinely have no idea how fucked the powerscale of the Nasuverse is.
All i know about the Nasuverse past Extra is that it became trash.
But even in notes a whole continent gets razed by one TYPE.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Tiamat like one of the oldest gods? Didn't she oversee the creation of life? Not sure how it is in the Nasuverse though.
But I think being able to power yourself up with no limit, and being able to completely flood anything are different enough.

>Where if she dies (through suicide) it would kill everything on the planet in addition to her.
>I'm also fairly certain she's aware of everything occuring on the planet at once.
Alright, that makes enough sense. Especially since she just hangs out in her Castle unless Roa possesses somebody again.

>And also kind of grew to a size where she was larger than the planet.
>The planet grew bigger than the planet.
nasu wat r u doin

>>4171032
>>4171089
I was unaware of that, thanks.

>>4171084
...So not absorbing the concepts, but being able to fight them on our own terms? Pull off what MERCURY is doing and drag them into our concepts?

>>4171136
>the oldest gods
Oldest Gods OF EARTH yes.
As I will repeat infinitely, planets in the Nasuverse are completely bonkers broken and entirely seperate from each other most of the time.
Alaya alone can purge entire timelines relative to the confines of the planet.
This ability would almost certainly not work on Types.

Alberich at the very peak of his power might have a chance at fighting Types, but attempting to absorb their concepts would be more harmful to him than drinking the entire Sea of Life garnished with All The World's Evil.

>>4171156
>Oldest Gods OF EARTH yes.
Sweets message implied to me that planets besides Earth aren't strong enough to sustain Gods, wouldn't that mean they just wander around in space?
I remember reading something in these threads about outsiders in F/GO, if those gods can exist independently, why would that make them necessarily weaker than TYPES?

>Alaya alone can purge entire timelines relative to the confines of the planet.
>This ability would almost certainly not work on Types.
Then how does Alaya do it? TYPE-MERCURY is hanging out in South America.

>drinking the entire Sea of Life garnished with All The World's Evil.
Sounds like a nice cocktail to drink. You think if Alberich did that and came out completely sane Gilgamesh would approve?

>>4171212
>planets besides Earth aren't strong enough to sustain Gods
Not at all.
Gaia actually just has autism compared to the other Types so does dumb shit all the time. It needed Crimson Moon's help to even make proper candidates for being Ultimate Ones.
Arcueid by herself would crush entire pantheons, especially if she wasn't limited to 30 percent of her power.
Gaia cries to the other types to help all the time.
Earth is like the retard everyone else feels obligated to help out.

Gods are explicitly much weaker than planets.
The only exception being Amaterasu, who is more like a Type than a Goddess, considering she was born from the universe and not any particular planet as a star.
>how does Alaya do it?
I assume the parts of South America touched by ORT exist on a separate axis of time.

>did that and came out sane
He couldn't.
Angra is one thing but the Sea of Life isn't something that he could not resist.

>>4171270
>Not at all.
I'mma need some sauce on this since I seem to recall something that told me differently, but I can't remember where I read it.

>Gaia cries to the other types to help all the time.
Wouldn't that be twice? Once to make an Ultimate One, and again to wipe out the parasites crawling on her corpse?

>Gods are explicitly much weaker than planets.
>Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth are weaker than Arcueid.
Nasu pls.

>the Sea of Life isn't something that he could not resist.
So he can resist it?
I remember reading people say that it only effects humans, and since Alberich isn't human he'd be immune.

>>4171309
>sauce
Yeah I'm sorry but you're the one claiming that Earth IS stronger, burden of proof is on you buddy.
>lovecraftwank
Outer Gods aren't Divine Spirits.
And I'd much prefer keeping out of Lovecraftwank entirely.
Shit is already complicated enough without going down that path.
>he could resist it
It should work on anything born of Tiamat, which should be all life on the planet.
Alberich and Homonculi included.
Or if we go full Alberichwank and it couldn't corrupt him the tide of imaginary numbers would probably simply dissolve him into mana not unlike what happened with Gil.
Even a win is a loss.
Succ Water is enough to instantly end him.

>>4171348
>claiming that Earth IS stronger
Actually you're the one claiming all the other planets can do the same thing, even though we've never seen that. Which is why I'm asking you.
>lovecraftwank
If you're gonna talk about properties where they appear, then why should they be ignored?
>revert into your primordial form and despair!
But he was born in the Imaginary Number realm, not on earth. Not sure if that would qualify as being born of Tiamat. And even if it was, if he became more of a concept than a living being, then wouldn't he be able to ignore it since it would be magic?

And yeah, that succ water is stupidly OP. We should use some of that in a trap or something.

>>4171400
>properties where they appear
FGO?
We ignore FGO all the time here.
Come now anon.

The other planets don't NEED Gods because Ultimate Ones are far superior.
This is like wondering why the US Military isn't spending half of it's budget on making iron spears.
>he was born in imaginary numbers
Doesn't really matter, he's the creation of a human.
Solomon can mess around in INS, doesn't mean he's going to have anything that can bypass Nega-Genesis.
You might have an argument if Alberich was created through the will of Gaia, but seeing as he was made by a man, he can't defeat mom.

>>4171420
When you put it like that, Earth really is cursed, to be able to create beings that can stand up to other planets.
Maybe everyone else is doing something wrong.

>Ignoring FGO
>Debating Tiamat
hmm...

>he can't defeat mom.
even with infinite magic resistance?

>>4171427
Tiamat's powers conceptually assault all of her descendants; since this includes all life on earth, and Alberich was made by a human and brought to life with a human sacrifice, he definitely falls under her power.
Plus, remember that Imaginary Numbers is the realm of the gods, of which Tiamat is one. Alberich's tie to the Imaginary Elements makes him closer to the gods than humans are, not more distant.

>>4171420
>The other planets don't NEED Gods because Ultimate Ones are far superior.
It might not be wise to go quite that far. Earth had the Gods, and the other planets had their Types, but whether one is greater than the other is hard to say. Certainly, during the Age of Gods, the collected power of Earth's beings was greater than that of any other planet's. Earth has declined a great deal since then, though.

>>4171427
Ignoring the stupid parts of FGO is the wisest thing you can do.
Randomly including Lovecraft stuff as not even the focus of the main plot and more somise kinda sidestory arc is something I have no problem disregarding.
Lovecraft really deserves major story focus if you include it as it stands it just feels out of place in the lore.
>infinite magic resistance
Pretty sure Authority isn't technically magic so Alberich is shit out of luck.

Earth was very much an idiot savant when it made humans.
Which also all kind of died in the end to make way for things that they caused/made that could fight Types.

>>4171446
ORT fell to the Earth 7000 years ago and it seems like the Gods didn't want to bother sleepy spider even at the peak of their power.
You give Gods way way too much credit here in the context of the Nasuverse.

Gaia would have made itself into a Type too if it wasn't unable to for whatever reason.
Types are the entire will of the planet given form.
Gods are sort of kind of like budget Types that only represent a certain concept of the planet given form.

>>4171446
>>4171448
>Alberich should be able to fight TYPES one day, but Tiamat can always wipe him out.
Mommy no!

Ignoring parts of the setting because they have a minor presence is anathema to maintaining the integrity of it.
I know Fate jumped off a cliff with no parachute but if you're gonna include the property ya gotta include the whole thing.

>>4171461
>Gods are sort of kind of like budget Types that only represent a certain concept of the planet given form.
Hence why the collected power of all of the gods would be equivalent to that of a Type:Earth, and surpass that of the other planets' Types.
If you're tempted to bring up Archetype:Earth with regards to this, please remember that Tsukihime does not occur in the same universe as Fate.

>>4171468
>acknowledging all of Fate
>including Fate/Reqium
>everyone has a Servant and A Holy Grail because Nasu doesn't give a single fuck about his universe anymore
>Billions of Humans with Servants
>no repercussions for this
>at all
They even take their servants to contests and battle them.
Like fucking Pokemon.

File: Frustration.png (24 KB, 240x240)

24 KB PNG

>>4171476
It's enough to make you cry.

>>4171476
I mean, that if you're gonna debate FGO, you can't just ignore things in it simply because their existence makes the universe more complex.
I'm fine with excluding things from quest canonicity.

>>4171474
You ought to remember that timelines get messy in regards to Types also.
So even if it's not in the same universe, Archetype Earth is fair game. (Arc didn't care for universe rules when she showed up in Extra, broke all the Mooncell's rules and left.)
But disregarding that...

Do you have any evidence to back up your claim that Earth is the strongest planet?

>>4171481
The fact that it was the only planet which generated advanced life with a will outside of its own. The existence of magic, the Gods, and the human spirit are all testament to the overflowing life of Earth as compared to the other planets, each of which has given rise only to a single supreme lifeform endowed with their will.
That's one way of looking at it, anyway; the other is just that I prefer an anthropocentric view of things, and so that's what I'm regarding as canon within the quest, since it's a subject with no definite canon answer.

>Arc is in Extra though!
And Extra is nonsense. Arcueid doesn't exist in this quest; neither does Archetype Earth; neither do the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors; neither do Marble Phantasms. Dead Apostles were born from a curse laid upon humanity by Chernobog during the Age of Gods, and due to their close ties to humanity are one of the few varieties of semi-phantasmal being to survive into the Age of Man without being forced into the Reverse Side.

>>4171477
Can you imagine how stupid somebody would have to be upon finally winning the Holy Grail War and Claiming the Holy Grail for themselves after a brutal bloody battle and their wish is.
>"Can I get like 7 billion Holy Grails and Servants distributed around the planet please?"
What the fuck sort of person would think that would be wise?
How do you get to the end of the war and have a wish THAT stupid?
The grail would need more mana than has likely ever existed on the planet for that wish to take place, it's that obnoxiously stupid.
Maybe it was linked to the Second Magic this time and in making that wish they doomed thousands of alternate worlds?
The worst thing is that I don't even think they ensured that the Servants summoned would be good, so there's probably like 20000 Gilles de Rais hanging around now, and it's all their fault.

It's like if at the end of Zero Kerry actually got his wish and it all worked perfectly because why not.

>>4171484
Yeah but what about Zelretch?
He's a Dead Apostle too.
Explicitly turned by Crimson Moon.
Though there is the Second True Magic to explain things.

>>4171491
I'll get back to you on that one.
Although, since he's likely to appear in Part 3, you may want to find out more about his past in the quest itself.

>>4171484
>>4171496

>No 27 DAA's
Then how would TYPE-MERCURY be 5th?

Shouldn't it be:
>No True Ancestors
?

>>4171497
Behold, the true power of splitting your timelines when you clearly never intended to do so when you actually first started writing.
Nothing makes ANY sense!

>>4171497
Damn it, yes, that was a mistake. I was referring to True Ancestors. The incarnated nature spirits of whom Arcueid is one.

>>4171498
>Kinoko casts "Parallel Timeline!"
>It was super effective!
>"Tsukihime fans" fainted!

Fight Item
Poke >Run

File: Lostbelts.png (395 KB, 735x686)

395 KB PNG

>>4171504
>incarnated nature spirits
You mean like Hinako here?
An Incarnated Elemental?
Who is basically a True Ancestor in everything but name?
Who exists in the Fate timelines?

>>4171506
>Kinoko used "PNG!"
>Money was scattered about the field!

A simple ranking:
Outer Gods (Functioning on a universal scale)
Types (Functioning on a planetary scale)
Gods (Functioning on an earthly, or sub-planetary scale)
Heroic Spirits and Phantasmal Beasts
Humans of all varieties

Strange things like the sorcerers, or creatures born out of high magic approaching sorcery, have variable levels of power and don't fit properly on the scale. I thought it was worth throwing out there, though, for the sake of making clear my feelings on outer gods vs types and why the assembled gods of earth when pooled together can be something like a Type:Earth.

>>4171510
Shush! She only exists in the Fate/Grand Order timeline! You know, the one where Blackbeard was a moron, Francis Drake was a woman with superpowers, and all heroic spirits have an irrational attraction to cardboard.

>>4171514
Don't forget it's also the timeline where Greece is the battleground of space pirates.

>>4171514
>Shush! She only exists in the Fate/Grand Order timeline!
This holds true only until they decide she needs to be shilled in Case Files and makes an appearance solidifying her as canon the F/SN timelines.

Also you can probably slot in Amaterasu and other Sun Gods above Types.

>>4171523
Honestly, since it's an unfinished series that occurs before this quest, I might end up deciding that Case Files also takes place in a different timeline from Fate/Awakening Mirror. It could be the best way to avoid a canon conflict in Part 3, I'm thinking.

>>4171528
Calling it now, Zelretch sends us to another dimension that's more OC based

>>4171648
More like he wants to meet somebody who actually finished the ritual he helped set up.

Or try to murderize us for antagonizing Rin, while thanking us for being friendly with Luvia.

Anyone got any guesses how long we've been stuck inside Medusa?

There are, you suppose, three possibilities here. The first, the apparent truth based on the tracks themselves and the assumption that the assassin must leave them, is that he simply vanished upon reaching the lower corridor. As this seems unlikely, is impossible to verify, and would not present a useful course of action to follow if assumed true, it can be discarded. The second possibility is that the assassin used a technique you vaguely remember from a film Yumigawa once saw, and doubled back up the stairs, walking backwards and stepping in his own footprints, then took a different route while leaving you to follow the tracks down into this lower level and hopefully become lost. The third possibility, building on the previous, is that the assassin knew you would follow his footsteps but remained committed to this lower corridor, and so found a means of continuing without leaving footprints, hoping that you would observe the end of his trail and conclude that he must have doubled back.

You give the ceiling, as well as the upper section of the walls, a hard look, inspecting the damp stone architecture by your torch's flickering glow. There's no decoration above the alcoves, though, nothing to catch hold of there but the carved brickwork; and the seams between the faux bricks are too narrow and shallow to admit a finger, you're fairly certain. You find it difficult to believe that anyone could summon up the strength and expertise to cling to such a difficult surface, travelling over an extended length, for the sole purpose of aiding their cowardice. No, you think, the assassin turned back. He might be waiting for you even now, with a trap set for you at the top of the stygian shaft you've just finished climbing down. Perhaps he intends to surprise you with a sudden shove, sending you tumbling down past the near-vertical stairs into the abyss, to be crushed against the stone floor where you now stand. No matter. If he does, you resolve, you'll be ready to walk straight into his trap with pride and break it.

So resolving, you make the arduous climb back up those countless stairs, ascending from what surely must be the deepest pit of the catacombs. As you leave that lowest corridor behind, you can't suppress a sliver of curiosity as to what lay down it; what you've just decided to ignore; but you tamp that emotion down. It doesn't serve you now, and it's better to focus on the pursuit you have chosen. Still, the climb gives you plenty of time to wonder what might have been down there, as well as to consider what ambush waits for you at the top of these stairs, and how best to fight it off without allowing yourself to meet that perilous fall. At last you do finish the climb, and find no foes whatsoever waiting for your emergence from the stairway. The corridor appears just as you left it, in fact. That eliminates the most likely plan of the assassin's, you suppose. Now you simply need to figure out what course he took after his return.

Sure enough, when you come back to the inspection of the corridor, you find that after a break of perhaps a meter the tracks heading outward resume. He must, you think, have jumped back onto his course from the top step to ensure that the tracks broke off long enough for you to believe he'd truly made the turn. You have to admit it's a clever and dedicated notion, backtracking all that way and making a leap of this kind to perpetuate the ruse. Unfortunate for him, you think with a note of pride, that the assassin wasn't the only one in these catacombs with a quick mind.

With that satisfying thought in your mind, you set off down the central corridor once more, keeping one eye on the assassin's tracks to watch for where he decided to really break off from the tunnel. In the end, though, you don't find any change of course. As you walk, your attention begins to drift, distracted by a hitherto unnoticed acrid stench in the air, growing stronger as you continue down the hall. As the smell grows more offensive, it becomes harder and harder to think about the assassin, for it represents a disturbing change. What could be responsible for the creation of such a horrid stench in the catacombs, previously possessing only the ordinary cave-smell of earth and old water. Before you know it, there are no more tracks to follow, and no turn toward a different route. Instead the assassin himself is before your eyes: a charred corpse face down on the stone floor, emanating thin tendrils of smoke and the now-recognizable stench of burned hair.

As you're inspecting the assassin's corpse, you see a moving shadow out of the corner of your eye and move just in time to evade a jet of flame that sets the corridor momentarily into sharp relief. Laifos is a few meters from you, drawn up to his full height, two orange sparks burning where eyes might be in a man. The bars of his cell are still there, unchanged and without a door as always, but the prisoner of the catacombs is in the corridor.

>[ ] In your shock, ask how he managed to escape.

>[ ] Given Laifos' propensity for flame, at least one part of this situation is clear. Ask what reason he could have for killing one of the dead.

>[ ] Demand to know why Laifos attacked you.

>[ ] Leave words aside and charge, sword drawn.

>[ ] Fight fire with fire. Attack Laifos with your torch, rather than any other weapon.

>[ ] Do something else. (Write in)

Yes, it's another short update tonight. Sorry about that. Things should pick up soon, though.

>>4172097
>>[ ] Given Laifos' propensity for flame, at least one part of this situation is clear. Ask what reason he could have for killing one of the dead.
I guess?

>>4172097
>[ ] Demand to know why Laifos attacked you.
First Mantikouros, now Laifos. There are no friends on this blasted isle.

>>4172097
>>[ ] Given Laifos' propensity for flame, at least one part of this situation is clear. Ask what reason he could have for killing one of the dead.

>>4172097
>[X] Given Laifos' propensity for flame, at least one part of this situation is clear. Ask what reason he could have for killing one of the dead.

I smell a dead end.

>>4172097
>[ ] Do something else. (Write in)
kiss our friend

>>4172097
>[ ] Fight fire with fire. Attack Laifos with your torch, rather than any other weapon.
It's the most unorthodox option and Laifos doesn't seem much of a talker.

>>4172117
It certainly isn't doing much for Alberich's "I have known naught but war" situation.

Wait a minute. I think I'm actually onto something. Remember what his punishment was? He was cursed with a form of rags and to never step foot into the sun again. What if we torched him or presented the threat of torching him? He's clearly not human anymore, so a sword probably wouldn't work.

>>4172296
If he can control fire then the torch seems like the worst option. We need to get him into sunlight.

We should first cut him up, then while he gloats about being impervious to our pathetic sword set him on fire. After that it's just a matter of dragging him out and applying the torch whenever he tries to cast a spell.

Just an FYI, I plan to call the vote and write in six hours or so, so you've got until then if you'd like to discuss what to do here any further.

Well, so much for that. Nobody had anything to say about what you ought to do here, apparently.
Seems you're settled on asking Laifos why he killed the assassin. Writing now.

>>4173575
I mean, we kinda wanted to bring him outta here, voting to chop him up or burn him or both seems counter to that goal.

>>4173575
Sweets you have to get us out of here. It's killing everyone's interest

Remember the last time we spoke with a monster?

>>4173579
Some people just can't be recruited, anon.

>>4173600
That does seem to be the case, unfortunately.

>>4173625
I do, which is why my bad end sensors were flaring up.

>>4173626
Sweets, no!

File: 1576451293360.gif (1.83 MB, 320x240)

1.83 MB GIF

>>4173637
Then why did you vote for it?

>>4173690
In F/SN sometimes acting like a retard gets you out of bad situations.

Ya gotta vote for what you want, even if it can't happen.

>>4173637
>Sweets, no!
You want to stay on the island longer?

>>4173767
Personally don't mind either way as long as the story is good.

I was referring to you saying we can't recruit Laifos.

Personally even if we can't actually recruit and have to kill him i'm only voting for because the current circumstances have peaked my curiosity.
If he could get out of the cage on his own why ask us for help? If he was going to attack us anyway why not take a shot from his cell while we talked to him? If he could leave on his own why not do it once our back was turned or follow us while we thought he couldn't leave to ambush us when we fought the 3 amigos? If he's out because the assassin managed to let him out why kill him? etc.
>>4173767
Others might not agree but I've enjoyed the island so far, it's had several well written fight scenes and to me it seems like our weakened stats have made us think about our actions more than we have been. People may complain that there might not be much reward for how long we've been here and want to rush to the end, but as I've said before I'm along for the ride so long as you're able to maintain your writing quality.

>>4173838
This should've been much shorter. I know the players actions caused it to be longer, but it's up to Sweets to mitigate that for the best interests of the quest as a whole.

>>4173838
If this whole adventure ends favorably we could potentially get affections of the goddess, and although I'm highly skeptical, maybe EoTM B or C+.
But we should get 2 new Goddesses and another servant from this as long as we don't go full retard somehow.

>>4173842
I think this diversion was fine, sure the situation could've been made clearer overall, but I'd definitely put the onus of this arc all on the players.

>>4173847
Oh, and I forgot to mention, we'd also have a full exposition of all of the Emiya's plans, and a greater understanding of how dangerous Emiya Sakura is, since she can hijack servants more efficiently than we can.
I think she should be a high priority target once we hear about her capabilities from Rider.

>>4173847
Like I said the players are responsible. Countless stupid mistakes caused this. Capturing Rider, trying to turn her with dangerous magic that we don't understand, pussying out of fighting Rider when we first found her here, etc. But Sweets shouldn't have allowed it to go this long. It's ridiculous. He completely overestimated us as players and the quest is suffering for it.

>>4173858
>Sweets shouldn't let the players do what they want.
It isn't his fault people didn't think their decisions through.
Once you go down a One Way Street, turning around isn't just illegal, it's dangerous.
You knew it was there, but ya went down the street anyway, I find complaining about that to be in extremely poor taste.
And sure, you didn't know this specifically would happen when you went ahead and cursed Rider, but you did know she had Breaker Gorgon, and that she was a particularly willful spirit. Expecting resistance shouldn't be too much of a stretch, especially when you're not an expert at making 6 billion curses.
As for overestimation, I dunno. I've seen you guys do some pretty impressive things. It seemed more to me that you didn't want to actually discover the secrets of this Island's existence, and suffered for it, rather than you guys being dumb. Just lazy.

>>4173871
My frustration stems from the fact that I've been against all of this shit but there's nothing I can do to convince anyone to think shit through instead of voting for "ooh I like this waifu let's collect her no matter what"

File: don't be mad, be glad.gif (780 KB, 325x203)

780 KB GIF

>>4173882
All you can do is to be as convincing as possible.
Once that fails you can just lean back and enjoy your schadenfreude about being right.

I don't think there will be a repeat of an incident like this for a while in-quest though, since there aren't really any more candidates for Alberich's harem in the surrounding area (except Kikuko), so all the extreme waifu hunting would have to wait until part 3.

But overall I feel like there definitely more benefits to be wrought out of this course of action than just eating Rider.

>>4173854
I do agree on potential rewards, think i did mention before if we manage to pull this off right we could have a shot to potentially get affections 3x over from S/E and Hecate for recovering another goddess set the gods abandoned and long considered dead.
Hopefully she can talk fast though, because unless Emiya cured his hero syndrome I don't think we're going to have to wait very long before they make some attempt on us after we stole Rider and Salter nuked Tokyo the night before.

>>4173926
The worst part is we were finally going to have a significant confrontation with Shirou and his crew, to finish off that plot thread that's been dangling for months now. It was established, in character, that we were going to do that. Instead we just did this shit to satisfy some anon who loves Stheno and Euryale and now it'll be a month before we get back to the task at hand. And I still don't see how we're pulling them out of Rider.

>>4173934
Yeah, I've done some thinking on that Excali-nuke, I think that may be the final straw that might get the church to send more enforcers directly after us, and maybe even get the Mage Association to send enforcers of their own too.

>>4173936
Well that was just bad timing. I bet if you voted to drive there, there would've been a drawn out confrontation that would've dragged out Rin and Shirou.
The teleportation completely fucked them over, and even then, you didn't deal with Sakura, so now there's an angry servant stealer who wants Rider back.
The reasoning behind abducting rider still rings true however, since only she and Sakura were home, and Alberich didn't want to pay too much attention to her, he decided that finding out their plans and psychological torture over their missing servant was more immediately important.
I actually partially agree with his logic.

There was more than one guy who wanted to revive the two Gorgon sisters anon, don't be disingenuous. And I'm pretty sure if we cast absorption on them, note I'm not referring to the curse, I'm referring to the type of absorption we used on Circe's magic, that we can remove them from Rider, since as it stands they're enmeshed with everything else Rider has absorbed into herself.
As for sustaining them?
They're really really weak, so Heiligöffnungschwert should be able to sustain them the same way we're sustaining Hecate.

>>4173934
>wake up expecting to deal with Emiya
>Harris and Matsuda are standing over us in the basement
>"Alright kid, let's neutralize the target."
>DEAD END
>Booted back to the choice of how to control Rider.
Calling it now.

Seriously though whatever happens I expect it to be a huge consequence that totally changes our situation. Sweets has been hinting for months that we shouldnt be so confident about our alliance's power and this is her perfect chance to take it away.

>>4173963
>There was more than one guy who wanted to revive the two Gorgon sisters anon, don't be disingenuous.
That makes it even worse. It's pure metagaming to collect character that players personally like that Alberich had no idea existed inside of Rider. It's not fun for the players that actually want to play the quest from Alberich's point of view when they're consistently outvoted by people playing this quest like a gacha and Sweets just allows and sometimes encourages it. I get it, quests aren't serious business but when they get completely derailed for that kind of thing it's extremely frustrating.

>>4173963
>Heiligöffnungschwert should be able to sustain them the same way we're sustaining Hecate.
You keep saying this.
That's now how the miracle works. It summons things from the Reverse Side of the World, makes them real and sustains them afterward. The sword has no inherent capacity to sustain the existence of other creatures, only a part of the third miracle.
Stheno and Euryale are in Medusa (or inside us if the absorption magic works), not in the Reverse Side of the World, so the lightsaber is useless here.

Moreover... there is no good reason to bring back Stheno and Euryale.
>b-b-but muh affections of goddess
They don't love you. They will never love you.
You voted to enslave their sister and force them into a warzone.

>>4173980
This makes me curious, how do you think our alliance would fall apart?
Where are the weak points?
Us being out of commission would definitely make it more likely for a betrayal to happen, but who do you think would participate and how would everyone react?

>>4173981
Now you can't escape meta-gaming when dealing with an existing property, or bringing in established characters unless you make them expies.
As for Alberich's actions though? Completely understandable.
>Teleport into enemy's main base
>Expect to have a confrontation and btfo everyone by how monstrous you've become
>There's only the women left in the house
>okthenlemmejustkidnapthisone.jpg
>She isn't really pliable in this current state, Tsubaki make her more pliable pls
>She should have intimate knowledge of the Emiyas so I'll just make her spill after I pull of the same technique I did on my other personal Servant.
>oshitimonanisland
>Hey there's cute girls here too!
>Let's bring them out with us.

>>4173998
Sweets has said we haven't mastered the sword yet, once Alberich does, it'll reach EX rank.
I think figuring out how to sustain 2 Goddesses without gacha summoning shenanigans would count as gaining more mastery over the sword.
I don't see the problem with trying to only use the materialization function of the second miracle instead of the summoning into materialization.

Rider would simultaneously have 1/10 affection points and 10/10 affection points due to all the miracles effecting her situation, and Stheno and Euryale were both written off as dead by actual gods, but we'd be letting them live again. They may dislike the forced servitude put upon their sister but they would feel some gratitude towards us, and even if they don't bless us, Hecate might look favorably on the whole thing.

Speaking of Stheno and Euryale, Alberich should have no reason to like them. They decided to collect him because he could resist their charms and then sucked his blood. Oh, and he could sense that they were sociopathic little shits.

>>4174008
Even if he ignores his desires of wanting them, simply having them be there to exert influence over Medusa should be enough of a motivation for wanting them out in reality.

>>4174014
>influence over Medusa
When he has complete control already?

>>4174015
Yeah. It's not like with Saber where he hates her, Rider is just convenient, and he likes seeing little girls happy.

File: mods.png (8 KB, 767x119)

8 KB PNG

>>4174017
>Yeah.
No.
It's a waste of effort, time and space.
>Rider would be 1/10 but also 10/10!
Who gives a flying fuck about Rider's opinions?
>Hecate would be very impressed! The gods wrote them off as a lost cause
The gods didn't bring the twins back because all they did was act as bait for horny old bastards who got eaten by Medusa in the end. This """resurrection""" isn't worth all that much in the end, and the twins are useless.

Ignoring these facts proves that you're inserting your bias into Alberich's actions.

>>4174039
>Shutting down the suggestion this hard for no reason.
You can just admit the Island has frustrated you anon.

>Waste of time
? Where have you been? Have you not noticed Alberich likes little girls who are mature? Even if it inconveniences him in certain ways to obtain them?
>Lol it's just rider who cares.
Her sisters actually, which is what I was getting at. They might dislike us but if Medusa is somewhat accepting of the situation then so will they.
>The gods didn't want them back because they were succubi
If they could've revived them they probably would've done it before having Medusa get beheaded. There might be more evidence that they felt they couldn't perform such a revival but I'm not the person who can point that out given my dearth on up to date fate lore.

>You are biased and inserting your bias into Alberich's actions
...Do you even know what a quest is? What do you think voting represents? I would love to see a biasless quest.
Regardless, you didn't even postit an alternate motivation for his course of actions.
As it is either hypothetical is viable.

>>4174039
Wasn't Medusa's transformation into the Gorgon --and the resulting incident-- one of the Greek pantheon's greatest regrets?

>>4174015
>complete control
Technically true, but Alberich's faction is a clusterfuck of people who are more than ready to kill at least half of their allies at the first chance they get. Part of me would want some extra insurance against a rebellion should the curse get disrupted in some way, but the other part of me wants to let the house of cards collapse so we can build something more stable from the rubble.

>>4174054
>Even if it inconveniences him in certain ways to obtain them?
When did Alberich throw away common sense to get little girls who suck his blood?
>Her sisters actually, which is what I was getting at. They might dislike us but if Medusa is somewhat accepting of the situation then so will they.
So we should get the sisters because it would make Medusa happy, but only the sisters would care about Medusa's happiness?
>There might be more evidence that they felt they couldn't perform such a revival
Probably Athena lobbying against it because she dislikes Medusa's pretty pretty hair.
>...Do you even know what a quest is? What do you think voting represents? I would love to see a biasless quest.
That's not what I mean and you know it. There is a difference between pursuing a certain viable course of action because you are biased toward it and chasing after the moon because you want to stick your dick in it.
You're metagaming to an absurd degree: control Medusa instead of killing her because Stheno and Euryale, when Alberich has no idea that getting Stheno and Euryale should be possible. You're making enormous assumptions about our capabilities -- absorption literally absorbing people in a mindscape and HOS supporting anything it didn't summon -- to justify this course of action. From any perspective except your own, you are biased and you are forcing your bias onto this quest.
>Regardless, you didn't even postit an alternate motivation for his course of actions.
Here's an alternate motivation: Alberich wants to torment Shirou with Saber and Rider because he's a psychopath who takes great pleasure in seeing his enemies driven before him and hearing the lamentations of their women.
>>4174060
>Wasn't Medusa's transformation into the Gorgon --and the resulting incident-- one of the Greek pantheon's greatest regrets?
I never heard of anything like that. Athena, at least, would regret nothing because she can be a bitch like that. This entire island is a testament to her bitchiness.

>>4174088
Excluding saber, who of our allies do you think would actually try to kill the others? All that immediately springs to mind is Lily wanting to kill Ayaka and become our master.

>>4174102
>When did Alberich throw away common sense to get little girls who suck his blood?
>Lemme just jump over this wall and hang out with loli hitler, even though she has every reason to want me dead and can pulverize me instantaneously.
Don't even try on this one anon. Anyone who read the original quest knew what would happen if they chose that course of action, and they were right.
>Let's just talk down my previous servants even though they're traitors.
>Let's spend an entire fucking day with this girl instead of training or reconnaissance.
>So we should get the sisters because it would make Medusa happy, but only the sisters would care about Medusa's happiness?
Are you having a stroke? I've already said Alberich likes seeing little girls happy.
>Making assumptions about our capabilities.
Given that this is something nobody has attempted before, you need to be theoretical. So here goes:
Given what the entities on this Island are: "As you have gathered, all those who dwell on this island are spirits: the lingering shades of those who once lived here, continuing their existence through me."
And that emptiness specializes in effecting non-coporeal entities i.e. spirits, we could gain control over their existence the same way we hijacked Circe's magic.
Since Medusa's constitution is an amalgamation of all that she's consumed, individually distinguishing them externally is hell, and the most likely explanation for why they were wrote off as dead completely, which is why if we gain a link to those 2 specific entities we can extract them since it wouldn't be a herculean task, it would just be pulling them out.
And I still don't see how only using the latter half of the second miracle is assuming anything about our capabilities. Even if sustaining them via our sword is out, we do have the former goddess of magic who can help figure out some way to sustain their existence outside of Medusa.
>Forcing my bias on the quest.
And you aren't? Lmao anon, anyone is welcome to post their biases all over the quest. Whether you let it effect your voting decisions or your outlook on the story is all in your own head.

>Here's an alternate motivation: Alberich wants to torment Shirou with Saber and Rider because he's a psychopath who takes great pleasure in seeing his enemies driven before him and hearing the lamentations of their women.
Ok? I don't see how that's a counter to what I wrote, in fact it only adds to it. Situations can't develop? That may have been his original motive, but the situation changed when Rider became a loli.

>>4174007
>This makes me curious, how do you think our alliance would fall apart?
>Where are the weak points?
Odin is obvious. I'm worried about the K-hime/Ayaka/Lily dynamic. None of those 3 want to work with the other 2. Circe and Arturia both still probably resent us and want to see us fail so we can expect willful neglect at minimum if we're not around to give them orders. Hecate doesn't seem to want to help us. Futodoki told us straight out that he doesn't really feel bound to us and is only working for us as long as it's a good time.
I don't have a guess about what the disaster's gonna be, but that's what I expect to make it as bad as it can get.

>>4174208
>Odin is obvious.
Is he? He just wants a good fight, and I'm not sure Harris, Matsuda, Sakura, or Shirou could give it to him.
Now, he might try to turn some of our allies against us irreversibly so we get stronger before we face him, but I think he's generally just a bystander unless asked to intervene.

>None of those 3 want to work with the other 2.
Actually, Kourakuhime doesn't really mind Lily iirc, just doesn't like playing human. And I don't think Lily hates Kourakuhime, she was dismissive of her until she de-powered and lolified rider.
Otherwise I understand your concern.

>Circe and Arturia
I'll give you Arturia, but Circe doesn't hate us, at the moment I think she's in-between regret and affection. She does hate Lily though.

>Hecate is aqua
Hecate is helping Ayaka, and we didn't really ask her for magic lessons, so we don't really know how willing to help she'll be since we're still going through her champion screening interview.

>Futodoki
Not sure about him. But he does rely on us to stay on this plane, same with Hecate. He didn't seem unwilling to work with us either, just wasn't jumping to be first in Alberich's line.

>It will be the worst thing Alberich's ever gone through.
Maybe, but if we have traitors, and they're serious, I'm gonna feel sorry for their futures when all they had to do was not betray the dude who'll go out of his way to help you even at his active detriment if you don't betray him, unless you have mutually opposed goals of course.

>>4174251
>He just wants a good fight
According to him. Remember when Lily said he had some weird ulterior motive for the grail?
>Brocon oni doesn't hate the girl who went successfully from "sister" to wife
Come on dude. She might keep it in better than the others but there's no way she's cool with Lily.
>Circe's feelings
I disagree with you but we don't know. Either could be right.
Fair point on Hecate.
>Futodoki
First thing he said to us was something like "send me back if you want, I don't really care. I'm not your tool." Dude is working with us now cause he's got nothing better to do, but he'll bounce if he feels like it.
>traitors
I don't actually think out-and-out traitors are the biggest danger though. It's more that we have a group with terrible cohesion and no MO besides "do exactly what Alberich says". How are they going to deal with a surprise attack from a faction that won a HGW, Magic Snake, or both when we're unconscious? Signs point to fucked.

>>4174273
>ulterior motive for the grail
He has Gilgamesh's motive. He wants humans to stop being shit and is willing to use the Grail to make that happen. This was almost explicitly said when Adelheid pointed out how Odin wasn't really acting how she though Odin would, and when we observed his derisive stare towards humans during the date with Lily.

>Come on dude. She might keep it in better than the others but there's no way she's cool with Lily.
Tsubaki is pretty open about her emotions, and Alberich hasn't noticed her acting harshly towards lily. I'd even say she probably likes her since she isn't human and doesn't really care about humans either. Even being wife tier probably would only elevate her in her perverted mind, since she has an Alberich domination fetish and being relegated to a lower position automatically might make her more horny than she is.

>I disagree with you but we don't know. Either could be right.
She's more likely to try for revenge on Lily than on Alberich. It's her M.O.

>cat dude
yeah, but I feel like he'd just ask to get sent back rather than plot against us.

>chicken with the head cut off
Yeah that would be a funny interlude. But we do have Adelheid who should be able to direct the battle effectively with her military tactics, and Korakuhime with her bounded fields.

>>4174282
>more horny than she is.

more horny than she *already is.

Did Sweets died?

>>4174282
>how she though Odin would

how she *thought Odin would

>>4174486
Probably fell asleep at the desk again.

Sorry about the lack of update last night or this morning, folks.
Sorry about everything with my writing volume lately. I know there have been a lot of broken promises, short updates, etc.
I don't want to get into too much detail about my life, but things haven't been going too well in the wake of this whole virus and quarantine thing. I'll try to do better in the future.

>>4174830
It's all good, this virus business has got everything all turned upside down, take a break if you need it.

Rising back up from your crouch to look Laifos in the eye, or at least to focus on the burning coals where his eyes ought to be, you growl, "What did you do that for, hmm?"

"Just what could you mean?" comes the hissing reply, a dead, cold mirth in the creature's rasping voice. You hadn't noticed it before, when he was in the shadows of the cell, but the individual rags that make up Laifos' form undulate slightly as he speaks, opening and closing like the gills of a fish.

"Burning my last assailant this way," you answer curtly, rolling the corpse over with your foot to bring its hideously roasted face into view. In several places the assassin's skin seems to have not only burned but bubbled and run, as if a boiling liquid, and there are at the cheeks and forehead patches of cracked yellow bone exposed through the blackened flesh. "You said yourself that they're dead already, and will return in time from any injury; even if you bore this man a grudge, what you've done would be purposeless. It's the stranger if he set you free, though given the state of your cell I doubt that."

"Heh heh heh... you need to think a little harder, Alberich," the thing rasps contemptuously. "It should all be plain enough, if you only examine the situation and apply your mind. But, if you want an explanation, I can give it to you. That buffoon at your feet set me free on the condition that I help him to set a trap for you. Since the notion of helping him to take your life didn't appeal, I removed him from the situation; but don't worry for him, as you've observed it isn't any permanent harm to the fellow." He pauses, and an undulating wave of fabric almost suggesting a gesturing arm extends right, toward the cell. "As for the lack of damage to my place of imprisonment, consider the form with which I was cursed. One of the few aspects of this wretchedly amorphous body one might call redeeming is the fact that I am no longer the sort of being which can be impeded by a set of bars. That cell was only a symbol of my imprisonment, which came in the form of a curse. Athena, you see, found it amusing to decree that the man who had spent his life advising others in how to direct their faith, and who had incurred her wrath by practicing that duty, should be freed only if he could convince someone to assent to his freedom. Then she placed me here in the depths of the catacombs, where I would never see another face." Bitterly he adds, "I had some hope when the dead heroes began to revive, you know; but they, who had come to this isle to slay one beast cursed by Athena had nothing but contempt for another. It was only by taking advantage of this one's cowardice that I could finally get my long-desired escape."

"Considering how you served him, those who refused had good sense," you retort, "but very well, now you have your escape; why try to kill me the way you have? What grudge could I have given you? To kill one man attempting to kill another, and then make your own attempt on the second's life is the act of a man dead-set on taking revenge with his own hands, not of one who kills by chance or convenience. Why? We only met today; I can hardly have made such a determined enemy in such time."

"No, I'm afraid you're wrong again there," Laifos answers. "I bear you no ill will at all. You do, however, bear the key to my second prison: the soul of the woman who devoured me. You are alive, Alberich; you have within you the path out of this prison. Should you die at my hands, by the right method, I need only follow that path back out to whatever body you have, and see the world as it truly is. I wonder how long it's been since my death..."

As Laifos trails off, seemingly lost in thought, there is a sudden swirling of the rags as of a cloaked man throwing out a hand, a murmured word of power, and a gout of flame bursts forth, roaring out down the passage toward you. Only by throwing yourself to the ground at the last moment do you evade the mass of crackling death, though your back is seared in spite of your narrow escape. The moment it lets up you spring back to your feet. The time for discussion is over, clearly. Sliding your shield around from its place on your pack's strap onto the arm that bears your torch, you bring it forward to protect you against further bursts of flame as you charge forward, drawing your sword and driving it into the heart of the mass of rags that is Laifos in one smooth, swift motion brought to completion before he can react.

The fabric recedes before you, bursting apart like a cloud of smoke and passing you by as you charge. You spin on your heel just in time to see him reform, quite unchanged by the attack. Still, at least you've now confirmed what you had only his word for previously, and the monster is no longer between you and the exit of these catacombs.

>[ ] If steel can't harm him, perhaps something else can. Laifos claimed he'd burn if he stood beneath the sun, so he's obviously flammable; perhaps your torch will serve as a replacement for your sword down here.

>[ ] In a situation like this, there's nothing for it but to retreat step-by-step. Watch Laifos' attacks, evade them with care, and attempt to draw him out of the catacombs to burn in the light of the sun.

>[ ] Mundane methods aren't sufficient to harm a monster cursed with a miserable immortality, eh? In that case, you'll have to exchange your weapon for magic. Any spiritual body should be susceptible to the element of Emptiness, according to Circe's teachings. Fighting with it isn't something you've had much of a chance to practice, but perhaps you can polish your skills in a trial by fire.

>[ ] Invent a different plan. (Write in)

Alright, folks, this is the decisive moment. You've got the next 10 hours to settle on a plan to defeat the immortal beast Laifos. Let's see if you can match Heracles in insight!

>>4175092
>[X] Mundane methods aren't sufficient to harm a monster cursed with a miserable immortality, eh? In that case, you'll have to exchange your weapon for magic. Any spiritual body should be susceptible to the element of Emptiness, according to Circe's teachings. Fighting with it isn't something you've had much of a chance to practice, but perhaps you can polish your skills in a trial by fire.

I doubt he'd be stupid enough to let himself be lured out of the catacombs, no matter how slyly we do it, and if burning himself was an effective method of suicide he wouldn't have had to leave the catacombs to commit suicide while alive.

>>4175092
>>[ ] Mundane methods aren't sufficient to harm a monster cursed with a miserable immortality, eh? In that case, you'll have to exchange your weapon for magic. Any spiritual body should be susceptible to the element of Emptiness, according to Circe's teachings. Fighting with it isn't something you've had much of a chance to practice, but perhaps you can polish your skills in a trial by fire.
bait a fireball attack, take control and redirect it towards him. he'll think that's the ace up our sleeve but the real trick is closing distance to use our emptiness.

>>4175092
>>[ ] Mundane methods aren't sufficient to harm a monster cursed with a miserable immortality, eh? In that case, you'll have to exchange your weapon for magic. Any spiritual body should be susceptible to the element of Emptiness, according to Circe's teachings. Fighting with it isn't something you've had much of a chance to practice, but perhaps you can polish your skills in a trial by fire.
Let's taunt this asshole. Let's tell him of Circe's downfall and how the ex priest now serves an ex Goddess. A mere nymph stripped of her divinity.
A mere nymph who serves us at that.

>>4175134
Just one fireball?
What if he uses the time we take to dominate one spell to cast more?
I guess learning to defuse spells mid-combat is what trial by fire is supposed to imply.

>>4175159
That's good, could we taunt him about how if he still serves her, that he should technically serve us?
Dunno if that would piss him off or make him laugh.

>>4175134
>bait a fireball attack
I'm not sure about that. All of his attacks until now have been jets of fire, except for when he remotely made our torch explode. I feel like we're not going to get that kind of easily redirected projectile.
>>4175159
Do you think he'll care? He seems pretty contemptuous of Athena and Medusa, and didn't exactly flatter Circe in his story. Maybe after being imprisoned so long he got to a point of "all gods are assholes, fuck em".

I'm not sure, but >>4175096 gives me the feeling none of the prompts work and we have to come up with a write in. Anyone have any ideas?

>>4175337
When I read >>4175096 I got the feeling like "Think carefully about this, what will actually work?"

I find Alberich's thought process for this choice sound, and any alternative I can come up with is just a variation on the 3 choices presented.
He can't be cut.
He's immune to fire.
He isn't retarded so baiting him into sunlight should be impossible, he can just wait until nighttime to hunt us down if he has to.
He might be effected by hearing about Circe's future, since he might've felt abandoned by her, but if he learns she was exiled too he may feel chagrin at the least towards her fate.

Do you think if we eat Laifos we'll count as having the link necessary to use AoG magic?

>>4175353
No. If eating Achilles, Odysseus, being linked to Circe, summoning an actual goddess, the former goddess of magic herself, and having an artifact with divine blessings doesn't let us use HSDW, eating a cursed priest wont do it either.

>>4175359
We didn't eat their entire souls though.
Most of it escaped from us to the grail.
Fully consuming his entire soul and incorporating him into us however might give us the link we require

>>4175365
Don't you need divinity to use HSDW? Divinity is a shit stat that I do not want Alberich getting.

>>4175368
Look at Circe's status page.
Then look at Medea's.
Then Medea Lily.
The only HSDWs user with actual divinity is Nitocris.

Also divinity is only bad if your opponent happens to carry the absolute rarest type of NP, the Anti-Divine NP.
And those tend to be broken enough to kill divine or non divine with equal killiness.

>>4175385
They might be rare, but when you try to do something like take over the world, and actually have a good chance at accomplishing it, things that are considered rare tend to be brought out of hiding to get rid of you.
It's just another weakness that doesn't really give appropriate compensation for having.
Especially when you can choose not to have it.

Alright, so maybe it has a higher chance of working than I gave it, but we'd have to eat his soul, and come out on top of his thousands of years of imprisonment. And that's even if Alberich can develop a method to consume his soul in the first place.

Didn't Sweets say something about how the way we were changed by the Silver Grail was influenced by Circe? Could we use that somehow?

>>4175454
Being linked to Circe made us look more like a Greek statue over time.
Makes me wonder what being linked to Ayaka and now Lily is/will do to us.

I'm confused. I thought the reason we couldn't use HSDW was that they only worked during the Age of Gods, and Casters like Circe just understood magic well enough to sort of hack them into functionality. Didn't Circe have a line like that in Akeldama? Why would getting more of a link to the past make them work for us, when our whole theme is being some kind of new hero for a new age?

>>4175537
She said it was because she had a link to the era that could use HSDW, so she could use them.
Conversely, if we had a link we would be able to use them as well is the logic.

>>4175092
>>[ ] Mundane methods aren't sufficient to harm a monster cursed with a miserable immortality, eh? In that case, you'll have to exchange your weapon for magic. Any spiritual body should be susceptible to the element of Emptiness, according to Circe's teachings. Fighting with it isn't something you've had much of a chance to practice, but perhaps you can polish your skills in a trial by fire.

Going with this.

So we're firmly set in our plan here?

>>4176093
You do have another hour to discuss matters, but given that the vote has been unanimous so far it does look that way.
It would've been nice if you'd come to more of a detailed conclusion regarding what to do with the added ideas at >>4175134 and >>4175159, though.

Bit late to change much but my thoughts,
>>4175134
Most of his pyromancy have been jets of fire and explosions unless we develop black hole shields on the fly I don't think we'll be able to really catch anything and trying may prove fatal in confined spaces,
>>4175159
Taunting may work if he cares, could also try to restrain with ribbons if they've recovered enough strength to last long enough, either way our focus should be to close the distance to absorb and I don't think charging a mage without a proper distraction will work.

>>4176257
Ribbons are unusable without HGS.

>>4176257

>>4175134
I don't oppose trying to shield his efforts, but I'm pretty sure that would fall under rejection, so we'd need to have a hell of an inspiration to manifest that in this situation. We could do this. I'll support it.
>>4175159
I think ribbons are too much to sustain in this world, we should focus on wielding emptiness properly. I support the distract him by taunting detail.

So, something like this:
>Taunt him by talking about Circe while attempting to shield yourself from his attacks using emptiness shields, while closing in to use emptiness on his body directly.
maybe?

>>4175092
>[ ] Mundane methods aren't sufficient to harm a monster cursed with a miserable immortality, eh? In that case, you'll have to exchange your weapon for magic. Any spiritual body should be susceptible to the element of Emptiness, according to Circe's teachings. Fighting with it isn't something you've had much of a chance to practice, but perhaps you can polish your skills in a trial by fire.
>>4175385
>Look at Circe's status page.
>Then look at Medea's.
>Then Medea Lily.
Remember that all of these people lived in the Age of Gods.
>>4175537
Not only do you need a link to the Age of Gods, you need divine authority. Medusa and Circe are manipulating their Od VERY FINELY to simulate it. This is only my guess, but I suspect that Divinity would allow us to skip that step because a divine being is using the magic.

Sweets has also implied that we would need permission from the gods to gain Divinity.

>>4176314
>Sweets has also implied that we would need permission from the gods to gain Divinity.
Makes me wonder what stat we'd get using a servant sacrifice to add divinity to ourselves.

>>4176267
Why I said if we managed to recover enough strength i'm not expecting to hold him for long, just long enough to reach him.
Either way he isn't the manticore I don't expect him to get rattled enough by taunting alone for us to reach him and we'll need something to either distract, disrupt or block his fire.

>>4176277
I can support this if we can somehow get the votes although I still feel something is missing, probably just my paranoia though.

>>4176336
Maybe adding to do it sneakily?

>While taunting him by talking about Circe attempt to shield yourself from his attacks using emptiness shields, while sneakily closing in to use emptiness on his body directly.

Could blocking his spells be enough of a distraction? It could make him leap directly at us in a rage or confusion.

Unless anyone actually dissents, I'm fine with adding >>4176277 to your plan.
Also, I'm going to start writing in a half hour, so you have until then if anyone still has ideas to share.

>>4176353
To try to describe, if I remember right it took us the better part of an afternoon to first develop ribbons, we'd be developing something new in a domain the rest of our powers are weakened and even if we pull it off the thing about a shield is they only block in one direction, against an experienced mage they would only last until he adjusts his tactics and for us not to press the attack would require a degree of mastery over we shouldn't have.
Despite this I do feel there's something here worth looking into and even if it doesn't pan out against Laifos, if it's possible and with some proper development it could possibly give us an edge against Odin.

>>4176380
Well at this point we have more experience molding imaginary elements so it shouldn't be that difficult to use them in this manner, I don't think.

You know something, folks?
When you romanize a Greek word, there's no letter f.
His name should be Laiphos. I realized this about 3 hours after posting the update where he introduced himself, and it's been bothering me ever since because I couldn't decide whether I should point out the mistake and correct it or just run with it as an alternative spelling decision. I can't leave it be, though, so there. It's out in the open now.

>>4176380
This is pretty convincing. My question is, do you have another idea? I said earlier that it seemed like Sweets wanted us to come up with a write-in solution and none of the prompts would do it and I think you've figured out why the last one fails. What can we do though?

>>4176393
Perhaps, to be clear I can support giving it a shot but without prior training I'm not anticipating a miracle and feel we need to press the attack before he can adjust his tactics. Even if it doesn't pan out right now I do feel there's something there worth looking into later.

>>4176413
Personally, i'd just as soon give it the excuse that as I recall since 'Alberich' doesn't have universal language translation and he's just mentally spelling it as it sounds.

>>4176445
I'm sure Alberich can come up with a suitable way to wield his own powers if this specific suggestion fails.
I agree with there being something to train once we leave though.

Yes, you've confirmed that Laifos cannot be harmed by ordinary means, but to what end? You still have no idea what you actually can use to harm him save daylight, and you doubt he's fool enough to allow himself to be lured out into the sun. As you regard your enemy, contemplating how best to face him, a grim apprehension runs through you. Here is a foe impervious to your sole means of battle on this island, a creature possessed of an almost perfect immortality, bent on killing you. It could very well be your death facing you there, just a short way down the corridor. Of course, to simply look at him Laifos is hardly an impressive foe. The rustling, shifting mass of rotted silks has none of the grandeur of the mythic heroes you've battled before, nor the impression of unadorned, serious capability projected by the warriors you've met in these caverns; nor even the raw, beastly, animal danger of Mantikouros. There is only a vague sense of wrongness to his living, and a disgusting quality to his appearance; and yet, you cannot help feeling that in his aspect, his identity, his very essence, Laifos represents all entropy, all decay, all death, all failed plans and shortened lives, all the things which might oppose your desire for order and victory, stretching a grave-rotted hand out of the dead past to set an inescapable shadow of doom upon you.

No, this is all wrong! You blink rapidly, shake your head, and barely have time to duck out of the way as Laifos sends another jet of crackling flame shrieking toward your face. Was some magic of his affecting your mind, or have you simply spent too long in these crypts? No matter, you've managed to clear your head somehow. You can think properly now, and you have to; your mind needs to race if you're to find the way out of this, for while you may have shaken off your pessimistic vision the circumstances that inspired it haven't changed. What can kill that thing? Not your sword, not the torch that wields an element he controls, not dragging him out into the sun, for that's impracticable. There must be something else... then it hits you. He's a spirit. Everything here is; they seem solid enough in this world of spirit, but the truth is that this whole island is composed of what Circe once called, "possibilities outside the physical plane." That is to say, everything here should be perfectly susceptible to interference by Emptiness. It may even be that here you can manifest it with physical form, as you couldn't in the material world.

You sheathe your sword and toss your torch, letting it fall halfway between you and your foe. Both hands must be empty for the method of fighting you intend to try. Within you, a door opens that gazes out into the realm of impossibility on the opposite side of the world, and Od pours through it into your magic circuits.

Papering over the tension you feel with bravado, and hoping to draw an angry attack, you send a brash grin toward Laifos. "You really should experience the outside world, you know," you say, projecting a perfectly cavalier ease you don't feel in the slightest. "You could meet your goddess again, although she's been stripped of her divinity since then. She's merely a nymph now. It's a bit of an odd coincidence, really; Circe happens to be a servant of mine."

To your dismay, Laifos responds to your news with a crackling guffaw, rather than the burst of rage you'd hoped for. "You may be lying," he rasps, after he's gotten his mirth under control, "and probably are, but it's a lovely notion whether true or false. That haughty creature; she always thought herself the best of them, in spite of her rank. It would be just like her to finally overstep in her rivalry with Hecate and find herself being judged for deicide. Ahahaha! What a notion!" As he laughs, wavering back and forth in the corridor and seemingly out of control with mirth, Laifos lets fly with another surprise attack. This time a sheet of flame shoots out over the ground, aiming to incapacitate your legs. Evidently, Laifos has decided that your mobility is his main problem. Perfect.

Crouching and bringing your hands low, you focus on projecting the energy out of them as a rigid membrane of pure Emptiness, forming it into a curving shield just wide enough to protect your legs from the sheet of flame. This time, there's no invisible, intangible globule of power; it holds! The shield of Emptiness takes the form of a barrier of brilliant, pure-white light, almost too bright to look at, and where the fire touches it, it streams off, sparking and crackling angrily. A moment later, the overwhelming burden of manifesting the Imaginary Elements without Heiligöffnungschwert's miracle to sustain them settles on your shoulders like the restraining paw of some enormous predator, and you let it vanish. A moment, though, is all you need to defend against the brief rushes of fire that seem to be Laifos' preferred method of attack.

As you rise to your feet again, you spare a few seconds for gratitude toward your past self. The experiment with using Emptiness in pure elementalism you performed on Wednesday may not have borne any fruit at the time, but the practice you had then most likely just saved your life. Now you have a weapon that can deal properly with Laifos, you think. You only need to decide how best to use it.

>[ ] If Laifos is made up of those scraps of cloth in some kind of swarm, destroying them individually is the only way to put an end to him. Try to close distance and assault each piece of his body with Emptiness until you've chipped away the whole of Laifos' existence.

>[ ] The body may be amorphous, but that doesn't mean it lacks a core. In all of Laifos' movements, you haven't seen the immediate shape around the two orange sparks that burn where eyes ought to be significantly altered. If you can close in and make a killing blow against that, it should end him. It had better, for without your Noble Phantasms you fear you don't have the energy for a sustained battle of magic.

>[ ] While aiming for a killing blow or to destroy Laifos' body might appeal, you're not certain you can actually destroy him; only that the element can redirect these spiritual bodies. Instead, try to use your magic in repositioning the battle, gradually forcing Laifos out of the catacombs and into the sun with repeated blows.

>[ ] Invent another strategy. (Write in)

Alright, I realize that I said earlier that this was the decisive moment, and implied that your vote would end the battle with Laifos, which didn't end up happening.
It ended up being a decision between leaving the update unfinished, going to bed now, and posting an update twice as long as this tomorrow, or breaking it off here for a choice so I could post something tonight. Hope you folks don't mind too much.

>>4176738
>[X] The body may be amorphous, but that doesn't mean it lacks a core. In all of Laifos' movements, you haven't seen the immediate shape around the two orange sparks that burn where eyes ought to be significantly altered. If you can close in and make a killing blow against that, it should end him. It had better, for without your Noble Phantasms you fear you don't have the energy for a sustained battle of magic.

>>4176738
>[ ] The body may be amorphous, but that doesn't mean it lacks a core. In all of Laifos' movements, you haven't seen the immediate shape around the two orange sparks that burn where eyes ought to be significantly altered. If you can close in and make a killing blow against that, it should end him. It had better, for without your Noble Phantasms you fear you don't have the energy for a sustained battle of magic.

>>4176314
Divine words are a Contract between someone and a God/Goddess that allows the caster to borrow a Fraction of the Gods authority.
Meaning Circe and medea both use Hecate's authority, the same rule applies for Nitocris to whoever gave her the ability.
Also medea and Circe do not use their own Od, they instead use the Mana in the environment, a skill that has been lost in Modern mages.

>>4176764
>Also medea and Circe do not use their own Od
They don't use it to cast spells, they use it to simulate the divine authority over the World that doesn't exist anymore. Corce explains this in City Akeldama: divine authority maintains the rule that the divine language can command the World, so when this rule isn't enforced any longer she has to simulate divine authority locally by manipulating her Od.
>a skill that has been lost in Modern mages
Formalcraft exists in the modern era. It just isn't used much because using one's own Od gets better results in this age of diminished mystery.
>Meaning Circe and medea both use Hecate's authority
Circe doesn't need to borrow because she used to be a goddess.

read the whole quest again again, why do you think sweets made that pdf

>>4176764
>You see, the Divine Language carried authority over Mana because it was used by the gods, those for whom Mana was a natural tool. Even after the Age of Gods came to an end, as long as humans continued to use the Divine Language for magic, that authority would remain. The rule of 'Mana obeys the authority of the Divine Language' would have been kept ingrained in Gaia." Caster heaves a sigh as she continues, "Unfortunately, that isn't what happened. As I said, humans lost the Divine Language, and its inherent authority has faded with the passage of time. I'm able to use it now partially because of my own divine essence, and partially by layering Od-based spells to enhance my authority over Mana. Those spells are what expend the mystic energy I receive from you when I use magic.

>>4176752
Support.
I miss Heilig more than I miss our allies.

Well now, it seems 1:30 is as bad as 13:30, when it comes to folks being on the board and ready to vote. I was thinking of writing now, but with only three votes, I guess I'll wait for some more of you folks to get your thoughts in.
This is an important choice, you know.

>>4176738
>[ ] The body may be amorphous, but that doesn't mean it lacks a core. In all of Laifos' movements, you haven't seen the immediate shape around the two orange sparks that burn where eyes ought to be significantly altered. If you can close in and make a killing blow against that, it should end him. It had better, for without your Noble Phantasms you fear you don't have the energy for a sustained battle of magic.
>>4177198
Noooo please don't draw this out further

The time wasted on this fucking nothingburger of an arc is a far greater punishment than anything that might occur when we escape.
I'm so boooooored.
I feel like 80 percent of the updates have been worthless filler for this arc and could be skipped.
In fact, the entire arc is probably going to be skippable in it's entirety.

Fighting random irrelevant grunts and literal nobodies after being depowered is quite literally the opposite of what I want to see in a Fate quest FOCUSED ON SERVANTS.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>4173771
>>4173838
One day I get feedback like this...
>>4177235
Two days later it's this.

Fascinating. Testament to the fact that even with just a few readers, you can't please everybody.

>>4177235
>filler updates
Nah, every update has been somewhat important.
Everyone just consistently voted to give Alberich more rope to hang himself with.

>irrelevant arc
Highly doubtful, considering we'll most likely obtain 1 servant and 2 Goddesses along with further mastery over IN elements along with various more dubious upgrades like potential eotm or aotg.

>grunts and nobodies
Just because they didn't make it into the history books doesn't diminish their strengths or power.
Famousness is not a direct equivalent to how much of a threat they can pose.

>>4177239
I'm pretty sure it's a mindset thing.
I'm fine with stories that take a while so long as it's consistent all the way through.
That guy seems to want one specific thing from the quest, so when it's removed out come the reeeees.

File: BSOD2.jpg (61 KB, 1280x720)

61 KB JPG

>>4177198
>I guess I'll wait
pic-related

You know, it's just a theory, but I think Sweets might actually hate having male characters allied to the main character. Think about it. Ogawara turned into a completely different character entirely. Matsuda is a traitor coward who deserves death. Vaisset died nearly instantly. Laifos here has zero redeeming qualities. We're expected to want to kill Shirou because of a cutscene fight we as the players had no real part in where Alberich got hurt in total self defence.
And Odin is just the final boss loitering about and generally making a nuisance of himself.

The rest of the male characters generally could never have been allies.

Judas is a weird case, but considering the nature of his existence, I'm hesitant to call him an actual ally.

Thus Futodoki is our only male ally, and he's both a cat and somebody I can see betraying us at some point.
Because honestly, it's about the norm.
We even got "Trust nobody, not even yourself." Courtesy of Rushorou.

>>4177239
>Just a few readers.

As if you didn’t do this yourself. lol

>>4177271
>We're expected to want to kill Shirou because of a cutscene fight we as the players had no real part in where Alberich got hurt in total self defence.
Pretty sure their desire to destroy the artifact that is crucial to all our other plans is also part of it, I'm sure it's not just the grievous injury he sustained that if he hadn't had strong allies nearby would've eventually killed him.

>male conspiracy
I think it's more that Alberich forgives women more easily than men. Remember that he didn't really like Vaisset, so he didn't take many precautions to ensure his safety.
Ogawara apparently liked crossdressing, so he was always going to turn out that way. I'm kinda curious how Akeldama would've turned out if he was chosen instead of Yumigawa.
We did have a choice to go find Matsuda. I think we decided to experiment with Emptiness instead, but I know we decided to ignore him, and he got found by Harris. I'd say he's still recruitable, but it'll be harder if he does lasting damage to anything we care about.
Laiphos has gone insane after thousands of years of isolation, and a burning hatred towards gods.
Odin is as you say.
Cat dude is a cat. They do as they please, but I don't see him betraying us out of nowhere, especially when we're sustaining his existence. He took to our first assignment we sent him on pretty well too.

>>4177287
>current arc is sweets fault
Nobody wanted to discuss what kind of place we're inhabiting until sweets started getting frustrated with the players.
This is like 99% on everyone else's heads.

>>4177271
>We will never have another bro, just like Shorou
No! It isn't true! It can't be!
Seriously though, I think I get why. Weve seen how much Sweets rabidly hates FGO, and the MC there has platonic friendly ambiguous relationships with people of all genders because it's a genderless character with 2 bodies. On the other hand FSN has Shirou pretty much surrounded by exclusively female allies. Maybe Sweets decided that if she wanted to make a really good Fate quest she had to follow in Nasu's footsteps and write about her ideal husbando in the middle of a harem.

>>4177299
>Nobody wanted to discuss what kind of place we're inhabiting until sweets started getting frustrated with the players.
I have no idea what this sentence means. Can you explain to an idiot?

>>4177299
Nobody wanted to take a vacation to the shapeless isle so nobody wanted to talk about the situation. Obviously.
It's far more difficult to want to discuss something that you aren't all too interested in.
And sorry, but there's just way too much of a distance from the main plot here for this segment to feel like it actually matters. It's just become a drawn out waifu collecting. How did Sweets not think this was going to piss off the people who didn't want this in the first place?

Sweets is frustrated at the players for being frustrated at him. This further frustrates. Frustrating.

For the record, I'm not frustrated with anyone. If I came off that way, I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention.

>>4177312
>elaborate
Once we got here, everyone just took it in stride that we'd just figure out the secret method of escape if we played along with everyone in the place who's mistress has an interest in keeping us here out of spite.
Just went along with it until sweets pointed out we were in a headspace, which should have been one of the first things people talked about once we found out we were on an island. This led to us summoning Judas, and eschewing another method of resolution for a completely different one.

>>4177315
>i don't wanna be here!
>let's not discuss escape methods!
It's their own fault don't be silly.

>what was sweets thinking!
Probably that the servant with an established inner-world would have an inner world when we soul-dived.

>the cycle of frustration continues
I'll always point out that the players action, thought, and foresight, or lack thereof, led to this exact outcome.
Sweets is simply the facilitator.

>>4177324
Really? Those posts about how all avenues of conclusion you set up being sidestepped, and the arc progressing far longer than you had intended seemed to express frustration.

>>4177337
>Those posts about how all avenues of conclusion you set up being sidestepped, and the arc progressing far longer than you had intended seemed to express frustration.
I was just trying to explain to folks how things had worked out the way they have, and make clear that I hadn't planned to keep you on this island for so long. I don't mind if things don't go according to my plans in the quest, I just write in. You could stay here on the island all year, and if you folks were happy, I would be.
Obviously a lot of people aren't happy, though, hence my going out of my way to explain what happened in the hopes of mollifying them while we move toward the conclusion of the arc.

>>4177353
That should read "I just write it".

>>4177337
>It's their own fault don't be silly.
Actually it goes more
>I don't want to be here!
>I didn't vote to be here!
>I don't want to play this!
>*stops participating*
>comes back about a month later
>still on island

Hell, I voted to take control of Medusa and even I think this arc is taking far far too long. I can't even begin to think of how fatigued the people that were advocating executing her are right now.

>>4176738
>>[ ] The body may be amorphous, but that doesn't mean it lacks a core. In all of Laifos' movements, you haven't seen the immediate shape around the two orange sparks that burn where eyes ought to be significantly altered. If you can close in and make a killing blow against that, it should end him. It had better, for without your Noble Phantasms you fear you don't have the energy for a sustained battle of magic.

>>4177299
Looking back makes me wonder how things would've turned out had we kept Keiseki alive, if it weren't for us Matsuda would've likely gotten boned and Ogawara would've probably been killed in the crossfire of a servant battle, even if he'd still have been our enemy he was the only one of our siblings competent enough to survive without relying on us.

>>4177356
>not trying to get the quest to flow in the direction you're interested in and just ditching it when things don't go your way
yea it's their fault.

>>4177365
>Matsuda
Yeh he woulda gotten boned.

>Ogawara
Didn't the servants leave him alone without our intervention? With his A+ Rank luck he would've found a nice house, cooked a meal for himself, but accidentally spill something that ruined his clothes, prompting him outside, that would've let him see the city burning, and cause him to escape to the 8th city, wherein he would pick a completely inconspicuous hideaway and just read 2ch until the war ended.

>Keiseki
How would that have realistically happened? I don't see a world where Yumigawa spares him after the shit he pulled, and I bet their personalities wouldn't get along well even in a universe bereft of the archer betrayal.

>>4177370
>Ogawara
By the words of Sweets, Ogawara was a single digit on a dice roll from death.
He would've died without somebody to protect him.

He's not like Taiga who can just EX rank luck her way to indirectly saving the world.

>>4177370
>How would that have realistically happened? I don't see a world where Yumigawa spares him after the shit he pulled, and I bet their personalities wouldn't get along well even in a universe bereft of the archer betrayal.

Probably not, although people we're hoping Matsuda to be loyal because we got along, i'm just wondering about how things might've turned out on the off chance people voted to keep the only other 'player select' option to summon a servant around; esp since in the "concrete dead end" timeline Akeldama would've likely become 'his grail war' at the end of night 1.

>>4177376
Still one lucky guy. Maybe he would've found someone else, who knows. His luck hasn't terminally failed him yet.

>>4177387
>Keiseki would've won
Nope, apparently Clint was so badass, he would've won if we weren't even more badass.
Fucking archers.
Odysseus really got shafted.
Wtf was Circe thinking sealing his most useful skill?
No wonder Alberich was so disappointed in her planning.
Also, I remember Sweets saying he was looking forward to having fun with Archer's hag and the former master of Rider.
What happened to that?

>>4177403
>Also, I remember Sweets saying he was looking forward to having fun with Archer's hag and the former master of Rider.
>What happened to that?
The story just... didn't end up going that way, is all. It didn't quite work out.

>>4177403
Never said he would've won, after all Clint did prove he could beat Blackbeard in a straight fight, just that without us he'd would've ended up the only one of 'us' left with any skin in the game. Does also make me wonder what Judas would've done if all of his 'children' ended up dead, would he even bother finishing Akeldama, reset with another batch or just settle for whoever would end up winning?

>>4175460
>Makes me wonder what being linked to Ayaka and now Lily is/will do to us.
Well, Sweets said that the statue thing was us changing to fit Circe's tastes. Lily has her whole incestuous thing going on. She wants us as an Einzbern, so I don't think her tastes change us. It seems like the link to Ayaka should've made us look more like Rushorou again since she had a crush on him, but we've spent a pretty long time linked to her now and that doesn't seem to be happening. Maybe she doesn't have strong feelings about it?
>>4177594
Probably he would've just finished Akeldama with the function he gave Vaisset, eaten everyone, and fought the HGW as a super-caster.

posts too big, can't concentrate long enough to read the quest

>>4177935
>reading a nasuverse quest
>complaining about amount of text

>>4177944
I guess I should say:
>complaining about a huge amount of text
since most of us dislike small updates

A noise of frustration not unlike sizzling fat draws your attention back to Laifos, who seems from what little body language is perceptible in the bizarre shape of the creature to be regarding you with far more intensity than before. He's increased in volume, stretching his height up to the peak of the corridor; and his 'eyes' burn brighter, no longer gleaming sparks but shining pockets of flame. "I see magic truly has advanced since my demise," he comments, in a voice of barely controlled rage. "That technique of yours was composed of something quite unlike what Circe and Hecate taught their pupils to command. I don't suppose you would care to enlighten me as to its nature."

"Hardly," you retort with scorn. "Why should I share my magical knowledge with a resentful wraith determined to end my life? You can perish in ignorance, Laifos, knowing the magical expertise that formed your only mark of distinction while alive is as out-of-date as the rest of you." The words fall from your lips almost without thought, as you relegate the projection of confrontational bravado to the second string of mental activity, focusing with the forefront of your mind on tactical considerations. You need to find some way of dealing this thing a true killing blow, ending it with one strike from your newly-effective elementalism. The strain you can already feel on your body from even one use is enough to tell you that you can't manage a drawn out battle; but what form can that killing blow take? What you created a moment ago was merely a barrier; useful enough for redirecting flame, but if you follow the example and form a hard weapon out of Emptiness, you have little doubt that Laifos' amorphous constitution will protect him from any damage your blows might inflict.

Then it hits you, and you charge. You can't waste any more time on the defensive, but must conserve your energy by acting the moment you have an idea; and now you do. Fire. It's the element he favors, certainly, but it's also the means of his destruction. If Laifos is exposed to sunlight, he'll burn. That means that you can destroy him by the same process. Form Emptiness into something like fire, elementally different but sharing its physical properties and means of destruction, and you'll have the ideal weapon to use against him. As for where to place your killing blow... You give your adversary a final examination, noting once more the diffuse nature of the shifting mass of rags, as well as the two points which are the sole unusual aspects of his form, and conclude that you'll have to strike there. You can only hope that the relatively static mass of cloth around those makeshift eyes really is some kind of core, and not merely a cosmetic decision to accommodate the sensibilities of a former human.

As you spring forward, rapidly closing with your unmoving foe, another ray of fire springs forth from an extended tendril of stained silk, shooting toward your eyes faster than a man can move; but you're no longer as slow as you were when you arrived, and the use of Emptiness grows easier with each attempt. You shift your course slightly to the right, and at the same time bat the offending flame away with your left hand, materializing a tiny barrier only for the very shortest moment of contact between your limb and Laifos' projectile. It's enough, though, and Laifos' magic curves away as you strike it; a rod becoming an arc under pressure superior to its rigidity. Laifos seems to shrink back slightly at this second display of your magic's effectiveness. He must know what's coming, you think. He sees in your magic a weapon he can't understand and almost certainly can't survive, in the hands by a man who, as long as he remains in the unwieldy body with which Athena cursed him, he cannot escape, but only attempt to ward off with ever more desperate use of his pyromantic magic.

As if to give credence to your inference of his thoughts, just as you're imagining this inner fear a wall of fire springs up from the stone between you to cut off your advance, though Laifos is nearly within arm's reach. Furious at the inhibition, you rend it apart with a sweep of your left hand, tearing it as a big cat might tear a curtain, with a glove of Emptiness to stand in for claws. Beyond, Laifos is retreating from you, rushing down the corridor like a swarm of black moths with, at the center, that never-changing 'head' of tightly wrapped cloth. You spur yourself on faster and faster, dragging every last bit of power out of your body to catch up with the gale-speed of Laifos' flight, but at last you do lay hands on him. Just as you cross the threshold of the chamber with the three empty pedestals you stretch out your right hand through the swirling cloud of rags and seize the core that you're now certain bears whatever spark of imitated life he has with enough force to crush a man's skull.

Energy surges through your magic circuits, and you focus your mind on the ideal form, calling up within your the image of a perfect, all-consuming flame that will burn every trace of this lying creature to ash the moment it appears. Just as it's about to take form, Laifos makes his final bid to put an end to you, unleashing a wave of fire at point-blank range that washes over you with with scorching, deadly heat. You don't flinch; can't, or it will all be for nothing. In a moment of perfect understanding that you tremble on the knife-edge between victory and death, you pour all the mystic energy within you through your hands, forming with the left a barrier of radiant light to shield as much of your body as possible, and in the right an orb of white-hot flame; a spot where the celluloid of reality has been melted away to expose only impossible light.

It's all over in a fraction of a second. You slump to the ground in the sudden darkness, temporarily blind; though the handheld sun you conjured for that brief moment remains burned into your vision, a rainbow phantom of peerless luminosity. Laifos is gone. Your guess about his core must have been correct, for even in utter darkness you know that the magical energy of the cursed priest's existence has vanished. From the elbow down your right hand is a mass of pain. It's the only part of your body you were unable to shield from your adversary's last desperate counterattack, and you don't relish the thought of seeing what it looks like in daylight; so you force yourself to ignore it, shut out the pain and analyze the rest of your body. Looking past the burns only tells you how far you've pushed everything else, though. You can feel that you've recovered a great deal of the superhuman strength of a mythical hero, but even with such resources at your disposal, it seems you've drained them down to the dregs. Every muscle, tendon, and magic circuit in your body screams its exhaustion to you in a voice transmitted by your nerves. Indeed, you're so bereft of energy that for a moment you're tempted to simply fall asleep here, and hope the dead will leave you unmolested while you recover. It would be so simple; you need only let your eyelids fall, and all the sensation begins to float away as you allow healing rest to overtake you...

No! You get yourself under control by an effort of will, forcing your eyes open and your feet under you once more. To shock your system out of the possibility of rest, you grab the edge of the plinth with your burned right hand and drag yourself upright, feeling the lance of red-hot pain that drives up your arm as you do so. Now your thoughts ought to be clearer. You can't rest here, but what course of action should be pursued is somewhat open.

>[ ] You entered this cavern with the intent of retaking the power of a hero by embodying the identity, and to be a hero is to fight under any condition. Descend further into the catacombs and hunt the risen dead.

>[ ] In the end you received no answers about the nature of this plinth, but experimentation might yet yield some favorable result, and your curiosity gnaws at you. Drag the corpses of the hoplite, mariner, and assassin onto the three pedestals and see if any insight strikes you.

>[ ] You need rest desperately, but haven't a chance of getting it here. Find your way out of the caverns and return to the room you were given in the Temple of the Gorgons, to recuperate there.

>[ ] This all must come to an end. Since coming to this island you've slain two monsters, as well as three would-be heroes revived from death. You feel that enough of your lost power has come back to you now that you can face Medusa; perhaps not as easily as if you were unharmed, but no matter. If what Judas implied about time passing at the same rate on the Shapeless Isle as outside of Medusa's spirit, you can afford to waste no time in returning.

>[ ] Do something else. (Write in)

>>4178534
>[ ] In the end you received no answers about the nature of this plinth, but experimentation might yet yield some favorable result, and your curiosity gnaws at you. Drag the corpses of the hoplite, mariner, and assassin onto the three pedestals and see if any insight strikes you.
Woah, it worked.
Time to solve the puzzle and open the hidden gate. There's no way they would put another monster behind it, right?

>>4178534
>[X] In the end you received no answers about the nature of this plinth, but experimentation might yet yield some favorable result, and your curiosity gnaws at you. Drag the corpses of the hoplite, mariner, and assassin onto the three pedestals and see if any insight strikes you.

>>4178534
>[ ] In the end you received no answers about the nature of this plinth, but experimentation might yet yield some favorable result, and your curiosity gnaws at you. Drag the corpses of the hoplite, mariner, and assassin onto the three pedestals and see if any insight strikes you.

>>4178534
>>[ ] In the end you received no answers about the nature of this plinth, but experimentation might yet yield some favorable result, and your curiosity gnaws at you. Drag the corpses of the hoplite, mariner, and assassin onto the three pedestals and see if any insight strikes you.

>>4178534
>[ ] You need rest desperately, but haven't a chance of getting it here. Find your way out of the caverns and return to the room you were given in the Temple of the Gorgons, to recuperate there.

>>4178534
>[ ] You need rest desperately, but haven't a chance of getting it here. Find your way out of the caverns and return to the room you were given in the Temple of the Gorgons, to recuperate there.
Healing is good.
>>4178544
Worked goes a little too far. We seem to have fucked up our hand pretty horribly and we're almost too tired to stand. Pretty sure that plinth isn't gonna open the door to the Master Sword either. It's all monsters on this island.

>>4178884
Athena loves smart people like Odysseus. It would be completely IC for her to make a retarded vidya puzzle and reward smart people. After all, a human would need an edge to keep up with Medusa and the free loot would be it.

>>4178896
Personally I expect it to be something like the curse on Medusa as a tangible object locked away in the deepest part of her inner world.

>>4178917
If that were the case, wouldn't we want to take that flight of stairs that leads to the deeper levels of the catacombs?bright now we're not in the deepest part of Medusa's inner world at all. If this is a dungeon, we're still on the first floor down.

>>4178884
>We seem to have fucked up our hand pretty horribly
That was because of Laiphos' attack, not because our spell failed, it was a complete success.

Alberich is becoming quite the magic knight, if we could create miniature suns, can we create miniature black holes?

>>4179070
Well, maybe. Mages with an imaginary Origin can access IN space to store things, and we have a portal to it.

>>4179070
On this note, although you worked with Emptiness here, that was due to the spiritual nature of this world. You should be able to produce similar effects outside of Medusa's spirit with Nothingness.

>>4179099
Did you miss an -n't in there somewhere?

>>4179106
No. Remember, when you experimented with elementalism of Emptiness before (in the Shijou library) you discovered that it was largely useless, because it lacks a physical form. It's the ethereal Imaginary element, as Void is the ethereal Real element. You can make good use of it in attribute-based magic, but elementalism with it is a wash. Only Nothinigness takes on a material form with elementalism.
You were able to form Emptiness into solid shapes and manipulate use it without attributes here because this is a realm of spirit; the entire place is ethereal. You won't be able to replicate those same effects with Emptiness back outside, though.
However, you can achieve the same sort of thing outside Medusa's spirit by substituting Nothingness for Emptiness. What I'm pointing out is that Alberich learned a new form to put his elemental materializations into during this encounter. Up until now he's only emulated solid materials like metal, silk, bamboo, etc. Now he's managed to materialize an element in the form of a physically destructive force, which skill can carry over from one type of elementalism to another.
Since none of you folks had touched on the subject, I thought it was worth making clear, so you can keep the ability in mind for future battles.

>>4179119
Yeah, mb, I misread Nothingness as Emptiness there.

So the Island taught Alberich how to nuke people with Imaginary Number magic?
This Island is worth it just for that.

Caster Alberich would've been busted.

>>4179119
Just in case anyone is confused about the properties of the elements, here's a short summary of their properties as Alberich has either been taught or found through experimentation:
Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind - The four classical and self-explanatory elements. Real elements with material properties, usable in pure elementalism as well as attribute-based magic. Alberich cannot use these, as he isn't aligned to them.
Void - Also known as Sky or Ether, the fifth Real element. Ethereal, rather than material, in nature. Unusable in pure elementalism, functional only through attribute-based magic. Excels in magic-altering mysteries that affect other magic of the four previous Real elements. Only Real element to which Alberich is aligned.
Emptiness - Best known Imaginary element by magi. Ethereal, rather than material. Use in pure elementalism is greatly aided by the effects of Heiligöffnungschwert, although even with the sword's aid its pure form is useless outside of an ethereal realm. Highly potent in a variety of attribute-based magic dealing with the Realm of Imaginary Numbers. If a human magus claims to use "the Imaginary Element," this is what they are referring to. Element to which Alberich is aligned most closely, as it is not only part of his elemental affinity but also conceptually (linguistically) bound to his Origin.
Nothingness - Less well-understood Imaginary element. Material rather than ethereal, but almost completely impossible for a magus without the aid of Heiligöffnungschwert to use in Reality. No human has been born aligned to this element. Because it represents "the Imaginary equivalent of the four material Real elements," it can take on almost any form when manifested through pure elementalism. Its effects on attribute-based magic are unexplored.

>>4179128
I wonder if this breakthrough will increase the usefulness of Vaisset's decoded notes.

>>4178534
>>[ ] In the end you received no answers about the nature of this plinth, but experimentation might yet yield some favorable result, and your curiosity gnaws at you. Drag the corpses of the hoplite, mariner, and assassin onto the three pedestals and see if any insight strikes you.

May as well, we do still have our regeneration don't we?
>>4179207
Hopefully, although since "no human has been born aligned to this element, almost completely impossible for a magus to use in reality and can take on almost any form when manifested through pure elementalism" i'd find it amusing if it turns out he basically spent his life trying to bootleg its effects.

>>4179241
If we're lucky, our increase in power from acting heroic has helped us with regen. What I worry about is that all of this imaginary element use without HGS is straining Ayaka to a dangerous level.

>>4179207
>>4179241
Possibly. If I'm reading: >4179140
Correctly, then since Void is one of the 5 elements, and if Vaisset's research truly is focused on transmuting the real elements into one another, even without the affinity for them, Alberich should be able to wield the other 4 classical real elements the same way he does Nothingness.
The benefits to this are immense, since Alberich would be able to make use of almost any magic he could come across.

Also, we should really keep in mind that we can make Nothingness take any form we please.
If we turned it into a gas do you think we could pull Circe's trick of surrounding the air around the body instead of halting the body itself?
Or if we wanted to turn the arena into IN hell, if we spread Nothingness out like water from our feet?

I wonder what applying transference, absorption, or rejection to Nothingness would make it do.
Maybe absorption would make it act like The Shadow, absorbing anything that touches it?
Transference... I'm honestly not sure. And anything about rejection is still just speculation since we haven't learned it.

>>4179300
Don't we regenerate via Ayaka's od? If we yanked too much out we'd start vanishing.

>>4179330
>>4179140
Whoops, messed up linking.

File: niKHIau.jpg (328 KB, 1125x1174)

328 KB JPG

>>4179140
Whatcha think of the FGO rendition of the head honcho of Olympus, Mr. Wherever-I-Go-I-Must-Rape?

>>4179349
I have to give them one thing, it's not as bad as the rest of their Greek stuff.
He's recognizably Zeus, even if he is mounted to a pillar like one of the EVA units being launched up to the surface. I'm not a fan of how they designed his weapon, or the giant bracelets, but overall it falls into the range of "non-terrible anime version of a Greek god."

>>4179140
I forgot to write this earlier, but
>Excels in magic-altering mysteries that affect other magic of the four previous Real elements.
Doesn't this mean we can use Void with absorption to subvert traditional magic? Or redirect it?

This should this be faster and more effective than using Emptiness to do the same since it's a Real Element right?
Would combining Void and Emptiness together and applying absorption create the ultimate magic counter? Or Nothingness infused with Void?
Nothingness shields infused with Void deployed under the absorption attribute sounds killer.

Or is there something I'm missing in this equation here.

>>4179494
Sometimes I look back on one of my own sentences and marvel at how I could have decided it was acceptable phrasing.
That should really read "Excels in magic which alters or affects mysteries aligned to the four classical elements."

>>4179494
Here's what we should do. Come up with different combinations of element and attribute and give them memorable names so we can actually discuss using in combat without feeling like we're writing a dissertation on the clusterfuck that is the fate magic system

>>4179705
That could be fun. Like an attack name thing sort of. Got any ideas?

>>4179705

I'm pretty trash at naming. So I just made a shitty table instead:

Nothingness (No Attributes) = Nothingness
Nothingness + Transference =
Nothingness + Absorption =
Nothingness + Rejection = ?

Nothingness + Emptiness + Transference =
Nothingness + Emptiness + Absorption =
Nothingness + Emptiness + Rejection = ?

Nothingness + Void + Transference =
Nothingness + Void + Absorption =
Nothingness + Void + Rejection = ?

Emptiness (No Attributes) = Emptiness
Emptiness + Transference =
Emptiness + Absorption =
Emptiness + Rejection = ?

Emptiness + Void + Transference =
Emptiness + Void + Absorption =
Emptiness + Void + Rejection = ?

Void (No Attributes) = Void
Void + Transference =
Void + Absorption =
Void + Rejection = ?

>>4179767
It'd have to be someone who actually knows what the combinations might create so I'm definitely not the right choice for that. Maybe once we practice some in the real world and see what we're actually capable of now.

I was thinking about Alberich's connection with Lily, and is it possible she'd be able to use Nothingness, Emptiness, and if she can't already, Void?
Judas said:
>By a similar token, she will remain unable to receive the powers you’ve gathered from Servants. Her existence would be simply unable to tolerate the incompatible power and attempted reshaping, leading to her death.
But that doesn't discount Origins and Elements, right? Something strong enough to kill both if one dies no matter the distance must be pretty deep.
And by that same merit, could Alberich develop magic using Lily's Origin and Element?

>>4178544
>>4178545
>>4178552
>>4178598
>>4179241
So, you folks are really sticking to that plinth investigation, huh? Alright. Writing.

>>4180369
I don't like the sound of that.

>>4180432
Sounds like amazement we're staying on the Island for any reason at all when everyone screeches about getting off it.

For a time, you consider the idea of making your way down one of the unexplored corridors in these catacombs, going in search of still more enemies to face in the hopes of fully recapturing your powers. The wrung-out state of your body and near-uselessness of your burned right hand are enough to convince you of that course's inadvisability, though. Just as impossible would be an immediate confrontation with Medusa. If there's one thing you're certain of in this situation, it's that you're in no condition to fight anyone at the moment. Still, you can at least hope for a recovery, considering the way yesterday's wounds had vanished by this morning. In the meantime, then, as you wait to recover, you may as well attempt to solve the mystery of this room that's been bothering you since your arrival: the meaning of the plinth at its center. Now that you have all three of the men who assailed you here incapable of continuing their aggression, you decide to test out your theory that they were originally the occupants of the three pedestals, and try the hope that something useful might come of replacing them.

At first you look down the corridor for your pack, hoping to recover your torches; a moment later and you could kick yourself for it. The fatigue must be doing things to your mind, for you to seek automatically after a light source that you needed Laifos' help to set ablaze. Of course, you could attempt the same thing by your newly discovered method of producing magical flame, but as drained as you are the last thing you want to do is expend magical energy on anything but the immediate preservation of your life. No, you'll just have to readjust to the gloom down here, though it seems all the blacker and more impenetrable after your time spent with the aid of a torch.

So, walking with blind, fumbling steps and using only one hand for the tasks, you set about finding and dragging back to the plinth first the mariner's corpse and then that of the hoplite. Both are of course headless, but hopefully their lack of brainpower won't inhibit whatever function the sculpture is meant to fulfill. In any case, you have enough difficulty hauling the two limp bodies up and seated on pedestals barely wide enough to accommodate them without the added trouble of fumbling around in the dark, searching for wherever their heads might have rolled off to amidst all the struggles that have gone on here in the last few hours.

Finally you do get them on the plinth, though, hunched forward at an angle that can barely be called upright but is the only way you can find to keep them from slumping back and falling off the pedestals altogether. Having thus managed the first two corpses into a state of careful equilibrium, you set off down the corridor to recover the assassin's body, feeling more ridiculous all the time. He, you find, has been no quicker to recover than his decapitated comrades, and for the first time you're grateful he's wearing the black mantle that helped him to easily remain hidden in the subterranean shadows; its hood serves as a convenient handhold to drag the body back with you instead of carrying it, and operating as you are one-handed this is a convenience you're well positioned to appreciate.

After another half-hour or so of fumbling with the dead man and his tendency to slide uncooperatively down from the plinth, you manage to work all three of the corpses into the same positions as one another, each sitting on a pedestal and hunched forward as if brooding on the injustice of their shared fate, to be used in this macabre display so long after their deaths. With the sculpture at last completed you make a slow circuit of the room, peering through the darkness at it from every angle in search of the hoped-for revelation. From wherever you examine the sculpture, though, it looks just the same: like an empty plinth on which someone has propped up three dead men. Neither is there any grating of hidden machinery or display of suddenly activated magic upon the corpses' return (if return it really is) to the plinth. Even when you give in to befuddlement and hunt down the hoplite and mariner's heads, replacing them on their respective necks, you find no meaning whatsoever in the gruesome decor. It seems that you have reached a dead end.

Your exertions haven't been completely without reward, however. In the few hours that have passed since your defeat of Laifos, much of the fatigue has left you, and you have partially recovered the use of your right hand. Whatever you intend to face next, you will at least be better-equipped to face it than you were upon rising.

>[ ] The plinth may have turned out to be meaningless, but that hardly leaves the catacombs empty. Descend one of the many stairways to further explore the Shapeless Isle's subterranean depths.

>[ ] This degree of healing will have to be enough. Return to the temple and seek out Medusa for a final confrontation.

>[ ] You've had all the darkness and damp stone you can take down here, though you're not yet ready to face Medusa. Make your way back to the Temple of the Gorgons and rest in your chambers until you've completely recovered.

>[ ] Do something else. (Write in)

Sorry, folks. I know you really had high hopes for this, but putting corpses on pedestals was just not the way to go here.

>>4180506
>[ ] You're not quite ready to fight Medusa. Rest here and plan for your fight until your hand has healed completely, then return to the temple for your final confrontation.

>>4180506
>[X] You've had all the darkness and damp stone you can take down here, though you're not yet ready to face Medusa. Make your way back to the Temple of the Gorgons and rest in your chambers until you've completely recovered.
We should deal with the sisters first, since we'll probably exit once we dominate Medusa.

>>4180506
>>[ ] You've had all the darkness and damp stone you can take down here, though you're not yet ready to face Medusa. Make your way back to the Temple of the Gorgons and rest in your chambers until you've completely recovered.

>>4180506
>[ ] You've had all the darkness and damp stone you can take down here, though you're not yet ready to face Medusa. Make your way back to the Temple of the Gorgons and rest in your chambers until you've completely recovered.

>>4180506
>[ ] This degree of healing will have to be enough. Return to the temple and seek out Medusa for a final confrontation.

The truth is, that plinth was always just meant to be decor. It was only there to display a trio of statues, which ended up becoming your enemies after they were revived.
I came up with the scene because I always enjoy dramatic scenes like that, where the protagonist sees a place that something used to be, turns, and finds the vanished 'object' trying to kill him; it's a great dramatic moment, and it confirms for you that Laifos was telling the truth about the resurrected warriors!
...or so I thought. You folks took me completely by surprise by deciding it was a puzzle, but I didn't want to just shut you down about it until I had no choice; so we've been going along this way until now. Sorry!

This is the worst designed dungeon ever.
And I've played Tomb of Horrors.

>>4181063
Well, at the end of the day it's just a place to store corpses.
Those kinds of kinetic puzzles in videogame dungeons always bothered me, anyway. They have no logical reason to exist.

Everything about this island is disappointing.

>>4181054
Just a miscommunication I guess. Your overly descriptive prose made it seem more significant than it was.