Knights of Tezoth

Seems like 4 hours of sleep do affect cognitive abilities after all. There were so many questions about them that I was sure it was a core mechanic.

For now, the core of the mechanics is just the trio of merchants. And even then, there's no guarantee that sooner or later something won't happen to them. Technically, they are still figures, and if I were playing for Ravnland, I'd be taking out Vistoria and Santella among the first.

I already had a plan for the first turn, but that was before Silverdane ulted + before I figured out the turn refresh mechanics. But now I don't have to think about templates.

Surprises as such don't bother me — what bothers me is when utter nonsense happens that's impossible to keep track of, and if it's also accompanied by mockery, the pleasantness factor drops to zero.

And I'd actually like to figure it out myself — it's part of the current game, after all, and you can't leave everything to Alex. He's active now, but in three days he'll go storm a shed and vanish for three weeks, and then what. But we have what we have at the moment.

And where's our ult? Ah, right, we didn't get one — we only have stock abilities, no super-geniuses who do everything across the whole map at the snap of a finger, no risen ghouls, no super-epics, nothing.

But on the last point, at least, I agree.

Actually, the princess has one of the best abilities. Potentially +19 actions per turn.

Dude, I reread the faction pages ten times for this "ultimate" plus spent two weeks writing an "essay." =/

You did great, no arguments there.

As for me, I picked a jeweler, but what's the use. Again it all comes down to resource gathering, and this time there's nowhere to even gather them from. The capital.

And are Vistory's artifacts roughly the level of the mirror or Albus's cannons from the prologue?

Not hinting at anything, but in Gildaria there's a Knight with a costume giving +10% evasion. Sounds like a reason for some active action...

Dude, this isn't a surprise. This is effectively changing the rules of the game every n-th number of pages. Some haven't even finished the previous ones, and they've already changed.

Good for you. If you'd played Kanamiya, all your efforts would've been nullified by a "surprise." So it turns out I was right not to bust my ass figuring out templates and factions. What happened only confirms I was right — you barely need to do anything, the game plays itself.

Well okay, tomorrow there'll be another miracle, the rules will change and we'll need to crank out templates, and while we're cranking them out, another miracle will happen and we won't need to anymore. And then we'll need to again, then we won't, and then we'll need to again. Need to. Don't need to. Need to. Don't need to. Need to. Don't need to. And so on to infinity. Then I have to ask again: why bother building a billion mechanics when you could just roll dice for who won? If you're okay with that, well, what can I say? Play on. Then I'd rather just stay quiet and spend my time adding characters to the character file or tossing another mirror in the trash. At least in situations like this you don't have to write walls of text and read a trillion abilities that change in real time.

Alaria observed the precautions taken by her liege with appraising curiosity and a certain measure of satisfaction. Where possible, they had secured themselves against dangerous neighbors. In other situations, they had clipped the wings of dangerous giants. Lord Cartridge might not have been the kind of figure who immediately caught the eye or was on everyone's lips, but that did not diminish his connections and his skill at managing available resources. In fact, Kaleido did not even try to attract unnecessary attention to himself. He was an exemplar of quiet strength — the kind that, if it reveals itself to opponents at all, does so at the very last moment.

It was not out of the question that in intrigue he could have rivaled Carnea, who struck fear into many hearts. Only he lacked her scandalous nature and inordinate ambitions, and his characteristic manner of carrying himself was merely thrown into sharper relief by the loud and scandalous reputation of the Bloodsucker. The Tanarsian woman fully allowed that if something were to happen to the latter, her lord might even attempt to seize control over the decapitated network of agents. Or, at the very least, over a part of it. But only if that served his interests. Still, something told Catharsis that if such a thing were to come to pass, then if anyone's workload would certainly increase, it would be hers.

Although the first impression of Lord Cartridge conjured in her mind the image of Delirium Belring, over the course of a long acquaintance the differences became apparent as well. Beyond those, there was also a resemblance to another important figure of that time — Larian Twice. Both were distinguished by a businesslike, pragmatic, and cold-blooded approach to matters. Some might call such methods cruel, but no one would dare deny their effectiveness. It was not hard to imagine that both of these noble men would have found common ground, had fate been free to cross their paths.

That said, the current events were not possible solely through the talents of her liege. However remarkable and gifted a person might be, no one can resolve a problem single-handedly. Kaleido also had competent executors. And he had her. Alaria not only could not deny her own contribution to the current state of affairs — she did not even plan to. Her knowledge and experience, her understanding of the subtleties of such conflicts, were an important and integral element.

But this same fact made her think about something else. About her role in the unfolding game. If there was one thing hard to forget, it was the miraculous circumstances of her resurrection. And the far less miraculous millennia of torment — even more so. The Dawn Raven was playing his own game, dropping useful tools to the most varied, often opposing, sides of the conflict. Likely, he had returned her to the world of the living for that very purpose. But was she merely a chaotic element released for amusement? Someone who would introduce additional uncertainty into a conflict that this dark deity had clearly foreseen? Or had he, all this time, been studying the hidden corners of her soul? Planning from the very start that she would enter the service of Lord Cartridge and become one of the key players in the fate of Cortina?

One could speculate about this for a long time, just as about the motives of her otherworldly "patron." It would not change her course of action regardless. And whether the feathered god did all of this purely to dispel his centuries-old boredom, or to add curious specimens to his collection of souls, was of no critical importance. Her will is her will. If it so happened that her intentions played into the hands of the Raven of Dawn, then so be it. But Catharsis had no intention of forgetting the threads that bound her to that entity either.

So it turns out like this.

And what efforts of Axel's were nullified?

Re-read my message again if you didn't understand, or don't twist my words and pretend you didn't get it.