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EggsAisle
Dec 17, 2013

I get it! You're, uh...
A bit of Kartia trivia: so last time, Bachstail revealed his big secret, that he was an Inquirer. Doing so apparently lets him put on his asskicking boots, because he gets upgraded from B/C weapons and armor to A/B. He also gets another Kartia mixing slot, for a total of five, the highest in the game. So he has high magic resistance, can use any (human) weapon, almost any armor, and can cast with the best. It was probably meant to help offset Lacryma's absence, but the game's pitifully low difficulty already had that covered, so... yeah. Kartia!

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Black Balloon
Dec 28, 2008

The literal grumpiest



Yes, Bach is one of the best characters in the game. Gameplay and story integration!

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
I can't believe I missed that. Well. Okey I can believe I missed that. I didn't do any equipment upgrades in this chapter after all. :v:

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Lacryma Episode 26 Chapter 13 pt.3


So, Lacryma is still captured so we didn't really progress at all.


Well the Knights did fail their own plan, so they leave in shame instead of trying to help. This is the Cross Land army, ladies and gentlemen.
To take into perspective, they are so bad at their job, a civilian police force consisting of volunteers is an elite troop of specialists compared to them.
Well... We are the protagonists, but still. Nobility ain't worth poo poo. :shrug:






"There's no reason to. She knew the plan would fail..."
"Even a genius makes mistakes."
"She has been strange since we started this. Something is not right..."
"I wonder if she heard our conversation yesterday..."
"About Kainas?"
"Did Lacryma overhear the conversation?"
"Maybe..."
"I wonder how the Rebels knew our plan..."
"I think we know the answer."
"I see..."
"What do you mean?"


Hmm... Well it's a theory that could make sense, if Lacryma was a totally different character. On the other hand, she did get quite a break to her
psyche when she learned both her parents were heathen. Could Lacryma have changed sides?


"I'm just saying that it's a possibility..."
"That's why I can't forgive you."
"I never asked to be forgiven."
"Troy!"


I bet many of you have wanted to see this happen for quite a while now.




But Troy doesn't take this lying down, and he is for all intends and purposes, a god drat wizard.
Maybe punching a wizard in the face wasn't such a good idea, Kun. :v:






"You know everything, don't you? You're right about everything!"
"I'm not that arrogant!"
"You guys are both wrong! The reason why Lacryma was captured is not the issue! We have to think of what to do!"


I just really like this scene, it really makes the characters stand out but also evolves them. Kun is basically still a polite and naive young man, but he has both grown tired of Troy's poo poo
and his feelings for Lacryma makes him explode. Troy on the other hand is older and have seen enough poo poo in the world that Lacryma switching sides isn't entirely impossible to him.
I mean look at what just happened with the Knights, Lacryma got used and was thrown away the instant she became inconvenient.

By being open to the possibility of betrayal, you can be prepared for it. I would imagine Kun would completely break down into tiny little pieces if he found out Lacryma had actually switched sides.
And then we would have more god drat teen angst on our hands. On the other hand it would be completely unrealistic to expect Kun to have that kind of maturity.
It all fundamentally boils down to an age gap. Oh and it's also incredibly cathartic to punch Troy in the face. :v:






"I have one"
Note: Karis's portrait isn't actually displayed as she kind of snuck into the conversation.
"What is it, Ele?"
"I didn't say antything."
Also apparently Karis's voice sounds like Ele's. That's rather unfortunate if you think about it.
"What?"



"Do you know her, Kun?"
"She's one of the thieves who tried to steal the World Tree at the Shrine."
"Bach, could you tell these people who I am before anything happens?"
"I've been undercover in Akueldo for god's know how long so I don't really have time or patience to exposition this poo poo."
"This is Karis. She's one of us..."
"One of us? But why..."
"I was working undercover. I had to fight you."
Well we didn't really get to fight Karis in that chapter as it was over in like 3 turns.
"Undercover... You're an Inquirer, right?"
"I'll leave that to your imagination."





"So we don't have much time."
"Seems like it. Karis, continue."
"I'll open the jail. You wait at the exit of the jail for them. Then use the river to escape."
"Any boats?"
"There's some at the river."

:allears: Prison break and botes? I'm in! :yarr:


Karis is, if nothing else, prepared for all eventualities. She's Female JRPG Batman is what I'm saying and that's amazing.

"So we're going in as Akueldo soldiers."
"Sounds like a good plan."
I dunno, Akueldo's soldiers aren't exactly know for their individuality regarding hairstyles.
"I don't like it..."
"Me? Or the plan?"
"You don't hesitate to lie, do you?"
"I owe Bach. I want to pay him back. Whether you want to believe me or not is up to you."
"We have a plan to rescue Lacryma. Now it's up to you. Everybody, make up your minds."
"I want to save Lacryma, I'm in."
"I'm also in..."
"What about you, Ele? You don't have to..."
"I'll do it!"




Things are starting to come together. 9 people (remember Toxa's group), against the Akueldo Fortress. They took our women, now we take their everything! :black101:


Let's go check up on Lacryma... Yep, still sitting around moping. Well, what can you really do in a prison cell?







Soldier "I have to ask permission from Lord Saradiart."


Mona musters her most fierce look. It's not really that easy to look tough when you have pink eyebrows.
Also for some reason Mona is listed as "Druid" here. Probably because this is the first time we see her in Lacryma's chapter and as such we don't know her name.
Sometimes I forget the game is split into two.


Soldier "O.. Ok... Only five minutes..."
IT WORKED!? DUDE, YOU GOT INTIMIDATED BY MONA. BY MONA! WHAT THE ACTUAL gently caress? :psyduck:




And then Mona starts to go all Sephiroth on us by talking to her dead mother. Yup not creepy at all.




Who else "genius?"


Uh oh... I'm having a real bad feeling about this...


:siren: Oh it's nothing. Just the Original "Nothingness" Kartia is all:siren:

"A Kartia. It's my mother's legacy."
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"You're the child of fate... Please take it."



"Forbidden Kartia... How did you get this?"
"I'm half Elf and half human."
"Elves, from fairy tales? Is this a joke?"
"You must listen to me! The world is facing destruction!"
"Destruction?"
"The Rebels are attempting to create Eden."
"I know..."
"When Eden appears, that will be the end of the world."
"Eden will destroy the world? How do you know that?"



"You know Toxa? Are you the Druid from the Shinon estate?"
"Yes."
Only now is Mona's name displayed correctly.
"Where's Alana, Posha, Duran..?"
"They tried to protect me from the Rebels."



"I can't... Ask someone else."
"It has to be you."
"Why me?"
"You're the only one in Rebus who can use the Original without the Text."
"Impossible. I don't know how to use it without the Text."
"You can do it. My soul tells me you can."








Well I do... At least, I think I do.

So here is my theory as to why Lacryma is the only one who can use "Nothingness". And the implications it has on Rebus's religion.

A prior theory I had regarded Lacryma's death as a child and then resurrection by her mother. That is to say, Lacryma had to actually die.
To the world Lacryma was gone for small time but then brought back. But what happened from Lacryma's viewpoint? Quite simply, her soul moved on to the afterlife.
Well okey, I'll let that sit a bit on the back burner. But for now just remember the fact that Lacryma's soul moved on to the afterlife and then got brought back.

Next, let's talk about how Kartia works. As we understand it from Lacryma's lecture to Kun, all you really need is a clear image of what you want to create and the Kartia.
As long as you can imagine it and use the proper Kartia written with the proper Text, you can create it. But what if you had never seen or heard about Fire before? Well then you simply
can't create it. That's why studying the Text for the Kartia is important as it explains what it is that is being created.

With that in mind. How could anyone ever create "Nothing"? From the moment humans are born there is always something to see, hear, smell or feel.
There have never been "Nothing" to experience or remember in the natural life span of a human.
See where I'm going with this?

So what is the main unique difference between Lacryma and any other person? Simply put, she is the only human to have died and get brought back from the afterlife.

This has huge implications as to how the world works. Basically there is no afterlife. Well there is, but not in the manner portrayed by the Shrines. There is no heaven or hell.
There is simply nothing. It's a paradox within a paradox. Lacryma, a very religious person is the only one to actually experience the truth and remember "nothing" and thus be able to create "nothing".
This also makes her the number 1 enemy to the very religion she follows. Of course, she isn't consciously aware of her memories as a dead person, because well, how do you remember "nothing"?

So in conclusion. If my prior theory is right about Lacryma's resurrection, then the reason why Lacryma can use the "Nothingness" Kartia is because she was once dead and brought back.

On the other hand it's entirely possible for Mona to be wrong. But then again when have magic half-elves ever been wrong? :v:


Lacryma Episode 26 Chapter 13 pt.3

Tallgeese
May 11, 2008

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR


I get the strange feeling you are projecting something of your own personal beliefs regarding the afterlife without thinking of alternative explanations. But, we will see.

It's probably just elven magical bullshit powers. I can pretty easily imagine nothingness. For example, it comes up whenever I think of what's inside some posters' heads. :v:

Remember that the elves come from another dimension. The "afterlife" could simply be their home dimension, and visiting it for however long gives you certain elvish abilities.

Or, an even simpler explanation: Lacryma is for whatever reason elven or half-elven (see Mona's "same soul" comment), who are known to have the ability to use magic without Kartia. I see no reason that would not include the ability to cast a spell without the Text.

Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 11:34 on Jul 16, 2015

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Well I don't mean to project, I am strictly speaking in the frame of the in game universe.
Frankly people can believe whatever they want religion wise. I'll think they're silly, but those are just my thoughts,
I don't think someone is lesser for it or that I need to show everyone the "truth" or whatever.

The reason I came to the conclusion is because Mona says Lacryma is the only person in Rebus, not the only human who can use "Nothingness". That is, not even Mona or Saradiart can use "Nothingness".
I mean if Mona could use it, then why doesn't she just hold on to it until it needs to be used and use it? She seems to know more about what's going on.

It's the fact that Lacryma is unique and the only one who can use "Nothingness" that leads me to the conclusions that I've made.

I feel like such a nerd now. But then I remembered that I'm doing a LP. Now I really feel like a nerd :v:

Raitzeno
Nov 24, 2007

What? It seemed like
a good idea at the time.

When I said the thread needed a new page like Troy needed a slap in the mouth, I didn't expect to get them both back to back. :v:

Tallgeese
May 11, 2008

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR


Sazero posted:

It's the fact that Lacryma is unique and the only one who can use "Nothingness" that leads me to the conclusions that I've made.

That's probably nothing more than the whole "fated user" type thing coming up, honestly.

Meaning that anyone with the requisite Kartia ability could theoretically use it, it'd just run counter to What Fate Intended and so it won't happen.

I have gotten really tired of the word Fate suddenly.

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Yeah let's risk the whole world by trusting mrs I-hate-heathens with an Original Kartia she herself claims not to know how to use, because it was written in some fate or some poo poo.
Instead of trusting it to the person who knows exactly how to use it, in what context and when.
That's probably going to work out just fine. :v:

Come on man, this is a serious LP! With sciences and facts and poo poo! We can't have silly and uncertain words like "probably" in this very scientific discussions on the inner workings on fantasy magic! :eng101:

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
This is a message from the future. WE ARE SO TOTALLY hosed. SUPER SCREWED YOU GUYS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
This is going to be an amazing chapter. I'm hyped!

Black Balloon
Dec 28, 2008

The literal grumpiest



I only generally remember the story for the latter parts of Kartia, not so much a bunch of the specifics. The gameplay might not evolve much during the course of the game, but the story sure goes crazy places. I'm excited to see it play out again.

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Toxa Episode 28 Chapter 14 pt.1


The dilemma with having to use two half elves to create Eden and the need for a half elf to create the "Earth" Kartia is still a mystery.
But that doesn't largely concern us at the moment as we have women to rescue.







So it's us vs Cross Round 2. Well this is going to be easy.

"She's no longer here. You're too late."
"What! You didn't..."
"You didn't kill her, did you!"
"How horrible..."



"She's in the back room."
"Give her back to us!"
"She's our hostage. Unless you surrender, she will get killed... What are you going to do?"


Ice cold Karis. I mean I don't care that much for Misty either, but I'm the snarky LP'er and you're a... well a spy, so I guess it's expected of you.

"Karis, is Misty safe?"
"Don't worry. Misty is safe for now."
But she is not participating in this battle for... whatever reason.
"What about Mona? What happened to her?"
"Unfortunately, she was taken to another place..."
"Where is Mona!?"
"You should ask him..."





"You're going to regret this!"




Yeah this is actually a huge warning sign, but it also reinforces the idea of a conspiracy.




You'll recognize this place as it's were most of the dialogue between Cross and Asty happened. We've come a long way from beating down thieves.
We've moved one step up the ladder to find the real conspirators. But that is really only a side objective to us.



Alright, so this time the objective is to straight up murder Cross. We don't actually have to clear the whole drat map, and I'm thankful. You'll see why


We start of course in the entrance. Since this is an inside map, we don't have to worry about digging poo poo up off the ground.


Straight ahead of us is a pathetic group of Common Satellas. It's safe to completely forget about them, because they are going to be obliterated soon.


The real obstacle here, is this army of dudes. Now this map is somewhat weird setup. Only 4 of the enemy soldiers here can actually cast magic, but good luck figuring out who, because they all look identical.
Why the poo poo didn't they use the Encrypters? Also note the new Phantoms that Cross have as his personal guard.



They are pretty much Naga's, snake tail and human-ish body.
Their downside is not being able to wear shoes, which to be fair isn't all that bad, They don't have an immediately obvious elemental weakness.
Or rather, they wouldn't have if this were lvl 1 stats. But this is lvl 5 stats. So they are actually kind of weak to magic.





To the sides, here we have these chests guarded by walls of Soldiers. They function pretty much like a wall that will attack if you stand next to them.
They are not, however going to cast any Kartia. I can't help but feel that this is sort of a design oversight. It's not something that is obvious to the player
before trying it out.





Likewise these Garorks will never move to attack. You'll have to step into their range before they attack.
Also, Karis joins our party and she kind of have the same problem that Posha did when she joined. That is she is way out of position



Karis's stats are similar to Misty's though I think Karis have 1 more Kartia stat.
Interestingly enough, she cannot create Phantoms. A skill you'd think all Inquirers would pick up.



With Karis way out of position, we don't have the luxury of taking our time, we have to be really aggressive here.
For that purpose I make some of the new Kaliya. Ours will feature A rank armor and +2 movement speed though.
I thought I had picked up some A rank armor somewhere, but then I remembered that was in Lacryma's campaign.
So the A rank is kind of wasted at the moment.



I put my Kyau in the back because poo poo is about to get crazy.


This Garork is lvl 20 and that's the only reason it survives Karis's spell.




All the Phantoms in this map are Common. So I could have taken advantage of that by making more Shadow Phantoms. Instead, I exploit their Fire vulnerability.


Which... err.. Summons a white devil who spews black fire. That's pretty metal. :rock:


Posha is so terrible at magic even the fire it creates is complaining about it. :v:


On the enemy turn Cross err... does this.




:stonk: HOLY poo poo HE ONESHOT MY NEW PHANTOM?










And so it rains magic on me.


At least it wasn't Takeru Thunder spam. :v:


Interestingly enough, now that Cross has made himself vulnerable to counterattack, I could end this map on the second turn.
But that would mean I'd miss out on a lot of text, so I don't.



Now that the 4 caster Soldiers have been revealed, let's take a closer look at them... Yeah, they don't wear any armor at all.
I have to admit, it takes a special kind of man to field naked mages against me. At least they have their swords in hand. Wait, that doesn't actually make it better.



I also note their common wind vulnerability and cast this a few times. A wrench in my plan to take them all out however is that one of them dodged the spells


So I have my Garorks take out the injured guys.


Turns out I could have just flung a single spell and have my human characters kill them all in melee combat. Oh well.


You have no idea how tempting it was to just end it here. I injured cross with a Phantom to attempt to manipulate his AI into healing himself.


Unfortunately he wants to take as many phantoms down with him. Well that plans a bust then.


In the mean time, now that Cross has taken the bait by my earlier aggression Karis is now free to move about. The final loot is some Kartia and this Text.


I also clean up a few more soldiers and ignoring Cross. While he can kill any Phantom I have in one hit, he cannot oneshot a human. Besides It dawns upon me that his AI Priority is to hit Phantoms first.
And let's face it, it's about time for the Lizauro's to check out.





However that being said, I still try to manipulate him into healing himself.


In my mistake to assume all Common type Phantoms are the same, I use fire against the new Phantoms whose name I've already forgotten.


They're actually weak to water. No I don't know why half fish monsters are weak to water. I just roll with it.


Cross continues his hate on my Phantoms.


However my Garork barely survives.


This is the only aggressive display made by melee opponents. They really love to box your characters in.


Like so. I don't know why the game attacked with this character who didn't deal any damage. But it did.


In the mean time, my own and last surviving Kaliya get's through the wall of Soldiers and begin looting.


I also get sick of this poo poo and promptly upgrade Karis's equipment to something not terrible.


It's a massive improvement.


Karis attacks the soldier with lovely offense to gain health back.


Finally it dawns upon me to actually make use of the "Create Phantom" command in the actual fight.
Toxa is lvl 20 and doesn't gain any more experience. So I delegate him to distract Cross, by making lovely Miles Phantoms.
I don't want to expend Kartia on better Phantoms and I'm not a terrible monster who creates Kyau just to have them killed. :v:



My plan worked.


I've also made progress on the other wall, and there is really nothing else to threaten me any more.


Alana chases down of the of the Soldiers and uses the wrong spell against him. (He is actually weak to wind. Whoopsy)


Either way, she get's enough XP to hit lvl 20






Alright, I've grabbed everything. Let's finish this.




And so, Cross falls again.



"You knew I was an Inquirer. And yet you still thought you could win, why?"
"There's no use in taking hostages. I wanted to know my real strength... Stupid, don't you think?"




I lost quite a few Phantoms, but that's okey. I have to say, this was actually an enjoyable map. Cross didn't just sit back and create Phantoms, and he used rather high lvl magic.
Higher than the magic we have right now. It's weird how he didn't use that magic against us in the first encounter, but I'll chalk that up to the game being a game.
That being said, once the 4 caster Soldiers are dead, the map is over, difficulty wise. At least it looked intimidating.

But there is something missing... Did you notice? Something feels wrong. Something is out of order, out of place.
Well I'll let you try and figure out what until next update, the wait time won't be long because frankly I'll be doing it right after this update.


Toxa Episode 28 Chapter 14 pt.1

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Toxa Episode 28 Chapter 14 pt.2


Misty was here the whole time and didn't do poo poo? I'm slightly upset :colbert:




Aw gosh, it's nice to be a big drat hero.


He's not sorry, or he's not late? :v:

:siren:MUSIC:SALADINART:siren:
You should seriously listen to this right the gently caress now.


Saradiart just showed up. Oh man, you better be listening to that track right now. Set that poo poo to repeat. :colbert:





"You're so compassionate for humans. I'll teach you that the real winner is the one left standing in the end."
"What are you up to?"
"To begin the game, let's execute the traitor first."






Uh oh... We've seen this before.




Duran is really fast here.


Aw that shouldn't be that big a deal, Duran is like lvl 17. He should have plenty of high resistances to deal with this.


:stonk: Which err... didn't do much I suppose.





"That was too easy! I can't believe that you were defeated by them."
"Like I said, I don't cheat..."
"I don't want to hear excuses! Now, who shall I kill next!? I guess I will try out my new magic..."
Aw poo poo oval office gently caress, he's learning new magic too? :supaburn:



"Mona believed in you! How could you do this?"
"You don't understand us! You're just a human!"
"Use the Original "Death" Kartia!"
"But Toxa made a promise to Mona..."
"If we don't kill him now, the world will be destroyed! Toxa, if you want to help Mona, use the Original "Death" Kartia!"




Aw poo poo yeah, it's happening! ORIGINAL KARTIA ACTION! :allears:










Death created








No screams, no agony, no pain. Simply death.








Well I'm sure it's nothing at all to worry about. But we do know for a fact that using an Original Kartia kills the user. Odd.


The screen starts shaking here, because Saradiart of course it does.


It's a testament to the power of the Originals, the largest earth effects we've created were still in a rather minor area.
But the "Death" Kartia has somehow unleashed enough power to shake the whole building.








"I don't need any excuses! Where is Mona!? Answer me!"
"Toxa, hurry!"
"Mona is at Akueldo's Headquarters. Go to the Imperial Encrypter School in Nordia..."


Having finished their business, all live people flees the area and the building comes crashing down.

And with that the chapter is finally...


Music note: You can turn off Saradiarts theme now. If you want to, I mean.


Beginning? Oh boy, here we go fellas.


This is the most ominous title drop. I'll let it be unclear as to what I mean for dramatic purposes. :v:












Duran is badly injured, thankfully Karis should have experience treating wounds made from Saradiarts magic. She did save Rimzan after all.

"Does anyone here have a medical license?"
I eat my words in disgust.
"This is not the kind of wound you can heal in these conditions..."
"Duran... Don't die... You said you would protect me..."




It seems Duran is doomed.




And like a spell, Posha steps up to do her job. Took you long enough.


This is a straight up copy of Lacryma's dialogue when she was treating... Assam? I think it was? Who cares he didn't have a portrait so he wasn't worth remembering. :v:

"Posha? You can't possibly..."
"I will cut the wound and use stone Kartia in the broken blood vessels. Once I stop the bleeding, I'll sew it back up. Toxa, Misty, create the blood."
"Can you do this?"
"All I can say is, trust me..."
Well it's better to let her try than do nothing.








Holy poo poo, Toxa really tore the building apart. And Saradiart got super hosed.
Not only did he suffer through the Original "Death" Kartia, but he also got crushed by a giant boulder.



Wait... don't tell me they planned for us to use the "Death" Kartia on Saradiart. That's just insane.





"Sooner?"
"I'm talking about their mother. Remember, her body was lost..."
"It's been such a long time... I don't remember..."




It's not immediately obvious, but Raguruzet have cut of Saradiarts arm and taken it.

"You worry too much... I will do everything I can. There's no turning back!"

This would be an excellent time to cut off the update. But you know... I have this nagging feeling that something is not quite right.
There's actually a list of things that's entirely wrong about this whole thing. So let's continue on just a little bit longer.







:aaa:


I'm getting bad feelings here, don't do this to me game.




:stonk:










OH loving poo poo, SARADIART IS ALIVE!


The Original "Death" Kartia, just pissed him off? Are you god drat kidding me? Friggin' Elves man! :argh:










:stonk: :stonk: :stonk: THAT FACE. Saradiart has hit peak insanity.






Zappo! Nirgiri is dead.


I dare you to make this face, and not get arrest for public psychopathy.




And out pops a new arm. I don't really see why he was so upset about losing it then.


Saradiart then takes out an Original. This one is completely unknown to us.


And he uses it. As to what it does? We will find out soon enough.
But this is the end of this update. I know double updates is pretty bad, but I wanted to show off that things are about to get really crazy.


Toxa Episode 28 Chapter 14 pt.2

EggsAisle
Dec 17, 2013

I get it! You're, uh...
Saradiart's deranged grin should be your avatar. Or Zakuro.

Some more Text-collection spoilers:

There is a World Tree Text called "Pair" that almost everyone misses, because the game pulls an ultra-dick move in Chapter 15. You get the Text at the end of the battle, as long as you only used Silk kartia during the fight. No Mithril, no World Tree. That includes spells, item creation, and phantom creation. I don't know if pre-battle menu creations disqualify you, though I'd err on the safe side and skip it. Use melee attacks and basic spells only, including the earth magic you'll use to raise and lower the ground. There is no other condition similar to this one, and it is not stated or hinted at in any way, shape, or form. Also, Lacryma's Chapter 15 has a spot on the ground you have to raise/lower a total of three times, because there's three Texts hidden there and you only get one with each terrain change. Another mechanic you'd have no reason whatsoever to expect.

I have personally gotten Pair in Lacryma's story this way. Never tried it with Toxa, but I think it's the same. Guess we'll find out!

Mercurial
Mar 28, 2006

Elixirs are expensive, you know.
So if I have this right, Beltshumeltz is the head cardinal of Pentagram, Raguruzet is the head of the Nordia Encrypter School, and Vandor is the head of Akueldo.

I guess Raguruzet promoting Karis so quickly makes sense if he knew she was an Inquirer and wanted to use her to kill Saradiart. Strange that Cross was in the loop about it. I can't really tell if he knew early on and was hiding it, but Asty clearly didn't.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


I guess it's too much to hope for that you can use the Death kartia with Toxa in battles from now on?

Black Balloon
Dec 28, 2008

The literal grumpiest



SSNeoman posted:

I guess it's too much to hope for that you can use the Death kartia with Toxa in battles from now on?

Nope, kartia is consumed on use.

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.

Mercurial posted:

So if I have this right, Beltshumeltz is the head cardinal of Pentagram, Raguruzet is the head of the Nordia Encrypter School, and Vandor is the head of Akueldo.

I guess Raguruzet promoting Karis so quickly makes sense if he knew she was an Inquirer and wanted to use her to kill Saradiart. Strange that Cross was in the loop about it. I can't really tell if he knew early on and was hiding it, but Asty clearly didn't.

Pentagram works more like a council and while Beltshumeltz is in the council he isn't the head of it, that said he obviously have a great degree of power in Pentagram.
Raguruzet and Vandor are both leaders of Akueldo, Raguruzet leads the research and Kartia side, while Vandor is the war leader, so to speak.
The reason why we are heading to the Nordia Encrypter School is because Akueldo won the rebellion in Nordia. At least, for now.
So it makes sense for them to make headquarters in territory they control.

Cross was sort of the manager of the Akueldo Fortress, so he needed to know, to help get things moving.
But yeah, Raguruzet and Beltshumeltz conspired to have Saradiart killed.
I imagine that's why our breakin, into the Idorus Encrypter School was so easy.
I mean the guards were equipped with Wood equipment. If the game had been harder, then that
could have been clever foreshadowing.

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Toxa Episode 28 Chapter 14 pt.3

Due to the nature of this update, I decided to play around with some video editing. So I hope you enjoy, if you see any glaring fault, or have know how to make things better to look at, by all means tell me.

:siren:VIDEO:Saradiart Resurrects:siren:
You should probably watch this!


Now where were we? Oh yes Saradiart had just started using his Original Kartia. Let's see how that plays out.


Why are you watching this instead of watching the video?


No, seriously.


Look, I know it's not 1080p, but come on. Waaaaaaatch it.


Fine. Be that way. See if I care. :colbert:


I have no idea how Saradiart transported this thing around. More bullshit Elf magic I assume.


The Original have attained self awareness and promptly started to puke over how disgusting it is.


The puke sparks as it hits the ground. I imagine that's what robot puke would look like, if robots could puke.


And with that it's a fade to white.


Toxa, and Karis is basking in the radiated glow of a newly cast Original Kartia. I'm kidding, it's just a fade from white. :v:



"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to save Mona."
"Do you need someone to escort you to Nordia?"
"I thought you completed your mission..."


Oh look, Toxa made friends. I guess being part of saving the world has that effect.


Oh sweet, Duran didn't die to Saradiarts otherworldly power. Hooray, my party remains unchanged!

"Good! Posha did a great job this time!"
"Misty's prayers were answered..."
I interpret this as Posha being so bad at doctoring that God needs to intervene for her patients to survive. :colbert:
"However, he cannot continue with us..."
What? Noooooo! Kakyoin!!!!!!! Duraaaaaan! Wait, he isn't actually all that important. And hey, this means we get to ditch Ms.Elipsis! So this is actually good news! :v:
"That's too bad..."



"What kind of dream was it?"


We know exactly what kind of "dream" Duran had.


:stonk: Can we please change the subject?


Thank you.

"You really had us scared..."
"Thanks for your concern... By the way, what happened to Saradiart?"
"Toxa killed him by using the Original "Death" Kartia."
"I see... So what's next?"
"We are going to Nordia. It is my time to help Mona."
"I would love to join you, but with this wound..."
Tis' nothing but a flesh wound!
"Don't worry about it. You need to get some rest."
"Misty and I will look after him..."



"I can't leave you here all alone."
"Duran, you have not completely recovered!"
"Misty, you must go. You must think about your sister... You must settle things with your sister. You can't go on like this without knowing..."
"But..."
"You must continue to seek happiness... Let's continue my dream together..."
"And Posha... I want you to go as a Shrine Warrior on my behalf. You must witness God's will..."
"Me? A Shrine Warrior? I'm still not Lacryma..."



"But..."
"Posha, it was you who saved Duran, not Lacryma."
"I understand. I will represent you and complete my duty as a Shrine Warrior."
"Thank you, Posha. Karis, I am depending on you."
"Understood. Everybody, prepare yourselves for the journey to Nordia!"


Everyone leaves, except Alana.



"I don't need to know anymore. But when we get back to town, you are going to buy me a drink!"
"Thank you, Alana..."
"Hey. We've known each other for as far back as I can remember..."






Whats what?






:ohdear:

"There's something in the sky!"
"It's a large piece of land!"
Well that's odd, large pieces of land doesn't belong in the sky.
"It's a continent... No, That's not possible..."
A WHOLE FRIGGING CONTINENT!? WHAT?
"It's Eden..."


Hey look Sazero, let's play with magical cards that can create anything. What could possibly go wrong? Well I could piss off an immortal half-elf resulting in him throwing entire continents at me, put those back on the shelf.



"Who created Eden!? Saradiart is dead!"
"Are you suggesting Mona did it!? No way!"
"What is going to happen to that Eden?"
"Eden is unstable... It will fall to the ground."
"Fall!? What's going to happen to the people beneath it!?"
"They will probably be killed."
More like they are most certainly going to be killed.
"That can't be!"







:siren:VIDEO:Eden Falls:siren:
You should also probably watch this.


Oh... Yeah Eden is quite large, but not continent large. Not that it makes a difference to the poor people of Pales.




Mysteriously, there are no people wandering the streets.

















Well then... We finally saw the mysterious Eden. And while it made a most terrifying introduction, I hardly see how it could destroy the whole world.
But I'm sure we are going to find out.


Toxa Episode 28 Chapter 14 pt.3

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


There goes the neighborhood.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
And nobody checked the pockets. Well, I guess being a load-bearing boss does have that advantage.


Seriously though, where are they hiding these?

Raitzeno
Nov 24, 2007

What? It seemed like
a good idea at the time.

You just witnessed Saradiart going bugfuck insane and whipping out the Original Kartia of Spleen. They just finished telling you Originals are made of elf bits, drat near anything in him could be used for one, and you ask where he was 'hiding' it? Come on.

Tallgeese
May 11, 2008

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR


I imagine it's not that simple, otherwise he could summon multiple Edens on command since he can regenerate body parts.

Rip off arm, kill everything in a ten mile radius, regenerate arm...

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Creating an Original is probably a process that takes longer than 10 minutes I imagine. Though my quip about where he kept the drat thing was more of a joke on how large it is compared to his sprite, and that a boulder had literally just crushed his corpse,
which would likely have destroyed the Original. Unless of course the Original would have just regenerated. They are made of elf after all. :v:

I wonder if we are still going to Nordia? I hear it's nice this time of year. :haw:

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Lacryma Episode 27 Chapter 14 pt.1


Right, so we left Lacryma to sulk in prison for a bit. Let's see if she's all better now.

"I wonder if it will work?"
"Trust Karis and yourself... It will work."
"We'll save Lacryma. No matter what it takes..."


Nope, still sulking.




Oh sweet, my Prison Break DVDs arrived.


Yeah, she's way too young to be a spy. Totally okey to lead a fantasy police force though. And murder countless thieves. :v:



"Is this... Is this Vandor's order?"
"I'm not with the Rebels. I'm Karis, an Inquirer."
"You're the Inquirer Bach was talking about?"


Karis doesn't have time for 20 questions, she has places to be. No really considering where this takes place, and where Toxa's chapter 14 takes place, Karis really have to hoof it.


But now is not the time to question the geography and the logistics of travel.
Because it's teen angst time! :sigh:




"I don't know what your father told you, but this is not the time. Your friends are waiting outside."
:allears: Karis is my personal hero.
"My friends?"
"Oh, so they're not your friends? Let me rephrase that then. The Vigilance members are here to rescue you."
"Everyone is here?"

Sounds of fighting can be heard






Karis is the real protagonist of this game.










Whoops a bit too slow on the button there. Oh well.


Decide on what exactly? To continue to wallow in self pity?








The screen rotates so we can better see Troy and Ele. Kun and Bachstail are also there, but hidden by the large wall.





"What are you talking about? We're here to save you!"





"Lacryma, hurry!"


And with that, we're thrust into combat, by the way, remember that Karis was just here.


And Toxa's Chapter 14 is down here. The distance is between Shinon Estate and Kainas Vilage is shorter, and that took about a whole day. Poor Karis.


So the objective this map is to get everyone to the raft, where Ele and Troy is. This is an incredibly bad idea, because if you want to grab all the Texts, you'll have to spend some turns with Lacryma going backwards.
The enemy will move towards Lacryma, so you need the rest of your party to move up and help defend her, and by then you might as well just kill everyone, which is also a victory condition.



The main obstacle is this wall of Kiry-somethings, these naga. See? Much easier to remember. Anyways, they function as a wall like we've seen before.
That means they won't move and only attack if you stand next to them or through counter attacks.



Right behind them are these flower-ish phantoms. These will try to hunt Lacryma down.


They're also lovely, so we won't be using them.


Down here by the stairs are the final enemies. And oh boy are they out of position.


The rest of the party is chilling down here. I also don't care to change my formation, because I kind of jumped the gun a little.


Back here is a suspicious amount of Ground terrain. But you can't actually move over there, so don't worry about it.


The Soldiers all have these stats, that is they have no armor and only Wood weaponry. I suspect they might be casters, and I've learned my lesson from the Takeru Thunders.


Since they're all standing in range of every single one of my units, they die super fast.




They all had a Text one them, but I've long since given up on show off when we get what.


This is still the first turn, and I'm already beginning to break through the wall.


But then the phantom counter attacked and regained health. All the Phantoms are wielding Dream +4 Swords. Cute.


But ultimately fruitless. That's really the only caveat to this map. No reinforcements. no Cannons. Nothing. Suspicious.


Let's not pretend I had any difficulty here, and move on. I looted everything and killed everything.



"That was too easy!"
"That's what you think..."


Yep, 4 turns. :smug: Wait, this is Legend of Kartia, there's nothing to be smug about. :smugjones:



Right, so this was sort of a filler update, but it's necessary as the next update is going to be very exposition heavy.
So prepare your sandwiches. It's going to be a long one.


Lacryma Episode 27 Chapter 14 pt.1

EggsAisle
Dec 17, 2013

I get it! You're, uh...
Some tidbits:

-Karis is pretty great.

-Those soldiers in Lacryma 14 you suspected are casters? You're right, they are. But they don't mess around with Takeru Thunder, they sling around some of the most powerful offensive magic in the game. At least one of them casts the ultimate Water magic, which deals a shitload of damage in a huge square, heals allies, and looks like tentacle-rape from a gang of kraken. Yeah. If you play cautiously for some reason, they can easily Game Over you on Turn 1.

-The game hints that Pales is actually a floating city. You can see it in the intro video briefly. Eden is much, much larger and subject to the laws of gravity. IIRC, the game will reveal what the hapless city/country was soon.

-Kartia has some really good music, and this upcoming section showcases some of its best. Chapter 15 (both scenarios) in particular has my favorite battle music in all of gaming.

-Speaking of Chapter 15, if you didn't read my Text-collection tip, you won't get Pair and it'll lock you out of the ultimate Phantom. Thanks, Kartia!

EDIT: Never mind.

EggsAisle fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jul 22, 2015

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
I think we saw some city with a floating bit of rock with chains attached to it, so it didn't float into space. (I assume)
But I can't remember if that was Pales or the Old Capitol. I did read your post about Chapter 15 Text, I did however also completely forget about it and thought for a minute I had missed it.
Then I remembered we were still in Chapter 14. :v:

If you let those Soldiers do as much as twitch an eyebrow, then you deserve to be hit by the ultimate tentacle rape spell in the game. :colbert:
Bachstail still zaps people occasionally from static electricity. I have learned my lesson. Which is "I can't be hurt, if I kill them first." :black101:

But speaking of Squids and Amano art, I can't help but think of this guy:



Unfortunately Legend of Kartia is much too serious of a game to have a talking squid.

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Lacryma Episode 27 Chapter 14 pt.2


I'm just glad the game didn't decide to pad things out with a needless chase battle.


Yeah the only reason the Bait plan could fail was because of a betrayer, not at all because the Knight have lost any and every battle with Akueldo so far.
Or that the plan itself were more predictable than the sun rising in the morning.





Maybe it's just my apathy speaking here, but I don't see what's there to be sad about. But I guess we're about to find out.

:siren:MUSIC:Ominous:siren:





"She met with her father, at the enemy fort."
"It was him! He told me my mother was a heathen! Tell me what happened, Bishop!"
"You met Kainas..."
"If Kainas is alive, then my guess was wrong. I also want to know what happened..."





"Kainas, Shell and I tried everything to save you. But the disease you had was incurable."
"They were going to give up, but a miracle happened."
"I heard that story."
"Lacryma recovered... But the disease attacked Shell... Then your mother passed away."
"The price of miracles..."
"That's a sad story..."



"What do you mean...?"
"The miracle never happened. She didn't die from the disease."
"I remember being sick... If there was no miracle, why am I alive now?"






Ooooh title drop!





:siren:MUSIC:Untitled Track X:siren:


Flashback time! Oh and we cut in at a rather grim scene.


What!? Oh come on game, you can't introduce new portraits now! :sigh: Better start up GIMP then...








Aile doesn't get a portrait here, because.. Well. :effort:

"You're right..."
"I know how hard it is to lose an only child... If there's anything I can do, please let me know."



:siren:MUSIC:Unknown Title XVII:siren:
I don't think this track has been linked yet, so give it a listen.
Anyways the tracks being played is alternating between "Unknown Title XVII", "Unknown Title X" and "Ominous". There is a fourth track but it's not on either of the Youtube OST lists.
So unless noted otherwise, mix and match the tracks as you feel appropriate.




"Lacryma!? Is that you!?"














:3:




This is Present time Aile, as the story teller.






Well... We already have a pretty good idea of what happens next. But I was also a little bit wrong in my theory....




Something tells me this isn't just a Sleep cure spell. Mainly because Kartia doesn't have status effects.



"What happened, Mommy? Daddy?"
"Nothing honey... Go back to sleep..."
"No, I'm awake now."


Lacryma leaves. Presumeably to pester Troy, who presumeably is sleeping right now, because it's presumeably night right now...
Presumeably. :v:











Yeah, Kainas isn't a complete brain dead moron.




You're telling me revival magic could be a thing!? :argh:

"Why do you know that? You're not qualified to research the Original..."
"An Encrypter told me..."
"Not Raguruzet..."





"Do you know what you've done! It's forbidden to call back the dead!"
I can't really imagine that it's an issue that comes up often. But on the other hand, with these "Life" copies, I can see why it would be.
Rebus governments are so fast, they enact laws to forbid crimes that's going to be an issue in the future. That's how you know this is a fantasy game. :v:



On the other hand, it's totally understandable where Shell comes from.


On the third hand, (I'm a mutant) I'm sure there would be some sort of repercussion if humans stopped dying.



"I don't mind being a heathen if she can live."
"You don't know how bad heathens are punished!"
"She doesn't know anything... If I must become a heathen to allow her to live, so be it!"
"Don't say that! You can't waste your life like this! I won't allow it!"



"And you would rather pursue your duty and kill heathens?"
"That is my duty!"








Oh boy, I think this scene is really interesting. It touches on many feelings and the relationships between people.
There are no wrongs or rights here. And I really like that. But the story is not done yet...




"I can't accept my weakness..."
"Being strong does not mean being good."
"Do you think my daughter is a heathen?"
"She will be by law..."
"I guess I don't have to ask..."
"I won't tell anybody. But I sense you have other problems..."
"Whatever is created by Kartia will eventually vanish."
"That's the fate of all creation."
"My daughter's life is under that rule."
"When the magic expires, she will die again."


This means that Lacryma has died and been brought back at least 4 times. The day she originally died, + a few days and then the day we saw Shell use the "Life" Copy Kartia.
I'm sure more days have passed.


"That's how long you have life..?"
"That's because the Kartia is not an Original."
"To maintain Lacryma's life, we need more than a hundred Kartia... Does Shell know that it's impossible?"
Actually it's waaaaaay more than 100 Kartia. Since there's 364 days in a year and each "Life" Copy Kartia only works for a day... I don't know the average lifespan in Rebus, but I'm sure it's above 50 but let's just assume everyone dies on their 50th birthday.
Lacryma is what? 8? 9? Let's just say 10 for a nice round number. Assuming the day of her original death was on her birthday, you'd need... 14560 "Life" Copy Kartia's to sustain the rest of Lacryma's life.
That is of course not calculating the extra day every 4th year, because this is just really lazy math.
And we don't know how many Texts goes into a "Life" Copy Kartia. But even if it was a 1 Silk Text spell, we only have 240ish Silk right now. And we killed a good bunch of people for that.
Also I just put a price on a human life. I kind of feel like a poo poo right now. :saddowns:




"There is a way! Find the Original! Find the Original "Life" Kartia! The Original Kartia's power lasts forever."
Yes, a Bishop just told Kainas to commit one of the worst crimes you could possibly do in Rebus.

"I heard that the Original was destroyed..."
"I see... Then no more miracles..."
"No the miracle happened..."
"What do you mean?"
"I was ordered to guard the newly discovered Original from the site."
"I'm sure you did a good job."
"No, the crew was attacked by the thieves and got killed. I was also badly injured and died."





"When I read the Text, I couldn't help myself to indulge in the dark desire."
"Dark desire?"
"The two Original Kartias had the Text "Life" and "Death"."
""Life" and "Death" Kartia, the forbidden ones."



"Why do you have it? You didn't take it to Pentagram?"
"Like I said, I was killed by thieves."
"What have you done..? Where is the "Life" Kartia?"
"No, you didn't..."
"Yes, I did... The Original "Life" Kartia is no more."
It's implied that Kainas killed the crew who helped him escort the Originals, he then killed them and took them.
If that is even what happened at all. I'm inclined to believe so, otherwise the cover story wouldn't hold up under scrutiny.



Wait, does that mean that Lacryma is immortal?

"But... Is this really good for her?"
"Are you still saying that?"
"You're right... Do it..."


And here it is, the power of the Original "Life" Kartia


But as we already know from the Present. Shell is not going to survive this.


But it seems Shell didn't tell Kainas this would happen before hand.






And with those last words, Shell fades into nothing.





"What's going on!? Why is this happening!?"






This time however, the "Life" Kartia works as intended and Lacryma springs to life.



"She is no longer here."
"She sacrificed her life to give Lacryma eternal life?"
"Yes... Please look after Lacryma."





"Why?"
"I'm going to create Eden."
"What!? Eden!?"
"The material to make the Original doesn't exist here, but in Eden..."
"You're going to revive Shell? Think Kainas, you're thinking like a heathen!"
Not to mention Shell's body disappeared, there is nothing to resurrect.



"I can't do it!"
"This will be the last time we meet... Please take care of Lacryma..."


And with that Kainas leaves to join Akueldo, and in time turn into Vandor.
But more interestingly this story have given us a lot of answers. Enough to make some guesses as to what happened with Toxa and the Original "Death" Kartia.
As things stand however it seems Lacryma has eternal life. What that entails I have no idea. But maybe that's why she is the only one who can create "Nothingness".

There is of course more to come, but this is a pretty good time to take a break.
As this update is twice as long as the last one :v:


Lacryma Episode 27 Chapter 14 pt.2

Sazero fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Jul 24, 2015

EggsAisle
Dec 17, 2013

I get it! You're, uh...
As I recall, the music during the flashback fits the scene really well. Worth posting a link in the update? Also, if my backseat-LPing has been annoying, I humbly apologize. You've been doing a great job showing off the game, though. Good, bad, and ugly. :)

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
After writing the long update I just felt like "Just post this poo poo already". But you're right, the music should be a part of the LP, so I'll edit it in when I've recovered from the fatigue.
Constructive stuff is always welcome, and my work ethic is all but disciplined, so complaining when I've done something terrible, or lacking is just fine.

But thanks for the compliment. I'd complain about the lack of faith regarding the Pair Text but then I remember I've been half assing some of the things in the LP, so I couldn't really ask for that. :v:
Also I'm doing it blind, so really it's appreciated. Although maybe mention those things at the beginning of the relevant chapter. But now that I think about it, I can't even complain about that because
I sometimes spew out two updates in a row. God drat myself, I can't even complain about anything. :argh: Myself!

The only real fault that I can think off LP-wise is that I couldn't think up any interesting gimmicks for the filler chapters.
Mainly because any gimmick would just extend the combat and thus we'd suffer longer. But hey, at least you got the authentic experience, right? :v:

*edited in the music in the above update*

Sazero fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jul 24, 2015

sunburnedcrow
Dec 17, 2012
Nice to see that the plot is actually moving now.

Sazero posted:

Karis is my personal hero.
She is female JRPG batman according to you. what's not to like.

Raitzeno
Nov 24, 2007

What? It seemed like
a good idea at the time.

I have an alternate theory on Lacryma's Nothingness. It runs off the basic assumption that the church is right and 'souls' are a thing. (Which means it's of equal value to the nihilism theory, i.e., effectively none.)

The original Life Kartia brought her body back to life, but when death happens, the soul moves on or recycles or whatever. Lacryma's soul had been in there long enough to imprint her behavioral patterns into her physical brain, but when the body came back, the soul was either left behind or shredded in the process of multiple revivals in a relatively short time period, from a lifespan perspective. She's "alive" in all the ways people can detect, but she's an empty shell. The Nothingness concept that would allow her to use that Kartia springs from the (lack of the) same source that fuels imagination, which everyone else would use to produce concepts that are not Nothingness.

Speaking of Original conceptualization, Toxa has basically no loving understanding of Death, near as I can tell. He's mowed down enemies he didn't care about in the least, and hasn't had anyone important to him die, that I can recall. Whether or not what he used was actually an Original seems rather immaterial; the effect would have been similar either way, as his concept and understanding of Death is very shallow.

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
If I'm reading your theory right, because I have to admit, it's a little difficult to me, so I could be wrong.
What you're saying is that Lacryma is a soulless or soul damaged human and that means she doesn't have imagination? And therefore can use the the "Nothingness" Kartia, because she cannot imagine anything?
If that's the case. Then that would mean that she wouldn't be able to use any Kartia, only the "Nothingness" Kartia would be available to her, as regular Kartia requires imagination.
Ultimately though, it would seem we agree that Lacryma can use "Nothingness" because she was resurrected. As to why exactly that is, will probably be explained by the game later on.

Regarding Toxa and the "Death" Kartia, I won't be discussing that right now because of spoiler reasons, which can reasonably be deducted from today's update.
And it will be unveiled in the next update.
Although I will say this, Toxa didn't fail casting the Original "Death" because he didn't have the proper understanding of "Death."

I disagree with you on the matter of whether Toxa understands Death. As he did study the Text for the Original "Death" Kartia.
You might argue that you can't reach an understanding about something by reading a book, that's where the game disagrees with you as
it's something that happens rather frequently in the game. It's kind of the main way people learn how to use new Kartia.
It's how we keep learning new spells, Phantoms and how to create new weapons and armour.

But for the sake of argument. Toxa has, as you say mowed down countless enemies. It's potentially true that he didn't care about them.
However, whether he cares or not is irrelevant as it's through the power of imagination that Kartia is used, not on how someone feels about the concept of something.
And even then, he would have seen the lights go out in their eyes as the last life of his opponents drains from their bodies.
He would have heard their screams of agony and pain as he cuts them down with his sword. The fear in their eyes, and how it fades as they die.
I'd argue that Toxa would have a rather excellent understanding of death. But how he feels towards it, is an entirely different matter, and ultimately irrelevant to the casting
of the Original "Death" Kartia.

And lastly, after all these :words:

I wonder what a female Batman would sound like, hopefully she'd have a lighter voice than Gruff McDeepston. :v:

Raitzeno
Nov 24, 2007

What? It seemed like
a good idea at the time.

I probably worded it poorly. I'm not saying she doesn't have an imagination, but rather that she does not need to imagine Nothingness specifically. She's got a 'solid' reference. There's an empty hole where a significant part of her existence should be.

Sazero
Nov 27, 2014

The classiest crazy bullshit magic Half-Elf, you'll ever meet.
Craaawling in my skin. These wounds, they will not heeeaaaal. :v:

While I'm not directly opposed to the idea that would mean that she would be somehow aware of this fact to draw upon it.
Or rather, how would she be able to notice, and if so, wouldn't that change her behavior? Though I guess it could explain why she is so faithful.
It's to literally fill the void in her existence. I still prefer my own theory, because that's how the game world makes sense to me.
But I can see that it's somewhat plausible this way too. Well, if you squint a little.

Now that I think about it, that could explain Lacryma's bloodlust. She's a soulless husk of a human. :v:

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.
Dang, that last update blows my theory out of the water. (I thought that maybe Originals don't consume the life of the user, instead Kainas used the Death Kartia on Shell after he discovered she was a heathen, then was so wracked with guilt over killing his wife because she saved his daughter, that he created a copy of it and then faked his own death. That would also explain the deal with Toxa's cast of the Death Kartia, both in him surviving and his target not dying.)

Now I dunno what the gently caress is going on. :shrug:

Tallgeese
May 11, 2008

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR


This means one of two things.

1) Aile is holding out on us, and still has Original Death.

2) Kainas lied and gave Aile nothing more than a copy, because he didn't want to drat his friend.

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.
Hold up, Raguruzet is the one said to be making copies of original Kartias, right? And he's also had unfettered access to the Death Kartia, since he's one of the leaders of the whole shebang, right? I'm thinking he's the one who swapped them, and is keeping the Original "Death" Kartia in his pocket as insurance.

Tallgeese
May 11, 2008

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR


Beltshumeltz seemed to think it was the Original because it seemed to kill Saradiart.

If Raguruzet knew it wasn't, I'd imagine he wouldn't risk being near Saradiart's supposed corpse.

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Raitzeno
Nov 24, 2007

What? It seemed like
a good idea at the time.

Tallgeese posted:

Beltshumeltz seemed to think it was the Original because it seemed to kill Saradiart.

If Raguruzet knew it wasn't, I'd imagine he wouldn't risk being near Saradiart's supposed corpse.

Assuming he'd heard Kainas/Lacryma's story, Raguruzet probably would have known they'd have at least enough time to grab an arm and GTFOD. Even a cheap copy of Life on a normal Kartia could defy death for a full day. A copy of Death should at least knock Saradiart out for a good hour or three, right?

E: If I was so far gone as to be making copies of literally the only no-questions-asked instakill spell in existence, I'd sure as gently caress test it before I actually -need- it.

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