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 We have one last visit to make in Artolia. Roland isn't in Arngrim's house, so let's just go into his room (does Roland even have a room?).   My father gave it to me years ago. You're welcome to use it. Sweet! The Dragon Slayer is a powerful sword that can be used by Lenneth, Swordsmen and some Heavy Warriors (including Arngrim himself). It also allows all three attacks, and as its name implies, is very effective against dragons. We'll be saving it for a rainy day. Let's look at our two new party members as well.  Class: Swordsman/Head Guard Age: 37 Race: Human Gender: Male Homeland: Gerabellum A nobleman holding a high office in Gerabellum. With his powers of leadership, Belenus has earned the loyalty of knights and commoners alike. He stands for fairness and justice in a corrupted and decadent kingdom. Belenus is a Swordsman, and he starts off with comparable stats to Lenneth. Belenus is an alright character to use - he has a knockdown as well as a fairly slow launcher, and his damage is respectable enough. He doesn't stand out in any major way except his PWS (which we'll get to), so while he's good enough now, we'll probably want to replace him eventually.  Class: Archer/Soldier Age: 18 Race: Human Gender: Male Homeland: Crell Monferaigne A gentle young man from Crell Monferaigne pressed into military service by his fanatical and self-righteous country. It's tragic that such a peaceful soul should be sent to his death on the field of battle. Llewelyn is our first proper Archer, so he wields bows. His health is low compared to our Swordsmen though it's higher than Jelanda, and his stats aren't too great. As a combatant, Llewelyn is... not great. While his attacks do more hits than Belenus or Arngrim, he generates little meter to the gauge, and you'll have to work around him to make him shine. His saving grace is his unblockable attack, which we can't even get in this chapter. Having a second Archer is still useful, but without proper training he'll start to wear thin soon enough.  The Divine Item tab in the menu is essentially our shop. Instead of using money (or OTH which is implied to be the currency of Midgard, suggested by CotP), we use MP, or Materalize Points. We start with 2000, and we can get more by Converting, or 'selling' items into more MP. Alternatively, we can Transmute items into other items - not all items can be Transmuted. For example, we can turn Fire Lance spellbooks into Fire Storm ones. Llewelyn and Belenus come equipped with armour but no weapons, so on our shopping list are two Bolt-Crossbows. Belenus gets Lenneth's Grimrist sword, and she gets one of the Bolt-Crossbows. Lenneth is the only character to have two different sets of attacks depending on what type of weapon she has equipped. For the most part, she's far better with bows, scoring more hits, which means more damage.  We open up three dungeons using Spiritual Concentration, though one of them is a bit... special. For today, we're venturing into the Solde Catacombs.  The Catacombs are fairly short, and feature Lesser Vampires from the first dungeon, as well as Dragon Servants, who were part of the boss fight there. Our first job is to head right and drop down the hole.  We pick up the Attack Pow skill. Unlike spellbooks, which are taught to one mage at a time, using a skill book opens up the skill to be learned by anybody for CP. Attack Pow is a very handy passive skill that directly raises stats - each rank increases STR by a whopping 30. Anyone can learn it except Mages.   Oh no... we're completely outmatched!Dragon Servants are the main enemy of the dungeon. Their tendency to block is annoying, but Lenneth can usually crush their guards easily and Jelanda's spells pierce them.  Llewelyn is visibly poorer at raising meter, but his increased number of hits does make him more valuable in generating both crystals and gems. Lenneth's increased number of hits with a bow is also good for this. We have a few new PWS to look at. Llewelyn and Belenus have PWS, and Lenneth gets a variant of Niebelung Valesti when she has a bow equipped. We'll also (using the magic of saved games) look at the Great Magic options for Fire Storm and Fire Lance.  Belenus, Llewelyn, Lenneth (Bow), Fire Storm, Fire Lance PWS (I'm assuming 1280x720 works fine. I can make it smaller if people prefer it.)  To get further mileage out of Lenneth's bow, the bow version of Niebelung Valesti is for all intents and purposes superior to the sword version. It does more hits, more damage, and adds more to the gauge.  Belenus' PWS is his shining point - Extreme Void is one of the stronger PWS is the game and his respectable strength will keep it that way. It's best to pile it on last as its few hits and poor gauge generation make it poor otherwise. It has a CT of 3.  LENS FLAAAAAARE Layer Storm is a weird PWS, as the amount of hits it deals is entirely dependent on the enemy's size and its position relative to Llewelyn - on a large enemy it can score up to 20 hits and be very impressive, but most of the time it'll average around 7 hits and be quite weak. It does have the upside of only having a CT of 2.  While visually impressive, Fire Storm's Great Magic isn't that amazing in terms of damage - in fact, it's actually weaker than the normal PWS of casting Fire Storm thrice on a single target. Hitting all enemy targets is always good and the +50 to the gauge is nice, but with Fire Storm's main advantage being its launching capabilities and low CT of 2, the 5 CT of Ifrit Caress isn't really what you're looking for.  On the flipside, Calamity Blast is much stronger, being just as powerful as Belenus' Extreme Void, and hitting all enemy targets, making it a decent finisher if you really need it. CT of 5, just like Ifrit Caress.  Back to the dungeon. We can pick up a Short Bow after heading left from the Attack Pow skill - it's a good bow with two attacks, but with a 5% chance of breaking. We can then head left, and enter a doorway to find our objective for this dungeon.  There are pentagrams with statues in them. Our goal is to destroy the statue with a sword strike, then find a slab somewhere in the same screen and push it (using X) onto the pentagram. We also get 1000 event experience for each slab we push onto a pentagram.  The first slab is just to the right, with Dragon Servants directly to its left and on top of it. To get in a strike we have to jump while on the ladder and slash in mid-air.   They were mighty foes.Dragon Servants can drop Chainmails and Broad Swords. The former is a decent armour upgrade while the latter are a possible weapon upgrade for our sword users, but with a 6% chance of breaking.  Because wands like the Element Scepter don't break unless you use a Great Magic with them, we can easily make use of their massive Magic Power on just attacking without using their GM. In large clusters like four Dragon Servants, casting Fire Storm from the menu will burn them to death in just two rounds. What makes Fire Storm great for groups is that not only does it only have a CT of 2, but it will often keep an enemy in the air just long enough for you to quickly have your other characters attack and combo after it. Jelanda is easily our MVP for this dungeon.  We also pick up Avoid along the way, a skill book that raises Agility by 3 each time a character gets a rank in it.  There isn't that much more to the dungeon. Just running around, pushing slab after slab...   Eventually, there's a room with just a pentagram and statue, with no slab. If you've pushed all the other slabs into place, when you destroy the statue, the door just to the right will open, and we'll get 5000 event exp.  There's a Memory Camp in the next room, a few Dragon Servants, and an Element Scepter to be picked up, before we go face the boss of the dungeon. I switch my party to Arngrim, Llewelyn, and Jelanda.  OST: Turn Over a New Leaf  Ha ha ha!! How amusing! It seems our behavior displeases you... Perhaps you should leave your job as goddess and become a grave tender! Silence, worm!! OST: Confidence in the Domination These beasts have great endurance. While we fight with them, we are sitting ducks for those sorcerers. We must go after the sorcerers...Our boss fight is against a Ramapithicus and two Drow Shamans. As Lenneth implies, the Shamans are the real threat - they will throw out powerful spells, and being in the back row, Swordsmen and Heavy Warriors can't hit them til we get rid of the Ramapithicus. This is why I brought Llewelyn - archery and magic are the only ways to hit enemies in the back row.  Fortunately, the Shamans aren't that durable - a few rounds of concentrated fire will bring them down, and Element Scepter Fire Storms will just speed up the process.  In turn, they definitely hit hard. Llew is naturally tolerant against Fire, but he still takes over 900 damage from Fire Lance and dies. Since Arngrim can only attack the Rampithicus, I have him toss a Union Plume to revive him.   Jelanda: MVP.  We take down one Shaman, but the other kills Llew again.  Once both Shamans are down, the battle is a piece of cake. The Rampithicus can be taken down whichever way you want.   That said, I think Llewelyn's earned the right to finish this one off.   Hah! Did you think you could defeat me?We get a nice chunk of experience for our troubles. We also knocked a copy of Sap Power out from one of the Shamans, which is a spell that reduces enemy's attack power a long period of time. Artifacts time!    Secrets of Damascus is just a book. The Crown of Felmar is a headgear for anyone that reduces Dark damage by 50%. The Emerald Necklace is the real winner of the three - whoever has it equipped gains an additional 100 CP when they level up. It converts to 5000 MP, but of course we're not doing that. And as always, we're keeping everything. We also get 10,000 event exp for completing the dungeon.  Before we leave, there are two treasures to nab in this last room. Magic Pow is the equivalent of Attack Pow for Sorcerers - 30 INT for each level in it. The other item is a copy of the Frigid Damsel spell, our first Ice element attack spell.  Alright, let's get out of here.  Before we go on, let's talk about sending Einherjar to Asgard. Each chapter, Freya will put in a request as to what kind of Einherjar Odin wants. She can ask for a certain Hero value, Traits, Skills, Class or any combination of the above. Einherjar that fit her requirements will make her and Odin happy, and result in greater rewards. In the event it's not possible to fulfill all the requirements (and indeed sometimes it's impossible), having a higher Hero value will help make up for the deficit, and we can always send up more than one Einherjar (though we never need to if we play our cards right). As alluded to earlier, Arngrim cannot be transferred. This means levelling up his Traits is effectively useless. Aside from increasing traits to gain Hero value, Einherjar also gain 2 Hero value every time they level up. Our Chapter 1 request is easy enough: Hero Value of 40 or more. Any of our three eligible Einherjar can easily meet this requirement. And here are all their traits, without any points spent into levelling any of them:    ...Llewelyn, how are you more of a Hero than Arngrim? Anyway, who do we send? ApplesandOranges fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 19:06
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None. Jelanda's our only mage, Belenus is useful, Llewellyn can be used for a later request and there's VERY few Archers in the game as is-only two others. One's better, one's worse. If we MUST, then probably Belenus. I'm not sure if Jelanda can meet the requirements. ...It's not outright stated, but it's fairly clear how Llewellyn died:knocked off a boat and drowned. Rotten way to go. Bloodly fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 19:18
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Bloodly posted:None. Jelanda's our only mage, Belenus is useful, Llewellyn can be used for a later request and there's VERY few Archers in the game as is-only two others. One's better, one's worse. I'd say we must send someone upstairs, Odin is probably starting to twitch because we ganked those artifacts, we'd better placate him. Mighty Odin, Llewellyn is almost as bad as Arngrim. I had forgotten how crap he was. Jelanda starts at -42 and gets +14 from cute, +21 from snobbish, +10 from shallow and +42 from stout and we're already over 40. As per Llewellyn, -82 start so we need +122. +49 serious, +28 altruistic, +24 worrier, +24 cowarldy and I think that's the requirement met. Does current level also go into HV? Anyway, this request is easy: "just send someone decent, we'll sort the rest".
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Mar 25, 2014 19:53
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The best part about Llewellyn is you can't even teach him how to swim before you send him up.
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Mar 25, 2014 19:56
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Not entirely true. There are various accessories which you can buy which, while having no combat effect(And so are relatively cheap), are meant to counter certain bad traits and thus prevent the various potential negative events caused by them when they're running around Valhalla in 'Sacred Phase'. I don't believe the the one that counters 'can't swim' shows up for a while, though I'm running off memory.
Bloodly fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 20:01
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Omobono posted:Does current level also go into HV? ApplesandOranges said in his post that you get 2 Hero Value per level. Anyways, I usually just send up Llewelyn because he barely meets the requirements here and very quickly won't be able to reach the Hero Value requirement at all, and on Midgard he'd just be a benchwarmer. Dude never got a chance to shine in all my playthroughs. On a different note, I kinda like how human-made weapons have a chance to break while divine weapons you can materialize are basically immune to wear-and-tear. It does a nice job showing the difference between human and godly weapon-crafting.
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Mar 25, 2014 20:07
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Man, when I finally played through this game, I think I used a guide just for the endings and did everything else blind. I had no idea about so many things, items with secondary effects (like the Emerald Necklace) being a big one.
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Mar 25, 2014 20:10
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Bloodly posted:...It's not outright stated, but it's fairly clear how Llewellyn died:knocked off a boat and drowned. Rotten way to go. I never thought about that before, but it makes perfect sense. Can't Swim + Millia talking about an empty coffin which implies they never brought back his body. Plus his ever so infamous Sacred Phase scene, and yeah, I could see it.
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Mar 25, 2014 20:18
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The Emerald Necklace is, to put it politely, totally bitchin'  My favorite thing to do is to keep close watch on my party's experience, and once they're on the verge of leveling up I'll equip each of them with the EN in turn and give them the last few EXP they need from my event experience pool. MAX CP FOR EVERYONE!!
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Mar 25, 2014 20:27
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ApplesandOranges posted:[ For these 2, I usually build crystal steps and slash from there. My twitch reflexes are bad enough I would jump into them other wise. I usually send up Belenus in chapter one, but I do agree Llewelyn is only useful for transferring in the early chapters otherwise you just have to spend too much time leveling him to meet the Hero requirement. He has to be over level 10 for a HV 60 or above, and well there are just better and less time consuming options.
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Mar 25, 2014 20:31
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Jelanda is just too useful for our party right now. She's the only mage, and seeing her shine as MVP just reinforces why we still need her in our party. Belandus, well, he's a swordsman. Yeah. Arngrim and Lenneth can both fill that role. Llewelyn is our only archer unless you count Lenneth, so he will have some utility until we find another one. I doubt that you won't be able to replace Belandus in the next chapter, so he's clearly the choice that makes the most sense. And I did vote on the website for the poll. This doesn't count as my vote. The website one is.
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Mar 25, 2014 20:39
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Lenneth being the best archer in the game really works against Llewelyn here, as he's just so bad at his job that there's no reason to keep him around, even if archers are in short supply. Sending Belenus early is kinda wasteful since his hero value is ridiculously huge and he's useful in combat unless someone REALLY good shows up early.
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Mar 25, 2014 20:44
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dis astranagant posted:Lenneth being the best archer in the game really works against Llewelyn here, as he's just so bad at his job that there's no reason to keep him around, even if archers are in short supply. Sending Belenus early is kinda wasteful since his hero value is ridiculously huge and he's useful in combat unless someone REALLY good shows up early. I find it interesting that despite the Valkyrie line about not being a god of love the very first two candidates she finds on her own are more [Tragic] Love Stories than Heroic Stories. Llewelyn can be fun to keep around for the All Bow party at some point but he is really lacking in the combat department while Belanus is competent all around and has one of the higher starting Hero Scores making him decent for a low cost Transfer option.
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Mar 25, 2014 21:13
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MadHat posted:I find it interesting that despite the Valkyrie line about not being a god of love the very first two candidates she finds on her own are more [Tragic] Love Stories than Heroic Stories. You ain't seen nothing yet. There's a character you see throughout the game who you just wanna hug and give a cup of tea to.
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Mar 25, 2014 21:56
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:You ain't seen nothing yet. There's a character you see throughout the game who you just wanna hug and give a cup of tea to. O I know, I have beaten the game several times. The recurring characters are even worse for that because you get to see their life fall apart over a longer time frame than the shorter Einharjer stories. I was just pointing out that Lenneth has some weird criteria for Einharjer, assuming she has any control over who is getting picked.
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Mar 25, 2014 22:21
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:You ain't seen nothing yet. There's a character you see throughout the game who you just wanna hug and give a cup of tea to. Dear goddess, I've been trying not to think about that. The worst part is, I didn't ever actually recruit her in any of my playthroughs as a kid.
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Mar 25, 2014 23:30
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Send up Llewellyn, IMO. Give him his brief, glimmering moment in the sun  The Emerald Necklace is one reason why Hard Mode is easier. +100 CP per level makes a huge difference when every character is starting from level 1. You can max out lots of extremely powerful skills (like POW Up) just by handing new characters some event experience, of which you should have plenty. Finally, I did that dungeon without knowing how the "item crafting" worked. I grabbed that shortbow, slapped it on Llewellyn, and it broke basically immediately, so when I got to the boss I had no idea how to effectively fight it since he was doing only like 5 damage per hit without a weapon. But hey, Element Sceptres exist, so I just rocked out a big PWS chain -> Great Magic finisher. I think I even managed to kill everything with the Great Magic, which as others have alluded to means that the sceptre won't break.
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Mar 25, 2014 23:51
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Yeah, I love cheesing that glitch to mean the slayer weapons never break. The battle should never last longer than 1 turn with them. If it would, don't equip it until everything else but the pitiful fool is dead.
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Mar 25, 2014 23:58
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Fister Roboto posted:The best part about Llewellyn is you can't even teach him how to swim before you send him up. But you can make his inability to swim less of a problem! I... have no idea how that works. Teaching him how to float at least? Magically made to be buoyant? Provided with floaties?
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Mar 25, 2014 23:58
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Penakoto posted:But you can make his inability to swim less of a problem! That last one is now canon, it fits him perfectly.
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Mar 26, 2014 00:00
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Penakoto posted:But you can make his inability to swim less of a problem! I know how to swim just well enough not to drown. Maybe it's that sort of thing? You upgrade him from 'sinks like a stone' to 'should probably rescue him at some point'?
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Mar 26, 2014 00:23
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Derek Barona posted:Dear goddess, I've been trying not to think about that. Valkyrie Profile: Everyone needs a hug. Edit: Dropped Spoilers MadHat fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Mar 26, 2014 |
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Mar 26, 2014 01:06
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Derek Barona posted:Dear goddess, I've been trying not to think about that. The worst part is, I didn't ever actually recruit her in any of my playthroughs as a kid. I don't know who you're thinking of but to me, the saddest character is one you can't even recruit.
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Mar 26, 2014 01:19
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I don't know who you're thinking of but to me, the saddest character is one you can't even recruit. Poor eldest sister. She will never get her game.
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Mar 26, 2014 01:38
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Yeah how about we try not to discuss future events in a thread with a no spoilers policy? As Dis Astranagant already mentioned, Llewelyn doesn't even fill the archer niche because we already got Lenneth. It cannot be understated how much better Lenneth is with a bow. If you're kinda poo poo at the game like me, giving Lenneth a bow can make the difference from getting the meter only to 50% to filling it out entirely, and if I remember correctly it also lets you use her PWE third in the chain while the sword version can only fill the meter up from the second spot. Then of course there's also the ever-looming thread of ranged enemies in the back row that can be made infinitely easier with a ranged Lenneth and a sorcerer of your own. Switching from swords to bows was honestly a pretty big game changer for me.
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Mar 26, 2014 01:42
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a cartoon duck posted:Yeah how about we try not to discuss future events in a thread with a no spoilers policy? She is also rather durable, unlike poor Llewelyn. Lenneth is pretty flexible as a character which is a good trait in the primary character.
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Mar 26, 2014 01:49
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It is good to have a versatile main character in a game where your roster ebbs and flows. I say send Belenus on. He needs to get drunk more.
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Mar 26, 2014 03:49
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Llewelyn isn't super-great for us to keep around, but in pure roleplaying terms he's got one thing going for him as one of Odin's own that Belenus does not: He fell in battle. However gracelessly, it counts for something, and since we as chooser of the slain are trusted to make this call, let's give him his due reward and send him to the gods. Belenus or Jelanda might be statistically more favorable, but they'll be sent up in due time. For now, we have a well-rounded party of killers.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:07
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Besides, if we don't send Llewellyn up soon, he's not getting up there. Boy's just not got a ton of hero in him, and Odin's only going to get tougher when it comes to grading them.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:19
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Mazed posted:Llewelyn isn't super-great for us to keep around, but in pure roleplaying terms he's got one thing going for him as one of Odin's own that Belenus does not: He fell in battle. However gracelessly, it counts for something, and since we as chooser of the slain are trusted to make this call, let's give him his due reward and send him to the gods. Hold your sleipnirs there buddy, it doesn't say he died in battle. It just says he died.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:21
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Fister Roboto posted:Hold your sleipnirs there buddy, it doesn't say he died in battle. It just says he died. Sure it does, or implies it anyhow. There was a naval battle, and he went overboard.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:22
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He could have died well before the battle started!
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Mar 26, 2014 04:25
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Shhh, lets not tell Odin.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:29
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Llewelyn fought the ocean, and the ocean won.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:38
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Llewyn - it's been nice knowing you, and I'm going to introduce you to a pal of mine who lives in another world and wants your to fight some mythological baddies - don't worry, you'll be fine.
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Mar 26, 2014 04:42
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So I voted for Llewellyn in the poll, but I'm gonna go ahead and toss out this idea: Send Belenus and Llewellyn.
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Mar 26, 2014 05:10
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Eeh, I say keep em all, nobody tells us what to do, especially not some asshat in a big chair.
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Mar 26, 2014 06:13
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Bows are not a heroic protagonist weapon, sword-Lenneth or bust  We should keep Llew and use him through the entire game.
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Mar 26, 2014 06:40
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The lady is nowhere near 'heroic'. She's a recruiter and drill-sergeant.
Bloodly fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Mar 26, 2014 |
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Mar 26, 2014 06:48
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Bloodly posted:The lady is nowhere near 'heroic'. She's a recruiter and drill-sergeant. "I am Lenneth Valkyrie, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Ma'am". Do you maggots understand that? If you ladies leave my service, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of Tyr praying for Ragnarok. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Midgard. You are not even human loving beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of Jotun poo poo! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on brunnmigi, landvættir , dwarves, or lindorm. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-einherjar who did not die gloriously enough to serve my beloved Odin. Do you maggots understand that?" chiasaur11 fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Mar 26, 2014 |
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Mar 26, 2014 07:18
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