Part 35: 24.B: Poisoned

: Poisoned – Gameplay



: Mae is very close to maxing out her Enlightenment bar and getting her final perk. One more game, or the Wisdom Trace, ought to do it.



: Sir Gilman, meanwhile, gets more than enough points to push him into the next level. If you remember, last time, he was maybe a few pixels from the threshold.




: Gilman’s available perks are the first-level perk Valiant Return (if Sir Gilman and each of his allies are banished, he immediately returns); the second-level perk Quick Draw (pressing Slash a second time will return Sir Gilman to where he initially was); and his first third-level perk Vigorous Slash (Slashing returns all of Sir Gilman’s stamina).

: Usually, I use Sir Gilman for quick, sudden strike at my enemy’s Pyre; otherwise, he rarely moves from his starting position. Despite having the least amount of Presence in the triumvirate, Sir Gilman’s actually not awful at defense because his ‘tripwire’-style of Aura is much better at catching approaches than it is at approaching. He also has the least amount of Glory out of everyone, tied with Ti’zo.

: The reason I bring all this up is because the only times I tend to use Sir Gilman is either when he has a clear shot at an enemy’s Pyre, or if he’s the last man standing. With that in mind, Valiant Return would actually be a fairly useful perk for him: if he’s the final line of defense, and he’s taken out, he’ll just come right back and put up another tripwire.

: That said, though, I’m going to go with Vigorous Slash, and I’m thinking of combining it with Quick Draw. If Quick Draw gives him a second ‘burst’ of Aura like the initial Slash does (and I can test this in multiplayer pretty easily), Sir Gilman would become nigh-untouchable: he could dash straight into an enemy’s territory, Slash, Slash again, and be given back all of his stamina. His throwing arc gets next to no distance, but it charges immediately: his windows of opportunity as an offensive unit (which, despite what I just said, is what the game is implying he is, what with his blistering speed and the Scale of Ores) would increase dramatically with those two perks.

: And besides, the initial reason why I turned down Valiant Return, and the whole left tree to begin with, is because I shouldn’t be getting banished so thoroughly that it ever comes into play anyway.




: Volfred, like Sir Gilman before him, is a hair’s-breadth from a level up. That’s kind of annoying, but, hey, depending on who we use for our next Rite, we could be getting a handful of levels in short order.



: That’s kind of generous, considering they should have won by all rights. Volfred’s Final Kindling is a very OP perk.

: The Nightwings are in capable hands, these days, my boy. Thank you for your continued efforts, given all the challenges we face.

: The Rites may be ending, but we still have time to achieve our Plan, especially if you continue to prevail like that. Come, let’s see whom we shall square against when next the stars align.

: Hah, it sounds to me like Volfred is pretty amped after that win. Nothing like winning a close game against a strong opponent!








: Look at the Pyrehearts’ ratio. Come on, Deluge, get it together.

: According to the planner, we have only one more Rite to go before we’re summoned back to Mount Alodiel. These cycles are going in a real hurry now, and there will be fewer and fewer opportunities to challenge our opponents.

: Normally, I try my best to refrain from saying or doing anything that could influence your votes, but I’d like to point out that if we’re interested in learning more about our opponents and what brings them to the Downside, we haven’t played a (non-Liberation) Rite against Deluge or Manley. If we wanted to punch him in his jaw again, now would be a perfect chance, fewer as they’re becoming, to learn more reasons as to why we would want to do that.

: Of course, we could always just go after Uldmildhe, too. If we don’t, there’s a slim chance she could overtake Tamitha in the rankings and be given the chance to ascend back to the Commonwealth, and we… probably don’t want Udmildhe back up there. But then, of course, it's going to be either her or Tamitha, so we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

: Anyway! All that said, our options for the next Rite are Udmildhe and the Withdrawn, ranked third, at the Hulk of Ores; or Manley Tinderstauff and the Chastity, ranked seventh, at the Pit of Milithe; or we could choose to play against Sir Deluge and the Pyrehearts, ranked fifth, at the Spring of Jomuer.

: Who do we play against next? Let me know in the next day!