#anyway its just me feeling bad about causing campaigns to go on snooze and then worrying im an egotist | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

isaacathom · 2 years

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so im going on holiday, right, for an annoyingly long time (until the very end of september). and ive told all the campaigns that im in about this, because i was only MAYBE going to be available for one week of those games (while im in korea) and then completely unavailable for the other 5 (while im in canada, bc of the timezones, im australian).

and, one by one, each campaign has gone on a hiatus roughly encapsulating that length of time

im in two minds. on the one hand, it means i can continue my streak of having never missed a campaign game (i missed ONE session of my pathfinder campaign bc I was at my brothers wedding, and while I was in a restaurant afterwards I found out that rather than actually play the game they'd just looked at a player's dog, so its a .5).

on the other hand, it means that im indirectly responsible for all three campaigns having no games for the next two months :(

now, its indirect, bc there are obviously other factors. for one campaign, the gm had mentioned earlier that he might have to make it biweekly or take a break to work on his thesis - fair enough! for another, its to allow the gm to work on uni stuff, run some side sessions with smaller groups, and prep for a big mission that'll happen after I get back. for the last, its so the gm can fiddle with 'kinks' that have come up as we keep playing (since we're running an adventure path with some home rules and stuff).

but im also like. :( i specifically didn't want to be disruptive, especially considering i had no authority on how long this holiday was. It was one of the things that motivated me to quit the 4th campaign I was in when I did (in addition to other factors), because based on historical evidence I figured my "temporary absence" would cause a lot of sessions to not be run, whereas if I quit then me not being there would be normal, right, and they can run when just the other 4 show up, right? I couldve quit whenever, but I figured now was a good time so I didn't fuck over 5-6 weeks of the game. (2 of the 3 campaigns earlier are biweekly, LESS of a factor)

and like. I guess im... honoured?? that my presence is valued enough that me not being there would be a significant enough factor to prompt the gms to go 'actually yea lets just take a break instead'. but then also worried that I'm reading too much into it? and being egotistic by assuming thats whats happening? especially in one of the campaigns where theres 8 players, including me and not including the gm, right? like in the one on hiatus for thesis i can slightly inflate my ego more because im basically the party bookkeeper and notetaker, responsible for tracking the inventory of our pack mule and stuff. but mmmmm am i being an egotist. am i thinking about it too much.

i just dont wanna be a buzzkill?? I dont wanna be the reason others miss out on having fun in their fun ttrpgs? and i feel bad that i put them on hiatus?? like again yes there are OTHER reasons, but my absence *is* a factor, and i just ;-;

especially again in the 8 person campaign bc writing my character out for three games is really easy. we established that the ship she's a captain of has been pressed into service patrolling the bay in advance of an invasion by mindflayers or whatever. so shes just. on that ship. actually being its captain. instead of leaving it to her lieutenant, which has been her tactic for the majority of the time she has been captain of that vessel. even with the adventure path one i said, before the hiatus was called, that presumably my character was just ~along with the party~ until they got to the ferry we need, and then would be in their cabin on the ferry reading and completely oblivious to the outside world. sure that ones a little shakier but they did literally uncover a journal of theirs and they have amnesia so deciding to do a deep dive on that bad boy while stuck on a boat seems completely reasonable. bwuuh. (difficult to justify for the thesis campaign bc my character is a) Around, and b) has no way to simply dip for 6 entire sessions that would make sense or wouldn't just fully take him out of the campaign).

whatever. im just antsy because im really stressed about my holiday and full to the achy tit with period hormones that make me grumpy and also even MORE stressed about the holiday. so on, so forth, grumble grumble

#ive been around more often bc it is genuinely quite useful to have somewhere to blurble on without my friends reading it lol #and bc ofc i grew up on this hellsite im very used to and comfortable just rambling on social media. so having my safe space? nice #also i prefer tumblr posts for bitching bc twitters just a pain in the ass and by the time i get to the end of the thread ive forgotten mys #myself. whatever. also i love tags for the (ps: shenanigans) vibe. love that #anyway its just me feeling bad about causing campaigns to go on snooze and then worrying im an egotist

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perfect-corroscience · 5 years

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Chapter 32: The Bridgehead

“It seems there’s no longer any way to stop Animata’s rampage.”

In the last chapter, the crew got warped to yet another strange planet. They fought alien creatures, ran into a robot soldier, and were led to his king - who turns out to be 54B2. Needless to say, everyone is... very confused.

32-1 We never imagined we would really find survivors.

“You are kindred, fellow citizens of this world. To us, you are a beacon of hope.”

Concluding thus, the Oxsecian king welcomes you with open arms.

Not long ago the Oxsecians were bitter enemies. Now they surround you – but they’re disarmingly friendly. Eerily so.

Still, here you can finally settle down and rest. Unable to resist that temptation, you decide to stay a while.

So the god of the planet turns out to be a sentient technological lifeform, the party has traveled to several other worlds, but time travel?

Pfffffft, that’s only in stories

“A supply run to the bridgehead…”

According to Proto, the troops stationed there are setting up a critical operation as a foothold in the campaign against Animata.

“Well, no point in just sitting around here, after all. Let’s lend a hand.”

And so you join the Oxsecian ranks.

Someone in one of the irc channels noted it was weird that nobody was saying a thing about supposedly joining the king’s army and destroying Animata. I think the general gist is that the party is still very bewildered about what just happened, only just able to begin recouping, nobody beyond the wildlife are attacking, and it’d be good to find out more.

And how better than to help Proto and the king?

The first battle introduces this enemy, whose notable for its de-leveling skill. It has a fairly large range, and basically means taking it out ASAP is a priority. Otherwise, stay out of their AOE.

It’s worth noting that they’re quite vulnerable to being confused… that being said, the only units who can cause confusion are Kana, R’zonand, and Yukken(^); of the three I can see people using Yukken, though the confusion comes from her Chaos Arrows skill(s). I guess you could use Kana or R’zonand if you really wanted to use their confusion inducing skills while being so extraordinarily unlucky you never managed to pull any adventurer that specialized in healing?

The next four battles introduce these two goblin enemies. Their skills are self-explanatory and all but say that this chapter mainly has sword enemies in the same way chapter 31 had spear enemies.

My team for this chapter was Olber/Bajanna/Ma’curi/Koko/Sorman/Odin. Olber provides some damage while being a tank/support for the team, while Bajanna, Ma’curi, and Odin dish out the damage. Koko is probably the one unit I personally could take or leave for this team. I took her mainly because I hadn’t invested in a lot of spear users – I’d have otherwise taken Djugan or Clara if I bothered with Vengeful Heart.

Other possible units:

· Kem and Djugan (or, since it’s now at update 5.5.x, their recodes) can be brought along, as they provide the same function for spear units as Pahrl/Korin and Ka’pori/Manmer, respectively.

· Suoh in his third job gets Phys Attack x1.2, which makes him a pretty good damage dealer. Camellia(^) is a decent spear unit, and you could probably make an interesting team with her and a bunch of male units to take advantage of her Femme Fatale equip skills. Clara is free from Vengeful Heart and seriously useful + her recode gives her some good range.

· If you don’t have a ton of these units, it’s perfectly viable to recode Odin, then recruit and SB/level another one, then put both in the party.

· Jaguna^ makes a fairly interesting spear user while being able to provide healing – which can come in handy for 32-10, and like Suoh and Camellia she can be SB’d using PoF.

· Beyond that I guess if you’re lacking in spear units just ply on any good sword units you have.

32-2 The scars of battle are everywhere.

Four battles. These two are introduced. I like how the Kirusk is a Gnorusk except with frickin’ laser beams. As an anon on the Terra Battle wiki sums it up:

I didn’t bother setting up for the last floor, which is unfortunate since I can’t really make any good pincers that chain everyone together. Nor would I have enough time to.

Ow. Olber’s Self-Sacrifice skill (he takes all damage inflicted upon allies until he’s at 1HP) is a bit of a blessing and curse. Still, he’s amazingly tanky – and he’ll become even more of a tank when recoded.

32-3 You trek all day and night, yet your destination is still a long way off.

You trek all day and night, yet your destination is still a long way off. The remains of wrecked and ruined machines litter your path.

This stage has only three battles. In each we see a bunch of sleeping Bloblins. Naturally, they’re asleep until a couple turns pass or they’re attacked.

If you maneuver carefully, you can pincer them in smaller groups and not have to worry about waking them up. This picture was after I took out the Bloblins in a column, then the upper row.

The last floor is interesting in that it throws a pair of Sands of Time at you. I prioritized taking them out, waking up the Blobins be damned, and pincered them with Odin (85+ SB%) and Ma’curi (100%) to ensure I killed them. Spear units sure get a lot of good AOE in their attacks.

32-4 Not a soul in sight…

It must’ve been quite disheartening to King 54B2 and the Oxsecians to go about, day after day, seeing their land destroyed and decimated…

First enemy medic of the chapter! The tried and true method of going for the healer first will be useful.

32-5 You’re already surrounded.

As the sun sinks towards the horizon, the alien beasts’ madness only grows with the darkness. A rank odor arises as well.

Proto keeps a sharp lookout. An unsettling presence looms.

“It feels like we’re being cornered…”

Taking the lead, Proto forges ahead in an attempt to dispel the air of unease. The rest of you trail behind like magnets.

But you’re already surrounded.

Three battles, the last of which is against a boss. There’s Carrion Cutters, and this thing,

…a greener and more poisonous version of the Mudcrawler. Same mechanics apply; it leaves behind a space of toxic slime that poisons any non-levitating unit that goes over it. The slime won’t disappear immediately when it’s killed.

Maybe it’s just me, but that green shade makes it look more adorable.

The boss of the stage, who is accompanied by two Toxicrawlers and Carrion Cutters each (he can occasionally resummon the latter). His noteworthy skill is One-Eyed Counter. Its description says it all – any unit that he can “see” will be hit with a counterattack. This can make double pincers (he’s a 2x2 boss) dangerous, especially with weak units and bow units. Rake will ruin their day.

It’s a good idea to put bulkier (ideally non-bow) units on his right side so they can sponge the counter, and keep HP topped off. Olber’s Evasive Arts, Chain came in handy for me.

Units can/will be displaced during counters, but on the bright side, if they were positioned to pincer, said pincer will still fire off. Wouldn’t it be annoying if that weren’t the case?

I wonder how he got that scar.

32-6 The alien beasts prowl even the most roundabout paths.

No matter how many you sweep away, they keep coming like endlessly propagating dust. No matter how many fall, more rise to take their place.

There’s no avoiding them, either. The alien beasts prowl even the most roundabout paths, patiently waiting.

That’s a good simile.

So, before I started this stage, I tossed on a partially leveled Shadowy Rod (an A-class companion I got from using a Companion Ticket a while back; passively grants +20% HP and +20 Def/MDef at max level) onto Olber. At level 84, his HP is 4897.

Almost 1000 HP! That’s very nice. Though I’d gotten it from the CoT, it’s worth noting this otomo can be obtained from evolving a Twilight Wand (D-class and dropped from a few stages – 9-4/12-8/15-7/25-3) and/or a Darkling Wand (evo of the former, dropped from 14-5 and 31-6). The evo path goes Twilight Wand > Darkling Wand > Gloomy Wand > Shadowy Rod.

Anyway, this stage has four battles against Slash Goblins.

32-7 You’ve come across a perfect hiding place.

I’m not surprised the party has gotten lost. They’ve been hounded all the way since they left, they probably had to detour at some point.

The last battle is notable for having a pair of Revivers, safely hidden in a ring of Goblins. Luckily, everyone is strong enough that I can pincer each part of the ring and, with the aid of a Powered Point, clear them out.

From there, the Revivers are easy pickings. It helps that you have four turns to kill them.

32-8 Everyone is distracted by the same thought.

The Sands of Time make a return, and that’s about all that’s notable for this stage. The story’s more interesting. How come we never hear about Oxsecian mothers?

32-9 The horizon blazes red, bleeding crimson into the atmosphere.

There’s a question that goes unasked: just who or what was capable of reducing a camp to smoking ruins? Not only quickly, but to the point that the party doesn’t notice anything?

Snoozing, or genuinely sleeping, since it’s dark?

There’s a few different approaches that can be done here – I prioritized the Bloblins since there’s no harm in Ma’curi’s and Odin’s AOE Spear skills hitting the Kirusks and those horizontal laser attacks won’t hit the party. Since Bajanna’s closer to the Bloblins, I kept her out of the pincer chain (though if I could’ve she’d be beside Odin or at the very bottom) and had Olber and Sorman lead the pincers.

One of the battles sticks a bunch of these guys together. Vertical pincers are the way to go. Finally, it’s in this stage, but there’s some slightly higher-leveled version that have a chance of dropping a Stalwart Sword.

32-10 That lovely gradient fractures, splitting straight down the middle!

It’s not a bad idea to bring two healers for this battle, or otherwise someone with decent healing abilities. Olber was really useful here, his Lambda form would be moreso, Jaguna^ as mentioned is another possible choice, and there’s a ton of healing otomos. The other slots are packed with your hardest-hitting units.

I kind of wish there’d be a change in the background to reflect what the party’s seeing, but this is a relatively inoffensive example of the background not really showing much. I’ve... got a lot of gripes with the backgrounds for chapter 37...

Meet Apirath.

It starts by teleporting the units you have in slots 4-6 away and fleeing.

I apparently didn’t have screencaps of these guys when I first did this, so I went back and redid the stage to grab some. You’ll see these Magic/Power Amps in each battle (there’s just one Amp in each fight, but not 1 Magic Amp and 1 Power Amp). You have two turns to take them out before they retreat, and you will want to do that ASAP.

Battle two and four bring you to whatever weird warphole your other units got transported to, where some mini-Apiraths accompany the Amp.

What potentially makes this stage tricky is that you have half a team, with one slot likely dedicated toward a Healing character. If your units have low SB, that could be annoying too.

On the bright side, you’re evenly matched.

The party rejoins for the final battle, and the boss shows itself. If there were any Amps left alive, they will buff Apirath’s relevant stat by 50%. This is a permanent boost; if too many Amps were left alive, then it’s pretty much a total party kill whenever it attacks – and its other skills are pretty annoying too.

Goes without saying it’s good to clear the mooks first.

When it does the customary glowing-to-signify-it’s-charging-up, it’s preparing to use Breath Attack. Horizontal double pincers are the best way to handle it. It’s got beefy defenses, but with time it goes down.

Your companions are all back and all accounted for. The bizarre phenomenon you experienced is new even to Proto. He relates all that has happened to the king.

The king listens with a look of agony. It seems there’s no longer any way to stop Animata’s rampage. There are few options left. The Oxsecian king must make a choice.

“Gather the people.”

“You’ve decided to tell the people, then, sire?” The royal advisor’s voice is a mixture of chagrin and resignation.

“Aye. This world has no place for us anymore. We’ve lost.”

The Oxsecian king grits his teeth, steeling himself. Then…

And on that bittersweet note, so ends chapter 32. I don’t think anyone really knows what the hell Apirath even is.

#casually terra battling

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