oh I love this
Ohhh... Library Battle SIMULATION: Let's Play Library of Ruina
Book 49: Endgame—Chapter 9: My floor has no pathetic Librarians, Oswald!
So, they made it past our defenses in the end.
It seems these guests become books the same as the others before them. At this point, it makes the most sense to receive them…
So that we can finish your book, huh. Well then, I'll see who's waiting at my floor and figure out what to do about it afterwards.
Alright team, let's see which of them stayed behind.
Whoever it is, I'm sure we'll handle them.
Hey now, don't tempt fate.
VIDEO
Music: TipherethBattle01
Ah! Down there is… a river that looks like a very large stream containing blueberries and juiced mountain snake berries… An olfactory mixture of mint and clove… would make a stingy scent like this! This stage has a blindingly sparkly rust, a stark contrast from ours! Splendid! I couldn’t ask for a better place to prepare for a grandiose performance. Don’t you think so, Mr. Knife?!
What a noisy guest.
Oh, two yikeses and a half! My heart almost popped out of my eyehole!
Ah, now just one moment! Take a look at this! Ms. Mermaid is lifting her microphone high in excitement~
You’re getting nowhere with your frantic speech, so could you please stick to one topic at a time? And you’d be the guest here if we’re being pedantic.
A clown can’t be in charge of producing his own show, you know? Hahaha! That’s showbiz to you, miss!
I don’t get what’s so funny…
Now, now~ Why don’t we sniff each other’s wrists in a true fashion of clown-to-clown communication ritual? I wore a whiff of peppery scent today!
W—wait! You startled me! It’s rude to stick your face into others without asking… Do you understand?
Nyeh… How cold! People these days are waaay too stuck up! We’re entering a moist era where laughter runs dry! People get so easily upset over tiny things. Sob, sob, woe is me… If a clown can’t be filled with laughter, they’ll flop like a deflated balloon…
Anger is a natural human emotion, though.
Only those who carry some kind of hopes and dreams make such stinky candies~ Expectations for a bar of chocolate, a hamster, objects, the weather, other people… and for themselves. They arbitrarily entertain the expectations and make the candies without even getting a nod from the one they have their hopes on, and won’t even eat their candies themselves!
Because they know that their own candies taste awful.
So iiiiinstead! They put them in the mouths of others. More expectations means more foul-smelling candies~ They hold those balls of stench in their arms, looking to shove them in someone else’s stomach!
Then… How is one supposed to live a life without any expectations?
Did a blade of grass ask for you to have them? Did the gentle sun allow you to have them? Who in the world told you that it’s right to hold expectations? Hahaha! That tingles my mouth almost as much as a celery leaf does! Oh, how hilarious!!! When you don’t hold expectations~ You get to see more eyesores! When you don’t have anger, you get to enjoy zestier and bitterer flavors~ Treat everything like a rolling ball! You cheer for it wherever the sphere decides to go!
Everyone who lives here is a clown! Clowns can’t survive without feeding on each other’s smiles, you see?
…I see your point. You’re right. Holding expectations for someone isn’t always a good thing for them. While I can’t fully agree with your opinions, I admit that there are parts that I can’t completely disregard.
Ohohoh! I just want to make a world full of laughter! One where everybody can laugh without a care!!! Frowny faces are just too scary~
However, to hold expectations is to trust that person. You’re simply running from the fear of failing to meet the expectations of others.
Haha! Hahaha! Am I? Is it a crime to wish for happiness?! Since when was it a bad thing to wish for a world where all people can laugh? Hmph, whatever! I guess we have different kinds of laughters we want to display in our shows as performers!
You’re no different from us folks in that you run a show hoping to make people smile the smile you want to see! Let’s begin the performance to make another clown laugh!!! That’s enough introduction… Shall we begin playing on the tongue now? Hahaha!
Yeah. In your language, we have to fight to protect the stages we stand on.
So it's that clown… and he simply wants to laugh alongside everyone. In that case…
In that case, it's simple: We counter a clown focused on smiles with a jester focused on emptiness.
That strategy would leave every one of you dead on the floor.
Which would make for a fitting climax. It'll work. It has to work.
That's…
I think they have a point. This guy only cares about one emotion. Let's hit him with the whole rest of the spectrum.
And he's trying to avoid expectations, too. So we'll load ours onto you, so you can live up to them.
Alright… Fine. Let's go with your plan, then.
The rest of the gang today is built to lose a lot of clashes and die to enable Tiphereth's Lone Fixer and Remembrance passives. I actually messed up here, it would have been better if these guys had been much squishier than this.
Retry Count: 10. This did cost me a run, because I am still very bad at playing this game badly. I usually just steamroll over Oswald with conventional strategies.
Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
New layer means new music.
Hm… HmhmHM! Five prodigiously smelly clowns have joined us on the stage, it seems..!
But that licoricey scent simply won't do! Oh no no no, you'll never get anywhere unless you let them steep out in the sunny sunshine!
There's no more time for clouds, dear friends! Let's bring happy smiles to the faces of the entire world!!!
Oswald as a boss is nigh-immune to conventional Stagger damage, between universal 0.25x resists and his ability to halve all SR damage—and he's got some decent Evade dice to quickly undo any Stagger Damage we may happen to get through those layers of defense. He'll periodically attempt to Stupify the highest-HP Librarian and power them up, which is a Bad Thing for us. However, if we manage to Stagger the Stupefied Librarian, Oswald will take a guaranteed 60 SR. After two cycles, he uses a Mass Attack, then the pattern repeats forever.
Mr. Knife and Ms. Mermaid are his fellow performers today, and each of them are very basic enemies who primarily exist to deal more SR damage to Oswald when we kill them, 40 each.
Now, let's look at their attacks on this first turn.
Let's Have Some Fun~ is one of only two conventional pages that Oswald uses. The rest of his normal combat pages all have an unusual gimmick to them.
Oswald, you see, is a consummate performer. Without holding any expectations, anyone who's on stage with him is expected to do their job—and when they do, they get congratulated accordingly. Pow~! Kablammo!!♣ is a pair of strong Evades covering for a relatively weak actual attack. However, if we win the clash against this attack then the Librarian who does it gets 1 Haste and Endurance next turn. We can't just ignore it, either, since if it hits us we'll lose a Speed Die next turn.
As for Shall We Somersault These?♦, it's a Ranged page with three decent-at-best dice. If we win a Clash against all three, then the Librarian who stuffed the page will get a 2 Light refund—it's basically begging us to use a giant single-hit attack like Violet Blade. A normal playthrough of this fight would take advantage of these bonuses to make a grand performance, but today we don't have the tools to stop any of these attacks.
We're primed to be the single greatest disappointment this poor clown has ever worked with.
Ms. Mermaid's attacks are all Ranged pages as well, and tend to have some kind of supporting effect. Horrendous Pitch deals bonus Stagger Damage, while Aria of Courage will give 1 Strength to the lowest HP ally. This is usually Mr. Knife.
Mr. Knife can also use a mix of Ranged pages and melee ones. Guillotine, specifically, will break the second die on a page if its single hit succeeds, while Casual Toss is just kind of… there.
While we aren't likely to win many clashes against them, we don't really need to, either. We want to lose clashes, slowly have everyone but Tiphereth die off, and try and keep Tiph herself healthy.
He's expecting a performance out of us, eh?
Yeah… I don't think it's happening. 
That's perfect. If fighting between magical girls is a dialogue… in this case, not performing would be the best way to make our point.
I'll admit that the Jester was related… but do you really expect me to believe that every clown follows those same rules?
Yes. Because they do.
So clowns are magical girls, now… Fine. Whatever. It doesn't change anything either way.
Now then, my fellow clowns, it's time for the most peppery-splodey performance of any lifetime!!! Don't volunteer all at once now, or you may make my lungs burst with laughter~!!
You'll do nicely! Lace your most stunning sneakers, and try this out!
You want me to jump through the rings..?
Ah-ah-ah, I'm no chowder-brain!! That would be an expectation, you'll do whatever you'll do, won't you~?
Oh, good… because I can't jump worth anything.
Hahahahahaaaa!!
Ghh.. They hit pretty hard, but I feel like we could have taken them if we fought normally.
It's not about winning or losing, here: It's about making sure to send the right thematic message.
To be clear: it is about winning.
Well… Fine! We'll do both! We can do both.
That blueberry-smelling fellow of yours has the right of it! It's all about the performance, don't you know? The minute-by-minute existence in search of the grandest stage of all!
There's more to life than living hand-to-mouth. Or foot to stage, as you'd put it.
Such a sickly lemony smell from you! Making sour candies and firing them like warheads, don't you know there's a reason no one buys those cookies?!
…Well, at least it'll be easy to call on this power.
The plan goes off without a hitch, entirely because we're playing terrible decks for this point in the game.
Oh my, what's that my dear Ms. Mermaid?
I agree! It's far too languorous in here~ I'm so happy to see that it's driven you to sing your very best!
I think the fish is about to do something.
Just look out for it, whatever it's doing.
What it's doing is Resonating Terror, Ms. Mermaid's Mass-Individual page that deals bonus Stagger Damage on hit. Its rolls are just high enough to be a problem, but since we're playing to lose with everyone but Tiphereth I don't care much about this thing right now.
Mr. Knife is using Knife Barrage this turn as well, a 4-die Ranged attack just begging to be crushed by a Celestial Spear or some other big single-die attack.
From Oswald, we have a pair of new pages. The first is Here, Catch~!♣, a single large die that will break all other dice on our page should it win. It will give any Librarian who breaks that first die in a Clash 1 Strength on the next turn.
Lastly, there's We Need You, You Know~?. This page is Oswald's best trick, as it will instantly Stagger its target, before inflicting them with Stupefy for the next two turns. We really don't want this to hit Tiphereth, but since all his Speed Dice are set to 1 on the turn where he uses it it's trivial to redirect.
Boksi can eat it this turn.
Your windpipes are blazing hot now, Ms. Mermaid? Then perform to your heart's content! Hahahahaha, and I'll find a lovely accompanist!
Resonating Terror is two of those wavy ripple effects over the screen, and only Tiphereth has any luck blocking it.
Geez… Is everyone else okay?
I'm fine, I'm fine!
I'm still standing. Ears are ringing, but… it's fine.
It'll take a lot more than that to take us down, ma'am!
You. You'll do! Get over here, it's time to perform! That mossy smell of yours will complement Ms. Mermaid's voice perfectly!
Um… what? But…
Don't let the daisies grow from your ears, boy! It's time for a performance!!
What's he doing?
It's some kind of limited mental manipulation ability.
Such mealy-mouthed meandering minds always follow after speaking of 'expectations.'
The stage stretches out before us like a grand stream of excitement! Keep your brains to the current, or they'll be on the floor!
You're really starting to get on my nerves.
Everyone's so upset when no one wants to eat their disgusting candies. Simply breathe, the smell will permeate in either case!
…We're running behind. What's the deal?
It looks like Boksi didn't get a chance to generate any more emotions. And now he's…
Performing. I'm performing. Just like every day, I'm doing my part and doing it well!
Well, you see it.
I think I might hate this guy.
That could be the Abnormality's power talking.
No, it really isn't.
Now that we have a Stupefied Librarian, let's talk about what it actually does. Put simply: Boksi is fighting for the enemy for the next two turns using the same Key Page and Combat Pages he had. While this is going on, the music in the background fades somewhat and the circus theme plays alongside it.
We can fight him like any normal enemy, and our attacks deal damage to him like normal. However, any time Boksi loses a clash he will also lose 5% of his maximum SR on top of it—and if we ever Stagger him, then Stupefied will be cleared immediately.
Right now, we just need to clash with him to make sure that we can keep upping our Emotion Levels.
The only new attack this turn is Cross Cut, coming from Mr. Knife.
So what's the plan?
You guys just keep throwing yourselves at Oswald and his buddies. I'll handle Boksi.
The flowers are growing… Their hope sings eternal. Bow before the prowess of a nestborn!
The sooner the better.
Why… are the knives… so big..?!
Seriously, just look at the size of that thing. These should be taking our entire limbs off.
…Good thing they're just clowning around.
Well this is… disappointing.
There you go again! Breathing in your own misery and breathing out that depressing miasma, doesn't it get boring~?
Add some spice to your life!
I do want to shout out the game's artists here, Oswald's sprites are great.
Boss, I'll have to ask you to stand down. I can see things clearly now.
Can you? Or do you just think you can?
Don't try and talk me out of things!
Fine. Your funeral.
Oof..! You could hold back a little!
Would you?
Despair comes along just as planned. Things seem messy, but Tiphereth is still packing plenty of HP. As long as we don't get Staggered and beaten into the ground, we're still right on schedule.
At this point the fight would normally be in a bad place: We're outmatched in action economy with the enemy getting far more dice than us. We're also taking on damage and there's a very real possibility that Tylana dies this turn.
But we're playing for Nix, meaning that all of this is going exactly according to plan.
Ms. Mermaid uses Aria of Auspice this turn, giving 2 Protection to the lowest HP ally. Outside of that it's yet another Ranged page with all that entails.
Meanwhile, Oswald is showing us the last of his normal pages: Ready for a Surprise?!♥. The block dice on this page will restore HP if they win a Clash, but the Counter die can inflict Paralysis with every hit and is also dangerous. Because this is almost always played as the last page in a turn, if we're faster than his slowest die it's possible to completely avoid dealing with the Block dice, preventing him from healing with them.
Hey, Miss Tiphereth?
What.
I know we're two Abnormality powers into things, so it might be a little late, but… Since you're doing a super powerup…
I'm not doing any catch phrases, Chinely.
But… It's like, a rule, you know?
"When magical girls have a true battle, it's as much a conversation as it is a fight." You said it, right?
You remembered..?
I'm drawing on their power. It seemed handy to keep in mind.
Listening to such rabble… this is why you're no longer worthy to lead.
Don't interrupt!
Gh-!
Anyways, I thought about it, and this guy's all about performances. So: I'm not doing any of it. I'm going to do my job, and leave it at that.
Such dedication to your performance! A tragic clown, with tears on her makeup~ But don't you understand the very most basic of the basics?! An object is thrown by a First!
And it strikes a Thirteenth!
What did I even do?!
Subverting expectations is child's play for any great performer!! Of course, this too only holds sway because you have any at all~ A proper showstopper could deflect such a ball with the stems of their wrists!
Uhghhh… Oh. I'm still alive. Great.
We're all still alive. Boksi, are you done being stupid?
…Um. Yes. Very done. My head hurts…
Deal with it. I'm only missing the Servant, so the next one is going to make life hard.
I grab Gold Rush here. Blind Rage would also be good, but either one is helpful once we go off.
The next turn is another Resonating Terror/We Need You, You Know~? combo attack. It's Chinely's turn to eat this one.
Such a delightful aria, Ms. Mermaid~ Your beautiful pipes never fail to bring a smile to my face! Now, who shall accompany us this time… Who do you think, Ms. Mermaid?
Hmmhmm! I hear you, yes, they'll be a fine fellow to accompany us for a bar or two. Just long enough for the poinsettias to sprout from their hair!
Wha-?
If you would! That blueberry scent of yours wants nothing more than to perform, so let me give you a chance to live as you truly like!
Oh… hell..!
We should be able to fix him with the power of friendship…
No such thing exists. You could bludgeon him until he returns to his senses.
White damage, then.
Destroying the hopes and dreams of magnificent beings who want only to perform and bring smiles to everyone… Such thorny vines have wrapped around your heart! Doesn't the friendly sun shine on all equally?
It's true… The vines… I've let them go, and now I can see the truth!
The truth?! All you're seeing are the lies of the masked clown!
Don't try and stop me, Omni… I feel so light. It's the first time I've felt this happy during battle!
Boss, we might be in trouble.
Yeah, I recognize the line. It should be fine, he's using it wrong.
Wait, you do?!
Don't ask questions!!
Anyways, Tylana's already dead-
Sorry boss.
-because she's overachieving as usual, so it's down to the rest of you to get killed asap.
Oh… or not?
Because Tiphereth is already at Emotion Level 4 and soon she'll be getting a ton of Emotion Coins anyways, I slow down with her. The others continue with operation "flail around and die."
Your stupid knives aren't going to hit me.
Tylana dies right on schedule, giving us a glut of emotion coins.
This bookish stage is really such a bother, you know? People are led to their moments of purest excitement, and they contort into parchment instead of blooming for the audience!
We don't even have an audience in the first place!
But still, the actors must play their parts.
Because the audience expects them to?
Hardly! Because that is who we are! Every one of us is merely twirling on someone else's stage!
The stage may not be mine, but we're ultimately here because its owner expects something from us.
But since you're just living in a world where only happiness is allowed… I'll serve as a reminder of the other emotions, now.
We're going to be losing control of Tiphereth until we hit max Emotion. This is the trickiest part of the fight, and ideally most of our team would be dead already. Udjat is way too tough for proper Tiphxodia strategies, Tylana actually had around the perfect amount of tankiness.
Related note: I would have loved to have gotten Blind Rage last level, as right now it can't do anything for us until Tiphereth regains her senses. Oh well!
Clowns… Even after I'm finally done dealing with those honking bastards, here we are. Back again. Dealing with clowns.
Let me TELL YOU how absolutely SICK AND TIRED I am of CLOWNS!!
While the boss is addled, I guess we'll have to take care of things, huh..?
The way I see it, you could be over here.
That's not happening.
Our job for now is to try and prevent Tiphereth from taking one-sided attacks in her rage. She'll recover some HP back with her Haulers, but we don't want her to bleed dry.
No matter WHERE the stinking things show up, it's the same mess! Honking! Running all over the place! Murdering clerks and MESSING WITH THINGS! And if not that, then they roll all over the damn place and FLATTEN PEOPLE!!
And now, just when the clowns are gone forever, there's this masked WEIRDO who's on my floor, talking nonsense and STEALING MY LIBRARIANS!
You're trying to kill us all, though, aren't you?!
AND IF YOU WERE BETTER AT YOUR DAMN JOB, YOU'D BE DEAD BY NOW!!!
I've taken advantage of the opportunity, ma'am. The enemy's stunned!
In that case, I'll dispense right and proper justice! An eye for an eye…
Ah, dammit..!
And a Stagger for a Stagger!
Chinely… This isn't what you should be doing!
Poppycock!!
What every single one of us should be doing is whatever we were up to before some stinky fellow came along and told us we need to earn our place!
YOU ARE A CLOWN WHO SNIFFS WRISTS TO SAY HI! YOU DON'T GET AN OPINION!!
My my, you've gone from a nasty-smelling licorice to something soured and truly foul! This is what happens when you leave chowderheads unattended in the sun! They go off, I tell you!
She's doing this to beat y-
NO TALKING!!
Geh-! Yes'm!
Uuugh… what the hell did I-
You had ONE JOB, Chinely. Just the ONE. Don't get brainwashed. HOW HARD IS THAT?!
Uh… too hard, ma'am?!
THAT'S IT, I'M DOING THIS MYSELF!!
Wasn't that always the plan..?
RRRRRGH!!!
My my! Such a dedicated group of performers. I think, yes, I know that I feel like showing the audience something truly grand and exciting!! EVERYONE! ALL TOGETHER! LET'S BRING A SMILE TO THESE TRAGIC CLOWNS!!
CLIMAX!!! is a single decent Mass Summation die, but the real problem with it is the random nature of its ability. All targets get either +2 or -2 to Strength, Endurance, or Protection on the next turn.
…Honestly, as far as super attacks go it's not bad. Oswald isn't a particularly threatening boss.
Now then, all together! Let's march towards the fields of smiles, flowers blooming with every merry step we make!!
I'M GOING TO SMASH EVERY DAFFODIL YOU PLANT, CLOWN!!!
Oh never daffodils! Never even once daffodils! Those are for sprouting from the neck, you know?!
JUST DIE ALREADY!!!
I know I said it wasn't bad, but I can't control Tiphereth's plays right now and the others don't have anything that can match a 20 since I want them to die… so it hits everyone.
It's time for the climax at last, ladies and gentlemen! As we one and all know it's the very best part, sure to bring a smile to everyone's faces!
BUT IT'S NOT FOR YOU GAWKERS FROM OUTSIDE!!!
Pardon?
Can you smell that lemony scent?! Can you feel the wind blowing through the sky?! Can you paint with your blood and tears upon the stage until you've reached the ultimate performance?! Come on now… let's see what you can do~!
ALL TOGETHER! ALL AS ONE! MY MANY MERRY LAUGHTER LOVING FRIENDS!!!
And now, take a bow~ For all your hard work~!
I hate you with all of my hate.
Our magnificent climax has come to an end, dear viewers! As for what's left… "falling action," it was called. Such a literary story, perfect for a library such as this!
Gh… Are you trying to make me jump?! The hell am I doing that!
Oh, of course not, miss clown~ I'm just performing, and come whatever you give me, I'll simply laugh!
Even as Ms. Mermaid ends the performance of another of your dedicated friends! Ah, it's such a shame, such a shame that your head is filled with fluffy meat product!
There's more to life than simply being happy, you know?! It's the bad times that make the good!
Is that so…? Is it true..?
IT IS NOT!! All those feelings you're stewing in your brain all come from something being dumped in the pot! You've got rancid veggies stewing with your candies and making you all angry or sad or hateful or greedy! But if those expectations are all withheld, then what's left once those disgusting smells are washed away?
A deliciously spicy scent of happiness! The one emotion you can feel without a reason!
Gh-but that's not…
…You've got it wrong, clown.
Oh my! How threatening~!
Hate… Despair… Greed… Wrath… The emotion I was seeking was beyond them. None of them are really your opposite at all. But now, just now, I can finally grasp it.
The opposite of a clown of happiness isn't a magical girl of anything.
It's the Jester of Nihil.
My my… it seems my nose is runny all of a sudden.
Yes… I'd imagine it's hard to smell now, isn't it?
Don't worry, my dear performers! She's just a poor Staggered Susan, talking all high and mighty while that same terrible stink seeps out of her!
Then kill me, if you can.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
When we activate Nix properly, every other combatant ally or enemy gets the Jester themself weighing down on them from behind. Tiphereth may be Staggered, but she's got 4 Protection on her from her Udjat allies and the opponent is getting all their rolls reduced. She's perfectly safe.
…I'll keep this short. I don't think we're needed on the stage any longer.
Oswald and his fellows do their very best…
But no matter how much they hit Tiphereth…
They fail to deal her even a single point of damage.
Are you done?
The climax has already ended, my fellow clown! There's no more room on the stage for us to one up one another endlessly!
I agree. What was it you said? After the climax is the falling action?
So this is the part where you fall.
HAHAHAHAHAA!!! An encore, then, is it? Very well!
Hey, boss. I'm betraying you again, by the way.
You think it's more "anime" if you try to betray me and fall dramatically, right?
Eheh… Something like that.
Our merry troupe accepts all comers, regardless of their reasons!!
That's fine.
I don't know how to aim these things, anyways.
My one regret… is that I'll miss the best part..!
One down. Four to go.
I'll try this one next.
Such a hurried existence… You should really savor the moment more, you know?!
Meh.
I don't feel like it.
I still can't say you're completely wrong... But all of them have trusted me to defeat you. Boksi, Tylana, Omni… Even Chinely.
Not right now I haven't!
Quiet, Chinely.
Those expectations keep me moving. Even when I don't feel anything anymore. Even when I don't want to feel things. Those candies, even if you call them disgusting, keep you going long after smiles have left you.
MS. MERMAID! MR. KNIFE!! HOW COULD YOU SLAY INNOCENT BEINGS WHO WISH ONLY FOR LAUGHTER?!!
They were in my way. How could I not?
Ah… how sad! You've simply forgotten what it is to smile!!! A funny little fellow, falling off the path of the clown. Come, have a whiff of this!
With Chinely freed after this turn, Oswald will spam We Need You, You Know~? every turn until it lands. However, a Mass Attack can break it before it can activate and keep him from getting any more help.
I don't want any.
Looks like… that's it for me, too…
It's finally just us. The argument in its purest form. You, who wants to perform to make another smile. Me, who has nothing left inside to smile with.
So go on. Make me laugh.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! All we've ever wanted was to bring smiles to others! You're ruining it with that oppressive air you're forcing in here!!
Huh. I thought you were supposed to deflate.
Just because you've let the air out of my tires doesn't mean… it doesn't mean that you can… You can't..!
Oh. Finally run out of lines?
I guess that's that, then.
I don't feel sad… But I can't even feel proud right now, either. This Abnormality…
You've done your job. Clean up as you can.
Right.
Oswald is not a hard fight. He's really not. A normal set of decks can beat him without running into any real trouble, and a properly executed Tiphxodia can make things work much faster than this. Once we finish the setup, Tiphereth is an invincible behemoth bouncing between +10 and +15 total Power advantage over her enemies. She can't really lose.
Just… maybe don't use Udjat on the sacrificial Librarians.
Music: Result
Uugh. Okay, we won, right?
Of course we did! Good work, you guys.
You were so cool. It was like all the feelings drained out of your whole being!
Seriously 10/10 stuff, boss.
It's all good as long as you two had fun, huh..?
And as long as we win, which is what matters the most, right?
Yeah… guess so.
With that done, there should be a moment to—
Hey, director! We got a problem!
A problem? What's going on?
Haah… what's going on indeed? Don't tell me your famous leader isn't even here.
This junkyard bitch got here before Gebura did.
Bold words for a bloodstain.
Why don't you play fetch somewhere else before I have you spayed?
…I understand the gist of it. Gebura?
I'm working on it! There's too damn many of these stairs, and my leg's still busted up.
…It seems she'll be a little longer.
Whatever. I'm not waiting around for some former legend who can't be assed to show for the main event.
Permission to engage?
Do it.
HELL YEAH!
Next time, on Library of Ruina: A fight based entirely around using the Red Mist's unique mechanics.
Videos
Oswald Battle
VS Oswald (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
So, they made it past our defenses in the end. It seems these guests become books the same as the others before them. At this point, it makes the most sense to receive them… So that we can finish your book, huh. Well then, I'll see who's waiting at my floor and figure out what to do about it afterwards. Alright team, let's see which of them stayed behind. Whoever it is, I'm sure we'll handle them. Hey now, don't tempt fate.VIDEO
Music: TipherethBattle01
Ah! Down there is… a river that looks like a very large stream containing blueberries and juiced mountain snake berries… An olfactory mixture of mint and clove… would make a stingy scent like this! This stage has a blindingly sparkly rust, a stark contrast from ours! Splendid! I couldn’t ask for a better place to prepare for a grandiose performance. Don’t you think so, Mr. Knife?! What a noisy guest. Oh, two yikeses and a half! My heart almost popped out of my eyehole! Ah, now just one moment! Take a look at this! Ms. Mermaid is lifting her microphone high in excitement~ You’re getting nowhere with your frantic speech, so could you please stick to one topic at a time? And you’d be the guest here if we’re being pedantic. A clown can’t be in charge of producing his own show, you know? Hahaha! That’s showbiz to you, miss! I don’t get what’s so funny… Now, now~ Why don’t we sniff each other’s wrists in a true fashion of clown-to-clown communication ritual? I wore a whiff of peppery scent today! W—wait! You startled me! It’s rude to stick your face into others without asking… Do you understand? Nyeh… How cold! People these days are waaay too stuck up! We’re entering a moist era where laughter runs dry! People get so easily upset over tiny things. Sob, sob, woe is me… If a clown can’t be filled with laughter, they’ll flop like a deflated balloon… Anger is a natural human emotion, though. Only those who carry some kind of hopes and dreams make such stinky candies~ Expectations for a bar of chocolate, a hamster, objects, the weather, other people… and for themselves. They arbitrarily entertain the expectations and make the candies without even getting a nod from the one they have their hopes on, and won’t even eat their candies themselves! Because they know that their own candies taste awful. So iiiiinstead! They put them in the mouths of others. More expectations means more foul-smelling candies~ They hold those balls of stench in their arms, looking to shove them in someone else’s stomach! Then… How is one supposed to live a life without any expectations? Did a blade of grass ask for you to have them? Did the gentle sun allow you to have them? Who in the world told you that it’s right to hold expectations? Hahaha! That tingles my mouth almost as much as a celery leaf does! Oh, how hilarious!!! When you don’t hold expectations~ You get to see more eyesores! When you don’t have anger, you get to enjoy zestier and bitterer flavors~ Treat everything like a rolling ball! You cheer for it wherever the sphere decides to go! Everyone who lives here is a clown! Clowns can’t survive without feeding on each other’s smiles, you see? …I see your point. You’re right. Holding expectations for someone isn’t always a good thing for them. While I can’t fully agree with your opinions, I admit that there are parts that I can’t completely disregard. Ohohoh! I just want to make a world full of laughter! One where everybody can laugh without a care!!! Frowny faces are just too scary~ However, to hold expectations is to trust that person. You’re simply running from the fear of failing to meet the expectations of others. Haha! Hahaha! Am I? Is it a crime to wish for happiness?! Since when was it a bad thing to wish for a world where all people can laugh? Hmph, whatever! I guess we have different kinds of laughters we want to display in our shows as performers! You’re no different from us folks in that you run a show hoping to make people smile the smile you want to see! Let’s begin the performance to make another clown laugh!!! That’s enough introduction… Shall we begin playing on the tongue now? Hahaha! Yeah. In your language, we have to fight to protect the stages we stand on. So it's that clown… and he simply wants to laugh alongside everyone. In that case… In that case, it's simple: We counter a clown focused on smiles with a jester focused on emptiness. That strategy would leave every one of you dead on the floor. Which would make for a fitting climax. It'll work. It has to work. That's… I think they have a point. This guy only cares about one emotion. Let's hit him with the whole rest of the spectrum. And he's trying to avoid expectations, too. So we'll load ours onto you, so you can live up to them. Alright… Fine. Let's go with your plan, then. The rest of the gang today is built to lose a lot of clashes and die to enable Tiphereth's Lone Fixer and Remembrance passives. I actually messed up here, it would have been better if these guys had been much squishier than this.
Retry Count: 10. This did cost me a run, because I am still very bad at playing this game badly. I usually just steamroll over Oswald with conventional strategies.
Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
New layer means new music.
Hm… HmhmHM! Five prodigiously smelly clowns have joined us on the stage, it seems..! But that licoricey scent simply won't do! Oh no no no, you'll never get anywhere unless you let them steep out in the sunny sunshine! There's no more time for clouds, dear friends! Let's bring happy smiles to the faces of the entire world!!!Oswald as a boss is nigh-immune to conventional Stagger damage, between universal 0.25x resists and his ability to halve all SR damage—and he's got some decent Evade dice to quickly undo any Stagger Damage we may happen to get through those layers of defense. He'll periodically attempt to Stupify the highest-HP Librarian and power them up, which is a Bad Thing for us. However, if we manage to Stagger the Stupefied Librarian, Oswald will take a guaranteed 60 SR. After two cycles, he uses a Mass Attack, then the pattern repeats forever.
Mr. Knife and Ms. Mermaid are his fellow performers today, and each of them are very basic enemies who primarily exist to deal more SR damage to Oswald when we kill them, 40 each.
Now, let's look at their attacks on this first turn.
Let's Have Some Fun~ is one of only two conventional pages that Oswald uses. The rest of his normal combat pages all have an unusual gimmick to them.
Oswald, you see, is a consummate performer. Without holding any expectations, anyone who's on stage with him is expected to do their job—and when they do, they get congratulated accordingly. Pow~! Kablammo!!♣ is a pair of strong Evades covering for a relatively weak actual attack. However, if we win the clash against this attack then the Librarian who does it gets 1 Haste and Endurance next turn. We can't just ignore it, either, since if it hits us we'll lose a Speed Die next turn.
As for Shall We Somersault These?♦, it's a Ranged page with three decent-at-best dice. If we win a Clash against all three, then the Librarian who stuffed the page will get a 2 Light refund—it's basically begging us to use a giant single-hit attack like Violet Blade. A normal playthrough of this fight would take advantage of these bonuses to make a grand performance, but today we don't have the tools to stop any of these attacks.
We're primed to be the single greatest disappointment this poor clown has ever worked with.
Ms. Mermaid's attacks are all Ranged pages as well, and tend to have some kind of supporting effect. Horrendous Pitch deals bonus Stagger Damage, while Aria of Courage will give 1 Strength to the lowest HP ally. This is usually Mr. Knife.
Mr. Knife can also use a mix of Ranged pages and melee ones. Guillotine, specifically, will break the second die on a page if its single hit succeeds, while Casual Toss is just kind of… there.
While we aren't likely to win many clashes against them, we don't really need to, either. We want to lose clashes, slowly have everyone but Tiphereth die off, and try and keep Tiph herself healthy.
He's expecting a performance out of us, eh? Yeah… I don't think it's happening. That's perfect. If fighting between magical girls is a dialogue… in this case, not performing would be the best way to make our point. I'll admit that the Jester was related… but do you really expect me to believe that every clown follows those same rules? Yes. Because they do. So clowns are magical girls, now… Fine. Whatever. It doesn't change anything either way. Now then, my fellow clowns, it's time for the most peppery-splodey performance of any lifetime!!! Don't volunteer all at once now, or you may make my lungs burst with laughter~!! You'll do nicely! Lace your most stunning sneakers, and try this out! You want me to jump through the rings..? Ah-ah-ah, I'm no chowder-brain!! That would be an expectation, you'll do whatever you'll do, won't you~? Oh, good… because I can't jump worth anything. Hahahahahaaaa!! Ghh.. They hit pretty hard, but I feel like we could have taken them if we fought normally. It's not about winning or losing, here: It's about making sure to send the right thematic message. To be clear: it is about winning. Well… Fine! We'll do both! We can do both. That blueberry-smelling fellow of yours has the right of it! It's all about the performance, don't you know? The minute-by-minute existence in search of the grandest stage of all! There's more to life than living hand-to-mouth. Or foot to stage, as you'd put it. Such a sickly lemony smell from you! Making sour candies and firing them like warheads, don't you know there's a reason no one buys those cookies?! …Well, at least it'll be easy to call on this power.The plan goes off without a hitch, entirely because we're playing terrible decks for this point in the game.
Oh my, what's that my dear Ms. Mermaid? I agree! It's far too languorous in here~ I'm so happy to see that it's driven you to sing your very best! I think the fish is about to do something. Just look out for it, whatever it's doing.What it's doing is Resonating Terror, Ms. Mermaid's Mass-Individual page that deals bonus Stagger Damage on hit. Its rolls are just high enough to be a problem, but since we're playing to lose with everyone but Tiphereth I don't care much about this thing right now.
Mr. Knife is using Knife Barrage this turn as well, a 4-die Ranged attack just begging to be crushed by a Celestial Spear or some other big single-die attack.
From Oswald, we have a pair of new pages. The first is Here, Catch~!♣, a single large die that will break all other dice on our page should it win. It will give any Librarian who breaks that first die in a Clash 1 Strength on the next turn.
Lastly, there's We Need You, You Know~?. This page is Oswald's best trick, as it will instantly Stagger its target, before inflicting them with Stupefy for the next two turns. We really don't want this to hit Tiphereth, but since all his Speed Dice are set to 1 on the turn where he uses it it's trivial to redirect.
Boksi can eat it this turn.
Your windpipes are blazing hot now, Ms. Mermaid? Then perform to your heart's content! Hahahahaha, and I'll find a lovely accompanist! Resonating Terror is two of those wavy ripple effects over the screen, and only Tiphereth has any luck blocking it.
Geez… Is everyone else okay? I'm fine, I'm fine! I'm still standing. Ears are ringing, but… it's fine. It'll take a lot more than that to take us down, ma'am! You. You'll do! Get over here, it's time to perform! That mossy smell of yours will complement Ms. Mermaid's voice perfectly! Um… what? But… Don't let the daisies grow from your ears, boy! It's time for a performance!! What's he doing? It's some kind of limited mental manipulation ability. Such mealy-mouthed meandering minds always follow after speaking of 'expectations.' The stage stretches out before us like a grand stream of excitement! Keep your brains to the current, or they'll be on the floor! You're really starting to get on my nerves. Everyone's so upset when no one wants to eat their disgusting candies. Simply breathe, the smell will permeate in either case! …We're running behind. What's the deal? It looks like Boksi didn't get a chance to generate any more emotions. And now he's… Performing. I'm performing. Just like every day, I'm doing my part and doing it well! Well, you see it. I think I might hate this guy. That could be the Abnormality's power talking. No, it really isn't.Now that we have a Stupefied Librarian, let's talk about what it actually does. Put simply: Boksi is fighting for the enemy for the next two turns using the same Key Page and Combat Pages he had. While this is going on, the music in the background fades somewhat and the circus theme plays alongside it.
We can fight him like any normal enemy, and our attacks deal damage to him like normal. However, any time Boksi loses a clash he will also lose 5% of his maximum SR on top of it—and if we ever Stagger him, then Stupefied will be cleared immediately.
Right now, we just need to clash with him to make sure that we can keep upping our Emotion Levels.
The only new attack this turn is Cross Cut, coming from Mr. Knife.
So what's the plan? You guys just keep throwing yourselves at Oswald and his buddies. I'll handle Boksi. The flowers are growing… Their hope sings eternal. Bow before the prowess of a nestborn! The sooner the better. Why… are the knives… so big..?!Seriously, just look at the size of that thing. These should be taking our entire limbs off.
…Good thing they're just clowning around.
Well this is… disappointing. There you go again! Breathing in your own misery and breathing out that depressing miasma, doesn't it get boring~? Add some spice to your life! I do want to shout out the game's artists here, Oswald's sprites are great.
Boss, I'll have to ask you to stand down. I can see things clearly now. Can you? Or do you just think you can? Don't try and talk me out of things! Fine. Your funeral. Oof..! You could hold back a little! Would you?Despair comes along just as planned. Things seem messy, but Tiphereth is still packing plenty of HP. As long as we don't get Staggered and beaten into the ground, we're still right on schedule.
At this point the fight would normally be in a bad place: We're outmatched in action economy with the enemy getting far more dice than us. We're also taking on damage and there's a very real possibility that Tylana dies this turn.
But we're playing for Nix, meaning that all of this is going exactly according to plan.
Ms. Mermaid uses Aria of Auspice this turn, giving 2 Protection to the lowest HP ally. Outside of that it's yet another Ranged page with all that entails.
Meanwhile, Oswald is showing us the last of his normal pages: Ready for a Surprise?!♥. The block dice on this page will restore HP if they win a Clash, but the Counter die can inflict Paralysis with every hit and is also dangerous. Because this is almost always played as the last page in a turn, if we're faster than his slowest die it's possible to completely avoid dealing with the Block dice, preventing him from healing with them.
Hey, Miss Tiphereth? What. I know we're two Abnormality powers into things, so it might be a little late, but… Since you're doing a super powerup… I'm not doing any catch phrases, Chinely. But… It's like, a rule, you know? "When magical girls have a true battle, it's as much a conversation as it is a fight." You said it, right? You remembered..? I'm drawing on their power. It seemed handy to keep in mind. Listening to such rabble… this is why you're no longer worthy to lead. Don't interrupt! Gh-! Anyways, I thought about it, and this guy's all about performances. So: I'm not doing any of it. I'm going to do my job, and leave it at that. Such dedication to your performance! A tragic clown, with tears on her makeup~ But don't you understand the very most basic of the basics?! An object is thrown by a First! And it strikes a Thirteenth! What did I even do?! Subverting expectations is child's play for any great performer!! Of course, this too only holds sway because you have any at all~ A proper showstopper could deflect such a ball with the stems of their wrists! Uhghhh… Oh. I'm still alive. Great. We're all still alive. Boksi, are you done being stupid? …Um. Yes. Very done. My head hurts… Deal with it. I'm only missing the Servant, so the next one is going to make life hard.I grab Gold Rush here. Blind Rage would also be good, but either one is helpful once we go off.
The next turn is another Resonating Terror/We Need You, You Know~? combo attack. It's Chinely's turn to eat this one.
Such a delightful aria, Ms. Mermaid~ Your beautiful pipes never fail to bring a smile to my face! Now, who shall accompany us this time… Who do you think, Ms. Mermaid? Hmmhmm! I hear you, yes, they'll be a fine fellow to accompany us for a bar or two. Just long enough for the poinsettias to sprout from their hair! Wha-? If you would! That blueberry scent of yours wants nothing more than to perform, so let me give you a chance to live as you truly like! Oh… hell..! We should be able to fix him with the power of friendship… No such thing exists. You could bludgeon him until he returns to his senses. White damage, then. Destroying the hopes and dreams of magnificent beings who want only to perform and bring smiles to everyone… Such thorny vines have wrapped around your heart! Doesn't the friendly sun shine on all equally? It's true… The vines… I've let them go, and now I can see the truth! The truth?! All you're seeing are the lies of the masked clown! Don't try and stop me, Omni… I feel so light. It's the first time I've felt this happy during battle! Boss, we might be in trouble. Yeah, I recognize the line. It should be fine, he's using it wrong. Wait, you do?! Don't ask questions!! Anyways, Tylana's already dead- Sorry boss. -because she's overachieving as usual, so it's down to the rest of you to get killed asap. Oh… or not? Because Tiphereth is already at Emotion Level 4 and soon she'll be getting a ton of Emotion Coins anyways, I slow down with her. The others continue with operation "flail around and die."
Your stupid knives aren't going to hit me.Tylana dies right on schedule, giving us a glut of emotion coins.
This bookish stage is really such a bother, you know? People are led to their moments of purest excitement, and they contort into parchment instead of blooming for the audience! We don't even have an audience in the first place! But still, the actors must play their parts. Because the audience expects them to? Hardly! Because that is who we are! Every one of us is merely twirling on someone else's stage! The stage may not be mine, but we're ultimately here because its owner expects something from us. But since you're just living in a world where only happiness is allowed… I'll serve as a reminder of the other emotions, now.We're going to be losing control of Tiphereth until we hit max Emotion. This is the trickiest part of the fight, and ideally most of our team would be dead already. Udjat is way too tough for proper Tiphxodia strategies, Tylana actually had around the perfect amount of tankiness.
Related note: I would have loved to have gotten Blind Rage last level, as right now it can't do anything for us until Tiphereth regains her senses. Oh well!
Clowns… Even after I'm finally done dealing with those honking bastards, here we are. Back again. Dealing with clowns. Let me TELL YOU how absolutely SICK AND TIRED I am of CLOWNS!! While the boss is addled, I guess we'll have to take care of things, huh..? The way I see it, you could be over here. That's not happening.Our job for now is to try and prevent Tiphereth from taking one-sided attacks in her rage. She'll recover some HP back with her Haulers, but we don't want her to bleed dry.
No matter WHERE the stinking things show up, it's the same mess! Honking! Running all over the place! Murdering clerks and MESSING WITH THINGS! And if not that, then they roll all over the damn place and FLATTEN PEOPLE!! And now, just when the clowns are gone forever, there's this masked WEIRDO who's on my floor, talking nonsense and STEALING MY LIBRARIANS! You're trying to kill us all, though, aren't you?! AND IF YOU WERE BETTER AT YOUR DAMN JOB, YOU'D BE DEAD BY NOW!!! I've taken advantage of the opportunity, ma'am. The enemy's stunned! In that case, I'll dispense right and proper justice! An eye for an eye… Ah, dammit..! And a Stagger for a Stagger! Chinely… This isn't what you should be doing! Poppycock!! What every single one of us should be doing is whatever we were up to before some stinky fellow came along and told us we need to earn our place! YOU ARE A CLOWN WHO SNIFFS WRISTS TO SAY HI! YOU DON'T GET AN OPINION!! My my, you've gone from a nasty-smelling licorice to something soured and truly foul! This is what happens when you leave chowderheads unattended in the sun! They go off, I tell you! She's doing this to beat y- NO TALKING!! Geh-! Yes'm! Uuugh… what the hell did I- You had ONE JOB, Chinely. Just the ONE. Don't get brainwashed. HOW HARD IS THAT?! Uh… too hard, ma'am?! THAT'S IT, I'M DOING THIS MYSELF!! Wasn't that always the plan..? RRRRRGH!!! My my! Such a dedicated group of performers. I think, yes, I know that I feel like showing the audience something truly grand and exciting!! EVERYONE! ALL TOGETHER! LET'S BRING A SMILE TO THESE TRAGIC CLOWNS!!CLIMAX!!! is a single decent Mass Summation die, but the real problem with it is the random nature of its ability. All targets get either +2 or -2 to Strength, Endurance, or Protection on the next turn.
…Honestly, as far as super attacks go it's not bad. Oswald isn't a particularly threatening boss.
Now then, all together! Let's march towards the fields of smiles, flowers blooming with every merry step we make!! I'M GOING TO SMASH EVERY DAFFODIL YOU PLANT, CLOWN!!! Oh never daffodils! Never even once daffodils! Those are for sprouting from the neck, you know?! JUST DIE ALREADY!!!I know I said it wasn't bad, but I can't control Tiphereth's plays right now and the others don't have anything that can match a 20 since I want them to die… so it hits everyone.
It's time for the climax at last, ladies and gentlemen! As we one and all know it's the very best part, sure to bring a smile to everyone's faces! BUT IT'S NOT FOR YOU GAWKERS FROM OUTSIDE!!! Pardon? Can you smell that lemony scent?! Can you feel the wind blowing through the sky?! Can you paint with your blood and tears upon the stage until you've reached the ultimate performance?! Come on now… let's see what you can do~! ALL TOGETHER! ALL AS ONE! MY MANY MERRY LAUGHTER LOVING FRIENDS!!! And now, take a bow~ For all your hard work~! I hate you with all of my hate. Our magnificent climax has come to an end, dear viewers! As for what's left… "falling action," it was called. Such a literary story, perfect for a library such as this! Gh… Are you trying to make me jump?! The hell am I doing that! Oh, of course not, miss clown~ I'm just performing, and come whatever you give me, I'll simply laugh! Even as Ms. Mermaid ends the performance of another of your dedicated friends! Ah, it's such a shame, such a shame that your head is filled with fluffy meat product! There's more to life than simply being happy, you know?! It's the bad times that make the good! Is that so…? Is it true..? IT IS NOT!! All those feelings you're stewing in your brain all come from something being dumped in the pot! You've got rancid veggies stewing with your candies and making you all angry or sad or hateful or greedy! But if those expectations are all withheld, then what's left once those disgusting smells are washed away? A deliciously spicy scent of happiness! The one emotion you can feel without a reason! Gh-but that's not… …You've got it wrong, clown. Oh my! How threatening~! Hate… Despair… Greed… Wrath… The emotion I was seeking was beyond them. None of them are really your opposite at all. But now, just now, I can finally grasp it. The opposite of a clown of happiness isn't a magical girl of anything. It's the Jester of Nihil. My my… it seems my nose is runny all of a sudden. Yes… I'd imagine it's hard to smell now, isn't it? Don't worry, my dear performers! She's just a poor Staggered Susan, talking all high and mighty while that same terrible stink seeps out of her! Then kill me, if you can. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaWhen we activate Nix properly, every other combatant ally or enemy gets the Jester themself weighing down on them from behind. Tiphereth may be Staggered, but she's got 4 Protection on her from her Udjat allies and the opponent is getting all their rolls reduced. She's perfectly safe.
…I'll keep this short. I don't think we're needed on the stage any longer.Oswald and his fellows do their very best…
But no matter how much they hit Tiphereth…
They fail to deal her even a single point of damage.
Are you done? The climax has already ended, my fellow clown! There's no more room on the stage for us to one up one another endlessly! I agree. What was it you said? After the climax is the falling action? So this is the part where you fall. HAHAHAHAHAA!!! An encore, then, is it? Very well! Hey, boss. I'm betraying you again, by the way. You think it's more "anime" if you try to betray me and fall dramatically, right? Eheh… Something like that. Our merry troupe accepts all comers, regardless of their reasons!! That's fine. I don't know how to aim these things, anyways. My one regret… is that I'll miss the best part..! One down. Four to go. I'll try this one next. Such a hurried existence… You should really savor the moment more, you know?! Meh. I don't feel like it. I still can't say you're completely wrong... But all of them have trusted me to defeat you. Boksi, Tylana, Omni… Even Chinely. Not right now I haven't! Quiet, Chinely. Those expectations keep me moving. Even when I don't feel anything anymore. Even when I don't want to feel things. Those candies, even if you call them disgusting, keep you going long after smiles have left you. MS. MERMAID! MR. KNIFE!! HOW COULD YOU SLAY INNOCENT BEINGS WHO WISH ONLY FOR LAUGHTER?!! They were in my way. How could I not? Ah… how sad! You've simply forgotten what it is to smile!!! A funny little fellow, falling off the path of the clown. Come, have a whiff of this!With Chinely freed after this turn, Oswald will spam We Need You, You Know~? every turn until it lands. However, a Mass Attack can break it before it can activate and keep him from getting any more help.
I don't want any. Looks like… that's it for me, too… It's finally just us. The argument in its purest form. You, who wants to perform to make another smile. Me, who has nothing left inside to smile with. So go on. Make me laugh. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! All we've ever wanted was to bring smiles to others! You're ruining it with that oppressive air you're forcing in here!! Huh. I thought you were supposed to deflate. Just because you've let the air out of my tires doesn't mean… it doesn't mean that you can… You can't..! Oh. Finally run out of lines? I guess that's that, then. I don't feel sad… But I can't even feel proud right now, either. This Abnormality… You've done your job. Clean up as you can. Right.Oswald is not a hard fight. He's really not. A normal set of decks can beat him without running into any real trouble, and a properly executed Tiphxodia can make things work much faster than this. Once we finish the setup, Tiphereth is an invincible behemoth bouncing between +10 and +15 total Power advantage over her enemies. She can't really lose.
Just… maybe don't use Udjat on the sacrificial Librarians.
Music: Result
Uugh. Okay, we won, right? Of course we did! Good work, you guys. You were so cool. It was like all the feelings drained out of your whole being! Seriously 10/10 stuff, boss. It's all good as long as you two had fun, huh..? And as long as we win, which is what matters the most, right? Yeah… guess so. With that done, there should be a moment to— Hey, director! We got a problem! A problem? What's going on? Haah… what's going on indeed? Don't tell me your famous leader isn't even here. This junkyard bitch got here before Gebura did. Bold words for a bloodstain. Why don't you play fetch somewhere else before I have you spayed? …I understand the gist of it. Gebura? I'm working on it! There's too damn many of these stairs, and my leg's still busted up. …It seems she'll be a little longer. Whatever. I'm not waiting around for some former legend who can't be assed to show for the main event. Permission to engage? Do it. HELL YEAH!Next time, on Library of Ruina: A fight based entirely around using the Red Mist's unique mechanics.
Videos
Oswald Battle
VS Oswald (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
Book 49: Endgame—Chapter 10: Bait used to be believable
So a bunch of hangers-on want to take me on? Do you really think you can beat me?
This is a good opportunity to test some of our ideas.
Most of Credentia's time today will be spent in Purple Tear's Pierce mode. It doubles the stacks of any status effects we add on, and Tanya is a solo boss fight. Shrine to Music will stack the deck in our favor.
Right. I'll paint the target, and you guys can follow up after.
Sorcrane's job is to slap Tanya up to 10 Smoke ASAP and keep her there.
And that guy left us a new form… I'll give it a shot.
If I was smart I'd have run Clone here to try and get multiple Blazing Strikes to 0 Cost, but I am not smart so this is the build we're going with here.
Then I'll do damage.
BICEPS is running Myongest, and his job is to hit hard
If the four of you can hold out for long enough, Gebura should become available to assist you. That would be the—
Screw that! Let's just beat the piss out of 'er and move on!
I suppose I wouldn't complain if you accomplished it.
Someone's gettin' ahead of herself…
Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
A group of weaklings're still weaklings, after all.
Tanya is a blessedly simple fight: She just beats the shit out of you. No frills. No gimmicks. If we try to use Claws of Savagery to cheese things with only one Librarian untargetable, she denies your attempt to Netzach her and punches you anyways. If we deplete her HP bar, she says "Good hit" and gets back up with +2 Power on all her die rolls from then onward.
This means she effectively has 1000 HP, but this fight tends to go by incredibly quickly even with that.
On the first turn she shows off Overspeed in her fastest die. If it's faster than whoever she's targeting with it, all the dice get a +6. Tanya's speed is 3-9, meaning she can crank out some turn 1 numbers we can't match without Red Mist's infinity die.
Both of her other dice are dedicated to Fisticuffs. This page is a trio of okayish dice, but the effect of the second one is interesting: like Binah's Pillar, it prevents dice from being recycled. This will stop a Counter die or an Evade die from fully negating the page. It's more-or-less Tanya's filler attack—if she's not doing anything else she'll usually throw one of these out.
Alright, punks. If you're not going to get out of my way, I'll beat you into the ground until you figure your places out.
Just remember: you asked for this.
Finally… some good grass.
Let's see. A retired grunt…
The hell are you doing?!
A hotheaded streetrat…
The streetrat's leash…
Smoke's up!
N' I don't even know what the hell you're doing here.
I look good in red.
Hah! The hell kind of stupid reason is that?
Well, whatever. None of you have what it takes to be truly powerful. That means you have two options: toady up to someone stronger'n you, or die.
Intimidate comes out on the next turn, and it's a must-stop. Each hit that gets through gives Tanya 1 Strength next turn, and giving the lady who wants to punch through your face more Strength isn't a good idea.
Lupine Onslaught, meanwhile, is a trio of solid dice on a Power Negation page. We'll want BICEPS to aim somewhere else whenever we see it.
And let me guess… you're not accepting toadies?
Real mouth on you, huh?
Our job's always been to stare down the things that go bump in the night and cut them clean in two. You'll have to try harder if you want to intimidate us.
Yeah, I get you. Talk's cheap.
Agreed. Resuming suppression.
We're sure to find an opening if we keep pressuring her.
"Find" an opening? Really?
I ain't showin' you people shit. If you want an opening you'll have to make one.
If the enemy shuts a door, kick it off the hinges. Sounds great to me.
Tenebrais, that's illegal.
Only if they can catch you!
I snatch Fear of Water here and give it to BICEPS. He'll be getting our Abnormality Pages today, and I want to combo it with Vampirism to give him some sustain.
…Hm.
Is the abnormality giving you trouble?
………Blood makes the grass grow.
Then we should spill a lot of it.
Kicks and Stomps comes out this turn, and is most notable for the Paralysis on the second die. The dice are bigger than her usual attacks, as well, making it one of her stronger pages.
I see… so it's another trick, then. That music from the purple one, baldie zippin' around like a fly, this smoke… you guys sure have a lot of tricks.
Shame not a single one of 'em matters against me.
You know we practice against someone who makes you look like a puppy, right?
And how many times didja' win?
Yeah, that's what I thought.
Even so… we're going to stop you here!
Cuz I'm 'weaker,' right?
Because you only have power.
You idealistic types are a pain in the ass, y'know that?
Fine. I'll make the difference between us clear.
On turn 4, Tanya stops playing around and uses her ultimate attack: Beatdown.
Beatdown is Tanya's ultimate attack, and it is a doozy. It's a unique Combat Page in that it targets everyone, but is not a Mass Attack. This means other pages can resolve before it, but like a Mass Attack even if the page is beaten by one ally another one can still get bonked by it right after. It deals a load of damage, even with Blunt resistance. Ideally, we wouldn't get hit by this. How do we stop it, then?
Well, the obvious option would be to play a page that lets us either win the clash or at least blunt the blow of the massive first die. Here is a list of every page in Library of Ruina that can reliably do this without stacking 5+ Strength:
Boundary of Death (4)
This means most of our Librarians will not be able to stop this attack. If we include E.G.O and BICEPS's automatic +5 this list does grow slightly, now including things like:
Mimicry
Violet Blade
Distortion Blade
But even then, we need to get lucky, as all of these pages have a lower floor than Beatdown, putting our odds of winning at ~50% at best. Block dice seems like the natural second idea, but even the best Block dice can only get up to ~10 on the base roll, nowhere near enough to properly blunt this attack and its 5 True Damage.
Luckily for Gebura's floor, the intended solution is built right in to what we should be playing:
For the Turn 4 Beatdown Tanya only plays two Combat Pages. This means Gebura can play Great Split: Vertical on the one that isn't Beatdown, hit with it, and immediately destroy Beatdown as it's the only other page available to break. Future Beatdowns will have more than one other page alongside them, preventing this solution.
By then, though, Gebura should have another way to break this page.
But Gebura isn't here right now, so we just have to deal with it.
She's leaving way too many openings… you guys know this is going to be bad, right?
Way I see it, she's begging us to put her down. That's what happens when you get too rabid.
Doesn't matter. Path's the same either way.
It's too late to do anything about it now, at any rate…
We press on.
The smoke is paying huge dividends here, helping to turn a 13 roll into a 30 damage hit.
That speedy guy's one thing… but the rest of you trash can only get attacks through cuz there's so many of you.
Geh..!
"You may call us trash, but enough trash can crush anyone~!"
You were gonna' say something like that, right?
Unfortunately for you weaklings, I know how to take out the damn trash.
For Beatdown's animation, Tanya grabs hold of the Librarian she's targeting.
Slams them into the ground.
Pauses over them, foot raised.
And then brings it down hard enough to make a crater happen.
Needless to say, she hits everyone.
Huh… you idiots are all still alive? Well, doesn't look like it'll be for much longer, though.
Don't be coy. You're on your last legs, too.
Oh, really? Then I guess this'll be decided here and now.
Then I'll graze.
That damn speed..!
And my raw POWER!
Hey… if this is so over, why doesn't this feel like it's over?
Because it isn't. It's about time you stopped holding back, isn't it?
Couldn't agree more.
You four almost qualified as a warm-up… but I got shit to do, so I'm gonna' need you to die now.
Tanya's in her +2 Power phase, and we're a light breeze away from Staggering on our entire team. She's shown us all her tricks, though, so there's nothing else to do but carry on and try and kill her before she kills us.
I'm going all out with the music, you guys. Take her down as fast as you can.
Don't gotta' tell me twice.
She's deploying her speed technique.
Crushed.
Tch. Talking like you're all some kind of hot shit…
Our combination attacks are really something special, you know.
Ehh, I wouldn't go that far.
Music's catchy as hell, but if you crush that it all falls apart.
Dammit..!
Now, let's make clear who the stronger of us is. Shall we?
Affirmative.
Alright, siddown ya' punk.
…Regrouping.
And you. I ain't too keen on you stealing my comrade's smoke. That stuff's powerful, n' here you are without a clue how to use it.
I know just what I'm doing..!
Yeah, says you.
If the smoke's no good, how about some fire!
…Hah? Fire, you say?
I've been sittin' in this damn heat, in a suit, and you're still using fire. Dumbass.
And it's working. You're pretty bloodied up, you know?
Only cuz I got you dummies all over me.
Well then, here's a little more!
That's three down…
Time to clean up here. You guys sure took a little longer to die'n I expected, I'll give you that… but this is a world where the strong get control over everything.
Unfortunately, our second Beatdown turn comes with most of our team Staggered. This doesn't really matter much, as if she Staggers everyone with Beatdown she'll generally kill everyone the next turn anyways… but now we can be pretty sure that Tenebrais, BICEPS, and Sorcrane are down for the count. This leaves me with one option, and it's a risky one.
Alright… guess it all comes down to one last trump card.
This is a Hail Mary attack. Credentia's total power boost and Tanya's are the same at +4, making this a straight 19-35 vs 29-35 roll. If it succeeds, no other attacks are directed at her. This means that the healing from it should combine with the 24 Burn and the 10 Bleed she'll have next turn to let Credentia just barely eke out a win over Tanya's remaining 150 HP...
It's got the shape of a plan, at least.
Credentia, the odds of this plan succeeding are—
I know… But it's the only chance we've got.
If you're relyin' on somethin' like odds, you're prolly already gonna lose.
Though I like the new hallway.
Enough talkin'. Time to get to work.
That's one down…
Nice outfit.
It's called E.G.O.
…Huh.
Cool story.
That's the second one…
I can't… go on any more…
Ahh, quit yer bellyachin'. You're dyin' covered in that red ya' love wearin' so much.
N' that leaves you.
I'll kick your ass twice as hard on the runback.
Hah!!
I don't do rematches, ya' brat.
So in the end, we weren't quite a match…
I told ya'. The strong are the ones who make the rules. You can beg for your life if you want…
…but I ain't in a listenin' mood.
I don't even get any last words?
There a part of "ain't in a listenin' mood" that was unclear, missy?
No. I suppose not.
Good. Now get out of my…
Well, hell. It's about time.
Not a bad job, Credentia. I'll take it from here.
But, your leg…
The second I showed up for a reception, the Library took care of it.
…Alright. We'll leave it to you.
Yeah. You'll get 'em next time.
While Tanya's incredibly difficult without the Red Mist… she's actually perfectly capable of soloing this fight if we decide to use her.
VIDEO
Music: GeburaBattle01
You should get your nose checked, then. One is a slaughter-crazed wolf, and the other is a hunter tracking it down.
You got a ragtag band of dummies to fight me, eh…? Do I look like a joke to you or what. Still, the highlight of the match is the woman who was once called the Red Mist… This oughta be fun.
Everyone I meet keeps bringing up that title. Aren’t you tired of putting me on a pedestal at this point?
No way, hun. People’ll be shocked to learn that the great legend is doing menial labor in a place like this. How’s your inhuman strength doing these days? I only heard stories ‘bout it, so I’ve been itching to see it in action…
Is strength the only thing you value?
Yup. No reason not to bow down to folks who’re stronger than you.
What do you think people who lack such strength should do, then?
The weak—they gotta find ways to survive on their own. You obey the strong, or you get killed by ‘em… Either or. Someone will keep you safe if you serve ‘em like a good little pup.
There won’t be an end to a struggle fought with physical strength. It’ll be a constant series of gory battles… Even the victor can’t be at ease in such a world. Those who act in their own interests can lose everything by the same means at anytime. Is it really right to possess strength if it’s only used to take from others?
Ehey, why see that as stealing, gal?
Adapt or die. If you can’t, you either become food or fall behind until you’re wiped out. The so-called apex predators are the creatures best fit to survive in this ecosystem, ain’t that the truth? That’s how humans have always lived, so why make a big fuss about it now?
Strength is the most honest and clear way to express yourself. I prove that I’m stronger than you, and that’s it. No tricks or lies involved. I want a world where power means everything. And that’s why I’m helping mister orchestrator.
Oh, I guess you’ve got your own reasons and causes to bring up as well. For the sake of others, making the world peaceful, or whatevs… Not like I wanna hear ‘em. You prolly looked at all the people hopelessly dying n’ wanted to do something for ‘em out of pity or anxiety, but the truth is, the City folks were doing fine without ya.
You didn’t seriously expect everyone in the City to gladly take the gift you forcibly handed to ‘em and hear thanks, didja? And look at you now, ruining the daily lives of innocent people to resume your plan…
It’s true, we can’t glorify what we’ve done as deeds for the people, I know that. I’m not entirely proud of our actions. That’s what I’ve been ruminating on. I suppose it’s not something you need to know, though.
Yup. Both you and I are doing this for our own satisfaction n’ desires. And that’s about it. Claiming to stand for a higher cause is just an excuse.
We both have things we have to protect or take.
If you got it, let’s get this started.
Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
Yeah. I should pay you back double for what you did to my crew.
Says the punk who stabbed Elena right through the head.
She got better, didn't she?
And yours won't?
Well… once we're done here.
Even at their best, Tanya's numbers are roughly on par with the pages in Gebura's deck.
This means that with the +5 from Myo's Prowess, we're untouchable on any infinite die—and once Lone Fixer activates on turn 2 our normal Speed Dice will be mostly untouchable as well.
She can get attacks through because she has more Speed Dice than us, but it'll take a while for that to realistically whittle down our HP through the haulers.
Mmm… Okay. I think I get it.
Do ya', now?
I was fighting you all for a while back on those stairs, you know. Had plenty of time to see the way you carry yourselves.
I saw plenty of you, too.
Guess you did.
Lupine Onslaught requires special attention in this fight, as it will negate Power entirely, and its dice are on par to slightly better than Gebura's usual fare.
I prefer to deal with it by ignoring it entirely—the Counter die may stop it, and if not we can eat the damage.
Well, now that we're properly fightin'… seems like ya' finally stopped holding back.
My team was doing their best, so I was loaning them this power before.
Sounds like a dumbass way t'live. Me, I just hang with the strong.
Yeah, that sounds like something you'd say.
Vampirism will stack with our Fear of Water in order to give us more healing as we go. Level Slash can also inflict Bleed, but FoW ensures it's guaranteed.
This will be handy, as we're now looking at 4 Speed Dice to our 2+counter, we can't avoid damage here.
Ya' know, they say something about legends bein' overblown… and I kinda' get it now.
You hit hard, but not much harder'n any other idjit around here. You were a legend back in th'day, sure…
But that's only compared t' threats from back in the day, ain't it?
Absorption with our total heals is a guaranteed bonus 3 Power, putting our rolls at +6 before Myo's Prowess. As long as it isn't Lupine Onslaught, any of our pages can beat any of Tanya's attacks handily now.
Time's marchin' forward. Shit that was impressive ain't worth much not two weeks later. Even wings fall.
As I'm sure you prolly know.
That stance… Gebura, she's going to use her strongest technique.
That so?
I'll meet it on head-on, then. Might as well see what the fuss is all about, eh?
Keheh… Yeah. Let's see what'chr best looks like.
I mentioned earlier that the correct move was having Gebura use GSV on the other Speed Die to break this page… but if Gebura's alone, then we can just target Beatdown itself.
Time to take out the trash!
Couldn't agree more.
So you do have some bite left in ya'.
Instincts gives us more sustain, so I grab it here.
You know, it's a little bit annoying. Angela wasn't able to create a book that would match my old power.
Yer makin' excuses now? Psh, and after all that shit you talked… But even I can see you're bleeding out as fast as me.
Guess we'll see who has more blood in us, won't we?
Ah, that's not why I brought it up, you know.
Just thought you'd like to know why it's taken so long to really get running.
So you were still holdin' out on me, eh?!
Manifest E.G.O should be targeted at a page that maximizes our Evade die payoff. It'll handle our SR for the rest of the fight and ensure we can't get Staggered.
Like I said… it's not that I was holding out on you. I "couldn't."
It takes a while to get back into it… But here you go. A blade that leaves a bloody mist behind.
Music: The Red Mist
Armor that is worn not to defend, but to attack.
And an iron will, tempered enough to act knowing full well your own weakness.
With Hello? online, our first die rolled every turn will restore HP equal to its result. This will finish off our strategy for the remainder of this fight.
Hey, do you know why that Red Mist was undefeatable, back in the day?
It's obvious, ain't it? She was strong enough to crush anyone. That's survival of the fittest.
So you don't understand it at all.
It's not the strong who survive. It's the survivors who are strong.
Cleaving through countless opponents, and using their wounds to cure my own injuries. That's the true Red Mist you've been hoping to fight.
Tanya's entered her second phase, but her +2 Power is canceled out by the Red Mist's natural +2 Power. Gebura's back at full HP after the Hello?'d GSH, our SR is near maxed out as well, and all that's left is a damage race.
Goddamn… You still don't hit any harder. But it doesn't matter how much I break you down…
You just recover it in an instant, rippin' and tearin' away all the while.
A real pain in the ass to fight, aren't I?
Definitely.
While Tanya can hit us, and even get some damage through… she can't possibly outpace Gebura's recovery any longer. The rest of this fight is just a formality.
Guess this is as far as I go, huh. Damn.
You're calmer than I expected.
Well, y'know how it is. When two great strengths clash, one'll win and one will lose.
You were just stronger this time. Can't bitch about that!
I guess not.
Enemy's down. You should switch over to Chesed now. I know that fop's going to need an eye on him.
Indeed… the upper layer has not yet been breached, so we may see a minor reprieve once they've been dealt with.
Finally. These guys are a pain in the ass.
As long as Red Mist is being used against her properly, Tanya is a chump. Solo Red Mist or even full team strats, it doesn't matter—as long as Red Mist's Great Split pages take care of Beatdown she's not able to get her offense game running and she'll go down in relatively short order. We could probably have beaten her with just the four Librarians without Red Mist, but doing so would have required both using Mind Hauler on everyone to try and keep their SR up and also putting three of them into Udjat to give us a good way to survive the big Beatdown turns… and Udjat was already spoken for by another fight I didn't want to redo.
And this, ultimately, is the true difficulty of the Uninvited Guests as a whole: None of the fights are particularly difficult in themselves, but they each take a long time to do and you can wind up getting tired of the entire thing before it's over. More than any particular card game talent, patience and perseverance are what this reception is designed to test.
Some days I think I preferred Day 49. It just killed you.
Music: Result
Credentia… didja' finish her off?
No such luck. Gebura showed up, and then I was out like a light.
Another sortie?
I took care of her. Though… your plan wasn't a bad one, but you forgot something important.
That we're weak?
Don't be dense. You forgot that in a battle of equals, everyone comes out with a bloody nose. Your endurance wasn't where you needed it to be.
Dammit… And after we put in all that work.
Training is ultimately a series of setbacks that show you the path forward. Get up. We're doing laps around the floor 'til you all collapse.
Affirmative.
Ma'am!
With this, we're a little over halfway through with them. Only four remain…
Yeah. Just four left, and it'll all be over. Those bastards will get what they deserve.
Roland…
What is it you need?
Begin to prepare. I am fairly certain you will be facing Argalia directly.
Of course. We wouldn't have it any other way.
Next time, on Library of Ruina: Just a rhyme without a reason.
Videos
Tanya Battle
VS Tanya (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
Tanya Exclusive:
So a bunch of hangers-on want to take me on? Do you really think you can beat me? This is a good opportunity to test some of our ideas.Most of Credentia's time today will be spent in Purple Tear's Pierce mode. It doubles the stacks of any status effects we add on, and Tanya is a solo boss fight. Shrine to Music will stack the deck in our favor.
Right. I'll paint the target, and you guys can follow up after.Sorcrane's job is to slap Tanya up to 10 Smoke ASAP and keep her there.
And that guy left us a new form… I'll give it a shot.If I was smart I'd have run Clone here to try and get multiple Blazing Strikes to 0 Cost, but I am not smart so this is the build we're going with here.
Then I'll do damage.BICEPS is running Myongest, and his job is to hit hard
If the four of you can hold out for long enough, Gebura should become available to assist you. That would be the— Screw that! Let's just beat the piss out of 'er and move on! I suppose I wouldn't complain if you accomplished it. Someone's gettin' ahead of herself…Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
A group of weaklings're still weaklings, after all.Tanya is a blessedly simple fight: She just beats the shit out of you. No frills. No gimmicks. If we try to use Claws of Savagery to cheese things with only one Librarian untargetable, she denies your attempt to Netzach her and punches you anyways. If we deplete her HP bar, she says "Good hit" and gets back up with +2 Power on all her die rolls from then onward.
This means she effectively has 1000 HP, but this fight tends to go by incredibly quickly even with that.
On the first turn she shows off Overspeed in her fastest die. If it's faster than whoever she's targeting with it, all the dice get a +6. Tanya's speed is 3-9, meaning she can crank out some turn 1 numbers we can't match without Red Mist's infinity die.
Both of her other dice are dedicated to Fisticuffs. This page is a trio of okayish dice, but the effect of the second one is interesting: like Binah's Pillar, it prevents dice from being recycled. This will stop a Counter die or an Evade die from fully negating the page. It's more-or-less Tanya's filler attack—if she's not doing anything else she'll usually throw one of these out.
Alright, punks. If you're not going to get out of my way, I'll beat you into the ground until you figure your places out. Just remember: you asked for this. Finally… some good grass. Let's see. A retired grunt… The hell are you doing?! A hotheaded streetrat… The streetrat's leash… Smoke's up! N' I don't even know what the hell you're doing here. I look good in red. Hah! The hell kind of stupid reason is that? Well, whatever. None of you have what it takes to be truly powerful. That means you have two options: toady up to someone stronger'n you, or die.Intimidate comes out on the next turn, and it's a must-stop. Each hit that gets through gives Tanya 1 Strength next turn, and giving the lady who wants to punch through your face more Strength isn't a good idea.
Lupine Onslaught, meanwhile, is a trio of solid dice on a Power Negation page. We'll want BICEPS to aim somewhere else whenever we see it.
And let me guess… you're not accepting toadies? Real mouth on you, huh? Our job's always been to stare down the things that go bump in the night and cut them clean in two. You'll have to try harder if you want to intimidate us. Yeah, I get you. Talk's cheap. Agreed. Resuming suppression. We're sure to find an opening if we keep pressuring her. "Find" an opening? Really? I ain't showin' you people shit. If you want an opening you'll have to make one. If the enemy shuts a door, kick it off the hinges. Sounds great to me. Tenebrais, that's illegal. Only if they can catch you!I snatch Fear of Water here and give it to BICEPS. He'll be getting our Abnormality Pages today, and I want to combo it with Vampirism to give him some sustain.
…Hm. Is the abnormality giving you trouble? ………Blood makes the grass grow. Then we should spill a lot of it.Kicks and Stomps comes out this turn, and is most notable for the Paralysis on the second die. The dice are bigger than her usual attacks, as well, making it one of her stronger pages.
I see… so it's another trick, then. That music from the purple one, baldie zippin' around like a fly, this smoke… you guys sure have a lot of tricks. Shame not a single one of 'em matters against me. You know we practice against someone who makes you look like a puppy, right? And how many times didja' win? Yeah, that's what I thought. Even so… we're going to stop you here! Cuz I'm 'weaker,' right? Because you only have power. You idealistic types are a pain in the ass, y'know that? Fine. I'll make the difference between us clear.On turn 4, Tanya stops playing around and uses her ultimate attack: Beatdown.
Beatdown is Tanya's ultimate attack, and it is a doozy. It's a unique Combat Page in that it targets everyone, but is not a Mass Attack. This means other pages can resolve before it, but like a Mass Attack even if the page is beaten by one ally another one can still get bonked by it right after. It deals a load of damage, even with Blunt resistance. Ideally, we wouldn't get hit by this. How do we stop it, then?
Well, the obvious option would be to play a page that lets us either win the clash or at least blunt the blow of the massive first die. Here is a list of every page in Library of Ruina that can reliably do this without stacking 5+ Strength:
Boundary of Death (4)
This means most of our Librarians will not be able to stop this attack. If we include E.G.O and BICEPS's automatic +5 this list does grow slightly, now including things like:
Mimicry
Violet Blade
Distortion Blade
But even then, we need to get lucky, as all of these pages have a lower floor than Beatdown, putting our odds of winning at ~50% at best. Block dice seems like the natural second idea, but even the best Block dice can only get up to ~10 on the base roll, nowhere near enough to properly blunt this attack and its 5 True Damage.
Luckily for Gebura's floor, the intended solution is built right in to what we should be playing:
For the Turn 4 Beatdown Tanya only plays two Combat Pages. This means Gebura can play Great Split: Vertical on the one that isn't Beatdown, hit with it, and immediately destroy Beatdown as it's the only other page available to break. Future Beatdowns will have more than one other page alongside them, preventing this solution.
By then, though, Gebura should have another way to break this page.
But Gebura isn't here right now, so we just have to deal with it.
She's leaving way too many openings… you guys know this is going to be bad, right? Way I see it, she's begging us to put her down. That's what happens when you get too rabid. Doesn't matter. Path's the same either way. It's too late to do anything about it now, at any rate… We press on.The smoke is paying huge dividends here, helping to turn a 13 roll into a 30 damage hit.
That speedy guy's one thing… but the rest of you trash can only get attacks through cuz there's so many of you. Geh..! "You may call us trash, but enough trash can crush anyone~!" You were gonna' say something like that, right? Unfortunately for you weaklings, I know how to take out the damn trash.For Beatdown's animation, Tanya grabs hold of the Librarian she's targeting.
Slams them into the ground.
Pauses over them, foot raised.
And then brings it down hard enough to make a crater happen.
Needless to say, she hits everyone.
Huh… you idiots are all still alive? Well, doesn't look like it'll be for much longer, though. Don't be coy. You're on your last legs, too. Oh, really? Then I guess this'll be decided here and now. Then I'll graze. That damn speed..! And my raw POWER! Hey… if this is so over, why doesn't this feel like it's over? Because it isn't. It's about time you stopped holding back, isn't it? Couldn't agree more. You four almost qualified as a warm-up… but I got shit to do, so I'm gonna' need you to die now.Tanya's in her +2 Power phase, and we're a light breeze away from Staggering on our entire team. She's shown us all her tricks, though, so there's nothing else to do but carry on and try and kill her before she kills us.
I'm going all out with the music, you guys. Take her down as fast as you can. Don't gotta' tell me twice. She's deploying her speed technique. Crushed. Tch. Talking like you're all some kind of hot shit… Our combination attacks are really something special, you know. Ehh, I wouldn't go that far. Music's catchy as hell, but if you crush that it all falls apart. Dammit..! Now, let's make clear who the stronger of us is. Shall we? Affirmative. Alright, siddown ya' punk. …Regrouping. And you. I ain't too keen on you stealing my comrade's smoke. That stuff's powerful, n' here you are without a clue how to use it. I know just what I'm doing..! Yeah, says you. If the smoke's no good, how about some fire! …Hah? Fire, you say? I've been sittin' in this damn heat, in a suit, and you're still using fire. Dumbass. And it's working. You're pretty bloodied up, you know? Only cuz I got you dummies all over me. Well then, here's a little more! That's three down… Time to clean up here. You guys sure took a little longer to die'n I expected, I'll give you that… but this is a world where the strong get control over everything.Unfortunately, our second Beatdown turn comes with most of our team Staggered. This doesn't really matter much, as if she Staggers everyone with Beatdown she'll generally kill everyone the next turn anyways… but now we can be pretty sure that Tenebrais, BICEPS, and Sorcrane are down for the count. This leaves me with one option, and it's a risky one.
Alright… guess it all comes down to one last trump card.This is a Hail Mary attack. Credentia's total power boost and Tanya's are the same at +4, making this a straight 19-35 vs 29-35 roll. If it succeeds, no other attacks are directed at her. This means that the healing from it should combine with the 24 Burn and the 10 Bleed she'll have next turn to let Credentia just barely eke out a win over Tanya's remaining 150 HP...
It's got the shape of a plan, at least.
Credentia, the odds of this plan succeeding are— I know… But it's the only chance we've got. If you're relyin' on somethin' like odds, you're prolly already gonna lose. Though I like the new hallway. Enough talkin'. Time to get to work. That's one down… Nice outfit. It's called E.G.O. …Huh. Cool story. That's the second one… I can't… go on any more… Ahh, quit yer bellyachin'. You're dyin' covered in that red ya' love wearin' so much. N' that leaves you. I'll kick your ass twice as hard on the runback. Hah!! I don't do rematches, ya' brat. So in the end, we weren't quite a match… I told ya'. The strong are the ones who make the rules. You can beg for your life if you want… …but I ain't in a listenin' mood. I don't even get any last words? There a part of "ain't in a listenin' mood" that was unclear, missy? No. I suppose not. Good. Now get out of my… Well, hell. It's about time. Not a bad job, Credentia. I'll take it from here. But, your leg… The second I showed up for a reception, the Library took care of it. …Alright. We'll leave it to you. Yeah. You'll get 'em next time.While Tanya's incredibly difficult without the Red Mist… she's actually perfectly capable of soloing this fight if we decide to use her.
VIDEO
Music: GeburaBattle01
You should get your nose checked, then. One is a slaughter-crazed wolf, and the other is a hunter tracking it down. You got a ragtag band of dummies to fight me, eh…? Do I look like a joke to you or what. Still, the highlight of the match is the woman who was once called the Red Mist… This oughta be fun. Everyone I meet keeps bringing up that title. Aren’t you tired of putting me on a pedestal at this point? No way, hun. People’ll be shocked to learn that the great legend is doing menial labor in a place like this. How’s your inhuman strength doing these days? I only heard stories ‘bout it, so I’ve been itching to see it in action… Is strength the only thing you value? Yup. No reason not to bow down to folks who’re stronger than you. What do you think people who lack such strength should do, then? The weak—they gotta find ways to survive on their own. You obey the strong, or you get killed by ‘em… Either or. Someone will keep you safe if you serve ‘em like a good little pup. There won’t be an end to a struggle fought with physical strength. It’ll be a constant series of gory battles… Even the victor can’t be at ease in such a world. Those who act in their own interests can lose everything by the same means at anytime. Is it really right to possess strength if it’s only used to take from others? Ehey, why see that as stealing, gal? Adapt or die. If you can’t, you either become food or fall behind until you’re wiped out. The so-called apex predators are the creatures best fit to survive in this ecosystem, ain’t that the truth? That’s how humans have always lived, so why make a big fuss about it now? Strength is the most honest and clear way to express yourself. I prove that I’m stronger than you, and that’s it. No tricks or lies involved. I want a world where power means everything. And that’s why I’m helping mister orchestrator. Oh, I guess you’ve got your own reasons and causes to bring up as well. For the sake of others, making the world peaceful, or whatevs… Not like I wanna hear ‘em. You prolly looked at all the people hopelessly dying n’ wanted to do something for ‘em out of pity or anxiety, but the truth is, the City folks were doing fine without ya. You didn’t seriously expect everyone in the City to gladly take the gift you forcibly handed to ‘em and hear thanks, didja? And look at you now, ruining the daily lives of innocent people to resume your plan… It’s true, we can’t glorify what we’ve done as deeds for the people, I know that. I’m not entirely proud of our actions. That’s what I’ve been ruminating on. I suppose it’s not something you need to know, though. Yup. Both you and I are doing this for our own satisfaction n’ desires. And that’s about it. Claiming to stand for a higher cause is just an excuse. We both have things we have to protect or take. If you got it, let’s get this started.Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
Yeah. I should pay you back double for what you did to my crew. Says the punk who stabbed Elena right through the head. She got better, didn't she? And yours won't? Well… once we're done here.Even at their best, Tanya's numbers are roughly on par with the pages in Gebura's deck.
This means that with the +5 from Myo's Prowess, we're untouchable on any infinite die—and once Lone Fixer activates on turn 2 our normal Speed Dice will be mostly untouchable as well.
She can get attacks through because she has more Speed Dice than us, but it'll take a while for that to realistically whittle down our HP through the haulers.
Mmm… Okay. I think I get it. Do ya', now? I was fighting you all for a while back on those stairs, you know. Had plenty of time to see the way you carry yourselves. I saw plenty of you, too. Guess you did.Lupine Onslaught requires special attention in this fight, as it will negate Power entirely, and its dice are on par to slightly better than Gebura's usual fare.
I prefer to deal with it by ignoring it entirely—the Counter die may stop it, and if not we can eat the damage.
Well, now that we're properly fightin'… seems like ya' finally stopped holding back. My team was doing their best, so I was loaning them this power before. Sounds like a dumbass way t'live. Me, I just hang with the strong. Yeah, that sounds like something you'd say.Vampirism will stack with our Fear of Water in order to give us more healing as we go. Level Slash can also inflict Bleed, but FoW ensures it's guaranteed.
This will be handy, as we're now looking at 4 Speed Dice to our 2+counter, we can't avoid damage here.
Ya' know, they say something about legends bein' overblown… and I kinda' get it now. You hit hard, but not much harder'n any other idjit around here. You were a legend back in th'day, sure… But that's only compared t' threats from back in the day, ain't it?Absorption with our total heals is a guaranteed bonus 3 Power, putting our rolls at +6 before Myo's Prowess. As long as it isn't Lupine Onslaught, any of our pages can beat any of Tanya's attacks handily now.
Time's marchin' forward. Shit that was impressive ain't worth much not two weeks later. Even wings fall. As I'm sure you prolly know. That stance… Gebura, she's going to use her strongest technique. That so? I'll meet it on head-on, then. Might as well see what the fuss is all about, eh? Keheh… Yeah. Let's see what'chr best looks like.I mentioned earlier that the correct move was having Gebura use GSV on the other Speed Die to break this page… but if Gebura's alone, then we can just target Beatdown itself.
Time to take out the trash! Couldn't agree more. So you do have some bite left in ya'.Instincts gives us more sustain, so I grab it here.
You know, it's a little bit annoying. Angela wasn't able to create a book that would match my old power. Yer makin' excuses now? Psh, and after all that shit you talked… But even I can see you're bleeding out as fast as me. Guess we'll see who has more blood in us, won't we? Ah, that's not why I brought it up, you know. Just thought you'd like to know why it's taken so long to really get running. So you were still holdin' out on me, eh?!Manifest E.G.O should be targeted at a page that maximizes our Evade die payoff. It'll handle our SR for the rest of the fight and ensure we can't get Staggered.
Like I said… it's not that I was holding out on you. I "couldn't." It takes a while to get back into it… But here you go. A blade that leaves a bloody mist behind.Music: The Red Mist
Armor that is worn not to defend, but to attack. And an iron will, tempered enough to act knowing full well your own weakness.With Hello? online, our first die rolled every turn will restore HP equal to its result. This will finish off our strategy for the remainder of this fight.
Hey, do you know why that Red Mist was undefeatable, back in the day? It's obvious, ain't it? She was strong enough to crush anyone. That's survival of the fittest. So you don't understand it at all. It's not the strong who survive. It's the survivors who are strong. Cleaving through countless opponents, and using their wounds to cure my own injuries. That's the true Red Mist you've been hoping to fight.Tanya's entered her second phase, but her +2 Power is canceled out by the Red Mist's natural +2 Power. Gebura's back at full HP after the Hello?'d GSH, our SR is near maxed out as well, and all that's left is a damage race.
Goddamn… You still don't hit any harder. But it doesn't matter how much I break you down… You just recover it in an instant, rippin' and tearin' away all the while. A real pain in the ass to fight, aren't I? Definitely.While Tanya can hit us, and even get some damage through… she can't possibly outpace Gebura's recovery any longer. The rest of this fight is just a formality.
Guess this is as far as I go, huh. Damn. You're calmer than I expected. Well, y'know how it is. When two great strengths clash, one'll win and one will lose. You were just stronger this time. Can't bitch about that! I guess not. Enemy's down. You should switch over to Chesed now. I know that fop's going to need an eye on him. Indeed… the upper layer has not yet been breached, so we may see a minor reprieve once they've been dealt with. Finally. These guys are a pain in the ass.As long as Red Mist is being used against her properly, Tanya is a chump. Solo Red Mist or even full team strats, it doesn't matter—as long as Red Mist's Great Split pages take care of Beatdown she's not able to get her offense game running and she'll go down in relatively short order. We could probably have beaten her with just the four Librarians without Red Mist, but doing so would have required both using Mind Hauler on everyone to try and keep their SR up and also putting three of them into Udjat to give us a good way to survive the big Beatdown turns… and Udjat was already spoken for by another fight I didn't want to redo.
And this, ultimately, is the true difficulty of the Uninvited Guests as a whole: None of the fights are particularly difficult in themselves, but they each take a long time to do and you can wind up getting tired of the entire thing before it's over. More than any particular card game talent, patience and perseverance are what this reception is designed to test.
Some days I think I preferred Day 49. It just killed you.
Music: Result
Credentia… didja' finish her off? No such luck. Gebura showed up, and then I was out like a light. Another sortie? I took care of her. Though… your plan wasn't a bad one, but you forgot something important. That we're weak? Don't be dense. You forgot that in a battle of equals, everyone comes out with a bloody nose. Your endurance wasn't where you needed it to be. Dammit… And after we put in all that work. Training is ultimately a series of setbacks that show you the path forward. Get up. We're doing laps around the floor 'til you all collapse. Affirmative. Ma'am! With this, we're a little over halfway through with them. Only four remain… Yeah. Just four left, and it'll all be over. Those bastards will get what they deserve. Roland… What is it you need? Begin to prepare. I am fairly certain you will be facing Argalia directly. Of course. We wouldn't have it any other way.Next time, on Library of Ruina: Just a rhyme without a reason.
Videos
Tanya Battle
VS Tanya (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
Tanya Exclusive:
Book 49: Endgame—Chapter 11: Masser of Puppets
Chesed, status report.
It's been quiet here so far… The enemy we're to defeat seems to be traveling with gear, so it's taking him a few moments..
A few others came by earlier, but… I didn't like our odds, so I let them go.
And they let you?
We figured that, since there's three floors above us, it'd be fine if we let the first three pass.
In that case, I'll have to let Hokma and Binah know their services will be needed again.
I'm willing to bet they already saw that far ahead~
And as for you, are your preparations complete?
Of course~
Our party here is designed to work as a unit. Chesed's Mirinae is going to be handing Augury Kicks out to the rest of the team, and Sweet Pea has a Raging Storm: Love to act as an early Mass Attack pending hitting Emotion Level 4 to unlock the rest of them. Evil Kit is here to apply Smoke and be a general nuisance, and Seyser is going to be focused on trying to keep everyone's Light levels up.
Twee is using a meme deck that will allow us to abuse Magic Trick in case the fight goes for too long, but most importantly she's brought along Yan's Mass Attack.
The landing at last. With Tanya taking the last one, I suppose this area will fall to me. How… fortunate.
VIDEO
Music: ChesedBattle01
Hello there~ As much as I’d like to treat you to a cup of coffee, the circumstances say otherwise… What a shame~
I don’t believe said circumstances are relaxed enough for such jokes, either… You’re being quite tender. Do you always tend to be that soft?
If we can’t avoid facing each other, there’s no need to make it more tense than necessary, now is there? Though I do often hear that I’m carefree~
Don’t make me laugh. Is that supposed to be a humble brag?
…
Would you like me to introduce her?
No need~ I’ve got the gist of what’s going on.
…This puppet was made after that person, wasn’t it~?
It’s a gorgeous piece of work, if I do say so myself. I’d even dare say that it’s my magnum opus.
In terms of appearance?
Even if a puppet were as beautiful as a master’s sculpture, I wouldn’t love its look in itself. They’re neither disgusting… nor attractive to me. They simply are. I have no particular feelings about how they look.
What do you make your puppets for, then?
The thoughts and emotions I hold when I craft them… A resentment towards the City for driving me to this desperation, and a blind anger for the rich. A glimpse of hope that I can bring back my precious son whose life they took. Bitterness, and… a yearning for vengeance toward Roland, the man who rid me of that hope and pushed me to despair.
I wrap the emotions I couldn’t outwardly express in a human string and shape them. I take out the useless chunks of meat… and fill their insides with the emotional baggage I’m carrying. I can breathe easy after I indulge in my craft… That’s when I feel alive at last.
Do you see how dear the puppets are to me now?
Stuffing your emotions in them, huh…
I don’t understand it, but I won’t bother giving my thoughts on it~ I’m still not very happy about what you did to Roland, though.
You said he burned down your whole lab, yeah?
Yes. My son was lost in that fire, not a piece of him left to salvage. …Are you trying to express sympathy for me?
Nah~ We aren’t close enough to worry for each other.
I was just curious~ I wanted to know if vengeance was your only goal in coming here.
Although we have minor differences, all the members of our ensemble strive to reach the same place. Vengeance pointed at Roland was only an intersection we happened to come across on our way to it. It was never at the center of my motive. Well, thanks to him, I won’t have any regrets making my way through.
It’s tragic that we all have our own little stories, isn’t it? We can’t be free of guilt no matter what we do.
That’s precisely why one has to focus solely on what they want to do.
I too wish for a world in which individuals are free to express the flavors they want to exude~ But, is that freedom really the kind that frees one from all responsibility of what they do?
There’s a limitless range of dreams individuals want to bring out. And you must know that the possibility of pursuing your own freedom while you consider everyone else is nothing short of a myth. If one were to take into consideration the width of the potential each person has…
…Never mind, that’s for you to think about. After all, that’s not the kind of world I want to see. I’m not here for a leisurely debate, so let’s get to business now.
Yeah~ That is a good point.
Well then, fellows. As usual… let’s receive our guests.
Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
Thought you'd never give the word. Puppets like these were what woke us up, you know.
I gotta' admit, I wondered how strong these things really were…
Yesod made it look pretty easy!
Then why is my hair going off..?
…Quite a varied bunch you have there.
Yes, they're all quite lively, aren't they~?
Jae-heon is another of the Shimmering bosses, who acts as a support for his Puppets. He starts combat by stringing each one up, and the first phase of the fight revolves around removing those strings and defeating the Puppets. Protective Puppetry gives him Protection and Stagger Protection for each living Puppet, which combines with the usual Nuovo Fabric to make him hard to damage until we've taken a few out.
Three of the Puppets are upgraded versions of the Puppets we fought a lifetime ago in Urban Nightmare. They still have the Puppet Skeleton passive for +1 Power to all Blunt dice, and the advanced ones still have their conditional bonuses to Stagger Damage. They gain more HP/SR than the original fight, and also each gets two new passives. The first is a universal passive on all Puppets: Manipulated Flesh. This passive locks their HP to 1 when we would destroy them while they have Puppet Strings on them, and then restores their HP back to half 2 turns later.
The second is a unique passive for each puppet which gives them a bonus while they have the aforementioned Puppet Strings. The Weighty Puppet gets 1 Strength, the Nimble Puppet gets 1 Haste, and the basic Puppet gets the 2 bonus SR that Weighty Puppet gets for free. It's… It's doing its best. If it was just these three, this fight would be pretty easy.
But then there's her.
Puppet Angelica is a major problem in this fight, with her having 1 Speed Die more than the other Puppets from the start. In addition to the usual Puppet Skeleton and Manipulated Flesh, she also has both the bonus passives of Weighty Puppet and Nimble Puppet. Finally, there's the special ability she gets when she has Puppet Strings: 1 Strength, Endurance and Haste will make her generally better. Thankfully, she's the last enemy that Jae-heon strings up.
Speaking of Puppet Strings, we'll cover them now because they're everywhere in this fight. It's a status effect that makes the holder functionally immortal—they come back after 2 turns if they'd be killed. For each stack of Puppet Strings we cut, the enemy loses 8 HP. Finally, each stringed Puppet gets a bonus Speed Die, which will use a specific special attack every turn.
The three normal Speed Dice on the three old Puppets all use attacks from back in Urban Nightmare, and they're… less terrifying than they were back then, but Puppets were a little overtuned so they can still put out some damage if we ignore them. Forceful Gesture is still strong, of course, and the Weighty Puppet also has access to Repressed Flesh as well, which is still the biggest threat from any of those three opponents.
I won't say anything more about them here, as nothing has changed about them. Let's focus on the new mechanics, starting with the Puppet Strings on the base Puppet. For every Puppet that has Strings, Jae-heon gets a unique Counter page and the Puppet gets a unique attack.
For the base Puppet, Jae-heon gets Tugging Strings, and the Puppet gets Puppetry. Puppetry is a mediocre attack that can hit for bonus SR damage due to the Strings passive, and the Tugging Strings Counter Dice aren't particularly large either. The first die will lower the base Puppet's String count when we beat it in a clash, and this mechanic will stay the same for every other Puppet as well.
The only real attack that Jae-heon plays during this phase of the battle is Assailing Pulls. This page is a couple of small dice, but most importantly it applies Red Mark to one of the allies on our side of the field. At no point during this fight do I think to see what Red Mark actually does, which is a shame.
This is because I probably would have liked to know I was about to get Index Targeted on my lowest HP Librarian. This only applies to the bonus pages and Puppet Angelica, but it's still very dangerous. Speaking of Puppet Angelica…
She's leading with a pair of Gh..Gigi..Gig. This page is a level above any of the basic 2-hit Puppet pages, and it's her Light and Draw page. She's the biggest source of damage throughout this fight.
Anyways, for now the plan is to Clone my important pages while I try to take a chunk out of the Puppets. In hindsight I should have made an attempt to break Jae-heon's Counter dice, but I didn't think to focus on him yet.
Now… it's nothing personal, but I need you to get out of our way.
I'm afraid I must return the sentiment, dear guest~
Don't be silly, this guy isn't a guest at all. He's just an intruder.
There's no need to be pleasant with any of them.
Make sure to look out for the one with hair, though… It's definitely not like the others!
No, she wouldn't be… But it's fine. That thing isn't nearly as agile or powerful as the real deal.
So you're watching as well? But don't you have something to get ready for~?
That doesn't matter. I can't be there for it myself, but I want to watch this bastard die.
That's good… Until you can feel even a fraction of my pain, I want you to suffer.
Until your heart is lost to endless sorrow.
I hope it hurts, you son of a bitch.
We shall see.
The Nimble Puppet's duo activates on turn two. Thin Strings is a decent Evade die and a weak Pierce die, with the Pierce being the target to lower Nimble Puppet's string count. Its version of Puppetry is the weakest offensively, and if we're going to ignore any of them this is the best one to let pass.
Uu…Ghghgh…, meanwhile, is another attack from Angelica. It has a single big die that breaks the next die on our page if it hits, and a block die following it up.
Huh… my hair's going a little harder than it was before.
There's a little red thing on you now. Maybe it's a target?
Just try not to get hit too much, you'll be fine.
Yeah, I'll do my best.
Don't like the way they're all coordinated all of a sudden.
That's the strings. The more he takes direct control, the better their movements will get. If we cut them… it should get easier.
Then leave it to me. I'll snap as many as I can!
I'd prefer you did no such thing.
They're my splendid creations, after all.
One little note that I love: whenever Jae-heon manages to use one of his Counter dice correctly, the Puppet associated with it comes to his defense. Man's never fighting alone.
I wouldn't call them 'splendid' so easily. They're just the ones that stayed with you this far. Pretty sure we've already been the death of a dozen or so of these things so far.
They served their purpose… and those First Class bastards aren't alive anymore. We all got what we wanted out of it.
These ones are a cut above those, though.
Gah!
Oh..! Good hit! You knocked him right for a loop!
Should you really be rooting for them, Kit?
I play every side, you know!
That won't stop them from killing you.
Oh, we'll see about that!
Our new pair here are Durable Strings, whose Blunt die is the one we need to break, and the Weighty Puppet's Puppetry—which is actually a weaker attack than most of what it throws out. The Paralysis is a problem, though, we want to block this.
Seems like they're all focusing on me, now.
What, are you worried?
Nah. Just means they know who the captain is.
Despite her HP being higher than Seyser's right now, Red Mark pays attention to the HP at the start of the turn—Sweet Pea was the lowest then, so now she's got everyone's focus.
Raging Storm: Love is a great page to use in this fight, letting us break a number of dice on the enemy's side of the field as early as turn 2. Mass Attacks in general are really good here, since there's five enemies to target at once.
A brilliant blaze, to be sure… but flesh doesn't burn well.
Hell!
Don't worry about it. Just dodge out of the way and you'll be fine!
Yeah, turns out that ain't so easy!
I can only focus on so much in a fight like this… and—
It turns out tanking hits is more important?
Cram it, Tweeds.
Don't worry, I've got your back either way.
The two of you are finally getting along, after all this time~
Don't get carried away now, boss. Soon as this fight's over, we'll be right back to arguing.
That could just mean you're close friends as well~
Like you and Gebura, eh?
…Something like that~
I put Cardiae on Twee here, which does shut off her +1 Power from Yan's Keypage, but it'll let us get -1 Light Cost on some of our big pages.
…To wit, GIANT SWORD
Since slashing's working so well, I'll use the good stuff.
Then I'll have to do the same.
My magnum opus at her very best.
Rot in hell, you twisted ass.
No, thank you.
The final duo is Unique Strings and Angelica Puppet's Puppetry. Unique Strings is yet another Counter page, and we would ideally break that last die ASAP, but because of how Jae-heon's Counter dice work out it winds up being the very last one in the entire queue—this can make it hard to actually get at while others are still stringed.
As for Puppetry… it's the most dangerous page in this entire fight. Because Puppetry is always put on the highest result Speed Die and Angelica's Puppet with Strings has at least 1 Haste to make her Speed range 3-7, she has an incredibly high chance to set it on a 5+ speed die. Angelica's Puppet is also the one who gets assigned the +1 Strength Abnormality Page from the enemy's Emotion Level, giving her a natural 2 Strength and Puppet Skeleton to turn the page into a trio of 10-13 rolls. It's incredibly dangerous.
As shown by her effortlessly deflecting a Distorted Blade.
Ah, man… she looked up. At least I got the fast one.
Don't let it get to you. I would've looked up too.
This weighty puppet only needs a little push now.
So you figured out how to deal with fire being bad on flesh?
Yep: Burn hotter.
Once you two are done, I wouldn't mind someone covering me here. This particular puppet is a bit troublesome~
I'll be right-
MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I've gummed her up with the good smokes! And now I'll help myself to that captain role, thank you!
It wasn't up for grabs, Kitten!
Then why am I over here staggering these giant puppets?!
…You like contributing?
Muahahahaha! Hilarious.
Hey, guys, if you have a second..?
Ahh, looks like you didn't knock the right one for a loop.
Infuriating, isn't it?
For me, maybe!
Well, now that we've stunned three of the Puppets… Maybe I can get some shots in on that puppeteer.
I wouldn't count on it, lass. Even if they cannot move… I can still move them.
We've finally gotten some breathing room… let's take advantage of it.
I wouldn't be so sure about that~
Me either. Something feels off.
You're more perceptive than you seem. Yes, it's important to let the strings loosen…
Before they tighten around your neck.
After stringing up all his Puppets, on the next turn Jae-heon will use Drawing the Strings Taut. This restores 1 Puppet String to all his Puppets, and hits us with a pair of Mass Individual dice that inflict Bind. This can cut our speed down and prevent us from redirecting Puppet Angelica's attacks, which will in turn lead to whoever has the Red Mark getting the heck beaten out of them.
Okay, so here's the plan: Take out that crazy puppet now, and then while she's reeling we'll take advantage of it to finish off the puppetmaster.
You sure? You're looking pretty rough.
I just won't get hit. It's fine.
I've made a terrible mistake here, see if you can spot it in all of the Dice Spaghetti.
Just a little tug…
That's all for his attack. It's time to press the offensive, everyone~
And that means it's my turn!
Dammit… I miscalculated.
If you guessed "You completely ignored the single most damaging page in the fight," you're correct!
Looks like I'm sitting the rest of the fight out…
Darn it, Sweet Pea..!
It's fine. Kitten, I'm putting you in charge.
Finally! The respect I deserve!
We're not following that order.
Says you! I'll have you know I have a brilliant idea!
Does it happen to involve a fish?
It might just!
No.
But I've staggered that troublesome Puppet. It's the best time for a good plan.
Fine, I'll play along. But only because we're in a bit of a bind here.
You recognize your position… Good. Then I'll spare you the explanation.
I slap A Warm Heart back onto Twee. She won't get a lot of use out of the Power ability, but I was focused primarily on restoring her +1 Power from Yan's page and this was the best way to do it. If she gets the extra bonus, that's just icing on the cake.
Nobody asked you for an explanation anyways! There's five of you, and four of us, so the obvious solution is to do the obvious solution!
Okay, I'll bite: What's the obvious solution?
We do what any good boss fight does when we're angry at the player for cheating, of course!
We spam massive all-target attacks.
Is that really even a 'strategy?'
It's certainly got the shape of one, at least~
Hey… why's this thing on my wrist blinking?
Thanks to Life Insurance activating we've got a trio of good Mass Attacks to use, letting us try and put all three Puppets back down as soon as they get up.
Hey puppeteer! You wanted to be free, right? Well you know what happens when you push it too far and the GM gets sick of your shit?!
This isn't a game, brat.
Bzzt! WRONG!! I'm sorry, the answer we were looking for is…
ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES!!! Muahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!
I'll make sure we all still have options after this is over~
Thanks, boss.
Well? Well?! How's that for captaining?!
You're just gloating about what happened after you made that undead army.
And it was useful.
Oh… I think I got it. Push the wrist, this thing comes out…
And then blow it on them to recover. Nice.
Because the Puppets come back with only half their max HP, it makes them quite vulnerable to Mass Attack spam.
Geh..!
You still alive?
Yeah! We didn't get all of them, though.
It'll be fine. That quick-moving one is less of a threat than even the original model~
And with the puppets on the backfoot, that finally opens you up to attack.
Hmph… As long as they exist, I'll be protected.
Protected, but not invincible~ That gunk from Twee's sword sinks into you same as anything else~
Scratches like this aren't anything to cry over.
True enough… But I think we've finally finished cutting the strings on one of your toys~
So, how was it?! Brilliant, I know.
It was a good start, but we're not out of the woods yet.
Right! So after I survived the first set of rocks, what'd you do?
Ah.
At this point, SeyserKoze is low on HP and being Red Marked to draw all of the aggro from Angelica's Puppet. My brilliant idea here is to grab Oblivion and use it to fully restore his Light while also recovering HP and defending him from attacks this turn.
I'm going to hide for a minute. Don't worry about me.
I wouldn't. A trick like that almost definitely won't work.
Seyser, she's still targeting you.
Son of a… How's she still see me?
She's… Well, that thing's a cheap copy of someone who wouldn't be fooled by something so simple.
Truly a masterwork, isn't she?
Shut the fuck up.
Unfortunately, Red Mark takes priority over Oblivion, meaning Seyser's still about to get his head bashed in, and I can intercept at most one of those pages. :shepface:
Hey boss, I need a second to recover before I can launch another of those swords.
I'd say we all need a moment to recover, don't we~?
Don't you worry, I'll take care of it. I've always wanted to be the one making the rocks fall.
I decide the best option here is to leave Seyser's life in the hands of the Numbers I played earlier, and to focus on Jae-heon.
Hold on a moment! I've got a vital proposition.
…
Thank you for waiting. Now, as you'll notice, I'm in a top hat.
…And?
That means I am clearly in the employ of this fine dice-and-card based establishment. And because of that, this means that you, sir, are the challenger. And you know what happens if you spend too long challenging a gambling den, don't you?
…
My dear masterwork. Kill them.
That may be difficult, sir! For you see:
Eventually, the house always wins!
Oh, you got one. Nice work~
Let's not miss the chance, Twee~
Ye…yeah. Let's do that.
I can see you're awed by another work of my linguistic mastery!
First the fish and now this… You know what, at least we're on the same side this time. Hey Seyser! You still alive back there?!
Somehow… I'm surviving…
Persistence keeps SeyserKoze moving here, restoring him to 30 HP instead of killing him off.
Perfect. Just leave the rest of this to us!
That damned goo again… This tugging, leading me to places I don't want to go.
Yes, that's called a 'railroad.' Twee's very good at them.
Hey!
Only something that can move within the cracks of that reality could ever properly disrupt it, and that's really your problem: Ultimately, you're too straight laced!
Ghh… No, my creations are certainly more than a match for you.
Muahahahahaha! Then let's see how useful they really are!
Well… we certainly took the long way to get here, but I think we've arrived at the end of the fight. Good work, everyone~
Yeah. Let's finish it.
Defend me, puppets… Once I can move again—
You don't understand.
We're finishing it.
The problem with going for Magic Trick is that it's a level 3 Abnormality Page, and full fights like this are simply too slow to let us get that far. Even taking a loss, we weren't quite able to do it—though if SyeserKoze had died as well, Twee would have been able to spam four copies of Distorted Blade as a final action.
…Not that it would have mattered, given that we've won already.
There's those strings cut… and one of the other Puppets handled, too.
Then finish this damned fight so I don't have to look at that thing anymore!
As you wish, Roland~
Feel better now~?
…I'm going to sharpen my swords.
Right. We'll clean up here~
No need. It's already done!
Phew… finally over. I feel like I got carried to the finish line.
Oh, you did. Absolutely.
I'd say he gave us all plenty of energy to keep going, though~?
Then it's a good thing I'm the captain today!
Captains can't overrule Chesed, he's the boss.
Says who?!
The Puppeteer's reception is the hardest one in Briah, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's hard. Understanding how Red Marks work (and slapping some Bind on Angelica's Puppet to make her redirectable) turns this fight into something of a joke, as it's a hard counter to the focused targeting that serves as the main threat here.
Outside of that, Mass Attacks remain hilariously overpowered in 5v5 melees, so just use those. If all of the Puppets are defeated Jae-heon does have a second set of attacks he can use, but as squishy as he is compared to the Puppets with their Strings on this should realistically almost never come up.
Music: Result
Uugh… Underestimated their speed. Won't happen again.
I don't think it can happen again. This feels like the last time.
And all under my leadership. Splendid!
You're not the…
I said he was the Captain, so he was.
Still am!
Uh… boss, can you just name someone the captain already so we can resolve all of this?
I could… but you all look like captains to me~
Aww… that's sweet.
No, that's dodging.
I'd have thought you'd approve of that sort of thing~
With Briah cleared out, all that's left is the final layer. Keter is still locked, so we have to choose between Binah and Hokma. We get one last key page unlock here, so we're allowed to throw everything we have at these next two fights.
It's taken a while, but we're finally almost done with these invaders. Only three remain… Three more encounters… then at last, my book will be complete.
And then…
…I suppose we shall see. For now, I need to support Binah. She lacks the personnel to properly receive anyone.
Next time, on Library of Ruina: A one-woman Apocalypse.
Videos
Jae-heon Battle
vs Jae-heon (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
Chesed, status report. It's been quiet here so far… The enemy we're to defeat seems to be traveling with gear, so it's taking him a few moments.. A few others came by earlier, but… I didn't like our odds, so I let them go. And they let you? We figured that, since there's three floors above us, it'd be fine if we let the first three pass. In that case, I'll have to let Hokma and Binah know their services will be needed again. I'm willing to bet they already saw that far ahead~ And as for you, are your preparations complete? Of course~ Our party here is designed to work as a unit. Chesed's Mirinae is going to be handing Augury Kicks out to the rest of the team, and Sweet Pea has a Raging Storm: Love to act as an early Mass Attack pending hitting Emotion Level 4 to unlock the rest of them. Evil Kit is here to apply Smoke and be a general nuisance, and Seyser is going to be focused on trying to keep everyone's Light levels up.
Twee is using a meme deck that will allow us to abuse Magic Trick in case the fight goes for too long, but most importantly she's brought along Yan's Mass Attack.
The landing at last. With Tanya taking the last one, I suppose this area will fall to me. How… fortunate.VIDEO
Music: ChesedBattle01
Hello there~ As much as I’d like to treat you to a cup of coffee, the circumstances say otherwise… What a shame~ I don’t believe said circumstances are relaxed enough for such jokes, either… You’re being quite tender. Do you always tend to be that soft? If we can’t avoid facing each other, there’s no need to make it more tense than necessary, now is there? Though I do often hear that I’m carefree~ Don’t make me laugh. Is that supposed to be a humble brag? … Would you like me to introduce her? No need~ I’ve got the gist of what’s going on. …This puppet was made after that person, wasn’t it~? It’s a gorgeous piece of work, if I do say so myself. I’d even dare say that it’s my magnum opus. In terms of appearance? Even if a puppet were as beautiful as a master’s sculpture, I wouldn’t love its look in itself. They’re neither disgusting… nor attractive to me. They simply are. I have no particular feelings about how they look. What do you make your puppets for, then? The thoughts and emotions I hold when I craft them… A resentment towards the City for driving me to this desperation, and a blind anger for the rich. A glimpse of hope that I can bring back my precious son whose life they took. Bitterness, and… a yearning for vengeance toward Roland, the man who rid me of that hope and pushed me to despair. I wrap the emotions I couldn’t outwardly express in a human string and shape them. I take out the useless chunks of meat… and fill their insides with the emotional baggage I’m carrying. I can breathe easy after I indulge in my craft… That’s when I feel alive at last. Do you see how dear the puppets are to me now? Stuffing your emotions in them, huh… I don’t understand it, but I won’t bother giving my thoughts on it~ I’m still not very happy about what you did to Roland, though. You said he burned down your whole lab, yeah? Yes. My son was lost in that fire, not a piece of him left to salvage. …Are you trying to express sympathy for me? Nah~ We aren’t close enough to worry for each other. I was just curious~ I wanted to know if vengeance was your only goal in coming here. Although we have minor differences, all the members of our ensemble strive to reach the same place. Vengeance pointed at Roland was only an intersection we happened to come across on our way to it. It was never at the center of my motive. Well, thanks to him, I won’t have any regrets making my way through. It’s tragic that we all have our own little stories, isn’t it? We can’t be free of guilt no matter what we do. That’s precisely why one has to focus solely on what they want to do. I too wish for a world in which individuals are free to express the flavors they want to exude~ But, is that freedom really the kind that frees one from all responsibility of what they do? There’s a limitless range of dreams individuals want to bring out. And you must know that the possibility of pursuing your own freedom while you consider everyone else is nothing short of a myth. If one were to take into consideration the width of the potential each person has… …Never mind, that’s for you to think about. After all, that’s not the kind of world I want to see. I’m not here for a leisurely debate, so let’s get to business now. Yeah~ That is a good point. Well then, fellows. As usual… let’s receive our guests.Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Briah)
Thought you'd never give the word. Puppets like these were what woke us up, you know. I gotta' admit, I wondered how strong these things really were… Yesod made it look pretty easy! Then why is my hair going off..? …Quite a varied bunch you have there. Yes, they're all quite lively, aren't they~?Jae-heon is another of the Shimmering bosses, who acts as a support for his Puppets. He starts combat by stringing each one up, and the first phase of the fight revolves around removing those strings and defeating the Puppets. Protective Puppetry gives him Protection and Stagger Protection for each living Puppet, which combines with the usual Nuovo Fabric to make him hard to damage until we've taken a few out.
Three of the Puppets are upgraded versions of the Puppets we fought a lifetime ago in Urban Nightmare. They still have the Puppet Skeleton passive for +1 Power to all Blunt dice, and the advanced ones still have their conditional bonuses to Stagger Damage. They gain more HP/SR than the original fight, and also each gets two new passives. The first is a universal passive on all Puppets: Manipulated Flesh. This passive locks their HP to 1 when we would destroy them while they have Puppet Strings on them, and then restores their HP back to half 2 turns later.
The second is a unique passive for each puppet which gives them a bonus while they have the aforementioned Puppet Strings. The Weighty Puppet gets 1 Strength, the Nimble Puppet gets 1 Haste, and the basic Puppet gets the 2 bonus SR that Weighty Puppet gets for free. It's… It's doing its best. If it was just these three, this fight would be pretty easy.
But then there's her.
Puppet Angelica is a major problem in this fight, with her having 1 Speed Die more than the other Puppets from the start. In addition to the usual Puppet Skeleton and Manipulated Flesh, she also has both the bonus passives of Weighty Puppet and Nimble Puppet. Finally, there's the special ability she gets when she has Puppet Strings: 1 Strength, Endurance and Haste will make her generally better. Thankfully, she's the last enemy that Jae-heon strings up.
Speaking of Puppet Strings, we'll cover them now because they're everywhere in this fight. It's a status effect that makes the holder functionally immortal—they come back after 2 turns if they'd be killed. For each stack of Puppet Strings we cut, the enemy loses 8 HP. Finally, each stringed Puppet gets a bonus Speed Die, which will use a specific special attack every turn.
The three normal Speed Dice on the three old Puppets all use attacks from back in Urban Nightmare, and they're… less terrifying than they were back then, but Puppets were a little overtuned so they can still put out some damage if we ignore them. Forceful Gesture is still strong, of course, and the Weighty Puppet also has access to Repressed Flesh as well, which is still the biggest threat from any of those three opponents.
I won't say anything more about them here, as nothing has changed about them. Let's focus on the new mechanics, starting with the Puppet Strings on the base Puppet. For every Puppet that has Strings, Jae-heon gets a unique Counter page and the Puppet gets a unique attack.
For the base Puppet, Jae-heon gets Tugging Strings, and the Puppet gets Puppetry. Puppetry is a mediocre attack that can hit for bonus SR damage due to the Strings passive, and the Tugging Strings Counter Dice aren't particularly large either. The first die will lower the base Puppet's String count when we beat it in a clash, and this mechanic will stay the same for every other Puppet as well.
The only real attack that Jae-heon plays during this phase of the battle is Assailing Pulls. This page is a couple of small dice, but most importantly it applies Red Mark to one of the allies on our side of the field. At no point during this fight do I think to see what Red Mark actually does, which is a shame.
This is because I probably would have liked to know I was about to get Index Targeted on my lowest HP Librarian. This only applies to the bonus pages and Puppet Angelica, but it's still very dangerous. Speaking of Puppet Angelica…
She's leading with a pair of Gh..Gigi..Gig. This page is a level above any of the basic 2-hit Puppet pages, and it's her Light and Draw page. She's the biggest source of damage throughout this fight.
Anyways, for now the plan is to Clone my important pages while I try to take a chunk out of the Puppets. In hindsight I should have made an attempt to break Jae-heon's Counter dice, but I didn't think to focus on him yet.
Now… it's nothing personal, but I need you to get out of our way. I'm afraid I must return the sentiment, dear guest~ Don't be silly, this guy isn't a guest at all. He's just an intruder. There's no need to be pleasant with any of them. Make sure to look out for the one with hair, though… It's definitely not like the others! No, she wouldn't be… But it's fine. That thing isn't nearly as agile or powerful as the real deal. So you're watching as well? But don't you have something to get ready for~? That doesn't matter. I can't be there for it myself, but I want to watch this bastard die. That's good… Until you can feel even a fraction of my pain, I want you to suffer. Until your heart is lost to endless sorrow. I hope it hurts, you son of a bitch. We shall see.The Nimble Puppet's duo activates on turn two. Thin Strings is a decent Evade die and a weak Pierce die, with the Pierce being the target to lower Nimble Puppet's string count. Its version of Puppetry is the weakest offensively, and if we're going to ignore any of them this is the best one to let pass.
Uu…Ghghgh…, meanwhile, is another attack from Angelica. It has a single big die that breaks the next die on our page if it hits, and a block die following it up.
Huh… my hair's going a little harder than it was before. There's a little red thing on you now. Maybe it's a target? Just try not to get hit too much, you'll be fine. Yeah, I'll do my best. Don't like the way they're all coordinated all of a sudden. That's the strings. The more he takes direct control, the better their movements will get. If we cut them… it should get easier. Then leave it to me. I'll snap as many as I can! I'd prefer you did no such thing. They're my splendid creations, after all.One little note that I love: whenever Jae-heon manages to use one of his Counter dice correctly, the Puppet associated with it comes to his defense. Man's never fighting alone.
I wouldn't call them 'splendid' so easily. They're just the ones that stayed with you this far. Pretty sure we've already been the death of a dozen or so of these things so far. They served their purpose… and those First Class bastards aren't alive anymore. We all got what we wanted out of it. These ones are a cut above those, though. Gah! Oh..! Good hit! You knocked him right for a loop! Should you really be rooting for them, Kit? I play every side, you know! That won't stop them from killing you. Oh, we'll see about that!Our new pair here are Durable Strings, whose Blunt die is the one we need to break, and the Weighty Puppet's Puppetry—which is actually a weaker attack than most of what it throws out. The Paralysis is a problem, though, we want to block this.
Seems like they're all focusing on me, now. What, are you worried? Nah. Just means they know who the captain is.Despite her HP being higher than Seyser's right now, Red Mark pays attention to the HP at the start of the turn—Sweet Pea was the lowest then, so now she's got everyone's focus.
Raging Storm: Love is a great page to use in this fight, letting us break a number of dice on the enemy's side of the field as early as turn 2. Mass Attacks in general are really good here, since there's five enemies to target at once.
A brilliant blaze, to be sure… but flesh doesn't burn well. Hell! Don't worry about it. Just dodge out of the way and you'll be fine! Yeah, turns out that ain't so easy! I can only focus on so much in a fight like this… and— It turns out tanking hits is more important? Cram it, Tweeds. Don't worry, I've got your back either way. The two of you are finally getting along, after all this time~ Don't get carried away now, boss. Soon as this fight's over, we'll be right back to arguing. That could just mean you're close friends as well~ Like you and Gebura, eh? …Something like that~I put Cardiae on Twee here, which does shut off her +1 Power from Yan's Keypage, but it'll let us get -1 Light Cost on some of our big pages.
…To wit, GIANT SWORD
Since slashing's working so well, I'll use the good stuff. Then I'll have to do the same. My magnum opus at her very best. Rot in hell, you twisted ass. No, thank you.The final duo is Unique Strings and Angelica Puppet's Puppetry. Unique Strings is yet another Counter page, and we would ideally break that last die ASAP, but because of how Jae-heon's Counter dice work out it winds up being the very last one in the entire queue—this can make it hard to actually get at while others are still stringed.
As for Puppetry… it's the most dangerous page in this entire fight. Because Puppetry is always put on the highest result Speed Die and Angelica's Puppet with Strings has at least 1 Haste to make her Speed range 3-7, she has an incredibly high chance to set it on a 5+ speed die. Angelica's Puppet is also the one who gets assigned the +1 Strength Abnormality Page from the enemy's Emotion Level, giving her a natural 2 Strength and Puppet Skeleton to turn the page into a trio of 10-13 rolls. It's incredibly dangerous.
As shown by her effortlessly deflecting a Distorted Blade.
Ah, man… she looked up. At least I got the fast one. Don't let it get to you. I would've looked up too. This weighty puppet only needs a little push now. So you figured out how to deal with fire being bad on flesh? Yep: Burn hotter. Once you two are done, I wouldn't mind someone covering me here. This particular puppet is a bit troublesome~ I'll be right- MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I've gummed her up with the good smokes! And now I'll help myself to that captain role, thank you! It wasn't up for grabs, Kitten! Then why am I over here staggering these giant puppets?! …You like contributing? Muahahahaha! Hilarious. Hey, guys, if you have a second..? Ahh, looks like you didn't knock the right one for a loop. Infuriating, isn't it? For me, maybe! Well, now that we've stunned three of the Puppets… Maybe I can get some shots in on that puppeteer. I wouldn't count on it, lass. Even if they cannot move… I can still move them. We've finally gotten some breathing room… let's take advantage of it. I wouldn't be so sure about that~ Me either. Something feels off. You're more perceptive than you seem. Yes, it's important to let the strings loosen… Before they tighten around your neck.After stringing up all his Puppets, on the next turn Jae-heon will use Drawing the Strings Taut. This restores 1 Puppet String to all his Puppets, and hits us with a pair of Mass Individual dice that inflict Bind. This can cut our speed down and prevent us from redirecting Puppet Angelica's attacks, which will in turn lead to whoever has the Red Mark getting the heck beaten out of them.
Okay, so here's the plan: Take out that crazy puppet now, and then while she's reeling we'll take advantage of it to finish off the puppetmaster. You sure? You're looking pretty rough. I just won't get hit. It's fine.I've made a terrible mistake here, see if you can spot it in all of the Dice Spaghetti.
Just a little tug… That's all for his attack. It's time to press the offensive, everyone~ And that means it's my turn! Dammit… I miscalculated.If you guessed "You completely ignored the single most damaging page in the fight," you're correct!
Looks like I'm sitting the rest of the fight out… Darn it, Sweet Pea..! It's fine. Kitten, I'm putting you in charge. Finally! The respect I deserve! We're not following that order. Says you! I'll have you know I have a brilliant idea! Does it happen to involve a fish? It might just! No. But I've staggered that troublesome Puppet. It's the best time for a good plan. Fine, I'll play along. But only because we're in a bit of a bind here. You recognize your position… Good. Then I'll spare you the explanation.I slap A Warm Heart back onto Twee. She won't get a lot of use out of the Power ability, but I was focused primarily on restoring her +1 Power from Yan's page and this was the best way to do it. If she gets the extra bonus, that's just icing on the cake.
Nobody asked you for an explanation anyways! There's five of you, and four of us, so the obvious solution is to do the obvious solution! Okay, I'll bite: What's the obvious solution? We do what any good boss fight does when we're angry at the player for cheating, of course! We spam massive all-target attacks. Is that really even a 'strategy?' It's certainly got the shape of one, at least~ Hey… why's this thing on my wrist blinking?Thanks to Life Insurance activating we've got a trio of good Mass Attacks to use, letting us try and put all three Puppets back down as soon as they get up.
Hey puppeteer! You wanted to be free, right? Well you know what happens when you push it too far and the GM gets sick of your shit?! This isn't a game, brat. Bzzt! WRONG!! I'm sorry, the answer we were looking for is… ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES!!! Muahahahahahahaaaaaa!!! I'll make sure we all still have options after this is over~ Thanks, boss. Well? Well?! How's that for captaining?! You're just gloating about what happened after you made that undead army. And it was useful. Oh… I think I got it. Push the wrist, this thing comes out… And then blow it on them to recover. Nice.Because the Puppets come back with only half their max HP, it makes them quite vulnerable to Mass Attack spam.
Geh..! You still alive? Yeah! We didn't get all of them, though. It'll be fine. That quick-moving one is less of a threat than even the original model~ And with the puppets on the backfoot, that finally opens you up to attack. Hmph… As long as they exist, I'll be protected. Protected, but not invincible~ That gunk from Twee's sword sinks into you same as anything else~ Scratches like this aren't anything to cry over. True enough… But I think we've finally finished cutting the strings on one of your toys~ So, how was it?! Brilliant, I know. It was a good start, but we're not out of the woods yet. Right! So after I survived the first set of rocks, what'd you do? Ah.At this point, SeyserKoze is low on HP and being Red Marked to draw all of the aggro from Angelica's Puppet. My brilliant idea here is to grab Oblivion and use it to fully restore his Light while also recovering HP and defending him from attacks this turn.
I'm going to hide for a minute. Don't worry about me. I wouldn't. A trick like that almost definitely won't work. Seyser, she's still targeting you. Son of a… How's she still see me? She's… Well, that thing's a cheap copy of someone who wouldn't be fooled by something so simple. Truly a masterwork, isn't she? Shut the fuck up.Unfortunately, Red Mark takes priority over Oblivion, meaning Seyser's still about to get his head bashed in, and I can intercept at most one of those pages. :shepface:
Hey boss, I need a second to recover before I can launch another of those swords. I'd say we all need a moment to recover, don't we~? Don't you worry, I'll take care of it. I've always wanted to be the one making the rocks fall.I decide the best option here is to leave Seyser's life in the hands of the Numbers I played earlier, and to focus on Jae-heon.
Hold on a moment! I've got a vital proposition. … Thank you for waiting. Now, as you'll notice, I'm in a top hat. …And? That means I am clearly in the employ of this fine dice-and-card based establishment. And because of that, this means that you, sir, are the challenger. And you know what happens if you spend too long challenging a gambling den, don't you? … My dear masterwork. Kill them. That may be difficult, sir! For you see: Eventually, the house always wins! Oh, you got one. Nice work~ Let's not miss the chance, Twee~ Ye…yeah. Let's do that. I can see you're awed by another work of my linguistic mastery! First the fish and now this… You know what, at least we're on the same side this time. Hey Seyser! You still alive back there?! Somehow… I'm surviving…Persistence keeps SeyserKoze moving here, restoring him to 30 HP instead of killing him off.
Perfect. Just leave the rest of this to us! That damned goo again… This tugging, leading me to places I don't want to go. Yes, that's called a 'railroad.' Twee's very good at them. Hey! Only something that can move within the cracks of that reality could ever properly disrupt it, and that's really your problem: Ultimately, you're too straight laced! Ghh… No, my creations are certainly more than a match for you. Muahahahahaha! Then let's see how useful they really are! Well… we certainly took the long way to get here, but I think we've arrived at the end of the fight. Good work, everyone~ Yeah. Let's finish it. Defend me, puppets… Once I can move again— You don't understand. We're finishing it.The problem with going for Magic Trick is that it's a level 3 Abnormality Page, and full fights like this are simply too slow to let us get that far. Even taking a loss, we weren't quite able to do it—though if SyeserKoze had died as well, Twee would have been able to spam four copies of Distorted Blade as a final action.
…Not that it would have mattered, given that we've won already.
There's those strings cut… and one of the other Puppets handled, too. Then finish this damned fight so I don't have to look at that thing anymore! As you wish, Roland~ Feel better now~? …I'm going to sharpen my swords. Right. We'll clean up here~ No need. It's already done! Phew… finally over. I feel like I got carried to the finish line. Oh, you did. Absolutely. I'd say he gave us all plenty of energy to keep going, though~? Then it's a good thing I'm the captain today! Captains can't overrule Chesed, he's the boss. Says who?!The Puppeteer's reception is the hardest one in Briah, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's hard. Understanding how Red Marks work (and slapping some Bind on Angelica's Puppet to make her redirectable) turns this fight into something of a joke, as it's a hard counter to the focused targeting that serves as the main threat here.
Outside of that, Mass Attacks remain hilariously overpowered in 5v5 melees, so just use those. If all of the Puppets are defeated Jae-heon does have a second set of attacks he can use, but as squishy as he is compared to the Puppets with their Strings on this should realistically almost never come up.
Music: Result
Uugh… Underestimated their speed. Won't happen again. I don't think it can happen again. This feels like the last time. And all under my leadership. Splendid! You're not the… I said he was the Captain, so he was. Still am! Uh… boss, can you just name someone the captain already so we can resolve all of this? I could… but you all look like captains to me~ Aww… that's sweet. No, that's dodging. I'd have thought you'd approve of that sort of thing~With Briah cleared out, all that's left is the final layer. Keter is still locked, so we have to choose between Binah and Hokma. We get one last key page unlock here, so we're allowed to throw everything we have at these next two fights.
It's taken a while, but we're finally almost done with these invaders. Only three remain… Three more encounters… then at last, my book will be complete. And then… …I suppose we shall see. For now, I need to support Binah. She lacks the personnel to properly receive anyone.Next time, on Library of Ruina: A one-woman Apocalypse.
Videos
Jae-heon Battle
vs Jae-heon (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
Sooo in love with this LP. Been reading along for the last 1.5 years or so (since xiao's fight) and really enjoy this. I know you've gotten this a number of times over the course of this thread, but the way you capture the voices of the characters in the writing is scary levels of good - especially the extra writing for the abnormality fights is sooo enjoyable. It's also really nice to get some levity in from all the assistant librarians. Anyway, super looking forward to the final part!
I'm sad that a lot of the fanart has been lost to the whims of discord imageserver though. The fanart is all so beautiful and funny and just an amazing part of this LP also.
Evil kit never ceases to be a strong contender for the best agent of all time
Anyway,
I think it's neat how, while they're still determined to fight to protect the library, the general pattern seems to be that the patron librarians aren't trying to change the ensemble's worldviews, but instead respecting their differences and agreeing to disagree. I'd go on about the theme we could draw from this but I don't actually have anything to say beyond that 00; I just think it's interesting
also, while I'm here, truly the most tragic part of Jae-Heon's backstory is the loss of his fabulous hair.
Never pass up an opportunity to draw such fabulous hair.
Anyway,
I think it's neat how, while they're still determined to fight to protect the library, the general pattern seems to be that the patron librarians aren't trying to change the ensemble's worldviews, but instead respecting their differences and agreeing to disagree. I'd go on about the theme we could draw from this but I don't actually have anything to say beyond that 00; I just think it's interesting
also, while I'm here, truly the most tragic part of Jae-Heon's backstory is the loss of his fabulous hair.
Never pass up an opportunity to draw such fabulous hair.
Book 49: Endgame—Chapter 12: The Cooler Tiphxodia
Music: Ominous Ambiance
Ah… I guess we aren't making it through this floor for free, are we?
No, it appears not.
Let's not be hasty now. Say, miss, do you have any problems if my friends and I move along?
My duty is to receive those who would take from this place. One of you must stay. The rest may continue on.
In that case… Elena. You'd be the best for her.
Right. The rest of you go on ahead.
So you have chosen.
Miss Binah, should we get ready to fight?
That guy she's got with her looks… rough.
The two of you can stay where you are. Capture what is to come in your eyes.
I alone shall be enough.
VIDEO
Music: BinahBattle01
I bid you welcome, unfamiliar child.
Ah, you can skip the introductions. I heard enough about your kind and what you do here.
The power to manifest a physical space… I’d almost believe it if someone said this was a Singularity. A space full of stars… Like the ones shining over the City, huh…
I would like to hear what you think of the stars. They say stars are like a compass on the sky that gives guidance to people. In that case, are the Stars of the City guiding lights dictating where the City should go… Or are they representations of the City itself? Are these stars shining over the City, or is the City reflected in them…?
To me, a star is nothing more than a dot on the sky. And they give off a forbidding impression like they’re looking down upon us from the highest post…
That’s what a star means to you, I see.
Many alluring tales are told of stars, but when you observe one up close, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Isn’t that what a star is? I have no interest in such pathetic things. I didn’t rise to a Star because I wanted to.
Perhaps most beings who have become stars did so simply by following their wants, much like you did.
You’re right. I only did what I wanted to do, walking along a dry trail. We simply quenched our desires just like your kind always do, yet they feared us to an unreasonable degree.
But I suppose there’s no use in complaining about it at this point.
Then, I must wonder how you felt when you craved for human blood if you still consider yourself one.
Feelings? I just kill and be done with it. I’ve got to do something to slake this searing desire that gradually grows stronger. Ah, I guess I wasn’t always like this.
At first, for myself… I bit into the flesh of other humans and drank their blood for my own sake. The severe thirst was one thing, but there was also something I wanted to know. Have I become a beast that must feed on human blood like the others… Or am I just being a pathetic runaway, escaping from reality? Or, am I a mere human who has gone insane from the fiendish circumstances and twisted desires? I would continually ask myself that question as I chewed on their flesh. What could be the reason?
Maybe I was desperate to convince myself. I used to be an ordinary human being living an ordinary life, after all. Eventually, I found myself looking for a conclusion for a matter that won’t have one. I guess I still had a grip on my sanity at that time. Even as I shoved bits of flesh in my mouth from the irresistible thirst, I constantly questioned myself, telling myself that this was wrong.
Well, it’s all a story of the past. It’s funny to look back on those times.
I doubt your kind would’ve viewed us any differently even if I continued to think about it.
I don’t expect your kind to take a sudden shift and change your views on us or anything. If they want to live their lives as they see fit, then they won’t stop me from doing the same.
Think about it. We can’t roam the street in peace; we’re forced to live in the darkness. What sins have we committed to deserve this treatment? Why must we suffer to ensure that your kind lives a painless life?
We’re humans just like you. We just look a bit different. Seeing your kind lavishly pursue your desires while we’re left in the dark… It’s only natural for me to feel indignant, isn’t it?
If they won’t reconsider how they see us no matter what we do, we’ll gladly stop holding back and live as we like.
That is an intriguing tale.
Intriguing? Ah, whatever… If that’s how you wanna take it. What you think or what kind of world you want to make are all irrelevant to me anyway, no?
You would be right. Now is the time to fight for where you stand.
Be prepared.
Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Atziluth)
…Hm. That's an outfit I haven't seen in some time.
It has been some time since I have worn it, as well.
I get the sense our meanings are different here…
If that is what you say.
Elena completely lacks special abilities, only being a Shimmering boss with Nuovo Fabric. This is because her mechanic isn't in her passives.
Her mechanic is wrapped up in the Color she brought with her. The Vermillion Cross has no abilities aside Shimmering, and this fight is about the interplay between Elena and the Cross's combat pages. They have some nasty combos, and we'll be dealing with them using only Binah today.
Retry Count: 15
This is not exactly the easiest thing in the world, as it turns out.
On the first turn, Elena uses two attacks that don't matter and Circulation. If Circulation targets the Vermilion Cross then it'll gain 3 Strength and Protection. Vermilion Cross at +3 Strength will annihilate our HP, so we're forced to redirect this page off of her.
Vermillion Cross is using Obstruct this turn in the meanwhile. This page makes Elena untargetable if any of its dice are left over. With us having to clash into Circulation, this is a guaranteed success—we won't have the dice to break these and mitigate damage at the same time. That's fine, because we're mostly going to ignore Elena outside of Circulation until this guy is dead.
This means we have one die to use to block one of the three attacks from the Vermilion Cross…
Two of them deal part Slash and part Pierce/Blunt, and Binah is nearly immune to Slash damage.
The third, Shockwave, is a massive Blunt die and thus we're going to destroy it.
On this first turn, we need to do two things: We need to lose with both of our Fairy attacks to generate negative emotion, because we need a very specific Abnormality Page loadout to deal with this.
Binah, there's something off with that guest.
Yes, that one seems to have been taken over by our foe.
He's but a puppet to our opponent's whims now, dear.
Our opponent was able to defeat a color… Will you be alright?
What do you believe?
…I believe you are making light of the situation.
I suppose you may be correct.
These attacks… you really aren't trying, are you. Must be nice to look down on people.
You are trying with all your might to overturn this City. It is my duty to serve as a wave, crashing down upon your hopes.
It's a position I know rather well.
As expected from a formerly-great Arbiter of the Head.
I am naught but what you see before you.
Right. You're nothing but veins and blood inside a sack.
Is that all you see humans to be now?
You stopped being human a long time ago.
Then what am I, in your eyes?
In my way.
We take Big Eyes here, the reason why it was so vital that I lose those two clashes against Circulation. Of my 5 total resets here, 3 were because I did too well and never saw this page.
You're reckless. Calling upon the power of the Apocalypse Bird…
But you will surely adjust things so that they work within the limits of this place, will you not?
That doesn't mean it's easy.
Then consider it practice, dear.
On our second turn, Elena is untargetable thanks to Obstruct. Meanwhile, Vermilion Cross is using only two dice—this is because he's got a trick like Tanya's, and the first activation is relatively kind.
Its name is Rampageous Strike, and when it hits anyone it'll follow up on another one of our Librarians until it hits everyone. Degraded Pillar will eat it same as anything else, so we just have to make sure to throw one at this whenever it appears and we'll never take a hit from it.
Lone Fixer also activates this turn, meaning we're much less fussed over clashing with either of our opponents.
Quite an attack… but it's worthless if it will never reach its target.
How underhanded… but even as a bloodless shell, that man still can strike more than you can.
Do you think such a thing can fell me?
I don't think it matters… while I'm untouchable, I'll just have a taste of that blood.
Oh?
Did you really think that just because I couldn't target you, you would be beyond my attacks?
Hold on, isn't that Gebura's..?
I have appropriated a tool which I deemed useful.
The Retaliate passive is worth its weight in gold here, being almost guaranteed to stop Elena's attacks after Lone Fixer. Binah doesn't have any other Counter die options, so it was a must-pick.
Even that won't keep you standing forever. Little by little, you'll be exsanguinated.
I suppose I should take steps to prevent that, then.
This shall do nicely.
Long Arms will protect us from the Burn damage that the Vermilion Cross throws around, and this is the only function it has in this battle. The other status effects don't show up here.
It's another Obstruct/Circulation turn here, so our hand is a little forced. Even with our +3 Strength, we don't want to give the Cross any bonus damage when we're staring down the barrel of five offensive Combat Pages, even if Elena's are a little…
The HP recovery of Sanguine Nails and Siphon are certainly okay, and Siphon will halve any status effects on Elena, but they both have Slashing dice and we can basically ignore Slashing dice. It's like she's perfectly set up to counter Fairy, but forgot to counter Binah's base stats.
Again and again you try, but I will not allow your tactic to see the light.
You only have so much attention. By stopping me, you're opening yourself up to attack from—
Do you know why it is I prefer to remove the limbs from my opponents?
What? How am I supposed to have any idea?
It is because I myself only need one hand to stop either of you.
What does that even… no, it doesn't matter what it means, it's all rubbish!
If that is what you say.
All you do is ask leading questions that don't mean a damn thing, trying to make people overthink. Interpretations don't matter. Blood does—spilling yours. Drinking.
…I see.
Then, come.
By the time I'd feel comfortable using Small Beak, the fight will already effectively be over—it's basically a tickmark as part of our strategy here. Grabbing it means the hard part is over, we just need to survive a little longer and our Positive/Negative Emotion Coin balance no longer matters.
As you wish.
Binah, you won't be able to stop her Circulation this time.
I am quite aware of that, dear. It's her other move that intrigues me. It seems like a storm to be weathered…
Bloodspreading is Elena's ultimate attack, a Mass Summation page that she throws out every few turns. It recovers HP based on the damage dealt, so if she manages to hit a full five-person group she can easily get back nearly a full quarter of her healthbar.
I shall try E.G.O for myself, then.
Please do. I've wondered if it has blood as well.
…Hm.
24 vs 21. Beak was a 20-26 roll with Lone Fixer, so this was really
Jaws fire up from beneath, chomping down on us. Elena's already nearly at full HP so we don't need to worry about her healing—another reason to focus down the Vermilion Cross first.
It seems they don't have blood after all. Only mine left my body.
Did you get hit on purpose..?
There are many mysteries about E.G.O, even to me.
You won't have the time to find out the answers… You're already about to bleed out.
Yes… How unfortunate…
…That you have let the only chance you had at victory slip between your fingers like the tide.
Tilted Scales will be keeping our health up for the remainder of the fight.
Huh. So you can say something decisive.
Indeed, I am able to speak as plain as anyone.
This turn, Elena's using Inject. This move will give +3 Power to the Vermilion Cross for the rest fo the turn if she hits us with it, and while her Speed for this attack is only a 2, the Cross's turn is mostly going on 1.
We can mitigate this by just attacking all of the Vermilion Cross's dice before Inject goes off—it doesn't matter if the Cross gains 3 or 300 Power if it doesn't have any attacks to power up.
For instance: that strike will still never reach.
And while you may struggle against the tides…
You do not have the breadth of gaze necessary to grasp anything.
A stiff breeze will be enough to slay you. You're puffing up for nothing.
You are too caught up within your own perceptions. This world is made up of countless manners of thinking, and you consider none of them. Ultimately, that is your weakness.
What in the—I know you were practically dead a moment before.
Indeed, had you left the fighting entirely to your shield, I may have been in real danger. However, the scales have tilted once more.
No… perhaps it would be more correct to say that they were always tilted. From the very start, there was only ever one outcome.
Hovering back and forth on the edge of death… coming back only to be shaved again… You're using blood as well.
If that is—
Enough bullshit! It's what I say!
Yes. I agree.
When fully activated, The Beast isn't quite as absurd as Tiphxodia at its full power. However, it has several things going for it. First off: it gives her one-sided power nullification. The enemy's Strength and Endurance don't matter at all anymore. The second ability also gives anyone who who targets her or is targeted by her a sort of super Paralysis—all of their dice lose 3 on both their Max and Minimum rolls. Finally, it will fully restore Binah's Light every turn and deal 15 damage to everyone on the field who isn't her.
This means that Tiphxodia will lower enemy dice rolls by more, giving everyone a -5 to all dice at the cost of losing to Power Nullificiation pages, while The Beast will not kneecap our allies (aside 15 HP/turn, which we can heal off) and works just fine against Power Nullification.
Binah, this power…
Are you worried for me, dear? I am unused to such sentiment.
It isn't that… You're going to tear apart the entire floor if you stay in that form for too long.
I see.
I shall ensure that does not come to pass.
This damn forest again… It didn't do anything last time, but…
Now… to begin the end.
You wield this husk as a weapon. I shall claim it.
Hold on… There's no blood left inside of that thing anymore. How are you still taking vitality from it?
This is the problem with only being able to see a single point of view..
Assumptions and limits form within you, and you become unable to adapt to the shifting tides.
And there is only one fate for those who cannot adapt…
Though such a fate inevitably awaits us all regardless of our efforts. Perhaps it is simpler not to claw tooth and nail in search of a nebulous truth.
While the screen blurs out for the damage portion of Justita, rest assured that it dealt a lot of it.
It's really something, the way you talk about viewpoints when you can't understand what it is to be a bloodfiend. Must be nice to sit on your ass and spew moral tripe when you've never felt it. The thirst… the need, overpowering everything else.
I merely wish to observe the truths of this world, including one which has eluded you even now:
That a shield could never defend against the ocean.
What?!
At the end of the turn, the Vermilion Cross takes 15 damage from The Beast and another 10 from Fairy stacks, finishing it off. However, it used Obstruct and we didn't clear off the Counter dice before the end of turn. Because of this…
We've left ourselves with only one enemy, who is untargetable. Elena uses this opportunity to bust out another Bloodspreading, but that's actually a good thing for us because we resist its damage and our automatic Counter die can crush her other page easily.
With the greatest effort it could muster, it has granted you a final reprieve. Do not try and run, such an outcome was stolen from you the moment you stepped foot in this place.
Well I'm sure as hell not going to surrender.
No, I would hope not.
Give me that taste of life… that joy du verve which brings meaning! And then—
—Gah!
…I tire of this.
At this point the fight is over. All that we need to do is drain Elena's HP pool, and the fastest way to do that is Justita and its 10% max HP True Damage on hit. Against Elena, that's 40.
Just let me get in close… I just need one hit…
…How. How are you… It's like I didn't do anything at all!!
So you at last understand your situation.
Now, sink quietly. The waters of the ocean shall slake your thirst.
Such a worthless liquid could never—hrk!
I need… blood. Just a little more, and I can fight more. I can…
Just let me drink! I just want to drink! What's wrong with existing?!
Hush, now. There is nothing left. Simply relax… and feel yourself sink deep.
I won't… you've gotten all that blood back. All that… tasty…
Just one more taste. Then another taste. Until I've drained your veins again…
Until… I've had another drink…
…Just… one last sip… I just need… a drop…
May your rest be more peaceful, this time.
As expected of a fight that can be soloed, Elena isn't a particularly difficult opponent as long as we understand target prioritization. Because she can heal and Vermilion Cross can't, so long as we focus down the Cross and then Elena we're all but guaranteed to outlast her.
And thus, it is ended.
Indeed. All that remains is to clean her up and—
Come on, COME ON! PLEASE!
..?
Music: Reverberation Ensemble (Asiyah)
Too loud, Zaida… I'm about to collapse already…
Sorry, sorry, just. It just… it can't possibly survive past this, right? So finish the thing off.
Right… finally… it went down. Huff… Huff…
Okay… Time to wake the others… and then a little siesta…
Okaybossthejob'sdoneI'mgoingonbreakbye.
…
My apologies. I was distracted for a moment. Did anything interesting come of the fight?
Music: Result
Nothing in particular, dear.
In that case, you're dismissed. Good work.
Of course. I wish you success in assisting Hokma.
…Yes.
I've got your tea all ready, Miss Binah!
Excellent. And the books?
I'm getting them filed away now. You did a number on the floor with that bird… it was hard to find 'em.
Acceptable work. I require a repose… should we get any other visitors, handle them.
Okee-doke, Miss Binah!
Next time, on Library of Ruina: 52
Videos
Elena Battle
vs Elena (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
Elena Exclusive:
Music: Ominous Ambiance
Ah… I guess we aren't making it through this floor for free, are we? No, it appears not. Let's not be hasty now. Say, miss, do you have any problems if my friends and I move along? My duty is to receive those who would take from this place. One of you must stay. The rest may continue on. In that case… Elena. You'd be the best for her. Right. The rest of you go on ahead. So you have chosen. Miss Binah, should we get ready to fight? That guy she's got with her looks… rough. The two of you can stay where you are. Capture what is to come in your eyes. I alone shall be enough.VIDEO
Music: BinahBattle01
I bid you welcome, unfamiliar child. Ah, you can skip the introductions. I heard enough about your kind and what you do here. The power to manifest a physical space… I’d almost believe it if someone said this was a Singularity. A space full of stars… Like the ones shining over the City, huh… I would like to hear what you think of the stars. They say stars are like a compass on the sky that gives guidance to people. In that case, are the Stars of the City guiding lights dictating where the City should go… Or are they representations of the City itself? Are these stars shining over the City, or is the City reflected in them…? To me, a star is nothing more than a dot on the sky. And they give off a forbidding impression like they’re looking down upon us from the highest post… That’s what a star means to you, I see. Many alluring tales are told of stars, but when you observe one up close, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Isn’t that what a star is? I have no interest in such pathetic things. I didn’t rise to a Star because I wanted to. Perhaps most beings who have become stars did so simply by following their wants, much like you did. You’re right. I only did what I wanted to do, walking along a dry trail. We simply quenched our desires just like your kind always do, yet they feared us to an unreasonable degree. But I suppose there’s no use in complaining about it at this point. Then, I must wonder how you felt when you craved for human blood if you still consider yourself one. Feelings? I just kill and be done with it. I’ve got to do something to slake this searing desire that gradually grows stronger. Ah, I guess I wasn’t always like this. At first, for myself… I bit into the flesh of other humans and drank their blood for my own sake. The severe thirst was one thing, but there was also something I wanted to know. Have I become a beast that must feed on human blood like the others… Or am I just being a pathetic runaway, escaping from reality? Or, am I a mere human who has gone insane from the fiendish circumstances and twisted desires? I would continually ask myself that question as I chewed on their flesh. What could be the reason? Maybe I was desperate to convince myself. I used to be an ordinary human being living an ordinary life, after all. Eventually, I found myself looking for a conclusion for a matter that won’t have one. I guess I still had a grip on my sanity at that time. Even as I shoved bits of flesh in my mouth from the irresistible thirst, I constantly questioned myself, telling myself that this was wrong. Well, it’s all a story of the past. It’s funny to look back on those times. I doubt your kind would’ve viewed us any differently even if I continued to think about it. I don’t expect your kind to take a sudden shift and change your views on us or anything. If they want to live their lives as they see fit, then they won’t stop me from doing the same. Think about it. We can’t roam the street in peace; we’re forced to live in the darkness. What sins have we committed to deserve this treatment? Why must we suffer to ensure that your kind lives a painless life? We’re humans just like you. We just look a bit different. Seeing your kind lavishly pursue your desires while we’re left in the dark… It’s only natural for me to feel indignant, isn’t it? If they won’t reconsider how they see us no matter what we do, we’ll gladly stop holding back and live as we like. That is an intriguing tale. Intriguing? Ah, whatever… If that’s how you wanna take it. What you think or what kind of world you want to make are all irrelevant to me anyway, no? You would be right. Now is the time to fight for where you stand. Be prepared.Music: The Reverberation Ensemble (Atziluth)
…Hm. That's an outfit I haven't seen in some time. It has been some time since I have worn it, as well. I get the sense our meanings are different here… If that is what you say.Elena completely lacks special abilities, only being a Shimmering boss with Nuovo Fabric. This is because her mechanic isn't in her passives.
Her mechanic is wrapped up in the Color she brought with her. The Vermillion Cross has no abilities aside Shimmering, and this fight is about the interplay between Elena and the Cross's combat pages. They have some nasty combos, and we'll be dealing with them using only Binah today.
Retry Count: 15
This is not exactly the easiest thing in the world, as it turns out.
On the first turn, Elena uses two attacks that don't matter and Circulation. If Circulation targets the Vermilion Cross then it'll gain 3 Strength and Protection. Vermilion Cross at +3 Strength will annihilate our HP, so we're forced to redirect this page off of her.
Vermillion Cross is using Obstruct this turn in the meanwhile. This page makes Elena untargetable if any of its dice are left over. With us having to clash into Circulation, this is a guaranteed success—we won't have the dice to break these and mitigate damage at the same time. That's fine, because we're mostly going to ignore Elena outside of Circulation until this guy is dead.
This means we have one die to use to block one of the three attacks from the Vermilion Cross…
Two of them deal part Slash and part Pierce/Blunt, and Binah is nearly immune to Slash damage.
The third, Shockwave, is a massive Blunt die and thus we're going to destroy it.
On this first turn, we need to do two things: We need to lose with both of our Fairy attacks to generate negative emotion, because we need a very specific Abnormality Page loadout to deal with this.
Binah, there's something off with that guest. Yes, that one seems to have been taken over by our foe. He's but a puppet to our opponent's whims now, dear. Our opponent was able to defeat a color… Will you be alright? What do you believe? …I believe you are making light of the situation. I suppose you may be correct. These attacks… you really aren't trying, are you. Must be nice to look down on people. You are trying with all your might to overturn this City. It is my duty to serve as a wave, crashing down upon your hopes. It's a position I know rather well. As expected from a formerly-great Arbiter of the Head. I am naught but what you see before you. Right. You're nothing but veins and blood inside a sack. Is that all you see humans to be now? You stopped being human a long time ago. Then what am I, in your eyes? In my way.We take Big Eyes here, the reason why it was so vital that I lose those two clashes against Circulation. Of my 5 total resets here, 3 were because I did too well and never saw this page.
You're reckless. Calling upon the power of the Apocalypse Bird… But you will surely adjust things so that they work within the limits of this place, will you not? That doesn't mean it's easy. Then consider it practice, dear.On our second turn, Elena is untargetable thanks to Obstruct. Meanwhile, Vermilion Cross is using only two dice—this is because he's got a trick like Tanya's, and the first activation is relatively kind.
Its name is Rampageous Strike, and when it hits anyone it'll follow up on another one of our Librarians until it hits everyone. Degraded Pillar will eat it same as anything else, so we just have to make sure to throw one at this whenever it appears and we'll never take a hit from it.
Lone Fixer also activates this turn, meaning we're much less fussed over clashing with either of our opponents.
Quite an attack… but it's worthless if it will never reach its target. How underhanded… but even as a bloodless shell, that man still can strike more than you can. Do you think such a thing can fell me? I don't think it matters… while I'm untouchable, I'll just have a taste of that blood. Oh? Did you really think that just because I couldn't target you, you would be beyond my attacks? Hold on, isn't that Gebura's..? I have appropriated a tool which I deemed useful.The Retaliate passive is worth its weight in gold here, being almost guaranteed to stop Elena's attacks after Lone Fixer. Binah doesn't have any other Counter die options, so it was a must-pick.
Even that won't keep you standing forever. Little by little, you'll be exsanguinated. I suppose I should take steps to prevent that, then. This shall do nicely.Long Arms will protect us from the Burn damage that the Vermilion Cross throws around, and this is the only function it has in this battle. The other status effects don't show up here.
It's another Obstruct/Circulation turn here, so our hand is a little forced. Even with our +3 Strength, we don't want to give the Cross any bonus damage when we're staring down the barrel of five offensive Combat Pages, even if Elena's are a little…
The HP recovery of Sanguine Nails and Siphon are certainly okay, and Siphon will halve any status effects on Elena, but they both have Slashing dice and we can basically ignore Slashing dice. It's like she's perfectly set up to counter Fairy, but forgot to counter Binah's base stats.
Again and again you try, but I will not allow your tactic to see the light. You only have so much attention. By stopping me, you're opening yourself up to attack from— Do you know why it is I prefer to remove the limbs from my opponents? What? How am I supposed to have any idea? It is because I myself only need one hand to stop either of you. What does that even… no, it doesn't matter what it means, it's all rubbish! If that is what you say. All you do is ask leading questions that don't mean a damn thing, trying to make people overthink. Interpretations don't matter. Blood does—spilling yours. Drinking. …I see. Then, come.By the time I'd feel comfortable using Small Beak, the fight will already effectively be over—it's basically a tickmark as part of our strategy here. Grabbing it means the hard part is over, we just need to survive a little longer and our Positive/Negative Emotion Coin balance no longer matters.
As you wish. Binah, you won't be able to stop her Circulation this time. I am quite aware of that, dear. It's her other move that intrigues me. It seems like a storm to be weathered…Bloodspreading is Elena's ultimate attack, a Mass Summation page that she throws out every few turns. It recovers HP based on the damage dealt, so if she manages to hit a full five-person group she can easily get back nearly a full quarter of her healthbar.
I shall try E.G.O for myself, then. Please do. I've wondered if it has blood as well. …Hm.24 vs 21. Beak was a 20-26 roll with Lone Fixer, so this was really
Jaws fire up from beneath, chomping down on us. Elena's already nearly at full HP so we don't need to worry about her healing—another reason to focus down the Vermilion Cross first.
It seems they don't have blood after all. Only mine left my body. Did you get hit on purpose..? There are many mysteries about E.G.O, even to me. You won't have the time to find out the answers… You're already about to bleed out. Yes… How unfortunate… …That you have let the only chance you had at victory slip between your fingers like the tide.Tilted Scales will be keeping our health up for the remainder of the fight.
Huh. So you can say something decisive. Indeed, I am able to speak as plain as anyone.This turn, Elena's using Inject. This move will give +3 Power to the Vermilion Cross for the rest fo the turn if she hits us with it, and while her Speed for this attack is only a 2, the Cross's turn is mostly going on 1.
We can mitigate this by just attacking all of the Vermilion Cross's dice before Inject goes off—it doesn't matter if the Cross gains 3 or 300 Power if it doesn't have any attacks to power up.
For instance: that strike will still never reach. And while you may struggle against the tides… You do not have the breadth of gaze necessary to grasp anything. A stiff breeze will be enough to slay you. You're puffing up for nothing. You are too caught up within your own perceptions. This world is made up of countless manners of thinking, and you consider none of them. Ultimately, that is your weakness. What in the—I know you were practically dead a moment before. Indeed, had you left the fighting entirely to your shield, I may have been in real danger. However, the scales have tilted once more. No… perhaps it would be more correct to say that they were always tilted. From the very start, there was only ever one outcome. Hovering back and forth on the edge of death… coming back only to be shaved again… You're using blood as well. If that is— Enough bullshit! It's what I say! Yes. I agree.When fully activated, The Beast isn't quite as absurd as Tiphxodia at its full power. However, it has several things going for it. First off: it gives her one-sided power nullification. The enemy's Strength and Endurance don't matter at all anymore. The second ability also gives anyone who who targets her or is targeted by her a sort of super Paralysis—all of their dice lose 3 on both their Max and Minimum rolls. Finally, it will fully restore Binah's Light every turn and deal 15 damage to everyone on the field who isn't her.
This means that Tiphxodia will lower enemy dice rolls by more, giving everyone a -5 to all dice at the cost of losing to Power Nullificiation pages, while The Beast will not kneecap our allies (aside 15 HP/turn, which we can heal off) and works just fine against Power Nullification.
Binah, this power… Are you worried for me, dear? I am unused to such sentiment. It isn't that… You're going to tear apart the entire floor if you stay in that form for too long. I see. I shall ensure that does not come to pass. This damn forest again… It didn't do anything last time, but… Now… to begin the end. You wield this husk as a weapon. I shall claim it. Hold on… There's no blood left inside of that thing anymore. How are you still taking vitality from it? This is the problem with only being able to see a single point of view.. Assumptions and limits form within you, and you become unable to adapt to the shifting tides. And there is only one fate for those who cannot adapt… Though such a fate inevitably awaits us all regardless of our efforts. Perhaps it is simpler not to claw tooth and nail in search of a nebulous truth.While the screen blurs out for the damage portion of Justita, rest assured that it dealt a lot of it.
It's really something, the way you talk about viewpoints when you can't understand what it is to be a bloodfiend. Must be nice to sit on your ass and spew moral tripe when you've never felt it. The thirst… the need, overpowering everything else. I merely wish to observe the truths of this world, including one which has eluded you even now: That a shield could never defend against the ocean. What?!At the end of the turn, the Vermilion Cross takes 15 damage from The Beast and another 10 from Fairy stacks, finishing it off. However, it used Obstruct and we didn't clear off the Counter dice before the end of turn. Because of this…
We've left ourselves with only one enemy, who is untargetable. Elena uses this opportunity to bust out another Bloodspreading, but that's actually a good thing for us because we resist its damage and our automatic Counter die can crush her other page easily.
With the greatest effort it could muster, it has granted you a final reprieve. Do not try and run, such an outcome was stolen from you the moment you stepped foot in this place. Well I'm sure as hell not going to surrender. No, I would hope not. Give me that taste of life… that joy du verve which brings meaning! And then— —Gah! …I tire of this.At this point the fight is over. All that we need to do is drain Elena's HP pool, and the fastest way to do that is Justita and its 10% max HP True Damage on hit. Against Elena, that's 40.
Just let me get in close… I just need one hit… …How. How are you… It's like I didn't do anything at all!! So you at last understand your situation. Now, sink quietly. The waters of the ocean shall slake your thirst. Such a worthless liquid could never—hrk! I need… blood. Just a little more, and I can fight more. I can… Just let me drink! I just want to drink! What's wrong with existing?! Hush, now. There is nothing left. Simply relax… and feel yourself sink deep. I won't… you've gotten all that blood back. All that… tasty… Just one more taste. Then another taste. Until I've drained your veins again… Until… I've had another drink… …Just… one last sip… I just need… a drop… May your rest be more peaceful, this time.As expected of a fight that can be soloed, Elena isn't a particularly difficult opponent as long as we understand target prioritization. Because she can heal and Vermilion Cross can't, so long as we focus down the Cross and then Elena we're all but guaranteed to outlast her.
And thus, it is ended. Indeed. All that remains is to clean her up and— Come on, COME ON! PLEASE! ..? Music: Reverberation Ensemble (Asiyah)
Too loud, Zaida… I'm about to collapse already… Sorry, sorry, just. It just… it can't possibly survive past this, right? So finish the thing off. Right… finally… it went down. Huff… Huff… Okay… Time to wake the others… and then a little siesta… Okaybossthejob'sdoneI'mgoingonbreakbye. … My apologies. I was distracted for a moment. Did anything interesting come of the fight?Music: Result
Nothing in particular, dear. In that case, you're dismissed. Good work. Of course. I wish you success in assisting Hokma. …Yes. I've got your tea all ready, Miss Binah! Excellent. And the books? I'm getting them filed away now. You did a number on the floor with that bird… it was hard to find 'em. Acceptable work. I require a repose… should we get any other visitors, handle them. Okee-doke, Miss Binah!Next time, on Library of Ruina: 52
Videos
Elena Battle
vs Elena (Unedited combat footage; may cause distortions. Watch at own risk.)
New Key Pages
New Combat Pages
Elena Exclusive:
Don't worry too much about discord imageserver. I have all of the original URLs because I have the ability to edit the post, and thus I can post them on discord and the link will work again. Then I just download it, upload it to lpix, and BAM: I have a working fanart link.Feny wrote: ↑Fri Dec 06, 2024 9:33 pm
Anyway, super looking forward to the final part!
I'm sad that a lot of the fanart has been lost to the whims of discord imageserver though. The fanart is all so beautiful and funny and just an amazing part of this LP also.
I just haven't done that yet because it sounds like a remarkable pain in the ass, so I'm just going to do it when I do the next fanart update sometime around after we murder the shit out of Argalia (spoilers: he is getting the shit murdered out of him. I'm sorry if this ruins the gameplay experience)
I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed yourself though. Just a little more! (Well. "Little." Ruina's endgame....)
speaking of good fanartquantumpapaya wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2024 4:19 amEvil kit never ceases to be a strong contender for the best agent of all time
Anyway,
I think it's neat how, while they're still determined to fight to protect the library, the general pattern seems to be that the patron librarians aren't trying to change the ensemble's worldviews, but instead respecting their differences and agreeing to disagree. I'd go on about the theme we could draw from this but I don't actually have anything to say beyond that 00; I just think it's interesting
also, while I'm here, truly the most tragic part of Jae-Heon's backstory is the loss of his fabulous hair.
Never pass up an opportunity to draw such fabulous hair.
god I forgot to look over here since it's off my usual topbar right now since I have a very normal number of tabs open. But yeah, it feels like each one is manifesting the qlipha version of what the sephirot is supposed to represent. It's poetic because of course it is, this game was written by a philosophy major.
that explains a whole lot, actually :Pthis game was written by a philosophy major.