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[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil, Book 3, Villainous Interlude - Exeunt
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Author: u/MoralRelativity *
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URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2017/08/07/villainous-interlude-exeunt/
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Score: 28
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Created: 2017-08-07T07:22:02
Post:
Comments:
u/Nihilvin [+8] (3 hours later)
While it's nice to see Diabolist in action, I really dislike how harmless the Fae seem to be. Every Named seems to handle them with contemptuous ease and the Fae never seem to win anything. Although that princess did seem like she was on the verge of frying Diabolist.
u/AurelianoTampa [+25] (8 hours later)
the Fae never seem to win anything
I mean, that's kind of the point of the Fae, right? They're locked into eternal stories; when they war with each other, any victory will always end up with their eventual downfall. And any defeat will be unmade when the seasons change, and all the defeated Fae return.
The Summer princess said it herself: they don't have stories (or at least not powerful ones) in Creation. So mortals can beat them there. And Akua might be a mortal, but she's a powerfully Named mortal who has spent years planning and months preparing for these fights.
Akua is also a somewhat unreliable narrator - part of the power of her Name is that she seems to get stronger with her own victories ("Raw power pumped through her veins, her very Name feeding on the sight of her supremacy."). Basically she sees what she wants to see, which is her own power crushing her enemies. The rest of the battle isn't actually going all that well for Akua's forces:
The melee that ensued was brutal, cast iron in furious eldritch hands smashing into the silvery arms of the Summer Court’s peerless knights. Diabolist paid it no further mind
Deaths, so many deaths, of both mortals and fae.
The walls were holding, by a thread... The casualties were brutal, but what did she care when her dead men rose within moments to hold their blades again?
... half her walin-falme were gone, but so was a third of Summer’s most dangerous soldiers.
And she has three great devils that were supposed to be equivalent to the Summer princes and princesses; but since the Summer princess attacks Akua from behind, the implication is that all three devils were destroyed by her.
So even after months of preparation, Akua seems to have lost a good portion of her (living) army, at least half of her summoned devils, all three of her major devils, has had her battlements scorched and melted, was forced to activate an array she had planned on saving for the Legions, and took a hit that bypassed several wards designed specifically to counter Fae attacks. She was also forced to use all three Aspects of her name, which likely have some limit. And she doesn't win so much as force a draw due not to her own efforts, but because Cat probably set off alarm bells by traipsing through the Summer side of Arcadia with her army.
Black would look at this battle and think it was a waste of resources. Cat would look at this battle and be infuriated at how Diabolist just tossed away the lives of her men to use them as a power source. Akua looks at it and thinks she's amazeballs, because she's an old-style megalomaniac.
u/Nihilvin [+6] (8 hours later)
Huh. You have a point. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (14 hours later)
Thanks for giving me more perspective on the battle and Akua.
u/MoralRelativity [+4] (an hour later)
I'm blown away by Akua's exponential power increase. She's really scary and Cat and her minions wouldn't stand a chance against her if they were fighting today.
u/Friedoobrain [+14] (2 hours later)
Eh. We're seeing her in a battlefield she's been preparing for months, with the help of someone who competed for Warlock and lived. And she still got her ass saved by Cat.
If Cat manages to deny her these advantages, I don't think the field is that uneven.
u/nick012000 [+13] (7 hours later)
Also, she used all three of her Aspects to do what she did, and she's really heavily reliant on her Name's power. There's been a running theme about how that can result in a Named's ultimate ruin.
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (14 hours later)
Another good point. Thanks.
u/18scsc [+12] (7 hours later)
A battlefield that she's been preparing for months, against an enemy who's especially vulnerable to her particular powers.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (14 hours later)
Another good point. Thanks.
u/Ibbot [+3] (9 hours later)
Who chose not to compete for Warlock.
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (14 hours later)
Accurate pedantry is the very best kind of pedantry. :)
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (14 hours later)
You've added some good points that helped me see this in a more balanced way. Thanks.