Elin:Kizuami of Trickery

Name	<Kizuami of Trickery>

名前	『悪戯のキズアミ』

The capricious and playful guardian of Mifu, known for overseeing blessings and curses, is also widely worshiped among the fox tribes as the caring older brother of the Moonshadow goddess Horome. Always seeking new and interesting experiences, he is fascinated by the unpredictability of humans and enjoys interacting with the mortal realm as much as divine rules allow. His brotherly and caring nature, coupled with a fox-like disdain for seriousness, is well-acknowledged.

Overview

Entice, invite, incentivise! It's easy, just entrust everything to this fox!

Kizuami's bonuses appear to be all over the place at first, but what joins them together is a focus on party play. Charisma allows for a player to control more companions and summons, speed helps to offset the penalty for having too many allies, memorisation provides the stocks you'll be needing to cast party-wide spells, and control magic helps prevent your spells from hitting your entourage. The nether and holy resistances are more of a head-scratcher: while nether-element damage is common on undead creatures, almost nothing in the game uses holy-element damage against the player. However, enemies bearing Kizuami's faith will be resistant to holy-element spells used by the player, where almost no monsters in the game innately resist holy, either.

It's of note that with Kizuami's addition, Lulwy and Ehekatl are no longer the only Ylvan deity who grants speed and luck; however, Kizuami only grants speed and luck at about half the rate, so those seeking to be specialists in each stats should stick to these goddesses. Memorisation is useful to any spellcaster, but control magic is more situational with the ride and host actions allowing you to take up to two pets with you into your tile where there's no chance of your own spells hitting them.

The random nature of Kizuami's Trick makes it unpredictable; you might get the effects that are perfect for the situation, or they might all be irrelevant. On average, you'll get one or two useful buffs out of it.

Apostle

Compared to the single-target focus fire of the Exile, the White Vixen is a corridor and room-clearer with her bolts, an aggressive pet for the support archetype a Kizuami worshipper is expected to be. Her ability to draw strength from cursed equipment is more of a novelty since you can't decide to which spell the XP is applied, but lucky rolls can train a few levels on rare spells like meteor and healing of Jure.

Kogitsunemaru

Kogitsunemaru is an artifact that bestows a curse that prevents players from dealing direct damage and instead greatly strengthens your allies. The player will therefore inevitably leave the battle to his enhanced companions and concentrate on supporting and thwarting the enemy. Since Kogitsunemaru imposes very strong restrictions on the player, it is a good idea not to use this artifact until you are more confident in the strength of your allies. Note that Kogitsunemaru has no useful enchantments other than the faction effect. The only thing that an infidel who only receives the artifact and abandons faith can get is a curse from Kizuami.

How to gain favor

Gaining favour with Kizuami can be tricky, as his offerings are less readily available than some of the other gods. If you don't mind being a criminal, harvesting rice from Mifu Village is an option; alternatively, a well-invested baker can sell noodles which can readily be cooked into instant ramen. In addition to collecting Kizuami's favorite offerings, you should also use other means to gain favor, such as offering heavy meat and using faith scrolls.

Mechanics

Kogitsunemaru

When Kogitsunemaru is equipped by someone in the faction, the player will not be able to inflict any damage on others, but instead your allies will benefit from bonuses to various parameters, enhanced magic, and suicide attacks against all races (see Kogitsunemaru for details). The only exception to this is damage caused by abnormal conditions such as miasma, poison, and burning, which are not directly caused by the player. Normally, if no elemental damage is inflicted, no additional abnormalities will be caused, but due to the effect of Kizuami faith, only additional effects will be inflicted even if Kogitsunemaru is equipped.

Another point to note is that this weapon is automatically cursed when equipped, and automatically unequipped when uncursed. Therefore, players cannot easily unequip Kogitsunemaru, even if the situation becomes unfavorable.

Strategy

• Like Lulwy's faith bonuses, Kizuami's speed bonus is ineffective if the player is riding.
• Because control magic has been strengthened in the patches leading up to version 22.58, Kizuami believers can now safely use pets and summons with area of effect attacks like hounds, wisps and shadows without fear of being accidentally hit.
• Kogitsunemaru is a strong god artifact; however, it places severe restrictions on the player, which no other god artifact does. Kizuami appreciates mortals who are clever enough to thrive despite or even get around his rules:
  • Kogitsunemaru ought to be equipped by someone else in the player's party, preferably a spellcaster who will not attack with it. This way the player can equip a more useful weapon, such as the elemental staff.
  • In order to make the most of Kogitsunemaru's bonuses, the player should have as many allies and summons as possible and should take feats relating to such. However, this also precludes the use of lonely soul.
  • Miasmas and statuses can still deal damage, since they do not refer to the player as their origin. However, this damage is often too little to be seriously considered.
  • Not being able to deal direct damage is a considerable change of playstyle, and the player may feel there is not much for the player character to do. However, there are still useful actions that the player can take:
    • Buffing allies, and debuffing enemies either with hexes or through elemental effects of attack spells, which are still effective.
    • Summoning allies:
      • Shadows are useful as a main attack spell for the summoner. Since the buffs to control magic, Kizuami believers can use shadows safely. They do not only deal area of effect damage, but can be summoned beforehand in anticipation of incoming enemies. Anyone who has found executioners will understand how deadly a swarm of shadows can be.
      • Bits are useful in that they constantly cast elemental arrow spells until their mana runs out. They are always good for damage, but mind and chaos bits can inflict powerful status effects. You need the feat of Magic Manners 2 to prevent the ice bits from destroying items.
      • Animals are summoned in multiples at a time, and it's possible to draw reasonably powerful animals like mammoths, shivas, cerebrus and hounds. They're useful as a melee force.
      • Undead little sisters are the weakest summon as they have low life, high mana cost, are summoned one at a time and have no special abilities.
    • Meditating. Since regeneration bonuses to health and mana apply to all members of the player's party, meditating allows a Kizuami believer to costlessly serve as a source of regeneration if there truly is nothing else to do.
  • It's possible to increase one's stamina with Kogitsunemaru while doing work around the base so more work can get done each rest.

Signals from God

Action	Message
Converting	"Welcome, welcome. I will ensure that you are never bored."
Turning Apostate	"Leaving already? Pity, it was just getting good…"
Taking Over An Altar	"You are my most favorite follower... for today."
Failing to take over Kizuami's altar	"Watching you try is so amusing, it will have been worth it even if you do succeed."
Offering items worth high value	"Well then, it would be impolite to refuse." "Excellent taste you have there." "Your eagerness to please is quite fetching." "I will gladly accept. Thank you."
Load Game/Entering Home	"Did you miss me?"
Sleeping	"Well, you certainly look peaceful. May your life be as vivid as your dreams."
Praying	"They say that when you pray to me, you might be blessed... or you might be cursed." "You must be very brave, clever or desperate. Either way, I appreciate it." "A little something from me to keep the show going." "Your call does not go unheard. But will it be answered?" "Allow me to lend you a hand." "Do not worry, you can trust a fox." "You are full of surprises. What will you do next, I wonder?" "You have caught my attention. Let us make it worthwhile." "Horome is such a child. Is she still accepting sweets as offerings?"
Killing	"Magnificent showing back there." "My, you have made quite the mess…" "Never a dull moment with you, hmm?" "You did it! I am proud of you." "I hope this is as entertaining for you as it is for me."
Activating Ability	"Trick or treat? Let us see!" "Here goes, expect the unexpected." "As you wish."
Granting Pet	"This moral has served me well, daughter. Please, keep him company and attend to his every need."
Granting Artifact	"You have been amusing and useful. Do you not think you deserve a reward?"

Lore and Trivia

• Kizuami of Trickery is a backer god.