Despondent

Despondent debuff

Debuff on NPCs whose god is dead, cutting all stats 15% and raising damage taken from other gods' worshippers.

Story so far

Every Semeru Dwarves soldier in Larracos carries this debuff because their goddess Ysalte is dead. The system warning Carl reads over Arief spells the mechanics out: the NPC is Despondent because his goddess is dead, he is unable to worship another deity, all of his stats take a fifteen percent hit, and those who worship other deities inflict ten percent more damage against him.

Carl calls it pretty brutal, and privately notes it does not seem to bother Arief much — the dwarf smiles broadly and bows despite the debuff blazing over him. It is also a standing liability for Team Retribution, since its entire NPC army is fighting a war at eighty-five percent strength against enemies who may still have living patrons.

Role

Systemic penalty that quantifies the Semeru people's grief as a permanent combat handicap.

Relationships

Ysalte — Her death is the cause of the debuff.

Arief — Bears it visibly yet cheerfully.

Semeru Dwarves — Afflicts their entire surviving population.

Team Retribution — Weakens its whole NPC infantry by 15%.

Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 7

A debuff blanketing the college guards on the eighteenth floor, leaving them sluggish and slow to react.

Chapter 11

Debuff on NPCs whose god is dead, cutting all stats 15% and raising damage taken from other gods' worshippers.