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A Not only is it our best chance to survive, it also gives us a chance to learn more. Speaking of which... Do we recognize his accent? Besides the gloves, does he have any clothing or items that might indicate a point of origin?
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Apr 28, 2020 11:11
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Olothreutes posted:Cog, are we aware of any adversaries that Aqua has? Someone who would hire a crazy effective hitman/assailant? Imperium Levanicus  To understand Aqua’s current situation, it is important to know some details of Aqua’s history. Aqua was founded over a thousand years ago, during the Three Emperor Crisis in the Imperium Levanicus. Aqua is located relatively far north, in a region known as the Dragons Rise. An Imperium Conclave, an organization of magical researchers, discovered the Leyline of Water in Dragons Rise, and began to research it. As the crisis in the Imperium roared on, they settled down and started welcoming refugees from home. The conclave saw themselves as Imperium subjects at first, merely ones that wanted to be left out of the conflict, so they could focus on important things, mostly research. After Emperor Livia took power, the influx of anti-Livia refugees pushed the city to a more ambivalent position, the general belief being that the Empire was corrupt and somehow “immoral”. During the consolidation that followed in the empire, Livia recalled the conclave of Aqua, and they politely declined. Livia never got around to sending a consul to sort out the situation. Aqua was a small, meaningless conclave, and she had bigger fish to fry, like the war with Panchala that immediately followed. The Imperium Levanicus, or to almost everyone just the Imperium, has stood for over two thousand years. Relatively far to the south, it has long been one of the major players in the region. To the people of Aqua the Imperium is both the most civilized place on earth, and an example of the immorality and decadence that results from making a political system too drat complicated. The Imperium has a lot of nuanced politics, most of which doesn’t reach Aqua. What does reach Aqua are the rumors that the newest Emperor, Emperor Nerva is a war eagle, having attained his position by posturing about his desire to bring back the glory days of the Imperium. The resources of the Imperium are vast, and if Aqua were either more proximate (and didn’t require marching armies through the wastelands of Eremus), and not located in a region as unstable as Dragons Rise, it would be trivial for the Imperium to annex. Aqua is a tempting target for the more militant parts of the Imperium to focus on, possessing not insignificant magical poweress, and serving as a locus between the League of Independent Cities of the Rise, Eklektos, the Imperium and Techioxchia Historically the Imperium has made political and military overtures to secure Aqua. Never successfully, and the friendliness of relations has waxed and waned with time. With the proclamation of Emperor Nerva in the last year, it’s possible this is some kind of aggressive prelude to conquest. The Imperium certainly has the resources to deploy one or a dozen highly skilled mages. Politically, there are factions within Aqua that would prefer if Aqua were an imperial subject, and those could have been leveraged as well. Silver Scroll Bonus Political Knowledge: You know that the empire sees Techioxchia as an existential threat, and that Techioxchian influence in Aqua could be seen as a cause for grave concern. You’re also aware that Imperium Excursors, which are high level spies, have a limited latitude, and tend to be extremely conservative. Techioxchia  Techioxchia, is Aqua’s primary overseas trading partner, and makes up 30-40% of the cities maritime trade, with the the rest being split between the Imperium, the Mitauiae (those that are not too xenophobic to trade), and members of the League down the coast, with a very small amount of additional trade going to the elves of the bluefire woods and small independent islands not part of the Mitauiae. Techioxchia is a mix of strange, exotic, and barbarous, depending on who you speak to. Their ships are not made of wood and powered by sails, but instead are made of metal, and work like giant steel servitors. These ships rarely make the crossing, for the sea is treacherous, and they lack the expertise of Windcallers to see them through. They have an endless hunger for the alchemical reagents leaving Aqua, and in turn they provide wonderous alchemical devices. They do not practice magic like the people of Aqua, instead having a much deeper focus on alchemy, summoning and spirit pacts. Politically, Techioxchia is run by the Elect, a group of thirty six members selected by incredibly byzantine processes that are difficult to understand even by those that spend years researching it. Some portion of the Elect is determined via open trials, similar to a Mage Challenge or an exam, but much more lethal, and more grueling. Techioxchian exports are highly valued the world over, as they make some of the finest and most complex alchemical marvels. From miniaturized force needles, to highly complex servitors. It's rumored, although probably untrue, that the reason Techioxchia has such mastery over the creation of magical and alchemical items is due to having made pacts with dwarves. According to those that have dealt with deep-diggers in the past, this is akin to suggesting Techioxchia has made a deal with the sun. Techioxchia has made no secret of the fact that they covet the windcallers, and indeed over the years have tried to make political deals to secure windcallers, and have always been rebuffed. The reasons are multitude, but boil down to a desire to maintain a monopoly on such a strong resource and a fear that the Imperium would not sit idly by while a powerful rival secured a strategic and economic advantage. In recent years, it feels like the political maneuvers have become more overt and more determined, culminating with the arrival of a full time ambassador in Aqua just last year. Rumors persist that the ambassador is in Aqua trying to broker a deal with the Windcallers guild, but if this is the case, the negotiations have gotten nowhere fast. Techioxchia has never made a military attempt on Aqua, and while Techioxchia has vast resources, conquering Aqua would be challenging for them, given the distances involved. That said, there are some in Aqua that would welcome a closer partnership with Techioxchia. You don’t know exactly what Techioxchia would gain from tonight's event, but it might cause the factions that wish to deepen the relationship with Techioxchia to gain more power, and agitate towards a full alliance? League of Independent Cities of the Rise  Dragons Rise, due to its relative inhospitality and difficulty of access, has always tended to foster cities of exiles, rejects, and those fleeing the more civilized parts of the world. It also meant that most cities in the region have a strong independent streak, which is why it's surprising that they would form a league. The primary factor in the formation of the League has been the emergence of Eklektos, an agressive, northern kingdom that seeks to subjugate the cities of the Rise. The formation of the League has put a halt to the expansionism of Eklektos for the last five years, and there is not insignificant pressure on Aqua, as the last independent city not a member of the League, to join. The Archmage however has been categorical, Aqua will remain neutral and not join the League. There were vague rumblings within the league of enforcing trade embargoes and the like to pressure Aqua into joining, but as the primary location from which goods in the Rise are exported, and the primary point of ingress for goods arriving from the Imperium, this proved totally untenable. Still, all kinds of maneuvers, from bribes to threats, have not moved the Archmage. There is a small but vocal portion of the population of Aqua who believe that joining the League would be a net good for Aqua, but there are questions about the broader implications that no one seems to be willing to answer. The league is led by the cities of Patras and Pilos. Patras is a relative neighbor to Aqua, and controls a major river, giving them some trade leverage. They’re composed mostly of refugees from the religious persecution in Metaxy after the Imperium annexed large chunks of it. Patras is strongly militaristic, believing in the idea that only by strength can they protect what’s theirs. They’re less magically savvy than Aqua, and despite the militaristic tendencies have always made a good neighbor. Belief in Aqua is that it's due to the fact that they know Aqua’s Reach would destroy them in a pitched battle. There was that bit a few years ago where they allowed an army from Tegea passage to attack Aqua that soured relations quite a bit, even though the Tegeans were dispatched without many casualties. Pilos is much more distant than Patras, on the northern edge of the Rise, the area where Eklektos was most aggressively pushing before the League got its act together. Pilos is one of the older cities in the region, having been founded by a Mitauiae exile, who brought his whole family with him. The stories say he was unfairly accused of trying to start a coup against his rightful lord. The truth of it is lost to history. Pilos was a relatively rich city, serving as a stopping point for goods from the north. Now it’s the staging base for the League armies. The League is not well organized politically. While theoretically an alliance of equals, it devolves into petty squabbling, favor trading and is generally a mismanaged mess. The only unifying factor between them is the bowel-shaking terror they feel towards Eklektos. Even that might not be enough to hold them together, as there are rumors that part of the League may have struck a deal to join Eklektos on favorable terms. Could this be a move on the part of the League to convince Aqua that it’s better to band together than to stand alone? Eklektos  No one seems to know who or what the Godeater is, only that it rules Eklektos as supreme king and ruler.They say that it lives in a steel cage, carried on a palanquin by a dozen soldiers. They also say it eats a dozen human sacrifices every full moon. Some say he was buried in the snow and ice of the north, and dug up by foolish adventurers. Perhaps this is a rumor. Certainly many think it is, that the Godeater is just a man. They say he’s the offspring of a disgraced emperor, raised in a monastery and trained in the forbidden arts, or that he’s a Panchalan noble, who stole a powerful secret and fled. Yet others say he’s an elf, gone mad with power... Whoever or whatever the Godeater is, it has managed what no one has done before. It has unified the tribes of the north into a coherent, powerful fighting force. The barbarous tribes were never a threat, so long as they kept fighting among each other. Unified, they’re a tremendous fighting force, powerful in ice and fire magic, and with a deep understanding of spirit communions. The Godeater didn’t wait long either, after unifying the northern tribes, to make his move against the most northern city states. Conquering them one after another until they started to band together for protection. When this happened he branded his kingdom Eklektos and switched to another form of warfare, espionage and diplomacy. The Eklektos spy organization are called the Corpsefeasters, and they are singularly driven and effective. A powerful brotherhood who’s name is spoken in terrified whispers. Using them as a wedge, the Godeater made the smaller alliances crumble, and one by one snapped them up. Those that are not part of Eklektos fear it. The Godeater has made obvious its desire for an empire, and seems ruthlessly capable of making it happen. Certainly the rise of Eklektos has caused great concern for all the major players who are at all involved in the Rise, and anyone thinking at a higher level must wonder what the Godeater intends if it fulfils its ambitions with the Rise. Life in Eklektos is a mystery. Rumors abound, about slavery, and blood rituals, and an absolute obedience to authority… but there are also whispers of a better life, of economic prosperity, of freedom from the pervasive infulence of the Imperium, of a better world, one where the Rise doesn’t have to tiptoe around the wishes of its distant neighbors for fear of the retribution they might bring, of no longer being the battlefield of foregin interests. People do travel to and from Eklektos, but it is far away enough from Aqua that concrete information is, at best, dated. Still, Aqua would be a great prize for the Godeater. Conquest, given the existence of the League seems unlikely, but perhaps if Aqua were sympathetic to Eklektos, something could be arranged to allow Aqua to stand against the League. Certainly the Godeater possess plenty of resources and would certainly commit some of the Unfrozen to securing Aqua if Aqua were interested. There are some in Aqua who think Aqua could secure a powerful and influential position in Eklektos, and that annexation is inevitable, as the League will fall. The idea of an empire, a real one, one powerful enough to upstage the balance of power is tempting to some as well, and there are more Eklektos sympathizers than one would expect, given Aqua’s fierce independent streak. It could be that this is punishment from Eklektos for not agreeing to join up, or an attempt to pin the actions on the League to drive a wedge? Mitauiae  Mitauiae is a term that doesn’t, really, refer to a nation. Rather the Mitauiae are a broad collective of the people and nations that live in the islands and waters closest to Dragons Rise. For some definition of “closest”. You could think of them as city states, except that there aren’t many cities between them, and they’re united by marriages, clan-relations and providing for each other in their times of need. Some live on islands, other on barge communities, yet others have enchanted giant turtles the size of small islands and live upon them. Some are communities of vivomancers that have simply grown gills. The names they have for themselves are varied, but they all consider themselves part of the “people of the ocean”. This doesn’t mean they get along. Small skirmishes and even full on wars between Mitauiae communities are simply a fact of life. Still, they cannot be ignored, as they control valuable and powerful resources, and always try to present an united front against outsiders. Indeed, if there is a law shared between the Mitauiae it is “do not trust outsiders”, and when outsiders have tried to subjugate them, they have banded together and put up insurmountable opposition. Not that holding territory is exactly possible where the Mitauiae are concerned. Aqua tries to maintain good relations with the Mitauiae, as much as one can with a xenophobic, hard to track, non-unified group. In Aqua’s past there have been conflicts with Mitauiae, attempts to control the turtle-riders, efforts to reign in the vivomancers (many of which were originally from Aqua). These conflicts never ended well for Aqua, always resulting in horribly disrupted trade for next to no gains. The policy has been, for quite some time, that the Mitauiae are friends. As always, there are those who think that Aqua should take a hand in helping to “guide” and “regulate” the Mitauiae. A laughable proposition, perhaps, but one that has from time to time garnered interest. It is also certain that there are those within the Mitauiae who see Aqua as a threat, either because their ships encroach on waters they claim to own, or because they fear that one day Aqua might revisit its ambitions of truly owning the seas. The Mitauiae are a great unknown, and they have ample magical resources. It's not unthinkable they could take action in an effort to either get revenge for past wrongs, or to reduce the potential threat from Aqua. These are the “major” players. I did not get into minor players, or local level intrigue, because this post was long enough as is. jng2058 posted:Do we recognize his accent? Besides the gloves, does he have any clothing or items that might indicate a point of origin? He's wearing mostly black it seems, not exactly trendy fashion, but its probably convenient for an assassin or thief. The hood he's wearing is unusual, people don't really go for hoods in Aqua, but it isn't distinctive. Maybe if you could get a better look at his staff, that might tell you something, but its almost impossible to make out what the intricate patterns on it are in this lighting.
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Apr 28, 2020 20:20
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Does his staff resemble something we might expect of Techioxchian exports/technology? Does it have any obvious relation to the floating murder-rods, either material or patterns or general size (are the rods just scaled down versions of the staff, etc). What are force needles? Regular or miniature. Are there rumors of Eklektos void mages or something similar? I don't think we're going to be able to deduce who is paying him based on info about him, but it could be useful to know at least if he's a local player or imported force.
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Apr 28, 2020 20:47
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Olothreutes posted:Does his staff resemble something we might expect of Techioxchian exports/technology? Olothreutes posted:Does it have any obvious relation to the floating murder-rods, either material or patterns or general size (are the rods just scaled down versions of the staff, etc). No, other than both the murder-rods being metal and the staff also being metal. Olothreutes posted:What are force needles? Regular or miniature. The miniature version is as small as an oar, and extrudes a lot less power. Its also much more difficult to produce alchemically speaking. Olothreutes posted:Are there rumors of Eklektos void mages or something similar? There are *many* rumors about Eklektos. Sure there are rumors that they have void mages. There are rumors that they know mana types that haven't been discovered anywhere else in the world. There are also rumors that they draw their power from the snow and ice, and that they commune with the dragon spirits of the north. Also that they're thawed out corpses from the buried crypt where the Godeater was found, and that they can only be killed if one knows their secret name. TheCog fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Apr 28, 2020 |
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Apr 28, 2020 21:00
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What would the consequences be for accepting the mages challenge pretending to go along with it and then performing a sneak attack to attempt to kill him?
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Apr 29, 2020 01:56
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Hot Dog Day 80 posted:What would the consequences be for accepting the mages challenge pretending to go along with it and then performing a sneak attack to attempt to kill him? Normally, breaking a mages challenge is a big breach of social trust and will likely get you excluded from the Sophos community. In these circumstances, probably none? I mean besides him probably killing you all if your sneak attack doesn't succeed.
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Apr 29, 2020 02:04
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F, Accept the offer, but if we see an opportunity, backstab him at the earliest opportunity.
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Apr 29, 2020 02:09
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Hot Dog Day 80 posted:F, Accept the offer, but if we see an opportunity, backstab him at the earliest opportunity. Same. We should tell the rest of them to run, but use a phrase only we would understand (from our long association) that tells them that what they should really do is get out of sight and wait for an opportunity to one-hit this guy. If we would even have a phrase like that? If nothing else, it sounds like it'll take up the most time. Maybe reinforcments will come
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Apr 29, 2020 04:41
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"Nice gloves."
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Apr 29, 2020 04:41
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Actually, this seems like a fantastic time to use our key-phrase. Dear assassin guild, please come assassinate this foreign assassin.
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Apr 29, 2020 05:15
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Are there any messengers around? I doubt this guy is gonna hold on for a second so we can send out a distress call but this does seem like exactly the kind of situation to use it in, we are both in mortal danger AND alerting them to someone actively in the process of being a serious threat to the city.
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Apr 29, 2020 05:34
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I think this guy is just a distraction. He said this was just a job. So whoever is attacking has enough money to hire quality mercs to force the city to spread themselves thin. Declare that whatever he's being paid with Aqua will pay tenfold if he sides with the city in its time of need.
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Apr 29, 2020 09:40
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Why would he believe some random college student who said that though? Our daddy isn't the archmage or anything, we're just a handful of kids WAY out of our depth and the only reason we didn't die 0.38 seconds after he noticed us was because we are absolutely zero threat to him and he doesn't like killing kids.
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Apr 29, 2020 15:35
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Zero threat to him in a fight. If we can distract him hard enough, Hopefully a surprise object going in his back, through his heart, and out his chest will still kill him.
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Apr 29, 2020 16:29
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Crazycryodude posted:Are there any messengers around? I doubt this guy is gonna hold on for a second so we can send out a distress call but this does seem like exactly the kind of situation to use it in, we are both in mortal danger AND alerting them to someone actively in the process of being a serious threat to the city. Not that you can see, but there's a messenger station up the street in Founders Plaza. I have a hard time figuring out how you're going to ask this guy to hold for a quick minute though.
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Apr 29, 2020 17:10
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TheCog posted:Not that you can see, but there's a messenger station up the street in Founders Plaza. So, uh, should I say bye to my family real fast? This seems like a good time to say goodbye. If you're good with that, but I'm feeling a bit... unsure of my chances here.
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Apr 29, 2020 17:31
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We're a silver scroll so use the key phrase they gave us if the guy agrees to get the money? We are in mortal danger and the city is in peril so I think this is the time to use it.
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Apr 29, 2020 18:27
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Polgas posted:We're a silver scroll so use the key phrase they gave us if the guy agrees to get the money? We are in mortal danger and the city is in peril so I think this is the time to use it. Don't think it'll work but I'm willing to try it!!
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Apr 29, 2020 18:38
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Using the super secret emergency phrase seems uh...pointless when the city is currently on fire and being invaded by void monsters. Everyone who needs to be notified by that message likely already has been.
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Apr 29, 2020 21:55
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Voting is closed, update... soon(tm)
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Apr 30, 2020 01:25
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 soundtrack Thunder booms overhead again. The man speaks, extending his hands. “Well?” You pause, thinking over your options. You consider bribing him, but that seems… infeasible? It's not like any promises you make will hold any weight. It will, at best, come off as an attempt to buy time. “Fine” you say, looking the man dead in the eyes. “We’ll do your challenge, and when we win, you’ll deliver on what you promised” you glower at him, trying to be as intimidating as possible. It doesn’t seem to work. A small smile creases the man's face. “How very bold.” he speaks a word in a language you don’t understand, and extends his hand. A single metal rod separates from the pack, hovering between your group and the man. “This is the least of my thorns.” he says, “it’s name is Cruelty.” The thorn glints dangerously in the aquamarine light. There is no question that it is a weapon. A fine, elegant weapon, but a thing designed for killing, first and foremost. “If you get hit by Cruelty, you will die” he continues. You get the feeling that he’s enjoying showing off. “With every kill, Cruelty swells in size, and one day she’ll be just as large as her sisters”. He pauses, “Your goal is to stop cruelty before it kills…” he looks at the group, as if deciding. “That girl” he says, pointing at Aurora. It's hard to tell in the dark if the already pale girl flushes even paler, but it's not difficult to see that she’s racked by a full body shiver. Felix tenses his jaw, and you can see him fighting back the urge to say something. “To make it fair, you’ll have ten seconds to knock it down before it fires. You can of course try to stop it in the air, if you wish.” the thorn rises slightly, as if priming itself. “Oh. One more thing” he adds, “I won’t interfere, for those ten seconds, my… what do you call them here, Clypeus?, will protect the thorn. It won’t attack otherwise.” The man opens his robe, and from the darkness under it, something begins to crawl out, snaking, a winding thing of teeth and claws that slithers through the air, like a mix between a snake and a worm, if snakes were made of sharp points of darkness.  Its milky hollow eyes all seem to move independently, looking every which way and not focusing on anything. Its body is as wide as a human torso, and long… impossibly long. Even as you watch it emerge from the man's cloak, it begins to fade, as if it were not there. You’re not sure if it's displacing, or vanishing. The man looks at all of you. “I think that’s it.” he says, and claps his hands. “Time starts now.” That doesn’t give you a lot of time to plan. You turn to your group to give instructions, and Emilie whispers at you, between gritted teeth. “I’m taking him out on eight.” You don’t have time to explain a big elaborate plan to your group. Felix and Emilie are already dropping into mage fugue. Tabor looks like he might break down and cry right here right now, and Aurora’s hands are shaking, hard. What is your plan? A. I tell them “Stop it in the air” and hope Emilie listens. This means not dealing with the invisible spiky tooth snake and gives us the most time to place mana on the mental plane, and prep the battlefield. I’m fairly confident I can get a wall of vines going in this time frame, or enhance myself or others with significant speed and reflexes. This doesn’t really utilize the Clypeus at all. B. I tell them “Thorn on five” This is the compromise plan. Theoretically having the Clypeus rush in and try to get at the thorn will distract the monster, letting one of the mages get a hit in. It gives time for everyone to lay down some mana on the mental plane, and in that time you’re confident you could get two large vines to control, or a small swarm of insects. It also hits before Emilie wants to go on the man, which will theoretically stop her? C. I tell them “Thorn on eight”. You want to time it so Emilie gets the most coverage possible from your group going after the thorn. Maybe if you go on eight and it looks like it’s working Emilie will go with? Things are going to move fast, two seconds to stop the thorn is not much time, and it is possible that if the monster slows you down, it will fire. You could get three long powerful vines working in this amount of time, increase your speed and reflexes significantly, or give yourself a minor physical enhancement, like claws, or spitting a mild acid. D. “GO NOW”. You’re hoping the element of surprise gives you something against the monster, and that the rest of your group is aware enough to lay down supporting mana. You’ll only get what they can put down right now, which you don’t expect to be much. You might be able to control one mildly weak vine, or put a minor enhancement on someone, or control a handful of flies, but it won’t be much. This will probably stop Emilie from going after the man? E. “What Emilie said”. You’re bailing on the mage challenge. If you take down or kill the man, the thorn will probably not go off? Hope that the element of surprise, combined with his cockiness and all of you going after him pays off. If it doesn’t… you’re probably all dead. You’ll probably try to make it look like you’re going to go after the thorn and hit him instead. You could get three long powerful vines working in this amount of time, increase your speed and reflexes significantly, or give yourself a minor physical enhancement, like claws, or spitting a mild acid. F. I have some other plan. You only have approximately 9 seconds left, so a plan that involves talking your group into any complex coordinated action will *not* work.
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May 5, 2020 16:59
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Is there a way we can put a shell around the girl? Or maybe get vines to her legs that would pull her out of the way at the last second by making her fall over on her back?
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May 5, 2020 17:23
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TK-42-1 posted:Is there a way we can put a shell around the girl? TK-42-1 posted:Or maybe get vines to her legs that would pull her out of the way at the last second by making her fall over on her back? If you make vines, that is viable. You don't know if the thorn will come back for a second pass or not.
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May 5, 2020 17:36
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So we have two Vivomancers (ourself and Tabor), an impetar (Emile), a hydromancer (Felix), and Aurora. Cog, what sort of mage is Aurora?
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May 5, 2020 19:52
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Olothreutes posted:So we have two Vivomancers (ourself and Tabor), an impetar (Emile), a hydromancer (Felix), and Aurora. She's a first year student, she hasn't specialized yet, and can probably barely enter a Mage Fugue
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May 5, 2020 20:57
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So what you’re saying is ultimately she’s expendable...
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May 5, 2020 21:58
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"Don't think about time, Emilie. Find the deathblow." We grab Aurora's hand, squeezing tight, enhancing her to be fast, as fast as we can. Run Aurora. Run and hide! Go! NOW! Kick up all the dust you can! We should lead, and send a vine straight for the Thorn, if we can do that and enhance Aurora. Trying to reveal the clypeus-worm and distracting this guy to the fullest for Emilie.
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May 5, 2020 22:04
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TK-42-1 posted:So what you’re saying is ultimately she’s expendable... If she runs fast enough, she'll be a good distraction. Won't our face be red if she dies, though! While he's controlling the Thorn, hunting the girl around corners through the city, Emilie can set up her shot unnoticed
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May 5, 2020 22:05
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Is there any way we could produce an extremely viscous/sticky substance like spider web or resin?
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May 5, 2020 22:09
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As an impetar can Emile create something like a barrier that would deflect or bounce a solid object?
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May 5, 2020 22:12
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There Bias Two posted:Is there any way we could produce an extremely viscous/sticky substance like spider web or resin? Web or resin are both possible. Not a massive amount, but enough to gum up things. Olothreutes posted:As an impetar can Emile create something like a barrier that would deflect or bounce a solid object? Yes, but force barriers can only take so much abuse, and a strong enough blow will pierce them. Based on what strategy you folks pick, there will be a subsequent vote on what to try to do with that time that will get into the specifics of the spells to cast. I'm happy to answer questions about what you can and can't do, but don't feel like you have to settle on an exact list of spells... that'll be the next vote probably.
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May 6, 2020 11:56
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Messing with the mana the mage is using to control the thorn is likely beyond us alone, but together... ...We probably still couldn't control it, but a sufficiently botched ritual might muck up the mana enough to sort it out On second thought, does a ritual's participants need to be voluntary? Dragging the mercenary mage into an unfocused ritual and forcing it to go badly might work if not. Faster than getting our pals together to try and bungle things that way, anyways.
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May 6, 2020 12:51
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Ok, I'm confused by his statements. This guy is immediately familiar with white hats, which may be a local term and may not be, but can't recall what a clypeus is called? That's real weird to me and feels like some sort of chicanery. Whatever. So we have a terrified girl who can't do much, if any, magic and four people to defend her with. Three if Emile is set on going after homeboy instead of helping with the challenge. Two vivomancers and an aquamancer or whatever. Aquor? If his needle thing is capable of killing anything it touches, potentially even on a graze, I don't think trying to snare it with vines is a winning scenario here, it'll just murder those too. Cog, do we get the impression he means the needle is deadly just by touch, or is this a "if it touches you it's probably going straight through, which is lethal" sort of thing? He also said we get 10 seconds to knock it down, does this imply that we need to bring the needle down in order to succeed in the challenge, or is simply keeping Aurora alive enough? I'm inclined to think we're best off pushing the centipede thing into the needle, if we need something to touch the needle in order to knock it down. Do we know/think that Felix can make ice mana?
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May 6, 2020 18:30
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Can we burst a man's heart with vivoancy? Enhance his cardiac system past it's breaking point? I mean it takes control to not over do it, right? Let's put everything we have without restraint into his heart?
Toughy fucked around with this message at 18:59 on May 6, 2020 |
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May 6, 2020 18:57
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Olothreutes posted:Cog, do we get the impression he means the needle is deadly just by touch, or is this a "if it touches you it's probably going straight through, which is lethal" sort of thing? Olothreutes posted:He also said we get 10 seconds to knock it down, does this imply that we need to bring the needle down in order to succeed in the challenge, or is simply keeping Aurora alive enough? The implication is that the thorn will keep trying until its knocked down. He's giving you ten seconds to knock it down before it starts moving. Olothreutes posted:Do we know/think that Felix can make ice mana? You know he can. You don't know what his output is like. He's a very skilled Aquor, but he's not a full Sophos. Toughy posted:Can we burst a man's heart with vivoancy? Enhance his cardiac system past it's breaking point? I mean it takes control to not over do it, right? Let's put everything we have without restraint into his heart? It would depend on how much he resisted. The issue is vivomancy is close ranged. If you could be touching a helpless target for 3-5 seconds while in a mage fugue you could almost certainly pull it off. The issue is that if the target can manipulate mana at all, they will resist your intrusion into their mind plane, at which point, it would be much, much harder. TheCog fucked around with this message at 19:22 on May 6, 2020 |
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May 6, 2020 19:19
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A - Seems our best shot, out of any.
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May 6, 2020 20:27
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F - Try to push/pull the centipede snake thing into, and on top of the needle. Hopefully it's heavy enough to drop the needle to the ground. With Tabor and ourself we can maybe get some strong vines on to the critter to restrain/pull it, and Felix... I don't know. Gush of water to push? Emile would be great here, since she just applies literal force to things, but if she's intent on going after homeboy that's not ideal and I wouldn't plan on her contributing. No clue how to use our clypeus pals. Olothreutes fucked around with this message at 20:33 on May 6, 2020 |
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May 6, 2020 20:31
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C
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May 7, 2020 05:23
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I'm realizing this vote might be badly structured. The idea was to vote first on the timing you want, and the target, and then have a subsequent vote on the how. Does that make less sense than voting on all three things at once? The goal was to avoid total action paralysis by having like 19 options, but I'm not sure that this hasn't made things more confusing somehow. (I'm going to leave things as is, and encourage people to think of this vote as deciding if you want to go after the needle or the man, and *when* you want to do those things, and I promise the subsequent vote will be the what and how)
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May 7, 2020 05:33
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 08:53 |
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I wanna let Emilia handle trying to kill the guy The other's handle the thorn (they'll prolly be better off deciding when to attack on their own) And we make Aurora fast and get her to run into the city and hide where its hard/impossible to follow
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May 7, 2020 21:27
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