@IncredibleBee

In the interest of fairness, these aren't quite the force of natural lightning bolts, or Avad himself would be dead, and wood is nonconductive.

The powergaming happened, but at this point, I've returned it with some of my own, and we should just drop it and go on. More than a fair share of RPs have died because of stuff like this.

Lemons right. Nevermind this post.

Have not read the posts yet but PIC chat is interesting....I will be on tomorrow some time. It's my last overnight shift for the week so after 10 AM I will be off till Wednesday.

OOC

@Zetsuko Well, logically there are two possible exits from the estate. One with fire and lightning and guards, and the other secret one we were told about. I'm not going to charge full speed at the former, and Avad isn't going to have line of sight from the back if we're heading towards the guard exit. Otherwise my plan is to ride around the estate until we get surrounded. That all said, we were going towards the exit Ian just sealed.

Anyways, @Lemons, I wouldn't feel too bad at all. Even if it is a sensible plan from one perspective, it's something that was discussed about our characters without our knowledge or input or any transparency. A ma fu kan is fine under those circumstances. But as you say, what is done is done.

I think this situation arose from a fundamental difference in roleplaying. I personally do not like the idea of coming up with a plan OOC and then contrive in-game circumstances to match it. At that point, I may as well be playing a tactics game. I personally enjoy talking and working things out in-character and letting things evolve naturally. Even if I don't say I have a plan OOC, that doesn't mean I'm directionless. I just want to be able to talk our options out in-character. Preferably when everyone is drunk and I can manipulate them better. So we can come to an informed consensus together as friends.

@Shisa that exit is suppose to be a small tunnel dug out by the types that normally use the safehouse. A cart wouldn't have fit through there.

But if Stephanie leaves the cart, what will she sell?

@Zetsuko Oh, I understand, but it would have been better than being captured. I went by cart because it gets everyone there at a quick pace, even if I can't take it.

Which would be a real setback in itself seeing as though perhaps half of Stephanie's utility comes from her wares. She's not winning a strength or endurance or magic contest any time soon, you know, so not having her wagon would make her almost useless. That wouldn't be much fun, would it?

@IncredibleBee us maybe? I dunno.
As I said the idea was that some people got captured and a second group was going to go save them, stuff included.

That being said are we still gonna bother with that? or shall we just obliterate one of the most elite forces of the kingdom we're trying to build up allies to contend with and carry on?

@Zetsuko

I got the feeling that other than the mages and the captain, they were mostly grunts. They didn't seem like elite units.

@Lemons The royal guard is still supposed to be better than normal soldiers.

Regardless, are you guys up for it? cause it could just go either way at this point

@Zetsuko I mean, letting us completely screw up a contingent and get away sounds good to me. It'll let us feel like we're actually doing something instead of being relegated to helpless objects without agency that need to be rescued, and I think the former sounds more fun. But seeing as our wizard is out now, we'll still have to run because we couldn't deal with more guards. Essentially, we get to feel cool as a group while maintaining the urgency and fear of getting caught.

@Shisa The only thing I don't like about it is that if we're able to beat a full contingent of them with a drunk and weakened mage, an old merc, a bit of oil and a single firebomb what's the point of our search for allies? even if we have to run now we could just recover to full strength and come back, tear through the castle, and take out the king. In this rp if we could beat them so easily it makes the rest of the story kinda pointless...

at least to me.

@Zetsuko Correction: A mage who had to use his once-every-6-years-ma-fu-kan just to get the leg-up we needed while we had the terrain advantage that comes with being the defender in a siege. If we just walked up to the castle, they would have all their forces and the defender's advantage and we'd all be dead. It seems like a non-issue to me.

@Shisa A what? I'll admit I don't understand the magic system lemons is using.

I just find such easy victories dull.

Not to mention, I'm pretty sure there are more than twenty-five or so people in the King's elite guard, to say nothing of the full army. Including mages that aren't equal to Avad's skill level, but far outstrip it.

@Zetsuko Ah, no, that's a Yu Yu Hakusho reference to a similar concept. Lemons might have gotten it from somewhere different. Essentially, he's storing excess magic power in a valuable stone capable of containing magic energy over a period of 6 years, and he exhausted it on one strong spell.

EDIT: It exhausted our resources. It was not an easy victory, and even if it was, I find it preferable to an impossible fight.

@Lemons if it was just twenty-five surrounding the cart there must have been more just in the contingent here. and that we can handle them with no other casualties that Avad passing out from overexertion and a stray arrow hitting Vert at just a fraction of our strength, what can we do at full strength?

@Zetsuko

So a brief overview of my magic: each mage has a specialization, one that usually broadens as they advance in skill. For example, Avad might have started as a lightning-only mage, then advanced from there. When casting a spell, one draws from a finite pool of energy that replenishes gradually over time and then speaks several words and draws a rune in the air, or more than one, depending on the power/focus, to direct the energy. More words can either equal more power, or more control. Both drain more energy.

The ability to use magic gives mages the ability to manipulate their energy, and thus they are able to store it, adding it to an object, almost entirely a prism. The reason it's usually a crystal is that the energy it takes to move power into an object is exponentially higher than the energy that is actually transferred, and crystals have the best ratio. The mage can then essentially use it as a battery of sorts. The stones, which have to be exceedingly high-quality to store six years' worth of energy, are then consumed, turning to dust.

That clear things up?

Also, I only killed the twenty-five standing next to the cart. I might not have made that clear enough. The thing about Avad is that his power is really front-loaded now that his stone is drained out. He uses his magic up, he can't do jack. So that burst of power is a one-time-per-battle thing, which, in a larger-scale fight, wouldn't make nearly as much of a difference.

@Lemons A bit yes, thank you. But lets not get into an argument over what I do or don't like in an rp.

What should I do then? If you wanna have it so that we do our damage and run should Wledic be the one to give us a reason to take off then at least?