[OOC] Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

[Fallenreaper]

The unfortunate part is they are handling her very, very badly. She's sick, angry, tired, and paranoid, even moreso with the threat of Lyn's demise constantly looming over her head. The fact that because of her actions Lyn nearly died twice is causing her extreme anguish, especially since the second one would have been by her own hand. Meanwhile, the knowledge that Lyn thinks it's all her fault is hurting her greatly. Add to that the massive Psychic shock throwing her already questionable sanity into more chaos than usual. To be called out on her failings before they are out of danger will probably deepen her despair to such a level that she effectively cracks under the pressure, leaving her compliant, sure, but useless and worst of all, suicidal.

Not that she shouldn't be made to account for her shitty decisions. There just might be a better time.

@Freeshooter92

Alright, question. Would solving any of these problems help at all to make addressing issues less severe?

Lyn~ From your last post my impression was that Alaira didn't understand that Lyn thought she hurt Alaira, merely that she felt it was her fault, which means she can't explain what happened completely with signs. You can only say so much with signs. Maybe Ssarak could possibly help with that as he could translate Lyn's thoughts to words to what exactly she is thinking then help fill the gaps. Lyn can understand if she's told what actually hurt Alaira instead just told it's not her fault. She needs something else to explain why Alaira reacted like that because without that, the only reason Lyn can come up with is her self.

Sickness~ If this is blood sickness, this will go away by morning as long as she doesn't use anymore magic. It just means her arcanite is low and needs recharge which as time goes on, it will replenish itself. So a time skip to morning will be helpful in eliminating that though I suggest she takes it easy on the magic some. :P

Tried & Angry~ Tired will also be gone by morning as nothing happens farther and the fact there's a fire will help. As for Angry, best Lyn can do is try to snuggle and cuddle Alaira to make her less moody before the chat with the other two. Also, would keeping Lyn where Alaira could see her help in soothing over Alaira's anger over the chat?

[EliteCommander]

The unfortunate part is they are handling her very, very badly. She's sick, angry, tired, and paranoid, even moreso with the threat of Lyn's demise constantly looming over her head. The fact that because of her actions Lyn nearly died twice is causing her extreme anguish, especially since the second one would have been by her own hand. Meanwhile, the knowledge that Lyn thinks it's all her fault is hurting her greatly. Add to that the massive Psychic shock throwing her already questionable sanity into more chaos than usual. To be called out on her failings before they are out of danger will probably deepen her despair to such a level that she effectively cracks under the pressure, leaving her compliant, sure, but useless and worst of all, suicidal.

Not that she shouldn't be made to account for her shitty decisions. There just might be a better time.

@Freeshooter92

Perhaps that is the case, but you also have to consider the perspective of the others. She acted rashly and nearly got them all killed at the first bridge. Afterwards, Meirin and Darius confronted her, and she had a long conversation with Meirin about the problem and how to get past it. Then, at the second bridge, she forgot everything they had talked about and did the exact same thing again, endangering everyone's lives once more. To the others, she has proven herself untrustworthy to make good decisions. In Ssarak's eyes at least, Alaira either does not care if she endangers Lyn, or she doesn't understand how her actions could hurt her. Ssarak is a patient person, but even he won't be cordial after she has endangered them all for a second time. It just wouldn't make sense IC for him to be patient with her when patience has been proven ineffective. In Ssarak's eyes, Alaira is not going to stop putting them in danger, so he needs to act sooner rather than later.

[Freeshooter92]

Alright, question. Would solving any of these problems help at all to make addressing issues less severe?

Lyn~ From your last post my impression was that Alaira didn't understand that Lyn thought she hurt Alaira, merely that she felt it was her fault, which means she can't explain what happened completely with signs. You can only say so much with signs. Maybe Ssarak could possibly help with that as he could translate Lyn's thoughts to words to what exactly she is thinking then help fill the gaps. Lyn can understand if she's told what actually hurt Alaira instead just told it's not her fault. She needs something else to explain why Alaira reacted like that because without that, the only reason Lyn can come up with is her self.

Sickness~ If this is blood sickness, this will go away by morning as long as she doesn't use anymore magic. It just means her arcanite is low and needs recharge which as time goes on, it will replenish itself. So a time skip to morning will be helpful in eliminating that though I suggest she takes it easy on the magic some. :P

Tried & Angry~ Tired will also be gone by morning as nothing happens farther and the fact there's a fire will help. As for Angry, best Lyn can do is try to snuggle and cuddle Alaira to make her less moody before the chat with the other two. Also, would keeping Lyn where Alaira could see her help in soothing over Alaira's anger over the chat?

@Fallenreaper

It's not blood sickness, she's still weak from her fight with the demon. She didn't really use much magic that day. I counted once.

Knowing from experience (Seriously), sleeping in an abandoned building knowing there's things outside that want to kill you does fuck all for getting you any kind of decent rest. Paranoia and guilt is also wreaking havoc on her mental state. Some could be solved, likely, but the very worst ones can't be addressed quickly.

Perhaps that is the case, but you also have to consider the perspective of the others. She acted rashly and nearly got them all killed at the first bridge. Afterwards, Meirin and Darius confronted her, and she had a long conversation with Meirin about the problem and how to get past it. Then, at the second bridge, she forgot everything they had talked about and did the exact same thing again, endangering everyone's lives once more. To the others, she has proven herself untrustworthy to make good decisions. In Ssarak's eyes at least, Alaira either does not care if she endangers Lyn, or she doesn't understand how her actions could hurt her. Ssarak is a patient person, but even he won't be cordial after she has endangered them all for a second time. It just wouldn't make sense IC for him to be patient with her when patience has been proven ineffective. In Ssarak's eyes, Alaira is not going to stop putting them in danger, so he needs to act sooner rather than later.

@EliteCommander

Ssarak is correct, she isn't. Ever. The issue is that he's thinking about all this rationally. He has no hope of understanding her unless he considers things from her point of view. Ssarak is a disciplined 'soldier' more or less. Alaira is a woman who destroys her opponents through sheer hatred, bloodlust, and natural aptitude. For most fighters like Ssarak, Meirin, Grey, and the like, survival and self preservation is the objective. Alaira prioritizes the destruction of the foe above absolutely everything else, with one exception. No points for guessing said exception.

Alaira has been doing this for a long time, she's been killing since she was eleven years old. She's been fighting this way longer than Ssarak and Meirin have even been alive, she doesn't know any other way. So when they get this angry, she can't even comprehend why. She puts herself in this sort of danger all the time.

As such, she cannot be shoehorned into a separate role in combat. Her strengths must be worked around, rather than against, especially considering that their next goal is 'Murder all the bad guys' which is probably a situation in which that Ssarak might grudgingly see Alaira as an asset rather than a liability. She is an excellent distraction, and amazingly good at eliminating priority targets. But she can't fight any other way. He might be able to stop her from behaving in such a reckless manner, but doing so is effectively the same as sending her home.

Alaira is like a grenade; Devastating if deployed at the right place and the right time, but an extreme liability if you take too long worrying about where you're gonna throw her.

[EliteCommander]

So far, all Ssarak has seen is that she has been more of a danger to her allies than her enemies. Honestly, he is more likely to want to send her away than to continue fighting with her, though that isn't an option. As you said, he is a soldier, so he has many years of training behind him. He would see her style of fighting as more dangerous than helpful (because, well...it is). Ultimately, there is a reason that people in history were not encouraged to fight in that way, as it isn't as effective as approaching combat tactically. Good tactics are what win wars, so Ssarak would judge her approach very harshly. Your character can make the choices you want her to and act however you feel like she should, but that doesn't mean all the other characters will accept it. It would not make sense for Ssarak to accept fighting with someone so reckless. If she does not undergo any kind of change in that regard, he will do everything he can to avoid fighting with her in the future.

[Freeshooter92]

Do whatever you want then. I'm sorry my fantasy character is unrealistic.

[EliteCommander]

I'm just saying, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Everyone is free to make their characters act in whatever manner they choose. Those choices are what makes your character yours. But in making them, you have to accept the consequences that come with them. There is simply no way I can think of that it would make sense for Ssarak to accept fighting with someone who poses such a danger to himself and their allies.

[Freeshooter92]

I'm not sure I can do this anymore. Does anyone think this massive goddamn misery parade I've gotten lately has been any fun for me at all? I love this character, I am absolutely fucking sick of the endless goddamn suffering I have to inflict upon her, because motherfucking realism makes her whole gimmick fucking unusable! And then everyone tells me they want to see her change, and its like I can't have the fucking character I envisioned, unless I mutate her into some boring nonsense!

Every fucking RP I do I just get the shit kicked out of me, and then people try to tell me they don't hate my guts. What else could it be? I hardly ever get any of the things I want out of these things, and when I do it's just more failure. I'm here suffering while everyone else is having their good time at my expense. What the fuck kind of fun do you get out of kicking a mentally unstable woman while she's down, huh?

And it's true she does stupid shit, because I play the character like I fucking wrote her. To actually behave in a fucking reasonable manner is actually CHEATING as far as I'm concerned. It's metagaming. I knew burning the bridge and provoking the guards was a bad idea, but that's only because I, as a player, have more knowledge about any of this shit than she does.

I wrote a powerful character, a proud berserker, but you know what I've gotten? A broken, psychopath thug. Could somebody throw me a bone? Please? It's been a year...

[EliteCommander]

You don't have to change your character to accommodate others, but wouldn't it be just as unfair to me to make me change the way Ssarak would react to accommodate Alaira? As you said, it would be metagaming.

As for the failures Alaira has had, some actions just have certain consequences. For example, with that amorphous demon in the demon attack, you knew what would happen if Alaira did what she did. I believe I remember a conversation where you discussed it and were given some alternatives. You chose to have her overexert herself, which is perfectly fine. It was the choice Alaira would make, and it showed something about her character. That was all great, but it still came with the consequences. The same is true for the present mission. Her choices are perfectly in line with her character, and you don't have to change anything about them. But you can't just have someone make bad choices without any sort of consequence. That wouldn't make for a good story.

[Freeshooter92]

I'm just sick of getting screwed over, man. This kind of shit seems to happen to me and me alone.

[EliteCommander]

That isn't because anyone is singling you out, though. The reason Alaira has bad things happen to her all the time is because she makes a lot more bad decisions, much more than other characters. There isn't any malice behind it, it's just that the story reacts to the actions of the players.

[Freeshooter92]

The issue is she's supposed to make up for it by being the best fighter around, that's her intended asset, compensated by severe inability to perform well in non-combat situations. At the time, this worked beautifully: she was the only 'magic-fighter' sort of character around. Then, new characters came in. Fucking Ssarak is better than Alaira in every way. He's stronger, smarter, CAN FLY, has super special racial abilities, gets along with everyone, and has a better mastery of magic and absolutely no crippling weaknesses like Alaira has. That isn't to say he has none, but Alaira's got NOTHING on him. She should be a HELL of a lot more useful in combat, but no, she's half elf and a girl, so she loses out despite basically being a fucking mutant with THIRTY YEARS of bloodshed and strength training.

So yeah, I'll say it now, eysires are fucking bullshit.

[Frettzo]

Alaira can be powerful, proud and reckless, but you gotta find a way for her to be that way without hurting other PCs every time she makes a move--Like when Coco and her get together. That Alaira, to me, seems like someone who while reckless, does think of other people even if just a little bit. I'm sure that if Alaira was ambushed while she was with Coco, she'd act to protect her... Even if her way of protecting Coco was killing her enemies. People are flexible, man, give Alaira some flexibility and things will get better :p

If you want Freeshooter, we can do a collab. Coco and Alaira poking around in Foreas territory looking for the Foreas Slavers in the area. You can let Alaira shine there, though I can't promise those Foreas are easy to kill. That won't be a problem for the berserker though.

[EliteCommander]

Thing is, it probably wasn't a good idea just to assume "I'm always the best fighter." That wouldn't exactly be fair to other characters.

As for the Esyire, they aren't absolutely superior to all other races. They have their advantages and disadvantages. Sure, Ssarak is stronger, but in a fight, strength doesn't equal victory. There are plenty of ways one could fight him successfully, but just trying to brute force overpower him isn't the best way. Just like you can hurt someone in heavy armor, but not by slashing it with a sword. A good fighter is someone who can adapt. The thing is, the way you've made Alaira, she's entirely static in terms of how she fights. She approaches all fights in the same way. Against some opponents, it would work beautifully, but against others, it puts her at a disadvantage.You can't just say that she should be able to outmatch everyone in a straight up fight, regardless of how they fight. It would be like saying a master swordsman should be able to outmatch an archer at long range in an open field. There is no fighting style that works well in all situations. If there was, no one would use anything else.

Also, the Esyire breath attack really isn't much in the way of an advantage. It just delivers the same magic in a different way.

[Freeshooter92]

She doesn't do every fight the same way, she just solves every problem with fighting. The issue here is she's shit at everything, EVERYTHING that isn't fighting or related to such. You'd think she'd be the best PC at fighting if that's all she can do. She's constantly outmatched at the one thing she's good at because odds are always stacked against her for no reason.

Like that fight with the Sea naga. She was perfectly healthy, using her favored equipment, in a one on one fight. She should have by all rights won, but she wasn't 'supposed' to. And wings, automatic strength advantage, sharp teeth, durable, mageblood for damn near all of them. They're broken.

[Lucius Cypher]

Free if you want us to reward Alaira for her recklessness we'd have to bend things pretty far.

Yes, there were bandits hiding the tall grass. But your decision to light the entire field on fire just to smoke them out might have only killed a few of them, and considering what happened to the party afterwards it was a Pyrrhic victory.

And yeah, even if you didn't do anything else at the bridge you would have had to fight the robed man and the guard captain as they were going to shake you guys down for more money. But by attacking of their guards first you really do make yourself look like a violent thug. Yeah, vampires are involved, but how exactly would Alaira had known that? As far as anyone else could see IC, she just strait up attacked a guardsmen and accused them of being highway men. The best I could salvage from this was letting the captain live so you guys don't have to worry about Djarkel Barons hunting the college down for attacking their guardsmen and letting him tip your guys off about further ambushes.

Hell, the fact that the captain told you that much would make things easier for all of you. Aside from needing to convince the caravan master to go with your plan, now you all can ambush the enemy, which would allow a speedster like Alaira to take out the biggest threat, one of the Psychomancers you'll be dealing with. That eliminates one threat leaving you all only to deal with the mooks and mini boss. So in a way her actions were helpful, just not to the extent that your characters would have realized.

Also I thought you and I already talked about some things we rewarded Alaira for. Tyrael himself gave her something to help her channel her magic for saving Mar and Lyn, but either you forgot about that or dismissed it. Indeed, you even mentioned that Alaira hated Tyrael, which I thought was strange because I'm pretty sure he appreciates her dedication to protecting who he considers family. Not that it would be surprising that she'd hate him, he doesn't do a lot to garner friends and has plenty of reasons to have enemies.

Also, I already told you exactly what was going to happen in this scenario a long time ago. I even made this mission specifically for Grey, so he could vent his frustrations against vampires. But than you had Grey go on Rtron's mission and had Alaira do a caravan escort, despite knowing what was on the trail. And that is also why I allowed Lyn to purchase that Amulet which will help Alaira circumvent this issue, and why I had to orchestrate with Ryo to have Meirin give it to Alaira. And it's because we're friends that I wanted to give you a scenario where you could have your characters show off.

What we have here is a failure to communicate. I frankly don't know what you intend to do Free, at least not with Alaira, and what she tends to do is pretty extreme. Something equally extreme is likely to happen. If you want something good to come out from it you need to talk to us about it, otherwise I just let things take their natural course.

[EliteCommander]

I have thought extensively on Ssarak's weaknesses, how one could hurt or kill him. The Esyire aren't broken, you just have to fight in a different way. Ssarak has no ability at range, so spellfire at a distance is something he can't fight against. He can't even pretend to be agile, so if she took advantage of her agility advantage, she would have a good chance at victory.

As for the Sea Naga fight, I actually agree with you. Alaira lost way too easily.

[Freeshooter92]

I'm just so frustrated that she's never seen real success in the one, specific purpose I designed her for.

[EliteCommander]

That goes back to her decisions. Even in fighting, (or really, especially in fighting) the ability to think critically under pressure is an integral factor in success. In order to make frequent bad decisions and still come out on top in a fight, you would either have to be quite overpowered in raw ability, or very lucky. Indeed, bad decisions can work out sometimes, but not most of the time.

Edit: Ultimately, that berserker style you designed her for is situational, just like any other fighting style. In some situations, it will work wonderfully, but in others, it is ineffective. There is no magic bullet when it comes to fighting styles.

[Freeshooter92]

She's also supposed to be extremely intimidating, but for some reason it never has any effect. Such as the guard she threw to the ground. She had no intention of killing him, her paranoia drove her into making an attempt to scare them off.

...Of course robe guy fucked that up.

[EliteCommander]

I do actually agree with that, and Lucius did as well, if you recall. She does put off that intimidating vibe, and we were able to scare away two of the guards, so the intimidation did work.