Flipz

"Whoops--that's part of a plan the QM nixed plan McColt rejected as too dangerous. She'll continue to use her Shuriken as normal."

Suggested B.O. and actions for this round Cronk- Heal self, Back Row Tesni- Phoenix Essence, Alexis Haldor- Heal self (you still have decent odds at a Blood Ritual, which is your best shot at damaging the Shard at all) Arthur- Give Healing Staff to Alexis Alexis 1- Take Healing Staff Alexis 2- Drink Nostrum Sasha- do Nothing. Bal- KO'd Triad- Throw Shuriken Bal- KO'd Gray- Conditional healing guard McColt- Cronk, Hastened Following the plan he and McColt had worked out, Arthur holds out his Healing Staff for Alexis to take. Triad, meanwhile, attempts once again to throw her Shuriken at the Shard from the Back Row. OOC: Wait, so that means if Arthur used the Healing Staff on Tensi, and he rolled a Shield, he'd still be stealing Gold from the enemy, right? Hmm...

Incompetant Stragety *Confused* *Fragile* Level 14 Aquatic Flying Plant HP: 200/200 Ether: 14/14 Special 1: Hexes his allies next Round at the cost of 4 Ether. Used only if sufficient Ether is remaining. Special 2: Goads all allies into attacking hastily, granting them all a Free Hit this round. Allies are Jinxed for the next three Rounds as a result. Passive Special: Is Fragile as long as there is Ether remaining. Drops: Book of Loopiness (must be equipped as long as owned, permanent Confused-effect) ...actually, with some tweaks and a touch of seriousness, that might actually become a workable enemy.

Well, sinced targetting a Jinxed target is the same as being Lucky yourself (just like targetting a Lucky enemy is like being Jinxed), I'm going off of how Doc handled double-Lucky for Althior in Quest 17 (Lucky once because he took a Nostrum, and Lucky again because of the nails buried in the ground--I'm still proud of that one. ) The luck comes from two sources, so it should stack. In this case, Zeph made an exception to the rules so that both could exist together, solely so that we would not be completely screwed this fight. (And hey, god on the battlefield, weird shit happens. )

The Angel has already shown that she doesn't approve of the Shard's actions by defending Cronk and Co. against the Shard's minions. Though I DO wonder whether the Angel might have some additional effect on the Shard if she appears; she is connected to the true Ennoc, of course, so perhaps her presence will weaken the Shard so as to bring it closer to being reunited with the true Ennoc...

Good grief that was a lot of work! *pants heavily* Now, I'm going to go eat something while you all pick apart my insane strategy. And everyone, I hope you realize, this is sort of a general outline. Basically, the idea is, have Lucky Heroes target Jinxed allies (with non-damaging actions, obviously) so there is something like a 2/3 chance that the Shield will be rolled (for Cronk, that means we get an Angel and can safely attack en masse, for Haldor, we get a free heal that damages the Splinter, for Alexis, we have a chance at her summon, which is guaranteed damage each Round). Once her Summon is out, Alexis uses the Staff of Ennon to keep her Ether up, drinking potions and/or Tonics as necessary to keep her summon out, but desperately hoping NOT to roll a Shield that will take the summon away (oops, just remembered, the Summon should ALWAYS be ahead of Alexis in the B.O. in case she rolls a Spirit Burst ). Meanwhile, Arthur spends a bunch of time giving Alexis stuff and taking Triad's shuriken, while Triad herself shoves the Cowl over the Splinter's head (hopefully NOT at the cost of her life ). Once Arthur has the Shuriken and Cronk is already Hastened, McColt should try to Hasten Arthur so that Arthur can shoot off bunches of Lucky spells at the Splinter.

After about a minute of intense, hurried conversation, Arthur begins relaying the results of his and McColt's consultation. "All right, some of you won't like this, but it's the best way to proceed." Suggested B.O. and actions for THIS ROUND Cronk- Phoenix Essence on Haldor, Back Row Tesni- Remedy Cronk (he can't take the Free Hits very well if he's Fragile) Sasha- DO NOTHING. Arthur- Darkness Spell, Splinter, Back Row Bal- KO'd Triad- Throw Shuriken at Splinter, Back Row Bal- KO'd Haldor- Conditional healing guard; if no damage to be healed, Attack Splinter, BACK ROW Gray- Conditional healing guard McColt- Luck, Haldor Suggested B.O. and actions for NEXT ROUND Cronk- Heal self, Back Row Tesni- Phoenix Essence, Alexis Haldor (if Lucky and not Jinxed)- Heal Sasha or Tensi (even if they are at full Health; this should give you max odds of performing a Blood Ritual) Arthur- Give Healing Staff to Alexis Alexis 1- Take Healing Staff Alexis 2- Drink Nostrum Sasha- do Nothing. Bal- KO'd Triad- Do Nothing (or Throw Shuriken, if not thrown already) Bal- KO'd Haldor (if Jinxed or if Lucky but jinxed)- Remedy self Haldor (if not Lucky)- Conditional healing guard; if no damage to be healed, Attack Splinter, BACK ROW Gray- Conditional healing guard McColt- ???, Luck or Cronk, Hastened "From this point on, if Cronk's Angel is protecting you, all 'Do nothing's should change to Attacking the Splinter from the Front Row. All pre-existing Back Row attacks should move to the Front Row." Suggested B.O. and actions for ROUND AFTER NEXT IF CRONK'S ANGEL IS NOT SUMMONNED Cronk- Heal self, Back Row (even if you are at full Health) Cronk (if Hastened)- Heal self, Back Row (even if you are at full Health) Tesni- Phoenix Essence, Bal Haldor (if Lucky and not Jinxed)- Heal Sasha or Tensi (even if she is at full Health; this should give you max odds of performing a Blood Ritual) Arthur- Retrieve Triad's Shuriken Alexis 1- Healing Staff, Tensi or other jinxed ally (if you are lucky, you might be able to summon a spiritgood time to reveal your Diamond, mayhaps? Alexis 2- IF SPIRIT IS NOT SUMMONNED: Healing Staff, Tensi or other Jinxed ally; IF SPIRIT IS SUMMONNED: attack Splinter, BACK ROW, STAFF OF ENNON Sasha- IF NOT JINXED: Attack Splinter, BACK ROW. IF JINXED: do nothing. Bal- Do nothing Triad- Do Nothing Bal- Do nothing Haldor (if Jinxed or if Lucky but jinxed)- Remedy self Haldor (if not Lucky)- Conditional healing guard; if no damage to be healed, Attack Splinter, BACK ROW Gray- Conditional healing guard McColt: Luck to ??? or Cronk, Hastened Suggested B.O. and actions for ROUND AFTER THE ROUND AFTER NEXT AND ONWARD IF CRONK'S ANGEL IS NOT SUMMONNED Cronk- Heal self, Back Row (even if you are at full Health) Cronk (if Hastened)- Heal self, Back Row (even if you are at full Health) Tesni- Remedy Sasha or self, Arthur just has slightly more priority towards Sasha Haldor (if Lucky and not Jinxed)- Heal a Jinxed ally (even if she is at full Health; this should give you max odds of performing a Blood Ritual) Arthur- Retrieve Triad's Shuriken Spirit (if summonned)- attack Splinter Alexis 1- IF SPIRIT IS NOT SUMMONNED: Healing Staff, Tensi; IF SPIRIT IS SUMMONNED: attack Splinter, BACK ROW, STAFF OF ENNON Alexis 2- IF SPIRIT IS NOT SUMMONNED: Healing Staff, Tensi; IF SPIRIT IS SUMMONNED: attack Splinter, BACK ROW, STAFF OF ENNON Spirit (if summonned)- attack Splinter Sasha- IF NOT JINXED: Attack Splinter, BACK ROW. IF JINXED: do nothing. Bal- Do nothing Triad- Do Nothing Bal- Do nothing Haldor (if Jinxed or if Lucky but jinxed)- Remedy self Haldor (if not Lucky)- Conditional healing guard; if no damage to be healed, Attack Splinter, BACK ROW Gray- Conditional healing guard McColt: Luck to ??? or Cronk, Hastened or Arthur, Hastened "I know that's long and complex, but it's our best shot." EDIT: Minor changes.

OOC: Finally a Shield, and the enemy can't be Stunned. I'm not complaining about the gold, though! (Though my total should be 189 now. Also, you want us to think outside the box? Give me a complete, Gamma-level detailed description of EVERY physical feature and object in the Eye. "Yes, but will she comply with that plan, Cronk?" Arthur throws a glance at the now-recovering Haldor. "Haldor, with all possible respect, I don't think you ought to be the one to suggest this to her. No offense. Though I do sort of see where you were coming from earlier, now--I'm half tempted to ask you to argue the plan, except that it would go against a different hard-learned lesson from this Quest." Arthur pauses in thought. "McColt, let's confer for a moment--I'll certainly be casting another Darkness Spell at the Shard from the Back Row, but perhaps with Triad's help we can turn the odds in our favor. For now I would definitely suggest trying to improve Haldor's Luck."

Where's Atramor when you need him? (Actually, he'd probably hate this fight, seeing as he, like Arthur, is based primarily on status-effects. ) @ Zeph: By the way, thank you so much for sending Sasha into my dreams last night to yell at me for not posting sooner--I woke up this morning with a lump on my head from banging it against the headboard. @ Q38: All right, give me a few minutes to overthink some stuff.

In case you roll Damage, perhaps?

I count the enemy being Lucky as negative. As for Nerwen's AC choice, I'm not sure I'd like her as a Paladin. She seems too...gentle and open-minded for that. As a well-known webcomic once asked of Paladins, "But wait, will we have to implant the stick up your megablocks, or will it grow there once you take the level?" Even Boomingham, a rebel among Paladins, still has something of that in him, and I'd find that sort of attitude out-of-character for Nerwen. Witch, on the other hand, would be VERY interesting to see; I'd really like to see Nerwen subvert the idea behind the class.

Yeah, I was surprised too--Cronk made sense to me, since that's one of CM's character choices, but I guess the others thought that the NPCs would want the consumables all to themselves or something? I'm also seeing a deficiency of players using consumables on each other; not to complain (after all, it makes a Scroll Mage like Arthur more beneficial to the team, once I get my hands on those buffing scrolls, of course), but at the same time, it seems like the Heroes focus only on themselves, not looking at the larger picture. It's ironic that the more self-centered Heroes like Boomingham and Arthur and Atramor and Thormanil are the ones who are strategizing for everyone else.

"McColt, if you could try to increase Cronk's Luck, I think we'll be in a much better place; that way if he heals someone, there's a good chance we could see his Angel. Haldor would be another good choice, though, since he'd be damaging the Splinter at the same time he healed an ally. Also, we...we might want to wait before reviving Alexis; her Hastening will work to her peril this fight. Let's wait until the Splinter is closer to defeat so she has a better chance at making it out conscious." Worried, but not wanting to show it, Arthur pours his energy into another Darkness Spell from the Back Row. OOC: Would it be possible for us to Remedy the Splinter to remove one of its effects? Also, battle description is messed up.

Also should note that Thormanil used a Smelling Salts and Mead before the battle started.

Well, yeah. Though I was kind of more talking about the Archivist battle. *cough*Akkaba Paladin*cough*

I SO want to know what the Oracle would say about Arthur. Although, seeing that one of Arthur's biggest plot points won't be revealed until the end of Quest 38, it's probably best that she can't say anything right now. Also, Capt. JohnPaul, you are officially as insane as Sarge. On another note, what is up with QMs flat-out denying mage effects and status effects? First the Archivist, now Ennoc's Splinter... If I didn't know any better, I'd say Jebs had constructed Quest 35's battle stats specifically to theoretically screw over Arthur as much as possible.

Arthur casts a Darkness spell at Ennoc's Splinter from the Back Row, as Triad throws her shuriken from the Back Row. OOC: Oh god, Roedrick's Lucky AND Special Damage causes Jinxed? We're toast. >_<

Arasmyth is the elf buried in the tomb in Q43?!?!

I shall call it...Rain of Status!

Yes, as I recall, that's correct.

"Oh." "In that case, I'll send a Darkness Spell at Roderick instead." "Haldor, fear not; I don't plan to purge the Amulet until after the battle is won. I would appreciate getting the chance to strike early in the Round, though, if you wouldn't mind. "

"Bal, Roderick is down. Please focus on the General instead. Cronk, stay your blade." Arthur says quickly. "We'd best handle that item with care. What if the Fragment of Ennoc inside it were released into our world instead of being sent back to the spiritual realm? No, we must do this delicately, through the expenditure of Ether. When the time comes, focus as intently as you can upon Ennoc. I will attempt to use that focus to rejoin the Fragment to the God from whence it came." Once the General is defeated, Arthur will carefully, and without physically touching the Amulet, expend as much Ether as necessary to banish the Fragment of Ennoc from the Amulet without physically harming the artifact. If he runs out of Ether in the process, he will drink his Grand Tonic (if he hasn't done so already).

Yes, Jebs gets a Killer QM award, too, but his needs a bit more oomph. And by oomph, I mean a trophy built with real brick, with Arasmyth's lifeless body draped across it. On a more serious note, that'll take some time to do, so forgive me if it takes a few months to get around to. Hey, Thormy is just as much a min-maxer as Arthur, they'll get along great.

Help me buy that Lens off of Ad-hoh.

Yep, that was it.