Flipz

"Those are both excellent ideas, and quite simple to set up. Let's add them to the list: Updated list: Supplies: Water Wood/trees Household items Rope Nails Wheels Fire Oil Wheel Hay Ideas: Catapult, we could make after finding more supplies Stakes and throwing spears, easy, all the wood. Pots and cauldrons to pour flaming oil and boiling water, easy Putting holes in the wall for me to shoot out of, easy with William's pick Pit traps (possibly lined with stakes) Hay along the walls to pad arrows (we'll need water handy just in case fire breaks out) Turn the dirt near the castle walls to mud, and possibly add stakes William can ask the forest creatures and monsters to help us fight "I don't think so. But it's always good to be cautious. With William's great idea about the hay, we'll also have to watch out for fire. There is no such thing as a stupid idea, all ideas allow you to examine the situation from another perspective. It is only when one acts on an idea without examining it that it becomes foolish, and even a brilliant idea can become 'stupid' in this way." EDIT: OOC: Doc, I hope you don't mind me stealing that "profile image to talk" thing you do with the NPCs, I just like it too much, and it makes it a lot easier (for outside readers of the game) to know who's talking.

Fail. I should have tried it out before posting about it like an idiot. In other news, is anyone else gonna pick up the Collectible Series 6 "Sleepyhead" minifigure just to use the hair for Kai? I must admit, it's closer than any other hairpiece available...

Grah! There goes my intricately crafted plan to spend my $50 on Ninjago in January. Let's see, which ones to get? I'll list in order of priority (NOTE: If two or more have the same number, it's a tie, not a typo ): 1.) Space Girl # 2.) Genie # 3.) Surgeon & 3.) Sleepyhead * 3.) Statue of Liberty # 6.) Toy Robot # 6.) Highlander * 8.) Skater Girl & 8.) Gray Alien # 10.) Bandit 10.) Leprechaun & 10.) Roman 13.) Mechanic Meh.) Flamenco Dancer Meh.) Butcher Meh.) Minotaur A '#' indicates it was on my Top 5 when I first saw images of this series, '&' indicates It was on my list of "pick this up when the price drops" when I first saw images, and * indicates a minifigure that I would never have even thought of getting when I first saw the images, but is now a major contender. I'll definitely get anything marked '3.)' or better (the top 5 on the list), and maybe the two at '6.)' as well. Apart from that, I'll likely wait until S7 comes out so I can pick them up cheap. How much are these ones, again, I thought I heard something about a price increase from last Series? (*wallet mutters grumpily*)

*COUGH* "I think Alexandre is Mafia, but Althior seems to be trying to fly under the radar, so that's kind of scummy...I mean, what?" OOC: Seriously, I feel like I'm in a mafia game, and we're falling under the standard Day One confusion.

OOC: I think you need to say you want it in bold. Arthur conjures one of his goblets, scoops up a bunch of nails, and magically stores it again for later use. He then turns to William. "Sorry, friend, for some reason I keep thinking you're a rogue. So, perhaps when we go into the forest you could explain our plight to the local wildlife, see if any of them would be willing to help us fight, or at least help us divert them into our traps?"

No, no, those are clearly of Antiochan import.

"But what about the pit traps I just mentioned? They've been used forever, and they're still effective. Heck, I imagine similar traps will even be used hundreds of years in the future, and they'll be just as effective against unwary opponents then as they are now. I really like William's idea of sharpened sticks, they can be used for many things." "Also, I don't think the elves would be using fully iron ladders to scale the walls, would they? Those would be incredibly expensive to create, and incredibly heavy to carry. no, they'll be using wooden ladders...which means that we can set them on fire using torches, we wouldn't even have to use magic! What do you think?" "You know, I think I might have a book with old ideas for castle defense...I hope I didn't leave it back at the hall..." OOC: That means I've found a useful website for us, I'll pm the link. Actually, no, I'll post it here: http://www.medieval-castles.org/index.php/castle_defenses http://medieval-castles.org/index.php/medieval_castle_traps_to_prevent_invasio And, an article on the ways they'd be most likely to attack us (so we can develop counters): http://www.medieval-castles.org/index.php/attacking_a_castle

"Not at all, William has a pickaxe he purchased just before we left Heroica Hall. Now, does anyone in the party have a shovel? My idea of tunnels around the fort may be a bit too ambitious, but I'm certain we could dig a number of pit traps, perhaps adding a few of those sharp wooden sticks William mentioned to the bottom, and then cover them with foliage. If the elves fail their spot checks aren't using a magnifying glass (and why would they use one?), they could walk over them and get hurt and trapped. "Also, the list should mention that we only have one rope and one wheel."

Arthur suddenly has another flash of inspiration. "Say, does anyone think it might be a good idea to remove a few stones from the outer walls, so Alexandre and any other archers can fire at the elves from the protection of the walls? I believe the specific term is 'Balistraria.' We should also cut a few meurtrière in the floors of the upper levels, so we can pour scalding water over any invaders."

Arthur takes the rope. "Great, thanks. Any spare nails, perhaps some old, worn-out horsehoes?"

"That's a good plan, but I believe we should finish cataloguing the supplies we already have in the fort before we venture outside." Arthur turns back to the stable boy. "Do you have any rope or string?"

No, no, we've come up with a rational explanation for them, now we have to do the same for everything else in the gameworld. C'mon, now, let's start deconstructing the RPG, tropes and all. Bring on the Mythbusters!

"I think I'll go with Althior's suggestion and give one fire bomb to Xander." Arthur walks over to the stable boy. "Hello, sir! Would you happen to have some rope we could use for making traps? Also, who are those horses for? Do you have warriors trained in mounted combat or something?"

Since we now know the chemical composition of Fire Bombs, I am now curious to figure out how the other bombs are made.

Just a little tough, but in all honesty I prefer them staying secure rather than falling out like they did in PoP. It's not TOO hard, I find it a small price to pay for the piece to actually work. Has no one else realized that a Technic pin (not the + axles, the pins, like what they use to attach wheels to stuff) will snap into the hole in the back? (Well, as long as it's not blocked off by the swords.)

"Sounds good, Party Leader. To the stable!" EDIT: OOC: Wait, is the entire party online at the same time?! Madness!

Arthur is filled with an inexplicable euphoria, the likes of which he hadn't felt since the first time he figured out how to craft a fishing pole. He holds the fire bombs above his head in triumph, and somewhere a familiar tune plays faintly. "No rum?! Why is the rum always gone?!?"

"Right. Honey, water, and oil it is. I'll need some jars to store this in, preferably something really fragile and expendable." Arthur mixes up the improvised napalm.

OOC: OK, how a bout a substitute used in South America that's pretty much a straight up plant? Better yet, both chalk and gypsum are natural elements that are found in deposits, and wither one of them might be in the general geographic area of the fort in this world... "How about arrowroot? If you have the leaves of the arrowroot plant, I can grind them up to get what I need. Actually, chalk dust (which you may know of as agricultural lime) would also work, or gypsum if you have it." Arthur then considers the honey. "That will work, I'll have to dilute the mixture and change the means of deployment. Actually, that'll make the powder unnecessary, though it would be very useful for other purposes." Arthur decides to explain what he's planning. "If I can get a dry powder mixed with sugar, I can create a powder that will linger in the air when blown out through a bellows or something similar, and can be lit into a spectacular fireball even without magic. Since the honey is a little more dense, we'd probably be pouring it into jars and throwing them, but it'll still be effective. We just dilute the honey, add a tiny amount of oil to ensure easy ignition, light, and throw. Boom! Sticky, burning mess all over the elves and their stuff."

OOC: Not around the whole castle, just two sides! -==IC: Arthur==- "Hmm...chef, do you have any alchemical ingredients at all? How about oil? HEY! I've got it! I need water, cornstarch or flour (preferably corn starch), and sugar, and I need someone to go find me a bellows." OOC: Heh heh heh...thank you Mythbusters!

"Your Topaz will also come in handy against their Mechanical Siege Weapons. It's a shame we don't have a Ranger in the party, we might have been able to summon a few woodland creatures to our aid. We could probably still use them as an extra layer of defense, though; if we run into the woods, agitate a bunch of monsters (this would be after we set up all our other traps out there, of course), and lead them back to the fort. Once we retreated back inside the fort, it's quite likely that they would turn and attack the elves, as they would be easier targets than us."

Arthur nods, finally understanding. Arthur grabs a torch from the wall and hands it to Alexandre. "OK, listen up. Alexandre, fire your arrows through this, it'll set them alight and, hopefully will light the elves aflame when they hit. William, your idea about the trees is excellent, and I think we should get as much extra wood as we can. We should set up the trees to trigger like I mentioned earlier, and then cut down a bunch of others near the river there. If we're going to take out the footbridge (which should force the elves to come at us primarily from the north and the west), we should also clearcut along the river, so they have no means to cross the river aside from boats, which we can sink with Althior or Arasmyth's magic or light ablaze with Alexandre's arrows. Xander, you have that new pickaxe, right? If someone has a shovel, we can use both tools to dig a shallow tunnel all along the north and west sides of the fort, dangerously shallow. When the elves walk on it with their mounts and their seige weapons, the tunnels will collapse, injuring them and possibly rendering their seige weapons useless. Now, I would like to go to the kitchens, where I will try to whip up some greek fire to launch at the elves. Who's with me?"

"I vote we take the supplies up to the catapult tower, then go to the kitchens. By the way, do you think destroying the footbridge by the river would hamper the elves at all?"

Arthur puts the quiver with the crossbow. He asks, "How many staircases are here? Would it be possible to destroy all but one of them before the Elves get here?" In the meanwhile, he takes as many cannonballs as he can carry. "If there's nothing else here, I'd like to take the wood and the cannonballs up to the catapult mount."

Arthur thinks back to the shield in the Officers' Quarters. "Any chance we could borrow that shield from the Officers' Quarters? And what was in that bottle on your desk?" While he waits for answers, he picks up and examines the quiver lying on the floor of the armory.