Flipz

"Alexis, could you please switch to your Death's Whip and take the closet monster so Althior can heal himself?" Arthur casts Fragile at the Monster Under the Bed, then Light at the Nanny from the Back Row. After driving the Nanny back once again, he casts his gaze over the bed monster; if it is not Fragile, he casts Fragile at it again; otherwise he casts Minimized. Either way, he follows up with a Light spell against the bedridden monster.

Arthur groans in frustration as he realizes his initial plan was flawed. "Leave the monster behind the curtains alone, I'll take its Free Hit. Althior, can we hold off on Lilly's attack? I'd rather control which toys she uses--let Alexis deal with the monster in the closet. I've got Nanny McBitch again this Round." Arthur casts Minimized on the Monster Behind the Curtains, then consumes his Ether Core. If the Minimized was successful, he casts Fragile against the same target, otherwise he tries casting Minimized on Curtains again, before finally casting Light through Zoot's Rebel against the Nanny from the Back Row.

No, that was Quest #30.

I now have an indelible image in my mind of some person wearing a pair of helmets as shoes. xD

OOC: Arthur should be Encouraged and down to one Mead based on this post.

It basically turns a Bodywear into an Accessory. Really wish there was more than one...or there was a version for headwear.

Arthur vibrates with suppressed rage. "Bull. Megablocking. Shit," Arthur growls. "Not only is that the sorriest excuse for a moral I've ever seen, but--" "That's not a better moral, either! Clearly the best--" "Oh for the love of Ethereth, never mind." "Alexis, I could really use some Smelling Salts right about now," Arthur says, attempting to forecast Bright weather, then Blindness on the Monster Behind the Curtains (just once), and then cast Light at The Nanny, all from the Back Row.

"I never claimed to be important to this family. That's part of why I'm here--to prove to Lilly and all of our family how important they are to me." He stops, the question of why his heritage had been hidden from him hitting uncomfortably close to home. "I don't know why my mother chose to hide the truth from me," he says softly, "but whatever the reason, I know now, which means I have a lot to do in order to live up to my heritage." "I knew of Sycamore Ziegfried and her dealings with the Black Grimoire, yes. But I had no idea how deeply the book ran with this family." Arthur glances at Alexis, somewhat exasperated by the total lack of concern she'd shown thus far. "Zoot," he says, hoping to snap in her focus, "is apparently quite strongly connected to both sides of my family. Sometimes with these things, blood matters...it matters a lot, actually. I'm worried for Lilly, now more than ever. If we aren't careful, something terrible could happen. We can't let that happen. If you have any inklings of what might lie ahead, now would be the time to share them."

"Family may mean nothing to the two of you, but then again it doesn't seem like anything means anything to you anymore. I can't say I haven't felt the same way sometimes, but I care about my family, even though I was kept from them for so many years." Arthur reads out the last few passages--the ones detailing the family's dark fate. " Unfortunately Zieglinde fell directly on a bog eye and got stuck in the sinking mire. She pleaded her brother to pull her up, but Ziegfried steeled himself. He now had the book, and Zieglinde would only try to take it away from him again. Turning his back to his sister, Ziegfried returned home with the book and the phoenix pinion. There the book instructed him to distil the essence from the feather to produce a healing potion for his father. After recovering, the father asked Ziegfried about his sister, but the boy only told that she had gotten lost in the swamp. The distressed father went to look for her, and never returned. Ziegfried became the master of the black book, and history became to know him as one of the most powerful wizards that ever lived." Arthur turns to the others. "Don't you see? That book, that ancient black grimoire...I'd wager a great deal that I know that tome. Surely at least one of you has heard of the Pandemonicon, have you not?"

As if guided by the hands of fate itself, Arthur methodically gathers the pages together, reassembling them into a cohesive whole. He slowly begins to read. "Deep in the forest there was a tower where a poor mage lived with his two children. The boy was called Ziegfried while the girl was called Zieglinde. Their mother had died years ago, and their mage father was too preoccupied with his studies, so the siblings had to take care of themselves. Every day Ziegfried and Zieglinde would scour the surrounding forest, looking for something to eat, and every day they went a little bit deeper. The forest was not safe for children, for many wondrous beasts and dangerous monsters lurked there. But the two children were not helpless – they were children of a mage, after all. Ziegfried had the power to call thunder from the clouds above while Zieglinde could whisper to the trees." Arthur stops short. "Lilly..." he says, "this is us. This...this is where our family began, the beginnings of who we all are today..." Silently, swiftly, he reads on, following the tale of the siblings and the mysterious black book. "...I know that book." Yes, you do. With a sudden jerk of his wrist, he throws the papers to Althior and Alexis, instantly regretting his action as the pages scatter instead of staying together. "Sorry...sorry," he apologizes subduedly. "Should have thought that one through." He pauses as he picks up papers and hands them to the two ex-lovers. "I...have a request, actually. Feel free to jump in and help out and stuff, but...when we're done I'd like to be the one who reads the full story to Lilly. It's a family tale. She should hear it from me."

Arthur drinks the Nostrum, then prepares to move on. He sighs at Lilly's description of his concerns. "I don't think you're making this up, Lilly. I'm just...worried that someone's trying to hurt you. When things get into your head it can end...poorly, for everyone involved," he says, remembering his Hexing at the hands of the Dauntlets, among other episodes of chaos and confusion. "Guess I'm just that overprotective cousin," he concludes, chuckling in a vain attempt to cover up his concern.

"You'll get no sympathy from me!"[/ike]

Arthur drinks a Mead, then passes Althior 245 gold. He then offers another 35 to the Necromancer, adding, "any chance I could have one of those Nostrums?" If Althior gives Arthur a Nostrum, he drinks it. Before moving on, Arthur checks over Merlyn to make sure he's all right. "Merlyn? Can you hear me?"

Pala is 100% correct here; in fact, this is why so few people use Smelling Salts ahead of time, since they can effectively be used for free on the first Round while still attacking.

While Cursed might be a bit much to deal with, the rest of that Demonologist set is actually a pretty decent idea; I can think of at least three Heroes (*cough*Ellaria, Nur, and Vindsval*cough*) who could make excellent use of the set thanks to headwear of their own. Maybe replace Cursed with Bleeding (to complement the "slow drain of health in exchange for power" mechanic), or else swap it for something like Slowed. I'd also consider swapping out Weakened for Enraged, since the Weakened would more than cancel out any benefit granted by the spellpower bonus. Oh, and to make the set future-proof, I'd change the suitability to "suitable to all classes with the Spellcasting Job Trait".

Actually, the bagpipes are the worst of the four--Minstrels aren't really about mega direct damage. The instruments, from best to worst (IMO) are: *Flute (Nimble, helps a lot with Free Hits from being at the top of the BO) *Saxophone (Transcended, thus provides a small but noticeable Ether discount on songs) *Guitar (Lucky, if you have to attack instead of sing best to be Lucky over Encouraged) *Bagpipes (perma-Encouraged is nice, but it's outclassed by the other options.) EDIT: I can't count.

"I don't think he was himself, Lilly, any more than you were yourself when you attacked us in doll form. I think..." Arthur bites his lip, wondering how Lilly would react to his theory. "I think the form Merlyn took was based on your perception of him. Whatever lured you in here with those noises managed to get into your head somehow, which is why only you can hear them. I have no idea why they chose to come after you and only you, but I can't imagine it ending well if they get their way."

Arthur casts Frailty at the toy Soldier and then casts Lightning again. "Second verse same as the first, I'd say. Thanks for putting me first, by the way, Althior, it really helps." OOC: Autoroll until someone is in danger of KO?

Indeed. Who wants to bet that Russian Assassin Lady's last name is Romanov? That being said, I really hope they don't try and spin out Agent Carter into another full series. They did such a good job with this one that I'm afraid if they keep messing with it they'll screw it up. On a completely different tangent, someone just brought up to me a very valid concern: when they inevitably integrate Guardians into the main Marvel storylines, what are they going to do when they get Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Pratt on-screen at the same time? Like, how are the other actors/characters supposed to get us to pay any attention to them with those two stealing all the focus?

I just want to point out how beautiful this wordplay is.

OOC: Alexis' fan is Lightning - elemental. "Might as well, just in case there are more enemies coming up. Hold your attacks if you manage to kill tin head here, I'd like to Overkill the soldier." Arthur casts Fragile on the Toy Soldier, then forecasts an Electrified weather, both from the Back Row.

No, they can't IIRC. Weapons, yes, but I've never heard of Artifacts being renamed. And Artisan at Level 50 is just a beast in general--6 Artifact slots on an Artisan opens a LOT of possibilities. Probably for now I'll just go with the Tin Armor and Gloves, plus the Shadeaux Cape and Duplovian Helmet along with the Blue Hand Shield--if I really really want the extra SP, I can swap the helmet for the boots (the Tin Helmet is completely superfluous given my other immunities, so I'm only keeping it for cases where extreme SP is needed). And by the way, for those wondering: the Shadeaux Cape is still superior, because it's suitable for every class except Minstrel (and even a Minstrel could possibly wear it, albeit only in its weakest form).

"Lilly, could you please send Broody after the Toy Soldier and Nelly after the Toy Cannon? We could possibly finish this in a single Round if we do that and put me last in the order." If Lilly uses Negative Nelly on the toy cannon, Arthur casts Blindness on it and then casts Lightning at it; otherwise he follows his previously stated conditional action.

Dibs. On the downside, I'd have to give up my full immunity to magic and elements, and two of the immunities are things I have on the Blue Hand Shield (should have waited longer to set those! ). Plus, as Sandy mentioned, it's only really bad once I hit 40--if I hit 40. Actually, if 105 had let out before 125, Dragoon Arthur would have had the highest SP in the game. Docken still outclasses me as a tank, though, thanks to his own bodywear.

"Compared to his minefield? This should be a snap." Arthur casts Blindness on the cannon; if he is successful the first time, he then forecasts more Electrified weather, otherwise he casts Lightning at the cannon.