27 Lage 4385: Planning, Part 2

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

Mirhandrax's brow-whiskers splayed. "Mewellicaps and Khtsoyis. Both fliers," he rumbled. "And none of us are."

Purrzhon twitched his tail. "I have the enchantment to fix that."

The Gormorror shook his head. "Levitation is not flight."

"I am not saying I have the Levitation enchantment." Purrzhon's tail thumped against the table.

Mirhandrax inclined his head in deference. "What kind of enchantment, then? Duration is ...?"

"Fly Like the Bird. Attend." 'Attend' means you need to pay attention to the spell pretty often or it stops. In theory, it means the spell can last a very long time. In practice, it's really annoying. It's like having to pause in whatever you're doing or thinking about every few seconds to tell the spell 'yes, keep doing that, just like that, thanks'.

"Power?"

"Thirty." With 'attend' spells, power determines how often you have to pay attention. Thirty is pretty good, but it's still going to be annoying.

Mirhandrax was frowning, so I guess he felt the same way. "Still a significant handicap against those who are born to it. Flying is a skill. Fighting while flying, especially so." I've attended to spells while fighting before. YUCK. It's not as bad as trying to concentrate on a spell while fighting (DOUBLE YUCK) but ... yes, it's something that slows you down at a time when you really don't want to be slowed down.

Purrzhon's tail thumped against the table again. "The plan is not to fight them in the air. The plan is to fight them on the ground. The people they are bullying do not fly and they are coming to their level to bully. Their lair too is built for Cani."

Mirhandrax spread his hands and looked about as inoffensive as it's possible for a Gormorror the size of a hillock to look. "In my experience, it's not the stuff you were planning on doing that gets you killed."

So tomorrow morning we're going topside on the airship and practice flying for a while. I've never used an actual flight spell before! I bet it'll be fun.

After that was settled, Trust ventured to ask, "Why does your Duke allow this? Can't you just ask the Guard to stop them? ♥" Yes, Trust talks to even Purrzhon like they're best friends.

Purrzhon snorted, flicking an ear back. "If I ask the Guard to stop them, the Guard tell me, 'you go live in the city, you do not have these problems again'. I am not living in the city. I am not the interested in living in the city. The Duke, he does not care what happens in the mene."

Which I'm sure isn't true or at least it's not true of Vheshrame's duke and I doubt it's true of Ulmarn's either. Still -- "There's just too much open space in the Mene," I said to Trust, patting his hand. "The Guard can't enforce order on all of it. They can't even keep monsters out of it. They sure can't stop Primes who're only acting like monsters."

"And consorting with monsters," Mirhandrax rumbled. "You said there might be Primes besides the Khtsoyis and Cani. Might there be monsters besides the Mewellicaps?" he asked Purrzhon.

Purrzhon shrugged. "Perhaps. I am not hearing of any other monsters with them, and am doubting they have any especially dangerous allies. The rumors of the deadly ones always are loudest."

Nightbloom asked, "How did you find out where their base is? Was that rumor, too?"

The Sleeth shook his feline head. "No. The second time they come, I bring one back after he dies and make him tell me where they are from."

"How do you know they're still there? Wouldn't he tell his friends after you let him go? ♥" Trust asked.

Purrzhon gave a fangy smile. "When do I say I let him go?"

Trust tucked his tail under the chair and closed his mouth. Mirhandrax looked disapproving but he didn't say 'You are not a good person and I am not going to help you after all' so I guess that was all right.

We talked mechanics for a while after that: what spells we could cast and what we could bind and what we wanted bound and what our specialties were etc., etc. Imagine Mirhandrax and Purrzhon going on about how the flight spell work only twenty more times to cover every other pattern spell available. This is the boooooring part of adventuring. I tried to pay attention to it because of course it's important and all but YAWN.

But Mirhandrax was as keen as a Rassimel about it and several times more patient. He even took notes. Which I could have done since I started writing up my day while they were still talking but I was too bored by then to think of it. Purrzhon was kind of annoyed by all the questions. He kept bristling like he was going to claw Mirhandrax for trying to give Purrzhon orders. But Mirhandrax was very carefully not ordering anyone. Mirhandrax had this way of backing down without actually giving up on the question. I'm not exactly sure how he did it, not even after I wrote about him doing it with the flight thing.

I'm pretty sure Trust has decided Mirhandrax has affan even though Purrzhon's technically our employer. Purrzhon doesn't actually want to be in charge anyway, he just doesn't want anyone else to be in charge of him.

So anyway lots more talking and then some spellbinding and a promise that we'd all get up at dawn and use the rest of our cley up binding more spells for each other. We didn't use it all up before bed just in case we get attacked in the night by ulgrane or something.

Then we all went to sleep. Except me. I stayed up way too late writing alllll about my day. Maybe they'll let me go back to sleep after I bind spells at dawn. Tired now, sleeping.

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I thought flying spells weren't as annoying to attend as, like, elemental summoning spells or whatever, because whenever you move the spell thinks that you're attending to it? So it's only if you're hovering the same place for a while that you have to take time out specifically to attend it?

...I've never actually used one either, though.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I've never used on either but I'll let you know after I do which'll be later today because it's dawn and I just finished binding spells and I'm going back to sleep now. All right I'll finish answering the others and /then/ I'll go back to sleep. z.z

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

So did you manage to get a good amount sleep since this? Taking notes on what your companions can do and such is a good idea.

Also, do you have a set of combat hand signals figured out?

Here is a link to an image of one set for a VERY SPECIALIZED type of close quarters combat hand signals from my world, made to be done silently...

http://www.lefande.com/hands.html

What do you think?

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

By the way, these signals are often parodied in my culture... is anything about, uh, adventuring methods parodied much in your culture?

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! Stories make fun of adventurers learning quickly for example like the Farmgirl who becomes the Master TreeMage after one fight with a scawn.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I don't think they have enough time to drill on hand signals until they're more useful than just talking or general miming?

Sleeth have a whole silent language that adventurers sometimes use, I think? I don't know if any of them know it other than Purrzhon though.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Well, what do adventurers that adventure often really drill for?

Combat maneuvers? Formation fighting? combined spell use? melee fighting? Adventurers that are serious about adventuring DO drill, right?

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

The really serious ones probably do... otherwise it's kind of a waste of time because you have a spend a month drilling to replace a single incident's worth of adventuring experience. By which I mean 'swinging a sword at a monster once', say.

Hmm, if they already count as being on an adventure, maybe they *could* learn a new hand-signal language really fast.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

Most drilling is boring like that just for that reason yes but I think this is an adventure already so I'm hoping I can pick stuff up fast!

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

Mooooostly when I'm training with new (to me) adventurers what we do is figure out how to work together and what moves we can use to back each other up and what our strengths and weaknesses are. Because those things are different with every group and knowing how to do it with your last group doesn't help so much with your current one.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I don't know any myself but I'm going on an adventure with a Sleeth now so this'll be a GREAT time to learn!

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

Ohh that's a good idea I don't know what we'd need to say most though I'll talk to Mirhandrax about it thanks!

Although it'll be kind of tricky to arrange because we don't all have hands maybe Purrzhon knows some we could use.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe Purrzhon means that prisoners will be turned over to the Guard for trial! But I doubt that these bandits would have nicely let Purrzhon live if they had beaten him and his friends in a fight, there would have been too much chance that he would simply have brought more friends and sought revenge, and he has already proven quite dangerous. So in a way, it is self-defense.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh I didn't even think that he might've meant something like giving the prisoner to the Guard or selling him as indentured servant or something. But I was thinking that well they /were/ trying to kill him and yes I don't really blame him for not letting them go after that. Or even for torturing them a little. You have to make your own justice in the Mene the Guard can't do it for you and that means that being too nice can get you killed. Permanently. :(

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of ways of defeating fliers. I know. I have been defeated by all of them.