- Location
- St. Petersburg
For now, there is no vote on my part. I voted for yinko's last time, but this is not currently in effect.
You should limit the count to 'since last threadmark'.
A Conjuror's journey
You should limit the count to 'since last threadmark'.
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
I do and I'm pretty sure I did that time as well, but retrying doesn't create the same issue, so I don't even know anymore. Meh, whatever. So no vote, got it.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Well, we have two goals here. Make the mines unworkable and destroy the existing supplies or otherwise preclude them falling in the rebel hands. Unlike the last time, where the zombie army was used to break the defenders' morale and legs both, there is no strategic benefit to killing everyone here. It's just us doing it for the lulz, and a joke repeated several times stops being funny. That's why I am not in favor of heading there.
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- Location
- US
The mines are under the city, and are the default evacuation shelter, is there anyway to make them unworkable over the long term that doesn't also kill everybody?
- Location
- St. Petersburg
'Long term' is 'the end of the war', which should not be far away if we break their military strength or exterminate the leadership. It would probably benefit us if the mines are left recoverable, since we expressed interest in the products the local smiths make.
For the moment, why would flooding not work? I thought that was one of the ideas behind the previous vote?
What does being an evacuation shelter have to do with anything? Why would they need to evacuate if we don't sack the city?
For the moment, why would flooding not work? I thought that was one of the ideas behind the previous vote?
What does being an evacuation shelter have to do with anything? Why would they need to evacuate if we don't sack the city?
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PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
Yay, discussion!
I'll hold off on writing for a bit so you can work out any last minute adjustments if necessary.
I'll hold off on writing for a bit so you can work out any last minute adjustments if necessary.
- Location
- US
Albion has very little relation to either us or Louise, they're a means to an end, so their well-being isn't very important after we leave. The local production is hardly unique, but I can see how flooding would be viable as well, just need to made the river drain into the mines.
I guess I'll change my vote.
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
Well, unless more people vote, the change will probably be pointless due to archangis and Blueshift voting for the full on slaughter plan. This is a good example of your issue with the task type vote.
The only way I could see fixing it is to either not do tasks or require bandwagon votes to be [] username
The only way I could see fixing it is to either not do tasks or require bandwagon votes to be [] username
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- Location
- St. Petersburg
Well, for one, we can leave the mines in a state of a (man-made) disaster, then offer our services to fix the problem later. That would allow us to serve our needs at present and reap the rewards later. Maybe have them commission something for us as payment.
Naturally, we can just take what we need by force, but I much prefer the role of a swindler than of a thug. Plus it spreads the good word about us! As long as our connection to the disaster isn't revealed, that is.
Edit: I'll vote for whatever you come up with. If your vote does not change, this won't make a difference, and if it does change, I won't have to come back and vote again.
[x] yinko
Naturally, we can just take what we need by force, but I much prefer the role of a swindler than of a thug. Plus it spreads the good word about us! As long as our connection to the disaster isn't revealed, that is.
Edit: I'll vote for whatever you come up with. If your vote does not change, this won't make a difference, and if it does change, I won't have to come back and vote again.
[x] yinko
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[x] Reassure Louise that abandoning her is the last thing you'd do. Angle it so that it comes across as a show of trust, rather than absentmindedness.
[x] These muskets are a curiosity that bears further study. This pointless war can wait a few days.
A combination of two other votes. I get why mindless slaughter all the time can be somewhat boring.
Ugh. Lemme be chaotic evil in peace.
[x] These muskets are a curiosity that bears further study. This pointless war can wait a few days.
A combination of two other votes. I get why mindless slaughter all the time can be somewhat boring.
Ugh. Lemme be chaotic evil in peace.
- Location
- Vancouver
I actually already changed mine to match the new vote.
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
That's fine, I was meaning for future voting anyway. If I do another task vote, I'll be sure to mention this requirement in the author's note so that we don't get bogged down in similar, but incompatible votes.
Into The Dark
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
"Preposterous." You say with a scoff. "Having a place to rest and retreat to in case of trouble is an important part of espionage."
Crossing her arms defiantly, Louise glares up at you. It is rather difficult to take her seriously in her frilly little nightgown. "We're at an inn, that's not very secure. Admit it, you just didn't want me around."
While true, it wasn't as if you would actually say that. "An inn is perfectly secure if no one knows you are there. Have a little faith in your master, I gave you a vital mission and you succeeded flawlessly, just as I knew you would."
Blushing now, she tries to maintain her glare. "Y-you're just saying that."
"In all the time we have spent together, have you ever known me to give unwarranted praise?" You ask as you take a seat on the one of the beds.
Turning away to hide her increasingly crimson cheeks, she huffs. "I guess not."
"Then there you have it. Now to bed with you, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow and I will leave you to guard the room if you cannot keep up." You say jokingly.
---------------------
"With that in mind, I want you to shape that effect into the Daedric runes for 'firesong' and be sure to put them in the same order that I did." You whisper as you both sneak through the ship.
Teaching Louise the Flames spell had been simple. All you had to do was her to do the opposite of Frost and the girl immediately understood. Now, after Louise recovered from her panic at your story of all the cannons being created to fight you, the two of you were going to sabotage as much of the shipments as possible.
Now, while you had heard of cannons being used by the Hammerfell navy and even seen a few protruding from the ships floating in river, the ones being loaded onto these vessels were ridiculous. The monstrously large weapons needed to be disassembled from their carriages, tilted on end, and carefully maneuvered inside before being strapped down in the center of the cargo hold. So big were these cannons, that only six would fit safely within each ship.
While you use a touch based disintegration spell on each cannon you pass, your apprentice takes the more magicka intensive task of placing a Fire Rune on the inside of each crate and underneath every third barrel. Luckily for you, each anchored ship is only maintaining a skeleton crew of the metaphorical kind, allowing you to work undisturbed.
This continues for the rest of the day, entering each ship by levitating up to it underwater and climbing through the cannon holes. After the twelfth ship, you run out of magicka and proceed to lowering the carriage axles into the river. Your apprentice appears to be fatigued after another hour of casting, so you pull her aside once you withdraw to a safe distance outside the docks.
"That is enough for today." You declare, passing the girl some of the sweets that you had gathered for your next task.
Taking the offered confectionery, Louise pops it in her mouth and nods tiredly. The two of you stroll toward the smithy from yesterday at a leuisurly pace, with you keeping an eye on the exhausted young woman. You idly wonder how many runes she placed today, but decide to let her concentrate on not passing out in the street.
Arriving at your destination, you let Louise sit down to rest as you approach the tables where the children are packing up for the evening. After a few moments, you spot the annoying child from before beaming up at you and approach with a smile. "There you are, how was your day boy?"
Frowning, the child kicks the table. "Not good. Papa got hurt last night, now I have to stay home and do boring stuff all week."
"Hmmm... maybe this will make it better?" You say, pulling out the bag of treats. In an instant, the boy stops sulking and reached out with his filthy hands. "Ah ah ah, I need something in return."
Seeing the stupid look on his face, you elaborate. "I want you to bring me one of those muskets, a small one preferably."
"Sorry, we haven't made any pistols in a long time." The child says regretfully, eyeing the bag in your hand. Seeing as how you can't hide a full sized musket on your person and being caught stealing isn't something you can afford at the moment, you put away the bag and ignore the useless child as you head back over to your apprentice.
Without a word, she hops to her feet and stumbles as she follows you back to the inn.
-----------
The next day is wasted as your apprentice remains asleep, causing you to spend that time creating a Scroll of Detection. With Mysticism being your worst type of magic, it takes you several attempts to find a working pattern and transcribe that pattern within Daedric clusters that do not conflict with one another. With Oliver Cromwell as your target, you imbue the scroll with the majority of your magicka before you go to sleep for the night.
Upon awakening, Louise seems fully recovered from her, apparently extreme, exhaustion. Giving her a sideways glance as the two of you head toward the docks, you address the girl. "Do you have any idea on why it took so long for you to recover?"
"Long?" The girl asks, receiving an expectant nod in return. "I was only asleep for a day... that's not unusual."
"Considering the fact that you should be constantly replenishing your magicka since you do not share my affliction, it is indeed unusual. Either you have, and therefore used, much more magicka than I thought or there is something preventing you from recovering properly." You say worriedly. If it's the former, she is more of a potential threat than you realized and if it's the latter, it might be contagious. "Are you ill?"
Shaking her head in denial, she replies, "I feel fine, honest. Maybe our people are just different? You do come from another world after all."
"A very good point, forget I mentioned it." You agree, though the concern is still there despite the logic of her statement. Putting that aside for now, you focus on the path ahead only to notice a distinct lack of people on the road. Increasing your pace, you hurry toward the docks, only to find that the majority of the ships are gone. "Damn!"
"What do we do now?" Louise asks, idly adjusting the cloak on her zombie.
Sighing, you turn and head back toward the city. "The only thing left is to deal with the mine."
"But the boats are already gone, why do we need to do anything more here?" Your apprentice wonders aloud as she struggles to match your stride.
"These people are supporting our enemy, Louise, We cannot allow them to maintain their current rate of production whilst we fight an increasingly dangerous foe." You explain, taking off into the air toward the inn. Upon arrival, you put the girl's pack onto the zombie and head back out into the street. "Send it North through the forest, we'll catch up once we're done here."
Following your instruction, Louise relays your orders and looks up at you expectantly. Motioning for her to remain behind you, the two of you make haste toward the nearest well. You surprise the girl by lifting her over your shoulder and jumping through the hole in the ground, causing her to shriek as you fall. After several deafening moments, Louise notices that you aren't falling very fast due to your enchanted robes and she ceases her screaming. Minutes later, you finally touch down onto a wooden basket that's half full of ore.
The men around you halt their work and a mustachioed man in a cape approaches. "What is the meaning of this?" He shouts out and draws his stick... wand. Treating him as the threat that he could be, you promptly set his wand arm ablaze with a gout of Flames and slam your staff into his jaw. Most run away, but three of the miners respond by charging the two of you with their pickaxes, but Louise hit's the lead man in the face with an Ice Spike, causing your opponents to flee.
"Now what?" Your apprentice asks, looking around the dark cavern with fearful eyes. "There could be orcs down here or w-worse."
Chuckling at her worry, you look around the intersection for a sign of which way to go before deciding on casting Clairvoyance. "I've dealt with plenty of Orcs in my time, they aren't nearly as bad as their reputation would make them out to be." You say, following the golden trail toward the river.
With an over-dramatic gulp, the girl follows after. "M-master Cynric... I... I don't think this is a good idea."
Ignoring her complaints as a loud drums begins to echo through the mine, you run past several branching tunnels full of panicked workers. half an hour later, you arrive at your destination, you look to the other end of the wide chamber to see the magical path leading directly into a moist limestone wall. "Blast that stone and let's get out of here, the rebels have had several days to prepare, I would rather they not get any more."
Obediently flicking her sword toward the wall, Louise chants a bit and the limestone crumbles, releasing a torrent of water into the tunnels. With the river being diverted underground, it's only a matter of time before the lower mines are filled and the water level rises to the surface. Rather than wait around to drown, the two of you turn and run back the way you came. Passing several of those strange ore wells, you find them all blocked off with stone slabs. Continuing toward the staircase as Louise's panic increases, you notice that the miners appear to have used the baskets to escape, though the lack of ropes and pulleys suggests that the mages needed to levitate them out.
Rounding the last corner, you come upon the exit chamber with the stairs. The room is enormous, requiring several sets of pillars to keep the vaulted ceiling from collapsing. Unfortunately, the path to the stairs appears to be blocked by- "Orcs! I told you this was a bad idea!"
Observing the four large bipeds, you agree that it could be bad, though you do feel the need to disagree. "Those are definitely not Orcs." You say calmly. "They appear much more similar to ogres, though I will admit, the green skin and tusks are quite similar to an Orc's."
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (400/650)
Choose 1:
[] Engage the at close range, using your staff to avoid their attacks.
[] Have Louise engage while you cast from a distance.
[] Attempt to flee using your staff.
[] Use Recall.
[] Write in.
Crossing her arms defiantly, Louise glares up at you. It is rather difficult to take her seriously in her frilly little nightgown. "We're at an inn, that's not very secure. Admit it, you just didn't want me around."
While true, it wasn't as if you would actually say that. "An inn is perfectly secure if no one knows you are there. Have a little faith in your master, I gave you a vital mission and you succeeded flawlessly, just as I knew you would."
Blushing now, she tries to maintain her glare. "Y-you're just saying that."
"In all the time we have spent together, have you ever known me to give unwarranted praise?" You ask as you take a seat on the one of the beds.
Turning away to hide her increasingly crimson cheeks, she huffs. "I guess not."
"Then there you have it. Now to bed with you, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow and I will leave you to guard the room if you cannot keep up." You say jokingly.
---------------------
"With that in mind, I want you to shape that effect into the Daedric runes for 'firesong' and be sure to put them in the same order that I did." You whisper as you both sneak through the ship.
Teaching Louise the Flames spell had been simple. All you had to do was her to do the opposite of Frost and the girl immediately understood. Now, after Louise recovered from her panic at your story of all the cannons being created to fight you, the two of you were going to sabotage as much of the shipments as possible.
Now, while you had heard of cannons being used by the Hammerfell navy and even seen a few protruding from the ships floating in river, the ones being loaded onto these vessels were ridiculous. The monstrously large weapons needed to be disassembled from their carriages, tilted on end, and carefully maneuvered inside before being strapped down in the center of the cargo hold. So big were these cannons, that only six would fit safely within each ship.
While you use a touch based disintegration spell on each cannon you pass, your apprentice takes the more magicka intensive task of placing a Fire Rune on the inside of each crate and underneath every third barrel. Luckily for you, each anchored ship is only maintaining a skeleton crew of the metaphorical kind, allowing you to work undisturbed.
This continues for the rest of the day, entering each ship by levitating up to it underwater and climbing through the cannon holes. After the twelfth ship, you run out of magicka and proceed to lowering the carriage axles into the river. Your apprentice appears to be fatigued after another hour of casting, so you pull her aside once you withdraw to a safe distance outside the docks.
"That is enough for today." You declare, passing the girl some of the sweets that you had gathered for your next task.
Taking the offered confectionery, Louise pops it in her mouth and nods tiredly. The two of you stroll toward the smithy from yesterday at a leuisurly pace, with you keeping an eye on the exhausted young woman. You idly wonder how many runes she placed today, but decide to let her concentrate on not passing out in the street.
Arriving at your destination, you let Louise sit down to rest as you approach the tables where the children are packing up for the evening. After a few moments, you spot the annoying child from before beaming up at you and approach with a smile. "There you are, how was your day boy?"
Frowning, the child kicks the table. "Not good. Papa got hurt last night, now I have to stay home and do boring stuff all week."
"Hmmm... maybe this will make it better?" You say, pulling out the bag of treats. In an instant, the boy stops sulking and reached out with his filthy hands. "Ah ah ah, I need something in return."
Seeing the stupid look on his face, you elaborate. "I want you to bring me one of those muskets, a small one preferably."
"Sorry, we haven't made any pistols in a long time." The child says regretfully, eyeing the bag in your hand. Seeing as how you can't hide a full sized musket on your person and being caught stealing isn't something you can afford at the moment, you put away the bag and ignore the useless child as you head back over to your apprentice.
Without a word, she hops to her feet and stumbles as she follows you back to the inn.
-----------
The next day is wasted as your apprentice remains asleep, causing you to spend that time creating a Scroll of Detection. With Mysticism being your worst type of magic, it takes you several attempts to find a working pattern and transcribe that pattern within Daedric clusters that do not conflict with one another. With Oliver Cromwell as your target, you imbue the scroll with the majority of your magicka before you go to sleep for the night.
Upon awakening, Louise seems fully recovered from her, apparently extreme, exhaustion. Giving her a sideways glance as the two of you head toward the docks, you address the girl. "Do you have any idea on why it took so long for you to recover?"
"Long?" The girl asks, receiving an expectant nod in return. "I was only asleep for a day... that's not unusual."
"Considering the fact that you should be constantly replenishing your magicka since you do not share my affliction, it is indeed unusual. Either you have, and therefore used, much more magicka than I thought or there is something preventing you from recovering properly." You say worriedly. If it's the former, she is more of a potential threat than you realized and if it's the latter, it might be contagious. "Are you ill?"
Shaking her head in denial, she replies, "I feel fine, honest. Maybe our people are just different? You do come from another world after all."
"A very good point, forget I mentioned it." You agree, though the concern is still there despite the logic of her statement. Putting that aside for now, you focus on the path ahead only to notice a distinct lack of people on the road. Increasing your pace, you hurry toward the docks, only to find that the majority of the ships are gone. "Damn!"
"What do we do now?" Louise asks, idly adjusting the cloak on her zombie.
Sighing, you turn and head back toward the city. "The only thing left is to deal with the mine."
"But the boats are already gone, why do we need to do anything more here?" Your apprentice wonders aloud as she struggles to match your stride.
"These people are supporting our enemy, Louise, We cannot allow them to maintain their current rate of production whilst we fight an increasingly dangerous foe." You explain, taking off into the air toward the inn. Upon arrival, you put the girl's pack onto the zombie and head back out into the street. "Send it North through the forest, we'll catch up once we're done here."
Following your instruction, Louise relays your orders and looks up at you expectantly. Motioning for her to remain behind you, the two of you make haste toward the nearest well. You surprise the girl by lifting her over your shoulder and jumping through the hole in the ground, causing her to shriek as you fall. After several deafening moments, Louise notices that you aren't falling very fast due to your enchanted robes and she ceases her screaming. Minutes later, you finally touch down onto a wooden basket that's half full of ore.
The men around you halt their work and a mustachioed man in a cape approaches. "What is the meaning of this?" He shouts out and draws his stick... wand. Treating him as the threat that he could be, you promptly set his wand arm ablaze with a gout of Flames and slam your staff into his jaw. Most run away, but three of the miners respond by charging the two of you with their pickaxes, but Louise hit's the lead man in the face with an Ice Spike, causing your opponents to flee.
"Now what?" Your apprentice asks, looking around the dark cavern with fearful eyes. "There could be orcs down here or w-worse."
Chuckling at her worry, you look around the intersection for a sign of which way to go before deciding on casting Clairvoyance. "I've dealt with plenty of Orcs in my time, they aren't nearly as bad as their reputation would make them out to be." You say, following the golden trail toward the river.
With an over-dramatic gulp, the girl follows after. "M-master Cynric... I... I don't think this is a good idea."
Ignoring her complaints as a loud drums begins to echo through the mine, you run past several branching tunnels full of panicked workers. half an hour later, you arrive at your destination, you look to the other end of the wide chamber to see the magical path leading directly into a moist limestone wall. "Blast that stone and let's get out of here, the rebels have had several days to prepare, I would rather they not get any more."
Obediently flicking her sword toward the wall, Louise chants a bit and the limestone crumbles, releasing a torrent of water into the tunnels. With the river being diverted underground, it's only a matter of time before the lower mines are filled and the water level rises to the surface. Rather than wait around to drown, the two of you turn and run back the way you came. Passing several of those strange ore wells, you find them all blocked off with stone slabs. Continuing toward the staircase as Louise's panic increases, you notice that the miners appear to have used the baskets to escape, though the lack of ropes and pulleys suggests that the mages needed to levitate them out.
Rounding the last corner, you come upon the exit chamber with the stairs. The room is enormous, requiring several sets of pillars to keep the vaulted ceiling from collapsing. Unfortunately, the path to the stairs appears to be blocked by- "Orcs! I told you this was a bad idea!"
Observing the four large bipeds, you agree that it could be bad, though you do feel the need to disagree. "Those are definitely not Orcs." You say calmly. "They appear much more similar to ogres, though I will admit, the green skin and tusks are quite similar to an Orc's."
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (400/650)
Choose 1:
[] Engage the at close range, using your staff to avoid their attacks.
[] Louise can provide spellfire from a distance.
[] Have Louise engage while you cast from a distance.
[] Spell Write in
[] Attempt to flee using your staff.
[] steal Louise's cloak to prevent her from following, a distraction could save your life.
[] Use Recall.
[] Write in.
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- Location
- florida
I believe in you louse! This is just a teeeesssstttttt...!
[X] next time a native tells you to beware of horrible murder beasts listen to them. Even if they call them unbelievably stupid like fluffy bunnies or something.
-[X] Attempt to flee using your staff. Reflect later.
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PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
So you vote to stand there and reflect on your mistakes?
- Location
- US
[x] Plan: Heroic Sacrifice
-[x] Cast / have Louise cast Invisibility on herself and send her for the exit. She's small and more agile, so she stands a better chance of breaking through
-[x] "Fly, you fool! I'll distract them!"
-[x] As soon as she reaches the exit, cast Recall
-[x] Cave in the entrance and let the ogres drown
-[x] Heroic sacrifices are stupid and any mage should know better
-[x] Cast / have Louise cast Invisibility on herself and send her for the exit. She's small and more agile, so she stands a better chance of breaking through
-[x] "Fly, you fool! I'll distract them!"
-[x] As soon as she reaches the exit, cast Recall
-[x] Cave in the entrance and let the ogres drown
-[x] Heroic sacrifices are stupid and any mage should know better
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- Location
- Does it actually matter what I put here?
[x] Plan: Heroic Sacrifice
-[x] Cast / have Louise cast Invisibility on herself and send her for the exit. She's small and more agile, so she stands a better chance of breaking through
-[x] "Fly, you fool! I'll distract them!"
-[x] As soon as she reaches the exit, cast Recall
-[x] Cave in the entrance and let the ogres drown
-[x] Heroic sacrifices are stupid and any mage should know better
-[x] Cast / have Louise cast Invisibility on herself and send her for the exit. She's small and more agile, so she stands a better chance of breaking through
-[x] "Fly, you fool! I'll distract them!"
-[x] As soon as she reaches the exit, cast Recall
-[x] Cave in the entrance and let the ogres drown
-[x] Heroic sacrifices are stupid and any mage should know better
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PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
The staircase has a ceiling, being a mineshaft, so no.
Edit: you'll also need to choose the defensive spell you want.
Mages and knights and everyone else are as 'squishy' as any other of their race. Cynric is a Breton which means he is essentially a real world human in terms of durability. I'm running this more off of logic than mechanics. Ergo, things like punching a dragon will simply get your arm bitten off.
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[X] next time a native tells you to beware of horrible murder beasts listen to them. Even if they call them unbelievably stupid like fluffy bunnies or something.
-[X] Or at least envisage the possibility they might be right.
-[X] Attempt to flee using your staff. Reflect later.
The plan was solid but not egotistic enough to be IC.
-[X] Or at least envisage the possibility they might be right.
-[X] Attempt to flee using your staff. Reflect later.
The plan was solid but not egotistic enough to be IC.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
...Is invisibility an option? I see no reason to take the engagement if we can avoid it. And if we can trap these guys here alone with the water, we'll clear out the mines just the same.
We do have the spell!
- Location
- Vancouver
Edit: Wait she can do that too can't she? Whoops. In any case, there's still a chance they could bump into us or break the effect before we escape (it's implied the area is kinda cramped). I'm sticking with the whirlwind cloak
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- Location
- Boston
I haven't said anything here before, but hello!
Also, question - is there any way for us to tell what "level" creatures and NPCs would be? Asking mainly because in Skyrim a lot of illusion spells [such as Fury or Frenzy] have higher costs and respectively higher level targets they can affect. I seem to recall it being basically "if level X or lower, works 100% otherwise works 0%".
Since I am unaware of the correct answer to that, I'm going to skip for now, and instead suggest:
[X] Plan Free the Flames
-[X] Summon an *unbound* Flame Atronach (as close to the orcs as possible, and facing their direction) [Magicka cost: 37.5]
-[X] Cast Fury on one of the "orcs" towards the back - if Cynric believes it has a chance of success [Magicka cost: 67 or less]
-[X] Backpedal rapidly as casting, watch from around the corner and see what happens. Possibly have Louise assist the losing party with Frost Spikes.
In theory, combat will happen... Hopefully they can kill/harm each other, and then Cynric/Louise can push through whatever remains of either party. Regardless, it won't take long to get started, see how thing are going, and its cost caps out at 105 mana [assuming we cast the illusion spell and have no methods of reducing such a low tier spell's cost].
Also, question - is there any way for us to tell what "level" creatures and NPCs would be? Asking mainly because in Skyrim a lot of illusion spells [such as Fury or Frenzy] have higher costs and respectively higher level targets they can affect. I seem to recall it being basically "if level X or lower, works 100% otherwise works 0%".
Since I am unaware of the correct answer to that, I'm going to skip for now, and instead suggest:
[X] Plan Free the Flames
-[X] Summon an *unbound* Flame Atronach (as close to the orcs as possible, and facing their direction) [Magicka cost: 37.5]
-[X] Cast Fury on one of the "orcs" towards the back - if Cynric believes it has a chance of success [Magicka cost: 67 or less]
-[X] Backpedal rapidly as casting, watch from around the corner and see what happens. Possibly have Louise assist the losing party with Frost Spikes.
In theory, combat will happen... Hopefully they can kill/harm each other, and then Cynric/Louise can push through whatever remains of either party. Regardless, it won't take long to get started, see how thing are going, and its cost caps out at 105 mana [assuming we cast the illusion spell and have no methods of reducing such a low tier spell's cost].