Oh yeah sure. The hard decisions about how to do combat everyone's like: "Oh lets be nice..." but it falls to me to come up with some kind of plan, and then the moment there's something peaceful and easy to resolve... Cynric blows 900 mana and manages to further piss off the mother of his apprentice. This is why we can't have nice battle plans. Everyone likes using up the mana out of combat
I know it likely won't win as other things have been voted on enough already but all the same...
[X] Persuasion Challenge
-[X] Tell Quelana: "If you could wait just a moment, I would like to speak with you after this discussion"
-[X] Tell Louise: "If you wish to remain with me, and continue to learn magic, I would be happy to teach you. We will continue to explore this land, unlock the mysteries of the bonfires," he wiggles his eyebrows (thinking to remind her of how she'd grown herself), "and perhaps learn of the magics of this realm. Then... Well, there are infinite worlds to choose from, and we could set up our little nexus of world-gates in your family estate, so that you can return to visit your parents and sister when you desire to."
-[X] To Louise's Mom: "I shall strive to be nice to you this once despite your disrespect, as you are the mother of my apprentice, but do not try my patience. With some assistance from your daughter, I crushed Londinium beneath my boot heels, and decapitated the fled leadership of the rebellion in Albion. A civil war that likely would have run for years to come, should be easily wrapped up in a matter of months if the noble forces have a halfway competent leader.
"I have broken the barrier between worlds, and can travel between dimensions as I desire. As you can see, this place - Lordran I believe it is called - is far different from the land from whence you hail. Where I come from, elves are revered as masters of magic, and while there is some elven blood in my lineage, I am far more man than mer - and my elven ancestors were far different from the savage elves of your realm.
"The people at your academy spent how long training my apprentice in the ways of magic? How long was she tutored before she arrived at the academy? How successful were those lessons? As you may have heard from your husband and your other daughter, since I met her, which was hardly a long time ago, I have taught her how to use magic successfully - and to use it far more effectively than any of the mages we fought in Londinium or Cheddar.
"Now, I realize that as your daughter she has spent a far longer time looking up to you than she has me, but if you take her back to your home, and send her to the academy, the likely result will be that at best she is forced to continue training in the magic that you people believe to be the only way, and return to blowing everything up... And at worst, she will be shunned, ridiculed, or possibly even executed for the 'heresy' of using magic without a wand - or possibly killed by someone jealous of her abilities. While in schoo
"If you truly think that the academy would be a better place for her to master her magical and martial abilities than with me, I would call you a fool. If you believe that it would be better to sacrifice her own personal strength so that she can marry into a good family and be a good little housewife who can't accomplish anything worthwhile on her own, I would call you a hypocrite. I could continue on with this, but I'll cut it short.
"My apprentice, Louise, is with me voluntarily. If you order her to leave, I expect she will obey you at least temporarily, as you are her mother and she is likely afraid to disobey you. That said, you will almost certainly upset her in doing so, and if you continue to try to restrain her to whoever her betrothed is, or the academy of morons, I suspect that you will earn her resentment. One of the harder things, I'm told, for a parent to do - is to allow their child to spread their wings and do as they desire.
"Let Louise decide what it is she wants to do. Don't tell her what she must do, don't tell her that she'll be punished or that you'll be disappointed or that she should or should not do one thing or another... Simply lay out what her options are... I believe they are:
1) Continuing to travel with me, and learn from me as a master of magic
2) Returning to the academy
3) Marrying her betrothed
"If there's anything else, feel free to mention it... But let her choose, and accept her choice. I suspect that if you do not, you'll find her running away from home once again... Lacking a guardian, this time."
Hmmm.... dost thou tempt fate with thine aspersions?