[x] Pistol (-30 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 15 shots) You aren't trained either
[x] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[x] No
[x] Use Spell
-[x] Random Access Knowledge: Spend 500 mana to gain a random piece of knowledge related to the task at hand, gives a +20 to any roll, in combat and out. If used for an attack or defense roll it makes you competent in that weapon for the round it is used too.
--[x] Attack roll
Now that we have established we know how to pirate, it's time to establish that we know how to shoot.
The spell should offset the -30 penalty. But does it give a +20 bonus on top of that?
It removes the further -20 given to weapons you aren't trained with, it doesn't affect the inherent -30. It does however still apply its +20, which means the end bonus is only -10, which Ambitious Goals then offsets.
So with RAK and AG, you remove the whole penalty from the gun currently.
[x] Pistol (-30 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 15 shots) You aren't trained either
[x] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[x] No
[x] Use Spell
-[x] Random Access Knowledge: Spend 500 mana to gain a random piece of knowledge related to the task at hand, gives a +20 to any roll, in combat and out. If used for an attack or defense roll it makes you competent in that weapon for the round it is used too.
--[x] Attack roll
[x] Pistol (-30 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 15 shots) You aren't trained either
[x] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[x] No
[x] Use Spell
-[x] Random Access Knowledge: Spend 500 mana to gain a random piece of knowledge related to the task at hand, gives a +20 to any roll, in combat and out. If used for an attack or defense roll it makes you competent in that weapon for the round it is used too.
--[x] Attack roll
Adhoc vote count started by Jhin Lemon on Sep 20, 2018 at 4:38 AM, finished with 726 posts and 4 votes.
[x] Pistol (-30 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 15 shots) You aren't trained either
[x] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] No
[x] Use Spell
-[x] Random Access Knowledge: Spend 500 mana to gain a random piece of knowledge related to the task at hand, gives a +20 to any roll, in combat and out. If used for an attack or defense roll it makes you competent in that weapon for the round it is used too.
--[x] Attack roll
Winning votes:
[w] Pistol (-30 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 15 shots) You aren't trained either
[w] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[w] No
[x] Use Spell
-[x] Random Access Knowledge: Spend 500 mana to gain a random piece of knowledge related to the task at hand, gives a +20 to any roll, in combat and out. If used for an attack or defense roll it makes you competent in that weapon for the round it is used too.
--[x] Attack roll
You sheathe your rapier as a different idea comes to mind. This proves to be a mistake as the mage launches a thin stream of electricity at you. You try to dodge by twisting away from it, only for it to arc towards you. A jolt goes through you, painful stinging encompasses your body.
In a few seconds you recover from the shock, it seems the attack was relatively low in power. So you begin to enact your plan. You take out the gun you had gotten, a gun you don't know how to use. Then you call upon Knowledge, and suddenly you just know how to aim it, as if you've trained and practiced with it before quite excessively.
You can see what's about to happen in your mind. You'll raise the gun at him, he'll try to shock you again, you'll fire, the shot will hit and his spell will disrupt. He'll hunch over from the impact, half-disrupted spell going off and hurting him further. From there Jocelyn cuts at one arm with a knife and hits his head with the handle of the other. He'll go down from that alone, it'll actually be somewhat disappointing.
And just like that, it happens. It's almost like watching a recording. Your body moves by itself into the position you'd imagined. The mage's hand comes up as yours does. You're quicker on the draw, and so is the bullet. A loud bang reverberates as it passes through his robes like they're nothing, lodging itself somewhere in his abdomen. The shot pushes him back slightly as it hits, and just like you predicted, the lightning that was arcing your way dissipates. His hand still has some arcing around the fingers as he presses it against the wound though.
You flinch as he lets out a scream, only for it to be cut off before it gets too loud by a blow to the head from Jocelyn. She didn't cut his arm like you'd predicted, but everything else followed the path you'd imagined perfectly. You feel powerful. With almost everything following your plan like that - short as it was - it was almost like you could control the future. Well, you were - or rather, are - a goddess. And this felt like it was one of your weaker abilities!
Then you try to take a step forward to help Jocelyn with the mage, only to fall flat on your face. You - did your feet not move? You look down at your legs, they seem to be bound to around the area where you were standing. Thank, er, a god other than yourself that they weren't physically locked in exactly that place, you might have broken your feet when you fell if that was the case.
This is a problem though, if you can't move from here, that means you'll get found, and with the loudness of the gun you used, someone probably heard that. This was bad. And the situation was made worse by the fact Jocelyn was looking at you in a way that was just dripping with disapproval. Hey! It worked! Wait, she can't hear your thoughts. You may have grown too accustomed to head-voices.
Y'know, the spell the mage used was actually pretty clever, with you bound in place you aren't much of a threat (hard to see gun notwithstanding), and then he'd be able to do the same to Jocelyn and then call for guards at his leisure with neither of you able to get away or do much with mostly melee weapons.
...Eshani, now is not the time to be mentally complimenting this guy, now is the time to figure out how to get away. Though as it turns out, the spell doesn't last very long, your internal monologue took up enough time that it wore off. That explains him trying to hit you with it twice.
Now fully capable of movement again, you stand up and walk over to Jocelyn. Her disapproval has not faded, if anything it's worse now.
"Eshani why would you fire a gun on a mission where we need stealth?" she whispers loudly.
"I thought it'd be better to end the fight quickly before he could raise some sort of alarm. It worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, only you raised the alarm for her."
You shrink back at that. The power-trip from just a minute ago now well and truly crushed.
"So, uh, what do we do with him?" you ask, trying to change the topic.
"Well, we can just leave her here and hope she won't wake up; or we could tie her up and try to hide her somewhere to make it harder for her to get back into the action; or we could try to take her with us, but that's really risky, in more ways than one; as for the final option…"
Jocelyn brandishes her knife.
"Jocelyn, no!" you yell in a whisper.
She looks at you confused, "You were using a gun, those aren't the most non-lethal weapon."
"M-my rapier isn't much better!"
"Okay, point taken. Outside of that then, what do you think we should do with her?"
Then a specific part of Jocelyn's speech hits you.
"Wait, 'her'?"
"Yes, she's a girl." Jocelyn tilts her head at you.
"I-it's hard to tell with hi-her robes," you stammer as your face flushes.
Jocelyn closes her eyes and sighs, "Is now really the best time for this?"
You freeze. "No..." you eventually reply.
What will you do with the mage?
[] Just leave her there (You'll get back quickly with the least chance of being found, but you'll have to finish anything left quickly before the mage recovers)
[] Hide her (You'll have to take some time hiding her somewhere, which increases the chance of being spotted, but it also means you'll have more time before you need to worry about the mage again)
[] Take her with you (High chance of being found carrying her, but if you get away she won't be a problem in the fight any more at all) [] Kill her
Eshani kinda hasn't really fought people before, so she's a little unsure of killing actual people currently. She didn't go into this with much more of a plan than "stop the mage from teleporting people onto our ship so our side doesn't get overwhelmed and flanked"
As for getting back, you and Jocelyn got onto the pirate ship before without being seen, didn't you?
'Before it gets too loud', eh?
Stealth mission habits are hard to get rid of.
[ ] Take her with you (High chance of being found carrying her, but if you get away she won't be a problem in the fight any more at all)
Are going to make it all the way across their ship? Nevermind that, across that plank? While carrying her? Can anyone say 'oops, my hand slipped'?
Maybe the better plan is to wake her up and intimidate her into teleporting the three of us out. Using Random Access Knowledge and Ambition Manipulation and Jocelyn's scary look to add +35 to our roll to convince them.
[ ] Random Access Knowledge
-[ ] Hiding
We have premonition, should be useful for avoiding capture, if only by knowing what to avoid, and when.
Have we completed our current goal of stopping the mage? Should we be thinking of new ones?
[x] Plan: I want off this wild ride
-[ ] Hide! You don't want to be interrupted if a wild pirate appears!
-[ ] Set up an Ambition Link (150 mana) for Ambition Manipulation
-[ ] Wake the girl up
-[ ] Cast Ambition Manipulation (2 AP)
-[ ] Cast Random Access Knowledge (500 mana)
-[ ] Cajole/Intimidate her into transporting you out via a teleportation circle
-[ ] Take her with you
[X] Plan: I want off this wild ride
-[ ] Hide! You don't want to be interrupted if a wild pirate appears!
-[ ] Set up an Ambition Link (150 mana) for Ambition Manipulation
-[ ] Wake the girl up
-[ ] Cast Ambition Manipulation (2 AP)
-[ ] Cast Random Access Knowledge (500 mana)
-[ ] Cajole/Intimidate her into transporting you out via a teleportation circle
-[ ] Take her with you
-[ ] Hide! You don't want to be interrupted if a wild pirate appears!
-[ ] Set up an Ambition Link (150 mana) for Ambition Manipulation
-[ ] Wake the girl up
-[ ] Cast Ambition Manipulation (2 AP)
-[ ] Cast Random Access Knowledge (500 mana)
-[ ] Cajole/Intimidate her into transporting you out via a teleportation circle
-[ ] Take her with you
Welp. I guess we're looting waifus now. First step to pirate queen?
[X] Just leave her there (You'll get back quickly with the least chance of being found, but you'll have to finish anything left quickly before the mage recovers)
[X] Just leave her there (You'll get back quickly with the least chance of being found, but you'll have to finish anything left quickly before the mage recovers)
Winning votes:
[w] Plan: I want off this wild ride
-[ ] Hide! You don't want to be interrupted if a wild pirate appears!
-[ ] Set up an Ambition Link (150 mana) for Ambition Manipulation
-[ ] Wake the girl up
-[ ] Cast Ambition Manipulation (2 AP)
-[ ] Cast Random Access Knowledge (500 mana)
-[ ] Cajole/Intimidate her into transporting you out via a teleportation circle
-[ ] Take her with you
Evading pirates = 72, Passing Roll = 40+, Pass
Diplomacy = 37+10+15+20+20=102, Passing Roll = 80+, Pass
"I have a different idea," you tell Jocelyn, "Help me with her."
You and Jocelyn each grab one of the mage's arms and lift her up. Carrying her between you, you quickly make your way out the room and down the hallway with the unconscious guard. Then, instead of heading back out, you go back down to the armoury you left your things in. Which turns out to be a very good idea as you spot some pirates heading down the stairs and towards the hallway you'd just been down.
A little worried carrying later and you're back in the armoury, it doesn't look like anything's changed since you left. Phew, that pirate is still unconscious. Things would have been slightly awkward if she'd woken up...
After grabbing your clothes, you move to the engine room (you think), just in case the non-magical pirate decides to wake up.
"Okay, so what's this idea?" Jocelyn asks as the two of you lean the mage against the wall.
"Well, instead of trying to sneak across the deck and across the planks without someone seeing us carrying the mage, or just leaving her to wake up, we convince her to teleport us all to our ship."
"You know that means we need to walk back to the room with the circle, right?"
"Well, by the time we wake her up and convince her, they'll probably have left to search somewhere else, or we could make a circle here."
"A. Yeah, they'll be searching around here. B. With what?"
"Uh..." Having a conversation in A and B branches is going to be complicated, "A. They'll check rooms, we can sneak past while they do. B. There's...probably something we could find maybe?"
"Let's go with the sneaking plan," she says drily, "I have to admit 'probably something we could find maybe' doesn't fill me with confidence." She even does air quotes. At least there's no conversation branches anymore.
The next few minutes are spent concentrating on your power. You can feel the glow inside her. It'd be delicious.
All of a sudden, you feel it all the more closely. You could do whatever you want with it now, move it, change it, take it. But what you need is the second one. Hi by the way.
"So how do you want to handle this?" Jocelyn asks as she stares at the still-unconscious mage. I suggest the third option actually.
"Good cop, bad cop?" you suggest. Yeah, you can't hear me.
"You really haven't thought this convincing thing through, have you?" Thought I'd say it just in case.
"Look, we've made it this far, work with me." Oh? Who's this?
She narrows her eyes, "Are you a director?" My, she's absolutely
"You know what I mean!" you shout-whisper. She smirks in response. Delicious!
"Alright, you did get us this far after all."
Jocelyn taps the girl's head to wake her up. While she does that, you try to get some Knowledge that might help. Wait, what are you doing?
Information on talking to people fills your mind. Not only that but information of people's reactions. How to tell if someone is lying, how to tell if your tactic is working, and how to tell if you're only making them want to resist you more. No, stop!
Then she wakes up, and you make use of your link. Her Ambitions are like clay, being shaped by you to get what you need; they'll return to normal when you're done. You make her want to be a little more free, no longer content with just being the mage of the pirate crew. It's only minor, but it'll be enough. This is bad,
She blinks and stares at you. "What do you want?" she asks roughly. I know you can't hear me.
"We just want to get back to our own ship," you say. But don't use that Knowledge again.
"And?" she asks.
"You're our prisoner," Jocelyn points out in a low tone.
"Why does that mean I help you?"
"Let's just say we don't care if our prisoner is a little hurt or not when we get back," Jocelyn replies dangerously.
"We just want to be free," you say.
She shrinks a little at Jocelyn comment, but perks up at your own.
"W-well, some freedom would be nice,"
"Exactly!" You cheer, "if you help us we can all be free and no one needs to get hurt."
"I can't just abandon everyone here,"
"Why not?" Jocelyn asks, "You think they really care about you, other than your magic?"
The mage goes quiet at that for a moment.
"You're...right," she sighs, "they- I- Nevermind, let's just go."
"Wait," Jocelyn puts a hand on your shoulder to stop you as you go to help the girl up, "how do we know you aren't going to just give us away?"
"If I wanted to do that I have magic I could use from here."
Jocelyn gives her a hesitant look, but lifts her hand off you. The three of you look out the door. The hallway looks clear, so you all hurry back down it. As you walk quickly, you hear the sounds of pirates searching through some of the rooms on either side of you, but no one pokes a head out as you pass.
Soon, you're back in the mage's room. She runs over the circle to her book.
"Damn it, they moved it. Now I lost my page,"
"Really?" Jocelyn asks as she crosses her arms.
"It's the little things, stuff like this is why I'm going with you after all."
"Point made," Jocelyn responds as she uncrosses her arms, "let's just get out of here."
The girl in black robes stands in the middle of the circle and makes gestures much like the ones that woman that got you onto the ship in the first place had made, but they also seem a little different, subtly jerkier and rougher. You guess it's a different kind of teleportation spell than the other one.
Before your eyes a portal opens, just like the one you'd stepp - well, you were tackled through it and almost stabbed, but it's close enough - stepped through before. It seems it leads somewhere below the ship's decks.
As the three of you all step through to the other side you feel a sense of accomplishment pass through you.
{Goal Met! 6 Ambition points gained!}
Jocelyn dusts off her hands. No one else seems to be around right now.
"So, what do we do now?"
Where do you go?
[] Go above-deck again and see what's happened with the fighting, it was pretty close last time you checked
[] Look around below-decks and try to find Liam and Mira
What do you do with the mage?
[] Bring her with you and explain to anyone you run into what happened
-[] Tie her hands so she can't cast spells
[] Lock her in a room somewhere
-[] Tie her hands so she can't cast spells
-[] Leave Jocelyn with her to keep an eye on her
