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Scaling Up

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forklifter16 said:
One of the things that I think give a reason for why the dragons in the story aren't being pressed very hard is because the elder dragons are being INCREDIBLY proactive. Which I think is because, in D&D, there are many dragons, so the race isn't in danger of dying out. In this story, as has been mentioned a few times, dragons are an endangered species. The elders are going to do their best to keep the youngest alive.
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Being protective, yes.

But the young generation not getting a chance to put lessons into practice and actually grow outside of the sheltered harbor of their parent/grandparents' care means that when, not if, they are alone and unprotected, things could go much worse. Dragons have known that little detail for a long time. This is not the first time elder dragons have been highly protective of their young.

Dragon childcare often includes setting up fights with Wyverns, Hydra, and Owlbears, and other monsters just for the workout and ensuring that their young know how to fight for real, rather than just sparring.


But again, I need to do a reread.
 
Zocarik1 said:
I apologize if my criticism earlier in the thread was offensive, I was only trying to point out the excessive cameo and failure to deliver on the, in the text, promised CR appropriate challenges.
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Yeah, excessive cameos are excessive. Unfortunately, that's kind of been a hallmark of my authorship over the last 35 years. Spot the Cameo!

Trust me, if I had found what you said truly offensive - you would've found out from a mod. I don't mess around when things get to the level where someone's gone that low. And, given the fact I survived USN Basic, Foreign anti-nuclear protestors, Domestic anti-nuclear protestors, coworkers of color who were so offensive that other coworkers of color asked me if I wanted them to hold him down while I beat the crap out of him (I said he wasn't worth the trouble)... It takes a lot to offend me. The fact that I don't remember what you said means I must've read it, took note of the problem, adjusted what I do, and continued on.

And, as Naurelin has been told several times in story: What Tiamat considers "adequate" power to defeat her enemies may be overkill to everyone else.

The fight with Lung could have been better written, but I was unsure about how the mods here on SV handle gore flying about because two dragons fighting and tearing chunks out of each other is a bit messy...

I don't want to go into a discussion about mechanics that I barely comprehend (and understand to be fairly broken in some cases).

Trying to find an encounter for an epic level dragon, and her low-mid level companions is hard. And are going to result in curb stomps. Not that Naurelin stomps on the poor, innocent curbs (because the Brockton Bay Highway dept. asked her nicely not to)...

"Meow meow meow meow meow meow."
Walter Cronkat​
 
Kryslin said:
The fight with Lung could have been better written, but I was unsure about how the mods here on SV handle gore flying about because two dragons fighting and tearing chunks out of each other is a bit messy...
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The Lung fight was well written enough. It portrayed a fight with a rookie vs a veteran, but the rookie had enough power and guts to keep trying. It was also CR matched. Was not a curb stomp, given that Taylor needed healing afterwards. You described enough to imply severe wounds and let the readers fill in the rest with their imaginations.

If Taylor's relative CR compared to the rest of the Wards is mismatched, then the fights could have two aspects. Taylor and big monster in a big brawl, while her small allies fight the mobs and deal with the baddie's power up crystal pylon. Or whatever.

Or two separate fights, with Taylor fighting on one front against another Boss monster, while the Wards fight something their scale.

Or go the Superman route, where the real challenge is that while Taylor can handle the foe, managing collateral damage is a significant distraction/challenge/struggle.

But again, need to reread and catch up.
 
Lurker here.

I've been saving up chapters since summer/fall sometime (I think last I recall was Dragon Emma/Sophia getting grabbed back by the allied dragon Gods), and skipped the entirety of the convention arc.

I loved the early story through when suddenly everyone was a dragon. Taylor learning and adapting was fun and interesting, finding a native born semi-feral Chromatic was neat.

But then everyone was Dragon, even Dragon was a Dragon.

Kinda overshadowed Taylor hard, and her growth has a lot less impact as a result what with so many others going through it as well.

It's still fun and neat, it just makes her feel like one of many equal characters rather than the main character, with little to set her apart from the rest.

Likening this to Taylor Varga since that's apparently a thing to do, it would be like if after a short while of Taylor adapting to Varga, instead of Amy, Lisa and Missy getting their shtick from Taylor much down the line like in TV, it'd be as if they got their own Demon to bond with from the God that bound them so. Just like Taylor. Whereas if it was the reverse and done like in TV, Amy would be some sort of Warlock/Dragon disciple that Taylor accidentally Patron'd down the line after intoxicating her shard on dragon physiology but refusing to transform others until it gave up and just let her transform herself. Lisa and her became friends because Read Thoughts and excessively high perception/sense motive are not far off from her own thing, and meeting an equal is fun, especially with actual mind reading. And she could even talk teleportation and plane shifting math with Missy.

Also the fleet of AI warship Anime Girls, as well as other crossovers, was certainly a thing that occured.

Not saying the story is bad by any means. Saying it's a bit swamped is all, and a lot happened in a very small time frame.

I certainly still enjoy it. I just got tired of incremental updates and decided to horde content for a rainy day lol
 
TempestK said:
Ayyyyye! Fellow Squid! I'm guessing you were a nuke?
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Indirectly. The nukes I worked on only worked once. GM2(N) and the system I worked on was may or may not have been deployed for only two years on certain ships that may or may not have had certain weapons aboard. Couldn't visit Kiwi land because of that policy. I've seen most of the Pacific rim ports of call for the USN. And learned the hard way not to drink the green beer in the Phillipines...
 
Kryslin said:
Indirectly. The nukes I worked on only worked once. GM2(N) and the system I worked on was may or may not have been deployed for only two years on certain ships that may or may not have had certain weapons aboard. Couldn't visit Kiwi land because of that policy. I've seen most of the Pacific rim ports of call for the USN. And learned the hard way not to drink the green beer in the Phillipines...
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Ooof. I was on the other side of Africa for the first part of my tour. Sub-tender, so it's entirely possible that some of those ships/boats you worked on got serviced by us. I was a Yeoman on the Emory S. Land.
 
Kinsfire said:
We are getting into the "I can neither confirm nor deny" territory here ... *laugh*
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Which was basically my entire 4 years with a security clearance.

TempestK said:
Ooof. I was on the other side of Africa for the first part of my tour. Sub-tender, so it's entirely possible that some of those ships/boats you worked on got serviced by us. I was a Yeoman on the Emory S. Land.
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I wasn't a submarniner, though I did spend some time in late '87 aboard a tender. I can tell you that my last two ships were USS Wisconsin and USS Iowa. I mustered out 3 months before the turret explosion.
 
Most notable memories of my time include spending Christmas Eve on Guam. The fresh cookies and punch the USO had were excellent, but a palm tree decorated with Christmas lights isn't the same. When the little old guy in a bar in Okinawa tells some marines to behave or he'll kick their asses, you'd better believe. Even though the MPs and Naha police knew what had happened, no charges were pressed. A couple of them thanked me for being honest and not trying to get them into more trouble. Getting beaned in the head at Bremerton by a rock thrown by an American anti-nuke protestor (got to see the provost clear the gate with firefighting equipment).

And the infamous green 'beer' at Subic in the Phillipines. Just thinking of the stuff turns my stomach. Bleah! 🤢
 
Kryslin said:
And the infamous green 'beer' at Subic in the Phillipines. Just thinking of the stuff turns my stomach. Bleah! 🤢
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I'm not sure how it compares to the stuff served in the local bars every March 17th, but it sounds like you are no fan of the Drinking of the Green.

(Mind you, I'm no beer fan, and the closest I come is replacing a cup of water with vodka when making lemon-lime Kool-Aid. But, to each their own.)
 
Kryslin said:
Most notable memories of my time include spending Christmas Eve on Guam. The fresh cookies and punch the USO had were excellent, but a palm tree decorated with Christmas lights isn't the same.
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Christmas in Guam could easily be an alternate inspiration for 'Dreaming of a White Christmas'.

The mess crew on-board as well as the crew in general tried to get into the holiday spirit. It was really hard to do when nearly everyone remaining at the command was 24 on / 24 off to cover the 'lucky' folks who had managed to score leave home during that time period.

At least it beat the pants off of 48 on / 48 off.
 
I have it on good authority, (my grandfather and uncle on my stepfather's side were both navy deployed to that general area) that the reason for the beer being both horrible and green is a touch of formaldehyde in the beer as a preservative. The most violent reactions come from those who are allergic to the chemical. Personally I never left CONUS but was USMC from 01-2001 to 08-2005 with a medical discharge due to blowing out my left knee for the 3rd time.
It took the VA 20 years but they are finally getting around to fixing it
 
Kryslin said:
Most notable memories of my time include spending Christmas Eve on Guam. The fresh cookies and punch the USO had were excellent, but a palm tree decorated with Christmas lights isn't the same. When the little old guy in a bar in Okinawa tells some marines to behave or he'll kick their asses, you'd better believe. Even though the MPs and Naha police knew what had happened, no charges were pressed. A couple of them thanked me for being honest and not trying to get them into more trouble. Getting beaned in the head at Bremerton by a rock thrown by an American anti-nuke protestor (got to see the provost clear the gate with firefighting equipment).

And the infamous green 'beer' at Subic in the Phillipines. Just thinking of the stuff turns my stomach. Bleah! 🤢
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For me, it was the Crossing the Line ceremony. I ended up ruining one of my sets of office clothes because I didn't have any clean jumpsuits that day. And while everyone was having a blast, I was decidedly miserable. The next time we did it, I put up a sign warning the petty officers that I would use a cane I picked up in the Gulf of Guinea to whack anyone that tried to wake me up and force me to participate again. I was honestly pretty anti-social. But getting out and seeing some of the morale trips were awesome. Though I was so embarrassed by the actions of some of my shipmates during a trip in West Africa. Hell the only reason we were even able to communicate with the guide was because one of the other people on the tour spoke French! Had some really great food served at the end though.

And painting a fence for an orphanage in Monte Negro when we visited as part of a goodwill tour was a great experience. Though to be honest I spent more time entertaining the kids than I did painting. They got so excited when I recognized that one of them was wearing a Digimon t-shirt.

Passing through the Panama Canal going from Sardenia to Seattle was a hell of an experience too.
 
Wasn't in the RCN myself, but I like listening to stories from my Dad who was.

One of the best was about this one asshole. Guy was apparently one of those arrogant SOBs you get that enjoy pissing off everyone else. Was also one of the onboard certified divers. Well, one day after they had a JAWS marathon the night before, the ship comes to a stop in the middle of the ocean so that they could do some exercises regarding the divers checking the bottom of the ship. Anyways, due to the guy pissing off everyone, a number of them as he suited up told him to watch out for sharks. He told them to fuck off and the sharks should be more afraid of him, even great whites. Gets to the handrail, and then jumps into the water…

Before sinking up to about his knees.

Note, this is the middle of the ocean, the bottom is thousands of feet down. Then he realizes that whatever he landed on, it is moving and turns to see this dorsal fin break the surface. Apparently, asshole started screaming and then practically jumped up the ladder back onto the boat.

It seems that no one had noticed a whale/basking shark pull up alongside the ship before he jumped down and landed on it…
 
Well, this is going to be fun. Personally, I loved the little hint of that army of what I suspect to be Dark Elves or Orcs to have no issue at all throwing themselves at a Dragon or two, but they all collectively pale to white on the slightest mention of Tucker's Kobolds. The reputation they have seems to be working rather well. :D
 
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