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Abandon Ship - all hope is lost...

Our Necromagicks have failed us!

Next year...

Next quarter...

This quarter?!

Never - The GM is just playing with you!

[10ebbor10]

If we glide, then in what direction. Back into the streets? Then they will catch us within seconds.

Courtyard? Bad luck and we're trapped.

[GreatWyrmGold]

1. We're a dragon, not a spider.

We're already on the roof, and they should be mostly the same height, so I wouldn't think it would be too hard.

Ah, I thought you were talking about something...taller.

2. Really, the biggest problem isn't the "How do we get inside," it's the "We're inside! What now?"

Are you actually reading what I'm typing?
DRAGON START IN TOWER.
DRAGON JUMP OFF TOWER.
DRAGON GLIDE TO CASTLE.
THERMALS HELP.
DRAGON HAPPY.

Are you reading what I'm typing? To put it the way you did:
DRAGON GLIDE TO CASTLE
DRAGON ? ? ?
DRAGON PROFIT

[escaped lurker]

So gliding it is. U-huh, no wonderous happenings there.
"Indezi pone portas" Yeah, that one had to be.

Spoiler: Indezi (click to show/hide)

Stats
9/9 Health Points
12/15 Mana Points
4/12 Stamina
2/10 Encumbrance
Inventory System: Maw, Front Claw x2
Sustenance 30/30

Inventory:
Pouch with 4 Heare

Skills
Magical
Illusionist - 10

Martial
Sneaking - 4

Racial
Draconic - 5
Demonic - 2

Attributes
Strength:     3
Agility:         3
Endurance:   3
Willpower:     5
Magic:         7

Spoiler: Abilities (click to show/hide)

Active Skills:

Sneeze of Flame - Draconic - 5 MP - Unskilled

You spew a little flame of Dragon-Fire, up to a few breaths away.

Small Illusions - Illusionist - 3 MP - Moderate

Allows you to decieve either the eyes of a single person with an object, or create sounds in the target area as you please.


Passive:

Gliding - Draconic

Your wings enable you to glide down safely from elevation - if the later is at least 3 meters high.

Emotional Charging - Demonic

The Emotions of intelligent beings recharge your mana. The higher the emotion and the more you are involved in it, the better.

Extraplanar Soul - Demonic

Without your trusty pendant, you are just not truly complete. Your flow of mana is messed up, resulting in possible miss-casts or out-of control spells.

High Profile

Your race and history makes you quite known in the upper magical circles. Dragons are also quite rare, so your sight is bound to be remembered even by common folk.

Deciding on gliding away, you get a vague plan on how to reach one of the three gates. There is also a series of rooftops into that direction, and from your current elevation you have no problem gliding upon them. The guards don't have that much of a problem catching up - but that is mainly due to their numbers – but your quick escape did rile them up again. Not much, but now the numbers are working in your favour. +3 MP

You do get quite far on the higher ground, with the occasional jump, climb and glide enabling the scaling of further roofs. You also notice that you are gaining ground against the mages, a fact that you are quite euphoric about. To your dismay the guards seem to be very organized indeed, and you even spot a very few of them on horseback. There are also a couple of bowmen, but up till now they have yet to notch their arrows – a fact you do not feel like complaining about, whatever their reasons are.

After another glide, you actually are quite close to the southern gate, enough so to get a glance of the situation there. You count two handfull of troops there, three of them on horseback. You have lost any notion of the trio of mages, but in the distance you can feel the sorceress stiring about – while her mana surely is not up to normal levels, it is still quite impressive.

You are quite out of breath however, and they clearly await your presence at the gate. Well then, what now?


Current Stats
9/9 Health Points
12/15 Mana Points
0/12 Stamina
2/10 Encumbrance

[GreatWyrmGold]

We've got most of a full tank of mana, but no Stamina, so if we do anything against them it's going to be magical and not mundane.

Would it be rude to point out that some more illusions would be really helpful right now?

I suggest creating a auditory illusion of a deific voice speaking, demanding that the soldiers not attack the dragon but instead parley with it? For all the visible illusions we've done, we've only done a few auditory illusions, and none that I can think of that were shown to be false.

[10ebbor10]

They might call our bluff though. After all, illusions do exist, it's common knowledge that our master was an illusionist, and they wouldn't be the first to lay the link between his recent demise and his pet familiar dragon showing up.

I think it's time for plan B. Meeting up with the adventures isn't going to work (doubt it ever was). And escaping out of town would result in a tremendous delay.

Set fire to the nearest roofs

Spoiler: Full plan (click to show/hide)

1. Fire
2. Find a high location
3. Glide using thermals, and find our amulet
4. Use the overabundance of mana from the fire to procure it, wherever it might be.

[GreatWyrmGold]

1. Even if they don't buy the deific thing, they might decide that shooting at a small, mobile target high above isn't worth it and at least try parley. Hence, I suggest that we at least try diplomacy before doing anything crazy.

2. You seem to be leaving #4 rather undefined...

[10ebbor10]

1. We can't glide forever, what if someone has horses and runs us down. Anyway, the results of this will be either
     a) We escape, and are back where we were at the very start. Only exception that the adventurers now know that we still live, and with far less mana than we started.
     b) Diplomacy happens. Likely to go unfavorable for us, considering: We burned someone face off, are a part-demon, and are the familiar of the guy whose murderers they hailed as heroes. Likely to go to c or maybe a, if we're lucky. They certainly ain't going to give us the amulet. (Won't take them to much to realize that is the only thing controlling us.)
     c) We get captured. Likely to die soon, either from not getting our amulet, being butchered or just killed as revenge.
Please explain how any of these is a good thing.

2. The battleplan is the first casualty. By step 4 we got so many unpredictable variables that planning is kinda useless.

If any of the steps fail, we end up in a, I suppose.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The way I look at diplomacy, there are two possibilities:

1. It ends well. We're better-off than we would be if we hadn't tried.
2. It doesn't end well. We're at where we would be if we hadn't tried and proceed with whatever non-diplomatic plan we would have tried.


As for your claims of "too many variables," I'd like to ask you this: Can you think of any situation in which we break into the castle, get our amulet, and escape? If it comes down to that, let's do it...but let's at least attempt the other options.

[escaped lurker]

Set fire to the nearest roofs
Full plan]
1. Fire
2. Find a high location
3. Glide using thermals, and find our amulet
4. Use the overabundance of mana from the fire to procure it, wherever it might be.

I don't want to be a miser, but that plan is indeed quite easier said than done. To make the current situation clear, following points.

A - Our Sneeze would have trouble setting a roof on fire, and if it did it would be most likely more along the lines of fires that burn half an hour before they get big. More than ample time for the load of soldiers around to notice that little bit of smoke, get one of their buddys with a rug on it and no fire. If we do find some kind of hay-source around, we might be able to light that up, but with that much attention even this would not guarantee any kind of success.

B - Like adressed quite a few pages back, when the topic of fire first came up, the guards know that we can light fires, and they will be looking for signs of it. They will be prepared in a matter of minutes, instead of half an hour till the news reaches the barracks and the troops have set out for it. Unless we slip through their fingers, and start new fires - see point A - it will be very unlikely that we get any semblance of a bigger fire going on.

C - The mages are about, and while we do not know what type they are, there is also the sorceress to consider. While they might not take that big a part in fighting the fire, they will do more than amply against ourself. Do also take note that any kind of magic being woven, is indeed quite far more noticeable than mana just sitting around in someone.

D - Further Hostilities. Are you sure that you want to incite these? There just truly might be hope for diplomacy left, but as soon as we start fires it goes straight out of the window. It might be the difference between imprisonment and execution, just saying. (Well, I "do" know the likely difference, but thats a moot point, no?  )


I am not advocating any kind of actions, but just for clarity. That plan is indeed quite difficult to pull off - as might be diplomacy, but that is something our protagonist is not able to know.

[10ebbor10]

1. The chances for that appear to be rather small, aren't they. Also, even vaguer than I thought.
2. It doesn't end well. We're either shot midnegotiation, or surrounded by the entire city guard. Time is of the essence after all.

Also, for a matter of fact, yes. I'll number them for you.

a) The amulet is unguarded because all members went out to fight the fire
b) Only the sorcerers remained because she was low on mana, while her friends were being heroic. ((Fighting one with unlimited mana beats fighting 3))
c) All 3 remained. ((Fighting with unlimited mana and few guards beats fighting against guards and heroes))
d) All 3 left to hunt us ((Fighting them with outside the castle means we don't have to go inside. Also infinimana))
e) In a situation where we can't fight them, we can just flee on the thermals. Most likely, the heroes would be exciled from town for having set a deadly dragon, and potentially living wizard on them.

Edit: Let's try diplomacy then, we got the master is still alive and looking for some revenge thingy we can use to threathen them.

[GreatWyrmGold]

1. True.
2. How is that different from now? We can't really fly, and the city guard is surrounding us. A minute or two won't hurt at this point.

a. Why would they do that? If nothing else, the sorceress could take the amulet with her.
b. She's not defenseless, and I'd bet a dollar to a Mercedes that she knows more offensive spells than we do.
c. The question isn't "Is this better than fighting guards," it's "Is it plausible to get the amulet this way?"
d. They'd have to be moronic to abandon the amulet, and see a (which this pretty much is).
e. And that gets adventurers VERY angry at us, and doesn't get us the amulet.

That said, your plan at the end is acceptable (and pretty much what I was trying to suggest for a long-term plan...).

[10ebbor10]

2. Well, it turns an action that's happening into a fact. At this point there is still a remote possibility to escape, which will be gone if we negotiate

a) Just summing up all the things. Hell, maybe we're lucky.
b-d) Barring them giving us the amulet, which appears very, very unlikely, we will have to fight them anyway. Whether by proxy (hired thief) or directly. It just puts us in a favorable position when doing so.
e) It also puts them into an isolated position, from which it would be easier to steal the amulet and/or fight them for it. Hell, they might get killed by angry townfolk for all we know.

[GreatWyrmGold]

2. I fail to see why flying out over their heads would be more difficult with the guards more clustered around our current location.

a. I wouldn't bet on it...
b-d. Is the best time and place when we're in the middle of a city we just set on fire, with the city guard aware of that and where we are? Also, I was mostly arguing for "Try for alternate methods" rather than "Don't try this one".
e. True...but I'd still prefer not to rely on a plan like that. Heck, I don't like relying on any one plan, which is why I am suggesting we attempt diplomacy before throwing that option out of the window for the forseeable future.

[10ebbor10]

2. We can only fly so far. Doubt the guards will be stupid enough to cluster around us. They will spread out, leaving us no point to glide to. Also, someone might get horses, preventing us from getting far when we fly out of town. Also archers and flying pincushions.

a. Hence the different scenarios.
b-d) Guards will be summoned to combat the fire. So no problems with them. And all the panic from the fire gives us a massive mana regen. Also, now is better than later.
e) Uhm, relying on diplomacy means imprisonment or worse if it fails. And it doesn't exactly have the best chances of success. Ie, more or less none.

But it's kinda the only option that remains to us, since our firebreath isn't that great.

[GreatWyrmGold]

2. That's true either way. Aren't the guards already spread out?

a. A lot of scenarios doesn't make them better, it makes them more numerous.

b-d. True but what about that makes the adventurers abandon the amulet; True but that leaves every other issue; Not really, since they'll react the same to a fire in five minutes as now.
e. No, we can run afterwards, as I've been saying.