(no subject)

[sythyry]

The Invaded Plot [19 Hispis 4385]

There was a quick council of war.

Concern for the Patron

The first part that they told me about afterwards was this. (It actually occurred in less detail halfway through.)

Nearly Everyone:"We must consult Sythyry, for this is zir skyboat, and, ultimately, zir money."

Kantele:"Sythyry is performing a particularly delicate enchantment." Which was true, in fact. "Disturbing zir now might ruin it." Which is false; Accanax does not want it ruined. "As zir secretary, I recommend that we deal with the situation ourselves." Which is excessive, since, by the normal World Tree time, I would be finished in three or four ninths of an hour. I'm sure they could have delayed that long.

Nearly Everyone:"Very well! We will spare Sythyry any trouble or indignity from this situation!" I'm sure that nobody actually said anything like this, though several people told me they did.

Not that I think I could have done any better than they did.

Concern for the Passengers and Crew

Windigar:"We're facing three warships -- we're surrounded by three warships. They've all got weapons for attacking skyboats: onagers, harpoon ballistas, rams. Strayway is neither defended nor armed against such things. If we fight ship to ship, I promise no great success, nor even much chance of escape."

Yerenthax:"There are other ways of fighting. Vae, do you want to slaughter primes?"

Vae:"And why would I want to slaughter primes? The primes are the ones I love, second to my mate and child."

Yerenthax::"Even the one calling himself nendrai-slayer?"

Vae:"Not so comfortable am I of that, truly. The money is not so hard to come by, but friends are scarce and troublesome to replace. The toll is not so very large, is it?"

Zascalle:"It's ridiculous for a toll! Three thousand lozens! A month's budget for all of Castle Wrong, to pass a single harmless branch on our travel!"

Yerenthax:"And the honor! Surrendering so easily would bring us scorn!"

Vae:"No so much shall we speak of it. The one who surrenders can be I -- no great quantity of honor have I in any case. The money shall I replace, somehow or other."

The Plot

Windigar:"I don't much like paying. But, like Vae, I like being killed even less."

Vae:"Not that did I say!"

Windigar:"Well, I don't want any of us to be killed, and neither does she."

Jyondre:"That goes without saying! Nobody on Strayway should die; that is our ultimate concern."

Kantele:"With the possible exception of the stowaways... but even there we are responsible."

Windigar:"How about this? Vae, can you take arcane connections to the money we pay them with, so that you can teleyoink the coins back to Strayway?"

Vae:"Yes, but also no."

Windigar:"I don't understand."

Vae:"Not a bit of teleportation can be done under Oonanau's prohibition. But the prohibition shall not last so long, and it can be removed in other ways."

Yerenthax:"Can you do it, though?"

Vae:"The most likely. The sorceress may have further tricks against it; I may or may not be able to sneak around them."

Windigar:"So ... We pay the toll. We leave. At the edge of the pirate's territory, we try to take the money back; then we flee as quick as we can. Most likely we succeed, taking off with honor and treasury both intact. If Vae somehow is prevented from getting the money: at least we -- she -- tried, and we all survive."

Kantele:"I approve of this plan, so far. Does anyone have a better idea?"

Nobody did. Zascalle opened the safe, picked out thirty big round hundred-lozen coins, and gave them to Vae to taste and gather connections.

Comments

[rowyn]

I hope the plan to cheat the pirates works! I don't know enough of your magic to figure out the horrible ways I might backfire. >:)

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Wait a second.. this navy are lead by... the... Gor... Umm.. Bear looking people, right?

... Wouldn't that mean that they are going to fight no matter what? Isn't throwing an axe at ones head to barely miss the way they say hello?

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I think they can be satisfied by merely robbing people, if they do it in a humiliating enough fashion?

Fighting would be preferable of course.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Don't be prejudiced. One Gormoror is as different from another as one Rassimel is, or one Orren. Even if he is the captain, instead of just the spokesman, he seemed more interested in looting than fighting.

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

That is the fun part, after all.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Technically, I think it's racist, not prejudice. It's like how all irish people are red haired, freckled people who know who stepdance in unision, which is why they lost the war, because they were too busy drinking and dancing to fight....

.... except, of course, at the bar...

It's like that. Says the brown haired Irish person.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly, teleportation spells are generally Ruloc Locador. Could Vae get around the anti-teleportation spell using Mutoc Locador (e.g. The Mage's Door)? Even if Oonanau thought of that, I'd bet money that Vae's Mutoc Locador could easily overpower anything she could cast.

PS - They sould actually try to take more gold than they paid. If they end up no worse than when they began, there's not reason to not go after you the next time as there was no real cost for failure. On the other hand, if they end up worse off than when they began, they may think twice next time.

[shaterri.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be nigh-impossible (at least under this scheme) to take *more* gold? Vae only has the connexion to the stuff she's been able to touch, after all, so it's all that can be readily retrieved...

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

The Mage's Door just opens a portal from where the caster is to where the arcane connection is. Once they go through the door, they could clean out the entire cargo bay if they like.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Tricky. Without knowing the layout of the other place, trying to go there would be risky. And scrying for it might attract attention.

Besides, it might not even be stored in a central vault. It might be among several different people's personal possessions, and maybe on some of their persons'.

That said, as has previously been suggested, odds are high that the "Nendrai-killer" had a ton of help with his namesake deed. Caught by surprise by a Nendrai suddenly within tail-range, well...

...It's good in a way that Vae doesn't want to hurt primes, but man, some people sort of deserve it.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Actually, there are both. The MuLo spells tend to be more effective per point than the RuLo. The anti-teleport spell probably IS Ruloc, though possibly some Sustenoc as well - but that's beside the issue; barrelling through another spell is in general not an easy thing to do. If all you're doing is changing the state of the world at rest, that's not so bad. Things are used to moving; magic is just convincing them to do so with great alacrity. But when things are actively being told NOT to teleport, that's another matter. Sort of like destroying mundane wood or leather, versus destroying what looks to be similar material that was instead created in its current shape.

Long story short - even for Vae it might not be that simple. Especially since she might not be able to reach the "anchor" spell to nullify it - which would probably be the best way for her to deal with it, were it an option.

As for the argument of barrelling through on raw power - who knows? Oonanau might have a Grace and/or Glory of Reluu and/or "Here" stacking the deck.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Let's be realistic though. A highly skilled wizard is unlikely waste their time hanging around on a skyboat hassling passerbys for money. The Gormoror's boasting to the contrary, Oonanau is probably a generic adventuring mage. I doubt one of them can beat Vae at controlling mutoc locador, hir domain of expertise.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Vae had already said that she couldn't punch through it - and, as recent events had revealed, sometimes sorcerers really ARE that scummy.

Especially when the bounty jumps by an order of magnitude from its already steep rate.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

Bah. I side with Yerenthax here, and predict many more robberies to be visited upon future visitors. And has Vae become a pacifist since the days when she imprisoned some thugs in a snowglobe of doom?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Vae is a creature of considerable whimsy and inconsistancy. She can be trusted to take a reasonable and gentle philosophical stance from time to time, so long as it is inconvenient to primes. She is built that way, after all, and by a grand-mistress at the art.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

With the added cruelty(which said creatrix is also a grand-mistress of, after all) that she genuinely wants to help, right?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's part of Gnarn's insidious plan. If Vae were a pure malevolant horror like many of Accanax's monsters, we'd do our best to kill or evict her and we'd have no moral or personal issues about it at all. Vae is a kind, sweet, caring, good-willed, helpful horror, and I found it advisable to bring her on a family vacation.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Not only is it cruel to primes, but it's especially cruel to Vae...

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. Half the time Vae is the most miserable of anyone about what she does.