1) OK, we'll have a cup of tea after the encounter with Vyctar. I hope we'll be drinking to victory ;)

2) I just thought that combination of Curing + Psy-screen could reduce the chance of getting addicted by the Adgana user, because the addiction (as I see it) is the desire to provide the brain with repetitive pleasant stimuli - which is a heightened speed of brain activity in this case (as per Adgana's description in the Herbmastery thread). So I thought using Curing together with Psy-screen (as one skill) would allow to protect the brain from the side-effects, not letting the Adgana's speedup imprint itself on the nerve system. (I didn't think of it originally, but perhaps the Illness Immunity improvement could allow such fine control of one's anatomic processes, while Effortless Defense would just suggest the expertise in Psy-screen is advanced enough to make this skill manifest on the neural level.)
I don't think it would prevent someone from getting addicted completely, just lowered the chance of it (and since only Kai, who frown upon the use of drugs, would have a hope of achieving this, it wouldn't mean much regarding the struggle to remove Adgana's addictiveness.)

But I'm not trying to convince you it should be allowed, I just found it fun to try using the disciplines this way (plus I'd love to shove it in the bad guys' faces that a Kai found a way to use Adgana relatively safely ^_^); neither it is disheartening, you allow us to do creative things anyway, so it's only fair to stop us from going over the edge.

OK, I stop blabbering and let's kick some ass (as Sabre would say, I believe :) ).

He prefers slicing it in half to kicking it ;)

Perhaps a Curing/Invisibility/Psi-screen/Divination combo where you basically keep re-writing the brain with a false signal or distraction, or keep shielding and disguising the impulses. Might be expensive enough that you couldn't use it all the time without developing an 'addiction' to WP restorers :D

Both Sun Snake and Water Hornet's ideas are interesting, but they're overlooking a key detail - as any Herbmastery expert could tell you, the extreme potency of Adgana is also a result of it feeding off ambien magic and converting it into energy - an aspect which is translated to the body of one eating it by feeding off the user's own inner magic to work. This doesn't strips the user of magic or the ability to use it, per se, but it does interact with the user's metabolism by permanently damaging their magic potential, alhtough when the user is under the Adgana's effect, the plant's supplied (converted into fighting energy) magical power tricks the body into feeling normal, magical-balance-wise.

So while your ideas are cool, they would not by themselves allow you to weaken the addittive effect of Adgana, since they're only adressing two (body and mind) of the three (body, mind, and magic) affected elements.

I don't think your group currently has an expert of Herbmastery of right-handed magic who could enlighten you on this, though, is it? So if you feel like trying either of those strategies (assuming you have all the necessary improvements you named) you're free to - it won't reduce the risk of addiction, but it might help your bodies get a greater benefit from Adgana then just the normal CS bonus.

How does that sounds? :)

Just checking I'm understanding the situation Sun Snake described.

Vyctar is now a Darklord, occupying the body of a Xagash?
And is currently fighting a mental battle with a Nadziran who wants to take control of that body from him?  (In which case, us bursting in there might give them a common enemy to unite against!)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:26, Sat 20 Feb 2016.

Vyctar, the Nadziran, a Xagash, the Lone Wolf body, the Sommerswerd, and who knows what else are now one nasty Darklord entity - I won't spoil the surprise and let Shadow describe it when we enter.

Inside the Darklord's brian, the Xagash mind was conquered so the body could be controlled, but now the Nadziran and Vyctar minds are fighting for control of the body. Each has some mental stuff the other needs, but won't let their mind be effectively destroyed and their essense subsumed to let the other have it and them properly become the Darklord.

It is as Sun Snake said, Swift Fox, but even if the battle is only psychic, the point you made is still valid - you bursting in there might give them something to ally about fighting against.

OR, you might find a way to take advantage of the conflict to make your own goals easier to achieve. Really, it all depends on how you play your hand at this point - I have many plans ready for how things might go, but you lot have a track record of surprising me, so who knows what'll really happen?

Either way, I'm looking forward to it! ^_^

I mean in terms of what Sun Snake can do psychically, I have suggested in private about trying to do something more passive to distract the two. Like trying to use Mind Fort and Invisiblilty to temporarily block the two warring minds from areas so they might hesitate. Or I suppose Sun Snake could try to temporarily put a psi-screen betwee nthe two minds to stop each from seeing the other? Would that work? If we time it with say a sun shard burst, we might be able to make them both believe we've wiped out the other, so they don't have full powers nor control of the body. That might take a turn or two before they realise each is trying to control a different side of the body and realise the other one is still there?

Oh, the idea I had to weaken Vyctar ages ago, would it still work if I could use Psi-screen (Mindfort) to protect Vyctar from having the Nadziran take advantage of the situation? Just a quick distracting poke at him to make him weaker. Because then pointing out Vyctar's will is stronger might then scare the Nadziran, mkaing him more willing to try and bargain with us?

And if I can distract them with a non-risky quick psychic strike, perhaps Swift Fox could then use Invisibility/Craftsmanship to hide her activating the Sun Shards, and somehow get them to release as if we were calling to the Sommerswerd? It might make them scared enough to pull the sword free if it is in there?

Ooh, I like the idea of hiding (on psychic level) one of the combatants from the other (I'm afraid it's going to be expensive, though, if it's at all possible) :)

Also, we probably want to save at least one Sun Shard to make Sommerswerd zap the Darklord in the end (like death of Zagarna vs. Haakon situation). Shadow, would our characters know this and would Swift or Raven know how much of 'sun energy' we'd need for such thing?

Now I've realised both my sword's abilities can be reused for 2WP not just the auto-success of Divination, then I just need to make them Divination based to be otherwise 'free'. So I can perhaps do a little more than previously thought.


We can certainly threaten to blast a hole in the ceiling all the way to the sky :D

Don't think any of Swift's abilities will be helpful here.

Unless their distraction + her Invisibility will let her go unnoticed by them both, so she could get a stealth attack in when things turn violent :)

I think Swift Fox, Silver Raven and Water Hornet are probably the only ones of the current team that Vyctar hasn't already seen fight before, so he might be less certain of their abilities.
(If he's in control, and he's still got enough of his mind left to keep his old warrior skills, he's probably memorised everything he saw Team Snake do for later tactical calculation.  Just a thought).

Yea, if he currently doesn't have the means to access the power of the Sommerswerd, then we don't want to give him the opportunity.

Is there any means for a mass combined Nexus use to wrench it away from him? There are at least 3 Nexus users in the group off the top of my head

Yes they will. We have sun shards that we can time for an attack, but it would need your reading of Invisibility and Craftsmanship to likely work.  We definitely need multiple people able to move around to confuse things.

And you can use Invisibility to aid you telling the truth too - you can with total confidence tell the Nadziran you already killed one of their kind and messed up their schemes. I think if taunting is the way to go, then we atack the diverse reasons the two people in there are working towards. I'm sure you can bend the truth by saying that the Nadziran want to supplant the Drakkar with Kai warriors if they can combine the two, using the Drakkar as bodies and tactics only just as the Nadziran wants to do with Vyctar :)

Edit: Doubke posted. We don;'t know where the Sommerswerd is yet. You'll see why when we get there. Until we can locate it, and ensure it's actually easy to reach and not somehow amalgamated in to him, I don't think it will be a simple case of just pulling it free.

I think we will need to go and have everyone read the scene, and once we know what is where then we can start distracting the creature and figuring out what our best vectors for attacking and grabbing stuff are.

There's been a lot of great ideas here! Some might work, some cannot, but all of them are interesting.

To make a point a little clearer, Sun Snake, any attempt to interfere with the Mind-Meld would drag you into it, and as I said earlier, that has the unavoidable outcome of having the meddler be absimilated. This extend to all forms of psychic interaction with the mind-meld, including sneaky ones or Psy-Screen based ones; detecting the meld is passive and doesn't engage it, if either (or both) minds within the meld start a psychic attack, fending it off doesn't has you pulled into the meld, but if you try to influence the battle psychically in any way, then you become an active partecipant and can (and likely will) be subsumed. I thought I'd made that clear, but if it wasn't, I hope it is now.

The other ideas you all presented might work though - the ones who don't involve trying to get involved in the psychic melee, I mean - you just need to find a way to implement them without being killed first. :)

And indeed, Sabre Fox, as Sun Snake said, you'll have a better idea of how efficacious your plans might be once you see what the situation actually looks like with your own eyes.

Hmm, well if all psychic interference is going to be dangerous, is does sound like Sun Snake's talents are better suited to perhaps trying to link attacks or just be a focal point of rage (and using his abilities to minimise damage, or have Water Hornet help with that)


There is a certain duality to the Darklord, so I wonder if Sun Fox and Sabre Fox flanking him, since their attack methods are similar, with both linking their attacks through Sun Snake, would be a way to mentally pull the two apart. Literally get one mind trying to control each side.

Swift Fox can pull Nadziran ire, Sun Snake and Sabre Fox can pull Vyctar ire, and perhaps that leaves Silver Raven, Water Hornet and Dawn Sword trying to free the Sommerswerd or helping the two groups as needed?

Are you asking me if that would work, or what? Because I can't honestly tell you before the battle start which strategies it would be best to employ - the whole point of facing off an enemy is to try the tactics you think will work best and see which one stick and wich one don't. :)

If you're asking something else, then I am not sure what exactly, so you will need to clarify before I can answer.

More just generally putting the idea out there.


Does anyone else want to do any detection stuff first, or will we just walk through the door now and detect stuff when we get in?

I think maybe the shards would be better used inside than out to ensure some damage is done? And maybe in a stealth way to it might be disguised as the Sommerswerd.

I can always be the one to open the door and pull focus since the rest of you might want a minute to...you know...react without giving away your cool, calm, Kai exteriors :D

In reply to Sun Snake (msg # 23):

Well shards inside sounds good to me lol. Hopefully it will make Snake a target as he suggests :)

So, are you going inside?

If Swift Fox and Water Hornet are happy to, I'm happy to open the door.

Rock on!  Death or really nasty death Glory! :D

I suppose I'm in ;)

Forwards!

I posted then ruined it by realising a Nexus push on the door might be fun way of announcing his presence.