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Those Blessed with Talent

Reader mode
[X] Insist on going, see if the woman has anything Autumn can use to track her son.
-[X] Have Autumn range ahead.
 
][X] Just send Autumn by himself. The cat's a fur-brain, but he's smart enough to follow a trail and get them home.
 
[X] Insist on going, see if the woman has anything Autumn can use to track her son.
 
[X] Just send Autumn by himself. The cat's a fur-brain, but he's smart enough to follow a trail and get them home.

I'm interested to see how he can manage. He should be able to manage most things you'd expect to find in this tame region that would menace some kids. Anything he can't run from is probably something that would demolish the three of us anyway.
 
LeoAbogos said:
[X] Just send Autumn by himself. The cat's a fur-brain, but he's smart enough to follow a trail and get them home.

I'm interested to see how he can manage. He should be able to manage most things you'd expect to find in this tame region that would menace some kids. Anything he can't run from is probably something that would demolish the three of us anyway.
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This is largely true... but there are lots of *situations* he can't manage solo. He's very bright for a cat, but he doesn't have human-level intelligence. Also, there are a number of things that he can run from, but that the three of us together wouldn't *have* to run from (and thus might be able to save the kids from). We bring hair-tentacles, Mountain Peak Blossom, and our leadership bonuses. That's a nontrivial boost in overall capability even before the improved comprehension (and ability to communicate, and so forth). Also...

Darkened said:
"Like I said, they probably just wandered off, and they'll be back before you know it. There isn't anything worth worrying about around here anyway," Green Stone's voice is reassuring, but there's a harder glint in his eyes.
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I just see something potentially sketchy in this one - and if it *is* sketchy, then it's almost certainly not something the cat would know how to deal with properly.
 
Sirrocco said:
This is largely true... but there are lots of *situations* he can't manage solo. He's very bright for a cat, but he doesn't have human-level intelligence. Also, there are a number of things that he can run from, but that the three of us together wouldn't *have* to run from (and thus might be able to save the kids from). We bring hair-tentacles, Mountain Peak Blossom, and our leadership bonuses. That's a nontrivial boost in overall capability even before the improved comprehension (and ability to communicate, and so forth). Also...
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I disagre. We might actually be a hostage/someone Autumn would have to protect more than anything.
I just see something potentially sketchy in this one - and if it *is* sketchy, then it's almost certainly not something the cat would know how to deal with properly.
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And in that case Autumn comes back to us. Between being the bottleneck because we can't fight at all and can't boost currently, and letting Autumn do what it does best, the latter is much better.
 
How likely is it that someone, upon seeing an exotic cat, doesn't realise it's on a search and rescue mission? If you see a predator in the vicinity of a wounded child, your first instinct isn't going to be to assume that it's a harmless pet.

Even if 18 Charisma can get that message across and Autumn is smart enough to project "friendly cat" rather than "dangerous predator" when faced with a C or D class Hunter with a bow trained on him, there's the possibility that a human is responsible for the disappearance and Autumn is entirely incapable of responding to the subtleties of that situation.

What sort of scenario are you expecting that will be dangerous for us but not equally dangerous for Autumn alone? At least if we go ourselves we have more leverage to make Green Stone come with us, which will basically eliminate the wildlife dangers and significantly reduce the human dangers.
 
rcnr said:
What sort of scenario are you expecting that will be dangerous for us but not equally dangerous for Autumn alone? At least if we go ourselves we have more leverage to make Green Stone come with us, which will basically eliminate the wildlife dangers and significantly reduce the human dangers.
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Scenarios which include Autumn being a stealth specialist, and being super quick to boot. If something goes wrong, LB/Mounty are deadweight and can't run. Mounty might be able to defend itself, but would probably not be able to do anything without being let go, and then it's quasi-immobile and we are counting on it being strong enough to tip the scale when LB herself is an hostage.

Auntumn, however, can run away pretty damn well. Moreoever, all the girls around already know Autumn, so people won't really be going "it wants to attack her".
 
What do we have to run away from? Weak as we are, I don't think any mundane wildlife actually poses a threat to us as a group, especially if we bring a high level hunter.

That leaves humans, which Autumn can't deal with. Maybe the adults have heard about him already, but I don't intend to bet on them putting all the pieces together in a tense situation where they believe they're at risk. And if it's more than a coincidence and humans are actually responsible, then Autumn is in significantly more risk without us there because he's recognisable and takes treats.
 
[X] Insist on going, see if the woman has anything Autumn can use to track her son.
 
Arkeus said:
And in that case Autumn comes back to us. Between being the bottleneck because we can't fight at all and can't boost currently, and letting Autumn do what it does best, the latter is much better.
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You are incorrect.

- We can, in fact, fight directly. We have hair tentacles, and enough MP to use them properly. Those are plenty sufficient to entangle and pin down a fair number of threats (and also to do things like lifting small boys out of holes that they may be trapped in)
- We can, in fact, boost. Inspirational still applies, at an effective cha of 14. We also have things like analyze and battlefield awareness, to direct him more effectively. Also, if we need to be protected... well, we still have Mountain Peak Blossom draped over us. If he's not enough to keep us safe by himself, whatever the threat is is going to be a fair bit more than Autumn shadow could handle solo.
 
Sirrocco said:
You are incorrect.

- We can, in fact, fight directly. We have hair tentacles, and enough MP to use them properly. Those are plenty sufficient to entangle and pin down a fair number of threats (and also to do things like lifting small boys out of holes that they may be trapped in)
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We are crippled. We can't fight. We also do not have the strentgh to lift small boys.
- We can, in fact, boost. Inspirational still applies, at an effective cha of 14. We also have things like analyze and battlefield awareness, to direct him more effectively. Also, if we need to be protected... well, we still have Mountain Peak Blossom draped over us. If he's not enough to keep us safe by himself, whatever the threat is is going to be a fair bit more than Autumn shadow could handle solo.
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It's a good thing that Autumn is a stealth specialist that is also agility based and can run awway as well as hide. Moreoever, we are a liability if we come. We aren't going to boost them enough for it to matter, and our very much crippled state means they'd have to spend more energy protecting us than fighting.

Of course, I might be totally wrong, and it seems you are winning the cote, so we'll just have to see.
 
Arkeus said:
We are crippled. We can't fight. We also do not have the strentgh to lift small boys.

It's a good thing that Autumn is a stealth specialist that is also agility based and can run awway as well as hide. Moreoever, we are a liability if we come. We aren't going to boost them enough for it to matter, and our very much crippled state means they'd have to spend more energy protecting us than fighting.

Of course, I might be totally wrong, and it seems you are winning the cote, so we'll just have to see.
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Our tentacles have shown a level of strength not dependent on our own str score. Crippled does not mean "can't fight". Mountain Peak Blossom comes as a package deal with us, and is in *no* way a liability. He can also handle the "protecting us" part of the mission just fine by himself, should such be necessary, meaning that we aren't a liability as a package deal either. The benefits of our tactical and analytical ability are significant.

And that's *only* if the issue is one of raw, implacable combat. If it's anything else, the added awareness and utility that we and Mountain Peak Blossom and we can bring is huge.

I really have no idea who's winning.

Incidentally, why is Mountain Peak Blossom still listed as "hungry"? Can't we feed him the blood of some animals due for the slaughter or something?
 
Growing the hair vines longer takes hp. 10hp per meter. We can't reliably grow them to be that long, especially when our current mobility is taken into account. In the case of a fight, I would opt to hang far in the back and maybe offer tactical direction, but not risk direct mechanical assistance of our allies during the engagement.

Darkened Does the "(Committed)" after the MP cost of Friendship Bond indicate that we wont recover that MP for the two days that the monster is under our command?
 
LeoAbogos said:
Growing the hair vines longer takes hp. 10hp per meter. We can't reliably grow them to be that long, especially when our current mobility is taken into account. In the case of a fight, I would opt to hang far in the back and maybe offer tactical direction, but not risk direct mechanical assistance of our allies during the engagement.

Darkened Does the "(Committed)" after the MP cost of Friendship Bond indicate that we wont recover that MP for the two days that the monster is under our command?
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Oh, I'd absolutely have "hang back" as first choice, for mobility reasons if nothing else - but if necessary even a meter (or two) of vine is pretty long - long enough to hold something at bay if need be, and/or grapple pretty effectively.
 
Though it is pretty obvious which vote is leading, have a vote count anyway.

Vote Tally : Those Blessed with Talent | Page 33 | Questionable Questing
##### NetTally 1.1.5
[9] Insist on going, see if the woman has anything Autumn can use to track her son. : (Raron, BFldyq, DOOMPOTATO, hunter09, Jiven, Pipeman, redaeth, Sirrocco, wayne82444)
-[3] Have Autumn range ahead. : (hunter09, redaeth, wayne82444)

[5] Just send Autumn by himself. The cat's a fur-brain, but he's smart enough to follow a trail and get them home. : (Falconis, Arkeus, Ct613hulu, LeoAbogos, Pandemonious Ivy)
 
On having autumn range ahead - pros/cons?

On that one I admit I could be convinced.
 
"Like I said, they probably just wandered off, and they'll be back before you know it. There isn't anything worth worrying about around here anyway," Green Stone's voice is reassuring, but there's a harder glint in his eyes.
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Trying to intimidate the woman into dropping it before we get any ideas, or is there something more to this?

Either way we want him with us, and I don't know why nobody is voting to get him to come. We're better prepared for wild animals, and on the off chance that he's involved, we tie his hands significantly by making it known to several people that we're searching the orchard with his protection.
 
Sirrocco said:
On having autumn range ahead - pros/cons?

On that one I admit I could be convinced.
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The biggest reason to let Autumn range ahead is that we're still pretty slow thanks to our weakened status. If it is something that Autumn himself can deal with then he can deal with it then, and he'll get to them quicker in case whatever problem they are having is time sensitive and they need help immediately. However if it does need human or plant intervention we won't be that far behind him.
 
rcnr said:
Trying to intimidate the woman into dropping it before we get any ideas, or is there something more to this?

Either way we want him with us, and I don't know why nobody is voting to get him to come. We're better prepared for wild animals, and on the off chance that he's involved, we tie his hands significantly by making it known to several people that we're searching the orchard with his protection.
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First, because he probably won't want to come, and we don't actually have the authority to compel him. Second because if it is something shady, and he knows it, then we might not want him there, or want him to have any excuse to *be* there, when things start to go down.

So, basically, he'd probably say no, and if he did say yes, there's a decent chance we wouldn't want him there.
 
I'm not seeing how he's less dangerous when nobody's accounted for where he is and he's not recognised by a bunch of other servants as directly responsible for our safety while we search.

It's incredibly difficult and risky for him to work against us or notify any accomplices when he's within our sight from the moment we hear someone's missing to the moment we head inside, and even if he decides to do so, anything that happens to us is his fault, so solutions that harm us are much less appealing.
 
The old man is level 43. If he is planning something nefarious there is literally no way we can confront him. It's better to discover whatever he is trying to keep hidden well, well away from him.

My guess? He's trying to level up enough to get promoted away from this dead end job, and he doesn't particularly care if a few kids feed whatever he has back there.
 
redaeth said:
The old man is level 43. If he is planning something nefarious there is literally no way we can confront him. It's better to discover whatever he is trying to keep hidden well, well away from him.

My guess? He's trying to level up enough to get promoted away from this dead end job, and he doesn't particularly care if a few kids feed whatever he has back there.
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He's 43 because he's an old man, and he's stuck here because even at 43, he's nothing all that powerful. He's certainly not a combat spec. At level 43, there's no real way for him to level quickly, either - and as an old man, he probably doesn't really want to leave.

That's not to say that we can take him (I agree, we probably can't), or that he's not involved in anything nefarious (he might be). It's just to say that "level up and get away from this place" probably isn't his goal.
 
[X] Insist on going, see if the woman has anything Autumn can use to track her son.
I was going to suggest write in of just going without telling her, but having something to track him would help
 
Definitely expect to have the update finished tomorrow. Sorry for the slowdown. Setting up to move halfway around the world and enter grad school currently, and TBwT has been taking a good deal of effort per update while Indigo takes about 45 minutes to write. Trying to push myself back up to pace, but things are a bit crazy here and will be for another 2-3 weeks.
 
Darkened said:
Definitely expect to have the update finished tomorrow. Sorry for the slowdown. Setting up to move halfway around the world and enter grad school currently, and TBwT has been taking a good deal of effort per update while Indigo takes about 45 minutes to write. Trying to push myself back up to pace, but things are a bit crazy here and will be for another 2-3 weeks.
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Posts like this make me wish QQ had a "hugs" button.
 
Current State of the Quest
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    • Ugh, sorry to do this, particularly over a week after I said the update would be out tomorrow, but I'm currently aiming for the weekend. If that doesn't happen, it's possible that I won't be able to get an update out till the end of the month.

    Between the move, a sudden heatwave (and my AC being broken) catching a cold, then work getting crazy, the past week has been... hectic, shall we say. I'm not sure if things will calm down before I'm in the States, but if things actually stay relatively on track I should have an update out by Saturday at the latest.

    After that it'll probably be another week or so, but the good news is that, aside from Jet lag and setting up the new place, I have a month's vacation. I'm currently aiming to make up for lost time around then and hopefully get back on a pace I can be happy with.

    This quest is important to me, and I am simply not willing to even consider dropping it at present. The delays are not a sign, in any way, of lost interest versus real life rudely intruding on my hobbies.

    I apologize for the delays and hope to have something out as soon as I can.
     
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