<RyanSherbrig> But let's discuss this later, when we're not being attacked by pirates.
<Alexa> I don't normally buy bread any more, so I don't have toast.
<Alexa> Oh yes! Pirates!
- Alexa hurtles towards the chief pirate in fireball form.
<Fiona> Do they have honey?
<Pandora> (Psst, crusher_bob, you in?)
- You are now known as HollyhockGod
- crusher_bob is now known as ebba
- RyanSherbrig assumes radiant form and shines up to a different ship (on the principle that light isn't really affected by gravity that much, which I'm assuming is okay).
<HollyhockGod> That sounds reasonable.
<Pandora> (That is one of its more defining traits.)
<HollyhockGod> Let's see, five of you plus Anna on the ground, pirates coming from above.
<HollyhockGod> Cannons shooting enormous fireballs heedlessly.
<ebba> (Using thrown stones to deflect cannonballs.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Man, they picked the wrong day to use fire-based weaponry.)
<Pandora> (Can we tell which ship's got the captain/admiral aboard?)
<HollyhockGod> (Yeah, I thought it would be fun to have them start with something that wouldn't work.)
<HollyhockGod> (How?)
<Alexa> (Wait, the cannons are shooting fireballs?)
<Pandora> (I don't know, center of the formation, most elaborate, source of the giant booming voice, something.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Hmmm, the most impressive ship? Big flag, figurehead, person with absurdly large hat giving orders?)
<HollyhockGod> (Someone is definitely engaging Anna in a duel of insults, yeah.)
<Alexa> (I thought they were normal cannonballs last time.)
<HollyhockGod> That works. And yes, they are fireballs. I can change my mind if I feel like it!
<HollyhockGod> There is indeed a woman in an enormous hat shouting through a megaphone, as Ryan can see.
<RyanSherbrig> I'm heading for a ship that isn't the one with whoever is insulting Anna, as my plan will go better if there aren't directly miraculous antagonists on board.
<ebba> (What is she saying?)
<RyanSherbrig> ("You're all washed up!")
<HollyhockGod> "Ye dress like a fish- specifically, a whale!"
<Alexa> (Lesser Destruction to wipe out as many fireballs as I can.)
- Pandora makes a beeline directly for the figure in the giant hat- on blazing wings of fire, but this has been mentioned before.
<HollyhockGod> The fireballs are extinguished.
<HollyhockGod> The ships respond commendably fast!
<HollyhockGod> It takes them only twenty seconds to switch to lightning guns!
<Alexa> "If anyone's going to burn this place, it's going to be us!"
<Alexa> (Crap. Ryan?)
<HollyhockGod> Pandora, you're hovering over the admiral, who's too busy shouting to notice you.
<Fiona> (Lesser Creation of brambles around the cannons and guns on nearby ships. One Penetration.)
<Alexa> (And shouldn't I be at the telescope guy too?)
<HollyhockGod> (Okay.)
<HollyhockGod> (If you want to be.)
- Pandora speaks up in an extremely well projected 'stage voice.' "Excuse me, but this is a really bad time for a flying pirate raid."
<Alexa> (Is she wearing an enormous pirate hat?)
<HollyhockGod> (Yes!)
- RyanSherbrig lands on another ship, and drops mostly-Glorious.
<HollyhockGod> The cannons are having bramble issues, and the firing slows, but a bolt still strikes dangerously close to the lake and the helpless cabana boys.
<HollyhockGod> The admiral looks up. She checks her watch. Then she cocks her head amusedly and says "Seems fine ter me!"
<RyanSherbrig> "Fire to disable the other ships' weapons!"
<Alexa> "Who are you, anyway?"
<Fiona> (Lesser Change of brambles into ship-eating brambles.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Thrope or Thorpe or something like that?)
<HollyhockGod> "I be Melangell Thorpe, Duchess of the Four Winds and captain of this here aerial armada! Who be all ye land-lubbers interferin' with me blood vengeance?"
- Pandora drops to the deck. Her wings stay lit. "You see, we are the children of the Phoenix, and we were in negotiations with the Noble you are currently raiding. As a matter of honor, I'm afraid we must not allow you to interrupt these proceedings with violence."
- Alexa remains hovering near and above the admiral.
<Alexa> "And we called dibs on burning this joint."
<HollyhockGod> The ships begin to be eaten by man-eating kudzu.
<HollyhockGod> Melangell calls into her megaphone, "Turn the flame cannons on the bloody plants!"
<HollyhockGod> Then she turns her attention back to you.
- Ebba sighs… children.
<HollyhockGod> "Really?" she says. "That be great!"
<Fiona> (Lesser Preservation of brambles versus fire.)
- Ebba will provide shelter for the cabana boys.
- RyanSherbrig spends a DMP to do a ghost miracle of St Elmo's fire to hopefully let Fiona know not to destroy the ship he's on.
<RyanSherbrig> (I am trying to get us a flying pirate ship here, people. Keep it intact!)
<ebba> (And will catch any crew who look like they are plummeting to their deaths.)
<Alexa> (Lesser Destruction of flammability to prevent flame cannons from firing.)
- Fiona refrains from conjuring ship-eating brambles onto Ryan's ship.
<HollyhockGod> "I've been this Beauregarde skinny's archenemy for a year now, and it's basically great. I be really enjoyin' meself ruinin' up 'er life a bit."
<HollyhockGod> "But frankly, she's a bit lackin' in the excessive force department, ye know?"
<HollyhockGod> "I practically have to beg 'er ter try an' kill me back."
<Alexa> "Are you related?"
<HollyhockGod> "Eh? Naw, it's just yer ordinary Oath of Blood Vengeance, see?"
<HollyhockGod> Ryan, what exactly is your plan, again?
<Alexa> "Why? Did she make fun of your hat?"
<HollyhockGod> Oh, I see, you're "dropping" in the sense of hitting them with it, not turning it off.
<Pandora> *Sigh* "I suppose what you mean, then, is that you wholeheartedly embrace the idea of getting at her directly through us."
<RyanSherbrig> Arrive on ship, drop Glorious, instant pirate ship! Hopefully.
<HollyhockGod> I don't think "likeable" is enough to make them turn against Melangell.
<HollyhockGod> I mean, they probably won't bother you.
<RyanSherbrig> (Hmm, well, I saw it as still a full creation of love, just not a major one, but okay.)
<HollyhockGod> "Aw, sure! It's been forever since I had a proper fight."
<RyanSherbrig> "Hmmm. Have to work on that."
<RyanSherbrig> "You there! Show me the engines?"
<HollyhockGod> "Actually, could one of yers go down and explain to the water-lily how this business works?"
<HollyhockGod> "For the Queen of the Sea, she's a bit lackin' in imagination."
<HollyhockGod> "Last time she actually tried to drown me in a ball o' water. I mean, seriously."
<HollyhockGod> The pirates, who seem both totally bloodthirsty and remarkably cheerful, point you gladly towards the engine room.
<Alexa> "How did this start?"
<HollyhockGod> "Ask the moistened bint, why don't'cher? This was her doin'!"
<RyanSherbrig> (It's a good thing Ryan can't hear this conversation, because I the player am sort of starting to take Melangell's side in the matter.)
<Pandora> "Just to be certain. One more time, you will not at least postpone this conflict until my Familia's own dealings with the Queen of the Sea are over?"
<HollyhockGod> "I came here lookin' fer a fight, and now ye be offerin' one. Ye know what that makes ye?"
<HollyhockGod> "Me new best friends."
- Ebba offers the Power of Water a nice, soothing cup of tea.
<HollyhockGod> She points her cutlass at you, yells, "Bomb the decks! Kill 'em all!" and takes a standing jump off the deck and into the air.
<RyanSherbrig> (Offer to fight her proper-like after you're finished talking.)
<HollyhockGod> Anna accepts your tea gladly, and asks if you would like any lemonade.
<Pandora> "Fair enough." With a lesser creation hrough the "recycling" part of her estate, Pandora turns the Admiral's vessel into… Paper confetti.
<Alexa> "There are five of us. A whole fleet of you. Do you want to take those odds?"
<Alexa> (Damn, too slow!)
<HollyhockGod> I am not convinced that Pandora can do that.
<Pandora> (Mmm? Why not, in particular?
<HollyhockGod> Isn't confetti plastic, for one thing?
<Pandora> … not if it's paper confetti.
<Alexa> Paper confetti?
- HollyhockGod considers.
<Alexa> (As in, yes, confetti comes in paper.)
<Pandora> (Confetti just means "little shreds of material.")
<ebba> (I'm not sure confetti is in the normal life-cycle of flying pirate ships.)
<ebba> (Maybe make them sprout, so that they warp, and generally fall apart?)
<HollyhockGod> While I think about it, Anna tells Ebba, "Ah must admit, I find mahself out of mah comfort zone in these little tiffs."
<Pandora> Recycling, as in the environmentally friendly industrial process, is Pandora's primary physical-world-effecting estate correspondance.
<HollyhockGod> "I jes cannot figure out how to make that woman leave me alone."
<RyanSherbrig> Meanwhile, do I get access to a pirate-ship flying engine with mini-Glorious?
<RyanSherbrig> Or do I just have to elemental my way there?
<HollyhockGod> "How am Ah supposed to fight a bunch of people up in the air? Have ya'll got any ideas?"
<HollyhockGod> You get directed there.
<HollyhockGod> It's, um… a tiny flat hurricane with wires attached to it.
<HollyhockGod> Spinny, winds going "Woooo!"
<ebba> "Hmm; water is in the air; water becomes ice; ice is heavy; thing falls down?"
<HollyhockGod> It might possibly be magical.
<RyanSherbrig> Sweet! Magic is where I'm a viking!
<Alexa> (:D)
<RyanSherbrig> I study the design for a bit, then idly tear out some of the wires.
<RyanSherbrig> (Not mutiny for me, will they?)
- Alexa chases Melangell through the air.
<HollyhockGod> "Hum," says Anna. She does a sort of motion like she's trying to reach out and touch something.
<HollyhockGod> At the same time, a pirate ship turns into bits of scrap paper.
<HollyhockGod> This scrap paper is then engulfed in a ball of ice.
<HollyhockGod> Which hurtles down towards Anna and Ebba looking heavy!
<Alexa> (Ouch! What happens to the pirates?)
<HollyhockGod> I assume they all die.
<Fiona> (aside: I am also on the ground.)
<Alexa> :(
<RyanSherbrig> Presumably they're engulfed in a ball of frozen confetti as well.
<ebba> "It's helps if the heavy thing dosen't fall on you, dear."
<ebba> (How much Aspect to catch it?)
<HollyhockGod> I'd say 7.
<Alexa> "Melangell! Do you actually want your people to get hurt?"
<ebba> Caught!
- Ebba spends 2 AMP.
<Pandora> And what does the Duchess of the Four Winds do when her ship turns into ticker tape?
<HollyhockGod> Alexa, you're duckin' and weavin' in an attempt to catch the pirate queen, who calls out "Nobody complains when ye "use" the post office. That's what it's for!"
<HollyhockGod> She makes a cutlass gesture.
<ebba> Several elm branches reach out toward the ball of ice, catching it and carefully lowering it to the ground
<HollyhockGod> "Not very original, but…"
<RyanSherbrig> (Was that the ship I was on?)
<Alexa> "They do if you use it to post letter bombs!"
<Pandora> (No.)
<HollyhockGod> (No, it was the flagship.)
<HollyhockGod> Suddenly, you're caught in an entirely predictable 150-mph wind.
<RyanSherbrig> (All right.)
<HollyhockGod> As is everybody who isn't on the ground.
<HollyhockGod> I think.
- Alexa shoots up to gain height advantage.
- RyanSherbrig gets tossed a bit, shines back to the ground.
<Pandora> (What's the aspect to station keep in a hurricane? Pretty high, I would guess.)
<HollyhockGod> This is difficult because of the wind. In fact, you basically can't steer at all right now.
<RyanSherbrig> "I suspect we may be needing some pirate-catching canopy soon."
<HollyhockGod> (Probably 6 or so given that you're in the air.)
<HollyhockGod> Ebba, given that you're already using a high-end miracle, how about you catch the iceball, bend back to hit the ground, and then whip back up like a catapult to fire it at someone else?
<HollyhockGod> In for a penny, in for a pound, after all.
<ebba> (That might kill someone, something I can't do.)
<Alexa> (If we save the ice, we might be able to thaw out the pirates. Just a thought.)
<ebba> (Unless Aspect 7 can cover Vash-like miracles?)
<ebba> (Where the whole town is destroyed, but no one is seriously injured?)
<RyanSherbrig> (It's like suspended animation!)
- Alexa creates a fireball upwind of Melangell.
<RyanSherbrig> (Aspect 7 is pretty much 'impossible')
<RyanSherbrig> (They all land in the lake! Miraculously!)
<RyanSherbrig> (Where the mermen cabana-boys slit their throats)
<HollyhockGod> (I suppose that's correct.)
<Pandora> Alright, it's profligate, but Pandora reaches into her Aspect power and just deals with the hurricane. She continues turning ships into confetti at a regular pace.
<HollyhockGod> (Also, Nobilis is not Batman the Animated Series, so people who are frozen into a ball of ice are dead. Admittedly, that's only a slightly larger problem.)
<HollyhockGod> Pandora, you continue to pulp ships, but it's problematic because Melangell is swooping down at you to cut off your head.
<RyanSherbrig> (Yeah, that's on Anna's head, not ours; and I am going to adjust my opinion of her accordingly.)
- Alexa creates a wall of fire between Melangell and Pandora.
<HollyhockGod> (She only followed Ebba's advice.)
<HollyhockGod> Lesser Creation?
<RyanSherbrig> (I don't know that!)
<Alexa> (Yep.)
<Pandora> (Penetration, Alexa?)
<HollyhockGod> Melangell flies right through it like a flying woman out of hell.
<Alexa> (None, yet.)
<HollyhockGod> It billows neatly out of her way before moving back into position as she passes.
<HollyhockGod> Pandora, sword, your head, imminent convergence.
<HollyhockGod> Ryan, you're falling out of the sky as the engine is disconnected.
<Pandora> I don't suppose there's any confetti swirling around us?
<HollyhockGod> That seems like a reasonable assumption.
<Alexa> And lots of falling pirates?
<RyanSherbrig> "I really hope they have lifeboats."
<Pandora> I turn it into a nice wall of compressed fiberboard between the two of us. Trying to time it so that she splats if she doesn't respond with good aspect, but of course minding Auctoritas.
<RyanSherbrig> "That was a suggestion, you engineers over there."
<HollyhockGod> The engineers shrug, and begin to croon their own death lament.
<Alexa> (Prayer to Fiona: "Fi, can you create some flowery parachutes or something, to save these falling pirates?")
<HollyhockGod> Minding in what sense?
- Ebba spends time catching falling pirates, and seeing if they aren't willing to change their profession.
<RyanSherbrig> "What? Are you seriously telling me that you built a flying pirate ship and have no contingency plans for ship failure? Not even, like, parachutes?"
<Pandora> Not timing my miracle so that her Auctoritas clears a hole in the newly formed wall.
<HollyhockGod> You have like two seconds, so you can't really do that.
<Fiona> (Lesser Change of ship-eating brambles into pirate-saving brambles. That fly?)
<HollyhockGod> (Sure.)
<HollyhockGod> (Ebba, that's another Aspect 7, but you can sustain it as long as you like for crazy leaping.)
<HollyhockGod> Ryan, the pirates seem oddly not upset about impending death.
<ebba> (I was assuming I'd turned into tree form, and was just growing more branches, as necessary.)
<RyanSherbrig> "They weren't kidding when they included that 'especially from themselves' clause, were they?"
<Pandora> (Her Auctoritas is already over me, you mean?
<HollyhockGod> (That works too)
- RyanSherbrig checks the pirates out with the Sight, and possibly mythically if the Sight doesn't turn anything unusual up.
<HollyhockGod> Pandora, you don't have enough time for your action to stop being miraculous, so Auctoritas applies either way.
<RyanSherbrig> (Maybe they're wind-spirits or something?)
<Pandora> ((Ah… well, let's just make a great big flat weight out of it. I'll let her spit me, then let that counterattack.))
<HollyhockGod> Ryan, they look piratey. Quite piratey. In fact, they don't seem to have much of an existence outside of being pirates.
<HollyhockGod> Penetration?
<HollyhockGod> None of the usual additional traits normal humans come with.
<Pandora> (I'll try it at just pen 1.)
<HollyhockGod> Your head is severed from your body. There is a slight moment of discomfort before it "schlups" itself back on. You're down a Deadly.
<Alexa> "Okay, it's on."
<HollyhockGod> The fiberboard weight, which incidentally I find extremely dubious as a miracle of Rebirth, bounces off Melangell's general vicinity.
<RyanSherbrig> "Oh."
- RyanSherbrig heads out to the deck, and tries to spy another ship to shine to, before discovering they've all been turned into confetti or glaciers.
<RyanSherbrig> "What did I miss?"
<Pandora> (Fiberboard's about the only thing confetti recycles into. ;) I should have turned the ships into gazebos or something, you can reuse timber easier. ;) )
<Alexa> Lesser Creation of Fireball shooting down at Melangell; Penetration 2.
<ebba> (Hmm, since the pirates seem to just be created guys, how about a Lesser Creation of resolve; in exchange for me saving their lives, they'll tell me things about what the Duchess of the Four Winds is doing, from time to time?)
<HollyhockGod> That seems awfully specific, but it's magic, so okay.
<HollyhockGod> Melangell takes a hit from the fireball, which pretty clearly penetrates her Auctoritas, but doesn't seem to faze her.
<HollyhockGod> Except you singed her hat.
<HollyhockGod> YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS
<Alexa> I've made her mad?
<Fiona> (Lesser Change of pirate-saving brambles into Melangell-eating bramble-dragons. that still fly?)
<ebba> (Since I don't think we are going to kill her, having some intelligence on her activities down the road couldn't hurt.)
<HollyhockGod> Ebba brainwashes some pirates, Pandora switches to gazebo pulping.
<HollyhockGod> Fiona, you're gonna need a Major Creation for that one.
<Fiona> (Hmm, including a Lesser Preservation.)
<Fiona> (Why? It's just another change. They aren't going to be especially dangerous or anything.)
<HollyhockGod> I just feel like you need Major to create a useful new life form.
<HollyhockGod> Opinions?
<RyanSherbrig> Well, she's sort of just changing an already-useful life form into a lifeform with a different sort of use.
<RyanSherbrig> I was assuming they were actively-mobile pirate-saving brambles.
<Pandora> (They're already flying mobile brambles; it seems more like she's just making topiary of them)
<HollyhockGod> Melangell directs her few remaining ships to fire at Alexa while performing a flying dive of her own, cutlass extended.
<HollyhockGod> Are they brambly, or floral parachutes?
<HollyhockGod> I got the impression they were giant parachute-y things.
<HollyhockGod> I'm inclined to make "Parachute -> Dragon" require some juice.
<Fiona> (Still brambly. I don't think I ever got rid of that. They do have flowers, though, probably as eyes.)
- RyanSherbrig shines onto the ground.
<Fiona> (They probably weren't very happy saved pirates.)
<Alexa> (Who's Melangell diving at?)
<HollyhockGod> (You.)
<HollyhockGod> Oh, very well. Brambly dragon-shaped plants begin diving at Melangell and bothering her. She starts trying to cut them off while killing Alexa and is having issues.
<HollyhockGod> Alexa, you're being fired at with lightning guns.
<Alexa> (Diving up, then. I'm still in the air.)
<HollyhockGod> Horrible driving wind, yes?
<HollyhockGod> In fact, I'm not completely certain that all those bramble-dragons can navigate the hurricane, either.
<Alexa> (Um. Which way is the wind going? I was trying to get above it.)
<Fiona> (They probably can't terribly well. But they try!)
<RyanSherbrig> (Poor little bramble-dragons. Awwwww.)
<HollyhockGod> (Random and constantly changing directions. You have not yet found a place that is above it.)
<Fiona> (Can I do a Lesser Preservation against hurricanes on them?)
<RyanSherbrig> (I would imagine they helps them survive the hurricane, but not necessarily navigate it.)
<Pandora> Pandora, meanwhile, punches a Lesser Creation of recycling at the wind lady's cutlass (hoping it's not a Focus or suchlike) to turn it into workboot toes.
<Fiona> (True. Still, poor little bramble-dragons.)
<ebba> (Back to the tea) "… and as distasteful as they are, retaining an investigator affiliated with the Cammora to find sufficient leverage to get her to leave you alone may also work."
<Pandora> Penetration 2, spending the point.
<HollyhockGod> Do your powers work on the inorganic?
<HollyhockGod> I really am not going to let you turn anything to anything.
<Pandora> Anything that recycles.
<HollyhockGod> ….oh, very well.
<Alexa> (2 AMPs for Aspect-3 dodge, punching back at Melangell.)
<Pandora> There's a logic to it. It has to be something mortal industrial processes can recycle.
<HollyhockGod> Oh, okay.
<Pandora> Steel anything is easy, as is wood and glass… Plastic's a bitch; some stuff just doesn't go.
<HollyhockGod> Your punches bounce off, but you manage to avoid her strike as you careen wildly upward.
<RyanSherbrig> (Of course, her cutlass is within her Auctoritas, as well.)
<HollyhockGod> Also, Melangell's sword has just turned into something else, which falls out of her hand.
<Pandora> (Hence Penetration 2, which Alexa shot a fireball through with earlier.
<RyanSherbrig> (Aha, missed that.)
- RyanSherbrig picks up a cup of tea.
<HollyhockGod> She growls and lunges for your throat.
<RyanSherbrig> "Ladies."
- Alexa bursts into insubstantial flame so there's no throat to grab.
<HollyhockGod> "The Cammorae are so… difficult. Whenever ah give them a call, they always want me to train killer dolphins or some other awful thing."
<Alexa> (And is blown apart by the wind? Damn. ;) )
<HollyhockGod> Ooh, good idea!
<RyanSherbrig> "Well, if you're lucky, she may decide to declare Alexa there her new sworn archenemy."
<HollyhockGod> But no, I don't think you can be blown apart by wind that wasn't intended as a weapon.
<HollyhockGod> Melangell flips back as she grabs her hands in pain.
<Alexa> (I thought of it just after I posted the 'insubstantial' bit.)
<HollyhockGod> Her gloves have been burnt right off and her hands seem to be covered in nasty burns.
<Alexa> The flame rolls over Melangell's hands and up her arm as if alive, trying to get into her eyes and mouth.
<HollyhockGod> How?
<RyanSherbrig> (The flame = Alexa?)
<Alexa> (Yep, Alexa is the flame.)
<RyanSherbrig> "So how did this whole business between you and Melangell get started, anyway?"
<HollyhockGod> So it's basically an Aspect attack supplemented by you being made of fire?
<Alexa> (Yep.)
<HollyhockGod> "Oh, ah can't even recall. Some day last yeah, she showed up for some reason demanding blood revenge for… Ah forget why."
<HollyhockGod> "Frankly, Ah think she's insane."
<HollyhockGod> What level are you using, Alexa?
<RyanSherbrig> "Unfortunate. Ooooh, that will leave a mark."
<Alexa> (Oh, put 2 pen on it, too.)
<Alexa> (I'm running low here, guys.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Hopefully she is as well.)
<Pandora> (I'm still trying to think of something beyond anti-materiel warfare…)
<HollyhockGod> Yes, but what level of Aspect?
<Alexa> (Just 1.)
<Fiona> Note: Pirate-girl is probably Durant.
<Alexa> (Oh.)
<Alexa> (Still, keep it; Alexa has no experience in fighting Nobles.)
<HollyhockGod> Melangell screams "Bitch!" and thrusts out her burnt hands into claws.
<HollyhockGod> You suddenly find yourself extremely uncomfortable as all the air around you vanishes.
<RyanSherbrig> "I'm hardly one for battling another Noble toe-to-toe, but it looks like our sister may need help up there soon."
<RyanSherbrig> (That's pretty bad for fire, especially.)
<HollyhockGod> You're in the middle of a vacuum of unknown size.
- Alexa materialises into solid, physical form and plummets towards the ground.
<Fiona> (Huh. Maybe she isn't Durant)
<HollyhockGod> Elemental is based on a level 6 miracle.
<Fiona> (Point.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Yeah, this game has really increased Elemental's awesomeness in my eyes, such that I start evaluating all Estates by how much fun Elemental would be for them)
<HollyhockGod> Okay, Ryan is drinking tea, Alexa is falling toward the ground and unable to fly, Pandora is also probably unable to fly since her wings are made of fire, Ebba is catching pirates and being nice to them, and Fiona is talking to Anna with Ryan.
- RyanSherbrig walks over to the whereabouts of where Alexa looks like she is going to land.
<Fiona> (Actually, I think I'm just sitting down under a tree and watching what's happening. I'm pretty sure we'll win, after all).
<Alexa> (Hang on. I was about to try flying again, but as I read it, Alexa's flight works while she's physical as well; her flying as a fireball was an aesthetic choice.)
<HollyhockGod> In other news, however, the Duchess of the Four Winds appears to be flying in the opposite direction. What few ships can attempt to follow her do so.
<Pandora> (Um, if you're going to turn off my flight when fire can't burn, can I get a Restriction MP or two? That's not a normal limitation of Flight.)
<HollyhockGod> I don't mind if you can fly without burning either of you, but it's more fun if you can't.
<HollyhockGod> You can have the MP if you accept the Restriction.
<Alexa> (And is the air missing just around Melangell, or is it a bubble following Alexa, or is it over the whole clearing? Pandora would only be affected in the last case.)
<ebba> (Makes sure shiny new pirate-agents are among those getting away.)
<HollyhockGod> The people on the ground can breathe, but you aren't directly over them.
<Pandora> (I would actually rather continue flying. The wings were meant to be a small Restriction, as in a Revelatory Trait.)
<HollyhockGod> The vacuum is an area of unknown size, but it's got you and Pandora in it.
<HollyhockGod> Oh, very well, spoil all my fun.
<Alexa> (Righto.)
<RyanSherbrig> "Well, that was fairly exciting."
<HollyhockGod> Okay, so Alexa, are you flying or falling?
<Alexa> (I'm not sure about taking the Restriction yet, but Alexa's still falling, because she can't breathe and is panicking.)
<Pandora> Pandora flies at top speed- um- let's say, up, looking for the edge of the vacuum before her breath runs out.
<HollyhockGod> You're Eternal.
<Pandora> Oh, right.
<RyanSherbrig> (So she's got a while!)
<HollyhockGod> (I wouldn't wait up, yeah.)
<Alexa> (Being Eternal doesn't stop it from feeling unpleasant! :) )
<HollyhockGod> Alexa falls; Pandora doesn't; Melangell retreats rapidly.
<Pandora> In that case she just heads down to get a cup of tea, if Melangell is retreating.
<HollyhockGod> Retreating while yelling at you, but you can't hear what, because of the no air.
<RyanSherbrig> "Ebba, can you read her lips? Is she swearing eternal vengeance against our Familia?"
<Fiona> (All those poor air spirits, senselessly murdered…)
<ebba> (Is she swearing eternal vengance?)
<Alexa> (So I start breathing just before hitting the ground? :))
<HollyhockGod> Ebba: Replace "familia" with "Alexa" and you've pretty much got it.
<HollyhockGod> Alexa: No.
<HollyhockGod> You smack painfully into the lake, losing a Deadly.
<Alexa> (I don't start breathing?)
<HollyhockGod> You aren't directly over the others, so you land elsewhere, evidently still within the effect of Melangell's miracle.
<HollyhockGod> There's some pain, and then stillness, as the water flips you over gently, pushes you to the surface, and ferries you to your Familia.
<RyanSherbrig> "Are you all right?"
- Alexa coughs and splutters.
<HollyhockGod> Anna hands you a glass of lemonade, looking depressed.
<HollyhockGod> You look over the shattered remains of her summer home.
<ebba> (Ebba's touch heals normal wounds.)
<HollyhockGod> (I don't think it works on Powers who aren't you.)
- Pandora touches lightly down next to Ryan, sighing heavily. "Well, I'm sure that wasn't the last of her, but at least it seems to be for now. She's going to be annoying to deal with." She looks at the Sea Queen searchingly. "Where did you pick her up, anyway?"
<Alexa> "Thank you, Anna. Sorry about the mess."
<RyanSherbrig> "On the plus side, Anna, it does seem as if your nemesis will no longer be giving you her undivided attention."
<Fiona> (Lesser Destruction of the bramble-dragons. They'd be kind of awkward to keep around.)
<ebba> (Yes, but the cabana boys are fine; they can give you a nice massage.)
<HollyhockGod> "It seems ah am fated to being persecuted. Ah can only hope it's your vacation home she goes after next. As ah was sayin', Ah think she's crazy."
<HollyhockGod> "Ah never laid a finger on her that ah can remember."
<HollyhockGod> The cabana boys (all the lightning strikes on the lake hit Ebba instead) do indeed look winsomely at their queen as though they longed to make it all better.
<HollyhockGod> She frowns and adds, looking at the mess, "But Ah guess ya'll got what ya'll wanted."
<Pandora> "Well, you never can discount crazy." Pandora doesn't sound wholly convinced, but she does sound incurious.
<ebba> She also seems to have sworn eternal vengeance against Alexa as well.
<RyanSherbrig> (Are… uh, any of the fire blossom seeds still intact after that?)
<Alexa> "She said you started it."
<RyanSherbrig> "Isn't that always the way?"
<Pandora> "Heh. Not precisely, but perhaps you should count your blessings that you'd already been promised a replacement when this happened, hmm?" Pandora grins quirkily.
<Fiona> (It's not like I can't just make more fire-blossoms.)
<Alexa> "We still have to burn the forest down, after all."
<HollyhockGod> (I forget who had them. If it was Fiona, they should be okay.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Fiona produces fire-blossom seeds, one way or another!)
<HollyhockGod> Anna sulks a bit. "There had better be a cupola. And a rose garden. And…. I want a flower named after me. For all my trouble." She glares at Fiona, "You can do that, right?"
<Alexa> "We never promised you a rose garden."
<Alexa> (I'm sorry, but some lines I really just can't pass up.)
- Fiona nods.
<ebba> "How's this?" (produces sketch somewhat inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright waterfall house)
<HollyhockGod> Anna attempts to recapture her hauteur. "That might perhaps be adequate."
- Alexa gets out her cigarettes.
<Alexa> "Anyone mind if I smoke?"
<HollyhockGod> I don't think anybody has the energy to object.
<Pandora> Pandora eyes Alexa dubiously. She's clearly trying to figure out if the horrible pun was intended.
<Alexa> (I was wondering whether Anna might.)
- RyanSherbrig offers Alexa a cigarette that hasn't landed in the lake recently.
- Alexa lights up.
<Alexa> "Ah. Thanks, Ryan."
<RyanSherbrig> (Cut to later, after we burn down the forest and leave Anna?)
<HollyhockGod> All right.
<Alexa> (I'll want to talk to Alexa about Estate demarcation, but that can happen off-screen. Plus she might not want to talk right now.)
<Alexa> (To Anna, that should have been!)
<ebba> "I am sorely reminded of why I spent several years thinking of nothing at all."
<HollyhockGod> You leave Anna standing in the middle of her burning vacation home with promises of a new one later."
<RyanSherbrig> (entirely seriously) "That was fun."
<Alexa> "That was fucked!"
<RyanSherbrig> "I admit, not having to worry about personal injury may have influenced my perspective."
<HollyhockGod> Now I guess you have to decide what to do about your new arch-nemesis.
<Pandora> "You had a tea party while we were fighting the Wind Lady, you lazy ass." Pandora doesn't sound really irate, but it's not a joke.
<RyanSherbrig> "But a proper nemesis will keep us sharp, and it's useful practice for when we eventually go after our big goal."
<Alexa> (Oh, no, her home isn't still burning. Alexa will do at least that much for her!)
<HollyhockGod> (So it's just full of holes and surrounded by a burning protective glade.)
<Alexa> (Yep. All peachy.)
<Fiona> "What's wrong with tea parties?"
<RyanSherbrig> "I tried! The pirates were able to resist my commanding authority and overwhelming respectability. I suspect it's because they were artificial miraculous creations."
<Alexa> "We'll need to practise our counter-Noble tactics, I reckon."
<Alexa> "Just one was giving us trouble. And sooner or later we'll have to take on a whole Familia."
<Fiona> "We shouldn't have any problems we can't handle."
<Alexa> "How's the neck, Pan?"
<Pandora> "To be fair, it was less 'trouble' than 'tactical impasse.' She was doing precious little to us, too."
<RyanSherbrig> (The people with multiple Deadly Wounds may contest that.)
<Pandora> (Who has multiple? Alexa took a fall and Pandora got her head cut off. Did somebody else have trouble I missed?)
<RyanSherbrig> "Still, I've learned my lesson about leaving the chancel without a summon by my side, definitely."
<RyanSherbrig> (Oh, I thought Alexa took one during the fight, my bad.)
<Alexa> (Yeah, "How's the neck, Pan?" is a passive-aggressive way of saying "We had some problems." ;) )
<Pandora> To 'How's the neck': "Replaceable."
<Alexa> "Of course. Look who I'm talking to." Alexa smiles.
<Alexa> "Hey, is she in the Almanac?"
<Pandora> "Right. Which is probably one of the tactics we should work on. 'Try to convince them to waste efforts on the expendable one.'"
<ebba> "I have co-opted several of her pirates as intelligence assets; perhaps they will contribute something useful."
- RyanSherbrig checks the Almanac.
<HollyhockGod> MELANGELL THORPE, LADY OF FORTUNE AND DUCHESS OF THE FOUR WINDS:
<HollyhockGod> A queen of pirates and the ruler of the sky, Lady Thorpe is largely devoted to the Code of the Wild and spends her days doing nothing but what she pleases. Her most noteworthy pleasure is the oath of blood vengeance.
<RyanSherbrig> (Almanac, even)
<Alexa> ("Abracadabra! Alamanac!")
<RyanSherbrig> ("Alamanac, Metrion, Zinthos!")
<Pandora> "Well. There's shutting an informational barn door for you."
<Alexa> "Great."
<ebba> "Did you wish me to work toward a more permanent solution to this problem?"
<Alexa> "It depends how serious she is. Anna seemed annoyed rather than scared, so maybe Melangell just plays this as a rather intense game."
<RyanSherbrig> "Mmmm, and our battles wouldn't be endangering human lives, evidently."
<Alexa> "Depending where they take place. And I don't want it to distract from our duties too much."
<RyanSherbrig> "Well, if she decides to attack when we're in a crowded city, I'll adjust my opinions of her accordingly."
<Alexa> "Indeed."
<RyanSherbrig> "And then she can explain herself to the Locust Court."
<ebba> (Ebba wants to escalate to bureaucracy… )
<ebba> "Should we also look into developing our own naval strength?"
<HollyhockGod> Like, a sky navy?
<Pandora> "It didn't help her much, did it?"
<ebba> "It seems that everyone just sails up to our beach"
<RyanSherbrig> "Well, we have sea monsters."
<RyanSherbrig> "And I've specifically invited everyone in so far."
<Pandora> "And land monsters, and the occasional air monster… Really, sailing right in here is a very bad mistake. Trying to guard the borders would be like fencing off a bear trap."
<Alexa> "She can hit us outside the Chancel, though."
<Alexa> (Are we about to wrap up?)
<HollyhockGod> Yes, pretty much.
<HollyhockGod> Please, finish your conversation, though.
<RyanSherbrig> "I'm almost inclined to give her directions to the Chancel."
<Alexa> "Ha!"
<Fiona> "Why not?"
<Alexa> "No, it's a good idea, I just found it amusing."
<Pandora> "If she's fool enough to follow them, that would be a good start to a permanent solution. I'm still not entirely convinced the permanent solution is appropriate, though. Killing a Noble is a weighty thing."
<Alexa> "Yeah. That's why I'm hoping she's not really that crazy."
<ebba> "There are many solutions short of death that are permanent…"
<Pandora> "Hmm. I don't suppose the almanac lists any Siblings? Maybe she has a sane one or two who could offer advice on dealing with her."
<Alexa> "So we did all the forest-disposals, right? Mission accomplished?"
<Pandora> "Such as what, Ebba?"
<Pandora> (Major Divination of Rebirth… all the forests are on track to their intended renewal?)
<HollyhockGod> (Five by fire.)
<ebba> (Storytime with Ebba; ominous music plays)
<RyanSherbrig> (Gotta go, later all, thanks for game!)
<Pandora> "Yes, the forests are taken care of."
- RyanSherbrig is now known as Benhimself
<ebba> The last people who really irritated her, she shaped into bowls. Then she walked to the place where her relative by blood, Loki, is imprisoned under the earth.
<Alexa> "Not a bad day's work, then."
<ebba> Loki's wife was given time for a short nap…
<ebba> and Ebba used the bowls to catch the venom that drips from from the serpent…
<ebba> and caught up on family gossip.
<HollyhockGod> That is cold.
<ebba> The screaming of the bowls did not interfere with their conversation.
<HollyhockGod> I thought you didn't kill?
<Pandora> "Ebba… That's what we call a fate worse than death. I asked you about solutions short of murder."
- Alexa takes a long look at Ebba.
<Fiona> "Spare her life? It's a pretty weighty gift to give someone, their life."
<Alexa> "But we'd have to be in a position to end her life in order to spare it."
<Fiona> "Well yes, but you were just talking about killing her."
<Alexa> "I wasn't!"
<ebba> "Of course, I was mightily provoked." …and after their sojurn under the earth, the bowls were much nicer people.
<Alexa> "Okay, maybe I was thinking it."
<Fiona> "I think we should maybe just keep giving her gifts until she can't justify continuing her blood oath. I don't think she'd like us much if we did, though."
<Pandora> "It doesn't strike me that she would have trouble justifying a blood oath in the face of much of anything. Rationality cannot be the strong suit of a woman who flys around playing air pirate and swearing vengeance on people who can't identify her."
<Fiona> "But she follows the Code of the Wild, and they care about gifts, I think."
<Pandora> "Hmm. Point. But we'd have to come up with a gift such that swearing off an oath of vengeance would be 'in kind.'"
<Fiona> "We don't have to think of it right away. an invitation here might be a start, anyway."
<Alexa> "Yeah. Hey, are we supposed to pay a return visit to Frost & Co.?"
<Fiona> "…and it might give Ryan another chance to show off."
<Pandora> "Fair enough. Well, anyway…" She stretches and yawns hugely. "I'm going to go sleep off being decapitated while flying in a hurricane. Good night."
<Fiona> "Night, Pandora."
<HollyhockGod> I guess that concludes our story, then.
<Alexa> "Sleep well, Pan. I might take a nap, too."
<HollyhockGod> I hope that battle was properly thrilling.
- Alexa is now known as Uqbarian
<HollyhockGod> I was beginning to worry that I'd understatted Melangell.
<Uqbarian> Yep. A bit scary!
- Pandora is now known as Nentuaby
<Uqbarian> Noble-on-Noble combat is really tough.
<Fiona> It's odd. I don't think I could really do much to her, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to do anything much back, either.
<HollyhockGod> I actually fudged a couple of MPs for her toward the end so she could pop your Auctoritas. I need to give her some Limits.
<HollyhockGod> But other than that it was all above board.
<Uqbarian> And I'd better scoot. Catch you guys later!
<Nentuaby> It certainly made me realize a key weakness in my combative armament, at any rate. I'm going to have to meditate on Noble-on-Noble combat.
<ebba> Seems to mostly rely on having enough miracle points to defeat Auctoritas.
<Nentuaby> And of course the creativity to work out a counter.
- ebba is now known as Crusher_bob
<RandBrittain> Well, people at least seemed to be enjoying themselves.
<RandBrittain> Any particular comments or concerns?
<Nentuaby> I was quite pleased with that session.
<RandBrittain> I haven't done a good combat in a while.
<RandBrittain> Next time I really should make it five-on-five.
<RandBrittain> I guess I didn't really give Anna an impressive showing, but it's true that she's not a combat monkey even if she's Regal.
<RandBrittain> I was really hoping it would end up like Vaarsuvius telling Elan how to use illusions.
<RandBrittain> I guess you all get another character point, so that's good.
- Crusher_bob was slightly worried that Alexa would get too beaten up.
<Crusher_bob> Being immortal, Ebba's normal tactic for fights that aren't important is to mostly ignore them.
<RandBrittain> A valid technique!
<Nentuaby> Someday, I want to fight somebody with modern-style naval power just so I can say "Turn back now before I turn this carrier into six thousand Volkswagen frames."
<Crusher_bob> The turn anything into anything may be a bit over the top; should there be a bit more definition on those miracles?
<Nentuaby> It's not anything into anything. She slides things along their natural or industrial life cycle.
<Crusher_bob> Yes, but limiting things; for example, only one step per miracle.
<Crusher_bob> So you could turn the carrier into Volkswagen frames…
<Crusher_bob> But maybe not completed Volkswagens.
<Crusher_bob> And certainly not a junkyard wars submarine made out of rusting Volkswagens.
<Nentuaby> Well, I don't think you could turn a carrier into complete Volkswagons anyway. They have plastic and fabric bits you couldn't source. I think the natural, logical limits of recycling are well enough within normal range for a Noble.
<Nentuaby> Without having to put arbitrary rules on.
<RandBrittain> I really think a carrier (and a ship, really) should require a Major miracle.
<RandBrittain> I probably shouldn't have let you pop them so easily this time.
<Nentuaby> I was figuring one big object like that was about the limit of a lesser miracle.
<RandBrittain> I'd file it under "things I don't want you to be able to do an infinite number of times."
<RandBrittain> I mean, maybe you could do it one chunk at a time.
<Nentuaby> Eh. I guess. On the other hand, it wouldn't have cost me much to say "The fleet is now confetti" in one action.
<Nentuaby> For Noble level excessive force, taking out one ship at a time seemed pretty conservative. ;)
<Crusher_bob> I dunno, wouldn't a level 9 Domain miracle be something like, "Your pirate fleet is now cheese. In fact, the entire idea of your pirate fleet is cheese. Anytime you think about re-creating it, you will just end up with cheese. Travelers starving in the desert can think of your fleet and cheese will appear in their hands."?
<Nentuaby> Urm, not for me it wouldn't, but that's the vague level of a Major Change, yes.
<RandBrittain> That's true, but you'd have paid for it.
<RandBrittain> I'd still probably make it happen slowly, but the effect is the same.
<Nentuaby> Eh. This way I paid for it in actions.
<RandBrittain> I guess I'll head to bed now. Thanks for showing up, everybody.