Takshaka

[soulping]

[You enter a room made entirely of thick glass and patterned porcelain. Fluffy pillows and beanbags are scattered across the floor, providing plenty of comfortable places to sit, but they probably don't make up for what's on the ceiling (spears of jagged glass, steaming kettles of some boiling liquid), or the view through the floor (a long, long drop down into a pit, wherein weapons glint, sharp and business-ends pointed up towards you).

A round table stands in the middle of the room. Upon it stands six vases, each one the color of one team, and a scattering of gems in three different colors: obsidian, sapphire, and crystals.]

Comments

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

Please go ahead. In the meantime, I'll be over here, planning on how to survive.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

Survive at the expense of other people's lives?

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

It's not like it lasts.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

It hurts. Coming back is agony. Death is nothing to be treated lightly!

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

Of course it hurts. We're here to restore our worlds, right? Did you think that was going to be easy and painless?

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

I'll not turn myself into a murderer, even for the sake of a world. Not when I have a choice.

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

...

[She takes a moment to rub her temples.]

I'm outvoted, so I'll play it your way. I've got an idea, but it's an all or nothing gamble. We'll either break this, or definitely lose.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

"Winning" is never our goal.

What is your idea?

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

... If she hears it, odds are good it won't work.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

But maybe it will.

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

You'll either have to trust me, or have one of them stage a distraction so I can speak without being overheard.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

. . . I don't believe simple distraction would be enough. In their own realms, the Echoes are as gods.

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

...

We have someone better than a 'simple distraction'. Hold on a second.

[I'M HEADING OVER TO SWAN]

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

[I'VE JUST SENT SWAN TO GO MAKE A BIG SCENE AT NYSSA i am vaguely sorry.

while he's doing that.]

Put all twelve attacks on us. Then, drop in a reflector on ourselves as well. A reflector drops the strength by half when it reflects an attack, so it'll be attacking ourselves with only a 6-point attack. We can then use our six defense gems to negate that completely, and have a reflect gem left over if we think someone might attack that. We negate everything we do.

If we want to take a risk, we can use both reflections on ourselves- Either it'll hit us with the full 12 again and wipe us out, or it will halve twice, giving us an attack with a power of 3 we can negate and have gems left over for defense.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

[. . . well then]

If we took the latter risk, we can play our sapphires on ourselves as well. We might as well.

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

In my opinion, we're playing them all on ourselves anyway. With one reflector, we're guaranteed an average finish of zero. With the risk, we're either getting a final score of three extra defenses or negative six.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

[thinks]

[thinks some more]

. . . My vote is to take the risk.

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

I agree. A neutral score just makes us lose when we're attacked. This way, we've got a chance.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

[DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO KEEP FRAMING IT THAT WAY]

If the others agree, let's do it.

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

[YES]

Sparrow agreed to trust me.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

Swan and Wren?

Re: Discussion

[experiencepoints]

Swan's making a scene so we can have this discussion in the first place.

They'll both trust you enough to go with it, anyway.

Re: Discussion

[takewing]

They'll trust you, as well.