Combat consultation

Sprites pops in for tactics advice.

Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade is on the Academy's training ground, two swords in hand, pounding on a practice dummy with hard strikes. She twirls and spins, there's no way to imagine the title Blade Dancer is misgiven, but the strikes are more like a blacksmith on the anvil than a feather on the breeze. She pauses in her routine, takes a few breaths, then begins again. Twirl, slam, spin, smack! It's quite the ballet of destruction, and poor luck for her dance parner.
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

But it is also a feast for the eyes. Sprites enters the Academy grounds with a purposeful step, gaze rapidly sweeping the interior. He almost immediately notices Goldenblade; the style is distinctive, the competence a wonder to behold. For all that he came here with the purpose of seeking her advice, he simply stands off to the side, hands clasped behind his back, propped up against the wall. Watching, in silent admiration.
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade is pretty butch. She doesn't mind being watched, and she'll finish her workout if Sprites is here to watch. She goes for half an hour, if he doesn't pause her, by which time she's sweating profusely, but when she finishes her routine, she lets out a sigh and stretches, then tosses the practice swords in a bin. Watching techniques is training, too, so she won't complain if that's how someone wants to learn. But when her workout is done, she looks over and nods. "Good afternoon," she calls. "What brings you by our academy?"
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

And watch he does, intently, his posture only relaxing once she finishes up. He flashes her a quick smile and approaches. "Afternoon, ma'am," he responds. "I've come to the conclusion that I'm dangerously incompetent in a firefight in this world," he begins, "and I was hoping to get some perspective. Apologies for watching. I did not wish to interrupt."
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade shrugs about watching, and says, "Feel free to watch. If you learn something from it, I've achieved the academy's purpose." She considers a moment, and asks, "What sort of a firefight are you having? I didn't think there were any guns in the game?" Seems she took that expression literally, or at least in the modern context. "I'm not sure I can tell you about that, I'm more accustomed to the melee combat with swords, unfortunately."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

"Please call me Robert. And there aren't any," Sprites acknowledges, inclining forwards in crisp bow of greeting. "Firearms, I mean. That's basically the problem. See, I've been focusing on Wave Artes. I've been trying to treat them as though they were a firearm, and combat as though it were a firefight, and it seems to be just not working, whatsoever, at multiple levels. Thought you might be able to provide advice on how my tactics need to change."
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade returns the bow, puts a hand on her chin as she nods to the words. "Ah. So there are several ways fights here are unlike firefights in the real world," she says. "One, that ranged attacks, nor any attacks, really, are deadly one-shot takedowns as they are in the real world. No weapon or attack is, that I've noticed. The way monsters and people's health is abstracted, there's basically no way to make it like the real world. It's a game, after all, and the object is to make you work for your objective, so you appreciate it more. If you could just gun down every enemy, we'd have cleared the tower in the first month." She chuckles. "Two, the emphasis on melee plays to the fantasy trope of a warrior boldly taking a stand and like that, so melee has been given equal significance to ranged attacks. The third thing is that bosses typically have wide area attacks, so that back-rank attackers are vulnerable alongside the melee monsters right in their face."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

SpritesHero grins, then, his eyes lighting as amusement plays over his lips. "Yep, that's about the gist of it," he concedes. "In principle range should have a serious advantage. Here. Well. I'm not sure I'd say there's no advantages, but." He shrugs, the barest rise and fall of his shoulders. "Also probably worth noting that I've been in a lot of combat where everyone is attacking one target...which might not even be a particularly large target. Getting a good line-of-sight is more difficult than I'd anticipated. Add to that the time-delay in casting Wave Artes, and...well"
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade is not a gamer, so isn't familiar with tanking in other games. "I've never been in that sort of combat," she explains. Tank and spank is purely an RPG gaming technique, and she's not familiar with that. As far as a dogpile, with everyone beating on a target, she can only shrug. "So, I guess there's a bit of anticipation if your attack is slow to cast. That's probably intentional and inherent to the power."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

SpritesHero was more referring to dog-piles, as per the style of wave 7. "Which leads to the critical issue of combat inherently moving much faster than casting can, to the best of my knowledge," Sprites concludes. "On the other hand, there's no denying the area destructive capabilities of Wave Artes. At any rate, all this suggests I'd be better off using magic for enhancement and focus on physical attacking. But I'm simply not built for physical attacking, especially since i have no shielding potential."
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade looks surprised at the lack of shielding, but says, "If you can't block an attack, then you'd better learn how to dodge -really fast-." She grins, moves quickly to the size. So quickly that her footprints catch fire for a moment. "That's a technique I developed," she explains. "It's very useful." As far as developing attacks, she suggests, "Attacks with long build-up times are definitely not recommended for fast-moving fights. For those, you want the immediate attacks. Point-and-shoot, so to speak. You're not stuck with strictly enhancement, you just need to pick up spells that don't require complicated casting."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

"I'm...okay at dodging," Sprites summarizes, eyes narrowing as he tracks her movements. "It works well enough at range. But up close, in melee, reaction time is much shorter. And sometimes attacks are diffuse enough that dodging doesn't seem viable." He purses his lips, and attempts to mimic her dodge. The physical movements, anyhow. Slow. Slow. He tries coupling magic to it, and ends up with smoking boots. "Are you using fire magic to help propel yourself?" he inquires. "Is it a controlled explosion, or?"
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade says seriously, "You can dodge /anything/, if you know where it's going and you know where cover is. That's something you have to get from experience, but it's fairly intuitive. Or it was to me, and I've never played a game like this before in my life. When I was a child, we just hit each other with sticks." She shrugs. But as to how the move works, she nods about Fire. "Imagine Fire as the grease in the world, and you're just sliding through to your destination."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

SpritesHero scuffs at the sand with his boots, pensive. "Maybe that's what I was lacking," he muses. "I was going from using extensive cover at range to no cover in close combat. Perhaps a hybrid style. Maintain cover as much as possible, but dash out from time to time for rapid melee engagement? The close range would help with making sure spells land too." His brow furrows. He tries again. He skids off to he side, with a yelp, leaving an oil-smoking, burning path in his wake. And abruptly skids, arms windmilling, into a training dummy. The scent is beyond obnoxious. Clearly this is going to take some work on multiple fronts.
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade considers Sprite's attempt, nods slowly. "It's a bit complicated to start," she admits. "And if you do it wrong, you can get burned. But I'll show it to you so you can learn it, if you have some time?" She nods, "Dodging an attack is less about cover as a blocking technique, but you can still use it as a thing to hide behind. It'll become clear as you work on it."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

"I've gotten burned before," Sprites allows with a laugh as he climbs back to a standing position. "Literally, metaphorically, and often enough at my own hands." He gives it another shot. Skids off on his butt. Winds up swatting flames off his trousers.
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade smirks as Sprites keeps trying it. "It took me several weeks to work it out on my own," she explains. "The trick is how you channel the fire, strangely. But you ride it, like a surfer, and it scoots you along."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

SpritesHero is back on his feet once more. Luckily it seems like he has no pride at all. Goldenblade's smirk just gets a wry grin back in return. This time, he starts small. Tiny bursts underfoot, which he tries to 'ride'. Sometimes it works. More often it doesn't. But there's some progress at least. "Much obliged. What do I owe you?"
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade arches a brow about owing, and says, "Fight hard, live well. That's how you can pay me. Maybe if you invent a useful card you could share, but I've had no luck with that, and so I'm not expecting anything. This academy's mainly to help get -everyone- powereed up, so we can get out of this game."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

"Duly noted." A couple more pulses of fire, which mostly serve to give Sprites a case of hot-foot, and he hops off to the side, executing a crisp bow. "I'll see if I can't come up with anything. In the meantime, do let me know if you're open to lunch or dinner? My treat. The company and conversation would be very welcome."
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

Goldenblade hrms? "/Real/ food? Sure, I'll eat real food if you're offering," she says, amused. "I don't have enough cash to eat it every meal yet, and I don't have the gathering skill to get the raw materials." She admits, "I'm not sure what it is that you do. But if it's got magic in it, I'm lost."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

SpritesHero lift his hand to scratch at his head. This could be a bit of a puzzle. "Admittedly," he opines, "there's not much overlap in our strengths. But I'll sleep on it for a couple days, see what could be viable." He opens his menu, flicking through it to send a contact request. "Yup, real food. I'll shoot you the invitation in a couple days once I've sampled a few places to see who's doing a good job. What's your availability usually like?"
Goldenblade
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

"Well," Goldenblade says, "my time's split up pretty heavily. I'll be here most of the week, but then I'm going to Fourland to help Baroness Wake with her castle rebuilding, and the workshop our Guild is setting up over there also." As far as overlap, she shrugs. "If there's not, then don't worry about it. The academy is here to teach." She accepts the contact request, and nods about the invitation coming. "Sounds good."
SpritesHero
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Academy

"Understood," is Sprite's reply, a flick of his hand sending his menu scooting off into the ether from whence it came. "We'll figure out a way around your schedule. It'll take me a bit to come up with ideas anyhow." With that, and another bow, he pivots around and makes his departure.