2011-06-23: Offer

[The Comment Golem]

Discussion thread for Offer

[Theros]

Hmn. This seems like the perfect moment for Paul here to round up what's left of the order and make a hasty retreat before there's none of them left.

I'm not even sure he'll bother to fight Sara, either!

[Slamlander]

Sarine's right, this is insane. However, she knows Anita's weaknesses and she has practiced against Sara. She is also confident that Jon and Sara, combined, can easily match a single Ensigerum master. The question is whether Sara will let her do this or if she makes her own challenge for the rule of the Ensigerum.

On the other hand, is Paul going to bother fighting Sara and Jon? We all know that taking both of them on at once could be a massive blunder on his part. Sara has been taking canny lessons from both her brother and Sarine and Jon is just plain awesome. Paul isn't that stupid, even if Anita is. He'll be taking on the pair that he just witnessed neutralizing Ian. He might just decide to witness Anita hitting the Sarine wall and then bug out.

Of course, losing both Anita and Paul will leave a huge power vacuume at the top of the Ensigerum Order. That might not be such a bad thing

Odds just changed to 3:2 in favor of Sarine's Team. Chances of Ensigerum leadership survival just dropped to 30%.

hehe,I would not put any gold on Ensigerum just now

[Immanio]

Ah, hubris. I can't help but think of the wise words that when something important is at stake, you don't take any unnecessary risks no matter how small it seems.

[Initial B]

I'm not so sure that Anita wants to destroy the elves as much as Ian. I think she just wants to work out a thousand years of pent-up resentment. The Ensigerum are assassins, not soldiers. I would think that the amount and scale of bloodletting of the past 24 hours would be enough to satiate them by now.

I forsee much text shared between the two as they duel, hopefully giving us some more background to the relationship between the two groups.

[ratfox]

I think Anita just likes things to be personal. She is not that interested in wiping out the elves. In fact, in http://www.errantstory.com/2011-04-18/5182, she was herself trying to convince Ian to move out while they were ahead.

I suspect she could very well be aware that this whole fight is a diversion, and she does not care. Even the fight with Sarine. And if she thought two seconds about it, she cannot seriously be asking Paul to go against the siblings and "finish them off". I doubt Paul is known to be a great fighter. Paul himself has said that Sara has been a very good initiate, and Anita has fought with her too.

On the other hand, Sarine is going to need a whole lot of Amraphel tactics to survive this. We do know (from Sara) that Anita is a very good fighter, and Sarine previously got her ass handed off to her by Sara's instructor, who was a fodder in comparison.

[Graybeard]

On the other hand, Sarine is going to need a whole lot of Amraphel tactics to survive this. We do know (from Sara) that Anita is a very good fighter, and Sarine previously got her ass handed off to her by Sara's instructor, who was a fodder in comparison.

A whole lot of Amraphel tactics, or an ace up her sleeve -- but in fact, she has that ace. She's still carrying the Inanire 312, as far as we know. There is every reason to believe it will work on time magic.

[eee]

<Bleep Bleep BLEEP!!> I knew Sarine was going to come up with something insane; I didn't expect THIS insane.

Still, she's doing a LOT better than Anita. How stupid, how egocentric do you have to be to accept a duel with an unknown quantity who's goading you into it? Maybe radiation from Ian has rotted her brain, this SCREAMS 'sucker punch'. Now, admittedly Anita doesn't know about Elven defense shields that trigger no matter how fast you are; the Elves kicked the Ensigerum out before they developed super speed, so she probably has no idea those shields can affect her even when she's moving too fast to be seen. And she's watched the Elves being chopped to bits by her forces and Ian, so she may have little expectation of them being a threat. But still, she SHOULD remember the Elves are almost all master mages, and this one has obviously had time to prepare... I agree with Paul: "Really? REALLY?!?!" As a tactical thinker, Anita isn't.

All this assumes Anita and Sarine don't play this straight, skill against skill. I don't expect Anita to, and why on Earth would Sarine do something that dumb?

I note Sarine's outfit is form fitting, and shows no sign of tummy bulge. Shucks. She and Jon will just have to try again (and again and again and again), assuming they both live...

[Madayar]

That woman has absolutely no sense of survival, now, does she?

Also, she has no sense of tactics, and is jeopardizing her whole order - from before the Ian-deal-beginnings till now - on her ego and petty revenge fantasies.

C'mon, man, just join the winning side. She shows no loyalty, why should you? Don't be bound by your sense of justice and family and values and all that crap, and don't even start with honor, you're a professional assassin, that's as dishonorable as it can get. Honor has never saved anybody but killed millions, and you will very definitely be killed in this if you try. Be reasonable. You like Sara, don't you? And you hate that bitch, don't you? Shit, he won't listen. Make it quick, Jon, let Sara have little part in killing the one last honorable Ensignium fighter.

And Sarine - this ain't your first time-traveling monk. Remember how a human had to save you back then? Redeem yourself. Show us what you got. And make it brutal. Not that she deserves it, nobody can judge about that. But it'll be more satisfying for us to watch.

Compared to how the situation was two pages before, this is as positive an outlook as it gets for Jon and Sara. The attacking party is split, and the one attacking them is the one the least eager to kill them. Their chances of survival have exponentially risen.

Bit too positive an outcome, maybe?

[Viking-Sensei]

I think that this is endgame for Anita, no matter what. Even if she did survive and somehow manages to march out of that mountain using Sarine's skull as a hat, the damage that the Ensignium has taken in this farce, as well as her view in the eyes of the others for letting it go on this long, more or less ensures that she's going to be dethroned, and quite possibly de-headed herself, by her fellow time monks. Sarine just happens to be the great white elf whale that Anita's Ahab is about to try and sink into the stony depths as her final act.