Ran Quest: A Z-Machine Sidestory

[E-Nazrin]

> This voice doesn't see why we shouldn't use the False Maid and just plow through. We have enough life for at least one attack, and that should be mostly enough.

The prismrivers also know this, and the Snake's properties indicate that there are other cards/monsters with defensive properties that would make it useless, such as immunity to direct/combat damage (and/or enough life to survive two hits while defending, in which case the maid destroys itself). The real question is how many layers of fakeout there are about which to use, and whether those defensive monsters would be strong enough to steamroll the snake without dying in the meantime regardless of the defense-ability negation.

>"I assume switching isn't allowed in quick battles?"
>"And... I'm probably getting too into this, but I'm curious about what your cards are in this game, as well. May I see?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I assume switching isn't allowed in quick battles?"
>"And... I'm probably getting too into this, but I'm curious about what your cards are in this game, as well. May I see?"

>Lyrica shakes her head when you ask about switching.
>The Prismrivers look between themselves, frowning or grimacing and quiet for a moment. "Um, it's just..." Lunasa starts.
>"Do you have to?" Merlin finishes.

>_

[Fightest]

> "Come now, girls, it's only fair."
> Adopt Stern Concerned Mother Stance.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Come now, girls, it's only fair."
> Adopt Stern Concerned Mother Stance.

>"Okaaaaaaay," they all say glumly.
>They show you the cards that they have. It's not hard to look them up, they have the pages dogeared.
>Forceful Wyrm, which is depicted as an angry western-style dragon in a furious storm, flying through fire and flames.
>500 Life
>1000 Attack Power
>Traits: Black Fire: Does 300 damage to opponent at the end of each turn
>Blessed Diver; it's picture is of a person in a blackened sea, wearing a curious suit that seems to keep her from drowning
>1700 Life
>400 Attack Power
>Traits: Ride the Tiger: When paired with Cruel Tiger, gains cumulative 300 attack power for each round it's out.
>Worthless Shrine Maiden; the picture is of a shrine maiden napping in a hammock with a dilapidated shrine in the background.
>60 Life
>300 Attack
>Traits: Dodgy: All Attacks against Worthless Shrine Maiden do 1/100th normal damage.
>The True Queen; who is depicted as a tall, green-haired woman dressed in wine-colored robes sitting upon a throne with a scepter. The way her hair is arranged makes you think of Hina.
>1200 Life
>700 Attack Power
>Traits: Decree: May prevent opponent from using one trait at any time when this card is in play. Royal Privilege: May swap with another card and allow the swapped card to attack that round, once per game.

>_

[Fightest]

> Well, we're screwed. Keep a confident face nonetheless.

[Serela]

> Well, we're screwed. Keep a confident face nonetheless.

Not really. Depends a lot on what they pick and their actions though, since this will be VERY quick.
>Green Snake would be good against the Worthless Shrine Maiden and a death sentence against anyone else. Pick the False Legendary Maid and start!

[Hello Purvis]

>You make your selection.
>The Prismrivers seem to be having a whispered argument among themselves. You hear snatches of "She knows we're gonna do it!" and "She's clueless!" between them. It seems you may have affected their confidence a bit.

>_

[Serela]

>...err, maybe they ARE going to pick Worthless Shrine Maiden, since that's the only one that would be the False Legendary Maid (I think...?). If they do, Green Snake would win, but...
>What do the other voices think? They're acting really suspicious, but it's a rather... hmm.
>If we're allowed to change our selection, maybe we'd better do Green Snake instead. It's not like a whole lot is balanced on this card game anyway. I think we should take the chance.

[Hello Purvis]

>It seems permissible to change the card, until it is actually played. It's pretty clear they're debating on whether to do it.

[Serela]

>They're probably thinking we'll pick False Legendary Maid as the obvious better choice, so they would go with the one choice that would win; Worthless Shrine Maiden. But then, they think, what if we foresee this and go with Green Snake instead, the choice that would beat Worthless Shrine Maiden yet nothing else they have?
>It's all a matter of whether they think we foresaw this or not, and decide on Worthless Shrine Maiden or something else. Assuming I'm correct.
>Personally, I'd go for Green Snake, as long as no one else here disagrees.

[E-Nazrin]

>Personally, I'd go for Green Snake, as long as no one else here disagrees.

Personally, I'd go for "flip a coin" since now that both parties know about it the second-guessing enters an infinite loop.

But it's worth noting that the Green Snake can at best tie by double-KOing the shrine maiden. Maid wins two matchups hands down, loses another, and is somewhat ambiguous against the Diver if it defends to survive a hit (and the maid attack/fuel costs total her own HP after the second attack).

I guess the question is how much the Prismrivers second-guess stuff. And whether they'd second-guess a misdirection attempt like "I'm gonna clobber you guys."

>Who's saying what here, and how many? Or is the argument about evenly divided?

[Hello Purvis]

>Who's saying what here, and how many? Or is the argument about evenly divided?

>You think Lyrica's insisting the plan will totally work, and Merlin saying there's no way it'll work. Lunasa seems to be trying to come up with some manner to determine which way to go in a rational fashion, and not seeming to have much luck.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>Acting confident would suggest learning something from that look and being deceptive, changing nothing. Acting sneaky would make all of them more suspicious and make this less determinable. So, ignorance!
>"It's a complex game, isn't it? And that Diver card had interesting art."
>give them a moment, plan snake unless this backfires

[Fightest]

> No, no, probability-wise we should go Maid - as was mentioned upthread, Snake only wins one matchup, Maid wins two. We have no idea about their play tendencies, so we should go for the one with the more certain win.

[Hello Purvis]

>Acting confident would suggest learning something from that look and being deceptive, changing nothing. Acting sneaky would make all of them more suspicious and make this less determinable. So, ignorance!
>"It's a complex game, isn't it? And that Diver card had interesting art."
>give them a moment, plan snake unless this backfires

>You decide to pretend you know nothing.
>"Yeah, it gets intense!" says Lunasa. "That's why we, um, didn't want you to just walk off."
>"The Diver's my favorite!" Merlin adds. "She's so cool, being all under the lake and stuff!"
>Lyrica smirks. You hear her whisper something about "not knowing anything".

> No, no, probability-wise we should go Maid - as was mentioned upthread, Snake only wins one matchup, Maid wins two. We have no idea about their play tendencies, so we should go for the one with the more certain win.

>It's so confusing trying to predict the likes of the Prismrivers... Or, really, anyone in this.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

> No, no, probability-wise we should go Maid - as was mentioned upthread, Snake only wins one matchup, Maid wins two. We have no idea about their play tendencies, so we should go for the one with the more certain win.

You say that as if both teams are choosing their card randomly and with even probabilities. For the most part it's a choice between "miko" and "anything else," based on Ran's options.

>What about their other spellcards, for that matter? They must have more than four.
>"Do you think the kappa ever put together a suit like the Diver's? It looks a little like something they'd do..."

[Hello Purvis]

>What about their other spellcards, for that matter? They must have more than four.
>"Do you think the kappa ever put together a suit like the Diver's? It looks a little like something they'd do..."

>They don't seem to have drawn out any more. Maybe they got beaten recently and lost a few?
>"I dunno," says Merlin, "But it would be the best~"
>Lunasa seems to be getting nowhere, and Lyrica seems to be getting impatient.

>_

[Fightest]

> "Come now, girls, you promised the game would be quick. I do have business to attend to."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Come now, girls, you promised the game would be quick. I do have business to attend to."

>"Yeah, let's go!" says Lyrica, putting a card face down in front of her.

>_

[Serela]

>Lyrica smirks. You hear her whisper something about "not knowing anything".

>They're almost surely going for the Worthless Shrine Maiden, especially considering Lyrica is the one who put down their card.
>Play Green Snake.

[Hello Purvis]

>They're almost surely going for the Worthless Shrine Maiden, especially considering Lyrica is the one who put down their card.
>Play Green Snake.

>You play your card, and are pleased to see your prediction is correct.
>"Ah crap!" Lyrica says.
>"I told you about her, Lyrica!" Merlin says, "I told you!"
>"Double KO," says Lunasa with a nod. "Good game."

>_

[Fightest]

> "This reminds me of another game of cards. Something about a slave and an emperor. Anyway, girls, thank you for your company, but I've really got to get going."
> Recall where Yukari was seen last.

[Hello Purvis]

> "This reminds me of another game of cards. Something about a slave and an emperor. Anyway, girls, thank you for your company, but I've really got to get going."
> Recall where Yukari was seen last.

>"See you later!" says Merlin, as the Prismrivers fly off to find someone else to bother.
>You aren't sure if you were the last person to see her, aboard the flying ship, or if Rinnosuke was.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>The most recent hint was her going either somewhere warm or somewhere that a lantern would come in handy. The hotspot wasn't the springs, and if she wanted a lantern for the Underground, it doesn't look like she was anywhere accessible without fighting off a dozen oni.
>"Ah, a question before you go! Have you seen Chen today?"

[Hello Purvis]

>The most recent hint was her going either somewhere warm or somewhere that a lantern would come in handy. The hotspot wasn't the springs, and if she wanted a lantern for the Underground, it doesn't look like she was anywhere accessible without fighting off a dozen oni.
>"Ah, a question before you go! Have you seen Chen today?"

>"She's playing with the faeries by the lake, last I saw!" Lyrica calls back.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>"Thank you!"
>is that even remotely on the way to Youkai Mountain?
>make sure the house is locked up proper, glance for any signs of Yukari stopping by again

[Hello Purvis]

>"Thank you!"
>is that even remotely on the way to Youkai Mountain?
>make sure the house is locked up proper, glance for any signs of Yukari stopping by again

>It is not.
>You lock up the house, after checking to see if Yukari's stopped by again. Nothing seems to have been disturbed.

>_

[MysTeariousYukari]

> Consider heading down to the lake to tell Chen about Yukari. Having two people activly searching for her in different area's should have about twice the chance of finding her... right?

[Hello Purvis]

> Consider heading down to the lake to tell Chen about Yukari. Having two people activly searching for her in different area's should have about twice the chance of finding her... right?

>Chen would certainly enhance your ability to cover ground.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>Good point. Head for the lake.