Jojo's Bizarre Grail War Part 4 : A Z-Machine Adventure

[Stuffman]

> "Uh...I'll be honest, it's pretty much just splitting hairs, but I guess you could say a sauce is something you can cook the food with, while a condiment is added cold after it's done. Like, ketchup is a condiment."
> "To compare, this here is a marinade, you soak meat in it overnight before cooking it to make it absorb the taste."
> "While this here is barbeque sauce, you just coat the meat in it and then grill it."
> "Dressings are meant to go with vegetables, so that's served cold, usually...I guess you can put ranch on a lot of different things, though."
> "There's exceptions to everything, I guess."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Uh...I'll be honest, it's pretty much just splitting hairs, but I guess you could say a sauce is something you can cook the food with, while a condiment is added cold after it's done. Like, ketchup is a condiment."
> "To compare, this here is a marinade, you soak meat in it overnight before cooking it to make it absorb the taste."
> "While this here is barbeque sauce, you just coat the meat in it and then grill it."
> "Dressings are meant to go with vegetables, so that's served cold, usually...I guess you can put ranch on a lot of different things, though."
> "There's exceptions to everything, I guess."

>"Sounds like they're all exceptions to me," says Archer. "So which are the good ones?"

>_

[Stuffman]

> "Well, none of them are really bad, it's just a matter of taste. Some are sweet, some are sour, some are peppery or spicy, or all of the above. It's a question of what you want to use it on."
> "Oh, I have an idea."
> Grab a bottle of tabasco. "This is hot sauce, some people put it on everything. Want to try it?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Well, none of them are really bad, it's just a matter of taste. Some are sweet, some are sour, some are peppery or spicy, or all of the above. It's a question of what you want to use it on."
> "Oh, I have an idea."
> Grab a bottle of tabasco. "This is hot sauce, some people put it on everything. Want to try it?"

>"Just the one?" she says. "Does it have all the stuff in it?"

>_

[Stuffman]

> "No, this is just one of the more popular ones. If I was rich, I'd let you try them all, but we are on a budget."

[Hello Purvis]

> "No, this is just one of the more popular ones. If I was rich, I'd let you try them all, but we are on a budget."

>"Well.." she says, her voice contemplative. "...Probably not worth it. Alright, let's try that."

>_

[Stuffman]

She was thinking about stealing the sauce, wasn't she...

> "We do still need to take care of Georgia's synthesizer, so we can think about it after we, uh, make some money later."
> Buy the bottle of tabasco. Hope she likes it!

[Hello Purvis]

Probably!

> "We do still need to take care of Georgia's synthesizer, so we can think about it after we, uh, make some money later."
> Buy the bottle of tabasco. Hope she likes it!

>Archer nods.
>You get a last minute addition to your purchases. All in all, it comes out to about 30 dollars, but you should be well supplied for awhile.

>_

[Stuffman]

> Let's return to camp with our supplies.

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's return to camp with our supplies.

>Loaded up with your supplies, you trek back toward your camp. You're starting to get used to the walks, at least.

>_

[Stuffman]

> Hope there's enough room in the cooler!
> Once that's all settled, make a sandwich and plop down for lunch.
> "So, how are you gonna rig up the pot over the fire?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Hope there's enough room in the cooler!
> Once that's all settled, make a sandwich and plop down for lunch.
> "So, how are you gonna rig up the pot over the fire?"

>"That's easy, I'll just put it up on a few rocks in the fire," says Archer, as she goes into your tent and fetches her basket as you make yourself a nice turkey sandwich.

>_

[Stuffman]

> "Oh, alright."
> Take the moment to relax and let our feet rest.
> Our project for the rest of the day will probably be to experiment with the mana crystal. We talked a big game, but do we even know where to start on how to get Archer to be able to draw from it?

[Hello Purvis]

> "Oh, alright."
> Take the moment to relax and let our feet rest.
> Our project for the rest of the day will probably be to experiment with the mana crystal. We talked a big game, but do we even know where to start on how to get Archer to be able to draw from it?

>You relax. As you do, Archer starts to tear apart her dirt mound. Inside you find a bunch of burnt up wood chunks. Nt what you expected of charcoal, but as she rakes it all into her basket, it certainly makes the high-pitched sort of noise you'd expect of charcoal. It must be really dried out. She seems pleased with it and fills up the basket. "This should last us for awhile," she says.
>Not really. You're not even really sure it would benefit her all that greatly, what she does doesn't seem to be very mana-intensive.

>_

[Stuffman]

> "Nice."
> What if we know exactly what we want the mana to do? Could we provide something like a passive Staunch effect, in case she gets wounded like during the Explorer battle?

[Hello Purvis]

> "Nice."
> What if we know exactly what we want the mana to do? Could we provide something like a passive Staunch effect, in case she gets wounded like during the Explorer battle?

>Define passive. If you mean precast and taking effect when she gets hurt, this...may be possible?

>_

[Stuffman]

Well, that's not terrible.

> Let's start with that. Maybe we'll learn something while we work it out.

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's start with that. Maybe we'll learn something while we work it out.

>The trick is, you'll have to come up with a mechanism for this to work, then see whether or not you can actually do it.

>_

[Stuffman]

> As in, will we need to design a physical component to make the process work?

[Hello Purvis]

> As in, will we need to design a physical component to make the process work?

>As in, you will need to find a way to use the skills and practical knowledge you have now to create the effect you want.

>_

[Stuffman]

> Once we've finished our lunch, let's break out that notebook and get to work on engineering a way to make it work.

[Stuffman]

Okay, Purvis has requested I actually lay out the groundwork for how this is going to happen.

The end goal of this exercise is to make the mana crystal cast Staunch on Archer automatically if she gets a bleeding wound. The hurdles that must be cleared to make this work are:
1) The crystal can't touch her, obviously, so it needs to be a version of Staunch that works at range.
2) The crystal needs to be able to detect if Archer is wounded. The crystal may need to continuously scry on her (which may actually be feasible because the amount of mana used is a non-issue).
3) The crystal needs to actually cast the spell. We might need an item that can cast a spell, like a wand or something, as a reference.
4) The crystal will have to be in the general vicinity of Archer to actually cast the spell. This is more of a logistics issue, as either we or Archer will probably need to carry it during battle for this to work.

> Let's start with #1. We have spells that work on the body at long range, like Blind, so what aspect of Staunch requires us to cast it near the recipient? Let's assume we at least know where the wound is on their body.

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's start with #1. We have spells that work on the body at long range, like Blind, so what aspect of Staunch requires us to cast it near the recipient? Let's assume we at least know where the wound is on their body.

>You need to touch the person who is to be affected. It shouldn't be impossible to make it work at range, you've just never really needed it before. Making the alterations will take time, but you have a good affinity with the spell and that should help.

>_

[Stuffman]

> Let's start working on that, then. Given that we know the crystal is designed for more of a steady draw of mana than short bursts, let's make sure the new version of Staunch takes that into account, working slower than usual if necessary.
> If this doesn't work out in the long run, hey! At least we figured out a new spell.

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's start working on that, then. Given that we know the crystal is designed for more of a steady draw of mana than short bursts, let's make sure the new version of Staunch takes that into account, working slower than usual if necessary.
> If this doesn't work out in the long run, hey! At least we figured out a new spell.

>You set to work on this. It is...slow work, to say the least. Magic tends to be a rigid thing, and not very amenable to being poked and prodded into new shapes. But you largely understand the two concepts you want to merge to get pretty well, and at least one of them seems to agree with you enough that you can trust your instincts from time to time. Ultimately, the hard part isn't grafting in a distance effect, but rather getting it to simulate touch. But after a couple hours, you are reasonably sure that you have something that should work as an independent bodge of a spell. Ultimately you would want to spend more time on it and subject it to a battery of tests in various situations, but it should work.

>_

[Stuffman]

> Is there any way to test it without asking Archer to walk away 50 paces and cut herself?

[Hello Purvis]

> Is there any way to test it without asking Archer to walk away 50 paces and cut herself?

>At this point, no. You know it'll work, it's under what conditions it'll work that is the question. Or rather, what conditions will make it not work.

>_

[Stuffman]

> Fair enough. This new spell shall be dubbed "STAUNCH 2".
> Let's stand up and stretch for a bit.

[Hello Purvis]

> Fair enough. This new spell shall be dubbed "STAUNCH 2".
> Let's stand up and stretch for a bit.

>You give it an inappropriately goofy name, and have a stretch.
>Checking your phone, you note a message from Lancer.

>_

[The ⑨th Zentillion]

"Oh, hey, a new message from Lancer, I wonder what it says..."
> Read it.