The vampire Damacus has drunk 11677 pints of blood.
Contracted Target’s Original Blood:
The vampire Damacus has drunk 14462 pints of blood.
The Void Current Blood:
The vampire Kains Son has drunk 241 pints of blood.
The vampire Rienhardt has drunk 8807 pints of blood.
The vampire Daly has drunk 2670 pints of blood.
The vampire GrimreaperMoon has drunk 18095 pints of blood.
The Void Original Blood:
The vampire Kains Son has drunk 1813 pints of blood.
The vampire Rienhardt has drunk 9709 pints of blood.
The vampire Daly has drunk 4363 pints of blood.
The vampire GrimreaperMoon has drunk 23559 pints of blood.
In the continued coverage of the conflict between the Agrippa-Lokason lineage and The Void, we would like to pause during the stalemate to examine the pattern of blood left in their wake. I sit down with a known warrior, Vetras de Bouillon, for assistance as we provide a tactical analysis of the situation by the numbers that we can discern. Vetras has been a resident of our city for close to 11 years now but has largely avoided public commentary within editorials.
As seen in the above data, Damacus has taken 10 Holy Waters (12,600 coins) from The Void, who continue to remain diligent in the lack of assault against the bulk of Agrippa-Lokason. This is not surprising by itself, as mercenary guilds time and again throughout history have recapitulated, in not using their weapons against individuals that are not a factor in the originally agreed upon contract. Doing this would be counter-intuitive, simultaneously smearing their reputations as professionals and cutting into their profits. Every weapon not used on the intended target(s) is a future weapon not accounted for. Furthermore, and has often been the case in the past, clans and lineages alike have found themselves frustrated at the limited ability to bait mercenary groups into spending more coin than is absolutely necessary.
There are some common tactics that established warriors have utilized when engaging mercenaries, as demonstrated by Agrippa-Lokason on the evening of October 29th. By casting off shadows without relinquishing his position, we can speculate that Damacus Agrippa was attempting to lure the majority of The Void out to fulfill their contract and open themselves up for pending attacks from the active hitters in the lineage. To further sweeten the bait, an ally - or someone directly involved from the beginning - was used to displace Damacus to imitate the appearance of movement without risking a set of new attacks on the Agrippa Patriarch.***
[ *** Fun Fact: Alternatively, a Scroll of Summoning or a Scroll of Bondage could have provided a similar effect but had more chance of errors occurring. When these two scrolls are used, the target is relocated but not taken out of shadows and frees the individual the scroll is used on for additional attacks (uv grenades, if they are still in shadows). ]
This tactic was used recently, allowed The Void an extra hit on Damacus, as Kains Son had not had an opportunity to attack him the last time he had been OOS (out of shadows). Daly was the second mercenary to step from the shadows to try to engage a presumably hittable target but when his vial had no effect, the remaining mercenaries kept in place, LIS (lost in shadows). It is clever, playbook strategy used by both sides: Agrippa-Lokason with the precarious bait, but a solid counter from The Void by demonstrating caution and not rushing into tactics the participants of The Void have likely seen before.
Since then, Damacus has remained LIS, marking today as the tenth day since he has moved. The Void appears to be unwilling to use scrolls of turning against him. whether this is an exhibit of patience to sit this out and wait, or if there is an as-of-yet detail being withheld regarding the terms of this contract is unknown.
Kains Son himself, meanwhile, has been moving daily and has been witnessed at 0 blood at least eight times. It is safe to assume this number could be higher, with Agrippa-Lokason unrelentingly keeping him at a low blood count. The point of which is unclear to us at this time. If the intent is to keep any individual working towards fulfilling this contract at zero, then the lack of attacks against Daly, GrimreaperMoon, and Rienhardt is contradictory. If the goal is to simply wait it out with Damacus in shadows, then spending resources against just one mercenary is illogical. So this begs the question, why is this stalemate being prolonged? Something to consider is Damacus’ current location. The patriarch of the Agrippa lineage is rooted East of Pessimism and 58th. He is only 6AP from the bank located at Qualms and 57th.
This could be a loose indication that the use of shadows at this juncture was to wait for an advantageous period of time for a coin drop to be done. Further speculation arises as Damacus has been seen on the rich list sometime on November 7th. Could this have already been done within the stretch of ten days?
Regardless, Kains Son has reached the 200 blood pints required to throw weapons several times, despite the zeroings he’s undergone. At a maximum of eleven warriors in the Agrippa-Lokason roster, it appears an improbability that Kains Son can be kept at a perpetual zero without the assurance of Damacus opening himself up to attacks the second he leaves shadows.
With regards to resources, we can calculate a base minimum spent on both sides.
Kains son has been witnessed necroing twice now; first on October 16th and again on October 18th, each time for 1,000 pints, costing 25,000 coins each visit. Agrippa-Lokason struck him to zero both instances and he has not been witnessed necroing since. Other members of The Void have not yet necroed. As for weapon usage, they have spent only ten Holy Waters against their contractual target.
Total Void Expenditure: 62,600 coins.
Based on known blood totals of Kains Son and his subsequent zeroings***, we can calculate weapon usage there. We have also witnessed a grenade wave on October 24th against Daly and Rienhardt involving eight hitters. Daly has also been seen losing blood while still in shadows, suggesting another volley of UV Grenades against him. We are also able to calculate the expended Holy Waters against GrimreaperMoon since the beginning of her involvement. Finally, taking into consideration the slipped number of “350 Scrolls of Turning” against Kains Son at the onset of this skirmish, all this together accounts for the following -
- 350 Scrolls of Turning - 315 coins apiece.
42 Garlic Sprays - 630 coins apiece.
19 Holy Waters - 1260 coins apiece.
3 Wooden Stakes - 2520 coins apiece.
22 UV Grenades - 3150 coins apiece.
Minimum Agrippa-Lokason expenditure: 234,510 coins.
This number is an approximation due to factors such as not being able to track each time Kains Son has moved, possible attacks to mercenaries prior to the gained knowledge of their involvement and the unknown number of displacements and routing costs post- and pre- attack, respectively. While tracking an individual and trying to discern their budgeted route expenses is impossible, we do know for a fact that Agrippa-Lokason has had to bring themselves to The Void on more occasions than The Void has had to route to Damacus.
To practiced thieves, 234k is hardly a drop in the bucket, and if this perceived war is one of attrition to the Agrippa-Lokason front, it is one that waivers with an uncertain air. The Void shows no signs of slowing down or intending to let the contract go, taking their hits patiently and in abundance. And although still vigilant in their attacks, the Agrippa-Lokason numbers have waned since the onset. What was initially eleven warriors has become six in their last covered outing, the warriors then including Jauk, Lannair, Malice, Moon Girl, Nemesis and ophelia. Props here to the Cuan lineage for their dedication.
Despite our close observations of the schism as it’s unfolded for us, there have been some mysteries surrounding the clash at the Thunderdome that we would like to put emphasis on for our audience. Here are a few things to mull over while we wait for more to be revealed:
- Who displaced Damacus? Does this mean he is getting third-party help, or does this mean someone from the original hit party went to displace him?
- If Agrippa-Lokason continues to view this as a war effort, can we expect innovative tweaks to old concepts of war strategy?
- Is Damacus’ location to a bank merely a coincidence or is there more to it, considering to be on the rich list, an individual has to have 2.5 million coins in their bank account or more?
Until the next Thunderdome Highlight.
UPDATE - 11/08/2017, 17:26
The vampire ophelia has drunk 17742 pints of blood.
(Lost In Shadow)
Powers: Second-sight Suction Surprise Perception Celerity(3) Stamina(3) Shadows(3) Thievery(3) Locate(3) Telepathy(3) Charisma(3)
Partner-bound with Damacus.
Location: Killjoy and 75th
ophelia is sire to 20 other vampires, including: Kreacher (101652 pints), Lady Ophy (88068 pints), vamps (61860 pints), Dark Devereaux (61482 pints), Vaelen (38909 pints), Victor (33428 pints), Archontohs (31360 pints), Kyra Niteblade (30306 pints), Promethius (27428 pints), Marlo (26537 pints)
ophelia is a second-generation vampire, sired by Damacus (11677).
ophelia's close siblings include: xxsacrificexx (18581), Moon Girl (15294), Lannair Cuan (13935), Sun (12566), Kianna (6647) and Hunin (36377).
ophelia, matriarch of the Lokason lineage, has suffered what can be calculated to a total of four Holy Water attacks after a brief excursion from the Shadows. Whether this signals The Void's impatience with Damacus or, perhaps, a new contract, is as of yet unknown. Further updates to come.
UPDATE - 11/13/2017, 18:57
I'm afraid little has transpired since our last update. With the exception of Anima, Moon Girl, and Kains Son, it appears as though the roster involved in this effort has fallen into shadows [at least at the time of this writing]. Today marks a 13-day streak for the Agrippa patriarch and a 5-day streak for the Lokason matriarch, which has the city wondering how long they intend to draw this thing out, as all retaliation efforts against The Void have ceased. Furthermore, there has been considerable speculation about a recent change in venue for city events hosted by The Beat. Rumor has it the owners opted to accommodate those hoping to remain in shadows as the vast majority of them were witnessed attending a movie night event hosted over the weekend.
