Remnant Choices (A1S1P6): Coordinate
[Continued from here.]
You give it a moment of thought, but when you make your decision, you have no doubts. “We should fight,” you say, your voice clear. Metim shakes his head, and Ulrich shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Xia, however, clenches her fist in triumph, and yells, “Yes!”
You smile at her exuberance. “You’re right, Xia- we shouldn’t just leave that Grimm there, where it can eventually take someone else by surprise. We know about it, and we can handle it, so it’s only right we deal it.”
“You can’t be certain that we can handle it,” Metim says, his voice devoid of its characteristic mischief. He’s just cold now, and the difference is stark. “Fighting is always a gamble, and it isn’t even one that we have to take. Don’t you remember? We were given another way, an emergency number to use in precisely a case like this. Why risk ourselves when we don’t have to? Don’t be foolish. Reconsider.”
Pallav steps forward to back you up. “Xia and Ceri have been considering, and, you know, I think I agree with them.”
“C’mon, Metim,” Halina interjects. “This is like a chance for us to show what we can do! That’s half the point of this whole hike anyway, isn’t it?”
You nod in agreement, then pause for a second as you try to figure out what to say. You think about how you felt as you came here to Caelis, about how you felt as you began the hike, and about how you felt when you chose to help Metim and Halina. Slowly, the words come to you, and you give voice to your heart.
“Yeah, it isn’t just about pride. We can prove ourselves here, you know? We can prove that we’ve taken our training and studies seriously, that we’re ready to join the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. That we can and will make a stand at times like these, that we can defend others on our own terms, by own hands! This is- this is like our statement for our last year.”
He looks at you, locking his eyes with yours. Then, he says quietly, “You don’t need to do this to prove that you belong at Aphelion.”
You’re taken aback, unnerved, but nobody else even notices his words- they’re too busy sounding their agreement with your proclamation. Metim bows his head to you in assent, conceding the argument, but you know that he’s not pleased with the outcome. But everyone else is impressed with your little improvised manifesto.
“Now,” Xia says, a grin on her face, “let’s figure out how we’re gonna take the Grimm down.”
“Well,” Ulrich says, sounding only a little fretful, “first thing’s first- it was asleep, so we can get the drop on it.”
“Wait,” Halina interrupts. “Do Grimm.....even sleep?
Everyone falls silent.
“Alright, scratch that, it’s feigning sleep and we almost fell for it,” Pallav says through a chuckle. “Nice catch, Halina.”
“Then our approach should be cautious,” Metim continues, his voice still sharp.
“But we still have to be prepared to press our advantage, since we’re still surprising it,” Xia rebuts. “We need to be in position, in formation, ready for a hectic brawl.”
“Okay, okay,” Halina nods, rubbing her hand above her lip. “Then, what’s the best way to form up to fight a giant predatory cat Grimm?”
“Oh, oh!” Ulrich jumps in, saying, “Well, we could try what I was saying before- like baiting, but with groups instead. Like, we have a group of three, a group of two, and then our hardest hitter-”
“That’ll almost certainly be Xia,” Metim interrupts. “I’ve seen her in training before.” Xia flashes Metim a thumbs-up, and Ulrich continues.
“So, you three,” he says, gesturing at you, Metim, and Halina, “and then Pallav and I, and then Xia alone. The two groups will focus on distracting the Grimm, needling and harassing it with whatever ranged weapons we have. The goal is to open up Xia’s opportunities to crack in for as much damage as possible. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds like it might leave Xia a little overexposed, though,” Halina muses.
“Yeah,” you go to contribute, “that plan’s probably good for maximizing our offense, but that kinda makes it all-in. And that’s alright, but we should definitely think about our other options too.”
“What about this,” Halina says after thinking for a moment. “We take it a little more slowly? We can do three teams of two- we’ll still be pretty mobile, and it’ll let us react more to the Grimm, instead of just attacking it. The partners can protect each other, so it could be good? Especially since we’re not taking it by surprise, you know.”
“I dunno,” Xia replies. “Isn’t that a little too balanced? Let’s just all split up. We’ll communicate and everything, and splitting up makes us really mobile. It’ll split its attention between all six of us, opening up a lot of chances to attack. But, I guess those attacks won’t be as effective, since they’ll all be separate.”
“And if it’s faster than us?” Metim asks. “If it outlasts us, it’ll pick us off one-by-one, and the others won’t be able to do much as that occurs. Better to split into two groups of three. We focus on defense, we protect each other, we take less risks.”
“But if we don’t take it down quickly enough,” Pallav replies, “then we give it too much time to strike back.”
Everyone falls silent again, thinking over what to say next. You haven’t said too much yet, so you should carefully weight each option over in your head before recommending one plan over the others.
Which approach will you recommend?
1. Have Xia focus on attack.
2. Create balanced teams.
3. Split up and prioritize mobility.
4. Form two defensive teams.
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