Mechanics Your troll must lead their gerbil squadron to victory! This can be done against another troll taking this class(against 1 other person), or against the instructor (npc).
You have three gerbils, and must give each commands during battle (roll 3d4, 1d4 for each gerbil). Each result rolled is strong and weak to another action. If your gerbil is strong to the opponent's gerbil of the same dice position, you get 1 point. If your gerbil is weak to the opponent's gerbil of the same dice position, you lose 1 point. Points cannot go below 0. If your gerbil is neither weak nor strong to the opponent, gain/lose nothing. Your goal is to reach 5 points first! If you lose against the instructor, you must re-take the class. If you are playing with another person, win or lose you pass the class.
If you are fighting an instructor, roll 6d4, with the first three being your gerbils, and the second three being theirs.
Moves: 1 - Defend! (Rolling into a ball.) Weakness: 4 - Lost! Strength: 2 - Attack!
2 - Attack! (Attempting to eat the bit of food tied to the opponent's neck.) Weakness: 1 - Defend! Strength: 3 - Assist!
Reemus hadn't done anything with Odette since, uh...he struggled to remember. Perigee's? Yes! A busy celebrity doing her thing while he did his own. The yellowblood was actually pretty surprised to be training together. A nice surprise, though!
Unfortunately, Reemus set himself up to make it easy to tell that he had no idea what he was doing. He scratched his head, not sure what to tell his new little friends for the first move. "Uh...attack?" Should he only do that? "N' defend? 'N....uh..."
One gerbil wandered off during the lapse in communication.
Reemus could only shrug with a sheepish smile. "Guess that's m' move."
Odette regarded Reemus with a charmed familiarity. The yellowblood was simple to please, and Odette was eager to help train the swamp trolls in things outside of direct fighting tactics.
"It's a bit like chess, isn't it? Only you have to herd cute little rodents on top of it," She remarked, trying to make sense of how to direct them as she wanted. "You have to think like your opponent, and plan your attack accordingly."
She countered his gerbils by having them mirror their opponents. The second one acted differently, running lost and making the defending gerbil's action moot.
"Uhhh...sure." Reemus had never had anything to do with chess in his life. A highblood's game, way beyond him.
Thinking like an opponent, huh? Reemus didn't really know how to go about that, either. He didn't know how Odette thought, or anyone else. That was too complicated!
Not that he was ever good with planning anyway. Reacting, though, he was great at! A little too much, maybe.
"A poin, huh?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Sounds 'bout right." Reemus had no idea if it was right or not.
The yellowblood looked to his gerbils, who were looking at him expectantly. "Uh...help? Fight? Go! Do things!" Odette's gerbils seemed every which way anyhow, so he could go on the offensive.
"Aha! See, I thought you might do that!" Odette was lying. Reemus was so simple, it was honestly difficult guessing what he might do. It was hard to anticipate an opponent's strategy when they didn't have one.
Odette's clever plan fell through fairly quickly, however. The gerbils started to wander, perhaps distracted by some yummy smelling snacks. Odette made a startled noise, then moved to gather the gerbils that were running off.
Fat little rodents in hand, she sighed a little laugh. "Gerbils... are a bit more difficult to order than trolls..." She admitted. "I think a lot of trolls prefer to follow someone else's plan... But gerbils seem to be a bit more independent." She laughed again, giving one of the gerbils a little scratch behind the ear.
Gerbil 1: Lost Gerbil 2: Assist Gerbil 3: Lost Point Total: 1
"Oh!" Reemus's face heated up. "Oh..." Was he that predictable...?
Though the gerbils didn't seem interested in listening to Odette's smart orders. Very rude.
"Yeh...they do their own thing." He skritched a gerbil's cheek. "There were a lot of 'em in space... I got one n' gave it to Vos. Now that bugger's a free spirit!" And bitey. Very bitey. So small, but so relatable.
The yellowblood shooed the gerbils back into the fight. As he watched them, he scratched at his cheek scruff, mulling over another thing Odette said.
"I like followin' plans, too, but I guess I'm not that good at it. 'S how I ended up here to start..." he trailed off with a loose shrug.
"That's because you have rebel spirit." Odette said, in a way that almost sounded like praise. She was a lot like him, neither of them really saw themselves as leaders in their world. But they were trying, if working with the gerbils proved anything.
"Even if you don't think yourself capable, we all have to be leaders. Leaders of the revolution." She said, giving her final orders to her gerbils. Hopefully they would listen better with the promise of treats. "I'm sure there are those who look up to you. Knowing they're watching gives me the strength to try harder." She looked down at the gerbils all set up and ready to fight.
A stalemate. Odette pouted her lips in thought. This yellowblood was improving quickly, even if he didn't know it.
Gerbil 1: Assist Gerbil 2: Defend Gerbil 3: Lost Point Total: 1
"Hm. I mean t' be honest, I didn't really join; it just kinda happened... Saw 'Thene all caught up in that mess in the tunnels, n' she was the nicest troll I knew. Didn't know she was a rebel. Didn't have time to think about it. I saw 'er n' wanted to keep 'er safe. Dunno if I really wanted to be a rebel." He absolutely did not, honestly, but he couldn't go back when he wanted to. That would've meant putting Voscil in danger, after dragging her into his poor decision to begin with. "But I'm pretty okay with it now. Not as many trolls gettin' in my face tellin' me to get my act together... At least not ones who expect me to do it all m'self." Machia still towered in his mind. He did have a point, and it did kind of stand when Reemus went back out into society, but still. Reemus did like the lack of highbloods fussing at him so much these days. Byakko, however, was another matter entirely.
"But if somethin' bad woulda happened if I hadn't gotten m'self up in the row, then I'd never change m'choice."
He took a moment from the deep talk to usher his gerbils along. They still had a battle to fight!
Reemus watched them mill about. "I stuck around for Vos... She's my world, y'know? But now there's the kids, all the trolls here just tryin to live their lives, too... I dunno if I'll ever be that guy who'll change the world. But I do wanna keep everyone safe. Dunno if that's as nice as what you were talkin' about."
He sat up straight all of a sudden. A gerbil wasn't working with the program. "Oi!"
Gerbil 1: Attack Gerbil 2: Defend Gerbil 3: Lost Point Total: 3
"Oh, Reemus..." Odette shook her head, charmed by the yellowblood's story. Still, she knew that he had so much potential. Even if he wasn't going to be a leader like Byakko or herself, he was still important. Odette wanted to make sure he saw that.
"Sometimes it's not about changing the whole world." She explained with a flourish of her hand. "You change the world of the people around you. Voscil, you're her world, too. And the kids, myself, you make an impact on our day-to-day."
Odette was thrown off by Reemus' sudden shout, flinching. Her gerbils started to scatter, terrified by the big figure. Well, that earned her a point at the very least. She sighed, recollecting herself and her gerbils, and continuing her speech as normal.
"Just... be aware of that before you make decisions. You make a difference, Reemus."
Gerbil 1: Attack Gerbil 2: Lost Gerbil 3: Lost Point Total: 2
Reemus's face broke out into a yellow, yellow blush. Odette was always so nice... And she was so smart, too. "Never thought about it like that," he admitted.
"Dunno what kinda decisions yer talkin' about. 'M not tryin' to do anythin' dumb. It just happens anyway." Byakko had certainly given him an earful for his previous disguise... The kind of stuff he didn't think of as bad choices at the time. But he was good at missing things like that. He didn't really know what he could do about it, and often had enough other things to worry about to care too much. If he didn't know of an oversight before it was pointed out to him, what was he supposed to do?
Reemus whistled to catch his gerbils' attention, then gave them their new orders.
Gerbil 1: Attack Gerbil 2: Defend Gerbil 3: Lost Point Total: 3
"Well..." Odette pondered Reemus' statement, not sure how how to proceed considering his doubt of himself. She knew how it felt to not have full confidence in her ability, but she was the queen of fake-it-til-you-make-it. She earned that title.
"Next time you're at a crossroads and trying to think of the smart thing to do... Maybe imagine things from someone else's perspective? Sometimes you can be smart just by pretending you're someone who is." Odette tapped her temple, cheerily giggling. Hopefully that advice would prove helpful to Reemus.
"Oh!" Odette looked at the current gerbil setup below her. "I think you've won, Reemus!" Somehow, without even trying too hard, Reemus had bested her. Sometimes the best strategy... was to not have one? She had to admit improvisational planning was never her forte.
"Oh! Oh, I have?" Reemus sat up in surprise. Then he leaned down and squinted at the gerbils, as if the points would be painted on their backs. Somehow he was surprised that he still didn't manage to figure out the score. "Well, if you say so, 'Dette!" He wouldn't say no to winning at something, even if he had no idea how he did it.
He sat back, and considered Odette's earlier words some. "Hmm... I haven't really liked pretendin' every time I've hadta. It gets confusin' with all the aliases n' all. I could try anyway, I guess, but... I don't really know how other people think anyway..." Reemus stroked his chin, thinking about it aloud.
