Quote Originally Posted by Grey Watcher View Post
Anyway, I just think it's worth stepping back and realizing that Redcloak, Tarquin, Vaarsuvius and others are the exceptions precisely because they manage to prepare for things that would take others by surprise.
This was explicitly lampshaded in SoD, when Redcloak didn't prepare flamestrike during the Goblin attack against Lirian's Glade, because he assumed that Lirian would be as crazy-prepared as Leeky Windstaff. Needless to say, he completely miscalculated how Lirian was planning to protect her Gate.
Spoiler
Show
She used the Guardian Virus, to prevent spellcasting, rather than cast protection from fire on all the Treants.


Then when he makes his second attempt to seize the Gate, Redcloak uses flamestrike... and sets the forest on fire, destroying the Gate. Being "crazy prepared" didn't exactly help Redcloak. Likewise, using word of recall to escape O-Chul came back to bite Redcloak, after Xykon got a bit displeased with Redcloak's cowardice.