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Karwelas

Dwarf Taffer
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"Mostly Harmless" planet
Codex Year of the Donut I helped put crap in Monomyth
Will read ideas and vote soon guys. Sorry for getting late, I don't have so much time now.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Why do I have a suspicion that Finn was out trying to bed court Galena and Treva until Cropper blew his cover and raised the alarm? :?

GJ, Cropper-bro! :love::greatjob:
 

Jester

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
1,493
Cock blocking friend to? OK he can hang. Breaking Bro code is unacceptable.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Nah, Finn deserved this for the trick he tried to pull when we first met. Just like Ceannard. :rpgcodex:

Besides, ALL YOUR NINES ARE BELONG TO US, and we aren't into sharing with anyone outside of our Circle. :salute:
 

Karwelas

Dwarf Taffer
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Messages
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Location
"Mostly Harmless" planet
Codex Year of the Donut I helped put crap in Monomyth
1. Captured Cropper (and Enrico): How do you wish to handle the situation?


E) You will leave Cropper and Enrico to make their own escape.



2. Mazzarin, the Impatient: When Mazzarin wakes up he is going to want to continue south. You want to screen the army however and that is liable to take a few days. You will need to convince him somehow to do what you want.


E) The Gate & Scan Plan + D) In the case if Mazz will need a time to 'think' about it.



3. Emrys and the mail: Did you try to get Emrys to let you look at Lyssa's letter to Mazzarin or did you deny your curiousity?

C) Ask Lyssa about the contents of the letter when you are alone.



4. You currently have a number of unidentified items on you. You could potentially try and get the Seekers to identify them, provided they don't know those belong to you. Do you go through with it?

C. No, you do not want the Seekers poking around in your magical items. Instead you will offer Emrys the opportunity of identifying them.


5. Provided that Cropper finds Finn for you and provided you succeed in your plan to stay at the oasis for a day or two, you can ask Finn to send a runner to Muirthemne to take care of some matters, like delivering a message to your team and recovering Gullveig's correspondence which might help you with the investigation. Will you go for it?
A - yes, send a runner.
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Current Tally:

Grimgravy - 1.Bi, 2.C>A, 3.A, 4.C, 5.B
asxetos - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.A
Kz3r0 - 1.E, 2.A, 3.A, 4.B, 5.B
Nevill - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.A
archaen - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.B
Baltika9 - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.A
Karwelas - 1.E, 2.E (D if neccesary), 3.C, 4.C, 5.A

1. Captured Cropper:
4 votes Biv
2 votes E
1 vote Bi

2. Mazzarin, the Impatient:
5 votes E
1 vote A
1 vote C

Post Flop:
5 votes E
2 votes A

3. Emrys and the mail:
5 votes C
2 votes A

4. Your unidentified items:
6 votes C
1 vote B

5. A fairy runner to Muirthemne:
4 votes A
3 votes B


The vote will close thirty six hours or so.
 
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Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Fangshi,

Write the outline of the plan as per this post and show it to Reinhard. See if the Prince has any insights or see any potential weak points that need to be addressed, or if there is anything he might have done differently with the resourses at our disposal.
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Write the outline of the plan as per this post and show it to Reinhard.

Alright.

Preferrably, we should be done with this part by the time Mazzarin wakes up and asks us WTF is going on, because the Mage knows better than anyone that you don't need any special insulation from 'harmful influences' to use the Gate. If not, then, hopefully, Reinhard can either stall him until we are done (he has no idea of our plan yet) or explain why we are taking that extra step without him alerting the whole camp. Alternatively, we could inform him through Emrys.

It is currently evening, if you want to screen the whole army before Mazzarin wakes up you will need to work through the night.

However, since almost everyone is off celebrating it will take several hours to break up the festivities and get everyone back to their proper units. Is is also likely to instill a bit of resentment on the part of the troops, since you will be breaking up their reveling.

We should ask Reinhard if there is a location in Stoneheim that is big enough to hold the entire army, and that is easy to secure and defend, and removed far enough from the conflict raging there that it has a reasonable chance to stay in one piece.

Nothing that fits all of your criteria springs to mind.

1. There is the old palace grounds on the lower rings of the city. They would be far removed from the the necromancers and might be safe and intact. They would be a bit crowded though with an entire army going through them. Also if there are demons attacking the city from within then that is a likely target for them.

2. There is a large park on the third ring, a memorial garden. It would provide a lot of space but it would not be the most defensible place.

3. There is the old arena, in an earlier age the dwarves would make captives and monsters battle one another for their amusement, the practice has since waned though it is not actually against the law. The arena would be a bit small for an army and it may be difficult to secure though it would provide more protection than the park would once secure.

4. The entrance to the grand mausoleums on the second lowest circle is a giant, clear field of stone. It will be free of obstruction and well removed from the Beast's army. Of course you would be starting right near the bottom of the city and would need to climb the rings up to the surface.

5. There is also the garrison's marshaling squares on the first level of the city. This would drop your army right near the fighting if you think that might be helpful, there would not be a lot of room though you could always make use of multiple squares, opening and closing gates to different parts of the city, come to think of it...

6. You could split the army up without too much difficulty through it would require different gates, either is sequence or parallel. You could then seize more than one location though it would mean a weaker presence in each.


He does not see any glaring weaknesses with the general idea you have proposed but you still need to decide on a lot of the details. He can't really give feedback on most of it when he is not sure what path you intend to take.

Also, he notes that a lot depends on how cooperative Mazzarin feels like being, but that fairly obvious.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
It is currently evening, if you want to screen the whole army before Mazzarin wakes up you will need to work through the night.
Sounds like a perfect job for Finn & Co. Night is when they are at their best.

However, since almost everyone is off celebrating it will take several hours to break up the festivities and get everyone back to their proper units. Is is also likely to instill a bit of resentment on the part of the troops, since you will be breaking up their reveling.
The scanning itself takes a few minutes, and then the guys would be free to do whatever they like again. Assembling the troops, though, that might take time.

There will be plenty of time to celebrate when we deal with the Watcher's horde, and the sooner we get there, the more will get to live to see that part.

Besides, no one gets to relax if we don't! :argh::P

Still, I am not sure myself if we should hurry before Maz wakes up, though if we aren't finished by then someone will have to explain to him what this is all about, and we don't want to be those guys. :lol:

archaen, any ideas?

3. There is the old arena, in an earlier age the dwarves would make captives and monsters battle one another for their amusement, the practice has since waned though it is not actually against the law. The arena would be a bit small for an army and it may be difficult to secure though it would provide more protection than the park would once secure.
Why is it difficult to secure? It is a stadium, right? Secure the outer perimeter and you should be fine.
Coliseum.PNG


4. The entrance to the grand mausoleums on the second lowest circle is a giant, clear field of stone. It will be free of obstruction and well removed from the Beast's army. Of course you would be starting right near the bottom of the city and would need to climb the rings up to the surface.
Is there a problem with that? How far is the city from there?

Wait, 'second lowest circle'? What does the city look like? How many 'rings' are there?

5. There is also the garrison's marshaling squares on the first level of the city. This would drop your army right near the fighting if you think that might be helpful, there would not be a lot of room though you could always make use of multiple squares, opening and closing gates to different parts of the city, come to think of it...
I believe a crude map might not be out of place. What different parts of the city are there, and why are they separated with gates?

Any other squares in the first ring? Perhaps closer to the city center? The army does not have to fit in one, we can occupy a whole district if needed.

What would he prefer? Suppose that no other magical shenanigans are involved and the choice of destination is fully up to him, which place would he choose?

Also, he notes that a lot depends on how cooperative Mazzarin feels like being, but that fairly obvious.
He would not have a lot of choice in the matter if Reinhard will back the plan up as the one that is most likely to secure Stoneheim. Mazzarin is a mage, not a general, and by what we have seen of him, he is a pretty lousy strategist. Given the choice between casting spells and looking awesome (which is all that is required of him), and coming up with an alternative and equally effective plan (which would not involve craling through the desert for a week), he should prove agreeable to the former.

He just needs to be told that all alternatives are worse and even more demanding of him. Guess that might be the case where Reinhard's 'family art' comes handy.

Also, Jester, Azira, where are you guys?
 
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Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Why is it difficult to secure? It is a stadium, right? Secure the outer perimeter and you should be fine.

It is in a state of disrepair, abandoned, and home to junkies, criminals and the like. Also there are a lot of smaller tunnels underneath it, they were used to get prisoners and animals to and from the arena floor. There are entire sections of the arena that can open and close at the flick of a switch (or at least they used to be able to do that, they may well be rusted shut at this point or otherwise broken).

Is there a problem with that? How far is the city from there?

Well, you would be near the bottom of the city.

It would take a few hours to get from there to the front gates with an army.

Wait, 'second lowest circle'? What does the city look like? How many 'rings' are there?

Twelve rings, each built upon one another going up toward the surface.

Each is protected by rather heavy fortifications, many quite ancient in construction. On top of the main gate is built a large fortress but it is mostly military housing, and defensive works on the surface.

Ring 1 consists of more military housing and training facilities in the main caverns just under the surface. This is also the level the extremely poor are confined to, slums abound.

Rings 2-4 are for the working poor, the servants of the rich, peasants and the like. The arena is on ring 4.

Rings 5-7 are mostly for farming, crops that do not require much in the way of light, and herding.

Ring 8 has been claimed by the merchant houses.

Ring 9 is for the nobility and contains many of the most important temples.

Ring 10 (along with part of ring 9 and 11) belongs to the royal family, not that it sees much use by them. It is also the seat of government for the city.

Ring 11 is mostly uninhabited. It contains great reservoirs from which the city tends to draw its water. There are also some fortifications and the royal retreat down there.

Ring 12 is for the dead, it is where the dwarves buried their ancestors.

why are they separated with gates?

To keep out the riffraff and to defend the city. Dwarven history was rife with internal conflicts before they reached the surface and the older, more powerful clans would push the weaker clans into the caves above them, away from a secure source of water. The gates were often built to prevent outcasts from forcing their way back down.

Once the dwarves reached the surface their priorities changed but they found that all the fortifications they had built still served a useful purpose. To keep out foreign invaders.

Any other squares in the first ring? Perhaps closer to the city center? The army does not have to fit in one, we can occupy a whole district if needed.

As the first ring is mostly slums the exact layout of it changes as buildings collapse in on themselves and fires clear out cluttered blocks. The marshaling squares are the only ones Reinhard can guarantee are clear since the military keeps people from building on them.

What would he prefer? Suppose that no other magical shenanigans are involved and the choice of destination is fully up to him, which place would he choose?

He would take the park on the third level if everything was equal. It is exposed but it would give the army enough space to work with. He is not sure if the trade off would be worth it since he does not know how things are within the city at the moment.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
He would take the park on the third level if everything was equal.
Why?

Does he think we might have to act immediately upon arrival?

We will need to reorganize after we arrive and sort through the people - and we don't want to be interrupted. Perhaps the army would need to rest, too, given that the soldiers would be up half of the night being scanned. We'd likely have to wait before regain our top combat ability.

Still, he is a tactician, and it might be good to have an option to react fast if something requires our immediate attenton. We will deter to his choice, since we've never been in the city ourselves.
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997

It has enough space to let the whole army through and set up camp, it is far enough from what should be the front lines to be reasonably safe and it is close enough to let him march to the front on arrival.

Does he think we might have to act immediately upon arrival?

He does not know but can not rule out the possibility.

We will need to reorganize after we arrive and sort through the people - and we don't want to be interrupted. Perhaps the army would need to rest, too, given that the soldiers would be up half of the night being scanned. We'd likely have to wait before regain our top combat ability.

Well if you want a more defensible position you could push for one of the other options.
 

archaen

Cipher
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Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
633
Well, we probably need at least an hour to sort through the traitors when we get to the other side. It would be best if we were some place quiet and large enough to hold our entire force so we don't have to worry about the logistics of splitting our forces three ways during the portal jump. That leans me towards the mausoleum.

If we are going to do the inspections tonight we might want to just do the main army as we can use Reinhart's authority to call them up for inspection. Use the excuse that we already came up with for magical attunement.

Fangshi I assume Finn is OK with helping us with the inspection?
 

Fangshi

Arcane
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Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Fangshi I assume Finn is OK with helping us with the inspection?

D&T assume he would have no problem helping but they have not had a chance to talk to him about it. He has disappeared again and they do not know where he has gone. They speculate that Cropper might know but they have no confirmation of that either.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Well, we probably need at least an hour to sort through the traitors when we get to the other side. It would be best if we were some place quiet and large enough to hold our entire force so we don't have to worry about the logistics of splitting our forces three ways during the portal jump. That leans me towards the mausoleum.
The mausoleum entrance was my first preference, too, but there are some things to consider.

- It is on the lower levels with a lot of water around, which makes it succeptible to flooding. It may not be the most grounded fear, as whoever makes that move should be really desperate (and there is a mausoleum below, so chances are, dwarves would never do that, period), and if it is not done yet, there is no way it can be done in half an hour it takes to anchor and open the portal, but the possibility still remains.
- It is a location far removed from the battlefield, which means that the army will be pretty tired and potentially unfit for battle by the time we arrive to the surface.
- For similar reasons we would be unable to react to what is happening on the surface for quite some time, and our arrival might make the Beast more desperate and even more aggressive than he is now.
- Finally, we know that spider demons come from below and that they might be targeting the royal residence on level 10, so it is highly likely we will run into them on the way up. That may be a mixed blessing, as I am fairly sure that we can roll over them in an open fight with Maz around (so one less problem for us), but they are not exactly the type to fight in the open.

We are trading mobility for initial safety here, while with the park we jump into an unknown and not very defensible location that is a much better base of operations if we manage to secure it.

I think I'll leave the decision up to you and just back your vote up. :)

If we are going to do the inspections tonight we might want to just do the main army as we can use Reinhart's authority to call them up for inspection.
Why not do the whole force, then? Reinhard has the authority to call up an urgent meeting, and if he says he is going - which he is fully in the right to say, what are the Lords going to do, stay behind? Argue to leave Stoneheim for another week? Dare the portal - which they know nothing about - without proper precautions?

It does not leave them too much place to maneuver.
 
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archaen

Cipher
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633
Well, without Finn we don't have the manpower to deep inspect the whole army as quickly as we planned. We could start it on our own immediately, but only if operation trick or treat has succeeded on the coin sith or we will need to negotiate. We need to know what forces we have to scan with before we call everyone together. Fangshi.

The memorial garden is the other choice that lets our force stay together and if it gives us more tactical flexibility it might be worth the vulnerability. I think we go with Reinhard's suggestion.
 

Fangshi

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Messages
1,997
We need to know what forces we have to scan with before we call everyone together. Fangshi.

Well it is still technically ongoing. You won't know if it works until you can talk to Berty since the trap may or may not have been sprung by now.

You could send for him but if he is still waiting in ambush then the trap would likely fail.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Cropper has the 'Horn of Summon Finn', and the fairy king promised to respond to our calls. That's if Crop does not know where his lord is in the first place, which he might, given his penchant for eavesdropping.

So the plan looks like - get Crop out, find Finn, rope him into helping with the plan, and go from there.

I think we have a few scanning teams already assembled?
 

archaen

Cipher
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Messages
633
Nevill said:
Cropper has the 'Horn of Summon Finn', and the fairy king promised to respond to our calls. That's if Crop does not know where his lord is in the first place, which he might, given his penchant for eavesdropping.

So the plan looks like - get Crop out, find Finn, rope him into helping with the plan, and go from there.

I think we have a few scanning teams already assembled?

That sounds like what it is going to have to be. If we have a small group of scanners we can start by getting our trusted teams we are going to send through the portal first.
 

Jester

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
1,493
1. Captured Cropper (and Enrico): How do you wish to handle the situation?


E) You will leave Cropper and Enrico to make their own escape.



2. Mazzarin, the Impatient: When Mazzarin wakes up he is going to want to continue south. You want to screen the army however and that is liable to take a few days. You will need to convince him somehow to do what you want.


E) The Gate & Scan Plan + D) In the case if Mazz will need a time to 'think' about it.



3. Emrys and the mail: Did you try to get Emrys to let you look at Lyssa's letter to Mazzarin or did you deny your curiousity?

C) Ask Lyssa about the contents of the letter when you are alone.



4. You currently have a number of unidentified items on you. You could potentially try and get the Seekers to identify them, provided they don't know those belong to you. Do you go through with it?

C. No, you do not want the Seekers poking around in your magical items. Instead you will offer Emrys the opportunity of identifying them.


5. Provided that Cropper finds Finn for you and provided you succeed in your plan to stay at the oasis for a day or two, you can ask Finn to send a runner to Muirthemne to take care of some matters, like delivering a message to your team and recovering Gullveig's correspondence which might help you with the investigation. Will you go for it?
A - yes, send a runner.
Voting like here, but with no identification. I expect that Maz might find out we using his student, if he is not busy enough.

Oh and I am cool to with 3 as long as Lyssa wasn't blackmailed inyo doing this.
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Current Tally:

Grimgravy - 1.Bi, 2.C>A, 3.A, 4.C, 5.B
asxetos - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.A
Kz3r0 - 1.E, 2.A, 3.A, 4.B, 5.B
Nevill - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.A
archaen - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.B
Baltika9 - 1.Biv, 2.E, 3.C, 4.C, 5.A
Karwelas - 1.E, 2.E (D if neccesary), 3.C, 4.C, 5.A
Jester - 1.E, 2.E(D if neccesary), 3.C, 4.B, 5.A

1. Captured Cropper:
4 votes Biv
3 votes E
1 vote Bi

2. Mazzarin, the Impatient:
6 votes E
1 vote A
1 vote C

Post Flop:
6 votes E
2 votes A

3. Emrys and the mail:
6 votes C
2 votes A

4. Your unidentified items:
6 votes C
2 vote B

5. A fairy runner to Muirthemne:
5 votes A
3 votes B


I think it is safe to close the votes now, your winning options are:

1. Biv - Break Cropper out.

2. E - The Gate and Scan Plan

3. C - Ask Lyssa about the letter when you are alone.

4. C - Let a fourteen year old boy play with possibly dangerous magical artefacts...

5. A - yes, you will send a runner



Now there are a few details I need answered about the gate and scan idea.

Have you settled on exactly how you want to move people through the gate?
Have you settled on where you want the gate to go?

That sort of thing. A clear statement of the exact plan would make it easier for me to enact it without making a mistake.


I am aiming for a Sunday release for the update but I can make no promises.
 

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