Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
G. A strange black slime humanoid calling himself Kek proclaims that his master, the Dark Lord, did it. And that his attempt at kidnapping Eileen is his declaration of war against the human kingdoms.

You can tie this to the Dark Lord if you want to, I'll have that be part of the magical beast story.

Odd, I thought it was mentioned somewhere Zayan would be able to complete all of these projects after some time after whe went to Ontoglia for the first time.

Whichever project she focuses on will finish first. If you help her by doing something else, that's two projects done. Getting everything done 'after some time' does not mean in the next week or so, obviously.

treave, should we return to the temple, would we go alone or accompanied this time?

Alone.

Hmm, I'm sure there's something missing. Ah yes, I found it. I wouldn't be surprised if Erd considered doing one of these.

Fix dick before starting dating sim.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
Guys, come to think of it, I think we should avoid mentioning Ellen's eyes. Her father said that if people found out the may seek to blind or kill her to get to him. And especially if it was an enemy faith that did it, I'm sure the easiest way to deal with that faith and any indebtedness her father might feel to them, would be to kill Ellen - thus eliminating any trace of their miracle and cutting her father from their leash.

tl;dr: avoid mentioning Ellen's eyes
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Also, perhaps I missed the memo, but why would someone try to blind Eileen again if her recovery is discovered?
If our connection to her recovery is discovered.

We have made some enemies, and they want to get back at us. There are also people who may see this as a way to earn points with Duke Brescia.

Guys, come to think of it, I think we should avoid mentioning Ellen's eyes. Her father said that if people found out the may seek to blind or kill her to get to him.
People will find out regardless. It is impossible to hide such a fact, you can't just pretend being blind. As long as it isn't us who healed her, it should be fine... and once Ambrese goes against Hargreave, it wouldn't matter anymore. The Duke should know he can get to the Governor through his daughter, eyes or no eyes... and so should the Governor.

In the end, I do not believe this matters one bit. Any side we accuse will have a reason to look closer at the Governor if he supports that story. Ellen is his weak point and therefore a likely target. If he wants her to be safe, he is probably better off entrusting her to us once we get our defences up. I think that's how it will eventually end, if the girl lives at all.

By the way, do you have any preferences for our activities if Yuiria doesn't win? I kind of want to train the twins and learn Rin's teleport, if only to be able to go to her at a moment's notice. There is a reason her single spell is worth as much as a bunch of different ones from other schools.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Fix dick before starting dating sim.
Pity. Some of the choices I asked about are quite legit. For example, getting closer to Rin is not a bad choice considering she's one of our greatest assets and currently our best fighter, it wouldn't do bad if she had a better opinion about us. Besides, if Arlin managed to do so much in only a week, Erd could do way more in two (assuming he doesn't fuck up horribly).

Asking Zayan about the other races and the rest of the world seems a solid idea, if a bit meta. Lastly, doing nothing is definitively the most in-character option (but no-one will choose it for obvious reasons). :lol:

Anyway, asking Rin if she can teach us something about her own teleportation spell might be the closest thing to what I thought about G. Nevertheless, do we have a guarantee she will cooperate with us? That spell of hers is one of the reasons she's so useful to us. If Erdrick acquired that ability, Rin might feel she's no longer as relevant as she was and therefore worsen her inferiority issues (but that's the worst case scenario). Also, treave, can we have some more information about these portable summoning circles? I assume they would work as a normal circle, but that they can be quickly placed anywhere in exchange of having a limited number of uses, right?

By the way, can advanced teleportation spells be used offensively? As in teleporting enemies to dangerous places/into the walls or ground, or even teleport their squishy bits outside of their bodies.

In any case, while I understand the advantages of focusing on this kind of magic, I still believe having something like an alarm for our village is not a bad idea.

PS: treave, which one of the "spell research" choices would improve our translation spell, or does that one upgrade automatically as the story progresses?


EDIT: Updated my votes after reading some posts and reconsidering our priorities.

1.F>B>D>E.
2. A>B>D.
3. A>B>DIII>DIV>EI.
 
Last edited:

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Lastly, doing nothing is definitively the most in-character option (but no-one will choose it for obvious reasons).
I think this attitude of his was heavily adjusted along with his priorities:
Complacency shall no longer be the throne you laze upon: a solution to this problem will be your primary goal from now on.
Though we maintain his 'doing less is doing better' MO whenever possible, as long as things get done (Aria and the slimes come to mind - he sat out most of the minor fights that didn't require his intervention). But doing nothing... I don't know if it's an option anymore. Besides, it never got picked even at better times. :M

Nevertheless, do we have a guarantee she will cooperate with us? That spell of hers is one of the reasons she's so useful to us.
We are in a partnership where this stuff is not very relevant? Anyway, being useful is what Rin wants to be, and being uncooperative is definitely not it.
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
Okay, so let's review which "alibi" is the best:

A. The Byarlantians were involved, and she encountered Archmage Julius Gallardo in this place, trying to wheedle his way deeper into Methussian politics by holding Ellen hostage.

B. The Barzamites were the ones present here, attempting to control the Governor by pretending to be able to heal Ellen’s eyes with their faith.

C. The Galbaldians were trying to blackmail the Governor by kidnapping his daughter. Shara and her men fought the greedy mercenaries off valiantly.[/quote]

These are all variations of the same theme, where we attempt to pin it on one of the other powers in the region. Of all these scapegoats, the Galbadians are the most convenient, IMO. The reason for this is that Prince Feist has managed to smooth things over with the Barzamites over the past decade, and relations with Gran Byarlant are quite good. This leaves Galbady as the odd man out - hey, it wouldn't be the first time in this LP that someone has attempted to frame Galbady either.

Gran Byarlant Empire – Good relations and close ties, particularly since the King’s wives are Byarlantian nobility.

Holy Barzam Ecclesiocracy – Bad relations ever since the Barzamite invasion a decade ago, but it is improving thanks to Prince Feist’s efforts.

Kingdom of Galbaldy – Frequent border skirmishes occurred up until five years ago, when Belbro Wickman defeated the Mercenary-King of Galbaldy in a famous duel. There has been peace since.

D. Amesdan the Bold, one of the more notable adventurers in the kingdom, was responsible for this fiasco. As with a lot of other things.

Blaming it on a third party is interesting. We'll no doubt encounter this guy coming after us and trying to clear his good name, but it is plausible, and has the benefit of not pissing off one of the major powers around.

E. You were here, planning to blackmail the Governor or to make him submit to you by force, whichever worked best, and that Shara managed to save him from your clutches.

This is by far the most plausible scenario. Erdrick already has developed a reputation for kidnapping virtuous women. It takes the heat off the governor and puts it towards ourselves. Obviously, this pisses off Methuss, the most, but has the advantage of knowing where we stand. The other benefit here is that we'll be able to know exactly how the Duke intends to respond, seeing as we have both the governor (who is rather trustworthy) and Shara (who isn't) acting as double agents for us. Additionally, given that the Duke will think that Shara has beaten us, I'm hoping it will make him underestimate us as a threat.

F. Her story works best for you: a magical beast will be a sufficient tale. In fact, you can blame that magical beast on the Dark Lord that the weird black slime was working for, whoever that idiot is.

Yeah, I'm sure that the Duke will believe this, assuming that he's a fucking moron. Let's take a look at what little we know of the good Duke:

Duke Hargreave Brescia (49). One of the most powerful men in the kingdom, and spokesperson for the nobles as a whole. His support has allowed Prince Feist to be granted the official title of Crown Prince.

Okay, so he seems to be a very shrewd power player who has enough clout to even be a kingmaker. An intelligent, politically adept man like this will see this a mile away. Why are you guys voting for this? The cover story is fucking retarded. Shara may be his right-hand woman and someone he trusts to some extent, but a guy like this didn't get this far by trusting people completely.

This is the pussy way out. You want to avoid stepping on anybody's toes, so you go for a wishy-washy story about some made up monster that even a retard would be able to call bullshit against.

Based on the above, I think that E is the way to go, but D and C are good alternatives as well. F is just bad.

Regarding what we should do in the meantime, while I would have loved to see the Temple and get some knowledge of this angel business that I believe will bite us in the ass because we've neglected it for so long, I'm afraid that it might be a case of too little, too late. We are completely ignorant of a lot of the more supernatural, secretive elements around us, but I don't know what exactly we'd do about it at this point or whether we'd have enough time to do anything useful. Based on that, mentoring our two apprentices intrigues me the most.

As for the project, they all interest me, but I really like the spell-arm.

E (willing to flop to anything but F), E A
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
You know, while teleportation spells have countless uses, do we really need both an upgrade to our basic spell AND mass-created summoning circles? Even though both are definitively useful, getting these two now might be overkill. Perhaps it would be good to invest our time to get one or the other AND something else as well. It would be a better investment since we (probably) cannot solve every one of our problems by just moving away instantly. Getting one of the teleportation upgrades and then teaching the twins/acquiring more magic/more Brobatos' techniques/magnetite upgrades would be a better combination, no?
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
We'll no doubt encounter this guy coming after us and trying to clear his good name
Kind of hard to do this from inside our dungeons... :lol:

Case in point: 29B. Interlude: Amesdan the Bold

Why are you guys voting for this? The cover story is fucking retarded.
Because the Dark Lord's minion was in the area, and the squires from Naguria run into his slimes. You know, Naguria, the same fort that houses Knights of Azurellion? Run by Wisteria Brescia?

The stories add up.

This is the pussy way out. You want to avoid stepping on anybody's toes, so you go for a wishy-washy story about some made up monster that even a retard would be able to call bullshit against.
Chill, man. :M
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
We'll no doubt encounter this guy coming after us and trying to clear his good name
Kind of hard to do this from inside our dungeons... :lol:

Case in point: 29B. Interlude: Amesdan the Bold

Goddamnit, has been so long that I forgot he was rotting in our dungeon.

Chill, man. :M

I'M JUST HAPPY TO BE BACK, OKAY!?!?! IF YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE FOREVER JUST SAY SO FAGGOT OR EVEN BETTER WE CAN GET PLANE TICKETS AND SETTLE THIS
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
You are not Lambchop. :M

Really, though, do you still feel the need to call people retards considering the above? If so, why is the beast cover story worse that the one about Galbaldians?

By the way, pinning the blame on Duke's allies (Barzamites/Byarlantians) is a valid course of action. Yes, they have good relationships... but that means that they could stand being worsened a little. I think treave commented on it earlier.

Erdrick already has developed a reputation for kidnapping virtuous women.
No he didn't.

:negative:

You know, while teleportation spells have countless uses, do we really need both an upgrade to our basic spell AND mass-created summoning circles? Even though both are definitively useful, getting these two now might be overkill.
It could also be called synergy. Though I would be happy with either twins or TP.
 
Last edited:

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
Really, though, do you still feel the need to call people retards considering the above? If so, why is the beast cover story worse that the one about Galbaldians?

When I say "retards" I say it with love, Nevill. We have all been retards at one point or another in our decision-making. Anyways, I think it's probably better to blame the attack and kidnapping on something that the Duke actually knows and will more likely believe to be working against him than some completely unknown (to him) entity. He knows that there is an icy relationship with Barzam and that things are tense at times with Galbady, these are more plausible.

Likewise, the best lies are often those that contain a bit of truth. The truth in E would be that we were involved. Likewise it would ward off suspicion from the governor and Shara. It's highly plausible given how powerful he thinks we are that we would be able to kill off everybody except Shara and escape.

By the way, pinning the blame on Duke's allies (Barzamites/Byarlantians) is a valid course of action. Yes, they have good relationships... but that means that they could stand being worsened a tad. I think treave commented on it earlier.

Yes, they can, depending on context. However, in this case, why would the Byarlant Archmage bother to kidnap Ellen himself? What would he have to gain? Makes no sense, and it makes for a poor alibi. Some scapegoats are more convenient than others.

No he didn't.

:negative:

What about Wisteria, then? Okay, maybe "kidnapping" isn't the right word, but the point is, based on what this guy thinks of us already, attempting to kidnap Ellen wouldn't exactly come as a surprise to him.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
reinforcements or messages to someone who is not near another device at a known location.
This. I still hold out hope for instant communication system. Rin's version allows that use (linking a spell to a person), and the portable teleportation device complements this nicely.

Anyways, I think it's probably better to blame the attack and kidnapping on something that the Duke actually knows and will more likely believe to be working against him than some completely unknown (to him) entity.
But the attack on the Governor has nothing to do with the Duke... yet.

What about Wisteria, then? Okay, maybe "kidnapping" isn't the right word, but the point is, based on what this guy thinks of us already, attempting to kidnap Ellen wouldn't exactly come as a surprise to him.
Well, if we got her killed, then maybe. :lol:

Yes, we are a plausible culprit. I just think this is a gambit that's a bit tricky to pull off. Trying to raise tensions with someone else might suit our goals better. I have't chosen who myself, though.
 
Last edited:

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Last post for today:

Alright Nevill and Gobblecock, I understand your points about synergy, but I would say versatility is slightly better in this case. We don't know how the incoming shistorm that is the expedition and avoiding/tricking the adventurers will proceed (for to mention a possible attack from the cloaked guys), but IMO we would be better prepared if we don't exclusively focus on teleportation magic and instead do something else, like unlocking the twins' potential or setting up an alarm system.

In any case, after thinking about it, I believe that 1E (aka putting the blame entirely on ourselves) is both the most effective and most dangerous of our possible choices. Indeed, it is very plausible, so much it will certainly piss off Methuss even more, possibly to the point the government/the nobles start giving contracts to hunt our head and bring it to the Duke. At worst, the nobles pay the adventurers to begin a "search and capture/'accidentally kill' " order everywhere within Methuss territory. At really worst case scenario, the Duke could use his contacts with the other nations so that these too will be on the lookout for us, something which will make future travels to other regions way more difficult than what it should be. More importantly: Ellen heard our allias and is not going to forget it anytime soon. Worse, it is a certainty sooner or later she'll tell her extensive network of friends about her miraculous recovery and her meeting with Trider. When that happens, it will really complicate the situation once people start connecting dots and wonder what was Erd doing in Ontoglia, something which could potentially endanger Eileen herself.


On the other hand, blaming Kek and his master shouldn't be that bad since there's enough proof to be somewhat believable, but it may not be as effective as the other choices. The point is that any of them except E and A could work.
 
Last edited:

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
Alright, this is great! I don't think I'll get inflamed like with the +1 SWORD debacle since this doesn't involve stats. Really, I think that most any of these options would be nice.

The way I see it, I think that I like option A for the first choice. Assuming that he doesn't question his subordinate's call (and if he does, the distraction from that diminished trust in his right hand agent and absence of real information combined with the hassle of setting up the expedition still serves our aims anyway), this could stir up trouble in the close relations of the kingdoms and the empire. All they need is some niggling paranoia-- Byarlant has worked its way into the royal family, now the Byarlantians are attempting to blackmail and gain power over the other cities of the kingdom. If rumors of that nature start to go around and make the lesser aristocracy distrustful of the Byarlantians, that could cause some big trouble in the kingdom.

My second choice would have to be E. It tips our involvement in this and gets everyone to think "Wow, he's an asshole!", but they were already thinking that anyway. I don't care about what the highest Methussian politicians think of us now quite so much as it's been my intention to fry a good portion of them with angelic laser beams until the rest submit and are willing to administer to the empire under us. Anyway, since this story is the closest to what actually happened, her details are much more likely to match up with expectations and there's an easier time in swallowing what's partially true and predicted (Hargreave already thinks ill of us, after all) so this is the most likely to protect the Duke and give him time to prepare.

By the way, treave is there any chance that we got any of them to tell us what those golden daggers were intended to do to us or held on to them to figure out what effect they have? They seemed pretty desperate to nick us with them, and given a sort of similarity to the described weapons of that cult I wonder if there's some sort of connection.

For the second choice, I'm concerned with protecting the weaker members of our group. I don't think that Trider and Rin are in too much danger, but the others could be. There are two ways of going about this. One is in option A, which is going to fill the forests with all sorts of runes and wards to discourage or heavily damage those in the expedition who start approaching too closely as well as giving an early warning, which is really invaluable for preparation. This will also probably result in a lot more exploration of the forest and finding odd stuff-- remember that object that the guys we slaughtered at the start were looking for? Plus, who knows, maybe the Minotaur Firelord was out licking its wounds somewhere, it was supposed to eventually regenerate. The only problem with this option is that it represents an investment in this location, which I understand some of you to be leery of. This being a densely forested region of ill-repute and rumored incredible danger, I think it will both be unlikely for people to stumble across the site by chance and difficult to support a dedicated army within it for aggressors, and there's a good possibility of diplomatic accidents being caused by rash military action considering that the intersection of three borders is not far off. It's furthermore an area where all those kingdoms that nominally control it are greatly weakened.

What I mean to say by this is that despite the flaws with our location, in a lot of ways it is a really safe spot for our goblin village to exist, as evidenced by it not already having been depopulated with all inhabitants either enslaved or put to the sword. It's hard to come across such places. The only other one that I can think of is the forest where the slimes were, but if you look at the map that's at something like half the distance from Yuria that this forest is, which manifests itself in trainees and others coming to it all the time specifically to murder monsters while our present forest lies almost untouched.

I mean, yes, there are possibly other such places out in the east or the west beyond the mountain ranges. The thing is, since we haven't sent any scouts out either way and won't have by the time the explorers arrive (still butthurt about not letting Rin go off) we won't have identified any. There's this idea of using mass teleportation to bring our goblin village elsewhere, but if we haven't come across a suitable place to send them to then what's the point? Even if we put them all in the slime's forest, keeping in mind that the knights have probably been harrying that area as we determined earlier, that's not where they've been raising crops. We'd have huge and immediate problems with getting them all fed.

The goblin village isn't much, but it's still the only one under our administration and I don't think it will do to lose it. I'd like to protect the investment, so I will vote A>D.

The advantage in D over A is that we can probably transfer the shield generator around, while obviously the runed up forest is staying put and pretty specific to that area. Another advantage is that we can really go much more all out with our attacks without worrying nearly as much about the integrity of the village, though it'd be good to know more about the nature of the shield. Treave, will this be like the shield that was put up during the entertainment at the dinner? I still think we'll get more out of the early warning for preparation as well as the closer investigation of the forest.

For the last, as just a matter of personal preference, I'd like to train in the Way of the Fist and gain more abilities that aren't dependent on the expenditure of mana. If that doesn't pan out, the defensive magic is good to pick up. I remember there was definitely a point when Erd had regrets for not having more powerful defensive magic, and given the squishiness of our charges learning any that may be applied to someone other than ourselves is also important. I would love to pick up Gigadyne equivalents in other branches of offensive magic, sure, but we haven't even gotten to the point for where we need to use Gigadyne in the first place aside from domestic disputes with Rin.

So, in total, I'll be voting:

A>E A>D B>DIII
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Also, treave, can we have some more information about these portable summoning circles? I assume they would work as a normal circle, but that they can be quickly placed anywhere in exchange of having a limited number of uses, right?

They work like normal summoning circles, with the major advantage being that anyone can put them down and activate them. There are a limited number of charges and the device will need to be recharged by either you or Rin once it is depleted. The spell within can be keyed to activate only in several conditions for security reasons - this will allow you to get a bit creative with its usage. It is quicker to use, but it might also be a bit more conspicuous than carrying around a piece of chalk and drawing a circle on the ground. As with a regular summoning circle, it will also be left behind after teleportation. It is not a personal teleporter.

Nevertheless, do we have a guarantee she will cooperate with us? That spell of hers is one of the reasons she's so useful to us. If Erdrick acquired that ability, Rin might feel she's no longer as relevant as she was and therefore worsen her inferiority issues (but that's the worst case scenario).

She's rather dense and if he strokes her ego a bit she would probably take it as an opportunity to brag about how much better she is at teleportation.

By the way, can advanced teleportation spells be used offensively? As in teleporting enemies to dangerous places/into the walls or ground, or even teleport their squishy bits outside of their bodies.

Theoretically doable but extremely difficult in combat, and the mana cost involved would not be as efficient as outright blasting them with one of your other spells. They can be used as traps however.

PS: treave, which one of the "spell research" choices would improve our translation spell, or does that one upgrade automatically as the story progresses?

The latter.

Because the Dark Lord's minion was in the area, and the squires from Naguria run into his slimes. You know, Naguria, the same fort that houses Knights of Azurellion? Run by Wisteria Brescia.

The story's potency would be a lot greater if the squires had actually met Quekquek and heard his rant about the Dark Lord. They could have, but they didn't, so this will be the first time the Duke is hearing about such a figure.

By the way, treave is there any chance that we got any of them to tell us what those golden daggers were intended to do to us or held on to them to figure out what effect they have? They seemed pretty desperate to nick us with them, and given a sort of similarity to the described weapons of that cult I wonder if there's some sort of connection.

Poisoned daggers. Of course, poison doesn't work on you, but they don't know that yet.
 
Last edited:

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
Just poison, okay. Hopefully we held onto those, it may be something for Zayan to take a look at... anyway!

I forgot to tag you properly when I asked this question above, so what sort of forcefield would this be in option 2D, treave? Are we aiming for a huge version of the protective spell that was in place during the banquet duel, or something that's more like a physical barrier? Do we have reason to think it could protect the inhabitants of the village if Erd was to nuke something with Gigadyne vaguely nearby?
 

archaen

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
633
1. E. I like letting the duke know it was us. It is believable, and we might as well own our asshole mage status. Bonus if the duke eventually hates us so much his rage makes him stupid.

2. E > B. Spell arms sound awesome. We can put Rin's teleport in it if needed, give a goblin behind enemy lines a tornado or firestorm, or just imagine Rin with gigadyne verdant.

3. Di > Dii > C. We have the mana and now we need some more spells. I see the utility spells being useful, then a different element in case we fight a giant lighting rod, and Brobatos is also good.
 
Last edited:

ScubaV

Prophet
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,022
1) E - Our reputation is pretty well fucked in Methuss, excepting a few individuals that know us personally (ex. our gay lover prince, the adventurer's guild leader, and maybe Wisteria?). We're not recovering that except through manipulation or conquest, so why not pull some suspicion off of our pawns?

2) B - I voted for this the first time around, so I'm picking it again. Mobility is key.

3) A - Like Esquilax said, I think it's too late to visit the temple although I am very curious to find out what happened to Wisteria. I think prepping our underlings for more responsibility is in character with Erdrick's lazy attitude and potentially provides some valuable bonding time to fortify their loyalties.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Disclaimer: though I may be vocal in criticizing other options, please do not mistake it for shilling for my preferred ones. I seek only to DISCUSS. :M

That said, I find some of the logic behind E a bit strange. 'Our reputation is pretty well fucked in Methuss', seriously? We are sitting at -28 in the kingdom overall, and the closer the place to Brescia family, the worse it gets. But I remember a certain unorthodox fighter who had a reputation of -25 with his closest potential allies after a particularly stupid stunt. Said fighter also BROed it back up to them and had it over +50 about 20 updates later.

Then again, it's not like it's the first time the Codex overreacts to a minor setback. Missed +1 SWORDS once? NOW WE WILL NEVER BECOME THE BEST SWORDSMAN. Go away, useless lumps of metal, we won't be touching you for the rest of our lives! :M

What I mean to say is, while people in general think we are up to no good, they aren't inclined to yell 'Kill it with fire!' and sick the guards on us on sight yet. Why that may be relevant?

Well, if you reflect back on what we did in Methuss, we have acted as a mercenary in our dealings with people, peddling our services for a fee like a good merchant should.
- We have saved the village in exchange for the twins and a cow. This case remains our biggest reward to date. :lol:
- We have traded assistance to Farland for a favor. Which we then wasted in the most ignominious and shameful manner, but that's a tale for another time.
- We have assisted the Governor with his Zayan problem in exchange for information and Zayan herself.
- We have further assisted the Governor with several private matters, and got a load of magnative out of it, as well as a few future deals pending.

Now, how well do you think the last deal would go if we were sitting on a -75 reputation of a 'hated villain who can't be trusted at all'? Would Ambrese still be willing to play it both ways and give us a benefit of a doubt depending on what we do, or would he run straight to the Duke in an attempt to save his daughter from a 'certain death'? Would he be willing to keep it a secret and oppose the Duke after the danger passed, or would he think us a greater danger?

My point is that deliberately ruining our reputation is just harming the very trade that brings us results. Staining the wares. I love our business-like side and the way we handled the latest development ('there is no reason not to be professional' and all that fluff), and I would like to keep going in the same direction, which I assume we are about to make increasingly difficult for ourselves.

It does not help that I think we are also falling to pre-established patterns, taking all of the blame on ourselves for little personal benefit (does that remind you of anyone?) instead of pitting the powers in the region agains each other in a bid to weaken them, like a proper mastermind would have done. (Are we a mastermind, though? Is there any interest whatsoever walking down that path?)

I do not particularly like F (for flimsier-than-usual evidence; because Dark Lord is not an established power; and because Methuss will be coming to a conflict with him anyway due to him openly commanding monsters and being an asshat), but E doesn't appeal to me much either, considering the direction the story was heading in so far.

I am kind of sympathetic to archaen's take on it, though. But it is a fine line to walk, and Codex and finesse don't really fit together. :M

Nevill B, B, A>DIV
Kz3r0 B, A, DII
Lambchop19 C>D>F, D>B, C
Azira E>A, A>D, DIII>DII>DI>B>A
lightbane F>B>D, A>B>D, A>B>DIII>DIV>EI
Storyfag B, D, A
Gobblecock x, B, DIV>DI
Grimgravy D>F, B, A>DII>DIV
TOME B, B, DIV>!A
Esquilax E, E, A
Jester D, A, A
Kipeci A>E, A>D, B>DIII
archaen E, E>B, DI>DII>C
ScubaV E, B, A
Elfberserker E, A, A
Baltika9 C, E, A

A - 1 [p.2]
B - 4 [p.5]
C - 2
D - 2 [p.4]
E - 5 [p.6]

F - 1 [p.3]
x - 1

A - 6
B - 5 [p.8] (7)

D - 2 [p.5] (1) Lambchop19
E - 3 (2) archaen

A - 9 [p.10]
B - 1 [p.3]
C - 1 [p.2]
Di - 1 [p.3]
Dii - 1 [p.4]
Diii - 1 [p.3]
Div - 2 [p.5]
Major contenders bolded.

I am flopping to B B A>DIV to simplify the count, seeing how Yuiria isn't anywhere close to winning. I agree to lightbane's point about versatility and prioritize twins over Rin's TP if we will still be researching the portable circles.
 
Last edited:

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Edited my votes to remove E from choice 1, I forgot to do so yesterday after my comment about how we don't need to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good.

So, it is like this:

Vote summary:
1.B>D>F.
2. B>D>A.
3. A>DI>DIII>DIV (only if 2B doesn't win, otherwise ignore it)>EI.
 
Last edited:

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom