Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[Nevill]

I would echo gobblecock that the teleport circle in the TOME Hollywood is impractical.

I do not understand the reasoning. Why is it impractical?

"Erdrick would have to draw a circle on the ground in front of everyone before even using teleport in its powered-up form". Yes. That's the plan. So...? What's the objection?

It still seems like it is going to be extremely difficult to do fancy penmanship in the middle of a battlefield with a bunch of people trying to kill us and spells and martial arts destroying the ground we are trying to write on.

If we grab the prince - which would be the entire point of Erdrick drawing a circle - would they fling spells at him and risk killing him? We can shrug off fireballs. The prince can't.

 

[lightbane]

While we certainly don't have the mass-teleport circles, we do have a shield generator that can turn us invisible. Perhaps we could use that to magically "disappear" from sight? Of course, it would be a priority that said device is not destroyed or stolen by the enemy.

 

[Nevill]

While we certainly don't have the mass-teleport circles

Actually, we have a pair of those installed between our village and the slime forest.

What we don't have is portable mass-teleport circles that can be activated without our direct intervention.

 

[lightbane]

Yeah, my bad, I noticed just now. However, another thing that can be technically done is to have someone else prepare our circle: Runde could quietly draw said figure hidden from the front lines, while everyone else is busy attacking Erd and company.

 

[Nevill]

However, another thing that can be technically done is to have someone else prepare our circle

...why and what for? Rin can draw it. We can draw it ourselves. What purpose it would serve to have an incompetent goblin do it?

 

[Azira]

Fun?

 

[lightbane]

...why and what for? Rin can draw it. We can draw it ourselves. What fpurpose it would serve to have an incompetent goblin do it?

Wasn't Runde supposed to be the smart goblin? The point is that have someone else do it while we're fighting the adventurers, in order to prevent possible teleporting accidents and also to avoid blatantly showing what we are intending to do.

 

[Nevill]

Yes... for a goblin. Teleport is a rank B spell. That's archmage territory.

The point is that have someone else do it while we're fighting the adventurers

I am still not sure which circle you are talking about and why it needs to be drawn while we are fighting someone.

 

[treave]

You guys seem pretty confused at the moment about who is going to do what and where. Perhaps more details might help?

 

[Nevill]

Here's the plan as I understand it.

Erdrick gets to the outskirts of Erise via teleport. Prepares a teleport circle somewhere in the forest. Teleports his back dancers during nightfall. Leaves the circle intact so that they could teleport back when he is done.

The horde makes a dramatic entrance. Burning forest and all, clanking of swords, vicious laughter, the works. The camp goes into the 'alarm, alarm!' mode.

Erd drops in the middle of the camp, says his hello speech, dances with adventurers for a while. Then he locates and grabs the prince. The fighting ceases, as any attacks on Erd could harm the prince, and no one wants to be that guy. Erd taunts them about it, and draws a teleportation circle. Aria makes her rescue attempt, and is thwarted. Erdrick takes them both, presumably to torture them in the dungeons of his Castle of Eternal Gloom.

He teleports out. His horde disperces via the teleportation circle they came from. (If that's a problem, Rin can draw them a new one). Rin destroys the circle so that they can't be followed and teleports out.

End of Act 1.

 

[Azira]

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

 

[Nevill]

Sure. But it's better to have one than not.

 

[Azira]

Even better to have one simple, basic outline, and then multiple contingencies.

Complicated plans are silly.

 

[Nevill]

The plan is to 'show up and point them to the castle'. How much simpler does it need to be?

The rest is just dressing up and providing them with a sufficient motivation.

 

[Nevill]

What if the prince starts squirming around while we're grabbing him, or even fighting us while we're drawing the circle? He doesn't want to look like a passive little pink princess in need of rescuing, not in front of his whole army, so why does he go quietly into captivity? If you incapacitate him and still hold him upright to block other attackers, then how easily can you draw the circle with this encumbrance

So... we can somersault over a horse, deflect arrows with our sword, and shatter swords with our halo, but we can't handle one 15 year old brat. We can juggle both twins in the air, but we would be too encumbered to draw on the ground with the prince in our grasp. Sorry, but I feel like my assumptions assume less.

Also, I am confused... where does the notion of lack of AoE spells (or spells of any kind) come from? I specified nothing about how we are engaging the adventurers, as long as we prioritize getting information about their capabilities over getting frags.

At what point did Erdrick become effortlessly more powerful than hundreds of battle-hardened mercenaries, knights and wizards? Especially without the standard resort to his Gigadyne and the more advanced area-of-effect spells?

At the point when he has a hostage whose safety they care about. This point was repeated... what, three, four times already?

Teleportation circles are inert drawings. They need someone to cast the teleport spell inside them for each instance of use, unless you have a portable one fitted with a magnetite spell battery.

Then how does a circle between our village and the slime forest work? That one explicitly does not require our intervention.

What exactly is the objection here, and to what?

So you are prepared for the distinct possibility that this elaborate choreography fails, or for Erdrick to discover that the combined heat of 200 high-level adventurers and mages is a bit too hot to handle?

Sure, and I have stated it that those are side goals.

 

[treave]

Then how does a circle between our village and the slime forest work? That one explicitly does not require our intervention.

It operates just like how the other circles you've drawn work. The larger scale doesn't change the way it works.

 

[Nevill]

Before you return to Grahferde, you set up a teleportation circle in the slime clearing and tasked the slime queen with looking after it. You had also requested her slimes to salvage whatever they could spare on their daily roamings and to hoard it for transport. A forest as untouched as theirs would harbour herbs, perhaps even rare ones, and closer to the mountains there would probably be mineral deposits to be found. You cannot control what they hoard, but the job of sifting through the salvage could be safely given to the goblins. This way, you would have a frequent – if random – source of materials.

I was under the impression that we set up a permanent immobile teleportation device that anyone can use to move between the two locations. That is also what the discussion back then assumed.

Am I mistaken?

 

[treave]

You still need someone capable of Teleport to facilitate the transfer and fetch the stuff. They hoard it and dump it on the circle, someone brings it back, the goblins sort it out.

 

[Nevill]

I see.

Alright. Ignoring other aspects of the plan for now, is there a problem with the use of teleporting circles as stated?

Erdrick -> Erise outskirts (via his spell) -> forest
Rin & Horde -> Erdrick (via 1st circle), prepares Retreat circle

Erdrick & Prince & Aria -> castle (via a second circle in the camp)
Horde & Rin -> Erdrick (via Retreat circle, powered by Rin)

Not sure if destroying the circle is even required here to prevent the adventurers from following if they know some version of Teleport. (the one in the camp still remains, anyway)

Also, does it mean that a circle drawn by us transports us to a location, but a circle drawn from Rin transports her to a person? Or are circles universal and it only depends on who is powering them?

Edited.

 

[treave]

Horde -> Erdrick (via 3rd circle, powered by Rin)
Rin (destroys circle?) -> Erdrick (via her spell)

If Rin uses the teleport circle to move the monsters out she will be teleported along with them. If you want to teleport the army away, you need them to leave with either Erdrick or Rin. Also, you need a circle drawn sufficiently large to fit everyone you want to teleport within it. That's about it.

Also, does it mean that a circle drawn by us transports us to a location, but a circle drawn from Rin transports her to a person? Or are circles universal and it only depends on who is powering them?

A circle drawn by you but used by Rin will bring her to her target. They act as additional enhancements to the caster's teleport spell, they can increase the distance, the amount of things you teleport along with you etc.

 

[Elfberserker]

I flop to Kipeci Plan. After all these discussions it's beautiful in its simplicity.

Wait a minute!?
Are the orginal voting options still allowed instead of custom plans?

 

[lightbane]

There was a misunderstanding that it's been clarified. Unfortunately, GK is right: stopping to draw a circle while carrying an unconscious Prince is really akwarkd, for not to mention it breaks the flow of the theatrics, which is intolerable. My suggestion would be to have another teleport circle prepared, but this one enhanced with "magical special effects", so that the thing glows with red, bright runes that look more menacing, or a storm of (seemingly) lethal hellfire surrounds the area, etc. The point is that we need to have the escape device ready to go from the start, needing only a gesture of Erd himself to activate it. That would be a proper "Overlordy" actuation. On the other hand, Kipeci's plan is starting to seem not that bad, considering its simplicity.

 

[Nevill]

Unfortunately, GK is right: stopping to draw a circle while carrying an unconscious Prince is really akwarkd, for not to mention it breaks the flow of the theatrics, which is intolerable.

Why, though? We have drawn the one we needed to kidnap Ellen in a matter of seconds.

Why can't we mock them as we draw it, about the endless torture we will inflict upon the prince because none of them have the balls to risk his life, and gloat at the irony?

Grrrrrr! Everyone's a critic nowadays.

 

[lightbane]

But Erd wasn't in the middle of enemy territory when he kidnapped accompanied Ellen back to his home. And what's essentially drawing a giant graffiti is not precisely glorious nor awe-inspiring/terrifying for a so-called Dark Lord.

 

[Nevill]

And what's essentially drawing a giant graffiti is not precisely glorious nor awe-inspiring/terrifying for a so-called Dark Lord.

Depends on the graffiti, I guess.

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