Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[Grimgravy]

C>E, B

 

[Storyfag]

D>C
B

 

[lightbane]

on the other hand, the Snake might be enough of a power-grubbing bitch to want to serve an angel rather than an influental noble who may soon find himself down on his luck.

I would say that's extremely unlikely. Besides the average reaction towards Angelkind (aka "Oh my Gods! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!"), Erd doesn't really have an (in-character) reason to go for world-domination nor he has any motivation for taking over Methuss yet. In fact, he doesn't even have a long-term plan of any kind (his physical ailment is naturally his top priority short-term plan). And that's not taking into account we're nowhere close to have something akin to a small army or anything like that for now, or that we don't have anything that could be of interest for the Snake.

Erdrick may pretend to have more ambitious goals than merely survivng and finding his place in this world, but sooner or later his natural laziness will betray him.

So I believe it wouldn't be worth the hassle. Also, the Codex already had the oportunity to have a not-really trustworthy minion but it was decided to eschew that. Do we really need a professional back-stabber as one of our liutenants? Besides Arlin, that is.


Changing the topic: he certainly took the death of his family quite well, all things considered. That, or he has a natural ability to quickly forget/block painful memories.

 

[Nevill]

I would say that's extremely unlikely.

Maybe. Aria sure likes her perspectives given the power we wield.

What does an adventurer need? Money, treasure, glory, levels. That might be something we would be able to provide in greater quantities than, ah, legal alternatives.

Working for the Duke will never allow one to rise higher than the Duke. We might be able to top that offer.

Erd doesn't really have an (in-character) reason to go for world-domination nor he has any motivation for taking over Methuss yet.

Is that why he is secretly aiding Fortunio to take over the criuminal world and stole Zayan at a risk of starting a war?

He has ambitions, he has goals, and he grabs whatever means he can to realize them. He already came in conflict with Methuss for its resourses (magnatite), and I have little doubt that it will continue to escalate. He wants a lot of things, but little belongs to him in this new world. So he takes them, one way or the other - and that, in turn, creates more conflict.

Erdrick may pretend to have more ambitious goals than merely survivng and finding his place in this world, but sooner or later his natural laziness will betray him.

He has his luck to thank for keeping him on his toes.

Changing the topic: he certainly took the death of his family quite well, all things considered. That, or he has a natural ability to quickly forget/block painful memories.

He became a bit detached after his experience, I think. We've only recently got him interested in talking to his teammates.

He stopped worrying about them after the first chapter. There is no use to worry about something you have absolutely no power to change. I can relate to that mindset.

 

[Karwelas]

Erd doesn't really have an (in-character) reason to go for world-domination nor he has any motivation for taking over Methuss yet. In fact, he doesn't even have a long-term plan of any kind (his physical ailment is naturally his top priority short-term plan). And that's not taking into account we're nowhere close to have something akin to a small army or anything like that for now, or that we don't have anything that could be of interest for the Snake.

Erdrick may pretend to have more ambitious goals than merely survivng and finding his place in this world, but sooner or later his natural laziness will betray him.

First World CYOA Problems: NR 1 - Goals.

Nah, really. I wonder if we ever had any well-defined goals in any CYOA around, well, since start. Or it always is 'MAXIMUM FUCK, WE DON'T NEED EYES TO SEE'? Not that it is bad, I just don't remember any long term plans form any CYOA I read.

 

[Nevill]

Goals are easy.

EPIC: Part 1 - fuck the Masters; Part 2 - fuck Kirie.
Legend: Part 1 - help Shun; Part 2 - kill Shun.
Spiral: Part 1 - get trenchcoat and sunglasses; Part 2 - find a new low to hit.
Myth: Part 1 - get pretty stone; Part 2 - go on a vacation go on a murderspree piss off every power in the Universe SURVIVE!!!

Current goals for Mercant are to cure himself, resurrect Mieren (or deal with her death in any other way), and find a way to get back a) to his world b) at the Gods. Oh, and there are also Rin's goals that we signed up for by accepting her proposal. Those can change, of course, but I think this makes for a nice set of motivations.

 

[Elfberserker]

CB

I thought Mercants current and long term goals are getting the harem and getting super Rich.
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised that our future capitol will turn out to be fantasy version of wall street or other commercial centers with overwhelming female population.

 

[lightbane]

Ah yes, I momentarily forgot about Fortunio and his whole band. It's been a long day. Thanks for the reminder, Nevill.

Although I was under the impression the Golden Snake preferred to work more as the Duke's personal spy/assassin than as an adventurer, but that may be a mistake. In any case, if all goes well, we'll learn more about her soon (in before she turns out to be a middle-aged/old-looking lady with an ugly face).

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Is Elmont a lightning mage, then?

Semantics. The point was that they knew we could summon lightning beasts and may have brought countermeasures against lightning magic or whatever you want to call it.

I don't think people have a solid idea of who we are yet, hardly enough to come up with a counter they'd be willing to bet their lives on.

Who is betting their life on a counter? Looks to me like they tried to strike betting on overwhelming force (for an assassination anyway) - 16 dudes and the masked woman. Also, I think they have brought along some magic gimmicks. Recall the the update mentioned the twisted golden dagger.

 

[Nevill]

in before she turns out to be a middle-aged/old-looking lady

Actually, I find the age part really interesting.

I am talking about the Golden Snake, the Duke’s right-hand woman. She’s said to be an ageless master of poisons and disguises-“
[...]
"She is rumoured to always wear a mask in her rare appearances. No one knows who she really is or how old she is…”

I think these two tidbits of information are somehow related. It is one thing for an assassin and a spy to wear a mask to avoid recognition. It is another one to be considered ageless. At the very least it suggests that she has been around for a while - enough so to start a rumor.

I can think of several possibilities:

- The mask is something that she can't really remove, and it is what grants her her youth/agelessness. Some kind of a cursed/blessed artefact.
- The woman is a monster-girl hiding in plain sight with a paper-thin disguise, not unlike us. Quite possibly snake-related. That would explain the discrepancy with human physiology - and what other kind of job you would expect a monster to have, if not a shady one, away from the prying eyes? Being a master of disguises could imply some kind of shapeshifter, or a chameleon.
- The woman is not a single entity. Well, that was the case with Zayan, who turned out to be the last of her lineage rather than a 100-yeal old geezer.
- It's just a stupid rumor.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

master of disguises

...the mayor?

 

[Nevill]

...the mayor?

...Rin. I knew something was wrong with her facial expressions lately!

Don't you find it suspicious she knew exactly how many people there would be? She probably let the Bandit Queen go, too. And don't get me started on her other plots!

Good thing we didn't allow her to leave - she'd report straight to the Duke! Better keep an eye on her at all times!!

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Ambrese sighs again, resting his head in his hands. “There should be seventeen.”

Of course he would know that.

They were recruited from amongst the best adventurers in the country. This means that their combat potential and experience are both impressive. There are skilled mages and warriors both in their ranks, not to mention the intensive training in subterfuge that they have received upon recruitment. On top of it all, their leader is here.

By here, I wonder if he meant in this room. He is really the leader in disguise. Shulgi, you magnificent bastard!

 

[Nevill]

Of course he would know that.

No, you don't understand. There really are 16 people out there. Rin is the 17th! And she is in this room!

We must employ our trusted anti-Shulgi stratagem and start lopping heads off preemptively! If we are mistaken, Zayan can sew them back on anyway.

 

[lightbane]

I think you mean Arlin Eileen. She giggled upon hearing Erd's sudden interest when he learned the Snake is a woman. Therefore, she's hiding something!

Now really, it's a bit too late to start having baseless paranoia attacks already. Erdrick himself can do that just fine.

Also, Nevill, would you kindly give us a tally, please? Just to know who's winning (I believe it is the Tornado option though).

- The woman is a monster-girl hiding in plain sight with a paper-thin disguise, not unlike us. Quite possibly snake-related. That would explain the discrepancy with human physiology - and what other kind of job you would expect a monster to have, if not a shady one, away from the prying eyes? Being a master of disguises could imply some kind of shapeshifter, or a chameleon.

Well, it was mentioned this world has lizard people, so it could be she's one of these. We have to ask the governor if the Snake has been seen eating mice at some point.

 

[Nevill]

It's not paranoia if they are out to get you!

Tally

Karwelas F B
Nevill C>E B
lightbane E>F>B>A>C B
Azira F>B>A>C B
TOME C B
Lambchop19 F>C B
Kz3r0 C B
Kipeci E B
archaen E>D>B B
ScubaV C>E B
Grimgravy C>E B
Storyfag D>C B
Elfberserker C B
Tigranes A>E B

I dropped the conditional votes that have Rin leave the governor, for simplicity's sake.

A - 1 [p. 1] (0)
C - 6 [p.10] (7)
D - 1 [p. 1] (0)
E - 3 [p. 7] (4)
F - 3 [p. 4]

B - 13

It is kind of strange to have Rin on guard against the assassin. I mean, what would be the point? As far as Hargreave's agents are aware, we got what we wanted out of the old man, so what would they get out of offing him or taking him hostage? I have no idea what benefit they think they would have by going after him.

Then again, we have 2 people, and it was part of the plan all along to keep an eye on the governor, so it's not like we lose anything.

 

[TOME]

As far as Hargreave's agents are aware, we got what we wanted out of the old man, so what would they get out of offing him or taking him hostage?

A new governor who is not so easily blackmailed and is loyal to Hargreave. I thought they were planning to kill everyone involved since they weren't interested in talking and attacked straight away.

 

[lightbane]

Or perhaps they reconsidered their course of action once they spotted Edrick and checked his power level and realized they couldn't win in a straight fight. But it could be a ruse as well. Either way, I bet they'll talk once Erd shakes them around a bit.

Checking the tally, I'm impressed E got so many votes, I wouldn't mind seeing Mercant activating his transformation sequence if only to impress Barbatos, although the Tornado choice won at the end. Still, I'm sure it will be fine (probably).

By the way, since Eileen seems to know Wist and by now she must have a positive opinion about us, we could take advantage of the situation to ask her about what happened to Wisteria before she returns to Ontoglia. Even if she doesn't really know much, she'll certainly be more willing to talk than her father. Who knows, at best Wist might be fine and perhaps not completely angry with us (even though the Duke most certainly is).

 

[Kipeci]

all of you seem worried about leaving witnesses for some reason?

Witnesses or traces. It's less of a worry and more of a statement.

It shouldn't be a problem if we kill them all, but it might be if we capture them and try to rectuit/intimidate them or outright hand them over to Hastwell. After all, the last choice was between kill/parley/ignore, and we chose to parley. It would be kind of a waste to make it redundant.

There is also a matter of Gigadyne Verandert revealing our form. I assume there are circumstances in which we would not want even our allies (Hastwell) to know who or what we are. Not that he cares, now that his daughter's fate depends on our well-being, but he can't reveal what he doesn't know - neither accidentally, nor under a torture.

I view that as more "we musn't reveal our techniques!" garbage

Your views on stealth are well-known.

Hastwell has already indicated that he hasn't had any luck in buying them out as an incredibly wealthy governor, what more could we offer them as a group? I mean, yes, there's threatening them and all, but that's not too effective. I and most other people who voted for this option were really looking more for the chance of Erd engaging in the bloodshed than any legitimate diplomacy, I'm pretty sure. People won't see anything when our touch fries the bulk of them, the only one we were even thinking about saving was the leader if she turned out to be pretty-- and really, I don't see any reason not to fry such a tricksy figure off the bat. We already have plenty of attractive ladies with us who are less likely to stab us in the back, we need to focus on getting the hyperweapon into shape before further collection.

It's perfectly stealthy if we kill all of them, and zipping around with Gigadyne at high speeds and murdering people with the barest touch seems like a fantastic way to do it.

The thing I don't get is that people are talking about counters being developed. Isn't it good if people specifically waste their time developing a counter to a particular magic we have? I mean, imagine that they have people undergo the ridiculous amount of magical research necessary to make lightning magic up to Gigadyne go kaput... and then we just throw a fireball in their face. The look on it pre-roasting would be hilarious.

If they keep on getting stories of some hunchback showing up and murdering all their dudes with varied magic, that just inspires more general magic-countering stuff. And if that's a huge problem, we're better off going the physical route and developing ridiculous cheating no-mana fighting moves with Barbatos while we still can so that it doesn't matter.

You have my vote down wrong, by the way.

 

[Nevill]

Hastwell has already indicated that he hasn't had any luck in buying them out as an incredibly wealthy governor

Not entirely correct.

These are new recruits, men that I have not yet time to buy.

Well, we are not in a hurry now, are we? Those who are willing to cooperate will go with the Governor, those who are unwilling will come with us. Everyone profits!

People won't see anything when our touch fries the bulk of them, the only one we were even thinking about saving was the leader if she turned out to be pretty-- and really, I don't see any reason not to fry such a tricksy figure off the bat.

First and foremost, she is Hargreave's lieutenant and thus an informant. Probably the one who has her hands up her elbows in his shady deals. Frying her outright is out of the question.

The thing I don't get is that people are talking about counters being developed.

I imagine what Lambchop is saying is less about development, and more about preparedness. Like, if you expect flames to break out, you bring a fire extinguisher with you. It's not like your R&D is working 24x7 reinventing the said extinguisher every time there is a fire.

Though I think that, as you say, we are versatile enough for that not to matter much. Still, our most powerful spells are all of one school, and our fire/ice magic is capped at rank C. If lightning is denied to us somehow, that drops our capabilities severely - that's why it is a concern.

You have my vote down wrong, by the way.

Your vote is EB>GA, correct? There is no way for me to represent it through a system of independent votes, so I dropped the 2A conditional since the option is nowhere close to winning. That much is written in the tally.

By the way, since Eileen seems to know Wist and by now she must have a positive opinion about us, we could take advantage of the situation to ask her about what happened to Wisteria before she returns to Ontoglia.

I was a bit surprised that we went to the trouble of hiding our name from her, only for her to completely ignore the reveal when it happened.

 

[Kipeci]

First and foremost, she is Hargreave's lieutenant and thus an informant. Probably the one who has her hands up her elbows in his shady deals. Frying her outright is out of the question.

I was thinking that bringing in a highly trained secret agent to the cardboard-like prisons that we have guarded by mere goblins would not work well, but now that I think about it frying her entirely is the bad way to go. We should be sure to give her a good tap on all of her limbs, burn those off and have the stumps cauterized. That way they can't get up to all that much trouble, yet may still be interrogated. If they're good, we could slowly start to restore limbs-- and if not, there's just feeding the torsos to the slimes. You're right, though Gigadyne is still the way to go with this realization since it's more controllable as well as speedy.

I imagine what Lambchop is saying is less about development, and more about preparedness. Like, if you expect flames to break out, you bring a fire extinguisher with you. It's not like your R&D is working 24x7 reinventing the said extinguisher every time there is a fire.

Though I think that, as you say, we are versatile enough for that not to matter much. Still, our most powerful spells are all of one school, and our fire/ice magic is capped at rank C. If lightning is denied to us somehow, that drops our capabilities severely - that's why it is a concern.

I wasn't thinking that they'd have elemental screening... Erd's defensive spells don't share that sort of capacity, and the only thing we've seen thus far in the world is an all-purpose magic canceler. Still, this is not an issue if we manage to kill or capture everyone OR utilize the fists, which our opponents have no means to cancel aside from the difficult method of killing Erd.

Your vote is EB>GA, correct? There is no way for me to represent it through a system of independent votes, so I dropped the 2A conditional since the option is nowhere close to winning. That much is written in the tally.

I guess I didn't provide enough information, so that's my bad, but I'd prefer G even without Rin over other non-Gigadyne shenanigans. Not that it's likely to win. Even if they escape or murder the governor, I guess it's fun bonding with Rin and we don't reveal our precious, precious magical techniques...

Seriously, though, the physical path is really beneficial. We've been getting Cool Stuff about whenever we punch someone in the face.

 

[Nevill]

I was thinking that bringing in a highly trained secret agent to the cardboard-like prisons that we have guarded by mere goblins would not work well,

Not to argue with you on the rest of the details, but Amesdan is kept under guard in much the same way, and the guy is roughly equivalent to the agents chosen from the 'best adventurers in the country'. Though their leader may top them, what with her being 'ageless' and all.

We'll see what to do with her once - if - we catch her.

 

[Kipeci]

I was under the impression that these guys were probably more competent (in particular the head of them) than Amesdan, but even for Amesdan I have already expressed some misgivings about our ability to keep him down if any sort of opportunity for him pops up. Piling on the relatively competent prisoners is still probably not the best idea unless we can convert them into human logs, and even then we may have issues... by the way, treave, can people still cast magic if they have no limbs? I'm not sure how important those are for directing fireballs and the like.

 

[lightbane]

Amesdan shouldn't be a problem for now (nor will he in the future, hopefully) after he went through Zayan's interrogatory. Assuming he's still sane and fully conscious of his surroundings, chances are Zay has plenty of tools to keep him subdued indefinitely. In addition, he was quite harmless while he was fully bound and silenced, so it's possible most people aren't able to cast spells without using somatic and verbal components. Erd has the advantage that he can cast spells by mentally reciting the required magical words, something which may or may not be possible in this world. If it is, only those very skilled in magical matters would be competent enough to do so. Perhaps the Golden Snake can do that, but we won't know for sure until/if we manage to capture her.

 

[Kipeci]

I'm just saying, inflicting horrible tortures and twisted experiments on a rugged adventurer type after slaughtering his family doesn't always end up sustainable in the established literature. I agree that he has a very low chance of escape during our standard current operations, but if you throw in a disruption of some sort that redirects attention (such as potentially the expedition?) let alone while simultaneously adding highly competent secret agent types then I think it very possible that an escape could occur.