Choose your path to greatness, obscurity or death. A multiple choice LP

[Vernydar]

And different color trees? Eyecandy?

They were in the map from the start you know. You just need to look at the main map Though maybe they're not very visible considering how much I had to resize it..

 

[Curufinwe]

To the north, a broken bridge? Overgrown roads? Mystery Destination?!

Broken bridge was there from the get go, yep. Always wondered what it was for, now I'm guessing an Avarlos road passed next to this fortress.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Most definitely B for me. Paranoia. If we're sieged, the outer walls get breached, we are forced to fall back... I don't want to fall back into a demonic haunt, undead, ancient curses or crap like that. Better to find out beforehand.

Take Kalz and his buddies, the spy, the loremaster, the mason and the miner (both to check for structural damage). Rest on official duty.

This. But why not also take Irene?

 

[Curufinwe]

Most definitely B for me. Paranoia. If we're sieged, the outer walls get breached, we are forced to fall back... I don't want to fall back into a demonic haunt, undead, ancient curses or crap like that. Better to find out beforehand.

Take Kalz and his buddies, the spy, the loremaster, the mason and the miner (both to check for structural damage). Rest on official duty.

This. But why not also take Irene?

Because we can't 'take' Irene. At most she can 'take' us. We're under her orders, remember. She'll go where she damn well wants to.

 

[Zero Credibility]

She is explicitly mentioned in ScubaV's suggestion. I thought you didn't want her around or want her to start rooting out spies while we are exploring (which might not be such a bad idea).

 

[Vernydar]

A note, I thought about it and I will likely not give you a map of the castle for now. Would take me quite a bit to make it, and I think you understood how the layout is. It's basically 9 square courtyards, one in the center, the other 8 around it... With very big walls, towers and buildings of course

A wins by a very large margin
A - let's root out any spies first to minimize the amount of information they could gain
Division: Secret task (searching for spies, centipedes) - Kyoss, Irene, spy, cook, hunter, merchant, and 2 of Kalz's men.
Public task (inspection and reports) - Kalz leading everyone else.
Questions for Irene: Let's ask her some about herself. How the general knows her, for example. It's a good starting point to learn some about her mysterious past and to get her to open up to Kyoss a bit.

64 – Refining the plan

The discussion is rather long, but in the end you all agree that searching for spies should come first. The central courtyard has been there for literally thousands of years, and nothing happened. The spies seem a more pressing concern, considering the secrecy of the mission. How to divide the men is another matter that requires quite a bit of discussion. In the end you agree that you and Irene, along with some selected men, will search for the centipedes andn the spies, while Kalz will lead the rest of your group in exploring the buildings and take stock of the supplies.

But you do have a thing you want to ask Irene. You want to know more about her, and think that maybe you could start by asking how she knows the general. You also want to make a good impression, so you try to keep a calm demeanor while you ask her how she knows the general. General Ritgard did not seem surprised, and even implied he was rather sure Irene would make a good job...

"Well, Kyoss, the answer is rather easy. I have been part of Lord Medah's retinue since I was fifteen, working for Jacob on various tasks. I even followed them in their last campaign north, beyond the Vumos Pass. There I came in contact with other rather important people, like general Ritgard. And I did prove myself, so he knows me more or less."

She smiles pleasantly "Of course this is an rather heavy burden. I managed to do my jobs well until now, but there's no guarantee I will always perform that well. So we must be even more focused, in order to accomplish what we were sent here for."

An interesting answer, but Irene did not tell you how she came to work under Jacob in the first place. But still, it's a start, you can't expect her to tell you the tale of her life immediately. Irene starts to speak again.

"Well, I think we can decide later how we want to explore the rest of the castle and the central courtyard. General Ritgard will not complain as long as we tell him that we prefer to root out any possible spy first. For now our men can just inspect the area around the main camp, and of course help with the reports and supplies. But we still have things we need to discuss. "

And so you do for the next couple of hours, talking about many things: details about your task, possible problems, orders for your men.

So Kyoss, it's time to make some more choices before going to bed and then starting out on your task.

First, how aggressive should your group be in your investigation?
A) Very aggressive, search intensely for spies or centipedes
B) Somewhat aggressive, but do not push when it would be very evident
C) Somewhat passive. Try to avoid being noticed
D) Quite passive. Search for spies, but be very careful not to alert them.

And what are your orders if someone notices a spy?

1. Try to stop the spy immediately if possible
2. Ask some nearby soldiers to stop the spy
3. Do nothing, let you know as soon as possible
4. Other, make a proposal

And in case of centipedes?
a) Kill it if possible (if a soldier sees a small one for example), if not ask nearby soldiers for help
b) Let you know as soon as possible
c) Other, make a proposal

And finally, the most difficult decision. How will you know when your task is over? When will you be able to say with some confidence that you have found every possible spy or centipede? Open choice, make your proposals.

Next update your task begins.

 

[m4davis]

B 2 a
no idea how to know when were done would need to see results

 

[Baltika9]

C2A. If we get noticed by the spies, and identified as the head honcho =I= ( for giving us the option, Brornydar. So the path of Kyoss the Witch Hunter begins.) that's busting their pals, we'll vanish rather quickly.

As for the last question, lemme think.
See below.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

C3A

I think we should defer to Irene on the matter. Since she will also be in the search party, she will be up to date on all the info we get, and she is technically our boss. If it is up to us to decide... dunno.

 

[TOME]

C) Somewhat passive. Try to avoid being noticed
3. Do nothing, let you know as soon as possible
a) Kill it if possible (if a soldier sees a small one for example), if not ask nearby soldiers for help

We should cordon off areas we have searched for centipedes, if possible. As for the spies, we should not confort them right away but to put under surveillance. They might reveal other spies or even lead us to their boss.

 

[Baltika9]

Bros, I've a better idea: A1A.
And: Wait 'till we find one spy(one bona-fide, provable spy). Then, do a bombastic, spectacle-like crackdown. Make it visible, make it the talk of the camp. Use our charisma. Scare the spies shitless, the ones we find, take them in, publicly, with a loud display. Make the people fear us more than their temptations. And, after two weeks or so, officially stop, but continue looking for them covertly, from the shadows, using our brains. Basically, make the people fear making deals with outside entities. By doing this, we may risk, but not for sure, scaring current spies underground, but we'll prevent new ones from appearing. Oh, and tighten security. Of course, no mention of our mission to anyone. We focus on traitors, not divulging secret information.

These two generals really don't look the type that question results.

 

[Clotstein]

C3A

 

[newcomer]

Baltika9's idea sounds good

But still confused on how to conclude the mission...

 

[ScubaV]

Yeah I'm thinking C3A unless someone comes up with a good argument otherwise. We're not expecting an attack for another year or two, so we don't need to rush (although I hope this mission doesn't take the whole time). Once we get a suspect it's a good idea to play it slow and let them incriminate themselves and lead us to other members of their group. I'm not actually too familiar with this history, but I'm thinking of the FBI taking on the mafia. Work on the grunts and progressively work our way up the chain until we get to a leader of some sort.

Any point we set for being "finished" is going to be arbitrary and incomplete this early. In general I'd guess once we capture and interrogate a ringleader we can estimate how successful we've been off of his confession.

 

[Hoodoo]

B3A

flip flopped

 

[Smashing Axe]

B3A

B3C

Where C is attempt to capture the centipede without placing your life at risk. Do not let it escape, but if you can, capture it.

 

[Vernydar]

I want to specify this. You have to set an "end condition" to your task because, though unlikely, it is possible that there are no spies at all!

You can't stay here the rest of your life

 

[m4davis]

once again its kind of going to be hard for us until we get a better handle on the situation

 

[Vernydar]

Of course, the plan is going to change depending on what you discover.

But you could still think a generic condition. Or decide a time limit. just saying XD

 

[m4davis]

If I had to come up with a time limit lets say 3 weeks with nothing substantial and if possible ask Irene if she knows how long until the enemy should get here that information is precious to us and almost useless to them and could make or break any conditions we set

 

[Bloodshifter]

B3A

 

[Smashing Axe]

End condition #2:
Continue for two months; if no suspicious activity, then plan next phase

I think B is the way to go. It will make the spies suspicious as to our mission, but not too suspicious to know what we're intending. Uncertainty is the killer of action, we're more likely to swiftly find who the spies are, but I don't think we'd cross the line where it is certain to them as to what we're doing.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Actually, in regards to the centipedes, we might want to try and capture one to experiment on. We hardly know anything about them, we might be able to discover somethin useful. Keep in mind we have a healer and a scholar on our team...

 

[m4davis]

Yes but if you hadn't noticed that hadn't done much for us before in fact now that I think about it any spies are likely to be trying to infect more people with chestburster centipedes thats probably the main task we should put on our healer look out for strange eating habits pain in the upper body and large bloating

 

[Smashing Axe]

Sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if we can retroactively assign him to that duty.