[LP CYOA] Epic

[Storyfag]

Smashing Axe plan + B.





Failing that CB- it will be best to take on Raman first, as he likely won't batter us up much, and we'll be able to deal with Ahati after that. No need to involve Gutians just yet.

 

[TOME]

Ibilsin, is he a human? Or is he just not loyal to Marduk?

A - As Esquilax pointed out, we might go berserk and eat Ahati. Not a good option.
B - Bad option. Treave said Sekhenun is more confident taking on Ramnan than Ahati.
C - We could alleviate Sekhenun's fears about us by fighting alonside her and not eating those gieloths. I think we can take Ahati in straight fight easily.
D - Ramnan might get tipped and flee to Marduk's skirts. Makes Marduk more fearsome foe to take down.
E - So stylish. Tempted to vote this.

I think 1C is the best. No need to take extra risks with E. For second option I'll vote A. I want gutians there just to witness the whole thing. After we have taken down Marduk's rule, only Shulgi's cult is left to tell the tale. And who do you think will get the credit for our work? If we invite gutians to the party, our role would be remembered and maybe linked to Ean/Runi. And besides, if Gudersu takes the wall we can put him on the throne instead some brainwashed cultist.

CA.

ScubaV Thanks for the EPIC MUSIC.

 

[Baltika9]

I'm with Smashing Axe's cunning plan+A.
Lambchop19, Esquilax, Kipeci: Conspiracy bros, I think we should see how our relationship with Sekhenun plays out for now. I'm starting to have the small feeling that she;s just fucking terrified of Ean, but not about to backstab him and would rather happily be a partner-in-crime than a subordinate with him.
treave: Ass kissing aside, bro, you're awesome. I hate the cliffhangers, but that just makes the story better. By the way, can you have Ean say that small sentence to Sekhenun ("I'm trusting you here, Sekhenun.)? I'll kiss as much ass as it takes.
ScubaV: unlimited for the music. Didn't know these guys existed.

 

[TOME]

Btw. how is our shapeshifting abilities? Taking out Marduk should be easy if we have Edem do the same trick to us as Sekhenun did and then just shapeshift to look like him. We could just waltz in Marduk's camp and put a sword through him.

 

[Baltika9]

Or, we storm in the middle of the banquet, morph into Adhaira and yell:
"Masters or Gieloth, which is better and why? DISCUSS!"
Our job will henceforth be done.
Edit: Conspiracy bros. We should really observe Skehenun's behavior in these next few updates. I think she's just scared of the unknown, rather than Ean himself. It may even be that she KNOWS about this whole "I get angry and eat cunts(ahem)" business and it is the standard first step of getting over the whole cannibalism thing and is seeing how we deal with it. I really, really want us to be partners in crime.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

CB

 

[Esquilax]

treave, just a heads up, you forgot to put the chapter on page 97 in the index. Even though Ramman is the weaker of the two, his skill as a general and his shadow powers are going to make him pretty unpredictable. I think it's fair to say that Ahati is going to be pretty similar to Baran back in Tjaru.

The reason I don't like CA is that it's the worst of both worlds. We'd be attempting to gamble by risking our messenger being intercepted, but we'd try and play it safe by attacking with Sek. Plus not sure what role the gutians would play in CA. They'd be a distraction - for who exactly? Ahati? She'd be at the banquet...

I don't see CA as the worst of both worlds, if things go smoothly it's a great invasion plan. Best case scenario, the Gutians bait Ramman and we kill him while he's distracted with them. Once we're done, we crash the party with 400 barbarians in tow. Worst case scenario, the message is intercepted, never reaching Gudersu, and Ramman is accompanied by a ton of soldiers in anticipation of a big raid.

Also, this is the guy who managed to push back 10,000 Egyptians after we annihilated the entire Babylonian army. If we send the Gutians, Ramman will definitely have tricks up his sleeve.

One of the reasons why Tjaru resulted in a Pyrrhic victory for Ean is because he was completely spent after the battle with Baran, leaving him too weak to deal with Nabu afterwards. I don't want that happening again. At his current strength, Ean could defeat either lieutenant in a straight-up fight. The tricky part here is taking out both targets consecutively. Ean needs to take out Ramman with as little trouble as possible so that he still has the strength to face Ahati.

I like Smashing Axe's plan too, but I feel that sending in the Gutians would not mesh well with his plan. If Ramman isn't at the walls, why send the Gutians to attack the city at all? Let's just show up and crash the party if you want to poison them.

 

[Baltika9]

I like Smashing Axe's plan too, but I feel that sending in the Gutians would not mesh well with his plan. If Ramman isn't at the walls, why send the Gutians to attack the city at all? Let's just show up and crash the party if you want to poison them.

Because of publicity and morale. After we waltz in and behead two famous generals, and because they are poisoned the effort will be minimal, all within the sight of four hundred Gutians, they will immediately know that Ean's da biggest an' da strongest. An' dat's why he's da boss.
In short, street cred. Besides, we'll have boots on the ground for an immediate takeover of the city. That's another bonus.

Edit: Besides, if anything should go wrong, or an unplanned event takes place (read: they actually have competent guards with a decent amount of numbers in there. A battalion coming along with two famous generals and a head priest after three other lieutenants were assassinated. Whodathunk?) we can just sic the Gutians on them. Really, it's stupid to go ahead with Smashing Axe's plan without the backup.

ScubaV: I think this is more appropriate to Ean after resurrection, because of name and theme both: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5STVoaxz8-Y
Edit2: Besides, it makes for a perfect cover. The whole banquet was slaughtered by audacious Gutian raiders.
treave: how do the Gutians view polygamy? I need to know. Because of stuff. OH!. And will he go mad because of living too long and having so many friends and soldiers die n him

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I don't see CA as the worst of both worlds, if things go smoothly it's a great invasion plan.

That's just it - it's not an invasion plan. The description says they're going to raid the walls as a distraction, not siege the city.

Worst case scenario, the message is intercepted, never reaching Gudersu, and Ramman is accompanied by a ton of soldiers in anticipation of a big raid.

The description says we're telling Gundersu our plans. While I doubt outline exactly how we plan to assassinate the two gieloth, the mere fact they'd know we were going to assassinate them would rob us of the element of surprise. If our plans are intercepted the gieloth may place heavy guards around themselves or some sort of other precaution that would muck up our attempt.

Smashing axe's plan is good with 2B. Sek's always been good with poisons. If treave allows it, then my vote it for that plus B.

 

[Bloodshifter]

Aye Smashing Axe Idea is good the cultists should help us

Smashing Axe plan + B

if its not allowed AA

 

[ScubaV]

Aye Smashing Axe Idea is good the cultists should help us

Smashing Axe plan + B

if its not allowed AA

Agree with this.

 

[Tigranes]

Operation Smashing Axe sounds good, but only if treave allows it. And it's almost guaranteed something will go wrong, with something like that.

I'm trying to figure out which one is better, C or D. Which one provides the best chance of the second Gieloth not finding out anything is wrong? Ramman looks fairly isolated in the outskirts of the city, but with Sekhenun in tow, we probably have a very high chance of taking out Ahati stealthily with nobody at the banquet noticing much. (I wonder how much of an orgy it is that they won't notice someone not being around, or if it's more of a formal banquet?)

 

[treave]

The message won't really say what you're going to do, just that things are in motion and please come mess up the walls. Regarding Ahati, she is known for taking young men and no one bats an eye if she slips off with one in tow. If you want the Gutians to try and break through Babylon's walls to actually get into the city you can ask them to try.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Hmm. I guess it's not so bad if they don't know our plan. How many babylonians troops would they have to contend with should we order them to break through though?

 

[Baltika9]

I thought about it a lot,and while I could write a TL;DR dissertation on my theory, it would ultimately be pointless. The lines that are key to the whole "Is Sekhenun a traitor or not" are these:

She averts her eyes from your gaze, looking more repentant than you've ever seen her - which is to say, just a bit. You swallow your anger. It served no purpose to be angry right now... and you are starting to become concerned about your increasing ease to anger. It might jeopardize your mission if you don't manage to keep it under control. Discussing it with Sekhenun might give you more insights, but for now, you decide to change the topic to that of your little revolution.

"You mentioned the next stage of the plan. What would that be?"

You feel her relax. Sekhenun's relief was palpable, and a small smile manages to play itself back onto her lips as she begins talking.[/quote]
In all her interactions with Ean, she is definitely, irrefutably afraid of one of these two:

A) SomeTHING: the only scenario I see is that Ean is suspecting and anticipating her double-cross and when he moves on to the3 other subject she is relieved because of "Whew, he really is retarded." Alternatively she could sell Ean outbecause she is afraid of him. Unchecked power and all that, besides which we already established that he has a distaste for the devouring of fellow Gieloth.
ALSO, if this is the case, then it makes a whole lot of sense for her to be present for this stage. She gets rid of theloyal enemy Gieloth (ahem:

"Right now the only loyal lieutenants Marduk has in the area are Ahati and Ramman. The cultists are ready to begin an uprising and Edem has ensured that news will reach Shamash too late to prevent him from sailing."

If they're not loyal to Marduk, who are they loyal to then, exactly?)
Also, Edem's price for helping her may have been Ean's head on a silver platter(remember, we killed his daddy. treave, if that's the case, you should have named him Inigo, or Montoya. Would have been far more tasteful).
Or, she plans to incapacitate us and take us for her "experiments", it's for her people, after all:

“That didn’t work out in the end. You’ve become this very interesting abomination that I would love to experiment on, but that’s not what I promised you.”

Or, she just wants a release from our "deal" without giving anything to a wild card.
B)SomeONE: And the only one I can see in this scenario is Ean. And why would she be afraid of him? Because sheknows about his rage and urge to devour everything and is afraid. Afraid that Ean will lose control and devour her. This would mesh nicely with the whole situation, seeing as how she violated his privacy and trust and placed a tracker on him that allows other Gieloth to negate his "psychic blank" status, and would genuinely scare her in relation to Ean losing his self control.
It would be stupid from her standpoint (and you can't count everybody to do the smart thing all the time, least of all Ean and co., they're the biggest retards of all), but it would be with her "Hurr Durr, I iz Tzeentch, feer mai thousand and one plots!" (seriously, that whole situation was utterly retarded on her part, I'm still in disbelief), as demonstrated by her back door deal with Edem and her "I ain't tellin' you shit, cuz we ain't got no deal, nigga" shtick.

And as much as I'd like to "sniff" believe(!!!) and consider Sekhenun an always-intelligent being and absolutely loyal and faithful teammate, to do so would be extremely naive. So, I am very, very sure that 2B is the correct choice here. think about it:
In case we fail, we have backup.
In case we succeed, we have backup, someone to shift the blame/fame/responsibility for the whole debacle(remember, anonymity) on and witnesses to our badassery (too much is never enough, and no, it's not contradictory. What the Babylonians hear and what the Gutians hear are two different things.)
In case Sekhenun betrays us, we have bros to back us up and pull our ass from the fire. And that is where my modification to the plan comes in:
We send the message and tell her nothing about it.
She may get caught in the crossfire, but it's a very, very small chance.
And to my conspiracy bros: last deal we asked for far, far, far too much. The only reasonable suggestion, anot to mentionsafe, we can make now is we lift our ban in exchange for a mutual vow of friendship and fidelity to one another.

I call upon thee, O my Master, Changer of Ways. Send upon me they knowledge forbidden, and thy servants all knowing. Through thine all-knowing being, through thine omnipresent mind, through thine name, O Tzeentch, I summon the KLUB! Send thine servants and keepers of thine knowledge upon me, my Master! Send thy Mouths of Madness, send me the KKK! Seriously, I need input. I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough.

 

[Tigranes]

In that case, DA makes sense to me, although I also like AA or Smashing Axe.

Ean and Sekhenun's collaboration can be used to maximum effect on Ahati, and I think we can be sure that it will work, as opposed to Ramman where there are more unknowns.

Edit: I do like the idea of sending for the Gutians and not telling her - it's no worse than what she did to us, i.e. do something that helps our cause without telling the other party. If she whines, we can just say, hey, it's the same thing - and besides, I was sure you'd be smart enough not to kill them or anything.

 

[Baltika9]

In that case, DA makes sense to me, although I also like AA or Smashing Axe.

Ean and Sekhenun's collaboration can be used to maximum effect on Ahati, and I think we can be sure that it will work, as opposed to Ramman where there are more unknowns.

Edit: I do like the idea of sending for the Gutians and not telling her - it's no worse than what she did to us, i.e. do something that helps our cause without telling the other party. If she whines, we can just say, hey, it's the same thing - and besides, I was sure you'd be smart enough not to kill them or anything.

Or, we do this to her (Ean is doing all the talking here):

I can see her face already.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Meh, I'm against keeping Gutians a secret just to spite Sekhenun. If there was some other purpose to it, then yes. But just to make a petty point? People's lives are at stake here. Let's just get through this with the minimum of fuss (and no eating!).

Edit: To clarify, I don't think Gutians can help us if something goes wrong. All they are going to do is raid a wall to draw attention, and there are not enough of them to to do anything else even if all they are up against are normal guards. So how are going to help us if we get in trouble in the middle of the city? How will they even find as there, not to mention get there through the walls, guards and Gieloth to help us in any meaningful way? They don't have an army - they have a raiding party. So enough playing mind games with Sekhenun - if we are working with her then let's act like it. She didn't tell us about the tracker because she was afraid of us - so how is keeping part of our plan a secret to surprise her with going to help with alleviating those fears and establishing trust between us?

 

[Baltika9]

Zero Credibility: I don't want to tell her because of potential back stabbing, not to make a petty point. Though it would be nice to troll her for a change.

 

[TOME]

Tigranes:Why not take Ramnan out first? He is in the outskirst of the city and thus more likely to flee if we are discovered too soon ie. after killing Ahati.

 

[Kipeci]

Kipeci: I don't want to tell her because of potential back stabbing, not to make a petty point. Though it would be nice to troll her for a change.

I'm not sure what you're responding to, I don't think I've made a comment for this vote.

Anyway, I'm going CB for this one.

 

[treave]

Lambchop19 - EB
oscar - CA
Zero Credibility - EB
Esquilax - EB
Smashing Axe - EA
Storyfag - EB
TOME - CA
Baltika9 - EA
Stygian Lurker - CB
Bloodshifter - EB
ScubaV - EB
Tigranes - DA
Kipeci - CB

CA - 2
CB - 2
DA - 1
EA - 2
EB - 6

***

Chapter 5.11: Revolution

The banquet was reaching its peak. Ramman had just arrived with his entourage of soldiers, and judging by your own experience of such banquets, the humans would all be dead drunk in another hour. Ibilsin was celebrating his years in the great hall of the Temple of Marduk. A huge bronze statue of Marduk himself sat on a throne at the back of the hall – you had heard that the hall was patterned after Marduk’s own throne room, except bigger. All around you were people who Sekhenun assured were the crème of the Babylonian elite. They were certainly fat enough to look so. Akkad under Sargon never had such opulence despite its great riches… so this is how civilization grows?

Ahati will be giving a speech in a few minutes.

Sekhenun sidles up to you, having finished her round of the kitchens. You spoke through your minds to conceal your words.

I trust everything’s ready, then?

Pretty much. I’d have liked for that bitch to drop dead in the middle of her speech but their precautions have been high ever since Nusku became a scapegoat, so I can only make do with what I’ve done.

I suppose we’ll have to settle for second-best then… what is second-best anyway?

It’s not even second-best in my little herb garden. Probably sixteenth. It’s the only thing that could be snuck past their sensory receptors… the drug should lower their reflexes and inhibit their powers.

That sounds good enough to me. I need to have something to do besides interrupting her speech.

You are an over-confident prick sometimes, do you know that?

You grin as you see Ahati stand up at the head of the longest table, raising a goblet. “A toast!” she yells. “A toast to the most humble of Lord Marduk’s worshippers, the Grand Priest!” All about the hall men and women cheered and raised their drinks in celebration.

“The Grand Priest has served our Lord faithfully since the moment of his birth. He has seen the miracles Lord Marduk has bestowed upon the faithful for seventy of his years. Now we shall wish that he will continue to witness Lord Marduk’s glory for seventy more!”

More cheers.

“Even now our great god goes forth to take Egypt under his wing and crush the heathen Greeks. Who can stand against him? Lord Marduk is all-knowing! Lord Marduk is all-powerful!” Ahati repeats the cry, exhorting the crowd to take it up. They begin to do so.

You stand up from your seat at the furthest end of the table opposite Ahati, where you had been hiding in plain view.

“Perhaps,” you say loudly, “one would be more convinced of Lord Marduk’s almighty powers if he could just wave a hand and make the Greeks go poof.”

The hall went silent.

“Blasphemer!” came a shout.

“You cannot blaspheme that which is not a god.” You shrug dramatically, shaking your head.

“All of you have sat here and rotted away in luxury while the people of the empire beg for scraps. You keep your mighty armies fed just enough so that they may conquer. Your god leads you in these matters. When have the old gods called upon us to live at the expense of others? You turn your eyes away from what is right, but you do not even do what is easy – no, you work hard at enslaving bodies and minds. You are oppressors, as is your so-called god, and the truth of the matter is that oppressors always fall.”

You raise your left hand, and right on cue, the curtains around the temple fall, revealing that the city was surrounded by a faint red glow.

“Tonight, nobles of Babylon… you will fall.”

Angry yells resounded in the distance. With the Babylonian soldiers focused on outside threats for so many years, they policed the walls and shanties far more than the interior of the city. The cultists had successfully raised their mobs. Now all you had to do was dispose of the Gieloth, and everything else will fall into place.

Well done, Sekhenun. I don’t know what I’d have done if nothing happened when I did that. Still, did I really have to say all that?

Oh shush. At least this was less embarrassing than that time you had to seduce Minos’s daughters.

Don’t remind me.

All around you, you see terribly frightened faces on the humans. While Ramman appears considerably angry, Ahati has a cruel smile on her lips. “I would kill you right now for blasphemy, human, but you are too pretty to go to waste. This will be fun.” she laughs. “Do you have any more sweet words for me?”

“This.”

You raise your other hand, concentrating hard, and make a fist, gripping the air.

The neck of the bronze statue of Marduk crumples. Teetering for a bit, the head crashes to the ground behind Ahati with a terrible noise. Cries of dismay rise from the guests, and in the next second they get up to flee the hall. Ahati’s eyes narrow, her demeanour suddenly deadly, and almost before you can bring up your guard she has closed the distance, sprinting on top of the banquet table.

Is she really drugged?

Of course! Watch out!

You draw your sword just in time to parry Ahati’s strike, her blade missing your cheek by a hair. Despite the drug having taken effect, her attacks were quick and skilled, and she was strong enough that any misplaced defence would be deadly. You exchange strikes as she begins to force you backwards. A few slow nobles, heavy with food and drink, are shredded by glanced blows and missed slashes as they fail to get out of the way of your duel in time. You dodge another close call; this time her sword managing to cut your cloak. “Oh, you’re good…” You can’t help but smile as you say that. But not good enough. Well, maybe the drug has something to do with that, you think guiltily.

You shift your stance and swing your sword lazily, as if underestimating her and becoming overconfident. Seeing an opening, she takes it blindly, the gleam of victory in her eyes. In that split second you carve up her sword-arm, snaking your blade in from the inside of her forearm. Ahati gasps, and tries to fall back. You focus and throw her off her feet with a telekinetic blast. This was it. You step forward, preparing to deal the final blow, when the hall suddenly goes dark.

You feel something slimy barrel into you, knocking you to the ground. With a yell, you drive your fist into the mysterious thing and summon a burst of fire. The thing squeals and falls away from you, the darkness vanishing together with it. You see it clearly now – it was a Gieloth out of disguise, screaming and screeching telepathically as it writhes helplessly on the floor before finally flopping lifelessly and melting away.

That’s what second-best does.

Sekhenun limped towards you, her body covered in wounds. You turned back to Ahati, who was back on her feet.

“Dog of the Jin,” she snarled. “When Lord Marduk finds out about this, he will reserve a special spot in the dungeon just for you… you…”

Ahati began staring at you, her eyes bulging and lips trembling.

“Maybe you can bring me to meet him.” you offer.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGH!, she replied.

Ahati’s psychic shout jars your mind. Her full Gieloth form exploded from her human coat, innumerable black tendrils shooting all over the hall. At that instant, you felt her presence bubble and warp into something alien… like how you perceived the Gieloth when you first met them, but far more insane. The shock of her attack took you by surprise – several tendrils speared you cleanly and began retracting, pulling you towards a gaping maw at the center of the black mass.

Oh Me’kras! The probability was low, I didn’t think… the drug’s reaction-

Sekhenun’s voice in your mind cut off, interrupted by something. You struggle, but your feet fail to find purchase on the floor and you are drawn straight in.
As you get closer, you see the core tucked away neatly at the back of the maw. More tentacles wrapped themselves around your body. You feel the corrosive effect of the Gieloth body begin to take effect, and your flesh begin to melt. This close to the maw, your mind feels like it is beginning to unravel too, as screams and gibberish from Ahati fill your head until you are unable to concentrate on anything else.

Then there is that itch inside you.

A slight tingle, growing.

Something was trying to make its way out of your body.

***

A. Despite the mental assault, you think you can muster enough concentration to unleash one last telekinetic blast on the core. It might not be enough to destroy it, but it could be enough to allow you to get away.

B. You have one arm free… once you get close enough, you plunge it into the maw, grab the core, and squeeze it into pulp before you are eaten. Sure, you might lose an arm, but you will definitely kill Ahati that way.

C. You let whatever it is inside you come forth.

 

[Baltika9]

AKAAAAAAACHIIIIIIII!!!
Let our innocence die.
Sadly, flopped to B, due to reason.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Tempting to turn into a tentacle monster, but I don't know if that's a good idea, especially in the long-run, I still like the idea of Ean being human in form, rather than some creeping abomination.

Debating between A and B at the moment, they both have their own risks, A of lessening our mental defenses, and B of becoming too weak to face the remaining gieloth. I'll wait and hear some arguments before choosing.

 

[Storyfag]

There are no other Gieloth remaining in Babylon.

B - it's the safe option.