[LP CYOA] Epic

[Zero Credibility]

Tough choice. I'm against C because as Equilax said, we have let his sons go to draw him to us, so let him come to us. B sound suitably heroic, but I'm not sure if A wouldn't be better. Yeah, B might be a great blow to the Greek morale, but destroying their way back home might also increase their resolve - it's victory or death for them then, no retreat possible. A will also give us more bodies for our army - but how effective they would be is a different matter. I'm not sure.

This is why interrogating those two jokers was critical. treave, did we at least learn something about Ares before we letting them go? What are his powers? How did he defeat Egyptian-Babylonian army? In battle, does he behave like Ean does (charging in the enemy forces and killing them by the thousands) or does he stay back and rain death with his powers? What is his character - duty before all or is his honor / honor of his sons more important? Don't tell me we have just let them go without learning at least this much?

 

[Azira]

Also, how did they come to be? I'm very curious about the how of the procreation of immortals..

 

[treave]

Do remember your telepathy isn't limitless (yet), and you're dealing with immortals who have some capacity of protecting their own mind. You will not get enough information to perform a character study on Ares, especially given that you're extracting it from a second hand source.

What you find out is that Ares is a haughty war god and he's here to kill the Pharaoh. Expect the usual martial feats associated with haughty war gods.

 

[Azira]

I'm disappointed we let them go, if they didn't really give us any useful info.

 

[Storyfag]

Yeah, if we had the time to geld them, we should have had time to "talk" to them

Who cares if they're resistant to psionics. Are they resistant to pain as well? "I can make the pain go away. Trust me. Just talk."

 

[Zero Credibility]

Yeah, if we had the time to geld them, we should have had time to "talk" to them

Who cares if they're resistant to psionics. Are they resistant to pain as well? "I can make the pain go away. Trust me. Just talk."

And we could have interrogated them separately to make sure they were not lying even if they were resistant to psionics. If we were prepared to go as far as gelding them, we could have extracted from them just about everything they know. Ah, well.

 

[treave]

Uh... What other information do you guys want anyway?

 

[Azira]

Are they literally his sons, as in begotten by biological pairing between male and female, and if yes, did it involve a mortal female?

Knowing this would make some potential choices put before Ean easier.

 

[treave]

Meta info: Yes. No.

No, seriously, what other information of value do you guys think they should have other than troop disposition and Ares's strength?

Edit: they know their parentage but it's not something Ean would think to ask since it's a bit of a non sequitur.. Shulgi would have, his whole schtick is about accumulating knowledge and power, but not Ean. He's still a bit of a straight arrow.

 

[Azira]

Much obliged. I just assumed they would know.

 

[Tigranes]

Still don't see why we did it, but since we sent the sons back alive, it seems hardly worthwhile to then run after them and reach Ares on their heels. C is just completely contradictory, we should have eaten them if we wanted to do that.

As Esquilax says, B is the best method; remember, our goal isn't to destroy Ares by any means, it is to destroy Ares in a manner that confirms to all Egyptians that we are truly Runi Returned.

 

[Zero Credibility]

No, seriously, what other information of value do you guys think they should have other than troop disposition and Ares's strength?

Names and powers of every immortal they know - in particular are there any other immortals in Egypt? And everything they know about Zeus. What are his powers? How many immortals does he have?

As for Ares - how did he defeat the Egyptian-Babylonian army? Did he just do what we do - charge and kill as many of them as possible before they rout? Does he have any other powers besides (presumably) super strength, speed and weapon skills?

 

[Quetzacoatl]

B

 

[Esquilax]

I'm torn between A and B. C is still the shit option.

Tough choice. I'm against C because as Equilax said, we have let his sons go to draw him to us, so let him come to us. B sound suitably heroic, but I'm not sure if A wouldn't be better. Yeah, B might be a great blow to the Greek morale, but destroying their way back home might also increase their resolve - it's victory or death for them then, no retreat possible. A will also give us more bodies for our army - but how effective they would be is a different matter. I'm not sure.

Good points. We can't go to Memphis because it would be a flip-flopping disaster, but sinking the boats might only embolden Ares' men further. However, would it embolden the Greeks to go march on Memphis, or would it embolden them to change course and try to deal with us instead? Given the humiliation we inflicted on Ares' sons, I'm thinking it's the latter.

It's crucial that we buy some time for the survivors at Memphis so that they can fall back to Herakleopolis. With a successful mission in Pikuat, the commander we met at Tjaru should have little trouble procuring conscripts to defend Egypt. My problem with A is that it doesn't do anything really heroic to get people to really believe that we're Runi. Look at this:

“They already hold most of the major cities in the Delta. It is always the same – Ares arrives and displays his strength, and the governors surrender the city to him. Damned cowards!”

Ares displayed his strength to intimidate the cities of the Delta, so we have to display ours to restore faith in the country.

As far as the issue with the boats, couldn't we just kill Ares' garrison and leave the boats intact? I think that gets our message across nicely: "Go home." In fact, we should probably leave some of the garrison alive so that when they report to Ares, they can sow dissent and mutiny in his ranks. It would put Ares in a Catch-22 situation: either he marches on Memphis while dealing with a ton of desertion issues, or he wastes a few days returning to Pikuat to burn down his remaining ships so that he can get his men back in line.

In any case, we'll cross that bridge when we reach it. B will work, but I'm more concerned about the consequences that it could cause down the road if we defeat Ares; we'll have no way of bringing our army to Greece if we burn down all of Ares' ships. That means that our Egyptian troops in Greece, who are probably getting battered over there, won't be receiving any fresh reinforcements.

Tigranes, we let the twins go in hopes of drawing Ares away from Memphis by provoking him. Based on our initial move, I think our goal should be to buy enough time for the surviving Egypt-Babylon forces to retreat into the better fortified Herakleopolis (where the Pharaoh is located), while establishing our reputation as Runi in the meantime. With the men's morale restored and a mighty fortress, we have a very good chance at winning. Here's a map of Egypt below:

So I think that's the gist of it: B would mean quickly establishing our legend as Runi in the short-term, but sacrificing long-term effectiveness. Given the terror twins' abilities, I would say that in this war, courage and morale will count for more than skill in battle: a brave peasant who knows Runi has come to save Egypt is worth more than a soldier who's lost all heart.

 

[treave]

No, seriously, what other information of value do you guys think they should have other than troop disposition and Ares's strength?

Names and powers of every immortal they know - in particular are there any other immortals in Egypt? And everything they know about Zeus. What are his powers? How many immortals does he have?

As for Ares - how did he defeat the Egyptian-Babylonian army? Did he just do what we do - charge and kill as many of them as possible before they rout? Does he have any other powers besides (presumably) super strength, speed and weapon skills?

For the first part, Ares and the twins are the only immortals in Egypt. Which is why you don't get an infodump about every member of Zeus's little gang back in Greece. Knowing that Zeus can throw lightning bolts won't affect whatever decision you're going to make in this update. Furthermore, because Ean is here, he's focused on taking back Egypt. If he were more concerned about the Greek immortals he'd have gone to Greece.

Secondly, Ares is noted for physical skills, but he has access to other powers like you do. Expect minor telekinesis and telepathy, with a sprinkling of elemental powers. You don't know exactly how good he is at the other powers because he rarely uses them and if you want some score card detailing the Power Level of each of your enemies, you should find and ask someone who does that sort of cataloging. (There is such an immortal)

The attack was an ambush. They charged him and he killed them until they quit.

Not very complex and again, it is something that should only affect your decision when you fight him. As I've mentioned before, think haughty war god.

 

[Baltika9]

Flopped to B, because of Esquilax and "RUNI FUCK YEAH!"
Esquilax: I think B is the correct option here. See, you have a point with the whole morale thing (I said the same thing about Ean's balls being the only inspiration the men will ever need), but as yourselves bros, who would you have more faith in: a random dude that strides into your village yelling "I am Runi, Son of Osiris!" at the top of his lungs, or a random dude yelling "I am Runi, Son of Osiris!" at the top of his lungs, after he sunk an entire fleet under the noses of a thousand Greek soldiers? Besides, brave soldiers are better than brave peasants in any situation. Essentially it is the quality option of the quality v quantity scale.
And, yeah, I totally forgot about the psycho bitch.

Edit: bros, we'd better marry Iltani ASAP, until she meets Ares, or goes with us to sabotage. And then send her home. Until she dies.

 

[newcomer]

Gelding...

Damn, we should've learnt shapeshifting & force-shapeshift those 2 weaklings to female... then RAPE them. That would be a huge moral blow

Anyway, B. And to marrying Iltani
And btw, where will Iltani be if we go to Pikuat? Tjaru might not be safe for her, and with her we have the chance to set another myth of demi-goddess (Wife of Runi)

 

[Kattze]

C, defeat Ares as fast as possible and try to convince the remaining Greek army to defect. Use the Greek fleet (regardless of whether the sailors are Egyptian or Greek) to intervene in the conflict between Marduk and Zeus in Greece.

 

[m4davis]

just making sure here in our spare time were still deciphering all that knowledge we got from our first mind rape right

 

[treave]

...

Let's have a short infodump. All this info is raw and I might tweak it, but there you go.

***INFODUMP***
Zeus:Avatar of the masters, powers built around wielding storms and lightning. Currently on Olympus, does not want to risk confronting Marduk directly. Has a piece of Vajra.
Apollo:Sun god, fire chariot, inspirational, battling on the frontlines.
Artemis:In hiding in the forests, not participating in the conflict. Psychic + ethereal-ish powers + unerring aim
Aphrodite:Holed up in Olympus, charms & potions
Athena: directing the war in Greece against Marduk. Great strategist and all-rounder god
Hephaestus: teaching the Greeks how to make new weapons, currently in Athens. Has the last piece of Vajra.
Hera: Zeus’s consort, strong psionic abilities, holed up in Olympus
Hermes: Together with Apollo on the frontlines, fleet of foot etc.
Greece has about 20k troops left there while Marduk has less than that left, maybe about 11k. Quality of his troops
Marduk holds the southern half of the Greek archipelago and is sieging Athens. Owns an artifact with which he can defeat and eat Zeus. If they choose to go anywhere but Greece, he succeeds in doing so. Most of the Greek pantheon will be wiped out in the process except for Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena, along with all of Marduk's lieutenants in a massive battle on Mt. Olympus.
When Marduk succeeds it will bring down a lot more attention from the guys behind the immortals, which means that they may attempt other things.
Quickly create many more immortals first, by spreading out the powers of those that currently have them and then having them go into hiding until they are collectively strong enough (Ean got a defective batch of voices which he works with as equals, Shulgi has conquered his voices, Naram follows his voices)
If that fails get the immortals to sacrifice humans to create more avatars
If that fails possibly wipe the planet

Gieloth modus operandi prior to this was to infiltrate populated worlds, multiply, and once able, strip the planet’s resources very quickly and move on They are usually unable to leave until they manage to reach critical mass, at which point they aggregate together and launch themselves for space travel before they are caught. They don’t like Marduk going power crazy and bringing down attention on their heads. They tend to be interstellar travelers while the masters are extra-dimensional and usually limited to popping open wormholes to travel. Gieloth managed to damage the link between their reality and this one thousands of years ago which is why it requires a lot of work for them to control an avatar here. Only place remaining that allows them to pass between dimensions without much hassle is many, many light years away, and this is why they usually seed their agents by space rock.
Sekhenun is part of a very small faction that has found a way to open up wormholes and move on, and they think they can convince the other Gieloth to go without totally stripping Earth (effect of going native, they’re sympathizing with the locals a bit), but Marduk puts a wrench in that by being so attention grabbing. Their plan needs a few more centuries to carry out and it will be in vain if the masters decide to burn down the world because of the infestation.
Immortals can reproduce among themselves though any given pair might be lucky to have one child in five hundred years of trying. Kids formed inherit a power or two randomly, but they’ll never be as strong as their parents. Though they regenerate wounds they will gradually age and die over a thousand years or so, weakening as their powers run out. Mixed union tends to be slightly easier, but even then it could average out at about 1 child in 100 years. Mixed children live longer than usual but are distinctly ‘human’ heroes with less than supernatural feats, rather than being able to pass for a divine being, i.e. Alexander.

 

[Zero Credibility]

No, seriously, what other information of value do you guys think they should have other than troop disposition and Ares's strength?

Names and powers of every immortal they know - in particular are there any other immortals in Egypt? And everything they know about Zeus. What are his powers? How many immortals does he have?

As for Ares - how did he defeat the Egyptian-Babylonian army? Did he just do what we do - charge and kill as many of them as possible before they rout? Does he have any other powers besides (presumably) super strength, speed and weapon skills?

For the first part, Ares and the twins are the only immortals in Egypt. Which is why you don't get an infodump about every member of Zeus's little gang back in Greece. Knowing that Zeus can throw lightning bolts won't affect whatever decision you're going to make in this update. Furthermore, because Ean is here, he's focused on taking back Egypt. If he were more concerned about the Greek immortals he'd have gone to Greece.

Secondly, Ares is noted for physical skills, but he has access to other powers like you do. Expect minor telekinesis and telepathy, with a sprinkling of elemental powers. You don't know exactly how good he is at the other powers because he rarely uses them and if you want some score card detailing the Power Level of each of your enemies, you should find and ask someone who does that sort of cataloging. (There is such an immortal)

The attack was an ambush. They charged him and he killed them until they quit.

Not very complex and again, it is something that should only affect your decision when you fight him. As I've mentioned before, think haughty war god.

Thanks man. The most important question was indeed how many immortals are here in Egypt. The info about Greece is something that I thought Ean would find useful later on and the opportunity was too good to pass on.

Anyway, voting B. But I like Esquilax's suggestion of leaving the boats alone. Just take out the garrison and the crews. That leaves a way out for the Greeks, and even if they might not get to use them, we might - does Egypt even have a navy anymore? So even if we gather an army for assault on the Greece later on, how are we going to get them there without these boats? It seams like a pointless waste to burn them.

 

[Esquilax]

Holy fucking shit. Shame on anybody who didn't vote to go to Greece.

Marduk holds the southern half of the Greek archipelago and is sieging Athens. Owns an artifact with which he can defeat and eat Zeus. If they choose to go anywhere but Greece, he succeeds in doing so. Most of the Greek pantheon will be wiped out in the process except for Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena, along with all of Marduk's lieutenants in a massive battle on Mt. Olympus.

treave, has this already happened, or is it something that will happen? Zeus and Marduk are both still alive at this point, yes? If he's won already, then we've fucked up very badly. I guess if we devour Ares, then team up with Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena to defeat super-powered Marduk we've got a shot.

But other that that... I don't see a way to win this thing unless we all stand together.

Goddamnit people, why the fuck did you want to go to Egypt? You all knew that the conflict in Greece was more important in the grand scheme of things than petty power consolidation in Babylon or a lone Olympian terrorizing the Delta. Egypt falls, big fucking deal - in 30 years after a civil war or two following Ares' assault, it'll be okay again.

Edit:

(Ean got a defective batch of voices which he works with as equals, Shulgi has conquered his voices, Naram follows his voices)

treave, I find this pretty fascinating. So let's say we chose to play as Shulgi - our voices would have prevented us from doing certain things/taking certain actions? Or is it just an example of the PC getting the "defective voices"?

I sometimes wonder the type of character Ean would have developed into if we had chosen to play as one of the other Immortals. Did you have imagine him as an "honorable warrior" type as well if we opted to play as one of the others? It would be interesting to see the actions of Ean through Shulgi and Naram's eyes.

One of the biggest surprises to me was Naram's loyalty to the Masters. I always figured that a trickster archetype like himself would be the most likely out of the three of us to rebel against the Masters. It's a shame that Shulgi is so power-hungry, I always felt that on paper, he and Ean would make a great team because their skills complement each other so well.

 

[treave]

Ean got the defective batch (i.e. they're really laid back, easy mode), while if you play Shulgi your natural power and knowledge hunger would drive you to find a way to make the voices your bitch. Naram would've been harder to play as he's restricted by his voices.

Not gonna make a habit of this, but here's the draft I had for Chapter 5 at the beginning. It doesn't show really long term choices (e.g. governance and so on), just the ones pertinent to the plot. Ah, don't treat this as gospel, I might deviate from this one.

 

[Kattze]

treave, will the end of chapter 5 lead to the end of the CYOA? Hope not.

 

[Zero Credibility]

treave
I fear that this much metagame knowledge is going to have a major effect on further play. Saying how things would turn out had we done things differently in the past is one thing. But spelling out current and future events (even if you plan on changing things) is another, because the metagame knowledge will still affect how people vote in the future. So Marduk is going to win no matter what we do and is going to try to eat us? Well better feed then at every opportunity we get to avoid that, just in case. And all those speculations about Masters, Gieloths, their conflict and Sekhenun's role in it? Made irrelevant now that we know the answers. Esquilax's plan of leaving Ares an exit strategy once he realize he can't defeat Egypt quickly enough and return home in time? No effect. My question I wanted to ask before seeing your posts (did Sekhenun remember to also pack us some strong Gieloth affecting poisons)? Pointless. Well, unless we decide to drink all that stuff before Marduk tries to eat us - that might throw a wrench in his plans. Or not. Sigh.

Well, it's a damn fine LP anyway.