Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[Nevill]

We can go for a "balanced pack" like A I II IV since we mostly agree that we are at around 3 point without signet and 6 points with signet.

That said, we might be getting trolled and have only 5 points in our arsenal. That would be fun.

I think the stability of the city would be worth to the governor the things we can ask for 3 points, but you'll never know until you try.

We are heading to the capital after this so i dont think its worth it to keep the signet hidden.

It provides benefits, but I am sure it has its drawbacks, too. People might get interested in who we are and whom we are working for, and that kind of attention would be entirely unwanted considering our inhuman nature and attempts to create a criminal empire within the Kingdom.

Besides, a signet is not a password that you can just recall. It means someone in the royal family trusts you. I am not sure it is possible to identify who exactly is that someone, or whether or not you have fallen out of their favor by the signet alone. Once given, it grants the person power that is not easy to take back.

Of course, it is just on loan and the prince will be asking us to return it in exchange for a favor.

 

[archaen]

Ok consider me flopped AI II IV > AV

 

[Nevill]

AI II IV < AV

The sign would indicate AV as a preferred vote. I am not sure you intended that.

I'll add A I II IV to my vote: A V > B I II > A I II IV

 

[Baltika9]

B I II > A II IV

+1

+1

 

[Tigranes]

B I II > A I II

First, Zayan is the primary goal. We have a good plan here, and I don't fancy our luck if we can't get the governor in on it. We'd have to deal with our own immediate safety, the governor telling all to Talal, etc, etc... we opted to visit him and make a deal, so we need to make sure the deal can be made. So that means no huge demands. I doubt the governor's daughter will be given, for example, even if we show the signet ring. I mean, forget about the numbers for a moment: what kind of idiot governor would do that?

Second, that doesn't mean we should ask for nothing. That would be suspicious, as well. I think the most crucial things we need are actually the cheapest things on the menu: the letter, to facilitate our impending plan and/or further journey to the capital, and the infodump, which as Esquilax says we sorely need.

There's really no need to do any more. I doubt any of you would have been really greedy about the box of magnatite or money if treave didn't list it on the menu. Don't let the options dictate your decisions.

 

[Nevill]

I doubt any of you would have been really greedy about the box of magnatite or money if treave didn't list it on the menu.

That was our aim since coming to the city. The mining city. Which mines magnatite.

We didn't even know who Zayan was when we chose Ontoglia as our destination.

That's not to say she isn't important, but the ore was always one of our goals, easily trumping the money in importance.

However, it is also true that a search for information is the underlying cause for the whole journey to the capital.

 

[lightbane]

I would add, however, that there are a lot of costs attached to getting a shipment of magnatite missing.

First, it's time. If a briefcase of this stuff costs 1000 gold, I would expect a wagon to be very well guarded, and any actions taken against the trade that is so profitable to meet a proportional security response. Like, angel-level security. Magnatite is like uranium in our world, there is no simply 'misplacing' this stuff. It will take years until Fortunio gets strong enough to even get a glimpse at such a caravan...

Very true. However, you're missing an important point: even if we took an entire ship of magnetite, we really don't have the infrastructure to use it. I mean, the goblins' tech level is a few steps above from a "hunter-gatherer" society, so it's not like she-Jekill would have the materials at hand to produce a nuclear plant or a giant robot*, or at least not without taking a few years (and since this LP will take decades ingame, time is not a problem). Hence why I said we take only a chunk of magnitite or nothing at all if necessary. What's more, we don't even have a laboratory to begin with. She can make a rudimentary one of course, but even then we lack resources and manpower to do much. That can be partially solved by annexing Erise Village and examining what kind of drug their water source carries that makes their average peasant superhumanly strong. Perhaps we'll be able to ask the the prince to give us that region as a reward.


I'm not sure if we should ask for the recommendation letter though. To start, how would we use that? We don't have any interest to find a job in the capital nor leak personal details about us. Plus we don't want to stay here more than necessary when the average reaction towards inhuman creatures are "kill it with fire!!" or "yay, free slaves!". We also don't really need the money, since we haven't found anything really worth of buying so far.


I wonder what would have happened if Erd went to the Paladin city. I bet that would have ended with a "Bad End" scenario pretty much instantly. Lastly, one detail I missed:

When you told the guards at the gates you were here about Zayan, and after they had gotten a good look at your hat... [...]though not before his eyes flick upwards to the peak of your tall, pointed hat.

Clearly we need to change our disguise so that the hat doesn't attract so much attention. Surely painting it red will throw people off for a while. Jokes aside, maybe I'm being paranoid, but if that guy somehow had seen Angels in the past and lived to tell the tale, then he specifically looked at the peak of the hat because he was suspecting something. Either way, he must not leave alive the city.



*Besides, one of the Demon Weapons we can acquire is a demonically-powered, partially autonomous giant golem, so we have that area covered already. However, it probably will require a pilot in order to have some degree of control over said weapon. Good thing we have a pair of 14-years old orphan teenagers with mental issues. I'm sure they will be the perfect candidates for this job.

 

[Nevill]

However, you're missing an important point: even if we took an entire ship of magnetite, we really don't have the infrastructure to use it.

I don't think you need that much of an infrastructure to get something decent out of it. There probably won't be airships, but a familiar seems doable. Most of the tools Zaryan would be able to construct by herself.

Anyway, this ship seems to have sailed, and I am not dwelling on it. Information would be good, too.

I'm not sure if we should ask for the recommendation letter though. To start, how would we use that?

By using it as all recommendation letters are used - to get an in somewhere where we would not usually be allowed. The governor seems to carry some weight, no pun intended.

I am sure a job in the capital will find us on its own, seeing how the court intrigues reach cities that are miles away from the palace.

If information is what we want, we'll have to orbit certain societal and political circles, there is no way around it. And we are easily involved in the schemes of others, so having a patron or a powerful associate wouldn't hurt.

I wonder what would have happened if Erd went to the Paladin city. I bet that would have ended with a "Bad End" scenario pretty much instantly.

Nah, that never happens in these LPs unless we do something stupid, like tip our fedora hat before the Knight Captain. Even then we should, in theory, be more powerful than their knight.

Probably we would have fared same as we did here - which is to say, not bad, since we managed to keep our cover despite taking active part in the city's politics.

Either way, he must not leave alive the city.

Nope, he must leave the city alive. It would not do for him to die while under the governor's jurisdiction. Once he leaves, though, and goes away just enough so that there would not be a lot of witnesses, he is fair game.

Besides, one of the Demon Weapons we can acquire is a demonically-powered, partially autonomous giant golem, so we have this area covered.

I want my Mieren all polished and shiny, rather than bony and rotten in places! I have taste!

 

[Random Word]

B I II

 

[treave]

One thing to note is that your requests will influence how people think of you. Ask for only money, and they might believe you're only in it for the cash.

 

[Nevill]

This clearly means we have to sneak inside the residence at night to kidnap Lady Ellen, or they will get a wrong impression about us.

Well, something to think of for the future, maybe. She obviously is a good leverage against her father. Whether it is giving the prince a hint about the governor's treachery and bravely rescuing the damsel from his clutches afterwards, or some joint scheme with Fortunio's goons where we get to play the hero, or just a simple kidnapping to ensure the governor's non-interference with our affairs, she might yet be of use to us.

We have two contenders for a favor, A II IV and B I II. A I II IV did not get traction so far, but it still might.

We are counting this expedition as a success where we are already choosing our rewards, but let's not forget that we still have to do something about Dijeh escorts, and it may yet prove more troublesome than it appears, especially if word somehow still gets out despite our efforts.

I wonder what the extent of rumors about the man with the hat is. The guards clearly told the governor about it... but did cpt. Tabal hear anything about it? Or was his interest in our hat due simply to its magnificence?

Tally

Smashing Axe A II V (8) > A II IV I (6) > A II IV (5) > A II III I (5) > A II III (4) > A II (2) > A VII II (10) > B II
Kipeci A II IV
Kz3r0 A II V
Nevill A I II IV > A II IV > B I II
asxetos A II IV
Esquilax B I II > A II IV
lightbane A II IV > B I II
Azira B I II > A V
archaen A I II IV > A II IV > A V
ScubaV A II IV
Elfberserker B II
Baltika9 B I II > A II IV
Tigranes B I II > A I II
Random Word B I II
Grimgravy B I II > A II IV

A I II IV - 2 (0) Nevill, archaen
A II IV - 4 (7)
A II V - 2 (1) Smashing Axe
B I II - 6
B II - 1 (Elfberserker)

I will flop to A I II IV > A II IV > B I II. Still not sure about it, a chunk of magnatite does not seem to be worth showing our hand. In case of a tie, consider me flopping to another option.

 

[Grimgravy]

B I II > A II IV

 

[asxetos]

flopping to A II IV

 

[archaen]

Flopping A I II IV > A II IV > A V

 

[treave]

Final tally:

A I II IV - 2
A II IV - 4
A II V - 2

B I II - 6
B II - 1

Post-flop:

A I II IV - 0
A II IV - 7
A II V - 1

B I II - 6
B II - 1

 

[treave]

Talal and Zayan

“Man, it’s a good thing you picked up Lady Zayan when you did, Sir Muhchacraken. I’d have been in so much trouble if I had to go back without her,” says Talal cheerfully. He is riding alongside your cart on his horse, a magnificent black stallion that makes him easily look an order of magnitude more dashing than some man with a tall hat in a cart pulled by a cow. “I am sure that Governor Ambrese must have thanked you, but let me offer you my gratitude too. Of course, I’m afraid that words are all I can offer for now, but rest assured that when we return to Dijeh, I will have your great deeds written down in full on my report!”

“I’m not doing this for personal gain,” you say humbly. “I’m afraid that politics are out of my area of expertise.” And indeed they are: you try not to dabble in them more than is necessary, as politics always causes more hassle than it is worth. It is a useful tool for getting what you want – such as an inventor to take home, or an interesting magical ore – but in itself it has no value to you.

“Ah, you are just like Lady Zayan then, a noble person at heart despite your strange appearance!” Talal laughs.

“She is… noble at heart?” You are surprised. You would call Zayan many things, but noble-hearted is not amongst that list. In fact, Talal seems blissfully ignorant of her attempt at defection. It seems that the governor had not revealed that to him – only that she went missing.

“She is, Sir Muhchacraken, she definitely is. I have never met a person more pure-hearted in my life, more dedicated to improving the lives of the people.” Talal gives a silly grin. “Her heart is as beautiful as her looks.”

“Yes, he’s definitely got it bad,” whispers Rin from behind you. “I’ve read about this before. It’s a type of terrible sickness.”

“Are you sure you are reading the right things? Anyway, this should be far enough.” You pat Lucy’s back once. She moos once in acknowledgement and comes to a halt. You are in a particularly remote section of the road, flanked by tall trees on each side.

“What’s the matter?” Talal orders his men to stop. “Is there something wrong?”

“Everything is fine,” you say. “But I’m afraid this is as far as we go.”

“Is that so? Ah, I’m sorry to hear that. I suppose you do have other things to do than accompany us.” And he does look crestfallen indeed. “I was actually hoping to share your company till the border. You have been a wonderful travelling partner, Trider Muhchacraken.”

You can tell that he and his men share a good camaraderie. They had been nothing but friendly and courteous to you thus far: it had actually surprised you at first to see his men treating Rin and Aria with respect and not attempt to grope them drunkenly as is your experience with most soldiers. You had even spotted a couple of them striking up conversation with Runde: they appeared to be interested in his working conditions, for some reason. In terms of professionalism they definitely seem to take after their captain.

Well, it is a pity that this has to come to an end.

“Zayan, what do you want to do with them?”

Zayan gets down from the carriage, walking to your side while mumbling over some notes. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch Talal’s face twitching into a smile at the sight of her.

“These? You can dispose of them as you see fit,” she says absent-mindedly. “It won’t do for them to bring word back, right? Not that I care that much, so I’ll leave it up to you.”

***

A. These soldiers might be useful, and they seem to have little prejudice against non-humans. You offer all of the men a choice to follow in Zayan’s footsteps and serve under you.
1. Of course, any who refuse will have to die here. They will not live to spread word of you and your abduction of Zayan.
2. You should be able to coerce those unwilling to follow you into secrecy with a show of force. Still, even if they don’t, it is not particularly important to you whether they talk or not: as long as they don’t blame the governor, your end of the bargain is still upheld.

B. You offer Talal the chance to follow Zayan. He will have little chance to be close to her back in Dijeh: here, he can protect her forever.
1. The price is simple: he only needs to cut down his own men. You have little use for the rest.
2. You threaten the lives of his men to get him to acquiesce to your demands.

C. You stick with the plan and dispose of them all. You have no use for more men.

 

[Azira]

C>A1

 

[Nevill]

Muh textwalls of exposition and infodumps!

Interesting choice. However, one thing to keep in mind is that these men have their families and homes in Dijeh, and their loyalties probably are to their homeland first and foremost. There they have everything and a good pay on top. What can we offer them? Their lives?

One must never, ever coerce the troops he values. Keeping a slavegirl or two is fine, provided that you can keep them from escaping, but the soldiers - they are the ones that fight for you and defend your holdings when you are away. If they have no loyalty to you, you'd better ensure they are never given a crucial task. Even so, the cost of constantly watching them would hardly be worth the return. And with your forces in the state that they are (~60 goblins), you can't even ensure that the soldiers are the minority that your loyal troops can control.

If we are considering doing this because we think they might be valuable, we'd best forget it. A coerced soldier is only good as an expendable trash you throw away at a first opportunity. If we are thinking about it to soothe our conscience... well, what conscience? I always thought our motto is to kill all men and take all the women, and that's exactly what we are doing here. For there to be a moral dilemma, they should have been a squad of amazons. And even then we'd kill the ones with a hotness score of 7 or less.

A is out of the question for me. Apparently not.

I suppose I can make an exception for the captain in B1. One man is easier to control and manipulate than a group of people if we can twist him just enough that there is no longer a way back for him. He could, in theory, become useful to us. However, then there is the question of why would we keep a twisted, psychotic and unstable individual with a penchant of backstabbing that is madly in love with a crazy inventor with no concept of loyalty, ethics or gratitude? That's the very essense of Theseus Naim multiplied thousandfold by the object of his passions.



I'd do it for Lambchop.

C>B1. Switched to A1>C.

Oh, and we should absolutely seek to hire more soldiers from Dijeh in the future. They are bros.

 

[treave]

Infodump will be released tomorrow in the form of an interlude update.

 

[Bibbimbop]

B1 is the only really evil choice, love itself being the evilest of all forces in the universe. Is it a risk? Sure. That makes it fun and twisted. He certainly will be firmly decided for or against Djeh after killing his men.

Don't worry, either, he will be our cuck till the end. To actually let him have the object of his affections would defeat the purpose and dim his ardour.

Letting them all either serve or to leave, the (2) options are most foolish. C is the wisest, but wisest is not necessarily the best for a dramatic story.

 

[Baltika9]

The only reason I'd keep the captain alive is to make our own nemesis or unstable lieutenant. But I'd rather not metagame this.
C, don't get greedy. We already got out way ahead in this city.

 

[Bibbimbop]

C, don't get greedy. We already got out way ahead in this city.

Actually, C is being greedy and is the metagame of "playing to win" while doing B1 is just playing out Erdrick's noted pathologies surrounding women and the love that he never got from his mother (the reason for all evil!)

 

[Baltika9]

wat

 

[Elfberserker]

Well...This is a pity...
We could always use professional soldiers with good morale and no prejuction towards our monster guys, but I don't see how we could sway them to be under our command rather than being loyal Dijeh soldiers.

I suspect that the captain is a key here.
The Captain seems to be able to inspire good morale with his troops as being capable enought to be granter such a important mission. He certainly would be useful when training new soldiers, because not only he is knowledgeable in warfare, but also seem to have charisma to get troops following him...However there is such a thing as being too greedy.

I shall wait for further argument.

 

[Bibbimbop]

wat

I'd explain Freudian psychology to you, but I'm lacking a cigar and a donut as necessary stage props.