Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[wjw]

Although giving away the 'secrets of the trade', might ruin it... map spoilers ahead.

About Technique:
This is my first fantasy map ever (and I intend to keep working on it), so I looked up some tutorials.
Specifically, for mountains and forests, I used the tutorials on: http://www.fantasticmaps.com/
About a month later, when some work was already done, I found this absolutely incredible website:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/content.php and tried to steal as many good ideas as possible.

About Realism/Scale:
In the first place, I wanted the map to be a representation of what we experience in the story*. So take Erise for example. It's a really small village, but on the map it's rather big. So it's incorrect, but, more importantly: if you take a good look at Erise you can see that one of the huts is destroyed, and some dark smoke is coming out of it. There is also a cow. And there are some farmers fields nearby. So it's basically Erise in a nutshell. The size of the kingdoms are kinda accurate though. The rivers also seems to end abruptly for now, but things might get to look a bit different as the story unfolds.
*For this reason I still have some work on the forest where we found the Bandit King...

About the Lordship map:
I like it. I saw the map shortly after you published it, and spotted the technique similarities. I didn't think much of that, as I had used the technique from that tutorial, and it's also present on some of the maps on the cartographers guild. And it's as treave said, i already finished mountains and forests at September 30, according to my inbox. I can't read your original post (seems to be deleted), but feel free to criticize. I am not offended in any way. And thanks for all the work on Lordship, i really like that CYOA.

 

[Rex Feral]

A>B

 

[treave]

Meeting with a Priest

Shrouded in a spell of invisibility, you effortlessly leap over the wall of the majestic Grand Temple, Wisteria’s cooling body in your arms. Rin and Aria should have regrouped with Arlin and Grunde by now, if nothing had gone wrong. You are fairly certain that at this point things going wrong would result in screams and falling buildings, so that is one thing off your mind.

As you land in the courtyard, a tingling wave of pressure washes over you. Your strength and magic recede away like grains of sand pulled by the heavy tide. Protective wards of some sort, you reckon. Casting your senses about, you try to trace the wave back to its origin. It is not anywhere nearby, but buried deep beneath the earth. You cannot tell how deep it is, but to exert such an effect on you from that distance they must be strong indeed.

No matter: you are here to revive a maiden, and a minor malaise will not get in your way. Drawing a deep breath, you march forwards, into the great hall of the temple.

Pushing open the heavy doors with your shoulders, you are greeted by the dusky smell of incense, thick and lingering in the air. The large hall is filled with ornate stone pews, and long strips of tapestry hang from its curved ceiling, each depicting what you think to be a god doing something godly. There are no worshippers in here at the moment, only a lone priest and two young acolytes cleaning the lavish altar at the front of the hall.

“Services are over for the day,” calls out the priest in a deep, crisp voice. He looks to be in his late thirties, with jet-black hair and an angular profile marked with scars. His dark blue robes, collared at the top, cannot conceal the way he carries himself – you recognize a trained warrior when you see one.

“I can see that,” you say. “But I need help.”

The priest turns, seeing you truly for the first time. For once, you find that there is a person unperturbed by your hat. His eyes dart to the woman in your arms. “Ah. Healing?”

“Resurrection.”

Strangely, the priest smiles. He begins walking towards you at a measured, leisurely pace, apparently in no hurry even when confronted with a corpse. As he draws closer, a chill runs down your spine. For the first time since you arrived in this world, you are struck with the feeling of danger. It is a sensation you had not felt in a long time, not since you were in the presence of the Demon Lord’s overwhelming strength. Perhaps it is merely your weakened state playing tricks on your mind, but something about this man makes you nervous. You wonder why. As a fighter he is surely no better than Rin, far from it, and you cannot sense even the slightest hint of magical ability about him. He is quite likely more human than you are.

“Resurrection is no easy task,” explains the priest as he comes to a halt in front of you. “It would require the efforts of a choir and the High Priest himself… more than a hundred high-ranking priests, each a thousand times more devout than myself, and even then it is not guaranteed that the gods would listen to our petition. Luckily, the body is in relatively good condition, and she appears to be freshly departed. Calling her soul back from the dead is a possibility, even if it is not a certainty. You may rejoice over that fact.”

He pauses, then says, “Hm, she looks quite familiar, young man.”

There does not seem to be any point in hiding her identity; in fact, it would most likely expedite things if he knew who she was. “That is right. This is the niece of Duke Hargreave,” you say. “I am sure he will be very pleased if you are able to resurrect her.”

The priest laughs a dry, quiet laugh. “You say that name as if it should mean anything. Well, it might bear meaning to the High Priest and the Elders, but the gods themselves certainly would not care. They care little for anything. Death, rightful or wrongful, is but another game in their little divine comedy of errors.”

“That… sounds like a particularly blasphemous statement.”

“Does it?” He cocks his head, a mocking smile on his lips. “No matter. We are not here to discuss theology. The corpse takes priority. Lay it down over here.” The priest points at a pew, and then calls over one of the acolytes. Bending over, he whispers in the boy’s ear and sends him off. “He will inform the High Priest of the situation, and the High Priest will take the necessary measures,” says the priest. “In the meantime… you are looking very haggard, young man. Why don’t you take that heavy cloak and hat off? You are sweating rather heavily, and it is dripping all over the marble floors that we painstakingly polish every day.”

“If it’s all the same to you, and if it doesn’t offend the gods, I would rather keep them on,” you respond, taking another deep breath. “Surely the sweat of the penitent is what the temple is built on in the first place. A bit more wouldn’t hurt.”

The priest laughs with actual amusement this time. “True enough. As you wish. Well, you would not be the first to feel unease in this place. The temple is protected against those who would do harm to our gods. That divine protection crushes monsters out of all existence the moment they enter these grounds. Oh, don’t make that face, young man. I am not accusing you of anything. We do get, at times, truly devout believers who have somewhere in their far-forgotten ancestry monstrous blood. That blood causes them to suffer discomfort through no fault of their own. In your lineage could be the blood of demons, or even angels… but as long as you are faithful, no real harm will come to you.”

“It must be quite hard to keep the faith if you are shivering and dripping all over the benches,” you say. "I am not sure how they do it." The priest is probably telling the truth: the demon Barbatos's now familiar presence in your right hand is weak, almost undetectable. You are slightly thankful that your angelic state hasn't targeted you for, as he put it, being fully crushed out of existence.

“As long as they believe in the gods, they will be forgiven. They may rejoice over that fact,” smiles the priest, uttering the words with pointed emphasis. “Now, what will you do, young man? Would you like to wait until the High Priest arrives? Or perhaps you would like to leave as quietly as you came, and wait out the incoming storm. I strongly suggest the former. I dare say it would be very interesting for you. Why, you might even be able to witness the divine miracle of resurrection…”

***

A. You have participated in enough plans that end in chaos that you know when is the best time to leave, right before the proverbial shit splatters against your front doors. Before any further trouble brews, you will meet up with your companions and skip town. You have already done enough. Regardless of how this resurrection turns out, you do not plan to be here to find out firsthand. A return to Grahferde beckons.

B. You take the priest’s suggestion and await the High Priest’s arrival. You would like to watch the ritual and gain more insight into how resurrection works here – and also to be certain that you are not being tricked. You can also defend your actions to the authorities more easily if you stay around instead of running off guiltily and hiding like someone with… well, something to hide.

 

[Nevill]

Ah. The Gods. Of course.

That is not a problem I foresaw even remotely.

This has 'bad news' written all over it. And if it requires a direct intervention by a real God... I think it would be best not to be anywhere near it.

If Wist gets raised, that should be enough. If it fails... well. Derp indeed. A.

 

[asxetos]

I believe shit will hit the fan in B too but i like it more.
Abort!

 

[Nevill]

I wonder what he said to the acolyte.

A hundred high-ranking priests, plus the High Priest, all in one place. And I bet there wouldn't be a single priestess, either. Sure, Codex.

By the way, can we learn his name? He makes quite an impression for someone who holds such a humble rank.

 

[Azira]

 

[Azira]

I wonder what he said to the acolyte.

"Call the boss. - Oh, and bring popped corns, dis gun b good."

 

[treave]

By the way, can we learn his name?

For now, he is merely The Priest to you.

 

[Nevill]

For now, he is merely The Priest to you.

Tsk-tsk. Not introducing himself. That's fairly rude.

Wonder who he is, to speak of the Gods so casually in their holy place. An agent? An avatar? Wist mentioned something about twin attendants of Elmeth, but she spoke of it as of a thing long past...

Oh, boy.

Erdrick Mercant
Lv. 2 Seraphic Lord
Vitality: C (E)
Mana: B+ (B+++) (D+++)
Physical Attack: C (C+) (E)
Physical Defense: B (D)
Magical Attack: C+ (E+)
Magical Defense: B+ (B+++) (C+++)
Agility: B (B+) (D+)
Charisma: B

Good to see that our smile is as bright as ever, though.

 

[Elfberserker]

I-I can't believe that I am saying this, but this might be good opportunity to talk with the big fellow. I think it's safe to say that the god would know that there is dismensional traveling angel in his domain and that said angel is confused the fuck out of his mind. This could be one of few opportunities to find out to what happened to angels or at laest what is the offical version of it.

Who knows, maybe god is jolly good man that got laugh of our antics in feast today and is generally bored with today status quo.
Or perhaps I am just too optimistic to see shitstorm as the shitstorm it will become.

 

[Nevill]

This could be one of few opportunities to find out to what happened to angels

I think the short version of it is that they got extinct.

Do we really need to find out how?

At this point I think our presence here would only disrupt the procedure. There are people who might be willing to sacrifice Wist if only it gets us off their backs. With us gone, Wist's resurrection would be the only thing to concentrate on.

We are going to catch a lot of heat for this debacle, though.

 

[Azira]

I want to stay and see what happens. Running is strenous exercise, let's cool our jets, just for little.

B

Also, even gimped as we are right now, we're well above human standards. That's not an excuse to get cocky though, it's just an observation.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I really want to say B, but I don't want to get greedy. A

It really should have been obvious to us that this would happen.

Vitality: C (E)
Mana: B+ (B+++) (D+++)
Physical Attack: C (C+) (E)
Physical Defense: B (D)
Magical Attack: C+ (E+)
Magical Defense: B+ (B+++) (C+++)
Agility: B (B+) (D+)
Charisma: B

If that isn't a huge ass hint that we need to get out of here, I don't know what is.

edit: then again, it isn't affecting our CHARISMA...

 

[asxetos]

flopped to A. lets gtfo.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Part of me really wants to step into this rift and try sphere diplomacy.

 

[Baltika9]

B has rationalization and mental gymnastics written all over it in big, bold letters. No matter how entertaining it is, I agree with the majority. We have already learned a lot about the kingdom and the upcoming expedition into our neighborhood, we have more than enough info to work with and I'm not down with getting imprisoned and mentally broken by the Church, even though that would make for an awesome villain origin story.
A.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

My biggest concern with B is Barbatos. Staying might well kill him. Of course, knowing treave, it could also open up another path. Perhaps meeting one of these "gods" would be possible - without dying hopefully.

 

[Baltika9]

Of course, knowing treave, it could also open up another path.

I'm actually betting on this getting us in touch with the Methussian angel, I'm pretty sure that the Church is a huge power player in the international power structure.

 

[lightbane]

As usual, divine magic is a direct rival of arcane magic. In any case, clearly something is fishy here. I believe that priest is an Avatar of some sort, yes. At worst, he can already see our true nature and is actually testing our resolve. At truly worst case scenario, he's actually the other Angel and is playing tricks with us. It's probable that if we do get away, there will be a few hundred guards already out of the temple eager to stab us like a pincushion, taking advantage of our weakened state thanks to the priest's warning.

EDIT: Disregard that. Better to tame the hint and wait out of the Church just to be sure.A.
PS: Even if our stats are weakened, we still have access to all of our techniques and spells, including Teleport, so that's something.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

PS: Even if our stats are weakened, we still have access to all of our techniques and spells, including Teleport, so that's something.

Having access to them and actually being able to cast them are two different things. The best we could hope for is using our charisma to talk our way out of this. And despite our CHAR being superhuman, it hasn't seemed to impress too many people in this city so far...

 

[Baltika9]

That's because we're a creep.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

That's because we're a creep.

Charisma: B (D++ from being a creep)

 

[Elfberserker]

Voting for B to keep it alive.
Most probably do the sensible thing and vote A anyway.

 

[treave]

And despite our CHAR being superhuman, it hasn't seemed to impress too many people in this city so far...

You still aren't widely considered a joke even with that ridiculous hat. Thank Charisma B.