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Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

treave

Arcane
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Codex 2012
New Intruders

You continue to do nothing. Why bother? It is just a single libidinous slime. Hardly anything worth getting out of this tree for.

“Idiots!” Aria darts up to Eileen, who appears to be just as dumbstruck as the rest of her fellow trainees. “Hey, you snotty bitch, can you do that move with the shield you did earlier?”

“What are you saying? There’s no way-“ Eileen’s eyes, filled with indignant anger, widen in understanding. “O-Of course! If I do that, then… yes, it might work,” she mutters. “But I need an opening.” Looking up, she barks out, “Ral! Percy! Nina! Take up the Bear Formation!”

Stuttering and nervous affirmations sound out amongst the trainees as they raise their shields. Closing in on the slime, they attempt to pen it in. Sensing their approach, the slime lashes out with spinning whips formed from its own body, striking with enough force to push them back. One of the boys stumbles. The slime capitalizes on the break in formation and gushes forward with surprising speed, carrying the dazed Oliver along with it. Eileen charges forward, attempting to intercept the slime as it moves towards the river, but it looks like she will not make it in time.

Then, a golden streak speeds past her. Aria slams into the slime with a flying kick. There is a loud crackle as the monster freezes in place, stunned, and within it Oliver shouts. His hair is standing up on its ends. Aria flips over the slime and lands, naked again. “Now!” she shouts out breathlessly, but she does not have to. Eileen is already moving forward, shield raised and shining with light. With a roar, she thrusts the shield at the slime and expands the barrier. The gelatinous monster is blown apart, barely holding together through tenuous tendrils.

Oliver tumbles free ignominiously, his clothes still undone. He rolls across the riverbank, still coughing and spluttering, and comes to a halt just in front of Aria. Staring up, his face turns a crimson shade of red and he offers her a weak smile. “Thank-“

Aria stomps on his eyes and rips off his cloak, giving the pained boy a look of disgust. As she pulls the blue fabric around herself, Eileen shouts out a warning. “It’s not over yet! The slime is reforming! Oliver, get those enchantments out, we can’t let it get away!”

True enough, the slime is gathering itself together piece by piece. Its female form gone, now it is but a sorry-looking puddle attempting to crawl away from the knights. Strangely enough, it begins crying out in a plaintive voice, as if shouting for help. Aria nods to herself and moves to stand in between them and the fleeing monster.

“What are you doing?” asks Eileen coldly. The tension between the two girls is palpable. “I am… grateful for your assistance, but you are in the way right now, Aria Heavensell.”

“As I should be. The five of you ganging up on a lowly monster… that is not very knightly, is it?” retorts Aria.

“I… don’t think it is five on one anymore,” murmurs the other female trainee, Nina, nervously. She points behind Aria, where a dozen more slimes have made their appearance. They have come in a mixture of colours; pink, blue and green. The wobbling mounds of jelly surround their injured compatriot in what seems to you to be a protective manner. There is a note of fear in their quivering bodies. Is it because of the knights?

Suddenly, Lucy moos an urgent, low note of warning. Shortly after, dark, round shapes fly out of the forest at high speed, as if launched from a catapult. One of them smashes through a slime, leaving behind a hole that fills itself quickly, leaving no sign of its passage behind. Crying out, the trainees deflect more headed their way, bouncing the things off their shields. The black newcomers tremble as they roll across the ground, and then expand with a bubbling noise. More slimes. Pitch-black ones, this time.

“Hm. This is new,” says Barbatos. “I have never seen this colour of slime before.”

“Neither have they,” you say, indicating the surprised trainees. Their surprise grows by leaps and bounds as the black slimes begin attacking the others. Pink, blue, green and black are entangled in burbling, bubbling masses, the wet sounds of jelly smacking against jelly resounding along the river. Meanwhile, as more and more of the black slimes shoot out towards the river, the trainees and Aria find themselves surrounded by them. You see Oliver begin to pass out some small glass tubes capped with a small amount of twinkling magnatite to each of his comrades. They grasp it and recite a chant, each at their own speed. The magnatite glows and the tubes shatter into powder. At the same time, the weapons and shields of the rookie knights begin to shine dimly: a magical enhancement, you presume. It would likely make their blades effective against slimes.

“Pull up! Get into formation!” yells Eileen. “And you, monster-loving peasant girl, stay out of our way this time!”

The black slimes gurgle... and then they attack.

***

A. Camouflaging your face with that of a generic old man, you assist the rookies against the black slimes. They seem to be doing fairly well holding off the enemy on their own, but it is better to be certain as Aria is now stuck in the midst of things.

B. You assist the multi-coloured slimes. The knights can handle themselves, whereas the other slimes seem to be hard pressed by the aggressive, fast-moving black variety. Perhaps they might even reciprocate and become friendly to you.

C. You freeze the entire area with an Ice Storm. It’s quick, easy, and you get the benefit of sorting things out at your own pace without slimes splashing all over the place making a wet, dripping mess.

1. You cast a combination of magical and physical defensive spells over Aria. You don't want her to get too hurt.

2. You cast a combination of magical and physical defensive spells over the girls in the party. The boys can fend for themselves.

3. You cast a combination of magical and physical defensive spells over all of them, while wondering if you could charge them for every second that the shields are up.

4. You cast nothing. Mana is precious and should not be wasted on a bunch of kids.

***

D. This should play out just fine by itself without any interference from you. Continuing your do-nothing policy, you sit back and watch.

1. Perhaps you should extract Aria at least. You pop over under a cloak of Invisibility, pick Aria up, and then hide until everything blows past. You do not feel inclined to do anything else.

2. You actually do nothing.
 
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Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Well, I'll be damned. Two Gigadynes in a row.

As much as I'd like to see Aria go through all five rookie cloaks, she must be spent right now. I guess it is time to interfere. Exceeding your mana reserves could end in a physical injury - and who knows what will happen if such a spell is interrupted while the caster is in lightning form?

Heh, so our non-action have gathered a lot of slimes in one place, it seems. The colored slimes look like someone we can deal with, and the black ones... I wonder where those come from.

treave, if we freeze the area with the storm, it won't harm the rookies or the slimes when they thaw out, would it? Or is it a 'kill them all' spell?

Otherwise I am tempted to just waste the blacks while protecting the Slimes of Color. :oops:
 
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treave

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Codex 2012
treave, if we freeze the area with the storm, it won't harm the rookies or the slimes when they thaw out, would it? Or is it a 'kill them all' spell?

Given their durability, you think the slimes would not be harmed by freezing and thawing, though you can't be certain until you actually do it. It's also easier to freeze the slimes because they are more sensitive to the environment. The rookies, on the other hand, are probably more in danger of being impaled by gigantic icicles than freezing. They'll just have to be quick on their feet when the storm begins. If you think Erdrick would care enough to extend more Spellshields for the whole group, that could be an additional option.
 

Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Well, I dunno. I guess I just don't want to accidentally a kid. Besides, there are two girls with them, surely Erdrick wouldn't hurt those, given his earlier sentiments. "Beautiful flowers are meant to be treasured, not trampled”, and all that. :lol:

Anyway, I am leaning towards B, while also protecting Aria to the best of our ability. Forceshield? Invisibility? Globe of Invulnerability if slime weapons are magical? Whatever ensures her safety.

Edit: B2>B3>C3.
 
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treave

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Codex 2012
Revised the voting.

First set of numbered votes (1, 2 and 3) can be combined with A, B or C.
 

Nevill

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
To elaborate on the choice - Aria did her best to separate the two groups without actually killing anyone. She freed the boy mage, making the squires combat-able again to fend for themselves in this battle, and she interfered on behalf of the slime when it was injured. It is a more diplomatic approach than I have come to expect from the girl, and she is easily on her way to become my favorite character. After Lucy, of course. :M

The slimes clearly consider the knights a secondary threat compared to their corrupted compatriots (they were confident enough to attack the humans in the first place), so we can capitalize on the opening Aria gave us and try to solve their primary problem. On the other hand, I don't think the knights would object too loudly to leaving after what they saw here. This new black slime infestation seems to be above their level of expertise. If not for the interslime fight, they'd all probably get slaughtered.

I believe we can send the humans packing and earn the loyalties of the slimes at the same time.
 

lightbane

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Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,562
Finally, an update! I was starting to worry for treave.
It seems things escalated quickly. And poor Oliver can't catch a break. :lol:
These metal black smiles seem to be extremely agressive and quite unlikely to leave alive their victims, so we better act before things get worse/the PC brigade comes to support the attacking slimes.

B3>B2>C3

We shouldn't forget our merchant origins.

:keepmyjewgold:

Also, I say that the "generic old man" face we adopt is bald, has sunglasses, a white beard and calls himself "Master Roshi". Hopefully Aria will be able to recognize us.

PS: Can't we spam False Prophecy on the black slimes to ensure they're easily defeated instead of the other options?

PPS: Does Aura of the Monster Chief discriminate against hostile monsters? Lest we end up making this worse by accident.
 
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treave

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PS: Can't we spam False Prophecy on the black slimes to ensure they're easily defeated instead of the other options?

It doesn't work on slimes.

PPS: Does Aura of the Monster Chief discriminate against hostile monsters? Lest we end up making this worse by accident.

Only for allied creatures.
 

lightbane

Arcane
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Dec 27, 2008
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Edited my vote to B3>B2>C3, we're here for the slimes first and foremost. Hopefully the B and C options also include using magical disguise before joining the fray.
 

Elfberserker

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
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B3

We are tradesmen bargaining with product that is unending as long as we are alive. Since they are squares I don't expect much but every bit helps or perhaps a favor can be useful in later times from the squires.
 

Kipeci

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May 22, 2012
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Vicksburg
B2. Protect the slimes we want to be allied with (not sure why we have no option to help out the black ones, maybe Erdrick's racist?) as well as the future women. This option is well in line with the character's goals.
 

Nevill

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not sure why we have no option to help out the black ones, maybe Erdrick's racist?
They have not demonstrated the ability to turn into cute pink girls. :M

I have to say, mud slime civil war is not what I expected to find when we signed up for our viagra search. Should've known better.
 

Nevill

Arcane
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I assume so:
There is a loud splash – two loud splashes – and you pick up Aria’s faint cry of surprise. Eyes snapping open, you leap towards the river immediately, hopping from tree to tree as your heavy cloak flaps around you, still keeping your wings concealed.
Might be worth it to have the gobbos craft an armor that would take care of the problem.

I also wonder if we are capable of flight now.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
10,562
How does Erd plan to engage the black slimes if B wins? I bet he was going to invoke Barbatos in order to save mana and not to use his electric spells, lest he's discovered. Also, how much mana would be required to maintain these shields active during the entire battle?
 

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