Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[treave]

Somehow they give off an impression of a bunch of small kids.

That's because they pretty much are. They're not smarter than your average goblin at the moment.

 

[lightbane]

What I would like to everyone to consider is that we have six(?) slimes to go around. Is it wise to keep them all in the same place? Why don't we send one with Rin to level up? If it dies? No biggie we have five more. If something happens in Grahferde? Luckily we didn't put all our eggs in one basket. But if nothing unexpected happens? Then we have one more experienced slime, one who is likely to be closer to queen-status.
I'm flopping to Kipeci's plan, with the addendum of sending one slime with Rin.

You do have a point. I would specify that we should send a red and a purple slime with Rin, so that they can feed on the scattered bodies thrown everywhere, which are the inevitable outcome of Rin's demonic diplomacy in action.

The blue and the orange slime could be on guard duty in Grahferde, while the others are left to do whatever sentient jelly do whenever idle. Of course, the pink slime should be busy "taking care" of the prisoner, but I believe she'll automatically do that whenever she's off-duty.

Still, wasn't Zayan supposed to interrogate the prisoner? Will he still be alive after she's done (or recognizable, for that matter)?

PS: By the way, from the way the Slime Queen worded it, it seems that all of these slimes will eventually sacrifice their bodies in order to create a new Queen, so it won't matter much if some have more xp than the others as long as we have enough of them.

 

[Nevill]

Still, wasn't Zayan supposed to interrogate the prisoner? Will he still be alive after she's done (or recognizable, for that matter)?

The regeneration machine is a wonderful tool for our resident Dr. Mengele.

It grants +10 to interrogation rolls!

 

[TOME]

Can we send this slime with Rin?

The slimes bob around in greeting. “Hi!” “Hello!” “Hullo.” “Purupuru.” “G’day!” “Fuck.” Hm. Didn’t one of those greetings sound different?

The slimes you brought back crowd around the small tree, oohing and aahing. “What’s this?” “This? Tree?” “Smells nice!” “Shit!” Again, you hear something different from amidst the slime chorus.

 

[archaen]

I think the slimes can probably handle the bandits by their lonesome en masse. They need special magic and tactics to even be harmed. They just need direction on how many and which people to eat.

 

[ScubaV]

Flop to whichever (Kipeci or Nevill) plan has the most votes. If tied Kipeci > Nevill.

Let's get this settled already.

 

[Esquilax]

Sorry, but I simply can't abide by ignoring this angel situation in Yuiria altogether. It is more pressing, it has been consistently ignored, and it isn't something that we can just "do later". Ontoglia, on the other hand, doesn't have the same level of urgency; acquiring more magnatite is nice, but ultimately is nothing but a luxury.

 

[Nevill]

I think the slimes can probably handle the bandits by their lonesome en masse.

They need special magic and tactics to even be harmed.

And the new bandit comes from Byarlant, a place known for two things - its plots and its mages (of which they have the strongest).

What are the chances that the newcomer might have those magic and/or tactics?

 

[ScubaV]

Sorry, but I simply can't abide by ignoring this angel situation in Yuiria altogether. It is more pressing, it has been consistently ignored, and it isn't something that we can just "do later". Ontoglia, on the other hand, doesn't have the same level of urgency; acquiring more magnatite is nice, but ultimately is nothing but a luxury.

Yeah, but maybe Zayan can fix our dick with magnatite. Nothing says rock hard like an actual rock.

 

[Nevill]

Way to forget about the adventurers that put us on a time limit (which we might be able to increase), about our condition, and that the Methussian angel contributes much to their overall strength.

If we go for magnatite, it is likely we will have greater defensive capability for when the adventurers come, but we might not have many options in resolving the situation.

 

[Esquilax]

Magnatite.

Getting magnatite is a clear and undisputed opportunity toward increasing our power. No one refutes that. Zayan is by far the best card in our deck so far, and giving her what she needs to actually experiment is not something to be postponed. We owe what few defenses and cool stuff that we currently possess to her use of that rock that you think is no big deal. She has spent her life on theory. That is not going to move forward much. She needs the real stuff, and she needs to begin the trial-and-error process of creation as soon as possible.

We have no means by which to negotiate for more of the stuff and even if we did, I don't see why we urgently need it now. Of course I think that the magnatite is valuable and should be sought out, just not at the expense of knowledge of what we're facing. There are some problems that can't be solved with Wuxiang Qiankun magnatite.

Retarded angel rumours.

No one has even a rough idea how chatting up angels can actually increase our power. They just got a feeling. Would it join us? Would it give us information, or a quick boot camp for angels? Would it even accept us as one of its kind, and not a freak to be purified? I don't know and you don't know any of the answers. However... Angels do not seem like cooperative beasts in the best case scenario that one is found and liberated. And personally, Zayan and her gizmos are simply more interesting than the whole angel plot-line.

When multiple people mention rumors of the same thing and we have the temple and the Priest with an air of secrecy about them, of course we have reason to believe that this thing exists. To think otherwise is willful ignorance. As for whether it accepts us as one of its kind or not, this is not relevant; what is relevant is the power discrepancy if we have an honest-to-goodness Carnage Pigeon against us. Remember how in Chapter 1 we chose to repress our own vicious angelic nature? That choice meant that we gave up a bigger power boost in favour of keeping Erdrick's personality on an even keel.

Well, what if this guy made a different choice than the one we did? What if we have a powerful entity, far more powerful than us, who is somehow either controlling Methuss from the shadows or who somehow the Methussians have obtained control of, ready to unleash on us? We have ignored this problem a few times already; first we ignored it by leaving the Temple (understandable), and secondly we ignored it to look for the slimes. Now we will ignore it a third time, at our own peril.

 

[Nevill]

When's the last time that magnatite was offered as an option?

Last time the Magnatite was offered when we were in Ontoglia, the place where Magnatite is mined. Imagine that.

Unless there is something that prevents us from traveling to Ontoglia, it is going to be available every time the option is up.

Mind you, it is very possible that we could experience difficulties in obtaining magnatite because of our involvement in Yuiria. We might not have time for it, or no time to do anything with it before the adventurers come. I do not deny this. These are the consequences of prioritizing one mission over the other.

I still have not heard any concrete points from anyone how finding the angel moves our power level forward.

How concrete do you need us to get? If we convince an angel to join us, we'll have 50% more superhuman assets than we have now (currently we only have 2 - us and Rin, which is the main reason we are doing only 2 missions out of 3), and it is possible that Methuss would have 100% less.

What, it is not certain it will succeed? Well, neither is any of the other options - it all depends on how we handle it.

Edit: it is kind of strange to measure time in updates. Two days in Yuiria took 9 updates. A single timeskip done within an update took seweral weeks. While very good for fact manipulation, I doubt the usefulness of this factor in determining how rare things are and how much of an advantage they grant.

 

[Nevill]

It's quite possible, from known info, that angels are motivated by savage alien impulses that make them incompatible with joining Erdrick or any side at all.

It is quite possible, from known info, that Erdrick's experience with his angel-side is not representative of the species in general, as giving in to the temptation would have irreversibly warped his psyche due to not being raised in their society and not being trained to reign it in.

No, it does not all depend on how it is handled.

Is that what you deem a concrete argument? Your word against anyone else's?

 

[Nevill]

I get what you are saying, though.

Our knowledge of the angels is flaky (though for me it is one of the reasons I want to do the mission, now that the dryads are gone). They might all be assholes. We might not get anything out of this. It could happen.

However, there are several side objectives related to this mission. Namely, understanding our angelic nature (which was one of the major driving factors in the previous update where we chose between dryads/slimes/Yuiria) and lifting the time limits or coming to an understanding with the adventurers.

Your problem is that it isn't guaranteed to succeed even if we do it flawlessly, as there are factors beyond our reach. Well, it's true. I just don't see this as a reason to turn it down.

Did our slime mission succeed? Considering its initial goal, no, it didn't. I do not see people complaining much about it, though, just because it brought a different set of benefits and drawbacks than what we thought it would.

 

[Nevill]

What is concrete about angels?

They are highly powerful and we share their physiology. That's pretty unambiguous.

The stories seems to point to their following a rigid moral code that would not jibe with following us obediently.

It would be easier for me to follow your reasoning if you quoted the relevant parts. The most I know about angels comes from this passage:

The way the humans tell it, they were biological weapons of war created by the Demon God in a last ditch effort to stave off his defeat, but according to the tales of the non-human races, they were created by the Five Gods as instruments of death and terror. Both stories shared a single similarity: the angels turned out to be uncontrollable, and wreaked havoc on both sides. Different stories presented different angels: there were those with two wings, those with four, or even six. The wings were either white, or blood red. At times they were described with halos, and at other times with none. Little else is known for certain, and what information there is can mainly be found in dark children’s tales full of blood and dismemberment where single angels depopulated entire cities just because there was a naughty child or two residing within. Apparently the angelic race did not believe in the concept of proportionate punishment. Zayan seems to think that these myths indicate angels were not created by the Demon God or the Five Gods.

I see no mention of a moral code there, though I do see a word 'uncontrollable'.

Then again, is Rin controllable and how much of an obedient follower is she?

It sounds like even rescuing one of them from captivity will hardly guarantee that they can give up their alien morality to become unquestioning goons for our fairly amoral agenda.

Wait, why do we even need them to become our 'unquestioning goons'?

 

[Nevill]

Nope. That actually tells us very little that can't be muddied up later. Zayan unambiguously creates cool stuff.

"Unambiguously." It's a word. Look it up.

Am I the one who is supposed to look things up?

Let's compare our statements, shall we?
1) Zayan creates good stuff. Ok. True. Unambiguosly so.
1) Angels are powerful. True or not? Is it an unambiguous enough statement for you?

The question doesn't lie there. The question we are discussing is the second step.
2) Let's get ourselves some magnative so that Zayan could create her good stuff.
2) Let's get ourselves a powerful angel companion. (there is more to Yuiria than this, but this could be an aspect of the mission, too)

The funny part is that you don't know unambiguously whether you proposition is more likely to succeed. You could still fail both missions.

The constant joke is that she is not controllable. The truth is that she is extremely controllable.

It's true to an extent. She can be manipulated, if Erdrick ever bothered to, but can't be outright controlled.

Her actual problem is too much initiative in trying to further our agenda, not having her own agenda and fixed beliefs that clash with ours.

Oh? Have you reconsidered your stance on her? I think you had a different opinion on her back when we discussed how likely she is to betray us due to her own agenda (which is recovering her father's legacy).

"Naughty" and "punishment" imply a standard of ethical behaviour, however bizarre it may be.

Check and mate.

It is good to remember that we are viewing them through a prism of childrens' tales. Unless you actually believe that angels as a species were indeed specifically interesred in naughty children.

Punishment is a pretty broad word. We are not against dealing out some punishment without any corresponding ethical concerns. Check and mate indeed.

The way I interpret their description is exactly how Erdrick did - they do not believe in proportionate responce. That's all I can infer.

Obedience, when the jokes and gags are swept aside, is the norm for our followers right now.

There are followers, and there are companions. The twins, the goblins and the slimes follow. Rin accompanies us.

Do you want to test the limits of her obedience? If you ever suggest that she has to obey you, rather than compel her to do it, she is likely to explode and do something stupid just to prove you wrong.

It's the other side of dealing with your equals, be it in power, or in standing. You want someone extremely powerful on your team, be prepared that you can't control them at all times.

This does not preclude us having common interests, though. Angels like to wreck stuff. We may have some people/nations we would like to see wrecked. There is some common ground.

 

[lightbane]

It seems the only thing you guys agree is that you disagree. IMO the "Angel mission " carries a way greater risk than Ontoglia's. After all, according to Barbatos, the "common" Angel is something lime this:

"They're secretive, mysterious, blood-thirsty, sadistic and terribly powerful. Also not very smart. "

That doesn't sound like someone willing to establish dialogue with us. Or any kind of cooperation for that matter.

In any case, which course of action has more votes right now?

 

[Nevill]

It seems the only thing you guys agree is that you disagree.

The truth is born in an argument. Though on the Codex it's mostly butthurt.

And yes, the mission is more risky, but I've been wanting to undertake it for a while now.

"They're secretive, mysterious, blood-thirsty, sadistic and terribly powerful. Also not very smart. "

Sounds like Rin!!

In any case, which course of action has more votes right now?

I think it's 6 vs 5 in favor of Kipeci's plan, considering ScubaV's preference..

 

[TOME]

No slime takers then? Or is it just that those in favor of Kipeci's plan just haven't been online?

 

[Nevill]

No slime takers then?

I thought it was more of a 'if there are no complaints, additions will be accepted' kind of a vote. Why would anyone object to slimes?

If the plan ends up winning, sure, I'll vote to add a slime or two to Rin's team.

 

[TOME]

Can't remember who, but I remember someone mentioning that he wants all the slimes in Grahferde for some reason. And treave might decide to not add those slimes if there aren't enough votes to counter that post.

 

[Storyfag]

TOME and Storyfag might support Kipeci's plan then, as they are favoring Ontoglia. Maybe Grimgravy, too, though he was seen voting for either.

Right you are. Flop to Kupeci's plan.

 

[treave]

Alright, let's get a move towards finalizing stuff so there's at least one update before Christmas weekend.

First off, we will go with Kipeci's plan, it seems to have marginally more support at the moment.:

Ontoglia: Mercant and Lucy. I think Mercant should be able to handle magnatite acquisition with sufficient application of force or chores/diplomacy essentially by himself, Lucy can act as our trusty steed to minimize walking as well as providing the good lucks to bamboozle folks.

Fortunio's Camp: Rin, Arlin, Aria. Somehow, I get the feeling that the diplomacy with this place will be right down Rin's alley. Aria and Rin ought to be given tasks so that they don't get into too much trouble by themselves, and Arlin can be the adults and keep the others somewhat grounded.

Grahferde: Everyone else. I want the slimes staying put to develop and Zayan to look after the slimes and do whatever else is necessary while we get her her magnatite supplies, and everyone else ought to either help her ought in whatever way they can or look for if that fire lord things is regenerating anywhere.

We have Erdrick LARPing Blofeld in Ontoglia with Lucy as the cat. Rin, Arlin and Aria handling the bandits, and everyone else in Grahferde.

Seems that some people want to get to know some of the slimes better, so what are the proposals on that front?

 

[Baltika9]

Take the foul-mouthed one with us, the others can go to the Camp group. Purely for the lulz.

 

[Nevill]

Seems that some people want to get to know some of the slimes better, so what are the proposals on that front?

I think people wanted to send a pair of them with Rin, to make the humiliation of the bandits more complete. My money is on purple!

I don't want a slime with us. Ours is a team of intellectuals, so kid slimes would only ruin the theme!

But if Baltike's proposal gains support, I wouldn't mind it either.

Edit: Blofild with a pet cow sounds hilarious. Just imagine Lucy trying to sit on our lap.