Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[archaen]

Damn you Scuba for getting my hopes up. I saw the little red 1 and about exploded over my screen thinking the update had come.

 

[Tigranes]

AB>EB

Seems like lot of the capture options are silly (really, fire and tornado?), and my preference would be to capture them all if possible.

 

[treave]

Still rather under the weather. I'll see if I can whip something up in a few more hours.

 

[Azira]

No, don't. Wait until you feel better. This LP should be something you do because you want to, not because your audience demands it.

 

[lightbane]

Accursed frailities of flesh! That's why in a good future we would have things like cyborg bodies, AIs, giant robots and mind uploads. Instead, we got Tumblr, the increasingly deranged SJW Warriors, the PC censorship and worse.

Anyway, take your time, treave. It's not like the chapter is going to finish anytime soon. Still, I wouldn't mind if at some point we got a boss battle/somehow managed to coerce Erd to spar with Rin, so that we can test our new powers and spells.

 

[Baltika9]

Well, what are you wanting out of him? He's provided confirmation from the stories everyone else shares that the angels are big meanies who aren't too bright and are focused on converting the cities they come across into fine mists of blood and smoke as well as piles of XP. Since we decided to have Erd walk the path of decline instead of pursuing cool halo upgrades in the ashes of Methuss and take up genetic engineering for a hobby, he's also decided that we're probably not an angel (so they aren't really relevant to us anyway) and he therefore doesn't have all that much more to share unless we ask tips for the most amusing place to punch them or something.

It's funny that you mentioned genetic engineering and us not being a typical angel. Back when were still at character creation, I looked up some stuff about biblical angels and I eventually came across this bit of Gnostic philosophy:

"Now the archon who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, 'I am God and there is no other God beside me,' for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come.

Back then, I wasn't sure whether or not angels could create life in this setting, so I kept quiet, but this was the general idea:
Long story short, Gnostics considered the angel Yaltanaoth/Yahweh to be an arrogant demiurge who wrongly took credit for creation and proclaimed himself the one god (there's also some philosophical stuff about spiritual truth and the divine, but that's not what's interesting), so I think we can use him as inspiration.
Think about it, if we find a species to whom we can become god and then proceed to plague their enemies into oblivion, until they are the only force left on their world, we just won ourselves a world. Now that we've started on the path of genetic engineering, instead of finding a race to convert, we may create a race to spread our word. Then we can go all Old Testament on their asses.

By the way, I want to call out Gobblecock for his great idea of kidnapping the girl and opening the option of squeezing Ontoglia and Hargreave's men into our influence.

 

[treave]

I ran a search for Ialdabaoth Apotheosis and got this guy.



Looks like Barbatos's wet dream. I suppose he's an inspiration alright.

 

[Baltika9]

I ran a search for Ialdabaoth Apotheosis and got this guy.
Looks like Barbatos's wet dream. I suppose he's an inspiration alright.

Whatever our fistbro needs to keep feeding us more techniques, I guess. All I really want to do is to engineer a race of angel-worshipping orcs with hawt amazons for women and have them conquer in our name, while we fuck with them by exiling them to deserts for forty days and nights for reasons.
Rin can be Michael Michelle.

 

[Nevill]

All I really want to do is to engineer a race of angel-worshipping orcs with hawt amazons for women and have them conquer in our name

And thus, the history of demons (who are likely to be 'genetically' corrupted/enhanced humans if Demon King's research is of any indication) was reenacted. Complete with our banishment back to our homeworld at the hands of the next batch of God-empowered heroes.

I like the inspiration, though.

 

[Baltika9]

Except we'd be creating a race of servants who aren't much like us (of the stories are true, I'm not dealing with an angel hierarchy, we'll be the only one). Then we usurp the heavens by having our Hebrew tribes invade the proverbial Levant and eliminating/converting the locals to our worship.
Typical God-game dickery, if we choose to pursue this path.

 

[treave]

Serpent’s Capture

Concentrating on the fleeing men, you shape and manipulate your boundless mana into a force that moves the air itself. As the spell coalesces, a spinning column of wind rises up from the earth, coloured darkly by the shredded grass and scattered dirt that are the passengers it has picked up in its ascension. Your brows knit together – this will take some modicum of concentration – and you send it chasing after your targets, moving in a spiral-like manner outwards away from the epicenter of its creation. The roaring tornado, stretching up so high as to disturb the clouds overhead, bears down on them. Up close it must look like an impenetrable dark wall.

You see flashes of light in the distance as the mages amongst their ranks attempt to cast spells at their encroaching doom, but all in vain. Earth barriers are made and broken, adding to the debris filling the tornado. Bolts of fire are sucked up by the whirling wind, forming fiery red spirals that creep up and down the pillar. All they accomplish is to make the environment more dangerous for them, but then, if the Duke’s agents are to behave so thoughtlessly it is not your place to correct them.

With a grand sweep of your hand you capture them within the tornado. The flow of the wind has been controlled to such an extent that you are reasonably sure they would not crack like eggs upon colliding with each other, or be torn to shreds by the slicing blades of air that fill the inside of the pillar. You bring the tornado back towards you; even at this distance the wind flaps your cloak revealingly and threatens to blow away your hat. If there was only a magic spell made to stick one thing to another…

It is about time. You turn your head, and a faint shimmer in the landscape catches your eye. This, even if strange, is nothing unexpected, and you keep your calm even when a slim masked figure clothed all in gold and purple resolves itself out of thin air and attempts to stab you with a twisted dagger. You did not think that you would catch the Golden Snake within that spell – her reputation would seem to wager against a single tornado getting the advantage of her – and you also know that a mage concentrating on a spell as if his life depended on it was a juicy target no self-respecting, confident sneak would ever pass up. “Target the magic casters!” had been a favourite command of yours back in your demon-slaying days after all, especially when you did it from behind while they were wasting their spells on the brave human armies buying time for your strategic backstabbing.

She realizes too late that her surprise attack has failed, for the second time today. Like her title would suggest, she moves fast, but you are faster. With your free hand, you catch the Golden Snake by her wrist and twist it hard enough for her to drop the dagger.

“Ouch!” she yells, not very convincingly. “That is mean of you, handsome!” Her voice is low, flirtatious and sultry even in the face of personal danger, seemingly designed to evoke thoughts of soft beds and rumpled sheets and sweating limbs entangled around one another like snakes. Of course, fortunately – or unfortunately – it does nothing for you. You look at her white mask. Only two holes are cut into the front for vision, and it is so dark that you cannot see her eyes. The surface of the mask seems scaled, like the skin of a snake. You would not be surprised if that turns out to be what it is made of.

“Hey, won’t you let me go? I won’t do anything to you… you are too strong for me,” pleads the Golden Snake. “We can talk this out like civilized people, right?”

“In a bit, sure,” you say lightly. “I’m bringing your comrades to you first. When I asked if we should have words, I meant with all of you.”

“That’s very kind of you, but…” She swings her other arm up, whipping it across your face. Her fingers do not reach, but a cloud of purple powder floats up from between her fingers and scatters into your face. Then, she repeats her plea, in a more forceful tone this time. “You really should let me go now, handsome. Come on. We’ll have fun another time.”

You blink at her as the purple cloud disperses. “I really should?”

The mask nods quickly. “Yes, please? Pretty please? Look, you know I’m definitely going to see you again, right? The Duke will make sure of that. We’ll continue another time… I promise.”

You laugh. “Just because I should, doesn’t mean I would.” Your grip tightens, as does your smile. You hadn’t gotten where you are – granted, you are in the middle of nowhere having lost almost everything you had, but that is not important right now – by obediently doing what you should.

“W-what? You must-“ she sputters in disbelief. “It doesn’t work? How?”

You raise a hand and snap your fingers commandingly as the tornado spits out its victims in front of you and the masked woman. They crash into the ground, bones broken and battered and badly burnt, but you think they might survive if given proper attention. They groan and whimper on the ground, barely conscious.

“Look, handsome, I didn’t mean it,” the Golden Snake begins to say. “I don’t do this because I want to, alright?”

“Come on, who are you kidding? A woman like you does this precisely because you want to. Spare me the sob story, please.” You cannot help but chuckle. This is also not a tactic you are unfamiliar with, though you had used it on old women instead of good-looking men.

“I-“ She sighs. All pretense of fear and begging melt away in an instant. “Oh, you are an interesting one, handsome. From that tall hat and your mastery of magic… you are the one known as Trider Muhchacraken, aren’t you? We did not expect to see you here, and I did not expect you to be this charming. Yet, there is something off about you…”

“What would that be?” you ask carelessly, keeping any hint of caution out of your voice. Has she discerned your angelic nature?

“Are you not attracted to women at all?” she asks bluntly.

“Of course I am. I love women. I definitely love women, not men. What are you talking about?” you say, maybe just a bit too loudly.

“Then why do you not respond? I pride myself on being able to get even the most prudish men, but you… you are different,” she says, intrigued.

You twist her wrist a bit more, forcing her to stand on tiptoes. “Would you like to find out just how different?”

“That gives me tingles, handsome. You certainly have a way with words,” she giggles. “Say, I am being serious here. Won’t you let me go? You’ve certainly proved your power. I would not dare cross anyone who can defeat my Snakes with a single spell, not for all the riches in the world.”

“And let you tell Duke Hargreave Brescia about everything you have seen here? I don’t see how that benefits me at all, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, but I wouldn’t tell him everything! Just enough to keep him happy, and maybe a few bit choice words of your choosing.”

“But how would that benefit you?”

“You intrigue me, a lot more than that stuffy old Duke with his stuffy missions. Not to mention that you are a lot better looking than him. I would rather let a handsome man benefit from my skills and my body.”

“That is an interesting proposition,” you say. “You do know that it paints you as being the rather disloyal sort, doesn’t it? Not exactly the sort of person I could trust to let go, not after saying something like that.”

“Oh, what can I say? It’s love. Yes, truth be told, I think I’m in love with you,” she giggles again. “I have been searching for someone like you all my life. Your power! Your charm! Your casual indifference to my charms! I could get lost in it and never want to find a way out.”

***

A. You will bring her home to Grahferde, where you can interrogate her further at your leisure. You do not trust this woman enough to let her free at this moment.

B. You do not believe her words, but you do let the Golden Snake off to report back to her boss instead of potentially revealing Grahferde’s location through her. You will give her certain instructions and if she carries them out you will hear about it and know that she is at least partially genuine.

***

As for the other agents:

A. You hand them over to the Governor to do as he wishes. As an added service, you will transport them personally to Ontoglia. Of course, it would not be a free service.

B. You bring them back to Grahferde. You can decide what to do with them later on, including silencing them for good. As unlikely as it may be, they might also give you leverage against the Golden Snake.

C. You let them go free with a warning not to tell anyone about what they saw here. Let no one say you are a callous and uncaring man.

1. You do not engage in gender discrimination and apply your actions equally.

2. You only do so with the men. You sort out any women, giving them priority for medical attention, and take them home to Grahferde.

 

[Storyfag]

A
B1

 

[Azira]

A
B1

+1

 

[Nevill]

“I-“ She sighs. All pretense of fear and “Oh, you are an interesting one, handsome."

I think there is a sentence missing there.


I don't believe we can let the Golden Snake go. This is one occasion where I think our 'would not hurt a girl' attitude might be misplaced.

One of the few ways I can see her living is that she turns to be a monster. At least then there would be some common ground between us. Otherwise... imprisoning her is no good - it's just too easy for her to control someone on our side, like Arlin, and make them assist her escape. If we want to recruit her, we will need to find out what makes her tick, and fast. It's a shame her nature is such that we can't trust a single word she says.

Give the rest of the Snakes to the Governor. Without their leader, they would be more prone to any persuasion attempts. I doubt their loyalty to Hargreave is greater than their self-preservation instinct, and by now I think we got the idea across that crossing us or the Governor is not particularly beneficial. You'd want to be alive to claim whatever reward you were promised.

Let Ambrese sort out which of them can be worked with, and which of them are better off dumped in the mine shafts. He's the intrigue master here.

I am against bringing them to Grahferde. Snake alone would be a handful, and any subordinates she can force to do her bidding even despite whatever common sense is left in them are not going to make our job much easier. I also won't put much stock in her attachment to them, seeing how easily they sacrificed a lamb in the previous update. These are assassins, not heroes.

I can't think of a reason why we would need generic prisoners.

AA1, but open to further suggestions.

 

[Baltika9]

A
A1
She's definitely coming home with us to meet the parents. I wonder if BDSM will help our Petit Mercant stand at attention, though I doubt it. Besides, how stupid does she think we are? Let her go, yeah right.

 

[Nevill]

This is also not a tactic you are unfamiliar with, though you had used it on old women instead of good-looking men.

Wat?

Is it our angelic nature trying to break through? Or is it an implication that the Snake is not what xe seems to be?

 

[Baltika9]

That's Erd's narcissism showing. Obviously, he's the handsome man in that scenario, or any scenario, really.

Oh dear, it just occurred to me how much the Snake will fuck with Arlin's little mind and his girl problems. This will be hilarious.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

A
B

The men can be fodder for Zayan's erectile dysfunction research secret experiments, the women will become our slaves/hostages.

This is also not a tactic you are unfamiliar with, though you had used it on old women instead of good-looking men.

Wat?

Is it our angelic nature trying to break through? Or is it an implication that the Snake is not what xe seems to be?

The comment implied that we are a good looking man. Not sure how you are interpreting it...

 

[Nevill]

Nevermind then. Had another case of misreading what is written.

The men can be fodder for Zayan's erectile dysfunction research secret experiments, the women will become our slaves.

While I support the general notion of acquiring more slavegirls ever since Erise, shouldn't we recruit our slaves from the civilian population rather than from skilled adventurers? There is less possibility of a revolt then.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

We can have Zayan fit them with some sort of brainwashing collars or something. Yes, there is a revolt risk, but they are weak and it is very Overlord.

Besides, most women come around to our charm eventually.

 

[Nevill]

Yes, there is a revolt risk, but they are weak and it is very Overlord.

They are one of the best adventurers, though. Far better than whatever forces we have, excluding a few 'hero units'.

We may be coming to a point when we can't leave the base without catching them and locking them up somewhere beforehand.

Besides, most women come around to our charm eventually.

Eh. I only care about obviously named characters.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

They are one of the best adventurers, though.

We may be coming to a point when we can't leave the base without catching them and locking them up somewhere beforehand.

If it got to that point we can decide to kill them later like the choice says.

Eh. I only care about obviously named characters.

There is no guarantee that we won't get a named character or two out of them like we did with the goblins.

Besides, they are good hostages and might be leverage against the snake. Who knows, if we turn her, they might even work for us. If we turn them over to the governor, they will just end up dead or as mine-slaves that would eventually break free.

 

[lightbane]

New update doesn't disappoint. Thank you for your effort, treave!

Before doing anything else, my votes:

BA1
As tempting as it is to take the seductress with us, we have Arlin, Runde and maybe even Petze that could be easily influenced by her mind-games. There's that adventurer too, but currently he only counts as a half-man, to say.
Still, treave, can we take a third option for the first choice instead? I mean something like this:

C: You take off your hat with your other hand, making a mockery of a salute with while you adress the Golden Snake with the word "Milady", briefly revealing your halo. After that, you mentally start counting how long it takes for her to start screaming. If she reacts more positively than expected, perhaps she's reasonable enough to make a deal.

The Guvernor Hast can deal with the other adventurers as he sees fit. Erd should heal them but only if to check if Regeneration works. By the way, can we split half of the number of adventurers to take these with us? That way everyone wins and gets something. EDIT: Nevermind, it seems the "2" choice already does this, but I don't believe it would be a good idea to take potentially dangerous prisoners no matter how cute they are. Also, treave, can we get a general idea of what kind of instructions will be given in the first B?

Too bad at the end Rin got nothing to entertain her (besides awkwardly staring at the Hastwell family), heh.

Think about it, if we find a species to whom we can become god and then proceed to plague their enemies into oblivion, until they are the only force left on their world, we just won ourselves a world. Now that we've started on the path of genetic engineering, instead of finding a race to convert, we may create a race to spread our word. Then we can go all Old Testament on their asses.

Funny thing is that we already have the goblins for that. Granted, they're not almighty warriors, but they're ready to obey EVERY one of our commands. Come to think of it, the irony here is that Rin looks way closer to what a descendant/reincarnation of the Demon God would be than us, but I suppose goblins are easily impressed.

Also, had we chosen to not to obsess ourselves over Erd's impotence, I believe something like this would have been possible in the future, since he would eventually become even more detached and less human-like as he is now, by virtue of not caring anymore about his human instincts. But who knows, everything is possible.

“Ouch!” she yells, not very convincingly. “That is mean of you, handsome!” Her voice is low, flirtatious and sultry even in the face of personal danger, seemingly designed to evoke thoughts of soft beds and rumpled sheets and sweating limbs entangled around one another like snakes.

I really suspect she's way older than what Erdrick believes, assuming she's not an actual snake-woman/naga of some sort. Also, she's a real pro if she can cause such an effect with only a few words. Once again, how did Mercant survive the encounter with a succubus during his hero days? There's no way the Demon Army didn't have one or two of these.

“I-“ She sighs. All pretense of fear and begging melt away in an instant. “Oh, you are an interesting one, handsome. From that tall hat and your mastery of magic… you are the one known as Trider Muhchacraken, aren’t you? We did not expect to see you here, and I did not expect you to be this charming. Yet, there is something off about you…”

“What would that be?” you ask carelessly, keeping any hint of caution out of your voice. Has she discerned your angelic nature?

“Are you not attracted to women at all?” she asks bluntly.

“Of course I am. I love women. I definitely love women, not men. What are you talking about?” you say, maybe just a bit too loudly.

Slight hints of homophobia detected in that Golden Snake woman. This world is clearly not PC enough. Let's be careful, lest the SJW brigade notices this thread.

Jokes aside, one thing it would be worth trying during downtime is to ask Zayan to give us an infodump about the other races living in this world. She already knows we're not a typical Angel, so we could imply we are a visitor from a far away place if she gets curious.


EDIT:

This is also not a tactic you are unfamiliar with, though you had used it on old women instead of good-looking men.

Wat?

Is it our angelic nature trying to break through? Or is it an implication that the Snake is not what xe seems to be?

What's more worrying is what the hell was Erdrick doing with said old women during his heroic career.

 

[Nevill]

Well, they probably still are one of the best adventurers who didn't sign up with the Guild.

But yeah, when Arlin could win over one of their Royal Knight-Captains on a lucky day, that does not say much good about the overall quality of Methussian troops.

Who knows, if we turn her, they might even work for us.

Working for us is a possibility, yes, especially for people less obsessed with honor and stability of their country (the shadier they are, the more readily they would defect), but I am not certain about them. I suppose it would depend on what kind of leverage the Duke has over them. Do they work for him for money? Or do their loyalties lie elsewhere... to their leader, perhaps?

I'd still kill off the ones we do not intend to convert. Kipeci is right in that keeping powerful prisoners exclusively for experimenting purposes is an unnecessarity dangerous proposition - especially when the nature of the research does not require powerful test subjects.

If we turn them over to the governor, they will just end up dead or as mine-slaves that would eventually break free.

I think he is the one who can actually buy them out and make them semi-useful. He has a history of doing so with other Hargreave's agents.

Hastwell does not make the impression of a man who would put a potentially dangerous person in a mine. What for? He has enough miners as it is. It's either service or death.

The difference between the Governor and us is that he is a noble in high standing (though smaller than the Duke, he has the resourses to oppose him, and plans to do so) while we are a monster with a reputation. That can affect how willing those people would be to deal with the both of us.

Slight hints of homophobia detected in that Golden Snake Woman.

Totally justified in her case, though, because homos are the one weakness she does not have an answer to.

Also, had we chosen to not to obsess ourselves over Erd's impotence, I believe something like this would have been possible in the future, since he would eventually become even more detached and less human-like as he is now, by virtue of not caring anymore about his human instincts.

No, I think he would simply not be obsessed over his impotence.

Humanity is preserved through a variety of measures, and not all of them are dong-related. We can still lose ours in the pursuit.

----------
Edit: Also, we absolutely have to take a sample of the rape persuasion powder. I wonder if we can't repurpose it for mind control.

 

[ScubaV]

BB1

Yeah I don't think we want to have a snake running around our base. But it would be good to take some captives for experiments (men) and morale-boosting (women) on the off chance they do work as leverage against her.