Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[TOME]

There isn't a tie at the moment. After flops it's 9-7 for A and there is 4 votes that doesn't flop to either of A or D.

 

[treave]

With the birth of my last child I was greeted with an enormous Treave post to read in the bathroom while my spawn had my wife's attention. I have come here now in tradition and hope that with the birth of my next child that I would have a similar blessing but my hopes have been dashed upon the rocks of Treaves real life commitments and a tie?

Congrats! Huh, I guess it has been two years since Legend...

Update will be coming some time tomorrow, but the next one after that will likely take another week. February is shaping up to be more hectic than I expected.

 

[treave]

Aria’s Adventures III

“Hey. Hey! You, weren’t you that blonde bitch from the Northern Forest?” Shouting and waving her free arm boisterously, Aria attempted to get the squire’s attention. She succeeded easily. The girl turned, almost took the flat of a blade to her head for her troubles, and widened her eyes in surprise.

“It’s the nudist bumpkin! Why are you here?” Eileen ran over, her feet kicking up some mud, but skidded to a full halt when she recognized the woman who had her arm around Aria. “Mira of the Blue Spinel! Why are you here, with her?”

“Hm?” purred Mira inquisitively. “Do the two of you know each other?”

“A-A-Ah, yes, Lady Mira,” stuttered Eileen, gazing raptly at the older woman. Aria was surprised. It seemed to her that the female squire was starstruck by the leather-clad adventurer. It was a reaction she would expect her master to elicit, not this shapely vixen with an untrustworthy smile.

Eileen continued, “There was a minor incident two months back involving some slimes. I met this… girl there. Lady Mira, why is she here?” Eileen asked about Aria’s presence for the third time, and in the process proved herself – in Aria’s mind, at least – to be insufferably unsubtle and tactless.

Still, she could not afford to be picky. Aria did not know what fate lay in wait for her within Mira’s tent, but she was not keen on finding out without putting up a fight. That was not like her. “I’m here because I’ve got something important to report,” said Aria. “Something the adventurers… and the knights too, I’m sure, are probably interested in.”

“Really?” The man who had been training Eileen stepped in. “If it’s coming from the person that Squire Eileen Mesthall suddenly abandoned a sparring session to approach, which is quite rare may I add, it must be something really interesting.” Though the knight’s cropped beard was grey, he kept his smooth, boyish looks. His eyes, equally grey, twinkled as he swatted at Eileen’s butt.

“I-I’m sorry!” yelped the squire as she saluted. “Sir Orsten, I will not do that again!”

“Oh, at ease,” he drawled. “I can’t slap your ass if you don’t mess up, so feel free to mess up more often.”

“Hello, Orsten,” grinned Mira. “Looks like you’re still up to your old groping ways? Isn’t she a bit too young?”

Orsten shrugged. “If the shape is there, the hand must follow. You know it well enough, Mira, for we are not too different, you and I.”

“There was one rather big difference, if I recall correctly,” Mira said impishly. “One I had to coax into growing bigger.”

“Oh, yes, that would be a rather big difference. I’m glad there was one,” smirked Orsten. “Those nights in Naguria would have been rather scary otherwise.”

“I heard you swing both ways so on second thought, it wouldn’t make much of a difference, actually” said Mira, shrugging.

“Nonsense! Lies and slander!” retorted Orsten, though there was no anger in his voice, only joviality.

Aria frowned at the vulgar greetings being exchanged. As she glanced towards Eileen, the two of them shared a rare moment of commiseration. This was her chance. Beckoning at Eileen, Aria slid away from Mira and Orsten, who were trading more and more lewd stories of their exploits. Eileen seemed thankful for the respite and followed.

“Why are you here?” asked Aria once she felt she was out of ear-shot.

“Knightly business. I’m not obligated to tell you.” Eileen’s smug smile made Aria want to wrench her lips off.

“I know a bit of it anyway,” replied Aria. “The adventurers are investigating something at the behest of the king, or something like that. What I don’t get is why you knights are here, in particular.”

“As I said, knightly business.” Eileen proved to be as frustrating as usual.

Aria racked her mind, trying to think of a method to get the squire to open up. This was a good chance to gather information – she doubted that she would be able to pry anything out of the sly adults, while Eileen did not seem particularly renowned for her brainpower. She just had to push on the right lever…

***

There was no backing down now, not when she was so close. She was aware that not all methods were equal – some might not work, and some might be more effective in gaining her information than others. Aria decided that she would:

A. Offer Eileen information about the castle in exchange.

B. Swallow her pride and plead with her for help.

C. Challenge her to a duel: winner does as the loser says.


In return, there were many topics Aria wanted to ask about, but asking too many questions all at once would bring suspicion down upon her, and certain questions were also more suspicious than others... (pick three)

I. The current situation in the camp in terms of morale and camaraderie.
II. The Prince that has accompanied the expedition.
III. The more notable adventuring parties in the expedition.
IV. The more notable knights in the expedition.
V. The reasons for the expedition.
VI. The expedition’s plans and routes.

 

[Nevill]

Yay! The adventures of Best Girl continue!

She was aware that not all methods were equal – some might not work, and some might be more effective in gaining her information than others.

Exchange of information might probably be for the best. Girls love to gossip. 'I'll tell you a secret and you tell me another' is older than the world.

Then again, I thought Eileen would be especially prone to manipulation if her fighting and leadership abilities are questioned. She is the best target for a game of chicken.

I think she is working her ass off with Sir Orsten to make up for her rather sad display in the slime forest, and she would think that, by now, she is definitely better than she was and could steamroll the impudent bumpkin easily. Aria must have hurt her pride as a knight when she bested her in a duel and remained when Eileen was forced to retreat. The squire must want a revanche to prove that it was just a momentary misstep, and she trained hard so that her team would not have to witness her fail again.

Unfortunately for her, Aria has spent her time with a far better teacher.

So I think that, with C, we have a reasonable chance of Eileen accepting our challenge (as she thinks she could win it this time), and Aria winning it regardless. The only question is how we are going to duel in the middle of the camp after just escaping from our caretaker. That might return the attention back to us, and it might not be the thing we need at the moment.

Also, at Mira confidently stating that she 'has things under control' and then forgetting all about the suspect she was supposed to interrogate after meeting with her lover. If that's the best the adventurers can offer, I feel like this is going to be one short expedition.

On the topics to ask Eileen about - we already have some (limited) information about the adventuring parties from Amesdan, and the peasant girl has no reason to be interested in the expedition's routes. We intend to reroute it to the castle anyway (though Erdrick probably could have found a use for this). The most notable knights in the expedition are probably the leaders of the parties involved - Mira, Orsten from Azurellion, Marques, Alexander and the like. I bet they would be easy to recognize if we ever see them.

Edit: I probably misread the choice between III and IV as groups/leaders as opposed to adventurers/knights.

What we are interested in is what they are looking for (to make it look like the castle has it). I would also like to know the situation in the camp and if there aren't any tensions between the groups, though I don't know if Aria is subtle enough to ask about it in a way that wouldn't be screaming 'SPY'. Finally, the Prince interests me, as the most protected person in the expedition, as that's whom they would try to save in case of emergency, which makes their actions easier to predict and control. At least, the interest of a peasant girl in a pretty teenage prince is easy to explain away.

C A>C

II. The Prince that has accompanied the expedition.
V. The reasons for the expedition.

Not certain what to choose as a third topic. Might want to read the discuss first.

Edit:

III. The more notable adventuring parties in the expedition.

 

[Baltika9]

Holy shit these people are creeps.
As with most information gathering votes, we have to be careful with what we're asking to not being suspicion on ourselves.
C II III V
I think those are the most important ones, the prince and the goal being our main points of focus, and the adventurers being parties at can deal with, one way or another.

 

[Kipeci]

Well, there goes my plan. Unless Mira is still able to yank her back into the waiting torture chamber, anyway.

For the first option, I want to go with C. Eileen knows that she's here to talk about the castle, so that's not a tremendous draw. Groveling in B could work well if Aria doesn't blow it by allowing her temper to flare, it would be a great ego-booster for the squire. I'd go for B if we hadn't trained Aria.

It's clear that the squire has been training as hard as she could after the prior incident from what Orsten is saying. This probably lends her extra confidence into thinking that she could take Aria if we challenge her, yet she'll be unaware that Aria has done some advancing of her own to end up as a 'Mystic Fighter' instead. Aria will be much more resistant to that weird magic attack that blew her away before (and she'll also know to expect it this time), while her own magic attacks will be more powerful and readily cast from increase mana reserves. Our little scamp also managed to reach a new rank in agility since the time these two last met, which may be more apparent as they will not both be bogged down in a river. I think that our chances are pretty good in a fight.

Then there are the questions:

I. The current situation in the camp in terms of morale and camaraderie.

Yeah, no. This is an incredibly suspicious line of questioning. We already know that their morale is pretty good (at least going by the update that assumed this force was unstoppable short of the Vaalgraff's reappearance), they think they can take on the Minotaur Firelord and whatever other hideous creatures lurk in the forest. This could give us info if there's a simmering tension between any teams that we could exploit, assuming that Eileen knows about any of that, but I think that there are better ways to pick up on that in camp than in outright asking about it.

II. The Prince that has accompanied the expedition.

Aria would almost certainly be teased over this, but it's a pretty reasonable to ask questions about important people publicly seeking glory. I don't know how well Eileen actually knows him, but this could be a pretty safe question.

III. The more notable adventuring parties in the expedition.

I'm assuming that Eileen is a huge nerd about famous adventuring parties, considering her reaction upon seeing 'Lady Mira'. I don't think she'll have any problems in immediately attempting to enlighten Aria if Aria asks what's going on with all these groups with silly names like 'Blue Spinel', and she probably knows a good number of things, too.

IV. The more notable knights in the expedition.

Essentially the same as above, given that she decided to be a knight instead of an adventurer I think that there may be more dedication. This is probably where she's most knowledgeable, and again it seems like a pretty safe question.

V. The reasons for the expedition.

I don't think we'll get anywhere near what we would actually like to know about why the expedition was launched, namely whatever bauble it is that Duke Brescia is hoping to find and why it's important. Almost certainly we'd get the same story we've been hearing about investigating a mysterious light, cleansing the monsters menacing the area, etc.

VI. The expedition’s plans and routes.

Maybe it's not as suspicious as the first one, but it's still pretty high on up there. This would appear to be the most useful information out of all of them should we be capable of getting it, though, so I can't help but feel compelled to ask for it. The squire may not know the noble reasons for why they're poking around the ruins, but she should certainly know when they plan on doing that and how they're approaching given that she's being used as one of the tools to prod the area.

So in short, I think that I and V are right out, leaving II, III, IV and VI. Of these, I would say that VI is certainly the most risky while also carrying the most reward. The question about the Prince is safe, but unlikely to provide useful information. I'd like to feed him to the slimes, maybe we can get a Royal Jelly...

With all this considered, I'm going to be voting C III IV VI.

 

[Nevill]

A bit of a reminder of what we are facing:

Spoiler

Amesdan nodded. “Yeah. Old man Alexander approached me the other day. It’s going to be a big one. Not only are we getting reinforcements from the royal army, many of the big names are going to be participating. The Dragonslashers. The Blue Spinels. The Trinity Coterie. The kingdom’s treating this seriously enough to throw big money at it.”

“The Forest of Ruin… that’s the one where the legendary Minotaur Firelord lives, isn’t it?” murmured Laika. “I wonder if we could handle it. I know you can deal with a minotaur, Ames, but the Minotaur Firelord is said to be a thousand times stronger than normal ones…”

“We won’t be alone,” said Amesdan in a confident manner. “We’ll be with some of the most experienced adventurers around. I even heard that that some foreign adventurers were making their way here, enticed by the reward. Besides, we’re also pretty good ourselves. Have faith in yourself, Laika.”

“And regarding the matter of the expedition to the Forest of Ruin, we have authorized the mobilization of a company of men drawn from Marquis Vellum’s troops,” the elderly nobleman droned. He glanced at Duke Hargreave Brescia, as if to say, ‘Are you certain about this?’. The duke’s expression bore no trace of doubt, unlike many others in the room.

“Nonsense! If he is accompanied by the finest adventurers in the land and Marquis Vellum’s proven soldiers, there is no safer place to be. I have also asked for the Knights of the Azurelion to mobilize ten of their best knights. In Wisteria’s absence, her second-in-command Sir Orsten has stepped up to volunteer himself and nine other valorous young warriors. Furthermore, the Royal Caster Society have, upon my encouragement, agreed to contact Lord Elmont and ask for his assistance,” grinned Feist. “I do not think anything in that forest, short of the second coming of the Demon God Vaalgrahf himself, would pose a threat to the expedition.”

Government forces:
Assorted soldiers - leader Marquis Vellum.
Order of the Azurelion - leader Sir Orsten (in place of Wist).
Royal Caster Society mages - leader Lord Elmont.

Adventurers:
Various adventurer parties - leader Alexander Mulberry.
The Dragonslashers - leader unknown.
The Blue Spinels - Mira?
The Trinity Coterie - leader unknown.
Possible foreign parties (unless Dragonslashers and Trinity Coterie are foreign) - leaders unknown.

 

[Kipeci]

A bit of a reminder of what we are facing:
Assorted soldiers - Marquis Vellum.
Various adventurer parties - leader Alexander Mulberry.
The Dragonslashers - leader unknown.
The Blue Spinels - Mira?
The Trinity Coterie - leader unknown.
Royal Caster Society mages - leader Lord Elmont.
Order of the Azurelion - leader Sir Orsten (in place of Wist).
Possible foreign parties (unless Dragonslashers and Trinity Coterie are foreign) - leaders unknown.

I think on the matter of the adventuring parties we are rather deficient in knowledge. The names don't really mean much of anything to us by themselves, and the thing is that we don't know anything about them aside from those labels. If we make use of the names that we do know to question Eileen, I think that the enthusiast in her will take over and we'll be able to get more value attached to them. At least, we could have a good idea if some group is more bent towards brawny might vs. magic use, what sort of magic they like to use, little things that could potentially come in handy.

 

[Nevill]

You can't get away with showing an entire camp her special Gigadyne move.

Why?

The squires know about it anyway.

I think on the matter of the adventuring parties we are rather deficient in knowledge.

I asssume we know what Amesdan knows, and he was talking about big names in a way that suggests at least some familiarity.

Of course, Ellen would know them a bit better due to her being in one camp with them and her SQUEEEEEE attitude towards some of them, so there is merit in asking her.

 

[Kipeci]

I guess, I just think that our mad scientist has some more important preparations to attend to than torturing the guy for info.

Unless you would like for Rin to take over.

 

[Kipeci]

Novelty, sure. Power..? She's not feeding it with Erd's kind of mana. I also think she'll avoid using it unless she has no other option to avoid losing considering that I don't think the clothes destroying bug was fixed, but so what if they find out that a strange girl from the very edge of civilization uses a weird spell?

If anything, that makes it seem like Elmont would try to talk to her about it, and forging a little tie with a big name could go a long way to making sure that Aria isn't disappeared.

 

[Nevill]

I think there is a lot of things these guys have never seen. Like black slimes. You learn something new every day.

It's not even a spell that's being unique, it's Aria herself. No other human was able to learn Gigadyne just by witnessing it. Are you afraid of them possibly linking her to us? I am not so sure we can hide her affiliation with us once Alexander takes a closer look at her anyway.

It does deprive us of an element of surprise in case of hostilities (pretty sure the prince's bodyguards are not equipped to deal with this, and our 'caretakers' are more relaxed around a harmless peasant girl), but I don't think we are planning on doing something rash here yet.

 

[Azira]

B
II, III, IV

 

[lightbane]

Finally! This month has proven to be a slow one, but I can understand having priorities that require urgent attention.

Orsten shrugged. “If the shape is there, the hand must follow. You know it well enough, Mira, for we are not too different, you and I.”

And this guy is Wisteria's second in command? I bet she not only doesn't suspect a thing, but she has a wrong idea of his character as well.

Perhaps Erd is not even as bad/pervert as he believes himself to be.

Anyway, my votes:

1. A>B>C. Girls cannot stop themselves from gossiping. If that fails, while swallowing her pride will be a difficult thing to do for Aria, it is the thing that will most certainly work. With C, even though I have no doubts that Aria will win, she'll become the center of attention once again, something we don't want it to happen... Yet. But it is a fall-back plan to consider, if all else.
2. II, IV, III. Eileen will most likely give information about the knights whether she really wants to do so or not, she won't be able to stop herself from showing off in front of such "nudist bumpkin". Asking about the Prince is not totally suspicious, it depends on how Aria will word it. Lastly, the final question is another in which she'll provide gossip for free. Still, the only relevant things Erd only needs to know is how many females are there, how cute they are and how many magical artifacts/books/loot they have with them, but sadly we cannot ask that.

 

[Nevill]

While swallowing her pride will be a difficult thing to do for Aria, it is the thing that will most certainly work.

Why, though?

Ego-boosting I can understand, but Eileen has an idea of our character by now, and asking for help is not the side she is familiar with. Why the information about the expedition would be so important to Aria that a cheeky girl would stoop so low as to plead with her rival whom she called a bitch just a few moments prior?

In Eileen's place I would be wondering why does Aria want to get into knight's business so badly. Even if she isn't the brightest tool in the shed.

Edit: But then there is a second consideration. Would the adults let us talk once we remind them of ourselves? Probably not. We'll probably end up dragged to Mira's tent and will have to find Eileen later so that she makes good on her promise... provided we aren't discovered by then.

Edit2: Then again, Mira's tent is inevitable, it's not like she can forget about us so completely that she would let us wander around the camp unattended.

Edit3: Did anyone else notice the lack of Erdrick's options in the update? Must be hard to do anything meaningful from inside the Regeneration Pod.

 

[archaen]

February is shaping up to be more hectic than I expected.

Tell me about it.

Vote:

C > A

II, III, IV

 

[Kz3r0]

C.
III.
IV.
V.

 

[Grimgravy]

A>B
II, III, IV

 

[lightbane]

Edit3: Did anyone else notice the lack of Erdrick's options in the update? Must be hard to do anything meaningful from inside the Regeneration Pod.

Or perhaps treave forgot. Or perhaps he's preparing an extended chapter for next update.

In Eileen's place I would be wondering why does Aria want to get into knight's business so badly. Even if she isn't the brightest tool in the shed.

Because pride. Knights are all about that and Eileen would have a hard time resisting the opportunity to tell everything she can about them, just to show how much that "nudist bumpkin" is inferior to them. For the question about adventurers, it also would work because she's a complete fangirl about them, something would slip out no matter how much she tries to bite her tongue. Still, chances are B won't win anyway, so it doesn't matter much.

 

[TOME]

“If the shape is there, the hand must follow."

Why isn't 1A more popular? That is the reason we are here and we aren't telling?

A, II, III, V

 

[Nevill]

One of the advantages of A is that we'll be able to talk and gather information on Mira before the adventurer remembers what was it that she was supposed to do and starts looking for us. Might make the interrogation easier to pass. The squire might be more willing to talk if we give away the secret that is meant for the ears of important people only, like Marques and Guildmaster Alexander. That makes her feel important too - which I think is how one of the arguments for B goes.

It's probably the smarter way to go about things.

C looks like it will land Aria in detention and won't give her immediate information, but will make Eileen owe her one instead. It is entirely possible to fuck up so badly we'll have to use this favor to get out of this mess. On the other hand, if it goes smoothly, we may have an agent in the camp. Depends on how far this 'loser does whatever the winner says' can be stretched.

It should be noted that Eileen may be less willing to talk in C, but it also does not limit our interaction to just talking.

P.S.

“If the shape is there, the hand must follow."

I think we have another quote for Lambchop.

 

[Storyfag]

A
II
III
V

 

[Tigranes]

A>B>C. Can't imagine starting a fight in the middle of this freaking camp is a good idea. It would just heighten suspicion after we sold ourselves as a local with information.

 

[Nevill]

Can't imagine starting a fight in the middle of this freaking camp is a good idea.

But we viewed it as a perfectly fine way to gain entrance. What's the difference?

I don't think there is anything suspicious in Aria being Aria and Eileen being Eileen. The squire has a history of starting fights:

“Eileen, don’t do this!” her friends call out. You get the distinct feeling of an “Oh no, not again!” in their voices.

It's pretty natural, actually, given that they address each other as a bitch and a bumpkin. Friendship is in the air!

That said, I am coming around trading information gossip. A>C

If anything, it can serve as a rehearsal before the big questioning.

 

[lightbane]

The man with the flashlight has a point. I'll flop to A>B>C. We have a long week to discuss it anyway, unfortunately.