Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[TOME]

Is the princes bodydouble still in catatonic state?

A

The spell offers only very subtle suggestions and manipulations so we need time to convince people to change their vote.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Yikes. So many c voters. As in the Epic: Book 2 LP, our character's INT really needs to compensate and prevent us from incredibad decisions sometimes. If only so that we don't wreck the story.

 

[Azira]

Have I voted yet?

Nope. Don't think so.

A

 

[Nevill]

I'll throw my vote for B.

Wouldn't the caster cutting the spell off be worse than a counter-spell? If there is no spell, then we lose any influence we might have and we are left to work with whatever other methods we have... of which there are not any.

Maybe doing a last-second change is actually beneficial.

So many c voters.

People who voted for sleep don't get to complain.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

People who voted for sleep don't get to complain.

Eh, did you not notice:

You have not pushed yourself like this in quite a while

Not sleeping for two days might have had an effect here. Or not.

Regardless, I stand by the decision to sleep. Firstly, it was in-character. Secondly, this is merely our first opponent. There will be other opportunities to sleep and build up our sleep xp.

Simultaneously campaigning to the prisoners and looking for a way to cheat was the real waste.

 

[Esquilax]

Simultaneously campaigning to the prisoners and looking for a way to cheat was the real waste.

It was very difficult to get a strategy going in part because of the time between updates, and in part because there was a lack of cohesion among the voters. You had a few people that wanted to campaign, and a few people that wanted to cheat, so you ended up with a middle-of-the-road outcome that led to a really sub-optimal result here.

I think that Queen Bee is a red herring and not a threat to us as far as countermeasures are concerned:

From what you have managed to discover about Queen Bee, you are fairly certain she does not have the power to pull off such a stunt. It has to be someone else, but who and why?
...
With the limited knowledge and power you have, you cannot rule out any magical traps lying in wait to counter a counterspell.
...
A. Cast Subversion as soon as you can and attempt to exchange the vote totals to be in your favour. If anything goes wrong with the spell, you will be able to fix it on the go. On the downside, it will also provide Queen Bee with enough time to notice the problem and execute her countermeasures, if she has any.

B. Cast Subversion a few hours away from the deadline. Hopefully this will provide you enough time to notice anything wrong with the spell and fix it, while reducing the amount of time Queen Bee has to act. Unfortunately, you cannot be certain that this will actually give you enough time to mend any problems or that it will not give Queen Bee enough time to retaliate.

If there are magical traps here that are ready to stop us, I would expect them to be put in place by whoever oversees the Tower, not by Queen Bee. She has powers of mental suggestion, but if there is a mechanism in place to stop us, I would expect the culprit to be someone we haven't even met at this point.

Also, because the power involves subtle mental suggestion to change the votes, we must rule out C. A spell that is described as such needs time to work, so the question is: how much time? I am leaning towards A. First, because I think we really need as much time as we can get, and second, because I don't think that Queen Bee will be the one with the countermeasures, the Tower's own security mechanisms are going to more likely be a problem for us. She will definitely know that something is up, but I'm not sure that she can do much about the actual spell itself.

B > A

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Flopping to A>B

 

[Esquilax]

Baltika9 Nevill Kipeci

This vote is pretty damn important. Any thoughts regarding A vs. B?

 

[Nevill]

I think that Queen Bee is a red herring and not a threat to us as far as countermeasures are concerned:

I think that as well. The spell is not of her doing.

But does that mean anything for our reasoning? Apparently she has a patron upstairs. They are able to communicate. Once Subversion starts working, the Queen will flip her shit and start demanding answers. If there are counter-measures in place, they will be applied.

What changes if our opponent is different?

Also, because the power involves subtle mental suggestion to change the votes, we must rule out C.

I read the description of the option as 'you cast this spell at a last possible moment that is required for it to affect people'. Otherwise, what's the point?

I can see the benefits of all three approaches here, with C being the riskier one.

But hey, okay. I can drop a vote for B>A if you truly believe it will help anything.

It would be tremendously easy for the patron to switch the spell off in A, nullifying our sole advantage, and then for Queen Bee to win the votes back the old-fashioned way.

Not sleeping for two days might have had an effect here.

We don't need sleep. At all. Like, completely.

 

[Jester]

B

I expect the guy who cast this is current top dog here. I don't think queen uses this spell, but personal ones to influence people.

Personally I think its B.
It's "very subtle suggestions and manipulations" and "efficient" spell, but what about power though? In order to make it subtle its probably not very powerful spell. That would lead to sudden and suspicious change in behaviour. Queen sound like a experienced person capable to quietly overpower this suggestion if given time.

I think its about time. We got to make her enough time to believe she won and lower her guard, but reserve enough time for spell to actually influence people.
A to long, C to short and B just exact amount of time. I think. Might be wrong, but that's how I see it.

 

[Kipeci]

Baltika9 Nevill Kipeci

This vote is pretty damn important. Any thoughts regarding A vs. B?

Neither are good, B is better of the two. We're very much shackled, the only thing we have going for us is a really clever trick to our spell that allows for us to influence the results. And remember, since anyone may change their vote at any time there's no penalty to a late suggestion for people to flop, provided that all goes well. I think we've rested enough that our spell should be solid and not contain some small errors that would have been present had we not slept. So I think that we won't be able to make our spell that much more effective with the limited time we have remaining to put it into action, but there will be a lot of time left for Queen Bee to convince less restricted mages of the upper floors to do something about our pesky spell. The surprise is the bulk of what we really have going here, forsaking it for troubleshooting will go a ways to ensure that we get shot down.

I am for C, though B is still better than A.

 

[Esquilax]

I'm sold on Nevill's reasoning for B. Flopped to B > A.

 

[Baltika9]

This vote is pretty damn important. Any thoughts regarding A vs. B?

Sorry, I'm in some hipster jazz bar in Buffalo. What's this smorgasbord about again?

 

[Nevill]

Jester has the gist of it. By the time subtle suggestion works and people start changing their votes en masse, it might be too late for the Queen to do anything. Even if they counterspell or drop the spell altogether, people will have cast their votes and it will take some more time for them to reconsider once more.

I dislike the middle of the road options though, especially when we are in deep shit.

 

[Baltika9]

Alright, B it is.

 

[wjw]

Agreeing on the logic. The spell - as is - is slowly pushing people into voting for Queen Bee. Reversing it - piggyback style - will probably have a similar if not slightly faster effect, since the voters are already 'entangled'.

Vote B>C

 

[Tigranes]

Your new magic requires a mental spell to have been cast on the subject beforehand; regardless of the first spell’s source, your spell is able to piggy-back upon the strings of magic that have altered their mental state, subverting it to your own purposes. At this moment you are only able to offer very subtle suggestions and manipulations, but you think this will be enough.

This does sound like people won't exactly snap allegiances straight away, but rather, people will begin to have second thoughts, and the colour of their mind fog will shift. I'm wondering whether this implies that we need people to have a lot of time to not only turn themselves around, but talk to each other and slowly convince each other that Erdrick is the right man to make this prison great again.

treave from what we have seen of the first floor prisoners, does it seem like they are talking and building up the support for Bee in this 'organically' interpersonal way, or does it seem like half of them are walking around in a daze drooling about her?

 

[treave]

treave from what we have seen of the first floor prisoners, does it seem like they are talking and building up the support for Bee in this 'organically' interpersonal way, or does it seem like half of them are walking around in a daze drooling about her?

You don't think the spell has anything to do with the voting at all. You're just commandeering existing pathways for your own purposes. It could have been a spell entirely unrelated to Queen Bee and Subversion would still work.

 

[treave]

Final tally:

A - 3
B - 7
C - 5

Welp, guess we went for the middle path. Locking votes. Update will be out by tomorrow at the latest.

 

[Kipeci]

Well, I'm sure that it will also be entertaining to see what new way Erd is boned by this decision.

 

[treave]

A Tame Ending

All in all, you could not be surprised at the outcome. As the spell was cast, and the votes swiftly flipped in your favour, Queen Bee made her move. Bereft of any options now that you had used your trump card, you could only watch as the numbers slowly shifted back while she made use of her network of allies to counteract your magic. Had you more reserves of mana you would have attempted to cast the spell a second time to build upon the effect of the first, but unfortunately the use of Subversion on such a wide scale did not go unnoticed. Casting a spell that spanned floors supposed to be beyond your reach appeared to upset the tower quite badly, and soon you managed to find out firsthand the penalty for having a karma value that had gone too far into negative numbers. The mass of restrictions descending upon you completely sealed off all of your abilities and spells, rendering you almost as useless as a normal human. Even your halo has dimmed, your wings losing their luster.

In the end, perhaps you were lucky to cast the spell when you did: Queen Bee had barely enough time to draw even with your numbers by the deadline. The result was a boring draw, but it did mean you would not suffer whatever mysterious penalty that awaited a losing challenger. Had you won, Queen Bee would have to deal with the burden of your negative karma, but you had gambled, and you had lost. It was a couple days’ effort for very little gain, and that put you in a rough mood. Queen Bee had not even deigned to leave you with a taunt. You could quite clearly hear Rin giggling at how it all ended. Even the emotionless mask of the unnamed girl seemed to mock you.

You fall back on the unwelcoming cot, mentally drained. You will try again… not tomorrow, perhaps, but the day after. Or maybe the next week.

Outside, night has fallen. As you close your eyes, you begin to hear a rapping noise. It is the sound of stone striking stone. You sit up, suddenly alert. The noise is coming from beneath the ground, and you watch with slight amazement as a large slab of grey rock detaches from the floor and floats into the air. A pale yellow flame flickers in the hole left behind, and within the fire illuminates a withered, wrinkled face, toothlessly grinning up at you in the dark.

“The one that subverted my spell,” said the old man in the hole. “An angel, but that should not surprise me. A spear of the old gods that points men towards the freedom of death, though I hope more for the former and not the latter. Death, no, not for me, not today.”

Standing up, you walk over to the floating slab and press down on it, hoping to shut out the thing that is intruding on your rest.

“Wait, be not of haste, angel,” whispers the old man quickly.

“If you had a creepy old man sneak into your room, you would be quite at haste too, I’m sure,” you say, tired from your previous exertions. “Shall I scream for the guards?” Screaming for the guards tended to be something other people did as an effect of your actions, and you are not used to this particular tactic, but you are certain you can pull it off anyway.

“Ah, but see, I created that spell precisely for this reason. I have been waiting for this for a long, long time.” The old man grins again. “I have been searching, searching for a prisoner with the strength of mind and fleetness of wit to aid me in one thing, and one thing only.”

“This seems awfully convenient,” you say.

“Convenience is a mask of fate, for-“

“No rambling. Tell me what you want in ten words or less,” you say coldly. After the events of today you are in little mood to entertain strange men digging holes in your room.

“You will be my tool to escape this tower,” the old man says promptly.

“A tool, you say? Is that how you seek my help?”

“I offer honesty. I offer truth. I offer learning. Being a tool has its benefits. Are you not familiar with being one yourself? A tool of kings and goddesses?” The old man’s eyes gleam golden; is it the glow of the fire, you wonder, or is it a shine of another nature? All of a sudden you are no longer certain – despite his all too human looks – that the old man before you is what he seems to be.

Your voice drops low and you bend down to look the old man in the eyes. “Kings and goddesses. That is an interesting choice of words… hm, what should I call you?”

Thinking for a while, the old man breaks out his toothless grin again and says, “I believe, given the circumstances that we find ourselves in… yes, a particular name comes to mind, from a tome I once read a long, long time ago. Faria. That would be a fitting name to call me.”

“Is it? No numbers?”

“Numbers are for the caged.”

“Very well, Faria. You have my attention,” you say. “What are your plans?”

“Come with me. I will show you.”

“Going off with a creepy old man through a dark tunnel somewhere alone? I have heard enough stories about prisons to know where that leads. If there is anything you want to show me, bring it here,” you demand.

“Ah, what a vexatious child,” sighed Faria. “It would quite diminish the dramatic nature of my appearance were I to scurry back to my lair to fetch the plans.”

“Perhaps you should have brought it along in the first place, then,” you say lightly, sitting back on the cot with your legs crossed. “Ah, the beauty of hindsight. Go on now, Faria, your tool is waiting.”

“I would, if I could. Unfortunately I had to scratch my plans into the rock walls,” muttered the old man, his tone turning a little discontent as he raised his fingers to show you the torn and roughened tips. “I may know almost all there is to know about this prison, yet even I do not know how to move a wall through a tight tunnel. Besides, there are other apparatuses that cannot be moved, things I have scavenged over the… years I have been here. Things born of the tower that can bypass the restrictions placed upon you.”

Your eyebrows raise. “That means what I think it means, doesn’t it?”

“Why else do you think I was able to cast such a vast spell yet remain hidden from the tower, and also retain enough magic to raise this piece of rock?” gloats Faria as he flicks the floating grey slab. “Now, I shan’t repeat myself. Come with me and I will show you how we can leave.”

You ponder his offer.

***

A. You reject Faria. You will find your own way out of this prison without aid from such a suspicious person… not that you are in any position to be calling others suspicious.
1. You call the guards on him. Perhaps this will help restore some of your karma.
2. You let him go in peace. Perhaps if he keeps on doing what he does, he may sabotage the tower in other ways that will end up assisting you.

B. You go with Faria. He may be suspicious, but not any more suspicious than the presence of this prison and the strange rules governing it. Besides, you can always turn on him later if the deal is not to your liking.
1. You let Rin know where you are going. Just in case. It would not do for both of you to walk into a trap together.
2. You ask Rin to come with you. Even under restrictions, she is still a force to be reckoned with, and you might need some muscle to persuade Faria if there are any disagreements.

 

[Kz3r0]

B.
2.

 

[lightbane]

You could quite clearly hear Rin giggling at how it all ended. Even the emotionless mask of the unnamed girl seemed to mock you.

Aw, no bad end? Only a boring draw? The middle path was the worst choice it seems. Treave confirmed as a Buddhist hater. This also reminds me of the bad end good ending from Legend's Shaolin Temple chapter.
Also, prisons with deceptively powerful old men seems to be a constant in treave's universe. Hopefully this one is not a martial artist as well.

A spear of the old gods that points men towards the freedom of death, though I hope more for the former and not the latter. Death, no, not for me, not today.”

That confirms Angels were meant to be magically-made super-soldiers.

“I offer honesty. I offer truth. I offer learning. Being a tool has its benefits. Are you not familiar with being one yourself? A tool of kings and goddesses?” The old man’s eyes gleam golden; is it the glow of the fire, you wonder, or is it a shine of another nature? All of a sudden you are no longer certain – despite his all too human looks – that the old man before you is what he seems to be.

Faria

Clearly he's something more sinister than the Count of Monte Cristo 2.0. We totally have to get him free.

B. You go with Faria. He may be suspicious, but not any more suspicious than the presence of this prison and the strange rules governing it. Besides, you can always turn on him later if the deal is not to your liking.
2. You ask Rin to come with you. Even under restrictions, she is still a force to be reckoned with, and you might need some muscle to persuade Faria if there are any disagreements.

It's possible barging into a female prisoner's room during the night is considered a faulty behavior here (and possibly dangerous considering Rin being herself), but it's not like we can't get up with worse karma. treave, what is Erd's current score by the way?

 

[Baltika9]

B2

 

[Azira]

Shulgi!!

Oh, how I've missed you...

B1