Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

^ that's some genderfluid-phobic cis privilege right there.

 

[Nevill]

That aside, I can't d'aaaaw enough about our latest acquisitions:

The boy cowers fearfully at you as you approach, his eyes not daring to meet yours. The girl, on the other hand, is staring at you fiercely. There are shades of fear, yes, but also a hint of a strong will beneath that delicate exterior. “Are you a mage?” she asks cautiously.
[...]
Aria nods curtly and stands up. Dragging her brother with her while still keeping a careful eye on you, she pokes one of the former soldiers with a finger. “It’s… real stone,” she murmurs in amazement. Then, a wrathful scowl twists her face, and she shoves the statue. It topples over and shatters on the ground. Aria goes and knocks over another of the petrified soldiers, Arlin following behind her, pleading for her to stop.

Aria (more like Arya ) sounds like someone who will give Rin a run for her money when she grows up. There is none of this blushing schoolgirl bullshit: "You have killed my father, I will take my revenge... wait, why are you naked? Please cover up, I can't fight you when you are naked!" Rin, while feisty, is more about bravado than determination or competence. Aria, on the other hand, looks like she will become the one who actually gets things done. Thoroughly and ruthlessly, at that, and preferably without giving long-winded excuses for her mess-ups.

I just hope she lives long enough to realize this potential. Rin will have to shape up with her around.

The boy, though, is an utter disappointment. Boo! Can't believe anyone could have been paying attention to him over his awesome sister.

 

[Elfberserker]

A>D
Rewards sounds nice, but I would be wary of involving ourself with politics. Even if the prince is nice as first impressions goes, there are still at laest five other siblings with varying degrees of nobility dickery....Well maybe with luck there will be nice prince or two or maybe even princesses.

 

[Nevill]

Also, an interesting observation:

“A trap, eh? If they knew I was coming…” Farland mutters to himself. He seems to have thought of something. “Well, I knew the risks when I signed up to be born into the royal family, I suppose,” he jokes.

There appears to be a spy for HBE among the courtiers. Maybe even someone among the royal family is trying to get rid of the competition.

I am pondering whether or not we should mess this plot of theirs up completely. They are the ones who are convinced that there is something hidden in our ruins, so it is doubtful they will ever truly leave us alone.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I have to admit though, aside from the guy's winning smile, our previous interaction with Kyle, the fact that an angel is rumored to be a slave of their empire, and this guy's adjutant's suggestion that we be used as a meat shield, there really isn't much wrong with the guy. He seems affable enough and even asked whether or not we wanted to fight with him rather than try to force the issue (a bit of intimidation due to the fact that we just turned 3 men into stone may have had something to do with this though).

That said, we know nothing about him and he knows nothing about us. Things will undoubtedly change once he sees us nuking the enemy with lightning or flapping our wing about.

Whether it will be a positive change or a negative one depends on what his reaction to a carnage pigeon with ungodly powers of destruction running around unchecked within his borders is. My bet is Theseus-ish guy gonna Theseus and in his mind we'll need to either be brought under his control (possibly for use in solidifying his political power) and/or eventually eliminated for "the greater good".

 

[Nevill]

He seems affable enough and even asked whether or not we wanted to fight with him rather than try to force the issue

That might have something to do with him recognizing that he has no power to rule over us. Why he said that, though, is ambiguous.

My bet is Theseus-ish guy gonna Theseus and in his mind we'll need to either be brought under his control (possibly for use in solidifying his political power)

That would actually be awesome. Prince Runikylos said hi.

Conquering Methuss with a prince besides you to legitimize your ambitions is much better than declaring war on it with just a goblin village to back you up. We might even spare his life and leave him to administrate his country in peace after we move on to something bigger.

Not every problem is decided by murdering your predecessor/associate, you know?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

If we could work out a deal like that, maybe. It all depends on whether or not he'd even be open to the option - without betraying us down the road that is.

That might have something to do with him recognizing that he has no power to rule over us. Why he said that, though, is ambiguous.

Possibly because he picked up on our hostile attitude and the fact that we have powers he has never seen before, and decided that the best way to get us to do what he wanted was to not try and pull rank but recognize our apparent rebellious attitude and give us the choice. That and the fact that he literally does not (at this moment) have the power to rule over someone who can turn men to stone, let alone someone whom he suspects may be responsible for the pillar of light that destroyed the old demon fortress.

“Magic to turn men into stone… I have never seen such wonders. I am curious, sir mage, do you know anything about the column of light and the rumbling that was sighted near this area some two weeks ago?”

Maybe if it weren't such a desperate situation or he felt a little more confident in his ability to subdue us, he would try to force us to do X or Y, but as it stands, he needs our help and he knows his only chance of getting it is to play nice.

My point is, he seems like a nice guy, but we aren't seeing him in a normal situation and he's too smart to try and force his political authority on a foreigner with unknown powers.

 

[Nevill]

If we could work out a deal like that, maybe. It all depends on whether or not he'd even be open to the option - without betraying us down the road that is.

Runikylos totally meant to betray Dio... right until the moment when he couldn't anymore.

Possibly because he picked up on our hostile attitude and the fact that we have powers he has never seen before, and decided that the best way to get us to do what he wanted was to not try and pull rank but recognize our apparent rebellious attitude and give us the choice.

See? He is smarter than most. Now why would a smart person try to stab an avatar of mindless destruction in the back?

My point is, he seems like a nice guy, but we aren't seeing him in a normal situation and he's too smart to try and force his political authority on a foreigner with unknown powers.

My point is, someone wants him dead, and he is intelligent enough not to bite a helping hand or not to attract additional enemies until he deals with the situation. So even if worse comes to worst, he'd still play nice.

And weren't we proud of our ability to play nice with those who play nice with us (unless 10/10 tits are involved)?

Anyway, this is too much Shulgiing for my tastes. I just want an adjutant for our collection of oddities.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Runikylos totally meant to betray Dio... right until the moment where he couldn't anymore.

Of course you also have to factor in the codex's tendency to screw up everything in some way.

See? He is smarter than most. Now why would a smart person try to stab an avatar of mindless destruction in the back?

Because we'll undoubtedly give him the opportunity to do so.

My point is, someone wants him dead, and he is intelligent enough not to bite a helping hand or not to attract additional enemies until he deals with the situation. So even if worse comes to worst, he'd still play nice.
And weren't we proud of our ability to play nice with those who play nice with us?

The problem is that all too often we try to play nice with those who won't and don't. (Theseus, Naim, etc.)

Again, I'm not completely against A. I am voting for it in my conditionals, after all. I just don't trust this guy and think it may be more trouble than it's worth. After all, why bother with alliances when you can enslave nations with the power of your necromancy lightning?

edit:
Also, because picnic with Rin and the kids.

 

[Nevill]

Edit:

After all, why bother with alliances when you can enslave nations with the power of your necromancy lightning?

Probably because we can't.

One of the nations has an angel (that is rumored to destroy cities). Now, with that much bullshit going on near their borders, do you think that they would have tolerated their neighbours if those didn't have some OP stuff themselves?

We can mop the floor with scrubs like we did in the ruins, or even with a hundred people here, but an army backed up with AWESUM is most likely above our league.

Also, because picnic with Rin

But she doesn't want picnic.

That must be why you are doing it, right?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

yes. also, I feel you are missing the point. I have illustrated it in this helpful image:

Spoiler

 

[lightbane]

I certainly doubt that guy is going to give us a knighthood rank just like that, although perhaps he does give us something if we act nice. Should that be the case, I vote for being given magical scrolls/access to their library. We need more and better spells, especially those related with illusion, mind control and healing for obvious reasons. Moreover, that way perhaps we can learn a little of their language and not always depend on our "Google-translation" spell.

In any case, discretion is essential, so it would be better if Erdrick spams 200+ electric wolves rather than summoning the biggest Gygadine he can cast, revealing his angelic features in the process (unless he also "accidentally" obliterates the prince with it, of course).

 

[Nevill]

It would be better if Erdrick spams Sleep on the Prince as he sics Rin on the enemies.

 

[Rex Feral]

A, of course. B is retarded and C...the fuck are we going to do with hostages? We don't even have where to keep them without Rin butchering them before we even get to talk to them.

A>D

 

[treave]

Hm, are you guys still interested in taking the Barzamites alive, or are they to be disposed of like yesterday's trash?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Disposed of unless there are any more high mages to interrogate - though the prince might want them for himself.

 

[Nevill]

Hm, are you guys still interested in taking the Barzamites alive, or are they to be disposed of like yesterday's trash?

I think a few officers would be nice. Either for presenting them to the Prince and directing his attention to Barzam, or for our own amusement in the Rape Dungeon kitchen.

Or even for Aria's entertainment. That girl will go places, I can feel it.

 

[treave]

It's going to be quite hard to round them all up or prevent them from fleeing during battle unless you try to herd them into a single spot with your wolves. Even then that tactic is not guaranteed to work. Too much distance to cover.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Bros, another point in favor of D:

So we killed all those guys before instead of letting them go because we didn't want any witnesses. Then we came to kill these ones because we didn't want anyone who even knew about those other guys alive nearby.

But now we have just shown off our powers to the prince of a neighboring kingdom and instead of leaving him to die, we are going to help him?

No, I say we let him die and then obliterate the remaining forces - or just leave and take the kids so no one knows we were here.

 

[treave]

No, I say we let him die and then

Wear his skin. You are the prince now. And Rin can be the adjutant.

 

[Nevill]

Why do we need to round them all up?

Kill them en masse until they rout, then see if there aren't some officers left who are still alive, then send Rin/wolves after the survivors. Or assume lightning form and give chase.

Why people running off weren't a problem in the ruins?

In any case, I expect the officers to be better protected, so we can afford to be a bit rough with our opening salvos that would easily kill normal men.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Wear his skin. You are the prince now. And Rin can be the adjutant.

I am in favor of this.

 

[Nevill]

But now we have just shown off our powers to the prince of a neighboring kingdom and instead of leaving him to die, we are going to help him?

It's not a neighboring kingdom, it's the kingdom where we are located.

The Prince's death would attract attention to the region, and the villagers would still be witnesses of our power unless you want to murder them as well (I am assuming that we still kill of Barzam forces in D after they are done with the Prince, that's what I came here to do). So I am not sure how is that a point in favor of anything.

But it would not be the first time Erdrick acted without foresight as to the consequences of his actions.

 

[treave]

Why people running off weren't a problem in the ruins?

Because they were ambushed by the wolves while most of them were in a state unprepared for battle, but that's a lot harder to manage here since there is more ground to cover, they are already fighting, and they have horses. You could use lightning form, which'd mean giving more information away. But that's up to you. I'm not saying it's impossible to round them up, I'm saying that without first monitoring the battlefield it will be difficult to get a good grip on the enemy's exact numbers and location so that you can finish them off cleanly. You could do that in the ruins, but it is too late to do that here.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

the villagers would still be witnesses of our power unless you want to murder them as well.

I'd be ok with this too.