Myth: A New Age CYOA

[GreyViper]

1A
2B
3DE
4C

 

[Fangshi]

The voting will close in thirteen hours.

The current leading options are:

1. Work fully with Albrecht's people

2. Contact Mayer to pursue ventures within the kingdom

3. Hire both Dragomirov and Levy (for 75 WPs 50 WPs a month, I should not type while drinking...)

4. Run the spell past the academy and let them properly vet it.

The update will likely come twelve to fourteen hours after the vote closes.

 

[Smashing Axe]

So we're going to spend ages waiting for the academy to properly vet the spell, whilst paying 75 WPs a month to educate the girls. With a small pool of 400 WPs...

Great, just great.

 

[Nevill]

1. A week.
2. 50 WPs.
3. 600 WPs.
4. While making effort to earn money.

Oh the horror.

 

[Smashing Axe]

1. A week.
2. 50 WPs.
3. 600 WPs.
4. While making effort to earn money.

Oh the horror.

You're not including the 200 WP loan we've already taken into that.
Our efforts to make money will take time and money (shock) to get up and running and if we continue spending at this rate, we will have nothing left to get those efforts started or see them to fruition. The fact is we're going to be spending 85 60 WP (Shakes fist at Fangshi) a month with no income stream. It's just a silly thing to do at this juncture. I don't see why we don't wait until we've got some money coming in and our expensive long-term one off payments out of the way before doing something like this. We've no guarantee we're going to be receiving money from Albrecht, with him suspicious of us because of Lyssa. Perhaps we will, or perhaps he will offer us a shiny bauble so good that we are compelled to take that option instead. Why not hire one general now (Levy) who charges a manageable amount of gold, then hire more when we can be sure we can pay these guys in future?

 

[Nevill]

No, I *am* including the loan.

That said, you have a point. I'll think about it.

Still, we have about 600 WPs worth of uncollected rewards from the king if we want them, and that's before we decided to cooperate.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Fangshi can you clarify how much money we have right now sans debt?

As for the reward, if it is offered (Lyssa is our doom), I imagine Fangshi offering a range of options. They may be superior to wealth, but if don't take that option we're probably going to be screwed financially.

 

[Nevill]

Also, Fangshi, if we ask Mayer, what are the avenues for making quick money that we can pursue, given our circumstances?

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi can you clarify how much money we have right now sans debt?

Sure, it is listed on the Organization post linked on the front page.

Your organization as a whole has 613 WPs.

However you only have access to 100 WPs since that is all that is left of what you brought with you.

Also, Fangshi, if we ask Mayer, what are the avenues for making quick money that we can pursue, given our circumstances?

Quick money is usually dangerous money and is often bloody money. He has no magic solution to your cash problem though he does know of a couple things that can make you money if you are willing to get your hands dirty.

Some of the minor merchant houses are teetering on the brink. If you want you could help him con those families out of what remains of their wealth. Though you would be directly responsible for ruining them and their families.

There is a standing bounty on ghôls in the kingdom. Every skull is worth a gold coin. If you are up for a little genocide you could help depopulate the surrounding tribes.

There are contracts to protect merchant caravans from Myrgard to Stoneheim though that is essentially grunt work and the pay is not good.

There is also the information market. You spend a lot of time in the palace, he could put you in contact with someone that could connect you with people that are quite interested in the comings and goings of palace staff and royal personnel. Though that might make you powerful enemies if you do not handle it discretely.

Beyond that there are properties you could try to acquire that might eventually make you some money but you do not have much cash to hand (50 WPs, less if you vote to restock your supplies) so you might have to take out a loan.

What he suggests you do is see what you can grab for yourself when Albrecht disposes of the traitors and 'conspirators '. There is a lot of wealth and assets tied up there and it is doubtful that House Albrecht will be able to or even want to hold on to most of it.

 

[Smashing Axe]

So if we didn't pay back the loan our organisation would have 800 WP, correct?

 

[Nevill]

Smashing Axe, here is the math.

We had 1000 WPs. We used about 100 WPs for our needs in Muirthemne. We paid 340 WPs to the Arrows. We paid about 60 WPs for the items. We withdrew 100 WPs from Albrecht's account as a reward. So we should have about 600 WPs now, and it matches.

The loan is because we didn't have the cash on hand to pay those 340 WPs.

 

[Fangshi]

Yes.

Your organization currently has 713 WPs sitting in Muirthemne, while you are carrying 100 WPs.

Your net wealth counting the debt is 613 WPs, I should probably clean that up a little to make it easier to read.

This is the list of expenses and earnings I have for you during this chapter:

+ gained 1000 WPs at the start of Chapter 2 from assorted looting

- lost 30 WPs for the lavish wedding present to Serpent and Christine

- lost 7 WPs hiring Trakk and Co

- lost 30 WPs on a medium compound

- lost 20 WPs hiring both the vets and the recruits for your organization

+ gained 100 WP from the promissory note when you reached the city

- lost 300 WPs to hire the Arrows to defend you

- took out a 200 WP loan to cover the Arrows so you were not completely broke

- lost 100 WPs on shopping and the Arrows for the Oneiroi

713 in the vault + 100 on your person - the 200 owing = 613 WPs total

Current Tally:

Spoiler

Smashing Axe: 1.A 2.A 3.D 4.B
Azira: 1.A 2.B 3.D>E 4.B>C
asxetos 1.B 2.B 3.D 4.C
Jester: 1.A 2.B 3.BD>CD 4.C
Kz3r0: 1.A 2.B 3.D 4.C
Grimgravy: 1.B 2.B 3.CD>D 4.B
archaen: 1.B>A 2.B 3.D 4.C>B
Baltika9: 1.x 2.x 3.CD 4.x
Nevill: 1.A 2.B 3.D 4.C
GreyViper: 1.A 2.B 3.DE 4.C

1. The Trial
A) 6 votes
B) 3 votes
C)
D)
E)

2. The Financier
A) 1 vote
B) 8 votes
C)

3. The Tutor
A)
B)
C)
D) 6 votes
E)
AD)
BD) 1 vote
CD) 2 votes
DE) 1 vote

4. The Spell
A)
B) 3 votes
C) 6 votes

Post Flop:

1. The Trial
A) 7 votes
B) 2 votes
C)
D)
E)

2. The Financier
A) 1 vote
B) 8 votes
C)

3. The Tutor
A)
B)
C)
D) 6 votes
E)
AD)
BD)
CD) 3 votes
DE) 1 vote

4. The Spell
A)
B) 2 votes
C) 7 votes

 

[Nevill]

Well, there is merit in what Smashing Axe says. We don't have a stable income source, and the freefoem format of this CYOA ensures that here, we *can* actually do things later. What is keeping us from proposing the same thing when our finances are in a greater shape? It is too early to live as a king while having only from 50 to 100 WPs in reserves. We'll have to take loans and limit our option just to shave - what, a month? - off the education time, and the education itself looks like it will take a year or so. The same logic as with Melete's ritual applies. There is no rush.

These things are only going to pay off in long term, so a bit of planning and not wasting more resourses than we can afford to would help us achieve desired results. We don't even know how well the girls will respond to the education. Let's take a wait-and-see approach.

I'll flop to 3D.

That said, the list of opportunities that Mayer produced has some decent entries in it. I am particularly interested in this one:

Beyond that there are properties you could try to acquire that might eventually make you some money but you do not have much cash to hand (50 WPs, less if you vote to restock your supplies) so you might have to take out a loan.

We have potentially about 500 WPs that we can loan from the House of Albrecht (judging from the reward Albrecht was willing to pay us already, and if he manages to confiscate some assets from the rebellious houses, I assume he would be able to give us even more), and that is a pretty good starting capital. Seeing how Mayer has an unerring business sense, can he tell us how to best invest it so we could eventually pay off the loan and make a profit while we are at it? The faster the pay-off, the better.

What are our options on that front?

I have no desire to usurp the property from the deceased. While the crown can afford to have that sort of reputation (the state gives, and the state takes), we are better off keeping our hands semi-clean - while profiting from a close cooperation with the King, of course, and making use of the same resourses indirectly.

Actually, that would make for a nice question for the next update.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I don't want to buy property here, Muirthemne is where our base of operations is and it's better to play landlord in a place that doesn't take a month or two to reach across treacherous terrain. That and it's a long-term investment which won't pay itself off for at least a few years. Conning some minor houses out of their wealth with Mayer and leaching off Albrecht's purge both sound low risk, high reward. We ought to pursue that when the opportunity arises. But alas, everyone wants to be paragons of virtue instead of a cynical machiavellian mage who looks after the interests of herself and her friends before all else.

 

[Nevill]

Muirthemne houses most of our wealth currently. It is a capital of the human Empire and it is our base of operations for a reason.

But Myrgard is where the money is, where our partner is, and where we have full support from the government to pursue profitable ventures.

There is no need to concentrate our influence in one place when it can reach all the way from the Dwarven Kingdom to the Northlands.

Build political power in Muirthemne, build wealth in Myrgard, and build an army in the Northlands. Why keep all the eggs in one basket?

But alas, everyone wants to be paragons of virtue instead of a cynical machiavellian mage who looks after the interests of herself and her friends before all else.

That bit about our friends was just a lip service, right?

 

[Smashing Axe]

Why keep all our eggs in one basket? Logistics. How do we transport the gold we make? We saw firsthand how urneliable travel is between the Dwarven Kingdoms and the Empire. Since there is no banking system currently setup in Muirthemne we can't use promissory notes and the like, which is part of the reason we got involved with Mayer in the first place. There are better opportunities to build wealth in Muirthemne once we return since no one has yet introduced banking there. That and these things are often needed to be together to have a compounding effect. Gold, an army, and political connections together in one place are a lot more effective than gold, an army or political connections seperated by vast distances (With the possible exception of political connections, which is primarily what we're building here anyway)

No, it's better that we go for quick cash options here, bring it to Muirthemne and consolidate for a time.

That bit about our friends was just a lip service, right?

Maybe...

 

[archaen]

As soon as we get back to Muirthemne we will have an actual income. We didn't tell Gareth to sit on his laurels. I think our main focus is to get Melete up and see if we can get a permanent gate working. If we can, Nevills and Smashing Axes argument then becomes moot and we monopolize travel between the nations for income. We do need to get back to Muirthemne and make connections with decision makers there so we can get the terminus for the gate approved. We are working fully with the King here and I don't believe we will have a problem on this side.

If we want to wait a month to hire the second tutor until finances shore up or just want to use Gareth if we can get a gate up I am game. Flop 3.D
When we do go back to Muirthemne we should have Mayer or the merchant houses find us high valuable property transport contract or arbitrage something precious in the kingdom that we can take and gate ourselves back to our tower. (Until we have permission I think gating directly into Muirthemne is a mistake) It would be even better if we could take a diplomatic pouch from Albrecht and an introductory letter from the Heron guard.

 

[GreyViper]

You know we could solve the problem if we had a working portal to Muirthemne and we would be making more money out of it.

 

[Nevill]

Ahem.

A group of adventurers monopolising gate travel between the cities? Do you even realise how much attention and of what kind it will bring to us? In Myrgard at least, the state will grant us some measure of protection. In Muirthemne, more powerful players will just terminate us and take over. The Brannons could probably do it with a flick of a finger.

You can't get hold of that much money if you don't also have a lot of power to protect it, and currently we don't. Something had to be done on the Muirthemne's end before we would actually be able to do it safely.

We have to think rationally, guys.

 

[archaen]

That's why my plan outlines us going back to Muirthemne and building up a power base and relationships there before we even think about bringing up gating into the city. Melete is going to likely need months to figure out a power source anyway. In the mean time we can use our gate spell for high paying transport jobs, take on riskier mercenary contracts with mage support, or go ruin diving to fund living and research expenses.

 

[Nevill]

It was mentioned earlier that the magical academy does not grants access to the better spells to the outsiders. Naturally, that raises a question of how do we improve our relationships with them? One would think that since it is the Royal Magical Academy, their opinion on things would somewhat correlate with the one the crown has, but we still are treated like strangers despite being best buddies with the government.

Still, one of the rewards we could have requested from Albrecht was a free run of the academy, so he has means to influence them, if needed.

What would it take for them to warm up to us a bit? Would sharing a rare spell or a ritual with them do it?

 

[Fangshi]

So the vote is closed.

You will conspire with House Albrecht to make all the charges stick, you will work with Mr Mayer, you will hire only Levy, and you will get the academy to help with the spell.

The update should be out in twelve to fourteen hours.

What would it take for them to warm up to us a bit?

They are loyal to the crown in that they get a decent chunk of their funding that way but as long as the money keeps coming they are remarkably apolitical. They are all about the science magic, give them something new to explore or unravel on a consistent basis, demonstrate that you are yourself a woman after their own hearts and your rep with them will probably increase... ah, maybe... most of them are a little... eccentric...

 

[Nevill]

They are all about the science magic, give them something new to explore or unravel on a consistent basis, demonstrate that you are yourself a woman after their own hearts and your rep with them will probably increase... ah, maybe... most of them are a little... eccentric...

Sic Melete on them. She'd feel right at home with them, and those who will live through the testing stage of her inventions will be our BFF.

Mostly because those who aren't friendly enough would be more likely to suffer... accidents.

 

[Fangshi]

Sic Melete on them.

They already know her, general consensus is that she has absolutely no respect for scientific method. She just does whatever she wants! The woman is a loose cannon! So on and so forth. (The worst part is that her ideas often work and work well even though she spends next to no time worrying about the theory behind them. The fellows find it quite annoying and she enjoys rubbing it in their faces a little.)

 

[Smashing Axe]

I'm incredibly leery of this permanent gate plan. It has world wide disaster written all over it. We know lovecraftian horrors constantly seek a way through into our dimension through the gate spells, hell, we've taken a risk with our lives every time we've cast it as far as I'm aware. A permanently activated gate just seems doomed to inevitable disaster.

One just has to wonder, with this worl's history of incredibly powerful archmages, why such an endeavour has never been done before.