Myth: A New Age CYOA

[asxetos]

D.
Use our best spells to subdue him.

 

[Azira]

Duck And cover..

 

[Smashing Axe]

How difficult would it be to reverse the effects of retrieve item on the fly to make it "Push Item"? Since it's one of the first spells every mage knows I don't imagine it would be that hard, but who knows.

Also can we sense what kind of magic is emanating from the artifact?

 

[Fangshi]

How difficult would it be to reverse the effects of retrieve item on the fly to make it "Push Item"? Since it's one of the first spells every mage knows I don't imagine it would be that hard, but who knows.

The problem with trying to do that would be that Retrieve Item does not really pull an item towards you. It teleports the item in question rather than moving it directly through space. Sort of like a Gate spell (which is why they are in the same spell school) but also quite different.

Now Derryth is quite clever, she may well be able to improvise such a spell if needed but it might be difficult. I can add it if you would like?

(Lyssa actually has the perfect (elemental) spell to blow something back but she can't really cast it from the middle of your group.)

Also can we sense what kind of magic is emanating from the artifact?

The magic signal that is coming from the ghôl's direction is not something Derryth is familiar with. She is fairly certain it is coming from the amulet (what with it glowing and all) but it could also be coming from the ghôl or even the crow. They are all too close together to clearly tell.

That fact that Derryth does not recognize the magical aura might mean it is not a mental spell, or at least not one from a field that Derryth is trained in, she would need more time to study it to say more than that.

If the signal is coming from the amulet you will be able to gain further insight should the ghôl attempt to use it in any way but for the moment she seems willing to trust to the sack she carries.

Current Tally:

Kz3r0: A
Nevill: A
archaen: E
Jester: B
asxetos: D
Azira: A
Absinthe: E
Zero Credibility: A
Smashing Axe: E

A) 4 votes
B) 1 vote
C)
D) 1 vote
E) 3 votes

 

[archaen]

If the signal is coming from the amulet you will be able to gain further insight should the ghôl attempt to use it in any way but for the moment she seems willing to trust to the sack she carries.

She? Ghôl party member inbound!

 

[Absinthe]

Huh, just got caught up with the update.

I'm impressed you guys managed to land the MC in such a savage debt so quickly and then went cautious on the investments. You had the option right there to take 500 WP from confiscated assets then invest out of own pocket instead of this madness. Now you guys need some massive profits fast or you are going to end up broke or fugitives soon. 20% interest compounded monthly is batshit insane you know. I recommend getting all the coin you can spare together and paying off as much of it as possible as soon as possible. At the bare minimum, make sure to pay off the interest (although I would strongly recommend going beyond that to lower the interest).

She does not know how to control them. The Necromancers that served the Soulblighter essentially worked assembly lines. Lyssa was part of the group that raised the Soulless but she did not command or control them. (This reflects her superior potential as a mage, those that created undead were generally more talented and Soulblighter did take measures to ensure their safety. Without them he would have no armies after all) She could probably figure out the theory if you wanted her to practice necromancy again but none of the women are terribly open to that idea at the moment. They would need a good reason.

This surprises me. After dealing with Fallen Lords and fetches and spider cultists, I didn't expect them to be so judgmental. I figured they'd have more of a "it's how you use it" outlook about it all.

Also, voting D. Can Uttu attack the bag and Lyssa blast it away with Strong Wind should we fail?

 

[Fangshi]

This surprises me. After dealing with Fallen Lords and fetches and spider cultists, I didn't expect them to be so judgmental. I figured they'd have more of a "it's how you use it" outlook about it all.

Just reflective of the general societal views towards necromancy.

The cultists certainly did a lot of harm but that was almost a 1000 years ago. Agents of the state would certainly kill them on sight but it was none of Derryth's business as long as they did not threaten her.

The Fetch are treated in much the same manner, blast them on sight, but Eris probably would have wiped out half your party if directly confronted so Derryth behaved diplomatically. It also helps that the Fetch are essentially prisoners, they do not want to be in this plane of existence, what they want most (at least the majority of them) is to go home.

Necromancers though, they are responsible for wiping out over two thirds of the entire population of the planet. By far, the vast majority of people simply would have thrown Lyssa off the roof without a second thought. It is only because of their experiences (with Fallen Lords, cultists and the like) that Derryth and Thaïs are willing to give her a chance at all.

If they caught her practicing again they would probably just kill her at this point and that is largely down to the fact that they could be hung simply for being friends with her. So they might be willing to resort to necromancy if they had no other option in a life or death scenario but it is a death sentence if anyone finds out.

Now give it a few centuries and maybe the general stance on necromancy will relax a little as the people that have suffered from the wars die out. (It is likely to always carry the death sentence in Alric's empire though. He has fought two very close wars against the undead and is not likely to take any chances.)

Can Uttu attack the bag and Lyssa blast it away with Strong Wind should we fail?

It would be a difficult shot to make. The vault is at the end of a short hallway around a tight corner. Derryth, Thaïs and Jawbone are in the doorway. Berty and Lyssa are behind them, then Uttu and Biliku and finally about a third of your escort. Uttu can make that shot (though if she shot the sack it might detonate depending on what is in it) but it is a difficult shot to make and she would run the risk of hitting someone in all likelihood.

Lyssa could cast Strong Wind and blow the sack back but she would also end up blowing everyone in front of her into the room and potentially into the blast radius of whatever is in that sack (provided it has a blast radius of course).

Let me know if you would like either as options.

 

[Zero Credibility]

For once I vote for caution - A.

We've been lucky so far, but it only takes one "fail and get hit in the face with a bag of explosives" roll to end an LP. Anyway, just because they get away from this place doesn't mean we lost them. That tunnel has to come out somewhere nearby and we have aerial scouts with keen eyes and a guerilla expert to track them down.

 

[Nevill]

Well...

I can't believe that after we passed up the chance to stop the Faceless where no one else could have stopped him, citing insane risks as the reason, we are going to take that same insane risk to try and stop a ghol marauder while we have a small army behing us.

The priorities are astounding.

Edit: oh. Nevermind then.

That tunnel has to come out somewhere nearby and we have aerial scouts with keen eyes and a guerilla expert to track them down.

Not sure how aerial scouts would fare in the tunnels, but two of our girls have cave crawling. Or do you want to spy on them when they get to the surface?

Fangshi, can we have Lyssa tame a rat or two to act as a scout, or will it take too much time to catch and condition one?

Any animal will do, really. Do they keep dogs around here?

 

[Zero Credibility]

When they get out to the surface of course. They have to get out somewhere, quite likely very close by if they had to dig out the tunnel themselves.

 

[archaen]

Huh, just got caught up with the update.

I'm impressed you guys managed to land the MC in such a savage debt so quickly and then went cautious on the investments. You had the option right there to take 500 WP from confiscated assets then invest out of own pocket instead of this madness. Now you guys need some massive profits fast or you are going to end up broke or fugitives soon. 20% interest compounded monthly is batshit insane you know. I recommend getting all the coin you can spare together and paying off as much of it as possible as soon as possible. At the bare minimum, make sure to pay off the interest (although I would strongly recommend going beyond that to lower the interest)

I pushed hard for going aggressive with the purchasing. I bet the next round of Mayer's purchasing bring back even less interest per month then the last set. Once the newly purchased properties start pulling in less than 20% then finally everyone will get on board with us going aggressive. Then we will find out that us sitting on our laurels let the pickings get slim and now even going cut throat doesn't net us enough to get out from under the loan in a timely manner. If we screw up the two enterprises we inherited and they aren't cash positive very quickly, we are going to drown. I also don't understand why we didn't take the loan from Mayer. Why wouldn't we take the three hundred and pay down the kings loan for 5% lower interest? Makes no sense to me.

Nevill, don't you think comparing an Archmage to a ghôl swinging a sack is a little disingenuous? I know she has something magical but it isn't a mental spell and it isn't a wisdom buff, which would be what we would be worried about in taking her down with a mental assault.

 

[Nevill]

I pushed hard for going aggressive with the purchasing. I bet the next round of Mayer's purchasing bring back even less interest per month then the last set. Once the newly purchased properties start pulling in less than 20% then finally everyone will get on board with us going aggressive.

Yes. Once he goes below a certain threshold, that's when we will start raising the pressure. Not earlier. As long as what Mayer gets us is enough to counteract the interest rate (200+ WPs monthly, ideally around 250WPs), we are golden.

I don't see why is it so difficult to understand a wait-and-see approach.

Then we will find out that us sitting on our laurels let the pickings get slim and now even going cut throat doesn't net us enough to get out from under the loan in a timely manner.

For fuck's sake, it's been a week - A WEEK! - since we got that money. How is that 'sitting on our laurels'? From what I'm reading, we are spending all our free time on how to put them to better use. And we are doing quite good, I might add.

I also don't understand why we didn't take the loan from Mayer. Why wouldn't we take the three hundred and pay down the kings loan for 5% lower interest? Makes no sense to me.

We can do that, actually. But for now we keep Mayer's money in reserve. Who knows, maybe we'll invest them, too. If not, sure, we'll pay the debt out of them to lower the interest rate.

The difference is 15WPs per month. It is hardly a tragedy, considering the amount of money we are juggling currently.

Nevill, don't you think comparing an Archmage to a ghôl swinging a sack is a little disingenuous? I know she has something magical but it isn't a mental spell and it isn't a wisdom buff, which would be what we would be worried about in taking her down with a mental assault.

Not at all. The archmage could have ended us in an instant if we didn't end him first. The ghol can do pretty much the same. If that sack hits, they will be scrubbing the remains of your party off the walls for the next few days. And just like with the Faceless, we have no idea what is he packing and how successful our attack might be.

Sure, it isn't a mental spell. Is it a spell at all? What if it is an all-purpose anti-magic barrier? What if it is another variant of the Watcher's stones - want to take your chances overpowering that? What if it is one out of a thousand other magical effects that can impact our result negatively?

One thing I know is that it is strong enough for us to feel it from a great distance away, when we just arrived here, and I don't like it one bit. My first reaction when encountering the unkown is not to blast away and pray it works out somehow, but to try and gleam more information about it.

We are banking our life on a die roll where we don't even have a good estimate of our chances due to the unknown nature of the threat, and for what exactly? Even if the ghols get away - and we do have means to pursue them - it is not the end of the world. Are we that desperate to get the money back?

I mean, when someone tosses a grenade at you, you don't try to catch it and throw it back like in the movies. You fly into a cover and try to come up with a plan after that. So why are we going for the riskiest and flashiest of options?

Case in point:

Mental spells are your strong suit but you have never tried them on a ghôl before. It might be easier or it might be harder to pull off.

 

[archaen]

For fuck's sake, it's been a week - A WEEK! - since we got that money. How is that 'sitting on our laurels'? From what I'm reading, we are spending all our free time on how to put them to better use. And we are doing quite good, I might add.

You don't think anyone with gold to their name is scrambling around buying up all the choice properties as fast as they can discover them? The great houses are likely twisting arms and busting heads to get to the front of the line. At the current investment rate we will take over a month to get all our WP invested and making money. We owe 200WPs THIS month unless we are just going to give back part of the loan immediately. We have 60 WP on hand and are currently bleeding 35WPs a month. If Fangshi is nice and allows the properties we buy in the coming weeks to give us full value for the month and the same interest rate, we are still looking at a shortfall of (800 invested gives 180 WP income) a further 20WP shortfall on top of the 35WP one we already have for 5WP left to us at the end of the month. If he isn't so nice, then we default unless we take out another loan or use part of the principal to pay the interest. The gold those ghôls ran off with does seem kind of important in that light.

It looks like it is moot anyway as A is going to take it.

 

[Absinthe]

Fangshi, er, I'd prefer our crew's stance relaxes much faster than the societal stance on this. Also, about Uttu and Lyssa, I was wondering about that. First, Uttu fires frost arrows, so conceivably whatever she hits wouldn't necessarily detonate. As for Lyssa, a chance of ending up in the blast radius is still better than a certainty of getting hit by the bag's contents.

Nevill, no, MC is on track to go bankrupt with the current rate of profits. You don't realize how scary fast this debt will grow. If we pay off the interest, in just 5 months we will have paid equal to the initial loan and still owe 1000. Without paying, in 4 months debt will double, and in 2 more months, triple.

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, can we have Lyssa tame a rat or two to act as a scout, or will it take too much time to catch and condition one?

Any animal will do, really. Do they keep dogs around here?

It is likely to take a fair amount of time unless you get very lucky. A rat also can not outrun a ghôl so it is doubtful you could catch them that way. (Ghôls are fast when they want to be, many of them can keep up with a horse over short distances for example.)

No dogs I am afraid. The only animals you are certain to have easy access to are the pair of eagles Lyssa brought with you.


Re: Money Worries:

If you fail to pay the interest the Guild likely won't immediately kick down your door but you would be expected to pay every cent of it eventually and your reputation would start to take a hit across the board. Nothing will lose you respect amongst the dwarves quicker than failing to honour your commitments.

There may be a few ways to make money quickly as well using Derryth or Thaïs' unique skill sets or the assets you currently have but I doubt any of them will be terribly appealing.

For example there are a few dwarven nobles that would pay quite well for a evening of discrete 'discussion' with the 'Heroes of the Kingdom', not exactly noble work and best to avoid the potential scandal if you can but it is an option. Alternatively many of the Great Houses maintain large family mausoleums outside Stoneheim. Rich dwarves are usually buried with a fair amount of wealth and Derryth is a grave robber treasure hunter. Of course robbing some of the most holy sites in all the kingdom is also likely to have consequences if you are caught. Finally, Blackrock is skilled in extracting funds from, shall we say 'unwilling' partners. If you wanted to run them like the Eberhardts did then you could potentially bring in a lot of money quickly.

Also, about Uttu and Lyssa, I was wondering about that. First, Uttu fires frost arrows, so conceivably whatever she hits wouldn't necessarily detonate.

If it is an explosive then it should be fine to hit it with frost arrows, if it is wight bits then the impact could be enough to set them off and trigger an explosion. Wight bits are essentially sacks of flesh filled with corrosive, explosive and paralytic juices and gases. Enough force and you will get a reaction. So it will depend on what is in the sack really.

As for Lyssa, a chance of ending up in the blast radius is still better than a certainty of getting destroyed by the bag's contents.

Sure, I can add it as option E.

She will have to begin casting before she knows if you succeed or not since the spell is not instantaneous, it has a longer casting time than firebolt and a much longer casting time than your mental spells.

The way the option will work is as follows. You yell to her to begin casting the spell. You and Thaïs will have time to launch a single round of mental spells. Either the ghôl goes down or she throws the bag. Lyssa will launch the spell if she sees the sack released and will push everyone and everything in front of her away. You, Thaïs and Jawbone will get a check to see if you can grab the door frame or each other to avoid getting thrown into the room. The situation will then unfold from there.

Fangshi, er, I'm hoping our crew's stance relaxes much faster than the societal stance on this.

It is possible but the right conditions would be necessary. Almost every member of your group has lost at least one person to the undead so there is a large emotional barrier that has to be overcome. Then there are the legal issues as well, even a hint of necromancy can be enough to ruin reputations. If you get caught trying it you will be killed along with the rest of your organization.

There is also the moral issue caused by utilizing a spell school that permanently traps the soul of the deceased within a rotting frame, often in a damaged or twisted form. It is not the most healthy school available.

Still, it is possible that over time they may become more open to the idea and it may be possible to alter the spells so that they are less morally troublesome as well.



Anyway, the vote will close on Monday (so another 24 hours) and an update will follow some time after that. Your current leading option is A, slam the doors and ride out any blast that may be coming.

 

[archaen]

Flop to E. We have two rings of heal and a reroll.

 

[Absinthe]

Flopping to E.

Fangshi, if it's wight bits (gases, juices, etc.), then shouldn't Strong Wind also drive back the gases/etc. into the tunnel and give us another chance of saving even if we get thrown in the room?

 

[Nevill]

Of course I don't realise what I am talking about. How can I?

So what if in five months we will be paying the amount of money equal to the one we took as a loan? What do we lose if those money aren't paid out of our own pockets, but are earned from the property we've bought?

If only we could see past 'they are getting OUR MONEYZ for nothing! OMG so much lost profits!'

If our income from the properties stabilizes at ~250 WPs a month (which it looks like it will), we can postpone paying the debt off indefinitely, paying the interest instead. Everyone would profit from that - Goldsmiths make a lot of money out of thin air, and we get a much needed breath.

Then we can resort to one of our many options - fix the situation in Blackrock and start making money from them, get those merchant contracts running and earn coin there, hire a caravan to transport the gold from Muirthemne etc.

But of course, that would require to plan further ahead that for a single month, and we can't have that.

You don't think anyone with gold to their name is scrambling around buying up all the choice properties as fast as they can discover them?

I think those who do that have more than just gold to their name. But we've been over this.

If Fangshi is nice and allows the properties we buy in the coming weeks to give us full value for the month and the same interest rate, we are still looking at a shortfall of (800 invested gives 180 WP income) a further 20WP shortfall on top of the 35WP one we already have for 5WP left to us at the end of the month. If he isn't so nice, then we default unless we take out another loan or use part of the principal to pay the interest.

Wrong math. If we are looking at a 20 WPs shortfall, all it means is that our loan is now 1020 WPs. That changes everything, apparently. The interest rate of 204 WPs as opposed to 200 WPs will be our ruin.

We are currently losing money to Blackrock maintenance, but that's why we are here trying to fix it.

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, if it's wight bits (gases, juices, etc.), then shouldn't Strong Wind also drive back the gases/etc. and give us another chance of saving even if we get thrown in the room?

If it is wight bits then it will depend on how far in you get blown and how much there is in the sack. If there are a lot of wight bits the gases/juices are likely to coat much of the room except the entrance (since they will be continually blown away from it).

As long as you do not wind up in the center of that mess you should be fine.

Horrible Map for reference :

-----X <--- Hole in the Wall-------- <------ (I can not get the side walls to format properly but the room ends at the end of these lines)

xx <------ ghôl and her sack
​

------------xxx----------------------- <----- Derryth, Thaïs and Jawbone are in the doorway (the xs) here

xxx <----- Lyssa and Burty are right behind them
xxx <----- the girls
xxx
xxx <------ your escort
xxx

x <----- the end of the hallway is here, there is a ninety degree turn into the larger hallway
​

So the space between Lyssa and where the ghôl is, is likely to be clear of juices and gases as long as the spell holds out. Most of them would get pushed into the far wall or off to the sides and back. You might still wind up breathing some of the gases in and it is possible that you could still get some of the juices on you if you get blown past where the ghôl is.

There is also the chance that one or more of you will get blown into the ghôl and she is likely to be coated in the worst of it.

 

[Nevill]

Why do we have to stand? Will the wind blow us away if we fall down? Why can't we grab the door? Or at the very least, the doorway.

Nevermind, I didn't read E as you phrased it. Hmmm...

Just how strong is it?

Wonder if we can find where the tunnel comes out if we blow into it and look for flying ghols.

 

[Absinthe]

Fangshi, Derryth still has her whip, right? Can she grab anything with it if she gets thrown in?

Also, can we add Uttu firing at the bag to E? As I see it, if it's explosive, the frost arrow will render it inert. If it's wight bits, Strong Wind will blast it clear anyhow.

Still, it is possible that over time they may become more open to the idea and it may be possible to alter the spells so that they are less morally troublesome as well.

Right, I was wondering if it would be possible to develop necromancy spells that trace control back to their caster, disrupt control, or release the undead.

 

[archaen]

Of course I don't realise what I am talking about. How can I?

If our income from the properties stabilizes at ~250 WPs a month (which it looks like it will), we can postpone paying the debt off indefinitely, paying the interest instead. Everyone would profit from that - Goldsmiths make a lot of money out of thin air, and we get a much needed breath.

We are actually stabilizing at 225 IF the trend continues. If our debt hits 1125wp with the gold merchants in this scenario, we are no longer able to pay off principal using the properties alone. We don't know if we can get our money here from Muirthemne in a timely fashion and I would like to have our finances self sustaining so we don't get caught in a death spiral.

I was under the impression this was a Guido loan and bad things would happen if we didn't meet our interest obligation. It had the interest rate of one, so who can blame me. Disregard that bit about defaulting the first month.

 

[Nevill]

We are actually stabilizing at 225 IF the trend continues. If our debt hits 1125wp with the gold merchants in this scenario, we are no longer able to pay off principal using the properties alone.

Good thing it did not so far, right?

It is also a good thing we have options to turn to Mayer for help, make our two enterprises work, sign up for mercenary jobs ourselves and, if all else fails, continue adventurering - that earned us that kind of money and opportunities in the first place.

We don't know if we can get our money here from Muirthemne in a timely fashion and I would like to have our finances self sustaining so we don't get caught in a death spiral.

What do you mean 'we don't know'? We owe a mercenary company in Muirthemne, and it is only a month to travel from Muirthemne to Myrgard, even with a caravan. What is there to stop us?

I find these fears to be premature. There is nothing to warrant them so far. When we clarify the situation with the merchants and have 60% of our debt allocated in properties, then we'll see where we stand and make adjustments if needed. But for now, I am quite happy with what we have.

 

[Fangshi]

Just how strong is it?

Strong enough to push you into the ghôl if you botch your roll and it catches you off balance. Also strong enough to throw you into the room if you lose your grip on the doors or your comrades.

It can take your average human or dwarf off their feet if they fail their save and can also slide them along the ground provided they do not weigh a couple hundred pounds. Itahpi for example could weather the blast, so could Myora. But Derryth, Thaïs and Jawbone are not exactly heavyweights.

Fangshi, Derryth still has her whip, right? Can she grab anything with it if she gets thrown in?

She can try but she has not really worked on her physical stats or practiced with her whip much. She would be relying completely on her affinity for it, still, it is an option though a difficult one.

Also, can we add Uttu firing at the bag to E? As I see it, if it's explosive, the frost arrow will suppress it. If it's wight bits, Strong Wind will blast it away anyhow.

Sure, don't see why not.

I can add it to E if archaen does not mind as he is the other E voter. Otherwise I can add it as a separate option F.

Uttu will not have a clean shot while all of this is going on though. It will be her skill with a bow weighed against the possibility of hitting one of your group in front of her. Someone might wind up with an arrow in their back for example.

I was under the impression this was a Guido loan and bad things would happen if we didn't meet our interest obligation. It had the interest rate of one, so who can blame me. Disregard that bit about defaulting the first month.

Well bad things can certainly happen but everyone that has directly threatened you so far is dead (often in very public and gruesome ways ).

Most people are going to hesitate to start anything with you, particularly when there is still the chance that everyone will get what they want. Your high reputation, terrifying 'displays of power', and the backing of the King count for a lot. Now if your reputation starts to tank and your relationship with the King sours then you may become a more tempting target.

Don't forget, the only reason you were able to get this loan in the first place is because the King made it possible. His reputation will also take a hit if you prove to be untrustworthy and that sort of behaviour can quickly eat through any good will you have banked with him.

What is there to stop us?

Oh... necromancers, ghôls, myrkridia, cultists, bandits, local lords, mercenaries, rebels... to name a few.

 

[archaen]

That we have Jing luck when it comes to going anywhere and a dragon is going to take our shipment as its horde if our luck continues.