Myth: A New Age CYOA

[archaen]

I have no problem with that addition for E Fangshi.

 

[Fangshi]

Alright, I will add it then.

Well, I don't think she has anything better to do while she has already been blasted through the doorway, so she may as well try for the extra saving throw.

Sure, if it comes up she will make the attempt. She will try anything she can think of (essentially anything I can think of) to save her life or the lives of her friends.

 

[Absinthe]

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.

Well, I don't think she has anything better to do while she has already been blasted through the doorway, so she may as well try for the extra saving throw.

 

[Nevill]

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

Yes, but is there something Gareth had not fought in the war?

"Ah.. what the hell was that?" your befuddled Berserk asks.

"Ghosts," Serpent replies but his statement sounds more like a question.

"Well how are we supposed to fight ghost armies?" Brigit chimes in.

Gareth clears his throat and by now you know exactly what he will say, "I fought a few during the war-" the two of you say the words at the exact same time.

"Smartass," the veteran mumbles.

I am sure we'll be fine.

Edit:

If you wanted to run them like the Eberhardts did then you could potentially bring in a lot of money quickly.

What sorts of jobs are we looking at if we don't want to run them like the Eberhardts did? Essentially, where do we start so that they could pay their own expenses, at the very least?

Really the only serious problem Blackrock faces is a lack of contracts and the connections needed to find work.

It was mentioned that they need connections... well, can we provide them?

And how the hell do we find them contracts aside from the ones we are going to get from the merchants?

 

[archaen]

How about we have the mercenaries raid our competitors caravans and drive business our way if we are going the skull-duggery route?

 

[Fangshi]

What sorts of jobs are we looking at if we don't want to run them like the Eberhardts did? Essentially, where do we start so that they could pay their own expenses, at the very least?

It was mentioned that they need connections... well, can we provide them?

Well your merchant caravan contracts would be a good start. If you put them solely on that then they would not make you any additional funds but it should go a long way towards keeping your trade routes profitable.

If you want them to take on outside jobs that are 'respectable' and legal then you are looking at guard duty, warehouses and the like, (which does not pay well but is safe and easy), ghôl hunting (which can pay well but is dangerous in proportion to the payout), and general caravan work along other trade routes (which may or may not pay well depending on the cargo and the merchants involved).

If a war starts you could also send them to fight in it and that would pay quite well but sadly (or not) there are no wars currently being fought that you know about. You could take a bunch of them back to Muirthemne with you to help raid the underground again but you would be trusting them not to betray you or your Circle.

Of course if you want to make a lot of money then kidnapping and ransom are good. Blackrock is quite skilled at it too. There is also extortion, murder, and the like. Those all pay well as well and as archaen mentioned you could always rob your competitors if you think you can get away with it.

If you can get in good with the nobility more options might also present themselves as time goes by.

As far as connections go the noble houses and the merchant families are the best leads you have. Unfortunately you do not know a lot of dwarves as you have not had extensive dealings with any of them.

 

[Nevill]

As far as connections go the noble houses and the merchant families are the best leads you have. Unfortunately you do not know a lot of dwarves as you have not had extensive dealings with any of them.

Well, we got to know Barings... right before we sent their lot to the gallows.

...does anyone else want to invite us to a formal dinner with 150 different utensils? Anyone? I dare you!

I wonder, though, how many of the dwarves want to make us their acquaintances after that.

 

[Absinthe]

Ghol hunting sounds good. In fact, I think we just started. How much of a payoff can that deliver right now?

 

[archaen]

Gold per head we bring back I believe. I don't know the exchange rate to WPs though.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Hey, people that agree with me about us being a big pushover as far as it comes to our business activities! Awesome. Perhaps the 'let's be friends with every living person and animal' agenda may change.

Anyway, for the current choice, I'd rather not take the flee option, not when we're in such great financial debt.

E

 

[Fangshi]

Ghol hunting sounds good. In fact, I think we just started. How much of a payoff can that deliver right now?

The standing bounty is a gold piece per ghôl skull. Ten gold pieces per captured living ghôl (they use them as food and as slaves). Fifty gold pieces for a living ghôl child (if you can get them young you can train them better). Finally one hundred gold per healthy ghôl female of good stock since they can be used to breed more slaves.

It is completely legal as ghôls are not persons under the law. It is also completely socially acceptable since the ghôls and dwarves have been trying to exterminate or enslave each other for thousands of years. It is however a very morally dirty business from an outside perspective.

I have not given an exact conversion rate to WPs since it varies a bit based on local conditions. Generally speaking though a ghôl tribe can have up to a couple hundred members or so. If you killed them all and brought back their skulls you would make maybe 20 to 70 WPs. If you managed to enslave most of them then you could be looking at a several hundred WPs. Though it is also likely that at some point you would crash the market and the value of slaves would plummet.

Current Tally:

Kz3r0: A
Nevill: A
archaen: E
Jester: B
asxetos: E
Azira: A
Absinthe: E
Zero Credibility: A
Smashing Axe: E
Baltika9: A

A) 5 votes
B) 1 vote
C)
D)
E) 4 votes

Edit:

Missed this one:

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.

Yes, I could see the ladies being interested in that.

You would still want to do it in secret though as the government would likely still try to kill you. So it might be better to do it at your tower. You will also have to find a good way to explain what you are doing to the rest of your group. Christine and Amena will be fine with it but Brigit, Serpent, and Gareth would likely require some convincing.

I will make a note of it and include it as an option the next time you have some R&D time available.

 

[Nevill]

Anyway, for the current choice, I'd rather not take the flee option, not when we're in such great financial debt.

You think if we slam the door shut that will be the end of it?

How come it's the 'flee' option? Just because it isn't the MAXIMUM FUCK one?

 

[Absinthe]

Because it's the option where the ghols run away with all our money.

And our finances cannot afford that kind of beating right now.

 

[Nevill]

And where we track them.

Speaking of which, if we blow the ghol up, we can't follow the rest of her group. They are faster than us - none of us can outrun a horse.

So they run away with the money regardless. What exactly do we want to achieve, then?

 

[Absinthe]

In E we're trying to take her down with mental spells Nevill. Everything else is just a shitload of failsafes so that we're still okay if we fuck it up.

 

[Nevill]

I was semi-fine with it until we had Uttu target the sack on top of everything else. How do you even coordinate that if you have mere seconds to work with?

After you stack a certain amount of failsafes on top of each other, they negate the 'safe' part.

Would be funny to be hit by an arrow as some of us fly right into the sack. :D

 

[Absinthe]

"Mental. Strong Wind if thrown. Uttu, shoot thrown sack"

That's all she needs to say.

 

[archaen]

I was semi-fine with it until we had Uttu target the sack on top of everything else. How do you even coordinate that if you have mere seconds to work with?

After you stack a certain amount of failsafes on top of each other, they negate the 'safe' part.

Would be funny to be hit by an arrow as some of us fly right into the sack. :D

Is that a flop if we get rid of Uttu firing the arrow?

 

[Absinthe]

Probably not.

 

[asxetos]

Flopping to E. Seems like it can work.

 

[Nevill]

Is that a flop if we get rid of Uttu firing the arrow?

Nah, I still think we are risking everything for no good reason.

No failsafes come free, and each of the options have its drawbacks. It's just the current choice feels like this:

Someone tosses a grenade at you. Do you...

1. Duck and try to not get hit.
2. Blow at a grenade trying to push it back, if that fails, catch it with your teeth and chew the fuse off, if that fails, have your friend throw you at the enemy while you spit the grenade back at them.

you hope nothing goes wrong

So many failsafes, indeed. If they won't work, surely is would be the fault of the dice.

With Uttu, we are already looking at a difficult check. She is going to fire her arrow before Lyssa finishes her casting. If she misses and hits Lyssa, the casting is interrupted and we eat the sack. If she hits one of us, we loosen the grip on the doorway.

Not like any of that could happen, right? :D

 

[Absinthe]

Nevill does not like failsafes.

 

[Nevill]

Nah, I love them. It's just some of them have more 'fail' than 'safe' in them.

 

[Baltika9]

I'm not very involved with the DISCUSS! or the voting in this thread, but A seems like the smarter choice. Not sacrificing our party for jewgoldz.

 

[Absinthe]

Nah, I love them.

I don't know man. For someone who likes failsafes, you seem awfully afraid of them.

It's just some of them have more 'fail' than 'safe' in them.

This is just bullshit. You make it sound like D would somehow be a safer option than E.