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Myth: A New Age CYOA

archaen

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That's fine, I'll flop.
 

Nevill

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By the way, since the TWM graciously mentioned Gullveig's name in his diary, can we instruct our people to ask the Royal Academy to dig some information on her and send their findings back to us via Calaeno (seriously, where is she?). Her quirks, her spells, her weaknesses, her psychological portrait - anything. They might not find anything of use, or we might not need this information if we blow her up before that, but it might still come in handy, so why not try it unless we have some other things for the royal mages to do?

Alternatively, we may trust them with TWM's journal... if we think it will not bite us in the ass, what with him mentioning Mazzarin's name and all sorts of things.
 

Fangshi

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Nevill said:
By the way, since the TWM graciously mentioned Gullveig's name in his diary, can we instruct our people to ask the Royal Academy to dig some information on her and send their findings back to us

Yes you can, if there are no objections you can send a letter to Albrecht asking him to do just that.

Nevill said:
Fangshi, who will be there working on the bombs in 3Bi? archaen's plan has only the ones who are not working on them dropped to the tunnels, and the initial goal was to help in Bari's search, first and foremost.

Astrid will stay behind to work on the bombs, she is the only real inventor among your forces anyway. Ori and Berty will go with the Pathfinder officers to search for you missing people and generally harass the enemy should the opportunity present itself.


Updated Tally:

Nevill:
1C (Skite, a Blackrock Mercenary, An Arrow, and a Royal Guard), 2A, 3x

Grimgravy:
1B, 2A, 3x

archaen:
1C (Skite, a Blackrock Mercenary, An Arrow, and a Royal Guard), 2A, 3Bi

GreyViper:
1B, 2A, 3Bi

Kz3r0:
1B, 2A, 3A

Azira:
1A, 2B, 3x

Jester:
1C (Thaïs and Uttu), 2A, 3Bi

1.
A) 1 vote
B) 3 votes
C) 3 votes (2 votes Skite, a Blackrock Mercenary, An Arrow, and a Royal Guard, 1 vote Thaïs and Uttu)

2.
A) 6 votes
B) 1 vote

3. 3 votes abstain
A) 1 vote
B)
i. 3 votes

Just a reminder that the vote will close in twenty four hours.
 
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Nevill

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I can't tell if no one else is interested in the plan, or if no one else actually visits the thread. :|
 

archaen

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I've noticed if you don't get your plan out there early and generate discuss people don't engage as much. Maybe we will get lucky and get some last minute flops.
 

Fangshi

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So it seems there is a tie between 1B and 1C.

When that is broken I will close the vote, the update will come sixteen to twenty four hours after that depending on when exactly the tie is resolved.

I will check back in a few hours.
 

Nevill

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Aren't the votes for C counted separately?

The plan Jester is voting for is radically different from mine and archaen's. Doesn't feel right to bundle them up.

If it helps resolve the tie, consider me flopping to B, since very few people seem to be interested in splitting up.
 
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Fangshi

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Alright then, the vote is closed.


1B wins, you will all stay.

2A wins, you will attempt to assassinate the enemy commander by blowing her up.

3Bi wins, you will send the Pathfinders, Ori and Berty out to look for your people and generally try to cause havoc.

The update should be ready in about sixteen hours, give or take an hour or two.
 

Fangshi

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Absinthe said:
Is it too late to vote 1C (Nevill's plan)?

Normally yes, but I have not had a chance to start the update yet or roll anything for it (and I won't have time for a few hours yet) so if you want to vote you can.
 

Nevill

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Many of the Lords also claim that the threat is nonexistent.
I don't get it, actually. The enemy forces are camping right outside of their capital. It takes 12 hours for a chariot to move to our fort and back. They could have sent a party of independent scouts ages ago.

Instead they prefer a week long debates.

Even if half those Lords were Watcher's spies, the ease with which the siege can be verified makes the inaction of the rest hard to explain.
 
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Fangshi

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Sadly Derryth does not know enough about the Lords to know why they seem so unwilling to help. However she is intelligent and paranoid, so with Thaïs' help they have composed a short list of possible reasons why official help has not been forthcoming:

The most obvious is that at least some of the Lords likely work for the Watcher. Nothing that can be done there really except expose and kill them.

Then you have more mundane motivations for why someone might want to see you fail/die or might be unwilling to help:

1. Fear - You have accumulated a great deal of unofficial power through your connection with the King and you are in the process of accumulating even more power through your financial acquisitions. As you have elected not to spend any time with the nobility they are currently unaware of your intentions, so, for some of them it would be expedient to see you both perish.

2. Jealousy - You are now clearly the King's 'favourites', it is quite possible that the King's old 'favourites' want their unique positions back. If you happen to die then the King will once more have to rely on them.

3. Greed - If you die all the assets to are pulling to yourself are once more free. There will be one less competitor on the trade routes, one less mercenary company out there and one less 'faction' to worry about. Some might decide it is worth the risk to have you out of the picture.

4. Stoneheim - Many of the Lords have interests down south in Stoneheim and it is the old capital as well so many of the family crypts are located there. For financial and sentimental reasons some Lords might be willing to let you die to send aid down south.

5. Revenge? - All of the 'republican' Houses have supposedly been destroyed leaving only the 'royalists' but things might not be that simple. You can not know for sure, as you have spent no time with them, but it is possible that you killed the friends of many of the Lords with your testimony. Some of them might be willing to see you die to 'restore balance'.

6. Money - Maybe some of the Lords have been bribed.

7. Threats - Maybe some of the Lords have been compromised in some other way and are being pressured into voting a certain way.

8. Stupidity? - Some men don't realize the house is burning until they are on fire...

9. Overconfidence - You have held off the enemy by yourself for a week now. It is possible they think you can manage without them and when coupled with concerns over Stoneheim they may not see you as a 'worthwhile investment'.

10. Lack of Confidence - It is also possible that some of the Lords do not want to send the army into the field when they can instead try to hide behind the city walls and their own fortress compounds instead.

11. ????? - The ladies realize they can not plan for every eventuality so there may be other motives at play here as well.

Now, there is no guarantee that all or even some of these factors are at play but that is how Thaïs and Derryth try to explain the lack of help you have received.



I will have some time to work on the update in an hour and a half so the polls will close for the final time then. I should be able to have the update out within six hours or so once I have some time to sit down and type.
 

Absinthe

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Voting 1C (Nevill's Plan) then.

Anyone care to flop to 1C so that we have a better chance of reinforcements coming to bail us out?
 

Nevill

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Hey, I get it. People don't want two strange mercenaries interfering with the affairs of the state. Mayer have told us as much.

Still, the position they've chosen is weak. I would have understood if they did go 'lalala, not our problem' - that is a matter of opinion, after all. But an approach of 'it's all fairy tales' is extremely easy to overcome. You just need to shove proof right under their noses, and there is plenty of proof sitting around our fort just a day's march away from their capital.

To send the bulk of their forces to Stoneheim in these circumstances is borderline insane. Have they forgotten the attack on the city that happened just two weeks ago? What if the undead army that is right outside their city decides to go after a bigger prize (well, we know they won't, but are the Lords willing to take that risk)?

I don't want anything to happen to Stoneheim and I do not want the second capital to fall because of our actions, so I do not necessarily oppose them sending help there, but something must be done with the immediate threat, first.

I don't suppose we can promise them to look into Stoneheim business after we are done here?

How big is the army we are talking about, by the way? What forces do the dwarves have?

Fangshi said:
It is possible they think you can manage without them and when coupled with concerns over Stoneheim they may not see you as a 'worthwhile investment'.
Heh, I am fairly positive we can, at this point. :) We'll just take humongous losses.

We have already took out a hundred or more bodies during the attack on the White Mage out of the eight hundreds that came after us.

By the way, I am still voting for C unless there is a tie.
 
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Fangshi

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Nevill said:
I would have understood if they did go 'lalala, not our problem'

Unfortunately if they did that then the King could go around them to the people and declare the Assembly incompetent to rule as they would be acknowledging a legitimate threat to the kingdom but also refusing to act against it. The people might even back him if he works up their fears enough (which knowing Albrecht is likely). The King could then make a real play for absolute power...

Better to just pretend the threat is not there and force the King to provide clear proof first, if, in fact, that is what the Lords are trying to do. They may simply be ignorant, or idiots... ;)

Nevill said:
I don't suppose we can promise them to look into Stoneheim business after we are done here?

You can if you want but if they really are concerned about your growing power they may not take kindly to you acting as agents of the state in a formal capacity. Something to think about perhaps.

Nevill said:
How big is the army we are talking about, by the way? What forces do the dwarves have?

All told? There are maybe two thousand Dwarven soldiers in Myrgard with another thousand or two in Stoneheim and another thousand or so spread out throughout the kingdom.

Then there are the House guards which taken all together (all remaining Houses) number maybe four to six thousand soldiers.

There is also an assortment of specialized units. The Pathfinders, the Royal Academy's 'Testing Unit' and the like.

If total war was required there are also likely a few thousand mercenaries in the Kingdom that could be called upon if things turned bleak and most of the Kingdom's population has some combat experience as well, militias could be formed to bolster the Kingdom's numbers.

All of which is simply to say that their military is not huge in comparison to the fledgling Golden Empire or the Cath Bruig but the dwarves do have strong defenses and technology on their side so they can often 'punch above their weight'.

Anyway the vote is closed for real this time.

The update should be out sometime in the next six hours depending on how many interruptions I get.
 

Nevill

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Speaking of Stoneheim,
As soon as the sounds of battle reached the Assembly it dissolved and the lords scattered to the wind. Many took up the defence of the city but many more fled to their estates in the countryside or to the old capital of Stoneheim. Amongst them were the Eberhardts and most of their supporters.

Some of the lesser lords have gone missing, it was assumed that a House was merely consolidating its position by removing competitors but none of the usual subjects seemed to know anything.

There was also some sort of disruption in the poorer levels the day before we left but no one much cares what the peasants get up to really as long as they only kill each other.
Maybe that's what is happening there. It does not look like the Watcher's work (subtlety is not his style), but the timing is highly suspicious.
 

Fangshi

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Well, I just had one of those interruptions I mentioned earlier occur, so I am going to have to push the update back a little.

It will be up within twenty four hours but I can not say exactly when within the next twenty four hours. It will all come down to when I have a few hours to actually finish it.
 

Nevill

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I guess now we have our answers why good relationships with the Great Houses are desireable and how they can screw us over even if they don't send assassins after us.
Unfortunately if they did that then the King could go around them to the people and declare the Assembly incompetent to rule as they would be acknowledging a legitimate threat to the kingdom but also refusing to act against it. The people might even back him if he works up their fears enough (which knowing Albrecht is likely). The King could then make a real play for absolute power...

Better to just pretend the threat is not there and force the King to provide clear proof first, if, in fact, that is what the Lords are trying to do.
Oh, so what we need is essentially to make the common people worried? Those who don't have a stake in those power games and are mostly concerned about their own safety? Then the lords will be forced to act?

Well, then. :)

How legal would it be to start a recruitment campaign a-la "The Heroes of the Kingdom want YOU to repel the army of Darkness" or something equally public back at the capital? :P That ought to make people ask questions. Our word is bound to have an impact on the commonfolk due to all the rumors circling around us.

I am less interested in the results of the said drive than in the amount of unrest it might potentially generate.
 
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Fangshi

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Nevill said:
Oh, so what we need is essentially to make the common people worried? Those who don't have a stake in those power games and are mostly concerned about their own safety? Then the lords will be forced to act?

Well that would certainly provoke a reaction, yes.

Nevill said:
How legal would it be to start a recruitment campaign a-la "The Heroes of the Kingdom want YOU to repel the army of Darkness" or something equally public back at the capital? :P That ought to make people ask questions. Our word is bound to have an impact on the commonfolk due to all the rumors circling around us.

I am less interested in the results of the said drive than in the amount of unrest it might potentially generate.

It would be legal but you would need a proper network of agents to compete with the Great Houses in that regard.

Such a campaign would sow a fair amount of confusion and might lead to panic if you pursued it properly. You would also upset most of the Houses if it were ever traced back to you (which if you are going to attach your name to it is likely) so they might become more hostile in the future as well.


The update is still on its way. I only need about two hours of actual peace and quiet to finish it (the challenge will be getting those two hours). It should be done today (or likely tonight) but it may be tomorrow instead (it won't be any later than that as I will definitely have some time then).
 

Nevill

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Fangshi, do we have an estimation of how many Shades are there in the world? I've got an impression that they are pretty rare, the games had maybe no more than ten or twelve of them between the both campaigns, of which about five were confirmed dead.

It is pretty strange to see them gathered together in one place. We've already personally encountered six of them (the one at the very beginning of the LP included), and we've heard the army in the south has one as well.

Are we responsible for wiping out half of the known survivors of the Great War, or are they more commom than I thought they are?

Then again, they are no rarer than the Fallen Lords and the Avatara, of which we have also have 'encountered' five or so. :)

What is known about them? How are they created? Do they cast the necessary spells by themselves, meaning that every willing soul can achieve this sort of 'lichdom', or are they converted by some higher force - like Balor, or the rest of the Fallen Lords? So far the glimpses inside their head suggested that all of them are servants and slaves, but is it a nature of their condition, or is it a byproduct of their Master being the Watcher? Are there free-willed Shades? Are there not 'always Chaotic Evil' ones? Something was mentioned about the Deceiver bringing a few of them to the Light. What became of them? What is it about their aversion to runnung water that some guides speculate about?
 
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archaen

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From the myth wiki it appears they can be created from the corpse of any semi-powerful mage or sorcerer with the dream of unlife. I think the ritual to raise them is what gives them their power and it looks like they are bound to whoever raises them.
 

Fangshi

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Nevill said:
Fangshi, do we have an estimation of how many Shades are there in the world? I've got an impression that they are pretty rare, the games had maybe no more than ten or twelve of them between the both campaigns, of which about five were confirmed dead.

Derryth has no idea how many Shades there are in the world. The only people that might have some idea are those that are confirmed to have created some, the Watcher, the Deceiver and Balor.

Nevill said:
It is pretty strange to see them gathered together in one place. We've already personally encountered six of them (the one at the very beginning of the LP included), and we've heard the army in the south has one as well.

Perhaps your capture is deemed important enough to warrant such a concentration of power.

Nevill said:
Are we responsible for wiping out half of the known survivors of the Great War, or are they more commom than I thought they are?

No way to know. The affairs of archmages are not something that most people are even aware of. There are people in the world that would likely know the answer to that question but you are not on good terms with any of them. ;)

Nevill said:
What is known about them? How are they created? Do they cast the necessary spells by themselves, meaning that every willing soul can achieve this sort of 'lichdom', or are they converted by some higher force - like Balor, or the rest of the Fallen Lords? So far the glimpses inside their head suggested that all of them are servants and slaves, but is it a nature of their condition, or is it a byproduct of their Master being the Watcher? Are there free-willed Shades? Are there not 'always Chaotic Evil' ones? Something was mentioned about the Deceiver bringing a few of them to the Light. What became of them? What is it about their aversion to running water that some guides speculate about?

Very little is known of them. The general public knows nothing of worth, the magical community knows more but still little of value. They are powerful, they are dangerous, all encountered Shades seem to know the Dispersal Dream and beyond that all you know is legend and folklore. Some claim that they can be momentarily incapacitated if confronted by a large number of small objects (grains, seeds and the like). The theory is that they will be compelled to count each individually and will be incapable of doing anything until they are done. Others claim that they can be repelled by cats. Then there is the claim that they are so hideous that their own reflection is enough to drive them mad. Honestly, you doubt that any of the 'known facts' about them are terribly true.

You do not know how they are created but you do know that they are created. From what you can remember yo have never encountered a story about a person turning themselves into a shade. It seems that it always takes a more powerful mage to make them what they are. So, for the moment at least, Derryth is of the belief that they are all slaves to more powerful mages.

She does not know if they are bound to their masters by magic or inclination and she does not know what they would do if the person that created them were to die.

Derryth does not know if there are free-willed Shades.

She does not know if there are any Shades that are not 'evil'/selfish/insane.

No one knows what happened to the Deceiver's Shades when their master switched sides. Only a small, well informed, portion of the population even knows that the Deceiver helped to save humanity at all so the number of people that could tell you what happened to his lieutenants (beyond vague rumours) is quite small.

From some of the accounts that survived from the wars it seems that Shades can not cross running water. No one is really sure if it is true or why they are limited in this way. If you want to know you will have to ask one or someone that is knowledgeable on the subject.


Also the update is essentially done, it should be up in maybe an hour now that I have a moment.
 

Fangshi

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Chapter 47: Battle's End?

Another day, another uninspired meal.

Once more you take breakfast in your tower, once more it consists of tough pork and thin ale, once more you glance out your window into a slate grey sky.

You wonder.

It has been three days and your opponents have not so much as stirred. Surely they are aware that you sent for reinforcements. Surely they are aware that they are working within a strict time limit. So then what are they planning?

You had expected an attack shortly after your representatives left for Myrgard. The fact that your enemy instead seems content to sit and wait has you slightly worried; as does the lack of communication from Albrecht back in the city. Three days, three days and you have not heard a single word from the dwarves, perhaps you really are on your own.

Still, not all of the news has been bad. Your reinforcements outside the fort claim that they have found a path leading deeper into the heart of the mountain. Hopefully they can still find a way around the enemy and to Bari's last known location. If they can, then a proper search can begin. You only hope that they will not be too late to help your friend.

Wearily you rub your temples, doing your best to push back a slight headache.

Lyssa speaks from your left, severing the net of worries that has enveloped you, "We are making good progress on the tunnels under the enemy camp. Our workers have done their part and the rats merely have to fill the tunnels with explosives."

"How long will that take?" Thaïs asks from her seat across from you.

You have invited both of them to breakfast to brief you on recent events. While you are aware of most of what goes on within the fort it is always helpful to properly review events.

"Only a few hours at most, then we simply have to spring the trap," Lyssa frowns as she pushes her pork across her plate, "Don't we have anything else to eat?"

"Well we could kill and cook a few of the mice," Thaïs suggests with a wink.

Her suggestion is met by the sound of furious squeaking as a pair of white rodents slip out of Lyssa's robes and roll out onto the table. The pair of them gesture wildly and you think they are shouting at your friend.

"Not on the table damn it," you groan, "We don't know where those mice have been."

Seems they do not take kindly to your insinuation that they are dirty. They squeak in unison and execute a quick one hundred and eighty degree turn before they begin laying into you. It is all a little surreal.

"Alright, alright," you raise your hands in mock surrender, "We are sorry, aren't we Thaïs?"

"Yes, quite," your friend nods in agreement.

The mice nod slowly and run back to Lyssa. They seem satisfied, even if they do shoot each of you the odd dirty glance while they do it. The pair of mice scurry up the witch's arm and take up position on her right shoulder where they can better observe the room.

This pair seem quite intellegent, even by the standards of the rodents you have already met so you decide to ask Lyssa about it, "Is there anything different about your pet- ah," you stop as the rodents eye you carefully, "Your associates," they nod, content, and quietly squeak to one another.

Lyssa breaks off a few crumbs of pork and passes them to her rodent subordinates, they do not seem particularly thrilled by her 'gift', "Yes, it seems that there is more going on with the rodents of this fort than we first imagined. One of the former leaders of Blackrock fancied himself something of a mage and he took to experimenting with the local mouse population. From what these two have told me his experiments yielded interesting results."

"Such as?" Thaïs prompts her to continue.

"Increased intelligence, increased social complexity, a greater capacity for language, and-" the mouse closest to her ear pulls on her earlobe and whispers something, "Oh, right, far greater beauty," the mouse nods happily, "And finally, well maybe I should just show you."

Politely she speaks with the mice in their own tongue. There is a great deal of discussion but reluctantly they nod and climb back down her arm.

Lyssa explains while they work, "As I mentioned earlier, one of the former occupants of these towers conducted a number of general experiments on the rodent population of the tower. Over successive generations he managed to achieve a great deal but his most surprising accomplishment only came after numerous years of careful breeding."

One of the mice rushes across the table with a large chunk of pork and props it up right on the edge of the table. The second mouse stands on its hind legs and stretches out a single arm.

"What are they doing?" you mutter.

"What does it look like?" Lyssa responds, straining to contain a grin.

"Well, if they were people then I would say they are preparing to cast a-" the bolt of teal energy that bursts from the mouse cuts short your musing.

It strikes the chuck of dried meat, which in turn explodes spraying the empty chair behind it. The mice rear back and cheer.

"Well that is interesting," and a little disconcerting you are forced to admit, "So the mice can cast?"

Lyssa nods, "Sort of. Only these two for now. As we are all aware magic is not a particularly easy thing to master but these two have received a great deal of training and-" one of the mice pulls on Lyssa's sleeve and shakes its head, "Right, sorry," she gives the mouse a slight nod, "Suffice to say that they have undergone a certain degree of modification to be able to do what they do."

"Why did you not mention this earlier?" your friend speaks up as she pushes her plate away, glad for any excuse to avoid her meal.

"Didn't know," Lyssa replies with a shrug, "I only found out about their existence last night when I caught them trying to steal one of my energon cubes."

You eye the pair of rodents incredulously, "What were they going to do with an energon cube?"

Lyssa glances at the mice, they fall to quick conversation but after mere moments nod in unison. Lyssa answers, "They wanted to eat it."

"Eat it?" that sound like a rather bad idea.

"Yes," the witch presses on, "From what they have told me their former master fed them specially treated energon solutions which in turn enhanced their natural magical abilities sufficiently to allow them to cast. However there were side effects, these potions, I am told, are highly addictive and they ran out two days ago. They needed more energon cubes to feed this addiction though they readily admit they are not sure how to prepare the drug."

"Just so I have this clear," you push your plate away as well, fully focused on the pair of mice before you, "We have a pair of intellegent, spell casting mice here that can understand dwarven and are addicted to treated energon dust in a suspension of...?"

"Whiskey," Lyssa adds quietly.

"Energon dust in whiskey?" actually that does not sound half bad.

"Yes, that is the gist of it," the witch places her hand next to the mice, allowing them to race back up to her shoulder, "They have offered their services in exchange for the drug they crave, though I told them I can not promise anything and that the final decision would be yours to make."

An interesting proposition to be sure. Your mind is already turning with the possibilities, you could use them as assassins, spies, trackers and a score of other things as well. Yet you hesitate, you know nothing about these creatures and while they are not dangerous to you now, from what you can tell, that is no guarantee that they will not be a danger in the future. Perhaps it would be better to simply dispose of them now.

You take a deep breath and you give your answer.

----------------------------------------------

She hates these ceremonies but they are necessary for her victory.

Her 'volunteer' lies in the center of the chamber in front of a large black curtain. She is a young woman, a necromancer, one of Prospero's followers and of little use in the grand scheme of things.

The girl has a name, starts with an M or something, but Gullveig will be damned if she can remember it. After a few thousand years names start to mean so very little. After a few thousand years there is, in fact, very little that means anything at all.

Ambition, that remains, it warms her, like the flames that once kissed her.

Hatred, eternally useful, it fuels her even as it consumes her.

The two together, a perfect match, one that has seen her through all manner of difficulties and one that she hopes will see her through the trials to come.

To think that they have lost so much, so quickly. Over a decade of work gone in under two weeks.

She drew up a list this morning, a habit she developed long ago, to better stoke the flames of her anger, to sharpen the edge of her ambition.

Fifteen dead Shades.

Four hundred flattened Stygians.

Three dead Hounds.

The Great Temple laid to waste.

The ghôls in open rebellion.

The priesthood decimated.

The Thin White Mage humiliated, yet again. Though that makes her chuckle just a little.

The loss of the rod.

The loss of her fellow commanders and the destruction of their siege engine.

The Enemy has dealt them numerous heavy blows but they have time. They will recover, they will restore their former strength and then they will conquer.

The girl cries. It fills Gullveig with disgust, there is nothing more pitiful than to cling to life.

All die, she died, this girl will die, those children in that fort will die. It is natural and to be expected. But few get the opportunity that this girl has, few get to contribute to the glory of the Watcher so directly.

But the child can not understand that, it is simply beyond her, so Gullveig does them both a favour and focuses on the girl's mouth, on her lips. They begin to melt, to fuse together, the girl's eyes bulge in terror as the archmage finishes her minor enchantment, "There, no more screams child."

The archmage grins as she crosses the chamber and peals back the curtain. The stench is unimaginable, the result of dozens of bloated, rotting forms, twisted together, braided into one another in a crude approximation of a person, four metres tall.

The girl emits a series of muffled wails at the sight of the thing but remains powerless before the archmage.

Gullveig grabs the girl by the hair and with a single grunt lifts her and hurls her into the center of the writhing mass.

Within moments she is enveloped by the dead, her sealed mouth splits under the strain as she screams into the dark, a howl taken up by her new comrades.

Thirty six voices scream in unison as the abomination slowly rises to its feet.

It is time, it is ready, the beast will bring down the walls and her forces will pour in.

None will survive, none will-

Heat, heat and pain and the end of things.

Lying in the wreckage of her tent, the blasted form of the abomination limp and truly dead around her.

She is... dying.

She cries.

---------------------------------------

Buer, broad of face and slow of wit, staggers to his feet, "Well this is just great! Just fucking great! Now what the fuck are we supposed to do?" he begins to pace back and forth shaking noticeably.

The other surviving necromancers sit or stand around him in the wreckage of their camp.

Gullveig is dead, the abomination that was meant to win them this siege is dead.

They have no Shades, they have no Hounds, they have no more wonder weapons or horrors to hide behind. They have nothing, they are nothing, a handful of veteran and novice necromancers in charge of a horde of lesser undead.

"Should we run?" young Deumus asks as she casts her long curved hands up in despair, "Maybe we can hide?"

"What if they find us!" Flaga shouts her colleague down, her gaunt face distorted in horror, "What if those, those demons, up there," she gestures wildly at the fort, "What if they come swooping down here and destroy us! What if they use whatever magics they possess to strike us dead right now!"

Buer stops short, "They can hit us here? Oh fuck, I mean they must have hit the boss but I didn't think- We have to get the fuck out of here right now!" he begins to race around the group, pulling at their hands, their shoulders, trying to stir them to action.

"No," the dull but calm voice of old Leonard calls from across the ruined camp, "We have a mission to complete here first."

"A mission," the younger man responds, he blinks repeatedly, unable to believe what he is hearing, "We came here with not one, not two, not even three Shades. We came here with four Shades and the Master's own hunter and what have we got to show for it? Death and failure, that's what! If we stay we are going to die! Do you hear me we are all going to fucking die!"

Their argument is cut short by a grunt. At the far edge of the group old Forcas rises, and all still living turn to give him the floor, "We can not simply rout, all that would do is encourage the enemy to attack. Nor can we fight without the proper engines to conduct a siege. As I see it we must withdraw for now. We must preserve our Master's army and his strength. There will be other chances but not here and not now. We will leave but we will do so in an orderly fashion."

Grudgingly Leonard nods and Buer rushes up to the old necromancer, "Alright, what do we do then?"

The old man surveys the camp, "Well, here is my plan..."

------------------------------------

Cheers fill the air around the fort as everyone present witnesses the destruction of the Black Tent and the last of the enemy's Shades.

They are leaderless now and you will just have to hold out until reinforcements arrive.

It should be much easier now to hold the fort and once the Royal Army arrives you will be able to crush the enemy between y-

What are they doing?

The enemy lines begin to shift. The thralls forming into neat columns with a thick screen of soulless to shield them.

They are leaving. They are withdrawing. They are escaping.

Joy and concern war within you.

Should you let them go or should you pursue them? Is it worth the risk or not? You do not have long to decide.


1. The enemy, you choose to:

A) Let them go. You have people to look for and you have achieved enough. You will let the enemy withdraw in defeat.

B) Pursue them. You have scored a number of devastating blows against the enemy without engaging them in proper battle. Your forces are fresh and you have no intention of allowing the bulk of the enemy force to escape unharmed even if they do substantially outnumber you.

C) Harry them. You will send out your most mobile elements to harass the enemy and inflict as much damage as possible though you will instruct them to avoid engaging the enemy in a pitched battle.

D) The Plan (Pending Final Name):
However, I propose to step it up a notch.

First, have our Pathfinders and Berty that we have conveniently dropped behind enemy lines set up a minefield ahead of the enemy on a path they will be retreating towards. The Blackrock reinforcements have horses, and the enemy force moves with the speed of their Thralls and Soulless, which is really slow. We should have no problems with this part.

Have our Blackrock forces wait in an ambush ahead, too. They should not engage in a direct combat, but they should see if there is an opportunity to harass them when their attention is turned elsewhere.

Then, have Lyssa, some dwarven grenadiers (or whoever is good with explosives) and - maybe? - a pair of Black Arrows get into the air balloon. Get it as high as it can go to be safe from the enemy spells, and maybe even higher than that with the help of the Strong Wind spell, and rain grenades from above for as long as you have them. With the numbers our enemies have, precision should not be a concern. Have our archers try and single the enemy mages with their arrows, if that is possible. If we get really high in the balloon, arrows may not normally fly that far, but gravity should help that since we will be shooting downwards. They'll just have to adjust their aim.

Coordinate this assault with the one from Stoneheim troops and/or Pathfinders for maximum confusion.

It should not take long to install a makeshift sail on the balloon to give it more sideways and upwards mobility. With luck, we would even be able to strafe enemy projectile spells that way.

Have everyone equip a chute. Tie them all with a single rope, or just have them grab onto it. If the airship is shot down somehow, have Lyssa guide the crew safely to our side with her Strong Wind spell.

When they are not bombing, she can also help with splitting the larger enemy groups into smaller chuncks with illusion spells, sort of like what we did with Miosguinn when we broke the spider and ghost hordes attacking the dwarves. Though will it work with the enemy mages to guide them through? Still, it might split their attention if they try to control the horde and disbelieve the illusions simultaneously.

Give her enough Energon Cubes to pull it off, maybe even all of them safe for those we might need for our part in the plan and for the mice. Also give her a ring with Heal, just in case. We still have two mandrake roots for emergencies.

And of course, pursue them with the archers and a mortar, trying to inflict some casualties and to guide them straight into our Pathfinders' loving arms and their trap. Derryth and Thais should assist with that, though this should primarily be a job for Ceannard and our mortarmen, as they are the only ones outranging the enemy.

Have Argus handle the smaller tactical details and consult with him on a matter of how to get through this with the least amount of casualties. We do not want to lose anyone here if we don't have to.

Communicate with your forces and coordinate your efforts through the eagles.

With death ahead of them, behind them, above them and generally everywhere, I think our enemies might just panic and rout. Even if they don't, they will have to spread their horde quite thin, as they would be essentially surrounded, and they will have trouble guiding a large number of undead if we disable some of the more experienced mages.

E) freeform


2. The mice, you chose to:

A) Allow Lyssa to work with them to satisfy their addiction. They could be useful and they should not suffer.

B) Allow Lyssa to work with them and expand upon their previous master's experiments. There are a number of possible applications for such creatures that you think are worth pursuing.

C) Kill them, the last thing you need is spell casting animals getting loose or turning on you.

D) As per B but you will also recruit and train a group of 'loyalist' mice in case your new friends some day turn on you.

E) freeform
 
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Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Party/Organizational Changes:

Party Changes:

Not much here. You lose a person to the search and you gain a person as well.

Berty:

Leaves the party to join the search.

Argus:

Joins the party from Myrgard.

Organizational Changes:

Nothing at all really. The Pathfinders used up a lot of their explosives but beyond that your organization did not actually lose anything.

Rolls:

Ah, the damned rolls. You know I got within two rolls of letting that creature loose... two rolls!

Anyway.

First off your plan and Gullveig's plan were both being rolled for in this update and the previous one. The way I handled this was to set up a track for the plans where successes would move you or her closer to your respective goals.

If she had reached her goal first the abomination would have risen and led an attack against your fort. However, since you won you succeeded in blowing both her and her creature into tiny little bits... Well there are plenty more corpses and mages out there so maybe you will still run into one some day. :lol:

Aside from the competing plans that made up the core of the rolls for this update there were also a number of secondary rolls.

Gullveig had no real way of knowing what you where doing but there was a slight chance that she would hear your animals and decide to act. They were not easy checks though so the odds of that happening where small.

Your Pathfinders also recieved a handful of rolls to see it they could get up to some mischief but they rolled dreadfully and did not manage to score a single success so no opportunities presented themselves.

Your reinforcements have also been mapping the tunnels and there were a few rolls made there but nothing I am willing to get into details about.

The mice had a couple of rolls to see if they would succeed in stealing Lyssa's energon cube. They failed but it was close. If they had succeeded you would not have received that scene or the options attached to it.

Astrid also had a few rolls related to your new explosives but they were not directly relevant to the update so they did not come up in the text. She is making progress but not terribly quickly.

Finally, as is becoming common, there were a number of rolls for what is happening in the region, all of which you can not know yet.
 
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