>>12078401
Belongings: Ruined noble garbs, Ruined medium armour, “Kingslayer", Captain’s Skull (Sea map),“King of Black Waters” (Warship),Ancient Elfish book, Archsilver Foil, Main gauche, Elven Archmage staff

Known Dark Arts:
Soul Obliteration (Power cost High, Façade damage high)
Zone of Secularity (Cost Very High, Façade damage extreme)
Dark Imply (Cost Low, no Façade damage)
Shadow Step (Cost Range Dependent, Façade damage low)
Dark Storm (High, Medium upkeep, Façade damage medium)
The Caged Beast (Loss of Sanity and Humanity, Façade obliterated)
Essence Drain (Restores Power, Façade damage high)

(Power up!) Evil Power: Prince of Darkness (Path of the Tyrant)
Façade Status *: Broken

*Façade now keeps track of how hidden your true nature is. A weak Façade means you exude evil thus inspiring fear, loyalty or hostility in others. Certain acts and using Dark Arts will weaken the Façade. Your Façade will gradually replenish on its own while limiting your use of Dark Arts or recover quickly or instantly by performing certain actions.

Minions and Allies of Note: Catharine (Mistress), Sailors (531), Mage neophytes - Children (23), Kelgris (Clockwork Dragon), Gregor and Mirada (Master Engineer and Apprentice), Brem (Angelfalls East Slums crime lord)

What is the Lighthouse of Angels? Like... is it an actual lighthouse?

>>12078469

In Part XVI you realized it was actually served as a lighthouse. However it was also a powerful artifact capable of focusing light into a terribly destructive power that has been dormant for over 1000 years since the elves left the city to the humans.

For those of us new to it: Facade damage? Is sanity regainable? Same with humanity? What happens if they're too low?

>>12078620
Façade, humanity and sanity are new since the protagonist is getting stronger and stronger and there are new internal struggles beside the external ones.

If sanity is low your perspective on the world becomes skewed. If you humanity gets too low you turn into a beast, force without reason.

If we're legging in, make sure we mark the magic thing so we can corrupt it from afar when it gets plugged in, or at the least lets us know when it gets plugged in.

Grab Archmage corpse, we need to experiment with necromantic magic and its good start, take Prince Bones along, if possible leave sand+implications of kidnapping via that Human Baron fellow of Elven nobles.

>>12078657
But where to?

Gathering the remains are easy enough, but you doubt you'll be able to cover this whole incident up. What magical energy is the the Lighthouse makes a background radiation of magical energy but given enough time the investigates that will inspect the scene will deduce something using Dark magic was here.

Attempt to either corrupt or commune with the artifact so that we are able to attune it to our will. Probably difficult seeing that we're totally not elves. However, is it possible to mold our mental faculties to match it? Or even soul eating an elf and using it's memories, etc to mimic it?

In other words, should we veil our true purposes to the artifact since it IS incredibly powerful and built by powerful elves, who are tricky.

>>12078786
agreed. we need to see if we can figure this thing out before we leg it.

>>12078757

Can we create a teleportation signature? Even if we do we're blown because of the neutral/goodness spirit of cooperation will ferret out what happened. Its time to go to ground for a night or so, then start a righteous riot when accusations of evil spies are leveled against our kind hosts.

>>12078786
The artifact works on a different basic theory of magic then you are capable of, and thus as it is built, impossible for you to mess with. Its like trying to plug an appliance into an outlet from another country without an adaptor.

If you could interrogate other elves, or find something else about it, or figure out someway to harness its energy and use it for other means circumnavigating the old controls.

>>12078840
If you've been somewhere before its easier to Shadow step back. Keeping in mind the greater the distance travelled the more stamina is used up getting there. Shadow Stepping into encounters is not advised.

man, nobody seems interested in this tonight.

I guess head back to our base of operations, we need a plan for messing with this artifact, and we don't need to do that with the chance of another fight, we're fairly beat up.

>>12078925
Can we use the good energy to slay the signature? Maybe muck around a bit and even use it as a mask to restore our facade?

How bad is our condition? Can we move around/walk fine or is even that a struggle? If it's not too bad, perhaps we can shadow walk to where we previously were/back to Catharine. Otherwise, swim out from the lighthouse? I'm sure we're beastly enough to swim with all the things we're carrying... Maybe.

Also, maybe I missed it in the last thread but what does Evil Power: Prince of Darkness (Path of the Tyrant) do or is that still a mystery?

>>12079057
It is not per say "good" energy. Magic is usually neutral. If it was Valtir sect holy magic then maybe, if it didn't fry you yourself. And you've already left your mark on the device, you are not sure to what end that will serve, but it has been done.

>>12079049
The entire way back to your room was patrolled by guards, but you should have enough energy to make it back to your room across the river in the other keep. Slipping into the shadows and walking some distance down the hallway and door upon door in that shadow realm you finally come across a door marked different from the others and emmerge back into your room. There is a startled rustling and a flicker of light turns to a bright oil lamp flame as Catharine already sleeping under the covers of the guest bed looks at you for a moment. At first she shows a little hesitation and confusion, but as her eyes adjust she does notice it is you.

"...Griffith...Your eyes...." Wrapping the bed sheet around herself she gets out of bed and walks toward you, almost looking sad as she looks at you. "What happened?"

>>12079106
Last thread a decision had to be made between three different paths: The Beast, the Tyrant and the Coward. The people said Tyrant, which so long as you're on it will limited you in some ways and give a boon in others.

>>12079127
Is there a mirror in the room? Find out what exactly has changed. If not, get her to describe the changes.

>>12079127

Say you were attacked; it's true.

Try to calm her fears, and do your best to probe your new abilities...What does it mean to be the Tyrant?

In the meanwhile, lay VERY low and see how the remaining Elven leadership reacts, if they begin cracking down, now may be the time to start our cult of rebels.

>>12079127

We should probably do our best to immediately gain as much Facade and Sanity is possible. Makes no sense to run around killing shit indiscriminately, especially if the Elven Special Forces are going to be on the lookout.

>>12079190
We're already going to have to lay low as it is with our façade broken. Best plan of action I think would be to let that recover and use Catharine to start getting more of the nobility on our side as the Elves likely start to crack down on the city hunting us down for killing such important people.

>>12079248
Second this.

>>12079190
I think this is best.
Lets take a look at ourselves and then reassure Cathrine.
We can probe our powers once we know what the reaction to the news is.

>>12079176
>>12079190
There is a mirror in the room, and when you look at it, you see that even if there wasnt that oil lamp you could still see them. Glowing red like before, but unlike before when you look at them, even you feel a pang of... something. Fear maybe? You get the feeling something behind your own eyes is looking back at you.

A hand caresses the side of your face as you are looking away at the mirror. When you turn back Catharine is standing right in front of you looking upwards at you. You can sense she is trembling but she still manages to somehow carry on and approach you. Even when you look at her again and she almost moves away by instinct.

You tell her that you were attacked and what happened in the other tower.

Catharine suggests leaving, now. Before anyone else notices what you did. As you are now, you're going to be suspect number one if anyone even looks at you. An elven mage would understand soon enough the other reasons why by looking and feeling you.

>>12079297

Well, Catherine knows best.

Time to find a nice hidey-hole and recover until we can find a new persona to adopt.

>>12079297
Let's do what she says and go to ground. When we can pass for a regular human again, we can start stirring up rebels.

>>12079297
Hmm... We definitely need to find out more about the person/thing that created us at some point and that stone in us... Hiding and recovering is best plan and I still recommend having Catharine getting us more support against the elves and to our views on the elves quietly. We should see if we can corrupt the human ruler of this city to serving us. We'll need someone to handle these affairs for us while we're gone.

Also I have a question beyond the current moment. How old are Catharine's sisters, what do they do, where are they and does she have other siblings beyond them and the brother we killed? Why yes, I do start planning things ahead of time and I do remember how her family line is supposed to play a role in fighting us.

>>12079297

Also, new long term goals;

Get in contact with that huge Easterner horde that will be coming down the river to the city.

We should work to maximize the raping, pillaging, and slaughter of Angelfalls, especially if the Elves' superlighthouselaser is no longer precisely functional.

i advocate trainiong with catherine and the young mages in the arcane while we lay low, explore the mysteries of the dark star artefact aswell. should be good for all of us involved

>>12079382
Catharine is the youngest sibling. The other sisters are 25 27 and 31. They were sent off to other courts to use the Hinter name to get into a family that has money so they could get the family back on track. Catharine was the one who refused to be sent off to be what amounted to a aristocratic whore and in Hinterport (their only land claim on new frontier country no one was messing with) joined a nunnery. The others were left to their own devices and not heard from some months before you ruined the other half of the family. They could be anywhere by now.

>>12079485
Awww. I can't make any decent plans with that info. Only generic outlines and I miss these too often. Are there certain days where you run this or it is literally whenever you have time?

lets talk with our crew and peeps while we lay low, get some personal projects going and generaly get to know our power base more

Did we manage to get the loyalty of Gregor and Mirada at one point? Last I remember hearing about them, it was probably likely they'd run off or try to sabotage us when they got the chance.

>>12079313
>>12079333
Using what Stamina you have left you hold onto Catharine after collecting the rest of your belongings and reappear back in the Capitan's Cabin of the King of Black Waters.

You hear a yelp of surprise and a chair tip over. Behind the desk in the room near your throne you see Brem look over the table with paper's strewn over it. "What the bloody hell is this about then?" When he notices its you and you've returned he clears his throat nervously and continues with a much more generous tone of voice, but even that fades to a shaky voice with terror as he talks when he gets a better look at you as time goes on "Oh right, well just keeping things in order. Right big lot of good for nothings I cleaned up around the city, just like you wanted. Dem pointy ears didn't like it much, started hounding my boys down but we got done what we wanted."

>>12079485

When we have our cult in Angelfalls up and running, we can begin sending out the most skilled and dedicated among them around to the major cities to look for the older Hinter sisters.

For maximum diabolical asshattery, they should claim to be messengers hired by the Elven leadership, with appropriately fancy Elven letters. We should probably bring into one place, if only it's to kill them and ruin the chance they can be used against us.

>>12079531
When I have time on a Monday, Tuesday or Thursday.

>>12079569
Their loyalty? No. But you know you can control Gregor by threatening the well being of Miranda.

>>12079549
The more details of whom and what you want to talk about the better, you need to throw me a bone to get chewing.

>>12079652
I assume people suggested trying to get Miranda on our side? Did that go well or was that a flop as well?

Beyond that, I am for the idea of sending Catharine back to the castle, since I don't see why she would be suspected of anything at this point, and have her continue to converse with the nobility and increase unrest towards the elves. We'll need all the help we can get if we want to capture us some elves for corrupting/sources of information.

>>12079623
I'm personally for the idea of corrupting as many of her sisters as we can. It might be easier to do with Catharine on our side and it's even more spiteful to those that oppose us if this family ends up working for us rather than against us.

>>12079752
seconding

>>12079652

Can we use Brem to start the cult? He might lose some free will, but his underworld contacts will be an excellent starting group for the rebellion.

>>12079752
Miranda is the young and naive apprentice of Gregor.

Catharine doesn't like the prospect of being too far removed from yourself. It may have to do with the whole being raised to be a plaything for the other nobles so their family could get back on track. So you will have to strike a deal with her or convince her.

>>12079806
easy enough, we operate from the ship/the shadows... never more than a shadowstep away, all she was to do is sew/water the seeds of dissent

>>12079652


lets talk to the younglings, make sure they are being well sheltered and understanding of our ideals

>>12079806

Also, where's Kelgris at? Haven't heard anything about him in a while.

>>12079806
I'm sure she wants to help us. Tell her we need her help with this and we will return to her side as soon as we can. We wouldn't do this otherwise but the elves did more to us than you had predicted.

If we can't convince her, get her to work on Miranda. Have her befriend her and slowly show her that being on our side isn't terrible at all.

Catharine pouts a little, "You want to stick me up there in that castle when the Duke is going to be sieging his own city in two days?"

>>12079899
Kelgris has been sleeping/stand-by mode for some time. Its hard to lay low when you let the dragon do whatever and eat whomever it wants. Only you and the crew of your ship know about, and frankly the crew is terrified of it. Good for keeping them in line though.

>>12079798
Brem worships gold, if you want him to be pushing a cult around youself instead you can give the go ahead (ultimatum on him to do it or suffer) if you wish.

>>12079945
if things are really that far along she can stay with us then. Lets not distract Bren, he needs to keep fanning the flames of dissent, the sooner the elves are fighting the men and we can leave, the better

>>12079945
A simple compromise. Have her mingling with the nobility and swaying their mood and the day before the siege is to occur, she can return/we will bring her back to our side. There's no way we'd want to leave her in harms way. Even having an insider during the next day or so gives us intel on what's going on and how the elves are acting to the nobility.

>>12080051
Not to mention it may give us an idea on who's taking up leadership of the elves and gives us a possible lead on who to kill next or capture for our nefarious purposes.

>>12080074
>>12080051
As long as you come the moment there seems to be trouble in the castle, she reluctantly agrees, although she isn't too happy about it. That's sure to go away once you live up to your obligation if it proves necessary.

>>12079852
Locked away in one of the supply rooms you have kept the children. The journeys have left them a little emotionally scared. Compound that now with your frightening appearance. When you walk through the door that seldom opens they are first curious but then flee the best they can to the corners of the room.

As you walk into the room you can hear one of them give out a cute little battle cry as one throws something invisible at you and you are hit in the face with what could amount to an invisible ball of air. It doesn't hurt in the slightest although you certainly still felt it. The little boy panting heavily doesnt let up as being the oldest seems to be the de facto leader and attacks again like this was some predetermined battle plan. Another gust of wind that doesn't even push you back at all, only causing a breeze to cause your cloths to flutter like being caught in a brief wind storm. You hear a clatter and paper rustling of a book as it hits the ground behind you. Seems that book you picked up earlier was blown clean of you body. Behind one of the boxes a little girl ignorant of everything else once seeing the book runs to pick it up. Looking at the runes on the cover intently.

>>12079945

Will our facade regenerate before the siege occurs? If it does, we can just start the cult ourselves by posing as an old wise man, or some shit.

We can front the cult as a way for the common man to stay protected while the nobles and elves battle it out. They won't be looking for a cult while they're too busy fighting over the castle as well.

>>12080219
Tell Catharine to return to that guest room we stayed in if trouble occurs so we know where to find her.

Hmmm. This student is our source of translation perhaps? Intimidate the child who led the attack, commend him on his bravery but tell him his anger is misplaced and that it was the mages who raised him previously who led him to this situation. They did a poor job of raising mages and they were weak. We can show him a different path where he will have the strength to protect himself and the rest of the children with him... Yeah, I suck at dealing with kids. Leave me alone. Someone suggest something better.

Turn to the girl and find out just how much she wants to study the book.

>>12080219

Oh, fuck yes.

Let her read the book.

Reward the boy for his aggressive actions.

>>12080278
I think we need to do the "Askeladd" approach to dealing with this kid. Tell him "Nice try, but you're not nearly strong enough. I'll give you real power, and you're welcome to come after me at anytime. You don't even need to knock. All I ask in return is to fight for me until you can beat me."

>>12080315
FFFFFF- You're right. Mage Vinland saga up in this mofo. Oh god, it's perfect.

>>12080219
these conditions are unacceptable for the children

heed the words of the high chief!

"...it is true that my countenance is repulsive by many common perceptions, but know young ones that apperances are just that, perceptions, just as easily as i appear frightening, it betrays nothing of what i am inside, of how we can accord, just as this book betrays nothing of its contents..."

motion to gather round with the girl, ITS STORY TIEM YAAAY, evil style.

>>12080237
The Façade will not be ready in time, your fight with the Prince broke it completely. The healing process of the Façade without aid can take weeks.

>>12080278
>>12080305
"You're brave boy."

The boy relentless continues to fight back, throwing invisible things clenched in his hands at you one after the other, but what he throws continue to stop dead on your chest. Eventually the boy falls to his knees panting. "But you're far too weak to defeat me. I can change that."

A little voice pipes up behind you, "Ververidwen!" The little speaks as she runs her fingers along the cover of the book. When you look at her more closely, she doesn't look like she is older then five years old, but her ears, they are slightly pointed. No where near an elf's...but...

The other children back away further when they see their hero helpless to stop you, and they are too far away to pull their friend with book in hand behind some boxes for safety.

>>12080315


now see, thats just asking for trouble, is it not too much to engender good intention by imparting the understanding that what we are doing is correct?

>>12080361
These kids don't trust us at all. We took them from their home and put them in a closet of a ship of horrors. We can use the kid's heroism against him, giving him corrupting power that he will accept, trying to be the hero. He will never be out of our control, and he will be our weapon soon enough.

>>12080360

How would we speed up Facade recovery?

We won't be able to properly influence the kids if we look like Sauron.

Ask hero kid his name. Ask him if he wants to be able to protect his friends.

>>12080360
Do NOT under any circumstances look any of the children in the eyes.

>>12080360
Tell the boy he has the chance to become powerful if he merely stops seeing us as an enemy. We're offering to be his mentor. He doesn't want to be our enemy. We can give him power to stop things like what we're about to do - which is take the child with the book with us to another room so we can talk to her in private.

Find out the girls name, etc etc, be nice to her and so on. Get a general feel for how she feels towards us. Does she fear us or not?

>>12080449

We aren't ready to talk to the kids, and they aren't ready to talk to us, especially if we're running around looking like death itself.

We should, however, start showing them true kindness. Bring them real food, good food.

Leave them for the day, and tell them you will be back tomorrow.

They're like wild horses, we need to show them that they can trust us.

They might be the most powerful weapons in our campaign; a cabal of wizards who can battle the Elves on their terms.

>>12080360
"so you can read that girl? I may have a use for you... as for the rest of you, if you want the power to defeat me you need only ask it, and pay the price for it until I am defeated..."

>>12080484
indeed, seconding this... combined of course with the aforementioned direct approach with the leader boy and (half-elf?) girl. winning them will likely speed our winning over of the others

"You hate me, don't you, boy? I can give you the power to wield that hate, so that none may hurt you again. Your hate, your rage, it is all power. Condense it. Embrace it. Then come, and strike me down."

>>12080484
You are half right. The little half-breed could have run off, but she seems much more interested in the book.

Remember, children don't always fear what they should, because they don't know any better.

We should see if the girl speaks a language we can understand, and up the quality of treatment the kids recieve. And like >>12080441 said, no eye contact.

we simply must get better living arrangements for the kids, this will not stand at all

>>12080423
By willingly doing acts of good, which is harmful to your power.

---

"Do you hate me that much, boy? It was not I who locked you within that tower so far away from here." You approach the boy for now who with your pressure tries to back away and into a wall. "Do you know your home is probably smoldering ruins by now? You'd all be dead right now if I did not take you away from there. Invaders have destroyed your home. But if you think you can give meaning to your life by killing me, then go ahead. If you want to learn I will grant it. But you will never kill me, not the likes of what you are or what you can become by yourself. No, you will need me. I will come again, you will tell me your answer. Kill me with what you have when next I come, or I will give you what you need for power and you will then use it when you're older..." You pause for his name.

"...Garreth..."

Leaving the Garreth trembling in terror and in rage you approach the girl who doesn't even notice you are there until you greet her kneeling down while doing so. "What does the book say?"

The girl still looking at the book, "Ververidwen! Guiding Light!"

"And what is your name?"

"Andrea!" She looks at you and says it with a smile, she doesn't even notice how terrifying your aura should be.

>>12080557

That should be enough for today.

Get the kids a decent meal, beds, in short, be nice to them.

Stealth was always our greatest asset, we can't hope to do well with flaming eyes of evil.

>>12080557
"Hello, Andrea. I sense great potential in you, you know. Perhaps I will allow you to keep that book, hmmm? All I need is a... translation.

>>12080557
Oh this is perfect. She can be corrupted to serve our cause much easier if we do this right. Ask her if she wants the chance to read in a comfortable place. In fact, she can do some studying and write down what she learns from the book while she's at it. Hmm. Hopefully she's the nerdy type and jumps at it.

>>12080586
This, and say to the rest of the children "The offer I made to Garreth stands for all of you as well. Decide whether you wish to spend your days in a dark closet, or accept the power I have for you."

>>12080579
>>12080586
these, give Andrea preferential treatment as long as she reads/translates for us, make sure she knows that as long as she helps us she will get "nice" (and of course mildly corrupting) things

>>12080623
I'm tempted to not say it to the rest of them and we work on converting Garreth. He's their leader. They look up to him. If we can get him, they'll follow. Andrea, we just have to work on making us her idol and she'll follow us. She's young enough to see us as a father figure/idol of worship. Imprinting man. Imprinting.

>>12080646
A good point. However, we can't just have them sitting around if we want to get us a cadre of angry mages. At the very least, we should permit Garreth to teach the others what we teach him.

>>12080646
agreed
>>12080639
seconding

>>12080665
If we mold him in the "Learn magic so you can get power and beat me" method, I'm sure he will do his best to teach them. We can work on making him more loyal over time if that happens or just ensure his loyalty by being more powerful. The only problem is if he gets them all on his side with the things we teach them. During our education of them, we have to make it Us positive.

>>12080639
>>12080646
>>12080665

Generally speaking, we should reward ANY kind of behavior that stands out.

A competitive environment, but not one that encourages backstabbing; we should be going for Mutant Academy rather than Sith Academy. Losing prospective talent with such a tiny pool of kids is a terrible idea.

>>12080686
We don't have to be their best friend/mentor, we need to take their heroic spirit and corrupt it. We need them to kill for us because they need that strength to kill us. Then when they finally have the power to harm us, they have become an extension of our will.

Nothing motivates a search for power like a misguided sense of heroism and duty.

Happily going back to reading the book, Andrea opens the cover and begins reading the book going back after every page summarizing it the way a five year old would, "The men sleep 'round the guiding light! Then the guiding light grows bright! Bright so anyone can see. When they get tired they go to bed. And then sleep by it 'gain. And the guiding light grows even brighter till it cant no more, then they can make it shine really bright!"

"If you want to keep that book, all you need to do is tell me what it says."

Andrea looks at you confused, "You can't read it it? But you're a grown up!" She laughs innocently at your expense then feels guilty and sulks a bit. "I like reading though, so I'll read it to you!"

The other kids worry behind the boxes and let out little whispering hisses for her to stop and get away from you.

>>12080700
Agreed.

>>12080700
>>12080686
>>12080646
>>12080639

so we combine these, try to get Andrea to nergasm/latch onto us, and train Gareth and the others through him, we'll eventually "catch" them training and go Mutant Academy, with us as Xavier, and Gareth as our Logan. as we train them we fill their impressionable little heads with corrupting evil thoughts.

>>12080731

Tell her you'll hear more tomorrow!

Seriously, get the fuck out of the there, we don't want the kids to immediately view Andrea and Garreth as traitors.

>>12080750
I'd say we're more Magneto, wouldn't you?

>>12080731
I wonder if Catharine like kids?

>>12080731
make it seem "fun" tell her that mean people didnt teach us how to read, ask her if she wants to come with us to read somewhere more comfortable

be genuinely nice and helpful ish to them it will help win them over and repair our facade. granted with some loss of personal power but with the benefit of winning there aid which long term would have to be a bonus.

>>12080770
I disagree. We need to take the girl, she's already set herself up to be a scapegoat for the other childrens fears and uncertainty, and if we leave her they could turn her against us

>>12080773
he wasnt really part of the academy though, and the rate of attrition in both his magnetic men and his brotherhood of mutants was far too high for what we have to work with

>>12080815
I agree. Find her a nice, well lit area with some books and make it her room.

>>12080782
She's the mommy and we're the daddy? Heh.

Yeah, I'm all along the lines of taking her with us too. Children are nasty. Who knows what they might do to her. Although that might be a good thing... If they isolate her from the group, she'd turn to us easier when we take her away from harm... Don't we have a technique to influence peoples emotions/thoughts?

>>12080845

We can Dark Imply pretty easily, but we haven't really used it to any positive effect; it's been more of the stirring up a riot variety.

We probably wouldn't be able to use it to make Andrea trust us, but we could definitely use it very subtly on Garreth so he accepts our Dark Bargain (TM).

>>12080845
its risky though, what if they worm inside her head before we do? we kinda need to know whats in that book, so if we read with her some, make it pleasant and such, then put her back by her friends they will trust us more, and Gareth will be more likely to buy in tomorrow. OR they are mean like you said, but we have already got her to like us, so she will confide in us, look forward to meeting with/reading for us ect ect. taking her with us now is a win win

>>12080845
No, you see ,if little Andrea loses her innocence see might lose the protection from our aura that she seems to enjoy currently. It would be bad for her to fear us, given what we need from her and how young she is.

>>12080911

Hell, we can even use Andrea as an example to the rest of the kids; we aren't such a bad guy after all!

"Andrea, I have somewhere much better where you can read, with a lot more books that you can read there. Would you like to go there?"

The kids put up a quiet barely noticeable protest of whispers.

Andrea thinks for a moment, ignorant of the protest of her peers, gives a big smile and nods, "Yes!"

Getting back on your feet you move over to the door and open it with Andrea clutching the book nearly as big as her little torso. A couple of guards standing outside move aside to let you through, before leaving you give Garreth a sinister grin that says, "I win" and you leave the storage room behind.

>>12080911
>>12080904
>>12080883
All fair points but I'm wondering if she might be young enough that she won't care about our aura. It's damn risky, I won't disagree with that but if it worked, she's pretty much be set in following us. It might be worth considering if we can't convert Garreth. I say we take her away for now as she translates and see how converting Garreth goes. If he resists, introduce her back to the group and maybe encourage them to be cruel to her. Then we take her away from her misery and she will adore us and want to learn from us as she ages.

Also, anyone have any idea on what she means by men sleeping around the light? I thought meditating or something and focusing the magic into it but in that case, we will likely need these kids on our side to power it if we want to use it.

>>12080956
That's kind of what I got from it as well. It may be that it's powered by entering a sort of meditative "dream state" which may be our ticket to use and corrupt it.

>>12080956
I'm gonna have to agree with this, now that we have her with us. TO THE LIBRARY, STORYTIME!!!!!!!

>>12080985
dream state seams plausible, or that running it is taxing as all hell for mages (probably moreso now that we marked it)
>>12080956
with our plans for the kids I doubt that they'll be able to use it unless we finish tainting it

>>12080953
aside from our books, what other things do we have that could help us win the trust/place as a fatherfigure of a nerdy little girl?

>>12080953
Man, i hope Catharine is gonna be okay with this. We'll need her for more subtle manipulations and to console the girl when the others invariably start to bully her. I don't think we'd be good at that kind of thing.

Should we maybe introduce her to Cath first? Just to gauge the reaction?

>>12081048
Probably just keep getting her books and, as mentioned, see how Catherine feels about kids.

>>12080953
Find out how old Andrea is.

>>12080953

tell the guards that Garreth gets extra rations and a cot to sleep on, if he so chooses. Also have them listen to the children, just their general plans. don't need the knee biters catching the boat on fire.

And sometime during the night we need to visit Cathrine. let her know we keep our promises(that don't hurt us or ruin our plans). we should bring Andrea with us. it would be nice for her to see a castle before it gets destroyed.

>>12081082
>>12081061
Catharine is currently at the Angelfalls citadel like you asked her to.

>>12081110
She is like you guessed, only 5 years old.

>>12081142
Alright, get a living area set up in the library for Andrea for now. Can't think of anything else that needs doing.

>>12081141
An easy enough request. At best they'll end up fighting each other instead of thinking about fighting you.

>>12081141
good idea... but shadowstepping might be a might bit... frightening for a 5 year old, we can introduce them when we bail Caths ass out before we leave. for now lets get to some reading in our library. And make it a cot for the strongest, we want them to be internally competative, make sure they know that there may be more cots to be had if they were more... cooperative towards us

>>12081190

Its like battle royal except we don't quite want them killing each other yet. I like it.

Also agree on holding off visiting Cathrine unless she needs it, but try talking to her through our symbol that she has.

Ask her is she is safe and if everything is going alright, and advise caution. Everyone knows what is about to happen. We don't want her to be made an example of.

>>12081190
Not necessarily. We have to assess her curiousity in magic. If she loves magic enough, it just might fascinate her more. She's not afraid of us at the moment. I don't think shadow stepping is worse.

>>12081173
good idea, a cot, a lamp, tell her that the cook will make her anything she wants, visit daily, ect ect. lets see what she can dig up for us

>>12081283
possibly, or shes just to enthralled in the book to notice our aura of OMFGEVIL!!!! lets talk to cath, if things are calm and Andrea isnt offput by our black-magic walkietalkie we'll ask if she wants to see how our magic works/meet the nice lady we were talking to, and play it from there

>>12081279
You cannot communicate with her through the medallion, but you can feel its presence fairly accurate from the distance you're at somehow. If you look in the direction of the citadel you can feel what level she is at and how far inside the stone. You could probably shadow step in the same room as her whenever you wish.

What do you will now? Or do you simply want to let events transpire?

>>12081314
lets do some reading with Andrea/get her set up, when she falls asleep in her nice cot in the library skip ahead to our next encounter with Gareth

>>12081314

lets go to Cat's room, we'll hide in her wardrobe until she closes the door behind her, then to avoid scaring her to death we'll tell her to open the door or something. And sure we may be evil in mortal form, but how will she ever be scared of us after that.

>>12081314

Chill out for now; keep a close eye on Catherine's condition.

Prepare the ship for travel, in case things go badly for the Duke at Angelfalls. We could always go meet up with that Eastern horde upriver if we need backup.

>>12081314
How about examining a way to counter Archsilver weapons in the future? That hurt us quite a bit against the Prince and who knows who else will have a weapon like that. Alternatively, I would suggest we try to work on converting Miranda to our cause but with our facade busted, we should probably save that for now. Maybe if we get Andrea more under our sway, we can use her to help get Miranda on our side... A possible thought.

Is that Elven Archmage staff anything special in itself or is it just a focus of some kind for their mages?

>>12081342
>>12081333
lets go with these

>>12081342
Archsilver as the prince called it, and how he explained it, is no a mineral that is found on this continent. Its highly unlikely there will be records of it in human lands, only elves who live far off on the western continent would know. From what you can tell it is a pure metal, not just on a chemical level but a spiritual one as well. Touching it dirrectly hurts, a lot. And you're familiar that it causes you to light up in flames when it pieces you.

The Staff itself is indeed a focus device for magic. It expedites magic spells and stores magic spells in it for even more expeditious use at a later time.

>>12081333
Andrea is content to keep reading the book, although as the book gets into its later pages she is quite confused by what it is trying to convey. The beginning as you figure from her.... unique style of translating is about charging the artifact. It needs a power source to operate and that was always mages. The later half of the book is all theory and crystal placement. Around the main cylinder there seem to be other crystals and focus and refocus the energy in direct violation of thermodynamics. Somehow the magic stored in the glass is magnified several times and when it is let loose in large amounts can be used as a weapon.

>>12081425
Then the next questions on the Archsilver we will have to test in the future is whether it can be broken easily or if it can be corrupted. Since we're too weak, we probably shouldn't do that at this time but it's worth investigating in the future.

Could we use the staff for our own purposes? Convert it into something other than a staff and store our dark powers into it for future use without using our immediate pool of power?

Act like a father to Andrea from now on. When she falls asleep, visit Catherine.

>>12081425
if she's confused let her know shes free to take a break if its too taxing, be nice and such. If she does go the break/sleep rout you may as well skip ahead to our confrontation with Gareth tomorrow. In hindsight, we probably should have taken either the staff or the sword for further study...

>>12081449
Collect some of our blood and cover the sword with it. Perhaps repeated applications will have a cumulative effect in corrupting the metal.

>>12081465
Contrary to popular assumption, your blood does not in fact possess direct corrupting properties.

>>12081449
If Archsilver can be forged, it is not mistaken to believe that it can be broken. Can it be corrupted? Considering how violently it reacts in contact with you, that's highly unlikely.

>>12081523
Then at some point we need to find a means to break this material if someone comes after us with another weapon made of it.

I just had a thought. If we can put our powers/magic into the Elven staff, could we then use the staff to put that magic into the lighthouse artifact? Use the staff as an adaptor to this foreign power outlet so to speak.

>>12081523

well damn. there's always the off chance that talking to the sword will make it evil. I mean we did convince a kids father to kill him in his sleep.

Lets see if our men can get us some new armor, or if we can forge some for ourselves. And some new sneaky cloths, or old ones are torn to shit.

>>12081576
>>12081570

You know, practically, we should probably just throw the damned sword overboard. Keeping a weapon uniquely capable of hurting us just reeks of storybook villainy.

However, we should definitely corrupt the Staff if possible, and look into the "adapter" idea. If we can't use it to channel our evil powers, then we should just taint the staff and give it to Garreth to play with.

Two birds with one stone, you know?

>>12081576
yea, we defianately need new armor... preferably of the evil variety.

And breaking Archsilver needs to be up near the front of our "shit to work on" list

>>12081615
fiendish idea, we really should look into other ways of corrupting shit than "Pour our evil essence into it" as the last time we went that rout we ended up with an intensely one-time use tool, and this is defiantly a long-term-plan time in our evil life

>>12081523
Is there a place in the world that's considered to be corrupt? It's just purely evil and such and it would basically be a place we would love? A wastelands or some kind or something where there's evil magic scarring the land or something along those lines?

>>12081702
Along these lines can we search our memories for a place that we remember raising an army or resting in? Any old ruins or evil land which would be a good stopping over point, place to set up a nascent evil camp and recharge?

This is a long term goal

Also FUCK YEAR Evil Quest!

>>12081570
You could probably use it so that you personally could control the energies involved, but its unlikely you can use it to convert your magical energy into mundane magical energy.

>>12081615
Although, if you completely repurposed the staff and reverse engineered it it might become a tool you can use. It would no longer be usable for other means or by anyone else though.

>>12081621
>>12081576
You could probably piece together something wearable for protection, but if you want something custom made, you'll need someone skilled getting to work on that, and time. And a agreed upon design.

>>12081702
sadly it all got purged away when we got beat... and we passed up on the ability to make such a place due to our lackluster combat skills, may as well skip ahead to our next confrontation with Gareth

Would be a nice hideout:

An undersea cavern. Use the Captain's Skull to try and find one.

>>12081621
I'd say two sets.

Evil set of stealth/disguise leathers

Tyrant Evil Armor

>>12081731
I was thinking more along the lines of finding a metal that's the opposite of Archsilver. Something corrupt or magical. It would make a fine suit of armour if we could find something like that. I would suggest a new blade but ours is already pretty nice unless we decide to go dual wielding.

>>12081747
Some kind of volcanic metal would be nice.

>>12081702
>>12081731
Evil lost a war a thousand years ago, and over the centuries even the longest lived evil creatures eventually faded away and out of existence. The world is mostly neutral landscapes, there are few consecrated places that could be considered "good" aligned. The closest place is where you awoke, which was probably the ancient fortress from your memories that the previous Evil King ruled from and commanded massive armies of sub human soldiers.

Evil, while we consider what to do, I suggest we still keep period empathic contact/checkups with Cathrine.

We are a Tyrant as as such she is our Consort and it fits our profile to reward loyalty and protect one of our most valuable agents.

I wouldn't put it past the elves to have oracles/farseers or what have you and detain her just because of our mysterious absence.

>>12081747
excellent idea sir

>>12081738

Let's just taint the Staff for now, I want Garreth to use it during his training. Hopefully it will plant seeds of evil all in him and whatnot.

As for the armors, I definitely agree we should have sneaking leathers, Tyrant fuckhuge armor, and we definitely need another set of noble robes.

At some point, we should return to the place of our rebirth; maybe we can find some clues to ancient evils that can be reawoken.

>>12081738
So the options are using it to control the artifact if we can get it powered up or re purpose it into something else eh? Then I say we maintain it as it is for the moment. If we CAN figure out a way to power it, we've basically established this place will become a fortress of ours since we have a giant frickin-laser-beam. If we have to abandon this plan, we can convert it into something else. At this point though, I don't think there's much else we should actively do other than what's been suggested in keeping an eye on Catharine as best we can, molding Andrea to worship us and having fun with the rest of the mages. And keep an eye on what the elves are up to in the city of course.

>>12081803
I think about the things that need to be done in this quest a little too much at times. Especially since I often miss it. I will gladly take sleep deprivation at this point to take part.

>>12081738
What about the enchantment on the blade? The thing practically fought for the prince after all, is there anything we can learn about it?

>>12081846
I dont think we have the forces to hold this city, but aside from that I agree once again, and yea, I know EXACTLY what your talking about with the obsessing...

>>12081820
These are all good, but these are long term plans.

We need to decide if we want to
>spin the death of the elfen leader into an advantage
>Heal Facade by doing 'good'/restrengthen power
>Make contact with approaching Easterners Army

Now the question is as I see it, how can we do good short term while long term it advances our Tyrannical (not just evil) agenda?

Being kind to the little girl and building up loyalty there while picking her brain as she does our research for us is a good option along these lines, but what else can we be doing to actively regenerate our facade?

>>12081797
As time pases while you do your investigation new news comes from the citadel. The elves wished it to be kept secret why they went into mourning but the news got out regardless that the Prince has gone missing, and after investigating the scene of the crime in the sealed away keep, most likely foul play was involved. They are confused why there is no body, but the elven magi cannot come to any other conclusion that upon that spot (where he said he was going) he was murdered along with his aid. The Elvish nobles under their tradition must take what they have and prepare to leave for home. The army however, comprised of the soldiers will remain. Perhaps a boon, but the hardened and skilled elvish army will now be under its own command with no interference from their ruling class.

As you remember, resigning the treaty with a majority rule of 70% or greater could change some of the conditions. With the elves gone, and only their highest ranking soldiers to stand in and the dwarfs no where near another alternative opportunity arises.

Well, that was interesting. Is the board alive again, yet?

>>12081896
Is there any possibility we could sow dissension/fan the flames of anger in the elves that remain? Are there any elves that blamed the humans (or suspect each other) for the death of their leader?

>They are confused why there is no body
I missed that part last time. What happened to the bodies of the elf leader and his mage consort?

Hmm. Since the elves are mostly leaving (which is good) are there any elf investigators that are staying around to poke among the human population? If so we can directly fan the flames of the humans against them (Dark Imply)

Or we could start a rumor and attempt to convince the humans that the elves are retreating because the coming Easterling army is too strong for them.
That should cause resentment.

I suggest we go visit Catharine the next night. Bring the dagger with us. Talk to Catharine about the children, particularly that taffer Garreth and the book loving Andrea. Ask our dark mistress who would do well to be killed in the court and if our appearance is human enough, we should appear to dark imply that the Prince did it. if it's not, ask if Catharine is good at disguises so we can look like we've been badly beaten up.

>possible repost?
>>12081896
Is there any possibility we could sow dissension/fan the flames of anger in the elves that remain? Are there any elves that blamed the humans (or suspect each other) for the death of their leader?

>They are confused why there is no body
I missed that part last time. What happened to the bodies of the elf leader and his mage consort?

Hmm. Since the elves are mostly leaving (which is good) are there any elf investigators that are staying around to poke among the human population? If so we can directly fan the flames of the humans against them (Dark Imply)

Or we could start a rumor and attempt to convince the humans that the elves are retreating because the coming Easterling army is too strong for them.
That should cause resentment.

I suggest we go visit Catharine the next night. Bring the dagger with us. Talk to Catharine about the children, particularly that taffer Garreth and the book loving Andrea. Ask our dark mistress who would do well to be killed in the court and if our appearance is human enough, we should appear to dark imply that the Prince did it. if it's not, ask if Catharine is good at disguises so we can look like we've been badly beaten up.

>>12081896
We should spread a rumor that the military leadership of the elves is much less friendly than the prince and intends to install a military dictatorship.

And that they murdered their own prince to pursue this goal.

It's delicious.

Did my post disappear?

Anyways, I suggested spreading a rumor about the elves murdering their own prince so that the military could install a dictatorship on their own.

>>12081937
>>12081949
There has been no mention of any suspects, but if they can tell it was murder from inspecting the scene they must know it wasn't any ordinary assassin. Also no body because you took the remains with you for some reason. You're a big boy, its not that hard to carry around some bones and a small frozen corpse.

>>12082043
>bones of a drained elf prince
>elf mage staff
>magical elfcubes

Gentlemen, I do think we have reagents for our next magic item.

Lets see if we can get our Raven familiar on some recon to spy on the head detective elf or whomever they appointed to be on top of this case. Not too close though. Spying on an observant person is tricky.

>>12081987
>taffer
I like you.

>that Taffer Garreth

Be sure to watch your pockets around him.

>>12082088
It seems your Raven familiar is currently absent. Check the minions and allies list.

>>12082088
What are you thinking? Because all I get out of that is creating some weird evil magical staff decorated with the bones of the prince.

>>12082121
Hm.

>>12081987
Well then, to move things along, I agree with the following

>I suggest we go visit Catharine the next night. >Bring the dagger with us. Talk to Catharine about >the children, particularly that taffer Garreth and >the book loving Andrea.

>>12082157
The bones of a elf with a royal bloodline drained by the Incarnation of ultimate evil should resonate strongly with sympathetic magic. Should be good base materials for some sort of magic item involving elves, bravery, triumph of evil, sacrifice, etc. Correct me if I'm wrong Evil.

Just as an offhand thought we might be able to shape the bones into a glove to handle the Archsilver without harm (if the glove if made out of elf bones and maybe the archsilver won't harm us)

Or set the elf prince's skull on top of his mage lover's staff and make the thing a magical resonator that causes a backlash in elf magic targeting us.

Just ideas I'm throwing out there.

>>12081987
>>12082164
Waiting for night to fall you make your way through the city streets. Not a soul stirs at this time, it seems there is a curfew put into effect, but you're stealthy enough with the help of shadows to make your way eventually through the city streets to the base of the waterfall where you shadow step your way up into the citadel.

Homing in on the medallion Catharine has on her person you eventually make it to her room where she has changed into a night gown and was brushing her long blond hair, when she looks into the mirror and sees you standing behind her she seems relieved as she is excited to see you.

"You came!" She clears his throat and calms down a little lowering her voice, "I mean, I knew you would come. I guess you heard... They know it must have been you. Not that they know it was you. But they are convinced that who their after is still in the city. When the people wake up tomorrow they will see that the entire city is under quarantine and the port blockaded completely. They're going sweep the entire city for months if they have to until they find you."

>>12081896

Instead of starting the attack now lets work on changing the treaty so that Cathrine (who's ancestor sealed away all evil) gains control of the city and the area surrounding it, we'll use thugs Brem has available to start murdering other nobles and blame it on the elves. then once she takes command we invite all the lords and ladies and transform them using our dark power. That way we have a city watched by twisted nobles loyal to us.

>>12082231
Well that puts a bit of a damper on things, oh well it's just another thing we can use against the elves when the time comes to stir up trouble between them and the locals.

>>12082231
This is fucking perfect.

We'll be able to use the Elves' investigation by claiming it is a military takeover. Have Catherine work with the nobles (since we're stuck in evil mode right now) to muster some force to renegotiate.

If the military elves refuse to deal, then that's pretense for attacking them in the open. And that's just perfect.

>>12082231

this is troubling, and promising. now would be a perfect time to use Brem, and by use I mean have such an upstanding citizen killed by the elves as revenge for the death of their lord. The riots would be spectacular, and many nobles would most likely die. In the cease fire Cathrine would be the best candidate for succession of this city, as everyone else who gets in her way would die in their rooms or simply vanish.

>>12082231
This is beautiful

First off, soothe Cathrine's fears in that very Genghis Khan, 'I am an evil fiend but I have excellent family values' type way. Chat about the children while giving her the dagger, giving her a few moments of normality and marital bliss. Or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

Secondly I suggest that at the moment we do nothing overt for a week.

The crux to this plot gentlemen, is fear and food.

Locking the ports means that trade is cutoff.
Have our crime lord Brem start hording food and encouraging allied merchants to do the same.

During the first week (or whatever time frame) we want Brem to have thugs and provocateurs on stand by to 1) spread fears among the common people about the Easterners army approaching and how the elves shutting down the docks will accelerate starvation and could make a siege worse. 2) inspire fear about any martial law the elves apply. 3) once the people are beginning to grumble, have Brem's merchants complain to the nobles that 'you clearly aren't a noble if you are bowing to an occupying army, the elves, why are they here on some fool mission anyway when we need food and they can just pick up and leave?'
4) Have Cathrine do nothing but watch and stay in contact with the nobles. Someone should subtly hint she may be the savior with the authority to break the elf treaty and thus open the ports again.

The Hinter name is one of the few remaining Human family names on the treaty and if you can deal with the current Duke Catharine would be the logical legal successor to the Duchy. Although the Duke may try to strike a political marriage which Catharine would sooner kill herself, or get the conservatives on his side, without their support he may rather let the elves stay and hope they go away once they are finished like they have implied they would.

But what now?

>>12082346
adding, we need to cloak any evil artifacts Cathrine has as best we can. And we need a backup plan just incase Shadow Stepping fails us.

We lay low.

>>12082231
What about ships? are they searching ships? Cause if they mean to we need to find somewhere else to hide Kelgris, the children, and George and Miranda.

This could be really bad.

>>12082347
It's simple: Kill the Dukeman.

>>12082347
I'm telling you guys, starting a riot is better than risking negotiations with elves.

With the prince dead and a military commander in charge, we should spread rumor that the elves will be initiating a military coup in the city. The elves will be sending out soldiers to look for us, and they will easily be seen as an occupying force.

We rally the noblemen to resist, and use our own talents to help out where necessary. Once we force out the elves, we ditch the townies and help the barbarians invade.

This is the maximum evil possibly in this situation, I believe.

>>12082389
While that may be the most evil, we want to be sure Catherine's Hinter name is not tarnished and that the barbarians don't break the Brotherhood laser tower.

>>12082346
In addition to stirring up resentment against the elves, I think we should start a rumor that the Elf prince and maybe others were assassinated by the easterners. Nothing truly concrete, just vague whispers that undermine any positive feelings the populace may have regarding the Elves competence. Because their soldiers can't be very good at what they do if assassins are running around freely.

I've seen it mentioned a few times so I'll bring up the map again. The Easterners which there is not much information about are amassing just east of Naheland. Their Prince leading the army seems hostile at best simply curious toward you and attacked you once before already.

Currently you are in the city along the coast just west of Midstland

>>12082417
I like this idea.

>>12082436
You know, I'm almost wondering if perhaps we shouldn't destabilize things further here. The eastern prince is no ally of ours, his goals directly conflict with our own in that he wants the world for himself.

I wonder if maybe we shouldn't try and smooth things over between the elves and the humans here a little. At least so they are united when the easterners attack. We can use the elves and humans here as fodder for weakening the eastern hoards that we will have to face sooner or later if we continue along the path of the Tyrant.

>>12082368
In a smuggler's dock hidden in the east slums of the city.

>>12082364
>>12082389
>>12082417
Catharine will maintain negotiations on her end and try to sway any new signing of the treaty to your ends when the Duke's forces arrive for gun boat diplomacy.

For now though staying in the castle would not be wise and ruin Catharine's cover. Departing out of the citadel and back down the waterfall toward the slums you pass through the eerily empty streets and back to the slums. Passing through a tavern's hidden cellar you walk the rough cut limestone passages to the smuggler's tunnels.

When you exit the dark caves and back into hidden dock holding the King of Black Waters you are welcomed by a clang of steal. Standing before you a row of glistening steel spear heads only six feet from yourself. Standing behind them a unit of elvish spear men three rows deep. Standing behind them in front of your ship Brem with a large coin sack tied to his belt that was not there before, and beside him that elfish captain you saw who confronted you when you tried to incite rebellious thoughts into the populace days ago. Taken prisoner outside the ship dozens of your sailors at spear point some of them by Brem's own men. But not all your men are gathered, are some still holding out inside your ship?

"Not a lot of money you put out!" Brem yells out, his voice echoing in the limestone cave. "A good business man knows when a better deal arrives. These guys paid big time to know where you were. What fool would I be to pass that up?"

Part XVIII End.

>>12082595
Oh ho, someone's skull will eventually decorate our littlest finger.

Thanks for the quest Evil and putting up with 4chan going down.

>>12082595
Next session: Kelgris Fucks Shit Up

>>12082595
goodtimes.jpg.mng.gif.png.vba.sh.apng

Next part: TIME TO RUN AWAY

Slowly clap as the elf spearmen surround our men.

"My my Brem, Treachery and Pride. Two of my favorite things. I thank you dearly for walking your soul directly where I wanted it to be."

We need to plan out our next magical powers.
Our First priority is to get a brainwashing power. We need it to maximize our recruitment drive.
Next in priority is some kind of foresight so we can go all "Just as Planned". Infernal style luck would also be useful.

Question of scope and scale.

A king or queen could simply be interested in maintaining what they have, or have so much other conflict around them that self-preservation takes up all of their time. They may simply be content, as opposed to aspiring toward WURLD DOMINASHUN. They may have that aspiration and simply fail at it.

Then again, Emperors may have the might of military, but don't know jack or shit about running a domestic program that isn't 'Those who serve me get the lands we conquer lol'. An emperor can be canny, clever, insightful, and inspiring, but can just as easily be someone who has well-placed loyal lackies who do the real work of governance, while he serves as a convenient figurehead to allow those beneath him to have all the opportunity for warmongering expansionism, with none of the direct consequences...unless the emperor finds out and is not amused.

As always, there's a ton of points in between the extremes.

>provide offior