##############################################

Sadly, it seems that she was correct in her value; a princess, even a... tertiary, or illegitimate one, is still potentially useful... Desiring vengeance, but also aware that you may regret acting on impulse in this situation, you deposit Asha in the highest tower of your abandoned mountaintop castle; the one with collapsed stairs and missing parts of the floor. Detailing Scinnari to watch her, and prevent any attempted escape, you decide to patrol your territory, attend to a few things that need to be done.

You stop briefly to intimidate the captains of two blockade ships; warning them that the Grey Gull, your treasure ship, is neither theirs to pillage, nor safe to do so. The dwarves' progress on the town-wall you commissioned is not yet visible, though they do have a small team out laying plans and ordering about the men you hired to clear land for the wall.

With little to do immediately, you return to flying around the edge of your domain, keeping an eye out for ships that look particularly wealthy or hostile... dealing with either would be a welcome outlet for the rage you are trying to supress.

[dice 1d100]

rolled 88 = 88

>>13041448
DRAGON QUEST FUCK YEAAAAAAAH!!!!

Let Draconic rage flow and fume, fire and flame to crack and destroy the earth! Let the ground shatter, break and heave, and the volcanic eruptions only a fraction of our impending rage!

>are Blastion

We ARE Blastion...

rolled 16 = 16

Fuck Yeah Dragon Quest

rolled 49 = 49

>>13041515
I see the /tg/ dice are already warmed up

Anyhow, rollan'

>princess in a tower

Seriously? Even in game, we're too genre-savvy to do this.

Maybe we could get her to swear a geas of servitude in exchange for her life. Then we wouldn't have to worry about this kind of garbage.

In the meantime, move the treasure aboard the ship to our new hoard. Take a treasure bath.

>>13041515
>>13041490
You encounter a pair of what you are pretty sure are pirate vessels inbound to Mza, arriving this evening, most likely. More unpleasantly, though is Morinthian navy ship, which also seems inbound for Mza; maybe tomorrow morning or early afternoon, judging by the winds.

You also come across a battle between privateers of Azar and a small Rhasver convoy; The privateers, though heavily damaged, are winning, mostly because they have the wind on their side, not to mention a few mages, it seems.

>>13041448
Plan for Asha. Say something approximating the following.


"Oh, Asha. Why did you have to do this? You should have been a gleaming gem in my collection- a princess, a sorceress, and an assassin all in one beautiful and deadly package... who would not treasure such a servant? You could have been my agent anywhere, you know- if you didn't want to be on this island, you had but to ask and I could have dispatched you to handle my plans for other locales.

But enough of that. You had your chance and squandered it. The fact that you did not know my nature and power when you betrayed me is meaningless- it only means that you'll be more certain of your success before your next betrayal.

I could keep you for whatever political value you have, or until I could ensure your loyalty somehow... but I don't think I will. You're dangerous, and your knowledge of me and my actions makes you even more so. And I've never had a princess before."

Toothy grin. Then eat her, slowly, and savor the taste. Preface with torture and/or rape by ourselves and/or Scinnari first if we feel like being extra evil or really taking out some anger.

Then that will be done, and we can move on to more promising business.

>>13041548
In our defense, it was only temporary storage.

>>1304159
Does it seem like the pirate ships are returning with treasures? Could sack and raze them, claim it as our own...

The privateer ships could be trouble because of the mages... a simple Message or Sending could betray our whole existence in this new area...

rolled 56 = 56

Time to blow some steam! (or worse)

Killing everyone seems the best option, so as to not have pesky adventurers hunting us down later. If not the pirates likely have better loot.

Also, are there cannons? Can we loot some cannons for our castle?

>>13041636
>>13041649
Both privateers and Rhasver escorts have cannons on them, though if a ship goes, those are probably the first thing lost. And both sides look heavily damaged, except for the pair of transports that seem the target of this attack; they are making a break southwards while their crippled escorts try and delay pursuit. All very brave and noble, or it would be, if the escorts weren't outnumbered; two of the privateers have tied up the escorts, while the third follows the transports. The sounds of injured and dying sailors, as well as slowly disintegrating ship, riggings on fire, echo up from below.

>>13041603
There is actually some fairly serious dissent on this subject; I was hoping that by delaying, we could come to a consensus without half a thread's worth of arguing. (If you'd prefer to store her somewhere less traditional, though, that could be done; I just figured that was our best bet in terms of 'reveal nothing to her', and 'isolate, hold, prevent escape'.

>>13041736
The idea of our Kobolds manning cannons on our new fortress is hard to pass up. (hoping we can import our trusted minions at some point)

Either way, we should deal with the most mobile targets first. Perhaps even work out some sort of deal with the surviving ships, if such a thing is called for after the bloodshed.

>>13041599
We should let the ship get to Mza first before destroying it, to show the townsfolk how we are protecting them.

Also, check your mail WD and I'm not going to be on IRC until a few hours from now. Finals, woo.

>>13041736
Hmmm... doesn't really seem like there's much we can do without really revealing ourselves... and how would we transport all the goods from those transports to our lair? How far are they from our fair port town?

I posit that if they are within "running distance", wait for the privateer to damage the ships (forcing them to dock at our port) then we immobilize in a subtle blaze of glory... or something.

We can always go back and pick off the stranded ships later.

Destroy rudders / sails. Come back and pick the privateers + guns off in the night or something. Wait for Transports to be damaged but still hobble to our port city for 'repairs'. Or real repairs... who knows what our fancy shall take.

Or just burn it all.

Re: Asha - didn't see what actually happened, she try and make off with our treasure ship? Totally a slapping on the hand for that... ambitious, but definitely needs to be put in line: not worth killing though, don't think.

Even slaves have uses. She can be the first test subject of the Binding.

Hmm... Descend, assist survivors, declare that we claim this region, and that we will tollerate no fighting or raiding within it? (Be totally reasonable otherwise, of course.)

Charge minimal toll for passing through our territory. (Like, five gold a ship; something hardly worth objecting to,)

Become established, legitimate, and reasonable? Gain money, become major party in regional politics.


It's a thoght.

We should probably eat Asha. She has seen us and knows what we are at this point, so letting her go is... ridiculous.

We should taunt her with the possibility of being freed if she can accomplish (impossible task X) for us.

> You stop briefly to intimidate the captains of two blockade ships; warning them that the Grey Gull, your treasure ship, is neither theirs to pillage, nor safe to do so.
Uh, tell me we didn't do this as a Red Dragon?
If we did, go back and kill all eye-witness. Too early for bringing out our presence, though we already admitted such to the lizardmen....

Regarding Asha, I'm those who vote for breaking her more thoroughly, not killing her.

>>13041878
We could potentially kill/loot the privateers.
And then strike a bargain with the transports, say their lives for one ship (or a captured privateer vessel) and a good percentage of their cargo. Never say who we are/where we are going, who is going to question a red dragon anyhow?

>>13041896
I agree, why did we reveal our form when we are going to such pains to act like a sorcerer king?

I was thinking that maybe when the military ship comes we have Scinnari go down to the docks and declare "such a pathetic display not worthy of my husband's time" and then cast a flashy obscuring magic. We would be invisible at the center of the effect, and then transform into our red dragon form. After they all see us we say something like "You summon me, mistress?" and she can 'command' us to go burn the ship.

That story should keep people away. Two sorcerers who can summon dragons or worse? Avoid Mza!

>>13041767
Fairly serious dissent? Why? It seems a fairly clear-cut situation to me. Bitch betrayed us, she gets nommed. Leaving her sitting around to probably escape somehow and smear our new identity's semi-good name hardly seems like a good solution.

I can understand the appeal of keeping her around in the hopes that we'll somehow get her to be loyal, but honestly, we're not some sort of master of inspiring loyalty here. She'll split first chance she gets unless we have some sort of magical mind control, and even that's iffy.

Keep her around, and she stays a threat. But even if don't do what I want, I would strongly prefer to have the decision made and issue dealt with than to keep it around. Ideally it would be resolved one way or another within the next hour or two.

>>13041895
Not freed. Let's just let Scinnari play with her and then eat her. Maybe give her a chance to make a case for why she would make a good Leia-type slavegirl for our throneroom.

What is the dissent? How is there even dissent? We should clearly just kill her, be it torturing her to death or just eating her.

OH GOD YES DRAGONQUEST. I have waited an eternity and have suffered like an addict without his fix. Keep on writing you crazy writefag and know that at least 10 people love the shit you spew, this anon one of them.

>>13041896
>>13041947

Perish the thought. We merely landed, and woke them up in their quarters with sinister threats and the demonstration that we could sneak aboard their ship whenever we wanted. Also implications that we could destroy their ship just as easily.


>>13041952
People were reasoning, that torturing her would be pointless and gain nothing, that if we want to dispose of her, we should kill her, flat out, no frills.

They also thought that it was partially our fault for putting her on a backburner, treating her as part of the scenery as opposed to a person (who's loyalty we wanted to hold)


Do we have a verdict on our course of action?

>>13042017
Let's decide now, I say we hold her and use her as a first test for the binding some day.

>>13042017
>They also thought that it was partially our fault for putting her on a backburner, treating her as part of the scenery as opposed to a person (who's loyalty we wanted to hold)

This is just silly. She's not our goddamned girlfriend, she's an employee. She was getting paid and if she wanted to leave our employ could have asked. Instead she split with 1000 extra gold.

That's in no way our fault, she's a thief and should be tortured to death like any self respecting dragon would do.

rolled 28 = 28

>>13042017
>just checked that it is indeed nighttime.

Re: Asha - She should be the first test of our experiments with the Binding. Continue experiments until results are satisfactory.

Re: Privateers - Kill them all. Allow transports to continue to our port. Loot pirates treasuries and cannons if ships stay afloat long enough.

Rollin' for flame-wreathed VICTORY.

>>13041881
Ohgodohogodohgod. Glorious idea here.

We have presdigitation. Use it to recolor our scales. We'll still be a red dragon, but we'll look gold, bronze, silver, like something else, whatever we want.

Mortals identify us by color. (After all, what mortal is such an exper t on dragons as to be able to recognize us by body type, or profile, when the most obvious aspect is in total opposition to what they think?)


Masquerade as metallic. Eventually give metallic a bad name, but for the moment, live off their good rep.

Come on, it's genius! (I realize it may not be. I'm open to the fact that it coudl be totally retarded.)

>>13042006
Lack of henchies. Even if we try to get more henchies, there is the trial run first and then the probational period.

Currently, Asha can be either asset or liability. If Scin has a quick or sure way to bind her into service, request her to do so.
Good cop, bad cop, didn't work in the long run before.
Prolonged torture? Domination? Or request Spinel Sage for ritual to bind a human sorcerer(albeit slightly dragon-blooded one).

Else, well, kill her, I guess.

>>13042061
The typical way to "Bind" someone is Geas/Quest. We don't know it and buying a scroll is expensive and... honestly, it gives too much leeway. She knows what we are and has already broken trust. She dies by inches, skin flayed from her bones.

How possible is it to... say, gain control of the Privateers and build a fleet to help protect our new little Island?

As badass as We are, if we intend to defend this Island from being Annexed by either side of the ongoing war, we will need a Fleet of some kind eventually. We could even use it to help whichever side seems most likely to win/most profitable as an Ally of some sort.

>>13042017
>People were reasoning, that torturing her would be pointless and gain nothing, that if we want to dispose of her, we should kill her, flat out, no frills.
Perhaps it would be most efficient to just kill her, but we are still a dragon, and she is still a thief. It would probably make us feel better to make her death as punishing as possibly for her transgression. Also it will be fun, and there's a lot of scheming and very little fun in our life.

>They also thought that it was partially our fault for putting her on a backburner, treating her as part of the scenery as opposed to a person (who's loyalty we wanted to hold)
This is crap. She was our employee, and if she was dissatisfied it was still no excuse for theft.


As for binding her, I would support that but my understanding was that it was expensive and used difficult magics that we don't know yet and could only get from an unreliable crystal. So screw it, let's just make her scream and devour her.

>>13042108
The privateers will need a reason to follow us, but I support this. Maybe get them to come to the port and then display some impressive "I will ANNIHILATE you if you don't follow me" type magic.

You know, if we're willing to talk about geas-ing her, why not find an very evil wizard, and buy some mindrape-scrolls? We've got the embarrassing bagloads of cash to do it, and it would solve our little Asha problem....

>>13042125
Just declare the following:

No combat in port.
No harming the inhabitants of the port.
Anyone is welcome in port, so long as they obey the above,
And we are the master of the island.

We could become a neutral ground in the middle of the war, and profit from it.

>>13042125
I was thinking more of, on top of letting them continue to raid enemy ships for profit, pay them to escort our future trade routes, and give them some sway with the people of our little Island port. If we get some Ale routes going, we will not only have Dwarves, but Privateers who work for us to fill a future tavern or twenty.

>>13042118
Against a dracolich, perhaps. Ask about doing it on a human sorcerer (dargonblooded).

>>13041871
uh so we want them to think their protector, lord Prestor is a red dragon? If we leave no survivors they will never even know of the battle also.

gar forgot to send in email oh well

thinking it would be a nice idea blow off some steam as we have been under a bit of stress lately.

As for Asha i think we should have a nice long chat with her. for full dramatic effect her in a large underground room with us in dragon form sitting. We could start out saying that we thought she was better than this. Thinking we could question her logic and point out how stupid /foolish she is. Like for example why she did not just ask us to move to a bigger more interesting city. thinking of trying to go for parental figure tone of voice. Stating probably very clearly that this conversation is for her benefit. maybe even throw in how generous we would have been if she had just asked and that she is lucky that we have the willpower to resist our first impulse.

If she comments that she did not know that we were a dragon we can say that we were going to reveal it to her. that we have restrained ourselves because of it. If she ask why we hid our identity our answer could be that most don't like red dragon.

maybe even throw a comment that she would be dead the first time we met if anyone else was in our position. (if she answers because they needed information we could say so can any corps with the proper magic)

lets give her time to think about her previews designations at the end of the conversation. She needs to understand how deep of a hole she has dug for herself and that she personally is the one she should blame.

Basically make her feel that we are a logical and reasonable person.

>>13042192
continuing since post was too long

We could say, "Asha i will forgive you but you will have to earn it. the 1000 gold you have stolen from me... consider it an advance payment. You will be working for me for the next 6 years 4 months and 27 days (i think that is how much 3 gold a week turns into). After that time you are free to do whatever you wish, you should be thankful many have not stolen from a red dragon and have been treated as reasonably. I will add another restriction... if you don't tell anyone i am a dragon i will not act like a dragon.... we clear.

FUCK YEAH DRAGON QUEST

rolled 15 = 15

>>13042125
Privateer would usually mean that they're already under the employ of someone else... Unless we can get them to change their minds, which is easy for a pirate.

The other pirate vessels we can assimilate... maybe we can start a pirate nation or something.

Crap. Hate to delay again, but I'm really having a hard time drawing any decision from this. Okay.

>Asha
Kill now (possibly painfully), or let live. (presumably with at least temporary imprisonment, and a threatening talking-to.)

>Battle in progress
Intervene, (y/n), and on who's side? (and what manner.)


Dealing with the inbound ships can be put off for the moment, though feel free to start comprehending solutions.

Will start writing up real post in ten minutes.

I think we should let Asha live, but mentally break her. Either with the Binding ritual, or should that prove to be too resource taxing, the old fashioned way with Scinnari.

Extended torture by a devil is nothing to sneeze at.

I like the prestidigitation into a metallic idea.

Offer both sides one chance to surrender two-thirds of their cargo plus one ship and leave in peace, or be destroyed. Make good on the offer.

>>13042318
Painfully kill Asha.

No need to intervene on the attacks I guess, it would be nice to start recruiting them to our side but revealing ourselves as a dragon is a no-go. We are a sorcerer king.

Maybe we can send Scinnari to purchase some illusion scrolls to cast on us so that we look like something else for recruiting.

>>13042369
Lol like that idea Destroying the reputations of metallics at the same time as increasing our hord.

as a silver, bronze what color...?

btw stay in their blind spots

Torture Asha to death or mentally break her (possibly lobotomized too), either one. regardless, she needs to be completely nullified as a threat.

rolled 32 = 32

>>13042369
If possible, do it. (What other spells do we have in our repitoire by now?) But we also need ships in order to expand our budding nation.

>>13042318
Leave Asha to Scinarri for 'experimenting' with the Book of Binding (or we could do it if we understand), and / or undergo serious mental breaking (one that would put a mindflayer to shame) of her... if experiments come up fruitless, terminate project.

Rollin' for ships.

>reststin called

Who called what now?

>>13042318
>Kill now (possibly painfully)
Slowly and carefully, savoring her pain and screams as the rightful fate of traitors and thieves. Enjoy it.

If this loses and we leave her alive, then torture her anyway. None of that reasonable talking shit; it doesn't make enough of an impression unless we teach lessons with agony first.

>Battle in progress
Not really interested in intervention here, seeing as we're not doing the whole dragon bit right now.

Changing to appear metallic is a good idea, but also kind of degrading. I don't like doing it unless we have to.

>>13042454
Reputation only works if others know. what we are avoiding currently.

probably should leave off killing Asha,one of the ideas was to use her to take over Tashz(what with being a royal bastard) I think. Must have been at least 10 threads ago, hell if i remember more than that. Also, where the hell are we going to get a new trustworthy assassin/sorceress on short notice? She has her uses, i figure we could explain this to her then put one of those tracking bracelets on her, or a collar/something to show she belongs to us. We are evil, not wastefully stupid. If she knew we were a dragon she wouldn't have dared even think of trying.

Threaten her with another session with Scinnari if she tries anything like that again, or hand her over and then after Scinnari has some fun tell her that, followed by putting the locator bracelet/collar on her.

Regarding the ships, we could have Scinnari put on a whole show with a few illusions and then have us in dragonform crush the ships from below. Said illusion would be some sort of flare or giant arcane symbol, something impressive looking with lots of mumbo-jumbo, that we would be able to see as a symbol.

From the villagers point of view, Lady Prestor casts a giant spell, then the ships are pulled underwater. that will make believers out of everyone. Then Scinnari says something like, took too long, should have let my husband do it, or something else that shows we (Lord Prestor) are stronger than her.

>>13042505
This, this, a thousand times this!

>>13042528
Eh, I'd suggest getting that Binding Ritual too, if it is not too costly.

>>13042505
Hell no, there are a dozen old+ blues in Tshaz. We can't take it over until we're a few hundred years older at least.

For now I think we should settle with building Mza into a huge metropolis under our direct control.

>>13042685
I think taking it was meant from the humanoid side. With a kingdom behind her, she'd be a rather formidable player.
A dragon would have to step carefully too.

>>13042528
Thanks, its nice to be appreciated.

I love this thread, its a great way to get out those evil ideas that pop up in my head from time to time. Besides, intelligent evil is my so fun, even if i go more chaotic good normally. I like to sometimes let it out and see what happens if i try to exploit every resource available, and Asha is a resource. What happens if every single potential heir before her dies mysteriously or to enemy assassins(there is a war going on)? Oh, we suddenly have control of Tashz! Seriously, in a war there will be assassinations, if we help the assassins kill all the people who could claim the throne except for Asha then we can use her to rule by proxy.

>>13042554
Yeah we could use the geas too, and actually there is no damn reason not to. Tell her she signs it, OR ELSE. If this is right after Scinnari had some fun with her, we make a glance towards Scinnari then we can bet she will sign. Fear and rewards make the world go around, this gives her the fear, so after that we have to come up with a reward for the next task she does for us. I would still recommend using the locator bracelet/collar, or even work a obedience spell into the collar(slave collar anyone?) alongside the locator.

Also, we should look into a longevity ritual for her if she does prove useful, as someone said last thread she is only a human and will grow old/die.

>>13042685
The blues are not actually in Tashz, they control the oasis in the deserts. This is all future though, for now you are right about building up Mza. Who knows, maybe something will drop in our laps that renders my plan possible. At worst, we don't gain control, Asha gets kicked out and we are no worse off. Also, by that point we might be binding dragons, so who knows whats going to happen. Either way, Tashz should be something we consider into our future plans.

>>13042778
Problem is, Asha has already been shown to be untrustworthy. We have virtually no influence over her once she is away in her homeland, and she knows our deepest darkest secret.

The ships below are hardly worth your time. You decide not to intervene, if only because there will hardly be anything left by the time you could stop the battle, and what there was would be heading downward.

The winds, though, are perfect; the surviving ships, privateer and transport, will be driven south and west, towards Mza; either subjects for a demonstration, or simply tools to manipulate their respective superiors... or pirates.

The sun has been on the horizon, but just as you decide against intervening, it climbs fully, the day dawned. That's enough time. You're ready to deal with Asha... Calm enough, at any rate. Your anger has diminished little. Turning with the wind, you fly back, south and west. Mostly west; as you arrive, you have the pleasure of feeling the sun warming your wings and back, even though you are invisible.

Asha is alerted at the last moment, stopping her shivering and casting about frantically as she hears your approaching wingbeats. She looks like she half intends to fight, but can hardly do so, at least until you reveal yourself. Which you don't. You merely snatch her up in your claws, flying over the tower, and down, into one of the magma tubes. A specific one, the one facing north; you noticed the cavity previously, and now have the perfect use for it.

Descending through the twisting natural cavern, you find the chamber in the floor, a twenty foot drop into a narrow room. Barely five feet wide, a natural hole in the floor. Perfect for storing someone.... Dropping Asha from halfway down, you watch as she screams and slides down the slope, impacting heavily, and keeping her balance only because the walls don't permit her to fall.

>>13042778
Geas is a spell that we cast on her.

>>13042872


"So, Asha, I have given you time to think on your mistakes. What conclusion have you come to?" you ask, voice echoing sibilantly in the cavern. Asha casts about fearfully, carefully reaching out to feel the edges of her prison. Of course, you remember, amazed that you actually forgot; she can't see in here.

"I... I am.. I'm sorry, lord Cibach... I did not know of your... your magnificence, your true form." she offers tentatively, fearfully. You almost purr.

"Naturally, of course not. I had no intention of advertising it. But still, you stole like a thief, and proved anything but loyal. Perhaps I should burn you here. Or turn you over to Scinnari, or eat you... Indeed, I hear royal blood has it's own wonderful taste." you whisper, walking quietly around the circle. "Or perhaps I should leave you in here... to starve, to waste away... would you prefer that to me flaying the skin form your body?"

"I... Lord... lord please." she says, visibly getting control of herself. You wait, allowing her to continue. "I... I wish to serve you. I did not know who- what, you were. I was wrong, a... a poor servant. I wish chance to repay you... as best I can."

"Or perhaps I could bury you... Pour in sand and gravel until you can no longer breath. Why are you so upset? I hear being buried up to the neck and left to die of exposure is a standard execution in Tashz..." you continue, as if you hadn't heard her.

"Lord! Please! I- I could help you, I can be- more than an assassin. Please, I didn't know what you were, what you wanted, what you planned; I can help you with more than mere killings, if you'll just allow me! Please, Cibach!" she cries, imploring blindly in the direction you last spoke to her from.

[more coming]

>>13042778
Thus, we keep Asha chained down, gagged, finger-cuffed, and visited often by Scin for now?
Or till we get a sure-fire way (or at least 75%) to keep her in control?

Regarding battle:
>You also come across a battle between privateers of Azar and a small Rhasver convoy; The privateers, though heavily damaged, are winning, mostly because they have the wind on their side, not to mention a few mages, it seems.
Who are the enemies of Freeport again? We might want to help them. Discreetly.

>>13042984
There are ways to control her, but the problem is they cost more than she is worth. That is why death is preferable after the standard torture.

She's an assassin, fairly skilled, and independent-minded enough to steal from her employer and leave him without so much as two weeks notice.

I vote for killing her. Maybe letting Scinnari have her.

I'm a bit curious about our obligations to Tiamat. She's the default god of all chromatics, does she expect us to do anything for her?

>>13042814
>>13043009

Geas + threat of future "fun" with Scinnari. With a locator collar on her that has an optional obedience spell, she doesn't have a choice. Also i figure we would be along for the ride, so she wouldn't be far off. Expenses not too high, guaranteed gain is a controlled assassin/sorceress, potential gain is a kingdom. Its worth more to let her live, and if we decide otherwise we can always kill her later.

I think it would be interesting to ask her why she did not even think to ask us to move to a different city

She keeps trying to offer her body to us.

I'm not usually one to snub my nose at women, but this behavior is entirely unappetizing.

Fuck yeah, dragon quest. Starting to read on up.

>>13043086
But she does have a choice. Get away from our sight and find a wizard to disenchant the stuff, then expose us. See, that wasn't hard and fucked us over royally.

She's too dangerous to ever allow off this island again if she lives, which I am also against.

Torture her to death.

Failure can be forgiven. Treason? No.

I know I'm late, but
Please don't kill Asha
No torture either

>>13043201
Give us a reason. Just because she's your waifu isn't good enough.

Look, all we need to impress on Asha that it is better to have us as an ally rather then an enemy
Find out what she wants (it sounds like living the good life in her home country) and offer our assitance in that matter
Tell her that we get a sniff of her betrayal and we will come down on her like a ton of rectangular building things
She should be reasonable and realize that, in the end, if she crosses us no matter what happens she will be hurt very badly and that she looses nothing and stands to gain more by following us

>>13043072
Most dragons aren't religious. Tiamat doesn't expect anything unless you actively worship her.

"It seems prudent to simply kill her." Scinnari says, approaching from the other side of the pit. She speaks loudly, deliberately letting her voice carry down into the pit. "Or.... ideally, not-so-simply kill her. There are a myriad of ways one can die... Or fates worse than it."

"You would recommend...?" you prompt, ignoring Asha's almost-silent panic below.

"Well.... Valuable in a different way than just her soul, perhaps I could send her... below. There are those who would pay well for such a prisoner. Actual mortals in the hells are so rare compared to just their souls. I'm sure someone would end up with a field day. Or several someones."

"Lord, please!" Asha begs, almost a sob. Scinnari does know how to assist, without a doubt.

"Ah... Dear Asha. Please what? Pretend you have a choice in your fate at this point? I'm afraid you gave it up when you stole. If you were anyone else, you'd be dead already; your potential value is all that is giving you this chance. If I were anyone else, you would be dead already. It is only due to my remarkable.. restraint, that I have not eaten you. Unless you have new factors to bring to light, perhaps you would do well to be silent." you admonish. "Or unless spoken to. Which brings up another line of questions, some that might prove you possess some worth... What can you tell us about the royal family? Your family?" you ask.

"I... I was raised by- by a noble, the house of Kynmal. I.. The royal family-" she says, torn between making excuses and the urge to answer your questions. Unsurprisingly, self-preservation wins. "I... My father, the sultan, is the royal line. I. I was his daughter by one of his harem girls." she says, trying to calm herself. "He- is elderly, but a powerful- fairly powerful sorcerer. His eldest son has shown signs of his- our, heritage, dragonblood."

"Dragon blood? Is your heritage? Really?" you ask, drawing out the last word.

We need a tracking collar, plus I think she should spend some more quality time with Scinnari. Beyond that, I think we should keep her alive and more or less functional, we might want to use her later.

>>13043167
she strikes me as the type how does not have that strong of a will only having a tendency to be foolish.

>>13043187
also she did not betray us she only left and embezzled.


Mainly if we punished every slight we would not have allies any more. even though it enraged us we are intelligent.


besides where are we going to get our elite half dragon soldiers from is she is dead.

>>13043251

"Sorcery, lord. Those with sorcery tend to live longer, have, be better- just are rumored to be more powerful individuals. Sharper of sight, mind, stronger, quicker. Of the lineage of the great blue. That..."

"That...?" you prompt, ignoring her reluctance.

"It- The divination of the royal line... the pact with the ancient blue says that as long as a direct descendant, with true blood, is on the throne, Tashz shall endure, that is all. Just a rumor, a legen-"

"Really?" you ask, much more interested. "And you... would be one of such 'true blood', as well as your half brother? Is he the only one?"

"No, lord." Asha says, miserably. Apparently giving up this particular tidbit was of some serious import. "My.. He's the only one of actual power. Others are usually of lesser power, barely capable of a few minor spells. That is why we're only know as occasionally sorcerous, as opposed to..." she trails off. You keep pacing, occasionally making a sound to give away what side you are on. Always from a different direction. "Those without power don't tend to advertise it, as it's usually... unhealthy. Those with power may advertise it, a challenge to their enemies, and a better claim to the throne." she admits.

"I find this unerringly perfect for making her as valuable as possible, lord." Scinnari says skeptically, "I wouldn't trust it."

>>13043236
So to impress on her that she shouldn't betray us and we will do bad things if she does we should... let her off right after she betrays us?

No. Game over, end it.

>>13043201
She is valuable
She is a highly skilled assassin, a potential political pawn, and perhaps even a potential magical ally.
She is mercenary in her loyalty at the moment- all that we need to secure her abilities and her potential is to make the right offer
Torture I think will not be a good bargaining tool in this game- she has been tortured before, but it didn't do much to break her, apparently. If we torture her now, we'll either be left with a gibbering mess no one will be able to use, or merely stiffen her hatred of us
We can work with her- offer her the chance to achieve her dreams and thensome but only by assiting us in our own
Give her a reason to want us to succeed- namely that her success is dependent on our owns, and we'll have no more problems with her

>>13043260
If she were anyone else, I would agree.

But she still has use to us. Why waste it?

>>13043259
Oh come ON.

Just kill her already. Why are we still fucking around with this? We have empire building to get to, enough with what should be a routine execution.

>>13043259
"Scinnari mind your place. I'm certain that Asha realizes what is at stake at this point, and what penalties she may encounter if I find that she is lying or any other further reason against her."

Sorry bitch, being a bastard daughter with sorcery isn't enough to save you now. Maybe if you had suggested it before you tried to rob us.

Just kill her.

>>13043259

"Then we should keep her alive while we check to see if it has any merit. But in the mean time, you'd be surprised what you can live through. Scinnari, keep her alive for now. But beyond that, you may indulge yourself."

>>13043280
You are retarded, moralfag.

Torture was VERY VERY powerful against her before, you are an idiot for thinking it wasn't. And she is not nearly so valuable as you say. She'll be dead long before we can try to move on the claim she holds, and she's a bastard from a harem girl anyway. We can hire better assassins for what we were paying her, ones who have not betrayed us.

I'll second/third/fourth/whatever execution.

Give her one (1) more chance to redeem herself in our eyes - she has value and would be very hard for us to replace. But she has shown herself to be... a volatile tool, and we begin to question if the necessary investments that would be needed to see her rise to her greatest potential are worth the risk.
Have Asha show to us that we should continue our partnership
I'd recommend that, at the moment, we garnish her wages to make up for the amount stolen and tell her that we are willing to help her in her dream of securing a homestead and a place on the throne.
However we will insure that only by working through and with us that she will be able to rise to power, or, indeed survive in the longterm

Yay Indecision Quest is back.

Eat her, she betrayed us and can't be trusted. Her claim is super weak anyway by her own admission.

I'm more interested in that legend.

If it turns out to be true, some kind of ancient draconic pact or magical curse, then killing the direct descendants could result in destabilizing Tashz, meaning we could make land grabs. Or at least flush out the local dragons, who would kill each other for power. Then we jump out and kill the last one before they have a chance to heal.

Bam. Instant kingdom.

Beyond that, I agree with killing Asha. She was fun, and had promise, but we can't trust her. It'd be foolish to give her any kind of mission again. She'd run off and tell someone, probably Cygnis, about us.

We do not want Cygnis to know what we are.

I'm for letting her live for now, but let Scinnari have a go at her. Make it clear that treachery will be severely punished.

>>13043118
Just to keep myself from being totally creepy, I'm going to clarify that she wasn't, though I can (belatedly) see how it would sound like that.

Not THAT kind of service.

Vote seems to be for 'kill'.

>>13043352
We tortured her before and she stole from us now
Like I said- she's apparently very resilient, and has bounced back. Doing it again, I think, would achieve any favorable results

how about a evil comprimise

We could have Asha sign a contract saying her soul is forfeit if she does not do as we say or she knowingly betrays us. make sure to include we have final say.

>>13043377
>>13043280
>>13043236
>>13043201
Samefag. Specifically, Kaleb.

You can tell because he never puts a period at the end of his last sentence. Oh, and because he is the only one advocating letting her off scot-free.

>>13043236
Impress is not enough. We need to tattoo it into her skin so that she will always be reminded of who is her master. Geas now, bind later. TORTURE and domination by proxy of our devil all the way.

Unless we are harsh enough, it looks like she will backslide in the future. Then it'd be better if we had just agreed to kill her.

>>13043388
Which is what we have tracking collars for. Or we don't even have to let her go, Scinnari can hold on to her for now.

>>13043411
Oh boy, here we go. Cries of samefaggottry and moralfaggotry always seems to be the fallback for most arguments here.

>>13043410
I like this idea. Her soul hangs in the balance. Her ability to perform linked directly not only to her life, but any hope of an afterlife.

>>13043399

Idea: We take her into the air and drop her DIRECTLY above a peak, so that she's impaled on it.

Then we barbecque her. Or drop her over a city somewhere so she's impaled, without doing the barbecquing.

We've too much to do without dicking around in TWO cities.

Kill her she can't be trusted and we can't move against those elder dragons that patronize those lands for a while anyway.

Actually, my plan was to make a move on Tashz using the war that's happening to hide our agenda. Say a prince dies, the assassin is from an enemy, but maybe he had some help he didn't know about? Simple things like that, low risk, high gain. Worst comes to worst, we kill her later, but for now keep her alive. Scinnari, being from the Hells would have knowledge of binding a mortal's soul as part of a deal no? Use Scinnari as an intermediary, with any further betrayals costing Asha her soul, and a trip to hell. She wouldn't risk that after Scinnari showed her whats waiting there.

Vote for not killing yet, we can kill her later if we have to. Death is permanent.

>>13043428
Well yeah, but in this case it's painfully obvious. Look at the writing style, content, times, and that ever-present lack of period.

>>13043410
oh forgot to add.

how much will the binding cost us might be a good idea since we might be able to take over using Asha

>>13043410
This. Gaurentees a gain no matter what, she is scared of Scinnari, being her toy forever? No way in hell (pun intended) would she betray us after signing that.

>>13043410
I'd include a clause that at least gives her the hope of eventually earning back her soul, but that probably won't go over that well with this crowd.
Irregardless, I support this idea. Scinnari should love to do some soul trading too.

>>13043451
Dude, we are in no way powerful enough to move against Tashz. Not even close. We are a young adult and those dragons are way older and more powerful, plus have a home field advantage. That's suicidal. Think Freeport, but with an entire empire and a council of dragons against us instead of a council of humans. We came out here to our future trade-hub island so we could build up our own homefield advantage.

>>13043479
i would not mind supporting that.

See how she tastes!

>>13043421
If we end up NOT killing/selling her to a Devil in the Hells, we need to do this. Geas+Bind.

I am all for >>13043388 for getting rid of that rather nasty Blue infestation in Tashz no matter what we decide do to about Asha.

Saging for thread longevity.

>>13043489
By going against Tashz, I don't think the above anon means full out war- more subtle things. Court intrigue, gaining exonomic footholds, blackmailing important people, etc.
The key would be subtlety.

>>13043465
The Binding was developed by a sorceress queen who was both immensely powerful and immensely wealthy. The only description we have of the Binding is that it was incredibly draining, both magically and economically, and because of that the sorceress only ever bound dragons, because no other servant was worth it.

So I don't think binding is something we can just toss around.

>>13043512
Against a bunch of things specifically on the lookout for it, and probably better practiced than us.

>>13043506
Really? Thanks- I thought it would be a good idea to get her motivated and show her how working with us is for her best interest in the long term too. After all, promise people Jam tomorrow, and they'll keep going nearly forever.

>>13043523
The older blues are out in the deep desert, sitting on oases.

>>13043478
Agreed.

The soul contract is probably the best way to go, she will not betray us and an extra set of eyes and ears is always useful.
>>13043512
Exactly. We would use the war as cover to take out various leaders and such, with the eventual goal of putting Asha on the throne as a proxy. This might take ingame 20 or so years, but it would be worth it. ENTIRE KINGDOM FOR US RIGHT THERE. Its worth leaving Asha alive for a while just for the chance at that. Especially if she has a contract that sends her soul to hell for any further betrayals of us. No risk, and quite a lot of potential gain.

Jesus christ, are we still arguing over this?

I'm out, fuck this quest. I love it, but nothing ever happens anymore. One guy spams "no don't do evil things!" and everything gets deadlocked for 100+ posts. Maybe I'll read it in the archives, but honestly there is so little content due to the enormous hour long argument waits that it might not even be worth it there.

She stole from us, and has the resources of an enormous council of magical beings that might have a vested interest in freeing her from any geas or contract so they can go eat a red dragon. Not only that, you're considering an insanely draining ritual that we don't KNOW properly on a tiny little minor daughter of a house.

>>13043523
I know that, so far, subtelty hasn't exactly been our strong point, but it's most definitely possible. At the very least, the corrupt nature of Tashaz will make it easier to infiltrate it and use it's various back alley organizations, both political and criminal, to our own end

Indecision quest.

I've already said everything I needed to. WD, you need to start forcing votes. Shit's ridiculous.

>>13043548
You are a fool. There are a dozen dragons in that kingdom which are almost all older than us and they would all oppose us. If we want to turn this into Suicidal Thronegrabbing Quest then that's a good idea. If we want to stay alive how about we not stick our nose into that crap until we get a much larger powerbase.

>>13043561
Right, and noone else is doing that? We don't have the fucking resources for two cities. We eat her and go back to dealing with our nice little volcanic home so we have somewhere to retreat to, as well as somewhere that is *ours* - completely safe.

>>13043577
>>13043577
Long term friend, long term. And who's to say we have to work against all of the dragons there? I'm sure they have their own rifts and alliances that we could exploit

>>13043586
Long term she will be DEAD, and her claim is piss-weak anyway.

>>13043578
Again- long term. Everything and anything can become a useful tool. You just have to find the right lever to push.

"I think... it would be unwise to prolong this more than necessary." you remark thoughtfully. "In which case..." you trail off as you reach down into the hole, picking up Asha by her shoulders. She screams, and you sigh.

"Asha, you're a thief, a professional assassin, and a self-made betrayer. Of me and of your home. Surely you can hardly expect me to trust you after that..."

"My lord, please-" she sobs as you inhale. You then exhale, breathing not flame, but air. Hot air. Asha gasps, pants, tries not to breath, but you can see her skin turning a faint scorched pink. Deciding to waste no further time, you snatch her out of you claws, devouring her over her agonized screams.

As it turns out, royal blood, or at least, hers, does seem slightly sweeter.
"Now, Scinnari, with that filed away... perhaps we can move on to more important things. We have visitors to attend to."

"Of course, my lord Prestor." Scinnari says, bowing, "Perhaps you would care to accompany me down to the village?"

"I believe I would, my lady." you reply, walking towards the mouth of the magma tube.

###################

The two pirate ships have already arrived. At the moment, they are being the kind of guests this town likes; wealthy, not too violent, and with some plunder to spend. The Morinthian navy ship, though, is on the horizon, inbound. Of course, only you know what it is, yet, but still...

The pirates, though drunk and rowdy, don't get too close to you, perhaps having heard stories, maybe even exaggerated ones, told by the townspeople here. They don't seem to be a problem at the moment, though from what you hear, one of the ships that came in is a rival with the ship that was already in port; they are currently keeping things civil, though you may be expected to shut either or both down, should they become too violent.

I think killing her would be a waste. We can use Scinnari to scare her (pain is scary, anyway) and present ourselves as being reasonable and merciful when we eventually allow her the opportunity to redeem herself in our eyes.

Play up the fact that all she really had to have done was ask us. Not to go to Mza, to live in Tashz, to live a bit more opulently, whatever. We probably wouldn't have refused, or at the very least we would have tried to be accommodating. Reinforce the idea that she owns this fuck up, she has no one to blame but herself.

Then leave her in Scinnari's capable hands, with instructions to keep her alive (but beyond that she can go wild), while we go see about getting another tracking collar to better control her.

>>13043612
WRITERFAG
THERE WERE MORE VOTES TO SOULBIND HERE THEN TO KILL HER

>mfw we have spent this entire thread and 3/4 of last one on what should have been a simple cut-and-dried execution of a hoard thief.

Actually, no face to post. I have no image macro that suitably expresses my emotions.

>>13043549

the reason i want to leave Asha alive is not because its moral(you would notice I've thrown support behind the idea of the contract for her soul) but because its a way to gain power with a very low risk level. Right now, it doesn't cost us anything to keep her alive and at our mercy via Scinnari, and in the future it might be the key to getting us a MAJOR amount of power. It wouldn't be an immediate thing, but it gives us a future possibility that we shouldn't throw away. Seriously, SHE WILL NOT BETRAY US WHEN ITS HER SOUL ON THE LINE. Nobody would.

>>13043561
We were plenty subtle in Freeport, or else Cignis would have torched us for being a red, and we took over the criminal network easily.

>>13043555
What council of beings? And we are not talking about binding her like a dragon, but rather making a contract for her soul, where if she betrays us her soul is forfeit and goes straight to Scinnari and hell.

>>13043625
Most by the same person. Fuck off.

>>13043612
Hey hey hey! What happened? I thought we were going to at least ASK Scinnari if soul binding contracts were possible

FUCK YEAH! THAT WILL TEACH YOU FUCKING MORALFAG SAMEFAG! NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS QUEST, YOURE NOT WELCOME HERE!

>>13043577
Not Dragon-ruled areas, the Tahz Kingdom itself.
>>13043603
Which can be reinforced if we can kill said heir. Though that might be some time later. Not decades after though. That's too far forward for relying upon the current war.

>>13043636
Hey buddy. Fuck you!

>>13043612
THANK GOD.

On to the next 200+ post argument. Woo. I can hardly contain my excitement.

GET OUT MORALFAGS.

>>13043623
Bah, too late now I suppose.

>>13043603
Really, with the war and Asha at our side, I think we are being presented with a unique oppertunity that won't be easily replicated to help us establish power in Tashaz

>>13043625
OH WAIT. We don't know the ritual, cocksucker.

>>13043612
We should mention to the privateer captains exactly what is coming. Say we scryed it. Also, we should try to recruit them.

>>13043570
>>13043549
Mostly my really slow posting, I think, but yeah, the vast arguments are annoying. I should start writing posts after the first twenty minutes, no matter what... Gah. Anyway. Sorry you're leaving.

>>13043679
We have a devil!
Their entire schtick is soul stealing contracts!

>>13043612
Let's go and talk to the pirates. Let them know there's a navy ship inbound. We want them to attack it when it pulls into port - we'll have them hide their pirate affiliations, so it's cautious but not murderous - no jolly roger flags, maybe. Or we could TRY to turn them invisible. They keep the ship, we keep the cannons for defence of the town.

Oh, and sodomy. Lots of sodomy. Pirate hangout, fuck yeah.

>>13043679
Then we should learn it post-haste, Pottymouth.

Well shit. Why the hell did we kill her? Cliche evil thing to do? Seriously, there was one who goes "Moralfags, kill her now" and a half dozen saying soulbinding contract! No risk, high gains! ARGH. So damn stupid.

>>13043641
>>13043636
What seriously? Learn to count idiots. Ive been using a name the entire time to show i was seperate from everyone else. There was more samefagging on the kill her side than the soulbind her side.

>>13043679
Scinnari is a devil, they make soulbinding contracts all the time.

Stupid evil is stupid.

>>13043673
>>13043669
>>13043651
>>13043627
>>13043623

Fuck you moralfag, your precious waifu is dead now. We win. You lose. Now GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR QUEST.

>>13043696
Writer-dude, come on!
Just because half of us are deadlocked with each other doesn't mean that you can just toss out half of our arguments!

Can we please go back?
Killing Asha RIGHT NOW makes no sense!

>>13043708
> Well shit. Why the hell did we kill her? Cliche evil thing to do? Seriously, there was one who goes "Moralfags, kill her now" and a half dozen saying soulbinding contract!

NO. There was only ever ONE moralfag samefagging all over the place. Everyone else was behind killing her.

So get the fuck out and stop ruining this quest with your utterly retarded moralfaggotry.

>>13043731
What? That's bullshit! There are several people arguing against killing her and you know it!

>>13043725
>>13043715
>>13043708
>>13043698
>>13043669
>>13043661
>>13043651
>>13043638
>>13043627
>>13043625

Moralfag samefag detected. GTFO, your kind aren't welcome in this quest.

>>13043705
Not to mention that with a pirate hangout, we can reach out to the Tashz blues and mention the Binder. They probably know of her, if they're old enough, or the ones in the desert will. Might point us to our next step when it comes to breaking her of her ability to put a bullet into our psyche.

>>13043731
Just because we didn't want to kill her doesn't mean we wanted to let her just run around and do as she pleased. We wanted to break her and use her. Either through the binding or through a demonic contract via Scinnari.

There was one guy who wanted to just let her go, and that guy was the one who was samefagging all over the place like a derp.

>>13043742
No. Only one. Its obvious if you look back that the vast majority are on the side of killing her. So fuck off moralfag.

>>13043715
Uh, yeah it does. Especially when one of those halves is stupid and out of character. I'm reminded of BloodQuest (one of the best quests on /tg/) where StonerDM literally said "I can do whatever the hell I want, and you can't stop me." when some prick tried to say "NOO YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

>>13043758
and you sir, are an idiot of massive porportions. THERE ARE MORE THEN ONE PERSONS ARGUING AGAINST KILLING HER. At the very least five or six.

>>13043766
We.
Don't.
KNow.
The.
Binding.
Ritual.
We probably don't even have the resources.

Soul contracts can be undone. By, say, a pack of magically talented dragons and the mages of a city state who want to ave a potentially disruptive red dragon killed, but can't find out where it is until they break this contract.

>>13043769
Well I know he can do that, yes. But honestly it wouldn't be very fair if he just picks the opinions he likes the most and ignores the others in situations like these.

Fuck yeah! Thanks WD, its about time you showed that fucking moralfag samefag he wasnt welcome here!

>>13043612
>>13043651
Ouch. Moot point, I guess.
>>13043641
At least 3 of us. me, Strag, and perhaps samefag anon, I dunno.

>>13043789
That could be easily solved by keeping tabs on her- perhaps a tracking collar of some sort. And also by making her WANT to serve us, or at the very least see that going against the contract again will her hurt her more then help her.

>>13043795
Its fair when this is DRAGON quest and hes ignoring the fucking moralfags.

If we had moral fags we would be a paladin. Also each post to keep Asha also included evil reasons why.

Being evil does not mean being stupid evil. Also keep in mind those "moral fags" were the ones responsible for all these toyes we have. How do you think we would respond when someone wants to destroy everything we work to achieve.

Anyway lets move on

>>13043710
How the fuck is as soulbinding contract, where if you renege on it or betray us, you get sent to hell, a MORAL THING TO DO?!?! holy shit that's stupid. Everybody on the side saying to leave her alive presented reasons why, everyone on the other side goes and bitches about moralfagging and doesn't give a single reason that wasn't refuted. There was no reason not to take advantage of her in every way possible.

Seriously. Learn to play smart evil, not stupid kill-for-no-reason evil.

Writer Dude, I want a recount. There was way more samefagging on the kill her side. Failing that, could you give us an email so we can put in votes that way, and if soulbinders put more votes in just retcon binding her rather than killing.

>>13043789
We don't. Scinnari does.

Is that how everything is going to be discounted now? Samefagottry? That's a really sucky counterargument and you guys know it.

THERE'S ONLY ONE PERSON ARGUING TO KILL HER, THEY'RE JUST SAMEFAGGING.

Now you know how your argument looks to everyone else. Please reflect on this.

>>13043641
>>13043657
>>13043758


You. Right there, you.

You're being obnoxious as hell. Really, you sound more like you're trolling and mocking 'your' side than you are supporting it. Please. Shut up. Possibly leave.
AS for why we killed her, it was because that was the winning option when I started writing. That's it. Again, a problem; a lot of the better or more interesting options only come in after half an hour of argument. I thought that was a better option too.

Holy shit. I hope that samefagging/100+ post arguments aren't just trolls. A real testament to the popularity of this quest. It's a shame this shit has to go down like this.

I applaud the decision to just fucking cut off the Asha thread and just get going with the plot. I would have been for her either being alive or dead, and I'm sure a few people are pissed, but at least this shit gets resolved and we can move on and not have this shit go on auto-sage after a few content-posts.

Ah well, maybe we get some cool absorbed powers from eating a blue descendant.

Really dudes, move on. It was a cool plan, but hey evil empires don't run themselves, we've got shit to do.

So my vote now is we get our rears in proper gear and fucking rule this island with an iron fist.

>>13043795
Cry me a river. I think he should just pick whichever one he likes the most and go with it. These massive wait times are insane and the arguments are retarded and constantly getting samefagged to distort the votes.

>>13043844
Can we retcon?
PLEASE?

hey writerdude, can you make a short "stop bitching about moralfags" announcement? The OOC requests for good acts are annoying, but the whining is even MORE annoying.

Personally, I was against killing her. Scinnari's torture, plus some magical means of keeping closer tabs on her, plus maybe a little more attention that what we've been giving her and some good old fashion mind games would have been enough to keep her under control.

But I guess this is the reality of quest threads, you're stuck going along with the simplest, most spammable option instead of something actually thought out.

>>13043849
But writerdude just said that the more interesting decisions come up later in the thread. I honestly hopes that he gives us the chance to retcon the decision, considering that only one post has been made anyway

>>13043844
That's actually two or more people, look at the timestamps. Nobody likes the Lone Moralfag, and we all wish he would leave and stop trolling the thread.

Alright, another option.

Webchat / irchighway.net. Chatroom is '#dragonquest'. Voting there.

>>13043844
you are the writer. you can always retcon if you want. Hell, take the time to look and see who makes the better arguement and go with that rather than which has more votes.

>>13043705
Can we return to the sodomy now?

Asha is finally dead?

Oh well. I would have probably voted to soul-bind her, tracking-beacon-collar her and let Scinnari have her way with her as much as she wanted, but I was busy catching up.

It might be an odd rumour (and well-timed) with that whole "draconic pact" thing, but destabilising Tashz would have been useful. Meh. What's done is done, and she wasn't a part of our hoard like Scinnari is. We can always find another patsy, and there definitely seem to be others besides just Asha. Just kidnap one of them (with enough planning) and we can proceed (or not) as normal once the legend itself has been verified.

Lets put this whole ugly episode behind us for the moment.

And fuck Scinnari on our small mountain of gold.

how do we get there?

>>13043887
Oh, fuck this. I'm done. I'll follow the other one. Retcon because enough bitching? No.

>>13043844
>>13043878
>ask writerdude to stop the guy shouting about moralfags like some sort of crazy hobo
>oh wait he already did

>>13043866
No means fucking no, shit has happened and now we deal with it. I don't like it either, but fucking take it like a man instead of whining like a little bitch about it.

A minor setback but you don't see Red's crying about spilt milk do you? Moving. On.

ojeez i needa read up...

>>13043844
Well, whatever. She was delicious. Let's move on.


On the pirates: We should casually- but audibly, in a public area- ask one of the people who presented themselves as being leaders of the town if they normally have problems when the Morinthian navy comes into port simultaneously with pirates. See how people react. If the pirates panic, make it clear that we can take care of their problems, should we wish to, but we would need some sort of... motivation.

>>13043715
Actually, it means I HAVE to toss out at least half the arguments to progress the quest.


Additionally, there's the fact the more of a jumbled 200+ post argument it is, the more leeway I have in deciding things.

ALRIGHT.

In five minutes, (X:55, five for me, differnt for other timezones,) there will be a poll on wether to retcon backwards. It will take place in the chat mentioned up >>13043887. If things get too convoluted in the future, tiebreakers will be held there.


Either way, we'll need something to do next.
Go.

>>13043992
Damnit, how do I get into that chat? Is there a "getting to the channel for idiots" 25 words or less guide?

>>13043992
see
>>13043902

>>13044022
Wait, got it. I was fucking up the server join.

>>13043992
Deal with the incoming Navy ship, but make sure that those pirates are running scared before we work our 'magic'.

Coerce the pirates to either work in unison or symbiotically with our new town. Either via forceful display or suave silver-tongued diplomacy.

>What is our stance with the lizardfolk?

>>13044115
From what I recall of the last thread, they're tentatively not hostile to us, but don't trust us either. They want the island for THEM, not anybody else (barring a possible "dragon overlord" to help them protect it).

>>13044022
Use Mibbit if don't have IRC thingie like me.

Regarding battle, if it is not yet concluded, I vote for helping the ones that will attack Freeport's side, but discreetly. Still, kill/deny anyone that attempts to ruin Mza.

>>13043992
>Vote to retcon. As if I'm not a slow enough poster as it is...

"Perhaps, perhaps there is something that can be done for you. Perhaps. Maybe just giving you to Scinnari... or selling you to the hells. But it is possible you may... salvage my trust." you say, thoughtfully. Offering her the possibility, a thread of hope.

"For the moment, you will stay here. I may return, if I think you valuable enough. Alternately, I may not. I expect we shall see." you say, wishing you had a way to block off the top of the hole, just in case. Actually, there's so little light in here, she probably can't see, period, without a light source. Her climbing out is not a possibility.

"Lord, please don't leave me here!" Asha calls, panicked.

"What? You would prefer I render judgement know? I thought I had best wait until I'd already eaten before deciding. But if you want..."

"No!"

"Very well, then. Wait. Attempts to escape, under any condition, will be taken as damning." you say, walking outward. Waiting until you have departed the cavern, you address Scinnari. "Would a contract for her soul be possible?" you ask.

"What? Only if she were will-"

"I mean... Something more like, 'If she serves me well, I may free her, if she betrays or fails me, her soul is yours.'" you clarify, "A... contract of employment, if you will. With better enforcement than most."

"No. Not.. directly. Such contracts cannot be made under coercion of any sort. Or at least, they are void if challenged... I suppose it is possible to create something of the sort... She is not powerful enough, cannot bring enough force to bear to challenge it herself, so unless she attracts divine intervention, or something equally implausible, then yes, it would work." Scinnari says, putting a nail to her lips. "An excellent idea, upon consideration."

"I see... perhaps we'll leave her to stew there, a day or two, and then discuss such a possibility to her." you say.

#####################

The dwarves have already begun sinking foundations and laying stone. They are fast, you must admit; their reputation is obviously well earned. In town, a barkeep comes up to you, asking if you'll sort out the clientel of his bar. You are not amused when, upon questioning, it turns out to be a simple barfight.

"I am not here to fix your every little problem. If they were robbing you, or threatening you with arson, I would kill them. Merely fighting you establishment is a... given risk of your business. Please do not make such petty requests in the future; my time is valuable." you warn him, scaring him off. Strolling down to the dock, you observe the final approaching ship.

"Navy ship, probably hunting them." one of the pirates says, handing a spyglass to another. They're on the deck of their ship, but you can hear them, if you try. Probably referring to the other pirates.

"Or trying to claim this island. Be a shame if we lost this port." the other replies, "Though I can't see them fighting for it. Worth it, but probably too expensive for Morinth."

"Could be trying to cow them villagers." the other pirate offers, "That'd be cheap, they're already here. Still, get the men back from the taverns, if they try and intimidate us, I want to be able to threaten them right back."

>>13044115
We can probably order them about. They don't actually know we're 'Red' yet, but they seem to have been convinced that we aren't someone to mess with, nor are we overtly hostile.

>>13044336
Didn't we tell their oracle person that we're a dragon though?

>>13044288
Hmm. Perhaps it's time to open negotiations with these pirates on getting their services in the event things get rough. Having a ship to defend this island would be useful.

>>13044115
>>13044336

A longer term idea from the previous thread was to polymorph, knock one of them up while disguised, and then use our son/daughter to gain control of the tribe, with loyalty to us.

I'm not sure I liked it, but it seemed plausible.

>>13044355
Not what type, I think.

>>13044367
Actually pay them, or a "as long as you cause no trouble and help protect this place, I won't have you destroyed" deal?

>>13044355
We did. From what we picked up, he didn't seem to excited to spread the word.

Threats would require revealing that we're a dragon to properly back up.

For now, let's just offer to pay them. Hold that card in reserve for now.

>>13044336
I think they could serve as similar guardians as the kobolds given enough time and leverage...

In regards to our Navy interlopers, see what their intent is. Hostile: torch them all, keep the boat and fly it under our colours / steal armaments for our castle.

I'm actually quite unsure what to do at this point...

Approach the pirates. Offer to pay them for their services. Also, offer protection from the coming naval presence in Mza in the form of some legitimacy.

>>13044389
Work as Mza's navy (pressgang them), or die. That gets my vote.

>>13044490
Unless we reveal that we're a dragon to them, they won't take the threat seriously. Coin, on the other hand, is a good way of procuring their service no matter what form we take.

>>13044490
Not die. Make it more profitiable. Eventually this place is going to get larger and at that point, the port will likely have docking fees. Perhaps such things can be ignored in the future and other possibly profitable ventures if they're cooperative.

>>13044510
So just pressganged or GTFO? And die if you make trouble for Mza? Tortuga style?

>>13044288
The important thing here is to play this situation so that we come out of it looking like the one whose words are final on this island. When the navy approaches, if they try to attack the pirates, we can come out in sorcerer prince mode and demand that they stop bringing violence to our domain; if they wish to assault these ships elsewhere that is not our problem, but there is to be none of that on Mza.

If the navy disagrees, we unleash power to demonstrate our displeasure. Ideally we'd drive them off bearing word that Mza has a sorcerer powerful enough to enforce his will living there now, thereby raising our reputation.

Making plans with Scinnari, you quietly disappear. Magically, as it happens. 'Lady Prestor' begins negotiations with the pirate captains.

"You may have heard, but my husband and I moved onto this island recently. As we oppose being disturbed by the war almost as much as you should, I have a proposition for you."

"Really? I'll bet you do, I've got a couple for you, elf."

"So, Captain, if you were willing to silence your too-talkative crewmen, then perhaps we'll be able to prevent this island from being claimed and 'civilized' by the first navy to get the idea. I have the power to annihilate this intruder, but would like to secure your assistance in the future."

"You have me interested, Lady. Your requirements?"

"I will expect you to assist in the defense of this island, should it be necessary. If you are here, you will fight with the inhabitants to maintain your hold."

"A tall order. Why shouldn't we just use another port? And if you are so powerful, why can't you maintain this island's freedom yourself?"

"Because you are pirates, and if you keep that up, you will either be hanged men, or starving at sea, with no port to put in to." Scinnari replies, "And because eventually I could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, were they to force a serious landing."

This, and variations of it, happen between Scinnari and the pirate captains, leaving you time to hide yourself, as the navy sloop arrives.

#############

"By Proclimation of the ruling council of Morinth, this island is claimed for use by the city and it's navy. All who are unwilling to live under Morinthian rule have twenty four hours to leave." the Navy captain announces. Despite being underwater, you can hear him, heavily distorted, over the sound of the threshing waves.

>>13044741


"This island is owned by Lord Prestor, being enforced in his name by me. All who do not desire death and destruction are advised to renounce their claims to this island, and depart. They have thirty minutes to do so."

What you hear next is too quiet and distorted to discern, but what is unmistakably 'Lady Prestor's spell flashes in the sky. You rise upward like a coiled spring, grasping the ship's barnacled hull in your jaws and claws. Getting a good grip, you begin to crush, and drag it downward. Strong as you are, and without terrific leverage, it's impossible to actually pull it down, at least until you shatter the rudder and aft hull, and water begins to pour in. Shouts and cries fill the air, and, despite the crashing water, you hears screams of terror, as well as the twang of bowstrings. You hope Scinnari is unwounded; that would be a blow to both of your reputations.

Further damage is easier to do, as the hull loses integrity, and in a few moments the bilge and hold are full of water, with more flowing in as you drag the ship down. In less than ten minutes, the top decks of the sloop are sinking below the waves, the ship's hull pulverized.

>>13044755
Leave quietly, don't kill the rest. Let them leave with messages.

An easy way to ensure Aisha does not cause more trouble would be daily charm spells on her. We have a loyal minion who can use them as SLA, after all.

Well, we have shown that they intend to take over the island now.

If somebody from the IRC would put up my list of traps and shit that would be nice.

I remember evards black tentacles, acid rain, flesh eating maggots, mud golems trying to shove themselves into soldiers throats, and zombie suicide bombers(thanks RantingRavager) in addition, cloudkill. multiple cloudkills.

>>13044755
Get out of there- circle around and come back to town, hopefully dried off and looking intimidating. Check that Scinnari is unhurt, and start giving orders like a boss as to what to do with any surviving naval personnel, to organize salvage of the ship, how the pirate captains are now going to work for you and they'll need flags and something approximating uniforms, and generally making sure that everyone knows you're in charge.

Status Check the Allegiance Mesh: Politically where are the battle-lines drawn, which side is freeport on? Do we know what started this conflict?

I think we should make an appearance in our persona for this island and check on Scinnari. If she's injured, put on a show for the locals at what happens when we're pissed and kill whoever is left except maybe the captain for questioning purposes.

>>13044881
The conflict is over the (for now) independent city state of Azar. It is Rhasver vs. Everyone Else, if memory serves, including Freeport.

>>13044873
Agreed. Check up on Scinnari.

Let's just be sure we check out what's left of the ship at some point. Might be something interesting on it.

>>13045010
Like a few hundred dead soldier's worth of arms and armor? Yes please. Island Militia, here we come.

>>13045123
Indeed! If the Dwarven smiths are any good, perhaps they can melt it down and make some superior gear as well.

Make sure Scinnari is okay.

Make sure Scinnari is okay and conscript the pirates to our banner.

When the Grey Gull arrives we must transport our treasure to our lair and then christen it with some smoking hot Scinnari sexings on top of it.

Then we torture Asha for a few days to get her in the right frame of mind for the contract signing. As her first task we should have her count our hoard, to teach her humility.

>>13045225
The less torturing there is, the more likely the contract will stick.

>>13045225

WE shouldn't torture her. We should leave that to Scinnari. We should play the reasonable, merciful master willing to give her a chance to redeem herself.

Look. We're a dragon. She stole from us. Her tiny mortal mind cannot begin to comprehend the order of magnitude of the Shitstorm she has coming her way. Anything else would be grossly out of character.

Not sayin' that we should kill her. Just sayin she better be in for shit.

>>13045424
Why bother? We've crossed into carebear territory. She's our waifu, now.

>>13045410
While you wait, you might want to direct some attention to the IRC, where people are discussing the Quest in GLORIOUS REAL TIME.

REAL TIME QUEST DISCUSSION. ALL DAY. EVERY DAY.

"Scinnari. Are you injured?" you think, counting on her telepathy to pick i tup.

"Only minimally." a response comes after a few worrisome seconds. "A bowman got lucky. My lower leg, I'll be fine." she informs you.

"Survivors?"

"Several, swimming for the dock. A few swimming out of the wreckage, you did well." she replies, and there's a very strange feeling of listening to her speak through her.

"Forces of Morinth. You now have eighteen minutes to renounce your claim to this island." she states, calm and collected if a tad paler. "I am waiting."

What follows is a sextet of Morinth marines charging her, swords drawn, cries of "Kill the witch!" ringing. The twang of bowstrings sounds again, and you decide to further reinforce your presence, and her power. Rising completely from the water at the docks end, you are a invisible, serpentine presence, barely outlined by the water rolling off your back. You smash a claw down, collapsing part of the pier, and killing two of the surviving soldiers; only two, now. Two had been hit by arrows, and you had knocked into the water with your attack. The final two you take in your mouth, biting down viciously, grinding your teeth.

"Your orders, mistress?" you ask in broken common. Scinnari plays along well.

"Return to the water. Kill any that have not surrenderd in... seventeen minutes. Then you are dismissed." she says calmly.

"As you command..." you reply ominously, sinking into the water. As you submerge, you can hear her clearly say, "Damn. Varian was right, I need to be quicker on the draw... A pity." she mutters quietly to herself, but loudly enough that you notice one pirate's eyes widen. "Alright. That is all, Captains? I shall leave the cleanup to you." she says, and you hear her vanish.

>>13045491
Engagement successful, you sit and wait, but it only takes five more minutes for all survivors to surrender, and most of that is waiting for them to get ashore... Something they are frantic to do. As the time limit ends, you swim outward, rising out of the water only when you are out of sight, and taking wing for your lair.

########
[Week Timeskip]

Leaving Asha to stew for a day and a half is remarkably cathartic, as was the destruction of the ship. With Scinnari's assistance, you persuade her to sign the contract, pointing out that it's the only way you will take her. Given a choice between bondage and death, she chooses the former. Scinnari, for her part, does an excellent job of making it 'official', something that you have no doubt convinced Ashal. Scinnari claimed Asha's soul is bound to the sapphire she picked out from your jewel collection, not true, but intimidating enough for Asha. (And a first objective, should she choose to betray you. Convenient how things work out.)

Towards the end of the week, the Grey Gull arrives in port. As Cibach, you instruct them to unload the chests, and leave them on the shore. They think you mad, but obey. As Lord Varian, you order that the chests are not disturbed; you will not have theft on your island. And as Azaladon, you ferry them back up to your home during the night. The prove an excellent bed, you find out to your delight; you feel you are an established dragon now, a hoard, a domain, minions, and, why, even your own castle.

>>13045521


These are, however, dampened by the news you gatherd, visiting Morinth and the nearest of Rhasver's ports, incognito. Among other things, accusations against their respective enemies, the usual things to justify a war. Further, Rhasver has apparently heard of Morinth's defeat on Mza, minor as it was, and rumor (as well as some quiet espionage you and Scinnari performed,) suggest that they intend to attempt the same thing, but with more than a single ship. You may find a much more determined assault next time...
Asha, for her part, has been alternating between Scinnari's tender ministrations and yours; by the end of the week, not only does she much prefer your company instead of Scinnari's, (something that has been a constant throughout,) but she also seems to be beginning, at least, to associating your and Scinnari as... separate. Your displeasure leads to Scinnari, which leads to agony. You, on the other hand, mean healing, companionship, and kindness... Rescue from Scinnari.

It isn't complete at the moment, but it's a decent start. You've also begun discussing traps with Scinnari, getting her opinion on various means of protecting your lair. Some are more feasible than others, but there are many ways, it seems, and your creativity is challenged by her experience in this matter.

>>13045424
We can use that to our advantage. Let Scinnari torture her for a while, then eventually intervene with the contract and say something to the effect of:

"You know, it didn't have to be this way, I have always tried to be generous and accommodating to those loyal to me. If you wished to live opulently in Tashz, I have no doubt that we could have worked something out had you bothered to take five minutes to talk to me about it."

"Now then, you're quite well read, so I'm sure you've heard tales of a dragon's unfathomable rage when a part of it's hoard is stolen. I'm also sure that you've heard tales of what red dragons do with beautiful women. However, I am nothing if not a reasonable lord, and so I am willing give you a chance to redeem yourself."

Then present the contract.

>>13045424
oh she is.

trust me, in the IRC we were basically going into psych 101, and wondering how we could abuse that with her. As well as how to torture her. it actually got a bit out of hand there for a while.

She is not going to be a happy person. At the very least, everyone agrees on that.

>>13045471
Not really. If she's lucky, she only gets tortured a day or so, and a soulbinding contract. the next week or so will not be fun for her.

>>13045485
It really is the best way to avoid samefagging. If we did all votes on the IRC, the anti-moralfag idiot would have never managed to cause so much shit. I think it would be best to use the IRC for voting and similar things, while using the main thread for suggestions from anyone. Best of both the freedom to suggest anything, and the ability to know who says what.

>>13045539
Or not.

This works too.

Though that fleet is somewhat troubling.

Alright, for dealing with that fleet I think it would be best to intercept them before they get to close to Mza. In the night, preferably. Stories of the Rhasver ships sailing out to take Mza and then disappearing would help reinforce our claim.

Or a more amusing option is if we sink all but one ship, which then arrives at Mza all by its lonesome. Then ask them if they're really sure that they still want to mess with us.

Brainwashing should work pretty well on her. What's our current charisma level again?
Even pretty standard humans can get downright crazy levels of devotion from people if they spend time to isolate them and then brainwash them.

We are far more charismatic than that. She'll likely be almost religiously loyal once we finish with her, going so far as to consider herself part of our property.

rolled =

>>13045594
Invisible airborne boulder bombardment - well outside of spell/missile range. Five ships down per trip (carrying capacity: 1 boulder/limb + 1 in jaws). For added hilarity, Using Invisibility (lvl 2 spell, well within our limits), cloak the boulders.

We need to passively build up our magic over time too.

>>13045659
Or attack from below. Ships mostly lack the ability to fight off a submerged opponent, especially a draconic one.

Also, for our lair, we REALLY need to fortify it against intruders, both mundane and magical. We especially need to get it shielded against scrying and teleportation.

rolled =

>>13045677
True, but I can't help but think that someone would wise up to that given our little show of "Lady Prestor's Invisible Sea-Serpent."

Can't get lazy, can't rely on the same trick several times in a row.

>datected under
Fucking captcha. He known what I mean.

*sigh* I know that playing good cop/bad cop is classic, but it's not terribly satisfying to leave all the torture to Scinnari. Asha is a thief and a traitor, and anything but personally making her scream feels empty.

Did we actually do a functioning soul contract? Or have we simply bluffed Asha into thinking that we have?

Either way, we need more insurance. We should have a (subtle, mildly fashionable) collar that lets us track and compel her commissioned. Cursed so that she can't take it off without disenchanting it.


Anyway. Incoming fleet of potential enemies. I propose that we deck ourself out as a proper island sorcerer ruler for the purpose of defeating them- with powerful magic items.

Item one: Orb of Storms. Use to whip up shipkiller storms over the enemy fleet. It will likely be quite expensive, but oh boy will it be worth it- weather control is a priceless defensive advantage for island nations.

Item two: Wand of fireballs and/or lightning bolts. Simple, elegant, destructive. Even if we had the sorcerous ability to use fireballs, which would be pushing our limits at this point, we couldn't do it all day; with this, we can. And serious evocations against wooden ships... do the math.

Item three: Lyre of building. Once our fortifications are finished, they're likely to be subject to naval bombardment at some point; this will help a lot against that. Also it will help us make them much, much faster, renovate our castle, whatever. Awesome item for a ruler to have at their disposal overall.

As I've said before on the IRC:

Reanimate the water-bloated bodies of their comrades and stuff them full of alchemical explosives and have them jihad their erstwhile allies.

>>13045766
How about a pair of bracelets instead of a collar for Asha?

After all, we gave Scinnari her collar as a token of esteem and (perverse) caring. Giving the same sort of symbol to scum like Asha is unacceptable.

But yes, we should also have Scinnari teleport to a major city and purchase a Geas scroll for us to use on her. Multiple layers of security and all.

>>13045766
I love it! Combine it with the boulder thing and we have the island covered.

>>13045810
>Have her buy the geass scroll
This is almost making me hard.

Aw poo I missed most of Dragon Quest.
Oh well. Readin' what I can now, I hope you guys didn't do anything retarded without my input

>>13045810
Geass is a high level spell, a scroll of it would be very expensive. Plus having Scinnari buy it might be rather unwise. I think we should use our money on defenses for the island first.

>>13045810
Tracking bracelet idea: good.
Scinnari getting scroll of Geas: not so good.

>>13045877
Yes to retardedness, but don't worry.

It got retcon'd.

>>13045891
>>13045880
Explain why the scroll is a bad idea. It's one more layer of security we use to keep Asha loyal.

>>13045810
Hrm. But nothing says "I own you" quite like a collar does, and I want that point effectively communicated. And I think Scinnari is quite aware that the one we had made for her is as much a mark of possession as it is esteem; as long as Asha's isn't as nice, she shouldn't be offended.

Regardless, the systematic abuse and mindraping of Asha must continue until her mind is all twisted around us. Geas is nice, but they're not generally permanent as far as I know, not do they effect people all the time. Not the ideal tool for enforcing our will.

>>13045785
I would really rather not go the evil necromancer route. It doesn't generally end well and is bad for PR. Where evocations inspire fear and respect, necromancy inspires fear and loathing.

We want the people of the island to WANT to serve us, preferably. That's tricky with necromancy.

We should definitely spend some time focusing on developing our magic, regardless. We're supposed to have natural talent, but that's wasted if we don't help it grow.

>>13045912
The scroll itself is an alright idea. I just think it's important that we do it ourselves instead of delegating it. A Geass is some seriously powerful magic.

>>13045937
Uh, dude, we will cast it ourselves. Buying the scroll is pretty straightforward and leaves virtually no room to tamper.

>>13045912
What's stopping Scinnari(Devil, never ever ever ever ever ever ever forget this) from using said scroll on us?

>>13045912

I think the issue is more that we shouldn't trust Scinnari with it. We should get it ourselves.

That, and it's really expensive and we might want to spend the money first on dealing with buffing the island's defenses.

>>13045877
lucky you, some "anti-moralfag" caused some massive butthurt for a while, but everything ended ok, or mainly ok. goddamn samefagging almost screwed everything to hell.

>>13045912
I think he didn't realize that it was meant for Asha, not Scinnari.

>>13045880
>http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#creatingScrolls
>6th lvl
>1,650 gp

A mere drop in the bucket. We get that kinda chump change stuck in our scales after crazy nights of sexings on the horde. Might be right about Asha not buying it.

Alright, not to put too fine a point on it, but don't just leave Asha to stew for TOO long
Get her busy, keep her active, and make her invested and she won't wander to the field of how to best remove herself from our claim.
Remember, this all came about because we left her to her own devices so long. Now we HAVE to make sure to use her, and use her effectively and to keep her interested in our own longterm success
Any ideas on what to do with her?

>>13045960
The fact that it's not an instant "lol u die" spell, and we could easily kill her and break the enchantment before even taking slightly ill effects from it activating?

Not to mention our inherent spell resist and ludicrous saving throws.

>>13045985
Not to mention that's default D&D prices. It would be more like 50 to 75 gold going by WD's modified economy.

>>13045970
> I think he didn't realize that it was meant for Asha, not Scinnari.

I know it's meant to be used on Asha, but I'm still not entirely comfortable with Scinnari getting it for us.

>>13046041
That's retarded. Why? She can't tamper with it, we are the one casting the spell. If she gives us a scroll for a different spell we would KNOW, because we have to read the runes to cast it.

>>13046041
It has a 10 minute cast time. I don't think Scinnari will be able to very effectively backstab us with it.

[Let's get some rolls here]

Your trips outward, at least, the ones that you take Scinnari with you for, are tests of your control over Asha. Gambles, in your mind. Still, they are necessary, and you can hardly stop the wheel from spinning over her... She knows what happens, should she displease you.

First of all, you find out that Rhasver's attack will be coming from the south; a flotilla of their fleet supporting the invasion of Azar is being sent north. They really should not keep written copies of orders, even in their Admiralty buildings... Sixteen ships, sent to Mza under command of Rear Admiral Moirran Travyn, and four troop ships.

>>13046072
Probably the fear that she might use it on us.

She does sleep with us after all, and Geas has no save.

rolled 33 = 33

>>13046091
Alright, let's do this.

>>13046122
Oh come on.

>>13045810
Bracelets would also carry the overtones of manacles and chains, too. A subtle reminder of her status.

rolled 91 = 91

Apologies in advance if this fucks everyone over.

>>13046144
Much better.

>>13046091
Apparently, they seem to think that pirates took out Morinth's attack; the warships are to provide protection to the troopships, which are to invade; the reason such a profitable island as Mza has not been claimed already would be the rumors and tales of savage lizardfolk, abominations, and worse, lurking in the jungles.

Totally aside from the local varieties of disease and insects, incidentally; the survivors of the Morinth ship have had quite a toll taken on them by the jungles' pestilence. Lizardmen don't even seem to notice; the locals and pirates seem to be resistant, at any rate. Now that you're observing them, they seem to be attacked far less. Perhaps they're used to the clime; the sailors seem to be sweating abundantly, which could be what is attracting the insects.


Further, you spend some of your free time, while Asha and Scinnari are enjoying each other's company, to figure out just who the combatants in the war are.

Tashz has declared war on Azar, rejecting their claim of independence. Morinth is a client-state of Rhasver, or at the very best, a much weaker ally. Exheln, Amtarr, and Freeport had recognized Azar, as far as you can tell, hoping make the Straits of Azar, and Azar itself, an ally in their consortium of allied trade-cities. None of them are as powerful as Rhasver or Tashz, even put together, but are all disproportionately large naval powers, based on their main sources of revenue. Your opinion is that they can prevent Rhasver from succeeding, (ostensibly their goal,) but would be hard pressed to gain ground anywhere, or enter any land engagement.

>>13046109
Long casting time, spell resist, we can easily cast break enchantment, it gains her no benefit, is extremely dangerous for her, and she's bound by contract not to bring harm to us.

I can see no reason why she would do something so stupid.

>>13046144

CRUSH THEM!

Rhasver is on the losing side anyway. Speaking of which, WD would it be to much to ask that you repost the map that was in one of the previous threads?

>>13046161
So wait. It's Tashz on one side, trying to retake the rebellious port city of Azar. And who is on which side?

Morinth and Rhasver are on... Azar's side?
And Exheln, Amtarr, and Freeport are on whose side?

>>13046161
How's about that female Red that was openly ruling her domain? Uninvolved I guess?

>>13046091
Should we stealth out while invisible on a few nights and destroy the troop ships in-transit?

>>13046266
From the sounds of it, yeah. That was Beren, or something like that. She's mostly just taxing people, and will probably get deposed soon.

Hell, we might want to do the deposing.

>>13046283
I'd depose her.

If you know what I mean.

>>13046161
I hope we're not just all cruelty with Asha in this- we don't want her to hate us, just to know that we're not to be trifled with. Also, what's Cygnis' perspective on the war?
Have we been keeping her up to date on what we've been doing?

>>13046298
>Have we been keeping her up to date on what we've been doing?
Are you retarded? Worst idea all thread.

>>13046298
As far as I'm aware we haven't called her. That stirred up a massive shitstorm the last time it got brought up.

Personally, I think we should just test out those mirrors and tell her we safely reached our destination, but for now just leave it at that.

>>13046306
Why so? I don't think there's any harm in letting her know that we've assumed a new identity and have set up shop on Mza

>>13046314
>>13046298
Asking her about her opinion on the war might be an alright idea.

>>13046328
I think we might want to leave that out, at least for now. We're still just getting established, after all. No need to do anything premature.

>>13046282
Fireball has a range of over 400ft... we could also hit and run the ships even if they DID have a mage onboard.

We can still trap our island if we want, maybe mobilize the lizardmen... we definitely want some sort of aerial or aquatic force. Would the Hermit have anything for us? Commission him to build flying machines? Air / Water elementals?

Do we have any knowledge if we can re-activate the volcano? Or how deeply dormant it is? Dwarves would know.

>>13046328
We're a red dragon. This is our lair.

No, she does not need to be informed. We can check in every now and again and just say we're moving about and so on, but she DOES NOT NEED TO KNOW what we are doing. Ergo, we do not need to tell her what we are doing. Ergo, we DO NOT TELL HER what we are doing.

>>13046328
Because we don't want her fucking around in our area for one, and for two if we are ever outed as a red dragon then guess what she suddenly knows?

In any case, we're trying to remain neutral in the war.

Sinking the ships from underwater would be a good way to defend the island, but we're probably not going to be able to get them all.

Can we breathe fire while invisible? Having Scinnari "call fire from the heavens" would let us attack any troops that made it on land. Fuck this gem is useful.

Later, we should have the armaments salvaged from the ships that landed, and mount them on the walls/castle. They'd be invaluable for further defense.

I'm already getting a picture: A heavily fortified island, with a port-city full of dwarves and humans ready to kick ass, and an inner jungle full of lizardmen. A dead volcano dominates the center. Deep inside, through twisting lava vents and dark passages, lies a grand chamber, filled with gold, gems and artifacts. On top of it lies a might red dragon, beside him his devil queen.

Drawfags?

>>13046345
Okay, makes sense. Last thing we want is her hearing about red dragon rampage if everything goes to shit
Still we should get her opinion on everything we're wondering about at the moment
Is it worth mentioning that Asha stole from us, but that we've come to terms with her?

>>13046328
Because this is our corner of the globe and she has no business here or knowing about it.

>>13046363
Neutrality in the war would be a bad idea I think. It'll get us cut up between too, larger factions. Plus we want to profit. Once we establish that we can hold the island, offer our services to one side, but as a trading deal, not an occupation. They can use the port, but have to pay a fee, though its over all cheaper than what they would have to spend to take the port for themselves.

>>13046244
>map

On one side is Tashz. They wanht their rebellious port back.

Next side is Amtarr, Exheln, Freeport, who are trying to help Azar. Want free trade cities.

Rhasver is trying to gain control of Azar, and is therefore at war with Tashz, who want Azar back, and with Freeport/Amtarr/Exheln, who want to keep Azar free. (not to mention Azar)

I think we should still call Cygnis up to get her opinion on the war. Also just to tell her that we're doing alright.

We don't really need to tell her anything beyond that.

>>13046370
AFAIK Cygnis doesn't know much of anything about Asha.

We should keep Cygnis in the dark as much as possible. Nothing more than "Hi Cygnis, I'm just wandering around the world, doing some freelance adventuring. Someone always needs a dungeon cleared out or something. So how's the situation in Freeport? I heard there's a war on or something, and they're involved."

Play it cool.

I envision these threads as the dragon having multiple voices in his head, so even the samefaggotry during the arguments is still entertaining, since he (mister scalybritches) is thinking himself in circles.

>>13046363
Also see
>>13045659
and
>>13045766

Just throwing this idea out there:

For Asha, we definitely need a collar. Something that says "MINE" like Scinnari's, but lesser to hers. That her station is definitely known.

I'm thinking a dog collar with similar enchantments, and a dragon shaped dog tag hanging off the front of it.

It will be a constant reminder of her place, of her loyalty. Also it's demeaning as hell.

>>13046407
Thanks.

Where are Amtarr and Exheln geographically?

>>13046445
Personally I like the manacle/bracelet idea better. Slightly more subtle, greater difference between her and Scinnari, and still gets the message across.

rolled 37 = 37

Sweet, Drag-Quest, so glad you guys freaking ret-conned killing Asha, it's funny, the amount of samefagging that went on, on both sides.

>>13046487
But a dog collar is just so much more humiliating.

>>13046529
Too obvious, really.
And so gauche

>>13046529
She's not valuable enough for a collar of any type. Maybe a dog collar for Cygnis.

>>13046529
Yeah, but at the same time we shouldn't be the one humiliating her. That's Scinnari's job. We should try to be (from Asha's point of view) the reasonable, merciful master.

I throw my support on being neutral. We'll be just like Tortuga was for the English and Spanish in the Caribbean

>>13046529
not to mention we dont want scinnari getting the wrong idea.

>$100 brosqua
worth every penny.

WD, next time you ought to present an incredible, plot important decision, probably involving Cygnis. Ask us to discuss.

Then just leave. Go watch TV or something. Drop the thread entirely.

The results will be amazing.

>>13046567
Indeed, Scinnari is all kinds of insecure.

rolled =

Whatever happened to the 91 we rolled?

Playing Devil's Advocate here:
You think Scinarri cannot buy her own Geas scroll WITHOUT our knowledge? If she wants to, she has lots of options to kill or enslave us.

Who was it that was tasked to look at how to kill a dragon from afar? Who was it that was tasked to get a poison that can affect a dragon?

We've been doing dumb things with her anyway. Why worry NOW? Fuck.
(I actually cringed when I was reading the archive about those actions...)

>>13046560
This anon has the right of it. No matter what we think, we have to appear as being reasonable and kind

>>13046560
>>13046595
God dammit, I understand the logic behind this, but it rankles. We are a dragon, we're supposed to be the dread master that you DO NOT FUCKING CROSS, not the guy that you run crying to when the devil girl is mean to you. If we can't torture her, at least making her place clear to her is necessary.

Perhaps we could buy a nice jeweled dagger and have a "Asha, this is you" moment. Then we toss it on our hoard and give her a collar.

>>13046632
Trust me anon- not being an unreasonable dick works out better in the longterm then killing people for sneezing. Give it time.

>>13046650
Now that's just strawmanning me. How unkind.

>>13046632
We do that to our enemies. Remember how we handled Azdukashen?

We need to keep our people on our good side, so they don't backstab us. Of course, Asha did that anyways, hence the soulbind.

>>13046033
I see what you're doing. And I'm telling you to cut that crap out.

>>13046122
>>13046144

You identify Travyn's fleet once it has broken away from the blockade of Azar. Large enough, and you manage to inflict casualties on it almost as soon as you identify it; dive-bombing it with boulders is fairly effective, though not as much as you'd wish; to use rocks massive enough to give a good chance of sinking, you can only carry two at a time, which makes for inefficient flight. Not only that, but the ships seem remarkably resilient, and a close call with some of their ballistas makes you choose prudence over a more direct attack.

Despite significant oposition, though, you manage to sink half of the escort, and even one of the transports, all unharmed and without revealing your identity, as far as you know; however, during your final attack, you recognize the voice of a mage casting a spell of True Seeing; They have obviously wised up to your invisible assaults.

>>13046632
We will be. We want to be like the Old Testament god. Loved and feared, and given absolute, unquestioning obedience. Stockholm syndrome will be an excellent step towards that.

In addition to attacks, you've warned the inhabitants of the island; all of them. With some persuasion, though; the dwarves were not happy to hear it, and 'not happy' almost equated to 'refusing to help', until you pointed out that if the island was taken, they would be getting the rest of the payment for the wall from Rhasver, not to mention that they'd be shipping their gems and crystals out through a Rhasver port.

The pirates are a more touchy proposition. With some combinations of extremely delicate persuasion and threats, you manage to convince them to stay, at least until the Rhasver forces are a day out. That's actually a fairly good result, you concede; it will be difficult for them to decide to flee then, and it's a testament to the showmanship of Scinnari and you.

The old lizardman shaman is as impassive as previously; he says that your warning shall be headed, but offers little in the way of assurance or cooperation; the sole promise you can elicit from him is that the lizardfolk will deal with any landings attempted around their area of the island. You leave vexed and with a depressing lack of assurance from him, though you also have the suspicion he was understating their abilities and intent. Possibly to avoid disappointing you, or possibly to prevent any solidification of your relationship.

>>13046751
>>13046751
Alright, but remember. When it comes to politics, todays enemies may be tomorrows allies, and vice versa

How is that alchemist's fire for loading into the catapults coming?

>>13046750
Have we been ID'd (as a dragon)?

If the enemy wizards still have true sight up, then they're gonna know there's a dragon about.

When the enemy army screams "DRAGON!" what are we gonna do? Play it off as one of Scinnari's magics? A bound servant maybe? Now that's funny. And also kinky.

>>13046760
Can we bolster our defenses by using magic to summon more creatures? If we don't have the spells, then we could do it with items that we've spent some cash on. Scinnari has already (with our help) provided the illusion that she/we can call forth beasties and SUMMON THE KRAKEN. We might even be able to call demons/devils as well.

>>13046760
Been saying this on IRC, but I'll reiterate here: We REALLY NEED the items from >>13045766, particularly the Orbs of Storms and the wand of some serious evocation spell. Get them. Now, before the fleet arrives; we should not be fucking around with boulders at all when we should be able to whistle up a shipkiller storm and sink the fleet in one go.

We are wasting time, and making the wrong impression. We're a sorcerer-king; that is not "hey, go against this guy and he'll summon something to gradually sink your ships over the course of a couple weeks", it's "go against him and he will SMITE YOUR WHOLE FLEET WITH A SINGLE SPELL". We need to give the appearance of serious power without using our draconic form. Stop fucking around with Asha and piddly shit like boulders, and go get the stuff that we need for our cover story to actually function.

Throw thousands of gold at the problem if we have to, but get it DONE.

>>13046884
True Seeing is a 6th level spell. Any wizard who can cast that is at least 12th level. Which may well be a problem for us.

>>13046915
Seconding this.

>>13046834
We've gotten several dozen globes of the alchemist's incendiary concoction, and the dwarves have been persuaded to donate a trio of catapults to the defense of the town. (Make, rather; you can't see why they'd be storing them underground, and you didn't seem them on their fort walls.)

The walls will be about three quarters finished by the time the fleet arrives, not as good as you hoped, but better than it could have been.

No matter how you stress the danger, the townsfolk seem to be torn between fear of you and confidence in your abilities; it'd make you happy, if it wasn't so annoying.


[roll 1d100 for finding artifacts on short notice]

>>13046870
No.

rolled 36 = 36

>>13046958
Rollin'

rolled 79 = 79

>>13046958
rollan

rolled 14 = 14

Fuck the systsem.

rolled 1 = 1

>>13046958
roolan

rolled 9 = 9

>>13046958
oh god oh god oh god oh god.

Scinnari I'm trying to roll dice. Leave me alone.

rolled =

>>13046989
>>13046990
Thank God for the faster rollers.

>>13046985
Thank god we use best of two rolls.

If it comes down to a choice between artifacts, the Orb of Storms would be much more effective and impressive.

Hurricane right on those bastards. With a spot of lightning for flavor.

On the tangential subject of Cygnis: I think this song could apply to us; we get to be Mephisto.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1XOHeeerJc

As for defenses, let's see if we can hire some minions. A small time necromancer to do our kamikazombie idea, and flag some of those Azar privateers, tell them what's going down and that they'd really like it if we won.

Without a doubt, we need a plan to gain (firm) control of the lizardmen. Lizardmen can be awesome if well lead, I know it. (And I'm betting they're decent rangers/druids, too.)

>>13046985
>>13046971
Wands are fairly simple things to acquire, not to mention barrels of pitch, which you feel may make an excellent prelude to such an attack. You have a wand of lightning and one of fire; a dozen barrels of pitch, and a pair of cannons you salvaged from the Morinthian sloop. The dwarves, of course, have been focusing on the seafront wall, and it is complete, towers included.


[Note: I'm feeling more incoherent, for some reason, even though it isn't terribly late. Please forgive.]

>>13047168
So do I op

>>13047168
So you do want feel more like this for do as?

>>13047168
Well, now's a good time to practice that 'polymorph' spell we learned. Also, really practice prestidigitation, to adjust the color of our scales into something different.

Gold? Blue? Bronze? I dunno.

Guys, True Seeing only sees through invisibility and other magical illusions, it doesn't actually let you see things that are hidden by mundane means.

Meaning that we can still attack them from underwater, where there's the added benefit of being able to avoid those pesky ballistas.

Otto saging.

rolled =

>>13047388
If they thought to bring a true seeing mage because we were an INVISIBLE sea-monster, I'm sure they have a way of dealing with the SEA-MONSTER part too. Probably.

>>13047450
No, they brought the mages just as standard practice. This is an invasion force after all. They thought that the Morinth ship got sunk by pirates, not an invisible sea monster. We'll probably be able to sink at least a few ships before they wise up and figure out how to stop us.

rolled 40 = 40

This is a bit late, but are there still people on the IRC thing. I never used mIRC before so a streamlined instruction of how to get to the channel would be nice if anyone is willing to post em. I say we just land on the ship rip said mage apart. They aren't expecting a red dragon, hell, it's nice to eat the magically inclined too anywho, the arcane is a nice spice.

The final day dawns, with altogether too many sails on the horizon.

"Arriving by ten, eleven, if the wind doesn't pick up when the sun rises. It will." Captain Thade predicts. You are no seaman, so reluctantly have to take his advice as truth.

The dwarves have donated a two dozen 'engineers' to man your three catapults and two cannons; the fact that only ten are needed for that is not lost on you, nor is the fact that their engineers are amazingly well armed.

While the dwarves have, oddly, shown up with an oddly low number of axes and hammers per dwarf, instead most of the excess 'engineers' being armed with pikes and shortswords.

One of the pirate vessels took off at first light; expected, you suppose, but disappointing. Those that remain number around a hundred and twenty, and combined with the few you could raise from the town leaves you with a hundred and forty six individuals under arms, in the towns defense.

Everyone is intensely aware of what promises to be a difficult battle. Three transports and eight warships... you briefly wonder whether the pirates realize that they probably aren't going to have ships to leave with. Well, they could be counting on captured vessels, but theirs are unlikely to survive the full battle.


As the fleet approaches, you are briefly amazed to see three ships break off for the western side of the island. Borrowing the spyglass from the Thade, you once again prove your eyesight somewhat better than other humans; you can barely make out the difference of a single troopship and two escorts. Heading west... perhaps the lizardfolk will get a chance to take part in this.

ETA three hours. Dice for whatever we want to do.

We're on page 8, so I've gone ahead and archived it.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Dragon%20Quest
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13041443/

Don't forget to vote.

I'm tempted to say let the lizardmen deal with those troops on their own. I imagine they'll get overrun and then that's when we come in to save them.

rolled 54 = 54

>>13047487

Swim out and try to thin out their numbers before they reach shore. True seeing won't help them against an opponent concealed by mundane means, like water.

Troop ships are a priority, sink them if possible.

Though it would probably be easier (and safer) to have done this before dawn. Oh well.

rolled 35 = 35

>>13047542

Hmm, not exactly the best of rolls.

Also, I think the lizardfolk should be able to handle 1 troop ship. Though we should have Scinnari check up on them from time to time, see how the battle over there goes, if at all.

rolled 65 = 65

I say we fly out, land on troop ship, tear it the fuck up, then head to the ship with the mage, and promptly eat the fucker or sink his ship from underwater. We are a dragon, invisible dragon, but dragon none-the less. We can get shit done through sheer physical prowess. Besides, these are just some run of the mill military forces. Nothing in there should be like about level 5 or 6 to be honest with meta-game knowledge that I know of.

google irchighway, they have an online browser that you can use. its pretty much over by now though, but it worked great for figuring out who samefagged. also worked to come up with some ridiculous defense ideas (RantingRavager I'm looking at you for those zombombs.)

>>13047542
Even we need sleep.

Except, in this case, sleep means fucking Scinnari and Asha like rabbits. But my point still stands.

>>13047487

What level sorcerer are we at this point? C'mon, ten? twelve? You know we should be. (Please?)

Incidentally, assuming we've been somehow finding time to practice magic, (perhaps even with Aisha, both sorcerers, and all that. No, I'm not suggesting a euphamism, I already did that above,), what spells do we have at this point? Or should we have, you people probably would know this better than I do. (Rogue Trader fag here.)

Guy from the last thread here. This is hardly the time, but we really ought to attempt to, ah, father a leader, with the lizardfolk. Seriously. Hell, the reason they're awesome SCARY NATIVES is because they have dragon blood in them already, otherwise they'd be normal orc-equivalents.

>>13047621
I think we should do the underwater part first. Use the element of surprise. If we approach from the air, even while invisible, they'll spot us sooner.

>>13047501
Thanks for archiving it. Alright, we'll resume here... next time, I guess, I'll try and maintian our usual schedule but I probably won't be able to make it this week, though I don't know about next week. (Finals, closer; schedule, less reliable)


Will try to respond to any emails I receive. (oh, incidentally, my email is in practically every thread in the archives. If I forget to post it in a thread, it's possible to just go look it up.)


Will try to answer questions in thread for a bit if people want to ask them.

Forgot a picture.

>>13047691
About how large are the transport ships? How many troops do we think they might be able to hold?

rolled 24 = 24

Get out of sight of the villiage, go dragon form, proceed to fuck shit up.
Scinnari should grab some explosive powder or pitch, and teleport spam between ships to start sinking them.
Retreat if wounded or significantly challenged.

Let the lizardmen deal with one troop ship on their own.
The town should prepare its artillery, and the pirates should get onto open seas further along the coast, away from the invading fleet, in preparation for a boarding or flanking manoever.

Also, have a dice.

rolled 73 = 73

>>13047750
Your dice suck.

Have some more dice.

I like the idea of Scinnari using a teleport attack. We should remember that for the next thread.

rolled 29 = 29

>>13047487
Put scinarri in charge of the defence. We'll be best served by getting out there and, to put it bluntly, wrecking shit. From underwater or above. We'll look for survivors later. We need to stop as many opposing ships from landing as we can - go invisible, swim deep underneath so even with true seeing they won't notice the large and rather irritated dragon until it's busy chewing holes in the hull. Munch-and-run should get us there. Since we don't actually know that much magic, we want to preserve our.. mystique. Have Scinarri duplicate her 'magic spell' from before to deploy us.

>>13047635
>What level sorcerer are we at this point? C'mon, ten? twelve? You know we should be. (Please?)
Standard red dragons of our age are level five casters, I think, so we're likely six or seven. Probably not more than eight or nine, certainly.

>>13047487
Hmm, this is tricky. We can leave the lizardmen to handle themselves, I think, since they wanted it that way.

Ideally, we'd sink the troopships before they get anywhere near land; we don't have the forces for a pitched land battle, even if we could fireball the hell out of them. Better to avoid that fight. Since we won't be able to take out all the warships and we'd have a chance at taking out the troopships, we might as well focus our energies at the area where we can try for a clean sweep.

Tactics. The underwater dragon strike is powerful, but bear in mind that we do want to have our king persona present with the defenders throughout the attack, or at least with an assault group of some kind, so that we can display our power and be visibly seen defending the island. That means we can only use the trick before the battle proper starts. What's more, there's a mage with true seeing that they've got- he'll be able to pierce our invisibility and figure out what's going on. They might not be able to do anything about it, but word could spread regardless.

Fireball spam supplementing our catapults is the best defense we have against the warships... though perhaps an invisible flying assassination with ourself and Scinnari against the leader(s) of their fleet and/or their ships' captains would be more effective? If we take out all the leaders on a ship and then start pounding them with fireballs, they'll probably break and begin to run.

>>13047720
Call it around three hundred, at a guess.

>>13047799
>standard casting level for a dragon of our age
Please tell me where you found that, it would be useful for me. And we are inching towards the next age category, (We started as mid 83, spent three months, so we are growing. Slowly.)

Thought I posted, apparently Image duplicate.

>>13047942
Alright then, we can't let them reach shore. 900 career soldiers will completely overrun the island, even if we go dragon.

>>13047974
Indeed.


I'm out. Later all.

We should get Asha a collar of the Fanatic. When she puts it on, it'll let us automaticly dominate her.