>dat quest
Hells yeah.

So, where'd we leave off? We were going to drug some fake guards?

Walk in alone. Use our skills to poison their drinks with the sleeping agents. Wait for them to pass out then have our hired mercs come in and detain them.

Send the others in first and follow them in while dancing (feign insanity)

>>13659868
We just walked out of the naval quarters with a vial of anaesthetic and the contents of their information vault in our head, hired mercenaries to help out with the fight on Blackheart, and got a date for the party in the form of Ariel, pissed off elf mage.

>>13659891
>>13659880
Wat. We're like, on the way back to the inn? Let's let the GM poast, guys.

>>13659897
We're already there, brosef

>>13659892
Right, looking over the previous thread now. Looks like the phoney guards are there to get Jim before we do, so best to hurry.

Prev. thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13646200/

>>13659912
>.>

If we're in the inn, look around. Are the dorfs still there? I have an idea.

>>13659917
We have three or four hours before the meeting with Jim.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13646200/

Ariel and you are moving towards the inn. A man in the street is arguing with a woman. It is 8:03am. The birds are chirping, and the have disappeared.

You hear a loud marching behind you. The mercenary captain has caught up to you. He is accompanied by twenty four of his men. They slow down as they get closer to you. They reach your walking speed as they come within ten feet. They are armed and wear a mix of chain and plate, each soldier wearing his own unique armor.

There are four crossbowmen, eight spearmen, and twelve mercenaries with swords. Their captain is armed with an axe. You turn the corner.

"Where are we going? Blackheart's mansion is that way." Ariel says, pointing to your right.

>>13659862
>>13659868
>>13659880
>>13659891
>>13659892
>>13659897
>>13659912
>>13659917
>>13659928
>>13659935
>all these posts so fast.

Wow. I need to type faster.

Also, I'm NOT running this for ten hours like last night.

>>13659936
"Blackheart has more than a mansion. I'm going to destroy her and her capacity to interfere in the affairs of others. It'll require more than just putting her head on a platter - unless you want to see the feeding frenzy that'll likely occur if we just leave her criminal network to its own devices.

But if you come along, I can at least promise you that you'll be entertained."

>>13659936
>The have disappeared.

Should be The clouds.

>>13659947
I suggest you run it for no more than five. It was kind of bad not getting any sleep myself.

>>13659957
Sounds okay.
We want to pick up Blackheart's goons at the inn first for the NID.
We can mindrip them for information concerning her defenses.

Send the crossbowmen into the inn, lining up with their crossbows ready to fire. Then send in the 8 pikemen/spearmen. Then walk in our self. Call out the fake guards, inform them that there are more men outside, and tell them that we'll end their existence unless they side with us.

We need to get a bitching weapon to carry around.

Nah. Tell the mercenary captain that you'd like to seal your bargain as his patron by buying him and all his men a drink at the sleeping dwarf. When we get there, buy the house another round, but make an arrangement with the innkeeper to pour the vial's contents into the drinks that are going to the fake guards. Tell them they work for blackheart and are planning to cause violence in his inn, perhaps resulting in property damage, and it won't kill them.

He doesn't seem to like property damage.

>>13660001
I'm wondering if we have knowledge of firearms?

>>13660010
At the Inn of the Sleeping Dwarf.

>>13660010
Sounds like a good plan. Seconding.

>>13660011
We might, there was some mention of artillery. But we DO already have a freakin' lightning rod.

I was thinking a fake mage-knight would definitely need a bitchin' conventional weapon, though.

>>13660010
I like it!

>>13660011
You understand how they work, and have on occasion made improvements to them in the field. Mostly just jury-rigging stuff together.
>>13659957
"Well, I suppose that might be a fun time."
>>13660010
The captain nods. "Yeah, that sounds good. But whenever you're ready to stop lallygagging around, my men are itching to fight.

You make the final turn to the inn. One of the guards is outside, talking to the man who was looking for you earlier. He turns and sees you, then the mage, then the mercenaries. His eyes widen.
"SHIT!"

>>13660068
Point him out.

"YOU ARE SMALL TIME!"

>>13660079

>>13660068
Point to him.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!"

>>13660068
Summon your most fear-inducing, pants-dropping voice, and tell him he's going to stay right where he is, because you want to talk. Tell the mercenaries to block the exits from the inn leaving the spearmen and crossbow men to do so, then take the swordsmen with you along with their captain. Their weapons are short enough for indoor fighting.

If the guard shows any signs of getting violent, charge him and grab him and the other guy, then use them as human shields and walk into the inn.

We've still got a shot at keeping this from going pear-shaped.

>>13660116
The fake guard.

SHITSHITSHIT

I can't believe I missed the last one! Break one of his arms because he was struggling. It was an 'accident'. And then knock him out with the chloroform.

Your artificial vocal cords let out a guttural, gruff, roaring voice of command. The kind that the Emperor would use to make his advisers shit themselves in fear. The kind that you would use when commanding a summoned outsider. The kind that legends are made of.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM."
The guard takes one look at you and panics, trying to run inside, but tripping and hitting his head on the wall of the inn.

Sprinting towards him at forty miles per hours, you grab him by the head and pull the other man towards you. The elf and mercenaries rush to you side. Issuing commands, the captain yelling at his troops to obey, the spearmen take up positions at the front door, and the crossbowmen the opposite roofs. The captain and the swordsmen kick in the door and hold their swords menacingly.

The dwarf innkeeper sees you as you enter.
"OI. WOT TE FOOK YE DOIN, BRAKIN MY INN AGEN?!"
You point to the guards, and call them frauds.
"WOT? FRODS? AE GEV THEEM A DISCONT!"

>>13660201
What the fuck are you talking about?

>>13660201
It's just a couple of guys, andthey're worth a lot more to us alive and healthy than maimed and unable to talk.
>>13660079
>>13660111
>>13660093
We'll get to that in a second.

>>13660212
Throw the innkeeper a handful of gold "For expenses," and then fuck those fuckers' shit up.

>>13660212
Well, there goes any chance of doing this in a subtle manner.

Command the fake town guards:
"You are under arrest! Put down your weapons and raise your hands above your head. Failure to comply will constitute resisting arrest."

>>13660212
Tell everyone that they're shutting up now in your voice of command, tell the innkeeper you're here to prevent violence, and tell the rest of the guards that you're here to save their sorry lives from going down with Blackheart, as there's powerful men from the nation's government that want her out of the picture.

Then, tell them that she probably didn't have their best interests at heart, considering she sent them to confront a Mage-Knight. It's practically a suicide mission, and you've already brought one hell of a force to bear.

Tell them that they're SMALL-TIME, but if they don't cut off their association with blackheart NOW, they'll soon be getting comfortable on a rack in the depths of a military prison, and that you can offer them a way out.

If at any point they cut you off, issue a warning, then GET CLOBBERING. But try not to wreck the place, huh?

>>13660226
>>13660246
Easy, robocop, they haven't actually attacked us yet or anything. Sheesh. Let's try a nice chat first, they probably don't like their boss that much anyway...

oh man the tension

Throwing six gold pieces at the dwarf creature, you look back to the fraudulent guards. They have barely even moved, most of them in shock. You realize they may have been drinking because Ms. Blackheart told them to go kill you.

The adventurers are gone, although the dwarves are still in the back corner. They nod to you and exit the building, one of them wishing you luck. Not that you'd need it. The innkeeper waves everyone else out as you inform him of his inn being closed, and John and Foran come in. "Why are there soldiers all over the place? And why are you threatening those guards?" The innkeeper escorts them out.

You calmly but sternly begin to explain to the guards the dire situation they're in. Several of them try to get up and speak, but a mercenary shoves them back into their seats. Then tell them about Blackheart's future fate, and offer them a way out. One of them takes a look at your company.
"So, no hanging then?"
The others look at him, and you state that no, there would be no hanging if they surrendered and told you everything. The guards murmur to one another, and one by one put their hands in the air. The mercenaries pull them to their feet, and walk them out of the building.

The elf animal chuckles once they're out of earshot.
"You're going to hang them anyways, right?"

>>13660404
My name, where does it keep going.

I now have a trip. Maybe that will help.

>>13660404
"I'd prefer to take away Blackheart's manpower and use it for things like our mines. Half of these poor bastards probably would rather not be murdering assholes, and we'll need experienced security anyway. But if they turn out to deserve it, I'll be glad to throw them on the mercy of the courts.

But this is a city, Foran. The more violence we cause, the worse it'll be for us. I'm saving that for a battlefield - I expect we'll hit one all too soon."

Go pump the guards for information on Blackhearts' forces, specifically on who'll stand with her if most of her supporters turn against her, and who the real bad apples among her criminal enterprise are, the serial killers and rapists and beserker fucks that you'll have to kill if you want to sieze her assets quickly and cleanly. Then, tell the mercenaries all about these hard targets.

You're going to hit that bitch in her weak spot so hard, her MOMMA's momma's gonna feel it.

>>13660404
>"You're going to hang them anyways, right?"
Only if they don't cooperate.

Point of clarification: The NID want Blackheart out of the picture, one way or another, correct? Even if the means are not exactly legal?

>>13660469
I think the elf that spoke is Ariel.

>>13660512
Ah. Well, then tell Ariel that it'd be a waste to kill ten able-bodied men because they chose to work for the wrong person, and that they've little choice but to be under your protection now. If she has a better idea, she's free to tell you, but what they know makes them plenty valuable.

>>13660497
I think the NID just gave us a loaded gun and said, 'go bring us her head on a platter if you want, or jail her ass.' Which means anything up to plausibly deniable government-sanctioned murder. But I don't trust that one-handed fuck very much - he could throw us under the bus anytime he wants right now and nobody'd know we'd ever existed.

We can do whatever we want, but if we manage not to blow our cover or cause a war in the streets it'll go better for us.

>>13660558
yeah,nothing we're doing here is strictly legal anyway, and what happens if the NID guy finds out we know everything in his library and can accuse us of cold-blooded murder?

oshit.jpg

Let's start interrogating these goons, getting information about Blackheart, her manor's defenses, and any patterns or habits she has.

I'm also voting for, when we capture her, that we use the Oculus to reshape her personality so that she becomes a useful assistant to us.
A better fate than execution, which is what likely awaits her.

>>13660469
"Right, gotcha." Ariel turns to the prisoners, them to you. "That one on the left, I know him. He's probably in charge." You point to him, and look at the captain. He grabs him and brings him back into the inn. A spearman accompanies him. Ariel walks ahead of you, and sits down at the table with him. He looks at you, then her. "Oh god no, not her. Fuck." She laughs. "So you do remember me, Jack. That's great. You have no idea how much I'm enjoying this. Here's a hint: SOOOOOOO much. Haha." She grins, and laughs some more. "Screw you Ariel, it was mine and you know it."

You sit down as well. "Ok, look, just keep her away from me and I'll tell you anything. I swear. You want names and faces? I got all of them. You want to know which safehouses her guys use? I know them all. I'll give you the names of everyone I work with. Really." Ariel stares at him. "I don't believe him. Let's break his fingers." "Ok, seriously, I swear, I'll tell you everything."

The mercenaries are laughing outside. Turning around for a minute, you see one of the smugglers slipped and fell. Turning back, Ariel is reaching across the table, trying to attack the guard. You pull her back and tell her to leave. No need to kill the man, yet.

You sit in the in for almost an hour, and the man lists everything he said he would, and more. Which companies are fronts, how Blackheart communicates, everything. You put it to memory, even recording his voice in case you need it. A few times he asks for a beer, and the mercenary captain practically throws it at him. Drinking, he continues.

You believe you've heard all he know by the time he's finished. But you can't be sure.

Aw, hell! I have to be away from the internet for a measly hour... what happened to just quietly drugging the fake guards and letting the navy guys pick them up later like we were going to in the last thread?

Don't forget our meeting with Jim.

>>13660621
We definitely need to find out who else in her organization needs to go, but otherwise seconding.

As for the personality-reshaping thing, keep in mind that if we do that and NID comes to believe or accept that her personality has changed, permanently, for the better, you've basically told the black ops branch of the government of a powerful country that, within their reach, there is the means to modify the mind of anyone they'd like to reprogram.

So if we all vote not to turn Blackheart in, we might have to take on Vardan intelligence.

>>13660653
I wanted to use the subtle route too, but one of the goons saw us coming so it had to go out the window.

>>13660647
Thank the goon captain for his cooperation, and that it shall be noted at his trial.
However, any leniency offered to him will be revoked, if we find out that he withheld information from us. And we WILL find out.

If we've got the time, I think we should decapitate the whole criminal organization, then work our way down.

>>13660661
>So if we all vote not to turn Blackheart in, we might have to take on Vardan intelligence.
A good point.
We'll want to be more careful with using the Oculus from now on.

>>13660653
Right on, brolaf. Keepin' dat meeting.
>>13660647
Ask him for the story with Ariel, give him another beer. You need to figure out her bullshit. After that, let the dwarves and the innkeeper back in, excuse yourself for a moment, go around the corner or into a small room for a moment and use the Oculus to check what he told you.

If any of it's not true, come back and ask him more questions about those things in greater detail. If you can trip him up in a lie, make it look like it's all a product of logic and carefully watching his expression or something. NO ONE MUST KNOW OF OUR TELEPATHY YET.

Get that list of must-kill targets to the mercenaries.

IF the story with Ariel isn't too freaky and doesn't incriminate anyone too badly, make the guards an offer to be their new employer if they don't mind the idea of going straight. Their families will not be harmed, their wages will be decent, and the work will be as exciting or safe as they prefer.

Get the guy that was spying on you in the room, he needs to tell you ALL he knows about why Blackheart wants to see you, how, where you'd be taken or how you'd be restrained, and ESPECIALLY her party. Which we're totally fucking crashing.

>>13660698
How about we just reform them?

We might know enough sociology and governance and so on from the Old Empire to offer them a second chance they won't refuse.

>>13660698
Yeah, but the goons were dressed as guards. You could have pretended we didn't know they were fakes, because we wouldn't have immediately made them if we hadn't been told. If they had though their cover hadn't been blown they would have stuck around, and given us a chance to drug them.

>>13660698
Might as well play bad cop, sure.

>>13660766
>He turns and sees you, then the mage, then the mercenaries. His eyes widen. "SHIT!"
The goon thought his cover was blown. Your point is moot.

You decide it would be a bad idea to use the Oculas. You can't be sure any of the mercenaries aren't in with the NID. At least, not unless you use it. You get up from the table and go outside, telling the goon leader that you're done for now. You also tell him that his assistance is appreciated, and will be brought up at his trial.

The man frowns. "A trial? I thought you said you'd get me off the hook!"

You ignore him. The captain follows, and turns to you. "One of those safehouses is just down the street. You could house the prisoners there if we took it. Otherwise it might seem odd that a bunch o mercenaries are holding guards prisoner in the middle of the street." He points towards the house, a three story storefront with five bedrooms. From the looks of it, nobody's bought anything there for months. "Just a thought."

John and Foran have started sparing with two of the mercenaries. They're doing quite well, actually. Holding their ground.

>>13660801
>>13660766
Guys, the main problem is that our best, most convincing disguise still leaves us in the position of a walking tank. He screamed 'SHIT' for the same reason that Blackheart's goons were afraid of us when we spied on them near the town hall - they think a mage-knight 'would tear them apart.'

Right now, half her dudes are shitting themselves, and the other half are slavering like rabid animals at the thought of a big fight because they're degenerate fucks, probably.

>>13660845
Sneak our way to the safehouse. See if it's occupied. If not, have the prisoners lodged there for now.
If it is, quietly neutralize resistance.

>>13660845
This is where those drugs we got come into play. We can force them all to drink if they won't do it willingly.

>>13660845
Bill and ted don't suck at fitan', which is cool.

Let the guard-captain stew for a few minutes, send a few mercenaries to scout out the safehouse and remove any resistance - three crossbowmen and three swordsmen for the interior, and two spearmen to hold the front door. Fucking polearms are for street-fighting, yo.

Send John and Foran to the market with a goldpiece, tell them to buy ten outfits for the prisoners - not cheap, but not crappy, sturdy tunics and trousers and all that stuff animals wear - and a damn big pot of beef stew, and plenty of rope. Those fake guard uniforms might come in handy, if we decide to strip them off and put some mercenaries in them for a stealth assault.

Tell the leader of the guards that there won't be hanging or torture, and that the rest of his men will probably get off without too much procedural work, but there WILL be some sort of trial. Leave them in the safehouse to stew.

Separate the leader of the fake guards in a room off by himself, preferably a windowless room. Post two men inside with him, and two men outside.

The rest of the fake guards can go three to a room, with two mercenaries standing guard outside. They can base out of the safehouse for the next few hours.

Are there any NID agents here yet to collect the prisoners?

>>13661016
>leave him to stew
>beef stew>
>in the safehouse to stew

Someone's hungry.

>>13661016
The drugs, the drugs, the DRUGS. Easy way to keep them all passive until pickup is to drug them with the drugs we got for just that purpose.

>>13661040
Maybe, but 1) we may not be able to use the oculas on them drugged, 2) it may be easier to hire them if we don't drug them, treat them well, feed them, 3) that's something that Blackheart would do, and 4) the drugs might come in a lot more handy AT HER MANSION.

Besides, why do you think we're getting a fuckbig pot of stew? To spit-shine our armor-with? The drugs are water-soluble.

>>13661121
And finally, we need to take the safehouse to store the goons whether they're drugged or not.

>>13661185
A safehouse would be good, yeah. I think the orders in this post should take care of it, though: >>13661016
>send a few mercenaries to scout out the safehouse and remove any resistance - three crossbowmen and three swordsmen for the interior, and two spearmen to hold the front door. Fucking polearms are for street-fighting, yo.

>>13661185
But if we store these guys at a safehouse how are the NID guys coming to pick them up later going to know where to go?

John and Foran nod and leave, heading for the market. People passing by are beginning to stare, but they don't comment, and instead walk slightly faster. You give the orders, and the eight mercenaries quickly move down to the storefront, you and the mercenary captain watching as they kick down the door and head inside. Two spearman stand guard. A minute and a few shouts later, and someone waves out the door, their thumb on their palm.. The captain informs you that's the all-clear. The other mercenaries approach the building, the prisoners ahead of them. The guard captain emerges from the inn, accompanied by Ariel. She punches him in the back, and he looks at you with anger. The dwarf and his patrons come back up from down the street.

"Ye dune wit ma inn?"
Yes, you reply, as you walk down the street. The spearmen standing guard head inside, as does the mercenary captain.

In the building, two smugglers lie dead on the floor. Two are unconscious. There's quite a bit of furniture and chairs in the bottom level. There also appears to be a basement, where the captain takes the goon leader. Ariel sits in the corner and watches, as three guards follow him down.
"Nobody but me and the Mage-Knight come in or out, got it?"
"Aye, sir."

He returns, as do John and Foran. They have a pile of common clothing, and are eating cheese. Again. Animals. They are also dragging a pot of stew behind them, on a cart full of rope.

The prisoners are escorted upstairs and into rooms, three to each, where they change into the clothing and give the mercenaries their guard outfits. The mercenaries take up positions inside and outside the rooms. Sixteen are still idle. Ariel, the Captain, and you stand outside, discussing your next move.

>>13661218
We'll be here when the NID crew arrive, or send a message. Or we hire the fake guards and don't need to hand them over to NID at all. We can work it out with one-arm in person if we have to.

>>13661227
Write out a short message to the NID about this safehouse and that they can pick up the goons here.
Have one of the non-disguised mercs take it down to the docks and have it delivered.

I think we could use the rest of the disguised mercs to infiltrate Blackheart's manse.

>>13661227

Search the dead and unconscious smugglers. Keep anything of interest or value. Put the unconscious smugglers in another bedroom, send John and Foran out for a healer if anyone needs it. Manslaughter charges are a bitch. Put the dead bodies in the last bedroom and cover them with a shroud, see if you can figure out their religion and perform their last rites. We'll send for an undertaker and get some cash to their families as soon as we've assured a margin of safety.

Do we have the aforementioned list of people that probably need to die in order to easily take control of Blackheart's criminal network? Her die-hard supporters and the mad dogs she uses for brutal enforcer work, that sort of thing. We need to figure out how many there are and how to get rid of them, jail them, or otherwise destroy their capacity to enforce her power. Twenty-four mercenaries may not be enough.

Get said list together in your mind and think it over. Give it to the captain.

Then, check the time.

Also, there was the spy you had in a headlock, the one that was showing people your picture.

>>13661295
Seconding, with a minor alteration.

There's a strong chance we'll do that if it's appropriate, yeah. But add to the message that you'd like the NID to send someone that can make judicial decisions with them for the pick-up, you want to negotiate concerning the fate of the prisoners.

>>13661308
Also, disarm the inconscious smugglers and post a couple of guards with them.

And offer the idle mercenaries and the prisoners some stew, if you can find clean bowls and spoons in the safehouse.

We'll turn these poor bastards to our side yet.

>>13661352
herp derp, unconscious

Quickly writing down a note the the one-armed animal at a desk in the safehouse, you fold it and tell a mercenary to head down to the docks, and give it to the man working the front desk at the Naval office. He'd know who it's for. Then he is to return to the safehouse.

You pat down the smugglers, and find 30 Silver, 2 Bronze, and 1 Copper. Also various weapons. Picking up the bodies with one arm, and the unconscious men with the other, you go up the stairs. They creek as you climb them, but don't break. Passing through the open living area, and to the top level, you climb another set of stairs.

You place the dead bodies on the floor of one bedroom, covered with sheets, and the unconscious men you tie to chairs in another room. You cannot determine their religion, or identity, but you save the animals' faces to memory just in case.

Examining the unconscious men, you see no permanent or life-threatening injuries. John and Foran give soup to all the mercenaries with some bowls they found in the cupboards, and then give it to the prisoners, once the guards are done. You, the mage, and the captain sit upstairs in the living area, discussing your plan. Most of the people the goon leader told you about don't support Blackheart, but those that do are almost as brutal and cruel as she is. You unfold a map of Port Adder and mark four locations on the map. Three of them are the safehouses where most of Anna's supporters are. One is a warehouse that contains, among other things, disguises and record books on her transactions, including information about the party.

The safehouses are a four story tall workshop, a large boathouse, and another storefront. They most likely have at least ten people in each, perhaps eight in the storefront.

Hey guys and/or GM, I'm the anon that's been pulling the tactical genius bullshit.

If it's getting on your nerves or needs to be toned down, please tell me. Don't want to be a dick.

Also, this is loads of awesome for me, I don't want to spoil it for anyone else. /tg/ are bros, and bros come before hos.

>>13661523
Check the time. How long until the meeting?

Thank John and Foran, offer them stew as well. And the Mercenary Captain and Ariel are welcome to it if she wants it.

Ask Ariel if she'd mind telling you about her troubles and why she wants Blackheart to get what she deserves, and ask her about John and what he's done to earn her wrath.

Inform the mercenary captain that for now you'll leave the assessment of how to eliminate every target with the least deaths for his men to him, but if he feels he needs to bring another squad into this business, you have the funds to do so.

>>13661600
err, if they want it.

John and Foran eat, but the others deny the stew. The captain thinks for a moment.
"Yes, we'll need at least 25 more people. Perhaps more. I could go down and hire them right now, if you wish. It'll cost maybe 6 gold to hire enough soldiers."
You give him the money, and he heads down to the Mercenary Office. You're alone with Ariel, so you ask her about the goon leader, Jack.

"Well, it was two years ago. I was exploring some ruins, and I was being financed by Blackheart, though I didn't know she was dirty until later. Anyways, Jack was my partner. That bitch had sent him along to watch me, make sure I didn't try to rip her off for her share of the treasure. So, we find this old cube, right? Jack picks it up, and puts it in his pocket. I ask what he's doing, and he says that Blackbitch said he could have a share too. So I tell him that wasn't part of our arrangement, and he pulls out his sword. I'm about to blast him with a fireball, when I get attacked fro behind by a skeleton. I think it's another guy sent to watch me, until Jack yells, and turns his tail running. So I get it off me, and I see forty more of the things. Jack left me in that cave to die, and I almost did."

The animal paused.

"But that's not the end. When I get back to town, Blackheart had taken all my stuff. Jack told her I was dead. So I go to her home, and tell her Jack fucked up the expedition, and that she needs to give me back my property. So she has me thrown in jail by some dirty guards for 'slander'. Fucked them up, but soon all the guards in town were after me. So I left. Then I came back when I had some money, and tried to get revenge. I hired some mercenaries, and went to ambush her."

"Bu they didn't show up. Blackheart had frozen my account. So they didn't get the money, Blackheart's bodyguards spotted me, and here I am."

>>13661794
Check the time.

Thank Ariel for the explanation. Ask her about her contract, the one she couldn't get pushed through city hall.

Check the time.

>>13661814
Is it just like, one guy posting?

What.

It is now 9:14. You meet with Jim, Max, and Franky in 2 hours and 46 minutes.

"Oh, that? Yeah, I had taken a contract from the Vardan government to explore an old abandoned ruin up in the mountains. And bring back anything I could find. Well, there was this weird room in the building with starcharts, and some amazingly complicated magic writing and geometry on the floor. I'd wager my left ear it was Old Empire stuff. So I go in and the whole ruin starts collapsing as soon as I tried to cast a spell to brighten it up. I run out, and the entire mountain starts imploding, and soon as I know it, there a crater where there used to be a fortress. I found some interesting magic crap anyways, and sent it to them, but now they're refusing to pay me. Said they needed to ruins, and I'm lucky they didn't throw me in prison. Bastards."

>>13662049
I dunno, GM, I'm just going to posting until someone tells me to stop, but it feels like it's just me.

I guess you're posting every half hour because you're short on time? I could post slower too, I guess.

You know what?

I'll archive, and start earlier tomorrow.

Better that way.

>>13662124
Thank Ariel for her story. Tell her you're going to go put the thumbscrews to Jack as soon as the NID guys show up and it'll come in real handy, and if you're going to go to Blackheart's party, you'd be glad to have someone to help you look like you belong there until you're ready to confront her. Offer to assist in handling her bureaucratic troubles, you might get some artifacts back if you sue the government or something.

Ask her what it would take for her to put the business with Jack behind her if you could wring some penitent feeling out of him - after all, he's probably not far from a very reformative mood right about now, the cowardly little shit.

>>13662162
Alright. Thanks for running the quest.

Archived: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13659845/

It's over? Son of a bitch, I just caught up.

>>13662417
I thought I was fucking stuff up by post-hogging, anon. Would be glad if you set me straight, don't want to screw things up.

We could plan for tomorrow, though.

>>13662429

Hmm....

Only real problem I see is people wanting to all approach this a different way.

I mean, inevitable in a quest thread, but we should at least TRY at the beginning of the next thread to get a common long-term goal for us to work at, at least until serious PLOT walks in the door.

As far as Blackheart goes, I want her to survive. She's obviously very good at what she does, and if we have her playing the role of the Dragon, while making everyone think SHE'S in charge of what we're doing.... We avert the target on ourselves, and get a loyal minion. She can't use her normal tactic on us either: We're smarter than her, we don't sleep, we don't have pants she can get into, AND we don't consume food she can poisen. I vote we poly-morph something else into her and kill it so we have a spare Blackheart corpse.

Then we use the concept of a 'Blood debt' to get her working for us, and send her to manage another operation somewhere else.

Besides, having someone constantly posed to back-stab us will help us keep that edge.

>>13662617
I still think we should Oculas-ate John and Foran into being more useful.

>>13662617
Hmm.

We could try to work something out with the authorities, or we could reform Blackheart, or we could try to keep her without changing her mind.

OR! We get her imprisoned, extract assurances that she won't be killed, and then exchange favors with the NID to get her back out and working for us.

But if we try to pull a fast one on the one-armed dude, he might just throw us under the bus for shits and giggles. So we'd better keep that in mind. Right now, a whole lot's riding on him letting us have our mining contract.

As for long-term goals, I see it this way at the meta level:

-You're capable of creating the next generation of world-changing artifacts.
-If you do so, you'll have to put them into capable hands in order to create a decent future.
-If the only capable hands are yours, you decide the fate of the world. Otherwise, you'd better find someone you trust to do so, or potentially be able to break their momentum if they try to pull a fast one on you. Which could leave you in the position of still being the biggest bully on the playground, politically speaking.

>>13662736
We can do that, if we're willing to risk confronting mage-knights. I tried to get us on the way to that, but people were all like 'oh shit, mage-knights will fuck us up!' and artefact use seems to attract them : /

If we can fix the Oculas and commit to at least dealing with the one mage-knight peacefully or otherwise now that we have all that intel in our head, I'm down. We'll make them some kinda uber.

Since we're an artificer, maybe we should make some other constructs once we have the time. Help us with the magic-item making.

Maybe even some War-Golems.

>>13662736

I don't think we should actively screw with them, just plant little things over time like how swinging a sword like THIS would be better than THAT. And help give them more training at the same time, they'll just think you're making them super-badass and not giving them a personality transplant.

>>13662743

I think that when we corner her, I should do the talking. or someone else could post it, I guess. But I have nice little evil speech I've had for a situation involving an uppity evil bitch and mind-control device for a while now.

It comes up more often than you'd think.

>>13662833
Post the speech now, so we can work on it while the GM's away.

>>13662833
Wait.

If we have all the knowledge of the empire or whatever, can we use magic?

Maybe we just need to prepare spells, like a wizard.

>>13662767
>>13662811
>>13662833
>>13662852
>>13662889
We could go talk about it on the java IRCchat on sup/tg/ and NOT give our plans away to the GM, btw. Or we can keep talking here, or make a new thread.

Wat do?

>>13662902
>>13662889
Let's go IRC, I guess.

sup tg IRC? What channel?

I just made #ConstructArtificer

sup/tg/ IRC is http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/chat.html in any browser, if it helps.

>>13662971
I like it.

>>13662954

How do i get there in chatzilla?

>>13662989
Oh no, where did the speech go?

>>13663000
Are you on the irc.thisisnotatrueending.com server?

>>13663007

I deleted it so we could be sneeky gitz. I was gonna post it again in chat.

I'm >>13663000
So.... Any idea how to get there in chat-zilla?

>>13663018

I don't even know how to do that. I've only done this once before.

>Pokemon ideoo

This is the first time I've posted my captcha, and only because Pokemon surprised me.

>>13663041

Scratch that, I just got on the IRC server.

>>13663027
how do you normally join servers/channels?

If so, go to server irc.thisisnotatrueending.com

and channel ConstructArtificer

Also,
>Sneaky Gitz

We need to make the Orcs Orks.

The sup/tg/ IRC can be found at irc.thisisnotatrueending.com on ports 6667 or 9999.

I'm rusty on Chatzillia, but you need to direct it to the right network and give it a port.

>>13663027
Honestly, you could just use the embedded java applet at http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/chat.html.

Other than that, chatzillia has a help command IIRC

>>13663061
>>13663059

Don't worry. I fixed it, I'm in.

Aaaand I fell off the server.

Here's hoping you guys check the thread and reconnect. That was fail of me.