On Mza, and in your Angevin provinces, however, more unsettling news has come to light. Rumors are slowly spreading, despite your efforts, that the Sorcerer-king of Mza, or perhaps his wife, are not quite what they appear to be. Guesses ranging from drow agents to demons or, in a few scattered cases, dragons, seem to have captured the commoner's imaginations. Efforts to investigate the source of these rumors have been very unrewarding.

Finally, on a different note, you have, of course, been maintaining efforts to stay abreast of world events; Prince Arranius seems to have taken to his throne reasonably well, and Azar will likely be spending the next decade slowly rebuilding. To the north, a warlord has come out of the wastelands, sweeping down on the northern regions of Angevis. As you predict, fast initial progress slows as his holdings expand. What he ends up with is larger than your 'empire', but more poorly located, and not as wealthy.

To the east, all attacks on Exheln cease almost overnight, leading some to suggest that the attacks didn't end, the drow /won/. Officially, though, a small band of mercenaries are hailed as the cause, having ostensibly eliminated the drow war leader, and collapsed significant portions of the underground tunnels they were using to access the surface. Whatever the reasons, Exheln is busy rebuilding, left almost destitute at this point by repaying the debts owed to the mercenaries. Merchants circle like vultures, some of them from Mza, but mostly from the greater powers. Still, there will be a tidy profit in rebuilding there, and Exheln is unlikely to become a major power again anytime soon.

FROSTED BUTTS!

Fuck yea Dragon Quest!

Send messages to all the bards we hired way back when for our propaganda campaign. We need to set about quashing these rumors, and thankfully they will already be in place to do so.

>>14000973

Does this "warlords" empire border ours, or only like province away, if so I say we kill and take his lands.

>>14001053
Nah. That'll show that we have something to hide. Don't quash them as much as just discourage them. There will always be rumours.

>>14000966
>while you don't really win
I was under the impression that we only lost arguments when we wanted to, or didn't care that much about the outcome either way. She's not to be taking such ridiculous risks like that. We have vast assets and are fucking rulers of a kingdom here. Next time she can call in the city guard and flood the place with bodies. Human mook lives are cheap, hers is not.

Result of the feasability study on reawakening the volcano?

Also, what does the Dao think about our chances to mine the adamantium down there? The dwarves couldn't get to it, which suits me just fine. I don't want them getting to it. But we should be able to, and it will be a significant boon to us overall.

>>14001053
This could be construed as a suspiciously specific request. But it could work. Confirm?

>>14001081
No. His lands are the northern reaches of the Angevin states, and not in the vicinity of our territories. Successful expansion could close the distance, however.

Infodump: The Angevin Empire fell several centuries back, allegedly verging on a thousand years, but more likely, you suspect, on the order of seven hundred. 'Fell' is a bit of a strong term, too; Harakan, the capital province, still claims the authority and lineage of Angevis, but lacks the power. They've been limited to maintaining their own province, but have been unable to muster the resources to succesfully reforge their empire- A point they have reached twice in the past, and had taken from them by a string of horrendous defeats each time.

>>14001053
Rather than discourage them, why not encourage them? All of them. And throw in some of our own creation for good measure.

>>14001188

Rather than tell them to quash the rumors, tell them to make up more comical and insane ones. Mention we're amused by it all but are depressed by how dreary the rumors are, and want them to be more creative.

>>14001167
In the last thread, probably possible, but extremely difficult; Farrandras claims he will probably need an efreet's assistance, and perhaps more power than even the two of them would have.

He did NOT say 'no', though.

>>14001259
Yes... I know. I remember that quite well. We also wanted a study done on the effects and what would happen, as we don't particularly want to melt our hoard, flood our Sacred Ones with lava, or destroy our lair in an eruption.

>>14001224
>>14001223
Totally support this course of action. Get them to say we are gods manifest or who knows what. Really spice it up.

Redouble our efforts to shield our daughter. No tome too expensive, nor magical focus too rare. No ritual too ghastly, ect. ect.

Make sure we have the best protection we possibly can. Ideally shoot for epic magic, see if we can get our hands on an artifact, something like that. This is important.

>>14001259
Summon an efreet then and have them work together to find out if we can do it without disrupting our lair or having it erupt. I would very much like an active volcano. Also, see if the Dao can raise more land for our island and make us a higher perch.

>>14001224
Seconded.

>>14001320
Super seconded. If we can protect her we can hopefully find a way to protect ourselves too.

You know, I always wondered why Scinnari was so eager to have our little dragonets. Perhaps we should ask her now that we are a proud father?

>>14001188

Begin expansion northward, it time we started taking more land anyway, all empires must grow if they to survive and thrive.

>>14001463
Makes sense, let's secure another large city if we can. A trade city would be best, though a manufacturing or resource-gathering one would be fine too.

A dryly amused letter is sent to the bards you have hired in the past. Primarily a few suggestions of particularly wild guesses, but also a sardonic interest in what they consider most popular, or particular crowd favorites.

With that taken care of, you turn you turn your attention to the matter of your daughter- extra-planar influence of a mostly-dead demi-goddess is not something you wish her subjected to, and you turn to research, attempting to determine what, if any, precautions can be taken to thwart such interference in your family.

While pursuing such ventures, you make time to pursue research into the planes, primarily the four elemental; An efreet is summoned to consult with Farrandras, as is later a marid. The later, in conjunction with Farrandaras, and in exchange for a painfully large payment from you, is willing to assist in expanding Mza, and lifting new land from the sea. The efreet, for his part, is entirely willing to assist in reanimating the volcano, but it will implicitly come with some sacrifices; your lair within the heart of the volcano will be subsumed in lava, as would the quarters of your lizardfolk worshipers. Your castle, as well, would likely suffer catastrophic damage, if any mistake was made in the process.

On the other hand, the magma-tunnels of the mountain can be re-routed, and altered... The possibility to have magma flowing below your lair, heating rock and stone, but not melting hoard.... is most desirable, you decide. Further, if things went well, it would be possible to arrange a slow, constant, flow of magma into the sea, which would- barring serious upset- be stable, safe, and productive.

>>14001533
Since we are expanding magically anyway we should make all the new coastline perfect port-capable bays and such. Protection for all the ships that will eventually dock here, and all.

I am fine with reanimating the volcano, but ensure that everything valuable is relocated before it happens. Then we will need to undertake a massive construction project afterward to reestablish a deep, deep safe-room for our hoard and sleeping spot, as well as the personal chambers for us, Scinnari, and Lts.

What I'm saying is, I'm fine with losing those chambers so long as we can make other ones just as secure afterward. It will take time of course, but hey... time is something we've got in abundance.

Also see about using the magma in our traps, ever increasing the lethality for intruders who try to enter without our permission.

Of course we will also need to make vast underground catacomb residencies for our Sacred Ones as well. We always want them close at hand.

>>14001613

Seconding this, also so should begin expanding north I want as I said earlier all empires must grow if they to survive and thrive. So we get more land.

>>14001613
Expanding on this, where before we were using the natural magma tunnels we will now have a well planned and extremely secure fortress. Our lair/hoard/personal chambers/draconic throne room will be in the deepest part, secure as secure can be. And wonderfully heated by the magma flowing around them, of course. Though not too hot of course, we want humanoids to be able to reside there. We also don't want anything melting or tapestries bursting into flame or any of that. We can have our own personal Magma Swimming Pool to get into for when we want extreme heat.

>Officially, though, a small band of mercenaries are hailed as the cause, having ostensibly eliminated the drow war leader, and collapsed significant portions of the underground tunnels they were using to access the surface.
Bah, fucking PCs. Make a move to get in contact with them, and bring shitloads of Detect Alignment.
PCs are vulnerable to inter-party conflict, and having quest/plotgivers send them on wild goose chases. PCs are NOT vulnerable to a stand-up fight.

>>14001533
Don't do this. We -will- roll a 1, and will not only incinerate our hoard, but also our entire island, and also Adamantium Golems swimming in lava will come out and sodomise us.

>>14001665
Don't be ridiculous, we can relocate our hoard to a temporary chamber we carve out for when it happens. And if we roll two 1's well... we can just use one of our Dao wishes to be all "I WISH THE VOLCANO HAD NOT AWAKENED"

rolled 97, 86 = 183

>>14001665
Or worse, open a gateway to the elemental plane of Boatmurdered.
I suggest investigating those PCs that did shit at Exheln. Perhaps we can hire them to do stuff, in exchange for loot, XP, ale, and whores. Det alignment on them first, though. Don't need no motherfucking Lawful DERPA Good AHURR fags any closer to us. They're already uncomfortably close by existing in the same world.

Come to think of it, there's bound to be more PCs than just those ones in this world - we've assassinated a pack of PCs already. What would it take to start some type of investigative or detective force, to look for instances of "A small band of dysfunctional misfits who met each-other in a tavern, and who are kicking way more arse than a small band of mercenaries should"?

Dice if you need 'em

>>14001721
You have got to be kidding dude. Fuck off, we're not spending vast amounts of time and money going around the entire world hiring spies to look out for stupid humanoids who will probably die before we ever meet them. Investigate the mercs sure, but we have spymasters for this sort of thing. We'll get a report.

>>14001751
Someone hasn't been reading his evil overlord list.

Regardless, we need to focus on keeping the Egg safe, looking for business opportunities, expanding the powerbase, and keeping two eyes wide open for plot hooks. If there aren't any, focus on cautiously expanding the empire, while sending Diplomats, Traders, and Spies to the four corners of the flat to search for new business opportunities.

Light the volcano up. Relocate everything first and ensure everyone on the island knows to be read for some earthquakes. After it's lit we need to start on some SERIOUS mining. Plan our fortress-lair with defense in mind, only giving way to comfort and convenience in our personal chambers deep, deep in the earth past thousands of traps and guards and maze-like corridors with guardrooms at the end.

After all, our personal area will be so far in the center that we are fine, and we can teleport down there to avoid the annoying traps, passages, and all that mess. Hell, we can even have an atmospheric enchantment so we can make it as warm or cold as we want down there to either keep it habitable for our henchmen or dispel it completely when damn adventurers come knocking.

Regardless, security is the name of the game. We're designing this bitch from the ground up now so there should be NO excuse for adventurers getting down here without going through hell first.

>>14001832
>evil overlord list
Hurr hurr, I sure have never heard that one before. You are the first one to ever reference it in this quest, for sure.

Fact is, a lot of this is handled like it is because we can't micromanage everything. We're running an empire here, and we aren't doing it for the benefit of the peasants. If we secure competent spymasters then we'll eventually need to delegate the specifics to them and rely on them to give us the info we need. We won't have time or ability to do otherwise, just to set broad objectives and say "Find out everything you can about X." Not only that, but trying to track every band of adventurers out there will drain our coffers dry in a matter of years. We're here to make a hoard, not spend one. We will deal with issues when they crop up, we can't go around being world-police for adventurers.

Your heart is in the right place but you need to be practical.

>>14001897
Why do I have this weird sinking feeling that the lack of funds spent on adequately stomping out adventurers, means that a group of 4 rag-tag misfits who have hidden under the floorboards will pop out and assassinate us at some time in the future?

No, I'm sure it's just paranoia. You are right. We need not be concerned with such small groups of mercenaries when there are entire nations and armies to contend with. I'm sure these so-called "adventurers" are a minor annoyance at best, and will never amount to a real threat.

>>14001842
Of course relocate our hoard-dias with the inscribed runes of empowerment and all that mess that we made ages ago as well. We want a grand hoardroom that will impress anyone. Beautiful huge marble columns soaring up to the vaulted ceiling, vast riches, and buried under our hoard and inside the stonework all those runes that empower and enhance our abilities, so we can easily shred anything that presumes to challenge us in our hoard/throne/sleeping atrium.

And of course all those humanoid sized rooms for sleeping in humanoid form with Scinnari and billeting our mindbroken henchmen.

We seem to be heavily involved in the trade of keeping and uncovering secrets. Is there a cult of Vecna in this world? Maybe we could gain something by currying favor with it.

>>14002048
We've already established we dislike undead. They aren't interesting to play with, aren't very tasty to eat, and don't contribute to our hoard.

It takes almost three months to set up, but reanimation of the volcano proves feasible. The efreet attempts to persuade you not to deal with the marid (or any entities from the plane of water at all,), and succeeds, partially because of the outrageous price the marid demanded. You begin by relocating your hoard, as well as the furnishings from your lair, and your believers, to the jungles below, farther along the island from your mountain, where the lizardfolk reside. Your worshipful followers are eager to do your will, in this case guarding your hoard against any and all interference, and you are amused to eavesdrop on some bragging on how the 'great red lord' will be gifting them with a fortress made specifically for them. Not quite true, but you resolve to go through with Farrandras and make sure they have what they hope for, afterward.

Scinnari, Varra, and Asha & co. are evacuated to Mza, one of the rare times when your in-town holdings as Lord Prestor are fully occupied. Your ritual proceeds with Farrandras and the efreet- and proves entirely successful. A new magma-chamber is created deep within the mountain, under your current lair. The magma is forced up peacefully, and eventually ejected to the north, descending slowly through the forests into the sea- A gargantuan column of steam boils up from the water, and anyone in the vicinity is almost certainly dead. You did, however, warn your citizens against this possibility, and the northern coast was clear of all but the foolish.

>>14002167

Thanking the efreet for his assistance, you dismiss him, and then patrol the internals of your mountain with Farrandras. Opening a chamber here, transmuting rock there to a more heat-resistant material, and so on, occupies several days. After a week, you believe yourself to have it finished. Your lair itself is cozily warm, nearly a hundred and ten degrees, and you have constructed hot-springs, a large, vaulted central chamber for your hoard, and exits down into the magma, who's flow has been made wide enough you can traverse it outward. A secret exit, and entrance; you are confident nothing but another dragon would be strong enough to traverse it, and they would not know it exists.

Quarters for your minions are more difficult. More dull, in truth, though you suppose there is, admittedly, some small pleasure in making sure you minions are well-rewarded. Eventually you manage to draw up a full map for your desired labyrinthine corrridors and mazes, incorporating your followers' dwellings as part of the maze. The result is both impressive and elaborate, and your efforts are met with joy and praise from your lizardfolk cult.

>>14002212

What of are campaigns to the north?

>>14002252
Give the man some time, he's clearly not done yet.

Your preparations dealt with the results well- poisonous fumes are taken by the wind, high and far from Mza before you allow them to disperse. Farrandras, having become aware, by necessity, of your nature, suggested the possibility of harvesting the toxic vapors for whatever purpose, trapping the fumes in pockets of stone. Potentially feasible, but rather risky, as any accidental release would wreak havoc upon your worshipers or your city. You shelf the suggestion for further investigation, and continue apace with other plans.

The mercenaries responsible for assisting Exheln, you are eventually informed, are known as the 'Black Circle', a large group of, effectively, adventurers, despite their claims to the contrary. They seem to run the gamut of morality, and their leader is a relatively personable paladin. The report received indicates that the agent responsible for much of the information gathered claims to have gotten most of it over a few tankards of beer with the man himself, and that the man is an expert in tactics and strategy, and inclined towards being a decent person. Happily, however, it seems that he is aware of the necessities of life, and is reputed to be extremely pragmatic. Which means he can be dealt with, if necessary.


To the north, You've nearly conquered all the ports of the Angevin territories, excepting the last few that have banded (loosely) together to resist- While you suspect you could forcibly seize them, they are fairly capable opposition, and Lady Issa thinks them to be not worth the expense to conquer. You disagree, of course, but are willing to delay until another time, or until you can bring more force to bear.

>>14002409
Alright. Let Scinnari do her decorating thing for our personal chambers and the lizardfolk do their decorating thing for the rest of it. Try to focus them so that there are lots of repeating patterns in the murals, helping to confound and confuse any intruders to either think they are walking in circles when they are not or vice-versa. See to all the traps like before, perhaps even increase them since we have a planned fortress now with lots of excellent ambush spots and such, plus readily available magma to drop people into or dump on top of them. Dispel traps, spike traps, maybe make some tiny pockets of the noxious vapors like Farrandras suggested and use said toxic vapors as traps too, sealing off an area and flooding it with them. And of course murder holes, archer/lance crennelations, all that jazz.

Keep our daughter warm, of course. Check on her periodically to monitor progress and check the wardings. What's the word on that adamantium? I wouldn't mind equipping our Chosen with a full outfit of adamantium lizard-armor and weaponry. Elite force indeed.

What does Seffy's domain look like these days? Possibly coming into conflict with that new warlord?

>>14002538
This

>>14002538
Scinnari has been spending more time in the castle lately, so let's make sure she's comfortable down here as well. Royal luxurious appointments, atmospheric magic for temperature and environment control, (non-sapient) magical servants, things like that. This is the main lair, it should be comfortable as well as secure. A place where time can be spent in luxury, comfort, and peace.

Of course, we still will be making trips to our castle on a regular basis and even on occasion spending the night there. It's our public face to the world and all. But we need to ensure that our sanctuary is just that.

Let's have that dragonscale dress made. Kidnap a master tailor in secret from across the globe or something, then eat him afterward.

What do our henchmen/Scinnari/leader lizardfolk think about the new lair?

>>14002409
Make sure to secure our new holdings completely. Our majordono-ess should be handling that, but we just need to make sure. Also, how competent has she been proving?

>>14002690
I'm interested in what they think, but also what the inhabitants of Mza think of the recent volcanic activity.

Hey WD could we get a map with our territory highlighted?

Moving back in to your 'new' quarters is almost enjoyable. Almost. It's still a tremendous pain in hindquarters, and involves far too many minions near your precious hoard, whatever their loyalty. Despite that, though, you find that everything happens relatively quickly and painlessly. On a positive note, you find your hoard larger than it was when it exited the mountain- Apparently, your worshipers decided this was an opportunity to pay their respects to their lord, and quietly made mass offerings. A meager contribution, when compared to your collection in all it's majesty, but a touching token of faith and awe...

Scinnari, now with a much smaller figure, sets about re-appointing your lair and castle- With only moderate misgivings, you promise her whatever she requires to that end. It's difficult to let such wealth go, but an acceptable expense. And, of course, she seems to enjoy it thoroughly. Possibly a little too much, but you reserve judgment. In the end, while she expends an amount that practically makes you wince, the results are worth it. Towering columns of solid, natural marble, created by Farrandras, and engraved by expert craftsman teleported in for the purpose. A titanically wide dais, a few high, made of solid, perfectly smooth obsidian, with a central disc embedded with large, flawless rubies... Indeed, with Farrandras' help, she's even managed to make relatively nearby chambers of the mountain much lower in temperature, suitable for humanoid guests. Luxurious, too, though none quite as much as personal quarters in your castle, let alone your lair.

The castle itself receives some changes, too- Mostly, a new and relatively flat plain extending to the north of it. An extremely dangerous plain; it is there solely to keep the titanic heat of the volcano's lava away from your castle and it's less heat-resistant inhabitants. Still, within, Scinnari takes the blank funding you gave her to lavish more care on the castle, which you consider less important, but no less satisfying to possess. By the time she is finished, it is truly something worthy of a king, an emperor, and you ar particularly pleased with the ruby dragon-rampant above the bed in your personal quarters.


A mere week after you've moved in, though, your worshipers discover a few dead in the traps of the new tunnels- investigation in Mza reveals that this display of power, while impressive, brought to mind tales of wealthy mages and wish-granting genies in bottles. Sadly, it did not, apparently, bring to mind sufficient tales of wrathful mages and malicious wishes. No matter, though, as they seem to have all been killed.

>>14003085
Yes, but it will take time. I'm still trying to get to certain things that have already been posted for a bit. (Adamantine, I hear!)

>>14003182
I know you're still updating WD, but I want to chime in to say that we should take the bodies, stripped of all valuables, on display in the center of Mza. Have a placard that reads "Such is the fate of those who attempt to lay hands upon that which is not theirs."

Or something to that effect.

rolled 29 = 29

>>14003303
Or possibly send a letter back to whatever relations they had, saying "Sorry, apparently they tried to trespass in my home, and were killed by traps. My condolences." and return their affects. If the story 'got out' (we can arrange that.), it might prove more effective.

Also, here's hoping for beautiful devil/dragon daughter. Daddy's little girl...

>>14003390
I think that would likely be less effective, actually. People are awfully concerned with how they are treated after death, especially adventurers who can reasonably hope for resurrection if the body isn't defiled.

Putting their corpses on display and saying "Don't touch my shit." is probably a better way to keep them from trying it than "Oh, sorry, you seem to have died. Here's a proper funeral and regards to your loved ones."

Not to mention we shouldn't say it was traps at all. Let nobody know how they died. It could have been traps. Or a spell. Or guards. Who knows what lurks in the depths of the sorcerer's lair? We best stay away!

>>14003445
Nah. Public display of the dead makes us seem needlessly cruel and a tyrant- the other way makes us seem polite, urbane, and still a force no one will want to cross

>>14003489
No, the other way makes us seem like a pansy begging to be robbed by anyone.

We need an example. It doesn't make us needlessly cruel; they're already dead. It doesn't make us a tyrant either, we're just protecting what is ours.

>>14003489
Yes I prefer the understated power of this response. It also helps to renforce our image of insane power but keeps us from looking like douchebags. We really don't want to attract PCs.

>>14003489
I don't particularly support the public display (though not against it either), but sending their effects home and a nice letter that includes the words "I'm sorry" in any form is retarded. We're a goddamned emperor. If you try to steal from the king you get executed, this is how it is in virtually every kingdom anywhere. We aren't sorry and we aren't going to be all nice and cuddly with thieves.

Remember, these scum were trying for our /hoard/.

>>14003303
Agree, I suppose. But don't mutilate or desecrate. Just lay them down with simple wood boards bearing explanation for why they lie in the city and why they should continue to do so until a predetermined date.

>>14003601
I wasn't aware keeping your valuables safe from being stolen is being a douche.

>>14003694
/signed

This seems like the best compromise. We keep them on display for a period then bury them in unmarked graves. Anything they had on them of value goes into our hoard.

>>14003445
>>14003489
>>14003559
>>14003601
Aaaand we're off
I swear this is the reason why I can't follow Dragonquest. No one can even suggest doing something that isn't Evil with a capital E without being shouted down as being moralfag and people going on about how we're a DRAGON and we need to make EXAMPLES and people CAPITALIZE words to EMPHASIZE their usually rather weak ARGUMENTS

>>14003703
No but descrating people's bodies is kind of dickish

>>14003734
Chill bro, this isn't Evil. It's standard procedure in any middle ages styled culture.

But first, make us a map.
Pleeeease :D?

>>14003792
Alright, alright- sorry bro. That's a good point

>>14003734
God damn it Kaleb. Why do you even still follow DQ? You've done the "I quit" speech like five times now, every time something doesn't go your way.

>>14003182
Well, let's begin to solidify our backing against Seffy now. See what neighboring states would support us after we take her down. Get with our intel network and see what the situation is there, and start marking out key targets to infiltrate through her security. We need to try and find some way to kill her without a stand-up fight, because she would rip us to shreds.

rolled 37 = 37

>>14003923
Not if she can't move......wish we had something of an advantage on her so we could do this properly. Oh wait we have magic up the arse now don't we? Assuming that we were able to summon an efreet with our own ability we either have a decent high level summon monster, or dimension door spell access. Writer-dude, effectively what level are we now any who? Are we even still picking spells or have we auto-leveled ourselves up?

>>14003987
Dragon saves are so high that we can probably discount any sort of holding spell. Plus she has magic too, just not nearly as powerful.

I'm thinking murdering her in her sleep? That's a traditional dragonslaying tactic, right?

>>14003987
At the very least, we can research Seffy- extending the search to the plans may find his true name if we're lucky. Even if we don't, knowing more about him, his habits, and any potential weaknesses is a solid plan
>>14003854
I left the chat Adun

rolled 95 = 95

>>14004023
If we weren't a prideful red dragon dealing with someone we find to be on even footing with if you weigh physical and magical prowess on the same point basis.

>>14004035
And sadly continue to push the moralfaggotry.

By the way, Seffy is a girl.

In unrelated business, some of the dwarves seem to think you meant to kill them with your bit of geomantic reconstruction. Even with their best efforts, it seems, while none of them died, the seem to have lost several caverns, and half a dozen mineshafts are now either flooded with magma, toxic gasses, or far too much heat for them to work. Their complaints go suddenly silent, though, and a request comes through for the services of Farrandras again. When you go the deal with them, the reason quickly becomes apparent- Traces of adamantium were found within the magma-flow, once it cooled. They seem ecstatic, despite even the destruction of significant areas of the fortress. Farrandras reluctantly verifies that, yes, magma tends to be fairly rich in the material, albeit in a diluted molten state, and yes, there are means by which it can be concentrated and refined, if one is capable of working or channeling magma sufficiently. Failing that, 'normal-alloy adamantine', as far as admantine can be normal, can be harvested, if one can resist the scorching heat in the areas it's deposited. They request your help with the second part, though the excited whispers at Farrandras' information suggest that they may pursue the former option, if they can find some means of doing so.

>>14004098

In the meantime, your daughter continues to grow, developing a more defined consciousness. Most of what you receive are vaguely formed questions, and more often, feelings, and it's, you admit, both interesting to observe a mind develop so closely, and a quiet pleasure to see /your/ /daughter/ grow, however little. Scinnari is delighted to hear that it is a she, but seems somewhat upset that she cannot commune with her as you can. You allay this somewhat by acting as an intermediary, telling Scinnari about the mind you feel, and passing on to your daughter about her mother, but Scinnari still seems vaguely unhappy. In effort to keep the egg sufficiently heated, you've moved it to your lair, where it is both most secure and best heated. In addition to your and Scinnari's personal attendance, one of your devoted lizardmen is in constant attendance, should anything be needed. You don't strictly imagine that they're necessary, as you or Scinnari could probably teleport for something faster than they can, but the post gives them a purpose, and is highly sought after among your worshipers.

>>14004098
It's just like dwarf fortress!

Someone flips a lever and magma floods everything, then you strike adamantium. Soon after, everything is dead.

rolled 77 = 77

Have we further searched our lizardmen for those of potential magic powers? We should single them out and get them training under us. We may not be an AMAZING sorcerer or wizard yet, but I find that teaching something that one knows well actually helps one understand it better. Not to mention, we would get a powerful cadre of magical casting lizardmen to defend our caves and castle and land alike. Also, how is the integration of lizardmen and other humanoids of the island going now. It may be repetitive but I'm not one for starting something and then just leaving it once we think it's nice and dandy.

>>14004098
If we help them with securing adamantine we are going to want a hefty cut of what they mine. 50% of it straight off the top. And they will require them to forge masterwork adamantine armor for our forces.

For these services we will aid them in procuring adamantine. It's a great deal for them, they would never be able to do it otherwise. And a great deal for us, as we get a ton of adamant and masterwork dwarven armor that we could never get any other way.

We need to reserve the best ingots of the stuff for ourselves though. Eventually I want us to make a light battle-ramient out of adamantine. Light enough for us to fly with it on, but still enough to give us a huge advantage in combat with anything else including other dragons.

>>14004305
Belay that, actually. First let's find out if we can mine the stuff without dwarven help. Especially the super-concentrated version. I don't want to give any of it up if we can help it.

rolled 96 = 96

>>14004305
I hope you mean 50% off the top of the raw materials, THEN out of the 50% we get they have to forge us the capital we want but I'd be willing to pay the price of the said capital at a reduced price, effectively only skimming off about 65% (random ass 15% from the money we would be paying for it) considering that they would be getting business out of us since we are taking their raw materials. They could always just hire outside help to be honest......

>>14004354
Outside help that would mysteriously disappear before ever arriving.

rolled 48 = 48

I say this because I don't want to force them to forge us the capital we want out of the materials that they have remaining.

>>14004377
Yes that would piss them off real hard.

rolled 18 = 18

>>14004400
You forget, it's not about whether or not we piss them off, it's about efficiency good sir.

>>14004354
Yeah, I meant we get 50% of all the adamantine they mine, right off the top. Then they forge us armor and shit out of our share for free.

In return they get our aid in procuring the most valued substance for a dwarf; holy adamant. In its concentrated form, no less.

>>14004427
Sounds good, but if we can get more we should. Remember, we could mine this shit ourselves and get 100% of it. A few suits of armor forged out of it don't seem worth half of the whole stock.

rolled 44 = 44

>>14004427
Hmmm, I'm only okay with them making our capital for free if we don't charge them an exorbitant price for our services, we can appear to be a......kind Lord, with a capital L mind you..

>>14004507
Mind you, we're going to kill them all off as soon as they aren't useful anymore. Don't get too attached to being benevolent.

>>14004522
We aren't going to do this, because we aren't stupid.

>>14004672
Dwarves are hostile to dragons and they don't exactly bring much income to the island. If they can't be controlled they need to be eliminated if we can't use them some other way.

I'm not saying immediately or anything, they are clearly of use for a long while yet. But once we have our own master smiths and miners, well... better to use loyal ones than Dwarves.

>>14004694
Agreed.

>>14004694
Except we've been at this for what, over a decade now? A history of fair dealings is something that an isolate group of dwarves is probably going to value. If memory serves when Rhasver tried to appeal to them they pretty flatly refused. Some rumors that we're anything ranging from a demon to a dragon aren't gonna be much of a problem.

>>14004762
Dude.

They live on our island but don't pay homage to us. That alone is a reason to bring them in line, even excepting all the other ones.

>>14004427
this sounds good to me, but isnt there something more we could do?

there has to be some way to deter them from procuring outside help if they refuse our terms--you know, other than us going all scaly and toasting everyone. if there to be put to use, it should be under our complete control.

The dwarves are sadly recalcitrant to your wishes. They're /grudgingly/ willing to pay the ten percent on adamantine that they've been paying so far on their other exports, and are willing to offer you twenty percent per year that you and/or Farrandras assist them in mining. After all, the counter, heat-protection magics can be bought from almost any wizard of sufficient skill, and they'd primarily be wishing for Farrandras to help the keep the mine reinforced, and warn of weakenings or magma surges. They also make vague noises that, should they finalize plans for an edifice for dealing with raw magma and you assist them in it's construction. Beyond that, they concede that they might need to enlist your help in maintaining or modifying the thing, depending on the form it takes, for which they might renew your offer.

Meanwhile, Lady Issa is seems to be managing your holdings on the mainland rather well. She does seem to have a rather extravagant court, if not quite beyond her means. You allow that to slide, though, as she seems to be competent and staying within reasonable boundaries. Of note; all areas are producing a net-profit, now, and the elements of your 'personal guard' that you originally stationed as an occupying force have now evolved into a fledgeling army, mostly devoted to keeping the peace and patrolling the roads. They have proven themselves more than capable of taking a city or three though, and most towns of the Angevin states don't even bother to resist invasion, merely nodding at whoever this decade's ruler happens to be. Between those two facts, your control has spread across most of the Angevin coastline, excluding those that have unified in panic against your 'invasion'. Beyond them, the United Cities have begun a quiet gearing up, as worried that you intend to carry your expansion east.


#################################
[Please forgive crappy MS-Paint map.]

>>14005210
>. They also make vague noises that, should they finalize plans for an edifice for dealing with raw magma and you assist them in it's construction.
...assist them in it's construction, they would be willing to offer fifty percent for something on the order of twenty five years. This is, of course, only if they succeed in designing it, and you can assist in building it.

>facepalm

>>14005210
Pfft.

And I say again, PFFFFFFFFFFFFT.

This is our island. Everything here belongs to us. I think it's time we made that clear. They are mining our adamantine. Our gems. We are being generous and letting them do so, seeing as they are not actually under our rule. But if they intend to try and lock us out of our own natural precious metals then they will suddenly find themselves in a bad situation.

Remind them of what we just did with the once-dormant volcano. They should be able to trace the implications.

>>14005336
Second.

>>14005336
Seconded. 10% was fine when Mza was growing and they just were exporting gems and minor crafts. Things have changed now though and it's time they realized that. We own this island and are a nation unto ourselves recognized by other nations like Tashz. They don't have the leverage to dictate to us what they will settle for, quite the opposite.

We don't ask them for 50%, we tell them. Maybe 60% if we do the refining thing.

>>14005474
agree.

>>14005474
Hell, I would say 60% period now after what they just tried to pull on us. If they don't like it they can get the hell off Mza and we will mine it ourselves and get 100%.

>>14005561
>>14005474
>>14005336
Agreed. Let's do 60 and if they say no we just keep them from trading with anyone else. We own the island town and port. We don't even let them out of the caves, eventually they will start to lack critical supplies.

>>14005561

50% is cool on the basis they design it and pay for it's costs. Their the ones doing all the work and they generate a passive profit with no effort on our end. Last thing we need to do is piss off the dwarves and cause them to want to leave for no good.

On the other hand, we own the town and all the means of shipping and goods. Thats where we should rightfully draw up our profit from their endeavors, not on their direct labor.

>>14005665
Oh, we're getting it there too. In the end I imagine after taxes, tolls, and tariffs we will be making about 70% or 80% of the value of the adamantine. Which is how it should be. Layers, people. In fact, it most resembles the laws of the nine hells: We take our due up front, then take it again, and again, and again, until we have almost all of it. Lawful Evil baby.

what was the command to get into dragon quest channel again?

>>14006188
#dragonquest

and OHSHITNIGGER IS THAT LEGEND OF DRAGOON?!

>>14006221
Picked this picture off google while looking for a picture of the doom dragon from golden sun 2.

but what is the full command? i only use ChatZilla for this

>>14006306
/channel #dragonquest ? I dunno. Use mibbit or something.

Also FYI Legend of Dragoon was a fantastic PS1 game.

>>14005210
Tell me the Political allegiences, Richness/economy, and military might of:
Morinth
Aquitane's most southern city (the one near the coast)
Freeport
Angevis's remaining cities

If World War I taught me anything, we need to politically isolate an opponent (i.e. make sure nobody gives a shit when we take them over) before taking them over.

If we can control every city on the north coast, and also brew a shitstorm in the Straits of Azar (kraken? angry bronze? storm? fuck'd if I know), that gives us a Monopoly on trade between the sides of the sea.

“Everything you are currently mining comes from my land.” you intone with displeasure.

“Your land? I recall, not so long ago, when it was /our/ land.” the dwarven trade-emissary replies.

“And not long before that it belonged to the lizardmen. How did you take it from them?” you reply with contempt.

“By diggin' out the caverns, of course! We made that fortress with our own hands and our own tools!” the emissary replies in outrage.

“Indeed. And now it is mine. I made it so by becoming an integral part of the island, defending your independence, securing your island, integrating and civilizing the lizardmen you took the land from, and making Mza a global power.” you reply blandly. The emissary's face flushes a deep red, and he starts to reply something, but his superior enters the room from one side. Short, looking tougher than granite, and with a massive beard, he's a typical dwarf. He also happens to be carrying a scroll case in his hands, you notice, and waving it absently as if to a beat.

“Urazan, stop before you say something I'll regret. I'll take it from here. Lord Prestor. I hear there's been some dispute.” the leader of the dwarven clanhold greets. You allow Urazan to depart before replying.

“I hear that there's a problem with my terms. I was under the impression that allowing you to mine adamantium, let alone personally assisting you with it, was worth something to you.”

“Your terms are a might greedy, King. Not a dwarf in the world would agree with it, either.” the dwarf says, “Look, we don't /have/ to mine it. We can just wait. Quite frankly, you're going to die eventually. Any true dwarf in the world would be rather wait a thousand years or so than simply hand over half the adamantine they get to some 'ne else.”

>>14006353
Why the hell would we want to set competent, high level adventurers after something that will eventually trace directly back to us? We are the closest thing to the binder in this world right now, you know.

You frown slightly, and stare, biting back a reply or threat because you sense a 'but' present in the message. Sure enough...

“But... We ain't unreasonable. I'm not too fond of you, but you've been doing a good job makin' this place relatively civilized, and your cities' been treatin' us pretty well. Urazan, some of the others, they got a problem with wizards. Sorcerers. Elves. What have you. I don't care for 'em too much myself, though, but I got bigger sights than who I'm paying for the land this decade...” You are moderately intrigued as to where he is going with his ramblings, enough that you don't interrupt or respond as he uncaps the scroll tube and begins sifting through the reams of paper it is apparently crammed with.

“You know Rhasver, right? Sorry, sorry, stupid question. You know Rhasver's famed for their adamantine, right? I hear the gave a golem to the prince o' Tashz, that gallah down south I hear you went to. They're, 'fectively, tha adamantine capital of the surface world, in terms o' steady production.” He pauses, evidently finding the scroll he desired, and pulls it out, pinning it down on the table. It appears to be a design or architectural layout for a processing row, a series of jagged 'N' shaped diagonals and drops.

“We ain't certain, but we think we may have figured out just /why/ that is. Talkin' with your kind genie the other day. See, if we can produce some sort o'- well, I won't bore you with the details. Qualifiers, sure; the magma you called up here, your spectacular 'bit of mountain-ressurection, here, it ain't quite as good. Different from Rhasver's Smoking Mountain. Still, it's decent. We might be able to get up a decent yearly production with you help. Without it, we'd just be stuck minin' whatever we could find, and that's be whatever got deposited.” As he finally gets to his point, you nod and interject.

“I see. So, why, exactly, are my requirements so unreasonable? 'No true dwarf...', I believe you said. Should I look into hiring fake dwarves?” You manage to keep your tone emotionless, and the dwarf seems excited and pleased enough with himself that you don't think he'd notice anyway, but visions of magma-furnaces and a constant output of adamantine is almost making you salivate.

“Well. Flat out, you won't get anything if you don't deal with us. Like I said, most of what is needed for adamantine, adamantium, and th' processin' thereof, that's adamantium. No other race, 'cept maybe, /maybe/, drow, no one else really knows how ta mine it. They usually content themselves to hit it with a hammer a few times, claims it's crafted. Hah!” He pauses here, as if lost for a moment. “Oh, and, o' course, we could just wait. But! Like I said. I'm reasonable. Like to get along with my fellow...” he pauses again, evidently trying to figure out how to finish the sentence. “..dwarf, but gettin' along with everyone else is pretty good, too. And like I said, you seem pretty good at what you do.”

“The terms you are about to offer.” you demand, allowing irritation to creep into your voice.

“Fine. We'll give you... Oh, forty percent of whatever leaves the mine, or twenty percent total. You're liable to get more for the later, we're pretty generous in exchange for our privacy. But that's mining. If we can get a real... You know, Urist adapted this design from a mecury condenser- he sounded half mad, you know, raving about vapor pressure, and soemthin' like that. Anyway, if we can get it working,we'll basically be the second-best source in the world. Here's the deal I'd like, adjusted so it'll hopefully be acceptable to yerself, o' course....

One; you help us set this up. Two, we may need your help to maintain it. That's obvious, if you want it to keep coming. Three, there's no tax for selling it /in/ Mza- we're happy to sell it to merchants, let them pay the taxes. We don't want to be merchants. You can regulate the beards off them; won't affect us that way. Four, anything we ship out that's stayin' with dwarves, that doesn't get taxed either. Probably won't be too much. Five, you drop the other taxes on our shipments.”

You're about to interrupt with outrage, and are already holding back a small stream of smoke when his numerated points take a turn for the tolerable, apparently intent on getting the negatives, (for you,) out of the way.

“Six: We'll set aside forty percent of it for you. Seven: We'll work your share, whatever you want it for, for free. Eight; We'll set aside a hun'red percent of the first years production for you.”

>The mercenaries responsible for assisting Exheln, you are eventually informed, are known as the 'Black Circle', a large group of, effectively, adventurers, despite their claims to the contrary. They seem to run the gamut of morality, and their leader is a relatively personable paladin. The report received indicates that the agent responsible for much of the information gathered claims to have gotten most of it over a few tankards of beer with the man himself, and that the man is an expert in tactics and strategy, and inclined towards being a decent person.

Also, what's the cost to hire these guys to go check on the Cult of the Binder for us? Use the Cibach persona for this.
Having a group of Adventurers on rapport, or at least CONNECTED to one of our personas, would be of great help to us if we ever want to kick Seffy off her perch, fight the Binder, or expose, depose, and replace the corruption of Freeport.
Even if not for the adventurers, a person with great Tactics and Strategy skill is of great value. Any unaligned generals would be useful.

On that note, what would the cost to hire someone specialised in buffing large armies with wide area effect buffs? Buffs to morale, damage dealt, fighting skill, damage resistance, loyalty, movement speed - stuff like that.
Also, how widespread are magics used for reconnaisance?
A great general, with great recon, with great troops, will lead a massive, massive roflstomp through anything mortal.

>>14006420
You were in this very thread advocating hunting down all adventurers across the world and wiping them out because they might be a threat. Now you want to fun their epic adventures into discovering things about /us/? We are directly linked to the Binder for crying out loud!

Ugh. I would prefer not to. I'm sure there's lots of knowledge out there waiting to be found without hiring people who would stab us if they knew what we were.

>>14006414
Isn't the taxes on their exports a meaningful portion of our income?
I'm willing to allow them to keep 50% of the first year's production as long as we continue to collect some taxes on their regular exports.
Besides, the first year's adamantium production is likely to be low as kinks in the refinement process and bugs in the borehole design are worked out.
I don't think the first year's production is that significant of a concession.

>>14006500
>You were in this very thread advocating hunting down all adventurers across the world and wiping them out because they might be a threat. Now you want to fun their epic adventures into discovering things about /us/?

You're probably right. Adventurers aren't to be trusted.
That said - generals, recon, wide area buffs. Good idea y/n?

>Four, anything we ship out that's stayin' with dwarves, that doesn't get taxed either. Probably won't be too much.

Now that's going to require some clarification. We need a hard cap on that amount, or else they will just label everything "for dwarves" before too long.

>>14006420
Pretty standard to whatever degree a country can call upon magical support. Tashz, for instance, has a long sorcerous tradition, and tends to have larger than average amounts of sorcerers at the sultans disposal. Rhasver's magic tends to center on what what sort of enchantments can be placed on an object, be it anti-magic, immunities to energy, or otherwise. With their (effective) alliance with Morinth, they have a small pool of mages or sorcerers of all talents to call upon. Exheln and the United Cities are fairly wealthy, and tend to hire whatever they need. They don't have anything quite so numerous as Tashz's sorcerers, for instance, but they tend to have significant amounts of whatever they need for the task at hand.

>>14006532
You don't just hire a general. You need loyalty in your highest ranking commanding officers. Loyalty to more than just gold. And anyone we can find that do buffs like that will be likewise, which is why we have been wanting to found a mage academy of our own eventually. We want loyal mages in our army as well.

>>14006567
>>14006338
*poke*

Knock off terms Five and Eight. That's one good term for them and one good term for us, traded 1:1.

We'll still get the 40% for the first year, which as another anon said should be low as balls as they are just starting the process. And we keep the taxes on their shit.

Point out to him that they won't be able to wait around until we die because we have the power to kick them off the island if we so chose. That is the critical flaw in his vaunted plan to outlive us.

>>14006612
While I agree with your 1:1 idea to eliminate terms 5 and 8, I don't think we should bring up them outliving us.
Because if they're patient enough to wait for us to die while they're on the island, they'll also be patient enough to wait until we're dead even if they're off the island. They'll then come and claim the island again.

>>14006650
Except by now they should know we'll have a child to inherit. A dynasty. Who will continue to give them the finger.

>>14006650
Elves live longer than dwarves anyway. All the dwarves here will be long dead by the time we died, even assuming we had an elven lifespan.

>Morinth
Independent, unofficial vassal of Rhasver. Economy runs on the trade of magic. Mages of all races. Rumored font of extra-planar travel.

>Aquitane's most southern city (the one near the coast)
Assuming far left. Sisarran, second largest city. Loyal to the Empire. Trade city, second to last major port as you go north. Mostly human.

>Freeport
Trade city, primary stopover for anyone heading to the far west. Port. Major naval power, independent.

>Angevis's remaining cities
Intent on independence, from each other, but mostly from you. Have banded together under a provisional 'king' to present a common face to 'outside influences'. (Re: You, the United Cities.)
Note, since some people seem confused on my phrasing: He doesn't mean outlive you personally. He means that his clan of dwarves is going to outlive you, and whatever dynasty you set up. In his defense, he's somewhat justified; dwarven dynasties, clans, and kingdoms may go into recession or decline, but they very rarely topple, fall, or plummet, as other races' establishments are prone to do so.

#############
[If they knock off #4, #5, and #8, is it acceptable? You can probably haggle him down to that.]

>>14006414
>Three, there's no tax for selling it /in/ Mza- we're happy to sell it to merchants, let them pay the taxes. We don't want to be merchants. You can regulate the beards off them; won't affect us that way.
OH MY GOOOOOOD!

He wasn't joking when he said they aren't merchants. Watch this:

1. We slap enormous tariffs on adamantine.
2. Nobody buys it because of there being no profit in it.
3. Dwarves have a huge backlog that they can do nothing with and are expending lots of resources and effort mining something that nobody buys.
4. Either they go broke and we take it all or they are forced to sell it to us personally at hideously slashed prices.
5. LOL economics.

>>14006755

FINISH IRON QUEST, YOU SOD!

>>14006755
Yeah, that sounds good. With those terms gone we can easily strangle them economically for almost all of it.

>>14006612
i don't think it is a good idea to outright threaten but we should haggle. I relay don't seen any point to threaten as it damages relations ships. putting down a dwarven rebellion is costly. besides the king seems reasonable the ad visor is a bit greedy.
the best kind of deals are the ones where they think they are getting the better deal.
besides like the idea of having a massive dwarven foundry.

rolled 11 = 11

>>14006755
They can't all be independent; who'll come to whose defense, who'll be upset if we take over places?
Goal #1 is to take over the United Cities, then. Perform absolutely no overt action against Morinth or Freeport or Sisarran.

Get merchants set up in Sisarran. Do we have a merchant's guild outpost, or spies, in there? If not, that'll be worth a chunk of our hoard, since having a foothold in the 2nd largest city of a major power will A. give us valuable info on the politics of the region, and B. give us a damn decent trading income, based on how large the city is.

Also, if I know mortals, mortals can be easily turned on each-other. If Scinnari feels up to it, send her into the United cities, and inspire paranoia / distrust / greediness. She's a Devil. It's what she's good at, it's her job. If she can fracture this hasty alliance of mortals (which should be easy, pathetic mortals) then we'll have a much easier time taking it over.

dice.

rolled 30 = 30

>>14006818
Apparently I fail at dice. Don't worry, I'll get over 30 with this dice, surely.

>>14006818
>>14006834

>>14006845
>>14006834
>>14006818
Dude. Why are you rolling dice, you retard? Stop that. He didn't ask for them, and we don't need them.

>>14006755
>If they knock off #4, #5, and #8, is it acceptable?
Yes, this is acceptable.

>>14006874

What's consider "other shipments"?

I'd let incoming shit not get taxed, but outgoing would get charged.

>>14006874
Yes, I would tend to agree. We can economically strangle them when we need to anyway.

>>14006802
I- What? Sorry, can I help you?
>>14006926
That was supposed to be the other things they were exporting. Semi-precious stones, metals, etc.
#########################

"Well... A'ight. We can make it happen if you can. I'm going to have Urist go over the designs again, then I'll get back to you on construction. Pleasure doin' business with you, King."

Negotiations completed, you stand and teleport yourself out. Successfully; you wanted to know whether you could, but apparently they haven't' shielded their halls. Something you certainly don't object to.


####################
What now? Specify objective to pursue.
[Next timeskip, even if it's only a month or two, will probably cover the construction of the adamantine processor. First tithe of the metal should be coming along a few weeks after that.]

I would like to state, for the record, right here:
Scry on their digging operations and mining operations at least once a month. If they start expanding too much we're going to need to kill them off. We can't have a Khazad-Dum popping up under us, nor can we have them mining out everything in our soil with a mere 10% pittance.

>>14006961
Start strengthening our network around Seffy's territory. We want to know everything that goes on there and all her weaknesses. She's probably who we move against next.

>>14006961
Start looking at the United Cities, I would think. Checking them out, their strengths, weaknesses, things like that.

Perhaps monitor Seffy as well. Given her temperament, I'd be surprised if she weren't looking at expanding her domain eventually, and we don't want to get into a three-way fight if we can avoid it.

>>14006969
Agreed. If they stay small they are fine but if they get big we can just take their mining machine for ourselves with a tactical strike of teleported lizardmen or something.

>>14006969
You mean if they expand too closely towards our lair?

>>14007021
I mean if they expand too much at all. Anywhere close to our lair, too deep into the earth, whatever. WD suggested that having adamantine would hyper-accelerate their expansion and mining operations in the IRC, so I'm just saying we will guard against that. If they start expanding too much we have to kill them off quick.

>>14006961
>What now? Specify objective to pursue.
Keep an eye on dwarves.
Send Scinnari to stir up shit in the United cities - fracture them, spread them apart, induce paranoida, distrust. You know, general 'being a devil' shit. Divide them so they're easier to conquer.
Solidify the cities under our control - build more infrastructure, to support a higher population or a stronger economy. Education and Health stuff, particularily Schools and Fresh water, do a lot for the strength of a city - and the stronger our cities are, the more income we get from them.
Get a foothold in Sisarran with spies and merchants - focus efforts on Exports and Imports.

Mid goal: Control northern coast to obtain monopoly on importing and exporting.

>>14007055
>Send Scinnari to stir up shit in the United cities - fracture them, spread them apart, induce paranoida, distrust. You know, general 'being a devil' shit. Divide them so they're easier to conquer.
We don't need to send her to do that, we have plenty of spies and espionage agents already. That's what they are for. Personal attendance by our devil is not really required unless she wants to go have fun breaking up countries or something.

>>14007055
Might be a wise idea to spend part of the hoard on building an army - cheap-yet-effective equipment from all over the goddamn world, since we have (at least) neutral reputation with everywhere, we can pick up the best deals on every form of equipment or supply, and make a cost-efficient army.
45% of the army should be made of cheap-yet-effective recruits from the various regions we trade with. Focus on siege, archery, and anti-magic - also keep enough cavalry to outflank flankers or run down retreating infantry.
55% should be made of only people loyal to us, or our command.

It won't be a very strong army at first since we don't have many soldiers loyal to us, but it will grow - and we might as well start work on it now when there's nothing else demanding a large drain of gold.

As usual, work up Loyalty amongst people we control. Spending money on infrastructure and police is a good way to do this.

As for the dwarves?
Keep a close eye on them. If any of the dwarves has a mood disorder, or is acting strangely, ensure he has access to the most expensive materials available - and ONLY those materials.
When the inevitable happens, make sure the army's ready to fend off waves after waves after WAVES after MOTHERFUCKING WAVES of enemies.

>>14007101
Jesus fuck you goddamned spazz, please stop posting for a little while and read the archives.

Half the things you suggest we already have or can't do. We already have an army. And a navy. And a secret police. And an intercontinental spy network. And loyal troops. And merchants in every major city.

>>14006998
Seffestranias has expanded since you last dealt with her; her empire is about half as large as your region of the mainland, is almost as wealthy by merit of having much more densely populated region.

The part she actually reigns over, as opposed to simply claiming dominion, centers of half a dozen medium-sized cities, and while originally a powder-keg, with your assistance, she's halted her expansion and managed to stabilize it to some degree. You have eyes and ears throughout the region, but have less hands than you would like. Your master of spies seemed certain that he could keep the area chaotic and ripe for rebellion, but succeeded only in getting most of your active agents executed or compromised. Naturally he was dealt with and replaced with someone more... grounded in reality.

You have managed to keep Seffestranias from identifying /you/ as being behind the espionage and agitation, though. Currently, her forces are fighting off two neighboring states that attempted to take advantage of the chaos you caused. They're not losing terribly, but it's looking like she'll be able to force them back; they simply don't have a way to deal with /her/, when she takes the field. They are currently relying on a relatively large reward for anyone who can slay the dragon, and prayer, as far as you can tell. Even if she beats them back completely, though, you think it unlikely that she'll be able to expand any further any time in the near future.

>>14007142
You seem upset.

this may be on the back burner but can we research a spell that will allow us to use our natural ability score and natural armor in alternate form?

also wasn't their rumors of a bound dragon under the a mountain we could check up on that.

>>14007148
Hm. How are our personal relations with Seffy?
I'm not sure if attacking her will EVER be a good idea, as she is powerful.

>>14007150
You seem completely unable to stop yourself from reflex posting every bad idea that pops into your head, often in half a dozen separate posts.

>>14007182
Well, post some good ideas!
Gotta post your ideas in the quest thread son, or else it's the DM playing with himself.

>>14007163
Spell already exists. It's an Eberron one, "Strength of the True Form" or whatever. IIRC, for one round while in alt-form you gain access to your draconic physical stats, natural armour and so on. Probably wouldn't be difficult to research a more advanced one that lasts for longer.

>>14007172
You would know this if you had read the archives.

You should go do that.

>>14007196
We've already addressed the issues that you're talking about in prior threads.

>>14007148
We should sucker those aforementioned mercenaries/whatever into doing something about her. If we can hide our involvement enough, then the dragonslaying sword we picked up way back when could also prove to be a great boon to any experienced dragonslayers.

And if Seffy is killed, then we can begin moving in and assuming control over the region.

>>14007196
You need to calm down and go do some reading kid. Take some ritalin, mellow out, and come back with knowledge of the assets we have and the plans we already have in motion. Right now you are doing nothing but clogging the thread with things we already know and already have.

>>14007201
>>14007208
But that wasn't mentioned or resolved in the archives!
Cease your reference to things that never happened and post some constructive ideas.
>>14007226
Good idea, but be careful who we give the sword to - there are a lot of two-bit failures posing as adventurers who are going to either grab the sword and sell it, or grab the sword and die.

>>14007226
What, so that it could be used against us? I think not!

>>14007199


I know but i am not sure if it exists in this game. it is a very good first level spell can cast as an immediate reaction and is verbal only. :) it is a fun spell

>>14007248
What's this crazy trollin'? I DO have knowledge of those assets and plans, now you are clogging the thread.

>>14007226
How about we not give a dragonslaying artifact to high level adventurers, hmm?

>>14007252
The future military of Mza was one of the first things we sorted out when we took control of the island.

>>14007258
>>14007252
I'm not sure we really want to give that sword away. EVER. In fact, I bet that ANY dragon, ANYWHERE, would rather sit on that sword and keep it removed from mortals, consdering how ungodly lethal to them it would be. Hell, we shouldn't even keep it in our hoard! What if some Adventurer type fights us in our lair, gets disarmed, grabs a randoms sword from our hoard and decapitates us with it? That would be total ass.

Lava flows on the northern side of the island? Encase it in lead. Then seal it deep in one of those.

>>14007274
What's the worst that can happen, really?
The adventures use the sword to cut a path through Tashz, depriving us of the loot of Blue dragons?
Oh, right. You're implying they'll somehow determine that Lord Prestor is a dragon, and work their way through our traps, and kill us, despite us being not just a dragon, but a KINGDOM attached to a dragon.

The only thing we lose by giving away the sword is the sword.

>>14007252
Hence, experienced.

>>14007258
Of course not. We'll be loaning it to them, not giving it away, and we reclaim it when the task is done. Might even be able to set up a magical contingency on it so we can recall it at any time.

>>14007286
I disagree. Dragonslaying swords are useful for slaying dragons, and some of our potential enemies are dragons.

>>14007293
You are not only lacking in knowledge but stupid as well.

What's the worst that could happen? We die, numbnuts.

>>14007293
> The only thing we lose by giving away the sword is the sword.

> giving away the sword

That's already a reason to not do it.

>>14007293
But what if we need it to kill some young upstart in the future without revealing what we are?

>>14007295
Good plan, but what if the Adventurers say "Screw you, we're keeping the sword"? We'd have to kill them all at once, without any of them escaping, and preferably without word getting back to their guild / brothers / sons / rerolled characters.

here is an idea to deal with the red dragon.

i think the red dragon should an anonymous gift revive a "gift" a gem with trap the soul on it as a gift. (hiding the magical aura of course). if she picks it up she is immediately body and soul imprisoned inside the gem, no save no spell resistance, and we can pick her up at our leisure. this can be as long as we want since she will never age or die while imprisoned. we could bind her at our leisure.


if we have the red dragon under our control we can use her as a puppet king and use her to politically trick enemy's.

this is just an idea

>>14007328
Contingency. We have magic. We teleport it back to us when we want it back. Also, if we can loan it out to a group that includes paladins, we can make sure they won't fail to keep their word.

It's a shame that paladin from back in Freeport is probably dead by now. As I recall, he seemed fairly high-level.

>>14007328
And then, you moron, we would have to deal with the /gerater artifact of dragonslaying/ we previously gave them.

>>14007308
Your ad hominem attacks are ... very unjustified. Stop being angry at a quest thread.
>What's the worst that could happen? We die, numbnuts.
What, to one sword, that we know the owner of, or at least can find by Detect Magic? Swords don't just teleport into you while you're sleeping without someone A. Knowing you're there, and B. Wanting you dead.
>>14007312
Good point. Better to keep the sword, so WE can use it, than give it away to some adventurers.
>>14007327
Another good idea. Keep the sword, don't give it to adventurers.

>>14007350
I can't even begin to describe all the ways in which that is a bad idea.

>>14007328
Which is why we don't give the sword away.

Especially not to adventurers. Once you get started down that road, it will inevitably end up in the hands of a competent and dangerous foe. The first round of adventurers will eventually get killed by someone slightly smarter than them, who will take the sword, get killed by someone slightly smarter than him, and so on.

The last thing we want is something like this in the hands of someone else.

>>14007360
We don't use the sword. We're not stupid, because if we go up against another dragon in combat, we'll be in our dragon form, not our squishy fleshbag form, so the dragonslaying sword would be more like a dragonslaying knitting needle.

>>14007373
Scinnari. Who can teleport.

>>14007355
You seem extraordinarily upset. Maybe you should calm down. Perhaps you can read the archives! :)
>>14007343
Might work. Might make her really really REALLY pissed off at us when she finds out what it does. Imo a bit risky to try if we just give it to her, but if we receive advance word of where she'll be looting around for treasure and plant the gem there, we have all the (possible) reward with much less of the risk.
>>14007350
Under what circumstances could the contingency fail?

>>14007360
You are the only person in this thread who thinks your ideas are good. Everyone else thinks they are horrible.

Please stop posting them, as you are only inciting flames not seen since Cygnis.

Guys, he has Troll in his name and has made 90 billion posts in less than fifteen minutes. Ignore him. He is trolling you. Yes, these ideas are bad. No, I'm pretty sure WD is going to ignore him so don't worry about it.

>>14007381
Lol, it's Ragey Mc.Ragerton, the person who calls everyone disagreeing with him a samefag moralfag, the man responsible for a good half of the Cygnis asspain.
You are funny.

>>14007387
:P If WD ignored every single bad idea in here, it'd be railroading. Obviously if an idea is bad, the players will invent new and better ideas to replace it, which will then gain support, and the DM will follow up on that.
If the players don't invent new ideas, then guess what? DM's game, DM has a field day.

Writer can ignore me, or anyone else, if he wants. But I'll still contribute by offering my ideas on how a pragmatic Red dragon can expand his powerbase over the game world that Writer-dude has created.

>>14007148
What do her military forces look like? Would it be possible to use our death cultists to assassinate key leaders right before battles?

>>14007432
I almost chuckled. We did fine before you started your moron spam, we'll do fine without it. Your ideas thus far have either been done already or bad.

rolled 61 = 61

Actually, coming back and reading to catch up, I can only agree to Ken's idea if we do a several number of things.

A. Hire the Paladin that "stopped" the drow forces.
B. Put a returning spell on the sword at our call.
C. Scry for it everyday considering it may not only be a dragon slaying sword, but a sword made to slay binder related things.
D. Make sure part of the deal is that the Paladin must return the sword to us.
E. Make sure the hiring is not only anonymous but we have client privacy.
F. Also, ask to be notified when they engage Seffy.
G. We plant a seed with Seffy for a way she can call to us in case she needs our assistance.
H. Arrive to "help" Seffy against the paladin, then have a keikakudorida moment by offing Seffy with the help of the adventuring part and the element of surprise and betrayal.

There, Ken, stop antagonizing people, you are mildly annoying, yes you can thank me for turning your shitty plan into a workable one.

>>14007432
You say what what, in the butt?

>>14007432
Technically, it would only be railroading if I did that /and/ decided that the only good ideas were the ones that went the way I wanted them too. I'll confess I do railroad occasionally, but I do try to keep it to a minimum.

>>14007436
That would be possible, though would require putting Asha's brood into position to do so. Though one or two could probably handle it by themselves, the ones with sorcerous ability.

>>14004194
Finally remembered you. We haven't really been doing that, but yes, a few (not many. It seems less common in lizardmen, despite the dragon blood.) display sorcerous talent. You've been letting Asha doing the teaching for the most part, but it is getting towards the point where it may merit your personal hand in the matters. (You've been assisting in training Asha's children, too.)

rolled 64 = 64

>>14007482
Also, we can retrieve the sword then if not later, possibly eliminate witnesses if need be because I'm damn sure they would be weakened after fight each other etc.. etc..

>>14007482
No, I still say that's a bad idea overall. Returning spells can be dispelled, easily. It's an artifact of amazing power, able to easily shear through a dracolich's forearm without even slowing down. That is not the kind of thing you give out to anyone else, and that applies doubly so to a dragon.

>>14007482
Opposed. I mean, really guys? Really?

>>14007482
What is this nonsense? I made no plans about killing Seffy.
I think we should disregard your plan altogether and never give the sword to any adventurer.
Though I thank you for your ... whatever it is you think you just did.

>>14007482
Better but still inherently a bad idea. Let's find a way to succeed without handing an atom bomb to a child.

rolled 43 = 43

>>14007510
Thanks for getting to me. I say we start getting more hands on with our cultists in terms of upgrading them. It will be nasty when someone tries to fight us only to find a horde of lizardmen armed to the teeth with adamantium armor, weapons, and sorcerers on par with some of the more renown nations.

you know the dragon hired our dwarfs to build up her defenses they still are probably called in time to time to repair and build am sure we could ask the dwarfs.

>>14007530
About-face count so far: 3

You only need 1 for suspected trolling and 2 for confirmed. Stop replying to him people. He's just saying whatever gets the biggest rise out of everyone.

>>14007482
Using the paladin known to be pragmatic and lawful good does allay some of my concerns, however Step H is still a problem.
What assurance will we have that the paladin, not knowing who we are by virtue of Step E, won't attack us after Seffie is dead?

I suppose he could be informed that his client is contracting another party to assist him in his battle against the red dragon, and he is under no circumstances to attack this second party. But it's risky, and I think we might be better served with a more conventional plot.
Such as having Scinnari assassinate Seffie with the dragonslayer sword when the dragon takes the field of battle, as she appears to do against these two current city-states she is fighting.

>>14007293
Don't give it away to someone we don't know. Geez. If it get's used, it gets used by one of our elite agents who have been trained/brainwashed since childhood. That way they won't steal it.

rolled 92 = 92

>>14007548
>>14007519
We make sure that the returning enchantment stays on it by scrying and checking on it. We can use detect magic and all that mumbo jumbo as a wizard/sorc still when scrying.

>>14007558
Sounds good to me.

I am opposed to letting the dragonslaying sword out of our sight.

I think our time would be better spent investigating the rumors of the bound dragon. If it's still bound, it might be under our power, which means free dragon puppet. We can send it after Seffy in our stead, and maybe wound her enough to keep her off the battlefield. There goes her holdings, ripe for our taking.

Surely the news that the Great Dragon has withdrawn due to wounds will cause adventurers and competitors to edge in on her. We won't even have to intervene beyond telling our slave to go fight her, if it works.

Alternatively, see if we can broker a deal with the surrounding powers to split the territory between the victors. Among whom we will number.

>>14007510
Let's try some key assassinations then. Nothing that would compromise our breeding program, though. We still don't have the numbers for a full out assassination war.

See if our spies can infiltrate and find out when she is going to appear personally. We can then provide a sudden generous anonymous donation of a few hundred ballistae...

>>14007610
This seems reasonable and I agree with all of this.

All the talk of killing seffy I think is somewhat premature. The main thing that it would get us is, potentially, her hoard. But as of yet we don't have a lot of info on that, nor are we in position to capitalize on her death just yet.

I don't think this plan to kill Seffy is worth risking the sword for. Why do we even need to kill her? She seems pretty tolerable.

>>14007610
Crystal said we wouldn't be able to control the bound. Won't help. We should of course look into it, but deploying that dragon as a weapon against Seffy? Ehh, doubt it.

>>14007644
We want her delicious rich territories.

>>14007644
Her hoard and holdings mainly. Which is why binding her might be preferable to killing her.

rolled 59 = 59

>>14007644
>>14007633
Points like these I can deal with. That's true, she is tolerable. I was trying to just take something that was presented and turn it into something workable. However, there were rumors of bound dragon? We MUST look into this. I don't know how I missed this.....also, sorry for prolonging the Seffy talks.

>>14007658
Her huge... tracts of land!

>>14007652
>>14007661
We know nothing of the binding. If the crystal is telling the truth about us not being able to control Bound, then that line of thought is worthless. And possibly dangerous.

I can't think of any ideas to remove Seffy at this point, however. Maybe it's best if we just watch for now.

>>14007666
Also a good idea. We have to investigate the bound dragon with only a small force, though - maybe us, Scinarri, and the Djinni (what was his name, again?). Red mountain's in the middle of Rhasver so we can't move in with an entire army.
Who else would be useful for investigating a possible bound dragon below Red Mountain? Note that it's likely going to be much stronger than we are, since the damn thing swims in adamantium. We're going for recon, stealth, and GTFO capacity here.

It occurs to me that the biggest problem the enemy states have is with Seffy herself. Why not just send a huge storm to that area. Make it look natural, hell, even offer to send it away for her for a... modest fee, as a token of good will to a fellow ruler in trouble, but not until after she has suffered several major defeats.

Alright /tg/, I'm going to bed. Try to not get us killed or robbed or something.

Also we should chat with Scinnari over what to name our daughter.

>>14007702
Obviously we name her Ashley.

rolled 78 = 78

>>14007702
this, a thousand times this as well

Gonna go look up some draconic and ?Abyssal? is it?

>>14007702
That's a good idea that we have suspiciously not broached yet. Daughter naming! Uh... Hmmm.

Alora?

>>14007666
If the crystal is accurate, and it has been thus far, then we would not be able to control the bound dragon.
Sending out agents to learn about it is fine, since we might learn of things that could potentially bind US, but investigating it ourselves would present unacceptable risk that we be bound ourselves.

Well, assassination plan is a go. Sending spies to check out the rumors about a bound dragon in the mountain is go. Naming our daughter is a go. Nothing else seems to be.

Proceed!

>>14007702
How about Alaraphessy?

>>14007879
How about not. That's just a bunch of syllables crammed together with no regard for flow nor pronunciation.

Alanara?

Vorelstrasza?

>>14007901
What's with all the "A" names? There are perfectly good vowels aside from A.

>>14007610
>>14007586

With nothing immediate to pursue, you turn your attention to the all-important subject of warding off the Binder's suspected control. In truth, your paranoia has been jabbering away quietly to you, fearing the next contact by the voice, and fearing the delay almost as much, but you daughter is... new impetus to this. Tales of demons, devils, or evil artifacts, speaking to a child, sympathizing with it, understanding, consoling... manipulating. /That/ you will not allow. And so you turn your attention to furthering your research on the Binder, and in particular, the Bound.

And in particular of the Bound, the one refereed to as 'Twice-Bound', or occasionally, (you think they are one and the same,) 'Many-Bound', seems your best option. As his name would imply, he seems to have found some way of evading the Binding, or otherwise escaping the Binder's control. Ideal, if only he wasn't over five thousand years old. Luckily, evidence would suggest that he isn't dead. A fanciful tale suggests that he stole his hourglass from the dragon god of time, though you find that highly unlikely, especially since /you've/ never heard of this alleged 'god. No, the real ecouraging news seems to be... Well, what /seems/ to be the binders' punishment for the final time he resisted her Binding; she imprisoned him under what you believe to be the Smoking Mountain of Rhasver, the great volcano that serves as the second capital of their empire. Which you may have new and unprecedented insight into, if your conversation with the dwarves of Mza was any indication...

>>14007920
How about we restrict it to less than five syllables? Hmm?

>>14007930
That's only four.

Vor-el-stras-za

Shiara.

Okay, too short, informal-sounding. BTW, what are those rumors going to think when we unveil our beloved daughter who has scales, tails, wings, and claws? (Okay, probably only one tail, if any, but still. It might make playing it off as 'sorceress bloodline' more difficult.)

Also, I think we ought to copy Sam Vimes and make sure we set aside some time, every day (maybe every week, I mean, dragons work on different scales,) as 'progeny time'. No, I don't mean creating it. I mean making sure our children think of us fondly.

well i am for lets roll and move out. any other ideas?

>>14007945
Actually, "stras-za" is "stra-sz-a", the a-femenine endings common in latin or romantic names engender a seperate syllabic delineation.

>>14007702
how about naming her Tximistarri.
Tximistarri is Basque (my first Language) for "storm spirit" or "lightning spirit"

>>14007982
That'd be great if we were a blue.

>>14007982
Anything similar, only with fire?

We need to check this out. Head for that mountain, bring Scinnari and the Dao.

>>14007982
The obvious answer is to go knock up a blue, so we can use it. It's a pretty awesome name. (BRB, stupid 'murikan here wiki'ing 'Basque'.)

More seriously, what do we need to go commune with an imprisoned dragon? Are we going to be going lava-diving, or just chill at the base of the mountain and pray, or what? Obviously we're going, because fuck plot, NOBODY gets to touch Daddy's little girl. Nobody.

>>14007947
I'm pretty sure we can polymorph her for public appearences

Would make a joke to calling her alextrassa but it would be unappropriated.

how about sylina? or if she is intelligent enough we could ask her what she wants her name to be?

>>14008011
No reason to. Let her flaunt it, we don't give a fuck.

Oh dear god, the "what do we name Babby_dragon" debate will go on for another 2 threads.

>>14007987
hmm, true...

>>14008072
Probably. Or we'll make WD come up with a name.

>>14007998
well, i can't think of one reffering specifically to fire, but Intxixu means "Demon of Fire" or something close to it. words don't translate very well to english.... you lose the "gist" of the word's meaning lol

“Asha. Varra. So glad to see you. Please, sit...” you purr as your ladies enter. They obey, of course, and you join them. Your serving staff bring food, and you tuck in to the evening meal.

“I believe I have a relatively dangerous, but important task. Specifically, I require an army crippled. Officers, commanders, and sabotage, if possible. May I ask your opinion on who you think to be most competent?”

Your dinner proceeds pleasantly as they brief you on the children's progress; the eldest seems like he would be capable, if it weren't for the depressing lack of spellcasting he demonstrates. His two immediately younger siblings have the casting ability, but Varra thinks are in need of a little more polish in one case, and caution in the other. The only other who seems potentially suitable and available Asha thinks is unready, though Varra disagrees. Kadri, Taza, Sarosh, and Hanniya, eldest to youngest. The concsensus they come to would be to send Kadri, Taza, and Sarosh, but to make very clear that Kadri is in charge of the mission.

>>14008103
Sounds kind of masculine to me. We should probably go for one that sounds at least somewhat feminine.

could we give them rings that allow they to teleport if they get into trouble?

>>14008103
>>14008115
ah! i just remembered it! the one for Fire spirit it "tronagarri"
>>14008149
that would be a good idea, or some spell scrolls of teleportation, as they'd probably be cheaper.

we should tell them to not take any unnecessary risks only if their is a good opportunity. last thing we need is to lose one of our investments.

>>14008108
Works for me.
So, what now? Work on weakening the United Cities, or stage an expedition to Smoking Mountain?

>>14008149
Rings aren't necessary. Scrolls or other single-use activation items should be more than enough, since if they bail out they can bail back to us.

Speaking of teleports, have we gotten around to putting some serious magical defenses around our lair yet? I'm thinking spells that let us know who's in our lair at all times (some spell from Dragon Magazine, IIRC) and at least things like a Forbiddance (or similar) to help block plane shifting and teleporting.

>>14008149
>>14008171>>14008163
Noted.

Alright, it's about time to wrap up the thread. Suggest actions to pursue, how long a timeskip [if any], and perhaps where you'd like to resume. Email up, you can write me. I don't bite.

Evening all, and I'll try to resume next Sunday.

>>14008200
good night, sweet prince.

>>14008200
Work on our sorcerous abiities - specifically, passive augmentation of our draconic and human forms. We're monsters as it is, but what if we could choke slam trolls one handed? It'd also make us a lot less vulnerable to things like 'SURPRISE! ADVENTURER'S BURIED IN YOUR HOARDE!".

Not that I SUSPECT you, WD, but.. actually, wait, yes I do.

>>14008223
shhh! don't give him ideas!

>>14008223
Oh. And, maybe a 20 year time skip to rebuild our hoarde. Maybe look into some adamantine draconic barding. If, for some godforsaken reason, we end up on the field we want PROTECTION above and beyond our hideously tough scales. After all, the Dwarves do have all that lovely stuff they're about to start mining.

And maybe spend a little of our hoarde (a little, not much) tracking down a few brilliant, poor, eccentric scholars who'd really LOVE to look into the Binder further for us.

We're archived.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=dragon%20quest
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14000966/

Don't forget to vote.

>>14008240
>20 year timeskip
No. Nonononono. No. We have a DAUGHTER we get to raise. Twenty years, and all we'll be able to do is disapprove of the company she's keeping and arrange to have her boytoys assassinated. We ought to at least take a personal hand in raising her.

>inb4 worst father ever.

>>14008276
She hasn't even hatched yet. Hell, she might not for another 20 years. Timeskip until she hatches, then, with all my previous suggestions.

>>14008288

Timeskips are a surefire way to leave important things entirely up to a single roll of the dice. For DQ, this is a TERRIBLE idea. If we do things hands on we can potentially mitigate bad rolls and better capitalize on good ones. Plus timeskips have the problem of "wait, we didn't..." that has been plaguing us since the last timeskip.

Timeskips should be short and when there isn't much to do. Meaning not now. We need to be investigating the binding and the twice bound in order to protect our daughter from the binder's influence. It would be better to do it before she hatches and it's not something to leave to one dice roll.

>>14008200

Always a pleasure to wake up and read these in the morning.

>>14008072

Also having the benefit of being able to read everything in one burst, your retarded and your stupidity has been archived for future generations.

Awake again!

Okay, I suggested earlier in the thread having some truly skilled master smiths forge us adamantine barding for our dragon form, and some like-minded anon suggested it recently as well. It will need to be sectional of course, and highly flexible and light. Sectional because as we grow we would like to expand it to fit our form, and light as we want to use it in the air too. We can do the enchanting ourselves.

The problem is, we can't have the dwarves forge this particular item. We are going to need to kidnap (or secretly hire then eat them when done) a bunch of master smiths to forge it. It's really going to be a tough job, one that requires a lot of planning. We can't just kidnap them because they could make the armor sub-par or sabotage it some way. We can't just commission a regular smith because... well, dragon armor.

That leaves three options:
1. Find a master smith who would be completely loyal to us.
2. Hire one and have him think he will be paid and everything like normal but then betray and eat him afterward.
3. Magically wipe the mind of whoever works on it after it's done.

1 is the most reliable but the longest, it will take half a century at least to train a smith to that level.

2 is the middle ground, but extremely difficult to find one both skilled enough and gullible enough.

3 is easiest but also the least reliable. We can probably make the memory loss permanent, but who's to say they won't remember bits and pieces afterward?

>>14008602
>>14008288
>>14008276
>>14008240
Now, the timeskip. I likewise say we can just skip until our daughter is hatched. It shouldn't be a very long one, but long enough for our recent actions to bear fruit and have us get status reports.

Dwarf plan: Scry on them monthly at least, probably weekly. When they get the adamantine refining process started up we then need to scry on it and take meticulous notes. Make design plans of the machines and tools they use, the types of mineshafts and refining they dig, and the processes they go through to refine it. Shield them from scrying other than ours, though. We don't want anyone else getting hot ideas on adamantine, we want it to stay extremely rare.

Then once we have fully documented the entire process we will have the option of wiping them out. It seems that, sooner or later, we are going to have to do so. They are not even paying lip service to our rule and have said flat out they don't even like us. This is a problem that we can not allow to grow, and especially not to expand and start mining out the natural resources of Mza in any significant way. Not that they will for a LONG time, they just don't have the manpower, no matter how good their tools are.

Put those bodies on display with a warning like we said earlier. ~5 people were voting for it and only one was whining not to because "it's mean!"

Look into destabilizing the United Cities, but just send a spymaster and regular operatives to do it. Try to have them focus on creating a powerful rumor that this is just a ploy by (insert city within the union) to create a permanent monarchy with them at the head. Tell this to all the states and they should start coming to blows by themselves.

Dispatch lots of (very loyal) scholars to check on the Twice-Bound, and maybe do some checking ourselves. We can spy on the Rhasaver adamantine processes while we are there.

Next, our plan for the assassinations is not to grant the states warring against Seffy victory, remember. If they win then we lose a trade partner, her hoard, AND the land. No, we just want to make it so that she has to make more personal showings and take more wounds. That way when we confront her soon we will be able to off her more easily.

Finally, see if we can start founding a mage academy of our own on Mza. Work with the elven wizard living here already in his tower, try to work out something where he takes on several apprentices who are loyal to us, and we can then use them as instructors eventually in addition to him.

>>14012136
Voting in the general thread has long since proven to be completely unreliable. The entire debacle with Asha proved that.

>>14013656
Alright then, in the IRC it was unanimous support. Better?

Huh, still not dead yet.

>>14012110
I don't think we should timeskip to her hatching. Considering that she might be under the binder's influence (and if she's keeping to red stats she'll be born with 10 int, making her rather susceptible to manipulation), we should look into the Twice-Bound before she hatches, not after. And I think it's important enough that we should deal with it personally. Right now it's our best lead on how to get out from under the Binder's thumb.

>>14014145
Hmmm.

You make a good point. To Rhasaver post-haste! We shall literally blow up a volcano if that's what it takes to ensure our daughter's safety! Plus, explosions are fun.

>(and if she's keeping to red stats she'll be born with 10 int, making her rather susceptible to manipulation)
You know 10 int is normal human intelligence yes? Her youth and lack of knowledge and experience would be more of a factor than intelligence. Plus, I'm pretty sure the stat that helps resist manipulation is mostly wisdom.

>>14014318
> You know 10 int is normal human intelligence yes?

Yes. And normal humans are rather susceptible to manipulation.

>>14013994
Don't be such a tool. It was not. (I'll concede it was pretty one-sided there, though.)


Personally I think >>14003390 is pretty good. Just go, "Dear [relations], your [brother/son/whatever] was found trespassing upon my territory, presumably attempting to steal from me. Naturally, he failed. Here are his personal effects (excepting anything particularly valuable,), and I do hope the rest of your family will prove more intelligent. My condolences on your loss."

No apology.
Supreme confidence.
Bland, "Well, it's your fault, but I am a totally reasonable person."

Basically, we get a 'good' rep, but we get to reinforce fear and mystery. No information on how they died, no information on what their bodies looked like after the fact, or how far into our home they got. They just.... vanished.


Unrelated note, our lair is so awesome at this point. We may have to set up a room for our progeny, though. Do you think half devils like unicorns, ponies, pink, and fairies? Perhaps we can trap some faeries in lanterns and use them for lighting in her room?

>>14014339
Point. Hopefully we can block out the binder and have her listen to her beloved daddy instead, until we educate her enough to stand on her own merits. I imagine Scinnari will have plenty of lessons on combat, manipulation, bureaucracy, and law too.

>>14014376
Sure it was. Even if you came to the IRC and objected and I didn't see, it still would have been something like 5 to 1.

Bodies go on display.

>>14014388
> bureaucracy, law, manipulation, combat
Lawyer ninja? Half-dragon fiend lawyer ninja? My god, we're just piling on the level adjustment and templates.

Come to think of that, it might be too meta, but that could be a decent way to make sure none of our offspring can (successfully) challenge us.

>>14014413
I must disagree, but there's no point in arguing. Bodies go on display. (Lets try to patch them up so nobody knows how they died, though.)

>>14014499
Eh, if we go by rules she'll naturally have a +6 LA or some retarded shit like that. She will never be as powerful as us, but still completely capable of becoming a powerful (possibly even epic) spellcaster/character/fighter/lawyer.

Which is fine, because we're going to teach daddy's little girl all the magic she wants while buying her ponies and using our secret police to make sure nobody ever picks on or messes with her. :3

>Lets try to patch them up so nobody knows how they died, though.
Oh of course! We don't want to give away how they died. The mere fact they did, the reason why, and we are responsible is all that the public needs to know.

>>14014551
"Daddy, can I have a pony?"

"You shall have a UNICORN! A DIRE Unicorn! THREE dire, fiendish unicorns! Each with a blackguard sorcerer in adamantine fullplate!
Yes, a dozen fiendish, dire unicorns with your personal guard of blackguard sorcerers in adamantine fullplate!"

"U-um, but then what will I rid-"

"YOU SHALL RIDE THE FASTEST NIGHTMARE IN ALL THE LANDS WITH AN UNHOLY CUTIE MARK!"

>>14014595
pic related

>>14014551
I personally cannot wait for when she grows up, moves out, and fucks up just once that lets a bunch of enterprising adventurers fuck her shit up.

>>14014640
Adventurers? Fuck up a half-dragon erinyes? Not likely.

Besides, see above about her personal guard.

>>14014640
Why would you want that? Well, I mean, I suppose it's marginally better than her running off with a halfling, or betraying us to adventurers, or something, but still. You are bad and should feel bad.

>future! ngrinsu
Uh.... Should I be worried?

>>14014595
i like poni

>>14014640
Pfft. The adventurers will fuck up her plans then she will slay them personally. And if she can't, she'll ask daddy for help because he wuuuuuuuubs his little girl.

>>14014658
>Adventurers? Fuck up a half-dragon erinyes? Not likely.
Maybe not some lowly fighter who just managed to kill some goblins, but eventually word about all of this WILL get out one way or another. No plan is fool proof, and the world is a big place. Sooner or later we will fuck up and all sorts of secrets will come out.

>>14014867
Already has. Blues know we're a dragon via Tiamat the bitch.

>>14014867
You're overstating. It might not be easy to keep things secret, but it's very possible.

>>14014887
Yeah, it might, but it's not realistically possible to make it a secret again once it's out. Which it seems to be.

>>14014942
Campaign of disinformation, which we are already doing. So many rumors about us flying around that nobody knows what the hell is true. Whenever anyone important asks we just sigh, shake our head, and calmly say "No, I'm just an elven sorcerer, albeit a very powerful one. Surely you don't buy into tavern gossip? You're a king!"

>>14014979
Kings aren't likely to ask; it seems like they're more likely to subcontract some epic level scrying to find the truth of the matter.

Plus, I mean, sure, while we're establishing ourselves if fine, but eventually? I'd really like to do big BBEG reveal. Maybe invite leaders from surrounding countries to a party, and let it out there. Because, really, an elven sorcerer is closer to a DOG than he would be to us, both mentally and physically. It'd really suck to have to spend the erst of our lives pretending to be one.

>>14015045
1. Epic level casters don't work for kings anywhere but the Forgotten Realms. Epic level casters tell kings "Look, don't mess with my tower or charge me any taxes and I won't explodinate your palace."

2. Epic magic is retarded powerful and expensive, why the hell would you use it to try to verify/debunk a rumor? There are rumors about everything and everyone.

3. Mentally an epic level caster could actually be on par or superior to us. Physically, no, of course not... but we spends a lot of our time sitting on our hoard in natural form and issuing orders these days. Just as planned.

>>14015045
Before that we should make for ourselves the various dragon weapons and armor found in the Draconomicon. Should also look into having actual dragon children, half-dragons are just bastardized and weak.

>>14015109
>Epic magic is retarded powerful and expensive, why the hell would you use it to try to verify/debunk a rumor?
Normally someone like a king would be able to afford such things, and why do it in the first place? Paranoia and fear of course. Also knowing who your foe really is would mean you could prepare some men accordingly to attack them.

>>14015118
That's uh... the entire point. We can have dragon kids in 1000 years when they will never, ever get even close to us in strength as they age. Presuming we find a dragon we want to have them with.

>>14015118
That brings the problem of finding a suitable dragon. They seem so... Well. Shall we consider our options? A blue (or two) down south, a bitchy red up north, a gold that we've got evil plans for, and... That's it.

It probably doesn't help that we wouldn't consider anything 'perfect' except for that which would be as capable and intelligent as us, but totally loyal and subservient. Hard to meet all those requirements...

>>14015144
So rather than take the time to carefully plan out having full dragons to which extend the rule, if not of ourselves, then at least the entire family, waste our time on some miserable half-spawn.

>>14015139
There are limits, man. If people actually tried to use epic magic to debunk rumors the kingdom would go broke. And then there's the question of even finding an epic caster who gives two shits about you or your gold, they're often quite rich already and busy with their own projects. Most simply tell people to fuck off.

Anyone with enough paranoia, resources, and power to break out Epic Casting over a rumor would already rule the world anyway. It's not a concern. Regular scrying? Yes. That's why we are powerfully warded. Epic scrying? No.

>>14015170
More like we aren't fucking having actual baby dragons because of an enormous amount of variables, including binder blood, appropriate dragon mates, the power said baby dragons would have, and their complete lack of usefulness to us eventually when they strike out on their own and make their own territory.

No, we aren't having dragonets for a long while.

Oracles, archmages, etcetera, are still a threat. Sure, they're likely to cost an arm or a leg, but kings and emperors are the single most likely entities to be able to get audiences and stuff. I don't think just assuming that it won't happen will keep it from happening.

>>14015144
According to the Draconomicon you cited, we stop being, ah, fertile, around 1,200 years of age. That seems both prudish and.... anti-hedonistic. I mean, we don't have to stick our dick in everything that *moves, but... a thousand years? Really?

*I don't know about you lot, but I saw how that worked out for Arthur Eld.

>>14015283
Elves don't live that long anyway either, even the powerful mages. So we'd have to have to pretend to be our own heir for a while if we want to keep the charade up.

>>14015283
No, dragons are fertile and have a sex drive until they die. They just stop trying to fuck everything that moves around the time you listed.

And man, you're just being retarded paranoid. The number of epic level casters (hell, maybe /characters/) in the world is probably in the double digits. Most of those probably don't give a fuck. Even if you find one of the ones that do, you aren't going to empty half the kingdom's treasury to scry on someone you heard might be a dragon maybe from a tavern wench down at the docks. If they went to war with us? Then I would invest in some epic anti-scry.

You're equivalent to Switzerland worrying about suddenly being nuked out of nowhere. Those kind of guns aren't something you just break out on a whim. Epic magic is some /serious shit/.

>>14015365
You know what, I'll further elaborate:

If you are worried that much about epic magic, stop, because we aren't going to get scryed if someone is willing to invest in that kind of power, money, time, ect. Epic magic can craft spells that kill you, no save (or no meaningful one at least), from across the world. And then kill everyone in your family. Or worse. By the rules you can literally do anything you want with epic magic, it rewrites reality /itself/ and gives the finger to natural laws. It can kill gods.

Basically, you're worrying about the wrong things for the power tier you are talking about. If you are scared of epic mages be worried about instant QUEST OVER: BAD END.

>>14015219
>when they strike out on their own and make their own territory.
Blues have it good, man. The oldest/baddest motherfucker just sets himself up as suzerain, and anyone living withing his/her region treats him as... well, basically, as their king, from the fluff. We could assist our dear children in moving out of the nest, offer to back them up when they needed it, and we'd have a sort of feudal vassal states.

But we aren't a blue. Instead we breathe fire and are really greedy. All your fault! I voted for blue in thread one. though honestly, being greedy is kind of awesome the way we do it.

>>14015365
>>14015454
Fine.

In that case, considering that Mindblank is the go-to- protection from scrying spell, is it so unrealistic to fear that there might be 'epic' scrying mirrors, or something like that? After all, there'd be decent motivation to find some way of penetrating such protection....

Though obviously, the GM can, at any time, go "Fuck you, this is how it happens. Deal with it.jpg", so none of this is strictly necessary.

>>14015644
It's not the "go-to" protection. That would be something like Nondetection, the 3rd level spell. Mind Blank a magical spell so powerful that only kings and higher can afford it, according to WD himself, and it rapes their treasury to get it.

This isn't the Forgotten Realms, dude. Tone down your powerlevel expectations. If everything was as powerful as you assume continents would be blowing up left and right. We are presently easily within the top 10% of most powerful beings in the world. That's why we can run around with mind blank amulets and set up global spy networks.

Those are not normal things, and most threats we face will almost universally be less powerful.

>>14015644
If an item can cast epic spells it is by default an artifact, a Greater Artifact at that. Those are not very common. One or two of the most powerful kingdoms in the world might have one under heavy lock and key in the most guarded treasury in the country. Otherwise, no.

>>14015750
He did retcon that, though... Alright. Fine. I'll take your word for it and pray that the dicebots are merciful.

>>14015644
What do you suggest we do then? We can't cast epic spells yet so all you are doing is running around screaming about how we could get hit by lightning at any second. ANY SECOND!!!!!11

>>14015856
I sense much strawman in your post, but with that removed, you're mostly right. Let's drop it.

New subject: What are we going to DO with our daughter? I mean, she's nice to have, and all that, but... Are we just going to keep her around the place and fulfill her every wish, or are we going to forge her into our right-hand minion, or what?

>>14015904
I imagine we will raise her and teach her how to be the best little evil overlordess she can be. She can then help us run our empire and be one of our most trusted, valuable, and useful executors.

And I mean, of course we spoil her a bit. But we also teach her important, useful skills she is going to need in life like how to flay someone alive with magic, and more importantly /when/ to flay them alive and when to stab them in the back instead. She will grow up learning politics, the arcane, combat, courtly manners, whatever we think she'll need in her no doubt quite long life. Sound good?

>>14016137
Suppose it makes sense. I mean, I want her to end up productive and capable of being independent, but I want to be able to spoil her and be the best/worst father that a high level dragon/sorcerer evil-overlord can be.

I pity her future boyfriends already.

>>14016212
Bah! She'll use daddy for a measuring stick to compare everyone to anyway and nobody will ever measure up. She won't have boyfriends, she'll just have boytoys due to the massive electra complex.

Passive suitor destruction plan is a go!

>>14016319
We really are a terrible parent.

>>14015513
because we play smart-greedy, rather than MINE MINE MINE

>>14016344
No, we're BEST DAD, because we give her standards! One day she will find an evil mastermind who loves her for who she is, and then romance shall blossom! He will present her with the charred corpses of her enemies, she will introduce him to daddy and see to the integration of his empire into ours.

Glorious!

>>14016344
I think we'll be an awesome dad. A little possessive and controlling, but loving and giving her the best upbringing anyone can ask for. D'awww.

I have a dastardly idea.

We should annex Freeport on the day our ban from the city is lifted.

We have another 25 or 30 years to prepare, so, I think it's conceivably possible.

/tg/'s thoughts?

>>14017166
>>14017166
Bump for responses

>>14016402
"Father, Evask and I want to get married!"

"No daughter of mine is marrying a worthless bard. At least your sister married a wizard."

"You leave her out of this!"