>Previous threads,
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14979882/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14987008/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14992476/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15003212/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15013979/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15024994/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15037664/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15048506/
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15071873/

Attack Veridia-V

I want to take a few minutes to talk to our host. I dunno how in character it would be to explain that we need to extract torment from sentient beings to increase our power... or if it would be counter-productive. Although, I suppose we don't want her compassion to be too high at this stage.

Just a thought.

It is early in the morning August 29th, 726 2A.

Health: 24/24
Torment: 5/60

>>15093761
Already done. You won. Congratulations.

>>15093721
I know that the hidden redoubts that most of the Koyani in this region retreated to are well hidden, but could we find them ourselves?
At this stage, with Veridia preparing to dig in for a siege, it seems very unlikely that we'll be able to sneak in and rescue the Bishop before he talks.

>>15093794
We're going for round 2.

Attack Veridia-V

Can we communicate with our demon allies? Like ask them to send a dream to the bishop that we are here and we will come for him. I assume he has no idea what is going on outside of his cell and torture chamber and this could give us more time before he breaks. oooooooor, if we can send the dream ourselves that would be just dandy

>>15093788
What's the estimated travel time to get to Veridia-Yellow?

Also, I believe the plan last time around was to send the 50 unarmed Koyani back to our hidden fortress, since the Kef aren't patrolling while they prepare to be sieged.

I believe that our primary objective right now is to attempt to find the other hidden redoubts, and possible acquire a stealthy imp that we can use to sneak into Veridia castle and kill the Bishop before he can talk.
Unless we want to try another sneak mission to enter Veridia castle and free/kill the Bishop.

>>15093858
actually, if going to veridia, we'd be outnumbered (last time was said, about 200 enemies, with elite & armored kefs) so i think, we'd better attack another village before going, so we might get more people (and weapons).
so that leaves us with 2 choices: get the 50 guys back to the fortress, or have them come with us and hope we find them some equipment after the village is cleared from our enemies.
I'd say we'd better keep them with us, because sending them undarmed would be dangerous, in case there is still a patrol somewhere and they encounter it on the way back, it would be a shame to lose many people.

>>15093772
You take a few moments to explain to Cordelia your pressing need to harvest Torment. At the end of your quick summation of the situation, her response is simply "I see. I...I understand." Sifting through her thoughts, you can see that the notion of demons being simply practical as opposed to simply psychopathic had never occurred to her. She's not sure if she finds the thought comforting or not.

>>15093799
You can certainly try, however a whole day of searching would grant you only one Survival roll against TN 11 (your current Survival check is 2d6+1).

>>15093831
You can't directly, but Marvell and any other member of the clergy can do it for you.

>>15093858
It'd be about a full day and a half march, being that you have to go around Veridia instead of through it. Also, I haven't uploaded the map yet, have I? Allow me to amend that.

>You can't directly, but Marvell and any other member of the clergy can do it for you.

My vote goes to getting this done, as preventing the bishop from breaking before we get to him is of utmost importance. we need to find our allies before the kef do, right now our little insurgency is largely inconsequential and will turn into a joke if we are divided and conquered because we don't even know where our people are.

>>15093893
If we go to Veridia, it would only be ourselves and our imp minions and familiar. The more people we brought, the higher the chance we would be detected. We would need to be Solid Snake, get in, and escape with the Bishop or kill him, without raising an alarm or leaving traces of our presence.

>>15093896
I think it worth it to check out Veridia-Yellow, to see if there are more supplies for us to gather there, more Koyani to free, or if it's been abandoned like Veridia-G.

I'd like to send that scout group back to Veridia to keep an eye on things, with the same orders as before. Have them rendezvous with us at Veridia-Yellow at the same time we arrive at it.

I still vote to have the 50 unarmed Koyani make their way back to our hidden fortress with all the supplies they can carry.
Scout reports and our own travel showed no Kef patrols, though it may be prudent to send 15 armed Koyani along with them just in case.

That still leaves us with a fighting force of 4 soldiers and 37 armed recruits, more than enough for the small garrison that was reported.

>>15093941
Do we march directly back, or take the extra time to free Veridia-Y?

Oh, what do we do about the weasely kid Elarn?
Should we have him trussed up and placed in a Torment Engine for his treason?
On the one hand, he collaborated with the Kef.
But on the other hand, he DID give us some intel that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

>>15094014
Personally I think it's foolish to slug it out against a city on full alert and awaiting reinforcements, we better withdraw and find a way to bolster our forces before we do anything reckless again

>>15094075
Veridia-Yellow is a small farming village.
No one is saying to attempt to assault Veridia city itself right now.

Veridia-Yellow has a reduced garrison and has Koyani prisoners as of our last report.

i think we should go to V-Y, but since it's quite far, we must get the message to the bishop as soon as possible, maybe sending back a few men to get the message to the priest and hope it's sent to the bishop afterwards while we go to V-Y ?

>>15094263
We have the suggestion from >>15094007 to send the 50 unarmed Koyani with an escort of 15 armed recruits, carrying all of the supplies they can carry and that we need, back to our fortress. We can have them take a sealed letter back to Marvell, or send our Imp with them who will speak our will to Marvell, Mouth of Sauron-style.

You send the unarmed Recruits back to the hidden fortress with a small guard and a message for Bishop Arvarius to be sent through Marvell, and then set off for the small farming village on the other side of Veridia with your troop. When you arrive, it is deserted, just like the quarry village. There are no usable weapons left behind in the armory, but there are plenty of supplies. Some of them have begun to go bad from time, but the abundant fields of Veridia-Y mean that the sheer quantity is enough to make up for it.

As your followers are searching through the village for supplies, one of them shouts to get your attention. When you walk over, you find him with a pair of Koyani Soldiers. They're not your Koyani Soldiers. Interrogating them, you discover that they're from Veridia-Y's hidden fortress. They'd been sending out scouts, and when the Kef withdrew, the pair camped in the town to keep an eye on the situation.

>>15094300
We should explain them who we are and what's our situation, maybe that with them we will be strong enough to take on Veridia before the bishop talks.

>>15094367
We also need to know if they are aware of any other fortress locations.

[anyone else having trouble posting?]

>>15094300
Get their numbers, how many soldiers they have and able-bodied Koyani, as well as weapon stockpiles.

I actually don't want to attack Veridia if possible.
What I would much rather do is put them into a permanent siege; they send out a patrol, it disappears into the forest.
They send a bigger patrol, they find no one but suffer casualties to traps.
They chase us, we melt into the woods. They attempt to sally forth, they leave the city undefended.
We turn this whole region into our little recreation of Vietnam, with us playing as the VC.

>>15094452
Yeah, TG just ate my post.

I was saying that we tell these Koyani soldiers that need to know their numbers (trained and recruit), their weapon and food stores, and location.

I would prefer not to attack Veridia directly, but make them stay in siege mode for an ubearable length of time. That whenever they send a patrol out, it either disappears into the forests, find nothing, or returns as a broken and demoralized rabble.

I want this region to become our little piece of Vietnam, with us as the VC.

>>15094300
Do these Koyani recognize us as the Champion of Ashtoreth, and as their undisputed leader?

>>15094456
>>15094537
There is a problem with this, and it's: will the bishop hold for long enough ?
By the way, if we can get them cut from outside, finding a way to poison their supplies would be great, since they get water from the river ...
(bind a demon with the lvl 1 binding to a small animal and have him die in a big storage or something, it would be safe for us, but a dead rat or something should get everything spoiled quite fast, no ?)

>>15094613
>(bind a demon with the lvl 1 binding to a small animal and have him die in a big storage or something, it would be safe for us, but a dead rat or something should get everything spoiled quite fast, no ?)

devilish! seconding this

>>15094452

No, they're only aware of the location of their own fortress.

>>15094456

They have fifteen Koyani Soldiers, forty Koyani Recruits, and a hundred and fifty civilians. They also have enough supplies to last until April in the fortress. Their clergy and sacrifice fell behind during the evacuation, however. They later discovered that the clergymen had both committed suicide to avoid interrogation, but the sacrifice didn't have the spine to go through with it. The Kef executed her that day, before their main force moved on to the next village.

>>15094549

The other Koyani have already told them who you are. So, yes.

>>15094631
thanks.
Well, i think with our troops and that, we could try to hold them in the city as they get hungry... and have them to try to go get some supplies by themselves or die from starvation.
Using this, even if the bishop can't hold on, we'd just have to make sure no one get out of veridia alive. Or attack them as they are weakened by famine.

>>15094649
Consolidating everyone into a single hidden fortress would make coordination and control easier, but it would also result in giving the Kef a single place to attack and concentrate on.

We need some Palantir's.

>>15094755
also logistics, nothing says that the surrounding countryside can support the sheer amount of troops we'll have stationed there, and supply trains are vulnerable to enemy attacks.

>>15094768
You make a good point about the logistics.

Katsi, do the hidden fortresses have their own hidden farms? Or is there no way for us to be able to feed ourselves unless we can take, hold, and develop one of the villages (likely V-Y)?

>>15094788
No, there are no hidden farms. Supplies are the fortresses biggest weakness by far.

>>15094868
Okay, followup question: CAN the fortresses develop hidden farms?
Because otherwise, we're going to need to come up with a plan regarding how we're going to feed our army.

i think we should focus on two things:
-have some koyani devlop the farmland in V-Y
-start getting an idea on how to etablish a siege on Veridia, the supplies route they have, etc. if we cut them from their supplies they won't last long, especially if we get their food spoilen. We must start acting as if the bishop breaks and talks, we're as good dead.

>>15094906
Hmm...We could begin repopulation of V-Y, I suppose. With Veridia preparing for a siege, they likely won't be sending troops here.
On the other hand, this is known Koyani settlement, and the Kef would realize that it would be the most likely place to be resettled first, given our insurgency's need for food.

We will need to have intensive patrols to make sure that any Kef or Gerdo scouts that come sniffing around this area, either don't make it back, or see nothing.
Of course, that works well with our plan for not allowing any patrols coming out of Veridia to return to the city alive.

>>15094905
The terrain around the fortresses is extremely difficult, and intentionally so. It makes the fortresses easier to defend, but farming is a futile endeavor.

>>15094989
Okay, so K-Y is more fertile, but they had the labor camp in K-V.
Are the fields in K-Y already planted? Will we be able to get a harvest from its farms if we set the Koyani to work here?

You guys do know that there are massive reinforcements coming to Veridia right?

If we don't attack soon we'll be fucked in so many ways.


I suggest mountainal bombardment after somehow gainingtorment.

As it seems, attacking veridia even now would be futile since there are 200+ fighters there already. being half their number and them being fortified would make the attack extremly difficult. So i still think that we should:
-use V-Y for farming, so we can get some income of supplies which we are going to need since we have many people to feed and a lot of people who aren't fighting.
-use most of our armed force to isolate veridia, killing their patrols and messenger and blocking them from supplies (and maybe >>15094631 as it would be quite torment effective).

>>15095106
also, the more they are, the worse it will be for them if they can't get any supplies.
But adding in some bombardement would sure be good, imagine being locked in a city, hungry, and being randomly bombared by fireballs, not good for morale heh.

>>15095164
Keep in mind that the city has a half-mile kill-zone set up, where they've cleared away everything to make sneaking within targeting distance to be extremely difficult.
I would imagine that if they're going into siege mode, that the no-man's land has been extended beyond the original distance.

Right now we need to see if we can re-secure V-Y, set up patrols, and get scouts doing recon to look for those reinforcements (if they're coming, how many, and force composition).

Hmm. 4chan is going really slow for me, but everything else is working fine. Is anyone else having problems?

>>15095310
Periodic problems when posting and refreshing. It'll get there, eventually, but it seems to take a minute or two.

It appears as though the plan is to secure Veridia-Y, scout for reinforcements and interrupt caravans if possible, and sit around gaining Torment until you can begin a bombardment. Assuming nothing happens (like if the reinforcements show up), how long would you like to wait and harass the enemy?

>>15095355
a question, do they have a source of supply inside veridia, i think not, but ... who knows ?

>>15095355
as long as is necessary to get the infrastructure up and running, as well as recruiting, training and equipping as many of the civilians as possible.

>>15095382
As far as you or any of your Koyani followers know, there's no source of supplies inside of Veridia's walls. The fishing from the river isn't enough to sustain the population, even the reduced population of the Kef camp followers and freed slaves. Though it would help prolong the inevitable.

>>15095355
Didn't we have scouts check out Veridia itself? Did they meet up with us yet, or is that later?

Our main goal should be transmuting armor and weapons to equip the soldiers in the K-Y fortress; they have 15 soldiers that can use transmuted plate, making them nearly unstoppable.

>>15095355
Until we're threatened. Basically we need as many soldiers + armour + torment as possible, so until either:
Everyone's trained
The situation at V changes

The plan is a good one.

>>15095533
If we're doing this, it might be a good idea to start sending scout patrols to look for the hidden fortresses of V-G and V-V.

I take it then, that unless we get a big boost in Torment and we level up Combat and Transmutation (to give us wings so we can fly into Veridia castle at night), or we find some hidden tunnels that will let us enter Veridia undetected, we're going to consider the Bishop as dead to us?

if we manage to interecept everything coming / going to veridia they won't last long, so yeah, let's skip until this >>15095533 or when we reach max torment.

>>15095721
Hey, don't forget that there's two more fortresses that we should find.
I'm still saying that we should send scouting parties out to find them; maybe they'll get lucky.

Scout Patrol: 2 soldiers (Transmuted chainmail, swords), 3 Recruits (Transmuted Leather if available, transmuted glaives). All armed with Composite Bows.

We send these out as fast as we can make them to patrol the region for Kef and to find the other fortresses. We use Scout Groups of 2 to keep an eye on Veridia and to identify Kef/Gerdo patrols for ambushing. Sound reasonable?

>>15095771
got to agree about this, maybe we coud show that veridia-V is our by having a few men (read 3-4) put up a flag or something in the town, who knows, maybe V-V fortress, iff there is one will send scouts who will see it, worst case ourmen encounter a patrol and run away

Bugger all, I need to move this thing along to the conquest of Veridia faster so we can zoom out a bit for realm management purposes. Calculating individuals is getting stupidly overwhelming.

Regardless, assuming you've transmuted nothing, you reach 60 Torment (exactly, lucky rolls) on September 9th, 726 2A. Still no sign of reinforcements for Veridia, and you've been able to intercept incoming supplies frequently enough that they no longer bother sending them. Presumably, the main force is tied up with the sieges in the north.

>>15096349
>60 Torment
Level up time!
How many skill points do we get?

I think that right now, since our Will is still lower than Cordellia's that everyone agrees to lower her Compassion, regardless of other choices, right?

>>15096349
Oh, what can we do with Binding 3, besides the obvious extra point of Control?

>>15096349
Actually, if people in Veridia are suffering because of the siege we inflicted upon them, do we get their Torment? Or does the suffering have to be specifically our actions directly?

>>15096650
Either by your actions directly or done directly by someone acting in your name.

Also, bugger all, I never got around to finishing your last batch of memories. Spreading it out over multiple encounters was not a good idea.

Katsi, you gonna answer the other questions?
Or did your internet connection die?

Internet connection is fine. I literally fell asleep at my keyboard. Apologies.

also, could you re-list the different skills we can upgrade and the number of skill points we get, please ?

>>15100112
Here is your current skill sheet:

Combat: 2
Survival: 1
Stealth: 1
Diplomacy: 0

Binding: 2
Conjuration: 3
Domination: 0
Enchantment: 0
Illusions: 0
Transmutation: 1

To upgrade a mundane skill costs as much as the level you're upgrading it to (i.e. upgrading Combat to 3 would require 3 skill points). Magic goes by the following chart:

1: 1 pt.
2: 2 pts.
3: 4 pts.
4: 7 pts.
5: 10 pts.
6+: +5 pts.

You get 3 skill points at level 4. Also, roll 1d6 for your health, and we're going to do all of the memories at once this time (including the ones I haven't yet got to from level 3), since trying to spread it out more clearly didn't work well. This time, we aren't really in the middle of important business anyway, we're just waiting out Veridia.

rolled 2 = 2

>>15100162
Rolling d6 for health.

Also, I think we should upgrade Combat.
With a 3 in Combat, we can wear Transmuted plate without penalties, and would be extremely difficult to even damage.
Otherwise we can do Transmutation to get Wings and be able to fly over enemy defenses.

>>15100355
Seconding this, after the previous blunder we ought to focus on our survivability.

>>15100355
yeah, but then, i think we should get enchantement (and maybe illusions ?) next level. but for now, plates would make us almost unkillable except vs maces.

Updated health is 28/28.

While I am hoping to be able to keep this thread going tomorrow (may end up starting earlier than 14:00 or not happening at all, hard to tell, tomorrow's schedule is weird) as we haven't got very far in this one, I have archived it just in case: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15093721/

>>15100355
>>15100436

I'd say: Transmutation to lvl 2 and then 1 point in any skill still at level 0 that might be useful.

We're getting close to having a proper army, fighting is less and less about what we do, and more about how well trained and equipped our soldiers are. Leveling our defences might be useful, but if we're about to attack a major settlement we either want stealth to sneak in, or the most well equipped army we can get. we can't fight the whole garrison by ourselves, so we shouldn't level up to think directly about our fighting.

>>15100959

To add to this i'd suggest the spare skill point in Illusions, nothing scares a garrison more than one army as two armies coming from either side, one of which can't seem to be killed by arrows.

>>15100959
Transmutation 2 won't let us improve the weapons and armor of our troops any further. It only allows us to begin transmuting living matter and lets us grow wings.

Illusion 1 can only create mirages. You should confirm with OP whether Illusion 1 is enough to create an illusion that big before assuming that it would be enough.

>>15100959
Your personal combat abilities will never be totally irrelevant, because battles with powerful enemies (like paladins or Uriel) will go much better if you fight them personally instead of allowing them to chew through a dozen or more of your followers.

Also, I take it it's safe to say you'll be decreasing Compassion, then?

>>15102752
>>15102668

Fair enough, put it in combat then I guess.

And yeah, decreasing Compassion sounds standard.

>>15103512

So the new sheet will look like this:

Level: 3
Health: 28/28
Torment: 0/100

Compassion: 3
Will: 5

Combat: 3
Survival: 1
Stealth: 1
Diplomacy: 0

Binding: 2
Conjuration: 3
Domination: 0
Enchantment: 0
Illusions: 0
Transmutation: 1

>Is this acceptable?

>>15103590
I'm good with it, but i'd hate to make the call for everyone, if noone else is here yet.

>>15103709
Alright. In the meantime, then, let's get the memories sorted out.

After meeting Vual, the two of you had begun gathering the necessary components for the ritual to kill a demon. You'd first gone to the literally named Forest of Bleeding Trees, sometimes known as the Bloodwood, where unsurprisingly the trees constantly ooze blood. In the center of the Bloodwood is a huge weeping willow that constantly drips blood. The blood from this tree is one of the ritual components you seek, though it has many other ritual uses.

Being such a versatile tree, it was no easy task to reach the thing. Every week a new demonic lord has claimed it for themselves. The smarter ones make a quick profit and then leave it to the next one trying to lay claim.

>What was the name of the demon lord ruling the Bloodwood when you arrived?
>What did he ask of you and Vual in exchange for the blood of the willow?
>Did you actually do it for him?

bump

>>15103590
yeah, it's just fine for me, with this we can wear plate which will make us neari nvicible, we can always upgrade enchantement/illu on next levels.

>>15104592
Right, then. Sheet is updated. Still need to sort out the level 3 memories and choose whether to remember more from the Abyssal War, you adolescence, or your childhood.

>>15104698
i'd say the childhood.

>>15103590
We're actually Level 4, not 3.

>>15104698
I'm going for more memories from the Abyssal War, to try to remember any useful allies.

>>15104181
Demon Lord: Marquis Leraje, who wanted us to dig up dirt on a rival, Marquis Kimaris.
We did it for him, because Marquis Kimaris happened to be leader of a faction that was an obstacle to ours.

rolled 1 = 1

>>15104956

Supporting all of this. Allies would be nice if unlikely.

well, let's go for war memories.

>>15104956
Oh, yes. That was a typo.

In the early stages of the Abyssal War, no one was certain who was on which side. Paymon made great gains on Ashtoreth by having his followers conceal themselves within her own forces. This gave him advantage of surprise when his followers did reveal themselves, caused Ashtoreth and her remaining loyal kings to underestimate his strength, and poisoned their side with paranoia. When Marquis Leraje sent you to dig up something on Marquis Kimaris, Leraje's biggest rival for control of the Bloodwood at the time, you and Vual had planned to make up a connection to Paymon if you couldn't find a real one. The Marquis, not wanting his name to be attached to a false execution, had sent along his trusted lieutenant, a demon named Vishnares, to accompany you on your mission. The three of you infiltrated Kimaris' circle, running various errands for him, mostly defending or expanding his holdings. As it turned out, Kimaris was working for Paymon, as you discovered when he sent you to capture and bring to him a baron loyal to Ashtoreth who would prove vital to an upcoming batle, and Kimaris was executed for his treason.

Afterwards, you and Vual crossed the Deeps, a vast ocean in Hell. The trip took close to three years, and by the time you made port, the town you'd been sailing to had changed hands in the Abyssal War. Twice. It was here that you met Brun-Tersop. You helped him find his way out of a pack of enemies he'd made. He always was good at making enemies. There was also another demon there. He didn't join your Compact because he was quite busy holding an important position as right-hand man to whoever was currently ruling the port, and had managed to preserve his position for close to a century, warring factions be damned. You'd done him a favor that you promised to call in later on.

>What was his name?
>Which of the seven deadly sins did he embrace?
>What favor had you done for him?

>>15105269
Demon: Hirsau, Demon of Sloth.
We propped up his position and made certain enemies and opponents 'disappear'. With our help his position became assured and he would not need to do anything further for his continued life of ease.

Deep inside the jungles surrounding the port town, you'd found the Demonsbane Mountains, so called because they are made entirely of the mineral known as Demonsbane. Though not dangerous to the touch, if a demon's heart is pierced by Demonsbane, they will be immobilized and crippled, made vulnerable enough that the ritual will be able to properly kill them. By piercing a variety of other body parts, other things may be compelled. Pierce the palm of the right hand and a demon will be forced to follow you. Pierce the ear and a demon will be forced to tell you the truth. Pierce the wrists or the ankles with the same length of Demonsbane, and the demon will be unable to remove the Demonsbane until they grant the piercer whatever it is they desire or a century passes.

Naturally, everyone and their dog wants a supply of Demonsbane. One of the generals of the Rebel King Paymon held the Demonsbane Mountains, so you signed on to fight on the side of Ashtoreth, hoping (along with probably every other recruit from that continent) to nab some Demonsbane in the chaos of the battle. The sergeant of your squad called all seven of the demons under his command on their ulterior motives the very first day. And then set up a Compact between the eight of you to retrieve some for everyone, promising to make sure things went off without a hitch in exchange for a larger share of the loot.

Many, many demons fighting on the side of Paymon were preyed upon by gleeful soldiers of Ashtoreth with their new Demonsbane prizes. Demonsbane, normally priceless, was abundant enough that you had some to spare even after harvesting a spike large enough to cripple Gugurash. So you joined in the fun.

>What was the name of the sergeant?
>Did you betray him for more Demonsbane, or keep your end of the deal to secure an ally?
>What was the name of the demon you bound with Demonsbane? Choose two if you betrayed the sergeant.
>What was the deadly sin of the demon you bound?
>Where did you pierce the demon, and what did you demand?

Hm. This just hasn't been working well at all this weekend. I blame Memorial Day. It's certainly messed up my schedule and my connection.

Hm. One more bump before I let this thread die.

Alright, it looks like interest has died out for today, then. Trying again tomorrow at 14:00, as usual.