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>>37006375
Current Date and Time: Early afternoon on January 2nd, 1954PC

Finn Points: 1

>You play as Tarfinn in this thread. His character sheet can be found in the GDocs folder linked in the OP.

What stood out to you about the city of Balkarin was how bleak and imposing it was. When Sir Talon had taken you to Ahm it had been a city of wonder and fantasy; Vitria, on the other hand, was majestic and exciting. There had been a feeling to those cities that had permeated every stone and drop of water within the city. So it was here in Balkarin, where the towers, hills and walls of the city seem to box you in and make you feel trapped. The omnipresence of guards and soldiers simply compounded your fears and, your mind running wild with possibilities and your breath ragged from suspicion, you’d slipped into the rendezvous point earlier than planned.

“Here is your drink, sir,” the waiter says, Henry if you recall.

You stare at the strange beverage in front of you – it’s a brown colour and you can see little pieces of ginger floating around in it. Henry had called it ginger beer and recommended it strongly – he was also standing off to the side with a broad grin as he watched you think a little too hard about whether to drink it. You shrug and take a sip, followed by a bigger one.

“I’m glad that you enjoy it,” Henry says, surprisingly genuine to your ears. “It’s rare to see an elf this far from home but it’s a pleasant surprise. I hope that the guards haven’t troubled you?”

You shake your head as you swallow your beer, noting that there’s only half a glass left now. “Um, no, surprisingly.”

Chuckling, Henry says, “I can understand that reaction. There’s little good spoken of these lands elsewhere in the world. The architecture might resemble Malataine but our people don’t – many of us still understand the truetenets and the guards have little interest in well-off travellers, even if their ears are different.”

>cont

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>>37006383
There was something in what he said that bothered you, but it quickly comes to you. “Oh, you’re a believer? Are that guards? That’s how it was back in Malataine.”

“I am a believer in pacifism, yes. True understanding of the tenets of my belief is widespread enough that even some of the guards attend services, though the fact they serve the military makes it clear their minds are clouded,” Henry says. “Despite the militarism of the city, or perhaps because of it, you’ll find that the influence is rather strong here. I’ve chattered enough – I’ll get you another drink and let you rest.”

Darting off, Henry slips back into the empty café. Traffic was rather light at this time and the café seemed to be here to serve the tradesmen and mages nearby, who were all caught up in their work. You hoped that you hadn’t appeared uncomfortable but anything relating to the Order of Malataine didn’t set your mind at ease. Not wanting to look too hard at the gothic architecture that must have come with the religion, or vice versa, you consider the enormous wall of raw rock to your side. That was another of the strange feelings within the city – the buildings were so noticeably constructed, jutting out and towering above everything else, buttressed with steel and stone, but the hills of rock that the city was built upon had simply been cut into and sealed instead of being covered up or constructed over.

You finish both drinks and wonder if you should stay in the same place for too long. Henry had said you shouldn’t be troubled but you still worried. It would be another hour or two before the others arrived but you weren’t sure if you could stand wandering around the city again. You…

>1. Just stay here and try to relax.
>2. Wander about the city and try not to feel too worried.
>3. Go look for Mana and Kuro, they might help you. Or maybe you’ll just look silly.
>4. Custom

>>37006409
>2. Wander about the city and try not to feel too worried.

>>37006409
>1. Just stay here and try to relax.

>>37006409
>1

>>37006409
>2. Wander about the city and try not to feel too worried.

>>37006409
>3. Scout for fluffy sisters.

What ever happened to Devon? Last we heard we sent a general to peacefully acquire their lands and armies after failing to rejoin the League.

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Rolled 2 (1d2)

Tie-breaker roll.

1 = Option 1
2 = option 2

>>37006631
With nowhere else to go, they just surrendered.

>>37006409
>2. Wander about the city and try not to feel too worried.

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>2.

You pay the café what you owe and let Henry know you’ll return later with friends – you have a feeling he’s actually the owner or at least the manager. Ducking back out into the city proper, you decide to get your bearings in regards to the old keep.

The city is criss-crossed by walls, each manned and built so as to stand by itself, with gates and portcullises that cut each section off from another and the city itself. Soldiers man the walls, ostensibly to keep a keen eye on the people but mostly to just slack off and chatter from what you can tell. The city might have been built to withstand a great invasion, possible the shadowbeasts if you remember the history that Talon has been teaching you, but the people aren’t expecting one. Still, every time you pass under one of those gates, the reinforced steel on each side gleaming in the brief darkness underneath, your heart beats rapidly, as if in fear that the gates on either side are going to slam shut and soldiers will stream in from either side. You’ll be overwhelmed, restrained and dragged off to one of the great city’s dungeons, where the king will make you tell all, because you weren’t-

Then you pass through, back into the sunlight, where the soldiers are lazy, the merchants give you a pleasant nod and the people otherwise ignore the imposing architecture and militant design of the city. The imposing headquarters of each arm of the city didn’t help – the Army, Inquisition, Wardens and Business Chambers each had their own building in a different part of the city. The only one you got close to was the Business Chambers one, because you were wondering if Mana would like one of the satin ribbons they were selling here.

>continued

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>>37007020
Then you looked around and realised that the enormous market you were in was underneath the Chambers itself, the building suspended above it by stone columns and great spiral staircases. An enormous stained glass window ran across one side of the inner courtyard, where the building opened up to let the sun stream into the lively market below. You could see quite a few people milling about inside.

“Master Rivter is holding a rather extravagant party for the region’s representatives,” the merchant explains, noting your gaze but not your rising panic. “My brother sold them a rather nice batch of wine he brought in from Vitria a few months back. Made a hefty profit, especially with that blasted tariff license of his.”

“Tariff license? Does he have connections?” you ask, wondering how the merchants worked in such a militant country. “And, uh, I take it there’s lots of guards for this party.”

“Guards? There’s an inquisitor and a dozen soldiers that protect the vault and building itself but Corinth is a lazy bastard and the good captain was born to a merchant family. They cause no trouble,” the merchant says, giving you a reassuring smile. “And no, no connections. Viktor tells me that you can just buy a reduction in tariffs down south – some new thing that new Imperator implemented. It let him bring in a huge load of wine on that cart of his, and he pays the local tariff out of his account in the Chambers here, so he hit a real windfall.”

You make some more small talk before purchasing a few ribbons – you shouldn’t leave Kuro out of it, after all. Mostly you come away with the impression that the merchants here seem awfully wealthy – government supported? You didn’t understand what he meant by an account in the Chambers.

You pass under another of the gates, your heart practically bursting out of your chest. You can see a figure in a great cloak at the other end. An inquisitor? This isn’t good.

[DC13 Panic Attack]

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>37007038

>>37007075
Good enough for me.

>>37007120
He needs 3 rolls

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>37007038

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>37007140
Fine. Incoming fail knowing my luck...

>>37007038
Roll...

>>37007075
>>37007153
>17 vs DC13
finn has succeesfully entered "panic" mode

>>37007327
Good, we get the initiative by attacking first.

>>37007327
>>37007327
I honestly get the feeling they enchanted some magic shit into the gates that is screwing with him right now.

>>37007409
i also got that vibe
although I was thinking rather than a fear inducing enchantment its more of a "sealed evil in can emits depressing vibes"

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Mmm, almost ten minutes for three rolls. I guess people are busy. At least I know that I don’t need to rush or anything. Though these posts are stupidly long.

>Target met

Your heart is beating hard. You’re certain that inquisitor is after you, his whole body is turned to face you the men around him are all armoured. They’re milling about and there’s nobody around you. There’s some thumping on the insides of the walls, from beyond the doors that you know they’ll rush out from. They’ll come for you.

But you need to be calm. Closing your eyes, you try to let reason wash over you. Even if this is an ambush, you’ll only make things hard on yourself if you panic. Your master’s teachings would be for nothing if you let that happen. Slowly, with each of your soft footsteps, you push the panic back down. Then you open your eyes and stare the ‘inquisitor’ in the face.

“Ho, Tarfinn,” says Inquisitor Nant, a small smile on his face. “It’s good to see that you made it here in one piece.”

Well, you suppose it was an inquisitor. Just a friendly one. He’s a wearing a white cloak that marks him as an officer of the Guard, the sigil of the Inquisition embroidered on his vest. There’s a few guards milling about, not sure what to do with an inquisitor nearby, but Nant waves them off as they approach. He sets a pace and you follow, noting idly that he’s heading the same way as you are.

“What are you doing here? Weren’t you busy in Sarsk?” you ask, trying not to sound suspicious.

“After you and your vampiric friend cleaned house, there wasn’t much left to keep me busy. It’s policy to shuffle an inquisitor out after they turn a town into a warzone, to keep us safe, so I’m back here,” he says, shrugging.

“You’re in trouble? I didn’t mean to-”

>continued

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>>37007547
“I’m hardly in trouble. You can’t be officially mentioned, to avoid trouble with the nuisance elements in the Guard, so I’ll probably get a commendation or something for taking out the rebels. Or separatists. Or whatever the hell they were,” Nant says, scowling at his lack of information. “I’d assumed they just some thugs hired by troublemakers in the Extremist or Traditionalist factions but neither of them would truck with whatever the hell that black knight was. My agent spied your friend’s fight with it – I don’t know where that monster came from, but it worries us.”

You nod but before you can respond you’re at the old wall. An earthquake had hit the northern section of the city really badly, turning much of it into ruins, damaging wells and wrecking the infrastructure. For whatever reason, they never properly rebuilt it, probably because the city was shrinking in population. The wall blocking off the city itself was in good shape, if sparsely manned, and you idly wondered if the land beyond was full of undead. Not that you could imagine the Mage Guard letting that happen.

“Captain, this is Tarfinn. He’ll be coming back here later tonight and I want you to let him through. Along with any companions he has,” Nant says, addressing an officer that steps out to greet him.

Giving the inquisitor a salute, the captain looks you over as he replies, “Fair enough. Though I’m not sure I appreciate this being like the other side.”

“There’s a difference. We’re doing the right thing,” Nant says. “I’ll also see you later tonight, captain.”

>continued

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>>37007577
With that, you’re off. It’s rather clear to you that you’ve got an easy way in to meet your contact in the abandoned district, although you’re not sure exactly what is going on. Nant doesn’t explain much, merely shaking his head when you press him.

“Somebody else will explain it later. Suffice it to say that you can trust them – they’re helping you get whatever you’re after, too,” Nant says.

Before you know it, it’s time to rendezvous and you bid the inquisitor farewell, darting off across the city. You can’t avoid the gates but you do your best not to pay attention to your surroundings as you go under them – the less aware you are of where you are, the better you feel. This damned city and architecture just reminds you so badly of that place…

“There you are! The owner said that you came by here hours ago – what happened?” Mana says.

You answer by…

>1. Telling her about Nant and the abandoned district only, not saying anything about why you came here early.
>2. Explaining how the city makes you feel, before mentioning Nant.
>3. Lying about just wanting a convenient break, before mentioning Nant.
>4. Custom

>>37007603
>>1. Telling her about Nant and the abandoned district only, not saying anything about why you came here early.

>>37007547
>Mmm, almost ten minutes for three rolls. I guess people are busy
I don't know about others. But you started the quest at 4pm CST instead of 5pm CST like usual.
So I only now noticed it

>>37007603
>2. Explaining how the city makes you feel, before mentioning Nant.

>>37007603
>1. Telling her about Nant and the abandoned district only, not saying anything about why you came here early.

>>37007603
>2. Explaining how the city makes you feel, before mentioning Nant.

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>>37007659
I started the last few threads later than usual (because I kept sleeping in or had difficulty writing the opening post). Normally I try to start at 5pm EST (which is 9am where I am). If you come out of or into DST, that will throw you off a bit.

>>37007577
>I’d assumed they just some thugs hired by troublemakers in the Extremist or Traditionalist factions
wait... so nant is from NEITHER of those factions? huh...
I like how there are more than 2 factions. keeping it real aspir. good job

>>37007603
>2. Explaining how the city makes you feel, before mentioning Nant.

>>37007603
>2. Explaining how the city makes you feel, before mentioning Nant.

>>37007603
>>2. Explaining how the city makes you feel, before mentioning Nant.
the foxes might be able to place the strange feeling

>>37007603
>1

>>37007603
>2. Explaining how the city makes you feel, before mentioning Nant.

>>37007731
If you look in the Gdocs there are 4 factions. Loyalists (Sylvians faction I assume), Traditionalists(Wardens), Extremists, and Reformists. The Traditionalists two times more MMK than we have total troops.

>>37007731
He's almost certainly loyalist, though he might be reformist.
>>37007709
I was looking through the new docs. The biggest question I had of them was how many combat magisters the Mage guard has. They have more than twice the number of battlemages Shropham did, and they've certainly been around long enough to set up a training program.

>>37007861
We did absorb some troops from shropham, so that's an exaggeration even of our main army.

>>37007861
Which doc specifically?

>>37007941
Empire Doc. Tab of "Enemy Military".

>>37007861
What really surprised me was that Irlin was considered the leader of the largest faction. He was not originally described as that powerful a figure.

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>>37008005
It was always noted that Irlin's hardliners/traditionalists were the biggest faction with Syl's decline. Between losing 100k soldiers against Ember and general popularity decline, Syl's faction is weak. A detailed explanation will come from the contact.

>>37007861
There's notes on each faction name that explains their position a little.

>2.

You explain, briefly and without dwelling on the details of your terror, the feelings you’re getting from the city and particularly when you pass underneath the gates. You clip the whole thing rather short as it’s getting far too personal for your liking, and you don’t like the looks that the knights share.

“That sounds sinister,” Mana says, her tails rubbing you sympathetically. At least you got something good out of this. “I didn’t feel anything but maybe if Kuro and I head back with Adele-“

“There’s nothing to find,” Laryya cuts in, voice casual. “There’s no sinister magic here. No evil lingering in the walls or oppression by the Guard.”

“Then how do you explain Finn’s reaction?” Adele queries her familiar, scowling at the casual way your fears were dismissed.

“Through a few centuries knowledge as an architect,” Laryya says, then turns to look closely at you. “Did you sense anything magical about the walls, Finn? Beyond their barriers.”

“No,” you say, trying to keep your voice flat and not sulky.

“Then consider it part of growing up. Talk to Sylph when you get back, in private. Or me later,” Laryya says, then begins to shut the other girls down as they try to raise their concerns.

You feel a little fuzzy inside at the knowledge that Laryya knows your problem but isn’t telling the others. The whole thing feels very embarrassing, even if you did overcome it a little. You might be a little more careful before sharing this sort of thing – it doesn’t seem very productive, even if Laryya did help you. Next you explain about Nant and the wall.

>cont

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>>37008200
“This is the centre of Sylvian’s power in the Guard,” Mana explains. “I find it interesting that he explicitly named the factions – they tend to avoid doing that for some reason. I get the feeling many don’t like to admit that the Guard is so fractured, even beyond the four way split in power since Sylvian ceded absolute rule.”

“Talon never mentioned a Business Chamber before,” you point out.

“That’s just where the merchants and land-owners can influence the governance of the Guard – they couldn’t keep them completely out, even if they wished to,” Mana says. “Nant sounds like a Loyalist, though that might just be because he oppose change. Though I have to admit I don’t understand the factions much – Karise’s explanations go over my head a little.”

“There’s a reason we weren’t deployed there,” Kuro says dryly. “Too much politics.”

There’s some discussion over whether to see the contact as a full group or just a select few in the abandoned district tonight. You need that information on the Place of Power that he has. The issue is that going in with so many might arouse more suspicion, even with Nant’s help. It might also frighten the contact. Going in with too little might leave you open, however. You decide to send in…

>1. Just yourself. Mana and Kuro can watch from nearby, however.
>2. Just the leaders, which means you, Felix and Adele. The foxes and familiar can stay nearby.
>3. Everybody, including the knights and ranger.
>4. Custom

>>37008216
>2. Just the leaders, which means you, Felix and Adele. The foxes and familiar can stay nearby.

>>37008216
>2. Just the leaders, which means you, Felix and Adele. The foxes and familiar can stay nearby.

>>37007547
>Mmm, almost ten minutes for three rolls. I guess people are busy. At least I know that I don’t need to rush or anything. Though these posts are stupidly long.

Don't know about anyone else, but I dropped off tg when finals month came up to study. Missed a few threads and since it's a heavy quest I didn't want to spoil myself or vote poorly. Catching up now.

>>37008216
>2. Just the leaders, which means you, Felix and Adele. The foxes and familiar can stay nearby.

>>37008216
>2. Just the leaders, which means you, Felix and Adele. The foxes and familiar can stay nearby.
Middle ground is best ground.

>>37008216
>4. Custom
Us and Felix with Mana and Kuro on standby nearby.
The others should be prepared for immediate deployment should things go south.

>>37008200
>It was always noted that Irlin's hardliners/traditionalists were the biggest faction with Syl's decline. Between losing 100k soldiers against Ember and general popularity decline, Syl's faction is weak. A detailed explanation will come from the contact.
I meant I was surprised that Irlin has such a high position inside the traditionalist faction. He was originally described as an influential member of the opposition, not shadow prime minister. I think that's partially why people underestimated him.

>>37008319
Hey, I've been thinking for awhile and just thought I should put out a suggestion. We should create a council/committee/whatever tasked with dealing with our policy regarding Pharos, stick Ren on it and then give it our full authority for dealing with the EWTC so we (Talon) don't have to going forward.

>>37008419
Or we could just let them bring lots of assets over here, then after we've suborned a certain fluffy tail we can invite asshole to a meeting, remind him that as a representative of a private company he certainly isn't immune from being executed for espionage, then offer him a deal he can't refuse.

>>37008200
>Between losing 100k soldiers against Ember
So, first she lost a lot of power from fighting the shadow beasts, then from fighting lord ember... No good deed goes unpunished

Those other factions are asses and need to get their asses kicked

Is it just me or does Ren's character sheet make him seem ridiculously OP?

>>37008216

When heading over, we should get mana over our shoulders and have her piggy-back ride us to the nearby staging area before the meeting.

if she asks just say

"You seemed a little sad/depressed earlier. Master Talon told me many women are happy when they get to ride a man."

Do it, i want to see the groups reactions.

>>37008532
>Is it just me or does Ren's character sheet make him seem ridiculously OP?
Ren is "the strongest fox ever born" according to taira (the oldest living fox). She says that while she is still a little stronger then him at this point in time, its because she is more than twice his age and has an extra tail. Nobody has even been as young as him when they got their 8th tail and they both expect him to get his 9th soon and surpass her.

>>37008532
Not particularly. He only has 25 percent of the power of Taira when it comes to force attacks and is mostly good at healing and other specials like that.

>>37008471
I honestly don't really care much about them. We still get economic growth anyway.

>>37008659
>She says that while she is still a little stronger then him at this point in time
>Little stronger

It's going to be a while before he ever gets close to her. Mostly due to her headstart even if in 300 years he is as strong as she is now she'll be 300 years stronger.

>>37008709
>It's going to be a while before he ever gets close to her. Mostly due to her headstart even if in 300 years he is as strong as she is now she'll be 300 years stronger.
No, because his growth rate is astronomically higher than hers.
he got his 8th tail hundreds of years younger than she was when she got hers.
He will be surpassing her within the century

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>>37008532
You mean his ability to store power? Yeah, that needs to be nerfed a bit. He's supposed to be super dangerous with prep-time but right now it's too short for too big a gain.

>2.

Taking the easy way out, by which you mean that you’re trying to mitigate complaints by Mana while keeping your knights satisfied in your ability to lead, you decide to take along Felix and Adele, with the magic-users watching from a distance and your knights by themselves. Haha, your knights. That’s such an odd thing, you think.

At the time requested, you slip through the gate with the captain’s help and make your way through the abandoned district of Balkarin. The main roads are surprisingly clear, even as many of the sideroads remain blocked by rubble and collapsed buildings. You suspect that the evacuation required the main roads to be cleared so that carts could get through – it was unlikely that the district was abandoned from the word ‘go’ after all. The grand keep in the centre of the district looms overhead, an ominous shadow in the cloudy night.

“It’s going to rain, isn’t it?” Adele asks.

“Probably,” Mana says.

You nod, having sensed the imminent precipitation. Your clothing was meant to get wet, however. Or at least, it could stand getting wet without completely soaking through and ruining your mobility. Your sharp eyesight makes it easy to navigate the streets to a building opposite the keep, where the front gate of the external wall is a pile of mangled steel and stone. Holes dot the walls all around and you keep a low profile in case there’s somebody watching. You’d be surprised if this area was truly abandoned, given how much of a haven for crime it should be.

>continued

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>>37008793
An elderly gentleman, wearing a uniform similar to what you saw General Irlin wear when he met Talon but with different insignia, stands on one side of an inner room. You note that there’s no way to see inside without being in the watchhouse – whoever you’re meeting is as wary as you are of being watched. He raises his hand as he spots you, his eyes clearly practiced at seeing in the dark.

“You are Tarfinn, unless the points of your ears fool me,” he says.

“What if he were somebody else?” Felix asks, stepping into the room behind you.

“Then my men would have spotted them,” he says, then grimaces slightly. “Not that they spotted the elf in your party – if we didn’t know your travelling partners, Sir Finn, this would have been a more awkward meeting.”

You nod, realising that the feeling of being watched was right. Whoever was keeping an eye out was good, you realise. You’d known they were there but they hadn’t used any magic and had kept their distance – the collapsed buildings likely made it easier to keep an eye on your group.

“In any case, I hope we can come to an arrangement. I need that keep cleared of separatists – different, I think, to those you encountered at Sarsk. You need into the lower levels to access the Place of Power for your Imperator. Do we have a deal? I think we can handle the problem if we work together, and not at all if we don’t.”

You…

>1. Agree to the deal. If it’s bad you can just change your mind later.
>2. Don’t agree. You don’t like the idea of working with the Guard at all on this matter.
>3. Custom

>>37008821
Could you explain the separatists? I knew about the factionalization, but this seems different.

>>37008821
>>1. Agree to the deal. If it’s bad you can just change your mind later.

>>37008774
Thing there is it's not power that matters so much as how to use it. That and the issue of him thinking he'll get it soon. Even Tssuchi mentioned it's possible he is wrong and it will take longer then he expects.

So if just depends on if he is right in the century estimate or not.

>>37008821
Dammit. Is this guy working for Irlin or Sylvian?

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>>37008887
You don't know what they are and he's unwilling to explain the specifics without agreement.

>>37008922
It's not a Warden insignia on his clothing but it also doesn't quite match what Nant has been wearing (though there are similarities). He's not exactly open to talking much until you agree to help him - it sounds like he's as wary of you as you are of him.

>>37008821
Try to suss out which faction he belongs too by asking him questions about the seperatists. Finn has ludicrous perceptive abilities so we should be able to figure it out quickly.

>>37008821
>different, I think, to those you encountered at Sarsk.
He is awfully well informed. If these separatists he wants us to kill are different, who are they then? that is, who do they owe allegiance to.
Also, which faction is he from?

And while we are at it, just so I understand it, he wants us to go into the keep, murdered everyone inside, and then he will permit us to go to the lower level of that keep we just cleared out? So what exactly is HE giving us in this exchange?

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>>37008957
>So what exactly is HE giving us in this exchange?
Did you miss the part about working together? He's a Mage Guard commander of some sort with his own soldiers and Nant appears to be helping him or at least helping you meet him.

>>37008821
>1. Agree to the deal. If it’s bad you can just change your mind later.

>>37008948
Yeah, I fail at intrigue. I'll be back for the next segment I suppose.

>>37008821
>1. Agree to the deal. If it’s bad you can just change your mind later.

I think this is different then the bigger issues.

A majority of Sylvians supporters were in Balkarin. I think its safe to assume if these people are separatists located in Balkarin, we should helpthis guy.
>>37008821
>1. Agree to the deal. If it’s bad you can just change your mind later.

>>37008922
I think he's reformist actually. They're the faction that's utterly screwed when it comes to fighting.
>>37008948
He looks important enough that Fin may very well have been told about him in his briefing, if we knew his name.

>>37008821
>>1. Agree to the deal. If it’s bad you can just change your mind later.

>>37008981
Ah, so the offer is that we fight side by side then.

Also, i am surprised at how much open fighting is occurring within the mage guard right now

>>37008821
>1. Agree to the deal. If it’s bad you can just change your mind later

I wonder if the EWTC can get their hands on that kinetic puddy that Pharos makes. It would be interesting to try some of that out, maybe develop some new tech? Maybe we could convince one of the people that make it to come over? Pharos likes to recruit Gauron mages.

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>>37009016
Which is probably why he's not offering his name - it's dangerous to him if you're not going to help him but know exactly who he is and where he stands.

Infodump incoming. This will be important to playing politics with the Guard, which is why it’s here and not necessarily just in the lore doco.

>1.

“I am Tarfinn and I will help you,” you say slowly after some thought, despite the Guard commander’s obstinacy.

“Assuming you’re who you actually seem to be,” Adele adds. “If you’re deceiving us we will turn on you.”

“That is fair,” he says, nodding his head. “I am Witch-Hunter Captain Morsen, ostensibly General Sylvian’s second and the commander of the Inquisition forces in Balkarin. Given my position, I’m sure you can appreciate my concern about telling you my identity before confirming your cooperation.”

“You could have just told us who you were helping,” Felix says.

“If I was certain of who you were helping that might be so. As it is, I’ll still take the risk in order to clear out the keep,” he explains. “Unfortunately, that requires a little explanation of the politics of the region.”

“That sounds good,” you say, keen to hear something that your master might find useful.

“Mmm, well, I am considered a member of the Loyalist faction. We are loyal to our true leader, Sylvian. She may have surrendered power long ago, and even bowed to the Reformists to split the nation even further, but she’s still the only one who has a true vision for the nation. Those like me follow her because we trust her or believe in her vision; others, like Inquisitor Nant, simply see no value in the others. They do their jobs and don’t see the value in the disruption being caused by this infighting.

>continued

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>>37009368
“The Reformists I mentioned earlier were the greatest faction after my own until the Magi Rebellions. They prevented us from taking action and lost most of their support as a result – unfortunately, most of their fair weather members simply desired change or power and just moved to the most suitable faction that opposed our leader. There’s not many of them left in positions of power and they mostly have support from would-be nobles and mages within the Army.

“Their opposite are the Extremists, anti-mage fanatics who I believe are behind my current problem. They like the idea of the Mage Guard but wish us to destroy all mages. Complete folly but they draw support from some Wardens and more commanders than they should. They skirt far too close to treason, though they believe that the Guard’s unwillingness to bend to their will makes us the treasonous ones. Sylvian had initially thought that the problems in Sarsk were their fault but we’re not so sure.

“Finally, there are the Traditionalists. You’ve no doubt met General Irlin – he’s a snake, if a moderate one. The faction has grown in power and the fact it opposes General Sylvian grants it more power. It’s easy to scapegoat one individual, particularly when they’ve held power for so long. The faction is so large now, across the Inquisition, Wardens and Army, that it’s difficult to pin down. Ostensibly they want to return to the bad old days of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Guard, where we turned the entire world against magic and killed millions. Most just want to ride the coattails of the faction’s success to grant themselves power. Irlin is the figure in the centre, influential enough to unite those with opposing causes and appealing enough to attract those who are in it for success.”

“What are the separatists, though?” you ask.

>continued

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>>37009385
“Many don’t appreciate the idea of the Mage Guard. A militant state that oppose mages, in their minds. They want individual towns and cities to break away and form their own nations. They attempt this by a mixture of conflict and protests.”

You nod and discuss the situation inside. There appears to be several hundred mage-knights and mages holed up inside the keep. Their equipment is Guard manufactured, hence the likelihood of Extremist help. The Inquisition wants this dealt with without worrying the citizenry – moving a thousand mage-knights into the abandoned district doesn’t achieve this. Instead, a few choice inquisitors and knights are being deployed. Morsen wants you to help them, believing that your expertise will turn the tide, where a hundred knights and inquisitors won’t.

“How do you know about the Place of Power?” you ask.

“Something I’ve picked up in thirty years’ service to Sylvian. That and I’ve heard her talking about Imperator’s Talon’s interest in them. Hence why I contacted you once our spies confirmed you were entering our territory,” he says. “She knows nothing of this, which might get me in trouble, but I have my own mission to take care of, for her sake too.”

You’re wondering if you should try to bring in more support – get Talon’s help? Maybe you could have Taira bring in Phrace and Rayza, with the elite knights. It would make this much less perilous. On the other hand, you don’t know how secret such teleportation is. You…

>1. Agree to help and try to get Phrace, Rayza and the HMKs along.
>2. Agree to help just with your party.
>3. Rescind your help, claiming this isn’t what you expected.
>4. Custom

Getting lunch. Back in 30m. Sorry about the huge walls of text.

>>37009401
>1. Agree to help and try to get Phrace, Rayza and the HMKs along.

Yes please.

>>37009401
>2. Agree to help just with your party.

>>37009401
>>2. Agree to help just with your party.

We don't want to spook them right away. That and Felix is in his element here.

>>37009401
>2. Agree to help just with your party.

>>37009401
>1

>>37009401

Agree, but we should ask our foxes about the possibility of bringing in reinforcements...

Not a vote. I prefer 2 because its much less likely to become an incident. Last thing we need is for other factions calling Syl a traitor for allowing TYE troops within MG borders.

>>37009401
Do we have any of the Fluffy tail knights available? That would be much more deniable if someone did notice, since the Inquisition does use foxes.

>>37009568
>Fluffy tail knights

Huh? You mean enforcers? About the only people I can think of that fits fluffy tails knights is Fuurin and the pride leader.

>>37009563

I suppose it depends upon how secretive we can make the port in and out. If it can be done without a hitch, then why not bring in support? Chance of an incident, eh, probably not a great plan.

Wish we could talk to Taira about it, I don't know if Mana or Kuro would be able to provide said advice.

>>37009608
Its on the battle doc actually. Fluffy tails got split into three units.

>>37009401
>Not sure how secret such teleportation is
Wasn't talon going to teleport in anyways to claim the pop afterwards?
The only difference with portaling plan then is that we portal before the fight, potentially warning them. So, aid can teleport in after the fighting starts.

Alternatively. we can report to talon the location and he and a few hero units can teleport a days travel away and outside of town and then travel in quietly to join us (we can wait a day here since we aren't pressed for time)

>>37009401
>>2. Agree to help just with your party.

>>37009624
>Wish we could talk to Taira about it
we can talk to her about it, using a sending.

>>37009701

Oh. Yeah I suppose we could.

what if we set it up as a backup plan. where they are ready to port in if needed, but only do so if we ask them to or fail to check in or our connection cuts out suddenly?

I was thinking about something, and considering i don't usually have time to post during threads now is as good a time as any.

What about Non-explosive (NERA) reactive armor for our troops? A rubber lining in between two sheets of plate would be pretty cool. It could also be used as some sort of mana storage or have some mana crystals to make it explosive reactive armor.

Concept/idea here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_armour#Non-explosive_and_non-energetic_reactive_armour

i was also thinking of a way to improve the weapons we have instead of just armor. For arrows, I was thinking mana-flechets or something similar. The arrowheads are charged with mana or packed with powder and designed to explode over a crowd. Don't know how well it would work against armored opponents but against mages with robes? Fuggedaboutit.

For arms, (like swords) maybe attach illusion magic to them, making it seem like the length of the weapons vary quite a bit, or even their size. Nothing fucks with you more than trying to block a sword strike that isn't there and leaves you open.

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>>37009568
You don't have any Fox Knights. They're there for the future, once you get Pride etc. Same with the Elites. You jsut have Bombardiers.

>>37009532
You can try to contact Talon directly. Mana and Kuro can't teleport (4-tailled foxes, remember).

>>37009663
I was talking about how easily people could sense the teleportation and freak out over it. Talon's plan may have been to teleport in outside the city and walk in.

>>37009811
>For arms, (like swords) maybe attach illusion magic to them, making it seem like the length of the weapons vary quite a bit.

That would actually be a decent idea. Would need to get them used to the real length of the thing but making a sword that seems smaller then it really is could be interesting.

>>37009811
>For arms, (like swords) maybe attach illusion magic to them, making it seem like the length of the weapons vary quite a bit, or even their size.

IIRC that's something Finn can do, quite well as well. We've just never seen it work in a narrative sense, that I can remember at least.I know it came up in the Yarras fight.

>>37009811
Well considering if we pull through with the crystal research, we could just use it in a gun like arrangement: The crystal is inserted into a rune encrusted power slot, and ammo (read, lead balls) fed into the firing chamber.

The pulling of the trigger completes the rune which uses power from the crystal to fire the ball. Walla, magical gun weaponry even a peasant can use.

>>37009811
>What about Non-explosive (NERA) reactive armor for our troops?
Oh oh! and we can also invent guns, and the internet combustion engine, and air planes!

>>37009901
>The pulling of the trigger completes the rune which uses power from the crystal to fire the ball. Walla, magical gun weaponry even a peasant can use.
Magitech guns don't work in this setting because ~reasons~
Also, even a peasant can use AA's

>>37009811

I think that may fall out of the reasonable tech for the setting. Maybe. Not to shoot it down, just seems a bit out there.

Though Aspirational has said that we're some years off from "modern times" and there's quite a few inventions to come. I assume Mal's crystals are one of them

>>37009941
Does that still count for grenades?
crystal into grenade top, have a moment or two to throw it before it blows.

>>37009811
>i was also thinking of a way to improve the weapons we have instead of just armor. For arrows, I was thinking mana-flechets or something similar. The arrowheads are charged with mana or packed with powder and designed to explode over a crowd. Don't know how well it would work against armored opponents but against mages with robes? Fuggedaboutit.
Mage robes are often enchanted to be quite strong. (its why they even wear robes in the first place, seeing as magic does not get impeeded by armor. hence knights aka muscle wizards)
Also, mage-knights usually have a glove with stored magics, those are typically rooting, magic missile like spell, or explosive fireball.
What you describe is basically the explosive fireball glove but in arrow format.

>>37009979
Explosives using evocation is apparently stupidly hard. Dorfs can do it though.

>>37009994

Settled, need more dorfs.

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Anyway, looks like 2. Nobody has said anything related since I got back so I'll just go with the vote.

>>37009901
I vetoed guns early on because they'll warp the setting more than I feel like dealing with. In setting, it's mostly because explosive and force magicks don't work properly and there's no way to make gunpowder-equivalents (Pharos' putty is similar but also very volatile). Actually shooting magical bullets also fails as the mages can't replicate the magic needed for it to be possible.

>>37009979
Dwarves have very limited explosives but they're expensive and export-restricted as they're a rune-weapon.

>>37009811
I suspect that any reactive armour falls outside of setting restraints. It's very easy to reach a point where you're stepping outside of reasonable knowledge or behaviour.

>>37009994
Doesn't even need to be an explosion, just have it spew a flame in an area around it. Or any other unpleasant element.

>>37009856
>I was talking about how easily people could sense the teleportation and freak out over it. Talon's plan may have been to teleport in outside the city and walk in.
In that case, logically, talon should just do it. Finn's job was to just find the pop, he did. And talon needs to come in anyways, we know where it is now. There is no reason for him not to port in outside the city with the hero units, walk in, and help us taking the keep here. And an HMK squad can be ready to port in directly into the battle if it becomes needed

>>37010029
Hmm. Going to be hard to come up with ideas on the fly. Does your Google docs have a laid out set of magic rules?

>>37010040
In that case, you need to figure out some way to get ad-hoc projection as a evocation ability so you can store it into a template.

>>37009926
> air planes!

We really should work on getting flying ships. Just because fuck your navy battles we'll just blow you up from above.

>>37009901
>>37009979
>>37010029
>Explosives discussion
antimagic. highly restricted and deemed very scary by many mages... but it is an extremely potent explosive (if a bit unstable)
although really. I don't see why not just make a bigger fireball. We already have gloves enchanted to shoot fireballs,

.... oh hey, I just got an idea for artillery.
Ok, so, the more mass, the more magic an item can hold. So, what if we design a "wand" of fireball (similar to the gloves of fireball) but 6 foot long and 1 foot wide. Load it up on wheels. Point and shoot out MASSIVE fireballs. Oh yea, and the whole thing would be designed to be mass produced in a magitech foundry.

>>37010129
Take a look at how expensive FMK are. Submarine patterns would be cheaper and more gamebreaking

>>37009926
>internet combustion engine
kek. it is powered by flame wars

>>37010144
Sounds awfully like a fireball cannon.

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>>37010144
Because then they'll dissipate 30m away from where they're fired. You know how there are all these descriptions of FMKs swooping in to do their bombing and shit? That's why. You'll have the same problem if you shoot small fireballs, too. You can't shoot reliable shoot fireballs and explosives with magitech due to the nature of its magic (which is different from humans, just like elves and dwarves are different). So reasons.

>>37010099
No, because outside of trying to replicate firearms and tanks you can do mostly anything but the costs of doing so are a bit funny (mostly because they all need research). That and documenting magic is a huge piece of work as it is and I'm not spending that amount of time on it.

Just ask if you have ideas, preferably post thread (though we don't get the second thread due to slowness normally).

>>37010058
Because then it just becomes 'you call Talon in, he wins, he claims the PoP, end of thread.' Plus, Finn wouldn't call in Talon to do a job he'd been asked to do in the first place unless he really couldn't. He wants to prove himself.

>>37010129
>Airship
>>37010144
>Fireball cannon

Combine the two and use them to bombard shadow beasts. Although I really don't see it happening before we conquer gauron.

>>37010270
>Because then they'll dissipate 30m away from where they're fired.
Are any shadowbeasts known to possess the ability to fly or leap over 30 feet?

>>37010171
Key thing is as expensive as they would be we only need like 5-10 of them.

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>>37010298
You saw shadowbeasts that were probably like 50 storeys tall when you saw the 'revenant' fighting at the Last Line.

>>37010029

Didn't mean to distract. I thought that NERA would be somewhat setting appropriate since it would be similar to impact gel a'la Billy Mays infomercial. You know, impact gel in between two plates to withstand forced blows? That's why I said NERA with a possibility of making it ERA in the future.

Didn't mean to distract from the quest, carry on. I do hope that illusion magic for the weapons comes through.

>>37010270
Righto, so as long as its something conceivable before the Renaissance and gunpowder, its fair game?

As for the long distance problem: couldn't we resolve that by tuning a crystal to release power over a period of time, thus allowing us to drop or toss it much further than normal for reduced damage?

>>37010323
>50 storeys tall
holy fucking hell that is BIG

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I’m not answering any more tech questions until post-thread, particularly when they’ve been answered previously (other threads, background material etc). It’s taking too much time up. Ask when I’m not writing.

>2.

You organise the assault the next night, bringing along your full party. Somebody appears to have let slip the information to the enemy, however. The keep is much more alive than it was last night and you can see the mage-knights and mages patrolling in the courtyard and damaged sections of the keep. Morsen, Nant, another Inquisitor named Vorsy and the knights linger around the front of the keep, staying out of sight while Mana and Kuro scout out what they can. It seems absurd that two foxes with big white fluffy tails can stay hidden so well but they’re rather good at it. You suspect that anybody without keen magical senses would struggle to know when they’re present at all.

Mana drops from the tower near you, landing soundlessly. You turn to her, the others having not noticed her yet.

[DC11/17 Intelligence Gathering]

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>37010418

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>37010418

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>37010418

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>37010418
Dice gods I'll suck your dick if this is a good roll.

>>37010436
>>37010440
Sweet.

>>37010429
>>37010436
>>37010440

I'll take it.

>>37010436
>>37010440

>Finn threads with all of these rolls

Best squire.

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>Higher target met

“Captain Morsen was roughly right in terms of numbers,” Mana says, the others spinning in surprise at her voice. “I place about three hundred and twenty mage-knights with perhaps a dozen mages. It’s the latest model of mage-knight plate of the Guard, which I’m told is warded against magic better. You’ll need to be careful when using magic against them.”

“How are they stationed?” Felix asks.

“Kuro only slipped inside briefly to confirm but we believe that around half of them are clustered inside the great hall, where the hidden staircase that allows access to the Place of Power is. Not that it’s hidden anymore.”

“That sounds almost like they’re using it,” Adele says.

Your blood runs cold. “What happens if they claim it?”

>continued

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>>37010595
“The mage that grabs it gets a small power boost, maybe enough to let him summon a powerful familiar. Assuming he knows how to claim it,” Laryya says, obviously unworried. “Powerful here meaning something to challenge me at the very most. Most likely you’d be able to stomp whatever he brings up, assuming he doesn’t just use it to keep his reserves high. Were there any easy entrances?”

“Not easy ones but the more magical of us can probably scale a poorly guarded tower that’s almost collapsed. I wouldn’t suggest trying to leverage anything against it to climb, however. It looks unstable and is mostly something we’d probably leap across onto from the old church nearby.”

It’s probably a good thing the separatists aren’t wandering outside the keep then, you think. That doesn’t leave you much in the way of options, however. All that really comes to yours and Felix’s mind is a full frontal assault, a two-pronged assault from both sides and a frontal assault backed up by a surprise attack from within by the magical members of the party.

>1. Full frontal assault. Everybody charges in through the collapsed front gate.
>2. Two-pronged assault. Split the party in two to support two separate units of knights on each side of the courtyard. Vulnerable to the enemy actively fighting one side harder than the other.
>3. Surprise attack. Sneak in with the most powerful members of your party to launch a nasty surprise assault while the knights charge in from the front.
>4. Custom

>>37010610
>3. Surprise attack. Sneak in with the most powerful members of your party to launch a nasty surprise assault while the knights charge in from the front.

>>37010610
>3. Surprise attack. Sneak in with the most powerful members of your party to launch a nasty surprise assault while the knights charge in from the front.

>>37010610
>>3. Surprise attack. Sneak in with the most powerful members of your party to launch a nasty surprise assault while the knights charge in from the front.
Have the knights charge in on some kind of signal, just in case

>>37010610
>3

Also, just saying it now. But we should loot as many of those MK plates add possible, for research purposes.

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Writing 3.

>>37010708
I think you might find it hard to loot Mage Guard equipment from the Guard.

>>37010335
It's not in relation to Renaissance or anything, I'm just keeping guns out of it. There's horseless carriages that are propelled by simple magitech engines. The main thing is that people overstate the power of magitech despite the fact that even the best machined plate can't even do Empower Self I, not to mention the issues with magical ephemera rapidly dissipating over range. It also takes a long time - it took them 80 years to get to their current point since creating magitech factories and regular enchantment still produces better things.

The crystal idea doesn't work because enchantments only work when being used (e.g. actively held and used). That's why grenades don't work except for dwarves - the second you throw them they'll cease to work or the ephemera will run out (especially due to the general issues in controlling fire and explosive magic - Sala can do intricate tricks that most mages can but dream of).

>>37010610

Could Laryya partially collapse the keep on them?

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>>37010834
Not without a ritual which would be easily detectable and she'd have to be relatively close to the keep. The best she can do otherwise is knock out portions but she'd have to be right next to them.

>>37010610
What is Adele's specialty? I seriously doubt she can summon a griffon, but I suppose its still worth asking.

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Creativity is shot a bit. I'll churn out this update once I can and wrap up the thread in a few more as a result. Probably not a bad day for this to happen given there doesn't appear to be much participation, except for people discussing things ruled out in the first few threads.

>>37011151
We've apparently got a decent number of posters, they just seem to be positing slowly.

>>37011151

I'm not sure why the low amount of participation tonight. Not like it's a disinteresting subject.

>>37011241
Because everyone is playing the video games they got for Christmas.

>>37011241
>149 / 28 / 22

I honestly wouldn't call that too low though it is slow.

With the slow posting happening, what do the people here think of the Imperial Academy idea that was posted a few threads ago?

>>37011341

If we're taking about the Battle mage thong, fully agree, sounds great.

Actually, if we're going to be doing some healthy time skips soon, I think we should make a list of things to work on during said time. I.e. construction projects, Orders/Towers/Misc., research projects, etc.

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>>37011296
Number of posters isn't the problem nor is number of votes. I don't care about those. Actual participation in the quest, aside from discussion of tangents and people just posting a number or roll, is terrible. Which is pretty draining given I'm trying to put interesting things in this thread.

Anyway, I’m probably not going to respond to anything that isn’t directly related to what is happening. This is mostly just the end result of frustrations that were building up even before my recent break. I’ll probably post something on that after I wrap this up.

>3.

Getting into the keep was easy enough – a long leap of faith from a titled church tower to the partially collapsed tower of the keep. Laryya had carried Adele over, whereas Mana, Kuro, Felix and yourself had made the leap easily. The knights and ranger had preferred to remain on the ground so that you could relay any intelligence to them via sendings from Adele.

The keep is sparsely manned, particularly on this side. You’re almost certain that there is a spy in Morsen’s ranks, as the keep was incredibly active on the other side. Then again, Mana also said that this area had been more active lately. That doesn’t make you feel very good. Has somebody lain a trap?

[DC12 Stealth]

>>37011398
Boy that was a typo.
*Battlemage thing

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>37011410

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>37011410

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>37011410
I'm lurking, but don't show up in time to vote in most cases. After Christmas cleaning.

>>37011341
Not much honestly. I would mostly be useful if we placed it in Harrowmont in a space distorted area due to the training effects we could give.

Really the hard part is getting the standards set. We can't exactly make a mage tower without reseach and it's designed to be more then just that. Especially given Mal's tower is next door.

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>37011410
about that.

>>37011466
I don't see it as a mage tower. The whole point of it was to get away from that whole thing. I see it as someplace where our future generals, mages, and upper echelon knights go to be trained, and forge alliances with each other

>>37011410
>Actual participation in the quest, aside from discussion of tangents and people just posting a number or roll, is terrible. Which is pretty draining given I'm trying to put interesting things in this thread.
Eh, people have been trying to come up with ideas, the real issue is that most of them didn't pan out for entirely legitimate reasons, which made discussion on them rather redundant.
That, and someone was wrong on the internet.

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>target met

You were right about the trap. Two teams of mage-knights rapidly converge on where you entered the keep, moving swiftly and actively prepared for combat. You don’t waste time engaging them – once you’ve seized the central hall it will be trivial to deal with the rest. Every enemy not there makes your life easier.

As you slip into the hall, you have Adele let Morsen know to begin the charge. Then you slip around to the most suitable vantage point, readying your bow, while Felix and Laryya prepare to charge in. The latter is a little unhappy with having to fight but seems to like Adele enough to swallow her disagreement. Mana and Kuro find their own vantage points that are more suitable for their attacks while Adele joins you.

Shouts and the clatter of steel on steel signal that battle has been joined outside. Once they break into the hall you’ll shatter their ranks with a well-timed surprise attack, hopefully with the other soldiers on the other side of the keep.

[DC12 Knight Assault]

[DC11/16 Tarfinn Combat]

[DC11/14/19 Party Combat]

I’ll probably do one big combat update then wrap everything up in an update afterwards.

>>37011466

This is true. A bit of hand wavery would occur but we'd need to really sit down and work on the details.

Mal and some of senior Battle mages could be set on the task of writing a curriculum at some point. But what do we want from the school on the end? Better units? More plentiful units? Unique units? Specialized units? Summons? Familiars? Etc.? There's a lot to put into this so we recieve the best crunch and narrative unit possible, but all I've seen is make school achieve mages this far.

Rolled 8, 10, 4 = 22 (3d20)

>>37011587
I'm assuming this isintended to be 3d20.

Rolled 8, 12, 12 = 32 (3d20)

>>37011587

Rolled 17, 4, 19 = 40 (3d20)

>>37011587

>>37011540
Which then leads to the issue of lots of mages with no reseach causing no real advancement in themselves or prestige or competition to think about.

We will have to think about how to format it. So that we can in general make it efficient but without making it too powerful in the empire.

>>37011540
Where are you thinking of building it? In the region of Harrowmont or in the city/castle of Harrowmont or another location?

Rolled 2, 3, 20 = 25 (3d20)

>>37011587

Rolled 12, 12, 7 = 31 (3d20)

>>37011587

>>37011605
>>37011608
>>37011612
So that's a pass for everybody, but Tarfinn only got a low while the party got the highest.

>>37011641
that DC19 makes it look like they summoned something.

>>37011617
I was thinking near Harrowmont, to allow for survival courses if we include those.
>>37011616
The mage tower in Harrowmont itself will still be a thing, and we could allow mages so inclined go there, or, they could continue down as a battle mage, either way strengthens the Empire

>>37011617

Architectanon here.

We have plenty of room in the Noble Manors District, about 5-7 slots left. Lower Harrowmont has tons of room as well. And we've yet to do anything with the area on the other side of the keep that's just cliff face. So I'd imagine we could do it in Harrowmont, it is our military capital afterall

>>37011587
Tarfin should probably go for the mages first. The fact that we didn't see anything but mages and MMK probably means that those are the real threat.

>>37011692
Problem there is it's not in the source range. We would honestly probably have to stick it somewhere in the courtyard then use spacial manipulation to make it bigger.

Well ideally at least. Mostly because it would be better then having them visit the keep anytime they want to do something.

>>37011410
>Number of posters isn't the problem nor is number of votes. I don't care about those. Actual participation in the quest, aside from discussion of tangents and people just posting a number or roll, is terrible.
So by participation you mean write ins and people arguing about what action to take and trying to convince each other to vote their way?

>>37011616
Battle mages don't tend to research much as is.

Instilling more of a unity of research though wouldn't be a bad idea, the university itself could have collective projects to progress battle magic arts, sort of like how our Foundries have tech trees. The seniors/professors would lead projects while the students would just aid during their tenure, or continue researching post of it strikes them

>>37011779
The strongest mages tend to be the best researchers. Which is why even combat magisters tend to be godly at spell building. If you can't build a really powerful spell yourself then you probably won't do very well.

>>37011755

Well after 2 PoPs it would be close in the NMD. Might be able to get away with it. I think setting up the school is priority, Source abuse is secondary

>>37011341
I like it a lot.

>>37011779
>Battle mages don't tend to research much as is.
maybe not much, but every mage must do some research since there are no rotes and everyone is a little different.
And we can always start out with battle mages and expand the scope of mages that go there over a long time.

>>37011832
its not like the entire school must be inside the range of the source. we could set up a magic shooting range inside it where combat mages cycle in for training. Or a recuperation sauna where they can come between classes to recharge their mana.

>>37011861
And with spatial manipulation even one PoP would give us that would be pretty easy to do.

In fact keeping the school and "training ground" as it were separated might be ideal to further confound anyone that true to figure out how TYE suddenly got a mass of super mages

>>37011832
>Well after 2 PoP

If I remember right two would be the courtyard. So about three I think is NMD.

I honestly think we should bind the PoP to Undine. Source manipulation is great but it will still attract unwanted attention that we might not be able to deal with.

>>37011767
>>37011767
I tried man. Unfortunatly, none of my ideas panned out, and I got distracted by someone being wrong on the internet before I managed to come up with a workable write in. By the time I came up with one (Port in some/all of devon's Spell Blades, then have them walk into the city since their equipment really isn't that noticeable) the vote had long past.
Fortunately, I have strong opinions on how to spend our money, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me, so I'm sure that next thread will have plenty of arguments.

>>37011937

That was also quoted to us before it was discovered how ridiculous the Courtyard was in size. I remember cutting it in half because of that.

I'm not sure if that still stands now, or how Aspirational wants to handle that

>>37011967
Post them so we can discuss them now.

>>37011962
From who?
The Lords Know, at least about our astral powers.
Sylvian and Alyce have been dropping smartass hints for months.
Fenix has probably figured it out by this point, if only because of Undine.
Daruvi is in no position to attack us, and Malintine wouldn't risk such an expedition when the other Lords might go crazy at any moment.

>>37011962
>I honestly think we should bind the PoP to Undine. Source manipulation is great but it will still attract unwanted attention that we might not be able to deal with.

Seconded.

We're not really at a point where the benefits of having the PoP binded to Talon outweigh the sheer amount of issues it'll bring.

>>37011962
Basically everyone and their mother knows we have a source at this point. Shropham knew we had Undine. The foxes know we have a massive power source and so does Ren so any fox spies probably has mentioned it.

Basically assume everyone knows it at this point.

>>37012014

Here's the thing. It announces two things very loudly the the world.

One, we have a Source, thought to of been long since sealed away and forgotten by time.

Two, Talon is some super human with a measure of unknown Astral power.

The latter is becoming less of a secret the more Talon is in the field. The former is still our biggest state secret. Word gets out we have one of those buggers and maybe other people want that power, at any risk, or start going on goose chases for the others thinking they might be unsealed as well.

>>37011962
>I honestly think we should bind the PoP to Undine
I agree

>Source manipulation is great but it will still attract unwanted attention that we might not be able to deal with.
We already got that attention. Our secret is no longer secret and many many people know as well as powerful beings of all sorts. that ship has sailed by now.

The reason I think we should bind this one to undine is that her mobility makes it a more useful investment.
Furthermore, it is a well known pop and we don't want someone just sneaking in and disrupting the self bind. So, I think after getting this pop we should take a trip to the pop in the sithran mountains and bind that one to talon. We would have to fight shadowbeasts to get it which means very few people could threaten us with usurpation of pop.
However, if we decide to stop pop hunting here, then we probably should bind this to talon. If only to stop the possibility of someone sneaking into to the source and unsummoning undine (which will kill per permanently)

>>37012080
>Two, Talon is some super human with a measure of unknown Astral power.

Nah. You don't need to be astral to bind a source. Ask the elves that used to you know have a source?

>One, we have a Source, thought to of been long since sealed away and forgotten by time.

Which everyone who knows about Undine would know and somehow got to Shropham.

Pretty much the biggest reason we didn't was due to the danger of the archangel. But now with 3 hexes and our closest neighbors at war this would be the best time to do so. Especially considering this is in helldragon waifus region.

>>37012106
Honestly the biggest issue with the mobility idea is this is the last chance for about 100 threads or so to get a PoP. Undine works best as a ritualist so she still can pump out magic.

On the other hand being able to give Finn extra days to live+the pure number of benefits makes the Talon source most useful In the long term. In other words the later we bind it the less useful it will be.

>>37012080
Keep in mind that talon's control of that source is known to
>Thousands of foxes
>Any golden clan spy fox from pharos who snuck into harrowmont to spy on us (since it is our capital)
>The angels and everyone they told to
>probably alyce
>possibly that devil we encountered through that dwarf bandit if he bothered to research us at all
>Lots of higher ups in our government
>probably syl when she visited us there.
>Ooln's cohorts and spies
>Some of sarah's spies, which were actually from a minor noble house that worked for her, but disappeared during the civil war with vitria

The most important reason for us to have kept it secret was that we wanted to stay under the radar of super powerful beings like angels and demons and the like. but that is no longer the case.

>>37012221
>Honestly the biggest issue with the mobility idea is this is the last chance for about 100 threads or so to get a PoP
that is a massive exaggeration.
Although I am hoping we go for 1 more pop after this.

>Undine works best as a ritualist so she still can pump out magic.
That isn't true at all. Ritual magic scales with power, and undine is very versatile and is very capable of snap magics

>On the other hand being able to give Finn extra days to live
Where is this coming from?

>the pure number of benefits makes the Talon source most useful
pure number of what?

>In other words the later we bind it the less useful it will be.
Actually, no. Most of our plans for talon binding of pop become better the bigger we are.
Undine on the other hand, hits diminishing returns the bigger we are.

>>37012014
>>37012033
They know we have a Source yes. But the issue was us reality bending, not simply having a Source.

>>37012306
>Where is this coming from?
From a pastebin actually. http://pastebin.com/41KRHZ3Y
There have been a bunch of idea's thrown around for using or abusing the source. Most of which involve increasing the ability of our elite units (foxes, knight, mages and others) through training abuse.

>>37012308
>But the issue was us reality bending
Aka talon using astral power. which is widely known. more widely known than him having a source

>>37012373
>There have been a bunch of idea's thrown around for using or abusing the source. Most of which involve increasing the ability of our elite units (foxes, knight, mages and others) through training abuse.
I know, I came up with a bunch of them myself. I specifically asked about the finn longevity thing.
Also, there are a fuckton of ways to "abuse" having a super strong undine too. you can't just count number of ideas, but actually the effectiveness of those ideas, their time and cost to implement, etc.

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Huge update.

>Knight Assault: Target met; 8, 8, 17

Dust billows into the hall as a series of magical blasts ripple into the wall shielding the central hall from direct entry from the entrance hall of the keep. The room is then filled with the deafening boom of a barrier shattering and the entire stone wall coming down onto the cracked marble tiles of the hall. The knights of the Order of the Steel Lion shunt the wall aside with their enormous tower shields, their great suits of plate glowing a vivid blue from the active runes on them. Their helmets bear the likenesses of lions, great steel beasts atop their heads, and their eyes and mouths glow as the knights surge into the dimly lit hall. Great roars burst from their helmets, flooding the hall with the sound of lions and shaking the resolve of the defenders.

The sound of the helmets does not trouble them too much and they dismiss the sounds coming from each of the side entryways as mere echoes. Instead they bellow their own challenge in return and surge forward, maintaining a solid line of enchanted steel shields and a veritable wall of magical protection. A few stray magical lances surge overhead, though you don’t know who fired them, and burst harmlessly against the wards on their armour. Then the wooden doors on either side of them burst inwards, the wooden bolts holding them shut exploding from the force. From the left surges Darren, Morn and Perry, the golden griffins on their chest practically glowing from the light of the room as they barrel across the marble. From the right comes Captain Morsen, Inquisitor Nant and the inquisition agents that work for them, their blades gleaming with magic.

>continued (1/5)

>>37012306
>that is a massive exaggeration.

The other PoPs are guarded by.

The second strongest mage on the planet.
An army of shadow beasts
The archangel
Elves which has fought against the lords with 1/5 their territory for centuries.

>Where is this coming from?
It's been mentioned that we can slowly refill him over time. Which could be useful if he stays there for a few weeks.

>Actually, no. Most of our plans for talon binding of pop become better the bigger we are.

Not particularly. We can do everything we can do with One PoP as we can do with two or three. Undine on the other hand requires more then one per increase.

So basically if we do it endgame we get the same bonus as now only half the time to learn how to use it the best.

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>>37012402
Filled with panic, the mage-knights double back, attempting to form a defensive circle around the battlemages in the hall. The mages in turn prepare to fire their spells even as the inquisitors fire magic upon them and the screams of their defenders fill their ears as the knights crash into them. A furious melee is beginning, which will be broken by the mages if they’re given the chance.

>Tarfinn Combat: Lower target met; 10, 12, 4

You don’t give the mages the time to make a difference, putting a barrier-penetrating arrow through the head of the magister leading them. The other mages panic, many dropping their attack spells and casting more barriers. You swiftly drop another who hadn’t taken the hint and the rest follow suit with barriers, huddling together and scanning the hall in search for you.

Their searching is answered by more death as Mana and Kuro blast holes in them, their blood and minced innards coating the barriers of their comrades. The anti-arrow barriers they’d erected did little to protect them from the foxes’ force blasts and merely enabled them to be blinded by the slicks of blood that smothered their protective shields. A pair of magical lances speared two mages who were keeping their cool and the remaining group goes into mass panic.

As lightning, fire and blasts of raw magic fly into the backs of their defending mage-knights, the mages scream and shout for aid. Those that would aid them are being hacked down by the magical blades of the knights and inquisition, their military-grade machined plate proving no match for the expensive equipment and superior skills of the real Mage Guard. With the knights making short work of the enemy and the mages reduced to gibbering madmen, albeit ones that are being reduced to a holey mess by dedicated blasts of force from the foxes, Felix and Laryya keep their positions.

>continued (2/5)

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>>37012421
>Party Combat: Highest target met; 4, 12, 19

It’s a good thing they did, as what bursts from the dark depths of the collapsed stairwell is far more than the knights were easily equipped to handle. You had no illusions about the ability of inquisitors to handle the truly dangerous magical beings, but caught out in the open like this it would be a struggle for Nant to easily handle such a monster. The beast lumbered up out of the stairwell, its shadowy bulk seeming to ooze through the rubble trying to block its way. It stands almost three metres high, standing on a half-dozen tendrils of shadow and a mass of black rags, shredded and torn, hang atop a seemingly amorphous mass.

Surprisingly, the thing doesn’t seem as corrupted as you thought it to be. You’d expected to get an ill sensation of some horrific magical corruption but instead all you felt was a huge mass of magic. On the other hand, it was no more powerful than Laryya, weakened as she was. You doubted that leaving her to handle the beast by herself was wise, however. This thing was going to do a lot of damage and the first thing to do was distract it so that it didn’t slay the knights.

You fire off a triple-shot at the beast’s ‘head’, which seemed to bear a shadowy crown. Filled with lightning, the arrows seemed to make the beast quiver and the crown melted as though it were a piece of iron exposed to heats far beyond its melting point. It begins to turn when it’s bombarded with magical energy from the other side of the keep. Huge gouges are rent in its hide, the rags being blown into confetti by the force blasts of the foxes. A steel lance, covered in magical energy, slams through it and pins it to the ground, the magical energy eliciting a high-pitched squeal from the beast. The number of magical tendrils doubles, slamming into the marble and cracking it under the additional pressure, and it seems to coil as if to leap.

>continued (3/5)

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>>37012438
Job done, you think. The knights are doubling back, raising their guard as Inquisitors Nant and Vorsy spread out to either end of the shield wall they form. The beast is fully focused on your party but you feel that one more opening is necessary before the knights can pull it off. You’d also really like that opening not to be the beast gobbling up Mana, Kuro and Adele. You drop your bow, reaching for your scimitar, when somebody beats you to the punch. Two somebodies, actually.

Leaping across the hall, Laryya holds her spear aloft like a great trident being brought upon the seas by a wrathful god. It slams home, plunging deep into the beast’s head, before Laryya leaps off it, not wanting its being to clamp onto her. The spear continues sailing downwards, joining Adele’s steel lance in pinning it down thanks to the sheer force that Laryya put into it. While the beast was busy above, its tendrils flicking out futilely to strike the earth elemental, Felix came in from below, his sword cutting huge gouges from its being. More than that, he was draining its very essence – a familiar’s lifeblood was its magical energy. As Felix drained that, its ties to the very world were fading – soon it would return to being a spirit beast, the familiar bond that tied it to the earth breaking under the strain.

>continued (4/5)

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>>37012456
Clearly the beast did not approve and it let out another high pitched scream. Before it could take any action it washit from all sides by a massive magical fusillade. You’d received Nant’s sending and prepared yourself for another triple shot, enchanting great flaming fury into your arrows using the painful torment of your tattoos. Nant, Vorsy, Kuro, Mana, Adele and yourself all launched the best assault you could on the beast from a distance, striking it from all directions bar the front, where Felix tore it asunder, and the back. The back was where the most decorated of the Steel Lions laid in, charging forwards with their halberds, bardiches and greataxes. The runes of their weapons flared magnificently as they cut into the monster’s flank. Then Felix plunged his sword deep into the beast’s bowel and, with a great shudder, it burst like a balloon into a great prismatic explosion of light.

The rest was mop-up, with little of importance after the climactic battle. All that remained was for Talon to arrive with Undine and Taira to…

>1. Claim the PoP for Undine (raising her to level 3/5).
>2. Claim the PoP for himself, granting him limited godlike power over Harrowmont’s keep.
>3. Custom

>>37012476
>>1. Claim the PoP for Undine (raising her to level 3/5).

>>37012476
>2. Claim the PoP for himself, granting him limited godlike power over Harrowmont’s keep.
Worth noting that people can reality bend even if they don't have asteral powers.

>>37012476
>1. Claim the PoP for Undine (raising her to level 3/5).

>>37012476
>1

>>37012418
>The other PoPs are guarded by.
They are in the territory of said things. There is a difference between that and being guarded by them. (ex: we are currently in the mage guard claiming a pop)

Also, we would be tackling such things in 40 threads tops.

>>Actually, no. Most of our plans for talon binding of pop become better the bigger we are.
>Not particularly. We can do everything we can do with One PoP as we can do with two or three.
I was talking about empire size.

>>37012476
>2. Claim the PoP for himself, granting him limited godlike power over Harrowmont’s keep.

>>37012476

I enjoyed the hell out of that.

Now I want Lion themed Knights even more.

Has Felix used his Consume ability at all between this beast and the Black Knight?

>>37012510
We will have level 3 Gnome/Salamander/Mal/Sylph pretty soon. So level 3 undine doesn't make much of a difference unless we immediately go PoP searching to turn her into level 4. If we don't do that then we mostly just equalize her.

So it's basically a question of empire wide effects or stronger Undine.

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>>37011740
This is the sort of thing I like. Little things that people add that I can tie in without needing to do a vote. I do that a lot.

>>37011767
Sometimes. I also mean people discussing relevant things, like who to bind the PoP to. Or when you annoy Sylvian, what actually annoyed her (especially when I hint that it matters) so that people don't all freak out when she gets upset and be upset that she's 'irrational'. Or taking 15 minutes to notice a companion acting oddly.

I don't mind if people discuss micromanagement stuff like the Imperial Academy. I only find it frustrating when it's obvious that people want me to answer their idea and then argue with me afterwards (e.g. that entire firearms thing where people actively tried to get around the 'I vetoed it for this reason') because it drags me out of my creative zone.

I run the quest to see people interact with the world and characters. I love seeing you guys come up with crazy plans, talk about the characters etc. Commenting on interesting things happening and discussing them also helps (e.g. the 'what's driving Finn' nuts thing, which vanished pretty quickly).

This problem has been around for a while and was a big reason I took the month off.

>>37012418
The only ones I can't see you being able to claim in a reasonably length of time are Darvui's and the archangels'.

>>37012476
>1. Claim the PoP for Undine

>>37012476
>1. Claim the PoP for Undine (raising her level to 3/5).

Binding it for ourself doesn't help during military action outside harromont, and we're quit to go to war with the Mage Guard, RSK, former RSK, pieces of the League...I'd rather Juice Undine for that mess.

>>37012476
>1. Claim the PoP for Undine (raising her level to 3/5).

>>37012560
>e.g. the 'what's driving Finn' nuts thing, which vanished pretty quickly
well, lyrra told us that she would discuss it later with finn
so it seemed like a "stop discussing this right now" cue.

>>37012560

This is just me personally but I try not to dwell on certain things too long. For awhile you tried to maintain a semblance of a schedule, and I didn't like to get stuck on details that may or may not be important. You put a lot into your updates, sometimes we as a collective take interest in the most ridiculous things that aren't relevant beyond a mere drop, but miss the big things.

I do agree that people seriously need to wait until after the thread to post ideas directed towards you. It gets annoying to read as a player.

>>37012560
>(e.g. the 'what's driving Finn' nuts thing, which vanished pretty quickly).
That would be the Arcitecture reminding him of Malantine, where something bad happened. Presumably there is some reason that the Elves haven't asked for their disposable tykebomb back.

>>37012593
>Binding it for ourself doesn't help during military action outside harromont, and we're quit to go to war with the Mage Guard, RSK, former RSK, pieces of the League...I'd rather Juice Undine for that mess.
There is tons of shit we can use it for that effect military action outside of harrowmount.

>2. Claim the PoP for himself, granting him limited godlike power over Harrowmont’s keep.

>>37012476
>>2. Claim the PoP for himself, granting him limited godlike power over Harrowmont’s keep.

>>37012635
Go on?

>>37012547
That post doesn't really in any way address anything in the post you are replying to. But instead moves on to a completely different argument.

>>37012635
>There is tons of shit we can use it for that effect military action outside of harrowmount.
yes. but those take years to vest.

>>37012645
he is referring probably to
http://pastebin.com/41KRHZ3Y

>>37012593
Other then you know giving us more experienced troops and speeding up research and the likes for the war. Personally I"m just worried we will all vote all the easy Pop into Undine then we will basically have to take over half the continent before we can speed up our research or figure out the trick to move things from the inside outside.

>>37012645
Powerleveling our knights.
Powerleveling our mages
Powerleveling our Fluffy tails, and using access to said powerleveling as a tool to get more of them.

>>37012476
1

>>37012665
I mean part of the reasons either the lords or Kushan was held back was the bound source helping out the dwarves out. Which does seem pretty useful to me.

>>37012476
>2. Claim the PoP for himself, granting him limited godlike power over Harrowmont’s keep.

>>37012661
>yes. but those take years to vest.
So we must start immediately.

>>37012661
>that pasteboard

Aside from the gravity training (really, we can't accomplish that through magic?) I'm not seeing anything worth the restriction of needing Talon present to maintain it.

>>37012476
>3. Custom
Is it possible for us to bind this one to undine while commiting to having the next thread be a trip to sithran mountain to claim that pop for talon?
I will be more comfortable with talon being bound to that pop instead.

We don't have years though. We need to consolidate everything, rearm and prep within 24 months.

>>37012756
Don't need to be present to maintain it
Source: Later part of that email chain.
Honestly, I think part of the reason people don't vote for binding is they have no idea what you can actually do with the source bound to you.

>>37012756
>I'm not seeing anything worth the restriction of needing Talon present to maintain it.
I thought he must be consciously maintaining it but that doesn't necessary mean "inside the zone itself".

>Aside from the gravity training (really, we can't accomplish that through magic?)
the gravity training thing explicitly says that it will provide equal results to our training cave idea. The only difference is that the training cave plan can get over harvested and thus can support fewer trainees.

>>37012772
Should link to >>37012755

>>37012759
You know thinking on it we could use our deal with the Dwarves in order to get safe passage to the Sithran mountains. The hard part is getting our army there though the league.

>>37012772
That is years though. And if the source binding will let us grab one more unit of fluffy elite, it will unquestionably be worth it in the short term.

>>37012777
>Honestly, I think part of the reason people don't vote for binding is they have no idea what you can actually do with the source bound to you.
So, you are going to ignore what people actually said their reasoning is?\

>>37012791
>The hard part is getting our army there though the league.
what army? pops are unsuitable for armies. they are for hero units only.

>>37012777
Probably. It just seems like the magnitude of power we'd get is negated by its lack of mobility.

>>37012772
We got about a year and a half to build up men.

>>37012807
>So, you are going to ignore what people actually said their reasoning is?
When they've repeatedly displayed ignorance as to what they can actually do, yes.

>>37012807
Aspirational's already mentioned we will need an entire army for this one due to the shadow beasts. Unless we want to charge in with serious risks of everyone dying.

>>37012816
Which is where abusing it to powerlevel our elite mooks comes in. Basically, it makes the Knights of Basette economical.

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This appears to be bitterly argued. I'll note that undine will get either Water Control II or Imitate Sorcery III at the next level (I'll let you choose) and, if people are interested, I'm willing to lock in the next PoP in the other choice. otherwise I'll just hold a contentious vote.

>>37012614
Finn also made it pretty clear internally he's never going to bring the topic up again.

>>37012616
Something similar enough. I was just interested that a bunch of people got the 'super-evil walls' vibe but nobody pointed out the psychological factor which I thought to be obvious.

>>37012756
Talon doesn't need to be present.

>>37012759
You'd be better off making a trek to Terrnaine. Trust me, you'll get a shot at the Sithran PoP. I'm willing to allow the Terrnaine visit, given that the Finn thing has been put off for a while. There's some relevant plotlines in that region that have fallen by the wayside, too.

>>37012615
>semblance of a schedule
Are you talknig about my post times slipping, my thread times changing or the fact that I let the whole quest blow out during that huge downtime between Taour and Shropham?

>>37012525
On one mage-knight.

>>37012476
Can we change this later?
that is, what if we bind this one to talon. then next one we get we bind to talon and then revisit this one to transfer it to undine?

>>37012777
>>37012832

You're being ridiculous and taking one of the most toxic personality types that quest threads often gather in that of, "everyone is wrong but me". Take a step back and chill.

Personally I see far more use in Undine, her defensive capacities with 3/5 power pretty much makes any attack from the southern RSK aggressors across the canal impossible.

>>37012832
>When they've repeatedly displayed ignorance as to what they can actually do, yes.
Talon doesn't know what it can do. he only can guess.
Aspir only officially confirmed a handful of things to us OOC
One person was misinformed about the fact that talon doesn't need to stay inside the zone.
Everyone else gave perfectly legitimate reasons.

>>37012816
We could create pharos goods.
We could power level everyone and give Mal unlimited mana for enchantments.
We could test out magical Theories that would normally be too risky due to sorcery.
Give Finn more lifetime in the empire.
Basically get nat 20s on anything in there via it giving nigh unlimited FR points effectively.
Fox training and testing.
Making patterns easier.

>>37012857
>You'd be better off making a trek to Terrnaine. Trust me, you'll get a shot at the Sithran PoP. I'm willing to allow the Terrnaine visit, given that the Finn thing has been put off for a while. There's some relevant plotlines in that region that have fallen by the wayside, too.
that, is actually pretty cool. I would be down with that. We really should take care of finn soon-ish

>>37012857
Don't lock a future vote. Since this is contentious just do a scene with Talon, Undine and Gnome where we can discuss the pros and cons of each choices.

>>37012897
>One person was misinformed about the fact that talon doesn't need to stay inside the zone.
And the fact that you don't need astral power to do source binding (elf did it), and several people have stated that they don't know about the powerleveling thing. And the idea that its a huge secret.

>>37012857
>Something similar enough. I was just interested that a bunch of people got the 'super-evil walls' vibe but nobody pointed out the psychological factor which I thought to be obvious.

I missed the discussion of this as I was just leaving work when the quest came up. But damn it if I'm not interested now in enchanting my walls with such, I didn't even know that was a thing. We've run into a real good handful of psychological warfare, the drums, oppressing walls being the two biggest. And have failed to use any.

>This appears to be bitterly argued. I'll note that undine will get either Water Control II or Imitate Sorcery III at the next level (I'll let you choose) and, if people are interested, I'm willing to lock in the next PoP in the other choice. otherwise I'll just hold a contentious vote.

This sounds like a good plan to me.

>>37012857
Please do Lock the future option. Otherwise this is the sort of thing that will come up again and again.

I would be fine binding the next PoP to Undine or Talon based on the winner here. If Undine wins I'd rather have Imitate Sorcery III.

Are there alot of ways to keep Finn strong if we reduce or remove his tattoo's? The only things I could think of are god knight like uplifting, vamparism and infernal contracts.

>>37012857
>Talon doesn't need to be present
So it's not like the TARDIS effect which requires him to be within Harromont/range of the source? Cool.

>>37012857
Honestly for me as long as we bind one to Talon soonish I don't really mind if we don't right now. I just don't want us to wait for too long.

>>37012953
A few items of power, basically.

>>37012857
I'd say just lock in the other choice. I'm personally for getting the limited godlike power but the majority present seem to favor Undine getting the boost.

Doing the mine PoP soonish sounds good too. Especially if there are plot threads to be had there.

>>37012913
Yeah it's a pretty great logistical boon.

>>37012919
Discussing things IC makes sense too but eh, I doubt anyone will change their mind on things.

>>37012928
>And the idea that its a huge secret.

Well it was at one point. It still isn't something to be mentioned lightly but yeah at this point everyone pretty much knows.

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>>37012942
The walls aren't actually enchanted.

>still deciding; you’re now Talon temporarily

Walking to Balkarin was time-consuming. It might have been relaxing, with Taira, Undine and Gnome along. Except the three of them were bitterly arguing over what you should do with the PoP. Heck, they can’t even agree on how Undine should ‘allocate’ her newfound power.

“Think about it, if she improves her Water Control she can actively lock down enormous sections of water. She’s not just moving water, she can actually make it actively dangerous. Even undead would have trouble crossing it,” Gnome says.

“Except that you’re telling me she can do sorcery that even Maloric would struggle with, excepting his enchantment and summoning,” Taira says. “If I had to choose between imitating Ren’s power and being able to slosh around some water I know what I’d choose.”

“She can already do amazing things with magic, the water control is what makes an elemental great. It’s what makes Undine the Great – she literally made an entire river impassable, forcing an army to march a week upstream to cross the only bridge sturdy enough not to be made impassable by her,” Gnome argues. “Though, uh, she won’t quite be doing that yet. Maybe a few days travel, though. A province or two.”

>continued

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>>37013069
“We’re assuming that it’s going to me. Talon should be claiming it for himself. All those ideas that he and Maloric have been discussing could finally be used,” Undine interjects.

“Maloric also wants Talon to grow wings of magic and flap about,” Gnome says, rolling her eyes. You can’t see her doing it but you know she is. “Them having crazy ideas is something that happens every other hour. They’ve waited this long, what will another year or a few months mean for ideas that will take years to truly come to fruition.”

“I do like the fox one, but outside of freaks like Vad the biggest limit is how much power they can build up. It would still take a few years to really realise improvement in most foxes,” Taira says. “Mind you, it’s only a few years for an empire planned to last centuries.”

“And the wait would only be a year or a few months,” Gnome says.

You choose…

>1. Undine
>1.1 Undine with Water Control III
>1.2 Undine with Imitate Sorcery III
>2. Domain Power

Final vote. I’ll just take whoever is in the lead in about 15 minutes. Not interested in a contentious vote at this point, as I want people to still argue. I won’t lock in the next one, however. You’ve got two more PoPs to claim within the next few years by my reckoning.

>>37012928
>And the fact that you don't need astral power to do source binding (elf did it)
Ok, so that makes two (mistakes, not necessary by different anons). Although this is a fairly tangential issue that doesn't really make much of a difference.

>And the idea that its a huge secret.
It is a huge secret. I argued against those people, but that doesn't make them "ignorant". It is perfectly legitimate for them to be concerned about this. I just happen to think its not as big a deal anymore which is why i argued against them. You, on the other hand, are being an ass

>and several people have stated that they don't know about the powerleveling thing
No they haven't. they asked people to actually name their justifications for talon bind, and were then answered with "powerleveling". they didn't state to be ignorant of what powerleveling is. One guy asked if we could do power-leveling with regular magic. The answer to which is "in limited amounts" (see cave plan)

>>37013088
>2

>>37013088
>2. Domain Power

>>37013088
>“Maloric also wants Talon to grow wings of magic and flap about,” Gnome says, rolling her eyes.

Oh god all the ideas given here are now IC. My ribs.

>>37013088
1.1

>>37013088
>“Maloric also wants Talon to grow wings of magic and flap about,
hehe, i laughed. (also, didn't I suggest this like, 30 threads ago? by using our project shield ability)

>>37013088
>1.1 Undine with Water Control III

>>37013088
>2. Domain Power

>>37013088
>2. Domain Power
Really wish you would lock it in.

>>37013088
2

>>37013088
1.1

>>37013088
>2. Domain Power

>>37013088
>1.1 Undine with Water Control III

>>37013088
>1.1

>>37013088
>“Maloric also wants Talon to grow wings of magic and flap about,”

Shame about that fear of heights.
And fire.
And general Mal shenanigans.

>>37013088
>2. Domain Power
Definitely the sooner we get it the better sort of thing. Plus, we'll just have this argument again twice more if it doesn't happen this time.

>>37013088
>2. Domain Power
I want to see how everyone reacts to this

>>37013088
>>1.1 Undine with Water Control III

>>37013088
Honestly I probably won't vote here so long as we go visiting the elves soon. Either way we bind another PoP.

>>37013088
Aspir, I asked previously. is it possible for us to reassign them later?

>>37013245
Then we'd just play shell games with the POP, binding them to the castle for infrastructure upgrades, then shutting it down in wartime to boost undine.

>>37013088
>1.1 Undine with Water Control III

>>37013215
Maybe well just project the image of us flung around while actually being safely on the ground?

>>37013290
Yea, that is one possibility
Or we can, for example, bind this to talon to run some tests on feasibility of our ideas. and then once we have some facts we can decide if he keeps it or passes it on to undine.
Also, if we go get the elf one next, we can bind that one to talon and then come back here to transfer this one to undine.

>>37013245
I'm actually pretty sure it should be. Due to the risk of Gnome being desummoned if someone else bound her PoP.

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Rolled 1 (1d2)

Yeah, I'm just going to put this to a dice roll. They're tied as of writing and this is pretty silly.

>>37013245
Oh, I forgot to answer that. Yeah, if you're worried about somebdoy else taking a specific PoP you can 'allocate' the power to different PoPs when you claim one. I'd probably fluff it more like 'you've lost a PoP; what do you want to lose?'. You can't actually change what your allocation is, though (e.g. you can't undo Undine upgrades and get domain or vice versa).

>>37013240
I'm actually thinking I might put a short delay on the 'godlike power' one simply because I don't want to deal with that right away, especially if you guys want to do the elves. It'd basically just be a 'you need 2 months to acclimate to the power of the PoP to safely bend reality without blowing yourself up'.

>>37012560
>I run the quest to see people interact with the world

Speaking of, we need to have a chat about dorf and Larrya related ideas for Harrowmont soon.

And no random anon, I have not forgotten about the building on/in the cliff side facing, I'm probably going to roll it into the next proposal. After I make this mess make more sense.

>>37013348
Could we at least ensure that we get the godlike power one on the next one? Because fucking hell.

>>37013348
Go Undine!

>>37013348
I'm going to ignore a majority vote and roll a die

>>37013329
I honestly think the Elf one would be the most unsafe one. The mage guard one at least will be around our territory. With the Warrior of Marie defending it from above and the main empire bellow.

With the elves if it is stolen we will have to teleport to it and figure out why and given the elves use it as a memorial. It should be pretty well known.

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>>37013356

Now with pictures.

>>37013348
>You can't actually change what your allocation is, though (e.g. you can't undo Undine upgrades and get domain or vice versa).
Yeah you could actually. You just have to have Mal "steal" the POP from us, then "Steal" it back.

>>37013348
>Yeah, I'm just going to put this to a dice roll. They're tied as of writing and this is pretty silly.

Acceptable. I figure no matter what we were all going to bind the next one to the other option.

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>>37013373
8 on each side, mate. 1.2 counts as 1.1 (hence why they were numbered that way). I just did a tie-breaker instead of another vote.

>>37013369
I guarantee you'll get it before the two really-hard-to-get PoPs (Guelburg and the Retreat).

>>37013348
Goddammit, now we're going to have to do this again in 10 threads or so.

>>37013411
If you read any of the posts rather than skimming them you would realize we are 100% binding the next one to Talon

>>37013383
Not if we can't repurpose the POP when we steal it back. Like, we have to buy back our previous investments before we make new ones.

Really, the only way we're going to go full god mode at this point is for Undine to get somehow permakilled and us to reinvest those POP points in ourself.

>>37013405
>I guarantee you'll get it before the two really-hard-to-get PoPs (Guelburg and the Retreat).
I'm mainly mad for the same reason that I'm still pissed that people were afraid of letting the daywalkers reproduce, it pushes the timeline back in a way that we'll NEVER catch up to. If we'll get it inside the year, I'll be okay, otherwise I'll probably sulk for a bit.

>>37013428
Nah, Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if people wanted to bind it to Undine. About the only way to avoid that argument is to have it something that can't be argued about.

>>37013405
Can we go visit the elves next thread and bind it then?