[a / b / c / d / e / f / g / gif / h / hr / k / m / o / p / r / s / t / u / v / vg / w / wg] [i / ic] [r9k] [cm / hm / y] [3 / adv / an / cgl / ck / co / diy / fa / fit / hc / int / jp / lit / mlp / mu / n / po / pol / sci / soc / sp / tg / toy / trv / tv / vp / x] [rs] [status / ? / @] [Settings] [Home]
Board:  
Settings   Home
4chan
/qst/ - Quests


File: 12345213123.png (384 KB, 900x500)
384 KB
384 KB PNG
You're King Andros III of Zerak and you've been ruling your country ever since your father passed away. You've dealt with a bandit gang which was threatening the kingdom, started the creations of a few new ministeries, changed some laws in the kingdom and summoned the kingdom army to deal with a witch which was summoning undeads in your kingdom. You are currently leading the army personally to deal with the witch.

***


Amidst the heat of the battle you send a detachment of skirmishers lead by Duke Arginout protecting the priests to catch the witch alive. They open the way through the undead and soon enough they get close to her, so close that the priests are able to engage in magical combat with her. She's hard pressed to defend herself against the magical assault of the various priests.
She proves to be a terrifyingly powerful oponent, killing four priests and maiming or incapacitating several more with her dark spells, but in the end one of our best priests manage to paralyze her with a blast of divine light making her fall to the ground amidst the hordes of the dead. Our men quickly take the opportunity to make way to her and ensnare her and then the priests place some more incantations on her so she can't so easily escape.

Duke Arginout has the men carry the witch to your presence for you to decide what to do with her.

"I want to parlay with the witch."

"Very well my liege, we shall perform the incantations to release her from the incapacitation just enough so she can speak but can be of no harm."

The priests smear the witche's face with silver powder and say an incantation. She starts to cough and wake up.

She immediately begins to cackle.

"So, it seems you have caught me. Took a whole kingdom to bring down a lowly witch. My work here was still incomplete, what is a damn shame. It would have worked, I feel it would. I was just waiting for the Bad Moon, I just needed enough souls and could awaken Him..."

"What nonsense is this witch? Speak plainly."

She cackles again.

"Foolish men, with your castles and towns, you know not that this land before you settled here belonged to the Witch King, who lays dormant in the hidden catacombs somewhere below your kingdom. But come the Bad Moon I am sure I could entice him to come back and reign again over what was once his were I offer him enough souls. I was so close. But if I shall die I'll die knowing that the souls I damned will be released to haunt this kingdom for a century and a day and your people will know no respite from torment."

"Damned witch, how dare you curse my kingdom?!"

"And I shall keep on cursing if you suffer me to live!"

> Burn the witch at the stake
> Ask the priests for some other solution, perhaps we could remove the magical powers of the witch somehow and throw her in the dungeon
> Offer royal pardon to the witch and let her leave the kingdom unharmed if she releases the soul of all the people she trapped
> Write in
>>
>>4610638
>Write-In
>"Know this scum, your foul curse has no power be on me or my kingdom. We and the gods themselves curse you and all your worthless kin, to horrible deaths and painful existance. May the god of war and the one of sun erase your very soul from existance.
Cut her head before any reply. Then have men break the body with hammers, for then pour on it holy water and fire. Throw the cinder in animals feces and burn those too for good riddance.

After that we talk with the Duke and other nobles, our personal campaign so far before their arrival as been a good success. But if such evil walk our lands then we must do more.
>>
>>4610638
strip her bare and order the priests to examine and poke her body for any hidden spells, marks, curses or traps. Once everything is safe, Chain her to the stake naked and light the pyre ourselves. Let's see how defiant she is when the flames touch her.
>>
>>4610725
support
>>
>>4610725
Do it!
>>
File: 12342131231231.jpg (64 KB, 600x600)
64 KB
64 KB JPG
>>4610709
>>4610725
>>4610764
>>4611783

You order the priests to strip the witch bare so they can examine and poke her body for any hidden spells, marks, curses or traps.

After unraveling the robes she was clad with the priests find her body covered in tattoos. It is unclear whether those tattoos have any mystical power or not.

Some priests find the symbols puzzling and want to copy them for later study. Others remember that the battle with the undead is still raging and we don't have time to waste with idle scholarship and should commit the witch to the pyre at once. Others yet say that despite her crimes her magical knowledge is certainly unparalled in the whole kingdom and since she has tatoos all over her body including in her back she couldn't have made them herself so there is certainly more information about other witches that could be gained from her.

> Burn the witch already, we wasted enough time
> Conduct an interrogation demanding to know about other witches in the area whether her tattoos are magical and how she got them before burning the witch
> Let the priests copy the symbols covering the witch's body then burn the witch
> The witch is more valuable alive, make preparations to haul her back to the capital
> Write in
>>
>>4612206
>> Conduct an interrogation demanding to know about other witches in the area whether her tattoos are magical and how she got them before burning the witch
>>
>>4612206
>Conduct an interrogation demanding to know about other witches in the area whether her tattoos are magical and how she got them before burning the witch
Apply torture if she refuses to talk
>>
>>4612206
> Let the priests copy the symbols covering the witch's body then burn the witch
> Burn the witch already, we wasted enough time
> Write in
Get the inquisition's feet wet by having them as observers.
>>
File: 21345231312.jpg (97 KB, 728x449)
97 KB
97 KB JPG
>>4612395
>>4613142
>>4613611


You decide to interrogate the witch.

"Tell us at once about these tattoos witch! Are they magical? How you got them? Are there other witches around the area?"

The witch cackles and makes a funny expression.

"Well, since you're so interested in knowing about my body art I'll tell you. Witches always organize in covens of three for three is a sacred number. One of my sisters got killed by your odious church of the sun and me and the other one instead of initiating a new apprentice agreed to part ways. That has been... decades ago. I have only met random adventurers and those foolish enough to wander into my cemetery in the mean time."

"Decades? You look in your twenties at most."

The witch cackles again.

"These tattoos trap the souls of all the people I kill. It is a crude method I reckon, one me and my sisters developed when we were still apprentices. I don't need these tattoos for that anymore, but you can't quite erase tattoos now can you? The multitude of souls within me don't make me entirely immortal but they ensure I never age what is almost the same thing."

"You will now burn for your crimes witch!"

"Oh but I don't wanna burn! Can you really blame me for wanting to live forever? I'm just a scholar, a very reserved one whose studies require a component which unfortunately kills people in order to be extracted. I've been wanting to summon the Witch King mostly to have someone to chat with in these lonely nights, being immortal can be quite a burden. Will you really kill a lonely girl who just wants some company?"

> Enough with your silly rhetorics witch, to the pyre with you!
> Release the souls you trapped and I will give you royal pardon letting you walk out of the kingdom free
> I'm willing to give you royal pardon if you become my court wizard
> Write in
>>
>>4614525
Anyone think we can trick her into releasing the souls then burning her?

If not then into the fire she goes.
>>
Wait... wouldn't releasing the souls be no different than kill her and the souls being released? They both end up haunting the grave yard.
>>
>>4614525
>> Enough with your silly rhetorics witch, to the pyre with you!
No thanks. I think I'll enjoy watching you cry as we roast you like a pig instead.
>>
>>4614525
>>4614602
> Enough with your silly rhetorics witch, to the pyre with you!
Okay, into the fire oven you go.
How do you make ginger bread again?
>>
>>4614525
> I'm willing to give you royal pardon if you become my court wizard
>>
>>4614525
>> Enough with your silly rhetorics witch, to the pyre with you!
>>
File: 390128309213.jpg (356 KB, 1600x1105)
356 KB
356 KB JPG
>>4614538
>>4614540
>>4614602
>>4614715
>>4624040
>>4624193


"Enough with your silly rhetorics witch, to the pyre with you!"

You have your men prepare a large pyre and have the witch chained to a large pole. You light the fire and watch as the witch burn.

After the witch dies the whole area becomes supernaturally cold all of a sudden.

"What is happening father?", you ask one of the priests.

"By the gods, a multitude of spirits must have been released to be causing such effects in the environment."

"Perchance could you cast a spell that would allow us to see the spirits?"

"Well, of course. I will pray for the deity to bless us with an area where the ethereal plane superimposed upon our own can be seen."

The priest makes his prayers and summons a ball of light that quickly expands into an area of roughtly 60 feet in diameter.

Then to our horror we notice that countless spirits are pouring out from the dead body of the witch and flying about all over the place.

"By the gods, we're getting rid of the corpses but we got a haunted graveyard in our hands now.", says the priest.

"What can we do about it father?"

"I'm afraid ghosts are rather hard to deal with. Each single ghost would need to be dealt with individually, what takes quite some time. With this many ghosts, the work could take decades!"

> Finish killing off the undeads in the cemetery and tell the priests to start working on the Ghosts
> Finish killing off the undead in the cemetery and abandon this cursed place to the Ghosts
> Tell the men to leave this accursed place, our work here is done, this place is now off limits to all gods fearing persons
> Write in
>>
>>4625635
did the witch cried or said something as she burned?
>>
>>4626203

She was under effect of the paralizing spell of the priests, she didnt say anything.
>>
>>4625635
>> Finish killing off the undead in the cemetery and abandon this cursed place to the Ghosts

>>4626666
Should've loosened up a little and allowed her to speak. She might've offered the solution or some secrets in exchange for her life then we continue to burn her.
>>
File: 123452413123123.jpg (175 KB, 920x652)
175 KB
175 KB JPG
>>4626203
>>4626666
>>4628418
"Kill the rest of the undead in the cemetery.", you order.

"What should we do about the ghosts my liege?", asks the priest.

"It's too much hassle to deal with them. We will abandon this cursed place to the Ghosts."

The battle rages on and many more lives are lost to the undead but eventually the cemetery is cleansed of undeads. Your mean then make a very large amount of funerary pyres to burn the remains of the veritable undead army they have slain to prevent them from raising again in the future under instructions of the priests.

Your men start pillaging the cemetery, desecrating tombs and mausoleums to steal whatever riches where buried with those ancient people of the kingdom.

> The dead won't mind, let the men have the riches
> That will not stand, forbid the men from ransacking the dead
> Have the ransackers examplarly punished with whipping
> Write in
>>
had a busy week, sorry for the small unannounced hiatus by the way
>>
>>4640045
> That will not stand, forbid the men from ransacking the dead
> Have the ransackers examplarly punished with whipping
> Write in
Set up a church nearby or if there is already one, upgrade it and give resources for priests to start sending ghosts to afterlife or make the move on to the next life.
>>
File: 83912739812.png (125 KB, 300x229)
125 KB
125 KB PNG
>>4640321

You decide that this posture of the men of ransacking the tombs of our ancestors is unacceptable so you forbid them all from doing it and have the ransackers exemplarily punished with whippings.

You tell the priests "Seek the nearest parish and see to it that it has special funding to start sending the ghosts to afterlife or make the move to the next life."

"It shall be done my liege."

"Our work here is done my liege, what shall be done with the kingdom's army?"

> We are done, disband the army
> Let's march to the northern kingdom of Askalya and surprise attack Queen Etherys
> Let's march back to the capital and have a parade to commemorate the victory before disbanding the army
> Write in
>>
>>4642874
>> Let's march to the northern kingdom of Askalya and surprise attack Queen Etherys
>>
File: 34213123123.jpg (49 KB, 500x336)
49 KB
49 KB JPG
>>4643109

"Let's march to the northern kingdom of Askalya and surprise attack Queen Etherys."

"A bold move my liege! I'll have the troops ready for the long march at once."

Your men pack their things and your army starts marching towards the north.

After a couple weeks of marching setting up camp only occasionally we reach the frontier of the kingdom.

"That's it my liege, we are at the frontier with Askalya. Marching into their territory with our army is an act of war. How should we proceed?"

> Send an envoy to Queen Etherys demanding her surrender
> Send scouts into her territory to discover the best opportunity targets for our army
> This is a surprise attack, just march straight towards her capital
> Write in
>>
>>4643532
>> This is a surprise attack, just march straight towards her capital
>>
File: 3123124123.jpg (97 KB, 800x537)
97 KB
97 KB JPG
>>4643809

You order your troops to just march straight towards Queen Etherys capital. You pass through many villages along the way which are spooked and your scouts notice that they dispatch messengers to warn the capital of the incoming army. Still, you doubt the capabilities of Askalya to mobilize their entire army in time to face yours and even if they could their army is smaller than yours.

After a long week of forced march your tired troops arrive at the gates of Kilfort, the capital of Askalya. The largest city in the kingdom, it must have over forty thousand habitants, it is protected by a massive stone wall.

As you approach the city you notice the peasants abandoning their fields and running to take protectiong within the confines of the stone wall. Archers man the walls and stand ready to return fire if anyone approaches.

"My liege, we have a limited supply of ladders and we could try to invade at once by climbing the walls."

"Within a day we could fashion a large covered battering ram and first thing in the morning we could attempt to ram down their walls."

"It would take a week or two but we could make proper siege engines, catapults to bring down sections of their stone walls and let our men invade in large numbers."

> Let's push our advantage, take the ladders and invade now
> Let's take a day to build the battering ram and attack their gate
> Let's take our time and make proper siege engines, I want to bring their walls down
> Send an emissary to Queen Etherys demanding her surrender (specify terms)
> Write in
>>
>>4643972
>> Let's push our advantage, take the ladders and invade now
get them before they can arm themselves
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 2, 2, 2, 9 = 25 (6d20)

>>4643983

You decide to take the ladders and invade immediately.

You have Martial 5 and your best commanders have Martial 6, so you roll 5+3 dice.

Please roll 8d20 for success.

I'm rolling for the defenders.

DC is 14 for you because they have a wall and 10 for them.

Whoever has more successes win.
>>
Rolled 7, 6, 16, 16, 6, 12, 12, 17 = 92 (8d20)

>>4644024
>>
File: 391823901.jpg (173 KB, 1280x1024)
173 KB
173 KB JPG
>>4644420
>>4644024


The surprised garrison of the walled city was still doing their preparations when our men started ascending into their wall with their ladders in overwhelming numbers. We lost plenty of men to archer fire and to the defenders on the wall, but we overwhelmed them in no time, taking over the main gate and opening it to grant the bulk of our army entry into the outer walls, forcing the enemy to retreat into the inner walls.
The siege of the inner walls wasn't much better for the enemy, now tightly packed, and despite our losses it was also not a particularly difficult battle as the enemy garrison was haphazardly assembled and didn't stand a chance to your entire army.
The entire confrontation was over within a day, with thousands dead on both sides.

You finally breach into Queen Aetherys palace. You're met by token resistance of their guards which are dispatched by your knights.

You finally arrive at the Queen's chamber. She's there in all her splendor carrying a staff and gazing at the scene of slaughter you've been performing upon her domains. Next to her there is a dragon, hissing at you threateningly.

"Could have just knocked you know?", she says.

> Propose marriage
> Demand immediate surrender (on what terms)
> Kill Aetherys and her Dragon
> Write in
>>
>>4644562
>Kill the dragon and take her prisoner
Is she a powerful mage herself that has to be immobilized by priests at all times too?
>>
File: 12312412312313.png (276 KB, 512x512)
276 KB
276 KB PNG
Rolled 14, 19, 13, 3, 20 = 69 (5d20)

>>4644770

You order your men to kill the dragon and take Queen Aetherys prisoner.

However, Aetherys casts a spell and erects a powerful magical barrier between your men and her.

Your priests promptly try to bring the barrier down.

Your best priest has Learning 5 and some of your other priests have Learning 4, so you may roll 5+2 dice.

Please roll 7d20 for success.

Rolling for Aetherys.

DC 10 for both whoever has more successes win.
>>
Rolled 20, 19, 14, 15, 7, 4, 11 = 90 (7d20)

>>4645928
>>
Rolled 16, 4, 20, 5, 10, 17, 19 = 91 (7d20)

>>4645928
>>
File: 12312412312321123.jpg (114 KB, 1024x576)
114 KB
114 KB JPG
>>4646002
>>4646079
>>4646082
>>4646084

Your priests start casting dispelling spells at the barrier erected by Queen Aetherys until they finally manage to disrupt it and make it disappear.

You find her drawing a complicated diagram on the floor of the palace with blood that she got from a wound the dragon apparently self inflicted.

"Damnit, how did you dispel my barrier so fast?! I trained so hard at making those... very well, I'm out of tricks, I surrender, but there are a few things you must know. I have performed a number of enchantments which require me to remain present at this castle at all times and if you choose to kill me or take me prisoner somewhere else your army will not survive the trip back to your kingdom. Also I humbly request you to not kill my baby, Gedrass is young but he's fierce and he's still more than a match to twenty of your knights easily."

> Kill Aetherys and the dragon
> Kill the dragon, pillage the castle and take Aetherys prisoner back home
> Kill the dragon and have the army establish martial law on the captured city
> Inquire Aetheris further on the nature of these enchantments she performed
> Write in
>>
>>4646140
Kill dragon, interrogate her and strip her too. She's probably hiding something underneath like the witch.
>>
>>4646151
support
>>
Rolled 13, 4, 4, 16, 10, 14, 6 = 67 (7d20)

>>4646151
>>4646208


You decide to have your men kill the dragon.

Roll 8d20 to kill it, DC 10, whoever gets more successes win.

Rolling for the dragon.
>>
Rolled 3, 16, 14, 11, 2, 2, 17, 8 = 73 (8d20)

>>4646226
Don't immediately kill the dragon. Wound it terribly and tell her we'll deliver the final blow if she doesn't speak.
>>
Rolled 9, 1, 7, 4, 18, 13, 3, 11 = 66 (8d20)

>>4646254
>>
Rolled 17, 16, 14, 9, 15, 12, 9, 3 = 95 (8d20)

>>4646226
>>
File: 3124523123123.jpg (77 KB, 960x540)
77 KB
77 KB JPG
>>4646226
>>4646254
>>4646266


The dragon kills dozens of your best knights, General Aetard has you evacuate the castle for he deems it is not safe for you to stay there, by the time you get outside you see the dragon flying away.

When you come back to the castle to interrogate the Aetherys you see the scene of carnage in the palace hall and a hole in the ceiling through which the dragon flew away.

Aetherys gaze impassibly at the death and destruction.

"Gedrass will kill you.", she says matter of factly.

You then decide to interrogate her.

"What are those enchantments you spoke about earlier?"

"My kingdom is very setentrional as you certainly noticed, and you might also have noticed that you had no trouble travelling through our lands. That's due to a pact with powerful weather spirits which I learned to summon and control, however maintaining the ritual requires me to remain here within the boundaries of the summoning circle which I had inscribed all around the castle. I would have made it all around the whole city, but at the time I lacked the means to buy the necessary amount of components, and guarding a larger circle would be too much hassle anyway. If the pact is broken upon my death or upon me leaving the area the spirits will be released and climatic conditions would deteriorate rather quickly. Worse still, these are spirits of our ancestors, and witnessing that your troops have spilled the blood of our kin they would certainly harass your men unceasingly until they died on their way home."

"Strip naked, I've dealt with witches before, I wanna see if you are hiding any secret marks."

"Well, except for a few scars from rituals, you can rest assured my skin is as pristine as the day I was born, the life of a queen doesn't conduce to much damage to your skin. Although if you do insist, I may do so but in the interest of preserving my modesty I'd rather do so in more reserved accomodations and with fewer witnesses."

> I don't care about modesty witch, just strip naked at once
> Very well, I'll take you to your private quarters with a priest to be examined
> Very well, I'll take you to the dungeons with all the priests to be examined
> I'll take your word, there is no need for stripping
> Write in

"My liege, what should we do about the city?"

> Establish martial law
> Let's just ransack the palace and leave
> Let's ransack the palace and take Aetherys prisoner back home
> Let's ransack the palace, kill Aetherys and head back home
> Write in
>>
>>4646323
> I don't care about modesty witch, just strip naked at once
> Establish martial law for now while we try to find a way to delay or banish the spirits.
>>
Thought this quest was dead, I'm surprised to see the odd turn of events and random stuff.

Why did we have to inherit the magically retarded country.

> Write in
We will have women search you instead or just force her to change infront of nuns or something.
> Establish martial law
>>
>>4646323
> I don't care about your modesty witch, just strip naked at once
> Let's just ransack the palace but not leave yet
>>
>>4646323
> I don't care about your modesty witch, just strip naked at once
That's what a witch would say. If we do it alone she will try to tempt us. The only way to be sure is to have her stripped and examined by all our priests in front of our army.
> Establish martial law
>>
File: 312312433123.jpg (97 KB, 598x900)
97 KB
97 KB JPG
>>4646332
>>4646443
>>4646587
>>4646973


"I care not for your modesty witch, now strip."

"Very well."

She turns her back to the bulk of your men and begins undressing. She removes her dress and then with some difficulty he undergarments.

"Turn around."

She turns around coverings her gorgeous body with her arms and hands. Seems like she doesn't have any kinds of marks in her skin at all.

You tell the priests "Examine her."

The priests examine her body. They find some scars in her hands, but other than that it seems there really isn't anything out of the ordinary about her body.

Satisfied with the examination you let her get dressed again.

"I don't know how to get back into those dresses, I need my maids."

"Fine, summon your maids."

"They are probably in the tower hiding in my personal quarters."

You tell some of your men to go find the maids. After awhile they arrive and help the queen get dressed again. It is a rather complex process which takes several minutes.

You tell your men to establish martial law in the city and they go out.

Your priests find a huge library of the occult arts in the palace with over a thousand tomes. The treasury room of the castle has a little over 5,000 gold in store.

You have the staff from Aetherys confiscated and have her confined to her quarters in the tower of the palace with some guards watching the door.
>>
>>4648079

By nightfall your men come back with reports.

"My liege, it seems the granaries of the city have enough food to feed our army for less than two weeks."

You summon Aetherys and demand some explanations.

"How come your city has so little food Aetherys?"

"My capital is a trade hub, caravans from all over the kingdom continually come here with food, we don't need to keep much in store."

"That's just poor logistics."

"Not when you have a kingdom in a frozen land that even with magical aid barely produces enough food for itself. I'd say it is exceptional logistics."

You were going to argue with her when one of your men comes with a message.

"My liege, General Aetard is requesting your presence in the War Room."

You head to the war room of Aetherys castle. There is a large map of the kingdom and its neighbors on top of the table and General Aetard and your top commanders are checking it.

"Ah, my liege. Good that you made time to come here. There are eight provinces in this kingdom and from the intel we gathered they may be able to muster a regular army of about 10,000 maybe 12,000 men. Our army is down to 16,000 men right now. If we could bunker down here and wait we could probably defeat them, but that's not really an option since our supplies are dwindling fast. We need to secure a supply line from home at once. I propose we keep 2,000 men here to maintain the martial law and we go attack the largest city in each of the eight provinces in turn before they have time to organize and mount a counter offensive. That if you desire to launch a campaign to conquer the entire kingdom, my liege."

> I'm not interested in conquering Askalya, we have no legal claim, the population would never accept my rule
> Yes, this is an excellent plan Aetard, prepare the army, we'll start the campaign first thing in the morning
> Let's just pillage the castle and leave this place, no point in even killing Aetherys, would just cause us pointless trouble
> Write in
>>
>>4648080
>> Write in
We cannot hold this kingdom without Aetherys' cooperation. But if she were to die or taken back as prisoner, the kingdom will fall on its own from harsh nature and infighting. We just have to find a way to leave this place safely with Aetherys in tow. Take her to the dungeons and torture her personally until she reveals a way to hold the spirits back. Meanwhile order the priests to study the library and the enchantments around the palace to see what they can do. Maybe there's a way to replace her spells or something.
>>
What if we moved her to the edge of her lands and threaten to take her away, and then let everything on her lands suffer? We'd be o our side, and she would be near the boarder and we can wreck her lands just by moving her? Plus our army stays safe.
>>
>>4648128
Support, supervise the interrogation so she doesn't die. We do need her alive until the problem is solved.
>>
>>4648274
If we're gonna kill her, we should use her as bait for her dragon first.
>>
>>4648145
The protective spell dissipates if she leaves the palace not the border anon.

>>4648483
Yeah that's my plan too. Once we figure a way out without harming our men, we take her back to our capital, prepare defenses, sentence her to burn and set an ambush for the dragon at her execution.
>>
File: 312312412312.jpg (20 KB, 195x300)
20 KB
20 KB JPG
>>4648128
>>4648145
>>4648274
>>4648483
>>4648500


"We cannot hold this kingdom without Aetherys' cooperation. But if she were to die or be taken back as prisoner, the kingdom will fall on its own from harsh nature and infighting. We just have to find a way to leave this place safely with Aetherys in tow. I will take her to the dungeons and have her tortured personally until she reveals a way to hold the spirits back. Meanwhile the priests should study the library and the enchantments around the palace to see what they can do. Maybe there is a way to replace her spells or something."

"It shall be done my liege."

You order Aetherys to be taken to the dungeons and you prepare to torture her, having her tied to The Rack.

"Is this even necessary? What do you want to know?"

"You know fully well what I wanna know witch. Tell me how my men can leave this place safely."

"How would I know?"

"That's not the answer I want to hear. Turn the cranks."

"Ouch ouch stop it, stop it!"

"Are you more willing to talk now or should we turn the cranks more?"

"Unturn it a little, how do you want me to think with all this pain, goddamnit."

"Turn it more."

"Aaargh!"

"Loosen it up."

"Whew!"

"Are you going to talk or you want some more?"

"I already told you, I don't know..."

"Turn the cranks!"

"Aaarggh!"

You spend several hours having your men turning and unturning the cranks and interrogating her, being careful to not hurt Aetherys too much.

Eventually she gets more talkative.

"...maybe... maybe there is a way..."

"I'm listening."

"...if all your men were my subjects then the spirits of the ancestors probably wouldn't molest them..."

"Excuse me?"

"...all your men have to do is swear fealty to me and my kingdom and then they won't be molested by the spirits..."

> That's preposterous, there has to be some other way, keep torturing the witch
> I better talk to general Aetard about it, oaths of fealty can't be taken lightly, let the witch go for now
> Doesn't seem too promising, better check with the priests if they had some progress, let the witch go for now
> Write in
>>
>>4651109
>> That's preposterous, there has to be some other way, keep torturing the witch
Strip her again and this time burn all her dresses. Light a brazier underneath the rack to heat things up. Pull it back before she gets burns and push it back in when it cools down.
>>
>>4651280

You decide to keep torturing the witch!

You have Intrigue 2 and the best auxiliars available on site have Intrigue 2, so you can roll 2+1 dice.

Roll 3d20 to determine success, DC 14 due to royal ironwill.
>>
Rolled 16, 5, 17 = 38 (3d20)

>>4652218
>>
Rolled 2, 16, 14 = 32 (3d20)

>>4652218
>>
Rolled 1, 8, 15 = 24 (3d20)

>>4652218
>>
File: 12313123123.jpg (364 KB, 1920x1028)
364 KB
364 KB JPG
>>4652233
>>4652244
>>4653639


You have the witch tortured for longer, stripping her and burning all her dresses, and having a brazier lighted underneath the hack to heat things up which is pulled back before she gets burned and pushed back in when it cools down.

Aetherys pass out from heatstroke multiple times during this enhanced interrogation insisting she has no idea how to solve your problem.

When you're about to give up before she actually dies from heatstroke she ends up spitting out some answer.

"... I think there is a spell that could fix the problem..."

"I'm listening."

"... a spell I learned long ago when I was just an apprentice of the dark arts but might be just what you need, it is a ward against spirits ..."

"A ward against spirits? How would one even cast a spell like this on thousands of men? Or even keep the spell active long enough for them to leave the kingdom?"

"... there are ways, believe me, but I would need special materials..."

"Special materials?"

"... something with strong magical powers, like mana crystals, dust from broken magical items, stuff like that..."

You go consult the priests about this.

"This might be possible. We can cast spells to ward against spirits too, but we certainly couldn't cast them on thousands of people for a whole week. A complex ritual with some material component might be able to do just that."

"And can't you do this?"

"Divine magic doesn't work like that. We receive all the spells the way they are from the god. The dark arts can be more versatile but they require the practicioner to research every new spell and ritual themselves or learn them from someone."

"Now there is the problem of getting stuff with strong magical powers. Where can we find mana crystals or magical items for we to break?"

"I don't think there's any easy way to do that. But we could summon some unicorns, someone could kill them and use their horns and blood for the ritual. Killing unicorns gets you cursed by the nature goddess though."

> I don't like this solution, I'm sure we can think of something else, keep researching the library
> Prepare to summon the unicorns and have some of our men kill them, we will have the witch do the ritual for us
> I don't trust the witch to do the ritual for us, this is too much trouble, let's just leave this kingdom
> Write in
>>
>>4654184
>> I don't like this solution, I'm sure we can think of something else, keep researching the library and search the palace for magical items too, there should be ways to do this without getting cursed or something.
>>
>>4654222
support
>>
>>4654184
keep her bound on the rack in case we need to ask more questions
>>
File: 12345321312.jpg (1.06 MB, 2560x1440)
1.06 MB
1.06 MB JPG
>>4654222
>>4654410
>>4654419

You don't like the solution presented by the witch, so you tell the priests to keep searching the library. You also order the palace searched for magical items.
You have your men keep the witch bound on the rack in case we need to ask more questions.

The days pass and reports come.

"My liege, we have searched the entire palace and we have found no magical artifacts whatsoever. The only vaguely magical thing we found was an alchemical laboratory filled with strange liquids."

"My liege we have been perusing the tomes on the dark arts. There are some classical grimoires, some rather rare ones and a bunch of others we never even heard about. It is a very comprehensive library."

"Your highness, the people are revolting in the streets, our men can't give their back to the locals that they are viciously attacked, and even after we increased the patrol size entire mobs have suddenly formed spontaneously to attack even our increased patrols and we have been forced to deploy more and more men. We have lost over a thousand men."

> Order anything that can be used as a weapon confiscated!
> That won't do! Behead ten people at random for every men that we lost.
> Confiscate all the food from the population, starving peasants can't fight back
> Write in
>>
>>4654569
> Confiscate and ration all the food from the population, starving peasants can't fight back. Anyone wanted for attacking our men will be denied food.
> Take hostages from both important and random people in the city, if they can't keep the peace, we'll behead two hostages for every one of our men dead
>>
>>4654578
>Order the priests to go through the tomes they never read before to find a ward we could use. Question if there is any god we can ask for protection from spirits.
>Check on the witch. Give her some water. Ask if she has remembered or thought of another way in the meantime, then demand to know if there is anything we can do to control her people.
>>
Why are we still here? Raze the city and march out. We can place a spell or something to freeze her and then when the spell wears off she dies or something. We'll be long gone before then.
>>
>>4654578
>>4654587
Support

>>4654932
That should be plan B but we should try to salvage as much as possible as long as we are able to.



Delete Post: [File Only] Style:
[Disable Mobile View / Use Desktop Site]

[Enable Mobile View / Use Mobile Site]

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties. Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.