The Order of Paladins are holy warriors who swear to defend the weak, destroy evil wherever it is found, and right the wrongs of the world. They are so righteous and honorable that the noble gods give them powers to help their cause.You are not a Paladin. You are the exact opposite. You're a real piece of shit. So far, you haven't been caught.Thread #1->https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5075383/Archive of threads->https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Scumbag%20Antipaladin
>>5111607It is a cloudy afternoon when the party arrives to the border-town. The moment they’re seen rumor has it they’re from the heartland, and heated debate swiftly follows whether they’re from the Order or are masquerading to be left alone by the local, and therefore mortal, and therefore flawed, authorities. Normally, the chance of the former would lead the townspeople of a place like this to panic, scrambling to hide themselves any and all evidence of their venal sins, but today, it does not. The streets are already empty.Brother Hemault takes a deep breath on trotting into the outskirts of the community. Like most of his Brothers in the Order, he wears a visored helm and chainmail of superior quality, the tabard of his noble family replaced with a yellowed off-white, once as clear as the driven snow, now scrubbed and bleached thin from a hundred bloodstains, unseen but never forgotten. His horse is no true scion of Khadon but it is a mighty steed indeed, of a burgundy tint, with wary eyes. The beast, too, has seen evil and both can smell it here. He pulls up his visor in a gauntleted hand. His eyes are grim. His voice, stern.“Something is wrong.”
>>5111613At his side rides Brother Miguel, also a veteran of the Order, though he rides with his helmet under his arm and his face is concerned rather than accusing. To Brother Hemault’s side and back is Tebaud, a young squire in gambeson, who looks at them in equal parts awe and alarm. None of this atmosphere weighs on a fourth, hunched man in robes and a small, white-pointed cap straddling a donkey. “Oh-ho, you two’re always worrying about ommmens this- ommmens that-“ he rides ahead, thinking little of their stares. “-take it from an Abjurer, this place isn’t under any kind of curse, ahah-“ The first scream cuts him off, a bone-chilling howl beyond any human longing. In it are no words but the implications alone silence the magician. Without a word, he trots the donkey back, spreads his hand in an arcane sigil and begins to mutter forgotten tongues under his breath. The Paladins grip the handles of their swords and look to the mage.Moments later, he shakes his head, any sign of earlier mirth gone. “No amplitudinal residue, diagonals are clean.” Brother Miguel’s eyebrows furrow with worry. “Ghouls, then.” Brother Hemault shakes his head. “No. Can’t be, we weren’t mobbed coming in. It must be-“ Tebaud, not a day older than fourteen, interrupts, “-quasimaterial?” A ghost of a smile graces the veteran’s lips, “Good lad.” and slips through to dead granite a moment later. “That means it’s here.” No words are wasted as they ride in, the squire at the rear of their formation, the abjurer in the center, either Brother as a forward prong.
>>5111615The streets are emptied aside from hushed glances of eyes ducking back under windows when seen and the after-signs of peddlers packing up shop quickly. A few minutes go by, the tension between them rising, and then snapping in two when someone rushes toward their mounts with a face full of panic. Brother Hemault quickly and cleanly dismounts. He stands tall and speaks with firm dignity. “Good peasant, I’m here to help. What’s happened to yo-“ The man’s hands seize onto his tabard with frenzied strength as he falls to his knees, scraping the ground and dragging him downward as he screams in horror. “SHOULDN’THAVESHAREDITSHOULDN’THAVESHAREDITSHOULDN’THAVE-“ Rather than strike him on the spot, the Brother lifts him by the hem of his shirt, shutting his visor and leaning his head back out of fingernail range. “Shared what? What do you need?” The commoner’s eyes have nearly crossed the threshold of sanity. “INEEDMOREINEEDMOREINEEDMOREINEEDMO-AAAAAGHAAAAGHAAAGH!” Now he lifts the townsman over the cobblestones, his voice losing any trace of restraint. “Tell me. NOW. What is it that you need?”The two-legged animal in his hands, snot-bubbling, eyes-bloodshot, looks at him and half-whispers, half-wails. “HUUUUUUH-NEEEEEEEEEY!!!” For a moment Brother Hemault stops cold, then a fistful of clenched steel strikes out, cracking the commoner’s orbital and knocking him to the ground. “GET AWAY FROM ME.” The lost-and-frenzied family man hits the rock and takes off on all fours, almost skittering in a mockery of human motion. His eyes sweep the street, cautious, and turn back to Brother Miguel, whose helmet is already on and shut. There’s a moment of silence between them, when one mentions the forbidden name with the black gravitas of a blood-oath, a fraction of a second before or after the other does the same. “…Sarintob.”
>>5111618On his donkey, the mage looks terrified and the squire, confused. “Sarint-“ Brother Miguel shushes him. “Boy, there are secrets in the Order, secrets meant for no boy to know and none to say aloud.” The Brother almost stands on his stirrups, sighing with resigned dread. “This is… one of those times a secret has to be told.” Brother Hemault shakes his head. “No. Tebaud, listen to me, listen to me now. You will ask no further questions, and you will, under no circumstances, put anything in this town into your mouth. Do you understand?” The squire nods. He doesn’t know the details but he’s no page, he’s had the training, passed the trials, he knows he doesn’t need to know. The party continues on into the town, before dismounting in front of the guard tower.A brief interrogation commences and five minutes later, all half a dozen guards are scurrying around the town with more gusto than has been seen in many years. They have a very specific mission with very specific consequences for failure. Outside of the noble-born guard captain’s office, as he struggles to synch a belt onto his beer-belly’d frame, both of the veterans are in a pitched discussion. The abjurer is outside, maintaining an alarm ward mentally linked to each of the four, and the trained horses among them as well.Brother Miguel’s voice is gentle and laden with pity. “There has to be another way, there can’t simply be-“ Brother Hemault speaks, on the verge of tears but far harder. “Brother, you’ve read the same texts I have. You’ve seen the same horrors inked onto-“ The other shakes his head. “-Brother, these are innocents, they can’t simply be-“ “BROTHER! THAT IS WHY! The nearest high priest is WEEKS away! They are INNOCENTS, and if they are yet given the final mercy, their souls may yet be saved!” Brother Miguel leans the back of his head against the wall. He tries to retort but the words die in his mouth. He knows he is right. He remembers the studies. The bodies of men broken into nameless abominations. The winged, scything centipedes. The honey, growing in the bloated dead… pooling in the very rainwater… not enough, never enough.All of this he knew was real, every one of the Order knew, but none he hoped to challenge- until today. Brother Hemault steps away from the door, marching with iron discipline, fallen back onto the fundamentals. Brother Miguel whispers a single word as the shame to his lineage staggers out, the reek of cheap alcohol stale on his clothes and fresh on his breath.“Mercy.”
Rolled 6, 3, 2 + 10 = 21 (3d10 + 10)>>5111622Almost two hours later, everyone that’s had confirmed exposure has been taken to the ashen ruins of the pantheon’s temple. All nine of them. They’ve been blindfolded, told to kneel with their heads bowed, and say not a word lest they miss the chance to get any more of their- “huuuhney, huuuhneeeeey, huuuhnee-” None react to the slight indiscretion from the elderly incense-seller in their midst, or looks him in the fogged cataracts. Behind them stand both Brothers of the Order. The squire is nowhere to be seen, nor is the mage. They’re in the tower, the latter trying to distract the former with desperate stories of nonsense while he lays his head against the bare stone and recites fervent prayers to Byrsia, the Good Maiden, not Joyful, but Weeping.The Paladins stare into each other’s eyes. They know what has to be done. Brother Hemault goes to raise his sword with zeal, pauses for a second that lasts forever, and sobs, faintly. Brother Miguel touches his shoulder and steps forward. His sword is held in one hand, firm, and he speaks in a holy tongue. Its terms are lost to those listening but its meaning is of a profoundness that transcends linguistics. It is a prayer, not for peace, not for war, but for mourning and ushering a soul into the noble halls. “So be it.”The Brother’s sword descends with righteous might.>rolling 3d10+10 and 1d6 for damage
>>5111627>Honey Victim has been dealt 21 damage!>Honey Victim has -15/6 HP left!Brother Miguel doesn’t stop after the first strike, but moves too quickly to dwell on the act and stop himself, striking the second in the same moment, but he’s stopped from the third by the palm of a gauntlet. “Brother. I can’t let you bear this weight alone.” The Paladin forces himself to watch as Brother Hemault, an unmoving bedrock he and others have relied on, cleanly severs the head of a young boy who knew no better and weeps, audibly choked with tears, as he continues without flinching, his motions mechanical. None of the victims react to their execution, what some would call a euthanization, until the last two realize what’s going on and break down, groaning in horror at what they’ve become but not moving a muscle. In an instant, their eternal souls are freed from the temptations of the flesh.Both of the Paladins wipe their swords clean, on their own tabards, and sheath them in noble resignation. They hold a solemn vigil and soon after, move on. There is business that needs taking care of.
>>5111628“There were rumors of the dead, then, mutilated?” The captain of the guard stares ahead, a shaking glass in his hand, a vain attempt to forget what he’s seen. He nods. “And you did nothing? Doubled no patrols? Sent no missives? SHUT NO BOTTLES?!?” The noble, undeserving of his title, shakes his head, convicted by holy guilt. “No… No, we- we assumed it was-“ Brother Miguel is furious. “IT WAS WHO? WHO!?!?” The captain sobs. “The B-Black Dyad.” The Paladin slams his gauntlet onto the fine table, cracking it. He could not care less, and Brother Hemault, ordinarily prone to polite manners, says not a word. “A CORPSE IN EVERY WELL? A FAMILY-FARM RAZED? ARCHDEMONIC TAINT IN EVERY WATER BUCKET!?!?” He breathes heavily, swiftly, righteous indignation reaching a fever pitch. “Does this LOOK like mafia activity, to you?” The captain closes his eyes and takes the glass to his lips.A gauntlet smacks it out of his hand and into the far wall, where it shatters. “ANSWER ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO-!” Brother Hemault lays his hand onto Brother Miguel’s shoulder. “Brother, let not wrath overtake you. Remember the fate of…” Another secret, in the Order. The Paladin calms. “This is manifestly, by every metric I can muster, clearly not “mafia” activity captain. There is no profit motivation. No external criminal involvement. Not a single calling card left behind. This was-“ Brother Hemault gives a nod. “-a cult.” The captain shakes his head, hands unconsciously grasping for a glass that isn’t there any more. “-n-no, a man.” Both of the Brothers turn to him. “A man, you say?” “Tell us more of this man.” He leans back in his chair of office. He knows very well it might be one of the last times he sits in it. “Very well… sometime, a few weeks ago…”
>>5111607link is unsafe OP. i think the archive address might have changed.
>>5111630The party are in an austere campsite, in the woods outside of town late at night. The boy is in prayer and the abjurer meditating, maintaining much heavier wards than usual. “This “man” of the captain’s…” Brother Miguel nods, as the other continues. “He is a danger. By the drunks we interviewed-“ “-he is a danger beyond mere men.” Brother Hemault stops. “Even one of the… Fallen… wouldn’t consort with such horrors. This is something else. Something fouler.” They lower their voices to a whisper, so that Tebaud and the mage cannot hear them, but in truth, the cross-legged, entranced old man hears them with crystal clarity, and says nothing, for he knows what is and isn’t beyond his paygrade.“A Hellknight. Or worse- a False Prophet, in the borderlands so near.” “Brother Hemault, I fear you speak the truth. Shall we ride at dawn?” There is a moment of strained, desperate silence. “…No.” “No? But what of-“ “Brother Miguel, this is a threat beyond us and I will abide none of your glory-seeking. We must alert the Grand Marshall at once.” “...A righteous host then. A score of hardened Justicars astride Khadon’s finest-!”“No!” “No? Again, you-“ “-and send a warning bell to every hidden sect, reprobate heresy, and ritual circle in the kingdom? No. I am not the Grand Marshall, though I know of him well. He is a man of tact and caution. He will send a few, Knight-Paladins of the highest degree, firm of steel and strong of soul. If any higher were to go missing, rumours will spread and see us undone. No, Brother, we will ride back as fast as Khadon’s blessing can carry us…” “…and then our Brothers will ride this blasphemer down.” The Paladin grips his fist, crushing nothing with a vengeance. “Aye, and I pray to every noble god, angel, and holy man with ears to hear that I am among them.” Brother Miguel’s eyes are alight with fire. “Dalhurst cannot be forgotten. We will send for questioners, spies-” “Hold, do you feel something? As if, just out of sight-“ Before either can turn to look, reality blinks.>END OF INTERLUDE
>>5111635It has, the new archive should be here https://lws.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=scumbag
>>5111759You mean https://lws.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=scumbag
>>5111877Apparently I did mean that, yeah
>>5111637fuck yeah I'm hyped.
[insert incoherent hype here]
>>5111637Well, fuck, we should've stayed quiet until they fell for our tomb ambush before engaging in unholy fuckery.
So, is this happening while Melvin is traveling or is the reality blinking in reference to him trying to make a sacrifice. I'm honestly disappointed we only got to nine people with the wells, but I'm not surprised. Dude should have only tossed bodies into the ones were we weren't putting honey, so that everyone went to the cleaner one.
>>5112046should have left some type of blood trail leading to the crypt, just to ensure they would have went there. Yo, QM, regarding the twitching twitching thing? Does this mean Melvin can notice if something is waiting to ambush us in the tall grass or in bushes and trees? Since it wouldn't be twitching like how the wind normally would have moved it?
>>5112046Nothing we can do about it now. But they might still visit it, the place is foul and the evil in it can be sensed for sure by them. This paladins seems diligent as well. There is also a shrine of Sarintob there in the crypt, so this might send them somewhere else.More importantly we have learn some meta things and a normal one. 1 Khadon men are dangerous. 2 Sarintob honey could be used for make half human-demon-monsters, and is incredibly addictive. 3 We should start to cover our tracks and camps when we travel
>>5112098I agree with the things you've said we learned.That being said, I don't agree that they'll check out the tomb, this event with the honey and evidence we've left regarding our raids on the farmsteads have spooked the paladins into believing there is a hellknight or prophet of the Ignoble Gods around. This has overshadowed their original mission. Hemault seems to believe the Grand Marshall will send a select few elite paladins after this town and us if they happen to get a greater inkling of our responsibility for these acts. Regardless of whether Hemault or Miguel is right about the response we are fucked if we stay here too long.I think we ought to finish up and rituals, training and corruption of our minions and then do a final attack/raid for supplies on the town before fucking off into the borderlands or a neighbouring country. While it may seem lame to run away from the plot hooks, we simply aren't ready to face the best of the best the paladins have to offer, hell, I don't think we could take THESE paladins in a fight even if we got a perfect roadside ambush off on them.I did briefly entertain the idea of rushing a bunch of farmstead/town raids to grind XP and then try and get SILENCE to suppress our aura and then level up deception and try and give some story about how we ventured into the tomb with our partner but we got cold feet for religious reasons or something and describe how these events started happening after "he" came back changed and we've lost contact with this hypothetical partner after he went back in there, then we'd give some light information about expected resistance to make it seem like it wouldn't be that hard to deal with before they went back home and due to our observations of the tomb and our partner and that these events would stop if they personally put a stop to him. In essence, make it seem easy to deal with, give them a responsibility to stop further horrors, make it seem like this "evil partner" is on a time limit to deal with before he gets stronger or causes more rituals, etc.That was just the idea I came up with, - insert your better or alternative idea here - but it could fail for any number of reasons whether it be because the idea is bad or we roll poorly or whatever. I just think it may be worth trying to pull off our tomb ambush, but luring them there is the hard part. I don't think we can fight them directly at all, hence relying on the boulder trap to starve them to death.
>>5112046Yeah, but they seem pretty diligent and they'll probably check it out; rumors of a necromancer's crypt near Dalhurst and a Hellknight or a False Prophet cropping up at the same time/place can't be a coincidence. That's assuming, of course, that reality blinking isn't them getting gobbled and that they'll be able to report their findings in a timely manner. Of course, I don't think we would have made things nearly as difficult on them as we might have hoped for, with how much time we spent trapping the ever living shit out the crypt with how well prepared these guys were. >>5112098>Khadon men are dangerousNo kidding; we need to get a lot stronger before we let (or want to make) this an open conflict: 3d10+10 damage is not a joke or something we want to face at this point (and that's not even touching the armor, blessings, and resources these guy has at his disposal). Experimenting with the honey is something we're going to want to do more of (a shame we only got 9), even if we're going to have to discover the shenanigans we can get up to ourselves. Maybe the fat man has a use after all. And covering our tracks and finding somewhere to lay low is definitely on the to do list. I'm still for taking over a bandit or outlaw's stronghold or finding a sympathetic noble to make our bitch/patron.
>>5112112Although I am surprised they didn't seem to investigate the temple too seriously; did they not notice the desecration (or did it fade with their presence?) or was the whole town so fucked up that, even with the desecration it was the most appropriate place to put those poor bastards out of their misery?
At the same time, on the side of the road a short ways travel away, another party also sits at camp, but their camp is far from austere. There are two improvised tents stitched and skewered together from thick blankets and sharpened branches, a wagon laden with stolen goods, and over a dozen huddled together. Far from friends, for the most part they’re held together by fear alone, and a glance would be sufficient to grasp that is more than enough. This is no ordinary fear, mortal terror fills their eyes when they so much as glance to the figure sitting in front of the fire, quietly sharpening his sword, as much for the noise of the whetstone as the need to do it. They’re glancing at you and for the fiftieth time since you rejected the army life, you think it’s good to be charge. You glare at the fat man to watch him squirm. You’re going to sacrifice him, sooner or later, you have a few ideas but that’s neither here nor there.Most of what’s on your mind right now are practical matters. Your numbers, your food, your destination, and what you’re going to do next.First, you consider your band, starting with your core of followers. The ones you can bother to remember the names of.>(You), Melvin- Bearer of The Authority, skilled warrior, and raider pastime enthusiast, plunder, torture, and abomination are your bywords. >Groshnak- An orc young, there to witness the black stars’ alignment, he was once your closest friend but he’s since shamed himself as a coward.>Tobias- A young child you stole from his farm after you razed it, you might’ve sacrificed him, but then you discovered he had an uncanny talent for linguistics.>Neilson- A (former?) member of the black dyad mafia, a competent thief that has yet to fail any of the tasks you’ve set for him.>Sadie- You aren’t really sure what to consider her, but she’s something to you, also a novice necromancer and very minor noblewoman.>Gawain- A low-ranking boss in the black dyad mafia who thought to question you, currently your prisoner, missing his left ear, and mercifully unconscious.>Schwarz- Gawain’s right-hand man, he turned-coat without a thought, he’s a hulking thug that just so happens to be an invalid.>Richard- The least important of your minions, really only here for his preexisting friendship with Neilson, a novice thief with little stomach for violence.
>>5112123Next, you dwell on everyone else, the hangers-on that might one day amount to something, or at least, to catching a crossbow bolt meant for you.>2 Farmers- Evil men, guilty of incest when you gave them a job offer. They wisely accepted.>2 Farmer’s Daughters- Prisoners, kept to satisfy the farmers’ urges and possibly your own.>2 Virgin Captives- Prisoners, of varying degrees of beauty, intended to sacrifice to the ignoble gods.>The Fat Man- Prisoner, missing his trigger finger, and a victim of Sarintob’s honey, much like those in Dalhurst, his death is imminent. Unless… well, you aren’t sure what honey actually does long-term.Altogether, you think that’s 14 mouths eating your food supply per day, 15 if you bother to feed the wagon driver anything but drops of honey. You consider your stockpile. You had 4 days of food (for one eater) before you sacked and razed the farm but before it went up in flames your followers took everything of any possible worth from it, primarily food. Thanks to that, you have as much as they could carry. That’s 190 days of grain, taken from what was meant to feed their family through the winter, it’ll keep your band functioning for little less than two weeks. You’re going to either have to find more or give some of them less food. Should anyone be getting half-rations or no rations?>If yes, who? You also consider your stockpile of goods. Most of it piled into the wagon, it’s a fairly decent haul that could get you a fairly decent chunk of change, if you didn’t somehow use it for yourself.>The Large Wagon has 12 storage, (11.7/12)>4 units of Fine Cloth>1 units of Domestic Goods>2 units of Salt>1 unit of Candles>3 Passengers, Gawain, Richard, Schwarz (each takes 1 storage)>7 days of Medicine (10 days counts as 1 unit)
>>5112126There are also some useful materials, currently being held by Neilson because he’s proven a bare minimum of aptitude for their use.>2 units of ToolsThe more important sacrificial prisoners are also carrying most of the domestic goods in the wagon, from your reasoning that they’re the least valuable and that room has to be made for the injured, Schwarz and Richard both have a limp and Gawain is still unconscious. It’ll be interesting when he wakes.>3 units of Domestic GoodsThe fat man isn’t carrying anything, both because he wasn’t there to pile grain onto when you plundered the farm and because, to a degree, he’s suffered enough. Even now, you can see him licking his lips and staring at the flames. Lastly, you contemplate your destination. You have no fucking idea where you’re going. You’re just rolling your wagon down the road and hoping to run into something worth stealing on your way to the kingdom’s outlands, and, well, it’s worked so far so you don’t see a reason to change but you need to do something. A measure of consistency in your loot or a serious spot to be traveling toward would be a great boon. As it is, you have a very nebulous understanding that you’re anywhere from 2-3 weeks to reaching the outlands and that it’s going to be 6 days before the moon is right for the sacrifice.While you’re traveling, you have some time to yourself. What do you want to do?>Meditate, as YolunuloY has taught you to>Pray to a specific ignoble god (which one?)>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (who?)>Nothing, just because you’re walking doesn’t mean your noggin has to be a’joggin’.For now, what’s the plan until the new moon?>Get more distance. Don’t do anything, keep traveling at a breakneck and wait for opportunities to fall in your lap.>Pillage. Send out scouts when you next camp. Look for a peaceful homestead, another farm, or even a hamlet worth looting.>Harass Dalhurst. You aren’t quite finished with the town and its outskirts. You’re going to have some more fun, maybe another break-in, maybe another farm raid.
>>5111635You think so?>>5111759>>5111877Ah, I see, I'll use this in the future. Very cool that they've expanded their servers. Thank you for the heads-up.>>5112046You aren't directly communing with the ignoble god, but you imagine that at the very least Sarintob is well-pleased.>>5112091This is happening while Melvin is traveling. On the wells, you could've gotten as many as 40, but were somewhat unlucky with a 9 on 1d40. The honey was in the buckets and discovered before the bodies were. Sadie's disappointed she didn't get the chance to reanimate a corpse or two but understands you were in a bit of a hurry.>>5112116The desecration of the temple wasn't extensive enough to turn the place unholy, it only removed the holiness already there, which was already an abomination. If your sacrifice of the priest was successful, it would've tainted the altar. The temple also went up in flames and most of the evidence was wiped clean, though there will be a full-blown investigation. Hence, Brother Miguel wanting to get some of the noble temple's subtler agents into the town. Dalhurst itself is largely intact, but its population has been scared shitless by the aftermath of the arson and apparent blasphemy going on. The Paladins are being sparse on the details, lest someone taste any lingering honey out of curiosity, but it's not unlikely they'll call for a full-lockdown until the situation has improved.
>>5112126>no rationsThe fat man; we haven't committed to a decision regarding him yet and it's not like he's in immediate danger of starvation. He's currently a drain on resources we aren't exactly flush with and so he gets nothing.>half rations: >2 Farmer's Daughters>2 Virgin CaptivesVirgins only get more food if going hungry ruins their looks. I'd also give less food to Richard and Gawain, but we need them to heal so that's out for now. Everyone else has either earned their meals or recently turned coat for our benefit.>>5112127During travel we should continue our meditation and talk to our companions: Gawain is the most immediately useful to us that hasn't already become accustomed to being under our thumb, so he should have priority. We want to keep Neilson with us--he's a useful fellow--so giving him and Richard (mostly for Neilson's sake) a little attention should be our second priority. Sadie and Tobias get third priority, both because I think Sadie will be a bit happier if we leave her alone to continue her studies on the diary and that we should encourage her to take charge of the kid and jump start his studies. Schwarz is probably a bit too dim to need us to focus on him, and Groshnak is still our bro despite his recent failures so I think they should have last priority on our time.For the immediate future, though: I think we should get with Sadie and Neilson and figure out whether or not Sadie brought a map with her, what they know about the area (so we can refine our heading) and where we can liberate one from if need be. Let's get their opinions on what we should do with the goods on the wagon for good measure while we're at it.>Get more distance>>5112136Ah, right. I misunderstood how thorough it was, then.
>>5112146You were in a hurry at the time and only took about five minutes to carve into and ruin the holy symbols, but consecrating an altar is a semi-involved affair and even deconsecrating it is a setback for the temple itself.
>>5112126>If yes, who?Fat man, a spit of honey if we feel generous time to time. That s it. And he needs to demonstrate obedience. He is going to become a sacrifice regardless.>half rations:>2 Farmer's Daughters>2 Virgin CaptivesOnly for now.>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (who?)Nelson, Tobias, Schwarz and then Gawain when he gets up, use the word "STOP" with command if he gets violent. Richard last.>Meditate, as YolunuloY has taught you to>Get Nelson, Sadie, Tobias+Groshnak and plan. Which threaths are in this region ? Which oppurtunities ? What more can we gain here in this region ? Should we instead go further away ? >Continue learning how to read, in exchange have Sadie learn how to use that crossbow. We might need a pastebin for some knowledge like the gods names and so on.>Get more distance. Don’t do anything, keep traveling at a breakneck and wait for opportunities to fall in your lap.If we see someone easy and weak we take them out. But preferably we want to go away from here and the town. On the night of the right moon, we sacrifice virgins, fatmen and anyone else we have captured on the road.
>>5112126>Half rations for Gawain until we come to an accord. Half Rations for Richard until he proves himself. Half Rations for Tobias until he properly joins us or until he starts to get sick. Half rations for the Virgins and the Farmer's daughters. Half Rations for the Fat man, he's got that fat to keep him alive, and I'm interested to see the long-term effects of the honey, especially since we know out-of-character that there is a way to turn them into winged-centipede abominations.>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (Tobias, to corrupt him, and talk to Gawain to come to some sort of arrangement.)>Pray to a specific ignoble god (Sarintob) if we have time to>Meditate, as YolunuloY has taught you to if we have time to>Get more distance. Don’t do anything, keep traveling at a breakneck and wait for opportunities to fall in your lap.We can afford two days of travel without raiding, we need distance to be safe from the paladins. The paladins will curbstomp us, and they don't know we are "their hellknight" or that they have the chance to snuff the chosen of the Black Stars in the crib before we have a chance to grow to full power, so if they hear about a raid they may still respond even if they are in a hurry to return home.After the new moon sacrifices then we need to immediately start raiding for food and XP, and to corrupt our minions.
>>5112127>Farmer's girls get half rationsWe need those virgins to look their best for the sacrifice.>Get more distance. Don’t do anything, keep traveling at a breakneck and wait for opportunities to fall in your lap.>Pillage. Send out scouts when you next camp. Look for a peaceful homestead, another farm, or even a hamlet worth looting.We need another virgin, but I'm fine with just setting Neilson out to scout while we keep moving. If we don't find anything, we don't lose anything.
>>5112149+1
>>5112096I missed this earlier. Yes, it does, if Melvin's paying attention he's likelier to notice patterns amid or amongst living things. Also I forgot to reply to the anon asking if the twitching is permanent- it is, Melvin's noticed the twitching and can't unsee it, it's as fundamental to his perception as the fact that the sky is blue.As for the crypt, the Paladins originally arrived at Dalhurst to search for it (which is why they brought the squire) and won't be abandoning that mission, but the verified presence of honey has them putting the search on the backburner for now. After all, necromancy and Sarintob aren't related, on the surface, but they won't be dismissing any possibility.
>>5112127>Meditate, as YolunuloY has taught you to>Pray to a specific ignoble god (the arson one and the murder-charity one)
>>5112162Damn, I'd like to complete that ambush, but if they are prioritizing alerting the rest of the paladins then there is no point, because presumably they'll ride back to inform the Grand Marshall before returning to deal with the tomb. There is no point in staying to ambush them if they are gonna do it after getting help.
I don't know about praying, at least "praying" with the reverence that's usually implied with that word choice. Respecting the ignoble gods, sure, and thinking of them while thinking something along the lines of "I heard you like x, that's pretty cool, I dig it" and treating them as ghostly bros, great... but I'm worried about the potential dangers with willingly submitting to any of these gods the way you would have to in order to pray properly (at least as I understand it).
>>5112180By prayer, it'd be more accurate to say trying to commune with them. Not worshiping, trying to communicate with them, even if they're silent, and get a broader understanding of what they're about from there. Melvin has an ego the size of a small continent, he considers himself a peer to the ignoble gods, whether that's correct or not.
>>5112180I figure pray is more like communicating with the gods than really submitting to them yet.
>>5112187>Melvin has an ego the size of a small continentThat gave me a hearty chuckle.
Rolled 37, 91 = 128 (2d100)>>5112146>>5112149>>5112152>>5112156>>5112157The fat man will stave but for a taste of honey when you’re feeling in the mood. The farmer’s daughters and future virgin sacrifices will be receiving half-rations for the time being, the former because it doesn’t matter if they’re well-fed and the latter because they’ll be dead soon enough it won’t matter if they starve some in the meantime. You’ll continue your meditations on… why, exactly… everyone and everything seems to be twitching, pulsing, spasming, ever-so-slightly. When you aren’t, you’ll focus on corrupting the two of your companions that need it the most- Tobias and Gawain, once he wakes back up. >roll 1d100 to travel>roll 1d2 to meditate>roll 8,12,16,20 on 1d20+3 to deepen Tobias’ corruption using a mix of tactics >You're using deception and intimidation so you get a bonus for the average of both.>Your combined score is +5, making you a de-facto expert. Take the best of two rolls
Rolled 39 (1d100)>>5112216
Rolled 1 (1d2)>>5112216
Rolled 18 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>5112216
>>5112216Make sure to cover our tracks on the way out.
Rolled 20 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>5112216
>>5112228My god we've just ruined his poor little soul.
>>5112228Holy shit, nice! Also, my ID changed for whatever reason.I just went back to reread when we did our sacrifice and talked to the Ignoble gods, it may be worth feeding the fat man after all. If we put any meat into the lump at the bottom of the jar it makes more honey especially raw and rotting meat, maybe something similar happens in an addicted person, like feeding a gestating centipede baby.
>>5112234It would be pretty on brand if by eating the honey you slowly transformed into a honey producing demon.
>>5112234He's still a "fat man" though. We've got time.
>>5112162Anti could we get a pastebin sometime later (now we have session so not now) ? Mostly for have any info we don t remember immediatly like the names of the gods and so on.>>5112238I don t think we could get something to produce the honey beside the jar, since is an artifact if evil. But I recon the jar always make honey, but anyone that has eat it and dies leaves some additional honey in his corpse probably. And I recon we can create some half monsters, if we feed someone the honey many times to someone, and put it in like a hole with some insects and corpses, and then see if something happens. The real problem by doing experiments with the Sarintob honey, is waiting for see the effects in a safe place with a lot of space to use and understanding if we can actually control the things that we made.
>>5112228We might be able to stop tying Tobias up and let him keep watch over the prisoners while we are out raiding. I'm worried that when Gawain wakes up he will escape his ropes with some sort of thief trick but even a child with a knife could stop him from wriggling. Tobias is a pretty smart kid. Once he finishes learning Orcish we might want to show him how to meditate. He would be a good follower of YolunuloY.
>>5112266That's probably a good way to get a quick sorcerer with how flexible the minds of children are.
>>5112266Yeah, I was thinking that. Though I still want him to get involved in combat in a somewhat safe manner, just to get him the level ups and also because I want him to be combat capable as well, not just to be a squishy scholar/dark priest later down the line. Though to be fair, it seems Sadie gains XP from doing research, so maybe he can just be a squishy backliner.
>>5112221>>5112222>>5112223>>5112227>>5112228>18+3,20+3 vs 8,12,16,20>CRITICAL SUCCESSAs you travel down the road, you task the farmers and your captives with covering your tracks. You aren’t sure how that would be done and none of your closest followers, an urban thief, a minor noblewoman, and an orc, do either, but you insist on it and they do their best, dragging a rake behind them as you go. Thankfully the road covers up most evidence of your passing by itself and what little you aren’t on the road can be swept over but you have no doubt in your mind that a skilled tracker could see that a wagon and a group of people on foot went through here as easily as blink.It’s better than nothing, so you focus on your own affairs. Seeing how everything is twitching, mostly, and trying to wrap your head around the constant, grotesque motion but also getting closer to the boy, Tobias, who’s very clever for a farmer’s son and seems to be handling the massacre of his family before his eyes very well. You also don’t have a doubt in your mind that he hates you and wishes you were a corpse but he understands the power dynamic and doesn’t dare defy you openly. So when you step back from the head of the party, band, ad-hoc gang, you need to devise some means of naming this if it grows much larger, and take him off to the side, he doesn’t question you or react. You walk in silence next to him for some time without saying a word, then, on the cusp of just when he seems about to ask what you’re here for, you pour The Authority into a single, questioning word.>”WHY?”He flinches and asks you, “Why what?” You keep walking and don’t give a thought to his question. He struggles to keep up with you and the wagon and the mules and the more you don’t answer his question, the more desperate he seems to answer it himself in any way he can. You go a decent distance and before long, your silence has broken something in him and he has started to rant. He rants about his time on the farm, about how much work he was made to do for how little next to his older siblings, how he was ridiculed when he begged his family to go nearer to a town instead of homesteading, how he struggled with how simple everything was and they mocked him for it.
>>5112273It seems that magic classes don't have to fight to get xp, but have really small hit die.Sadie just has a d4.
>>5112281The little boy rants about you, even, about how evil and horrible and terrible you are and what you’ve done was and what you’re going to do will be, and you let him go on, and on, and on, when he makes the leap of logic you were hoping for. He asks WHY the noble temple never sent a Paladin to see how his family was doing, he asks WHY the noble gods never gave them a miracle like the ignoble gods seem to shower you with, and finally, he asks WHY none of the nobles, godly or otherwise, didn’t help his family when they needed them most. You continue walking, dead-silent, as the boy trudges alongside you, frustrated rage giving him stamina beyond his years. The gears are turning in his head and you stay passive, not wanting to alter this for the worse, and after another hour of quiet, he grits his teeth and scowls. “…If the noble gods don’t care to help me. I don’t care to help them. The ignoble gods at least do something. The ignoble gods at least did something to you! I want the ignoble gods to do something for me, too, and I… AND I DON’T CARE WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO GET IT!” His voice cracks, his face is pitiful, but his eyes, through the tears blaze with hate. “I’m the last of my family and- and my family never mattered. They never mattered to the nobles, they never mattered to the gods pure and foul, they never mattered t-to ME! I want to matter to somebody! I want to matter to ME! Do you hear me? Do you e-even hear what I’m saying? Talk! GODSDAMNIT, SAY SOMETHING, PLEASE!”You look back to the boy, resist the urge to make an obvious joke, and laugh. “Ahahaha! Yes! YES! Now you see the truth of this world, you matter to no-one! No-one and no-thing but you and yourself! If you want something… If you want power, pleasure, plunder, you have to TAKE it for your SELF! If you want the ignoble gods to look down on you, you have to SEIZE their attention! If you want me to care about you, you have to EARN my regard! Do you understand now, boy? Do you know? Or have I been listening to a fool waiting to be a corpse?” The two of you walk for several minutes, and then the boy mutters. “…I’m no fool. I’m not smart, the rest of you are just stupid but I know I’m no fool... For once, I-I want to take something, for myself. I want to own something... for... myself. To… t-to do something, to someone, or so-something, f-for… m-myself.”
>>5112285You cackle. “AHAHAHA! Good! GOOD! EVIL, even! AHAHAHAHA! You’ll earn the right to prove yourself soon enough, boy, ahahaha-“ A sudden scream interrupts your discussion. “OOOHHHAAAAAAGH! MMMMYYYY EAAAAAR! MY FUCKIN’ EAR! NOBLE GODS WHERE’S MY FUCKIN’ EAR!?” You smile and the boy stares ahead, deep in thought. You take a sniff. The child is no longer an innocent. His soul has simply yet to be stained. You go to the wagon and take a look at what’s going on. Gawain’s hands are tied down, he’s thrashing, and visibly pissed that there’s a gory hole on the side of his head instead of a proper ear. To be fair, you probably wouldn't be too pleased either.How should you approach this?>Inform him that his ear is currently in pieces, rotting on the ground.>Attempt to calm him down with The Authority, use force if necessary.>Imply that if he’s willing to swear obedience, you can get him a new ear.>Leave the thief alone. He’ll tire himself out sooner or later.
>>5112149>>5112265A pastebin is a good idea. I'll make one soon.
>>5112287>Inform him that his ear is currently in pieces, rotting on the ground.>Attempt to calm him down with The Authority, use force if necessary.>Imply that if he’s willing to swear obedience, you can get him a new ear.In that order, if you'd please.
>>5112287>Imply that if he’s willing to swear obedience, you can get him a new ear.Hell, Espurgat can probably give him one for cheap.If he doesn't quiet down then...>QUIET!Maybe we can do some beginning work on staining Tobias's soul by having him rape one of the farmer's daughters.
>>5112271>>5112273True. Let's teach him to meditate, then we can start teaching him the sword/let Neilson and the other thieves teach him things and have Sadie teach him to read/give him access to her materials. Best case scenario we have a tiny little spellsword. Worst case scenario? We break him or give him too much power and he turns on us.>>5112287And I'll +1 this: >>5112297
>>5112287>Inform him that his ear is currently in pieces, rotting on the ground.>Leave the thief alone. He’ll tire himself out sooner or later.
>>5112273>>5112283He can learn to use some weapons no problems, and backstabbing foes could be nice as well a distraction for them. Same for Sadie. The xp gained for combat are still nice, so is better if they gain them. Sadie can gain an offensive spell next level that would be quite nice to have in fights.>>5112288Thanks anti, very appreaciated. >>5112287>Imply that if he’s willing to swear obedience, you can get him a new ear.>Attempt to calm him down with The Authority, use force if necessary."SILENCE""The noble gods will not answer. They do not care of your ear. But I might, Gawain. You can be use of me, swear service to me from now on and not just your ear, but more can arrive. Women, coin, a fearsome reputation and action. Plenty of action, or would you prefer returning to the shithole where one of the headquarters of the black dyad is found ? Between scum, crap and rats do you think your wound will have a good time? Or that your superiors will bother ? Tsk""You and i know the truth. Accept it now or later. Serve me or .... no i will not tell you what could happen. I think you can imagine it" grin
>>5112301>Maybe we can do some beginning work on staining Tobias's soul by having him rape one of the farmer's daughters.Nah. A man's first time is important, he should find a conquest to take for himself instead of some farmer's sloppy seconds.
>>5112297+1Do you guys want to pick up the Resilient trait next level?It would solidify our hitpoint advantage, the stun resistance is great, and it gives more hitpoints in the future so it's better to take it early.
>>5112303Melvin could also need a boost in combat. I was thinking training melee with Groshnak and then training range with Nelson. Both are decent at it so it should help us, more than doing it alone.>>5112314We could use it, it would be good.I think we need Torturing next for the abilities, the skill is important for not just gain info but for improving sacrifices rolls. We could also use more people than Melvin for make the sacrifices more coordinated
>>5112314Hm. Menacing is also a good option. Here's a copypasta of the combat traits from Level 3--for those who can't be fussed to check the old thread/archive--and a friendly reminder that last time we took Treacherous (whether or not there's a second level to that we'll be tempted by remains to be seen) and currently have a Stealth/Intimidation build: >Sword Expert: Your constant use of the sword has reflected in your aptitude, it moves more readily in your hands and strikes with impressive force. You’ve become obsessed with its sharpness, its elegance, and wonder why you would ever use another weapon. (+2 to Combat Skill, only when using swords.)>Grudge Against Man: You have been wronged beyond wrongs by your kind, again and again, and you have grown weary of the shackles their false law imposes on you. Enough! Against your fellow man, hatred consumes you and you fight with frenzied tenacity. (+2 to Combat Skill, only against your fellow humans.)>Treacherous: You are convinced the best fight is one that never gives the enemy a chance, and you haven’t been proven wrong yet. You have a natural knack for getting into position with a weapon, and once there you can inflict terrible damage. (+4 to Stealth, any surprise attacks you manage do 1 extra dice of damage, a 1d4 to 2d4, a 1d6 to 2d6, etc.)>Resilient: You are far sturdier than most, fueled by spite, you refuse to give your enemy the satisfaction of your death so easily and wounds that have been dealt worry you little. (+2 HP per Level, including previous Levels, +4 to resist disease and being stunned, +1d2 HP recovery per day instead of +1 HP.)>Menacing: Your eyes glow with cruelty that most can’t comprehend and against the weight of your ferocity, even the brave find themselves in a state of fear. The cowardly find their will to fight ebb with every swing of your blade. (+4 to Intimidation, the first kill or stunning blow during combat triggers a morale check at 8 difficulty, the second at 9, the third at 10, etc. Each counts to the same difficulty.)>>5112325True. Torture might be worth taking too.
>>5112297>>5112301>>5112303>>5112306>>5112307>>5112314“SILENCE.” The thief glares at you, his handsome face twisted with lust for murder. He says nothing as you continue. "The noble gods will not answer. They do not care of your ear. But I might, Gawain. You can be use of me, swear service to me from now on and not just your ear, but more can arrive.” He glares, frustrated by your words but silent. “Women, coin, a fearsome reputation and action. Plenty of action, or would you prefer returning to the shithole where one of the headquarters of the black dyad is found? Between the scum, shit and rats do you think your wound will have a good time? Or that your superiors will bother? Tsk." You can see his eyes mulling it over.>roll 12,16,20 or higher on 1d20+4 to intimidate him into obedience, best of 2
Rolled 8 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>5112328
Rolled 9 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>5112328
Rolled 6 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>5112328
Rolled 13 (1d20)>>5112328
>>5112314>>5112327We should've picked up Menacing or Resilient first off rather Treacherous, which we barely utilize.
>>5112310Fair enough.>>5112314>>5112327Either of these are fine. I'd also prefer to favour either combat skill or toughness over more dodge. I prefer Damage Resistance over AC. It'd be nice to be essentially immune to low tier enemies damage while reducing strong paladin-esque enemy damage to something manageable. Combat skill is my number one priority though until we can actually consistently hit things that are at least a professional soldiers level, though that may just be trauma from the early game of the 1st thread speaking. Watching you guys be unable to hit anything during the early parts of last thread was inducing second hand cringe in me.
>>5112342I think Treacherous has been useful enough.We don't really go for individual sneak attacks ourselves but it keeps our options open when we don't have to worry about breaking stealth.
>>5112330>>5112333>8+4,9+4 vs 12,16,20He takes a deep breath and sighs. You scoff. "Gawain, your ear is currently in three pieces, rotting on the ground just north of Dalhurst. You aren't getting it back on yo-" He interrupts you, his voice sharp and angry. "You think I didn't get women back at the dyad? Coin? Fear? Action? Fuckin' hell, but they couldn't get me a new fuckin' ear, not without sellin' out more to the temple than they know I'm worth... Fuck. Get me a new fuckin' ear. Then we'll talk, then we'll fuckin' talk." You see him roll over in the wagon, with his good side facing upward. Well then, you have a goal. Get a new ear for Gawain. That might earn his loyalty or at least indebt him to yourself. Curious. The question is, how are you supposed to do that? Espurgat, perhaps? Maybe another one of the ignoble gods would be willing to pitch in. Bah, it's beyond your knowledge but not your means. You continue traveling.Is there anyone else you want to corrupt, or would you rather focus on meditating?>Meditate on YolunuloY exclusively>Corrupt someone in particular (who?)>Spend time with a favored minion (who?)
>>5112354>Spend time with a favored minion (who?)Sadie. Take her bareback, no lube.
>>5112354Almost forgot->SLIGHT SUCCESS
>>5112354>Meditate on YolunuloY exclusivelyWe're never going to be a proper dark lord if we can't cast spells in heavy armor.
>>5112327Good then.I can see the use in sword expert, resiliant or even the eyes.>>5112342If we do ambushes or attacks at night it could be of use. There will be occasions. >>5112354>Corrupt someone in particular (who?)Schwarz We need to get it him more loyal. Afterwards we need to plan with the brains of our group for what to do at the moment in this region, and what we know of this region. So Nelson and Sadie. I am not sure if Groshnak knows something of this region, maybe.
>>5112358support
>>5112348We wound up not using it much--we attacked an inanimate object when ambushing our wagon and chose non-lethal damage when we shot Richard--but it certainly keeps our options open and helps to establish a philosophy where we don't give people options to hurt us (which we haven't been the greatest to sticking to, but I digress). >>5112343Our inability to hit anything--and then Gawain--was probably a lot of the reason we went for Dodge on our last level. We're open to flaws now and it might be worth the extra stats to start taking more of them. Building up our 1 toughness might be a bit too slow for most Anons. >>5112354I say we wait on getting him a new ear until after we sacrifice virgins to Uvbree. She might have some advice that's worth listening to. Let's spend a bit of time with Groshnak and then Meditate when the interaction isn't all that interesting. >>5112372Sword Expert and Grudge strike me as a bit too restrictive.
>>5112354>Spend time with a favored minion (Sadie)She learn anything new?>Corrupt someone in particular (Richard)After>Meditate on YolunuloY exclusivelyBecause I'm impatient.
>>5112364>>5112354I'll switch to this >>5112372 to avert the coomer vote.
>Corrupt someone in particular (Richard)I'm guessing his soul is on the darker end of neutral. To be useful we need to get him on the lighter end of dark.
>>5112383>anon wants to be a chaste dark paladin
>>5112348>We don't really go for individual sneak attacks ourselvesThat's why I don't like it, we ain't using it. Could've used Menace, would've worked really well with Authority. Could've used Resilient, extra health and heal bonuses are self evident. We instead went for the option that we never use, which is infuriating from a min-maxing perspective.
>>5112354>Meditate on YolunuloY exclusively
>>5112388To me, the main use for it is stuff like Dalhurst, where we need to complete an objective with subtlety.
>>5112387Later, when we make camp. Pretty sure we're still on the road and haven't made camp for the day. >>5112388Stop being an autistic minmaxer, then.
>>5112372>>5112376>>5112383You already spend enough time with Sadie. If she has something useful she'll come to you, no doubt, but Schwarz... Schwzarz is nearly half as strong as Groshnak, no mean feat for a man, and mentally deficient enough it should be trivial to influence him however you please. Of course, you'll have to take the time to influence him, which is what you'll do now.>roll 1d100 to travel>roll 1d2 to meditate>roll 4,6,8,10 or higher on 1d20+5 to corrupt Schwarz>You're using deception and intimidation so you get a bonus for the average of both.>Your combined score is +5, making you a de-facto expert. Take the best of two rolls.
Rolled 4 + 5 (1d20 + 5)>>5112395
Rolled 2 (1d2)>>5112395
Rolled 98 (1d100)>>5112395
Rolled 17 + 5 (1d20 + 5)>>5112395
>>5112378I could say the same for dodge or any of the stats really, considering humans get plus 1 to one of those three each level, and professional soldiers would probably be vaguely in our tier. In a way fighting a peer opponent is like going back to the start of the game depending on the gear and stat distribution. Personally I'd say the damage resistance is pretty good considering the small die sizes on the weapons.Regarding Uvbree, we may want to ask her for information on the paladins and their numbers and capabilities as well as info about neighbouring countries and any secret knowledge she is willing to share.
>>5112378>but it certainly keeps our options openBut it doesn't. It's a use or useless skill, it becomes irrelevant beyond the first turn in battle (when surprise is in effect), it doesn't help us when we're already in the fight. It circumstantial at best, limiting at worse, since more hp=better survivability and more morale damage mean less damage taken by our war and in return. Treacherous simply isn't as useful in battles as the other options.
>>5112387I think we fuck her already everytime we like. >>5112378Perhaps. Yeah i don't think we need grudge, bonus isn't needed when we recruit all evil kinds. For sword i am not sure if there is a penalty for using other weapons. If there isn't it can be nice as an upgrade later ... and if we get lucky again we can go for that sword of evil>>5112388If we want we could go for attacks where we can use apply the skill. Attacking a camp of alone travellers at night for example, where it could be repeated more than once after a successfull strike.>>5112404A good first strike can be of use especially for take out someone more dangerous for example. Or wound it enough to make it easier to kill.>>5112402I am not sure what s the price for info, but it could be of use. Though is better to see what we can learn on our own within our group first. She just might give us easy information we could have gain on our own, just for play with us.
>>5112404It does keep our options open, because it puts us above Neilson in terms of stealth.When we were in Dalhurst, there was a very low possibility of us being noticed despite being fully armed and armored.Not being detectable by normies is very useful.
>>5112404>a permanent +4 to Stealth >somehow useless because we haven't had opportunity to use the sneak attack bonus damage>when the only time Melvin even came close to the death in the first thread is when he got caught in a trapNot everything is about our bonuses in battle, especially with how useful that +4 to Stealth was.>>5112402True. Might want to see if we can fetch her additional virgins in any towns we pass through.
Rolled 5 (1d30)>>5112399
>>5112393If we were going for an assassin build, sure. But does Melvin really come across as 'subtle' to you?>>5112410>A good first strike can be of use especially for take out someone more dangerous for example. Or wound it enough to make it easier to kill.I'm not denying that, but situations to utilize Treacherous don't come up that often, while Menace and Resilient will anways be useful in a general melee with the enemy, which all surprise attacks devolve to.
>>5112420>If we were going for an assassin build, sure. But does Melvin really come across as 'subtle' to you?Yeah, when he needs to do something without getting mobbed and killed by guards and peasants.I'm not even disagreeing with you about the other traits being more useful, but Treacherous has unique utility.
>>5112411>>5112414I'm not saying the +4 Stealth isn't useful, my just saying that the other trait would've been more useful.
Rolled 2 (1d4)>>5112399>>5112400>>5112397>>5112398>4+5,17+5 vs 4,6,8,10>GREAT SUCCESS"Uuuuh, so den I took his ear n' den I... harharharhar... I went- it-it-uuuh wen' like, like.... SCHIIIIIIK n' now he's got no ear! HARHARHARHARHAR!" Gawain is sitting behind you, dimly staring at Schwarz's malformed face. He's been giggling like this for two straight hours and every time he looks to see Gawain's wound, he bursts into laughter again, like it was the first time. At two separate points, you had to remind him not to rip off the thief's other ear to- "make dem all eben like" but he seems to take your commands seriously. At the very least, you've confirmed that his loyalty is, as long as you can keep whatever's sitting between his ears entertained, nigh-absolute. You don't even need to taint his soul further. He's already closer to a rabid animal in human skin than anything sane.You're starting to consider the logistics of getting him some kind of simple puzzle or the like to keep him distracted when you hear someone crying out in the hills, far to the side of the road. "NOOOOO! PLEASE! NO! I'M BEGGING YOU NO! NO! NO! AAAAAAGH!" You listen closer for a few seconds and think you hear the sound of something sizzling, or of someone with a very phlegmy throat laughing.What should you do?>Ignore the disturbance and move on.>Take your followers and approach in force.>Take some of your followers and sneak up on the noise.>Go alone and see just what's going on over there.
>>5112425>Take some of your followers and sneak up on the noise.
>>5112425>>Go alone and see just what's going on over there.Sounds like someone's having fun without us
>>5112425>Go alone and see just what's going on over there.sneak time
>>5112424Anyways, I'm thinking Menacing for Level 6. We haven't been in enough life threatening situations for Resilience to be anything but nice and we're starting to rely more on Intimidation. Of course QM might give us some additional things to choose from. >>5112425>Go alone and see just what's going on over there.Maybe bring Neilson since he's sneaky.
>>5112420He can be quiet ... not his fault if the victims screams so much can you blame the man for that ? Come on give little ol Melvin a break.They might not come up, but if we keep the initiative and plan our attacks we can put it to use. Being on the defensive is something we need to avoid, if possible. If we can be on attacks especially surprise ones at night we become deadly. >>5112425LmaoOk end of games, time to work. >>Take some of your followers and sneak up on the noise.Nelson. Remain on alert and put the wagon and the others in a safe position. Then we go. See what we have to deal with. Remain ready to kill.
>>5112430The thing I like about Resilience is that it allows us the ability to be more active after being wounded than we would otherwise, as well as having a higher tolerance for damage so we won't be as inclined to waste time with HP regen rest.
>>5112354I think we have to give Groshnak a pep talk, clearly he has a mental block that is impeding his effectiveness. Maybe we learn a little more Orcish in the process?
>>5112426>>5112427>>5112428>>5112430>>5112432You make a snap decision. It sounds like someone's having fun without you. That won't stand. You gesture toward Neilson and he catches on immediately, going into a stealthy position and you crouch likewise. You know you can trust Sadie to keep things in order while you're busy with... whatever this is. You keep your dagger at the ready, prepared to switch to Espurgat's dagger or your longsword if you find it more convenient. Now you're on the prowl.>roll 16,20 or higher to avoid being sensed on 1d20+6, best of two>roll 16,20 or higher for Neilson to avoid being sensed on 1d20+4, best of two
Rolled 3 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5112441
>>5112432I agree with being aggressive or on the offensive. It'll probably be more useful in infiltrating a castle or something of the like, and working our way inside.
Rolled 15 (1d20)>>5112441
Rolled 16 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5112441
Rolled 7 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>5112441
Rolled 6 (1d20)>>5112441
>>5112445Let's say this one's for Neilson since he didn't include the modifier.
>>5112444Yeah. Other targets like town guards or the like are also available. >>5112441What the hell as a sight of 16/20 ?Well we can strike at one or more, and then tell the others to move their ass from camp and aid us.Unless they are friendly ? I doubt that
>>5112453Maybe it's one of those non-hobo badguys
>>5112457Aren't we all murder-hobos though?
>>5112462QM said there's legitimate Anti-Paladins elsewhere in the setting. He's saying this might be one of them.
It's from my 98 roll. He might be another sicko like us. A potential recruit.
>>5112462I mean, we had the choice to be a knighted noble at the start of the game, which is a lot higher in terms of social class than an illiterate deserter.
>>5112463No, I know that. Just because you're an Anti-Paladin doesn't exclude you from being a hobo though.
>>5112457If it is, it might still be bad. A night for doing sacrifice is coming and we have a few victims with us. Then we have several evil artifacts not made, but from the gods. We might need to go on an attack, and we have still the bonus if we are in stealth mode.And if he is weak, well he might send us on our track some good guys for then finish them off.Our group is near so they can help us at least
>>5112443>>5112445>>5112446>>5112447>3+6,15+6 vs 16,20>SLIGHT SUCCESS>16+4,7+4 vs 16,20>SLIGHT SUCCESSYou approach the site of the commotion with as little noise from yourselves as possible. You're like a panther on your feet, coiled and poised to kill, and Neilson is little different, though he lacks the innate knack for exactly where his feet need to go and at what angle that you possess. After a minute, the screaming getting louder and louder, you round a bend and take a close look at what you see.There are two men wearing tattered rags stitched together in a crude cloak and no sign of any other clothes. Neither of them has a hair on their head and at a glance, you find their skin uncomfortably greasy and pale. Between them is a third man, the average farmer it looks like, his hands tied to a tree while the rest of him hangs and his intestines... You see they haven't been spilled out but rather are actively dissolving. He howls, tensing his fists and weeping, as one of the pair holds a glass bottle, pours a bit more of a translucent mixture into what remains of his innards, and you watch with morbid fascination as it eats through the flesh. This goes on for a minute more, both clinically detached from the torture they're committing, and one that's standing there, keeping an eye on the rope, gurgles. "Did you hear sumthing? I thought I heard sumthing." The one onto the left, holding the bottle, undergoes an immediate and horrific transformation. The skin on the side of his head bubbles, as if boiling, and then his ear moves itself from the side of his head to the back, angled to your direction. You make not the slightest motion. After a minute of this, the skin boils again and his ear returns, not to its original position, but to near enough, at a slapdash, lopsided angle. "Nuh. Nuthing." They look at the farmer, who's begin to pray, and the one without the bottle shrugs, though it's more like the bones in his shoulders melt and pop back in on themselves. "Dis is gud. I think the mixture needs more..." The other gurgles. "EGG!" He sounds overjoyed. "YUS! EGG! Culd use more thickness. Burns too clean, methinks. No time to uncubate." You're confident they have no idea that you and Neilson are watching. The thief is visibly horrified and you aren't sure how you feel, personally.What should you do?>Shoot one with your light crossbow, while you have the element of surprise.>Turn and leave, while they still aren't aware that you're here.>Attempt to sneak closer to the pair, to eavesdrop on them.>Draw your longsword and charge them both!>Abandon stealth and openly introduce yourself.
>>5112471Hmmm, plaguebros.I guess that ear trick explains the dc.
>>5112471>Turn and leave, while they still aren't aware that you're here.I'm tempted just to leave them to it, more people causing chaos keeps us safe.
>>5112471>Abandon stealth and openly introduce yourself.
>>5112471>Shoot one with your light crossbow, while you have the element of surprise.I don't know what the fuck is happening here, but we only need one of these shapeshifting sludge demons to explain it.
>>5112471>>Shoot one with your light crossbow, while you have the element of surprise.Alchemists sound like they can make useful minions... but we only need one of them.
>>5112471>Turn and leave, while they still aren't aware that you're here.or>Abandon stealth and openly introduce yourself.Shooting at them is a Schwarz level idea.
>>5112487you should probably pick one or the other since that's the idea that is currently winning
>>5112471>>Abandon stealth and openly introduce yourself.Ey boys, need an expert in torture>
>>5112488I only tie it up, we need a third anon to break it.
>>5112493That's not how democracy works.You don't get two votes to tie things up with, you get one vote which you can use to create a good outcome or waste so something dumb happens.>>5112477>>5112471switching to >Abandon stealth and openly introduce yourself.
What do you think would happen to the other one if we kill his partner? I don't think he would be very inclined to support us.We should at least say hello, if they're hostile/not useful we can kill them afterwards.
>>5112471>Abandon stealth and openly introduce yourself. fuck I got distracted with other shit
>Abandon stealth and openly introduce yourselfHello friends, have you heard any good news?
>>5112471>>Shoot one with your light crossbow, while you have the element of surpriseI don't know i an not sure about them. Kill both. We are too good to pass up with the jar and i don t want to test if they are ready to talk
>>5112502Why would we kill them? We're not a paladin. We should either leave like a pussy, or talk to them.
>>5112504Who cares if we aren't a paladin ? Evil doesn't play by those rules.They can be competition, and we have an artifact made by the god their worship. Attacking them is an advantage now because they are an unknown.I also don t want the group to get more large when we aren't strong enough for a bigger group.
Rolled 52 (1d100)>>5112496Ignore him, he's an obnoxious faggot.
>>5112509You don't even know what the fuck they are, let alone if they're hostile to us. No need to attack our distraction for the paladin hit-team coming after us.
>>5112510Sorry, I forgot I was talking to a retard.You can't vote for two contradictory things dumbass.
>>5112509>Who cares if we aren't a paladin?Paladins vanquish evil, we are not a paladin, therefore we have no reason to vanquish evil if it is not interfering with us. If anything, in the scenario we leave without saying hello, they would help by throwing the paladins off our trail.>we aren't strong enough for a bigger group.By what metric? The QM already has rules ready to go for abstractions suiting a warband.
>>5112519How does an "or" work in an explicit vote?
>>5112513They look like Sarintob cultists. Point is i don t feel like trusting them.>>5112515Killing competition doesn't mean being like a paladin now. We could still torture them for info or more. We would need to feed them, control them and ensure their loyalty. I can agree they can be used as a bait for the paladins
>>5112493If there's a tie a vote can only count for one thing at a time, but if there's a general consensus "multi-votes" can make some things happen. Say if there's a 5-0 vote to eat a sandwich but 2 of those 5 votes are to add cheese to the sandwich, since it doesn't contradict the other votes cheese gets added to the sandwich. That's how I've been counting them, anyhow.>>5112479>>5112487>>5112491>>5112496>>5112498>>5112499These two are dangerous, sadistic, and if not supernatural entities themselves then twisted and warped by some sort of supernatural force. They seem like your kind of people. You signal to Neilson to stay hidden with his crossbow, ready to shoot if something goes wrong, when you stand and walk into the clearing. "Hello friends, have you heard any good news?" Both of the cloaked... you aren't sure if you should call them men, turn and eye you with deep curiosity. Only one of them turns, the one with the bottle's skin boils again, sending an eye, ear, and mouth to the back of his head in completely inhuman positions. You notice that the one to turn fully is missing an eye, and that the eye remaining is in the center. His skin shows signs of bubbling a moment ago, which leads you think he also moved an eye to keep watching their victim. They each glance at each other. They look back to you.One speaks. "Have you hurd the gud news of Zugzeb?" The other jiggles disapprovingly. "Stupud question. He OOZES Zugzeb. Stupud, stupud..." The first looks downcast. "Nuuuh." The second gurgles. "OOZES." You get the impression that they're awed by your personal presence but at the same time too fixated on their experiment to give you their undivided attention.You have some of their attention, at least, and they don't seem openly hostile.>"Ey boys, so I need an expert in torture.">Ask them who or what Zugzeb is>Give them a recruitment pitch>Ask them what they're doing
>>5112521Either 'this vote' or 'that vote', I'm not picky which. If I felt strongly for one I would've voted for it, simple as.
>>5112523>Killing competitionWe don't have a monopoly on evil, and it would be foolish to try.
>>5112525>Ask them what they're doing>Give them a recruitment pitch>"Ey boys, so I need an expert in torture."
>>5112525>Ask them who or what Zugzeb is>Give them a recruitment pitch>Ask the farmer where his family is.
>>5112526That's retarded.
>>5112525>>Ask them what they're doing
>>5112525>Ask them what they're doingSay it in a way that's clear that we are not judging them for it, but are intrigued and interested in their "methods".
>>5112525>Ask them what they're doingthat looks cool
>>5112525>Ask them what they're doing
>>5112531I don't think it is. I'm not choosing to do both at the same time, I'm just choosing two mutual conflicting votes that I like. I don't really care whichever wins against the other.
>>5112542>I'm just choosing two mutual conflicting votes that I likeDo you not see a problem with this?
Can y'all cut your autism before QM breaks out the firehose?
>>5112546No. Like I said, I don't have strong feelings for either. If I did, I would've voted for a single choice rather than an 'either/or' choice.>>5112548I don't see the autism of my vote.
>>5112529>>5112530>>5112535>>5112536>>5112537>>5112539You look at the way his intestines are dissolving without leakage, while causing excruciating pain, and speak genuinely. "That looks cool." They stare, unblinking, and you continue. "What exactly is it that you're doing?" Both of them gurgle (their equivalent of laughter?) and the one with the bottle rushes to explain. "Glass cleaner." The other groans, annoyed. "Nuuuh. MAKING glass cleaner." "NEW glass cleaner." "Glass cleaner." You stare at the farmer, writhing, barely conscious, gnashing his teeth in horror, and back to these two. "Glass cleaner?" "Yus." He pours some more in a different spot. "It'll make stains a thing of the past. Better fur juice consistency." You look at the glass. "Juice consistency?" "YUS! Juice sometimes has bone shards. Annoying to scrape out. If we dun't, juice es no gud." The bottle-holder scratches his back, by bending his arm at an unnatural angle."It'll make us RICH." "RICH." "Give gold to Zugzeb." "Yus."You look at the farmer, screaming in agony, and realize that their motivation for torturing him is to test how well their experimental glass cleaner dissolves organic material. You contemplate this for a moment.>"Why didn't you use a corpse or find an animal? Why a live human?">"Could this glass cleaner of yours be used for other things?">"How do you two feel about Paladins and the kingdom?">"Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?">"Farmer. Listen to me, where is your family?"
>>5112553>"Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?">"Farmer. Listen to me, where is your family?"
>>5112553>detect evilthese guys appear to be operating off of blue and orange morality
>>5112553"Huh, tell me about Zugzeb."
>>5112553>Detect evil>"Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?"
>>5112553>"Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?"
>>5112553>>"How do you two feel about Paladins and the kingdom?">>"Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?"
>Ask them what they're doing>Give them a recruitment pitch>Ask the farmer where his family is.
>>5112553>Detect evil>>"Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?"
>Detect evil>"Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?"
>>5112557>>5112559>>5112560>>5112565>>5112569>>5112574"Huh, tell me about Zugzeb." Both of them glance at each other. "Nut stupud question?" The one who disapproved moments ago looks down in shame. "Nuh. Nut stupud." You interrupt. "Who or what is Zugzeb and why does it want wealth?" The one with the bottle pulls out a leather strip with several notches at exact ends, and appears to be using it to measure the rate the intestines are dissolving but you can't see how he would be supporting the leather strip to hold it taut like that if his other hand is holding the bottle, unless, he didn't only have two hands. The other gurgles and claps his hands together in a dull, smacking noise. "Zugzeb is the BEST!" "GREATEST OF ALL TIME!" "Master of Slimes, Oozes, Jellies, Puddings, Puddles, and Acids, in all of their forms!" "ALCHEMY!" "YUS! Alchemy." You put your fingers onto the bridge of your nose. "But why does he need wealth?" "Help FIND way to make gold!" "Philosopher's stone!" "Mystery of ages!" You sniff to detect their evil and are almost shocked. The souls of these two are at least twice as dark as Groshnak. If you weren't indelibly stained by the black stars, they would be your equal, if not greater. At the same time, they have a strange incomprehension of their deeds, not innocence, far from it, but a mindset utterly divorced from individual suffering and its consequences.How do you want to progress this?>"Zugzeb is like an ignoble god?">"Why not just steal gold, instead?">"...Are you looking for employment?">"Thoughts on Paladins and the kingdom?>"Farmer. Where is your family?>"I guess I'll leave you to it, then."
>>5112587>>"...Are you looking for employment?"
>>5112587>"Thoughts on Paladins and the kingdom?I would invite them into our band, but I'm worried they won't understand that they can't douse our own allies with the acid.
>>5112587>"Thoughts on Paladins and the kingdom?>"Farmer. Where is your family?I like these guys' spunk.
>"Thoughts on Paladins and the kingdom?then>>"I guess I'll leave you to it, then."So that they can serve as distractions for the Paladins.
>>5112587>Offer for them to join our group, and be among fellow seekers of the world's mysteries.We're studying the secret truths of the world, Sadie's doing necromancy, and there was talk about getting Toby into magic as well.Why not present ourselves as fellow mystics?
>>5112587>>"...Are you looking for employment?"These guys are going to be fun, I can tell.
>>5112587>>"Thoughts on Paladins and the kingdom?>>"Farmer. Where is your family?
>>5112592Just tell them that friends aren't experiments, as friends help provide gold. Should be simple enough.
>>5112587>"...Are you looking for employment?"
Uvbree is associated with shadows, treachery, and the pleasures of the flesh by those who don't know any better. When we sacrifice two virgins, I think we can get her to give us a higher-quality (non-pencil) dick and change us and our parties' looks for the better. I'm not saying we change the other members into entirely different people, but Groshnak should look like a better-looking (likely more intimidating) Orc by Orc standards. Sadie will just have a hotter bod, clearer skin, shinier hair, thicker eyelashes, straighter and whiter teeth, more symmetrical features, etc. We can even ask her about it before we do the rituals to see if she has any physical insecurities she wants to change as you intend to change the looks of yourself and most of the party.Gawain can get his ear fixed. If we look more handsome we'll have better charisma rolls, especially for deception, because pretty people get away with things, and if our hair color, height, and eye color is changed, then we won't fit the paladin's description of us anymore. If we can look like the kind of guy parents tell their kids they should try to be more like, even better, since people will automatically trust us more when we're using Silence. Another thing I noticed is Uvbree likes 'pleasure of the flesh from those who don't know any better' which means having Schwarz fucking one of the farmer's daughters during the ritual would probably get her approval, since he's retarded, and doesn't know any better. I don't agree with letting Tobias do a rape too because he's smart enough to know rape is wrong, and it's better if we get him to focus on YolunuloY, since him getting a little crazy will make him more pliable and more likely to do things of his own free-will.
>>5112629I'm not reading that.
>>5112632Where do you think you are?
>>5112633Nah, that guy is right, you've gone too far with the Tobias angle. Reel it in boyo.
>>5112629TL;DR: Use Virgin sacrifice to Uvbree to improve looks. Uvbree likes it when 'people who don't know any better' does rape, so having Schwarz fuck one of the farmer daughter's during the ritual would gain some of her approval.
>>5112591>>5112592>>5112595>>5112596>>5112599>>5112602>>5112604>>5112617"Thoughts on Paladins and the kingdom?" They're silent for a moment, measuring their victim and puzzling over your question, then one gurgles. "...Glass cleaner." "Yus. They get the glass cleaner." You stand for a moment, processing this, then stare at the farmer whose eyes are rolling back in his head. He's about to go unconscious and die very quickly after that. You ask, hopefully audible through the pain- "Farmer. Where is your family?" He groans in agony and goes limp. You sigh. "Damn, I was hoping for the chance to-" "Uuuh we know." You look. "You do?" The one with the bottle speaks, emptying it out into his ribcage and monitoring the results. "Yus. He helped us earlier." "Yus. Gave us chicken for copper. Gud chicken. Melted gud." You look. "Then why did you, uh, choose him to test with?" They both pause for a minute, genuinely confused, and the bottle-holder gurgles, horizontal lips on the back of his bald head smacking together. "Dudn't know if human melted different." The other jiggles affirmatively. "Now we do. What es your name?"You don't hesitate for a moment. "Melvin." "Meeelvin." "Melviiiin." You stare. A few moments later they grunt. "Melvin. Sounds better that way." "Yus. Juuust Melvin. Mel-vin." "Is melty." "Makes sense. Feels melty." You think they're talking about you. "What are your names, then?" They both glance at each other and "shrug," before mumbling. "Furgut, dudn't matter." "Huuuh. Me too." They both sit for a minute and shrug, moving on. "Eh, is Zugzeb." "Yus. Zugzeb.""...Are you looking for employment?"They both pause their experiment. "A jub?" "Wurking?" "Sunds gud." "Gud. Yus." "Mmm... What we get?" "Yuh, what?"You think for a second. What should you offer them?>Wealth. They'll be compensated with a salary.>Materials. The flesh of innocents, namely.>Zugzeb. Their deity would be pleased.>Nothing. They would work for free.
>>5112641>Zugzeb. Their deity would be pleased.
>Materials. The flesh of innocents, namely.
>>5112641>>Materials. The flesh of innocents, namely.
>>5112641>Zugzeb. Their deity would be pleased.You also get chicken.
>Materials. The flesh of innocents, namely.We make more corpses then we know what to do with. >Wealth. If they create something useful to us we would be willing to buy it.
>>5112641>Materials. The flesh of innocents, namely.>Zugzeb. Their deity would be pleased.There'll be wealth too, but it will be more intermittent.
>>5112643>>5112644>>5112645>>5112647>>5112657>>5112659>>5112665"Materials. Flesh, living and dead to experiment with." "Mmm..." "Uuuh..." They're on the brink, you go for the kill. "Zugzeb would be pleased if you helped me melt Paladins." You know that's true. "...Zugzeb gud." "Yus, es gud." "We work fur you then." "Yus. Gud." You watch them both. "We are in agreement then." "Yus." You scratch your head. "What exactly... is it that you can do?">+2 Adepts of Zugzeb>16/16 HP, 8 Dodge, 4 Toughness>Regenerate +4 HP per turn, +8 if submersed>Immune to acid and stun>Resistant to fear and pain>+8 grappling, +4 intimidation, torture, alchemy>2d4 damage per turn, can inflict 1d4 acid damage at range, 1d8 at melee, 1d12 when grappledYou had to coax the cliffnotes version from them and aren't entirely sure that they're aware they've given you an in-depth summary of their abilities, but as near as you can tell, Zugzeb is some sort of slime deity and these two are members of its cult? They're willing to work for you, at least, and seem very morally flexible. You aren't sure you understand their morals.What do you want to do now?>Continue traveling, they can walk like anyone else.>Take them to the farmer's home to see them in action.
>>5112672>>Take them to the farmer's home to see them in action.
>Continue traveling, they can walk like anyone else.
>>5112673Also check for virgins.
>>5112672These are very good shock troops.>Take them to the farmer's home to see them in action.
>>Take them to the farmer's home to see them in action.>Check if he has a virgin in his home
>>5112672>Take them to the farmer's home to see them in action.Fuck it, this'll be interesting.
>>5112674Changed my vote.
>>5112672>Take them to the farmer's home to see them in action.
>>5112673>>5112676>>5112677>>5112678>>5112681>>5112684You’re striking the farmer’s home to see just how dangerous they are in combat firsthand. For their part, they ramble to themselves about whether the glass cleaner is too slick or not harsh enough. You could listen to them for hours and you’re not sure it would make more sense than when you started. They are at least comprehensible in their directions and they explain that his home is nearby, a homestead of four, formerly five, him, his wife, daughter, and both of their sons. You instruct them not to melt any of the women until you’ve checked their virginity. There’s brief confusion until you relate to them that you need it as an ingredient for a sacrificial ritual, then they agree not to touch any women. A few minutes later you see a field of grain and a small, wooden house. There are two sturdy young men outside the door, one holding a wood-axe, the second, apparently nothing, but then you notice him tossing a stone up and down in his hand. They both look wary, terrified, even. You can’t imagine why.What’s the plan here?>Sit back and watch the Zugzeb worshipers work.>Open up with a shot of your light crossbow.>Close in to melee, you want their blood.
>>5112686>Sit back and watch the Zugzeb worshipers work.
>>5112686>>Sit back and watch the Zugzeb worshipers work.Although we should be prepared to box them in so they don't escape.
>>5112686>Sit back and watch the Zugzeb worshipers work.Chow down on an apple and watch the fireworks.
>>5112686They seem afraid? Does the second farmer have a sling or some kind of mystical/godly powers?>They attack from range as they seem wary, we'll close into melee to interrupt any counter-fire by them
Oh, nevermind, I guess my reading comprehension isn't great, but I'm tired. The farmers are the ones that are afraid, not the cultists, probably, hopefully.
Raw Combat Log:>Zugzeb Adepts charge Farmers>Farmer #1 prepares to swing>Farmer #2 throws a stone at Zugzeb Adept #1, rolls 5, misses>Zugzeb Adepts reach Farmers>Farmer #1 swings woodcutter’s axe at Zugzeb Adept #1, rolls 17, hits for 1 damage, -4 from toughness, Zugzeb Adept #1 has 16/16 HP left>Farmer #2 throws a stone at Zugzeb Adept #1, rolls 13, hits for 4 damage, -4 from toughness, Zugzeb Adept #1 has 16/16 HP left>Zugzeb Adept #1 grapples Farmer #1, rolls 6+8 vs 14, success, inflicts 3 acid damage, Farmer #1 has 3/6 HP left>Farmer #1 has lost half his HP in one blow, must save against 16 or stun, rolls 18, isn’t stunned>Zugzeb Adept #2 strikes Farmer #1, rolls 18, hits for 1+1 damage, 6 acid melee damage, Farmer #1 has -5/6 HP left>Farmer #2 makes morale check, must roll 18 or higher on 1d20+4, rolls 8+4, panics and runs>Zugzeb Adept #1 throws acid vial at Farmer #2, rolls 6, misses>Zugzeb Adept #2 attempts to catch Farmer #2, rolls 10 vs 1, Farmer #2 tripped, Zugzeb Adept #2 grapples Farmer #2, rolls 19+8 vs 15, inflicts 2 acid damage, Farmer #2 has 4/6 HP left>Farmer #2 attempts to escape, rolls 10 vs 19+8, fails>Zugzeb Adept #1 strikes Farmer #1, rolls 12, hits for 1+1 damage, 2 acid melee damage, Farmer #2 has 0/6 HP left>Zugzeb Adepts victorious
Rolled 6 (1d6)>>5112687>>5112689>>5112691>>5112694>>5112709Both of the cloaked men go into a dead-sprint, making a manic, screeching, gurgling noise at the sight of the men, and the two of them panic but hold on. Their family is depending on them. One readies his axe to swing and the other throws a stone but his trembling hand sends it wide over their heads. They come closer, near to hitting them like a hammer on an anvil but the farmer swings his axe, burying it into the first's shoulder! To no avail, as the flesh bubbles, the blade slides out, and the skin beneath is unharmed. Motivated by his brother's hit, the second throws a stone with furious force, straight into the stricken adept's jaw with a sickening CRACK, and doing nothing, as it bubbles back together the moment the stone falls.The Zugzeb worshiper that's been hit twice now bends his arms at a hideous angle, seizing him with strength that shouldn't be possible from limbs so thin. The man cries out in horror as translucent fluid leeches out of the cultist's very skin, and straight through his own! But he holds on, ready to fight, but before he can make an attempt to gouge his eyes the Zugzeb worshiper defends him, by swiping fingers through his now-liquid face like he was running them through water. The poor bastard doesn't even time to scream. After seeing what happened to his brother, the other farmer drops his rock and sprints in the opposite direction from the house he grew up in. The first Zugzeb adept throws a bottle that goes wide and shatters elsewhere, but the second sprints on legs bending in three places and the squelching noise causes the farmer to turn his head, and trip on a pothole, twisting his ankle and being tackled at the same time. Thanks to the angle, the acid can't melt too much at once, but when the man tries to shove the abomination off of him, it gurgles and laughs as his skin shifts and bubbles to force his fingers away. Before he has time to lament, the other horror grips him by the neck and gurgles, melting a hole through either side and killing him on the spot.All in all, it took them about fifteen seconds. Now they're trying to figure out whether or not they should break-in so you save them the time and do it yourself. What you find doesn't surprise you, a gray-haired but not old woman gripping her daughter at their kitchen table, a girl about a year or two below the age of both the men that died outside. You don't have any sympathy. What you do have is vile curiosity. You peel the woman away from her and find that she's not just pretty, she's beautiful, the most you've ever seen, with all of her teeth, well-formed hips, and brown hair that goes past her shoulders. (Rolled a 10 on 1d10) It makes the one you already have almost look homely, and you scramble, searching, and find that...>1: Not a virgin>2-6: Still a virgin
please please please please be a virgin daughter. Best sacrifice to Ubvree we need to make up for the lost temple helper.
>>5112714Damn if she's that attractive, maybe it would be a waste to kill her when we can keep her for ourselves.
>>5112714Blindfold the bitch, make sure she stays as innocent as possible. Use the Mother for ourselves though.
>>5112714...This entire ordeal was an excellent detour. She'll make for a good sacrifice, of that you have no doubt, though the temptation to keep her for yourself is strong, the temptation to seize an ignoble gods' favor is perhaps stronger. Her mother's looks have faded over the years and she was never as pretty but she's at least easier on the eyes than the farmer's daughter/sister.What do you want to do with her mother?>Leave her to the Zugzebites>Kill her yourself, quickly>Kill her yourself, slowly>Take her alongAfter that, you return to the rest of your group, captive(s) in tow, and tie them with the rest. Your followers are quite... disturbed by the new entries, and you neglect to inform them that they were promised to be compensated for their time. The last thing you need is a sort of, Melvin's minions guild forming, and negotiating some sort of wage for themselves. Bah.
>>5112723Don't think with your dick.We can get another hot woman later, Ubvree wants beautiful virgins, I wouldn't be surprised if we get better rewards for her.
>>5112714Mother of god...She'd make a great sacrifice, but a 10/10 hotness and still a virgin, it is tempting just to keep her for ourselves.
>>5112725>Leave her to the Zugzebites>Blindfold the girl and take her out of earshot.
>Take her along
>>5112729+1Got to maintain that innocence.
>>5112729+1Let's make sure all of her virginities are intact this time, not just the sexual ones.
>>5112725>>5112729ThisIt's really tempting to keep her, but we'll find another hot lady eventually.
>>5112729+1>>5112726Beauty didn't seem to matter, just age and virginity. It's also quite in character for Melvin to keep her.
>>5112727Dude, we can always just make Sadie hotter using some ignoble boon later. Our chances of getting another perfect sacrifice is rare, better boost our powers first before we run into paladins.We're on a time crunch now.
>>5112725>Take her along>Blindfold them both
>>5112738The ignoble goddess waits and then whispers.>I've given you a gift more valuable than anything else. Understanding. If you want more, and believe me, I can give you much more, sacrifice a beautiful virgin on a moonless night. Its sex doesn't matter but its age does. I'm not into the very young or the very old. You understand?
>>5112743Ah, guess I missed that.
>>5112740I was just musing, there'll be other beautiful girls and as you said we can probably make Sadie hotter or something with a boon. If I actually wanted her I'd wouldn't have tried to preserve her innocence, I vote for a rape or to use her as a reward for Tobias succeeding his first kill or something.
>>5112729>>5112732>>5112733>>5112736>>5112738You force the new captive into a blindfold, guide her away from the viscera that used to be her brothers, and leave her mother alone. The cultists wait for a minute like you asked them to, or muffled her anyhow, because you can't hear any screams. You genuinely do hope this helps them make a better glass cleaner. You're no brewmaster but you imagine that's important to making good booze. You return to the rest of your followers with the virgin, her ears stuffed with rags, too, and tie her in with the others. You aren't sure which order you'll sacrifice them in, or even if you're going to. You'll figure something out. You wait about another hour and then your two new fodder return. They keep to themselves, thankfully, because most of the others are... disturbed by them. You continue traveling and make good time before you lay down your head to rest. When you awaken, you know that it'll be three more days until the new moon, not counting today. Each of your prisoners is untouched. Good. You'd castrate the fool to risk the well-being of your sacrifices.What do you want to do for today's journey? Assuming you want to keep traveling until it's time for the sacrifices, that is.>Meditate, as YolunuloY has taught you to>Commune with a specific ignoble god (which one?)>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (who?)>Nothing, just because you’re walking doesn’t mean your noggin has to be a’joggin’.Concerning your food supply, and assuming the adepts are getting full meals and the new virgin's also on half-rations, it's currently sitting at:>Day 35, 170 Food left (grain, you could use something better)>12 eating full-rations, 5 eating half-rations, 1 eating no rationsDo you want to adjust who's getting how much in the way of rations?
>>5112747>Meditate, as YolunuloY has taught you to>Commune with a specific ignoble god (arson and murder/charity)>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (Richard)
>>5112747>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (who?)Richard
>>5112747>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (Neilson)He's still shakyRations are fine
>>5112747>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (Neilson)hopefully we can get past the whole blatantly plotting against us thing
>>5112747Foods good.Let's split our time between Meditating and Corrupting: Neilson, Richard.
>>5112753He's been consistent loyal and high quality with us, his plotting is all water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned.
I'm going to sleep for now and be back tomorrow, but will be busy so updates might be less frequent then.
>>5112756Night QM. Sleep well.
When we get a bit of a grasp of the Orkish language, we should definitely go into ork territory and assemble a dread legion.That's probably the quickest way to make ourselves into a big shot dark lord that can threaten the kingdom.
>>5112760Becoming not!Sauron is definitely on the list.
>Talk to someone, corrupt them further: (Teach Tobias how to meditate to YolunuloY) >If he succeeds on it, then give him a full ration for the day. >Plan out the ritual while traveling. Think about how to maximize Ubvree's amusement when we make the sacrifice to get better gains, and what kind of boon do we want to ask for.I recommend One Virgin sacrifice for cosmetic improvements; Fixing Gawain's Ear, we get different looks and a build with a thicker dick so that paladins can't identify us based on witness testimony, and lastly, Hotter Sadie or ORK-ing Groshnak's looks more. Second Sacrifice with the 10/10:???. The third virgin is just average looking, so I don't think Ubvree wants her. Is it possible to have multiple rituals going on at once? If so, she can go to Zodom, but make like Schwarz fuck her in the ass, since Ubvree likes when 'those who don't know better' engage in pleasures of the flesh and he's probably retarded enough to qualify as 'not knowing better'. So if they get to see that too, it's just a cherry on top of two gifts. And Zodom might like it if we have the 2 farmer's spitroast (but anal) the prettier daughter and Groshnak buttrapes the ugly one.
>>5112793-1 the write in, we're not tainting our virgin sacrifices by bringing Zodom into this. If you wanted to get Zodom's attention, you should've voted to rape the mother before the blob brothers melted her, or engaged the farmer's female family in an incestuous threesome.
>>5112796Can you just vote normally?Cut it out with the antivotes and quantum superpositioned double votes and just pick one choice like everyone else.
>>5112802No, especially considering we can choose multiple choices here. I really don't understand why you're so upset over the way I vote.
>>5112796Yeah, but Ubvree only wants the pretty virgins, once of the virgins we kidnapped is average. There's no point sacrificing a virgin Ubvree doesn't want, nor will appreciate. So, I recommended the one Ubvree doesn't want get sacrificed to Zodom, but, do it in a way that appeals to Ubvree, by letting Schwarz have a go at them.I don't think you get what I'm talking about, I'm saying we have two rituals go at once. 2 virgin sacrifices to Ubvree, the 10/10 and the 7/10 pretty ones (the most recent one and the one from the store). The average one and the two camp followers (the farmers' daughters), get buttfucked while we do the virgin sacrifice so that Zodom's attention is also caught during it. We won't be tainting our virgins at all, dude. Ubvree doesn't care about innocence, it's looks+age+virginity that matters to them, it's Espurgat who gives a fuck about soul purity.
>>5112827Well, not sacrificed to Zodom, but used in a ritual in honor of Zodom.
>>5112827Pretty sure we wouldn't have got a virgin that Ubvree wouldn't want, just for this quest's collective sanity.Second off, we don't even know the relationship between the two deities, or met with Zodom in any capacity. It could seriously backfire on us instead.Third, QM said that a soul's purity does matter as to it's value, and that other gods would be interested in such purity in a soul.
>>5112793Anon I'm pretty sure "those who don't know any better" was not intended to mean "pleasures of the flesh (committed) by those who don't know any better" but rather "pleasures of the flesh (known by) those who don't know any better"Also Zodom is literally a joke god that may not even exist
>>5112841I'm pretty sure QM only said that Espurgat cares about purity and that we don't know if that is his personal metric or one that all ignoble gods use. For sacrificing the virgins, we could sacrifice the beautiful one first and then just ask Uvbree if she also wants the ones that are better described as pretty or cute. >>5112793>I won't waste any time with introductions. My name is Uvbree, I'm associated with shadows, treachery, and the pleasures of the flesh by those who don't know any better.You are misinterpreting this line. She isn't saying she likes it when stupid people fuck. She is saying that the things people know her by are not correct. To put it differently, the only people who associate her with shadows, treachery, and the pleasures of the flesh are those that do not know any better.
>>5112885>Espurgat specifically mentioned that the more innocent, powerful, and difficult a soul is to obtain, the more valuable it is. You aren't sure yet if that's true only for his system of exchange or as a general rule.By the QM's own words, it can be a general rule.Secondly, if Uvbree didn't want these virgins, we wouldn't have gotten them for her sacrifice. This is a nonissue, because it's common sense for the QM to not confuse the issue. What would be the point of making Sadie find these virgins if they are not suitable for sacrifice.Also, she's clearly talking about people who can't help themselves to the pleasure of the flesh.
>>5112885>For sacrificing the virgins, we could sacrifice the beautiful one first and then just ask Uvbree if she also wants the ones that are better described as pretty or cute. Oh, okay, I agree with this point.
>>5112864Ah. That's a point. Though rather than not real, I thought the reason Sadie was trying to tell us he wasn't real was that she tried to get his favor and butt-slutted herself for nothing.
>>5112747First remember to sack that farmers houseLoot it and gain more food>Talk to someone (who?)Sadie&Nelson we need to make a plan for our situation, and know what everyone in our band knows of the region we are in
>>5113027>know what everyone in our band knows of the regionYeah, it's a conversation we should've had by now, but eh.
>>5112747>Talk to someone, corrupt them further (Neilson)Make further steps in securing his loyalty>Commune with a specific ignoble god (Uvbree)Find out the specifics of any formal practices regarding how her ritual should be done.
Also, regarding the "By those who don't know any better" or whatever the quote was...I think that she meant that she is known as the goddess of lies, shadows and whatever else by those who don't know any better. In other words, she is claiming that that is not what she is the goddess of, but that most people think of her as having dominion over those concepts.
>>5112748>>5112750>>5112752>>5112753>>5112754>>5113246You decide that bringing Richard and Neilson into your influence is ideal, and to that end, you get them both and enter into a longwinded discussion on what they've done in the black dyad and how they've been rewarded for it, contrasted with what they'll be doing for you and how they'll be rewarded for that. At the same time, you make it known that you want to hear more about the borderlands and get a rundown on what everyone else who's had the run of things already knows.>roll 1d100 to travel>roll 8,10,12,14 or higher on 1d20+3 to corrupt Neilson, best of 2>roll 12,14,16,18 or higher on 1d20+3 to corrupt Richard, best of 2>You're using deception and intimidation so you get a bonus for the average of both.
Rolled 15 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>5113273Neilson
Rolled 26 (1d100)>>5113273
Rolled 7 (1d20)>>5113273
Rolled 2 + 3 (1d20 + 3)
Rolled 17 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>5113273Think we need one more o these.
>>5112638>>5112629I like this plan, minus devirginzing a virgin before a sacrifice that specifically calls for a virgin.
>>5113275>>5113311>>5113323>>5113331>15+3,7+3 vs 8,10,12,14>GREAT SUCCESS>2+3,17+3 vs 12,14,16,18>SLIGHT SUCCESSYou talk to them long throughout the day, as the sun waxes and wanes. You are cautious, waiting for them to explain the injustices of their past, and they do. Neilson explained that he joined the black dyad years ago in an act of rebellion instead of continuing his father’s glassblowing business, but after he died in a roofing accident, his mother was left alone and he had no way to master the trade or to support her but stay in with the thieves. He confesses that he regrets his decision but not that he stuck with it, because with his talent he’s gotten very far in the mafia in only eight years. Most of what he’s done is smuggle and crack safes, and for it he’s been given a fraction of the coin he’s brought in but it’s more than he could’ve gotten glassblowing and in exchange, the black dyad gives him a shelter to lay his head and a means to avoid the punishments of the Paladins. For thieves, the Order is lenient, requiring only that they work at a fair wage to repay the costs of what they’ve stolen but at the same time merciless, requiring that a thief work, no matter their ability to pay off the costs themselves. Thieves that have been stealing for years or who’ve stolen something of significant value can expect to spend the rest of their lives chopping wood and breaking rock. The Paladins, he says, have sinister, holy ways of telling if someone is a liar and of connecting their captives to past crimes.Richard joined the black dyad only two years ago and has spent his time cutting purses in the market districts. He’s not as talented as Neilson but unlike him, he wanted in to start with, to get more wealth than his parents, sharecroppers under the noble temple’s patronage, ever could’ve gotten. He wanted the land, power, and respect that they never had. Under the black dyad, he didn’t get any of that but he was beaten by a petty crook and given chronic back pains. He could’ve went into a noble temple and be healed of his ailments, but then he would have to confess his evils and they’d coax the truth out of him. Instead, he took up drinking to mask the hurt and took satisfaction in revenge: he saw the pickpocket responsible’s limbs mangled and pushed him in the lake himself. He had been making due as well as he could, since then, but the coppers were getting worth less and less to him every day. He went to Dalhurst hoping to impress Neilson who’d tell Gawain all about his successes and get him moved on to more lucrative thievery but then ran into you and was mutilated for his troubles. You ask him what he thinks about his being lied to and sent to search for the crypt, but he thinks nothing of it, coin is coin and it would get him the same benefit either way. You’ve realized that Neilson is disillusioned with a life of crime and Richard, dissatisfied, so you offer them something better.
>>5113498Your words are vague and your promises ill-defined, you tell them that they ever could’ve gotten beneath the black dyad and that, more than nameless fodder, they’ll be getting in at the ground floor and at your very hand. Where necessary, you lean on The Authority to silence their concerns and lie to them a few times, that you care about Neilson’s mother like the mafia doesn’t and that the powers at your disposal can mend Richard’s back without noble priests or hundreds of gold to fund a rogue practitioner of forbidden sorcery to do the same, but in truth you don’t whatsoever and don’t have no idea what else you’re capable of, but you’re confident and that sells it. By the end of your talk, you have the thieves hanging on your words and a better idea of how the Paladins operate, but Neilson was already on the edge of caving in from being close to you for so long and Richard has his doubts about committing. Not too shabby, considering that you ritually maimed him a couple of weeks ago. Later, when it’s getting dark and time to set camp, you leave Richard to dwell on his limp and the simpleton making whacking motions with his hands and take Neilson off to the side.Sadie, too, but she seems frustrated by something, though she doesn’t say it out loud. You’ve been more expecting more progress on her study of the diary by now but that can wait, you need knowledge. You want to know everything about the kingdom and its regions, most specifically the borderlands you’re in now. The necromancer has read plenty, though not much on the histories and she was a shut-in, and the thief has traveled plenty but is illiterate and couldn’t name who was king when his grandfather was alive. Of course, the king now, Theobert the II, is a figurehead who keeps the nobles in-line and answers to the Grand Marshal and the High Priests before making any decisions, but the noble gods didn’t ordain him a Paladin like his father so most of what he does is try to prove that he’s virtuous enough to hold the position. A potential target for corruption, perhaps?
>>5113501The girl makes a crude dirt map from what she’s remembered from her books and the thief corrects it here or there, from memory, so that you have a semi-decent sketch. If you stretched “semi-decent” to the breaking point and snapped it over your knee. “What the hell is this!?” She scowls, holding the still-muddy stick. “It’s a… dirt map.” You look at it again. “A dirt map? The fuck are those triangles for?” She huffs at your ignorance. “They are mountains, and-“ You interrupt. "What about those two lines in the bottom, there?" She scowls. "...those are the edges of the river's valle-" You interrupt again. “But why’d you scatter sand over that line there?” The girl is visibly irate. “…If you’ll let me explain-“ You smirk. “Go ahead.” So she does. Near as you can tell after a fifteen minute lecture, the difference between the heartland, the borderlands, and the outlands is how much control the Paladins openly hold over the territory. You already knew that, but she explains that there’s numerous Paladin bastions in the outlands, and Neilson, that there’s plenty of seedy underbellies even in the capital. You imagine that’s because it’s best to corrupt there even if it’s harder. The Order only seized power some three centuries ago, during the reign of the latest weak king in a line of weak kings, after the noble gods revoked the blessings of the then-noble temple’s high priests, declared the nobilities of a dozen complicit lineages null, and sent a prophet to smite them and rebuild the temple. This didn’t end peacefully and a bloody civil war was waged. The Order was established as a measure of solidarity among pro-rebellion knights and caught on like wildfire when the more righteous among them were blessed for their efforts.
>>5113503After the social order was upended, the Order “restored a righteous king to the throne” but in actuality took charge and has been running things with a hands-off approach to administration and their fists buried everywhere else since. The taint of the previous “dark age” hasn’t yet been scrubbed clean and the Paladins’ forefathers chose to consolidate in the capital provinces before they reclaimed the fallen lands- the existing frontier that threw off any pretense of fealty, among them the petty remains of disgraced houses, resurgent primitive tribes, more organized monsters taking a slice of the pie, and rare horrors that haven’t been documented in anything the Paladins allow to be read outside of the Order’s halls. More recently, some enclaves of heartland support have taken territory and pay tithes to the noble temple, but at this rate it will be another century yet before it falls under the kingdom. It’s also inevitable, for the Paladins have steadily gained more ground than they’ve lost.The Golgemon river, named for some ancient pissant or another, runs wide to the heartland’s east and sets a boundary between them and foreign kingdoms too wary of their power to let them take a foothold. The borderlands, most relevant to you as it’s the territory you’re in, is less dangerous because the “sanctified” noble lineages have a firmer control here, and at the same time more, as they don’t have to answer to the Paladins as long as they keep the land stable and don’t commit any grave wrongs. The necromancer suspects that by letting you slip honey into the wells under his watch, the guard captain in Dalhurst did commit a grave wrong and his family may face some consequences.
>>5113505Sadie isn’t sure which noble lines are in charge of what here, only that they had little interest in her low standing and were more ambitious than their peers in the heartland, who mostly wanted a noble, noblewoman and saw through the girl’s scant looks to reject her, too. She confesses that she was half-tempted to try and court a member of one of the distant, “corrupt” houses that’s supposedly still been collecting taxes and lording over serfs like nothing’s changed but the logistics, and rumors of Paladin scribes skimming letters for heretical activity, kept her from making the attempt. Neilson isn’t very involved in politics but says that Dalhurst isn’t the only trading post in the region, far from it, but that with the goods he was smuggling, local wealth rarely had much bearing on the supply or the demand. He has several contacts in various spots, most of them further to the southwest, that were interested in fenced items and says he could get in touch but isn’t sure how evil most of them are, outside of buying jewels they know damned well were stolen. A few of them though, had very specific requests with very strict timetables, paid with very deep pockets, and went to very heavy lengths to hide their identities. Those, he says, are mostly in and around the settlements in the near outlands and he suspects they might be interested in meeting you, too. You consider all of this in full, and stomp the hideous “map” back into the mud before it insults your eyes any further.What do you want to do?>Talk to Sadie and see what’s been ailing her.>Talk to Neilson and deepen his earlier taint.>Ask for about the history of the “dark ages.”>Ask about these mysterious contacts of Neilson’s.>Ask if any of Sadie’s romantic prospects come to mind.>Ask for more on the major borderland towns.>Ask for more on the “sanctified” noble houses.>Ask for more on the “corrupt” noble houses.>You have a specific question (what do you want to ask?)>You’re heard enough, call it for tonight.
>>5113508>Talk to Sadie and see what’s been ailing her.>Ask for about the history of the “dark ages.”>Ask about these mysterious contacts of Neilson’s.>Ask if any of Sadie’s romantic prospects come to mind.
>Talk to Sadie and see what’s been ailing her.
>>5113508>>Ask for more on the major borderland towns.>>Ask for more on the “corrupt” noble houses.>>Ask about these mysterious contacts of Neilson’s.>>Talk to Sadie and see what’s been ailing her.In that order.
>>5113508Supporting >>5113515
>>5113515Support this
>>5113515supporting
>>5113508>Talk fo Sadie (tactlessly) and see what's been ailing her
>>5113508>Talk to Sadie and see what’s been ailing her.>Ask for about the history of the “dark ages.”>Ask about these mysterious contacts of Neilson’s.>Ask if any of Sadie’s romantic prospects come to mind.>Ask for more on the “corrupt” noble houses.
>>5113515Supporting this!First time being able to vote, its exciting
This is looking to be a fairly meaty update. I've written about half of it now and I'll be busy tomorrow but I'll be posting it when I can. I thought I'd let you know so you don't worry that I bailed if there's no update in the morning.
>>5114083Np, worthed if is good
>>5114083NP and thanks for letting us know, QM. Sorry for nagging you into doing lore heavy/meaty updates when you're busy.
>>5114083I believe the correct term for this update is thicc. I do hope the romantic prospects do make it into this update though, I'm really looking forward to some really sadistic payback for any petty slight against our squeeze.
>>5113515>>5113533>>5113592>>5113617>>5113741“Tell me more about these… borderland towns.” Neilson scratches his scalp and shivers. “Well… Ah’m not too educated but ah know of a few. Mostly ones my- uhhh, a-ah mean, the dyad had me goin’ to. Borderland’s less crowded than the heartland but there’s still people, still towns. Supposedly spots in the outlands got towns, petty kingdoms n’ the like, but here, towns pay the tithes n’ get merchants on the road n’ where there’s merchants, there’s regulations. Paladins don’t want some things getting’ sold but someone always wants to buy some things n’ that means someone’s always sellin’ it n’ if someone’s sellin’ it, they either move it themselves or buy someone to do it for them. Big part of the black dyad’s coin comes from doin’ that, gettin’ dirty things to dirty people. Not always bad things, l-like y-yo-“ He looks at you apologetically, you shake your hand, “-e-evil things, a-ah mean but letters, "unlisted" artifacts out of holes in the ground, coins from the old kingdom n’ the like. Did do some iffy things though. Poisons, scrolls, books that could be anythin’ because the messengers were specifically not supposed to be able to read except for a word or two if they were caught n' told to.” He looks at you and narrows his eyes. “Now we did do some real, proper evil things though. Those were always the riskiest missions, always paid the best. Gettin’ a murderer’s left hand to somewhere, a jar’s worth of child’s blood, n’ that’s not even the worst. Thing is, these men we dealt with, always knew if we shorted ‘em n’ there was always consequences. Bad, bad ones. That’s why the dyad doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t make problems, ‘tis policy."
>>5115344“There’s a few spots in particular we had to go too more often. Arkaley, Kolveil, Orstfeld, none too bad. Nearest one to here’s Diroux, after that’s Pitmerden. Dalhurst is a backwater but it’s a backwater where a couple of trade roads meet. Trade happens slow but isn’t much else movin’ going on, besides patrols n’ them folks like… o-our new friends… or… or the Paladins.” You scratch your chin. “Tell me more about these towns.” He nods. “Of course. Arkaley is a spot right on the edge between the heartlands n’ the north start of those mountains she was on about. Maybe a thousand livin’. Lots of coal goes out of there, some clay too, they do lots of business, most of it watched by the nobles who say the Paladins are right over their neck, but that just means anyone willin’ to stick their neck out’s willin’ to spend plenty, too. Kolveil, nothin’ too much, small, bit bigger than Dalhurst, maybe four-hundred, used to just sell coal from Arkaley n’ work as a trade-stop but then they figured out the grass was good enough for cattle as anywhere else, so it’s started to boom. Real spread out. Orstfeld, built on some hills, middle of the plains like these beside the road, but even flatter if you’d believe it. Good number of people there, more than Arkaley, but most all of ‘em don’t take too kindly to nobles, still remember the bad days, so the nobles there now live in their keeps up high away from ‘em. There isn’t much oversight there, too near to the outlands, but lots of dangers too. Locals likely to string you up n’ not tell anyone, or nobles torture you, get a servant to say the locals did it, n’ a cage-carriageman turns the blind eye because you’re a heretic.” You lick your teeth. “Cage-carriageman?” He nods. “Anyone too suspicious to leave but not enough evidence to burn, the towns here stick ‘em in a cage on wheels, nice n’ comfy, n’ roll ‘em to the nearest Paladin that can tell if they’re clean or not. Reason why there isn’t witches everywhere, they say, but ah’m not sure if ah buy it. Every one of ‘em ah’ve met was a strange cat.”
>>5115345You continue listening and he continues talking. “Diroux, Diroux isn’t nothin’. Couple of clients used to live there but they got caught n’ burned out by the Order. Not sure what they got burned out for but ah’m glad ah don’t know the details. Might’ve been part of the reason myself. All that’s left is a village that’s too big to call it one, nothin’ made there, nothin’ sold, just chicken n’ grains. Now, Pitmerden, Pitmerden is a real sight to see. Site of power for a few noble houses, they play pocket politicks with each other n’ their garrisons stay there so it stays fortified. Maybe three-thousand around it, was safer from danger when the orcs came so they went there, n’ trade went there, n’ so did the scrutiny but there’s only so many places the Paladins can be n’ marketplaces ain’t one they care too much for.” You appraise this knowledge. “What about your contacts? The ones you’re so wary of?” He looks off in the distance. “…Most ain’t as scary as you.” You widen your eyes. “Most? What about the few that are?” He slowly shakes his head. “…Ah’ll tell you about the ones ah wasn’t made to swear on my blood not to. Well first there’s a widow, Judith, sad old woman used to be a merchant’s wife, then he died without leaving her any kids, she said to me. In a little dirt house in a hamlet up in the mountains outside of Arkaley, always wantin’ foods, strange ones, like ah’d never heard of. You ever heard of cinnamon?” You think for a moment. “No.” “Neither did ah, but she did, n’ paid gold too. Not gold coins, like, nuggets. To go off in the mountains n’ bring these to her. Can’t imagine why."
>>5115347“...Very rich, muscular-looking young man in chainmail, told me to call him “Will,” n’ well, he wanted scrolls, potions, anythin’ magical except for books. Paid good, too, pounds of silver. Haven’t seem him in a while but he meets me, or h-he did, n’ other black dyad smugglers alone or in twos on the road so that might be why. Some man in black called Tharid, Thazid, somethin’ like that, lived in a cave far from the road in middle of nowhere n’ he wanted “fuel,” by which ahh, uhhh, guess he meant the holy texts. Scrolls, pamphlets, most especially pages of books, when we could get 'em. Ah got told to give ‘em to him n’ not ask a word about payment, so ah did. There’s Anna-Lena, girl married to a cage-carriageman over in Beglun, another town, far away, only went there once to bring her some sick “tools” in a sack n’ was paid some of the best coin ah’ve ever made, but ah didn’t ever go back, her laugh was… wrong. Less wrong’s Moonie, called him that because he didn’t give us a name n’ his face was pocked like it had the sickness a long time ago, but he didn’t want nothin’ from us, wanted us to move people across the borderland to the heartland n’ back again, n’ sometimes in the same spot. All kinds of people, but never too smart, never too rich, never too driven to do nothin’. Met us in alleyways, backroads, even safe-houses but we never were surprised, just got a sense for when or where we’d need to be there to get a deal. Paid in copper. Lots of it. Not bad, not bad at all, but makes the hairs on the back of my head lay down, if that makes any sense."
>>5115349“Then ah guess there’s Ernst, middle-aged man, middle of Pitmerden’s good part of town, wealthy, too, wanted to sell us what he had, little red n’ dark red bottles smell like vomit, n’ he got paid in gold, real gold, proper coins. Always bothered me the most, no idea where he got ‘em, no idea why the higher-ups wanted ‘em, they just did. Not sure if it’s a potion or what, bu-but they swear- er- swore by it, said it did somethin’ right. Last of all-“ The thief bites his lip and sighs. “The Spahn.” You raise your eyebrows. “You mean, like the nobles?” He tilts his head forward. “Not just any Spahn, their youngest, their heirs. Apparently it’s a tradition, gets ‘em a tour of what the land’s really like with a “reliable” escort that won’t shy from showin’ ‘em the worst, so they can rule it the best. That’s the reasonin’, only did it two times myself, n’ both times ah was travelin’ with a bull of a man that looked like he could crumple a knight’s helmet. Got paid in silver. Got to keep most of it, even.” The necromancer fidgets with her sleeve.“…That would explain a lot about Albin Spahn’s sympathy for crooks.” This is the first she’s spoken since the thief’s started going on about his past employers. You have a deeper question about her on the tip of your tongue but restrain it for a shallower one instead. “Sympathy? I thought thieves went straight to the heartland?” She shakes her head. “Not in Spahn holdings. Since his reign began, anything short of horse-rustling is punished with the stockades. Days at most. Casting stones isn’t even allowed.” You raise an eyebrow. “Lenient. Why aren't the fool's holdings rife with cutpurses?” The ex-noblewoman pauses, thinking of how to phrase her words. “Second-time offenders are whipped, once per silver coin’s worth of their goods, third-timers are executed.” You understand, now. “Ah. The Spahns… I know little of the noble families. Tell me more.” Her voice is questioning. “About..?” You snap. “The fallen ones! The nobles that didn’t bend over for the Order, those ones! They’re the ones that interest me.” They both look at each other, but in the end, Neilson defers to her superior education.
>>5115350“Well… there are four of any relevance to the borderlands. House Carcus, Landall, Mulver, and Thornwood. After the noble gods revoked their titles, according to the omens of the priests, a few of the noble lineages renounced their own nobility and many were thinned to obscurity, but a few refused to acknowledge the change. The most notable of these was Carcus, formerly famed for the size and skill-at-arms of its sons, they were driven to the outlands late into the Order’s rise. They were one of the last to resist openly and the first, in fact, to declare the noble temple persona non grata-” “What?” “-Not welcome. By the sword, that is.” You idly wonder if you should shave or not. You’ve been trying for years but maybe growing a thick beard isn’t in the cards for you. She continues- “Rumor has it that House Carcus has carved a domain somewhere on the fringes of the outlands and-“ “Why are they relevant, then?” “They used to own most of this region and their iconoclasm-“ You stare blanky. “-their anti-noble god feelings, are part of the reason why every village of note has a temple, instead of just personal shrines and a podium for priestly services.”That makes sense. “House Landall was a victim of tragedy, because they were virtuous when most were not and kept their blessing of the noble gods’ permission to collect taxes, but when House Mulver fell-” “Explain further.” “I. am. getting. there… But when House Mulver fell, because the Landall patriarch was married to a Mulver woman at the time, he chose to fight for the old kingdom instead of the noble gods. Even so, they were righteous enough men that the Paladins’ blessings harm them any more than they did their own and when it became clear that the war was lost and the duchess found dead in a bathtub, Landall surrendered itself to judgement and their patriarch to the sword. For their rebellion they were stripped of their name, but for their conduct, each kept their personal nobility and for the most part, married into other, still-legitimate noble families. They’re relevant because most “common” mayors and many officials in the borderlands, priests among them, are of Landall-blood and afforded an unusual respect by their superiors. Most of them try to earn it and may be an obstacle.”
>>5115352You’re getting a loose picture. “Mulver?” “Part of the reason for the collapse. They were hedonists, fattening themselves while their serfs starved and going as far to eat the finest calves instead of offering them, boiled in their mother’s milk, no less. Rumors that they prayed to their ancestors without acknowledging the temple pushed things further and when the war went against them, they fell the furthest, slaughtering serfs and torturing priests. Rather than fight alongside the Landall, most of them fled and some of them were never found. To this day, they’re a bogeyman among the nobles for when any bad thing happens. If a meal is undercooked, a Mulver did it, if a horse is lamed, a Mulver must’ve been involved- it’s like that for almost everything you could imagine. They’re- also- the distant cousins of my own family, buuut-“ You interrupt. “Thornwood.”“Mmm… well-“ Neilson cuts in. “They used to be called the, uhhh, the Bizemeur or somethin' like that but then they dropped the name when the omens came. Said that if the gods wouldn’t call ‘em noble, the gods weren’t noble at all, n’ changed the name on account of them gettin’ into banditry.” Sadie seems slightly miffed. “I wasn’t aware you knew of their history.” The thief is either oblivious or a good liar, maybe both. “They’re some the worst competition the black dyad has in these parts. Reason we don’t knock over caravans or rob travelers too much, they’ve got a hold of the roads so we focus on what’s on the roads. They’re dangerous, no interest in cooperatin’ with anyone unless-” “They marry in with a dowry and can then call themselves “noble” members of an overblown bandit clan that lost any trace of sophistication, tact, or class generations ago. They’re not worth our time. Fools with delusions of grandeur.” The thief whistles. “Longbows, old-blood warhorses, rare plate armor from their ancestors…” The necromancer sits in silence. “Delusions. Rather than go to the outlands, they chose to stay here and-“ Every word out of Neilson’s mouth is spur of the moment. “How do you know they didn’t, n’ just want us to think they did?” “…W-Well, I-“ “You don’t, don’t you?” Now the silence is angry.
>>5115358You think this has been enough, for now, and wave your hand to dismiss them. The snake leaves, jogging back to the wagon without fanfare, but Sadie stays and now that the discussion is over, glares at you almost openly. You grab her ass and leer. “Gee, what’s got you in such a bitchy mood, anyway?” The shift is like the light of a wick, the look in her eyes could burn paint and when she hisses speech, it is with such rancor that if you weren’t smug as a baseline you’d stumble back. “I have sought the diary of my forefather for the better part of a decade, I have bled and scraped and struggled to get my hands onto those sacrosanct pages, the magnificent life’s work of a magnificent man, and oh, I have so suffered for its fell wisdom. Day and night, I have pored over haphazard scribblings, deciphered half-dead languages, and parsed the metaphors beneath each for an almost-accurate terminology I can then extrapolate into a framework for finding the incantation, sorry, “spells,” his brilliant, broken mind described the effects of but didn’t see fit to detail, and, in the midst of it all, I have finally uncovered a true secret of power. The black miracle of undeath, the pinnacle of sacrilege in this creation, the bedrock of blasphemous legions epochs over, and do you know what?” You keep staring and she keeps talking. “I have sat on this, doing nothing, going nowhere, and being used like a two-bit whore by a common-born deserter who must get a kick out of knowing he could do better but chooses not to. He imagines me some arch-necromancer of an age sprung from the womb, ready to fell armies and raise them again as she merely takes the time to mature, and not-… not going nowhere, doing nothing!”
>>5115361Sadie seems agitated, so you loosen your grip and are about to say something when she starts screaming in your face. You can see the veins twitching beneath her skin, like a crooked and wrong spider's web. “THE EXPERIMENTS ARE WORTHLESS! THE WRITINGS ARE WORTHLESS! IF I AM TO GO ANYWHERE I NEED THE EXPERIENCE! I NEED TO PEN FIRSTHAND DOCUMENTATION BEFORE I CAN SO MUCH AS THINK TO REFINE MY OWN BOTCHED INTERPRETATION OF MY ANCESTOR’S ARCHIVED SORCEROUS AMALGAMATION! BUT YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT MY POTENTIAL! YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT ANY OF IT! YOU DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT GETTING TO KNOW WHO I AM OUTSIDE OF ASININE PILLOWTALK! YOU DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT YOUR OWN LUSTS ENOUGH TO DEBASE YOURSELF AND AT LEAST BE UNDERSTANDABLE FOR YOUR ANIMAL HEDONISM! BY THE IGNOBLE GODS, YOU DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE!” She sighs, fuming, and speaks cruelly. “You took me in the slick offal of my own flesh-and-blood torn apart before my eyes and never once said a word. Willis was a daft brother, with daft ideas but he was mine and he cared about his family more than anything. You never once asked me how I felt about him, or that stupid orc, or a word about the diary except how much “magic” I learned or how “dangerous” I thought I would be in a year’s time. The crowning achievement of my entire life doesn’t even matter to you. Nothing matters to you except your power and the ignoble gods listen to you but damn it all, you need to listen to me. Think, Melvin, think! What do you think is going to happen if you keep sleeping with me in that tent? Every night, I dread that I’ll be missing a period sometime soon and what do you do? Ramble on about the Paladins! Do you even have a plan for what you’re doing here, with me, or was this only ever a one-night fling that you never thought to finished!?” Her stare is boiling with indignant rage, and looking into your eyes, with The Authority blazing, is no small feat. Then again, she’s been exposed to it and has seen your eyes more than anyone.How should you respond to this?>Promise to be more sociable in the future.>Explain that you’ve been busy with your dark work.>Make up a lie about the ignoble gods or something.>Promise to make it up to her at the next minor settlement.>Apologize and admit you haven’t been thinking about any of this.>Punish her for her presumption. Gently. No more food or shelter until she apologizes.>Punish her for her presumption. Harshly. She’s being beaten.>Punish her for her presumption. Cruelly. Burn the diary.
>>5115365>Promise to be more sociable in the future.>Promise to make it up to her at the next minor settlement.>Apologize and admit you haven’t been thinking about any of this.I was thinking of gifting her a former noble suitor and his family who spurred you, but hey, if you want your first zombie to be someone insignificant I'll grab the next farmboy for you to try your craft on. And if you're so damned worried about missing your period, we can focus on your ass instead.
>>5115365>>Admit you haven’t been thinking about any of this(Because I don't see Melvin apologizing)>>Promise to make it up to her at the next minor settlement.Would Melvin know what contraceptives are or whether or not it's possible? Cause that might be a thing we wanna think about unless we're planning on knocking our Necromancer up.Cinnamon, rare spice or ignoble ingredient of doom in this world???
>>5115365>SILENCE (in Authority-speak)>To stand where you are right now and to do the things that you are doing is an opportunity that nobody else but I can give you.>Men and things worse than men swear their loyalty to me, I speak with the accursed gods not as a supplicant but as a bargainer, and yet everything has only just begun for me and all who follow me.>You dare to become an ingrate? After all I have done? All that I have provided to you?>You will get opportunity yet. Do not become haughty with the fever of progress.>pat her on the shoulder and brush her hair with our finger
>>5115365>Punish her for her presumption. Cruelly. Burn the diary."The writings are worthless, you say?"
>>5115393A dark necromancer child sub-plot would be interesting desu but I wonder whether this story will go long enough for it to bear fruit.
>>5115407Could be interesting down the line, but I think that she should focus on her studies more than the potential of a baby. I don't mind raping other women to get out jollies off and having Sadie come to our bed whenever she feels like, if that seems like a decent short term solution to her period problems.
>>5115407>>5115419True, it could go in a lot of interesting directions; I'm just not certain about the timing since we'd have about a month from a missed to get her settled before pregnancy symptoms kicked in (and we don't know whether or not they'd be debilitating in her; morning sickness could waste a lot of food resources in this situation and the fatigue common in the first trimester could make her more or less useless for our purposes). There's also the question whether or not it'd fuck up her ability to magic (and whether or not that magic would fuck up the kid... which we might care about but Melvin might not besides a "huh, that's interesting"). >>5115396We should probably put her place a bit, too; don't want her thinking she can get away with bossing us around. I don't know about this whole speech, but the "everything has only just begun for me and those who follow me" part should probably make it into our response.
>>5115423So long as the punishment only extends to a scolding, I'm fine with that. Burning the diary is excessive though.As for contraception, we could just not fuck her unless she feel like it. Having a kid so low level probably isn't wise, and we can sate our lusts with other women if need be.
>>5115347Where are we on the map in relation to all of this?>>5115345Pitmerden sounds like a good place to make contacts and money and find some corrupt noble willing to be for our services and access to the ignoble gods by proxy.>>5115349First guy sounds like an adventurer, not necessarily an evildoer. Tharid sounds like maybe he could be either a scholar or cultist. Anna sounds like a proper evildoer of some sort, like a disturbed murderer or hedge witch or something.>>5115350Interesting folks, Ernst may be a good in with nobility considering his Black Dyad connections, but he also doesn't seem that evil on face value, so perhaps not. Spahn while interesting just sounds like a family with a solid focus on raising their offspring well.>>5115352Carcus and Mulver sound like good families to get in with, Landall not so much. Calling it now, Neilson is a long lost Thornwood runaway heir or something.>>5115365>"I was focused on other things, there were paladins chasing after your great-granddaddy's tomb or whatever, I was convincing our rag-tag party that they best stay together with me so we can actually get some shit done instead of falling apart at the seams, I was communing with the ignoble gods and working to get their shit for their dark rituals, of course I care about the future, I don't wanna be some dumb-fuck peasant forever! BUT I CAN'T READ! None of this necromancy this, incantation that and all this fancy-shmancy whatever the fuck you talk about makes sense to me! It's not my fault, that's why I'm having you teach me to read, so this shit doesn't wash over my head! But of course I'm gonna tune out your haughty noble mystic shit, I don't understand a damn thing about it and you aren't helping! You barely understand it yourself! For real though, I didn't mean to not pay attention, I was just giving you space, thought you needed time to get over your brother's death and to read your diary in peace, I didn't figure you, a noble lady would be interested in the thoughts of a lowly peasant like me. I'll be sure to tell you all my thoughts of how shitty stale bread on the farm back home used to be, or how much I enjoyed killing the randoms we come across, or how your ass is flat! Fuckin' hell woman, if you want to talk about Groshnak or your brother then talk, I'll listen, but speak so I can understand.">*Grumble, grumble*
>>5115365>Promise to be more sociable in the future.>Punish her for her presumption. Gently. No more food or shelter until she apologizes.
>>5115438I was thinking Pitmerden sounded like the place to head once we've established ourselves a bit better (or reached an intermediate level) and that taking over the Thornwood's bandit clan seems like a goal we can reach more immediately. Also like your speech much better than the other Anon's.
>>5115438I like the ramblings. Have a +1 on that.
>Do you even have a plan for what you’re doing here, with me, or was this only ever a one-night fling that you never thought to finished!?A fling that never finished is honestly a pretty apt description. Other then some vague idea's about her becoming a 'Dark Lady' or raising an army of the dead I haven't read much about Sadie's future in the thread. I doubt Melvin has thought about this any further then Sex is fun and Zombies are cool. No reason to admit that to her though. >Punish her for her presumption. Kill the fat man and let her raise his corpse. Then let her deal with the resulting uncontrollable undead on her own.This should get her to understand why we haven't been letting her raise corpses. They are USELESS if we can't control them.
>>5115472I'm actually partial to keep feeding the fatman honey and seeing what results from it.
>>5115452Sounds like a plan. And thanks.The way I figure it we ain't a dark lord, at least not yet. We may have been chosen by the black stars but at the end of the day we are just a up-jumped man-child bandit with anger management problems with not a ton of hidden depths so far. I figure we ought to keep closer to that characterization and use it and this conversation with Sadie to get some character development, actually have a real talk or argument or whatever. It'll be good for the quest's long-term health if we start our development and become more interesting I figure, and that can start with a semi-genuine conversation.I don't see us apologizing per se, I don't think it is in character. But we can probably tell she at least has the nerve to get this rant in through The Authority's passive aura and we probably have some sort of pent up feelings or opinions about her as well. I figure we'd reflexively lash back out in some way and the difference between our statuses, the fact that presumably we'd think higher of our own planning and attempts at leadership/corruption than her, disdain for an admittedly made up (by me) tendency by Sadie to be hoity-toity and use big words and ramble about magic shit we don't know anything about are as good a thing as any to rant about. Plus at the end we say we'll listen and end on a positive note, hopefully improving our relationship after what will presumably be her initial anger. I also remember one anon saying that they wanted to give her space, which is what inspired that one line.
>>5115438Support
>>5115438support
>>5115438supporting the write in. Also love how it gives Melvin some characterization about his insecurity as a lowly peasant.
>>5115761its the most caring Melvin will ever be
>>5115438Support nice write in >>5115452That or Diroux since the place is not important. Perfect for not have attention. There is much we need to do. Once we are a bit stronger and have something of a plan going, we can go for Pitmerden. Being more skilled and with some better equipment would be a start, but we need to work on our companions loyalties and on their skills.>>5115485That's good.Well we do have a good amount of cash with us, we can see about buying some stuff in a settlement. And since Sadie would need to go alongside anyone else, who doesn't scream corrupted by looking at them, she can take more useful items for her. Like paper, books and so on.Maybe another wagon.
qm, the bin is down, how can i read them?>>5115365
>>5115809i meant the pastabin from first thread, there isn't any way to read it?
>>5115870It got 404ed
>>5115883so there is no way to recuperate it? shit i wanted some porn torture
>>5115893nope
Rolled 97 + 30 (1d100 + 30)>rolling for reaction, high is good, low is bad>Presence and write-in makes things easier
>>5115949Free blowjob?
>>5115949>>5115974We commit the sex?
>>5115949Fucking Melvin Silver Tongue.
>>5115949Nice
>>5115949>Melvin is no longer a complete social autistI'm so proud bros.
>>5116001>perk gained>Lady Killer
>>5116003We still need to kill 40 more for that perk.39 if Gibert's unborn was a girl.
OP died because he now has to make Melvin seem socially competent
>>5115438>>5115452>>5115456>>5115738>>5115753>>5115761>>5115763>>5115774You take a deep breath, your swordhand twitches, and your mind goes blank. A few seconds later, rage floods your mind and you're about to snap but reel it in to snarl and start speaking your mind. "I was focused on other things, there were paladins chasing after your great-granddaddy's tomb or whatever, I was convincing our rag-tag party that they best stay together with me so we can actually get some shit done instead of falling apart at the seams, I was communing with the ignoble gods and working to get their shit for their dark rituals, of course I care about the future-" The woman's glare tells you that she doesn't care one whit, and this infuriates you so deeply it's as if a dam shattered and all of your insecurities come flooding out."-I don't wanna be some dumb-fuck peasant forever! BUT I CAN'T READ! None of this necromancy this, incantation that and all this fancy-shmancy whatever the fuck you talk about makes sense to me!" Her look fades slightly and she breathes to speak but you don't stop. "It's not my fault, that's why I'm having you teach me to read, so this shit doesn't wash over my head! But of course I'm gonna tune out your haughty noble mystic shit, I don't understand a damn thing about it and you aren't helping!" The hate in that glare has shifted to something else, something weaker- "You barely understand it yourself!" -Shame. "For real though, I didn't mean to not pay attention, I was just giving you space, thought you needed time to get over your brother's death and to read your diary in peace, I didn't figure you, a noble lady would be interested in the thoughts of a lowly... PEASANT like me. I'll be sure to tell you all my thoughts of how shitty stale bread on the farm back home used to be, or how much I enjoyed killing the randoms we come across, or how your ass is flat!" She flinches, genuinely hurt, and you can sense the frustration is still there but has dissipated. You're no longer the focus and neither is she, but something nebulous and ill-defined. "Fuckin' hell woman, if you want to talk about Groshnak or your brother then talk, I'll listen, but speak so I can understand."
>>5116173Sadie makes a half-hearted scowl, then sighs. The look on her face is almost ashamed but she's too proud to admit it and when she speaks, it's with a noble, nay, ignoble dignity. "I'm... sorry, Melvin, I... didn't realize you were still so sensitive about your past-" You snap. "A lifetime spent tilling fields and shoveling shit, while you what, sat in a palace and learned your letters!?" She looks at the ground and says nothing for a moment. "I was never the scholarly type of girl... I never had an interest in the old tomes, or the noble politicks, or the holy doctrines. I was alone. Nobody cared for who I was, nobody sought me out, nobody asked my feelings but my mother once a blue moon and not from a place of empathy but of obligation..." You keep listening. "...The only reason I'm even literate is that I lied and told my father I wanted to go to a convent, so he spent gold he didn't have to hire a tutor for me that I didn't need so that he could curry favor with the temple. I studied until my eyes ached, wrote until my fingers bled, and I committed myself to the work and to reading every text I could get my hands on because I thought-" Her voice cracks and you see a mist in her eyes. "-I thought that then someone might care, but nobody did! I was still alone, surrounded by books, and then my father realized the truth when I came of age and didn't swear the oaths and do you know what he did? Do you know what he did!?" You shake your head. "No, I don't-""He went right back to his mutton! He went right back to his feasting! He didn't even care enough to punish me! I was alone, I had to send my own missives, find my own noblemen to court, and not a one of them cared either!" She's starting to break down. "Then I got a dream of- of someone who did care and I bankrupted myself struggling to get halfway across the kingdom with an idiot brother who only came because I played to his stupid fantasies of chivalry, not because he cared! Then I met you, and you were-... like nothing else I'd ever felt. A dark, growing power like the one I dreamed about becoming. You noticed me, too, spoke to me like I was important, dropped hints of your sinister plans... I thought that for once, someone cared, and I thought that someone was you and then we finally found the diary and I..." She's openly crying, her fists are clenched on her clothes. "I thought you had moved on. Communing with the ignoble gods, why would you ever care about me? Never speaking, only... making love that didn't feel like love, and only with me because you didn't want to risk losing my sorcery. I took refuge in it, in the diary and the writings there and I learned like I did before but then I- then I... hit a wall in my studies. I don't know what it is but I am- I was missing a vital insight, and if I couldn't get past it that pittance of sorcery wouldn't matter..."
>>5116177"And then I wouldn't matter to you. I thought I was going to be alone again. Even... here." The necromancer-to-be steps forward and takes you into her embrace. Even through the brigandine, you can feel her weeping. "Ignoble gods... I'm sorry Melvin, I thought that you didn't care." She sobs into your shoulder. "I thought that we'd grown distant, that you didn't care to think about me, but I-..." You feel her hand sliding into your hair, kneading your scalp. "...I'm such a selfish trollop I didn't even care to think about you! About you and your needs! I left you all alone with your ambitions and your prophesies and-..." There's a sharp intake of breath. "I was so obsessed with my own worries I never once thought to take a step to make you know I was there for you." Her eyes are flowing like a river and she shudders, limp in your hands. "I could've done so much more, but instead I-... I stayed quiet until it was too much to take and started screaming like a harpy." She takes your lips onto hers, desperately holding for a minute, and whispers into your ear. "Please, forgive me. I know I've crossed a line... I just want to make this up to you."Any resolve is broken. Sadie is wet clay in your hands. You think for a second and respond.>"Then get on your knees.">"You've got nothing to prove to me.">"Let's torture a villager together... and make things better between us.">"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer.">"Finish teaching me and the boy to read, and we'll be even."> "I think we should take things further and try for an infant.">You have something else you want to say.
>>5115438You're near the center of the upper bend, where the heartland curves.>>5115407That all depends on you and Sadie not getting smote by the Paladins, overrun by monsters, eviscerated by a bandit, etc., beforehand.>>5116096Nope, just at work.
>>5116182>>"Then get on your knees.">>"Let's torture a villager together... and make things better between us.">>"Finish teaching me and the boy to read, and we'll be even.”>> "I think we should take things further and try for an infant."She’s too plain right now to be a Dark Paladin wife, but she can still be a concubine. If in the future she can find a way to make herself more attractive then that might change.
>>5116182>>"Let's torture a villager together... and make things better between us.">"Maybe we can have them dig out from their tombs, the corpses of the ones they hold dear uhm ~ ? You could raise them afterwards.">"Then get on your knees.">"Ah before you start, do tell me your thoughts on the others or anything else that comes to your mind. If you feel like one of them might betray me for example. Now begin"
>>5116182Hm. Take her to bed, the time for words has passed (for now). After the obligatory sexytimes perhaps we'll ask her what she thinks she needs to advance in her studies so we can provide it for her. We can remind her to finish teaching us (and the kid) to read later.
>>5116182>"Then get on your knees.">"Let's torture a villager together... and make things better between us.">"Finish teaching me and the boy to read, and we'll be even.">"But know that you've got nothing to prove to me."Damn, that was surprisingly sweet. We'll torture that villager together, put all this bad feelings behind us.
>>5116182Are we in a tent or something or simply in the middle of the road? This moment deserves a private sexy time.Say>"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer."Then do >>5116204
>>5116182>"You've got nothing to prove to me." and >"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer."so >"Then get on your knees."and maybe later >"Let's torture a villager together... and make things better between us."Save the infant after the virgin sacrifice so our party is effectively looksmaxxed.Ideas on seeing if we can capture a second wagon on the way to Pitmerden? Would be cool to build a sort of dark medieval caravanning mongol horde.
>>5116182>"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer.">"Finish teaching me and the boy to read, and we'll be even.">"Let's torture a villager together... and make things better between us."It is WAY to early for us to have a kid.
>"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer."This was really sweet. I'm not feeling like being much of a scumbag right now. Sadie issues have distracted us from a lot of our potential targets/allies. Starting with the towns:>Nearest one to here’s Diroux... Diroux, Diroux isn’t nothin’... a village that’s too big to call it one, nothin’ made there, nothin’ sold, just chicken n’ grains.Diroux sounds like it could be a good pit stop or a soft target to raid. A place to stock up on food and make some corpses for our new Acolytes and Sadie.>after that’s Pitmerden... Now, Pitmerden, Pitmerden is a real sight to see. Site of power for a few noble houses, they play pocket politicks with each other n’ their garrisons stay there so it stays fortified. Maybe three-thousand around it.Probably too hard a target to perform any real mischief on, unless we can find an already established power to throw our weight behind. It does seem like a good place to spend some of our gold at. Weapons, armor, some material for traps. If we could find a discrete blacksmith to commission from, I would like to get a brand of the Black Stars to serve as our symbol. Now about the people of interest:>Well first there’s a widow, Judith, sad old woman used to be a merchant’s wife, then he died without leaving her any kids, she said to me. In a little dirt house in a hamlet up in the mountains outside of Arkaley, always wantin’ foods, strange ones, like ah’d never heard of. You ever heard of cinnamon?” You think for a moment. “No.” “Neither did ah, but she did, n’ paid gold too. Not gold coins, like, nuggets. To go off in the mountains n’ bring these to her. Can’t imagine why."I have no idea why she would want strange food and have the ability to pay in solid gold but we have some very rare 'honey' that she might be interested in. >There’s Anna-Lena, girl married to a cage-carriageman over in Beglun, another town, far away, only went there once to bring her some sick “tools” in a sack n’ was paid some of the best coin ah’ve ever made, but ah didn’t ever go back, her laugh was… wrong.Sarintob cultist or just a torture fanatic? >Less wrong’s Moonie, called him that because he didn’t give us a name n’ his face was pocked like it had the sickness a long time ago, but he didn’t want nothin’ from us, wanted us to move people across the borderland to the heartland n’ back again, n’ sometimes in the same spot. All kinds of people, but never too smart, never too rich, never too driven to do nothin’.Sounds like a plague cultist. Moving sick people around to try and start a pandemic maybe? >“Then ah guess there’s Ernst, middle-aged man, middle of Pitmerden’s good part of town, wealthy, too, wanted to sell us what he had, little red n’ dark red bottles smell like vomit, n’ he got paid in gold, real gold, proper coins.That's not too far. We could give him a vist.
>The fallen ones! The nobles that didn’t bend over for the Order, those ones! ...there are four of any relevance to the borderlands. House Carcus, Landall, Mulver, and Thornwood.Carcus only seems relevant if/ we make it to the outlands but the fact that their anti-noble god sentiments ran deep enough that the Order felt the need to put a temple in every town is interesting. Landall seems like an obstacle but I think there is potential there. They act so nobly that the Paladins can't effectively use blessings against them and are rewarded by being stripped of their name and forced to act as middle management for far less auspicious houses. I could easily see some resentment brewing underneath the surface. Shame that the resentment is probably bound tightly by chains of genuine nobility but we have worked with less. Willis managed to be useful to us until the end, after all.Mulver are the most likely to aid us in a bid to regain their lost prominence. Sadly, they are going to be the weakest and most difficult to find. Also, it seems like gluttony might run in Sadie's family. It would be best to keep her away from the honey. Thornwood might meet with us if we keep up the pillaging and banditry act. I doubt they appreciate someone muscling in on their turf and bringing increased scrutiny with them. I'm curious why Sadie distains then so much. Is that just a typical noble response or is it something deeper? Is Sadie ashamed that as of now she is little different from them?
>>5116182>"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer.">contemplate marriage>"Finish teaching me and the boy to read, and we'll be even."
>>5116182>>"Then get on your knees."
>>5116182>"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer."
>That last postBros, I think I like Sadie>"You're right, I have been distant. We need to be closer."
Our march to world domination has been waylaid by girl feelings. you hate to see it
>>5116182>"Let's torture a villager together... and make things better between us."Can even try raising the corpse.>Talk to her about our plans to raise our CHA and make ourselves handsome and she beautiful, both in terms of a way to make her feel special and cared for and to gauge how realistic and appealing she thinks the plan is.
>>5116189>>5116197>>5116204>>5116240>>5116259>>5116353>>5116368>>5116384>>5116530>>5116613>>5116624>>5116723>>5116736You look her in the eyes with a steel no duller than when you faced the warrior at the fat man’s wagon. “…You’re right. I have been distant. We need to be closer. But first…” You slip your hand over her hair and push her down gently. “Get on your knees, and know that you’ve got nothing to prove to me.” The girl closes her eyes and the tears don’t quite stop but the next half an hour is an ecstasy of its own. You dwell on her words, contemplating what you’re doing, here with her. Sadie is… well, she’s the second woman you’ve ever had sex with, right after Gilberd’s wife but then, it wasn’t about the sex with her and you aren’t sure it’s about that with the baron’s daughter, either. If it was only about sex, you could’ve had better. There were women you could’ve taken, pretty ones, beautiful even, but apart from the farmer’s daughter on her brother’s word you’ve had none. It’s not about the necromancy, otherwise you would’ve pushed her harder to study the diary and left her to her own devices.No, this here, is about something else but you aren’t sure what that something else is and the thought of having a child so soon feels… Not wrong, but you have the strangest sense of lightheadedness, nausea, almost, when you think about it. A numberless horde of the dead and damned, washing over a fortress of Paladins like a storm of gnashing teeth and ripping blades, and as they suffer and their noble gods abandon them, the last thing they see is you, furious in your unholy might, arm-in-arm with… someone. Could that someone be her? You don’t even know what to think. All of this is new to you, and you’d rather be staring down that tower’s garrison alone than be having these kinds of thoughts. Damn it all. You finish downstairs and she gags, then looks at you with a catlike face. Not elegant, far from it, but predatory and ruthless.You look down at her with what you imagine is a merciful look and speak. “Let’s torture a villager together… and make things better between us. Maybe we can have them dig up from their tombs, the corpses of the ones they hold dear, hm? You could raise them afterward.” She smiles, sheepishly. “That sounds… lovely.” You stroke her hair. It’s coarse but not dirty, combed every day, washed when it can be. “From now on, don’t sit in silence. Share your thoughts with me, on the others, or of anything else that comes to mind. Risks of betrayal, namely, but… you can trust me.“ The woman rises to stand, leaning on your shoulders. “Oh, you must’ve kidnapped the real Melvin. You’re being far too sweet.” All of this romantic nonsense is tiring you, but the night is yet young- you grip her hair- “We’re not done here yet.
>>5116763So you drag her to your tent and only leave hours later. When you do, you’re missing your armor, feeling a little weak in the legs, and your face is flush with a marathon’s sweat. To say nothing of the absolute state of your back and arms. Ignoble gods… You wonder if the woman isn’t mad.>-3 HP, 33/41 HP leftHer words about missing a period do have you a bit paranoid. You’re a farmer’s son and don’t know much about that sort of thing but you have heard of… contraceptives… and it might be a good idea to take precautions, as it were.Who do you want to ask?>Neilson. The thief is savvy and has had the run of things for a long time now. He’s well-aware of tricks and turns the temple frowns on, and he might be able to help you here, too.>The Adepts of Zugzeb. Calling them strange is putting it mildly but they seem to know their way around potions and the like. Surely asking them to help you out here couldn’t hurt?>Sadie. You’re at a bit of a loss for who else might be able to figure something out but she’s noble-born, so she might be aware of something. That aside… she might want to talk.>…Nobody. If Sadie ends up pregnant and you end up having a child, well, so much the better. Sure, maybe it’s at the dawn of your martial career, it’ll hamper if not incapacitate the only sorcerer you know of, and likely spend its early childhood running from men-at-arms but… maybe that’s okay.After that… Morning comes and you get back on the road. You consider that it’s day 35, and you have 170 days of food left. Grain with no embellishments. Blech. Nothing you’re not used to, though. Only three days until the new moon sacrifice, counting today, this time.>roll 1d100 to travel>roll 1d2 to meditate>roll 1d20+0 to talk with Sadie, best of 1 (This is for coaxing her true feelings from the others out of her, not keeping your relationship intact. Melvin is new to talking like a normal human being.)
Rolled 33 (1d100)>>5116765>>…Nobody. If Sadie ends up pregnant and you end up having a child, well, so much the better. Sure, maybe it’s at the dawn of your martial career, it’ll hamper if not incapacitate the only sorcerer you know of, and likely spend its early childhood running from men-at-arms but… maybe that’s okay.It's never too early to have an heir groomed in case we die or something
Rolled 13 (1d20)>>5116765>Neilson>The Adepts of Zugzeb>Sadie
>>5116728Eh, we had time to kill before the new moon anyway.We can always discuss what our plans on what to do next--with all the information we just got dumped on us--instead. I'm quite partial towards making contact with either House Carcus (I misread the reason for their relevance earlier; oops) or the Thornwood Bandit Clan our next mid-term goal. I think we should wait on spending much time in Pitmerden--and making contact with Ernst--until we're a bit stronger/better established, it's much hard a target for us to strike with our usual methods (the same thing for any of the "petty kingdoms" in the outlands). As far as our more immediate plans go? We need somewhere stable to lay low, establish ourselves, and build our power" with "stealing another wagon" as a decent second option. As far as the other borderland towns: >DirouxMight be useful to see what all, if anything of worth, is left after the Paladins get through "burning out" a place. Could also be risky if The Order left any informants in Town. >ArkaleyToo far to be bothered with if we take our position (>>5116186) on >>5113503 into account. >KolveilToo close to Arkaley, if they're selling them coal. >OrstfeldA position isn't mentioned--just that it's too close to the Outlands--but it seems to be full of rather interesting and vicious pearl-clutches. A bit desperate, hysterical, and Paladin-mad for my tastes, but odds are we could find a lot of really fucked up people to bring under our sway there (nothing like a witch hunting culture to make a bunch of people downright evil). As far as Neilson's contacts...>JudithArkaley; again, too far. But she might be worth contacting if we wanted to get more sophisticated uses out of our honey. I'm guessing she's some kind of baker.>WillSeems like an adventurer to me. Might be a corruptible one, might not be. >Tharid/ThazidMight be interesting. Seems a bit too much like a hermit to make much use of, though.>Anna-Lena>cage-carriageman husband>Beglun, in a town far awayI'm guessing that means Orstfeld's far away, too, then. Unless that's the kind of culture you see everywhere on the edges of the borderlands. Given her husband's profession and how hysterical Orstfeld comes off as, I'm guessing these really are torture implements rather than things Neilson misidentified. Might be worth looking into if we want a dedicated torturer. >MoonieSounds like this guy is brainwashing or replacing people and building an information network. Too bad Neilson doesn't seem to mention where "there" was, unless it was location-association than wrong-association that brought him up.>ErnstDefinitely someone we want to meet when we finally make it to Pitmerdin >SpahnThese guys seem to know how to raise children. I wouldn't say they're an option worth looking to until much, much farther down the line when we're operating on a much larger scale and after we've destabilized the kingdom and delegitimized the Paladins.
Rolled 1 (1d2)>Neilson
>>5116769Also worth considering that a child raised in the lap of luxury would likely be weaker than a child battle-hardened through the years and thus be a better heir.Also how are we going with the Tobias sorceror conversion?
>>5116765I don't know if I'd trust the Adepts of Zugzeb on their own devices with Sadie, but figuring our a contraceptive solution for the band's whores is probably a good idea. If it proves safe for use we can give to to Sadie too.There's no harm in asking both Neilson and the Adepts for their thoughts, but we should probably disguise the reason to the latter.
>…Nobody. If Sadie ends up pregnant and you end up having a child, well, so much the better. Sure, maybe it’s at the dawn of your martial career, it’ll hamper if not incapacitate the only sorcerer you know of, and likely spend its early childhood running from men-at-arms but… maybe that’s okay.Im on the dark lady Sadie train now, boys
>>5116786Er, also no harm in getting Sadie's thoughts, but we might want to save that conversation for last given we're rolling to talk to her anyway.
Rolled 71 (1d100)>>5116765Is the travel dice Bo3?>…Nobody. If Sadie ends up pregnant and you end up having a child, well, so much the better. Sure, maybe it’s at the dawn of your martial career, it’ll hamper if not incapacitate the only sorcerer you know of, and likely spend its early childhood running from men-at-arms but… maybe that’s okay.While not practical, it does sound fun.
>>5116765>The Adepts of Zugzeb. Calling them strange is putting it mildly but they seem to know their way around potions and the like. Surely asking them to help you out here couldn’t hurt?>>5116778Thornwood is my vote for who to approach first.And Judith. I like your idea about honey pastries.
>>5116765>Sadie. You’re at a bit of a loss for who else might be able to figure something out but she’s noble-born, so she might be aware of something. That aside… she might want to talk.
>The Adepts of Zugzeb. Calling them strange is putting it mildly but they seem to know their way around potions and the like. Surely asking them to help you out here couldn’t hurt?Neilson is probably competent enough to help but the Adepts take on pregnancy sounds really interesting. >>5116784Pretty sure we want Tobias to finish learning and teaching us Orcish before we start him on anything else. I was thinking we could teach him about YolunuloY as a reward afterwards.
Rolled 2 (1d2)>>5116765>Neilson.
>>5116765>…Nobody. If Sadie ends up pregnant and you end up having a child, well, so much the better. Sure, maybe it’s at the dawn of your martial career, it’ll hamper if not incapacitate the only sorcerer you know of, and likely spend its early childhood running from men-at-arms but… maybe that’s okay.
>>5116765>Neilson. The thief is savvy and has had the run of things for a long time now. He’s well-aware of tricks and turns the temple frowns on, and he might be able to help you here, too.
>>5116765>Neilson. The thief is savvy and has had the run of things for a long time now. He’s well-aware of tricks and turns the temple frowns on, and he might be able to help you here, too.>The Adepts of Zugzeb. Calling them strange is putting it mildly but they seem to know their way around potions and the like. Surely asking them to help you out here couldn’t hurt?
>>5116765>>Neilson. The thief is savvy and has had the run of things for a long time now. He’s well-aware of tricks and turns the temple frowns on, and he might be able to help you here, too.
Rolled 5 (1d20)>>5116765
Rolled 87 (1d100)>>5116769>>5116774>>5116779>>5116786>>5116820>>5116850>>5116868>>5116914>>5116939>>5116953>>5117007>>5117026You decide that you might be open to one later but it’s too soon to have a child now. You approach Neilson, take him to the back of the band behind the captive virgins, and ask him. “Thief. During your time with the black dyad, have you ever heard of any way to… ah… stop a pregnancy?” He stops walking for a second, then resumes when he realizes you haven’t stopped yourself. He doesn’t say anything for almost a minute and then speaks, quietly. “…Yes. There’s a type of plant, sort of like a flower almost, that grows in spots where it’s dry n’ warm but not too dry n’ not too hot. Make it into a tea n’ drink it, woman won’t get pregnant.” You think. “Interesting. What’s it called?”He talks louder, subconsciously realizing that it isn’t dangerous for him to be saying this openly. “Siphium. It doesn’t grow in the kingdom n’ the Paladins frown on it but foreigners harvest plenty n’ there’s a high enough demand that some of it gets over here anyway. Ah’ve smuggled it before, mostly to noblemen that wanted to keep from makin’ any bastards but some whores will pay top-silver for it.” You’re getting rather intrigued. This could be what you need. “Do you have any now?” He shakes his head. “Nah, but it’s not too rare, at least next to the drugs that get smuggled around the kingdom. Likely the next rich man we’ll see has a stash, might not but it isn’t too worrisome.” “It isn’t?“ “Yeah, it works pretty late. Late as two, three months into a pregnancy, even.” “But what of Sadie? What if she-“ The thief closes his mouth and shakes his head. “Ah ain’t qualified to give you no advice. Ah was an only child myself.”You look him up and down. “Very well. Continue.” You go back to walking with the rest of the band. It’ll be another week and a half at this rate before you reach the outlands. If you want to reach them. Some of those settlements Neilson mentioned seem to have some potential, proximity to Paladin holdings aside. If the black dyad can operate without being sought out and smote by the dozen, surely your minions can do the same.
>>5117329For the rest of the day, you walk beside and talk to Sadie. A lot of what she does is complain, about how the Hughes wasted their position to indulge themselves instead of amassing personal power and how she would’ve fallen with them if it weren’t for her dreams of the necromancer’s crypt, but later, you manage to coax out her thoughts on the band as a whole. “…It’s an impressive force to have made in only a month but I worry that it couldn’t stand up to a serious militia and lacks proper direction. There are goods in that wagon that would make a killing in some towns and there hasn’t been a word about selling any, and that’s just one example. The incestuous farmers could be training, not very while we’re walking but they could get some pointers, maybe, and now we’ve taken on that pair of gelatinous-“ “Hmm?” “-slimy-“ “Ah.” “-freaks and there hasn’t been a word on what they’re supposed to be doing. They just talk among themselves and watch everyone with their shifting eyes and ears. I don’t doubt they know deep secrets of the ignoble gods but they’re quite unsettling.”You contemplate all of this. Yes, there are some problems with the organization, but you’re hashing them out, sooner or later. Gawain is still dead-silent and refuses to say a word to anyone or show them the earless side of his head, if there’s any way at all he can hide it. Richard and Schwarz seem to be doing better. The thief will be ready to move like normal in five days and the invalid in four. That might make it easier to launch a proper raid. The band as a whole has been making very poor time moving these last two days. If mounted Paladins were hot on your trail you’d have already been caught.You continue meditating but have yet to reach a proper insight. You decide to sleep on it and awaken to find the sky is fairly cloudy. You’re starting to get excited. The sacrifice is only two more days away.>roll 1d100 to travel>roll 1d2 to meditateWho do you want to talk to, if anyone?
Rolled 100 (1d100)>>5117331
Rolled 79 (1d100)>>5117331lets talk to Groshnak. Haven't checked in on him yet this thread. Make sure that he knows he needs to seriously show his worth to us.
Rolled 1 (1d2)>>5117331Check in with Groshnak
>>5117340GOD DAMN WE JUST TRAVELED ACROSS THE DAMN COUNTRY
>>5117340Free puppies?
>>5117340>when you come across a foreign princess just got her entourage killed by bandits
>>5117331Groshnak then the two slimy fellows
Rolled 6 (1d6)>>5117340>whew
Rolled 4 (1d4)>>5117472
>>5117340>>5117472>>5117473Very good rolls
>>5117340>>5117342>>5117343>>5117472>>5117473You haven’t spoken to the orc in the better part of a week, not since the raid on Dalhurst and before then, only to scold him for his failure. He may not be your friend anymore but he may be in the future again, and you don’t want to abandon him to his thoughts alone. You walk next to Groshnak and notice that he walks slowly, taking long, loping strides and occasionally supporting himself on one arm or the other. Unlike a man, who would keep his hands at his side. You don’t know orcish and he doesn’t know your tongue but you speak to him nonetheless. You tell him of your ambitions, of your triumphs so far, and of the ignoble gods. Most of all, you tell him of your kills and battles, and make it clear to him that, while you don’t expect him to match your martial excellence, such as it is, you do expect him to try and get a handful of proper corpses to his name. Groshnak doesn’t understand your words but he understands their meaning, and that is far more important. You sense that you’ve reaffirmed his bloodlust, not for his own sake, but to atone for his failings in your sight.He’ll have the chance to prove himself yet. The band continues down the road. It’s been some time since you’ve seen any travelers but then, it is in the middle of fall getting close to winter, and you doubt too many of the braver merchants would be going away from the heartlands at this time of year. No, you’ve chosen a good time of year to abandon the army. Just outside of summer’s campaigning, it’ll be some time before there’s much in the way of organized marching. Yes, you’re fairly confident in your situation. Neilson says to you, “Ah recognized one of them tree-stumps back there. If ah ain’t mistaken there’ll be a village ahead, real hospitable too, might be worth tryin’ to, uhhh, extort it, you know?” You run your fingers over the handle of your longsword. “Yes… Yes, I do know.” The band continues and you think about how you’re going to handle this. You’ve gone far too many days without a good killing to turn around. You imagine thatch houses, just like the lean-to your family called a cabin, burning in flames. The screams of innocents and spilling of blood, yes, a truer pleasure you’ve yet to find, and yet… You remember that soup, from that ignorant farming family back after you murdered Gilberd’s wife and child as well. That soup was good, far heartier than the unleavened bread you’ve been eating. Perhaps it would be better to take advantage of their hospitality, although…
>>5117509Fuck. You see thick plumes of greasy smoke rising behind the hills up ahead. Your first thought is that someone else’s already had the same idea, but you listen closely as the band notices too, and stops themselves. You hear shouts very much like those ones you imagined, though… you can almost swear it sounds like some are crying out in disgust rather than horror. There’s the noise of desperate combat, you recognize the tangs of a pitchfork screeching as they scrape against something, and beneath the racket a cracked, feverish voice. “C’MON MAGGOTS! TEST MY BLADE!” Moments later, the dying howl of a man rings loud but you’ve stopped cold. That voice… Even from this distance, you can sense a gnawing pit of blackest EVIL within. A grotesque, virulent sickness of the mind. One that would doubtless welcome one such as you.What should you do?>March the entire band into the village without bothering to hide, fighters and all.>Only take the band’s fighters, leave the wounded and captives in relative safety.>Take a couple of chosen minions and fodder with you. (who?)>Enter by yourself, you want to meet this evil almost as you want to sate your bloodlust.>Turn back and go around. This isn’t worth the risk.
>>5117510>Enter by yourself, you want to meet this evil almost as you want to sate your bloodlust.
>>5117510>>Take a couple of chosen minions and fodder with you. (who?)Groshnak and Nelson. We need some protection.
>>5117510>>March the entire band into the village without bothering to hide, fighters and all.A worthy challenger or a friend?
>>5117510>>Take a couple of chosen minions and fodder with you. (who?)Groshnak, Neilson, and the Adepts.
>>5117510>March the entire band into the village without bothering to hide, fighters and all.Time for some sigma to sigma communication.
>Only take the band’s fighters, leave the wounded and captives in relative safety.I am worried about our smug flaw. If this guy (Plague Knight?) is such a badass he might make Melvin insecure. We also promised Sadie some villager torture.
>>5117516This. We need to send a diplomatic party in without revealing our true strengths and weaknesses.Also, this guy would make an excellent fall guy for the Paladins if we can't take him in a straight-up fight or dominate him with the Authority.
>>5117547That isn't how smug works, you're thinking of envy mate.
>>5117609>Smug: You’re pretty great, aren’t you? You know it and everyone else should know it too. If someone implies themselves to be your superior, you must pass a difficulty check of 10 on 1d20 or demean them. Likewise, if someone is clearly your inferior, you must pass a difficulty check of 10 on 1d20 or demean them. This can vary from a smirk, to an insult, to an attempt at murder. The specifics are your choice but must be apparent to the target. This impulse only applies once per encounter and not to those you’re around regularly.
>>5117619That's a check about not showing your smug side, not a check about being insecure from it.
>>5117624>If someone implies themselves to be your superior, you must pass a difficulty check of 10 on 1d20 or demean them.This is what I mean by insecure. Maybe it would be better described as keeping your smug in check or something. I just meant it's possible that our nat 100 guy could imply he is better the Melvin.
>>5117636I interpreted that as restraint from arrogant impulses, not insecure. I think envy would be a better fit for feeling insecure about shit.While I agree that nat 100 may imply it, I think it's more likely that he'll treat us as an equal rather than try and demean the only other evil presence here straight up.
>>5117516Support
>>5117644That interpretation makes sense. I was thinking thin-skinned = insecure but you are right smug doesn't really fit as well as envy. Yeah, it's likely he will show us respect but he might not. The Authority's description said something about greater evil being more likely challenge then submit.
>>5117510>Take a couple minions and fodderGroshnak, Neilson, Sadie.
>>5117516+1
Rolled 1, 8 = 9 (2d20)
Rolled 5 + 8 (1d6 + 8)
>>5117713>>5117733Should we be worried?
Rolled 6 + 4 (1d6 + 4)
>>5117736Possibly.
>>5117713If this is who I think it was, he probably critfailed that check and is instead chopping up farmers. Could be completely wrong though.
>>5117516>>5117535>>5117547>>5117564>>5117657>>5117678You choose your two longest-standing minions to accompany you, Neilson and Groshnak. The Adepts of Zugzeb and Sadie with a crossbow are to follow, from the side in a stealthy position, where they can intervene if things go badly. The wounded will watch the wagon while the farmers keep an eye on the prisoners. They were told the night they joined that if they compromised your sacrifice, you would only start with their nethers and it would not be slow. You make no attempt to hide yourself and walk over the road at a brisk pace, crossbow in your hands, and see the same village that the thief described, half-in-flames, half scrambling to protect their children and muster a resistance to the singular power in their midst. You can see him from here.Tall and slender, though you can’t tell if he’s emaciated or naturally thin. In his gauntleted fist is a sword unlike your own, somewhere between a meathook and a falchion, in his other is a heater shield of thick, knotted wood without paint, and it’s impossible to see the truth of his face beneath a closed helm. All of these are meaningless, trivial details next to the filth that covers every part of him. Every piece of metal, from his coat of scale-mail to his boots, is pitted with rust, every strip of leather is soiled with sweat, and the blade he now wields has so decayed that its iron has turned nigh-black and oozes with ichor, the faintest touch of which rots the flesh beneath its edge. He sinks it into the corpse of a farmer now, and wrenches it with a wet, smacking noise. You see that the blood’s crimson has stained brown by proximity and there is no question in your mind that suffering a wound from such a blade would be a surer death than to have the head parted from the shoulders. Even at this distance, you can smell the odor of human piss and feces, some fresh, some far older and no fainter.
>>5117758>1 vs 12>CRITICAL FAILURE>8+4 vs 12>SLIGHT SUCCESSThe mere sight causes the thief to collapse onto his knees, vomiting the contents of yesterday’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the ground. The orc is made of sturdier stuff and merely snorts with nausea, but you find yourself unmoved. Rather, you are fascinated, curious of, and even awed by this man’s wretched condition. If the body is a temple, then this warrior has made it his life’s cause to write a testament of blasphemies in its ashen ruins. You sense the EVIL in him. It is far greater, far fouler than any other than the black stars and the ignoble gods themselves. After hearing Neilson’s howl, he turns his face from the family shutting itself in their home to you, and pauses, going from confidence to wariness, and regards you for several moments. You do the same. This close, the sickness that suffuses every part of him, rather than repulse you, seems intoxicating, weak and feeble before your malice. You sense that if plague afflicts you, it will be far gentler than it otherwise would be. The same likely couldn’t be said for your companions.When he speaks it is taciturn, humorless, and cruel. “YOU ARE EVIL.” You nod your head and flex your shoulders. “That I am!” He jerks his shoulder to the nearest home. “MY BIRTH-NAME IS DEAD. I AM JERTHROMOS. HELP ME KILL THESE MEN AND WE WILL TALK.” >Shack’s Door is dealt 13 damage, -1 from toughness!>Shack’s Door has -6/6 SP Left!You watch as he turns, ignoring you, and lumbers over to the structure, where he rears back his head and hawks a fist-sized wad of phlegm through his helmet onto the door, which then devours the wood and splinters it enough for him to hammer his shoulder through. You hear screams coming from within. Under normal circumstances, you would be offended but he said not a word and your pride is intact. Neilson’s currently out of commission but Groshnak is able and at a glance you estimate there’s eight more of these houses. Four of them burning, the rest intact, and what looks to be a mob of ten angry men who’ve just lost their families and livelihoods that have gathered their courage, and their fire pokers, and their clubs, and their knives, and set off on the warpath.Toward you, in fact. Fuck. Wait, you have Groshnak at your side and these are mere farmers! Defenseless fodder! Ripened wheat before the reaper’s scythe! “AHAHAHAHA! THEY’RE DEAD, JUST WAITING TO DIE!” The words out of your mouth, coupled with your aura, and your orc, have seen them gone from furious to terrified but they’ve yet to see you fight and so they press on.How do you want to kill these men?>Fire a crossbow bolt into their midst while you still can.>Call for the Adepts of Zugzeb to intervene from the shadows.>Try to lure them into a chokepoint, to fight less at once.>Wield The Authority to intimidate them into (kneeling/fleeing).>Fuck it, rush them, maim and kill everyone in sword-reach.
>>5117760>Fuck it, rush them, maim and kill everyone in sword-reach.
>>5117760>Fire a crossbow bolt into their midst while you still can.
>>5117760>Wield The Authority to intimidate them into (kneeling/fleeing).For those who don't kneel>Fuck it, rush them, maim and kill everyone in sword-reach.We'll sic our remaining fighters on those who flee.
>>5117760>>5117766This vote is to intimidate them into kneeling btw.
>>5117760>Fire a crossbow bolt into their midst while you still can.>Try to lure them into a chokepoint, to fight less at once.Fight smart, move between a pair of houses.These may be fodder villagers but any HP we lose here is HP we don't have for if our confrontation with the plague knight go well or if we get in another fight in the near future.
>>5117760>Fire a crossbow bolt into their midst while you still can.>Try to lure them into a chokepoint, to fight less at once.We aren't tough enough to facetank normies yet so we'll have to fight like a bastard.
>Call for the Adepts of Zugzeb to intervene from the shadows.>Wield The Authority to intimidate them into (kneeling).The Adepts are very well optimized for fighting mooks considering they heal every round.
>>5117777Consider me supporting these sick trips!
>>5117760>>Fire a crossbow bolt into their midst while you still can.>>Call for the Adepts of Zugzeb to intervene from the shadows.>>Wield The Authority to intimidate them into (kneeling).>>Fuck it, rush them, maim and kill everyone in sword-reach.In that order. Start with everyone still standing after the Authority, let the Adepts divert their attention. Fight shoulder to shoulder with Groshnak.
>>5117760>>5117762changing my vote to >>5117777
>>5117775>>5117760my inclination towards forum numerology demands that I switch my vote to this >>5117777also good point I guess
>>5117777With such numbers I just have to support
>>5117760>Call for the Adepts of Zugzeb to intervene from the shadows.>Wield The Authority to intimidate them into (kneeling).Those who kneel, we scan for evil and recruit if viable, slaughter if not (though keep one or two for Sadie's funtime). The rest, the Adepts slaughter for ingredients.
>>5117777Just on principle I have to switch to these numbers.
>>5117760I suppose there is nothing to be done, the gods have spoken.Supporting >>5117777
Rolled 6, 8, 8, 4, 2, 5, 3, 9, 9, 8 + 4 = 66 (10d10 + 4)>>5117777>>5117781>>5117783>>5117786>>5117792>>5117798>>5117819You feel that the black stars have aligned once more, in a subtler way, weaker than before, in the same vein that a raindrop is lesser than all of the world's the oceans. In this moment, your actions are not wholly your own and you call out-"ZUGZEBITES, TO ME!" Both of the adepts emerge from the shadows in a dead-sprint for the mob, their faces a fluidly mangled abomination unto sane structure, but before the farmers can react, you pour The Authority into your voice and howl->"KNEEL!">rolling for a morale check, they must roll 14, 16, 18 or higher to avoid succumbing>They have a +4 bonus due to the circumstances of defending their homesNext to you, Groshnak wastes no time flinging a javelin.>roll 8 or higher on 1d20+2 to hit>roll 1d3+6 for damage on a hit
Rolled 18 + 2 (1d20 + 2)>>5117834holy shit
Rolled 3 + 6 (1d3 + 6)>>5117834Damn
>>5117834did you mean to roll d10s?
Rolled 8, 2 = 10 (2d20)>>5117834>>5117836>>5117839>6+4, 8+4, 8+4, 4+4, 2+4, 5+4, 3+4, 9+4, 9+4, 8+4 vs 14,16,18>NOTHING BUT FAILURES>Farmer has been dealt 9 damage!>Farmer has -3/6 HP left!When they hear the weight of the black stars, they as one collapse onto their knees despite themselves, unable to resist its foul majesty. You cackle, raising your blade in defiance of the heavens, and next to you the orc nonchalantly chucks his javelin, catching one of them in the throat. He gurgles noisily as he dies, ruining the moment. For now they're paralyzed by fear but there is anger in their eyes, they could stand at any moment and the Zugzeb worshipers waste no time barreling into their midst. You raise your crossbow and take a shot.>roll 4 or higher on 1d20+6 to shoot>roll 1d6+6 for damage on a hit>roll higher than two commoners on two 1d20+8 to grapple>roll 3d4 and 1d12 for damage, due to close quarters spillover is in effect
Rolled 20 (1d20)>>5117847I think it's funnier if he did.Also, token d20 roll.
Rolled 12, 1 = 13 (2d20)>>5117848Rolling for grapple>>5117851Nice crit
Rolled 3 (1d4)>>5117847No... that was a typo. Nice catch. I'll roll bo2 for morale checks on the next 1d4 encounters and we'll call it even. The idea of different dice for different levels of morale is an interesting idea though, say a regular commoner would get something like 1d10, a disciplined soldier 1d20, and an unhinged fanatic 1d30, on top of preexisting bonuses. Something like that. What are your thoughts?
Rolled 3 + 6 (1d6 + 6)>>5117848
>>5117851holy fucking shit what is our luck today.
Rolled 3, 2, 4 = 9 (3d4)>>5117856I think that's intuitive. Can't wait to see it in practice.
>>5117856that's a good idea
>>5117858Clearly we are crossbow gods.
>>5117856lol, I thought you did that for the quads.I think that would be a good way of simulating different levels of discipline.Maybe you could have certain circumstances increase or decrease the morale die to simulate groups with abnormally high or low morale.
we still need a d12
>>5117868Want me to roll it in 5 minutes?
>>5117862>>5117864We can consider this an unintentional test-run, then. Bo2 from the more attentive noble gods reacting to the chance meeting of two of their most evil (mortal) enemies in the region.>>5117865At this rate, Melvin's going to be pulling off trick-shots with an arbalest.>>5117866Instead of increasing/decreasing the morale die itself on circumstances, I was planning to adjust the difficulty of the morale checks themselves.>>5117868We also need another 3d4. No worries about rolling more than once for pitched combat like this, as long as it's not for everything I figure.
Rolled 10 (1d12)>>5117848>>5117870nah imma do it
Rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7 (3d4)>>5117871Here's the other damage roll
Rolled 8 (1d12)>>5117871Alrighty, I'll roll the d12.Also, what a 360 no scope!
>>5117873Good on you mate!
Rolled 2, 1, 5 = 8 (3d6)
Rolled 16 (1d20)>>5117848>>5117851>>5117855>>5117857>>5117873>>5117875>>5117879>20+6 vs 4>CRITICAL SUCCESS>Farmer is dealt 18 damage!>Farmer has -12/6 HP left!>12+8 vs 8>GREAT SUCCESS>Farmers have been dealt 19 damage!>Farmers have 0/6, 0/6, 0/6, 5/6 HP left!>1+8 vs 2>CRITICAL FAILURE>Adept of Zugzeb has been dealt 8 damage, -4 from toughness!>Adept of Zugzeb has 12/16 HP left!You take the crossbow to your shoulder, aim, pull the trigger, and...THUNKThat's an eye-socket. That's what, the fourth headshot you've managed with this? You're starting to think you're better with a crossbow than a sword. An adept flings himself into the middle, tackling one, knocking several over, and leaking acid from his every pore. His victims scream in agony as their flesh is molten to the bone and the second flings himself, but is caught by the club of a very stout man, who shatters his jaw and knocks him onto the ground. You watch as several of the farmers, over half of those left alive, jump to their feet and kick and pummel the freak into the mud. It's enough trauma to kill a man and then some but he doesn't react to the pain, simply squirming to try and wrap himself around a farmer's legs, to melt them off at the knees. You see there's only five farmers remaining and most of those are distracted. Groshnak wields his shovel and sprints into their midst. "RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" You would have to take precious time to reload your crossbow, and why do that when you could be killing?You make a snap decision.>Charge into the mob>Reload your crossbowGroshnak swings his shovel at a poor, prone bastard.>roll 4 or higher on 1d20+2 to hit>roll 1d3+6 for damage on a hitThe adept that isn't being bludgeoned into a red puddle takes vengeance.>roll higher than one commoner on 1d20+8 to grapple>roll 3d4 and 1d12 for damage on a hit
Rolled 8 (1d20)>>5117891>Charge into the mobYolo.
Rolled 6 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>5117891>>Charge into the mob
Rolled 1 + 6 (1d3 + 6)>>5117891>Reload your crossbowSnipin's a good job mateRolling for Groshnak damage
Rolled 1 + 6 (1d3 + 6)>>5117891>Charge into the mob>>5117893damage
>>5117891>Reload your crossbowWe're good at this, so why not?
Rolled 1, 4, 2 + 1 = 8 (3d4 + 1)>>5117891
How long until Melvin starts carrying multiple crossbows and has a minion follow him into battle to reload them for him?
Rolled 6, 13, 2, 5 = 26 (4d20)>>5117893>>5117894>>5117895>>5117896You sling the crossbow over your shoulder and draw your sword. YOU ARE DEATH!>roll 8 or higher on 1d20+6 to strike a farmer, bo2>roll 2d6+6 for damage
Rolled 19 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5117901
Rolled 11 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5117901Here goes nothing
Rolled 16 (1d20)>>5117901DEATH!
Rolled 8 (1d12)>>5117894Since we're still missing the 1d12 for the Adept's damage.
>>5117902Here's the damage
Rolled 4, 4 + 6 = 14 (2d6 + 6)>>5117900
Rolled 5, 1 + 6 = 12 (2d6 + 6)>>5117901
Rolled 4, 6 + 6 = 16 (2d6 + 6)>>5117906Hang on I fucked it up
>>5117900Maybe we should get some kind of crossbow trait.It really fits the whole not a knight spirit to use a "cowardly" ranged weapon.
>>5117907We'll have to get a blacksmith minion for that.
>>5117912>Spare the blacksmith! I got a job for him.
>>5117911Agreed.>>5117900Also supporting.
>>5117913No guarantee there's a blacksmith in this town, or that he's still alive/we can pick him out in the melee (or that he's got the skill and talent to make a repeating crossbow). Better to wait until we're under more controlled circumstances.
Rolled 9, 12 = 21 (2d20)>>5117893>>5117894>>5117895>>5117896>>5117902>>5117903>>5117907>8 vs 4>SLIGHT SUCCESS>Farmer has been dealt 7 damage!>Farmer has -2/6 HP left!>6+8 vs 16>MODEST FAILURE>19+6,11+6 vs 8>Farmer has been dealt 14 damage!>Farmer has -8/6 HP left!The orc slams his shovel down onto the acid-burnt farmer's head, only gently for the amount of rage inside of him but you hear a satisfying CRACK all the same. The standing adept tries to envelop another in his sickly grip but the farmer shoves his club into his mouth, pushing him away and buying precious moments of life. You reach the rapidly dwindling mob. Two of the men left turn to you, one stabs with his knife while another swings his staff, you sidestep the first and deflect the second with ease. Then the sword in your hand flies forth, and in the next second the staff-wielder's head is gone from his shoulders.Only three remain but they know they have no chance but to fight.>roll 8 or higher on 1d20+6 to hit, bo2>roll 2d6+6 for damage on a hit>roll 8 or higher on 1d20+2 to hit>roll 1d3+6 for damage on a hit>roll higher than commoners on two 1d20+8 to grapple>roll two 3d4 and two 1d12 for damage on success
>>5117916I really like the image of a paladin trying to charge Melvin who is just casually backing up shooting arrow after arrow out of a repeater.
Rolled 19 (1d20)>>5117916I'm also fine with that.>>5117920Try and keep the last ones alive to witness the rape and torture of their families, alright?
Rolled 15 + 2 (1d20 + 2)>>5117920
Rolled 10 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>5117920Grapple roll
Rolled 5, 2 + 6 = 13 (2d6 + 6)>>5117920
Rolled 3 + 6 (1d3 + 6)>>5117920
Rolled 1, 3, 3 = 7 (3d4)>>5117920
>>5117920grapple roll
>>5117907In all seriousness, Guts would slay 90% of the named characters in this quest and they would have it coming.>>5117911I've done some adjustments of the combat traits to make them more impactful than a simple +2 on selective combat skill. One of them is a crossbow trait and dishonorable ranged cad is a very possible build. Crossbows do already synergize fairly well with Treacherous...
Rolled 4 (1d12)>>5117936Grapple roll's done, need to roll the damage
Rolled 19 (1d20)Another hit die for Melvin just so we have two rolls to take the best one. >>5117938I had a feeling you'd give us new things to pick from for the Level 6 Combat Traits.
Need one more 1d20+8 for grapple
Rolled 10 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>5117943Oh yeah there's the other Adept
Rolled 8 (1d20)>>5117943Gotcha boss
Rolled 3, 1, 4 = 8 (3d4)>>5117944Here's the damage
Rolled 4, 2, 1 = 7 (3d4)>>5117920
>>5117938To be fair, we ain't Vlad in Beserk Quest. Those three nat 100s with Gunpowder and the Guts fight were insanity btw.
Rolled 3 (1d12)>>5117947And the last d12
Rolled 17, 4, 2 = 23 (3d20)>>5117924An obscene amount of damage is being dealt, but Melvin and the adepts would prefer them alive, for different reasons, and Groshnak isn't very motivated to kill as these aren't worthy foes, so they'll make a token attempt at not killing them.>farmers must roll 17 or higher to avoid instant death
>>5117949Vlad would also have Melvin on a pike, let's not kid ourselves, hahaha
>>5117953>GroshnakI figured he'd enjoy the chance to sack a settlement. I'm guessing this village is large enough to qualify?
>>5117949>>5117956Quest Crossover?!
>>5117957Pitched battle as well, if you include the plague guy.
>>5117924>>5117941>>5117929>>5117926>>5117931>>5117927>>5117935>>5117940>19+6,19+6 vs 8>GREAT SUCCESS>Farmer has been dealt 13 damage!>Farmer has -7/6 HP left!>Farmer has been maimed!>15+2 vs 8>GREAT SUCCESS>Farmer has been dealt 9 damage!>Farmer has -3/6 HP left!>10+8 vs 9>GREAT SUCCESS>Farmer has been dealt 11 damage!>Farmer has -5/6 HP left!You turn to the knife-wielder and your sword flashes, but you don't even glance at where it goes because you want to savor the look of anguish in his eyes. AH! YES! It severs the hand! You swing it again, downward, to carve out his intestines but catch yourself and merely rend a hole in his stomach. He needs to be alive, to watch his family die, yes, yes... If you rule these lands with an iron-fist you must be disciplined enough to rule yourself.The orc hammers his shovel down onto a farmer's head. You see the top of his skull flatten, cracking on three sides and shattering from the impact as a puddle of wet gore that used to be the visage of a man flicks out. The last of the ten farmers rises onto his feet and moves to strike Groshnak in a final, futile effort with his club, but wails when acid splashes over his knees and is helpless to stop the writhing horror from crushing his throat in dissolute agony.In a matter of less than a minute, the mob of ten farmers has been reduced to nine corpses and one cripple. You sniff. From what you can tell, these were decent, hardworking men who only wanted to better the lives of themselves and their families. Excellent. You turn your attention to the remainder of the village.>roll 1d100 to see how far the fires have spread>roll 1d100 to see how much will to fight remains
Rolled 23 (1d100)>>5117966Fun
Rolled 40 (1d100)>>5117966
>>5117964No, different settings, and I won't pretend I could match Bacchi.>>5117957This is a village of ten houses. It looks like it's Groshnak's lucky day, too.>>5117965Between Jerthromos, you, the orc, and both adepts... There are five combatants and the ten farmers were definitely trying to kill you. Under ancient orcish law, it would qualify as a Full Battle.
>>5117974No, nine, counting the one that the other evildoer broke into.
Here's copypasta from the previous thread for those of you not in the mood to go trawling through the archives and wondering what we're talking about: >Prerequisite: To reach Level 4 Orc, you must pass the trials>Participate in the Sacking (or Burning) of a Settlement (0/1), Fight in 2 Full Battles (0/2), Kill 3 Worthy Foes (0/3), and Rape 4 from outside the clan you belong to, one for each hand and foot (1/4)And a settlement was defined as: By orc standards, for a settlement, there have to be at least five permanent tents. In more recent generations the fake wood and rock caves weaklings are fond of count too.
Rolled 3 + 2 (1d4 + 2)>>5117967The fires have only enveloped one more house and you see that of the three remaining, only a handful of people are left. Mostly women and children. They give no thought to putting out the fires or taking the time to grab their belongings, they saw what you've done to their husbands, brothers, and fathers, and are running away as fast as their legs can carry them. You see a handful of them, "men," overgrown boys, really, have taken improvised tools in hand and think to stop your advance. Fools, the lot of them. If you were among them, you'd throw one of the children to keep you busy and run. That's why they're about to die and why you are about to-CRACKThe stranger steps out of the house he's been ravaging. His filthy armor has a new coat of rapidly darkening sludge and you see that he holds a child's severed head in his hand. He drops it to the ground, then kicks it into the middle of the desperate defenders. You look at him and he looks at you. Each of your minions wisely chooses not to get between the two of you and your chosen prey.
>>5117983Five young, genuinely selfless men and boys, whose sacrifice is sure to receive a place in the sagas, if only their noble gods weren't so weak and pathetic!How do you want to handle this?>Hang back and watch Jerthromos work. You want to get a handle on how he fights.>Be casual and try to match his pace. This isn't a very serious fight, why treat it like one?>Charge into the fray and kill as many as possible. You don't want to disappoint.
>>5117986>>Hang back and watch Jerthromos work. You want to get a handle on how he fights.Although we should take down any convenient targets.
>>5117986>Be casual and try to match his pace. This isn't a very serious fight, why treat it like one?Try and keep one or two alive to witness their failure. Send our minions to grab their families.
>>5117986>Be casual and try to match his pace. This isn't a very serious fight, why treat it like one?theyre just boys
>>5117989Support
>>5117986>Be casual and try to match his pace. This isn't a very serious fight, why treat it like one?And send the Adepts to go after the fleeingg villagers
>>5117989+1 Knowledge is power and all that.
>>5117986>>Hang back and watch Jerthromos work. You want to get a handle on how he fights.
Rolled 1 (1d2)You have half a second of indecision>1: Watch Jerthromos>2: Be casual
Rolled 3, 1, 1, 2 = 7 (4d4)>>5117989>>5117995>>5117998>>5118004You decide to hang back and get a grasp on how this sickly warrior fights. You notice that he makes no effort to evade their blows, aside from moving his shield with a practiced ease, letting them crash down onto his chest and limbs as he wades into them. You watch intently, not only at him, but at the chance to get an opportune kill yourself.Most of them choose to attack the obvious aggressor, but the fifth hangs back with a threshing flail in hand, almost similarly to your own perspective.>Farmers rolling 4d4 for damage
Rolled 4, 2, 5, 3 = 14 (4d6)>>5118013>Jerthromos' shield
>>5117856I haven't caught up yet, but I will say that it has the potential problem of breaking the RNG if you increase by ten for every category increase, there are probably a lot of granular categories of "relatively unskilled" to variations of "skilled" and "super-skilled but in different ways". It is probably better to stick to d20's with bonuses to prevent random extreme morale successes and swingy-ness.
Rolled 17, 2, 3, 5, 1, 3 + 8 = 39 (6d20 + 8)>>5118013>>5118015>Jerthromos blocks two strikes!>Jerthromos takes 3 damage, -8 from toughness!>Jerthromos has 64/64 HP left!A scrawny but determined boy's stick clacks against his shield, harmless, in the same moment that it spins to deflect a feeble poke from a hysterically praying old man. He pays no regard to the bludgeons of the others, armed with a pan and kitchen knife. He looks down on the innocents. To him, they are corpses, waiting to rot and spread the sickness he long ago swore himself to.>he must roll 8 or higher on 1d20+8, bo3 to hit>he must then roll 3d8+8 for damage>he must roll 8 or higher on 1d20+8, bo3 to hit>he must then roll 1d6+8 for damage
Rolled 1, 3, 8 + 8 = 20 (3d8 + 8)
Rolled 4 + 8 (1d6 + 8)
Rolled 13 (1d20)>>5118026>>5118027>>5118028>Farmer has been dealt 20 damage!>Farmer has -14/6 HP left!>Farmer has been dealt 12 damage!>Farmer has -6/6 HP left!You see that though he wields his blade with tremendous skill, far more terrifying is the effect it has, as he pierces the hook into the boy's stomach and shimmies it up into the ribcage, the innocent falls and is dead before he hits his knees, the heart in his chest bursting open from the sheer taint. In the same second as the strike, he turned his head and hawked phlegm again, this time onto a man's face. You stare in morbid fascination as it rots through, eating into the brain and leaving behind a bare skull that looks like it's been sitting a decade in the ground. Amazing.The fifth decides it's better to die a valiant death against you than against him. Not as entertaining of a choice but a wise one all the same. You retaliate in kind!>he must roll 13 or higher on 1d20 to hit>roll 8 or higher on 1d20+6 to strike, bo2>roll 2d6+6 for damage on a hit
Rolled 1 (1d4)>>5118037>roll 6 on 1d6 to block with buckler
Rolled 15 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5118037
Rolled 13 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5118037
Rolled 5 (1d6)>>5118037
Rolled 4, 6 + 6 = 16 (2d6 + 6)>>5118037>>5118041>>5118043Here's the damage, someone do the buckler roll.
Rolled 18 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5118037Didn't we have 14 dodge or was that a mistake?
Rolled 1 (1d2)>rolling to see if toughness negates completely
>>5118047You do have a Dodge of 14, it's getting late and I checked the Level 5 summary in the previous thread instead of the corrected sheet. My mistake. No damage dealt.
>>5118049No problem, QM. I was just double-checking.
>>5118049Yes, I found the specific post here- 5107087
Rolled 10 (1d20)>>5118037>>5118040>>5118041>>5118043>>5118046>15+6,13+6 vs 8>GREAT SUCCESS>Farmer has been dealt 16 damage!>Farmer has -10/6 HP left!He swings his improvised weapon with surprising tenacity, almost catching you off-guard, but your feet are balanced. You step back, leaning-out to avoid the swinging flail, and step forward, leaning-in to pierce his throat and sever his spine at the back of the neck in a lethal and skillful maneuver.Both of the remaining defenders stare at the two of you, almost trembling, but then Jerthromos waves his hand as it's swathed in a greenish-black hue and the larger farmer's forehead burns with unnatural fever!>farmers must roll 16 or higher to save against Feverish Madness
Rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7 (3d4)>>5118062
Rolled 7 + 4 (1d20 + 4)>>5118062>>5118063>10 vs 16>FAILURE>Farmer has been dealt 7 damage!>Farmer has -1/6 HP left!The man breaks into a sweat and collapses, scratching the skin from his bones and screaming in terror.The last one left makes a quick decision.>between Jerthromo and The Authority, he must roll 20 or higher to stay in the fight
>>5118062This guy is cracked.
>>5118067>7+4 vs 20>SEVERE FAILUREHe turns and moves to run!You're almost within reach.>Stab him in the back>Let him go
>>5118072>Stab him in the back
>>5118072>>Stab him in the back
>>5118072>Trip him upI want this bastard to witness the torture of his family.
>>5118074>>5118076>>5118077>>5118079>>5118082You lunge forward, pirouetting to flow from your previous stance into a hellacious piercing blow.Jerthromo watches and says nothing. Perhaps seeing how it is that you fight, as well.>roll 8 or higher on 1d20+6 to hit, bo2>roll 2d6+6 for damage
Rolled 15 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5118083
Rolled 5 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5118083
Rolled 4, 1 = 5 (2d6)>>5118083>>5118085>>5118087Rollin for damage
Rolled 4, 5 + 6 = 15 (2d6 + 6)>>5118083
>>5118085>>5118087>>5118089>15+6,5+6 vs 8>GREAT SUCCESS>Farmer is dealt 11 damage!>Farmer has -5/6 HP left!You blade slips between his ribs, slicing his heart in two. The second after your strike, you realize that you could've kept him alive and made him suffer longer. Damn. You pull the sword from the corpse and hear a wet, painful coughing. You turn to see Jerthromos has his hand over his helmet, as if to catch the moisture from his lungs on his palms. He keeps his distance and tilts his head slightly down to look at you... with respect."That was fine, very fine. You fought well, stranger, and you are strange. The corruption in you is too deep to belong to a mere brigand and yet you used no power. An orc like of old and two aberrations like I've never seen fight at your side. You carry yourself like a common-born farmer but there is an air of mighty aristocracy over you that a blind anti-royalist couldn't deny." He stares for a minute and you get the impression he's trying to piece the implications together. Eventually, he assents."...You are more than you seem. I've given you my name. I am Jerthromos, my birth-name is dead and the house I forsook means nothing to me. Who are you and from whence have you came?"How do you want to respond to this? You can see, out of the corner of your eye, your minions are scrambling to chase down the runners. This rusted warrior doesn't seem to care about the odds of anyone getting away. In fact, as far as you can tell, the man has no-one else with him, man or monster, something at odds with his unholy power.>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Brag about how you were chosen by the black stars.>Insist that the two of you need to catch the runners.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.>Ask him about the source of his supernatural power.>Ask him if he likes killing women, children, or the elderly better.
>>5118109>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.>Ask him about the source of his supernatural power.>Ask him if he likes killing women, children, or the elderly better.The minions better capture the runners.
>>5118109>>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.
I'll be semi-busy tomorrow but will be able to update some. Also there was a discrepancy in the timekeeping- it's Day 36, not Day 35.I'll also admit, I was expecting it to be much longer before you encountered another Antipaladin. They are extremely rare outside of certain parts of the outlands. That's because it requires a commitment to evil in the same intensity that a Paladin commits themselves to good, and that very rarely leads to personal longevity or widespread popularity.>>5118071Plague Knights are particularly nasty, in more ways than one. Their biggest problem is the difficulty of accumulating willing minions but that can be circumvented later on, and if nothing else, they're a defensive and status-afflicting/area-of-effect damaging powerhouse.
>>5118109>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.>Insist that the two of you need to catch the runners.Runners need to die fast before the Paladins or local villages are alerted.
>>5118109>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.>Insist that the two of you need to catch the runners.
>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.>Insist that the two of you need to catch the runners.
While I was one of the people who voted plague knight at the very beginning, I'm not sure I want Melvin and co. To become sick bois
>>5118109>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.The runners will probably die of plague, hence why he isn't concerned with them. At least that is what I assume.
At some point we should also warn him of the nearby paladins and ask him if he has any plans. It may be useful to meet up later after we've achieved some of our personal goals as there may be some great work we could achieve together, or we may need help with the paladins at some point.
I don't really think Jerthromos is much for running, best to leave the chasing to the minions. >Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.>Ask him about the source of his supernatural power.If he is willing to share then:>Brag about how you were chosen by the black stars.
>>5118109>>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.>>Ask him about the source of his supernatural power.>>Ask him if he likes killing women, children, or the elderly better
>>5118109>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>Brag about how you were chosen by the black stars.>Ask him how he got to be in the condition that he's in.
>>Give him your name and tell him of your birth.>>Ask him about the source of his supernatural power.>>Ask him if he likes killing women, children, or the elderly better>>Tell him about the Paladins
>>5118179Supporting.>>5118109Also, try to keep one or two alive for Sadie, huh?
Rolled 18 (1d20)>>5118113>>5118116>>5118120>>5118121>>5118129>>5118130>>5118131>>5118164>>5118179>>5118185>>5118361>>5118405>>5118406“My name is Melvin, I was born to a poor family of farmers-“ He doesn’t react to your lack of noble blood. “-and I hated every minute of it.” You look, trying to appraise his response as he hooks the blade at his belt. “Understandable.” The shield is riddled with dents and what isn’t cracked is held together by a coating of bile but its performance was unaffected. You’re nearly mystified. “How did you get to be… how you are?” The warrior is dead-silent, and for a moment you worry you’ve crossed some line.>higher is better
>>5118417He speaks. "...I did not choose the path of the plague knight. It was chosen for me, when the sickness of an outland bog gripped me and the flesh and blood I'd sworn to fight for left me to rot. I hunted and slew my uncle and then each of my cousins in turn. Now I have nothing to live for but spite. To do unto others what has been done to me and see my damnation thus be lessened, because then I will not be alone. I have no higher cause or ignoble patron. The sickness has dredged a power of its own from the pit where there is no escape." You consider his explanation and find it somewhat...>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.>Reasonable. There's no reason to deny the power to kill one's enemies, even if it is unsavory.>Pitiful. He succumbed to his weakness and has no purpose but feeding his curse.>Meaningless. So he's become sick and doesn't care to excuse his violence. What of it?The plague knight, for that's what he claims to be and you can't tell any falsehood from the look of him, sees the expression written on your face and repeats something, like a mantra. "I have no shame. I simply am." You scratch your chin under the noseguard of your helmet, puzzling over the fleeing villagers. "So I see... They're getting away. As much as I'd like to keep talking we should probably chase after them.">roll 8,12 or higher on 1d20 to convince him
Rolled 16 (1d20)>>5118431>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.
Rolled 7 (1d20)>>5118431>Reasonable. There's no reason to deny the power to kill one's enemies, even if it is unsavory.
>>5118431>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.
>>5118431>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.If he can gain demoniac power from wretched circumstance, we can too.
>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.
Do you guys think this place has donkeys or a horse and a cart somewhere? I mean it's a settlement, right?
Also, I don't think we should travel with Plague Knight even though he seems like he could be a bro, because his AOE seems strong and he might affect the rest of the caravan and Nielson might already be sick too, and god forbid any of our virgins get infected and have their beauty score lowered.But on the other hand, when the Paladins catch up he'd be great to have in our ranks. Maybe someday set-up a sacrifice to whichever ignoble god granted him those powers and get him a steed.
>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.>To do unto others what has been done to me and see my damnation thus be lessened, because then I will not be alone.>his close, the sickness that suffuses every part of him, rather than repulse you, seems intoxicating, weak and feeble before your malice. You sense that if plague afflicts you, it will be far gentler than it otherwise would be. The same likely couldn’t be said for your companions.What Aristocrat of Evil fears his own subjects? We absolutely should invite him to join our group... just as long as he walks waaaaaaay behind us. Groshnak and Melvin should be fine to visit him but everyone else is either too injured or too weak.
>>5118431>>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.
>>5118431>Reasonable. There's no reason to deny the power to kill one's enemies, even if it is unsavory.
>>5118431>>Heartening. Going from sure death in a bog to bloody vengeance is no mean feat.>>Reasonable. There's no reason to deny the power to kill one's enemiesDon't think Melvin'd find that unsavory.
>>5118508>>5118581>>5118154>>5118166We should certainly make him an ally and share information with him, but I don't know about him joining the group right now. Our other minions are too delicate right now and have already proven themselves to us and I suspect we want to keep them around, no matter how terrifyingly capable Jerthromos is.
Rolled 15 + 12 (1d20 + 12)>>5118433>>5118435>>5118477>>5118479>>5118484>>5118486>>5118495>>5118581>>5118586>>5118738>>5118842>>5118869You admit you would've done the same in his position and find the Plague Knight's words emboldening, nay, inspiring. That he could receive unholy strength of such magnitude even in the depths of mortal weakness confirms your future dominion. How much greater than him will you become? Soon, this kingdom and all of its Paladins will fall. Soon, but not yet. You've never seen a Paladin in battle but you have seen a Paladin before, during your time in the army. He was a "Low Marshal of the Order," supposedly, sent to appraise your unit's "moral integrity" while in parade formation when they could've been off sacking a foreign town, like you thought the army was supposed to when you signed on. You forget his name but you can never forget the sight. He was an old man, his hairs greyed and his skin wrinkled but he carried himself like a warrior less than half his age, full-plate engraved with holy words be damned. His eyes shone the bluest you've ever seen and when they caught onto yours, they lingered longer than on any other.At the time you were confused but you now realize that he saw a flicker of what you would become. Why he did nothing, you don't know. Perhaps he thought you were harmless, kept in check by the swords of your unit, perhaps he thought you were an ordinary, banal evil that would amount to no more than public profanity, or perhaps... and you like this one the best... he was afraid. By the instinctive dread that filled your soul there's no question that if he were driven to, he could've slain you and your squad and likely a number of the troops before the survivors broke and ran, but they were fresh recruits then and you've grown stronger since. You look forward to meeting your next Paladin on more agreeable terms, but that will be later, and only once the odds have been stacked in your favor. Your revery is broken when Jerthromos speaks. "And stop the spread of sickness..? If you insist." He takes off on a sprint toward the fleeing villagers and you run after him. You've of course instructed your minions to take live prisoners over fresh corpses when possible long before this but you can't be sure of anything. It occurs to you that a weighted net would make catching runners much easier. Maybe with some wire threaded in, like what caught your leg in the crypt.>roll 10,12,14 or higher on two 1d20 for the Adepts of Zugzeb to chase>roll 10,12,14 or higher on 1d20+6 for Groshnak to chase>roll 10,12,14 or higher on 1d20+6 for Melvin to chase
>>5118887I think if he can stay a reasonable distance away from our camp, I think him joining would be fine. If he doesn't want to join, we tell him about what's likely happening at Dalhurst, let him make an informed decision on where to go, and be on our merry way while wishing him the best.
Rolled 12 (1d20)>>5118895
Rolled 6 (1d20)>>5118895
Rolled 17 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5118895
Rolled 3 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>5118897Making him keep his distance won't endear him to us or ensure his loyalty. It's better to part on respectful terms after sharing information than try to keep a guy who is probably stronger than us under our thumb.
Rolled 20 (1d20)>>5118895
>>5118914I ain't aiming to force him to stay with us, but making sure the camp doesn't get infected should he stay must be a priority.
Honestly this guy will do us more good by pursuing his own objectives than by coming along with us.He's concerned with spreading death and disease and he seems to be damn good at it, so the paladins will have their hands full with the chaos he causes.
Rolled 2 (1d6)
Rolled 11 (1d20)
>>5118941agreed, may be a good scapegoat too if we want to pull more sarintob shenanigans
>>5118895>>5118898>>5118903>>5118906>>5118914>>5118919>>5118970>>5118971>15+12 vs 10,12,14>GREAT SUCCESS>12 vs 10,12,14>SLIGHT SUCCESS>6 vs 10,12,14>MODEST FAILURE>17+6 vs 10,12,14>GREAT SUCCESS>3+6 vs 10,12,14>MODEST FAILURE>20 vs 8>CRITICAL SUCCESS>Farmer's Daughter has been dealt 4 damage!>Farmer's Daughter has 2/6 HP left!>Farmer's Daughter must save against difficulty 16 or be stunned!>Farmer's Daughter rolls 11 vs 16!>Farmer's Daughter is stunned!Jerthromos rushes ahead, far faster than you envisioned and far worse, he doesn't seem to grow tired. The villagers have no chance as he cuts down two and wrestles a third, a mere boy little older than Gilberd's was, to the ground and slowly, deliberately hawks phlegm into his pried open jaw. He drops the child and looks down as he squirms and dies. His movements are so still you aren't sure if he enjoys doing this but if he didn't, would he be so hellishly creative?The adepts of Zugzeb are not as quick sprinting across flat ground as they are unstoppable in a wrestling match, to your disappointment. Even so, one manages to grab an older woman who he keeps from escaping, although the other was too busy recovering from the beating he received to keep up. You won't hold that against him. Standing with a fractured skull is beyond most. Groshnak is howling in excitement, taking two children by their scalps, a young boy and girl, brother and sister you imagine, and tying them together at a frantic pace. A few seconds later, he's back on the run and catches a spry elder who had the idea to climb a tree and hide in the branches, by the fact that it's fall and there's a sudden pile of leaves where there was none before. He takes a javelin through the chest and falls, shattering his spine and dying almost instantly. The orc is elated and spends the next minute smashing the corpse's skull against the trunk. You wasted some time looking at all of this but spot a younger woman in the corner of your eye, and running quickly. You go into a sprint and start gaining ground, soon to reach your hands around her neck, when you hear a faint THUNK and a crossbow quarrel slams into her chest between the shoulders.She collapses, groaning, and you catch her, then turn to see where the thief is now that he's recovered, only to spot the necromancer-to-be struggling to reload her crossbow. Sadie smiles at you with fiendish glee and you laugh. Turning her over, you see that she's pretty, with clean teeth and hair that isn't too matted. (8 out of 10). You all drag your prisoners back to the village's ruins and Jerthromos lingers a short distance away, either out of consideration for their future potential or slight caution of the violence your band is capable of. Probably both.
>>5118989You make a quick tally of your sick winnings.>1 maimed farmer (one hand)>1 older woman>1 younger woman (badly wounded)>2 children, 1 boy, 1 girlNot so bad, considering how many you cut down earlier. This is a small victory on its own but you have a sudden epiphany.>>5118496This village is over half in ashes, but it was once a village and that means plunder. Items of worth. Perhaps a cart or better yet, a donkey or mule to pull it. A horse of true worth isn't likely here but it would be a godsend. You get to rummaging. It shouldn't take long and the Plague Knight seems patient.>roll 1d20-8 for loot quality, keeping in mind the damage
>>5118941>>5118986A force of two Anti-paladins shouldn't be discarded lightly. Having some power behind our punches would go really well into establishing our influence with the other ignoble houses, and I know I'd love to have a crack at some higher level foes with plague knight here.
Rolled 17 (1d20)>>5118991
Rolled 9 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>5118991We should check if the girl is a virgin. The kids should go to Espurgat's dagger as painfully as possible and we can practice torturing/sacrificing the other two.
>>5119000I put - there not +. reeeeeeeeeeee
>>5119003its +-