They've cleared out some of the jungle of the lower slopes near their hold's entrance. Further, they've constructed a broad road with massive paving stones winding down from the bottom slopes to the shore; there is a small trade-town there, functioning more as a tiny pirate town. Something that might evolve into something resembling Freeport, if given enough time and saftey from the mainland empires- unlikely, of course; part of Freeport's independence was owed to it's distance; Mza is barely a few miles from the coast; hardly a safe distance.

Beyond the dwarves and the port, which seems to have around thirty actual inhabitants, and a ship or two usually in, there is little else. A wizard or hermit of some sort has a tower on the northern shore, towards the western end. Finally, you believe there are tribes of lizardmen living in the jungles, though you aren't certain. Either way, unless the wizard turns out to be not only exceptionally powerful but extremely proactive, even all the inhabitants united against you could pose little threat.

As to moving in, that may take a while. Scinnari has informed Asha and the captain of the Grey Gull to change course, heading north. He Asha and the captain both warn that they will likely be forced to pay a toll, if not outright attacked, when passing through the straits of Azar, but you do not feel terribly worried; though you hardly desire to part with anymore than you have to, you have more than enough to afford any toll, and in any event, are being kept informed of their progress. You will be able to provide a personal escort, should it be necessary. They are still a week out from the straits, which Mza is a few days beyond.

Which brings up an interesting subject; it will be awkward at best to break to Asha the fact that you are moving into a massive cavern and intend to sleep on your gold, or, only slightly better, that you intend to inhabit a dusty and derelict castle. Further, at some point, some empire or kingdom is probably going to try and annex Mza, or at the very least, eliminate it as a refuge for pirates. It sadly seems that you may have to work to keep your new home...

[Oh, and I'm working on a regional and island map, so at least the latter should be finished shortly]

I'm the Muthaflippin

>>12972479
That picture....

Well OP, now I have to go read through all of this, but you've sold me. But you should seriously read the book that your picture is the cover of if you haven't already. Pretty good stuff.

>>12972536
New people is always good. And sadly, I'm afraid I don't know the book. I'm just dumping my 'dragon' folder; makes my someone erratic posts easier to find.

Dragon thread?

>>12972611
Oh, then you are really missing out. It is the third book of The Death Gate Cycle (how completely un-cliched, I know), titled Fire Sea. It's a pretty good read. I'd definitely recommend the series to any Fantasy fan.

Good. Good.

First things first. We need to create a claim to this land and take stock of all the inhabitants. I will wait for the map before any major actions, but investigating the wizard sounds good. Also we need to find a large nearby town to set up in for multiple reasons:

1. If we create a disaster there then we can get immigrants.
2. It will allow us to keep tabs on the larger world, this does not seem to be a trade hotspot yet.
3. Extending our influence is important, and we can't do that from this location alone yet.
4. Money to be made in bigger towns.
5. Information to be had in bigger towns, specifically on the cult and paladin order Scinnari told us about before. We should carefully send out feelers on that.

>>12972624
My good sir, you seem strangely ordinary. Bland, even. Anyway, feel free. I'm fine with dumping dragon pictures, though I am planning on running the quest. Probably a slow start due to the recent break.

>>12972611
I've actually found book two lying around at my house, but never found book one, so I haven't got around to reading it. I'll try and get it next time I'm at a library.

Take stock of our phat lewts. We surely had a monty haul from Az's hoard.

First thing to do is find a lair spot inside the volcano. Preferably a deep, hot place for our hoard and sleeping chamber. Once we get established we can mold the layout of the volcano to our desires, for now the important things are no ground access and secure, warm area for our hoard.

>>12972691
List of contents of horde would be nice.

>>12972507
Does that mean that Asha doesn't know we're a dragon yet? Perhaps we can buy/build a small cottage in town that we can keep, or make like the wizard, and have a tower in the middle of nowhere.

also: MOTHER EFFING DRAGON QUEST!~ Now with a DWARF FORTRESS! What could possibly be more awesome?

>>12972741
I think we should probably let her know. She came with us to the ass end of nowhere and left a very promising career as a freelancer to be our own personal assassin-on-retainer. We should bring her up to the castle, tell her this is where she will be staying, get her opinions on it... then have Scinnari airlift her to the volcano while we fly there invisibly. Scinnari escorts her down to the Lair and... oh hai thar Asha!

>>12972479

>Which brings to mind the inhabitants of this isle. A small clan of dwarves inhabits the lower western parts of the volcano; as far as you were able to learn while invisible, they seem mostly interested in the old lava runoff. The old volcano's lava, as it turns out, is apparently rich in some gems and crystals. Further, thier words suggest that the other peaks on the island were once volcanos too; the dwarves are planning to dig west, throughout the base of the rest of the chain.

Something must be done about this. Simply harassing them is just too obvious a choice, and will surely only draw unwanted attention and adventurous antagonizers.

Perhaps these dwarves could be...manipulated. Swayed even into worshipping you as some sort of demigod or the like. There's just the matter of getting them past the initial "OH BLOODY HELL IT'S A DRAGON" part and showing them that you deserve to be appeased. Perhaps you could turn one of the other groups in your territory against them, then save the day at some crucial moment to win their favor.

Failing that you could always seek out the hypothetical Lizardmen and see if your reptilian similarities can get them bowing before you with little effort.

Dragon thread? Yuck Fear!

Anywho. Yes. If we are moving into the caste-y bit, we should at least have a very convincing alter ego (current persona works, adventurer type, maybe wizardly... who knows)

Set the kobolds to work at once clearing the caverns and seeing if there are gems to be had in the volcano proper, or if it's all seeped down to those damnable dwarves.

Our first closest bet to an ally would be those lizard folk, the kobolds might help in cementing an alliance.

Secondly, Scinnari might prove useful in gaining the trust of the dwarves (did so well in Freeport) and Asha could begin gathering information on the tower, as well as any large power groups (gangs, cults, merchant guilds, etc)

C'mon people, empires don't build themselves!
>troops reseave

Oh, ho ho... captcha, troops we will receive indeed.

Wooo! DQ!

We should start by thoroughly scouting the area out, and perhaps scaring the dwarves off or getting them to work for us.

"Gems you say? How about we work out a deal?"

>>12972691
The volcano is sadly extinct, or at the very least, non-active. The empty magma tubes are just that- empty. Still, the clime is tropical and the sun is warm, if not quite as warm as molten rock.


List of hoard:

~125,000 gold in various currencies and denominations. A shade over half the gold hasn't arrived yet, being on the ship with Asha, en route.

(~30,000 golds worth) A kings ransom in various jewels and valuable crystals. Non magical. You had a scant few; but they seem to have been the late Azdukashen's favorites.

Library of magical texts and scrolls, looted from the late dragons' lair.

~25,000 (at a guess,) golds' worth of various art and objects. Sculpture, paintings, musical instruments, all of varying levels of craftsmanship and decoration.

~An array of jeweled artifacts and magical baubles, belonging mostly to the late Azdukashen. (Some you got prior.)

~Scinnari

~A magical mirror, parting gift of Cygnariassis/Cygnis.

~A worryingly sharp sword, at least to you. Otherwise fairly run of the mill.

~An enchanted rapier, of moderate power. Singled out from Azdukashen's hoard, adopted as your armament when polymorphed.

~A well equipped magical laboratory setup, again taken from Azdukshen's lair. Somewhat damaged; you got jumped by some of Az's guardians whiles you were making off with it.

[Undoubtedly more, but I'm forgetting them off the top of my head. Feel free to point it out.

How was your holiday WD? As awesome as the quest I hope

>>12972857

I also second this entire plan of action.

>>12972896

>Scinarri

I lol'd a little.

>>12972857
I think we should equally control the dwarves, not just rely on Scinnari for that. Perhaps it's time to graduate to our wife. Also, new name. How about Lord Varian and Lady Scinnari Doyle, new rightful owners of Mza.

Should we do something with Mza?
Does Asha have any ideas about that?

>>12972927
Err, and by equally control I mean not just leave it all to her, we should be seen around too. Obviously we are the REAL controllers of the whole thing. Being seen around is to keep it that way.

Also - I think a name change for the island is in order.
After all, it /is/ going to be the centre of our new (and great) nation.

Drew this up. I know getting all "Meta" and talking in long term goals tends to bog down Quest Threads with bickering, but I think this is basic enough to just establish the current trend and its direction.

So is this about what everyone else (more or less) had in mind?

>>12972927
Second. Let's get ourselves a new name/ident and set up shop as rulers from the get-go. The flow of money we are going to bring about to fix up the island and generate trade will surely cement our position.

>>12972897
Good, thanks. Saw some friends, played some Dark Heresy. Fun times. (Nobody died... barely.)

>>12972846
Dwarves usually have, at best, a grudging relationship with dragons. That's probably possible, but a very iffy prospect.

>>12972857
Don't seem to be any kobolds inhabiting the island, and I don't believe we brought any with us.

You forgot rule a large nation, perhaps even the world. So yeah, mostly good.

>>12972967
Well, I think the priorities aren't exactly all in a line, but that's more or less right as far as short term goals go
Plus it's a flow chart, and who am I to argue with that?

probably should do some more exploring of this island. we could probably also stat that the crew probably might want to have a bit of shore leave.

should ask more questions like what is the situation on the island.

>>12972507
While our human disguise has been very beneficial and i would like to continue the illusion. probably going to need to break the news with Asha some time. however their are better places than on a boat were anyone can overhear. Last thing we need is rumors that a boat captained by a red dragon is prowling around; even though it would be awesome.

could ask Scinnari her opinion on us revealing ourselves.


Assuming we would break the news to Asha should we do it all at once or should we be dropping small hints?

>>12972986
Damn it. When we next visit a big city we need to buy a portable teleportation circle. We can plop one end down in the cavern under our house in Freeport and it will be like we never even left.

Or maybe we just arrange to ship them all over to us here. We're going to need a lot of digging to get this volcano shaped into a fortress and active again.

>>12972986
lol could start a trade rout and start smuggling kobolds

Have we investigated any other nearby Islands?

What would creating a new identity entail?
New form entirely, or just a name change?
Considering how far away we are from anyone who knew Cibach and the complications of having two separate forms to deal with say, Asha, I think we should just go with a name change

>>12972927
>I see what you did there.

How about Lord Varian Prestor and Lady Katya Prestor? I doubt Scinnari is a common name and it could be used to track us too.

So deliciously ironic.

>>12972967

This is a good plan.

Personally I'd prefer Cygnis to be a willing participant than a slave [our goals so far have been pretty hemogenous], but if push comes to shove, then so be it.

>>12973052

Keeping the Cibach ID for now might be very beneficial. After all, we did successfully take on an ebil cult of ebilness.

>>12973080
I too would think Cygnis would be more valuable as a willing partner then a slave

Bah. Dwarves are Trouble.
No matter how we take them out, a supply ship or some-such is bound to show up eventually. Dwarves Bear Grudges and have been known to attempt to Reclaim Fortresses.

On the other hand, by what right do the dwarves claim this island? Is it a part of their Dwarven Nation? Recon is needed

how big is the population? is it enough to be anonymous or is it so small everyone knows everyone and we would stand out as a new guy?

>>12973097
What did Dr. Solus say?
"Indoctrination leads to mental degradation and reduction of performance facilities?"

>>12973102
We want them to stick around, though. They are the foundation for our new trading city.

We should turn this entire island into one vast megacity, A capital for our new empire. We start by making it a profitable trade destination... which means finding a product. I suggest slaves. Easy to get, fetch a good price, can be used as labor to help build our new city, very Lawful Evil.

>>12973093
Point

I think we need to replace the Dwarves with Kobolds, have them mine for us, and destroy any ships that comes near.

Eventually the whole "We never heard back from our expiditionary force" and "No one sent there ever returned" begins to outweigh the whole "there might be a little gold or something."

>>12973007
Asha is on a boat, far from here. We are dragon-formed on the island already I thought.

Dang, I thought we were taking the kobolds with us... they were DAMN useful.

In that case, I propose we devise a way of taking the lizardfolk into our fold. Find out what sort of religious icons they hold, and either change to assume them, or take the whole tribe by force (shouldn't be too hard).

The dwarves will take some time, especially if they're planning on encroaching in on our territory. Now, being standard dwarves, they won't really take to us being a Dragon, much less a Red. So, I propose we either sabotage the mining, or somehow convince them to dig elsewhere.

SO.
In summination:
Scinnari to take information down on the local power players (like I said earlier: guilds, gangs, cults)
Perhaps a 'personal' visitation to the Lizardfolk village in true draconic fashion.
Start building up a reputation for ourselves, perhaps again as the dashing rogue-ish adventurer.

>>12973097
Value is not the point. Anything she can do we can do better. And if we can't then it's a danger to us.

No, a willing slave is the best outcome she can hope for.

>>12973052
I'll put up an idea for an Identity on this island: A student of magic, middle aged, who wants to be away from the hustle of city life. Summons devils (hurr) and has a short temper. Something to keep the pesents away from our castle/haunt.

>>12973167
There are no local power players, man.

We can't have the dwarves digging out our mountains. That's for the ordered and directed hands of our kobolds to do.

We need to kill them.

>>12973152
Keep in mind we want to discourage people from trying to over throw us. We want to be seen publicly as a paragon of society and anyone who knows the truth would not dare attack us because of the alternatives.

>>12973169
Well, really I don't see how her being able to do things we can't is a threat as long as she's friendly toward us- really that makes her much more valuable as a willing ally, seeing as-
GAH
can we have this argument some other time?

>>12972967
I'm down with this plan... I'd been advocating devil dragon servitors from the start.

Some of the rest of it needs a little more fleshing out though. I like >>12973167 's plans...
Although temporary, no need to make waves before we have our armies in place.

>>12973167
Seconding investigating the religion of the Lizardfolk. We can appear as a dragon after we know if they'll try to kill us on sight.

>>12973177
But we don't want a Fortress of Solitude! Turn this place into a city.

>>12973152
Nah, unless you have some industry that DEMANDS slaves then you probably won't have enough call to meet your overhead

>>12973188
Seeing as we have no kobolds at the moment, why not subcontract the job out to the dwarves?

Okay, plans for the island:

-Maintain non-draconic subterfuge, at least mostly. Adopt new identity, Scinnari does the same.

-Establish complete control over the port town. It's much smaller and therefore less lucrative than Freeport, but at the same time will have less powerful people in charge. Either kill them or make sure they're happy working under us as stewards of a sort. Scinnari can likely be useful here.

-Once the port is under firm control, the dwarves will be stuck doing all their imports/exports through us, meaning that we can get a cut of their wealth by being the middleman. All we need to do for that is maintain generally genial relations.

-There's a hermit here, perhaps a wizard or druid. We need to look into him- a potential threat, or a potential lackey; either way, he must be dealt with.

-Tribes of lizardmen are potentially useful, depending upon their intelligence; some types of lizardmen are as smart as people and could easily make excellent servants/personal army as part of a mutually beneficial arrangement. If they're not as smart, it'll be tougher to get them to work for us without going all draconic, but can probably still be done. Still, being able to deploy them as shock troops could go a long way towards making us a true ruler here.

-We need to practice our sorcerous powers a lot; if we can maintain our ruse of being a humanoid by acting the sorcerer-prince, so much the better.

-We'll have to deal with Asha. Have a conversation with her about what she wants from life, and make sure she can get it working for us.

So the options are:
1 - Kill them and make it ours, bringing in kobolds and resuming the mining.
2 - As Our Heroic Alter-Ego we invest our resources in with the Dwarves as the humble beginnings of a mightly trade empire.
3 - Keep looking. Its a big, big world. There's gotta be somewhere awesome out there. At any rate it wouldn't hurt to have a few choices.
4 - lol i dunno

I say we check with our trusted Right Hand as to her opinion.

>>12973217
Kobolds loved us out of the sheer Draconic bond...
Unless we can polymorph into a fountain of Ale, I doubt we'd have similar sway with the Dwarves.

Although really, we just need to find a bond (ale? gems? weaponry?), and either fake it 'til we make it... or somehow strike a deal with them.

Should we arrive and show them how to unionize? Create a Mining Guild that can negotiate fair prices with Mercantile guilds? Become the face of a future trading empire?

I like it.

>>12973104
We could always claim to be a sailor or recent arrival; if we stay too long, or start 'dropping by' too frequently, then we might be asked pointed questions.

>>12973102
There are no 'Dwarven nations', or at least, none as far as non-dwarves know, but surface dwarves will invariably come to the assistance of other surface dwarves, at least on a city-state basis.


As for the island, it's considered wilderness; a stopover for freshwater, occasionally food, but mostly wild jungle. Dangerous. According to rumor, lizardmen have done their best to discourage others from colonizing it. It is unknown how the dwarves managed to get dug in, though the porttown seems to have a semi-truce with the lizardmen.


[What is our immediate intent? We've already set up in the volcano, and have scouted the immediate vicinity to some degree. Do we want to contact the lizardmen, reveal ourselves to Asha, take over the town, what? (Immediately. We can do them all, in time.)]

>>12973227
i agree but think we should use our current form. Keep in mind we could establish a trade rout using "Cygnis" business. acting as an envoy will gain us alot of access to places a stranger would not be able to go. for example meeting the dwarfs and offering a trade agreement.


unless we reveal to Asha and she still wants to stick around she could not support us.

long term when we consolidate power we will have a nightmare of a time. Short term we could not use our current resources (remember our ship they won't respond to a different person).

first of all, I'd like to airlift in a few choice kobolds.
Jerrik, of course, and a few others. have them fix up the castle a little, then start importing kobolds from other places. Set up a cavern system under the castle.
Approach the dwarves and propose a trading relationship, ask what is difficult to produce on site.
Approach wizard in friendship, probably just some old coot who wants to be left alone to his research so we should give him his privacy after that though.
Approach lizardmen and set up friendly relations. Don't know a great deal about lizardmen though, so I have little input on this.

>>12973303
We should take over the port town. Say we are the new Sorcerer-King of Mza, Lord Varian Prestor and his lovely but very dangerous wife Lady Katya Prestor. Same with the lizardfolk, except we show up in dragon form there.

>>12973303
Learn more about everything. What do the Lizardmen respect? Who are their gods? What are the terms of the truce? Do any of the Dwarves have powerful relations that might object to their dissapearance? What are the prospects for investing in the town? We can't go off half cocked.

Oh! speaking of which, one the other half of the gold gets here I say we make like >>12972967
and >Frolic about on a mountain of gold and christen it by fucking scinnari

>>12973303
Fact finding time
Asa and ourselves to go out and find as much as we can about this island
Also, ring up Cygnis, see if she can tell us anything about this place and get her advice

>>12973361
>Frolic about on a mountain of gold and christen it by fucking scinnari [on top of it]
For now we can go with this and taking over the port as ruler. Change our name too we don't want to be linked to freeport.

>>12973383
>Also, ring up Cygnis, see if she can tell us anything about this place and get her advice
NO! If a red starts fucking about around here (and remember, we're doing this so we don't have to hide ALL THE TIME) then word will get back to her. We say we are staying in Azar. That will sure as hell keep her away with all those dragons contesting it.

>>12973303
First deal with Asha I think... having her work with / for us even though she knows what's what could be very beneficial.

>>12973361 Seconded for scouting information.

So: summination, Asha first immediate, while information can be gathered by 2nd in command.

>>12973350
Second but we should burn the dwarves instead and get a bunch of humans to colonize instead because dwarves are just trouble for dragons also let's get our kobolds over here and breeding fast.

>>12973393

Why not?

Legit takeover via massive investments as Lord Cibach.
If everything goes well, we become more famous and wealthy. If things go bad, we eat everyone and get our money back.

>>12973436
Because Cygnis will hear about a red dragon on Mza through the draconic (and human) grapevine. We don't want to be associated with that. At all.

>>12973393
if we play our cards right, taking over as our good-guy persona is the WHOLE POINT!

I'm a little paranoid about this hermit in the Wizards Tower. We should quickly figure out if he is responsible for how disturbingly vacant our new volcano lair is.

>>12973440
You know, if we use our name and then later eat everyone... well, we just tipped our hand and ruined our best identity so far.

I uh... un-second this? Massive investments is a given, we just need to straight up rule the place first, though. We can still invest even when we rule it, you know.

>>12973350
Do not show ourselves to be a dragon to the lizardfolk unless we're inclined to have that news spread. Three can't keep a secret and all that- an entire group of tribes certainly can't.

Aside from that, I like this plan as long as we have the sorcery to back it up. Claiming a title less significant than "king" might be necessary. "Lord" is pleasantly generic and less likely to piss off nearby kings with more resources than us.

>reveal ourselves to Asha
Okay, how's this for a plan for Asha, guys:
-We tell her that we've decided to be a big fish in a small pond for a while, perhaps a few years. Play up the elf bit; we can afford to spend a decade or three studying sorcery in a quiet castle and running a small holding. No reveal is necessary here.
-We'd like her assistance in securing the island, which I assume we can get.
-After that, or if we find that she's sitting around not doing much, send her off to the closest large city to serve as our eyes, ears, and hands there.
-And find out what she wants from her life in the long-term. A happy employee is a loyal employee, and I think Asha's a keeper. Also I want to secure her more firmly and add her to our 'hoard' of people who really work for us, which is frankly rather shabby at the moment.

>>12973460
No, it's not. It's totally not. A few good deeds on the other side of the world is not going to mean SHIT to these people. Lizardmen and dwarves both don't give a crap about that mess.

Dwarves are businessmen. We do business with them.
The port needs wealth to generate wealth. We prime that pump.
The Lizardmen are potential minions. We learn more about them and hear their plight.
The Hermit could be anything. We need to learn more about him.

>>12973408
may i point out if her brother does not respond to her or if rumors get to her that her brother is dead it might create questions especially if we are supposed to be in that city.

worst if she decides to visit us and finds out we are not there.


I also wish we could operate more openly maybe we can live a double life. However keep in mind our alternate identity has benefited us a lot in the past and i think we will still need it.

>>12973487
It's better then showing up as a complete and total stranger with no background at all....
actually, we can settle this easily
Have Asa check around town first to see if anyone knows about Cibach the cult smasher and what they think about him

>>12973474
>Also I want to secure her more firmly and add her to our 'hoard' of people who really work for us, which is frankly rather shabby at the moment.
I don't think that's how that really works. People in our hoard are ones we own mind, body, and soul. Or at least that's our objective with them. They are utterly ours, our possessions. Asha is nowhere close to that yet. Scinnari and the Crystal are the only currently sentient things in our hoard, and Cygnis is the only other one we have plans to add at this point... though obviously her status will be as a willing/broken/mindwiped slave rather than a priceless gem like scinnari.

>>12973515
WHY is it better than showing up as an unknown? We will bring enemies from Freeport too, you know, and very few allies if any. All we have to do as an unknown is display a large amount of power and we're too much trouble to bother with.

ALSO!

I think it might be wise to abstain from using the Sage Spinnel too much in the future. Considering it functions by READING OUR MIND and is admittedly in the service of a DARK GOD WHAT WANT'S TO ENSLAVE DRAGONS. Might not hurt to not give it a chance to know where we moved.

>>12973534

We have few actual enemies in Freeport that aren't already dead.

I say we keep the Cibach persona, and claim this island as our own personal fief. Get the dwarves to give us a cut of their mining, get on good terms with them.

Hell, if the seam proves rich enough, we could build a city from that.

>>12973562
>We have few actual enemies in Freeport that aren't already dead.
Uh, so you mean we weren't kicked out in a political coup? My mistake then. Let's go right back since we will be welcomed with such open arms.

I say we claim it, but as someone NOT Cibach.

>>12973523
>People in our hoard are ones we own mind, body, and soul. Or at least that's our objective with them. They are utterly ours, our possessions. Asha is nowhere close to that yet.
That's why we need to take steps to bring her towards it.

Neither Scinnari nor the crystal are truly utterly ours. Not with utter and complete reliability- Scinnari has been known to play her own games, and the crystal constantly sows discord. Having someone or something be part of our hoard is an ongoing process of endlessly attempting to sublimate their will further into ours through whatever means are available. I agree that it's a label we should be careful with, because once we've stuck it on something it means that we have a vested draconic interest in holding onto that thing for all time as rightfully ours, but waiting for certainty means that we'd never add anything.

>>12973562
I like the way this man thinks!

>>12973582
She's a fucking mortal human, man. Not worth the investment. Get some perspective. We don't have to add every hot chick we see to our hoard, nor will every hot chick want to be in it. Scinnari being Lawful Evil is probably the only reason she agreed, such things are... well, if not normal at least possible to beings of pure Law. To anyone else it's basically willing submission to slavery.

>>12973562
I think it would be far better to establish ourselves as a Noble in exile (reinforces our identity to scrutiny). basically through negotiations and other means establish ourselves as the leader of the island legitimately.


while slower it attracts far less attention and allows us to expand unopposed.

>>12973582
Scinnari only plays her own games as far as they don't interfere with our will. You'll note that when we specified that we didn't want "fingerprints on our most precious gem" that she immediately cut off her thing with the Small-time Crimelord. Even though it almost got her killed!

As far as the Spinnel goes, yeah. That's the veritable One Ring of Sauron. We should find out everything there is to know about binding and then smash it to pieces.

>>12973643
Artifacts... don't break that way. We're going to need a 9th level spell to even attempt it, for instance. Even then, very low chances of success.

>>12973562
Positives of using our Cibach name:
-It has ties with Cygnis, which we might be able to bootstrap into something
-Tiny reputation bonus here, plus maybe some rep gain in Freeport IF what we do here is worthy of it
-Don't need to worry about a new identity
Negatives:
-Anyone who hated us in Freeport might send hate after us
-Stops us from revealing ourselves to anyone here as a dragon, unless we're willing to let word get out
-If we fuck up, it'll hurt our reputation as Cibach too


Overall, I come down on the "don't be Cibach" side of this, I think. If we're going to live here in the long term, the potential for things going pear-shaped and outing us as a dragon is just too great to endanger the long-term Cygnis plot.

>>12973607
What investment is she not worth? It's just a mental shift in her status from 'useful but ultimately disposable tool' to 'useful and deliciously mine'. That requires no actual effort on our part.

And sure, she's just a mortal human. With a sorcerous bloodline. And if she has kids, those will be ours too. You want to think long-term, try that one on for size.

>To anyone else it's basically willing submission to slavery.
People enslave themselves to all kinds of things. Nations, lovers, gods... why not a dragon? At least with us they can have a guarantee that we'll look after them, because damned if anyone else gets to fuck with our treasures.

>>12973643
That did earn her some trust, but you also should remember that she never told us about the dragon hunter.

>>12973670

Being Devil's Advocate (see what I did there?), that could be for any number of reasons. Cheifly, is that the 'dragon hunter' was just a sell sword, and I daresay she probably thought he was bluffing.

>>12973662
>What investment is she not worth? It's just a mental shift in her status from 'useful but ultimately disposable tool' to 'useful and deliciously mine'. That requires no actual effort on our part.

The investment it would take to get her to accept her new status as subservient to our will in all things... ALL things. To accept her role as ours, not as a lover or friend but as a willing and happy slave.

I'll be honest, without life extension magic she might not live long enough to regard it in the same way as Scinnari does right now. Remember what I said about pure Law, ect. It's the natural order of things for Scinnari, it's in her blood. Yet it was something to consider even for her despite the enormous potential rewards.

>>12973713
She quite clearly did not think he was bluffing after the Finn incident. She might have thought him less competent than he claimed, or perhaps insane. But either way, she still knew there was someone out there hunting us and did not tell us so. It could be because she planned to either convert or kill him herself and never had the slightest intention of letting harm come to us. It could also be that she was keeping him around for her own purposes.

I'm not saying we should distrust her because of it, just that we should bear in mind that she doesn't tell us everything we might wish to know.

"Scinnari. Your thoughts on this locale?" you ask, standing on the battlements of the abandoned castle. You've taken to enjoying the sunset view... all you survey (and more, of course,) will be your soon enough.

"Small. Barely inhabited. The most reliable traffic the island gets are pirates or lost fishermen. It is not quite what I had hoped." Scinnari says from beside you.

"Indeed. But that is liable to change quickly, I think."

"The war?"

"Indeed." you agree. "Some navy is bound to come looking for a base, perhaps a staging ground for their invasion. Or just to claim land while the region is in chaos. Perhaps I shall destroy them, when the time comes, or perhaps not; it depends on the details... either way, I would like to be a major figure, by the time it happens."

"A major figure, lord? Hardly an accomplishment in such a backwater place. But no, I understand." she assures with a gesture. "You wish to be a prominent local person... an acknowledged leader. I would presume, then that you intend to do so as a mortal?"

You ponder briefly. Scinnari has taken to referring to humanoids like that. Perhaps a lapse on her part, perhaps an attempt to encourage your ego. You aren't entirely displeased with it, but you make efforts to keep from forgetting the truth.

"I think... A sorcerer king of the island, and his beloved queen, of course... would be an excellent position from which to expand." you reply. "In fact... I intend to start shortly. By claiming the town below, I think." you add, gesturing at the coastal blob below you. "A start. Tomorrow, I would like... Perhaps, 'Lady Katya Prestor', to arrive in port as an emissary for her husband. Make a show. Convince them that your husband is powerful beyond belief and that neither of us are to be trifled with."

>>12973662

I think the rep gain would be worth it. And we have no real reason to bee all HUARGH AM DRAGON, unless really necessary. And if it is really necessary, then it'll probably be of less import than revealling ourselves.

I'm not too fussed either way, but Cibach is just scores too much on the badassery scale to abandon.

> Island's yureary
I agree captcha

>>12973670
i think we may be reading to much into it, but then again some paranoia is healthy.

I keep on forgetting we could ask Scinnari more about her past if she is ready to open up. Maybe even acquiring a pair of rings that would allow us to talk telepathically, matching even.

>>12973755
"Hardly an exaggeration." Scinnari agrees with a smile. "And who is my husband, should it come up?"

"Lord... Varian Prestor, I think. I shall sweep in... toss some gold around, impress them, perhaps demonstrate some magic, should it be necessary, and perhaps even a few promises of wealth and development. There's a ship in port, and I see one approaching." you say, gesturing at a tiny blip on the horizon, "there will be drunks tomorrow, and perhaps some left by their ships. We can put them to work, fortify the town, provide some basic protection... enough to make them grateful for our presence."


"Of course, Lord Azaladon." Scinnari replies. "And then... you will have an armed force, 'for protection of the city', to enforce your rule..."

"You get ahead of yourself, my dear. I think the expansion will provoke a minor lizardmen attack. If not, I can arrange it. Then, we will have the justification and fear to create that force through popular acclaim.... I do not wish to be a conquerer, but a valued, even worshiped, member of the community."

"Such that any other leader would be unthinkable?" Scinnari asks, catching on quickly.

"Indeed.... Make yourself king, and you are, as long as you can keep it. But if they make you king.... Then they will protect you to the death." you say. A prediction, at best, but a reasonable one. Humans are fairly impressionable.


[dice 1d100]

We can always either "arrive" or "reveal ourselves" as Cibach at a later date. I suggest, for now, we use a name we can easily throw away.

rolled 74 = 74

>>12973782
Muhahahahah!

*cough*cough*

Where did that come from?

I know it may be crazy, but why not try being nice to Cygnis? I mean, if we decide we want to enslave someone just because they seem to like us and are friendly, it seems... lolevil. I mean, sure, she won't like us being evil, but she's...


Okay, maybe it's a god idea, but I don't like taking this one person who's totally nice to us and doing horrible things to her essentially because she caugt our attention by being nice.

rolled =

OK, Since the immediate course of action is accounted for, we're going to need to come up with an alibi for Cibach to be doing during this time. Cygnis is likely to keep tabs. The trick with multiple identities is to keep track of them all. We gotta have an alibi.

rolled 61 = 61

Derp

rolled 91 = 91

>>12973844
We don't have to do horrible things to her, provided we find another way to completely and utterly subjugate her without question. It's just most ways to do that are... fairly horrific.

Also rollan.

>>12973844
Yeah, plus it would be a complete waste of time and energy
Why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free?

>>12973859
Like I said before, if we are in the besieged and hotly dragon-contested city of Azar then she won't be able to visit us as a human OR as a dragon.

>>12973844
Let's not think about Cygnis' future too much for a while, eh? We've left her and Freeport hundreds of miles behind us, and have many immediate concerns.

>>12973859
I would say that following the Freeport debacle, he's decided to spend some time honing his powers of sorcery and quietly following up on a few leads regarding the Binder. The crystal's news about his origin and purpose as one of the Binder's puppets was most disconcerting, after all. It's something that must be dealt with as a matter of vital personal concern. He'll likely end up traveling around a lot, chasing leads and doing the whole adventurer thing.

>>12973879
You don't want the cow turning around and breathing fire on you when you murder innocents for your own gain.

>>12973917
Always on the move, huh? That sounds good. We'll have to make up stories as we go, though.

rolled =

>>12973925
This anon has the right of it.

>>12973917
This one too. Seriously. Lets not get too worked up over long term plans. That was why Dragon Quest 24 sucked. 95% bickering by volume. Let's stay in the here and now.

We should approach someone, and address him as "Dave" consistently.

So what was the roll for?

Also should we return to our ship and be publicly viable when the ship arrives and the passengers disembark

>>12973873
>>12973829
When you arrive the next day, Scinnari's handiwork is evident. The inhabitants don't cower, but do seem to be on their best behavior. And there is a dark stain on the floor of the tavern, perhaps someone got too... tactile.

"You are Lord Prestor?" the human asks. As far as you can tell, the local established individuals, namely, the two different bar owners, the blacksmith, a hunter, a wealthy fisher, and the head of a small woodshop, have banded together to approach you.

"Indeed. I assume you are the heads of the... community, or what little there is?" you ask, dry, aloof, and bored.

"Yes. We... wish to know what you intend. Your wife was most... ominous." one of the barkeeps says.

"She is fond of that. Still. I have... research I wish to perform here. If you will accept my presence, I would be willing to invest some of my resources in this town's wellbeing." you explain. Arrogant, magnanimously explaining to them. You think you have the desired form.


"Right. What do you mean by 'investing'?" the smith asks. The dwarf is shorter than most, but loud. And bold.

"Example:" you offer, "There seems nothing preventing the lizardmen living here from destroying you. Utterly. This is a village of what, forty people?"

"Not quite..." the second barkeep concedes cautiously. "But we haven't had any trouble with them..."

"Hah. Only because they hardly need to hurry to get rid of you. They could wipe you all out at a moment's notice. How long do you think your kinsmen would survive, if they can't buy food or goods from the mainland?" you ask the dwarf. He doesn't answer, but his expression is enough.

>>12974162

"If you were, for instance, to put up a wall. Really stone, perhaps, or even just a palisade. Wide, with room for expansion. And... You'd probably want it to cover the waterfront, as well." you add, as if considering, "You are likely to come under naval attack at some point in the future, and at the very least, it would allow you to turn away any ship of ill repute."

"Attack? Did you bring trouble with you?" the fisherman starts.

"Hardly. The world did." you reply. "Or had you heard, there's a war on. Rhasver to the north, Exheln to the east. Eventually someone is going to want a base closer to Azar. Unless you feel like being annexed, I would suggest preparing for conflict."

A murmur goes up among the watchers, they seem to have heard of Azar's independence, but not the war yet. News travels slowly.

"If you're willing to work- well, be pleasant to have around and we'll be happy to accept you." the first tavern owner says. He seems a defacto town-leader. "If'n you're willing to make this place better, we're happy to have you."

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

You spend a few days travelling, relocating, etc, but eventually spread the word that you have established a dwelling inland, and carefully keep 'how far' unknown. Shortly thereafter, you hire some deserted or abandoned sailors work, clearing forestation and preparing for the construction of a wall. They are cheap, and while still wary, the town seems bought over at the moment.

[Another 1d100, and a brief break while I go to get food. If you move on to deciding our next item to attend to, you won't even notice it.]

rolled 73 = 73

>>12974183
We should say hi to the wizard first, and gauge him. Then Lizardfolk. Have Scinnari check on the ship and see how progress goes. That's a lot of money, we should keep tabs on how they are doing.

I'd roll, but I don't know how.

rolled 8 = 8

>>12974183
ROLLAN for VICTORY!

1d100

>>12974237
Seconded. Fits with our persona to see the wizard.

Maybe he'll teach us something. I just hope he isn't malevolent.

>Dragon Quest
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ENIX, YOU WHOREMONGERING SHIT.

rolled 63 = 63

>>12974183
I'd like to apoligize in advance if I fuck everyone over.
Namex Xobeh, don't fail me now!

>>12974237
We should stealthily investigate the lizardfolk, though.

>>12974269
Oh dear! I'm so sorry! I'll change it-

Or at least I would, but I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations ends around thread 25. You're a tad late.

>>12974244
>>12974237
Writing.

>>12974237
I could be down with this. It would be wise to take a slightly more delicate approach with him; we can come up and introduce ourselves, say we heard of his presence and thought it would be rude to ignore him, inquire as to what he's up to, etc. etc. and generally feel him out to find out if he's a wizard.

If he's just a hermit, we lose nothing. If he's got some power or whatever, there's no loss in being polite. I doubt he'll travel to town to mess with our reputation regardless.

Well - I really know how to roll them don't I? >.<

What sort of local materials are there on offer for this wall? If a war comes knocking, it'll need to be a bit more sturdy than just a pallisade.

>>12974408
We cannot feasibly expect a handful of random hirelings to construct anything better than a palisade. Hell, it's lucky that they, or whoever we hired in town, has enough engineering knowledge of build one of those properly.

If at some point we feel like really building up this town, we can pay the dwarves to build proper walls and otherwise deck it out with excellent construction. Until then, they can live with their modest defenses and know that it's better than what they had previously.

If war really comes knocking, a town of forty people isn't going to be doing much to defend itself no matter how good its defenses are.

>>12974458

I agree. But I think that we must be prepared for it.

Hopefully by the time such a thing does happen, the town will be well fortified and the island ours.

>rentlers stocks.

We should also rent some stocks, for petty criminals and the like, as the captcha suggests.

To be fair, even nations tend to shy away from basing on islands owned by powerful wizards and sorcerers. That alone would give these people a reason to want to be ruled by us.

>>12974505
Hmm.

We need a cape with a cowl and an ominously glowing staff.


Speaking of getting things, did we ever acquire those gloves of storing?

>>12974540
I don't think we were ever going to. We can summon any item we mage mark with a 2nd(?) level spell, so there isn't really any need.

Things go better than you had hoped. The next day some of the pirates get rowdy- you find out afterwards that it started as a dispute over the wood worker's prices on repairs to their ship. You solve it with an exceedingly flashy display of fairly mediocre magic, and cow the pirate captain in to backing off. Better than you could have hoped.

Next up on the order of affairs is the wizard.

#################################

"And you're moving in?" the alchemist asks, staring at you suspiciously. He's wearing a pair of goggles with smeared lenses on a leather strap. As far as you can tell, he may be totally unaware that he is wearing them.

"To the island. Not here. The other end. I merely found it prudent to find out if my research was stepping on any toes." you reply, only partially faking your strained patience.

"Fine. You aren't. Don't know why you'd worry. Don't bother me and I won't care." the wizard replies, quick and short. His words are odd. Perhaps he's had no one to talk to for a long while. Or perhaps his chemicals have been affecting his mind; of the hundreds of bottles and phials scattered around his home, even then, just the portions that you've seen, at least half of them are probably highly toxic to him, according to the labels.

"So I see. Still, I believe it pays to be cautious." you reply, standing to leave.

"Yeah. Cautious. Careful on your way back. Lizardmen are a fiesty bunch." the elderly elf warns. Of course, that's the third option; he could be senile.

"You seem to be safe from them." you observe.

"Heh. Explosives are the- one of the simplest things to make. They aren't stupid, they learn real quick. I keep to myself, and they don't bother me." he replies, a rare burst of conversation. "See you around."

"I should hardly think-" you reply, but give it up. You're tired of listening to him. "Yes. See you around." you reply with some skepticism, and depart.

>>12974644
We can what now? If you mean use the spell Instant Summons, which requires a mage mark, that's 7th level and burns a thousand gold every time you cast it. Hardly a viable option.

>>12974644
That's actually an 8th level spell or something. Glove of holding would be nice to have.

>>12974668

##############################

The lizardmen, you find, are very, very, fiesty. They find you almost as soon as you find them. Encountering a small hunting party, you are happy to learn that their language, like most reptilian tongues, is the poor humanoid's version of draconic. Admittedly better than humans or elves could do, though.

"The hunt is good." one you identify as Skallis says. Almost whining, she seems to be an apprentice of some sort. "We have enough. Should we be turning back?"

"Silence!" her master whispers back, lashing out. He almost hits her, but she dodges extraordinarily quickly. The huntsman doesn't seem surprised, perhaps this is a common occurence. "Look. What do you see?" he asks, gesturing ahead. A short, bewildered silence.

"...Tracks?" Skellis replies. Guessing, you're certain.

"Too much for you. I should have guessed. Assar?"

"Tracks. I... recent tracks?" Assar replies. He's been quieter, weighted down by a dead beast, a cat of some kind, you think.

"Closer." their master hisses back. "/New/ tracks. Something watches us..." the huntsman explains. Mentally, you curse. Their hunters are astute indeed if they can determine your presence without seeing you.

"Spread out. Find it. If one of you find it, you can have the jaguar's heart." the hunter orders, making no move to search himself. Instead he backs up against a tree, spear in hand, watching the jungle. For you, presumably.

>>12974702
Call out in draconic and show ourselves openly. Make it clear that we have very little interest in playing games. Tell them to take us back to their camp, we wish to speak to the leader of their people.

>>12974702
Can we clarify a bit here- how powerful physically are these lizardmen? We're pretty badass even as a human, but looking at them, do we think we could take them if it comes to a confrontation?

If we can take them, then coming out and talking might be just the thing to do- though I'm not sure what we'd say. If we can't... well, they might well catch us should we try to get away. Hopefully it won't come up.

>>12974702
I think we should isolate one, grab him, and question him before we reveal ourselves to the full group.

>>12974702
walk out from a convenient hiding spot while slow clapping
congratulate, make with a few pleasantries and ask to see their chief

>>12974821
At this point there is no reason to be afraid, we can just dragon out and light them up if they annoy us. Middle of the woods and all, we have anti-scrying gear on, and we can explain it as a very very large fireball.

>writerdude I am only on episode 15 so I will not participate but I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying reading these in the archives

Time to make some friends.

Well, worshipers. But those are even better.

rolled =

Status Check: just how magic ARE we?

thinking we should revert and reveal ourselves. my opinion we should state our presence and judging on their reaction act accordingly.

>>12974915
Refer to the scale below when answering.

>Fucking magical!
>Really fucking magic
>Pretty fucking magic
>Really magic
>Pretty magic
>Magic
>Kinda magic
>A little magic
>We wish we were magic

Lizardfolk are extremely good warriors when trained properly and led by a cunning commander. They are naturally a great deal stronger and tougher than humans, but not terribly bright. Species are both cold and warm blooded, so if these are the cold blooded types they would only be useful troops in warm climates. That said, they are not adversely effected by a lack of moisture and make excellent desert soldiers too. Hint hint for the future.

>>12974937

I think we're on the pretty magic level of that scale atm.

>>12974981
Even the weak dragon types are Really Magic. Reds and golds are Pretty Fucking Magic by default. (ie. naturally level 19 arcane casters without taking class levels) I would say with our enhanced abilities we are automatically shunted into Really Fucking Magic. Then with a little study (since we can't just rely on blood for everything, even we have to study) we can become FUCKING MAGIC!

I think that I should write a 'dragonquest' theme song.

Fuck. Had post, lost it. [Was mostly fluff and a 'roll 1d100'.]

As a response to >>12974821
Stronger than humans, generally viewed as more bestial. The common conception is that they're somewhere in between kobolds and dragons. About as bright as a human, as far as you know. If they attack, at an estimation, you could take any one, possibly any two or all of them, if the apprentices aren't too skilled.
######################

You drop your invisibility. Almost immediately, you see the master hunter notice you. You lock eyes, but aside from that, he doesn't respond, maintaining his watch.


Almost fifty seconds later, Assar notices you.

"Master! Elf-" he shouts, drawing his spear back to throw at you.

"I am aware, Assar. You were slow. Too slow; he's been there almost a minute. He could have killed you right now. All of us, if he had a bow. Do you have an explanation?" the hunter replies, turning enough to acknowledge seeing you.

"I- I thought you were keeping watch, master. I was searching for tracks-"

"Dangerous. If I had been so inclined, I could have killed you both without a bow; I've already demonstrated I can move close to you without being spotted." you reply in draconic, slightly reduced due to your elven voice, but still fluent.

"Indeed...." the hunter agrees. Behind them, Skallis has returned and is watching silently. "You are strange, elf. Who are you?"

"The humans of the town know me as Lord Varain Prestor." you reply, briefly displaying the palms of your hands before returning to clasping them in front of you. "Would you be so kind as to take me to your chieftain? Or shaman," you add, "Whoever your leader is."

"An answer that says nothing!" Skarris spits.

"Truth. But it is not your turn to speak." her superior replies. "You ask much, elf. What reason do I have to give it?"

[1d100, are we willing to reveal ourselves, and if so, under what condition?]

rolled 13 = 13

>>12975184

Time for a fail roll

rolled 87 = 87

>>12975184
Apoligizing in advance if I fuck things up.
Lets Roll Motherfuckers.

rolled 22 = 22

>>12975184
We are willing to reveal ourselves in the encampment provided they seem to be pliable. Lizardfolk are natural allies of dragons like kobolds, and this is an excellent opportunity. As for a response say that we are a being of no little power, and a sorcerer among other things. We have recently moved here and wish to be introduced to his people, and possibly have some proposals for the leader.

rolled =

>>12975206
Following up with Conditions: if it seems awesome.

But probably not considering the fact that the Comic Relief is watching. They're known to mess things up and, God help me, we're a genre savvy dragon.

Actually, maybe it would be a good idea. We're supposed to be a Wizard, right? Polymorph and shit.

Bah, whatever.

>>12975217

Mutual benefit etc?

>>12975184
I'm telling you, WD. Notepad is your friend.

>>12975252
Yeah, though we don't discuss it in too much detail here with the three of them. We can sell it as power and protection in service to a great master once we get there and pull out the shock and awe.

>>12975184
"Do I ask much? I will say this, then: I shall not forget your actions now, nor your face, whichever decision you make. Know that I make a point of repaying both aid and hostility in kind."

Reveal ourselves only if we're certain that we're going to die without it.

>>12975184

I'm leaning toward not going dragon just yet. Maybe say that we're a sorcerer and a new arrival, that would like to get to know the power players on the island, and that we're doing so to head off any potentially conflicts down the line? Be diplomatic, we're stopping by to get to know them, to get a feel for what they want so that we're not stepping on any toes during our stay, and to let them know that we'll be probably changing things up a bit but to not be alarmed.

You know, friendly neighbor stuff.

rolled 52 = 52

>>12975184
"My ability to speak this language with such ease should imply much more than I'm willing to divulge... now, whether you choose to believe it or not is up to you, but my presence will be known and shown in time. It is up to you whether or not you know of it first."

ROLLIN' DIPLO

Reveal when we get back to the lizardman homes and the whole clan or city or whatever gathers up. After we talk to the head guy and make sure that they aren't some sort of anti-dragon lizardman cult. Tiamat knows we've had enough of those for a lifetime.

>>12975263
I think that's kind of a bit hostile, and definitely overly ominous. Personally, I'd like to meet their leader, and I don't think we'll get to do that by being so overbearing. Plus, he probably wants a more concrete answer than just vague insinuations. Playing the gentleman has served us well so far, I think we should continue that.

>>12975318
We already rolled here >>12975206
And it was a damn good roll for DQ. We should just stick to it for now.

>>12975305
This sounds good to me. Maybe hint that we would be perfectly willing to discuss specifics with him if he thinks he can speak for his whole tribe. He probably can't, but that might placate him a bit and it doesn't sound like we're slighting him by appealing over his head and undermining his authority in front of his minions.

>>12975206
>>12975193
"The decision is, of course, yours... But your curiosity is justified and isn't misplaced." you say, locking eyes with the hunter again. Breaking contact, you continue. "I am a sorcerer who recently has moved to this island. I wish to... meet my neighbors, and find out whether my stay here must be punctuated with more bouts of violence than it already will be." you reply.

"...very well. You may follow. Assar, Skallis. Come." the hunter says, turning. "It could hardly be easier to kill you than in the center of the village." he finishes, somewhat ominously. Ignoring that, you follow in silence.

After a few hours walk through the jungles ground-floor foliage, you are beginning to consider leaving, and following by air. They could be testing you, or trying to exhaust you. Almost immediately, though, the ground changes. Wetter... deeper... You suddenly realize you're in an estuary, or delta, something of the sort. Freshwater, by the smell, and not very deep. Trees and some plants still grow from it, but your feet and lower legs are thoroughly soaked.

Slowly, you become aware of watchers, and structures in the branches of the trees above you. Crude houses, structures, built in the branches of the trees. Lizardmen (and women) watch you from the houses, a few producing primitive-looking bows, but content to watch, as long as you are obviously in the hunter's company.

>>12975550
The destination is not, however, in the trees. Instead, you arrive at a massive pool, forty feet wide, more than that long. Deep. Access is obstructed, though, by a large raft-like assembly of logs floating over the lake. You are led onto it, instead. As you approach, you see a glass 'window' in the bottom of the platform. What you see inside grants mixed feelings: A giant, bleached dragon skull, a black dragon, at a guess, at the very least that would match the environment.

"Why does Zaxis bring you here?" an older lizardman asks. He does not address the huntsman, presumably the Zaxis he mentioned, but you. Zaxis stands off to the side, along with his two apprentices.

"I proved interesting, and I asked politely." you reply in draconic. Ideally, that should give the hint.

"I see... and what did you wish to speak to me for? Questions?" the old shaman asks. At least, you're pretty sure he's a shaman, judging by his accoutrement. No clothes, like the rest of the lizardmen, but shells, sashes, and the like serve them, albeit covering far less.

"Questions indeed, ...shaman?" you say, ending in a polite question of status. He nods. "I have recently arrived. I am interested in appraising my neighbors."

"Questions and appraisal. Speak. What must you ask?"

"Do you have a little dragon in you?"
Followed up with:
"Do you want some?" *bedroom eyes*

>>12975583

...

No.

>>12975557
I notice that there is the skull of an ancient and powerful "beast" here. My first question would be about it. Do you have anything to do with it? Or perhaps its children?

Second, tell me of your tribe. How long have you been here, your history, and if you are open to friendly relations.

Lastly, tell me of the others on the island. The port town and the dwarves in the mountains. The wizard in the tower. Do you have dealings with them? I notice you have not wiped out the port, why?

>>12975557
"I had other question originally, but at the moment they've all become secondary to asking about that dragon skull you seem to have."

rolled =

>>12975557
It would be good to know what their motivations are: what do we not want to do to tick them off, where their sacred "don't go here" shit is, what they have against the other denizens, etc.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY I think the big thing will be to keep him talking and to figure out a way to get them as minions.

>>12975583
Come on, he's the wrong gender. We've been decidedly heterosexual so far, and I'm not sure we've gotten old and decadent enough to start experimenting seriously. Plus HE'S old.

I'll grant that they're reptilian, though, that's a point in their favor.

Ask what's up, thier opinion on other inhabitants of their island, and what their goals would be. And, of course, about their skull.

>>12975583
You... want to sleep with the ancient lizardman shaman? Isn't he a guy? Also, isn't that kind of inappropriate?

>>12975557
How many lizardmen can we see? At a guess, we've seen maybe a quarter of the population, maybe less, so we can get a decent estimate of their numbers.

In any case, they seem too formidable to immediately overawe directly. We might consider declaring our intent to take over at least the humans' operations on the island, and see how they react.

rolled =

>>12975672
I know, I know. Sorry,sorry,sorry.
It just came to me. Been following the quest for the whole time and then it just *BAM* hit me with the "what must you ask" bit.
Couldn't resist.

Guess we'll just save that little gem for later.

>>12975736
We could always look for a lizardgirl with a nice tail and coloring. Iridescent maybe.

Nahhh. We still have to nail Scinnari on top of our hoard when it gets here.

>>12975733
What? No it's not. We could burn them all out in a few hours and they couldn't even scratch us.

>>12975771
>We could burn them all out in a few hours and they couldn't even scratch us.
Well, sure, but the criteria for
>immediately overawe directly
involve being able to go "I'm a dragon and you're all my bitches!" and have everyone hit the floor in poses of supplication. That's a bit difficult when they've got a bunch of bows trained on us, a really fast hunter dude right next to us, and a shaman sitting on top of a dragon skull talking to us. It's more likely they would shoot than serve as their first reaction.

Thus, talking now, moving smoothly into "you should be my bitches" after we get a better handle on how things stand.

>>12975802
Did you miss the "They couldn't even scratch us." part? Like, they LITERALLY could not scratch us. The weapons would bounce off our armor. We could just sit there and the only even slightly dangerous one would be the magic user. Even then, we could likely eat his entire spellbook and still not be more than minorly annoyed.

You seem to vastly overestimate the threat these guys pose.

>>12975829
That's quite possible.

Dragon skulls on display make me paranoid.

>>12975829
The dragon skull, though
Maybe we should be careful right?

>>12975858
That's why we ask about it first. They most likely just worship it, though.

>>12975869
Or it might be something the Shaman claims gives him power. He might want to be more powerful.

Tell him outright that 'We can be a generous lord, or a terrible one. Bother us, or defy us, and we'll eat you."

Then revert.

"Immediately, I'm drawn to the skull down there. Who or what does it belong to?" you ask, "An ancestor? An overlord?"

"...both." the shaman says at length. "The great Black Sekanthzeskia ruled this island for many years. In her time, man, dwarf, elf, and dragon kept far away. Her time, though, has passed. I am one of her last descendants."

"I... see." you say, surprised that he would be so open. "Then, a less immediate one; what are your opinions on the other inhabitants of the island?"

"The dwarves... cut down trees, and scare away game. They are greedy builders. However, beyond their road and the entrance to their tunnels, there is little of interest to both of us. We suffer their presence, they occasionally provide us with their treasures or with food."

"They provide you with treasures?" you ask, somewhat skeptically. "Not voluntarily, I suspect."

The shaman gives you a thin smile"We did not invite them to this island, either."

"I see. Reasonable. The town?"

[curse you, field length limitation! My eternal foe!]

>>12975953

"Impotent. Worthless. Their use of the bay is annoying but inevitable; as long as they stay small, they are no threat, and we can tolerate them." the shaman says impassively.

"Indeed. That was my estimate. The alchemist?"

"He... was a... partner of Sekanthzeskia." the shaman replies.

"'Partner'? A black and.. him?" you say with some surprise.

"I was not present. That is what I am given to understand. That and he is... something more than he seems. We leave him alone out of respect for Sekanthzeskia's will." the shaman replies.

"I... see." you say, "Was your time under.... Sekanthzeskia beneficial?" you ask cautiously.

"In some ways. We did not suffer intruders to our island then. We were protected by her presence. We feared arbitrary death at her claws. She was a... fickle god." he says. "Beyond the reclamation of our island, I do not see much benefit in her return.... or that of one like her." he adds. Your eyes flash to his face, searching, but he remains impassive. Whether those last words were directed at you, you do not know.

>>12975963
"How did she die?"

>>12975963
Shit. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
Looks like we got our priorities mixed up on who to visit first.

>>12976016
Step 1: EAT EVERYONE AND MOVE THE FUCKING KOBOLDS IN.

>>12976021
I think we can deal with the lizardfolk. And the human town isn't very big, they could be useful. The dwarves... they could be more problematic.

Our biggest problem right now is the alchemist. He could be a major threat.

>>12975963
There are other gods. Greater ones. Ones who would not sacrifice you on a whim, but make you and your tribe truly great.

Gods such as I. (revert here)

However, let it be known... you would do this of your own choice. To serve me is to be protected, to grow great and powerful, and be mighty servants under my banners. You would not fear a fickle death, only an earned one from betrayal or incompetence.

I will return tomorrow for your answer.

Then we revert and pay another visit to the wizard.

rolled =

Time to be frank. We need to talk to Big Chief in Private. Roll for it if necessary, but if he really is a Wise Old Mystic, he should be able to tell that we don't mean him any immediate harm.

We outline as follows: War on the mainland is going to make this place a bit more tactically important and seeing as we intend to expand the settlement, we - up front - don't want to be stepping on any reptilian toes. How can we make this work?

Throughout the discussion we try to find a way to make their interests align with ours. Just up and trying to hire them prolly would just insult them. We need to use Draconian Guile to somehow get this to work.

>>12976090
I think we really should figure out what the deal is with the alchemist before we start throwing around our dragon form and claims of godhood.

>>12975963
>beyond the reclamation of the Island...
And there you have it. We need to pick a faction and the other will be, at best, neutral. The real question is: Do we want to make this island a source of wealth/political power (align with settlement+Dwarves) or a secure horde with dedicated guardians (align with the Lizardfolk)?

Unless we pull some Smoothtalking Red Dragon Shit.

>>12976103
Why? We are warded against scrying.

>>12976140
word gets around by mouth

>>12976134
We can do both. Lizardmen could become an important part of our empire. There's nothing saying we can't have a civilized integrated lizardman/human/elven/kobold melting pot.

Screw dwarves, fuckers always stealing our Arkenstones and shit.

>>12976152
Well as we are going back RIGHT NOW to the wizard after we leave here, I imagine it's a moot point. He will either live or die based on what we learn there, it's not a battle we can put off.

>>12976164
How though? They specifically said that the only thing that a god-emperor dragon could offer would be kicking everybody's shit off the island.

>>12976174
For clarification, he likely does not have a huge number of prepared combat spells at the moment. But if we give him a day to prep and he isn't friendly then guess what his entire arsenal will be?

"There's a war starting up, and I figured that it would be best to move out of the way. However, this island is likely to end up being a target/stopping point for the waring nations. To attempt to discourage that, I was planning on expanding the settlement a bit, to make it impressive enough to make some gold off the fleets and prevent them from deeming this place worth the effort to attack. The other option is for me to sit out, and have them move their entire fleet in and turn this island into a military outpost, probably diverting resources to remove you."

Basically explain our plans in such a way that it appears that we are the lesser of two evils, and are more likely to keep them intact and help them. And that if not, they'll likely have an army and navy poring down their throat to secure on outpost.

i vote we side with the Lizardmen.
you know, we dont have to claim to be a god in order to be their lord. we could probably make an arrangement with them, something along the lines of "serve me and ill kill the evil foreigners for you."

>>12976187
The only thing they know of. We will just have to show them how great life is under our rule. What the fuck are you thinking man? We aren't some two-bit adventurer here. We can just take the lizardman town by being a dragon and wait for everyone who didn't like it to die off while we indoctrinate the youth.

>>12975963
"as nice as that sounds- I'm afraid you're little situation is going to change, sooner rather then later. Outside of this island, there is a war- men will be coming, who will establish larger cities and push inwards to exploit the natural resources of this Island.
You think dwarves are bad? Just wait until you see the people who actually CARE about trees"

>>12976174
No. We blew that chance when we first met him. He. Asked. Us. Not. To. Visit.

The reason you want to do this is because he is a (potentially dangerous) mystery. I'm sure we can learn more about him in a calm, cool, collected way.

If all else fails we have the goddamn Sage Spinnel.

Guys, guys. We don't have to convince them. We just revert and say "Alright, here's how it goes." Then they work for us for a couple years and everything gets better and they are like "Wow we really love our new god!" Especially if we are benevolent and help them out with stuff.

They are just wary because the black that used to rule here was cruel as fuck.

>>12976250
He. Lied. To. Us.

Why should we respect his wishes?

>>12976250
>If all else fails we have the goddamn Sage Spinnel.
Yeah, the item that has to be in the same general room to read thoughts. Going by your protestation that is useless too since he asked us not to visit.

>>12976258
>>12976218
Backwater Civilizations will resist changing their civilization because then it won't be THEIR CIVILIZATION. If they won't except the change internally, they'll be a constant thorn in our side barring complete extermination.

That said, we're a RED dragon. Honey'd word are kind of our thing.

Transform and roll out!

Also, I vote for seeing the wizard because
>>12976190
made a good point and he will be ready for us if we don't go back right now.

>>12976294
Unless the change brings them great benefits (it will) or is for religious reasons (it is) or is backed by an extremely powerful being (I wonder who that could be?)

We have all of that going for us. Change shouldn't be a big deal, especially if we do it right.

>>12976265
He didn't lie
Just omitted the truth

>>12976265
>he is a (potentially dangerous) mystery
Dude. The shaman has implied that there are some very specific legends about the Four Bro's that came to the island. We just research them.

>>12976327
No, he specifically lied. He said he fought off the lizardfolk. They said they leave him alone. They have less reason to lie than he does.

>>12976333
Where? The City Library? Whoops!

Oh wait, everything known about the wizard would be from the lizardfolk, and they just told us!

>>12976361
>He said he fought off the lizardfolk.
past tense
>They said they leave him alone
present tense

>>12976164
In the interest of historical accuracy, wasn't it a hobbit that stole that?

I'd say, try and ingratiate ourselves with the lizards. They look like a source of decent level druids and rangers, at the very least. Perhaps we can create a great Lizardmen civilization a la Warhammer Fantasy. (Admittedly, I have only a dim idea of that fluff, but I've always liked the look of their lizardmen.)

Perhaps we can polymorph, knock one of them up, then let our son/daughter inherit rulership of the tribe (seems to descend through draconic bloodline)


DON'T let on that we know anything about the Alchemist. Just watch. Watch and learn.

>>12976388
>We leave him alone out of respect for Sekanthzeskia's will.
Distinctly implying past tense. Are you an aspie or something? Does he have to state everything in formal Draconic terminology, of the dialect spoken by the Great Old princes in the 23rd year of the creation of the world?

>>12976413
yes

>>12976421
Well be quiet, the shaman didn't even mention the attacks and the wizard was a close associate of his god. It's a safe bet it is the wizard who is lying.

>>12976333
>Four Bros who came to the island
I think I missed this. What?

>>12976439
He's high on something. There was no such thing. Only beings of notable power were the black and the wizard. Just ignore him, he's making pretty stupid points anyway.

>>12976453
>In her time, a man, dwarf, elf, and dragon kept far away.
Suck it.

>>12976554
facepalm.jpg

You are so retarded. Those are races. Four RACES. Not people.

She kept all men, elves, dwarves, and other dragons away. It ties into the whole "She kept the island safe and ours."

>>12976554
he meant races, not individual people, you just made a stupid, go sit in the corner with the dunce hat.

>>12976554
read again
>>12975953
>In her time, man, dwarf, elf, and dragon kept far away

You added the "a" before man. As it is written, it refers to the races of men, dwarves, elves, and dragons.

Alright, we need to actually figure out what we're doing. In the short term I think we need to thank the shaman for his time, say that we think we might talk again later at some point, and politely excuse ourselves.

Then we need to go talk to Scinnari about the alchemist get her on investigating what the fuck is up with him. Then maybe go see the dwarves and figure out if we want to keep them around.

This really does seem like a choice moment. Side with the settlement, or the lizardmen. Power base, or safe retreat?

We've already got a foot in the door with the settlement, and the lizardmen seem hostile towards dragons. Even if it's a misconception based on one dragon, it's still something working against us.

I suggest we work with the village. When the war gets here, we can manipulate soldiers into clearing the lizardmen out for us. All chessmaster-like.

Wizard is definitely dangerous. I suggest putting the sage-spinel someplace close to him, so it can read his thoughts and report to us. Failing that, definitely need to kill him.

rolled =

Last post
>11/30/10(Tue)00:59 No.12975963

"May I speak to you privately?" you ask, enunciating as clearly as an elven throat will allow you. The shaman stares at you for a few seconds, then gestures the hunter and his apprentice away.

"Go, Zaxis. I will speak to him. Inform your sister I will want her later. "

"As you wish." Zaxis replies, bowing and leading the apprentices off. A short pause as they disappear, before the shaman sits down on one side of the glass 'window'. Following suit, you take the opposite side, and face him across the two yard gap.

"War has broken out on the mainland. The southern one." you say, short and to the point. "Inevitably, one of the navies or armies involved will decide they want this island as a forward base, a landing zone en-route to Azar, if you know where that is. I had planned to attempt to build up the town enough that it would be able to profit off the ensuing war, and would appear to costly for this island to be worth invading."

You pause, allowing him time to absorb that, as well as formulating your next words.

>>12976638
I don't think we necessarily need to fight the lizardfolk if we plan on helping out the settlement. We can work to keep the peace, especially considering that the shaman does seem to have an idea about what we are. In the long term I think we can work something out. We want to keep the village as a legitimate front for dealing with humans, but I think we can also keep the lizardfolk around too, so long as we make sure to deal reasonably with them.

The dwarves... I think we need more info on. We should at least meet with them before passing judgment.

I think we really need to investigate the alchemist though. He might be a serious threat. Hmm, maybe we can give that job to Asha? Give her something to do.

Which reminds me, we need to clue her in on our new identity if we haven't already.

>>12976689


"I am a red. Azaladon is my name. The humans and dwarves know me as Lord Varian Prestor, a sorcerer. I have no intent of random murder, but would appreciate and reward capable service."

"Incompetence and betrayal you would still reward with creative death, though." the shaman says.

"Indeed. Would not anyone?" you offer.

"Most anyone would... but I fear your definition. You may define anything not meeting your expectations, or hopes, as incompetence, and anything other than the gift of our lifeblood as disloyalty. I cannot oppose you, but I shall not aid you under those conditions."

"If I were to turn any I deemed in error over to you for judgement or punishment, and you were to turn any you found wanting over to me... would that be a satisfactory compromise?" you offer neutrally. You aren't sure whether you would actually abide by such a ruling, but you are testing the bounds of his cooperation.

"I cannot say. Deals with dragons have a tendency to bend, melt, shift, and change. But only rarely break. And never stay the same."

He says it without fear, but there is tension in this conversation. And, you suppose, his fear may be grounded in truth.

>>12976638
Alternatively just leave it with the lizards. It's designed to sow discord right? Convince the gem to act like it's from the wizard. Damn thing is sentient, shouldn't take much. It enjoys a little chaos.

>>12976717
It's designed to sow discord amongst the bound. They're not bound. Besides, I think it's a it too valuable to just leave with a group of people we literally just met.

>>12976700
"Perhaps... if only betrayal would warrant creative death. I'm sure your society has its own mechanisms for punishing gross ineptitude."

Making DEALS? Oh come on.

Tell him that we will not be cruel or merciless, but that they will serve us. Betrayal will be punished harshly, incompetence likely not by death so likely as demotion. We do not ask for blood sacrifices and do not make unreasonable demands. Indeed, is not our presence here speaking like this enough to demonstrate that?

If they do not wish to be in my service, that will be their choice. However we will rule this island, and eventually the ones who do serve us will occupy it. All of it. Tell us more about this wizard.

He's afraid we'll go back on our word whenever it suits us.

I dunno how to reassure him, or that we won't do it.

Ideas?

rolled 41 = 41

>>12976700
Whelp, he definitely has a point. Given that we can say "fuck you im a dragon" at any point, we really need some way of motivating him to cooperate willingly.

Like an amazing Diplomacy Roll!

>>12976700
"Well, as hard as this may be for you to swallow, I'm not like other dragons.
I don't create unnecessary turmoil. I don't need you to worship me as a god.
Just listen to what I have to say, and consider the consequences of what may happen if you don't."

>>12976792
>I don't need you to worship me as a god.
Let's... not do this. We are a god to them. Let's keep it that way.

Also I agree that we shouldn't be bartering for control but maybe instead we should just say we are not a harsh master and they will see that in time. If he thinks we are being excessive he can refuse us his help like he said he would but we would still expect service but first see how we run things before making a choice.

>>12976700
Not everything has to be difficult: just ask him what it is that you could possibly do to show that your best interests are theirs short of exiling the warm-bloods? There has to be something. We tell him that we're no strangers to taking on faith the word of One typified as untrustworthy, and that through her - in spite of what would seem an insurmountable trust gap - you've both achieved more than you could have alone.

Offer him that same deal. That in spite of it all, if he can spare the trust, it WILL be worth his effort.

>>12976775
>>12976788
We can't reassure him, because it's completely true. We keep our word when we can, but we're not going to limit ourselves like that for a mere lizardfolk tribe.

Just tell him that we note his objections and that we are a fair master, he will see that with time. We could have just busted in without asking his opinion, but we want them to truly be ours and we don't carelessly destroy the things that are ours.

>>12976700

Tell him that our long term goal is not on this island, and that after a time we will only want this tribe of lizardmen to be living on this island to protect our lair.

Right now we have the power to control and contain the humans that will be coming to the island. And we also have the power to remove their presence from the island later.

The deal is this, aiding us and watching over our lair, we will in turn make sure that later the island is free from any human presence or influence.

In the mean time there will be humans coming to this island, regardless of anything we or the lizardman tribe can do. But only we have the power to shield the tribe from the humans and eventually remove them from the island.

>>12976855
I hate this type of thinking so much.

We aren't a damn adventurer. We do not have to go find the McGuffin. And I am damn well sick of doing it. Oh sure, it has gotten us some neat ones like the crystal, but fuck this shit when are we going to be a dragon? Anytime soon?

rolled =

>>12976887
>>12976855
Lets do these!

>>12976898
As soon as Scinnari gets back with our phat loot.
D'oh! Speaking of which, can she polymorph into a dragon?

>>12976887
DragonQuest Diplomacy: Be in a position of total power as a red dragon yet concede it to be nice.

>>12976887
How are we going to make this into our capital and a trading center if we promise them that though

I think that it's worth pointing out that we will not be randomly executing people for perceived minor mishaps.

>>12976924
No. That's level 9 magic, dude.

>>12976931
I lol'ed because it's true. I wonder if the Lone Moralfag is the one posting these.

>>12976931
Being a red dragon is not a position of total power. The alchemist is a potential threat, and if enough people band together to fight us we can get taken down. We've proven that dragons are not invincible, Az was actually more powerful than us in many ways. We shouldn't give up the one advantage we have over him.

We're not a dick, or at the very least we shouldn't act like one around others.

>>12976700
Note that we have yet to execute a follower for any reason. Which, as far as I can remember, is actually true. Not that he has proof of it.

But regardless, look, shaman. If we were planning to be a demanding god, we would not have approached in a cloaked, delicate manner. We're in this to expand our hoard and gather political power which we can use to do same, not abuse the livelihoods of the lizardfolk tribes. All we want is to know that they're not going to bother us, and that should we have need of occasional help we can count on assistance. With any luck, we'll never need to do anything more than drop in occasionally and chat.

>>12976938
We won't because we will have freeport. There is no way in any of the nine hells that we will let some crusty ass old council exile us to some backwater pirate podunk of a town. This will make a suitable place for a lair, might even serve in a pinch as a naval base in regards to the war, but this place is a nowhere nothing town. Which is exactly why its a good location for a lair.

We will have Freeport, and it will be soon, that is our all consuming goal right now.

>>12976965
>Either way, unless the wizard turns out to be not only exceptionally powerful but extremely proactive, even all the inhabitants united against you could pose little threat.
From the OP. Hell, he even states it out loud. The only POSSIBLE danger is the wizard. That's a position of TOTAL POWER over them.

>>12976968
Freeport is too out of the way to make our capital, man. This island is right in the center of everything.

>>12976953
You people are all silly

>>12976953
>>12976931

Being nice has gotten us a lot. Being an arrogant ass got Az killed.

Blame the moralfag boogieman all you like, but that won't change the fact that presenting a reasonable front at this point is a very good idea.

>>12977025
Surely you don't think we have ever once been nice to anyone but Scinnari and our kobolds? Everything we have done has been duplicitous and for the detriment of everyone around us except the aforementioned two parties.

"You doubt. Understandable. However, I would like to think that I am not as cruel as Blacks are reputed to be. As Sekanthzekia was, to leave you so terrified. Kobolds and lizardmen have always been the natural allies of dragons... I will tell you this. I will be a merciful god. A bountiful one. Disloyalty shall be punished, as it would anywhere else. Incompetence shall be punished. Is it not already? Few of you look old. The jungle is a harsh mistress, is it not? Yet those of you who survive are better for it, stronger and more cunning than humans or dwarves." you say, and pause. He doesn't respond.

"I will expect your service, if not your assistance. I spoke truth in my wishes to rule this island, and I spoke truth in my intent to keep humans or elves from annexing it. I will do my best to prevent such an eventuality. If you will work with me, I shall also try and choose the future... brightest for your folk.

"That service, though, must begin now. I need to know about this alchemist on to the west. What can you tell me?"

"He came and studied with my master several decades back. Not a druid, but the study of druids; the elements and processes of life. Samples and notes he took, and he was exceedingly polite. As for any relations with Sekanthzeskia I do not know. It is implied, hinted at. From what I understand, he was an adventurer who came to defeat her. He and his allies failed, I should think. Beyond that, I have little to go on." the shaman, or druid, possibly, replies. "Several... A few centuries back. Maybe... two? Two and a half. I am not sure. Dates are not well preserved, orally."

>>12977047
Yeah and?
Not being an asshole has worked out for us and our longterm plans better then being an asshole

>>12976991
Freeport is just what we need to start up an empire out of reach of any other nation that could say lol nope and take us out.

Also we need to get bloody revenge against the council. That was a total bitch move getting rid of us because we were so damn popular for saving the entire city. If we get rid of the council, it would be hard to not get control of Freeport unless we do something overt like nuke the council in dragon form.

>>12976968
Not really.

The 'all consuming goal' is not getting killed and riding out the war.

Speaking of which, dwarven miners must be pretty tough little pricks. Being pirates they would prefer local commanders to foreign wankers screwing up their shit with their armies.

Why not give cygnis a call? It's been several weeks right? See how she's going, tell her about this nice little island we've landed on. Conveniently let slip there's a wizard here who may or may not have been party to a dragon-worshipping cult.

Then before you blow her a kiss and wave goodbye, mention the place has a port and no established trade office.

>>12977070
Man, you are thinking way too short term. Sure we should take over Freeport. But it simply doesn't have a good enough location to be the center of our empire. 500 years from now it will be centrally located island we have here that will be the major metropolis, not Freeport.

Just think long term. Empires come and go, we live 3k to 5k years.

>>12977025
Indeed. Heed this anon's warnings.

Also, that wizard/alchemist was the deceased black dragon's 'partner'. Not sure what that is but he may not take a liking to finding out that a new dragon has entered what (presumably) was a territory he had power in.

Would be funny if that elf wizard used to be something similar to scinnari though.

>>12977078
>See how she's going, tell her about this nice little island we've landed on. Conveniently let slip there's a wizard here who may or may not have been party to a dragon-worshipping cult.

Then before you blow her a kiss and wave goodbye, mention the place has a port and no established trade office.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. No. We start our own trade company, we get all the profits. Cygnis stays at an arm's length and only hears of our adoration through the mirror and we stay "on the move" to her knowledge"

>>12977094
I don't doubt it. We should pay him another visit and discuss these things. If he's an old elf he knows a lot, it would be good to get him on our side. It would also be good to let him know lying to us is dangerous.

>>12977061
So we've got a wizard who's over 250 years old, and worked closely with a black dragon.

This dude is seriously bad news. Stay out of his way until we're certain we can take him.

don't think we can do more than make contact. sounds like the shaman's hesitant with good reason and needs far more trust before he is willing to do anything for us.

If we try to take over it could potentially blow our cover completely. Also we would be spending most of our time placating the natives. good short term gain but bad long term gain.
however i do think we should acknowledge that we know some dragons who behave just like that of course point out that many dragons don't just walk into camp.

to be frank i don't think these lizard men won't blindly follow us but it is a good idea to establish good relations. While they may not be servants they may prove useful in the future.

>>12977103
SURE
Do you happen to have a fleet of tradeships lying around along with the necessary paperwork to run them?

>>12977089
Why are you under the assumption that Freeport is the only piece of land we will ever own? Just because that should be our first conquest and best chance of setting up a nation does not mean we will stop there. Nor does that mean that will have to be our center of power.

But if we try to set up anything elsewhere as our first nation or city state, we will to deal with close by nations competing for power, where as in Freeport it will be a lot harder for any other nation to exert their influence on us.

>>12977115
Uh, it was already stated he was both an elf and old. Yeah, they tend to reach the 250+ mark pretty often. I wouldn't doubt he was over 750.

That said, even 1000 year old elven mages are rarely epic level.

>>12977149
Except they already exert their influence on Freeport, as it's a mere city-state among nations. They are going into a war where they will likely take a huge hit to trade and financially right after emptying their coffers to us. Why? Because the big boys told them to.

>>12977047
> Surely you don't think we have ever once been nice to anyone but Scinnari and our kobolds?

We were generally rather nice to Cygnis, and that got us a decent amount of money out of the whole deal. Plus, it meant she wasn't operating against us, and we didn't attract the attention of any do gooders like that paladin we met.

And the kobolds are a good example of this. Being nice to your minions can make them more devoted than being an arrogant dick to them.

> Everything we have done has been duplicitous and for the detriment of everyone around us except the aforementioned two parties.

Behind the scenes, yes. But we're talking about presenting the appearance of being reasonable. Whether we actually are is another issue entirely. I'm saying that it behooves us to act the part of the gentleman when dealing with others. If people like us, or at least don't dislike us, it makes our life a whole lot easier.

>>12977061
thank the shaman for the info, tell them we'll keep in touch. get in touch with Cygnis just to keep her interested and ensured that we still think about her? should go a long way in manipulating her i think. girls are like that, being consistent trumps being rarely in contact but grandiose.

if people would agree though, perhaps we can just treat such incidences as something similar to how we spend nights with scinnari? mentioned, but not elaborated on... like say, "you have a chat with cygnis which lasts an hour" fade to next scene.

>>12977103

Why should we start our own? Starting a company is challenging enough as it is, nevermind in a place this small. Open a branch of Cygnis' trade company here, though, talk to the dwarves to get a cut of their gems or ore or whatever it is that is valuable on the island and sell wares to them; lets turn this place into a boom town.

In the future, we can take over the company for ourselves, of course.

>>12977175
May as well fade to black with every discussion then. No fun in that.

>>12977103
>>12977115
Right...

versus getting cygnis involved and using her contact networks to jump-start our plans?

She doesn't have to own this place, she just needs to give us a push. We intend to annex 'her domain' later anyway. More simply put, people will care about the man who brought them the wealth, not the distributor.

Do you care about the factory, or the retailer? Come now anonymous, it's psychological.

>>12977186
Because it will get back to Cygnis what we are doing here, dummy. And it's her company too, she will take half the profits.

We can get OTHER trade companies to open here, and when we create our own and the port is large enough we can impose tariffs on the other ones to jumpstart it. We can't leech off Cygnis forever you guys. Stop. We need our own independent power base.

I like the idea of getting Cygnis in on this. It's a good way of letting her think that we care about her and her interests, and thus keeping control over her. Plus, this town is pretty pathetic as it is. Some commerce to get things moving could help.

However, first I think we really need to talk to the dwarves. Find out if they can be persuaded into working for us, or if we need to replace them.

>>12977168
true. we more "primarily greedy" than evil. if getting everything means we have to act good to get it, we do so. that's what makes us different from other red dragons, those that are lolevil/stupidevil.

i suspect this is what the gem meant when it said that the binder saw great potential in us... the ability to think outside the proverbial box compared to red dragons.

i disagree with making a trade company here. there may be potential in it being an economic hub in the future, but that's only after the war has run its course. doing so now would be far too risky.

Guys, Freeport is gearing for war. Even if she wanted to, she's not going to be opening a merchant office here due to that. Not to mention we are OVER A CONTINENT AWAY and her "trading company" deals in beer and has a grand total of like two ships.

How about we stop trying to suck the last of the proverbial milk from our sugar momma's tit?

>>12977228
> Because it will get back to Cygnis what we are doing here, dummy.

Is that necessarily a bad thing if we keep it confined? If we make it look like we're still looking out for her, this could be a good thing. After all, we're practically the only person left in the world who she thinks is on her side. Thuron, Arman, Az, all gone. We're the only one she has left.

>>12977265
> deals in beer
> dwarves run mines

...

The thing about lizard folk is that the one thing they value is survival. Not above all else. That's all they value. They might obey us out of fear of killing them, but we can earn their enduring loyalty if we can convince them that we will take an active interest in protecting them from outside forces.

Perhaps then if we entered into a pact that the only lizardfolk answerable to us was the shaman, and that all requests were filterable through it, that might make things a bit more palatable.

Perhaps, also, an oath to protect their nesting grounds as if they were our own would go a very long way in winning them over.

>>12977175
Why would we need to FTB chatting with Cygnis?

Please tell me we're not going to have magic-mirror sex.

>>12977267

Very true. We should capitalise on that - but not get greedy about it. Appear humble and what have you - I suspect that Cygnis would react favourably to such.

>>12977230
>>12977228
>>12977186
Any company we intend to start should revolve around the mining first and foremost.

Think about it, if you can:

Dwarves. Excellent miners and specialists in fortifications.

You have a castle in the hills. The valleys are rivers of diamonds. It's worth defending.

You have dragon-blooded lizardmen in the tribe below who haven't yet outruled working for you. Could prove to be excellent marines for fighting off (other) pirates.

Cygnis provides reliably exports of your goods, can ship across some of your kobolds, also dissenters from freeport who disagree with your banishment.

Seriously bros you lot need to use your brains more.

>>12977302
Actually that was implied in previous threads

>>12977267
YES it IS a bad thing. Because we are not Cibach Azal here, we are Varian Prestor. And there is going to be a rather evil red dragon living here. Why should she make the huge investment to cross an entire landmass to the other side of the world for a trading depot that would bring no profits for ages and benefits a Red, while the city she is based in and the entire continent she would have to cross is at war? Because we ask?

"Why would you want me to do that, Cibach?"

Hurry, what do we tell her that convinces her this is a good idea?

>>12977302
Just tell her we made it to our destination alright, that we're getting settled in, and that we might have some potential business opportunities soon, but we're investigating it and will get back to her on it.

Plus, we still haven't tried out that mirror she gave us. That might be another reason we can give.

Guys. Stop suggesting involving Cygnis. She is on the back burner for at least a few months, pending the completion of a long con. We had good times in Freeport, made a lot of money, but it was also a pain in the ass having to constantly make sure that we were working well with her. Here we are doing things on our own, our way.

She was very important to our Freeport plans, but she is NOT something that we want around right now. Neither she nor her interests, particularly since we just spilled the news about ourself being a red to lizardmen of dubious loyalty and are planning to start consolidating control of this island by whatever means are available, including openly not-so-nice ones.

>>12977311
That would be horribly awkward.

We've only just gotten her to kiss us. That is the sort of thing reserved for committed couples.

And I think a being as high and mighty as a dragon would take offense to pretend sex over a visual medium. Certainly we can control our own desires better than that.

>>12977326
This island is going to be a staging ground for the war. That means sailors, soldiers, etc. passing through. That means increased demand for goods. There's no serious mercantile presence here just yet, and getting a head start might prove profitable in the long run.

>>12977338
This this this this THIS.

Let Cygnis GO. We have a mirror for her. Us time is now.

>>12977350
No, it means a blockade and annexation of all assets under military law. Merchants get FUCKED in war if they are anywhere close to it.

MORE POINTLESS DEBATE THAN DOPPLEGANGER DAMACY

CAN'T YOU JUST SWALLOW YOUR FAT TONGUE AND SIT STILL

We've just arrived on this small island, the Towering Woods. There's a lizardman tribe nearby, but they haven't sent anything our way. No elves, so we don't need to worry about getting attacked for chopping down too many trees.

Human population though. We've decided to take advantage of their presence and build our homes amongst them. So far, so good.

Wait, there's something....

For fucks sake, we're not even two seasons in and a megabeast has already shown up? This fortress is doomed.

Posting a pair of maps. Horrible, horrible things. Naturally all flaws are due to me having to turn my non-existent skills to MS paint, and all good traits are due to my incredible artistic talent.

>>12977376
Alright, we should go talk to the dwarves.

Debate can go in the background, in the meantime how bout we get moving?

>>12977376
Let's close off about half of those vents. Melt the stone and cause it to flow/cave in. Three exits are all we could ever need, any more is dangerous.

>>12977309
>Cygnis
>can ship across some of your kobolds
I think you are the one who didn't consider this all the way through, broseph.

>>12977369
Its that one moralfag samefagging all over the place. He wont shut the fuck up about his perfect waifu Cygnis.

I told you all we should have killed her. This is why.

where does cygnis think we are right now anyway? if she knows nothing yet, i don't think telling her we're going to this particular island would be "bad" if we say we're just making a quick stop and then moving on. besides, she'd inevitably get news of us coming here anyway.
the ship we're supposedly on is based in freeport so a quick question to our current ship's captain when it makes port back "home" will tell her where he dropped us off... unless we eat him of course.

then... claim the ship for our own perhaps? make the stranded/drunken pirates here into our own minions to crew said ship? actually turning our Cibach personality into a captain as opposed to only having the title?

that would all have to wait though since we're currently using a new persona (Varian) and are busy with this island. what do we want from this island anyway? the way things are going, i think the safest thing to do here is to make it a temporary rest stop to study our mischievous trouble causing artifact and find out about the binder. maybe that elf wizard knows something... he was with a dragon after all and if the binder is related to anything, it's dragons. i know it's unlikely this particular black is related but not impossible.

>>12977376
Very bare-bones and impatient things. Also, our Mza is the larger of the two islands off the peninsula. And these aren't very detailed maps. Only major 'cities' illustrated, and minimal accuracy to geographic figures.


Finally, reserve the right to change, edit, retcon, or whateverthefuck if I think I can do better, it would make for a better quest, it would be more fun, or if I catch some sort of glaring air that I feel I should be correcting. Or anything else. That said, I'll generally try not to screw you guys over if I enact such a change/retcon.

Starting my next post shortly.

>>12977405
They can stow away. The point is that once there's some consistent shipping between Freeport and Mza we can start moving stuff back and forth, including our kobolds.

>>12977417
Jesus, look at this island. It's perfect for the center of our empire and as a trade nexus.

This place is going to be hot territory once we start expanding.

>>12977365
Frozen assets and the threat of economic depression?

Don't be so retarded. Merchants might get "obligations" to tithe a percentage of their goods/income to the campaign but that helps us in the end anyway thanks to high traffic.

Plus mercenaries. Plus immigrants. Low pirate numbers. Builders, architects, smiths, boatbuilders. Everything and anything gets handled by Cygnis' proxy ie us. We only need to take 1% commission for our time.

As far as our new identity, just tell her we've adopted it to avoid any military buffs getting their nipples in a twist. We were exiled.. nothing is stopping the council from sayng "and if you find that fucking elf, kill him and bring our money back"

See where I'm going with this?
>some funtum
Only if people cooperate, captcha.

>>12977430
No. This is just a terrible idea all around. Just no.

>>12977475
>council coming after us

I'm more partial to signing on with the invading army and going after the council.

Those douchebags.

>>12977475
There's nothing more to be said. You want to keep leeching off Cygnis rather than found our own stuff over which we have complete control. I think that's stupid, especially with what we are doing here like making plans to rule openly with time. There is nothing more to be said.

>>12977507
>Leech
Like we were doing the entire time on Freeport?

What's your point?

>>12977507
> You want to keep leeching off Cygnis rather than found our own stuff over which we have complete control.

She's a resource. If it serves us better than starting from scratch, I don't see why we shouldn't use her. We do have quite a bit of control over her, or is that what you're taking issue with? Honestly, manipulating other people into doing stuff for us is not all that shameful, hell it's a solid plan if we want to avoid pesky adventurers banging down our door.

my vote goes to 'keeping in contact' with the gold dragon. that's it though, a bit of "hi, how are you, i'm doing fine (keep it vague)" to keep her trusting us and that's it.

Cygnis and her assets are in freeport. Freeport is the past. especially with our being exiled from it and the war going on. we deal with the here and now.

>>12977544
>>12977535
The thing I am taking issue with is that you won't shut the fuck UP. I've tried to drop this twice already. You aren't convincing anyone on the other side, just cluttering the thread. We need to branch out on our own and have complete control over all our endeavors. We need to have no association between our new identity and our old one. People aren't stupid, it's Cibach's company opening up an office in some place it has no business opening one up. Why? HMMMM.

>>12977507

And you seem to think that manipulation isn't a legitimate means of building a power base. Which is ridiculous. We're not some stupid evil red who thinks that we have to pry everything we own from someone's cold, dead hands. Our entire character for the last 20 threads has been a sweet talker through and through.

>>12977565
and the threat that the binder (something we know very little of) can un-make us. not likely to right now, but i would rather we know about the being holding a knife over our necks

>>12977583
And maybe, just maybe, we need to stop being a con artist going after rich old widows and start being a dragon. What say you?

>>12977574
hahaha is your baby going to be a boy? Your hormones seem to be way out of whack there Jim.

And a quick count puts it 7-3 in favour of talking to Cygnis, regardless of opening a trade office.

Guys, I think that WD had us exiled from freeport so that we would get over Cygnis and get back to doing shit. We were playing waifu quest, not dragon quest.

We're away from Freeport. From now on, we should treat it as though that place and Cygnis are not involved with us. WD, I think we would all appreciate a firm ruling on this.

>>12977574
> The thing I am taking issue with is that you won't shut the fuck UP.
> I've tried to drop this twice already.

And yet you keep continuing to argue. Do you honestly think you can silence everyone who disagrees with you just by ordering the to stop talking? You make an argument and then you're surprised when people respond?

> You aren't convincing anyone on the other side, just cluttering the thread.

I could say the same thing of you.

As for your actual argument, so what? So what if it's the trading company that's associated with Cibach expanding? There's a war on, there's money to be made, and it's prime real estate that no one has seriously claimed yet. That's reason enough for a merchant company to be there.

>>12977619
Of course we talk to her. As Cibach. And don't mention this island. Why wouldn't we?

Spilling the beans about our new operation is what is getting the opposition.

>>12977592
>start being a dragon

You don't belong here. You're not intelligent enough to be Cibach, let alone a dragon.

You want some rip&tear hmm? Impose your will on others forcefully hmm? Like that female red which usurped a kingdom and was driven off within a decade, hmm?

Go cry in a corner

>>12977629
> Guys, I think that WD had us exiled from freeport so that we would get over Cygnis and get back to doing shit. We were playing waifu quest, not dragon quest.

Then why give us the mirror?

I think you're simply reading what you want from this whole situation, regardless of whether or not there's anything actually there.

>>12977656
>Like that female red which usurped a kingdom and was driven off within a decade, hmm?

Glad you totally don't read the thread at all, chum. She's still alive and in power, getting rich. Maybe you should be the one to re-evaluate your status as an intelligent manipulator given your status as an illiterate.

> And maybe, just maybe, we need to stop being a con artist going after rich old widows and start being a dragon. What say you?

Since when were dragons not allowed to manipulate others? There's nothing forbidding a dragon from trying to outsmart someone.

>>12977666
> She's still alive and in power, getting rich. Maybe you should be the one to re-evaluate your status as an intelligent manipulator given your status as an illiterate.

And with every indication that she's going to be out of power soon. Dragons ruling openly aren't new in those parts, but the one constant thing is that they don't last.

>>12977465
May have put it a tad too far south. (Standard 'top of map north, bottom south' orientation.)

>>12977416
Unless she has some magical (or carrier pigeons, or something,) communication with the ship ferrying our gold, then she thinks we're still on it.

>>12977369
At least I'm getting compared to something good.

>>12977265
Has more, those were what were in Freeport when we were pointedly told to GTFO quickly.


>>12977061
##############

"Alright. Thank you for your assistance. I may return shortly, or not for a while. We shall see." you reply, standing. This may change your plans. This tribe of lizardmen are more intelligent than you expected, no doubt due to having draconic blood up the family tree... even if only some of them.

"Here's hoping that we are... more cordial, next time we meet." you say ironically, giving a mock bow to the shaman.

"Indeed. Here is hoping that I am wrong." he replies, standing as well. "Until next time."

"Yes..." you say, distracted. Your mind is already deciding your next course of events. To return to the alchemist, or pursue the dwarves? Decisions... A female lizardfolk passes you as you leave, Zaxis' sister, by the look of it; similar age, similar features. A hint of dragon blood, at a guess, like Zaxis. Zaxis... finding him, you have a short exchange with him as you ask for directions; show, mostly. As soon as you find a relatively clear area, you'll take to the air, and navigation will become much easier. Still, maintaining appearances is important.
##############

It's late afternoon when you arrive at the dwarven outpost. The guards don't appear overjoyed to see you, but allow you in, probably figuring that it will be easier to pass the buck upward rather than deal with you themselves. Asking a passing dwarf, he directs you to the commander of the shift.

As you bend down to pass through the short passages towards the Shift Commander's office, you hear an argument echoing down the hall.

>>12977677
Yet living off of another dragon's slow trickle of gold coins is demeaning when we have what we do now. It's ridiculous. With this position and money we could set up an enormous trading cartel larger than Freeport's GDP before our exile is over.

>>12977629
> Guys, I think that WD had us exiled from freeport so that we would get over Cygnis and get back to doing shit. We were playing waifu quest, not dragon quest.

...

What? Since when did W-D give any indication of that?

>>12977706

"I'm telling ye, if we don't make ready, this isn't going to hurt; it's going to destroy us!"

"That's an exxageration if I ever heard one. We have nothin' they want. Petty gems. A fort that be no good for a non-dwarf. A small road. There's nothing they'll want."

"By my /beard/ you are blind. You'd miss a ravening dragon if it walked up and asked you for the time of day. Probably because you'd think it too 'inconvenient' to deal with." the other dwarf shouts back in disgust.

"Now wait just a damn minute- Dallerg, you are-

"Our /Trade/ Expert. I know about the world. It's my job."

"You overestimate our 'dank hole's value. Humans won't put up with it, and they're hardly going to stop in the middle of the war to expand a few mines for a third rate fort and some petty gems."

"Fine. I'm off to work on the expansion. I hope your twiddlin' fingers and prayer works." Dallerg replies, contempt dripping.

"Fine. Get you gone, you cheery bastard." his superior replies. "Ah. Elf. Visitor. What can I do for you? I have work to attend to... even if it sometimes consists of dealing with the more unruly workers." he adds with a grimace.

The last 30 or so posts consist entirely of flaming.

Sort it out chaps.

>>12977656
indeed.

it's like some of the people here haven't been paying attention to "we aren't lolevil".

>>12977629
>>12977640

I'm assuming we're going to simply talk to her to further cement her view of us as "the only one who cares" so perhaps we should get a consensus next on whether we talk to the elf wizard about the black dragon or go back to town to check on that wall we're having made.

>>12977666
Oh? Got some citation there?

>>12977706
Eves dropping time. Let's hear what the argument is about.

>>12977718
Ask him what time of the day it is, as it's rather disorienting down here.

I just can't resist.

After that let's give him our standard speech about why we are here and tell him who we are.

>>12977728
You are the one making the claim. Prove it. (Hint: You can't.)

>>12977718
> You'd miss a ravening dragon if it walked up and asked you for the time of day.

We should ask them at some point what time it is.

>>12977726
or have WD decide for us which works too haha.

>>12977723
we're a red dragon, flames are inevitable

>>12977713
i was under the same impression that it was a sign to move on.

Relax, people! This is supposed to be for fun. No trying to kill your fellow players, over the internet or otherwise.

>>12977666
>>12977728
Both wrong, I'm afraid. As far as we know, she's still there, and charging tolls on the trade roads. However, while that may be 'making money', for all we know she's added a single copper, or a hundred gold per head, (or wagon, whatever,), so we don't really have enough information to decide whether her risks outweigh her gains.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12570611/

> “Indeed. The city-state of Beren was attacked by a dragon, a red. She has proclaimed herself Queen, and so far, beyond excising a tax on the trade roads, has done little. I doubt it will last more than a year or two.”

> “Really? Why?” you ask. Partially just to see what her opinion is, partially out of interest in the subject.

> “It happens frequently. Well, occasionally; every hundred years or so, some dragon decides to declare itself a ruler. Usually only lasts a few years; other chromatic dragons tend to flock around like scavengers, and all to many of them are, for all their power, rather short sighted and of shorter attention spans than one might expect for such a long-lived being. Reds tend to be the worst, in that regard; she'll get bored, change things too much, and eventually get at the very least evicted by adventurers or something. Happened to Tashz, a century back.” Asha recounts. Obviously she's a little better learned than you thought, at least in regards to history.

Dragons that rule openly don't last long. We should avoid attracting that sort of attention if at all possible.

>>12977809
If she's charging anything at all it's a pretty safe bet she's doing alright for herself. The point, however, was that she was still around not how much she was making.

>>12977718
ask him for the time of day.

>>12977827
Except it's common knowledge that the older blues rule in south Tashz openly and charge tolls at the oasises. Asha said it herself. You just have to be established.

>>12977809
Beren- A area of fractured city states and mini-kingdoms. Beren was recently occupied by a female Red who named herself queen (well, I mean, it could be a he in drag, but that's kind of unlikely,). Has (below the table,) sent out calls and offers of rewards to adventurers, should they vanquish the Red. Latest rumor says she wiped the floor with some challengers, and exacted retribution on Beren and the neighboring city the adventurers originated from.

WD knows his quest. I have to agree with Alpharius on this one though. I would hate to have a bounty on my head this early on. Actually, I'd rather not have adventurers after us at all, ever.

Because between the possibility of there being anyone who thinks like /tg/ (metagaming adventureres o ye!) among them and /tg/ dice being what they are, we're screwed.

>>12977827
Reminds me of that one necromancer from HoMM IV. (Yes, III and II were both better.)

He realizes that any time a necromancer gets too powerful, everyone else allies to take him out. So he decides to be a wonderful, neighborly sort to his fellow kingdoms.


I bet, if we could get a sizable region (large enough to be able to defend itself. A city verse a kingdom is generally not a good idea.), and start acting intelligently (as opposed to, "I'm a dragon! Worship me! WOOOOOORSHIP MEEEEEE!"), we could probably play them against eachother long enough to make them notice that we weren't kidnapping their princesses or trying to take over their kingdoms.

Just a thought.


Incidentally, if we were to tap some lizard...folk ass, would the result resemble this?

>>12977718
Alright, debate aside, we should introduce ourself and express interest in potentially doing business with them. Be polite, gentlemanly, but mainly try to gauge how willing they are to work for us.

>>12977827
Actually, it's always the first few years of any business where there is danger. Most businesses fail during that time. The ones that last, however, are established and unlikely to do so without massive intervention like a wal-mart opening up nearby.

>>12977876
I'm pretty sure that's a more likely result of tapping some devil ass.

>>12977861
Which is why we should get firmly established BEFORE revealing that we're a dragon. We aren't yet, so we really shouldn't.

>>12977915
Of course not. We are setting it up for a few hundred years in the future. We also don't want to reveal our old Cibach self to be here and in charge. Or use assets from Freeport and Cygnis. Smuggled kobolds are fine, but they have to be in our ships. Not our half-and-half ships.

> We also don't want to reveal our old Cibach self to be here and in charge.

So long as we don't throw that identity around, it won't be an issue. Cygnis' trading company may be associate with Cibach over in Freeport, but out here they probably haven't even heard of Cibach, or Cygnis, or any of what's been going on in Freeport. We can establish ourselves here as Lord Prestor and still use Cygnis.

It's not like people actually know we're capable of shapeshifting.

>>12977896
or it's a dragon in the middle of polymorphing.

I second asking what time it is.

>>12977882
most businesses aren't run by dragons, whom people would rather be with out. there are also the occasional dragon hunters or alternatively adventurers who know that a dragon usually has a hoard, and that hoards equate to wealth.

>>12977953
You really don't understand what's bad about that, do you? Council assassins tracking us through the ridiculous branch that opens for no reason way out in the middle of nowhere, maybe? The subsequent blowing of our cover identity and interest from the multinational and very powerful cult? People knowing that, hey, there is some guy with 55k+ gold sitting on an island in the middle of nowhere undefended?

Just a thought.

>>12977928
> Or use assets from Freeport and Cygnis.

If you're so eager to leave all of the stuff from Freeport behind, then I assume you're willing to cut Scinnari and Asha loose as well? After all, we picked them up in Freeport.

Just because we got it in Freeport doesn't mean it's lost to us forever. Why should we isolate ourselves from potentially useful resources like that? Being opportunistic is a plus when it comes to acquiring power.

>>12977988
Ridiculous strawman argument. I never said we burn our assets, just that we don't act STUPID with them and not reveal ourselves for a completely menial boost that will have no actual effect on the trade coming in and out that our vast pile of money wouldn't.

>>12977983
> Council assassins tracking us through the ridiculous branch that opens for no reason way out in the middle of nowhere, maybe?

Why would the council have any interest in assassinating some Lord Prestor guy way over in Mza?

And we have a good reason for opening the expansion here, it's the same reason some of the dwarves are thinking of expanding. The war presents opportunities, and Mza is strategically placed to take advantage of those opportunities.

> The subsequent blowing of our cover identity and interest from the multinational and very powerful cult?

And people would know that we're actually Cibach... how exactly? You're assuming that everyone is going to suddenly realize what we are just because we're associated with the same company. Very few people know we're capable of shapeshifting.

> People knowing that, hey, there is some guy with 55k+ gold sitting on an island in the middle of nowhere undefended?

We've already spread word around that we're someone of importance and wealth looking to develop Mza.

>>12977867
>>12977827
Oh god. People quoting me on things. My worst nightmares are coming true.


[Didn't really get any instructions beyond 'ask the time', so I'm making it up.]
######################

"I'm actually on business similar to his warnings, I'm afraid." you say ruefully. "Mind if I sit do-? Thank you." you reply, settling onto the floor.

"Oh? I wasn't lying when I was talking to him, you know." the dwarf says angrily.

"I wasn't calling, not even thinking you a liar. But what he says is true, at least as far as the village is concerned. I currently have a few... obligations to assist the village, and do my best to prevent it from being occupied, something fairly inevitable, considering it's drydocks, freshwater, and craftsmen." you say, explaining your intent. "I've got a team of workers clearing away the jungle, but I'd like to hire some of you to construct a wall. Something that could stand up to a broadside, or two, and might defend against the lizardmen, should it be necessary. Gates, maybe turrets, a protection against seizure of the town." you explain.

"Noble intent, elf, but you ain't going to be holding off a landing force with a village of forty people, even with fortifications. You're throwing your money away."

"I could be, I suppose. But I do have an obligation to do what I can." you reply. Dwarves love duty and honor and all that.

"I understand.... Let's see.... We've got a mine-load of good stone, we could do that. How about... Two thousand gold?" the dwarf says speculatively, working things out in his head.

"A thousand." you reply almost automatically.

>>12978028
They won't, but they will sure investigate Cibach Azal's company suddenly opening a branch way out here for no known reason. That leads to a cascading effect for the other two.

>>12978043

"Hah. I'm already givin' you a discount, elf. I understand futile duties, probably more 'n most. Two thousand, and we can have it constructed in two weeks." he says. "You want to hammer out the details?"

"I- What's the time?" you ask, unable to resist.

"Sorry?"

"The time of day. Could you tell me? I've lost all perspective, travelling around your admittedly quite nice tunnels." you reiterate.

"Oh.. Getting on around five, I'd say. Four fifty, maybe." the dwarf replies, putting his hand to the wall. "Call it four fifty five."

"I shall trust to the dwarven reputation for fortifications and architecture." you reply, "I must leave. Thank you for your time, payment will arrive sometime tonight or tomorrow.".


Excusing yourself, you depart, leaving far enough to be alone, making yourself invisible, and then proceeding an extra distance like that, just to be safe, before you revert and take wing.

>>12978012
> I never said we burn our assets

Cygnis is an asset and you're saying that we should just forget about her and stop using her. That's burning an asset.

> just that we don't act STUPID with them and not reveal ourselves

No one is saying that we should reveal ourselves as Cibach. We're still Lord Prestor here on Mza.

> for a completely menial boost that will have no actual effect on the trade coming in and out that our vast pile of money wouldn't.

Do we actually own any ships? No, we don't. Cygnis, however, already does. She's already got a company going, she's already dealt with the start up costs. That's not insignificant, that's a substantial lead. Remember, this place won't stay undeveloped forever, we have a head start now but that might not last. The dwarves are already considering expansion, and other merchants might move in as well. We should take advantage of our head start and move to keep this place under our control before others show up.

>>12978068
Done talking, son. You just won't see reason and I'm sure as hell not going to be swayed by your idiotic arguments.

>>12978049

I want to cum in your hair for that one.

>>12978049
Wizard next.

>>12978103
...sorry?

>>12978048
> they will sure investigate Cibach Azal's company suddenly opening a branch way out here for no known reason

No known reason? With the war on there's profit to be had here on Mza. That's what a merchant company does. Freeport is a city built on greed, it's not exactly an unusual quality that will suddenly draw suspicion. Why would the council care enough to send assassins to investigate/kill us out way out here? They exiled us to keep us out of their local politics, but let the company exist even in Freeport. They don't seem particularly interested in it, just in making sure we don't try to muscle into the Sealord's old spot.

> That leads to a cascading effect for the other two.

... How exactly? How does one get from "the merchant company that Cibach was associated with has expanded to Mza to try and profit from the increased traffic" to "the Lord Prestor fellow who's running the show there is Cibach shapeshifted."

The fact that we're even capable of shapeshifting isn't well known.

>>12978107
Second. But we should try to convert him not kill him. He could be a wealth of knowledge and has already been shown to have an... affinity for dragons.

>>12978078
>You just won't see reason and I'm sure as hell not going to be swayed by your idiotic arguments.

>>12978125
In the spirit of the other dude, I will stop arguing with you too. I still think your points are wrong, but you are needlessly dragging this out for no reason. At this point, whose mind do you hope to change? Everyone who participates has already made up their mind. Autosage has hit. Braincells have died. Why did you drag out this completely unneeded argument? You have nothing to gain and are just making the thread worse for it.

Control yourself in the future.

>>12978078
> You just won't see reason and I'm sure as hell not going to be swayed by your idiotic arguments.

That's all you've got to support your position? Insults?

You still haven't demonstrated that the Freeport council would even care if Cygnis' compnay starts doing business in Mza, nevermind send assassins to kill us.

if i remember correctly, Freeport won't be neutral/remain as a merchant city in relation to the war but instead will be actively participating in it. Doesn't that mean that it will be doing less trading and more converting ship for war and defending from outside attacks?

>on the seventeenth, forces from Rhasver landed in Azar, the recently-independent vassal city of Tashz. In retaliation, Tashz, Amtarr, and Exheln have declared war and are mobilizing. As everyone- most everyone here /should/ know, we are allied with Exheln and have good relations with Amtarr... Meaning that this city is now, technically obligated to declare war as well.

>>12978146
>>12978146
> Why did you drag out this completely unneeded argument?
> Control yourself in the future.

If memory serves you were arguing too. I could say the same things to you.

anyone care to archive before the thread is lost? i would, but i don't know how

>>12978151
> Doesn't that mean that it will be doing less trading and more converting ship for war and defending from outside attacks?

The council captains will, but an independent shipping company like Cygnis' might be able to avoid that.

Remember, they had the opportunity to seize Cygnis' company's assets when we got exiled, but for whatever reason chose not to. They don't seem to care all that much about the company.

ALRIGHT.

Now we focus on whether or not hiring help from other areas is plausible. Mercenaries and tradesmen. Talk to Cygnis. Mention the port.

Acquire crystal, carry it with to chief, hold it near him, carry it away again. Grill it on the situation. Attempt a repeat with the wizard.

Have asha on standby incase wizard needs to die.

Coordinate and hire anyone who is out of place, arm them and employ them as guards around the town wall. Since they're abandoned goods, they'll be cheap and getting them off the streets will raise peoples opinion of us.

>>12978181
Let it die. That will teach that fucking moralfag samefag that we wont go along with his shit. We should have killed Cygnis, then we wouldnt even be talking about any of this. No more waifu tit for the leeches to suck on.

>>12978195
>Mention the port
Veto.

>Attempt a repeat with the wizard.
We will be carrying a powerful artifact into his house. I can't think of a more foolish thing to do to a wizard we are trying not to kill.

>>12978117
For asking the time. I want to sit you down, and jerk off, until I ejaculate into your hair. Because it was awesome.

I still think that we should ask if the crystal's name is Dave

>>12978220

>>12978195
nice use of the crystal if i say so myself. i'm a bit adverse to having asha on standby though. perhaps have scinnari on standby as well? it's a knowledgeable elf

>250 years
a very lonely knowledgeable elf wizard who makes explosives. might be useful for the fortifying part, provided the crystal tells us he isn't a threat and we shouldn't have asha off him outright

>>12978206
Leave it out of sight and get him to the front door?

I'd be skeptical that the thing can be scryed. It absorbs energy yes? You could probably throw the damn thing in his hands and ask him to look at it, as a wizard he'd likely be happy to.

>>12978202
I'm pretty annoyed with him and his inane and/or stupid arguments too, but that's just ridiculous. Archived.

Also in case you haven't learned by now, Alpharius just comes here to troll.

>>12978195
> Talk to Cygnis. Mention the port.

HAVENT YOU BEEN FUCKING LISTENING? We are NOT talking to Cygnis. We are not getting her involved. SHE. IS. GONE. Over. Done with. END OF DISCUSSION. No more waifu quest, this is fucking DRAGON quest, so lets be a fucking dragon.

Stop dragging this pointless argument out. You are ruining the quest by constantly beating that dead horse when everyone else has obviously moved on.

>>12978246
thank you for the archive. indeed, it was quite vexing how that went on.

as for alpharius, i wouldn't say that he comes soley to troll. he has his moments.

>>12978246
Moralfag samefag detected. GTFO. You are your waifu obsession aren't welcome here.

>>12978267
He really doesn't. Virtually every position he has ever taken was solely a troll position if you look back through the archives. I have not found a single original idea in the whole mess that wasn't blatant trollbait.

>>12978246
Maybe if you weren't so fucking stupid it wouldn't feel like I'm trolling.

I disagree with your baseless assumptions and you get all twisted over it. See if I care what you think, fool.

>>12978262
wouldn't say she's dead, but maybe a resource to revisit in the future.

hence i suggested
>>12977175
at the start. chatting should keep her "dependent" on us but there's no need to actually elaborate on the conversations. fade to black. till the next time we actually need you miss goldy

>>12978285

>>12978128
>>12978107
Flying west, you indulge in a few swoops and rolls as you plow through the air. There is something about owning the land.. the air, the sea, as far out as you want, that makes this place glorious. Enough even to distract you from your current agenda item. Still, what must be done must be done. Collecting your dignity, you spiral downwards, landing a halfmile from the alchemists' tower. Polymorphing, and then a walk... Arriving, you knock on the door. The noise echoes ominously in the darkening clearing. You wait over a minute, but it opens.

"You again. I thought I told you I didn't want any visits."

"And I thought you told me the truth. I suppose we're both disappointed, aren't we?"

"What? What are you talking about? What are you doing?" he demands as you step into his house.

"Acquiring answers. If you would care to tell me what has been going on here, I would dearly appreciate it."

"And I would appreciate you getting the hell out of my house!" the elf shouts back.

>>12978283
I've provided most of the ideas for the last 3 threads. Take a deep look. You'd still be clinging to Freeport like some parasite if it wasn't for my suggestion to build a mercenary empire elsewhere.

Frankly you're the one who is worthless.

>>12978267
No. Hes obviously a troll. Only a troll would suggest talking to Cygnis. No one capable of actually typing is that fucking dense.

Yet another reason we should have killed her. Shes trollbait. Fuck it, we should go kill her just for that, it would make this whole quest so much better.

"Perhaps I will. What can you tell me about Sekanthzeskia." you say calmly, taking a seat in his chair. You worry that you may be pushing him dangerously, but are somewhat annoyed. Too much to care significantly.

"I- What? NO!" he shouts. That was a nerve. "Who ARE you? Who do you think you are to- to-..."

"Expect answers to my questions? How presumptions of me." you say mockingly. "Tell me about Sekanthzeskia. And now, please."

"I- No. Get out of my house before I make you- You make me mad." the alchemist warns.

"I already have. Sekanthzeskia?"

"She...Fine." he says, suddenly looking very old. He slumps into the opposite chair. "What do you want to know?" he asks tonelessly.

"What was the nature of your relationship?" you ask.

"She... I... We were defeated. I managed to run. She caught me, though. Should have killed myself, she caught me. Had me... had me possessed. Demon, of some kind. I... I was only freed when she was killed."

"And what do you mean by 'possessed'?" you ask, trying to divine just what he's talking about.

"What-? I mean riding crossbow in my own mind. Sitting in the back while I watch his handiwork. His handwork. My hands. Oh gods above..." The elf is now speaking in a distantly horrified tone, and rocking slightly in his chair.

"And how did she die?" you ask, changing the subject. That would.... that would fit with a Black's reputation. With Black's reputation, really, as the cruelest of cruel.

"Fought some sorcerer. He escaped, just barely. She was wounded. Next day, a blue from the south arrived, she was already wounded. Ripped her apart. Apart, damn her eyes! She's dead!" he shouts, shaking his fist upward. He stops, slumping back down in his chair again.

>>12978288
> at the start. chatting should keep her "dependent" on us but there's no need to actually elaborate on the conversations. fade to black. till the next time we actually need you miss goldy

NO. FUCK YOU. THIS IS DRAGON QUEST NOT WAIFU QUEST.

No talking to Cygnis. End of discussion. Now stop bringing it up, you are ruining this thread.

>>12978295
Temper, temper. I'm somewhat doubtful your black chromatic ladyfriend liked it when you got so irate back in the day. Most unbecoming.

Now, shall we be somewhat more truthful now?

>>12978299
> You'd still be clinging to Freeport like some parasite if it wasn't for my suggestion to build a mercenary empire elsewhere.
And personally I think that was a terrible idea, but hey, I also happen to think that if we're going to be in Mza, we might as well use Cygnis to get the place up to speed.

If we're so proud that we aren't willing to manipulate others and feel that we have to do everything personally, then we've got nothing to be proud of in the first place.

>>12978308
Well then. I have a feeling that he is not going to be an ally at all. A red dragon now taking up residence, assuming her mantle, and having a devil consort.

Oh dear.

Apologize, whisper soothing words, get close, knife to the chest.