“They'll be here in three hours, four if the wind doesn't change. It will, though; always does.” Captain Thade observes from your other side, handing you his spyglass. He and his crew, along with one other pirate vessel, has elected to make a stand here, not terribly enthused at the thought of any kingdom gaining a stronger naval presence in the straits of Azar.

“At a guess, they'll try and knock down th' wall, rain some rocks on us, to cover their landing.” he adds with a significant glance. “Here's hopin' you got a few aces up your sleeves.”

“The wise man is never without some.” you reply shortly, examining the sails through the spyglass.

“Good. The other group will probably try to land a few miles west, make it around behind us. Don't envy them, trudging through the jungle, but if they make it, we'll be all kinds of... screwed.” Thade observes.

“Somehow, I suspect they will have more trouble with that than they think they should.” you say with dry amusement. The lizardfolk seemed to be highly competent hunters; you doubt that has changed.

>ETA two and a half hours. Instructions and tactics.

Bump. I realize I'm off my usual schedule, but I won't be around sunday.

Further recap, then. We've been thinning the fleet for a few days, though after they put up a watch with the ballistaes, we stopped dropping boulders on them. That and they seemed to have a mage capable of penetrating our invisibility.


Last thoughts from the previous thread were focusing on offing the troopships first, as we really don't have numbers to fight off a dedicated landing. Underwater Attack was looking like a likely option, if we could excuse ourselves.

Only slightly disguised bump.

Been about an hour. Anyone on?

yeah just saw this. Goddamn take home final has to get finished before i participate though. is the irc going to be used?

>>13206267
Only if it gets ridiculous again. So probably, but it isn't the first recourse. Glad I'm not alone here.

Ah hah!

Okay, here's the plan: We get Scinnari to teleport to a major city and buy us a Silent Image scroll. Cheap and all we need for this. We then do some flashy magic and cast it to make an image of ourself where we look like we are casting some badass magic. At the same time we turn invisible. Done right they won't notice the switch. Scinnari then tells everyone to stand back and don't interrupt "us" because we are preparing magic to destroy the invaders.

Then we revert to our natural form (while still invisible) and fly up very high into the sky. We get in position over the centermost troop transport and polymorph into a Dragon Turtle. We know what it is like from our fight before and it's very similar to us, so it makes sense that we can do so. We then plummet down and retract into the shell, acting as a huge invisible cannonball. We will shatter one transport instantly and hopefully swamp at least one more. Afterward we pop out of our shell and use the Dragon Turtle's Capsize ability to dump out all the other troop ships. Nobody will have any idea what happened, because even if the wizard has truesight on we will look like a giant meteor hurtling down at the start and be concealed by the water afterward. Truesight does nothing to reveal mundane concealment like submerged things.

Bam. We've stopped the landing. We can then pause and evaluate the situation.

>>13206644
I would argue that water is kind of transparent, at least as long as you aren't looking too far through it.

Also:

"Alternate Form (Su)
A young or older [Bronze, silver, or gold, technically, but I thought it was silly that others couldn't do it too] dragon can assume any animal or humanoid form of Medium size or smaller as a standard action three times per day. The dragon can remain in its animal or humanoid form until it chooses to assume a new one or return to its natural form."

>>13206644
>>13206734
AKA, I think polymorphing into other monsters is asking a bit much. You. Are. A. Dragon. What more could you want? (Yes, I realize the purpose behind it, but I'm going to have to say no.)

(Doubleposting only because I'm not certain I was clear.)

>>13206734
In that case the only thing we do differently is after turning invisible and reverting we slide into the water and ambush them from below, rip and tear at some of them and use our breath weapon to destroy others.

Also, even the clearest waters on the planet are opaque at an angle due to diffraction. And the wizard won't be on the troopships looking downwards with his truesight until well after we kill him.

>>13206817
Oh, and ideally we use prestidigitation and other magical effects to make it look appropriately magical rather than mundane ripping, tearing, and steam/fire breathing.

Let's get some rolls up in here. Yeah, yeah, this is a simple task, it's a given; roll governs speed and cost.
##########################

"My dear lady, could I impose upon you to fetch me something?" you ask mildly, evaluating potential plans in your mind.

"Of course, my lord. That would be?"

Aware of Captain Thade standing next to you, you drop into draconic. He raises an eyebrow at the abrupt shift in languages, but refrains from commenting.

"I will require something... flashy, as a distraction when I excuse myself. Perhaps you could find me a suitable scroll?"

"Ah. Of course. Can you provide the, ah, effects for me?" she replies.


You don't respond yourself, but carefully cast a minor illusion, a simple spell. A simple glow of colored light, and Scinnari teleports away.

"Hope she's fast." Thade comments impassively.

Didn't we get barrels of pitch and wands of lightning and fire?

Obviously we should try opening those barrels above, dropping it on them, and then letting Scinnari teleport/fly around shooting them with the wands. Gunslinger style, except with wands. And explosions. Lots of explosions.

At least, it's a thought. I'm not very certain about the properties of pitch.

rolled 63 = 63

>>13206955

rolled 8 = 8

>>13206955

>>13207041
>>13207007
You watch the ships close, wishing Scinnari was faster. Not that she's taking very long, but it feels like the fleet is single juggernaut of an entity bearing down on your island... You'll be glad when you can shed this human form. Frail human form.

You hear the faint rush of air and creak of the docks that signals Scinnari's return, and keep yourself from looking around impatiently. Instead, you wait for her to speak, eyes watching the ships. Captain Thade jumps, spins, and draws, but realizes who it is before doing anything he would regret.

"I have returned; I believe I have what you wanted." Scinnari says, handing you a pair of scrolls.

"Indeed. This is satisfactory. You keep the extra; I will likely be too occupied to use it..." you say, calm as ever. You glance up as you feel a breeze pick up, the wind that Thade predicted. You can see the Rhasver sails billowing...

"In that case... It seems time to begin." you observe, opening the scroll before you.

[dice 1d100, and any last instructions.]

rolled 21 = 21

>>13207129
Let's see how this goes, I guess.

Tell the men around us to prefer capturing the ones that don't drown, but don't spare them if they continue to fight back. And cut off the hands of any wizards.

rolled 47 = 47

Rolling.

rolled 6 = 6

>>13207156
Eughrk. That's, um, quite a precedent to set. Like, 'being' a wizard, ordering that might get us some attention. The scrutinizing and not-friendly kind. Just saying.

rolled 21 = 21

>>13207198
Better than them teleporting out after seeing our true selves with truesight.

>>13207129
Things we can do.

It would be nice to bring Asha here; this seems like a perfect opportunity to order her to prove her loyalty by slaughtering our enemies. I mean, as long as she's around... I doubt she's backstab us and try to defect or spill our secret in this sort of situation. And she is fairly killy.

I know, it would be better to have brought this up two hours ago, but I didn't see the thread then. Ah, well.


Other instructions. We need to prioritize targeting of the troop transport ships. We can take a bombardment, since we'll be able to return fire with fireballs; we cannot take a successful landing of hundreds of troops, at least not easily. So go after them first.

>>13207216
Binding hands and gagging is probably sufficient. And less ridiculously brutal.

Please tell me we're competent enough in magic to throw a fireball or two. Going dragon on everything is going to get us into trouble soon enough.

Part of the persona of sorcerer-king was to excuse us practicing magic.

>>13207392
We have cleverly secured a wand to fireballs, that after our dragon bit is over we may throw them at the fleet by the dozens.

>>13207160
>>13207156
There are... minor problems, it turns out.

You stand on the edge of the dock, casting. Some of it is just 'for show', or to play with your illusion, once you have it casted. You do manage to palm the emerald, and turn yourself invisible as magical lights flash and arc overhead. Stage one done.

"I shall hold the town, my lord." 'Lady Prestor' says, just as you vanish. You nod. Using the last vestiges of the illusion, you use it to cover your descent into the water... and then revert.

You hear the rush of water as the harbor swells and rolls out, adjusting for your presence. A short walk to the edge of the harbor, and then you begin swimming, trying to keep near enough to the surface that you can navigate. Until you are much closer, magicians with ways to penetrate your invisibility are not an issue. Unless they are flying and invisible themselves, but after a certain point, you think it safe and probably best to rule out certain possibilities.

Simming is slow. Despite the relative closing velocities, distances are deceptively large on an open sea; after an hour, you move close enough that you decide you can no longer emerge to navigate.

Which makes things difficult; all ships look the same from below, or close enough that it doesn't matter. Not only that, but you can't see each hull; to get low enough that they would all be in sight means the the outer ships of the formation are to distant and obscured to make out. Still, if memory serves, the transports were being guarded... the interior of the formation.

>>13207493

Picking one that seems to be riding slightly lower in the water than the others, you descend below it, then rise, releasing your breath. A bubbling column of steam rises, superheated water cooking and warping the planks of the ship's hull. Screams and shouts are distantly audible from the surface; evidently it's visible. And terrifying from the sound of it; you suppose that whoever was on the sides got scalded.

Rising, you come to grips with the ship itself; oddly cleaner than what you would have expected, but you suppose understandable for a warship. Exerting your titanic strength, you being caving in the rear of the hull, then stick your head inside the newly-made hole to add to it's effect. Screams and the lick of flames are music to your ears.... And abruptly take backseat in considerations when you realize that the hull is closing around your head, sealing itself. Enough that you find yourself unpleasantly trapped, and the flow of water halted.

Profane and probably-not-possible thoughts in your mind, you reach up, clawing at the edges of the hole, ripping enough open for you to extract your head; such... self-repairing must be why your bombardment of the fleet earlier was ineffective. The other troopship, at least; you could have sworn you gave a dozen lethal hits, but it kept staying a float.

Pausing and letting yourself sink, you watch the hull more carefully. Sure enough, you can detect faint shapes moving in the wood; it's obviously been reinforced, quite possibly animated. And is obviously extremely unhappy to have it's interior blazing away merrily; you think you can even make out pulses of pain in the woodwork.

I don't know about anyone else, but that left me imagining the sailors of the fleet watching this VERY OMINOUS bulge in the sea making a beeline towards them.

I bet they be scared.

More coming, or do we need to insert dice to conitnue?

rolled 41 = 41

>>13207511
Break into every ship and let loose a massive blaze of fire. Animated or not, a blast of dragonfire into the interior of the ship is going to gut it.

rolled 16 = 16

>>13207511
Rip and tear and burn. See if we can yank them under or capsize them. Especially capsize.

>>13207566
>>13207546
The dice are weak with you.

>>13207566
>>13207546

>>13207511
Wait, the ships are alive?
Hrmm, there's got to be someway we can work this to our advantage?

>>13207602
Doubt it, the wizard that animated them likely has them bound to his will.

>>13207611
What would happen if we broke that bond or killed the wizard in question?

>>13207623
Depends. Either the ships instantly revert, they continue on with the last command the wizard gave them, or they are freed until the spell expires and they revert.

I'm guessing we no longer have any spare dispel magic scrolls from Az's hoard raid.

>>13207634
Alright, would it be feasible you think to try to break the bonds on the ships? If so, how would go about it?

rolled 82 = 82

no matter if the ships are animated, the fire will kill the invaders who are the real issue.
keep setting ships on fire, claw openings into the ships from below to breath.
For how long can we hold our breath?

Satisfied that that transport is at the very least gutted, if not hulked, you turn to where you think the next one is... Damnation. Your attack seems to have disrupted the formation somewhat, you can't tell where the other troop ship is.

Deciding to guess on the nearest and cleanest hull, you launch your self at it, pausing to spray a column of steam over your shoulder at the other transport.

This hull seems to be actively attempting to drive you off; as you cave in a section of the port side, you feel spines, spears of wood, stabbing towards you. Glancing off your scales, naturally. Ignoring them, you repeat your performance with the previous ships, spewing fire and flame into the bilge and supply deck. It occurs to you in a portion of your mind detached from the gleeful carnage that, should many of these make it to shore and surrender, you aren't sure the island can support this many new inhabitants... No matte-

You barely stifle a reflexive roar in rage, as you feel something slip under the scales on your foreclaw, striking deep. Part of the animated hull struck true, it seems. Backing off and allowing yourself to sink further, you assess the damage; not much, a splinter, a single stab, that found it's way through your scales. Still, you can feel your blood leaking out into the surrounding water; a merest trickle, but highly unpleasant.

In a fit of fury, you retaliate, ripping a swath of the hull off in your fury, taking some scant satisfaction as the water rushes in through the rift.

>>13207661
Who knows? We're under a bit of time pressure here to be honest, at this point all we can really do is Rip'n'Tear. Dispel magic would be smooth, but we would have to surface for that and we already know that truesight is badsight.

>>13207661
I don't think it would be feasible. Serious enchantments are tough to get rid of, or even suppress for more than a few seconds at a time.

It might be feasible to burn them in spite of it, though, or to kill most of the people onboard. My recommendation would be to set this ship ablaze, then move on to the next ship- perhaps that one won't be enchanted.

>>13207671
Hey, we get to breath in every time we prepare to light one up. That's probably good enough for a dragon with eff-huge lungs.

>>13207647
We ought to. You said we looted a bunch of spell/magical stuff, right, Writer-Dude?

>>13207671
We have a ring of water breathing, holding our breath isn't a concern.

>>13207671
That doesn't matter. We have a ring of water breathing that we got for underwater adventures way back.

>>13207707
>>13207704
ahh, wonderful
keep lighting them up then

then retreat a few hundred yards and assess the situation, one dragon's head should be difficult to spot in an ocean. Even with red/blue contrast

>>13207673
This is annoying, but we can't do a whole lot other than rip the shit out of each of them in turn and set them ablaze. Once the fire gets started there's no way the crew can put it out (at least considering the size of the fires we start) and they will need to jump off the ship.

Ignore the pinpricks, they don't do any real damage even when they do get through our scales. If worse comes to worse we can crunch a potion while we're down here.

Light up every ship we think is a transport, then poke our invisible head up to look around. The wizard will be way busy with the fires and ships to be looking for us.

I'd prefer to keep the warships intact, we can use them.

rolled 81 = 81

>>13207694
>>13207647
S'true, we've got some dispel-magic scrolls lying around. One of the knicknacks we looted from him, even, was a magic ring that can cast it, albeit infrequently.

>>13207707
>>13207704
'deed we do.


(More dice)

rolled 89 = 89

>>13207757
Well if we have the dispel ring on us right now we can try to use it, but going back for the scrolls would take too much time.

rolled 26 = 26

Dice! Rip and burn!

rolled 11 = 11

>>13207757
Rolling.

rolled 13 = 13

>>13207757
here's hoping it's high!

rolled 4 = 4

>>13207785
You don't, you tossed it in with your 'baubles and whatnots' collection. Sitting back in the lair.\
>>13207795


Backing off, you are somewhat miffed to realize that there are only four ships around you. The rest of the fleet must have kept going, leaving these behind. A sacrifice, even... you are amused by the thought.

Two of them are the ones you have already attacked, so you decide to take care of the others; their enchantments don't seem to be quite as powerful as the previous hulls... Non standardized? Perhaps... Another way to interpret it might be that one was a flagship, and had stronger enchantments, or even that one was a veteran ship, and had had stronger enchantments placed upon it due to longer survival... Then again, for all you know, that was the youngest ship, with the most recent enchantment placed upon it... Feh.

Those thoughts occupy you while you hulk your third ship. The fourth is a matter of procedure, by now. Rend a hole, light it up, let it seal itself, and keep your fire safe.... Sadly, this method has not actually sunk the ships, but they seem to be adrift, aimless, and at least one is being abandoned. Make that two... You absently devour a human sailor who splashes into the water in your path.

Breaking off, you attempt to guess not only where the enemy's magician is, but how far his spell would extend. Judging a few hundred feet to be sufficient, you breech and glance about, shaking the water from your eyes.

>>13207952
[didn't mean to roll]

The rest of the fleet has continued towards the port; they're unpleasantly close, even, you can see ranging shots being fired off by catapults on either side. Good, that means the dwarves are saving the cannons for important shots. Or more likely, closer shots, where they're less likely to miss.

To the west of the town- two miles, at a guess- you can see the other troopship putting ashore. The chopping waves make it difficult to see without rising further from the water, but you think you can see long boats broken out, A swath of the jungle is burning before them; either a wizard or some prior preparation, but they seem to have a way to clear their landing zone.

The four ships you have administered your personal care to are riding low in the water, and two of them are emitting smoke, greasy columns into the sky. And a very faint keening wail, too, you notice in the comparative silence. Sadly, only one appears to be a transport, the others escorts. A productive few hours, but they are busy landing and attempting to land on your island... something that just won't do.

rolled 51 = 51

*Facepalm*

Okay, so we went out to stop ships from landing but didn't bother to chase the ships that were going to land? What's our Int score again? 3?

>>13207961
Hours to destroy these ships... ugh. Far too much time wasted while our enemies grow closer.

Return to our illusion and take up its place. We'll fend off the rest of this invasion as a mage persona, I think. We can't throw fireballs quite as far as a catapult can hurl stones, at a guess, but we are far more accurate and CAN drop a blast right into the middle of any landing craft, frying everyone inside. We should be able to effectively prevent them from landing any significant force.

rolled 95 = 95

>>13207961
right... time to stop playing around
take to the sky and start burninating things properly

>>13208050
They've got a mage with true seeing somewhere.

...though if we can spot him, we could open up our attack by dive-bombing him and breathing fire directly downwards during the dive, so that it appears to be our sorcerer-king calling down a column of flame. That would probably eliminate detection as a problem while looking quite impressive.

wtf when did they get to shore? did they teleport we were supposed to be flaming them

>>13208029
>>13208039
Please. 2.5 - .5 - 1 - .5 does, in fact, equal one half. I Have it on good authority. Sent Scinnari out to get our scrolls, waited for her to return, went out to meet ships, in water, as the plan was to use it to hide us, and then demolished what we could see from where we were. (That's what I thought the plan was.)

We could fly back; enemy wizard is probably occupied. Dice and directions, >>13208029 has ensured we can't do too horribly. (probably.)

>>13208076
How the hell would be able to pick him out?

>>13208116
Draconic super-vision? I don't know. Large flying creatures presumably have good eyesight, and mages tend to look rather prominent. If we don't have spectacular vision, throw some sort of spot enhancement item on our to-buy list; we need one.

>>13208164
But what if the mage is, you know, not a chuckle fuck and doesn't wear a flamboyent outfit that screams "SHOOT ME FIRST, I'M A CASTER!"

>>13208188
That's vanishingly unlikely.

>>13208188
then we're still a fucking dragon
roar and flame, Az
roar and flame...

You know what we should do? Just disable the rudders of the ships- that would leave them drifting and unable to steer

>>13208232
We're trying to keep the dragon thing on the down-low, though. So anyone who knows that we're a dragon has to die before they can spread the word.

>>13208280
except it's known that Lady Prestor has a red dragon on retainer

>>13208300
No, its known that she commands some sort of monster or another

Conceding some miscommunication, here.
>>13208029
>>13208050
>95
Leaping from the water, you flap twice, three times, rising into the sky. Once totally airborne, you turn, rising to a comfortable cruising altitude, which is probably safely out of range of the wizard's detection.

As you approach, you begin to make out the going-ons. The harbor-rim wall is taking hits, but standing. Some of your militia is fleeing, some has already fled. Disappointing. And- Aha.... Following a boulder's arc, you see it impact a conjuration, a shielding disc flitting through the air. Intercepting the artillery... Searching, after a few moments you locate the individual controlling it. Judging by the colorful accouterments and attire, a wizard, probably /the/ wizard who's been forcing you to be... cautious. Totally occupied... How unfortunate for him.

>>13208345


Banking and diving, you twist about until you're coming from behind, sweeping in just barely under the rigging of the ships. Tricky, and you feel your right wing bruise as it shreds through a few ropes and a sail. Worth it, though; you reach down and pluck the human from the bow of the ship, and not at all gently. As you rise up, listening with delight to the shouts behind you, you realize he's actually already dead, neck broken in his instant acceleration... Meaning that you have nothing to fear any longer.

"Scinnari? Some justification is necessary..." you think, hoping she noticed your entrance.

"Of course. Go ahead." the thoughts flash through your mind. Banking again, you dive, flying through the sails of three ships; depending on your head flanks to do the majority of the shredding, it's not only less painful, but more effective than your wingtips; behind you, you hears shouts of terror and surprise as those sailors now find their sails fluttering in the breeze. Glancing off to the left, you see Scinnari making 'magical' gestures on the walls, explaining away the sudden damage.

"Fire now." you warn, curving slowly. Below you can see a crew member rushing for a ballista; luckily alone; the rest seem to have written off your efforts as a magical attack of some kind. You suddenly have a great urge to drop your invisibility, to witness their expressions of horror as you incinerate them. An urge you savor, but discard.


Swooping down from the sky, you exhale, blasting the decks of two ships with flames. Screams, shouts, and the roar of hungry flames erupt in your wake, and the riggings immediately catch fire.

>>13208315
>What follows is a sextet of Morinth marines charging her, swords drawn, cries of "Kill the witch!" ringing. The twang of bowstrings sounds again, and you decide to further reinforce your presence, and her power. Rising completely from the water at the docks end, you are a invisible, serpentine presence, barely outlined by the water rolling off your back. You smash a claw down, collapsing part of the pier, and killing two of the surviving soldiers; only two, now. Two had been hit by arrows, and you had knocked into the water with your attack. The final two you take in your mouth, biting down viciously, grinding your teeth.

>"Your orders, mistress?" you ask in broken common. Scinnari plays along well.

>"Return to the water. Kill any that have not surrenderd in... seventeen minutes. Then you are dismissed." she says calmly.

>"As you command..." you reply ominously, sinking into the water. As you submerge, you can hear her clearly say, "Damn. Varian was right, I need to be quicker on the draw... A pity." she mutters quietly to herself, but loudly enough that you notice one pirate's eyes widen. "Alright. That is all, Captains? I shall leave the cleanup to you." she says, and you hear her vanish.

My apologies, I had forgotten that we were invis at the time

>>13208273
That's what we should have done to begin with. Screw hulking them, we should have just crippled them and then let the pirates pick them off at will.

Still, as long as we whack dat caster...

Alright, destroy some more sails and deck armaments on one last one through, then back in the water and disable the ships rudders

>Considering the loot after the battle
>Dat Flagship

Alright, alright, remember, we want to give these guys a bloody nose and a message of "this island isn't worth your trouble," not completely destroy the fleet and say "I'm shaping up to be a potential threat, DESTROY ME BEFORE I GET TOO POWERFUL!"

>>13208469
Actually, we want a clear message of "I'm way more powerful than you want to mess with, don't fuck with my island."

Make sure that our Silent Image self is making appropriate gestures too. We want to be known as a powerful sorcerer, not just our wife.

>>13208469
I think it's a bit late for that
marine invasions make retreat damn near impossible
better to keep killing until they surrender and then just send the prisoners back.

gives a rather clear message of I don't care about your little war, leave me the fuck alone and you won't lose any more fleets

rolled 51 = 51

>>13208351
So more rolls then?

Or we could try to play it so that we end up weakening one side in this war enough that the other side wins, but just barely, and then take control from there. It'd be damn tough, but I think it's at least worth a minute or two of thought

>>13208674
With a little bitty island like ours? Nah, for now it's our best hope to stay neutral unless we want to get smashed

rolled 43 = 43

>>13208674
We don't even know which side we would prefer to win.

>>13208687
>>13208688

Fair enough. I tried to get caught up on the history of this quest, ended up on something like chapter 22, so I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I figure I can still give tactical input.

rolled 42 = 42

so... is WD waiting for suggestions?
if so: keep killing, allow surrenders.

>>13208420
>>13208469

Cutting through the air, you incinerate the weapons on yet another ship; a ballista and a pair of catapults. The thunder of a cannonshot rings out, and you feel the ball pass underneath you. Saved from a painful impact by only a few inches... No matter. Wrapping your wings around you, you let yourself fall, impacting the surface with a sharp crack. Scales mean you can take it, though, and you submerge instantly. With a new directive in mind, and the potential of rewarding the pirates who stood by you, you set about instead disabling the ships; destroying rudders, and cooking away at the wood, preventing it from regrowing. Cauterizing it.

Moving as quickly as you can, you eventually get all of the ships identically crippled. Then with appropriate warnings to Scinnari to 'call upon her power', you burn the rigging on the rest. Leaving all enemy ships crippled and uncontrolled. A job well done, you decide.

"Soldiers, Sailors; your ships have been crippled, your fleet shattered, and your pathetic 'mages' destroyed. You have made no progress, and your destruction is at my fingertips. Surrender! It is your only chance to survive."

>>13208892
Submerged, you can only smile at 'Lady Prestor's imperious commands, both shouted and telepathically broadcasted. As with anything involving large amounts of individuals, it is not a rapid process to come to consensus. Scinnari kindly narrates for you.

"One ship, two, have struck their colors... the ones you burned. Ah.... they're figuring out that their rudders are gone. Excellent..."

Not even an hour, and the battle is over. The one ship that refused to surrender actually drifted up to the harbor; it was met by a small swarm of pirates, all eager on salvage. Instead of disembarking, it was boarded, and seized. Scinnari provides some semblance of order to the capture, as well as directing what soldiers make it ashore still intent on combat. Eventually, though, the combat is ended, beyond the faint taste of blood mixed with the harbor water, and the smell of burned flesh in the air.

Directing Scinnari to cover you return, you emerge from the water under her illusion, and rejoin her on the docks.

"Perfect; most of those that survived surrendered, and the rest..." she said, with a contented nod to the faintly pink waters of the bay. Two smoldering wrecks are burning to the waterline, three more beached or run aground.

"Ah, yes, what are we to do with our captives? So very many of them..." Scinnari asks, somewhat distractedly. She probably has some ideas, but mass soul-sacrifice is something you are reluctant to engage in, if only for the attention it would draw.

>>13208902

Make em build stuff. Or we could train them into an army. or perhaps use them as a bargaining chip with their superiors.

Prisoner exchange would be a good idea, especially if there are any nobles or high ranking officers around
At the very least we could secure the promise of their country to recognize the neutrality of our port, among other things

>>13208902
Have the townspeople disarm all the captives and keep them under watch for now. You'll need to gather the leaders of the people together and congratulate those who stood on their bravery; your favor is to be distributed now, while those who ran like cowards are still easily identified. See that those who fought most boldly and effectively for you are given the largest portions of the salvage from the ships and captured troops.

Also, make sure that the secondary landing party was dealt with effectively. Well, the lizardmen are probably in kill-all-humans mode, but get what assessment you can without putting anyone in danger or leaving yourself.

With that done, it's time for a victory speech of some kind for your victorious peoples. Emphasize their steadfastness and how this island shall stand in strength and independence against any such who think they can merely sail in and declare it theirs. The lives of the dead were well spent to build a bastion of safety and hopefully in the future prosperity for their friends and family, and they shall be treated with all respect and honor (big funeral deals are always good for morale, makes it look like you care).

When all that is done, only then worry about the captives. Take ideas on that score from the people of the town, first, then decide what to do. I advocate forced labor until their nation ransoms them, and the quiet torture/interrogation followed by sacrifice/snacking of anyone too dangerous to leave around.

>>13208902
Sounds to me like we just got a rather large slave workforce and town population.

We'll need to import some women, the soldiers are most likely all male. Let's commission the pirates into the beginnings of our new navy, and offer Captain Thade the chance to become Admiral Thade. Then when the ships are refitted we can crew them and send them out to various neutral ports and offer rewards for females willing to immigrate to the island of Mza.

Let's offer a manumission clause for all the sailors we enslave, though. They can work free and become citizens after three years. This is a one-time only offer.

Oh, and I think we need to clap everyone who fled the battle into stocks along the waterfront. They turned their backs to the sea to flee, so now they will face it until we deem them suitably repentant.

>>13208902
If we still have the goal of becoming a neutral trading port, then releasing the captured with a stern warning of not doing it again would go a long way in relations, I wager.

Keeping POWs would probably cement our position as a threat

Enslave the prisoners. Lawful evil realm must have a thriving slave trade, and this is a good start.

>>13209102
We can still be a neutral trading port who just kills and enslaves anyone who tries to violate the neutrality. We don't HAVE to let them go to be neutral. They attacked us, after all.

Ransoming them back to their home country is the standard procedure at this point. It would establish us as a legitimate player on the international stage and serve as a starting point for negotiations.

>>13209086
I don't think we should punish those who fled...
this is a pirate port after all, our 'navy' are all individuals

they won't get any of the salvage, of course...

take the living flag ship as our part of the loot, let the others divide the rest amongst themselves, have scinnari act as arbiter should any disputes emerge. Tell her we trust her judgement and that bothering us with the details isn't necessary unless there's some mass of loot that she feels needs our attention

>>13209133
true, we don't HAVE to but it would go a long way to reduce their threat assessment of us.
I'd support standard ransom, though, if simply letting them leave is too generous.

>>13209133
It's not a "neutral trade port" sort of thing. It's a pirate thing. If we want to establish our neutrality we need to at least do something to show that we're not simply out and out hostile. Ransoming them back to Rhasver would be the best option at this point if we want to remain neutral in this war.

>>13209196
If we don't make it clear we refuse to tolerate this kind of thing they could either keep trying invasions or try to use us as a base and get us caught in the crossfire. Not only that, but our island is dreadfully underpopulated. We need more people.

>I don't think we should punish those who fled
Ludicrous. If they fled they MUST be punished. We can't have our militia just doing whatever the hell they feel like. This isn't a pirate port, it's going to be the capital of our new nation. Discipline is key for our future police force/army.

>>13209196
Sure, we can ransom them back. They still get forced labor until then, though.

>>13209071
We are not paying women to immigrate here. That's expensive and silly. That sort of thing should occur organically; hopefully once we're a successful independent port in the middle of a large war, the steady stream of traders looking to get goods from the other side (us as middleman to great profit) will bring more women here.

I'd like to add a new subject of discussion
If you remember in one of the early threads, Scinnari was asked to choose a reward for her loyal service and asked us to to be allowed to bear/lay our young. We declined due to not having a base of power.

I feel that the situation has changed and that it is time to reconsider the issue.

>>13209196
We aren't pirates, we are making this a trade port.

>>13209229
> If we don't make it clear we refuse to tolerate this kind of thing

We smashed their fleet and killed a lot of their sailors. We've already done that. Now is the time for making it clear that we're not taking a side in this war, and that we're amenable to negotiations. Ransoming them back is a good way to do that. And besides, this is a semi-tropical island with some serious disease problems. I think we'll get a better deal out of simply ransoming them back and expanding our hoard instead of using them as slave labor.

>>13209257
It hasn't even been a year yet. Once this is a real thriving trade city everyone is in agreement that we'll deign to bless her with our children. Not yet, however.

>>13209257
After we've been successfully ruling this island for a decade or so to great profit, bring this up again for consideration. Until then, no.

>>13209280
Well I disagree and so does everyone else. You are the only one arguing for a pirate port without slaves as opposed to a trade port with.

>>13209269
That's my point. Simply using them as slave labor and flipping Rhasver off is the pirate thing to do. Negotiating for compensation in exchange for their release is the nation thing to do.

So we should ransom them back. It would give us some sense of legitimacy if we were to show that we can be negotiated with. We've already used the big stick, now's the time for some talking.

I too vote in favor of ransoming- really, with POW's they're to big a political chip to fritter away on slavery

>>13209303
> and so does everyone else.

Alright, claims like this are ridiculous here. Are we going to have to have an IRC vote like last time?

And no, I'm not arguing for a pirate port. I'm arguing for a legitimate nation that is willing to engage in negotiations that could expand our hoard instead of working a bunch of mainlanders to death on a tropical island.

>>13209327
>>13209310
>>13209280
Samefag detected, opinion discarded.

>>13209382
For the love of mike, not this shit again

>>13209416
Oh look, it's the whiteknight samefag who refuses to swear. Again. I should have known when someone advocated not punishing deserters.

>>13209382
Oh, come on, man. Are you actively trying to turn this into a shitfit?

For all we know, their nation won't even want to buy them back. It can't hurt to send a message; just make sure that we're charging at least as much money as they'd make for us as slaves. And they get to work for us regardless until their pickup gets here, which will take weeks at least, so we'll be able to probably finish our wall.

>>13209438
Actually, that was me
I just don't feel like bothering with mutinous pirates who feel that their freedom is getting taken away from them...

>>13209449
1. There's no way a nation would pay that much for unskilled labor or line soldiers. And that's what these sailors are.

2. The only ones who ever actually got ransomed were the nobility. I agree that we should ransom the nobles.

>>13209254
>allowing only female immigration

"Tell them to send us hoors! Tousands and tousands of hoors! I marry 'em, I betcha!"

References aside, I think we need to offer any who want it citizenship after... I don't know, six months indentured servitude? (in repayment for their attack, of course,), and the rest shall be ransomed back. Perhaps extracting a few to interrogate and/or let Scinnari do whatever she wants with.

We're kind of a jungle island. Problem being that most of the civilizations I'm familiar with were, you iknow, temperate, northern, etc. (Euro-centric education, I'm sorry.) Anyone have any ideas on how to make the island a successful captial?

>>13209438
The hell are you on about mang? Look, just because you disagree with something doesn't mean that you can instantly discard the opinions presented with a "lolsamefag"

>>13209479
And if they're not willing to pay what we ask, then we get the best of both worlds- to keep them as slaves, AND to claim legitimacy because we offered to sell them their prisoners back. Victory.

>>13209469
Yes, I know it was you. That's why I said it. I still don't understand why you haven't gone and tried to start up Platinum Dragon Quest where you can be all good and noble to your heart's content.

>>13209481
that sounds good

>>13209494
.... The hell are you on man?

>>13209479
Do you know that for a fact? Have you somehow read WD's mind and know that they wouldn't pay for them? Or are you just assuming that?

It doesn't hurt us to make the requisite diplomatic overtures. If they say no, then they say no. Or they might agree. We might as well find out.

>>13209486
There has been at least one samefag for a while now. Probably more than one, but at least one whiteknight samefag.

>>13209494
>not being lulevils
>noblefag
riiiiight...
just being pragmatic, dude. happy pirates > mutinous navy

let's just get on the IRC and talk before the thread is derped into a shitfest

>>13209493
>>13209525
No. Fuck that. Making the offer makes us look weak. It makes it look like we just forgive and forget any attacks. We do that and the other nations will be all over us because they will know that there wont be any consequences for attacking us.

No negotiation. We cant afford to look weak.

>>13209547
You do know that, for all intents and purposes, we ARE pretty weak? Either of the two nations currently at war could crush us like a bug if they gave even small amount of their full attention to us. Right now they're kind of distracted- thumbing our nose at one them is guaranteed to change that in ways I'm sure you won't find pleasant

>>13209547
Forgive and forget? We blew up live fifteen naval vessels! That's costing them tens of thousands of gold in assets, not to mention hundreds of trained soldiers and sailors plus at least one highly capable warmage. There's forgive and forget, and then there's kicking in the balls after you've beaten someone.

[You know, my original impression was that we, back at the beginning, make with the flashy magic, use it to cover/justify our escape, and vanish. Seems like the intent was to use it to maintain our presence. Seems reasonable, just redact anything I've said contradicting that.]

"Ge the.... 'militia'," you say, feeling that aside from the dwarves, it's practically an insult to the word, "and have them start collecting weapons and armor. Our prisoners are to stay that way, and ideally, not at all unified. If they start noticing how many of them are alive, they might get ideas." you order.

"Of course, my lord." she says, turning to leave. You remain, surveying the harbor, but continue the conversation on another wavelength.

"Can you identify anyone who was particularly valuable? Those who fought should be rewarded over those who... didn't." you elaborate.

"Ah, of course..." Scinnari thinks back, and then flashes you a brief series of images, along with names. She knows a surprising amount of them...

"Captain Thade. What would you consider the most valuable profits of the battle?" you ask, as he approaches.

"I'm not one going in for liberty, or freedom, or any of those things. But if you're going for more material things, then I'd say those ships." he says, gesturing at the cripples adrift. "Carpenter tells me he can't get good wood from this jungle, but first person to come back with some good plank or replacements can get them all in working order. Hells, probably have spares somewhere on board, Rhasver's are always prepared like that."

"I see. And how many would you claim as your share in the salvage?"

"Ooooh...." The pirate exhales, sweeping his gaze across the battlefield. "As many as I could get away with uncontested. Maybe one more. More practically, though, I could hardly do anything with more than two of them; don't have a large enough crew to sail 'em all."

>>13209607
"Three of them are yours, and I will make sure they stay here, if you can't take them at the moment." you declare. Next.. You, pirate..."

You end up combing through Scinnari's list of identities, doling out mostly gold or shares of the weapons and armors salvaged, but do award a ship to the dwarves, (they chose it over your offer of a hundred gold apiece,) and three others are promised to Thade. The other pirate captain seems to have perished in the battle, of mysterious causes or otherwise. You may never know, or care; his crew was assimilated by Thade's without much of a fuss.

Without serious worry, motivated mostly by desire for information, you send Scinnari to investigate the other landing zone, perhaps contact the lizardfolk. To her discretion.

Then a speech to the victors. Remind them they are such, remind them why, and reiterate what they've won. Of course... Frightened, euphoric, and confused, the townsfolk are fairly easy to impress. The dwarves less so, though they were obviously witnesses to the devastation that you wrought. You suspect you have their respect, if not adoration.

The pirates are a rowdy bunch, now mostly united under Captain Thade, and are quite enthusiastic; it seems the smashing of a navy flotilla is quite an achievement, and, beyond simply the bragging rights, are quite pleased with the fact that they had a chance to be on the dealing end of authority-backed violence, however briefly.

>>13209615

"I have doled out priority in.. looting, to certain individuals who have demonstrated that they deserve it. That is still a small fraction of what remains; I allow you to take what you will, provided you took part in the fighting. Running when the first rocks came in is not something worth rewarding... My wife is currently checking on the other force; when she returns, any conflicts or disputes can be brought to her. I am sure she will arbitrate neutrally and to the satisfaction of all parties." You manage to say the last part in a manner to suggest that it had /better/ be to the satisfaction of both parties. Looking for a way to wrap up your speech-making, you decide on the most efficient method.

"Finally, the town, as some of you may notice, has been protected. It remains independent. I think I will invest... my share of the salvage in free drinks and meals for all who fought." That, at least, gets a full cheer. And signals a dispersal, the owners of the taverns and stores rushing to get back to their homes before the swarms of 'customers' you have created. “All I ask, of course, is that some maintain a watch on our captives.” you say loudly over the clamor. While no one seems enthusiastic for the duty, nobody really seems eager to disappoint you, either.

Now let's offer Thade the chance to become the Admiral of Mza, under our command. He could of course extract tolls from ships that are passing without the intent to trade at our port...

"So..." Scinnari says, suddenly at your side again.

"So." you agree. "What did you find?

"Much fewer bodies than I expected, possibly because the lizardmen seem interested in eating them." she says. "The surviving soldiers have established a fort, of sorts, on the shore; they're deathly terrified of the jungle, the lizardmen, and the sea, which they claim seemed to rise up and cast their ships ashore... They cannot escape."

"I see." you state, nodding. "Excellent. And the lizardmen?"

"I, ah, spoke with one, shortly. I assume you know they speak draconic. They are unhappy with the fortifications, and I do not believe they have anything they can do about it. For the moment, though, there is no combat."

"I see... Excellent. Ah, a warning, I've told them that you will judicate over any disputes in looting; they'll be coming to you. Don't bother me with the details, unless you think it's something I should know. I have the utmost faith in your judgment, though I should hope that that is... implicitly understood, by now."

"Ah. Of course, my lord." she says, nodding.

[What next?]

>>13209744
Go to the fort. Approach openly and seek to parlay. Tell them how we destroyed, slew, and captured all their comrades with magic and they can either surrender and be transported safely through the jungle... or die, screaming at the hands of the lizardfolk.

Alright next we say "All of your base are belong to ours," to the guys in the fort. Point out that really, resisting at this point will just go worse for them in the long run. They have no hope for escape, no means of supply, and are cut off from reinforcments. They should just save themselves some trouble, surrender, do a little healthy labor for the next six weeks, and then get picked up and shipped home

>>13209687
No. He's proven himself ruthless and bold; he has NOT proven himself loyal, brilliant, or more charismatic than the average captain. Admiral is a post which, once given, cannot be taken away.

Commodore, sure, with the same duties. Then we have admiral as an available rank for promotion (of either him or someone else more fitting) later.


>>13209744
We should go through the prisoners, find anyone of significant rank or other importance. Converse with them in an arrogant sorcerer-king fashion, finding out what information we can.

Stay in town for a while longer, seeing that everything is going well. Take note of those who end up watching the captives- it will probably be a mix of those with a real sense of duty and those who get stuck with it because they're low ranked socially. We might be able to offer the former jobs as part of a future more professional fighting force in our personal service, since the militia is so damn terrible. We could use an organization beyond Scinnari to enforce our will in the town.

Do you guys think Asha could be handy in this situation? The last thing we need is to give her too much free time

>>13209844
>Admiral is a post which, once given, cannot be taken away.
Uh, yeah it is... you can get rid of an admiral easily. Demotion or death are both very easy when you are an ABSOLUTE DICTATOR.

>>13209844
Seems pretty intelligent. My personal thoughts:

We basically have some slave labor at the moment, whatever the results. I think we should offer anyone who wants it six months indentured servitude (to the community. Because were' just so nice. Of course, 'community' means 'what the community leaders want', and that is us.), write for a ransom on the rest.

IF yes, then we can get more embarrassingly large bagloads of cash, and no longer have to feed/watch die of malnourished and disease a boatload of relatively dangerous slaves.

IF no, then we have some slaves on hand, we can go sell them to Azar or Tashz or something. Gladitorial arenas pay well for trained combatants, that would be perfect.

Alternately, we can try 'good guy' appearance. Sell them off for their ransom/price, then buy and free a few boatloads of slaves, (women-folk, especially.), or whatever. GAin our population, gain a population loyal and grateful to us, and.. probably more I can't think of right now.

My thirteen cents.

I think we should at least open up negotiations with Rhasver. Figure out what they're willing to pay for these guys. Proceed from there.

I think, at this point, we need more information on Rhasver. It would help in making a.. moderately intelligent decision. Who are tehy? What are they like? Are bonds of citizen/liege or family sacred? (AKA, would they pay high for their soldiers?) Are they an evil empire who'd only purchase back the commanders to torture them for incompetence and defeat? Etc.

>kajmaws not
Sounds vaguely like a tropical bird, but... not.

>>13209920
I'll second this, it's a solid plan. Buying a bunch of slaves (female slaves especially) to swell our population is a good idea. Eventually we can establish a culture where owning a few slaves is standard practice for every household... and that fits wonderfully into our plans, because we can then have a thriving slave trade going. Not only that, but it's a strong element of a Lawful Evil society so it will help feed Scinnari's rep in the hells, and it's just smart to have a de facto slave dynamic between a dragon overlord and his mortals.

>>13209943
No. NO. NO!
For the last time, negotiations make us look weak. We need to send a message: "Fuck with us and die." No negotiations.

>>13209982
Also, make sure that the slaves are from a tropical climate. Rhasver is a temperate region, so they probably wouldn't make good slaves on Mza. Disease, climate, and all that.

I support the talk with the 'offer beach head to surrender' deal for immediate future

What to to with the POWs seems like it will have to come down to a vote. both sides are too entrenched to surrender their position

>>13209960
Rhasver is a monarchy. It possesses a dwarven king and royal line, and nobles are mainly human and dwarven. Doesn't get along too well with most other dwarves, mostly because they are seen as too human-like. (IE, living outside, prone to change, and relatively accessible 'citizenship'.)

Tolerate slaves, but have very strict laws regarding the use and treatment thereof. Do their part in trading, though their navy and merchants are almost all non-dwarves. (Dwarves tend to be averse to seafaring.)


I can offer more specific answers on request, and if we're planning on building up a city here, I'd like some more detail on who, what, how, and so on.

>>13210014
Honestly, what did you expect from a moralfag? Reason?

>>13210049
Expletive. No picture.

Also, unless there's some serious dissent, I'll carry on with our attempts at demanding the surrender of the fort.

>>13210049
What are their rules regarding warfare, the treatment of prisoners, and that sort of thing?

>>13210063
Sounds good to me.

>>13210057
I don't generally expect it from people who accuse others of samefagging or moralfagging, either. After all, reason would suggest that you can do nothing but fling unprovable accusations at each other.

>>13210063
Right- how is Rhavkas navy structured?

>>13210071
Dwarven influence means that they tend to care about their treatment and so on, but tend to approach it realistically. Still, they have been known to hold grudges, or demand satisfaction or compensation for some things they consider atrocities.

They wouldn't frown on you using the prisoners as slave labor, or as slaves, so long as they didn't die in droves. They would also probably pay to get them back, though maybe not a hell of a lot.

>>13210049
>and if we're planning on building up a city here, I'd like some more detail on who, what, how, and so on.

Who: Everyone, it's going to be a melting pot.

What: We're going to make this a huge trading city and our future capital.

How:
We will start off with buying a lot of slaves (especially women) to build up the population and foster a slave-based elite culture. We will then focus on trade, using the ships we just captured as well as others we buy as well as our wealth to jumpstart our trading empire. We will establish the main trading guild on the island in our name, and once it's built up enough we will invite some other guilds from other cities in. We will always, however, ensure our guild is the largest and best.

Eventually I'd also suggest having a distinct noble class that we promote based on loyalty and competence, with us as the absolute ruler.

>>13210049
Odd question, but what's the gender composition of the Rhasver prisoners?

I ask because if we want to expand the town, we're going to need more women a lot more than more men. Ransoming them and using the money we get elsewhere might be a better bet if the prisoners are mostly men.

>>13210127
Good good, that means we can use the prisoners as political leverage

>>13210133
>a slave-based elite culture
Err, to elaborate on this: The culture will be focused around the upper and middle classes, with labor being handled by slaves both slaves for both domestic and labor concerns. This will allow us to focus on controlling the large elite monopolies that form over aspects of society rather than needing a particuarly huge network.

I also suggest a secret police/inquisition type service that is directly loyal to us and has absolute power. Strictly relegated to humans to keep turnover to around one century per iteration. We should also look into starting the foundation of the criminal underworld now so that when it grows naturally we will be at the head there too.

In short, we will ultimately control every aspect of the society.

>>13210133
I dunno, we don't have a large enough free population base to make it slavery centric- unless you want to risk an uprising, of course. I'd focus more on just turning us into the fantasy equivalant of switzerland. We don't care what you did, or where your form. As long as you have the money and don't make too much trouble, you're welcome here

>>13210096
[Gah, keep answering questions piece-meal.]

High command for all their forces resides in the capital; actual operational command tends to situate itself in the major ports or border cities; Navy tends to be port cities. They do their best to maintain patrols up and down the coast, as well as the inner sea. Their navy actually isn't that large, most of their engagements being ground battles. Probably in the vicinity of a hundred, or slightly over, actual combat or combat-only ships.(IE, military transports, warships, frigates)

Most of their navy has been forced to protect their landing and enforce their blockade of Azar.

>>13210140
Almost invariably male, though with a (very few,) exceptions. They seem to have had about a cleric per ship; about a third of those are female. As are one or two scattered sailors.

>>13210196
We'll just need to get some immigrants. That's not all that hard if we give them free land, homes, and slaves. Hell, people will be fighting to come here if we advertise that.

>>13210210
Okay, if they don't pay enough for us to buy slaves to replace the crewmen then we will keep these guys as slaves. The clerics can deal with disease and such.

>>13210196
That actually sounds more like, uh...

>>13210196
I think we should keep slaves though, just not enough to threaten the power balance

>>13210210
> Almost invariably male, though with a (very few,) exceptions. They seem to have had about a cleric per ship; about a third of those are female. As are one or two scattered sailors.

This actually works out well, because we can probably justify charging a good bit more for the clerics, and they'd probably be willing to pay more to get them back too.

>>13210237
We will need the clerics if we want to keep our new slaves disease free.

Slavery works with the concept of an evil dragon, BUT it is not an efficient use of capital, and a slave based culture will limit our income relative to a latifudia and mercantile system.

We want them to be wage slaves living in tenements, responsible for their own upkeep and subject to taxes, not livestock.

>>13210231
Yesss. We must make this happen.

Also, regarding the clerics and the women. I'd suggest offering them freedom and preferential treatment, seeing as how we'll have need of their services

>>13210240
We could, or we could just charge enough for them to hire clerics of our own. Loyalty to a foreign power is a bad quality in a healer.

>>13210269
This is true. Perhaps we should employ the old roman method of slavery in the future? Where slaves are not property, but merely the lowest class of society, and such are entitled to a few rights and have the prospect of eventual freedom to work towards.

Where has Asha been this entire time, still in our lair?

>>13210290
Sounds good to me.

>>13210210
>Probably in the vicinity of a hundred, or slightly over, actual combat or combat-only ships.(IE, military transports, warships, frigates)
We just destroyed ten percent of their navy? Damn, we've made more of an impact than I thought already.
Anyway, the whole slavery and long-term culturecrafting discussion is at this point largely academic. We've got immediate concerns- these guys in the fort, most notably. Beyond that, we need to interrogate all the prisoners and determine if any of them will be worth substantially more than the rest when ransomed; if they are we should of course sell them off to increase our personal wealth. Basically, do the fort, >>13209920 and >>13209844.

>>13210290
That makes sense, let's do that. But we will need a class of slaves that will never EVER be free, too. They should be property yet have strict laws ensuring they are treated well and paid handsomely. Like an elite-slave caste. They give up their freedom to a powerful family or house and in return live well.

I say that because we are going to want some permanent slaves of our own who we can count on to obey our orders exactly. Maybe those types of slaves could be reserved for the nobility.

>>13210290
Better than absolute slavery. Perhaps an option.

But Latifudia and Merchantilism is the single most efficient pre-industrial distributer of capital, when it comes to turning man hours into gold for the hoard, and it is most efficient when slavery is abolished. Perhaps short terms of indentured servitude?

>>13210402
That works too.
Though of course, this is all long term stuff- I'm sure we'll change our minds a dozen times as we move on through the next couple of threads

Enjoying the afternoon's festivities, you decide to let the fort stew for a while, just to ensure you won't have to come back another time.

After the third hour, you deem time appropriately passed. You've been maintaining a low profile in the celebrations, beyond an impassive but generous benefactor, which makes it effortless to excuse yourself and leave the village. You pass Scinnari while invisible and her eyes linger on you, but she is kind enough not to reveal your presence. As far as you can tell, she's relegated 'prison guard' duty as a punishment for particularly stubborn claimants that come in.

Gliding over the treetops, with only flap every now and then, you arrive at the fortress she mentioned.. Barely. A hastily constructed wooden palisade, made out of scraps of blasted trees and the hull of the beached ships. In fact, the toppled and throughly dry ships are forming the back wall of the fort.

The surrounding fifty meters of forest have been burned, blasted, and otherwise scoured clean of life. A neat kill zone, you suppose, probably what's kept them safe from the lizardfolk so far.

A flashy entrance, imperious claims and commands.... Sadly, the fort's command structure seems relatively intact. Still, they don't exactly have an option, especially once you prove the flotilla's destruction.

>>13210450


In the interests of appeasing the lizardmen, you order them to deconstruct the fort, and then wait while the captured ship ferries them back to the village. It was probably a bit insulting to use one of 'their' ships for their transport out, but it did prove you claim of victory...

You are quite happy when they all finally are pulled out with no deaths; it, among other things, means that the lizardmen trust you enough to let them go, if they're with you.

Returning, you examine the prisoners with Scinnari. The officers mainly consist of the captains, clerics, and other trained auxiliaries. A brief statement that, having surrendered, you will expect cooperation, and have a very short temper if it isn't provided. Then a order to the officers; you are going to have them working under the dwarves, repairing the parts of the village and wall that they damaged tomorrow. Officers coordinate between your overseers and men, clerics, help your people, and so on. They end up non-plussed, but seem willing to cooperate.

>>13210369
Perhaps a slave caste where they're not seen so much as property as extensions of their master? That is, classically if you hurt someone's slave it's like smashing their furniture; hurting someone in this caste would be more like smashing their hand, legally. Make it so that their word is their master's word, and that their master is ultimately responsible for all their actions as though he had taken them personally but has absolute power over them with no restriction. The master can do whatever he wants to the slave... but since he's also legally responsible for them, if he doesn't make sure that they're actually loyal he'll get completely screwed by them.

Eh, I'm draw cloud pictures here. No idea if that could be made to function.

>>13210402
>>13210424
Our city is going to be primarily based upon trade, I'd point out. The whole slavery thing functions best in an environment where huge amounts of unskilled labor are a necessity anyway; trading cities don't really have that. So it's hardly an idea environment for it.

>>13210486
Yeah, in the long run slavery is going to be a minor thing.

>>13210486
That defeats the whole purpose of the slaves. We want it so that they are completely under our control and we don't have to worry about the crap you have to deal with regarding ordinary hirelings. That's the whole point of slaves rather than paid servants.

I think we need to go all Cyrus the Great. (I think? Maybe I'm getting names mixed up, or being stupid.)

Make nobility powerful, privileged, and have strict rules governing them with unpleasant punishments. I'm mostly thinking of "Sacred Truth" for our nobles; they are never, EVER, allowed to lie, lest they be... something bad. I'm somewhat fuzzy on the subject, but it sounded interesting when I read about it somewhere. A decent option, I think, is their entire family be stripped of their nobility.


That would keep Scinnari REALLY happy, that's definitely a lawful evil setup. I also like >>13210486 , the idea of educated 'slaves' being more like a cross between expensive servants and adopted family.

Alright, once we go through the prisoners looking for anyone of unusual value, we need to get a message to Rhasver informing them of the situation and opening up negotiations for the return of the prisoners.

Let's see how much we can milk out of them.

How about we use a slavery as social class approach?

That is, slaves are not imported, but arise as a result of criminal penalty or debt defaulting. In the case of a defaulted loan or obligation, a person is indentured to the owner of the debt for a period of time commensurate to the value of the labor they provide.

For criminal punishments, the indenture can be bought off in some instances by paying gold to the government (us). For the most severe crimes to include murder or sedition, the penalty of death can only be prevented by another, innocent person entering into slavery alongside you for the rest of their natural lives. Slavery is not heredetary but the minors of slaves are wards either the state or the owner of the indenture.

Additionally, criminal slaves are considered property of the state, but can and will be loaned out as favors to those we want to curry favor with. A failure of a criminal slave to faithfully discharge their servitude results in death.

There is no where for them to escape to, and this prevents us from having to maintain and staff a large prison. It can also create a self-policing effect if one of the rewards for the faithful reporting of crimes is gaining control over an indenture.

I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves.

Let's sort out the deal with the current prisoners first, and proceed from there.

>Asking for what Rhasver will pay for them.

Roll me 1d20.

>>13210557
More accurate. (You'rs is cool too, though.)

>>13210579
>>13210557
But that would mean the slaves would be something completely different.

For the "family" approach they would just be VERY expensive servants.

For the "criminals" approach you would never have trusted slaves, just raw labor.

Let's just go with the traditional slavery approach, and limit their ownership to the powerful noble families. We'll have plenty of slaves, including skilled slaves, concubines, ect. flowing into our trading port that way rather than relegating them to a caste.

Also I like the idea of powerful noble families. If we can concentrate the power enough then it will be far fewer management headaches for us.

rolled 19 = 19

>>13210610

rolled 9 = 9

>>13210610
Dice.

rolled 2 = 2

>>13210610

Rolling

>>13210628
Nice.

>>13210628

rolled 15 = 15

>>13210635

Good thing I was late.

>>13210615
I agree do the traditional property slaves thing but let the middle class have them too because we want to be a trading city right and just having nobles buy slaves will limit the market.

>>13210628
Use this roll alone!

>>13210628
A dispatch is sent out, with a list of your current survivors, and a request as to how valuable Rhasver considers them. Scinnari actually has some experience in these sorts of matters, which she claims is due to having spent time with courts and kings before.

Out of desire to use the labor while you have it, and a suspicion that it will actually prove most efficient, you instead send the message south, to the blockade of Azar, something you hire Thade to do. He delivers it, and then they send it, probably by magical means, north to Rhasver proper, and smoking city.

The emissary you eventually receive is polite. Evidently they've realized that you are not intimidated easily. Though prices start out around five gold per prisoner, with Scinnari's assistance you manage to escalate to ten gold per prisoner, twenty for clerics and officers, and forty for captains, navigators, and higher.

>>13210773
what's the general price for a slave?

>>13210773
How much are the following:
Unskilled slaves? (Male and female)
Skilled trade slaves? (IE. Smiths)
Skilled learned slaves? (IE. Teachers, Stewards, Doctors)
Skilled combat slaves? (Army and guard)
Concubines (Male and female)
Skilled magic-using slaves (including clerics)

>>13210773
Any of our prisoners with any non-naval rank, meaning any officer or cleric or so on, almost certainly has ties to organizations that would value their life at more than that price. It's probably about as good as we'll get for the common troops, though, so I'd get rid of them- they're a drain on our food resources and a security risk which, once our wall is built, will far out weigh their provided value as a labor source.

>>13210880
>any officer
I meant any NOBLE officer. Sorry. There's a reason that noble ransoms could get ridiculously high; for anyone of noble blood a twenty gold ransom is a pittance.

>How much the following are:
>Unskilled slaves? (Male and female)
Ranges from a few gold to a dozen. Depends on supply, need, and the quality thereof. (Strong, sickly, elderly, foreign, etc.))
>Skilled trade slaves? (IE. Smiths)
[Remember I'm totally making this up on the spot] Tends to be twenty to sixty.
>Skilled learned slaves? (IE. Teachers, Stewards, Doctors)
Trustworthy or well behaved ones are ~100, usually a little higher.
>Skilled combat slaves? (Army and guard)
Anywhere from ten to one hundred, varying significantly on the 'honor' or reliability of the slave.
>Concubines (Male and female)
Depends on the specifics and quality. Ranges from one, as with the top category, to around a hundred. 'Special' cases have been known to get simply ridiculous.
>Skilled magic-using slaves (including clerics)
Tend to risk-intensive, like combat slaves. ~100

Note, I really don't know what I'm talking about here. Making them up; if the world starts to fall apart based on my BS economy, I reserve the right to redact this.

>>13210991
I'm thinking slaves are really only viable as unskilled labor. For anything actually demanding we're going to need to hire people, not buy them.

Also, if I recall, the lizardfolk are top-tier potential minions, but are very isolationist and want their island to be their island.(aren't fond of sharing)

How do we build up our city here, yet keep them happy, loyal, and, ideally, a part of it?

>>13211013
In that case, I suppose we can sell them back and buy actual broken slaves rather than captured prisoners. Remember to have a large ratio of women to men, 2 to 1 would likely be best.

Traditional slaves, strong noble houses which exist entirely at our sufferance, completely dictator control, heavy trade capital taking advantage of our position in the world, largest trade company owned by us.

Timeskip, ho!

Oh, and renovate that keep up on the volcano rim. It can be our official palace. And see what we can do about importing some of our kobolds from Freeport as well as fully indoctrinating the Lizardfolk.

>>13210773
This is a pretty good deal, except for possible nobility.

>>13211032
By ensuring they prosper? We don't bend to their whims, they bend to ours. After a few generations they won't care that the island is a metropolis. It's just reactionary bullshit that makes them so paranoid as it is.

>>13211056
We also need to fortify our lair against magical intrusion. Scrying, teleportation, and the like.

>>13211075
Agreed. There are existing tensions between them and the dwarves, though- we'll need to somehow defuse those before opening up any decent amount of trade. Once we have, we can see about gradually integrating them into our island kingdom's society.

>>13211056
Frankly, I'm not really feeling the slave thing. We have a population measured in the hundreds at the moment; it's not enough to support huge slave populations. We personally could do with a dozen or two minions/servants/fucktoys that never leave our castle, though. It's lonely in there with just Scinnari and Asha.

>>13211097
Ah, yes, good call. And install lots of traps.

We should also make it so that there is only two main entrances/exits and one secret entrance/exit. One main entrance and the secret entrance are only able to be navigated from the air. The second main entrance will be winding, trapped, and heavily guarded by lizardfolk but ground access is possible. We should have it rigged with blasting powder to collapse it whenever we want, though.

>>13211121
>We have a population measured in the hundreds at the moment
Don't worry, that will change when we start encouraging immigration. We can even free the best of the slaves to further increase citizens. But slaves are a powerful asset to have and to trade in.

The plan as I'm understanding is "Sell off our prisoners, (give the option to stay,), import and emancipate some slaves, expand city and port facilities (pay if we need to,) try and keep lizardfolk happy, and make sure we stay independent."

That's kind of vague. Any specific points, anything I missed, and anything about the lizardfolk? I need a plan more specific than 'make sure they prosper.'.


[Note: I'm thinking of a six to eighteen month timeskip.]

Summation of discussion in the IRC:
No good clerics or paladins. Worshippers of good gods are fine, we're not going to care. But clerics and paladins cause problems and have an annoying degree of crusading spirit against devil waifus and dragon overlords.

Possible problems were brought up, such as a lack of healing or other services said people would provide. Such services are either well within the realm of the state (mass production and sale of healing potions, for instance) or evil/neutral clerics (who would still be allowed).

>>13211180
no, they aren't.

Slaves are not an asset, except as a way to feel good about yourself, whether individually or as a society.

You can also use slavery to enrich yourself at the expense of the rest of the participants in your economy. As we are going to have our fingers in every pie and squeeze every last copper out of this town, we don't want anyone to have slaves (except for us, because EVERYONE will be our slave, even if they don't know it).

Want loyal "slaves"? Dragon Cult.

>>13211259
> no good clerics

This kind of gives away the fact that we're evil and draws in meddlesome adventurers. I was under the impression we wanted to avoid that.

>>13211255
>import and emancipate some slaves
Emancipation only to the smartest and best of the slaves, mind you, and so that we have a proper citizen base to control our slave population.

And really, we've been pretty specific for an OVERALL goal. Any more specific will need specifics of your own that we can address. And we need to try to establish domintion over the lizardfolk and make them into our own personal army. Set ourselves up as their god and overlord.

>>13211259
I'm not going to argue, but aren't evil gods FAR more threatening? After all, they won't care that we've ostensibly set up a nice society and city here, they'll be going, "Hey, nice, I want it.". Good at least has the decency to make good neighbors, and only tend to go after you if you end up Palpatine-style evil. We're building a society from scratch here, I'm sure they'll cut us some slack.

inb4 moralfag. I mean, christ on a crutch, people. Just tossing out observations. We don't want someone to come and do to us what we tried to do to freeport.

>>13211279
>dragoncult

Now, I think that's something we can ALL get behind.

>>13211321
>>13211301

Moralfag samefag detected, opinion discarded.

We've got so many prisoners. Ones that they won't buy from us and are too rowdy to train get to be dragon food.

I agree with selling the prisoners back and buying slaves. It's going to be hard to convince soldiers and former leaders to follow orders from pirates.

We'll have to be careful not to buy a spy though.

Maybe we could send some to the lizardmen for food as a diplomatic thing? "Sorry you got attacked, here's some people for you to eat?"

>>13211301
>>13211321
Nah, it doesn't flag us as anything. We still let in good worshippers. We don't have to explain ourselves, or hell we could circulate a rumor that we once had a son who joined the paladinhood of Good God X and died, that's why we don't allow them. There.

As for the evil gods, we aren't going to allow any gods dominion in our city, or even allow them to build up any meaningful power. WE will be the power, period.

>>13211398
So good clerics are out, but a cleric of, oh say, a god of backstabbing, is fine? What sense does that make?

And it does raise red flags. You're specifically singling out good gods and denying their clerics entry. An explanation like your example might work for one god, but not all good gods.

>>13211398
>We don't have to explain ourselves, or hell we could circulate a rumor that we once had a son who joined the paladinhood of Good God X and died, that's why we don't allow them. There.

This. No good clerics or paladins. We don't explain why until/unless we absolutely have to.

>>13211398
Makes more sense to restrict along law/chaos lines than good/evil lines. A CE cleric is a threat to us, arguably more so than a LG cleric.

>>13211255
Okay, more detail on our timekip plans for the island...

Our overall immediate plan for this port is to turn it into a neutral port so that we can profiteer on being a legal way to trade between nations which are currently at war with each other, not to mention facilitating smuggling in the region by legalizing the import/export of just about everything so long as it is declared and a tax paid on it. This is a quick route to massive profit.

This requires:
-Expansion of trading facilities; docks, warehouses, etc.
--We can finance some of this ourselves, and then charge others rent to use them at great profit later; others should happen naturally as the port grows
-Loyal forces (navy, personal guard) who know to stay in line
--This means keeping all their leaders firmly under control through reward and regular communication and constantly identifying solid recruits and training/leading them to maintain loyalty
-Smugglers and merchants who know about us and regularly sail here to great profit
--This will probably require some work on our/Scinnari's part to establish; go to some cities and drop some rumors
--The pirates might have contacts to let know of the opportunity as well
-All other nations not fucking with us
--We need to keep looking for that Orb of Storms so that we can use it on the next fleet
--Also beef up our security against scrying, assassins, and so forth
-Control of all factions on the island
--Lock down conflict between the dwarves and lizardfolk
--Make sure that the dwarves think well of us, or at least are on board with our plans
--Make sure that if anyone else on the island begins to get too powerful they bow to us in both name and fact

>>13211429
We're using the basic set of D&D gods. Boccob, Nerull, Pelor, Wee Jas and so on.

There is no god of backstabbing. Stop making shit up.

>>13211368
From what Scinnari tells you, they already have those; they killed plenty before they scared the Rhasver forces back to the shore.

>>13211361
Shut up. You serve no purpose and accomplish nothing except being annoying and provoking derails. Also, some evidence suggests your a hypocrite or a troll.

>>13211314
How much are we willing to spend in acquiring slaves? Are there anything particular qualities we're looking for? Any qualifiers?

Also, I'm assuming we've been using the PoWs to clear some of the jungle, and build themselves barracks/housing. (Which will serve as expansions to the town, provided we sell them. I think the consensus is yes, so if there's no dissent or dissent and agreement, then we can do it.)


And, of course, improve our lair. Anyone know the standard procedures for dragons doing that? It's a bit difficult to higher contractors, or something.

>>13211255
Offer some of the prisoners to them for food. Also offer to officially recognize the portion of the island they inhabit as their territory, make them feel comfortable about the civilizing we'll be doing. Of course, we can always eminent domain them out of there later.

Can we see about getting that volcano active again? At least a magma pool or something? I'm sure the dwarves would like to have the ability to magma-forge things. Are we capable of swimming in magma btw?

We should also make defenses more permanent and impressive. Try upgrading to a stone wall, some turrets with cannons.

We should also get defenses for our lair against other dragons.

>>13211429
Who gives a shit? Nobody is going to crusade against us for refusing access to good clerics. And if we're evil, so what? A lot of kings are evil. A lot of REALMS are evil.

What is the pantheon in this world anyway? Because if it's core, we can't really afford to say "no good clerics."

>>13211465
Standard practice for dragon lairs is to use devoted underlings like kobolds or worshipful lizardmen.

>>13211444
Depends on the cleric in question, not all CE is RIP AND TEAR BURN AND RAPE. Of course we won't allow that kind of crap in our city. But neither are we going to allow good clerics and gods to get a foothold into our most central powerbase.

>>13211465
>And, of course, improve our lair. Anyone know the standard procedures for dragons doing that? It's a bit difficult to higher contractors, or something.
I think that's when they call in the kobolds
let's airlift Jerrik and a few more here and set up a kobold smuggling operation

>>13211458
There are loads of minor deities. And I'm pretty sure Cyric or bhaal or whoever the standard murder god is fond of CE and backstabbing.

>>13211458
So Erythnul is fine, but oh say Moradin is banned? What sense does that make, especially considering that we've got dwarves here.

>>13211492
> Depends on the cleric in question, not all CE is RIP AND TEAR BURN AND RAPE

That's Erythnul in a nutshell.

>>13211509
It makes sense insofar as a good cleric MIGHT have a BIT of a problem with being ruled over by a devil. Evil, not so much.

>>13211465
Improving our lair will be a self-work thing I think. Is our fire hot enough to melt stone enough to work with? If not, we'll need to dominate some of the prisoners as slave labor, and eat them when they're done.
I'll need a description of what we've got right now before I give plans.

I would spend maybe half of what we get from the prisoners on slaves, unless we meet our demand first.

>>13211520
>>13211509
Obviously we aren't going to allow anyone, good or evil, to do that shit on our watch. Just because we don't have a blanket ban on evil clerics doesn't mean we will let every single evil cleric in. Use your brain.

>>13211527
Chaotic clerics might have a problem being ruled over period. That could also be an issue. I'm not seeing why restricting along good/evil lines is so smart a move.

Plus it's not as if the fact that Scinnari's a devil is common knowledge. That's what we got her choker for.

>>13211465
>How much are we willing to spend in acquiring slaves? Are there anything particular qualities we're looking for? Any qualifiers?
Don't just wildly buy them. What we really need to do on the slave thing is ensure that as our town comes to need various skilled individuals we have them on hand; that means that if our people need, say, a carpenter, we go off and buy one and then drop him in town. Repeat for virtually every other trade in the book. If we need more women, buy those. If we need sharp accountants, or people who speak a specific language, buy 'em up.

It's an ongoing thing that we can use to artificially bootstrap ourselves into being a capable major port, even though many of the people here lack the skill for it.

As a further bonus, since we'll be personally buying many of these slaves and then setting them free, they'll owe us big. Make sure that they know it- if we end up in a situation where a significant fraction of the island's populace, biased towards the skilled ones, owes us a massive and highly personal debt it would be a wonderful thing. It's an excellent formula for long-term loyalty.

>And, of course, improve our lair. Anyone know the standard procedures for dragons doing that? It's a bit difficult to higher contractors, or something.
I think dragons normally get kobolds or similar servitor races to do construction on their lairs. Importing kobolds here would be kind of awkward, unfortunately.

>>13211554
So then why not do the same for good clerics too? There isn't a guarantee that they're all going to cause trouble, just that some might. Same as evil clerics. I'm just not seeing the point of an official ban that broadcasts our intentions when we can do it behind the scenes, unofficially, and still present an inviting facade, which is kind of required for a trade based city.

Spend all of what we make from the prisoners on slaves, and then maybe 5k from our personal funds. We'll get this island set up fast.

>>13211578
> So then why not do the same for good clerics too? There isn't a guarantee that they're all going to cause trouble, just that some might.

Of course good clerics are all going to cause trouble, thats all they do! Evil clerics are dependable, you can rely on them to do things. But good? Good is shit. Good tries to overthrow people like us.

So GTFO moralfag, your kind arent welcome here.

>>13211578
Because they cause lots of problems for us. We can't rely on Scinnari's choker to disguise the smell of brimstone as she teleports, or the fact touching a paladin burns her. So we ban good clerics and paladins? SO WHAT? I have yet to see any convincing argument why that will hurt us. Once again, there are plenty of evil nations and rulers.

>>13211506
Cyric and Bhaal are Faerun. If we're in Faerun, we've got more problems than a few gods to worry about. Fucking Elminister.

Which setting are we in, anyways?

>>13211609
You seem upset.

>>13211624
Custom 3.5 setting.

>>13211610
> I have yet to see any convincing argument why that will hurt us.

Because it excludes people, which is bad for business. If we're going by core, the church of Pelor, for example, is pretty damn big. Refusing to allow them in represents a serious loss in business. Far more so than refusing to allow clerics of a god like Erythnul.

It'll also be a PR hit. Banning clerics of Pelor doesn't earn you a whole lot of friends among his worshipers.

> Once again, there are plenty of evil nations and rulers.

And they have a tendency to attract pesky things like adventurers, and the very paladins you want to keep out. This is like trying to rule openly as a dragon.

Instead of banning good clerics, why don't we encourage neutral or evil cults? A pirate town would easily follow a god of money, which probably wouldn't give a damn about us as long as the economy is working.

Set up a temple before anyone else gets here. If we saturate the religious people with a faith of our choosing, we don't have to worry about hamfisting a solution.

We should not overtly _ban_ Good religions. Just find dozens of subtle ways to discourage them from setting up here. Our cohort can likely give us tons of ideas on how. Overt banning could backfire or attract attention. Having temples just "happen" to not work out just means bad luck/planning on their part.

>>13211509
You want to know why Moradin is banned? Here:
>Hammers of Moradin

>The Hammers of Moradin are an elite military order dominated by crusaders and fighting clerics with chapters in nearly every dwarven stronghold and members drawn from every dwarven clan. The Hammers serve both as commanders of dwarven armies and as an elite strike force skilled in dealing with anything from large groups of orcs to great wyrms to malevolent fiends from the Lower Planes.

Guess what we are? A great wyrm. Guess what Scinnari is? A malevolent fiend from the Lower Planes.

Other timeskip matters.

We should personally spend a great deal more time honing our magical arts. Actually gaining a level or four over the skill of a standard red dragon our age would be nice; at the moment I've seen precious little evidence of our supposed great talent for sorcery. Given a few months of a few hours of practice a day, we should be able to get quite good at it.

I want to pick up some household staff while we're slave searching. Ideally we'd start a cult around ourselves so that we have low-level minions, servants, and fucktoys that we don't need to constantly lie to. They can run our castle and keep things nice. Might also be able to use these guys to improve our lair; kobolds and dwarves aren't the only ones who can tunnel. Regardless, we definitely need to populate our home.

We should occasionally talk to Cygnis. Use the "adventuring around chasing down tales of the Binder" excuse; since we'll be dropping in at other cities to buy slaves, we'll even be able to honestly tell her what city we're in on occasion and add a tad of realism to the story. Make sure she still loves us, get news of Freeport.

>>13211684
This is a much better solution than "NO GOOD CLERICS ALLOWED!"

That would tip everyone off.

Should we consider
>>13209257
during the timeskip?

Rhasver is reluctant, but pays the ransom, and you allow a pair of Rhasver transports to arrive and evacuate them. You've gotten the primary things you wanted out of them, namely, mass labor to help the dwarves rebuild and upgrade the wall, and significant expansion to the village, clearing away jungle to the north and east along the harbor. When the ships pick them up, you are actually running out of things for them to do.

>>13211538
To your disappointment and utmost dissatisfaction, the your flame is not quite hot enough; you can make rock looser, softer, but not actually malleable or easy to work. (Plus molten rock tends to stratify.)

The slave markets of Tashz are reknown the world over. A hundred males and two hundred females, various humanoid races, would cost you at least three thousand gold, and you are very leery to do so without overseeing the purchase yourself or detailing Scinnari to do so. Rhasver is reputed to have good slaves and lower prices, but the difference is made up by massive taxes and the strict slave laws are somewhat unpleasant do deal with.

>>13211468
[>eminent domain ]
[ Okay? You're actually making me feel evil here. Just saying.]

The lizards are seem almost entirely enthusiastic when you make an appearance; those that are initially reluctant seem happier once convinced that you are neither a sadistic nor needlessly violent master. Their druidic leader seems less than pleased, but your impression of him has always been that of a quietly unhappy 'old man'. Ideally, he will not try anything foolish.

The rest of the tribe is quite easy to impress, and you chose ten to explore the dead volcano, ideally in pairs, looking for anything you have missed. (Or secret access to anything you think secure.)

>>13211762
No. We're in a precarious situation that will take close management to improve. Having children will introduce too many variables. Can you imagine a curious baby red wandering its way down the mountain and being found?

>>13211762
I have now thought about it.

My answer: Later. I would be willing to spawn a few half-dragons on human servants now, but nothing with Scinnari. She'd breed half-infernal dragons, which would be much more powerful and are something that we can't afford to have growing here.

>>13211750
Personally, I think that we can just keep religion here overall at a relatively low level. As long as we stop any temple from gathering significant power- and that's something that we'll be able to keep a close eye on, since we'll own and influence so very much of the town- none of them will be able to cause real problems. No open bans, no encouraging power groups not under our control. Keep things low-key and locked down.

>>13211784
true, but the sooner we make them, the sooner we can use them as resources / minions / allies
plus, Scinnari would probably be quite... grateful...
nudge nudge, wink wink

>>13211815
What could she possibly give us that she hasn't already? We already do her every night. Knocking her up would create a period of time where we can't do that, and it would create a lot more work for us to do. Children are an immense investment, especially dragon children.

She's already getting a free ride to become an Empress. Giving her draco-fiends is something for when we're an established power.

>>13211697
And neither of those are public knowledge.

Followers of Erythnul, on the other hand, would make trouble whether or not they know what we are.

>>13211778
Buy from Tashz. I'd say more than just 300. Let's try 200 males and 400 females. 6000 gold is a good startup investment. Also let's begin setting up our trade company and buying ships. Scinnari can teleport so she can make these buys easily.

>>13211815
Yes, but it also adds vast risks. At the moment, it is not yet worth it. Maybe in a few decades when our powerbase is secure.

Alright, comprehensive list of what I think we want to do:

1): Expand our population, primairly by buying slaves and freeing them. Ideally, intelligent, skilled, and otherwise appealing slaves, and ideally, as cheaply as possible. It's understood that those are not both possible, and importance is on quality and skilled individuals.

2): Keep the lizardfolk happy. Their druid wants to keep them jungle-dwelling tribe; we want them to change to an urban populace, of excellent disposition for enforcers, soldiers, and worshippers. Fucktoys has also been mentioned before, though I'm not sure whether we're down with the whole 'reptilian appeal' jazz.

3): Keep abreast of world wide ongoings, the war, etc. We want to stay out of it, but keep us aware. Figure out what was behind Azars secession, and Rhasver's invasion.

4): Spread rumors that Mza is THE island. You can get anything here. And not only that, it's safe! You aren't going to be pressganged, you aren't going to be invaded, sure, there's bandits and thugs, but it's really Up And Coming! THE place to be! Everyone's getting rich there every day! (If only we could fabricate a gold rush...)

4): Use mirror, keep in contact with Cygnis, ideally while on business trips. (Just in case she's tracking it/and/or/us). Do so comfortably off screen to avoid debate, and to make it simpler. We want to keep her happy, and fond of us. That's it.

5): Found some institutions for the town. Perhaps buy some lesser-slaves, (grunt-work type), use them to build public edifices of some sort. (Perhaps even repair our castle-on-the-peak). After they're done, free them. They won't be able to afford passage out, and will probably be reasonably fond of us, and will stay.

6): No Religious Moderation. Anything disruptive, whether good or evil, is not allowed. Anything else goes. (So, Moradin worshippers and moradin priests are allowed, Hammerers or crusading priests are not. How do we intend to differentiate a priest from a faithful follower, anyway?) Perhaps make a clause where the city can legally eject any religious servant of any god if it deems it in the city's best interest. (We ARE the la- city.)

>>13211923
I guess that actually got up to seven.

8): It is probably a good idea to learn about other dragons in the vicinity. Are we stepping on someone's toes here? Is an adult black going to come back and object that we've taken over his mother's old home? How about Rhasver? The northern arid area? That's primo brass/copper/blue territory, I think (I don't know my dragons too well.) Maybe that young red chick up north we heard about. Maybe some fetching blue down south, who knows.

9): Keep our minions in line. Asha, the townspeople who owe us... We need to keep track of everything. Yes, I'm using this as the 'include everything I didn't remember'.

>>13211923
>>13211911
>>13211949
add 'get some of our kobolds to come here' and I'm onboard

When we eventually instantiate laws we will need to have a Law Zero: The word of Lord Pestor IS the law.

>>13211923
>Perhaps make a clause where the city can legally eject any religious servant of any god if it deems it in the city's best interest.
I think our clause is "Lord Prestor owns this town, and if he wants you to leave you fucking leave no matter who you are." We don't need to have a reason, because we are the Sorcerer-King of Mza.

What you've posted is good, though I feel my posts at >>13211446 >>13211576 >>13211737 have details worthy of referencing. Things like starting to build our own privately loyal military force, that sort of thing.

On buying large numbers of slaves at the moment... we should bring them in gradually, in batches. We'll need to construct housing, arrange for food imports or production, and all that in order to support population growth. One can only have it happen so fast, after all. Make sure it happens well, and that it's looked upon by the populace as bringing in useful workers rather than dumping unwanted new people on them.

>>13211911
>>13211923
>>13211949
Sounds good to me.

Just remember that we're banning all good clerics from the city and we're good.

Alright. I'm liking

>>13211949
>>13211923
>>13211911
>>13211737
>>13211576
>>13211446
(I realize that's a lot), mostly because they're very clear and concise, and easily found when I'm trying to finalize something.

Alright, it's actually getting kind of late- Alright, that's blatant lies, it's 23:40, but I'm usually up later doing this. I think doing some rolls for our timeskip would be good, and the next thread can start off with the results.

Example: 1d100 for what our lizardmen (and woman) spelunkers find. 1d100+50 for our build up and expansion of the city. 1d100+30 for our purchasing of slaves, and gradual introduction as a service/profession becomes necessary. 1d100+30 for spying on the region (Scinnari offers huge bonus,) and 1d100+40 for calling up Cygnis, getting information, and keeping her happy.

Still taking suggestions. Email in this post.

>>13212037
How about not.

I'm leaning more toward a "you are welcome, trouble making is not." This can apply to pretty much everyone. Clerics of good, neutral, and evil gods alike, as well as just people in general.

rolled 37 = 37

>>13212048
> 1d100 for what our lizardmen (and woman) spelunkers find.

rolled 33 = 33

>>13212048

rolled 76 + 50 = 126

>>13212048
> 1d100+50 for our build up and expansion of the city

rolled 89 = 89

>>13212048

rolled 20 + 30 = 50

>>13212048
> 1d100+30 for our purchasing of slaves, and gradual introduction as a service/profession becomes necessary.

rolled 22 + 30 = 52

>>13212048

rolled 24 + 30 = 54

> 1d100+30 for spying on the region (Scinnari offers huge bonus,)

rolled 86 + 40 = 126

>>13212048
> 1d100+40 for calling up Cygnis, getting information, and keeping her happy.

And that's it for my rolls.

>>13212081
Use the 89 for the slave introduction, please. Puhleaaaaaaaase.

rolled 65 + 30 = 95

>>13212092
>>13212089
>>13212085
Ugh.

>>13212108
The irony is, that's what I actually meant to roll it for but I forgot the +30.

Alright. Thread is basically over, I'm going to hang around and answer questions for a bit, and compose a final post covering our semi-abysmal rolls. Will be picking up after the timeskip, possibly sometimes Monday-Wednesday.

>>13212094
Well, at least Cygnis still wants us.

rolled 61 = 61

>>13212048

>>13212127
My question: Why are you stopping the thread? We have ideas, we have rolls, you're here, we're here, everything we need! Write, writer-dude, write!

Roughly how large is the island?

How far is it from other lands?

How many ships do we now directly own? Or did we give them all away as phat lewt?

And perhaps most importantly: What is Cygnis' cup-size?

>>13212069
>>13212068
Reports are somewhat unfortunate; first of all, three of your ten scouts simply don't comeback; caves are highly hazardous environs for smaller creatures, you suppose, and a rockfall or falling somewhere could quite possibly have killed some of your intrepid adventurers. Who knows.

Those that return do have a few interesting facts to report. One, down on far west slope of your mountain, a heavily burned female reports boiling water, noxious and incredibly hot, filling portions of the cave, (and spraying at random.). Another, a pair of particularly intrepid individuals, report finding an ancient catacomb of some side carved into the mountain; entirely abandoned and derelict, mummified bodies totally inert (you have a feeling they may have tested whether the had any edible flesh or burial valuables.).

A single lizardman actually claims to have found a way into your lair through a lower passage; with his guidance, some blasting powder, and plenty of rock, you seal it up and collapse it.

[Covering next roll next. Any rewards/HeKnowsToMuch?]

>>13212188
is that as dragon or as humanoid?
cause she polymorphs into humanoid, so she would have any size

question is, what part of her will we mount?

>>13212212
Rewards. To those injured, the brave, and that one who found the way into our lair. That was a good catch.

>>13212219
after she's dead, that is
as a trophy, that is

rolled 51 = 51

>>13212212
I say send down more. In teams of three.

>>13212219
I'm in favor of the elf form. More manageable that way.

>>13212219
Well, tits are a mammalian feature, so she wouldn't even have any in Draconic form.

So I mean in the mundane form she takes as a follower of the library temple

>>13212212
Always reward those who are effective in our service. They can have minor favors as tokens of our appreciation, should they ask for them.

>>13212212
> A single lizardman actually claims to have found a way into your lair through a lower passage; with his guidance, some blasting powder, and plenty of rock, you seal it up and collapse it.

We're going to need to bring the kobolds in for a more thorough check and blasting/trapping/fortifying.

A thought for another time I guess.

>>13212240
She doesn't have to be dead to be a trophy. Arguably, she'd be more valuable to our horde alive and in chains. Broken, defeated, wearing the skin of her brother as a beautiful dress.

>>13212258
technically, tits are a human feature
other mammals only develop noticeable mammaries while lactating

>>13212077
>>13212081
>>13212089
>>13212085

Expansion to the city is surprisingly ef
fective and easy. The rumors of abberations and monsters on the norther side of the island have people wanting both more room (a buffer zone) and security; using some of the loot plundered from the Rhasver fleet's sunken coffers, you hire a few dwarven engineers, buy some skilled assistants, and bring in more labor. Which brings up an unpleasant problem; the 'native' villagers are quite upset about your importation of slaves, some because they fear being replaced, and some because slaves simply don't have money to spend; you resolve this at Scinnari's suggestion by changing to 'indentured servants', offering bare necessities pay, and offering advances and loans, with the understanding that they will remain indentured until their time and their debts are paid off. You particularly enjoy the discomfort of the 'skeptics' and pessimistic slaves; those that really didn't believe you about intending to free them once finished are the ones who ended up deepest in debt, and longest indentured. Scinnari is quite pleased with the result, and you can't disagree.

[toss in 1d100-50 for that Orb of Storms, too. And there was something else, I'm almost certain.... Can't remember it, though.]

>>13212284
would be more sweet if she's a willing slave...

also, we have yet to mount anything in our natural form...
this needs to be rectified

rolled 46 + 50 = 96

>>13212300

rolled 98 + 50 = 148

>>13212300
Rolling for Orb of Storms. Come on-!

>>13212325
Hmm, I tried minus, but it doesn't seem to want to do it.

rolled 37 + 50 = 87

>>13212300

rolled 69 - 50 = 19

>>13212325
sille anon, that's not how you roll with negative modifier

>>13212328
> 98

Hot damn.

>>13212328
>>13212325
Apparently dX-Y is read as dX+Y by the die roller. Who knew?

>>13212328
...
can we still use this?

rolled 23 = 23

>>13212300
I'll try again.

>>13212327
I think what disturbs me most is that you posted a picture of two fursonas while saying this.

Check the signature of the picture.

>>13212357
Well, apparently that doesn't work either, it just comes out as a 1d100.

WD, something we should do during the timeskip is put out feelers for that order and the cult that captured Scinnari.

>>13212092
>>13212089
>but we are apparently still crap at it.

Details from around take a backseat for the moment; the mage's guilds of Morinth are somewhat upset at the sudden appearance of a terrifically powerful sorcerer to the south of them, but with a little bribery, and some creativity by Scinnari, they rule against sending an expedition or party to investigate you. Rhasver itself seems to have decided you are not worth the effort, or at least, you hope it has. Freeport and it's allies seem to be mobilizing an building up their navies, as you'd assume, albeit slowly. Their fleets will probably be ready to sail in the late fall or winter. Sadly, even with Scinnari's help, you can't find much out about Azar; the blockade and war-state seem to have left the city singularly unfriendly.

>>13212300
>And there was something else, I'm almost certain.... Can't remember it, though.
Our sorcery practice?

Building a personal military unit?

The acquisition of servitors of various sorts for our castle?

Maintaining total and absolute control of Mza?

>>13212358
Oh god. I'm sorry. I'M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING! Forgive me!

Here. I'll delete this and provide WD's pic of our Oh-So-Fine lady.

>>13212388
No, as in another magical item.

Also, at some point we're going to need to head to Beren (was that it?) to check on that other red.

rolled 31 - 50 = -19

>>13212367
dice 1d100+-50, mate
it's cool, dice roller is a little weird

you can also not que different die rolls
dice 1d4+1d20 comes out 1d4+1

>>13212375
I agree with this, but make sure that Scinnari herself doesn't know we are investigating her or her background.

>>13212400
Paris Hilton's face.

>>13212424
Can not unsee.

>>13212403
>Also, at some point we're going to need to head to Beren (was that it?) to check on that other red.
...why? She's not messing with us, and I don't think we actually want to draw her attention while our only kingdom is one that we're not ruling openly. Reds aren't usually the most subtle-minded, and she'd be unlikely to appreciate the genius of our plan.

She might be willing to one-night-stand us if we say we're just passing through, I guess. Could be fun. But she's probably significantly older/more powerful than we are, if she's holding down a nation without getting paladined.

>>13212442
> if she's holding down a nation without getting paladined.

For now. Apparently they never last very long.

Might be our only chance to bang another red for a while.

Speaking of which, are we still in posession of our draconic cherry?

>>13212442
Indeed. She is a possible future target for Binding, not a friend or ally.

>>13212468
Never stated. Possibly.

>>13212328
>>13212325
[ >98 ]
[ I'm thinking this a rather powerful artifact, but even I cannot deny the majesty.]

Trawling your and Scinnari's connections, you actually manage to find a vaunted Orb of the Storms. It takes a significant chunk of change to acquire, as well as some blood, but Scinnari and you will heal, and the other party won't. Suffice to say, you think it makes a wonderful addition to the top tower of you castle; the faint booming and flashes it emits are perfect for atmosphere.

>>13212111
>>13212094

During your varied 'business trips', you make a point to stop and call Cygnis occasionally. Freeport sadly has done well so far, the blockade of Azar making it a popular (if not entirely safe or neutral) destination. Also sadly, Councilor Lady Elise is in excellent health, and unlikely to either die or rescind your banishment. Still, Cygnis is overjoyed to hear from you, and has shown no sign of noticing her brother is missing. You promise you sneak back in a few years and see her sometime, but are currently busy following the crystal, and hunting down information on the Binder. (All technically true, if not you primary goal.) Cygnis seems eager to hear from you again.

>>13212484
Let's do this too during the skip:
>>13212415
>>13212375
I'll third it or whatever.

>>13212484
Muahahahahahaha. Excellent.

>>13212484
damn... you can't help feel sorry for the little lady
she seems so cute and trusting, will be a shame to ruin that, even if the corruption will be glorious...

>>13212468
>Speaking of which, are we still in posession of our draconic cherry?
Considering that we know the Binder memory-wiped us or possibly just created us- can't recall which- shortly before the quest started, I think the answer is a fairly definitive yes. We certainly don't have memory of getting any before then, if I correctly understand our situation.

>>13212555
That is disinformation. What really happened is the Binder killed and remade us when we were young... possibly still in the egg. We then had a normal life, with the caveat that we have extremely high magical ability and she can talk to us.

Alright....

1d100-20 for sowing the seeds of our cult; we've already got the lizardmen, but we want to be Worshipped! (We've already been warshipped enough for one year.)

Repairing our castle.... Anyone got ideas as to how we intend to go about doing it? (IE, hire dwarves, eat them when they're finished?)

>>13212424
I am happily immune, because I don't even know what Paris Hilton looks like. I mentioned in a previous thread (or in chat, possibly,) that I live under a rock and know neither celebrities nor actors.

That said, is it bad enough that I should not use that picture myself?


1d100+10 for finding ourselves some good, dependable household minions/slaves.

And 1d100-40 for finding trawling for more about Scinnari.

>>13212592
GET KOBOLDS!
WE MUST HAVE KOBOLDS!
too long have we been separated from Jerrik

rolled 76 - 40 = 36

>>13212592
Come on Scinnari information!

>>13212592
Oh, and 1d100 - 40 for sorcery practice. Degrees of success are... success.

rolled 76 - 20 = 56

>>13212592
Cult

rolled 23 - 20 = 3

>>13212592
> 1d100-20 for sowing the seeds of our cult; we've already got the lizardmen, but we want to be Worshiped! (We've already been warshipped enough for one year.)

rolled 18 + 10 = 28

>>13212603
rolling for it

rolled 76 + 10 = 86

>>13212592
> 1d100+10 for finding ourselves some good, dependable household minions/slaves.

rolled 97 + 10 = 107

>>13212592
Slaves with the caveat we rather not hire anyone than hire untrustworthy folk. Very rigorous screening process.

>>13212603
We got lizardmen! Lizardmen are better! Kobolds are just adventurer fodder, lizardmen can take adventuerers one-on-one and win! (Plus ours seem to have a silent-native-hunter schtick going.)

Also... this village has never had a name. Ever, I think. What shall we call it? I think Dragonopolis would be a bit, ah, blatant.

rolled 31 - 40 = -9

>>13212592
> And 1d100-40 for finding trawling for more about Scinnari.

rolled 5 - 40 = -35

>>13212606
> Oh, and 1d100 - 40 for sorcery practice. Degrees of success are... success.

Nah, Paris is kinda cute.

Not likable, or talented, or deserving of her status, but she has a nice face.

rolled 91 - 40 = 51

>>13212592
Scinnari research roll.

rolled 36 - 40 = -4

Incidentally, we're archived.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=dragon%20quest
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13204751/

Don't forget to vote.

rolled 88 - 40 = 48

>>13212592
Sorcery

>>13212592
>Repairing our castle.... Anyone got ideas as to how we intend to go about doing it? (IE, hire dwarves, eat them when they're finished?)
Repairing our castle will be a trick. I would rather not bring dwarves into it, because they'll keep records... perhaps have our household staff include someone skilled with architecture and construction, if we roll well enough? Then they could handle keeping everything in order, and repairing things if we accidentally blow up a room or three.

Do not hire and eat people. That sets a very bad precedent. Also, we're trying to be friends or at least a well-respected ally with the dwarves. I am hoping that in a few decades, dwarven children in that clan will be taught that we're one of their hereditary clan allies. Because you know that dwarves keep friends for just as long as they keep enemies.

>>13212592
> Repairing our castle.... Anyone got ideas as to how we intend to go about doing it? (IE, hire dwarves, eat them when they're finished?)

> eat them when they're finished?
No. That's the sort of lolevil that we should avoid.

>>13212670
Just hire normal stonemasons to repair it. The secret passage work and such can be done by fanatical dragon cultist masons in a hundred years.

>>13212670
We can have the dwarves do it, then have the kobolds make additions as needed. Most of the renovation will just be basic stuff, repairing the basic structure, refurnishing, and all that. For that, records aren't really an issue.

So... we going to get posts on the second round of rolls, or is that going to be saved for monday (or wednesday)?

>>13212609
>>13212608
Starting a cult is a delicate and interesting process; you can hardly look it up in a library, or write the nearest deity asking for advice. Despite that, you think you've got one on a roll. It'll take a few years to truly develop into the kind of worship you wish to encourage, but.... It's a start. It's a start...

>>13212618
>>13212620
>over 100

It's expensive, but you manage to purchase individuals you think... fitting. A blind deep-dwarf sculptor and stonemason, something you originally considered a curiosity and possible way to redecorate your castle. Not only does he prove capable of repairing and improving the place, but he is both a dutiful work, and extremely loyal. While he seems certain you aren't human, he doesn't seem to care, and is very grateful for his quarters in the castle. A cook, not quite as skilled as the one you left behind in Freeport, but less expensive and probably more loyal. Still undeniably skilled. Also completely ignorant of the local language, coming from some distant locale. Suitably loyal and awed, when you reveal yourself.

A housekeeper is your final immediate acquisition; someone to make sure the place is inhabitable to the rest of your slaves; you hardly want to take care of them. Hara you purchase from the blocks of Rhasver, being sold after some noble made the mistake of knocking her up. While you dislike the idea of a child in your castle, you figure it an excellent way to ensure her loyalty, and the act of mercy an instant way to acquire it.


[Very Sorry, going slow because I feel like a zombie. Will try to finish.]

>>13212772
> [Very Sorry, going slow because I feel like a zombie. Will try to finish.]

Thank you!

>>13212772
> A blind deep-dwarf sculptor and stonemason

How does that even work?

You know what, never mind.

>>13212634
>>13212660
[effectively] gain two caster levels. Mind you, we haven't been keeping track of our spells very well anyway, but there you go.

>>13212626
>>13212605
No dice; you'd prefer not to risk overtly revealing your search, and can't make significant progress without doing so.


And, unless I'm missing something, 6-18 month timeskip.

>>13212811
Blind sculptors have happened before. I'm sure they have, though I can't remember anything at the moment. [Zombie. Like I said.]. Anyway, I don't see how it's that different from a deaf musician, or something in that vein.

I still feel like I'm failing to remember/deal with something right here.....

>>13212694
But that's the standard method of copy control in this day and age!

More seriously, I still feel like I'm missing something, but am going to have to end anyway fairly shortly. Any last requests or things people want to roll for?

>>13212876
How long before the next timeskip? 18 months is a while, but not long enough to make any TRUE progress on building a metropolis.

>>13212831
We need to get our lair shielded against magical intrusion. Scrying, teleportation, and the like.

>>13212912
Not sure quite how to do that. Hire wizard, bring to our lair, let him do it? Wait until we can do it ourselves? Processes are kind of vague. I'm not terribly familiar with 3.e anyway; what spells or things can you do to protect an area? Permanent Dimensional Anchor, or something?

>>13212910
This is basically some of the progress in the timeskip. We're doing it; this is the skim-over.

If that made sense. I'm not sure it made sense to me, so I have no idea what you should think.

Since we didn't find anything on Scinnari let's try to hire some people to go looking. Take a day-trip or something saying we want to go flying around and eat some cows then fly FAR FAR off to do it. Set up a way for them to contact us.

This will take a while to pay off, likely another timeskip, and maybe be expensive but it's better than revealing our search and we both need and want to know about Scinnari.

>>13212944
You are delving into nonsense territory again.

>>13212944
Well, there's stuff like nondetection and mage's private sanctum, both of which can be permanenced.

>>13212944
Lead. No, seriously, lead blocks most divination spells, including scrying.

Teleportation... not so much.

>>13212944
>Hire wizard, bring to our lair, let him do it?
The best way is probably to enchant several items with an anti-scrying and anti-teleportation field, and put them in critical rooms in our lair/castle.

Base improvements mostly come from rather questionable sourcebooks in 3.5; it's not balanced very well for anything but adventuring campaigns. You'll just have to make the judgment call on what's allowable and what's reasonable.

>>13213048
Fair enough. I suppose I can handle it. Another 1d100, then. Another given, but just ruling how much money and time it takes.

rolled 86 = 86

>>13213082
I do so hate spending money...

>>13213165
You don't have to spend much of it.

Alright, I'm out. Maybe I'll have enough sleep by next time. I doubt it, though. Good thread, thank you all.

>>13213213
Thanks, WD! See you next time.

Final post for real. Wouldn't want to leave my name somewhere embarrassing.

>>13213220
See you.

>>13212955
This is mainly intended to lower that huge negative modifier we took the next time we search, by the way.

Lastly before I go to bed and forget, we should work on Asha during the 18 months. A year and a half of intensive psychological conditioning and stockholm syndrome should have marked effects. And what is an evil overlord without sexy brown brainwashed assassin princesses?

>>13213867
No true Evil Overlord at all!