Relations with Seffestranias have been cool, of late- Nothing hostile, but an uncharacteristic silence in communications. You might attribute it to bitterness over your refusal to pay her specified price for the war, but she did not seem overly affronted at the time, nor since... Well, at least, other than her silence. It's almost... unnerving. Otherwise, things seem quiet diplomatically. Nobody is acting particularly belligerent at the moment, though Rhasver does seem to be rebuilding with fervor, even if they aren't acting aggressive. You decide to keep an eye on it.


Finally, the mainland has been experiencing unusually poor weather recently. Examination of the matter determines someone else is tampering with the weather, someone to your east- South of where Nehmeska resides. Even further examination determines that it isn't an attack on you- or if it is, it's a very poor one, you could have made it much more effective- it seems to be someone compensating for the your activities with the weather. Preventing your loose ends from interfering with their own... You suppose it could be a pointed reminder, but it does not seem to be directed at you or your holdings in particular- Like yourself, it seems someone is attempting to alter their local weather, and isn't too concerned about what side effects it causes.

>>15222332
How is our examination of the jungle resources going? Did we even sent one of our alchemist to the jungle? If not select one of the promising ones and sent with a proper retinue of bodyguards and assistants and a proper motivation if he find anything of useful or exploitable.

Well, first I would say we should look about to see who is dicking with the weather. Don't fight them or even communicate, just look around.

Congratulate Azyra. That's our girl.

The governors can think what they like, so long as they stay loyal. After all, they each have their own special traits that we overlook too.

I still think we should open secret communications with the warlord, doubly so now that relations have cooled with Seffy. If we can ally with a human warlord to smash her kingdom then divide the spoils it would go pretty well in my opinion. After all, eventually he will die and his children will take the throne. Eventually his line will throw out a lemon and when that happens we can take over the rest.

>>15222332
>Like yourself, it seems someone is attempting to alter their local weather, and isn't too concerned about what side effects it causes.
They should be more concerned about side effects. Side effects like pissing us off. Our empire is meant to have perfect weather all the time, maintained by our own sorcerous might gently tugging at the strings of the sky's flow. Anything which disrupts that must be eliminated.

Track down whoever is doing it. They need to do one of three things:
-Pay us compensation for the economic damage they've done thus far to our empire and stop their activities.
-Pay us compensation for the economic damage they've done thus far to our empire and let us take over their activities in a competent fashion that will accomplish both our goals in exchange for a sizable fee.
-Die like a bitch for pissing us off.

Which they choose I am not particular about.

>>15222455
I'm pretty sure you're
>implying
that we are somehow the baddest wizard on the block. If this is some epic level archmage then no, we are not going to /demand/ shit from him. Get your head on straight.

>>15222412
Exploiting the jungles is a difficult task, in no small part because of how hostile it is to outsiders. Though Mza originally qualified as one, it has become far tamer and more civilized due to your influence, and the quite literally wild jungle of the south is an untamed expanse of monsters, insects, ruins, and your new tribesmen. Those that you sent quickly gave up on searching the jungle themselves, and have settled in on the western of the Ivory Gates, and spend much of their time socializing with the tribes that come to trade goods. As previously, much of it is useless or of minimal value, but they have found a few items already that they believe could be of considerable use.


>>15222439
It seems to be localized around the eastern jungles- The region south of Nehmeska. Aside from the few dragons you know to inhabit the region, it is supposed to hold the remnants of ancient yaun-ti empires within it's uncharted tracts.

>>15222503
An epic level archmage would probably have better shit to do, and we are perfectly capable of demanding whatever we want from the vast majority of things on this plane, using either our own personal power or that of our nation. Get -your- head on straight and remember that we are powerful enough that we rarely have to take shit.

>>15222532
Conjure a healthy blow over that area then and watch for the mage who stops or counteracts it. Once we know exactly where it is we can try scrying or visiting in image form.

AAAAAAARGH! It's DragonQuest night and I'm still two threads back in the Archives. =(
A question: This is four threads back now, but I was reading fairly carefully at the time, and no one seemed to pick up on it.
Magister Attor convinced Rhasver to go to war with us, because we stole something of hers. She has a mysterious background, no one knows where she came from. She has a ruthless reputation, and she's a master of a handfull of schools of Arcane magic. Significant portions of her guildhouse are made from solidified air, just like our Cloud-Castle.

Have we figured out yet that Magister Attor is the goddamn Lorekeeper, irritated with us EITHER because we annexed her abandoned Cloud-Castle, OR because we "stole" the Watcher from where she hid her?

Having read straight through, it seems like Writer Dude has been dropping hints like crazy, but they would have been spaced out over weeks in real time.

>>15222612
Two threads back? Do be careful- The June Threads seem to be chronologically confused.

>>15222612
>Have we figured out yet that Magister Attor is the goddamn Lorekeeper, irritated with us EITHER because we annexed her abandoned Cloud-Castle, OR because we "stole" the Watcher from where she hid her?
Impossible. Why? Because if we're going against a 5000 year old gold dragon we're fucked and it's game over. Period. There's absolutely nothing we could do to stop her if she wanted us dead. Nothing.

So you best damn HOPE she is not Lorekeeper.

And honestly it seems pretty ridiculous anyway. Much more likely she is a powerful mage who we stole the dragonslaying sword from. Remember that? It was stolen by the anti-binder elements of Freeport (probably from the Magister) and then we stole it again. She likely tracked it down via scrying when it was unshielded in transport to Mza, before we could get wards up around it again.

>>15222612
If she were Lorekeeper, she could just drop in to the castle and be recognized as its rightful owner by default. She wouldn't need to muck around with getting tens of thousands of people killed in wars over her own frustrations.

She might value her secrecy more than that, but that still wouldn't stop her from sending in one of her descendants to take it over, which wouldn't reveal her own existence. Either would be basically trivial.

>>15222633
You're telling me. >_< No, I have then straight, but thanks.

No comment on the observation, I note.

Anyway, thanks man, these threads are awesome. Do you have them written out all-together in word files anywhere? I'm wondering what the pagecount is on Dragon Quest, now. It's got to be HUEG(sp) by now. I read fast, and it's taken a week's worth of evenings. I've read entire series (serieses?) in less time than that.

>>15222656
Not at all. There's ALWAYS something you can do. Look at the stats. It's only three times our health, with less than half again our strength. With allies, we can take on anything.

We're going to have to take on the Bound and the Binder eventually, why not start planning for it?

We have alienated Seffestranias. Either we take steps to win back her valuable, but dangerous affections, or we make ready for her to take some precipitous action.

We need to give her something that will keep her busy for a decade or two.

>>15222745
Uh.

No. I don't think you seem to understand the difference. Better in every way and having 5000 years to build up resources, contacts, plots and counter plots, expand her own magical ability and, oh -- by the way, she had one of the most extensive collections of lore in the entire world.

Face it kid, it can't be Lorekeeper because if it was we would be dead.

>>15222692
290. I was only typing up OPs for the first few dozen, though.

###

A storm, for you, is quite possibly the easiest of things to conjure. It requires almost no actually magical 'effort' on your part, only some time with your orb of storms. The gale you churn up is massive, but not entirely impossible for the region and the time. Your goal is not to cause destruction... merely to force a response. Which you do, quite handily. Your storm is picked apart by minor forces, shrinking to the size of a mere thunderhead by the time it fully enters the jungle.

Unfortunately, scrying fails to locate the individual responsible for this, but it doesn't seem necessary; there is a single inhabited structure in the region that the storm would have hit, and presumably, it holds the individual responsible for the change. An ancient yaun-ti bastion, by the look of it, it's massive, ancient stonework stretches almost a mile at it's longest through the jungle. Covered in trees, vines, and other creepers, it is clearly still inhabited- your scrying shows you Yaun-ti on it's walls, in the jungle, or otherwise maintaining the fortress. They seem to have a tribe of humanoids enslaved nearby, as well. The interior, however, is shielded from your sight. The warding, you believe, is set in the stone of the structure, and as old as the bastion itself. Meaning that either the individual responsible is far older than you are, and possibly a legitimately dangerous foe, has ascended to immortality by some method- likely lichdom- or is merely one of the current inhabitants, something you find far more probable and palatable.

Scrying the inhabitants, you do identify several relatively powerful clerics, and enough inhabitants to make you certain that the fortress extends deep into the ground. Any of the more powerful clerics seem of sufficient power to manipulate the weather, though you don't see any indication as to who is responsible, or indeed, if it is one person at all.

Determine who is altering the weather by scrying. Weather-alteration is a large scale magic, so it should be possible to scout in the area and use the relative strength of the spell in each scouted location to triangulate the location the spell was cast. This minimizes the risks of being in the jungle, since you can skirt the edges mostly.

Since the weather spells will need to be refreshed periodically, we can keep an eye on the place they are cast from. If the caster seems like he would be willing to collaborate we should contact him and arrange to make sure our weather modification spells are working in concert instead of at loggerheads.

If he isn't inclined to cooperated we'll need to take further action to determine how strong he is.

We could give a favor to Seffestranias, something she's not as good at. Like weather modification, or intelligence on the frost giant raiders. But what we should really do is figure out a policy toward her beyond whatever seems good at the moment. We can't afford another war right now, but in the future if we could, would we want to wage open war against her? Her idea of merging the kingdoms was a good one, it would have accomplished much and we do get along well with her, as far as dragons go.

>>15222933
>Her idea of merging the kingdoms was a good one, it would have accomplished much and we do get along well with her, as far as dragons go.
Enough. This has been flat out rejected. Stop trying to bring it up again -- Every. Single. Thread.

We don't need to take any action regarding Seffy other than expanding our spying and making sure that relations stay at something other than war for now.

>>15222864
Durp, it can't be! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IT CAN'T BE!

>mfw it is

>"If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there."

The Lorekeeper is a pistol. It may or may not be pointed at us. There are pistols around that we can point back. For instance, there's a mated pair of wyrm/very old bronzes. Bronzes, more than any other kind of dragon, are keen on working for money. We have an adult silver working for us. We have an adult red we could still restore friendly relations with -even mate. (Scinari would understand, given the potential threat) We have a mature adult (old?) gold, captive in our goodamn lair, that we're slowly breaking to our will. Not to mention the Ancient Bronze sworn to our service, just aching to be dropped into a dragon body of our choosing.

Hell, with enough gold tossed around, we wouldn't even have to get creative.
But the kicker is, we have a relentless, indestructible dragon golem at our command, should we free it. That's our trump card.
It's bound, so we can't have it kill Lorekeeper. We can, however, tell it to attack and subdue Lorekeeper, and protect our person. While we, of course, are under no such Bindings.

Where's your ambition?

>>15223052
Nope. You're watching shadows on the wall. Not every important person in the world is a dragon or binder related, and once again -- if it was Lorekeeper we would be crushed. Your appeal to incredulity doesn't fly here.

>>15222886

Hmmm... Maybe we can snatch one of the yaun-ti from the walls and interrogate it? Dangerous jungle after all, one missing critter wouldn't be unusual.

I think it might be worth trying to re-establish relations with Seffy. Nothing too overt, just resuming communications and maybe visit her in person for a catch-up session (and we can always bring Watcher to sneakily mind-swipe her and see if she's planning anything).

>>15223052
No. Don't be stupid. Also like the other guy said, all that was voted on already and the answer was a resounding no.

>>15223191
>>15223106

>head in sand
If it's so unlikely, let's put it to WD, in the form of asking the Watcher about our musings. She knew Lorekeeper, after all. She wasn't present for our meeting with the Magister (on purpose? I wonder...), but she would have insight into how the gold operates.


Also, the vote on Seffy wasn't nearly as "resounding" as you think it was.
I don't care one way or the other -for one thing, her kingdom is shitty and poor compared to ours. But we are Master Manipulator, are we not? Then when we have a draconic peer offering us her tail on a ruby platter, what the hell are we doing, allowing ourselves to alienate her!
At the very least we should have turned her into a dependent friend who thinks she's a confidant, waiting in the wings to swoop in after Scinari to "suddenly but inevitably betrays" us.

>>15222886
Okay, things still on the to-do list.

-Make sure that the brass dragon in the avariel cities is either knowingly under our control or being watched. We could speak to him personally, send Nehmaska, or just have a bunch of spies keep tabs on him.

-Still need to make sure that our military think-tank is running and producing positive results. Basically, putting together things like this combined with military academies and such is the foundation of a highly competent and professional military- essential for a larger and better lawful evil empire.

-The conversion of the jungles into somewhat more highly profitable tropical holdings, as outlined in previous threads, should be proceeding.

-I believe that we have Nehmaska currently working in Exheln. Get updates from her regularly; I would like to absorb it a few years before the next anticipated Rhasver war, which will likely require a significant amount of plotting and effort.

>>15223316
-We need to absorb all the little Angevin states that are uniting against us again. This might be a formulaic "send in the armies" thing, or it might be better accomplished through diplomacy and assassination and what have you; let's get a solid assessment of the situation and take whatever action is most appropriate. Or several courses of action at once.

-When Azyra turns 20, we send her interning with our government's divisions. I would recommend two years with each of the navy, the army, a major governor, our intelligence services/secret police, and one of our best trade companies. She is to follow the directions and lifestyle directed by those in whose care she has been placed, who we will of course have carefully instructed as to our purpose in this matter: She is to learn as much as possible about their workings, build personal connections, and hopefully grow as a person/discover what she wants to do with her life. We can check in with her whenever we wish with magical communication, of course, but for the most part she is expected to come out of this period as a competent adult.

-See if we can get some spies close to this Angevin warlord guy, figure out what he's planning. He could make an extremely useful ally/catspaw if we have serious problems with Seffy.

-Keep an eye on little Firelady to see how she's faring and how that bit with the adventurers ended up panning out.

>>15223316
Let's approach that brass about employment, keeping ships under our flag (maybe ONLY ships under our flag) safe from being accosted. At least find out his price.

He didn't seem to be ambitious. We can probably meet his price for a drop in the bucket of our treasury.

>>15223316
Seconding all these. I vote spies for the bronze rather than showing a draconic hand. Can we please move on from the one dude who can't let go of seffy?

>>15223316

Few things to add into this...

We need marines. Some kind of amphibious force that can strike very quickly at coastal targets and be rapidly inserted into developing situations. Rhasver can throw up fortifications quickly, and they're costly to take or lay siege to. Better to kill the seed before it grows.

Refit our navy. Those ships have to be getting old by now and could probably use some TLC. Get our dwarves working on some cannons; dwarfish metallurgy will allow us to make higher pressure and longer range guns than most of our rivals.

Get our aerial corps off the ground and breed more half-dragons. Ourselves if we have to, since relying on the green alone doesnt give us much variety in our hybrid's breath weapons.

Fortify our mainland holdings.

Lay down stockpiles in preperation for the unexpected. I get the feeling that something big is brewing and we don't want to meet it unprepared.

Cultivate allies. The nations surrounding us are decidedly unreliable or even hostile. Getting things back on track in Beren would give us a buffer zone and staging area should things go badly on the mainland, not to mention the kind of economic pressure that two reletively powerful trade states could exert on rivals. We need to get back in Seffy's good books.

>>15222886
WD, since I didn't get an answer last thread: How goes our background research into Soulless and the Binder? Have we encountered anything new? Learnt anything on the nature of the Bitch's extradimensional prison?

>>15223432
>We need to get back in Seffy's good books.
Let's go for a visit, and take Azyra. Seffy warmed up surprisingly to our daughter on her last visit, maybe she will again.

Let's make the appearance of our visit light and casual, but have Scinnari and additional squads our our bodyguard -maybe even Nehmeska- ready to teleport to our position on a moments notice if Seffy's already committed to causing us trouble.

>>15223052
The Lorekeeper is/was one of the bound. If one of the bound was both alive and free to act then why the fuck would the binder be mucking around trying to get us to do shit for her when we're obviously not going to?

>>15223532

Because she/he is playing the long game. With a healthy dose of just as planned, I expect.

I highly doubt that we are the only active agent that she has.

Either way, it definitely has an ace in the hole.

>>15223494
>Visit Seffy
Let's not. We have better things to be doing.

>and take Azyra
Even if we do, this is utterly stupid. She's an impressionable young girl and need to be protected from possible manipulations still. Especially a possible enemy like Seffy.

>>15223573

I disagree. Excluding the old Sultan (who won't last much longer) shes the only other entity we can sortof rely on. That relationship will become important to us if bad stuff goes down.

Either way, taking two or three days out to re-affirm a relationship isn't world breaking. Especially if we use it as an excuse to give her a wave with Watcher and uncover anything she might be planning.

>>15223562
Obviously she has other agents, we defeated a whole cult working for her and I doubt it was the only one. I just think that if she'd had Lorekeeper working for her for the past couple of thousand years then she'd have been freed ages ago and this whole quest would never have happened.

>>15223609
Seffy was reliable only in a few regards. She's greedy and likes to fight. While the latter has made her useful as a mercenary in the past, the former gets in the way of that. The blues and bronze do good work, don't charge as much, and aren't interested in absorbing our kingdom as much as they are in just getting paid. If we want dragon mercs, they're a much more reliable bunch.

>>15223609
God. Cut it out man. We aren't going to bonk seffy, we aren't going to take our impressionable daughter to see her, and we most assuredly aren't going to merge kingdoms.

>>15223432
>Cultivate allies. The nations surrounding us are decidedly unreliable or even hostile.
Aside from Beren, do you have any actual ideas on this score? We're already tied to Tashz quite tightly economically, even if they wouldn't go to war with us. Exheln is weak and we want to absorb them. We are trying to make Aquitaine our ally, but they're actively resisting our overtures. Rhasver is obviously a lost cause. The United Cities aren't nearly as their name makes them sound- decent for trade but no decent ally in war. We're systematically absorbing ever more Angevin states. The tribals and yuan-ti aren't really viable allies.

Essentially, we are TRYING to cultivate allies, and in all directions. We've looked at every nation on the map to try. Until we get a larger map or try something drastic, we're not going to be able to do much better than we're doing.

>>15223639

I'm not just thinking about Dragon mercs. I'm thinknig about the empire she has at her call. And her position on the mainland. Being an island, we're at risk of being starved for supplies should war break out. Having some connections on the mainland and a few friends to back you up never hurt. At the very least we should try to establish if she is planning anything against us.

>>15223647
I don't recall mentioning bonking Seffy, nor am I particuarly enthused by the idea, considering she would use it as an excuse to try and get her claws into our slice of the goods.

>>15223494 here
Hmm. By my count, that's at least two, maybe three?
guys in this thread now who are in favor of buttering up Seffy. >>15223303 was right, Seffy pushed too hard, too fast, but the vote was always close.
Paranoidfags always shouted it down.

I wanted to bring Azyra because, let's face it, she's adorable. But >>15223609 has a point, she's just about the only utterly reliable player we have in this game. She loves us, we love her, and she'll back us against all comers. And vice versa, obviously.

So let's take her out and help daddy at work, buttering up a dragon cougar who thinks she's more important than she really is.

>>15223704
Why not concentrate on allies of the winged and scaley nature, since we know where they are?

Also, we dragons are not the only powerful and inteligent creature in the world. There are other lesser forces that are powers in their own right. We should send out our spies to find some, that might become soldiers under our wing.

>>15223747
>but the vote was always close
No, the vote was decisive and clear cut. And I only see one person, MAYBE two if we take posting style into account. And wonder of wonders, the actual vote only had two supporters two. Funny, that.

It has been put to a vote and shot down. Drop it.

>>15223747
> Hmm. By my count, that's at least two, maybe three?
> but the vote was always close.
Votes outside of the IRC channel are pretty meaningless because we're all anonymous, making an actual reliable headcount impossible, and the IRC channel has been pretty firmly against closer relations with Seffy. And no, the votes there haven't been particularly close.

>>15223704
My thoughts on this were:
Tshaz: try to lessen our economic ties a little, since putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. See if we can get some mutual defence treaties going; the Sultan himself admitted that it wasn't half as strong as it appeared to be, mostly because it has huge areas of empty land.

Aquatine: We're getting nothing out of them. Enough carrot, we let them stew for a while. Maybe poke a few smaller city states to start annoying them and make them more open to the possibilities.

United Cities: pick one or two and play them off against each other. Offer covert assistance until there is a useful dominant power we can manipulate.

Exheln: Need to be less overt with getting our dabs on them. Our colonialism will be making other nations nervous and might galvanise them to unite against us if Rhasver kicks off again.

>>15223704
Indeed. It would be nice to have allies but we've already approached or made enemies of everyone. Mot of the territory around here seems fairly undeveloped though, so it's not all that bad. There are only a handful of nations.

>>15223747
> but the vote was always close.

The vote regarding marrying Seffy was 2 in favor to 7 against. That's not close.

We don't have to marry her to stay on her good side.

perhaps we could open diplomatic relations with the Yaun-ti south of where Nehmeska's lair?

>>15223808

This.

Lets throw her a bone of some kind (no, pervs.) something that stokes her vanity. C'mon, we're a Red. We know how they tick. There has to be somethin we can do to get her back on side.

Yaun-Ti seem like they might be bad news. On the other hand, they might look favorably on a nation that's doing its best to improve the lot of scaleykind.

I wonder if they're the self-destructive world-ending kind, or the pragmatic-evil kind? Let's find out.

As for nearby allies, the smaller blue suzerainty to our north could be a potential one. Some adventurers were trying to kill the suzerain's mate and we passed on a warning to them about that. Could give us a starting point for further relations. And depending on what happens with that warlord in north Angevis, he could be a potential ally if we can aim him at someone aside from us.

>>15223785
I've NEVER gone to the IRC channel, and I've been in DQ since we rescued Cygnis.

Fuck that shit, I don't want to chat with neckbeards. Arguing with you on a board is bad enough.

>>15223848
Now, now. Pot, kettle, black.

Working on a conversation with Nehmeska detailing the situation with Exheln, please stand by.

######

You neglect to abduct a Yaun-ti, settling instead for using Watcher to scan one of them invisibly. And a second, and a third, when the first two prove incapable of telling you what you wish. The individual responsible is an elderly high-priest within the fortress, one of the leaders of the enclave. He is not believed to have hostile designs with regards to you in particular, at least no more than he opposes all non-Yaun-ti.

Of course, the weather is not something insurmountable- It takes a few sporadic trips out to the mainland with your orb of storms, but you can easily disperse the negative weather patterns. It's vexing to do so, particularly when, on one occasion, you are drawn away from teaching Azyra alchemy to disperse a storm, but it's entirely possible to live with such an irritation.

Of the brass that you detected to the south, you have little in the way of incriminating information- He seems to be settling in as an adventurer of sorts, freelance problem-solver for various citizens. Why he is willing to work for humanoids, of all things, and for such piddling pay, you have no idea, though you concede that at one time you did the same thing. For the moment, though, he seems entirely harmless. That is no reason not to watch him, however, and you dispatch a pair of your assassins to maintain surveillance upon him, just in case.

>>15223808
We don't even have to marry her to tug on her avariciously lustful little heartstrings.

We're a goddamn manipulative sonofabitch. Let's be manipulative.

>>15223862
>Why he is willing to work for humanoids, of all things, and for such piddling pay, you have no idea
Sweet! Let's hire him! If he'll work for humanoids, he ought to work for us. Or one of our Neutral Good underlings.

>>15223870
Not only that, but we're male. We don't actually have to take care of any unfortunate consequences. She would, and it would more or less take her out of circulation for a number of years.

>>15223870
>>15223907
No.

>>15223907
Has Azyra taken us out of circulation for a number of years? Or even Scinnari? Not really.

On the other hand, if she were carrying, I'm sure she'd be a bit less of a threat, combat wise. It's cold as hell, but has a certain horrible style to it.

>>15223848
Alright then, that's fine by me. But it does mean that your "vote" is largely meaningless. DQ uses an IRC channel because in the past the arguments have gotten absolutely terrible. Need I remind you of the incredible shit storm over whether or not to kill Asha? It has one because it has proven that it needs one.

Let's stop arguing about solved issues.

The Yuan-Ti are probably a non-problem, they're likely just trying to get good weather for themselves and ignoring the consequences. Causing minimal damage to an empire is like throwing pebbles at a beehive: stupid.

Seffy's silence (especially the fact that WD mentioned it instead of leaving her out of the session) makes me feel something's going on. We should tighten border security, maybe try getting a few more agents into Beren to try and get a look at military plans.

Speaking of Watcher: Did we ever decide on how we were going to restore her body? Stone to flesh was considered on a giant statue but turned down because it's too hard to reproduce a perfect dragon in statue. She would be upset if we tore the soul out of an existing dragon.

Could we somehow cause an egg to be laid without a soul?

>>15223870
>>15223907
>>15223923
No. Go away.

>>15223923
mwahaha.

But no. I want her as an ally, not a corpse.

You drop by Nehmeska to hear her reports on Exheln. Without significant affairs to assign her to, you've been letting her do her own thing, with a lower priority mission to see about infiltrating, suborning, or otherwise annexing the trade city. This time when you arrive, she's discussing designs with the kobolds you gifted to her in a new annex to her lair, a small humanoid-sized room, furniture included. Her humanoid form is a stark contrast to the kobolds- tall to their short, and wearing scant clothing compared the kobolds who are wearing as much in the way of insulation as they can. She obviously enjoys the chilly air far more than you or they. When you arrive, she drops the cave plans she was explaining to the kobolds to greet you, stepping out over to her hoard, which you notice, has changed entirely from rubies to gold. You offer a thin smile at the new veiled insult.

“How are your efforts regarding Exheln coming along?” you ask curtly.

“Quite well, I think. Their governing council is hardly as unified as it would like to appear to be. I am unsure as to how much credit to give the rumors that the drow pull the strings.” Nehmeska replies, unperturbed by your lack of preamble.

“Explain, please.” you order.

“Their ruling council has eleven members. They are surprisingly easy to manipulate, for such vaunted positions. I doubt you- I'm sorry, Lord Prestor could convince them to join his glorious state, but that doesn't mean he couldn't control them relatively easily.” Nehmeska answers, pausing to consider. “His control would probably be greater the less he used it.”

“Obviously. How did you come to these conclusions?” you ask with interest.

“Four of the members have mistresses of some form or another. Three happen to be using their powers on the council to favor their particular merchant enterprises over others. Two have some rather exotic addictions... One happens to be a minor heretic, of sorts....” she says dismissively. “You know how it is.”

“I'm shocked and amazed.” you say with mild surprise. “You'd consider blackmail not to be... what was your phrasing, 'morally reprehensible'?” you ask dryly.

“It depends on what you intend to get with it.” Nehmeska protests. “After all, all too often such a council can become corrupt, or unproductive... sometimes a little pressure is necessary to point them in the right direction. I hope, however, that whatever direction you choose to point them in will be... perhaps 'merciful' is the word.”

>>15223921
>>15223958
You first.

I've got a plan to warm up Seffy and bring our daughter more into the family business, as it were. You're just saying no. Good plan, there!

>>15223953
I believe she'd be upset, but willing to overlook it if we removed the soul from another brass.

Maybe a 'slay living' spell, or something- kills, gives the soul a boot downstairs (or upstairs, depending on alignment,) and leaves a perfectly unharmed body. She said she'd lose her mind-reading powers, though, and seemed to understand we wouldn't be willing to make such a sacrifice, though.

>>15223998
Thanks, I was rather proud of it myself.

Ask her if she found any word on the drow. We've been having problems with creatures from the underdark, so I honestly would like to know if she found anything about them.

>>15223998
We've given the reasons it's a bad idea over and over. You're just trolling at this point, intentional or not it makes no difference.

>>15224086
Reasons against: Azyra's a delicate flower and impressionable.

>will be more impacted by a diplomatic visit with a dragon adversary than she will by her father who briefs her on the goals of their visit.

...this makes sense to you?

>>15224086

Playing devil's advocate, but I don't think hes talking about marrying her. He seems to be saying that if the opportunity to bone her comes up then we should use it to get a handle on her in the manipulation department. Unlikely, as Seffy has already professed she isn't motivated by base desire.

Anyways, moving on.

>>15223998
We've already mentioned several. For one, Seffy is a bad influence on Azyra. She's the exact sort of person that we don't want our daughter to become, and judging by that anarchic sword she gave Azyra she wants to push her in that direction.

>>15224124
I think that was her saving face. Did you see the way she backpedaled?

>>15224124
> Playing devil's advocate, but I don't think hes talking about marrying her.

We are aware of that. He's talking about bringing Azyra along to chat with Seffy, which is an idea that we have talked about and reasons why it's a poor idea have been given.

>>15223985
"The word I look for in matters like this is 'lucrative'. I've heard that 'reliable' is a good one, too. The rest of it..." wave a hand carelessly. "If you can manage both of those, I will trust your discretion to handle the rest in whatever manner you wish. But light pressure is unreliable in the long term- there is too much risk that someone else will gain a better hold. We have no real need for haste, but the council members are human, are they not? Then they will change fairly often. See to it that when they do, the replacements take orders only from me and mine."

>>15224136
She wasn't really interested in us, she did express some disapproval of our way of doing things. She's far more interested in the territory that we've acquired. It's gold digging.

>>15224124
Not even bone her, goddamn it. At this point she's meaningless, and we should have our sights set MUCH higher. Either on a mate out of our age category, just for the bragging rights, or on one of our peers we don't need to pretend to treat as an equal. 28, for instance.

No, what we should be doing with Seffy is reeling her in. Making her sweet on us. Making her think she has a chance if she's just patient enough, so she won't mind as we slowly eclipse her and erode the control of her kingdom out from under her. And when we've gotten enough use out of her, we simply eliminate her, or send her to her death fighting one of our enemies for us.

>>15224169

I got the impression that she wasn't feeling entirely stable in her own position and was seeking to draw some support or stability from our side of the bargain. She knows that we're better at JUST AS PLANNED than she is, so why make such an offer? It would be taking the proverbial viper to your chest.

Perhaps there is something else going on that we're not aware of. Our information concerning Seffy is sketchy at best.

In any case, with or without our daughter, we should pay her a visit and see what is going on. Is she plotting something sinister or just awkward at being friendzoned? And bring Watcher.

>>15224169
Obviously. Which is why we ought to keep her on a string, not shove her out in the cold to get angry and bitter and plot revenge. Hell hath no fury...

>>15224196
Bad plan. Has been thought of and discarded already. Reasons given ages ago.

>>15224234
yes, by anons like yourself. which is the problem.

You guys have realized by now that if you want a better army/whatever you should probably post a plan for it? We ended up with our spectacular 5/10 army and ridiculous navy because every other post was MAKE NAVY AWESOME, noone ever really talked about our army.

Furthermore, Seffy could kill us in a one on one fight, we should communicate that our unwillingness to commit to a relationship is due to a greater problem than our compatability. (Namely the entire Binder thing, makes a great excuse).

>>15224288
We're not mentioning the Binder to anyone. Our relationship to her is both a weakness to us and a huge potential danger to anyone else, because if at some point we do give in we could... well, starting binding people. Any dragon would kill us for that.

Unfortunately, without being able to mention the Binder as our excuse we're mostly stuck looking curiously faithful to our infernal lover.

>>15224288
I agree with communicatingmore our lack of a desire to take her offer. Maybe we can work something else out that is mutually beneficial. Though no name-dropping of the Binder. That gives too much away.

> Furthermore, Seffy could kill us in a one on one fight

Since when have we ever engaged in anything remotely resembling a fair fight? The fact that anything in particular can take us one-on-one is not a serious issue, there are actually plenty of things that can. However, in the case of a dragon like Seffy we still have that dragonslaying sword, as well as a fire-immune minion who can teleport at will. Seffy's abilities in a fight are not the issue. The issue is that she could be planning something unusually clever for her and we need to be careful until we figure out what that might be. Which means not putting Azyra anywhere near Seffy.

>>15224324
Claim impotence, without the aid of laborious magical preparations. We wouldn't dare leave such a glorious creature as her unsatiated or unsatisfied on a regular basis....

>>15224351
we are waaayyy too prideful to say anything like that

>>15224336
Seriously? She's not made of crystal, she's not going to walk stupidly to her doom, and she's not going to leave our side.

Besides, nothing risked, nothing gained.

Worst case, if we lose one, we have the hammer and tongs to make another.

>>15224385
This... This is so cold. I mean, I'm not going to vote against it, but... Dammit, man. I know we're evil, but I thought we had standards.

>>15224418

I believe the general consensus is that we're as evil as we need to be to achieve our goals.

Though we also do some really fucked up things like making Cygnis wear her brother's flayed skin.

>>15224453

guy's gotta indulge a little, ya'know? blow off some steam, so to speak

>>15224418
We do. We love her dearly. But we also insist that our progeny become competent plotters and combatants to aid their father.

She can't do that from inside a glass cage.

If the unthinkable happens, we resurrect her. Big deal. And if somehow we can't? (and I don't see how that could happen, but IF...)
Well... hammer, tongs, and a nice hot forge...

Sorry broseph, I'm pretty sure we have a soft spot for our daughter and "the hammer and tongs" both. I will vote against that, it's retarded not only from a character standpoint but from a practical one as well.

FUCK YES DRAGONQUEST!

>>15224486
Azyra is a devil. She cannot be raised.

>>15224547
Half devil, half red dragon. I don't feel lucky.

>>15224493
It's *precisely* in line with our character and goals. Azyra will not thank us for "protecting" her, if you haven't noticed, and as she grows more powerful we risk stifling her growth (horrible) or fostering resentment (worse!) if we do not take her along on projects *exactly* like this.

Where have you been, and why are you turning DRAGON Quest into DaddyQuest: Sim City?

>>15224564
I've been here all along, you're the one trying to turn it into Sociopath Quest: The Toolening. Everything's a tool to be used, right? Bullshit.

>>15224627
moralfag quest is thattaway

>>15224657
Just because someone is saying that we should put at least some value on family doesn't make them a moralfag.

God, what the hell do you think is going to happen over tea and crumpets with Seffy? Think she's opened a portal to the abyss and is just about to unleash balor on our scaly ass? And that if ONLY Azyra wasn't there, that wouldn't happen?

Come on.

But yes, that's the defining characteristic of pragmatic evil. The things around us are ultimately there to bring us advantage, even if we love them.

This is why dragons are superior to everything around them, and why we are superior to our metallic cousins.

>>15224672
Ditto that. You can still be an evil ruthless tyrant while caring about your family.

>>15224697
is it more caring to protect your family, or to watch them grow more powerful and experience?

>>15224733
I think it's caring to not pointlessly put them in danger. I don't think it's particular caring to say "oh well, if this one dies we can just make another one."

“My intent in this matter is better held by the word 'lucrative'. Though 'reliable' is a close match as well.” you answer. “The rest of it..." you discard the subject with a carless gesture "If you can manage both of those, I will trust your discretion to handle the rest in whatever manner you wish. As... merciful or light-handed as you desire. But light pressure does invite competition in the long run. I do not want someone else to gain a better hold. We have no real need for haste... The council members are human, and will change fairly often. See to it that when they do, the replacements are amenable to my orders.” you command.

“Your wish is my command.” Nehmeska replies, possibly ironically, you can't tell. Either way, she accompanies her acquiescence with an elaborate and low bow, and you're still surprised by her lack of banter. Without anything to take exception to, or to linger on, you turn tail and depart.

###########

>>15224690
Is it more advantageous to use those around you to your own gain, or throw away valuable resources for no real gain?

Well done, you've figured out we are interested primarily in things value to use, now come back when you have an appraise score higher than -5.

>>15224756
But that IS what we would do, is it not?

Right. It is.

And dragons subscribe to the sink or swim (in our case, with a life raft of teleporting platoons of guards) variety of love. Escape the emotional weakness of your puny biped mortality!

>>15224762
Information is always a good thing, and for this reason, you turn your attention to the warlord that you suspect is making Seffestranias nervous. If he isn't he should be- He's managed to forge an empire almost as large as your mainland holdings in about as much time as your war with Rhasver took. So far, he seems to have avoided provoking anyone more powerful than he, but were he to continue his meteoric growth, he would shortly surpass you, then Seffestranias for the size of his empire.

With the magical speed at which your agents can travel, not to mention the efforts of your standing network to sift rumors and gossip, you can determine much about him already. A master strategist, a great warrior, and so on, and so on. You ignore most of what is passed back, distilling it again down to a more practical level. A foriegner, he came out of the east with a band of horsemen, estimates at their number ranging from ten to a hundred, and proceeded to subjugate first one small kingdom, then the next. By the time the larger regions recognized him as a legitimate threat, it was too late. He is supposed to be a human of slightly unimpressive stature, but an excellent horseman, and rather intelligent. Rumors mostly circulate about how he has divine backing (You discard this,) his meteoric rise to power, (all too difficult to ignore,) and his seemingly inexhaustible resources; the remains of his original group of horsemen all are well equipped with regards to magic arms and armor (or even, it is rumored, artifacts,) and your spies report that he has a wizard or sorcerer of some kind as a slave or indentured servant, and that he is never without her. Sadly, most of the rumors concerning her are of the lascivious sort, or so exaggerated you can glean nothing from them, and attempting to infiltrate a royal, even if so militant, court takes time. You order your agents to see to the matter.

>>15224794

Wizzard/Sorcoress/Slave Chick = Magister Attor

Just sayin'.

>>15224788
>And dragons
Maybe they do. We don't. We're not a normal dragon, this has been proven many times.

>>15224788
> And dragons subscribe to the sink or swim (in our case, with a life raft of teleporting platoons of guards) variety of love.

Not all dragons, only some of them.

>>15224794
Ugh. This is Morinth's work. That magister is trying to create a proxy with which to fight us now that we've given Rhasver a blood nose. Need to stop this, and fast.

>>15224794
Hmmm. Well, to be fair he's just a warlord and they rise up a LOT. I would say that like most great warlords after he dies his empire will probably go the way of Ghengis Khan's and fragment.

That said... we should clearly investigate. But urgency isn't needed, let's get REAL information rather than rumors. Plant some first hand spies to observe these artifacts and (presumably) slave-sorceresses. For now let's do the remote image diplomacy with the Yuan-Ti fortress. Go up as an image and ask to see the leader and such. See what he wants and all that mess.

Conan the Northern Barbarian can wait until later.

>>15224851
Go on, give us a good cry. They say it'll loosen your constipation.

With preparation we are the most powerful thing around us, and our daughter is turning into a rival for her mother in raw power. None of us are made of glass. Run coward-quest somewhere else.

>>15224908
I think you're a coward. You need to prove me wrong now. Go swimming in the Australian NT, not in a pool.

Alright, so for the Yuan-ti I think we can try something similar to what we've done before. After some more preliminary spying, appear as a major image, request to speak with the person in charge. Make diplomatic overtures, try to find out who they are, why they're there, what they want, if they can be bargained with, that sort of thing.

The warlord needs to be dealt with, but the sorceress is the real threat I think. That plus the magical equipment and his sudden rise to power now of all times makes it pretty clear that this is the work of Morinth, and specifically that one enchantress who prodded Rhasver into going to war with us. We need to send spies and assassins, support to potential rivals, and yes, have a chat with Seffy about it, all of that.

Oh, god dammit you people. Calm the fuck down. Seriously.

>>15224794
We need more information. Cloak ourselves in magic, get the Watcher somewhere near one of this warlord's original agents so that it can read his mind thoroughly. Then use that information to make more informed decisions.

I agree that this warlord could be just another of the enchantress' ploys, backed by her resources to strike against us. If so, we need to know immediately and act decisively.

>>15224794
Ghengis Khan with a sorceress aide. Could be difficult. Seffy is acting as a buffer to our realm for right now, not too much to worry about.

If we do need to deal with him, a covert kill would be the best option. We have assassins out the ass, so I'm sure that if we swamped him with 50 skilled killers, one of them would get lucky. And nobody would hate us for removing a destabilizing factor.

We should improve our army. Our navy already kicks ass, and we could probably blockade the fuck out of anyone who said otherwise. Maybe Azyra would be willing to lend her bodyguard to train a few of our dudes, who would go on to train the rest?

I forgot: Is Watcher a bronze or a brass?

What is the point of introducing Azyra to Seffy? She hates devils and probably doesn't like our daughter because A: She's half devil and B: She's part of the reason we don't shack up with her.

And she's not "Aunty Seffy," she's the miserable bitch who tried to blackmail us into a financially undesirable marriage.

>>15225002
So, about that update on the Binder and our research into Soulless.

>>15225212
Agreed with all this except the swamping with Ashaites. They are not large enough for that yet. We still need to breed more generations of them, it would destroy our cult.

>>15225212
>We have assassins out the ass, so I'm sure that if we swamped him with 50 skilled killers, one of them would get lucky
We might have enough assassins for this, but I would not want to squander them in that fashion. Our death cult is an extremely valuable resource and should be carefully nurtured, not spent wildly.

>Maybe Azyra would be willing to lend her bodyguard to train a few of our dudes, who would go on to train the rest?
We can hire highly competent trainers without relying on Azyra's crazy man.

>I forgot: Is Watcher a bronze or a brass?
Brass.

Sweeping in, much like with the Yaun-Ti, with Watcher to view the minds of some of the followers of the warlord. Watcher provides able assistance, and the whole procedure takes a few minutes. Made difficult by the teleportation and invisibility wards around their current encampment- castle grounds- but doable for one of your skill. You are spotted, trip an alarm- But are out before anyone can close with you, or determine you are anything more than another servant or soldier. Despite the effort involved, Watcher's report is not as enlightening as you might wish.

“So. How did it all begin?” you ask, back on Mza. Scinnari has Cygnariassis out at the moment, allowing you to question Watcher in the comfort and extravagant luxury of your lair.

“The individuals I saw had both been with him for about five years.” Watcher answers. “He was a moderately famous mercenary in war-torn lands to the east. The believe he used to be an adventurer and his 'party' kept growing larger, eventually into the mercenary band they were a part of...” Watcher answers. She emits a small humming series of chimes, evidently processing what she witnessed. “Pay well... well equipped... They headed west with intent to carve out their own empire, much as they have. He promised titles to all his original compatriots.. Which he has granted, though he did buy back the promise from some of them...”

>>15225312
>We can hire highly competent trainers without relying on Azyra's crazy man.
This. Let's not do that. Also we shouldn't waste the assassins on suicide missions.

“The sorceress.” you prompt. “The slave. What of her?” Watcher does not respond, but changers her focus to your desire.

“Very obvious she isn't a slave... to those close to him. Advisor. Magician. Sometimes healer. They don't know who or what she is... Joined him two and a half years ago. They don't know how she gained his interest, but he returned with her to camp one day, and she had sold him on promises of a region ripe for empire-building. She seems to have been correct... most of the veterans respect her almost as much as he himself. Don't know who she is... one believed she was a saint or even deva of some sort...” Watcher's voice is mostly emotionless, as if skimming a book and trying to give you excerpts. Despite that, her opinion of that particular belief is readily apparent. “Has been with him almost constantly for the past two years... They have asked about the slave-act or,” her chiming voice curls in sardonic amusement “How close their leader holds her. She has, on occasion provided them with necessary magic- items or spells. They assume she crafts them...”

“And their intent?” you prompt, “Where has she been directing them with this 'promise of empire' tale?”

“West. North slightly, circumventing the elven forests to the east.... And into northern Angevin. She promises a region ripe for conquest, and seems to only ask that they be... merciful. She is a benevolen- Seems to be a benevolent figure, in most cases. She also seems to be quite loyal to their leader.”

>>15225355
So some sort of benevolent advisor figure. Bleh. Well if they are directing north then we don't have much of a reason to do anything. At least until we get a new map.

>>15225355
Hmmm. I wish we could get Watcher some time with the sorceress, but that's probably not likely.

Hmm, it looks like we're under a little less time pressure on the warlord, though you never know, it could still be something to watch out for. While he's pushing northwest right now, he might eventually turn south. Need to wrap up the plague and get our new holdings in fighting shape before then. And we really need to find out more about that sorceress.

And some more spying and maybe some diplomacy with the Yuan-ti if they might be open to it.

Also, Nehmaska is up to something.

>>15225636
You say this like it's a change from the normal state of affairs.

Several things:

1. Figuring out who the sorcerer really is would be helpful to figuring out the long terms goal involved for this empire. Since we care more about the long term more than the short term normally...except when someone has such a rapid rise to power.

Subpoint: This guy can only live for long. Let's assume Alexander the Great scenario here who conquers a large geographic area but the empire can't stay completely together after it's death. Assuming this guy will hit some type of expansion barrier due to the local geopolitical entities. If we set ourselves up down the line for what happens after he dies or making sure the transition isn't smooth, it could work out quite well to our advantage. At the same time, any constants between now and his death at some point in future could interfere with our plans. Most obvious being the sorceress still being around.

2. This creates a problem for Seffy at the moment more than us. We've wanted ways to weaken her position in the past without needing to be direct, getting these two to clash would definitely fit the bill. Only problem is if either of them win substantially over the other it can weaken our relative position.

3. Diplomacy here is a valid option. We're both individuals with rapid rise to power driven by our own talents. Acknowledging such a thing and form some sort of official contact might not be a bad thing, but going any further would draw ire from Seffy or others in the area.

>>15225355
Well, this guy sounds diplomance-able. Assuming that the sorceress doesn't decide to start telling him to go after us.

Good to know that it's unlikely to be a problem, at any rate. If we conquer enough of the Angevin states to have a border with him, we can see about opening trade or something.

The plague in Liergrad continues, and the dead pile high. The survivors, though, can be cared for- Provided your troops are careful, those enforcing the quarantine can cure some of the refugees before sending them on their way, or turning them back if they can't. The difficulty is keeping the citizens in a manageable state, as groups of refugees could easily break your cordon, if they got unruly. Your soldiers are spread thin encircling the city, but so far seem to have been successful in enforcing the blockade.

The Yaun-Ti are a difficult matter, though, and one you wish to attend to before any more of your precious time is wasted on cleaning up after them. You attempt to contact them, and are not rebuffed, but...

“I wish to speak to a leader.” your projection states to one of the guards. It is understandably suspicious, and you repeat it again, first pausing to show your hands are empty, then allowing the projection to shimmer, showing it off as an illusion, a remote effect. The hissing snake is reluctant to answer, but hisses at another, sending a comrade in to retrieve a leader. You are nonplussed when he shoots 'you', verifying that you are an illusion.

An older, more elaborately dressed, and more humanoid-looking Yaun-ti exits, a female. You are displeased to recognize her as one of the ones you have seen scrying, and certainly not one of the highest ranking ones. “You desire to sspeak with me, wizard?” she grates out in common.

“I requested a leader. I know that you are not one.” you counter in excellent draconic. “Perhaps you can summon one.”

“No leaders!” She hisses back at you. “What do you want?”

>>15225636
Sorry, meant to clarify, she directed him north and west, then a little back to the south, landing him in upper Angevis. North of Seffy. She isn't still directing him north.

>>15225882
So.. is there a reason no update? Did you just miss ever other post Iv'e made, asking for one, or even setting people on that trail?

>>15225925
I was under the impression people wanted to talk to the Yaun-Ti, either to ask them to stop or threaten them. Or both.

>>15225925
Dude, take a fucking hint and read the archives.

>>15225866
Ask who they are in service to, if they would perhaps be amicable to trade, and if they would stop fucking up our weather.

>>15225866
"I wish to discuss the broader ramifications of certain actions which your leaders have been undertaking recently. They have been causing problems of which they are perhaps not aware- and show no signs of intending to stop doing so. My hope is that we can come to some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement."

>>15225866
I am the Sorcerer-King of Mza, who's territory borders your own. I've determined that several storms and inclimate weather effects have originated from this point, and I believe they are a result of your leaders' actions. I would like to speak to them to ensure that these are not acts of aggression, and perhaps to assist so that they do not harm my holdings.

>>15225945
I'm about four threads in asking for an update on current developments in the research I requested started as a sideline. I'm just trying to find out if we've actually uncovered anything.
>>15225949
Dude, take a fucking hint and read the 'current research' part.

>>15226049
Can we not say that we're from Mza? If they tell us to piss off and things get argumentative, I'd rather not give them an idea of where to target. Not that I think they could accomplish much, but why give your potential enemies free intel?

>>15226115
I am a sorcerer of some power. I've determined that several storms and inclimate weather effects have originated from this point, and I believe they are a result of your actions. I would like to speak to them to ensure that these are not acts of aggression, and perhaps to assist so that they do not harm my holdings.

How's that sound?

>>15226194
It vexes me that we're stuck talking to a goon, and I'd rather not get into being worried about our holdings rather than just vague far-reaching side effects, but that's pretty much fine.

“I am a wizard and king.” you answer, deciding it best to engage in minor deception. “I have determined that my kingdom is suffering from the actions of your leaders.” You pointedly ignore as the yaun-ti you are speaking with hisses “As it /should/ be...”

“I wish to speak with them about their choices, and if they are amenable, perhaps suggest a mutually beneficial arrangement or conclusion.” you continue. She hesitates, and you guess that she isn't quite of the stature required to make decisions. A pity.

“Stay.” she commands in common, lingering over-long on the 's'. A hissed order to her less-humanoid commerade, and she departs. You are kept waiting almost ten minutes, and when an elder or chief of some kind finally arrives, you are most irritated. He, too is humanoid, but there is a vacant quality to his words- as if they mean nothing to him, or does not use the verbal communication frequently.

“You wish to speak.” it is not a question, though it is being used as one.

“The alterations made to your weather has been of negative impact to myself and some of my constituents.” you answer sharply. “I desire a change in your activities, or perhaps an agreement regarding your manipulation of the weather.”

“Unacceptable.” he answers, tone impossible to gauge.

“I am willing to manipulate your weather as you desire, or to work with you to minimize your impact. All I desire is some cooperation in this matter.” you repeat, venturing to even offer accommodations, not that you would actually grant them. Just out of a perverse desire to see how far their xenophobia and refusal to cooperate goes.

“Unacceptable.” he replies. The same emotionless, inflectionless tone. He continues to stare at you as if waiting for something else, or, you feel half-inclined to believe, simply dumb.

“My hostility will cost you dearly.” you offer. A single warning. The impassive yaun-ti's expression does not change, though his response does.

“Acceptable.” he replies. Without further means of negotiating, or, all too likely, anything further to be gained by negotiating, your projection takes it's leave, as do you.

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

>Research into Soulless

It's a pile of bones. It used to be a dragon. It's frozen in a glacier. It is intensely magical.
You believe you could control it, or at least give it commands, were it free, but your control would be tenuous. While it is quite an interesting piece of work, it looks a bit too complex for you to replicate.

>Binder
Though it was not research into her per-say, you believe you have determined why she is so sporadically able to reach you; 'orbits' is a poor word, as is 'motion', but the planes do seem to have their orbits, at least in relationship to each other. Her prison is frequently distant, and rarely close to the Prime for any long stretches of time- And the 'distance', as well as the strength of her prison, combine to make that a crippling damper on her ability to interact with anything beyond her cell.

>>15226303
In what plane is she trapped? Or is it some kind of demiplane floating in the Ethereal Plane?

>>15226303
>>15226293
I think we should probably visit in dragon form to see if they are less dickish. Yuan-ti have a bad relationship with humans but a mutually agreeable one with dragons. They are lizard supremacists, and dragons are the great ancient lizards after all. Even better relationships with chromatic dragons, as Yuan-ti are evil and chromatics are evil too.

I think we would get a much better response not showing up as a humanoid.

>>15226303
>Could control, would be tenuous

I think we do have an ace here. Sure, we won't want to get it out unless things are bad, but we can order it to do things in a pinch. Like, 'kill this person', or 'destroy this empire', whatever we need.

Obviously, like watcher, we don't want it out all the time, but think of the possibilities.

>>15226303

I hate to bite in and start hostilities over an insult and bad weather but this is unfuckingacceptable. I could love to move in with our troops and loot and kill the fucking snakes.

But I am sure that there is a better way to make them pay. Investigate local opposition to the snakes or any mayor enemies that could serve as our tools to put an end to their pitiful existence.

>>15226453
Also there location in the map could appreciated.

>>15226425
Maybe. It'd be a last resort thing, but turning Soulless loose on the Yuan-ti could have some very amusing results. And even if they can stop it, we'd still probably do serious damage to them nonetheless, and could likely take care of the mop-up action.

WD, what are the odds of our being able to release Soulless and then actually stick it back into its ice prison afterwards?

>>15226364
Last check it was some created demiplane off in fuck knows where.

Maybe time to start learning a little planar magic - maybe we can stick a fuckoffhuge paraplanar bat off into that location with some effort and kick her so far away from the Material that she can never bother anyone, ever again.

>>15226425
Except, you know, we'd have to dig it out of the giant glacier. And we wouldn't be able to restrain it again afterwards.

>>15226483

This sounds interesting. If not a bat, then perhaps some sort of planar barrier to block her prison away from the Material? Keep it from advancing beyond a certain point?

>>15226483
I support this if the old bitch gets out for some reason we may want to know how to sent her back again.

>>15226483
>maybe we can stick a fuckoffhuge paraplanar bat off into that location with some effort and kick her so far away from the Material

This is giving me some interesting mental images. And they are GLORIOUS.

>>15226492
While WD didn't give me anything new on Soulless, this is why we didn't let him loose in the first place - we can give him orders.

So can unspecified others. Problem, you see.

>>15226483
If we DO learn planar magic, then we're batting her into the negative material/negative energy. That'll fix her real good.

Yuan-Ti seems to be the next thing to deal with. I don't think that appearing as a dragon will help. They seem incredibly single-minded, and might even have been mind-controlled into doing it. Is there any way we can check them for magical domination remotely, or do we need to go in there in person?

If the latter, let's take Nemheska with us. She'd love to kill some evil snakemen, and we could use backup.

>>15226511
If she gets out, she's going to fucking wipe us from existence anyway. Or, revert us to the form when she created us. Then eat the small drake that remains. We need to get her far enough from us that not only can she NOT contact us, but she can't revert us either.

>>15226551
...And that had what to do with my post?

>>15226567
Negative?

I like the idea of the Positive energy plane. Watch her blow herself up and burst from the energy.

>>15226551

We could trap him in frozen/cold manga how about that?

>>15226608
>cold magma

What?

>>15226608
>cold manga
I really shouldn't, especially since I know I drop the occasional typo, but... What?

That said, >>15226625, I think he's talking about sealing Soulless within solid rock. Pour magma over it, cool it.

>>15226645
Would that work, WD?

Is it technically possible for us to release Soulless, and then actually get it back into its prison? Or a similar sort of containment?

>>15226653
You've done similar things with the drow and in bombarding liergrad. And not only can you melt rock with your breath weapon, you have a volcano of your own. You aren't exactly short on molten rock.

As for whether it would work? Sounds like it ought to.

>>15226653
>implying that we would be able to get it to sit still and just be sealed up

No what the fuck are you talking about. Don't go doing something ridiculous like this on the word of one guy, WD.

>>15226645
yeah that's what I mean fuck its fucking late here.

Voting against. WE don't know who else is on Soulless' "Big List of People I obey", who may immediately liberate him from our grasp. Not to mention the Binder might be able to contact him if she has gathered enough strength to fuck us.

>>15226716
I think the question was partly ABOUT our ability to seal it back up again.

>>15226716
we can command him you know

>>15226744
So can other people.

>>15226771
Who?

If the Binder, well, we'd be just as screwed as if she could, you know, command us, and we'd have the added bonus of an appearance of cooperation with her.

If other Bound, WHAT other Bound? WE aren't going to send him to go chat with Manybound, and we aren't going to let Watcher do anything to it.

And if just anyone can command it, hell no, we are not letting that fucker out.

>>15226744
So can the Binder, and her orders override ours. Once he's out he's doing what she wants, not what we want. She will just tell it to ignore any orders we give that would result in it getting trapped again.

>>15226771

Most people are not around anymore but I know what you mean. But fuck this we don't have a good reason to be even contemplated freeing him. So lets get back to business how do we fuck with the snakes lives without getting fuck back.

>>15226830
Research epic spell. Destroy everything within a mile radius. We warned those fuckers.

>>15226850
Don't be ridiculous, epic magic is nothing to just throw around casually.

>>15226850
Epic spells are unnecessary.

Serpent Kingdoms has the "Erupt" spell (9th level). It deals 10 points of fire damage per caster level in a 10-foot radius per caster level. That's damage dealt to everything. Creatures, buildings, vegetation, even the terrain. And once its used, the boiling hot lava that scorches the earth renders it impossible to grow anything there for a year. We could probably put it together without any trouble.

Failing that, there's the old Transmute Rock to Lava standby. Float above them with a pile of rocks, turn them into magma, and bombs away.

>>15226894
Also, I know we're not strictly on D&D rules these days. I'm throwing these up as suggestions that, while up there, should be more or less within our level of ability.

>>15226850
And lose all that loot inside their home? Think harder damn it! Lest see what local enemies they have or people that just really hate them that could be of use when attacking their home.

Leave soulless alone until we have a problem big enough that needs him. He's an epically powerful dragon-golem, and Many-Bound told us that he was beyond our ability to control.

>>15226938
Hell, MB was AFRAID of soulless. If that doesn't speak volumes I don't know what would.

>>15226903
Their local neighbors are primarily dragons, as aside from a few savage tribes, there is little intelligent life in these jungles. The Red in the mountains, (#28) is a frequent foe of theirs, and a frequent enemy of the old Black that aligns itself with the Yaun-Ti.

That Black is quite hard to locate, but is a powerful and quiet champion of the Yaun-ti. His alliance with the Yaun-ti makes the jungle a very dangerous region for enemies thereof.

On a lower scale, many primitive tribes fear and loathe the Yaun-Ti, but are too small, scattered, or simply weak to oppose them.

>>15226991
>allied with a black, enemies with a red

they won't cooperate with us then. Scout them out and put together a kill-team.

I quite like the idea of getting Nem to fight with us. She'd be very helpful if the black came to help his minions.

>>15226991
i say we kill the black, or offer the black's rival, which is a red, our assistance in killing him, then try to contact the yaun-ti again, only this time, don't use common, use draconic (honestly, what were we thinking!?! using a human language with a species that hates humans), might get a better reaction out of them. if they still refuse to be friendly, well, i think we found our next target for expansion....

>>15227226
No, fuck that, no more goddamned dragon politics. Especially not here, we don't even need to get involved here.

>>15227226
a) This is an Old Black, older than us, and apparently fairly smart for a black.
b) The Red is quite young, even with its help it would be more risk than I'd like, for little reward.
c) We did use Draconic.
d) I'm pretty sure that priest being so out of it was because the Black was using him as a meatpuppet. I have a certain amount of respect for someone who does that to their snake minions. Let's leave him alone.

>>15227240
>>15227233
alrighty then, lets just ignore them completely and do something else then.

Alright, I'm sorry for the lack of production on my part, (post; maps;) I'll try to have the latter next time I can run DQ, and I'll try to have the former, well, next time I run DQ.

Seeing as I have no control over my own schedule whatsoever, all I can do is tell you days that I /won't/ be able to run DQ on.

Def. No: Saturday. Monday. Tuesday.
Probably no: Friday.
Damned if I know: Wednesday.

Yes, I will be trying for Sunday and Thursday. We'll see. Night all, I'll try to finish my shoddy MSpaint map.

I've got a few things to write about next time, obviously, but if there's anything you specifically want me to address, it would be good to tell me/email me to make sure I don't forget.

WD out.

Alright, lets think...

Yuan-Ti aren't giving us *that* much trouble if we can keep on top of their weather-screwage with minimal effort, or bend the weather so that we both get mutually agreeable effects. Though I'm not adverse to kicking their asses with Nehm, I'd prefer to wait on it and maybe investigate/talk to the other tribes and dragons in the area to see what and who we could bring in- it seems some of the other metallics around the place harass them too, and we could perhaps unite the surrounding tribes into a kind of opposing force for an assault if need be.

There's no point in lingering on what Nehmaska was trying to do or not do in her cave, and though I know overlooking her is not a good idea, better that for the moment than to stoop to her level of mind-game playing.

The northern barbarian bears some looking into, and is perhaps an avenue where we can set up a new dialogue with Seffy, to express mutual concerns. Perhaps sharing what info we have collected with her would be a good way to get in her good books without actually needing us to give her much else.

>>15227439
Prepare to release Soulless.

Don't do it, as opinion seems against that, but he's not much good as an ace in the hole if we need a months warning and preparation to get him out of there.

Make overtures, or at least make with scrying on the dragons of the region, including that old Black.

Prepare to crush Yaun-ti with magic.

Send Seffy a letter, ask what's up.

Keep eye on warlord and his healbitch. I trust him less than I can throw him.

Eyes on Aquitaine and Rhasver.

Be prepared to sterilize Liergrad if the plague gets much worse.

Who's archiving? And how do you do it?

>>15227598

Done. http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html

Don't forget to vote!