>Start a book of heroes for those who die in your service.

Upon your return, you call a meeting of all the kobolds in your service. They stand before you in hushed reverence, as they await your command with curiosity and awe in equal measure.

As it should be.

"Today, many of your kin died." A small whimper comes from the crowd. It isn't faked, kobolds are highly social creatures and the loss of tribemates will be felt. You continue over them. "Many of them died, but they died fighting. They died with blades in their hands and their enemies blood upon them." A small embellishment, but the whimpering has stopped. Kobolds are vengeful little things. "They died as heroes, fighting against that which would see all this," you swing your head around motioning towards the small burrows that lead to their warrens. The effect is reduced somewhat by the fact none of their settlement is visible, but they seem to get the message. "-Would see all this, destroyed." You pause to let this sink in.

"Whilst I was battling the foul paladin who sought my destruction, your kin engaged his aid." It's best to make it clear their help wasn't all that necessary. "In so doing, they held her back, keeping her from healing the vile menace, or turning her spells against me." There are a few murmurs of outrage at the last part - you nod faintly at these. "Their attacks may have been of trifling concern to the cleric, but they were not something she could ignore. They distracted her, forced her to consume spells to stay alive. This allowed me to keep them separated, and to quickly give the paladin the death he deserved." You almost snarl the last part. The crowd gives a few small cheers at it. For the most part, they're too respectful to interrupt your speech.

You begin again, quieter than before. "Their contribution aided me in this. It was not essential, true, but you saw my injuries. These were not some petty trapfodder that wandered to close." You slowly raise you voice as you continue. "These were hardened killers. And your kin fought them knowing this. How many can say they've assisted a dragon in battle? And how many can say they won?" There are a few mutters of 'none' and yips of approval.

"An act such as this will not be forgotten. Those who died shall be remembered forevermore." A small cheer of agreement comes up from the crowd. "From this day onward, those who sacrifice their lives in my name shall have their names and deeds inscribed alongside other such heroes. These names shall be placed in the finest book, and this 'Book of Heroes' shall take its place among my hoard." An awed gasp comes from the crowd. "Yes, those who give their lives for me, shall have their deaths immortalised. Their names and deeds shall remain with me until the end of time." There is a far louder cheer at this. They know that a dragon treasures every item in its hoard and to join it is the highest honour many of them can imagine.

---

Within the week, those assigned to combat duties already speak of 'having their name written in red' (the colour of the ink used) as if it is the greatest accomplishment possible for any kobold anywhere. You've made it clear that this only applies to sacrifices that were necessary. Although most kobolds are willing to die for the tribe (and you) if needed, they really do prefer living for the tribe (and for you), so needlessly suicidal acts of bravery shouldn't become much of a problem.

>Start an order of kobold heroes. - 11

After the success of the book of heroes you decide that a full fighting force of them could have its uses. You send for Kekik, the most experienced fighter who was present at the battle of the tower.

He soon hurries out of a nearby burrow, racing towards you before kowtowing.

"Rise, Kekik," you say in a relaxed tone.

He jumps to his feet. "You sent for me, great one. As always, I am eager to serve your will." He sounds it too. He's become something of a folk hero among his tribe. His prowess in combat is known and he was one of those present at the battle. Given how it's being lauded as a great victory, he is being spoken of as the greatest warrior to have ever lived.

You let a little of your satisfaction at his words creep into your voice. "Indeed. Your recent actions have made that clear, and your skill in combat is considerable." He preens slightly at this. You pause briefly, before changing tone. "I have seen how capable a small band of your kind can be in combat. I am also aware of how cunning you can be when there are other options." You can see curiosity growing on his face. You adopt a more imperious tone for the next part. "I am establishing a small order of heroes, chosen from among your kind. They will be chosen for their ability to overcome challenges such as those faced at the tower. You will be the first member of this group."

He stands there for a moment, stunned. He is young, even by kobold standards and clearly wasn't expecting to be placed in position of importance so soon in his life. "G-Great one, you give me great honour." He immediately kowtows again. "I will serve as the first of your heroes. We will not fail you, Great One."

Within a few weeks Kikek has chosen a handful of others to serve as the base of the order. So far, there is one other fighter, an expert trapper and locksmith and a pair of budding sorcerers among them. So far, they are all young and untrained. The kobold population recently underwent an explosion after moving here and being able to rebuild some of their numbers. It will be years before there are any veterans or experts around. The few older kobolds have some of the expertise needed, but are too old to be sent on grueling missions in foreign lands. Their skills are better put to use in training the younger generation. Given their lack of experience, it isn't surprising that at the moment, they aren't very good. Only time will tell how effective the order will grow to be.

---

>Acquire cold proof items. - 10

After the battle, you decide it is high time you acquired some more serious protection against attack than just your innate resilience. As it turns out, your teacher Garran has a number of items which can protect against cold. None of them are particularly powerful, but they should at least take the edge off any serious attack. The ring he sold you might even be enough to stop weaker cold spells affecting you at all.

---

>Work on the ranger and druid. - 14

You attempt to further encourage the two promising elves to view you with an appropriate degree of reverence. However, your injured state makes it difficult to do so without making it clear you are actually injured. Deciding that making it clear to them you can be hurt to a significant degree is unwise, you limit yourself to more sedentary displays. While they are somewhat impressed, it's nothing they haven't seen before.

According to your loyalists, Hatherlan seems to be increasingly edgy these days. He seems aware that you are trying to convert the elves into worshippers. They believe he has been discussing this with the others, carefully, so as not to make it obvious he might object.

>Practice your social skills. - 14

Throughout all of this, you attempt to engage your various subjects in conversation. From what you've seen, it's too useful a skill to ignore. Unfortunately, only Garran is willing to offer anything more than polite sycophancy - and even he is cautious about anything that might offend you. Your time with him has granted you some insights, but keeping track of the way humanoids interact remains difficult.

---

You are a 26 year old red dragon, you have a village of ~150 elves (11 of them children), a den containing ~120 kobolds and a hoard worth around 25,000 gold pieces. You also have two potential lairs established in the northern mountains and eastern isles. Each has 25 kobolds and half a dozen elves assigned to excavating the sites further and scouting the surrounding lands respectively.

What do you do?

>>22531144
Good to see you back

Let up on the elves for a little bit, keep em loyal and under control of course but let em have a cooling off period, don't want to spook them

also have we given the two infiltrators the daggers yet?

>>22531144
lets start moving our things out, no reason for them to be left behind when mum throws us out, and she's probably thinking of it

>>22531201
You haven't given them the daggers yet. You can present them to the order whenever you feel like.

>>22531269
Once you move your hoard you are effectively declaring to Goltyrsyx you've moved out already and won't be welcome back in her territory afterwards.

>>22531321
Lets give them a test first, make em feel like they earned it

also leave our hoard for now, but lets send instructions to our outposts to be ready for our move

>>22531201
We should also see about producing armour for our kobolds. It might help them live longer and if we can train a few of them to be competent blacksmiths they might even be able to build some useful armour for us.

Later on, when we have things set up, I also want to see if we can use modified golems as power suits for them.

File: 1357939886066.jpg-(49 KB, 800x594, 800px-BRILLIANT!.jpg)

>>22531385
>Kobold Mechs

>>22531201
They're already pretty free. We don't make them work hard, we don't hurt them and we don't require them to fight for us yet.

I actuallly think we should make them work more.

It seems the idea of making them build ships was not approved. We should think up some other useful project on which they could work then.

Well, to be honest, I'd like to keep this project alive. Elves can produce many things for us, but ships would be most useful for our conquest of island #2 and its pirate fleet.
Ships are not necessary to move elves and kobolds around, but it takes time to do it ourself. If they take to fishing, it'll give the kobolds more ressources to make more kobolds too - though I don't know how well-fed they are currently.
And another thing, ships are good because they're valuable that can be moved. Since we'll have to move sooner or later, it's good to have the elves build things they can take with them.

Anyway. We should have a talk with Hatherlan. Make him speak his mind, don't punish him for it. I'm curious what is he complaining about... isn't it better to convince his peers to work for us, than to just hurt them until they do ?

>>22531144
We need to continue training our magic, i want to be able to finally use second circle magic. It might also be wise to let up on the elves for some time. We do not seem to be very succesfull with them lately.

I think we should look into stuff in the region for a bit. Locate towers of wizards of old, ancient dungeons and ruins, that stuff. We might want to give our Kobold order the job of plundering suitably easy dungeons.

Let them levelgrind.

>>22531423
Uh, we try to make them worship us. As a god. He might not like that. I also highly doubt that he will be honest to us.

So far short term plans seem to be to have word with Hatherlan and prepare you new lair for your imminent arrival.

Which lair are you going to pick?

>>22531529
We have two, right? The one that hasn't been compromised by an ancient black dragon, of course.

>>22531504
People want to be honest. We can convince him. Just tell him we won't punish him for the words he speak to us, then ask him to speak openly, without second thoughts.

>>22531529
I don't think we should move out yet.

I still don't want to move until we reach Young Adult.

>>22531486
I support this. We can get a lot of use out of the next circle of spells.

>>22531598
>>22531605
We have one on an island right? Do we know of any aquatic dragons in the area? I agree we shouldn't move out yet, since losing mother's protection while we're young and weak is probably a bad idea. Ideally we don't move out until she starts actively interfering with our plans.

>>22531605
Yeah right. As far as he is concerned we are chaotic evil. Our word is as easily broken as it is given, and he knows that.

>>22531529
Wait. Before anything, ask the guys we sent to the island if they ever saw the bronze dragon.

We might have to fight him soon after we arrive there. I don't think now's the time to move, but if we do, I first want to know his habits, and prepare for the fight.

Bronzes have an electricity/cone of get-the-fuck-out compulsion breath weapon, and can take refuge underwater.
We should first get the means to defend against this and pursue him should we get the upper hand.

>>22531665
We just have to contaminate the water so he can't swim in it.

>>22531646
Sure. But why would we lie about not being offended by his words ?

He also knows that we kept our word about protecting them and not hurting them. He already saw that we aren't too willing to break our own toys.

>>22531705
You know, there is a lot of water in the ocean to contaminate.

I still advocate sending the kobold order dungeoncrawling. Who knows, they might come back with something shiny?

>>22531705
The ocean ? How ?

>>22531644
>>22531620
Young adult is a bit far away (24 years), but yeah, let's wait at least until we get the second circle of spells before moving.

I want to be able to take sis with us.

>>22531735
If Stalin came to you, asked you to tell you how you liked his government and promised you not to kill him even if he didn't like your answer, would you tell him that you hate his regime and that you want to be free? If yes then you are a more courageous man than me.

All we will get is grovelling and he will be a lot more careful with his plotting in the future.

>>22531760
Nope. We don't take sis with us. Maybe she gets a lair nearby, but two dragons in one lair won't work out.

>>22531737
I bet Imgo left some treasure buried in the forest.

We can cast Locate Object 4 times per day, for 4 minutes each, to search for non-unique objects in a 500 feet radius.
Let's fly around over the forest and search for gold pieces or chests.

Maybe mom didn't bother to do that.

>>22531760
Just for a few miles around the island. Some kind of toxic algae maybe.

>>22531827
Do we know of any? We're not a high level druid/ranger, after all

>>22531801
We need her to attack and kill older dragons reliably.
>two dragons in one lair won't work out.
You can't assume that before we try to make it work.
I think we can break her will with a bit of time.

>>22531827
>>22531853
I think luring it on land (maybe even into a cavern) would be more prudent than trying something that unlikely to suceed.

>>22531529

Keep leeching off mom as long as possible like the college student we are. When the time does come to move out, my vote goes to the island. But I agree with >>22531665 we need to know what we're up against.

>>22531895
I refuse to have someone in our lair (where we sleep, deposit our treasure and PREPARE OUR SPELLS) that is more physically powerful than us and quite possibly hates us. Even if you manage to "break her will", which i find very doubtfull, a single lapse in her conditioning could cause us grievous harm.

Please keep a distance from her. We can still raid caravans together and help each others out, but living in the same cavern is just asking for trouble.

>>22531853
>>22531901
Well, there goes our chance to be a Captain Planet villain.

>>22531895
It will take a lot more than a bit of time to break a red (or any other) dragon's will.

Your elves did see a bronze fly overhead once. They couldn't tell it's size, but based on descriptions they've received from the locals who've interacted with it, it would be towards the top of the juvenile age.

>>22531901
It probably won't be dumb enough to let his escape route be cut.

>>22531665
We also need to know his age category before we attack him.

>>22531946
It really is. We're not nearly powerful enough to keep another dragon subdued yet. We could perhaps encourage her to have territory nearby ours, but sharing our territory is a bad idea. Especially since she's every bit as megalomaniacal as us.

>>22531983
If we have powerful enough illusion magic and some resources we could fake our death, and when he comes to raid our hoard (which we told him how to find earlier), BAM, SURPRISE DRAGON!

Bear in mind that this is not feasible without additional info about pretty much everything on the island.

>>22531946
She's not more powerful than us physically.

I can't deny that it's dangerous, but I'm loathe to spend the next 1500 years without getting in a close and durable relationship with another dragon.

I support the notion for Kobold Dungeon Crawling

>>22531985
What if we give her some 'enchanted' items that are really just loaded with explosive runes, then get her to attack the Bronze? We could stand back, trigger the runes and solve both of our problems.

File: 1357942811406.jpg-(117 KB, 800x1132, RedDragonface.jpg)

Taking note of the news about potential dissent among your followers, you head off to speak with Hatherlan. Landing a few dozen metres outside the village, you see the small band of senior elves - lead by the individual in question - heading out to meet you.

They remove their masks before kowtowing and uttering their usual greeting. "We bid you welcome, Great One. How may we be of service this day?" There is little reverence in their voices. It has become habit for them these days. Without the constant fear of punishment or being tortured on a whim hanging over their heads, they haven't bothered to keep up the fake attitude. It doesn't bother you as much as you might expect - you much rather have any worship be sincere.

You go with their show anyway. "Rise, my servants."

They do so promptly.

You examine each of them closely. The two assistants are of little note. One of them is quite close to your cult but, wasn't the one to bring potential concerns about Hatherlan to your attention. The other is a simple secretary who actually does most of the paperwork involved in keeping the village running - Hatherlan has little talent with figures, it seems. Neither of them are worth any further attention. The man himself looks much healthier than he did all those years ago, when you first meet him. Unsurprising, as he finally has enough to eat and far less stress than before.

>>22532086

Give 'em the daggers as well.

>>22531979

I recall it also had two fully grown parents living nearby, correct? Might bite us in the ass if we would try anything.

You know that trying to talk him into confessing will be pointless, so you go for the direct approach. "I understand you have some objections to my more devout followers teaching your children the way they have."

He pales and you can see him tense slightly as you say this. He manages to keep his features blank, but stutters a few times before speaking. "I- Great One- there...I mean to say, Great One, I would not wish to disagree with your decisions. I have no-"

You let a little anger into you tone as you interrupt him. "I know you object Hatherlan. I have told you before that you may speak openly to me and I have told you I have no patience for being lied to. I know you object to my decision and I want to know why."

He seems to consider this for a moment, or perhaps he's just working up the courage to speak openly. "Great One, before we- before we entered your service, I had been told stories of my people, that they were free to live in their own lands, as they wished to. My father used to tell me stories about the elven gods and how they would aid us with their spells. None among us remember those days, but I have heard there are other of my people, those who still possess their culture. I had hoped that we might reclaim something of what we once were. I know it is foolish dream; we swore to serve you and will do so. But is a dream that is difficult to forget." There is a note of regret in his voice and more than a little fear.

>>22532078
Well, close and durable with another dragon is pretty much impossible for a typical red. Because we are megalomanic apex predators with ingrained territorial instincts. There are either more powerful dragons (who you hide from) or weaker dragons (who you crush underfoot). Oh, and mates, but as mother showed draconic mates do not seem to stay together very long.

>>22532078
And if we don't bet on removing ideas of killing us and taking our stuff from her head, logically, we should abandon the idea of using her in pitched fights against other dragons. The risk would be too high to let her be around when we're wounded and fatigued. And if we avoid pitched fights, I'll have to abandon my ambitions of killing older dragons and conquering an empire before we're old...

>>22532136
No, that was the copper.

>>22532140
The best way to handle this is to put the notion into their head that they are not slaves so much as tenants of our land, we have not treated them as cattle, merely asked the basic upkeep any good landlord would

as for our interest in their development, it was merely out of charity and interest in undeveloped talents, we have simply tried to teach teach and encourage them in the way we felt best. we must reassure the elves that they are better in our service then not

>>22532156
>Well, close and durable with another dragon is pretty much impossible for a typical red.
That's true. But that's boring and sad.
I'd like us not to be a typical red.

In case it wasn't clear, how do you want to respond to Hatherlan?

>>22532219
in fact we should even encourage them to reexplore their heritage and old arts, it would make them happy

Make it so the way they reclaim and protect their heritage and future is through us

>>22532166
You know we are a red dragon, right? Killing things and taking their stuff is what we are famous for. I seriously doubt that we could ever stop sis from attacking us if she thinks we are weak enough and she gains more from it than she looses.(but we fight smarter than her, so ideally we should be less wounded).

If you want a reliable draconic ally go befriend a gold or something...

>>22532244
I think the elven gods are opposed to us, since we are evil and they are good.
>>22532227
We can always dominate weaker dragons. If we ever have children, perhaps they can be pressed into our service.

>>22532240
calmly and reassuringly, he has seen his other children die he is merely acting as a concerned parent, he just needs his old fear abated

>>22532240

Can't we compromise? We keep them in our service but urge them to focus on their culture, maybe even search for a few books of elven lore to please them.
It depends on how well their youngest are reacting to our cult/religion. If it's positive, keep the older generation going with vague promises. If it's negative, we might as well abandon that plan completely and let them develop their own identity again.

>>22532219
>>22532244

I second those.

>>22532284
not the more baseline nature gods, the minor gods such as the weaving and harvest ones are no threat, neither are the healing or fertility gods. the major ones should be fine as long as their children are not abused, and if we teach our elves neutral magic, its really a moot point, I think part of our problem is we are trying to soon to establish a cult, it should be more like 200 years

>>22532219
Also tell him that we have the resources and connections to find some of those old elves still living with their traditions. Might net us some elven clerics.

So far the children seem quite fond of you. They've never experienced the torments their parents did and their parents are reluctant to say anything that might possibly contradict you. Your cult (tough it lacks the formal structure of one) has been encouraging the view that they are directly beneath you in the natural hierarchy and exist to serve your will.

Plus, they're children, so they might just find the idea of a giant, fire breathing, flying killing machine cool.

I'd like to make our cult evolve into something more like a philosophical school, or a political party. Something that could get the support of more independent-minded individuals like Hatherlan.

I tried to write some precepts...
1. The natural world is made to be experienced and enjoyed according to one's physical means. Dragons, being of the highest physical form, deserve naturally to enjoy this world accordingly. Serving dragons dedicated to this is serving nature. Inferior beings still have an inferior right to enjoy this world.
2. The society of intelligent beings is made for empowering the community behind its leader, to support individual and collective achievements, honor them according to their genius and greatness, and relieve individuals of natural limits - like hunger, by organizing production, or fear of death, by developping philosophy.
3. The government of society is the duty of the best of us - those separate from the rest by their achievements, their ability to challenge established order and lead others to it despite their fears and apathy. Violence is necessary, but calls for compensations to achieve perpetual rejuvenation - in any case it needs not be systematic. I am the best of us.
4. As all, regardless of race, can lie with a dragon to create siblings, so the creations and achievements of the various people living in fraternity under Our leadership will bear our mark, and will become better, stronger than what could be done separated.

Regarding Hatherlan, explain to him that his people were never free like he said they were. What they were was isolated.
What is freedom ? The power to do according to one's wishes. But elves, even on their own, were always restrained by other elves, by neighbouring peoples, by their religion, and by their own limited abilities to realize their wishes. Serving us, or serving an elven king ? There's no difference. See precept 4.

>>22532284
We're not evil, we're just a firm believer in the importance of strong leadership as long as that leader is us.

>>22532352

I'm reluctant to give them any actual information about their old culture, give them a finger and they'll take an arm.
However, it might be okay to have our agents look around for elven tomes and kin. If we give them some old lesser gods back which don't differ to greatly from our ideology, it might work out. So long as we keep clear we're still deity number one.

>>22532397
make it more like a Social Contract, Dragons being the mightiest of creatures have a duty to act as custodian of the lesser races, while lessor races serve the dragons, in such a way peace and prosperity is enjoyed, it is beings fighting against the will and submission to the dragon that cause strife and disorder

>>22532430
Wat. I dont think we need to be seen as a deity. I think being seen as some kind of immortal liege lord would fit to the elves much better.

I mean, we arent so deluded that we think ourselves a god, are we?

So you intend to give him access to information concerning elven culture as long as it isn't likely to cause problems with how you intend to utilise them? Then try and convince him dragons being in charge is just part of the natural social order?

>>22532460
we should hold off on the cult pushing for a bit, just keep em loyal and get em used to us, within a few generations they will forget they ever disliked it, and as long as we show no objections to their culture or way they really have nothing to complain about, save the occasional job or tithe, which for the degree of protection from wandering monster, orcs and other dragons like old is nothing

>>22532495
sounds good, make it seem like their fears to us objecting to them wanting to get in touch with their heritage was unfounded, even make it seem like we would actually be pleased with such a move

>>22532495

Yes, we're going full Gorbachov with this one.

Roll 1d20-5 to convince him.

>>22532495
make it seem like we are not even treating them like slaves, more like yeomen under a baron

>>22532240
We need more information about the free elves.
Do they actually exist ? How are they organized, how are they faring ? What do their gods do for them ?

>>22532397
But we can always bluff and tell him he was misled to think that elves are better off on their own.

"What use is a god, too ? The gods of elves do not care for their people much. They didn't prevent Imgo and myself from ruling over you in their place. I would fight to keep you among my possessions, they apparently did not - or those gods are weaker than a dragon."

>>22532140
"A completely understandable desire Hatherlan. While I won't claim to be unbiased I would point out a few facts that may indicate you are seeing the past through Rose colored glasses. The most obvious one of course is that those old ways left you weak enough to be taken over by an insane dragon." An amused look "An insane green dragon that is. Furthermore, your isolationism ensured that you had no powerful ally to call upon when your power proved insufficient. Therefore I would postulate that a blind adherence to your old traditions may not in fact be in your best interest. Should you wish to reclaim parts of your culture, I have no inherent objection. So long as that culture has no objection to me, of course. After all I have no interest in micromanaging you are squeezing you dry like certain other dragons who may be around."

Rolled 5 + 5

>>22532539
Okay. I dont know if that -5 will work though.

Rolled 5 + 5

>>22532539
high or low?

Rolled 18

>>22532495
>Then try and convince him dragons being in charge is just part of the natural social order?
Or that at least, elves nobility being in charge is no more inherently just than when it's dragons.

Rolled 9

>>22532587
>>22532606
Looks like that doesn't really work.

Low, as usual.

Never mind, just make it a d20 then.

>>22532587
>>22532606
Its always low I believe. So we got a 0

Rolled 15

>>22532626

>>22532539
>Roll 1d20-5 to convince him.
I tought you applied modifiers without mentionning it...

Rolled 7

>>22532626
sigh.

>>22532668

I did, and apparently still am.

>>22532634
so can we go with this one?

File: 1357945131325.png-(150 KB, 2048x1363, 1356737426361.png)

We need to find ourself a bard.
A good one, that would be willing to organize propaganda efforts among our servants, and then outside as soon as we establish our own territory.

I'd like to make people want to join our kingdom, or help us take over theirs.

>>22532711

If anything that seems the most logical. As we're trying to roll low a modifier of +5 is appropriate as it makes it harder to persuade him.

File: 1357945713879.jpg-(181 KB, 900x1049, cheval-cabre-napoleon-david.jpg)

>>22532443
I don't want to talk too much about peace. I'd like an empire.
Of course, peace can be achieved by conquest, but I want to rely on those who want greatness and glory, under our command, more than on those who just want peace.

We could be a big, scaly, winged napoleon.

Time out to say thanks to KEJ for running this awesome quest. I normally hate quest threads with a passion, but something about this one has really drawn me in.

>>22532284
>I think the elven gods are opposed to us, since we are evil and they are good.
Looking at the history of our elves, I'm not so sure that they are good.

what kind of weak, pathetic dragon are you? Show some backbone! The guy is (most likely) conspiring against you? FRY HIM! BURN HIM! COOK HIM!
We are a red dragon, a motherfucking engine of fire, destruction and rape. They live only because WE allow them to live. Make this very clear, we're not the good kind old dragon! What are your scales, gold? NO! They are red.

>>22532937
He already knows we can burn him.
We have no reason to do so.

>>22532921
I feel grateful too.
But I'm greedy like a red dragon and I always want more. I have a suggestion : KEJ, you could do one update a day, or every other day, on one of those websites made to host persistant quests. In addition to these threads.
I wouldn't take too much of your time, as you can write the update any time of the day.
We too could do more with our protagonist, without the same time constraints on participation.

File: 1357947103383.jpg-(260 KB, 900x1200, iridium_the_half_dragon_b(...).jpg)

wonder could we create a sub race of elf with red dragon affinity? (as a long term goal)

>>22533244
it will be a while before we can but yes, blanda up is on the agenda

Make ourself a crown, made of wrought iron bars that coil over our horns. And a few pikes in case we ever have to gore something. One of them was chipped last time we fought, and we can't regenerate them. I don't want it to happen again, or worse, to break one off completely. We would look silly for all of our very long life. So get some AC on our head.

>>22532126

Wow, that image gives a lot of nostalgia for the original Dragon Quest. Keep going OP, as a veteran of that quest I believe you are doing great.

>>22533244
I aim to create subraces with red dragon affinity of all intelligent races of the continent, and maybe some unintelligent ones.

>>22533296
I think asymetrical horns look badass. That said, we should comission some armor as soon as we have the dosh.

File: 1357947543139.jpg-(42 KB, 340x276, 340x_dmg_01.jpg)

You ponder this for a moment. "I see nothing problematic about that."

He blinks at you a few times, his expression slipping to allow some measure of surprise through. "You- You do not seek to prevent us from learning of our people?"

You give the equivalent of a shrug at this. "Not at all. I seek loyal service certainly, but I see no reason to try and decide the way you think." A definite lie, you certainly do want them worshipping you, but telling him that would be counter productive. "I may even look into procuring information on the stories and arts of your people. There are supposedly elven clans far to the north, I may be able to acquire something from them." You aren't sure, but you think there are a few elven gods that focus on crafting. Letting them in on those shouldn't cause problems.

His surprise continues to show as you say this. "You- you would allow us to learn of our heritage? I had thought that the lessons the children were being taught meant you-" He catches himself saying this and stops, almost wincing as he realises what he said. It seems the surprise of you offering to help him learn of his people threw him off balance.

"Go on."

He's visibly nervous now, despite his best efforts. "The lessons the children receive. About your glory and how all were meant to serve under you. I had though you wished to take the place of the gods in our minds."

An accurate summary, perhaps you should tell your cult to be rather more subtle about indoctrinating the next generation in the future. You pause to consider how to respond to this. "Take the place of the gods? How exactly am I supposed to- nevermind. I was aware their lessons focused on the glory of the draconic, but I don't see how that-" You pause again, apparently deep in thought. There must be a way to convince him that this isn't the problem it seems without actually giving up your growing control over the next generation.

You give the equivalent of a grin as a thought comes to mind, quickly turning it into a chuckle to disguise your glee. "It seems to be an issue of perspective. I had heard the teachers describe the world in terms of power, something in which dragons clearly stand above all others. Now that I think about it, their words could easily be misunderstood as meaning dragons are somehow divine. Rather foolish, our power is not exactly godly." Your statement is quite truthful. It always seemed a little like cheating to draw power from worshippers, rather than your own innate strength. Not that you have anything against cheating, but the continued dependency on worshippers would no doubt bother you immensely. "In any case, I shall speak with them and arrange for a more appropriate view of the world to be taught. With luck, it may even include some of the lore of the elven peoples, depending on how soon I can find some examples."

He gives a faint sigh of relief, more at your lack of anger than anything. "Thank you, Great One. It seems my fears were misplaced. I had never though a dragon would be willing to help us so. Thank you," he says in a somewhat formal tone.

You shrug. "Think nothing of it. You swore to serve me, that is all I require. Besides, your people are renowned for their great skill at crafting. To be honest I wish you'd come to me about this sooner. I had assumed you already knew about your culture." You stare into the distance a little as you say the last part, apparently considering it for the first time.

He considers this for a moment. "My foolishness aside, you have my gratitude." He does at least sound a little sincere about it.

>>22533120
>one update a day, or every other day
One update a week seems just fine, I don't want him to have a burn out.

>>22533371
I'm thinking change it to elemental force of nature/living paragon.

>>22533379
Wonderful

We should also work a little more with our kobolds, send a few more to our outposts to get things built more smoothly

>>22533379
good, now we can let them alone for a bit, keep an eye on them but other then that let them just continue

>>22533393
>One update a week seems just fine
The word update might not be the right one.
I meant one answer to our decisions per day, and update to what's happening around our protagonist, like we have several per thread.
Not one whole thread per day.

>>22533455
>We should also work a little more with our kobolds
Yes. We should tutor the budding sorcerors among them too.

File: 1357948291746.png-(536 KB, 1024x768, 1356132429046.png)

>>22533371
By the way, none of the elves we sent to the western lair tried to escape ?

I believe the next plan was to start moving over to your new lair (with the island having been chosen).

Are there any particular plans for setting yourself up there? What do you want to start moving first?

>>22533565
Nope. They were chosen from loyalty as well as skill. There's also nothing for them to escape to, as far as you know.

>>22533357
No need for money, tell the elves and the kobolds to work on it.
But I'd rather limit ourself to a crown, because plate armor looks terrible on dragons.

>>22533566
lets make sure everything is set to to receive us, get all our kobolds and some elves in place, then set about the move. make sure all the construction is done, and our lair is ready to go, we must oversee the moving of our hoard ourselves

>>22533598
How about we save things like plate armor until we can shapeshift?

>>22533566
>I believe the next plan was to start moving over to your new lair
I'd rather not do that before we can at least cast 2nd level spells.

>>22533565
send and advance group of elves to build shelters, clear ground and get things ready for the rest, this will stress them as they have to leave the village the have somewhat settled into, the same to a degree with the kobolds. we must ensure we have all the settlements established before we go

Rolled 10 - 5

>>22532587
>>22532606
I thought the trick to rolling negative modifiers was to do it like this: dice+1d20+-5

>>22533598
>>22533616
If we want the elves or kobolds to build it they'll need plenty of time to practice anyway. Like I said before, we should probably set some of our kobolds to work making kobold armour in the mean time. Probably not full plate, but helmets and mail seem like a good idea.

>>22533616
Fine with me.

>>22533566
Do >>22531826 before we leave.
But I don't really want to leave.
Not until we have the means to breathe in water and resist electricity.

We should see about getting some kobolds specifically trained as medics

>>22533566

I'm still stalling as long as possible, let us recover from the battle, master 2nd circle spells, tutor our goblin sorcerers, see if we can get some tomes for the elves.

However I think we could already transport our shipwright and some more capable goblins and elves to the island to begin work on some small fishing boats.

Yes, it might be a bit slow and boring, but I'd rather not charge blindly and hasty into an unknown environment without the protection of our sire.

Lets say you managed to get to grips with some of the simpler 2nd level spells while healing from your fight.

Roll a d20 for random incidents.

>>22533721
Second doing the search through imgos woods

also get the elf and kobold colonies established as well as geting them prepped to leave, is best to give them a some time in advance

Rolled 6

>>22533745
woo

Rolled 2

>>22533745

Here goes

If we abandon the idea of teaching our elves to build ships and navigate before taking over the island, we should free the shipwright we kidnapped for it some threads ago.
Or maybe ransom him to his family.
Small gains make a big hoard, and that'll make him marginaly useful

>>22533801
great so he knows what we are doing

if we must free him, we should have our agents bribe him handsomly then warn him if he ever breaks his vow of silence he and his family will be butchered, then have him watched

>>22533740
Seconded.

We need to get a better idea of our long term plans before we head out too.

>>22533801

>abandon the idea of teaching our elves to build ships and navigate before taking over the island

That seems very counter-productive. Even if we don't decide to build an amazing elf-pirate empire, we should still have him learn us at least the basics.

>>22533886
our long term plan should be to get ready, make all our preparation, settle in then we should timeskip

Rolled 4

>>22533862
There's little to fear.
He doesn't know much, just that a red dragon captured him, made him stay for some months in a cave with kobolds, then freed him without explanation.
He can tell everyone he wants, that won't endanger us.

>>22533747
Rolling for the search.

>>22533934
excellent, things are falling into place

>>22533898
Well, if we go to the island directly, there will be ships and shipwrights to use there. Seamen too. Elves won't be useful, we could impress humans into service..

Though I'd prefer we wait here and teach the elves first so that they can be useful then.

(Has anyone archived this yet? I just got here and am not sure what to put in the description)

>>22533707
>>22533296
Wait.
Kobolds.
Make the crown a trap. Something that springs up if we ever get hit by a mace again, and catches the weapon.

>>22533969

Too early to describe what we're doing in this part.
But I'd probably say we'll move out in this one.

>>22534015
I wonder if we couldn't use something like explosive runes or alchemy to make a sort of reactive armour.
>guy tries to sneak attack us
>flying steel plate to the face

>>22533906
No, I mean long term as in what will we do after the timeskip.
Do we bring our sister to the island (in a different lair) ? Do we plan on using her again, or do we let her go on her own ? Do we plan to kill other dragons after the bronze, knowing that they are older than us or protected by older dragons ?
Do we plan to conquer territory on the continent anytime soon ?
Things like that, so that we can make preparations before and during the timeskip.

Don't usually comment on here because I prefer to watch but this is the only thread that I come here every week for. I just want to say great job and keep it up!

>>22534128
Same. Whenever I miss a thread it's still fun to just read the thing through the next day.

>>22534118
I say we build a network of agents and theives to do our bidding, we must be like a spider at the center of a web, see video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagCoUYvIXE

>>22534118
My own ambitions were to work on increasing our powerbase, by establishing relations with warrior tribes in the plains, and somehow taking control over our sister, then use them to kill the silver dragon as soon as we hit young adult age and take his lair (and hoard) for our own, using it as our base of operations to start building a kingdom in the plains.

Killing the bronze dragon first doesn't bother me, but making our lair far away from the land will make getting humanoid allies in the plains more difficult, and we'll lose our influence on sister if we don't bring her, which I'm not sure we have the power to do.

>>22534283
And without our sister I don't think we can attack the silver dragon before we get a few more age categories.

File: 1357951246831.jpg-(211 KB, 400x352, green-dragon.jpg)

It occurs to you that Goltyrsyx may not have been all that thorough in clearing out Imgodidartak's possessions. She certainly made sure everything the elves knew about was accounted for, but the vicious old bastard may have had a few hidden stashes. You know from your own nature that it's reassuring to have a backup source of treasure. If your main hoard were lost, it would mean you wouldn't lose everything.

The main problem is distance. Much to your delight, your innate ability to determine the approximate direction of sufficiently specific objects has recently kicked in. The downside is it's range is only a couple of hundred metres. This is nowhere near enough to cover an appreciable area of the forest. It is possible however, to identify potential green dragon lairs from the air. If he were to go into hiding, Imgodidartak would want somewhere comfortable to recover from whatever drove him from his hoard, along with some backup treasure. It's a longshot, but on the offchance you succeed, you attempt it anyway.

You are familiar with the style of chest produced by the elves that Imgodidartak enslaved and choose to focus on those. With any luck, the anti scrying charms he likely secured the potential lairs with will have faded.

Out of the three potential sites you observe, two prove fruitless. There is no sign in either of them that they may have been considered as a backup lair. The third, however, shows signs of preparation - and there is definitely an elf made chest down there. Taking the best trapper from among your kobolds, you move in for a closer look. You take care to cast resist acid on yourself and your servant, in case of traps that are missed. It's a small comfort, but hopefully he would have favoured traps that posed no threat to him.

Pushing aside the undergrowth that conceals the entrance, you force your way into the small lair. It's not much to look at, even by the standards of your own small proto-lair. A small, progressively more muddy tunnel eventually leads to a small underground pond. The chest in several meters below the waterline. With the small spike trap disabled by your kobold you consider the situation. The trap that was disabled was nothing, far less than those demonstrated in Imgodidartak's actual lair. It seems likely the place is further trapped and beneath the water, away from easy help and working to a strict time limit would be the obvious place to put it.

Still, it's four, maybe five metres. You should have little difficulty keeping your head above water level while you search. The traps that his slaves were capable of might sting at most, but they would be no serious threat to you. You enter the water and begin to rummage towards the approximate location you know the chest to be in. You feel you tail brush against some reed-like plants - something which probably shouldn't be growing away from the sun. Before you can fully consider the implications of this they latch around your tail and try to pull you down. Their efforts are utterly pointless; you're far too heavy to be dragged by a few weeds and they prove no stronger than normal ones as you rip them out of the ground. A humanoid adventurer who couldn't breath water would have been in serious trouble.

As you pull the weeds out of the water you immediately realise something is wrong, the thick scent of chlorine begins to fill the air. The reeds begin to ooze acid, even as they try in vain to choke the life out of you. Your spell holds, but it isn't completely proof against the acid's effects and your tail begins to sting. Carefully brushing your kobold to the side you let loose a small blast of flame, incinerating the plants. Their destruction leaves a strong smell of acid and a small pool of boiling mud in front of you, but there are no more surprises that emerge. Trying again, you dip your body beneath the water and try to find the chest. You soon feel your tail brush over something clearly artificial and start sweeping it up towards easy reach of your limbs. You soon have the chest in your grasp.

Returning to your kobolds, you examine the contents of the chest. A pair of emeralds, rough two hundred gold pieces and thirty platinum pieces lie before you, along with various gold and silver trinkets and a series of bronze statuettes you don't see any significance to. Not the best haul, but considering the effort involved it was worth it.

>(and I thought I was done having to type out the name Imgodidartak)

>>22534118
We don't let our sister go to far. We've expressed our dominance over her for the entire quest and for effectively her entire life us being more powerful and smarter than her has been a constant. There has literally never been a time in her life when we were not in charge. I don't care if she *is* a red dragon, she can't just ignore that. If we can move her away from mother's influence I think she will eventually break down. (Plus we have got far too many crits during our relationship to let her go now.)

File: 1357951667477.jpg-(572 KB, 1680x1050, 1276286164401.jpg)

>>22534283

>Migrate to island
>Maintain relations with bitch sis
>Take control of port town on island
>Commence the piracy
>Harass tradeships, watch the dough roll in
>Acquire more ships
>Start assaulting, bribing ports on the mainland
>Begin invasion of western mainland
>wrestle control of anything east of the mountains
>then start on plains and get the real empire going

Alternatively we can ally with the steppe-barbarians before we invade the mainland so we can utilize a pincer tactic on the coastal cities. Have them attack their rear.

>>22534372
I don't want to let her go. She'd be a precious asset.
If we can get her to move with us that'd be great.
We can always make her want to take a share of the Bronze's hoard, but even if we find her a good location for a lair on the island it'll be hard to convince her to stay.
Is it time to beat her down into doing our bidding ?

>>22534528
I'd prefer to wait five years when we have 3rd level spells and she is still stuck on first. Then we can really deliver a beatdown. Still, properly run, 2nd level spells should be sufficient for a convincing lesson.

>>22534463
>>wrestle control of anything east of the mountains
>>then start on plains and get the real empire going
I think we need a humanoid army (preferably mounted on half-dragon horses...) before we do this, so starting with the steppes is the way to go. But doing it without living close to our future army is harder, we won't be able to do much for them.

>>22534573
Hideous laughter I think. She's a classic low Wis character, so she should be weak against mind affecting spells.

Rolled 4

>>22534573
We have detect thoughts.

Let's have a discussion with her about her future plans, and try that spell.
I'm not sure it'll work on her, but we can try.

After asking about her plans for the next decades, tell her that we're thinking about taking out the bronze dragon to the east, and expect her to help.

Wait... Now that I think about it, we don't even know what she's doing of her time now.
Does she have minions ? Do we know where her hoard is located, and how it grows ?
What are her habits, what does she do for fun ?

Let's find and kill a big monster, and invite her for dinner.

>>22534687
This

File: 1357953096240.jpg-(8 KB, 200x200, Second.jpg)

>>22534687

Rolled 9

I'd like to sell the fireball staff we got, and buy a magic item more useful for us.
We can give Garran a short vacation to find us something suitable, or maybe our human agents could do it..

File: 1357953811098.jpg-(2.47 MB, 3788x2454, Gold-crystals.jpg)

I worry that if we attack the bronze dragon, we'll be in turn attacked by the older gold dragon of the next island.

These guys don't like red dragons, and have some big ideas about retribution.
Can we expect such an attack ? Should we ask mom her opinion about its likelyhood ?

File: 1357953871458.jpg-(109 KB, 500x736, dragon_10.jpg)

Recognising that you have little time left with Goltyrsyx before you forces you out, you decide to act preemptively. You call a meeting of your slaves. Both the kobolds and elves attend together. Before now they had had relatively little to do with each other, their assigned task keeping them separate. This had worked well enough for you as the sycophantic and bloodthirsty nature of the kobolds didn't sit well with a few of the less pliable elves. The last thing you need is more reasons for them to complain.

Today however, they stand before you together. Well, kneel at least.

"Rise, my faithful servants. It has been many years since you entered my service. You have spent them well and proven yourselves worthy." There is no small amount of cheering from the kobolds. Most of the elves just look relieved, though a few are clearly heartened by your words. "But our time here is coming to an end." The cheering from the kobolds stops, though a few seem to realise where this is going. "Soon, I will leave these lands and forge my own land. Some of you are aware of the distant missions your friends and family members are working on. Soon I will take up residence there and you will join me" There is more excited cheering from the kobolds, they seem to be doing it more to show the elves who the more loyal of the two groups are. As if there was ever any doubt.

The elves don't look as convinced, this was something you had planned for, however. "You may wonder, what of your lives here, of all the work you poured into building your new homes. Remember, these are not truely your homes. In the lands of Goltyrsyx, all must pay dearly for everything." You neglect to mention that they only had to pay dearly because you wanted more treasure than her 'taxes' would make easy for them to acquire. "In these new lands of mine, there will be no others. You will serve me and me alone." This is met with yet another cheer from the kobolds. They tend to regard Goltyrsyx as an unpleasant necessity in your creation. They've never actually met her, though, so that might not hold up to testing. You nod to the elves. "As promised, you will be given the means to revive your ways. These lands hold no native elves. You will be the first of your kind to settle them."

A few of the elves start to look interested as you mention this. A few start to look nervous. You recognise those who do as being the ones who have family members who remain in the forest Goltyrsyx has now claimed.

Turning slightly towards them, you continue. "I know the idea of leaving all this behind may be daunting. It will not be easy, it will require learning many skills anew, but once I am fully established there, there will be no other masters you need worry about. Eventually, you might even be able to bring your family to join you." That gets their attention. They had been willing to play the waiting game. Elves are patient creatures, almost as patient as dragons, but actually having a plan of action to reunite with their family does far more for their moral than the distant possibility.

The crowd seems, if not eager (aside from the kobolds), then at least accepting of the impending move. You soon fly out twenty more kobolds, ten elves and some supplies to get them started. It will be a few months before they have a passable village established in the small valley below your chosen lair, but that can't be helped. The scouts you have deployed report nothing new, though are pleased that you have chosen the site of their work as your main lair. The kobolds on site are, needless to say, ecstatic.

>(Update about sister being written.)

>>22535029
nice, we should get them as interested as possible, even if their elves, their still mortals and desire to expand and rule

>>22535050
And now we play the waiting game.

>>22534862
It could be useful to get a hat of disguise, to make us look like a young metallic dragon as we go to the island. It probably won't fool another dragon, but it might fool local humanoids who will then spread rumor that might lead the bronze to visit us unprepared.

>>22535029
Wait what? We explicitly exploited a loophole in our agreement with Goltyrsyx to impose dramatically lower taxation rates.

>>22535131
It doesn't have to be true, it just has to sound true to the minions.

>>22535029
>You recognise those who do as being the ones who have family members who remain in the forest Goltyrsyx has now claimed.
How many elves live there ?

>>22535144
It seems to imply that we were taxing the shit out of them secretly. In fact we were taxing them at a 20% rate as opposed to the 70% rate Goltyrsyx typically employs as a long term loyalty enhancer, since they would know what our dear mother normally charges. Also, because we want a functioning society.

so, sohlud we do a full survey of our new island and begin our move?

>>22535050
>Eventually, you might even be able to bring your family to join you.
Sounds hard to accomplish. We won't be able to get too close to mom after that, and stealing her stuff wouldn't be the best idea.

I think giving them this kind of hopes for a verifiable result is more detrimental than beneficial to our rule. They're bound to notice that we're unable to deliver, and that's gonna be a bigger problem than their current dissatisfaction.

>>22535237
Depends how it goes with sis.

>>22535284
How old is mom? We might eventually be able to take her on. It'll be a long time before we catch up to her in growth, but it could work.

>>22535377
She 350 last time we asked (one or two timeskips ago), which makes her a mature adult, soon to be old.
We won't be able to fight her head-on ever.

>>22535420
Disagree. If she doesn't train we can eventually surpass her.

>>22535446
I don't see any reason why we would want to. Unless she was already a direct threat there's no reason to target family.

>>22535420
Hm. I thought the difference between wyrm and the age before was ~500 years.

>>22535528
Never said we wanted to, although she will likely get in the way of our expansion at some point. I'm simply saying that the vast majority of dragons wait for age to come to them.

>>22535540
Wyrmling 0-5
Very young 6-15
Young 16-25
Juvenile 26-50
Young adult 51-100
Adult 101-200
Mature adult 201-400
Old 401-600
Very old 601-800
Ancient 801-1,000
Wyrm 1,001-1,200
Great wyrm 1,201 or more

>>22535560
Lets just avoid boxing her in with territory we conquer.

>>22535603
Let's just make ourself an army than can overcome old dragons with our help.
Even if we don't run into mom, we'll have to kill other dragons if we want an empire. And I want to be genghis khan.

>>22535728
As long as there is no horse fucking I'm fine with that. We should totally have princesses and their equivalents be our handmaidens though.

>>22535777
>As long as there is no horse fucking I'm fine with that.
Even with a tasteful ellipsis ?

And princesses are overrated. They're usually neither nice nor pretty, and enslaving them isn't much more satisfying than unseating their father and leaving them to survive on their own.

>>22535586
>>22535446

Yeah, we are going to need to wait a century or two before even trying to off her by semi-direct means just to be on the safe side if it turns for the worse and we have to be more direct.

File: 1357957906955.jpg-(122 KB, 991x644, reddragonwilderness.jpg)

With the early stages of your move underway, you visit your sister to see what her plans for the future are.

You descend onto the foothill near to the mountain she usually lurks around when not travelling further afield. She has been slightly evasive about her activities there the last few months. You hadn't pressed, being more concerned with your injuries at the time. Soon, she appears, swooping down before pulling up hard to bleed off momentum. You focus your will on the spell you had prepared specially for this occasion. Detect thoughts.

She looks at the evening sun, before turning towards you lazily. "You're looking better than usual today, brother." The spell has yet to fully kick in, but you can feel it building around her.

You chuckle slightly. "Missed me did you?" The spell is almost there.

She snorts. There it is. You feel the spell sink into her mind. She doesn't seem to have noticed. "Hardly. Caravans aren't a threat these days and without you I get to keep all the treasure." You catch a few glimpses of horsemen fleeing. The prairie nomads, that's who she's been raiding. They tend to be inordinately keen on raiding their neighbours and each other. They don't have as much loot on them as merchants, but there are far more of them to hit. She isn't being entirely honest in her disdain of you. She is still quite nervous about the potential repeat of her incident with the dragon hunters. She likes having access to the intelligence your spies provide, but greatly dislikes the planning involved.

You raise an eyebrow at this. "Oh, so you no longer need my help."

Anger flares in her at this before she realises you're trying to wind her up again. She glares at you for a second, though. "Need your help? I seem to recall it was you who suggested our arrangement." She's started to doubt your arrangement of late. You are both getting older and it won't be much longer before no single mortal on this plane (that you know of) could seriously challenge either of you. "Besides, we won't need to help each other for much longer." She
isn't thinking of breaking your arrangement yet, but as you both get stronger and have fewer competitors aside from each other it becomes more likely.

Something to consider. You start pushing the topic towards the subject of the future, hoping she'll start thinking about her plans. You give a noncommittal shrug. "In any case, my better than usual mood is because I've had a particularly good day."

She stares at you with more interest now. 'What has he found this time' is a rather prominent thought. "In what way." She tries to make it sound innocuous. She's clearly interested in what you've been up to, you don't need the spell to know that.

You grin a little. "I've been preparing my new lair."

You sense faint disappointment from her on hearing this. She seems to think it might have been something similar to how you received your injuries. You told her about the adventurers, but never mentioned the treasure. She suspects, but knows that if you haven't told her by now, there's no way you're going to. She knows that under your arrangement, she shouldn't actually get any regardless, but that's not something she considers worth bothering about of the opportunity is there. Her disappointment shows on her face. She never was one for hiding what she thought. "Oh, is that all?"

You glare at her. You become fairly good at hiding your reactions, but her dismissive response annoys you and you have no reason to hide it. "'Is that all'? Surely you've recognised how short tempered mother is becoming. We don't have long left in the nest." You sense her thoughts shift, an image of endless hills crosses her mind. There is a brief flash of a near fight with a silver, averted only due to lack of certainty by either party.

"Of course I've noticed. I've been examining possibilities myself. I've found a good one far down south." You recognise the scene in her mind now. At the bottom of the mountain range there is are vast ridges of hills. The area she's talking about is somewhere around there. Towards the north of the hills, just south of the mountains.

You cock your head at this. "A rather long way to travel."

She seems indifferent to this, as if she always expected it to be this way. "Once I've established myself I won't need to travel back here at all, will I? So where is your lair going to be anyway?" she says with renewed vigour.

You chuckle at this. "You first." Giving away the exact location of a lair to another dragon is rarely, if ever done.

She snorts. "Worth a try." She had held out a surprising amount of hope you might actually tell her.

Deciding to press on while the spell lasts, you give in and decide to bring up the subject of long term plans. "So what will you be doing when you do move." She glares at you, suspicion beginning to build. "Don't look at me like that, you know I'm only curious. Besides, my new lair is rather far from the south." This mollifies her somewhat.

You get a brief glimpse from her mind of a goblin settlement, a mid sized tribe, if that was their only one. "I haven't put much thought into it." A lie, she intends to force the goblins to gather intelligence on surrounding settlements for her. She has no idea if there are any valuable items around, but she will make them find out.

You shrug. "You always did prefer the spur of the moment." The spell chooses this moment to break.

>Anything further you with to say?

>>22536120
I think most of it has been said.

>>22536120
Well well well.

I want to keep her around and use her for our benefit.
We could offer her to continue our association and go for the bronze and the island. I'm sure that half of the income will be more that she can hope to get alone with a tribe of goblins.
We'd need to renew the terms, to ensure closer cooperation than previously, and share our long term ambitions.
But I'm not sure she'd accept right now. I hoped detect thoughts could help us on that.

Could we force her ?

>>22536120
"Well, good luck with that Sis. See ya." Causally mirror image our self on the way out.

>>22536286

Forcing her would be extremely iffy, you have mostly healed from the last battle, but still have a few sensitive spots and your current spell selection isn't optimised for dealing with another dragon (you mainly been using them to aid in setting up your new lair).

Even if you did win, red dragons rarely back down from a fight, even when losing badly and she does tend to play to type. If you tried to force her to submit you might end up having to kill her.

This will be the last update tonight. I should resume at around midday tomorrow.

>>22536120
And after that ? What kind of wyrm do you want to become ?

I, for one, don't want to become like our mother, ruling over a few miserable human villages, and sitting around looking fearsome, waiting the centuries away.
I took a liking with ruling over the elves. But they're pretty miserable themselves. I'll make them better, but I'll also conquer humanoid kingdoms and set myself as an emperor over them.
It will be relatively easy to do so, given a bit of time. There's several opportunities... a vaccuum of power in many areas... Humanoids won't be too much of a problem.
Other dragons will.
I want you to fight them with me. I can live on my own, but I need help to get what I want, faster. As you do, too. Your raids on the nomads haven't been as productive as our association is. I bet that the area you chose for your lair isn't that promising either, which is why it was open for the taking.
You asked where my lair was ? I'll tell you. It's right next to a bronze dragon, a bit older than us. I'll have to kill it. I supppose I could do it alone, but it's only the first on the list.
If you help, you'll get your usual share. If you stay around, I can guarantee you riches beyond what you could hope to see for the next century, and a life a bit less boring too.
And of course, my help sould we meet any inquisitive metallic dragon.

>>22536366
Yeah, sounds about right.

So we can either try the direct approach like >>22536549 (I wrote it but am not sure that's the best thing to say or the best way to say it), or try to trick her ? Taunt her about going to hide away from humans and dragons, while we're going the right way about getting a territory, stealing it from a good dragon ?

If we're gonna kidnap anyone to bring along now would be the time, good luck escaping the dragons isle

>>22536821
I'd like to recruit a bard before we leave. Someone with little scruples but a lot of charisma and oratory talent. A human, because we'll need to influence this kind of people once we're on the island.
If we can find someone willing to devote himself to a dragon like us, it would be great, but an opportunist would do. Has to be willing for a reason or another (a chance with our sister ?) though.

We can send Garran to find this guy (or girl), sell the fireball staff, and find us some good items. Or our other human agents.

>>22537168
Why not use our agents to find him?

>>22539767
I think a wizard might know better where to sell and buy magic items.

>>22537168
>a chance with our sister ?
The rest is good, but I can't see this ending well for anyone.

File: 1357995027350.jpg-(190 KB, 500x700, viserys.jpg)

>>22542926
Surely you jest. Bards and dragons of opposite sex usually get along quite well...

>>22543011
She's still not legal though

File: 1357995802897.jpg-(37 KB, 522x287, housedragonwife.jpg)

>>22543049
Juvenile red dragons make their own law...

So is there anything further to say to her or are you ready to move on to something else?

So? do you guys suppose mum will get knocked up once us and sis leave?

>>22543136
Causally tel her to watch out for dragon hunters then mirror image like that other guy wanted

>>22543136
How is our preparations coming along?

>>22543136
good to see you again

we should continue to ready for leaving

>>22543136
I think unless we have a better plan to get her to come along, we should talk with her now about it. Using both subtle taunts and an almost honest proposal to take part in our bigger plan.
I think we could be more eloguent than >>22536549 but I'm not really inspired right now.

>>22543120
I'd argue that pg 13 trumps that. But OP's choice.

>>22543165
Agreed. I think the best thing to do right now is to let her go her own way. And then make sure her own way is much less successful than ours. And mindgames are fun.

>>22543159
Probably not immediately... but that would be strange for her not to have raised or plan to raise other litters.
We probably have some other siblings somewhere.

>>22543207
We should check into that, nothing would muddle things up like an older brother stopping by for money

>>22543205
>And then make sure her own way is much less successful than ours.
It'll be almost impossible to have a real influence over her life once we're 2000 km away from one another.
If we let her go her own way now, we probably lose our chance to use her for games or more serious affairs for the rest of the quest.

I'm not sure offering her a new partnership can work, but we should at least try something.

>>22543234
nah, if we find a use for her we can visit

>>22543239
We can visit, and we can hear her tell us to stop bothering her.

>>22543252
Not her style, she has a huge inferiority complex with us and will seek to one up us at any chance. Also she is a gossip

speaking of brother sister relations, what ever happened to old greens sister

>>22543269
>she has a huge inferiority complex with us
Not that huge, and her natural desire to be independent will quickly take over once she's on her own.
I'm convinced we make a big mistake if we don't try to bring her with us to the island.

File: 1357997124424.jpg-(109 KB, 332x500, dragonhead.jpg)

With your spell broken, you see little point in continuing the conversation. Your sister continues, unaware of the change.

"Planning for the moment tends be be far more useful. How many hours have you spent scheming and how many of your plans had to be abandoned mid battle due to something unexpected." It's an old argument. The answer to the second part of her question is four and those were hardly difficult fights anyway.

You roll your eyes at her. "And I believe the use of that line once again demonstrates that our conversation has run the course of it's usefulness. See you soon sister. Watch out for hunters in the meantime." You trot to the edge of the small rise in the hill and leap into the air.

Her head snaps towards you at the last part of your statement. From her expression she is unsure if it was meant to be an insult or a reference to something else - likely the hunters you yourself had encountered. She snorts in bemusement as you seem to split in two, each copy mirroring the others appearance and actions, though flying dangerously close to each other. She claims she never saw much point in the more advanced magics, though you strongly suspect she's lying. These days at least, she has the self awareness to realise she doesn't have the patience to learn prepared spellcasting.

You head off to see to the remaining preparations for your departure.

>Next thing to do seems to be find a bard. If so, roll 1d20.

>>22543293
once she is on her own and bites a bit of meat she cannot even swallow...

Then she needs big brothers help

Rolled 7

Roll

Rolled 10

>>22543296
bam

>>22531080
Potential new player here. What's the PC's name, and how different is his personality to Azaldon's?

>>22543303
She won't ask for it though. Even now she's too proud for that, and if she was willing we would still be thousands kilometers away.
If she's in danger, she'll die alone.

>>22543296
>Next thing to do seems to be find a bard.
And magic items.
We need a will-boosting thing to defend against the repulsion gas of the bronze.
And if we were not already sighed around the island, I want to use a hat of disguise to parade as a metallic dragon.

>>22543350
then she is too proud to partner with us, let her be,

>>22543392
Associating with us and asking for help are different things.
Both require geographical proximity though.

>>22543343
I don't think we have a proper name yet, but so far our long-term plan seems to be some combination of Pirate King and Mongol Horde.

>>22543275
I thin Imgo's sister is still alive and kicking somewhere

Tethyrcanyx seems to be the most popular option for your name, though dragons often adopt longer, more elaborate names as they age.

Personality wise, he's still under development (one of the reasons I started this from the wyrmling stage).

>>22543432
Seems to me the ways he differs from other reds is he likes long term planning, and doesn't like yes men.

>>22543451
we're more manipulating then most

File: 1357998813399.gif-(1.25 MB, 1201x1651, Dragon-Names.gif)

Re-posting from a previous thread.

As part of the original plan to use our sister, I wanted to have matching names.
I remembered the latin palindrome "In girum imus nocte et consomimur igni", that more or less means "we circle in the night and are consumed by fire". It's fitting, so I propose to make it our two names:
Ingirumimusnocte and Etconsomimurigni. I like the way they sound, more than Thethyrcanix.

It might be a good idea to drop a small clutch of kobalds off with sister as a gift. We can spare enough to set her up and let her know she is welcome to "visit" so long as she gives a heads up beforehand.

Why help? because it will annoy the hell out of her for a start, and also because it keeps things on freindly terms even though theirs no real need to.

Also gives us an excuse to go bust some dragons balls if they kill our sister in the future.

>>22543607
good planning

>>22543607

No, I don't think that's a good idea. We get nothing out of it, and she's too egotistical to be grateful. That, or she'd be insulted that we think she's not capable of managing on her own.

>>22543622
Its why you portray them as a gift, hell we can get them to wear a bow tie and little dresses if we really need to get that point across.

WE get a good relation with our sister and amusement in the future if she survives. Ide say thats worth it.

>>22543634
plus we need to spread as many kobolds to all corners of the earth, fill the world with our servants, we should even get them to try to have more children, train more medics, get as many as possible, we should also see if there are any other wild tribes of kobolds around

>>22543607
I don't think we need an excuse to avenge our sister if we want to, and I don't think it will help to keep things on friendly terms.

But if the kobolds remain faithful to us, they can give us valuable information about what she's doing.
Which is why she probably will refuse or keep them busy with more or less suicidal missions away from her lair... Well, it's worth a try anyway.

We should offer a significant number of kobolds to her in exchange for coming with us.

Rolled 8

>>22543647
>we should also see if there are any other wild tribes of kobolds around
Right, before we leave, we should spend some time searching for those.
We can't have too many servants.

>>22543647
>>22543686
I think its a bad idea. They don't live very long and are too easily indoctrinated by another dragon to be good spies.

File: 1358000476816.jpg-(15 KB, 213x274, yes.jpg)

>>22543634
>kobold butlers

>>22543432
I agree with Tethyrcanyx. But I still think we should take on that Slavic secondary name amongst the Elves. As for personality, these seem correct,
>>22543451
>>22543501
and for my input, it looks like we actually bother with sincerity, and a slight degree of honor. I think? Kinda? We're still pretty pragmatic, and connive plenty, and stamp upon others. Yet we do right by our indentured servants, a bit beyond what is necessary just to keep the benevolency act going. We're leaning heavily towards Lawful/Neutral Evil, with a slant towards either LN being a possible path, and either way reasonless malevolence has been agreed as distasteful for reasons of pragmatism (keeping our hide out of unnecessary trouble) and pride, furthering or keeping in check (by keeping our bar and our upturned nose raised well above the degenerate, snaking masses of the chromatic breeds, such as our family and Imgodidartak) with the slightest hints of simply preferring to act reasonably. Instead of caring for gathering more material wealth, furthering our lordship has become our main 'hoard' to build upon. With lots of material wealth on the side. Does this sound about right?

>>22543607
>>22543634
Poor idea. We're honestly just rattling her cage at this point, but even if we were to keep trying to get her under our thumb, this'd hardly help. But this >>22543647 I can agree to.

>>22543700
Except kobolds can live up to a century, if they don't die young due to murderhobos, mining accidents, or other perils. Still, their loyalty might not be ingrained enough yet.

>>22543647
were ment to be a red dragon, dont give a damn kind. saying we were fond of our little sister helps us not get ganged up on by good aligned dragons.

Their a small, despensable gift. Expecting them to spy is not going to happen.

>>22543700
>They don't live very long
According to 3.5 material, they can live past 120 years.

By the way, she doesn't know we have kobolds.

>>22543738
>were ment to be a red dragon, dont give a damn kind. saying we were fond of our little sister helps us not get ganged up on by good aligned dragons.
What ?
>Expecting them to spy is not going to happen.
If we actually give them away, why not ?

>>22543723
>even if we were to keep trying to get her under our thumb
We should, we would be able to accomplish so much more with her help... but I agree the kobolds wouldn't get her to give her help.

File: 1358001245826.jpg-(128 KB, 640x961, Balturn.jpg)

While preparing for your departure you consider how you might go about gaining a foothold among the natives of the island of Theleska. Though you've never encountered one, you've heard of sorcerers who specialise in combining their magic with music and song. If the rumours are anything to go by, they can enchant all who hear them to follow their will. Even accounting for the usual humanoid exaggerations, someone with the ability to twist the thoughts of those who hear them would be immensely useful.

One of your less experienced agents is sent ahead to order the leader, Balturn, to await your arrival at the usual spot. Less than an hour later, the sun sets and you land in the small depression just of a minor road.

The man before you approaches and gives a sharp bow. You had never bothered to press them on the level of deference they show you. Their contributions among the humans are too valuable to ignore and the nature of their work makes it impossible to keep them under the level of control you maintain among the elves.

"Greeting milord. Tem said you had a new assignment for me?" Balturn has become somewhat inured to your intimidating appearance over the years.

"Yes, what do you know of local sorcerers?"

He pauses for a few moments to consider this. "Aside from the nobles? Not many who stay in the city for long, most go off to seek fame and fortune is they have the gift."

Not entirely surprising, even now there's often more treasure to be found picking over the ruins of the former Temurian empire than gaining power over it's current form. Goes to show how far it's fallen, really. "Do they return to town often?"

He shrugs. "Not in any predictable way, sir. Sometimes three show up in the same week, other times it might be a year between them."

No kolbold gifts. We want her to do worse than us, not better.

No surprise, their type tend to follow rumours of adventure. Though that could play to your advantage. "Then we will need to ensure that a few arrive soon. Start spreading rumours of some sort of great treasure being found nearby. That abandoned wizards tower should do it. Say those who went there encountered some great trap - or what ever else you think may get their interest. Regardless, just get some adventurers here."

He nods at this, from his expression he already has a rough plan. "Of course milord, though it might help if I knew what you intend for them." A little presumptuous of him, but he does know his line of work well and in this instance, you do need him to know.

"Yes, I seek a highly specialised form of sorcerer - one who casts through music and song." You can see from his expression he knows what you're refering to. "If possible, find one of the more ethically flexible ones and make them an offer of employment. I need someone who knows how to play a crowd."

"As you wish milord. Though, I'm not sure how long it will take to find someone, you understand? Rumours is the best option I can see for attracting them and it's not exactly controllable."

You wave him off. "A necessary risk and one that costs little if it doesn't work."

"Very well, milord, I shall make the arrangements. It will be some time before we start seeing potential candidates emerge, though. If I may, there is still the matter the my report." It has been a few weeks since you checked up on how things were going here.

With the matter of bards settled, you have him report on your ongoing operations. Manpower in Temur continue to be rebuilt and your growing stranglehold on trade in Coloth continues to tighten. Beyond that, there is nothing of note occurring.

First, we also need to assign some infiltrators to the town on that Island. Second we need to have some of our agents acquire books on elvish culture. Then we need to continue to move our elves and kolbolds out to the Island. (Can we get a map for that?)
Also, are we moving the wizard with us?

>>22543884
>Also, are we moving the wizard with us?
Why not ? he still has stuff to teach us.

>First, we also need to assign some infiltrators to the town on that Island.
If we have some human agents who need or want to get away from the continent, give them the money to take a ship and establish themselves there.
They could start trading goods between Coloth and Theleska, as a cover.

Coloth is a bit too far inland to trade goods by ship, though it could make a useful front for rebuilding operations in Temur.

>>22543972
Let's buy a warehouse in Temur, trade things from Coloth to temur and from Temur to Theleska. And back.

>>22543972
Fine by me. We should have our merchant front begin expanding cautiously.

File: 1358003447877.png-(12 KB, 1024x768, Theleska.png)

Unless there's anything else that needs doing you seem ready to skip ahead a couple of months to the actual move.

Also, a map of the island. The big black dot is the city of Penskar, the small dots are villages. The red dot is the site of your lair.

>>22544083
Cool.

>>22544083
Well, there was the thing about sending Garran to sell the staff and buy us something useful.

>>22544117
Better to use some of our agents. I still like the idea of dumping the paladin's gear somewhere far away and trading it for stat boosting items and the like

>>22544083
We still need to do something with the human shipwright we kidnapped.
Unless he somehow appears to be more useful than those we will get when we take over the human communities of the island, we don't need him anymore. Set him free.

We wanted to find more kobolds too.
If the people of the island notice that a red dragon has been making repetitive trips to their land carrying clumps of kobolds and elves (I still feel doing that was beneath us), they're bound to get worried, and may send a force to chase our servants away. More kobolds might be useful.

Failing that, try not to be seen, and cast alter self (or find a magic item) to make us look metallic.

>>22544137
>Better to use some of our agents.
Why ? Garran should know more about magic items.

>>22544195
We are apparently moving people over a period of months

>>22544195
>More kobolds might be useful.
Especially if they have trained warriors and clerics among them.

>>22544235
If we're seen, people will still remember the next month.

By the way, the bronze dragon can take human form. He surely spends a significant part of his time among humans, and will quickly learn of what they know.

>>22544083
We should get more information before we settle in.
How are the humans organized ? Who are their leaders, how corrupt are they ? Is there any independent, powerful group, like a church or a pirate coalition ?

What do we know about gold dragons ? Could we expect the bronze dragon to have allies ?

Sending Garran to sell the mace anywhere nearby might risk him being recognised. His accent is noticeably Temurian and his description might be enough to lead someone back to the arcane academy.

You've been taking care not to be seen when moving things to the island. Most of your trips have been at night and you used invisibility for the final stretch. As everyone knows there's a dragon in the area, they won't be too alarmed if they see the outline of one moving around.

Do you want to sell the mace now or not?

>>22544343
Not the mace, the staff.
It should be valuable, and not as recognizable as the mace.

>>22544343
Sell that annoying hunk of useless(for us other than selling) junk!

>>22544343
Can we sell it somewhere far away?

>>22544343
better yet... why not use the mace to lure adventurers to the tower, have it distributed with a false lead

>>22544398
It's worth quite a lot of gold (~6,000gp, at least). Not something you'd want to give away.

>>22544398
I like the way you think. Sell the staff and use the mace as bait for adventurers.

>>22544433
....in that case never mind I revert back to selling it.

>>22544437
I say keep the staff, when we're polymorphed we can use it

>>22544390
Yes, we can sell it in the faraway cities in the western desert, but it's still as problematic as it was last time.
I'd rather keep the mace until we have a safe way to sell it for a good price, and sell the fireball staff.

So sell the mace somewhere foreign. Anything else, or are you ready to move out?

>>22544505
I would say that pretty much is it. Time to get the hell outa dodge

>>22544505
lets do a final check for anything we've missed and do a short search for wild kobold tribes

>>22544464
We can't polymorph yet, and when we could, turning back into a dragon for combat will usually be better. It would be more profitable to get us another item we could use in the incoming fight with the bronze dragon.

>>22544505
>So sell the mace somewhere foreign.
...
What about the staff ?

>>22544566
Keep it or sell it?

Either way, roll a d20 for selling stuff and a d20 for random occurrences while moving out.

Rolled 16, 9 = 25

>>22544588

>>22544588
I wanted to sell it more than the mace, there was little reason not to.
>>22544607
But it seems like it doesn't work.