>>29950446
SMUGGLER SEARCH

>This takes place before the Craol diplomacy

One of the tasks Neir has been aiding you with lately has been a search for a capable enough smuggler. If you could find one, you could trade him most of your private savings in exchange for a number of suits of RSK magical plate, including some of the rarer varieties. Despite Neir’s seeming brilliance in information gathering, the king has his own agents who have been stamping out smugglers and they’re a breed growing rarer and rarer with each day.

You could probably do the smuggling yourself, but you’re a busy man now and unfortunately need to rely on others. Even so, all you really need is an agent willing and capable of successfully purchasing the suits and getting those away from the factories – Neir can do the rest and you can take charge of the delivery close to your borders. Neir’s willingness, and that of her own subordinates, both useful and worrying. You suspect that the RSK is in much worse shape than it looks to be from the outside. Clearly the last year of warfare after so much expansionism is not doing them any good.

[DC16 Smuggler Quality]

Rolled 4

>>29950467
Another day - another province waiting to be conqourered.

Rolled 19

>>29950467

Rolled 8

>>29950467

>>29950539
This is either a good or bad sign for this thread.

I hope good.
But I fear bad.

Either way, we got us some magical Plate!

Incidentally, exactly how much more effective does it make a man of arms? If you had to weight their value in men, Aspirational?

Also waiting warmly for the FTB whenever they're done. No rush.

>>29950597
I think they said something like 5 mage knights for each man at arms.

>>29950597
About 5 men-at-arms for a mage-knight. HMKs and LMKs are worth about 2-3 MMKs in the right situation.

>Target met

Marcus Tanner is apparently a rather important merchant in the capital. As such, it’s to your great surprise when Neir tells you that he’s willing to supply you with a large number of suits at a discount in exchange for you offering him a shop in Harrowmont, rent-free. He tells you he can supply you with any of the RSK’s designs, including their specialised heavy and light suits.

In terms of cost, this will consume almost all of your private savings but they pale in comparison to the potential amount of money you could raise through taxation. It’s a credit to your frugalness that you have enough to buy this many suits though. The shopfront is perhaps worth several suits itself but the amount of economic benefit that a skilled merchant could bring to Harrowmont likely outweighs that.

You elect to buy…

>1. 50 suits of Heavy Mage-Knight plate (trade 50 Vet MMKs for 50 Grn HMKs)
HMKs are suitable for both defence and as elite shock troops. They tire in extended melees and lack great mobility, but are incredibly intimidating.

>2. 70 suits of Light Mage-Knight plate (trade 50 Vet MMKs for 50 Reg LMKs)
LMKs are glass cannons with high mobility. They can shred even a unit of HMKs if they get the jump on them but fold like a cheap suit in extended melee or under heavy fire.

>3. 120 suits of Medium Mage-Knight plate (trade 120 Reg MAAs for 120 Reg MMKs)
The all-rounders.

>4. No suits. You’d rather save your money but you will offer Marcus the shop regardless.

>>29950713
The full description of LMKs:

LIGHT MAGE-KNIGHTS (LMK)

When magical plate first started being machined fifty years ago (for the first time since the Golden Age) all plate would fit into the category of light. Now though, the equipment of the light mage-knight is aimed more at making them devastatingly powerful glass cannons. Their plate is loaded with speed enchantments and their weapons with cutting enchantments - the idea is that they close with an enemy unit, deal a lot of damage with their armor-piercing weapons, and then retreat. If caught in a dedicated melee, LMKs will collapse very quickly.

>>29950446
About last thread's sala's scene.

I Posit: Talon can't actually shoot the broadside of a barn and is using astral magic to make his arrows magically homing.
1. When focusing his magic on trying to empower the arrow, he started missing, ridiculously so.
2. When we hit perfectly 20 times in a row as a demonstration to sala she said our form is all wrong and those arrows SHOULD have missed yet somehow they hit the mark
3. We are self taught in archery, and our magic is innate
4. Talon's description on how he aims sounds like astral magic
5. Sala says our aiming method sounds like something a monk would do (monks use astral magic)

My first instinct would be to try to learn "proper" archery, as it might make things a bit easier by only needing to empower instead of combining empowerment and homing. But in retrospect its a waste of our time considering we have decades of bad habits to break, have a ton of valuable things to do with our time, we already know magic homing archery, we demonstrated we CAN combine homing and empowerment successfully on several occasions already, and we are better served by taking our power to the next level rather than making it more energy efficient.

What we should actually do instead is set up a target with an obstacle and use our normal "aiming" to curve an arrow around an obstacle to help get over this mental block of thinking our shooting is anything but magical. (plus being able to curve arrows is awesome). Once we prove it to ourselves we would have a solid base to work from.

Also, Talon has enfeebled himself (with his muscles actually shrinking) when he completely drained himself of astral power. This suggests a LOT of what talon does is astral in nature rather then physical. For example, his Adonis physique and massive strength "without" enhancement.

>>29950713
Whoa, 5 times as effective. Holy tits man.

>3

Personally, I think we should build up our base forces before we specialize, you know? I mean we still have a shit ton of Men at Arms. Once we get that number lower we can worry about the other suits

>>29950713
>70 suits of Light Mage-Knight plate (trade 50 Vet MMKs for 50 Reg LMKs)
This would make raids easier I imagine and we do seem to like ambushing and raiding enemy camps

>>29950713
3

>>29950713
3
You should probably mention that we'd presumably hand the MMK suits we'd have our men swap into to someone else.

>>29950801
and by this I mean I'm voting for
>3

>>29950713
3

>>29950827
>>29950801
but 3 is MMK not LMK

>>29950819
Of course. That's how it's worked previously - your new MMKs after the exchange would only be Regulars, though.

>>29950827
Wait, what?

>>29950858
Accidently hit 3 I meant 2

>>29950713
3

>>29950713
>2

>3.

You ask Marcus, through Neir, to buy as many suits of medium plate as he can. After that, it’s merely a waiting game and ensuring there is a shop available for him when he arrives.

STRATEGY MEETING

>Timeskip to where we were at the end of last thread

After practicing your archery, you head to the war room with Sala. Your men have almost finished mustering and you need to decide how you’ll move from here. You full cabinet troops in. It’s the first time in a long time that you’ve had everybody present and you reflect on the fact that it’s been more than two and half months since you took this fortress.

Once everybody is seated you ask Arail to begin with a military update

MILITARY STATUS

>You have gained
100 Arcane Archers (Vet)
120 Medium Mage Knights
>5 Veterans
>115 Regulars

>You have lost
100 Archers (Vet)
120 Men-at-arms
>5 Veterans
>115 Regulars

>Total force

85 Flying Mage-Knights
>85 Veterans
40 Heavy Mage-Knights
>30 Regular
>10 Green
589 Medium Mage-Knights
>299 Veterans
>260 Regulars
>30 Green
340 Arcane Archers
>240 Veterans
125 Archers
>25 Veterans
>100 Green
300 Heavy Men-at-arms
>300 Green
505 Men-at-arms
>135 Regulars
>370 Green
23 Battlemages
>23 Regulars
Satisfactory support and logistics corps

CONSTRUCTION STATUS

Gareth informs you that Gnome and Bartom have finished the merchant area and that Marcus has happily taken up his position as the only merchant currently in the fortress, and is providing a variety of goods that the men otherwise wouldn’t have access to.

>continued

>>29951035
>Over 500 Medium Mage Knights
Heh, that's not a bad number. Now, once we cut into those Men at Arms numbers some more, we should have a REAL fighting force on our hands.

I assume these are the bread and butter of a real army these days.

Anyway, looks good to me.

>Dat morale bonus for Merchant
Nice. Things are really coming together here...

>>29951035
VITRIA STATUS

“Aaron appears to have a fair bit of sway with the Order of Black Stone,” Sarah tells you. “Shortly after word spread that you had convinced General Habell not to intervene if you marched on Vitria, the commander of the Gimbon Falls castle near the city, a knight of the order himself, announced his own intentions not to do so as well.

“Vitria itself is in uproar – the three houses have cancelled all council meetings and their militaries have taken up defensive positions. I don’t think we’ll have a better time to strike than now, Talon. The citizens are convinced this is when the civil war will end – if it carries on any further, it might work against us.”

Felix speaks up, “That just leaves how we move on the city. If we attempt a full-frontal assault we might be able to break them. Their military is larger than ours but are separated into factions.”

“The losses would be enormous,” Gnome says. “A better alternative would be for the most capable of us to assassinate the heads of the other houses and then have Sarah and Aaron move in afterwards.”

>A short bit of discussion and time to ask questions before I force a vote
>Sorry I'm a bit slow today

>>29951131
Gnome's idea seems pretty bad imo, if house heads start to die, everyone will assume that was our doing and it will antagonize the Vitrians who are neutral.

>>29951131
>We can move on Vitria now
Hm...alright, cam I get a list of their projected troop output? Nothing fancy, just their numbers against ours.

Also, if I read you right, we've used diplomacy to convince a good portion of the houses to let us take the capital. Is there any outstanding factions I am forgetting that may have a problem with our move on Vitria?

Also, how is Taour settling? Are they preparing an attack? I don't want to leave our flank open should we move on them, and suddenly have 10,000 thralls rammed up our ass.

Speaking of thralls, how is that research going? Curious.

And finally-what about the other territories Vitria has? Will they fall with the main city? Or did you just mean attacking their outlaying territories?

>>29951186
I agree, spreading confusion only works if you can work from the shadows. And we're a long way from the shadows at this point.

>>29951131
Assassinating the leaders sounds best.
We can focus tremendous amounts of power in one place with Talon, Mal, Sala, Gnome, Caitlyn, and Undine.
This makes us ideal for assassinations.

With mal and gnome both being masters of dispelling we could also break through almost any trap that relies on enemy troop numbers to contain us.

Undine can hide us with illusions... And if things do go south we can fire off predetermined colored fireworks (since they likely block sending) to signal felix to lead an attack and bail us out with the army at large.

>>29951186
They know we'd be at war, long as they aren't hostile to us, they know we wouldn't assassinate them or anything.
I doubt they give a shit about each other anyway. Noble houses are huge assholes that way.

>>29951186
>Gnome's idea seems pretty bad imo, if house heads start to die, everyone will assume that was our doing and it will antagonize the Vitrians who are neutral.
Not random heads of houses, ENEMY heads of houses.
The commoners expect our armies to clash and at the end of it either we or them end up with our head on a pike.
This way we save the army clashing bit. With them dead their soliders will join us.

Also, if we do fight and win, we will have decimiated both their and our forces. If we do it this way we maintain our own forces AND their forces for the war against Taour.

>>29951228
>Also, if I read you right, we've used diplomacy to convince a good portion of the houses to let us take the capital. Is there any outstanding factions I am forgetting that may have a problem with our move on Vitria
Mages we should have Mal talk to them.

>>29951186
Assassinating the enemy leader is standard enough tactic that Ooln is currently sitting in a fortifdied magic bunker

>>29951114
>I assume these are the bread and butter of a real army these days.

Aye. Once you start playing with the big boys, soldiers without magical equipment are usually retained for reserves.

>>29950747
You should probably keep these ideas in mind for later, once you get some more downtime.

>>29951131
VITRIAN FORCES

Sarah estimates that there are no more than three thousand soldiers in Vitria, compared to your two thousand in total. Of them, probably no more than a thousand are mage-knights. With that said, more than half the army present is loyal to the three ruling houses and will likely be more concerned with protected their master's property than the city itself. The city is divided and presents an opportunity for a concentrated force to take it.

>>29951228
>Taour
Still not doing much other than supressing Darlesia. Neir believes that they've decided they cannot take you until they've cleaned up their own territory first.

>research
Ongoing. It's only been a couple of weeks so far.

>outstanding factions and other Vitrian territories
Basically, the main Vitrian military has stood down, except for those in the city itself. The only large forces in Vitria are in Craol, Vitria and Gimbon Falls. As for other factions and territories their willingness to fall in alongside you after you seize the city will depend on Sarah and Aaron. Mage towers and knightly orders may assist the houses if they owe them any loyalty, or may stay out of it.

The best way to put the attitude of the citizenry is that they've been damned unhappy with things lately and are hoping to see everything finished.

>>29951296
If we openly resort to this underhanded tricks, it will not only antagonize the other house leaders but possibly the neutral garrisons too. We are trying to win them over, and by murdering their nobility dishonorably is not the way.

If anything I can see them rally against us because of this, since this sure makes great propaganda tool against us.

>>29951228
>Also, if I read you right, we've used diplomacy to convince a good portion of the houses to let us take the capital.
The way it stands right now

4 major houses.
1 is house hawkings, sarah is with us.
1 is Ooln's house
2 are neutral
of those 2, the prince heir of one is an old friend of sarah, she says is he trust worthy, and we just cut a deal with him where we depose his corrupt father and then he supports us. The plan and the deal we made with him is that we take down house Ooln, then he and sarah combine their influence to make the last remaining major house fall into line

>>29951366
Actually, the deal was that you depose the heads of all three ruling houses (Oaln, Rorek and Tabeth) which includes his own.

>>29951321
It's a standard tactic in a conventional war, however this is not conventional war, we are meddling into internal struggle and trying to win them to our side, not destroy them, openly murdering public figures who opposes us will not win us any friends in Vitria.

>>29951363
How is it underhanded to spare the conscripts and kill the leader?
Also, neutral garrisons are not going to stick out their neck when they saw us handling the others.

>>29951411
We have two options
1. Murder 3 politicians whom most people hate
2. Sack the capital, causing countless civilian casualties, decimating our own troops, and decimating vitria's troops, and leaving us vulnerable to the vampires.

I don't see how you can possible imagine the average peasant to be so concerned about the "dishonor" of us assassinating a hated dictator.

>>29951333
Standard troops, nice. I still don't feel comfortable letting our army go up against a better fitted one. Gnome's right, the losses, should we roll badly (and we will, always assume so) would be bad enough to encite Taour to attack, no matter how puny their forces are.

>Vitria has 3,000 soldiers at max, compared to our 2,000. Advantage in Mage Knights. Possibly half the army is only loyal.

Interesting. So, their force can just barely beat ours if they work together, but they most likely won't?

I'm sorta tempted to just do a full engagement. But there's no sense in doing that if we can try to take out the leaders and add 3,000 men to our army (assuming they surrender that is).

>Taour distracted
Excellent news. But this also means we need to hurry. They will be back.

>Factions
>Mostly unhappy citizens wanting change
>Split main army strength
>Split remaining forces into nothing more then bodyguards.

Shit man, I think we could take them. Still a siege is hard, with no equipment (not proper anyway).


One final thing
>Assassination
Would this actually anger any other houses? And how many 'bosses' do they have on our level of power? I don't recall hearing any legendary heros over there.

>>29951411
While you do have a point, we promised to depose all three of them. I'm not in favor of leaving them alive at that point as they will cause trouble for us. I vote we assassinate Aaron's dad, which makes him the new head of house Tabeth. We then combine and take out Olan.

>>29951496
>Shit man, I think we could take them. Still a siege is hard, with no equipment (not proper anyway).
gnome can make tunnels. They'd have to be deeper than usual, but she could do it.

You know, we could actually try to talk to the other 2 great houses.

>>29951411
We are going to kill those 3 individuals anyways,
The only question is, will we burn down part of a huge city and kill thousands of soldiers on both sides to do so. Or will we spare them.

>>29951496
It is worth noting that if we do pull off the assassination we basically combine those two forces vs taour.

>>29951533
True, but saps take time, and there are possibly magic counterbalances we don't know of. Worth a shot, should we siege them though I agree.

>>29951575
Indeed that is my thought process. I want to see if we can't get the remaining forces to split in our favor, and join us. Every man counts in this war, and unneeded bloodshed gets us very little. Killing a few corrupt (or just asshole) nobles will go a long way here, and I highly doubt it'll step on many toes.

>>29951496
Oh, the city of Vitria has no walls. It's a giant sprawling city of spires and towers. Massive city-fight, lots of close-quarters combat and aerial battles.

Vitria - an enormous port city. After Vitria was freed, the extravagant nobles had much of the city rebuilt in western fashion - tall, winding spires and bridges between towers hundreds of metres in the air. The city itself is not walled but the design makes it highly defensible nonetheless.

>>29951491
And what I am saying is that if we kill the leader there is a good chance of the people rallying behind some other member of the opposition and the neutral garrisons intervening escalating the conflict.

The inhabitants of Vitria won't think "Oh he killed the leader, how nice now we won't have to fight. Guess we will welcome in with open arms" what they will see is an underhanded foreign devil killing their leadership in an bid to conquer their city.

>>29951131
Assassination is go!

>>29951387
This got me thinking, depose and execute are different things.
We could make his dad "retire" and appoint him as successor. He could go into exile somewhere else in our territory where we can keep an eye on him.

Also, I thought we just agreed to take down his dad and Ooln... I don't even KNOW who the 4th house is and I don't think we ever spoke to them... we might want to speak to them

>>29951622
>No walls
Huh. I assume it's relied on borders and mountains to protect it from battle? Most likely urban combat would be in our favor, since it usually favors the one with less forces (in the sense it allows them to kill more then they should)
Still, urban combat is tough I imagine. Not worth the fight if we don't have to right?

>>29951623
What are you talking about?
1. Ooln is hate
2. half their leadership is on our side. House hawkings is lead by sarah. and when we depose the head of house whatsitsname the knight general we just spoke to will ALSO take our side.

>>29951643
Dude, that's just asking the QM to bite us in the ass.

The whole 'disappear and never return' deal never works.

>>29951661
Not really, it's just a gigantic sprawl across the ground and sky. It's loaded with magical wards and barriers, though. The city was almost completely reconstructed after it gained independence from Darlesia during the first mage rebellions.

>Some more info on the options I've identified so far

You’re faced with three options here.

The first is to march on the city of Vitria with your full military and engage in an open struggle to seize the city and depose the heads of the three ruling houses (Oaln, Rorek and Tabeth). Once that is down, you will then need to try to restore order with Sarah and Aaron Tabeth’s help. This option may cost you many men and damage the city, but is the most clear-cut and offers the best opportunity to eliminate those who would continue to oppose you if you took the city another way.

The second option is to attempt a stealthy raid with your best subordinates and attempt to assassinate the heads of the three ruling families. This would leave a vacuum in which Sarah and Aaron could seize power. The benefit here is that you won’t lose many men or damage the city too much. The downside is that enemies that aren’t part of the ruling houses can hide and undermine you later. You doubt that the citizenry or lesser houses will care much about the way you seize power, though, but the vacuum you will create without an occupying army will likely create an opposition regardless.

The third option is to attempt negotiations with the Rorek and Tabeth houses, but this will mean potentially going back on your promise to Aaron and losing the military support (or non-intervention) you currently have in Craol and Gimbon Falls.

>I’m going to allow a tiny bit more discussion before calling this as a vote. This will be a pretty important decision.

>>29951682
>The whole 'disappear and never return' deal never works.
NOT disappear... retire to one of our fortresses where our people keep an eye on him.
There are tons of precedents for it IRL and they worked just fine.

>>29951697
I think I'm in favor of assassinating the head of house Tabeth, then turning their forces against the remaining two houses by means of Aaron.

Are there sewers? We could send in spec. op. crack teams to attack special targets. If we choose to use an aggressive tactic, I mean.

Rolled 7

>>29951697
Can we have a mix of the first two?
Assassinate the heads slightly before the full frontal assault?

>>29951812
>>29951795
Assassinate, then immediately attack using hidden forces, then bring up the frontal assault.

>>29951697
>Super magic defenses
Figured. Well that's gonna be tough to crack.

And I see so

>Full Assault, losses to forces, but clean cut take over

>Stealth Raid, possibly leave loyalist to cause terrorism later.

>Talk them down with big flowery words and go back on other promises

Personally, 3 is just a no for me. Just, no.

I'd really like for 1 to work, but I just know nat 1s would ruin EVERYTHING.
So I guess I am gonna support 2 in the end. At least if something goes wrong, we know we can handle it and our empire at large isn't risked, you know?

If I'm missing some key "CHANCES OF SUCCESS IN SUBTEXT" here then let me know but you know.

>>29951697
>The third option is to attempt negotiations with the Rorek and Tabeth houses, but this will mean potentially going back on your promise to Aaron and losing the military support (or non-intervention) you currently have in Craol and Gimbon Falls.
We could engage them diplomatically for mind games to try to keep them apart. If we convince them that this is a grudge between us and Ooln and that we aren't going after them too they will just stand aside while we fight ooln and take him out militarily.
Then we kill or capture Aaron's father so he can seize power of his own house.
Then us, hawkings, and aaron's house pick apart the remaining great house's power.

>>29951697
>>29951812
this guy!

Assassinate and crush army afterwards is seconded

>>29951863
Why would we need to crush the army? If we take out the heads, most of the men will give in. Even if we will have terrorist problems after that

>>29951812
>>29951782
these two I think. Lets face it. Assassinating the second target will be harder, the third almost impossible.

>>29951895
I just realized we could do a false flag operation here.
If we assassinate the current head of house tabeth and blame Ooln...
If Aaron backs us on that one we then use hawkings + us + tabeth vs ooln.

The question is. Would he be against such subterfuge or not.

>>29951795
Nothing large enough to fit a man into.

>>29951812
So basically eliminate the heads of houses then immediately occupy the city? I would probably offer that as part of the second option but it would have the risk of making you appear as a tyrant (after all, you're already able to take control of the city then you conquer it aggressively) whereas an invasion during the civil war will likely be better for PR. The benefit would be that you could crush any opposition that would form by force.

>>29951782
I might put that in as option 4.

>>29951857
Apart from the general repercussions, they've both got similar chances of success. It's mostly how you want to do it - the full assault will be an extended conquest, simialr to the first two threads when you captured Harrowmont. The stealth raid will be like taking the mining town in Olmm, but much longer and with more player plans needed.

I'll be calling a vote with the contentious voting rules at 6:10 server time. 4 options, including the eliminate Tabeth first one.

>>29951697
Just to make sure i got it right.
Aaron's last name is Tabeth, right?

>>29951969
Yes. He's the heir to the Tabeth ruling house.

>>29951957
Hm. Well, I think I am for cleaning out the trash myself.

I like the Raid idea, but I do not want terrorist

>>29951863

Yer man mix 1 and 2 up

OPTION ONE

Full assault on Vitria with all your forces. The city is not walled, but there will be a lot of vicious urban combat.

OPTION TWO

Stealthy raid to assassinate the heads of Houses Oaln, Rorek and Tabeth. You will have the opportunity to then forcibly occupy the city to quell opposition afterwards, though it will have negative repercussions with how you will appear to the populace.

OPTION THREE

Attempt negotiation with Houses Rorek and Tabeth first, but this runs the risk of putting Aaron Tabeth offside if he finds out.

OPTION FOUR

Assassinate the head of House Tabeth first, allowing Aaron to step into the power vacuum. You can then work with him to eliminate Houses Oaln and Rorek and seize the city in some way. This will take longer and could backfire if Aaron is unable to seize the reins of his house quickly enough to assist you before Rorek or Oaln move.

>Vote uses contentious voting rules

Rules for voting are to make a post with a link to this post and the number you are voting for. No other text, no greentexting the number. All informal votes will be discarded. Voting window will be five minutes after the first vote.

>>29952073
1

>>29952073
4

>>29952073
4

>>29952073
I would like to point out that when I suggested talking to house rorek and tabeth first it was to see what kind of people they are and see if we are comfortable killing them. The idea wasn't to cut deals, but judge character.

Nobody has expressed any support for the plan as presented and honestly I am not too keen on it either

>>29952073
1

>>29952073
4

>>29952120
That's why I changed the wording for the vote. Option 3 is exactly that, but Aaron still might get unhappy if he finds out.

>>29952073
2

>>29952073
4

>>29952073
4

Gotta admit, I'm surprised by all the 4s...

>>29952073
4

4 could work well, but we can force the situation time wise by doing the assassination and then openly moving our forces towards the city. The other two houses wont come out to attack from a strong point while the third is in disarray.

>>29951957
We will appear as a tyrant only for the remaining house members, who allready think of us as a such, the common pleb won't care about it, cuz they want peace. Removing the heads will give their soldiers lower morale thus saving more lives and giving us a better political position to remove the remaining doubt from the plebs. Soldiers = mostly commoners, less blood from the assault gives us a better postiton to prove our true goal.

Voting ends here.

>>29952179
I'm guessing it's the people who would otherwise vote for 2.

>>29952179
Me too. Didn't think we trusted Aaron Quite that much.

>>29952179
tg has this obsession with combining plans.
4 combines the assassinate plan with the direct assault plan.

I think it is actually worse then both plans but because of this obsession about doing every single plan at once every time its getting overwhelming support

>>29952220
I didn't either.

>>29952227
It does worry me, I admit. I mean, why would we move an assault in without us to lead it? That seems asking for trouble.

But I guess we can take a loss if things go badly.

>>29952220

I don't think it's so much about trusting Aaron but attempting to minimalism our loses, and effectively testing his loyalty in one fell swoop. Yeah I'm nervous too, but I think the whole thing is a difficult situation.

>>29952314
This and sequentially assassinating multiple heads of states is frankly a terrible idea.

>>29952362
I still don't know how, when all of said heads are assholes that most people dislike.

But the vote's been made already, so there you go

>>29952220
Well if he does betray us we'll just have to personally cave his skull in

>>29952362
They are not elected representatives, they are entitled tyrants and parasites hated by the populace. Also, its good for the other nobles to fear us in such a manner.

Also to quote QM
>You doubt that the citizenry or lesser houses will care much about the way you seize power

>>29952461
I meant the security on the 2nd and especially third targets would be really high.

>>29952073
I only skimmed number 2 the first time around, but I just realized that you changed it from >>29951697

This is probably why. The original #2 was great, kill the leaders, then seize power vacuum politically. And that nobody would care

The new #2 was to kill the leaders THEN send in the army and it would make us look like a tyrant.

why the change?

>4.

“I think the best solution here is to make use of Aaron before we completely uphold our end of the deal,” you say. “If we depose Aaron’s father, he can take over his house and we can then seize Vitria with his house’s help.”

“You should probably speak with Aaron about that,” Sarah says. “I’m not convinced he’d be able to mobilise his house from underneath House Rorek before Oaln could counterattack…”

“If there are any problems we can simply move on to attacking the other heads of houses,” Gnome says.

You contact Aaron using your magitech sending device and his voice crackles through.

“I’m surprised to hear from you so soon, Imperator Talon,” he says.

“I have an idea that I want your input on,” you say. “Let’s say I depose your father first. How easily do you think you could take the reins of your house and assist myself and Sarah with deposing the other two houses?”

There’s a pause for a while before he answers, “If I start now, it should be possible. I’ll see if I can’t get the Grandmaster of my order to help me. Are you sure it’s wise to not start with Viktor Oaln?”

“He’ll likely have the heaviest guard and strongest force. Besides, it might make Houses Hawkins and Tabeth look better when they step into rule.”

Aaron lets you know that he’ll begin his machinations to take over his house, and indicates this likely means he’ll need to deal with General Habell sooner rather than later. After that, he ends the sending.

Now you need to decide who to bring along.

SUGGESTED PARTY
Talon
Gnome
Undine
Salamander
Maloric
Caitlyn

>Do you want to bring anybody else along? Any other things regarding the plan to take Vitria? I’ll be doing a short vote on construction options right after this.

>>29952494
Wait I thought that's what 4 did?

I'm confused.

>>29952510
suggested party is good.
its nice to have the full team together again.

>>29952510

Can we bring Arail with us instead of Felix? Just because I expect more aerial combat and that is his specialty, and he would likely enjoy the chance to spread his wings again.

>>29952510
>That group
Who's going to lead our army?

We need a stronger leader, I really don't want to let them just flap in the breeze. Do we have a good enough general to handle the siege?

>>29952494
nm, i fail at reading. it was OPTIONALLY send in the army afterwards. As in, we do, and then get to choose if we want to do it via politics or army.

>>29952560

Felix has been wrecking shop in our stead since he joined our side, the men trust him and have already and successfully under his leadership.

>>29952560
I'd assume we'd assassinate him right before the army hits. Like the army is less than a day out when we do the first assassination.

>>29952494
It was both options. You didn't have to invade the city afterwards, you just had the opportunity. Not doing so was the original option, doing so was the added option later (which had a lot of
popularity earlier, but got no votes oddly enoguh).

>>29952518
4 was to kill one head of house, then openly battle the rest.

>>29952560
You have two generals left behind currently.

>>29952559
Do you want Arail to lead the army after you take out Tabeth or to help you in the assassination?

>>29952581
Okay good. Long as they have a good general. Seriously, no less then like 3-4 stars. This is a big attack. I want the best we can spare.

>>29952560
I say general felix. He has been great so far.

>>29952603

>Do you want Arail to lead the army after you take out Tabeth or to help you in the assassination?

Former, personally.

>>29952603
>Arail
Lead the army.
Seriously we have enough power in our party

mmm... so, either have arail lead the army or felix.
Question is, why.

Arail has been with us for a long time and we are sure of his loyalty. But while talon is highly familiar with him, I am not.

Felix just wants a fun fight to better himself via combat, and is also very effective. A bit of an enigma about his full motives and loyalties. And his desire for person combat means he is at the front line of every battle and prioritizes putting himself into such battles (might have potential for heavier losses and who knows how he will handle collatoral damage.. but on the other hand he has been doing excellently thus far.

>>29952718
>Question is, why.
Typo, meant to say
>Question is, who

>>29952718
Why not both?

Felix lead ground assault, Arail provide scouting from the air and shit

VOTES

GENERAL OF ATTACKING FORCE

Remember that Sarah commented that Arail was feeling down because he was stuck in Harrowmont.

>1. Arail – specialises in aerial assaults and hit-and-run tactics
>2. Felix – specialises in heavy assaults but can be reckless
>3. Felix, but bring Arail along anyway as the second-in-command
>4. Both Felix and Arail command separate parts of the army

AARON’S ATTACK STYLE

>1. Have Aaron try to gather support and join your army in the assault externally while you lead his House on the inside.
>2. Have Aaron join you in Vitria to lead his house whilst your army invades from outside
>3. Leave it up to Aaron

>>29952718

Agreed on all counts. My only thought towards Arail is that his flyers were pivotal in taking Harrowmont, in a larger city I expect him and his expertise will do us a lot of good. Plus he's been sitting around Harrowmont doing not much since we gained Felix.

>>29952760
>GENERAL OF ATTACKING FORCE
>4. Both Felix and Arail command separate parts of the army

AARON’S ATTACK STYLE
>3. Leave it up to Aaron

>>29952782
I second this guy.

>>29952760
>4. Both Felix and Arail command separate parts of the army

&

>1. Have Aaron try to gather support and join your army in the assault externally while you lead his House on the inside.

>>29952760
>1

>2

>>29952760
>4

If they work well together. If they conflict, then >3 is fine. I want Felix to have someone to even him out, if he gets too crazy. He's gonna grind our army to dust if he pulls that shit.

>3 Leave it up to Aaron

>>29952760
>AARON’S ATTACK STYLE
I am not quite sure I understand what 1 and 2 are saying

>>29952760
>4. Both Felix and Arail command separate parts of the army
>3. Leave it up to Aaron

>>29952760
>3
>1

>>29952835
1 .is we take control of the house.(gonna be harder to do since we are an outsider.)
2.is that he takes control and joins the fight,
But i prefer he does what he wants.

>>29952760
Remember that Sarah commented that Arail was feeling down because he was stuck in Harrowmont.
>4. Both Felix and Arail command separate parts of the army
AARON’S ATTACK STYLE
>3. Leave it up to Aaron

Question, who is going to stay at Harrowmont now?

>>29952912
Cormann would handle things while you're away if you take both generals (which looks to be the case).

>>29952760
>4. Both Felix and Arail command separate parts of the army>3. Leave it up to Aaron

>>29952760
>1
We're dealing with a lot of aerial combat here, and as the city has no walls we don't need someone who specializes in heavy assaults. Also, Felix is reckless.
>2.

>>29952760
4
3

>>29953011
If so, then leave some flying mage knights at Harrowmont to quickly warn us if something happens.

>4 & 3

“General Felix, I want you to command the infantry forces in the assault. General Arail, command the aerial forces and archers. Vitria’s spires will need your combined expertise,” you say. “Cormann, I need you to keep a handle on things while we’re away. If Taour causes trouble, let me know right away using sending so we can change our plans if necessary.”

CONSTRUCTION VOTE

The main areas remaining to be rebuilt in Harrowmont are the noble areas and the keep itself.

Noble manors [X] – the fortress has a dedicated area for three small manors, all of which are in ruin.
KEEP [X] – Harrowmont’s keep is a large, multi-level castle with many rooms and supply stores. The keep interior has been restored to a structurally safe state, but the outside is still in need of repair. The keep itself extends into the cliff.
>Lower floors [X] – The lower floors include audience chambers, guard rooms and supply rooms for the most part. It is the working area of the keep. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
>Upper floors [X] – the upper floors are where all the bedrooms and private hearing rooms are. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
>Underground [X] – vaults and supply stores lie under the keep. Not all of these areas are structurally sound.

I need to duck off briefly now. I’ll return in 30 minutes. Have some discussion over which areas to rebuild and propose any special construction plans you may have.

Once I return, I’ll call a vote and then we’ll move on to Vitria unless there’s any other matters players want to bring up

>>29953038
wait, that was supposed to quote this post >>29952943

>>29953053
Forgot my trip, etc.

>>29953053
>Upgrade Underground
Gotta make sure our valuables are safe.

>>29953053
>KEEP [X] – Harrowmont’s keep is a large, multi-level castle with many rooms and supply stores. The keep interior has been restored to a structurally safe state, but the outside is still in need of repair. The keep itself extends into the cliff.
>>Lower floors [X] – The lower floors include audience chambers, guard rooms and supply rooms for the most part. It is the working area of the keep. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
>>Upper floors [X] – the upper floors are where all the bedrooms and private hearing rooms are. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
>>Underground [X] – vaults and supply stores lie under the keep. Not all of these areas are structurally sound.
Is my vote.

>>29953053

Personally I say the Keep. And we focus up on expansion of the internal towers. Since we already stationed the Mage Tower there why not add another? Maybe a location for a Knightly Order if we ever get to founding one.

>>29953053
do the lower floors and upper floors actually require any repair?
it sounds like all they need is maids to clean them

>>29953053
>Once I return, I’ll call a vote and then we’ll move on to Vitria unless there’s any other matters players want to bring up
only thing I can think of is to have Mal sound out the Mage towers.

>>29953053
>Noble manors
question, who are the current nobles in harrowmont in need of manors?
Didn't sarah mention wanting one?

>>29953104

Maids and people to occupy them more than likely. We don't really have many others who live in the Keep ourselves outside the main party, mages and I assume the cabinet.

>>29953120

Sarah and ourselves(though most seem content to live in the Keep). She seemed to want one because she intends to stay within our cabinet and wants a place to stay while she is in Harrowmont.

>>29953053
The keep, and can we add a secret underground entrance/dungeon/aqueduct?

>>29953053
Seems like we missed the chance to do it but...
I had this idea where we get our spymaster to inform us of when the next shipment smuggled into vitria is and seize it via stealth action in port temby. Both for having and for proof.
But it seems somewhat too late for this.

>>29953143
you mean she wants our D, rigth?

>>29953143
I am surprised she wasn't pressuring us to make her a fancy suite closer to our room in the keep.

>>29953152

Only problem I see with that is we lack a navy, other then Undine. So it would be moderately difficult to stealth a ship, plus where would we park it once stolen?

>>29953144

I like Aqueduct/Secret Escape or Entrance personally, that sounds cool as fuck.

>>29953053
>Underground - not structurally sound
First priority is to fix anything that is in risk of collapsing

I really don't care about the order for the rest, we got all the important stuff and this can be done in any which order.

I say we should dig deeper into the mountain and make ourselves a lava pit. What self-respecting emperor doesn't have a lava pit?

>>29953176

She hinted at wanting a new "bigger" room, the assumption was it would be on our floor near us. Happened a few threads ago.

>>29953160
Well duh.

>>29953144
Water Torture dungeon? Sounds cruel, but I mean, it might work if we feel like it.

>>29953191
>Only problem I see with that is we lack a navy, other then Undine. So it would be moderately difficult to stealth a ship
Flying mage knights... or heck, just the main party can single handedly take it.
>plus where would we park it once stolen?
Bring it back to the RSK to present it to an ally of our spymaster who can vouch to the rest of the nobility to the quality of our proof.

The keep is halfway in the mountain right? Do we have a passage to the top of the mountain through the keep, for some sort of lookout/secret get-away kind of deal?

>>29953255
nope not yet, but the qm said we can make new additions to harrowmont and other places we captured.(I'm still up for upgrading that place into a fortress.)

>>29953144
Speaking of adding stuff.
A reservoir might be good. Gnome and undine can probably tap a underground rivers to make it into an artificial spring.

Another idea is housing. That is, we have gnome and that earth elemental I forgot the name of build a bunch of regular family which we homestead to anyone wishing to come and claim one. This could allow rapid population increase and help us grow harrowmont from just a fortress into a fortress at the center of a town and eventually a city.
which will make it more attractive to to mages (who naturally build towers in large cities)

>>29953312
>build a bunch of regular family
build a bunch of regular family homes

>>29953305

Fortress seems to be on the way given how we're reinforcing the walls so heavily. I assume another layer of wall and giving some "small people" space in between will give us a Fortress.

I do like the idea of building into the mountain like that, but I was of the impression it was on top of a mountain leading to sheer bluffs.

>>29953312
>>29953343

Could we build a third wall maybe? I assume it would take much longer, but it would really add to Harrowmont. I like the Homesteading idea, they might even build their own homes.

>>29953343
I think we are thinking of two completely different places.(i'm talking about the place near Taour.)

>>29953343
>and giving some "small people" space
this made me think about pixies and gnomes.

But i don't know of any such beings existing, only elves and dwarves are confirmed thus far.

>>29953408
Look in the pastebin please.

>>29953404
that old fort? its probably going to be obsolete soon as we push into taour.

>>29953422
I read every single word of every single one of them. But I have forgotten some of it already. Are you referring to the lorebin? Q&A?

>>29953408

Oh no I was referring to small people as in peasants and random rabble, just another name for them.

>>29953404

Oh yes we are, Fort Locke is the one you are talking about.

>>29953422
Alright, I found the races section. there is "Faeries" which are "The Fae" not pixies and hobbits.

>>29953486
>which are "The Fae"
meant to say
which are "The Fae" of the grim tales type

>>29953442
Agreed about the fort, it is an excellent staging ground, but I don't know if it is worth the effort to build up.

>>29953422
He misunderstood a saying, he's right otherwise. Outside of other Dragonkin like Lynn existing as QM confirmed.

I still want to find them and bring them in damn it.

>>29953442
>that old fort?
yeah, i think building it up should help with the provinces control, and military might.
>>29953443
>Oh yes we are, Fort Locke is the one you are talking about
Good thing we are on the same page.

>>29953104
It would also involve furniture etc, but yes, no real heavy work.

>>29953120
just Sarah for now. You'll probably have more in the future - heck, you could offer Marcus one if you wanted to introduce him to your cabinet to help with the economics.

>>29953312
You already have a ton of housing right now. You'd have to start expanding outside the existing walls to add more.

>>29953520
>like Lynn
No, not like Lynn. Lynn's an oddity of a dragon. There might be other normal dragons though.

VOTE

This vote is for the highest priority structure. Bartom likely won't be able to complete one of these before you take Vitria.

>1. Renovate the keep interior
>2. Repair the keep outside
>3. Reconstruct the noble manors
>4. Repair the keep's underground and add a secret passage that leads to <write-in>
>5. Custom

>>29953568
>>29953520

I think, and this is just me, if we build up Fort Locke into a Fortress, it might need a heavier hand to handle it otherwise. Perhaps a stationed for a minor Lord or something? Though I imagine the other major city in that Province might get uppity about that.

>>29953613
>4. Repair the keep's underground and add a secret passage that leads to our chamber of truth

>>29953613

2>4(Escape passage/reservoir)>3>1

>>29953613
>4

Don't want the foundations caving in and taking some of the other rooms with it...

>>29953613
4

>>29953613
>4
As for the passage, I dunno. Just something so we aren't trapped Helms Deep style sound good?

>>29953613
>You already have a ton of housing right now. You'd have to start expanding outside the existing walls to add more.
We could always just build another external wall, could we not?

>4. Repair the keep's underground and add a secret passage that leads to a set of dungeons and a small cave system leading to a disguised opening on the cliff face.

>>29953613
>heck, you could offer Marcus one if you wanted to introduce him to your cabinet to help with the economics.

I'd like for other merchants to come into the town first, I assume he'll take control of them, maybe even form a Merchant's Guild, if that happens and he manages it well without our intervention then giving him a Manor/Lordship sounds acceptable.

>No, not like Lynn. Lynn's an oddity of a dragon. There might be other normal dragons though.

I wrote that wrong, but yeah that is the gist of what I meant, thanks.

>>29953392
Oh, and I'll hold this one for now as you'd need Gnome to get this done in any reasonable amount of time.

>>29953700
I could have sworn Helm's Deep had exits into the mountains, actually... If nobody adds anything, I'll have it lead out into the bluffs behind Harrowmont.

>>29953693

adding that we should save installing a secret passage until we have somewhere for the secret passage to go.... though start one but have is as a 'safe room' for now... we can turn it into a passage later...

>>29953613
4. Gotta make sure nothing collapses. Also secret passages are awesome. Can we key them to specific individuals?

>>29953613
4 with the passage leading out back.

>>29953120
Sarah, ourselves and probably Neir as well.

Hell, I'd argue that we should give one to each of our Generals for their exemplary service and noble status.

>>29953733
>I could have sworn Helm's Deep had exits into the mountains, actually... If nobody adds anything, I'll have it lead out into the bluffs behind Harrowmont.

It does, that's what I was saying. I want it sorta like that but uh, less work since cutting through a mountain takes WAY longer.

>>29953733
>Letting tg be super paranoid
Careful Aspirational, next thing you know they'll want to build a 4th wall and a 5th...

>>29953613
I am against the secret passage idea.
But our first priority should be the underground because its at risk of collapse.
Also I want to add a water reservoir fed by an artificial spring but I think its something undine and gnome need to do, so no point of assigning it to bartom.

>>do the lower floors and upper floors actually require any repair?
it sounds like all they need is maids to clean them
>It would also involve furniture etc, but yes, no real heavy work.
So, what is there for bartom to actually do there?
We need to have maids, carpenters, internal decorator, maybe a gardener or two. These should be done by regular staff independently of the rest. Unless they actually want to do some wall rearrangement.

>>29953799

I don't think it's a paranoia thing so much as turning Harrowmont into a Fortress/City like it has the potential to be.

>>29953613
>You already have a ton of housing right now. You'd have to start expanding outside the existing walls to add more.
Yea, I figured we would eventually want a million person capital city surrounding harrowmont and outside the walls.

>>29953807
>Personal bath for all our harem bitches
I can dig it. Bath scene would be rad.

>>29953746
You could.

>>29953768
You only have so much room for manors currently.

>>29953807
Earth elementals can control wood, so he would be able to make furniture and do all the renovation much faster.

>>29953799
But I'm looking forward to the crazy stuff /tg/ comes up with as the quest offers them much more magic and opportunities?

Okay, so everybody loves underground/secret passage.

SECRET PASSAGE VOTE

>1. Don't make it lead anywhere just yet. Instead just create the foundations for it to be finished later.
>2. To a secret room/dungeons for yourself.
>3. An exit atop of the bluffs behind Harrowmont.
>4. No secret passage.

The reservoir will need to wait for Undine.

>>29953613
>You already have a ton of housing right now. You'd have to start expanding outside the existing walls to add more.

I know the setting lets us build it tall, but how much of our internal housing is currently occupied? If you can give us a rough percentage.

>>29953848
I was thinking more of a giant hole full of water inside the fortress. standard defense method against being besieged.

But the idea of arranging a large hotspring for bath scenes is awesome. If we can swing it I would love it.

>>29953860
About a third. You can support 6k people and some of your soldiers stay in the keep. You only have a small amount of peasantry in Harrowmont right now.

>>29953849
>>1. Don't make it lead anywhere just yet. Instead just create the foundations for it to be finished later.
>>2. To a secret room/dungeons for yourself.
>>3. An exit atop of the bluffs behind Harrowmont.
How about a labyrinth in-case someone finds it?

>>29953849
>3. An exit atop of the bluffs behind Harrowmont.

The Griffon's Roost, come on.

>>29953849
>But I'm looking forward to the crazy stuff /tg/ comes up with as the quest offers them much more magic and opportunities?

Heh.
I like you.

Anyway, totally ready for a badass Emperor personal bath.
>2

We can make the path go towards the outside later, can't we? I mean, unless it'd make it unstable or something.

>>29953849
Can we do a labyrinth as well?
Or
Is that a gnome thing?

>>29953849
>3. An exit atop of the bluffs behind Harrowmont.
Instead of behind harrowmont can we have it overlooking?

>>29953849
>2. To a secret room/dungeons for yourself.
>3. An exit atop of the bluffs behind Harrowmont.
Both.

>>29953849
4. no secret passage.
can someone explain to me why we would even want one?

>>29953927
That's a Gnome thing. You could have Bartom leave room for one later while he works on the main passage and rooms though.

>>29953931
Yes. Not sure if that's what other people have in mind, though.

>>29953888
>>29953931
>>29953979

I like this. Let's do this.

>>29953984
escape route, and easy entrance.

>>29953849
>Earth elementals can control wood, so he would be able to make furniture and do all the renovation much faster.
Oh, I didn't realize that, that does make a lot of sense. But chairs and sofas and beds need cushions and the like, so he still isn't doing it alone. So basically we are looking at saving time and money on the carpenter portion of this at the cost of him not shifting earth during the duration... I am going to say that is the absolute last priority

>>29953990
well than my 1-3 vote still stands.

>>29954014
it can be used against us by invaders to sneak in.
And if we lose harrowmont then undine dies permanently and we lose access to the source.
Why would we escape away from the source? Pretty much if we lose harrowmont its game over.

Also, considering we have gnome we can always make our own escape route as needed.

>>29953848
I'll toss my hat in on the secret bath, can just do the foundations for it right now.

>>29954083
>>29954014
oh, and Aspirant, will our link with gnome ever be strong enough to support without the place of power?
And am i correct in assuming that if we lose the source or the POP then we have a set amount of time (a week like last time probably?) to recover them or our familiar bond with her falls apart too?

>>29954083
>it can be used against us by invaders to sneak in.
Not really, if its too small and we use magic to guard it.
>if we lose harrowmont then undine dies permanently
Citation needed.
>we lose access to the source.
Agreed.
>Why would we escape away from the source?
To save our lives and fight again.
>Pretty much if we lose harrowmont its game over.
We lose if we die.

>>29954135
Yes, but she'll always be a couple of levels weaker without the PoP. You don't really have the affinity to bind her properly like Maloric did with Sala.

>2. & 3.

You’ll have Bartom begin renovation of the underground, and lay the foundations for a secret passage, set of rooms and underground reservoir. It’s unlikely he’ll get too much of it done quickly, as he’ll need to work slowly so as not to undermine the keep.

As you dismiss your cabinet, Sarah comes up to you.

“I want to join you in Vitria,” she says, looking very determined.

“That’s the plan – I don’t expect you to rule Vitria from afar,” you say, not sure what she’s talking about.

She scowls at you. “Not like that. I want to join you while you deal with House Tabeth. I’m not as good a mage as Magister Maloric, but I can handle myself in a fight and I know Vitria better than any of you. I also have status there.”

You frown and are about to respond before Gnome beats you to it.

“You’re a vital asset for ruling Vitria. If you come along it would be very easy for you to die,” Gnome says bluntly.

“Maybe, but the same can be said of Talon,’ Undine, of all people, says in Sarah’s defence. “And she’s right in that she has status in Vitria. She could get us support there we wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Undine and Gnome frown at each other while Sala pretends nothing is happening. You look at Maloric who simply shrugs.

“She’s right that she can handly herself in a fight. Not as well as any of us, but well enough to help,” Mal says, ignoring Gnome’s glare. “Honestly, it comes down to whether you want to risk her there compared to how much she’ll help us, which is a fair bit.”

You sigh as Sarah gives you an earnest look. If you bring her along she’ll be a soft target and a big one at that, but she’ll make it a lot easier to move around Vitria, you think.

>1. Let Sarah join your party.
>2. Have Sarah stay here.

>>29954228
>1. Let Sarah join your party.

>>29954228
1.Let her join
we gain a bit of trust from her, and the potential benefit of her help.

>>29954228
>1. Let Sarah join your party.
Privately task Gnome with guarding her.

>>29954228
1

>>29954228
>2
Have her stay here
Let's spar with her sometime before we consider taking her into battle.

>>29954228
>1. But assign her a bodyguard for the duration of the mission and make her coming contingent on us being satisfied with her capabilities. Then take her out to the practice range and have her show us her skills.

>>29954228
>1

>>29954335
that would just make things worse.

>>29954228
>2
I don't trust the dice to be merciful

>>29954228
>>1. Let Sarah join your party.
but a spar as >>29954344
suggested could be rather informative. Or along the lines of >>29954356

God damn it you guys...

Fine, but if she must come with us, at least make sure she practically stays in our back pocket the entire time.

>>29954364
It makes sense however. Cat and Undine are tied more directly to us, and Sala doesn't seem like the bodyguard 'type' - so Gnome is the logical choice.

>>29954228
>1. Let Sarah join your party.

Really split on this. She needs someone to guard her though, but that takes someone from the main party and gives us a weak link. I'm worried about it but she might provide us with some serious benefits.

If she joins us specifically she doesn't exactly need a bodyguard, WE are the bodyguard.
And if anything, she helps complement our party.
The only question is, can she keep up.
I am inclined to believe mal that she will overall improve our odds in a fight.
Remember she is a prodigy spellcaster.

>1.

SARAH GUARD

>1. No guard for Sarah.
>2. Have Gnome privately guard Sarah.
>3. Have Undine privately guard Sarah
>4. Guard Sarah yourself.
>5. Custom

I'll probably skip the sparring scene as I'm hoping to move onto Vitria itself shortly. Unless people really want the sparring/practice range scene.

>>29954469
what kind of combatant is sarah?

>>29954469
>3
Gnome was against this from the start, do not have her guard Sarah

>>29954469
>4

>>29954469
>>3. Have Undine privately guard Sarah

>>29954469
>3. She vouched for her, she should be able to keep her safe. That said, tell them to stay near us.

>>29954469
>3. Have Undine privately guard Sarah
Ranged stick together and Undine can CQC if needed.

I'd like the scene but its cool to skip but, I would like the stat boost lol

>>29954469
>3. Have Undine privately guard Sarah

I suppose that works. Talon doesn't need the distraction.

And yeah we don't need the sparring thing. Sounds like an excuse to needlessly flirt.

>>29954469
>3. Have Undine privately guard Sarah

>>29954505
to clarify.
if she is CQC then she should be with us in the front and we cover her ourselves.
If she is squishy mage like maloric, then she should be with him and sala in the back.

>>29954469
>>3. Have Undine privately guard Sarah
Can we at least ask about her capabilities?

>>29954469
>4

>>29954505
Mage. She's a Journeyman level mage, which is a long step below a magister like Gareth or Maloric. Naturally, she focuses on ranged magic with a few shotgun style spells. Nothing really long ranged or heavy-hitting.

>3.

After you agree to Sarah's accompanying you, to a gleeful squeal from her, you quietly ask Undine to keep an eye on her.

The approach to Vitria will be on foot with a carriage containing Sarah. Unless people had some special ideas of how they would do this (speak up now if you do).

You approach Vitria by foot, with Sarah inside a small carriage, and the main thing you note is the lack of traffic. Being a major trading centre, usually the surrounding roads and fields would be extremely busy but you’ve passed only one wagon leaving the city itself. You consider it a sign of how badly things have gone for Vitria that the main source of its income and prosperity has dried up so much due to the civil war.

Then you crest a hill and, just as it was last year when you first saw this grand city, all thoughts leave your head bar those on this sight. Vitria looms on the horizon, stark and glorious against the gleaming ocean and the overhead sun. The great spires of the city loom tall for over a hundred metres in the air. You’ve seen many cities in your life and only Ahm, the glorious capital of the Magi League, has managed to outshine Vitria. It is as though somebody built a city upon a city and then built great towers to reach the sky atop that city.

You know from experience though, that once you enter the outer wards, the city will become almost claustrophobic, so thick with people it will be. The inner wards will be worse, especially as they lack any natural light with the enormous commercia constructed above them. The commercial itself is a gigantic plate constructed above the city proper that spans roughly a third of the city’s landmass and is full of enormous plazas and buildings. All of the great spires jut out from the commercia, but many of them join with each other using bridges or have been built in such a way gigantic castles of towers, with battlements and parapets lining them and their bridges. Each ruling house owns and controls an entire spire, and the remaining five spires are split between the five mage towers, the various knightly orders and other houses of Vitria.

>continued

>>29954807
To take out House Tabeth, you will need to get to the commercia and enter his short and stubby keep-like set of spires. All Aaron and Sarah could tell you is that the Tabeth spire was heavily warded and guarded, as Robert Tabeth is very paranoid. Of course, that also means he likely has several hidden escape routes.

Right now though, you need to consider how you’ll enter the city.

>1. Go in with the carriage, openly revealing the Hawkins emblem. This will warn your enemies but enable you fast and unimpeded access to the Commercia (save for any assassins or troublemakers).
>2. Go in with the carriage, but erase the Hawkins emblem. The carriage may make it easier to get around, but many will think nothing of an emblemless carriage.
>3. Go in on foot and attempt to make your way to the Commercia without being detected. Sarah will likely have some trouble this way, but you’ll probably attract the least amount of attention.
>4. Custom

>>29954827
>2

>>29954827
>3. Go in on foot and attempt to make your way to the Commercia without being detected. Sarah will likely have some trouble this way, but you’ll probably attract the least amount of attention.
If he's very paranoid, this seems like the best option.

>>29954827
>2.
Tempted to go with 3, but er should have run it by Sarah and had her walking stretches of the journey if we were going to do that.

>>29954827
>Sarah will likely have some trouble this way
what kind of trouble?

>>29954827
>3

Can we send the carriage in a different gate with though, just pay some random guy with it, keep people focused elsewhere.

>>29954827
>1

>>29954914
walking, she is a noble.

>>29954914
The sort of trouble that nobles have when they suddenly find themselves having to move around in a slumlike area on foot.

>>29954827
>2. Go in with the carriage, but erase the Hawkins emblem. The carriage may make it easier to get around, but many will think nothing of an emblemless carriage.

Maybe etch on the emblem of a minor House if Sarah knows any from memory and thinks its a good idea?

I am just afraid that if we walk, someone may recognize Sarah and blow our cover

>>29954937
>>29954939
I thought she was supposed to be a decent combatant.
Is she at least dressed for combat?

>>29954827
>>2.

>>29954827
3
She can tough it out besides shes with us not like shes here alone at night. Hope she has a hood on and if not can we get her one?

>>29954977
nope, she is full squishy mage+noble.

>>29954827
>>3. Go in on foot and attempt to make your way to the Commercia without being detected. Sarah will likely have some trouble this way, but you’ll probably attract the least amount of attention.

If we have to tailor even basic shit around her then bringing her along was a mistake.

>>29954977
There's a difference between being a decent combatant and being used to dealing with incredibly crowded enivronments. She's somewhat dressed for combat - proper boots and nothing that would restrict movement, but no armour, just clothing.

>>29954976
indine can do illusions and invisiblity.
And heck, talon himsself is a giant of a man and var more recognizable... Then again you have salamander unique looks to. So maybe its best to make the whole party invisible.

>>29954995
could we have at least insisted she dress appropriately? (like what our combat mages wear... i am assuming they don't wear dresses).

Actually, what DO combat mages wear?

>>29955051
>could we have at least insisted she dress appropriately?

That seems really nit picky and like stuff that would bog down the quest.

>>29955030
ah ok... well, this could be a learning experience for her, and we are here with her to ease her into it...
... I am really loathe to say "what harm could it do" though.

Actually, we could have her AND us be the "escort" of the emblem-less carriage. If things get troublesome she can get inside it.

>>29955086
it was based on the misunderstanding that she is wearing a noble dress to combat instead of appropriate combat mage clothing.
and it was a misunderstanding. Aspirational already said she dressed appropriately

Rolled 1

>>29955051
>Actually, what DO combat mages wear?
Heavily modified robes so they can layermagic on lots of cloth and carry thing. They usually cut into them a lot so they can move around easily. Sarah's wearing a skirt, shirt, leggings and boots.

Also, tie-breaker roll.

1 = Option 2
2 = Option 3

>>29955129
>Sarah's wearing a skirt, shirt, leggings and boots.
... this sounds like she is dressed like sailor moon. Well she IS a magical girl. :P

>Heavily modified robes so they can layermagic on lots of cloth and carry thing
So, its like mageplate, only its made out of cloth?
I am assuming maloric enchanted his to offer additional protections?

>>29955227
>sailor moon
You are kind of right. Sarah is a little too mindful of fashion normally.

>Maloric's robes
Heavily enchanted. They're probably as hard as steel against impacts.

>2.

You enter one of the main thoroughfares with the carriage after erasing the Hawkins emblem. So that you all blend in a bit better, you’ve had everybody dress in uniforms or full armour except Maloric. Gnome, Lynn, Maloric, Sala and yourself escort the carriage from outside whilst Undine and Sarah remain inside. Entrance is slow going as the outer wards are full of people. You notice some guards patrolling in the crowd and their attention turns briefly towards you and the carriage.

[DC13 Negative Presence]

Rolled 16

>>29955252

Rolled 11

>>29955252

Rolled 4

>>29955252
roll

Rolled 5

>>29955252

Rolled 2

>>29955252

>>29955272
I can barely believe we didn't fail.

>>29955252

>thoughts Talon has whilst taking cities
>god damn it this is the second time I've had to sneak into a city to take it
>I hope Mal doesn't magic me in the air again
>someday I'll astral magic these fuckers into oblivion, someday

>>29955252
I think it was gnome who previously commented in amazement about how we can "turn off" our "larger then life classical hero aura" and make ourselves look like an everyman.
I wander if this is some sort of glamour effect (maybe talon is fae blooded or a changling... or maybe he isn't, I might be reading too much into this).

>>29955343
With how often it happens, we should probably practice magically slowing our fall, maybe via making a large magical "shield" to act as a parachute

>>29955343
>Thoughts Sarah is having
>Crap I can't believe I jumped into this so willingly
>I mean yeah I get to be close to Talon but holy crap I don't want to die
>Then again, if I get hurt, maybe Talon will cradle me in those great big strong arms of his...
>ooo...uh...wait what was I doing?

>>29955384
Pretty sure thats how he slows his falls already.

>>29955408
She would probably be brimming with rumors about our bedroom antics from sala

>>29955423
Really?
Well, he isn't doing it well enough yet. practice could possibly get us to do it more reliably and from any height.

>>29955357
That was Undine in the mining town in Olmm.

I don’t think this quest has ever gotten so many rolls so quickly.

>Target met

Luckily your disguises seem to work and the guards turn their attention to harassing some young punks openly displaying griffon emblems on their clothing. A small part of you wants to assist people who wear your emblems, but you also need to keep in mind your mission. You find it interesting that rebellion is being shown in Vitria by showing your emblem rather than anybody else’s or the Hawkins emblem.

The entrance is slow going but you eventually find yourself at one of the huge ramps leading to the commercia. The crowds are thinning and you see one of the telltale toll gates that marks the entrance to the middle class merchant areas. The toll isn’t large but still weeds out the riff-raff and sightseers. You see a dozen guards in full armour with Vitrian emblems. Only a single wagon waits at the gates, arguing with one of the toll collectors about the tariff on the wool he’s bringing in.

You…

>1. Enter through the toll gate, trying to be low profile
>2. Enter the toll gate and identify as part of House Hawkins, getting you through without trouble
>3. Look for another entrance
>4. Find a private place and try to get Maloric to teleport you into the commercia.
>5. Custom

>>29955343
>>29955408
heh heh

>>29955498
Oh, and FYI, House Hawkins has its own spire which should be mostly abandoned. It was magically sealed but Sarah could get you in if necessary.

>>29955498
isnt vitria heavily warded?
I am not sure trying to teleport through the wards is a good idea.

>>29955498
>1. Enter through the toll gate, trying to be low profile

>>29955498
>1
No more teleports.

If that option has a high Dc tho just do >2

>>29955498
>>4. Find a private place and try to get Maloric to teleport you into the commercia.

>>29955498
1

>>29955498
>1. Enter through the toll gate, trying to be low profile

We'll just come back and take the money afterwards.

>young punks openly displaying griffon emblems on their clothing

I really dig that people use our emblem like that. Someday young rebels, someday.

>>29955561
The spires themselves are all brimming with wards but the city itself not so much. Vitria is all about the rich and what you can afford.

>>29955498
1

>>29955546
Sounds like an excellent escape route, don't you think Aspirational?
In case we find ourselves stranded in a city of hostiles, that is.

>>29955498
>4. Find a private place and try to get Maloric to teleport you into the commercia.

He can't possibly fuck it up twice in a row

>>29955498
>4. Find a private place and try to get Maloric to teleport you into the commercia.
I feel lucky.

>>29955582
Well if you say that, then my vote is for 4.
>>29955498

>Fear activated: Heights
>Prepare to be launched 300 feet into the air everyone!

so no one wants to try teleporting?

>>29955756
Have you forgotten what happened last time?

>1.

You walk up the ramp towards the gate, with the carriage following you.

“Morning,” you say blandly to the toll collector as you fish out a few coins from a pocket underneath your armour.

“Anything to declare?” he asks, looking bored. The guards look similarly uninterested.

You answer in the negative and give him the coins he asks for. He counts them out and presses something. The wooden gates barring the path open up and you’re about the direct the carriage through when-

“What’s this?” shouts a magically augmented voice. “Nobody’s allowed into the commercia without the express permission of the ruling council.”

You look to the side and see a Golden Bear knight approaching. One of the guards steps into his way.

“That was never approved by the council and they don’t even meet any more,” the guard captain says, speaking confidently despite the Golden Bear towering over him. “We’re doing our job as required.”

“You’re betraying this city, you mean. I should have you all executed for treason and have my men take care of things. They know what duty means.”

You notice the guards around you are getting nervous, despite the confidence of their captain, and the toll collector has turned very pale. You…

>1. Intervene to assist the guard captain.
>2. Wait silently to see what happens.
>3. Just start moving through the gate.
>4. Custom