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>>5378858
You and your forces have left the two conquered dwarf-outposts to the Drow—the dark-skinned, dark-hearted elves who are your allies in this place. Their leader, the ‘Princess’ Jazkarmel (the title is less auspicious than you might expect) has returned to her people to negotiate further aid and a more concrete alliance with her queenly superior; in her absence, her forces largely defer to you. So too do the kobolds, and the cowed dwarven slaves who help to open the collapsed tunnels beneath the kobold caverns, exposing ancestral secrets of ancient days, when dragons ruled the earth. You have thus extracted a great deal of mineral wealth, as well as opened up the humble, primitive living spaces of the kobolds into a wider complex of grand-but-abandoned halls. You yourself have taken up residence in what looks to have once been some sort of meeting-room for delegates; you hear audiences in a throne-like stone chair no-doubt once intended for a chief representative of the Dragon King of Bloodrise.

In addition to this mineral wealth, a font of knowledge opens up to you. You had already extracted much of value from the private library intended for the Dragon King’s hatchlings, who died without being born. Well… That which was not lost when you collapsed the space to safeguard it from raiders, or stolen by a certain traitorous kobold. Now, though, you uncover new scholastic wings, much of the contents lost to the ages but still others ripe for translation, study, and exploitation! That which you CAN understand—or rather that which can be properly understood and conveyed by your close companion, the young Serpent Priestess who you know best as ‘The Novice’—helps to enrich your magic lessons, and that of your dwarven ‘apprentice’, Karz Throat-singer.

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>>5378862

That which your tutor is NOT suited to understand and utilize is transported to your expedition’s Translator, stationed in one of the Drow strongholds, or is sent back ‘home’ to your Reptilian Master Race’s northernmost forward base. Much of this transport is facilitated by your alliance with those sentient, oversized glow-worms, who now form a sort of secret supply train, taking away some of these finds to the distant base and bringing back food, medicine, and alchemical and military equipment. Only you, the Novice, and a select few Drow know the secret of the worms’ sapience, or their sinister first purpose as a replacement for your own race by one of the Dark Gods.

Despite all this progress, you and your forces live on fairly simple and spartan rations. You have no great artistic or technological works. Your numbers are few, in the grand scheme of things: barely a hundred kobolds, two dozen of the Reptilian Master Race, perhaps fifty Drow in permanent residence, and seven-dozen mammal slaves (almost all dwarves, most of them women and children). The actual share of the Bloodrise which you properly OWN is miniscule, in the grand scheme of things. You have no real trade relations, save your supply train. You are ever wary of detection by the dwarven corporations operating in the mountains, of the human settlements in the valleys below. Winter approaches, bringing a bone-chilling frost and sprinklings of snow to your realm—especially affecting to the cold-blooded races.

What great work has been your focus these last few months, in your waking hours? Choose one:

>Further raiding and conquest, opportunistically seizing territory and resources when you can while keeping your enemies on the back-foot
>The falsification of a new identity for your people as an offshoot dwarven corporation, facilitated with magical disguises and proven dwarven lieutenants, to facilitate trade for food and furs
>Studying the secrets of the ancients to strengthen your own understanding of Dragonhood, and of the realm as it once was
>Experimenting with orichalcum, that mystical iron-ore, which might allow you to unlock the secrets of advanced heating, cooling, and electrification of your mountain-hold
>Building and reinforcing unity, piety, and loyalty among your subjects and allies
>Write-in

>>5378865
[Previous threads can be read at https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=reptoidqm, as well as the predecessor quest (NOT necessary reading to follow Dragonborn Antipaladin). Consult >>5378862 for current statblock.]

>>5378865
>Building and reinforcing unity, piety, and loyalty among your subjects and allies

That was a fast week! You're a champ, QM.

>>5378865
>Building and reinforcing unity, piety, and loyalty among your subjects and allies

>>5378865
>Building and reinforcing unity, piety, and loyalty among your subjects and allies

>>5378865
>The falsification of a new identity for your people as an offshoot dwarven corporation, facilitated with magical disguises and proven dwarven lieutenants, to facilitate trade for food and furs

>>5378865
>Building and reinforcing unity, piety, and loyalty among your subjects and allies

Internal stability first

>>5378865
>>Experimenting with orichalcum, that mystical iron-ore, which might allow you to unlock the secrets of advanced heating, cooling, and electrification of your mountain-hold

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>>5378992
>>5378984
>>5378958
>>5378924
>>5378870
>>5379048

You had a vision, once, and a revelation. The Master of the Insightful Eye, Dark God of Knowledge, brought it to you. It is not enough for you to be powerful, to be feared and placated. You desire to be respected. To be LOVED. You chassed this goal, it brought you to a peculiar end—one antithetical, in many ways, to the Serpent Priest’s orthodoxy. You recruited outcasts, thieves, low-born Reptilians, even Degenerates… Degenerates like your mother.

You met outcast elves not with condemnation or extermination, but with negotiation and religious proselytization. When you encountered a race of bug-folk created to supplant you, you did not immolate their princess—you befriended her first, and eventually impregnated her. When bugbears invaded your warrens, you fought them… But only to a draw, and then you recruited them as mercenaries. Even the dwarves, who you promised merciless conquest, did not receive the whole of your fury; they are slaves, but you blooded several of them as overseers of the rest—the so-called ‘Bloody Dwarves’, or ‘Duergar’.

So it is that you focus your efforts upon internal stability. This effort takes forms tender and brutal, in equal measures.

A rigid structure of hierarchy is established and enforced. Reptilians sit at the top, with those of the Master Race above kobolds. Drow are co-equal, within their sphere, and with the understanding that their parcels of Bloodrise were gifted (CONDITIONALLY) by you and your people; you retain dominion over their trade, especially of the area and valuable orichalcum. Dwarves and other, non-Drow mammals are beneath them, with the Duergar overseeing these lowly folk. Those who deviate from or defy this order are punished harshly, sometimes lethally; torture occurs frequently, torture-to-the-death is rarer but not unheard of.

However, you forbid your forces from consuming the dwarves as livestock, and you ensure all your people are given a share of the sparse rations, so they will not starve. You recognize the mammalian instinct towards close familial ties, and afford the children of the dwarves special educational privileges, alongside the ever-more-abundant kobold-spawn. It takes the form of sermons—propagandistic lessons, reinforcing the ‘salvation’ granted by the Dark Gods from the utter ruin you might have otherwise visited upon them. There are no Drow children in attendance—nor have you ever met one—but their adults are frequent attendees of such lessons; you gladly offer them more in-depth clarifications appropriate to their age and understanding afterwards.

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>>5379096

What language do you offer these lessons in? It won’t be dwarven, obviously—you hardly speak the guttural, clunky language of the slaves.
>Reptilian True Speech—let your language be THE language in your realm!
>Northern Common-tongue—let the lessons be tailored to the most commong tongue of this realm
>Dark Elven—the Drow-tongue is sufficiently elegant to convey the ideas, AND enforces separation from the outsiders AND from your own race

It is after one of these lessons that one of your lieutenants, the Pit-Guard, approaches you. A thick-bodied, middle-aged Steeltalon, the Pit-Guard spent over a decade keeping unauthorized males (such as yourself) from entering the breeding-pits during heat-seasons. He is naturally inclined to visit law and order upon even your own, righteously-privileged Master Race. Perhaps that is why he even bothers to report it.

“Superior One,” he addresses you, “the dwarven overseers report… A possible issue.”

“Oh?” you ask, pausing in your ritual meditations.

“The North-Merchant and the Drow have worked the slaves quite hard in the greater dwarf-fortress.”

“Hard toil will prove their mettle and merit,” you recite from one of your sermons, tailored to the already-extant work-ethic of the dwarf-race.

“Yes,” the Pit-Guard acknowledges, “but a dwarf died, and when the family protested, they were beaten quite badly. A dwarf-spawn perished from the punishment.”

“I see.”

“The other child and the female have subsequently been jailed and denied food. They now starve.”

“Do the dwarves rise up?” you ask. “Rebel?”

“They… Do not,” the Pit-Guard acknowledges. “They grumble, though. The overseers dare not, but… They report the grumbling, neutrally, rather than putting it down to save face.”

It implies the overseers—your Duergar—sympathize with the plight of the jailed. They hope you will address it in some way.

Will you?

>Institute a labour code to prevent such ‘abuses’ as led to this
>Release the surviving family
>Forbid collective punishment of families in the future
>Punish the North-Merchant
>Punish the Drow
>Punish the dwarf overseers
>Ritually sacrifice the surviving family
>Do nothing

[Feel free to choose multiple, if compatible]

>>5379099
>Northern Common-tongue—let the lessons be tailored to the most commong tongue of this realm

>Institute a labour code to prevent such ‘abuses’ as led to this

>>5379099
>Reptilian True Speech—let your language be THE language in your realm!
>Institute a labour code to prevent such ‘abuses’ as led to this
>Forbid collective punishment of families in the future

It’s what Davora would want and should prevent needless riling up of the Dwarves in the future.

>>5379099
>Northern Common-tongue—let the lessons be tailored to the most commong tongue of this realm

Only those privileged can know our language

>Institute a labour code to prevent such ‘abuses’ as led to this
>Release the surviving family

Slaves are useful tools. To overwork them is not desirable. The family in this instance only complained about actual injustice - that’s fair enough

Collective punishment is important though.

If one member of a family rebels - then it could be said that treason runs in their blood, as no others reported the treason early. In that instance, all generations of the family are to be executed.

>>5379099
>Northern Common-Tongue
Last thing we need is teaching mammals true speech. And using elven might give them extra influence over slaves, which we don't want.
>Institute a labour code to prevent such ‘abuses’ as led to this
>Punish the dwarf overseers IF they continue being sympathetic with slaves
Nothing crazy, just cut their "wages" for a week and makea sure they know why.

>>5379099
>Northern Common-tongue—let the lessons be tailored to the most commong tongue of this realm
>Institute a labour code to prevent such ‘abuses’ as led to this
>Release the surviving family
>Reserve collective punishment of families only for traitors

>>5379099
>Northern Common-tongue—let the lessons be tailored to the most common tongue of this realm

>Institute a labour code to prevent such ‘abuses’ as led to this

>Release the surviving family

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>>5379159
>>5379186
>>5379207
>>5379295
>>5379334
>>5379401
Your mind drifts, as it so often does, to Davora the Herbalist—your deceased slave, attendant, and lover. She paid for your successes with her life, to secure a future in which in her people could have dignity in even an Age of Darkness. What would serve her ambition, and yours?

You pay a visit to the North-Merchant and eh Translator (and the resident Drow) at the greater of the two captured dwarven company-towns. It is a three-day trek through the mountains, but one you’ve made before; it is becoming almost familiar. Once there, you hold an audience, another impromptu sermon.

“Dwarvesssm” you address them directly, in the same Northern Common-tongue in which you you’re your usual audiences, “Sslavesss are tools. YOU are toolsss. As craftsssmen and minersss, you know the value of a tool. A tool should be maintained, kept in good working order. To do otherwise isss wasteful.”

You pause.

“Work hoursss will henccceforth be reduced, and monitored, in all the Bloodrise. No dwarf shall be worked at hard labour for longer than ten hoursss without a break, nor at moderate labour for longer than fourteen.”

For a human, even a Reptilian or kobold, this might seem a punishment. For the dwarves, who you understand have been worked far harder and are TECHNCIALLY capable of far more if pressed, it seems a small but appreciable respite. The young and impressionable, in particular, praise the wisdom of the Dragonborn, guided as you must be by the Dark Gods’ own calculus.


Collective punishment is important, though. If one member of a family rebels, then it could be said that treason runs in their blood. You do not free the family of the deceased slave-miner—not until their punishment has concluded. In your Bloodrise, there is a right way and a wrong way to make an injustice known.

Your days become dominated by such cases. You hold trial as a judge beyond reproach, settling disputes between races, clans, and classes, and between individuals. Your judgement becomes the law of this land, each proclamation setting a precedent, and all of them seen as the will of the Dark Gods themselves. You may be more of a governor, but you truly begin to feel like a king here. To those dwarves and elves ignorant of the Grand Design of the Serpent Priesthood, you may as well be.

No peace holds forever, though. For you, disturbance comes in the form of three simultaneous events, each heralded by a messenger.

>>5379612
“Dragonborn,” opens Ivno, your kobold retinue-member and a liaison to his people, “there have been… Disturbances, in the depths. Kobolds have gone missing, LONG-missing, and dwarf-slaves, also-too.”

“There are no shortage of predators in those places,” you note, recalling your menagerie of fire-lizards and basilisk, and the strange tongue-beast which you once wrestled into submission and slew with Ivno’s aid.

“Yes,” he acknowledges, “but there was a survivor from the last attack. And he reports… Bugbears.”

Your eyes widen. The bugbears, or ‘Bogbarri’, are a spiky, hairy race of goblinoids with a natural proclivity for stealth. They helped you take the first dwarf fortress, marshalled by the belligerent coercion of their ‘Boss’, a strong and especially magically-astute individual. You’ve not seen hide or hair of him—or any of his peculiar and barbaric breed, since then. Have they turned away from your alliance, to raid you instead? How should you respond to such provocation—if, indeed, it is the whole of the story?

Before you can make a decision, the second messenger approaches you: this time, an androgynous-looking dark-elf clad in alchemically-bleached silk, signifying a member or representative of their nobility.

“Myrymma of House Yvonlace, Queen-for-the-Season of the Elves, welcomes the Reptilian Race and their Dragonborn Champion ‘Copper’, to our ream,” they (he? she? You honestly cannot tell) say, in a rather absurdly-belated formality. “She would discuss your… Employment… with the Princess-of-the-Realm Jazkarmel, and the status of your two empires. As such, she issues a formal invitation to her Crystal Court.”

You’re not sure how you feel about some of this diplomatic phrasing. It implies a greater dominion here for the Drow than you perhaps would like. And ‘employment’, not ‘alliance’? Does this Queen Myrymma wish to distance herself from the events which have thus transpired—to make it clear they do not have her formal approval?

(Also, do they think you are named ‘Copper’? The Bugbear Boss made the same mistake, which you did not correct at the time. Is it catching on? You’re not sure how you feel about THAT, either.)

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>>5379616
The third messenger is a dwarf, one of your Duergar overseers, called Yothana the Sculptor. She is an ashen-haired older female, though like the elves and your own race, the dwarves do not show their dotage readily.

“The Blackmantle Company is seeking an explanation as to why shipments have stopped,” she informs you, straight and to the point. “They have sent a representative of the board to the remaining company-town. They have also sent two geological researchers, to examine and study the orichalcum formations—Karon Jeweleye, who is a quite respected, and his daughter. They request access to our… To the Drow’s holdings in Blodorise.”

You slump a little in your seat. Now, of all times? When so many other important demand your attention at the same time? This is the sort of event where, whether you deny, attack, or obfuscate, you’d normally monitor as closely and personally as possible. Likewise, the matter of a possible bugbear betrayal, or the forging of a formal alliance with the dark elves. You cannot be everywhere at once!

What matter do you view as most urgent, and address personally? Which can you trust your subordinates to manage in your absence?

>The Bugbear Betrayal—you are your newborn empire’s greatest martial champion, and best diplomat, and this sensitive matter will require your personal touch in either case
>The Elven Empire—the Drow are your first and foremost partners in this place, and you must secure their cooperation and aid if this entire effort is to function
>The Dwarven Delegation—if your shadow-conquest is uncovered by these dwarves, you could return to find yourself under full military assault, with your machinations revealed to the light

[Whichever you choose will be the focus of this quest; those which you don’t’ will have subsequent votes related to the specific instructions you leave your lackeys]

>>5379623
>The Bugbear Betrayal—you are your newborn empire’s greatest martial champion, and best diplomat, and this sensitive matter will require your personal touch in either case

These motherfuckers. We need a good source of warriors/bodies for our next expansions, which the cowed bugbears may do well with.

>>5379623
>The Elven Empire—the Drow are your first and foremost partners in this place, and you must secure their cooperation and aid if this entire effort is to function

>>5379623
>>The Elven Empire—the Drow are your first and foremost partners in this place, and you must secure their cooperation and aid if this entire effort is to function
Bugbear can fuck off, although the demon kobold possibilities scare me...
Dwarves, well we need to delay them.
However, the elves are mandatory to our succes as they own a significant part of bloodrise...

>>5379623
>>>The Elven Empire—the Drow are your first and foremost partners in this place, and you must secure their cooperation and aid if this entire effort is to function

>>5379623
>The Dwarven Delegation—if your shadow-conquest is uncovered by these dwarves, you could return to find yourself under full military assault, with your machinations revealed to the light
our employment?
we'll see you at our leisure

>>5379623
>The Dwarven Delegation—if your shadow-conquest is uncovered by these dwarves, you could return to find yourself under full military assault, with your machinations revealed to the light

>>5379623
>The Dwarven Delegation—if your shadow-conquest is uncovered by these dwarves, you could return to find yourself under full military assault, with your machinations revealed to the light

The bugbears aren’t important and the formal invitation didn’t specify us coming urgently

This Dwarven request is time critical and an external military attack represents a true existential threat to our new empire

>>5379629
>>5379665
>>5379684
>>5379780
>>5379789
>>5379853
>>5379855
[Looks like a tie so far! I'll check in later.]

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>>5379958
[Seems like a pretty big vote for me to roll for it and I'm having a bit of a personal thing, so I'll leave this up until tomorrow morning, and resolve it then if the tie remains unbroken.]

>>5379629
[drCbrPVA, may I humbly suggest you mention a second choice, if nobody else breaks the tie?]

>>5379623
>The Bugbear Betrayal—you are your newborn empire’s greatest martial champion, and best diplomat, and this sensitive matter will require your personal touch in either case

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5380424
>>5379629
>>5379665
>>5379684
>>5379780
>>5379789
>>5379853
>>5379855

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>>5380489
It’s a tough call. Each issue really does seem worth of your personal attention, involving allies and/or enemies of great significance. However, some are less urgent than others. A few rogue bugbears picking at your patrols—assuming that IS all that is happening—is something that can be handled without your personal intervention; you can always address it later, when more evidence emerges as to exactly what is happening. And the Drow… Well, they aren’t going anywhere, either. They’re IMPROTANT, but their importance is not (near as you can tell) time-sensitive.

The dwarves, however, are at your doorstep.
>Dragonborn Antipaladin Quest Volume 4: The Dwarven Delegation

You make the announcement to your trusted councillors the next day, and seek their advice on how to proceed.

“Kill them all,” the Pit-Guard says, quickly and without fanfare. “Or… Kill most, enslave those who remain—ideally not too many, given our current resources. But we should strike hard, fast, and first. Let none escape to tell of what has become of this place.”

“This has worked in the past,” the Thief acknowledges. He is a masked infiltrator and efficient assassin, once shamed and branded for crimes against the Master Race, but he has since found redemption in your service. “However… Assassinating or capturing an official delegate from their ‘headquarters’ will not go unnoticed. Unlike the others, this dwarf is expected to return and report in a certain timeframe.”

Ivno starts to speak up, but the kobold—regarded as a natural-born slave by your fellow higher Reptilians—hesitates. Instead, it is the Bastard who makes the next suggestion—the clanless, mixed-blood warrior who you placed as de facto overseer and wrangler of the kobolds here.

“We could frighten them off,” he says, “using the kobolds and elves as our ‘face’. They need never know our race was involved… Or that we exist… Only that their keeps are lost.”

“They will send reinforcements if we do that,” The Novice Fleshweaver points out, arms crossed. “Trust in my Amulets of Disguise. We can maintain the bluff, that these places yet belong to the dwarves.”

“It did not work out so well last time,” the Thief points out, drawing a glare from the Novice and prompting the Thief to add, swiftly and deferentially, “oh Holy One.”
“All so that this ‘Blackmantle Corporation’ can take the mountains’ wealth?” the Pit-Guard scoffs.

“It’s not ideal,” the Novice hisses in agreement. “But it is better than risking the Great Conspiracy.”

“Why hide and pretend at all?”

This is Ivno, who now draws all eyes.

“W-we serve a Dragon King, yes?” he stammers, turning his gaze down, “I am sorry, SORRY-sorry. Should not have spoken out of turn, but… Why hide from the dwarves at all?”

>>5380513

You consider the options before you. It is no simple choice! You ultimately decide to…
>Attack the third and final Blackmantle company-town, following the template of your previous two attacks
>Invite the dwarven delegate to one of your keeps, to stage an ambush and kidnapping—you will engineer a plausible excuse after-the-fact
>Use the Amulets of Disguise to negotiate with the dwarves, allowing them to take some of your mineral wealth to maintain the illusion
>Interact with the dwarves via the Drow and kobolds, and stake their claim to this place
>Confront them directly, as the Copper Dragon King of Bloodrise, supreme and unafraid

And what of the other matters? How will you instruct your subordinates to handle the possible bugbear attacks below?
>Send the Hunter—your expert ranger—and his followers to track down the threat and drive it back into the dark
>Have the kobolds set traps, in the hopes of capturing one of the bugbears—or whatever is striking at you—alive
>Avoid those areas for now—no need to risk bad blood until you have time to investigate this personally

And the elven delegate?
>Send Oluawadamilare the Archer—a member of your retinue with an affinity for the dark elves—in your stead
>Promise to answer the summons in the near future, when matters are handled here
>Invite the Queen to visit YOUR court instead, since you cannot presently leave

[Write-ins are permitted for all of the above]

>>5380516
>Attack the third and final Blackmantle company-town, following the template of your previous two attacks

Just finish them off, Dwarven companies are basically separated isolated nations so it’ll be much easier to disguise ourself after.

>Avoid those areas for now—no need to risk bad blood until you have time to investigate this personally

There’s got to be something afoot here. We made decent inroads with the Bogbarri boss in our meeting with him before.

>Invite the Queen to visit YOUR court instead, since you cannot presently leave

We’ll visit her court eventually, this is just some diplomatic maneuvering showing her we won’t respond to a summons that treats us like her vassals. Give her a taste of her own medicine.

>>5380516
if >>5380534 is right about the isolationism of dwarven companies, I can back the attack. otherwise
>Use the Amulets of Disguise to negotiate with the dwarves, allowing them to take some of your mineral wealth to maintain the illusion

>Send the Hunter—your expert ranger—and his followers to track down the threat and drive it back into the dark
we got this big dick pro time to use him

>Invite the Queen to visit YOUR court instead, since you cannot presently leave
lel

>>5380513
>Use the Amulets of Disguise to negotiate with the dwarves, allowing them to take some of your mineral wealth to maintain the illusion

We’re not ready to reveal our actions yet - we’re too weak. Maybe talk to our slave overseers or feared Dwarven sicknesses and explain the recent oddities and depopulation as the result of an outbreak of illness.

>Avoid those areas for now—no need to risk bad blood until you have time to investigate this personally

We don’t need to travel there atm

>Invite the Queen to visit YOUR court instead, since you cannot presently leave

Love some diplomatic games

>>5380516
>Invite the dwarven delegate to one of your keeps, to stage an ambush and kidnapping—you will engineer a plausible excuse after-the-fact
>Have the kobolds set traps, in the hopes of capturing one of the bugbears—or whatever is striking at you—alive
>Send Oluawadamilare the Archer—a member of your retinue with an affinity for the dark elves—in your stead
>Promise to answer the summons in the near future, when matters are handled here
Traps are a passive defense, and we should really nip these attacks in the bud.

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>>5381082
>>5380864
>>5380606
>>5380534
[Vote locked, post incoming!]

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>>5381141
All indications—including the testimony of your Duergar—suggest that dwarven corporations are no inclined to share intelligence or resources, let alone to aid their competitors.

“Things are different in the heartlands and trade cities, sometimes,” Karz the Throat-singer tells you when you ask him to elaborate upon this. “There, it’s a matter of… Dwarves competing against humans, and elves, and whatever else… or dwarves working together to strengthen a trade hub—making the walls or gates stronger, enforcing the rules that let trade… Happen, really, and grow.”

“But now out here?” you ask.

“On the frontier, in leased land, with mineral rights on the line?” the Throat-Singer answers your question with a question, and scoffs. “Clans and coworkers stick together. Everyone else is just the competition.”

“Very well,” you murmur, your mind made up.

You instruct your kobold servants and dwarven slave-labourers to avoid the afflicted area of the tunnel complex, and to mark certain areas as off-limits. The Hunter and his troupe are instructed to monitor the area, and a few purely-defensive traps are set at the boundaries of those regions where workers have gone missing, nut you make no other move for now. You feel that there MUST be something afoot there, since you made decent inroads with the Bogbarri Boss relatively recently and see no reason for relations to have deteriorated since his departure… But you don’t need to travel there at this moment, and it can be addressed at a later date.

Speaking of ‘later dates’, you inform the emissary of the Elf Queen that you cannot presently leave your own lands unattended.

“SHE may pay a visit to ME, however,” you suggest.

Your tone is studiously neutral, but you feel a little cheeky as you speak the words. You’ll visit her court eventually, of course; this is just some diplomatic maneuvering, showing her that you won’t respond to a summons that treats you and your race like vassals. Diplomatic games are rather… Fun.

The emissary bows and, if they take offence, you cannot tell. They leave shortly thereafter, undetected in their departure. You return to matters at hand.

“It’s like you do not trust my amulets at all,” the Novice huffs, when you make your plan to attack official. “REALLY, what if your luck runs out? You barely survived that last attack!”

“This fortification is less impressive than the last,” you note, “and as for your amulets… Do not be melodramatic. Of course they are trustworthy. In fact, they are key to my plan.”

That gets her attention, and that of your whole council.

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>>5381152
You explain your plan: to use the amulets to invite the Blackmantle Delegate to meet with your assassination squad, only to capture him (and the geologists, if you can) before decapitating the leadership in tandem with your more direct assault! It is a slight variation on your previous strategies which, after all, both involved a two-pronged strategy of subterfuge and savagery. The underhandedness of it elicits rattles of sinister laughter from all your cohort.

The only quest is… What role will you play in proceedings?
>Maybe the Novice could see about modifying your amulet to allow you to disguise yourself? She’d mentioned the possibility before… Then, you could join the Infiltrator-Assassins!
>You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!
>You will remain at the back, the mastermind of this grim proceeding, out of immediate danger in case things should go… Awry.
>Write-in

>>5381153
>You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!

>You will show your trust in Karz, particularly- perhaps the Novice can alter an amulet to work for him, inserting him with the assassination team and allowing him to prove himself

>>5381153
>You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!

>>5381153
>>You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!
>>You will show your trust in Karz, particularly- perhaps the Novice can alter an amulet to work for him, inserting him with the assassination team and allowing him to prove himself

>>5381156
Supporting

Let’s see what he can do

>>5381153
>Write-in
hand holding and spooning with the Novice

>>5381153
>You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!

Karz is still a child that knows mostly nothing so lets not send him in

>>5381153
>Maybe the Novice could see about modifying your amulet to allow you to disguise yourself? She’d mentioned the possibility before… Then, you could join the Infiltrator-Assassins!

>>5381153
>>You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!

>>5381153
>You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!

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>>5381502
>>5381440
>>5381402
>>5381324
>>5381311
>>5381300
>>5381266
>>5381175
>>5381156

You are a Dragonborn Champion, and a (sort of) king here! You belong at the head of your army, leading the assault and issuing the orders amongst the warriors!

“Though if you wish to prove yourssself,” you tell the Throat-singer, “now is the time.”

Your apprentice blanches, saying: “No… You can’t… I don’t have any combat training!”

“Have you not been paying attention while I practicced my ssswordplay?”

You give him just long enough to stew in the idea that you might be serious, to really SWEAT in that peculiar way the hairy races do, and then you laugh.

“You will be with me,” you say more seriously, “using your bardic magic to ssspur usss on, and to wrangle the lesser reptiless.”

“…Yes, Dragonborn,” the Throat-singer sighs, with hidden irritation and relief in equal measures.

The Throat-singer bows his head and takes his leave. He may not show quite the same level of deference that your other slaves do, but you have no doubt of his value. His bardic music invigorations the mind and muscles, and his ability to summon and command even comparably mighty and sizeable creatures, such as you two pet fire-lizards, has the makings of a dragon-in-spirit, whatever weak mammalian flesh he might wear.

You turn your gaze upon the ceremonial-armour, copper-gold and black, which has long become like a second skin to you, and take up your two swords and your bow—all elven-crafted. To your dismay, you ran out of the elven alchemical concoction intended to preserve the ‘leafweave’ sheathe of living plants, or the dark wood arrows; you instead wrap your swords in…
>Cloth, tied tightly—simple, clean, frequently-changed
>Leather from hunted animals in the valleys below Bloodrise
>The treated skin of fallen foes and rebellious slaves

As for your armour…
>You will wear it, for the extra protection it affords and its imposing appearance; it is a good thing you have such skilled smiths among your population, to continue to modify it
>You have outgrown it, literally, and not bothered to make the necessary modifications to accommodate the increased size and musculature of your <Lingering Dragonform>; your cloak and breeches are fine
>You will have a new suit of armour crafted, forged in part from orichalcum and studded with the gems of your realm, fit for a king [specify any stylistic or functional details you’d like to see]

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>>5381505
You send the assassin squad ahead, eld by the Thief in his Mask of Many faces—a gift from you, which affords him the truly-convincing ability to mimic an individual without the usual uncanny feeling of subtle wrongness that such specific mimicry can induce. Ideally, he would have assumed the identity of the ‘Regional Manager’ of this place… But that corporate leader found himself consumed by a fire elemental which you unleashed in a moment of desperation, and you have no reference for his features. The Thief instead adopts the form of an old dwarf who you keep prisoner—the so-called ‘Stonesniffer’, Kaizo. He is accompanied by the South-Merchant, and a Silkscale Infiltrator who you recruited on your lats visit to the northern forward base.

You frown. With the North-Merchant occupied, it is a small squad—much smaller than such squads in the past. But then, who else among your forces has the right frame to be disguised—even by magical amulets—as the small-and-stout dwarven-folk? Certainly no Serpent Priest or Steeltalon, not even a Dragonblooded One! Only the Potion of Diminution worked into your Amulet of Dragonshape made you entertain the idea that YOU could do this thing.

Then again… Perhaps kobolds, or Drow, or Suergar (albeit not the Trhoat-singer) could bolster their numbers?
>Let this small squad of three infiltrate alone
>Assign some trusted kobold warriors Amulets of Disguise
>Allow the Drow use of the (deliberately flawed) amulets which the Novice experimented in crafting them
>Trust some of your Duergar dwarf-overseers to help infiltrate and usurp their former corporate coworkers

[Write-ins are always allowed, unless explicitly stated otherwise, for those who don’t recall!]

>>5381505
>>Leather from hunted animals in the valleys below Bloodrise
>You have outgrown it, literally, and not bothered to make the necessary modifications to accommodate the increased size and musculature of your <Lingering Dragonform>; your cloak and breeches are fine.
>Better keep orichalcum as base material for magic device, instead of armors. Growing better food in the underground cities of yours will make a stronger backline, and feed numerous reptilian for the Great War.
>Trust some of your Duergar dwarf-overseers to help infiltrate and usurp their former corporate coworkers
We have too many dwarves, slaves and overseer alike, for our Kobolds.

>>5381507
>Leather from hunted animals in the valleys below Bloodrise

>You have outgrown it, literally, and not bothered to make the necessary modifications to accommodate the increased size and musculature of your <Lingering Dragonform>; your cloak and breeches are fine.

>Trust some of your Duergar dwarf-overseers to help infiltrate and usurp their former corporate coworkers
>Assign some trusted kobold warriors Amulets of Disguise

Assuming we can do both, I'd like to send both duergar and kobolds. We know the kobolds are more or less all in on our dream for Bloodrise, so they're a good insurance policy for the question mark of the duregar.

Also, discarding our armor for pure Dragonshape is Serpent Ascendant chadliness at its peak, though we should see if we can get some way to store mana in orichalum to have a backup source of mana..

>>5381505
>Leather from hunted animals in the valleys below Bloodrise
>You will have a new suit of armour crafted, forged in part from orichalcum and studded with the gems of your realm, fit for a king [specify any stylistic or functional details you’d like to see]
dragon heads everywhere

>Assign some trusted kobold warriors Amulets of Disguise
>Allow the Drow use of the (deliberately flawed) amulets which the Novice experimented in crafting them

>>5381507
>Assign some trusted kobold warriors Amulets of Disguise
>>5381505
>The treated skin of fallen foes and rebellious slaves.

It will strike fear in the hearts of our enemies, goes good thematically with our hexblade skills.


>You have outgrown it, literally, and not bothered to make the necessary modifications to accommodate the increased size and musculature of your <Lingering Dragonform>; your cloak and breeches are fine.

Our dragonshape spell combined with our amulet, means we keep getting larger. Untill we can find amour that can grow with us we probably have to get used to not wearing it.

>>5381505
>Leather from hunted animals in the valleys below Bloodrise
>You will have a new suit of armour crafted, forged in part from orichalcum and studded with the gems of your realm, fit for a king [specify any stylistic or functional details you’d like to see]
See if we can get some of that stretchy form fitting leather from the drow to hold plating together that will expand/detach using clasps and buttons when we use dragonshape
>Trust some of your Duergar dwarf-overseers to help infiltrate and usurp their former corporate coworkers

>>5381507
>Assign some trusted kobold warriors Amulets of Disguise
>Leather from hunted animals in the valleys below
>Modify

>>5381687
Forgot to put last part of vote

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>>5381687
>>5381622
>>5381574
>>5381551
>>5381530
>>5381513

[Vote locked, posting soon!]

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Rolled 10, 16, 19, 5, 1 = 51 (5d20)

>>5381729
You and your forces march out into the mountains, braving the cold of the late season. You have no armour—you think perhaps you will wait to see how much larger you become, or if perhaps the leather strapping of the Drow might provide a template for something which can be easily expanded to fit your frame over time, but that will have to wait. The leather taken from the ungulates of the forest below is suitable to sheathe your blades, as the wood of the forest and the iron and copper of the miens makes for fine enough arrows, but your armour needs to be… SPECIAL.

For now, the lack of metal against your scales is actually something of a godsend; your own ability to regulate body temperature is more limited than a true mammal’s, after all, so your cloak is the more practical choice. You supplement this with occasional puffs of firebreath. Many of your other warriors, especially the kobolds, huddle close to your fire-lizards to similar effect.

In advance of your arrival, you sent not just the Thief and his fellow Silkscales, but also Agno and Ivno—the two kobold warriors who you best know—and a single dwarf to serve as cultural interpreter. You chose a young, angry male with a curious darkness in him, who you had noticed earlier—Kargon, you think his name was? Korgan? Something like that, anyway. He is one of your Duergar, and seems to revel in brutality and subjugation of his own kind, and you have little concern that he will turn against your race, with the promise of female dwarves and extra rations awaiting him if he but follows his own malevolent impulses.

First, though, they must fulfill their initial objective: infiltrating the Blackmantle Corporation's last foothold in your mountain range, capturing the Delegate from their headquarters and their geologists, and neutralizing as much of the leadership as possible

[Rolling for infiltration and assassination results, DC 14/16/18, reduced for decisions and good planning.]

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>>5381742

It takes you several days to reach the final Blackmantle company-town. It is much the same as the two you took earlier, albeit not so impressive is size or defensibility as the second… Nor, you must admit, so precariously-placed as the first, where a single clever utilization of your <Earth Tremor> allowed you to lay waste to the entire fort.

>19: Total success

Luckily, you do not necessarily NEED to. You find it in quiet chaos, its hirsute and bearded residents shouting out unfamiliar names—and, among them, that of the delegate (Vekel) and the geologists (Karon and Noelle). You feel a grim sense of satisfaction fill you from where you and your forces encamp, avoiding direct observation, to await a rendezvous with the Thief and his squadron.

They do not disappoint: the Thief and his forces, all still disguises as dwarves until they are safely among you, bring with them three bound-and-gagged prisoners: a black-bearded, proud-features dwarf who even now manages to look haughty (though you can smell a uric acidity that reveals it is a mask for terror); a bald-headed male with a brown-grey beard and cool blue eyes; a female, younger of features, with dark brown hair, the same blue eyes, and fury and fear writ across her features in a way that contrasts to the curious calm of her obvious progenitor.

“The leadership is decapitated,” the Thief reports, in Nortehr Cmoon-tongue so all your forces may understand.

“Hrrr hrrr… Literally!” the Duergar Brute of Uncertain Nomenclature adds, pulling a grey-bearded, blood-drenched head from a leather sack and dangling it like a trophy, upside down, by its beaded beard.

“What is our next move?” asks Ivno, evidently nervous. “There are still many soldiers. We were not able to set the stores to burning as readily—not and capture these three at once.

“We should take the town,” the Pit-Guard declares. “Shock and awe! They will panic!”

“Or lure them out with our hostages, and bombard those who emerge with spells, slings, and arrows,” the Novice Fleshweaver suggests more pragmatically. “It would soften up defences and allow us to take the fort’s contents with less… Damage, thank in the last two attempts.”

You suppose you can see her point—burning and collapsing one company-town in on itself destroyed many trade-goods and records, while unleashing a fire elemental in the next melted at least one magical axe and armour set to slag and did untold damage to the managerial office which held still more records. This could be a chance to seize not just valuables, but valuable INTELLIGENCE.

>>5381749

What do you do?
>Storm the fort full-force, unleashing hell upon this place with no mind for preserving lives or records
>Attempt to lure out some of the defenders for a ranged bombardment and a more measured assault on those inside
>Besiege them and cut them off from all escape; hold fast and force a surrender, for however long it takes
>Destroy the fort as utterly as you are able with magic—you don’t only not care about preserving any of these dwarves or their belongings, you WANT this final fort to be wiped away from the map, as a final triumph and to hide the exact nature of your attackers
>Leave now—you have your valuable captives, the dwarves here are leaderless, and you have no fear of retaliation since they have no earthly idea who or what is responsible
>Write-in

>>5381749
>Attempt to lure out some of the defenders for a ranged bombardment and a more measured assault on those inside

Good strategy from the Novice. We don't have the bodies to just throw at fortresses over and over again.

>>5381750
>Besiege them and cut them off from all escape; hold fast and force a surrender, for however long it takes

No escape is the priority. None.

>>5381757
My thoughts on that option were that we don't want to get pinned in by some dwarven convoy showing up with a bunch of guards, or the like. The sooner this is over, the better; we even have a whole hunter squad we can send after any runaways.

>>5381750
>Attempt to lure out some of the defenders for a ranged bombardment and a more measured assault on those inside

>>5381750
>Attempt to lure out some of the defenders for a ranged bombardment and a more measured assault on those inside

>>5381750
>Attempt to lure out some of the defenders for a ranged bombardment and a more measured assault on those inside

We don’t have the time or supplies for a siege that may take many months.

Paint our forces as petty criminals out for gold - hide our true numbers.

Before we do the exchange though, wait a few days and get our strike team to re-infiltrate the fortress. They will be our blade in the dark.

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Rolled 5, 14, 7, 19, 17, 8, 19, 13, 5 = 107 (9d20)

>>5381754
>>5381757
>>5381845
>>5381855
>>5381898
You instruct most of your forces to hold back, while you advance primarily with your kobolds and Drow—the lone member of the Master Race among them. With any lcuk, should worse come to worst, you will (as in the past) be msiatken for some over-large kobold by the ignorance mole-apes.

You are forced to approach from below, granting your foes the high-ground and ample time to fire upon you… Before, before you, you push your captives—dwarf-shapes shields, struggling fruitlessly against their bonds.

“Dwarvesss of the Blackmantle Corporation!” you bellow out. “Your leadersss are dead, your diplomat and chiefmossst alchemistss are captured! Come out to parley! Bring your gold, and you may yet sssave their miserable livesss!”

The captive Delegate nods frantically, while the Geologist's Daughter shakes her head so furiously that the 'beard-bead' tying her braided pigtails together beneath her chin starts to slip loose; her father, the Geologist, continues to observe as if detached even comatose.

[5d20 for diplomacy/intimidation to see if you lure anyone out, 3d20 for your forces' ranged attack, 1d20 for the enemy's response.]

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>>5381967
The response is halting, with dwarves peering warily over battlements and out from under helmets fit more for miners than for warriors. Eventually, the gate rolls open, and a sizeable group of dwarves march forward, armed with pickaxes, war-axes, and kitchen utensils. All are male, while crossbow-wielding dwarves of either sex stand behind them, hands steady but faces pale. At the head of them all: an old, wizened dwarf male. Behind him, you see a disgusted and disgruntled-looking younger specimen, a female, holding a sizeable bag.

>19

“We have little gold,” the old dwarf says croakily, “but if you release your captievs and leave us in peace, you can have what wealthw e have—gems, ore, heirlooms.”

You tip the spikes upon your chin with a claw, as if considering…

>19 vs. 5

…But ACTUALLY as a signal for the Hunter, Oluwadamilare, and the other archers and slingers of your forces to unleash all the Hells upon these would-be diplomats. They scream in horror, pain, and anger, and their crossbowmen turn upon your forces. They scarcely manage to lick off a shot before the concentrated fire manages to slay most, and send the remainder scrambling for cover.

Those survivors of the assault—about a half-dozen, in fighting form, from the original twenty-odd dwarves—begin to move back towards their gate. Those inside are already, in a prudent-but-merciless fashion, sealing it shut as swiftly as they can.

What do you do?

>Use your Firebreath and your bow to mop up the survivors outside the fortification, and then settle in for a prologed siege
>Use a horizontal <Jump> to leap in under the descending gate, and wreak havoc in a glorious solo charge
>Attempt to freeze the mechanism with your Ring of Elemental Command [negligible mana cost, higher DC]
>Try to wedge the gate ajar with a Wall of Stone [higher mana cost, lower DC]
>Blast the dam gate off of its hinges with a Moonblast! [higher mana cost, higher DC, but if successful there will be no barring your forces]
>Write-in

>>5381971
>Use a horizontal <Jump> to leap in under the descending gate, and wreak havoc in a glorious solo charge

>>5381971
>Try to wedge the gate ajar with a Wall of Stone [higher mana cost, lower DC]

Seems like the most likely to succeed out of the option's.

>>5381971
>Blast the dam gate off of its hinges with a Moonblast! [higher mana cost, higher DC, but if successful there will be no barring your forces]

>>5381971
>Attempt to freeze the mechanism with your Ring of Elemental Command [negligible mana cost, higher DC]

>>5381971
>Blast the dam gate off of its hinges with a Moonblast! [higher mana cost, higher DC, but if successful there will be no barring your forces]

>Have Karz sing his strange song, empowering your attempt

>>5381971
>Try to wedge the gate ajar with a Wall of Stone [higher mana cost, lower DC]

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>>5382155
>>5382082
>>5382077
>>5382046
>>5381992
>>5381975
[Two things: The Rehearsal is a fever-dream of a show; we have a close vote with no clear majority or plurality, so I'll wait until morning to post in case someone else votes.]

>>5381971
>Try to wedge the gate ajar with a Wall of Stone [higher mana cost, lower DC]

Well that went well!!

>>5381971
>Use a horizontal <Jump> to leap in under the descending gate, and wreak havoc in a glorious solo charge

>>5381971
>Use your Firebreath and your bow to mop up the survivors outside the fortification, and then settle in for a prologed siege

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Rolled 2, 13 = 15 (2d20)

>>5382398
>>5382325
>>5382301
>>5382155
>>5382082
>>5382077
>>5382046
>>5381992
>>5381975
You advance towards the closing gate, following the retreating dwarves at a more leisurely pace. You beckon to the Throat-singer, and he falls in alongside you, still humming his eerie, vibrating song. The two fire-lizards trailing him, and Agno trailing them not long-after; Karz Throat-singer may summon them, even direct them, but he is not so skilled as the kobold at wrangling them and keeping them on ‘best behaviour’ when the magic ceases to flow.

Empowered and focused by the bardic music, you draw up mana from within. You speak the words of power, stride forward the requisite number of steps, move your hands in the forceful, purposeful movements necessary for the spell’s somatic component, and raise a <Wall of Stone> up from the very earth beneath the closing gate.

[DC 12, thanks to Karz's song and circumstance]

>>5382464

In truth, the use of elemental magic in combat conditions—except your inherent firebreath—has taken something of a back-seat to other magics and combat focuses. Divination, the manipulation of your own biology through fleshweaving, and brutal, debilitating swordplay have long taken centre-stage. The wall of stone you hastily erect cracks beneath the weight of the gate and the force of the sturdy mechanism which forces it down. It buckles, crumbles, threatens to break.

>13

Only the focus afforded by Karz’s own, musical spellcraft reinforces it long enough for you, he, Agno, and the fire-lizards to make it through… Or, HOPEFULLY long enough to do so. There is still one obstacle: the dwarves, formerly fleeing. They cannot miss the stone wall which has erupted spontaneously from the earth before them to hold the gate. Two continue to flee anyway, determined to reach the illusory safety of the keep’s interior. Three others of the five who you can see know the truth: if they don’t stop you here, that place will be no sanctuary. They turn upon you and, with courage born of desperation, they charge.

What do you do?
>Draw your moon-blade and charge to meet them head-on
>Attempt to intercept them with Firebreath
>Blast at their feet with the Ring of Elemental Command to (hopefully) non-lethal effect
>Use your Ring of Protection to shield yourself and your allies
>Send your allies to deal with them while you <Jump> over them and through the gate
>Write-in

>>5382469
>Send your allies to deal with them while you <Jump> over them and through the gate

We gotta get in there and stop the dwarves from holding the gate.

>>5382469
>Attempt to intercept them with Firebreath

Dragons breathe fire

>>5382469
>Jump

>>5382469
>Send your allies to deal with them while you <Jump> over them and through the gate.

We don't want to turn this into a siege battle.

>>5382469
>Attempt to intercept them with Firebreath
PK Fire!

>>5382469
>Send your allies to deal with them while you <Jump> over them and through the gate

Need to keep that gate open

Use dragonshape when we land

>>5382469
>Send your allies to deal with them while you <Jump> over them and through the gate
>Firebreath them
We honestly don’t use firebreath enough.

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Rolled 4, 9, 1, 8, 12, 11, 11, 1 = 57 (8d20)

>>5383101
>>5382779
>>5382646
>>5382614
>>5382514
>>5382512
>>5382474
The gate is wedges, well-enough that there is no problem with your army marching right through to fill the halls and capture or kill every cowering mammal therein… But only if it remains such. Every delay here at the portal offers a fresh risk. What are dwarves best at, after all, if not moving and shaping stone?

“Throat-sssinger, Kobold Sslave, these onesss are yoursss,” you announce abruptly.

“W-what?” Karz stammers, his ong broken. “I can’t—Dragonborn, I’m not a WARRIOR!”

Agno, for his part, twirls his pick-axe and war-knife and shrieks a shrill battle-cry—overconfident, but eager to prove himself worthy of the implicit vote of confidence.

The Throat-singer, though he cringes and grimaces, cannot shrink and be shown up by this upstart. Kobolds are higher in the pecking order which you have established than dwarves, but among your personal slaves, none is blind to the special place the Throat-singer occupies—certainly not Karz himself. Perhaps he fears losing it, should he lose face. Whatever his unknowable internal calculus, he begins his song again, driving the fire-lizards forward with a gesture and a rising rhythm.

With the Blackmantle forces thus engaged, you <Jump>, leaping in a great arc over and beyond them, and through the gate.

[4d20 for your forces (DC 11/13/15), 3d20 Athleticism (DC 14 for use of magic), 1d20 enemy/environmental dice (lower is better)]

>>5383180
Holy fucking shit those dice.

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>>5383180
>>5383184
>>5383180
>12
To your dismay, you realize only in midair that you missed one of those half-dozen surviving dwarves in your charge—or perhaps there was a seventh? A crossbow-wielding female of the species, ducked behind a rock, rises and lifts her armament to open fire upon you. Were you capable of true flight—if only!—you could have veered to avoid it… But you are not She accurately predicts your arc and, as in your last such assault on a company-town, you enter the fortifications only after being thus-bloodied. You land awkwardly, and in pain.

>4, 9, 1, 8
Behind you, you heard clashing steel and a high, trembling hiss which ends in a gurgle. You wince, feeling it somehow without turning to see it—a fie-lizard has been slain, dying in pain. One of your pets—albeit not a creature you ever really thought to name. It is still a thing of yours—a reptile to which you were bonded by your natural empathy. It stings as badly as the bolt. Worse, you can feel fear and weakness rising in those who remain—your other fire-lizard driven to flight, Agno pushed back. You cannot tell what has become of the Throat-singer for the moment his song is shattered by fear or injury your more tenuous connection to his mammal-essence is likewise broken.

>1
The one blessing is that your sudden appearance, tremendous stature, and the sneer of pain and dismay on your face seem to lend you a gargoylish first impression. The dwarves who were working the gate stop what they are doing to stare in horror, and flee their posts… Only to find themselves incinerated in a furious flash of your firebreath.

You press on, determined to…
>Find the non-combatants—females, offspring, elderly—and to use them to force a surrender
>Slaughter every remaining defender who does not immediately lay down arms, that the dwarves will know who you are and that where you go, Death follows
>Seize any valuables of particular note herein before they can be destroyed by enemy sabotage or siege-born accident
>Find and close off any possible escape route, before any canny and craven dwarf can sue it
>Write-in

>>5383185
>Bellow a dominant roar, cowing the remaining dwarves into submission (Intimidate)

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>>5383188
[Solid write-in option, worthy of the commission which just completed of the new, shirtless, increasingly-draconic look of the MC]

art by noixle

>>5383185
Yeah now that I think about it jumping into the middle of enemy forces may no longer be viable since we voted to forgo armor for the time being.

>Find and close off any possible escape route, before any canny and craven dwarf can use it

>>5383185
>>Find and close off any possible escape route, before any canny and craven dwarf can sue it

>>5383185
>Find and close off any possible escape route, before any canny and craven dwarf can sue it

>Bellow a dominant roar, cowing the remaining dwarves into submission (Intimidate)

I would assume the rest of our previously hidden army will be rushing to the entrance and the combat with Karz…

>>5383185
>Bellow a dominant roar, cowing the remaining dwarves into submission (Intimidate)
>Slaughter every remaining defender who does not immediately lay down arms, that the dwarves will know who you are and that where you go, Death follows
If we find something shiny, take it.

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Rolled 17, 10, 18, 15, 6, 16, 9, 6, 11 = 108 (9d20)

>>5383358
>>5383354
>>5383285
>>5383205
>>5383188
You have by this point invaded and occupied enough of these Blackmantle company-towns to know something of what to expect inside. The dwarves are skilled craftsmen, even a member of the Master Race must admit, but none would accuse of them of being beasts of incredible imagination. You stomp your way steadily through faintly-familiar halls, following the same sorts of twists and turns, passing almost the same latrine in almost the same location, until you reach the first of what you all-but-know will be three back exits down steep mountain apses, for emergency departure or expelling the waste of their industry.

And there it is. With grim satisfaction, you summon an <Earth Tremor> to collapse it. With a roar of triumph, you announce to all who shelter herein—all who might seek to flee, as well, that there is to be no escape.

[5d20 Sword Mastery; 2d20 Intimidation, 1d20 probability die for your forces and theirs (yours have a notably lower DC)]

>>5383185
>Bellow a dominant roar, cowing the remaining dwarves into submission (Intimidate)
>Seize any valuables of particular note herein before they can be destroyed by enemy sabotage or siege-born accident

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>>5383428
>>5383430
>>5383428
>18 for Hexblade Sword Mastery
As you methodically make your way through the interior of this semi-subterranean little castle-town, you find few defenders. Most who see you coming flee. They are fools to do so—your legs are longer, you are swifter than they. Those who stand and fight are even less astute than the cowards, for you are not here to fight honourable duels, but to make examples. You cut them down, killing them or leaving them in crippled agony as you stride past them. Their wails of death and dismembered dismay permeate the structure, so that after the third or fourth such encounter, the dwarves begin to lay down their arms in trembling surrender.

Eventually, one such defeated specimen shamefacedly leads you to the final of the dwarven escape-routes, in exchange for his life. There, you find the expected support staff, elders, females, and their spawn clustered. They hear you coming, behold you with frightened eyes. A few break to run, but another draconic bellow ends that notion.

>6 (your forces) vs. 11 (theirs); superior readiness, leadership, armament, and numbers render them equivalent

You must give credit where it is due to these last free Blackmantle miners, though—they fight fiercely against your forces. Were they to meet your own army openly on the field of battle, or had a prolonged siege been the outcome, you’re not sure who would have won. Even now—surprised, leaderless, invaded, gates broken and wedged open to allow your dark force to pour into their keep—they drag the fighting out. They hold the line.

…But then, some of their forces fall back, to investigate the dragon roaring in the depths of their own keep. They find you. They find your blade.

>17,15

They find no mercy. With each life you take, each body you break, you send shockwaves through the morale of the survivors. Half the remaining defenders fall to your army at the front. A quarter fall to your blade at their back. A final fourth fall to fear.

The dwarves submit. No great warrior rises to the occasion to challenge you this time, to your relief. The Blackmantle Corporation is no more, not in Bloodrise. You have won!

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>>5383437

You survey your forces. A smattering of kobolds were lost. A pair of dark elves died. Your fire-lizard is indeed lost; the other is injured. Agno cannot tend to it, for he is being tended by those with medical knowledge, marshalled to action by the Novice Fleshweaver—prodigy that she is, in spite of her name, in matters of weaving and mending flesh. The Throat-singer is there, too, unconscious and bloodied, missing several fingers on one hand, with which he looks to have shielded his face from an axe-blow.

…Unfortunate.

Those who remain on their feet begin to extract what valuables they can but (alas) the defenders seem to have put many of the records to the fire, and smashed or disabled their most cunning mechanisms from back home. You find no shortage of more conventional loot, though, among the would-be refugees who you seized in their escape. You add their every bead, gem, coin, and heirloom to your growing coffers.

Now, there is only the matter of what to do with this place… And with its inhabitants.

To incorporate all of these survivors would make the dwarves almost an equal contingent to your kobolds… A difficult situation if you wish to keep their race utterly subordinate in the long run, but not IMPOSSIBLE, if you maintain your current regime of fearsome discipline and social engineering.

What of the bulk of the dwarves?
>Spare those who submit, and enslave them
>Kill them all, and let the Dark Gods sort them out
>Spare only the women and children—less productive, but less rebellious
>Spare only the men—you need labourers, not dependents

And what will become of the keep? This third fortification is most distant from the kobolds’ own caverns, several days’ trek from your main base of operation. The two previously-conquered forts—one collapsed and smaller, one large but mostly-Intact—were given as tribute to the Drow to pay for their aid and to win their continued loyalty; suitable waystations, so long as racial relations remain intact. And, of course, you have that meeting with the Queen of Elves ahead…

What do you do with this company-town?
>Keep it for yourself—your first true surface-outpost, albeit an inconveniently-located one
>Give it to the Drow
>Trade it to the Drow for the small, mostly-collapsed fort which you took in your first raid
>Loot and raze it; you need no such distant holding, nor will you let it fall back into dwarven hands

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>>5383438
And lastly… The ‘guests of honour’, who you went to so much trouble to extract intact. You refer, of course, to the Blackmantle Delegate, the Geologist, and the Geologist’s Daughter—or, you suppose, to Vekel, Karon, and Noelle, more properly.

What to do with THEM?
>Interrogate and torture them for valuable information, in exchange for mercy and membership in your slave-force
>Execute these worthies in a torturous ritual sacrifice, and hold a great revel to celebrate your ultimate victory over their corporate nation
>Study and dissect them, that you might make convincing disguises of them to infiltrate wider dwarven society
>No need for brutality, when you’re feeling so magnanimous in your triumph—simply ‘invite’ them for a frank-but-polite conversation about the new way of the world and the coming age

[Write-ins are allowed for all]

>>5383438
>Allow the Duregar to counsel you on this matter, giving their voice weight on what happens to their kin

>Keep it for yourself—your first true surface-outpost, albeit an inconveniently-located one; make it into an unassailable base for logistics and mustering of forces

>Interrogate and torture them for valuable information, in exchange for the promise of mercy- give them no such mercy unless they are willing to execute a more stubborn kinsman. You will see to their loyalty by staining their hands with blood.

>See if the Novice can grow Karz's appendages back.. perhaps he can be enhanced with talons or something more Reptillian, befitting his station and courage in this battle

>>5383438
>Allow the Duregar to counsel you on this matter, giving their voice weight on what happens to their kin
>Keep it for yourself—your first true surface-outpost, albeit an inconveniently-located one; make it into an unassailable base for logistics and mustering of forces

>Interrogate and torture them for valuable information, in exchange for the promise of mercy- give them no such mercy unless they are willing to execute a more stubborn kinsman. You will see to their loyalty by staining their hands with blood.

>See if the Novice can grow Karz's appendages back.. perhaps he can be enhanced with talons or something more Reptillian, befitting his station and courage in this battle

>>5383467
Easier to count to QM as a bland +1

>>5383467
+1. Some of the shorties seem to have proven themselves worthy

>>5383438
>Spare those who submit, and enslave them
>Trade it to the Drow for the small, mostly-collapsed fort which you took in your first raid
>No need for brutality, when you’re feeling so magnanimous in your triumph—simply ‘invite’ them for a frank-but-polite conversation about the new way of the world and the coming age

>>5383438
>Allow the Duregar to counsel you on this matter, giving their voice weight on what happens to their kin

I’m leaning towards only keeping women and children though

>Keep it for yourself—your first true surface-outpost, albeit an inconveniently-located one; make it into an unassailable base for logistics and mustering of forces

Place one of the master race (not the Bastard) in charge and give them some kobolds

>Interrogate and torture them for valuable information. Provide them mercy if they are willing to execute a more stubborn kinsman. You will see to their loyalty by staining their hands with blood.

Maybe also check out that Dwarven female a new bed mate after Agee is broken mentally…

>See if the Novice can grow Karz's appendages back.. perhaps he can be enhanced with talons or something more Reptillian, befitting his station and courage in this battle

>>5383438
>Spare only the women and children—less productive, but less rebellious

>Give it to the Drow

>No need for brutality, when you’re feeling so magnanimous in your triumph—simply ‘invite’ them for a frank-but-polite conversation about the new way of the world and the coming age

Why not just give it to the Drow? It's a pretty negligible outpost compared to what we've already given them and would be a much better cover story if any investigation happens. To any outsider it would just look like the Drow decided conquer that particular Dwarf Corporation. We're going to be seeing the Drow Queen pretty soon so we should stack as much favor with her as possible.

>>5383438
>Spare those who submit, and enslave them
>Trade it to the Drow for the small, mostly-collapsed fort which you took in your first raid
>>5383439
>No need for brutality, when you’re feeling so magnanimous in your triumph—simply ‘invite’ them for a frank-but-polite conversation about the new way of the world and the coming age

>>5384088
Better to trade it for a kobold stronghold, we need to give them something in this too.

>>5383439
>Allow the Duregar to counsel you on this matter, giving their voice weight on what happens to their kin

>Keep it for yourself—your first true surface-outpost, albeit an inconveniently-located one


>Interrogate and torture them for valuable information, in exchange for the promise of mercy- give them no such mercy unless they are willing to execute a more stubborn kinsman. You will see to their loyalty by staining their hands with blood.

>>5384109
Blacklisting, since my IP reset I guess.

>>5383188

>>5384111
*backlinking, stupid ass autocorrect shit.

>>5384088
I think we've given them enough. The Drow haven't even given enough into the alliance to justify what they have already.

>>5383439
>Allow the Duregar to counsel you on this matter, giving their voice weight on what happens to their kin.

Some of our duregar dwarf's seem somewhat demoralized, letting them decide the fate of our new captives. Might help them adjust to their new lifestyle. And demonstrate the new found power they have over their en-serfed kin.

>Trade it to the Drow for the small, mostly-collapsed fort which you took in your first raid

The first captured fortress is closer to our blood ridge base, and thus easier for us to defend.


>No need for brutality, when you’re feeling so magnanimous in your triumph—simply ‘invite’ them for a frank-but-polite conversation about the new way of the world and the coming age.

We need to learn more about Oricalcum and the geologist we captured is a primer expert on it.

>>5384113
I think the fortess closer to bloodrise is superior to this one.

A forts main purpose is to deny traffic in a area, or to defend a chokehold. We have to go through dark territory to reach and resupply this fort, which makes us too dependant on them strategically.

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>>5384122
>>5384109
>>5384101
>>5384088
>>5383950
>>5383778
>>5383593
>>5383518
>>5383467
[Vote locked. Writing!]

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>>5384131
This last raid leads you to a few conclusions a bout your allies an acolytes. The kobolds have given much—including Agno’s life, very nearly—and have gotten little for it in deference to your Drow allies. As they are fellow Reptilians, this cannot stand… But nor can you afford to offend the Drow, with the meeting with the Elf Queen so close, whatever their relative lack of savagery. Besides, they HAVE been useful burglars and assassins…

And as for the dwarves (or the bloody-minded Duergar at least), they’ve certainly prove themselves capable. You begin to think it might be worth asking their counsel.

You assemble a group of the Duergar, including two grizzled, hollow-eyed older males, the Brute, a stern and ashen-blonde female of middling age… And the young Throat-singer, babyfaced but clutching his mutilated hand and biting back pain to attend. As he is both blooded in battle and favoured as your personal attendant, none of these seniors question his presence there, though you can tell many would like to.

“We have an issssue before usss,” you explain, from you seat in the captured stronghold. “Two, in fact. One: what to do with the dwarvesss we have captured. Two: what to do with their home.”

None of the Duergar are swift to answer. They look to one another questioning, afraid even to whisper. At first you are confused, but then you thin you begin to understand: they think this is a test.

“We will all comply with your desires, sir,” says one of the males.

“I will personally see to it that your orders are carried out to the letter, whatever they may be!” announces the second; the eyes of the first to speak up widen in response, as if fearful he was too tepid in his support.

The female scoffs, tugging at her beard-of-braids… But when your gaze turns to her, she shrinks as well, keeping her thoughts to herself and instead complying with the two toadies. Only the Throat-sinegr speaks frankly, and what eh says surprises you:

“We have too many elderly,” he says. “Food stores run low. Winter has only begun. Kill the old. Spare the young, to work.”

“And what of the infantsss?” you ask, as much to test his mettle as out of actual curiosity. “They who are two ssmall to work?”

The Throat-singer’s eyes widen, and he chokes a little—even now, unable to commit to infanticide, and yet struggling to justify their survival on pragmatic grounds.

“They… They will be good workers in time, and good leverage to sue against their parents!” the Female Duergar blurts out.

“Babies go squish real nice, though,” the brute chimes in, his first words since the council of dwarves assembles.

All the others stare at him in horror.

“Hrrr hrrr,” he laughs, darkly. “Only joking. Can’t nobody take a joke?”

>>5384154
You… Aren’t sure that he is, but you nod slowly.

“None of you have any issssue with sslaughtering the old to sspare the young?” you ask.

No dwarf speaks against you, though you can tell that—except for the Brute—it bothers all of them at least a little. Still, none will speak against you, and all are afraid to seem soft. What will happen tot hem, to their loved ones, if they displease you? If they suggest that more mouths be fed, will THEY be the first to have rations cut in a famine—or to be TURNED to rations themselves?

Ultimately, you decide to...
>Follow Karz's recommendation
>Kill both the elderly and those too young to work
>Show mercy to all
>Show mercy to none
>Write-in

“What of the ssettlement?” you ask, pivoting away from this clearly-troubling subject to one which they may be more inclined to speak openly and honestly about, and explaining your difficulty in deciding what to do with the fort.

“I believe your instincts are good, sir,” says one of the old males. “Having access to some of the minerals that we—that Blackmantle came here for would be… Useful. This fort is fine… But far from the kobold caves. If you gave it to the Drow in exchange for the… The furthest eastward one…”

He means the ruined fort, collapsed and with all its working-and-soldiering population crushed or burned to death, many fed to bugbears.

“Yes,” the other older male adds, “but THIS fort is still intact.”

The first old male grins darkly, sensing an opportunity to supplant the second in your estimation, saying: “Then I and the dwarves who I oversee shall make it whole again—better, even. Purpose-built for the Dragonborn… Though I will need more dwarves assigned to me, to make this work.”

An interesting power-play, you note… And an enticing proposition. It will certainly be better for allocation of resources (especially slave labour) and coordinated defence with the nearer-by kobold caverns. You dismiss the Duergar Councillors, and notify the Drow of the arrangement—careful to spin it as another magnanimous offering to their own empire. They seem to accept the arrangement as fair.

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>>5384155
You next attend to your high-value captives: the Delegate and the Geologists. You have been denying them food and water, save smallest morsels, for several days now. When they speak without permission, especially to complain to bargain, you have instructed the Pit-Guard’s Apprentice—the young, mighty Steeltalon who often serves as enforcer and warden—to beat them or to inflict small-but-stinging cuts along their flesh. From the way they appear upon your arrival, the Delegate and especially the Daughter have been slower to understand the way of things than the Geologist, who hardly seems to have acquired a scratch.

“I hope you are enjoying the amenitiesss?” you ask drolly.

None of them reply to your mocking ice-breaker, though the Blackmantle Delegate is swift to speak up, saying:

“Listen! I am valuable to my corporation. The President will pay for my freedom—I’m his neph-YAAAH!”

The Pit-Guard’s Apprentice interrupts him with hand smack to the face which slams him into the stone, and then hauls him up by his dark hair. His lip is bleeding, and his once-haughty features now look as if he might burst into tears—though he manages not to, and to thus maintain his feeble façade of dignity-in-captivity.

“We will forsake this place,” he promises. “It will be yours, and more—all the gold you want, or gems, or… Furs? Blankets?”

You narrow your eyes a little. As the cold has worsened outside, your cold-blooded reptilians and scantily-clad elf friends alike have begun to shake and shiver. It clearly hasn’t gone unnoticed by this perceptive plutocrat.

How do you respond to his offer?
>Demand information on the Blackmantle Corporation and their rivals, or you’ll strip his clothes and throw him into the snow to see how he fares
>Very well, let’s see about this ransom… Maybe you can extract some value from his captivity, and decide whether to ACTUALLY return him later?
>You can’t make contact with other dwarves without revealing your presence or drawing attention… So you won’t, and you’ll ignore him for now and move onto the other two
>Ply him for personal information that the Thief can exploit to impersonate him, then make the Geologist or his Daughter kill the Delegate to earn their own mercy
>Write-in

>>5384155
>Follow Karz's recommendation
>You can’t make contact with other dwarves without revealing your presence or drawing attention… So you won’t, and you’ll ignore him for now and move onto the other two

Can we please trade this city of gift it's in such a bad spot. Why do we want this?

>>5384176
*or gift

>>5384176
>>5384178
>Can we please trade this city of gift it's in such a bad spot. Why do we want this?
Sorry, if it wasn't clear, that's exactly what you did.

>An interesting power-play, you note… And an enticing proposition. It will certainly be better for allocation of resources (especially slave labour) and coordinated defence with the nearer-by kobold caverns. You dismiss the Duergar Councillors, and notify the Drow of the arrangement—careful to spin it as another magnanimous offering to their own empire. They seem to accept the arrangement as fair.

>>5384155
>Follow Karz's recommendation
any dwarf that survives to old age is a dwarf that didn't work hard enough when they were young

>Demand information on the Blackmantle Corporation and their rivals, or you’ll strip his clothes and throw him into the snow to see how he fares

>>5384215
Supporting.

There is no way that we’re letting him leave - as it would reveal our existence.

We might as well get information though

>>5384157
>Follow Karz's recommendation
>Heal Karz
>You can’t make contact with other dwarves without revealing your presence or drawing attention… So you won’t, and you’ll ignore him for now and move onto the other two

>>5384155
>Show mercy to all
>Demand information on the Blackmantle Corporation and their rivals, or you’ll strip his clothes and throw him into the snow to see how he fares
>Ply him for personal information that the Thief can exploit to impersonate him

>>5384381
Support

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>>5384458
>>5384381
>>5384348
>>5384346
>>5384215
>>5384176

“Tell me more about the Blackmantle Corporation, and the other corproationsss here in Bloodrise,” you demand, “or I will sstrip away your own furss and throw you into the ssnow, to ssee how YOU fare, dwarf.”

He gulps, but nods, and begins rattling off a number of facts and figures about his uncle’s corporate holdings. They apparently include a number foe lases such as they exploited here, as well as more permanent land-holdings and a complex international banking apparatus in a placed called ‘Lastcastle’, a heavily-fortified city which the Delegate describes as ‘the last great city entirely owned by the dwarven peoples’ with a certain amount of pride.

Another race in decline, then, like the elves? Like your own? You ask, leaving out the second part, and he scowls.

“Disenfranchised, but NOT in decline,” he insists. “Humans and damnable orcs drove us out of many of our ancestral homes, but dwarves adapt and endure! That’s what the corporatiosn are for—more flexible and open than a clan, less geographically-centralized than a country, but it keeps us together, and keeps us all working towards the good of all.”

“What other corporationsss have invaded my home?” you ask.

“Besides Blackmantle… There’ll be Gems-B-We, who are specialists in finding, cutting, and setting rare jewels for the wealthiest humans… Graphite-Grey, who are more about land acquisitions and long-term investments, especially debt-acquisition, but also dip their toes in mercenary-work and politics… and Treasuretrove Incorporated, who are more an ‘adventurer’s guild’ than a proper company. Pah, even letting in halflings, these days…”

A lot of what he explains to you beyond this goes over your head our lands squarely outside your intersecting fields of interest and competence. Perhaps it would make sense to have the Delegate speak more with the South-Merchant later, who is better equipped to understand such matters? Or maybe this puffed-up merchant-noble has served his purpose?

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>>5384461
“You two,” you next address the Geologist and his daughter, not even bothering to finish listening to the Delegate, “Why should I let you live?”

“Damned if I know,” the Daughter says. “Maybe you’ve got yourself a death-wish?”

You stare, a little startled at her implicit threat.

“What sssort of posssition do you think you’re in, to be sspeaking thisss way to me?”

“Not the most enviable sort,” she admits, “but damned if I’m going to let you milk us for information before you just kill us anyway.”

She glares at the Delegate as she says this, who looks away. You take the time to take in her features. All dwarves have eyes that, by their curious lustres and shine, cannot help but evoke jewels or stones. Her blue eyes, like her father’s, are reminiscent of nothing so much as an aquamarine beryl—you have a few such treasures in your growing hoard, not yet traded away. She lacks the exceptional figure of the late Herbalist, Davora… But there’s a certain matching appeal between her more lithe (for a dwarf) frame, her obvious attention to physical fitness which this belies, and the fierce defiance which she so readily displays.

On the subject of her father, he seems to watch you watching his progeny, and finally speaks up—the first words he has spoken since you took him captive, at least in your presence:

“Please forgive me silly girl, ‘Dragonborn’,” he says, using your correct title—and in True Speech, no less! He instantly seizes your attention in this way, and silences his daughter, who watches him quietly now as well, with beryl-blue eyes narrowed.

“I worked out that this was your name or rank from how your men spoke it,” the Geologist answers your unspoken question. “I and my daughter are not Blackmantle, nor are we affiliated with any other corporation. We are independent contractors, hired contractually to research the orichalcum deposits here and to determine their usefulness, and that of any other such exotic materials.”

You try to hide the obvious interest this elicits. You remember hearing tell of dwarven schemes to create subterranean megastructures with clever orichalchum engineering and enchantment. Still… A geologist is not an enchanter, nor an engineer. You know that much.

“My daughter is an architect-in-the-making, though,” the Geologist says, voice as icy-calm as his eyes.

“Father!” his Daughter cries out in outrage.

“Quiet, please, Noelle,” he says, not looking away from you.

“Sso I should sspare the two of you to sserve as conssstruction-sslavess?” you ask.

“You should HIRE us,” the Geologist corrects gently, “as contracted experts.”

“Traitor!” the Blackmantle Delegate snaps, earning him a beating at the hands of the Pit-Guard’s Apprentice, and the return of his gag.

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>>5384471
“Sslavery sseemss the ssimpler sssolution,” you note.

“But will you get the same calibre of work?” he asks. “I am old—I do not fear death. My daughter is proud, as you can hear—she fears more for her dignity than death, herself. And anyway, you will need access to the sciences and magic beyond these mountains, to get the most out of us.”

“You think we lack the meansss to develop these sskilsss without MAMMALIAN help?” you hiss.

“If you didn’t find your own personnel lacking in that area,” the Geologist surmises, “you wouldn’t even be speaking with me right now.”

“I will not work for this… This THING, Father,” his Daughter spits.

“You will,” he assures her, a bit more sternly than he had spoken before.

To you, the Geologist affirms: “She will. We both will. But not as slaves.”

You consider his offer—surprising and initially-absurd as it sounds. Is there anything to it?
>Agree to employ the Geologist and his Daughter as free contractors, with privileges beyond the slaves here—maybe more even than the Duerger
>No, you think you would prefer them as slaves—even if it means you must take some time to break them in before they are useful
>These two are too cunning and defiant by half—kill them both
>Make them prove themselves—you’re going to be culling the old and feeble anyway, so make the Geologist and Daughter perform a few executions of their kinfolk to prove their willingness to serve
>Write-in

Note: options regarding healing Karz, a vote on whether to bed the Geologist's Daughter, and the fallout of your elder-cull are forthcoming.

>>5384473
>>Make them prove themselves—you’re going to be culling the old and feeble anyway, so make the Geologist and Daughter perform a few executions of their kinfolk to prove their willingness to serve. Given their usefulness, they can take a place amongst the Duregar Blooded (with similar perks), if they can prove their loyalty

>>5384473
>These two are too cunning and defiant by half—kill them both

>>5384508
Setting this precedent is a good way to have idiotic yes-men serving us for the rest of the existence of the Duregar, imo. I'd be interested to hear your reasoning anon.

>>5384473
>>Agree to employ the Geologist and his Daughter as free contractors, with privileges beyond the slaves here—maybe more even than the Duerger

>>5384473
>Agree to employ the Geologist and his Daughter as free contractors, with privileges beyond the slaves here—maybe more even than the Duerger
>These two are too cunning and defiant by half—kill them both

Fine with either really

>>5384473
>>5384473
>No, you think you would prefer them as slaves—even if it means you must take some time to break them in before they are useful
It’ll be fun to break them in.

>>5384473
>No, you think you would prefer them as slaves—even if it means you must take some time to break them in before they are useful

>>5384473
>Agree to employ the Geologist and his Daughter as free contractors, with privileges beyond the slaves here
A spitfire, eh?

>>5384473
>Agree to employ the Geologist and his Daughter as free contractors, with privileges beyond the slaves here—maybe more even than the Duerger

we're keeping the old man - he's a genius
even if his daughter is completely worthless he alone is worth keeping her around

>>5384473
>Make them prove themselves—you’re going to be culling the old and feeble anyway, so make the Geologist and Daughter perform a few executions of their kinfolk to prove their willingness to serve. Given their usefulness, they can take a place amongst the Duregar Blooded (with similar perks), if they can prove their loyalty

>No, you think you would prefer them as slaves—even if it means you must take some time to break them in before they are useful

Supporting either of these - we need to maintain our new social order

[Update delayed on account of my body deciding to get super sick very suddenly right at the end of my Friday shift, like a goddamn asshole.]

>>5384927
Get well soon!

>>5384927
Best wishes, QM!

>>5384927
Good luck on your recovery RQM

>>5385001
>>5385217
>>5385294
[Thanks, all! I'll tey to post when I can, but... Just got back frommthe hospital, with a bad case of Covid. Lapsing in and out of consciousness, and pretty delirious.]

>>5385458
Get well, RQM...

>>5385458
Get well, don't take more jabs!

>>5385458
Hey, you focus on you, alright? We can wait, just focus on getting well.

>>5385458
Get well soon, RQM.
It's the reptilians, I tell you. They've caught the wind of this quest and they're trying to stop their dirty lizard secrets from being exposed!
>>5384473
>Make them prove themselves—you’re going to be culling the old and feeble anyway, so make the Geologist and Daughter perform a few executions of their kinfolk to prove their willingness to serve. Given their usefulness, they can take a place amongst the Duregar Blooded (with similar perks), if they can prove their loyalty
From there they can work their way up to a contract of sorts, if they prove useful.

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>>5385548
>>5384896
>>5384742
>>5384663
>>5384610
>>5384601
>>5384570
>>5384547
>>5384508
>>5384479
[Post incoming! May take me a bit longer -- still very out-of-it.]

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>>5386440
>>5386440
You take a moment to think. This arrangement has potential, if you can ‘corrupt’ these two as you did Davor and Karz… But even the Herbalist and Throat-singer remained slaves. What these two are requesting is instant promotion over and above what you have granted any other dwarf unwillingly in your employ.

Still, are they not more valuable this way? Perhaps this can be a good object lesson for the others in why it is better to submit to your rule without the rigmarole of war. Bah, whatever results from this decision is immaterial, a matter for future-you. Right now, you must secure this opportunity before it slips away.

“Very well,” you reply at long last. “You two are free.”

The Pit-Guard’s Apprentice looks uncertain, but unshackles the two of them. The Geologist rises slowly, painstakingly, aided by his Daughter. She glares daggers at you the entire time.

“You remain free ONLY ssso long asss I have no reasson to revoke thisss privilege, and consssign you to the mines… or to the ‘freedom’ of death.”

“Yes,” the Geologist says, nodding as if it makes perfect sense to him. “Of course.”

“You won’t get away with this,” the Daughter hisses.

The Geologist snaps something at her in dwarf-tongue, and she straight up and goes silent. This spitfire of a female, suddenly cowed… Is not an unappealing sight to behold.

Such matters must wait, though. First, there is the culling of the elderly to attend to. Beginning with the most recently-acquired dwarves, you summon those too old or enfeebled to work before you… And their families. You explain to them the sacrifice that these old dwarves are about to make, and why it must be done—to spare and preserve the young.

“I… I see,” says one, slowly lowering to his knees and bowing his head. “If this is how it must be…”
“I will not go quietly!” another bellows, evincing strength of lungs far in excess of the strength which long left his arms and back, judging by his performance. “These hardships are brought on by YOU, you damned skink!”

This dwarf’s head is the first one removed from his body, while his children and grandchildren wail in horror. One by one, the other elders join him. Some rise to fight, but al this proves is that they are indeed well past their physical prime. You force the Duergar to take part, and the Geologist and his Daughter to watch; this is so all involved might see the extent to which dwarves will loyally serve you, and to what extent your brutality can extend when needs must.

The snow outside the fortress is stained deep crimson.

>>5386461

“Now, bring the eldersss of the other fortsss,” you command, eventually, when this orderly carnage is wrought.

“We… Cannot, Superior One.”

You look to the Pit-Guard’s Apprentice, but cringes a little under your scrutiny, but points to the crimson snow—already almost covered by white again.

“A snowstorm is taking place,” he points out, a tad unnecessarily, “and we will not make it there and back with so many elderly dwarves.

You feel an existential dread in the depths of you—that of a cold-blooded animal beset by the cruel vagaries of winter weather. You decide…
>You must hurry, to make it back to the geothermal warmth of the kobolds’ caverns immediately, braving this early stage of the storm
>You will hunker down here, protected by your new fortifications and the dwarven forges’ warmth, until such time as the storm lets up
>You will send the Geologist’s Daughter to bargain with one of the other dwarven corporations for winter provisions—with her father your hostage, to ensure compliance
>Write-in

>>5386464
>You will hunker down here, protected by your new fortifications and the dwarven forges’ warmth, until such time as the storm lets up
>Have the thief shadow one of the Dwarves to learn their mannerisms and their culture, the way they act so that he may impersonate them in the future.

>>5386464
>You will hunker down here, protected by your new fortifications and the dwarven forges’ warmth, until such time as the storm lets up

I mean, the elderly dwarves don't need to make it back

>>5386464
>>You will hunker down here, protected by your new fortifications and the dwarven forges’ warmth, until such time as the storm lets up

>>5386556
Supporting

Also, I still think it’s a mistake to free those two… they should at least have a ‘bodyguard’ who follows them around.

>>5386464
>You must hurry, to make it back to the geothermal warmth of the kobolds’ caverns immediately, braving this early stage of the storm

>>5386464
>You will hunker down here, protected by your new fortifications and the dwarven forges’ warmth, until such time as the storm lets up

Feel better RQM. Don't stress yourself too overmuch with updates man, get some rest.

>>5386464
>>5386556
+1

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>>5386981
>>5386967
>>5386931
>>5386888
>>5386670
>>5386665
>>5386556
“Well, it’s not as if the elderly dwarves need to make it back ALIVE…”

You pause in your musings to clarify to the concerned-looking Apprentice: “I am only considering options.”

After all, you can’t imagine defrosting evidence of a dwarven death-march in the spring would bode well for your low profile among the surface-races. No, your forces to the east will have to make do without you for a time. You and your invasion-force will have to remain where you are for the time being, waiting out the storm. You draw your cloak around yourself, gather up the bodies of the slain elders, and return to the forge-heated interior of the captured keep to notify the others.

The next few days pass relatively uneventfully, all things considered. There are grumblings among the dwarves, especially those not yet ‘broken in’ to your way of life; you and your enforcers put these abortive rebellions down swiftly and brutally, until they stop pursuing these dangerous ideas. This affords you a bit more time to look in on your retinue. In particular, you are curious to see the Throat-singer’s recovery.

“What recovery?” he scoffs, holding up his gnarled, now two-fingers hand with bitter humour. “I don’t know about you lizard-men, but we dwarves don’t grow back fingers.”

This actually gives you an idea, though… One you run by the Novice Fleshweaver later that day.

“Growing the dwarf a new hand?” she repeats, a titch incredulous. “You cannot be serious.”

“And why not?” you ask.

She gestures around at the quarters which have been assigned to her—and to the distinct lack of laboratory therein.

“I have no equipment, no materials… I’m trapped in here with the likes of you, Oh Meatheaded One, and apart from my much MORE important experiments back at our main base of operations.”

“Surely between the two of us, and with the living and dead here, we could accomplish SOMETHING better than what he presently has?”

“Why do you CARE?” the Novice asks pointedly. “It is just a dwarf, after all, and his fingers aren’t necessary to sing.”

“He showed courage in battle, and it is important that the dwarves see that there are rewards for compliance.”

The Novice huff haughtily, but eventually concedes that such a thing is possible, potentially.

>>5387603
“But why not make use of your new not-slave?” she asks.

“The Geologist?” you ask, a little confused.

“The Daughter,” she clarifies. “She is architect and engineer, yes? A prothesis has a lot less potential for dangerous failure. A graft which fails to take could cost the Throat-singer his entire arm.”

It’s a notion which hadn’t occurred to you… But then, a mechanical prosthesis could take longer to produce, and will never have sensation or the same level of control as one woven of flesh. And anyway, she doesn’t seem much inclined to serve you… Or even to suffer you presence longer than she must.

What do you do?
>Help the Novice to replace the Throat-singer’s missing digits with new ones, grown from his flesh or from that of ‘donors’
>Approach the Geologist’s Daughter, to broach better relations and to ask for her aid in this matter
>Ask Karz Throat-singer what he would prefer
>Forget this whole enterprise, and focus on other matters
>Write-in

>>5387604
>>Ask Karz Throat-singer what he would prefer

>>5387604
>Approach the Geologist’s Daughter, to broach better relations and to ask for her aid in this matter
I’m partially curious if she is even capable of such a feat, and a cyborg dwarf is funny as fuck.

>>5387604
>Ask Karz Throat-singer what he would prefer.

>>5387604
>Approach the Geologist’s Daughter, to broach better relations and to ask for her aid in this matter
he's gonna get a cannon arm

>>5387624
Supporting

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>>5387611
>>5387629
>>5387624
>>5387675
>>5387782

You decide to pay a visit to the Geologist’s Daughter… or, perhaps more appropriately, the Engineer? You’re actually a little surprised to hear that a so-called ‘architect-in-the-making’ (as her father called her) is capable of making a workable prosthesis. Your imagination wanders. What wonders or horrors might she construct for your war-effort? Perhaps some sort of… Cannon-arm?

“Absolute nonsense.”

The Engineer’s response, when you find her in her technically-not-a-cell quarters, gives you pause. Her father is presently cataloguing and appraising the ores and elements accessible through this fortification, and going over some of the reports from the other company-towns with the South-Merchant and the Blackmantle Delegate, leaving only the two of you and her technically-not-jailers.

“My Fleshweaver ssugessted otherwisse,” you note.

“And what does that creature know of my work?” the Engineer counters. “If you want a new hand for your Duergar butcher to hold his traitor’s blade, you’ll have to find someone else to do it.”

You aren’t certain, in fairness, but it would be quite unlike the Novice Fleshweaver to send you on a wild goose-chase. There is your usual back-and-forth teasing, and then there’s INEFFICIANCY, which the Novice abhors on principle. Indeed, you see around her quarters various small mechanical apparatuses, albeit mostly small models of mining and construction devices if you are any judge.

By her words and prickly demeanour, you infer that it is more likely that this dwarf is feigning ignorance in this field to avoid helping the Throat-singer, who she views as a race traitor… Or you, who she openly detests as a monster.

Well, you suppose that makes sense.

The question is what to do about it. You cannot force her hand without giving lie to your arrangement—that she and her father are contracted employees, alchemical mercenaries, rather than salves, and likely getting an inferior grade of work from them in the future. Then again, can you really allow her to get away with this sort of brazen undermining of your authority?

What will you do?
>Attempt to reason with her, logically and philosophically [how?]
>Threaten her father’s life, and her own freedom, should she continue this pitiful rebellion
>Go through her father—who seems much more amenable to your will—and get HIM to get HER to do as you ask
>Give up on asking for anything more just now—instead, attempt to build a rapport, and to better understand her
>Let the matter lie—you and the Novice will fleshweave a replacement limb for the Throat-singer instead
>Write-in

>>5388010
>Give up on asking for anything more just now—instead, attempt to build a rapport, and to better understand her
We’ll put Operation Robodwarf on ice until morale improves.

>>5388010
>Let the matter lie—you and the Novice will fleshweave a replacement limb for the Throat-singer instead

>>5388010
>Give up on asking for anything more just now—instead, attempt to build a rapport, and to better understand her

>>5388010
>Go through her father—who seems much more amenable to your will—and get HIM to get HER to do as you ask

If she will not work on the projects we ask - then why does she have freedom?

Freedom comes with responsibilities and duties, he knows that

>>5388010
>>Go through her father—who seems much more amenable to your will—and get HIM to get HER to do as you ask
exactly as >>5388164 says. They are contractors. We employ them. They go to work, or get sacked.

>>5388030
>>5388068
>>5388089
>>5388164
>>5388221
[I have a splitting headache and we have a tie game, so I'll leave this vote open a little longer.]

>>5388477
Hey, take a day or two to get better. It’s not like taking a break is gonna kill anyone.

>>5388477
Yeah, take care QM

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>>5388030
>>5388068
>>5388089
>>5388164
>>5388221
You realize you aren’t getting anywhere with this spitfire of a dwarf. Instead, you pivot to asking the Engineer where her interests and specialties ACTUALLY lie, if not in prosthesis.

“In other words, what good am I to you?” she incisively clarifies.

“That isss the idea of a contractual relationship, yess?”

“You have my father’s expertise at your employ,” the Engineer notes. “Is that not all you require? Am I not here simply as a condition of HIS employment?”

“Do you resssent that?” you ask.

“Do you always answer questions with more questions, lizard?” she snaps.

“Do you?”

She goes silent. You sense you’ve struck a nerve.

“I do not bother with ssmall-talk, becausse I can tell you have no appetite for it,” you say after a time, adjusting your cloak as you prepare to leave. “Nor will I bother asking ssuch pointlesss empty questions as ‘what iss your isssue with me?’ or ‘how are you adjussting to your accomodationsss?’ We both know well what the ccircumstanccess here are. I ssuggesst you take a bit more time to internalissse them, Engineer.”

The dwarf in question seems a bit taken aback by the term of address, but says nothing more until after you have left, and instructed the guard to keep a close eye on her activities lest she do anything foolish. You, meanwhile, seek out her father, the Geologist.

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>>5388955

“Yes, that sounds like Noelle,” agrees her Father, when you relay the gist of this tête-à-tête to him.

He does not look up from the curious monocular spyglass, which he uses for his work. Before him are small flakes, shavings, and broken fragments of various metals and ores. Most of them being samples of iron; by their black colour and curious lustre, you can tell that they are in varying parts orichalcum-alloyed, infused with the bled-out magic of the Red Dragon King who ruled the Bloodrise eons hence.

“If she will not work on the projectss we ask, then by what right does she have freedom?” you demand, perhaps a touch impetuously—at least, that’s how it sounds to your ear, after you say the words.

“Among our people, freedom is considered the default state,” he replies casually, apparently cool-headed even when faced with the implicit threat of his daughter’s enslavement. “It is not regarded as a special privilege, to be earned. We motivate primarily with carrot, not stick.”

“Carrot?” you ask, lost. “What?”

The Geologist pauses in his work for a moment, then returns to it, clarifying: “Steak, then. A reward, not a punishment.”

“Freedom comess with ressponsibilities and dutiess,” you affirm, unwilling to humour this nonsensical ‘advice’ from a being who is VERY NEARLY your slave. “Make her ssee ssenssse.”

The old dwarf unrolls a grubby-looking fabric handkerchief, and gently sets his monocle upon it, then turns his chilly gaze upon you at long last.

“I can be your chief geological alchemist OR I can mind Noelle,” he says, smiling ruefully and perhaps a bit wearily, “but I cannot possibly muster the energy to do both.”

This family is too defiant by half! You begin to question the wisom of their ‘employment’.

“If you will not reward my daughter, challenge her,” the geologist suggests, after a time.

He picks up his monocle and turning away once again, moving to the next set of samples down the line—this time, chips and flecks of red and greyish gemstones.

“She need not like you—Mountain King knows I don’t much care for you or your lot myself, as only makes sense—but that just makes it all the more likely she’ll go above and beyond to prove you wrong.”

The Geologist seems to have little else to offer you in regards to wrangling his uncooperative progeny. He doesn’t dismiss you—even this altogether-too-confident dwarf wouldn’t dare—but you get the distinct feeling he has little else to offer.

What do you do?
>You’ve had enough of this farcical arrangement—punish them both brutally, and enslave them for their hubris
>Offer a reward beyond mere freedom to sweeten the pot, if the Engineer should produce a suitable prosthetic for the Throat-singer
>Attempt to goad the Engineer into action with reverse psychology
>You know, you’ve had some success with SEDUCING cooperation out of female dwarves in the past…
>Write-in

>>5388564
>>5388640
I appreciate it, but I gotta' have something to do.

>>5388957
>You know, you’ve had some success with SEDUCING cooperation out of female dwarves in the past…
Imagine the old man's face if this works

>>5388957
>You know, you’ve had some success with SEDUCING cooperation out of female dwarves in the past…

>>5388957
>Attempt to goad the Engineer into action with reverse psychology

she stands no chance against our SUPERIOR reptilian brainpower

>>5388957
>Attempt to goad the Engineer into action with reverse psychology
>You know, you’ve had some success with SEDUCING cooperation out of female dwarves in the past…
This is going to be hilarious.

>>5388957
>Attempt to goad the Engineer into action with reverse psychology

Please no seducing, please. We're making inroads with the Novice.

>>5388957
>Attempt to goad the Engineer into action with reverse psychology
>You know, you’ve had some success with SEDUCING cooperation out of female dwarves in the past…

Both - she can hate fuck us, haha

>>5389119
Support. I don't want to stick my hemipenises into shortstacks anymore.

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[Vote locked, writing!]

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>>5389579
>>5389270
>>5389263
>>5389119
>>5389032
>>5389029
>>5388978
>>5388970
You indulge yourself in a bit of idle speculation about the possible efficacy of simply seducing compliance out of the uncooperative dwarf, as you did with the Herbalist. She is certainly differently-built, physically and psychologically, but that merely lends the notion a different sort of allure. It is quite… Amusing… To consider at length.

But, no. No. You shake off the haze of lust. What would the Novice Fleshweaver think, to see you in the grip of mammalian hormones again? Did such indulgences end well for you the last time? You see another, far more practical, path forward.

“Engineer,” you greet her.

She grunts, not looking up from the contraption of springs and gears she is fine-tuning with a peculiar little screwdriver-device. AT that moment, she indeed very much resembles her father.

“Heard you coming,” she notes. “Thought lizards were supposed to be stealthy. Must be those silly-ass boots you insist on wearing, huh?”

You ignore the jibe—you’re well-practiced at such, at least, thanks to your youth as the sole member of your age-cohort with hair.

“I jusst came back from an enlightening converssation with your father,” you begin.

The Engineer scoffs, continuing to work.

“Whatever he said, I still do NOT make prosthetics.”

“Cannot.”

Her screwdriver slips, whirring angrily as it spins in open air, under its own power. Fascinating!

“What?” she barks.

“You CANnot make prostheticsss,” you correct her again. “He made me underssstand that what I wass asking wass sssimply beyond your capabilitiesss… That I wass exxpecting too much from you. It wass my misstake.”

The Engineers sets down the screwdriver and trembles as if she’d very much like to lob the unknown contraption in her other hand at you.

“Father did NOT say that,” she asserts.

“Oh, maybe not in sso many wordsss,” you say with a shrug. “I underssstood, though.”

You turn to leave.

“W-wait!”

You pause, and try not to give away your smug satisfaction.

“Send your little toady down here, lizard. You’ll see what my ‘capabilities’ are!”

Over the next few days, the Throat-singer spends much of his time down in the not-exactly-dungeon with the Engineer. She apparently requires the access to his afflicted hand and arm not just for measurements, but to get a sense for the level of INTERNAL damage he has suffered, and to gauge the extent to which it has affected his grip strength and dexterity with his remaining digits. To your amusement, the beardless dwarf-male has clearly never spent so long in the extremely close physical proximity to a young female of his species which this process requires; he is ruby-red upon your visits to observe the proceedings.

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>>5389609
“And how is the new limb, Throat-sssinger?” you ask him one day, during his meditations with you, when the limb seems all but complete.

Karz pauses in his signature musical stylings, and hesitatingly holds his gauntlet-like metal hand aloft. A few of the inner mechanisms are not yet fully-encased, so that you can see the piston-tendons of this false-limb—really more of a cast over the existing, mostly-intact arm-and-hand, you suppose—shift in response to a flex of his muscles. His fake fingers close and clench, forming a fist as swiftly and nearly as naturally as his flesh-and-blood ones.

“That’s all they do,” he admits. “No picking up an instrument for me…”

He looks a little perturbed for a moment, and so you ask: “The Engineer’sss work iss… Unsssatisfactory, then?”

“Wh-no! No! Noelle’s work is excellent.”

“Noelle, isss it? On a firssst name basssiss?” you tease, eliciting a scarlet blush from your bard.

“It’s just…” he pauses. “It’s only, somatic components are important to magic, right? How am I meant to learn and cast more complex spells like… Like this?”

Hm. Well, that IS something to consider. You suppose you’d do better to avoid losing any limbs until the field of medical prosthesis advances a little further! But how to assuage the Throat-singer’s concerns?
>He needn’t worry—he knows all the magic you planned to teach him, anyway
>You’re actually left-handed yourself—you can teach him one of your spells, as you cats it [which one?]
>Encourage him to focus upon the path of the bard—they cast with music, rather than through gestures and key-words, and he’s already well-suited to such
>Instruct the Throat-singer and Engineer to continue meeting until she can improve the prosthesis to the extent that it allows one to cast
>Write-in

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>>5389612
Karz Throat-singer’s new mechanical augmentation does not go unnoticed among your other retinue-members, either. In particular, the South-Merchant is enamoured with it.

“There are many slaves injured in our mining operations or from the battles who we had planned to execute,” he notes, “but with this, we could make them productive again!”

“Waste these wonders? On SLAVES?” the Pit-Guard’s Apprentice scoffs. “We’ll still need to feed them through these damned surface ‘winters’, and now we also will make them new arms and hands from materials we could be using for weapons and armour?”

“We have enough raw materials for both,” the Thief notes.

“But only one Engineer,” the South-Merchant jumps back in.

“All the more reason she should be made to focus on more useful matters!” the Pit-Guard’s Apprentice protests.

“Such as… Weapons and armour?” asks the South-Merchant, with a certain condescending skepticism that makes the young Steeltalon halt. “Anyone who can forge can do this. We have other dwarves for such tasks.”

“Well… Hers would obviously be BETTER. Just look at this grub’s fingers! Show them, do the thing!”

The Pit-Guard’s Apprentice grabs hold of the Throat-Singer and dangles him by his augmented limb. Without understanding the conversation, which is held in True Speech, the dwarf understands what is expected of him. With a bitter grimace, he clenches and unclenches to metal fist.

What do you make of all this? How should the Engineer’s efforts be focused?
>Prostheses for injured labourers—and warriors—are actually a very good idea
>Military force multipliers are always welcome, and you think you see some potential in the ideas of the Apprentice
>Her specialty seems to mining and constructions technologies… Maybe you should ask her (or her father) where she would best be of use?
>Write-in

>>5389612
>Tell him you plan on regenerating his limb fully, when facilities are available- this is only a holdover, temporary measure

>>5389613
>Her specialty seems to mining and constructions technologies… Maybe you should ask her (or her father) where she would best be of use? Perhaps in defensive fortifications or the manufacture of siege weapons.

>>5389613
>Encourage him to focus upon the path of the bard—they cast with music, rather than through gestures and key-words, and he’s already well-suited to such

>Her specialty seems to mining and constructions technologies… Maybe you should ask her (or her father) where she would best be of use?

>>5389612
>Encourage him to focus upon the path of the bard—they cast with music, rather than through gestures and key-words, and he’s already well-suited to such

>Her specialty seems to mining and constructions technologies… Maybe you should ask her (or her father) where she would best be of use?
definitely giving prosthetics out to everyone is going to be a full time job for her, and she wouldn't even get through a significant number most likely

>>5389624
Supporting

>>5389612
>You’re actually left-handed yourself—you can teach him one of your spells, as you cats it [Danger Sense, Wall of Stone]
>Encourage him to focus upon the path of the bard—they cast with music, rather than through gestures and key-words, and he’s already well-suited to such

>>5389613
>Her specialty seems to mining and constructions technologies… Maybe you should ask her (or her father) where she would best be of use?

>>5389844
+1

He should at least learn Danger Sense.

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>>5389844
>>5389759
>>5389642
>>5389624
>>5389616
>>5389614
>>5389980

You give some thought to these two issues, and decide to first address the Throat-singer’s more personal one, which seems the more straight-forward:

“Jussst sstudy the bardic artsss,” you suggest. “Paeriss… An Infiltrator who sserved me… He played an inssstrument, eyss, but hiss magic, ass with yoursss, ssemed to make little use of hiss ahndsss beyond that. Your insstrument iss your voice, sso perhapss handss will prove unnecccesssary?”

The Throat-singer nods slowly, then asks: “And this Paeris… He can teach me how to get better at bardic magic?”

You shake your head.

“He perished,” you explain, “when we captured your former home.”

The Throat-singer stares at you with confusion, slowly morphing to a silent frustration as he realizes what you have also come to understand: this solution to his new physical challenge is, in fact, a second and different challenge. How is he to grow in skill as a bard with no instructor or aid?

You’re no bard, and even your command of more somatic spellcraft is that of a skilled amateur, buoyed mainly by a surprising native skill and by rote practice of forms and theories from manuals and Novice-taught lessons—not by actual studied expertise. He does not raise his voice in protest or complaint as you finish the daily meditation session, but he does not attend your later magic-lesson with the Novice, and you do not force the issue. You feel your youthful inexperience in that moment.

Turning your attention from this matter, you focus upon the Geologist and Engineer once more. Specifically, through wheedling and roundabout conversation, you hope to uncover exactly how the latter could best be of use to you. Militarizing her aptitudes is still first and foremost at the fore of your mind—if no arm-cannons are forthcoming, perhaps then siege weaponry?—but you will settle for major advances in resource extraction and underground construction, in a pinch.

Now that you know how to manage the Engineer, the entire process is easier than your first attempt to thus finagle results from her.

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>>5389984
“You did good work on the Throat-singer’sss hand,” you acknowledge, on your next visit to her.

“Of course,” the Engineer snorts.

“I thought it perhapsss bessst to focuss your effortsss on prostheticsss, moving forward,” you lie.

She looks up at you sharply, but you play it cool.

“Many warriorsss and workersss lose limbsss, after all.”

“That is NOT my specialty,” she snaps, “and do you have any idea how much TIME that would take, to fit every single invalid your warmongering and reckless misuse of dwarven labour produces?”

You shrug expansively.

“Ssince there iss nothing that can be done to reduccce the hazardsss… What elsse am I to do?”

She glowers darkly, and rolls up the papers she had been scribbling upon. Instead, she unrolls a fresh sheet of paper and take out a collapsible ruler of some description, beginning to trace a neat, geometric grid over which to begin new plans.

“Well?” she demands of you, when she sees you’re still there. “Leave me be, tyrant. I’ll solve your ‘unsolvable problem’, if it means I don’t need to play nursemaid for your slaves every waking hour.”

“How?” you ask, genuinely curious and even a little excited.

“With a big enough lever—and some hinges, maybe a rudimentary pulley system—I will move this whole bloody mountain range, and without nearly so many cave-ins or wall-collapses. I draw the line at helping you kill more dwarves, but I’ll gladly prevent you mangling the poor sods you’ve already imprisoned in this hell. Give me time, and you’ll be digging twice as deep in half the time, and with only half as many injuries.”

Her father had suggested a boring-and-extraction apparatus was well within her technical purview. So too had he volunteered her specialty—structural reinforcement of stacked tunnel systems with a minimum of timber. You’re glad to see it wasn’t all empty paternal pride.

As the blizzard begins to abate, the Geologist also volunteers something else: the preliminary results of his appraisal of your territory’s mineral resources, compiled from his sample-analyses, the scant survey reports which you were able to retrieve undamaged, and your ancient historical maps, as well as discussion with the Blackmantle Delegate and South-Merchant.

The short version is the version you best understand. It is as follows:

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>>5389985
The first company-town, the one which you collapses with an Earth Tremor and now have unfettered ownership of, is atop the richest reserve of orichalcum, which is easily the most valuable resources in thee mountains. There are smaller veins of iron and copper there as well, and lead, with small clusters of gems; some of those gems, too, may be host of magical energies seeped into the ground from ancient wars and dying dragons, though their tendency is to explode if overcharged with such raw and untamed powers.

The second fortification has some deposits of similar composition, though far less of the most-valuable, fully-impregnated orichalcum, instead having a larger abundance of partly-tainted iron and copper, and a richer array of other, more common resources, such as clay. It is also the only area of your holdings at all suitable for surface agriculture, and the best served a trading-post for logistical purpose, being situated in a wide river-valley, shielded from extreme winds and unlikely to be completely blocked by a wayward rockslide. This is, after all, why the Blackmantle Corporation was using it for such purposes.

The third settlement, where you currently shelter-in-place against the dithering, dying snowstorm, is actually the richest in terms of sheer mineral deposits… Or, rather, the Geologist hypothesizes it to be so, based on location relative to the others, soil-types, and preliminary surveys, but very little of it is magical. Many gems, gold and silver veins of considerable value, but little orichalcum.

“Probably a mite more gold and silver sprawling out from here, too, underneath the holdings of the other corporations,” the Geologists surmises, running hi fingers through his beard in an idle bit of ape-like personal grooming that draws mocking rattles of laughter from the Reptilians in attendance.

You consider all this information, trying not to feel the pang of stifled greed at knowing you relinquished the silver and gold of this outpost to the Drow. There is more to be seized beyond this territory, after all!

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>>5389987
…But then, speaking of the Drow, there are also other matters to be organized with the dark elves. You have been hunkered down here for weeks now, following your conquest of the place, and this has been the first break in the damnable white hell outside. Maybe it is time to return to yoru holdings in the kobold’s caverns, and perhaps to reach out diplomatically to the Queen of Elves?

If you are not to risk being entrapped here for the remainder of this icy season, you’ll certainly need to do SOMETHING… And you can ill afford inaction, with food stores here running low.

How will you prioritize your Geologist’s and miners’ efforts?
>Tradeable wealth acquisition—you will need to trade for food and furs to avoid famine or freezing in the future, be it with Drow or surfacers, and you’ll need boring-but-practical resources for this
>Exotic and magical materials—these will be the backbone of your glorious Dark Empire in Bloodrise, and prove the absolute value of this enterprise to the Serpent priesthood, so you should focus on acquiring and making sue of the first and foremost!
>Expand the underground living space in your existing holdings, and built up their fortifications on the surface for maximum defence—against Dwarves or any Green Knights who might come calling
>Write-in

Where will you and your forces go next?
>Continue the expansion! Scout the remaining Dwarven corporations in Bloodrise, and plan your next move against them
>Return home to check in on affairs at your main base, and begin preparation for your diplomatic envoy to the dark elves, and to see what has come of the Bogbarri matter—anything to escape this alpine winter!
>Travel down into the agricultural lands below, and seek resources to shore up your larder and wardrobes—be it by raid or by trade
>Write-in

>>5389989
>Expand the underground living space in your existing holdings, and built up their fortifications on the surface for maximum defence—against Dwarves or any Green Knights who might come calling

Secure it first

>Return home to check in on affairs at your main base, and begin preparation for your diplomatic envoy to the dark elves, and to see what has come of the Bogbarri matter—anything to escape this alpine winter!

Hopefully the Bogbarri are on the way to the Drow, that way we can deal with them and then go see the queen in short succession.

>>5389989
>Tradeable wealth acquisition—you will need to trade for food and furs to avoid famine or freezing in the future, be it with Drow or surfacers, and you’ll need boring-but-practical resources for this

This is even more basic than defences - food and warmth

>Return home to check in on affairs at your main base, and begin preparation for your diplomatic envoy to the dark elves, and to see what has come of the Bogbarri matter—anything to escape this alpine winter!

Make sure the Novice and two freed dwarves accompany us

>>5389989
>>Expand the underground living space in your existing holdings, and built up their fortifications on the surface for maximum defence—against Dwarves or any Green Knights who might come calling

>Return home to check in on affairs at your main base, and begin preparation for your diplomatic envoy to the dark elves, and to see what has come of the Bogbarri matter—anything to escape this alpine winter!

>>5389989
>Exotic and magical materials—these will be the backbone of your glorious Dark Empire in Bloodrise, and prove the absolute value of this enterprise to the Serpent priesthood, so you should focus on acquiring and making sue of the first and foremost!
>Travel down into the agricultural lands below, and seek resources to shore up your larder and wardrobes—be it by raid or by trade

>>5389989

>Tradeable wealth acquisition—you will need to trade for food and furs to avoid famine or freezing in the future, be it with Drow or surfacers, and you’ll need boring-but-practical resources for this

starvation is no fun

>Travel down into the agricultural lands below, and seek resources to shore up your larder and wardrobes—be it by raid or by trade

all the food
we farmers now

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>>5390449
>>5390321
>>5390135
>>5390092
>>5390036
[I'm gonna' have a shower and some coffee while I wait to see if this tie will be resolved; otherwise, I'll handle it.]

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>>5390549
>>5390449
>>5390321
>>5390135
>>5390092
>>5390036
You swaddle yourself and your ectothermic companions in as much fabric as you can collect from the dwarves and their supplies without leaving your Drow allies’ captive workforce utterly nude and unprotected themselves. It does less good for most of your kind than for the mammals, anyway, serving only to slow heat exchange with the environment; apart from yourself, thanks to your internal store of ancestral dragonfire, the amount of body-heat your fellows produce and could retain is negligible.

The snow has died down, but not entirely ceased its descent. The sky is turbulent and grey, and drifts of the accursed ice-particles partly fill the harsh crags and crevices of the Bloodrise. You leave at sunrise, finding the sheets of pristine white painted with a warm red that, while somehow psychologically-comforting, fails to reverse the chill deep in your bones. You endeavour to hurry home with your train of looted materials and your new servants and contractors… But the sheer depth of the snow, and lack of appropriate footwear, makes it slow-going. Worse, it’s treacherous—the snow hides many natural hazards of mountain-life from your eyes, and without familiar visual markers, the course you chart is difficult even with your recent journey here and the Cartographer’s aid. Only your <Danger Sense> and <Guidance> see you and your company through to the relative warmth and safety of the kobold caverns, and even then only after a soggy and frigid week. You deplete much of your rations and find your teeth chattering, your body numb, and your stomach knotted with hunger.

You think you’ve had enough of this ‘winter’.

You retreat to the depths of your mountain-home to rest, warm yourself by the geothermal vents, and to issue your marching-orders for the enterprise. When your mind clears, you again consider the Geologist’s report. In light of your recent death-march (and the sadly-spartan conditions to which you returns, relative warmth aside), you think some trade is of vital necessity. You need fabrics, furs, food… Enough to ensure you are shielded against these seasonal vagaries next year! But then… With enemies on every side, and the Green Knight ever hovering at the periphery of your thoughts, you know that annual frosts are not the ONLY thing you need to shield yourself against. You order the extraction of as many gems and as much mundane ore as possible from beneath the collapsed company-town, and for each mine thus hollowed out to be expanded, fortified, and insulated to serve as barracks and living-quarters. On the surface, you command the construction of a keep—better-situated and more sturdily-built, to avoid the fate which befell the original at your own hands.

(The Engineer grumbles something about ‘micro-management’, but begins hastily adjusting her designs.)

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>>5390688
This having all be settled, you hear the reports of the Bastard, the Hunter, and the Pit-Guard, as to how things have proceeded in your absence.

“Still no hide nor hair of that Bugbear Boss,” the Dragonborn confirms. “Several of the kobolds’ traps have been triggered, though we have not lost another worker to predations, nor have we captured a bugbear.”

“My hunters loosed arrows upon several of the loping apes in the dark,” the Hunter notes, having completed his own debrief of his personal fellowship. “According to them, they struck true repeatedly… But the bugbears didn’t even flinch. They took the arrows in like pincushions, and kept moving just the same, as if nothing happened… Though they did retreat.”

“It sounds like your warriors missed their mark and wish to save face,” the Pit-Guard scoffs. “Or maybe they jumped at shadows?”

The Hunter glowers darkly, and shakes his head. “My hunters are better trained than that… And they ARE missing arrows, while I spied none lying upon the tunnel floors where they say they fought the monsters off, as you’d expect if they’d shot at nothing, or missed.”

Troubling news… But then, everything else seems to be running smoothly, according to the bastard and Pit-Guard. The cavern’s living-space grows, with more and more of the well-hewn, ancient ruins opening up to habitation and study every day. Progress may slow somewhat as you focus upon matters of defence and resource extraction, but that just means less chance for direct conflict with this… Unsettling new breed of Bogbarri. But what has become of these creatures, and why do they attack you after all the diplomatic progress you earlier made? And where is their fearsome Boss?

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>>5390689
You also received word from the Drow. It is another invitation, this time to some sort of ‘winter solstice festival’—a formal affair tied to the dark elves’ obsession with seasonal changes. They seem to be a few months off, by the judge of the weather outside and your own, superior Reptilian star-charts… But after centuries or even millennia belowground, you suppose some temporal drift makes sense.

“The messenger communicated that there was some urgency to this matter as well,” the Bastard notes, a touch uncertain. “He… She… The elf… They were unclear as to why. They only said that the one they call ‘Jazkarkmel’ said you would probably find it ‘politically and personally’ important to visit soon, to ‘best honour the feminine’.”

…Whatever that means. It isn’t like the elf leader to be so cryptic. Odd.

What do you do?
>The matter of bugbear hostility can be postponed no longer—you must put an end to these probing attacks, and demand an explanation and recompense from the Bogbarri Boss
>This dark elf festival sounds very officious, and urgent (apparently?)… And you DO need to forge a proper alliance and trade deal to secure your place here… So you’ll attend to this first
>You’ve traveled enough—forget the Drow and the Bogbarri both, you’re staying home where it’s cozy and attending to domestic matters! Send hunters and diplomats to handle the other races in your stead
>Write-in

>>5390691
>This dark elf festival sounds very officious, and urgent (apparently?)… And you DO need to forge a proper alliance and trade deal to secure your place here… So you’ll attend to this first

>>5390691
>>This dark elf festival sounds very officious, and urgent (apparently?)… And you DO need to forge a proper alliance and trade deal to secure your place here… So you’ll attend to this first

>>5390691
>This dark elf festival sounds very officious, and urgent (apparently?)… And you DO need to forge a proper alliance and trade deal to secure your place here… So you’ll attend to this first

>>5390691
>This dark elf festival sounds very officious, and urgent (apparently?)… And you DO need to forge a proper alliance and trade deal to secure your place here… So you’ll attend to this first

Make sure we take a retinue with us. A few academic and combat members of the Master Race and maybe some knobs

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>>5390834
>>5390780
>>5390738
>>5390702
The Drow’s invitation strikes you as the more time-sensitive matter. After all, you are no longer losing minions nor materials to this bugbear banditry, and you have not required their aid for either of your most recent conquests. What matter, then, are they? Oh, they’ll probably request redress at SOME point, but the dark elves are the more pressing allies to secure.

The next week is spent in preparation for the journey ahead, and the diplomatic rigors which await you at journey’s end. You take some time to secure some glow-worm silk, and it joins the extracted gems, plundered gold and silver, and ore samples from your mines. You gather some of your most up-to-date maps and star-charts, should discussions turn to matters of warfare and borders or religion and divination—whatever comes, you will not be found empty-handed!

But speaking of that which your hands possess, and which you might bring to bear… There is the sword. Your trusty moon-blade, ancient elven sabre, found in the gullet of the Devourer—terror of the subterranean realm of the Drow, inherited from one of their ancestor-gods (or, at least, modeled upon a blade which was said to have been divine) and hewn from an untarnished white stone which radiates with an awesome power when held aloft and charged with lunar light… or that of your <Moonblast>.

It is a blade fit for a king, yes… But perhaps also for a queen? You have held it for many months now, since you seized it as a trophy of your victory, but you know it will attract attention and provoke conversation if you wear it upon your hip when you meet this ‘Queen Myrymma’.

What will you do?
>Wear it proudly and openly—let the Elf-Queen see your victorious splendour and recognizable reptile supremacy!
>Bring it—but intended as a gift, tribute to secure her lasting alliance and that of her people, and to demonstrate and forever symbolize Reptilian generosity and patronage of her house
>Bind it tightly in glow-worm silk, and use your other, less-mystical elven sword to settle any disputes which arise for now
>Leave it behind, in trusted hands—why risk a diplomatic incident, OR your favourite sword, by courting controversy?
>Write-in

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>>5390921
And what of your retinue? You surely won’t be traveling alone, but as your holdings grow and the stock of servants swell, each of your trusted and loyal companions grows ever busier with other duties. The bastard manages your kobolds; the pit-Guard is slave-driver for the dwarves and chief lieutenant, the Thief organizes your communications network, the Hunter and his forces patrol your borders. Oluwadamilare, the Degenerate Archer, seems an obvious choice—he has been lover to ‘Princess’ Jazkarmel and is well-respected among her company of dark elves. The Elf Specialist already awaits you there, busy preaching and counseling faith among your elven converts to the True Faith. But who else will you bring?

>The Throat-singer—elves teach bardic music, and he needs a tutor…
>The Cartographer—to better interpret his maps, and the ensure the journey there and back goes as swiftly and smoothly as possible
>Agno the Kobold—aggressive and bold penal-slave, still recovering from the most recent battle but reliable in a fight
>Ivno the Kobold—quiet, cautious, methodical, competent, but not too assertive or opinionated
>The Thief—he can leave someone else in charge of soft-power for a time, for you need his Mask of Many Faces and aptitude for impersonation and infiltration
>The Hunter—if things get dicey, you want your best warrior on hand
>The South-Merchant—others can oversee ledgers and inventories for a time, for you would have his keen mercantile mind and strong instincts at your call
>The Novice Fleshweaver—though she will lament being pulled away from her experiments and studies, you think you would quite like to bring her to a ‘ball’
>Write-in

>>5390921
>Bring it—but intended as a gift, tribute to secure her lasting alliance and that of her people, and to demonstrate and forever symbolize Reptilian generosity and patronage of her house

>The Throat-singer—elves teach bardic music, and he needs a tutor…
>The Novice Fleshweaver—though she will lament being pulled away from her experiments and studies, you think you would quite like to bring her to a ‘ball’
>Oluwadamilare
>The Hunter—if things get dicey, you want your best warrior on hand

>>5390924
>The Thief—he can leave someone else in charge of soft-power for a time, for you need his Mask of Many Faces and aptitude for impersonation and infiltration
>The Novice Fleshweaver—though she will lament being pulled away from her experiments and studies, you think you would quite like to bring her to a ‘ball’

>>5390921
>Bind it tightly in glow-worm silk, and use your other, less-mystical elven sword to settle any disputes which arise for now
I’m not giving up our nat 100 sword.

>>5390924
>The Throat-singer—elves teach bardic music, and he needs a tutor…
>The Cartographer—to better interpret his maps, and the ensure the journey there and back goes as swiftly and smoothly as possible
>Ivno the Kobold—quiet, cautious, methodical, competent, but not too assertive or opinionated
>The Thief—he can leave someone else in charge of soft-power for a time, for you need his Mask of Many Faces and aptitude for impersonation and infiltration
>The South-Merchant—others can oversee ledgers and inventories for a time, for you would have his keen mercantile mind and strong instincts at your call

>>5390921
>Leave it behind, in trusted hands—why risk a diplomatic incident, OR your favourite sword, by courting controversy?

>The Throat-singer—elves teach bardic music, and he needs a tutor…
>The Cartographer—to better interpret his maps, and the ensure the journey there and back goes as swiftly and smoothly as possible
>The Novice Fleshweaver—though she will lament being pulled away from her experiments and studies, you think you would quite like to bring her to a ‘ball’

>>5390998
[You forgot a part of the vote, anon!]

>>5390924
>>Bind it tightly in glow-worm silk, and use your other, less-mystical elven sword to settle any disputes which arise for now

>The Throat-singer—elves teach bardic music, and he needs a tutor…
>The South-Merchant—others can oversee ledgers and inventories for a time, for you would have his keen mercantile mind and strong instincts at your call
>The Novice Fleshweaver—though she will lament being pulled away from her experiments and studies, you think you would quite like to bring her to a ‘ball’
>The novice Junior. He packs muscles.


I don't want to take the Hunter. Else boogbariman will haunt the dreams of everybody

>>5390924

>>Bind it tightly in glow-worm silk, and use your other, less-mystical elven sword to settle any disputes which arise for now

>The Throat-singer—elves teach bardic music, and he needs a tutor…
>Agno the Kobold—aggressive and bold penal-slave, still recovering from the most recent battle but reliable in a fight
>Ivno the Kobold—quiet, cautious, methodical, competent, but not too assertive or opinionated
>The Novice Fleshweaver—though she will lament being pulled away from her experiments and studies, you think you would quite like to bring her to a ‘ball’
>The novice Junior. He packs muscles