>>5840564

> Squids in a swamp

>>5840564
Dark Elf
Forest

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>5840568
>>5840588
>>5840591

1 - dwarf desert
2 - squid swamp
3 - dark elf forest

File: squidmen.png (91 KB, 260x360)

91 KB PNG

>>5840588
>>5840591
>>5840594


You are the Nyarls, the squid people. You live in the swamp of Ankh. Your ancestors came from the sea many years ago and found this saltwater swamp and settled here. Although you may walk around in dry land it is unconfortable for you and if you stay longer than a week out of water you will just die of dehydration. You live off the land, mostly fishing, tending to your fisheries, and occasionally hunting small animals.

The swamp is not without dangers though!

Humans come to the swamp in search of herbs and coal and stablish temporary settlements. If you don't bother them, they don't bother you, but they are known for taking revenge if you attack them.

Orcs come to the swamp much for the same reasons and also to fish. They seem to think our people are a delicacy and won't hesitate to attack us, seemingly out of a desire to eat us. They can be scared away easily with even modest token resistance though.

Halflings have several small settlements in the hills on the outskirts of the swamp. They are afraid of entering the swamp and are rarely seem within this region, but occasionally they come gather herbs here as well when someone in their villages get sick.

A small demon cult hides in the swamp. They have a rock temple deep in the swamp which is their base of operation. Their deity is called Asoy, and they sacrifice sentient beings to it. They are not interested in us as sacrifice because we are not warm blooded, apparently their god doesn't care about cold blooded beings as sacrifice. As such, they treat us warmly and welcome us as friends in their settlement. They have a underground network of smugglers and slavers and can acquire goods from distant lands if we need, but the only payment they accept is slaves from warm blooded races for sacrifice.

Over the years we acquired a boon which helps our civilization:
> Underground cave: we found a large flooded cave underground where we can make our nest. The place is largely unaccessible unles you can swim for a long time and it keeps our babies safe.
> Herbology: after seeing so many people coming after the herbs we decided to study them. We now have a deep knowledge of the swamp herbs, and we can use them to heal and to poison.
> Giant Squid: we've been feeding a specially bred giant squid for quite some time now, it is really huge and could cause imense havoc.
> Shamanism of the Deep: we've kept our shamanic traditions from the ocean and our shamans are able to manipulate water to do their bidding, to attack, defend and take any shapes they want. The can pursue further research and teach the new generations their magical arts.
> Write in

>>5840616
>Shamanism of the Deep

>>5840659


We have kept our traditions of Shamanism of the Deep! Our shamans pass on the lore we picked up from our sea ancestors. The youth grows up with an intense longing of one day seeing the sea in all its glory.

We could have kept living our life as usual, were it not for the dream of the Chief.

He woke up one morning and told the shaman he dreamed of forests burning, fortifications of stone being built in a hurry, big machines and other instruments of war. He dreamed of a big army marching and monstrous bipedal creatures slaughtering the squid people!

Now, squids are a paranoid bunch. They excel at staying out of sight, changing color at will. Being ambush predators, the squids are not strange to waiting for a long time for their foes to fall into specially prepared traps.

But for that, they need to prepare!

> Send scouts into the dry lands, we must know what dangers lurk there
> Ask our friends the Asoy Worshippers what they know of any looming wars
> If the enemy will build war machines we will build them as well, start research on siege machines
> We should just hide in plain sight and sit this one out, hide all signs of our presence in the swamp
> Write in

>>5840665
>Write in
>We should master the arts of water manipulation
If we are weak in dry land while a potential enemy is strong there, the solution would be to make it wetter

>>5840665
> We should just hide in plain sight and sit this one out, hide all signs of our presence in the swamp

Pick up the broken pieces after. We can gain without loss

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5840732
>>5840738

1 - master water
2- hide in plain sight

>>5840732
>>5840738
>>5840844


We decide to hide in plain sight. We reduce our presence in the swamp to the minimum possible and make as many of our structures underwater as we can. The work takes quite some time, but when it is done, we are pretty well hidden amidst the murky waters.

Then the waiting game begins!

The signs of war arrive soon enough. Columns of smoke can be seen in the horizon, and soon large groups of creatures show up in the swamp. They don't look like the other beings we saw before.

They are just walking skeletons! It is the work of dark magic!

They set up a small settlement nearby and collect large amounts of resources from the swamp, carrying it away north. They aren't particularly strong or fast but they seem to never tire, working day and night.

Our scouts catch sight one day of a large caravan of halfling refugees crossing the swamp towards the west.

One night one of our scouts report catching sight of a young human female arriving at the skeleton camp. She issues orders to the skeletons and they follow it. They started building what seems to be a big tower in the outskirts of the swamp. Seems like they are planning to have a more permanent presence in the area.

That will not do.

> Attack the skeleton camp
> Kidnap the female necromancer
> Assassinate the female necromancer
> Keep laying low, they will leave eventually
> Write in

>>5840858
> Assassinate the female necromancer

>>5840858
> Kidnap the female necromancer

Seems like trouble to me, I wonder if the demon worshippers will gie us more stuff for a necromancer

>>5840858
>Assassinate the female necromancer
Top dangerous to be allowed to live

Rolled 83, 71 = 154 (2d100)

>>5840871
>>5840899
>>5840904


Realizing the necromancer is too dangerous to be allowed to live, you dispatch your best hunters to assassinate her!

They skulk about and stalk her for several days, looking for an opening, a moment of vulnerability.

One night she just wanders alone into the swamp and our warriors find the chance they were waiting for! They attack the necromancer!

"Foul beasts! You shall not best me!", she says, starting to hurl spells at our squids!

If you beat my highest roll, you assassinate the necromancer!
If you don't beat my highest roll, she manages to escape!

> Defensive stance - you will have few losses. Roll 2d100
> Aggressive stance - you will have many losses. Roll 3d100
> Full attack - you are in for an all or nothing. Roll 4d100

Rolled 24, 84, 97, 68 = 273 (4d100)

>>5841304
>Full attack

>>5841312


After a hard fought battle where a good chuck of your warriors perished to the powerful spells of the necromancer, one of them finally managed to land a killing blow on her after his fallen brethen had weakened her enough and drained her of her most powerful spells!

The survivors grab the corpses and carry them back home, including the dead body of the necromancer.

From it, we pillage a weird armor, seemingly made of bone, now cracked on many spots from the blows of our warriors; a book with incomprehensible drawings and scribblings, that was chained to her armor; and her staff with a skull whose eye sockets were adorned with two black gems.

With a little luck, their faction won't ever know what even happened to the necromancer.

Your scouts monitor the situation for a few days. Most of the skeletons just stay still doing nothing, a few of them keep piling up stuff into a hugh stockpile. Seems like they either follow their last command if it was simple enough, or if they were following complex instructions and the command link is broken they just do nothing. These skeletons seem to be rather simple creatures.

The elders of the tribe ponder whethet the faction that sent this necromancer won't send another later to check what is going on.

"If they do send someone, we'll deal with it."

Seems to be the best plan. But what do we do about all these skeletons?

> Destroy all the skeletons, shouldn't be too difficult
> Leave the skeletons there, they are harmless on their own
> Have our sages study the book and staff of the necromancer and attempt to control the skeletons
> Contact the demon worshippers and ask them if they can deal with these skeletons
> Write in

File: necro captain.jpg (63 KB, 1152x648)

63 KB JPG

>>5841327
>Have our sages study the book and staff of the necromancer and attempt to control the skeletons

Surely the skeletons are harmless without their master. At best, maybe other factions will try to fight the skellies themselves.
But I think we need to up our assasination game here. The necromancer should have died without knowing what hit her
> Focus on training stealth. Have someone be dedicated assasins

>>5841327
> Contact the demon worshippers and ask them if they can deal with these skeletons
and supporting
> Focus on training stealth. Have someone be dedicated assassins

>>5841794
>>5841699
>>5841543


After having endured significant losses in the battle against the necromancer, we decided it is time we train a dedicated force of assassins to carry out necessary missions. Amongst our most cunning hunters and scouts an elite force is chosen and they train day and night to become more lethal.

The weapon of choice of our assassins are a multitude of shivs with which they strike with their several limbs at vulnerable spots of their target.

Some of our sages display a keen interest in the necromancer's looted items. However, it is beyond their grasp to translate the contents of the book - all but a handful of words that are repeated a lot you can more or less infer the meaning by the context are completely unintelligible.

The staff is also a source of wonder and amazement. Its length is adorned with inscriptions equally mysterious.

Having had little success, we decide to contact the demon worshippers.

"Good neighbours, do you know what language is this? There are some skeletons around this area, maybe you could deal with them."

"By Asoy! It's the Shadow Tongue! The ancient language of the Fell Beings! You're dealing with powerful dark magic here!"

"Can you translate it?"

"Sure, but it would take a long time. I'm not fluent in this language, very few people are."

> Sell the book to the demon worshippers
> Leave the book with the demon worshippers to be translated
> Leave some sages with the demon worshippers translating the book
> Our secrets are our own, we will keep the book
> Write in

>>5841998
> Sell the book to the demon worshippers

>>5841998
>Sell the book to the demon worshippers

>>5841998
> Sell the book to the demon worshippers
Whatchu got, homies?

>>5842029
>>5842307
>>5842310


"We are willing to part with this tome for some compensation!"

"Very well, peruse our stores to see what catches your fancy."

They offer you a choice betwen:

> A chest full of bronze daggers, a step up from our flint shivs
> A wagon fitted with a metal cage that opens from above, which could be filled with water
> A vial of vampiric blood, which grants supernatural strength and agility for a month once drank
> Write in

>>5843014
> A chest full of bronze daggers, a step up from our flint shivs

>>5843078


We exchange the grimoire for a chest full of bronze daggers!

Before we leave, the Asoy cultists tell us this information:

"The orcs are coming from the north in large numbers, with powerful siege engines, seeking to destroy the walls of the cities of men! They may have little business in a swamp like ours, but it is always good to remain vigilant."

You thank them for the information and depart.

Upon seeing the daggers, our warriors are glad we thought of them in our diplomatic dealings!

Our scouts report seeing a group of adventurers skulking about the swamp. They don't look very powerful, not employing magic to traverse the waters, rather just testing the waters with long sticks and crossing the flooded paths in small dugouts they carried with them.

The group is composed of six adventurers and seems to be led by a lizardman familiar with swamps. There are a couple magic users and the rest of the group is a variety of warriors. When they camp, they keep at least one person on watch at all times.

Our assassins believe we could kill them all, although not without some losses.

Our sages believe they are headed towards the temple where the cultists hide. The cultists must have kidnapped the wrong person and now they're in trouble.

> Their trouble is their own, ignore the adventurers
> Send a diplomat to negotiate with the adventurers
> Send our assassins after the adventurers
> Write in

>>5843119
>Send our assassins after the adventurers

Our swamp

>>5843119
>Send a warning to the cultists
>Be ready to defend them

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5843135
>>5843139

1 - send assassins
2 - warn and be ready to defend

>>5843135
>>5843139
>>5843164


We send a warning to the cultists and keep our assassins on high alert, ready to defend the cultists in case the adventurers find the temple!

The cultists thank us for the warning and set up several magical traps within the temple to defeat the adventurers. They relocate some of their forces and equipment to a hidden cave, so they don't get wiped out in case the adventurers are successful in their campaign. Then, they summon a big demon to defend them!

After several days, the adventurers finally find the temple. Our scout alert our warriors camping nearby that the adventurers just entered the temple catacombs.

> Descend after the adventurers, get them cornered
> Wait until they come out, attack them when they are weak
> On a second thought, we did enough, let the cultists deal with them
> Write in

>>5843165
> Descend after the adventurers, get them cornered
Occupy them with hit and run tactics, kite them towards the demon, and tip off the cultists. Then, vanish into the waters and let our bros cook.

>>5843168
Good plan.

Rolled 9, 78, 21 = 108 (3d100)

>>5843168
>>5843177

Descending into the catacombs after the adventurers, we seek to keep them occupied with hit and run tactics, kiting them towards the demon and tipping off the cultists!

"Oh no! Tentacle monsters! Kill them... with fire!"

The adventurers toss some oil flasks and lit them ablaze!

The combat that ensues is fierce!

> Lure the adventurers towards a magical trap
> Lure the adventurers towards the big demon and run away
> Bring the combat to a larger chamber where you can surround them

Roll 3d100 for success!

Rolled 82, 73, 45 = 200 (3d100)

>>5844209
>> Lure the adventurers towards the big demon and run away
Come out Vokuzath its time to earn your keep

Rolled 45, 3, 54 = 102 (3d100)

>>5844209
> Lure the adventurers towards the big demon and run away

Rolled 19, 54, 23 = 96 (3d100)

>>5844209
> Lure the adventurers towards the big demon and run away

>>5844369
>>5844412
>>5844417


82 vs 78: Victory!

You expertly lure the adventurers towards the big demon, running away afterwards. You don't stay to watch but you assume the creature makes short work of the puny beings and drinks their souls.

The adventurers never leave the catacombs.

The days go by with your people living their lives in peace.

However, the prolongued peace ends up making your people overbreed! There are now too many of you in the swamp, and you need to find more living areas or you will starve.

> Establish a strict policy of birth control to keep the population stable by eating our young
> Send large groups of squid people out of the swamp to go find a home somewhere or die trying
> Send scouts in every direction to see if you can find a suitable home for your people
> Write in

>>5845168
> Send scouts in every direction to see if you can find a suitable home for your people
Not a horde, though. That will just tip all the other races off to our presence and numbers and draw hostility.

>>5845173
>support
>>5845168

>>5845168
>Send scouts in every direction to see if you can find a suitable home for your people
Scouts out!

>Write in
>Use our skills of water manipulation to expand our swamp

>>5845173
>>5845283
>>5845317
>>5845344


We decide to send some scouts looking for a suitable place for a home.

To the northwest there is a vast lush forest. To the north there is a sprawling desert. To the northeast our scouts found a lake, which seems promising.
To the east and west beyond the hills there are mountain chains which don't look very inviting.
To the southwest there is another swamp very similar to the one we live in. To the south and southeast, there are vast plains where live humans.

> Go check the lake to the northeast
> Go check the swamp to the southwest
> Send large groups to both places and bid them farewell
> Write in

>>5845393
>Send a large group to the swamp, with a couple assasins just in case
Murky waters to hide in sounds better if we want a low profile

>>5845393
The lake is tempting but I'll have to agree with this >>5845404. We aren't strong enough to risk exposure yet.

>>5845404
>>5845393
>support
>+ send assassins the clear lake for a longer scouting trip. Gotta see if there's any competition there.

>>5845393
The lake (it is said) never gives up her dead, so we'll head to the swamp in the Southwest

>>5845652
>>5845430
>>5845416
>>5845404


Pondering the lake might have contenders you're ill suited to deal with right now, you decide to venture into the southwestern swamp.
Sending a large group, escorted by a few assassins, they delve into the swamp looking for deep waters full of fish they can make a home for themselves in.

However they soon find the swamp is home to other creatures!

The swamp is much more vast than you had previously anticipated. There is a big walled city in an area of the swamp, with a big castle inside it, and lots of humans can be seem around it tending to crops in the flooded area.

In the outskirts of the swamp, gangs of ratmen fish with their bare hands, fill some woven baskets and take their food to burrows where presumably are their female and young.

Many charred remains and circles draw in blood betray the activity of demonic cultists, although you can't quite find from where they operate. They must have a concealed facility somewhere around this area.

Your people find three adequate locations for a settlement.

One is by a river! It is far from being concealed, but finding food is easy, and the waterways provide a natural "road" through which you can travel at a good speed.

The other is deep within the swamp! This deep, there is no trail leading into your lair, you can only reach this area swimming. Might prove difficult to interact with visitors or carry anything into your home.

Last there is a small flooded cave you found by chance while roaming through a random trail. The cave itself is too small to be the lair for your whole tribe, but having the cave can be an asset nevertheless, so you can endure the less than ideal qualities of the spot in favor of having the cave all for yourselves.

> Settle by the river
> Settle deep within the swamp
> Settle by the cave near the trail
> Write in

>>5845799
>Settle by the river
Room for growth is non-negotiable. We should aim for a Nyarl empire everywhere the water reaches.

>>5845799
>Settle by the river
oh shi we discovered Tenochtitlan

>>5845799
> Settle by the river

>>5845913
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYzw9omJMmc
We're going to live the high life!

>>5845801
>>5845913
>>5845917


You decide to settle by the river. Both of your communities establish regular communications, with scouts from both clans regularly travelling back and forth to deliver news and keep everyone up to date.

Exploring the river further, your scouts find several communities of halflings downstream further west. That region in particular seems to be full of them. They use the river to do trade with the humans in the big city you saw earlier.

Though now and then a random lone merchant can be sighted coming or going, the bulk of their trade pass through here once a year when the river is at its deepest so the big boats carrying heavy loads don't get stuck.

They have very little escort, the big boats having maybe a warrior or two with them.

How will you interact with those traders?

> Hail the halflings and engage in trade
> Hide your presence from the halflings
> Rob the random lone merchants
> Rob the big trade boats
> Write in

>Rob the big trade boats

Go big or go home

>>5846475
>Hide your presence
If we have some patience, there could be better loot to rob
Currently we dont want to gather too much attention, as we are still new to these parts

>>5846475
> Rob the big trade boats

>>5846475
>Hide your presence
Let's build up our numbers before we antagonize the humans

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5846509
>>5846554
>>5846587
>>5846683


1 - rob
2 - hide

>>5846866
>>5846683
>>5846587
>>5846554
>>5846509


You decide to rob the big boats! You set up an ambush and when the boat arrive your assassins make short work of the escorts! You capture the merchants alive, six fat halflings.

Checking what the halflings were hauling to trade you find:

a bunch of honey
several kegs, tubs and jars full of various kinds of fruits
a few barrels of oil
a few barrels of salt
a bunch of iron bars
a few rolls of cotton cloth
lots of sacks full of flour
a bunch of coal

the escorts has

a couple spears
a couple short swords
leather armor (too small to fit your people)

You also stole:

three big boats.

What will you do with the halflings?
> Kill them
> Eat them
> Sell them to the demon cultists
> Release them
> Write in

What will you do with the loot?
> Write in

>>5846876
>Sell them to the demon cultists
Also see if they want to buy some of the loot

Equip the short swords on the assassins

>>5846876
>Give some of the loot to the rat people as gifts, but keep weapons
We are, in a way, intruding on their swamp. We want to live here, and as such we should have at least one friendly faction here
>Sell the halflings to cultists

>>5846876
I'll agree with this >>5846962. We made a nice haul here.

>>5846942
>>5846962
>>5846991

Pondering that in a sense you are intruders in the rat people's swamp, and seeking to secure an ally in these lands, you take a good chunk of the loot and present to them as a token of your good will!

The rats were wary at first but warm up when we make our intentions clear - we see them as potential allies and want to give them a gift as a proof of good will between our peoples.

A young rat who seems to be blind is brought to speak with us.

"What are you exactly, I never smelled anything like you before. You smell like fish."

"We are squid people. Our ancestor came from the sea."

"Oh! So you're from far away. That must be why I never caught a whiff of you before. Your good will towards us is commendable, squid friends! I'll tell you our tale. We lived in this swamp for many generations, after driving away a tribe of lizardmen. They fought fierce, but we are fiercer. They fell to our powerful plagues. Haha... couldn't handle a little disease. But that was a long time ago, when our magic was strong. Now our magic is weak, the secrets of our art almost lost to time, our relics stolen... STOLEN! By adventurers!... those damn humans!... Without our relics it is hard to do magic, to create powerful plagues. And so, we live here in the outskirts of the swamp, while the humans built a tall castle with walls and grow richer with every passing year trading with everyone in the surrounding regions. The orcs try to siege them, yes, but what sort of siege engine can traverse a swamp? The humans make short work of them. After a couple failures, the orcs decided it wasn't worth their time to bother with the swamp walled city. They call it Wufan, cursed be its name and all its inhabitants!..."

"Do you know something about demon cultists in this swamp?"

"Oh, yes, the demon cultists... there is a vast network of tunnels under the swamp. Partially flooded. Lair to a black dragon and some kobolds. The demon cultists live there, as well as some vampires and witches. They all hate each other, but they stick to their own territory within the tunnel network to avoid problems. Except for the demon cultists who come to the surface often, the rest of them very rarely exit the tunnels at all. The entrance the cultists usually from the tunnels is in a cave not too far from here. It is usually flooded, so you can only get out swimming. We heard there are a few other exits, but they are probably well concealled and rarely used."

When he describes the cave, you realize it is the small flooded cave you found earlier and considered settling at.

"Thanks for the information!"

>>5847275


You take the halflings prisoner to the cultists back at the temple in the swamp.

"Oh nice, some fresh sacrifice! We have some stuff that might interest you.", says the cultists.

They bring some wares for you to peruse:

> Vial of Demon Blood: upon drinking, allows you to cast Firebolt spell at will for 1 hour and use Firebreath once per minute (10 rounds of combat). Demon blood is very addictive! 1 vial for 1 slave.
> Bound Imp: a small silver ring with a demon name inscribed in it allows you to control a tiny imp. The imp can fly and become invisible. He will obey orders for 1 year then he will demand 1 soul or his freedom. Totally safe, as long as you don't give the imp the ring. 3 slaves for the imp.
> Iron Tools: Shovels, Pickaxes, Mattocks, amongst other simple iron tools. A whole bunch of them for the low price of 1 slave.
> Silk Rope: the best quality silk rope! For the low price of 200 feet of rope for 1 slave. Buy this and we throw in an iron grappling hook, on the house.
> Sleep Powder: a powder that puts people to sleep. They can breath it, you can coat your weapons with it, you can put it in their food (caution, it tastes very sweet), the result is the same, the person falls asleep within a few minutes and will remain asleep for at least an hour unless great effort is made to wake them up. 1 slave for 1 vial (enough for around 20 dosis). Recurrent exposure causes developing resistance on victims.
> Moon Garlic: this silvery colored garlic prevents a person from becoming a vampire! Just eat a clove and you will be immune to vampirism for 24 hours or so. 1 slave for a bulb of Moon Garlic (has 10-12 cloves). If you are already a vampire it will poison you, as well as drinking the blood of anyone who has eaten the Moon Garlic recently.
> Write in

>>5847277
>Two sets of iron tools, one for each swamp
>Two sets of silk rope + grappling hook, for when we (eventually) try to sneak into the castle/explore cave
>One vial of sleep powder
>And they get the last slave free, since we are best buds
yooo we gotta infiltrate the castle with our rat bros

>>5847290
I'll support this. I find the rat's tale sympathetic, we should help them take the human castle and become allies to combine our magic.

>>5847290
+1, and also ask the cultists we know if they're familiar with the cult in the rat-swamp.

>>5847297
+1 to rat-friendship, also

>>5847290
>support
Based raiding bro.
I suggest we murder the vampires next.
>can we ask what the cultists would give us for clearing out their home

>>5847373
>support this too
If we aren't talking to those new cultists already.

I suggest we maybe send a delegation to the orcs too. Unless the rat folk hate them.

>>5847297
>>5847373
>>5847453
>>5847457


You buy two sets of iron tools, one for each swamp; two sets of silk rope and grappling hook; one vial of sleep powder; and let them have the last slave for free as a token of friendship.

You inquire the Asoy cultists whether they are familiar with the cult in the rat-swamp.

"Most demon cults have the same general goal, to bring into this world a demon lord and create a new age of darkness where the demonic powers rule over all. But the specific methods of each cult vary a lot. We seek to appease Asoy, whom we worship as a deity. The cultists in the rat-swamp as you call it do not share our faith. We trade with them on occasion and we share information. Their preferred way to pursue the demonic path is to summon succubus and incubbus to steal the identity of local people, as these demons can shapeshift. They kidnap a victim, take their place, do a lot of havoc then fake their death, kill the victim and put their corpse there. It's a very elaborate strategy if I may say so myself, but last we spoke the humans seem to be catching on. There is a local priest, a certain Adajon Dapasme, who says dark forces are conspiring against the town and is pushes the population to demand witch hunts from the authorities whenever anyone behaves oddly. This will not bode well for the cultists, that much I can tell."

"How do they kidnap victims from a walled city?"

"Sometimes the succubus just snatch someone from their beds and fly away. Other times they lure people outside with promises of sex then kidnap them. It's not too difficult. The walls remain open throughout the day, they only close it at night. They don't have enough guards to stop someone from sneaking in, specially if they come in flying. Infiltrating the castle is a bit harder, for it is better guarded, but even then it shouldn't be impossible."

You consider various courses of action you could take next.


> Make a proposal to the rats to research magic together
> Make a proposal to the rats to infiltrate the human castle
> Contact the succubus summoning cultists
> Send a delegation to talk to the orcs
> Dig a channel connecting both swamps
> Write in

>>5848471
>Contact the succubus summoning cultists
and
>Make a proposal to the rats to infiltrate the human castle
If we can kidnap some random dude and have him cause a big ruckus in town, while we and ratbros sneak in the back, we got ourselves a castle
Well, we prefer the wet swamp, so I guess rat dudes can have the castle
but what if in exchange, the rat boys help us dig a canal connecting the swamps?

>>5848471
>> Dig a channel connecting both swamps
Consolidating our power

>>5848471
Fascinating. The Asoy seem more agreeable but the succubus cult wouldn't be bad to have on our side.

>>5848482
I'll agree with this, we need to unify our people and ease transportation between settlements.

>>5848480
>>5848482
>>5848484
With our new tools, we start the work of digging a channel connecting both swamps!

The work site is sighted by humans however and soon we have a group of armed humans showing up at the dig site to see what is going on!

"Monsters attempting to divert the river! Certainly for some heinous purpose!"

"I never saw monsters such as these boss. What are they?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. Let's slaughter them all!"

Roll 3d100 to defend yourselves!

> Cross the river and flee, abandoning the dig site (+10 bonus to roll)
> Retreat and hold a defensive line by the river
> Grapple the humans and try to capture them alive (-10 penalty to roll)
> Write in

Rolled 2, 32, 35 = 69 (3d100)

>>5848517


forgot to roll

Rolled 8, 66, 46 = 120 (3d100)

>>5848517
> Grapple the humans and try to capture them alive (-10 penalty to roll)
Neat, more slaves and sacrifices!

Rolled 59, 86, 19 = 164 (3d100)

>>5848517
>> Grapple the humans and try to capture them alive (-10 penalty to roll)
I bet we'll get some really great loot for these guys

>>5848525
Nice that's a win vs all dice!
>support

Rolled 77, 13, 21 = 111 (3d100)

>>5848517
Filthy warmbloods! Taste our wrath!

Rolled 72, 87, 11 = 170 (3d100)

>>5848517
>Grapple the humans and try to capture them alive (-10 penalty to roll)

>>5848520
>>5848525
>>5848558
>>5848588
>>5848597
>>5848714


You defeat the humans in combat! You capture several spears, leather armors and shields from the armed humans, and a sword and chainmail from their leader. When the humans notice the fight is going bad for them, they flee! You manage to capture about a dozen human prisoners before the rest of the humans escape!

> Pursue your attackers
> Continue digging the channel
> Go sell the human prisoners to the cultists
> Write in

>>5849573
>Pursue your attackers
We CANNOT let news get out

Rolled 83, 6, 15 = 104 (3d100)

>>5849589


We decide to pursue our attackers! We cannot let the news of our presence get out!

Seeking to kill them all, we drop our full might upon the runners!

Roll 3d100 for success!

> Our roll has a -10 penalty because the humans had a running headstart!

Rolled 69, 39, 25 = 133 (3d100)

>>5849605

Rolled 86, 64, 98 - 10 = 238 (3d100 - 10)

>>5849605
KILL 'EM ALL!

>>5849650
>>5849691


You kill the fleeing humans! Every last one of them! The secret of your operation is ensured, for now.

You hide your loot and ponder what do to with the captured prisoners.

> Take the prisoners to the cultists in the old swamp
> Contact the cultists in the rat-swamp and offer them some prisoners
> Keep them in your settlement for now, hope they enjoy eating fish
> Write in

>>5849701
>Split prisoners between both cultist groups

>>5849701
>Split prisoners between both cultist groups

>>5849719
>>5849797
You contact the cultists at your home swamp. They are well pleased to see you bring more fresh sacrifices!

They have the previous list of things to offer plus the following:

> Explosive Potion: a specially prepared flask with two highly reactive compounds, can be thrown to cause a massive explosion once the flask breaks and the two liquids inside mix, destroying targets in a 20 feet radius. Can be yours for the low low price of 5 slaves.
> A Potion of Mind Reading. Lasts one hour. 3 slaves.
> A barrel of wine: it is the good stuff! 1 slave.
> A handful of small steel mirrors. 1 slave.
> Write in

You brought 6 slaves to trade.

>>5849888

You then attempt to contact the cultists at the rat-swamp. You go into the exit to their lair and send some scouts ahead. They explore the cave complex a little and chance upon a section of the complex that looks inhabitted.

They meet one a couple of the cultists on watch at the entrance of their territory and say we came in peace and seek to trade. After some talking, we manage to get an audience with their leader. Our diplomat descends to the dungeon and go talk to the cultists.

"Oh, so you have spoken to our friends the Asoy cultists. You're interested in trading? Well, we don't get such proposals often. We don't get out from these tunnels much, so we may not have much variety in terms of what we could offer you, but we may come to an arrangement. Our activities in here are a bit hindered as well by our neighbours. Unfortunately, we are unable to overpower them, and they are quite entrenched in these tunnels.

It is an old vampire called Mekastos. He has a small harem of ancilla vampires he collected from far and wide for their beauty which he wanted to preserve forever, and a whole bunch of thralls who work the mines and underground farms he feeds upon. This handful of vampires are worthy an army of lesser men in combat though, I wouldn't underestimate them, and their thralls may not be particularly good at combat but they are under the spell of the vampire and would die to protect their master.

Then there are the Sister Skara. A coven of witches, three of them. It shouldn't be a problem to get rid of them, but they found some kind of ancient magical barrier that existed in these tunnels long before our time and activated it. They sealed off a whole section of the tunnels with a force barrier, that they can turn on and off when they please. So they are out of reach and can harass everyone with impunity, even being the weakest folks around here.

Then theres Khajejomipunogyu, or Khaj as most call him. The black dragon. He has a tribe of kobolds who digs for gold for him. The little things worship him as a god. He probably fucked a bunch of the kobolds, because there are some kobold sorcerers in the tribe. They do raid around now and then, but luckily most of the tunnels are too small for Khaj himself to come bother us.

But you came to trade, right? Well, we do have some things you may desire.

> Hallucinogens. We can part with ten dosis of potent fungal hallucinogen for 1 slave.
> Iron. We can part with fifty pounds of iron for 2 slaves.
> Fungus Wine. We can part with one barrel of strong fungus wine for 2 slaves
> Giant Worm Poison. We can part with five dosis of potent poison for 3 slaves.
> Succubus Blood Vial. If you drink it you can shapeshift for 1 hour. Very addictive. 4 slaves.
> Mana Crystals. We can part with a handful of mana crystals for 5 slaves.
> Write in

You brought 6 slaves.

>>5849888
>Explosive Potion: a specially prepared flask with two highly reactive compounds, can be thrown to cause a massive explosion once the flask breaks and the two liquids inside mix, destroying targets in a 20 feet radius
This will come in handy for assaulting the city

>A handful of small steel mirrors. 1 slave
For signaling

>Mana Crystals & Hallucinogens
No specific plans for these, just look like they might be useful

>>5849888
> A barrel of wine

>>5849891
> Succubus Blood Vial
> Hallucinogens

>>5849988
We have 6 slaves at each location for a total of 12

>>5850016
Ah, I misunderstood. Thank you!

>>5849891
Changing my vote ( >>5849988 ) to:

>>5849888
> A barrel of wine
> Explosive Potion

>>5849891
> Succubus Blood Vial
> Hallucinogens

Infiltrate, poison some important people with spiked wine, set off an explosion to kill them and frame another group in the city. Start them infighting.

>>5850023
Support

>ask what they would give us to start clearing out their home turf.

>>5850023
I think I'll support this. The mana crystals would be nice but we haven't been relying on our magic so much yet.

>>5849982
>>5849988
>>5850016
>>5850023
>>5850162
>>5850572


You sell your slaves and get a barrel of wine, an explosive potion, a vial of succubus blood and some hallucinogens!

The work on the channel is progressing steadily. Your sages consider that now would be a good time to start creating chaos within the human stronghold.

A few alternatives are proposed:

First, we could use the Succubus Blood to infiltrate their city, and once there blow up some critical infrastructure with the explosive potion!

Second, we could kidnap some peasants from their crop fields and interrogate them to gain more information about the human city!

Third, we could blow up their gates with the explosive potion and go for a frontal assault! The shock should give us an edge!

Fourth, we could lay siege around their town, harassing their villages once they leave their wall, seeking to starve them or force them to come out and fight.

> Infiltrate and blow up infrastructure
> Kidnap some peasants and collect info
> Blow up their gates and go for a frontal assault
> Lay siege and force a confrontation
> Write in

>>5851618
> Kidnap some peasants and collect info
Best first step. Then we can know who or what to blow up.

>>5851618
> Kidnap some peasants and collect info.
Specifically if there's a barracks with the majority of their troops Or central rallying place. Then we bomb that after assassins at night kill all the guards and open the gates for us.

>>5851618
Don't forget we wanted the rats to help us.

Rolled 22, 93, 14 = 129 (3d100)

>>5851647
>>5851652
>>5851654


You decide to kidnap some peasants in order to collect some info. There are always some peasants in the crop fields during the day, so the task isn't particularly difficult. Using your natural camouflaging ability, your men approach the peasants slowly and snatch a few of them.

Roll 3d100 to determine the quality of the information you can extract from the peasants you kidnapped!

You also go contact the rats to ask if they are onboard for attacking the humans.

"You bring great joy to our hearts, squid friends! We want to bring revenge upon the humans, but so far have lacked the means. The humans reinforce their patrols when they see us skulking about their territory, and it has been difficult for us to gain leverage upon the humans with our weakened magic and low numbers. Still, once you have a workable plan, we can put some of our best warriors at your service. Lead us to victory and you will have a friend in us!"

The rats are willing to contribute a few warriors to the attack, but most of the assault force would be of our own people.

> Now is the time, bring the bulk of our forces from both swamps to overwhelm the humans
> We recover from losses faster than the humans since we breed faster, chip away at their defenses
> Just keep scouts close and monitor the situation for now, focus on building the channel
> Retreat deeper into the swamp so we can grow our numbers undisturbed
> Write in

Rolled 59, 84, 27 = 170 (3d100)

>>5851709
Hmm...
>Just keep scouts close and monitor the situation for now, focus on building the channel
The humans aren't going to be moving their castle any time soon. Best to finish our infrastructure and get some info we can act on.

>>5851755
Support for steady growth

>>5851890
I doubt the ratmen will have a problem with us laying low and gaining numbers before an assault, since that's their entire modus operandi

Rolled 12, 75, 34 = 121 (3d100)

>>5851709
> Just keep scouts close and monitor the situation for now, focus on building the channel

>>5851709
> Just keep scouts close and monitor the situation for now, focus on building the channel

Rolled 80, 28, 69 = 177 (3d100)

>>5851919
Damnit, wrong field.

Rolled 55, 23, 46 = 124 (3d100)

>>5851755
>>5851890
>>5851894
>>5851904
>>5851919
>>5851920


You decide to focus on infrastructure, simply monitoring the human activity while you build the channel connecting both swamps.

We interrogate the captured humans and they inform us that the humans do in fact have a barracks in town where soldiers sleep, and an armory where they keep some weapons for the militia. In case of an attack, the able bodied men of the town are expected to grab weapons from the armory or from various weapons caches spread around town and get ready to defend the town. Besides spears, there are also bows available for those with some training with them, and even a decent amount of swords. The humans keep a decent amount of grain and livestock within their walls, they could survive months of siege if the walls aren't breached.

The humans send trade caravans with some escorts to the south regularly, except in the colder season. After losing a patrol to us they seem to have beefed up their patrols and escorts significantly and have been on high alert all year.

The trade with the halflings by the river has all but halted. Though they likely don't know what we are yet, they probably realized there is something wrong with the river routes. Their patrols pass by our camouflaged scouts on a daily basis but they are unable to see through our disguise. We can't quite hide the channel we've been digging though, but when the scouts give the signal humans are coming we all hide and leave them to their musings.

"I don't understand... Something must be doing all this digging."

"You think it is the rats?"

"Why would the rats be digging a channel? Do you see them irrigating crops in the near future?"

"Must be fairies... I guess we caught swamp fairies."

"Fairies, huh? Could be it. I'll ask the boss to bring a wizard and get it checked."

After checking the digging site a couple times and realizing it is indeed being dug steadily, the humans stay away for several months.

Then one day they come back bringing a wizard.

"So you are having problems with something invisible digging around your area huh? I'll find it for you."

He casts some spells and seems frustrated.

"I don't get it... this spell should let me see anything invisible... unless...."

He casts another spell.

"Holy shit! They're all around us! They're not really invisible, they're..."

One of our assassins murder the wizard!

"What is that thing?"

Roll 3d100 to kill the human patrol!

> Let them escape
> Capture some slaves
> Kill every last one of them
> Write in

Rolled 11, 21, 16 = 48 (3d100)

>>5851936
>Kill every last one of them
We cannot risk word getting out. If the humans think we're fae, they'll stay the fuck away from the swamps.

>>5851936
>Kill every last one of them
We have enough loot, now we take scalps

Rolled 84, 91, 89 = 264 (3d100)

>>5851988
forgot roll

Rolled 49, 3, 53 = 105 (3d100)

>>5851936
> Kill every last one of them

So, I figure we sneak in with the succ blood, plant explosives in the armory, attack, and set off the bomb as all the able-bodied men are rushing int to arm themselves.

Rolled 49, 25, 61 = 135 (3d100)

>>5851936
>kill

>>5851982
>>5851988
>>5851989
>>5852005
>>5852234


We kill the entire human patrol! The humans will keep guessing what we are, with how their patrols mysteriously vanish. They might think we are fae, and perhaps this thought will keep them away from our territory.

The humans don't bother us for awhile and we get good progress in our channel connecting both swamps.

Back at the home swamp a group of giants descend from the mountains and decide to start living in the swamp. They consume ridiculous amounts of food, which they spend all day hunting and foraging in the swamp with ease. When they find our hunters and foragers, they kill them and also eat them! Towering at nearly 30 feet tall, our warriors doubt there's any easy way to kill them.

> Avoid the giants
> Attack the giants
> Negotiate with the giants
> Write in

>>5853067
>Negotiate.
> we are slimey and not good eating. Humans much better. Long pork some would say. They have big castle. Lots of animals.
>if they don't want to negotiate can we throw rocks at them and lead them to the humans.
Try to get our enemies to eat each other.
We then bomb the survivors with the explosive vial.

>>5853156
This is a good idea. I'll support it.

>>5853156
Support for getting 2 birds stoned at once

File: c7cc2ab4-37ee-4aa1-9805-7(...).png (259 KB, 400x400)

259 KB PNG

>>5853156
+1

>>5853213
What this anon said.

>>5853156
>>5853162
>>5853213
>>5853262
"Mister big guy, we no good food, we are slimey and not good eating! South from here be humans! Humans much better. Long pork some would say. They have big castle. Lots of animals."

"Humans?", says the giant, with a thunderous voice, "Hmmmm... and lots of animals you say? Do they have cows?"

"Yes, they have lots and lots of cows!"

"I love steak! You convinced me little squid. Your meat tastes awful anyway. It would taste better with a little rice... C'mon gang, we're going to get ourselves some cows!"

The gang of giants start marching towards the human abode. Your scouts follow them from afar.

"Oh fuck! Giants! Man the ballistas!", scream the humans.

The humans start shooting at the giants with huge fucking ballista from their castle.

"Ouch! That hurts! Damn human!"

The giants breach the human walls and start wreaking havoc. The humans summon their militia and the fight that ensues is fierce.

"That's our chance boys! Let's get our relics back!", a bunch of rats take advantage of the confusion to gain entrance to the human castle.

What do you do?
> Help the humans against the giants
> Help the giants against the humans
> Let the humans and giants sort out this mess
> Pillage the human town amidst the chaos
> Write in

>>5854193
> Help the giants against the humans
THE TIME HAS COME! We've helped the Rats, now we'll help the Giants. Yeah, they ate some of our squidspawn but that's just water under the bridge.

>>5854193
> Pillage the human town amidst the chaos

Maybe we can use the explosives on a big mass of warriors or a high-value target while they're distracted?

>>5854193
>Pillage the human town amidst the chaos
The giants don't need help, at least not when there's still profitable gains for the squidz

>>5854193
> Pillage the human town amidst the chaos steal as many captives as possible also

If the giants survive maybe we uh suggest the biggest one would look really strong if he had a cape made of black dragon scales....

Rolled 61, 75, 100 = 236 (3d100)

>>5854209
>>5854221
>>5854322
>>5854473


Your people take the opportunity to start pillaging the human town amidst the chaos!

"Look! Squid demons! Nasty fuckers! Kill them!"

The fight goes on fiercely and it's unavoidable to get involved though...

Roll 3d100 to defend yourselves while you pillage the human town!

> Steal some tools and weapons and stay out of harms way
> Focus on grabbing and dragging people out of the battlefield
> Push the human forces seeking to gain entrance to the keep
> Blow up the armory to cause even more chaos amidst the humans
> Write in

Rolled 90, 96, 75 = 261 (3d100)

> Blow up the armory to cause even more chaos amidst the humans
Eesh, I don't like the look of their rolls...

Rolled 92, 6, 17 = 115 (3d100)

>>5855529
> Blow up the armory to cause even more chaos amidst the humans
Total Warmblood Death

Rolled 50, 42, 59 = 151 (3d100)

>>5855529
>> Steal some tools and weapons and stay out of harms way
No need to take unnecessary risks

>>5855545 was meant for >>5855529, of course.

Rolled 37, 56, 8 = 101 (3d100)

>>5855612
>>5855529
>support
I'd prefer to steal captives. But I much prefer to not really have any loses.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5855545
>>5855611
>>5855612
>>5855618
>>5856618

1 - blow up armory
2 - steal some stuff

>>5857131
>>5856618
>>5855618
>>5855612
>>5855611
>>5855545


Decided to stay out of harms way, you keep away from the main fight and just steal whatever tools and weapons you can from the outskirts of town. You suffer no significant losses and pilfer some good loot in the form of farming implements and a good amount of spears which were laying about in large numbers.

You leave behind some scouts to watch the result of the battle but retreat your main force. In the end, the humans manage to kill one of the giants and the rest of them flee. The humans make a big funerary pyre for their own dead, and start the work to rebuilt their breached wall. They just left the giant's corpse outside the wall for the dogs and birds to eat.

The scouts did not see the rats leaving the keep. They assume their mission was either a failure, they meeting death within the human halls, or they found a different exit that they did not see.

> The humans will be busy rebuilding their wall, continue building our channel
> The giants are weakened now, attack them and drive them out of our swamp
> The humans are weakened now, attack and destroy them in their city
> This fight shows we don't have enough numbers, breed more
> Write in

>>5857141
> The giants are weakened now, attack them and drive them out of our swamp
Explode them!

>>5857141
>The humans are weakened now, attack and destroy them in their city
Strike now, while we have the momentum before the giants come back and destroy it all.

>>5857141
>Mass assassination of all humans at night. We scale the broken fortifications and kill the males. They should be very weakened.Sell the women and children to the cultists.
QM how many giants were there?
>I say we go bomb them too like anon said. We got lots of assassins and after the bomb shouldn't need too many giants left.

>>5857192
Support. We need to get our swamp back, crushing the humans will have to wait

>>5857238
>QM how many giants were there?

It is a whole clan of giants! Ten giants total!

Now it is nine.

They are all wounded and returning to the swamp, presumably to rest and recover.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5857192
>>5857221
>>5857238
>>5857291


1 - explode the giants
2 - explode the humans

Rolled 35, 56, 22 = 113 (3d100)

>>5858105
>>5858103
>>5857291
>>5857238
>>5857221
>>5857192


You follow the giants as they return to the swamp. You watch as they collect herbs and start making ridiculous amounts of poultice to nurse their wounds. They are expecting to have a nice time just chilling and resting.

But you have other plans!

When you catch a large amount of them around a fire roasting crocodiles on a stick, you drop the bomb!

It wounds them all pretty bad and makes them fall into the ground bleeding and screaming in agony!
Your warriors then attack the wounded giants!

Roll 3d100 to slaughter your foes!

> Focus on killing the weakest giants, thin their numbers
> Focus on killing the strongest giant, the others will flee without a leader
> Attack them indiscriminately, killing them or making them flee both are good enough
> Write in

Rolled 48, 38, 12 = 98 (3d100)

>>5858117
>Focus on killing the strongest giant, the others will flee without a leader
These big bastards ate us!

>>5858117
>Focus on killing the weakest giants, thin their numbers
Fewer giants means less squid will be eaten

Rolled 40, 30, 92 = 162 (3d100)

>>5858188
Rolling

>>5858135
>>5858188
>>5858189


You attack the weakest giants, stabbing them at their weakest points! You manage to murder two giants before the rest of them flee for their lives!

"Ahh! This swamp is cursed! These squids are devils! DEVILS! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"We can't go back to the mountains, chief! The dwarves will make short work of us!"

"Run to the plains! TO THE PLAINS!"

The giants run away to the plains, looking for an easier time mending their wounds and living off the land - what for giants often means devouring other smaller sentient people.

As you watch them run away in long strides towards the plains in the south, you are satisfied in knowing you have the swamp under control again!

But you are worried... dwarves in the mountains strong enough to put giants on the run is not a good thing. Still, if they keep to themselves and don't come bother you in your swamp, then they are a non issue.

There are two big giant corpses, what will you do with them?

> Eat them and make weapons with their huge bones
> Stick their huge heads on pointy spikes as a warning to trespassers
> Take the giant heads as gruesome gifts to the dwarves in the mountains
> Tap their heads with the staff you looted from the necromancer, maybe they will become undead
> Write in

>>5858217
> Take the giant heads as gruesome gifts to the dwarves in the mountains
Giving gifts has worked well for us in the past and our preferred territory doesn't overlap at all with the dwarves. Let's make some new trading friends.

>>5858217
> Eat them and make weapons with their huge bones

>>5858217
>Eat them and make weapons with their huge bones
Law of the jungle, er swamp

>>5858256
>>5858217
yeah let's try to be friends
>support

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5858256
>>5858384
>>5858453
>>5858568
1 - heads to dwarves
2 - eat and make weapons

>>5859203
>>5858568
>>5858453
>>5858384
>>5858256


You people feast upon the corpses of the giants, and then muse upon what to build with the treasure trove of large bones that are left behind.

You splinter and sharpen the bones into endless shivs for your squids.

You fashion a big battering ram with the bones, that skull looks pretty thick.

You fashion sharp blades out of giant ribs for your squids, they would be hard to conceal though.

Even after you make lots of weapons, there are still a bunch of bones leftover which you leave laying about near your settlement. You may still find an use for it.

A gnome shows up in your settlement. He says he wants some of our ink. With him there is an ogre carrying a big barrel.

> Give the gnome some ink
> Tell the gnome to go away
> Kill the gnome and the ogre
> Write in

>>5859213
>give ink
>ask for info he seems well traveled.

>>5859300
Support. Maybe he can trade us some technology

>>5859300
>>5859316


You decide to give the gnome some of your ink. You fill up the barrel with ink and the gnome seems very pleased!

You ask the gnome for information, as he seems well travelled.

"I am Fitudixocivubonumojytresifoducivoperix, but you can call me Fitudix. This is my companion, Og. We travel the land seeking to learn more about its inhabitants. It is rare to see squid people outside of the sea! The people in the south would pay good coin for the good quality ink your people produce so abundantly, they have many scribes who could use a reliable source of pigment for their parchments. Still, you should be careful. They may find it more advantageous to enslave some of you and milk you of your ink than to engage in trade. As for me, I will take this ink to my people. We live in the mountains to the west and it is rare for us to have any visitors - except for the giants of course, who deem the mountains their home. We have an arrangement with the giants, we keep them fed and they don't bother us. How we keep the giants fed you ask? Well... with a mix of magic and technology! We farm basilisks who can turn flesh into stone with their gaze. With their eyes, we can make a potion that reverses the process. But if we apply the potion to a specially prepared big stone, we turn it into a big piece of flesh! We then prepare it, roast it and feed the giants with it. This process can be repeated many times, as we can apply a healing potion to the basilisks to regrow their eyes and harvest it again to make another potion. Let me show you!"

He then makes a small fire and grab a big stone. He takes a potion from his pouch, and with a pipet sprinkles a couple droplets of the potion on the stone. The stone turns into a lump of flesh. He pierces the flesh with a point stick and roast it by the fire.

"See! It works! Well... there is no harm in leaving the potion with you people. I have enough food for the trip back. Don't pour too much of it at once. A couple droplets are enough for a pound of flesh.", he says, gifting us a beautiful flask with a colorful liquid inside.

He then feeds the meat to the ogre and departs with the barrel full of ink.

"Wait! How do you not get turned to stone by the basilisks?"

"That's the trade secret my friend!", Fitudix says with a hearty laugh.

"Come by any time if you want to trade. We buy anything we can't grow or make ourselves in the mountains so long as it can be stored safely, and we like to believe we pay fair compensations. We kinda like hoarding stuff."

>>5859354

Reports from the human town come, they are rebuilding their walls, but it will likely take some time.

Some cultists from the rat swamp contact us there.

"The giants caused a real ruckus here. It upsetted the delicated balance of power underground as well. The rats found a secret passage from the human castle that led into our tunnels, and wandered into them carrying some old relics. They got unlucky and ended up into the vampire territory, where they have been killed and their relics stolen. The vampire has no use for the relics, but he is not ready to just give them away. He sent some thralls to us to negotiate, but we also have no use for the relics of the rats. But we do know those relics are really precious for the rats themselves, unlocking their powerful magic."

"What are these relics exactly?"

"Some bones from their ancestors, imbued with the souls of fallen shamans through powerful rituals, a belt with a couple dozen flasks of colorful liquid and a big metal tube filled with the most vile sludge imaginable."

"Why didn't the humans destroy it?"

"Who knows? Maybe they wanted to weaponize plagues themselves. The problem is the flasks have no labels, and anyone who so much as open them and caughs a whiff is pretty much doomed. Touching the bones also causes headaches that evolve to bleeding and deadly brain tumors on anyone dumb enough to try. Apparently, contact with the bones have the old dead shamans instruct the young shamans on how to use all this nonsense to create powerful plagues."

"Although eager to get rid of this crap, the vampires won't give it up for free."

> Contact the rats and ask what they will pay for the relics
> That's the rat's problem, you have nothing to do with it
> Offer the necromancer staff for the rat relics
> Write in

>>5859356
Hmm...

If we give the necromancer staff to the vampires, that'll definitely get us the relics but it'll also make the vampires a much stronger threat. If we try to do business with the rats, then they won't be our allies when we do get them the relics. If we try to assault the vampires head-on, we'll suffer high casualties when we're in a vulnerable position.

>Forget about the ratman's relics for now, finish the canal, and start breeding squids until we've reached population capacity

>>5859356
I don't think we can be friends with everyone.

>invade the human castle at night and kill every male while they sleep. Full send army of assassins.

Got the giants gone. Now time to remove humies. We can kill the vampires next. We don't want retaliation.

>finish the canal too

>>5859477
We should be fairly near the population cap. We didn't have any losses vs the humans or the giants.

>>5859356
> Contact the rats and ask what they will pay for the relics

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>5859477
>>5859781
>>5859794

1 - forget about the ratmen breed and finish canal
2 - invade human castle with army of assassins and build canal
3 - contact rats and ask what they will pay for relics

>>5859477
>>5859781
>>5859784
>>5859794
>>5859828


You tell the cultist emissary you will think about it but actually you just forget about the ratmen and mind your own business.

You focus on breeding until your reach population capacity and building your canal connecting both swamps.

Your scouts report that in the mean time the humans fixed their walls.

You manage to finish the canal! You can now traverse the distance between both swamps swimming! You can also ferry goods between the swamps using the boats you stole from the halflings.

Your population is close to capacity. You believe you could breed a bit further if you expanded to live deeper within the swamp, but other than that you now have nearly as many squids as you can comfortably feed in both swamps.

> Time to expand further, let's send some people to that lake
> Time to deal with those humans, let's attack them
> We need to do some trade with our neighbours, send emissaries (trade what)
> Let's construct some buildings, we are living in squalor
> Write in

>>5859844
>Sneak into the human city, kill the soldiers, and capture everyone else to trade to our cultist friends
These humans are probably part of another larger civ but if they haven't gotten reinforcements yet, they probably don't think the swamp is worth it.

>>5859781
I agree we need to remove humans but I thought getting our numbers up was more urgent. After this, I think we should focus on improving our Shamanism of the Deep so we can better use it in combat.

>>5859864
>>5859871


You decide to launch a large scale attack on the humans! The strategy you decide to adopt is to sneak into the human city, kill their soldiers and capture everyone else to trade to your cultist friends!

Although you do have numerical superiority to the humans, such attack is not without problems. They still have a tall wall and a castle, which makes any invasion more difficult.

Your assassins aren't particularly skilled for climbing walls. Using your ropes and hooks, a small force could climb, with a little luck, undetected. But bringing to bear the bulk of your forces against the humans would require a way to circumventing their walls.

How are you going to deal with the human walls?

> Venture into the underground tunnels and find a way into the human city
> Use your battering ram to breach the human gates so your troops can enter
> Have your assassins open the gates for your troops and enter into their town
> Use your shaman magic to summon great waves to dump your troops within the human walls
> Write in

>>5859986
>Use your shaman magic to summon great waves to dump your troops within the human walls in the dead of night but while the chaos is happening and humans are panicking, sneak assassins in from the opposite side of the city.
The filthy warmbloods won't have prepared for this.

Rolled 64, 83, 74, 93, 69, 89 = 472 (6d100)

>>5860012


The shamans prepare their magic to summon great waves so you can deploy your troops past the human walls! You assemble your men and get them close to the human walls and the shamans begin the incantation. The humans become very surprised when a wave comes crashing down upon them walls, carrying lots of armed squids and bypassing their walls!

At the same time, a group of assassins sneak in for a surprise attack from the opposite side of town!

Roll 3d100 twice, first for the main attack and second for the assassins!

> This is a suicide mission, we either kill the humans or die trying
> Secure an exit, we need a way out in case things don't go our way
> Retreat just with our shamans and leaders, we can't afford to lose them
> Write in

> Send the assassins after the people in the castle
> Send the assassins to kill the commanders behind enemy lines
> Send the assassins to kill as many undefended people as possible
> Write in

Rolled 56, 73, 90, 69, 34, 1 = 323 (6d100)

>>5860080
>Secure an exit, we need a way out in case things don't go our way
Squids seize the gate and force it open.

>Send the assassins to kill the commanders behind enemy lines
Break their military formation so that our squids can seize the momentum. Once the battle is won, we can pillage their city and siege the castle at our leisure.

Rolled 53, 41, 95, 90, 54, 69 = 402 (6d100)

>>5860080
>> Secure an exit, we need a way out in case things don't go our way
> Send the assassins to kill the commanders behind enemy lines
Kill as many high value targets as you can, drive the humans away and remake the city as Squid-town

File: worried_squid_by_red20_dc(...).jpg (134 KB, 1024x1024)

134 KB JPG

>>5860080
>>5860104
>tfw we're on the receiving end of the indomitable human spirit

Rolled 71, 67, 29, 56, 97, 40 = 360 (6d100)

>>5860104
>support
>>5860080
Then once we kill a high level dude can we drink the potion to look like them and call for humies to surrender.

>>5860349
>>5860113
>>5860111
>>5860104


Worried that the offensive may not go your way, you order your troops to focus on securing an exit in case you need a way out. Some of your squids keep the humans busy while others seek to gain access to the gate mechanism to open it! You do manage to open the gates!

And just in time, for a tide of human militia reinforcement pushed your squids towards the walls! This time they had shields and seemed better trained than the last time you saw them fight!

Your assassins assault behind the lines has the element of surprise and catches some of their commanders. However, when you try to impersonate one of their commanders to try to get the humans to surrender, another commander, perhaps higher ranking, accuses your disguised commander of treason and has him killed! Once he dies and reverts to a squid, the humans scream!

"Be careful! The squids can shapeshift! Anyone could be a squid in disguise!"

The battle rages on, with significant losses on both sides, but in the end you are forced to retreat. The humans drive you out and you wonder whether you just have been too timid in this battle.

As you regroup back on the swamp, your leadership ponders on the matter.

"Defeating the humans won't be as simple as rushing into their settlement. They are entrenched in their walled city and well defended. It would take a long campaign and a well planned siege. Our men are now tired, and those who haven't died are wounded and will need days or weeks to recover. The humans as well will need time to recover. Our only advantage is that to replenish their numbers the humans need many more years than we do. If we keep attacking them relentlessly, we may weaken them enough to really defeat them once and for all."

"Some fear they are part of a larger civilization and might seek aid from other regions. If we don't defeat them soundly and fast they might receive lots of aid and their position may become unassailable."

"The humans haven't conducted any assault on our position in years!"

"Yes, because there is nothing to assault! We have made sure to keep a low profile. We live in absolute squalor and constantly hiding. Our people live lives of hunted prey. We enjoy no safety and we will enjoy no safety as long as our swamps are home to hostile forces."

"Shouldn't we build some structures?"

"Structures we can't defend? They would just be targets."

"Still, our morale suffers because we are living in such hardship. Sure we could improve our people's lives a little."

"Our life is the war! We cannot afford any luxuries."

"Keep expecting mindless sacrifices from the people and you will plant the seed of sedition in their hearts."

>>5860381

"What are the alternatives? Do you want to negotiate a peace with the humans? In what terms?"

"No. There can be no peace with the humans. We must drive them away or destroy them and they certainly think the same of us."

"Then we must simply continue to wage war, whatever the cost may be."

"It seems clear to me we will need allies to decisively deal with the humans. But which allies should we seek?"

"We could just train our troops better. The humans are fighting with shields now, our shivs are not very effective against them."

"Maybe we need a new military doctrine altogether."

"Our magic served us well. Perhaps if we pursue these powers further."

"We would need some structures to better our magic."

"We could increase our numbers. The depths of the swamp remain an option for us, a place we could settle to increase our numbers."

"Yes. That lake could be an option as well."

"The giants did quite a lot of damage to their walls. If we had allies that could negate their wall advantage, we could bring our numbers to bear against the humans."

"Our magic could do that, didn't you see what we done?"

"Maybe. The humans adapt fast. They might come up with some trick."

"Well, in any case we need a decision. What path will we pursue in our campaign against the humans?"

> We can deal with the humans on our own, we just need to train our troops better
> We can deal with the humans on our own, we just need to strengthen our magic
> We can deal with the humans on our own, we just need to increase our numbers
> We need to enlist the help of one of our neighbours against the humans (which one)
> Write in

>>5860385
>ask the rats to dig tunnels under the walls to collapse them. In return we'll help them kill those vampires with their relics
>expand to the deeper swamp
>kill any human that leaves the city and any that try to enter.
>setup a new military doctrine. New males go through human killing to gain adulthood. Allows us to keep attrition on the humans and makes us a more warrior people. Push them to be stealthy assassins and push them to climb better.

>trade ink to that gnome for better weapons.

>>5860454


We contact the rats and ask them to dig tunnels under the human walls to collapse them. We tell them that in return we will help them to kill the vampires with their relics.

"Collapse the human walls? That is a tall order, squids. That is a large scale project that wouldn't go unnoticed by the humans, that is for sure. We would need to dig a big tunnel, with lots of supports, then rig it all up to burn the supports and hope that once the supports burn the tunnel would collapse and the wall above would come down with it. We would need a lot of food for our miners and lumberjacks, food which has been scarce ever since you've been overfishing in the swamp, friends. I'm afraid even though your proposal of aiding us with the vampires is a generous one, unless you can supply us with a lot of food we cannot really spare workers to dig such tunnels as we can't feed them."

We consider sieging the human city, killing all humans that leave the city and any that try to enter. However, we cannot maintain our entire army fielded to siege the human town, we simply lack the logistics for that - we cannot feed a standing army. We can only keep a small amount of scouts and assassins fed, and those are not enough to siege the human town, only to watch their activities and occasionally attack people. When our assassins strike a human outside the walls, the humans summon their militia and strike back. Our assassins can only harass the humans so often, and the humans do have patrols outside their walls on horseback - our assassins can't always lose them in the swamp and are sometimes caught and killed.

We consider creating a new rite of passage for our males - killing a human to gain adulthood. Most of our elders are against this practice, because sending lone young inexperienced squids trying to attack an organized human settlement trying to snatch a human is bound to go poorly for us. Still, our warriors convince them to allow this, for now. Lots of young squids, lone or in small groups, go against the humans, and few of them return with proof of having killed a human, earning their adulthood. The rest were either killed or captured by the humans. The thought of our fellow squids in the hands of the humans disgusts us.

>>5860497

You decide to expand to the deeper swamp. The place is crocodile infested and full of fish. You could start by killing and eating some of the crocodile, this way there will be more fish available. The deep waters in this part of the swamp are ideal for fisheries, if you clear the place of crocodiles beforehand that is. We could instead build a Temple for the Deep Ones and empower our shamans, making our magic more powerful.

You send emissaries to trade ink with the gnome for better weapons. They return empty handed, saying they couldn't find the gnome lands amidst the mountains and returned before they died of dehydration. You'd need some way to bring lots of water with you to make the trip, or have places where you could rest for at least a whole day inside water before resuming travel.

You see the kobolds now and then in the deep parts of the swamp, in canoes carrying big sacks. They mostly avoid you.

> Feed the Rats so they can dig under the human walls
> Hunt the crocodiles and build some Fisheries in the deep swamps
> Build a Temple for the Deep Ones to empower our shamans
> Contact the kobolds, see what they are up to
> Write in

>>5860499
>feed rats
>kill crocs
>build large scale fisheries

>>5860499
>Build a Temple for the Deep Ones to empower our shamans
Magic can change the game for us

>>5860499
>Build a Temple for the Deep Ones to empower our shamans
The Deep Ones can probably help us get more fish in the swamp too.

>>5860510
>>5860551
>>5860554


In the depths of the swamp, we begin building a Temple for the Deep Ones. We carve in the rock inscription in the Ancient Tongue and prepare an underwater altar at the deepmost site within the swamp! The squids congregate together on the holiest days to pay hommage to the Deep Ones, entering a powerful trance, and the shamans use their magic to manifest powerful imagery and make a deeply moving display that deepens our faith in the Deep Ones.

At some point in the construction of the Temple the shamans start arguing what Aspect of the Deep Ones should they Exalt. It will influence what powers the Deep Ones will grant our shamans through the faith of our community.

Aspect of Dolphin - The Deep Ones grant us the ability to communicate with all water creatures and give them orders

Aspect of Mantis-Shrimp - The Deep Ones increase the powers of water manipulation to the point our shamans can now cut and pierce using water

Aspect of Hydra - The Deep Ones imbue our shamans with powerful healing abilities allowing them enough powers to regrow lost limbs and even revive people who died very recently

Aspect of Kraken - The Deep Ones allow our shamans to change the weather in a region causing dangerous storms to form within hours

Other aspects are possible, specify what you want.

> Aspect of Dolphin
> Aspect of Mantis-Shrimp
> Aspect of Hydra
> Aspect of Kraken
> Write in

>>5861301
>Aspect of Kraken
Our ancestors. With this power, we'll flood the humans! Flood all the land and make it a paradise for squidkind! By the time we're done, we'll make the deepest seas look shallow!

>>5861301
>> Aspect of Mantis-Shrimp
What's the species with an underwater flame thrower, the pistol shrimp?

>>5861313
>>5861301
>support
Selected wrong one sorry

>>5861309
>>5861313
>>5861405

We choose to Exalt the Aspect of Mantis-Shrimp! The Deep Ones bestow upon our shamans the boom of powerful kinetic manipulation of water, over time their mastery of the element grows to such heights that they can cut and pierce using their control over water!

We've been living in relative peace for awhile, growing our numbers, building our temple and worshipping our deities when we are remembered that we are immersed in a territorial dispute with the despicable humans. The humans send adventurers to check our swamp. A bunch of warriors and a caster, who uses his magic to let them walk over water!

But that won't save them!

> They won't find anything, our temple is underwater, let them wander
> Send our shamans to kill them, you wanna test the new powers
> Send our assassins to quickly dispatch the adventurers
> Capture the adventurers alive for interrogation
> Write in

>>5861587
>Send our shamans to kill them, you wanna test the new powers
>Make sure they have an escort of our strongest warrior squids
Let's disrupt their wizard's waterwalking and drown them

>>5861589
>>5861587
>support

Rolled 13, 76, 12 = 101 (3d100)

>>5861589
>>5861597


You send your shamans escorted by your best warriors to confront the adventurers, eager to test the new powers bestowed upon you by the Deep Ones. Your strategy consists on disrupting the caster so that the warriors lose their waterwalking ability and drown!

The battle that ensues is fierce, with the warriors on both sides engaging in combat while the wizard and the shamans fling spells at each other! This wizard seems to be particularly powerful and has lots of spells available to him.

Roll 3d100 to see who will come up victorious!

> Dispatch the warriors first, once the wizard is alone he will be easy prey
> Let's not take any unnecessary risks here, do a hit and run
> Concentrate on the wizard, he is the real danger here
> Write in

Rolled 63, 86, 39 = 188 (3d100)

>>5861621
> Let's not take any unnecessary risks here, do a hit and run
> Concentrate on the wizard, he is the real danger here

Rolled 2, 47, 27 = 76 (3d100)

>>5861621
>> Concentrate on the wizard, he is the real danger here
the swamp will claim the rest of them

>>5861621
>Concentrate on the wizard, he is the real danger here
Once the wizard falls, the warriors will drown. Glory to the Deep Ones!

Rolled 51, 52, 51 = 154 (3d100)

Also I am moderately retarded

Rolled 64, 20, 23 = 107 (3d100)

>>5861621
> Concentrate on the wizard, he is the real danger here

>>5861623
>>5861627
>>5861635
>>5861637
>>5861678


The battle rages on fiercely. For every Razor Wave we send against the wizard, he answer with a Razor Wind, for every Water Spike, with a powerful Shield. But there are too many of us and only one of him and eventually we find an opening, and that is all we need - a well placed water spike pierces through his shoulder. The bleeding dulls his reflexes and soon enough he suffer another wound and by then we know it is over for him.

He might have noticed the same for he summons a giant flying bird and calls for his companions to hop in, probably wanting to flee. He might have got away with it if he left his companions behind, but in his urge to be a hero and save everyone he doomed himself. In a bout of brilliance, a shaman called for a triple attack - one on the warriors, one on the wizard and one on the bird. The wizard was unable to defend everyone at once, and the wounded bird flew away prematurely.

Unwilling to let them escape though, we focused our attacks on the fleeing bird and managed to wound its wings and it fell, plunging into the swamp.

The wizard emmerged from the waters surrounded by a sphere of energy, but it was clear that he was spent, his breathing heavy, his robe covered in blood. He's been fighting on the defensive the whole time trying to keep his friends alive. But the swamp claimed them, and now he was unfettered.

The wizard cast a huge hailstorm upon us, forcing us to run away and take cover. He then started killing our warriors one by one with bolts of cold energy. His barrier of energy protected him from our magical attacks!

One of our shamans realized what must be done. He approached the wizard while submerged, and jumped from out of the water and grappled the wizard. From this close, the barrier wouldn't protect him! He cast Razor Water and chopped off the wizard's head!

His barrier flickered off as his head fell into the swamp waters.

Searching the swamps after the battle, you found the warriors all had heavy metal armor, a rather poor choice for coming into a flooded swamp. They had metal swords and some had daggers, which you looted. They had some coin and random equipment in their bags (blankets, flasks of oil, torches, things like that). You loot it all and carry it to your lair.

The wizard only had a big poach with the most random things stashed in it. Perhaps those were components he needed for his spells.

>>5862177

Witnessing the power of our magic, our warrior spoke well of it to our elders. They have been wondering whether it wouldn't be feasible to give some combat training to the shamans, or give some magical power to the warriors, or come to some similar arrangemente.

"We don't live very long lives. By the time a shaman masters the magical arts, he is already kinda old and isn't in his physical prime anymore."

"Yes, but maybe we don't need the warriors to master the magical arts. A little bit of magic would suffice."

"Hmmm... our magic is a gift from the Deep Ones for our devotion. To master it early in life would require much devotion indeed. But there might be ways."

> Offer a Sacrifice to the Deep Ones
> Commune with the Deep Ones and ask for a Gift
> Send pilgrims to find the Ocean and learn more about the Deep Ones
> Write in

>>5862179
>go get some kobold from boats and sacrifice them. Ask the deep one for blessings we can cast on our warriors.
>train more shamans
>find where the kobold are living in the caves by talking to the rats. Tell them we are gonna flood the kobolds tunnels.

>sacrifice the lot of them in preparation to kill the dragon. (It'll probably come out if we flood the tunnels)

>>5862205

You lay an ambush and capture some kobolds when they are boating around and sacrifice them to the Deep Ones. You ask for blessings we can cast on our warriors.

The shamans say that the Deep Ones communicated with them in a vision that they could perform a ritual that would empower our warriors. Through this ritual, we would sacrifice a criature to the Deep Ones and through this sacrifice the warrior would be Empowered, mutating and becoming an Eldritch Champion, a more powerful version of himself! However, Eldritch Champions are naturally unstable, bloodthirsty and even more short lived than the average squid, so we might want to only do this ritual if we are anticipating a big fight.

We go talk to the rats and ask where the kobolds are living in the caves. They agree to show us. A small group of rats lead us through the tunnels and point to us where the kobolds territory lies.

We consider flooding the kobold tunnels! We know where their underground territory lies, if we dig a big hole and connect it to river we could flood a good part of their tunnels.

> Let's flood the kobold tunnels!
> We need to prepare beforehand (what we need?)
> Let's talk to the kobolds first, demand something (what?)
> Write in

>>5862226
>Let's flood the kobold tunnels!
Easily done. They may be cold-blooded, like us, but they're also dragon worshipers which is unacceptable.

>>5862226
> Let's flood the kobold tunnels!
>do it as a sacrifice to the deep ones.
We'll need power to deal with the dragon.

>>5862251
>Can we also send some assassins in like 5-10min after we flood it. So we can loot/finish off any kobold survivors. Run if they find the dragon. Make 10 champions to go kill the survivors as the front wave shock troops. Send assassins after them to watch and assist.

>>5862243
>>5862251
>>5862256

You dig a big hole and flood the kobold tunnels!

You send some assassins into the flooded tunnels to assess the damage done to the kobolds.

The return reporting seeing a few drowned kobolds in the tunnels, but the entire complex wasn't flooded. Most kobolds escaped in time to areas that weren't flooded. They seemed very angry and tossed rocks at our assassins when they were peeping at them.

> Invade the kobold tunnels and kill the kobolds
> Capture some kobolds alive to be sacrificed
> Ignore the kobolds
> Write in

>>5862262
>Invade the kobold tunnels and kill the kobolds
With their tunnels flooded our shamans can use their powers.

>>5862312


You invade the kobold tunnels and kill the kobolds! Your shamans slaughter them with your powerful magic, cutting and piercing through the weak kobolds. The creatures put some token resistance but they are too weak, our magic easily overpowers them!

We arrive at their birthing chambers, where the last of their defenders are trying to protect their young and females. Their elderly shaman and his apprentices are there with them, and he tells us.

"What have we ever done to you for you to slaughter us so senselessly? Have mercy upon us and stop this meaningless and purposeless violence!"

> Let the kobolds live
> Demand tribute for our mercy
> Slaughter every last one of them
> Capture them and sacrifice them to the Deep Ones
> Write in

>>5862318
"You breathe dry air and worship the dragon. That's enough to seal your fate."
>Capture them and sacrifice them to the Deep Ones

>>5862324

"You breathe dry air and worship the dragon. That's enough to seal your fate.", you answer the kobold shaman.

You capture the kobolds and sacrifice them to the Deep Ones!

The Deep Ones are pleased with your unwavering devotion! The shamans receive an Omen.

"A vile darkness will overtake your lands. In the open seas you may find the ally you need to defeat even the strongest of foes, but everything has a price."

The shamans are pretty sure it is about the dragon and some huge sea creature the Deep Ones could send to help us in the fight if we went to the open seas and asked for help.

But it is our call, really. The dragon must be really angry now that we killed his worshippers.

> Send some pilgrims down the river looking for the open seas
> We can deal with the dragon on our own we don't need no sea allies
> Let's not just sit here and wait, go on the offensive, raid the dragon's lair
> Write in

(specify if you want to reserve some sacrifices to create Eldritch Champions and how many)

>>5862334
> Send some pilgrims down the river looking for the open seas
>make 20 champions
>send our assassins and champions to attack the humans. Attack at night open the gates for our champions and warriors. Send shamans to launch assassins into the city and provide support.
>Leave the wizard and other humans we killed earlier in the birthing room. Maybe we can have the dragon attack them too.
>send an assassin to tell the dragon the humans are attacking and flooding the tunnels. And we want to be friends and point the dragon in the right direction.

>>5862343
Genius. I'll support this treachery.

Rolled 100, 14, 66 = 180 (3d100)

>>5862343
>>5862350


You send some pilgrims down the river looking for the open seas.

You make some sacrifices to create 20 Eldritch Champions! The hulking creatures are not very talkative and look irritable. They lust for combat and are not fit for much else.

We leave the decayed corpses of the adventures we killed earlier in the birthing room where we killed the kobolds.

We then send an assassin to tell the dragon the humans are attacking and flooding the tunnels and we want to be friends.

We send our assassins, shamans and champions to attack the humans! We want to open the gates and capture some humans.

Roll 3d100 to see if we will be successful in our attack against the humans!
> Expose the assassins more
> Expose the shamans more
> Expose the champions more
> Write in

Rolled 8, 68, 93 = 169 (3d100)

>>5862351
>Expose the champions more
They're inherently disposable. Also-
>dat crit
Fucking humans, man. We'll need to make a proper squid civilization if we want to consistently take over their cities.

>>5862354

Our shamans use their magic to send a wave over the walls with the assassins so they can unlock the gates.

But the humans just lower their gates! The assassins are met with fierce resistance at the walls, and from the gates pour cavalry.

Their horsemen engage our champions and chase our shamans. It is a slaughter! Our champions are killed, the assassins never make it out of the walls and as our shamans try to run away they are chased by the knights. They fight back, using they magic to chop off the legs of the horses, but the knights still manage to catch up with most of them and few shamans escape.

The assassin we sent to talk with the dragon never returns.

Within a few days, the water at our settlement becomes dark and all our young die. When we drink it or swim in it, we become sick. The fouled water spreads all the way to the other swamp through our canal and we all get really sick in both our settlements. We can't reproduce anymore as our babies just die in the fouled water!

"The dragon poisoned the water!"

The pilgrims we sent down the river retun. They say they found the Ocean! We could go there and summon some big creature to kill the dragon!

What are we gonna do?
> We need to train more warriors, we are defenseless
> We need to train more shamans, we've been wiped out
> We need to find a non fouled water source to raise our young
> We need to kill the dragon, go to the ocean and summon some muscle
> Write in

>>5862367
> We need to kill the dragon, go to the ocean and summon some muscle
> We need to train more warriors, we are defenseless
> We need to train more shamans, we've been wiped out
When we kill the dragon our water will clear up

>>5862390
Agreed, we need to go all-in. Getting the dragon to turn on the humans was a gamble to start with, worth risking an assassin for.

>>5862390
>>5862399

We start training more warriors and shamans, but it will take awhile.

In the meantime, we head to the shore and start summoning something powerful to defeat a dragon!

"Deep Ones, we need help! A black dragon is poisoning our water! We need to kill it so we can have our babies and rebuild our army!"

You chant and chant for weeks at the ocean until your prayers are heard!

A giant tentacle creature emerges from the water!

"Fear Not Children!", you hear in your minds, "I Will Eat This Dragon."

The giant tentacle monster is followed by a big army of various kinds of sea creatures!

They follow the river gorging on all the fish along the path until they arrive at the swamp. The giant monster sinks its tentacles in a hole in the ground. The dragon emmerges from its lair seemingly panicked and tries to fly away. The giant monster leaps at the dragon and grapples it. The two beings start fighting, but it is clear that the giant tentacle monster has the upper hand. The hordes of creatures start tearing at the dragon, eating whatever bits of it as soon as they can rip it off from the creature. It takes several hours for the monster to eat the giant dragon, who struggles and uses its breath weapon repeatedly, killing many of the creatures. But the remaining creatures who can't find an opening to attack the dragon just eat the fallen! After a long fight, the giant monster eats the dragon! Not even bone is left!

The giant monster then lays one big egg in the swamp.

"Now Come With Me Children. There Are More Meals To Be Had. The Ocean Is Big. Much Eating To Do."

Your people feel compelled to follow the giant monster orders! The vast majority of your people just grab whatever weapon they can find and then follow the giant monster back into the sea.

The dragon is gone, but your numbers have been almost depleted, and not a single warrior is left.

Your people have legends about these monsters! They are the 'Devourers', some call them Aboleths. They mind control hordes of sea creatures, who follow them mindlessly, helping them kill and eat everything in their path.

> Let's loot the dragon hoard!
> Let's raise our young at the sea, the swamp water is still fouled
> The foul water hasn't disappeared, look for a non fouled water source to raise our young
> Wait until the giant monster leaves and destroy the egg, if it spawns it will just enslave us
> Write in

>>5862399
After dealing with the dragon I say we expand into the lake and ocean. And start zergling pooing out units. Unless you have a better idea friend.

>>5862410
>loot the dragon horde
>pray to the deep ones and use magic to cleanse the water (this can wait if we have no shamans)
>go to the ocean and lake to repopulate
Our orginal home isnt fouled ya?
>breeding frenzy go

>>5862410
>Let's loot the dragon hoard!
Before anyone else gets to it. We need to keep the Egg safe no matter what, it is a literal idol of our faith.

>>5862411
I agree. Cleaning the swamp should be our priority.

>>5862414
Tbh I'm hoping we can use shaman magic to get it under our control once it hatches.

>>5862415
I agree. The Aboleth is going to take time for its powers to mature.

>>5862410
>Let's loot the dragon hoard!

>>5862411
>>5862413
>>5862414
>>5862415
>>5862416
>>5862430


We descend into the hole left by the Devourer and find the lair of the dragon. The place is full of giant centipedes and scorpions, and pools of acid and poison and all over the place.

Still, safely amidst the sludge, is a shiny pile of gold! A fair amount of magical equipment, belonging to adventurers who tried and failed to kill the dragon can also be found.

A handful of magical swords, maces and flails.

A magical shield.

A magical staff.

Lots of precious gems.

All in all a respectable hoard.

Carrying all that gold out of this hole would take some effort.

> Take only the magical weapons and gems, we don't really need gold
> Take as much as we can, soon enough others will show up to claim it
> This gold is ours and we will take it all, bring everyone to carry it home
> Write in

>>5862452
>This gold is ours and we will take it all, bring everyone to carry it home
We won't get another opportunity like this.

>>5862455
+1 for this. Gold is more versatile, if we find trading partners who prefer gold over sacrifices

>>5862452
>Take as much as we can, soon enough others will show up to claim it
Our rewards are hard won and won't be stolen away

>>5862452
> This gold is ours and we will take it all, bring everyone to carry it home.
>take the magic items to the cultists see If they can identify the magic items.
>give staff to shaman (after identifying it)
>see if the cultists can purify the water see what they would want in return for the deed.
>breeding frenzy

>>5862455
>>5862505
>>5862540
>>5862544


We grab the magical items and gems then mobilize our people to carry all this gold to our home!

As we are moving all the gold around, we see a shadow looming above us.

A big green dragon descends from the sky.

"Nice hoard of gold you have there, squids. Now surrender it to me and nobody gets hurt."

Although he says that, he doesn't actually waits for a response. He attacks our people with a gas breath and our workers suffocate to death. He collects a small chunk of our gold and carries it away, presumably to stash it at his own lair somewhere.

"It won't end here. He knows we have a lot of gold. He will come back."

After we carry a good amount of the gold back home, the vampires appear on the place.

"You know, a dragon's hoard is cursed. This much gold attracts a lot of greed. You shouldn't burden yourselves with it little squids. Here, let us unburden you!"

The vampires come with a bunch of slaves carrying wheelbarrows, fully intent of carrying the gold to their own territory. They don't really attack our workers taking gold either. They don't seem to be up to a fight.

> Attack the vampires, this gold is ours
> Leave the rest of the gold to the vampires
> Tell the vampires they can keep some of it if they give us the rat's relics
> Write in

>>5863082
> Tell the vampires they can keep some of it if they give us the rat's relics
We going to kill them next.
>breeding frenzy

>>5863082
>Tell the vampires they can keep some of it if they give us the rat's relics
Fair trade is a fair trade

>>5863082
>Tell the vampires they can keep some of it if they give us the rat's relics
Get the relics for diplomatic purposes

>>5863119
>>5863123
>>5863148


You tell the vampires they can keep some of the gold if they give us the rat's relics.

"Well, if the price for you to not create trouble for us is those old things then you may have it."

They give the rat relics to you and the both of you empty the dragon's lair of gold!

Returning to your own lair in the home swamp, whose depths now hide a huge treasure in gold, you seek the cultists to ask whether they can identify the magical items for you.

"These are some powerful items you have there. A vorpal sword, a dragon slaying sword, a three regular magical swords, a mace of power, a four regular magical maces, a vampiric flail, a couple four magical flails. The vorpal one has a good chance of chopping off someone's head. The mace of power stashes a spell and releases it when it deals a lucky strike on someone. The vampiric flail steals energy from people and heals the user. The dragon slaying sword deals extra damage to dragons. They are worth a fortune!"

"What about the staff?"

"It is a Staff of the Magi. It stashes up to seven spells, which can be released in rapid succession. If you stash the same spell multiple times, it can be released as a more powerful version of the spell instead of various instances of the same spell. It is a very powerful item."

"Thanks for identifying these items for us, friends."

"What makes you think we will let you out of this temple with such priceless treasures?"

The greed of the cultists gets the best of them and they murder your emissaries and steal your magical treasures.

They let one of your emissaries live, who returns a few days later to our settlement and reports as follows:

"Go back to your people and say that the temptation was too much for us to resist, but we mean your tribe no ill. It will be useless to attack us to retrieve the items for before you return to your home we will have sent these items to other places to be sold already."

Those treacherous cultists! It was a mistake to trust them!

The fouled water is starting to clear up after the dragon's death. It didn't clear up immediately, but after a few weeks it started to clear up.

We start a breeding frenzy, for we will need plenty of warriors to defeat all these enemies that surround us!

> We need to lay low for awhile, just keep a low profile and breed
> Our enemies must pay for the humiliations they caused us, ask the Deep Ones to destroy them
> We should give the rats their relics and ask them to use their plagues to destroy our enemies
> Write in