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Events Summary:

After saving Jacob's Field from a magical plague and an attack from Kan-Abar with Sir Donovant Flint and Abigail, a young girl, you met with the ambitious and brilliant Duke Vellik - a man with aims to reshape the political landscape of the world. He rules the country of Kelvere from the city of Evinbrook. He's asked for your allegiance, in return for a home and protection for yourself and your friends. You decided to offer your friendship, but without a permanent commitment to his forces.

But as you answered him, the sudden arrival of two angels - Raziel and Auriel - threw you into battle. Raziel hunted you as you fled, and his attacks pressed you into a corner on the Duke's airship. Seeing little choice, you consumed the airship's magical dynamo. The resulting explosion of power enabled you to drive off the angel.

However, the battle ripped open the hull of the airship, and you were forced to choose between saving the crew or finishing of your attacker. You saved the crew and successfully landed the mostly-intact craft.

You pursued Raziel, and captured him, but he ended up a hostage in your negotiations with Auriel, who was quick to arrive on the scene. Ultimately, you could not disuade her from attacking, but you were able to consume your prisoner, permanently ending the threat of Raziel.

With the energy of Raziel's soul secure, you unleashed a great power - supersonic flight. You outraced Auriel back to Evinbrook, and Sir Flint, a staunch ally, promised to meet you back in Jacob's Field, to begin the search for Abigail, and the ancient lich watching over her, Adavan.

In Jacob's field, you learned that the occupying Kanians have noticed the great source of spirit beneath the town, but have been unable to access it. Their attacking force is on its way to Evinbrook. You also learned more of Abigail's past, and her parents, specifically her father. You believe there may be a connection between her and the ruler of Archon, the archmage Yi Fang.

>>24445057
Yay! The wait is over!

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Ability Tree

GREEN abilities have been unlocked and learned.

BLUE abilties are unlocked, but are not yet purchased.

RED abilities are revealed, but locked due to prerequisites.

UNDERLINED abilities are active-use, as opposed to passive.

Unlocked Ability Descriptions Located in the following Pastebin link:

http://pastebin.com/6zFuUXQm

Books the Main Character has read can be found here: (in-progress)

http://pastebin.com/i0zjDPpS

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Current Statistics:

HP: 21/21
Mana: 4/4
EXP: 0
Humanity: 24
Temerity: 17

Basic Battle Options to keep in mind during fights (it would get tedious to list all of them every time):

-Physical Attack
-Shadow Attack (requires light source!)
-Magic Attack
-Defend
-Dodge and Counter
-specific ability (Battle-specific abilities activate same-turn; others burn a turn to activate)
-Flee (dodge check if enemy attacks)

Equipment:

Utility belt with purse

Inventory:

Shadow Sword Shard
Spirit Sword (with Flint)
Fancy Sun-Moon Key

Current Location:

Jacob's Field - currently occupied by Kan-Abar

>>24445078
Well, we can cross out bringing her to the Duke for safety. I'm absolutely sure that he wouldn't want to use her as an ace in the hole for dealing with Yi Fang...

Sorry. I can't keep my face straight...

>>24445116

>Last time...

You glance at the house.

Abigail's parents were full of secrets...that much you know.

Abigail Fang. Who is this girl? What is her place in the world?

Suddenly, you remember. The duke mentioned a mage - Yi Fang, the archmage and ruler of Archon. Archon, Archonium...it can't be a coincidence. Abigail is not just a normal girl. She's very, very special.

And her father ran away from home, for one reason or another. And she and Adavan are out there somewhere, alone.

You feel a shiver run through you.

Auriel's words echo in your head.

"Conflict always finds power."

What is your place in the world? What do you want to do? Would you truly be content with living with Abigail and Adavan in a log cabin in the woods? Waiting until something finds you, or until the world falls apart?

You have too many questions to be satisfied with that. Questions about what you are, why you have the powers you do, why you're hunted - and why your memory still lingers behind a wall of steel.

You feel at it...

...it's gone.

The steel barrier in your mind is gone. For a moment, you feel a rising sense of joy as you plunge forward...!

...but you're only greeted with emptiness.

Whatever was there, is gone.

Anger boils inside of you.

No. A quiet life alone, in ignorance, will not do. You will find the elf noblewoman...and you will have an explanation.

Or there will be hell to pay.

>>24445057
>Archive compiled using with only story posts for easier read-through (may not be totally up-to-date):
I got it up to date just in time for this one :)

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>>24445143
TO THE CHURCH!

Aww yeah, shadow quest!

For what seems like the hundredth time, you push the frustration away. Immediate concerns must take precedent.

Jacob's Field is occupied by a force numbering in the thousands - no doubt working to solidify Kan-Abar's control of the river, dividing Kelvere in two. It's no scouting expedition. They're building a fort, there's mages everywhere, and they have an earth golem nearly two-stories tall patrolling the edge of the village.

You've learned that an attacking force led by the ruler of Kan-Abar, lord Nulis Vin, is headed for Evinbrook, and at its head is a demon lord.

You're not sure whether the duke was prepared for that, or not, but Sir Flint is probably already halfway to Jacob's Field by now.

What do you do?

>head to the Old Forest Keep to wait
>harass the encampment by consuming their supplies (or some other plan, write-in)
>hunt and kill mages
>hunt and kill men high in their chain of command
>fly down and intercept Flint, then head back to Evinbrook to warn the duke
>something else

>>24445243
>>harass the encampment by consuming their supplies (or some other plan, write-in)
I believe this was the plan we worked out last thread.

>>24445243
CONSUME all of their precious food.

>>24445057
It's Shadow Time!

Oh and SM I'm pretty sure I know where we can find the Water and earth elements based off past threads.
>A Keystone's calls go unheard
This is taking about the Water element which is hinted at in the book "Keystone of Atlantis"
While the earth element is noted to be somewhere southwest of Evinbrook which would put it in the Kanian desert.

>>24445143

Now that we have a map, I feel instantly compelled to put tiny men of our color in every country on it. First things first, though, we should probably find Adavan and Abigail. Every second we wait makes them harder to track down and if she's so very special we might not be the only ones looking.

Nevertheless it may be wise to investigate the massive energy source beneath this town so long as we're already here.

>>24445243

And you also have a strange wisp of darkness floating about your head, seemingly summoned by your power. You've uncovered something there...a way to open a path to someplace...else.

---------------------
SUMMONING
---------------------

Summons cost mana to bring forward, and then follow you around passively. Each battle action they take costs you additional mana, and, for better summons, risks them breaking your control.

A summon can be dismissed at any time, but this triggers a control-break check.

If you run out of mana while controlling a summon, either from casting a spell or using the last of your mana to direct it in some task, your summon is automatically dismissed, and a riskier control-break is triggered.

Types of summons:

Ethereal - ghosts, spirits, and haunts. These summons have weaker attacks, but are highly resilient, and generally have a cheaper action-cost once summoned. They are difficult to detect by mundane means, but easily visible to most kinds of magical detection. They are found in the left branch of the summon tree.

Demonic - demons of the nether. While not stealthy by any means, they are physically strong and command powerful fire magic. They have some of the highest raw attack power, but tend to be more expensive, and have higher control-break risks. They are the central branch of the tree.

Shadow - animated undead, as well as shadow spirits and wisps. While these summons tend to be the weakest in endurance and attack power, they are cheaper. They also passively gain whatever stealth bonus you have, and have lower control-break risks. They make up the right branch of the tree.

Current Summon:

>Wisp - A shadowy wisp from the nether. (2 shadow attack (same power as shadow strike). Costs 1 mana to summon, 1 mana per action. Never breaks your control; if you run out of mana, it will vanish.

>>24445243
Well, how about we ruin a couple of people's day, then buy ourselves replicate?

>>24445243
They had people chopping down wood from the forest correct? Why don't we slowly pick off off the lumberjacks. Pick one drain and drag him into the forest. Rinse and repeat.

>>24445243
Do you have a map of the world? If so can you fog it and unfog the parts we have found?

>>24445243
Harass the camp. Eat some soldiers, maybe some officers if they're not well guarded.

Don't kill any mages yet. The other mages would surely detect the death of one of their own and raise the alarm.

>>24445323
There's a map of the world here >>24445078

>>24445346
Never noticed it, thank you.

>>24445243

Find the food stores and eat everything.

There's perhaps no better way to paralyze the fighting force - the command structure is in triplicate so we can't expect to assassinate everyone of importance.

What we can do is stall the entire fortification process and foment disorder on a grand scale. When men go hungry, they get angry.

>>24445329
I like this. Let's make some urban legends about the all-consuming shadow!

>>24445272
>southwest

I really hope I said southeast in regards to the earth. Because I meant southeast.

ALSO

To quote an anon from the last thread:

>You are considering the first 10 rolls for 1s and 100s. This gives a chance of about 18.3% to either critical fail or win. I just wanted you to be aware that roughly one in 5 rolls you ask for will be critical. Taking only the first 5 rolls into consideration would lead to a ration of about 1 to 10 of critical rolls to normal results. It is your decision to make, but I for one like my characters abilities to be somewhat reliable and having a one in five chance for it to go right or wrong regardless of how good the ability is supposed to be is too unreliable for my tastes.

>My suggestion is that instead of having 1s and 100s determine the entire result you count them as an addition the the results. For example if a roll was failed but you roll a 100 you can salvage your failure and don't have backlash from your failure. Basically a 1 just makes the result worse, a 100 makes it better without determining the entire thing.

I was already concerned about the high crit percentage, so I'm changing to this method. Crits WITHIN THE FIRST THREE ROLLS will count as "super crits" that decide the majority of the action. Crits WITHIN THE FIRST TEN ROLLS will tilt the roll outcome either way, such as saving you from 'backlash' or making an otherwise successful attack a 'glancing blow'.

>>24445243
Hey SM, am I wrong in thinking that Wind Resistance will let us fly better in the sky shear Or whatever the fuck it's called? Because that might be a REALLY good investment for us, now that we've got fly and super-sanic

>>24445375
I second this! Let's make them have a riot!

>>24445403

Sky-Sever.

Wind resistance will help you resist wind-based damage. Logically, this would reduce the damage the Sky-Sever could do to you.

However, I'd like to remind you that you've seen the Sky-Sever stripping away the wood-steel-adamantium hull of an airship. It is not a normal spell.

----------------------------
----------------------------

VOTE 1
>consume food stores

VOTE 2
>hunt lumberjacks, and any unguarded officers

VOTE 3
>mission: mages

>>24445393
Ah, that makes much more sense and just means Earth is located in the southeastern wasteland.
>>24445387
This could work, if we start with the people nearest the woods we could make the woods "cursed" or something

>>24445484
1

>>24445484
1

>>24445484
Second.

As in 2.

>>24445484
2

>>24445484
2 for urban legends!

>>24445484
Food stores
We shadow

>>24445484
1
And perhaps even later if we have time we can somehow find a way to harass their supply routes, it's the quickest way to defeat mobile armies. As well as put strain on the populace supporting them.

>>24445484
1

>>24445484

Devour the food. Logistics is the most important part of a military campaign. It's how Cao Cao won at Guandu.

>>24445484

Voting 1.

>>24445484
2 Because it's the closest we'll ever be in this quest thread to what I originally wanted...

>>24445484
Voting 2.

You decide that sitting around and waiting wouldn't accomplish much. You have to hit them where it hurts.

You don't need food, beyond eating to replenish your stamina. But humans must eat just to live - and frequently. You wonder how they'd react if you consumed their stores.

You decide that you'd like to find out.

You slither and slip and sneak your way up toward the half-constructed fortress. There's a lot of torchlight, but you clamber up a darker side of the wall and perch near the top for a better view.

The inside of the fort is a hive of activity. A wide breach in the north end, opposite you, looks like the foundations of a gate. To the west is a long pen sloping down the hill holding what must be several hundred horses.

The square fort itself is divided into quadrants. Two are filled with rows of small tents; another, larger pavilions and tents. The final fourth is set with long tables crowded with soldiers, and has several long, wide pavilions with crates and barrels stacked inside.

It seems as though you've found your target. There's more than a few mages, but they seem concentrated in the section with the larger, fancier tents. Perfect.

You sneak toward the storage tents...

Roll 1d100

>>24445484
2 for me!

Rolled 59

>>24445671
ROLLAN

Rolled 19

>>24445671

Engage gluttony mode.

Rolled 94

>>24445671
Need to consume... rising.

Rolled 17

>>24445671

>>24445694
Gluttony mode disabled.

>>24445704
About fucking time.

Rolled 26

>>24445671

Rolled 33

>>24445671
This is the last time I will ever do this, if it fails.
I invoke the power of baby seals for this roll.

Rolled 74

>>24445749
FUCK SEALS

>>24445749
STOP DEVALUING THE BABY SEAL PRAYER ROLL, DAMNIT!

>>24445770
Clearly, we need pictures of baby seal clubbers.

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>>24445807

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Rolled 79

>>24445807
I will test this theory.
Fuck seals, fuck the entire seal saving movement. Seals should be EXTINCT.

>>24445873
IT WORKS!

You slink along in the darkness near where the earthen wall rises. Soon, you're at the entrance to the supply tents.

A man is standing outside one with several leafs of paper and a harried look on is face. A group of men enter, then leave, all carrying several crates and barrels back toward the mess tables. The man makes some scratchy notes, then scurries away. You're alone.

You slip into the tent. You can taste the aroma of food...and in the barrels, water, and something else - it smells a bit like the bar Flint was at. But more like the red drink that the duke was always sipping at meals.

You spread out like a tidal wave of black ink and consume the tent, piece by piece, eating through wood, paper, acidifying water, liquifying dried meats and hard biscuits. You feel full, but as if you could consume forever.

If you had lips, you'd smack them. You do it anyway, using ink to make large, heavy smacking sounds. Human peculiarities are oddly entertaining.

When you're done, all that remains is several sizable barrels of what you think is beer and twenty caskets of wine. You've no desire to imbibe any of Flint's ignorance potions.

You turn to leave...

...the frazzled counting man is standing at the entrance to the tent. He stands there, stunned. His pen and papers slip from his hands and scatter across the grass. His mouth opens and closes without making any sounds.

What do you do?

>CONSUME
>run!

>>24445873
I am both relieved and disturbed at that pic, and frankly hope we just keep this as a phrase, instead of something real...

>>24445906
CONSUME HIM

>>24445906
Send him a mentle image of him screaming and us devouring him and then of him sitting down remaining silent and us slipping away.
Make it as threatening as possible.

>>24445954
mental*

>>24445906
Consume using ink to invade hs body trought the mounth. This way he cant scream and denounce us

>>24445954

Adding:
>threaten him into terrified silence, then calmly slip away

Sometimes I get so caught up in CONSUME I forget more subtle options.

>>24445906
This feels unclear, did he see us consume all these things and watch us smack our ambiguous lips or did he just walk in and see the food gone?

>>24445954
Seconding this. It'll be much more hilarious to see him try to explain how all the food disappeared.

Also, destroy all the booze! Humans seem to want to forget a lot! Let's make it IMPOSSIBLE to forget!

>>24445977
It's okay, for it's bound to happen.
If we pull this off and can get to the foods can can pick off their lumberjacks!

>>24446001
I LOIKE YOU, LAD! Seconded for hilarity!

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>>24445977
Uh-huh.

You decide to intimidate the man to silence. A rumor of darkness may be useful...

...and to destroy the barrels, if you have time. They will not forget you, no.

Roll 1d100

>>24445906
>Eat the food but leave the booze
That's an incredible disaster we've brewed, without food they'll want more booze but being on an empty stomach will make the alcohol work faster and sharper.
Weeeeeeee.

>>24446001
You can even use us destroying one of the barrels to help terrify him.

>>24446001
THE BOOZE MUST FLOW FREELY LIKE THE RIVER BLUE AND TRUE

Rolled 98

>>24446067

Rolled 82

>>24446067

Rolled 21

>>24446067

Rolled 6

>>24446067
Baby seals are terrible worthless creatures not worthy of life, justice, or free fish.

>>24446083
Like Big Rock Candy Mountain?

>>24446094
No need for any more rolls. We've scared the poor bastard to death.

>>24446094
Lady luck is with me lads!
And it seems like we left him speechless.

Rolled 80

>>24446101
It was baby seal CLUBBING, man, CLUBBING.

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Rolled 73

>>24446067
FUCK YOU, SEALS

>>24446101
The seal gods are fickle, anon.

>>24446113
Exactly.

>>24446147
Now the song is stuck in your head

>>24446134
see
>>24446128
>>24446132
...well, fuck seals for the win!

>>24446165
It already was before I came here, funny enough...

Because it is somehow apparently relevant, may I ask of your opinions on baby seals oh glorious Shadow Master?

>>24446190
Well now its stuck in my head. I just trolled myself. Fuck.

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>in time for a shadow quest thread
AWWWWWW YEAAAAH

>>24446211
In the big rock candy mountains...
There's a land that's fair and bright...

>>24446263
MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP

>>24446263
You are now trying to think of a Shadow Quest equivalent of this song.

>>24446310
NO. NEVER.

>>24446334
Correction: I am now WRITING a shadow quest version of this song and getting my vocaroo link prepared.

>>24446263
in the big obsidian mountains
there's a land that's dark as night etc. etc

I feel like I'm missing something here. What is rock candy and how can it be mountains?

You shock the man with two impressions.

In your first image, he tries to flee. A shadowy tentacle grabs his leg, then drags him back, kicking, screaming all the way until you devour him in your form.

A dark stain forms around the man's crotch. He whimpers.

You send him a second image of him crawling into the corner, putting his hands over his head, and of you walking out of the tent.

The intent of the message is clear. The man scrambles into the corner and ducks his head, sniffling and shaking.

You smash the barrels to pieces, breaking the wood and spraying the wine and beer everywhere. The liquid pours across the ground and is soon muddied and useless.

You slip out from the tent just in time to evade a group coming to investigate the source of the sound...

You dig your claws into the earthen wall and quickly scale to the top, and burrow in slightly to watch the chaos you've created.

You hear shouts of anger and a terrified voice echo from within the tent. More men gather when they hear. Whispers and words become a confused, babbled roar as the commotion draws the attention of more and more soldiers.

Eventually, one group is fed up and begins to rip the cloth of the pavilion away.

Finding it empty, a majority of the crowd goes silent. They begin to work faster, lifting the cloth up and over the several wooden stakes supporting its girth. It's not long until they realize all their supplies have vanished, and the caskets have been broken.

The soldiers mob the now panic stricken man for an explanation. The word of a shadowy creature spread quickly.

Officers are quick to arrive next, shouting the men off from the supply area. They snap back to other tasks - the Kanians aren't without discipline - but you know that they're still thinking, no matter what their orders.

Your work here is done, for the moment.

Balls of magic are headed your way...a confrontation with the mages on their turf might be pushing things.

con't

>>24446310
WHERE THE HANDOUT'S GROW ON BUSHES, AND YOU SLEEP OUT EVERY NIGHT...

>>24446407

What do you do?

>hunt some lumberjacks
>hunt for officers back in the town
>wait until the mages gather and try to kill as many as you can
>something else

>>24446407
TO THE FOREST!

>>24446427
Leave the camp, and pick off the far patrols. I mean the ones on the very outskirts.

>>24446364
Where the turnips grow in bushels, and we eat foes in the night.

>>24446427

Is there any particular reason "investigate mysterious energy beneath town" isn't on that list? I'd like to do that but I've been out for a few threads so maybe it's a spectacularly bad idea due to information I've missed.

>>24446427
could we have all the officers shitting themselves in fear? demoralizing them would be the best tactic imo

>>24446427
Lumberjacks! We ate their food so we might as well slow down their construction efforts.

>>24446427
Let's avoid the mages as much as possible and pick people on the outsides of the fortifications to consume.
It's time for some scare tactics.

>>24446467
didn't the mages talk about how they were trying to get to it, and they needed the four keys?

>>24446467
We discovered that the kanian mages are looking for 4 keys to that very area. That's pretty much it. We'll need to fetchitem eventually.

>>24446467
>>24446467

Sure, you can do that.

Before, when you were already in the church and listening in on the mages investigating the energy, I gave the option to "shadow the mages, see if they find anything". Everyone wanted to go to Abigail's house.

Consider my list a basic template for obvious actions to try and keep chaos to a minimum. I do not pretend to think of everything, and it is in no way meant to limit you. But if I just said "what do you want to do" I'd get as many different answers as there are voters, which would make it harder to consolidate.

>>24446427
To the forest!

If some lumberjacks happen to get eaten along the way, well, that's their problem.

>>24446470
>>24446479

I wanna combine these two.
Impression demoralizing images of every other non-mage we come across, scenes of mutilation, their own warriors giving up, on our way to halt the lumberjacks resource gathering.

WAIT GUYS

Let's mimic trees to make it seem like the forest is haunted

>>24446564
Ehh, that costs mana and we could achieve pretty good scare tactics without going into that kind of detail.

>>24446467
> "investigate mysterious energy beneath town"
i support this.

Bring caos was a stupid ideia, btw.

>>24446564
We should wait until we get replicate before we do anything like that.
And if we start CONSUMING the lumberjacks we should leave one or two left alive and send them scrambling with tales of the "Shadow"

>>24446584
Mimic doesn't cost mana, anon.

>>24446555
Yikes let me rephrase that:
Make an effort to impression those that look like they have higher ranks with despair and loss related material. While avoiding the mages.

------------------
------------------

You leave the fortress, sneaking down the hill.

A few horses shy away and whinny at your presence. A passing patrol gives the animals an odd look, but after glancing around, they shrug and continue on.

Your quickly reach the edge of the trees. The lumberjacks have made quick work of the outer forest, leaving it a narrow field of stumps.

Torches light the work area. It seems they're cutting through the night. They're scattered up and down the edge of the wood in a thin line. Perhaps a few dozen soldiers are amongst them, holding conversation and watching the night.

You work your way to the edge of the line, where there is less light and fewer men.

Three soldiers stand at the end of the line of lumberjacks, a short distance from the next group. Two men are working a long saw on a tree. The soldiers are quiet for the moment. The background of axes hacking and saws grating wood covers the sound of your footsteps easily.

You settle just inside the trees, further in the dark.

What do you do?

>pick off one of the lumberjacks and drag him away
>attack the soldiers first, then turn on the woodsmen
>consume one of them right then and there, letting the others run off
>some other strategy

>>24446564
it's no an army of idiots. They got mages there. mages that will try yhe best to detect us from now on.
>>"investigate mysterious energy beneath town", try to hide our energy

>>24446610
Goddammit you're right.
I see the underline and forget that it's ACTIVE and that doesn't mean it needs mana.

>>24446599
It's too dangerous.
There's literally an entire army complete with mages and a golem camped on top of it.

>>24446623
I don't understand the lumberjacks joke.

>>24446623
make ourselves look like a tree and eat one

>>24446623
Slaughter the soldiers quietly. Let the lumberjacks see the mess and report it. Those lumberjacks might just be prisoners...

>>24446623
CONSUME.

After our stunt in the supply tent the mages will already know we're here.

All we really want to do is fill in time while we wait for Flint in as helpful and risk-free ways as possible.

lets eat all of these guys, then smear blood, limbs and torn clothing on the limbs of the trees. Make it seem the trees are eating them.

>>24446652
What jokes?

>>24446623
Stealth pull and cover/consume lumberjacks most close to the forest, like pulling them behind the trees they're cutting and then consuming.

>>24446661
True, that.

>>24446661
why try soo hard to make everyone know we are here?
a Shadow is supposed to be silent

>>24446623
Pick off one of the lumberjacks and drag him away

>>24446693
Well we did just eat their supplies and leave a witness. It's too late for subtlety.

>>24446661
Prisoners from where? The town was evacuated, we were there to make sure everyone fled.

>>24446693
Shadows also hold a lot of man's innate fears

>>24446693
It's part of a larger scheme to instill fear and doubt into these men before they assault the [Future Potential Ally] Duke.
Also these guys destroyed Abigails hometown and their mages almost killed us before.

>>24446706
Other towns, maybe? Prisoners of war from Kan-Abar's war of conquest, likely?

------------
------------

Strategies:

VOTE 1:
>pose as a tree, wait to be cut...and then consume

VOTE 2:
>why be subtle? Drag one of the lumberjacks into the woods, kicking and screaming

VOTE 3:
>attack outright. Kill all of the group, then make a mess of the trees. Then use the "pose as a tree" strategy for maximum fear.

going with Darklings idea to Mimic a tree and scare the crap out of the workers.

once again, demoralizing the workforce can be more effective than outright killing them. that, and we can snack on a couple if we get peckish...

3!!!

>>24446751
Detect magic.
If none detected, 2.

>>24446751
3
WE ARE FEAR

>>24446751
1

>>24446751
3

>>24446751
Ehh, I don't like any of those options.

I guess I'll go with 3 because I wanted maximum fear from the start.

>>24446788

If you don't like any of them, write in your own. I'm just trying to build consensus, is all. Please don't feel restricted by the options I give.

>>24446810
Here's a suggestion:

>kill the Soldiers quietly with shadows, leave the Lumberjacks to panic...

>>24446751
whatever, just consume instead of killing

>>24446836
Seconding this

>>24446810
Then I'd like to go with something silent as
>>24446836
suggested.

Just suffocate them so they can't scream and break their necks quickly from the shadows. We have the strength for it if I recall correctly.

>>24446751

3 !

>>24446751

1

Oh god yes. Sow terror like nothing else.

I feel demoted having to eat woodcutters and soldiers ... Once you have tasted an angel, a mage is the minimum

>>24446877
Hey now food is food, their are starving elementals in the planes that would be glad to eat these woodcutters and soldiers

>>24446863
>>24446861
>>24446836

Ok.

>>24446840

If you consume, you can't make a mess of their remains.

DM's Note:

When attacking from stealth, I'll assume you're using a physical shadow attack by default. If successful, shadow attacks do not break stealth. Physical attacks can still surprise enemies, but always break stealth.

Rolled 72

>>24446836
supporting this

>>24446877
I dunno, man. Sometimes a dozen shitty White Castle burgers are tastier than the fanciest caviar.

>>24446836
Okay, I am get behind this.

>>24446836
This seems like what I wanted in the first place! Fourthed.

>>24446893
I still vote for 3 with consume instead

It's time to put the fear of the shadow into these men.

To start, you decide to kill these soldiers as an example to the others nearby. You feel confident you can defeat their spears and leather armor without much trouble.

Roll 1d100 for your shadow attack

(again, while the MC is in stealth, I'll assume you're using physical shadow attacks by default. If successful, stealth is not broken)

>>24446893
>If you consume, you can't make a mess of their remains.
Then only consume the soldiers. Surely they're a higher class of cuisine.

Splatter the woodcutters around.

Rolled 47

>>24446951

Rolled 53

>>24446951
Dice for the dice god!

Rolled 40

>>24446951

Rolled 62

>>24446951
FUCK THE POLAR ICECAPS

Rolled 45

>>24446953

Rolled 11

>>24446951

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>>24446893
Brouhaha. Stealth kills!

Rolled 61

>>24446966
>>24446962
>>24446960
well we aren't the stealthiest that's for sure

>>24446975
>>24446967
>>24446966
>>24446962
>>24446960

Very average.

Lucky for you, you have all the advantages at the moment. Writing...

i think we made a ruckus

>>24446951

>>24446982
It's because there was no mention of seals nor seal clubbing.

if you want to not count me second roll go ahead, thought it bugged out for a second so I posted twice

>>24446995
(dice+1d100)
No capitols, dude.

>>24447007
There WAS this >>24446967, though...

>>24446810
we need to stay hidden but scare the non soldiers, pick off the solders quietly then make moans and ghostly shadows to remind the people that the woods are rumored haunted

>>24447037
Ahh that skipped my attention completely, and it IS the highest roll there...

>>24447023
i know, just forgot to write XD

You creep up behind the soldiers. One shifts from side to side.

"Hey. You hear what - "

Your shadow pierces his skull. His words turn into a rattling gurgle, then die as his corpse slides back on the spear of your shadow. Blood trickles onto the ground.

The other two soldiers turn at the odd noise.

Your shadow attack pierces the other two soldiers in quick succession, one in the head, the other through his chest. The one struggles and coughs, spluttering blood for a few long, painful moments. He goes slack.

You release your shadowy spears, and the bodies fall to the ground with a thump.

You steal away back into the trees just in time for the lumberjacks to stop sawing. They look over, freeze. Their cries for help are quick to go up over the rest of the line.

Men and lumberjacks gather around the fallen corpses. One of the men, wearing a rather fancy helmet with a red plume, quickly takes command of the situation. Runners head off toward the fortress. The lumberjacks are pressed back to work.

Their work proceeds slowly, and fitfully. They mutter to each other, keeping one eye on the dark wood.

You pose as a tree, using mimic to hold your form. You put a bit of effort into making your outside look like bark. In the flickering half-light of the torches, you blend in easily.

Two lumberjacks begin to move toward you.

"...I dunno. I want my shift to be up already."

"Think it's some kinda magic? I heard a mage talking about something under this town...and I heard another rumor they found a pit full of dead bodies past some of the farmhouses. Sounds like plague."

The other man shivers. "Don't want to think about it."

They reach your position and raise their axes.

You warp, shiver. They stand there, stunned, and their faces slowly transform into masks of horror. You leap on the first, consuming him, eating away at him head-down until you've reached the ground and there's nothing left.

con't

>>24447129

>you've gained 0.25 EXP (total: 0.25)

The other man is petrified with fear. His face is white.

What do you do?

>consume him as well. You'll be damned if you'll get stuck with a quarter of an experience point
>let him run back and spread the TERROR OF THE NIGHT
>some other strategy

>>24447137
>let him run
>head to keep

>>24447137
Ride his shadow and interrogate him!

>>24447137
>let him run back and spread the TERROR OF THE NIGHT
Fear is more useful to us than another measly 0.25 exp and lumberjack is not proper food for one such as us.

>>24447137

Ink over him and melt back into the forest. That should sufficiently scare the living daylights out of him...

>>24447137
Make yourself look demonic and let him run away.

>>24447137
let him run and make a show of it, moan and thrash to scare the shit outta everyone. retreat to keep

>>24447137
>>let him run back and spread the TERROR OF THE NIGHT
Also, we should see if we can find a mage out and abouts on his own. Mages taste delicious.

>>24447137
Give him a BIG SMILE, then slink into the dark...

>>24447178
Oooh like washing over him with DARKNESS ITSELF?
Seconding because that's a story he's going to tell for the rest of his life.

How many men do you guys think we can pick off in one night? Because I think we should just be consuming as many men as we can.

>>24447137
Let him go but send him images of trees attacking all the lumberjacks on the line.

>>24447137
>>some other strategy
ask where is the pit

On an unrelated note, no one has really talked about the fact that there is another army heading towards Evinbrook, and Duke Vellik. An army hidden by a demon that he seems to have no knowledge of. I kind of want to supersonic down there and warn him.

>>24447214
Not for 0.25 EXP each. Every second we dally is time for the mages to get their shit together and come and slap us.

Too much risk, no reward.

can the summoned shadow consume?
Try that if we can

>>24447189
I wanna impression the various commanders/officiers with images related to fear and doubt before we tackle the mages, to get all the nonlethal-to-us actions out of the way before we assault a mage.

>>24447221
the mage said "i wouldn't be surprise if the duke was already aware of them" even their own forces believe the duke already knows about the "hidden" army

>>24447178
this

>>24447221
Angels, brah.
>>24447233
We are not strong enough to take on four mages and a literal army.

>>24447221
Ahh SHIIIIIIT
Okay, SWITCH GEARS, after we're done here we might wanna either stop that army somehow or send a warning to the Duke. (unless the angel is still there)

>>24447221
Surely Auriel will notice the demon and freak the fuck out. Perhaps its for the best that we didn't try to kill her.

>>24447217
>>24447178
A combo of this sounds like just the thing we need!

>>24447200
>>24447185
>>24447182
>>24447178

You Ink yourself into a new form, Mimicing something you've noticed before...a spider.

You snatch a claw toward him.

The man screams and flees into the night.

You withdraw deep into the trees and watch the men under their torches. The terrified man is babbling and nearly incoherent. A brief search for the missing lumberjack turns up nothing - as there's nothing to turn up.

The lumberjacks begin throwing down their tools one by one. This time, the officer's shouts don't persuade them back to the trees. And even he seems a little sweaty, a bit to eager to keep his eyes on the forest...

You can feel two balls of magic walking down from the fortress and toward the forest.

What do you do?

>stay and confront the mages
>look for more lonely officers/mages around the edges of town
>retreat to the keep for now

>>24447178
SHADOH LOEV LUMBARJAK

>>24447261
see
>>24447240
and
>>24447263

It's out of our league.

>>24447229
>implying all the men here are worth .25 EXP
I bet if we consumed those soldiers we would have at least gotten 1 EXP each, EXP we need to upgrade our lacking stealth.

>>24447250
Uhh? I didn't say we should fight an army or the mages, I'm against doing that at all because they've all been able to detect us so far. What I said I wanted to do was find the flashy people in charge and give them 30's era depression reels inside their minds.

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>>24447275

>pictured

>>24447275
>>look for more lonely officers/mages around the edges of town
>>retreat to the keep for now
either find some on the way to the keep, or straight there

>>24447240
>even their own forces believe the duke already knows about the "hidden" army
Well Vellik never mentioned it, and this is something that he almost certainly would have. If we agreed to work for him, then maybe we would have found it on a scouting mission, but he has doesn't have a shadow-spy-assassin-scout extraordinaire to help him out at the moment.
Also, flying there wouldn't take too long

>>24447275
Ride the officer's shadow back to the Encampment...

Midnight snack...

>>24447275
look for some lonely mages and CONSUME THEM

or officers and give them THE FEAR OF THE NIGHT

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>>24447308
This pleases me.

>>24447275
>retreat to the keep for now
If we stay and confront the mages, the enemy will know what we are. Fear of the unknown is much more horrible than fear of a known adversary.

Better to stay out of view of the experts for now.

>>24447315
of course he didn't know about it when we saw him last, the mage said they left after we had bolted from evinbrook. but he said that by NOW the duke already knows about the army

>>24447275
>stay and confront the mages

we can handle 2.
Also, I ask again: can our summoned shadow consume?

>>24447275
>Stay and Confront the mages

But stay back in the woods a bit to observe them.

>>24447275
Opting for, once again, impressions into the minds of their officers of scary things.

>>24447275
>>stay and confront the mages
If by confront you mean hide and wait in ambitious to consume those succulent morsels

>>24447275
Retreat to keep.

There's nothing more we can do here.

>>24447305
>>24447289
>>24447320
>>24447317
>>24447356
>>24447356
Please, stop.

There is literally an army with a command structure in triplicate, outfitted with a huge-as-fuck golem and lods of mages.
We are not strong enough to fight them, and if we get caught we'll be in trouble. We have shit stealthing abilities.
We've already eaten their supplies and spread a little fear. We've done what we can.

Retreat to the keep for now and hope Duke knows about the Army and Flint isn't going to be slowed by it.

>>24447275
to the keep
>that spirit font

>>24447376
>>24447357
What is Detect Magic?

They're not idiots. DOHOHO SOMETHING'S EATING OUR LUMBERJACKS. IT'S PROBABLY JUST WOLVES I WON'T DO A MAGIC SCAN.

Retreat,

>>24447377
But if we consume them, we can upgrade our shit stealth.

>>24447377
Why the hell are you linking to >>24447305 when I said fighting was bad? Straighten out your links young man!

>>24447275
Retreat to the keep.

>>24447377
>stop doing things I don't like
No sir, you stop

>>24447275
keep then. gotta know who the 'nice lady' is...

>>24447315
won't take long
>supersonic is LOUD AS HELL

>>24447377
All the more reason to nom on more people to get Quiet and Shadow Walk, which we desperately need.
Also we have MORE then enough speed to run before and after situation can even get that bad.

>>24447427
pick off some undead or check that mana pool at the keep for exp

>>24447411
Because any officer worth freaking out will have security, and be inside the camp.
>>24447404
Time and a place. It's too risky.
>>24447418
Come at me.
>>24447427
Let's not take the chance. Supersonic takes a turn to activate, and last time we fought a mage we took a lot of damage.

>>24447427
Exactly. Besides, these two mages are low-risk targets. Yeah, killing them might cause a ruckus, but we can slip out of there after killing them, and be done with the army.

>>24447427
Actually if we get them all riled up at night they will be groggy and on endge during the day.

>>24447421
Are you silly? The keep is the one in the forest, the place where we set up a ?meeting? with Flint.
The church/cathedral in the town is the one that has the spirit/nice lady under it, as stated before.

>>24447275

VOTE 1:
>wait for the mages, keeping back far in the trees. In the meantime, Impress frightening images onto the men nearby

VOTE 2:
>impress scary images, then retreat to the keep before the mages arrive

here is a mad idea. We cause havoc though-out the village. that way, their mages will be spread thin. Then we strike at where they are weakest...

now, what else would cause a stir among them....
THE ARMORY!!!
maybe if we CONSUME! their weapons, we will get SHADOW WEAPONS!!!
or a mild case of indigestion... either way, worth a try...

>>24447460
I do not wish to come at you, just please don't insult my opinion

>>24447308
And now I just noticed that we are fantasy version of the Shadows from babylon 5.

>>24447463
It's not low-risk. We got wrecked last time we fought mages, and it wasn't two on one and it wasn't within a short stroll of an entire army plus golem. Too much can go wrong, and if it goes wrong it's going badly wrong.

>>24447469
2, though I'll be the only one...

>>24447465
Ah, my bad. As for being silly, just forgetful is good enough, thank you.

>>24447469
Why is not impressing anyone not an option? We need to get the jump on the mages if we want to eat them without too many problems.

>>24447465
To be more precise it's way way way deep beneath the town, the building was just where the mages were discussing it and likely where the access the depths.

>>24447469
1)

>>24447469
2

>>24447469
Voting 2.

>>24447469
1

>>24447469
1

>>24447469
2. Want to see Flintybro and see how he's doing.

>>24447485

>BY THE POWER OF GOOGLE

>>24447469
1 I guess, but I'd rather not impress

>>24447469
Voting on 1, we need the power.

>>24447484
All I want is for you to stop being wrong...

>>24447469
is our wisp still around?
vote two, lets give them nightmares

>>24447469
>2
>retreat to the keep before the mages arrive

>>24447529
I literally just agreed with your choice, I never stated to run into the entire army or their base, I said to pick off stragglers stealthily

>>24447496

I'm trying to find the largest lines of thought and reduce them to major options to build consensus. Again, this is not intended to limit choices, just move things along.

>>24447469
1. What's the worst that can happen?

>>24447469
Votin 1 because I wanna decrease their mage count.

>>24447469
2. We need to find Flint and Joey. Talk to Flint about Abigail's heritage, and what the Duke would do if he knew about it...

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>>24447550
just in case im not here when the next golem appears

>>24447549
I don't think the mages or officers would be stragglers. Anyway, long story short I don't care what we do so long as we stay out of their camp and don't go after anything harder to kill than a pikeman.

>>24447552

You die.

I count:

7 for 2

7 for 1

I might be off by one, whatever, I say that's still close enough to be a tiebreaker.

I'm going to guess that most people weren't around to feel the impact the last time you got the stuffing kicked out of you by mages, which brought you even closer to death than the fight against Raziel.

So, you've chosen to scare them with images and retreat to the keep.

Roll 1d100 for scare-tactic effectiveness.

>>24447636
The option was to search for stragglers around the perimeter and that's what I picked, if that had lead to going into the base I would of changed my vote

Rolled 52

>>24447668

Rolled 70

>>24447668
Thank. God.

I warned them about the mages bro, I warned them.

>>24447668
it was 6 for 2
Also, we're more powerful now than we were before

Rolled 68

>>24447668

Rolled 17

>>24447668

Rolled 81

>>24447668
FUCK THE POLAR ICE CAPS AND LET'S ALL CLUB BABY SEALS TO THE END OF OUR DAYS

Also thank you for saving us even though you didn't need to SM.

Rolled 80

>>24447668
thank you for seeing reason

>>24447689
We have more speed, but that's about it.

>>24447703
>>24447704
>>24447687
stop rolling

>>24447707
That's all we need to eat

>>24447668
>we barely missed tussling with multiple mages again
You guys gotta stop worrying me like this

>>24447704
>>24447703
>>24447687
Thanking SM leads to high rolls

>>24447689
By a comparison of the ability maps from that thread where we faced the mages and the one we have now it's not... that huge of a difference. You're still right because we're more powerful, but that doesn't mean the mages are autofodder.

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>>24447720

Rolled 21

>>24447668
meh, i was here. Just assumed we are stronger now.
1 - check the golem image above
2 - third time, can our summoned shadow consume?

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Rolled 22

Villains are a superstitious lot

>>24447734
we're not really more more powerful though, not by a lot anyway, we mostly have more utility

>>24447734
I didn't assume that they'd be fodder. I assumed that we'd be harmed some, eat them, buy a stealth ability (probably quiet) and zip back to the keep.

>>24447763
We can't really zip, as I'm pretty sure we make a sonic boom-like noise when we GOFAST

>>24447753
This pic gives me the perfect idea
Flying, and batman pounce consuming enemies

>>24447763
and alert the survivors and superiors that a shadow creature is in the woods.
>the same shadow creature from the battle!

>>24447763
Then they would know that it was a shadow elemental killing people, and not spirit/the curse of the town/a guy being crazy.

>>24447786
>implying we'd leave survivors

>>24447781
>implying I meant supersonic, and not metaphorically zip.

>>24447756
Overall Power then, if you really want to nitpick useless details all you did was restate what the start of my post said.

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>>24447689
>Also, we're more powerful now than we were before

You also took each mage one at a time in that first battle.

------------------------------
------------------------------

You blast a flurry of images at the nervous crowd of men. Bodies, ripped open. Innards spilled onto the ground in pools of blood, hanging from the branches trees with glowing red eyes that greedily gobble up the intestines.

"It's the monster!"

"I told you!!"

"Calm down!" shouts the captain. But his voice is cracking. "It's magic! Illusions!"

"It ate Henry alive!"

"Pull yourself together!"

You blast the captain with an image of him being devoured alive by a ghoul. Its claws rip into his stomach and tear out chunks of his flesh.

The captain pales and falls to the ground. He scrambles back from the woods on his hands and knees. The rest of the men are in a near-panic. You assault them with the same vision, generalized.

One of them breaks and runs. Another follows. And then, like a horde of ants, they scramble back up the hill, away from the terror in the wood.

This pleases you greatly.

You decide you've done enough for the duke, and you retreat toward the keep.

With your new, greater speed, you make it in record time. There's still a few hours before dawn. The darkened, ruined keep is silent. In the courtyard still rest the crumbled remains of the gargoyle you defeated.

What do you do?

>explore (specify destination/action)
>mediate until dawn

>>24447799
remember how the mages were linked in the battle before? all we need is two mages disappearing and alerting every other mage

>>24447799
I'm sorry i thought you meant zip as in fast as possible nope'ing back to the keep

>>24447827
find the mana pool, and lets check out adavan's chambers

>>24447827
Get that mana pool !

>>24447827
go check out the mana pool and see if taking a quick sippy does anything

>>24447827
Investigate the mana pool.

>>24447827
lets try and CONSUME the pool, plus lets see what we can find now that the undead are gone
>are they gone?