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>1.

You explain to Maloric about summoning Gnome, leaving out the part about Lyria.

“I’m not really sure why she decided to just be my Champion just like that,” you say in the end, voicing the loudest question you’d had since parting with Gnome earlier. She’d said something about making her decision when she left the ritual circle, but then why had she confronted you?

“While they’re in that circle the Champion can judge you, or so the old legends go,” Maloric explains. “I don’t understand the specifics, but given that Champions are the closest thing to genuine reincarnation this world has it’s no surprise that they might have some way to see souls while they’re connected to the Source.”

You frown. “Wait, so she knew all along that she was going to say yes?”

“Probably.” Maloric laughs. “That’s women for you. You should probably build up some experience in that area if you’re going to be an emperor, you know. Otherwise you might be taken advantage of and had games played with you.”

“I think women are already playing games with me,” you mutter, suddenly understanding why Lyria spoke as though you’d already won over Gnome from the start. She must have known this, too.

“Join the club,” Maloric says with a small smile. “Say, have I showed the liquor collection? It wasn’t all mine, but it’s easier to share than drink alone.”

You…

>1. Join Mal for a small drink
>2. Say no, you’re not really into alcohol.
>3. Custom

>>44258801
>1. Join Mal for a small drink

>>44258801
1. Sure could use something after that.

>>44258801
>1. Join Mal for a small drink

>>44258801
>>1. Join Mal for a small drink

> It wasn’t all mine, but it’s easier to share than drink alone.

Awww, Mal is gonna tell us about Talon now, isn't he? I can guess why Mal chose to fireball the daywalker fuck earlier today, and thoroughly cleanse the area with fire.

>>44258801
>2. Say no, you’re not really into alcohol.
Milk

>>44258801
>3. Pack your pipe with something relaxing, but potent. Offer Mal a hit.

>>44258801
>1. Join Mal for a small drink
>talk and lament about our inexperience with women.

>>44258801
>1. Join Mal for a small drink

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>1.

Mal grins when you nod and pours two glasses of a golden liquor. You don’t know what it is but you know it’s going to be strong – you’re worried now that he poured you so much of it.

“It’s brandy,” he says as he hands it to you. “An old favourite.”

The two of you drink silently for a while. You’re pretty sure that Mal is waiting for you to spit it out, so you don’t.

“But really, you’re certain she’s the Gnome?” Mal asks you suddenly, going back to the previous topic. “You should be honoured to have her. Hell, we should be throwing a party in her honour just for having her here.”

“I’m not sure she’d be interested in a big party,” you say, frowning into your glass of brandy. It wasn’t the worst thing you’d drunk, but you’d need to learn to manage the burn better. Maybe you should have joined the men for drinks more often and ignored how terrible the crappy ale and mead they drunk was.

“Then throw her a small one. She’s practically royalty,” Mal says.

“So am I, at least now,” you say with a smile.

Mal nods a few times, looking a bit distant suddenly. “True, true.”

>contnued

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>>44258985
There’s a long, almost uncomfortable pause. Then suddenly Mal leans forward and holds his glass out. You clink yours against his, recognising that he’s acknowledging you in some way.

“You’ve deserved it,” he says. “It’s not easy to deal with the sort of threats that can get thrown our way. I’m not sure what would have happened if that Dalrec vampire had gotten to me, or in the keep. Things would have been far worse and I think you’re the only person who could have stopped him now that…”

Mal trails off and looks into his drink. Then he shrugs, takes a long slug of the brandy and smiles. “But you always have to look forward,” he says. “Nobody ever achieved their dreams while looking backwards.”

You nod, understanding that Maloric was thinking about Talon. You weren’t sure there was much you could do for him, but he did seem a good enough guy. You liked him, which was a surprise to you given he was a mage. Then again, it’s not like you’re too old to change.

Once you finish your drink you head down to start the strategy meeting with Cormann. Surprisingly, all the officers and Gnome are there. Things look grim.

>Final update next

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>>44259000
>Things would have been far worse and I think you’re the only person who could have stopped him now that…
the feels man. rip Talon. you will be missed in this playthrough of AEQ.

Well our heraldy is obviously going to be a dragon
What about our last/dynasty etc name?

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>>44259000
I'll miss you Talon...

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Note that the attached map is slightly out of date as of this post, but is provided for reference.

>Final update

You join the circle of your officers and Gnome around the table, your men making room so that Gnome is to your left. The map looks like it’s been rearranged, with a lot of the Taouran and Vitrian figures being moved. You really don’t like the looks of this.

“Scouts are still out, firing off sendings to us as they move,” Cormann says. “But we received a sending from the Vitrian General Parras at Gimbon Falls. Apparently Taour’s been besieging Trembin and its surrounding towns and castles for the last few days.”

There are a lot fewer Vitrian figures than there were before. Many of them are clustered around Trembin, Argyle Estate and Gimbon Falls. The Taouran figures are all over the map of Vitria, meeting almost every Vitrian figure.

“General Volante’s at Trembin, so Taour will likely take it shortly. Gimbon Pass has been abandoned by its soldiers, panicking. Count Argyle is trying to rally the troops near his estate,” Cormann explains.

“Why is there a Taouran army in VItria, Cormann?” you ask him straight. “How the hell does an entire army get through Vitria and into their city in a few days?”

The room falls silent. You glance to each of your officers, each looking worried at the fact that your northern neighbour has fallen to Taour so easily. If an army as large as Vitria’s can fall so easily, what were you to do?

Malaine speaks up, “Our understanding is that one of their daywalkers, Lady Terce, somehow seduced an entire Vitrian division to her side. She’s also overwhelmed many of the defenders of the city. We suspect thraldom.”

>continued

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>>44259144
“So does Parras. That’s why he’s asked us for help,” Cormann says. “There’s going to be a small army of refugees and he wants us to help house them.”

You stare at Cormann. Refugees? That’s what Parras was after. You didn’t care about the refugees. Taour had swept into Vitria, taken the capital with minimal resistance and Vitria still had most of its army. If they wouldn’t retake their capital, maybe you should? Then again, it could be damned risky to go up against the Lady Terce. If she could somehow seduce so many Vitrians to betray their nation, she was clearly using some nasty magic.

“What about the ruling houses of Vitria?” Gnome asks. “If we’re going to take it, they could offer help.”

Cormann raises an eyebrow at Gnome’s assumption that the company was going to seize Vitria. “Taour is blocking sendings in and out of Vitria. It’s why we didn’t hear anything whatsoever despite our… liaison with the ruling Hawkins family. It’s probably best to assume the worst.”

You frown, having scarcely met Sarah. Her mother held the real power so you hadn’t paid much attention to the girl, especially as she had mostly just bothered you to ensure that you weren’t going to invade Vitria itself after seizing Harrowmont from them. Still, you didn’t wish death on her.

Everybody is looking at you expectantly, waiting on your to say or do something. Gnome seems to already know what you’re going to do. But what will you really do…

>That’s the thread

Next AEQR thread on Sunday 20th December at 5:30pm EST. Thanks to everybody who participated.

I'm happy to take any questions etc. Also, this is probably a good time to discuss and talk about your plans. I won't take any votes but will answer any major questions.

Remember how we joked about Kushan being reborn as a farmer and got the spin off with the farmer?
What if Talon gets reborn as a farmer? And has Kushan as village elder or something?
>You have always wanted to be an emperor, and for a short time you where one. Then shit happened and now you've got vegetables to grows and become the emperor of pumpkin.

>>44259144
>>44259198
Man, the vamps are really stepping up their fucking game this time around.

Hope we don't run into Volante too quickly, motherfucker's a monster.

>>44259198
RIP Sarah the Shortstack

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Also, as requested, an ask.fm

https://ask.fm/AspirationalQM

>>44259283
Eh, don't be so sure.

>>44259254
Yeah, Taour's being as active as they probably should have been in the original AEQ.

You could try to ignore them, of course. They're the most obvious target but you could instead contact the League or RSK and try something else if you don't care to fight the vamps.

>>44259198
Why is Saul hiding his name?

Had fun thanks Asp only thing is I hope people don't turn Saul into Talon 2.5

>>44259198
>Also, this is probably a good time to discuss and talk about your plans.

We need more men and we need more equipment. We need to ask Gnome what she knows about Lady Terce and Lyria to see how the hell she pulled this off.

I'm thinking we need to get into contact with Sarah or at least try to get a spy into the place. We are going in blind at this rate. We'll also likely want to ask gnome to share some wisdom here.

We'll also want to marry Lyria soonish for being a cute.

>>44259338
>We'll also want to marry Lyria soonish for being a cute.
Yes

>>44259338
after we kick some vampire ass we should visit her

>>44259314
Any more new characters going to show up?

Are we going to meet someone face to face soon who could turn all the bones in our bodies to powder if they twitched a finger?

Will Saul grow another inch in the next few months?

>>44259198
>no Sarah
Ok, we need to hire a legitimate secretary to run our bureaucracy as soon as possible.

>>44259314
Xp when

so talon died fighting the vampire guy right? so what event are we next to timeline wise?

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>>44259338
>We'll also want to marry Lyria soonish for being a cute.
And so the real reason Saul wanted to become an emperor is made apparent. He wanted to legalise marrying your familiar.

>We need to ask Gnome what she knows about Lady Terce
Gnome doesn't know Terce, which means she's not a big name. The Darlesians don't know the name either.

Your best bet for more IC knowledge is either to try to contact the monastery in Farun to see if they know anything about vampires, to contact the Magi League or else to have Saul contact some old friends up north.

>>44259324
>I hope people don't turn Saul into Talon 2.5
I can't see that really happening, even if there are a few people unhappy that he's not Talon.

>>44259408
>Will Saul grow another inch in the next few months?
Maybe if he drinks his dragon milk.

>Any more new characters going to show up?
You'll run into a mixture of old and new. I'm not going to get rid of characters just for the sake of having them be new.

>>44259430
Next thread will be when I finally allocate XP and allow spending it.

>>44259446
It's late May, 1952PC. So around when you started the original quest.

>>44259412
I'm going to bet 10 bucks a vampire turned her. She's a powerful mage she's an heir to a house. She's basically daywalker bait.

>>44259370
I've actually as a joke wanted to toss something like that really random at her mid conversation to see how she reactions.

We should have done something like that when gnome mentioned the familiar. "I'm not sure what you would call her other then a voice in my head that sometimes tells me things. At this point I think all she does is eat and talk."

>>44259408
>Are we going to meet someone face to face soon who could turn all the bones in our bodies to powder if they twitched a finger?

I hope not so early at least. Though there is plenty of people that could at this point.

>>44259314
Personally I say we need to take the vampires. They are useful to us if we win. They are a big threat with thralldom. They make for good research Material and I still want my damn daywalker knights since we never saw the things in combat.

>>44259470
>He wanted to legalise marrying your familiar.

>"It was her idea!"
>"No it wasn't."

Oh boy, here we go.

I wonder how tsun Saul will be for Lyria. I wonder how yan Lyria will be for Saul.

>>44259511
>damn daywalker knights since we never saw the things in combat

What if instead we learn the underlying causes of day/nightwalker bullshittery and make our own race of demi-human warriors?

>>44259470
>I can't see that really happening

About the only trait I want Saul to have of Talon is his pragmatism and willingness to use whatever he can to win. Other then that I would love to play him different then Talon.

>>44259470
>I can't see that really happening, even if there are a few people unhappy that he's not Talon.
My fear is that people will make more or less the same damn decisions from last timev

>>44259470
on a scale of 1 to JUST, how badly did Talons' shit get fucked up?

>>44259545
We should try to learn more about the curse. Long term wise though not being the mage I doubt we will for a long time.

>>44259470
> to contact the Magi League

I'm honestly thinking it might be useful to build up and then when we can basically tell the RSK and magi League we'll handle the vampires if they are willing to share info on them.

We get land and they don't have to burn men trying to kill vampires. So they can keep their war up.

>>44259577
I have a feeling Saul will have to get his hands far dirtier than Talon did. His lack of reputation and (hilariously) stature will make diplomacy a lot harder. People will likely be more hostile when they feel they can beat him, and less compliant when they don't feel like he is there as a threat. Then there is the dynamic of wanting to impress dargonfu Lyria to gain more power.

I have a feeling this is going to be a far bloodier world than what Talon had to face, and he spilled a fuckton of blood.

>>44259594
It was the closest to death Talon has ever been according to him in the first quest.

So most likely what happened this time is Dalrec was a little smarter and got a better drop on Talon which let him finish him off this time instead of just barely dying and leaving Talon almost dead.

>>44259631
I'm honestly thinking we should keep most of the other nations in the dark about our empire. We should try to play up the unknown angle to have them questioning exactly what we can do and why.

>>44259577
He'll likely make a few of the same. I can't see all the same though.

>>44259470
>And so the real reason Saul wanted to become an emperor

I'm hoping Gnome asks Saul this one day. Might be interesting to hear the full story.

>>44259681
It probably would be beneficial to be mysterious about it. Less diplomatic missions and outings and more rumors. Keep things short and to the point with sendings or messengers if we want to diplomance. Though I doubt Saul will want to do much talking with many, he's already surrounded by enemies, or people he hates. Vampires, the Seraphi, the mages, all of everyone adjacent to his fledgling empire he doesn't seem too positive about save Vitria.

As it turns out, the brute-force option was the one suited best to peaceful solutions.

>>44259738
>doesn't seem too positive about save Vitria.

I kind of read that more that he isn't sure with what he has that they could do it easily and is surprised at how effective the vampires have been with them.

>>44259769
I just mean he is neutral towards them, but net negative towards everyone else.

>>44259790
He did work for the magi league for a few years so he might have someone there or the likes.

I wonder if it is possible to hire mercs now or if the RSK still devours the things like mad.

>>44259526
>I wonder how tsun Saul will be for Lyria. I wonder how yan Lyria will be for Saul.
>Not the opposite.

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>>44259526
>I wonder how tsun Saul will be for Lyria. I wonder how yan Lyria will be for Saul.
I suspect Saul is probably more dere for Lyria, whereas Lyria would only get upset if Saul didn't pay the appropriate amount of attention to her.

Also, at some stage I'll need to do the 1d3-1 roll for Saul regarding his experience with women.

>>44259555
I'm hoping so. I'm actively trying to write him differently, including in the way the combat scenes go. He's got elements of both Finn and Talon in them but also still different (which is also partly because I haven't written anything in four months).

>>44259594
Eh, Talon v Dalrec was always a very close fight. A lot of Talon's strength in the early game was his ability to lead an army, his reputation and general versatility against large numbers of enemies. Plus he got astral power later. Saul's actually stronger than Talon in individual combat, mostly due to Lyria's blessing.

So it probably was still a close thing but in Dalrec's favour and is the reason Talon died rather than being turned.

>>44259631
>I have a feeling this is going to be a far bloodier world than what Talon had to face
More or less. Little things have played out differently. Alyce has a child now, Taren Hand wasn't killed in Bisrum during the first Magi Rebellion (Gnome will say something on that), Shropham is now a major power in the League. A little thing earlier was the fact that the League is still launching offensives against the RSK at this stage, whereas in the original AEQ they had an unofficial ceasefire. I'm hoping to slowly establish a bunch of the differences over the next few threads as well as update a lore document.

>>44259709
She will ask it, though I want it to wait a little while until Saul's developed a little more (mostly because people will give a better answer once they've gotten used to him).

>>44259577
Well, things are considerably different this time so it's harder to make the same decisions.

We should clearly befriend Blackwater this time around

>>44259888
>Saul gets 1d3 -1(because Lyria is Saul's IC waifu) for how many girls were into Saul
>Talon gets 5d20
It feels like this alone shows the jarring difference on how Saul will have a lot harder time when handling women compared to Talon.
Talon can take bitches any day of the week (Even being able to match Taira 1v1)
Saul's gonna have to use something else other than sexual stamina to charm the women.

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>>44259888
>Alyce has a child now

>>44259997
I really think Saul won't worry about charming the women. If he is gunning for Lyria he probably wouldn't be as interested in other ladies.

Also because the whole "fuck everything" angle is what led to a rather jarring split in the playerbase last time.

Tons of women around, big deal, but fucking -all- of them? Good lord, man.

The way I see it Saul would keep them around based on merit, not just because he is collecting them, so it ends up Saul surrounding himself with capable people, many of which happen to be women, and not him having all the eyecandy.

I dunno, mang, it seems like it would simplify things if we didn't get the opportunity to fuck more than a couple people.

>>44260048
go read the Great Wardragon oneshot quest, you'll know why Alyce is a single mom.

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Anyway, back to map-making. Does anybody find the more detailed maps more useful? If not then I'll still make them for my own purposes, but I won't put as much effort into ensuring they're usable for planning.

>>44259997
My view is that Saul either hasn't paid much attention to women over his adventuring/mercenary life, or that he's only had eyes for Lyria, but I'm happy to work with the players to see how they want him to be. The main idea was that Saul wasn't the crazy ladies man that Talon was. Talon probably slept with every women that was into him, Saul not so much.

>>44259994
You could try that. Offer to help him find the secret to true immortality.

>>44260048
If you missed the one-shot, you should read that. It's under the archive link at the top.

>>44260070
Was the father a black dragon? :^)

>>44260070
>>44260084
I did

It's still scary

>>44259994
Oh man, I have it in me to go over there, disembowel your neighbor, hang myself, and beat you to death while I asphyxiate

but FUCK Blackwater was probably my favorite non MC character.

>>44260084
>My view is that Saul either hasn't paid much attention to women over his adventuring/mercenary life, or that he's only had eyes for Lyria
Pretty much how I hope, emphasis on hope it'll be

>>44259997
I kind of get the mental image that Saul doesn't care all that much about women.


>>44260062
Most of the women Talon had sex with was incredibly competent other then Noah at least. Which was why it was so hilarious.

>>44260048
You wherent at the one-shot? It was with Lairos. Which reminds me.

>>44259888
Just for the hell of it. Did the cute helldragon happen to like that the archmage had a kid with her sworn foe?

>>44260089
Go sit in the corner

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>>44260098
It considerably complicates matters, to say the least. Mostly because the big deal about Alyce is that she forsook her noble family's name and power to become the Archmage and be seen as independent. Where her child fits into this, well, you'll find out.

>>44260119
He was actually going to reappear on the Taurine Islands in AEQ. He was your governor.

>>44260123
>Did the cute helldragon happen to like that the archmage had a kid with her sworn foe?
Hahaha, no. Let's just say that if you thought Alyce and Sylvian had a frosty relationship before, you might want to bring gear set for Pluto before you step into a room with the two of them.

>>44260123
>Most of the women Talon had sex with was incredibly competent other then Noah at least. Which was why it was so hilarious.

True, but can you really say that the players fucked them because they were competent, rather than because they could be fucked?

And the more smut or waifus that are offered the more faggots show up just for smut or waifus.

A waifu or three is great, but getting all of them always leads to problems. Pretty much the only quest I've ever been a part of with haremshit that didn't make it fuck everything up is OWQ, and it still has time to ruin everything.

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>>44260166
>He was actually going to reappear on the Taurine Islands in AEQ

You twist the knife, friend, the pain is exquisite.

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>>44260166
>you might want to bring gear set for Pluto before you step into a room with the two of them.

Okay, I'll bring a muzzle and a shock collar. Maybe a doggie treat or two.

>>44260084
>My view is that Saul either hasn't paid much attention to women over his adventuring/mercenary life, or that he's only had eyes for Lyria

That's about the mental image I had too busy fighting, reading, Training to really care. Though I can't see him being utterly Asexual.

On Lyria I'm kind of half tempted to play a subtle kind of relationship there. Like a very low key yandere type feeling. Joke around and get good advice. But if she actually seems to be in danger or hurt at any point just go dead silent and just start killing everything for attempting it.

Though that's just my first idea given what I've seen and might be interesting with how he seems normally.

>>44260236
Do you think Saul would act really passive aggressive if a young dragon was attempting to woo Lyria?

Do you think it would result in Saul attempting to murder said dragon suitor?

Do you think that Lyria would get to see what it feels like to experience burning rage beyond what should ever be felt by any living thing, even the mad dragon himself?

>>44260084
>You could try that. Offer to help him find the secret to true immortality.

I'm honestly pretty tempted to do something like this. Like take Taour but then offer to let blackwater go in a mutual give and take relationship. We keep the vampires around and help him if he needs it. While he helps us by giving some of that experience he has to us and points out problems he can see brewing while he is abroad.

>>44260332
I wonder if Saul could even reliably affect Blackwater. Talon could through bullshittery astral fuckery, but otherwise no one could really lay a finger on him, so fighting him seems like a no-go unless his ability to ignore damage is significantly reduced. But if his niche is made worse, his other areas would improve.

Questions questions.

Was there at least a half decent end to the other one or did it just die

>>44260413
it died. The last session of the previous playthrough left Talon hanging with the anticipation of having illegitimate kids from fucking a Havoc fox.
>>44260166
Speaking of Havoc foxes, are they still around or did they go extinct?

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>>44260464
>Speaking of Havoc foxes, are they still around or did they go extinct?
They're around. I have some interesting plans for them, actually.

If you'd chosen the Fox specialisation for the Mage you'd have reached a point in the quest where you'd either have to hit a wall in terms of power or become a havoc fox (or find a third way).

>>44260279
>Do you think Saul would act really passive aggressive if a young dragon was attempting to woo Lyria?
The better question is, how would he find out?

>>44260279
>Do you think Saul would act really passive aggressive if a young dragon was attempting to woo Lyria?

That would be hilarious. Like not a full on obvious type but a kind of is starting to get a little more frosty the more he sees the attempt feeling.

>Do you think it would result in Saul attempting to murder said dragon suitor?

Probably not. I kind of have a conception of it being more subtle unless it starts seeming dangerous.

>Do you think that Lyria would get to see what it feels like to experience burning rage beyond what should ever be felt by any living thing, even the mad dragon himself?

Probably if she was almost dead in combat or the likes.

>>44260380
That's a damn good question.

>>44260570
>Become a havoc fox.

Kind of makes me wonder how pharos and that one foxy havoc fox they have would react to this one.

>>44260166
>Where her child fits into this, well, you'll find out.


I kind of wonder if Lynn realizes she has a half sibling. Or if the other kid helps the league any in their wars.

>>44260678
Well anon, thanks.
I'll be up for all nights until we find out whether or not Lynn has a Half-Sister or Half-Brother. Because that's gonna make stuff happen.

>>44260873
If I'm guessing right it's pretty likely the kid was officially raised by Mercenie. Which throws an entire other curve ball into it.

Mostly because Alyce can't officially look after it herself so the closest person she has that she can trust is her elf. Which just adds to the dynamic screwage.

Y'know even if the QM says you don't have to have played the first one, when all you guys do is talk about what happened in the first one, it really makes the quest hard for new comers to get involved in.

>>44260997
Yes, im going to try and cut down on it.

>>44260997
Sorry man. It's just there's so many more possibilities now, things are more uncertain than ever. When ya got a lot of knowledge about how things were before and knowing they've been changed and reset a bit gives new vigor to what was once done and settled deals. Such-as-the-political-ramifications-of-fluffy-mercenaries-and-
No but seriously, I'll cool it off a bit.

>>44260997
Pretty much nothing we talk about with the old quest is relevant. It'll probably change as the quest gets older and new plot threads show up.

>>44258801
Well really have to ask Mal to give us some magic lessons some time.
>>44259198
So best I can think of right now is to hope that the RSK didn't agree to have daywalkers lead an army of their men.
Contact the RSK, tell them it happened, offer to take revenge in both of our names if they give a little bit of support and recognize us as a neutral party in their war.
Use their nonhostility and maybe a bit of support to wipe Vitria clean of vampires and thus get an advantageous relationship with them.
Probably best to have Gnome keep building up our fort so that if the Taour try to retaliate we have better defenses.
Also improve ourselves.
>>44260570
And since the siege is over, I'm going to ask you about that magic thing.
I don't know how barrier magic works exactly, but I think there can be a difference in how strong one is, so I assume you can decrease its rigidity and make it more of a volume of space with increase density that's harder to move in, if you get what I'm thinking of.
Could MC then make dome of this around him in battle and forcefully twist the whole thing around himself? In my mind this would serve to exert force parallel to the distance to the MC on everyone surrounding him, thus putting them off balance. Could even activate and deactivate this in quick succession to really mess things up for the enemy, if Saul can do this.
Might need both barrier magic and whatever telekinesis/force-over-distance counts as though.
If you read manga, this would be sort of similar to Babylon in Hoshi no Samidare, except I suppose not as high level, as that was used more to slow down everyone around the user and thus increase his relative speed.
Also wonder if Shadow Blade and barrier magic can't be combined to form more permanent barriers in wake of the blade.
Also would activating shadow blade while blocking a hit help, since to push our blade to us the attacker would have to break through every single afterimage of it too?

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>>44261242
>So best I can think of right now is to hope that the RSK didn't agree to have daywalkers lead an army of their men.
That's exceptionally unlikely.

I realise now that I never mentioned it, but daywalkers can thrall humans. The exact means with which they do it varies, but the result is effectively mental dominance. The thrall cannot disobey their master. I'll go into a bit more detail next thread as I explain the Vitrian situation better (I'll also need to give a primer on the current political situation).

>Probably best to have Gnome keep building up our fort so that if the Taour try to retaliate we have better defenses.
Keep in mind that Gnome is one of your stronger fighters (actually, probably the strongest after Saul), so although she's fantastic at building it can be risky to not take her to the front at this stage.

>Also improve ourselves.
You'll get a chance to spend XP after the strategy meeting.

>I don't know how barrier magic works exactly, but I think there can be a difference in how strong one is, so I assume you can decrease its rigidity and make it more of a volume of space with increase density that's harder to move in, if you get what I'm thinking of.
Something like this would be extremely complicated and require an immense amount of talent. It fits more in the speciality of the Aefir mage, who had Battlefield Transmutation. It's not exactly feasible for Saul in the near-term and would still be expensive in the long-term.

I mean, Saul could try to do it but it would be exceptionally vulnerable. Barriers tend to shatter like old-timey car windscreens, meaning that if anybody provided even a tiny amount of magical resistance to your huge, stretched out barrier then the whole thing would likely break.

>answer continued

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>>44261403

>>44261242
>Also wonder if Shadow Blade and barrier magic can't be combined to form more permanent barriers in wake of the blade.
It would be a rather inefficient use of barriers. Barriers tend to be tied to things: shields, walls, people (though the latter is relatively difficult) so placing a barrier in thin air with nothing bound to it is difficult and it's weak (after all, if it's not tied to a physical object somebody can technically just 'push' the magical energy out of the way).

What Saul is doing with the Shadow Blade is more like what he does with his Magic Lances, where he basically summons some magical energy to act as a physical object. This is ephemeral (as are barriers that aren't tied to things such as walls).

>Also would activating shadow blade while blocking a hit help, since to push our blade to us the attacker would have to break through every single afterimage of it too?
They have to form in empty air, so your blade needs to be moving when you use it and if the space your blade was in becomes occupied by something (another sword, flesh etc) immediately afterwards you can't summon the afterimage.

>>44261403
>to your huge, stretched out barrier
I was thinking more like, 2 or 3 meters radisu half spear, but I don't know if that counts as huge, maybe it does.

>>44261427
So basically we'd have to anticipate the need to block and move our sword either backwards or sideways.
>block sword
>move sword parallel to the enemy's
>suddenly enemy has to go through 6 sword after images to overwhelm our block
>>44261403
It's good that the RSK probably didn't agree to that, then.

>>44261403
>You'll get a chance to spend XP

This reminds me. When it comes to XP can we just straight out buy new skills? Or are we limited to the current ones and our stats until we learn a new skill via others or plot?

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>>44261442
Given that barriers are usually a square plane, it's pretty huge. Taira could summon a strong barrier that is 50m^2 but it's probably not even a centimetre thick, meaning it's not even .5m^3 - a sphere of 2m radius is 33m^3, 66x that size. Even if you decrease the density manyfold, it still becomes vulnerable as the barrier will have more points of contact and the same amount of force spread over a larger area (so it's less able to resist an opposing force).

>>44261466
>So basically we'd have to anticipate the need to block and move our sword either backwards or sideways.
Pretty much. Using Shadow Blade in melee usually means a lot of wasted actions but gives a defensive bonus - which is very effective when outnumbered, against a superior foe or if you just want to fight defensively (e.g. attack Lynn without might give you a DC of 80, but if you use Shadowblade you'll get a DC of 66/85, decreasing the chance of outright failure but also decreasing the chance of strong success).

>>44261490
You can buy new skills. A fair bit of the work is actually codifying a selection (particularly with some of the suggestions made), as I don't want people trying to make up new skills, which I then need to cost etc live. So you'll have a fixed choice at time of XP spending, but will have new skills available.

However, some skills will not be available (or be very expensive) until you have the appropriate trainer/knowledge and others (like Draconic Blessing) are entirely plot-related and don't require XP to be spent at all.

>>44261490
I'd think we'd at least have a reason for how we could learn the new skill.
We probably can't just buy a new field of magic that no one we know can use or knows of and we have no books on.

>>44261507
I personally hope the skill that is first bought is either barrier or disruption.
If Saul learned how to into barriers, what size ones could he make?

>>44261507
>You can buy new skills. A fair bit of the work is actually codifying a selection (particularly with some of the suggestions made), as I don't want people trying to make up new skills

Interesting. Kind of hoping we'll get some good magic options. Though right now I'm eyeing a lot of our stats. Our skills are decent right now but in general any stat increase is massive.

>>44261519
Barriers are more useful in masses.

>>44261507
Would it be possible to somehow combine mana leech with disruption?

>>44261507
If we increased our strength would draconic blessing only increase it up to what it currently does or would the additional base stat make it buff further?
As in, is draconic blessing locked into its number?

Though now that I think on it. It could be a good idea to get something like the infernalists Physical Empowerment. Obviously without the permanent empowerment of others but getting a +1 to Physical stats for a few minutes could be really useful as a basic level skill.

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>>44261588
It's fixed. The ability sets your Strength equal to Lyria's strength when she's in her human form.

>>44261617
I've rolled empowerment skills into the general stats. In old AEQ there was a skill called 'Empower Self' but the problem was that it was basically always active. Any empowerment abilities, such as Magical Might, tend to be more ephemeral or imply a very strong effect.

Basically, you're already using empowerment.

>>44261585
What do you mean?

>>44261569
>Our skills are decent right now but in general any stat increase is massive.
Skill increases are important too - a difference of 1 in your melee skill (e.g. Swordsmanship) is worth twice as much as a difference in 1 in your melee stat (e.g. Strength). Mind you, only the top level of a skill matters for the DC - the subskills are only about what you can do.

Stat increases have other effects, though. Endurance affects your HP, Strength your lifting ability, Magic your Mana etc.

>>44261647
And of course endurance has the powerful ability to extend how long we can use our more awesome skills.

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Actually, for those with more knowledge, how do other quests with XP/upgrade systems represent the available options for levelling? Pastebins, Gdocs, images? Or do they just occasionally do big posts with all available options?

>>44261647
>I've rolled empowerment skills into the general stats.

This is making me depressed. The permanent empowerment from the mage option is taunting me with this knowledge now.

Going to need to make the mother of all builds now.

>>44261678
From what I've seen depends a lot on the number of skills and the likes. Pastebin/Gdocs tends to be the go to if you have pages of skills and stats while with just a basic 5-8 they tend to just post it in the quest.

>>44261678
Pally !!Fu6gnkcV1fA, who runs Psychic Rebel Quest, Paladin of Joy Quest and Egwen School Quest has a fairly... bulky XP/upgrade system and he tends to use Pastebins. For certain things he does give options in a post and then people vote on them. For the more mundane XP distribution though its usually handled at the end of threads by anons who actually read the pastebin.


If kept up to date Pastebins and Gdocs seem to work fairly well, however one problem you will have with larger Gdocs is issues with loading times and stuttering.

>>44261647
>What do you mean?
Well, one of the ways I can imagine it is to make it so while our sword is leeching mana the one being leeched can't cast. Or maybe to make it so the mana we leech we automatically use for disruption, this making us better in a fight against mages.
The former might need Saul to be able to manipulate the mana as soon as it enters his sword though, which might be impossible.

>>44261678
I only know of what Banished does but that has no XP and is just leveling up skills by passing a DC, basically, while some take multiple successes and even failures lower the DC for the next attempt.

Man, this is a fun clusterfuck we've found ourselves in.

Considering that there's actually been rather little discussion of potential plans, I'll just write out all of my immediate thoughts:

1. How fucked are we?
As far as I can tell we don't have any long term way to ensure our forces grow in size right now, meaning that bunkering down is kind of suicide.
The only way I see us surviving long-term without stopping Taour occupation of Vitria is if we attach ourselves closely enough to one of the neighbouring superpowers that they decide to supply us in spite of the fact that they are still involved in open hostilities against each other, which seems unlikely to work without becoming a de facto client state.

2. Liberate Vitria?
I have sadly no idea whatsoever if we have the numbers to be even remotely relevant if we decide to go and liberate Vitria, even if we do somehow get their surviving forces to not see this as a second invasion.
That said, I suspect that if we don't get Lady Terce killed soonish Vitria is probably going to thralled enough that dislodging Taour influences without massive losses becomes nigh impossible, even if we somehow avoid Volante linking up with Terce.

3. Cloak and Dagger?
Depending on the exact mechanics of Terce's powers and control over her thralls the most promising approach might actually be to take our relatively strong hero units and try to shank her, hopefully with enough Vitrian support that we get to take advantage of secret passages.

>>44261678
Hm. BanQ does skill progression by spending time on it, during time skips or through many many meditations, limitations were a set thing based on the choice of character class.
Feral Necromancer does it through spending XP acquired from plot-related events/successes and other stuff. It's straightforward upgrades to skills that possess some synergy.
To be honest all the others use even more different systems, though I've forgotten them.
Shadow Quest had spending XP upgrade tree nightmare with XP dependent upon the MC eating souls and powerful artifacts, although it included abilities which drained XP.
Hollow Quest Redux was, at the last time I knew of it, had power and abilities related and selected by the players at the beginning which then spiraled into something else that I really severely can't figure out from looking at the current char docs.
Oversized Weapon Quest has a character sheet/tree based on as far as I can tell actually being fun to read. Though I've not read the quest much.

>>44261742

4. Get more guys first?
If we really do need more troops before accomplishing much of anything, we might instead want to try leveraging the thralled RSK forces that attacked us into concessions or support somehow.
Of course getting reperations out of a militaristic superpower, currently at war with another superpower is anything but easy, however both sides could probably spin some PR benefits out of giving us support that is negligible for them but rather important for us.
After all, we suffered an unprovoked attack by RSK forces and all that them being thralled means is that the RSK failed to stop this Daywalker.
At the same time, the RSK could possibly spin this as a the League's responsibility because they are freaking neighbours with those goddamn vampires and are giving them the opportunity to continue mindraping people by not doing anything about them.
I'm not sure how much either side would actually /care/ about PR benefits at this point nor do I know how far we could push this without pissing off the other side enough to make an enemy we really don't want to, but it's something to consider at least.

>>44261748

5. Draw the vamps out of Vitria instead?
It is possible that our best option right now would be to just take care of the refugess and use the fact that the vamps are busy to push for Darlesia.
If we're successful enough that might just be enough to make Volantes pull back and reposition, which in turn might free up enough Vitrian forces that they can retake their city themselves.
Of course this kind of assumes that we have enough forces to make signifcant gains in the direction of Darlesia, that in doing so we would actually threaten Taour enough to pull back, that Vitria is actually capable of dealing with its own mess as long as pressure from Volante abates, that Volante isn't capable of yoloing through all of Vitria and taking Harrowmont in the rear and that Taour pulling back in order to deal with us won't simply result in them actually dealing with us way before we're ready to take them on properly.

And there you more or less have all the rambling thoughts I have on the current situation right now.
Would probably benefit a lot from getting some of those questions mentioed there answered and remembering the exact mechanics for thralling.

>>44261678
And since I might as well mention, OWQ does stat upgrades through time dedicated to them through timeskips. Special abilities(gifts from the gods) are upgraded and earned when MC has pleased the god sufficiently enough.

>>44261742
>As far as I can tell we don't have any long term way to ensure our forces grow in size right now, meaning that bunkering down is kind of suicide.

We could offer land later on to any villages any the area for me or the likes. We should probably start looking for Vitrian support depending on if they have anyone still willing to fight.

>Lady Terce

Makes me glad blackwater murdered her last time. She is a pain in the ass now that she is more active.

>>44261777
Given that things are very much focused on elites in this system, that isn't going to help all that much unless they have MK armor sitting around in their basements and are trained combatants.

Odds are things will be way more about scrounging up mercenary companies and/or convincing knightly orders to side with us.

>>44261797
We just defeated an RSK army, I'm sure they had gear we can use.

>>44261742
>>44261744
>>44261748
>>44261755
I wouldn't say this is a complete clusterfuck, but I agree we're in pretty deep. We really need more information about the vampires' forces and capabilities before taking action. And stop some gung-ho anon from doing anything stupid.

>>44261841
I didn't mean clusterfuck in the "we are fucked sense".
More in the sense that everyone is in deep shit and we are going to have lots of fun trying to navigate things from here on out.
Rather exciting honestly.

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Thanks for the feedback on the skill stuff. Like the huge modifications to the character sheets I made, I suspect the XP system will be a trial. I'm really happy with the way combat has gone with the new, more detailed sheets so I'm hoping an upgrade system further strengthens the connection with the mechanical side a bit.

>>44261757
I'm only a little bit into OWQ, but skimming through the ability tree from later on does give me some ideas to keep things manageable. Like having different types of XP, for one. I don't think I can make levelling up as entertaining looking as in OWQ, though.

>>44261841
The next thread is going to start with a mega-huge update, briefly covering politics, your current forces and available options to boost your strength.

>>44261748
>>44261777
>>44261797
>Recruiting
Right now you're relatively well placed to recruit general soldiers. You've got a couple thousand more men guarding the western front with Taour and could probably rally more of the Darlesians and Vitrians nearby. That gives you your filler for your army, at least enough to mount an offense.

Getting the elites that will give you a chance against vampires and a superior foe is the hard part. Vitria would have a few, you could try to win over knightly orders that aren't busy with the RSK/League war, there's mercenaries you could try to hire using yours and Cormann's connections.

Finally, you can also just ask for help outright. The League and RSK might spare something if you could be an ally. The RSK is considerably more factional this time, as they're now broken up into princedoms that are ruled somewhat independently. Saul also has 'friends' up north who wouldn't mind killing vampires off the books.

>>44261755
This is also a possibility. If the Taouran army is invading Vitria, they'll be weaker on the Darlesian side. In the original AEQ it was the opposite - they deployed a huge force to supress Darlesia, preventing them from invading Vitria.

>>44261898
I think you might be thinking of a different OWQ from >>44261757

>>44261922
There's two?!

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>>44261922
I was thinking of Oversized Weapon Quest, as it was mentioned earlier. I'm guessing there's a new OWQ now?

>>44261924
Oversized Weapon Quest and Orc Warlord Quest both get abbreviated to OWQ.

>>44261744
Oversized Weapons Quest was GOAT
QM told players when they can get upgrades, and they could choose any of the ones available.
One of the trees was entirely made of abilities with DMX tracks as their names, or the slightest bit altered(e.g. Shax gon' give it to ya)

>>44261898
By OWQ I meant Orc Warlord Quest, to be honest.

>>44261929
>>44261933
Fair warning though, while Orc Warlord Quest has its fair share of barbarian warlording and has a competent GM, it has a pretty heavy smut component and its orcs are basically based on hentai orcs.

>>44261898
>here's mercenaries you could try to hire using yours and Cormann's connections.

I kind of like this idea mercenaries are a lot less likely to react to anything we do if we do and having the possible future king of a nation as a sponsor is a pretty big thing.

>>44261954
The rapist with addictive/aphrodisiac body fluid type of hentai orc.

>>44261898
>The League and RSK might spare something if you could be an ally.

I'm honestly thinking we should avoid this. Tying with one risks binding us into a war with another one.

>>44262080
And going with neither will inevitably get us on both their naughty lists.

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So I've got a basic version of the next level-up. I've limited the magical ability increases as you're not going to have the time to undertake formal studies. Let me know if you have any specific skills/subskills you can think of.

Char sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tL_sunRIpjUe7s2CZImebYS6PJC2GTZp30RCsgRSZLw/edit?usp=sharing

SKILL INCREASES

MUNDANE SKILL SCHOOLS
Swordsmanship Lv3/5
>Grants access to a new subskill

Leadership Lv2/5
>Grants access to a new subskill

Archery Lv1/5

MUNDANE SUBSKILLS

Swordsmanship, A Thousand Cuts Lv3/5
>Allows you to apply your Speed when fighting opponents of equal skill, rather than just those of lesser skill

Leadership, Inspire Mages
>mages feel invigorated fighting under you. The first failed roll attributed to mages automatically succeeds instead per battle.

MAGIC ABILITY SCHOOLS

Blade Arts Lv2/5
>grants additional subskill slots; allows further upgrading of existing subskills

Combat Evocation Lv2/5
>grants additional subskill slots

Flow Reading Lv1/2
>a lesser version of Gnome’s Flow Manipulation. Allows you to read and make use of the flow of magical energy. May eventually allow you to manipulate it. Comes with subskill ‘Reading the Flow’, which grants you an accumulated success at the beginning of a combat scene against almost all enemies

MAGICAL SUBSKILLS

Combat Evocation, Magic Lance Lv3/5
>casting speed is reduced to a second, range is increased to 100m, lances gain additional penetration against anti-magic wards and resistances

Combat Evocation, Snap Barriers Lv1/3
>you may form a magical barrier over your body and armour that is effective against most physical and magical attacks. Costs 1 mana per minutes equal to your Willpower.

Combat Evocation, Simple Disruption Lv1/2
>allows you to disrupt magical phenomena and the casting of spells at a range of 50m. Not effective against rituals or mages of greater skill than yourself. Uses mana equal to half target phenomena, rounded up.

>>44262179
What are those numbers like 2.5 supposed to be? Did you mean 2.5? Is the 5 the cost of the skill increase?

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>>44262196
Level you're upgrading it to over the maximum level of the skill/subskill. Level increases are always in increments of one. I had hoped that was relatively clear. XP costs will be added later as I start trying to balance it a bit.

>>44262179
didn't Lyria imply we would be getting a new Draconic Blessing if we handled the daywalker well? have you already decided on a list of things we can choose out of or are you still thinking about it?

>>44262100
Maybe. I kind of want to try to play both by slowly building overtime. The big powers have better things to do then bothering us. Like going to war with each other.

Go neutral, Get some trade agreements. Look to Farun. With the stability inherit in the nations now the RSK and Magi League are going to be a much bigger bitch to deal with then last time.

Honestly I'm half tempted to attempt to woo some vampires.

>>44262179
I like the idea of increasing Swordsmanship. If we can personally. 4/5 Would be excellent to have with the amount of combat we'll be getting into.

>>44262179
Do FMK count as mages for the purpose of Inspire Mages?

>>44262179
Looking at this, I really hope we're going to decide on a course of action before we do the XP spending, because that's a lot of options.

>>44262179
These seem nice, but we really need to know how their costs compare to the amount of XP we have to be able to even estimate what to get.
If we can only get a single one then my choice would be very different compared to if we can get 3.

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>>44262228
She asked you to prove yourself against the daywalkers. Just killing one isn't good enough for her standards.

With that said, I'm pretty sure the next level of Blessing will give you a choice between a massive damage AoE fire spell, regeneration/magic resist or a once per day mana refill.

Working on the draconic abilities makes me wish I writing a quest about being a dragon, honestly.

>>44262259
The idea is that I let you guys discuss it, then I distill it down into a few votes for packages. There's separate XP for stats, mundane skills and magical abilities to make it easier (on me). If it appears too unwieldy, I'll probably rework it. I've never done an upgrade system before, so like most of the stuff I experimented on in AEQ it will probably have teething issues.

>>44262252
No. Spellblades, mages, combat magisters and the like. Mage-knights are knights, unless they're explicitly relying on their own magic instead of the suit.

>>44262266
I know. I'm mostly seeing whether anybody goes 'that skill is completely useless' or 'why can't we learn this'.

>>44262291
we should have killed both. We had 3 and a half minute of BDR left, we totally could have done it.

>>44262179
Skill wise I think it would be interesting to look into something kind of magey but not a high level one.

Something like a very long basic ranged magic attack with little growth but great range. Or magic designed around Occluding physical and magic presence to make it harder to keep track of where Saul is.

Saul is really skilled at magic so a few one off basic tricks like that could be interesting to learn over time. Though He obviously couldn't learn that with so little time.

>>44262291
Did Gnome think we were a cute little manlet who needed more milk?

Also will we be getting chances to ask what Talon was like?

Might be fun to see it from the other side.

>>44262332
Mmmm... Gnome milk...

I wonder if champions can get knocked up.

>>44262291
>With that said, I'm pretty sure the next level of Blessing will give you a choice between a massive damage AoE fire spell, regeneration/magic resist or a once per day mana refill.


>Regeneration/Magic resist

This would be amazing. Just give saul a minute or two and he'll be back added with his skill set would be just amazing.

>>44262339
Remember there was a possibility from the first AEQ so I think so, although my memory is really foggy.

I remember Gnome saying she had a master who would only do her analy because of that fear.

>>44262179
>>44262291
An ability to make our blade invincible would be nice. I don't know how trustworthy nasu is but according to him its quite the useful ability.

The Brutal Charge ability also looks quite good, we should be able to learn that, there are plenty of knights to teach us.

>>44262291
So FMK bombing the enemy with magic would make them count as mages, right?

>>44262291
Would we need to learn a different school for elemental magic?

>>44262353
Hmm, I thought that was just Pure Elementals though. I don't remember whether or not there was danger of knocking up Undine.

What I would give for anal with milfy Gnome

>>44262389
It would kind of make sense for it to be impossible to knock up champions, now that I think about it.

>>44262394
Yeah. I'm sure we'll find out one way or another though.

>>44262339
Reminder that women(or men) don't need to be knocked up to start producing milk.

>>44262414
You make a salient point, anon.

>>44262179
From what I've seen so far.

Stat wise what we will mostly want to focus on is magic, Endurance, Speed and Willpower. We will want to increase others to a basic level but those are the big deals.

As far as skills. Honestly mundane wise Swordsmanship rules supreme. Getting level 4 should be one of the first things we think of just because how useful it is.

A thousand cuts is pretty useful in that it shifts what stats we need making it easier to focus I'd suggest getting it at some point but not now.

Inspire mages is pretty good but kind of on the low end since we aren't the Inferalists That could boost up our mages powers.

As for magic Ability. Flow reading no question is on the menu just due to barriers and things of that nature being a bitch.

Blade arts and Combat Evocation are all equal in my mind.

Magic lance is a big yes and simple disruption is wonderful. Snap barriers though is good but bottom to me just because we shouldn't be getting in a situation where we need that in the first place.

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>>44262360
The FMKs use enchantments in their gauntlets to fire their explosive spells and binding spells.

>>44262356
Your blade is pretty damned sturdy - you need it to be if you want it to not break when you swing it around with Lyria's strength.

>>44262385
It depends on what you're trying to do with it. A big part of the skills is trying to make them not overlap too much - a fireball spell isn't much different from a magic lance, except for the fact it can light things on fire (and is probably worse at hurting armoured enemies).

>>44262389
>Hmm, I thought that was just Pure Elementals though.
Gnome was pretty sceptical at any possibility of her getting pregnant. It's one of those 'theoretically possible but nearly impossible' things.

Also, as I'm not sure if I'll be doing any smut for this quest you might be better off just going for the old scenes if that's what you're after. Gnome has one.

>>44262332
Gnome probably just thinks you're younger than you are.

>>44262308
Lynn had already murdered the shadow daywalker by the time you finished Dalrec.

>>44262291
As a question on skills what about basic mage teleportation?

>>44262426
Personally I'd rank them disruption>swordsmanship>evocation>flow>barrier>blade arts>leadership, except if Mana leech makes it so if our sword leeches a spell/magical phenomenon it also disrupts it at least somewhat.
But I'd rather get at least an additional level in leadership sooner than later.
We are aiming to be an emperor, after all.

>>44262451
>Your blade is pretty damned sturdy - you need it to be if you want it to not break when you swing it around with Lyria's strength.

Given he mentioned nasu he probably meant invisible like sabers blade. Which would be useful in the sense that foes can't figure out the length.

Personally for me though I kind of like the idea of mastering the art of making our sword seem to lengthen or shorten depending on the situation and who we are fighting with.

Like with Gnome having a long sword could be useful given her range issues with her hands. Might keep people away longer.

>>44262451
>Gnome has one.
Oh I'm well aware, Aspirational.

Anyway, I understand where you're coming from. Smut, sadly, tends to draw anons who come just for the smut and don't care about the rest of the quest.

Its a shame though, I enjoy the quest AND the periodic smut

>>44262451
Never say never op.

I'd say just let it flow naturally and see how it goes to see if we get smut.

>>44262451
>>44262467
yeah, I meant invisible, sorry.

>>44262457
>Personally I'd rank them disruption>swordsmanship>evocation>flow>barrier>blade arts>leadership

The big thing I see that puts swordsmanship up front is that in general as many special tricks as you have if you aren't equal in skill levels you'll get screwed.

Like if someone Talon tier got in close range right now he could just brute out skill him. While with Disruption we have Mal and can bring a few mages to help here.

Magical flow manipulation on the other hand is so High in my mind because it just says fuck this and bypasses all the need for it at close range. Which increases the use of it many fold as very few people know how to use those tricks though it will be a drain to master.

>>44262451
I wouldn't want you to feel obligated to provide smut anyway.
If you get the urge for it and it's appropriate, all the more power to you, but even if you don't that's fine too especially since Saul is significantly more innocent than Talon was, might even be a virgin.
It's not like smut can up too early in AEQ either. When did Talon fuck Undine and Sala, something like thread 10?
Even if you were going to write smut I could totally see it not happening until thread 25 or even later.

>>44262483
That would be pretty hard here considering how it was mostly done out of quest and IC.

Though honestly I don't care either way other then some curiosity on how awkward Alyce and Lairos was. Because this sounds very awkward.

>>44262506
You do realize that MC right now could curbstomp Talon at the beginning of the quest, right?

>>44262521
>Saul is significantly more innocent than Talon was, might even be a virgin.

I'm kind of hoping for like 1-2 partners since it would feel weird to me for someone who has been fighting for almost half his life to have not gotten influenced into it by the mercs and men around him.

Kind of want to play it as he just finds other things more Interesting to do in his free time.

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>>44262483
>>44262521
Well, the main issue with the smut was that I just found I had no drive to write it. Rather than promising a smut scene and never writing it, I'm just not going to promise any. That doesn't mean sex can't happen in the quest, just that I won't necessarily write the scene. Or if I do, it won't be announced until it's done.

>>44262452
It's a ritual spell for human mages, so Saul's completely out of his depth. Any spell that requires extended concentration is very foreign territory as it requires a level of formal training in evocation Saul's never received.

>>44262467
>Personally for me though I kind of like the idea of mastering the art of making our sword seem to lengthen or shorten depending on the situation and who we are fighting with.
Kind of hard to do with an enchanted blade.

>Like with Gnome having a long sword could be useful given her range issues with her hands.
Issues with her hands?

>>44262532
>how awkward Alyce and Lairos was. Because this sounds very awkward.
They're people who favour very different approaches to the bedroom, to say the least.

>>44262560
>Well, the main issue with the smut was that I just found I had no drive to write it. Rather than promising a smut scene and never writing it, I'm just not going to promise any. That doesn't mean sex can't happen in the quest, just that I won't necessarily write the scene. Or if I do, it won't be announced until it's done.
OH. Oh, well thats perfectly reasonable. Seriously don't worry about it then.

>>44262534
Yeah talking end of game Talon there when he had his very high weaponry skill and durability.

Talon at the start of the quest was weaksauce other then his leadership and good quality men. Something we should look to avoid is being out skilled. We lack Talons durability so the "It's only a arm!!" Type strategy he used won't work here.

>>44262545
2 is the Maximum, Aspirational said he's gonne roll 1d3-1

>>44262560
Yeah, that's fine, in fact it might be better to do it like that to avoid anon voting for what smut he wants instead of what's IC/most beneficial.
I'm kind of hoping for Saul to get injured and need an extensive recovery period, so in his boredom and out of obligation he will sit down and really get into formal evocation.
>>44262577
Well, I don't think we really have to rush into being able to take down end game Talon, anon.

>>44262560
>Issues with her hands?

Mostly a joke about how she fights by punching things so her close combat range isn't that high.

> Any spell that requires extended concentration is very foreign territory as it requires a level of formal training in evocation Saul's never received.

Kind of hoping at some point we can get some free time and train to learn some basic tricks like that. Even if he isn't good at formal just getting good enough at the steps could make a valuable trick no one would expect given what he is.

>They're people who favour very different approaches to the bedroom, to say the least.

Crying elf waifu.

>>44262560
In my opinion confusion spells or techniques feel very powerful. so making our sword appear longer or shorter than they actually are would definitely get my vote.

Though other things like the ability to provoke our opponents into attacking too soon or bluff them into staying defensive would also be nice.

>>44262560
For barrier techniques eventually, since my sphere idea wouldn't work, how about a similar one for 1-on-1 with making a small but strong barrier around someone's limbs for a short time to fuck up their balance/momentum? Like, just a ring around the angle locked on place would work. Or are we better off with short range telekinesis for such ideas?

>>44262605
>Well, I don't think we really have to rush into being able to take down end game Talon

Talking more just his Strategy there. I'm seeing a big issue in someone that fights like Talon vs Saul. If Saul was forced into a situation where things are a battle of durability he'll have a problem. Which makes me favor Swordsmanship a bit more. Mage wise Saul is pretty good because he is fast and he can long range attack and most mages are low defense.

>>44262581
I really hope we roll the kissless virgin, it'd be fun to play as.

Just think of how the dragon waifu can corrupt us.

>>44262641
Well, Saul's best bet at durability battle would be to use Rage and one-shot the enemy with a well placed strike, or use disruption/mana leech.
Once he gets healing/regeneration, he can do sustained battles with just that and mana leech, right? Especially if mana leech can be used to fuck up/ruin/disrupt spells as well.

>>44262545
It would make sense to me, he already said he didn't drink with other mercs too often, he obviously didn't have an opportunity in his traumatic/secret past, and he seems innocent/eccentric enough to have just focused on fighting and magic instead since.

>>44262622
Confusion spells are useful but in my mind pretty minor in total combat potential.

Mostly because while they can help they mostly work via the foes not being able to see though it. Having some basics help in a close fight but it doesn't really help in a lot of cases unlike being able to make a bigger boom or things like that.

>>44262668
Thing there is knights are designed as anti-mage counters.

So there isn't anything to disrupt with them since most of the time they are using internal buffs and if the Knight happens to be strong enough they could block Saul's attacks long enough.

So it makes sense to me to go with skill because either way having more skill in it helps. While magic disruption helps mostly with mages at a range. In which case we have our own spells to attack at range and Mal the master of it.

Both are obviously things we should get but I kind of see more advantage to trying to close off a possible disadvantage early on given vampires.

>>44262560
I want to ask how delayed spells work again.
How many spells can you have prepared at once? Once you have one prepared can you cast normal spells without wasting the one you've prepared? For how long can a prepared spell be held in reserve? Are the mana costs payed when preparing it or when casting it?

>>44262734
QM has said that we could eventually for example improve our Magic Lances so that they'd be usable even against foes with defenses against magical attacks.

>>44262560
Just to ask. Does the Flow skills eventually open up into sunder? Or is that a different area?

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Alright, so I've finally worked out how to add decent forests to my map. I've spent like two hours doing this and fixing the colour of the wasteland and the mountains, still need to add snow caps to the Magi Line and Sithran, though.

>>44262679
>he obviously didn't have an opportunity in his traumatic/secret past
It's not that traumatic. He just ran away from home because he didn't like what he was being trained to be. I'm surprised somebody who read the old AEQ hasn't pieced the dots together, yet.

>>44262640
Barriers don't have weight. You'd be better off just trying to summon a physical object on them like manacles or a weight (which you could also learn).

If you're trying to use a barrier to lock them in place, it's possible but would be a difficult roll and prone to being resisted. Generally, anything you're trying to do to affect somebody or in very close proximity to them can be resisted (all the other mage has to do is gather or disrupt the magical energy you're gathering around him).

>>44262666
If you roll a 1, you've already been corrupted.

>>44262736
One, yes, depends on your magic stat (probably 15 minutes per point of Magic), preparing (which also means the delayed spell is detectable) but there is a cost to holding a delayed spell.

>>44262747
Flow is unlikely to lead to Sunder for Saul - he's not an elemental.

>>44262745
Yeah. Of course. Still I've always preferred to get the basic skills up first. It gives more options and rounds him out.

I'm all for fighting at range with magic Lances and the likes. But I'd also find it nice that if the foe does run Sauls mana out He'll be good enough to fight with most knights and not have that glass Cannon issue.

>>44262779
I was just adding an option, I'd personally prefer to learn how to into bows and carry a short one with us so we have a long range option that doesn't necessarily waste mana but we can still make better by using mana with it.

>>44262775
I was thinking of the "hold them in place with barriers" thing against melee fighters who don't necessarily know how to disrupt.
So what I'm hearing from this is telekinesis is better for that purpose.

>>44262775
Given the minor mage prejudice and "friends" up north, I'd probably guess Mage-Guard stuff for our "secret" past.

>>44262775
>Flow is unlikely to lead to Sunder for Saul - he's not an elemental.

Hmm. We may want to research a method to do something like Sunder then. Like inject magical energy to make wounds harder to heal or summon something like shards of lead into a foes wounds.

>>44262775
But the -1 would make that zero and masturbation doesn't count!

>>44262795
Yeah anon. I can kind of see what you mean. Thinking on this why don't we get like a blowgun? Get some poison and get Mal to enchant the things.

A shortbow could also be useful if enchanted. He lacks skills with it though so I doubt it would be worth the total cost.

>>44262810
It's likely that just by being a skilled spellblade up north he would gain friends. So it's likely but not 100 percent.

>>44262847
Yeah, but the quotation marks implicate an at least somewhat strained relationship.
Sure, maybe he's using quotationmarks because they're criminal scum or whatever, but given that Aspir just noted that it's possible to figure out, we can assume that he was trained by a known group and that leaves few other options.

>>44262847
That's why I said I want to learn how to into crossbows. I doubt it's going to be too expensive to get a basic level in it.
It would be best if we could get one of the ones that fold out, so carry it around isn't a problem, but we'd probably need to invent it first or something.
Or a gun could work if it exists. A crossbow is too slow though.

>>44262921
>Crossbows

Too slow for how fast paced he fights.

>>44262946
That's... literally what I said?

>>44262682
depends on how aspir handles confusion en misdirection abilities. If the opponents can magically resist them without any effort spend into learning how to do so, it would be a waste to learn the ability.

If the opponents actually need to spend time and exp to learn the skill to counter our techniques it will probably be highly useful in single target fights because not many people have an indirect fighting style like that and the enemy most likely hasn't learned how to see through it.

the real trade of is that it is useless against a large groups of enemies, while making our explosions bigger is useful against them.

Still, I think its a waste to be a magic warrior and reduce that to a mage who just happens to wear a sword on his belt.

>>44262946
>>44262959
Ah, never mind, I see now.
>>44262921
The first "crossbow" in this was supposed to be just "bow"

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Anyway, anons, I'm off to bed. If the thread's here when I wake up I'll answer any questions. Otherwise my Ask.fm is at >>44259314

>>44262921
>Or a gun could work if it exists
They don't.

And archery covers both regular bows and crossbows, for simplicity.

>>44262810
>>44262847
There's a name dropped that gives it away, if anybody even remembers the character.

>>44262998
About the only names in the north I can remember is Talons old inquisitor friend and the warden general.

>>44262966
Magic sensing is pretty basic though though more advanced versions will obviously be useful.

Still explosions work at groups. But also increase damage one on one too.

>>44262968
I was going to suggest javelins as an alternative, then I remembered Magic Lances. Maybe leveling that skill up is a viable ranged option.

>>44263148
The whole reason to have bows is that they cost no mana.

>>44263155
Well, good thing we have a mana regen option come up eh? Or maybe leveling up would make the spell more efficient?

>>44263209
Mana regen option is a once per day thing, not exactly reliable.
I think best we can do for that is Mana Leech, and maybe eventually upgrade it so it's more useful.

>>44262998
Sadly there were way too many named characters for me to remember Nant as anything but "moderate Inquisitor guy who helped Finn" and, while I intended to look up his name when he was first mentioned in Saul's thoughts, it slipped my mind while participating in the thread.

>>44263724
Try http://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/text/nant/username/aspirational/

>>44263724
Ah, I honestly forgot all the finn episodes personally.

>>44263770
I already found him before even posting.

My point was that, even though I remembered Inquisitor Nant as a character, I did not recall his name at all and his namedrop in Saul's thoughts was not enough to trigger a memory.

>>44263901
Ah, that's good, because I haven't read AEQ that far and have no idea who he is.

>>44263908
I doubt many people do.
He showed up in a single interlude during which we controlled the previous MCs squire.

Essentially, he's a moderate member of the Nation that's taken it upon itself to police dangerous magic and generally dislikes mages.

>>44262291
Would Lyria be impressed if we befriended daywalkers instead?

Like Nanoha but less lesbian implications

I forgot how seriously fun Aspirational's quest was.

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>>44264345
I find this hilarious because by the time they decide to become "friends" with Saul at the end of the battle, Saul will be just covered head to toe in blood.

>>44264984
>>44264345
Befriending actually sounds like it would have been impossible. But maybe if we ask for it we can gain a befriending skill, which will allow us to befriend our defeated enemies. Fun shenanigans will be had.

At most 2 hours until Aspirational wakes up, by my estimate.
I will bump this thread a single time.

bump

Bummp

bump for Saul

Why was this quest restarted? What went wrong with the other one?

>>44268915
The players

>>44269147
>The players

Please be more clear.

>>44269214
So much salt i was drowning

>>44268915
The quest had a lot of baggage, much accumulated salt, some GM missteps and compounding problems due to its long runtime and it being "the first try".

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>>44267153
Well I'm up, but are there any questions or discussion? If not, then you don't need to keep the thread alive. There'll be another thread tomorrow.

>>44270499
Well, I suppose that's okay then.
I might as well ask, are elemental skills going to be 1 school of elementalism with subschools for the elements, or 4 wholly separate schools for each elemental magic?
See you tomorrow, mate.
Combat skill so if our STR is higher than our speed we can add 1/3 of the difference rounded down to our speed? Maybe limit our movements to straight lined jumps and wide swings?
Short range teleportation of predetermined objects to ourselves to retrieve theowing knives/arrows? Just telekinetic/magnetic pull of these objects to us?
Do I assume right that the vague relevance of the elements to combat is water=technique air=speed earth=power fire=no idea, or should I abandon this train of thought as is? I just recall Sala, Undine, and Gnome having very differenr combat styles, so I thought it might be related to their elements' usefulness in combat.

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>>44270804
>I might as well ask, are elemental skills going to be 1 school of elementalism with subschools for the elements, or 4 wholly separate schools for each elemental magic?
It won't be its own school. If all you want to do is shoot fireballs, you would have a subskill called 'Elemental Blast' under Combat Evocation. If you want to do more complex things, you would need to learn the Channelling school and elemental subskills under that.

The question is more 'what additional benefit would they provide over existing skills'. I don't want to just add skills for the sake of it.

And while elementals do tend towards a particular combat style, that has less to do with the elements themselves and more to do with how they work with elementals. Earth gets flow manipulation, fire tends to be about overwhelming power, water has versatility, air is about movement.

>>44270099
>The quest had a lot of baggage, much accumulated salt, some GM missteps and compounding problems due to its long runtime and it being "the first try".

>>44269234
>So much salt i was drowning

So I can't get any real detail, like "Aspirational killed our waifu" or something?

>>44272665
Anon we don't talk about it anymore just let it go

>>44272665
Iirc Aspirational did post something a while back on twitter about why he stopped running. BUT I'll say what I remember.

From what I understand, there was a bunch of player angst going around due to a couple reasons. Such as, us spending reality bending points to change important relationships. I distinctly remember us changing Sylvian to be more compliant after she deserted us because we promised to take her side more and then promptly told her to fuck off the next time she gave her opinion.

Anyway, there was just a LOT of players being very angry with each other and with the QM.

Then, possibly due to the angry players, as well as just general burnout(from what I understand), Aspirational decided he didn't want to run anymore, because he'd lost the motivation to do so.

I'd recommend going over his later twitter stuff and possibly the last few threads of Talon's run. Sorry anon, I really only vaguely remember what went down. But I hope that was helpful and accurate. If it is not, please feel free to correct me, but try and keep it civil, theres no need for a flame war.

>>44272942
>Anon we don't talk about it anymore just let it go

>>44272961
>BUT I'll say what I remember.

OK, that was enough for what I wanted, I'll drop it now. Thanks guys.