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>>44287251
>Opening with a brief update on recent politics

You keep your silence, looking over the map and considering the situation. Taour had previously been a relatively weak city-state – the city itself had been nearly completely destroyed in the first Magi Rebellions some twenty years ago. Since it had been rebuilt it had been controlled by vampires and, for reasons beyond your understanding, nobody had intervened to deal with them. Now it had conquered the city of Darlesia to the south and appeared to have somehow broken through the Vitrian defensive line to seize their capital.

“Sorry to ask this,” Gnome says, breaking the silence, “but this map has a few differences to twenty years ago. What exactly is the Magi League, as I doubt it has much in common with the original League from five hundred years ago?”

Your eyes run over the nearby superpowers, the Magi League and the Royal Seraphi Kingdom. “The Magi League formed eight years ago, when the Archmage Alyce of Lyss deposed the King of Ahm and the second Magi rebellions began.”

“Mmm, so little Alyce is an archmage now,” Gnome mutters. “I take it that the RSK has expanded its territory as part of their conflict with them?”

“More or less,” Cormann says. “The two powers have been in constant war for the last eight years. Valuable fodder for a mercenary company like ourselves, but it makes things harder as an upstart nation.”

You understood what he was getting at. Right now one of the easiest ways to gain more power to defeat Taour was to ally yourself with one of those superpowers. Unfortunately, if they were tied up in a war they wouldn’t spare you much and would expect your assistance in your war once you’ve finished up here.

“I find it difficult to believe that this Magi League would be so caught up in its war that it would ignore a vampiric city-state enslaving enormous numbers of people,” Gnome says with a frown.

>continued

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>>44287261
“They’ve got support from with the League, according to what I’ve heard,” Maloric says. “Shropham has always been the black sheep of the League, but it’s powerful and appears to be providing clandestine support for the vampires. I understand they’re the reason the Guard aren’t intervening.”

Clicking your tongue, you look further north on the map. The Mage Guard was an odd nation, as you’d learnt in your youth in Balkarin. Although the cities and province were theoretically independent, the Guard controlled the military, set foreign policy and influenced just about every noble in their territory. Despite the name, they were all about controlling mages, destroying monsters such as spirit beasts and providing assistance to the archangels in defending the Barrier of Marie that stretched across the Magi Line mountains.

“If we’re going to ask for help, why don’t we try recruiting without getting an entire nation involved?” Ser Lynn asks, tilting his ask as he looks at you. “Surely there would be mages and knights who would rather destroy the vampiric threat than fight one another?”

“There’s also mercenaries,” Cormann says. “We know a few, and I imagine you know a few too. They’re likely receiving a fair bit of pay from the League and the Seraphs, particularly with the League beginning a new offensive, but we’ve got enough sequestered away that we could afford to pay them as much.”

The other alternative is to contact some of your ‘friends’ in the Guard, see if you can get some unofficial help. You’d rather not draw attention to yourself that way, however.

>continued

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>>44287281
The other issue was this Lady Terce. “Do we have any idea how this Terce could thrall so many soldiers at once?” you ask your officers, referring to the ability of daywalker vampires to form mental control over others.

“I recognise the name but know little of her abilities,” Malaine says, glancing at his fellow Darlesian officers. “I know that Darlesian intelligence was in contact with the monks based in Farun, so perhaps they might know something?”

Your other officers mention their own ideas for intelligence: Maloric mentions a young RSK noble recently given land north of Worremburg; Gnome mentions the mages of Ahm. You even think of the Guard.

Still, you’re at a point where you need to make a decision. You don’t have to try to retake Vitria from the vampires at this point, but the longer you wait the more they will solidify their hold. Darlesia must be undermanned by the vampires to compensate for this new invasion. You could even ignore the situation – Taour hadn’t made any declaration of war (not that they would need to, given you’re not a real nation). If you threw your lot in with the RSK or League you could try something completely different.

>Strategic plans discussion

Note that you have ~1100 troops in Harrowmont and another 2k in Niorte and Fort Locke. All your elites are in Harrowmont. You can easily recruit more regular soldiers, but elites are harder.

>>44287294
I say we try and merc up and push the dirty vampires from Vitria.

Ok so I think our first move is trying to neutralize Lady Terce. Any military stratagies we employ against Taour in the Vitrian area carry huge risks with her able to thrall soldiers. Our only choice here seems to be contacting the monks of Farun. I cant see us taking Darlesia soon because any action taken against the city would cause the armies in Vitria to attack Harrowmont.

>>44287294
I honestly say we should hire the mercs. They may cost us but they also won't tie us down as much as allying with another nation.

Bringing in the mage guard has issues in that we can't use the vampires later or make alliances with any of the reasonable ones because the guard will just want to burn them all.

And the two powers has the issue that allying with them drags us into a war with little gain.

Mercs on the other hand don't have that problem. We should also round up some men to fight the vampires from the local knight orders.

>>44287294
Can't we try and recruit from the prisoners we made? I doubt all of them appreciated being manipulated by daywalkers.

>>44287413
I dont think it would be us allying with people in the guard but calling on friends we have there. That being said I have no clue who our "friends" are or their capabilities and im reluctant to call on help without that knowledge.

>>44287294
Well, Volante is apparently soon going to assault the primary Vitrian Castle. I'd be tempted to drop a dragon on him if we can swing it. Beyond that, recruit as many troops as we can, and grab what elites are available. Oh, and Assassinate the witch, with her dead the thralls could probably loophole their way back into control, or at least cause chaos enough to make it obvious that they are thralled.
Also, sendings to the Vitrian mage towers, they are likely still free, and critical for any attempt to retake the city.

>>44287413
>Ally with Vampires
Why would we do that?

>>44287413
As far as general straegy goes I feel we need to take Vitria and decently soon. The longer we wait the bigger chance they'll get a solid hold on the place and in general be a pain in the ass.

I would like to think Darlesia is undermanned but it's also possible they might have just stuck some heavy hitters there in the off case someone realizes this.

So in general I say we need scouts, We need to see what is going on in Vitria and the likes. If darlesia proves to be undermanned we might want to make a fast strike there with a decent force we rounded up in order to attempt to draw the foes out of Vitria towards us for a battle away from the city.

Any way we could get in contact with any of the following and offer them asylum?

Order of the Black Stone
Order of the Golden Bear
Pax Vitria
Tower of Kassick
Tower of Port Temby

But be able to gain some elites that way at least.

I'm more inclined to attempt to link up with the League if we absolutely must, as a non-participant in the current war preferably. Taking Darlesia and the Wall of Lesia would give us two great defensive points to work from, rather than just one and putting faith in Fort Locke to hold.

>>44287449
I'd say there's no reason not to ask our mage guard contacts for info, but no support if we can avoid it.

>>44287453
>I'd be tempted to drop a dragon on him if we can swing it
We dont have access to any dragons

>Also, sendings to the Vitrian mage towers, they are likely still free, and critical for any attempt to retake the city
I agree, but if I was a vamp the first people I would be thralling are the mages and the nobles.I dont think they can be trusted.

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And as I completely forgot to mention the enemy’s military numbers…

Vitria has about 2,000 soldiers in Gimbon Falls plus another 3k-5k around Argyle Estate. An unknown number are defending Trembin.

Taour has over 6k soldiers besieging the castle-town of Trembin under the vampiric General Volante. The Vitrian General Parras believes they have fewer than 1k soldiers in Vitria itself, but would have somehow influenced a few thousand Vitrian soldiers on their war in. They’ve also got about 3k at Darlesia plus at least another 7k or so near Taour itself.

Note that your intelligence isn't hugely reliable as of yet.

>>44287420
The RSK soldiers might not be too fond of the daywalkers, but they wouldn't be tremendously reliable given how you ran them down after the battle. Also, they've mostly got home to go back to in the RSK.

>>44287494
I think it was mentioned last thread, but sendings to and from Vitria are being blocked.

>>44287458
They be powerful and useful. If we find some decently reasonable ones that have a good offer I wouldn't say no.

That's a pretty big if though. Still we may want to look for someone who is interested in moving up in the world and would be willing to help us in exchange for offing their rivals.

1100 troops and a few hundred elites sounds awfully small compared to Taour and its vamps. I almost feel we have to ally ourselves with a bigger power.

>>44287449
The real danger there is the mage guard doesn't just stop when you want them to. They stop when they want to and assuming his friends happen to be who I think they are I'd save that for last resort.

>>44287540
I think the best plan is to trust no vampires and to liberally apply fire to their bodies until dead

Well, I think this whole situation makes for a great opportunity to be 'voluntarily' acclaimed as emperor. Spearhead an anti-vampire alliance, but don't finish them off before they've gone after farun too, so everyone's involved, and then engineer the battles so our political opponents are sent to more dangerous battles to hopefully die and when the whole thing is over everyone 'decides' we need a united state to keep this from happening again and we're acclaimed as emperor (in at least a "king of kings" role.)

>>44287538
We can use our charisma to convince them that we will own their home cities soon enough

>>44287545
We have 3k actually. But yeah, I think that OP went really far the other way when it comes to difficulty (especially since no one ever really complained that it was too easy).

>>44287538
If we could get access to Vitria's men at Argyle's estate we would have a potent relief force. We may need to hurry though.

>>44287576
Well its not like they don't already know about the situation, they might decide to start whether we ask them or not. Hell, knowing we're doing their job for them might disuade them from getting involved since its already getting taken care of.

>>44287538
>I think it was mentioned last thread, but sendings to and from Vitria are being blocked.

Damn it.

Well with that in mind, I think we should attempt to link up with one of the Termina factions. It would be great to see Lyyph again, or Finn's princess whose name escapes me at the moment. Farun at the very least must be nervous because they are on the chopping block next.

>>44287458
All other vampires can go roast, but Blackwater is okay in my books. Wonder how he's doing.

Other than giving us nat 1s and shit, and generally fucking our rolls as per normal.

>>44287652
I still say that all vampires only have their interest at heart and they only make friends so they can thrall/rape all we hold dear.

>>44287588
Best to check all our options before murdering everything in sight. See what politics are going around and who is more likely to betray then not.

>>44287652
>Blackwater okay

Remove blackwater.

>>44287652
Nice try Blackwater

>>44287538
>I think it was mentioned last thread, but sendings to and from Vitria are being blocked.
How is this achieved? Do they have special magitech or something?

So what kind of merc options are we looking at? Wandering Knight Orders like Felix's? Makes displaced by the Wars? More exotic abroad?

>>44287676
>implying normal people have only their interests at heart

Everyone is selfish until they have reason not to be, whether it's personal belief, debt, or just general good history with others.

He's pretty bro-tier all around, though, and was probably the most interesting vampire character in the last run.

>>44287750
The closer to home the cheaper the merc

If we have to ally ourselves with a greater power who would you guys want the most? I think the Mage league would be best due to Gnomes past.

What's this about monks?

>>44287676
I kind of feel that about everyone anyway.

>>44287281
Mercs+Recruiting without a nation. If we must we can call in the guard or the RSK/League. Lets work on getting info and make a move towears the argyle estate and see if we can't get some rabble.

We have to watch from the lord of thralling daywalker though.

>>44287762
Well if it weren't approaching freezing temperatures maybe I could type fucking properly

>normal people -don't- have only their own interests*

>>44287785
it's cool I understood

>>44287762
I Always thought that was Aladria+Volante personally.

Blackwater always seemed like one of those dresses in fine suits all the time dicks that just dicked you over politely.

I /distantly/ remember that one of the Daywalkers who died before we faced them supposedly thralled through voice, which could hit many people easily but was a lot less secure of a hold or not very long lasting.
There's a good chance that something like that is involved here, in which case it becomes critical that we interfere in Vitria before another Daywalker with more permanent enthralling methods can apply it to everyone currently kept docile.

Personally, I'd argue that we get ready to intervene in Vitria, maybe try to hit up some intel sources while we get our forces moving.
If it turns out that even with speedy intervention we can't really hold Vitria, we simply go in, kill whoever they used for this subversion grab everything and everyone worth grabbing and retreat back to Harrowmont before Volante can hit us in the field.

Intervening in Vitria now is important because the port city is likely to be a key source of income and letting the vampires thrall everyone important makes it night unmanagable even if we win, but as soon as they evacuate, barely defended Darlesia is a more useful target than Volante with 7000 soldiers.

Unfortunately I don't think the situation in vitria has yet reached the intervention sweet spot. Sure if we wait they'll become entrenched, but at this point they won't be grateful enough to submit to being taken over. So I think we need to start probing darlesia, cementing ourselves over our own territory, and making contact with the nearby vitrians the old fashioned way.

>>44287808
Volante was an awesome character, but pretty straightforward in his regard, simple, but fun to fight.

Aladria was Aladria, I feel like she didn't get enough screen time to establish anything other than being kinda bitchy.

>>44287781
I hope the leader of a monk mercenary band happens to be a hot blooded girl who is prone to fisting things and likes to sing songs to raise her fighting spirit.

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Suffer not the Vampire

>>44287780
Right now? RSK.

The league seems to be going at the war hard now. So if we go with them we can get better terms out of the RSK when it comes to land grabs because they need all the allies they can get.

>>44287750
Why not all the above? I'd love to have one of those anti-magic assassins personally.

>>44287637
It may be a decent idea to call in some monks at least. Assuming they are still around I"m sure they really really would not want the vampires to spread.

>>44287538
This is unrelated but can we change the direction of our magic spears mid flight? Because that would be a good practical ability to learn.

>>44287819
>I /distantly/ remember that one of the Daywalkers who died before we faced them supposedly thralled through voice
Thats Lady Terce


The biggest issues I see with letting the vamps thrall so many people is that we have no way of removing thralldom. A year after we conquer Taour, if Lady Terce is still alive she could turn the entire city on its head and kill thousands.

>>44287844
>establish anything other than being kinda bitchy.

Aladria a cute. A CUTE!

>>44287819
Yeah it's the vampire that did the mass thralling. Talon was paranoid about her but blackwater murdered her us.

Looks like he didn't here so now she is going to be a pain in the ass. Too bad Saul has no idea how the hell she thralls people here. Otherwise we would all be wearing ear plugs right now.

>>44287825
Dropping in 3000 men would be quite good for them right now in all honesty considering where they are at.

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>>44287719
Long distance sendings rely on sending towers. Those in and near Vitria have been shut down. You can still use sendings within the city but unless you're a really powerful mage, sending one yourself (without relying on a tower) is impossible.

>>44287637
Termina is a no-go due to hostilities between them and the other factions. Farun would be possible but hard to convince via sending only.

Anyway, a couple of rolls regarding recruitment.

[DC57/94 Merc Recruitment] Roll can critfail (which means you get no mercs)

[DC73 Knight/Mage Recruitment] Roll can critfail (no knights or mages)

I'll call a vote on contacting the Guard and Vitrian soldiers after these, so people can make an informed decision. Also, if you have anything else you want to try to do before (potentially) playing those hands, let me know.

Rolled 72, 18 = 90 (2d100)

>>44287915

Rolled 100, 5 = 105 (2d100)

>>44287915

Rolled 5, 93 = 98 (2d100)

>>44287915
Okay, Blackwater, do your thing.

>>44287914
It would be good, but not "Saul for Emperor!" good.

>>44287941
>>44287943
>>44287944
LONG LIVE THE SAUL

>>44287294
Another thing is with mercs we can offer them more then money.

If there is one thing mercs would enjoy it's a steady paycheck and a chance to have the gratitude of a emperor of a nation.

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>>44287943
>>44287944
Welp, you just got yourself a bunch of elites. Gimme a second.

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>>44287941
>>44287943
>>44287944

>>44287941
>>44287943
>>44287944

>dat 100
>dat 93

Aw shit son elites here we come!

>>44287825
Volante is still going to be about to sweep into Vitria if we do save the city from thralling infiltrators.
They'll still be desperate and all kinds of fucked.

All waiting accomplishes is getting more potential anti-vampire forces killed because their being thralled and turned against each other.


And personally, I believe our best shot here for empire building is to depict ourselves as a vampire crushing superhero.
We don't have Talon's reputation, so we need to forge one, which means swift and gallant Daywalker killing all day every day.

Even if they don't swear allegiance immediately, that just means we can back out gallantly eliminate vampires in Darlesia, get more hero worship going, hope to draw vampire hating mercenaries and knights to our side and when the vampires are finally dead enough people and knightly orders should be loyal to us personally that whoever nominally rules Vitria doesn't matter anyways.

>>44287943
>>44287944
Blackwater did literally nothing wrong

>>44287915
Farun we should at least start talking about being the hammer to our anvil. If we can then show our stuff they've got a decent chance of joining.

>>44287915
>100
>93

>>44287943
>>44287944

Mein god. Saul the king of mercs.

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>>44287943
>mfw

I'll never roll again

>>44287944
>>44287943
well hot damn, how did he do it? Have Gnome act as the Recruitment booth babe?

>>44287943
>Turns out are long lost brother was just hanging out with 1k Magic knights

>>44287844
Wasn't Aladria basically Shinobi from Monogatari?
Somewhat haughty, kind of focused on the one bonded to her, rather knowledgable and with deep seated insecurity issues?
Although I might just be projecting.

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>>44287943
>Saul's fw he recruits

>>44287972
>We don't have Talon's reputation, so we need to forge one

Honestly for me personally I say lets not.

Lets be that guy that just grabs power out of no where that no one knows what the hell he is thinking or wants. If we make a rep it should be a fake one.

Saul is an unknown which is a huge advantage in the sense that unlike Talon no one has any idea what he is thinking or planning. Just being able to take the land in front of us is enough for me. Then we wait and plan.

>>44287915
We should definitely try talk to Farun we know when pressed their warrior spirit can be rekindled.

Also hot damn do we need a port and soon, I think at least nabbing Port Temby would do is good.

>>44288017
>Shinobi
Shinobu
Stupid keys being directly next to each other.

>>44288029
I totally agree. People wont be willing to act against a potential ally.

>>44288017
I'd prefer Eva from Negima/UQ Holder

>>44287945
>Saul for Emperor

Shouldn't we be calling ourself a king? For now until we get suitably big enough to claim that we have an empire

>>44287963
>Suddenly Saul is tripping over badass rugged mercs
>All of them wearing clown outfits.

>>44288074
Its international politics, people are willing to act against their actual allies, if anything a potential enemy is what they won't act against.

>>44288102
Eh, you can have a pretty small empire as long as you've got sub-kings or whatever to make the name make sense.

>>44288102
I think we'd be an archduke or something, we hold a fair bit of land, but it's mostly just empty space, we don't have a kingdom or empire by any stretch of the imagination.

It doesn't really matter, we could call ourselves what we like, but we won't truly be any of it for a while.

>>44288130
>as long as you have a sub-king
Which we do not

>>44288029
Yeah, let's spread all kind of contradicting bullshit around about us. Mix in some truths as well, but only the ridiculous ones.


Proposed list of rumours
>he killed a daywalker with his bare hands
>no woman has been attractive enough to seduce him
>he tamed a dragon when he was still a youth
>he is great at tabletop games
>he is the descendent of "king X the great"
>he comes from a proud line of nobles
>he is a thrown aside bastard with a vendetta against nobility
>he is a protector of magicians
>his father was the royal mage of "city X"
Etc, the more the better.

>>44288102
Eh.
King has very blatant implications of us simply trying to start up a new Monarchic line with us as the kickoff point.

Odds are we won't need an actual title until there's at least a lull in the fighting with Taour and at that point we'll likely have Vitria and or Darlesia among out assets, which means Emperor is accurate due to several "nations" being under our banner.

>>44288135
King of harrowmont, emperor of the eastern princes (in the sense of "rules a principality," with principality being any relatively small state)

>>44288152
>he is a noble thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
>he is the son of an angel
>he has never committed a crime in his life.
>he brings slaughter to the battlefield
>he is the most merciful general around

>>44288151
Yeah, but we pretty much WOULD at that point, if they were willing, is the point.

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Alright, so that exceptional success on the merc roll means you get to choose between three mercs groups. You can only afford one of these elite units.

>1. Rogue Black Griffin Knights
When the Prince of Guelburg passed away, his son was robbed of his rightful title by court politics. He and his men stole away with many of the wingless griffins that Guelburg's Black Griffin Knights are so proud of, giving them a powerful charge and phenomenal speed. You knew the would-be-prince from a duel, years ago, but having him join you might attract attention from the RSK you might no appreciate. They number 200.

>2. Pharosian Mercenaries
Cormann's contact in the Eastern Winds Trading Company says there is a group of 200 soldiers from Pharos who will fight for you in exchange for the right amount of gold. As far as front-line soldiers go, there is little that can crack a formation of these western warriors and they are extremely strong against monsters. They are not particularly fast and are vulnerably to mages, however.

>3. More Knights
Alternatively, you can simply spread your gold across recruiting many heavy knights to supplement those you recruit from the other roll. You'll get about 400 heavy knights (slightly weaker than your Black Dragon Knights). You'll also get considerably more regular soldiers.

>>44288152
>he is great at tabletop games
of course an obligatory /tg/ fact
>His rage matches that of a dragon
>Never question or talk ill of his height.

>>44288152
>He has an imaginary girlfriend he named Lyria that he thinks is real. Who knows what someone crazy enough to think this could do?

>>44288209
Pharosian Mercs.
Are there foxes among the Pharosian Mercs?

>>44288209
Honestly, more knights.

>>44288209
>>1. Rogue Black Griffin Knights
I don't think we have any calvary

>>44288209
So cavalry with baggage or muh samurais since generic heavy knights will get weaker later.

Does being extremely strong against monsters include vampires

Voting Pharosian Mercs for now

>>44288209
>1 sounds interesting

>>44288209
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

I think we should go with these guys. We have Mal to help with the mages. But we need monster killers since we are fighting vampires. The BGK risks RSK attention while more knights is just plain when we could get better elites.

I'm going to reiterate and clarify, because people are apparently not aware.

Openly stating that we are intending to form a new monarchy has some pretty damn huge implications in the current political climate where two superpowers, one a magocracy and one a coalition of monarchies, are waging war against each other ostensibly because they do not acknowledge the other's legitimacy.
Doing so is NOT to be done before considering said implications.

Declaring ourselves King, delcares ourselves head of a new monarchy.
Declaring ourselves Emperor, declares ourselves sovereign of what were previously seperate nations.
One we can do without issue once the conditions for doing so are met, the other not so much.

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>>44288230
No, they're just humans so far as you know.

>>44288246
>Does being extremely strong against monsters include vampires
Potentially, although they've never fought vampires before (they're not native to Pharos).

>>44288216
>not "He is the tallest man you will ever meet"
one job anon

>>44288152
>He drinks 8 barrels of milk a day

>>44288209
I'm torn between Cavs and Knights I dunno

>>44288281
What, the heat of the Pharosian sun too much for vampires?

>>44288281
aww.....I wanted to see fox samurai. oh well I'm still gonna pick.
>>44288209
>2. Pharosian Mercs
Going with them because they're grade a monster slayers.

>>44288163
>King has very blatant implications of us simply trying to start up a new Monarchic line with us as the kickoff point.
What's wrong with that?

>>44288209
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries
Lots of city fighting to be had in Vitria and monster slayers are pretty hander when we'll end up facing Nightwalkers sooner or later.

>>44288209
2
Because if anyone knows how to fight vampires, it's the crazy Bastards that are willing to fight oni across the sea.

>>44288306
Vampires fear the samurai

>>44288281
what's the closest demonic comparison that the Pharosians have to the Gaourian Vamps?

>>44288315
Pretty sure Pharos is not!Egypt plus not!Western Asia, though I will concede it has been a while so my memory is fuzzy.

>>44288209
Could you tell us after this vote which merc group we'd have gotten if we only rolled 57 or 94?

Will there be opportunities to hire the other merc group later in the quest?

>>44288312
The bigass nation to the left or so of us? The one that has the tons of badass mages and very powerful Shropham? Yeah she hates royals and wants to get rid of them. So it's a pretty big deal when it comes down to it.

>>44288315
I hope their leader's name is "Jack"

>>44288281
>they're not native to Pharos
Damn I was hoping for some Moonblade action.

>>44288209
Option one has future potential, it gives us an estranged prince as ally who can help us with his connections and who we can sweet talk to serve under us and legitimize our conquests

>>44288209
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288362
Do we even know that?

>>44288376
It may also piss off certain factions in the RSK as well, so there's some risk as well

>>44288384
>expecting anons not to try and meta the hell out of things
cute

>>44288163
actually that's a good point.
Let's go with prince, prince is much more neutral.
Freaking MAYORS can get called prince.

>>44288376
>>44288209
Though the name black Griffin knights rouses a suspicion withing me, the prince won't try to betray us and rape our lover, right?

>>44288312
Because that comes with a risk of getting dragged into the war between our neighbouring superpowers who are arguably fighting over the legitimacy of magocracy vs monarchy.
Which would be all kinds of bad.

It's likely not enough on its own, but it's a reasonably big statement and could for example mean that a single dropping of sphaghetti locks us into the war on the RSK side.

Not to mention that it sends all other monarchies the message that we'll more or less play by their rules, meaning political marriages, primogeniture, etc.

Now all of this is certainly something we /can/ do if we want to especially since it does come with some advantages of its own, but we should really not be making such implications without being aware that we are doing so.

>>44288341
It's not China and Not Japan in a blender from what I've seen so far.

Very low elites percentage of population but has such a godly huge population the elites they do have are huge and they have a lot of esoteric eastern tricks that gaijin bakas will never understand because superior race.

>>44288415
Prince is a manlet title, not fit for a giant like Saul

>>44288209
Option one seems to have interesting potential. Also, fuck pharos and fuck the Eastern Winds Trading Company, they're a bunch of manipulative assholes, and contact with them might piss off certain fluffy tails.

>>44288384
Saul fought for the League, pretty sure he knows the basics of what the fuck is going on.

>>44288415
It also implies that Saul is still single and backs up the rumor that no women has successfully seduced Saul.

>>44288341
>not!Western Asia
Hm, so what i'm getting hear is double the chance of the royalty practicing incest

>>44288384
It's kind of what the entire war is about. I hope to hell Saul knows what the big ass war next door is about at least.

Though in this version it may not be as open true.

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>>44288412
>meta
>mfw

>>44288209
>3. More Knights

>>44288440
We don't deserve fluffy tails after failing to get Taira into the champion run-offs

>>44288421
Are we not going to do political marriages?

>>44288436
>Prince is a manlet title
In the "not heir to the throne" sense it means the ruler of a principality, and principality is a REALLY REALLY BROAD TERM.
Pretty much all it can tell for sure is "there's not a council of equals."

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>>44288343
You only get this merc group because you got an exceptional success.

>>44288366
It's the vampires that aren't native to Pharos. You don't get Moonblade anyway, though. She's busy serving Ahm currently.

>>44288384
Everybody knows that. I accidentally left it out of the opening post, but the war between the League and RSK is very much over royalty vs mages.

>>44288435
>have a lot of esoteric eastern tricks that gaijin bakas will never understand because superior race.
It's more that they never had a Kushan so they never learnt evocation and their best warriors have to use spiritual techniques like monks and paladins.

>I'm going to have to redo this vote, as I think a lot of people didn't realise I was actually calling a vote. My bad. Update very soon.

>>44288436
What are you talking about? Is there anyone for whom the title prince does not evoke the truly gigantic Prince of All Sayans?

Still, I don't disagree that we need a title even more grandiose and not at all compensating.
We shall instead be the... OVERPRINCE!

>>44288440
It's mercs my friend. Mercs don't give a shit as long as you pay them. That and they are from a contact in the EWTC. They might not be fully affiliated.

>>44288497
"grand prince" is an actual title, if you insist

>>44288531
>tfw I thought it read "fresh prince"

I personally refuse any title that isn't "minister of the inner universe."

>>44288486
But does Pharos currently have someone who would be considered Kushan's equal but with the opposite style of magic?

Have they ever? Do you get what I'm saying?

SO what are we going to name our new nation?

>>44288474
We can of course do whatever we want.
But if we for example do not want to adhere to dominant succession customs, which makes political marriages a lot more pointless.

I'm not saying we can't just go for a more standard monarchy, but that would have a lot of consequences we need to be aware of and discuss instead of just being decided on a whim.

>>44288557
Saul, the Fresh Prince of Harrowmont

>>44288415
>Not calling ourself Respected comrade of the general assembly.
>Not just calling ourselves great leader.

>>44288580
Not the Saul Waise Empire, that's for sure.

We can't be the SWE, that begs for pig-noise jokes.

>>44288580
>The Grand eternal empire of united states of governance.

>>44288580
Dunno. If we were the Elf we could just call it New Aerfilia for maximum lols.

>>44288585
Political marriages are never pointless, at the very least they form a very good non-aggression pact because your wife doesn't want you killing her family and her family won't attack you while you have a hostage.

>>44288580
The Democratic People's Republic of Harrowmont

>>44288486
You have like 13 votes to 16 IPs.
Call that vote, you are not getting anything more but samefags.

>>44288497
This tempts me so much to make his official title Supreme Overlord Saul.

>>44288580
York empire 2.0

It's going to be the exact same thing as last time with a different name

>>44288631
>in small print "only saul can vote"

>>44288580
Do you mean our empire or our current territory?
Because surely this general region where all the disputed territory is has a name, but for the our current territory just "harrowmont" is fine.

>>44288591
In West Terminia, born and raised, at the mage guard was where I spent most of my days, chillin minmaxing and relaxing all cool while sparring some spellblades outside of the school~

>>44288497
More grandiose than prince?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_al-umara

>>44288626
Thing there is you can always marry someone like that without being a dynastic monarchy.

Elf queen/Fenix's cute daughter. In the long term as long as they are pretty sure it's an advantage most kings will marry their daughters off to a horse.

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>>44288570
No. They've had a lot of other crazy shit, but no supermage.

>>44288632
A bunch of people didn't even vote so much as say 'that could be interesting' or 'i dunno'.

>Merc Recruitment: Exceptional Success
>Knight/Mage Recruitment: Target met

You and your officers decide to split up and contact who you know that could help. It’ll be a few hours of sendings and other communication, likely to be fruitless overall, but you’ll at least know where you stand before calling in any more help. You suspect Cormann will have the most luck, given his range of contacts within mercenaries.

Sequestering yourself in your room with Gnome, you run through your list of contacts from your time fighting in the war. You don’t know any of them particularly well but the offer to fight vampires for gold and glory should get some of them. The Ahmnian knights might be a no-go due to their strong allegiance to the archmage, but many of the knights on the frontlines would be from cities and provinces with no such thoughts.

Surprisingly, one of your sendings gets a rather positive response. One of the knightly orders in Albanon had split, with an acquaintance of yours, a Sir Merrl, becoming the grandmaster of one of the new orders. Without a headquarters or reputation he was more than interested in a chance to prove his order against the vampires of Taour. His knights should be able to pass through Darlesia with ease, as the chances of Taour assaulting a non-aggressive unit from the League was nearly nil – not even they would be so stupid to attack a neighbouring superpower.

>continued

>>44288648
Actually thinking on this I wonder how hard it would be to learn how to choke people using magic?

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>>44288705
When you reconvene it’s to even better news. Cormann has managed to secure a small army of mercenaries with the promise of good wages and less chance of getting turned into cinders by an army of meteor-hurling mages, you have yourself a fair army. Maloric has even managed to convince some mages in Guelburg to join you, though why so many are willing to leave such a cushy position away from the war is unknown to either you. Mal said something about internal RSK politics, which was not your forte.

There was one final decision, however.

>1. Rogue Black Griffin Knights
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries
>3. More Knights

See >>44288209 for details. Please actually vote this time, rather than just making general comments.

>>44288721
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288721
>>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288721
>>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288721
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288721
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288721
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288721
>>1. Rogue Black Griffin Knights

>>44288705
It was still 7:2:2 actual votes, so I'm not sure this is really necessary.
The reader count is still only at 16, after all.

>>44288721
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

Same reasons as before.
Potential against the Nightwalkers and we're likely to have to deal with city fighting, with the goal of quickly reaching the Daywalkers.
Knights would be a close second but they lack mobility and cavalry is entirely unsuited.

>>44288721
>>2. Pharosian Mercenaries
We need headresses.

>>44288721
>1. Rogue Black Griffin Knights

I have a fetish for cavalry

>>44288721
>>3. More Knights

>>44288721
>2. Pharosian Mercenaries

>>44288721
>3. More Knights

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>>44288668
Please by whatever gods exist if any please no that'd be boring

>>44288759
they are a mix of not-china and not-japan

>>44288766
>>44288771
It's probably moot but Aspir did mention in the previous threads that elites were what would win battles in this iteration of the question and that even heavy knights would eventually become mooks.

One of the two elite merc companies would probably be more useful in the long run, especially since we already got a knight order joining us.

>>44288721
2

Waiting for the day we find out Mal is up to some crazy next level shit and happen upon the preserved body of Talon.

>>44288784
I hope the pharosians have translation issues, being from a completely foreign continent. It could spice up the domestic issues that would arise in the empire.

>>44288785
And they have headresses.

>>44288792
Eventually

As of now they're still good

>>44288812
inb4 talon returns as a revenant

>>44288784
I'm honestly hoping we organize it to be more of a clusterfuck then last time. I still like our state system though and think that likely shouldn't change.

>>44288825
inb4 Talon is the next champion we summon

inb4 Talon is our championfu

>>44288825
>inb4 Mal makes a living, self-sustaining Talon-Pattern

>>44288812
now we know where he got that inspiration from when he pulled that completely not!anime idea of combining the golems in that mage tournament of our last playthrough.

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>>44288784
Look I don't like it as much as you do but it's going to happen best thing to do is to come to terms with it now

>>44288792
Even so we still need manpower and the Heavy knights are still useful now

>>44288721
Do the mercs happen to come with waifus? I think I'd prefer a blond ohoho over some foreign semen demon.

>>44288825
and taking some Pharosian inspired designs, he's given Revenant!Talon a headdress on top of his helmet.

>>44288865
You get a prince's boipussy instead

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>2.

You decide to avoid the likely trouble of calling in a spurned prince of the RSK and just opt for getting some more esoteric help. Perhaps monster-slaying mercenaries will be helpful against the vampires.

All in all, it’ll be a couple of weeks before all the soldiers you’ve just recruited are in your territory but it does put you in good standing. Your numbers have swelled rather rapidly, boosting your army to more than five and a half thousand soldiers. Combined with continued general recruitment of the Darlesian military that has scattered across your land and the Vitrians, you should be able to rapidly meet the Taouran military. So long as you didn’t run out of money, of course.

Even so, you briefly wonder if you should still contact others for more help.

MAGE GUARD VOTE
>1. Contact your friend Nant in the Mage Guard to see what his take on the situation is. This will make him aware of your activities, however (and potentially the Guard themselves).
>2. Don’t bring the Guard into it all.

SUPERPOWER VOTE
>1. Ally yourself with either the RSK or League
>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power

NEXT MOVE VOTE
>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.
>2. Go for Darlesia. You should be able to wait a little while to build up your forces if you do this, but Vitria will be harder to take later.
>3. Do something different.

>>44288832
Honestly I"m thinking it could be interesting to have a Military/civilian divide.

Like there is a executive leader over the military affairs. Then there is a parliament over civilian affairs. Saul can override anything they do but in general there is no need.

Then give certain parts of the population the right to vote in who they want to lead their civilian Lives. Giving us a nice carrot and stick and a place to look for good administers.

>>44288825
>mal refuses any attempts to convince him to bind a familiar no matter how helpful
>pours himself into his summoning research
>contacts infernals more often than the typical mage
>requests odd pieces of equipment and resources
>spends days locked away in some secret room in the tower

Calling it now.

>>44288892
>>1. Contact your friend Nant in the Mage Guard to see what his take on the situation is. This will make him aware of your activities, however (and potentially the Guard themselves).

>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power

>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.

Save the shortstack

>>44288892
>2. Go for Darlesia. You should be able to wait a little while to build up your forces if you do this, but Vitria will be harder to take later.

Don't care for politics

>>44288892
2
2
1, 3: start the rumour scheme

>>44288892
2
2
1

>>44288892
>2. Don’t bring the Guard into it all.
>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power
>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.

>>44288892
>2. Don’t bring the Guard into it all.
>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power
>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.

If we absolutely must we can call in support from the guard or the RSK/League. Until then lets go at this solo.

>>44288892
>>2. Don’t bring the Guard into it all.
>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power
>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.

Indebting Vitria to us would be rather valuable.

>>44288892
>1. Contact your friend Nant in the Mage Guard to see what his take on the situation is. This will make him aware of your activities, however (and potentially the Guard themselves).
>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power
>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.
Putting our military force in Vitrian territory might make the Taourian forces panic and make mistakes we can take advantage of.

>>44288892
2
2
1

>>44288892
2
2
1
Contact Farun though at least to open up talks

>>44288892
>2. Don’t bring the Guard into it all.
>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power
>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.

>>44288892
1, 2, 1.
That said, I don't think we should head strait for the capital, just keep them from taking the nearest area and present the threat of being cut off if they do go after the capital.

>>44288784
It's just going to be a bunch of bureaucracts and auditors what's boring about that?

>>44288892
>2
>2
>>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.

>>44288892
>1. Contact your friend Nant in the Mage Guard to see what his take on the situation is. This will make him aware of your activities, however (and potentially the Guard themselves).
>2. Don’t ally yourself with either power
>1. Go for Vitria, trying to prevent the vampires from consolidating their power. You’ll be able to potentially recruit Vitrian soldiers but will likely need to move on the city before your new recruits are available.

I'm unsure about contacting the Mage Guard, since that could easily go rather wrong, but I do think that them involving themselves could also end up to our benefit by for example making Stropham more inclined to secure their border than support the vampires more.

The rest is rather straightforward.
I don't think we can afford giving up the assets still in Vitria or that all important figures there get long-term enthralled, so we need to move and I don't want to ally yet.
I'd prefer hoping noone wants to risk getting drawn into the quagmire while driving us to their enemy's side.

>>44288911
I honestly wouldn't mind having someone with infernal contacts personally. Just would rather it not be Mal. Demons and devils are fun little buggers.

>>44288892
>1
>2
>1

Might be a bit problematic down the line, but walking into that mass enthralling daywalker without knowledge of her abilities could end up /really/ badly and the Mage Guard probably has a stockpile of every piece of intel they could get on the Daywalkers.

And apparently we've decided to walk in blind when the enemy recently managed to turn an entire army to their side and we don't have the slightest IC clue of how it happened or we could prevent it from happening again.

>>44289098
>or we could prevent it from happening again.

Killing everything we see.

>>44289098
Except every time we talked about contacting the monks no one has said anything against it.

>>44289116
Pretty much. If we see a female vampire then kill everything unless we are sure it isn't Terce 100 percent. In which case capture and get info on the other vampires then maybe kill.

>>44289210
>that meta-knowledge
U iz a nigga

>>44289260
we know the lady is female

>>44289260
We know who Terce is IC and that she is bad news.

>>44289303
We just don't know her appearance just that she is a female vampire and her name.

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>2, 2 and 1

Deciding to keep other powers out of this, you decide that you can’t let an opportunity to seize Vitria pass you by. Lady Terce’s hold of the city must be relatively weak if she’s thralling so many at once, you think. Or rather, you hope.

With that said, it’s going to be a week before you can move on Vitria. Your men need some rest and you need some reinforcements from the mercenaries to the south if you hope to have a chance. You spend most of the next several days poring over the intelligence reports and meeting with Cormann and Malaine.

Little changes despite your tenseness. The Vitrian military is still in disarray, a week doing little more than allowing them to shore up some positions in Vale province surrounding the Argyle Estate. General Parras had rallied his men and set out from his fortress but so far had done little more than watch the city from several miles away, while the Vitrian navy blockaded their own capital. Trembin still held against all odds.

The bright side was that the monks in Farun had promised to contact those with more knowledge and pass the information on. That was likely to be the Mage Guard sponsors of the monster hunters in the monastery, but at least if the monks asked the question there would be less suspicion. Meanwhile, Gnome simply hovers.

“What will you do should the monks not have the information you seek?” Gnome asks.

“I’ll deal with that when it happens,” you say.

>continued

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>>44289332
The great hall is almost empty at this time of night. Candles burn low around the map as you consider the situation abroad. You needed something to distract you from your current problems and looking over the conflict between the League and RSK was convenient for that. Magister General Falwick of the RSK had launched a pre-emptive strike against the League yesterday and reports were the he’d managed to seize Bloodrun Ford to the west of Darlesia. Whether he’d keep it would be another question.

“Why don’t you try contacting the League?” Gnome prompts you. “If anybody is going to know about the vampires, it would be them.”

Actually, it would be the Mage Guard, you think. That boat had sailed, however. You had no interest in drawing attention from your homeland. You were a Waise for a reason.

Still, contacting some mages in the League could be useful. Perhaps Gnome knew a few? If you weren’t, at least she might provide some insight into her past. From what you’ve heard, she served one of the more powerful grand magisters of Ahm. It was a surprise to you that she had died at some stage. You…

>1. Agree with Gnome and see if she has any contacts in the League that might know about Terce and the other vampires.
>2. Ask Gnome about her past.
>3. Ignore Gnome for now and wait on the monk’s information. Perhaps she has something to say on the RSK/League conflict?
>4. Custom

>>44289350
>>1. Agree with Gnome and see if she has any contacts in the League that might know about Terce and the other vampires.
>>2. Ask Gnome about her past.

>>44289350
>3. Ignore Gnome for now and wait on the monk’s information. Perhaps she has something to say on the RSK/League conflict?

>>44289350
>2. Ask Gnome about her past.

>>44289350
>3. Ignore Gnome for now and wait on the monk’s information. Perhaps she has something to say on the RSK/League conflict?

I think we can trust the monks on this one. Their entire duty is monster killing so most powers will just tell them what they know straight out.

If we get nothing then we can get gnome to make a move.

>>44289350
>2. Ask Gnome about her past. to pass the time while waiting for
>3. Ignore Gnome for now and wait on the monk’s information. Perhaps she has something to say on the RSK/League conflict?

>>44289350

>1. Agree with Gnome and see if she has any contacts in the League that might know about Terce and the other vampires.
>2. Ask Gnome about her past.

>>44289350
>1. Agree with Gnome and see if she has any contacts in the League that might know about Terce and the other vampires.

>>44287261
Hi OP. Late anon just getting here and while I don't want to throw a wretch in things, is there any chance you could highlight the boarder between Malantaine and Three Lords? I can't really see that particular shade of red against green.

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Rolled 1 (1d2)

Effective tie between 1 and 3, so I'm just going to roll for it.

1 = Option 1
2 = Option 3

>>44289481
I've modified the highlight slightly. Does that work better?

>>44289576
Jesus I forgot just how small our little chunk of land is Compared to the RSK and the Magi League.

>>44289576
Obviously we must contact the dwarves as soon as possible.

Then we can find out we are one of the rare superdwarves, dwarves that are impressive in height.

>>44289662
>the entire quest is actually just a retelling of the ugly duckling

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>1.

“That could work,” you say slowly. “Do you know anybody in the League I could contact that wouldn’t draw much attention?”

“I think you should worry less about drawing attention if you’re planning to conquer Taour,” Gnome says lightly, placing a hand on your head and mussing up your hair a little. “I do know a few mages we could contact that might know something, however. I did serve Taren Hand in life.”

Your world spins for a second. Taren Hand? As in Grand Magister Hand, the mage who triggered the first Magi Rebellions? Well, that makes some sense – Gnome is an exceptionally powerful familiar, so it makes sense she’d serve a powerful mage. But if she’s dead, does that mean…

You ignore the thought as you realise Gnome’s mentioning some names and providing you the means to contact them via sending. You weren’t all that great with contacting people you hadn’t met via sending but with Gnome’s help you managed it.

[DC80 Vampire Information Gathering]

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>44289710
Bless my dice, Blackwater

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>44289710
dice be a bitch

>>44289662
>We are actually a dwarve that went though the god-knight ritual
>We just think we are using evocation. It's all astral.
>Lyria isn't real we just have brain damage because we where uplifted by ember.

Calling it now.

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>44289710

Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>44289710

Rolled 50 (1d100)

>>44289710

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>44289710

>>44289710
Fuck why not?

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>>44289745
that clutch save. the clutch.

>>44289745
We're on fire today

>>44289777
This is how AEQ always works. We roll terrible against people with waraxes and mooks like the vampire last thread.

Then when we hit boss fights and other shit we roll crits all day everyday. Then we start failing boss rolls again and acing bookreading and being nice to children.

>>44289833
Unless we happen to be Felix. In which case we could kill Kushan+Ariel+All three lords just due to rolling nothing but crits all day.

>>44289576
Much better! Thanks OP.

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>Target met

You’d just about gone through all the mages that Gnome knew of that might know more about specific daywalkers but wouldn’t want to draw you into the war. That ruled out the Archmage Alyce of Lyss – something told you that asking the head of one of the continent’s superpowers for aid might put you in debt.

It was almost an hour later that you received a reply from a surprising source. Gnome had given you the name of an elven mage she had met with Hand, one of the ruling Lefir caste. You had been sceptical but Gnome has insisted, stating that she might still know a mage who could know more – and an elf on the other side of the continent was less likely to ask for payment if you asked on behalf of Gnome. If they believed you when you said that Gnome served you.

You briefly wondered if stating you were the master of Gnome would cause problems down the track. Then again, the moment she turned up by your side killing vampires would attract no small amount of attention.

The reply was surprisingly detailed, even if it came from a different source.

“Lefir can’t actually use sendings, but the Caelfinn have managed an approximation,” Gnome explains when you ask her. “The Lefir are restricted to the strange life magic of the elves, but the Caelfinn can use their transmutation in odd ways, including replicating sendings.”

>continued

>>44289833
Axe and sword combo when?

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>>44290102
Lady Terce could produce thralls with her voice. The exact mechanic was unknown but it appeared related to singing or performance. The thralls were bound rather weakly, with commands suspected to fade after a short period of time unless reinforced. As for her other skills, they were suspected to be minimal.

Accompanying the reply was a note that you should be careful of Volante – his skill in combat was superior to most daywalkers known about.

“Well, that worked out well,” you say.

“And you didn’t believe me when I said that Alenier could be useful,” Gnome says as she musses up your hair again. “Now I believe that you should get some sleep, Saul.”

You agree, wandering back to your room. Gnome had an odd habit of sleeping, or whatever elementals did, at the foot of your bed. She’d insisted it was to protect you. Before you go to sleep, you…

>1. Ask Gnome about her past.
>2. Contact Lyria to get her take on the situation.
>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.
>4. Custom

>>44289710
>Gnome is already mussing up our hair while chiding us greatly.
>Then she helps us make our first business calls without embarrassing ourselves.
This is going to be /great/.

>>44290124
Well hey can't we multitask 2 and 3?

>>44290124
>>1. Ask Gnome about her past.

>>44290124
>>2. Contact Lyria to get her take on the situation.
>>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.

>>44290124
>2. Contact Lyria to get her take on the situation.
>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.
>>44290141
already she's in ara ara

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>>44290148
You can, if you don't mind Lyria knowing what you're doing.

>>44290124
>3. Stealthily observe Champion.
Once she catches us peeking on her we can ask about her past.

>>44290186
What could possibly go wrong!

>>44290124
>2. Contact Lyria to get her take on the situation.
>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.

>>44290186
I don't mind, that makes it even more hilarious.

>>44290124
>2. Contact Lyria to get her take on the situation.
>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.

>>44290141
She thinks we're younger then we are.

>>44290124
I don't know why but I've always seen lady Terce as a wannabe diva who can't be sure if her songs are good or terrible because anytime she sings she makes thralls.

>>44290124
>2. Contact Lyria to get her take on the situation.
>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.

>>44290124
>2. Contact Lyria to get her take on the situation.
>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.

>>44290124
>3. Pretend to go to sleep then see what Gnome is really doing at the foot of your bed.

>>44290233
And then she was killed by a manlet.

>>44290222
She's also centuries old, so she probably doesn't actually care all that much about the exact number.
If she thinks we're younger than we are than that's probably not solely due to cosmetic reasons.

>>44290233
That's her curse.

>>44290274
I really want someone to call us a manlet to our face, just so we can use our manlet rage on them

>>44290219
>I don't mind, that makes it even more hilarious.

The real question is would Saul want her to know? Though now I'm kind of laughing at "Going to go sneak up on my champion. Any ideas?"

>>44290274
>Not waifuing the idolru
>Not pulling out the manlets great oak

>>44290186
Hmm, just out of curiosity since we seem to be headed in a Dragonlord direction, is there any president in this setting for uplifting a (pure) elemental into and elemental dragon?

>>44290317
It's really hard to decide between that and "Saul, why are you trying to spy on your champion while pretending to sleep?" "I don't know what you're talking about."

>>44290351
>implying Saul has eyes for anyone other than Lyria
>implying Gnome isn't going to rape him first
>implying anyone wants a dusty used old bag like Terce

>>44290362
They're pretty different things there anon.

Though personally I don't really care about dragons so much as just getting everything. Dragons are nice in the long term though.

>>44290382
>She's a dragon not your waifu.
>Implying any women compares to the glory of Sauls tiny manlet hands.

>>44290446
>their tinier and softer than any woman

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>>44290274
>Not wanting to be the Producer

>>44290469
>our hands being the envy of women]

>>44290478
>Wanting a vampire that thralls by using her voice to be anywhere near you let alone alive

>>44290446
She is our waifu.

>implying hands so small could ever please something so big

>>44290478
inb4 we deal with a daywalker idol singer.

>>44290186
You know, if you start the rumour train right now the that opens a lot of fun interactions with the new mercs, and every other person we're going to meet. It doesn't really matter in the grand scale but I like this kind of humour so I hope you do it.

>>44290509
>Not wearing ear plugs
>Not dressing her up in a cute short shirt and having her sing pop songs in king Fenix's court.
>Not denying knowledge that was had any ties to terrorists like blackwater.

>>44290580
>tfw Blackwater shows up and is an infinitely better singer, who can hit both lower and higher notes than her

>plus his voice sounds like how chocolate tastes, literally you can taste chocolate when he sings

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>2. And 3

You bid Gnome good night as you lay down on your bed, opening a link to Lyria as you do so. The link takes a little while to form, which lets you know that you’ve definitely woken the dragon.

“What have I said about contacting me when I’m sleep- What are you doing?” Lyria says.

You freeze in place at Lyria’s words, feeling like you’d just been caught with your hand in the cookie jar. You’d forgotten that Lyria could make use of your senses while connected like this.

“Whilst this does make the size of her chest more apparent, I really don’t know why you’re leaning over the top of your Champion,” she says. “For that matter, why is she sitting at the end of your bed? Is there something I should know about?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you say, genuinely unsure as to what she’s trying to tease you about.

“You should,” she says. “Aside from your odd need to spy on Gnome’s chest, what did you want?”

She’s certainly in a better mood than she’s been any other time you’ve woken her up. Maybe you should always do things like this while contacting her. Lyria’s laughter echoes in your head at that thought, for reasons you do not comprehend.

>continued

>>44290580
>consorting with the vampire scourge
I would pity you if you weren't so disgusting

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>>44290629
You explain the current situation to Lyria as you continue to keep an eye on Gnome. She’s up to something, this you know.

“Odd that the elf knew,” Lyria muses. “Even if it is of use to you. Its accuracy is up to you to judge. I definitely agree with that assessment of Volante. By far the greatest danger you will face is if he marches on Vitria. Avoid facing him directly if he does – my strength might not be enough to allow you to defeat him.”

Wonderful, you think. “What about the Pharosians?” you ask her.

“I know very little of the continent except that those strange fox people come from there,” she says. “Perhaps you might be able to use these mercenaries to open up new opportunities abroad?”

That was something you hadn’t considered. Pharos was said to be ruled by a single power and having connections with them could give you an edge. You’re thinking too far ahead, though, and pull yourself back to the present.

>Anything else you want to ask or say to Lyria?

>>44290636
>Not wanting to be the scourge of god
>Not wanting to give all the women our glorious Hands

>>44290648
Nope

>>44290636
Mage Guard pls go, Blackwater did nothing wrong

>>44290648
how do you feel about Gnome being close to me?

>>44290648
Nope, on to the action!

>>44290648
>"So, aside from me waking you, how's your night? Do anything interesting lately?"

Everyone loves smalltalk when they are trying to sleep, right?

>>44290648
Does she have any ideas how Gnome died?
Does she think having earplugs ready would actually help against Terce?
Does she have any idea what Elementals do when they are pretending to sleep?

>>44290648
Do elementals sleep or are they just plotting my downfall with their eyes closed

>"Why are they so big? Gnome's hands?"

>>44290648
>Any idea why Gnome may have died?
>Any idea about where any elementals of comparable power is?
>Why are dragons so cute yet frightening?
>Do you have any advice with dealing with the Magi league and the RSK in the future?

>>44290690
Shut up Blackwater.

>>44290787
>My hands are so tiny compared to hers

>>44290648
Does she have any idea how people are going to react to finding out she serves us now?

>>44290612
Blackwater does sound dandy enough to actually be able to do this.

>>44290648
>Why do dragons have such early bedtimes? I'd expect creatures of such vast and mystic potency to be able to goes days without rest.

>>44290809
>tfw Blackwater has phasing
>tfw it's the ultimate defense
>tfw it's so powerful it breaks the fourth wall

>>44290860
He is in your room now. Don't turn around

>>44290890
He turned around.

>>44290787
Do it

>>44290849
>>Why do dragons have such early bedtimes? I'd expect creatures of such vast and mystic potency to be able to goes days without rest.
Their magic regen is shit compaired to how much they can output, and how big their reserves are. Which basically means the 3 most powerful dragons can take anything else on in the setting... once every two decades or so.

>>44290923
poor fool

>>44290648
Does she have any doubts about the dead of the shadow day walker? Because I sure as hell do, way to anti climatic, he even went down super easily without any effort. Did we even confirm his death? It at least see his body?

>>44290923
Blackwater used that opportunity to access his facebook account and shitpost a whole lot.
>... Huh?! But I never called my mom a slut on facebook! Wait. I know what happened here!
>DAMN YOU, BALCKWAAAATEEER!!!

>>44290787
>>44290813
>tfw I can't help but imagine Saul as an adorable shota virgin when he says those lines. Poor fool. Soon to be food to the shota eaters

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>>44290726
>Does she have any idea what Elementals do when they are pretending to sleep?
"Perhaps you'll find out shortly,” Lyria says.

You don’t know she means. You continue to watch Gnome. Her chest seems to be rising and falling normally and you can’t feel any magical energy being summoned, so you’re really not sure what she’s doing.

>Does she think having earplugs ready would actually help against Terce?

“I wouldn’t bet your mental freedom on it,” she says. “Be sure to open a mental link with me should you encounter her. I may be of some benefit.”

Although you’re not sure why it will help, you make a note to do exactly that.

> Does she have any ideas how Gnome died?

“Most of my knowledge of the past twenty years has come from you, little one,” she says. “And according to you, Hand was defeated near Bisrum by the Seraphs and returned to Ahm, defeated. The question is, if such a great mage vanishes from history, is that because he died? And why does nobody else seem to know?”

In other words, ask Gnome.

>>44290849
>Why do dragons have such early bedtimes? I'd expect creatures of such vast and mystic potency to be able to goes days without rest.
“Resting allows us to build up our reserves of magical energy considerably faster. With my power I can burn weeks of energy in a single battle, so it’s best to ensure my reserves are topped up.

>>44290860
>tfw Blackwater is /tg/ dice.

>>44290890
Is he nude like last time? This is important because it determines if I look around or not.

>>44290993
>That time you were fighting that Daywalker and he just kept dodging? It was me, Saul, Blackwater!

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>>44290791
>Any idea about where any elementals of comparable power is?

“Most likely serving others. Although the world tends to keep an unbound elemental free at all times, the more powerful ones are likely to be utilised by powerful mages.”

>Why are dragons so cute yet frightening?
Lyria laughs. “Am I frightening to you, little one? Should Gnome tuck you in each night so that the big bad dragon doesn’t get you?”

That was entirely uncalled for. You’d tried to compliment her.

“Yes, yes, very cute,” she says.

>>44290713
>"So, aside from me waking you, how's your night? Do anything interesting lately?"

“I dreamt of leaving this cave, flying east to a rundown fortress and turning it into a hole in the ground.”

You apologise to Lyria and cut the link. Still, that had ended considerably better than most times you’d woken her up. She hadn’t reopened the link to shout obscenities at you, for one.

>Writing up the beginning of the Vitria campaign now

>>44291021
>She hadn’t reopened the link to shout obscenities at you, for one.

My ribs. I'm just imagining Saul so used to this he just ignores the raging dragon blessing him out.

>>44291008
He is. Get your butt ready.

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>>44291160
I'm trying anon.

Oh, god, I just realized that Gnome seriously followed up mussing our hair up the second time with telling us that it's past our bedtime.
And then we actually went to bed.
But we only pretended to go to sleep while actually calling the girl we have a crush on for smalltalk.
It's past 3 AM over here and I can't stop giggling.

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>Beginning of Vitrian campaign

As you’d heard, Castle Gimbon was abandoned. It protected a pass through the bluffs around Harrowmont and was the only way to Vitria from the fortress without passing through the Vitrian defensive line around the Argyle Estate. You chased out the vagrants camping in it and used the opportunity to confirm your next move.

Sendings were still being blocked to and from Vitria, and Parras had nothing to say to you regarding what was happening. You suspected he wouldn’t appreciate your interference. That meant if you wanted to find anything out you would need to put feet on the ground in the city. The city’s garrison plus the thralled military force numbered almost 5,000 but in a city of more than two hundred thousand it should still be easy to get in.

Count Argyle and Lord Tabeth had rallied as many Vitrian troops in Vale as they could and appeared to be readying for a counter-offensive against Volante’s force around Trembin, but you had your doubts as to their ability.

You had 2,500 soldiers here at Castle Gimbon. The majority were regular soldiers, but you’d managed to put together more arcane archers with Maloric’s help.

“The core of our force are the Black Dragon Knights and the Pharosian monster hunters,” Cormann explains to you atop the castle’s keep as the sun sets behind you. Your men were pitching camp in the valley beyond, preparing to match in the morning.

“We’ve also got Moss’ archers and Malaine’s flyers,” you say.

>continued

>>44291302
>Have a crush on

We all know the truth anon. Saul just really likes to ride the D.

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>>44291359
“True, but Vitria’s a cramped place. The worst of the combat will be in the Commercia – I don’t know if you’ve been there,” Cormann says and you shake your head. “Well, you know Shropham? Vitria is a lesser version of that. They have two tiers to the city. The regular city on the ground and a huge stone slab suspended above the centre of it and accessed through ramps. The slab is bordered by a series of massive towers, taller than damn near any building outside Ahm and the Last Retreat itself. A couple of them are fifty storeys tall.”

That sounds absolutely ridiculous, you think. Then again, Vitria was known to be incredibly wealth. With money and magic, there wasn’t much you couldn’t do, including building massive phallic objects to clearly demonstrate your power over others.

“Those towers are going to see a lot of action,” Cormann says. “So the heaviest fighters we’ve got are going to count for the most.”

“Which also means fighters like myself, Ser Lynn and Gnome will also count for a lot,” you say.

Nodding with a smile, Cormann talks to you more about your short-term strategy. You…

>1. Decide to move onto Vitria as soon as possible, relying on brute force.
>2. Move on Vitria but infiltrate it with a small force first.
>3. Don’t move on Vitria, instead focusing on Volante to the north.
>4. Custom