Choose your path to greatness, obscurity or death. A multiple choice LP

[Bloodshifter]

Read the quest info we are scouts / spies by looks of it we won't need speed or views on 2 month+ terms

60 – A vague assignment

"Hmm, I see you do like going for the most... interesting options. Well, I certainly hope you will repeat your performance from the last mission. Now, this mission is rather... secret. You saw in the last two months that we have security problems. Our enemies seem to have spies, and they are interested in observing our moves. As such, I cannot tell you much about this mission. You will have to prepare for it somewhat blindly."

He sees your perplexed face and chuckles a bit.
"Consider this a show of trust in you, Kyoss. I will tell you what you can know. You will get to pick the people for this mission, and understand how much I trust you by letting you choose them, even though you do not know exactly what you're going to do. You will leave in two days, in the morning, and meet the leader of the mission on the road, outside Bitak. The commander has a letter with the detailed assignment, and you will act as his advisor. Of course, if he gives you an order you are to obey."

"You will have to ride in the woods for about four days before reaching your destination. Supplies for you and the men you take with you will not be a problem. What I can tell you is that you will have to do multiple things once you reach that place."

"You will have to interact with people for sure, and also, there might be some... exploration to be done. Some searching and investigation too. As I said, I will want regular, detailed reports of the situation of the place where you will go, as well as a list of supplies, men, structures and everything else you can think about. It could be dangerous, after all there could be enemies in the forest, or problems at your destination."

"As I said, I am trusting you with assembling the people you will bring with you for this task. Consider carefully what I said, and choose. I can give you 20 soldiers, and I would advise about 10 other civilians at most. You can pick those between the retainers of Lord Medah, or hire some people from the village. I will pay for those of course"

"Yes, I know, I did not give you much information, but understand, we want to keep this secret from our enemies. If you have anything you need to ask me, you can come in these two days. Good luck!"

You leave the mansion, a bewildered expression on your face. This is a most... vague assignment. Still it seems important, you must be sure not to screw up. You try to gather your thoughts, think about who you should bring with you.

Being Ignored will be a blessing here seeing as its secret so we should go for something that will attract the least attention while allowing us to persuade the locals to "share" news and happenings

 

[Smashing Axe]

At least with all these people under our command we should train our leadership skill.

As for our quest, a smith is all kinds of useful, even with this. If we do see combat, he'll repair the men's equipment. If we encounter ruins that require exploration (I think this might be what we'll be doing), he can maintain the equipment we'll use to explore.

Actually, given that we might be working with tunnels and caves, I wonder if we should consider taking an experienced miner with us to oversee the structural integrity of any tunnels we might have to dig/explore. I think taking two of anything may be overkill, ie, two clerks, two merchants, we should diversify the skillset of the people under our command, as they can then set to overseeing any effort we undertake as a group.

 

[Vernydar]

At least with all these people under our command we should train our leadership skill

Under your leader's command, whomever that leader is. But, leadership is a good skill to have of course. Who knows when it might come in handy :D

 

[TOME]

Soldiers: as Monty's list

Civilians:
3 2 Hunters/trackers
1 Craftsman[tinkerer?]
1 Healer/Herbalist
1 Cook
1 Healer
1 Bard
1 Miner
1 Wood worker
1 Spy

How long it would take to journey from Bitak to Zans peaks? I'm thinking we have to explore old mine/open a new one. If the war is coming, it would make sense to try and open as many iron mines as possible.

Edit: Changed hunter to spy.

 

[Curufinwe]

Regarding soldiers:

Kalz + company
6 archers
5 light soldiers
1 polearm
1 heavy soldier

Horsemen in a forest/ruin exploration scenario would be as useful as a third nipple.

Civilians

1 cook
1 clerk
1 healer/herbalist
2 trackers/experts of that area of the forest
1 lore expert
1 drover with carriage included (in case we need to bring something back. If the forested area is too thick (we're asking beforehand) change this with a mule owner with mule)
1 locksmith (in case we have to deal with locked doors)
1 dedicated courier who will stand with us if we need to send back urgent news and there's no courier available

Then I'd like to ask him if the 'installation' is something we're owning or a ruin of some kind. If it's something we're owning a smith could work. If not, let's hire a scoundrel/shady guy type (asking to Jacob if they're 'employing' some reliable specimen of the sort) in case of traps.

Regardless, let's check old maps at Thomas' and see what's of interest within 4 days of march from Bitak.

 

[Vernydar]

Then I'd like to ask him if the 'installation' is something we're owning or a ruin of some kind. If it's something we're owning a smith could work. If not, let's hire a scoundrel/shady guy type (asking to Jacob if they're 'employing' some reliable specimen of the sort) in case of traps.

Jacob remarks that supplies will not be a problem once you are at your destination. He also tells you that this "installation" was used before, but hasn't been in quite a while.

As for the scoundrel/shady types, jacob can supply you with a couple of "official spies" if you are so inclined. They also have abilities with traps

About the cart, you won't be needing carts, that much I can tell you as the Gm. Especially because nobody is coming back until you're finished there

 

[Curufinwe]

Then I'd like to ask him if the 'installation' is something we're owning or a ruin of some kind. If it's something we're owning a smith could work. If not, let's hire a scoundrel/shady guy type (asking to Jacob if they're 'employing' some reliable specimen of the sort) in case of traps.

Jacob remarks that supplies will not be a problem once you are at your destination. He also tells you that this "installation" was used before, but hasn't been in quite a while.

As for the scoundrel/shady types, jacob can supply you with a couple of "official spies" if you are so inclined. They also have abilities with traps

About the cart, you won't be needing carts, that much I can tell you as the Gm. Especially because nobody is coming back until you're finished there

Very well. Then let's get those two spy types, they can be useful.

 

[Monty]

Horsemen in a forest/ruin exploration scenario would be as useful as a third nipple.

I agree, but similar to the idea of a drover with a cart I would hope that Jacob would point it out if we chose something really inappropriate. Even if not though, they could still escort the group on the ride to our destination and act as makeshift infantry in a ruin, and they only make up one quarter of our troops. I just think they add flexibility to our plans, such as if we find ourself in an open area or if our opponents have horsemen too. And we have encountered horsemen amongst our opponents previously.

Vernydar - this vote looks like a nightmare to manage, I'm guessing you'll have to come up with some sort of average for the soldiers, but the civilians look tricky to sum up! When I first wrote my idea for soldiers I hadn't actually seen Kalin's plan yet as he posted just before me, and they are similar so wouldn't be unhappy with either. The main thing in my view was to have the flexibility to respond to different situations rather than just have 20 infantry.

 

[Baltika9]

Vernydar, in the interests of your own sanity and saving time, not to mention getting the update pout faster, maybe you should consider updating civilian categories.
As for infantry, we can't ignore heavies. We might be doing combat against an all-infantry force. If we're fighting in close-quarters, in a forest, or indoors, they will be invaluable. Yes, they'll be less than useful in a cavalry ambush, but that's what the pikemen are there for.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Still supporting Monty's soldier list, changing civies, but originally based on Kalin's list, copypasta.

1 One of Jacob's spies (I'm not so keen on them for their information ability, although it might prove useful. They're good with traps though, which, given we don't know the nature of the facility we're going to could prove useful. Also good for defense)
1 hunters/trackers (Scout, track down pesky carpenters should they bother us, useful fellow)
1 clerk (take care of paperwork if we're busy being big damn heroes)
1 merchant (could come in handy for mathemagicks or bartering for supplies)
1 cook (to make sure the party is tolerably fed)
1 healer/herbalist (obviously useful)
1 scholar (for lore checks, pity Thomas is so old or he'd be perfect for the job)
1 Mason/Engineer (We're going to some sort of former base, maybe ruins, for an indeterminate amount of time. A mason can help with fortifications, and if we're delving into ruins, he can assist in the process)
1 Smith (Maintains the soldier's gear, can craft any goods we might find ourselves needing, shoes our horses, and when it comes down to it, can replace a strong labourer)
1 Miner (Digs, and makes sure tunnels are structurally sound, also serves as strong generic labourer)

Edit: Slight adjustment, changing one of the hunters with the "spy" type.

Edit2: Also, with this list of people, I can't help but wonder what use are we? I guess we'll be the most experienced with centipedes. Hurrah!

 

[Monty]

I think Smashing axe makes sense with having a wide range of civilian types, and no duplicates apart from trackers. Will amend my original post to support this.

 

[Vernydar]

Yes, I expect it to be a nightmare, but then again I really really like to give you maximum freedom with choices. I will probably close the vote a couple of hours before writing the update, count, and if there are ties (most likely) I will do a mini-update asking for new votes or flip-flopping so that I can finalize the roster

 

[Smashing Axe]

I just hope you don't burn yourself out counting the voting, having done similar things to this elsewhere I know how maddening it can be.

 

[Arpad]

I'll support Monty's soldier list and Smashing Axe's list of civilians.

 

[Baltika9]

Supporting smashing axe's civilians.

 

[Darklife]

Holy shit, this is one awesome LP. My time at work has been greatly improved.

I'd go with Monty for the soldier roster and Smashing Axe for the civilians.

 

[Bloodshifter]

Still supporting my soldiers list but moving unto smashing axes civilian list

Horsemen in a forest/ruin exploration scenario would be as useful as a third nipple.

I agree, but similar to the idea of a drover with a cart I would hope that Jacob would point it out if we chose something really inappropriate. Even if not though, they could still escort the group on the ride to our destination and act as makeshift infantry in a ruin, and they only make up one quarter of our troops. I just think they add flexibility to our plans, such as if we find ourself in an open area or if our opponents have horsemen too. And we have encountered horsemen amongst our opponents previously.

Vernydar - this vote looks like a nightmare to manage, I'm guessing you'll have to come up with some sort of average for the soldiers, but the civilians look tricky to sum up! When I first wrote my idea for soldiers I hadn't actually seen Kalin's plan yet as he posted just before me, and they are similar so wouldn't be unhappy with either. The main thing in my view was to have the flexibility to respond to different situations rather than just have 20 infantry.

Seeing as we won't be in A open area ever *deep forest with towns scattered every few days?* what would horsemen do? archers also suffer a bit being forced to go in close quarters infantry are the only thing that can take a forest and not bitch about it.

 

[GreyViper]

Shamelessly copying from Kalin.



Soldiers:

Kalz + his men (main fighting force)
4 heavy infantry (for shock troops)
3 horsemen (to outflank and hunt down enemies)
4 archers (might come in handy, since the enemy uses them)
2 polearms (would be very useful against cavalry and in dungeons)


Civilian, if available:

2 hunters/trackers (they can also scout around our camp etc)​

1 clerks (in case one of them takes an arrow to the knee)​

1 merchant (could come in handy for mathemagicks or bartering for supplies)​

1 cooks (to make sure the party is tolerably fed)​

2 healers/herbalists (obviously useful)​

1 scholar (for lore checks, pity Thomas is so old or he'd be perfect for the job)​

1 Smith (repairing things)

1 Miner ( what are the chances of us going to underground)​

 

[Collage]

Going with Monty's soldier list and Smashing Axe's civilian list.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

Going with Monty's soldier list and Smashing Axe's civilian list.

 

[Vernydar]

How long it would take to journey from Bitak to Zans peaks? I'm thinking we have to explore old mine/open a new one. If the war is coming, it would make sense to try and open as many iron mines as possible.

I am sorry, I did not see this question before. It would take a few days, so the time is compatible. But, I'm closing the vote now, and counting. Sorry I did not see this before

 

[Vernydar]

Very well, less traumatic than I though. No need for other votes. I summed up every vote, divided by the numbers of voters, rounded to closest integer. Perfect result. Excel is your friend.

Soldiers:
1 light, Kaltz + his 6 men, 1 heavy, 5 archers, 4 horsemen, 2 polearm

Civilians, 1 each of:
Spy, hunter, clerk, merchant, cook, healer/herbalist, scholar, mason, smith, miner

Got to do a few things, then update. 1-2 hours.

 

[Vernydar]

Copypasting results:
Soldiers:
1 light, Kaltz + his 6 men, 1 heavy, 5 archers, 4 horsemen, 2 polearm
Civilians, 1 each of:
Spy, hunter, clerk, merchant, cook, healer/herbalist, scholar, mason, smith, miner

61 – Meet your new commander

You think hard and then decide that you're going to need Kalz, so you look for him. You find him supervising some soldiers in the training grounds, ask to speak privately, and explain the situation. He laughs hard as he listens to you.

"Well Kyoss, I'm glad you liked us enough to come and ask for us once again. Besides, we're men of action, so I guess it's much better to come with you for some mission rather than stay here and train. Also this way we can keep instructing you, you'll need it if you don't want to die. So, how can I help you? "

You tell him what kind of troops you would like to bring with you, and ask him to help you choosing the men. After all, he knows the soldiers here, so he can probably make a better job of it than you. For the next six hours you talk, discuss, examine different possibilities. In the end you settle for a list of men, deciding to take with you Kalz, his men you already knew from before, five archers, four horsemen, two polearms wielders and one each of light infantry, heavy infantry. You think this composition will give you a lot of flexibility, considering you do not know what you're going to face. And with Kalz's help you're rather confident you picked some good soldiers who also have a reliable character.

After that you decide to go visit Thomas, and tell him you'd like to see some detailed maps of the area near Bitak. He's happy to show you, but you do not find anything there. Your destination is still a mystery... Well, if that is the case you will try to put together a flexible group of civilians, in order to be able to face any possible situation. You hope.

A hunter, a cook and a healer/herbalist are a given. You will have to travel the forest, so considering it will be more than 30 people, you need to make sure that you are covered in case something happens. Besides, who knows what you will find at your destination. Jacob also told you that there will be interaction with other people, and inventories to be made. Better pick a clerk and a merchant in that case.

He also said that you will have to help with reactivating some sort of... facility. A mason, a smith and a miner are sure to help in this task, plus they could be useful in general in case your group needs repairs or shelter. And finally, he mentioned exploration. You will need an "official spy" for this, in case there are traps or something like that, and maybe someone knowledgeable in the lore of Eskal, and in everything else. You hope that this group of people will give you the ability to face most situations.

For the remaining day and half you work tirelessly for this, asking information about people and hiring these individuals. Sometimes you have to ask for Jacob's help because many have no idea of who you are. This is especially true for the "official spy", which he provides you directly, and for the scholar who is a stubborn man and has to be convinced with promises of books instead of money.

And after what seems to you as a blur of working, talking, persuading, the morning of the departure finally comes. You meet with the soldiers and the civilians in a large clearing near the southern gate, and prepare to leave. You know you will meet your commander on the road, a few hours of travel from Bitak. Even this is quite strange, surely this person could have come here right? But still, these are your orders and so with at first lights of dawn you set out.

The day is bright and warm, promising to become rather hot. It's summer after all. The road is empty and silent, but at Kalz's urging the soldiers are all very alert. A few extra horses carry your supplies, carts would not be practical considering you know you will have to travel in the forest. You keep heading south, wondering who your new commander will be.

After a few hours, you see in the distance a lone rider on the road. You suppose it might be your commander, and squint your eyes trying to see better. Hrm, a rather thin raider, lightly armored it seems....

You are quite shocked as Irene greets you all.
"You are all here, good. The road is empty so it's a good moment to start off. We are cutting through the forest right here. Come on, let's move, we can talk after we are not visible from the road anymore."

You and Kalz exchange surprised glances, then comply. You travel east in the forest for about thirty minutes, until you are completely out of sight. Then you stop, and Irene takes you and Kalz aside to talk to you.

"Very well, now. I am in charge of this mission, and I understand this might prove to be quite surprising to you. But this is an important task, and one that has to stay secret at all costs. Which is why Jacob had you ride south from Bitak, when in truth we are going north-east. I have a letter with our detailed orders here." She shows you the letter, sealed with the mark of Lord Medah.

"I will show you these orders once we reach our destination. We must be careful, there's always the possibility of meeting enemies on the road. If you do not know what we're going to do, you can't tell anyone in case you're captured. Of course, if I die on the road then you can read this. Now Kalz, I will let you take charge of the soldiers, more or less. You are to be my second in command where soldiers are concerned, and besides they are more likely to be happy following your orders rather than mine. But you still obey to me here. Kyoss, you will take the role of my advisor. There's not much to do before we reach our destination, but still I expect you to try to keep your eyes open for anything of interest."

"What I can tell you is that we're going to a place that is being... reclaimed, so to speak. Obviously also because of our current problems with these enemies. There will be other people there, and this brings me to the most important thing I have to tell you. We all hope this is not necessary, but anyone not part of our group, and more specifically anyone except me and you is to be considered not fully trusted. You do not follow what others order you. Our men do the same. You do not report to them, you do not tell them anything. I hope this will just be unnecessary paranoia, but considering what happened at Strok I'm not taking any risks."

Afterwards she starts to plot your course northeast. Your journey will be about four days long she says, because you will travel in the forest trying to leave as few traces as possible. But maybe you could give some suggestions already?

How should your group advance?

1. Travel by day, compact group with no scouts
2. Travel by day, with scouts
3. Travel by night, compact group with no scouts
4. Travel by night, with scouts
5. Other choice, explain and number it.

If you voted for scouts, who should be a scout?
A) Horsemen
B) Infantry
C) Archers
D) Other, explain it

And finally, do you want to do something else? Do you want to do something specific in these days? If not, you'll go back to your routine of studying and practicing dodge.

 

[Monty]

"1 light, Kaltz + his 6 men, 1 heavy, 5 archers, 4 horsemen, 1 polearm"
- isn't this 19? How about another polearm as most voted for more than 1?

 

[m4davis]

4
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