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Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
And if shatter his mind, we can always say that this is a symptom of transformation into a Children of Sekhenum and ask our companions to confirm our lie, allowing us to cut him to pieces to "free him from all worldly burdens"

This is a political game we're playing in right now, which is dangerous because that's Shulgi's strength, not Ean's. The pharaoh is not only suspicious of us, he's even suspicious of our companions. If we do this, he'll just think that we're a Gieloth infiltrator who killed one of his trusted advisers. We'll escape just fine, but the pharaoh will certainly kill our companions for their connection to us.

We can't shatter his mind. Shulgi's telepathic abilities are greater than Ean's, it'll end poorly. We have about as much chance of putting him in a coma as Shulgi does at beating us in single-combat. The sword might enhance our abilities a little bit, but I think it's a bad idea. Even if it works out, it's idiotic because we're the first person Wanketh would suspect!

We stayed here to stabilize Egypt, what the fuck are you guys doing? I don't trust this guy and I think he's probably Shulgi, but we can't just stick our sword in him right now. This is the political game, and sooner or later Ean is going to have to learn how to fucking play it.
 

newcomer

Learned
Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
919
I didn't think Ean was written as the sort to put a sword through someone, or utterly break their mind, just because he might be another immortal that you think is out to harm you. I suppose the failing is mine. :lol:
So it only takes 300 years to become a bitter, cynical paranoid.

Well you see, it's very difficult to build trust, but it only took one bad things to break that trust.
I don't think Ean should be much different to us in this sense
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
A2 - 5
B1 - 1
B2 - 1
C2 - 8

Well, C2 takes the win. Update incoming... and yeah... you might not have wanted to adopt the plan of the person being advised by someone you suspect is out to get you...

Well you see, it's very difficult to build trust, but it only took one bad things to break that trust.
I don't think Ean should be much different to us in this sense

Not a matter of trust... rather, it's the matter of murdering a person in cold blood on a hunch. For now Ean is too honourable to do that sort of thing. ;)
 

newcomer

Learned
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May 23, 2012
Messages
919
Not a matter of trust... rather, it's the matter of murdering a person in cold blood on a hunch. For now Ean is too honourable to do that sort of thing. ;)

That makes sense, though I believe he should be linking Kumare with Shulgi right now
And better tell our companions everything; they deserve to know & this might allow them to protect themselves
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
He just doesn't know we know who he is so now might be our chance to catch him off guard.

If it is Shulgi, then his guard is surely up and he is ready for all kinds tricks. Think the roles reversed. Would you be careless next to Shulgi or Naram even in disguise?
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
I didn't think Ean was written as the sort to put a sword through someone, or utterly break their mind, just because he might be another immortal that you think is out to harm you.
Well, Ean wouldn't, but that's what he has us voices in his head for... :shrug:
 

treave

Arcane
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Codex 2012
Chapter 3.15: Astarth's Game

You march from Memphis with two thousand soldiers, as Wanketh wished. Sending out all of your forces would have been an open invitation for Avaris and their allies to attack while you were gone, and so some troops had to remain to defend Memphis and the other cities. Hopefully they would be able to hold out if anything happened. You had rejected Kumare's proposal - his shiftiness made you wary. Before he left you managed to place a hand on his bare, left shoulder, but you only managed to read some vague thoughts about Astarth before he smiled at you and walked away.

The journey up the Nile was surprisingly hassle-free, even with the crocodiles around. Astarth made no attempt to stop you from reaching Heracleopolis. When you reached the walls, you saw why.

The walls of Heracleopolis were formidable, built up even taller than that of Akkad. Archers lined the walls, eager and sharp. To storm this city would mean paying the price in blood. You rode to the front of the gate in your chariot, gauging the enemy. The archers held their fire, and a horn sounded. You steeled yourself, wondering if arrows were going to come your way.

To your surprise, the gates open, and a chariot rides out, a large banner flying behind it. A roar rings from the walls. "Hail King Astarth, Pharaoh of all Egypt!"

Astarth had come out to meet you. You wonder if he is here to talk, or fight. His chariot pulls up besides yours - Astarth is flanked by two of his guards on the chariot, while you were alone.

"Runi, I believe? The man who single-handedly brought down Wankare?" He smiled at you. He was a bear of a man; he would have towered even over Samun and Kamun. His grizzled face and scarred body were trophies of decades of battle, and he carried himself with a pose of extreme martial confidence.

"That was the credit of my Pharaoh. What do you have to say to me, Master Astarth?" He laughs, a hearty, roaring laugh. "Oh, don't stand on ceremony. I am here to negotiate the terms of your surrender, and of your future rank in my army."

"What makes you think that I would not just take your head, and your city with it?"

"Because you have lost, just by coming here. By now your Pharaoh should be but a corpse in his bed."

You stare at Astarth. He does not appear to be lying.

"What are you talking about?"

"My men have put a knife in his back... and they prepare to poison Memphis even as we speak."

You lunge forward and put a hand on his neck. His guards immediately raise their weapons, but Astarth orders them to stand down. He continues talking to you in a calm tone. "If we fight here, I fear none of us will escape unscathed. You may even kill me, true, but if I die, Egypt loses its last leader capable of uniting the kingdom. Spare your men a bloody battle. I have use for strong warriors such as you."

You ignore what he says, concentrating on reading his mind. The entirety of Astarth's plan is laid out before you. It seems that after recognizing your prowess, the plan was always to get you out of the city so they could execute their plot. Wanketh would die, and the city's water source poisoned - the blame of the poison would fall on the Pharaoh, whose death would be hidden from the public. Astarth had even prepared scapegoats who would claim to be cultists who had influenced the Pharaoh into doing such mad things. The fear that struck all the other cities would have brought them under Astarth's influence. The plot was targeted at Wankare, but since you brought Wanketh into power, they had to adapt instead.

You curse yourself for not vetting Wanketh's advisors further, but you realize that ever since the battle of Memphis, the Pharaoh, suspicious of you, had been in close counsel with them - you had not seen them at all until the day of the meeting itself. You had thought this a direct war of subjugation... but Astarth did not see it that way.

"Why do you look so surprised? Did you think me some dumb brute, a dictator who ruled his city through force of arms? Join my army, Runi, and you will be second only to me."

"Do you think I would join with a man who has just killed an entire city?"

"But I haven't. My men prepare to poison Memphis, yes, but they will not do so for two more days I can cancel that order, my messengers just await my command. You are powerful - if you bow to me, I will have enough strength to conquer Egypt swiftly, and no need to poison the city."

He is telling the truth. The man had set up a relay of messengers all along the Nile - he could get a message to Memphis within a day or two.

***

A. Your hand still on his neck, you scramble his mind. You cannot suffer such a man to live. Taking advantage of the confusion over his sudden collapse, you ride back to your army, and sound the order for a retreat. If you ride downstream ahead of the army, you might be able to reach Memphis before they execute their plan.

B. You kill Astarth by breaking his neck, and while his men are in shock from the loss of their leader, you get your troops to take the city. You will not make it back in time to save Memphis, but by doing this you will set yourself up in a position of power to take over Egypt yourself.

C. You accede to Astarth's demands, and agree to be his right hand man. He is correct in that his rule would be able to unite Egypt, and is that not what you have been fighting for?

D. You agree to surrender to Astarth, but that night you sneak out, back to Memphis, once you are certain the order to prevent the poisoning has been given out. Astarth can have Egypt, but certain advisors to Wanketh are to die for their betrayal. and you plan to extract your comrades from the city to prevent Astarth from getting his hands on them.
 

treave

Arcane
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Codex 2012
Can't edit on mobile easily, forgot to put in option E. Where you agree to Astarth then stab the fucker in the back once he cancelled the poisoning.
 

m4davis

Scholar
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
557
D its the only option truly befitting of us and it allows us to do what we wanted to get a tentacle supporting leader out of the throne and then leave
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
E

I was just about to ask if it were possible to surrender and save Akil and then fuck Astarth over.
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
Astarth has played this game well and we have played it poorly. Now it's time we started learning from this experience and stopped being such a fucking pleb.

A, B and E are out of the question here. Astarth has won this game, and we can't touch him because he's the only one that can bring stability to the country. We kill him and Egypt will have a succession crisis to last for years, rendering all our efforts to stabilize the region for naught. As for E, we would have nobody to replace the guy with - he won, so we have to let him live.

C I don't like either, I have no desire to follow Sargon the Second. Let's chalk this up as one on the loss column, save our companions in Memphis, make sure the city doesn't die, and then get the hell out of here.

C
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
Akil was a viable choice before so what has changed?
 

oscar

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
8,034
Location
NZ
Why exactly do we want Egypt stable and unified? How does it benefit us at all?
 

m4davis

Scholar
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
557
Why exactly do we want Egypt stable and unified? How does it benefit us at all?
It makes it harder for the tentacles to affect it in a way thats useful to them and what purpose would setting the nation into uproar do for us we are done here and this lets us do that and its the only thing that lets us do that with our companions intact
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
Well someone needs to research space travel -technology so we can jettison Shulgi and Naram to a black hole...
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
If we do D, we seem to be pretty eager to not only admit defeat in Egypt, but also to turn ourselves into a very useful scapegoat for whatever terrors may come. In other words, having abandoned the option to try and resuscitate our legacy in Sumeria, we will now leave nothing of ourselves, whether materially or in fame/myth, here either. In my mind the whole purpose of working to stabilise Egypt was not only to act against the Gieloth, but also to give ourselves some time to set some things up for the future, e.g. in the form of great libraries, or some research in the present, or some material wealth and resources, or at least a legend of Runi that might later be strung across to that of Ean.

If we do act against Astarth and continue this conflict, B seems to be the best option. No doubt Astarth has prepared for the eventuality that we shall flee back to Memphis; and I wouldn't be surprised if the talk of cancelling poisoning was just a ruse to get us on his side, and it has happened already.
 

ScubaV

Prophet
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,022
Why exactly do we want Egypt stable and unified? How does it benefit us at all?

I think the argument before was that if a major civilization like Egypt collapses it would have negative consequences for humanity's development. Presumably the concern is that we want powerful pawns to help fight the Gieloth and "the masters".

Anyway, voting D. We can kill Kumare/Shulgi, save our bros, and then "fuck it" off to new lands.

C
 

Bloodshifter

Educated
Joined
Jul 7, 2012
Messages
542
Location
Somewhere with dead bears
D Honour is our main objective here sorta and it gives us the thing we always wanted now Egypt is safe from tentacles and we can move to Italy for wine and TOGAS.

and Treave bro what is the current count on the *unnamed sword* honour blade
:hmmm:
 

newcomer

Learned
Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
919
Considering C or D... I prefer C because we can then tell Asrath the horror of tentacles & ask him to conquer Babylon

But treave can we negotiate our friend's fate to Asrath, and ensure their safety using the messengers? And possibly arrange assassination of Kumare?
 

treave

Arcane
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Joined
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Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
You could demand that Kumare be executed, and your friends treated well, and Astarth would easily agree to sacrifice his pawn in return for your cooperation. The man is nothing if not practical, and one turncoat in return for a powerful warrior is an easy choice to make. But that is contingent on you becoming his right hand man.

I'm not keeping track of the sword name votes, but I think everyone was kinda keen on Anbar-Shi?
 

newcomer

Learned
Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
919
Well C then, with demands that our friend are treated well, possibly joining his court, and execution of Kumare

Btw treave
I think I noticed some mistake in choice A: Ean is now as fast as average horse right? According to internet sources only a few select bred horses can match Ean's speed, and that for only a few moment before exhaustion
 

treave

Arcane
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Messages
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Codex 2012
Well C then, with demands that our friend are treated well, possibly joining his court, and execution of Kumare

Btw treave
I think I noticed some mistake in choice A: Ean is now as fast as average horse right? According to internet sources only a few select bred horses can match Ean's speed, and that for only a few moment before exhaustion

Well, a messenger would use torch and bronze mirror over longer distances to convey Astarth's signal, which is why it only takes a day or two. You might not get exhausted but the strain of constantly moving at top speed for so long would damage and tear your muscles, and your regen can't keep up with the perpetual stress even with the Honourblade on you. You don't get winded, but you do need time for the muscles to heal. You should get there in time to stop it all, even with all that...

Of course, the army you brought with you doesn't move as fast as you do.
 

Esquilax

Arcane
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
4,833
If we do D, we seem to be pretty eager to not only admit defeat in Egypt, but also to turn ourselves into a very useful scapegoat for whatever terrors may come. In other words, having abandoned the option to try and resuscitate our legacy in Sumeria, we will now leave nothing of ourselves, whether materially or in fame/myth, here either. In my mind the whole purpose of working to stabilise Egypt was not only to act against the Gieloth, but also to give ourselves some time to set some things up for the future, e.g. in the form of great libraries, or some research in the present, or some material wealth and resources, or at least a legend of Runi that might later be strung across to that of Ean.

If we do act against Astarth and continue this conflict, B seems to be the best option. No doubt Astarth has prepared for the eventuality that we shall flee back to Memphis; and I wouldn't be surprised if the talk of cancelling poisoning was just a ruse to get us on his side, and it has happened already.

You're right that B is the best choice from the point of view of acquiring power and establishing a legacy. It's easily the smartest option we have. We could take advantage of his plot to poison Memphis by murdering him right here and justifying it by saying we killed him to avenge the city, people would go for it. However, a power-hungry and ruthless act like that would go against the personality/morality of Ean thus far and would push him into a darker direction. Our companions in the city would die as well.

Now that treave has mentioned A, it seems a lot more attractive. Maybe we could pass off his death as a heart-attack, or the gods punishing him for attempting to poison the city?
 

newcomer

Learned
Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
919
Ah, I get it. Then I guess we should admit defeat; either serve him or forget our companions.
The downside of killing him (B) would be the possibility that Kumare/Shulgi take over Memphis & blame the poisoning to us, which is clearly not good.
I don't think our sneaking would be able to do us good, unless we can take our companions away readily.

Now where's the fuck it option when we need it? :troll:
 

m4davis

Scholar
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
557
its D you gather your companions and get out of there
 

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