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Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

Azira

Arcane
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8,519
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Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Another loss for the +1 titties front. It does not look good, friends. It does not look good.. :decline:
 

Kz3r0

Arcane
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
27,012
Dark tunnels, the best place to obtain informatons on international politics.
On the upside at least we didn't visit the local paladins with our cortege of demons and goblins headed by a carnage pigeon.
 

Kayerts

Arcane
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
883
Dark tunnels, the best place to obtain informatons on international politics.
On the upside at least we didn't visit the local paladins with our cortege of demons and goblins headed by a carnage pigeon.

A few years ago, the Codex wouldn't think twice about visiting the Sector Lord Inquisitor immediately after embracing the Dark Powers. :decline:
 

Dindu Nuffins

Novice
Joined
Aug 28, 2015
Messages
2
Erdrick is a latent gay, who plays up his fake "womanising" to avoid suspicions... so why would he need titties? If we missed an opportunity to get a mushroom-tipped veiny pulsating sausage in our face, that would be out of character.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
The Great Bandit King

The cart trundles on, its gentle rocking almost lulling you to sleep. At the front, Lucy is admirably performing her duty of pulling the cart without even a single moo of complaint. A green tarp, stretched over an arched wooden frame, serves to keep the sun and the rain out. The cart had been built spacious enough so that you and your fellow travellers could ride in it and carry some merchandise at the same time. It was not much: a few sacks of wheat, herbs gathered from the forest, leather skins and furs hunted by the goblins, and what remained of the weapons and armour you scavenged from the battlefield. There are also some holy books from the soldiers you killed – the men that belonged to the Holy Barzam Ecclesiocracy. Perhaps they would sell for the right price to the right believer.

Even with the rocking of the vehicle, Runde is busy studying the magical notes you gave him. He had progressed admirably fast in the past week, to the extent that he was now able to cast a simple Magic Arrow where he could use absolutely no magic before. The twins, Aria and Arlin, are leaning on your shoulders from both sides, fast asleep for some reason. You find their ability to get accustomed to your angelic features rather amazing, considering that the last human you revealed it to had demonstrated a kill-on-sight policy. Perhaps that is the innocence – and gullibility – of children. They had gotten along well with the goblins too… perhaps a little too well, as Arlin and Petze had been spending a lot of time recently, to both Robust and Runde’s chagrin.

Rin is looking out the back of the carriage with a bored look on her face. Her horns are covered with a shawl, while her wings have been turned into the elegant black dress that she favours. From this angle, she could easily pass for a beautiful merchant’s wife. Of course, her way of sitting, with one leg raised and perched on the crudely carved bench, ruins the image somewhat.

“Weren’t you taught etiquette by the Mistress of Pain?” you ask.

“Hm? Of course! If I had to live in the castle of the Demon King, a minimum level of politeness is required. Ha, Father always said that I was very good at pretending to be a demure princess.” Although Rin appears to be pleased, you do not think that the Demon Lord meant that to be a compliment.

“You just don’t seem very demure at the moment. Not that I’m complaining, of course,” you say as you eye her thigh.

“Well, I’m not in the castle, am I?”

Point taken. And Rin shifts her posture to sit more demurely, hiding her legs beneath the dress. Ah well.

“Why did you pick this… Ontoglia?” she asks.

Why indeed. Usually, you would not even consider going near a place populated primarily by topless, hairy, muscular miners. But mines are one of the primary resources for a kingdom, and from what the villagers tell you, Ontoglia’s mines are the pride of Methuss. Just by looking at the forces that protect it, its management, and the output of the mines, you might be able to tell the condition of the kingdom as a whole. If Methuss were a person, then Ontoglia would be one of its vital organs. You have not decided yet which organ it should be, but Syke Nimfeet used to call mines the intestines of a nation. “It breaks down the good stuff and pass it around, and then leaves shit behind, and even then shit is valuable, so it’s a win-win place if you know how to take care of it.” Kyle had argued with him into the night over that analogy when he proceeded to expand it to the nobility.

“Because of shit?” puzzles Rin.

“No, because of something they call magnatite.” You had asked around about Ontoglia before this: it is a sprawling mining town with a population numbering in the thousands, with about half of them being burly miners. There, you would also find caravan groups and mercenaries working for the major trading companies. Ontoglia was situated on Mount Asteronto, a six-peaked mountain that was famous for looking like it had been formed through the collision of six different slabs of gigantic rock. The legend was that it had happened, back in war against the Demon God. Regardless, ores of all sorts – gold, silver, iron, and even adamantite – could be found on Asteronto in abundance. Ontoglia supplied all of these, but the one mineral it was known for above others was magnatite. It was an ore with the appearance of a precious crystal and the durability of metal, but more importantly, it had an unusual ability to absorb magic. There were only a few locations on the continent that mined magnatite, and as such Methuss guarded it jealously. You have an interest in the substance yourself: if your theories about its properties are correct, it would be an excellent material for constructing a familiar…

Noting that Rin had grown bored of the lesson and started fiddling with her shawl, you stop talking.

Suddenly, Lucy comes to a halt. She moos loudly in alarm as you hear the distinctive thwip of an arrow flying overhead. Soldiers? No, most likely these are the bandits that have been attacking Erise and the other villages in the area. Seeing the rugged, unkempt men creep out of the bushes proves you right.

“Bandits, Shining One,” gasps Runde as he gathers up the scrolls that he dropped. The twins are jolted awake too. Aria grabs her sword and looks at you, her eyes asking for permission to sally forth, while Arlin merely peeps over the edge of the cart, shivering.

“Alright, whoever’s in there, show yerself and ya won’t get hurt! This here’s the road of the Great Fortunio, and we’ll be needin’ ya to pay some tolls for using it. I’m sure you won’t mind, eh?”

Raiding villages and collecting tolls? It sounds like rather disorganized. From within the cart, you call out, “Who is the Great Fortunio, might I ask?”

“You don’t know who the Great Fortunio is!?” shouts one of the bandits.

“The Great Bandit King Fortunio is the one who will conquer the continent!”

“Hah! That’d be yours truly!” shouts the bearded, stocky bandit that had been the first to talk. “I’m he, and don’tcha forget it! Now, get out here and kindly pay your dues!” With his wild brown hair and a face that mothers could use to scare children straight, he looks like just the sort of ruffian that heroes of justice would cut down without a second thought. The large helmet with curved horns affixed to its sides does not help his image any.

“Should I?”

“Should I?”

Rin and Aria both ask the question at the same time, and they proceed to glare at each other. To the human girl’s credit, Aria merely shrinks back under Rin’s forceful gaze instead of falling on her butt, and she even manages to maintain contact with those demonic eyes. You look at the bandits encircling your cart. There might be more where you cannot see them, but for now you count about forty of them. Aria would do well to get more experience, but she would need assistance.

For now, you have other plans. “Rin.”

She nods. “That’s right, I can do this.” Then, showing that she is no more mature than a fourteen year old girl, she sticks out her tongue at Aria.

“Wait, wait! Use this.” Before she can leap out of the cart, you take one of the swords and hand it to her. “Do not reveal yourself. Go easy on them. Leave the short, bearded one with the horned helmet for last.”

For a moment you think that she might laugh in your face, but Rin nods again. “Alright, alright, I got it. You don’t have to nag me about it.” It looks like she is determined to prove herself useful after that fiasco at the village.

“Are we not going to punch some heads off some ruffians, my boy?” asks Barbatos suddenly.

“Shut up and go back to sleep, glove, or whatever it is you do whenever you are not talking to me.”

“I meditate on the nature of the fist when I am free, and reminisce about my glory days as the one they called the Fist of Fists, the Fist to End the World, Fisting Destruction and other such assorted noble titles.” You did not really mean to ask him that, but Barbatos explains anyway.

"Should we not help the Supreme Mistress of Darkness, Shining One?" asks Runde.

“What is this? Are you sending me a girl instead of payment?” comes the bandits’ call from the outside. “Well, a fine beaut she is, but she isn’t going to be feeding all of us! Come on, surely you can do better, mister merchant?”

There is laughing.

Then there are screams.

Arlin ducks down, sighing at the bloodshed.

"Does that answer your question, Runde?" you ask. He nods.

Meanwhile, Aria is biting her thumb as she peeks at the battle. “She is strong, isn’t she?” murmurs the girl. “I need to get that strong too. If not…”

“Who the hell is this swordswoman!?” You can hear similar fearful cries as they are cut down one by one.

“Well, that is my cue,” you say, counting the screams. Stepping out of the cart, you call out to Rin. “That’s enough for now, Rin.”

“Spoilsport.” Rin stabs the sword into the ground, making a sigh of annoyance. It is not the one she had been using… that one now lies bent besides a bandit that had been pretty much cut into two down the middle. Though a slight wave of bloodlust laps at your heart upon seeing the aftermath of Rin's fight, it clears up quickly. The ten surviving bandits are fleeing into the woods, Fortunio leading the way. To their hideout, most likely. If they had been operating for a while, they are bound to have a hideout where they store all of their goods. Killing all of them here would not lead you to that cache.

Now it’s your turn to hunt. “Let’s give them a bit of a headstart.”

***

The Great Fortunio stumbles back to his cave with the remainder of his men, panting and gasping. “Let’s… we were not followed, right?”

“That… that woman was nuts!”

“Can’t believe we made it out, boss. Shit, I think I shit my pants…”

“That crazy strength… she might even be a match for Belbro.”

“Belbro, eh? Is she really a match for this fella?”

The surviving bandits turn and see you silhouetted in the sunlight against the mouth of the cave, a dark shadow with a pointed head. Rin stands behind you, waving her bloody sword in greeting.

“Oh, fuck. Fuck. They followed us, boss.”

You step down into the cave. Though you had intended your entrance to be suitably intimidating, the tip of your tall hat snags against the ceiling, and you are forced to bend your body to fit. The result looks rather awkward, but the bandits are fearful all the same. The cave is lit by torches, and you can see the loot that they have collected. A fair share of food, wine and clothes, a heap of metal bars, some gold, more silver, and a little pile of copper coins. “You seem to have done very well for yourself,” you say. “Great Fortunio, was it?”

The Great Fortunio immediately throws himself down on his knees, his forehead rubbing the dirt. “S-s-s-s-s-spare me, oh master! I did not know who you were and attacked out of ignorance!” His men follow suit immediately, showing great synchronicity.

“Hm, who did you think I was?”

“A travelling merchant!”

“Who do you think I am now?”

“A very influential and powerful travelling merchant! Ya must… you must be a high-ranking member of one of the Three Houses, to employ such a powerful bodyguard!”

You glance at Rin. She has unconsciously puffed out her chest in pride at the bandits’ recognition of her strength, even though if you asked her, she would probably act offended at being praised by humans. “You said she could be a match for Belbro. Have you seen Belbro fight?”

“Oh, oh, yes, master!” squeals Fortunio, still with his face kissing the ground. “I saw the Knight-Commander in action during a skirmish against Galbaldy three years ago! He is truly the strongest warrior in the kingdom… uh, maybe barring yer bodyguard, master.”

“That might be interesting. Don’t you think so?”

“Sure. I get first dibs, right?” grins Rin.

“Eh… we will see about that,” you shrug. Turning back to the bandits, you look down at their prostate forms. “Now, what to do about you folks…”

“S-Spare us, master! We’ll turn over a new leaf! We’ll be good people, we swears!” shouts one of the bandits.

“That’s… that’s right! We were abandoned by the country we fought for! The homes we battled to protect were no more by the time we returned! With no land and no family and no hope, we'd no choice!” pleads Fortunio. “That's why we made this mistake… but if yer kind self'll just give us a second chance… please! We’ll return all of our ill-gotten gains to the villages and merchants we raided, we swear!”

“What? Return all of this? Are you sure?” you ask, amazed.

“Yes! We will atone for our misdeeds, master!”

“But all of this is mine.”

“We… what?”

“All of this belongs to me now, right?” You gesture at Fortunio’s loot.

“Oh? Oh. Oh, of course. Of course! You're right, master,” laughs a perplexed Fortunio. “Yer… you're not going to ask us to turn ourselves in, to repent? Does that mean you are going to k-k-kill us?”

***

A. “Of course you should repent. Be good and turn over a new leaf, and you too can start over a new life. Just remember that who it was that gave you this second chance. I will put in a word for you with the guards.” Everyone deserves a second chance. Well, spreading rumours about your kindness will be beneficial for your reputation in Methuss, and you have your hands on their loot anyway. Of course, to ensure that the bandits do turn over a new leaf, you will be dragging them to the nearest fort in chains for a bounty too. They can have no complaints.

B. “You work for me now.” These men will be useful tools for the future. The legendary merchant Palom lead a double life as bandit and trader both, and when he was not trading, he was the masked brigand Molap who terrorized caravans throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Of course, he only happened to assault those caravans that belonged to merchants not part of his cartel… Of course, you will not need to bother conducting raids yourself; you can just make the Great Fortunio into a real Bandit King instead, at your leisure.

C. “You can repent with your death.” No witnesses. No survivors. You have what you need from them. Now you will slaughter them all to a man.

D. "You can walk out of here alive if you are able to defeat my apprentices." You have Aria, Arlin and Runde fight them as a test of teamwork. Naturally, you have no intention of honoring the deal.
 
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lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
So, Magnitite is the Unobtanium/Elerium/Magic Crystal of Power of this setting. Sounds interesting indeed. Moreso that part about "constructing a familiar". I suppose Erd is going to create some sort of mechanical homonculus thing to be his familiar, instead of employing a magically altered animal of small size. :incline:


““Should I?”

“Should I?”

Rin and Aria both ask the question at the same time, and they proceed to glare at each other.”

Aaw, look at these two, the murdersisters already share many things in common. :lol:


“Meanwhile, Aria is biting her thumb as she peeks at the battle. “She is strong, isn’t she?” murmurs the girl. “I need to get that strong too. If not…””

Careful she doesn't attempt to use drugs/dark magic to artificially become stronger, but she accidentally turns into a freakish monster instead. It wouldn't be good for a Lawlful Good heroic character. Good thing we're not the heroes though.:smug:

Anyway, I vote for A>B>D. After reconsidering it, turning them over to get the reward for their capture AND their loot is the most profitable option, which Mercant would approve. Alternatively, having more replaceable meatshields is a good thing. Otherwise, they can serve as xp fodder for Runde and the twins (it might be good if Erd leaves to take a walk before doing the deed though, lest the "pigeon meter" increases).

EDIT: *checks the companions' table*

:hmmm:
Pretty much everyone has "greater than the average human" stats in one way or another. Even the cow :lol:.
 
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Smashing Axe

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Messages
2,835
Divinity: Original Sin
They are incompetent untrustworthy cowards good only ar robbing weacklings, they will just gave us troubles.
Every man has their use, even these. And how are they incompetent? They were able to make a decent living as bandits before they came across someone ridiculously powerful posing as a merchant. We can use them for actions we don't want directly linked to us. We can use them for scouts. We can use them for cannon-fodder. We can lie to them about our intentions and put them in a position to betray us, so that we leak false information. There's a lot we can do by nominally retaining their services. Sure, we're better than them in every way, but delegation is key if you're going to take over the world.

What do we gain by killing them? Carnage pidgeon points? (Not that I'm against that). That said, at least killing them is better than being a paladin.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
They are incompetent untrustworthy cowards good only ar robbing weacklings, they will just gave us troubles.
I like them. They are more interesting than bandits from Legend, that's for sure, if only because they do not prioritize murder and rape over pillaging, and they are former soldiers to boot, so they should not be new to the military discipline.

With sufficient training and funding they can be turned into proper irregulars. I know we have goblins to do hit-and-runs, but there are advantages to having a human-only squad with no particular headquarters.

Those guys would be perfect for hitting supply lines if we just let them grow a bit. There must be many more disgrunted elements in the Kingdom, so the potential is there.

B, I should think. And I suppose we can call first dibs on all the cute girls they capture, too.

Aaw, look at these two, the murdersisters already share many things in common :lol:
Aria is already thinking about displacing her as Chief Murdermistress.
Meanwhile, Aria is biting her thumb as she peeks at the battle. “She is strong, isn’t she?” murmurs the girl. “I need to get that strong too. If not…”
An ambitious one, that girl. :salute:

Hmmm, Knight-Commander Belbro, huh? I wonder if he is as bro as his name suggests. We might be crossing paths with him in the capital. Sounds like he could become a potential problem.
 
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Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Lucy
Lv. 4 Cow
Vitality: E
Mana: E
Physical Attack: F+++
Physical Defense: F+++
Magical Attack: F
Magical Defense: F
Agility: F
Charisma: C
Okay, now I know there is something fishy here.

We might want to extend our Universal Translator to Animal Tongues. If only to have an army of crow spies as befits the Dark Lord.

Could settle for sparrows, though. Or even parrots.:M
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
I have my doubts about A. I think they would want us to return the loot. And B is probably not something we should do before we collect the favor from the prince. Something tells me his favor is more valuable than a shitty bandit gang.

Voting D: we let the kids get some practice and finish them off (but we also keep an eye out so they don't die/get crippled). It's better to make them into killers sooner rather than later.
 
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Elfberserker

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
Messages
1,540
Erise might be shithole, but it seems that it has something magical in it's soil to grow potential badasses from everybody, even the cow:salute:
Clearly we must start those agricultural reforms soon.

I guess the big question is, do we want improved chances to interigate ourself to methuss and thus rise to power with them or do we want more manpower to ourself, while inflicting methuss financial harm?
We do already have decent gateway to methuss high society with prince and brining bandits to garrison is one step toward making smallfolk and merchants love us.

On otherhand.

Do we give a shit about methuss and start our independent operation with bandits bringing wealth from methussian trade caravans, so we can build our army of doom or whatever.
Waiting for arguments before deciding....Or we could take lazy way of doing and killing them, thus not are not being stressed what our little trouble our bandit band stumbled on.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
No. Only crows. Or ravens. And we should make our wings all black and raven-y.
Meh. Only emos paint themselves black.

Also, I think people have long accustomed to cliched villains, and a murder of crows is just not very awe-inspiring in this day and age. Now, a swarm of top-hatted parrots, that could be truly terrifying. +M
 
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Elfberserker

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
Messages
1,540
C-can't we have both?
We are carnage pigeon after all, it would be heresy to use any other avians as avatar of our strenght or terror than pigeons.

Anyway, voting for B, because why not?
 

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