Myth: A New Age CYOA

[Baltika9]

Well, that's one way to cut down labor costs.

 

[Nevill]

Alright. When Jester's plans for mouse air force come to fruition, Ratguard will be the obvious choice for ace pilots.

What would it take to hire the services of The Observers to help us map the tunnels faster? They should keep in mind that our people could very well finish the job by themselves, so they probably should not get completely ridiculous with their demands. Besides, there is also a Clan of the Coin who, too, use the tunnels - to dig up the insects. We are just asking them first because they seem to possess a certain reputatuion among the mousefolk.

The Inner Clans tend to be wealthier and have access to specific resources that grant them an important place in the larger rodent society.

I assume there must be something that the Observers may find important to themselves, as it advances their own standing among the clans, that might not mean much to us humans. This might go for all the rodents.

I also assume they are our men... er, mice... if we want to know what happened to the defenders.

The Blind Brothers occupy the fort's library and archives. They are not actually blind though most of them suffer from myopia to one degree or the other. They are the storytellers and the memory of the Fort.

Can we check with the Brothers if there are some sections in the fort we were not told about by the previous leadership? The dungeons, the secret vault, or the like? Something that only the high command would know about, but a junior officer like Myora wouldn't?

Also, we have 12 mice and 3 rats. Which factions are they from?

For that matter, what are the names of our two spellcasters? Might be worth learning.

Do the dwarves have cats or something to keep the mouse population in check? I am no longer sure who the fort really belongs to.

 

[Azira]

The fort really belongs to the cockroaches, but that's a wholly different story..

 

[Fangshi]

What would it take to hire the services of The Observers to help us map the tunnels faster? They should keep in mind that our people could very well finish the job by themselves, so they probably should not get completely ridiculous with their demands. Besides, there is also a Clan of the Coin who, too, use the tunnels - to dig up the insects. We are just asking them first because they seem to possess a certain reputatuion among the mousefolk.

They are first and foremost explorers so they would like your permission to extend their mapping of the tunnels up into the towers. No mouse has been into the towers for several years as the last party to venture up there disappeared without a trace. As the current occupant of one of the towers they would like your permission and (if possible) protection while they map those tunnels.

Also I would keep in mind that the tunnels they are used to mapping are mouse size not humanoid sized. It would still take them some time to map out all of the tunnels under the mountain though they would be better at it than the dwarves. They will also likely want or need guards to protect them from predators (real or imagined) so you will likely have to engage the services of the Ratguard or some of the rat clans anyway.

I assume there must be something that the Observers may find important to themselves, as it advances their own standing, that might not mean much to us humans. This might go for all the rodents.

I also assume they are our men... er, mice... if we want to know what happened to the defenders.

They prize adventure over everything else as they are at heart explorers and adventurers (it is one of the reasons they get along so well with the Ratguard who also love excitement). Give them something fascinating or exciting to do and they will likely help.

Can we check with the Brothers if there are some section in the fort we were not told about by the previous leadership? The dungeons, the secret vault, or the like? Something that only high command would know, but a junior officer like Myora wouldn't?

Yes you can but they will want something in return. If you want a story from them then they will want a story in return.

Also, we have 12 mice and 3 rats. Which factions are they from?

The mice are from the following factions: Three are Soft Paws, three are Long Tails, three are from the Three Families and one each are from the Blind Brothers, the Observers and the Ratguard. Most of the talking has been done by the Paws, Tails and Three Families representatives. The Brothers representative has spent most of his time napping while the Observer has been too busy trying to visually map out your room. The Ratguard representative has not said a word and appears to be rather bored all things considered.

The three rats are from the Greys, the Thieves and the Gold-Diggers. The Clan of the Shell and the Clan of the Seed have given the Grey representative the authority to bargain on their behalf.

Do the dwarves have cats or something to keep the mouse population in check?

Sort of, three months ago they brought in a few cats. One was found dead outside the gatehouse, one disappeared a day later and the third one is hiding in the tower Berty is staying in. It ran up there three days after it arrived and it refuses to come back down. The mercenaries have been feeding it so it won't die up there and it really is quite an affectionate animal but it absolutely refuses to leave the tower under any circumstances and it tends to hide as soon as someone enters the tower.

 

[Nevill]

They are first and foremost explorers so they would like your permission to extend their mapping of the tunnels up into the towers. No mouse has been into the towers for several years as the last party to venture up there disappeared without a trace. As the current occupant of one of the towers they would like your permission and (if possible) protection while they map those tunnels.

What factions do our spellcasting mice belong to? Weren't they living in the mage's tower? Were their ancestors 'the last party to venture up there'?

Do they think there is something up there the others should rather not see? If not, I can think of no reason to deny the Observers their request.

They prize adventure over everything else as they are at heart explorers and adventurers (it is one of the reasons they get along so well with the Ratguard who also love excitement). Give them something fascinating or exciting to do and they will likely help.

What kind of adventures do they have in mind? What even passes for a mouse-sized adventure nowadays? Was the operation with the explosives exciting enough to satisfy their needs?

By the looks of it, the tunnels are a dangerous place to wander off into. Does it not fit the bill all by itself? Of course, our friends are important enough for us to warrant a more tangible reward as well. A fair bit of cheese will go to the clans participating in the search. But no 'exotic cheese from the Province' nonsense. Let's face it, they are unlikely to procure even regular cheese by themselves, and certainly not in large enough quantities. The fort currently does not offer much luxury in terms of food.

I guess we can promise the skies to the more romantically inclined, if thing work out with Melete. We have to get our pilots somewhere.

Yes you can but they will want something in return. If you want a story from them then they will want a story in return.

It is good, then, that we are a story-telling expert who does this every night when we see the girls off to sleep. We are also in a possession of the tome that contains the known history of the whole world. We should have no trouble there.

By the way, do spiders eat mice? I think some of them do. There is a story of how we vanquished our common enemy, right there!

 

[Fangshi]

What factions do our spellcasting mice belong to? Weren't they living in the mage's tower? Were their ancestors 'the last party to venture up there'?

The spellcasting mice are not members of any other faction. From what you can tell the regular mice do not even know they are up there (and they are careful to remain hidden when you bring the mice in to negotiate). The spellcasting mice know little about the regular mice as well and since there are so few of them they would prefer not to be fully exposed to their more numerous cousins as they do not know how the rest of the rodents will react.

Derryth thinks it is likely that the spellcasting mice are the descendants of the last group to try and explore the tunnel, yes.

Do they think there is something up there the others should rather not see? If not, I can think of no reason to deny the Observers their request.

They are not sure. They do not know how the regular mice will respond to their presence so they are worried that they might get squeezed out of their homes. They are willing to follow your lead though if you promise to look after them as they do need you to get their drug.

What kind of adventures do they have in mind? What even passes for a mouse-sized adventure nowadays? Was the operation with the explosives exciting enough to satisfy their needs?

They thought the plan with the explosives was quite fun though they would have preferred something with a little more sneaking and exploring rather than so much standing around.

By the looks of it, the tunnels are a dangerous place to wander off into. Does it not fit the bill all by itself? Of course, our friends are important enough for us to warrant a more tangible reward as well. A fair bit of cheese will go to the clans participating in the search. But no 'exotic cheese from the Province' nonsense. Let's face it, they are unlikely to procure even regular cheese by themselves, and certainly not in large enough quantities. The fort currently does not offer much luxury in terms of food.

It would certainly be an adventure so they are interested though they want security as none of them want to die down there to larger animals or insects.

You could probably hire one of the other factions to provide protection. The Clan of the Seed or Shell would do it for cheese. The Greys would also do it for cheese (they will want more as they are smarter and more skilled). The Clan of the Coin will do it for gold. Finally the Ratguard will also do it but only for...

This:

I guess we can promise the skies to the more romantically inclined, if thing work out with Melete. We have to get our pilots somewhere.

They think the idea of dive bombing birds would be spectacular, to 'take the fight' to the 'old enemy' and all. So you definitely have the Ratguard representative's attention now.

They also would not mind better weapons to protect the fort with, something to really put fear into the local lizards. Of course if you are offering cheese they would not turn that down either...

By the way, do spiders eat mice? I think some of them do. There is a story of how we vanquished our common enemy, right there!

Yeah some do and yes you could tell them about the Blues. It would take repeated sessions to ensure they get it all and you would need to decide just how much you want to tell them but that would certainly interest them.

 

[archaen]

Okay, get ready for a lot of info you will never need to know...

Followed by three pages of discuss about rodents.

Congratulations, operation molehill opened up the mice diplomacy and breeding minigame! Are there collectable cards if we breed the golden rat-mouse god?

 

[Jester]

The Long Tails sound like good material for spies.

For negotiations phrase "Cheesebrains" might be used.
For 1 instead we will add rule to fort that any animal will have to pass 24-48h quarantine in isolation to heck for illness and no guards whatsoever, but we might add necessity for feline to wear some kind of muzzle in name of continuous coexistence.
For 2 call them cheesebrains and tell that if they try that or else crap ever again things might go bad. Propose other high quality cheese native to Myrgarth and ask them who the hell ordered here cheese imported from Bibbiano in the south of the Province. Add that high activity of undeads decrease possibility of quick import of foreign goods. (I assume they eat that before and this place dont sound like high quality dining establishment.)
For 3 tell them that we are looking forward to comparing answer from other race point of view.

 

[Baltika9]

They also would not mind better weapons to protect the fort with, something to really put fear into the local lizards.

What kind of weapons do they use?

 

[Nevill]

How good of an idea about our capabilities and overall power do these rodents have? Do they understand that we can destroy the clans - all of them - if we put our minds to it?

I ask not because I want to threaten them, but to verify how much weight our word would carry if we take the spellcasting mice under our protection and proclaim the tower their territory.

Naturally, we should also make sure that the spell-mice don't abuse their status as well. They should be intelligent enough to understand why that is in their interests.

The rodents do not seem interested in waging wars anymore, what with their idea of Commonwealth. I think they will have no problem with their new neighbours, especially if those neighbours pack quite a punch by themselves, and if we back them up.

I predict that the services of the spell-mice would be highly sought in such a community. Even though there are only two of the spell casters now, the rest of them are still highly intelligent, and their greater capacity for language would come in handy if one wants to steal food and/or supplies from the dwarves. They should be able to find their niche.

 

[Fangshi]

Are there collectable cards if we breed the golden rat-mouse god?

Secret ending probably. Where the God Emperor of Mankind Mousekind lays a righteous beating on the Leveler...

For 1 instead we will add rule to fort that any animal will have to pass 24-48h quarantine in isolation to heck for illness and no guards whatsoever, but we might add necessity for feline to wear some kind of muzzle in name of continuous coexistence.

They will accept a muzzle but they insist that you also make the cats wear boots (to prevent clawing)... also hats... the cats have to wear oversized, humiliating hats with lots of bells.

For 2 call them cheesebrains and tell that if they try that or else crap ever again things might go bad. Propose other high quality cheese native to Myrgarth and ask them who the hell ordered here cheese imported from Bibbiano in the south of the Province. Add that high activity of undeads decrease possibility of quick import of foreign goods. (I assume they eat that before and this place dont sound like high quality dining establishment.)

They do not seem cowed by your threat, they say they will hide and they will fight no matter how many cats you send after them. Thaïs manages to calm them after a few minutes and insists that no one is talking about cats or war, Lyssa claims that it was all merely a miscommunication and they seem to believe her.

As for the cheese:

One of the former commanders of Blackrock had a taste for the finer things in life. A crack team of Thieves and Observers managed to steal three grams of cheese that supposedly came from Bibbiano (and was covered in a light drizzle of balsamic vinegar) it is perhaps the finest thing they have ever tasted and any leader that could secure more would be forever remembered in the stories of their people.

They would however accept cheese from Myrgard but they spend a good ten minutes arguing over just which cheese they would accept. It seems they all want something different and a fight just about breaks out between the Tails and Three Families representatives. In the end they agree on a nice local blue cheese that they insist is quite good and not too expensive (Derryth is fairly certain that they have no idea how expensive the cheese actually is or even if it is local but they seem to have convinced themselves that it is both.).

For 3 tell them that we are looking forward to comparing answer from other race point of view.

One of the representatives nods sagely and smiles.

What kind of weapons do they use?

Wooden spears (toothpicks) and shields (large wood chips) for the most part. However some of their veteran soldiers have metal weapons (sowing needles and the like) and those really help them hold their own, they would like more and better weapons if possible.

How good of an idea about our capabilities and overall power do these rodents have? Do they understand that we can destroy the clans -all of them - if we put our minds to it?

They do not believe that is even possible. People have tried to kill them before and it has never worked so they are confident in their own abilities if threatened.

They do seem to generally respect you though as you are the first occupant of the towers to actually try and talk to them and they appreciate the food you gave them in exchange for their help.

 

[Baltika9]

I wonder what we can do to upgrade their armory. Metal buttons as shields, straight razors as axes, letter knives as greatswords? This is actually pretty fun, anyone have ideas about armor?

 

[Nevill]

They will accept a muzzle but they insist that you also make the cats wear boots (to prevent clawing)... also hats... the cats have to wear oversized, humiliating hats with lots of bells.

Humilitating the enemy who can not fight back is pathetic. How do the warrior clans stand for this? We might protect the mice from being eaten by cats, but we will not go beyond that.

They do not believe that is even possible. People have tried to kill them before and it has never worked so they are confident in their own abilities if threatened.

People, sure.

Have they ever met a cat-demon? Or a terrible werefalcon? Do they know that we, as mages, can conjure creatures from beyond the Void that they never even dreamed about, and those beings will bow to us, because we are oh-so-powerful?

After all, even the eagles, the creatures no rat could ever touch (for now), serve us.

Maybe Lyssa can have a little fun with demonstration. She can use the memory of our unfortunate hare to go by. That should be sufficiently terrifying.

Of course, since we are allies, we have no intention to use such horrors against them, and we much prefer their friendship. But we want them to know that our words should not be taken lightly.

 

[Fangshi]

Humilitating the enemy who can not fight back is pathetic. How do the warriors clans stand for this? We might protect the mice from being eaten by cats, but we will not go beyond that.

The Paws and Tails representatives seem disappointed that there will be no hats but they will accept the simple safety precautions. The Ratguard representative merely nods, it seems satisfied and a little relieved that it will not have to endure the ringing of numerous tiny bells.

Have they ever met a cat-demon? Or a terrible werefalcon? Do they know that we, as mages, can conjure creatures from beyond the Void that they never even dreamed about, and they will bow to us, because we are oh-so-powerful?

After all, even the eagles, the creatures no rat could ever touch (for now), serve us.

Maybe Lyssa can have a little fun with demonstration. She can use the memory of our unfortunate hare to go by. That should be sufficiently terrifying.

Of course, since we are allies, we have no intention to use such horrors against them, and we much prefer their friendship. But we want them to know that our words should not be taken lightly.

Lyssa conjures up an image of a foul were-rabbit and most of the mice rush to the far end of the table screaming. The Ratguard representative draws its sword (a hatpin) and charges the illusion. It strikes at the illusion and hits only air, confused it steps forward and pushes one hand through Lyssa's illusion. It calls out to the other representatives who promptly scurry over to take a look.

You inform them that this is simply an image of one of the creatures you can command.

They nod and fall to conversation, they seem suitably impressed.

All except the Ratguard Representative that is. It swaggers up to you and pulls on your sleeve.

Lyssa tells you that it demands that you summon a real horror for it to fight right now, seems like it is not impressed by illusions and wants to test itself against the creature you just showed it.

 

[Nevill]

Lyssa tells you that it demands that you summon a real horror for it to fight right now, seems like it is not impressed by illusions and wants to test itself against the creature you just showed it.

Not a problem:

Violent Projection (I)*
Violent Projection - (Illusion) A projection spell that attempts to attack the target. If the target's mind falls for the trick they will believe themselves injured. This spell is not fatal. Victims use their willpower to resist this spell.

The spell is not mastered, but that's a rat we are talking about. Even if it is a very brave one.

We can 'heal' him afterwards.

Speaking of which, if that does not work, here is something else to convince him:

False Memory (M)
Compulsion (M)
Fear (M)

Those are mastered. We can even combine the two approaches.

There should be a lot of ways to make even one of Ratguard not to want to mess with these things. The difference in power between their mind and ours should be comparable to that of ours and the Watcher's. They simply should not be able to resist.

 

[archaen]

Or if it that fails we can send him to the dreaming to meet real horrors.

 

[Baltika9]

The difference between theory and practice is greater in practice. It will be hilarious if the Ratguard can resist it. They are the mouse version of the Heron Guard already, and this one mouse has balls the size of Derryth's.

 

[Nevill]

Dude, we can mindwipe him in a second. We are two master mentalists and one very gifted illusionist. It really does not matter what size your balls are if your mind is compromised to believe whatever we tell it to.

Derryth could not resist the Black Rod not because of being weak-willed, but out of sheer disparity in power.

 

[Fangshi]

You give Lyssa the go ahead to give it a sound thrashing and you must say it puts up one hell of a fight for a creature no bigger that your fist. It darts and weaves around the imaginary swipes of the creature and just when it is about to complain that your 'horror' is but another illusion Lyssa hits it with a Violent Projection.

It crumples to the table without a sound, completely 'defeated' and believes itself mortally wounded, the other representatives crowd around their stricken comrade and plead with you to save him.

With a dramatic flourish you 'cure' the mouse and Lyssa drops her spells.

If they did not believe you were a great mage before they certainly do now.

The Ratguard thanks you for the chance to test itself and for saving its life. It says that it now owes you a life debt and it is yours to command as your servant and protector.

He says his name is Martin and he requests a rematch with the creature when he has had time to work out exactly how he lost.

Or if it that fails we can send him to the dreaming to meet real horrors.

Now that is just cruel.

 

[Nevill]

So I guess we might be able to introduce our spell-mice to them without fearing for their lives. The Observers will get their chance to scout up the tower in exchange for aid in our friend's search. (This might need to be put to a vote).

In the end they agree on a nice local blue cheese that they insist is quite good and not too expensive (Derryth is fairly certain that they have no idea how expensive the cheese actually is or even if it is local but they seem to have convinced themselves that it is both.).

Now, will they drop that 'blue cheese' nonsense that we can't promise them because we have no idea if it is even sold in Myrgard? A mage is as good as their word, so how do they expect us to agree to something we don't know we can do beforehand?

Martin is coming with us, and he will be their representative when we pick the cheese that is both available for sale and does not have an exorbitant cost. If their 'blue cheese' qualifies, so be it. If not, we will consult with Martin what would be the next best thing.

That would be fair, and on that we can give them our word. Deal?

How much does the cheese cost, anyway? I don't expect 'inexpensive' cheese to cost more than a few gold coins, which should be less than 1 WP.

 

[Fangshi]

It will need to be put to an informal vote (let's say a simple majority of four votes in favour) but those terms are acceptable to the representatives as Martin is known to have a good nose for cheese.

Current Tally:

Spoiler

Azira DD
Nevill DD
Kz3r0 DD
Jester DD
Grimgravy CC
archaen DD
Baltika9 xD

1. 1 abstain
A)
B)
C) 1 vote
D) 5 votes

2.
A)
B)
C) 1 vote
D) 6 votes

Also I currently count two votes in favour of Nevill's alterations to the plan in 1.D. If there are no objections I will make those additions or I can add it as a separate 1.E.

 

[archaen]

I'm perfectly fine with with Nevills rat diplomacy. I guess I second the motion. We can also tell Martin that we need to go to the city to wake the one who will design his people's wings but we have to have tower secure before we leave. Anything his clan can do to get the other clans to help us will speed her recovery.

 

[Jester]

Followed by three pages of discuss about rodents.

Congratulations, operation molehill opened up the mice diplomacy and breeding minigame! Are there collectable cards if we breed the golden rat-mouse god?

One of better parts of this campaign in my opinion. Big enough to help, small enough to get it. Remind me of adventure of little people books.

The spellcasting mice are not members of any other faction. From what you can tell the regular mice do not even know they are up there (and they are careful to remain hidden when you bring the mice in to negotiate). The spellcasting mice know little about the regular mice as well and since there are so few of them they would prefer not to be fully exposed to their more numerous cousins as they do not know how the rest of the rodents will react.

Make them their own faction mousses of lost or smt. They are under our protection now, although its hard to say what going to happened to them. Probably we will task them with getting volunteers to learn magic and that need some ties with rodent society. Or if they have any slavery ring/slams we could try to recruit there people who agree to change their fate.

They are not sure. They do not know how the regular mice will respond to their presence so they are worried that they might get squeezed out of their homes. They are willing to follow your lead though if you promise to look after them as they do need you to get their drug.

Observers should be allowed to explore under condition that tower is considered our personal space and any operations inside and access to information there require our permission. Findings must be reported and we are allowed to require keeping part of findings secret. So no wars, mouse/rat aggression, experiments without permission, explosives usage etc.

What kind of adventures do they have in mind? What even passes for a mouse-sized adventure nowadays? Was the operation with the explosives exciting enough to satisfy their needs?

They thought the plan with the explosives was quite fun though they would have preferred something with a little more sneaking and exploring rather than so much standing around.

Yeah we can say that we know that exciting things tend to happend after lots of standing around.

By the way, do spiders eat mice? I think some of them do. There is a story of how we vanquished our common enemy, right there!

Yeah some do and yes you could tell them about the Blues. It would take repeated sessions to ensure they get it all and you would need to decide just how much you want to tell them but that would certainly interest them.

I doubt that they will spread this around, but most harmful information is NINE ORB OF UNLIMITED POWER and breaking of imperial law. Still we will break imperial law few times more especially with our 'ownership' of tower in under city.

 

[Jester]

Also I currently count two votes in favour of Nevill's alterations to the plan in 1.D. If there are no objections I will make those additions or I can add it as a separate 1.E.

I dont have any problems with that to.

Oh and i like that illusion idea. Good job.

 

[Nevill]

So, to reiterate, our diplomacy options are:

1) Get the information on what happened during the attack on the fort and if some of our soldiers survived.
Price: cats can only be allowed in the fort with safety precautions so that they would not eat our mice. Honestly, given how the cats fared so far, if anyone brings another one here for some reason, it would be for the cat's own benefit.
2) Get the information on what happened with Rand and how he managed to escape. Was he compromised or not?
Price: a certain amount of inexpensive and common cheese of Martin's choosing.
3) Get the mice to help us find our friends in the tunnels.
Price: a permission to scout the mage tower granted to the Observers on certain conditions, and a promise to the Ratguard to look into rat-sized flying devices. The spellcasting mice are introduced to the rest of the Commonwealth, and the tower is officially recognized as their (and our) territory. They are coming under our protection and tutelage.

Did I sum it up correctly?

Ir requires 4 votes to pass. Currently it has mine, archaen's, and Jester's. Does anyone else want to add theirs?

Edit: maybe also 4) Have the Blind Brothers tell us if there are any sections in the fort we don't know about (now that most of the leadership is gone) in exchange for a story about our victory over the Spider Goddess.