Myth: A New Age CYOA

[Nevill]

Does Hallr need to be conscious for us to break inside of his mind and take whatever information we need?

 

[Fangshi]

Does Hallr need to be conscious for us to break inside of his mind and take whatever information we need?

He does not need to be conscious for you to break his mind but he will need to be conscious to answer your questions after, unless you want to use infiltration to enter is unconscious mind and poke around in person.

 

[Nevill]

What is this "breaking one's mind" that I keep hearing about? What is involved in the process, and how irreversible is it?

In any case, I meant 'breaking into his mind'. Sort of what we did with the kid in the caves.

 

[Fangshi]

What is this "breaking one's mind" that I keep hearing about? What is involved in the process, and how irreversible is it?

You use a combination of your mental spells to reduce his mind to something approximating a lump of clay that you can then mold into a willing slave informant. It takes a little while but he would not be able to resist you after should you succeed. It can not really be reversed though you can break someone and then build them up again with a new personality and outlook.

Not terribly moral, mind you, but very fun according to many mentalists and illusionists.

In any case, I meant 'breaking into his mind'. Sort of what we did with the kid in the caves.

Sure, you can do that, just cut his arms, legs, ears and nose off and then burn the wounds closed, though you might want to salt them first just to make them hurt more.

Enough pain will fragment his mind so badly that you will be able to fish around for any thoughts you want without him resisting, just like with the kid in the caves. He was so physically and mentally broken that he could not offer any sort of resistance to your spells.

Without fragmenting his mind he will be able to resist you spells just like anyone else can. That is what makes casual mind reading so uncommon, if the host mind does not want to tell you something then it is not likely to work very well. At most you will grab an emotion or an image but not the full story. To get more you need to put some energy into it.

 

[Nevill]

What sort of special treatment? All the bodies will undergo a full autopsy as part of the investigation by the Academy's medical staff. If you do not trust them to find whatever you are looking for then your only other option is to do it yourself.

Pathfinder-sort of special. The clone deserves a higher level of attention. The mere presence of aliens clones among us that are nearly indistinguishable from humans should be rather disturbing.

We aren't medical experts either, so I'll probably pass on the offer to do it ourselves.

It would be funnier.

You are going to have to answer a fair number of questions regardless as their are eleven corpses down there and an ancient temple that should not officially exist. There will be investigators all over the place in the days and weeks to come.

You do have those letters from the King though, if you want to kidnap take someone for interrogation then there is nothing the guards can ultimately do to stop you. If they interfered the King would have them fired, they are not mages and so are simply not as important.

Funny? I love funny.

Hallr is a suspect on the account of conspiracy to commit regicide, kidnapping, treason - and probably half a dozen other things I am forgetting about - and there are 11 corpses (12, actually, including Janine's), several living witnesses and false papers filed by his assistants to prove our claims. Damn right I want to take him for an interrogation, and we have both the grounds and the authority to do so.

He is loathe to part with the portrait. If you want he could have a quick sketch made and delivered in a day or two or he could have an exact replica commissioned but that might take more time than you have. He is also a little curious as to why you would want a picture of his dead sister.

A sketch would be fine. We might be looking into her disappearance since we are heading to Stoneheim soon.

He does not particularly want to expose himself to the effects of the artefacts just to satisfy his curiosity but he might be open to experimentation depending on what you have in mind.

I might have in mind to have a little talk with the Goddess through one of her pet cultists. And I think we have a few things to talk about, so chances are it might go a bit better than his previous attempt.

We would need a controlled environment for that, though. A room rigged with explosives, walls staffed with crossbowmen, and a control room isolated from the influence of the Goddess with lead.

The cultist will be led into the room. An egg would be delivered in the lead crate. The crate would open remotely, and hopefully, the cultist will be available for the talking afterwards. If anything goes wrong, the egg is to be isolated by shutting the crate. If that proves to be difficult, the egg is to be destroyed. If that fails, the room is to be blown up. We've seen what Miosguinn could do, we are not about to risk anything.

The communication will take place through talking remotely. We won't come out of the control room so that we would not be affected by the egg.

As for who would volunteer to talk to the deity... well, we have her big fan Hallr right here with us. After we are done questioning him, that is.

Does he think it can be arranged in a few days?

No, not really. At least nothing beyond the obvious. The temple was located behind several layers of security at an institution loyal to the crown. It has likely taken them some time to infiltrate it properly. He has also been in possession of the key for decades as well and he does not keep research assistants on hand that could be corrupted to retrieve it for them.

Hallr was around for who knows how long, and why would the cultists need the key if they have a direct line with the Goddess who knows how the events went? Something does not add up, unless the tomb or the temple was not commissioned by the Goddess. Hmmm...

While at a bar in Stoneheim he was slipped a message from his waitress. She claimed that she received it from a cloaked dwarf and her story held up under interrogation. The message claimed to be from a priest serving 'She Who Waits' and it directed him to the temple where he later found the tablet you helped him translate today.

I am kind of interested in meeting She Who Waits now. Sounds like she did not entirely get over her grudge.

Now that he has been revealed to be a cultist his entire team (or at least what little remains of it after your massacre) will be arrested and imprisoned pending investigation (and likely military trial).

Wait, military trial? Isn't the Academy a civilian institution not subject to the military laws?

Out of grim curiosity, what are the penalties of being involved with the cult? What can Hallr and/or his apprentices may expect to happen to them?

 

[Fangshi]

Pathfinder-sort of special. The clone deserves a higher level of attention. The mere presence of aliens clones among us that are nearly indistinguishable from humans should be rather disturbing.

We aren't medical experts either, so I'll probably pass on the offer to do it ourselves.

The Pathfinders are not medical experts, they are good at infiltration and blowing things up not at dissecting corpses so there is little they could do except make sure the body is not stolen. The Academy medical staff are the most qualified people to handle this that you have available.

Funny? I love funny.

Hallr is a suspect on the grounds of conspiracy to commit regicide, kidnapping, treason - and probably half a dozen other things I am forgetting - and there are 11 corpses (12, actually, including Janine's), several living witnesses and false papers filed by his assistants to prove our claims. Damn right I want to take him to interrogation, and we have both the grounds and the authority to do so.

Right, that is what I mean, you do not need to hide him so unless you find the idea of throwing him in a sack amusing you do not really have to do it.

A sketch would be fine. We might be looking into her disappearance since we are heading to Stoneheim soon.

Very well he will have it for you before you leave the city.

I might have in mind to have a little talk with a Goddess through one of her pet cultists. And I think we have a few things to talk about, so chances are it might go a bit better than his previous attempt.

We would need a controlled environment for that, though. A room rigged with explosives, walls staffed with crossbowmen, and a control room isolated from the influence of the Goddess with lead.

The cultist will be lead into the room. An egg would be delivered in the lead crate. The crate would open remotely, and hopefully, the cultist will be available for the talking afterwards. If anything goes wrong, the egg is to be isolated by shutting the crate. If that proves to be difficult, the egg is to be destroyed. If that fails, the room is to be blown up. We've seen what Miosguinn could do, we are not about to risk anything.

The communication will take place through talking. We won't come out of the control room so that we would not be affected by the egg.

As for who would volunteer to talk to the deity... well, we have her big fan Hallr right here with us. After we are done questioning him, that is.

Does he think it can be arranged in a few days?

It would take more than the two or so days you have to set something like that up. What with the lead lined control room, the explosives, trained crossbowmen and the like. Probably four or five days, maybe a week at the most.

Wait, military trial? Isn't the Academy a civilian institution not subject to the military laws?

Civilians can be tried under military law in the Kingdom when the charge is treason. Which is what all cultists are charged with in addition to a number of related crimes.

Out of grim curiosity, what are the penalties of being involved with the cult? What can Hallr and/or his apprentices may expect to happen to them?

Death of course. There is a very good chance they will all be executed when you are done with them.

 

[Nevill]

Right, that is what I mean, you do not need to hide him so unless you find the idea of throwing him in a sack amusing you do not really have to do it.

You bind his wrists and ankles together. You gag him and bind his fingers together. Then you slip your staff under the bindings and give on end to Biliku and Uttu. They can carry the dwarf the rest of the way.

I am still not sure about lugging an unconscious professor through the Academy streets on a stick like a cartoonish cannibal.

It would take more than the two or so days you have to set something like that up. What with the lead lined control room, the explosives, trained crossbowmen and the like. Probably four or five days, maybe a week at the most.

Well, the only time-consuming thing is the lead-lined room. Any dwarven grenadier could set the explosives in a matter of hours, we've done so during the Blackrock siege with the TWM's structure, and it took us an hour and a half - and we were being fancy.

They have plenly of trained crossbowmen in the military and there are 36 veterans in the Academy alone guarding the 11th floor.

Does it really take that long?

 

[Fangshi]

Does it really take that long?

Yeah it does. He will have to contact his father and a Pathfinder safehouse will have to be selected that is suitable for your needs. Then they will have to procure the lead and line the control room with it. They will have to set up the interrogation room and rig it to explode in such a way that it will not kill you as well if something goes wrong. That will likely require installing addition protection for the control room and some means by which you can safely communicate with the cultist in the interrogation chamber without compromising your security or your minds.

The crossbowmen will also have to be transferred in which might take a day or two as they will have to use Pathfinder officers to keep the location secure. (As an aside, crossbowmen are also not terribly common in the dwarven military, most of the 'ranged' combatants in the armed forces make use of cocktails in proud dwarven tradition. There are probably four grenadiers for every crossbowman in the army.) That will require transferring them off their normal shifts without drawing suspicion which will take time. So five to seven days seems reasonable to organize everything, they might be able to pull it off in less time but two days is a very narrow window.

 

[Nevill]

What if we make use of the existing assets? Use Jan's study as a control room, for example?

The means to communicate are very simple, really. A child could do it by creating a telephone with two match boxes and a string in five minutes. Academy dwarves may have something more advanced up in a day or two.

What about using less restrictive security systems than rigging the whole room? Making sure that both the egg and the cultist are destroyed is enough, and you do not need a nuclear bomb for that.

 

[Fangshi]

What if we make use of the existing assets? Use Jan's study as a control room, for example?

The means to communicate are very simple, really. A child could do it by creating a telephone with two match boxes and a string. Academy dwarves may have something more advanced up in a day or two.

What about using less restrictive security systems than rigging the whole room? Ideally, making sure that both the egg and the cultist are destroyed is enough, and you do not need a nuclear bomb for that.

Still need to procure the lead and line the room. Presumably you will not be in the study with the prisoner so you will need some way to monitor him when you can not see him. (You could probably post guards but you would need to find soldiers willing to die or get seriously injured if you need to blow the room up).

You will also need to convince Jan that it is a good idea. He is not going to want you to tear up his study and he is not going anywhere. He can always interrogate the prisoners at his leisure after you have left so he is not likely to be as worried about speed as you are.

The means to communicate are very simple, really. A child could do it by creating a telephone with two match boxes and a string. Academy dwarves may have something more advanced up in a day or two.

They can probably come up with something, the quicker you want it done the rougher it will be since it would normally take a week or so to fill out the paperwork necessary to start a new project like constructing a communication device and there is no 'communication department' currently in existence that you can simply contract internally like you will with the cloaks.

What about using less restrictive security systems than rigging the whole room? Ideally, making sure that both the egg and the cultist are destroyed is enough, and you do not need a nuclear bomb for that.

Sure, if you cut out enough security measures you can have something ready before you leave. For example they can tie the prisoner to his chair and bolt it to the floor then rig the chair and the table to explode if the prisoner gets loose. That should be enough to destroy the prisoner and possibly the artefact. Your decision if you want to risk it or not though.

Depending on what you want to achieve here there are also other ways to contact the Goddess. You could call up Morpheus and ask him to set up a meeting for example and there may be other ways to pursue a meeting as well.

 

[Nevill]

Depending on what you want to achieve here there are also other ways to contact the Goddess. You could call up Morpheus and ask him to set up a meeting for example and there may be other ways to pursue a meeting as well.

I want to take measures that would ensure her destruction if we die, using Mazzarin's favor as a nuclear deterrent, and I want to let her know about it.

I am also willing to use it if she proves annoying enough - like continuing to pursue her goal of overthrowing Albrecht or trying to murder our friends again. I can perfectly see Derryth going on a revenge crusade against the Goddess if she kills one or both of the kids. Why wait for it, though? What use is power if we can't protect our people and investments with it?

I do not want to strike an alliance with her, and I will still continue to destroy her cultists whenever they cross my path, but I want to make sure she understands we are not punching bags, and there will be severe repercussions for messing with us. I want to make a conflict with us not worth it to her, since she has so much more to lose than we do. I want her out of our way.

Still, it is as not-Rand said, for a moment we have somewhat of a common goal - the destruction of the Watcher's armies and the ghol raiders, and lifting the siege from Stoneheim. If she is willing to provide information on how to activate the spearhead so that we could get rid of the Watcher, or who she suspects was the informant leaking away the location of the Pathfinder prison (I have a feeling she did not want the necromancer free any more than we do), she is free to tell us.

Just have her understand that if we die, she and everything she stands for will die with us.

I can do it via Morpheus, I suppose, but he might request a payment for putting us through, and I am out of ideas on what to offer him. Unless he'll do it for free so both of his darlings would not kill each other.

I can even put a Delayed Reaction spell in Hallr's head, and have the plan with the egg proceed without us, as all I really want is to pass her a message.

But a conversation where we could ask questions and list our terms would be preferrable.

 

[Absinthe]

Nevill, I am against this idea. A fucking conversation with the spider goddess is not worth this degree of effort. I fail to see how we would profit so much from this project especially while we're pressed for time. We're not even in a position where we have good bargaining chips against her. She's probably just going to relish the opportunity to give us shit and maybe confuse the shit out of us.

Fangshi, I motion we give Jan the basic warnings about investigating and angering the princes of the dreaming (including ye risks of bargaining and the risk of Morpheus inviting you).

 

[Nevill]

'k.

And I think a pronise of destruction is a big enough bargaining chip, and that telling a deity to pipe down and mess with someone else is worth our efforts, especially when they have as much resourses at their disposal as the Goddess does.

She can give us all the shit she wants, I intend not only to talk to her, but also to leave a will behind requesting Mazzarin to wipe out her, her kin, her plane (if possible) and all the cultists he can be bothered to find. This can be done, and so I want it done.

After all, if we die, what use is an unclaimed favor to us?

Then we'll see who is confused.

The profit is obvious. She will have to restrain herself, or face the consequences. It is a demonstration of power, and we have that power.

Like most of her fellows she breaks the worlds down into three parts. Those that are weaker than her, those that are her equals and those that are her superiors. You would do well to demonstrate that you belong to the second or third group.

 

[Absinthe]

We don't have a magical contract on Mazzarin. He's not our bitch to boss around. He's an honorable man but we can't demand he does shit if certain conditions are triggered without even speaking to him. You're also talking about not even using the favor but still leaving an obligation for Mazzarin to fulfill as long as we don't otherwise spend the favor. There's a decent chance this sort of thing will piss Mazzarin and his huge ego off, and we're already on thin ice.

And for all we know the Spider Goddess is probably already on Mazzarin's shitlist for being a huge dark goddess, making this a rather empty threat.

Plus I still don't see what we're gonna win out of an argument with the spider goddess.

 

[Nevill]

We have a favor of our choosing to request, and he is obliged - by his own word - to grant it. We are not bossing him around, we call upon his promise.

I don't see a difference between requesting it personally, or through a will. If we die, we can't claim the favor, so I see a will as an acceptable alternative.

Plus I still don't see what we're gonna win out of an argument with the spider goddess.

Well, it would be nice not to die in the next ambush (since half of the Great Houses are infested with cultists and we are heading straight in the middle of a warzone), or not to have to worry about our friends, or our fort, or what-have you.

If you don't see why having less threats to your life might be good, well, I am not going to explain that one.

And for all we know the Spider Goddess is probably already on Mazzarin's shitlist for being a huge dark goddess, making this a rather empty threat.

He does not have time nor inclination to do anything about it. He can - probably - kill her easily by virtue of being several times stronger than she is, he just does not see her as important enough.

We can provide him with such an inclination.

 

[Absinthe]

Nevill, if we go with your plans I rather expect the goddess to more-or-less agree to your demands and sorta cave to your arguments and you would go "I told you so."

And then as we get comfy, we get Theseused because she is the motherfucking Theseus goddess, and then we're all screwed.

 

[Nevill]

I do not intend to get comfy. I still intend to kill her followers whenever I see them, and nothing will change for us in that regard.

Except that now she would not be able to strike back. Because that would mean her complete destruction.

So that would force her to keep out, at least until she figures out a way to deal with us, or we spend our favor.

Which is an acceptable outcome to me.

 

[Absinthe]

So you want to go through all this effort to obtain a guarantee you really can't trust from a goddess who you have every intention of continuing to undermine (and likewise has every intention of undermining us)?

And you don't see why this might be a bad use of our time?

 

[Nevill]

No, I go through all this effort to give the Goddess a guarantee that she can absolutely trust and hope to have an easier time defending Stoneheim afterwards.

I need no guarantees from her.

No, I don't see why this might be a bad use of our time, especially if it does not require us to see to all of the preparations personally.

Sooo, Fangshi... Can we ask Jan to conjure some water and bring Hallr to consciousness? Have Biliku keep watch on him to disable him again if he starts casting or has some stupid ideas about killing himself.

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, I motion we give Jan the basic warnings about investigating and angering the princes of the dreaming (including ye risks of bargaining and the risk of Morpheus inviting you).

Sure, that is a simple precaution and will not require a vote. You will let him know the risks involved.

Sooo, Fangshi... Can we ask Jan to conjure some water and bring Hallr to consciousness? Have Biliku keep watch on him to disable him again if he starts casting or has some stupid ideas about killing himself.

I don't see why not. If you just want to talk to him it will not require a vote as it is not likely to change anything. If you are planning to use him to contact the Goddess now then I will need to put it to a vote since that might change things for better or worse.

 

[Absinthe]

Nevill, that's a guarantee we are not certain about and that the goddess will find ways around. Also not the most effective thing.

I'm all for talking to the goddess, but I want to do it when we're in a position to force her to address us as an equal (or even a superior) on our own merits.

 

[Baltika9]

It will be a long time until we can stand up to a goddess as equals. meanwhile, she wants us dead now and I'm not sure if we can survive our next two encounters with her agents. I like Nevil's plan because it is feasible and will do something in the near future that will guarantee us a at least a bit more time.

 

[Nevill]

I am indifferent about whether our power is borrowed or our own provided it does its job.

It is never about who is the strongest mage/deity/whatever, but about who can use what he has most efficiently. Alric did not hold a candle to the Watcher 'on his own merits', yet after a bit of skulldudgery it was Alric who got to walk away from their fight.

If we have instruments at our disposal that would make Gods hesitate to cross us, I suggest we use them rather than wait until we ascend to Godhood to prove some point.

 

[Absinthe]

We don't need to stand up to her in raw power. Just in terms of the threat we can pose.

We didn't stand up to the Watcher's army in raw power either (holy shit we were outgunned), but we've proven that we're capable of ridiculous feats.

Basically, we should get a bit more badass first. After the mess in Stoneheim we'd have some more cred to prove we've got a real ability to fuck with our enemies, not just ridiculous luck (which always runs out).

 

[Baltika9]

We don't need to stand up to her in raw power. Just in terms of the threat we can pose.

Which we do.