Myth: A New Age CYOA

[Kz3r0]

1. You gave Finn your carriage and horses and he wishes to give you a gift in return but he does not know what you would like. After some time discussing the issue you have narrowed down your optios somewhat. What did you ask for in return?

D) Finn has also offered to introduce you to the Merrows of the southwestern Province at a time of your choosing. You have heard that they are quite wealthy and they could make for capable allies though they would be of little help in the middle of a desert half a continent away.


2. In an interesting departure from the norm you have found yourself holding absolute power over another. The Seekers are bound to serve or die so long as you hold that gem but perhaps you should not keep such power. You choose to:

B) You hold on to the gem. You do not trust the Old Man not to betray you and that gem is a useful way of forcing his loyalty.

3. Mazzarin is leaving once more. He does not seem terribly concerned about the Watcher's army in the south but you could call in your final favour to make him help you.

B) You hold on to your favour and let him leave. You will save the Kingdom without his help and that favour is priceless.


4. Plan of Action: Given the situation in the south you need to find a way to join up with one of the fragments of the Royal Army. You then need to drive off the enemy and push on to the city. The question is how? [There are two ways to handle this. You can either pick a broad direction and let the characters formulate a plan, to the best of their ability, as they go or you can pick the freeform option and give me a detailed plan on what you want to do. I have purposely kept the premade options fairly general but the characters will do the best they (read: I) can. I suspect most people will want to really get into the details though so those will be provided in the mechanics post.]

A)
ii. You will focus on fighting the ghôls and driving them off. They are the weaker force and if you can link up with Seinsheim's people then you can move to help the rest of the army after that. Hopefully Reinhard, if he still lives, will be able to handle the cultists until you arrive.

 

[Nevill]

Alright.

3. Mazzarin is leaving once more. He does not seem terribly concerned about the Watcher's army in the south but you could call in your final favour to make him help you.
C - You will try to get him to help in some way without using a favor by tugging at the strings that would resonate with him.

So, the broad strokes of the plan.

This is not the right time to get in a pose. Stop poking the beehive with a ten-foot pole and try to be polite once in a lifetime. Actual lives depend on it, and not only ours.

Tell Mazzarin that we need to talk.

Tell him that maybe we got off the wrong foot. That maybe it does not have to be like that all the time. You may have your differences but you hope that at least there is no difference in opinion about the Watcher between you two.

Play to his sense of all-powerfulness amidst the sea of less competent people.

Tell him about the necromancer and her child, and that you suspect that the Watcher is trying to find a way back into the world through the kid, judging by the effort he is willing to expend to free the mother and keep her safe. Tell him that we - or the dwarves, for that matter - may lack the means to contain her which already led to her escape once when we were out fighting his northern army. Even the Spider Goddess was worried about that, and you rarely see Dark Gods worried. Is that no reason for concern?

The Watcher may get loose and only he can stop it! Save the world, oh, Great One, you are the only one qualified to do so!

Play to his duty of the Protector of the Light.

Tell him that the Watcher is not the only problem here. The Goddess and the ghols are out there, and they are no friends to the Light. In fact, of all the forces that are now fighting for supremacy, only Albrecht is fit to be called that, being a veteran of both wars against the Dark and putting the dwarves under his command to fight first Balor, then Soulblighter, and now the Watcher as well - along with the other threats. Mazzarin may not like us, but maybe he can agree that the King of the Dwarves is worthy of help?

And help is something he desperately needs. Even if the Watcher is defeated, it might cripple Albrecht's forces to the point where the spider demon Eberhardt would take over. And if by some miracle he prevails, then the Kingdom would be weakened enough to provoke the ghols into invading again. Would Mazzarin want to subject dwarves to that fate?

Albrecht and his people have done their fair share for the victories of the Light so far. Maybe it is time to return the favor?

Play to his sense of rivalry, both with Alric and the Watcher.

The Kingdom needs every help we can get. In fact, we were considering informing the Empire of the recent happenings. Perhaps if Alric learns about the Watcher, he will come here personally to settle the score and kill the archmage for the second time? That would be a big help. We didn't want to involve him, but we are running out of options here.

Of course, that would mean that Alric and the Watcher would be at 2:0 while Mazzarin and the Watcher would still be at 0:1 in the latter's favor and thus it would mean that Alric is a better archmage than Mazzarin, but we would not be so crass as to mention that. We would only express our concerns over the situation. Let the mage do the thinking himself.

Play to his pride and sense of self-importance as a Hero.

He calls himself was the Great Hero of the Light in his time, right? But what exactly makes one a Hero of the Light? Fighting the Dark? Well, the Fallen often fought among themselves, but no one in their sane mind would call them heroes for it. What separates a Hero of the Light from someone who is just out to flaunt their powers is a motive, a goal, a desire to protect the Light and its creations, be it men, dwarves or fir'Bolg.

The people of the Kingdom do not want the Watcher slain 'eventually'. What they want is to live normal lives. What good is the victory for them if they are not there among the living to see it? They need help, they need protection. Every moment the Watcher's, the Goddess' and ghol armies are out there, they are dying in droves. A hero is different from just another archmage in that a hero fights for the good of the people while an archmage fights for himself.

So a hero would strive to end the Watcher quickly and decisively to stop the suffering. Right?

We should be a bit subtler about it, but the underlying message would be: what would make him different from someone like the Deceiver, who, too, has a history of rivalry with the Watcher? We would not mention it, appealing to his 'better nature' instead, but the logical chain should be there. Is he less of a 'hero' than us?

If at any point we learn that he is the governor of the western Empire, play the responsibility card as well. No governor wants a hostile force at his borders regardless of whether he thinks he can handle it or not. A good (read: competent) governor would not let the situation deteriorate to that point if they can avoid it. And if Stoneheim falls to the Watcher, I doubt anyone, even Finn and the Royal Army combined, would be able to stop the vast army of corpses.

Also while you are at it, try to send the kids away 'so that the adults could talk' - because you are going to discuss some private matters or something. You will do that with an idea in mind, of course. Give Biliku and Uttu a 'mission' to check out that appretice of Mazzarin and see what kind of a person he is. Tell them to just talk to him, swap a pair of stories, gossip a bit, that kind of thing.

Out of all the people here, he seems like the most reasonable fellow. Nice, too. I suppose that if he finds out how dire is the situation for the Kingdom and its people, he may just nag his master into helping our cause. Mazzarin may not listen and respond well to us, but he still has to act as a role model for his apprentice. I mean, when a 12-year old girl is fighting against the vast armies of the Watcher and his 1000-year old nemesis is sitting on his fat ass and waving the concern away... that does not seem quite right, does it? It would not reflect well on Mazzarin if he continues not to interfere while the kids are fighting his war for him.

The boy may not say anything, but the look in his eyes may speak volumes to someone as conscious about his self-esteem as Mazzarin.

Not that you should say any of this out loud or tell the girls what you really hope they would achieve. It would work better if they don't know themselves and just talk away about their battles and boast their victories over the Dark without a hidden agenda like kids normally do. Their innocent account of events that would send a saner man screaming and running for his life would only be more effective that way.

Between us and his own apprentice, Mazzarin may just cave in and do something about it.

Basically, do the woman thing. Stop getting all confrontational and go for the soft approach. Lightly tug at all the strings to make a man do your bidding and see what works.

And of course, feign innocence and complete ignorance of what you are doing.

He seems to have convinced himself that he is a hero and a force for Greater Good. Well, that is a trap of his own making. We will make a plight for both logic and emotion, a plight that, if refused, would make him question the concept of himself he built for ages. Let him be his own opponent in this, not us.

I mean... otherwise people would talk, won't they?

Spoiler

Not that we should say that aloud, either.

Naturally, be subtle about it and let Thais handle the more difficult parts. She is the authority on these things.


I will come up with something suitable for the Seekers as well.

 

[Baltika9]

I love this. You have my support.

 

[Nevill]

Also, could we please choose something more immediately helpful to us and the Kingdom as our reward?

My preference would be either a pair of Faoladh (shapeshifters and protectors of children) to help us watch our backs (and to have bodyguards for Biliku and Uttu), or a pack of doges to have highly intelligent beings protect us at nights and sense the foul intentions of others.

The latter would be priceless to help us weed the Watcher's agents. WTF, people?

No real changes here though your expendition did lose a number of dwarves that Albrecht believed were completely loyal. The dwarf King could probably use a few dozen mentalists at court to be honest.

What are you going to do about that? Are you going to be everywhere at once?

Fangshi, can these Cú Sídh sense the Watcher's agents? They have to pick up their 'scent' somehow for the hunts, right?

Cropper said they hunt those of 'evil intent'. Well, how do they sense intent? Can they help us with the enemy spies?

If they can't, then who?

 

[Grimgravy]

B>C
B
C (Nevill plan sounds fine)
X (Reserved until some plans roll in)

 

[Azira]

Fi>Fii>Fvii>Fvi
B
C, Nevill's plan
Aiii (hoping Nevill's plan works)>Ai

 

[Nevill]

As for the Seekers.

Now, I know I will be fighting an uphill battle here now that there are 4 votes already cast, but hear me out.

I will not turn the stone over to them. They have proven time and time again that they are not quite right in the head and not very - or at all - reasonable.

But I also do not want to turn into a slave owner. That was a dickish thing we did here:

“Derryth!” the Old Man calls to you, furious, “How dare you! How dare you turn us over to those- those things! We should have slaughtered their advance party and-”

You do not say a thing to the man, you merely pull the gem from your pocket. He goes pale and silent in the same moment.

I don't want to abuse this power for anything other than our mission - the preservation of the Kingdom, - or self-defense.

2. In an interesting departure from the norm you have found yourself holding absolute power over another. The Seekers are bound to serve or die so long as you hold that gem but perhaps you should not keep such power. You choose to:
C - you will keep the stone for now, but you will have a talk with the Old Man and explain your position to him. You will then try to behave as if the incident never happened, safe for specific cases.

I don't know if anything comes out of it, but I want him to answer these questions. Yes or no only.

- Did he try to attack the fairy host that was in Mazzarin's employ? Yes or no.
- Would his actions lead to casualties on the mercenary side and compromised our overall strength and the strength of the army we were sent to reinforce? Yes or no.
- Would his actions lead to concealing of the Watcher's agents we would not learn about if not for Cropper telling us about them? Yes or no.
- Does he agree that out of the five known opposing forces only two do not serve some sort of dark power? One of them Albrecht, the other Mazzarin. If he really thinks Albrecht or Mazzarin serve dark powers, well... give him away to the people in question and that would be the end of our conversation. If not... would then his actions prevent the alliance of the only two forces that are not associated with the dark powers?

With all these actions taken together, would he - or the martial court, if it ever comes to this - agree that his actions, no matter what their motives could have been, were benefitting only our enemies and sabotaging the efforts to save the Kingdom?

Essentially, what he wanted us to do is to watch him wiped out, estrange the only potential ally of the Kingdom, cripple our force, protect the Watcher's agents in our ranks, and to top it all off make Mazzarin extremely displeased with our actions, likely dooming us as well. Quite a list of achievement for one day in our employ.

Was that his intent? Probably not. Is that how it turned out anyway? Absolutely.

What exactly has he to say to all of that?

Does he even realize that we have saved his life and the lives of his followers here? Not because we are terribly fond of them, of course, - we did that because we still need them, - but we did nevertheless. Does he understand that he picked a fight with the King of the fairies that he could not win? Does he know that death might be merciful compared to what Finnbheara can do to him, and even if he survived the encounter by some miracle, there is always Mazzarin?

Speaking of which...

“Derryth!” the Old Man calls to you, furious, “How dare you! How dare you turn us over to those- those things! We should have slaughtered their advance party and-”

Did he hear nothing of what we said?

“If you are correct and we are lying then all you lose is a chance to fight and perhaps a chance to die, but if we are right then you will act against the wishes of the single most,” she pauses for a moment, “The single most powerful man in the world."

Now I wonder how interfering with his plans would work out for the Seekers. The Old Man can still find it out, I suppose. Go ahead, spite the Great Mage, we won't stop him.

A little humiliation he suffered at the hands of Mage's servants is a child's play compared to what he could have gotten himself and his subordinates into.

Basically, what we did was our job. We were meant to bring reinforcements to the Royal Army, we were meant to do anything in our powers to have Albrecht prevail over the rivals, and we are fairly sure that the Seekers are a part of these reinforcements and that they were hired for fighting necromancers, spider demons and the like, not the fairies - not unless those are a threat to the Kingdom, at least.

Albrecht was the one who hired them. Albrecht was also the one who appointed us the leaders of this expedition, and we will do whatever it takes to get them safely over to the army and to prevent their attempts to get us into a fight against the forces that are not a part of the mission.

We will keep the stone to have a safeguard in case they want to spit Mazzarin in the face, or summon a Dark God out of boredom to have someone to fight, or do another of wonderously pointless and actively harmful things like the ones they did today. Sorry, not on our watch. Do that in your free time when you are not in our employ and when the fate of the Kingdom does not depend on your actions.

But we will also not abuse our power to order them to do something they have not already signed to do, and we will try our best not to get them killed in the process. In return, they will be expected to do their damned jobs, to behave as professionals, and to adhere to the contract they have taken!

(An atttempt to break the contract would probably count as a desertion, seeing that we have no one to replace them with)

After we are done here, we will go our separate ways and hopefully never meet again.

Give him a few days to cool his head off and consider our words.

tl:dr - explain that you will be keeping the stone under 'fair use' - you will not force them to do anything not in the contract they have signed, but you would expect them to do the one thing that they were hired to do, and to do it well. You will also not hesitate to use it to protect the kingdom (and therefore ourselves, since we are kind of important to its survival), should the actions of the Seekers put it in the harm's way.

Aside from that, we will behave as if this incident has never happened. We will respect the Seekers' rights to privacy and their wishes in everything that is not connected to our respective jobs.

So, the votes:
1C 2C 3C

The 4th is in progress, though if 3C succeeds, there should be little to think about.

 

[Absinthe]

I really don't like 1D. The alliance sounds cool but Thais is already a real charmer and she's only going to be better at it by the time we reach there, so I reckon we'd be able to make friends with them once we do reach them without expending this favor.

1F I'd rather learn some of their magic and song.
2C

Fangshi, I'd like to inquire Mazzarin for his advice on what would be best to do with the Watcher stones. Also what would be the best methods for non-mages to discern agents of the watcher. It seems Albrecht could do with some help here.

Also, I'm wondering what the king could have us learn if we ask to learn the magics of his people. As I understand it, it is yet another system separate from the general magic theory and magical music Derryth and Thais know.

 

[Nevill]

I really don't like 1C. The alliance sounds cool but Thais is already a real charmer and she's only going to be better at it by the time we reach there, so I reckon we'd be able to make friends with them when we do reach them without expending this favor.

With whom?

My understanding that Finvarra is only letting Cropper go with us. Look at the list of forces, the dogs and the other Pucas aren't there. There is no one to become friends with.

All I want is a spy detection measure that would not require us to get inside someone else's head, especially if that someone is a Lord.

Seeing how deeply the army is compromised, we will need to cover a lot of ground. The dogs would be perfect for that - if they work that way, that is.

Albrecht could use some dogs at his court, too, seeing how we can't give him any more mentalists.

Actually, I think we ought to send him a warning about the Royal Guards. Maybe Brothers Dietfried know a way to find traitors or something. Good thing we have left Ceannard with him. Our mercs turn out to be the only trustworthy forces in the whole Kingdom.

 

[Absinthe]

Sorry, I got mixed up between 1C and 1D. At any rate, this is a rare opportunity to learn fey magic I wouldn't want to skip out on. And given the trend towards celtic song, they would be the experts on that as well, although I'm not sure how much of a priority I'd put on that. Presumably Thais could learn a few songs rather quickly between her monster charisma and int and then teach the rest of us in time.

Then again since we're in an alliance our forces could be in regular contact with each other so we could learn a fair bit.

Also, Fangshi, can we get information on the watcher's cultists in Myrgard from the king? The compromised men should know other cultists.

 

[Nevill]

Yes, we should aks Finbearra to allow us to interrogate them, or if the feys already did, ask them about the Watcher's plans or whatever they managed to discover.

Why did the scout only name half of them? Are there several factions in play? Different cultist cells? Something else?

Did they lead the fairies to us intentionally? If so, who came up with the plan?

Do they know what happened to Åke, one of the Wenzel's captains? What was his role in the events?

What about those three dwarves that failed the Old Man's test, can we find out what that was about?

 

[Absinthe]

By the way, Nevill, I think for #4 our best bet would be to convince the ghols and cultists to kill each other for us. And we do have some rather capable mentalists and an illusionist with us. Then we could just wipe them out from all sides. Hm. Maybe we could ask Nanshe for some advice on how to goad the ghols.

Also, Fangshi, if we're having another dream session this night, I'd like Derryth to learn some war cries with the Conqueror's Path.

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, can these Cú Sídh sense the Watcher's agents? They have to pick up their 'scent' somehow for the hunts, right?

Yeah, they can smell out the Watcher's influence on a person. They can detect any influence actually once they know what they are looking for.

Fangshi, I'd like to inquire Mazzarin for his advice on what would be best to do with the Watcher stones. Also what would be the best methods for non-mages to discern agents of the watcher. It seems Albrecht could do with some help here.

He tells Derryth she should wear them and that if she does he promises not to blast her 'for her own good'. Seems he is still in a bit of a mood.

Derryth tries being diplomatic and is able to get a more helpful answer eventually.

He informs you that all that can be done for the time being is to seal them away until someone can come up with a means to safely destroy them.

He believes that their power is somehow related to the Watcher's complete control over and possible corruption of the Dream of Unlife.

He is fairly certain that simply destroying the stones won't work. That would merely allow the Watcher to act through any dust and vapours the destruction of the stones would give off.

He believes that to neutralize the stones one would have to sever their connection to the Watcher or completely destroy whatever is left of the Watcher's mind/soul/etc.

No easy task to be sure and it is something he has been working on when he has a spare moment for such things.

He is also quick to note that he does not have much time to work on the problem since someone let Faceless out!

Derryth does her best not to further antagonize the grumpy archmage...

1F I'd rather learn some of their magic and song.

Also, I'm wondering what the king could have us learn if we ask to learn the magics of his people. As I understand it, it is yet another system separate from the general magic theory and magical music Derryth and Thais know.

Finn's people tend to prefer subtle magics over fire and lightning so the things they can teach you all tend toward the subtle end of the spectrum.

1. They know a great deal about healing. Now you already have Heal and Greater Heal which will restore the body but they know a great deal about handling illness as well as injury and that is an area D&T know next to nothing about. They could teach you how cure plague, prevent its spread, that sort of thing if you wish.

There are two primary schools of medical magic amongst Finn's people. The first is championed by Dian Cécht and focuses on surgery and prosthetic procedures to cure the patient. The second is championed by his son Miach and places emphasis on herbal remedies, incantations and direct 'touch' healing.

Miach's method is closer to what you already known and you can produce many of the same effects with your own magic. This would simply be a different way to go about it.

Dian Cécht's method may be of interest should you wish to gain a better understanding of crafting magical limbs and the like rather than simply restoring the original body. This knowledge might be useful if you set out to create magical constructs or the like.

2. Finn's people also delight in the use of curses. Finn could lend you the services of Cairpre to teach you how to craft the verses necessary to curse a target, ruining their fortunes, depriving them of their food, livelihood, sleep or happiness. Curses are a slow acting means of harming someone and are often quite subtle, not all that useful in a fight but fun to torment others with.

3. If you do want something a bit more flashy then Finn could lend you one of the sorcerers of his people. Figol could teach you to rain fire from the sky (eventually) or to steal away the strength and stamina of a target.

4. Alternatively Dianann could teach you how to cast up the earth itself and how to work illusions in the minds of your enemies.

5. If you want something with endless applicability you could also learn the charms and accompanying spells/rituals of Finn's people. This magic is smaller in nature, tends to deal with love, health, and more minor concerns but it would be quicker to learn than the other options and as long as you remember the recipes you should be fine. Finn will gift you three large tomes that hold most of the charms his people use. These recipes could also likely be re-purposed with a little effort and ingenuity.

6. Finally, shapeshifting. Finn's people love to do this and they could probably teach you how though the shapes you could take would likely be limited at first since they do not seem to know the Dream from which these rituals derive.

So that is a brief overview of the sorts of things they could teach you.

They have a number of ways they go about magic and I will add them to the update as options Fi, Fii, Fiii, and so on. Essentially you will receive a different teacher for each of the specialties and Finn is only willing to lend you one so you will need to pick a focus.

Yes, we should aks Finbearra to allow us to interrogate them, or if the feys already did, ask them about the Watcher's plans or whatever they managed to discover.

They don't know much of anything to be honest. They are puppets/slaves not partners in all of this. They know the Watcher wants everyone in the Kingdom dead or in his service. They were told made into his servants and told to wait for a signal from the Watcher himself.

That is all they know.

Why did the scout only name half of them? Are there several factions in play? Different cultist cells? Something else?

Each of the Watcher's slaves only seems to be aware of the other slaves they have personally come in contact with. They do not seem to have a way of identifying each other easily.

Did they lead the fairies to us intentionally? If so, who came up with the plan?

Nope, they were fleeing for their lives and happened to run into your scouts.

Do they know what happened to Åke, one of the Wenzel's captains? What was his role in the events?

They do not know that name.

What about those three dwarves that failed the Old Man's test, can we find out what that was about?

Sure, do you want to stop and interrogate them? It may take some time and events will continue to progress as you work?

Also, Fangshi, if we're having another dream session this night, I'd like Derryth to learn some war cries with the Conqueror's Path.

Sure, they can give it a shot.

 

[Nevill]

By the way, Nevill, I think for #4 our best bet would be to convince the ghols and cultists to kill each other for us.

Maybe? I don't know, there are only 2 mentalists and about 600 bodies out there. We have to get very creative to make them come to blows somehow.

 

[Absinthe]

Fvii for me I guess. Shapeshifting has been one of my goals for a while now. That's going to be fun and downright terrifying as a lost art. Plus I suspect Morpheus's brother Icelos should be able to help us make the most of it. These options though. Once we clean out this mess we should consider going on a trip with Finnbheara.

Fangshi, can we ask Nanshe for any advice on how to goad the ghols?

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, can we ask Nanshe for any advice on how to goad the ghols?

You could get specifics from Nanshe if you were willing to wait for her to enter the Dreaming. You do not have any way of letting her know you need to talk to her though.

 

[Absinthe]

Am I right in assuming Finnbheara's men are rather capable in misdirection and illusion? They would be willing to help us trick the ghols and cultists into killing each other, right?

Also, I assume during the dream group practice session we could ask Nanshe.

 

[Fangshi]

Am I right in assuming Finbearra's men are rather capable in misdirection and illusion? They would be willing to help us trick the ghols and cultists into killing each other, right?

Yes, they are quite good with illusions and the like and they certainly would enjoy it.

They could pull off minor spells now or they could work more powerful enchantments after the sun goes down.

Also, I assume during the dream group practice session we could ask Nanshe.

Right, sure. She tells you there is no real secret to it. Insult their parentage, mock their appearance (insinuated that they have tiny, crooked arms for example), just treat them how you would anyone else if you were trying to purposely antagonize them. She say (with a wink) that Derry should be a natural at it.

So Derryth thinks presenting them with a body of dwarven soldiers should work, maybe an illusion of a fleeing civilian caravan? Though the caravan might raise questions in the minds of the smarter ghols since it would be quite out of place.

Their key motivations are probably:

1. Kill dwarves

2. Steal their stuff

3. Enslave any survivors for snacks and cheap labour

 

[Nevill]

Sure, do you want to stop and interrogate them? It may take some time and events will continue to progress as you work?

Hm. Can we ask the Old Man what exactly have the ritual found? Don't want to flaunt that gem before him, so if he wants to keep silent, let him, though we might want to point out that he is covering for a cultist in that case.

maybe an illusion of a fleeing civilian caravan?

A squad of (wealthy) slavers that has several of the ghols captured and roasted. It makes sense, there are dwarves, horrible greedy creatures, there are lots of them, and there are bound to be stray ghols. Someone might want to make a quick buck out of this.

Slavers tend to be poor fighters so the bloodlust and natural indignation at a sight of captured fellows should take care of silencing what little some of them have left of rationality.

They were made into his servants and told to wait for a signal from the Watcher himself.

Who and how made them into slaves? What kind of signal are they waiting for? What are they required to do upon receiving the signal?

 

[Absinthe]

For bonus points we should mark those slavers as cultists too. Biliku and Uttu should be intimately familiar on how to make convincing cultists.

I assume we can let Berty organize the tactics since he's an expert on disguise and familiar with all our magics here. Does Berty think he'd be up to that task, Fangshi?

 

[Fangshi]

Hm. Can we ask the Old Man what exactly have the ritual found? Don't want to flaunt that gem before him, so if he wants to keep silent, let him, though we might want to point out that he is covering for a cultist in that case.

He stares daggers at you as he answers, "Spider Cultists."

He goes back to ignoring you.

Who and how made them into slaves?

All memories of the event have been scrubbed clean with the exception of two words:

The Beast.

What kind of signal are they waiting for?

They only know that they will recognize it when they see it.

What are they required to do upon receiving the signal?

They are required to do whatever they are told to do.

Does Berty think he'd be up to that task, Fangshi?

He is not sure but he would love to try.

 

[Nevill]

What does Finnbheara know about the Beast? For that matter, what does he know about TWM?

Do they know all of the Watcher's generals?

Did Morpheus learn anything about them from TWM before he was taken away?

Does our alliance with Finnbheara cover only war efforts against the Watcher, or does it extend to anything that threatens House of Albrecht, including the spider cultists and ghols?

What exactly were the terms of their agreement with Mazzarin, ifwe may be allowed to ask? Are the fairies homefree after dealing with the Beast and TWM, or is there more to it?

 

[Absinthe]

I think when we do get through this, by way of apology we should teach the Seekers the Strengthen Will ritual. I think they would rather appreciate that given the circumstances.

 

[Nevill]

They have shit for brains. I do not want to further antagonize them, but I will not provide them with any additional means to kill us, and Strengthen Will certainly qualifies. In fact, our deal to teach them enchantments should probably be off.

We should be extremely careful to not allow them take hostages and try to get 'free' that way.

We also need to think of a disincentive for them to take their 'vengeance' on us after we are done.

I am not keen on arguing that subject.

However, even though the Old Man seems like a lost cause, I wonder if we can't find some common ground with the next in line, Qar or Arsinoe. Depends on how badly they want to be the head of the order, I guess.

Fangshi, how much time have passed since our talk with Finn and our reunion with the army?

How much time have passed since our departure from the Palace? How many days it would take for the eagle to reach Albrecht?

 

[Karwelas]

Holy fuck. This update is damn pure gold. It was worth waiting for everything that we saw here. Mazzarin badass moment and probably our first WTF moment from Great Mage in last few ages. I take back everything that I say in last update about Berty - this man... probably man - have balls of fucking steel/titanium/whatever. Finn too.

Some shit and questions so get ready!

First - For love of God... how young are our dear bodyguards? And how old is this boy that Mazzarin take as pupil? (This is question for Fangshi mosty).

Second - Question to Finn - Do faeries know something about the curse like that Beri and our other friend fall into? Maybe something that could help Meyer (I hope I write it right?) wife? And about that shapeshifiting - what forms we could probably use?

1)C 2)C 3)C
4 - Thinking about plan now.