Myth: A New Age CYOA

[Fangshi]

What is the maximum altitude of our airships?

Out of javelin range yes. You do not know if the enemy has spells that can reach them though.

 

[Nevill]

I wonder what is happening in Stoneheim. The Watcher's army in the south have numbered several thousands ghasts, after all. Easy pickings, even with the Shade around, but raw numbers are not to be underestimated. Plus, there was a mention about destroyed outposts in Nanshe's interlude. What could have got them?

The worst thing about our relationship with Albrecht is that we can never be certain when he or Argus are telling the truth or half-truth, or even a complete lie. The lords impeding the army's arrival here might be a genuine concern, or it might be a ploy to get us out of dodge. You'll never know with these two.

And where the hell is Calaeno? Why hasn't she returned once she passed the message to Albrecht? We could have used her to get wind of what is happening in Stoneheim.

Fangshi, I want to ask our mercenaries if there was anything wrong with Stoneheim when they left, maybe any rumors or otherwise suspicious activities. It was only a week ago or less when they moved out.

Can we ask Argus what they know of the rest of the Watcher's forces? We only know what we have seen with our own eyes.

If all the crows left during our battle for the fort and headed straight to the Great Devoid, Albrecht's forces could have determined the number and the general location of the armies in the Watcher's employ - provided that each was escorted by the crows, - by observing the movement of the bird flocks.

 

[archaen]

If Albrecht doesn't care about his border than why should we? Should we take the balloon and get everyone out when we get to the city using a gate spell? Now there is only one main shade we should be able to use our wisdom ritual to overpower her with our circle in any contest. Albrecht can put whatever sacrificial lambs he wants on the walls at that point. If he wants our people to stay and help defend the keep then he pays Ceannard prices to keep our forces and rent the keep.

The early drinking and depressive atmosphere around our girls might be fatigue or might be some sort of general will sapping ritual that the enemy shade is using. If we stay we should ask the eagles if they notice anything different in how they feel when they get away from the general area.

I am also suspicious that the eagle we sent them hasn't returned. If they kept her locked up or killed her then there is some plot afoot that we may not want to step into even if we do go. I am actually liking that we have an ally in the Ghol princess if the Dwarves are going to start dicking us around.

 

[Nevill]

If Albrecht doesn't care about his border than why should we? Should we take the balloon and get everyone out when we get to the city using a gate spell?

There is a problem with that.

First, moving to the city, even on an airship, takes a day. I am almost certain that the fort will be attacked as soon as we leave.

A lot will depend on whether or not your enemies know you sent for help and on how quickly your reinforcements can arrive.

The enemy knows we've received reinforcements now. They are not about to give us a chance to bring in even more, and they will not have a better opportunity to strike. It is simple logic, really.

The battle might well be over by the time we reach Myrgard.

It would also be poor form to flee now that we've tactically 'misled' our Stoneheim reinforcements and they decided to stay anyway. That would destroy our credibility as their leader.

The early drinking and depressive atmosphere around our girls might be fatigue or might be some sort of general will sapping ritual that the enemy shade is using.

I don't think we are any more depressed than usual. The siege, the lack of commodities, the constant wait for the enemy to make their move, the stress of losing people, the uncertainity. I guess it all adds up.

I am also suspicious that the eagle we sent them hasn't returned.

Well. It's the first time we've made our affiliations with eagles known 'officially'. There might be a reason for her absense.

I guess we might ask Argus about that, since he promised us to tell what he knows the moment he hears anything about 'the riders, crows, or eagles'. Well, now would be the time.

Also, Fangshi, did they bring any of the supplies we asked for? Any mortars or anything of a sort? Where are the other four airships?

Can you please renew the list of our forces with these new additions?

 

[Nevill]

The enemy knows we've received reinforcements now. They are not about to give us a chance to bring in even more, and they will not have a better opportunity to strike. It is simple logic, really.

Alternatively, they might wait until they spring their trap, whatever it might be. Maybe we should direct our efforts towards scouting.

Though this gives me an idea. We might be able to provoke the enemies into an attack if we make it look like we are leaving, as per this post. With an opportunity ahead of them, and with a threat of an army coming after them, they might strike at us before they are ready.

But we should have a plan in place on how to make our presence count in that case.

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, I want to ask our mercenaries if there was anything wrong with Stoneheim when they left, maybe any rumors or otherwise suspicious activities. It was only a week ago or less when they moved out.

They write back:

Yes.

Some of the lesser lords have gone missing, it was assumed that a House was merely consolidating its position by removing competitors but none of the usual subjects seemed to know anything.

There was also some sort of disruption in the poorer levels the day before we left but no one much cares what the peasants get up to really as long as they only kill each other.

Can we ask Argus what they know of the rest of the Watcher's forces? We only know what we have seen with our own eyes.

They don't know how big the Watcher's forces are or where they are based out of. They are unaware of the general composition of the Watcher's armies as well. Many of the Lords also claim that the threat is nonexistent. They claim that Albrecht is conspiring with you to manufacture a threat that does not exist in order to consolidate his hold on the Kingdom.

Albrecht is aware that the Watcher has agents within Myrgard and perhaps Stoneheim but again he knows very little about their overall network or at least he has told Argus very little about it.

If Argus is telling the truth then you know far more than he does thanks to your interrogation of Nanshe.

On the topic of birds he has little to offer. He says that their outlying patrols did notice a few small groups of crows coming from the south west and headed to the north east but he does not know how many, where they were going or where they had come from in particular.

They have done a fairly good job of killing any crows that are spotted in the open near the city so it is possible that the crows have simply avoided Mygard and the dwarven patrols.

Also, Fangshi, did they bring any of the supplies? Any mortars or anything of a sort? Where are the other four airships?

Just what you saw when they landed. A dozen dwarves in House Albrecht uniforms and two very small, empty boxes.

Argus explains with a twinkle in his eye:

The King has not been given permission to send out the balloons but he found a work around. Ice from the mountains surrounding the Great Devoid is considered a bit of a luxury item and an important status symbol in the Kingdom. Whenever the King holds a banquet he is allowed to send two balloons without consent from the Lords to retrieve fresh ice for the party.

So he sent two balloons.

He just happened to load them with Pathfinders instead of storage containers for the ice as the law only stipulated that the balloons each carry an icebox, not how large it had to be.

So the King is in spirit acting against the wishes of the Assembly but they can not do anything about it except grumble. There was no room for supplies or mortars though.

Can you please renew the list of our forces with these new additions?

Sure:

Spoiler

The Lost:

Mages:
Derryth - mentalist
Thaïs - mentalist
Lyssa - illusionist

Warriors:
Biliku - sword and shield
Uttu - bow
Berty - unarmed/improvised

Blackrock Mercenaries:

Warriors:
Myora - sword and shield
Neel - bow (MIA)

General Forces:
13 Veteran Dwarven Grenadiers
5 Veteran Human Sell-swords (with crossbows and bolts)
4 Veteran Human Archers, 1 Veteran Human Archer
4 Veteran Maul Warriors

The Pathfinders:

Warriors:
Bari - thrown weapons (MIA)
Astrid - thrown weapons
Ori - sword and shield
Stori - hammer and shield (Dead)
Alvis - thrown weapons/staff, (Dead)

General Forces:
Twelve Pathfinders (each with cocktails, sword and shield)

Equipment/Pathfinder Weaponry: (20 to a case)
5 cases Improved Dwarven Cocktails, Four and a half cases Improved Dwarven Cocktails, Two cases Improved Dwarven Cocktails
3 cases 'dwarven fire' grenades, Two cases 'dwarven fire' grenades
2 cases fragmentation grenades, One and a half cases fragmentation grenades
2 cases concussion grenades
1 case flash grenades
1 case smoke/signaling grenades
1 case incendiary/white phosphorus grenades
2 mortars, 1 mortar
30 explosive shells, 24 explosive shells, 14 explosive shells
10 incendiary/white phosphorus shells
5 smoke shells
15 illumination shells

The Arrows:
Warriors:
Ceannard - bow/blade
Otto - bow/blade

General Forces:
25 Black Arrows (Master Human Archers), 23 Black Arrows (four of which are injured.)
40 Veteran Human Archers, 30 Veteran Human Archers

Royal Guards:

Warriors:
Argus - sword and shield
Hámundr - sword and shield

General Forces:
31 Royal Guards, 23 Royal Guards, 20 Royal Guards (One of which is missing)

Equipment:
14 Light Chariots, 12 Light Chariots, 8 Light Chariots

 

[Grimgravy]

BAX

 

[Jester]

Champion have arrived? Does he have a expert trackers? We could borrow one to help with search.
Hmm i think that leaving fort without any mage isnt the best idea.

Possible solutions worth thinking about IMO.
1) We ignore King for now till we deal with siege and try to get back later. Best possible standing forces, but if army will march South it will increase time needed to send it here.
2) We send Thais, Berthy and our personal bodyguards to capital to get reinforcements here. Thais will have some headache, but having girls nearby might help her with that a bit. She have best chances to convince people that helping this place is important.
3) We send Ceannard or Myora to capital. Its possible that story from person who was on site and actually saw/fought Shades could convince nobles. Bad things. Myora dont sound like most charismatic person, still her no shit attitude might help here. Ceannard on other hand is much better at talking to people and is overall better suited to the task, but he will be pissed that we are ordering him to leave his man behind. Still Argus is one of best commanders in kingdom, so he will leave his men in good hands. Very unlikely to work.
4) We pull back Derryth and Thais to capital to deal with nobles. Leaving fort less defended from magic. Pathfinders have experience with magicians, but taking into consideration that she is quite cautious they usual tactic might not work. Without Derryt we wont be able to cast Warrior mask on Argus to try cnt chain explosion dream.

Personally im considering 2 followed by 1 and 4. Thais can use academy wizards/some power source to power Gate to come back quickly in case her mental state would become bad/situation on South actually need military intervention/no one give a dmn about sending reinforcements.

Edit.

On the topic of birds he has little to offer. He says that their outlying patrols did notice a few small groups of crows coming from the south west and headed to the north east but he does not know how many, where they were going or where they had come from in particular.

Crap looks like Nanshe is on the move. Situation in South might be actually severe.

 

[Nevill]

Crap looks like Nanshe is on the move. Situation in South might be actually severe.

It's way too early for Nanshe to make a move. I don't expect the unification of ghol tribes to complete in less than a year. They are, basically, feudals, and not everyone of them fancies serving a monarch, I imagine.

If Nanshe moves too soon, she risks being crushed before she has a chance to form the nation of ghols she have spoken about. It barely was a week since he fled into the desert.

Nah, I think it's the Watcher again (the dude have been forced to act now that Mazzarin is kicking his ass), or the Eberhardt remnants stirring trouble.

 

[Fangshi]

Does he have a expert trackers?

No trackers I am afraid. All the Pathfinders he brought belong to the secondary branch of the organization. None of them are agents.

 

[Absinthe]

If we split up for 1, we should send Thais to the capital to handle politics, while Derryth and Lyssa handle the fort.

The sanity loss shouldn't be a problem for Derryth and Lyssa with two of them and the Strengthen Will ritual.

However, Thais will suffer some sanity loss. She does have a new trait that increases her charisma when under duress, though. Lyssa should definitely not stay alone because her sanity isn't strong even with the three of them together.

 

[archaen]

We should send the commander of our body guard back to argue the case for our reinforcements. He is not directly affiliated with us, he is a high level Dwarven commander, and consequently his testimony should hold greater sway than ours with the Lords. If he is going to truly protect us he needs to get a relief army to us ASAP. Argus can take over the duty of protecting us and commanding his forces while he is away.
C - Hámundr
A
X - Ask the pathfinders not working on the explosives and Berty if they want out to help look.

 

[Grimgravy]

Archaen is right. Hámundr would be good for the job. Won't satisfy the king though, and he wouldn't want to abandon his charges/command.

 

[Nevill]

He is not directly affiliated with us, he is a high level Dwarven commander, and consequently his testimony should hold greater sway than ours with the Lords.

Now, hear me out.

One of the reasons the Lords do not want to support us is that they suspect that this whole Watcher deal is a ploy by the King to gain more control. They think Albrecht is using you to make his actions look more legitimate.

Many of the Lords also claim that the threat is nonexistent. They claim that Albrecht is conspiring with you to manufacture a threat that does not exist in order to consolidate his hold on the Kingdom.

It's the King's scheme. Not yours. They only care whether anyone is affiliated with you or not because you yourself are involved with the King.

Not, what you suggest is to send Hámundr, the captain of the Royal Escorts, a personal guard to the King Albrecht and his faithful servant to convince the Lords that everything the King says is true.

Don't you see a problem with this?

If anything, Hámundr is more affiliated with the King than you are. How come his word would carry any weight? How come his testimony would be better than ours if the King can order him to testify as he sees fit?

At least we are mercenaries and adventurers from another country, not Albrecht's soldiers on a payroll.

I don't think it will work, at least not any better than going there directly. Besides, Hámundr is not willing to leave his men behind just as much as we are.

I think we need a third party here, or some physical proof. The Watcher's fragment would have been handy here, but for good or bad, it's buried under the tunnels.

Failing that, have the King continue to pull the strings if he wants us alive all that much.

 

[Fangshi]

Ask the pathfinders not working on the explosives and Berty if they want out to help look.

They are fine with that if you want to send them out. I will add the option to send the Pathfinders and Berty out as Bi.

Archaen is right. Hámundr would be good for the job. Won't satisfy the king though, and he wouldn't want to abandon his charges/command.

Just to make sure I have this right, is that a vote for 1C?




Slow week it seems.

To keep things moving I will close the vote in forty eight hours so if you want to vote or ask me any questions you have till then, if not we will go with what we have.

Current Tally:

Spoiler

Nevill:
1C (Skite, a Blackrock Mercenary, An Arrow, and a Royal Guard), 2A, 3x

Grimgravy:
1B, 2A, 3x

archaen:
1C (Skite, a Blackrock Mercenary, An Arrow, and a Royal Guard), 2A, 3Bi

GreyViper:
1B, 2A, 3Bi

Kz3r0:
1B, 2A, 3A

Azira:
1A, 2B, 3x

Jester:
1C (Thaïs and Uttu), 2A, 3Bi
1.
A) 1 vote
B) 3 votes
C) 3 votes (2 votes Skite, a Blackrock Mercenary, An Arrow, and a Royal Guard, 1 vote Thaïs and Uttu)

2.
A) 6 votes
B) 1 vote

3. 3 votes abstain
A) 1 vote
B)
i. 3 votes

Edit:
Updated tally with GreyViper, Kz3r0, Azira and Jester's votes, also added archaen's amendments, archaen's flop and Nevill's changes

 

[Grimgravy]

No, don't change my vote. That was just DISCUSS! I'm not confident enough for the flop.

 

[GreyViper]

Sorry work taking its toll, that's why cant join more often. I really like idea with animals, rodent warfare in its finest.
My vote.
1B
2A
3Bi

That reminds me, we must awake our inventor friend soon, so that she could start work on gyro copter and steam engines.

 

[Kz3r0]

1B 2A 3A

 

[archaen]

Since I am the only one voting for my options:
Ill change 1.C to include one Blackrock human mercenary and one Arrow mercenary injured but able to speak to verify the story.
For my 3.Bi we will send them with explosives. If they think the risk is acceptable and the Blackrock command staff agrees, they should blow up the wagons with boxes. They should not engage unless most of their mages are engaged with our forces or otherwise distracted.

 

[Nevill]

It just doesn't feel right to part Hámundr and his men. Those are his men, not Argus'. It's would be like going to the King and leaving the girls with Lyssa in the sieged fort. We'd never do that.

A compromise that I might agree to would be sending one of the Blackrock officers with a Black Arrow and a soldier from the escort to have them all tell a story of what they saw that can be easily cross-referenced. Our Stoneheim troops have at least two officers, so the absense of one should not hit us too hard.

The drawback, of course, is that we know nothing about them and we have no idea how convincing they would be in the Assembly. They are also nobodies, as far as the Lords are concerned. Still, they might work as witnesses.

Honestly, the only way I can see it resolved semi-satisfactory is sending Thais to the capital, but I don't want to part with her.

I also want to keep the airships on hand. They are a useful tactical tool.

Maybe now that we've received a general to amplify our defensive capabilities, we can hold the Fort by ourselves?

Fangshi, can we juggle the troops around relatively unnoticed by the enemy? I would not want to give away the fact that we have those Blackrock reinforcements after we've gone through the trouble of concealing them in the tunnels.

Is the concept of a parachute known to the dwarves? Since they know about flying and all. I think they used something like this during the First War.

Spoiler

Do they have any with them and can they manufacture them from the materials we have in the fort?

Can Lyssa's Strong Wind help us deploying forces that way? Or guide them back to the fort walls if the airship is downed?

Can we build a Strong Wind powered flying machine? Sort of like this:

Spoiler

Or something like an air glider.

 

[Fangshi]

Fangshi, can we juggle the troops around relatively unnoticed by the enemy? I would not want to give away the fact that we have those Blackrock reinforcements after we've gone through the trouble of concealing them in the tunnels.

Possibly. I mean they will likely be able to see the balloons in the air but they do not have any aerial units (as far as you know) so they do not have the sort of 'clear' view of the surrounding territory that you do.

Is the concept of a parachute known to the dwarves? Since they know about flying and all. I think they used something like this during the First War.

Do they have any with them and can they manufacture them from the materials we have in the fort?

Yes they have parachutes. Each one of the dwarves that came in was wearing one (in case they were shot down) so you have a dozen of them. They might be able to make more from canvas but they would be quite makeshift and probably less reliable.

Can Lyssa's Strong Wind help us deploying forces that way? Or guide them back to the fort walls if the airship is downed?

Can we build a Strong Wind powered flying machine? Sort of like this:

Depends on what range you are hoping to work at. If they were close enough you could probably have Lyssa direct them to a degree but if they were far out (say near the enemy camp) then she would not be able to do anything from the fort.

If you wanted to try and build some sort of wind powered glider/flyer you would need Lyssa inside it to keep her spell localized on the machine.

 

[Azira]

I'll vote for leaving the fort behind. Just to be contrarian.
1A
2B

 

[Nevill]

Depends on what range you are hoping to work at. If they were close enough you could probably have Lyssa direct them to a degree but if they were far out (say near the enemy camp) then she would not be able to do anything from the fort.

If you wanted to try and build some sort of wind powered glider/flyer you would need Lyssa inside it to keep her spell localized on the machine.

I didn't even know it could work without Lyssa being there with them.

I was weighing up how safe it would be for our mages to direct an airstrike (to neutralize the enemy mages, as they are the only ones who can shoot down the airship). The main problem was that if we are shot down, we would end up in the middle of the enemy formation. I was searching for ways to go around that.

 

[Jester]

C - Thais and her 'bodyguard' girl.
A
BI

 

[Nevill]

I'll add my own C - ask either Kaf or Skite (the Stoneheim officers) to testify on our behalf. Have them take one wounded Arrow, one Blackrock mercenary, and one Royal Guard - that is, people who had contact with the enemy. They have all been there during the different stages of the attack (some of them participated in the ghol hunt, some of them - in the liberation of Fort Blackrock, and some others - in the operation against the White Mage), so they will each tell a different part of the whole story from multiple perspectives. Most of them have seen Shades with their own eyes. That must give the story credibility.

Finally, our officers are from Stoneheim, so maybe that can calm the Lords down some if they report about the happenings there.

As commanders, we can not leave the forces to give our testimonies. But we can send a letter with them that they speak for us. I take it Skite would be interested enough in a continued existence of his company to make an effort here, not to mention his brother's life would depend on it.

Besides, if we do not make an appearance, that just shows how grave the situatiuon is, doesn't it?

The reasoning is that these 4 people are unlikely to make a difference here, but might be able to influence the balance of power back in Myrgard.

archaen, Grimgravy, Kz3r0, Jester, GreyViper? What's your take?

Fangshi, who will be there working on the bombs in 3Bi? archaen's plan has only the ones who are not working on them dropped to the tunnels, and the initial goal was to help in Bari's search, first and foremost.

C (Skite, one of our mercs, an Arrow, and a Royal Guard - with a letter granting them the right to speak on our behalf) > B
A
X