Vulug arrived minutes after Gronk, gave Moruk a look of disdainful courtesy and asked to be allowed to address the humans. Gronk waved his permission and drew Moruk away to talk of other things. He mentioned the covert way Branimir had told him of the vampires, and asked the cunning one’s advice on the matter. Moruk’s maw split into a wide grin, and he detailed a plan. He suggested that they pump Branimir for more information while subtly hinting to Ashell that Branimir was untrustworthy. Both parties would believe Gronk was trustworthy and that the other was false. Gronk was impressed and knew that Moruk had been a good choice for heir. He had brain, brawn and bloodlust. Now Gronk added his own part to the plan; he wished to see Branimir fight a troll, to test his splinter against a truly deadly opponent. Gronk would suggest a sparring match between Branimir and Moruk, and another between Vulug and Ashell. It would let them see the vampires in combat and test their skills. Moruk agreed and was sent to take the message to them.

>Cont.

>>28286786
Meanwhile, Gronk went to listen to Vulug’s speech to the humans, from behind a collapsed building. No need for the humans to see him just yet. Vulug talked to them of Gronk’s power and strength, but also his generosity and loyalty. If you performed a service for Gronk, he would pay you your due and more. The humans seemed unimpressed, until Vulug talked of them serving Gronk with their strong sword arms. He told them they would get their share of the loot from every victory, and that Gronk had never lost a battle. Gronk realised this was true, and wondered why. It came to him after a few minutes; a troll is dangerous, but a group of organised trolls can unmake civilisations. When he had marched with his trolls, there had never been a time he thought he was going to lose. When he had fought alone there had been many close shaves. He turned his attention back to the humans, who were hustling to the front of the crowd to give Vulug their names and skills. Each wanted to serve, and Gronk knew why. They believed that if they joined the trolls in battle, they could never lose. They probably even believed that Gronk would send his trolls first, to give them the glory. Fools.

>Cont.

>>28286794
Gronk decided that he should instil the nature of their devotion to him as soon as possible. They must understand that he is a god and requires, no, demands their worship. He had all the prisoners brought to the square and told one member of each race come forwards. The spokespeople were made to describe the religion and faiths of their races. There were many different gods worshipped in the humans and dwarves, but most of the other races all followed a pantheon respectively. Then Gronk roared to them that their gods were gone and dead. There was only one god to them now; Gronk the Marked! As he said it, he wreathed himself in a cloak of flames and sent tendrils of fire out to encircle, but not burn, the spokespeople. There were shouts of surprise and downright screams, but soon people settled down. When Gronk asked them who their god was, they knew there could be only one answer that would see them out of this alive. And they gave it.

Moruk said that the vampires were more than happy to demonstrate their skills, and asked that Gronk prepare an arena inside the city for the following day. Gronk sent Moruk to deal without, as he had yet another piece of business to deal with. Ragnar had returned from his search of the ruined city. The shaman had a few things to present before his lord, some more interesting than others. Many material riches had been found in collapsed buildings, often locked in secure boxes of iron. Ragnar had cracked them open and gathered the piles of gold, jewels, coins and other valuables into a large bag. Gronk had no interest in such things, but knew that they held an alarming sway over the minds of others. There might come a time when bribing an opponent would be easier than massacring him.

>Cont.

>>28286808
The most interesting find was a scrawny human with white hair, yellow nails and a hunted expression on his face. Ragnar said they had found him in a basement, buried under a full buildings worth of rubble. The old man appeared not to have noticed the attack, however, as he was too focussed on his work. The cellar had been full of strange devices and unnatural smells, according to the trolls. When they had ordered the human to accompany them out, he had seemed somewhat confused. Then he had thrown a small glass tube at the nearest troll, causing it to shatter and the liquid within to spill on the troll’s chest. It had burned through his fur, skin and muscles in seconds. The strange and terrible wounds had no quite killed the troll but he seemed to be making very little progress with his healing. Ragnar had decided to bring the human to Gronk, who said he would think on his judgement.

>Cont.

The next day, the time for the duel arrived all too soon. First Ashell was to fight Vulug, before Moruk took on Branimir. As Ashell and the trollkin took up position, Branimir presented himself to Gronk with another of his deep bows. Gronk accepted it with a dismissive gesture and beckoned Branimir to come and sit with him on the raised platform to watch the duel. As Shell practised a few strokes with his sword on the other edge of the ring, Gronk quietly asked Branimir if there was anything else he should know about the vampires or the duke. Branimir quickly listed a few of their weaknesses; their need and addiction to blood, that sunlight robbed them of some of their strength and an almost inescapable arrogance. He mentioned that vampires tended to be very preoccupied with the family history of their friends, allies, neighbours and rivals. To us, he said, blood matters. As to the duke, Branimir spoke of the arrogance of his race, and in particular of the duke. He believed himself the greatest being in the world, destined to one day rule the continent. So great was his hubris that he seemed to feel he hardly even needed to go out and conquer, merely wait for the land to fall into his hands. The problem of the Skaven was strange to him because it was the first real problem the Duke had faced for some time. While talking of his master, Branimir’s tone was one of distaste.

>Cont.

>>28286825
(Stupid computer)

And then Ashell and Vulug began. Their swords met with a clang, Vulug’s bright blade and Ashell’s thin spike. It quickly became apparent that while they were of almost equal speed, in the sun’s light, Ashell was stronger than Vulug. His blows often sent the trollkin stumbling backwards. But Vulug had his own tricks. While he wielded his sword with one hand, he kept his other empty. The long claw-nails on that hand served as deadly stabbing and slashing weapons when the vampire got too close. Ashell was forced to attack from a distance, jabbing and thrusting with his weapon as he dodged or parried Vulug’s slashes. There was a marked difference in the styles the weapons forced upon their owners, but Gronk could see that his son would not emerge the victor of this duel. He was proved right a few minutes later, when Ashell span inside Vulug’s guard and used the basket hilt of his sword to punch Gronk’s son under the chin. As he staggered back, Ashell raised his blade for a stab but was called off by Branimir. Gronk was a little irritated that the messenger had stopped the fight rather than himself, but it mattered little. Branimir was now to fight the heir of marked.

>Cont.

>>28286936
Moruk had decided to abandon his great sword for this competition, and rely on the wepons given to him by nature; his tusk, his claws and his rock crushing muscle. He waited for Branimir to take his place in the circle, before charging him like a mad dog. The vampire seemed almost completely oblivious, until he leapt high into the air and landed behind Moruk. He stabbed once before retreating, Moruk’s spinning retaliation barely missing him. Quickly, a pattern emerged; Branimir would jump and weave and inflict small wounds on Moruk, before putting some distance between himself and Moruk. As he watched, Gronk had Ashell brought to him. He congratulated him on his victory, and asked him what he thought of the vampire he served. Ashell replied that he was loyal to his master and to the duke, and would never speak ill of either. Gronk nodded slowly, before leaning down and whispering into the vampire’s ear. He asked Ashell to watch Branimir, as Gronk said he suspected him of not being all he appeared.

>Sorry about the wordswordswords, I ended up really getting carried away with the update. I'll keep them to a more manageable size in future.

>>28286945
When Ashell went back to his place at the side of the arena, Gronk turned his attention back to the Duellers. Branimir showed no signs of slowing, but Moruk didn’t really seem exerted either. Gronk realised that his heir had been pacing himself and delaying the real fight until the seed of doubt had been planted within Ashell’s mind. Now Moruk began to fight with all his speed and ferocity. Branimir was forced to keep moving almost constantly, his agility truly being put to the test. After several minutes of grabbing and ducking, Moruk managed to grab a hold of Branimir’s leg and throw him. The vampire hit and pile of shattered rubble and bounced off. Before he could rise, Moruk stood over him. Gronk gave one of his tooth filled grins and pronounced his heir the winner.

>>28286998
What should Gronk do with the strange human?

Choose three actions.
>A: Hunt/Gather/mine (Mountain goats, Goblins and small hominids, Wood, Stone, metals)
>B: Worship (The Big Papa)
>C: Scout (N, E, S, W)
>D: Research/produce, via slaves or Ragnar (Troll weapons, Troll technology, Magic)
>E: Train (Melee, Ranged, Other)
>F: War (specify who/how/where)
>G: Diplomacy (specify who/how/where)
>H: Other

>Children of the Mountain
>Big Papa: Gronk the Marked, Star swallower, Great Devourer, Ash bringer, Fire stopper, Chosen of the Mountain and Flame fist.
>Shaman: Ragnar Stone Gobbler, master of earth magics.
>Scout: Moruk the cunning, Heir of Gronk and hero of the goblins. Owns a metal sword.
>Number of trolls at current location: 99 (99M)
>Number of Goblins at current location: 62 (62M)
>Prisoners: 132 humans (99M, 33F) 23 Dwarves (23M), 6 Lizardfolk (5M, 1F), 4 Drow (2M, 2F), 6 Elves (5M, 1F), 25 orcs (20M, 5F)
>Magic known by Gronk: Fire ball, Fire armour, Fire weapon, Earth manipulation, Lightning bolt
>Powers of Gronk: Great Devourer (gains abilities from foes he eats), Ash touch (can disintegrate things near to him, indiscriminate), The Big Papa (can create half breeds with some other races)
>Gronk’s Equipment: Bear skin cloak, Metal axe, Metal knife, Breast plate
>Food: Average , plentiful if the slaves are also on the menu

File: 1384454389206.jpg-(26 KB, 500x403, 1367952962908.jpg)

26 KB JPG

Bampan.

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734 KB JPG

Well this sucks.

>>28287329
wat sucks?
>reading wot now

Rolled 33

>>28287329
Damn, can't really participate tonight, more lurk as I am busy.

But I will give you a bump and hopefully jump I later

>>28287479
The general lack of people, or lateness of people. That was posted almost an hour after I started and no-one arrived for ten minutes after that.

>>28287487
Okay.

>>28287544
well cause its just a bad idea

try something new

>>28287614
What's a bad idea? The whole thing? Seems a tad harsh.

>>28287012

Well let's start by interrogating him 'gently' (no permanent injuries, max of 2 broken fingers) as to who he is, where his loyalties lie, what he was doing, etc.

Do we have dwarves here or in the mines? Can dwarves into stonework? Can we use them to repair the walls? They could direct the humans for labor if we don't have many.

How much longer is Branimir here? Did we send for our forces from the mines? How long until they arrive?

>>28287012
strange human:
>make him create a counter to this anti-troll weapon(or maybe we should just eat him?! discuss with Ragnar if eating him will make us master of the acid-weapon)

>D: Research/Train Magic
maybe create a net/cage of fire, for capturing vampires

>H: Other
send runners/scoutparty to the Dorf-caves, their mission is to fetch the magic Dorf-armor for experimentation

>E: Train
Make the vampires tell us of Skaven tactics, and train our army in countering them


Loved the update btw

>>28287647
>Do we have dwarves here or in the mines?
There are many dwarves in the mine, and the information block says what you have here.
>23 Dwarves

>Can dwarves into stonework?
As far as Gronk had observed, Dwarves are good at building stuff.

>Can we use them to repair the walls? They could direct the humans for labour if we don't have many.
Repairing the walls was suggested last thread, but rejected. The whole places is a ruin, so it decided to try and move on to the next thing. As defences, pits filled with spikes were built wherever there was a hole in the wall.

>How much longer is Branimir here?
He said he was in a hurry, but not an exact time. You can ask him with a diplomacy action though. If you do want to do some diplomacy, I suggest thinking of a few more things to ask him.

>Did we send for our forces from the mines?
Nope.

>>28287670
Thanks, though it does make the start of the thread a huge wall of text.

diplomacy
ask about the tactics of the rat people.

train our warrior bulls in fighting. and maybe have our new human meatshields train aswell to see if we can use them for something other then expendable fodder.

send the rest of our slaves (not goblins) to the mines to work

>>28287670
>>D: Research/Train Magic
>maybe create a net/cage of fire, for capturing vampires
Sounds good. Just like you to ready a weapon for use against an ally. You basically think exactly like Gronk.

>>H: Other
>send runners/scoutparty to the Dorf-caves, their mission is to fetch the magic Dorf-armor for experimentation
Should anything else be fetched? There are almost 100 bull trolls there, as well as a lot of dwarves and goblins. And it's no short trip.

>>E: Train
>Make the vampires tell us of Skaven tactics, and train our army in countering them
>Branimir seamlessly switched to outlining the Skaven’s abilities. He said that they were physically weak and had poor weapons and armour, but marched in colossal strength. They outnumbered the Duke’s men by a huge magnitude, and had their own elites and magic as well. They were known to use strange devices that fired lightning, as well as traditional weapons. He predicted that if they were allowed to continue spreading that they would overrun Nefertail in a few years.
All current knowledge on Skaven tactics. This question was asked last time so it might seem odd to ask it twice. How would you suggest training to counter this?

>>28287806
>ask about the tactics of the rat people.
See above.

training should probably focus less on typical troll berserker rage and maybe more on fighting in teams, afterall a troll is strong and most likely able to take down a number of skaven but even the best warriors can be drowned by numbers. so having the bulls train in small groups or packs of 2-8 (or thereabout) and have them watch each others back can ward off the skaven numbers, as we saw in the mine the trolls where alot stronger then the dwarfs but once one was downed and healing they quickly got their heads cut off.

>>28287815
fetch half of the bulltrolls, and half of the goblins.

tactics:
-Train small groups of trolls to fight bac-to-back-ish, for wading into masses of skaven, dealing death.
-The main purpose of these commandogroups of trolls are to reach the Skaven-firethrowing machines and disabling them.
-Continue training our ranged squads in speed and accuracy.
-Also try and implement the new human cannonfodder in some way, ask Moruk/Vulug/Vampires(out of ideas)

>>28287893
what trulldrull sayed...

>>28287815

Ask Branimir how large the Duke's kingdom is too, how considerable his army is. How large are skirmishes/battles between them usually?

Give me a minute and I'll come up with more.

>>28287893
>>28287910
>>28287921
So we seem to have as actions;

>Research new magic for Gronk (potentially fire based anti Vampire stuff
>Train the bulls to fit back to back
>Send a party to the mine, to fecth more trolls and gobbos. Also magic dorf armour.
>Talk to Branimir about the fiefdom of Nefertail, it's size, the average magnitude of its engagements and so on

That's four, which do you want to drop? They're all pretty good ideas.

Also, do we have a consensus on light torture for the human alchemist?

>>28287958
>light torture
--->beacuse: >make him create a counter to this anti-troll weapon(counter fire/acid)

drop the last one

>>28287815

What's the nature of the Skaven (mages, not machines) magic? Do they utilize purely infantry? How quickly can they march?
Will the Duke want direct control of our forces, or will we be allowed to prosecute the campaign in command of his forces, or will we simply be allies butting heads? Why does our magician advise us against visiting your land?

I'll come up with more...

>>28287958
I'd drop the magic practicing.

From the mines I think we should take 1/4 of the bulls (things lurk in the mountains and we don't want to leave the mines undefended), and 2/5 of the goblins.

We should also consider instructing them to begin using the dwarfs to create a road from the mines to our city while we're in the vampire lands.

>>28288033
I like the magic idea. Let us drop the diplomacy!

>>28288033
>What's the nature of the Skaven (mages, not machines) magic?
Devices was the word used, so it's safe to assume that they were machines.

>Do they utilize purely infantry? How quickly can they march?
These are both questions that are a bit too tactical for Gronk.

>Will the Duke want direct control of our forces, or will we be allowed to prosecute the campaign in command of his forces, or will we simply be allies butting heads? Why does our magician advise us against visiting your land?
This, however, is completely in character. The Big Papa does not take orders.

>We should also consider instructing them to begin using the dwarfs to create a road from the mines to our city while we're in the vampire lands
There are almost no roads in any area Gronk has ever been to. In fact, he basically has only seen the very primitive mud tracks that are used to the south of Märlas. Not saying that it can't happen, I'm just mentioning.

>>28288111

Still trying to shunt my tactical mind into Gronk's psyche, my bad.

Can we diplo with multiple people using a diplo action? I'd like to have Vulug ask his mistress what she knows of vampires and skaven, we need to assess Vulug's loyalty with him having that darkskin whispering in his ear anyway, and the way he asks her questions+the way she responds will indicate such.

If you'd prefer a different phrasing for "do they utilize purely infantry" you could ask "are there any foes amongst the Skaven's number that will test my and my trolls' mettle?

For training, we should focus on getting smallish squads of trolls that are experts at piercing enemy lines, then holding out amidst a sea of foes. They don't need to do much killing, just survive after they've destroyed their target that's past the front line. That way they can break Skaven lines to destroy lightning throwers, then not get killed. So perhaps 6 spiked-shield trolls form a chevron and charge with 4 claw trolls in the recess, then when they get to their objective the shield trolls keep reinforcements out while the claw trolls destroy it, then the claw trolls move to support gaps where the shields are particularly pressed.

Might need to develop hugemassive shields for that though, which we could order from the mine.

>>28288270
TLDR
>Test Vulug's loyalty by getting him to pump his notwife for info
>ask for even more info about the skaven forces
>Train the trolls to work in squads with shields guarding claw trolls, who can seek out heavy weapons

I'm going to leave a bit of this out, to avoid a hugemassive wait for the update, though it's all good stuff. Glad to see someone has such a good memory for the previous threads and the little details.

>>28288354

I frequent another Civ thread/Civ QM who's absolutely devilish and will kill the Civ on the drop of a hat if we don't watch the fuck out for the slightest hints and act smart, so sorry for the massive block of text. I'm used to having to be **very** specific or the suggestion will go horribly wrong.

>>28288402
I've been trying to give players bit of room to work with, though my long absence lost me most of the followers. It seems a little unfair to actively misinterpret ideas, but each to his own.

YFW you just gave me the idea to try and get all the trolls killed

>>28288444

Heh, he never actively misinterprets ideas he just does exactly what the players vote on without meta-ing at all...but he makes extremely realistic factions, and it's a post-apoc civ so there's always something civ ending lurking in the tunnels just waiting for the players to get overambitious so they'll wake it up.
It's easy to get all the trolls killed. For the trolls at home just make a nearby faction notice that all/most of our military might just moved out down south so they sweep in and take our lightly defended city+mines. For the trolls in the vamplands, just make the skaven appropriately clever (ambushes, ambushes everywhere), vicious, and powerful. Punish not scouting the shit out of our enemy's position beforehand, and have the enemy commander adapt to our tactics/strategy as we go along. We're trolls with a leader not even smart enough to ask about the enemy's composition, they know the lay-of-the-land where we don't, and we're cocky from having won every single battle we've fought thus far with relative ease.

>>28288521
whatever man, just let Scriv do his thing. If you want to play EDE's style, go do that.

>>28288521
Maybe it's not too clear, but there's not a fucking thing in the mountains that Gronk hasn't kicked the shit out of or eaten. All the trolls there follow him (and worship him) and the dwarves folded. More worrying is how he's just raised a famous city. People are going to notice very soon...
Don't you worry my lad, no winning streak lasts for ever. Expect a few surprises fairly soon. And don't get Gronk wrong, he's not stupid. He's cunning and cautious, but has no idea about how other races do things. He's met almost no race that he hasn't been able to baet up and/or eat.

>>28288548

Oh, I will later tonight hopefully.

I digress, got carried away there. Scriv's style is really nice and I wish all of the old players were still around (that guy that in-charactered as a pseudo-skaven was always my favorite). It was a wonderful interplay between their RP and his writing.

>>28288616

Yeah, I look forward to seeing him in the mid-game as a scarred Warlord, rather than a glorified tribal leader.

Alternately I would've liked to have seen him encountered by some clever players leading another Civ if you hadn't picked this up again. Seeing how you would've handled him reacting to getting beaten by tactics would've been really neat to watch.

Razed*

With the duels done, the vampires once again retreated to their carriage. Moruk was heard to tease and bait Vulug over his defeat for some time before the trollkin stormed away, much to Moruk’s satisfaction. Gronk was unsure as to whether he should keep them separate to prevent fighting or keep them together and let the rivalry breed strength. He did not let it take up much of his thoughts however, as the issues of parenting are not high on a troll’s list of priorities. Instead, he went to this old human that Ragnar had captured. Any being so old should not be able to even scratch a bull troll, yet this one had. He was a little resistant to answering questions on his device, until Gronk gently dragged the tip of one claw down his forearm. The sharp appendage drew blood, but didn’t puncture deeply. But it demonstrated that it could go deeper, and promised to do so if the quality of the man’s responses didn’t improve.

Suddenly he was much more willing to talk. He gabbled about the liquid he had used and the container it was in. He called the substance ‘acid’ and claimed it would eat through almost anything. It took Gronk only a few seconds to see the flaw in this, and ask what it was being kept in. The terrified man said that some materials could be treated to resist acid, but that the resistive material was far harder and more expensive to produce than the acid itself. When Gronk asked him of armour against acid, the man said such a thing would be incredibly hard to produce and that it would probably take several year’s work. This vexed Gronk a little, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he had the human taken and put with the other prisoners.

>Cont.

>>28288734
Gronk checked on the many females he had lain with that night, and was pleased to see that none had died. He knew it was too soon to see signs of whether they would bear him a son or not, but some part of him hoped he would find one. The females looked a little scared to be in his presence, but not so much as when they had first encountered him.

The following day, Gronk despatched a party of ten bulls to the mine. The party was lead by Ashanorg, and their purpose was to fetch half of the bulls from the mine along with a few of the goblins. Any young males were to be brought with them as well. Taking the other troll aside, Gronk also revealed to Ashanorg where the armour of the golden dwarf was kept. That too was to be brought back to Märlas. Finally, Tak-Tak and Tink-Tank were to be brought to join their master on the front lines. There were still several functioning forges in the city and Tak-Tak’s work on the book of Gronk could continue if he was present. The party left early in the day and predicted they would return within two weeks, if the weather permitted.

>Cont.

>>28288749
Next, Gronk had the bulls still present train. As far as he knew, they would soon be fighting incredible numbers of opponents, and needed to be ready to fight accordingly. They were drilled in small groups, using the shields to funnel the humans acting as Skaven towards them. Perhaps it wouldn’t help much in a real battle, but it made the bulls feel more useful and more prepared than standing around all day. There was little for them to do apart from eat, sleep and train, and their focus was starting to slip. A mission for the bulls soon was vital to keep their attention. While the majority practised in small groups, the ballista team worked on their speed and accuracy. Bolt after bolt was fired, but they still couldn’t beat a loading time of about two minutes.

As the bulls worked on a way to beat Skaven, Gronk turned his mind to fighting the other new threat; vampires. They weren’t enemies yet, but it paid to be prepared. They were fast and strong, and apparently got even more powerful at night. If he had understood Branimir correctly, they healed almost as fast as trolls did if they had access to blood, so a way to kill them quickly and efficiently was needed. He thought of the various forms of magic at his disposal and selected the ones most suited to the task. Fire was his first and favourite tool, and was well suited to doing damage that was irreparable, as was the sky fire he took from the golden dwarf. Each worked on focussing both the flames and the bolts until they melted rocks and made the air sizzle. Let’s see a vampire walk away from that, he thought savagely.

>>28288763
Choose three actions.
>A: Hunt/Gather/mine (Mountain goats, Goblins and small hominids, Wood, Stone, metals)
>B: Worship (The Big Papa)
>C: Scout (N, E, S, W)
>D: Research/produce, via slaves or Ragnar (Troll weapons, Troll technology, Magic)
>E: Train (Melee, Ranged, Other)
>F: War (specify who/how/where)
>G: Diplomacy (specify who/how/where)
>H: Other

>Children of the Mountain
>Big Papa: Gronk the Marked, Star swallower, Great Devourer, Ash bringer, Fire stopper, Chosen of the Mountain and Flame fist.
>Shaman: Ragnar Stone Gobbler, master of earth magics.
>Scout: Moruk the cunning, Heir of Gronk and hero of the goblins. Owns a metal sword.
>Number of trolls at current location: 89 (89M)
>Number of Goblins at current location: 42 (42M)
>Prisoners: 132 humans (99M, 33F) 23 Dwarves (23M), 6 Lizardfolk (5M, 1F), 4 Drow (2M, 2F), 6 Elves (5M, 1F), 25 orcs (20M, 5F)
>Magic known by Gronk: Fire ball, Fire armour, Fire weapon, Earth manipulation, Lightning bolt
>Powers of Gronk: Great Devourer (gains abilities from foes he eats), Ash touch (can disintegrate things near to him, indiscriminate), The Big Papa (can create half breeds with some other races)
>Gronk’s Equipment: Bear skin cloak, Metal axe, Metal knife, Breast plate
>Food: Average , plentiful if the slaves are also on the menu

>Remember the days my updates took twenty minutes and were two paragraphs long? Good time man, good times.
>Seriously, I'll speed the next one up a lot. And shorten it.

>>28288791

Breed the non troll females again to be sure. Double fertilization and all that.

Train trolls on quick, efficient ways to kill humanoids and hordes. Trolls seem to be quite wasteful with their great strength - lets make them more scalpel like.

Perhaps experiment with the ash touch? Maybe make a display of it as well? If anything can kill a regenerator, that is it.

>>28288867
Perhaps see if we can make ash touch a field around us. If we could sustain it, it would be the ultimate defense system.

We should maybe send the bulls out hunting to keep them busy, maybe a challenge to see which group can bring back the biggest trophy kill or something

>>28288897
This has in fact already been researched and used. It works, but it also destroys the ground, any armour or weapons Gronk migh be using and any friendlies.

>>28288791
Did målas have frequent traders or maybe diplomatic tides with other nearby towns cities?

>>28288934
I'm talking about sustaining it. Train how long we can use it.

Long enough and well...We can just walk through the Skaven horde and break a route for our trolls.

>>28288962
Any1 who might come looking for news ón the City ?

>>28288962
Märlas was a city that was famous for having basically no laws. Anything and everything could be traded there. Other city states and foreign powers made a point of distancing themselves from the city, but still used it occasionally. So yes, there is likely to be people here soon. Or maybe there already have been people, and you didn't catch them.

Gronk was actually told this by both Mendal the rogue and the mayor.

>>28288972
Sounds like an interesting plan. Arrows would still impact though, and it's never been tested of magic or fire. And it isn't instantaneous.

>>28289035
We're a troll. I'm certain a few arrows will do nothing much.

Get the shaman to try to hit us with magic with it on.

So,

>Breed (doesn't really require an action but why not?)
>Train
>Try some more with ash touch

>>28289121
Fine. We need an extra action? Get the goblins to interrogate the alchemist and learn things from him.

>>28289121
Sounds good maybe have a few lookouts set up around the City and overlooking the roads to the City

>>28289155
What things? And the goblins here are all warriors, hence fetching Tink-Tank from the mine.

>>28289180
I'll incorporate it.

Gronk decided that one can never be too sure, and made sure to try every female out again. Not that he did it purely for the advantages he would gain from the offspring. He enjoyed every moment of it, and made no secret. Perhaps leaving all the female trolls at the mine had been a mistake after all. He sent a runner to catch up with the party heading back. It would be no inconvenience to bring a few females back with them. As he watched the young bull run of in the direction of the great mountains, a thought struck him. This city had been reported to him as a centre of trade. Much as he scorned the very concept of trading rather than taking, he understood that travel had to take a part in the proceedings. So where were the traders that should be coming to Märlas? Each one was a potential slave or rich find. As fast as he could, he dispatched Moruk, his dozen and a score of goblins to survey the land to the south and west for anyone travelling there. The east lead to Nefertail, and no traders went there. At least, according to Ragnar.

>Cont.

Gronk watched as his army worked on their drills. The shields slid back and forth like a mobile wall, opening gaps and closing them with speed, if not much smoothness. Anyone attacking would be forced to dance back and forth while looking for an opening. Not to mention the spiked shields thrusting out randomly, to catch any would be assailants. After some days of this, He had them start to work on their finesse. Every troll was, strength wise, worth a score of humans. But this was worth nothing if they were too slow to hit their opponent. All the while they were training, Gronk worked on his magic. Long hours and even days in the woods saw him concentrate on extending his ash touch and holding it. It wasn’t hard. It was more a matter of letting the hungry energy loose and watching the trees and ground crumble and collapse. He had to move spots regularly, to avoid falling into a deep pit created by his own magic. It seemed the star’s magic did not tire even after hours, but became less controlled. His control over it would slip and tendrils would whip out of the limits to destroy things at random.

i personally think we should research more troll technology, what do you guys think?

>>28289344
Choose three actions.
>A: Hunt/Gather/mine (Mountain goats, Goblins and small hominids, Wood, Stone, metals)
>B: Worship (The Big Papa)
>C: Scout (N, E, S, W)
>D: Research/produce, via slaves or Ragnar (Troll weapons, Troll technology, Magic)
>E: Train (Melee, Ranged, Other)
>F: War (specify who/how/where)
>G: Diplomacy (specify who/how/where)
>H: Other

>Children of the Mountain
>Big Papa: Gronk the Marked, Star swallower, Great Devourer, Ash bringer, Fire stopper, Chosen of the Mountain and Flame fist.
>Shaman: Ragnar Stone Gobbler, master of earth magics.
>Scout: Moruk the cunning, Heir of Gronk and hero of the goblins. Owns a metal sword.
>Number of trolls at current location: 89 (89M)
>Number of Goblins at current location: 42 (42M)
>Prisoners: 132 humans (99M, 33F) 23 Dwarves (23M), 6 Lizardfolk (5M, 1F), 4 Drow (2M, 2F), 6 Elves (5M, 1F), 25 orcs (20M, 5F)
>Magic known by Gronk: Fire ball, Fire armour, Fire weapon, Earth manipulation, Lightning bolt
>Powers of Gronk: Great Devourer (gains abilities from foes he eats), Ash touch (can disintegrate things near to him, indiscriminate), The Big Papa (can create half breeds with some other races)
>Gronk’s Equipment: Bear skin cloak, Metal axe, Metal knife, Breast plate
>Food: Average , plentiful if the slaves are also on the menu

>Hah, now that was fucking fast!

The next update will take much longer though. Sorry...

>>28289370
Keep up the training regime for both the warriors and gronk, spend some time talking and bonding/training with vulug

>>28289121

How about

>Try some more with Ash Touch (focus on getting it to not disintegrate things we don't want it to, but doing so with everything else. This effect can just be with the touch/small directed field version at first.

>Spar with the vamps
Shall we see firsthand how these fellows fair against the Star Eater? I'd recommend we not reveal our true strength yet though...

And
>Send the bulls out
Let's go capture some cattle live to drive in front of our army for when/if we march so we're not so weighed down by provisions.

I'd like to ask the questions to the vamps+vulug suggested for the earlier diplo action (Vulug just got beaten in a public fight and mocked by the favored son openly...and he has a Drow for a not-wife) but that doesn't seem to be secinded.

Alternately the third action could be the goblins learning the rudiments of alchemy/making acid grenades, or trying to find something that will at least slow acid down.

>>28289520
Have you read the episode where Gronk gains the ash touch? If not, thread six. Try it, it might make a few things clearer.

>>28289370
Have we been given a time-schedule on when/if we have to travel to Vampiria?

>>28289815
Scriv said it was rather urgent, but there was no absolute, stated time limits. They'll probably get quite tired of waiting very soon if they don't get a definite answer though.

We are training for skaven, we should accept and go soon

>>28289677
I haven't had the chance to just yet, i'll do that.

>>28289879
Ok...
Before /if we leave we need to make some tough decicions.
Do we want to split our forces in three?
-Dorfcave
-City
-Mercenary

There is a two-week travel between the cave and the city, I don't think we will be able to defend it all, as well as sending our main force away.
Imo we should just raze whatever of the city that isn't already razed, and start fortifying the cave more.
A counterattack from the humans will come sooner than later.
Dorland is also easily defended, this Shity is not.
What say ye?

>>28289957
I agree... Raze the City and spilt up the forces to hold the mountain and to support the vamps... Maybe leave our heir to gorvern in gronks place with the shaman as advicer and bring vulug with us

Trull has a very good point about splitting forces. Defending the mine is far easier and the mountains are home turf, as it were.

as to human retaliation, Gronk was told some time ago that attacking Marlas would gain him a lot of notiriety, but would be unlikely to spark a response. People don't like the city, but know they know there's a fucking great troll willing tom smash things. The days of quietly eating things in the mountains are over.

>>28289957

I agree, we should definitely raze the city (maybe).
Maybe we could use the materials there to just build a big watch-tower?

There are a few questions about leaving for the Skaven though. Do we want to leave the mines unattended by any leader-figure as-yet recognized, or do we want one of our sons to control it, also what happens if females bear more of our children while we're gone?

Vulug seems to be the obvious choice to stay, as he could be left with the alchemist to learn alchemy, and has a much more level+more intelligent head than Moruk...but he's also been slighted consistently for quite a while now, and was just recently bested in a public battle and openly mocked by our favored son. Also he has that damnable Drow mistress.

Moruk, on the other hand, will be immensely insulted/disappointed if he's not taken into the war with us. He'll regard it as being relegated to housekeeper status, also if any humans or other traders come to the mines/city while we're gone he'd almost certainly handle the diplomatic situation very poorly. He'd not have a chance at learning alchemy, and would probably degrade our slaves by taking out his frustration at being left on them.

Okay, I'm now back properly, but there's actually been no decision.

Should I write for;
>Raze the city and send and slaves back to the mountains
>Take the humans, goblins and trolls east to combat the skaven
>Moruk and Ragnar go to the mine and Vulug comes to the vamps?

Is this okay?

>>28290641
yes
just tell Moruk that cause he bested the vamp he has showed his cunning, and cunning is needed to govern and fortify the cave. Also tell him to keep patrolling for humans(he is top scout aftrer all, this might also keep his kill-will in check), and to keep an eye on Ragnar(shaman needz to die soon)

>>28290641

No no, we don't want to raze the city just yet. We'll wait until our forces from the mines arrive before we do that. No reason to make ourselves homeless before we take our leave.

>>28290695
as long as it is razed when we leave for Vampiria

>>28290692

Don't you think that taking our mage with us might be advantageous fighting an unknown foe? Also, where does the alchemist go?

>>28290730
WE are the mage, Ragnar is worth next to nothing. I would like for him to have "an accident" while we are away, I have never trusted him.
Alchemist goes down the hatch imo, maybe eating him will make us impervious to acid(you never know until you try)

>>28290785

Heh, I guess it's a choice between a tutor for alchemy/valuable slave and a chance at alchemical resistance.

>>28290847
we could just eat his legs... we got some of Ragnar's magic when we ate his fingers. Maybe we'll at least get some acid resistance for a couple of legs. He doesn't need those for teaching us his secrets. It will be a nice incentive for him to work hard as our Slavelcehmist

>>28290913
Also harder for him to escape our clutches if he decides he doesn't want to be part of our tribe anymore

>>28290913

Hmm, good point. Let's try it. Which leg? Shall we play up our god aspect and tell him to bow before us...then say we demand a sacrifice for the comrade-troll he injured?

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>>28290957
>>28290960

Yeeeesss!
Finally, we haven't eaten anyone in a couple of threads. Remember to cauterize his wounds wit FAIER! so they don't get infected

>Dwarves
>Technology: Average

>>28290990
>You
>Abillity to scroll and see if thread has started: Abyssmal

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>>28290957
>>28290960
>>28290989
>All this agreement with Trull
I think the end is near...
Also, Gronk ate the mayor of the city after it was captured.

>>28291117

Trull is roight propah orky and all tat, juss wants us tah be cunnin' AND brutal is all, like Mork!

>>28291117

Have we tried our hand at sitting through tedious council meetings to see if our skill in that expanded as a result?

>>28291355
Nope. I can just see it though.

>Vote Gronk for mayor, a candidate with your heart in mind. And mouth.

Gronk was sure it was time to move, but equally knew that he had to wait a little more. He could not charge off into the wild east in search of rat men and adventure without waiting for the party of trolls and goblins that would soon set off from the mine. Just as he couldn’t leave the city as it was, partially broken and not completely empty. A decision needed to be made, and he had no wish to consult any of those who usually clamoured to give him advice. He had to chose who would go and who would stay. Which son to follow him and which to look after his followers. It was no easy choice, but Gronk was no weak human to worry about the feelings of others. He put them both where they would be of most use to him, and where they were least likely to fail him.

He began to make preparations for leaving, rounding up slaves to go to the mine and goblins and humans to follow him to the east. Moruk and Vulug both understood what he was doing, and tried not to show that they were in any way bothered. Moruk continued hunting down traders, bringing in a few every couple of days, and Vulug didn’t cease training with the human soldiers. When Gronk was ready, he told them of his decision. Moruk was to return to the mine and rule it in Gronk’s absence. Vulug would follow Gronk and learn from him while they battled the skaven. It was obvious which one they both though had won. Gronk talked to Moruk about the reasons for his decision and placated him with the offer of continuing to hunt the traders when he wanted to, but it was clear Moruk considered this Vulug being placed above him. He would obey Gronk, but he was resentful.

>This has been kind of a messy session. I have to leave now, but will archive the thread first. Next thread is same time next week, with a new update in the OP. I'll post it a little earlier so we can get going faster.