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>>44966859
It was another day of rest before you felt strong enough to resume your work. Darlesia was on the brink of warring in the streets as the Taouran soldiers occupying the city hunkered down and the resistance lost most of its leadership. With Volante moving south with a force likely to be the same size as yours you needed to deal with the enemy in the city so they couldn’t flank you. The problem was that you only had a matter of days before the vampire general reached you – if he hadn’t stopped at the Wall of Lesia to muster more troops he’d likely be upon you in two days as it was.

As you dressed for a day of surprises on the city streets, you noted glumly that your old breastplate wasn’t exactly serviceable anymore. Previously you’d been able to get a mage such as Maloric to fix up any dents and small damage, but Lady Serat had left enormous rents across it that would require a significant amount of new steel to fix. New steel…

“Gnome, you could fix my breastplate? I’ve seen you summon stone and iron before,” you say to your Champion, turning to her from the table where your equipment is.

>continued

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>>44966871
Rolling over on the bed where she had been lounging, Gnome gives you a shake of her head. It looks more like she’s trying to push her head further into the pillow.

“Steel is a little complicated to create with magic,” she says. “Pure iron is relatively simple, but steel needs carbon and often other alloying materials. Then there’s the fact that the steel in your breastplate is likely reinforced with magic, which I can’t replicate easily. I could make existing steel stronger or repair a cheaper iron breastplate, but steel is more the domain of mages and dwarves.

“I could also create an iron breastplate for you?” she offers but you wave it off.

Clicking your tongue, you place your breastplate back on the table. You’d have to go without until you could get a proper replacement. An iron breastplate would be nearly useless against magical weapons – even steel could fail against the simpler enchantments, not to mention what use it would serve against Volante.

You made it your mission to get a new breastplate before fighting Volante. Just in case.

It’s nearly noon, which means Maloric should hopefully have found the mages he was searching for today. You fire off a sending to him to check up on him.

[DC57/80 Tracking Mages]

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>44966901

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>44966985
>>44966901
shit I forgot to reply. Also next time we talk to the Mage League we should pressure them about the support vamps are getting.

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>>44967020
Did you want to do that before you fight off Volante? Or wait until you've secured Darlesia?

Rolled 4 (1d100)

>>44966901

>>44967054
I was thinking just the next time we talked to them. Now that you ask I want to do it before the Volante fight.

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>44966901

Anyone else not getting twitter notifications for when aspie tweets?

>>44966985
So, is this going to be used or not?

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>>44967290
Yes

>>44967178
Mine literally only just showed up.

>>44967329
Cool, thanks Asp.

>>44967020
We don't have any evidence they're being supported just yet. And even so, it would be best to wait until after Volante. This is because then we have real leverage. Before then, it seems desperate and they'd be disinclined to help us without asking for something in return. After we deal with Volante, we don't have any major current threats. We won't appear backed into a corner. We have a bit of leverage.

Since Mana Leech worked well on Aladria, does that mean it might work well on Volante as well?

>>44967453
I feel that his mana pool would be way too large for that to be worth our time.

>>44967453
I wouldn't dare use it against Volante. He's too strong without magic, and we badly need to use ours. No, for Volante we need a full mana pool and spam the fuck out of magic.

>>44967477
It's not about draining his mana, it's about fucking up his strange regen.
If Aladria's regen was like a constant active spell, it seems to me like Volante's might also be.
>>44967502
We could time it so our 2 minutes of Mana Leech will be just about up when we first attack him, so that if we see that it isn't working we can start using magic, and if it is working we can reactivate Mana Leech.

>>44967140
Alright just to expand on this I'll relay my thoughts. If we push the League to stop Shropham from helping the vamps we get much more opportunity in the future. It halts much of the vamp military machine should things go smoothly. It also creates more tension between factions in the league. If they refuse to stop supporting vamps we could threaten them with friends in the Guard. We dont have to act on the threat but our history is a bit more well known now so it carries some weight. If Shropham is ejected from the League over this it could open more conquest diplomacy options regarding them. The League itself has much riding on the supply line going through Darlesia and we would be missing a great chance to get something without having to promise anything.

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>Higher target met

The reply was terse, “Met the mages. Being taken to meet the grand magister coordinating them.”

You let a smile cross your face for a few seconds following the sending as the news sunk in. Not only was Mal meeting with the leader of the mages holed up but there was a grand magister present. Likely the former head of a tower. In a nation as militant as Darlesia it was likely he was also decent at combat and might be able to make a strong contribution if you could convince him to aid you. You had few doubts about getting the Darlesians to help you – the vampires had destroyed their nation after all.

“You look happy,” Gnome says. “Good news?”

You repeat the news you received as you secure your sword by your side.

“That’s a strong start. I wonder if any of the combat magisters and spellblades in Darlesia survived,” Gnome muses. She’s finally decided to stop rolling around on the bed, standing up and stretching. “A strong base for an empire, if you don’t mind having such a strong base of mages.”

>continued

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>>44967615
You frown at that. Your suspicions of mages weren’t so easy to dismiss – years of teachings didn’t vanish so easily, particularly given how history tended to paint mages. Part of you hoped that whatever mages you dug up from the ruins of this city would be of the more relatable type – the Vitrian magisters had seemed exactly the sort of political animals that caused many of the problems that mages were vilified for.

Except in the League, of course. You had no real intentions of ever forging your empire in a way that resembled the League but the reality was that they were a powerful neighbour. They were also currently backing your opponent in Taour via Shropham at the same time they wanted to make use of the land around Darlesia to reinforce their front. That could be useful leverage, if only you had more concrete support for it. They had a fair bit to offer you, given that it would be entirely possible to circumvent the Wall of Lesia to the north if you could go through their lands. Even just getting them to stop the support of Taour would prevent the vampires from resupplying so easily after losses.

The downside was that working with them at all would draw the ire of the RSK. In the short-term that likely wouldn’t matter, but it would make for a rocky start. You…

>1. Contact that Magi League now via Rayza to see if you can’t negotiate some support.
>2. Don’t contact the Magi League now.
>3. Custom

>>44967647
>>2. Don’t contact the Magi League now.


>>44967592
We don't know that Shropham IS supporting the vamps yet.

>>44966901
>>44967615
Gnome is cute
>>44967647
>>2. Don’t contact the Magi League now.

>>44967592
If Stropham gest pushed out of the League (which they won't at such a seemingly critical juncture in the war with the RSK) they'll just have even more freedom in backing Taour and crushing us.
If the League officially tells Stropham to stop supporting Taour, they'll just do so under the table secure in the knowledge that the League can't spare the effort to actually enforce their demands or even get proof of Stropham's wrongdoing.

Just trade for military access if you'er going to make a deal.

>>44967647
>1. Contact that Magi League now via Rayza to see if you can’t negotiate some support.
Only in that I want them to stop supporting the vamps. It also helps us split the League just a little bit.
>>44967678
It says in the update we do

>>44967678
>We don't know that Shropham IS supporting the vamps yet.
Anon, I...
>>44967647
>They were also currently backing your opponent in Taour via Shropham

>>44967647
>1. Contact that Magi League now via Rayza to see if you can’t negotiate some support.
If the RSK start bitching we'll just tell them it's to get rid of the vampires.

>>44967647
>2. Don’t contact the Magi League now.

>>44967647
>1. Contact that Magi League now via Rayza to see if you can’t negotiate some support.

I'm uncertain here.
I want to makea deal with them but I'd prefer to do so from a greater position of strength.
At the same time, even if we take down Volante, it will be costly so we won't look that strong either and there's a good chance that they'll take ignoring them for so long badly enough that it hurts any negotiations.

I don't know how confident we are in the Farun military, but since Volante is likely the biggest threat Taour has, could we try to have a combination of Vitrian and Farosian(?) forces take Trembin and the surroundings while we occupy the Taour in Darlesia? We lost a fair bit of troops there, do they have one of the generals with them, maybe the one that commented on our ring?

>>44967793
>We lost a fair bit of troops there
lost was meant to be left, obviously.

>>44967790
ya better to try now

>>44967647
>1. Contact that Magi League now via Rayza to see if you can’t negotiate some support.
I'll just go with this for now and hope I can change my vote in time if here some decent arguments.

>>44967793
Likely not.
They still have Darius and a strong army.
Even without Volante we won't have an advantage if our own hero units aren't present and with them actually having one of theirs in Hiien, that's not really a fight our guys can win.

>>44967647
>>2. Don’t contact the Magi League now.

>>44967647
>1. Contact that Magi League now via Rayza to see if you can’t negotiate some support.

>>44967537
I think you misunderstood how vampire regen works. It will happen so long as they have sufficient mana. Serat ran out because we were able to inflict both massive trauma and use mana drain on what she had left. I very much doubt that Volante would allow us to cut his head off 50 times in a row while finding spare time to use mana leech.

>>44967647
>2. Don’t contact the Magi League now.

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>>44967678
>We don't know that Shropham IS supporting the vamps yet.
There's enough rumours and intelligence to support that they are (which is why Saul says they are), though that isn't exactly concrete proof.

Anyway, this is a 1 unless people decide to change their votes. Writing.

>>44967647
Would 1 lock us into trying to get support? I kind of just want to rub what we did into Rayza's face.

>>44967936
That seems massively counterproductive.
Talking with them won so using the next vote to turn this into nothing but souring our only somewhat decent contacts in the League instead of trying to come to any agreement at all just seems to be a spite vote.

>>44967936
I think it locks us into a conversation. But ya I want to rub killing Aladria into her face, seeing as she didnt know Aladria was here, or she didnt want to tell us. Not to mention her lying about the Merce thing.

>>44967914
I think you misunderstand how vampire regen works, especially when it's not simple Blood regen like the guy we killed before we summoned Gnome.
Mana Leech worked so well on "Serat" because her regeneration was more like an active, continuous spell that she was casting, and she wasn't well as good as Saul at magic and directly resisting magic. She didn't run out of mana, but us using Mana Leech still stopped her from regenerating the cut we made and released a ton of the mana she was pumping into her spell.
Unless I'm misinterpreting Asp's answer on his ask, Saul should be assuming this right now.

>>44967997
Refresh my memory, did definitely catch her in a lie and what did she lie about?

>>44968074
We don't know if she lied or not, but she said there are no vampires in here because she found none outside of the keep and the keep didn't have enough power to ping as a vampire.

>>44968074
We didnt 100%know she lied about anything. I believe she lied about the vamps thing to keep us out of the city. I also believe she lied about the Merce comment. Maybe she thought we knew Merce due to our relative strength. Merce had no reason to make any comment that made us sound good because we never met her before. Also I cant believe she would say anything nice about us but thats just leftover feeling from last time.

>>44968133
But anon said something about a Merce thing?

In any case, that probably wasn't so much as her simply doing some political posturing to legitimize her own position.
First thing about politics is deny, deny, deny everything that supports the other guy's position, even if it's blatantly untrue just so they have to work to make even the most basic arguments count.
For the same reason she probably started with this being League territory, even though it obivously isn't.

Once again it's also worth noting that she has no idea she's dealing with a would-be emperor who's sovereignty she was at least somewhat questioning, because as far as she is aware we're still a mercenary spell-blade/warlord hired on by a mix of Darlesian resistance and Vitria, so what she was doing was more aimed at getting us to jump ship than attacking us.
Basically, she thought she was attacking Darlesian/Vitrian authority with those comments, not our own.

>>44968267
She might have lied about the Merce comment, but it's not like that really matters.
The only reason she dropped that comment was to hint at "If you jump ship to the League you'll have patrons up really high".
Could be a lie of course, but could also have been true, simply because getting us to jump ship would have given the League Darlesia, Harromont and fucked over Stropham, so Merce could have given her okay out of poitical calculation.

>>44967647
>>2. Don’t contact the Magi League now.

Slowpoking here for a vote that won't count.

>>44968354
Cont.>
In either case though, since the ploy doesn't actually work with a guy who plans to be Emperor himself it doesn't apply to us and Merce has to reevaluate us under the header of "Independant would-be Emperor" instead of "mercenary spellblade and warlord" anyways.

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This update became huge. Sorry.

>1.

Realising that you can’t do everything via sending you try to arrange a meeting with Rayza about what’s happening here. You leave out anything about asking for support, so as not to give her any ideas that you need them. Negotiations might not take place from a position of strength, but you wouldn’t show any weakness.

The meeting itself was to take place later today, around dusk. That made you suspicious of what was going on, particularly given how long of a delay there was before she responded. At the very least you would hold the meeting in the keep, with Lynn keeping watch to see if there were any nasty traps waiting for you. In the meantime you would wait for Maloric to contact you again and organise the invasion of Darlesia itself. A swift assault would help you secure the city in time to prepare for Volante but if it went wrong you could suffer considerably losses. Anything slower, including waiting for reinforcements from the Darlesian mages or the League, would leave you with precious little time to prepare for Volante’s attack.

As dusk approaches your men are in position outside of the city should you give the order but you haven’t heard back from Maloric. You frown as you realise that you’d spent most of the day cloistered in the keep preparing for an invasion tonight instead of out on the streets. Then again, you had every intention of putting things in train tonight. The Darlesian mages, the League and even the city itself would be dealt with shortly.

Once you’ve managed to get Gnome to tidy up.

“Did you need to roll around on the bed so much,” you say to her.

Gnome had managed to make a complete mess of her hair through the day by spending half of it on the bed. Not sleeping, just lounging around. The other half was spent doing some martial practice. She didn’t seem all that concerned about it, saying, “We’re meeting a pair of spellblades. Nobody is going to care about my hair.”

>cont

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>>44968777
“What if it’s not just the spellblades? What if somebody recognises you?” you say. “The fact that the meeting was delayed tells me something is up and I have a feeling there’s going to be somebody coming that is a little more important than a mere spellblade.”

Frowning, Gnome thinks for a second and then shrugs. “It will be fine.”

“It’s not fine. Come here,” you say, herding your familiar to a chair.

A few minutes of impromptu grooming later, you feel a little less nervous about the meeting. Gnome was supposed to be a rock of support, not the person people stared at in a meeting because she looked like she had just woken up. Especially because some people would be all too aware that she doesn’t sleep and wonder why she had been on a bed at all.

The great hall of the keep was, as it turns out, the room that had been exposed to the world via the massive rent in the stonework you had seen from outside. With dusk falling you began to fill the room with wisps of light, deciding that a slightly fey atmosphere would be better for a possible meeting with mages. The now weak rays of the sun still filled the centre of the room, while you waited on the far side in near darkness for a possible attack. Lynn had indicated three people coming, not two.

“I had figured you for the blunt type to meetings, but here you are worrying all too much about something relatively unimportant,” Gnome says, reaching out to ruffle your hair.

You scowl and dodge her hand. “The Vitrian nobles are merchants. Whoever is coming now could very well be far more powerful and important.”

“Could,” Gnome says. “But probably not.”

A voice suddenly reaches out from the darkness in the keep beyond, “I’d correct you but I suspect you would ignore me out of stubbornness.”

>continued

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>>44968815
Your heart damn near froze as you recognised that voice. It had been a few years ago, when you had been on the plains of Bisrum as part of the League armies. The voice had been like a bell, but with a strength that belied her power. You had expected somebody with some negotiating power, but this was…

Three women step into the great hall and the lights of the wisps. The two at the rear are almost certainly Rayza and Moonblade – you suddenly realise what it was about Moonblade’s voice that bothered you. She was Pharosian, wearing a mixture of Gauron and Pharosian armour but carrying two slightly curved blades that Jirou had told you about. Both were long, but one was nearly as tall as you if measured from tip to tip. She had long black hair that hung loosely but that would almost certainly be tied up in some way during battle. The other spellblade was relatively tall and lithe. If you had her height then the two of you would probably have been more similar in build, excepting the differences in gender. Rayza was an infamous spellblade, having risen to prominence rapidly during the war.

>continued

Last part was just that little bit too long to fit in, sadly.

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>>44968883
In front of the two was an elf. Her pointed ears were briefly visible as she brushed her long light brown hair to one side and gave Gnome a rather acidic smile. When she turned to you her smile became slightly more normal and sincere. She gave you a slight bow at the waist, just deep enough to be respectful, and you noted the way the runes on her dress clothes glittered. The language was elven and they glowed in the darkness around her, making it clear that she was still very well protected.

“I apologise for arriving so late but it takes some time to get here from Haylsburg at such short notice,” says General Mercenie of the Magi League, familiar of Archmage Alyce of Lyss and one of the few remaining magical aefir – a race of elves once famous for their immense magical power. “Before we begin, a nicety – would you prefer that I refer to you as Lord Rorsgrov or Lord Waise?”

It was a hard choice, when it came down to it. You hadn’t thought about it too deeply before. Would you take on your family name, even if it meant more openly acknowledging your Guard and noble background? Or continue with the name of orphans? Or let people call you whatever they will?

>1. Rorsgrov
>2. Waise
>3. It doesn’t matter
>4. Custom

Note that this decision doesn’t have a huge impact.

>>44968928
>>1. Rorsgrov

>>44968928
>1. Rorsgrov

>>44968928
>3. It doesn’t matter

>>44968928
>1. Rorsgrov

>>44968928
>Saul will do
This is a horrible idea don't vote for this

>>44968928
>3. It doesn’t matter
We are Saul. The last name's for show only.

>>44968928
>3. It doesn’t matter
We started with only using it out of politcal calculation so we shouldn't be giving it additional value now.
Especially since actually giving a shit makes her digging out that piece of info before this meeting appear more valuable.

>>44968928
>3. It doesn’t matter

>>44968928
>1. Rorsgrov

>>44968928
Also, given the prior characterization, is 1 even in character?

>>44968928
3

>>44968928
>>3. It doesn’t matter

>>44968928
>>2. Waise
We cut ties from our noble past. We adopted this life, might as well accept it.

>>44968997
I don't think she had to dig deep, we publicly used it in Vitria, those things travel fast.

>>44969045
Not in the slightest.

>>44969045
ya since it would not be a option if it was not and this vote does not matter anyway

>>44968928
>>3. It doesn’t matter

>>44969045
It's definitely not out of character, as we took the name Waise out of necessity and have no personal/emotional reason not to return to our surname.

>>44969084
Course she didn't have to, but she still brought it up.
It's a very minor thing, but it's still a "look at me knowing this stuff already" move, so all other things being equal the correct response is to declare "I don't really care".

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>>44969045
It's a name. Saul hasn't shown any problems with his family or name - he shed it to avoid drawing attention to himself, not because he hated his family. The other choices so far are not to emphasis his background but a name doesn't affect that too much.

>>44968928
>1. Rorsgrov
saul does not hate his name

>>44969134
It does fly in the face of Saul previously dismissing his noble title as irrelevant, just another tool to be used attitude.

>>44968928
>2. Waise
We've taken steps to not emphasize our lineage except when necessary.

>>44969233
He dismissed his noble status, not his name.

>>44968928
>>3. It doesn’t matter

What's in a name.

>>44969233
I voted for not caring, but she's going to be calling him "Lord" in any case though.
It's about the name, not the title.

I hope she calls us Rorsgrov though, that name is cool.

>>44968928
>3. It doesn’t matter

>>44969233
Thing there is it's not like he really cares either way. It is likely best to just use his original name or just tell people he doesn't care either way.

His original name is pretty useful at rallying some noble support.

Why did we call this meeting again? Because to me it seems like doing so was a mistake.

>>44968928
>1. Rorsgrov
may as well us this name

>>44969345
From the looks of it to pull Magi league support to either go around the wall or to try and slow Shropham's support down.

We'll need to calm the RSK down if we actually do this though.

>>44969435
or take over RSK land

>>44969435
Or we fuck them up after taking all the small stuff in this area.

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>3.

Calming your nerves after seeing one of the most powerful women on the continent enter the room, you think through the answer. In the end you admit to yourself that you’re leaning towards using your family name – you hardly felt ashamed of it. With that said, this meeting was political rather than friendly and Mercenie was playing a game here. The fact that she had dug up your name so soon after you have taken Vitria was her making a point that she knew plenty about you.

“You can call me what you like,” you say, not wanting to give her anything right at the start of negotiations.

Mercenie blinks at that, clearly surprised. Then she smiles more broadly, “Lord Saul it is, then.”

It took a lot of effort on your part not to scowl openly at that. You may have gotten away with it in the darkness at this end of the hall but her vision was probably enhanced. Calling you that reduced you to a child rather than the lord of a family and holder of title. The obvious insult grated on you.

“I see you haven’t changed in the least, Merce,” Gnome says coldly. “If you’re going to cast about an idea of childishness, shouldn’t it be towards the general of a front who traipses away of a night during an important campaign? Or traipses away from campaigns in general?”

>continued

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>>44969680
In one fell swoop Gnome turns the tables on the aefir, with Merce’s face turning towards anger at first before it dissipates and she turns away. She looks at the ground with a distraught look. It takes you several seconds to realise that she is genuinely hurt by Gnome’s words. You do her a courtesy and look slightly to one side so you don’t see anything she would prefer you not to. This felt too… personal.

“That’s not fair, Gnome,” Merce says, her voice thick with emotion. “You don’t know what happened then.”

The hall falls silent as even Gnome seems lost for words. You’re not quite sure what Merce had gotten so caught up over, and neither is Gnome for that matter. Or perhaps she is but had expected a more fiery reaction – everything you had heard made you expect Merce to fire back in an instant, not look like she’d just been told her beloved puppy died and it was her fault.

You…

>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.
>2. Apologise for Gnome, though unless you know what is the reason to apologise things might not work out.
>3. Steer the meeting back to business and hope the two can sort this out later.
>4. Custom

The meeting will get down to business shortly but introducing Merce given Gnome's history with her demands a more personal scene.

>>44969711
>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.

>>44969711
>>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.

>>44969711
>>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.

>>44969711
>>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.

>>44969711
>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.
Would Merce know that Gnome had died?

>>44969711
>>2. Apologise for Gnome, though unless you know what is the reason to apologise things might not work out.
She's blaming Merce for what happened to her previous master.

>>44969711
>>3. Steer the meeting back to business and hope the two can sort this out late

>>44969808
>Would Merce know that Gnome had died?
Probably. Remember, her master was the apprentice of Gnome's former master.

>>44969454
I'd rather not pick a fight with someone as useful as the RSK. I'd honestly rather not even get too deeply involved with the league either.

>>44969711
>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.
Aspie, just letting you know you might fall back onto old writing habits that you wanted to steer away from.

>>44969711
>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.

>>44969711
>>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.

This in itself could be useful. A personal Connection with the archmages familiar. Along with a possible emotional outburst to allow us to learn more about her.

>>44969869
What are you referring to? Because I'm enjoying this.
>>44969711
>>3. Steer the meeting back to business and hope the two can sort this out later.
Let's have everyone sideline personal matters for now, I'm sure you there will be plenty of time to catch up afterwards.

>>44969711
>1. Wait for Gnome or Mercenie to resume their… personal conversation? Or whatever had just happened.

I kind of do want Gnome to apologize, because this does seem rather of serious in retrospect, but this is also emotional enough of an issue that simply intruding is probably a bad idea.

Keep in mind that from her perspective Lairos showed up, started killing people, swatted her aside and made off with Alice in tow leaving Merce behind feeling rather useless and all kinds of shit.
And then there's that whole "Alice proceeded to make a deal with him for magical knowledge, said deal involved a sexual encounter that was rapish than anyone would want and bearing Lairos child, which then had to be raised somehow.
Given how close Merce and Alice are and that this shit happened without any input from Merce and right after the emotionally devastating kidnapping... Yeah, probably a lot of baggage attached to that mess, even /before/ adding the fact that when they came back Taren Hand was dead and Gnome was gone (not sure if they know she also died).

>>44969711
>Kind of just, look at Rayza or something. Does she know what just happened?

>>44970219
>Stand awkwardly in the corner with the other two people in the room who aren't old hags
>Maybe discuss what books you read recently while the old people work out their emotional issues and have some make-up sex

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>>44970282
>Stand awkwardly in the corner with the other two people in the room who aren't old hags
If Rayza is still a dragon then she's like 60.

>>44970329
She's much closer to our age than to Gnome or Merce's though.
How old was Moonblade supposed to be again?

>>44970329
Psst. We don't know that yet!

>>44970329
Rayza is pure though. Making her not a hag. Gnome and Mercenie are about as impure as it gets. So they are like Baba Yaga tier hags.

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>>44970474
>implying Gnome and Mercie look like pic related

>>44970526
I look at the soul anon. The spirit. You can have a rocking hot body but if your internals are rotten your a hag.

>>44970605
Lyria is a used goods old hag

>>44970633
nigger I will fight you she is semi-pure

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>1.

This scene is a little too personal for your liking but you also can’t just gloss over it. Glancing back at Gnome you see that she looks a little lost. You give her a look and nudge your head towards Mercenie.

Gnome just looks at you, her eyes wide and confused.

You jerk your head to Mercenie a little more obviously, hoping the spellblades aren’t watching to see this. It seems you got through a little better this time as Gnome grimaces and, looking somewhat sheepish, steps forward.

“Merce, that’s… not quite how I meant it,” Gnome says haltingly, her words as awkward as she looks. It was clear enough to everybody that Gnome wasn’t the sort to apologise or back down. Then again, neither was Mercenie from what you had heard. “I’m not blaming you for anything.”

“Your words say otherwise,” Mercenie says, looking back at Gnome with at least some fire, even if it is clearly overwhelmed by her sorrow. “I don’t blame you for blaming me or Alyce, but you don’t know what happened.”

Not wanting to look at Merce while she looks far too vulnerable for such a great general you instead look at Rayza and Moonblade. The latter is staring directly forward, as if she was a statue and this wasn’t happening. Rayza looked… amused? She would pay that for that expression if Mercenie found out about it, you felt.

You poke Gnome in the side to get her to respond again, garnering a dark look in return before she turns back to the aefir and says, “I didn’t but I’ve been able to piece plenty together. Lairos attacked, things went wrong. We would have lost in Bisrum even without support, things went poorly in Ahm for political reasons.”

Then, as if bursting from frustration, Gnome says, “Look, Merce, you were supposed to just fire back. Like usually happens. Not burst into tears.”

>continued

>>44970633
Oh, now it's on motherfucker.
You just woke the dragon.

>>44970633
Lyria is pure. Otherwise a pure maid like Saul wouldn't be interested in her.

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>>44970670
“Still a heart of stone,” you barely catch Merce mutter to herself, wiping at her eyes with her hands. “Fine, we’ll move on. And talk about this later.” Mercenie then straightens herself out and turns back to you with a hint of a smile. “Lord Rorsgrov, thank you for proposing this meeting. I think we have plenty to discuss, even if it’s not entirely official.”

You frown at that and respond rather bluntly. “You’re the right-hand of the most powerful person in the League. How can this not be official?”

Looking sheepish, Mercenie responds without looking at you, “Ah, well, Alyce doesn’t know about this and probably would prefer this meeting not to happen. Fortunately, I have enough discretion regarding military matters to hold this meeting regardless.

“With that said,” she continues, straightening up, “I’m curious to hear what you want to speak to the League about and how we might help you. You know what we want – supply lines and military access through the lands to the south-west of Darlesia. Ideally we would also have your support against the RSK, as we had personally from you over the past few years, but discussions about that will have to wait for the vampires to be dealth with.”

>Breif discussion about what you want to bring up with her, just to clarify if there are any extra points people want to raise that I may have missed.

anyone have anything to add

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What I've seen so far:
Maybe push the League over Shropham's support of Taour.
Ask for military support against Volante.
Ask for access around the Wall of Lesia.

>>44970707
>Here unofficially
The meeting between important people is always a matter of great importance. If she is here unofficially she likely cant give us what we want.
With that said we want the league to keep its higher-ups in line. Supporting vamps here in Taour would give the Guard a great excuse to get interested.

>>44970841
1 and 3 seem good but not sure about asking for military support

>>44970707
We'll want to avoid military support against he RSK. We'll also need to question them about what the league in general is thinking with Shropham.

Ideally we'll really want to figure out a method of staying neutral and not getting dragged into this war. Economic support is fine just because one treaty doesn't stop another from being formed with the guard or RSK.

>>44970841
>Maybe push the League over Shropham's support of Taour.

Honestly, I've been going on about this for the last few threads so there's not much to add anymore.
I'd love military access back, so we can bypass those vampire fuckers and at the very least force some caution by being abloe to directly threaten Taour.

If we can't negotiate that much up, I'd be willing to move negotiate down to at least stopping Stropham's support, though in an ideal fairy tail world we'd get both.

I'm significantly less keen on getting actual assisstance agaisnt Volante from them, partly because that gives them more wiggle room in the negotiations but primarily because we have little rep to speak of and involving them would not only reduce how much we gain from the fight but also make our association with the League look a lot closer to the outsider, which isn't really what the thread seems to want.
Big shame because we may of course die without them, but yeah.
If we could get it as a freebie I'd still go for it, but I doubt we could, unless we can sell them on the value of fucking up Taour and that we may need them without appearing weak as fuck, which I kind of doubt.

>>44970906
that was not vote for stuff post dude

>>44970670
What about the third spellblade, what was she doing?
>>44970707
Do we want to mention something about maybe, in exchange for our hypothetical future support against the RSK, we could have access to the Ahm PoP? Of course, don't say it out loud, just use some vague terms that will give us an opportunity to gain access to it or something.
Anyway I think the main thing I'm thinking of right now is mutual passage, us letting them maintain supply lines(but not military control) through our lands, us protecting our own borders even from RSK(thus also protecting their supply lines), and us getting a pass around the Wall of Lesia, I guess? I still think we shouldn't bother with that and instead focus on advancing our northern front, though.
Maybe bargain for some magical knowledge, since we have 3 powerful and exotic spellblades here, they could give us some good things to experiment about?

>>44970868
There is always meetings between powerful people that are unofficial that determines how things will go.

Assuming you have the transportation capacity anyway. But even in like the low middle ages powerful people could alter the state of affairs with just an idea on what they'll do.

Given Merce controls most of the league army I think she could likely wrangle the Archmage into anything we need and she has her own authority.

>>44970707
Obviously mention that Lady Terce is dead.

Other than that, you pretty much covered everything below.

Maybe talk briefly about our intentions this far. Make it clear that we don't care to be dragged into war with any of the big powers, but we intend to at least secure the immediate area.

>>44970707
Unofficially ask for her unofficial stance on the rumours surrounding Shophram's involvement with Taour.

>>44970841
Military support is too blunt and in your face for me. That's sure to make an enemy of RSK.

>>44970868
She has military authority though.
Assisstance she can grant us trivially, access probably if we use it quickly enough and reducing taour's support is the thing that would require the political clout of Alyce, which she may not give because she doesn't want the deal.

So even though, my priorities are access over undermining Stropham over military help, we might want to demand access or bust and try to get assistance for free on top of that.

>>44970841
>Ask for military support against Volante.

If we do ask for military assistance, maybe in the form of just hero units. Anything else might be too obvious.

>>44970951
>Do we want to mention something about maybe, in exchange for our hypothetical future support against the RSK, we could have access to the Ahm PoP? Of course, don't say it out loud, just use some vague terms that will give us an opportunity to gain access to it or something.
NO. STRAIGHT UP NO. NO ONE MUST KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ALL OF THAT. EVEN IF THEY GUESS, WE CAN'T LET THEM KNOW.

Would like to remain neutral. As much as access to bypass the Wall of Lesia would be, I feel it would come at to great a cost.

>>44970938
A bigger issue to me with Military support is letting a foreign army on your lands to help tends to be a terrible idea. All it takes is them realizing they are larger and already in the land and it's over.

As it is now attacking us just leads to us backing the other power so it's kind of a deadlock situation. We're also handling the vampires so we are more useful as we are to them. Which is likely why the league hasn't gotten too deeply involved or the RSK.

>>44971060
Hero units are high profile though, especially when Taour can benefit from telling Stropham who can use it to discredit Merce as overreaching beyond her authority.
If any enemies ID them and survive the battle, it definitely gets out.

Maybe promise to stay not support the RSK against the League unless the League itself acts hostile towards us first, and to provide support if the RSK doesn't like us being neutral and tries something?
This should establish us as someone who doesn't want to start trouble and that we have no problem with the league, which should improve our standing regarding the "Should Alyce come and obliterate this whole land before they become annoying?" thing.
>>44971024
We don't want assistance.

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>>44970951
>What about the third spellblade, what was she doing?
There are only three women: Merce, Rayza and Moonblade.

SHROPHAM VOTE
>1. Confront Mercenie about Shropham's support of the Taouran vampires and the difficulties it is causing.
>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.
>3. Leave Shropham out of it altogether.

I think I've got enough now to set the tone for the rest of the negotiations. The main theme I'm going with is that whatever support is offered or requested, the idea is to try not to upset the RSK too much. There'll be a few votes on matters over the next two updates or so.

>>44971140
>>1. Confront Mercenie about Shropham's support of the Taouran vampires and the difficulties it is causing.

>>44971102
Odds are we wouldn't even get troops enough to occupy anything.
Either just the two spellblades or at most one team to take down Volante.

>>44971140
>1. Confront Mercenie about Shropham's support of the Taouran vampires and the difficulties it is causing.
Being polite about it wont cause change.

>>44971140
>> 1. Confront Mercenie about Shropham's support of the Taouran vampires and the difficulties it is causing.

>>44971140
>>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.
I don't want to try to pressure them, I just want to get a feel for their attitude on it.

>>44971140
>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.
Merce has military authority not, political and actually doing something about this requires political authority.
There is literally no reason for us to bring this up as a demand because that just weakens our position in the rest of the negotiation.

>>44971140
>>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.
Maybe get a feel about what she'd think if we pressured Shophram regarding/because of this.

>>44971140
>1. Confront Mercenie about Shropham's support of the Taouran vampires and the difficulties it is causing. don't really care about upsetting the RSK we should nab land from them when we are stable

>>44971140
>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.
Alyce might actually notice this and stonewall her because we're evil Mage Guard nobility.
Better save demands for stuff she can actually deliver.

>>44971140
>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something
>Mention that Rayza missed a spot when scouring for vampires.

>>44971140
>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.

>>44971140
>>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.
Also mention the death of Lady Terce.

>>44970633
But she's yours

>>44971311
You mean Serat who was actually Aladria?

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>>44971311
Why exactly do you want to bring up Terce?

>>44971140
>>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.

>>44971329
I totally meant Serat. Sorry, It's late here. I'm used to calling her Aladria anyways.
>>44971321
Right you are.

>>44971329
you got a portrait of Lady Serat? I keep imagining her as that one vampire from the Overlord animu

>>44970841
>Maybe push the League over Shropham's support of Taour.
This one is a must, as long as we can convince Merce Shropham is really supporting the vampires. It would not take too much haggling since this concerns their internal politics, and might drive a wedge between them if it wasn't already there.
>Ask for military support against Volante.
I don't think this is a good idea, as tempting as it sounds. Having their military support would require some sort of binding agreement with Ahm, which would get us locked onto that path.
>Ask for access around the Wall of Lesia.
This should be good, it would save us lots of casualties sieging the wall. Since they want military access with us too, we can make it a fair trade.

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>>44971389
Basically this.

>>44971389
I don't think Aladria is a DFC loli

>>44971329
He likely wants to reveal that we are already handling the vampires and have wiped out two major ones so far and fought off their general.

At least I think so anyway. Might put us a a better position if she thinks we are handling the vampires well.

>>44971432
Hahahahahahahha! >>44971427

>>44971427
>>44971432
I was wrong.
Still not the Shalltear type though.

>>44971427
man I wish we could have gotten her on our side if only she had not tried to mindwammy best girl

>>44971427
Can't we retcon that we recruited her after all?
I was not aware she was so delicious _;

>>44971389
Arcueid sister. That one bitch with the giant dog. That's basically who Aspirational said gave him her looks.

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>>44971432
>>44971471
More mid-late teens (but short) than loli.

>>44971408
>This one is a must, as long as we can convince Merce Shropham is really supporting the vampires. It would not take too much haggling since this concerns their internal politics, and might drive a wedge between them if it wasn't already there.
Of course they already know, they just aren't doing anything about it because they don't care enough due to the war with the RSK and, since Alyce would actually be opposed to this meeting if she knew about it, that's not going to change.
Merce can't apply political pressure on her own and deals have to happen behind Alyce's back or need to be fait accompli once Alyce notices.

>>44971478
The dice doeth will it anon, no way around that.

>mourning generic loli vampire #23415
I'd sooner have had terce

>>44971478
Still wondering if that was outright impossible, required us to see her sobstory or required her to see ours.

>>44971551
ya wonder what we would have seen if we had rolled high for the memory

>>44971478
If it ain't a vampire loli or Blackwater, I'm not interested.

>>44971600
Was already answered.
Aladria when she was a young and weak vampire on the run.

>>44971623
Aladria best vampire girl.

Blackwater best vampire boy.

>>44971660
>tfw there's no cute shota vampire
Life is pain.

>>44971701
You know that gave me a mental image of a vampire shota with anger issues and way too much blood magic. Good luck stabbing a midget vampire with regeneration.

>>44971701
Could have had Finn daywalkered in the last quest, but nooooooooo that would have screwed him up even more so it never got support.

>>44971775
Finn wasn't a cute shota.

>>44971775
It helps that to most people being a daywalker means being a monster. So it's unlikely an elf would go for it.

Takes a special kind of personality to decide to willingly become a daywalker. Though immortality likely drew a lot of the people that went for it into it.

>>44971845
He was pretty fuckable though.

>>44971907
Rayza certainly thought so.

>>44971907
"Finn Let papa show you how it is done."

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>2. Just bring up Shropham's support of Taour, trying to judge Merce's position and maybe she'll do something.

“There are several matters I want to talk to the League about,” you say, then look around. “Do we want to move somewhere slightly more comfortable for the longer discussion? Unless you prefer to stand in darkness.”

“It’s wonderfully moody but a place to sit would be welcome,” Mercenie says, her voice laced with amusement.

You lead the group up to the sitting room near where you’re staying, as it’s the only room with furniture that isn’t a complete mess. It takes considerable effort to ignore the way that Gnome and Mercenie glare at each other and jockey for position on the stairs. Although Gnome had slowly been acting a little more naturally around you, rather than just the brief periods of teasing between her vaguely maternal behaviour, this is the first time you’ve seen her acting so… human.

As you pass through the central room where you fought Aladria you’re forced to stop as Mercenie looks around the room in surprise.

“What the hell happened here?” she asks.

“We fought a vampire,” you answer. “A Lady Serat.”

Mercenie seems to silently roll the name on her tongue then frowns. “I don’t recognise the name, sadly.” Looking to Rayza, she says rather bluntly, “No vampires? Really?”

>continued

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>>44971951
“You don’t know for sure,” Rayza says, glaring at you as if you had personally attacked her.

Rayza’s defense may have lasted a little longer if it hadn’t been completely undercut by Moonblade’s next words, the black-haired swordswoman having been silently observing the room. “I can safely say that a powerful monster here, very similar to a vampire, was fought and defeated here. There is a lot of death here.”

The group falls silent and you try not to give Rayza a smug look. She got what she deserved after talking down to you at first, as far as you were concerned.

You usher the group into the sitting room and take a seat on the largest armchair in the room. The three League women find seats on the other side of the coffee table while Gnome sits on your armrest.

Spotting Mercenie about to snipe at Gnome once again, you immediately cut to the chase, “Shropham. There’s a lot of rumour and intelligence that suggests that the city, or at least individuals inside the city, are supporting the Taouran vampires. I haven’t been able to confirm this so it won’t go any further but…” you trail off, hoping for Mercenie to pick up on things.

[DC57 Negotiation]

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>44971978

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>44971978
priceline negotiator!

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>44971978

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>44971978

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>44971978
Let's do this

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>44971978

>>44972005
Why did you have to roll

>>44972003
Praise be William Shatner.

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>>44972003
Right on target

>>44972003
Damn, son. Great save, though I can't help but feel this first round of negotiations was where we were supposed to pick up extra successes.

>>44972042
We got it mate, don't worry.

>>44972002
>>44972003
>>44972005

You can not be serious.

>>44972008

You can not be Serious.

Talk about winning by the skin of your teeth.

>>44972076
Yeah but we could've had an almost-crit instead of a single degree of success.
I assume this roll wasn't binary.

>>44972134
They are, except for crits and accumulating extra successes for multi round battles and those are "How many of your rolls make the DC?" instead of "By how much?"
Not sure accumulated successes are a thing for non-combat anyways, though.

>>44971978
>Gnome sits on your armrest
That is a hilarious mental image.

>>44972426
Considering how tall she is in the first place, we must now look really tiny in comparison.

>>44972502
Saul really needs to make up for this via putting large ass horns on his Helmet. It's not the height that makes a man scary. It's how large his horns are.

>>44972502
She's probably a good 1.5 heads taller than us in that position.

>>44972570
but anon, that just makes Saul look like he's compensating for something.

>>44972594
>he has three feet in height added by the horns

He's a veritable battering ram with that helmet on.

So when we rebuild Harrowmont should we build a huge comfy cave for Lyria?

>>44972594
Anon. You have to realize nothing is scarier then a man charging you with horns on his Helmet. Other then a man charging you wearing nothing at all in the winter.

Double points if that man is blackwater.

>>44972645
She's a big girl, she can dig one herself, our efforts are better spent on defenses.

>>44972645
we gotta make the best dragon lair for her we can with her own maid staff

>>44972635
>The horns make him seems larger then a Godknight.

>>44972645
Of course.

>>44972645
OF COURSE!

We should definitely build into the mountain more than last time.

Maybe hollow out a cavern for some dwarven emissaries Or for Saul to live in, bless his little heart

>>44972670
Half points if it's Aladria charging.

>>44972645
Ridiculously oversized doghouse with her name on it and everything.
It's the path we're destined for.

>>44972692
Nuh-uh, she can just use a smaller subset part of OUR maid staff!
I mean, we're the emperor, after all.

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>Target met

“Strictly speaking I’m not supposed to speak of internal affairs to outsiders, but as the Taouran vampires are considered an enemy of the League I don’t think anybody could fault me for speaking about this off-the-record,” Merce says. “Shropham is afforded a great deal of latitude and power within the League by virtue of their assistance in the war effort and magitech research. They’re the foremost researchers and developers of magitech templates and factories in the League, with Ahm being a close second.”

“So, as long as they’re not actively hampering the League they’re fine,” you say, trying not to sound bitter.

“Not quite. Proof that they were assisting Taour with military magitech would be very damaging to their position. It’s one thing to provide economic and personal support, but all military assets should be dedicated towards the war effort. Those cities and states on the frontlines would not appreciate being short-changed magitech by a state that isn’t directly threatened.”

You lean back and let that sink in, trying to think of how you could make use of it. For one thing, why was Shropham backing the vampires? Was there some connection between the two? Was it political, economic, personal or just the whimsy of mages?

Taking the front foot while you’re thinking, Gnome says, “So you come here personally as a military representative to tell us that although one of your member states is helping a common enemy, you still want to work with us?”

Merce just rolls her eyes, her voice swapping from somewhat sweet to outright acidic as she addresses her old ‘friend’, “I’m here to negotiate for success on the current League front. I have a lot of latitude in doing so, particularly with a magic-user in good standing such as Lord Rorsgrov here. Despite Alyce’s reservations, I believe actions speak louder than words and I suspect most mages would agree with me.”

>continued

>>44972732
This would be amazing. Just stick a massive golden sign over her cavern.

"The emperor has stated this place is off limits to all for their own safety. If one happens to be so foolish as to disregard this warning do not ask any gods or the emperor for help. For they shall laugh at you."

>>44972739
well I was thinking of having her maids be dragons

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>>44972810
Turning to you and letting her voice revert to her normal tone, Merce says, “Success at Haylsburg could turn the tide of this war and assisting me with achieving that would leave you and your… domain very well placed.”

“Except for the fact that the archmage doesn’t like my history,” you say, cutting through the crap.

“Alyce doesn’t hold all the power,” Merce says simply. “With that out of the way, shall we get down to negotiations?”

“Before that, I do want to make one thing clear,” you say. “I represent two wartorn nations right now. I have no intentions of immediately subjecting them to an even greater war and so will take no sides. If we negotiate anything, I don’t want it to cause the Seraphs to then declare war.”

Merce nods, smiling broadly. “There are rather simple ways around that, though they will be seen through the use of them will prevent any true declarations of war. The RSK get very caught up on sovereignty given the nature of the princedoms. A trade agreement that just so happens to have supplies go through Darlesia and to trading posts surprisingly close to the frontlines, or wagons carrying covered wheat in place of soldiers.”

MILITARY ACCESS
>1. Request military access through the pass near Castle Teffal in order to avoid the Wall of Lesia.
>2. Don’t request military access

MILITARY SUPPORT
>1. Request dedicated military forces to help you stop Volante
>2. Request support of some capable spellblades or mages against the vampires, in the name of ‘vampire hunting’
>3. Don’t request military support

MAGICAL ASSISTANCE
>1. Ask for personal training and support from Merce or the spellblades (relatively difficult to ask for)
>2. Ask for access to research and training information from Ahm
>3. Don’t ask for any magical assistance

Note that this just forms your end of the deal. There'll be a vote on whether to accept whatever final deal is arranged.

>>44972842
>1
>2
>2

>>44972842
>2
>3
>2

>>44972842
1
2
2

>>44972842
>1. Request military access through the pass near Castle Teffal in order to avoid the Wall of Lesia.
>3. Don’t request military support
>2. Ask for access to research and training information from Ahm

>>44972842
1
2
1

>>44972842
>>1. Request military access through the pass near Castle Teffal in order to avoid the Wall of Lesia.
>3. Don’t request military support
>2. Ask for access to research and training information from Ahm
This isn't too much to ask for, in my opinion. Asking for direct military support of any sort is too much.

>>44972842
>1
>3
>3

>>44972842
>1. Request military access through the pass near Castle Teffal in order to avoid the Wall of Lesia.
>2. Request support of some capable spellblades or mages against the vampires, in the name of ‘vampire hunting’
>3. Don’t ask for any magical assistance

Vampire hunting could probably be jsutified and while personal training aids would be great, I can't help but feel we ahve more than enough shit to through XP at for now and cannot benefit from this immediately anyways, so I'm not willing to weaken our psoition in the negotiations for this.

>>44972842
1
3
3

>>44972888
>>44972917
>>44972939
>>44973005
I thought we agreed not to ask for military assistance to not anger the RSK?

>>44972842
>1
>2
>3

>>44973026
two is asking for "vampire hunters" and I would have voted for more troops if it had a chance of winning the RSK is shit

>>44973026
It's not really something I'd assist on, but as is, Volante may just end up killing us unless we can somehow isolate him again.
Getting some dedicated "vampire hunters" is deniable enough for PR purposes that I'd risk it.

>>44973026
>people sticking to their word

>implying everyone agreed

Hey, is this your first rodeo?

Seriously, though. When people "agree" it's usually just a few people and the rest either aren't there or don't care.

>>44972842
>1
>3
>1

>>44972842
>1. Request military access through the pass near Castle Teffal in order to avoid the Wall of Lesia.
>3. Don’t request military support
>3. Don’t ask for any magical assistance
Military access is critical and a hard sell, so favouring that and reducing DCs is important.

>>44972842
>1. Request military access through the pass near Castle Teffal in order to avoid the Wall of Lesia.
>2. Request support of some capable spellblades or mages against the vampires, in the name of ‘vampire hunting’
>3. Don’t ask for any magical assistance

>>44972842
1
2
1

>>44972842
1
3
3

>>44972842
>1
>2
>3

>>44973120
the only hard sell is getting training

>>44972842
>1
>3
>3

>>44973157
It's military access.
Of course it's not going to come cheap.

>>44972842
Honestly for me I would be more interested in getting up to date understanding of technology then anything.

>>44972842
>1
>2
>2

>>44973246
Which would be 2 on the third vote

>>44972842
1
3
3

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Cutting off votes here. 1,3,3 it is.

>>44973299
Was the third option close?

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Though I am kind of curious as to why there are a bunch of people voting for the bare minimum 'give me military access in exchange for allowing you to run supplies and troops through my territory'. Especially after Merce just said the battle could turn on it.

>>44973341
they are retards

>>44973341
They didn't properly read things, I'm guessing.
I'd suggest a revote with some clarification but I don't think I've seen you do that stuff before.
I should've samefagged it

>>44973341
People can't read mostly? Though it could also be used as a method of saying we could have asked more but we won't so remember it when we need you next time.

>>44973341
People are wary of commiting us to an alliance at this point. That's just how tg is.

>>44972842
1
1
2

>>44973440
but none of the options would have put us in an alliance

>>44973341
Why not play hard mode?

>>44973440
Eh, that's still retarded.
Milking the league for what they're worth wouldn't really have us made look more like we're on their side.
It'd have amde us look like opportunists, whereas this almost has us look like sympathizers.

>>44973341
Out of curiosity, how easy would it be to sell their troop movements to the RSK?

>>44973341
Samefagging, probably.

>>44973502
ya by not asking for shit we will be hated by the RSK

>>44973559
heavy samefagging or people being dumb

>>44973559
Probably.
21 of IPs actually voting is a hard sell and spamming the same option that demands only a single thing is kind of suspicious.

>>44973467
Did I say alliance? Well, agreement more like, it's just that the more we ask from them, the more influence they are going to have over us. Though I suspect the main reason people are being indecisive is because of the bad consequences of rushing into an alliance in the original AEQ has a lot of folks spooked, so they are being more careful this time around. I still voted for the specialists.

This isnt really the idea I had when I thought of talking to the League. Really feels like she just brushed off our issues about Shropham. Honestly I dont feel that what was voted for will work out well for us and I would rather just leave the meeting at that. Its to bad she couldnt have sent a diplomat.

>>44973700
she has more pull then a diplomat

Off to bed now, hopefully the samefag won't screw things up even more.

>>44973700
It's more they can't really do much of anything to Shropham without proof. Which is rather obvious. So we just need to get Evidence they are lending magic armor.

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>>44973700
>Its to bad she couldnt have sent a diplomat.
What makes you think anything would have worked out differently with a diplomat? Or that they would have said anything at all about Shropham?

>>44973783
Do we have knowledge on whether or not most of the towers are still holding together under Alyce or currently fracturing?

>>44973783
so are we going with that vote after it was made clear people need not understand what they were voting for/samefagging

>>44973783
>>44973757
>>44973726
Maybe its just me being funny about it. It seems she is here for military reasons (which is fine and fair) but I was thinking about things in a more political sphere. Conversation with her didnt seem to be in the same mindset I had envisioned.

>>44973917
she is number 2 in the ML dude

>>44973907
I'm pretty sure most were just thinking military access is a stupidly hard sell to almost any nation.

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>1,3,3

It didn’t take long to iron out the specifics – you only really want one thing at this stage of the game. If the League can give your men access through their lands then you can avoid one of Taour’s strongest fortresses and directly threaten their capital. If you move east from Trembin you could pincer it or simply take the capital outright.

Merce looks rather pleased with your request. “I had expected you to request more but then there’ll still be plenty for us to grant you regardless. As I said earlier, you could find yourself very well placed.”

That… hadn’t quite occurred to you. Although the RSK couldn’t quite accuse you of directly aiding one side over the other, they certainly would simmer if the League was as successful as Merce believed they would be.

Still, you believed that the benefits would likely outweigh the positives. Helping the League could only help you gain more information and cement your position, and potentially lead you to doing something about Shropham later. Roads could be opened with this route.

You still had your doubts, however. The deal itself is straightforward – you receive military access through eastern League lands in exchange for opening up a ‘trade agreement’ with Ahm, including recognising lands it gained via conquest. What was to be traded would likely include soldiers and plenty of weapons and supplies, but that wasn’t strictly in the deal You.

>1. Sign the deal
>2. Don’t sign the deal

If you're not going to sign it, then I'd appreciate some decent reasons. I'm honestly of half a mind to simply just put it through given how straightforward this is, and every vote so far has led to this (from even agreeing to meet).

>>44973994
>>1. Sign the deal

>>44973949
Military access is one of the most hardest things to sell as it requires trust. Having military access shows that we are at least friendly with that nation. The RSK nobles will see this as us siding with the mages due to the connections. Honor is one of things nobles do try to uphold in the open afterall.

>>44973949
it was a easy sell since it was a one time thing only getting the teaching was hard
>>44973994
aspi what the hell man the last vote needs redone and to only last a max of 2 mins since you let it go on for way the hell to long

>>44973994
>1. Sign the deal

It's straightforward enough for me. Afterwards we can always use the RSK once they are weakened from this and could use some support.

There is very little cost to us.

>>44974040
you fucking idot it was a easy sell for handing them the win in the current battle with the RSK

>>44973994
>1. Sign the deal
Might as well.

>>44973994
Ugh I hate that we undersold ourselves. I almost want to ask for a personal promise to do something about Shropham when we get evidence but she has no reason to uphold it. I guess my answer is
>1. Sign the deal
But I feel really bad about it.

>>44974040
Thing there is this is limited military access in a likely very unofficial capacity. I doubt the league in general is going to advertise this.

>>44973994
>2. Don’t sign the deal
aspi you can not keep a vote like that were people can not add options to vote for open for longer then 5 to 10 mins

>>44974153
I was mentioning that MILITARY ACCESS itself is a hard sell in GENERAL due to TRUST as you were mentioning NATIONS IN GENERAL not just RSK.

>>44973994
>>1. Sign the deal

>Shark tanking ouselves

>>44973994
>1.

Hmm, got here too late to ask, but would Mercie happen to be able to procure some old/base-level Shrophamian military (armor or weapons, im not picky) templates so we can ramp up our domestic production?

>>44974230
League*

>>44974230
it is not even long term military access and the only hard sell was getting the training

>>44973994
>>1. Sign the deal

>Lolcudvehadmoar

Bitch please, we all know the League is going to turn on us. Or us the League. Not getting too attached.

Alyce a shit.

>>44974040
The option really isn't "military access" though. It's access to territory for the purpose of pursuing a military objective, sure, but once we're done with the vampires it's not like we're going to get any lasting benefit from this deal in and of itself.

>>44974353
Alyce a shit, but I wanted muh goodies though

So will we be getting our next "gift" from Lyria before our next bout with Volante? Or just a nifty new breastplate?

>>44974370
ya people voted to have the ML step on our dick and say thank you to them

>>44974370
They'll think they are in with us, when secretly we are preparing to stab them in the dick with the ultimate SNEAK ATTACK!

>>44974456
that we can not do since they have more then 300% more men then we do

>>44974389
Then we just steal the goodies.

Yo-ho.

>>44974521
the goodies were elite units to help in the upcoming fight

>>44974510
I am pretty sure the League has more than 300% men compared to us. Shouldn't they own at least 4 regions and don't forget the amount of combat magisters they have.

>>44974510
I don't think you understand how sneak attacks work.

When a 400 pound 8 foot tall mountain of muscle trained in every conceivable martial art is shot in the ribs by a passerby, he just got shot in the ribs and could do absolutely nothing about it, even though the guy who shot him was an 80 pounds when wet 5'7" scrub.

A sneak attack is for circumventing superior flexing power.

Come on, anon.

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>>44974411
>So will we be getting our next "gift" from Lyria before our next bout with Volante?
You will need to visit her in person (or have her come to you), which you don't have time to do just yet.

>>44974510
>that we can not do since they have more then 300% more men then we do
The League and RSK control armies in the hundreds of thousands (across several huge battlefronts, mind you). So yeah, you're not a threat to them right now - long-term military access would have made them antsy but nothing right now, let alone very restricted access.

>>44974568
ya I was low balling it

>>44974552
We'll loot them too!

Drink up, me hearties YO-HO!

>>44974552
You want a significantly more powerful, non-allied state currently engaged in a war/land grab on our border to have access to our troop movements before a military engagement that will heavily batter our forces (and leave our territory less defended), and give them intelligence on our command staff? I mean, yeah, you're not paranoid, that's probably a pretty healthy way to be, but you trust a nation of fractious, half-crazy, power-hungry mages way too much man.

>>44974456
I do think it would be rather interesting to give them what they want in order to Damage the RSK enough that our offers look much more appealing. After all when you are losing the war you are willing to give more to someone then a nation in the leagues position.

The deal being so simple and loose helps with shedding it later since we technically haven't given them true full support. The big issue I see is she wants us to acknowledge their land gains.

Which is a pretty big deal.

>>44974643
>[DESIRE FOR PIRATE COMPANION INTENSIFIES]

We'd need a capable Captain at the very least, and a capable Admiral at the very best, if we are to go to war with another continent.

Also because we need a black-hearted no-good swine of a man to get some extra perspective.

>>44974606
We'd be a tinier Japan sneak attacking an even bigger United States

They might say "How cute" before annihilating us from the face of planet

>>44974770
Not if we kill the only things keeping them together.

We target Alyce and the rest of her tower, obviously.

You've no sense of murder, do you, anon?

Without them they will tear themselves apart in civil strife, moreso than they already are.

>>44974606
That's one person vs one person.

This is closer to shooting a 400 pound gorilla while his buddies the 10,000 Other 400 pound Gorillas are in the room. Only real way we are crippling the league is if we somehow killed Alyce and a bunch of her top support network in one go.

>>44974840
>>44974836
Is this a kek moment? I don't know how this works.

>>44974836
That would lead to the crazed lords getting closer to us. I doubt the mage guard would be able to plug that kind of hole.

>>44974836
>Giving Alyce's dragon son a reason to take revenge on you and yours

Do you even shounen?

>>44974840
So, some kind of magic nullification field and a big explosion?

>>44974840
Problem there is of course Alyce is like one of the most powerful beings on the planet. Unless we can convince like Lairos or Lord Ember to dive bomb into her tower this won't work well.

>>44974887
>implying he already isn't interested in killing Saul and that inferior half-sister of his

>implying he cares about his mother

>implying he won't get the shit beat out of him every time and become our BBEG

>implying we won't just murder the fuck out of him with overwhelming firepower because honor is for fools

You imply much, traveler.

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>1.

Revealing a practiced ease in drafting agreements, Gnome and Merce have a written agreement done within a few minutes of you agreeing. There was some slight argument over the wording over the access provided to you, specifically the timing and reasoning but it was resolved.

“We have to assume the agreement’s words will be leaked to the RSK,” Gnome says. “And to Shropham. We don’t want to give them any latitude should that happen before we strike at Taour directly.”

You nod and prepare to sign the agreement when a sudden thought occurs to you. “General, I do have one more thing to ask informally.”

“Yes?” Merce says, eyes narrowing and her bright smile dimming slightly.

“Would you be able to get me a good quality steel breastplate? Lady Serat left some rather large gouges in mine,” you say,

There’s a brief period of silence as everybody in the room seems to stare at you. You hope you haven’t spontaneously grown a second head because you don’t think you said something that crazy.

“I can get you one in a few minutes with a bit of spare time,” Merce says dryly. “Don’t worry about that.”

She was true to her word, and less than ten minutes after you had signed the papers of the access deal you had a shiny new breastplate. It carried several runes and weighed practically nothing, its silver steel shimmering in the light of the room. It was even to your size, which was uncommon.

“I didn’t have the time to add much more than some simple reinforcement and lightening runes to it,” Merce says, “but it should hold up plenty long. It will also slowly repair itself should it take damage, though if you put any really large holes in it then you’ll need proper repair.”

Well, that’s nice. “Thank you, general,” you say to her.

>continued

>>44974887
Bu-but, it's the only way to provide Shonen--Dragon-Protagonist-Gary-Stew-kun with the motivation to rise above his delinquent stagnation and embark on an epic quest (for vengeance)!

>>44974966
Honestly for me I'm kind of hoping we can get some agreement with this guy.

I mean look at his father and mother. This guy has barely jack shit of a reason to stick around with them.

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>>44975033
“Do make good use of it. I’ll be very disappointed if you end up wasting my time by doing poorly against Volante,” she says. “I have no doubt you’ve come a long way since your duel with Prince Cairn, but a vampire is a truly dangerous opponent.”

It suddenly clicks with you how Mercenie knew you. When you had been under her command you had duelled Prince Cairn, the technical heir to the Princedom of Guelburg, in order to stall for time. It had been a curious situation and the draw you had won had done just that as the RSK commanders argued over whether it was honourable to attack.

As they leave, Gnome ruffles your hair. “That’s for dodging me earlier.”

You scowl, nodding curtly to Lynn as she joins you. “Are you sure you don’t want to say anything else?”

“That’s what notes are for,” Gnome says, showing you a piece of paper with what looks to be several pages of writing on it. “I’ll go over this and mull over the last twenty years of history tonight.”

In the meantime, you need to decide on Darlesia’s fate. Talking with Merce had led you to believe that things were already wrapped up, given her attitude towards you. In reality you were still on the brink. Maloric had let you know that the Darlesian mages would help retake the city and stop Volante unconditionally, with further negotiations to take place later. Their help would let you rally the resistance, leaving the only question to how swiftly you move to take the city.

If you try to take it in one fell swoop you could take significant losses but you will have plenty of time to prepare for Volante. Or you could instead undertake a more careful sweep of the city, stretching the attack over a few days and forcing surrender at the cost of preparation time for Volante. The last alternative you could think of was to keep your army facing Volante and rely on the resistance and mages to oust the Taourans in the city, but that was risky if they still attacked your army.

>>44975058
The best way to bribe him shall be through fluffy tails.

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>>44975110
And, because I forgot it at the end:

>Discussion time on taknig the city. Happy to accept any other plans, though note that the city conquest will likely just be a few dice rolls based on the attack plan rather than anything in depth.

>>44975154
Take the slower route to conquering the city. As much as the fight with Volante is important we need the men for future fights.