Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[lightbane]

Well, they probably still are one of the best adventurers who didn't sign up with the Guild.

But yeah, when Arlin could win over one of their Royal Knight-Captains on a lucky day, that does not say much good of the overall quality of Methussian troops.

Hey, do not underestimate Arlin. He's a teenager with potential™, of course in a vaguely Japanese RPG setting he's going to be way better than most people in practically everything. Besides, being underestimated by everyone is his special superpower, one which he can't turn off even when he wants to.

Humanity is preserved through a variety of measures, and not all of them are dong-related. We can still lose ours in the pursuit.

You're right, but for good or bad (mostly bad) over-the-top lust has been one of Erdrick's defining characteristics. Suddenly realizing that he's unable to act upon his impulses when offered to do so (perhaps this being the first time ever it happened), should be something that would cause him to immediately freak out. Therefore, not being obsessed about the issue and desperately search for a solution could be considered a bit out of character, if not a massive shift in his personality. That's not taking into account it adds up with the trauma and shock that comes with losing everything he had including his family because of his reckless behaviour, the death of a person he (somewhat) cared for, the act of losing his body and lastly but not least, his old one being replaced with another one which is not human at all.

On the plus side, his new angelic flesh has all of the "features" he was fond of, perhaps being even better than his original body in this aspect.
Of course, he still has to find out a way to be able to use these. Besides, it could be worse: he could have become a werewolf of some sort, a scaly furry, a baby or even a giant jelly, so he should consider himself lucky.

Edit: Also, we absolutely have to take a sample of the rape persuasion powder. I wonder if we can't repurpose it for mind control.

What if this powder is a "female exclusive" item? Naturally, I doubt that would stop Erdrick from trying anyway.

 

[TOME]

AA1

We don't need mook prisoners at the moment. But we cannot trust the snake so she comes with us.

 

[Kz3r0]

A
A1

 

[Grimgravy]

A
A1

 

[Elfberserker]

I am conflicted.

i would love to talk to snake lady and take mook agents to base, but with the adventure party coming and those other baddies redying to attack our base, I am not sure that we could stop them.

as much I love our loyal gobbos, i doubt that they can stop prisoners from escaping while we have more important things to do....

or we could just gave them to Rin

 

[Kipeci]

“I-“ She sighs. All pretense of fear and begging melt away in an instant. “Oh, you are an interesting one, handsome. From that tall hat and your mastery of magic… you are the one known as Trider Muhchacraken, aren’t you? We did not expect to see you here, and I did not expect you to be this charming. Yet, there is something off about you…”

“What would that be?” you ask carelessly, keeping any hint of caution out of your voice. Has she discerned your angelic nature?

“Are you not attracted to women at all?” she asks bluntly.

“Of course I am. I love women. I definitely love women, not men. What are you talking about?” you say, maybe just a bit too loudly.

Anyway, I've thought this over a bit more and I think that it would actually be for the best to make sure that none of them get to Grahferde. Sure, it's not great that they can definitively link Trider to the governor, but that's about all that they're able to do in that state... well, that and also noting that one spell from Trider wrecked the great special forces ensemble, but they already knew that he was a scarily decent mage. I think this is still a sustainable matter.

If we haul them off to our tiny goblin village, especially against their expressly stated will, I feel that there could be a lot more trouble. Trider can keep them all down with no problem, but I don't think we want his sole focus to be on watching over the prisoners all the time, and once that happens then our significantly less competent subordinates will have to take over... well, them or someone like Zayan, and I'd really rather not trouble herr while she has so much other useful stuff to work on. This is a problem with taking prisoners en masse, but even if we take just the one person it can be a problem if that one is particularly slippery, like Golden Snake.

Anyone escaping from Grahferde can tell everyone about all this weird activity and Zayan at the goblin village while a huge expedition is being sent into the area, which takes away time that we could have otherwise used to prepare for their arrival. I wouldn't care and would in fact invite attention if it was just Erd by his lonesome, but it's a nuisance to ensure the safety of Zayan, the slimes, the sapling and other investments that we ought to care about.

So I'm going to go ahead and vote BA.

Let Golden Snake go while she doesn't know about the village and there's some almost-friendliness between us (maybe we can get her to backstab him at some point?), and give over her subordinates to develop more strongly our relationship with the governor in exchange for even more loot.

 

[Esquilax]

Guys, I think that we need to look at this objectively and avoid succumbing to paranoia:

“I want you to help me remove his influence from my town and my men. And yes, I know that this will mean setting myself against the Duke. It is a price I am willing to pay. Now that you have healed my daughter, there are enough petty nobles in the Duke’s faction that will seek to go to great lengths to undo your work… or worse. Some of them are already openly suspicious of me over the loss of Zayan. For that reason alone I am willing to put myself in your hands. I… I cannot bear the thought of having her lose her sight again.”

So, our reluctant ally in the governor has been catching a lot of heat with Zayan's disappearance. Something tells me that if we also get rid of the Duke's right-hand woman like this and all of the Golden Snakes disappear, so will our (highly useful) ally in the governor. We played that trick once, but it won't work a second time. I believe that the guv is a useful ally in a hostile territory, and I would really hate to lose him or have him in deep shit with those in power if we could at all avoid it.

Now, with that in mind, I'm willing to take a calculated risk in "trusting" the Duke's right-hand woman.

“No. Who are you talking about? I am talking about the Golden Snake, the Duke’s right-hand woman. She’s said to be an ageless master of poisons and disguises-“

I think that she's out for herself, and after seeing that we were resistant to her poisons due to our angelic nature, and having no doubt heard rumors of our magical prowess that she's now seen first hand, she is intrigued and thinks that it might be time to switch allegiances. How often is it that you meet someone this powerful, after all? I believe that, at best, she's disloyal to the Duke and on our side (for now), and at worst, she's going to be cautious and play both sides, something that we can also take advantage of.

As for what to do with the remaining mooks, the guv' gets the men, and we take the women!

BA2

 

[Baltika9]

So, our reluctant ally in the governor has been catching a lot of heat with Zayan's disappearance. Something tells me that if we also get rid of the Duke's right-hand woman like this and all of the Golden Snakes disappear, so will our (highly useful) ally in the governor. We played that trick once, but it won't work a second time. I believe that the guv is a useful ally in a hostile territory, and I would really hate to lose him or have him in deep shit with those in power if we could at all avoid it.

This is a good point. Whatever it is we do, we must give the Guvna some wiggle room so that he can, at the very least, have plausible deniability.
Let's look at this objectively: the Guvna has been consolidating his power base in Ontoglia and taking the Duke's men into his service. Since he had no more loyal men in that city, he had to send his best agent with a team of fresh adventurers to, I assume, gather information and stop any possible schemes. Without anyone to report back in, he can't know a single thing either way and I don't think he has that much pull that he can just walk up and casually start asking questions about his missing squad of crack commandos that he sent after the Guvna. I am confident that the man still has time, while the rest of the kingdom is occupied with this expedition.
At worst, he'll have to deal with an official inquiry into the missing magnatite at the moment.
This whole vote boils down to these questions: is the Snake more useful in our custody, or outside of it (I absolutely guarantee she'll be back for more, we've caught her interest, if nothing else); and does that Duke have enough resources at the moment to immediately squeeze out the Guvna?
Either way, I want to hand the Snake's unit to the Guvna, so that he can consolidate his strength further. I'm not a hundred percent sure if he'll be able to have a tight grip on them with their boss loose.

 

[archaen]

BA1

 

[Nevill]

Guys, I think that we need to look at this objectively and avoid succumbing to paranoia:
[...]
Something tells me that if we also get rid of the Duke's right-hand woman like this and all of the Golden Snakes disappear, so will our (highly useful) ally in the governor.

Well, let's look at it objectively, then. What is it that the Governor asked you to do in the chapter appropriately titled 'Hastwell's Request'?

“You would have me kill them?” you ask quietly.

“I do not care much what you do with them, only that I cannot risk them reporting back now about what has happened here. The Duke is too preoccupied with the upcoming expedition to the Forest of Ruin that it will take time for him to move his resources to bear on Ontoglia. By that time I will be ready, and you will be amply rewarded.”

He asked to make sure that none of them could report back to the Duke - even by killing them, if necessary. He mentions that he has a contingency plan in place to deflect accusations, and banks on the Duke being too occupied to act before that.

I believe that the guv is a useful ally in a hostile territory, and I would really hate to lose him or have him in deep shit with those in power if we could at all avoid it.

What you are doing is second-guess his decision 'for his own benefit'.

I've been weighing the risks of letting the woman go, and I think we might be able to get away with it, as we probably do intrigue her and she probably realizes that we won't spare her for a second time if she 'betrays' us, but I'd like you to consider that releasing her goes against what the Governor himself asked you to do.

We are hardly the one who will be inconvenienced by her report if it does not go the way we expect it to - we are a wanted man either way, and they still don't know where to find us. That we've been receiving magnatite payments adds little to our list of crimes before the state. The Governor is the only one who is at risk here, and he'll be the one paying the price if anything goes wrong.

 

[Nevill]

While I do not think that 1B is going to backfire at us horribly (and 1A has more potential risks for us involved down the line), I think the subsequent Governor's reaction would be priceless.

Spoiler

- I am in your debt again, Muchacraken. Wait, there is only 16 of them? Where is the Golden Snake? Did she prove tough enough that you had to vaporize her with your spells?
- If you please! I would never do that to a cute girl!
- She escaped, then? I feared as much. Even magic as powerful as yours can not stop the best agent in Methuss. Forgive me, I must contemplate my next actions...
- Don't sell me short, Governor! No one is a match for my spells! I let her go myself.
- ...................... why.
- She asked me real nice. It's for your own good, really. We can't have Duke's agents disappear out of the blue, now can we? Don't worry, she won't rat you out. Probably.
- How would you know!?
- She wouldn't cheat on me. She said she loved me! And she also said the Duke is only half as handsome as I am. It's the truth! That's how I know she would work for me and not for him!
- What POSSIBLE reason do you have to believe ANYTHING she said!?!!
- She is a pretty girl. Pretty girls get the benefit of a doubt. Also, that pink perfume she had on her smelled so nice. I think I must have some for myself. Do they sell it in your city?
- (I promised I would damn my soul for my daughter, and I was speaking the truth. No price is too steep. Even if I have to deal with the likes of him, I must endure.)
- By the way, Governor? I think I will leave these agents in your care.
- What use are they to me when their leader is out there? Just kill them all and be done with it!
- But then how would I charge you for transporting them to Ontoglia?
- ...
-
-
-

I'm not a hundred percent sure if he'll be able to have a tight grip on them with their boss loose.

It's more about this - the Duke's people are valuable as double agents that feed the filtered information back to the Duke. If their story doesn't coincide with that of the person who reports to the Duke directly, then their usefulness in that quality is severely limited.

 

[treave]

Still, treave, can we take a third option for the first choice instead?

It would add an extra update of again deciding what to do with her after she reacts. Seems tedious.

Also, treave, can we get a general idea of what kind of instructions will be given in the first B?

Pinning it on somebody else. The details are in another choice if B wins.

Once again, how did Mercant survive the encounter with a succubus during his hero days? There's no way the Demon Army didn't have one or two of these.

Kyle was always watching, ready to cockblock.

 

[Baltika9]

That would be a fun little interlude if your're ever up for it: Mercan't trying to use his non-existent pick up skills and Kyle clumsily and very blatantly cockblocking him.
Edit: Did Erd ever notice that his best buddy was trying to steal all the pussy?

 

[Elfberserker]

BA2

I wonder how governer will pay for us? He pretty much has given us as much magnite as possible without causing too much of fuss in methussian kingdom.
Then again you can never have too much money, fighting techniques, spells or services from semi powerful people.

 

[lightbane]

So the choice is between leading a deadly assassin highly skilled in manipulating others back to our base and hope she doesn't mindscrew Arlin, Aria or anyone else; or letting her go and hope she doesn't rat us out at the first opportunity. I would say the latter is the lesser evil, if only because we won't have to worry about her when there's the expedition and the shadow guys to take care of. What's more, if she's allowed to leave, chances are she'll piggyback with the other adventurers in order to use her "female senses " to track our position, surprising us in the middle of the night and attempt to seduce Mercant... Or she would if Lucy wasn't here to protect Erdrick's virginity Mercant from potential hostiles.

Also, I like the part about 1B giving us the choice of blaming someone else for our debts. That has a great potential of backfiring horribly and/or to gain more negative reputation/infamy with places we haven't even been here yet.

However, I didn't count the votes but I think 1A is leading the tally for the moment.

 

[Nevill]

I would say the latter is the lesser evil, if only because we won't have to worry about her when there's the expedition and the shadow guys to take care of.

Frankly? By then I expect to either recruit her more firmly to our side, or if that proves too difficult... just kill her. A rather drastic choice, I admit, and not the one most codexers would support, but she is very dangerous.

Though that might be undermined a bit by the fact that most of our crew are women.

However, I didn't count the votes but I think 1A is leading the tally for the moment.

It's a slight lead.

Tally

Storyfag A B1
Azira A B1
Nevill B A1
Baltika9 B A1
Lambchop19 A Bx
lightbane B A1
ScubaV B B1
TOME A A1
Kz3r0 A A1
Grimgravy A A1
Kipeci B Ax
Esquilax B A2
archaen B A1
Elfberserker B A2
Jester B A2

A - 6
B - 9

A1 - 7
A2 - 3
Ax - 1
B1 - 3
Bx - 1

 

[Baltika9]

Frankly? By then I expect to either recruit her more firmly to our side, or if that proves too difficult... just kill her. A rather drastic choice, I admit, and not the one most codexers would support, but she is very dangerous.

I think killing her would be a total waste: she's really talented and intrigued by Erd's sociopathy. She might be that psychobitch I was talking about before the LP kicked off:

You mean like defeating the previous Overlord and having her pledge herself to you since you are stronk enough?

Possibly, or corrupting the Queen of Elves to darkness and then claiming her as ours. Or just finding an ambitious princess with no morals and a lust for power.

Like so.

I think she's a good pair for the narcissistic jackass we are, so I want to keep her around. Either way, I think she'll come back to us, and giving her time may let us solve the impotence issue before she finds out, so there's that.

 

[Nevill]

I see her as a liability if we can't put her talents to our service.

I see it as a big plus that working with Erd allows her for a far greater freedom of operation (no one, not even royalty is off-limits - she can truly do whatever she wants and forget about petty politics), but with the information available to me now I would advocate killing her at a first sign of working against us.

Either way, I think she'll come back to us, and giving her time may let us solve the impotence issue before she finds out, so there's that.

Oh, you need not worry about her finding out. She'll be your most ardent supporter on resolving the issue. I mean, how could she miss out on controlling someone with your powers?

 

[Baltika9]

So, you're saying that, if she goes back with us, we'll be getting free lapdances on demand?

B voters, what do you have on that?

I see her as a liability if we can't put her talents to our service.

I see it as a big plus that working with Erd allows her for a far greater freedom of operation (no one, not even royalty is off-limits - she can truly do whatever she wants and forget about petty politics), but with the information available to me now I would advocate killing her at a first sign of working against us.

That's true and she will betray us sooner or later, depending on how we manage her, because she'll get bored eventually. It may take a decade or three, but it will happen eventually.
That being said, she's definitely a powerful potential resource that we can benefit off of.

 

[lightbane]

B voters, what do you have on that?

Well, in my case I believe she'll be more grateful and eager to "serve" us if we let her go, rather than dragging her back to our base covered in ropes and chains.

But who knows, perhaps she's into that so she wouldn't mind that much. Either way, there's the possibility she's blatantly lying and looking for an opportunity to backstab us, so it is risky in both choices. Perhaps it would be good to attempt to remove her mask before doing anything else, if only to check if she's really human and/or young to begin with. I doubt Erd would be so merciful, should he realize he was talking to an old hag who used magic to conceal her age or something like that.

 

[Nevill]

Well, in my case I believe she'll be more grateful and eager to "serve" us if we let her go, rather than dragging her back to our base covered in ropes and chains.

She says she loves us, so it's alright!

“Oh, what can I say? It’s love. Yes, truth be told, I think I’m in love with you,” she giggles again. “I have been searching for someone like you all my life. Your power! Your charm! Your casual indifference to my charms! I could get lost in it and never want to find a way out.”

How can we bear to part her with someone she was searching for all her life? That'd be just cruel.

I just want to thoroughly interrogate her before deciding what to do with her.

Also, is it too late to tell Arlin to scrap our advice and give him the magic powder instead?

 

[Baltika9]

Also, is it too late to tell Arlin to scrap our advice and give him the magic powder instead?

Do him one better: Snake's first assignment is to turn Arlin into a pimp. It's for his own good.

 

[TOME]

You guys are forgetting that we are an evil overlord. If we take her to our base we can limit the access she has to weak links like Arlin. If that's not enough to alleviate your paranoia about her escaping, how about we cleave her in to? She won't be going anywhere without her legs and we can regenerate her to full if need be.

 

[Kipeci]

I'd absolutely be for taking her back to base if we could just kill her and be done with it or else remove all her limbs and render her dependent, but I think that the Codex is too 'nice' to do that to a pretty lady's voice in a tin can.

 

[TOME]

I'm all for removing her limbs if it nets us her information and keeps her from escaping. She is far too dangerous and treacherous to let go.