Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[lightbane]

Good point, but these are not something which can be drawn in a few seconds, for not to mention the extra weight gained from body of the Prince we would carry around and at the same time having to deal with the attention of the adventurers. And I insist a proper Dark Lord would have its minions/slaves/cultists to do such lowly work.

 

[TOME]

What if we just take the Rinotaur with us? After the brief exchange with the adventurers Rin holds the prince while Erd draws. This has the risk of the prince but I would be willing to take it, if only to get more Fumblerina screen time.

 

[archaen]

Can we put a circle on a golem or have one carry one in drawn on a dinner table sized piece of wood? Self destructing one golem wouldnt be the end of the world.

 

[Nevill]

What if we just take the Rinotaur with us? After the brief exchange with the adventurers Rin holds the prince while Erd draws. This has the risk of the prince but I would be willing to take it, if only to get more Fumblerina screen time.

Rin already has a role of protecting the horde and making sure the gobbos withdraw without casualties.

I see this whole problem as largely artificial.

None of that compares to seeking out a group of 200 adventurers alone and then treating them with hubris, like you're already a full-scale invincible Overlord
[...]
I still favour any plan that isn't trying to solo the entire camp without our main damage spells. If you go into the camp alone, be prepared for the possibility that they aren't meek as anticipated, or that some stage of the plan isn't synched up.

That is the point of presenting yourself as an invincible Overlord.

There is no intention of soloing the camp or actually fighting in any serious capacity. Once they get their bearings and present a real danger, hide behind the prince as a shield, which will stop it from escalating. There is absolutely no synchronicity of any kind involved. It does not depend on our interaction with any other part of the force. It is not complicated in any way. It has an extremely simplistic, old hostage routine at its core.

 

[Nevill]

1. Wading into a crowd of 200 adventurers and mages, many of them famous enough on the hero circuit to spawn fangirls
2. Giving a speech which requires their patient attention
3. Grabbing a prince surrounded by high-level bodyguards and unknown enchantments
4. Drawing a working teleport circle in the middle of a crowd of high-level adventurers who might be wrestling with you.
5. Timing your departure with Aria convincingly jumping into "rescue" the prince

Yeah, uh, sounds like a breeze...

Yes.
No. (I don't really care whether they listen intently or no.)
Yes.
No. (was explained for five times, but does not hurt to point out again, for as long as this keeps getting ignored. Two can play this game.)
No. (there is nothing to time. If she is smart, she comes to rescue, she gets captured, we teleport out. She does not come, too bad. Nothing depends on her coming with us.)
Yes.

At this point, this has come firmly into 'NO U!' 'NO U!' territory.

(but somehow before anyone but a low-level nobody like her dares to respond to the capture of their beloved leader while making it look unstaged.)

Could also be because Aria has balls and gives no fucks... could be.

Hopefully a huge crowd of high-level and famous adventuring groups won't have anyone who wants to be a hero...

Then the hero dies, the prince dies, and we teleport out. It still does not require us to solo the whole camp which you make it out to be.

 

[Nevill]

Alright. Fine. I realize that it might not be fair of me to dismiss arguments right off the bat when my opponent took his time to lay them out. It's just I do not want this to devolve into neverending bickering about miniscule details. The DISCUSS in Legend in particular was famous for it, when we started arguing how high one can jump in the air with this technique or that and lost sight of what the vote was about.

I do not consider these details important, and do not want to be talking (or drawn into talking) about them too much.

Nevertheless, here are some factors that I think would favor the approach of emerging in the middle of enemy camp, which - I agree - would be suicidal if it were an actual combat tactic intended to fight and win.

- We catch them off-guard. They do not really expect anything to attack the force of such size. As Duke Brescia put it, the opinion was that nothing short of 2nd coming of Vaalgraf could stop the expedition.
- They still have the monster horde on the outskirts of the camp to worry about. They should be thinking about a potential assault from that direction, and their attention would be split.
- The number of high-level adventurers is limited. The bulk of their force are nobodies - 120 soldiers, 10 knights and random mid-level rabble. The ones we should be wary about are 9 mages (lesser than Elmont - he was the best after his guildmaster), and major adventurer groups, the high-level ones. There are about 30 people who could trouble us, all told.
- They are limited in use of their abilities. They can't really cast their most destructive spells in the middle of their camp - they will hurt their allies more than they would us. On the other hand, we have lots of bodies to use as a cover.
- And then, on top of that, we are not interested in a fair fight and go for the hostage the moment they adapt to the situation and can mount a resistance.

Also, there is absolutely nothing holding us back, safe for Aria. They are the ones who have a stake in this fight, not us. If by chance I have miscalculated and we are too much of a pussy to do anything about them even after all of the above is factored, we can withdraw, and that would be it. Furthermore, it would still accomplish the stated goal of luring them in. So I see no reason not to try.

 

[lightbane]

Well, you at least admit you don't want to turn this into another +1 SWORDS endless ranting, so it's small step. However, GK is right that this plan has too many variables that can go wrong. On the other hand, Kipeci's plan, if predictably bloodthirsty, is certainly foolproof and still doesn't impede us from giving a Villanous Speech TM as we destroy everything. In fact, I'll switch my vote to Kipeci's slimefest for that reason (and also because I would like to have an update sooner than later, for not to mention discussing the castle's traps and layout will also be a lengthy process that will take forever).

 

[Nevill]

Ultimately, Kipeci's plan does not satisfy me even when it goes right, since it involves throwing our low-quality minions at a defended position, resulting in losses that I consider unnecessary. But to each his own.

 

[Esquilax]

Ultimately, Kipeci's plan does not satisfy me even when it goes right, since it involves throwing our low-quality minions at a defended position, resulting in losses that I consider unnecessary. But to each his own.

All this trouble over some cannon fodder goblins? Didn't we zap a few dozen of the little fuckers when we took out the Minotaur Firelord?

 

[treave]

Are you guys anywhere near a decision?

 

[Baltika9]

TOME's Hollywood should still be in the lead with our speech being that of Donald Trump, dressed up as Baron Dark.

 

[Kipeci]

It seems to be a tie again, going by the tally that Nevill has been keeping.

I can't count, Baltika's correct.

Alright. So currently we have 4 plans.

Votes: Kipeci, Gobblecock, archaen, Elfberserker, lightbane

Votes:

Votes: TOME, Nevill, Storyfag, Kz3r0, Tigranes, Baltika9

Votes:

And about 2-3 disguises.

Spoiler

 

[a bear named spigot]

take another week to make sure everything is just as you want it men

 

[archaen]

I would flop to TOME hollywood if instead of teleporting out with a circle we drew , we either had a circle come to us with a golem or siege engine or if we just hoofed it with the prince to our prepared teleport circle at the edge of the forest using our earth slam technique to cover our escape. Wish we had a spellarm to put a Rin teleport in :sourgrapes:.

 

[Nevill]

...you know, for people who call this 'too complicated', you guys really love adding extra layers to it.

Frankly, I thought that drawing lines in the ground with your staff/sword/dick to be so trivial it was not really worth mentioning. But since people keep worrying...

- Once you take the hostage, command the fight to cease, or the prince gets it.
- Give signal to Rinotaur, have her bring a 'portable teleport circle', portable courtesy of her being able to teleport straight to us.
- Have her port back to doing whatever she needs to be doing. Let it look like summoning and dismissing minions out of thin air its totally our skill for more Overlord points.
- Proceed as if we drew it ourselves.

As a bonus, this also introduces Rinotaur, the boss of the castle, to the adventurers. Well, to those who weren't introduced to her axe, anyway.

I think it breaks the flow of theatrics for no discernable benefits, but hey, if that little detail can make people happy...

 

[Baltika9]

As a bonus, this also introduces Rinotaur, the boss of the castle,

And our wife. Don't want them to think we're gay or impotent.

 

[archaen]

...you know, for people who call this 'too complicated', you guys really love adding extra layers to it.

Frankly, I thought that drawing lines in the ground with your staff/sword/dick to be so trivial it is not really worth mentioning. But since people keep worrying...

- Once you take the hostage, command the fight to cease, or the prince gets it.
- Give signal to Rinotaur, have her bring a 'portable teleport circle', portable courtesy of her being able to teleport straight to us.
- Have her port back to doing whatever she needs to be doing.
- Proceed as if we drew it ourselves.

As a bonus, this also introduces Rinotaur, the boss of the castle, to the adventurers. Well, to those who weren't introduced to her axe, anyway.

I think it breaks the flow of theatrics for no discernable benefits, but hey, if that little detail can make people happy...

Sounds fine. I like our odds to get out without serious complications if Rin is with us anyway.

 

[Nevill]

And our wife. Don't want them to think we're gay or impotent.

Just so you know, Rinotaur is called so because she is disguised as a Minotaur FireLORD. I understand the need to emphasize that minotaurs are our bitches, but I am not sure you want to share with the adventurers that you like to ride the bull every morning...

Wish we had a spellarm to put a Rin teleport in :sourgrapes:.

It would do nothing for us, since it would still be a 1-person spell, unsuitable to transport anyone but the one armed with such a device.

I'll ping TOME, since that's his plan, to see if he is alright with the edits. Also, I'll be adding some flavor text in a separate post.

 

[Nevill]

Right. Flavor and finer points. Put in spoilers because god help me if I try to make it an official part of the plan. It'll spell our doom because the paint on a golem is not convincing enough or something.

Random Points

- There seem to be some enchantmets surrounding the camp. Since we are taking Rin with us with her Eyes of Bullshit Seeing, we might as well have her check what they do before enacting the plan. Some of those may warrant disenchanting - either with our spells, or just by Rin tearing them down, whatever works.

- Since archaen wanted to use a golem as a circle carrier/base (did I get it right?), let's go wild here as well. Disguise/dress up the golem as a dead human and splash him with a lot of red paint to create an appearance of a horribly tortured person. The cirlce will be drawn with the same paint, in a form of a bloody pentagram. Carve the expression of utter horror and agony on the 'corpse's' face. It is the dead of the night, any discrepancies with an actual (formerly) living body could be blamed on a highly unnatural manner of death. Let it serve as a preview of what awaits the prince in the castle if they don't hurry up.

Spoiler

- Oh, and since we are a merchant, we'll be taking a golem with us when we teleport. I am not leaving any of my precious equipment with them!

- For the speech, while I admire the noble cause of Trumping Erdrick up, lightbane's general outline actually fits better. It is suitably TRADITIONAL. Introduce yourself in a typical villainous fashion, with a lot of Muahahas and insinuations of how you are above them all. Taunt them, imply that their mother is a hamster and whatnot. When it's time to go for the prince, taunt them about their figurehead being a puny kid as opposed to a Strong Leader (TM) like us. When you grab the prince, get Rin over, introduce her as your right-hand lieutenant as she brings the means of your escape. Taunt them for being too afraid of the consequences of their failure to save the prince, which is what will ultimately doom him to a fate worse than death - that'll be a cue for Aria to attempt and fail her rescue. Promise to make Aria pay for her insolense, muahaha and teleport out. No, I am not providing actual lines.

I would flop to Plan Hollywood if we burnt the forest around the camp in the shape of a giant teleport circle and used our massive mana reserves to teleport every motherfucker straight to the castle.

The castle is not ready yet, I think. We need to outfit it to meet our needs based on the abilities of the adventuring parties. Something to separate them and deal with them on a group-by-group basis.

I also want to spend some time for Aria to talk to the prince (not like there is much to do in prison anyway) and learn any additional info that might make the spectacle more convincing.

 

[Kz3r0]

Are you guys anywhere near a decision?

Next month.

 

[lightbane]

For the speech, while I admire the noble cause of Trumping Erdrick up, lightbane's general outline actually fits better. It is suitably TRADITIONAL.

Thanks. Although mine was just an example. Everyone, feel free to improve it with Kane quotes or even using Trump's words. It should work as long as it is dramatic enough.

 

[TOME]

Nevill, just one question. Shouldn't we go for the prince before we engage in muahahas and taunts? Do the talking after we have got our hand around his neck. But I'm fine with the plan either way. I just want my update!

 

[Nevill]

Shouldn't we go for the prince before we engage in muahahas and taunts?

Well, then I am afraid it would be over too quickly.

The prince can't protect himself (I did not notice any mention of special powers running in Yuri family), and capturing one such as him is only as hard as dealing with his bodyguards. We know for a fact that we are in better shape than any single man here - just because of how overpowered we are. If the prince's bodyguards do give us trouble, there is always an option to attempt to deal the boy a mortal blow that a bodyguard would have no choice but to tank themselves, due to the prince being defenseless on his own.

They are at a natural disadvantage because they have something they need to protect above all else, while we have no such restrictions.

So, keeping this in mind, I think we can afford a minute or two of fun during the initial chaos - dancing in their midst, blocking their attacks with the unfortunate soldiers who do not yet realize it's not their fight, and generally enjoying ourselves. I do not mean for this to get too serious... and if we aren't serious, why not indulge?

Then, when they think we are there to wreac havoc and eventually kill them all, we change the nature of the game and go for a kidnapping, catching them off-guard again.

I don't think it is very important either way, I just felt that establishing a major threat this way flows more naturally.

 

[ScubaV]

This is why I hate open-ended choices.

 

[Kipeci]

If the posting picks up, I think that in a week we could have enough details to know what in the world we intend on submitting to treave for a dancing fun time.