>>275265
Do we really need that ring? We have another one and we can always make our own.

[02:46] CAGM: The world has lots of stuff
[02:46] Ash_Mantle: I appreciate the depth, tbh
[02:46] Ash_Mantle: it's win.
[02:46] Ash_Mantle: Quite possibly fuckwin
[02:48] CAGM: Yeah, I had one night where I just wrote out a ton of stuff for different settings, and then I made this one into a quest
[02:48] CAGM: I had like twelve others
[02:48] CAGM: All good, IMHO
[02:49] CAGM: Though maybe not in other's opinions.
[02:50] Ash_Mantle: We'll only know if we get to see 'em
[02:51] Ash_Mantle: but yeah, it seems people are commenting on the thread a leeeetle more
[02:51] Ash_Mantle: so that's good
[02:51] Ash_Mantle: come on, Anons, get outta that woodwork >: |
[02:53] Ash_Mantle: and evidently I lied about auto-archival and you have to get on IRC for it, but you prolly already know that
[03:00] Ash_Mantle: Well, I guess nobody wants to issue instructions except me again >.>
[03:00] Ash_Mantle: awh
[03:02] CAGM: Ok, posted.
[03:04] Ash_Mantle: yey
[03:05] CAGM: Also, when people die, their souls used to just disappear and join with the outsider planes, where they were used for various things.
[03:05] Ash_Mantle: but now?
[03:06] CAGM: But then the Empire desided that since they're draining the energy of the planes to keep away the demons, the souls should go somewhere else
[03:06] CAGM: So they got all their mages together, and made an enchantment on the earth, so that the souls couldn't leavr
[03:06] CAGM: But they never got around to making them somewhere else to go.
[03:07] CAGM: So now the souls join with the material plane, and power the sun, so it doesn't run out of fuel
[03:07] Ash_Mantle: ><
[03:07] Ash_Mantle: Man
[03:08] Ash_Mantle: that's a lot of fucking problems for poor Carne
[03:08] Ash_Mantle: if he knows that
[03:08] Ash_Mantle: also, does the thing that the mage-knights are digging up ring any bells in his head?
[03:08] CAGM: Also the moon used to be a massive outsider, but it died before life evolved
[03:08] CAGM: Ask me in the thread
[03:08] Ash_Mantle: well, I guess it came in through a large hole
[03:08] Ash_Mantle: okay
[03:09] Ash_Mantle: is it also worth asking if he can profit from short-selling or shorting stock?
[03:09] Ash_Mantle: Eh
[03:09] Ash_Mantle: I'll ask
[03:09] CAGM: Yeah, the formation of the material plane is what caused the outside planes to become shattered and apart
[03:10] CAGM: and they took a long time to come back together, and during that time most of the energy and matter in them today seeped in
[03:10] CAGM: from the material plane, but it was altered by the outside planes' laws of physics, so it ended up splitting them even more
[03:11] CAGM: And then created elementals and other outsiders, including the moon
[03:11] CAGM: Which came in to gain more power, but died, as its form was not yet in harmony with the material plane
[03:12] CAGM: But yeah, you could profit from short-selling
[03:12] CAGM: Totally
[03:13] CAGM: The and planet are actually material, though
[03:13] CAGM: Anyways, post and I'll respond
[03:13] CAGM: >The sun and planet
[03:15] CAGM: I'm not making the setting less interesting by telling you, am I?
[03:17] Ash_Mantle: posted
[03:17] Ash_Mantle: reading
[03:17] Ash_Mantle: no
[03:17] Ash_Mantle: you're giving me way more to work with.
[03:17] Ash_Mantle: I'm considering how to use the outsider's body that is the moon, now - perhaps we'll find out it's like a dead god in the Astral plane
[03:18] Ash_Mantle: also, is there a continent not unlike antarctica in the world, or are there large swathes of unoccupied territory?
[03:18] Ash_Mantle: and I may disappear for a couple minutes and get coffee.
[03:19] CAGM: The poles are actually a part of the world where there's not water
[03:19] CAGM: The water just STOPS at about 20 miles to the poles, like, it just stops.
[03:20] CAGM: Ships sometimes fall off the edge, a mile down, trying to reach the poles
[03:20] CAGM: Also, most of the continents are in a band around the equator
[03:21] CAGM: Though some go more north or south
[03:22] CAGM: The ground at the south poles is lava
[03:22] CAGM: from the planet's core
[03:23] CAGM: Also magic is actually an energy field created by entrophy
[03:24] CAGM: When stuff entrophies, it emits radiation that enpowers the field
[03:25] CAGM: Creatures born in certain planes have a link to that plane that feeds them magic
[03:26] Ash_Mantle: back
[03:26] CAGM: And since the field is more powerful in the material plane, material creatures have a more powerful link to magic
[03:27] CAGM: But since there's more life in the material plane than the outside planes, the magic users of the material plane can use less magic at once than outsiders
[03:27] Ash_Mantle: Magic is access to thermal energy
[03:27] Ash_Mantle: hm.
[03:27] CAGM: So outsiders are more powerufl mages
[03:28] Ash_Mantle: Carne knows all this?
[03:28] CAGM: But duration or permantant magic from the material plane is more powerful than the same from the outside planes
[03:28] CAGM: Yes, carne knows all this
[03:28] Ash_Mantle: Alright.
[03:29] Ash_Mantle: I think that I'd be up to helping you maintain the campaign page maybe and editing in some cosmology stuff?
[03:29] CAGM: So that's why the Old Empire enchanted things and didn't just cast spells all day long, forever
[03:29] CAGM: That'd be great, and I'd apreciate it

>>275266
The GM seems to be dropping hints that it likely has a downside.

It may be more a matter of keeping it from doing harm. But there's another point - does the ring of regeneration have any harmful properties?

>>275268
>power the sun
We're burning souls. For fuel. Talk about creating our own artificial hell.

I think maybe we should do something about that. God, what a fucking mess the Old Empire left us.

You have maybe another week before your sense shut down completely. In five days it all goes black and white.

The Mage-Knights might be recovering one of the old Sentinel Titans. They were originally massive war machines, thousands of feet tall, but after the Old Empire completed their conquest, they were repurposed into construction constructs. The Old Empire used them to build the Spires, their magical 'focus lenses'. Even after they were repurposed, however, a single one was still capable of wiping a continent off the map, albeit slower than a simple explosion.

It was a truly terrifying idea that the Mage-Knights might unleash it on this unprepared world.

You quickly changed the messages you had mentally formed, crossing over key words and subtly manipulating them into a memetic weapon. You even made it pertain to Blackheart. You hear a door open across the street before your enhanced hearing fades out again. Ariel has exited the shop, in her new dress.

Walking over to her from down the street, you run a new simulation, this time focusing more, and with less general variables. By the time you reach Ariel, you've projected that you can own roughly 10% of the city in the aftermath of her downfall, given a day and a half. Of course, buying all that up will temporarily leave 20% of the city homeless and jobless.

>>275271
Eh, that's too many people's lives ruined for too little gain. If we can get a lesser amount of profit without putting a ton of people out of work, do that.

Wow. Just, wow.

This setting is dark.

>>275271
Check the time. It should be what, ten minutes past ten?

Ask Ariel what she thinks of her new dress. If she likes it, compliment her. Tastefully.

Ask Ariel if she needs anything else for the party. Tell her you need to go take care of the prisoners in short order, and that John's probably been stewing long enough about how his wife's going to keep her daughter in artificer training and is ready to consider new employment, so if she likes she can spend some more time at the shops and so on.

And tell her that her trick with the money-pouch was quite good, but if she needs funds for something she's doing that you're bankrolling in future, she can just ask.

Refine the market simulation; seek to create the following consequences:

-A return on liquid investment by stock manipulation or speculation, within twelve to forty eight hours. Fixed amount of liquid invested: 100-200 gold.

-No more than a one percent increase in homelessness or unemployment. Attempt to create the majority of this unemployment only in labor sectors that you can directly apply to your mining operation. You could probably find work for a few thousand people if you put your mind to it.

-As much as possible diversification in market competition after the breaking up of Blackheart's monopolies. Decent competition will create more demand for labor in the short-term, and we can consolidate it to some degree through later manipulation to stabilize the market once it's grown.

-Retention of as much in the way of stock in other enterprises as possible, while maximizing the likelihood of the above factors.

Ain't gonna squeeze so hard that guts go everywhere.

>>275276
should be 'how his wife's going to keep their daughter in artificer training if he goes to prison or whatnot.'

It is now 10:15.

"Oh yes, I love it. It's very comfortable, and it fits well, and is hard to walk in. I should fit in perfectly at the party."
You complement her, and admire the various lines and such. Or whatever. Mammals and their fashions. You ask about other things for the party.
"Oh, I bought some jewelry, and shoes, and makeup." She held up a bag, obviously full of various items. And another dress. "I'd like to do some more shopping, if you don't mind. Maybe find some poisons to put in their drinks."
She and you talk for a bit, and then you turn and leave. "That trick with the bag wasn't easy to learn, you know!" She calls after you as you leave.

On the way back to the safehouse, you refine your simulation. This time adding hundreds of thousands of variables. You finish by the time you're halfway there, and it finishes running just as you approach the safehouse.

The results are as follows:

-Liquid Investment Profits, 13 hours after Blackheart is in custody, 175 gold investment, profit: 1647 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Copper

-0.7% Population Rendered Homeless and Jobless

-732% increase in Diversification

-Full Rentention

>>275278
this sounds good.

>>275278
Ouf. That must've been some calculating. Save the model and its implementation procedure, we'll see if we can't get it running.

Go to the safehouse. Ask the mercenaries if there's been any disturbance. If they have nothing negative to report and the captain's not back yet, make sure the guard's been changed properly.

If the captain's back, offer the new arrivals stew and rotate more guards, then inform him you're going to deal with the prisoners and will be finished shortly one way or another.

Check on all the prisoners first, saving Jack for last. If any have escaped or started altercations, attempt to deal with it without upsetting the rest.

Enter the room with Jack. If he hasn't hung himself or something equally drastic, tell him you think he's stewed long enough, that you've been checking his information and it's earned him quite a bit of leniency, and that it took some doing but if he can offer you something more he'll be out of harm's way. See how he reacts to this.

You ask the guard in front if anything happened.
"Yes, one of the prisoners tried to leave through the window, but the guards pulled him back in. Nothing since then. "

You go inside. More mercenaries are packed into the building. Too many than should be able to fit. They're sitting down on various chairs and other things.

The captain sees you. "There you are! The men told me you took the psycho elf shopping. Glad to see you're back in one piece."
You have no idea.
"Ha!"
You inform him of the situation with the prisoners. "Oh, good. Glad to see them taken care of." You go up the stairs and check on the prisoners. You take the time to talk to them, making sure they are comfortable. You fail to get the one who tried to escape to see your side of the argument, however. And another one as well. They don't seem to like being imprisoned one bit.

You decide to leave them, and move to the basement to speak to Jack. He's sitting at a table, his head on his arms. You speak to him.
"What do you want? Come to gloat?"
You've come to tell him you can get him off the hook.
"Oh, not this again."
In exchange for his services, the charges will be dropped.
"Yeah, sure."
Would you lie to him?
"Yes."
But think of your family. Who will help your daughter with learning alchemy?
"How did you know about that?"



It takes a while, but you manage to convince him to join your side. He doesn't like it though. But his daughter needs money for supplies and books.

Signing off for tonight. If you guys want, bookmark the page, the thread will still be here tomorrow.

>>275281
Well, now that's over.

Dismiss the guards in the room and outside the door. Give Jack five silver and tell him there's more on the way. Money in the hand will mean something. And tell him you've sorted things out with Ariel and she's no longer interested in killing or maiming him. To put it mildly, she won't likely be a problem for him anymore.

Inform him that you intend to set the prisoners free , and offer them jobs away from Blackheart's bullshit. Inform him it's your intention to clean up the town, and that you'd prefer to put the criminal element to work in a profitable enterprise, as freed men, rather than seeing them riot in the streets and burn the place down. If he'll help spread the word and sow the seeds of a peaceful, quiet grounding of Blackheart's power, he's to have his pick of work, a full scholarship for his daughter at the alchemy academy of his choice, and an offer of a share in the profit from your mining enterprises. You'll even put it to paper, right here and right now, with witnesses.

If he assents, bring in the mercenary captain and one of the other prisoners and write up a legally binding contract. If you violate the terms of said contract, he will be able to bring a copy of it to the nearest magistrate and have enough in the way of funds transferred out of one of your accounts to put his daughter through the rest of her education. If he says it's not necessary, you don't have to deal with it.

Inform him that he can have as many of his men back as will want to work with him to your ends, they can have their gear back, and they can go about the task of spreading the word through Blackheart's ranks. They're to inform you of absolutely anyone else you need to remove before this, so that if there are persons around that are too loyal for their own good you can detain them if necessary. You're still interested in taking the insane murderers and so forth under her command out of the picture.

If everything works out, give the interested prisoners back their gear and send them on their way.

Tell the other prisoners that if they'd been more interested in working with you, they could have had their freedom sooner, but you're going to hold them until morning at the latest and then release them.

Check the time.

GM went to sleep. FLAWLESS VICTORY.

Ash 2011/01/27(Thu)04:28 No. 275285 ID: 6cbd66
File 12961313238.png - (556.66KB , 803x414 , FO01_NPC_Rhombus_B.png )

Incidentally, we're going to try to be back at it around 8:00 PM Eastern time tomorrow, I think. Unless we're just going to build a campaign page or something.

BE THERE OR BE RHOMBUS

Alright, I caught up.
Found this quest on /tg/. Liked what I saw, but thought that I wouldn't be able to participate due to different time-zones. If you're doing this on quest.lv then more people can join no matter your schedule, which is good. Though on the other hand, this place has less traffic.
Anyway.

Nobody, you as a GM should learn learn ... umm I don't know how it's exactly called ... to manipulate text. I mean, using cursive or bold texts.
This greatly helps during conversations, you can choose different type of text for different characters.
See Golem Quest for reference >>274023
Also, I highly recommend for anyone who hasn't to read and follow Golem Quest. At this moment counting only the GM posts it should have more than million words worth of text, so it might take a while. But I give my word, IT WORTH EVERY BIT OF IT. From my impression of popular quests on /tg/, it will fit right in their boats.

Noname, another thing, could PLEASE link to the suggestions you use in the update AND incorporate them in the update. For example, a player writes a dialog, you decide to use it. Link to that post, but also write said dialog in your own post. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO READ AN ARCHIVED QUEST WHEN GMs DON'T SO THIS. A new-comer doesn't want to read all of the suggestions, he is only interested what GM has to say. Not having to read every God damned post makes the quest more enjoyable and easier to catch up.


----

Now onto the quest proper.

A complaint to the players.
Holy shit, people, will you stop throwing money at everything you see??!!
>Wake up after centuries of being off-line
>Find a PERFECT diamond the size of watermelon
>Offer half of that diamond to the first buffoons you meet for their meager services.
>Buffoons to whom no one in their right mind will pay a sack of potatos to guard a water-barrel

It has been already stated how highly valuable gold is in this setting
1 gold ~ 2000$ (iirc)

>Our buffoons break window in the tavern
>give a gold as compensation. 2000$ for a window
>Go to the tavern to apprehend some assassins. Do some minor damage to furniture or something. Tavern furniture, which is probably cheap
>give 6 gold for the tavern-keeper as a compensation. 12000$ for absolutely nothing
>some dude comes with a message
>give him 20 silver pieces as for his 'trouble'. 400$ for delivering a simple message

Just run around throwing coins everywhere yelling "DOSH! Grab it while you can, lads!" and singing "munney" song

Jesus, people are you right in the head? That diamond is probably worth more than a million gold and you want to give more than half to two first idiots you meet?
I am not mad at being scammed by the jeweler. I mean it should have been obvious that the guy is going to offer like 1/5 worth of the things he buys .... though I didn't expect him to go as low as 1/25.
I hope you understand how fucking insulting that is.

I just want to put forth a suggestion for Carne to use him infinite intellect to NEVER overpay ANY services. Even waitresses at cafes and shit will laugh at you if you leave too much of a tip. People here must think we are a idiot.

Use the Oculi on the jeweler or some other skilled merchants to gain vast and comprehensive knowledge of how much things and services are worth and how much money is worth so that we never do this stupid shit again.
I suggest doing this as soon as possible. Though we could use our knowledge and intellect instead of Oculi, but gaining the finer details from experienced merchants might be better.

We have been offered 400 gold for this task. 800,000$.
Sheesh, am I the only one who thinks we are going to be backstabbed? I doubt the one who hired us will be willing to part with this kind of money.

Also, DON'T sell the diamond.
It's obviously a quest item or a part of our system. Or maybe the old mage-knight guild-masters soul is in it. Or we could make some bitching artifact using it.
Either way don't just sell it.

Another thing.
I don't think people understand how fucking powerful we are. Or maybe I am overrating ourself.
Noname, has stated that Carne has survived, if not shrugged off, a direct artillery fire. In the era of Old Empire. At the time where everything was at at power 12 on the 10-scale.
We DON'T NEED the mercenaries, we DON'T NEED Ariel, we DON'T NEED the body guards. I am fairly sure we can take this entire tiny port (only meager population of 200,000 people) all by ourself with one hand tied behind our back.
We saw a mage on the streets, he was identified as significantly powerful in this era. He was also identified that he barely met elementary school standards of the Old Empire.
We have ALL the knowledge of the Old Empire. I am fairly fucking sure we can cast spells. Cast uber-powerful spells. Maybe we even have knowledge of spells which don't actually draw power (mana) from the user.
Whatever, we are fucking powerful. Even if it is just physically. Just acquire a sword or any other weapon. We should have comprehensive knowledge on how to use weapons and tactics.
Speaking of which, find high-quality weapon-shop and buy highest-quality two-handed sword (which Carne will be able to wield with one hand). Use you comprehensive knowledge to barter the ever-living fuck of the shop-keep. Don't get scammed again. Ever.

The cube that Jack found in the ruins. I'm surprised we aren't planning on getting our hands on it. Ask Jack what he did with it and state out interest of acquiring it and studying it. Offer to pay for it, but nothing extravagant.

Ask Ariel what kind of artifacts she found back then.


Can we get a re-cap on our plan?
Also, I kind of don't understand what is wrong with our senses. If we don't do anything, does that mean we are slowly going to lose them? Or do we need to shut them down to repair some damage?
I'm not sure.

>Signing off for tonight. If you guys want, bookmark the page, the thread will still be here tomorrow.
Btw, I don't think threads ever die on quest.lv, the last Golem Quest thread had ~1500 posts before Bob decided to start a new one.

>you've projected that you can own roughly 10% of the city in the aftermath of her downfall, given a day and a half. Of course, buying all that up will temporarily leave 20% of the city homeless and jobless.

"Oh no! The poor people! We can't do that!

>175 gold investment, profit: 1647 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Copper. 0.7% Population Rendered Homeless and Jobless

"This sounds so better!"


Seriously guys, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you really hate money THAT much?
And can't you think outside of the box for a moment?
I will admit, I am a raging moral-fag. I can't play anything else but a goody-two shoes whatever the game I play (video games. Never played tabletop RPG at all). No matter how good the game and how high the replayability, I wont ever go 'bad' route.

But you guys are being silly. You are giving up owning 10% of the city for some meager profits. Just think for a bit, this town has very high-class shops. The jeweler who scammed us, would have probably bought the ring for 1000-1500gold if we had pushed a bit. There is a posh clothing shop, etc, etc...
Maybe GM should have specified how much 10% of the city is actually in monetary terms. I would think at least 100,000 gold.

Also
>buying all that up will temporarily leave 20% of the city homeless and jobless.
>temporarily
Key word tem-po-ra-ri-ly. See that? Doesn't mean we are slaughtering those people and raping their children.
And for fucks sake, think originally for a moment! This is not a Bioware game, where the the deep-world changing complex choices boil down to: a) spend half of your money to build an orphanage. b) Slaughter all the orphans and bath in their blood. c)Whatever.

Shit, okay, life happens. Those 20% will have bad time I guess.
But heck. We are going to own 10% of the city. What stops us from setting up shelters for these people?
Just build some shelters with good bedding and food for the people down on their luck till the situation stabilizes.

Also, we are opening vast mining business. Why the hell are we restricting ourself to extracting and selling raw materials?
Build an ore refinery! Steel factories! Goods factories! Ship factories! WHATEVER!
WE ARE GOING TO EMPLOY THOSE PEOPLE. Heck we are going to be labour hungry and might need to import workers from other places.


So, this is what we do.
Carne should have 2 more artifacts on him. A ring and an amulet, iirc.
So, Carne, use your knowledge to determine how much these artifacts are worth and for how much you can realistically sell them. Liberally use your Oculi for better information.

Then with the new information and new funds, run simulation again (use oculi for more data again) and see how much more of the city you can acquire. Don't worry of putting people out of work or on the streets, put in the equation the stuff of setting up shelters for these people and opening up new business ventures and employing them. For businesses I would suggest ore refineries, steel factories and some goods manufactures (which will make use of materials we mine). Also set up logging camps for wood and make factories and workshops using said wood.
I suggest we build all those things listed above instead of just buying them. Our vast knowledge of Empires experience will allow us to make much more efficient factories. (but still buy out the old ones to eliminate competition).


Before people become scared of Oculi again.
This thing has been used for more than a millennia. People who had this thing probably used it much, much more often than we. And they probably resisted it for a long time before succumbing to it.
I'm fairly sure we can use it non-stop for years before it threatens us any way.
The only danger in using it, imo, is that it will break soon.

-----

Also, another thing I wanted to share with you guys.

We are a construct artificer.
We are made to make artifacts and other stuff.

Let that thought sink for a moment.

Now.
We are made by Old Empire during their peak.
It was the power that could literally manipulate reality. I mean, hell, the made afterlife.
These guys were on the highway to godhood. Look just at ONE artifacts they made, the Oculi. See how mind-heartbreakingly over-powered it is?

We were made by them. We were made by the hundreds of best minds. I can guess that the materials and time required were immense. Heck, I would guess monetarily we had cost the Empire billions.

They made us with absolute free will.
Why would they do that?
So that we can invent new shit for them.

Think about it.

The Empire was crazy-powerful. One of their weapons of destruction were Colossi, which even re-purposed for peaceful tasks can still take over a continent by itself.
We have all of the Empires knowledge

So... where am I going with this?

Guys, stop thinking we are level 1 adventurer! Stop limiting yourself!
I will admit, I am not so crazy original to suggest super-awesome inventions or anything, I just want you guys think more broadly.

Since we were made for inventing new stuff and improving on old shit I suggest following:
De-construct the Oculi and incorporate it in our own design.
Remove all the useless by products of it, like intelligence, self-learning and malevolent mind manipulation.
Keep the useful shit, the mind manipulation.

Put all that shit into ourself, so that we can do that at will and don't have to play with trinkets.

I am sure Carne will be able to pull this off. Just have him work on this for a week or something. Obviously we will do this after we deal with immediate concerns and build up a power-base. Then we will be able to buy or order any and all materials we think we will need for this project.

>>275301
If the NID was going to backstab us, then they wouldn't give us what is essentially a Wand of Cone of Cold with infinite charges, that we could easily use to mow down anyone in our path.

The cube was retrieved for Blackheart, so its very unlikely that Jack would still have it.

As for the senses, they need to be shutdown in order to effect repairs.

>>275305
>>275304
>>275301
He's right. Offering half of a Diamond that's probably worth 1000000+ Gold Pieces to some useless bards was the most stupid idea someone could've come up with.

>>275304
The Oculus was only used in the Old Empire when there was a threat to the Empire's stability.
The Old Empire also used towers to drain other planes so that things like the Oculus didn't ruin the material plane. After the collapse of the Old Empire, most people probably had no idea what it was. It is dangerous if we over use it. Also, the GM has stated that most artifacts have some kind of downside to them, like the Oculus poking holes in reality and the ring of regeneration being powered by a trapped outsider. And that unlike humans, we can cast spells that are dangerous. If a human tried to cast a spell wrong that would open a gate for some demon to pop through, their subconscious would stop them. We don't have a subconscious. If we screw up, our spells could ruin the world. So a bit of caution is necessary.

Alright, I'm back now.

Just so you guys know, I'm in the hospital right now. Nothing to do but this, but I'm on some painkillers, so stuff might get weird.

Alright, there seems to be some confusion over the money. Here are the coins:
Platinum: 10,000 USD
Gold: 2000 USD
Silver: 100 USD
Bronze: 20 USD
Nickel: 5 USD
Copper: 0.5 USD

>>275490
Hey you get yerself on the IRCs mister

Right now

>>275502
But how do I shot web?

>>275504
www.mibbit.com

Choose Rizon

Make up a channel name for your quest like #artificerquest

tell us here

BAM.

Alright, channel is #ConstructArtificer

>>275301
Welcome to the quest, and thanks for the input. You might fit in :P

>GM needs to l2text formatting
We might not stay on tgchan. If we go back to /tg/ on 4chan, which doesn't gots no formatting, it's sort of a waste of time and effort. If not, I'm sure he'll pick it up. This quest was continued with GM ragan at his ban, so yeah. Distractions.

Not that I'd mind moar formatting, it's just kind of secondary.

>Complaint to players
Yeah, we've been playing for three days and went from no dollars to about four million bucks in gold if the plan pays out.

I don't think we're exactly screwed. At this rate, we could have everything we need by the end of the week.

And the thing about the dorf at the inn was largely due to not having any change. At that point, the GM was posting every half hour or so and we just didn't get to it. Besides which, all that shit's on a tab with the guy. I think we might offer to buy the inn or something later, so it's not that big a deal.

>Find a PERFECT diamond the size of watermelon
>The size of a beach ball
>size of a MORTAR SHELL
>IT'S BEYOND THUNDERDOME GUYZ

...Yeah, go re-read the earlier quest. There were at least two anons, counting me, acting against that. And we still have the diamond.

I think we're all up to speed on the money thing now. But we'll probably post relative gold, silver, and bronze values, as well as those of other currencies, on a wiki page for the quest.

Your point's taken well enough, but we seem to be accruing wealth fast enough to allow for a certain measure of generosity to our bros.

>Power levels
Yeah, I'd considered that, but I'd suggest you consider that there's a bunch of Jedi fucking Knights from the Old Empire walking around, digging up thousand-foot robots that break continents maybe, tracking you, and bearing a grudge against you.

We could use brute force, sure. The idea is to be careful about getting spotted. If the point was to level the town, it'd be leveled - the point is that we'd rather excercise soft power because 1) it's more entertaining, and 2) the story of conquest is something we're all familiar with. There's opportunity for more here, let the battles come later.

Also, we're just getting our bearings.

As for magic, the GM basically told us that Carne's weakness in magical affairs is such that his spells have something akin to a perils of the warp effect in Dark Heresy, if you're familiar with that. In other words, yes, he's a powerful mage - because he lacks the things that keep biological mages from destroying themselves and the world around them.

>We have been offered 400 gold for this task. 800,000$.
Sheesh, am I the only one who thinks we are going to be backstabbed? I doubt the one who hired us will be willing to part with this kind of money.
Yeah, a high society pawnbroker had three hundred gold in his bank account and just gave it to us. A royal house bought a diamond for a six-figure sum of gold, which is a couple of billion. For some ornamentation.

I don't think NID's going to completely withhold the money, but if they do, we're getting fifteen hundred from playing a market.

It's not adding up to look like a betrayal. Think of it as CIA seed money for a new front company. Why betray what you can control?

>swords, going to the ruins, getting whatever was gotten from them, eetc
Yeah, already planned on it, brah. But good attention to detail.

>Bitchwhining about how we're missing an opportunity to buy a chunk of the city, etc
Look up 'short-selling,' and read the GM's post again here: >>275278

Specifically, the very last line, where it says "-Full Rentention."

I'm lead to believe that refers to ownership of properties and businesses.

>Plan recap

Coming up.

>Senses, what's wrong with them?

We need to fix them, it takes an hour. If we don't do so we'll be senseless within a week, which would suck nuts.

>The Empire was crazy-powerful, blah
GM says it's just tech levels from the contemporary world plus some magic. Not spanning worlds or whatever. Hang on.

>They made an afterlife
No, they shunted souls from GOING TO the existing planar afterlife and turned them into a fuel-source for the sun. Nothing else.

The Empire was powerful and an improvement on the previous way of life, but it fell apart and left us a lot of fucked-up things to deal with.

Scrying spells TEAR OPEN A HOLE IN REALITY AND DEMONS COME THROUGH IT, okay? Magic in this setting is the sort of shit John Constantine has to deal with at higher levels. Enchanted items usually have negative attributes and consequences. There are no native gods. 'Angels' are potentially neutral at best. It's something like a sneakier, more seductive WH40K warp out there.

Try not to just open a door to darkness and stand there surprised when all kinds of shit comes bursting through to chop your cock off.

>>275301

>We DON'T NEED the mercenaries, we DON'T NEED Ariel, we DON'T NEED the body guards. I am fairly sure we can take this entire tiny port (only meager population of 200,000 people) all by ourself with one hand tied behind our back.

While we could do that, it would make groups like the NID freak the fuck out. By operating like we're an animal, and hiring animal helpers, and using the least amount of force we can, we buy time for when we do eventually come into conflict with the NID and other major power brokers.

>>275510
THIS ANON

THIS ANON UNDERSTANDS

Handing Jack 5 silver, he puts it in his pocket. "Ariel isn't mad at me any more? Yeah, that'll be the day. Did you get her to wear a dress too?"
You nod. He looks down at the coins. "So, mind control or something?"
You sit down at the table, putting your arms in front of you. It's a classic psychological manipulation move. You begin to speak, describing your plans for the prisoners in great detail, and your plans for the aftermath of Blackheart's downfall. You even offer to put his daughter through college if he works for you. He looks down at the coins again. Then up. Then down.

"Alright. I'll work for you. About time someone cleaned up this city anyways." You call for the Captain. He comes running down, sword raised, with three of his men. Then he puts it down, seeing you and Jack sitting peacefully.

"Yes?"

You tell him to get you some paper and a pen. He turns and goes upstairs, and comes down with the supplies after a minute.

Forming the contract rapidly in your mind, your arms move like a machine, the contract written in only a minute with perfect print. You sign your name, Carne MacAeon, at the bottom, and pass it to him. He holds the pen for a moment, then signs his name. The mammal seems to still be worried about his family. You take the contract and look it over. Everything appears to be in order. You put the contract to your left, and discuss his men. "Yeah. Most of them will work with me, I guess, but I'd say one or two of them won't. You'll probably have to keep them here so they don't try to warn Blackheart. Also, I want you to assure me they won't be harmed." You agree, and he gets up from the table. The mercenaries watch him carefully, but otherwise do nothing.

He walks around the tabel and upstairs, the mercenaries on his heels. You follow.

A few minutes later, he's explained everything to the prisoners. The two who initially refused to listen to reason refuse him now as well, but the others agree. Under the watch of the mercenaries, they retake their arms and leave to contact their fellow smugglers, the remaining two escorted back to their rooms. Ariel returns from shopping. She and Jack eye each other carefully.

"So, what, you trust him enough to just let him go?"

It is now 10:45 am.

>>275515
Wait until Jack's out of earshot, then inform Ariel that hse isn't the only one who values family, and that such a hold over a man is a better basis to build trust from than most sorts of blind force. Besides, you've assured him a tangible benefit if he doesn't try to screw you over, and he's already got it drilled through his head that you're simply not one to fuck around on.

Tell her that you've got eyes on him just the same, but that his role in this in limiting the damage that'll come from tearing the heart right out of Blackheart's power-base so it doesn't spill out into the rest of the city. You wouldn't want thousands of people to get the same treatment as she did from the authorities, with no recourse.

Ask her if she got the poison she'd mentioned, and who it is she seeks to use it on, specifically.

>>275527
This. Afterwards, look into making those investments.

>>275515

"We signed a contract, he's my employee now. We both stand to gain from working together. He will kick the supports out from under Blackheart before the party; you and I will place her in checkmate at the party."

>>275527
>>275530
Seconding these two.

"Even if he is your employee, and you have ten people watching him at once, I don't trust him. His family wasn't being threatened when he joined Blackheart, now were they? But fine, if you think he can help us take her down, by all means." She reaches around in her bag for a minute. It looks expensive. And the shop was just give them away to anyone who bought something. Strange.

Ariel pulled out a small wooden box. Opening it, she held up a very small vial of blue liquid. "This, is a very potent mix of several potions and plants. And some blood, but whatever. One vial in a well can make an entire village sleep for days. I was thinking we can use it on the drinks at the party, if we can get someone on the inside of the kitchen." She put it back in the case, then set the case on the storefront counter.

"Oh, also I bought you a sword and some better robes. They're on their way here now."

You thanked the mammal, and she smiled and went inside to change back into her street clothes. With nothing to do, you decided to continue planning your investments. Forming a mental map of the city, you marked each theoretical shop and person with a their own variables, and traced the changes backwards, as if you had decided to use one of your plans.

You marked the most profitable investments on your map. It was rapidly becoming cluttered, so you began to color code it.

>>275541
Ask Jack if he knows any of the cooking staff at Blackheart's estate.
If we can suborn one of them, they could drop it into any food or drinks being prepared before the party.
I doubt it'll be that easy, but I think it's line of action worth pursuing.

Aight
Check the weapon she bought... Probably not very good but might do for now.

Hmm... I say, lets move on to the first part of the plan, we are holding this off for too long.

>>275546
I think Jack's out of earshot, but we might send him a message by spell. Also, tell the mercenaries that if they think they can do so without drawing attention, they're free to base out of this safehouse and scout the three locations you're going to hit for Blackheart.

Is the boathouse out at sea, or in port?

>>275554
We have nine hours before the party and a lot of shit to do and a meeting to be at in like half an hour : /

But yeah, wait for the sword and stuff to arrive.

I hope it's watered steel.

Oh well, the keep on making simulations for the bestedt possible out comes.

Maybe sell our other artifacts and incorporate that into simulation as well?
Seems like the we are leaning towards not putting people out of work. While I would have like to grab as much as we can, I can support taking over nicely too.

Or maybe we could timeskip? Hmm?

>>275560
We're having Bill and Ted handle the meeting with Jim, so we can concentrate on taking out Blackheart.

I still think we need to get someone into the kitchen at Blackheart's mansion and poison all of the drinks.

The player plan, as it stands now. Please suggest alterations or comment freely, we'll be glad to put in moar stuff.

Reasoning:

Your purpose is to bring the world into a new age, but the world seems to be extremely unprepared, threatened, and beset by a (rather grimdark) set of circumstances and phenomena, including an artificial 'afterlife' that destroys souls, old, damaged artifacts powered by insane demons lying around everywhere for hundreds of years which may be close to unleashing the captured outsiders powering them, and the protectors of the old order potentially going rogue and attempting to unleash thousand-foot-tall killing machines on the rest of the world.

Oh, and the closest thing to a secure world order was torn apart from within, so re-instituting their methods might just lead to history repeating itself. So innovation is needed.

So you may have to work to prepare the way for this new age for a while. You will also have to determine what constitutes a 'new age.' What will change? What is it you seek to create?

The following is a summary of the player consensus arrived at thus far in shaping the overall goal-set for our protagonist.

We're currently referring to the reshaping of the world as the Long Project (shut up, we liked Precipice a lot).

-In order to prevent the social stagnation or complacency that might have caused the fall of the Old Empire, and to assist in maintaining a competitive edge in the people we're creating artifacts for so they don't become dependant on us and incapable of independance, we're going to attempt to de-centralize economic and political power, createing a balance thereof and strong local and regional economies. This also has the benefit of providing some moral justification for our meddling in the affairs of others.
-Maximizing the utilitarianism of the resultant governments provides yet more justification for our infringement on their independant decision-making and so forth.
-Creating a League of Nations or setting-compatible equivalent thereof and modifying uts functions and powers until it maintains an acceptable level of usefulness to the world will allow the sapient races on it to manage their own affairs, reducing our meddling and freeing us to make artefacts and solve problems, or adventure.
-Moving towards a great projects, for example planar exploration programs or something akin to space programs, building examples of macro-engineering, and so forth, will keep the population busy and competitive without creating unacceptable levels of violence or land-wars oin the world (Yes, kinda like Spelljammer or something).
-Developing new levels of artifice, science, and art is a goal directly in line with your core functions.
-Giving due respect to sapient life and working to preserve the ecosystem and environment or alter it in a positive fashion will likely prevent you from being destroyed by a mob of peasants with torches and pitchforks or causing a global disaster.

Shorter-term but significant projects are currently referred to as Great Works. These include the following, which can be added to as ideas arise:
-Investigating the mage-knights.


A list of artifacts we wish to create currently includes the following:

Immediate goals are as follows:

-Secure power in Port Adder, repair ourself and create new capabilities, amass current information, and create security for ourselves.
-Unseat Anna Blackheart and peacefully dismantle her monopolies, while limiting the damage and hanging onto a chunk of them yourself.

>>275564
Yeah, Bill and Ted are still Bill and freaking Ted, and our plans have changed since we're going to have well over a thousand people working for us to organize and put under Jim by mid-day tomorrow. We should go to the meeting.

>>275559
You call for Ariel. She comes downstairs. "Yes, what is it?" You ask her to set up a two way conversation for you. "Really? You want to to use another spell to talk to someone?" Yes. Really.
"Fine. It's a good thing I prepared this spell today."
She casts the spell, the magic energy in the area being draw towards her. You tell her it's to Jack, and she pauses. Then she continues.
"There. Jack wants to know what I want. What's the message?"
>>275546
She stops, and appears to concentrate for a moment.
"He says yes."
You ask if he could get any to do him a favor, and Ariel relays the message.
"He says not by tonight, he couldn't. But he could put you in contact with one of them before the party."
You tell Ariel to tell him that would be fine.
"Alright. Jack says he'll tell him to meet you at the Smoking Dwarf, around 2 o'clock."
She cut the connection. "Now, do you need anything else?"
No.
"Alright then." She leaves you to your own devices.

Glancing outside, you see a man with a horse coming up the street, through the rain. He was something on the back of the horse. Approaching you, he asks for your name. You give it to him.

"Oh, good. Mr. MacAeon, this is for you." Dismounting the horse, the gnome hands you a sheath wrapped in paper. He also takes another thing wrapped in paper off the horse and head inside with it. The mammal put the package on the counter and mounted his horse again, though not without some trouble. "Good day, sir."

He rode off.

Unwrapping the sheath, you examined it. Some small diamonds and rubies were set into it, with silver and gold patterns on the surface. Pulling the sword from it, you felt the weight. It was unbalanced and heavy, but it was strong enough to cut into thin metal plating without snapping in half. It was even more ornate, with plant patterns and rare metals ordaining the blade and the hilt.

She bought a blingeg out weapon? Hhmm... I would have preferred practical weapon rather than shiny one.

So, how great can Carne fight with a sword?


Then go meet with Jak and contact that person. Talk with it and use all your knowledge of persuasion to get it on our side. Use the NID files for reference.

If it refuses still, we can use oculas to nudge it in the right direction.

>>275572
We have three hours. We can do a lot of things in three hours. Hang on.

>>275572
Part of our plan was to get a weapon that is obviously impractical, to maintain the 'rich noble' facade.
Also, Jack's contact is meeting us at the inn at 2pm, no need to go running after him.

>>275572

It's for the party, MacAeon has to look right and that means having the right sort of blade as an accessory.

>>275568
Put on the sword and go inside, see if the package is for you. If it is, open it. If it contains robes, examine them.

Do you know if you need to get advertising or signs approved if you want them put up in the city limits? If not, locate a few print-shops on the city map.

Also, locate a courier service with guarantees of safe delivery, one that can specialize in transporting around money or bank notes.

Ask the mercenaries of there are any smiths or weapons dealers in the city who provide watered-steel weaponry.

Check how much money you have left.

>>275579
>Check how much money you have left.
Very important.
In all the excitement, I've lost track myself, and I hope someone else has been keeping track.
...and no, I'm not feeling especially lucky.

>>275574
It's just.. .I don't know what we can do else to occupy us, so I meant timeskipping

>>275584
Well, there's a couple of dead bodies we could get taken to the undertaker, we can start investing, we can spy on Blackheart, we can GO TO THE MEETING SHEESH, we can get a better weapon, we can FIX OUR SENSES, we can try to meet with Sloane like we were hoping to...the list goes on.

>>275587
Yes, let's get our senses fixed first. I think that should take priority.

>>275588
As soon as we have a well-guarded place to sit for an hour straight, with trusted people outside every entrance and exit, we really do need to do this.

>>275579
Also, what do you remember of the Grandmaster of the mage-knights? Did he share their distrust or dislike of you? Was he unpopular with his order at the time?

>>275590
I think if we simply go into one of the empty rooms and lock the door, telling the mercs that we aren't to be disturbed for an hour as we're doing a magic ritual, it should be good enough.

>>275596
Assuming we have the parts, sure, let's go for it

>275572
Carne has the basic training of the Empire's Honor Guard under his belt, so he's better off than most people. Add to that his strength and speed, and he's a killing machine.

>>275579
Hooking the sheath around your waist, you remove the package from the table. Ripping open the paper, you find a folded robe inside. Indigo, with blue stripping. Hmm. It will do.

You do not believe you need to get permits, as advertising is not yet common practice in these parts. Most people have never even seen a billboard.

From the business list you read in the Town Hall, you know of one reputable courier service that promise safe delivery, or compensation for what was lost or damaged. It is on the outskirts of the city, further inland.

Asking the mercenaries regarding weapons, most of them appear clueless as to where you might find watered-steel arms, but two recommend a blacksmith in the northern half of the city.

You have 264 Gold, 28 SIlver, 2 Bronze, and 1 Copper.

Heading upstairs, you enter the room with the dead people, who by now have begun to decay, and inform the mercenaries that you are not to be disturbed. Then you begin performing diagnostics. Interrupting the data flow from your eyes first, you begin to repair the damage. Reestablishing the data flow and interrupting it multiple times, you slowly realign and recode all the pieces. Over the course of half an hour, you manage to regain your enhanced vision, as well as you ultraviolet-level sight.

You then get to work on your vibrational sensors. It takes slightly longer than expected to repair. Several pieces are damaged and cannot be fixed. But you work around those, and use the some that are still functional to act as a temporary replacement for the primaries. Reestablishing the data flow, it sounds like static at first, but then it comes into focus. Literally. It appears that the modifications have changed the way the units process the data flow.

You now have, in addition to sound detection, a form of three dimensional sonar.

>>275611
Send the guards on their recon run to Blackheart's warehouses if they haven't already gone. If they've come back, tell them to check over their arms and sort out what weapons they need, boats to get to the boathouse or whatever else. When they're done with that, one of them is to find you at the inn of the sleeping dwarf and give you said list, you're going there for a meeting.

Give them the appropriate amount of money to arrange for someone to cart away the dead smugglers to a respectable mortician and see to their burial, or whatever the appropriate custom is here.

If there's a satchel or something handy, put your new robe in it. If not, put it in the pack or bundle it carefully and put it away somewhere safe.

Go to the inn. Try to get there before noon, but avoid moving at inhuman speed if possible. If all is well there, attend the meeting.

>>275618
should be 'give you a list of necessary items.'

>>275618
Assuming that all sensory repairs are completed, I second these suggestions.

>>275618
You place the robe in the drawer of a desk in the room, and exit the check on the mercenaries.

They have not yet left? You tell them yet again. The mercenaries obey, and they leave in groups of three, all crossbowmen, lightly armored. You John and Foran leave alongside them for the Smoking Dwarf, to the meeting with Jim. In addition, you send a mercenary to hire someone to cart away the bodies. No need to leave them laying about.

You follow John and Foran to the inn, behind them. You see Max, Franky, and a man with his hood covering his face. They are approaching the inn. Most likely Jim. John and Foran hold the door for them, and enter. It is still raining.

You enter the inn as well. The dwarven innkeeper and the dwarven workmen in the back are the only ones there. Max, Franky, and Jim sit at a table towards the front, in a corner. John and Foran sit at the same table, leaving a chair in the center for you.

>>275644
Sit down and get to business.
Outline where we want the first mining camp to be set up (in the forest where we woke up), and the particulars of where we know the iron ore to be.

Practice with your new sonar ability and see if it's good enough to allow you to get an image through clothing so that you can see concealed weapons and identify people without being able to see their faces. Don't use frequencies audible to the human ear for this, of course.

>>275644
Ask them if they want anything in the way of food or drink, politely request it of the innkeeper if they do, and take a seat when that's over with.

If that's Jim under the hood and there's no funny business goin' on, ask him how many men he's comfortable supervising.

Ask them if there's anything they'd like to discuss first, or if the situation has changed on their end. If so, you have time to talk about their matters first.

In the meantime, run some projections for efficiency in terms of how many people you should devote to extracting metal per deposit, with what you know of the technology available. Include provisions for not screwing up the forest's ecology, to the extent that you can. You might need it later, and there's no sense in pissing off any tree-huggers or whatnot.

Draw up plans to provision up to two thousand people, calculate the weekly cost to the best of your ability, fill in the gaps insofar as prices and equipment availability goes with information from the others in the room, and figure out how long it'd take to turn a profit if possible.

Then, optimize for how to take care of as many families as possible in case people want to move out of town with their relations, choose a site in the forest well-suited to the creation of this mining town, and draw up projections for what you'll need to speed the process of building it if you furnish the materials and take the cost out of the laborer's wages at a reasonably fair, low rate.

Total up the projected costs.

Inform Jim and the others of your expectations for a large incoming labor force of anywhere from a few hundred to two thousand people, and that if they have trustworthy enough friends who know something of administration they'll be welcome to seek work with you.

Inform them that you plan to rent some offices in the city temporarily and use them to process the labor force, and that hopefully the first hundred people will be leaving town by the end of the day today or earlier, or tomorrow morning at the very latest. Inform him you expect to send some Dwarven skilled labor, an abundance of tents, food, and supplies, and whatever else is necessary.

Check the time.

>>275650
>>275646
Yeah, more or less. Seconding, do the sonar check first and all that.

Dive into your knowledge vaults to see how much further you can enhance your sense we must strive for full-sensory data on steroids, something like mantis shrimps have.

what do you need to fully repair your senses without relying on work about? How much time will the repairs require?

I'm alive, just so you know. Still in the hospital. Maybe I'll post in a bit. Sorry, guys.

>>275850
It's okay. I'm patient.

>>275850
Hang in there, man. Post when you're feeling like it, healing is kind of important.

Also, we're on chat if you want some internet company.

Hay GM, don't be a stranger, tell us how you are.

They let you out of bed yet? Back to bonin' the men and burnan the ladies yet?

OP_will_surely_deliver.jpg

>>276422
OP said he might be taking a break until the 30h anyway, cut it out with that shit.

Alright. I'm not totally high on painkillers right now. So I'm going to continue as much as I can.

>>276631
Fuck yeah he's alive!

Good stuff.

>>276631
ah, good

OP's hurtan : /

>>276676
Hey GM, give us a shout when you can.

Bleh.

My arm's healing ok, so I can post again.

I'll run the game TOMORROW NIGHT.

BE THERE.

>>280333

Good to hear!

Was starting to worry there.

Guess it didn't happen tonight, but that's alright.

Let us know if you want to change the schedule or whatnot, maybe you can't do the late night thing right now.

ARGH.

Fucking schedule conflicts.

THIS GAME WILL CONTINUE.

It just might take a while, I only got out of the hospital a few days ago.

>>281018
You know you could just drop an update once in a while, you don't have to do sessions. Especially considering tgchan has very little traffic.

Update sessions are pretty fun though.

>>281019
>>281035
Update sessions are win, but whatever needs to happen is what should happen. Hope you're still healing okay, I know getting back into the swing of things after being sick can suck hard.

>>281018

So, it's been almost a week. Any idea of when your schedule will allow this to continue? And is there somewhere else we're discussing this, possibly a relevant quest discussion thread or something? It'd be good to get some sort of word on the matter.

Incidentally, the general thread that the GM made when he came here is still up, if we want to use that. But it's kind of on the wrong forum.

Anyway, whatever. Here: http://quest.lv/kusaba/meep/res/12800.html

Suggestion 2011/02/26(Sat)14:50 No. 284491 ID: 81f32a
File 129876060277.jpg - (48.13KB , 586x446 , 1262055260350.jpg )

OP,

Are you going to continue this quest or should I remove it from my bookmarks already?

This was a promising quest though it had some things that lacked, which I had outlined in my fuck-huge rant (and still you keep on refusing to incorporate the suggestions in you updates)

Anyway, if you do continue, make a fuck-huge, absolutely awesome update to hype us up again.

>>284491
(cont)

Also.

I hope your arm is alright and is not the cause of the delay.

Ok, here's the deal.

My arm got infected because the doctor was retarded and fucked up on my meds.

So I had to go back to the hospital.

But now I'm back. For real.

Also, forgot my trip, this is my new one.

Tomorrow I'm planning a huge update, it'll be pretty good and should help make this go faster.

Ok?

Ok.

Also, this game is gonna get a bit darker from here on out, just so you know. I'm not saying jump ship or anything, but yeah. Stuff's gonna happen in not too long.

Oh hey, this was my trip.

Ok then.

Typing up the update right now.

F5F5F5F5F5F5F5F5F5F5

>>284645
Won't be for a couple hours, I'm not posting it until about midday.

But yeah.

>>284649
Awesome that you stopped by at all.

See you when we see you.

Oh good.

Sorry about the arm ... hope it's better now.

GM is away again : /