13th Age of the Highlands: Ironlake Falling

[Poh Tun Kai]

Okay, is everyone good for a game on 8 Jan? Who can host?

[Darren Loo]

I'm available both to host and to play

On 6 Jan 2015 13:25, "Poh Tun Kai" <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

Okay, is everyone good for a game on 8 Jan? Who can host?

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[Shift244]

I am open, and am OK to host - preferable for me in fact, as it makes my transport arrangement easier...

...although my family will be in, so the group may not prefer it. I'll let you all decide.

[Shift244]

Nice!

[Ban]

i'm available. will talk car pool times on that day itself i guess

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[Kumiko Yamazaki]

I can play... and can also host... 

On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 4:50 PM, Shift244 <phang....@gmail.com> wrote:

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=============================

"She's so many women 

He can't find the one who was his friend 

He's hanging on to half her heart 

He can't have the restless part

So he tells her to hasten down the wind"

- The Late Great, Warren Zevon.

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

Sorry...need to retract this.  Tonight and tomorrow night..will be late nights for an urgent work project. :(

My apologies.  :(

Douglas

[Poh Tun Kai]

Do we want to carry on without Princess Iris? Or just meet at Darren's place to play cards and stuff?

I'll need to update Jonathan and Matthew in case they don't read this...

[Darren Loo]

I'm always in favor of waiting for the full team within reason, particulary starting a new chapter.

Unless that puts us behind our rival party, then all bets are off XD

On 8 Jan 2015 08:30, "Poh Tun Kai" <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

Do we want to carry on without Princess Iris? Or just meet at Darren's place to play cards and stuff?

I'll need to update Jonathan and Matthew in case they don't read this...

[Poh Tun Kai]

Rival party is still behind at moment. :)

Hey Darren, let's assemble some minis together.

[Darren Loo]

Oooo. That'd work. Well, let's see what the others have in mind. I've plenty of games as well.

On 8 Jan 2015 08:45, "Poh Tun Kai" <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

Rival party is still behind at moment. :)

Hey Darren, let's assemble some minis together.

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[Ban]

I've got suburbia from Macx. It's a tile placing city building game.

Maxc has also left his Gamma World 4E rpg at my place, which is a lighthearted ruleset of d&D 4e which is very suitable for days when the usual rpg session doesn't run. Character generation is completely random and should be done on site.

[Shift244]

No objections to waiting for the full team.

Also, do we want to form a Whatsapp group for this? Other than Dan, the rest have access to the app?

[Ban]

er, i actually have whatsapp installed on my laptop through bluestack. just need to remember to switch it on

On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 10:23 AM, Shift244 <phang....@gmail.com> wrote:

No objections to waiting for the full team.

Also, do we want to form a Whatsapp group for this? Other than Dan, the rest have access to the app?

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[Ban]

Should i prepare Gamma World character sheets?

[Poh Tun Kai]

That's the Gamma World edition based on D&D 4e, right? Fun fun. :)

[Shift244]

That's the "nice feature" of smart phone application: "constant intrusive updates that does not depend on frail and unreliable human triggering something". :)

[Spheniscine]

Well crap... I think I lost my character sheet. I have an outdated (lvl 4) version in my drawer - I think I might have accidentally thrown out my current one instead of it >.<

I do have a digital copy saved somewhere but I think it's missing some updates and items/notes

[Spheniscine]

Nvm found it. I had put it together with my dice into a new bag and forgot about it >.<

[Poh Tun Kai]

No Highlands this week - Eugene and Doug are not around.

[Darren Loo]

Ok. I'm overloaded as well anyway. Can use the time to get back on track.

On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 6:09 PM, Poh Tun Kai <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

No Highlands this week - Eugene and Doug are not around.

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[Poh Tun Kai]

How does everyone feel about Thursday, 22 January?

[Ban]

I'm okay

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[Darren Loo]

I'm in. I haven't contemplated dwarven genocide in a while.

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[Poh Tun Kai]

Darren, Doug, okay to host?

[Darren Loo]

I'm ok to host.

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[Shift244]

I'm available.

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

I'm available

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[Kumiko Yamazaki]

My place is available too..but up to you all where to go. :3  

[Darren Loo]

If it's all the same for everyone, I'd appreciate being able to host it at my place? My ex colleagues are inviting me to join the staff dinner tomorrow and having the game at my place would make it easier for me to get back by 8pm. 

If not, its fine - I'll turn them down or make it a very quick one.

[Poh Tun Kai]

Doug's place is a bit easier for me, but I can certainly make it to yours as well.

No reply from Jonathan or Matthew so far.

On Wednesday, 21 January 2015 19:26:46 UTC+8, SpiritFox wrote:

[Ban]

WIll try again tomorrow, but still having trouble contacting Jon as well.

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[Kumiko Yamazaki]

Im' flexible....I'm also willing to go with either place. :)

[Poh Tun Kai]

Darren's place this time...

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

Everyone must come dressed as a Sailor Moon girl... o.o

On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 11:28 PM, Poh Tun Kai <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

Darren's place this time...

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[Poh Tun Kai]

Well, that's appropriately moon-themed...

[Spheniscine]

I'm available.

[Darren Loo]

For the record, I wasn't trying to "bring Eclipse out", it was the only card I had in mind that didn't involve a risky duel with a foe of unknown power or turning to Paul Morgan. Twilight's allowed her enemies to dictate the terms far too often for her to not take a risky shot in the dark in order to avoid putting the dwarves at either Tiandra's or Paul Morgan's feet. 

After all, fair's fair - Wetbeard is looking to Paul and Vecna for deliverance. Twilight's offer is for Eclipse (or at least, Twilight herself) to do the delivering on behalf of the Highlands. At worst, there's the Roadsingers - shadow and trickery, Gods of Bards and Thieves. They're...more acceptable to her right now and a much better alternative to Vecna and Paul (what with being the patron Gods of the Goblins and all that)

The more I think of it, the more I think this is the plan Twilight will go for. She has everything to play for here; Eclipse or Snack's patrons. What doubts she has about either, they're better than having Vecna move in uncontested. And while she distrusts Gods mightily, if ever there was need for a miracle, now's the time.

So to summarize; have Eclipse make an appearance, or at least have her power manifest (or seem to manifest) to try and break the elf Queen's hold on the drow. The optimum result would be to force the drow to allow the dwarven survivors to evacuate before falling on the Undead. The fallback plan would be to cause enough chaos in the elven ranks to keep them off the dwarves as they evacuate (with the party dealing with the Undead). The best result would be to place both the elves and the dwarves under Twilight's command and crush the Undead completely. 

At worst, this would allow a larger pool of talent to challenge what's-her-face to combat. Right now, only Nylis and Iris have the right to challenge what's-her-face for leadership. Pulling a "savior of the drow" would at least give us an option to have either Twilight or Lukas challenge for supremacy. 

On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 3:44 PM, Spheniscine <sphen...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm available.

[Poh Tun Kai]

You mean Decima, the half-breed moon fey/drow general and all-around twat.

"You're a twat. Don't be a twat." - Gambol

[Darren Loo]

Twilight is yet to meet anyone in power who isn't a twat of one kind or another. Except maybe Snack, Yarra and Padraig.

On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 9:24 AM, Poh Tun Kai <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

You mean Decima, the half-breed moon fey/drow general and all-around twat.

"You're a twat. Don't be a twat." - Gambol

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

At least she's not overly opinionated. :D

[Spheniscine]

Dan spoke with me on the trip back, and he brought up two options:

Firstly... he wants to duel Decima. He sees this as the simplest option, that is if he wins. Though eligibility due to race could be a problem... unless Iris or Nylis can name him her "champion" or something... or we pull a prophecy impersonation as SpiritFox suggested.

Secondly, he thinks that perhaps we could reopen negotiations with the undead. Have them promise safe passage, and not to convert any more dwarves to cannon fodder to protect themselves with, and hang around to make sure they keep to their end of the bargain. Main problem with this is that we know that they want Ironlake for their own strategic reasons; essentially, we're betting that the elven army is strong enough to neutralize that threat.

[Shift244]

A quick post up of some RP/discussion between the elves that Doug and I had yesterday.

Duty

"I need to beauty up for my conquest of this Dwarven city," Decima remarks almost off-handedly. She springs to her feet, leaving the trio of adventurers - Iris, still trying to formulate a reasonable, politically appropriate response, and Nylislaele staring daggers at Demica's exiting frame.

"May I show you out then?" Kazon asks most politely.

"Master Kazon, If I promise you the evacuation of the undead forces from the city under my means, will you order Decima to withdraw her troops? So long as Tiandra's wishes are seen to, yes?" Liz offers.

"I am afraid it will not be so easy. A blade once unsheathed, must draw blood before it can be sheathed again. If I were to give her that command, I will need to face her in duel. Would you go in my stead?" Kazon replies, smooth as slik. Liz is unsure if he is amused or mocking her. Perhaps both, she decides. The decision to duel an unknown warrior was harder to make.

Kazon takes Liz's silence as an opportunity to send the group off.

"Tell you what, ladies and gentle-dragon. I'll escort you out, and you take until morning tomorrow to inform me about your decision on your... proposal, and I'll see what I can do for you. Come now," he waves his hands to shoo the group from the tent.

...

Diamante's broad shoulders looked a little slumped, as if tired, weighing the Kazon and Decima's words in silent brooding as he walks back to regroup with Twilight, Lukas and Gambol. Behind him the two elves follows with equally heavy hearts at the thoughts of more civilian casualties and a possible duel against an unknown opponent. 

"Nylislaele, I would know what you are thinking. Pray tell," Iris' voice was steady despite echoing the heaviness her heart felt.

"I was just considering our options. Dueling seems best. Any conflict involving the undead will likely see those foul creatures throw more Dwarven bodies as fodder. I'm all for dealing swift retribution to Iron Lake forces, but not slaves and any who've surrendered," Liz responds.

"..and we know from Diamante's agents that Paul Morgan's forces are keen to establish a foothold here," Iris adds.

"Yes," Liz agrees. "So, if we cannot deter the Drow, battle is imminent... with Dwarves getting the front row seat where they would rather have the back. And then there is the blood tax after."

Iris nods sagely. "I am prepared to face Decima against all she stands for."

"Nay, princess. In such matters, it is more fitting for a servant than a lady. Plus, you have a title to live up to," Liz shakes her head slightly.

"You ever think I see you as a servant?" Iris tone was severe. Was she angered? "I have stood with you, and know that people are willing to listen to you. I am willing to entrust to you, to complete what I need to do, should the fight not favor me."

"Nay, princess. I am but a servant to the Elven people, but you... you are by bloodline a princess. What name I hold is granted that I may serve in my stead, just as your title holds you to serve in yours. You have a duty to your people, a duty you have sacrificed much to fulfill. This, I believe, is not your fight."

"A good leader leads a charge and does not cower behind others. I will not stay my hand against such atrocities."

"Aye, I agree. But I see to that a good leader knows how to delegate to people they trust. There is a time to lead a charge, and there is a time have others lead that charge while more important matters are seen to. Which, would you think this is?"

Iris falls silent in deep thought. Their eyes lock, seeing the fierce determination in each other.

"Besides," Liz continues, "...and I mean no offense saying this for I respect your prowess, Iris, but your duel would be a quick exchange of strikes. Either you fall, or she does. Mine would probably be a more drawn out affair of attrition. I would think a contest of endurance a safer bet, than risk it at the flip of a coin. Plus, if I do fall, she will then open to you as next challenger."

Iris nods slowly in agreement at that assessment, lips tightly drawn.

To herself, Liz thinks, "That is only an assessment of our combat styles, of course. We have absolutely no idea of this Decima's abilities. Is she a warrior of blade and steel? Or a mage of spells and cunning? That would affect the choice of the champion, as well as the outcome."

In front, Diamante's large frame slows to a stop before a somber Lukas, a brow furrowing Gambol, and a grim Twilight.

[Shift244]

OOC, I think that getting the undead to promise, in explicit terms to bring the Dwarves out alive and well is all fine and dandy. Assuming they have the means to keep the Drow forces at bay long enough, it will be a hellish week of logistics with possibly many deaths, even if they agree to it. That is, if the undead are not simply after the city, where the Dwarves can easily be collateral (and a convenient source to bolster their ranks).

Trying to summon Sehanine seems viable. Not sure her current level of power, but nothing on the field may be able to to rival her it seems. Unless the Icons start appearing. Plus, it could be attempted first, then if unsuccessful, the party falls back to the duel. Not sure how the Drow will act on that, if successful.

At the moment Liz is OK with all suggestions raised, and also willing to duel Decima. She would however, curse the turn of events if battle breaks out and the party then takes out Decima. The former is a formal challenge between individuals, the latter would be striking against Tiandra's banner.

[Ban]

(I'm personally inclined to give the drow the dwarves who commited the worst atrocities against them to be tried for war crimes against the drow, but that seems to have been shot down)

It looks like a lot of us seem inclinded to at least attempt a duel, but we're not sure about the details or even what we get from winning the duel. The conversation with Kazon seems to suggest we can at least temporarily stay the hand of the drow until the dwarves leave peacefully. If the dwarves take the undead's offer up, we won't even need to worry about Paul Morgan's coming army since they will ALSO allow the dwarves to leave peacfully.

Taking the undead offer to leave Ironlake isn't so bad: the dwarves want to leave the warzone, and they don't need to take up the offer to take up residence in unknown lands. There appear to be other options; I hear the people of Port Pearl are in need to rebuild and resettle themselves, and King Wetbeard is experienced at human relations. 

It may not be possible to prevent Paul Morgan from taking over Ironlake. Sure, the elf army is more than a match for the 100 or so undead in the palace. The coming undead army led by Paul Morgan, not so much. We'd need the combined dwarf + elf forces together to defend Ironlake from invading Undead main army. Not sure if King Wetbeard would want to put his people at risk for the city though. Convincing the elves to fight alongside the dwarves instead of killing them, even more so. I'm willing to write this off.

--

[Darren Loo]

Twilight will detail the following out to the others in no uncertain terms:

A deal with the undead is out of the question. Ironlake sits only a few day's march south of Orrin Village and a similar distance northwest of Gierstark - allowing them to set up shop in the city is unacceptable to both the Highlands (well, to Twilight and Rain at least) and Gierstark as it presents a direct threat to both.

At the same time, relying on the elves to reduce the city following a dwarven evacuation is not a viable alternative. The evacuation will take weeks, during which time the undead, even if they allowed the dwarves to leave unmolested, would certainly dig in. Twilight sees no indication that that the Elf Queen would be willing to pick a fight with the undead once they've had a chance to entrench themselves. 

At the same time, Vecna has no reason to pick a fight with the elves either when he can simply make peace with the most powerful of his neighbors and set his sights on corrupting the weaker ones. Instead, she believes it will be more than likely that the Highlands will once again become the site of a confrontation between Gods; Pella is still out there and she may still be an easy in for the Elf Queen's meddling with the Highlands.

Gierstark would then be under threat from Ironlake as well, since it was essentially the source of their weaponry and resources - which is possibly the reason The City appears to be making a beeline to Rain and Snack. Because of Ironlake's position, its an easy gateway into Gierstark; through trade, diplomacy and... evangelism. Twilight shouldn't have to remind Lukas of his and Rain's experience with Clan McColl. 

For this reason, Twilight favors an immediate resolution to this standoff, preferably ending with the dwarven kingdom restored in its ruins. However, the...asset... closest at hand is the army of Illinith and they've made it clear that they intend to have their pound of flesh.

Twilight is highly doubtful of securing the army through a duel for leadership - for starters, the entire vanguard of the army consists of the next of kin of those who fell in Ironlake's Siege of Illinith. Even if the elves secure command of the army, there's no stopping them from being challenged to a constant string of leadership duels by those discontented with their leadership. More importantly, there's no way for the party to guarantee the elves will not go rogue once they've entered the City. 

The shifter wonders WHY both sides seem to be interested in what Admiral Doenitz... I mean, Admiral Wetbeard... has to say about this. What's in it for them? It doesn't make a lot of sense to her - if the elves REALLY wanted the undead...unundeaded..., they would easily be able to make it so. She doesn't buy the whole act of honor and mercy thing. There HAS to be another reason they have not just tunneled in, gotten rid of the undead and then exacted their toll. Similarly, it seems strange that the undead appear to be completely willing to wait for a group of mercenaries to drop in out of the blue to negotiate a deal with the elves when they could have done so themselves. 

Something is up, and the shifter doesn't like it. Wetbeard might be one - the undead might simply want him to agree to their deal and hand the dwarves to them on a silver platter. But why are the elves cooperating? Do they know about the deal that Paul is offering to the dwarves? It makes the most sense - allow the undead to teleport the dwarves away, THEN strike so that there's no chance that the undead ranks would be swollen by dwarven corpses. But surely the undead know that too. What's THEIR play?

No - all this is too fishy for the shifter's liking; what it is is beyond Twilight's +3 WIS for now, but she's been a pawn to Gods for too long - far, far, far too long and she's not willing to play along with the games of enemy Icons. Her suggestion is to try and secure leadership of the elves by overawing them with the presence of their rumored savior. Force them to submit to her and take out the undead in a quick strike, using her presence as the element of control to prevent anyone from getting too far out of line. They can then go back to Illinith, secure in the knowledge that peace would be guaranteed by King Diamante and his... kobold occupation force.

It's a desperate gamble and would mean pissing off BOTH the Undead and the Elves, but the alternative is too bitter for Twilight to contemplate. An undead capitol in the middle of the Highlands?  Nope. Not on her watch. She's seen the rise and fall of Gods at the hands of mortals. She's been afraid too long. Its time to cross the bridge of blood to whatever end destiny might have in store for her. Even death and failure will be glorious.

***

Left unsaid, of course, are the alternatives; 

It doesn't have to be Eclipse. Iris would probably do, so long as she's willing to play the part of the ruthless Queen of Battle, rather than the noble Princess of Songs. She has a giant fucking city to rain lightning hell on anyone who opposes her. She has the banner of the Elf Queen herself. SHE could enforce her will on the elves if she's willing to, you know, incinerate her own people (or their close relatives) who disobey. Twilight would be happy to do that kind of enforcing, but she has her doubts Iris has it in her to do just that. 

Anyway, her thoughts are on the Elven City - she had been wondering about Tiandra's reasons to allow the party to bring the city to Ironlake. Perhaps this is it. To have both of her agents arrive to take control of the elven army and drive the undead from Ironlake. If Twilight had been them, she'd challenge Decima, take control and immediately use the city to enforce obedience to her dictates. Have Wetbeard's people clear the civillians from designated free-fire zones and launch an all-out assault on the Undead. Dig them out and destroy them before they become too settled. The party would destroy the banners and free the dwarves under undead thrall and the elves would just pile in and finish off the undead. Diamante and his people can take up garrison in Ironlake as well and the worst of Ironbone's followers can be judged by Wetbeard. The Drifter on the Winds may then remain over Ironlake to deter any further undead aggression (and act as a sop for the Drow of Illinith - With or Nylis installed as Military Governor to ensure no aggression be undertaken against Illinith by the Elf Queen's will.)

All this, of course, is a bitter pill for Twilight, considering Eclipse. But it is still preferable to a fully armed and operational Necropolis within striking distance of Orrin Village. The shifter will propose this as a last resort, if it looks like she cannot get the party to see reason and make a stand in Ironlake. A Highlander would - and these Dwarves had better learn to live like Highlanders from now on 'cause its Highland territory they occupy! Still, that would leave Wetbeard indebted to the elves - which to Twilight is almost as bad as the undead. Almost.

A final solution, where all else fails is a direct appeal to the Gods - either Eclipse or the Roadsingers. Eclipse has (or appears to have) access to the Elven Fey gates. Perhaps it is within her power to use them to spirit the dwarves out of Ironlake? Or perhaps the Roadsingers can help hide the dwarves from elven vengeance? Twilight has a glimmer of an idea; do any of the fey-folk have powerful enough illusions, or the ability to create lifelike golems to be sacrificed to the elves? 

She has to meditate on this. For such subtle magics are likely beyond even Nylis. In the back of her mind, she can hear Rain's voice, gently soothing her, "I’m not really one to talk to for this but, maybe, right now might be a good time for prayer. So why don’t you talk to her? I’m sure she’ll at least give you a listen."

[Darren Loo]

Did Decima mention how she intends to decimate the dwarves? I can't remember if she intends to kill all of Ironbone's loyalists on top of decimating the population?

We need magic, and we need sacrifices, but perhaps no more than would voluntarily sacrifice themselves, or could be persuaded to do so as a form of redemption. No need for divine manifestations or miraculous intervention. Just a small blessing to top off regular magic. After all, all dwarves look the same.

[Ban]

I have more to say, but anyone else want to contribute thoughts?

[Shift244]

Decima just wants her pound of flesh. No specific choice of who she tolls.

In the end, the "save the Dwarves" effort seems to be time crucial as Decima appears to start moving. On a meta level, dueling Decima places the chosen champion at risk, with Lukas probably the best choice between high defense and alpha strike capability. Bargaining with the undead risks them playing a game of words or if they are honest, being unable to hold their end of it against superior Drow forces.

Trying for divine is a no loss attempt, great if there's answer, but it leaves the option of what to do if the gods stay silent.

Now, the PCs can turn on the Drow and Ion cannon them without provocation at the risk of losing a flying city (Diamante will need to find a new HQ). Or they can surgically remove the cancer from to ashes of the proud Dwarven city. For now, the undead seem a token force.

[Poh Tun Kai]

If Iris uses Severance in a ritual to take full control of the Drifting Doom, it's fair to say that the armies of elvenkind may change their targeting priorities drastically, giving the dwarves time to evacuate, whether by river or land, escorted by Clan Morgan forces.

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

Kind of what Iris is planning right now.

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 3:18 AM, Poh Tun Kai <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

If Iris uses Severance in a ritual to take full control of the Drifting Doom, it's fair to say that the armies of elvenkind may change their targeting priorities drastically, giving the dwarves time to evacuate, whether by river or land, escorted by Clan Morgan forces.

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[Darren Loo]

Twilight has three proposals for the team, after the long, rambling argument.

Plan A:

Twilight's preferred outcome is to keep the Dwarves in the city and kick off a war between the elves and the undead. For that she proposes a threefold approach: 

Firstly - and this will require help from Nylis and, hopefully, one of Twilight's chosen Gods - start creating decoys to fulfill the elves' need for blood. The idea is to create as many dwarven clones as possible to satisfy Decima's demands for the decimation of the dwarves - create a sufficiently realistic illusion to trick the elves into leaving while preserving as many of the survivors as possible.

Secondly - control the means of execution so our duplicity will not be discovered, at least until its too late to change anything. If this means seizing command of the elves, then so be it. The party seems dead set on the duel anyway. 

Thirdly - Destroy the undead banners controlling the dwarven civilians and get them out of the way of the elves. Secure any means by which the undead can sabotage the city (like, say, dropping it into the underdark)

Let the elves finish off the undead for us, fake a "decimation" of Ironlake and then garrison Ironlake with Diamante's forces, Wetbeard's men and the Drifting Doom. Which might or might not require seizing control of the Drifting Doom. A combination of the three might thwart an Undead claim on the city. 

Pros: It leaves the dwarves in control of Ironlake and prevents the rise of an Undead city in the middle of the Highlands, while preserving Wetbeard's people without making them beholden to the Undead AND does not piss off the Elf Queen. As an added bonus, it puts one of Twilight's chosen deities or Icons in the position of a savior to the dwarves. Everyone is happy. Except Paul. Even if it turns out we had to surrender Ironlake anyway, we can do it on our own terms. 

Cons: Twilight isn't sure this is at all possible because it relies on powerful magic and powerful bullshitting - neither of which the party is particularly GOOD at. It relies heavily on divine intervention of one kind or another - not as in your face as the earthly manifestation of the Goddess of the Moon, but powerful magic still. 

How this would go down: - 

It would rely heavily on a few things: firstly - icon rolls. We're out of them, apart from Iris' 6 for the Elf Queen. A ritual of prayer to Eclipse and/or the Roadsingers might have to do, but there's no guarantee we'll get the rolls necessary to pull this off anyway. 

Secondly, sufficient magic to make it happen even with an Icon roll. Nylis isn't a full Wizard - it might be beyond her capacity to create that many duplicates in such a short time, even with the help of every caster in the group and every Kobold High Wizard in the Drifting Doom AND every cleric and mage and sorceror in Wetbeard's contingent. 

However, Twilight's fallback plan on this would be to sacrifice SOME of the dwarves and Diamante's Kobolds. to make up the numbers. Wetbeard might be reluctant to do so, but Twilight's argument is to provide those who served  and remained loyal to Ironbone with an honorable out; a noble sacrifice as redemption for their sins and all that, so that they may ultimately be remembered as heroes to the dwarven people, rather as villains. Or at least as having done the right thing in the end.

Still - that's a lot of magic and luck to make it work, but the payoff is that the party can get pretty much everything they want. At least TWILIGHT can get almost everything she wants out of this and, from her point of view, so does everyone else, but there might be objections.

So two BIG if's. IF Nylis and the combined magical capacity of a city full of Kobold Wizards, Dwarven Clerics, Elven Bards and random bits and bobs cannot make even the slightest dent on the volume of the illusion and IF we cannot get at least SOME form of boost from the Gods of shadow, trickery and deception, this plan would probably not work.

But I think it CAN work and its worth giving it a shot. Nylis has a magical background and has the ever so open-ended cantrip spell. At worst, there're plenty of dead bodies which we can try to marionette about like puppets to give enough of an illusion that they're alive - so long as the elves don't have some kind of soul-counter or spirit-prison where they can tell that the number of souls shuffling off their mortal coil, this would work. And if they do, clerics, do come up with a way to fake this as well.

[Ban]

Small request to clarify some things;

Do we know that the undead main forces are moving towards Ironlake, ready to crush the drow? (well, sounds pretty likely Vecna knows the drow are there due to the pact. He can guess they won't let him keep it, has taken a good look at their army and prepared a counter/main army to kick them out and move Morgan in.)

There's a saviour prophecy for the drow which involves moon flowers, and the drow can be convinced that is Eclipse?  Could our experts on drow culture tell us whether that its likely the drow will bow to Eclipse if she were to make an appearance? Because if they would, having the drow army under the control of an ally would be really great.

The elf forces have specifically said the want the undead out of the city and don't want the city themselves? So we don't really need to work hard to get the elves and undead fighting?

-------------

The current issue of disagreement seems to be about keeping the dwarves in the city. It's in the interest of many members of the party that the dwarves should stay, but that is pretty selfish on our parts because we're basically asking the dwarves to stay and fight the undead (and possibly drow). Sure, they get to keep their city but King Wetbeard has already said his people's lives come first and he's willing to give it up.

-----------

If it's true the undead main army is coming... isn't it in the drow army's interest to NOT annoy the dwarves? Without assistance, the drow army would be wiped out by the undead main force, especially if they had expended themselves attacking the dwarves. The decimation of the drow main army and undead occupation of Ironlake just above the underdark could very well lead to the future enslavement of the drow.  

Would the survival of drowkind really not be sufficient to convince them to work with the dwarves to repel the undead?

Still doesn't solve the issue of dwarves not wanting to stay and fight, though.

[Darren Loo]

Plan B

The second option is to wrest command of the elves and have them do our bidding for us. Rather than simply duel them and force them to allow a dwarven evacuation or something along those lines, we take command and overawe them into submission either with an "appearance" by their rumored savior or, as detailed above, by simply bullying them into obeying the Elf Queen's agents by threat of the Drifting Doom. Nylis and Iris are Tiandra's appointed agents after all, and they can use that to force the elves to obey. Again, requires Iris and Nylis to act as absolute dicks to their own people and the party to act as commissars during the scouring of Ironlake. This miiiiiiiiight be more doable. We have two dragons to add to the intimidation factor.

Pros: Its straightforward and it gets rid of the undead while keeping collateral damage as low as possible.

Cons: The party won't be able to do anything else while they're acting as commissars to the elves. This leaves the undead free to wreak their vengeance. 

We could use the Kobolds as commissars, but, seriously... kobolds?

This again gives the party partway what they want - limited collateral damage, leaves the dwarves in control of the city and keeps the undead out. The problem, of course, is that Iris will have to be Queen Tyrant of the Elves for the duration and there's STILL no guarantee how many dwarves will "accidentally" be killed in the process.

[Darren Loo]

As far as I can recall:

1. IRT Undead main force - There's no indication of this. We do not know how large they are and when they will arrive. All we know is PAUL MORGAN will be arriving shortly. There's no indication how large his forces will be. Twilight is betting on the answer being "not large", considering there's been no word from the Goblins and the other Highlanders of a GIANT UNDEAD ARMY MARCHING THROUGH THE HIGHLANDS. 

2. IRT Undead safe passage - IIRC (and I'm pretty sure of this) It was directly mentioned by Halgrim that the elves are OUR problem. We, the party, are supposed to do something about that if we want the dwarves to live. The undead don't care. THEIR offer to the dwarves is a return of their ancestral homes in exchange for Ironlake. Safe passage wasn't in the deal, that's for us to deal with.

3. IRT Elves v. Undead - That's about the size of it. The undead are largely relying on us, the party, to deal with the elves. Which Twilight finds strange and her assumption is that Tiandra does not wish for war to erupt between her and Vecna and that is why Iris and Nylis are here.

4. Actually, the MAIN disagreement, from Twilight's point of view, is whether to allow the dwarves to fall under the undead sway. Which she believes is almost certain to happen if they accept Paul's offer. IF there's a way to persuade her otherwise... details in Plan C

5. IRT Undead Army v. Drow Army - Again, this seems to imply that the undead aren't really bringing a giant army in on Ironlake - just Paul Morgan. Also, it lends further credence to the idea that there's more to the elven-undead relationship than is currently visible. 

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 1:12 PM, Ban <mrbun...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Darren Loo]

There's always the possibility that Eclipse and Paul (or Tiandra and Paul) have arrangements for the use of the Elf Queen's fey crossings to move the Undead main force. Which would account for the lack of a GIANT ARMY OF UNDEAD MARCHING THROUGH THE HIGHLANDS

Its also always possible that the undead are simply moving in SPIRIT - which would make it RIDICULOUSLY RISKY for the dwarves to return: if its simply a matter of teleporting a bunch of souls to inhabit dispensed husks, then they could just LEAVE their husks hidden away and inhabit new ones in Ironlake (and there're probably plenty of those) Then, they could port back and forth at whim. Which would be absolutely terrifying. 

[Darren Loo]

What it does sound like is that Paul is hedging his bets. He's leaving the bulk of his forces in place while he negotiates with King Wetbeard using the elves as a pressure point (accept our offer or the drow will hunt you down FOREVER). If things go south, he can always retreat north and still have everything. If not, he gets Ironlake, with its PATHWAYS TO THE MOON and the dwarves get the mountains back, probably with little left to use. We are just convenient negotiators - Twilight would be speaking for Rain, Nylis and Iris for the Elf Queen and Lukas for Gierstark. We agree to this, diplomatically, there's no reason for the undead to fear our intervention if they decide to MARCH A GIANT FUCKING ARMY ACROSS THE HIGHLANDS. Which would be terrible.

[Ban]

Paul's offer isn't really much if they don't take up residence in. It's just "We want this place for ourselves. You can leave it to us peacefully".  Where the dwarves go after that could be somewhere different entirely. I'd suggest they join up with the Port Pearl refugees, or work something out with Gierstark/Highlands. Hardly sounds like dwarves under undead sway.

Er. If Paul Morgan's coming army isn't that sizable... we could take care of it with our floating city and the drow could stop it as well? 

Use either a duel/saviour/whatever to stall the drow from killing dwarves, dwarves move out of harm's way, drow clear out city undead, Paul Morgan's forces are stopped by dragon army + floating city + drow. Heck, for all you know the dwarves might move back in again.

This way, we don't need to try and COMMAND the drow army, just stall them from murdering dwarves. They'll do the rest where the undead are concerned.

[Ban]

...and if Ironlake is emptied of dwarves, a certain Highland clan close by can move in instead. Congrats to Queen Rain!

[Darren Loo]

Anyway:

Plan C

Accept the Undead proposals and force the elves to back down, either by forcing a change in leadership or, as mentioned, stealing their damn sky city. This is the easiest solution and hence the one Twilight wants to avoid at all costs. BUT if she goes along with this, she will expect Wetbeard to negotiate a treaty of alliance and friendship with the Highlands; more accurately with Rain and Snack. It would be mutually beneficial and a consolation prize for her having lost Ironlake.  

Pros: Its the easiest solution. Everyone is happy. Except Twilight. Maybe.

Cons: Its the easiest solution. That means the undead are getting something out of this. Why Ironlake? The reasons previously mentioned. That's very, very bad. They would also control the roads to the Moon. Which is even worse.

For Twilight, the poor man's solution; help Wetbeard and his people get out of the City and back to the mountains to the north. She would accept this IF:

1. Wetbeard agrees to the alliance and treaty with the Goblins and the Shifters. Mutually beneficial - the Goblins have the logistics and can provide them with the supplies they need to rebuild and reestablish themselves, the dwarves can, again, arm and equip the forces of the Highlands

2. Snack, Rain and Twilight's own people are allowed to host an Inquisition among the dwarves to ensure the undead presence does not reemerge among them. Twilight's greatest fear is getting outflanked both to the North and the South and she'll do ANYTHING to prevent that.

[Darren Loo]

I'm pretty sure the undead are moving south. It just hasn't happened yet and won't happen without the agreement of King Wetbeard - for some reason. Whichever way things turn, Clan Orrin won't be able to just waltz into Ironlake (and won't really know what to do there in any case)

I think the idea really is to dig out the undead, then garrison the place. We can't expect the Drow to help, barring a miracle. 

I'm still incredibly skeptical on the whole "evacuate all the dwarves" bit. Seriously? Spend weeks tracking them down and evacuating? Not going to happen. We don't have time for that.

Evacuating the dwarves elsewhere is a possibility, but, again, who's doing the evacuating? We can do it, but we don't have the time and, honestly, we don't have the resources, unless Snack's people intervene, which, I'm really not sure if they should at this point. 

We also don't know what the undead would do to them if we spend weeks evacuating them. We've seen how the cult of Vecna infiltrates societies. We cannot let that happen here. 

No, evacuation on undead terms is a last resort if the party cannot bring down the power from their respective icons. 

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 1:47 PM, Ban <mrbun...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Darren Loo]

I really don't understand why you keep insisting on that? We simply don't have the time to complete a proper evacuation. That would play into all our enemies' hands. 

It gives the undead time to dig in, infiltrate the dwarves and prepare their next move

It gives the elf queen time to consolidate power and make her next move

It gives the Dragonmothers time to recover and make their next move

It gives the Red Master time to plan and make his next move

And TWILIGHT WILL MISS RAIN'S WEDDING

Sorry - if anyone insists on a full evacuation before doing anything else, well, they're GUARANTEED to have to fight a duel. Against Twilight. 

[Darren Loo]

The argument about keeping the dwarves in the city or not is moot. We HAVE to secure the city in order for an evacuation to be carried out in reasonable order. THAT is the final point.

Whether the dwarves stay or leave is secondary.

For a successful evacuation to take place, we MUST SECURE THE CITY.

[Darren Loo]

Again I point out that Kai already said it would take 1 - 2 weeks to fully evacuate the survivors.

[Darren Loo]

Ok, thinking of it, I was probably misconstruing Dan's suggestion. But delaying the elves for 1 - 2 weeks without a time stop spell sounds impossible and would net no real benefit as far as I can see. It looks like we either have to stop them completely or let them decimate the place. 

[Poh Tun Kai]

I don't want to jump in on too many points being discussed here, except to say that Twilight's Plan A and B sound exceedingly difficult/unlikely rgut now. Also, yes, the tunnels to the moon ought to still be in play somewhere. Questioning Bode and the other former members of the Ironbone regime might provide some idea about how to access them.

[Darren Loo]

*sigh*

This will get ugly then. 

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 5:31 PM, Poh Tun Kai <ptik...@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't want to jump in on too many points being discussed here, except to say that Twilight's Plan A and B sound exceedingly difficult/unlikely rgut now. Also, yes, the tunnels to the moon ought to still be in play somewhere. Questioning Bode and the other former members of the Ironbone regime might provide some idea about how to access them.

[Darren Loo]

If we have to salvage something from this then I suggest we spike as much of the city as possible before the undead move in. Cutting the passages to the moon would be a good start. 

I suppose, then, Lukas/Dan's suggestion is the best idea remaining to us - I'm not sure we want to piss off the Elves just yet. March the dwarves out of the city under cover from the Drifting Doom with whatever distraction we can provide and settle them...well, somewhere. 

Twilight wants those dwarves working for her if she cannot have the city because war between Paul and Snack is almost guaranteed sooner or later. 

She also expects that the Undead will make a play for the Moon, so either we sever the paths to the moon, or we beat the Undead to Eldred.

There's a dark part of her heart which is expecting Eclipse to throw in with Paul if he holds the keys to the moon (if she hasn't already) and she'd like to sabotage that possibility in any way possible. 

Then there's the threat from the elf queen as well.

Too many things. Since Kai's weighed in on this, what are the other suggestions? I still thing accepting the Undead terms is a bad idea but it also seems like the only idea and if so, then Twilight will have to suck it up and negotiate so she can get the best deal for herself and Rain out of this while the others delay the elves and sabotage anything of value in the city.

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

To be honest... Iris doesn't hold much stock in any sides doing anything except what is in their best interests, and while she is doing what she can to protect her people, she was heartbroken by what the dwarvish commoners are going through.  She's getting to the point where she would love to push a button that would wipe every body out..so there'd be nothing (and Noone) to fight over.

Neither side will let the dwarves leave alive..she doesn't believe that.  And she is sure that negotiations are only going to give our foes time to settle in good positions for attack.  Already they have taken up good positions.

Hence her plan will be to use Severance's help in her ritual to break the Elf Queen's control over the ship and transfer control to herself.  She will then try to use the ship's weapons to nuke the majority of the undead encampments - including the incoming Captain Morgan - while trying to cause as few Dwarven casualties as possible... 

She will then swing the guns around to the Elves, who may not be expecting the Elf Queen's ship to turn on them...and inform them to GTFO or else.   

She won't want to fire, but if Lady 1 out 10 wants to push it, she will.

For Iris, this seems to be the only way to stop these fools from sacking and turning the dwarf city into another Constantinople.

  

[Shift244]

Holy.... TL;DR on Darren's post, but I think I get the gist from my last conversation with him. Also because Kai's comment that plans A and B are basically mission impossible.

A few things that Liz will note based on her observations:

Some requirements of the solution

- It should quick enough so Twilight can go to the wedding

- It should not leave questionable powers in position to the city, or to use the passages to the moon. 

- It should, ideally, not kill civilians

Re-dead-ing the un-dead

- Liz think this is aligned with Tiandra's wishes, so using the flying fortress to ion-cannon the walking-dead back to the lying-on-the-ground-dead is a great idea and much safer.

- Iris Severence-ing the city from the Mythal bonds is not so hot on Liz's books. In character, she is still not convinced of Tiandra's treachery, no matter what out of character discussions conclude. Plus, Mat/Gambol raised the question of that action rendering the city powerless once the Mythal bond is severed. Also, again, possibly unnecessary.

- Fulfilling Tiandra wishes of taking out the undead does not mean staying Decima's hand. She may still attack and exact her toll.

Dealing with death

- The deal is between Wetbeard (and the Ironlake citizens) and the undead. The party has no involvement in this.

- If the undead are willing to do all within their power to evacuate the Dwarves all alive and well, great... for Wetbeard! 

- The Drow will attack and both they and the undead can wipe each other out

- The party need not be here to help if they do not want to. Both an evacuation and siege is likely to take some time. Enough time to get to a wedding and be back to decide how to clear out the remaining, weakened remnants of the conflict.

Dueling Decima

- This only serves to stop Decima, and only came about from Liz's sense of justice and duty to protect Ironlake survivors from Decima's required toll when she asked Kazon to order Decima to stop. It does NOT stop Kazon from finding alternatives to fulfill his instruction from Tiandra to take the Ironlake, even if he agrees and holds his end of the bargain. Meaning undead still gets attacked, Dwarves may still get killed etc.

- The party may be Kazon choice to deal with the undead occupation once Decima is removed. Unless of course the party take proactive action to finish his job for him.

- This option can work in tandem with shooting lasers from a flying fortress, as it removes the undead and Decima at the same time. Kazon job gets done with minimal casualty, and the Dwarves may not need an evacuation afterall.

- This assumes the chosen champion wins and does not get slain by Decima.

- No King in Chains-Ironlake. No Vecna-Ironlake. Should we assume Tiandra is OK with Wetbeard-Ironlake, or must it be Tiandra's Ironlake?

[Shift244]

A few more comments:

- Liz is OK dueling Decima because it is an individual conflict of principles. Kazon, the one instructed by Tiandra, can use different resources without Decima.

- Liz is not intending to kill Decima anyway, just have her stand back from taking her pound of flesh (how crude, Liz prefers to refer to it as "the stuck-up's blood tax"). Liz is OK to let Decima decimate the undead so long as she promises to not take her toll.

- Liz is not OK, ion-cannoning the Drow as she would see it as directly opposing Tiandra's forces.

[Darren Loo]

Twilight is with Iris in wanting to resolve this issue as quickly as possible but hopefully without handing someone too much power and pissing off someone else.

The Undead might be the only way out of the city in any reasonable time period. Twilight also would rather, if the undead are to have Ironlake, have the dwarves occupy the mountains to the north to ensure her people and Snack's don't get encircled. 

Right now, given that her preferred alternatives are likely unviable, Twilight's choice is up in the air and it'll boil down to:

a) What SHE can do to best help Wetbeard and his people 

b) Leaving as little for her rivals as possible. 

To Iris, she'll reassure her that negotiations will be brief - simply to reconfirm the undead offer and to arrange safe passage for the dwarves to their new home. She hopes to then arrange for Snack and his people to provide logistical support for this migration.

Nylis can deal with the Drow with support from Diamante if necessary; win safe passage from the drow for the dwarves. 

Lastly, Iris and Lukas can set about trying to sabotage as much of Ironlake as possible - in particular technologies that would be useful to the undead such as Ironbone's soulbinders and the Paths to the Moon. 

The problem, of course, is that there really isn't enough time to do a proper job of sabotage, so anything that'll keep the dwarves in Ironlake is probably for the best. 

The only reason Twilight isn't wholly siding with Iris is because that course of action would probably pit the party against BOTH the undead and the elves. Twilight isn't worried for herself, but she'd rather not gift Rain with THAT kind of political bombshell.

[Shift244]

Liz is not keen with the idea of trusting the undead. From a strategic perspective, she agrees with Twilight that they may have political reasons to hold an honest bargain to trade for Ironlake without needing to fight the dwarves. 

Yet, Liz questions about what is draining their resources that much that smashing a weakened, shattered remnants of an empire is not preferred? Liz notes that the battle prior to now has stripped the dwarves of everything - their army, their morale, their hope. If this is the case, even an honest attempt from the undead to hold their end of the deal may turn out disastrous for the dwarves when the drow strikes. This holds true regardless if they truly lack the means or if the means is not going to be available in a timely manner. Or...

If the undead are looking at gaining more in the future with this deal with Wetbeard, in some unknown fashion, then it would even be more reason not to strike the deal - for the possibility of saving a few thousand dwarves would leave the undead in a stronger position to challenge for whatever evil purpose they have in mind, and likely cause more strife in the highlands and greater loss. Liz is torn on this decision as she has little love for the "lesser" races, far less interest in the undead. She sees the possible strategic choice to loose a few thousand dwarves vs a hundreds of thousands of dwarves, shifters, humans, goblins, elves... against coldly deciding the sacrifice of a few thousand civilians who has not asked for any of this.

Liz suggests no negotiations with the undead, preferring their swift eradication from on high. This reduces risks for having to take on the dwaves under geas from the undead banner, be they sent against the party or the drow. At the same time, or before the strike against the undead, confirm with Kazon that he will let the party purge the undead for him by entering duel with Decima. This should also prevent loss of civilian casualties by removing the need for a battle, so an evacuation is no longer necessary. Liz is now toying with the idea to disable Decima outside the duel, maybe a ritual or charm spell in her private tent at night to sign a binding contract for her to be released from command without bloodshed - this is not about personal honour, for to Liz, greater things are at stake. This should take about half a day's work, all things included, for the party must act faster than any other side.

This way, the party may be able to stop the undead from holding the city which should ease Twilight somewhat as that removes the concern of a Necropolis sitting next door. If Tiandra is fine with allowing what is for all practical purposes dwarven refugees, the collapsed Ironlake as shelter for now, what it holds (i.e. the tunnels to the moon) would be under Wetbeard's care, which should sit much better with most of the party.  If Tiandra if she really wants to occupy Ironlake, there's almost nothing the party can do with all their power at the moment to stop her, for she has overwhelming power from both the drow forces and control over the Mythals.

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

Gentlemen....

I am very sorry to do this...but for the next two months, I must step out this game.

Don't get me wrong.  I love the game and I love playing with you all but right now, I'm surrounded by so much negative influences in my life that I don't feel I want to bring them to a game where my friends are trying to enjoy themselves.  Even now, I find myself so distracted that I'm barely able to focus on the game at hand.

In probably 2 - 3 months, one way or another, things will be settled and I should be able to rejoin.

I'm very sorry to do this at such a critical juncture in the game, but as things are right now...I just can't continue.  I will tell Kai what Iris would plan to do.   

My apologies.

Douglas.

[Darren Loo]

Take care. As I mentioned, I'll summarize Twilight's final thoughts on the situation in a bit. 

As for the next two or three months, Kai, why don't we do the Hillfolk/Dramasystem for Rain as I suggested before. Let the others play as members of the her new entourage, allies of convenience, ambitious commoners, opportunistic nobles, meddling ambassadors etc. Maybe invite Max back to reprise his role as Great-Aunt Deathbiter. Intrigue and treachery in the Halls of the Goblin King as the world teeters on edge. :P

Or you can run this for Exalted as you planned :P I don't mind - all this debate has me in the mood to try something like this.

[Shift244]

Sorry hear this, and I would believe it is something that would weigh heavily on you to come to this.

I like you to know I am willing offer any assistance I may be able to render, if you are comfortable to call upon it. Take care.

[Ban]

Hope things get better soon Doug. Take care!

[Darren Loo]

Ok, so just to summarize our current plans of action:

1. Find out more about the Paths to the Moon and the status of various WunderWaffen that the King in Chains had stashed away. 

2. Get more details on the Undead's "exchange" proposal

3. Attempt to delay the Elven assault by taking Decima out of the equation

4. Then EITHER:

Turn on the undead ourselves and finish them off then command the elves to leave (Nylis' plan)

Pros: Gets rid of undead, elves leave peacefully, dwarves keep Ironlake

Cons: Not likely to happen. Possibly war between party and Undead

OR

Seize the Drifting Doom and turn its cannons on the Undead and use it to intimidate the elves into leaving (Iris' plan)

Pros: We get the City and are no longer beholden to its Mistress. Dwarves remain in Ironlake

Cons: Party is at war with the elves and possibly the undead. Unclear if the Drifting Doom will still function without its patron's power.

OR 

Negotiate safe passage for the dwarves with the undead and possibly the elves, have Snack and Rain's people handle the evacuation.

Pros: The dwarves will then work for Snack, have a new place to settle and should be free of undead geas. 

Cons: Risky and requires undead cooperation, which could mean we'd have to offer something in return. We'd likely run afoul with the elves. We'd also have to launch our own Operation Paperclip to salvage or sabotage any WunderWaffen that the Undead would find useful. 

OR

Blast our way out of there with the Drifting Doom

Pros: The dwarves will then work for Snack, have a new place to settle and should be free of undead geas. Ironlake is reduced to a smoldering ruin which the elves and undead are free to fight over in future. We probably have control of the Drifting Doom

Cons: See option 2. Likely to result in mass civilian casualties which we are trying to avoid.

Not currently on the table:

Asking the Undead to help

Calling in "outside" help

Elaborate ruse to trick the elves into leaving the city alone.

***

Personal note: as far as possible, I want the undead to believe the elves are the ones to start any fight and/are behind any first strike. Would they believe that an attack by the Drifting Doom was an elven or draconic decision? Plausible deniability is preferred so our opponents pick each other off rather than pile on us. Especially since that would leave it clear for us to remove Eldred as a threat to the world.

[Poh Tun Kai]

We carry on this Thursday. 8pm, Darren's place? Perhaps Daniel, Jonathan and I can go together again.

[Shift244]

I'm ok on this. Eager to get things moving. Sad Doug will be out.

[Shift244]

Turn on the undead ourselves and finish them off then command the elves to leave (Nylis' plan)

It really depends on Kazon. Liz will try to appeal to him acting with honor in their agreement of the duel's win conditions. They all serve Tiandra - Decima is his tool, but not his only tool. The party is giving him a "better" tool for his disposal. I'm thinking if the undead gets wiped fast enough, there is little reason for the army to move once Decima is out of the equation. If she does move, too bad for the dwarves I guess. Liz will invoke "betrayer of the court" on her and see she can "make an example of her".

 

Seize the Drifting Doom and turn its cannons on the Undead and use it to intimidate the elves into leaving (Iris' plan)

Technically, ion-cannoning the undead should be in alignment with the Kazon and Tiandra's (currently known) wishes (hence removal of Decima considered). I see no need to sever it's Mythal bonds unless we try it and it turns out otherwise. The drow is unlikely to be deterred by this show of power however since it will either be (1) under the banner of their matron, or (2) if seizing is involved, a renegade power that needs to be eradicated. Removing Decima may solve the drow attacking issue.

Negotiate safe passage for the dwarves with the undead and possibly the elves, have Snack and Rain's people handle the evacuation.

I still question the undead's ability to uphold their end of the deal, be they honest in intent or not. Plus, this will make Twilight miss the wedding because of the time requirement. Unless she leaves this to the party (and mainly Wetbeard's) care to deal with... something I think Twilight will rather take 1000 "1000 years of pain" attacks before choosing to.

 

Blast our way out of there with the Drifting Doom

Blast the undead? See above.

Blast the elves? Oh, you wanna duel that hard is it? Try Decima instead of Liz maybe?

(Although to be honest, I think with the current class mechanics, Twilight is no longer defender she was but a striker, and can easily turn Liz into steak tartar within 1-2 rounds.)

 

I want the undead to believe the elves are the ones to start any fight and/are behind any first strike.

Liz is happy to fly the banner from the Drifting Doom, or run a ritual with willing targets to put the whole party under a "Mass Charm" effect (or something that will give that illusion to scryers) while she charges head first under Tiandra's flag. She has never left Tiandra's service and acting for Kazon is acting on Tiandra's desire, with the ritual placing all other party members clear of blame.

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

Iris still sees no problem with her plan F²

 

F^{2 (}Flaming Furry) is where we set fire to Twilight and send her hurtling mad as hell towards our enemies.  There'd be no enemies left.

Granted...we would all die shortly AFTER that..but our obejctives would have been achieved. :D

p.s. Yes..this is meant to be a joke. :3

p.p.s. Please don't kill me Darren. :3

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[Darren Loo]

Her rage burns hotter than the fires of Phlegethos. Give her a weapon strong enough and she would sunder creation itself. 

Which is why everyone lets IRIS keep the god-killing sword.

[Kumiko Yamazaki]

But...what happens when She decides she wants full power... We all know what happens then......

Picture a scene of a furious Twilight picking up Iris by her legs and swinging her around like a sword. 

"Kai...What's the +ATK bonus on a MENT (magical elven noble twat)?  Whats the damage?"  

Thou hast done well in weilding the MENT!  o.o

Man...I've got to smoking these exam papers. :D

p.s.  On a crit, a 'magical elven noble twat' does not do double damage, instead she loses her lunch all over your opponent causing him/her to flee in disgust.

[Darren Loo]

Turn on the undead ourselves and finish them off then command the elves to leave (Nylis' plan)

It really depends on Kazon. Liz will try to appeal to him acting with honor in their agreement of the duel's win conditions. They all serve Tiandra - Decima is his tool, but not his only tool. The party is giving him a "better" tool for his disposal. I'm thinking if the undead gets wiped fast enough, there is little reason for the army to move once Decima is out of the equation. If she does move, too bad for the dwarves I guess. Liz will invoke "betrayer of the court" on her and see she can "make an example of her".

If what Liz is proposing is to force Decima to stay her hand while the party deals with the Undead, Twilight is all aboard with that, but it would probably still leave the party with the dilemma of forcing thousands of vengeful drow to back off. Which Twilight doubts will be easy.

Seize the Drifting Doom and turn its cannons on the Undead and use it to intimidate the elves into leaving (Iris' plan)

Technically, ion-cannoning the undead should be in alignment with the Kazon and Tiandra's (currently known) wishes (hence removal of Decima considered). I see no need to sever it's Mythal bonds unless we try it and it turns out otherwise. The drow is unlikely to be deterred by this show of power however since it will either be (1) under the banner of their matron, or (2) if seizing is involved, a renegade power that needs to be eradicated. Removing Decima may solve the drow attacking issue.

 

See above - it might be necessary to secure the city for use in case the Drow decide to exact their vengeance anyway, regardless of Nylis' commands. Twilight secretly prefers the Severance AFTER the undead are dealt with for purely selfish reasons - that the party (and herself) would appear to be the saviors of the dwarves from BOTH the Undead AND the Elves, while blame for the attack on the undead would fall on the elves. But you can't have everything; the Goblins and Gierstark are still closer to the dwarves than the elves - the city can be a long game.

Negotiate safe passage for the dwarves with the undead and possibly the elves, have Snack and Rain's people handle the evacuation.

I still question the undead's ability to uphold their end of the deal, be they honest in intent or not. Plus, this will make Twilight miss the wedding because of the time requirement. Unless she leaves this to the party (and mainly Wetbeard's) care to deal with... something I think Twilight will rather take 1000 "1000 years of pain" attacks before choosing to.

In this case, the party won't be personally responsible for overseeing the evacuation - simply the negotiation. Twilight surely won't - in fact the Wedding would be a perfect time for Wetbeard to open negotiations on the future of his people with the newlywed couple. Twilight can think of a few people who she might entrust to oversee this. Rain surely can as well. Still, this would mean a long game against the undead as well - and they'll likely have access to the dwarf king's Wunderwaffen.

 

Blast our way out of there with the Drifting Doom

Blast the undead? See above.

Blast the elves? Oh, you wanna duel that hard is it? Try Decima instead of Liz maybe?

(Although to be honest, I think with the current class mechanics, Twilight is no longer defender she was but a striker, and can easily turn Liz into steak tartar within 1-2 rounds.)

Twilight considers this a last resort. Frankly this is the "when all hell breaks loose" option. Worst case: The party gets caught in a vise - the Undead reinforce, the Elves storm in unexpectedly, or one of the variations (most likely a failure to stall the elves)

[Shift244]

What if you dual wield and pair EQUIP (Eloquently Quipping Unendingly Insulting Prick) with MENT (Magical Elven Noble Twat)?

[Shift244]

On Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 5:33:32 PM UTC+8, SpiritFox wrote:

If what Liz is proposing is to force Decima to stay her hand while the party deals with the Undead, Twilight is all aboard with that, but it would probably still leave the party with the dilemma of forcing thousands of vengeful drow to back off. Which Twilight doubts will be easy.

Yes. Not Liz forcing Decima per se, but Kazon commanding Decima to withdraw her troops. That was the original question Liz posed to Kazon, and his response was that he would need to duel Decima if he were to do it. Iris and Liz were hesitant to agree immediately to fighting an unknown opponent (we ended the session), hence it remains open to discussion. But between them, they are ready to lay down their life (neither is expecting quarters from Decima) for their preconceived notion of protecting the innocent. Plus, it seems to be part of a best fit plan that has a reasonable chance of success for now.

 

See above - it might be necessary to secure the city for use in case the Drow decide to exact their vengeance anyway, regardless of Nylis' commands. Twilight secretly prefers the Severance AFTER the undead are dealt with for purely selfish reasons - that the party (and herself) would appear to be the saviors of the dwarves from BOTH the Undead AND the Elves, while blame for the attack on the undead would fall on the elves. But you can't have everything; the Goblins and Gierstark are still closer to the dwarves than the elves - the city can be a long game.

No one can guarantee Decima not being a sore loser of the duel - unless there is a magically binding contract that prevents her from acting as such. The only thing that Liz will hold on them is that they are now servants of the Queen, and that they should act accordingly. It may help if Liz outranks them - Decima maybe, but not Kazon. But I digress.

In this case, the party won't be personally responsible for overseeing the evacuation - simply the negotiation. Twilight surely won't - in fact the Wedding would be a perfect time for Wetbeard to open negotiations on the future of his people with the newlywed couple. Twilight can think of a few people who she might entrust to oversee this. Rain surely can as well. Still, this would mean a long game against the undead as well - and they'll likely have access to the dwarf king's Wunderwaffen.

Liz would prefer the party not be involved in the negotiation. This leaves them to act independently regardless of the outcome. The undead may present fair sounding terms with some secrets they are aware of that makes the deal totally shitty for Wetbeard in the longer run.

Twilight considers this a last resort. Frankly this is the "when all hell breaks loose" option. Worst case: The party gets caught in a vise - the Undead reinforce, the Elves storm in unexpectedly, or one of the variations (most likely a failure to stall the elves)

The risk of losing the duel is the reason why Liz is not closed to suggestions for dealing with Decima outside the duel. Maybe the party can imprison Decima for a fortnight, then accuse her of cowardice in the duel grounds for not appearing? Charm her to sign a contract of withdrawal for some smallish sum of gold? I cannot see another way of effectively stalling them. Even directly opposing Tiandra and blasting them from Drifting Doom may be weak sauce since they are many in number and will still kill many before they are eventually stopped (if they can be stopped at all with the party's resources). Plus this may turn the favor to the undead, which seems like a bad idea.

If you want to protect the dwarves as best you can, Decima must be held in check. Else, we can all go to the wedding and let drow and undead duke it out, come back and wipe the survivors after a fortnight's siege/battle, if necessary. If you want the undead out of Ironlake, the drow can play a part, or the party simply take the matter into their own hands. If you want the elves out of Ironlake (assuming they are not OK leaving the dwarves there after the event), it will require another Icon or god to intervene; at the moment, I think the party has nothing that can challenge her, or even the elven army which number practically all elves short of the moon elves, directly - short of invoking deus ex machina in the form of Severence cutting the concept her existence or the concept of her treachery or something.

[Darren Loo]

In this case, the party won't be personally responsible for overseeing the evacuation - simply the negotiation. Twilight surely won't - in fact the Wedding would be a perfect time for Wetbeard to open negotiations on the future of his people with the newlywed couple. Twilight can think of a few people who she might entrust to oversee this. Rain surely can as well. Still, this would mean a long game against the undead as well - and they'll likely have access to the dwarf king's Wunderwaffen.

Liz would prefer the party not be involved in the negotiation. This leaves them to act independently regardless of the outcome. The undead may present fair sounding terms with some secrets they are aware of that makes the deal totally shitty for Wetbeard in the longer run.

What Twilight is proposing isn't acceptance of the Undead offer, just an agreement with them to let the dwarves leave unmolested into the hands of Snack and Rain. The undead exchange of the northern mountains is just to ensure that the Goblins and the Shifters don't get outflanked to the north. No magic need be involved - the undead leave their holdings to the north, the dwarves leave Ironlake. Still, its suspicious enough that the party ought not to take it, hence the PRIMARY agreement being simply to allow the peaceful evacuation of the dwarves from Ironlake. But it puts a lot of pressure on Snack and his people being hemmed in on two fronts. 

 

If you want to protect the dwarves as best you can, Decima must be held in check. Else, we can all go to the wedding and let drow and undead duke it out, come back and wipe the survivors after a fortnight's siege/battle, if necessary. If you want the undead out of Ironlake, the drow can play a part, or the party simply take the matter into their own hands. If you want the elves out of Ironlake (assuming they are not OK leaving the dwarves there after the event), it will require another Icon or god to intervene; at the moment, I think the party has nothing that can challenge her, or even the elven army which number practically all elves short of the moon elves, directly - short of invoking deus ex machina in the form of Severence cutting the concept her existence or the concept of her treachery or something.

Well, right now, its just the Drow, at least as far as we know, not the entire elven force. It might be beatable (barely) by the party's motley crew IF we had the Drifting Doom to ourselves. Tiandra is busy elsewhere securing her power. In the end, though, this is why Twilight wants to start a war between the elves and the Undead. 

From a strategic perspective, Twilight doesn't think Tiandra is going to care much about Ironlake so long as we don't do anything to directly challenge her power. She might even tolerate us taking on the drow so long as we don't threaten Illinith. Rather, Tiandra's eyes are most likely focused on the OTHER race of elves now under the dominion of the Red Master...

Which is why Twilight is keen on heading off to the moon once Rain's wedding is over and she's had the chance to settle her daughter into the whole "Queen of the Highlands" business (and by that, I mean clearly demonstrate to everyone present that "hurt her and I *will* wipe you so cleanly off the face of the earth the Gods themselves won't be able to save you.") 

[Spheniscine]

Hi. Just to let everyone know that I'll be available.

[Darren Loo]

Yep. See you all tonight at my place. Dan picking you up tonight?

On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 10:46 AM, Spheniscine <sphen...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi. Just to let everyone know that I'll be available.

--

[Ban]

I am indeed. See you around 6 Jon!

[Darren Loo]

Welp, that was havoc. Looks like we have no choice now. No reason to die over the ruins of Ironlake. In my defense, all I wanted was for Wetbeard to consider other options besides the undead in seeking to reestablish his people and kingdom. Felisin's suggestion and the arrival of Paul puts Twilight in a spot and I think she'll accede to Gamble's suggestions regarding the final dispositions of the dwarves. Her only other suggestion would be mutual coexistence with the Dragons but that's between the dwarves and Diamante. She cannot in good faith ask that two kings share a realm.

I think its also clear that we might have new target priorities; if the undead hold the Paths to the Moon, then we'll probably be better off leaving Eldred alone and dealing with the Chalys wannabe. If my reading of this is correct (and I seem to have been wrong for most part), the undead and the Red Master will be going at each other for the time being (Terin spoke of Paul "defending the Highlands" from the Red Master). 

Anyway - Monday night is fine by me. We're all off on Tues, so maybe we can have more time to mess around and argue. I can't see Liz being convinced of the Elf Queen's megalomania so there's going to be a LOT of argument from now on until she's convinced that Tiandra has to be stopped. Its a huge pity Doug isn't here - Iris' input would've been valuable. Also stealing the Drifting Doom. 

[Shift244]

Curse the undead! They did not even give time for the dwarves to respond and pulled the city from the ground over night! Anyone wants to suggest again to trust these bastards? Shall we evacuate the dwarves on the Drifting Doom? There is no time to do so and make the wedding however.

Liz remains unconvinced of Tiandra's accused treachery, not when the accusation comes from demons they had been opposing thus far, and the arguments Twilight offers tend to sound more like she wanting to build her own empire, consolidating power while accusing others for doing the same. Indeed, Tiandra has gathered the Mythals and hold part of Sehanine's portfolio, but the former is practically every monarch's goal (to achieve former glory) and the latter... well, Liz questions that... she cannot see that it is what Sehanine intends, given that Eclipse is a daughter of the moon and her previous zeal to defend Sehanine against what may have been the goddess's plan, may have led to the mess they are in currently.

Now, you have moon flowers erupting from drow tents and human bed chambers! What elation! Sehanine is near, and the new moon will soon shift into a full moon if all goes well.

She is concerned over Twilight's apparent obsession with securing the Highlands "for her niece". She seems keen on playing "puppet master" to the new couple, even though Liz believes the Twilight she knows is not that kind of Shifter. Yet, her recent act seem to place everything else as secondary to that. Her familial ties with Eclipse may lead them to opposing sides if the apparently mad goddess brings her forces against Tiandra. If lines are drawn, who would tread which side of the divide?

Lukas, she is confident she can trust, as a Paladin of the same faith, and one recently blessed... wait... that may just be Tiandra's doing granting him the sword through her control over part of Sehanine's powers. She has shown extreme dislike over Decima's apparent "betrayal". One would have expected a goddess of love to be more... open... to such frivolities. In any case, unless Lukas is bound by enchantment, Liz believes that he, like her, has first allegiance to the moon, and second to Tiandra. In Lukas' case, even less than she who serve as an agent of the court. 

Liz stands alone on the balcony of one of the many broken towers and her head in prayer to Sehanine. The goddess remains silent. Testing. The dark of the new moon, perhaps. But one gets lost in darkness, even with ironically good elven eyes. "Are you as alone as I feel, Lady?" Liz thinks the question as she cups the petal of a moon flower she kept from Lukas' room.

[Darren Loo]

Oh Liz XD Rain's Twilight's daughter and the only people Twilight has been trying to puppet have been... everyone else but her daughter and Snack.

Twilight's own brooding to come.

[Shift244]

Oops. My bad. Wasn't sure what/who I was thinking while I was typing that out.

[Shift244]

As mentioned yesterday, this was what I was imagining when Lukas made his appearance after the explosion in his private quarters:

(Skip to 4:28 for the next 2-3 seconds if you cannot sit through the whole thing. I could not get this character association out of my head through the entire combat.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy3v9wJ8Jek

[Darren Loo]

Somewhere, she’s heard it said that nothing smells worse than wet dog.

It was probably from some effete dignitary or other – Twilight can name plenty of things that smell worse than wet dog and about a dozen are scattered around her right now as she slumps wearily, soaked to the skin, against the ruin of a dockside warehouse. The horror of the calamity that the Undead had unleashed is slowly fading to a creeping, bitter despair as the pitifully few survivors of the whirlpool are tended to where they lie.

She blames herself – sort of. If they had not been so adamant on the dwarves staying put, perhaps more would have made it out alive. Or maybe the collapse would’ve caught them all loaded up on the barges with nowhere to go and more would’ve died, including Wetbeard. The shifter has lost track of the anguished King in the mayhem – last she’d seen him, he’d been reaching out in helpless grief as if to pull his people back from death as she, Gamble and Diamante had made it back just in time to watch the last few barges tear from their moorings and be hurled into the Underdark along with their doomed crews. They’d done what they could to snatch a few pathetic survivors from the maelstrom, but it was over before they could do much else.

Now they help tend to the wounded and attempt to revive those who could be revived by what little means they have at hand. Gamble is off among the wounded to heal whoever he can. Diamante has returned to the castle to summon everyone who can to help. The wolf feels a little helpless in this situation – her first aid skills are meager for the task at hand – and now she’s too weary to do even that safely. Having seen off her last patient in to more capable hands, she takes a moment to catch her breath.

Part of her is bitterly disappointed. She’d hoped to have been able to snatch the city out from beneath the Undead and the Elves, or at least be able to present Rain with a worthy ally as a gift. It’s now clear to the shifter, though, that the dwarves are in no way, shape or form up to the task – and now even more so. So her quest to Ironlake has failed. She’s actually a little miffed that Felisin had contacted Diamante rather than her about the proposal, but why get an intermediary when you can do it yourself? Still, it hurts when family cut you out of the picture. Speaking of which…

The shifter yawns, stretches and picks herself up. That had been unexpected – Eclipse just showing up in the middle of the drow camp to slaughter the crap out of their leaders. Not that she’s complaining. In hindsight it might’ve been better if she’d stayed in the Drifting Doom. Even when she’d first seen those flashes going off, she’d known who it was. Her trip down to the camp had been out of sheer curiosity and…excitement? This was probably the closest she’s been to seeing her beloved cousin again. And the aftermath – the moonlight shining on her, the drow all looking at her in…well, fury and confusion, but still! If it hadn’t been for the collapse of Ironlake, she’d be as giddy as a pup on her first hunt.

As it stands though, more serious work lies ahead as she trudges slowly to the ramparts of the city which she and Gamble had so recently been trying to get manned. She’s concerned with Nylis and Iris, particularly given what she’d heard from the Demon. She’s not about to forget that Eldred’s daughter was directly responsible for Eclipse’s death, but at this point it seems an undead takeover of the city is inevitable and if that is so, she’d rather the Red Master’s forces be waiting on the other side of the Paths to the Moon than having an open road before them.

The shifter is convinced that this is what the Red Master wishes. It makes sense that he’d want to secure one flank so he can concentrate on defeating a single enemy at a time. That the undead intend to invade the Moon she’s certain – Terin’s words (the little fool) seem to indicate that Paul is interested in taking on the Red Master himself. By setting the party against another of his enemies – the Elf Queen, he ensures that neither will strike against him. Cute.

The shifter is willing to play along, however. If both the Undead and the Demons are busy clobbering each other, it gives her time to deal with Tiandra. Twilight has distrusted the Elf Queen since her meeting with Shaun Rose and that distrust has only grown since. Tiandra’s shabby treatment of Yilvanni, the reactivation of the lost cities of the elves, the apparent collaboration with the angel-wing abominations, the hints at shadowy plays and treacherous secrets… and now Eclipse. Dealing with Tiandra is an immediate concern for the threat she poses to the continued independence of the Highlands, Rain and Snack by extension… and Eclipse.

Just… how to convince the elves. Iris has very legitimate concerns regarding the well-being of her people; her entire home is hostage to Tiandra. Twilight feels for her deeply – at heart, the two aren’t very different, although their methods and ideals couldn’t be more so. Both deeply desire to do the right thing, and both have felt very diametric pulls between doing what’s right, what’s best and…what seems right.

Nylis, on the other hand, is an elven fanatic. And even Lukas. Twilight growls in frustration. For the first time ever, she feels… belittled, discriminated… because of what she is, rather than who she is. Shifters are, after all, not the…classical image… the …human-LIKE races think of when they imagine the Goddess of Love and the gentler aspects of the moon at least. Its infuriating, really, that anyone might think her sister less worth of her birthright simply by virtue of being a shifter.

She’d hoped that Nylis would have been convinced of at least SOME of the demon’s words when she met Tiandra. Now it looks like Twilight will have to convince her herself, not just of Tiandra’s naked ambition, but of the need to strike a deal with the undead, loathe as Twilight herself is to do so.

Felisin’s suggestions to Diamante make a whole lot of sense and Twilight cannot, in good faith, expect two kings to share one realm. Which means Wetbeard is likely going to have to find somewhere else to settle – he seems inclined to move south, and Twilight would agree to that; without the ancient fortresses to the north to dig in, the dwarves would probably face annihilation in the wars Twilight expects will break out in the Highlands sooner or later. Get them out of the way – somewhere quiet where they can rebuild.

But to do that, they will have to deal with the Undead. The waterlogged shifter peers wearily out over the parapet at the massive Highland army encamped just a day’s march from Ironlake. Before the cataclysm, they’d have been hard pressed to hold out against that. Now, they’re caught between two fires – the army before and the army within, with only several hundred trained soldiers - who will now be wearied by the ongoing rescue efforts – and thousands of beaten-up militia.

She sighs. It could have been worse – she’s lost nothing, save pride – but for the rest; for the dwarves in particular, it is time to cut losses and run. The shifter closes her eyes and whispers a prayer; she’s been wrong before. Pray that she isn’t so again.

[Ban]

Somewhere, in the midst of all the chaos and tragedy... Lukas gets the weird notion that Twilight wants him to romance Eclipse.

[Darren Loo]

No.