Orc Quest; or, A Critical Examination of Agency Through in Interactive Fiction (Warcraft)

[ ] Plan First steps
-[ ] Train the trolls: You're a very competent warrior, to the level of many professional soldiers and perhaps you could give some of the trolls a few pointers.
-[ ] Scout the surroundings of the village and try and learn who attacked them recently. You assume the damage is from either the centaur or the ships
-[ ] Socialise generally in the village to gain a basic and general knowledge of the people and activities around the area.
-[ ] Socialise with the outsiders of the village, including your travelling companions, and the few other races in the village.
-[ ] Try to strengthen your connection to the elements, you can ask Angrais or one of the Troll shaman, though you expect they might be less willing to help you given how unhelpful the shaman in the Valley of Trials were who'd largely refused you tutoring.
-[ ] Investigate the Flamebender's Tome, a book detailing some of the magical traditions of your clan.

Train the trolls - We are no hunter or peon, so we should try to help with things we are good at.
Scout the surroundings - To figure out on what should we focus
Socialize generally - not sure if this or high status individuals, but the important people will be more likely to talk to us once we prove ourself.
Socialize with outsiders - I want to know more about our friend, and it should help with convincing Angrais to help with elements.
Strengthening our connection - It would be nice to have more than just precognition, if thing don't go well we should atleast find out how to progress in this.
Flamebender tome - With 4 CP cost it should be pretty good.

@FractiousDay I might have missed it but how long are we planing to stay here ?

[] Well we are a burning blade after all
-[ ] Go hunting in the region and bring back resources for the village
-[ ] Scout the surroundings of the village and try and learn who attacked them recently. You assume the damage is from either the centaur or the ships
-[ ] Socialise generally in the village to gain a basic and general knowledge of the people and activities around the area.
-[ ] Meditate and try to strengthen your precognitive abilities
-[ ] Train your body and try and build up your physical conditioning.
-[ ] Train your skill in the sword through sparring, you're sure Vark would be happy to practice.

Idea here is to get to work helping immediately and work on our core sword skills.

[x] Plan First Steps
[x] Plan Twice Training

FractiousDay said:

Roll for status of Kul Tiran remnants: 67

The Kul Tirans of Tirasgarde Keep to the north are currently not attempting to encroach on the village, however they patrol in a limited fashion. For the last few years they've been willing to stay largely in their keep, occasionally raiding caravans or small settlements in Durotar. Due to the infrequent schedule of supplies they receive from Northwatch and Theramore, the main Kul Tiran settlements in Kalimdor, the soldiers of Tirasgarde have few specialise supplies like gunpowder or horses and therefore lack many of the capabilities they'd ordinarily enjoy. If you come across any Kul Tirans you'll likely fight them.

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So remind me, Theramore's in the Alliance and is therefore obligated to resupply Tiragarde Keep? Does that mean Kul Tiras is still in the Alliance, or no? I can't remember.

[ ] Plan Twice Training
-[ ] Community:
--[ ] Train the trolls: You're a very competent warrior, to the level of many professional soldiers and perhaps you could give some of the trolls a few pointers.
--[ ] Train the trolls: You're a very competent warrior, to the level of many professional soldiers and perhaps you could give some of the trolls a few pointers.
-[ ] Train:
--[ ] Meditate and try to strengthen your precognitive abilities
--[ ] Train your body and try and build up your physical conditioning.
-[ ] Learn:
--[ ] Shamanism: Though the Darkspear shaman practice their arts differently, they commune with the elements as all shaman do.
-[ ] Research:
--[ ] Investigate the Flamebender's Tome, a book detailing some of the magical traditions of your clan.

I'd tentatively be interested in something like this.

Training the trolls seems like the best option for community help, to the point that this plan takes it twice. It doesn't have the bad reputation of peon work, it's low risk, it might encourage reciprocity as far as the trolls teaching us stuff, and it'll have continued value even after we're gone - something like scouting, on the other hand, is mostly useful immediately, but if for whatever reason they aren't in a position to use that information now, it becomes out of date pretty quickly. Teaching might even be halfway decent practice.

I didn't take any social stuff, as again, I don't expect we'll be here terribly long, and the benefits seem a little nebulous.

Precog is a strong and weird ability we should train. Our low physical stats are a serious issue, so physical conditioning seems important to mitigate that.

Maaaaybe they'll be willing to teach us some shamanism stuff? We can't know unless we ask, but we do know that previous shamans turned us down, which means if we want this stuff, seeking it in weird places seems like the way to go - and I do think we want this, given our excellent affinities.

We spent a lot on the Tome, let's see what it does.

Couple of things I considered learning - ranged combat, which would be cool, but with our great elemental affinities we should probably use those as ranged options, and stealth, which I suspect conflicts with our honorable nature (not always, but enough of the time to make it less appealing).

I'd be down for any plans with training sword, trolls, learning more on the tome and doing some socializing, how are we going to hunt anything without a bow or ranged options to begin with? Run at it? We'd be more likely to scare it off unless we plan on rubbing fish bait on ourselves to get Raptors to chase us.

If we do hunting or scouting we may want to also be trained in ways to help those jobs. Like Hunting would benefit really well with Ranged training since there may be prey that we can't chase down, like birds. Scouting would benefit from Stealth training for obvious reasons and etc.

Warmach1ne32 said:

If we do hunting or scouting we may want to also be trained in ways to help those jobs. Like Hunting would benefit really well with Ranged training since there may be prey that we can't chase down, like birds. Scouting would benefit from Stealth training for obvious reasons and etc.

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Well we could actually go hunting because all Orcs have basic survival and hunting skills necessary to survive in this particular continent, but we aren't really specialized in it so to say.

We could perhaps do more good if we just train them up and hone our basic skills in combat and Shamanism while we are here.

We are training to become a Blademaster.

SpaceSloth said:

not sure if this or high status individuals, but the important people will be more likely to talk to us once we prove ourself.

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Everyone. Getting an understanding of all the people around, not getting to know any of them but being able to say who the other outsiders actually are, who the main elders are, that sort of thing

SpaceSloth said:

I might have missed it but how long are we planing to stay here ?

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This is Agency Quest, that's up to you! And up to Gadrin once he finally meets you. You'd have reported to him but he's busy doing voodoo or something so you're free to prioritise yourself if you want, or to do stuff in the village.

hapcelion said:

So remind me, Theramore's in the Alliance and is therefore obligated to resupply Tiragarde Keep? Does that mean Kul Tiras is still in the Alliance, or no? I can't remember.

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The precise constitutional arrangements of the alliance arent something blizzard devoted much attention to.

Theramore was established by people fleeing the alliance who already thought it had been destroyed, which for the most part it had. However, the alliance is now back, specifically the ironforge-stormwind axis. Theramore is in the alliance, mutual defence, trade etc.

We don't have much info on Kul Tiras before BfA. I'm going to say in this that they trade and resupply with the colonies they have influence over in kalimdor, and are sort of in the alliance but too far away to be influenced extensively.

The theramore and subsequent kul tiran expeditions were independent of alliance leadership because alliance leadership was yknow dead at the time. Jaina went to colonise and oppose the burning legion, her father followed her to find her and kill the orcs (not without good reason imo). Both of them established various forts like tirasgarde. In canon theramore has a problem with deserters which isn't surprising given Jaina killed her father, and I'm thinking that jaina is supplying her father's remaining garrisons in a limited manner to build legitimacy and influence again, and to potentially gather these veteran troops under her banner.

It's sort of the same question as 'are the undead in the horde' and the answer is yes sort of but not really.

googlyeyesultra said:

ranged combat,

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Don't underestimate the advantages of, yknow, a gun. You'd potentially have a one shot weapon for most foes

RukinSteps said:

how are we going to hunt anything without a bow or ranged options to begin with?

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You'll work it out. Some animals are aggressive and you'd ordinarily wait for them to charge you and kill them like a boar, others you'd have to hunt down. As for specifics you can always make a crude spear or sling which are perfectly viable for animals such as those you'd be hunting

FractiousDay said:

Don't underestimate the advantages of, yknow, a gun. You'd potentially have a one shot weapon for most foes

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A flying axe to the face or arm would also be pretty bad for the guy on the receiving end.

Warmach1ne32 said:

A flying axe to the face or arm would also be pretty bad for the guy on the receiving end.

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Yea but that's the end of the tech tree. An axe could be enchanted or something but it remains an axe. Comparably a gun can develop from a musket to a sniper rifle or an artillery piece.

In general there's lots of utility to ranged weapons, but it's not very burning bladey

FractiousDay said:

An axe could be enchanted or something but it remains an axe.

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As Ziva would say, "Knives (axes in this case but it still applies) don't run out of bullets." It is just an axe but axes are useful for a lot of applications while also being really easy to get in the early game.

Warmach1ne32 said:

As Ziva would say, "Knives (axes in this case but it still applies) don't run out of bullets." It is just an axe but axes are useful for a lot of applications while also being really easy to get in the early game.

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While I suppose that's kinda true it seems a bit dumb tbh.

Thrown weapons, unless they have some sort of magical enchantment like the Wildhammer Dwarves do, are inherently weapons you throw away. If you wanted to enhance each one you'd have to do so, rather than enhancing the delivery mechanism like the bow or magic gun. They're a secondary armament which you might use in the initial phase of the skirmish, but you have to be very close to use them in the first place, and against a similar opponent, especially an armoured one, they're not going to be as effective as a dedicated ranged weapon. You can shoot about 200 yards effectively with a bow, and hit accurately at something like 100 yards. I would question whether you'd be able to throw a weapon more than 30 yards with accuracy or not.

'it runs out of ammo' is a criticism of any projectile weapon, but at least with a longer range one you can stand back a bit and attack from greater range. Comparably, yes if you were able to recover your axe 30 times after throwing it then you might be able to outlast a quiver of arrows, but you probably wouldn't be able to do that because you'd be scrambling about on the floor looking for the knife you just lobbed at someone and some enemy is going to see you crouched down and stab you.

I'll also note that weapons specialised enough for throwing aren't going to be as good for other stuff. You can have a bowie knife for example, which is good for hunting, skinning maybe, chopping small bits of wood, and would also serve well in a fight, but that's because its a generalist knife, whereas you could also carry a skinning knife, a butchers knife, a hatchet for wood etc.

If the plan is 'throw secondary weapon like multipurpose everyday knife, then draw sword and attack with primary weapon' then sure that's fine, but if the idea is 'throw throwing weapon and hope that kills them' then you'd probably be carrying it around for a very specific circumstance, unable to use it for chopping wood or other tasks.

Also,

Voting opens in a couple of hours.

Decided I'm being overly cautious in the voting and will open it earlier, as such:

VOTING NOW OPEN

Also, a note regarding the agency of other characters, you should be aware that people like the centaurs have their own plans. They're not on a timer till they attack or anything, and you can potentially resolve situations frequently, remember this is agency quest, other people have agency too.

[X] Plan Contribute & Learn
-[X] Go hunting in the region and bring back resources for the village
-[X] Socialise with the outsiders of the village, including your travelling companions, and the few other races in the village.
-[X] Scout the Kolkar Crag
-[X]Train your skill in the sword through sparring, you're sure Vark would be happy to practice.
-[X] Survival: From jungle to island, and from island to coast the Darkspear know how to survive in the wild.
-[X] Investigate the Flamebender's Tome, a book detailing some of the magical traditions of your clan.

[X] Plan Village Helping and Training
-[X] Train the trolls: You're a very competent warrior, to the level of many professional soldiers and perhaps you could give some of the trolls a few pointers.
-[X] Go hunting in the region and bring back resources for the village
-[X] Socialise with the outsiders of the village, including your travelling companions, and the few other races in the village.
-[X] Try to strengthen your connection to the elements, you can ask Angrais or one of the Troll shaman, though you expect they might be less willing to help you given how unhelpful the shaman in the Valley of Trials were who'd largely refused you tutoring.
-[X] Combat: You're good with a sword, but there are trolls here who've fought in many wars that could learn from.
-[X] Investigate the Flamebender's Tome, a book detailing some of the magical traditions of your clan.

[X] Well we are a burning blade after all
-[ ] Go hunting in the region and bring back resources for the village
-[ ] Scout the surroundings of the village and try and learn who attacked them recently. You assume the damage is from either the centaur or the ships
-[ ] Socialise generally in the village to gain a basic and general knowledge of the people and activities around the area.
-[ ] Meditate and try to strengthen your precognitive abilities
-[ ] Train your body and try and build up your physical conditioning.
-[ ] Train your skill in the sword through sparring, you're sure Vark would be happy to practice.

[X] Plan Twice Training
-[X] Community:
--[X] Train the trolls: You're a very competent warrior, to the level of many professional soldiers and perhaps you could give some of the trolls a few pointers.
--[X] Train the trolls (2): You're a very competent warrior, to the level of many professional soldiers and perhaps you could give some of the trolls a few pointers.
-[X] Train:
--[X] Meditate and try to strengthen your precognitive abilities
--[X] Train your body and try and build up your physical conditioning.
-[X] Learn:
--[X] Shamanism: Though the Darkspear shaman practice their arts differently, they commune with the elements as all shaman do.
-[X] Research:
--[X] Investigate the Flamebender's Tome, a book detailing some of the magical traditions of your clan.

[X] Plan Twice Training

I like the ideas of this one, all business.

Just pinging @hapcelion since voting is now open - you cast your vote before the vote opened, so you'll probably need to cast it again now to have it be counted.

[X] Plan Twice Training

[X] Plan Twice Training

Did anyone have any questions on the situation around senjin, on the various plans etc, things that need clarifying? I sort of expected more back and forth and discussion but if there's no immediate questions I'll close the voting tomorrow morning.

FractiousDay said:

Did anyone have any questions on the situation around senjin, on the various plans etc, things that need clarifying? I sort of expected more back and forth and discussion but if there's no immediate questions I'll close the voting tomorrow morning.

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relating to the darkspear tribe, approximately what fraction is left on the Echo Isles and what fraction are in durotar?

hapcelion said:

relating to the darkspear tribe, approximately what fraction is left on the Echo Isles and what fraction are in durotar?

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Zalazane (and maybe some of his friends) are the only Darkspear on the Echo Isles long term, though its possible the Darkspear continue to visit the Echo Isles for raids, hunting or similar activities.

The Darkspear reside in Sen'jin, that's the only Darkspear settlement. There are minor outposts in other areas, such as in the Stonetalon Mountains (cant recall the name of it) but they're military bases of trolls, not settlements. The vast majority of the civilian, and much of the elder population of the darkspear are in Sen'jin, but the majority of their warriors are all over the place. I'm going to say there are at maximum a couple of thousand darkspear trolls, and at least 3/4s of that are in durotar, most in Senjin.

This is the voting if I include all votes, but only 1 was cast before voting opened and Twice Training would still be in a clear lead.

I don't really understand the SV native questing mechanisms such as the vote scheduler, so I may not use these in future. Voting closes in 1 hour, at which point I'll write the next update.