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Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

What would readers prefer?

  • Pure narrative quest: no dice will be used, the author will have free reign to decide what happens.

    Votes: 25 59.5%

  • New dice system: the author will design a new, better dice system to add some randomness and risk.

    Votes: 17 40.5%
  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .
Reader mode
Random Sanity said:
This isn't Ryza's responsibility by any rational stretch of the imagination. Even if it were, the odds of her accomplishing anything by intervening besides antagonizing her escorts are slim to nonexistent.
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Three points.
  • If Ryza can help the man and knowingly chooses not to, there's an argument that that choice was her responsibility. That sounds like an argument Ryza would make with regard to her own choices.
  • You're needlessly pessimistic about what Ryza can accomplish. Even if she can't convince Mary to lay off the torture, she can reduce his pain. Plus, Mary's probably going to restrain herself at least a bit if there's a child watching.
  • Some people are worth antagonizing. If Mary is hell-bent on torturing this dude, she's one of them.
 
GreatWyrmGold said:
You're needlessly pessimistic about what Ryza can accomplish. Even if she can't convince Mary to lay off the torture, she can reduce his pain. Plus, Mary's probably going to restrain herself at least a bit if there's a child watching.
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Yeah, not sure why most people so far are choosing to just walk out.

Like, we get it. Ryza's a child. A child who's working with the race who uses what's left of her race as like a piece of coal, but a child nonetheless. Hell, she's already killed before, but interrogation and hate crimes is suddenly too much of an issue?

She literally fried a man from the inside out. Worse than electric chair execution really. She's gotta learn eventually.
 
[X] Leave this sickening situation. You don't see it going anywhere good, but you don't know how you're supposed to solve this level of mutual hate. Make sure that the area's secure.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
-[X] "Mary, what's stopping him from lying to us just to make the pain stop? This can't be the best way to get information out of him. But if we offer him his life if he tells us what we want to know..."
--[X] (Ryza lying through her teeth) "And you know I have that spell that tells me whether someone's lying, right? So he'll tell us the truth, or I'll stop trying to save his life and let you have him since clearly he won't tell us what we need to know no matter what we do."

Even from the most amoral viewpoint, torturing this random bandit will get us exactly no reliable information. But if we play Good Cop Bad Cop...

There is a risk that the Whitewings won't play along, but to paraphrase what GreatWyrmGold said: if they're so bent on torture that they refuse to use a non-torture-y option when it's presented to them, then we don't want to play along with them anyway.

Assuming the Whitewings play along, I imagine this man will believe us when we say we have a spell for truthtelling. The odds of him knowing enough about magic to be able to refute our claims is... low enough for this to be worth trying, I'd say.
 
Blasting a few men in self defense and defense of others is one thing.

He isn't armed. He is not fighting or otherwise presenting a threat.

My opinion of the peg knight nation has already dropped a couple notches from "maybe we can be friends" to "useful so long as our interests are aligned."

[X] Leave this sickening situation. You don't see it going anywhere good, but you don't know how you're supposed to solve this level of mutual hate. Make sure that the area's secure.
- [x] (haughty) "Do you guys honor your contracts or settle old scores first? I'm leaving and you're all being paid plenty to take me where I'm going and the place I'm going is home. Going home sounds really good for everyone."

The same honor they're clinging to that calls for blood will answer our questions of duty.

And I've had enough of this little misadventure.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…

Thank you for the update!
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
Changing vote:

[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…

Ryza did heal him to get information out of him. Mary flat out torturing the guy might not get information or produce false information. Understanding the situation and who is behind the bandits - paying for this ambush scheme might be important for the larger national stage.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…

Well, first of all, this is the Ryzaest action. She's an idealist, and also not a coward, so I really don't see any other way.

Besides, this is going to result in a classic "Good mage, bad Whitewing" mind game, even if Ryza's quite sincere. I'd bet that would be more efficient at getting the (accurate) information than straight up torturing a person until said person says what you want.
 
[X] Leave this sickening situation. You don't see it going anywhere good, but you don't know how you're supposed to solve this level of mutual hate. Make sure that the area's secure.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…

This is likely the most in-character choice and arguably the objectively best option. Assisting the "interrogation" through the fear route will likely only lead to the bandit giving us false info. Leaving the situation will almost certainly end the same way, or will give us no info at all, because I can't honestly say I trust Mary further than I can throw her to resist killing our captive.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
-[X] "Mary, what's stopping him from lying to us just to make the pain stop? This can't be the best way to get information out of him. But if we offer him his life if he tells us what we want to know..."
--[X] (Ryza lying through her teeth) "And you know I have that spell that tells me whether someone's lying, right? So he'll tell us the truth, or I'll stop trying to save his life and let you have him since clearly he won't tell us what we need to know no matter what we do."
 
[X] Leave this sickening situation. You don't see it going anywhere good, but you don't know how you're supposed to solve this level of mutual hate. Make sure that the area's secure.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…

I don't want Ryza to be the kind of person who knowingly walks away from someone about to be tortured. I don't care how pragmatic or beneficial it would be, I don't want to willingly vote to harden Ryza in that way.
 
Huh. I didn't think about it like that - and didn't (and still don't) see it as hardening her. Well, I still feel like all this should be taking a toll on her but I suppose I've been swayed.

[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
Alcor said:
Huh. I didn't think about it like that - and didn't (and still don't) see it as hardening her. Well, I still feel like all this should be taking a toll on her but I suppose I've been swayed.
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That's fair. I don't actually think this one singular choice is gonna turn Ryza all cynical, but I do think it's a single step on that path.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
[X] Leave this sickening situation. You don't see it going anywhere good, but you don't know how you're supposed to solve this level of mutual hate. Make sure that the area's secure.
 
[X] Leave this sickening situation. You don't see it going anywhere good, but you don't know how you're supposed to solve this level of mutual hate. Make sure that the area's secure.
 
[X] Try to play mediator and find a middle-ground. You'll need to convince the bandit that it's in his best interest to tell you what you want to know as well as convince Mary that killing him won't solve anything. It won't be easy, but if you can make it work…
 
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