JokerQuest : I'm fairly sure a human spine is not supposed to bend that way...
You were sitting in the familiar living room, nonchalantly looking around and taking in the walls darkened by magic. Well well well, it seemed little Reggie didn't know how to get rid of the taint either. Not that anyone alive knew, you amended, but still.
At least the chairs were comfortable.
After a while, the urge to transfigure one of those pillows into a white, long haired cat almost overpowered you and the owner of the place opened the toor as you were looming over your defenseless victim. He stared at you, you stared at him, his gaze slid towards your wand and he sighed.
"This better not be you trying to turn one of my pillows into a hedgehog again or I swear to the Lord I will take you to the magical menagerie to neuter you."
Those words led you to think about what that would mean. All the ladies, gone. You openly whined and tried to puppy eye him, only to get a splash of water to the face as the younger man strode through the room, waving his wand and making a few parchment rolls fly towards you.
"I don't suppose you got out of your tomb for a simple social call, so I took the liberty to compile the data I managed to scrounge up about your situation. From what I understand, Riddle broke his teeth on Gwallawg's little fortress, so you have about 5 years before they come for you, maybe less, if Shirley succumbs fully to the compulsion."
Your lips twisted downwards. Shirley... You shook your head. You couldn't save her if you didn't use your head, stupid mutt. And for that, you need a plan. And to make a plan, you need information.
"Thanks, Regulus." You said earnestly as your eyes scanned the paper, your brain that had been misused most of your life struggling to gather the information.
"You're welcome." Regulus sat down on his chair, looking at you in silence for a while. Then, he spoke up again.
"I saw Gwallawg today." He said, causing you to look up from the paper. Gwallawg... Oh, Aife's father. The one mother always raved about in a seriously creepy way and who supposedly is the root of all evil on earth. "He had a new bethrothed. A muggleborn, that he brought at the meeting."
You blinked. The man must have had balls of steel not only to announce he's going to become a 'blood traitor' but also to rub it in everyone's faces. You took note to raise his position in your mind, but Regulus interrupted you before you began thinking of new nicknames for the man.
"Martha Drake. A Hufflepuff your age." Yes, yes, and quadruple holder of the title of most bountiful bosom of Hogwarts. Hmmm, oh, wait.
"The one who attacked you and your friend death eaters when you tried to corner her after breaking her wand and who beat you up so bad they had to use Skele-gro on you?" You ask, hitting your fist into your open hand in realization as Regulus winced.
"Anyways." He obviously changed subjects " He has an aura." He stressed the word, causing all your previous good humor to disappear. Okay, depending on how it went, it could be very good or very-
"And it stunk of putrefaction, of Life Decaying into Death." Regulus waved his wand, causing a crystalline bottle and two glasses to fly from a nearby cupboard. You couldn't get drunk anymore, undeath sucked that way, but still, you appreciated he thought to propose and you relished in the burn spreading through your throat. Meanwhile, Regulus downed his glass, before slamming it against the table.
"As if it wasn't enough that he convinced Fudge and the Death Eaters that more violent means to achieve their ends were acceptable, he somehow got his hands on the maps of where all the oldest and more famous wizrds ans witches of Britain are buried. Do you even know what kind of damage he could do with those?!" He got up and began circling the room, occasionnally pausing to fill and down another glass of firewhiskey, as Sirius was beginning to feel worried for his liver. " But nooo, as if it wasn't enough, the Oracle didn't just reveal he entered a simple contract, he swore fealty to Ceridwen! Not even Thanatos or Kali! Ceridwen, the crazy psycho bitch who gains power from human sacrifice!" He began to shout and windmill his arms in a fashion that would be hilarious if his eyes werent looking so wild. "The last thing Britain needs right now is another edition of the freaking Shadow Court! But nooo, the Bastard of Wales has to ruin everyone's day!"
You're not sure it's quite that bad, but it still looks pretty bad. Still, it leaves you in quite the conundrum...
When in doubt, you asked yourself the very same question you've asked yourself ever since the end of your fifth hear at Hogwarts.
What would James do?
Probably try to make contact with Gwallawg and see what happens.
What would you do?
[] Investigate.
[X] Don't. Yeah, like, no. Like, you don't want to be ,like, anywhere near that crazy bitch...
And as you did ever since your fifth year, you promptly decide to do the exact opposite and stay the hell away from that guy. Phew. That's one bomb disarmed. Now to make sure Fudge doesn't blow up Scotland by accident... Why am I the one doing this, there's so many cute guys out there and I can't touch them, it's like, going to an all you can eat buffet when you're dieting!
Seriously, you'd seen dementors cuddlier than the guy.
Still, a drunk Regulus was always a riot. He's already started posing. With a hand on his face and bending back while screaming gibberish. Either he was inhumanely flexible, or he's learned how to animagus behind his back, because he was fairly sure a spine doesn't bend like that. We appreciate your sacrifice 'Dite
*Much whining was done*
I don't know what you're talking about, but it looks interesting. Anyways, YES FINALLY the apocalypse is in the works~ Even Dog-man won't manage to stop it !
Eh. I'll give it a three. There's another Nature faction in the works right now, since, you know, some people aren't going to take Ceridwen rampaging and do nothing about it. Still, Middle east and Africa's pretty screwed, as is Russia.
Panda said taking the Ragnarök thing in chargen would lead to Aphrodite getting ganked by Slaanesh who accidentallied his way to this multiverse through a hiccup in the Warp. But Aphrodite's still here, so that's probably vanilla Ragnarok she's talking about.
Oh, we'll just have to deal with world burning fire giants, world eating wolves, and all the gods dying. You know what? Just for the last point, I'm gonna call it a win.
-Animal (mundane and magical) Ranches: +45,000 Galleon (after salaries and charges), 1d6 Epic animal components/ Turn
-- 1000 Employees, payed 544 G/t on average.
Greenfire (Floo powder producers since 1930): + 10 000 Galleons/ Turn
--200 Employees payed 500 G/t on average
Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 60, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 550 G/t on average
Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 30 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 770 G/t on average
'George's Inferno': +6 Sulfur /turn, +6 Mercury /turn
Gold mine : 1 000 G/Turn, 1d6-3 Native Gold / turn afterwards.
Crystal cape : + 1 crystal/turn.
Assorted producer business: +8 Wood, + 8 Stone, + 2 Gems, +2 Sulfur / Turn
Stone Quarry: 16 ore / turn, 1d6-3 Flawless Marble afterwards.
Expenses:
Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning: -40,000 Galleon / turn, 1d6 Chance of producing a Druid, 1d100-80 chance of Loyal Hero Unit. (Muggleborn population: 95%)
Manor employee salaries: (50 of them, 380G/t on average)
Skylight: A sapphire that seems to shine with an inner light. +10 to results if used to create items with [Life/Order] Attribute. Nature Anchor: Allows to soak up a zone with Nature energy, necessary to build a Rampart. [Set in Yr Wyddfa] Book of Air:
Dragon Rearing book Dragon nest plans
Inventory: Cloak of Crystal: Gain 1 Crystal / turn (Value: 5000 G) Still Eye of the dragon +1 Troops Morale, +1 Troops Luck (Value: 2000 G) Quiet eye of the dragon +5 Troops attack damage, +5 Troops attack defense (Value: 2000 G) Pendant of free will: Immune to mind magic and hypnosis. (Value 8000 G)
Rumor Mill :
[] Slug Club : The return.
Horace Slughorn, retired Hogwarts teacher and famous potionneer finally got out of his self imposed exile by inviting anyone of skill to a party. Having had bad experiences about those in the past, Dace did some investigation and, to his surprise, he learned that while the undead tried to get to the man, a few mislabelled potions vial made it so they all died in a fire before they could get to him. (82)
[] Magical Creatures and where to find them.
While it has become rather clear Oliver is angry at Dace for reasons unknown, he is a competent man, even moreso when what is asked of him is within his (admittedly narrow) specialty. As such, when approached about finding new creatures for the roster, he simply raised an eyebrow and pointed at the the map where the australian ranches could be found, before going back to reading his book. A sidelong glance revealed it was about baking. Strange hobby. (59)
[] The lightning strikes twice.
While Dace doesn't get people, he can identify patterns when he sees them. And he managed to determine the visiting habits of the person visiting Dumbledore. With enough luck and preparation, he should be able do find out what's happening. The Order being incompetent is a thing, Dumbledore being compromised is a different beast entirely. (52)
Actions:
Diplomacy:Advisor – Elizabeth Gwallawg: Actions: 2
[] Meet up with people. Going here and there, talking with people and interacting with them may yield interesting results, after all, when you go out, you never quite know who you will meet later in the day. Managing to make lasting ties in one encounter though... Is quite a bit harder.
50 / 30 / 10 % Chance of success.
Reward : Opens new Sls.
Costs : 500 G
[] Networking at the Ministry. With the new minister, comes a new balance of power. You never really bothered with it before, but with the current state of things, getting a few people to report to you and allowing you to influence the decisions would be rather advantageous.
40 % Chance of success.
Reward: Gain access to Ministry confidential information. Chance to get access to Ministry resources.
Costs : 1000G
[]Slander Reveal dark secrets of: Sometimes, people do things they are not very proud of and try to keep buried. Along the years, you have collected and hoarded those secrets, to unleash them at your convenience.
-[] Write-in
Chances vary depending on who is targeted.
[]Bolster reputation: Having well placed friends is a boon in and of itself. And if they owe you favors, well, even better.
-[]Yourself
-[]Write in (Must be a SL)
70 / 50 / 20 % Chance of success.
Reward: Increased influence in a random Ministry department.
Cost: 10 000 Galleons.
[] Attend Academy graduation. You are, after all, the owner, founder and the one who funds the Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning, located in Cardiff. This will increase your chance of people with exceptional potential stepping up, such as Oliver and Agatha. Miss Evans is currently indisposed and cannot give a speech, sorry.
+ 10 % chances to recruit heroic unit next turn.
[] Meet with your people (write in option). Just because they're already working for you doesn't mean that you have to neglect them.
50 / 30 / 10 % Chances to establish a SL with the designated subordinate.
[]Rebellion. Due to the Overlord's attack on the ministry, several critical spells fell apart and magical creatures across the isles have begun to lash out. Dace will find them and either bring them back to heel, or put them down.
50% chances of success.
Reward: Unrest eliminated, chance to obtain Nature themed creatures.
Cost: 20 000G
[]Organize the Wedding: Advertising and invitations. Martha agreed to a lavish wedding, and that people she didn't know would see her get married. In fact, she almost looked proud of it, considering how possessive sh's been of you lately.
Costs
+1 To Wedding Score.
Stewardship: Actions: 1
[] Trade for resources ( free action )
Buy:
1 Wood for 1700 galleons
1 Stone for 1700 galleons
1 Crystal for 4250 galleons
1 Gem for 4250 galleons
1 Mercury for 4250 galleons
1 Sulfur for 4250 galleons
Sell:
1 Wood for 300 galleons
1 Stone for 300 galleons
1 Crystal for 500 galleons
1 Gem for 600 galleons
1 Mercury for 600 galleons
1 Sulfur for 600 galleons
[] Find sources of building materials. Your contacts went out of business not that long ago, and you need good sources if you don't want to keep paying so much for them. Guaranteed access to Wood and Stone production facilities. Chance of getting access to Gem, Crystal, Sulfur, or Mercury production facilities.
Cost: 40 000 Galleons
[] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all.
Costs 10 000 Galleons. 50 / 20 / 10 % Chances of success Gains variable.
[] Civilian infrastructure. (Requires Rampart step 1 to be complete to be built : One building of the kind may be built per turn.)
-[]Resource silo : Cost: 25 000G, 25 Stone
+ 5 Crystal / turn -[]Blacksmith : Cost 20 000G, 20 Wood
Builds siege weapons -[]Workshop: Cost 20 000G, 20 Wood
Opens up crafting options -[]Druid hall level 1:Cost: 5 Wood, 5 Stone, 20 000G Five level 1 spells become available for heroes to learn. Heroes are able to purchase a spell book from the guild for 500 G.
[]The House Elf situation. The elephant in the room. The fact that both goblins and house elves are ticking time bombs cannot be ignored. Dace can, however, try to mitigate the damage by buying and converting some of them, using Lucius as an intermediary.
35% chances of success. +10 Due to previous decision.
Reward: More elves, RP with Lucius, lessened damage to society.
Cost: 200G / Elf.
[] Real estate hunt : Riddle already two places directly under his control now. See if you can't even the numbers. Though, first, you'd have to find suitable spots...
Cost : 0 Galleons. 40 / 20 / 10% Chances of success.
[] Time for a new business venture: From haute couture to cooking, to entertainment to book producing, as long as you put enough money in, you can do anything!
-[] Write-in
[]Organize the Wedding: Catering. While a swamp isn't exactly a great place to be married in, right now it's more of a lake, making the place very picturesque. Though, this won't remain as such for much more time.
Cost : 20 000G
Reward: +1 Wedding score
Martial: Actions : 1
[] Hire more security staff. -10 to enemy infiltration rolls. 2000G
Cost : 1 000 Galleons. 60 / 40 / 20 % Chances of success.
[] Combat drills. You have units, but they don't know how to fight as an army.
Cost : 0 Galleons.
-[]Wolves : 0 / 100
-[]Druids : 155 / 200
[] Military expedition:
Send a Heroic unit and your army do stuff.
-[]Orkney Islands: After the fall ot the Order faction, the undead are rampaging throught tie Isles. Both muggle and wizarding wonder what kind of deranged serial killer is to be found there, and there are talks about involving the army.
Cost : 5000 Galleons. 20 / 10 / 5 % Chances of success.
-[]Lundy Island: The Necromancer's base. No life can be found there, only cursed bodies and damned souls.
Cost : 5000 Galleons. 10 / 5 / 1% Chances of success.
-[] Exploration: see in the nearby territories if they can notice anything.
Cost 5000 Galleons/ 80 / 60 / 10% Chances of success.
-[] Land patrol : You never know what you can find lurking in the dark.
Cost : 1 000 Galleons. 70 / 40 / 20% Chances of success.
-[] Special mission : Write-in
[]Fire in Africa. The Death faction is harvesting corpses over there, which leads to more troops for them. Try to put an end to it.
10% chances of success
Reward: Supply line disrupted.
Cost: 100 000G
[] Dwellings (Free action)(Requires Rampart step 1 to be complete to be built : One building of the kind may be built per turn.)
[] FIll up your roster: After the unpleasantness with Riddle, you find your roster of units severely emptied. Do something about that.
Cost : 50 000 Galleons.
[] Find yourself a Security Chief (Martial adviser). You need all the help.
Cost : 5000G
[] But will that security chief be the best ? No. Try to poach an auror or two! Considering what they're doing with them, they won't be missed. Costly though.
Cost : 7500G
[]Organize the Wedding: Security. It's rather important, if you intend the wedding to go without a hitch.
Cost: 15 000G
+1 Wedding score.
Intrigue: Actions : 2
[] Leverage your relationships : Use your SLs to cause reactions in a specified person.
-[]Select SL ( may take several, but no more than once)
--[]Select target.
[] Plots are good for your health! Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
40 / 30 / 20/ Chances of success.
-[] The Ministry of Magic
-[]The muggles
-[] Dumbledore's little club of vigilantes.
-[] Voldemort's band of hooligans. Well, what remains of it, anyways.
-[] The Overlord of Chaos faction
-[] Death Faction.
-[] Aife. Better keep tabs on her.
[] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people being arrested left and right...
60 / 30 / 10% Chances of success
-[] Plot to take over shops in Diagon Alley (England, London).
-[] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)
[] Compulsive plotting is also good for the morale!
50 / 30 / 10% Chances of success
-[] Go on a matchmaking spree. Chance to increase Diplomacy, RP with some people, reputation.
-[] Go on a trolling rampage an adventure! Chance to increase Intrigue, cripple enemies, RP with some people.
[]Grand Theft Necropolis. Riddle somehow stole the Philosopher's stone from Nicolas Flamel. Dace decided stealing it from them would be a good idea.
25% chances of success
Reward : Philosopher's stone.
Cost: 10 000G
[]Where in the world is Harry Potter? Aife seemed to think he was very important, so Dace doesn't feel inclined to leave the kid on his lonesome, especially if he spent some time with Riddle.
15% chances of success
Reward: Harry Potter found.
Cost: 50 000G
[]Organize the Wedding: Make sure nobody will act up.
+1 to Wedding score.
Learning: Actions: 2 (1+Learning over 25)
[] The old tales are sometimes true. Brush up on your knowledge, after all each time something supernatural happened, a wizard was behind it. Variable results, autopass
[]Survey the land. You'll never know what you can fins by running around, but at the very least, you'll know the land's map.
60% chance of success.
Reward: Area mapped out, Nat1Malus negated.
[]Why is the land dying? Dace has an inkling of an idea, but he doesn't knows the details behind what is happening in Cornwall, nor the effects it would have, only that it is important for the enemy.
60% chances of success. +10 Due to previous decision.
Reward : Detailed data regarding the Land of the Dead and its spread.
Cost: 10 000G
[] Hives. The Overlord is after them, and the more he obtains, the more his power grows. Considering he's already got browns, it stands to reason he's got that one. However, seizing the others before him would deny him his healers, his pyromancers and his poisoners.
60% chances of success.
Reward: Minion hives found.
Cost: 25 000G
Mysticism: Advisors: Agatha and Oliver: Actions: 3 (+10 to rolls)
[] Y Ddraig Aur. He emerges once every thousand years and was until recently chewing on a few cows in what remains of your backyard, but this time, it was early. Why?
[] Spend time with one of your SLs: +2 RP
-[] Therapy Spend time with Lily: +3 RP, +1/? to recovery
-[] Brunch with Lucius : +3 RP
-[]Tea with Slughorn: + 3 RP
-[]Lessons with Ollivander: +3 RP
-[]Write-in (must be SL)
[] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
[] Extra action. Use your own free time to do stuff. (May only be taken once, may be used as substitute for AP)
[]Organize the Wedding: What it says on the tin. Martha's beginning to look impatient.
Who to use the fountain on?
-[]Write-in.
As of right now, Dace is capped in Learning and intrigue, so any more growth for his skills will neef some help. Martha is also capped on Intrigue, btw.
Dace had a dream once. A dozen druids standing in a circle, chanting as a giant tree grew up in front of them. Vines flying around, destroying skeletons and zombie in a powerful show of force.
This was not the reality in front of him as he watched over the recent batch of druids and Urie
"Take this" one of the druids shouted as he grew a 4 cm tall flower from the earth.
"Is that the best you can manage. Let me show you true power" another druid said as he grew a 5 cm tall flower from the earth.
"you... bastard. Just wait, one day I will surpass you" .
"Trust me, you won't. This is the difference in strength between a commoner and genius" He was pretty much a part of the scenery
A bit further away some druids where attempting to summon wolves and spirits.
"AAAAAAAAAAARHH, with the power of my left eye, fenrir show yourself" a druid wearing an eye patch said. A giant poff of smoke appeared, showing a chicken as the smoke cleared away.
"Scrub, what can a chicken do? Eat m... ARRRRGH"
"Don't worry, I got this" A third druid said as he summoned a cloud of smoke"
"Fuck, it multiplied. EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF"
"RUN" "It got my leg, it got my leg, save yourself" " Half his body sunken in the swamp
"Attack power flower. Let me show you the power of a genius."
"It won't work. We have to combine our power to vanquish this foe"
"Very well, follow me"
"Ugh, its to strong"
".... Can not hold. " "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" not reacting to the screams
Dace could be honest with himself. Feelings where not his strongest point, but even he could feel a bit sad seeing his newest batch of druids get annihilated by two chickens in open combat. a bird making a nest on his head.
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Hassan'll Make a Wolf Out of You + 11 (Semi-Canon)
Hassan stood upon the ramparts surveying his packmates. And he did not like what he saw. They were lazing about with no purpose. Their coats were unkempt and worst of all – they couldn't even howl properly! This state of affairs couldn't continue and he could not trust any of his humans to do this job properly. So with a defiant roar he leaped from the rampart and crashed onto the ground in front of the wolf den. ow
Hassan summoned his packmates with a howl, "Form ranks, Curs!" my ears hurt oh woe is me
They came, slowly, but still they came. Hassan looked at this spineless, pale, pathetic bunch arrayed about him in circles, and almost despaired. Could even he make wolves out of these, these poodles? Hassan despaired, but lo the ground beneath his feet shifted and he looked down to discover that he was standing on the depressed druid. No wonder his thoughts had been so bleak! Once he was back on firmer footing he began his inspirational speech to enflame their hearts for the upcoming trials of training.
"Packmates, these times are dire. We are now the first, second, and last line of defense –"
"Actually, there's lots of other defenders." A brave young wolf piped up, "Like the druid that summoned most of us for instance; he's pretty strong." No I'm not
Hassan flicked one ear and turned his snout towards Urie.
"...Ok, he couldn't outfight a squirrel, but there's all the other druids too." A squirrel bit me once
Hassan snorted, "The same druids that are competing to grow flowers?" It wanted the acorn I was sleeping on
"Erm, what about that red-haired lady with long claws?" I summoned an acorn for it
Hassan sighed, "That human is receiving treatment from our finest therapist, Dr. Scruffy. We cannot in good conscience force her to fight in our stead." It took it and then came back a little later
"Oh, she's getting treatment too? I thought it was for the old guy with a broken heart." He demanded I summon another acorn
"Unfortunately, his case is too difficult even for Dr. Scruffy. But anyways, while I appreciate your enthusiasm…" When I complained, he said something about Danegild
"Kevin" So I gave him another acorn and went back into my house
"Thank you. As I was saying, while I appreciate your enthusiasm Kevin, we're the only –" So I guess it's true I can't outfight a squirrel
"Oh! What about the steel-gauntlet lady?" The end
Hassan bowed his head in acquiescence, "A fair point Kevin. However, even she can only be in one place at a time. She requires our assistance to protect all the other humans under her care. Therefore, I have devised a training schedule to bring us all to peak form. And if any of you slack off, then the steel-gauntlet lady will be ashamed to fight by our side. Additionally, I'll make repeat offenders climb out of one of the druids' quicksand pits and ban you from visiting the sacred child of tummy scratches."
All the wolves agreed to follow Hassan's training regime and became the most badass wolves the world had ever seen.
-[X]Survey the land. You'll never know what you can fins by running around, but at the very least, you'll know the land's map.
15 + 60 (Acquisition skill) + 6 (Thoughts of clockwork eyes) + 5 (Attack of the cuckoos) + 11 (Hassan'll make a wolf out of you) + 14 (Death walks into a bar) – 10 (Nat 1 ) = 101. Pass
Dace was in his office.
The clock was ticking, the sun was streaming in. Hassan was growling in the field, chasing after a group of people in green robes and younger dogs, while dragging another green robed figure tied with him using a length of rope.
In his hands, he had a cup of tea, with the tiniest bit of liquor in it.
He was sitting straight, a slight breeze hitting his face, and stared at his cup.
In his hands.
Over his desk.
His empty desk.
If he were a lesser man, he would let a manly giggle escape from his mouth.
However, he was not a lesser man.
Still, it was not like this little problem didn't teach him one or two things about organizing his paperwork.
Dace gains 5 points in Acquisition.
Nat 1 Malus nulled.
New actions available.
October 6th, 1986
-[X] Funeral rites : Salvation : ??? Nothing of note happ-
Nothing of note happ-
[Martial interrupt!]
Dace blinked, suddenly sitting on the ground, blinding pain at the back of his head and clearly seeing stars even though it was supposed to be daytime. He heard noises of fighting and what he saw stupefied him.
Martha attacks Oliver!
Morale roll : 95 : Double attack.
Luck rolls: 83, 21 : Luck activated x1.
22 x (1,6) x (0,65) x 3 = 68 Damage inflicted to Oliver.
Oliver tries to reason ! It doesn't work.
Martha attacks Oliver!
Morale roll : 61.
Luck roll : 76.
22 x 1,6 x 0,65 = 22 Damage inflicted to Oliver.
Oliver is starting to get annoyed.
Martha attacks Oliver!
Morale roll : 89. Double attack!
Luck rolls : 73 , 22.
22 x 1,6 x 0,65 x 2 = 45 Damage inflicted to Oliver.
Dace calls her off ! End of combat!
From his position on the ground, he could see Martha trying to do her best to plummel Oliver into the ground, however, now matter how many times the man was hit, he just didn't seem to go down. Not knowing what was happening but unwilling to stay on the ground any longer, Dace sat up, causing Martha to jump in his direction and check him over while throwing death glares at the blond Half-veela who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, not even looking winded.
"You were scaring Essie with your cultist crap so I took it upon myself to wake you up." He flexed the fingers of his right hand. Well, that explained why Dace felt like a bludger hit him on the head, he could do with his subordinate looking less satisfied though.
Wait. What 'cultist crap'? And what was the day today? And why was he here?
Meanwhile, Martha was almost hissing at the blond man, who was looking at his nails looking supremely disinterested in what was happening, until his gaze turned towards her and he raised an eyebrow.
"The next time, you try anything of the sort" She growled, trying to set him on fire with her mind" I will tear you apart and feed your corpse to the wolves."
Oliver snorted.
"You can't beat me in a fight and that's why you're so upset. Anyways, I promised Essie I'd take her see the poneys, so I'll be going now."
The woman glared harder, but said nothing as the man turned his back to her and walked out of the room.
RP penalty waived due to passed ally check. Dace now knows something's off with his memories, further actions available next turn.
Funeral rites obligation nulled as long as Oliver is here. Go to hell you mortal mongrel! Wait, he's smirking? Why is he smirking... Oh, Themis you dirty whore-
October 20th 1986
-[X] Research upgrades:
--[X] Wolves : 0/100
While Dace was finalizing his latest purchase contract, even more noises of fear and agony than normal were heard from his window and, curious, he looked through it to whe training grounds.
There, he saw what happened. -fun of me why don't you-
Urie the druid was hanging upside down a tree, having visibly fallen into a trap, with puppies under him, jumping up and trying to catch him as he was dangling into the air, the animals barely managing to catch his fingers. From the looks of it, he was sleeping. -and ruin everybody's day-
On the side, he saw Oliver, riding a silver furred monstrosity of a canine, his heiress sitting in front of him on the saddle and both of them shouting in glee and raising their arms as the creature ran after a group of dogs and apprentices in some strange game of tag. Every dog the canine caught joined the pack of the silver one and began hunting the others. -self and look in the mirror-
Pinching his lips in disapproval, Dace hurried down and, once in the field, fully appreciated the creature. -And then I'll rip those bronze arms and-
It was horse sized, with a regular wolf's head, silver fur ( albeit thicker) and light blue eyes, but it also had larger shoulders, a more prominent musculature, and its tailed curved at the top. However, what really surprised him was the collar around the beast's neck. Or at least, the medaillon. It was a silver coin, with the name 'Hassan' engraved on it. -traitor to your own-
Dace looked at Oliver, who looked down at him from the top of his mount. -bet those are fake anyways-
"What happened to my dog?" He asked in the flattest possible voice. -harrassment? Is that it?-
"Canine puberty." Oliver answered with a straight face. - Seriously though, that pushes my agenda back and it's not good-
A headache beginning to appear, he decided to leave it at that. -do something about that guy. Yeah, I think I'll do that. Wolves : 92/100 to upgrade the wolf den to Direwolf den.
Hassan evolved to Direwolf.
Dace hears an incessant buzzing in his ears and decided to get himself checked for deafness.
November 1st 1986
-[X] Y Ddraig Aur. He emerges once every thousand years and was until recently chewing on a few cows in what remains of your backyard, but this time, it was early. Why?
19 + 50 ( Lore) + 10 + 35 (Oliver) = 114 : Tier 2 success.
While Oliver was taking care of the dogs, Dace decided it was time to investigate why Sigurd and the dragons woke up so early and acted so strangely. However, records from that era were inaccurate at best, so Dace decided to get a professional's opinion. Which led to said professional staring at him as if he was a complete idiot.
"They need a place to stay. You didn't give them that, so they went to find one themselves."
...That didn't answer his first question though. Oliver sighed.
"With all of those guys, Riddle, Scrimgeour and even you messing around with the elementary nexuses, magic's real agitated. You don't know about it 'cause you're about as receptive as a rock, but even when Riddle and the other guy were the only ones, it was really fucking aggravating." He bit out, before breathing in and continuing. "Not surprising dragons, unicorns and the likes are behaving funny, it's like you got a band of gorillas doing classical dancing wearing tutus accompanied by opera singing donkeys in the background of your head 24/7."
That was a strange image indeed.
"Yeah, yeah, synesthesia's a bitch like that." Oliver waved him off, before suddenly crouching, a dog flying over his head, that he grabbed by the scruff of the neck before turning around and throwing it in the direction of another, who had just jumped in their direction.
The elemental nexuses are in chaos, what does it mean?
More actions available next turn.
November 6th 1986
-[X]The House Elf situation. The elephant in the room. The fact that both goblins and house elves are ticking time bombs cannot be ignored. Dace can, however, try to mitigate the damage by buying and converting some of them, using Lucius as an intermediary.
95 + 10 + 90 (Alchemy) + 50 ( Agatha) = 245 : Tier 2 success.
Getting Lucius to agree was child's play, considering you were paying for the elves yourself, and making use of his contacts, he got Dace a list of the families willing to sell their house elves after he had a talk with them.
What he didn't expect was the sheer success this had.
1000 Elves for purchase, 200G/u
Buy some?
[]No
[]Yes
-[]How many? (97800 G remaining)
Enemy house elf transformation's efficiency will be decreased the more you buy them, down to 75% of the initial strength of the attack.
The purebloods are impressed by your ability to throw money around.
Agatha's cackling in a rather worrying manner.
November 22nd 1986
Oliver was looking smug, arms crossed, while Hassan looked as smug as a horse sized mass of muscles, teeth, claws and fluff could be. In front of them, rows upon rows of dogs were sitting, waiting for a signal.
Signal that his granddaughter gave, pointing her finger at them.
"Up."
They got up as one.
"Sit!"
They sat down.
"Play dead!"
They all fell on their backs, all four paws in the air. Oliver's composure broke and he laughed, holding his sides while Hassan's jaw opened, his tongue lolling on the side and he fell on his flank, rolling onto his back with a fake whine of agony.
Wolves fully trained, damage penalty lifted.
Yep. Ollie found the perfect way to ensure Dace doesn't go cray-cray : punch him in the head, Martha's stress meter be climbing up though.
Direwolves are horse sized husky-wolf hybrids (because fluffy is justice). More on that when it reaches 100.
Edit: Also, for invisitext, you type (color=transparent) Insert text here (/color). Replace the parentheses with [] .
-[X] Slug Club : The return.
Horace Slughorn, retired Hogwarts teacher and famous potionneer finally got out of his self imposed exile by inviting anyone of skill to a party. Having had bad experiences about those in the past, Dace did some investigation and, to his surprise, he learned that while the undead tried to get to the man, a few mislabelled potions vial made it so they all died in a fire before they could get to him. -[X]Organize the Wedding: Advertising and invitations. Martha agreed to a lavish wedding, and that people she didn't know would see her get married. In fact, she almost looked proud of it, considering how possessive she 's been of you lately. --[X]Tea with Slughorn: + 3 RP
For once, Dace could indulge in public drinking without anybody judging him for it. He was, if not enjoying it, at least content. People were buzzing all around the room and at its center, Horace Slughorn was sitting completely at ease.
Or at least it was what he was trying to project, Martha whispered to him. Now that he knew what to look for, the man had indeed lost weight and looked paler, though a quick detection spell revealed that that pallor wasn't due to magic.
Still, it was good manners to come and greet the host of the party and as he began moving, he felt Martha's arms coil around his. He looked ar her a bit and he nodded appreciatively. Her hair was pulled up into a sleek looking bun held up by bejeweled pins while her dress robes were cut in order to show off her impressive cleavage while remaining on the tasteful side of fashion.
The young woman almost preened under Dace's attention as they walked towards Horace, who looked up away from his current discussion partner, Amos Diggory, and immediately noticed him.
"Dace, my lad! I haven't seen you in years!" He got up and signalled him to come here." Come here, come here." Dace did, while the retired potions professor made a show of looking him up and down. "The potions regimen did wonders on you, look at you! Not even a wrinkle, this must help with the ladies." He wagged his eyebrows while looking at Martha who raised a hand to her mouth and giggled.
He had to think for a second, because Martha never giggled. The closest she ever got was when she had that strange laugh when dealing with letters from his admirers.
Dace looked around, people were looking at them. It seemed she was doing it for the gallery's sake.
"Indeed." He put on expression number 4 , the 'warm smile.'
The still portly older man then told them to follow him and raised his wand, clearing his voice and getting once more the attention of the crowds.
"If you will excuse me, my dear guests, I have a bit of a present for our soon to be newlyweds. However, it requires some secrecy, so I hope you'll forget me for absconding with them for a few minutes. Don't worry though, there's more than enough food and conversation to be had here!" He jested, causing the guests to titter as he turned around with a flamboyant flutter from his cloak and led Dace and Martha to another room.
As he closed the door and leaned against it, his eyes critically scanned Dace.
"When was the last time you had a check up?" He asked, looking a bit more somber than usual, leading the younger man to raise an eyebrow.
"It will be seven years next month." He answered, having a bad feeling where the conversation was going. Slughorn nodded and waved his wand, very illegal spells coming right out of his mouth, gausing Dace's body to tingle uncomfortably, before purple spots began to shine over his body, causing the older man's frown of concentration to deepen.
"I see, this is why you would resort to use a homunculus as heir." Evaluating brown eyes peeked at Dace from underneath bushy eyebrows. " The most optimistic estimates are your body breaking down in ten years."
Dace tried to ignore the crushing grip around his arm as Slughorn continued.
"Such a waste. First your mother, then that incident at the meeting, miss Evans, and now you..." He looked conflicted over something, before shaking his head and flipping a galleon. It fell on the heads side. "It would be a shame if I was the only potionner left." He put back his galleon in his pocket, before helping himself to a glass of alcoholic beverage. "Oh well, if I'm going to get involved anyway, might as well be with the one I can talk shop to." He gave a dramatic shrug before downing the glass.
+7 RP with Horace Slughorn. Horace Slughorn now available as Learning Advisor.
Do you hire him? (Wages = 20 000 G/t)
[]Yes
[]No Invitations are currently spreading through high society, +2 to wedding score
Further actions available next turn.
January 6th 1987
-[X]Why is the land dying? Dace has an inkling of an idea, but he doesn't knows the details behind what is happening in Cornwall, nor the effects it would have, only that it is important for the enemy. 82 + 65 (Acquisition) + 10 (previous decision) = 157 : Tier 2 Success
It took Dace hours of research and cross referencing to understand what was happening. The land of the dead was a plague. It absorbed magic and used it to fuel its expansion, and since it belonged to another, more powerful system of magic, it couldn't be stopped by regular wizardry.
Its effects were already well known, however those were when the land was already infected. Now he knew of the spread and unless he started expanding right now or Dumbledore got his hands on the means to sanctify the ground, his estimates was not promising.
+5 Acquisition
Influence map updated.
January 20th 1987
-[X] Organize the Wedding: Security. It's rather important, if you intend the wedding to go without a hitch.
-[X] Develop the land (Free action):
--[X]Crystal mine: -[X] Trade for resources ( free action )
--[X] buy 9 wood for 15300
-[X] Dwellings (Free action)(Requires Rampart step 1 to be complete to be built : One building of the kind may be built per turn.) --[X] Homestead: Produces 7 elves / turn.
Of course, now knowing what he knew, Dace decided to hurry the construction of some security buildings, and some housing for the numerous elfes he bought. Especially since this way, he could have them be in charge of security.
Genius, really.
Though, getting them to stop fighting to be the one to clean the place will be another problem entirely.
Homestead built
+1 to wedding score
Crystal mine built.
February 2nd 1987
-[X] Spend time with one of your SLs: +2 RP
--[X] Brunch with Lucius : +3 RP
It was going to be one of those days, huh. Mused Dace, laying back on the floor of Lucius' living room, looking at the sky through the destroyed windows.
To be fair, it was pretty obvious the blond man didn't expect a Death Eater group to raid his house and abduct him.
Still, this was pretty inconvenient.
Princess P-Lucius has been abducted! What will Dace do?
[] Save him (will get option to select troops and resources)
[] Let him save himself. He's pretty resourceful. (Things continue on as usual.)
Wheee, you had a year of downtime, now it's time for the trainwreck to resume!
Dace watched the new building as it was unraveled. A few polite claps from the people present, the wolves howling, and he could not ignore the high pitched squeal from Agatha. Agatha had insisted on making it a public viewing, and he could see why.
The building looked majestic.
"Look, it's based on Rivendell. The trees where imported from Ireland, and the river was relocated to flow under parts of it. I know the blueprints you gave me was a tad bit different, but I had to it. It is their heritage, their blood. "
He had never heard of this "Rivendell" before, but he could only assume it was something Agatha had discovered while researching. This must have been what the elves lived in before Salazar forced them into servitude.
"Well done" He meant it. He could definitely see some use for this building in the future. Perhaps when he needed to entertain some guests or impress some business partners. Some of them seemed to consider his manor cold and dreadful. He could not fathom why.
Oliver seemed a bit more interested than usual, given how the elves didn't have fur, scales or laid eggs he wouldn't have been surprised if he had dropped the whole thing. Maybe it was because of heiress. She seemed to enjoy the occasion, despite having snuck out several times to look at it. He really should do something about that. He couldn't keep having the servant interrupt his work to report. Maybe a teacher could make her a bit more proficient in the activity.
Even Urie looked a bit more spirited than usual. No, that was just a squirrel assaulting him. A bunch of them seemed to be ransacking his clothing for something.
This won't do at all. Dace got up and dusted himself, focusing on what he should do.
First thing first though, was to make a call.
"What have you done now?!" Rufus' exasperated visage scolwed at him through the flames, causing Dace to raise his hands while rolling his eyes.
"I'm here to report a crime, you know?" He answered with a tone expressing his injured pride and innocence that had the other man gring his teeth.
"And that crime would be?"
" A group of Death Eaters broke into Malfoy Manor and abducted Lucius Malfoy, likely to accomplish some nefarious goal." He answered with his usual panache, only for Rufus to give him a dead eye stare before his image disappeared.
Dace was left sitting on the floor of the savaged living room, huffing in indignation.
Rude.
However, he didn't have time to dally on his plans for bloody vengeance, he had an ermine to save!
[] Select your Hero Unit! (you may only choose one)
-[] Dace : Wind spells allow for scouting, scrying and faster travel. -[] Martha : Strong and durable, also has good leadership abilities. -[] Urie : The most competent mage out of all of you, as much as it pains you to admit it.
First though, he needed to find out where the people who abducted Lucius were headed to. Investigation roll: 4 + 50 + 30 = 84 : Fail.
The problem that quickly revealed itself was that they were headed North, but with the chaos they caused, they managed to slip through and evade his detection. Investigation roll 2 : 69 + 50 + 30 = 149 : Tier 2 success.
Still, they ended up making a few mistakes, allowing him to find out their position quickly enough that the trail didn't go cold, and their moves made it obvious they intended to head North, towards Scotland, through the plains, facing no resistance from the people living here, even though this was supposed to be Dumbledore's Castle...
Once the course was divined, he needed to select what troops assign to the mission, since he wasn't naive enough to think that he'd get his host back without a fight.
Information update! ( will be copied on Strategic Data)
On the strategic map, Movement is the statistic used to determine how fast an army is. The higher the movement indicator is, the faster the army is. Having a faster army can be a benefit in that an enemy army cannot catch you, allowing to escape battles and certain death. This is especially useful for putting up scouting armies.
However, movement can be affected by terrain restrictions, so knowing what kind of terrain you are in, having traits such as unfettered, or having someone with Pathfinding ( either the spell or the Scouting tree skill) is especially important.
An army's movement is calculated by having all of the units' movement added, then dividing the result by the number of units. As such, on the strategic map, to go from a zone to another, it takes 20 movement units. Excess will be banked, so it is possible to move over two zones at once too.
As previously mentionned, different types of terrains have different costs in terms of movement points:
Plains : The base one : 100% : 20
Mountains : Rough terrain : 150% : 30
Swamps : 175% : 35
Choose your units ( You may input a specific number. Hassan is unavailable.) []Wolves x 395 : Unfettered(Nature) : Do not suffer any terrain penalty in Nature home terrain ( forest, mountains, grasslands), including of magical nature (such as the quicksand spell).
Movement : 21 []Elves x 350 :
Movement : 30 []Druids x 10 :
Movement : 23
All currently owned hero units have a base 23 movement.
As the army dedicated to retrieving Lucius was sent, another problem popped up. Namely that the chaos created by the Death Eaters caused several hundreds of Troglodytes to come out and play, and lo and behold, the Ministry is, once again, being less than useless. No traces of any kind of intervention from Dumbledore, which is kind of perplexing.
[]Chaos in Wizarding London!
Do you send troops there? -[]No
-[]Yes
--[]Choose hero Unit (only one, who hasn't already been sent away) --[]Choose troops.
No. In fact, after investigating for half an hour, it is pretty normal that Dumbledore didn't intervene. He had his hands tied up there in Orkney. However, it didn't look like he'd manage to win on his own, considering he was low in manpower and his phoenix and him could only do so much against undeads in a fortified position.
[]Blood on the snow
Do you send troops there? -[]No
-[]Yes
IF Yes:
Do you send hero unit? -[]No
-[]Yes
--[]Write in one who isn't being sent away
However, as Dace was a pureblood whose favorite modus operandi was to thrown money at his problems to make them go away, he decided to do excatly just that and sent messages all along his network to see if he couldn't get some items in extremis before beginning the retrieval mission, even though he could expect having to pay at least double for those. Supplies roll : 15 + 50 (Logistics) = 65 : 135% price penalty.
Items roll : 83
On one hand, his suppliers sure found the items required, on the other hand, they were not without cost, and of course, due to time constraints, he couldn't borrow any money from the Swiss banks...
Do you buy something ? (27 800G left)
[]Yes
[]No
If yes, what do you buy? -[] Dragon wing Tabard : + 20 Mana, +2 spell levels
Slot: Back
-Part of the Power of the Dragon Father set.
Cost : 9400 G
-[] Bowstring of the Unicorn's Mane : + 1 to Combat : Archery, or acts as Basic archery.
Slot: Misc
-Part of the Bow of the sharpshooter set.
Cost : 9400 G
-[] Glyph of Gallivantry : + 1 Morale
Slot: Misc
Cost: 2350 G
-[]Mystic Orb of Mana : +3 Mana/day
-Part of the Wizard's well set.
Cost : 3525G
-[]Pendant of Life : Makes all units in the army immune to the Death Ripple, Unholy song, Death Call and Hand of Death spells.
Slot: Neck
Cost: 11750 G
-[]Equestrian gloves: +300 movement points.
Slot: Ring
Cost: 7050G
-[] Pendant of Holiness: Makes all units in the army immune to the Curse ( and Mass Curse variant) Spell.
Slot: Neck
Cost: 4700G
-[] Rope: A blue-black rope. Rather thin, just strong enough to support one's person's weight, about as tall as a man. The noose is rather ominous. All unit morale nulled (including the enemy one), half of that is converted to Luck
Slot: Neck
Cost: 7050G
All in all, the selection was solid, though Dace didn't like the longing looks Urie gave to the last one of the selection, a rope generations of wizards used to hang themselves, made, somehow, of augurey feathers. The seller guaranteed it to be chafing risk free.
I'm back, and everything is on fire. Yay?
Choices, choices, the more you spread, the less you can win, but there's a chance you can get everything too~
The thunderstorms are finally finished!
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Squirreling Around (You know what? It's funnier for me that way) Canon +18 (basically ignoring invisitext)
Squirreling Around: An excerpt from Chaosquest Negaverse
Intrigue: [C] Your advisor has an… unusual proposal for infiltrating Gwallawg's fortress. He's requesting a tonne of tree nuts. Cost. 1,000 G. Reward. Information on Gwallawg's fortress and its environs. 8 + 45 (Stealth) -10(Language Barrier) + 20 (Refuge in Audacity) = 63: Failure
Your advisor delivers his report with a sour expression. "As we know, infiltrating Gwallawg's fortress by magical or mundane means is nearly impossible unless he invites you in. He has extensive warding and all his employees are intensely loyal, and therefore unbribable even for our deep pockets. I have found an alternate source of information, however there have been a few complications." Did they really think using squirrels as spies against a Nature faction would be a good idea?
You nod, and gesture with one mailed hand, "Continue." They were desperate Themis; at least that's what I'm telling myself
"I contacted the local squirrels to gain a map of the area and the common patrol patterns in exchange for a year's supply of tree nuts. They agreed to the deal, but when I came back to pick up the map they had a list of additional demands before they were willing to part with the information. At least, that's what I think. I don't speak squirrel as well as the druids do." Ugh, and now they're trying to extort him too
He pauses for a moment and then adds, "Also, I spotted one of the druids talking to the same squirrel after our meeting so Gwallawg miiight be making a counteroffer." Oooh, that gives me some ideas. I'm sure Ceridwen won't mind if I give her vassal some more help. I hear nuts are good for memory loss~
Messing with Ceridwen again? Better her than me!
[] Drop it. The demands are unreasonable, and it was a dumb idea to begin with. Yes, yes it was
[] Original Deal: Remind the inferior rodents that you are the Overlord and they'll take their ton of tree nuts and be happy with it! It's nut like squirrels can do anything to harm you... wait, I meant NOT!
[] Negotiate: Agree to some of the points on their list and negotiate them down to something more reasonable. It's not about saving money, it's just good negotiating tactics! Cost: 5,000 G, 5 Wood. Those fiends could outbargain Loki if they put their minds to it
[] Give them everything: Just give them everything on the list. It won't make a dent in your coffers. Although it might encourage them to ask for more… 10,000 G 10 Wood. 5 Stone. If you feed a squirrel a nut...
***
I kind of want to have Dace recruit squirrels as a spy network for him now.
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Succor for Fumbledore (He wasn't invited) noncanon +6
Dumbledore took stock of the battle, and what he saw was disheartening. The undead were too numerous and the fortifications too strong to achieve victory. He had hoped that with Tom's disastrous expedition into Wales, he would be able to stop the spread of the undead infestation, but it seemed he would fail once again. He caught Fawkes' eye, but before he could signal to withdraw, Fawkes' eyes widened, and he swooped down towards him. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow – did Fawkes really think that the single vampire standing behind him would be a threat?
There was a loud thud behind him, and the vampire went flying over his shoulder straight into a blazing inferno created by Fawkes. He turned to see Martha Drake standing behind him with an ugly scowl on her face. Ah, so that's what he was worried about.
With a twinkle in his eye Dumbledore spoke, "What brings you out here Martha?"
She shrugged, "Dace said you needed some help, and I'm good at taking care of these things."
Martha pulled a battered looking envelope out of her sleeve, "Here's your wedding invitation. Try not to bring along spies this time. I don't want to get my wedding dress ruined taking out the rubbish."
With a huff, she stomped away from him towards the front lines. Bemused, Dumbledore disarmed some harmless pranks cast on the envelope as scores of arrows slammed into vampires and a horde of wolves crashed into the inferi. He wasn't sure which surprised him more – Dace sending an army to help him or Dace inviting him to his wedding. It warmed his heart to think his son was still willing to reach out even after all the damage he had done to their relationship. With a smile, he and Fawkes rejoined the fight to liberate Orkney.
And yet, little did he know what Dace had in store for him with the seating arrangements.
