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Grandpa Dace's Quest for a stable family

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Bring at least A dragon as it's a great comfort to have them in our corner if things get messy. Oliver is probably safe as well since he is the animal expert and has been with us before in a scrap.
 
I reorganized the end of the chapter, reworded the choices and gave some examples. The vote options should hopefully be clearer.
 
[X]Yes Costs 10 000 Galleons

[X]Yes
-[X]A medium retinue : Middling choice, 1 000 Galleons
Same as above, with 3 more dragons and another druid
 
How would the spell 'View Air' work in quest? Since it could potentially be very useful, but would it work around anti-mapping charms?
 
View Air will be dependant of the rank of Dace's Air magic skill (of course).

At its most basic form, it's a spell used to charter a map, then with your mastery of air magic, it gains bonuses. I've nerfed it a bit, because all artifacts from the beginning was a bit broken. That and RIddle knows air magic too, So I figured you wouldn't want him to know all about it either...

Basic Air Magic: Displays the location of all Basic artifacts in a radius of roughly 5 km

Advanced Air Magic: Displays the location of all Epic artifacts and heroes ,in a radius of roughly 10 km

Expert air magic: Displays the location of all Legendary artifacts, heroes and towns (including underground) in a radius of roughly 15 km

Used in tandem with Visions, at high level, it constitutes a fantastic scouting dool.

Since I've already mentionned it earlier on why Dace can outright kill dementors ( supposedl indestructible in HP canon) , Homm follows an entirely different magic system than HP. Of course it's far from being as flexible as 'wriggle your wand and poof, magic happens', but it has some advantages such as the fact ignores completely anti mapping, unplottable, and fidelius charms due to incompatibility. They don't even register. Of course, this causes problems too, because while you can see it, it doesn't matter you can interact with it, or be alerted about eventual traps.
 
Well, I guess I'll close the votes with a grand total of 2 votes. Medium seems to have won. Expect an update later today.
 
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Turn 3 : January 12th 1984
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    • [X]Yes Costs 10 000 Galleons + 100 / person/creature

    [X]Yes
    -[X]A medium retinue : Middling choice, 1 000 Galleons
    Same as above, with 3 more dragons and another druid
    ​

    January 12th​ 1984
    ​


    It was decided that they would go at night, under the cover of darkness, to minimize the chances of being seen. The weather was rather good, even if rather cold, but druid or not, Dace was still a wizard, warming charms existed for a reason. He looked around, Oliver was steering the dragoness expertly while little Scáthach was looking around excitedly? This was the first time she was allowed out of her bed despite it being bedtime, after all. Both Oliver and Elizabeth were dubious about her coming here, however, to the man, it stood to reason for her to be involved, especially since the dreams were very clear about her presence being required.

    If the one who invited them was who he thought they were, he'd really rather avoid annoying them.

    The night advanced and the group travelled quietly, there was a spot of trouble when one of the greenhorn druids threw up in the void below, but other than that, nothing exciting happened. Of course, Oliver had to pipe up at that moment.

    "Nice night huh. Bit boring though."
    Encounter roll : 30
    That was when the dragoness under them growled. It took Dace a bit of time to see what she was looking at, but he finally noticed them too.

    Vampires.

    The cloud of bats was floating on their right, and part of it separated from the rest, revealing a man with greyish white skin, black hair and blood red eyes.

    "A nice night indeed to fly on dragonback." The creature answered in a smooth voice, sneering, before its eyes slid towards the little girl who was looking at them curiously. " Ah, this would be the granddaughter. A delicious looking morsel to be sure, even if the curse lingering upon her would spoil the taste."

    Dace's eyebrow twitched. At least this one didn't try to butcher a Romanian accent like the last one he staked.

    "Is there any reason behind you approaching us?" He spoke up, getting the creature's attention off his granddaughter. "I don't suppose you're here for small talk?"

    It looked at him, then the dragoness, that was snarling, flames coming out of her nostrils, and his sneered twisted into a parody of a cordial smile.

    "As a matter of fact, we were. Well then, we bid you a good night." It bowed, before turning into bats that joined the cloud and quickly disappeared from view.
    Diplomacy failure.
    "He's totally going to try a sneak attack, isn't he?" Oliver asked rhetorically, adjusting his leather gloves while Dace cracked open his book, looking for the spell he really should get around to learning.

    "Yes." Was the simple answer, and the dragoness suddenly twisted, barreling through the air while dark shapes barely missed her, one of them caught by her flames and screeching in pain.
    One side had hero, gain initiative! Dragoness 1 attack: Luck activated, double damage: 66 Damage
    Grabbing his squealing granddaughter under one arm and his other hand opened, Dace clenched his legs and decided to trust in his adhesive charm as he chanted.
    Dace spell: Destroy undead: -15 Mana, Damage: (power (2) x 10) + 10 = 30 to all. 15 Mana left.
    He felt the now familiar luminous winds gather around him, before a powerful gale flew out of his palm, expanding outwards into a sphere, brutally impacting and eroding the vampires. The one already hit by the dragoness was outright disintegrated.
    Vampire 1 dead.
    Feeling weakness from the opponents, the other dragonesses decided to attack too, flying towards them at high speed, burning, biting and clawing anything that got near them, mowing down through the ranks of the undead, causing the rest to flee.
    Dragon attacks. High morale! They attack twice: 6 x 33 Damage, vampire 2 to 7 dead.
    Only one managed to get away.

    However, that one was already too much. As Dace's group was hightailing towards their destination, a terrible cold followed them and they saw that the vampire was back, followed by an army of dark cloth and white bones sailing through the air. It seems that Riddle was intent on eliminating them here. And that he didn't learn about last time. Thought, that could be excused, after all, when he got his hands on the book, he could only use that spell once before becoming useless...

    He sighed.

    "Oliver?" He asked tiredly to his second in command who looked as if the situation was dire.

    "Yeah boss?"

    "It seems that I will have to rest after this. Ask Scáthach for the directions." He then gave him the little girl, who was struggling to get a better view of what was happening around her, lifted his leg and turned around, facing the cloud of enemies following him. There sure were a lot of them. He tilted his head and looked at the vampire in the eye, before a smile of unholy glee spread on his face and he raised his hand, that started to glow again.

    The sheer terror on the beast's face as its death approached was hilarious.
    Not even going to roll for damage, they're all under 30 hp. Dace mana 0/30
    The night sky was illuminated by white light, before regaining its usual darkness, save for the few spots of light from the stars and the lanterns strapped on the dragons. And the glowing, flying silvery animals that were patroni who were following them. Feeling exhausted, he saw the familiar face of Rufus Scrimgeour closing in towards them won his broom.
    Consciousness dice (mana exhausted): 75 – 10 (stressed): 65 needed 50, still conscious.
    Dace waited for the man to catch up to them while waving at him lazily, chin propped up on his saddle's backrest. With a bit of difficulty, the Head auror arrived at his level with an expression stuck between annoyed and unimpressed.

    "Interesting spell you used there, Gwallawg."

    "That's a way to put it" Dace yawned, turning back and relaxing on his seat, his granddaughter pouncing on him and pestering him with questions like an excited puppy. Scrimgeour didn't get the hint however and continued the interrogation.

    "What's going on here? And none of that evasive bull you always use either."
    Diplomacy check: 25. passed by Intrigue.
    "Is this an interrogation?" Dace raised an eyebrow." I have been very obviously attacked by rogue dementors, because, obviously, the ministry wouldn't want my death right now hm? " He didn't let the other answer. " Ah, forgive me, 'have my soul eaten' would be a more appropriate term. Still, dementors out of Azkaban, don't you find it interesting? Why, what would the people say if they learned the Ministry lost control of their wardens?"

    The other man's jaw clenched as he glared wordlessly at Dace, before soldiering on.

    "And those are class XXXXX creatures you're riding on."

    "I have a permit, mister auror."Dace blinked with an innocent face.

    "I know, I was there." Scrimgeour ground out. " How are you riding those?"

    "By saddling them and letting Oliver drive?" Was the fake inquisitive answer as Dace patted the leather contraption.

    "And the way you destroyed dementors? Those are setting several flags off, Gwallawg. Some people at the Ministry are becoming quite worried, considering your origins."

    All expression immediately left Dace's face, and he leaned in towards Scrimgeour, speaking lowly in a whisper barely audible to the man, but that sent chills crawling through his spine all the same because of the sheer darkness it contained.

    "Then you should know what happened to the last one who decided to meddle, hmmm?"

    He suddenly drew back, smile firmly in place, but eyes colder than winter as the Head Auror gaped at the man's audacity.

    "In any case, you're doing your job much more enthusiastically than your predecessor, so I will commend you for that. However, we're on family business here, and really need to get going. We thank you for the concern, but as you can see, your help was unneeded."

    Scrimgeour's scowl deepened, but he relented and finally got the hint that he was unwelcome and retreated towards the rest of the aurors, who were busy gathering the dementor remains. They quickly disappeared from sight as Dace's group progressed towards its destination, and not a minute too late, for the cube hidden in Dace's pouch, hidden within an inner, expanded pocket in his pants began to vibrate, its energy discharging towards the people on the dragon's back. Not only him and Oliver, who jerked in surprise, but also Scáthach who giggled as if somebody tickled her.

    Battle results: Dementors x 60, vampires x8 eliminated
    Scáthach starting exp: 32/1000
    Oliver starting exp: 430 / 1000
    Dace starting exp: 2861 / 3000
    Fight results: Victory!
    Exp gained: 974 Each
    Scáthach current exp: 1006 / 2000 Level up!
    Oliver current exp: 1404 / 2000 Level up!
    Dace current exp: 3835 / 4000 Level up!

    How does Dace choose to improve himself?

    [] Anything can be planned, from supplies, to moves, to types, it's just a matter of taking the good steps... Gain basic logistics.
    [] Clarity struck his mind, he's been doing it wrong all along! Gain Basic estates.
    [] The earth beneath his feet, the leaves in the wind... He could understand that emerald radiance... Gain Basic Earth Magic.
    [] Magic wove itself around him like a protective shield... Gain Basic Resistance

    Dace's current skills: 5/8 Slots taken.
    Advanced Wisdom: allows your hero to learn fourth level spells.
    Basic Intelligence: Basic intelligence increases a hero's normal maximum spell points by 25%.
    Basic Air Magic: allows your hero to cast air spells at reduced cost.
    Basic Diplomacy: allows you to negotiate with monsters in exchange of gold and reduces the cost of surrendering by 20%.
    Basic Luck: increases your hero's luck by 1



    Oliver focused a bit on what happened, and Dace's instructions, before his face scrunched up in concentration and the green energy around him dimmed. Past the rush of energy, the little girl looked confused however.

    "Grandfather, what should I do with it?" She asked, a bit lost about her choice.

    [] "You should heighten your ability to defend yourself " Gain basic combat
    [] "One's value as a leader depends on the people they lead." Gain advanced nobility
    [] "No matter what, as long as there's life, there's hope." Gain basic life magic
    [] "One is never truly alone." Gain Nature magic – Basic Summoning

    The little girl nodded with a serious expression that seemed a bit out of place on her juvenile face and Dace had to remember himself that she was truly a three-year-old, then, he remembered he had no idea on how to behave with children and directed her towards Oliver while he took a nap to try and replenish his (currently empty) wellspring of energy.

    When he woke up, the sun was up, heating his face, yet, he felt himself fall. It seemed the dragoness was losing altitude, and his leg was being shaken. He groaned and opened an eye, so see his granddaughter shake his leg.

    "Wake up grandfather, we're here!"

    And here they were, the dragonrider mused from his driving seat, in a place that didn't appear anywhere on the maps. The ground was dry and crackled, nothing was alive in here, and Oliver really hoped the white shards he could see littering the ground weren't bones. Despite the sun, the land was cold, there was no wind, and the sky itself has an eerie, purplish tint. In front of them, a tall, jagged structure resembling a castle was towering over there, crows perched over the gates with a malicious intent gleaming in their beady black eyes.

    Oliver shuddered, the druids were huddled together, and even the dragons showed some signs of anxiety.

    Meanwhile, Dace didn't know why they were all looking so nervous, those were just a few birds perched on rocks. Interesting effect with the skies though, he'd have to replicate that, though, if he's going for a more Nature themed aesthetic, this may be difficult. Yellow or green would be more jungle-ish than anything else. Little Scáthach looked fascinated with the cloudless sky, nose up in the air and needing Dace to guide her. After a few minutes, he turned around and realized his escort stayed behind, as if paralyzed. A soft, muffled noise could be heard from behind him and he decided to begin the meeting.

    "You know, you could have just told me to come alone, grandmother." Dace turned around, only to feel a violent pain on the top of his head and he blinked, seeing nothing else but stars.

    "Oh my, it looks like the years have taught you to talk big, let's correct that, shall we?"

    Faster than he could even think, something, a pole hit his knees from the side, making him buckle and fall. The noise of feet moving over dirt reached his ears and he just huffed, crossing his arms, back on the ground.

    "Not going to resist?"

    "I've got better ways to use my time." He answered almost sarcastically, having recovered enough from the blow on his head for his eyes to see the one who was talking to him.

    [] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
    [] Scáthach, Queen of the Land of Shadows, Lord of Spirits



    Word of warning. Yes, as you may have surmised, the latter one is Nasu Scáthach, included due to popularity among my team of evil. She is significantly stronger than the previous one, however, selecting her will make me, for balance's sake, introduce other Nasu elements, as long as they don't enter in direct conflict with the preexisting elements (Saberface bonanza and most things about magecraft and the Mage's association won't be a thing considering we already have the Wizarding World.). This will, of course, cause the emergence of a difficulty spike down the road if you can't leverage shishou's abilities well. Choose at your own peril.

    Also, I gave up. I'll go with animu images. Feel free to post some that you think correspond to this or that character. I'll give a bonus for appropriate ones.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • I propose this:

    [X] Clarity struck his mind, he's been doing it wrong all along! Gain Basic estates.

    [X] "One is never truly alone." Gain Nature magic – Basic Summoning

    [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
     
    [X] Clarity struck his mind, he's been doing it wrong all along! Gain Basic estates.

    [X] "One is never truly alone." Gain Nature magic – Basic Summoning

    [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
     
    [X] Anything can be planned, from supplies, to moves, to types, it's just a matter of taking the good steps..
    [X] "No matter what, as long as there's life, there's hope."
    [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
     
    [X] Anything can be planned, from supplies, to moves, to types, it's just a matter of taking the good steps..
    [X] "No matter what, as long as there's life, there's hope."
    [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
     
    [X] Clarity struck his mind, he's been doing it wrong all along! Gain Basic estates.

    [X] "One is never truly alone." Gain Nature magic – Basic Summoning

    [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
     
    [X] The earth beneath his feet, the leaves in the wind... He could understand that emerald radiance... Gain Basic Earth Magic.

    [X] "You should heighten your ability to defend yourself " Gain basic combat

    [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
     
    ...Well I'll be damned. Y'all are going against the Nasu option. Kinda surprised. I'd have thought you'd go for the significant boost to your power bloc by getting her.

    Oh well, it does save you from some very significant headaches down the line. But by then (grand) daughteru would hopefully be strong enough to be leading the faction (and ???, ???, ???, worst!daughter, Tom, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting would have made a mess of things that a bit more didn't sound too much worse for you).

    Hope you survive the coming gauntlet (not that shishou could save you if you mess up preparation). At least you have a few dragons.
    ...Now I need to actually read the notes for you not choosing Nasu
     
    [X] Clarity struck his mind, he's been doing it wrong all along! Gain Basic estates.

    [X] "One is never truly alone." Gain Nature magic – Basic Summoning

    [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid
     
    [X] Scáthach, Queen of the Land of Shadows, Lord of Spirits

    Because why not power spike? Heck, at the very least it will give interesting negaverse interludes.

    [X] Clarity struck his mind, he's been doing it wrong all along! Gain Basic estates.

    [X] "One is never truly alone." Gain Nature magic – Basic Summoning
     
    Alright, going to end the voting phase here and tally all that. I'll post next either in 2-3 hours, or tomorrow depending on the rolls.
     
    ...Well, I've seen some of the coming mess and I got to say, I really wish I knew what I knew know as a player -- would have made different plans. Nasu Scáthach would really have helped.


    Silver lining -- you have a chance to prepare for it. Unfortunately, the problem will likely get at least a bit worse with that time.
     
    Blonddude42 said:
    ...Well, I've seen some of the coming mess and I got to say, I really wish I knew what I knew know as a player -- would have made different plans. Nasu Scáthach would really have helped.


    Silver lining -- you have a chance to prepare for it. Unfortunately, the problem will likely get at least a bit worse with that time.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It might have been the warning that tipped the scales a bit, but regardless it will be interesting to see how things go.
     
    Turn 3 : January 12th 1984 (2)
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Scáthach, the Shadow, the Warrior Maid


    [X] Clarity struck his mind, he's been doing it wrong all along!


    [X] "One is never truly alone."
    January 12th​ 1984 (2)​



    With the tattoos on her hands instead of the face. Image changed since people on QQ asked for a better one than the one proposed.

    The woman passed a tattooed hand through her flaming hair, looking at him with a raised eyebrow, as his granddaughter was looking at them both, hesitating.

    "Speak up girl, I won't bite." The older woman's expression softened a bit, the laugh lines around her eyes and mouth contributing to make her look less dangerous than the bone spear and swords she held may suggest.

    The little girl tried to speak up, only to hiccup loudly, with a wisp of emerald fog coming out of her mouth. The fog moved to her right, coalescing into a humanoid figure.
    It was a small man, about as tall as herself, wearing brown combat boots, yellowish green pants, a sleeveless green vest, and a buckled green top hat.

    "Aye, aye, from the void I come and all of that. You my summoner? You don't look like much..."

    The humanoid creature looked around, their eyes squinting at the little girl inquisitively, before noticing that there were other people around. They looked at Dace first,then, surprised and mildly horrified at the woman who had raised an eyebrow, staring at the scene bemusedly. They opened their mouth, raised a finger, then dropped it.

    "Yah, fuck no." In a flash of emerald, they disappeared, leaving only their hat behind. There was a moment of silence before the red haired woman snorted, then began to laugh madly, holding her sides as she did, while the other two were too confused to make heads or tails of what they just saw.

    It took a while for her to calm down, and when she finally did, she sat on the cracked ground, legs crossed, hands on her knees and elbows up in the air.

    "Alright. I know the brat would rather be punched repeatedly in the face than admit we're related, or even worse, ask for help, but I'm gonna need some information about what's going on there."

    Dace looked at her dubiously.

    "Wouldn't you know? I know for a fact that you're keeping an eye on all of us."

    The older woman smiled at him winningly.

    " 'Course I do. Doesn't mean I keep track of your paperwork though."

    The younger man sighed, sitting on the ground unceremoniously, making it very obvious he didn't enjoy this situation one bit.

    "Long story short, there's a necromancer who acquired unholy amounts of power, a dark lord who actually uses his brains, Dumbledore, and Aife lost in the nature somewhere."

    "Strange order of priorities." She commented lightly.

    "It does look like kinslaying runs in the family." Was the acerbic answer

    Blue eyes confronted green, as she began to loom from her sitting position.

    "Oh? Is there something you want to tell me?" Her voice was dangerously mild.

    "I don't know, how about getting your own ducks in a row before criticizing?" Dace snorted, fingers ever so stealthily inching towards his wand as hers creeped towards her spear.

    "Um..." The baby of the group intervened, flailing around to try and understand the situation, but she ultimately decided to take her grandmother's advice "No fighting!" She crossed her arms in front of her, forming an X , feet apart from each other, expression scrunched into what she thought was a disapproving frown but with her strawberry blond ringlets and rosy cheeks, it was very unintimidating.

    Downright cute, in fact.

    Still, it did the job and got the two of them to back down, at least long enough for the girl's namesake to get up, walk towards her, pick her up and proceed to squeeze the life out of her.

    "How cute, clearly you got that from your grandmother." The woman threw one last jab at Dace before her shoulders relaxed, signaling she had calmed down. " Still, it looks like you're in quite the pinch, so I'll help you, for her sake, if nothing else."

    Scáthach the Elder joins your group. However, since she's Scáthach the Younger's subordinate, she'll act as a bodyguard/tutor for her as she is the one who actually passed that diplomacy check.

    As they left her territory, castle and deserted landscape disappearing behind them, they heard a feral growl and blood chilling shriek. Hastening their pace, they rejoined the group that remained behind and saw one of the green dragons holding a dementor in their maw, a constant gout of flame steadily disintegrating the creature into a heap of burning black scraps and greenish-black fumes.

    It didn't take much at all to understand that something was off. A lone dementor when it was already clear they stood no chance against his dragons was suspicious, however, if Riddle was half as smart as he liked to advertise, this sacrificial move had a hidden objective. The question was what that objective was.

    Intimidation was useless, spying was a much better explanation. However, it wouldn't have been able to cross the boundary of Scáthach's domain, this was a useless sacrifice, and therefore much too optimistic a hypothesis to Dace's tastes. No. He needed to think....

    After a few minutes of pondering, as he sat on dragonback, he felt a tiny weight on his knee. It was his granddaughter who dozed off due to it being far past bedtime, causing him to remember that he'd need to prepare for her introduction to society when she hits seven. And just like that, pieces finally fell into place.

    He remembered Riddle's inquiries about her when they met a few years ago, the fact that the vampire was unusually interested in her, to the point of risking death to get to her. This on its own wouldn't be particularly enlightening. However, he also remembered the rumors he heard. Back then, he'd dismissed them as the talk of envious people trying to smear the reclusive genius' image. The fact was, three incredibly skilled and prominent young women, all between sixteen and seventeen, disappeared soon after being seen with Riddle. Add to that Riddle seeming more intent on hunting down Aife than squashing down Lily's budding faction, and this painted a rather... disturbing picture.

    Depending on whether or not he could share the senses of his minions, Riddle had concrete confirmation of his granddaughter's existence. Considering his luck, that was most likely the case.

    He felt the need to sigh.

    Dealing with a hypothetically pedophiliac necromancer really wasn't what he had imagined he would be doing. At least not so early. Still, he'd better prepare, since he was sure Riddle wouldn't appreciate him destroying his troops for the third time in a row.

    After all, if he were in his shoes, he'd try to kill him too, before he became a threat.

    New intel! Riddle aware of Chibi's existence and is likely going after her for reasons unknown, save for the fact it's somehow related to Aife. Is very likely to attack you very soon to get rid of you before you become even more of a problem.


    It's a pretty sad state of affairs when it's the 3 year old who's the adult of the group.

    I hope you enjoyed background-roll-chan's vacations, cause she's back and ruining everybody's fun even harder than before. Except the dragon rolls. they're as bullshit as ever. Very bad rolls for you this turn, and Granddaughteru saved the day with her SL3 diplo reroll ability.

    This part didn't want to write itself, so I'm calling it quits and screw subtlety ...
     
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