yeah, did some chat on the discord. Assuming that Dumbleores efforts fall through it's gonna be up to us to build a coalition with the leftovers ourselves in addition to creating a strong economic base, which will be especially difficult now that Dumbledore has both Lucius and likely Reaver in his pocket
So I'm thinking we should talk to Voldemort about opening up a new line restaurants in our new city-state
So some more interesting things from Discord. Apparently Fable Albion is actually Wales instead of England like I (and hopefully others because it would be embarrassing otherwise) thought. This also means that Dace knows alot about Bowerstone even if he doesn't know specific things like Lucien or Chicken Chaser.
Some more fun facts from NotteBoy.
The Jack of Blades interlude would had shown the Chaos Anchor crumbling in their hands and what immediately followed afterwards
Dace and Volde went to Hogwarts at around the same time though they didn't interact much with the most they spoke being in the Dace's fifth year where he was the Hufflepuff prefect
Volde made his first Horcrux in his sixth year since that's when Anastasia pounced on him
In the first run the Horcrux was a wand but here Panda only said welp so presumably a lot worse
The Hero's Guild was dissolved after Fable 1 due to the policy of letting Heroes be good or evil was unpopular so sadly it has nothing to do with the Welsh Ministry no matter how cool that would had been.
The Welsh Ministry was formed as a sort of Ducal level organization to have the Welsh wizards administrate themselves when the Irish and Scots were threatening rebellion. This gives the Welsh relative freedom as long as they don't directly disobey the main Minstry's rule
Adhoc vote count started by Kufufu on Oct 10, 2018 at 4:06 PM, finished with 43 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Plan The Shadow of Audacity
-[X] Yes, hire Ava Lloyd
--[X] Stewardship
-[X] Yes, hire Aife
--[X] Diplomacy
-[X] Visit the Welsh Ministry, try to build up contacts. The people over there like him well enough, and they are bound to be more competent that those english clowns, but one never knows who they can meet, and what they can find. The construction of his own little city-state probably didn't go unnoticed, so he might as well nip any legal problem in the bud.
-[X] Mingle with the populace. Being a proper lord is knowing one's people. And Dace really doesn't get people, so he hopes being seen will be enough.
-[X][Myriam] Aggressive expansion: Myriam will look around and point out good business opportunities ripe for the picking.
-[X] Build accomodations [Requires: Buy the surrounding lands] . Having those nearby means that Dace's servants could invite people to live there, increasing the pool of manpower he can draw on. It will also increase their happiness, since they won't have to worry overly much about their families.
--[X] Massive project: An expansive, fortified, self sufficient Large town that can house up to a hundred thousand of people, finished in time due to the abuse of the shortcut called magic. It has everything Myriam and you could think of, save for advanced magical learning establishments.
-[X] Expansion: Dace hasn't got nearly enough place right now. He needs to correct that.
-[X] Settle. Dace will invite people to come live in that settlement of his, however, this means he won't be able to change its size as easily anymore.
-[X] 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. Risky, though in the current climate, it is much less than it would. In England, anyways.
-[X] Plots are good for the purse! With all those people dying left and right... A whole continent disappeared, someone has to step in , in the stead of those poor foreign investors...
--[X] Plot to take over shops in Diagon Alley (England, London).
---[X] Plot to have them come to Dace's new settlement. [Requires Major settlement or above]
--[X] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)
-[X] Matters of the Court. William Black, an enigmatic figure to be sure. Yet, when there's a hero-king, there's a bloodline. -[X] A hero under any other name. Scythe is an enigmatic figure, but what's interesting here, are the people he interacted with.
-[X][Monique] The infernal machine: Monique will begin experimenting with scraps, materials, and magic to try and create golems.
-[X] Anchor hunting. Dace remembers those, and the power they bring to bear. However, he still needs to look for them.
--[X] Order -[X] Blue lines. Dace found those within him, and they don't feel like they belong to the five elements paradigm. Thefeore, they're probably something else...
-[X] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Martial, Leraning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
--[X] Blue lines. Dace found those within him, and they don't feel like they belong to the five elements paradigm. Thefeore, they're probably something else...
-[X] Well then...
-[X] Spend time with Social Links.(+2 RP)
--[X] Aife Rosier
-[X] I can't even be upset about my plans failing. ConfluxQuest
[X]Plan Athen did great, and we can do better.
-[X] Yes, hire Ava Lloyd
--[X] Stewardship
-[X] Yes, hire Aife
--[X] Diplomacy
-[X] Visit the Welsh Ministry, try to build up contacts. The people over there like him well enough, and they are bound to be more competent that those english clowns, but one never knows who they can meet, and what they can find. The construction of his own little city-state probably didn't go unnoticed, so he might as well nip any legal problem in the bud.
-[X] Mingle with the populace. Being a proper lord is knowing one's people. And Dace really doesn't get people, so he hopes being seen will be enough.
-[X][Myriam] Aggressive expansion: Myriam will look around and point out good business opportunities ripe for the picking.
-[X] Build accomodations [Requires: Buy the surrounding lands] . Having those nearby means that Dace's servants could invite people to live there, increasing the pool of manpower he can draw on. It will also increase their happiness, since they won't have to worry overly much about their families.
--[X] Massive project: An expansive, fortified, self sufficient Large town that can house up to a hundred thousand of people, finished in time due to the abuse of the shortcut called magic. It has everything Myriam and you could think of, save for advanced magical learning establishments.
-[X] Settle. Dace will invite people to come live in that settlement of his, however, this means he won't be able to change its size as easily anymore.
-[X] Sell business:
--[X]Montmorency : 700,000 G
-[X] 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. Risky, though in the current climate, it is much less than it would. In England, anyways. -[X] Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
--[X] The Ministry of Magic (English).
-[X] Plots are good for the purse! With all those people dying left and right... A whole continent disappeared, someone has to step in , in the stead of those poor foreign investors...
--[X] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)
---[X] Plot to have them come to Dace's new settlement. [Requires Major settlement or above] -[X] Relocate the Academy [Available due to previous choices][Requires massive project] : The world as Dace knows it is ending. He was certain of it. As such, it wouldn't be unreasonable to gather his resources and assets in order to keep them safe. -[X] Open a new academy[Requires massive project] : This one will directly enter in conflict with Hogwarts, as it will take care of children from middle to high school. However, it won't teach just magic. As the GASL did, this one will teach everything the muggles do, and magical subjects.
-[X][Monique] The infernal machine: Monique will begin experimenting with scraps, materials, and magic to try and create golems.
-[X] Anchor hunting. Dace remembers those, and the power they bring to bear. However, he still needs to look for them.
--[X] Order -[X] Blue lines. Dace found those within him, and they don't feel like they belong to the five elements paradigm. Thefeore, they're probably something else...
-[X] Spend time with Social Links.(+2 RP)
--[X] Aife
--[X] Myriam
-[X] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Martial, Leraning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
--[X] Open a new academy
--[X] But will that security chief be the best?
[X] Plan Complete City Package, now with people and education.
-[X] Well then... -[X][Ava Lloyd] Yes
--[X] Diplomacy -[X][Aife Rosier] Yes
-[X] Visit the Welsh Ministry, try to build up contacts. The people over there like him well enough, and they are bound to be more competent that those english clowns, but one never knows who they can meet, and what they can find. The construction of his own little city-state probably didn't go unnoticed, so he might as well nip any legal problem in the bud.
-[X] Meet with your people (Monique Bridge). Just because they're already working for him doesn't mean that he has to neglect them.
-[X] Mingle with the populace. Being a proper lord is knowing one's people. And Dace really doesn't get people, so he hopes being seen will be enough.
-[X] Build accomodations [Requires: Buy the surrounding lands] . Having those nearby means that Dace's servants could invite people to live there, increasing the pool of manpower he can draw on. It will also increase their happiness, since they won't have to worry overly much about their families.
--[X] Massive project: An expansive, fortified, self sufficient Large town that can house up to a hundred thousand of people, finished in time due to the abuse of the shortcut called magic. It has everything Myriam and you could think of, save for advanced magical learning establishments.
-[X] Settle. Dace will invite people to come live in that settlement of his, however, this means he won't be able to change its size as easily anymore.
-[X][Myriam] All hands on deck : Myriam will take care of a stewardship action for Dace.
-[X] Sell business:
--[X]Montmorency : 700,000 G
--[X] 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. Risky, though in the current climate, it is much less than it would. In England, anyways. -[X] Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
--[X] The Ministry of Magic (English).
--[X]The muggles --[X] Relocate the Academy [Available due to previous choices][Requires massive project] : The world as Dace knows it is ending. He was certain of it. As such, it wouldn't be unreasonable to gather his resources and assets in order to keep them safe. -[X] A hero under any other name. Scythe is an enigmatic figure, but what's interesting here, are the people he interacted with.
- [X][Monique] Magical menagerie : Monique bragged that she was very good at hunting down creatures. Time to take her up on that boast.
-[X] Anchor hunting. Dace remembers those, and the power they bring to bear. However, he still needs to look for them.
--[X] Order
--[X] Nature
-[X] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Martial, Leraning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
--[X] Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
---[X] The Ministry of Magic (English).
--[X] But will that security chief be the best?
--[X] Anchor hunting. Dace remembers those, and the power they bring to bear. However, he still needs to look for them.
---[X] Order
-[X] Spend time with Social Links.(+2 RP)
--[X] Aife Rosier
--[X] Myriam Wells
[X] Plan Brace for Impact
-[X] What in the world...
-[X] Yes
--[X] Stewardship
--[X] Mysticism -[X] Attend Academy graduation.
-[X][Myriam] All hands on deck : Myriam will take care of a stewardship action for Dace.
-[X] Sell business:
--[X]Montmorency : 700,000 G -[X] Expansion -[X] Massive project -[X] Settle (Myriam) -[X] Find a security chief -[X] Keep an ear to the ground -[X] Plot against
--[X]The muggles -[X] Relocate the Academy -[X] The old tales are sometimes true
--[X] Strange blue glowing veins inside of people?
-[X][Monique] Magical menagerie : Monique bragged that she was very good at hunting down creatures. Time to take her up on that boast. -[X] The Shattered Tower. -[X] Anchor hunting.
--[X] Nature -[X] Blue lines.
-[X]Personal supervision
--[X]Blue Lines +20
--[X]Attend Academy graduation. +10
--[X]The shattered tower. +20
--[X]Anchor hunting (Nature). +20
--[X]Find a security chief +10
Things sent rather well, all things considered. The names the Yaxley matriarch recommended delivered, and Dace had the very nice surprise of knowing that, while Powys was as barren as ever, Perfeddwlad, at least on the magical side of it, was overflowing with cinnabar. There were also a few pockets of crystal, and though it would need expert help to unearth, he could see something resembling gems deep down in the ground.
And this was not a second too late, as Dace received word from the agencies he contacted that other pureblood families have also been inquiring about land and buying, though, from what he gathered after investigating for a bit, there were three major problems.
Firstly, some families decided to call back their members and gather in specific locations, with the obvious intent to fortify their position and ensure their survival.
Secondly, it seems several families were eyeing up the same locations, meaning that there was a chance armed conflict would happen sooner rather than later.
Finally, two of those groups staked a claim south of Dace's territory, which didn't bode well, since, as far as he could tell, they were rival and enemies. Diplomacy may end up being needed soon.
Then, Ireland went dark, and people began fearing that it too, was in the beginning stages of being devoured by the Darkness.
The only silver lining in here was that the other purebloods weren't discreet when it came to moving, so Dace managed to draw a rather accurate map of their moves.
-200,000 Galleons
Dace may now build settlements on Powys and Perfeddwlad and build mines in the latter.
Further actions available next turn.
October 12th 1982
-[X] Plots are good for the purse! With all those people dying left and right... A whole continent disappeared, someone has to step in , in the stead of those poor foreign investors...
--[X] Plot to take over shops in Diagon Alley (England, London).
Rolled 31 + 30 + 75 (stealth):
---[X] Plot to have them come to Dace's new settlement. [Requires Major settlement or above]
Costs 10,000G/Business.
Rolled 72 + 35 (self sufficiency)
--[X] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)
Rolled 31 + 30 + 75 (stealth):
---[X] Plot to have them come to Dace's new settlement. [Requires Major settlement or above]
Costs 10,000G/Business.
Rolled 37 + 35 (self sufficiency)
Flourish and Blott's: Wherever there's a city, there's Flourish and Blotts. The company everyone's looking for to satisfy their book cravings.
+education, +happiness, +economy, +research
+10,000 G/T
The Drunken Leprechaun: While at first glance, this may be a simple tavern, this particular tavern from Cardiff is special in that it also is the headquarters of the Red Sons, a mercenary company that will offer their services to the highest bidder. Due to the climate around here, they're looking for a new place to crash.
++safety, +happiness, +economy
+5,000 G/T
The Red Sons become available for hire. (100 Merc available at 1,000 G/T rate.)
While the chaos spread, nobody really noticed Dace sneaking around, grabbing at what he could. He almost got caught several times, and some of his tries ended up in failure, but he got two positive results. First was a Flourish and Blott's shop in London, newly opened and immediately closed, and it took little effort for Dace to convince them to let him buy the book stock that was taking up a lot of space, both in the shop and their own warehouses. In fact, he may have ended up buying too much, but since he wasn't sure how the book industry was going to go, he decided this was probably for the best.
If possible, he had even less success in Wales, until he got approached by a middle aged man with a crippled leg in a cast, calling himself Jason Swallows. He said he had just opened a tavern, but that with the current climate, he wasn't sure this was for the best, and he heard about Dace's attempts to draw in shops for the town he created, and so he had his own offer. They'd be equal owners, and Jason would make a few calls for his friends who were in the 'security business'. More often than not, that meant mercenaries, but all things considered, this was a pretty good thing in the current climate. As such, he readily agreed to the terms, the perks being well worth the trouble, in his opinion.
Does Dace choose to hire the Red Sons?
[]Yes
-[] Have them patrol his lands
-[] Have them ready to fight
[]No
Blur - 2 mana
Combat - Blessing
Blur obscures the target's true position, increasing its Ranged Defense by 50%. A good archer has steady hands and keen eyesight. The hands are remarkably difficult to influence, unlike the eyes, which sit there at the front of the mind.
Magic Fist - 2 mana
Combat - Curse
Damage: 22 + 2 dmg/level + Wizardry
Magic Fist does a number of points of damage based on the level of the caster to a single target within the line of sight of the caster. A strong defense is paramount to one's survival, but battles cannot be won by defense alone. So when the time comes strike hard and fast.
Ice Bolt - 3 mana
Combat - Direct Damage
Damage: 44 + 4 dmg/level + Wizardry
Ice Bolt does a number of points of cold damage based on the level of the caster to a single target within the line of sight of the caster. Someone was needed to counteract the seering fire attacks favored by Chaos spellcasters.
Mass Precision - 5 mana
Combat - Blessing
Mass Precision increases the Ranged Attack of all friendly ranged targets by 25%, and also gives the target no penalty for range, walls and obstacles. Of course, nothing is a substitute for extensive training, but sometimes you are forced to work with inexperienced troops.
There were a few snags during the construction. From the crew coming in late, to construction accidents, bad weather, supplies disappearing, equipment breaking, the occasional haunting, and low morale due to the Asian continent's disappearance. At least Francesca put in a good word for him so that the builders would accept being paid later, in exchange for an exorbitant increase in price. The town had been in construction since June, which meant that he had to bear with 7 months of noises, cursing, and dirt. Lots of dirt.
Because when magic is involved, something was bound to go awry, like poor Sarah who still has bunny ears. Clearly, he'd underestimated her stoicism as she went around her tasks, looking like nothing was wrong in this world.
Still, despite all those little problems, Dace could see, from his manor that was overlooking the whole place, that he got everything he paid -or rather will pay- for.
Thankfully, now that his stone quarry was up and running, he wouldn't have to pay so much in materials anymore, especially since the Carrows would make him pay through the nose because of said quarry.
Unnamed town built and settled.
-964,775 Galleons
Info section updated
[]Choose new town's name
December 20th 1982
-[X] Anchor hunting. Dace remembers those, and the power they bring to bear. However, he still needs to look for them.
--[X] Order
85% Chance of success.
Rolled 4
-[X] Well then...
Not willing to wait for yet another year, Dace decided to go check things himself, to the consternation of Monique, who was advising focusing on something else. The travel was smooth due to the floo, and he was currently walking towards the small cavern in Orkney, that was flooded by indigo light, indicating that someone was extracting the anchor as he was arriving.
He walked faster, Monique whining slightly behind him, and he entered through the slightly narrow crack in the rocky cliff, taking care not to trip on the wet ground. Using his hand to steady himself against the wall, he barely slowed down and strode through the dimply lit corridor, to arrive to the room, where a crystalline pillar was rising, wreathed with energy streams.
There a figure stood, the cube floating in her hands.
She was average sized, with a light brown blaser and skirt, combat boots and her long brown hair up in a ponytail. She turned around and Dace remembered who she was. It was the vampire who met with Black in London.Upon seeing him, she grinned, revealing fangs glinting in the blue light.
"Oh my~"Her voice was slightly husky. "When you said we'd be talking soon, I thought this was just a method to run away from me, leaving your compatriots to their fates~"
It really was, though. In the blink of an eye her face was a few centimeters away from his.
"You're not playing very nice nowadays, are you?" She immediately leaned back, hands joined behing her back, before she shifted, her upper body leaning slightly forwards. "Well, it doesn't matter anyways, I suppose." She raised a glowing finger, before promptly taking a giant ice spike the size of a horse to the face. Dace felt the warm hand of Monique closing in on his wrist and dragging him at top speed towards the exit, her blond pigtails swaying in the wind. She raised her hand back from time to time, Ice launching behind them, as demented laughter rang through the narrow stone corridor, screaming "Bad idea! Bad idea! Bad idea!" at the top of her lungs.
Finally, they got out of the grotto, and a weight he hadn't noticed suddenly lifted from his shoulders, before he was overcome by the sensation of being squeezed through a narrow tube overcame him, just as the vampire burst out of the tunnel, covered in chunks of ice but otherwise uninjured.
He then reappeared next the the floo station, was grabbed by the back of his robes and thrown into green flames, to land on his face in his study. Monique quickly followed, closed the connection, and waved her wandaround in strange patterns, before an keening noise rang through the manor and the fireplace trembled as a voice, the vampiress' voice could be heard.
'hey hey heeeey, let me in, I just want to taaaalk~'
For a second, Dace thought it would explode, but after vibrating as if it was a door somebody knocked on, it settled, the voice disappearin gin a huff.
Monique finally fell to the ground, panting and looking red with exhaustion, before she turned to him, pointing at him with an angry look on her face.
"Bad. Idea."
Dace had to incline his head at this. It indeed looked like it was a bad idea. This was annoying though. Very annoying.
But more importantly, it lost him time. Precious time that could be used for something else, a lot more concrete than chasing a strange cube his dreams told him held some measure of ability. This one was clearly in high demand, and what more, sought after by powerful people, so it may be a good idea to give up...
[Diligent] activated.
No. Giving up was for the lazy.
[Proud] activated.
Giving up was also for the weak minded that were currently blubbering about the world ending while doing nothing. He wouldn't have managed to do anything done if he just folded and gave up at the first, or second, or third obstacle on his road, and he certainly wouldn't give up now.
Failure.
+20 % chances of success for next anchor action.
Yeeeey. Other city states are gonna pop up at the beginning of next turn. Even more people to keep track of~
More seriously though, if this continues, this quest is not 'just' going to end up being a civilization cross, more than that of ck2. Unacceptable! (thinging of including the Way of life DLC )
Hum. On one hand, if we have them ready to fight,they'd be able to join our army as a whole when we go on Martial actions(like rooting out enemies, hunting for artifacts or going on patrols) and may provide more security as a garrison force due to not being as dispersed(which would also let them work with more Golem support, since Golems are slow).
On the other hand, patrols that don't bite into our action economy.
I take it that's the price per wizard per year and that the Mercs will either get hired after the taxes come in or agreed to delay getting paid until that point?
Because unpaid mercenaries demanding payment in an undefended city is kind of asking for problems.
So unless Dace is an idiot:
[X]Yes
-[X] Have them patrol his lands
[ ] Gwallawgplas Dinas
We had our Manor, we built a city around it, Dace's last name is Gwallawg.
Gwallawg manor city(or: the city built around Gwallawg manor).
[X] Gwallawgysgol Dinas
Gwallawg school city. Works for when Dace moves his magical university into the city, for when he founds the high school to go with it and if/when he manages to get his hands on an Order Anchor and become an Academy faction.
If we were shooting for Nature Dace I might've tried something involving the nearby natural features like meadows or whatever. If we were going Life, there's a prefix to denote the founder was some kind of holy man.
Could call it a castle, fort or stronghold too if we wanted to stress its defensibility but that might further signal a desire to project force if the mercs and buying land weren't enough..
Aside from all the Welsh places called [Person]'s island/fort/castle/well/bridge/field/church/hill/etc of course.
I'd rather be the next Holyhead(Caergybi, or St. Cybi's fort, mutated because Welsh) or Montgomery(Trefaldwyn, meaning Baldwin's town after the Norman lord who founded it) than the next Cowbridge(Y Bont-faen, meaning "the stone bridge" in Welsh).
It's kind of like calling a university campus "university campus" rather than [something relevant to university name] university campus.
The holy grail. An item sought by many. Wars had been fought for it. Fanatics had searched for it, and a corrupted dimwit had supposedly given everything to find it. The item in question, a blue crystalline cup was currently gathering dust on a shelf.
Or it was until someone saw an opportunity to grab it. This someone being…
"Thsss is the beeast Whiskey, evar rrrrr"
A dark skinned woman in a suit. Pouring from a bottle of Devil's Share into it. Filling it, and started chugging.
"Isn't thaaat right mistar bear"
The two colored bear golem spoke no words. It only moved his arms up a waved.
"WHO HOOO, Ecoonomiiics will rule the wwooorld "
No would have batted eye to this, because the cup was completely useless. It served no purpose other than being a glorified drinking cup.
-[X][Monique] The infernal machine: Monique will begin experimenting with scraps, materials, and magic to try and create golems.
After the little fright from last month, Monique decided that it would be for the best to provide the bare bones of an army to the newborn town. Then, she began speaking with Ava, and took enthusiastic walks, looking around, leading surveys and the likes.
It ended up with her somehow obtaining massive amounts of broken or useless things that she spirited away in her lab. A dark and stormy night filled with cackling later, Dace was faced with a strange looking... Thing.
It looked like an amalgamation of stone, metal, and dried wood and hunched over stood at a height of three meters. Metal plates were welded on to cover what he assumed was critical parts of its mechanism as well as the creature's jointed fists, for pretty obvious reasons. It's arms were abnormally long, and as if to compensate, its legs were rather short, with a huge chest part, giving it a less threatening and almost comical appearance. The ensemble was, rather surprisingly, pleasing to the eye due to some colored glass parts fused with the machine, making it gleam under the sunlight.
That feature was probably intentional, Dace mused as he read one of the many surveys, which were several pictures drawn by kindergardeners with the question 'which one do you prefer?'. It was first, but a big fisted, smal legged, yellow robot that had an expending hook/hand was a close second..
Monique, wearing a rather provocative muggle secretary outfit, complete with rectangular glasses and her hair pulled up in a side ponytail, was walking back and forth, before a blackboard that she was filling with diagrams and notes, while explaining her reasoning.
"...As you may see, the output from the recycling center project isn't even reaching a forty percent capacity. That is because the another forty percent will be used to help man the town's garrison for additional security. As for the remainder, they will be kept in reserve for further study and experimentation." She pushed up her glasses with a finger. "While unorthodox and seemingly counterproductive, I believe that this would be for the best to partition these two buildings. Furthermore, it will help maintain morale to have those golems help take the load off the more demanding and dangerous jobs, like mining, leaving people free to pursue other, more enjoyable, pursuits. Of course, that is contingent to the town attracting, or creating, its own industry."
She then pulled out a file out of thin air and dropped it in front of Dace, who began to leaf through it, and felt his eyebrows rise the more he read through it.
"This is... A very ambitious project here." He didn't even bother to hide his interest.
"Indeed." The blonde woman reached for the blackboard and flipped it, revealing writings on it that read as: 'Monique's awe-inspiring artificial anchor project!' with a rainbow over it and stick figures on each side raising their arms with 'yaaaaay' written over them.
"I have thought about your reservations about contracting any kind of anchor because you feared the possibility of influence, and I have found a solution, albeit it is a bit out of your reach for now. It seems, from my observations, that they were fashioned by different people, and intentionnally imprinted with their personality template, leading their successors to be led to continue their work. Now, I didn't get my hands on all of them, however..."
She trailed off, and reached for her bag, and gave Dace two items. One of them was a file containing the data about the cave in Orkney and the other was a cube, that seemed to be humming with energy. It also glowed a soft emerald light that made Dace recoil almost immediately, causing Monique to laugh at his reaction.
"That's an interesting reaction for sure." She got the cube back, put it on the table, and got a knife. " In any case, what you see here is the raw material for the project." She beamed at Dace, before stabbing the cube, a noise of glass breaking and echoes of a woman's scream rising through the air, as the outline of a green dragon appeared, before dissipating, leaving the inert, transparent item, with the knife still embedded in it. Monique continued as if nothing happened.
"As you can see, that anchor is now empty and inert. Which means that, by studying how it works, there is a chance that it could be reverse engineered into something less invasive. However, while I have a few ideas on the 'how', it will still take quite a bit of time and resources. Considering the current situation, we can skip the experimentation for a while, however, the theory can be worked on immediately."
New project available: Artificial anchor:
Pros:
Roster entirely customisable
Hero starting skills customisable
No mental contamination
No direct counter
Cons:
Will take more resources
Will have to research own spells.
Will have to find power source
Gained 98 x Scrap golems.
May build the Recycling center (Misc. building)(+ health, + econ, + safety, + happiness , produces 12 Scrap golems / turn for the workforce and the garrison for free)
May build the Golem assembly line (Military building) ( Produces up to 100 Scrap golems per turn , costs 300 g/u)
By using her own funds and quite a bit of Diplomacy, Monique bought and built her own shop in the town.
+50,000 Galleons.
Monique's Workshop of tricks : ++ econ, ++ joy, ++ research.
Monique's workshop, where anything technology-related, from muggle televisions, to antique clocks can be build, bought and repaired.
Technological research partially unlocked. Choose one to pursue this turn:
[] Innovation recuperation (Muggle): 0/40 complete : Dace will obtain one 'modern era' technology.
Will unlock:
Computers
Optic cables
Automation
[]Innovation recuperation (Wizarding): 0/40 complete: Dace will gain the ability to research Magical subjects.
Machines made of scrap metal, stone fragments, fused together by magic. They're very much prototype units and as such, weaker, though faster, than one would expect golems to be, however, they have some amount of resistance and they're easy to repair. The fact they're essentially walking recycling bins does have some interesting implications though.
Abilities:
Mechanical: Isn't affected by any spell targeting living or undead creatures, is unaffected by morale.
Magic dampening (self): unit takes -25% damage from spells, spell effects last 25% less time.
-[X] Matters of the Court. William Black, an enigmatic figure to be sure. Yet, when there's a hero-king, there's a bloodline.
Rolled 85 + 20 (Synergy)
William Black, the Archon, the Soulless. As one may guess, he was the progenitor of the black Bloodline, and after investigating some more, he learned a few more details by cross-referencing those facts with other reports.
The Black family is an odd, proud and secretive family, yet, they were rather easy to understand, due to the most prominent aspect of their bloodline: Morphing. This ability allowed their inner self to reflect on their appearence, the more they acted out on it. Alabaster Black was a Dark Lord that made the Isles tremble, and before his death at the hands of Julius Longbottom, he was said to have grey skin that bordered on chalk white, foot long curved horns, huge reptilian wings, larger eyes with black sclera and bright red irises, flies followed him and the earth itself was dying under his steps.
Incidentally, their family house gave birth to several metamorphmagi, who is thought to be a more evolved version of the Black's Morphing.
And each and everyone of them was either killed, or spirited away, only to reappear as crazed, twisted wizards and witches whose only objective is the destruction of their family.
The victims usually looked like Alabaster, however, their skin was also covered in black cracks oozing a virulent poison.
Now, that sounded familiar indeed.
-[X] A hero under any other name. Scythe is an enigmatic figure, but what's interesting here, are the people he interacted with.
Rolled 11 + 20 (Synergy)
Little is known about Scythe, however, he is most known for having taught Nostro, the future leader of the Heroes' guild, the secrets of Willpower, an enigmatic power that didn't seem to rely on magic, but has since disappeared completely from the records after the fall of the Old Kingdom of Albion.
Scythe was probably dead right now, although, considering he was said to have 'successfully escaped from Death', that wasn't certain. Since the old myths have mostly proven to be true, it's possible that Scythe is still around. It would explain why so little progress was made until recently by the Courts...
Further actions available next turn.
February 23rd 1983
-[X] 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. Risky, though in the current climate, it is much less than it would. In England, anyways.
Costs: 10,000G
40% Chances of success.
Dace gets a Martial advisor (high quality).
Rolled 56 (+20 Mercenary Synergy) : Success
Following the settlement of this town, Dace sent a few hidden invitations, and, surprisingly enough, he did get an answer. He was a lot less surprised after reading the files.
Angus Savage was a former rookie auror of the Ministry, the current situation leaving him to fumble around aimlessly after the Ministry let go of him until he met with a few mercenaries and joined their group to travel.
While average in size, his musculature made it clear that he was well trained, though as he said to his mercenary friends, he'd always been stronger than average. With his short cropped brown hair, hazel eyes, and naturally tan skin, people often mistakenly took him for being Italian, but, they weren't that far off, considering his maternal family was of Greek origin.
He's a competent fighter and wizard, though no one knows how he managed to get accepted in the English auror program since learning things seems to be physically painful to him. He also isn't really good with money management, much more interested in spending than in saving it.
Dace leaned back after reading the file.
Considering that most of his advisor staff were women, he was hesitant to allow a known skirt chaser in, but he needed all the help he could get, and if need be, he could ask Ava to make sure he didn't push any unwanted advances on Myriam or Aife. Not to mention, the results of his trying to seduce Monique would be entertaining.
Does Dace hire Angus Savage?
[] Yes
[] No
His resume also gave some details of his best abilities: (Select his advisor action for next turn)
-[] Spartan training: Train troops ( organic only) at double rate.
-[] Sentinel: +20 to any patrol he's attached to.
-[] Supervision: Angus can help with the law enforcement. +10% creature generation.
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the castle
Not a creature was stirring, not even a phoenix.
King Albus was sleeping, near the fireplace in a comfy armchair
When suddenly a great racket arose, a roar from across the moor
A helicopter powered by magic flew over the gentle, snowy land
And came to rest over Albus's chimney
The passenger stepped out and pulled out a small, unmarked package
And with a flick of the wrist the blonde haired man tossed it down the chimney,
Then with a jaunty wave at the bleary eyed phoenix he flew off back to the east
Meanwhile King Albus awoke with a start and watched as the package hit the ground
He opened the package from his poor, wayward son to see thick, woolen socks
With a giant hole in each heel.
With a soft sigh he sank back down in his chair
And with a flick of his wand summoned needle and thread
All night he labored and when dawn arrived
King Albus had a pair of socks, almost brand new.
***
Probably too short to be an omake, but whatever.
[X] Plan Eyes on the Prize
-[X] Innovation recuperation (Muggle): 0/40 complete : Dace will obtain one 'modern era' technology.
-[X] Yes
--[X] Spartan training: Train troops ( organic only) at double rate.
So here's the thing. One, we need a martial advisor for the action economy alone. And it's generally agreed upon that we simultaneously need some form of armed forces in order to maintain parity against our neighbors and potential rivals and also random shit that just might try and pick a fight with us. The golems are a great start on that front, as are the mercenaries. If we can also get an opportunity to generate a decent standing army now while the other Pureblood families are scrambling to get their own settlements up and running, we can basically force them to come to the bargaining table by the barrel of a gun. Since Angus Savage isn't good for much else other than more directly martial matters, we can push that stuff on to him.
So long as we're not easy prey for the other Pureblood families, they'll need to come and negotiate with Dace out of self preservation if nothing else. Now's the time to become the big fish of this little pond, since we're going to be competing with these jackasses for immigrants and other resources. For that, we'll need to crush them utterly and absorb that which they'd take for themselves in to ourselves.
Modern era technology means that our little settlement will be best suited towards and catered towards the modern era, which means it will be better suited for attracting Muggles and Muggleborns as compared to our own rivals. This means we'll get an influx of population compared to them, which we can further leverage by moving Dace's school into the region and opening up that Hogswarts competitor next turn as well.
We'll achieve the full infrastructure necessary to continue magical civilization as people know it when the world crashes down around us, and the guy with the most creature comforts is the one best able to insulate against the feeling of despair against the world going to hell by preserving that feeling of modernity, even if its only a little bit.
More immigration means more workers, means more business, means more resources, means more troops, means that eventually we'll be able to crowd out those other Pureblood families and establish hegemony over them, even if it's only a tenuous one. But it means that people wishing to draw from Wales for power or influence will have to go through Dace first by virtue of having the biggest share of the pot.
We need to insulate ourselves against the crash as much as possible, and being the only obviously self sufficient, modern-style magical settlement in Wales plays into that narrative extremely heavily, thus making Dace more attractive compared to just about everyone else he's in direct competition with. Ireland not included for obvious reasons.
Right.
We don't have a militia, we do have (probably trained) mercenaries and currently, the only part of our army that's actually growing are our (inorganic)golems.
We also know that there are too many factions in Southern Wales, one of which dislikes Dace.
We could try to train the Mercs(who are set to patrol) or hope that the militia can get swole during the turn where they're getting organized. Or we could double down on securing our borders. Success there might limit the damage when shit collapses, might help with looking for artifacts inside our borders and should be good at keeping the losers of the power struggle down south from settling in our territory without our permission(or without swearing fealty to us).
[X] Plan Secure Borders.
-[X] Innovation recuperation (Muggle): 0/40 complete : Dace will obtain one 'modern era' technology.
-[X] Yes
--[X] Sentinel: +20 to any patrol he's attached to.
Could also try to build more golems/recruit a larger militia, but that's Supervision, not Spartan training.
Spartan training would've been nice if Monique went for magical creatures though.
[X] Plan Secure Borders.
-[X] Innovation recuperation (Muggle): 0/40 complete : Dace will obtain one 'modern era' technology.
-[X] Yes
--[X] Sentinel: +20 to any patrol he's attached to.
One of them was a file containing the data about the cave in Orkney and the other was a cube, that seemed to be humming with energy. It also glowed a soft emerald light that made Dace recoil almost immediately, causing Monique to laugh at his reaction.
"That's an interesting reaction for sure." She got the cube back, put it on the table, and got a knife. " In any case, what you see here is the raw material for the project." She beamed at Dace, before stabbing the cube, a noise of glass breaking and echoes of a woman's scream rising through the air, as the outline of a green dragon appeared, before dissipating
Was that the old Nature Anchor? Did Monique just kill it in front of Dace? Hmm... okay it's clear she looks experimenting and tinkering, but did she not care for the screams.
[X] Plan Eyes on the Prize
-[X] Innovation recuperation (Muggle): 0/40 complete : Dace will obtain one 'modern era' technology.
-[X] Yes
--[X] Spartan training: Train troops ( organic only) at double rate.
