Plane War I, Raise your Own Kingdom and Protect the Gods (3.5)

[Acanous]

”I didn’t know you could change a strike force name. Huh. I’d have never agreed to ‘prestidigitator’ if I knew that.”

[anonomas321]

As the others began to speak up, Dursurayss would fall silent, listening to what was being said... not simply because it was respectful for him to listen to the others, to hear their thoughts and ideas about the titanic task that had been set before them. But because of the same factor why he had been so silent up until it was finally his turn to fight... the steel dragon was a shy creature. Unused to social interaction off any form but his own, or his own creations, Dursurayss simply did not know when he should speak, and when he should be silent. He did not know whenever or not he should wait his turn, should wait until he had been addressed and his own opinion was requested. Or whenever or not he should step in as soon as someone put forwards an idea that he disagreed with... or if there was some type of balance between these two different extremes that he was meant to somehow find without anyone to actually guide him.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Quid announced that he had just learned of another 100 futures where the multiverse got annihilated within 17 monthes, then Dursurayss likely wouldn’t have been able to break out of this decision paralysis and speak his mind.

“I assume your limited number of Wishes is due to the fact you are using Planar Binding to summon for Eferrti and bargaining for the use of the Wish?” Dursurayss would begin, turning so he would be facing Malady as she spoke. “If so, I believe it may be best to delay the use of those wishes for a future date, to aid more directly in the task of ensuring the continued existence of reality. For the purposes of increasing the strength and potency of the gear that we are currently equipped with, I have an alternative solution.”

Taking a deep breath, due to being aware that he most likely had the attention of everyone else in the room at this moment in time, Dursurayss would do his best to steady his nerves and press forwards. “If I recall correctly, the Djinn have an odd quirk with their use of Major Creation, in that any vegetative manner they create with it is actually permanent. Instead of being a temporary construction like most other uses of the spell. If we can summon forth a Djinn - likely not even needing Planar Binding to do so -, then the possibility arises that we can give them a vial of Black Lotus Extract - a very expensive plant-based poison - and have the Djinn replicate it with Major Creation. Admittedly, the selling of so much Black Lotus Extract would likely require plane shifting to various different planes in order to ensure that a flood of Black Lotus Extract does not accidently flood the market, but it should still result in a swift, and significant accumulation of wealth, without requiring the use of the spell Wish.”

Dursurayss would take a breath again, this time more because he needed a break to gather his thoughts together than any actual shyness however, as he followed this breath with a flick of his wings... the dragon equivalent of a shrug. “Afterwards, this wealth can be funneled towards significantly upgrading out equipment. I have found myself to be a very talented and efficient artificer myself, and I can likely use a slight fraction of that wealth in order to make a Dedicated Wright to accelerate the crafting process significantly.” There was quite a bit more that Dursurayss had to say, as there were various different subjects that had already cropped up... but the steel dragon felt that it was best to settle on only one subject at a time, and come to a conclusion on it before turning to anything else.

... Well, except for one small subject. “Finally, ‘The Interceptors’ sounds more fight for the DDC currently, what with their interception of all the demon invasions, rather than a proactive attempt to prevent the annihilation of reality.”

[Esprit15]

”How quickly can you craft?” Hiltze asks simply.

[fallensavior]

Meraxen wrinkles his snout in disgust at the notion of becoming poison merchants.

"Slaying fiends has been more than profitable enough thus far, I don't think we'll need to go out of our way for money....Especially if it means bankrupting our morals."

[Esprit15]

Meraxen wrinkles his snout in disgust at the notion of becoming poison merchants.

"Slaying fiends has been more than profitable enough thus far, I don't think we'll need to go out of our way for money....Especially if it means bankrupting our morals."

”Speak for yourself. I always could see another thing that money could buy. Why limit ourselves?”

[Acanous]

Malady shrugs, the effect of so many arms doing so on a serpentine torso really kind of weird. ”I hadn’t started on efreeti yet. Doing Djinni now, efreeti are next, and after that I’m going to start on the demons and devils. They can be... convinced to be helpful, but the important needs should come from Djinn- they mess with the wishes less. It’s not an exact science, but I figure ‘stuff we need badly’ should come first, then ‘stuff we want but can live without’ and then ‘shenanigans we can play with that just deplete demonic resources’.”

Malady looks between the four people talking.
”I’m not sure what black lotus extract actually is. I don’t like the idea of selling poison if that’s what it does, but pure math wise.... if it’s something that would cost us the win, you can go ahead. For want of a nail. I wouldn’t be good at selling it anyway, too tempted to just take the gold *from* the people who’d be in that market and use it elsewhere. All the steel dragons I know, man. The weirdest ideas. You like spicy food? Slain liked spicy food. Especially chicken.”

[fallensavior]

We're on a limited timetable here. I've got a few hundred thousand spare GP laying around. I could lend some of it to the group if you can convince me it will make a difference.

[flappeercraft]

Quid thinks for a second and then after thinking his answer through says "While it is true thjat you could make a poison business, the DDC has quite the funding. Do you really think we got so far without any money? Just ask and we can probably pay for it."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Ahem, I told you guys the game would break WBL a ****ton, well here for starters is one of those cases. Of course there will be a limit to what they can give but you have more than enough for what you might want.

[Esprit15]

”It’s a poison. Pretty potent. Your average hit kills your average man dead, and in another minute has a good chance of taking down an extraordinary man, too. As long as you’re selling to someone who isn’t likely to turn on you, odds are good that selling it on the planes has its uses.” The small man tilts his head as people dismiss the option. “You high moral ground types really don’t seem to appreciate the danger that we are combatting. You’re going into this fight, unsure of just what we will be facing, already asking if someone would help tie a hand behind your back. Why shouldn’t we take every possible advantage at our disposal? Because it makes you feel uncomfortable? Because poison is what bad people use and we are above such things? Malady has the right idea: take everything we can. If we can’t find a buyer, we take what we can get our hands on. We don’t have time in this mission, but we have an upwards of over a year to do business and raids and anything necessary to ensure our continued existence.”

As the DDC member speaks up, Hiltze turns. ”Then buy the world and several more, and everything they own. Nobody spoke up when we were using wishes for items, and that’s what money tends to be for.”

[flappeercraft]

"Well, you didn't exactly ask for us to buy you something. After all, you're a DDC member now, you have access to out funds. If you give me specifics I can provide."

[Esprit15]

"Well, you didn't exactly ask for us to buy you something. After all, you're a DDC member now, you have access to out funds. If you give me specifics I can provide."

”Nor did you offer. I don’t exactly come from a history of people who gladly lend one another the wealth of a nation.”

[Acanous]

Malady begins circling the rest of the DDC, flying backwards, lazily, making whoosh sounds with her mouth while speaking telepathically.

”well if we have magic stuff and gold in abundance, my talents would be better spent recruiting powerful allies. I can bind us an entire army of demons in the time we have, and It’ll be like Blood War 2: Blood Harder.

Can we put together a list of needs, wants, and fun stuff we might like to have? I need like a lot of powdered silver, and there’s a bunch of magic stuff I could really use- bracers of armour, deflection stuff, maybe one of those neat collars that makes you immune to death by magic... more nightsticks. I could really get into detail with time, but just for phase one, summoning Asmodeus? That stuff and a good night’s rest should be good.

the long and the short is do you guys want a demon army? I’m already gonna bind a couple demons, plenty of uses for a good Succ.”
Malady grins, giving a sly wink.

[flappeercraft]

"Well, I got more than enough powdered silver." Quid stretches out his hand and takes a few steps back. He opens his hand and reveals a sapphire in it. He begins to cast something "Arcanis Sie Nana Translatio: Instant Summonicionem!". He then whispers something inaudible to your ears and crushes the sapphire. A bag about 5 cubic feet big appears in his hand. He stretches his hand over as he closes in. "Will this be enough?"

[Acanous]

”... I’ll let you know when I’m running low.”

[Illven]

I could always find a use for about a dozen chained succus. Vamp Nina reacts putting the play stage away after the ending of the play. (To be revealed in flashbacks.)

As for the poison, I could use a **** ton of it. One of my favorite things to do is to coat my body in contact poisons, and then give people hugs. I did this with this girl once, not lotus extract, but dragon bile. Before I vamped her of course.

[Acanous]

”that sounds like a nasty mess to clean up. Pretty sure our enemies are all immune to poison though... unless it’s something really special.”

[anonomas321]

Dursurayss had not been expecting his suggestion to run up against moral issues.

Sure, poison wasn’t exactly a basic necessity like food, water or shelter was, so it wasn’t like they were using their powers to directly aid people by selling the Black Lotus Extract. But at the same time, it was a plant-based material, a natural creation that could be found out in the wild. It wasn’t like Dursurayss was suggesting they started selling material that was demonic or artificial in nature, they were just cutting down the time period it would take for people in order to find and extract the poison from the plants themselves. Why was that such a significant issue that people found a need to object to it?

... Regardless, it turned out that his suggestion was not exactly a necessity. Being that it was soon pointed out that the DDC has a lot of wealth and resources of their own at their disposal, which the new group now had access to. It made Dursurayss curious at just what the limitations of their wealth actually was, how much that this secondary team would be allowed access to in order to upgrade their own gear... and it made it somewhat unlikely that it was actually necessary for the steel dragon to actually craft items himself now.

... But for some reason, he didn’t like that idea.

“I have access to a fast-time demiplane of my own, so time should not be an issue.” The steel dragon would say, deciding to ignore the subject of gaining demonic allies when fighting against a demonic threat. Instead focus on the current subject matter in its entirety... empowering themselves to fight against the aspect of Asmodeus. “Whilst it may not be a necessity, I believe it is best to be as efficient as possible with the wealth we have at our disposal. On a similar note...” Here, Dursurayss would turn away from the group which he was going to be working with, and towards the original members of the DDC. “Do you have a simulacrum of particularly potent foes that you have faced in the past? I believe there should be enough time for me to utilize Extract Gift in order to significantly increase our physical and mental capabilities. Especially as I believe I should be able to create an upgrade to Extract Gift that does not require the use of a demon specifically.”

[flappeercraft]

Quid looks at Dursurayss, seemingly interested. "A non demonic version of extract gift? I have never heard of such a thing. I would be interested in observing but on the other point, we do. I have some of the Lord of Wyrms. He was certainly the most powerful opponent I have seen and he would be perfect for an Extract Gift but ideally we would have to work with an Ice Assassin. This dragon had quite the interesting ability, the more damaged he is, the more powerful he became. He became tougher, faster, stronger, smarter, wiser and even more charismatic. We noticed that too late and the fight continued for about two months. Chin Lun Gaar then discovered his Annihiation technique and was able to finally kill him. Would that work?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I had the concept ready for a couple of weeks, well time to get building.

[fallensavior]

”It’s a poison. Pretty potent. Your average hit kills your average man dead, and in another minute has a good chance of taking down an extraordinary man, too. As long as you’re selling to someone who isn’t likely to turn on you, odds are good that selling it on the planes has its uses.” The small man tilts his head as people dismiss the option. “You high moral ground types really don’t seem to appreciate the danger that we are combatting. You’re going into this fight, unsure of just what we will be facing, already asking if someone would help tie a hand behind your back. Why shouldn’t we take every possible advantage at our disposal? Because it makes you feel uncomfortable? Because poison is what bad people use and we are above such things? Malady has the right idea: take everything we can. If we can’t find a buyer, we take what we can get our hands on. We don’t have time in this mission, but we have an upwards of over a year to do business and raids and anything necessary to ensure our continued existence.”

Meraxen stands akimbo, towering over the Gnome while very slowly shaking his head.

"In my last battle, I killed 15 Balors in one blow. My share of the spoils was worth over a million gold pieces....So yeah, I'm pretty confident that we don't need to engage in such trivialities. If you're going to insist on raids anyway, we might as well raid the enemy instead of hapless commoners. The demons actually have things worth taking, taking them also deprives the enemy of those things, and we probably get to slay fiends in the process. Win, win, win."

[flappeercraft]

Quid responds to the comments of the group, starting with Meraxen. "While it is true you are powerful, if us Core members need help, all of you including yourself will need to improve a lot. After all, all of us held back, even Tazur who fell unconscious which was just because of him miscalculating a spells duration for your convenience. Were one of us to actually go full out, we would probably beat all of you. Yes, you're powerful but your new partners are not wrong in that all means to become more powerful should be taken. Still, Black Lotus Might be useful to create and sell but it might be more efficient to cast Wall of Salt or going to the living demiplane and casting Wall of salt on it's sections to make salt. Or I could just sell the Demiplane of Adamantine we have. Should give us more than enough money for funding."

[anonomas321]

Dursurayss opened his mouth to reply... only to freeze when Quid casually revealed they had a demiplane of Adamantine. An entire. Demiplane. Of Adamantine. Even if the demiplane was limited to the original 180ft radius, and only a single foot thick, you were still talking about 102000ft3! Adamantine has a similar density to the carbon steel used to craft weapon and armour, around 7.84 g/cm3 or 489.435211 lb/ ft3, meaning that they would have 49922391.5lb of Adamantine!

... Admittedly, Adamantine was only worth 100gp per lb, compared to Platinum which was worth 500gb per lb, and Platinum was actually much denser, at 21.45 g/cm3, so it wasn’t actually the best choice in terms of gold... but even so. 4,992,239,150 gold pieces? Nearly 5 billion gold as the lowest possible calculation of how much the demiplane was worth? Dursurayss couldn’t even begin to imagine what they would need so much gold for!

... After a few seconds of fantasizing about having the universe’s biggest hoard, Dursurayss would abruptly shake his head and speak up, saying. “I don’t think we’ll need that much gold...” But oh gods would such a hoard be amazing to have. “Regardless, that Ice Assassin sounds like it would be the perfect speciesism for the spell. I would need to cast it within my home demiplane in order to fully utilize the spell, but believe I should be able to give us a significant boost in physical and mental abilities with such a subject at our disposal. I am uncertain what would actually hit a limit first... the Ice Assassins' physical or mental strength, or my spellcasting capabilities.”

[Acanous]

Malady speeds up a little, circling in aerial backwards loops. ”...probably won’t be enough, but damn if it isn’t a good start. I can bind enough to take an entire layer, make them fight us on their soil instead of ours. Can anyone here build golems? Golems could count for a lot out in the abyss, if we have a bunch of them and they’re using bane weapons.

Ok, I think we can take on Ash with what we’ve got currently, but I know I’m gonna want at least 3 magic books to make my mind better, and with that kind of funding I could light myself up in enough magic items to look like a Yule tree. Then we get to crafting, binding, and recruiting. We’ll need some divining and maybe physical scouting out in the abyss to find our staging ground, then conquer it shock and awe style. Maybe even put a new demon lord in place as a figurehead, someone who knows they owe us fealty. I know one that could fit the bill, but let’s burn that bridge when we get to it.

Anyone else here good with strategy, tactics, logistics, supply management, troop deployment or warfare in general? I don’t want to step on toes. I can assist if you have a tactician, or man the post if you don’t.”

[Esprit15]

”I would be most useful as a scout in areas where divination is difficult. If we are mentioning useful items, a Tome for my intellect would be useful. If I am sent scouting and somehow run into anything threatening, a single use ‘I have made a mistake get me out of here’ button would be useful.”

[flappeercraft]

Quid responds to both Malady and Hiltze. "The idea of sending constructs to the Abyss is a good one. Puppet Master, get on with sending your Permanent Astral Constructs. As far as bane weapons go, I doubt they will be necessary with how powerful they are, a single construct could take on a Balor or two and if he dedicates himself to it he could create a small legion today. Even more if we give him a couple of days."
Quid stretches his hands out as if handing something to Malady and Hiltze. Out of nowhere, books appear in his hand, not even a command word muttered.
"Here is what you both asked for. As for a strategist, all of the DDC has conditioning to do such a thing, even Tazur which you might have noticed in our combats. Even then, if the times where we were on our own we lost it is likely that was attributed to our planning, having new allies not only brings more power but more perspective. I would say right now more than have one person dictate the actions, we agree with our course of actions collectively. As for your panic button you asked for Hiltze."
Quid begins to gesture with his arms and pronounce words of Arcane power "Arcanis Aspectu Roku: Men'nai terepashībondo!" Quid starts to talk normally again. "I set up a permanent Interplanar Telepathic Bond, should you need help, just ask."

[Acanous]

”well, that... works. Thanks guys! Let me know when you want me to summon the lord of lies, I’m gonna go get to reading. After I summon the succubi for Hiltze. And anyone else who wants one I guess. Just let me know before I retire to my room if you’d like anything called. We can get planning session 2 done after I’m smarter, and we have that blood.”

Malady drifts off towards the summoning area.

[Esprit15]

Hiltze begins skimming the book. ”That works, and thank you. If anyone needs me, just let me know. I’m going to be reading up more on fiends. Enjoy your spell casting and crafting.”

[Acanous]

Preparing the circle comes first, with its inlaid diagram. Then comes Voice of the Dragon, and Greater Planar Binding. Dimensional Anchor the round prior to the summoning spell finishing, and as the spell finishes, celerity into Surge of Fortune. Just in case.

Spoiler: crunch

Show

Malady attempts to call three succubi at the same time. Because she’s cool like that.
They get will saves at DC 27 to resist being called, if they want to resist. (Succubi tend to want to be called)
Succubi have a will save of +7 so need a natural 20 to resist here.
Because of the diagram, they cannot escape via spell resistance. Succubi enjoy a +8 charisma bonus, meaning they can actually escape via charisma check vs dc 15+1/2 caster level+my CHA, although they require a natural 20 to do so, and may only attempt once per day.
Also, Succubi completely lack sense motive. As weird as that is. Here’s my deceitful bargaining rolls, it’s bluff VS sense motive, if I pass, they take -5 on opposed charisma checks to refuse serving me.
... I have +38 vs their +2 sense motive. They can’t beat me but here’s some dice anyway.
(1d20+38)[47]
(1d20+38)[54]
(1d20+38)[46]

After spending a round stunned, obviously struck by their unearthly beauty and not as the afteraffect of Celerity at all, Malady addresses the succubi she’s summoned.
”Hey girls what’s up, I’ve got a job that you’re gonna love. Consorts to DDC members that are looking to conquer a layer and institute a new demon prince. Yeah you heard me. And they’re gonna put the beat down on an aspect of asmodeus in the next couple days, just in case the first part wasn’t convincing. You’re getting a VIP pass to watch that fight (from a safe distance), the protection of whomever I’m assigning you to as well as myself, and getting the best possible position from which to curry favor with some of the members... and all you have to do is be their consorts. You know, comfort them, take care of their needs, do no harm unto the one you are assigned or to their allies- oh, and don’t withhold any information which may cause them or their allies harm. Above all else, obey my commands. Sound fair?”

[Illven]

Woo succubi! Nina cheers throwing her arms up in the air.

Though for Hilitze, I'm surprised a glorified com works, I'd have wanted like a wish based word of recall.

[flappeercraft]

The Succubi look around and immediately make eye contact with each other, seemingly recognizing each other. They look at where the voice comes from and with a flirtatious face one responds "Oh really?! So who are our new masters?" She takes a graceful step forward hands in hips and bends slightly toward your direction, the others imitate her. "So where are the gentlemen whose needs we will take care of?"

[Acanous]

A quick telepathic message to Hiltze and Nina,
”succubi are ready, come take your pick.”
Malady chuckles aloud.
”two are on the way. One is actually the lead scout for our conquest, and another is a lady vampire. Third one, I haven’t decided yet, so I’ll let one of you stay around me until you catch someone’s interest that we both think would be a good fit. The first two are arriving now. Feel free to make introductions. I am Malady, by the way.”