Gramps' quest for a stable family (HP / Overlord/Homm crossover quest)

Nicaea · May 10, 2018

Prologue: A murder mystery tea-party (1)

October 2nd, 1978
Gwallawg Manor,Tanygrisiau, Wales.

A handsome man, with a muscled body and strong features, was sitting in a comfortable chair, reading the journal with a steaming cup of coffee on the desk he was sitting at. The first page was all about the terror and horrifying actions committed by a band of terrorists called 'death eaters'.
Flipping a page, his green green eyes were scanning the pages' contents, and he didn't even bother to snort when a mention of 'army of darkness' was made. People sure have a short memory. Or, perhaps, they made themselves forget. This silent reading contined for a time, snorts becoming sneers, sneers becoming scrowls, and scowls becoming grimaces of disgust. It was then that he decided enough idiocy was enough, rolled the newspaper and threw it in the fireplace at the opposite side of the room, his personal study, where it burst in flames.

"Useless degenerates." He muttered darkly, his hand reaching for one of the paper sheets next to him.

"Hi dad.

Things are going okay, Remus and I are still together, if you were wondering, and we are very happy! The order is on the rise, and we're needing all the help necessary *wink wink*

That should have earned a raised eyebrow from him, but only caused the appearance of disgusted resignation. His daughter only ever did what she wanted to do. She was abnormally developped since early childhood, and his money was on her being a reincarnation who actually kept their memories. Wouldn't be the first time this kind of person popped up in the family tree. That would explain why the family register signalled her as being fifteen years older. Sadly, she never mentally aged further, to his great disappointment.

Anyways, I thought about your proposition, I'll do it, I know you keep your promises. Just don't expect things to go your way once everything's over.

Oh hoh. He did not think she ever considered this. The situation with the Order must be more desperate than he first assumed. This may be a threat to his life, how interesting. He'd need to do something about his dearest daughter before she did something irreparable.

So, yeah, nothing new on my front, how about you? Anything interesting happened? Hope you're doing okay, love, Aife.

Besides the insulting shortness of the letter, he was not that annoyed. Trying to get him to spy on business partners however? Very bad form that.

He leaned back in his chair, a flicker of his finger making the footrest deploy, and he savored the comfiness of one of his projects' presents.

After he lazed around for a while, he sat up properly, put his elbows on the table, crossed his fingers and rested his head against them. There were several proposal for his daughter's hand, despire her behavior, reputation, and general rebelliousness. Besides, she just agreed to it in exchange of him funding her little vigilante group.

First was little Walburga's proposal of wedding Aife to her heir Regulus.

The Blacks owned magical Northumbria, had a library known throughout Europe for its comprensiveness and sheer volume, the amount of magical artefact they owned was staggering, they were rich and they had a strong income.

The bad point was that Regulus was the Black's only heir, and so, until Aife could give birth to two children, should something happen to him, the Gwallawg would go extinct.

Lastly, due to its great history, the Black had lots of enemies, and Dace was not sure Aife had it in her to survive them. Of course, she was powerful magically, but she had a certain tendancy to think herself smarter than anyone else, jst because she happened to develop faster when she was a baby.

The other proposal, and one that was more pleasing, was that one Evan Rosier, proposing that his only son, Edmure marry his Aife.

While members of one of the purest families of Britain, the Rosiers were remarkably... nremarkable, so to speak. No scandal,bo blood feud, no genius or particular failure, save that they were hit harder than anyone else by the fertility crisis surrounding the sacred 25 (save Weasley, due to their fusion with the Prewett), leaving them with only two members, father and son.The father was sadly rendered sterile due to a potions incident, so only the son was noteworthy.

One other important detail, was that both father and son were members of that little terrorist squad, and as soon as their lord outlived his usefulness, so would his minions. Since they were doomed anyways, he might as well have Aife give him a child or two, then off him before the scandal begins, which he couldn't do with the Blacks.

Contrarily to the Blacks , who owned the land, Rosier owned several ingredient producing companies. While Black domain could do so, it would take longer, but it might generate more revenue...

His lips turned up into a smirk.

And if rumors were to be believed, Regulus too joined the rank. So it was either marry her to the death eater brother of her best friend, or the death eater unknown .

Either way, he stood to win in both, with relatively low risks of failing, as long as he took the appropriate steps.

December 31st, 1978.
Malfoy Manor.

The party at the Malfoy manor was magnificent, and yet, the evening's cold wind steered his thought towards a darker path. What most people call 'The Muggleborn problem', which happens to not be what they think it is. Muggleborns currently were ripped away from their original world after they acquired that world's common sense, then released in the Magical world.

That, in itself, wouldn't be a problem, but they quickly proved that , the more time passed, the less they were inclined to respect this world's history, trampling upon its pride with statements like "Wizards are just muggles with magic" or outright refusing to learn the proper ways, deciding them to be too antiquated for them. The less was said about all that pseudo-modern neo-paganist nonsense, the better. The idiots would kill them all for sure.

No, the problem lied in the fact that they managed to convince old families to follow their lead and abandon their centuries old traditions.

One of them, sadly, being his own daughter. Her poor mother would be so ashamed. Well, no, she'd laugh uncharitably at him before offering him a drink and bragging about her latest conquest.

To add insult to injury, Albus Dumbledore, "war hero" of a war that never approached the country and that he could have nipped in the bud, mind you, named that goblin-obsessed sleep-deprived fool Cuthbert Binns as the History of magic teacher, effectively crippling every generation going through Hogwarts, despite the many offers from himself and others to take up the role, citing that the old ghost's purpose in undeath was to teach and that it would be cruel to take that from him too.

He had to entertain dear Walburga's shrieking about it for hours , while her coward of a husband ran away to discuss business with their son.

If that wasn't still enough, an extremist with delusions of grandeur, and the power to back it up had decided to take it upon itself to purge the magical world from the 'muggleborn invasion'. And the fool decided that calling himself a Dark Lord, declaring a war against the government and branding his followers were good ideas. The boy was clearly muggle raised if he thought that would work.

He blamed Dumbledore for that too.

A tinkling laugh, similar to a bell's chime, distracted him to his somber thoughts about his (one sided) rival and he looked lazily at the fairies playing among the garlands and trees, illuminating the forest with their ethereal glow. A bit further in the park, were a herd of white abraxans grazing on what he could recognize as high quality mandrake leaves. He immediately averted his eyes, the waste was hurting his potionner's soul.

He sipped on his wine, superior red, right from the Malfoy's famed cellars.

You might say what you want about the ermines, but they knew how to throw a party. Speaking of which, he saw the one who invited him to this reunion of the sacred twenty eight, the twenty eight british families who were, indubitably, from entirely pure wizarding stock from beginning to end.

Evan Rosier and his son, Edmure Rosier. Member of the twenty eight, rich, old family associates, objectively good looking, a good match for his Aife. Not that the other nine smokescreens he added to the least weren't also good prospects, but he knew his daughter. The Rosier family were known for their extensive botanical ressources, like the Gwallawg were known for their potions.

The both of them also now openly supported the genocidal maniac who fashioned himself a lord.

Still, that was an immense opportunity, because the father and son would soon disappear anyways. Which would leave an heir, or heiress, (he wasn't really concerned about the child's gender if it was magically functionnal) directly under his control.

The older Rosier smirked while his oaf of a son was too busy ogling the scandalously low neckline of Aife's dress.

"Dace Gwallawg , I see you received my offer."
"That I did, sit, sit, we have much to talk about. Aife, would you please offer an old man's sincere felicitations to dear Narcissa ?"

The violet eyed blonde grimaced but a stern gaze made her obey. He was barely tolerating her dalliance with that mangy mutt of a werewolf and she kept it secret and acted as her status demanded in public. He couldn't do much about her choice in wardrobe though...
The Rosier boy followed her like a lost puppy, leaving the two men alone.

Noticing his disapproving gaze over the youth's behaviour, the elder Rosier laughed.

"Ah, youth... Not that the legendary Gwallawg vitality passed you by." He nodded at his counterpart, alluding to his obvious lack of aging. " We are most surprised you did not take another wife. Any reason for this?" He sat down with a wine glass, looking meaningfully at the blonde who was sipping from his.

"Mostly? I do not have time for a wife. Besides, I think I will be even more busy when Aife finally shows her true colors."

Rosier senior snorted, rubbing his left arm.

"True, everyone will be busy, then."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, but did not correct him as his eyes followed his daughter, who was trying her best to evade the attention of the young Edmure. Besides, he was right, things would get busy.

March 20th, 1981 .
Gwallawg Manor,Tanygrisiau, Wales.

In the dying throes of winter, a little more than ten years before the turn of the millenium, two people were having tea, ignoring the bleak weather outside, instead enjoying the warmth and light the fireplace at the other side of the lavishly decorated living room. One of them, an incredibly beautiful young woman, at the beginning of her twenties, sighed, before putting her porcelain cup on the plate sitting on the rosewood coffee table, staring instead at the man in front of her. Said man had a solid looking body and strong features, strawberry blond bangs framing intelligent, electric blue eyes that were analyzing her every move as he sipped the tea, hiding a smirk behind his cup at the look of triumph in her eyes.

"Your letter mentionned that new difficulties have arisen?" He began the conversation, ignoring the bitterness on his tongue and the slight burning feeling down his throat.

"Yes, Father." Fake politeness formed a mask on her face, as her eyes drank in him, hands fisting the periwinkle dress at her knees to try and stave off her impatience. The wood and brass pendulum clock to his right, near the room's entrance was ticking the evening away, only source of noise besides the cracking of the fire and pitter patter of the rain against the window.

"Why not start at the beginning, Aife?" He started the conversation again, drawing a slightly annoyed look from his daughter, who immediately schooled expression and smoothed the wrinkles on her dress, before looking sideways, her hand reaching adound her waist to play with one of her similarly colored locks.

Ah, he mused, she thought she was being discreet. How cute.

"Yes, Father. It began two days ago, when my husband" She spit the name like a poison, glaring at him. "Told me about a 'party' his friends and him went to. Imagine my surprise when I learnt that at the same time, there was a death eater attack, with the same number of participants, attacked and murdered the prewett twins!" She wal almost shouting at him by now, eyes full of 'righteous' anger. He thought she looked like she was crossing her eyes, made her look stupid. Well, she was an idiot, and really not as subtle as she thought she was, but that was not the point and might have been his fault in not being careful enough about whom he married, he supposed.

"I fail to see where I am involved in this situation." He pointed calmly looking at the opening door whil his daughter sat back, eyes open in almost fright, face suddenly turning ashen.

"My Lord, is everything alright?" A young, tan skinned woman with brown hair gathered in a bun and green eyes glittering behind gold-rimmed glasses antered the room, hand behind her back holding her wand at the ready, her black and white uniform rustling with her every movement.

"Sarah? What are you doing here, you're supposed to be apprenticed under Slughorn ! And.. 'My lord'? What the hell is going on here?!" Aife jumped to her feet, as Sarah the maid's expression closed off.

"Doing my job. Your father was kind enough to offer me a post here after my apprenticeship ended up in failure." She bit out, visibly upset and he sighed, before raising his hand.

"That's quite enough. Everything is alright, Sarah, just a conversation that got a bit too heated between myself, my daughter and her husband, you know how opiniated she can be. Edmure has gone to cool off a bit in my study." He answered easily, pointing at the door to the left side of the room, drawing a suspicious gaze from his daughter, but getting the other woman to nod and excuse herself. Sitting more comfortably and ignoring the steady numbing of his legs, he threw a glance at his daughter, signalling her to continue. Said woman seemed out of patience and leanded towards him, murder visible in her violet eyes.

"You knew he was a death eater when we married!" She hissed, trying not to attract anymore attention, eliciting a snort from her father.

"Of course I did, and so did you. Don't ever bother to deny it." He interrupted her before she could answer. "I gave you a list with ten candidates on it. Of all of them, only one was a death eater. You would have to either know, or be the kind of empty headed, shallow woman your mother is to only select him because he was the prettiest of the bunch. That, and there are your awfully accurate 'hunches', that look a lot like precognition, when you think about the bigger picture." Her already pale face whitened a bit.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She immediately answered, earning herself a raised eyebrow, before he huffed, letting the matter drop. "In any case, care to explain your visit here?" A twitch made his gaze go down to where her arm lay, and he saw brown peeking from under her fingers. It seems she was getting impatient. Letting his body spasm and blood flow through his mouth, he fell from his chair to the ground, a broken teacup laying uselessly, broken, next to him.

"What...Are you doing?" He choked out, cold eyes trained on her judgingly.

"Succeeding you, father." Aife answered, before getting up and walking away, waving her wand around and hanging a scrap of cloth against the chimney, giggling lightly and muttering under her breath "Gosh, I can't believe I pulled an Arthas of all things..." The clicking of her heels and the roaring of the flames were the only noises distracting the man rom his wet coughing.

Then, a smirk almost split his face, and his own wand appeared, twin jets of light hitting his daughter in the back as she was disappearing through the chimney. Then, a loud crunching noise could be heard. Dace's complexion got better, and his blue eyes regained their shine through his strawberry blond waves as he sat up, breathing loudly. As his back leaned against the wall, he spat, and a small item launched through the air, looking like a tooth that was hollowed out and broken.

"What a waste." He sighed, his long fingers searching through his pocket and fishing out a small blood vial. "I suppose I will have to try again. " He stated dispassionately.

There was a stillness in the air, until he got up, not minding the blood covering his front, and walking out towards the door. As he opened the door, a maid saw him and screamed.

"Dinah, be a dear and inform Gerard that my daughter isn't welcome anymore. The lounge is to be closed off, nobody enters." The stuttered affirmative was enough of an answer and his smirk came back. It seemed that this old man still got it.

Now, he pondered as he took in the scenery, he had several opportunities that presented themselves to him.

[] Be the higher person. Tattle to Dumbledore.
-Leanings towards the Order
-Increased reputation among the Order, save the Marauder faction.
-Dumbledore owes you three favors.
-Aife severly inconvenienced.

[] Take revenge, ruin them! Law is such a beautiful thing.
-Leanings towards the Death Eaters.
-Aife ruined.
-Increased respect with Voldemort.
-Huge rewards should the dark win the war.

[] One stone, Three birds, a baby. The birds may have been storks.
-Remain strictly independant/neutral.
-Aife humiliated.
-Order of the phoenix and Death eaters hate eachother more.
-Obtain Rosier Family's possessions. And an heir. Not necessarily in that order

Additionnally, he mused, as he began to think about how to implement his plans, one errant thought came to him, what did he value more?

[] Gender.
You may choose your heir's gender once they are born.
No bonuses.

[] Power
Heir's gender will be decided by the dice
May enhance one genetic trait of the child, or acquire one Tier 1 for free.

Finally, do you think you should call your wife?

[]Yes, you finally get to tell her 'I told you so!'.
[]No, her face when she visits will be one of your fondest memories.

I don't know what I'm doing ~ I don't even know if my depression will kick in again and I will remain in bed for months again~
Well, I've got the 'world history' planned out already, so it may put off some of you, I guess, but I dislike the rolls dictating how the narration should go. What you can change will be what you character can change, but it's still one person, and the world is a big place and all that.
I kinda chose to post on QQ to escape judging from SB and SV.
Oh, and this is not beta-ed.
...
Yeah, you're better off just not reading this.
...
In any case. For those who chose to stay, welcome to my HP quest! There will be crossovers, but not ones I've seen around, and the crossover elements will be 'booster' to the HP universe, instead of the opposite. Difficulty selection will be mostly decided by your choices. Feel free to ask questions around the settings , however, I reserve the right not to answer some of them.

P.S: Vote by plans.

Nicaea · May 10, 2018

Current Protagonist:

Name: Dace Gwallawg, the Bastard of Wales.
(dob: July 31st 1928) Age: 55 (post summer 1983) (looks in his thirties)
Status: Married, alive, annoyed

Diplomacy : 7+5+2+1+1+2-1-1 = 16

You know how to talk and to conduct yourself. You can interact with pretty much everyone without offending them. If it is on purpose however...

Stewardship : 5+5-1+1+2+2= 14

You know enough to maintain your estate easily.

Intrigue : 10+5+9+1+2+2+1= 30

You are one of the very best when it comes to moving along the shadows. Precious little escapes you at this point.

Martial : 6+5+2+2+1+2+2= 20

You are no slouch when it comes to combat, and tactics, even though professionals can beat you, it won't be without cost.

Learning :10+5+2+1+1+2+2+6+1 =30

You are well read, and leverage it to find solutions to problems most people wouldn't notice exist. Your prowess with potions is second to none.

Mysticism : 8+5+1+2+2+2= 20

You are rather powerful, and know a lot about arcane subjects, however, against people like Dumbledore, Voldemort or you own daughter, you will be found wanting.

[Can be passed down] Genius: +5 all stats, +5 personal rolls, +30 Rationality
[Can be passed down] Blood of ??? :+2 My,+2Ma,+2Le, +10 Crafting rolls,+10 Regular/Magical Combat rolls, Slowed aging.
Bastard: -1 Di
Elusive shadow : +2 Ma/Di, +9 In/ -1St
Brawny: +1 health (hidden), +2Ma,+1Di,+5 combat rolls
Manipulative: +2 In, -1 Di, may use Intrigue to pass Diplomacy checks.
Erudite: +2Le, +5 Research rolls
Diligent: +1 all
Proud: -5 all social rolls
Ambitious: +2 all, -5 social rolls with superiors
Alchemist: +6 Learning, autopass potion rolls, +30 to alchemy rolls
Just: +2St,+1Le: +5 social rolls with subordinates
Wizard: +2 My, may use magic
Mischievous: +1 In
Apprentice architect: +1 Le

Nicaea · May 10, 2018

Social links:

An old friend you met in a pureblood function. She's rather smart and quick witted, even though she seems to hate your wife and daughter with the intensity of a thousand suns. A pureblood supremacist, you get along pretty well as long as you don't mention you are the biggest muggleborn employer of the Isles.

SL 3: Toujours pur: May call on the Blacks to help you, as long as it doesn't cost money, no favor owned.
SL 6: Bound in darkness: Walburga opened up the Black library to you, +15 to research rolls.

0/8 RP to next level
An eager young man who seems to have misunderstood your employing muggleborns as you showing them their rightful place under a proper wizard. You haven't bothered to correct him.After the fall of Lord Voldemort, he appreciates your tentative to contact him, even moreso since you aren't a member of the cause. However, the fall of the Terrorist and the rapid changes of the world are chipping away at his beliefs, whoch, far from hindering him, in contrary gave him even more opportunities.

SL3: Goldfinger: +10 to Stewardship action rolls

9/12 RP to next level, 20 RP banked until she recovers ( 10 saving her, 10 recovery actions)
A brilliant witch, with a temper that burns twice as bright. Life wasn't kind to her, she lost her first friend at the teeth of Remus Lupin, her family to Voldemort, and her last friend to the Overlord. As a muggleborn, due to the societal conventions, she was treated almost like a pariah and her seeking out Dace was her last gambit, which paid. Despite her atitude, she cares a lot for him, their relationship as master-apprentice being the last meaningful link to the living that she has.
SL 3: The Apprentice: Your experience as a teacher paid dividends, +10 to teaching rolls.

3/8 RP to next level
Your granddaughter, looks older than she is. You've only begun to interact with her and she seems to like you well enough, even if in her mind, she seems to consider Oliver and Narcissa her true parents.

SL3: Rosy cheeks :Your granddaughter is cute. You know it, she knows it, and the world is about to learn it. In case of social roll failure, Scáthach can roll one more in your stead if in your party.

Your wife, best friend and confidante, all rolled in one. If the both of you were able to feel any romantic love, she probably would be 'The One' for you. In any case, you trust her absolutely, and despite all the posturing, so does she. For some reason, people see to think you don't get along but are too proud to divorce. In more modern terms however, your relationship could be summed up as 'vitriolic best buds' with a dash of 'friends with benefits'

SL3: Theater lessons: +10 to acting rolls.
SL6: Contacts: Your wife being who she is, she got you a list of names. You will always find somebody for any need you have.
SL9: Network. Remember that list of contacts? Well, she somehow swindled them into becoming an informan network. Rumor mill opened, no maintainance required.
SL10: The Jewels of Elizabeth : Once a year, Elizabeth will send you a gem. This gem will range from rare to legendary, and will have unusual properties and uses.

Enigmatic (read obsessed) wandmaker.
0/4 RP to next level

0/2 RP to next level

0/8 RP to next level.

Leader of the Order faction, Head of the Auror Office. A competent man, his relation with Dace is a rather respectuous one, even if laced with no small amount of exasperation.

SL3: Hypocrisy : Some times, you have to interact with people you can't stomach. removes negative relationship modifiers to rolls.

Advisors:

Elizabeth Gwallawg

Diplomacy: 9 + 3 + 3 + 9 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 2 + 2 = 27
Stewardship: 1 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 10
Martial: 8 + 3 – 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 14
Intrigue: 10 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 24
Learning: 8 + 3 + 1 + 2 = 14
Mysticism: 5 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 13

Traits:
[Can be passed down]Beautiful: +3 Di, +20 to social rolls against those who can be attracted to you, +10 to social rolls against the rest.
[Can be passed down]Quick: +3 All Stats
World renowned actress: +9 Di, +4 In, +2 St, -1 Ma, +10 to all social rolls.
Magpie: +1 In, +1 St, Will need to roll to resist the impulse of stealing shinies.
Envious: +2 In, -1 Di
Diligent: +1 all
Ruthless: +1 In, +1 Ma, -1 Di
Ambitious: +2 all, -5 social rolls with superiors
Gregarious: +2 Di, +5 Social rolls
Witch: +2 My, may use magic

Diplomacy 8 + 6 + 1 – 1 + 2 – 1 + 2 = 17
Stewardship 10 + 9 + 1 + 2 = 22
Martial 8 + 6 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 21
Intrigue 9 – 2 – 1 = 6
Learning 7 + 2 = 9
Mysticism 5 + 2 = 7

Handsome: + 6 Di, +30 to social rolls against those who can be attracted to you, +15 to social rolls against the rest.
[Can be passed down]Powerful: +6 Ma, +1 Di
Half-breed: Veela: Immune to fire. (rank up to 'attractive' line trait)
Branch Administrator: +9 St, +2 Ma +2Le -1 Di
Adventurer: +2 Ma, +1 St
Architect: +2 St, +1 Ma
Kind: +2 Di, -2 In, +5 to social rolls
Greedy: -1 Di
Brave: +2 Ma
Gregarious: +2 Di
Content: -1 In
Wizard: +2 My, may use magic.
Loyal: After dropping out of school because of his single minded focus on magical animals, Dace caught him, threw him into his school and then sent him to his ranch. Due to the fact he got to live his dream, only extreme circumstances could lead Oliver to turn against his benefactor.

Nicaea · May 10, 2018

Possessions:

Gains:

-Animal (mundane and magical) Ranches: +45,000 Galleon (after salaries and charges), 1d6 Epic animal components/ Turn
-- 1000 Employees, payed 544 G/t on average.
Greenfire (Floo powder producers since 1930): + 10 000 Galleons/ Turn
--200 Employees payed 500 G/t on average
Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 60, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 550 G/t on average
Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 30 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 770 G/t on average
'George's Inferno': +6 Sulfur /turn, +6 Mercury /turn

Spendings:

Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning: -40,000 Galleon / turn, 1d6 Chance of producing a Druid, 1d100-80 chance of Loyal Hero Unit. (Muggleborn population: 95%)

Manor employee salaries: (50 of them, 380G/t on average) (Paid vacations/medical leave)

Salaries: Agatha (1 000), Jason Swallows (1500), Mad Eye Moody (1000)

= 82500 Galleons / Turn

78 600 Galleons
24 Mercury
24 Sulfur
4 Crystal
8 Gems
0 Stone
0 Wood

Skylight: A sapphire that seems to shine with an inner light. +10 to results if used to create items with [Life/Order] Attribute.
Nature Anchor: Allows to soak up a zone with Nature energy, necessary to build a Rampart.
Book of Air:
Dragon Rearing book
Dragon nest plans

Ingredients:
10x Unicorn hairs
Hydra venom
Chimera heartstrings
Jobberknoll feathersx4 (Truth and mind potion ingredients)
Unicorn horn
Inventory:
Cloak of Crystal: Gain 1 Crystal / turn (Value: 5000 G)
Still Eye of the dragon +1 Troops Morale, +1 Troops Luck (Value: 2000 G)
Quiet eye of the dragon +5 Troops attack damage, +5 Troops attack defense (Value: 2000 G)
Pendant of free will: Immune to mind magic and hypnosis. (Value 8000 G)

Nicaea · May 10, 2018

OOC Questions in reserve : 1 (Biigoh)

So! Once upon a time, in a merry land where poneys were prancing, sheeps were flocking and little birds were singing in the air, everything was well and fine, until one day, a dark wizard decided he wanted to experiment. As one could expect, this ended up badly for everyone involved. Enters a very nasty, brutal, cunning, and all other sorts of evil adjectives that can be rattached to an Evil man.

This man called himself, The Overlord.

This Overlord was minding his own business, terrorizing villages and smiting the forces of Good when he noticed strange explosions in his backyard an Did Not Approve. One unholy smiting and massive amounts of gratuitious violence later, he had a brand new toy that he decided to name The Hive, which created brown skinned, knife eared, malevolent abominations made up of a weird soul slurry. Not one to refuse free workers, The Overlord put his newly baptized Browns to work with extreme efficiency.

Of course, people objected, and mad scientists don't come in only one breed. As such, a particularly imprudent brown got himself captured and experimented on by some guy named Salazar (He's not really important), who noticed that due to their nature, they were unstable and prone to changes. Since that guy was on the definitely more morally ambiguous side of the spectrum after being kicked out of his castle, he decided to do SCIENCE! with it. After laying layers upon layers of charms, activated upon the demise of the current Overlord, Salazar's greatest (and ironically unknown) piece of magic took effect, changing the Browns into something more...

Enter the goblins.

After they appeared, the wizards scratched their heads for a while, because if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are that it is a duck. Therefore, the Magical world ( yes, that includes centaurs, werewolves and unicorns) wasn't really enthused at the idea of keeping those midget killing machines near them and so, after the wizards decided it was too inhuman to simply kill them and be done with it, they led them to montainous zones, where their agressivity and natural penchant towards chaos could be channelled into more constructive projects.

A few centuries and several wars later, things are at a standstill between the goblins and the rest of the world, each side sizing up the other warily.
But soon, this will be irrelevant, for you see, Evil always finds a way.

Roll bonuses: 0
MP: 0

I will award roll bonuses for omakes and fanarts and the likes (unlikely to get some, considering I barely even get players) and set it with a piggy bank system. Each time it reaches 100, You get an Miracle Point. People can choose to stockpile their bonuses to create 'personal stockpiles to use on their own, because MP need a vote to be used.

For example: there's a general stockpile and then, there' ThatOneWeirdo who's a filthy shipper, but a great and prolific artist, who decides that one Ship is for him and wants to dedicate all of his bonuses to make sure to get a crit each time grown up babeh interacts with the other member of the ship.

Using a MP on a decision will guarantee a crit on the choice it is applied too. In case of Nat 1, it will turn the critfail into a bare success.

???:???

Nicaea · May 12, 2018

Prologue 1 : A murder mystery tea party (2)

[x] One stone, Three birds, a baby. The birds may have been storks.

Well then, he shook his head, pocketing the blood vial, first thing first was to ensure the family line wouldn't die with him. He headed towards his left, where the door to his study was, and he walked in, whipping his wand out and waving it around, the silver and blue sparkles revealing a doorway directly in front of his desk. Without breaking stride, he went through the faintly luminescent portal, entering in a room that can only be called a dungeon.

Grey stone walls were bare, only brightened by shining white orbs who were casting a gloomy light over the shelves. In the middle of the room, surrounded by numerous circles engraved in the floor, was a golden cauldron, illuminated by the last of daylight peeking through a glass covered slit in the wall that was supposed to follow the travelling of the sun.

After looking at the bookshelf for a moment, he reached out for a specific book, one of the oldest looking ones, titled "that séo bóc drenċa" with a hard leather cover, and lots of useful and highly illegal potions within, and took it off the shelf. He flipped carefully through it, before finding what he was looking for and beginning to translate it from anglo-saxon to modern english.

"Hm. Easier than I thought it would be. Maybe I should have begun with that one instead of trying the natural way."

He waved once more and multiple bottles came floating, before a strong jab lit up the fire under the cauldron and the bottles started emptying themselves into it as a still green oak branch started stirring the mixture. Once the potion turned blue, he retrieved another three blood vials and dumped them together with his daughter's, the blood being his, his wife's and his goodson's. No sense in taking the risk of the child growing up to be like its sire after all.

As a fist sized red blob was forming in the middle of the cauldron, he wondered if he should try to tip the balance. After all, his was a family even older than the sacred 27, even if it was by another name, there had to be something he could use... The true surprise, however, is that it seems that his daughter meddled with the 'divine', that would explain quite a few things about her successes at love and war...
One of his rare flashes of insight hit him, and he frowned. There were a lot of events in the horizon, if he read the stars correctly, and he wasn't thinking about that Riddle loser. For the Gwallawg to survive, he needed to put absolutely all chances in his side.

From Gramps:

Genius dc 85: Rolled 99 = Genius
Blood of ???: dc 80: Rolled 80 = Blood of ???

From Gran:

Beautiful dc 75: Rolled 45 = 0
Smart dc 75: Rolled 61 = 0

From Mom:

A face of a thousand ships dc 95: Rolled 96 = A face of a thousand ships.
Legendary tier trait acquired! Attention roll :
88 :
The one who cherishes your daughter took notice of you, and she didn't like what she saw. Freyja patronage unavailable
She who promises victory has taken notice of you and liked what she saw, Bonus to Andraste patronage if taken.
Wrath of the North dc 95: Rolled 72 = 0
Strong dc 85: Rolled 23 = 0

From dad:

Green hand dc 60: Rolled 41 = 0
Animagus potential dc 40: Rolled 54 = Animagus potential

Hm, this dice roller is much better than the old one. I might keep it. And Babeh's gonna be a total Gramp's babeh. News at 11.

Genius: +5 all stats, +5 personal rolls, +30 Rationality
Blood of ???: +2 My,+2Ma,+2Le, +10 Crafting rolls,+10 Regular/Magical Combat rolls, Slowed aging.
A face of a thousand ships: +10 Di, +40 to social rolls against those who can be attracted to you, +20 to social rolls against the rest.
Animagus potential: Average difficulty to become an animagus, only one form available, may turn one animal you own into a familiar.
Artificial human: Your body is engineered to be perfect, however, it has some costs : -2 My, immune to diseases.

[x] Power
Due to you having chosen power, you may choose to upgrade one of the traits inherited: There are 4 tiers: Uncommon, Rare, Epic And Legendary
[]Upgrade: Write one of the traits
Or you can choose one T1 trait that wasn't inherited among the list below:
[]Acquire: write in one of the traits below.

Sturdy: +1 Ma
Fertile I: +10% chances of having a child
Green thumb: +10 to gardening rolls
Morph: May change eye and hair color at will
Swift: +10 Initiative
Soft voice: +1 Di
Powerful voice:+1 Di
Tall: + 1Ma
Clear blood: +1 My

Gender roll : 2

Congratulations! It's a daughter (Again!)

You begin with 10 points, you may choose any drawback or perks as long as the numbers are there, regardless of the extra genetic traits (rolled to inherit).

Choose perks:

Tier one: -5 points

[]Shrewd: This child is smarter than average. May evolve or disappear during childhood.
[]Brawny: This child is stronger than average. May evolve or disappear during childhood.
[]Clear blood: This child is a bit stronger magically: May evolve or disappear during childhood.

Tier two: -10 pts

Magical ancestry: The child is descended from an ancient creature, or previous experiments on the bloodline caused the genes to become a bit... Quirky.

[]Vampire: Get Night Owl (Every activity gets a boost at night)
[]Centaur: Get (or boost) Foresight
[]Siren: Get Mesmerism (ability to fascinate other people)
[]Veela: Get Pyromancy
[]Atlantean: Get Ancient knowledge (boost when uncovering ancient mysteries)
[]Mermaid: Get Hydromancy

Tier three: Legendary ancestry; -15 points

[]The sword that slayed the king.
[]Monster hunter.
[]The shadow queen.

Tier four: Resurgence of the Old World: -20 points

[]Andraste Reinforced by disposition (she likes your atitude)
~~[]Freyja~~ (Currently hostile to you)
[]Ceridwen

Choose drawbacks: As in, things that will actively try to screw your life up. Needless to say, tier 3 onwards warrants a difficulty change to Hard mode. However, very good things can come out of it if surpassed.

Tier One: +5 points

[]dull: This child is a bit slow... May evolve or disappear during childhood.
[]frail:This child is a bit weak... May evolve or disappear during childhood.
[]Iron blood: This child is a bit lacking magically: May evolve or disappear during childhood.

Tier Two: +10 points

[]Vampire: Get Night's bane (weakness to light)
[]Centaur: Get Dionysus' curse (weak to alcohol, will be attracted uncontrolably to alcohol)
[]Siren: Get Birds of a feather ( Random avian physical traits will manifest)
[]Veela: Get Strong allure (People of all ages and genders will be attracted to you, the weaker willed they are...)
[]Atlantean: Get Ancient curse (There is a reason Atlantis lays underneath the ocean. Now that reason's coming for you.)
[]Mermaid: Get A fish in the sea (random mermish physical traits will manifest)

Tier three; Legendary ancestry: +15 points

[]The sword that chooses the king.
[]Wild Hunt
[]Luck of the Irish

Tier four: Resurgence of the Old World: +20 points

[]Sons of Rome
[]Ragnarök
[]Funeral rites

Now that the baby was cooking up in the cauldron, he turned around and strode back inside the living room he just left, closing the doors behind him. He took in the scene. Blood, poisoned tea, obvious traces of his daughter's presence, and a golden opportunity to get rid of two hindrances at once.

Would he dare?
Of course he would.

He walked to his fireplace, pinched the green powder in a nearby pot and threw it inside the flames.

"Rosier manor. Hello Edmure."

A disheveled man's face appeared, eyes haggard, a right mess. He was drunk. If he had any say in this, which he did, his grandchild would never be raised by such a waste of a wizard!

"I was having tea, and I thought this would be an excellent time to meet." He put on gloves." Are you free? Excellent!" He moved out of the way as the young man appeared through the flames, before crashing on one of the plush chairs, too drunk to notice the blood as anything else that Dace's usual unusually colored dress shirts.

"Aife... She left..." He moaned.

"Yes, utterly terrible, here, have some tea. Did she say why?" Dace gestured the cup of poisoned tea Aife held but didn't drink from while putting a front of fake compassion.
"That wolf" He growled." Damned half breed took her and ravaged her until she got pregnant with his spawn!" His fingers were clenching on the teacup and he downed it without question. Dace did not point out that it was more likely that his daughter was the one doing the ravaging.

Pregnancy would explain why she hurried her plans and tried to off him in such a crude manner. Poison? Against a Gwallawg ? Please, they were fed more potions in their cribs than most wizards in all of their lives. Dace listened to his soon to be deceased son-in-law, nodding at the appropriate times and plotting. Educating the child the correct way was the paramount, as was finding ways to temporarily block foresight. His soon to be disinherited daughter gleefully abandoned pride and family to follow that old dark lord spawning crackpot's views of what was right and wrong, and where did that lead them? -a dull thumping noise rang through the air- With a corpse in his living room , that's what!
He finished his inner rant eyeing the still warm corpse on the ground.

He was starting to believe his daughter was a bit dumb. Hmmm, better make it so the baby avoids Ravenclaw..

Now that he thought about it, wasn't he forgetting something?

Screaming... Screaming... Ah!

After running to back to his lab, he got a one or two years old toddler out of the cauldron, clothed it and brought it back to the lounge..

He then looked down at the child napping in his arm, and lifted its robe.

...

Oh dear, another girl.

After the fifth minute passed and he was sure Rosier was dead, he put the baby to sleep in a corner of the room and flooed his next guest. Putting on a harried expression, he spoke throught the fire.

"Walburga, I have terrible news."

The beautiful, but inbred woman looked worriedly at him.

"Altair ? What happened? No, don't tell me!" Her face switched to horror. "Your daughter did as Sirius! Let me in right now!" She was looking ready to storm in immediately.

"I'm sorry Walburga, but I cannot in good conscience let you in. I need you to call Lucius so that he can contact the aurors... Only my knowledge saved me from her parting gift, I am afraid poor Edmure did not survive."

Walburga's mouth dropped, before she howled in fury, alerting her house's denizens. Dace waited patiently, enjoying the mayhem, and soon enough, he was hosting the Blacks, Lucius Malfoy and auror Rufus Scrimgeour in this very same living room, casting spells around furiously. A small sniffle made everyone turn around, and they stared at the toddler currently tucked in a crib on the far end of the room that he remember to take off the cauldron before it became too cooked. It was very awkward.

"The only good news is that with the breach of contract, I get to be my granddaughter's guardian as well as disinherit.... Her." He finished with disdain as the Black matriarch was stealing the contract he produced from his hands and Narcissa was cooing at the little girl, gathering her up in her arms.

It was at this moment that Rufus cleared his throat.

"It seems that indeed, there was a double murder attempt. I'm sorry for doubting you, Mr.Gwallawg, but procedure is procedure." Dace nodded, smiling insincerely.
"Don't worry, she will get her due." The young blonde man said, a worrying light entering his eyes. And as soon as it appeared, it disappeared as Rufus coughed and glared at the blond in warning.
" Expect another auror to ask you a few questions, but you shouldn't have any problems." He finished, before waving his wand, making the teaset, bloodstains and fake tooth fly up with him and storing them methodically in a multi compartmented box. Then, he threw a pinch of floo powder in the fire , calling out 'Auror division' and disappearing in an emerald flash.

Edmure and Lucius were good friends in Riddle's little band of misfits. He forgot. Not. Have fun, daughter dearest.

After a lull in the conversation, in which Narcissa sated her motherly instincts after her recent miscarriage, he spoke up again with a solemn face.

"This isn't the only piece of news, I'm afraid." He announced, making the women and the man look at him. " Edmure had to hear from her, she was gallivanting with that werewolf Lupin. "There was a shocked gasp from Walburga." And she is currently carrying his spawn inside of her."

"Oh my god." whispered Narcissa with a disgusted expression, holding the frilly grey robe clad baby ( he'd have to find it a name soon) against her bosom, as if to protect it from the words she was hearing.

"You understand why I do not wish that known."Alexander nodded somberly, congratulating himself for letting his wife drag him to those acting classes. "As any father would, I cared for Aife. Her almost murdering me and killing her husband changed that, but this child is my blood. it is too young and innocent to be faced with the atrocities its mother committed. Narcissa." The woman looked up at him. " I'm afraid I will be very occupied for the next days, and will have no time to devote to such a young child. If I could trouble you..."

"Yes." She answered immediately with a bright smile, making her husband preen proudly. God save him from young idiots in love. Then, she spoke up again. " I can't seem to remember, but what is the child's name?

Choose the babeh's name:

[]A name for a graceful person
[]A name fit for a Queen
[]A strong name
[]A name for one shrouded in the dark
[]A name for one who sees more
[]A write in (must be celtic in origins):

"Hmph, a proper name in any case. Hopefully, a non french name will keep her from becoming a diseased harlot like her mother!" She then looked at Dace before continuing hurriedly. " Not to offend you, my lord, but that hussy clearly inherited her personality from her mother. That's why I keep telling you to remarry..."

And so, a murder investigation/political assassination turned into a matchmaking session. Leave it to Walburga to kill the mood.

In any case, he needed to buy another fake tooth posthaste!

[x]Yes, you finally get to tell her 'I told you so!'.

Once the situation calmed down, he sat down for a minute, enjoying the smugness that always accompanied a well executed plan, before noting something was off. There was something... Lacking. Then, he got up from his plush chair (which he secretly dubbed his throne) and looked to the wood and brass contraption on the side of his oaken desk. Now, how did that thing work again?

With slightly hesitating moves, he extended his hand towards the wire linking the two pieces of the machine together, pinched it between two fingers and raised his hand slowly, leading the strange handle to rise in the air. He grabbed it with his other hand, while his first let go of the wire and opened one of the desk's drawers, getting a small notebook out and flipping the page, until his finger stopped on one particular line. After scanning the numbers, he let go of the book, and moved his fingers above the numbered buttons on the 'Telephone'. He then put the item near his ear and waited.
And waited...
And waaaaited...
He was seriously considering just turning her favorite dress into a peacock and setting it on her when she finally answered.

"Why are you calling me now, you know I'm working!" The sweet voice of his beloved wife rang through the air, and he thought about his answer for a second, before realizing there really was only one way to announce the good news.

"Your daughter murdered her husband and ran off with a werewolf. Oh, and you're a grandmother, by the way."

"What?!" Yes, that was pretty much how he expected her to react to it. Now to make a tactical retreat before she exploded at him...

"Okayloveyoubye-"

"Don't you dare end that call Dace Altair Gwallawg or I swear to God I will turn you into a salmon and feed you to Marshall!"

The full name huh, she might actually be taking the situation seriously for once.

"Well, if you insist, Honey, your daughter sold herself for money, then tried to renege on it, probably discovered what were the clauses on the marriage contract and decided to resort to murder; then ran off with her ex-bully werewolf lover. A child may or may not have been conceived on the way, and I'm apparently now best friends with Lucius Malfoy."

There was a long period of silence, then she answered, her voice sounding calm.

"I don't know how, and I don't know why, but somehow, this is all your fault."

"Now now." He interrupted smoothly." I'm not the one who left their impressionable daughter with somebody completely incapable of raising a child alone." The fact that there was nothing to raise because they wouldn't even acknowledge their new life as not being the extension of their previous one went unspoken.

"So now it's my fault?!"

"Yes. " He nodded, ignoring the strangled screaming on the other side of the telephone. " I told you she'd either become either a serial killer or someone hell bent on world domination if she was left alone with me. You were supposed to be the responsible parent!"

Ah, this is what he missed. The sweet, sweet sounds of frustrated screaming.

After being insulted for ten minutes by his beloved wife, she finally calmed down and told him she would be coming home to visit soon.
Now then, since The child was currently doted on by Narcissa at Malfoy Manor, he had some time to devote on his favourite activity in the world, scheming.

What will you do for the rest of the month? (Choose two)

[]Get people on your side for the future trial. You're fairly sure the Death Eaters will vote for you thanks to Lucius, but you're worried for your reputation when Riddle disappears. (Can be taken multiple times)
[] Prepare yourself for the trial. One does not trump veritaserum easily, after all. Especially since multiple people may choose to use it at the same time.
[]Have a look at your possessions. Creating yourself an heiress cost you an arm and a leg, considering your finances weren't too good because of the amount you gave Aife to support her club.
[]Work on developping your demesne. Regardless of the outcome, autonomy is the key.

About the family:
[] Update your family status : (Trial hasn't taken place yet)
[] Disinherit Aife
[] Name the new child your heiress
[] Do nothing for now

Gramps gained a trait!

Mischievous: +1 Int, opens new options. Being a troll is more than an unfortunate birth accident, it's a way of life.

Waifu is on her way, and she's pissed. Or is she? She's still your waifu after all. Will arrive next turn.
SL Revealed: Walburga Black, Lucius Malfoy.
Dace bio updated.

So. I ended the votes earlier, but meh, looks like thos options would win anyways, and I'm not sure I'll log in tomorrow.
The dice are acting up, though not that much,you're still in the prologue and you've already offended a goddess. Stay classy Dace.
Before anyone asks, yes, gods are in fact obscenely powerful wizards who became immortal that live in a parallel dimension to the one the Quest takes place in. Except that's a mouthful, so I'm calling them gods.
Oh, and before you guys scream at me because no way Aife can be that dumb, here's a freebie : Intrigue 2. I rolled the base stats after adding the traits, she got a 1/10.

Nicaea · May 14, 2018

And the winner is... Plan Bii

[X] Plan Bii
[X]A name fit for a Queen

[X] Power
[X]Upgrade: Blood of ???

[X]The sword that slayed the king.
[X]The shadow queen.
[X]Centaur: Get Dionysus' curse (weak to alcohol, will be attracted uncontrolably to alcohol)
[X]Veela: Get Strong allure (People of all ages and genders will be attracted to you, the weaker willed they are...)

[X] Prepare yourself for the trial. One does not trump veritaserum easily, after all. Especially since multiple people may choose to use it at the same time.
[X]Have a look at your possessions. Creating yourself an heiress cost you an arm and a leg, considering your finances weren't too good because of the amount you gave Aife to support her club.

[X] Name the new child your heiress

Event roll: Nat 100 (it begins... It BEGINS!)
(Sub roll: 14)
(Sub roll: 13)
(Yeah... That's about as broken as I expected it to be.)

[X] Name the new child your heiress

March 21st , 1981, Welsh ministry of Magic, Cardiff, 3,50 P.M.

The wait wasn't long, after all, he did floo and set a time five hours in advance. Still, he had to wait some, and his eyes were scanning the hall. It was pretty different from the English ministry in that it was less lavish and more practical. They had rows upon rows of floo chimneys and to the right, he could spy an owlery. The floor was made of polished white granite and the walls lined up with white limestone. On the ceiling, he could see hanging spheric silver cages holding shining blue crystals, that made the fairies outside flutter around them, trying to get in. The atmosphere was colder, but definitely more magical. And there wasn't that gaudy golden fountain here, so that was always a plus in his book.

"Boss? You're here?" A heavily (too heavily) australian accented voice made him look on the right from where he was sitting, in time to see a tall, muscled man waving at him. The tanned skin and blond hair were familiar but where... Oh, yes, he remembered now.

"Good afternoon to you too, Oliver." he answered pleasantly as the man walked up to him in long, quick strides. It seemes he still hadn't abandoned his 'cowboy' garb, but as long as he did his job well, Dace didn't really care.

"Hey!" He raised his hand in salute, before noticing the child sitting on his employer's laps. Today, he managed to get his intended heiress back from Narcissa's overly affectionate grasp, but only because he said it was to declare her his heiress, and only after she bought her an entire wardrobe worth of clothes. He may have to do something about that down the line...

"You got another kid? She's cuter than the other one!" The blond giant kneeled and wagged his finger in front of the little girl, who beamed at him and caught it, squeezing it in her little hand, giggling in delight. "Who's the cutest little girl around?" An excited giggle answered him. " That's right! It's you!"

The australian and his granddaughter continued to be disgustingly adorable, attracting an undue amount of attention in the atrium, while gears in Dace's mind were turning. This went on for a while, until a young witch, clad in the midnight blue uniform robes of the Ministry came up to him.

"Mr. Gwallawg? " She asked, her eyes trailing towards the flexing biceps of the younger man, who was explaining to his not-even-one-year-old granddaughter the finer points of blue mountain panther bare-handed wrestling. She cleared her throat and blushed when she noticed the unamused glance of the older man. "Mr. Wallis is ready to see you."

Dace nodded, getting up and smoothing his dark green, ornate robes. He glanced at the australian man, who looked about to burst from excitement, and signalled him to follow. His heiress-to-be seemed disinterested in ceasing to act like a koala anyways.

Soon enough, the three of them were sitting in an office, Dace and the ministry official speaking about the specifics of the change.

"If I understood you well, you are intent on transferring heirship, but not disinheriting you daughter?" Mr Wallis raised a red eyebrow in disbelief, while Dace nodded regally.

"Indeed. The trial hasn't taken place yet. There may be an infinitely small chance that Aife was innocent and an impostor only took her appearence to commit heinous misdeeds. However, it also means she was compromised and as such, it is safer to transfer heirship to this little one."

The official, having been filled in the details of the events, looked vaguely impressed at his ability to say that with a straight face, before rubbing the bridge of his nose and getting another form to fill.
"Does the prospective heiress have a name?"

"Why, yes, her name is Scáthach " The door opened brutally, revealing a beautiful black haired, violet eyed woman in her late fourties. Dace turned around and sighed.

"Elizabeth, I had already chosed Riannon for her."

"What? No grand plans of revenge? No setting daughter against mother? No country destroying anger?" She asked flamboyantly, waving her wand and sitting down on a newly appeared chair.

Dace shared a commiserating look with Wallis and shook his head.
"Ignoring the fact most of those are felonies, the name you're looking for is Mordred."

"Well, you're a boring man! You, scribe!" She pointed dramatically at the official, making him startle." her name is henceforth Scáthach and I shan't take no for an answer!"

[X]A name fit for a Queen. Due to synergy with [X]Upgrade: Blood of ??? and [X]The shadow queen, a new possibility appeared.

[] Fight her about the name : Elisabeth is disappointed and will likely take her revenge, the child is called Riannon.???
[] Don't fight her about it: Elisabeth is pleasantly surprised and will likely do something good for you, the child is named Scáthach.???

In any case, you got your diplomatic advisor back!

As she sidled up to you, she slipped something in your hand discreetely. Further inspection will reveal that it was a famous ethiopian sapphire that disappeared a few months ago.

Gained: Skylight : A sapphire that seems to shine with an inner light. +10 to results if used to create items with [Light] Attribute.

Once you went back to the manor, Elizabeth started looking around, criticizing your decoration choices, while Oliver finally approached you about the subject of his visit.
Learning+Intrigue Check: 50 Result : 53.
You had a good idea of what he wanted.

Wales is a country famous for its dragon population, relative to its size. Welsh greens can be found almost everywhere, and it's hard for the ministry to keep them under control. However, this year, the green have progressively retreated from their usual territories into the snowdonia mountain range. This could only mean one thing. Y Ddraig Aur was about to be born. The event that happened one time in a thousand years, the legendary Dragon that inspired Uther to create his banner and give it to his rapechild. It came 400 years early, so no wonder there wasn't more noise about it.

Looking at the massive puppy eyes from the australian man, he wants you to fund the expedition, or even help, yourself.

This will be risky, even with proper preparation, but dragons are hoarders, and you never know what wonders you can find there.

[]Fund it: Will unlock the Mythic Preserve event chain.
-[] 1000 Galleons : Basic Adventure Equipment : +10 Success chances
-[] 4000 Galleons : Good Adventure Equipment : + 40 Success chances
-[] 8000 Galleons : Excellent Adventure Equipment (Can be used 3 times): +80 Success chances, +20 to loot roll
[] Don't fund it
Additionnally:
[] Get involved. You haven't done it for years, but skulking around in the dark is still one of your greatest strengths. And half of it consisted in running away at the right time anyways. +10 to succes chances, +20 to loot roll, depending on equipment, low to high chances of injury. (May not be taken with Represent yourself)

In any case, Oliver was getting tired of Australia and decided to stick around for a few years. It looks like he took a shine to your granddaughter, which assuages your concerns regarding some traits she exhibited.

It looks like you've gotten yourself a Stewardship advisor.

After those distractions were dealt with, Dace needed to go back to work. This work being his current masterplan : "Neuter his daughter and her pet mutt while coming out of it smelling like roses."

[X]Have a look at your possessions. Creating yourself an heiress cost you an arm and a leg, considering your finances weren't too good because of the amount you gave Aife to support her club.

Of course, first of all, he needed to take a look at the organized mess he called his study to see where he stood. After a few hours of cursing, papercuts and stubbed toes, he finally held the accurate numbers in his hands:

Gains:

-Animal (mundane and magical) Ranches : +45,000 Galleon (after salaries and charges), 1d6 Epic animal components/ Turn
-- 1000 Employees, payed 544 G/m on average.

Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 50, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 502 G/m on average

Spendings

Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning : -25,000 Galleon / turn , 1d6 – 3 Chance of Loyal Superior Unit, 1d100-95 chance of Loyal Hero Unit. (Muggleborn population : 95%)

Lease: 20,000 Galleons/turn (10 turns left)

Maintainance, taxes, salaries of the manor: 18,900 Galleons/turn (50 of them, 376 G/T on average)

Order funding: 20,000 Galleons/turn.

= 11,100 Galleons / Turn

Current funds: 15,000 Galleons

Well, he knew what was going to happen now:

Order of the Phoenix funds : Choose one:

[] End payments: Aife betrayed the contract, you no longer need to uphold it.
[] Reduce them: While she betrayed it, the Order does have its uses in keeping Voldemort and his goons occupied. You'll express your displeasure with a budget cut though. Usually works.
[] Do nothing: It shouldn't last very long anymore, and will build good will.

His secret stash of rare ingredients has been wiped clean, to his deepest regret, however, needs must, and he shook his head, dropping the sapphire in it, the small echo tearing at his heart. However, this would serve as motivation :

Whatever happened with his ungrateful daughter would not happen with his granddaughter.

[X] Prepare yourself for the trial. One does not trump veritaserum easily, after all. Especially since multiple people may choose to use it at the same time.

On another note, as he was brooding bloody vengeance for the insult and years wasted, he heard a tapping noise at his door. As he called out for them to enter, he saw Sarah the maid, with dark circles underneath her eyes, and an owl on her arm. Now, why would she...

Ah, yes, she was here two nights ago. Excellent.

Schooling his features in a more compassionate mask, he signalled the young woman to sit in front of him, which she did, her hands folded neatly on her lap holding a crumpled letter.

"May I ask what worries you, miss Green?" He started, causing the younger woman to look up at him.

"It's... You know..." She looked away, biting her lip. "I knew her at school, and she wasn't that bad... It's just... Oh, seriously!" She suddenly broke out of her reserve, getting up violently off her chair and starting to pace around, causing the owl to fly away with an offended hoot. "What kind of idiot goes around poisoning people when there are witnesses?! It's like she didn't even try!"

That... Surprised him. He'd have thought she would be more shocked about his friend from school turning out to be a murderess.

"Does she even know how hard to is to clean up those bloodstains? No, of course not, she always, always had people cleaning up for her, even at school! "

Then again, Sarah Green was in the peculiar situation of being a muggleborn in Slytherin... No wonder that poor quality plotting offended her sensibilities...

"And don't get me started on her gang of.. Of... Hooligans! She ran around with! 'Oh, noes, we almost murdered someone, oopsies, it's toooootally not our fault~' or even 'Ah, well, she's a Slytherin, her pureblood parents can afford to pay for her supplies, it's not as if that twenty foot long paper on the uses of dragon blood for Professor Slughorn is important for her eventual apprenticeship or anything~' !"

That was quite a bit of bitterness he was detecting there...

In the end, the woman spent the ten next minutes venting and giving him a lot of easily confirmed ammunition to use in the trial. Then she remembered he was here and meeped, before excusing herself.

Obtained: [Marauder character testimony] [Eyewitness: Sarah Green][Evidences of misconduct]
[Trait proc: Just]
Hmmm, she was useful and passionnate, and besides some mishaps, her grades were stellar, perhaps he should do something nice for her?

[]Give her a raise
[]See if you can't find her a potion related job
[]Take her on as you apprentice

Now, though, you needed someone to play the accusation.

Choose one:
[]Hire a representant:
-[] 1000 Galleons
-[] 2000 Galleons
-[] 3000 Galleons
[]Do it yourself: You are quite the orator, if need be (cannot participate personally to dragon hunting if taken)
[]Have Eli do it: She's good with people.(Available due to previous choices)

[X]The sword that slayed the king.
[X]The shadow queen.

TBC...

Pet peeve number 2 : Having the female mary sue romance the marauders as 'part of the gang'. I. Regret. Nothing.
glares at the rolls with the yandere hatred Walburga has for Elizabeth
Welcome to the wonderful world of pureblooded wizards, where you throw money at the problem until it goes away!

I think I'm going to give up and put on roughly corresponding animu images to help visualize the characters. Anyone against it?

This one is shorter because number crunching. That, and I've spent the 3rd thousand of words on other sections.

Still need some rolls before putting up Babeh's chara sheet. Turn should end in 3-4 posts, max.

As for Oliver and his dragons, thanks Nat 100-Sama. He wasn't supposed to appear before the end of the prologue when [SPOILERS]. So yeah, even MORE information and mechanics for you guys to assimilate. As usual, not betaed.

Nicaea · May 22, 2018

Prologue: a murder mystery tea party : 3

And the unanimous winner is :

Plan: I want to win the damn court case]
[x] Plan: I want to win the damn court case
-[x] Don't fight her about it: Elisabeth is pleasantly surprised and will likely do something good for you, the child is named Scáthach.???
-[x] Fund it: Will unlock the Mythic Preserve event chain.
--[x] 4000 Galleons : Good Adventure Equipment : + 40 Success chances
-[x] End payments: Aife betrayed the contract, you no longer need to uphold it.
-[x] See if you can't find her a potion related job
-[x] Have Eli do it: She's good with people.(Available due to previous choices)

A few weeks passed since all of that excitement and things came back to a relatively ordered rhythm.

-[x] End payments: Aife betrayed the contract, you no longer need to uphold it.
-[x] Don't fight her about it: Elisabeth is pleasantly surprised and will likely do something good for you, the child is named Scáthach.???

Dace had to keep himself from snorting at that line, buried as he was by his paperwork. He had foisted off his granddaughter to Oliver. The child, feeling he was about to go, raised a fuss, unwilling to be separated from him, the half veela just shrugging and raising his arm for her to climb on. Good, that mean the man was growing attached and thus, less likely to leave.

"Oooh~ Looks like somebody noticed your little budget cuts~" Sitting on a sofa and reading his correspondence was his wife, holding open a scarlet envelope.

The blond man raised his head end looked at her, eyes stopping on what she was holding and raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"I don't remember using the anti-howler spells today."

Elizabeth waved her hand in dismissal.

"Considering the amount of married men I've slept with in my life, it would have been stupid not to learn how to mute their angry wives' letters. It's a novel experience when it comes from my own daughter though." she rubbed her chin, lips twitching as if she was refraining from smirking.

"Ex-daughter." Dace corrected automatically, signing his approval for his babysitter's excursion. His finances weren't yet in the red, but the decent amount of money he offered should help a bit. Sadly, he was too busy to help in person, but the other man didn't seem to begrudge him that.

"Did you have to spend ten hours giving birth to her in Saint Mungo?" She rolled her eyes with exasperation? " No, you just had to put it in." Her hands were waving around in an overly dramatic fashion.

"Then, by all means, you're free to keep her." He gave an amiable smile that was returned by an unamused glare.

"What's up with her anyways. I mean, I may not be the most maternal woman...""Understatement of the year."" BUT, she's always been a bit wrong. Like, too silent and intelligent." She waved her hand as if to illustrate her words with the letter. Dace put down his quill and stretched a bit, before turning to her.

"As far as I could glean with legilimency, she's a reincarnation with knowledge of the events to come."

Elizabeth suddenly sat up straight.

"Like that Anastasia woman back in the forties?"

Dace nodded.

"Damn it. Anyways, daughter's pissed that you cut off the funds, acts as if nothing happened. No word about her child? Wow, even I am not this irresponsible." She looked at him, eyebrow raised in askance.

"Though, to be fair," He answered smoothly." I did hit her with a modified and irreversible obliviation spell as she was getting away. As of right now, she cannot remember even the child's existence." In fact, that spell was so highly advanced and stealthy that it may a well have not existed. Which it didn't. But no need to fret about that. The dud he hit her with as she was flooing away was more to get them to become paranoid about what he did, since it had the markers of an obliviation spell, that would cling to her for weeks. If, as he suspected, Madeye was working with them, he'd have noticed right away.

Elizabeth gave him a look. Wait, no, not a look, The Look. Then she grabbed his collar and mashed their lips together.

A few hours later, laying on his bed, his wife cuddling to his side, he nodded to himself. Lizzie had always been weak to potential drama.
1d100: 83 1d100:8 1d2:1 = ???
-[x] See if you can't find her a potion related job

In the end, there was a multitude of factors to take into account. Good help was hard to find, yes, but happy help was more often than not, as much, if not more, of an asset. One should strive to be feared and loved, after all. One's subordinates reflect on the leader, and all that. With the trial and the oncoming expedition, he had no itme for an apprentice, they always took more effort to look after than children, especially those within the potions domain.

That doesn't mean he couldn't paw her off to another potions master that owed him a favor, even if they aren't the foremost expert Britain holds. Title of which, to Dace's own humble opinion, he was one of the foremost contenders. A few minuted of research within his books helped him locate the ideal candidate.

Daniel 'call me Danny' Davis (not to be mixed up with the Davies family of pure bloods), alumnus of the Hufflepuff House of Hogwarts. Exceptional results in both Transfiguration and Potions, muggleborn of course, and not many employment perspectives. Hiring him was a steal, Horace couldn't shut up about his abilities with a cauldron. Now that he thought about it, this was probably the soon-to-be retired teacher's way of ensuring his students with potential had a fair chance. That would explain the fact he regularly sent him a list of promising graduates. Oh well, everybody (mostly him) won with that, so he didn't mind being used like that. Daniel was a widowed man who set up a small apothecary shop in Hogsmeade, in his late twenties and not that bad to look at either.

If people were to ask him, he would unashamedly admit to playing matchmaker with his employees. After all, if two people loyal to him were to raise children in an environment where things were subtly arranged to make people look at him in a good light, there were good chances those children would grow up naturally inclined to think good of him and his own children on accounts of him being so helpful. Noblesse Oblige didn't mean some amount of manipulation wasn't involved.

-[x] Have Eli do it: She's good with people.(Available due to previous choices)

Elizabeth laughed madly for a while, before looking at Dace impishly.

"There is no way that you'll be able to spin this as a 'concerned father' act."

Dace shrugged.

"At this point, I just want this trial to be over with and have a reason to officially disinherit her."

"And why didn't you do so earlier?" She asked, rifling through papers, auror reports and testimonies collected, her eyebrows raising with every page flipped.

"It's a matter of perception." Dace crossed his hands under his chin. "If I disinherited her on the spot without waiting for an investigation to take place, it would have looked suspicious. Especially with the bit of drama that will take place after the reveal about little Scáthach. They might even assume this was a plot on my part and that I murdered my son-in-law in cold blood to get my hands on the Rosier family inheritance."

There was a minute of silence, before Elizabeth flipped another page and rubbed her forehead.

"I can't imagine who would get this idea." She said with a tone as dry as the desert sands.

"I know, right, it's as if people thought I was some amoral master manipulator who was planning to take over Wales or something!" He continued with an exaggerated tone of voice, hands waving around wildly.

"Yes. Completely ridiculous." Her tone sounded mildly pained now.

"Clearly, they haven't noticed who the true evil mastermind is!"

Now she was giving him a flat stare. " Is it going to be one of your pet theories about Dumbledore secretly being Satan you came up with when you were drunk and annoyed?"

Dace raised a finger, before lowering it, looking as if she took away his favorite candy.

"You're no fun, Lizzie." He did not pout, stamping his approval on the last of his paperwork.

"And you're behaving like an overgrown manchild. Whatever would your employees think of you?"

"Probably that I'm more human that they think I am." He smirked, pulling up his stack and hitting the bottom against his desk, rearranging it in a nice, rectangular, clearly defined pile

[X] Prepare yourself for the trial. One does not trump veritaserum easily, after all. Especially since multiple people may choose to use it at the same time.

In the meantime, while you've got witnesses and someone for the defense, you need some ingredients for your custom antidote to the veritaserum. Some will be easily found, some other will come later. However , there is one you're fairly sure you'll be able to procure soon...

-[x] Fund it: Will unlock the Mythic Preserve event chain.
--[x] 4000 Galleons : Good Adventure Equipment : + 40 Success chances
[x] Get involved. You haven't done it for years, but skulking around in the dark is still one of your greatest strengths. And half of it consisted in running away at the right time anyways. +10 to succes chances, +20 to loot roll, depending on equipment, low to high chances of injury. (May not be taken with Represent yourself)

April 10th, 1981

"I didn't think you'd bother to come here Boss, usually you throw money at problems until the go away." The blond giant laughed as the both of them were climbing the rocky path to Rhobell Fawr. The supposedly extinct volcano who wasn't a volcano at all, but instead was one of the welsh greens' favorite nesting spots, and the number one possible location as to where the action was going to happen.
Encounter Rolls: D100: 10. (looks at the table) Heh. Heheheh. Disposition roll? 63
At the entrance of the cavern, you meet with a man that seemed familiar.
Intrigue check : 10. 30 Pass.
Ah, yes, he remembered now.

"As I live and breathe, Tom Riddle, I thought you were dead, you've disappeared for years!"

The dark haired, blue eyed, surprisingly youthful looking man looked at Dace, before his expression slid smoothly into a genial mask.

"I've been busy with my research. I suppose you're here for the dragons too?" He eyed Oliver, clearly evaluating whether or not he was a threat.

"Yes. After that dreadful case with my daughter, I decided a change of air was needed, and Oliver came up to me with this. There was no chance I was going to miss an opportunity to record that, my ancestors would tan my hide if I did not." Dace raised a leather-bound book , coming with a self-inking quill. Riddle raised an eyebrow, before focusing more on Dace.

"The Gwallawg are reputed for their records." He answered noncommittally, before moving from the entrance, gesturing for them to enter the caverns with him. "May I ask what happened with your daughter? Last time I checked, you had found a good match for her."

"She got herself into an affair with a werewolf, then killed her husband and tried to murder me. I have their child currently in my custody though, so her plotting only set me back for a few years. Stranglethorn potion. Poor Rosier didn't stand a chance." Dace answered plainly, drawing an amused laugh from his fellow explorer.
Intrigue check : 30 30 Bare pass.
"Now I remember Lucius telling me about it." He looked directly in Dace's eyes. "She did serve the potion herself. I don't think his friends are going to let it pass."

The strawberry blond haired man blinked, cutting contact from the one who was using legilimency on him.

"Indeed. Not that it matters to me what happens to her after the trial of course, she made her bed and thus, will lie in it. I've already changed heirs anyways."

"Ah, yes, the famous heir. I've never heard of them before." The black haired man answered smoothly, clearly digging for information.

"There may or may not have been a few secrecy charms involved." Was the only answer, and they had to quiet down because they arrived before three different entrances.

Now, what will you do?

-Tom suggests you go together for better odds of survival.
-Oliver thinks he's shifty and will stick to you, no matter what.

[] Separate
[] Go together

What direction do you go in?

[] Left: The side with more light.
[] Middle: The noisiest side. Oliver recommends going that way.
[] Right: The side with the most darkness. Tom seems to want to go to that direction.

Your attitude:

[] Relaxed, nothing to fear
[] Careful, Riddle is one of Britain's foremost experts in Runes and spell reation
[] Write-in (moderated by GM, running away screaming like a little girl isn't a correct choice.)

So. The encounter roll.
We had a laugh when we looked at the table, we admit.
Anyways, you've met with that nice guy Tom Riddle, Slytherin half blood and relatively known researcher, even if he went a bit silent for a while. He saved Hogwarts from the terrible heir of Slytherin, so he must be a nice chap, right? Nothing to be scared about, right? It's not as if he was one check away from truning you both into red paste, Riiiight

?

If you choose to separate, Tom will call dibs on the Right/Dark path.

Gramps quest, where having a waifu actually saved your laifu. No seriously, you getting the mischievous trait gave you the 1 Intrigue needed to pass the Intrigue check to manage to bullshit the guy and avoid the instant game over.

Nicaea · May 25, 2018

Damn, those rolls. Who sacrificed a goat to the infernal powers so that Aife got cursed?

Prologue: A mystery tea party (4)

Winning votes :

[x] Separate
[x] Middle: The noisiest side. Oliver recommends going that way.
[x] Careful, Riddle is one of Britain's foremost experts in Runes and spell reation

"I think we wil take the path at the center, we are here for the dragons after all." Dace finally answered, eliciting a nod from the other wizard.

"Disappointing, but understandable. It is a once in a millenium opportunity after all. I will try to make haste and join you once my business down there is done." Riddle answered, readjusting the pouches on his belt, before striding towards the darker path. Once his form disappeared from sight, the blond giant at Dace's side relaxed a bit.

"Damn, that guy is creepy as fuck." That earned him a look. "What?" He protested. "Half-breed, remember? We're more sensitive to magic than your average wizard, and that guy reeks of death and destruction."

Hm, this may be a problem. There were rumors around Riddle, that he was a dark wizard, but so was Dace, therefore he would just prepare and plan some more. He signalled for them to go and they walked towards the noise. Before long, Dace realized that they were far, but the volume was too loud and he put on his earplugs. It was uncomfortable walking this way, but better than becoming deaf early. Though, that in itself would have interesing applications...

They followed a winding path nestled between jagged rocks taller than them that would be almost impossible to see from the outside for what seemed to be hours, until they arrived at the bottom of a cliff covered with himes from which green dragons entered and got out. It looked a bit like a hive, he mused, before following the expert and entered through the ground level, human-sized hole. The temperature was uncomfortably hot, but nothing that couldn't be dealt with. Cooling charms truly were a wonderful invention. The corridor was too tight for them to walk side by side, so Oliver went in first, until he stopped advancing ans Dace looked from behind him.

They had arrived in a massive cavern, where four massive green dragons were sitting, breathing on what seemed to be a golden dome. Though, from what they could see from the broken, scattered items, they had cannibalized all the gold from what seemed to have been a massive hoard. One of the reptiles looked at them, slitted golden eyes fixing them with a hostile glare. It was beginning to puff up when Dace decided to do his usual thing.

Both the dragon and Oliver were heavily surprised when he upended his purse, causing a pile of gold to appear. The dragoness looked at them warily, but as the pile became bigger than a bear and some more items appeared, namely crystals and a few gems, she began to purr and swiped all of up with its tail, turning her back to them and dumping it all on the dome.

Lost 13600 Galleons!

Next to him, Oliver winced before shifting, a bit embarrassed, as was his right, because Oliver sure didn't thing he wouldn't lead them right next to a bunch of nesting mothers of all things! Taking a breath, he relaxed. Good thing they were sensitive to bribery. At least, now, they could explore the cave without being roasted by a dragoness, which they did. Dace then noticed a few things: First, they were using gold and crystals for something, probably the golden dragon, if the vaguely ovoid shape the dome took was what he thought it was. Next, there were a plethora of gems on the ground, treated like nothing more than garbage. A quick spell round them up and after a few minutes of counting, he notices he also found a few artefacts. Not quite worth the gold he had to lose, but it made it less painful. After careful analysis, however, he discovered he hit the jackpot.

One was a shimmering blue cape with a dark blue, massive sapphire on the clasp. What made it interesting was that on the hems ot the cloak, crystal was forming, albeit slowly, as long as he was wearing it.
Gained :
Cloak of Crystal: Gain 1 Crystal / turn (Value: 5000 G)

Then came a set of two rings, both holding tiger's eyes on their middle, almost identical to eachother, save for the fact that one's gem was more protruding than the other's
Gained:
Still Eye of the dragon +1 Troops Morale, +1 Troops Luck (Value : 2000 G)
Quiet eye of the dragon +5 Troops attack damage, +5 Troops attack defense (Value : 2000 G)

And finally, the last was a necklace made of gold, representing a hand with an eye on it. It was a small thing, but the effects on it...
Gained:
Pendant of free will: Immune to mind magic and hypnosis. (Value 8000 G)

Gained:
Gems : 21

The true surprise however, laid in a collection of old tomes. Dace didn't know th language in which it was written, but considering the illustration, he was fairly sure those tomes had something to do with warfare and dragons. Somehow, the air began to feel oppressive, and he stood still as a small tremor shook the ground. Apparently, Riddle had run into a bit of a snag. Well, no matter, there was still more to explore.
Gained:

Dragon Rearing book (Need to translate to use)
Dragon nest plans (Need to translate to use)

[Due to Riddle being busy kicking ass and taking names, he won't contest your exploring of the remaining way.]

After taking everything that wasn't a dragon or nailed to the ground, Dace went out while Oliver set up the recording apparatus. While it was a bit of a waste for him not to attend, this place was only opened when there were enough dragons that their resistance negated whatever kept this place inaccessible. If he didn't make use of it now, he wouldn't ever have another chance.

As he first thought, the left path led to an open area. However, what he didn't expect were ruins. He didn't know nearly enough to try and identify them, but he knew they were ancient, for obvious reasons. After looking around fruitlessly for a while, he sat down and got himself some food. That's when things became weird.

A chuffing noise to his right made him turn slowly and he was nose to nose with a wolf, who was eyeing the meat hungrily. Then, it looked at Dace and whined, looking miserable. Not wanting the wolf to decide he'd make a better snack, he got another plate of venison and set it to the ground, the giant wolf digging into it with gusto. As he was eating leisurely, he got out his fruit salad and almost sighed as a fairy landed on it, devouring the fruits. He sighed.

This place would rob him blind.

He looked beyond the small vale, towards the glade, but a shiver crept up his spine and he decided not venturing too far was a good idea. The wolf and fairy followed him and he decided to let them, for additional security as he explored the ruins. The town probably had been pillaged, but whoever destroyed it wasn't magically inclined if what he found was correct.

Gained:
Magic Book: (Need to translate to use)

The most impressive, however, was what he found in the charred ruins of a wooden building, that was probably massive in its prime. The magic he could feel from it was off the charts. It looked like grey quartz, but with an inner, bright gree light. The moment he touched it, he felt a massive tremor on the ground and a current run through his body. It didn't seem dangerous, but better be safe than sorry, he took it too.

Gained:

??? Anchor:??? (You really need to study it)

The commotion further down became stronger and he decided to run towards the dragon cave for safety ( words he never thought he'd ever think one day).

The beasts still decided to follow him and, as the golden egg began to squirm, Oliver was squealing, and the dragonesses were increasing the temperature, Dace applied another cooling charm on his surroundings. The wolf was looking at him intently, tail beating the ground rythmically, the fairy was cartwheeling in the air, apparently bored; the book was glinting, seemingly full of secrets, and his purse was crying, Galleons disappearing.

What will Dace do?

[]Pet the ~~dog~~ wolf
[]Applaud to the fairy
[] Work on the book. The language seem easy enough to crack.
[] Check his purse, he needed to know what he was working with after he bribed the dragoness

After what seemed to be hours, the egg exploded, revealing a wolf sized baby golden dragon. Oliver was staring at it a bit too intensely, the older man couldn't help but remark. After flailing for a bit, the newborn rolled around, putting its four legs under their body and looked around. Right at Dace. Then it emitted a high pitched cooing noise and barrelled towards him. The beast was too fast for him and as their bodies collided, so did the back of his head and the wall.

...

Later in the day, or at least he supposed so, Dace woke up in his bed and was tempted to forget that anything happened today, but the two pairs of golden eyes and the weight on his bed reminded him that no, this wasn't a dream. At least the ~~dog~~ wolf and dragon got along. Then he saw the owl at his window and, with a flick of the wand he hides under his pillow, opened said window to let the bird in.

What will you name them anyways? ~~dog~~ wolf and dragon are a bit unimaginative
[]Dog Wolf: Write in
[]Dragon: Write in

"Here it comes." The man muttered. Then he realized what time it was, and that he was late. Oh well, he thought, it was a good thing he put Elizabeth on the case. He got up reluctantly from the bed, had a maid distract his pets with a dead cow while he sneaked out and arrived at the Ministry in time to hear the judgement.

"On the account of the murder of Edmure Rosier, Dace Gwallawg has been found innocent."

Well, if the law says it...

"On the account of the murder of Edmure Rosier, the attempted murder of Dace Gwallawg, breach of contract, fraud, conspiracy against the government" Wait what? "unlawful use of unforgivables, vigilantism and arson, Aife Rosier has been found ... innocent?" Well, the married, female judge looked about as surprised as he felt. His eyes scanned the room and he felt an intense tiredness. Aife looked the picture of the miserable victim, with eyes wide opened, tears falling delicately along her flushed cheeks, clad in a black dress that emphasized her assets. She really went all out on the charm here. People around started to make noises of discontent, especially women.

Oh well, it's not as if he expected her not to turn her supernatural charm on to convince the males in attendance, normally he'd even praise it, but right now, it was really inconvenient. Elizabeth was pouting, obviously upset she lost the case, but considering how viciously the young blounde journalist was scribbling on her notepad, he was fairly sure Aife's reputation would be ruined. Smiling confidently, he walked towards her and smiled charmingly as she noticed him, realized who he was and almost hopped towards him.

"Mr Gwallawg? Would you be available for an interview for the witch weekly?" Not the Prophet, yet still influential, and even better, most of the targeted demographic was constituted of people Aife couldn't influece easily. Perfect.

"Why of course, miss.....?" He sent her a charming smile that seemed to have some effect

"Rita Skeeter." she answered, suddenly looking shy.

Later in a cafe, during the interview, Dace explained himself at length, and the unholy glee in the woman's eye pretty much guaranteed maximum damage.

Dace himself is :
[] A married man who lives with his granddaughter (and wasn't Rita shocked learning that)
[] A successful businessman
[] An erudite always in search of somebody to teach.
[]Write in

Aife is:
[] A rebellious chind with a bad aptitude for decision making
[] A traitorious harlot
[] An egoist and opportunist
[] Write in

Any other thing he wants to talk about?
[] Yes: Write in
[] No

In any cast, today was fruitful, and he even had a pet journalist now! Well, Rita was a bit rough around the edges, but this could change rather easily.

Results of the expedition:

Gwallawg:
Gains: Alignment set: Nature, Megastructure available: Rampart, lots of loot, a wolf, a fairy, an overly affective dragon and his overly protective nannies.
Losses: Purse-chan was sacrified for the cause, Dace is feeling very sad.
Result: Victory? Well, you didn't really know what was going on... +1 Luck

Riddle: Alignment set: Death, Megastructure available: Necropolis, lots of loot (including a nat100 legendary artefact), some inferi, a score of skeletons, a few vampires.
Losses: a few skeletons, almost all of the inferi, had to leave early and didn't get to convince more creatures to join his cause nor to 100% the place
Result: Victory. +1 Morale. Not that it matters because Death is unaffected by morale, but think of the death eaters!

OotP:
Gains: Riddle doesn't get even more loot or followers. Fragments of a portal, some forbidden books, 40 Mercury
Losses: Everyone but Dumbledore and Aife dead. Dumbledore injured, Aife severely injured. (Named character deaths: Mundungus Fletcher, Alice Longbotton, Sirius Black, Malcolm McGonagall.)
Result: Major defeat. -2 Morale. They did get steamrolled pretty badly here.

Wat do ?Choose one:
[]Pet the dog wolf
[]Applaud to the fairy
[] Work on the book. The language seem easy enough to crack.
[] Check his purse, he needed to know what he was working with after he bribed the dragoness

What will you name them anyways? ~~dog~~ wolf and dragon are a bit unimaginative
[]Dog Wolf: Write in
[]Dragon: Write in

The interview:
Dace himself is :
[] A married man who lives with his granddaughter (and wasn't Rita shocked learning that)
[] A successful businessman
[] An erudite always in search of somebody to teach.
[]Write in

Aife is:
[] A rebellious chind with a bad aptitude for decision making
[] A traitorious harlot
[] An egoist and opportunist
[] Write in

Any other thing he wants to talk about?
[] Yes: Write in
[] No

Here finishes the prologue, aaaaaand crossover numero dos has been decided, Heroes of might and magic (gods, you don't know how glad we are for you not to have chosen one of the Warhammer fantasy choices)! For the purpose of this quest, We'll be mashing elements of the different games together, but anyways, you get to be the nature faction, which is surprisingly fitting as the nature is the only one with no direct opposite, you have Order (???) vs Chaos (???), and life (Dumbledore) vs death (Riddle)

As expected, Riddle came ahead when it came to... Everything, and he even soloed the entire order on his lonesome! Well, he had to run because Dumbledore's a filthy cheater who cheats, but still, his soloing the Order means that you got to explore 2 paths / 3, so yay! More loot for you! On the other hand, half the Marauders are dead now. Yay?

In the Order's defense, they weren't expecting to meet Riddle in a dark corner when they were here to abduct the golden dragon. Oh, yeah, you'd have had to fight them if Riddle didn't think they were there for him and ganked them first. What a nice guy, that Riddle. Well, mama dragon would likely have roasted them because they couldn't pay the toll, but it's like with presents, it's the intent that counts!

As for the trial, Aife is broken in diplomacy due to her traits, the moment she opened her mouth she was pretty much untouchable. Your networking made it so she didn't turn the tables on you, however.

The loot rolls on your side were average, so besides the anchor, nothing much of import. However, you're now the proud daddy of a legendary dragon, that has to count for something, right? Well, the dragon roll caused you to be out of commission, but honey'll give you the after action report.

(In a corner, daughteru is secretly glad she doesn't have to compete for Oliver's attention)

On another note: This quest is now available on sufficient Velocity! https://forums.sufficientvelocity.c...uest-for-a-stable-family.47890/#post-10760232
Dunno if I want it to be on spacebattles, they're scary over there...

Nicaea · May 25, 2018

Interlude 1 : Fleur de Lis

"There have been times when I've thought of suicide but with my luck it'd probably be a temporary solution." - Woody Allen

-I

Two people were sitting on each side of a silver table in a room entirely dark. Above them, a small light shone, the light reflecting on the taller woman's cascading silver hair. She was wearing a long sleeved black dress, with a silver chestpiece, and was leaning over her table, chin propped up by her crossed hands.

"Do you know why you're here?" She asked, her voice low and velvety as the other person in the room panicked. Ignoring the questions and the eventual anger, she just smiled, laying back against her throne.

"You are here because you have been chosen, my dear."

That gave the other woman pause and she looked at her warily.

"Do you remember? Your death." She gave a tinkling laugh, mist spiralling into shapes that were very familiar to the other woman.

A woman, nondescript to the point her face wasn't visible, was crying, reading some books, before looking up at the noose she tied up to the lamp.
It could be sad, if it weren't so boring.
With a sob, she let go of the book, and was grabbing the rope, when suddenly, a silver truck surged from the wall in front of her, destroying everything in his way.

"How sad."Then the image disappeared in a fluttering of manga pages as the beautiful woman closed her fist.

"In any case, you, have been chosen. To be reborn in another world." The light flickered a bit, sparks dancing in her eyes and over her lips. "Tell me, mortal, do you know of Harry Potter?"
It is, after all, your only good point.

Her smile widened upon seeing the expression of the woman.
Now, drink into the well of power until intoxication.
"Don't worry dear, I'll take care of everything."

My generic reincarnation story isn't doing so well...

As she wished for, she was born into a well off family of beautiful people, who wouldn't mistreat her, but wouldn't get her to be too attached either. It took her a bit of time to understand who her mother was, but when she did, her own violet eyes, inherited from said mother, kept reminding her of how stupid she was. Still, her 'parents' did their duty, but nothing more. It was a bit underwhelming. She didn't complain, she got everything she needed, and her parents were there if she wanted them to, but still, they didn't even make any remarks on her awfully precocious behavior, or her above average intelligence! How was she going to get early credibility if they insisted on treating her like a baby? She had people to save! Her father didn't even react about her prophetic dream ploy! It was so frustrating!

And so, for this girl, reality and fiction became exchanged.

Ten years later, she was on the train to Hogwarts, looking for specific people, namely two black haired children, and two brown haired ones. As she collided with a loud, redheaded girl, her eyes laid upon a boy with long black hair and pallid skin. She almost attacked him on the spot but just turned around, her mutter of "disgusting." perfectly heard by the two of them.
The "How rude! Don't listen to her Sev'!", however, went unheard by her. She found them in the end.

...

The sorting was a short affair. Not.
She was now into Hatstall territory, following Professor McGonagall's footsteps, as she was arguing with the Hat.

"Slytherin will help you learn and refine those thoughts into something usable."
"I don't care! Put me somewhere else!"
"You don't care about the future? Slytherin is the only house that can give you what you want."
"I already know what's inside of it anyways! I can't go into Slytherin or they'll never accept me!"
The Hat went silent in her mind for a moment, before...
"No, there is one other trait that defines you. Very well, better be..."

The Hat shouted "Ravenclaw" and as its mental abilities reset, to prepare for the Sorting of another student, the Hat wondered idly if the Ravenclaw could at least help curb her hubris.

At the table of badgers, the girl and the boy were having a conversation...

Soon enough, the Shadow of Voldemort engulfed even Hogwarts, leading to a darker and darker atmosphere. Still, it reassured Aife that things were going following the scrips, even with a few changes.

"...For the sake of..! I will not go out with you James Potter, even if you were the last man in Britain!" Fifteen years old Lily Evans shouted, eyes ablaze, as she stomped away, towards their classroom, glaring at anyone who dared laugh at her. James' figure sagged a bit, while Sirius Black was hollering encouragements. On the side, the two other members of the Marauders, Remus and Aife, just rolled their eyes good-naturedly.

James just glared at Snape, who was trying to calm the irate girl down, without too much success. He'd have to do something about it. An arm thrown around his shoulders distracted him from his thoughts. Aife just glared at the mousy young boy slinging towards the third spot on their table and fingered her wand contemplatively, a wicked smile on her face.

"[Mission: Ruin Peter Pettigrew's potion], get~"

Bravery.

He'd never been that relevant. Short, chubby, with a cowardly disposition, and not that smart to boot. Still, his mother loved him and tried her best to raise him right. He didn't know what possessed the Hat into sending him to Gryffindor of all things, since he was clearly Hufflepuff material and all.

He never was able to fit in there, not bold nor brave enough, not athletic nor handsome enough, not personable or popular enough. He had no friends there, so it was no wonder he grew farther away from his chosen house, towards that of his heart. He was always welcome there, the badgers were kind to him despite the perpetual bad luck that followed him ever since he got sorted in that house. More than once, covered in ink from his blown up inkwell, he thought, tears in his eyes, to abandon Hogwarts and come back home. However, each time he thought about it, his mother's disappointed face came back to his mind and he marched on. Still, after the third month of schooling, he sat in potions with the people that would become his best friends ever since.

Lily was fire and passion and light, always animated or incensed about something. She was the kind of person to go after the bullies and make a lot of noise to protest about injustice. People didn't get why she wasn't in Gryffindor.

Severus was water, calm, placid, and inexorable, yet ever-changing and flexible. He was the one to go to when it came to talking down people, his mastery over the language and brain making everyone wonder why he wasn't in Slytherin.

He didn't care, they were his friends, and he was theirs. They never made him feel useless or unwanted, never overshadowed him. In his mind, he couldn't help but wait for the other shoe to drop.

Now, the Overlord came for them. The house was well trapped, however, even Lily's knowledge was dwarfed by the monster in front of him. Clad in black armor, and yellow eyes glowing through the three horned helmet...

The memory of a full moon came to his mind. Glowing yellow eyes. A brown blur. Him pushing Severus out of the way by instinct. The pain of having his arm torn off. The screaming of Lily and the whiteness of Severus' skin. The red haze as he fainted.

He came for her, he realized.

A hit from the mace sent him flying near the fireplace and he lay there coughing.

He was here to kill her.

He was here to kill Lily.

He was here to kill the one who made him more than he ever thought he could be.

That was not acceptable.

Opening a pained eye, he slowly got his wand and ignited the fire. He couldn't feel his legs anymore. Wheezing and feeling the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, he got two small green packets from a compartment in his glove.

He was fine with that.

A tramble of the wand sent one of them flying towards the fireplace, as terrifyingly powerful spells were shot all around, turning everything around them into ash.

He wasn't fine with that.

"..." He murmured, the fidelius spell keeping the destination secret from their ears.

He would have to be fine with that.

He aimed his wand at the redhead's back and called out. The accio spell took root, before sending her flying his way. With a wave of his want, he sent her inside the emerald fire, where she disappeared with an indignant shout as he gave her an apologetic bloody smile.

"Sorry Lils, but... I promised."

To the bloody, black haired young man who died too young at fifteen. The one who loved Lily more than anything in the world, so much that he died protecting her from a werewolf in the forbidden forest.

He will be fine with that, he thought as the lifetime of determination that never came to him strengthened him, and he glared at the inhuman monster in front of him. He chuckled wetly.

"You know, an interesting thing about floo powder?"

The thing reached for him. The wolf in him snarled defiantly.

"It blows up real well. Bombarda maxima."

Everything went green.

This wouldn't be enought to kill it, he knew, but it would take years for him to heal, and time was all Lily needed. He felt sorry for leaving her, but he was selfish and didn't want to bury another friend.

Let at least one of us survive this nightmare.

As he faded, he liked to think his black haired friend was scolding him for being an idiot, that's what Sev' did, that mother hen.

The world goes on.

After several apprenticeship refusals, years after her graduation, Lily decided to swallow her pride and make the appointment. She arrived five minutes before the indicated time and waited, until a maid told her to follow her inside, leading her towards another room. Behind the desk, a vaguely familiar strawberry blond haired man was looking at her with piercing blue eyes.

"I've read your recommendations miss Evans, all were glowing with praise. However..." his arm swept the air above his desk, sending her file flying. So that was it, just another typical pure bl-" I prefer to test people I'm hiring in a more... hands on... fashion."

Before she could even react, he snapped his fingers, and to her right, she saw simmering cauldrons and piles of ingredients, already prepared, laying on a table. Lily looked at him while he only raised an eyebrow at her, the message clear.

Prove it.

Lily couldn't help but smile almost maniacally as she saw the Greek Fire potion turn an alarming shade of puce.

After three hours of intense potioning, the man commenting here and there, Lily was drinking the orange juice like a woman coming back from the desert, sitting in front of the man. After she did, she put down the self-refilling glass and sighed, before speaking up.

"So, how did I do?"

"Hm. " he rubbed his chin pensively "There are a few bad habits that need correcting, you need to be more flexible about the doses and to learn more about plant based ingredients, but I can work with that. Hesitation disappears with experience after all."

Her hopeful expression made him laugh.

"Yes, miss Evans, I will take you as an apprentice."

As Lily suddenly started crying, startling the man, she was wondering if Severus and Peter were proud of her.

In a darkened room, the silver haired woman smiled, drinking from a cup holding the stars, her eyes narrowing and flitting towards a red haired woman clad in leather.
.
"Oh? The legendary shut-in finally came out of her cage?

"Oh? The legendary two-faced whore isn't busy choking on Thor's dick?" The redhead immediately replied, eliciting a snort from the silver haired woman.

"Those words sound like those of a sore loser. Are you upset we didn't invite you?"

"Oh, don't worry, I invited myself~" Was her airy answer, causing the other's expression to drop.

"This was forbidden millenia ago." She almost hissed in rage, a satisfied smirk painting the redhead's face.

"Oh, direct intervention, yes. However..." She laughed lightly, cutting herself off. "Well, considering what happened, I can't very much cause more problems than you guys do, right?" Her hand waved at her as a small mote of gold illuminated her index. "I mean, you know how I work, right? I can't create miracles."

And yet, I never lose. You too, would do well to remember that, Freyja.

The shadows have woken up.
???
The King sleeps in the dark.
???
???
???
The circle is complete.
Victory isn't a promise.

Dear lord, we didn't know how tedious it was to deliberately alternate between good and bad things. Well , more than our usual anyways. We like interludes. They're like exposition central. Or at least help compensate for an in medias res start like we did. 'Bravery' was supposed to be shorter, but we were inspired. We like redemptions. There are a lot of timeskips, but we hope it is readable enough?

Nicaea · May 26, 2018

It is now September 16th 1981.

Gains:

-Animal (mundane and magical) Ranches : +45,000 Galleon (after salaries and charges), 1d6 Epic animal components/ Turn
-- 1000 Employees, payed 544 G/m on average.

Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 50, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 502 G/m on average

Spendings

Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning : -25,000 Galleon / turn , 1d6 – 3 Chance of Loyal Superior Unit, 1d100-95 chance of Loyal Hero Unit. (Muggleborn population : 95%)

Lease: 20,000 Galleons/turn (10 turns left)

Maintenance, taxes, salaries of the manor: 18,900 Galleons/turn (50 of them, 376 G/T on average)

Order funding: 20,000 Galleons/turn. (suspended)

= 31,100 Galleons / Turn

Gained :

31,100 Galleons.
1d6 : 2 : Hydra venom, Chimera heartstrings. That's Australia for you.
1d6 – 3: 3 (nope)
1d100-95: 39 (nope)
1 Crystal

Treasury:
32,500 Galleons
1 Crystal
21 Gems

Skylight : A sapphire that seems to shine with an inner light. +10 to results if used to create items with [Life/Order] Attribute.
??? Anchor:??? (You really need to study it)
Magic Book: (Need to translate to use)
Dragon Rearing book (Need to translate to use)
Dragon nest plans (Need to translate to use)

Ingredients:
Hydra venom
Chimera heartstrings

Inventory:
Cloak of Crystal: Gain 1 Crystal / turn (Value: 5000 G)
Still Eye of the dragon +1 Troops Morale, +1 Troops Luck (Value : 2000 G)
Quiet eye of the dragon +5 Troops attack damage, +5 Troops attack defense (Value : 2000 G)
Pendant of free will: Immune to mind magic and hypnosis. (Value 8000 G)

Rumor Mill:

Since Dace is a Main Intrigue character, to compensate for the fact that he cannot take the field and lead armies (well, he could, but he knows he sucks at it so leaves it to the guys trained for it), he can instead act directly on what the rumor mill says. If taken with some of the other action choices below, this will increase the chances of them being successes due to synergy. AP: 2

The ministry intends to pass laws to restrict the employment rate and average freedom of magical creatures, once again. Normally this wouldn't even make a blip on your radar, but it seems some people have been using your family's tragedy to advance their agenda.
[] You may have to do something about that. (Event roll: 22)

Several people, couples, who actively fought against Voldemort were spirited away, the most prominent of them all being, strangely enough, the newly widowed Frank Longbottom, who had a near legendary row with Dumbledore at Hogwarts and stormed out, taking with him his mother and one year old son.
[] You wonder what happened, it seems some investigation will be necessary. (Event roll: 78)

Speaking of the Order, it seems they are laying the groundwork to come out in the open. Which is a bit strange, considering that some of their more combat capable members were disappeared mysteriously back in April. Dumbledore probably found out something that would allow him to tip the balance somehow, gods knows he was the only competent one in his little organization.
[] You don't know if you want to know what the old codger was up to, but the last time he pulled a seemingly crazy move, it ended up with Grindelwald comatose and his army destroyed. Look into that. (Event roll: 2)

Apparently, a lot of magical plants and have appeared on some remote island near the Scottish shores. The land has been up to sale, but somehow, people haven't noticed it until recently. It was decided to auction it off.
[] Something's fishy about all of this, and you want to know what. (Event Roll : 99)

Well, that's enough about rumor mongering, now begins Turn 1 !

Turn 1

Diplomacy: Adviser : Elizabeth Gwallawg : Actions : 2

With Eli here, she's freed up enough of your time to make it so you could do something else if you wished to. She'd do equally well as a spymaster, but she's content enough. Now, what to do though, you have no idea!

[] Have a chat with Dumbledore. You've put it off long enough, and as much as you loathe the old man, he is a major player and you shouldn't let him run around unchecked. This will open up funding options.

[] Have a nice brunch with Lucius. He's young and eager to please and surprisingly easy to influence for somebody so brilliant when it comes to money. Sure, he's working for Voldemort too, and will probably spy on you, but there are signs that his loyalty is less... Ironclad than one may think.

[] Visit the Ministry, try to build up contacts. The people over there like you well enough, but you never know who you can meet, and what you can find. Besides, you've been acting like a recluse the last month, that's bound to make some people nervous.

[] Get yourself a XXXXX Class creature permit. Your very illegal pet dragon won't be small for much longer. Gods only know what kind of other creature will latch on you. Costs 2000G

[] Attend Academy graduation. You are, after all, the owner, founder and the one who funds the Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning, located in Cardiff. This will increase your chance of people with exceptional potential stepping up next year, such as Oliver and Miss Evans.

Stewardship: Advisor : Oliver Lapierre : Actions : 2

Oliver, for all of the one track mind he has, is quite efficient when he comes to administration. Of course, he'd rather become your researcher, but for now, he'll do as your steward.

[] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all. Costs 10 000 G. Gains variable.

[] Work on coordinating Your granddaughter's and your own shops. This should lessen some expenses while increasing profits for both. Costs 5 000 G.

[] Lily Evans has come to you asking for funding. She's surprisingly cagey about why she wants it, but she's proven to be a level headed woman most of the time.
-[] Accept
--[] 5000G
--[] 10 000G
--[] 15 000G
-[] Refuse

[] The wandmaker Ollivanders noticed the sudden increase in magic around your house, mostly because bowtruckles love fairy eggs, and their presence reinforces trees, making them perfect for wands. You may be able to strike a deal with him. Or at least get that damned tent away from your favorite petunia patch.

[] Find sources of building materials. Your contacts went out of business not that long ago, and you need good sources. Guaranteed access to Wood and Stone production facilities. Chance of getting access to Gem, Crystal, Sulfur or Mercury production facilities.

Martial: Actions : 1

This isn't really your cup of tea, and it kind of shows. However, luckily, a massive project has attracted your attention. You seriously hope you'll find someone to handle this for you soon.

[] Animal pens. Crudely explained, you need a place to store your dragon, his mothers, your pet ~~dog~~ wolf, his pack, and the fairies that are about to overrun the small woods near your manor. If you see one more of those giant bowtruckle things, you're fairly sure you won't be able to dislodge Ollivanders from your lawn.[May only be taken if the [Rampart: Find a suitable location]and [finding sources of building materials] actions are taken]. May only build one per turn for stealth reasons.

-[] Wolf den : Produces 10 Wolves / turn, 1 year after construction. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G
--[] Direwolf den: Produces 10 Direwolves / turn;, 1 year after construction. Replaces Wolf den. Costs 10 Wood, 3000 G
-[] Pixie huts: Produces 15 Pixies/turn, available immediately. Costs 20 Wood, 1000 G
--[] Sprite huts: Produces 15 Sprites / turn, available immediately. Replaces Pixie huts. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G
-[] Dragon Cliffs: Produces 1 Green dragon/ turn, 5 years after construction. [Needs [Dragon rearing book] and [Dragon nest plans] to be translated.] Costs 30 Stone, 20 Crystal, 20 000G
--[] Dragon Lair: Produces 1 Golden dragon/turn, 5 years after construction. Replaces Dragon Cliffs. Costs 30 Stone, 20 Crystal, 40 000G

[] Hire more security staff. -10 to enemy infiltration rolls. 2000G

[] Find yourself a Security Chief (Martial adviser). You need all the help. 5000G

[] But will that security chief be the best ? No. Try to poach an auror or two! Considering what they're doing with them, they won't be missed. Risky, though. And costly. 7500G

Intrigue: Actions : 2 (1+ Intrigue over 25)

You're not sure you'll find anyone you trust with this to help you, save for your wife, but you need her more where she is right now.

[] Plots are good for your health! Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
-[] Dumbledore's little club of vigilantes.
-[] Voldemort's band of hooligans.

[] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people dying left and right...
-[] Plot to take over shops in Diagon Alley (England, London).
-[] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)

[] Compulsive plotting is also good for the morale!
-[] Go on a matchmaking spree. Chance to increase Diplomacy, gain RP with some people, reputation.
-[] Go on ~~a trolling rampage~~ an adventure! Chance to increase Intrigue, inconvenience enemies, gain RP with some people.

[] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
-[] Plot with Oliver: +10 to Stewardship action rolls (+2 RP with Oliver)
-[] Plot with Elizabeth : +15 to Diplomacy action rolls (SL MAX)

Learning: Actions : 2 (1+Learning over 25)

You're not letting anyone not from your family handle those books. Ever. You'll have to wait until either Elizabeth finds herself a newfound passion for reading, or until little Scáthach decides paper isn't for eating and learns to read. You have a feeling the latter will come earlier.

[] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
-[]Dragon Rearing book [Takes 1 session]
-[]Dragon nest plans [Takes 1 session] (reduced because you have a live dragon to experiment with)
-[] Magic Book: [Takes 4 sessions]

[] Attend lessons to your own Academy. (due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.) Since you're the owner, you can attend for free.
-[] There were a few lectures about Herbalism...
-[] You don't believe in that meditation mumbo jumbo, but there are a few interesting applications you can think of...
-[] Huh. You didn't think they'd build special buildings for Care of Magical creatures...

[] On the other hand, you could also brush up your management skills...(due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.)
-[] Everyone has a price! ~~Bribing~~ Diplomacy is an important skill after all...
-[] With all of the things going on right now, you need to brush up on your Estates management.
-[] Resource acquisition is important too, you can't always rely on buying off the opposition.

Mysticism : Actions : 1

It stings a bit that you're just on the lower spectrum of powerful, but you'll deal. Though, you'd really like it if someone could step up and help you with all of that, you've got too much work to do.

[] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2)
-[] Find a suitable location.
-[] Find a full roster of Nature-themed creatures. (Currently 3/7: Fairy line, wolf line and dragon line)
-[] Spare resources for the building: Pay 30 000 G, 30 wood, 30 stone. (0/30 000, 0/30, 0/30)
-[] Investigate the ??? Anchor

Personal: Actions : 3 (1+Stewardship Advisor +Diplomacy Advisor)

[] Spend time with:
-[] Scáthach. She is your heiress and granddaughter, even if she isn't really interested in your plots yet, she seems like a normal enough child, so you should pay attention to her, right? (+3 RP, SL unlocked)
-[] Lucius. His wife and your heiress are rather close, especially since apparently, their son enjoys your daughter's company. And Narcissa wants a daughter. (+2 RP, Scáthach unlocks Draco Malfoy SL and gains 2RP)
-[] Lily. Your old apprentice is up to something, you want to make sure this won't get out of hand. (+2 RP, SL Revealed)
-[] Oliver. You've thrown a lot of work his way, may as well make him feel appreciated, right? (+2 RP, SL Revealed)

[] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)

Author's random ramblings:
The previous vote had a tie between fairy or ~~dog~~ wolf. So I'll flip a coin. As with the character creation choices, you'll see the results of the vote when it becomes relevant.

The diplomacy options may seem like intrigue options, because they are. While character traits have an influence on stats, they also have an influence on narration. Since Dace is manipulative and can use his intrigue to pass diplomacy checks, that reflects on the available choices. This will remain the case, until/unless you get a specific skill for him that should be available soon-ish with the correct choices.
For the options themselves, we tried to find a way to give you an idea of what each action does, but since there are more 'players' in game than you, the results became radically different each time, so we gave up.
That early nat 100 is carrying you hard. Tier 7 creature available immediately. Much wow. Thankfully, this only gives you about 10 turns of advance (And throws you into the jaws of AP hell).Riddle and Dumbles could still squish your faction with a thought though since it takes time for dragons to mature, especially those of the four limbed, 'Fuck you magic' variety, as opposite to the regular two limbed variety that gets downed by a well placed cunjunctivitis curse. Yes, we were disappointed by the dragons in the 4th book!
BR-chan seems to be throwing a bone at Bumblebee.
Speaking of rolls, we'll remind everyone that the higher it is, the better, 50 being the average. The opposite is also true.
As for the prices, Dace is a proud man, he refuses to consider anything but the best materials, with the best artisans to work them. That's why prices seem so ridiculous compared to HP stations of canon. On the other hand, that also means that his employees are paid 20% more than anywhere else, which is why he can afford to have rather high standards.

Nicaea · May 30, 2018

Turn 1.1 : September 1981 - June 1982

And the winning plan is...

Plan:[/B] Curiosity killed the cat, but horcruxes brought it back]
-[x] Rumor Mill:

--[x] You wonder what happened, it seems some investigation will be necessary. (Event roll: 78)
--[x] You don't know if you want to know what the old codger was up to, but the last time he pulled a seemingly crazy move, it ended up with Grindelwald comatose and his army destroyed. Look into that. (Event roll: 2)
-[x] Diplomacy:
--[x] Have a nice brunch with Lucius. He's young and eager to please and surprisingly easy to influence for somebody so brilliant when it comes to money. Sure, he's working for Voldemort too, and will probably spy on you, but there are signs that his loyalty is less... Ironclad than one may think.
--[x] Attend Academy graduation. You are, after all, the owner, founder and the one who funds the Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning, located in Cardiff. This will increase your chance of people with exceptional potential stepping up next year, such as Oliver and Miss Evans.
-[x] Stewardship:
--[x] Lily Evans has come to you asking for funding. She's surprisingly cagey about why she wants it, but she's proven to be a level headed woman most of the time.
---[x] Accept
----[x] 10 000G
--[x] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all. Costs 10 000 G. Gains variable.
-[x] Martial:
--[x] Find yourself a Security Chief (Martial adviser). You need all the help. 5000G
-[x] Intrigue:
--[x] Compulsive plotting is also good for the morale!
---[x] Go on a matchmaking spree. Chance to increase Diplomacy, gain RP with some people, reputation.
--[x] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people dying left and right...
---[x] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)
-[x] Learning:
--[x] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
---[x]Dragon nest plans [Takes 1 session] (reduced because you have a live dragon to experiment with)
--[x] On the other hand, you could also brush up your management skills...(due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.)
---[x] Everyone has a price! Bribing Diplomacy is an important skill after all...
-[x] Mysticism:
--[x] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2)
---[x] Investigate the ??? Anchor
-[x] Personal:
--[x] Spend time with:
---[x] Scáthach. She is your heiress and granddaughter, even if she isn't really interested in your plots yet, she seems like a normal enough child, so you should pay attention to her, right? (+3 RP, SL unlocked)
---[x] Lily. Your old apprentice is up to something, you want to make sure this won't get out of hand. (+2 RP, SL Revealed)
--[x] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
---[x] Lily Evans has come to you asking for funding.

-[x] Rumor Mill:
Several people, couples, who actively fought against Voldemort were spirited away, the most prominent of them all being, strangely enough, the newly widowed Frank Longbottom, who had a near legendary row with Dumbledore at Hogwarts and stormed out, taking with him his mother and one year old son.

[X] You wonder what happened, it seems some investigation will be necessary.

Rolled 45 + 5 = 50.

Of course, as with any investigations, one needed to figure out the good questions. 'When' was obvious, after all, since it was on the day of Alice Longbottom's burial, the mourning husband chose to lash out at Dumbledore.

'Why' was a little trickier, after all, but in the end, it came to the fact that Alice was a member of the Order. According to his contacts, there was a confrontation between the Order and Voldemort on the day he decided to go dragon hunting, and over a dozen people 'disappeared', leaving Aife and Dumbledore himself wounded. Alice was among those numbers.

However, Frank Longbottom's mysterious disappearance was different, since all of his assets were frozen, and he took his family with him, meaning that he went away of his own volition, which was a tad different from all of those families, who were taken unwillingly, considering all the traces of combat. In other words, Frank knew what was going on and decided to be proactive about it. Tough, that didn't particularly help Dace, since that would only agitate the terrorist into a frenzy and make things more difficult for everyone involved.

It took him weeks, but in the end, he managed to find them, and not a minute too late either...

October 31st

It was a cloudy night in Kirkwall, Scotland, when Dace arrived at the last place his informants managed to get a tracker on the Longbottom tribe. Though, considering the flashes he saw coming from the windows of the dingy hotel, he came late. A massive shockwave blew up the windows and made him stagger, raising hastily a shield to protect himself from the falling glass. Then, there was no more noise, meaning everybody was probably dead at this point, which was safe enough.

Putting himself under a disillusion spell, he walked in quietly, cautiously making sure he didn't step on enything, which was harder than it may look, because the inside of the building was savaged and strewn with corpses, not all of them human. That was concerning, because he was fairly sure he just saw the charred remains of an inferius, which meant the terrorist got too impatient to play by the rules...

He slowly climbed up the stairs, wand at the ready, saw that one door had been blasted away, wooden splinters laying uselessly to the ground and decided to enter himself, to be met with a strange spectacle.

Right in front of him were a black robe, a pile of ash and a wand. On his right was the corpse of a man, blond and solidly built, wand in his fist. On his left was an elder woman, wheezing worryingly, gripping a crib and lastly, there was a blond toddler screaming his lungs out in said crib, ignoring everything else in the room.
Deciding not approaching the woman was a good idea, he cleared his throat, narrowly dodging a blasting hex.

"Why, good evening to you too, Augusta." He started out sardonically, rolling his eyes at how high strung she was, before remembering that the woman was injured and likely dying. "The aurors have received an anonymous tip something was up here. Do you need any help?"

The woman half sat half laid on the ground and looked at him with a calculating expression.

"Well, too bad, I'm not a healer and I didn't really come expecting it. I suppose, however, that Dumbledore will come here first, considering he had a month to heal, or send my dearest daughter and her little gang of hooligans. His having a phoenix should allow you to survive." He continued as if she had asked, eliciting a snort, then pained cough from her, and he saw a black liquid coming out from her mouth. She shook her head and put her wand to her temple, letting a silvery strand follow the tip as she removed it. Understanding what she was thinking about, he got an empty flask and gathered the silvery not-a-liquid inside, before corking it and storing it away. Then, with a graceful hand move, she signalled for him to go.

That was strange, he thought once back at his manor, staring at his family's pensieve, before getting up, emptying the flask in it and dunking his head through the reflective surface. Then, several minutes later, he got out and groaned.

A prophecy. Great.

[Dace is now aware of the prophecy given by Sybil Trelawney]

Now he needed to know what he wanted to do about it...
[]Nope. Not touching those things with a ten feet pole.
[]Manbe he could leverage some of this somehow?
[]Get involved directly.

November 1st

-[x] Mysticism:
--[x] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2)
---[x] Investigate the ??? Anchor

Rolled 95+5 = 100

After last month's 'excitement' Dace decided it was a good idea to make sure the mysterious but obviously magical item found in the ruined city guarded by dragons wouldn't blow his house up if he sneezed at if the wrong way, and thus decided to do some research.

As always, his family's knowledge delivered and at the end of the first week, he found some interesting facts. The item in his hands, this anchor, was designed to gather mana, convert it and soak up an area with it, lending strange properties to the land. The one in his hand was supposed to imbue uge swathes of langs with [Nature] typed energy, that allow several types of creatures to thrive, which explained the bowtruckle invasion.

This in itself wouldn't be usable, but there were hints that the Overlord's vaunted Tower was in fact alimented by one of those anchors. There were a grand total of five different types: [Order], [Chaos],[Life],[Death] and [Nature], each linked to different types of Strongholds , that were used during the Era of Conflict.

However, Dace was no optimist: if he found one of them, he could be sure that others did too, meaning the the Era of Conflict could yet reappear, but at the very least, he was fairly certain he had some sort of advantage over the others in that he had a book on how those Strongholds worked.

All he needed now would be to find a place to use this and to smuggle his very illegal dragons there. With last month's excitement, he completely forgot that he needed to take care of that.

[Dace now knows about the Stronghold types and creatures, will actively seek out components, increased possibility of related events]

November 24th

Of course, him taking anything resembling a vacation meant that everything had to go to hell when he turned his back. He had to learn from the newspaper that Dumbledore discovered an ancient artefact, a gate, that was linked to the one they usually used to dump their criminals in, and was a stable, permanent way of transportation.

Except those gates were hijacked by someone, and now strange creatures were appearing in London, causing widespread panic. Apparently the muggles believed them to be failed experiments, but Dace knew better, having spent half a month reading about them.

They were bipedal, and walked slowly. Their backs were hunched, as if they were more at ease with running on all fours or digging tunnels. Both their hands and legs had three claws, and they wielded simple spears. They were brown, save for an eye-less green head, their giant mouths filled with tickedly sharp teeth. People had taken to calling them mole men, but Dace had another name for them.

Troglodytes. The footsoldiers of the Dungeon.

And when you speak of dungeons, you think of Overlords.

This worried Dace as he realized he may not have as much time as he initially thought.

[The Overlord has begun scouting the area near London. The Statute of Secrecy is severely endangered]

December 3rd

-[x] Stewardship:
--[x] Lily Evans has come to you asking for funding. She's surprisingly cagey about why she wants it, but she's proven to be a level headed woman most of the time.
---[x] Accept
----[x] 10 000G
-[x] Personal:
--[x] Spend time with:
---[x] Lily. Your old apprentice is up to something, you want to make sure this won't get out of hand. (+2 RP, SL Revealed)
--[x] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
---[x] Lily Evans has come to you asking for funding.
Rolls: 41+5+10 =56

As the Ministries all around the globe were running in circles playing the blame game, and the death eaters were being tried following the fall of Voldemort, Dace was reading his registers, before a knocking sound made him look up, calling for whoever was coming to enter.

"Good Evening, Lily."

The redheaded young woman looked at him from gehind her square glasses, hair gathered in a tight bun and wearing a plain brown robe. Hm, this may be rather important, if the girl was bothering with formalities.

"Let's avoid the pleasantries, shall we? So, " he began, steepling his fingers together. " What brings my wayward apprentice to me today?"

Lily reached within her bag and showed him a file with a picture ot the troglodyte on the front and prepared herself to speak out when he chuckled in an amused fashion. Now her moves made sense.

"I was wondering whan anyone else was going to notice. I gather you're intending to take the fight to the Overlord instead, little miss Order?"

Her gobsmacked expression was revealing enough and he reached under his desk, throwing a bag full of galleons.

"Imagine my surprise when one of my previous projects approached me with a request for funding and came back with something that wasn't supposed to be in this world anymore. Then, after a bit of research, I learned those things went by five. Considering your own history and recent events, it isn't such a leap of logic that you would be aiming for the one thing that can endanger them the most."

"Which one was it?" She asked at Dace warily, and the man hemmed for a bit, before deciding this information was harmless enough to reveal.

"Nature. You'll understand that, as I won't reveal your identity to them, I cannot do so for you either."

The woman frowned but nodded and took the gold with her, before turning around and beginning to leave.

"Not even going to ask me to contact them for an alliance?" Dace called out curiously, which made the woman stop as she was putting a hand on the door's handle.

"I... Not now. Not before I can stand on my own two legs without needing help." She answered, before opening the door and going out. The girl's hero complex will be the death of her, he mused.

Will he need to do something about it?

[] Yes, the fiery redhead has poor impulse control and a grudge.
[] No, she can handle herself, you've got your own problems to worry about.

[Lily Evans embarked on a quest to seek the Order Anchor, +2 RP, SL revealed.]

January 1st 1982

-[x] Personal:
--[x] Spend time with:
---[x] Scáthach. She is your heiress and granddaughter, even if she isn't really interested in your plots yet, she seems like a normal enough child, so you should pay attention to her, right? (+3 RP, SL unlocked)

Rolled: 74+5 : 79

Part of Dace's failure as a father was that he didn't involve himself in his daughter's life. Therefore, doing the opposite should do the trick. That was how he found himself reading a book on potions, his granddaughter sitting on his knees while Hassan was sprawled in front of the fire in their living room, his tongue lolling in extacy.

"Uu." The girl pointed at a strangely drawn item.

"That's a Unicorn's horn." Dace explained, while the girl tilted her head and pointed at another.

"That's a dragon's heartstring."

"Uu?" Was her inquisitive answer.

"Once a dragon dies, potioneers harvest their bodies and turn them into ingredients.

"Uu!" She brandished her plushie while pointing at a small stone.

"Yes, a bezoard comes from cutting a goat open and extracting the stone from their stomachs."

The girl had a distinctively disturbed expression as she squeezed the plushie to her chest protectively, making the man snort.

"Worry not, I promise we won't turn Amalthea into potion ingredients anytime soon."

The girl puffed her cheeks, before yawning and cuddling into the adult's chest. It was her nap time, he reminded himself. While the girl was currently between two and three years of age physically, she wasn't even a year old in reality, so her not being able to speak yet wasn't really concerning. Still, he had more work to do, and called a maid to bring the child to her room to rest.

[Scáthach doesn't think of you as a stranger anymore and will have an easier time learning potions, +3 RP, SL unlocked]

February 10th

-[x] Martial:
--[x] Find yourself a Security Chief (Martial adviser). You need all the help. 5000G

Rolled 24 + 5 = 29

You didn't find anybody, the activity at the ministry made it so anyone competent enough was already occupied. This was upsetting considering the resources sunk into the project. Oh well, better luck next time.

[Failure! +20 to next roll for martial adviser.]

March 23rd

-[x] Intrigue:
--[x] Compulsive plotting is also good for the morale!
---[x] Go on a matchmaking spree. Chance to increase Diplomacy, gain RP with some people, reputation.

Rolled: 46+5 = 51

Perhaps it was the context, perhaps the people. In any case, less people are marrying, love isn't in the air, and Dace is getting looks again.

At least, he's been invited to Danny and Sarah's wedding! He loved eating wedding cakes, they taste like success. Now that he thought about it, Rita wrote to him about the interview. Apparently, she managed to find interesting facts...

[] Tell her about the wedding
[] Let her do as she pleases

-[x] Diplomacy:
--[x] Have a nice brunch with Lucius. He's young and eager to please and surprisingly easy to influence for somebody so brilliant when it comes to money. Sure, he's working for Voldemort too, and will probably spy on you, but there are signs that his loyalty is less... Ironclad than one may think.

Rolled: 18+5 = 23

Lucius is a bit busy being tried for being a death eater right now. He appreciates the sentiment though. +2 RP

[Dace will get to eat cake.]

April 30th

-[x] Intrigue:
--[x] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people dying left and right...
---[x] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)
-[x] Stewardship:
--[x] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all. Costs 10 000 G. Gains variable.

Rolls: 97 + 5 =102

It seems the panic from England spread towards Wales, despite the government's best efforts. That, and the fact that Death Munchers were getting arrested in droves caused the emergence of lots of businesses up for grabs. Of course, Lucius having been proven innocent, he was busy aggressively taking over England, however, Dace was free to do as he pleased in Wales and Cornwall...

Greenfire (Floo powder producers since 1930): + 10 000 Galleons/ Turn
--200 Employees payed 500 G/m on average
Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 10 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 750 G/m on average

Yet, it seems like he misjudged the amount of money necessary and had some leftover...

(Due to Dace's wish to stockpile resources for the Rampart, those Galleon generating businesses produce materials instead.)

[] Buy 'Dorf's Stonemasons': +24 Stone, +12/ turn
[] Buy 'Woodie's': +24 Wood , +12/ turn
[] Buy 'Gemma's Jewels': +12 Crystals, +12 Gems, +6/turn
[] Buy 'George's Inferno': +12 Mercury, +12 Sulfur, +6/turn

[Dace is advancing his master plan to corner the Welsh economy as well as ensuring his own autonomy.]

May 12th

-[x] Learning:
--[x] On the other hand, you could also brush up your management skills...(due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.)
---[x] Everyone has a price! Bribing Diplomacy is an important skill after all...
-[x] Learning:
--[x] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
---[x]Dragon nest plans [Takes 1 session] (reduced because you have a live dragon to experiment with)

Rolls:
75+5=80

Spring was in full bloom, and Dace decided it was warm enough to get out of his cave to do something productive instead. Like working on how he would extort people better. With dragons. They usually made up for a compelling argument, even if he owned them illegally.

37+5=42

Well, that was the plan, however, along the way, Dace got lost in the perilous world of legalese. In the end, he'd like to think he got better with his diplomacy, but he hasn't advanced a bit with dragons.

[Diplomacy skill acquired, no dragon taming yet.]

June 25th

-[x] Diplomacy:
--[x] Attend Academy graduation. You are, after all, the owner, founder and the one who funds the Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning, located in Cardiff. This will increase your chance of people with exceptional potential stepping up next year, such as Oliver and Miss Evans.

Rolled: 90 + 5 = 95

Surprisingly enough, Dace has been asked to speak in front of the students, since for once he bothered to come. Not willing to make a fool of himself, he accepted and gave out a speech about hope for the future, change and all that.
What was really amusing however, was that quite a lot of youngsters picked up on his double meanings. Next year's recruitment was bound to be interesting, if nothing else...

+20 to GASL unit production roll next turn.

That part was long, and I had to move from my apartment since the year is over, so my apologies if this is a bit late.

Nicaea · Jun 5, 2018

Turn 2 : Summer 1982

And the winner is...

[X]Maybe he could leverage some of this somehow?
[X] Yes, the fiery redhead has poor impulse control and a grudge.
[X] Tell her about the wedding
[X] Buy 'George's Inferno': +12 Mercury, +12 Sulfur, +6/turn

July 2nd 1982

[X]Maybe he could leverage some of this somehow?

His partners in crime were looking between his pensieve and him in disbelief.
"Run that by me again? 'Cause I think I heard something stupid right now, just to make sure." Oliver rubbed his forehead with one hand, the other making sure his charge didn't fall off his lap as he made his knee jump jump, making her laugh happily. Dace smiled thinly, before sitting back.

"But of course. Apparently, Albus Dumbledore met with a woman, the granddaughter of the seeress Cassandra Trelawney, and she gave him a prophecy. According to it, a child born at the end of the seventh month would be born soon, and that child will be the rival of a dark lord. Dumbledore and the Terrorist seemed convinced of its veracity and thus, seeked out families that fit the description, 'parents who thrice defied him'." He paused, remembering the scene, and remembering a particular clue. "I'm not sure about what Augusta did to the Terrorist before she died, but I know for a fact that the child wasn't marked. The boy was the only thing intact in this entire house."

"Which means 'the one with the power to defeat the dark lord' is still an unknown..." Elizabeth mused, before she frowned. " No, not quite. If as you think, that person isn't dead, they will come after the boy for revenge sooner or later, making the prophecy come true any ways. A mark can be interpreted as the target of an assassination, after all."

"True" Was Dace's answer to this input. "Prophecies don't like people meddling with it, so trying to influence it won't work, however, that does not mean we can't make use of the results..."

The problem was, they had no idea when this would happen.

But just because he didn't know how, didn't mean he didn't know anyone who did.

August 15th

[X] Buy 'George's Inferno': +12 Mercury, +12 Sulfur, +6/turn
[X] Yes, the fiery redhead has poor impulse control and a grudge.

After finalizing the purchase of a small chain of alchemical shops, Dace contacted a few people and learn that Lily went to a vacation in Orkney, where there was a rumor about a magical surge causing the emergence of magical breeds of plants. There were also tales of giant white towers and perpetual snow, but most people called them just that. Tales.
It seemed that Lily found what she wanted however, she was soon confronted to a sad fact: She had neither the resources, nor the creatures needed to have a functional Tower...
However, what made him raise an eyebrow was that it seemed Dumbledore noticed, and thus went to investigate. Of course as a concerned mentor figure he was, Dace decided to go there himself to ~~watch everything burn~~ monitor the situation. [Further options available on turn 2]

August 30th

[X] Tell her about the wedding

Well, Dace could say it was surprise, but he'd be lying. Rita, after all, could smell a scoop from miles away. The fact the bride was one of those who testified against the character of his (ex)daughter, and the groom one of his numerous success stories, added to the fact he'd be attending in person to a public event for the first time since the trial, were more than enough to attract some measure of attention from everyone.

On both sides.

Therefore, something had to be used as repellent, and he just know the person for the job.

Rita, of course, was overjoyed and immediately accepted his invitation.

September 12th, 1982

Possessions:

Gains:

-Animal (mundane and magical) Ranches : +45,000 Galleon (after salaries and charges), 1d6 Epic animal components/ Turn
-- 1000 Employees, payed 544 G/m on average.
Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 50, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 502 G/m on average
Greenfire (Floo powder producers since 1930): + 10 000 Galleons/ Turn
--200 Employees payed 500 G/m on average

Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 10 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 750 G/m on average

'George's Inferno': +6 Sulfur /turn, +6 Mercury /turn

Spendings:

Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning : -25,000 Galleon / turn , 1d6 – 3 Chance of Loyal Superior Unit, 1d100-95 chance of Loyal Hero Unit. (Muggleborn population : 95%)

Loan: 20,000 Galleons/turn (8 turns left)

Maintainance, taxes, salaries of the manor: 18,900 Galleons/turn (50 of them, 376 G/T on average)

Order funding: 20,000 Galleons/turn. (suspended)

= 46 100 Galleons / Turn

Gained:
46 100G
+6 Mercury
+6 Sulfur
+1 Crystal
D100: 8 : +1 Gem
D6: 4 : Jobberknoll feathers.
D6-3: 0 (2) :Nope
D100-95+20: 97-95+20 : 22 Heroic unit! 1D6: 6. Mysticism oriented.

Treasury:
78 600 Galleons
6 Mercury
6 Sulfur
2 Crystal
22 Gems

Skylight : A sapphire that seems to shine with an inner light. +10 to results if used to create items with [Life/Order] Attribute.
Nature Anchor: Allows to soak up a zone with Nature energy, necessary to build a Rampart.
Magic Book: (Need to translate to use)
Dragon Rearing book (Need to translate to use)
Dragon nest plans (Need to translate to use)

Ingredients:
Hydra venom
Chimera heartstrings
Jobberknoll feathersx4 (Truth and mind potion ingredients)
Inventory:
Cloak of Crystal: Gain 1 Crystal / turn (Value: 5000 G)
Still Eye of the dragon +1 Troops Morale, +1 Troops Luck (Value : 2000 G)
Quiet eye of the dragon +5 Troops attack damage, +5 Troops attack defense (Value : 2000 G)
Pendant of free will: Immune to mind magic and hypnosis. (Value 8000 G)

Event Roll: 58

The troglodyte attacks stopped when summer arrived, and the light with it. This was what truly marked the return of peace for the Wizarding world in the United kingdom. Not that any of it mattered to Dace, as he was currently reading a paper about a certain student at his academy who had a lot of promise. Her name was...

[] Sophia (Learning/Mysticism type; Pure researcher type, more likely to unearth lost secrets.)
[] Agatha (Stewardship/Mysticism type: More likely to generate economic oriented magic events.)
[] Jeanne (Martial/Mysticism type: More likely to generate battle magic related events.)

And she somehow managed to find the cause, even if she lacked the knowledge to name it, of the magical perturbations in Wales (yours truly) and England (The Overlord). According to the inquiries, it seems like she was brilliant enough that the Department of Mysteries is going to move and try to poach her if you don't snag her first. Considering her abilities and potential, she may grow up to become an excellent Mage (Mysticism adviser)...

[] See if you can hire her, standard contract.
-1000G/Turn (Salary)

[] There are rivals for her employment, see if you can't sweeten the deal a bit...
-1000G/Turn (Salary)
--4 000G
-+30 to hiring roll

[] Hiring her isn't enough, make sure she stays with state of the art equipment!
-1000G/Turn (Salary)
--10 000G
-+60 to hiring roll
-+20 to Mysticism Action rolls for the next 3 turns, down to +10 afterwards

(Available Galleons: 78 600)

In any case, besides finding himself help up to his standards, he had a lot of things to worry about. First thing being...

Rumor Mill: AP 2

Dumbledore's faction strikes again! For some reason, they decided to pool all of their resources and buy some land in the magical side of Northumbria.
[] Suspicious...(Event Roll: 39)

Today an old woman came to Dace, eyes white and blind. Well, she came to one of Dace's assistants and gave them a rolled piece of paper, which now lays on his desk. It was a map, well part of a map. Dace recognized it as a puzzle piece. After he tried to investigate the woman, all he found was another note. 'Look for the Obelisks.'
[] Looks like it's time for a good old fashioned treasure hunt. (Event Roll: 95)

Dace received an invitation to a gathering of intellectuals, headed by no one else that Tom Riddle himself. The letter said that he would not begrudge him his absence, due to his circumstances, but his presence would be appreciated.
[] Looks like you're going to talk potions once more. (Event Roll: 9)

A strange mist gathered in the sea, North of Cornwall. Strangely enough, dementors are not involved. Still, this is unusual, and with all the magic phenomena popping up left and right, one cannot help but wonder...
[] Investigate. This is almost next door to Dace's house. (Event Roll: 3)

And now begins...

Turn 2

Diplomacy: Adviser : Elizabeth Gwallawg : Actions : 2

Elizabeth mentionned she'd be less avaliable due to some shootings, but she's still here often enough that you can offlead some responsibilities to her.

[] Have a chat with Dumbledore. You've put it off long enough, and as much as you loathe the old man, he is a major player and you shouldn't let him run around unchecked. This will open up funding options.

[] Have a nice brunch with Lucius. After that unpleasantness following the fall of Voldemort, the poor man doesn't know who to trust. Neither do you, but hey, what's life without some friendly backstabbing?

[] Visit the Ministry, try to build up contacts. The people over there like you well enough, but you never know who you can meet, and what you can find.

[] Get yourself a XXXXX Class creature permit. Your very illegal pet dragon Is growing rather tall now, it won't take much for people to notice you have a flying, fire breating death machine behind your house. Costs 2000G

[] Attend Academy graduation. You are, after all, the owner, founder and the one who funds the Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning, located in Cardiff. This will increase your chance of people with exceptional potential stepping up, such as Oliver and Miss Evans.

[] Visit the Order faction. You're getting along well with Lily, and you think she'll need the support when Dumbledore and his little club will come visit. Who know what you can win from that ?

Stewardship: Advisor : Oliver Lapierre : Actions : 2

Oliver, for all of the one track mind he has, is quite efficient when he comes to administration. Of course, he'd rather become your researcher, but for now, he'll do as your steward.

[] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all. Costs 10 000 G. Gains variable.

[] Work on coordinating Your granddaughter's and your own shops. This should lessen some expenses while increasing profits for both. Costs 5 000 G.

[] The wandmaker Ollivanders noticed the sudden increase in magic around your house, mostly because bowtruckles love fairy eggs, and their presence reinforces trees, making them perfect for wands. You may be able to strike a deal with him. Or at least to get that damned tent away from your favorite petunia patch.

[] Find sources of building materials. Your contacts went out of business not that long ago, and you need good sources. Guaranteed access to Wood and Stone production facilities. Chance of getting access to Gem, Crystal, Sulfur or Mercury production facilities. Cost variable.

[] Takeover. You're well placed in your country, due to both luck and shrewd management. Now is the time to launch your attack and corner the potions market! Cost : 100 000 G

[] Real estate hunt. You have an anchor, you have some creatures, but you still need the place. Look for suitable lands to create your fortress on. Cost variable (10 000 – 50 000 G)

Martial: Actions : 1

This isn't really your cup of tea, and it kind of shows. However, luckily, a massive project has attracted your attention. You seriously hope you'll find someone to handle this for you soon.

[] Animal pens. Crudely explained, you need a place to store your dragon, his mothers, your pet dog wolf, his pack, and the fairies that are about to overrun the small woods near your manor. If you see one more of those giant bowtruckle things, you're fairly sure you won't be able to dislodge Ollivanders from your lawn.[May only be taken if the [Rampart: Find a suitable location]and [finding sources of building materials] actions are taken]. May only build one per turn for stealth reasons.

-[] Wolf den : Produces 10 Wolves / turn, 1 year after construction. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G
--[] Direwolf den: Produces 10 Direwolves / turn;, 1 year after construction. Replaces Wolf den. Costs 10 Wood, 3000 G
-[] Pixie huts: Produces 15 Pixies/turn, available immediately. Costs 20 Wood, 1000 G
--[] Sprite huts: Produces 15 Sprites / turn, available immediately. Replaces Pixie huts. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G
-[] Dragon Cliffs: Produces 1 Green dragon/ turn, 5 years after construction. [Needs [Dragon rearing book] and [Dragon nest plans] to be translated.] Costs 30 Stone, 20 Crystal, 20 000G
--[] Dragon Lair: Produces 1 Golden dragon/turn, 5 years after construction. Replaces Dragon Cliffs. Costs 30 Stone, 20 Crystal, 40 000G

[] Hire more security staff. -10 to enemy infiltration rolls. 2000G

[] Find yourself a Security Chief (Martial adviser). You need all the help. 5000G (+20 to roll)

[] But will that security chief be the best ? No. Try to poach an auror or two! Considering what they're doing with them and all the post-war budget cuts, they won't be missed. Costly. 7500G (+20 to roll)

Intrigue: Actions : 2 (1+ Intrigue over 25)

You're not sure you'll find anyone you trust with this to help you, save for your wife, but you need her more where she is right now.

[] Plots are good for your health! Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
-[] Dumbledore's little club of vigilantes.
-[] Voldemort's band of hooligans. Well, what remains of it, anyways.
-[] The Overlord of Chaos faction
-[] Lily Evans of Order faction

[] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people being arrested left and right...
-[] Plot to take over shops in Diagon Alley (England, London).
-[] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)

[] Compulsive plotting is also good for the morale!
-[] Go on a matchmaking spree. Chance to increase Diplomacy, RP with some people, reputation.
-[] Go on a trolling rampage an adventure! Chance to increase Intrigue, cripple enemies, RP with some people.

[] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
-[] Plot with Oliver: +10 to Stewardship action rolls (+2 RP with Oliver)
-[] Plot with Elizabeth : +10 to Diplomacy action rolls (SL MAX)
-[] Plot with Scáthach: +2 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1d2 Intrigue to base score . She's still a bit young, but better get started early!

Learning: Actions : 2 (1+Learning over 25)

You're not letting anyone not from your family handle those books. Ever. You'll have to wait until either Elizabeth finds herself a newfound passion for reading, or until little Scáthach decides paper isn't for eating and learns to read. You have a feeling the latter will come earlier.

[] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
-[]Dragon Rearing book [Takes 1 session]
-[]Dragon nest plans [Takes 1 session] (reduced because you have a live dragon to experiment with)
-[] Magic Book: [Takes 4 sessions]

[] Attend lessons to your own Academy. (due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.) Since you're the owner, you can attend for free.
-[] There were a few lectures about Herbalism...
-[] You don't believe in that meditation mumbo jumbo, but there are a few interesting applications you can think of...

[] On the other hand, you could also brush up your management skills...(due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.)
-[] With all of the things going on right now, you need to brush up on your Estates management.

Mysticism : Actions : 1 (2 if Adviser is hired)

It stings a bit that you're just on the lower spectrum of powerful, but you'll deal. Though, you'd really like it if someone could step up and help you with all of that, you've got too much work to do.

[] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2)
-[] Find a suitable location.
-[] Find a full roster of Nature-themed creatures. (Currently 3/7: Fairy line, wolf line and dragon line)
-[] Spare resources for the building: Pay 30 000 G, 30 wood, 30 stone. (0/30 000, 0/30, 0/30)
-[V] Investigate the ??? Anchor

Personal: Actions : 3 (1+Stewardship Advisor +Diplomacy Advisor) (+1 if Mysticism Adviser hired)

[] Spend time with:
-[] Scáthach. She is your heiress and granddaughter, even if she isn't really interested in your plots yet, she seems like a normal enough child, so you should pay attention to her, right? (+3 RP)
-[] Lucius. His wife and your heiress are rather close, especially since apparently, their son enjoys your daughter's company. And Narcissa wants a daughter. (+2 RP, Scáthach unlocks Draco Malfoy SL and gains 2RP)
-[] Lily. Your old apprentice is up to something, you want to make sure this won't get out of hand. (+2 RP)
-[] Oliver. You've thrown a lot of work his way, may as well make him feel appreciated, right? (+2 RP, SL Revealed)

[] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)

[] Extra action. Use you own free time to do stuff. (May only be taken once, may be used as substitute for AP)

Interlude: Choose 1:

[] The queen
[] The flower
[] White
[] The Necromancer
[] Determination
[] The storm

Remember that roll 99 event in the Rumor mill? Well, that was the homm holding, which Lily converted to a Tower. It was a 99, after all. I'll repeat once more, 50 is neutral 50+ is better, 50- is worse, the more extreme, the better/worse. Of course, if you choose the highest, you get goodies, but if you choose the lowests, you get to not be blindsided when the situation explodes... This year's rumor mill did not favor you. Sorry about the lateness, I've fallen ill and try to recuperate. As promised, you may choose your interlude. Some are obvious, others not. HOMM stats will only be available when the rampart is a thing, by the way.

Nicaea · Jun 7, 2018

Interlude: The Necromancer : Youth

He'd always known he was different, destined for greatness.

After all, didn't all the best and brightest heroes come from nothing? Everyone likes cheering for the underdog, that's a fact.

So in this regard, his own humble beginnings would be the start of his own legend.

His mother died giving birth to him, the cause being in part due to the damage his birth caused to her, she was too proud to beg fro help from the muggles that could have saved her, and in part due to heartbreak, she had brought it upon herself, desiring something out of her reach and forcefully acquiring his father's affections.

Looking at it now, he'd never forgive her for the latter.

Heartbreak syndrome, the illness each and every child conceived when one of the parents is dozed with a love potion. Depending on the strength, some emotions become unavailable for them, the more powerful the potion, the more emotions out of grasp. As a child conceived under a strengthened version of Amortentia, most of the emotions related to affection were out of his reach.

At first he didn't care, watching Billy crying over his rabbit only made him both satisfied and disgusted that the boy would make such a scene for such a trivial matter. He constantly felt tired, like a fish too big for its bowl. From this frustration, his power was born, and this was the happiest day of his life, he really was special, not just an 'emotionless freak'!

However, he really should have known better, as he watched his wardrobe burn. A new world opened itself to him, where he was 'normal'... The thought horrified him to the core. Being only one face among the crowd, a speck on the tapestry of history, merely noted before sinking into oblivion...

He didn't want that.

He wouldn't accept that.

So he threw himself, body and soul within his studies, he became the best, using the looks he herited from his muggle father to ingratiate himself to the student population, layers upon layers of manipulations to use the situation to his advantage, and by his fifth year, he became 'special' again, Tom Riddle, the best, most beloved student of Hogwarts. The hunger within his soul soothed by the adoration of his fellow students. Then came his sixth year...

Red was all he saw.

Th-thmp.

Glorious red curls, pale, flawless skin, emerald green eyes, a smile that could light up a whole room and an aura that made people want to come close, like moths to a flame.

Th-thmp.

Anastasia Rizona was a half-blooded witch who came to England to escape from the war, her Italian heritage playing against her, and yet, within half a week, she had every student eating out of her hands.

This was illogical.

He couldn't understand at that time.

A burning feeling spread through his chest, bis breath came short, and soon, his mind became filled with thoughts of her. He tried everything to get rid of that disease, potion antidotes, counterspells, even talking to Slughorn and nothing helped. Time passed, and he felt as if his very soul was being burnt out. The agony was overtaking everything, and yet, he couldn't bring himself to hurt her.

Which is why he called in something that would.

For you see, he truly was a 'special' person.

He was the descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself! He found the secret room he left to his descendants, had access to his knowledge and the guardian of the room. For some reason it was deeply amused about hearing his dilemma, but was gracious enough not to comment on it.

The attacks began, Slytherin house became isolated, and finally his peace came back, letting him think more clearly than he ever could for the last year.

It took a bit of soul searching, but he realized two major truths about himself: He could only have a semblance of happiness if he was at the very top, adorated by all, and he was terrified of dying. Death was a horrifying concept, where everything ended and was made equal, no matter who you were, or what you did. Of course, he decided, this was utterly unacceptable, the cold fingers of fear gripping the back of his head. He began to look for ways, and all but one were fruitless.

Horcruxes were a strange point. On paper it seemed like it was a good idea, put his soul into an object so that even the body is destroyed, one could stil resurrect. However, if it was that efficient, why wouldn't more dark wizards use it? Where was Herpo the foul? Emeric the Evil? If Horcruxes were the key of eternity, why did all of the people rumored to use it disappear mysteriously? Was there a secret price to pay for it that he wasn't aware of? Conflict raged within his mind, not helped by the fact that he finally found his father, only to be rejected by him.

So focused he was on his research, that he stopped organizing attacks, and the worst happened.

Anastasia noticed him.

She began hounding him, green eyes knowing too much, she was everywhere he went, escape was impossible, and the flames came back with her, causing his mind and very magic to run into directions he'd rather them not to.

How was he feeling today?

What did he think of muggles?

Did he know anything about the Heir of Slytherin?

Hey hey, how about they went to study together?

Half of him was screaming at the tops of its imaginary lungs to run away.
The other half just nodded dumbly to her requests.

The world around him was swirling, similar to the chaotic state of his mind, until he couldn't bear it anymore and ran away to his last sanctuary, where he lay for hours, maybe days, trying to calm the fever down. Tha'ts when he saw her.

She'd even followed him here.

An unbidden anger rose within him, at the same time the emotions only her could call out did.

She spoke to him gently about how she wouldn't say anything, that she was sorry she didn't notice he was so tired, that she worried about him. That she loved him, despite knowing about who he was and what she did.

Tom broke.

He didn't remember what happened, the snake would explain it to him later, but when he woke up, it was to Anastasia laying dead on the ground, his hands around her throat. A hysterical laughter came from his mouth as a void he forgot reappeared, devouring him from the inside as if to compensated for its one year long absence. That's when he decided to do it.

His very first Horcrux. However, it was impossible, for regret was the only thing in his mind, this wasn't a cold blooded murder where he was in control, this was him killing the girl he 'loved' in a fit of madness, he realized. If the fire of 'love' was hard to bear, the pain of loss was even worse, and so he went ahead and did the unthinkable. He spent three days doing nothing but checking the formula, altering it and making sure the body was preserved by the spells. Then,he got the girl's wand and did it.

This was the most pain he ever felt, as his five senses got cut off from him.

It felt like he waited for years, in fact, this probably was the case, before somebody picked him up. Getting them to use him enough for him to overtake them was trivial, he was in a wand after all. After he woke up, savoring having senses again, he tried to think about what he should do and came to a blank.

The original gave up on his name and appearence, fashioning himself into a Dark Lord following some asinine quest for pure blood supremacy, so he supposed he could take thosa for himself instead. The pitiful wizard he took over was from a very old family, and had some written knowledge about the past.

Tom Riddle reappeared into society as a scholar, and wasn't Dumbledore ever so shocked to learn of it, a small, vindictive part of his mind whispered into his mind. His connections didn't fail him, and in less than half a day, he found himself staring up at his original self. Red eyes, bald and skin pale as death. He really was ugly. The Original gave him the mission to continue investigating Death, so he did.

At some point, the Original brought him the body of Anastasia, and he discovered it was filled with something. A strange magic, that somehow allowed some part of her to remain even after death. After that, he was like a shark who smelled blood in the water and experimented on the corpse, until an accidental bout of mind magic revealed memories that had him floored.

His world was fictional.

He then proceeded to repress it, to instead concentrate on the knowledge it gave.

This body was filled with the blessing of the Love goddess Aphrodite, and Anastasia used it to try and seduce him. He felt a bit betrayed, but in her situation he'd do the same, besides, he already killed her and was defiling her corpse, so he wasn't really upset. If anything, he was grateful to her, because she opened the way to several ways to accomplish his objective. After all, if there's one thing those American muggle comics taught him, it's that taking what scares you and using it for your own purposes is exceedingly efficient.

Holding a black cube in his hand, he chanted in a black tongue forgotten to man for millenia, the sky darkened, the stone blackened, and the preserved corpse of Anastasia spasmed on the stone table, empty eyes opening as bony hands began digging their way out of the ground.

"Good morning to you, Anastasia." He spoke out smoothly. "Do you understand your mission?"

The death knight smiled and bowed.

"I do, my beloved master."

Today, he was investigating the members of the Order of the Phoenix, starting with the one apparently married to a Death eater. Then, as he saw her, a familiar heat in his chest began to rise. Not as violent as the previous one, but enought to pique his interest.

A smirk spread on his lips. Looks like it was time for him to start a collection.

The moral of the story : Don't try to mindwhammy the dark wizard into being in 'love' with you. It'll only spook him. Nobody likes it when dark wizards become spooked. Especially if what he feels isn't 'love'.

At the beginning, it was going to be 'stupid reincarnate tries to relive her favorite romance fanfiction and get shanked by younger Tom Riddle', but it wouldn't generate enough chaos. So instead you get this.

Now, all the implications in this interlude, We wonder if you can find them all~

PS: Heartbreak Syndrome is something We invented, because We thought the whole "Evil since birth" thing is a cop out and reserved to the Overlad.

Nicaea · Jun 7, 2018

Turn 2.1 : September 1982 - June 1983

And the winning plan is...

Hero
-[X] Agatha (Stewardship/Mysticism type: More likely to generate economic oriented magic events.)
-[X] Hiring her isn't enough, make sure she stays with state of the art equipment!

Event
-[X] Investigate. This is almost next door to Dace's house. (Event Roll: 3)
-[X] Looks like you're going to talk potions once more. (Event Roll: 9)

Diplomacy
-[X] Get yourself a XXXXX Class creature permit. Your very illegal pet dragon Is growing rather tall now, it won't take much for people to notice you have a flying, fire breating death machine behind your house. Costs 2000G
-[X] Have a nice brunch with Lucius. After that unpleasantness following the fall of Voldemort, the poor man doesn't know who to trust. Neither do you, but hey, what's life without some friendly backstabbing?

Stewardship
-[X] The wandmaker Ollivanders noticed the sudden increase in magic around your house, mostly because bowtruckles love fairy eggs, and their presence reinforces trees, making them perfect for wands. You may be able to strike a deal with him. Or at least to get that damned tent away from your favorite petunia patch.
-[X] Work on coordinating Your granddaughter's and your own shops. This should lessen some expenses while increasing profits for both. Costs 5 000 G.

Martial
-[X] Find yourself a Security Chief (Martial adviser). You need all the help. 5000G (+20 to roll)

Intregue
-[X] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
--[X] Plot with Scáthach: +2 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1d2 Intrigue to base score . She's still a bit young, but better get started early!
-[X] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people being arrested left and right...
--[X] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)

Learning
-[X] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
--[X]Dragon Rearing book [Takes 1 session]
-[X] On the other hand, you could also brush up your management skills...(due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.)
--[X] With all of the things going on right now, you need to brush up on your Estates management.

Mysticism
-[X] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2)
--[X] Find a suitable location.
--[X] Find a full roster of Nature-themed creatures. (Currently 3/7: Fairy line, wolf line and dragon line)

Personal
-[X] Spend time with:
--[X] Scáthach. She is your heiress and granddaughter, even if she isn't really interested in your plots yet, she seems like a normal enough child, so you should pay attention to her, right? (+3 RP, SL unlocked)
--[X] Lily. Your old apprentice is up to something, you want to make sure this won't get out of hand. (+2 RP)
--[X] Oliver. You've thrown a lot of work his way, may as well make him feel appreciated, right? (+2 RP, SL Revealed)

-[X] Extra action. Use you own free time to do stuff. (May only be taken once, may be used as substitute for AP)
--[X] Looks like it's time for a good old fashioned treasure hunt. (Event Roll: 95)

September 10th 1982

-[X] Agatha (Stewardship/Mysticism type: More likely to generate economic oriented magic events.)
-[X] Hiring her isn't enough, make sure she stays with state of the art equipment!

The meeting took place in mid-September. The young lady had, of course, been really enthusiastic to receive your personnal invitation and easily agreed to your request, which lead Dace to sit in his comfortable office at the academy.
What he should have expected though, was the scrawny, mousy, plain looking wizard currently trying to murder him with his eyes sitting on the other chair in the room. At least there was the heavy oaken desk between the two of them, and he was confident enough in his physical shape that he could break the other wizard in two bare handed if need be. However, the problem was that the man was a recruiter for the English Department of Mysteries, therefore he probably knew much more about dark magic than he did.
Agatha had a rather striking appearence, with vivid blond hair and massive glasses. He also had a rather thick german accent and the tendancy to make ample movements when explaining something. She was currently beaming at both of them, her legal guardian, an aging woman with grey hair looking at them sternly.
After a moment to put his thoughts in order, Dace decided to open the negociations.

"As you may have surmised," He started, hands folded on his desk, where everybody could see them "the talent exhibited by the young Agatha was impressive enough to attract the attention of several parties, and I therefore decided that it would be the best for everyone involved to solve this problem now?"

The man nodded stiffly, which made Dace smile a bit. For him to be so rattled, something had to have happened at the ministry, he'd need to look into that, eventually. In any case, he decided to be polite and let the other man make his offer first.

"Hm. Yes, well, everything is in this contract. We can't tell you exactly what you will be working on before you sign the agreement, of course, but it has to do with your paper on the emergence of those 'magical singularities'."

A discrete look at the mirror on Dace's side allowed him to read the contents of the contract. It was a fairly standard ministry contract, with wages quite inferior to yours, but with a substantial starting bonus. The fact that she would be allowed to consult their archives and study their prototypes was also very attractive...
The girl looked at Dace in a conflicted manner and he smiled magnanimously, before reaching for his own piece of parchment, secured inside his drawer, and with practiced ease slid it in front of them. The girl's eyes bulged as her mouth opened, and the ministry man choked on his spit.
A thousand galleons per year was a lor more than a regular ministry official earned. Dace even heard about a deparment head that earned less (was it something about muggles?).
What really sold it though was the ten thousand galleons of budget to get herself started on her research, and the names of the foremost artesans who could help her build the contraptions necessary to practice her craft. Not everyone had Ollivanders on call, it seems. Then there was the fact that Dace would allow her free reign of the Academy grounds provided it didn't disturb the classes...

"Ah.. Erm, it's a bit..." She was clearly staggered, therefore, it was time to go for the kill. Thanking Oliver for his hard work, he reached inside a pouch at his belt, adn got a golden item the size of his fist. He raised it od the sunlight hit it, causing it to shine brightly and project rainbows on the walls.

"I understand that my offer may seem... Underwhelming. However, as the owner of one of those 'Magical singularities', I am very interested in what you would find out, should you be allowed contact with them..."

"Wh-What?" Was the girl's only answer as she was staring at the scale, almost hypnotized. "That's a dragon scale..." She whispered in realization.

"Indeed." He answered smoothly, delighting in the fact he could almost hear the other man's teeth grinding together.

The girl blinked a bit, then jumped on the pen and signed your contract hastily. Then she looked ar you with an almost uncomfortably intense gaze, amber eyes sparkling wildly, and spoke out once more with a lower, throatier voice.

"Show me."

He would have to be careful here, too much intellectual stimulation and his nonexistent chastity may be in danger here.

Agatha Hired!

+1 Mysticism action
+1 Personal action
+30 to Mysticism actions until turn 5
+10 to Mysticism actions afterwards

October 14th 1982

Event
-[X] Investigate. This is almost next door to Dace's house. (Event Roll: 3)

It took a bit of preparation, but this time, you managed to start your investigation at the same moment an Auror patrol was scheduled, and Dace convinced them to let him accompany them. Not even ten minutes off the shores, he found a spot of fog just hovering still over the water. However, what was so wrong about it was its stillness. No matter how much the wind blew, it didn't move an inch. Several spells were used, to no avail, it was completely placid, and the water around it might as wall have been replaced by oil with how calm it was.

Deciding enough was enough, Dace got his wand out and moved it in random patterns, gathering his concentration. View Air was a spell he could cast as long as he was holding the unknown book and he could cast it wandlessly, however, with so many people around him, it was unwise to reveal that. Wind gathered around him and, unknown to him, his blue eyes shone green as he was finishing the spell and aimed it at the fog. A massive gust of wind hit the fog and a deafening bell like sound rang, causing the aurors to put their hands to their ears. The spell wasn't enought to breach the barrier and lift the fog, however, it wasn't its objective.

Dace got a parchment off his back in an almost dazed manner and put his wand on it. Dark lines spread from the tim, flowing along the paper and turning int shapes. What the aurors, who were gathering around him, saw was a map that showed an island hidden by the fog.

However, what was wrong with this island was what it held. Cursed temple producing Skeleton warriors, Estates holding vampires, a fog generating tower, ans, more importantly, a fort decorated with skulls, made with blackened stone and metal fashioned in deadly spikes. Add to that the foule energy around the air that he could feel and that made his hackles rise and he knew what they were looking out.

"Necropolis." Dace hissed, all semblance of control gone in face of this.. Abomination. The detached part of his mind knew Dace wouldn't normally be too offended by that, however, Natural energy was an energy of Life, and therefore was inclined to be hostile to Death.

"What was that, Mr Gwallawg? Do you know something about it?" an Auror, the leader of the group looked at him in surprise and suspicion.

Dace looked at the fog once more and wille dhis boat to back off, slowly.

"This is the dwelling of the Necromancers and Death knights, a place where all that lives is perverted and trapped into the eternal torment of undeath, feeding the army of corpses that has no other choice than obeying to their masters." His voice was low, an animalistic growl at the back of his throat expressing his anger.

A Necropolis, less than three hours from his house.

That was unacceptable.

A shiver shoot up his spine and almost on reflex, he cast another spell, Haste and his boat shoot through the water, barely avoiding the poisonous green blast that hit the other boats. Once it dissipated, what they saw made the younger aurors ill. The spells hit the ones who stayed behind an they fell on the boats, screamin gin agony. Flesh was falling off their bones, melting and gathering ot the boat's floors in dark puddles, but somehow, their bones were still moving, the poisonous green energy coiling around them like snakes before seeping deep into the bones.

They all stopped moving, and the stillness of the water spread. Dace cursed and continued moving the boat to keep away from the stillwater. He didn't know what was this sorcery, but it was obviously very bad. Another chill had him shouting to go down, flattening himself to the boat's ground ant another explosion made him shake, feeling nauseous. A quick look around revealed thay all headed his warning, and a clattering noise had him looking ahead.

The skeletons of the dead aurors were all rising as one, their skills slowly turning towards them, dead orbits animated with a poisonous green light.

Dace bit back a few choice insults that came to his mind and looked at the visibly shaken head auror next to him.

"Gentlemen, I suggest we flee."

While they nodded vigorously, it was a fact that apparition didn't work. A spell came to Dace's mind, however, it was costly and would leave him weakened.

"I can destroy those things, but that will leave me unable to power the motion spell on the boat. Does anyone know it?" A lithe woman nodded hesitantly, which was enough for him.

"Very well." He aimed his wand at it and concentrated on the Destroy Undead his spell tome gave him. Another gust of wind rose, slamming into the creatures and pulverizing the dozens of skeletons that were on the boats. A shrill scream rang throught the air and the fog parted, revealing another skeleton, clad in ornate robes, a staff laying uselessly to its side as its arms crumbled. Then, as ti fell and turned into dust, Dace fell to his knee, breathing heavily, his head spinning. The well of power inside of him was almost empty now, and his consciousness faded...

...

He woke up to what seemed to be Saint Mungos, the Mediwizard attending to him shouting outside of the room. Few moments later, he was blinking blearily as severam robed people enrered the room, some of those people aurors that were in the boat with him, led by a man with a lion-like mane of tawny hair, yellowish green eyes behind golden framed glasses and an insigna over his right breast.
Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office was staring down at him, eyes boring into his skull as if to unearth his secrets. There was a tense silence, before he finally spoke out.

"Mr Gwallaws. On behalf of the Ministry and the Auror Office, I would like to give you my sincerest gratitude for your heroic actions of two days ago." Two days huh. Dace thought it would take at least a week. Then he checked the date and realized with horror that he missed the wedding. "However." The man raised his voice, having found out that Dace was distracted. "Your knowledge of what happened here was considered suspicious for some members of the Ministry..."

Dace snorted.

"Department of Mysteries is probably still sore I got the one they went at such lengths to hire."

Scrimgeour cleared his throat before continuing.

"It would go a long way to restore the trust to explain what you know and why."

"How rude. Are you saying I'm not an esteemed member of the society anymore because I did my duty as a citizen?" Dace put his hands over his heart in fake hurt, making the other man's eyebrow twitch, before he let them fall with an inscrutable expression instead. " As you should know, our library is the most expansive in all of Britain, second to none. Not even Hogwarts." He stated." As an avid reader, I found myself perusing those tomes frequently until one day, I found a book telling stories of war, magic and creatures unknown. I chalked them up as tales, however, I have met thrice with signs that those legends have at least some amount of truth to them."

Leonine eyes narrowed as the man bit out. "Thrice?"

"Thrice."Dace nodded." The first time was the dragon gathering in Wales. The second one was the troglodyte invasion of London, the third one was the Necropolis. The tales spoke of five magical factions and one nonmagical. Nature, Order, Life, Chaos, Death, and Barbarian. After investigating some more, I have managed to identify most, if not all of those faction leaders and where they are based, even if the Overlord behind those troglodytes still eludes me, seeing that they are most likely based underground."

"I see." The Department head finally spoke out. "This is troubling." He didn't know half of it. "We are indebted enough to you as is" It seemed to hurt him to ask a known Welsh nationalist for help, it seemed." however, is there any way to ask that you lend those books and your knowledge to the Ministry?"

What are you ready to loan to the ministry? (Recompenses may vary.)
[] Nothing, there are spies everywhere and the Ministry can't guarantee your or your books' safety.
[] Don't help them yourself, you're a busy, frain old man, even if you don't look the part.
[] Don't send them books. Claim that the conservation charms won't protect them outside of the library
[] Some of the books. The less incriminating, only descriptions, no technical knowledge beyond how to deal with Chaos and Death creatures.
[] Help them yourself. The Ministry has no faction backing them up right now and will be easily wiped out if nobody steps up. -1 Personal action.
[] Write-in. (Within reason, I reserve the right to ignore them if OOC)

"And those spells!" The female auror blurted out. "The spells you used were nothing I ever saw!"

Scrimgeour silenced her with a glare before turning towards you with a raised eyebrow and Dace shook his head.

"Family magic, I'm afraid."

That brought a frown to the auror's face. However Dace was currently busy cursing in his mind. It was much too early to drop the masquerade and reveal himself. As is, he'd need to Either use Oliver as a figurehead for the Nature faction, or convince Lily to cover for him in order to keep people away from him.

Event results:

Dace starting exp : 92
Fight results: Victory!
Exp gained: 264 (mobs) +500 (Enemy Hero defeated) = 764
Current exp: 856/1000

The ministry is aware of the Necromancer's existence, subversion now impossible., relationship down from neutral to hostile towards them.
The Order of the Phoenix is now aware of the Necromancer's existence., relationship down from neutral to hostile towards them.
The Overlord is now aware of the Necromancer's existence.
Lily Evans is now aware of the Necromancer's existence., relationship down from neutral to hostile towards them.
The Necromancer is now aware of your existence.
You have a Necromancer stronghold in your backyard, and it seems they're here to stay.
Your secrecy in endangered.

October 23rd, 1982

-[X] Looks like you're going to talk potions once more. (Event Roll: 9)

Well, at least, that's what you intended. Then, after a row of scouting, you discovered the drinks were poisoned, and undead were crowling underneath the building and decided to run away as politely as you could. Considering who was doing the inviting, and what happened to the other invited people, the Necromancer is most likely Tom Riddle himself, which is very worrying considering your encounter last year...
You now know that Tom Riddle is the Necromancer, what do you do with this information?
[] Send it to the faction leaders directly. The masquerade is broken.
[] Have those messages sent anonymously to the faction leaders. Some may ignore it, but your secrecy is safe.
[] Write-in. (Within reason, I reserve the right to ignore them if OOC)

November 2nd, 1982

-[X] Get yourself a XXXXX Class creature permit. Your very illegal pet dragon Is growing rather tall now, it won't take much for people to notice you have a flying, fire breating death machine behind your house. Costs 2000G

Money was what made the world go round, and that saying proved true once more today, with the proof safely tucked into your personal vault. What you didn't expect though, was Ollivanders and Scrimgeour chatting in front of your house. The man looked at you with an unimpressed stare.
"Dragons." His voice was mixed with disbelief, and it was at moments like that that Dace was glad that he bothered to cover his bases.
"They're a very good thief deterrent." He admitted shamelessly, as one of Sigurd's nannies raised her reptilian head from behind his manor and stared at the trespassers before growling lightly, sparks coming out of her snout.
Scrimgeour's bushy eyebrow was twitching. The man was surprisingly fun to rile up.

You got your permit, therefore they can't touch you or your dragons! Just in time.

November 17th, 1982

-[X] Have a nice brunch with Lucius. After that unpleasantness following the fall of Voldemort, the poor man doesn't know who to trust. Neither do you, but hey, what's life without some friendly backstabbing?

Malfoy manor looked like the result of one persone trying to cram as much luxuries per square meter as possible, to the point some of it was downright gaudy. Seriously, the white marble flooring was veined with native gold of all things...It was a certainly impressive, and a bit intimidating testament to the Malfoy's vauted ability to gather riches. The man himself was waiting for you, almost anxiously, and rose up immediately to shake your hands as you entered his living room.

"Dace, it's good to see you again."
"You saw me three weeks ago as I was getting that dragon license." Dace jested, letting his host lead him towards the seats.
"You know what I mean." Of course he did, support from one such as him was certainly instrumental for the man to be found innocent.
"I doubt someone like you would make such a bad business decision and decide to follow that crazy terrorist when he hasn't even proven himself as a leader." The older answered mildly, savoring the flinch of the younger one.
"True..." Was his only answer. Dace wondered if he should speak about his family before thinking better of it. This could be considered as a threat and undo most of his work on the younger man.
"Well, enough about those dreary subjects, let's talk about better things. Like business." He changed the subject rather obviously, to the relief of Lucius. "Good help is hard to find nowadays, I had to open a school to finally find some!"
"Yes, I heard about your standards. However, isn't five Optimal in your academy's Newt equivalent a bit excessive?"
"No, no it isn't. It is the same reason I'm not employing house elves, I know my worth, and I'm not about to settle for anything but the best for me and my family. A man's worth is reflected by those who follow him after all." A dubious glance was sent to the house elf wearing a dirty washcloth that had a deer in the headlight expression on its face, then Dace nodded at it while the other man grimaced in distaste and the elf disappeared. "Besides, they're much prettier to look at." He finally added, this time getting a disbelieving look.
They made a bit more small talk, and it seems that Lucius is warming up to the system Dace tries to put in place for muggleborns. Whether it is because purebloods still get an advantage or because he hates them less is up to him though.

+2 RP with Lucius, Lucius' acceptance of muggleborns increased, respect to Voldemort diminished.

December 20th, 1982

-[X] The wandmaker Ollivanders noticed the sudden increase in magic around your house, mostly because bowtruckles love fairy eggs, and their presence reinforces trees, making them perfect for wands. You may be able to strike a deal with him. Or at least to get that damned tent away from your favorite petunia patch.

It was finally time, Dace narrowed his eyes in front of the tent planted where his poor petunias used to be, to do something about the eccentric wandmaker.

"Ah, Mister Gwallawg." He turned around towards the old man, pale eyes staring at something Dace couldn't see. "I never sold you a wand, none of them ever reacted to you." The bowtruckle in his hair waved at Dace before returning earing the fairy egg it held, while Ollivander looked at the wand held loosely by the owner of the land. "May I?"

Dace shrugged and gave it to him. The man took it and stared, hemming and hawing as fingers prodded at it and he used spells such as measuring and weighting ones.

"A most intriguing wand. 13 inches, supple, Cedar wood and dragon heartstring. A very powerful wand, destined for someone that shouldn't be crossed. Very well maintained. I assume you polish it every month?" At his nodded, he hummed some more. " And who would be the creator of this? The work is much too fine to be one of Gregorovich and too unusual to be one from Antonin's."
"That would be my mother." The younger man answered and Ollivander stilled. His eyes rose from the wand to Dace's eyes instead.
"Bridget always had a talent for this. She died too young." An old pain ran in his eyes. "A talent that she said ran in your family." Then, he continued a bit more uncertainly. "Has she left any more of those?"
"Yes, she did. They're in the vault." Dace continued, a bit uncomfortable with the situation. "... Would you like to see them?" He asked after hesitating a moment.
A slight smile appeared on the wandmaker's lips.
"Yes... Yes, I would like that very much." The bowtruckle on his head trilled almost happily, ans the forest animated itself. Dace was about to turn around to see what was happening, but the man's hand gripped his wrist like a steel vice.
"Then let us go, young Dace." His pale eyes glittered maniacally, leaving the younger man to wonder if the other man wasn't crazier than first expected.

You didn't get Ollivanders to move out! But you bonded together over your dead mother! Garrick Ollivander SL unlocked, discovered Dace's weakness to crazy old men, the forest behind your house is behaving strangely...

January 10th, 1983

-[X] Work on coordinating Your granddaughter's and your own shops. This should lessen some expenses while increasing profits for both. Costs 5 000 G.

The whole place was a mess. No, more than a mess, that place was a dump. Grossly overpaid unqualified purebloods, almost unpaid, unqualified muggleborns, overworked soil, ridiculous prices, this was an insult to you and everything you stood for! And worse, this happened with almost all of the shops Dace found. The potionner soul inside of him was screaming bloody murder, and he was of the same mind, before remembering he already murdered Rosier.

Retroactive murder for efficiency's sake? He could get along with that.

In any case, it took a lot of work and more gold than previously estimated, but after he invited Horace Slughorn and a few other potion makers to witness the chaos Rosier's and Lestrange's monopoly had brought, it was either he got to burn this place to the ground and remake it to his standards, or they were all storming the ministry. There was that crazy woman toting around greek fire flasks and a worrying light in her eyes who volunteered her services fo free.

In the end, things went his way and he got all of the permits necessary to turn this mess into something acceptable. He even got some of his money back (10 000 G). However, this venture revealed a crucial detail: He forgot that not everyone could afford studies after Hogwarts, and therefore, he should do something about it.
At least Horace approved of his actions and invited him to his salons more frequently? The poor man got paranoid after learning he only escaped death back in October because he was down with the flu on that day.

Lost 60 000 G.

Horace Slughorn SL Unlocked

Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 50, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 502 G/m on average
Upgraded to
Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 60, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 550 G/m on average

Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 10 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 750 G/m on average
Upgraded to
Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 30 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 770 G/m on average

Do you implement a scholarship system? Academy results will be improved depending on choice.
[]No things are fine as they are
[] Yes, 5 000 G/Turn
[] Yes, 10 000 G/Turn
[] Yes, 15 000 G/Turn

February 6th, 1983

-[X] Find yourself a Security Chief (Martial adviser). You need all the help. 5000G (+20 to roll)

Dace found himself in quite the conundrum. In front of it was the man he though to hire initially, a nondescript man who used to be the leader of a mercenary band, and the there was Scrimgeour sipping tea calmly, sitting in one of his sofa with the infamous Madeye, pink scars on his face indicating he got injured, again.

"Please explain again why you're here?" Was all he could say when Scrimgeour browbeat his way into this meeting.
"As a person of interest to the ministry, you need more protection. As such, we have arranged for an auror to help keep you safe. Moody here got gravely injured fighting a minotaur and I thought having him organize your security would be an acceptable retirement plent for him." The man answered placidly.

What will Dace do?

[] Hire Mad Eye Moody:
The best among the aurors, your manor may as well be unpenetrable as long as he's here
Elite martial trainer: he churned out more duellists than Slughorn did potioneers
Divided loyalties: He's a member of the Order, and a ministry spy. Don't expect your secrets to remains so, unless you manage to subvert him.
Scrimgeour will stop stalking you.
+1 Martial action
+1 Personal action
-1000 G/Turn

[] Hire Jason Swallows:
As a mercenary, he's pretty generic, however, he's got a good grasp of defense.
Martial trainer: He's good to teach the basics of combat and fitness
Loyal: As long as you pay him, he's your man, and nobody else's
Scrimgeour will double down on the stalking.
+1 Martial action
+1 Personal action
-1500 G/Turn

[] Who guards the guards? Hire both:
-2500 G/turn
Jason will keep an eye on Moody, your secrets will be much safer.
Moody will train Jason.
Scrimgeour will grumble but accept your decision
You get the benefits of both.

March 22nd, 1983

-[X] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
--[X] Plot with Scáthach: +2 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1d2 Intrigue to base score . She's still a bit young, but better get started early!
-[X] Spend time with:
--[X] Scáthach. She is your heiress and granddaughter, even if she isn't really interested in your plots yet, she seems like a normal enough child, so you should pay attention to her, right? (+3 RP)

Once again, they were in his study, reading another book. Scathach now could speak fluently and even read a word or two, so they were training her on that while he was also doing his paperwork. Sitting once again on his laps, she was looking at the book dubiously before looking up at her grandfather.
"Grandpa, why to you tell lots of people to do the same thing, if it only one person to be done?" She asked, obviously confused by the main character's latest scheme. Dace laughed quietly and hoisted her up a bir, so that she could see what he was doing.

"That's simple. If you have a plan, you always need several backups, because there are always chances that your primary plans fail."

The little girl tilted her head. "Why?"

He got a few papers out and showed her the contents.

"This time is a good example. Let us see. Once upon a time, there was a war against ... let us say Mortimer." Scáthach giggled as he wrote the name on the paper. "Now, Mortimer isn't really all there, and he decided part of the population was evil, because he said so." He drawed a circle that he slashed once, then two arrows coming from Mortimer to the two halves.

"But that's stupid!" She exclaimed, earning herself a pat on the head.

"Yes it is, but as I said, Mortimer is crazy." He then made an arrow coming from one half of the circle to the other. "However, for some reason, some people follow him in his way and them to start persecuting that part of the population. Do you understand me so far?"

"Yes Grandpa!"

"Good girl. Now, however, imagine that Mortimer dies." He crossed the name off the paper " All his followers will be tracked down and arrested, losing most of their assets to the government, the same government his followers infiltrated. So, in the end, who get their assets?"

"The followers?" She scrunched her nose in intense concentration.

"Exactly. In the end, the bad guys don't lose anything. Now, there is a family that specializes in selling finished products. They require a ot of components to make said products. Here is the fact: One of those family serving the terrible Mortimer sells those components. There are only two of them alive, and soon they will die out. Rather than letting this go to waste, there are different ways to go and get their assets. First, have them marry into the family, since they'll be dead soon, you inherit. Second, get friends in the government so that you ge to buy it once they die. Third, if there are laws about it, honor duel them about some thing or another."

"That's not very nice." Interrupted Scáthach.

"No it is not." Smiled her grandfather. "But all is fair in war, they would do much worse." He touched her nose, making her cross eyed. " Perhaps our means are not honorable some times, but we are far from rabid dogs either. Kindness is good, but kindness without the power behind to back it up is nothing more than another form of cruelty. That's the very basis of pragmatism, to be able to see things clearly, and act on it following the most efficient manner."

The little girl nodded, committing the words to memory. Her dear grandfather omitted all of the murdering and the blackmail involved in that kind of business, after all, she might be a bit too young for that...

+5 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 2 intrigue

April 13th, 1983

-[X] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people being arrested left and right...
--[X] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)

With the things calming down, nobody's selling. Such a shame.

Failure.

April 22nd, 1983

-[X] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
--[X]Dragon Rearing book [Takes 1 session]
-[X] On the other hand, you could also brush up your management skills...(due to owning ??? Anchor , this will cause the emergence of some skills.)
--[X] With all of the things going on right now, you need to brush up on your Estates management.

Dace finally got around to translated that book correctly, just in time, because Sigurd was eyeing Hassan in a worrying way, and he knew Scáthach would be devastated should something happen to her favorite dog, but with all of the changes around, he didn't have enough time to spare to work on increasing his ability to manage estates.

Dragon rearing book translated. Failure to learn Estates.

April 29th, 1983

-[X] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2)
--[X] Find a suitable location.

On such a short notice, Dace was only able to find three spots of land that somehow fit the bill
[]The first on was in an area between Oxford and Bristol, England
-Some feelners sent there discovered gold
-In the middle of the action
-Poor defenses
-The only reason people sold it is because they hear strange noises at night.
-The cheapest land to buy and build on
-Lots of scrutiny

[]Second was in a national park in Connemara, Ireland. It's unusual to have land available in national parks.
-Seaside access
-Farthest from the other factions
-Lots of wood, Possible sources of Mercury.
-The middling option, pricewise.
-Less scrutiny

[]Third was Yr Wyddfa, in Snowdonia, Wales. You really don't know why this one is up for grabs, it's the highest mountain of Wales, surrounded by more mountains.
-The most easily defensible one, old muggle repellant charms keep them from being exploited by muggles.
-Very likely to be rich in stone, gems and/or crystals
-Close enough to the other factions while far enough to have room to grow.
-The costliest one. Its isolation and the terrain constraints will make building anything on it difficult.
-People wil essentially ignore you.

May 9th, 1983

--[X] Find a full roster of Nature-themed creatures. (Currently 3/7: Fairy line, wolf line and dragon line)

Well, Dace thought, he didn't know if it was a success or a massive failure.
It seemed what he thought to be bowtruckles were in fact baby sylvanians, and Ollivander somehow learned how to communicate with them after one year of camping over his petunias. He didn't know how to feel about that.
Sylvanians will be available for recruitment.

One of his agents also managed to capture a pair of strange animals. A solar stag and its mate, a moon doe, that were crrently penned in, though it would take years and good treatment for the animals to forgive them. The strange thing about them was the fact there were scraps of dark clothing where they were found.
Moon does and solar stags will be available for recruitment

Agatha heard about your efforts and once she was brought up to speed, decided to handle it for you herself. She then proceeded to rampage through your library and in less than a week had a training plan prepared from the ground up and the first few druids are already in training. She said something about keeping the ecoterrorists out of trouble, but Dace decided it was better to ignore it.
Druids will be available for recruitment.

Things were going splendidly, until Agatha got texts about elves. Then she started screaming and running around, her hands windmilling in the air. Then, she kindapped a house elf.
That, in itself wouldn't be that concerning, Dace did much worse himself. However, she decided to dissect it to see what it truly was and the results were pretty clear. It seemed old Salazar was more wily than Dace first thought, creating several species from one. However, it was rather concerning that this one in particular was one of those. Oh well, he thought, he didn't care either way.
In any case, Agatha decided she'd get her "Tolkien elves" one way or another, even if she had to create them herself.
Elves will be available for recruitment. Eventually. Maybe?

May 27th, 1983

-[X] Spend time with:
--[X] Lily. Your old apprentice is up to something, you want to make sure this won't get out of hand. (+2 RP)
--[X] Oliver. You've thrown a lot of work his way, may as well make him feel appreciated, right? (+2 RP, SL Revealed)

Upon learning Dumbledore was going to visit your student, you decided to kill one bird with two stones and brought Oliver with you. He was the only one who knew how to drive a dragon anyways.
(To be continued)

June 18th, 1983

-[X] Extra action. Use you own free time to do stuff. (May only be taken once, may be used as substitute for AP)
--[X] Looks like it's time for a good old fashioned treasure hunt. (Event Roll: 95)

This was an old puzzle map, with drawings that were supposed to represent a landscape. Of course, this was the modern era, and he had a staff to delegate stuff to. So he did just that, and three weeks later, he had some strange golden box holding a blue teardrop gem within, all of this obviously magical.
The anchor had a massive, and almost...Eager? Reaction to it. Dace didn't know exactly what was happening, but he'd shelve that, as he had more important things to do.
In any case, it was almost disappointing how simple it was to find the treasure, but Dace reminded himself he was that kind of person who'd rather spend minimal effort to do something.

This turn didn't want to eeeeend.... Therefore a lot more mistakes than usual escaped my checking. Feel free to point them out.

Epic mode next, like in the Prologue, where I don't have to bother with all this planning stuff.

Dace's mana capacity is 20 right now, and he's got Basic Wisdom and Basic Air Magic due to his druid class, so in total the spells cost him 18 Mana. Any more and he died of mana starvation. Still, that and the good rolls kept him from being put into too serious of a danger back on the boats. However, considering what kind of utility Heroes 4 heroes have, he's a bit pathetic, not lying about that.

The five NEWTs Dace absolutely wants from his household's servants are Defense against Dark Arts, Charms, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. Yes, combat butlers and ninja maids are actually a thing for him.

Scáthach rolls are the bomb. Either very good or very bad. Often at the same time.

Another note, due to who you're in contact with, some SL are more beneficial than others, for example, your Janitor has much less impact and advantages than your world renowned actress wife, so you should pick who you're SLing carefully.

Nicaea · Jun 9, 2018

-[X] Spend time with:
--[X] Lily. Your old apprentice is up to something, you want to make sure this won't get out of hand. (+2 RP)
--[X] Oliver. You've thrown a lot of work his way, may as well make him feel appreciated, right? (+2 RP, SL Revealed)

May 27th, 1983

Upon learning Dumbledore was going to visit your student, Dace decided to kill one bird with two stones and brought Oliver with him. He was the only one who knew how to drive a dragon anyways. Because yes, Dace decided a dragon was a perfectly valid way of intimidating the other party.

The hardest thing about the travel was making sure nobody could see the massive, green dragoness flying over the country. However, she was a very swift flier, so it didn't take a lot of time to arrive there. Having sent word ahead to Lily, she gladly gave him the coordinates to land there, a deserted white plazza in front of what seemed to be the Town Hall. For now, there didn't seem to be any project, and the buildings around were dilapidated.

Truly, it was a massive stroke of luck for her to have found this place, the infrastructure seemed to be solid so far. As she came out of the Town Hall, he looked at his apprentice.

Having a goal did wonders to her, Dace noted, her red hair and green eyes were more vibrant, and her skin was glowing. Well, becoming an Enchantress did. Her hair was gathered in a bun, and she wore a dark red dress decorated with a golden girdle and ruby encrusted golden brooches holding her right sleeve is a fashion not unlike that of the greeks. As she walked down the white stairs of the Town hall, followed by giant bronze automatons, she looked around, and the aura of power around her started humming as her smile became a frown.

"It's good to see you again, Professor Gwallawg, but we have other guests."

The sheer disdain she managed to cram in a single word was impressive, if nothing else. Dace followed her line of sight and was met with an interesting spectacle. In a flash of flames, Albus Dumbledore arrived, phoenix on his shoulder, clad in a purple robe lined with gold. Behind him, on his right and left, were James Potter and Aife Lupin, both of them in full battle regalia. The solemnity of the group made him want to laugh and he tapped his companion with his elbow, causing him to stop slouching, instead standing straight up and crossing his arms over his chest with a thoroughly unimbressed expression. The dragoness just stared down at them lazily.

Albus was the first to react to Dace's presence, and he coughed, causing his followers to stop trying to murder you with their eyes.

"Young Dace, and... I'm sorry, I do not think I got your name?"

" Oliver Lapierre, G.U. Graduate. Would say it's nice to meet you but my mum raised no liar."

"Yet you run around with one of the worst." Ah, Aife, always up to point out the obvious. Her second pregnancy was visible now and it was a wonder she was allowed out there. She looked paler and more tired than he remembered she was, and there was an angry black scar running from the lower left of her jaw to under her jacket's high collar. Still, there was something that needed to be adressed.

"Ah, but here is the beauty of being me, I do not lie if I can help it. It must run in the family, really, truth is so much more devastating." He defended himself, seemingly completely relaxed, in an almost amiable way, savoring the flinch in the Dumbledorean delegation. "However, as much as this heartwarming reunion touches me, I still have a meeting to attend." He swanned towards his apprentice, taking her offered hand and bowing down to it, lips almost, but not quite, touching her knuckles, before letting go. "And it would be quite the insult to ignore the Lady of the castle when she comes to greet us in person, right?" A sideways glance revealed James Potter's jaw was clenched, wand in his fist and his face undergoing an amusing change of color.

Oliver decided to follow his employer's cue and bowed lightly to her offered hand before awkwardly going back to taking care of the dragoness, not looking behind him, despite the fact that Lily's eyes seemed to linger quite a bit on his back, which made the young Potter scowl even harder while Aife frowned in incomprehension.

[] Oh hoooo~.. (Dace tries to get them together. Variable results.)
[] Well, there's nothing he could to about it right now. (Dace doesn't try to get them together)

The hallways were long and high, the arches of pale stone allowing for light to pass, and after being escorted to what seemed to be a reunion room, the automatons left them to instead stand vigil alon the room's walls, while people were sitting down. Lily, holding herself as if she was a queen, was sitting at the end of the table, where she could see everyone. Dace sat to the right side of the table while Dumbledore and his men sat at the left.

They all sat in silence, until Lily began showing signs of impatience, one leg over the other and nails tapping the wood of her armrest, right elbow on the other while her head was laying on her hand. She was looking around, eyes half lidded, as il considering what she should be doing next.

Well, Dace was only here to watch the proceedings, but he could still use that.

[] Negotiate with Lily, after all, you have the thing the order doesn't have: Resources. She, on the other hand, seems to have unearthed old forms of magic that would seem useful. Not to you, because you won't go into the fray like an idiot, but to your subordinates...

The powerful array of Order Spells focus on countering other spells, cursing, mind control, and illusions.

-[] [Spell] : Blur - 2 mana 3 Gems to buy
Combat - Blessing
Blur obscures the target's true position, increasing its Ranged Defense by 50%.

-[] [Spell] : Dispel - 2 mana 3 Gems to buy
Combat - Blessing/Curse
Dispel removes all spells from the target.

-[] [Spell] : Magic Fist - 2 mana 3 Gems to buy
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.

-[] [Blueprint]: Conservatory of Order (irregular building) 20 Gems to buy

Cost to build:
Conservatory of Order – 25 000 Gold , 8 Wood , 8 Stone
Requires: Druid's Hall level 1
Teaches Order Magic spells. Depending on the level of the druid's hall, it teaches 2 spells each for levels One, Two and Three and 1 spell each for Levels Four and Five.

- [] Charity : She needs all the help she can get, so as a good mentor, you'll lend her a hand. Trade 1 Gem for 1 RP (may be taken multiple times)

[] Negotiate with Dumbledore. After spending all of their gold to buy that land, and being so stretched due to fighting Riddle and the Overlord, they are in a bit of a pickle right now.

-[] 5 000 G/t : Ministry contacts : +10 to Ministry rolls

-[] 10 000 G/t : Hogwarts Job : Dumbledore will finally accept your application at Hogwarts. ( Teaching will take 2 personal actions)

-[] 15 000 G/t : Wizengamot : Dumbledore can arrange for you to get a chair in this old and honored institution.

-[] 20 000 G/t : Fawkes : gain 1d6 Phoenix tears / turn.

The negotiations finally died down, Lily rebuffing Dumbledore's offers each and every thime while trying to include Oliver, who was more than happy to stay in a corner and teach some tricks to one of Hassan's pups that he somehow smuggled onto Sigurd's back. Meanwhile Dace was watching the proceedings, when a familiar chill ran through his spine and he felt the need to curse. Silent stinging hexes were sent towards Lily and Oliver, who jumped while Dace began walking outside, towards the courtyard where he knew the dragon was waiting for them.

[Martial interrupt!]

And this was not a moment too late, because as he reached for it, dark shapes floated down from the sky while a group of putrefied inferi accompanied armored skeletons. Behind their lines, a dark cloaked individual, likely to be Riddle or one of his subordinates, was watching the proceedings atop of a thestral.

"You have to be joking." Was all that left his lips, breaking the silence. The people on his side looked at him in shock, but he felt that after having been attacked thrice already by Riddle, annoyance was a perfectly warranted reaction!

Dace quickly took stock of his situation. Dementors made running away impossible, which meant fighting was the only option.

What does Dace focus on? (Choose one)

-[]Air control : The dementors are a pain, but he can deal with them.
-[]Culling the herd: The zombies are an immediate menace.
-[]Sniping the head: Try to attack the black figure.

Oh my god drawing her portrait in a non animu fashion took so long!

On another note, guess who just got a 100 :^D ?

Nicaea · Jun 10, 2018

And the winning plan is ...

Negotiations
-[X] Oh hoooo~.. (Dace tries to get them together. Variable results.)
-[X] Negotiate with Lily
--[X] [Spell] : Blur - 2 mana 3 Gems to buy
--[X] [Spell] : Dispel - 2 mana 3 Gems to buy
--[X] [Spell] : Magic Fist - 2 mana 3 Gems to buy
-- [X] Charity : 7 Gems
-[X] Negotiate with Dumbledore
--[X] 20 000 G/t : Fawkes : gain 1d6 Phoenix tears / turn.

Well then *cracks finger*s let's get to it.
*After rolling*. Yep, just about as broken as expected.

Turn 2.3: May 27th, 1983

Having finally caught on what was happening, Dumbledore began barking orders to the two other members of his little club and they immediately began beelining for the cloaked figure, while Lily called upon her mechanical men. Which left Dace only one venue of action, which was the air.

To be fair, he was the one with a dragon.

"What do we do boss?" Oliver asked him, jaw set in grim determination.

Dace took a moment to think.
Wight Air strike roll : 88 + 10 ( Tactics) = 98 Versus Dace plan : 87 + 5 (genius) + 10 (Blood of ???) = 102. Success ! Number penalty waived.
The pattern of their movement seemed rather obscure at first, but then he noticed the rotation between units. It seemed that they were trying to encircle and herd them towards the center, where the darkest, and likely most powerful were waiting to suck out their life and/or soul. Dace wasn't really clear bout whether those were evolved wights or en entirely different species altogether.

"You drive, I eliminate them." He answered, sheathing his wand back inside his sleeve and gripping the book in his purst, feeling its windy thrum fill his mind with the knowledge of the same spell that saved him back then at the sea. He'd really need to check what was up with it.
Dace fight: 73 + 5 (genius) + 10 (Blood of ???) + 20 (Book of ???) ( Disadvantage negated by having Oliver drive the dragoness for him) = 108.
Following his instructions, the man led the dragoness though the air, Dace concentrating a good chunk of his energy into the spell he was about to unleash. The undead, having felt that something was afoot, rushed towards him with an inhuman screech, as the human released his control over the spell.
Dace spell : Loses 15 Mana, 1(Power) x 10 + 10 = 20 damage to all undead. Damage ignores defense due to rolls. Dementors hp : 18 = Dementors dead
A massive gale of wind escaped from his hands, spreading to trap the flying undead inside a vacuum, before it retracted suddenly back inside Dace's hand, taking something with it with an deafening shriek and a flash of pale light. When the two men opened their eyes again, all they saw was falling bones and black scraps of cloth, they were alone in the air, wind howling in the grey sky.

Result : Aerial Victory. Dementors eliminated to the last, may run away.

Oliver turned towards his employer, a finger pointed towards where the dementors were supposed to be.

"Erm, boss? You're not supposed to kill them."

"And Whyever not?" He gave him an affronted look.

"You can't kill dementors." The younger man tried again, making the other huff."

"Of course you can, they're old magic, you just need to used the same kind that created to destroy them."

Dace starting exp : 856/1000
Oliver starting exp : 25/1000
Fight results: Victory!
Exp gained: 405 each
Dace Current exp: 1261 / 2000 : Level up!
Oliver current exp: 430 / 1000

Still, after his fight, Dace felt something was off, as if there was well of power within him that was about to burst and only needed his say so to take shape...

Choose one:

[] Spells that seemed more complicated before now were more accessible to him... Gain Advanced Wisdom.
[] The air around him sang with a song he was beginning to understand... Gain Advanced Air Magic
[] Magic wove itself around him like a protective shield... Gain Basic Resistance
[] You had a feeling that things were going to go his way now... Gain Basic Luck

In any case, a look down below showed him that things.... Didn't go well at all.
Necromancer strike roll : 93 (this was the lowest of 3) +10 (Prodigy) + 10 (Nat 100 against OotP) = 113 Versus Dumbledore plan : 51 + 5(genius) = 56. Result : Freaking Ow...
Dumbledore tried to implement some sort of strategy that had them attack the dark figure from three different directions, however, with a wave of the hand, they were swarmed from all sides and effectively separated, if the trails of corpse he could see from up there were correct. The logical thing would have been to retreat and regroup, however, something happened that kept them from doing so...
James fight: 96 – 20 (outnumbered and outwitted) = 76. Nope.
James was holding his wand arm, whithing on the ground in pain, while Dumbledore was looking from behind a circle of fire, trying, and failing, to blast the dark figure away.
Aife fight : 76 + 40 (WotN) + 10 (The Gamer) – 20 (outnumbered and outwitted) -30 (Divine intervention) = 70. Nope.
Aife didn't fare any better. There was a moment, where it looked like she was about to pull out some sort of trump card, however, at that crucial moment, she fell to her knees, screaming and holding her head. The figure reached slowly for her neck, hand wreathed in poisonous green light, when Dumbledore bellowed, calling for Fawkes. In a flash of fire, the phoenix appeared, taller than the man and made of fire.
Fawkes to the rescue! 98 + 20 (he's a freaking phoenix) + 10 (Aerial victory) -10 (outnumbered) = 118 (against 113). Fawkes manages to evac them.
Dumbledore threw a mournful look at Lily's direction, before glaring at you and the members of the Order disappeared from the battlefield, teleported away by the magical creature.
Land strike roll. 86 + 10 (Tactics) = 96 Versus Lily's plan: 6 (oh god...) - 10 (alone) = -4 Critical failure. Huge penalties
What had Dace worried, though, was that he didn't see Lily anywhere, and undead were crawling through the only building in this place, the Town Hall.
Lily Fight: 75 + 20 (army) + 10 (Lay of the land) – 40 ( Critfail) - 20 first battle = 25 versus 96: Massive defeat.
Having a bad feeling about it, he pressed Oliver to approach and located her near one of the windows, covered with blood and injuries, pieces of her guardian automatons strewn on the ground. The only small mercy about that was that the window she was located at was on the other side of the building and the figure couldn't see themm here.
Dace's foresight : 97 + 5 (genius) = 102 against 53 (detection roll). Pass.
Taking the chance, he had Oliver suddenly fly lower and got his wand out, casting an attraction spell that had Lily fly screaming outside of the window into his arms. Then, Oliver got the idea, and they decided it was time to make themselves scarce, despide the redhead's protests of her having it well in hand. She was also crying and screaming at the top of her lungs, so she might not be all that reasonable right now.

Result of the battle:

Minor Life faction loss.
Minor Nature faction victory.
Major Order faction loss, Order faction destroyed?
Major Death faction victory, Fort acquired!

Due to enemy critical, relation with Life faction set to hostile!
Relation between Lily and Life faction set to Vendetta!

Hero unit acquired : Lily Evans. You may assign her as Head librarian (learning adviser) after spending a personal action on her next turn.

Blue player defeated.

(Oh, and Negotiations with Dumbledore are off, by the way.)
Negaverse: Pick your poison:
[]OrderQuest: The end?
[]DeathQuest: complete victory?
[]LifeQuest: What happened here?
[]ChaosQuest: Meanwhile...Wat?
[]Aife's isekai adventure isn't going as expected: The saltening

Well, at least now you'll get that Order conservatory plan for free?

Nicaea · Jun 11, 2018

And the winner is....

[X]Aife's isekai adventure isn't going as expected: The saltening

Here cometh the Negaverse!

LadyZebra said:
Well, After doing some rolling, I have some good and bad news!

Kiyotan said:
Here we go... The last time Zebra sounded so happy was when someone's plan to murder our own father somehow got voted.

Brunette24 said:
Seriously, why did we vote for that guy?

Kiyotan said:
Because he was the only one with a plan and you were lazy.

SuperMinion said:
He said he wanted to burn everything to the ground! Anyways, good news please.

LadyZebra said:
You're going to get a reason to go after Gramps directly.

Orky said:
And how is that good?

SoulReave said:
Well, if that was the good news, I wonder how bad will be the bad one.

LadyZebra said:
[x] Accompany Dumbledore. Even pregnant, you are the Order's best fighter.

"If you're sure" Remus frowned, letting his arms fall to his sides, eliciting a loving smile from Aife.
"I am, don't worry, I'm the strongest, right?" She turned around, looking at her precious baby boy. Romulus Lupin seemed to be his father's son, at least he inherited his colors with brown hair and eyes.
"And you, don't bully your daddy too much, understood little guy?" She cooed as he rubbed his eyes and nodded sleepily.

It took them a while, but they arrived to the isolated island where Lily built her base. It was strange, made of creamy and white stone, and men made of metal were milling about. The woman in question was looking at them from the top of the stairs unmoving.

James' face lit up into a loving smile.

"Lily! It's been so long! How have you been? You should write more!"

The redhead looked at them and Aife thought she saw a glare, but she must have imagined it , after all , Lily was James' wife and Harry's mother. Then, a terrible roar rang trhough the air, and she saw a gigantic dragon flying down towards them. They prepared themselves to combat, but Lily raised her hand.

"It's okay, I invited them."

Aife frowned, then muttered "Observe"

Name: Charlotte
Species: Green Dragon (Tamed)
Level 7 Dragon
HP :180/180

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What kind of idiot would call a dragon 'Charlotte' ?! Wait, Hagrid would, but she'd hear about it if the Order had access to dragons. Some movement caught her attention and she instinctively looked at the two men coming down from the Dragoness.

The first one was a very handsome young man, tall and muscled with wavy blond hair falling over his eyes and a cowboy hat.

Name: Oliver Lapierre
Species: Human-Veela hybrid
Level 1 Beastmaster
HP: 20/20

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The results had her blink, both because the man didn't look like a veela at all, and because of his irregular class. She was about to scan the other, when she realized that it was her own father. He looked in surprisingly good health. Lily smiled at him and walked down the white stairs of the Town hall, followed by giant bronze automatons, she suddenly looked at them with a frown

"It's good to see you again, Professor Gwallawg, but we have other guests."

Aife was surprised by tho hostility in her voice, and sneaked a glance at James, who looked as surprised as she was. A sinking feeling in her stomach appeared at the same moment a quest window did.

Something is wrong in Orderville.
Lily is behaving strangely compared to your knowledge. Find out why.

Reward: 10 exp,[The phoenix rises] Quest available.
Failure: Lily becomes the Order's bitter enemy.
Do you accept the quest [Y/N]

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The closest word describing what she felt at that moment was 'horror'. She didn't think her father would sink so low!
Albus was the first to react to Dace's presence, and he coughed, drawing her attention away from her biological father.

"Young Dace, and... I'm sorry, I do not think I got your name?"

" Oliver Lapierre, G.U. Graduate. Would say it's nice to meet you but my mum raised no liar." That was curt and to the point, and mildly insulting, yet again, if he came with Dace, he was probably poisoned against them by his lies.

"Yet you run around with one of the worst." She couldn't help but say, cramming her voice with disapproval.

"Ah, but here is the beauty of being me, I do not lie if I can help it. It must run in the family, really, truth is so much more devastating." ... That was low. "However, as much as this heartwarming reunion touches me, I still have a meeting to attend." He swanned towards Lily, taking her offered hand and bowing down to it, kissing it, before letting go. Was he trying to seduce her?! She was a married woman for Merlin's sake! "And it would be quite the insult to ignore the Lady of the castle when she comes to greet us in person, right?"

She had to keep her foot on James' to keep him from murdering the man on the spot. Later, they'd get their chance. The true surprise, however, came from the younger man, who imitated awkwardly his employer (?), and from Lily, who almost like she enjoyed the attention. At least, it look that way to James too, who was almost hissing in rage. Finally, they got to enter. The building was old and dilapidated, but she could feel it held some kind of magic she couldn't understand yet. Then, after a row of negotiations, Dace suddenly got up, back ramrod straight, and stormed out of the building. Dumbledore blinked, before doing the same, far faster that one would think him being able to.

When they got out, they were met with a vision of horror. THere were undead everywhere, and a notification that appeared

Betrayal! Somebody sold you off to the army of darkness!

Objective: Survive until rescue

Failure: Death

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Surviving was much more easily said than done. And in the end, she found herself on her own.
There was no choice but to use that. Gathering her thoughts, she focused them on her beloved Remus and their child. She couldn't die here, she had a family to come back to!

"I love you. Please marry me." Her soon-to-be husband asked her with a loving smile, his warm amber eyes only seeing her in the entire world, being even more awesome that the one described in the book.

"Ragna-" She began to call out the name of her ultimate attack.
Now now, what do we have here? A divine level attack? Oh no, that won't do at all...
"-Urk!" Her hand flew to her throat as the shout died.
You do know intervening directly at a time like this will cause a penalty to be applied, right?
Her hands then reached her head as she screamed at the top of her lungs, the pain unbearable.
How dare you...
Her vision swam while at the corner of her eyes, she saw messages that were most concerning.

Critical enemy damage!
Special attack sealed!
[Ancient Curse] Debuff applied!

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[Ancient Curse]

The Old Gods still roam across this Earth.
Repent, ye fool who would defy them!

All statistics halved!
All regeneration halved.

You have the attention of SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

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The pain almost doubled in intensity, despite all of her pain resistance and [Gamer's Mind].
Oh please, as if you never did that. Remember who's the one who gave Tommy the idea to attack the potioneer's meeting in hopes of killing that guy? How's that working for you?
Ever so slowly, the figure approached her, swatting away James' attemps to protect her as one would a fly.
Ladies, ladies, calm down, you're all pretty~
Pale, cold fingers traced the black scar on her jaw, before settling on her throat, and squeezed.
You shut up you sex-crazed manwhore!
She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, and this wasn't supposed to happen!
Gee, how aggressive, you know, you should embrace your other side more~
The figure's other hand approached her face, poisonous green coldness filled her vision, before a flash of bright fire took her away.
Get a room you two. In any case, Divine intervention penalty will be taken into account and punished for all of you that used it. Yes, I'm looking at you three.
Aife, James and Dumbledore reappeared in their temporary headquarters, in front of Molly Weasley's pale face. She looked tired, as if she hadn't spend a good night and almost screamed as they appeared, before realizing who they were.
You can't do that! You're not even a player!
"Molly." Dumbledore sighed, feeling and looking as old as he was. " I need you to call the Order, I have terrible news."
Yeah, goddess of the land or not, you're only there because He thought it'd be a good idea to have an arbiter.
It took a few hours, but soon, everyone was up to date and arguing on why this could happen. It was then the Arthur weasley spoke, apparently uncomfortable.
... I see. I suppose you're all in agreement with what she said?
"It would make sense, if it was Gwallawg senior who betrayed the hour and location of the meeting. I mean, he's friends with Lucius Malfoy, of all people."
Uhm, guys? That's not a good idea...
This almost caused another row, but Dumbledore intervened.
Yes we are. You're en eyesore!
"No, no it isn't him." He shook his head. " He hates me too much to let anyone else but himself cause my own ruin. Another error from my youth, I'm afraid."
Very well. Then, it won't be a problem if I'm a player, right?
Aife didn't understand. Why did he insist so much on Dace not being behind it when it was obviously him who did it? She almost scoffed. There were about 50 dementors out here, indestructible, unkillable monsters, and he somehow managed to kill them all? She wasn't that much of an idiot. She waited until Dumbledore retired to take a well deserved rest that she got up from her chair, attracting everyone's attention.
You can do that?
"Everyone, I think we need to talk."
I was invited as a player after all, I just stayed neutral as a favor. However, with Freyja and Ahriman's misbehavior, we are now in a rather problematic situation
She took in the tired faces in front of her. If Dumbledore wasn't going to help her stop her father, she was going to do it herself.
Therefore, wouldn't it be my job, as the Arbiter, to solve it?

Kiyotan said:
Okay, I think I can speak for everyone here in asking what the everloving hell was that ?!

SuperMinion said:
Yeah, like, the freaking gods? I thought there wa only Freyja left!

LadyZebra said:
Hm? I don't remember saying anything bout Freyja being the only goddess around~ Oh, and Enemy Nat100 by the way.

SuperMinion said:
Oh no.

Brunette24 said:
Wait, does that mean Voldemort has divine backing in top of his Heroes 3 Necropolis?!

LadyZebra said:
Ah~I don't know about Voldemort, but Tom Riddle certainly has~

SuperMinion said:
... Have we checked the horcruxes' whereabouts?

LadyZebra said:
No, you did not.

SoulReave said:
HAHAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY!

Kiyotan said:
Oh shut up. Why are you still here anyways?

SoulReave said:
To watch Aife crash down and burn!

Corvid said:
Amen to that, brother.

Orky said:
Anyways, aren't you concerned with what was said? I mean, our father seems to be working with the Nature faction leader as Riddle's spy, even if we have Madeye keeping an eye (heh) on him, he's , like, the magical equivalent of a ninja. We really should make sure he doesn't get swayed that way. He sounds like he'd be nice, and he can break through the Lupinsexual barrier.

SuperMinion said:
No. Not poisoning our One True Love to get with Link Cowboy Edition.

Orky said:
And what was up with Lily anyways, she didn't even try to talk to James while they're married! Wait, where is she anyways, Fawkes evac'ed us, but she wasn't at the reunion. Zebra?

LadyZebra said:
Glad you asked. After that defeat, Lily's spirits are very low, but your grandfather is an excellent host. And he has a way with women. Don't worry too much, she'll be just fine. Though, if you see her, you may need to check if she's wearing silver.

Kiyotan said:
Why would she... Wait. Wait wait wait... Fuck it. Zebra, I'm using my OOC question! What is up with Snape?

LadyZebra said:
He ded.

Orky said:
What ?!

Kiyotan said:
A bit more details please.

LadyZebra said:
Well, you remember the prank James pulled in his fifth year? Well, this time, he didn't go save him.

SuperMinion said:
Dear lord...

LadyZebra said:
Oh, and, Severus, Lily and Peter were close friends, Lily and Peter tried to save him, only to end up with him dying to save Lily instead and making Peter promise to protect her. Well he tried anyways, speaking is hard with half your throat torn off. And Peter got bitten. And As a freebie : Peter is also dead, he died to save Lily too. Rolls some dice. So yeah. If you see Lily run away, as you are right now, she'll kill you without remorse.

Kiyotan said:
Holy.. Can we use an action to save her before Dace brainwashes her?

Corvid said:
Huh. I don't see how Lily got together with James after that...

LadyZebra said:
Oh, it's simple, she didn't. Congratulations, you butterflied Harry Potter away.

SuperMinion said:
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Orky said:
Why?! We made sure canon would be followed!

LadyZebra said:
Do you want the list in alphabetical order or chronological?

SuperMinion said:
GUYS! Don't panic, we just have to save Lily and help her through her issues to get her together with James, we just have to do it now!

Brunette24 said:
You mean, when we're crippled and he has a dragon?

Orky said:
James is as good of a fighter as we are and there's Madeye who knows the place, we can probably do it if we double down and use one of Kiyo's Miracle points.

Kiyotan said:
It's my last one, I'd rather use it for something else, like ensuring Dumbledore's purge of the ministry is successful.

SuperMinion said:
Come on, it's important!

Corvid said:
Yes Kiyo, it's important

SoulReave said:
Don't be stingy~

Kiyotan said:
Somehow, you guys agreeing with them makes me scared. And Corvid is pinging me on Discord. Fine, I'll bite. However, I'll note that I was coerced. This is going to end horribly.

SoulReave said:
One of us! one of us!

(A row of voting later....)

LadyZebra said:
Oh, and, since I'm in a good mood, here's a sneak peek at the Deathquest Negaverse :

LadyPanda said:

I think at this point the cat's pretty much out of the bag anyways.

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LadyPanda said:

Interlude : Fleur de Lis.

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MegaMinion said:

You're telling me we've been hunting down somebody who didn't even exist for over three turns and wasted about 10 actions on it?

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LadyPanda said:

Well, Yes. But hey, at least other You got Longbottom. Probably.

Click to expand...

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MegaMinion said:

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Click to expand...

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Soulweave said:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Click to expand...

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Corax said:

Ah, he broke again. Now what do we do?

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Blondie24 said:

Same thing as we ever do, we plan to take over the world with our army of super waifus.

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SuperMinion said:
Why?!

LadyZebra said:
Because I can.

That thing is Canon btw, take from that what you will.

Aife tried to use [The power of love]! It wasn't very effective.

Note that the colored text was originally invisitext. And that Wisdom stat doesn't exist.

There was going to be more romance, but then, while forcing myself to read Dramione on ff.net for inspiration, I remembered I was allergic to everything related to love that was not either courtly love or Gomez and Morticia and gave up. So yeah, it ended up being more shounen than the originally intended shoujo. A bit disappointed we didn't have DeathQuest, just because they call him Fumbledore.

Personalities: Note than any resemblance with people from SV or QQ is entirely coincidential and in no way corresponds to anyone whose internet handle may seem familiar.

SoulReave: Laughing anarchist.
Corvid: Tho one who wants the MC to die painfully.
Kiyotan: The sane guy/girl, save for their unfortunate attraction towards anything yandere.
Orky: The guy with a plan.
SuperMinion: 'oh fuck' detector. Also happens to be what remains of the thread's morals and self-respect.
Brunette24: The number cruncher.

Formatting is too long, so I won't be doing a negaverse for a while again.

Nicaea · Jun 13, 2018

Summer 1983 : Three words: Puppies, Revelations, Hell.

"I see, you worked really hard, didn't you?" Dace declared to the young woman in front of him. They were on the bed of a guest bedroom, talking, fully clothed no funny business here thank you very much and Dace wasn't a valid target for your affections sorry Lily, the redhead having had a good cry over everything that happened to her. There were empty pots of vanilla ice cream laying on the ground, casualties of the war, and Lily was currently in her spring roll form, covers forming a protective cocoon around her. The Lily-roll was also sitting, her arms going through strategically placed holes in the covers, and she was hesitantly petting a wolf puppy, who was obviously enjoying the attention, its tiny, fuzzy tail whipping through the air like a windmill, yipping, and trying to alternatively catch her fingers, his tail, and failing at both which often made it fall on its butt.

Dace selected the nicest, goofiest, least threatening puppy of the bunch to make sure she understood wolves and werewolves were nothing alike. Besides, if it worked with Dace's phobia of cats, it had to have some impact here, right? So far it seemed to work better than his chances with McGonagall. Though, it may have been the aromantic aspect that weird-ed her out, him running away almost screaming in terror when she turned into a cat probably didn't help.

"Thanks, it means a lot to me." Lily gave him a watery smile, before rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry I made a fool of myself back there, you had to jump in to save me again huh."

"It's fine, I was in the area anyways." He waved her apologies aside, swatting away the excited baby animal's sneak attack on him, making it fall back onto the bed, bouncing away back to Lily. It then proceeded to play dead, four paws in the air and whining, causing Lily to tentatively scratch his belly, laughing a bit.

"You're not scary at all, are you? You silly dog."

She may, however, have acquired the same difficulty to separate dog and wolf that Dace developed along the way. Though, to be fair, their behavior towards the humans of the mansion was the same as a dog's so it could be excused. In any case, Lily seemed stable enough for Dace to do his job as an educator without risking her exploding at him. Still, obtaining the lady's consent was the gentlemanly thing to do.

"Lily, do you feel ready to look over what you did wrong?" He asked her gently, passing her yet another pot of ice cream. He was mildly surprised she could eat that much, it was the fifth in two hours, yet again, potioneers were cheaters, her stomach was likely a lot more acidic than normal.

Lily looked up at him, biting her lip, before nodding wordlessly, hugging the puppy who busied itself with licking her chin.

"Good. The first problem was that you were too impatient. You should have waited that the noise around the plae died after people investigated it. As it were, you pretty much broadcasted your location and intentions to all of the other factions, which allowed them to find you and nip the threat you represent in the bud."

Lily flinched at him pointing out her biggest character flaw but hummed her understanding.

"Next is an affinity problem. I gather you had difficulties using Order spells?"

Another nod.

"Order spells need to be cast with a tranquil state of mind, and if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're easily riled up. You're a very passionate woman, if we were to be objective, the models that corresponded the most to you would be Chaos and Life. However, those two are out for obvious reasons. Your third mistake was trusting Dumbledore."

That earned him a raised eyebrow despite her red rimmed eyes, and Dace raised his hands in surrender.

"I despise the man, everybody knows about that, however, I acknowledge both his intentions and ability. "Even if it stung." The problem is the people he surrounds himself with. As far as my network knows, he spends most of his time putting out fires in the ministry, keeping the Underworld in check, and bailing his followers out of trouble. That leaves too distracted to bother checking where their loyalties lie, and I wouldn't be surprised if they've got several spies among them. That's probably why they knew Dumbledore was on the move, and made their own to sabotage the chances of an alliance. Then there is Aife and her clique, but one thing I count on is that any plot she comes with fails in a rather spectacular way. It would be entertaining if it wasn't so embarrassing."

She gave out a strangled laugh and squeezed more, causing the puppy to wriggle and free himself, before going back to frolicking under the bed. She looked at it mournfully, putting a spoonful of Ice cream in her mouth while Dace snorted and patted her back. And that's when things basically went to hell.

The wall exploded, revealing Aife and some unknown persons, and a stag with blood covered antlers. It took him a second to realize it was an animagus, time that was used to morph and reveal James Potter, while wands were raised against Dace. Well. That was annoying. Aife threw a glance at Lily and spoke at her, smiling reassuringly, part of the wall fell, revealing the full moon outside.

"I'm sure things are confusing right now, but you need to come with us, that man is bad news, don't worry, we'll protect you."

"Pro...tect." Lily's face was white and her eyes glazed over, turning towards James. "A stag." She continued dazedly.

Dace put his arm in front of her, wandless, and spoke out almost conversationally.

"Somehow, I do not think Dumbledore knows of it." Some of them looked guilty, but Aife just scowled even deeper, glaring at his arm.

"Albus isn't the only member of the order. We're here to save Lily from you!" She sniped, making the older man laugh drily.

"Like you were here for her all of there years? When her friends were killed? When her apprenticeship fell through due to her status? When you left her alone to fend for herself against Riddle and his army of darkness?"

"Voldemort is dead, he was vanquished on Halloween by the prophecy child. You're just one of the Necromancer's followers trying to capitalize on the fear he invoked to further your agenda!"

Upon hearing that, Dace sneered, looking down at her in a definitely unpleasant expression.

"So that's your current theory to try to keep things as close as you canonical point of view. How cute. However, you forgot a small, unimportant detail... Harry Potter was never born."

That apparently got to her as surprise was plain to see. But Dace continued, deciding that as a father, it was his duty to deal with his (ex) daughter's delusions.

"Lily and James never married, and why would they? You beloved mutt killed her best friend Severus in front of her after all, even if she didn't know about that back then. Did you think she'd ever date successfully that man, Severus' biggest bully, after seeing her best friend die confessing his feelings of love to her?" Dace tilted his head like a bird, a cruel light in his eyes. "Did you think this is the only thing your interference ruined? Oh no, no no no, you don't get out of it that easily my dear."

"Shut up!" James shouted at him, brown light going out ho his wand and catching Dace in the chest, sending him into the wall. There was a meaty thud and he fell, wheezing. The smile on the elder Gwallawg's face, however, was only one step short of demonic.

"It's fine... live your life as you want it... After all... Your daughter is here to... Pick up the slack."

"I don't have a daughter." Aife affirmed, uncertainly, doubt visible on her face, which made Dace cackle and hack, secretly glad today was a day where his granddaughter was sleeping at Narcissa's.

"Ever wondered what s it that you forgot after you poisoned me?" The dawning horror on her face was hilarious.

Moonlight was streaming on the room by now, but before Dace could finish breaking the impertinent chit, an odd strangling noise on his left had him looking at Lily. She looked even worse, eyes fixated on the moon. The full moon.

Oh dear. Was all the man thought, before falling, stomach flat on the ground, activating a secret passage and crawling to safety, terrified puppy under an arm.

"The stag... Under the full moon... You were here but why.. Sev' said... But then... The wolf... Mooney... The marauders? But then... Prongs." Her right hand began scratching at her temple, the other holding an indigo cube that seemed to be the Order anchor. "Prongs was here... Moony was here...Sev' said-Catspaw-yourfault-youwerehere!" Her speech became more and more erratic as she began shouting, her hand falling back to her side. Dace couldn't see her face, but he hade a nice view of James' tentative of denial and Aife's panic of having the situation fly out of her control. When Lily spoke out again, it was with death in her voice. This is all your fault. Your fault. Your fault, your fault yourfaultyourfaultyourfaultyourfaultyourfaultyOurfAUltyourfFAUltyourFAUltYOURFAULT!"

She screamed so loudly and shrilly that Dace had to cover his ears, the scream a lot more stronger than it should be, with an odd echo to it.

Then, the cube in her hand broke, and everything became red.

When Dace came back to consciousness, the first thing he felt was heat, but he smelled no smoke. He opened one eye, then two, and saw something really unexpected. Lily apparently underwent some sort of growth spurt, her hair bright red and surrounded by an aura of fire, and was currently straddling Aife, holding her head and bashing it to the floor, while a pillar of not-fire rose to the sky, keeping any spell from going through. The manor was totaled, it seemed. On the side, back against a half destroyed wall, James was holding the cauterized stump that was his left arm. Too bad it was also his dominant arm huh. Meanwhile, Aife managed to kick Lily in the sternum, sending her flying. However, Lily fell on her fours and pounced again, nails turned into bright red claws digging into her abdomen, causing a rain of scarlet to gush out.
Now that he really concentrated on it, the howl suspiciously looked like 'die die die'...

It really looked like Lily was going to kill Aife, as her teeth were digging into his daughter's shoulder, hands raking through her torso in the non-fun-likely-extremely-painful way, when a voice resounded through the chaos, booming like thunder.

In a flash of light, Dumbledore had arrived.

However, This Dumbledore didn't look happy at all. In fact, he looked positively furious in the first time since ever. Taller than usual, blue eyes showing none of their usual mirth, his face black and beard almost clapping with electricity.

"ENOUGH." He said simply, the aura of power around him deforming it until it sounded like a giant's war cry. Lily looked at him and hissed, before launching herself in his direction. He looked at her with pity in his eyes, before raising his hand, covered with what seemed to be a golden armor and caught her face. The, a bright flash of light came from his palm, making her screech as if her very soul was attacked. Then, after a while, she stopped struggling, her body turning limp. Dumbledore let her fall gently onto what remained of the bed and stared at Dace, who scowled, raised his arms in an 'I'm the victim here!' way expressing his indignation at being suspected and then shamelessly pointed his fingers at the wayward vigilante club members.

Following the pointed digits, Dumbledore's expression turned thunderous again as he walked towards his followers. With one last apologetic glance at Dace that also promised that they wouldn't be getting out of it scott free, he drew his wand and everyone dissipated in smoke, leaving Dace alone in his house's ruins with Lily sobbing, prostrated on the ground.

The small animal, having realized danger was over, padded towards her and began licking at her face.

"P-Pu-ppy...Pu-uppy..." The young woman was babbling incoherently, clearly out of her mind.

Well, Dace thought, this was just great.

Dumbledore just ran out of patience, And Dace makes for a(n un) surprisingly good villain. You'll get the numbers and all tomorrow. Lots of votes to make, since it's the planning phase, therefore enjoy your chapter without any responsibilities

I hope Lily's speech showed how much her mental state degraded in an emotional way? I'm not that good with emotional writing, which is why Dace looks like a sociopath.

( Dace's true feelings regarding his daughter, finally revealed!)

The Aife-Negaverse is currently on fire due to the revelation of Dace having known about canon all along and the fact he revealed just how much she messed up. Pissed Grandpa isn't a nice grandpa.

Orderquest Status : sobbing in a corner and begging for mercy.

Lifequest: Ready to show who exactly kicked Grindelwand's butt so hard he's still sobbing about it in his tower.

Deathquest/Chaosquest : Wondering what's happening right now

Guess who rolled a Nat 1 (result after modifiers : -21) on her composure roll, immediately followed by a 94 (result after modifiers : 114) Amplitude roll... and a 84 on an attention roll. Lily goes boom indeed. So, don't hold your breath on her becoming the learning adviser right now, now you need to bring her back to the sane side of Nature. You may PM to ask the rolls for this chapter if you're curious, but it's a bit spoilery.

Part of Aife's attitude with her father maaaay have been unconscious jealousy over his paternal treatment of Lily. Hey, you guys are the one who took the 'sword that slayed the king' perk, you should have expected some amounts of 'chichiueeeee!'.

Now though, since everyone and their mother messed up in some way, I need to release information about Dace's failures, otherwise, I'd risk people calling me out on him being too competent

.

In any case, Lily's gonna need massive amounts of puppy therapy. I hope you guys don't dislike the doge, because you'll see lots of 'em.

Nicaea · Jun 14, 2018

Turn 3: September 1983

This summer was a catastrophe, but Dace has survived worse.

The manor was totaled, the protective spells were gone, his staff was injured, his apprentice was having a psychotic break, his (grand) daughter was having nightmares, and his pride was injured.
Still, nobody died, which was a plus, and he was still healthy. And rich.

Good news was that his insurance delivered, and the people of the Ministry, whom he helped, were more than happy to help with the paperwork where they could.

Gained 900 000 Galleons, remaining loaned money repaid.

Furthermore, nothing of value was lost! (Scry-block, potions, and research autopasses still active!)
After a bit of reorganizing the wreck, some resources were even acquired from cannibalizing the remains:

+40 Stone.

However, even if they were comfortable, sleeping in a tent was humiliating!

The bigger news, however, was that Dumbledore came up and delivered the Order members who attacked Dace to the aurors, noting that Aife escaped. Looking at the photos, it seemed like they had snuggled with a few dementors with how traumatized they looked. He then proceeded to step onto the podium at the Wizengamot and revealed the existence and goals of the Order of the Phoenix, before apologizing to Dace in front of the assembly and stepping down from his post of supreme mugwump.

If nothing else, that should leave him with more freedom to move.

Turn 3 Possessions:

Gains:

-Animal (mundane and magical) Ranches: +45,000 Galleon (after salaries and charges), 1d6 Epic animal components/ Turn
-- 1000 Employees, payed 544 G/t on average.
Greenfire (Floo powder producers since 1930): + 10 000 Galleons/ Turn
--200 Employees payed 500 G/t on average
Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 60, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 550 G/t on average
Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 30 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 770 G/t on average
'George's Inferno': +6 Sulfur /turn, +6 Mercury /turn

Spendings:

Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning: -40,000 Galleon / turn, 1d6 Chance of producing a Druid, 1d100-80 chance of Loyal Hero Unit. (Muggleborn population: 95%)

Manor employee salaries: (50 of them, 380G/t on average) (Paid vacations/medical leave)

Salaries: Agatha (1 000), Jason Swallows (1500), Mad Eye Moody (1000)

= 82500 Galleons / Turn

GASL Rolls
d6: 3 Druids joined the army
d100-80: 40 Nope.
Elizabeth roll
99: Amber necklace: Necklace of ???
Animal ranches:
1x Unicorn horn

Treasury:
991 100 Galleons
12 Mercury
12 Sulfur
3 Crystal
6 Gems
40 Stone

Skylight: A sapphire that seems to shine with an inner light. +10 to results if used to create items with [Life/Order] Attribute.
Nature Anchor: Allows to soak up a zone with Nature energy, necessary to build a Rampart.
Magic Book: (Need to translate to use fully)
Dragon Rearing book
Dragon nest plans (Need to translate to use)
Necklace of ???

Ingredients:
Hydra venom
Chimera heartstrings
Jobberknoll feathersx4 (Truth and mind potion ingredients)
Unicorn horn
Inventory:
Cloak of Crystal: Gain 1 Crystal / turn (Value: 5000 G)
Still Eye of the dragon +1 Troops Morale, +1 Troops Luck (Value: 2000 G)
Quiet eye of the dragon +5 Troops attack damage, +5 Troops attack defense (Value: 2000 G)
Pendant of free will: Immune to mind magic and hypnosis. (Value 8000 G)

Event roll: 50 – Absolutely nothing of interest happened. Dace heard about some important artefact being unearthed, however the building in which it was found was trapped and the item was destroyed, along with everything in its close vicinity, including the researchers.

Rumor mill: [Locked] Sadly due to your current living conditions keeping tabs on the mill is impossible.

Turn 3

Diplomacy: Adviser – Elizabeth Gwallawg: Actions: 2

Elizabeth is feeling a bit under the weather, but that doesn't keep her from rifling through your papers with gusto. More than one time, you've heard her muttering about 'ruining them' and 'plundering their accounts'. In any case, be glad that her jewelry and Cleopatra wardrobe survived the mansion's destruction.

[] Have a chat with Dumbledore. You've put it off long enough, and as much as you loathe the old man, he is a major player and you shouldn't let him run around unchecked. This will open up funding/trade/information/socializing (ugh) options.

[] Trials! Trials everywhere! Don't look at him like that, he's the victim here!

[] Visit the Ministry, try to build up contacts. The people over there like you well enough, but you never know who you can meet and what you can find.

[] Attend Academy graduation. You are, after all, the owner, founder and the one who funds the Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning, located in Cardiff. This will increase your chance of people with exceptional potential stepping up, such as Oliver and Agathe. Miss Evans is currently indisposed and cannot give a speech, sorry.

[] Attend a ministry function. The current affairs are dreadful, truly dreadful.

Stewardship: Advisor – Oliver Lapierre: Actions: 2

Oliver, despite the one-track mind he has, is quite efficient when he comes to administration. Of course, he'd rather raise the wolves, but for now, he'll do as your steward.

[] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all. Costs 10 000 G. Gains variable.

[] Real Estate Hunt (step 2). The people who take care of the real estate have encountered a bit of a snag when it comes to the property you want to buy. There is an infestation of trolls. Because of that, you can buy it at a reduced price, but you'll need to deal with them. Cost 800 000G.

[] Find sources of building materials. Your contacts went out of business not that long ago, and you need good sources. Guaranteed access to Wood and Stone production facilities. Chance of getting access to Gem, Crystal, Sulfur, or Mercury production facilities. Cost variable.

[] Takeover. You're well placed in your country, due to both luck and shrewd management. Now is the time to launch your attack and corner the potions market! Cost: 100 000 G

Martial: Advisor(s): Alastor (Madeye) Maugrey, Jason Swallows. Actions: 3

Madeye is almost spitting nails at having been beaten by a bunch of wet behind the ears newbies, and, shame of shames, he was left tied up in a closet! In a broom closet! They didn't even have the decency to knock him out and he had to chew through his bindings to get out of it! Of course, this led to the ex-mercenary ribbing him, which ended up in a duel that left them both out of commission. After being scolded by a scary mediwitch, those two seem to have reached somewhat of an understanding.

[] Animal pens. Crudely explained, you need a place to store your dragon, his mothers, your pet dog ~~wolf~~, his pack, and the fairies that are about to overrun the small woods near the charred ruins of your manor. [May only be taken if [Rampart: step one] is complete]. May only build one per turn for stealth reasons.

-[] Wolf den: Produces 10 Wolves / turn, 1 year after construction. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G
--[] Direwolf den: Produces 10 Direwolves / turn, 1 year after construction. Replaces Wolf den. Costs 10 Wood, 3000 G
-[] Pixie huts: Produces 15 Pixies/turn, available immediately. Costs 20 Wood, 1000 G
--[] Sprite huts: Produces 15 Sprites / turn, available immediately. Replaces Pixie huts. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G
-[] Dragon Cliffs: Produces 1 Green dragon/ turn, 5 years after construction. [Needs [Dragon rearing book] and [Dragon nest plans] to be translated.] Costs 30 Stone, 20 Crystal, 20 000G
--[] Dragon Lair: Produces 1 Golden dragon/turn, 5 years after construction. Replaces Dragon Cliffs. Costs 30 Stone, 20 Crystal, 40 000G

[] Hire more security staff. -10 to enemy infiltration rolls. 2000G

[] Combat drills. You have units, but they don't know how to fight as an army.
-[]Wolves
-[]Dragons
-[]Pixies
-[]Druids
-[]Treants

[] Military expedition:
-[]Yr Wyddfa

Intrigue: Actions: 2 (1+ Intrigue over 25)

You're not sure you'll find anyone you trust with this to help you, save for your wife, but you need her more where she is right now.

[] Plots are good for your health! Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
-[] Dumbledore's little club of vigilantes.
-[] Voldemort's band of hooligans. Well, what remains of it, anyways.
-[] The Overlord of Chaos faction
-[] Riddle. He's tried to kill you thrice already.
-[] Aife. Better keep tabs on her.

[] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people being arrested left and right...
-[] Plot to take over shops in Diagon Alley (England, London).
-[] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)

[] Compulsive plotting is also good for the morale!
-[] Go on a matchmaking spree. Chance to increase Diplomacy, RP with some people, reputation.
-[] Go on a trolling rampage an adventure! Chance to increase Intrigue, cripple enemies, RP with some people.

[] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
-[] Plot with Oliver: +10 to Stewardship action rolls (+2 RP with Oliver)
-[] Plot with Elizabeth : +10 to Diplomacy action rolls (SL MAX)
-[] Plot with Scáthach: +2 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1d2 Intrigue to base score. She's still a bit young, but better get started early!

Learning: Actions: 2 (1+Learning over 25)

You're not letting anyone not from your family handle those books. Ever. You'll have to wait until either Elizabeth finds herself a newfound passion for reading, or until little Scáthach decides paper isn't for eating and learns to read. You have a feeling the latter will come earlier.

[] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
-[]Dragon nest plans [Takes 1 session] (reduced because you have a live dragon to experiment with)

[] The old tales are sometimes true. Brush up on your knowledge, after all each time something supernatural happened, a wizard was behind it.

[] On the other hand, you could also brush up your management skills... (due to owning Nature Anchor, this will cause the emergence of some skills.)
-[] With all of the things going on right now, you need to brush up on your Estates management.

Mysticism: Advisor: Agatha: Actions: 2 (+30 to rolls)

It stings a bit that you're just on the lower spectrum of powerful, but you'll deal. After that unpleasantness this summer, you've learned how much you are limited, however, and this displeases you. This displeases you greatly. On other news, Agatha's work with more... Enthusiastic...Colleagues of hers is continuing at a steady pace. It would be easier if she could give up on those 'Tolkien elves', but at this point, Dace'll take her just keeping the explosions away from camp.

[] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2)
-[V] Find a suitable location.
-[V] Find a full roster of Nature-themed creatures.
-[] Spare resources for the building: Pay 30 000 G, 30 wood, 30 stone. (0/30 000, 0/30, 0/30)
-[V] Investigate the Nature Anchor

[] Work on the Magic Book. Its powers have saved you multiple times, and yet, you know nothing of it.

[] Investigate the necklace your wife sent you. It's obviously magical, but you don't know what it does.

[] Y Ddraig Aur. He emerges once every thousand years and is currently chewing on a few cows in what remains of your backyard, but this time, it was early. Why?

[] You've been having ... Dreams, lately. So, did Scáthach to be honest, and you're fairly sure that Aife and her spawn will, too. They aren't particularly alarming; however, they are abnormal. If anything, you should investigate what they mean.

Personal: Actions: 6 (1 + Stewardship Advisor + Diplomacy Advisor + Mysticism advisor + 2 Martial advisors)

[] Spend time with one of your SLs: +2 RP (you can choose any of your SL)
-[] Spend time with Scáthach: +3 RP, chance of ???
-[] ~~Therapy~~ Spend time with Lily: +3 RP, +1/? to recovery

[] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)

[] Train. You hate doing it, and it hates you back, but if it makes Madeye shut up, you'll do it.

[] Ollivander has finished rifling through your mother's wands and now wants to teach you how to make wands because 'so much natural talent wasted is a crime against wizardkind and you should be ashamed not to use it!'. Seriously, what was it about you that made crazy old men nag at you all the time?

[] Extra action. Use your own free time to do stuff. (May only be taken once, may be used as substitute for AP)

Huh, would you look at that, Event-chan is giving you a breather and went to bully someone else! Praise Event-chan for her mercy!
Freyja be spitting as many nails as Madeye right now tho.
And [Queen of Shadows] procced!

Now, for a bit of an announcement, let's all cheer for Blonddude42 who joined ~~my cult~~ the team as a ~~minion~~ Beta!

Nicaea · Jun 16, 2018

Honestly, back then, I'd thought Deathquest would have won, and after dithering for a while, I decided to post it anyways. I still have dice to roll and stuff...

LadyPanda said:
[] Diplomacy: Make some connections at the ministry.

Rolled 15

For some reason, you didn't manage to get in contact with anyone of import. The best you could manage was the janitor. This is the third time you failed already, so it's pretty clear someone is working against you. You clench you teeth, trying to keep the blackness in check and slowly exhale. Patience, you tell it. Patience, Dumbledore will get his due.

No infiltrator in the ministry yet~

[] Stewardship: Try to get some funds.

Rolled 35

Most of the money around was used to fund the reconstruction after the Overlord's raids in Diagon alley and Voldemort's reign of terror, so money is scarce, and the ones with the money are too well protected for you to contact.

Gain 3 500 Galleons

[]Martial : Full out assault on Dumbledore's party. Double down.

Rolled 63,88

To be continued in Complete victory.

[] Intrigue: Try to infiltrate the Order of the Phoenix

Rolled 100

To be continued in Complete victory.

[] Learning: Continue translating the Book of Death. Double down.

Rolled 98,38

You have made a new breakthrough in translating this book. New spells avaliable:

Animate Dead - 3 mana
Combat - Summoning
Power: 82 + 7.5 HP/level + Demonology
Animate Dead raises a number of creatures based on the caster's level from any stack of dead creatures. All creatures vanish after combat ends.

Life Drain - 3 mana
Combat - Direct Damage
Damage: 16 + 1.5 dmg/level + Demonology
Life Drain steals hit points from all Life targets, and then caster gains a portion of the total hit points drained.

[] Mysticism: Necropolis step 2 : Upgrade Cursed Temple
Rolled 54

There was no problem with the construction.

Skeletons upgraded to skeleton warriors.

[] Mysticism: Necropolis step 2: Acquire resources : Stone
Rolled 49

Digging to expand those bone pits left you with quite the amount of stone to peruse

Gained 5 Stone.

Alright, everyone, you know the drill, prepare for some good old curbstomping

Raven said:
Yeeees... Stupid insert, here comes Tommy!

SoulWeave said:
Do you think we'll get to sacrifice her to our dark god instead? We need more worthy sacrifices.

Porky said:
Dude, we're going the undead harem master route, remember? The Angry Man can get Fumbledore though.

SoulWeave said:
But... But muh apocalypse...

LadyPanda said:
*Watches the rolls.* Okay...

MegaMinion said:
I'm scared.

Blondie24 said:
Naaah , it's Nat 100, even if we mess up we get goodies.

LadyPanda said:
Complete victory.

You finally managed it. You got spies within the Order, and what a spy they were. The intelligence they gave was invaluable for someone such as you, and the influence they had there was even better. Already they prove their worth.

Dumbledore was going to parley with the leader of the unnamed faction that appeared last year in the Orkney islands, only accompanied with his top two enforcers, James Potter, and Aife Lupin, who was supposed to be the Holder of Freyja's blessings. Better yet, she was pregnant, therefore, there was a chance the blessing spread to her spawn. Anyways, this was an occasion to wipe out three threats at once...

Then, there were a few... Unexpected events. According to his information Evans was the Elder Gwallawg's apprentice, so he really should have anticipated his presence. Still, he was inconsequential in regards of The Plan. What was more worrying was the rather characteristic presence of a giant Welsh Green, who looked an awful lot like an AvLee Green Dragon. That was supported by the fact someone was riding on it. They were tall and blond, but that's about all he could see from here. That would be a problem.
Tom made a mental command and the dead moved. In the air, the Dementors and their spawns were keeping them from running away while his footsoldiers advanced. His opponents seemed to have noticed too. Dumbledore and his followers decided to take the fight to him, while an army of automatons walked out from the city and the dragon took to the sky.

He beat them one by one. Potter was easily dealt with, while Dumbledore was pinned down by the never ending sea of the dead that was threatening to swallow him and Aife was currently engaging his dear Anastasia. He began casting the spell, a modified version of the Avada Kedavra and took aim.

Then a scream came from the sky, followed by a shockwave and intense ag0N-

...
...
...

Tom Riddle woke up with a start, Anastasia's red curls welcoming him to the land of the conscious.

"The city has fallen my love, however, I must apologize, I didn't manage to carry out your orders. Dumbledore called for his phoenix." She had apology all over her face, and the pitch black darkness in his gut rebelled. He quashed it with a thought and sighed, relaxing his body on the bed.

"I see. Then it can't be helped."

"However, you'll be pleased to know that I managed to contact some of my informants within the order of the phoenix, and they have some interesting information that I think you ought to know...

Order faction nipped in the bud. Order of the Phoenix key members subverted : Arthur Weasley, Emmeline Vance, Kingsley Shacklebot. Gain an automatic +10 roll against each member of the Order. Gain intelligence of their moves. Relations between Order of the phoenix and Dace Gwallawg set to hostile.

MegaMinion said:
What ?!

Miyosan said:
Why are you so angry, we nipped one of the big 5 in the bud, it's awesome!

Blondie24 said:
We didn't get Fumbledore or Waifu number 4 though.

MegaMinion said:
Why is he here again ?!

Miyosan said:
Where did we see him again?

MegaMinion said:
He's the one who wiped out our army back home !

SoulWeave said:
Wait, he's not in the Life faction?

LadyPanda said:
Nope.

Porky said:
Where did he get that dragon? And where do we get one?

SoulWeave said:
Do you think it'd be a good base for our skulldragons? I want a skulldragon for our lord and Savior.

LadyPanda said:
Well, you could have, he got them on the same day you got the Death anchor~.

MegaMinion said:
Oh yeah, in the Dragon Utopia. Wait. Oh no. No no no no, please tell me you didn't.

LadyPanda said:
Look deep into your heart and you shall find the answer~

MegaMinion said:
@#ù¤$*! Guys, we need to track down the guy on the dragon and kill him harder than Tommy's mom! He's the fricking Nature faction leader!

Porky said:
The one who zerg rushes harder than we do?

MegaMinion said:
Yes! And he's already got fricking dragons!

Raven said:
Nah, you're exaggerating, I mean, Zebra told us with enough actions and a competent enough minion, you can tame anything.Besides, it's not af if they're resistant to magic, it's Harry Potter, one spell in the eyes and it goes down.

Blondie24 said:
Speaking of Potter, what's up with James and Lily?

LadyPanda said:
Whaddya mean?

Blondie24 said:
Well, they didn't seem that close to me? Lily was the leader of Order faction, Dumbledore's in Life, but James is with Dumbledore and not Lily? It's weird.

LadyPanda said:
Hm-Hmmmm~

Porky said:
Uh-oh. He hit the nail on the head, didn't he?

LadyZebra said:
I think at this point the cat's pretty much out of the bag anyways.

LadyPanda said:
Interlude : Fleur de Lis.

MegaMinion said:
You're telling me we've been hunting down somebody who didn't even exist for over three turns and wasted about 10 actions on it?

LadyPanda said:
Well, Yes. But hey, at least other You got Longbottom. Probably.

MegaMinion said:
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

SoulWeave said:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Raven said:
Ah, he broke again. Now what do we do?

Blondie24 said:
Same thing as we always do, we're planning to take over the world with our army of super waifus.

So here it is, it's supposed to be shorter because more revelations.

Nicaea · Jun 17, 2018

krahe said:
"Attempting Murder"

I see what you did there.

September 12th 1983

-[X] Real Estate Hunt (step 2). The people who take care of the real estate have encountered a bit of a snag when it comes to the property you want to buy. There is an infestation of trolls. Because of that, you can buy it at a reduced price, but you'll need to deal with them. Cost 800 000G.
Luck activated! Score raised: 59 + 20 = 79

Well, the first thing to do, Dace supposed, was to secure another base of operations. Still, having his house destroyed before he even finished paying for its ameliorations was annoying. At least that was paid back using the insurance money, leaving him with a lot more than what he had when he was younger. Therefore, he went, along with his granddaughter and his wife, to the real estate agent.

The place was sober and clean, which was all he wanted from it. One could easily gauge the level of competence from a business that way. Those who used lots of decorations were bound to use them as distractions, whether it was from the fact they were fleecing their customers or their own incompetence didn't really matter. The person receiving them was a no nonsense greying woman with square glasses and a squarer jaw that looked like she could chew a galleon and spit a nugget out, which made her smiles mildly terrifying. He liked that.

"Mister Gwallawg." She held out her hand for him to shake which he did, before she sat behind her desk, and his family in front of her. "Desidera Swallows. I have received your message about your interested in one of our lots. However, our people have run into some... Difficulties... Along the way, therefore, I have called you here to inform you about the situation."

Dace raised an eyebrow but said nothing, signaling her to continue with a move of his hand and seating himself more comfortably on his seat.

"As you probably do not know due to your current circumstances, this is mating season for the trolls, and they have invaded the property you're interested in. After failing to negotiate with them, my superiors have called the exterminators and opened up several other places that would correspond to the criteria you imposed, but-"

The man raised his hand, eyes closed, before opening them back with a faint smirk on his lips. The wheels in his mind were turning, and a plan began to take shape.

"I'll take it."

The woman looked slightly perturbed but readjusted her glasses and gave him the contract. She even gave him the contact information of some builders she knew.

Spent 800 000 Galleons. You now own the tallest mountain of Wales, in the middle of the natural park of Snowdonia.

September 14th 1983

Martial:
[X] Combat drills. You have units, but they don't know how to fight as an army.
-[X]Dragons Luck activated! Score raised: 81 + 20 = 101 :Critical success! Dragons combat ready.
-[X]Druids 24 / 200 until combat ready
[X] Military expedition:
-[X]Yr Wyddfa 68

"...And that's why you're all here today." Dace explained, looking immensely proud of himself, as he showed the grey shapes milling around the mountain, the wind carrying their terrible stench. The young graduates of the Academy, that Agatha swindled into convinced to become the first druids of your personal army looking at each other nervously, while the giant flying murder machines looked at you intently with an intelligence far from animalistic. Among them was the golden dragon, who had just reached maturity and was almost twice as big as the other dragonesses. Looking at the mountain, his reptilian eyes narrowed in what seemed to be calculation.

It then got up on its hindlegs, raised its head high, and let out a long, guttural roar that shook the air around and took flight, followed by the others, in direction of the mountain. Then, the mountain lit up as the dragons began circling it, spewing gouts of fire each time they saw a troll. Screams of agony reached their ears, and one of the younger druids began vomiting as the scent of burnt meat filled their nostrils. He'd have to train them a lot more before he could drag them onto the battlefield, it seems...

Slaughter Battle results : 40x Trolls killed
Dace Current exp: 1261 / 2000
Fight result: Victory!
Exp Gained: 1600
Dace current exp: 2861 / 3000 Level up!

As he did in the last fight, Dace felt something. However this time, he tried to pinpoint the feeling, and he got the Anchor out of the back. Then, as he looked at it, he finally noticed brown wisps of something coming from the mountain, suffusing the cube, who was pulsating, and coming within him.

[] This calls for an investigation.
[] There's too much to do right now.

In any case, there is nothing he can do about it right now, thus, he instead began to shape the energy within him.

[] Spells that seemed more complicated before now were more accessible to him... Gain Advanced Wisdom.
[] The air around him sang with a song he was beginning to understand... Gain Advanced Air Magic
[] 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.

Dace's current skills: 5/8 Slots taken.
Basic Wisdom: allows your hero to learn third 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

After spending a few days cleaning up and inspecting the land, Dace was pleasantly surprised by what he found.
Territory cleared! Land bonuses discovered:

Growth:

Fairies: ++
Wolves: +
Moon does: ++
Elves (unavailable): ?
Treants: +
Druids: +
Dragons:++

Resources:

Low amounts of gold : 5 000 to work the resource, 1 000 G/Turn, 1d6-3 Native Gold / turn afterwards.
Massive amounts of high quality stone: 20 000 to work the resource, 16 ore / turn, 1d6-3 Flawless Marble afterwards.
Massive amounts of high quality crystals: 40 000 to work the resource, 8 Crystal / turn, 1d6-3 Flawless crystal afterwards.
Massive amounts of gems : 40 000 to work the resource, 8 Gems/turn afterwards.

Well, as expected, the mountain was rich with resources, though that would cost him a pretty penny to buy the tools and workers to process them. Oh well, one needs money to make money...

October 6th 1983

Stewardship:
-[X] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all. Costs 10 000 G. Gains variable.
29

Dace didn't know why his house being destroyed would in any way affect his ability to make money, however, the problem was that people did, and therefore refused to sell to him.

At least, he got his money back.

Failure!

October 25th 1983

Personal:
-[X] Spend time with one of your SLs: +2 RP
--[X] Therapy Spend time with Lily: +3 RP, +1/? to recovery 59

Lily was in a bad shape here. None of her wits, all of her temper, and whatever Dumbledore did to her left her unable to act on her visibly murderous impulses. He wouldn't enjoy what he was about to do. Dave levelled his wand at her and muttered a spell that, if he was caught, would get him a one-way ticket to Azkaban.

"Imperio."

There wasn't even a struggle, no resistance whatsoever to the spell, almost as if there wasn't a mind here at all, only an all-consuming rage, that ebbed and flowed. He made Lily get up and inspected her critically, before calling for his wife on his way out. He'd rather not have to witness his apprentice being bathed and fed.

After a few hours, Lily, now clean, clothed and fed was sitting in front of him like a doll, with some restraints just in case his countermeasure failed. On his hand, he held a modified calming draught that he made her drink. It seemed to have an effect, as control of her body was brutally yanked away from him and the young woman began convulsing on the seat, hands gripping the armrests, the wood breaking under the strain. She spent some time howling and groaning, but after she stopped, she looked at him with something approaching recognition in her eyes. At the very least, she didn't try to attack him.

"Good morning Lily."

She just blinked at him in incomprehension.

"Uuuuh."

Dace had a bad feeling about that, but he continued talking to her.

"One groan for no, two for yes, do you understand me?"

"Uuuuh."

Well. At least, she understood when people talked to her. Though, her mind was probably similar to a newborn's right now.

Then, a gust of wind made a dark cloth near the tent's opening flap and she tried to pounce on it, growling.

He bit back a sigh. It seemed she behaved herself around him because she knew him on an instinctual level, but her mind was closer to that of an animal, rather than a child's. An animal in perpetual fight-or-flight state.

It seemed more sessions would be in order.

Lily is a bit better and won't try to rip your head off anymore.
+1 to Recovery score, +5 RP (stored until she's cognizant enough to acknowledge something as complex as interpersonal relationships).

November 12th 1983

Learning:
-[X] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
-[X]Dragon nest plans [Takes 1 session] (reduced because you have a live dragon to experiment with) 72

It was long and arduous, and there were many terms that couldn't be translated, but Dace finally did it. It probably helped that now he had the mountain under his nose, it made him easier to project the hypothetical dragon nests, especially since his dragons had taken to napping around it. It seems that they liked high altitude, rocky areas where they could fly around.

Plans translated, Dragon nest construction available once Rampart tier 1 is complete.

AN:
Yeah, Snowdon got really good rolls, and even a bit of gold despite the maluses. Still, Stone got 115 and Crystals got 104, which allow them to produce supposedly rare materials that aren't important yet but would normally be hard to find. So, yay, I guess.

More importantly, my loyal minion has pointed out something that he felt was rather important I tell you: here, I play each and every faction you don't control, and all of them move towards their own victory conditions. Therefore I strongly advise you to try and be proactive. I will tell you this however:

Riddle wants to become a God, the Overlord seeks to achieve domination, Dumbledore wants to wipe out chaotic / evil factions, ??? wants the throne, ??? wants to defeat ???, ??? wants to create a legacy that will last forever and all are in search of the Holy

Nicaea · Jun 20, 2018

Turn 3: Winter 1983

November 24th 1983

Intrigue:
[X] Plots are good for your health! Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
-[X] Aife. Better keep tabs on her.
Personal:
-[X] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
--[X] Plot against Aife

It was more a stroke of luck than anything else by this point, Dace thought, as he read the report from one of his spies, that his daughter bought something from one of his shops. Of course she altered her appearance, however this didn't change the fact that even with black hair, brown eyes, a dirty face and a few fake moles, she was still eye-catching. Or, more probably, it was because of it that she was more easily noticed. After all, a poor woman wouldn't buy a costly fever reducer.

Still, it was an adequate enough camouflage, he supposed. His investigators tailed her, using the tracker in the bottle, and arrived at an empty flat, recently deserted. They just missed her, but it didn't matter. After all, if she was up and about, the potion was for her child, which meant that once he drinks it, Dace would have a reliable way to track her whereabouts by using her son.

The team came to his manor and dropped a few items, maps, books and baubles. After a bit of analysis, he managed to break the simplistic code on it and now, all he needed was time to spend over trying to understand what exactly his wayward (ex) daughter was after. After all, one didn't investigate old Myths and Magic lightly, even she knew that, or at least, he made sure to impress that upon her mind when she was younger. He still didn't know if it stuck or not.

Tracker placed on Aife! New option available next turn: Investigate Aife's plot.

December 1st 1983

Learning:
-[X] Translate books. Knowledge is always useful.
-[X]Dragon nest plans [Takes 1 session] (reduced because you have a live dragon to experiment with)

It took some time and was frustrating, especially considering dragon rearing wasn't his thing, at all, but he finally managed to translate the plans in their entirety, before throwing them in Oliver's way and proceeding to try and calm the headache it caused.

-[X] The old tales are sometimes true. Brush up on your knowledge, after all each time something supernatural happened, a wizard was behind it.

The problem with lore is that there are so many different interpretations of the same myth that nobody even remembers the truth behind it. Not even Dace's archives are immune to that, but at least, he does know which ones have truly happened, at the very least. For example, while Arthur existed, his sleeping with his sister Morgana was a hoax. In the end, there was too much data to find anything worthwhile if one was to look around aimlessly. However, he found some interesting things about the necklace his wife found. The implications were worrying though...
Mysticism:
-[X] Work on the Magic Book. Its powers have saved you multiple times, and yet, you know nothing of it.

Translating it was surprisingly easy, considering how much of a pain the dragon plans were, and it paid off. Dace finally knew what was up with that book, and when he did, he was both awed and horrified.

Magic Book becomes Book of Air!

If there was a book for the four elements, did that means there were books for the factions too? The thought of Riddle having a book containing so much magic about Death... He closed his eyes. This wasn't him. He didn't deal in what ifs. If there's a possibility of him having that book, then Dace needed to act as if it were on his possession already, and make contingencies.

Book of Air: Allows its owner to cast any spell from the school of Air, provided they have the necessary mana, regardless of the spell level. (List of spells : Air Magic Spells - Heroes of Might and Magic III / Heroes 3 )

December 28th 1983

Diplomacy:

-[X] Have a chat with Dumbledore. You've put it off long enough, and as much as you loathe the old man, he is a major player and you shouldn't let him run around unchecked. This will open up funding/trade/information/socializing (ugh) options.

Dace arrived in a flash of green fire, dusting his robes as he strode through the room, heading towards the seats, not bothering with introductions. Dumbledore's eyes followed him hands steepled over his ornate desk, the portraits of the old directors of Hogwards protesting his impoliteness as he sat. His blue-green eyes scanned the room, from Dumbledore himself, clad in those garish mustard robes that he was sure he wore to annoy him, to the multiple odds and ends clutteres on tables on the side, to the phoenix that was looking at him with piercing eyes. He stopped a bit, trying to understand why the animal looked upset then remembered.
"You had your chance, remember? It isn't my fault you were slower than the dragons."

The bird seemed to huff, before breaking eye contact and beginning to comb its feathers with its beak. The silence fell down on the room, where Dace and Dumbledore looked at eachother, gauging, judging.

"Nigh'mare..."

The door suddenly opened, and a toddler entered. Blond haired, brown eyed, he looked like somebody took Frank Longbottom and shrunk him down. This was most likely Neville Longbottom.

Dumbledore got up from his seat and walked towards the toddler, grandfatherly persona firmly in place, and smiled at him gently, rubbing the boy's head.Meanwhile, the gears in Dace's mind were turning. Why would he be at Hogwarts? Well it was the 'safest place in Britain', where Dumbledore could keep an eye on him.

"Is that so? Well, this is problematic. Have you called on Whimsy and Dozy?" The old man asked while waving his wand and making the boy levitate, eliciting delighted giggles on his part.

"They weren't here, so I came for you."

Albus frowned, but it disappeared quickly.

"Well then, we should remedy to that, shouldn't we?" He wrote a note and had his familiar pick it up, teleporting away to its recipient. The boy then looked around, eyes fixed on Dace, before he looked away again towards Dumbledore, babbling excitedly as the man sat back on his chair, the child on his lap. Dace closed his eyes, counted up to ten and got up from his seat, his voice smoother than he would have thought.

"It seems I am intruding. I'll be on my way."

Dimbledore sighed as the room flashed green.

"Grandpa? Who was that?" Nevilled asked him innocently, having likely picked up on the tension between the two men unconsciously.
"A mistake, Neville. The biggest mistake I have made in many years." The man seemed to sag, looking as if every year of his life finally caught back to him.

So Prophecy was all it took, huh...

Failure.

January 10th 1984

Intrigue:
[X] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
-[X] Plot with Scáthach: +2 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1d2 Intrigue to base score. She's still a bit young, but better get started early!
Mysticism:
-[X] You've been having ... Dreams, lately. So, did Scáthach to be honest, and you're fairly sure that Aife and her spawn will, too. They aren't particularly alarming; however, they are abnormal. If anything, you should investigate what they mean.
Personal:
-[X] Spend time with one of your SLs: +2 RP
--[X] Spend time with Scáthach: +3 RP, chance of ???

Winter had pretty much become the season Dace devoted to spending time with his heiress, though most of that time was used to teach her valuable life lessons. Today was no different.

"So," Dace began today's lesson with a slightly sour expression. " today, we're going to be talking about 'needs must'. Someday, you'll find yourself in a situation where you need to cooperate with people you don't necessarily agree with.... Yes?" He stopped, seeing that his granddaughter has raised her hand with an oddly concentrated expression on her face.

"Like you and Dumbledore?" She asked innocently. Dace twitched, before breathing in and out and nodding.

"Yes. Exactly like Dumbledore and I." He acknowledged, before continuing, a hard look in his eyes as he looked at the fire in the chimney." In fact, you may find yourself needing to cooperate with people you absolutely despise for the sake of your goals, whichever they may be, knowing perfectly well that they are nothing more than giant, irresponsible liabilities..."

"Grandfather, you're doing it again. "This time Scáthach interrupted him as he was going into one of his rants. "Grandmother told me to stop you when you do that, but why are you doing it in the first place?"

Dace deflated like a balloon and sighed uncharacteristically, running a hand through his hair.

"Dumbledore... It's complicated. " He started, trying to find some way to talk about it. "Some think him a great hero for defeating Grindelwald, but they forget he's the one who enabled him in the first place. They say he's the only one the Terrorist ever feared, however, according to that Chamber of Secrets mess, he couldn't even reign him in when he was a student. It's true he's strong, and a genius. However, he limits himself too much when it matters and that causes him to become inefficient." He was hesitating to say more about it when he was interrupted.

"Don't mind him sweetheart." The doors opened dramatically, and Elizabeth entered, clad in a periwinkle dress embedded with small sapphires. " Getting anything personal out of him is like trying to pry off a cerberus' tooth. Dace here has a bad history with Dumbledore." She continued, sashaying around the room and plucking the little girl off the seat. " Honestly, it's a miracle he managed to last that long without insulting the man. He's not necessarily wrong, mind you, but there are things better left unsaid until later." She gave him a pointed look, before bringing the girl out with her, leaving Dace alone in his office.

The man covered his eyes with one hand, pinching the bridge of his nose, before absentmindedly flicking his wand and sending a paper knife sailing through the air towards a copy of the older man's photograph on the journal. It struck true, a dull thud could be heard, but Dace didn't feel any better.

And then the dreams started.

A rocky island that was lapped at by the sea. A gigantic beast struck by a spear, its body, cut up and broken down into materials, a battlefield, a glowing figure falling down to the ground, a flash of red, and then nothing.

This wouldn't be that unusual, save for the fact that he dreamed of it every night, and it just so happened that dream interpretation, of Divination in general, wasn't his specialty. In fact, he was pretty inept at it. Still, it didn't take too much to guess what it was about, which is why he was unsurprised when Scáthach came to him one evening, clad in her pink nightdress, holding Amalthea in her arms and looking worried, talking to him about the dreams she had, identical to his.

There were only few reasons why they would both dream about the Isle of Skye and the Ulster Cycle, after all. It seemed he'd have to investigate his granddaughter's namesake.

Go on an expedition?
[]No
[]Yes Costs 10 000 Galleons + 100 / person/creature

Bring people with you?

[]No
[]Yes

-[]A small retinue : Higher risks, Smaller detection chances
You will go with a dragon, 2 druids, Oliver and your granddaughter.
-[]A medium retinue : Middling choice
Same as above, with 3 more dragons and another druid
-[]A large retinue: Lowest risks, Higher detection chances
Same as above, with one last dragon ( Sigurd), Hassan the wolf and a group of fairies.
-[]Write in:

Note: For the write in : Humanoid creatures generate little to no attention while those vastly unusual generate lots.

+5 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1 Intrigue, Dace gains the trait Stressed.

Stressed : -1 to all stats, -10 to all rolls. All work and no play makes Dace want to go away ~

Sorry for the lateness, illness.
Dumbledice strikes again! And this time, Dace's the one paying for it~
On another hand, Queen of Shadows at hand. Yay? I mean, it was bound to happen since it was selected in character creation, but still, it's a bit early.

Nicaea · Jun 23, 2018

[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. 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.

Nicaea · Jun 27, 2018

[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 ...

Nicaea · Jun 29, 2018

March 1st, 1984

-[X] Trials! Trials everywhere! Don't look at him like that, he's the victim here!

Dace was sitting in the courtroom as if he owned the place, lounging leisurely and joking with Lucius about their next bit of entertainment. The young man, always happy to help when it comes to annoying people aligned with Dumbledore, was relaxed. It seemed like people finally forgot that Lucius bribed his way out of Azkaban and stopped talking where he could hear. Or they were too scared after he ruined the third business belonging to people who offended him.

It wasn't very subtle, but Dace supposed it got the job done. He looked with interest as the now one-armed James Potter entered, the very picture of wounded dignity. His green eyes met with the bespectacled man's own hazel, and the looks exchanged were one of pure hatred, and the other, amusement. Potter did a double take before glaring harder, which made Dace smile politely and tilt his head in false incomprehension, which did wonders to needle the other man. Ah, how he missed annoying people by offering them basic courtesy. He felt his tension leave and relaxed in his seat.

Dace then looked around, ignoring the irate man in favor of looking for a certain somebody who wasn't there. It seemed Dumbledore was true to his words and didn't try to protect them from judgement. What was strange though, was that at the end of the room, near the entrance, Dace could see a black silhouette clad in a black cloak. Nothing of them was visible, save for the unnatural pallor of their skin. There went his good mood. The undead even infiltrated here? He was glad he didn't throw his lot in with the Ministry, if that were the case.

However, this caused a complication, for if the Ministry was compromised, so was Dumbledore, to a certain extent. Which meant that should something happen, he wouldn't be able to count on reinforcements. After all, it would be trivial to engineer an incident somewhere else and go for the kill in the meantime. Especially if Riddle and the Overlord struck a ceasefire, like the lack of altercations between the both of them this winter may suggest... He hated it when his enemies were competent. More so when they were completely insane in a way that didn't impede their abilities in any way.

A stout woman, hair graying and big glasses set on her nose walked up towards James Potter and began speaking about him. How he was a respectable young man, a young father to a pair of twins, how him following Aife was a mistake due to youth, how it was truly Aife's fault, and she even began insinuating that the fault lied towards Dace for not being more strict with his daughter, as it was one of the regrets he expressed himself in that interview he had with Rita Skeeter.

Dace felt his smile become fixed.

Now now... That wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all...

What does Dace do?

[] Let it go, he has more things to worry about than a mere trial

[] Well, he can't very well let them go unscathed after this, right?

[] Ruin them. He may not be as active as he used to be in the political arena, but he was still a force to be reckoned with.

Due to having sufficiently taunted and gloated in front of his enemies, Dace loses trait stressed. + 2 SL Lucius.

March 19th, 1984

-[X] Train. You hate doing it, and it hates you back, but if it makes Madeye shut up, you'll do it.

Dace didn't know what possessed him into taking the bait Moody presented, but in his defense, having his agility compared to that of a legless, arthritic goblin would get on anyone's nerves! Which was why he was currently at the feet of Yr Wyddfa, where the grizzled auror was scolding him for everything he had done wrong. Well, trying to.

"And what's this I hear about you being poisoned in your own house?! You should have known better than to drink something given to you by an enemy!"

"I had a tooth hollowed out and filled with a generic cure-all."

A vein on Madeye's forehead was beginning to twitch, expressing his immense annoyance.

"Here is what I have to say to you Gwallawg." He whipped out his wand, almost faster than what the eye could see and bellowed "CONST- "

Dace snapped his fingers and curtains of fog blocked out their sight. He then swiftly moved, barely avoiding a scarlet jet of energy, before dropping on his fours, all of Madeye's spells trying to reach for him, herding him towards a position that would have caused his loss had he remained on his feet. Secretly, he was glad this blocked off the ex-auror's eye, because of the indignity. Well, not that he really cared about that above results, but he had an image to maintain. With one last look at Moody's general direction, he steadily advanced on his fours, ignoring the bellows of Madeye calling for him to fight him like a man and, when he reached safe distance, he escaped the fog, got up and threw another vial.

Normally, the fog would be inert, even if it couldn't be seen through with magical means, but once the vial's contents is added the fog becomes of a powerful knock out gas. After he heard Moody fall to the ground, he lifted the trap, revealing a snoring Moody.

Perhaps, before talking about 'constant vigilance', he'd check his surroundings for nonmagical booby traps, next time.

He felt rather proud of himself and walked back to camp, only to see his ancestor with his granddaughter on her shoulders. The woman grinned at him, white teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

"Well then, what do we have here, cutting out classes, brat?"

She didn't really let him explain before she proceeded to 'beat the hooligan out of him' as an 'educational example for his granddaughter'.

Several hours later, he almost crawled into his bed after applying some salve for his bruises and mused that perhaps he preferred training with Moody over that. Still, he had learned an important lesson.

[] Knowing when to run: Bonuses to escape and dodging

[] Standing his ground: Bonus to combat

[] Proper timing: Bonus to opportunity attack

April 12th, 1984

-[X] Ollivander has finished rifling through your mother's wands and now wants to teach you how to make wands because 'so much natural talent wasted is a crime against wizardkind and you should be ashamed not to use it!'. Seriously, what was it about you that made crazy old men nag at you all the time?

Sitting gingerly to avoid aggravating the results of yet another beating from his grandmother's loving hands, he looked around him. Usually the mountains were only barely covered in grass when it wasn't snow, yet, the Treant's exodus led them to begin developing one there. Through holes in the shrubs, he could see wildlife, like wolves and moon does looking at him stealthily. Unblinking. And unmoving. This was slightly unnerving to be honest. Even more so since some of those wolves were apparently brought into existence by his granddaughter and nobody knew why.

Still, the most unnerving here was by far Ollivander himself. The man looked nothing like a well put-together shopkeeper, his clothes were instead a simple brown robe, and his silver hair resembled a crow's nest, or at least a bowtruckle's with the odd branch or leaf sticking out. He'd been spending quite a bit of time outside despite the temperature and looked almost manic at times, carrying with him branches of diverse sizes and forms while muttering things nobody could hear.

Dace was fairly certain, as the older man sat on the ground in front of him, that it was the Nature influencing him. Well that, and the fact that his greatest love always was, and always would be wandmaking. Speaking of which...

"Wands, are works of art. Each wand I made, I remember in the tiniest details, the size, the grain of the wood, the weight... There is no wand identical to another, each and every one of them is unique, and therefore each and every witch and wizard is the perfect fit to one wand for their whole life. However, the only way to ensure that perfect match, is to create it yourself, young Dace." Ollivander produced Dace's wand, that he hadn't even remarked was absent from the holster in his sleeve and held it to the light.

"My whole life I strove to find what were the best ingredients to make a perfect wand, and I managed to find three reasonably well supplied. Unicorn hair, phoenix peather and Dragon heartstring. There were more possible cores, but Basilisks and other such creatures were much too rare for me to have access to them. Such a pity..." He gazed into the forest, eyes lost in thought, before he snapped out of it again.

"In your particular case, you are well attuned to your wand, in no little part due to the fact your mother was its creator. Cedar and Dragon heartstring. Cedar is a wood that responds well to people with strong character and stronger loyalty. If memory serves, you were in Hufflepuff, were you not? " Dace grunted noncommittally and Ollivander continued. " It tends to favor perspicacity and perception and its holders tend to be rather... Frightening opponents if crossed, for loyalty and perception tend to be oft overlooked qualities that greatly surprise one's opponent. " His knowing, cloudy eyes were almost seeing through Dace at this point, who was wondering why exactly he agreed to this.

"Dragon heartstrings as a general rule produce powerful wands that allow for quick learning of spells. They tend to form strong bonds to their owners, however, they are also the easiest to win over in a fight, for dragons only acknowledge strength and dominance, and this trait carried over to the wands themselves, who also end up being quite temperamental." He chuckled, before waving Dace's wand, to no effect.

"However, in that case, the Cedar wood counters that effect, amplifying instead the power, to the detriment of the wand's ability to work with anyone else. This was clearly an intended feature I found in several other wands made by Bridget. However, I do not think this is the best match for you. No, no... In fact..." The younger man looked slightly offended now.

"No, you promise to be my trickiest customer by far. " A light of unholy glee was animating the man, whose body language was beginning to become erratic." Such a walking contradiction, such an inner turmoil. There is anger, so much of it, only held at bay by ironclad determination. A soul that only ever knew darkness and yet refused to answer its siren's call... No, young man, yours will be a wand made with a phoenix feather to serve you as a guide... As for the wood... Perhaps laurel. Or maybe even..." His maniacal grin almost reached his ears as the wind picked up making the living forest whisper." Yew."

+2 RP With Ollivander, Dace can now craft basic wands, ???/???

May 6th, 1984

-[X] Extra action. Use your own free time to do stuff. (May only be taken once, may be used as substitute for AP)
--[X] Investigate the necklace your wife sent you. It's obviously magical, but you don't know what it does. 78 Luck activated! Score raised :78+20 = 98

It took him quite a while to understand what exactly it was. However, he finally found out. This necklace's effects were twofold. On one side, it strengthened any army its holder supported, on the other it reinforced their charm and fertility. The downside is that it could only be worn by women. At least it wasn't cursed. Now, where did her hear about a necklace like that before... He'd need to investigate.

Gained :

A mysterious necklace!

+2 Luck, Morale to army
+20 attraction roll in spring
+10 Fertility

Give the necklace to someone?

[]Yes

-[]Write-in

[]No

And now, the choice some of you have been waiting for....

Choose your Interlude!

[]The Dark Lord
[]The Black Lord
[]The Red Lord
[]The White Lord
[]The Grey Lord
[]The Red Lady
[]The Green Lady
[]The Pink Lady
[]The Blue Lady
[]The Bright Lady

Dace's dark secret finally revealed: Dude was a Puff.

Nicaea · Jul 1, 2018

Interlude : The Bright Lady
Aife Negaverse (2)

(Looks like somebody on QQ got their wish)

LadyZebra said:
Huh.

SuperMinion said:
What now?

Kiyotan said:
Zebra? Zebra no! Zebra stahp! Whatever's on your mind isn't good!

SoulReave said:
Zebra yes!

Orky said:
Seriously, I feel like this quest should be called masochism simulator

SoulReave said:
IKR, it's like watching a trainwreck in slow motion!

Brunette24 said:
To be fair, Zebra told you since the beginning that going with the 'kill dad' plan would cause a difficulty spike

Kiyotan said:
There's difficulty spike, and there's this! We're supposed to play very easy mode!

Corvid said:
Even in very easy mode, if you shoot yourself in the foot, it's still going to hurt.

SuperMinion said:
That was surprisingly profound of you.

LadyZebra said:
Invasion : Code Red

It was going rather well at the beginning, banished as she was, she was still that man's daughter by blood and as such she had some leeway with the manor's protective spells. A look at the minimap on the top right of her view revealed the optimal route to go and save Lily and as such, she led the way, using a few secret passages. However, that luck didn't hold.

" Young lady."

A faintly familiar voice reached her ears, and she looked to her right, a group of maids was coming towards them from a corridor that was crossing with the one they were perusing. It took her a bit of time to recognize her. Martha was yet another of her muggleborn yearmates at Hogwarts that desperation pushed towards her father, and had to accept that degrading job. The woman was looking at her and her group suspiciously and Aife smiled brighty at her.

"Hello Martha, I'm just visiting."

The other woman just narrowed her blue eyes and sighed in almost disappointment shaking her head and making her long black hair sway with the movement.

"My apologies for sounding crass, but please stop trying to bullshit me."

Almost too fast to see, a red hail of stunners was launching towards them and Aife barely had time to erect a shield to protect her group. The maids all had their wands raised, organizing themselves in shifts to make sure the shield was constantly under pressure to lock them down in one single position, while another part of the group was fanning out around them to cut off their ways of escape. Aife was beginning to feel the pressure, and upon noticing their moves, she ducked, letting the shield fall and sprinted towards the middle of the group.

The maids dodged, the fabric of their skirts flaring and blocking her view as she heard the shouts of the other members of her group. She tried to attack them, be it with hand-to-hand or magical attacks, however none of them hit, the maids swaying nimbly around her. She then realized what their strategy was: Keep her away while the rest of them dealt with her group, and she swore. This choice of tactics has Moody written all over it. Deciding the mission was more important than discretion, she gathered her magic and punched the air next to Martha's head.

"[Wind Strike]!"

She shouted, opening her fist an unleashing a wind wave that knocked over the maids fighting her group and sent them flying against the walls with wet thudding sounds. Most of them stayed down, however, in doing so, she forgot that the person she was fighting was still active. She got what felt to be a steel fist in her thorax that pushed her away, before a massive blow to the side of her head disoriented her. She stepped back, avoiding a flash of silver and saw that Martha was wearing solid looking steel gauntlets over her fists, and was raining blow after blow upon her with her blue eyes colder than she ever saw them. From the corner of her eyes, she saw that Martha's group left her to finish off the invaders while Martha herself occupied her. Aife clenched her teeth. The blows were strong enough to make her bones rattle each time she had to parry them, and she had no leeway to use her wand with how close she was. She decided that at this point, discretion was pretty dead and changed tactics.

"[Power blow]!"

She punched towards the woman, who crouched at the last second, her own fist hitting and denting the wall behind her, while Martha extended her leg and
sweeped horizontally, striking Aife behind her knee, causing her to fall on her back. At least, it was supposed to. The ex-heiress rounded her back and threw her legs up, her hands over her shoulder making her roll away until she landed back on her feet and charged again.

Her blood was beginning to pump in her ears, and she felt excitement. Nobody ever gave her such a good fight. Too bad it was against someone her father hoodwinked into his service, and she had no time for this! Once again, she gathered her strength to fire off her finishing move, when another punch hit her throat, this one even stronger than the others what caused her shout to die in her crushed throat, immediately followed by a knee in her gut that expelled all of the air in her lungs and made her fold over, allowing her opponent to join her hands over her head, forming a fist and brutally bringing it down on her exposed back, sending Aife crashing into the floor.

She then sat on her and began repeatedly hitting the back of her head, her blows getting stronger and faster the more she hit. Barely conscious and blinded by pain, Aife could only struggle uselessly, her arms firmly locked by Martha's white silk stocking clad legs, and see notification upon notification regarding the damage she was taking.

A particularly vicious blow sent stars flying in her eyes and was noted as a critical him. A cold pit formed into her gut. Was she really going to lose here? Against a normal human of all things? Anger overtook her. No. No, she wasn't going to lose. Not here, not now, not when people were counting on her!

She called towards her the power Freyja gave her and felt her strength multiply.

She was not going to lose to a goddamned Hufflepuff of all things!

The energy flooded her, creating a protective shell, and she felt the woman jump off her. Too late. The ensuing shock wave sent her careening towards the end of the hallway, where she rolled a bit, before getting up unsteadily as Aife was getting rid of the others and reanimated her friends. Martha then looked at the scene, her colleagues on the floor and the intruders on their feet and her eyes narrowed.

"Code Rainfall."

Her voice smoothly rang through the air, though for some reason, Aife couldn't hear her from an ear, and the downed maids warped out of existence, the iridescent light coming from the brooches betraying their nature as portkeys. The woman's blue eyes threw one last glare at Aife, before she, too disappeared. Aife used that moment to check her status and winced at what she saw.

Named:
AifeLupin
Health : 90/200
Mana: 200 / 250
Status: Hairline fracture (skull, 2nd and 6th ribs, jaw) Broken (Right forearm, left knee), Ruptured (left eardrum, left kidney.) Pregnant (3 months)

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

That gorilla-like woman sure hit hard. She guessed it was one demerit of having the pain resistance skill. She took a pink potion flask from her pocket and downed it, the feelings of uncomfort and deafness disappearing. She'd have to be more careful, it was her last, and she no longer had any ingredients left to craft it.

"What's going on here?!"

A familiar voice barked, and she felt her shoulders fall in relief. She turned around and beamed at Moody, who was hobbling quickly towards them, electric blue fake eye spinning in every direction, betraying his agitation.

"Why are you there? Albus told me nothing about a visit."

People avoided his gaze and Aife flinched at the mention of the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, which made Moody almost growl.

"He doesn't know you're here, does he? Didn't the last time teach you anything girl? I thought your close call with the Necromancer finally drilled into that overly thick skull of yours that we need to work together, or we'll die alone! This isn't the time to indulge in you delusions!"

"But he has Lily!"

James protested hotly, wand in his hand, paling when a bright orange jet of light passed next to his ear.

"The same Lily you left to die alone to cover your escape, and don't interrupt me, boy."

The ex-auror snarled, both eyes fixed on James. Aife pursed her lips, before making her decision.

Sneak attack! Damage doubled!

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

She struck at Moody when he wasn't looking at her, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Wha-!"

James balked at the scene, before Aife glared at all of them.

"We need to hurry before reinforcements are brought in!"

She shouted, the beginnings of panic lacing though her voice. Ropes flew from her wand, Moody's wand, peg leg and fake eye falling neatly into a box she conjured and locked shut, and she sent both the box unconscious man into a cupboard nearby, after tying him up and gagging him, locking the door shut afterwards.

"Should keep him down an hour or two. Let's go."

She ordered, the people following her hesitating until James strode towards the corridor, wand out. It didn't take them long to find the rooms, Dace and Lily were in the same room, in the guest wing. They had to deal with a few wolves, but nothing a few blasting hexes couldn't deal with, though, they gave quite
a lot of exp when they died. James, however, had to change forms to fight them off, since they seemed to be mildly resistant to magic and none of them were as strong as Aife in the department. They finally arrived at their destination, tired, some of them wounded, and angry. The woman leading them raised a finger to her mount and signaled them to walk away as she lifted her wand in direction of the well. Her father had a nasty habit of trapping doors, therefore she'd have to make her own.

"Bombarda maxima!"

The wall exploded with a massive noise and dust blocked their sight, before settling down, revealing a strange sight.

Dace and Lily were sitting on the bed, Lily rolled up in covers with holes allowing for her arms to peak out, eyes red rimmed, a bucket of vanilla and chocolate fudge ice cream cradled on her lap and right arm, and her other hand holding a spoon. Dace for once wasn't wearing robes, favoring instead a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbow and black slacks, the black vest laying on a seat nearby while a yellow and black tie was hanging loosely around his shoulders. Aife had to stop for a moment. Since when did he wear muggle clothing? She banished that thought away, filing it for later, instead focusing on his hand on her back, as if he was trying to comfort her.

She bit back a sneer. As if that man was able of empathy, he was almost as bad as Voldemort, only smart enough not to get caught. It was clearly a ploy to bring her deeper under his thumb than she already was. Next to her, James shifted back to human form and glared wordlessly at Dace's arm, and she blinked, before understanding what happened. Her father may be in his fifties and rotten to the core, but he still looked like an attractive man in his thirties, according to her female friends. He must have thought he was trying to seduce Lily or something.

Still, it was time for her to act. She threw a glance at Lily and spoke at her, smiling reassuringly, avoiding that part of the wall that fell due to her overpowered charm. She needed to get them out of there before part of the building collapsed on them.

"I'm sure things are confusing right now, but you need to come with us, that man is bad news, don't worry, we'll protect you."

"Pro...tect."

Lily's face was white and her eyes glazed over, turning towards James.

"A stag."

he continued dazedly. That was strange, didn't she knew her own husband's animagus form? Though, those strangely empty eyes... He dared to use the imperius her?! Dace put his arm in front of her, wandless, and spoke out almost conversationally.

"Somehow, I do not think Dumbledore knows of it."

Some of them looked guilty, but Aife just scowled even deeper, glaring at his arm.

"Albus isn't the only member of the order. We're here to save Lily from you!" She sniped, making the older man laugh dryly.

" Like you were here for her all of those years? When her friends were killed? "What? " When her apprenticeship fell through due to her status? When you left her alone to fend for herself against Riddle and his army of darkness?"

A shiver ran up her spine at the dark satisfaction and smugness she could see in his green eyes -weren't they blue?- as he looked down at her, despite his hunched position. No, she couldn't let his words get to her, she knew how he worked, she wouldn't let him befuddle her!

"Voldemort is dead, he was vanquished on Halloween by the prophecy child. You're just one of the Necromancer's followers trying to capitalize on the fear he invoked to further your agenda! "

Admittedly, that one was a stab in the dark regarding the Necromancer, but Voldemort disappeared at the right date, therefore Harry probably beat him, even though both his parents were alive. She remembered hearing about James' parents dying around that time period, so it fit. Upon hearing that, Dace sneered, looking down at her in a definitely unpleasant expression, and she knew something was wrong, strengthening her gut feeling that things were going to go awry.:

"So that's your current theory to try to keep things as close as your canonical point of view. How cute. However, you forgot a small, unimportant detail... Harry Potter was never born."

The words rang through the air, the weight of the revelation almost suffocating her. She looked at James, who looked puzzled, and knew in her heart that it was the truth, but that begged another question. How did he know? His eyes glinted in the light, twinkling, much like Dumbledore's, and she knew. He used legilimancy on her when she was young. He knew everything from the very beginning. Ignoring her state, Dace continued mercilessly.

"Lily and James never married, and why would they? You beloved mutt killed her best friend Severus in front of her after all, even if she didn't know about that back then."

He would never... Sirius' prank in fifth year...

"Did you think she'd ever date successfully that man, Severus' biggest bully, after seeing her best friend die confessing his feelings of love to her?"

Dace tilted his head like a bird, a cruel light in his eyes.

" Did you think this is the only thing your interference ruined? Oh no, no no no, you don't get out of it that easily my dear."

Fear crawled through her spine and suddenly, her father looked like a giant in front of her, and she was so very, very small... Until a voice dragged her from the pit of darkness she was in, bringing her back to the situation at hand.

"Shut up!"

James shouted at him, brown light going out of his wand and catching Dace in the chest, sending him into the wall. There was a meaty thud and he fell, wheezing. The smile on the elder Gwallawg 's face, however, was only one step short of demonic and her hands were trembling. Why didn't Gamer's Mind activate?

"It's fine... live your life as you want it... After all... Your daughter is here to... Pick up the slack."

What?

"I don't have a daughter."

Aife affirmed, weakly, wracking her head to look for inconsistencies in his speech. It was a lie, had to be, there was no way Remus and her had a child, and they all forgot about them. At the same time, indignation rose in her breast. This was just like her father to use children as hostages. No, it probably wasn't hers, but still, there was an innocent child prisoner in his grasp, waiting to be perverted by him. She thought of her darling Romulus and what the man could do to him. The images steeled her resolve. Push come to shove, she'd have to deal with him herself.

"Ever wondered what is it that you forgot after you poisoned me?"

Was his simple answer, almost conversational. She wondered, yes. She wondered almost every day. The pieces were finally falling into place, his having her firstborn would allow him to transfer heirship. But still, a daughter with Rosier... With a Death Eater... Nausea rose through her. Moonlight was streaming on the room by now, but then Dace did something weird, falling to the ground, activating a secret passage and crawling to safety, puppy under an arm. She was about to pursue him, but Lily's trembling voice attracted her attention

"The stag... Under the full moon... You were here but why
..
Sev' said...
But then... The wolf... Mooney... The marauders? But then... Prongs."

Her right hand began scratching at her temple, the other holding an indigo cube that seemed to be the Order anchor.

"Prongs was here...
Moony
was here...
Sev'
...said-Catspaw-
-yourfault-youwerehere!"

Her speech became more and more erratic as she began shouting, her hand falling back to her side.

" Wait, Lils , you don't know everything"

James raised his hand to defend himself, looking stricken, as Aife was also trying to deescalate the situation.

"Lily, listen to me, I know my father, he loves twisting the truth, and-"

Lily spoke out again, interrupting her with death in her voice.

"This is all your fault."

Her voice was airy at first, but became more and more ferocious, angry, erratic as she spoke.

"Your fault.
Your fault, your fault
yourfaultyourfaultyourfaultyourfaultyourfaultyOurfAUltyourfFAUltyourFAUltYOURFAULT!"

She screamed loudly and shrilly, the scream a lot stronger than it should be, with an odd echo to it. Then, the cube in her hand broke, and everything became red.

The wrath of a woman scorned
Objective : Survive until rescue: Time left 05m36s
Failure : Death

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Aife didn't understand what was happening, a shock wave sent her to her knees, and a red pillar came down from the heavens, striking Lily as she was screaming so hard she could almost hear it tearing itself apart. Lily's form was bubbling, flesh melting and moving as if she was made of wax and somebody was molding her.

"[Observe]."

She said, wetting her dry lips and promptly wished he hadn't looked.

Name: Lily Evans, chosen of Ares
Species: Human
Level 10 Divine Warrior
HP: 200 / 200
Status: Berserk

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Aife turned around and shouted at the others to run away as a flash of red and burning heat fled past her, towards James. She recognized it was Lily, who, pounced on the man who managed to dodge with a feral scream. However, the burnt meat scent revealed he wasn't unscathed and James fell to the ground, screaming in pain as he held the burned stump that used to be his left arm, his wand laying uselessly on the ground, broken in two.

Under the moonlight, she could see the changes brought down on the woman due to the intervention of the god. Her hair was longer, reaching the ground easily and turned scarlet. Her musculature was more pronounced and her hands and feet were covered in strange and faintly luminous red plate. The air around her seemed to catch fire due to the massive power she could feel emitting from her.

Aife steeled her resolve, and used the Accio spell to bring James to her, then banishing him away so that the woman wouldn't kill him. Of all of them, she was the only one who had a chance of beat her. After all, they were both chosen by gods of war.

However, she miscalculated, and fought Lily as if she was a regular fighter, but Lily was not. She was a feral beast with the single minded objective of killing them all, which is why she was taken by surprise when Lily ducked under her spell and grabbed her head, making them both fall to the ground. She straddled her, holding Aife 's head with both hands, the burning metal making her flesh fizzle and bashing it to the floor, while a pillar of not-fire with her as the origin began to rise to the sky, keeping any spell from going through. Aife felt her magic losing potency and began to panic. They were both chosen, so why was Lily so much stronger?

No, she couldn't think of that now, she needed to escape her grip! Shifting, she threw her leg backwards, distracting the other woman long enough for her to turn on her back and kick her away in the sternum with both feet, standing up while the woman was flying away. However, Lily fell on her fours and pounced again, red claws digging easily into her abdomen, causing a rain of scarlet to gush out Howling for her to die. The pain was too intense for her to bear, even for her pain reduction skill, and the massive amount of notifications blocked her view, making her flail around blindly, trying to fight off the other woman.

Then, amidst the chaos a voice resounded through the chaos, booming like thunder.

"ENOUGH."

Dumbledore had arrived.

Aife couldn't move, however, she felt her agony lessen somewhat and the pressure of having Lily over her disappear.

She didn't know how long she remained stuck in the red, but when it all stopped, she opened her eyes to find herself laying in a white room, the red head of Fawkes perched over her, pearl like tears falling down on her body. She sighed in relief and tried to relax but opened an eye to try to identify where she was regardless. The first thing she saw was Dumbledore sitting near her bedside, casually reading a book on alchemy, his legs crossed and apparently perfectly at ease in his eye watering canary yellow robes with purple polka dots.
As if feeling her gaze, He closed the book abruptly with one hand, blue eyes scanning her through his half moon glasses. What was worrying her though, was the complete lack of his usual cheer, softness, or indulgence. This Dumbledore looked, however, every bit like the man who took out Grindelwald and burnt the entirety of his base to the ground. She had to focus on his ridiculous robes not to be scared out of her wits by the apathetic stare Dumbledore gave her.

"I must admit, that when I said to stay put, this wasn't what I had in mind."

He began mildly, almost innocuously. However, for all her father made her want to shrink down, Dumbledore's tone made her want to shrivel and die.

"Please, enlighten me as to why you thought storming in a presumed enemy's seat of power, with almost no backup, while you weren't still at full power, when he had time to prepare for your coming, was a good idea."

Aife bit her lip. Dumbledore didn't wait for her answer.

"Being a leader takes more than charisma, I'm afraid. You need to be ready to take responsibility for your actions, and see your choices to the very end. More than that, you will have to live with those for the rest of your life. Ah, it seems this old man is still a tad... Upset."

He sighed and got up, heading towards the door and Aife spoke up before thinking.

"You're not going to punish me?"

Dumbledore stopped, his hand on the doorknob and turned back towards her, with pity in his eyes.

"I think you've been punished enough."

As he left the room, she wondered the meaning of his words, rubbing her stomach reflexively, before realizing were a small bump sound be, there was only a lean, muscled abdomen.

Aife's screams tore through the nights, making birds fly from the building.

That night was horrible. She spoke more with Dumbledore, and she knew who he reminded her of when in a bad mood. Her father. Her insanely manipulative, hyper competent father. It may not be Harry Potter canon, but Harry Potter fanfiction wasn't out of question. The question was, would she risk it?

[The sword that chooses the king] Questline automatically taken. Somewhere, he slumbers, waiting for a brave soul to awaken him when Britain needs him the most. Somewhere, the other slumbers, waiting to finish what he started.

Barging into an enemy's base almost without preparations was unsafe! Who'd have though?

Kiyotan said:
What the fuck was that Zebra?!

LadyZebra said:
Guaranteed infiltration, not the rest.

Orky said:
Don't make us beg...

LadyZebra said:
A Nat 1 negative score in Lily composure?

SuperMinion said:
...Dear god.

Corvid said:
I think I'm in love with your dice. I'm speechless for once. Continue.

SuperMinion said:
You didn't pull your punches huh. Curiosity : what would have happened had we chosen not to poison our father?

LadyZebra said:
Probably? None of that.

SuperMinion said:
That's not helpful.

LadyZebra said:
Sounds like an OOC question~

Orky said:
Ugh. Kiyoooo?

Kiyotan said:
I spent my last to guarantee inflitration, see how it turned out.

SuperMinion said:
Just to be sure, it's not game over yet, right?

SoulReave said:
Oh, hey, woke up in time to see the discussion. Now to read.

Orky said:
Of course he'd come for that.

SoulReave said:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA THAT BROAD IS SO DUMB!

SuperMinion said:
This is our MC you're insulting here.

LadyZebra said:
No, it is not. Not even the game's next phase, in fact.

SuperMinion said:
So, we got an abortion thanks to Lily, our standing in the Order is ruined, Dace's gonna sic the authorities on us, and there's a chance of Evil Dumbledore being a thing, while the Necromancer wants us undead. What do we do?

SoulReave said:
You know, there are times when a (wo)man must take a stand. Since the trainwreck is already taking place, I say we ride it to the end!

SuperMinion said:
This is going to end in tears.

Brunette24 said:
You have no idea.

SuperMinion said:
Shut up, you filthy traitor of a beta.

Kiyotan said:
Erm, guys, have you seen the invisitext at the end?

Corvid said:
...

SoulReave said:
...

Orky said:
...

Kiyotan said:
Zebra, you magnificent bastard.

LadyZebra said:
I try.

The maid fight was supposed to last 30 words, but I had so much fun with the Moody-trained QCQ Specialist Terminator Meido Martha ( who may or may not be a Ruler Martha expy) that I just rolled into existence that it lasted much longer, like 1010 words longer. She was just supposed to be a mook; but she was so interesting, like Dace and Oliver, so why not? Besides, the rolls back then were 116 (maids) vs 122 (Aife's group), with all bonuses already counted in, it was still rather close and I hope it showed! It's good training for fight scenes! I'm not good with them, so if you guys have any advice / remarks about it, don't hesitate to speak up! I'm a bird, I have no teeth to bite you with

Also, Aife fails at being a proper shounen hero. Much sad. On another news, the train still has no brakes!

This chapter is 3x as long as originally intended. My bad.

Nicaea · Jul 1, 2018

Weeell. Since we're a bit deeper in the game, and since it seemed to be a good time, time to unleash... the full action list. Do you have enough AP, player?

[x] Well, he can't very well let them go unscathed after this, right?
[x] Proper timing: Bonus to opportunity attack
[x] Yes
-[x] Scathach (Junior)

Summer 1984

Tents are still uncomfortable. Especially since that old witch is around.

Still, there was quite the surprise, as when one day you were trying to train your strength you saw one of your head maids...

[]Martha : Brawler type, QCQ Monster.
[]Chloé : Ranged type, sniper disposition.
[]Laurie : Mid-range type, spying/assassination type.

Almost shaking you down so that you'd order her to do something because being paid to do nothing for over a year didn't sit well with her. A dit dazed (because dear lord, she's strong...), you absentmindedly ask her to clean the mess Agatha's explosions caused, which she ran towards, almost cackling.

Turn 4 Possessions:

Gains:

-Animal (mundane and magical) Ranches: +45,000 Galleon (after salaries and charges), 1d6 Epic animal components/ Turn
-- 1000 Employees, payed 544 G/t on average.
Greenfire (Floo powder producers since 1930): + 10 000 Galleons/ Turn
--200 Employees payed 500 G/t on average
Potion shops 'Montmorency' in England: + 60, 000 Galleons/ Turn
--500 Employees payed 550 G/t on average
Medjica (Healing salves and potions): + 30 000 Galleons/turn
--150 Employees paid 770 G/t on average
'George's Inferno': +6 Sulfur /turn, +6 Mercury /turn

Spendings:

Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning: -40,000 Galleon / turn, 1d6 Chance of producing a Druid, 1d100-80 chance of Loyal Hero Unit. (Muggleborn population: 95%)

Manor employee salaries: (50 of them, 380G/t on average) (Paid vacations/medical leave)

Salaries: Agatha (1 000), Jason Swallows (1500), Mad Eye Moody (1000)

= 82500 Galleons / Turn

GASL Rolls
d6: 4 Druids joined the army
d100-80: 94-80 = 14 Heroic unit!
D6 : 3 Martial. Welp.

Elizabeth roll
19 : + 2 Gems
Animal ranches:
10x Unicorn hairs

262 600 Galleons
12 Mercury
12 Sulfur
4 Crystal
8 Gems
40 Stone

Skylight: A sapphire that seems to shine with an inner light. +10 to results if used to create items with [Life/Order] Attribute.
Nature Anchor: Allows to soak up a zone with Nature energy, necessary to build a Rampart.
Book of Air:
Dragon Rearing book
Dragon nest plans

Ingredients:
10x Unicorn hairs
Hydra venom
Chimera heartstrings
Jobberknoll feathersx4 (Truth and mind potion ingredients)
Unicorn horn
Inventory:
Cloak of Crystal: Gain 1 Crystal / turn (Value: 5000 G)
Still Eye of the dragon +1 Troops Morale, +1 Troops Luck (Value: 2000 G)
Quiet eye of the dragon +5 Troops attack damage, +5 Troops attack defense (Value: 2000 G)
Pendant of free will: Immune to mind magic and hypnosis. (Value 8000 G)

Diplomacy: Advisor – Elizabeth Gwallawg: Actions: 2

Lizzie has shootings for charity and nothing much to report with your network down.

[] Meet up with people. Going here and there, talking with people and interacting with them may yield interesting results, after all, when you go out, you never quite know who you will meet later in the day. Managing to make lasting ties in one encounter though... Is quite a bit harder.
50 / 30 / 10 % Chances to meet influent and/or important people. Opens new SLs.

[] Networking at the Ministry. With the new minister, comes a new balance of power. You never really bothered with it before, but with the current state of things, getting a few people to report to you and allowing you to influence the decisions would be rather advantageous.
60 / 20 % Chances to forge ties with ministry workers. Gain access to Ministry confidential information. Chance to get access to Ministry resources.

[] Visit Rufus: See how he's been going in his brand new office, you haven't had any news of him for a while, and you suppose he'd like some explanations about what exactly happened last winter.
70 / 50 / 20 % chances of success. Chance of opening the Rufus Scrimfeour SL, Chance to strike an alliance, Chance to subvert his loyalty.

[] Diplomatic meetings. Most of the leaders of the new world that seems to be coming have been identified. Do you dare to try and contact them?
-[]Dumbledore : Neutral, friendly.
-[]Riddle haha no.
-[]The Overlord : Neutral, Neutral

[]Slander Reveal dark secrets of: Sometimes, people do things they are not very proud of and try to keep buried. Along the years, you have collected and hoarded those secrets, to unleash them at your convenience.
-[] Write-in
Chances vary depending on who is targeted.

[]Bolster reputation: Having well placed friends is a boon in and of itself. And if they owe you favors, well, even better.
-[]Yourself
-[]Write in (Must be a SL)
Cost: 10 000 Galleons. 70 / 50 / 20 % Chances of success.

[] Attend Academy graduation. You are, after all, the owner, founder and the one who funds the Gwallawg Academy of Superior Learning, located in Cardiff. This will increase your chance of people with exceptional potential stepping up, such as Oliver and Agatha. Miss Evans is currently indisposed and cannot give a speech, sorry.
+ 10 % chances to recruit heroic unit next turn.

Stewardship : Advisor – Oliver Lapierre: Actions: 2
Oliver is taking it easy, though he and your granddaughter seem to disappear quite often, you aren't that worried.

[] Trade for resources ( free action )

Buy:

1 Wood for 2000 galleons
1 Stone for 2000 galleons
1 Crystal for 5000 galleons
1 Gem for 5000 galleons
1 Mercury for 5000 galleons
1 Sulfur for 5000 galleons

Sell:

1 Wood for 250 galleons
1 Stone for 250 galleons
1 Crystal for 500 galleons
1 Gem for 500 galleons
1 Mercury for 500 galleons
1 Sulfur for 500 galleons

[] Develop the land (Free action):
-[]Gold mine:
Cost: 5000 Galleons. Reward : 1 000 G/Turn, 1d6-3 Native Gold / turn afterwards.
-[]Stone quarry:
Cost: 20 000 Galleons. Reward : 16 ore / turn, 1d6-3 Flawless Marble afterwards.
-[]Crystal mine:
Cost: 40 000 Galleons. Reward : 8 Crystal / turn, 1d6-3 Flawless crystal afterwards.
-[]Gem mine:
Cost: 40 000 Galleons. Reward: 8 Gems/turn afterwards.

[] Find sources of building materials. Your contacts went out of business not that long ago, and you need good sources if you don't want to keep paying so much for them. Guaranteed access to Wood and Stone production facilities. Chance of getting access to Gem, Crystal, Sulfur, or Mercury production facilities.
Cost: 40 000 Galleons

[] Develop your budding empire, you need to spend gold to earn more gold, after all.
Costs 10 000 Galleons. 50 / 20 / 10 % Chances of success Gains variable.

[] Takeover. You're well placed in your country, due to both luck and shrewd management. Now is the time to launch your attack and corner the magical side of the market!
Cost: 100 000 Galleons Guaranteed success

[] Civilian infrastructure. (Requires Rampart step 1 to be complete to be built : One building of the kind may be built per turn.)

-[]Tavern:Cost: 25 000G.
Increases morale for standing army, Information on other players
-[]Market:Cost: 25 000G.
Trade resources at better prices ( the more markets you have, the better the prices)
-[]Town hall: Cost: 25 000G.
Allows for minor settlement, gain 5 000 gold / turn
-[]Resource silo : Cost:Cost: 25 000G.
+ 5 Crystal / turn
-[]Blacksmith :Cost: 25 000G.
Builds siege weapons
-[]Workshop:Cost: 25 000G.
Opens up crafting options
-[]Druid hall level 1:Cost: 5 Wood, 5 Stone, 20 000G
Five level 1 spells become available for heroes to learn. Heroes are able to purchase a spell book from the guild for 500 G.

[] Real estate hunt : Riddle already two places directly under his control now. See if you can't even the numbers. Though, first, you'd have to find suitable spots...
Cost : 0 Galleons. 40 / 20 / 10% Chances of success.

Martial:Advisor(s): Alastor (Madeye) Maugrey, Jason Swallows. Actions: 3
The two seem to get along rather well now, bonding over how the youth today have no respect. That includes you, apparently.

[] Hire more security staff. -10 to enemy infiltration rolls. 2000G
Cost : 1 000 Galleons. 60 / 40 / 20 % Chances of success.

[] Combat drills. You have units, but they don't know how to fight as an army.
Cost : 0 Galleons.

-[]Pixies : 0 / 50
-[]Wolves : 0 / 100
-[]Treants : 0 / 150
-[]Druids : 24 / 200
-[]Dragons : Combat ready.

[] Military expedition:

-[]Orkney Islands: After the fall ot the Order faction, the undead are rampaging throught tie Isles. Both muggle and wizarding wonder what kind of deranged serial killer is to be found there, and there are talks about invonling the army.
Cost : 5000 Galleons. 60 / 30 / 10 % Chances of success.

-[]Lundy Island: The Necromancer's base. No life can be found there, only cursed bodies and damned souls.
Cost : 5000 Galleons. 30 / 20 / 10% Chances of success.

-[]Dyfed: (This turn only)Directly South of your area of influence. You have read reports that there were strange events taking place there. Go investigate.
Cost : 1000 Galleons. 90 / 70 / 50% Chances of succes

[] Dwellings (Free action)(Requires Rampart step 1 to be complete to be built : One building of the kind may be built per turn.)

-[] Pixie huts: Produces 15 Pixies/turn. Costs 20 Wood, 1000 G
-[] Wolf den: Produces 10 Wolves / turn. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G
-[]Homestead: Produces 7 Elves/turn. Costs 10 Wood, 2500G
-[] Dendroid arches: Produces 3 Treants / turn. Costs 10 Wood 3000G
-[] Moon glade: Produces 2 Mood does/turn. Costs 15 Wood, 10 Crystal, 6000G
-[] Druid's circle

roduces 2 Druids / turn. Costs 5 Wood, 5 Stones, 10 Gems, 6000G
-[] Dragon Cliffs: Produces 1 Green dragon/ turn. Costs 30 Stone, 20 Crystal, 20 000G

Intrigue: Actions: 2 (1+ Intrigue over 25)

You're not sure you'll find anyone you trust with this to help you, save for your wife, but you need her more where she is right now.

[] Plots are good for your health! Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
40 / 30 / 20/ Chances of success.
-[] Dumbledore's little club of vigilantes.
-[] Voldemort's band of hooligans. Well, what remains of it, anyways.
-[] The Overlord of Chaos faction
-[] Riddle. He's tried to kill you thrice already.
-[] Aife. Better keep tabs on her.
-[] Investigate Aife's plot (this turn only)

[] Plots are good for your purse! With all those people being arrested left and right...
60 / 30 / 10% Chances of success
-[] Plot to take over shops in Diagon Alley (England, London).
-[] Plot to take over shops in the Green Alley (Wales, Cardiff)

[] Compulsive plotting is also good for the morale!
50 / 30 / 10% Chances of success
-[] Go on a matchmaking spree. Chance to increase Diplomacy, RP with some people, reputation.
-[] Go on a trolling rampage an adventure! Chance to increase Intrigue, cripple enemies, RP with some people.

[] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
Autopass
-[] Plot with Oliver: +10 to Stewardship action rolls (+2 RP with Oliver)
-[] Plot with Elizabeth : +10 to Diplomacy action rolls (SL MAX)
-[] Plot with Scáthach (the younger): +2 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1d2 Intrigue to base score. She's still a bit young, but better get started early!

Learning: Actions: 2 (1+Learning over 25)

You're not letting anyone not from your family handle those books. Ever. You'll have to wait until either Elizabeth finds herself a newfound passion for reading, or until little Scáthach decides paper isn't for eating and learns to read. You have a feeling the latter will come earlier.

[] The old tales are sometimes true. Brush up on your knowledge, after all each time something supernatural happened, a wizard was behind it. Variable results, autopass, may be taken multiple times.

[]Survey the land. You'll never know what you can fins by running around, but at the very least, you'll know the land's map.
70 / 40 / 30 chances of success. May be taken multiple times.

Mysticism: Advisor: Agatha: Actions: 2 (+30 to rolls)

It stings a bit that you're just on the lower spectrum of powerful, but you'll deal. After that unpleasantness this summer, you've learned how much you are limited, however, and this displeases you. This displeases you greatly. On other news, Agatha's work with more... Enthusiastic...Colleagues of hers is continuing at a steady pace. It would be easier if she could give up on those 'Tolkien elves', but at this point, Dace'll take her just keeping the explosions away from camp.

[] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2) (Restores Rumor Mill)( You really should take it)
-[V] Find a suitable location.
-[V] Find a full roster of Nature-themed creatures.
-[] Build basic fortifications: Pay 30 000 G, 30 wood, 30 stone. (0/30 000, 0/30, 0/30)
-[V] Investigate the Nature Anchor

[] Y Ddraig Aur. He emerges once every thousand years and is currently chewing on a few cows in what remains of your backyard, but this time, it was early. Why?

[] Screw you Tolkien. Agatha tried and tried again. This time, she agreed that if the two of you work on it, if it fails again, she will give up and you'll be free to recruit other creatures in their stead. If it's a success, well, you'll have supernatural snipers.
40 / 30 / 10% Chances of success

[]Where the wind blows. Dace will train hiw wind magic affinity.
30% Chances of success.

Personal: Actions: 6 (1 + Stewardship Advisor + Diplomacy Advisor + Mysticism advisor + 2 Martial advisors)

[] Spend time with one of your SLs: +2 RP
-[] ~~Therapy~~ Spend time with Lily: +3 RP, +1/? to recovery
-[]Write-in (must be SL)

[] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)

[] Train. You hate doing it, and it hates you back, but if it makes Madeye shut up, you'll do it.

[] Extra action. Use your own free time to do stuff. (May only be taken once, may be used as substitute for AP)

[]Personal development:
-[] Way of the Alchemist: You're the best at potions, you know it, they know it, but there's still a lot of things to learn...

-[] Way of the Architect: You worked yourself from the ground up, but there is always much more to be done

-[] Way of the Whispers: Shadows are your home, your tool and your defense. However, with recent events, they may need to become your weapon.

Nicaea · Jul 5, 2018

Visual aid:

Buildings:

Fort:
Walls added to the town : Hampers ranged attacks (1/2 damage), land creatures cannot pass through (save exceptions), may begin building creature dwellings.

Town Hall:
+ 5 000 G/T. Minor living quarters are installed, enough for the staff at hand, but no more than that.

Tavern:
+2 Morale for standing army
Gives information on other players.

Wolf den:
Produces 10 Wolves / turn.

influence-map-ck2...4-colors-54bcda5.png

Influence Bonuses and Maluses (Capital must have been occupied for 10 years.):

Muggle: Nothing.
Nature: +50% [Nature] Spell effects. - 50% [Order] and [Death] spell effects.
Life: +50% [Life] Spell effects. -50% [Death] and [Chaos] spell effects.
Death: +50% [Death] Spell effects. -50% [Life] and [Nature] spell effects.
Chaos: +50% [Chaos] Spell effects. -50% [Order] and [Life] spell effects.
Order: +50% [Order] Spell effects. -50% [Nature] and [Chaos] spell effects.

These do not apply to frontier territories.

Faction ability : Requires Capital territory to have been occupied at least 5 Turns (years)

Chaos wave:

Chaos is change through destruction, most fear it, but to those who can control it, unlimited power is at their fingertips.

- +10 to dungeon creature attack
- Catastrophe dice must be rolled each turn for all other factions. The effect strengthens the more land the faction controls.

Land of the dead:

Death comes for all, and for those who welcome it, safety. A cradle. A bed where all will lay to rest, even the world itself.

- -1 Morale to all living units passing through dead lands. Will spread indefinitely if left unchecked.
- Impossible to cast spells over level 1 for everyone, including death faction members.

Nature's bounty:

Nature runs strong and wild, as it used to and should. The land remembers its rightful shape and will reject abnomalies.

- The magical ground protects owned land from both Chaos wave and Land of the dead effects. Will spread around owned territory up to one county away.
- + 10% Resources gain.

Law and Order:

Laws are the system created by people to keep the world running. With Law comes Order, and with Order, peace.

- + 50% Mental resistance.
- + 10% Growth to magical and nonliving creatures.

Live and grow:

Living is Growing, a perpetual motion of evolution and amelioration. As long as there is life, there is hope. Those who cherish those words will aim for the greatest heights.

- + 25% Growth to all creatures
- All Life faction heroes start with the ability to cast Death ward.

Luck : A stat that effects causality. For each point of luck, you get 10% of having a luck proc. Luck has multiple effects :

-On the offensive, it doubles raw damage of an attack or a fes compatible spells, before resistances are counted in.
-On the defensive, it halves the damage taken pre reduction.
-On story mode, it adds +20 to all rolls it applies to.

Morale: A stat that effects one's bravery. For each point of morale, you get 10% of having a morale proc. Morale, if it procs, has two major effects :

- Causes the character or army unit to attack twice on the same turn.
- Causes the unit to attack first regardless of the respective speed of the fighters.

Heroes :

Martha Drake.

Experience: 2200/3200

Level 4 ???

Starts with Basic Combat, Advanced Combat, Basic Melee, Basic Magic resistance.
CQC Monster gives: Basic Tactics, Basic Offense, Advanced Melee, Basic Leadership.
Gains Basic Nature Magic upon joining faction.

Ability: CQC Monster : May not used ranged attacks or spells ( will however be able to use magic spells at close range). Each time she chooses a skill from the Combat Skill tree when she levels up, she may take another of the skills proposed as an extra.

Personal stats:
Luck: 1
Morale: 1
Damage: 22
Hitpoints: 130
Speed: 7
Movement: 23
Mana: 10

33 % Melee Attack
36 % Melee Defense
30 % Ranged defense
30% Magic resistance

Army stats:

+1 Luck
+1 Morale
+1 Speed
+1 Movement
+10% Melee Attack
+20% Ranged Attack

COMBAT - Primary Skill Increases hero's Melee and Ranged Defence. . Advanced: Melee and Ranged Defence = 20.	Melee - Combat Secondary Skill Increases hero's Melee Attack and divides the natural defence of enemy creatures. Never reduces enemy hero's defence. Never reduces creature defence below 10. Advanced: Melee Attack = 20. Natural defence of enemy creatures divided by 2.	Magic Resistance - Combat Secondary Skill Hero has a chance to resist hostile spells. Basic: 30%.
TACTICS - Primary Skill Increases speed and movement of all friendly creatures. Basic: +1 speed, +1 movement.	Offense - Tactics Secondary Skill Increases Melee and Ranged Attack of all friendly creatures. Basic: +10% to Melee and Ranged Attack.	Leadership - Tactics Secondary Skill Increases morale and luck of all friendly creatures. Basic: +1 morale, +1 luck.
NATURE MAGIC - Primary Skill Gives hero the ability to cast Nature Magic spells. Basic: hero can cast level 1 Nature Magic spells. Gives one level 1 Nature Magic spell.

Spells:
Basic nature magic spell : d7 : 2 :

	Speed - 2 mana Combat - Blessing Speed increases a friendly target's speed and movement by 3. Something flashed at the edge of my vision. I turned. Nothing but trees. There it was again! Little did I know that this would continue for hours before I left the forest.

Nicaea · Jul 5, 2018

Winning plan :

Diplomacy:
[X] Visit Rufus: See how he's been going in his brand new office, you haven't had any news of him for a while, and you suppose he'd like some explanations about what exactly happened last winter.
70 / 50 / 20 % chances of success. Chance of opening the Rufus Scrimfeour SL, Chance to strike an alliance, Chance to subvert his loyalty.

[X] Diplomatic meetings. Most of the leaders of the new world that seems to be coming have been identified. Do you dare to try and contact them?
-[X]Dumbledore : Neutral, friendly.

Stewardship:
[X] Trade for resources ( free action )
-[X] 40 Wood for 80,000 Galleons

[X] Develop the land (Free action):
-[X]Gold mine:
Cost: 5000 Galleons. Reward : 1 000 G/Turn, 1d6-3 Native Gold / turn afterwards.

[X] Find sources of building materials. Your contacts went out of business not that long ago, and you need good sources if you don't want to keep paying so much for them. Guaranteed access to Wood and Stone production facilities. Chance of getting access to Gem, Crystal, Sulfur, or Mercury production facilities.
Cost: 40 000 Galleons

[X] Civilian infrastructure. (Requires Rampart step 1 to be complete to be built : One building of the kind may be built per turn.)
-[X]Tavern:Cost: 25 000G.
Increases morale for standing army, Information on other players

Martial:
[X] Hire more security staff. -10 to enemy infiltration rolls. 2000G
Cost : 1 000 Galleons. 60 / 40 / 20 % Chances of success.

[X] Combat drills. You have units, but they don't know how to fight as an army.
Cost : 0 Galleons.
-[X]Druids : 24 / 200

[X] Military expedition:
-[X]Dyfed: (This turn only)Directly South of your area of influence. You have read reports that there were strange events taking place there. Go investigate.
Cost : 1000 Galleons. 90 / 70 / 50% Chances of succes

[X] Dwellings (Free action)(Requires Rampart step 1 to be complete to be built : One building of the kind may be built per turn.)
-[X] Wolf den: Produces 10 Wolves / turn. Costs 10 Wood, 2000 G

Intrigue: Actions: 2 (1+ Intrigue over 25)
[X] Plots are good for your health! Plot against: (Will receive intel on their moves, plus additional actions if the opportunity arises.)
40 / 30 / 20/ Chances of success.
-[X] Investigate Aife's plot (this turn only)

[X] Plotting is an excellent bonding activity!
-[X] Plot with Scáthach (the younger): +2 RP with Scáthach, Scáthach gains 1d2 Intrigue to base score. She's still a bit young, but better get started early!

Learning: Actions: 2 (1+Learning over 25)
[X] The old tales are sometimes true. Brush up on your knowledge, after all each time something supernatural happened, a wizard was behind it. Variable results, autopass, may be taken multiple times.

[X]Survey the land. You'll never know what you can fins by running around, but at the very least, you'll know the land's map.
70 / 40 / 30 chances of success. May be taken multiple times.

Mysticism:
[X] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2) (Restores Rumor Mill)( You really should take it)
-[X] Build basic fortifications: Pay 30 000 G, 30 wood, 30 stone. (0/30 000, 0/30, 0/30)

[X] Screw you Tolkien. Agatha tried and tried again. This time, she agreed that if the two of you work on it, if it fails again, she will give up and you'll be free to recruit other creatures in their stead. If it's a success, well, you'll have supernatural snipers.
40 / 30 / 10% Chances of success

Personal: Actions: 6 (1 + Stewardship Advisor + Diplomacy Advisor + Mysticism advisor + 2 Martial advisors)
[X] Spend time with one of your SLs: +2 RP
-[X] ~~Therapy~~ Spend time with Lily: +3 RP, +1/? to recovery
-[X] Lucius Malfoy

-[X] Personal supervision. Supervise an action from the other sections. Gain +10 to rolls if Martial, Stewardship or Diplomacy action, +20 if Leaning or Mysticism action, +30 if Intrigue action. (May be used multiple times, but not on the same actions.)
--[X] Plot against Aife
--[X] Screw you Tolkien.

[X] Train. You hate doing it, and it hates you back, but if it makes Madeye shut up, you'll do it.

[X]Personal development:
-[X] Way of the Architect: You worked yourself from the ground up, but there is always much more to be done

Total expenses: 184,000 galleons, 40 wood, and 30 stone.

Got a bit busy IRL. Changed medication, hopefully it'll get better. Since I'm late enough already, posting it without beta. I'm still way over my 1/week post minimum, but still.

Autumn 1984

September 13th, 1984

Diplomacy:
[X] Visit Rufus: See how he's been going in his brand new office, you haven't had any news of him for a while, and you suppose he'd like some explanations about what exactly happened last winter.
70 / 50 / 20 % chances of success. Chance of opening the Rufus Scrimgeour SL, Chance to strike an alliance, Chance to subvert his loyalty. Rolled 51

"Mister Scrimgeour is ready to receive you." The secretary's voice droned on, dark shadows under her eyes and a bored expression on her face. He couldn't really fault the woman, considering the fact that entire wizarding villages up and disappeared last months. Well, Dace was here to correct that, hopefully.

The office in itself was sober, though, with the amount of diplomas and prizes on the creamy painted wall and sturdy oaken shelf, he could guess Rufus made some allowances for his personal pride. Having those ones be the first thing one saw when entering did help reinforce the projected professionalism of the former Slytherin head boy. Not that it was that useful nowadays, mind you, but a bit of posturing helped, he guessed. Dace preferred to let the results speak for him, himself, because you tend to be much less embarrassed when your plans fall when you don't advertise them. His eyes glided to the right to Rufus' desk, where he was sitting, fingers crossed under his chin, eyes fixed on him.

Dace looked at him critically with an 'are you really doing this?' expression full of disbelief and the other man sighed, leaning back, letting his hand fall and began to rub his temples.

"Why are you here now?"

A headache on sight? Dace was feeling flattered. He walked across the room and sat on the chair in front of the desk, looking as if everything was right in the best of worlds.

"My, good morning to you too, Rufus. I was just here to tell you Tom Riddle took control of the means of production to create dementors, is currently depopulating the Orkney islands and Cornwall to feed his army of undead, and has infiltrated both the ministry and Dumbledore's little club of vigilantes." Butter wouldn't have melted in his mouth as he talked to the Head of the Auror Office with a mellifluous voice, as if Rufus was his dearest friends.

The dull thud of a head banging against a desk made his smile grow wider.

Still, enjoying other's despair wasn't what he was here for, regretfully, so he patiently waited, hands neatly folded over his lap, as Rufus used a discretion charm and proceeded to use words that would make a sailor blush. Considering Moody's vocabulary when he was training people with no child in sight, he was beginning to suspect that it was an auror thing. After the other man visibly ran out of steam he looked at him, a feral gleam in his leonine eyes.

"And I suppose you're here for more than gloating?" He bit out, making Dace adopt a thinking pause.

"Well, I can't say you weren't warned, because I remember sending the note myself..."

"The same note that was found in Minister Bagnold's bedroom?"

"And that you were here for the attack on my person when I was on family business..."

"In which you proceeded to threaten an official."

"Now now, don't sound so sour, it was for your own good you know? My cute little pets found the spy shortly after, imagine what its master would do, knowing that the Ministry began to choose sides that early" Dace chastised Scrimgeour lightly. " Why, he may even gear up to attack even more of the population, instead of trying to stamp me out first."

Scrimgeour's face turned from annoyed to focused.

"Explain."

Dace sighed. This was going to be a long meeting. Thankfully enough, Rufus belonged to the rare and dying breed of good listeners who didn't interrupt when people were telling them things, so he didn't have to repeat himself multiple times. At the end of it, Rufus looked as if he was carved from marble, his complexion pasty white. Too much information? The man just looked at if waiting for something, before letting his head fall, writing a note from the pad that turned into a flying origami and flew out of the room.

They remained here in silence, until a brown haired woman with a square jaw and an intelligent look entered the room, face flushed from having probably run all the way down here.

"Code Black?! How in the world has nobody raised the alarms yet?!" She shouted after closing the door and reapplying the charms. Upon hearing her voice, Rufus sat up once more, waving his wand and making another chair appear, in which the woman sat, her eyes not leaving his figure even for one moment.

"Amelia Bones, meet Dace Gwallawg. I'm sure you already know of him, he's worse than the rumors say."

Dace looked at him with a mixture of indignation and betrayal.

"I most certainly am not! This is a conspiracy from the events against my image, I tell you!"

"And he's also the one who produced the material for the Order division." Dace's ears perked up upon hearing the capital here. "He also apparently is in open war against the Necromancer responsible for the disappearances in Orkney and the Massacre of Tintagel."

... That, Dace didn't hear about. This didn't sound good at all for anyone involved. He really needed to get his spy network in order. Still, right now was the time to reveal his cards and he leaned against his chair's backrest, crossing his arms and lifting his fingers.

"Dace Gwallawg, Undead hunter extraordinaire, it seems. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Bones."He sent her a quick smile, before his face turned into a focused mask. "The first time I met Riddle " He heard a gasp coming from the woman. "Was in 1981. You've probably heard about the dragon's abnormal behavior?" Rufus nodded, intrigued. "Long story short, we met there. I didn't really know what he was after at the time, however, now I know that he was after that." He opened his fist, revealing the small, glowing, emerald square that was the Nature anchor, making both Rufus and Amelia look at him in both wariness and evaluation. As the green light was inundating the room, both of the aurors' eyes briefly flashed Indigo, confirming Dace's theory. " It is my hypothesis that the Dragon Utopia was house to both the Nature and Death anchors. My informants tell me that shortly after, Riddle was forced to retreat because of Dumbledore's intervention. It matches with some of the disappearances among the members of his little club and Dumbledore's own heavy injuries, but it's still conjecture at this point." He paused for a moment, letting them assimilate the information, before continuing.

"The second time, you already know of. No doubt the aurors in place were pretty vocal about what happened when the necrotic traps activated." It was Amelia who nodded this time. " The third was shortly afterwards, when I received an invitation to the Meeting of Erudite, Scholars and Scientists that takes place every decade and was organized by Riddle this year. By this point, I liked to think I had gotten better at detecting creatures. Upon noticing what was crawling under the building, I immediately ran away after setting something on fire. However, it seemed all of the others were already bewitched, so I was the only survivor. That's when I knew for sure the Necromancer was Riddle and I sent the warnings nobody heeded. Oh well. The next time was when I was visiting your predecessor."

"But Mrs. Golly was already dead by that point..." Amelia piped up, pointing out the inconsistency, earning herself an exasperated look that he her huffing.

"Order Leader, Lily Evans, who set up her base in the Orkney Isles." Dace continued unperturbed, though, Rufus raised his hand with a complicated expression, that Dace promptly ignored. "We were discussing trade, Dumbledore and his little club also there, when we got attacked by his army. I managed to destroy his air force, however in the confusion, Dumbledore had run. I saved Lily and the Order anchor before Riddle got to them, however, it was for naught, as when Aife attacked my manor last summer, the Anchor was destroyed in the struggle, and Lily is currently entering her second year of convalescence. Whatever happened here stuck her in a permanent berserk state and she currently is unable to understand people, let alone talk to them. Which makes me think that if you link to an anchor, its destruction will have catastrophic consequences on you." He thought for a bit, trying to remember any more occurrences of Riddle's activities nearby.

"You already know of his attack on my dragons, and I have heard strange rumors in Dyfed that I will investigate shortly, most likely it is him scouting out the location and trying to set up a base to attack me, which tells me I probably have less than a year to prepare before he tries to launch an assault against me and mine." He noted almost nonchalantly as the other two stared. And stared. And stared some more. Amelia threw a look towards her superior, to which he answered with his exasperated one.

"I suppose you're telling us all that because you're willing to cooperate?" Rufus asked prudently, his second in command trying to make sense fo what she heard.

"To an extent, yes. You'll understand I won't be very active this year or the next one due to taking care of Riddle's expansion. However, I have with me copies of some schematics Lily had with her concerning some Order compatible constructions. " He lifted a stack of papers that the other man stared at intensely.

"You're really trying to reach out here." He noted with a small amount of amazement leaking into his voice as he took the papers, making Dace huff.

"I'm a businessman, I can behave, should I wish to."

"Which is almost never." Concluded the head auror, rifling through the papers.

"I don't do well with authority figures." He answered mildly.

And that was that. The both of them were very busy men after all.

Contact with Order faction established.

Order faction revealed: Ministry's Auror Division, headed by Rufus Scrimgeour.

Relations set to [Allied]. Expect some help from Rufus in case of attack this year.

Rufus Scrimgeour SL unlocked. Due to previous actions, Rufus Scrimgeour SL set to 3. Gain perk: Hypocrisy.

October 1st, 1984

Hero Unit:

[X]Martha : Brawler type, CQC Monster.

Martial:

[X] Combat drills. You have units, but they don't know how to fight as an army.
Cost : 0 Galleons.
-[X]Druids : 24 / 200 Rolled 47 : Synergy with ME : +37 x 2 (Full victory)+ 10 (Martha) = 131. 155/200

Martial:

[X] Military expedition:
-[X]Dyfed: (This turn only)Directly South of your area of influence. You have read reports that there were strange events taking place there. Go investigate.
Cost : 1000 Galleons. 90 / 70 / 50% Chances of success Rolled 37 : Synergy with CD : + 47 +10 (Martha) = 94 = Full victory, no more undead in Dyfed. Martha Gains 1 level.

Martha has been following Dace faithfully as he poured over the strategic map in his tent, explaining the situation to her as it went, and her piping up with suggestions that were actually well founded. Apparently, she'd been spending her free year training on her own in some cave and hounding down retired aurors for tips for her self training. Save for her complete lack of interest in anything involving aiming, she's a pretty well rounded fighter, though her trying to hide her brutal nature under mild manners and pretty smiles is quite amusing.

Still, the reason for Dace giving her the information right now is for another matter entirely. Namely, sending her on a mission with a double objective: Train the druids, and try to find out what's happening South of here.

Of course, being given carte blanche had her doing exactly what he thought she would.

Half a month later, Martha was sitting primly on the chair, sipping tea, the trainees behind her looking half dead with suspicious-looking bites here and there. It seemed that not only she managed to turn that weak minded mess of people into a group that at least wouldn't commit too much friendly fire, but Martha herself got a chance to let loose. Considering the utterly satisfied look she had when she informed him all undead presence was eliminated and the terrified look the trainees were sending her, she probably crushed a few skulls again.

Hero Martha Drake joins the army ( More information Here. )

No more undead in Dyfed.

Martha Gains 1 level.

Martha is now level 5.

Choose 1 Skill ( Combat tree skills trigger [CQC Monster]). 2 Primary skill slots left.

[]Primary Skill : Nobility.
Increases all creature growth in the town that recognizes the hero as its governor.
Basic: +10%.

[]Primary Skill : Life Magic.
Gives hero the ability to cast Life Magic spells.
Basic: hero can cast level 1 Life Magic spells.
Gives one level 1 Life Magic spell.
1d6 : 3:
Holy Word - 2 mana
Combat - Direct Life Damage to Death Units
Damage: 49 + 4 dmg/level + Spirituality
Holy Word does damage to a single Death target based on the level of the caster.
The power of Life concentrated in a single word - it's as good as a sword against those with evil souls.

[]Secondary skill : Herbalism (Nature Magic)
Gives the hero mana and increases mana recovery.
Basic: +10 mana, +2 mana recovered per day.

[]Secondary skill : Magic resistance (Combat)
Hero has a chance to resist hostile spells.
Advanced: 50%.

Martha reached level 5, it's time for her to choose the path she will follow. You may either advise her, or let her choose what she thinks is for the best.

[] Choose Martha's Class :

[]Nature + Combat : Beastmaster: +20% bonus to Summon Wolf spell
[]Nature + Nobility : Beast Lord: +20% bonus to Summon Wolf and Summon Moon Doe spells. (Needs Basic Nobility to be taken)
[]Nature + Tactics : Warden: gives all friendly creatures +10% to their Melee and Ranged Defense
[]Nature + Life : Summoner: summons +20 Experience Points worth of creatures per day (Needs []Basic Life Magic to be taken)
[]Combat + Tactics : General: +1 morale to all friendly creatures
[]Combat + Life : Paladin: has Death Ward (50% resistant to Death spells, Melee/Ranged Defenses +50% against Death-aligned opponents) (Needs Basic Life Magic to be taken)
[]Combat + Nobility : Warlord: +5 to Melee Attack (Needs Basic Nobility to be taken)
[]Tactics + Life : Crusader: hero always has maximum morale (Needs Basic Life Magic to be taken)
[]Tactics + Nobility : Lord Commander: gives all friendly creatures +2 morale (Needs Basic Nobility to be taken)

[]Let her choose. Will open her SL.

November 20th, 1984

Mysticism:

[X] Rampart: Step one (must complete all of those to unlock step 2) (Restores Rumor Mill)( You really should take it)
-[X] Build basic fortifications: Pay 30 000 G, 30 wood, 30 stone. (0/30 000, 0/30, 0/30)

Stewardship:

[X] Trade for resources ( free action )
-[X] 40 Wood for 80,000 Galleons

Personal:

[X]Personal development:
-[X] Way of the Architect: You worked yourself from the ground up, but there is always much more to be done Rolled 94 +50% (Rampart+Resources) = 141. Massive success.

On another note, Dace finally enough of his tent and while Martha was busy cleaning the countryside of its undead, Dace decided that it was time to get to building fortifications worthy of the name. First he recalled all of his time spent at Hogwarts ant the time he spent marveling over its secret passages. Then came to his mind tales of the Library of Alexandria, of all the knowledge that was gathered here...

Fort complete.

Due to his competency at the task, Dace decided he liked architecture. Choose one :

[]Secret passages: + 10 to Intrigue related rolls.
[]Great Library: +10 To learning related rolls.

Rumor mill restored!

Turn 4 Rumor mill:

Event roll: 58:
With his Network finally back up and running, information flows in Dace's office. He's missed quite the important amount fo information, such as James being released after 2 months at Azkaban, the high number of births among the notable families, strange rumors of a mysterious Item in Cornwall and an ominous group after it. Still, there were now some fresh reports waiting on his desk.

Due to Dace having spent some time on last year events that he met, AP : 1

[] Walburga has written about some strange occurrences taking place near Stonehenge. Strange noises, items breaking at night, one of their family celebrations had to be postponed because of that, how dreadful. (41)

[] One of the druid apprentices, called Dave, pointed out something strange was happening not that far in the East. It didn't seem that dangerous at first glance, however, from time to time, the dragons were glaring in that direction too, he pointed out, and they have better sense for magic emanations than regular humans... (7)

[] Agatha broke in the safe. Nobody knows how, or why, but the golden coffer that was found years ago was stolen. While she may not be up to anything dangerous, this was still Agatha, supervision was necessary. (100)

He was standing in the safest place of the Rampart (after Agatha's damage was repaired), alone in the bare room.

In his hand the emerald cube was thrumming.

He extended his arm so that the cube was in the middle of the room and opened his hand, the item slowly falling to the ground. Once one of the Cube's ridges made contact, it sunk into the ground, emerald green lines spreading everywhere like ivy. The walls, the floor, even the glass of the windows. Then, they too, sunk in, making the whole structure tremble. He looked through the window and he could see the green lines spread around, the vegetation become that tiny bit lighter and greener, the creatures he brought grow. He could hear sounds of howling and growling all around the place. Then the sound of stoned rubbing against each other was heard and he turned around.

Where the cube fell now stood a pillar, the anchor, looking a bit dimmer, was pulsating like a heartbeat.

Currently updating the information section. I haven't translated all of it yet, I need to lose my habit to write on paper and in French for this quest...

Edit: Modified the BB Code so that it would send to this site's strategic section instead of SV;

Gramps' quest for a stable family (HP / Overlord/Homm crossover quest)

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