Test Pattern 2009/08/12(Wed)22:11 No. 28893 ID: 7eda8b
File 125014027760.png - (179.06KB , 500x500 , AQ62.png )

>Like 60 posts of arguing.

Goshen's too tired and has lost too much blood today to decide. He climbs over the crate.

"Aphek," he says, using the southerner's real name for the first time. "I don't really know, alright? Let's just focus on making it to Fort Ji. Then we can worry about that."

There's a pause.

"I understand," says Aphek. "And I really am glad I'm with you and not Shadran. But... I think I already know what's going to happen after we get to Fort Ji."

"and that is"

>>28893
That being?

Test Pattern 2009/08/12(Wed)22:27 No. 28904 ID: 7eda8b
File 12501412614.png - (178.51KB , 500x500 , AQ63.png )

"That being...?"

Aphek says, "I think you're going to need some money."

"I'm not going to sell you if thats what you're implying"

>>28909
Add "I'm not an omnivore. If anything I'd have to eat you before we get there. But hopefully it won't come to that."

His behavior during the ambush was noble. We should consider repaying him in kind. Dustback status notwithstanding.

Ask him what he would do, if it were up to him.

>>28904

No don't sell him pleasssse! He can be our super buddy! I mean, our other friends already got ultra murdered so we need some friends. Yup, yup.

>>28904

"They allow male prostitution there?"

>>28969
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

>>28904
We sure need money. Is there anything valuable in the cart we could sell later? I assume Fort Ji has soldiers and soldiers love booze.
Tell him we don't really want to sell him.

>>28975
YES!

>>28904
Okay, it looks like night now, when it isn't nearly as hot. Since you are not built for desert life (at least not to the extent of Aphek), now might be a good time to ask Aphek if he has any martial training, and if not, start teaching him some each night, when neither of you will lose as much water to heat.

While practicing with him tonight, ask him if he has thoughts on how to make some money for when we get to the fort.

Actually, we should probably move by night as much as possible, since the lowered temperature and reduced glare would mean we will retain water and burn energy much more slowly for the same amount of travelling.


So, night time travelling, start daily practice with Aphek to get him used to that sword Shadram dropped, and discussion of how to make money at the fort, preferably without selling Aphek, who did risk his life twice to assist us against Shadram, and deserves some measure of respect for the strength of mind he displayed.

"Aphek, I only need money to buy food and you're made of food. Mobile food. You're far more useful than money"

>>29000
We don't need to TELL our food that. It's best kept to ourselves.

>>29000
If it comes to it, we will eat him.

He knows it, we know it.

There isn't a need to keep shoving this bit of data in his face.

Besides, by leaving him alive we keep the food fresh for later.

"I'm not going to sell you one way or another. I need you to help me get out of the desert too much"

>>28904
tell him quite simply that it may very well be that you need money


but you just lost most of your blood, and do not want to think about hard things. to the march.

>>28975
This.

Suggestion 2009/08/13(Thu)13:17 No. 29078 ID: 7eda8b
File 12501946312.png - (177.62KB , 500x500 , AQ64.png )

>>28975
>We sure need money. Is there anything valuable in the cart we could sell later?

Goshen thinks. There's still a fair amount of whiskey left in the barrel, but it's rather large for two exhausted and thirsty sergals to leg across the desert. They can fill some of the empty waterskins with it, perhaps. Odd way to transport whiskey, but it should keep.

If the cart was carrying any other real valuables, they've all been looted. The things he found here with the most resale value would be Shadran's sword, and of course Aphek. The southerner doesn't seem to have particularly valuable skills, but Goshen could still pawn him for real gold.

Aphek knows all this. Goshen wonders how right he is. At present, selling him seems a poor decision. He can use the help, and someone adapted to the desert, familiar with it... But, after he gets to safety? After the desert's behind him, and he gets his strength back... Will he still want to keep him?

Goshen pauses briefly to get his words together.

>>29078
Ask him what he wants to do, or what he thinks he can do once he's freed. If he has no skills, he might as well stick around you for a while and do some merc work. Tell him you're not technically his owner, the real question is whether or not they should try to look for his owner's next of kin or see about hiding Ashek from said next of kin.

>>29078
By home you mean all the way back home in Tatola, right?
That's a long time away. And you really shouldn't bother with this decision now, the sword and booze will make enough money for your travel.
Tell him you won't sell him in Fort Ji, that should calm him down for now.

There's no reason to make a decision yet. Regardless of whether we're keeping him, freeing, him, or selling him, he'll still need to travel with us through the desert. See how things turn out once we get to Fort Ji. Until then... "Let's go."

Suggestion 2009/08/13(Thu)13:37 No. 29086 ID: 7eda8b
File 125019584227.png - (177.83KB , 500x500 , AQ65.png )

>>29082
>by home you mean
Home? Goshen wasn't thinking about that.

Sure, the raiding group is dead except for him, but surely he can still get SOMEthing done on this side of the desert. Has he come all this way just to turn around?

...on the other hand, everyone IS dead. That's often a good reason to give up.

>>28883
>(check it to see if it is the exotic sword you recall your deceased comrade carrying)
No. Yalal's sword was curved. Goshen wonders why Shadran wasn't carrying even one of the weapons her group looted from his party. Come and think of it, dragging off four big sergal corpses to eat is strange behavior for a band made up of two elves, a gnoll, a southerner, and a talyxian. Maybe it'll make more sense later, when he can think more clearly.

>>29078

Dammit Goshen, less consideration for feelings and more Conan. Live for the moment. If he proves honorable we might grant freedom. If he tries to stab us in our sleep we eat him. If we really need to get drunk in the fortress we sell him. And all this can wait for when we have something else to expect than slow death in the desert. Let the weakling prove himself.

"I'll think about it."

>>29086
>Has he come all this way just to turn around?
That's a decision for when you're safe again.
>dragging off four big sergal corpses to eat is strange behavior
Maybe they ain't dead. Do you like em enough for some wild rescue mission?
In this case we really could use some friendly southerner to help us out.

>>29086

Okay, here we go.

'Aphek, my first concern right now is to track down and slaughter those who felled my fellow raiders. If you are willing to assist me, I will teach you how to fight, and if you live to see the last of them dead, I will free you. If you do not have the stomach for it, I will sell you at the fort. Choose.'

>>29093
Nice one there.

Suggestion 2009/08/13(Thu)15:24 No. 29155 ID: 7eda8b
File 125020225839.png - (177.96KB , 500x500 , AQ66.png )

>>29093
>'Aphek, my first concern right now is to track down and slaughter those who felled my fellow raiders. If you are willing to assist me, I will teach you how to fight, and if you live to see the last of them dead, I will free you. If you do not have the stomach for it, I will sell you at the fort. Choose.'

That's not bad. Goshen gets that in his head, but what he actually says is "Hey. I'm just here to kill folks. You wanna help? I'll keep ya."

>>29155
wat

>>29155
Eloquence!

Wait to see what Aphek says.

>>29155
I'll teach you how to fight as best I can. Better than being by yourself, right?

>>29160
Are southerners even allowed to wield weapons? We don't want him getting hauled away as rebel or something.

Suggestion 2009/08/13(Thu)15:42 No. 29168 ID: 7eda8b
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>>29159
"So. I'm to be your Janissary," says Aphek.

"Uh. Sure," Goshen replies. "If you can handle it. I can teach you how to swing a sword."

Aphek says "I don't know how good at that I'm going to be. I guess it's better than some things."

>>29168
Yeah, you could be sucking on big swords instead.

>>29168
'Know that the more you try to learn from me, the more likely you will never get used like Shadram used you again. This is your chance to become strong, I suggest you not squander it.'

First things first, you guys should really use the night for travel.
Are we still going to Fort Ji for supplies or do you want to go after your friends.
I think some civilization first would be a better idea.

Janissaries had their balls cut off. They were a badass eunuch slave army, fyi.

>>29176
And yes dear god we have to be smarter about water consumption. Night travel will leave us with a lot more water retained in our body each day, extending the amount of time we stay mobile with our current supplies. So lets switch to night travel/training Aphek at camp, day sleep sheltered and camouflaged by sand.

Test Pattern 2009/08/13(Thu)16:35 No. 29203 ID: 7eda8b
File 125020653087.png - (177.01KB , 500x500 , AQ68.png )

>>29174
"Yeah, you could be sucking on big swords instead," says Goshen.

"What?"

"I said we should start marching tonight."

Goshen ponders how much stuff he should burden the two of them with. All of the remaining water and money, of course, but what else? There's mule meat, but it's already going bad. Most species would consider it quite inedible by now. There's food in the crate that will keep a long time, but it's not meat. Goshen can carry the barrel of whiskey... but for days on end? With little water or food? He'd have trouble even if he were carrying nothing.

>>29197
>So lets switch to night travel/training Aphek at camp
Goshen's been traveling at night. That's why he was so exhausted this morning, even before he was ambushed. He'd been marching all night!

>>29203
Have Aphek carry half the water and as much of the crate food as he wants.
Carry the other half of the water, the money, and see if you can set snares in the daytime. Check for rope.

>>29203
Don't carry the barrel, just fill whatever extra wine skins you have with whiskey.
And eat as much of the mule meat as reasonable right now, make sure to act extra scary and feral about it.
We'll just have to look for some hunting opportunities. Is it really impossible for you to eat some non meat stuff?
Take as much of the dusty food as necessary, ask Aphek about it.

>>29203
Get some canvas to use as shelter during the day. Will definitely pay off.

See if you can start a fire and cook the meat into strips of jerky.

>>29203

Ask Dustback to keep an eye out for proper prey for us. Otherwise we might have to eat the dustback before we lose the strenght to do so.

Test Pattern 2009/08/13(Thu)18:15 No. 29239 ID: 7eda8b
File 125021251233.png - (32.34KB , 500x500 , AQ69.png )

>>29208
>And eat as much of the mule meat as reasonable right now, make sure to act extra scary and feral about it.

Test Pattern 2009/08/13(Thu)18:16 No. 29241 ID: 7eda8b
File 125021260351.png - (156.20KB , 500x500 , AQ70.png )

"Schlorp schlorp om gomrrrngh *RIP* schlorp schlorp schlorp."

invite him to join you! make it a dinner date!

These:
>>29205
>>29208
>>29209

And from now on, sleep in shifts, and try to use sand-covered canvas as both shelter and camouflage.

>>29241
Advise Aphek to eat as much of the dried fruits and whatnot as he can without risking using too much water to digest it all, as he will only be able to carry so much. You must keep a survivalist outlook to exist in a setting like this.

Test Pattern 2009/08/13(Thu)18:36 No. 29247 ID: 7eda8b
File 125021378987.png - (141.87KB , 500x500 , AQ71.png )

>>29242
>invite him to join you! make it a dinner date!
"Schlorp nom *GULP*... Oh, did you want some?"

"No."

"Hahaha. Well, eat more of your plant garbage. We've got more than we can carry."

"Okay."

"*RIP* schlorp om nom..."

>>29214
>See if you can start a fire and cook the meat into strips of jerky.
Say! That's not a bad idea. But jerky takes six to ten hours to prepare. Goshen really wishes he'd thought of that before he went to sleep.

>>29247
Okay, lets finish eating as much healthy meat and organs as we can (especially heart and liver, both are great long term energy investments), and then assess how much night we have left. If we still have most of the night, lets pack up, start heading to the fort with all the water, as much of the food as we can, some canvas for coverage during the day.

If possible, have Aphek help you use some of the wrecked cart to make a stretcher type device to rest the barrel of booze on so that both Goshen and Aphek can share the load, hopefully making the carrying easier. It will make travel a bit slower, but the boon of the canvas for daytime coverage should make up for it in terms of energy/water spent in effort.

Plus, we really need some capital, and the booze is the most expensive thing we have we can part with right now.

Test Pattern 2009/08/13(Thu)19:21 No. 29265 ID: 7eda8b
File 125021649047.png - (34.98KB , 500x500 , AQ72.png )

After some thought, Goshen decides the barrel is too much work. If he were a little more confident of how far they were from anything, maybe. Besides. It's not even full.

While Goshen digests, they salvage what they can from the cart:
-Canvas and struts, to work as a tent
-All the water. Hard to judge how many days' worth, but they're going to try drinking about one seventh of it each day, in hopes they make it out in a week.
-11 copper pieces
-Shadran's sword
-Goshen's stuff
-Flint and tinder
-Small sharpening stone
-4 waterskins full of whiskey
-Some cloth from the crate
-40 feet of rope
-30 person-days of not-meat

The two set off across the desert.

"Goshen?"

"What."

"You ever cross the Sailzane before?"

"Just once. Few years back," says Goshen. "Well, twice, but the other was when I was very young."

Aphek goes quiet for several minutes.

"Goshen? Uh. You ever actually... eaten sergal flesh before?"

"Yeah."

They walk in silence.

>>29265
Use the first or last hour of sunlight for teaching him how to swing the sword a little.
It looks a little thin, but it should hold up for a few days.

>>29265
'If you fear for your own hide, be aware that you are currently considered an ally, and as such I will go to significant lengths to avoid eating you unless it becomes absolutely necessary. And one thing that could improve the chances that such a time never comes is learning to fight and be useful in combat to me as quickly as possible.'

>>29267
The real question is, how can we convince him not to kill us in our sleep?

This is getting very complicated. It would take me thirty minutes to explain every angle. I think that this is the most fucked up scenario that /quest/ has been in so far. I'm enjoying it.

>>29275
I have an idea.

>>29265
"We taste horrible, by the way."

>>29278
"Make yourself worth it and sure."

Test Pattern 2009/08/13(Thu)20:03 No. 29281 ID: 7eda8b
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>>29267
>'If you fear for your own hide, be aware that you are currently considered an ally, and as such I will go to significant lengths to avoid eating you unless it becomes absolutely necessary. And one thing that could improve the chances that such a time never comes is learning to fight and be useful in combat to me as quickly as possible.'

Goshen decides to dazzle the southerner with high-falutin' words, to establish himself as a respectable knight. A warrior-poet.

"Relax," he says. "I'm pretty full. I'm not gonna eat you."

Aphek, clearly stunned by Goshen's incredible charisma, gives pause.

"Hey," Aphek says after awhile. "You really promise to keep me around? Take me on raids and adventures and stuff?"

>>29275
Keep in mind, Goshen doesn't yet seem to be a sufficiently devious minded individual to think that far ahead, he is too raw yet to play out all these hypothetical scenarios to pick the optimal way to interact with Aphek.

As far as I can tell, Goshen would tell Aphek the blunt truth, and expect Aphek to obey, but still sleep lightly the first few nights while you get a sense of whether he really does decide to stick with you.

>>29281
"No promises. We'll see how it works out."

>>29281
"We're on an adventure. Enjoying it yet?"

>>29281
"What are you, a cutebold? You can come along if you want but you're going to have to woman up quick if you're going to be a merc."

"Sure why not."

"If you can fight, yes."

>>29281
'I am alone, tracking foes that already bested my comrades. Even if you doubt my intentions, necessity forces me to need you. So I suggest you live up to my expectations and learn quickly. Just because I am giving you a chance at freedom does not mean I will coddle you.'

Harsh, but fair. Giving a slave a chance at freedom if he proves himself strong and useful enough. It seem like the Northern, martially minded thing to do. If he proves himself strong and an able ally, then there is no reason to not treat him with the respect any warrior deserves. If he is proven weak or dead weight.... well, I imagine Aphek knows what a Northerner would do with a useless southern slave in the desert.

Test Pattern 2009/08/13(Thu)20:34 No. 29299 ID: 7eda8b
File 125022088173.png - (36.86KB , 500x500 , AQ73.png )

>>29288
"We're on an adventure," says Goshen. "Enjoying it yet?"

"This might sound crazy," says Aphek. "But... I think I just might be."

>>29299
>>29301
Just remember to train Aphek every day at dawn and dusk (so after setting up camp and first thing after waking). Don't just do it to teach him how to fight, also use it as a way to try and become more familiar with your own shortcomings, and improve yourself. Sometimes teaching someone leaves you learning nearly as much as your pupil.

After all, you nearly lost to Shadram, and that was only one of your targets. You must become faster, stronger, hungrier for victory.

This quest has fucking awesome dialogue. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I didn't notice how awesome until that last line, which was somewhat cheesy. Not badly, but enough that I noticed.

>>29315
I noticed it around >>29203
:3c

This will continue in a new thread. Can't guarantee when it'll be. Classes are starting up again and I have some things to take care of.

>>29315
It's also currently tied with KaraQuest for combat awesomeness in my opinion.

>>29239
>>29241
What is with the different views?

>>29396
Northern Sergals are carnivores, southern Sergals are omnivores.

>>29434
I think he meant "Why is one all black with just the open bit of the mule visible, while the other depicts the entirety of the scene.
I believe that was just to show focus.

Also, I'd imagine that southern Sergals are more like dogs; they can eat vegetable matter, but they mostly eat meat.



On an entirely unrelated note, I've just realized how similar
>>29299
looks to a picture of Don Quixote that I've seen. No idea if that's intentional.

>>29434
I know pretty much nothing about sergals, so bear with me if these questions seem to have obvious answers.

About how big are the average male/female northern/southern sergals, and how long do they live?

What would be some defining traits of sergal biology that make them stand out, like not doing well in the cold or being prone to illness in certain regions.

What is the story of how Raiders (which Goshen seems to be one of) compare with military units back home, and how do they fit into command structure if at all?

Do Southerners and Northerners interbreed at all, or is it either genetically nonviable or taboo for one or more of the cultures?

>>29472
Northerners are larger and stockier than southerners.
I think it's 40-60 years or something, been a while since I waded through the moonspeak.
Northerners are better with cold, and southerners are a mite faster.
One of the unofficial/official pastimes for youngsters just out of basic training is the basics of adventuring: Find some buddies, head out to other countries to kill things and take their stuff. Raider I assume was his specialisation.
In the original moonspeak, there is indeed a crossbreed example, but it ends up getting curbstomped.

>>29472
http://goldring.wikia.com/wiki/Vilous_Wiki You should be able to find everything you want to know in there.

>>29475
Ok, then basically, we are trying to keep Goshen alive long enough to stop being a rookie and return home with his fellow Raiders avenged, a good bit of spoils, all his limbs/organs, become a much more capable individual and maybe have some bastards left behind.

I don't know, that sounds about like what we are shooting for, assuming that the quest lasts that long.

>>29477
I am going to go through that, maybe learn something useful for the quest.

>>29481
The stuff in the GoldRingWiki is based on the ideas by the original artist.
/tg/ did it's own, but very similar, stuff with them http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Unified_Setting , also worth a read.

>>29481

and possibly obtain a princess leah slave outfit for Aphek.

>>29563
It is fairly patchwork in design....

>>29563
Not the time or the place to discuss that.

>>29493
It's all the ideas of the original artist unless it's labeled as such. Look for the little canon boxes.

>>29563
Just judging by what's on the respective wikis, I'd have to say that it's actually better that the Vilous setting. It tends to get a lot of criticism that it doesn't deserve, if only because the issues people bring up tend to get fixed but nobody tells people.

>>29586
Yeah that's what I meant, bad communication on my side.
>>29597
The orig. Vilous stuff has lots of unrealized potential.

Suggestion 2009/08/14(Fri)18:53 No. 29603 ID: 87583b
File 125030121284.png - (36.81KB , 350x350 , John is not sharing his pudding.png )

>>29597
Different strokes for different folks.

But, folks deserve to know the truth. The unified setting's entire existence was to make sergals more famous and preferably popular on /tg/, by mixing them in with other stuff /tg/ liked and not painting them in a completely flattering light.

Worked pretty well for a while, if I do say so myself.

>>29603

What!? It was all a conspiracy!?

>>29606
Well, it started as a justification to have sergals in a setting, yeah.
Then to collecting all the stuff that /tg/ had lying around that could slot in anywhere and bind it all together, hence the name.
Now, of course, it gets used as a roundabout way of calling something furry.

>>29603
Most DnD spells started as stuff Gygax's group thought it would be fun to have. Those random ideas then became a comprehensive cosmology. That doesn't mean it's only fun for Gygax's group, and likewise the US isn't inherently faggotry just because it was created by faggots. There has been a fuckton of work done on it since then, and these days it's actually a perfectly acceptable setting.

Though I do notice that the sergal empire is a bit flat. Presumably this stems from nobody having good ideas regarding them since the dullettes, and that they had no real society prior to the Empire thing, and since then they've been wholly military. I guess we should work on fleshing out US sergal culture.

>>29616
It was fleshed out a lot back in the day. Pottery and ceramics were the biggest exports along with mercenaries, they grew mushrooms and cattle, etc. I'm not going to post it all right now, too lazy.

I don't mean to be a dick or anything, but we've got a discussion board. We've got two, if you count /tg/.

>>29661
It developed in this thread, so I think it's fine, seeing as the next chapter will be in a different thread.

>>29631
That stuff is mostly summarized on 1d4chan, yes. Even so, it's nothing compared to how the other races are now. Mostly. Doobies are still more one-dimensional than Sergals, even if their relation with the Gentry allows for interesting stuff.

I'm still of the opinion that the source material/Vilous stuff is cooler, and I was extremely happy when I figured out the author was using that as his canon.

Although less is explicitly spelled out and detailed, what is written is a lot more engaging.

You don't have to write 10,000 words to write something interesting, and you can write 100,000 without saying anything worthwhile.

Doobies are fucking retarded

>>29694
That's kind of the point. Of couse, they now have a reason for existing as well as for being so fucked up. But as a race, they're still kind of underflavored. I would imagine that this is because people have a hard time taking them seriously even while working on them. They've become the gnomes of the Unified Setting. Except that gnomes really don't have a reason to exist.

So, I noticed that the stuff on Vilious noted that the Talyxians are usually better one on one fighters than the Northerners, now is this some sort of biological thing, such as the Talyxians just being better made for it or some such, or is it because of a difference in training? It was phrased somewhat ambiguously on the site.

Hrm, I wonder how old Goshen is? I mean, the site said they are largely mature by ten.

...I somehow get the feeling that Goshen is YOUNG, like barely ten.

Doing raiding stuff like this is popular among the soon to be adult age range as a means of proving oneself.

The fate of the raid party seems to point towards a lack of experience on their part, possibly because they were new to it.

Never fought a Talyxian before, and if he had gone raiding several times before, it would stand to reason he might have done so by now.

AfterQuest gets lots of discussion, so I made a thread here. This one will get archived soon enough.
>>/questdis/1059

>>29711
Talyxians are better one on one because they are much more dexterous and fast. In large numbers, individual maneuverability always suffers, so the Sergal's larger size and much stronger bodies give them a much stronger edge.