The Tower of Voices Voting Thread

Discussion in 'Story Feedback' started by TheLeherengin, Mar 19, 2021.

  1. Miss-Emmie

    Miss-Emmie Experienced

    These dark powers have not been specifically named, which we should force out of Talwa, but I have a guess as to who she made a deal with: Bael'zebul, or someone working under them, although my second guess would be The Hive. To recap what we know so far: the curse originates from the Sand Mother; anyone affected by it is filled with an almost uncontrollable desire to have children; yet it also prevents the lamia and naga from breeding with each other. Talwa intended this to force her kin to leave the temple, force the Sand Mother out, or be wiped out within a generation. However, there is one flaw in her plan: outsiders such as Yulia can be affected. In theory, the naga only need to capture and breed outsiders just as the Hive does, which is why I suspect they may be the culprits.

    Now, the real question is why this dark power put together this plan together, and it certainly wasn't to help the Fangs. This curse forces either the Sand Mother herself or all of her loyalists to leave the temple. The temple is an easily defensible structure. Whether the followers of Bael'zebul wish to devour the lamia and naga, or the Hive wish to abduct and breed them, either way it would be much easier to do if they no longer had a fortified position to hold out in. And whether the Sand Mother left on her own or was left alone in the temple, either way she would also be vulnerable to attack. In reality, Talwa has doomed her people either way. Whichever faction is behind this is probably at the ready to launch an attack to take advantage of this opening to drag away all of the loyalists.

    For now, we should head back to the temple to consult with the Sand Mother. We may have other options, such as wiping out the 'dark power' that cast this spell. And if we help the lamia and naga launch an attack on whoever cast this curse, we may be clearing a path to the floor's exit.
     
  2. Gambio

    Gambio CHYOA Guru

    Do we get the Sand mother as a party member?

    We definitely should cast identify on the sand mother and see if this is another Dell situation or there's a chance to get rid of that course, just because Talwa thinks it isn't possible doesn't mean it has to be truth.

    As for Talwa, there's some fun stuff we can do as punishment, but we probably don't want to announce it to everyone that she is the culprit. After convening with the sandmother we want to put her through some EXTENSIVE INTERROGATION to make sure we squeeze every bit of worthwile information out of her
     
  3. Boodalian

    Boodalian Experienced

    Sand mother as a party member would just break Yulia, unless we can sort the curse thing but then she will probably want to stay behind.
     
  4. TheLeherengin

    TheLeherengin Really Really Experienced

  5. Boodalian

    Boodalian Experienced

    We can have Yulia use identify, the sand mother just has to keep quiet while she does so.

    As you say, Bal would be quite benefited by this so it only makes sense to remove them before they can cause problems. You seem quite friendly with Bal so if the curse was gone we wouldn't need to remove Bal.
     
  6. Miss-Emmie

    Miss-Emmie Experienced

    Oh, I was wondering who had taken the position of Archdemon of Lust after we got those demonic dresses on the previous floor, and apparently it's Yulia Alter. There's no way we're taking any deal she offers us, it will inevitably come back to bite us. And as Boodalian said, we have another option: defeat Bal'Zebul and spare their life in exchange for the curse being ended. I was expecting us to have to deal with the Hungry Sands one way or the other. And the Abyss being so mad about Yulia killing Ash that a copy of her was made to replace him would make it super funny for her to have her kill a second Archdemon. Or kill the new Archdemon of Lust, have Yulia forever remembered in the Tower as Lust's Bane.

    You know, Yulia Alter being behind the curse makes me wonder if she had a hand in the creation of The Rack and the other floor monsters running around. The suffering each one inflicts on the Temple, the Tomb, and the Hive makes me think she did and wanted to exploit Yulia's desire to help others.
     
  7. Gambio

    Gambio CHYOA Guru

    I like to point out that there are still no sharks, which were promised, on this floor.

    So now we have Dark Yulia, or Wayulia...actually Malia works pretty well.

    At any rate, deals with the devil rarely work out.


    We do in fact have one way of making Walia comply. The silver ring we got all the way back can bind a devil or demon. If we can somehow got it into her we can just force her to lift the curse.


    Anyways we still need to punish Tawa and see if we get any more information out of her.

    I suggest a long hard edging session. If we use Goma's puppet I'm sure we can prevent her from having an orgasm.

    As for information, I guess we just have her recount her meeting with Walia and all the details she can recount. I'm sure something comes out of it...because Tawa sure won't!
     
  8. Boodalian

    Boodalian Experienced

    I love the idea of putting that ring on Malia. Don't know how practical it is.
     
  9. Miss-Emmie

    Miss-Emmie Experienced

    Shhh, don't mention the ring too loudly, I was going to wait for Yulia Alter to leave before mentioning it.
     
  10. TheLeherengin

    TheLeherengin Really Really Experienced

  11. Miss-Emmie

    Miss-Emmie Experienced

    I'll concede we got lucky against Ash, but we took down Levateinn in her own domain and have gotten stronger since then. Bal'zebul is admittedly a different beast even from that situation, because Levatein was alone with her two snakes versus having a living mountain filled with dangers. But I don't think we have to face him with our party alone. I'm sure once the the loyalists here in the Temple hear about what's happened we'll have a mountain of allies. If we take down the floor monster in the Tomb, we could receive support from them, even if only in the form of magic, items, and information. We may even be able to negotiate with the Hive by taking down their own floor monster, but we'll have to see.

    I think we can take down The Rack here and now. I can see three ways to do so: some sort of spell or oil that can reduce the friction the Rack can generate to eliminate that rolling attack, holes we could trap the Rack in, and some means of attacking the Rack from below. Something like earth spikes emerging from the ground, or a hole with a grate over it that Maple or someone could fire plasma rifles through while the Rack walks over it. That should free the forces at the Temple up to help against the Hungry Sands.

    As for Talwa, I think her punishment can end here for now. The floor monster in the Tomb was immune to physical damage. Yulia and Lemiel both have considerable firepower at their disposal, and Goma's Puppet spell should be able to restrict the monster's movements at a minimum, but a strong caster like Talwa would be a boon. I know we'll only get the vial of semen and the item drop from one floor monster, but taking down this one would win us some support from the Tomb.

    As for the Hive, we'll have to see. We have less info on their floor monster.

    But I think our next step should be to prepare for a rematch with The Rack, deal with it, then head back to the Tomb with the Sand Mother so we can secure safe harbor for her and negotiate a deal for taking down the floor monster in the Tomb.
     
  12. Boodalian

    Boodalian Experienced

    That went as expected. I only offered that deal because I didn't want to deal with Bal, and getting something we want in exchange for avoiding something I didn't want to do would have been a great deal.

    I would still like to look for ways to deal with the curse that don't involve making deals with demons, so let's find out everything possible now. And identify the sand mother, it might reveal something.
    Will the sand mother be fine getting to the Tomb? I guess the ex fangs can escort her if need be.

    After that, I agree with Emmie, let's take down the rack. Getting support from one or more of the groups would make things easier and I want revenge anyway. Where would be a good location to ambush it? Who would be willing to fight with us? How many potions can we manufacture and distribute before the fight? If we can rely on support I think we mass manufacture cure potions and health potions and have the less combat inclined naga and lamia throw them and people leaving Yulia free to attack. I think leaning into blizzard for slowing it down is the best bet, we can target it so that it doesn't cause us issues.

    Oh, and can I ask the sand mother to investigate ways to defeat the curse while they are in the Tomb. I want to visit the hive next but we'll definitely visit the Tomb again so any leads would be great.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2024
  13. huginn

    huginn Really Experienced

    We need to start doing something. So taking the rack down now seems a good option. After that getting some support from Mummies would be useful.

    It would be handy if Maple and/or Isalia could figure a way to build a trap for Rack using grenades so that we don't have to roll them under it, if there are no suitable pits for Maple to hide with plasma rifle.
     
  14. Gambio

    Gambio CHYOA Guru

    Taking the rack down would be useful as it gives us access to the treasure chamber, we probably want the extra firepower before confronting a demon

    Analyzing the last fight against it, the reason that was a loss was because of "surprise underside" giving it +20 points

    Without it, the fight would have had negative difficulty and since it can't surprise us anymore that should be the case.

    Thus definition of insanity wins again.

    Actually, I guess we can do something else.


    Let's use Talwa for Rack bait. once the thing grabs her we should have an easy way to do some damage
     
  15. TheLeherengin

    TheLeherengin Really Really Experienced

    huginn likes this.
  16. huginn

    huginn Really Experienced

    Oh we got lucky for once.

    Lemiel's words about Alide are bit worrysome if we end up fighting against her on the last level.

    Nowwould be good time to get answers to the questions of suitable pit and our groups ability to turn grenades into a trap.
     
  17. Miss-Emmie

    Miss-Emmie Experienced

    Since we'll be digging pitfalls, is there any part of the temple the Sand Mother wouldn't mind us digging up, and ideally would be easy to do that? I doubt it'd be too much trouble for the loyalists to fill them back in once we're done, at least compared to the work of taking down the Rack. Also, I don't think using Talwa as bait will be that effective. A couple members of the party got pinned beneath The Rack during the first fight, and it didn't provide an opening. Better to have her run us through the spells she can use and have her focus on casting.
     
  18. Gambio

    Gambio CHYOA Guru

    Well, If we want to go with the pit strategy we need bait which is were Talwa comes in.


    I propose we dig a circular pit around Talwa, fill it with grenades, then once the Rack attempts to get her, it falls into pit, grenades go BOOM, our group rushes out and murders the fucker

    Here's an illustration how I expect this to go

    [​IMG]
     
    huginn likes this.
  19. TheLeherengin

    TheLeherengin Really Really Experienced

    Love the art.
     
  20. Remin

    Remin Really Experienced

    Truly a masterpiece of art! xD