Part 43: Pangaea - Turns 11-15

I heard that (when it was quoted for me in IRC).



Turn 11



First up, earth gems arrive from Arcoscephale; as Dexanth covered above, we agreed to an exchange. I like earth gems and want lots of them. These will let me jump right into remote searching to secure supplies within my own territory. The battles are unremarkable; what is remarkable is Mary Schapiro waking up! Everyone rejoices!



So, here she is. A few things should stand out about her design immediately, first and foremost being that it is terrible and unfocused seriously what the hell was I thinking with this she is a majestic and terrifying creature, with all the magical knowledge necessary to bargain with devils, create undead servants, and kinda sorta be not useless in battle. The primary goal here was the ability to make soul contracts, which cost a few fire gems and a heap of blood slaves and then produce a devil every turn forever. I don't think they're really worth the effort or expense but I've been wanting to play with them for ages, so I went for it.



Expansion continues, I remain nervous about that group of Androphag archers from Sauro, and I send a company of mercenary heavy infantry to try their luck against that province full of elephants in the south. Spoilers: They all die horribly.

Turn 12



Guess who didn't find magic sites? It is everyone but Kronos. Let's see what he dug up before we look at that boring battle nonsense.



Hello new favorite province! Now, battle results. We know something interesting happened in at least one of them, since there were two fights in the same province! This was an encounter that buildscharacter covered earlier, where we had an accidental collision and resolved our differences peacefully. But he glossed over it, let's take a closer look at his humiliating defeat!



Here we see a couple of Hinnomese chariots being stabbed to death by a swarm of revelers while their cowardly commanders are chased off the field. It is a beautiful sight, but we wish the people of Hinnom no ill and elect not to pursue. Let us feast on pony to celebrate the peace.

Elsewhere:



Heavy infantry is not very effective against elephants.



Sauro's archers are headed back north and I know he's embroiled with Lanka, so I am no longer worried about him. Lilli and Dexanth have both approached me within about an hour of one another, each about allying against the other. Now, this is both good and bad. It's good in that it means neither of them is planning to murder me immediately, but it's bad in that I don't actually want anything to do with fighting either of them. I don't feel like sitting things out is a real option, though, and ultimately I agree to assist Lilli's Mictlan against Dexanth's Arcoscephale. There are two major reasons for this; first is that while both are better nations than mine, Mictlan is comparatively stronger in the early game and weaker in the late game. So while fighting them ever will be painful, I'd rather fight them later than sooner. The other is that, while I like Dexanth outside the context of this game and I would buy him a beer, he is an absolutely awful neighbour and I don't want him alive anywhere near me. Lilli is by comparison a very good neighbour and I think we can work together until it's time to stab each other in the back.

So, that grey arrow in the south is a group of 40 revelers lead by a dryad; their job is to sneak to Arcoscephale's cap and hang out, making the locals uncomfortable and passively raising unrest.

Turn 13



Guess which useless assholes still aren't finding any magic sites for me? It is all of them. Except for Mary! Mary will save us all. Remember that province with the unusual amount of unrest I talked about earlier? I had her check the place out, and I was right; there was a blood site there. Let's see what kind!



So, this is better than I thought it was going to be. I mean, I wasted a bunch of my pretender's design points on producing devils, and this is another source of them! I wish it wasn't located in one of the highest population provinces in my empire, but such is life.



A Pan is dispatched to the Devil's Den to start recruiting. A group of three Pans are headed north to begin bloodhunting in my northwesternmost province, where I have decided to construct a fortress. I also intend to build one in the far southwest on my border with TC, but that will have to wait. Laurette begins her infiltration of Arcoscephalian territory.

Turn 14



In which not much happens and I hate my mages for not finding anything.



Construction is underway in the north, a second Dryad + Reveler group is dispatched towards Arcos, and one of my commanders takes a bunch of stray Maenads south to prepare for a diversionary attack on Arcos. This is intended to 1: lure him into a false sense of security because maenads, 2: mollify Lilli who will at some point want me to indulge in overt aggression, and 3: if I am extremely lucky kill the three pd he probably bought there and net me a province. Not counting on that last one, though, they'll probably all die.

Turn 15



Nothing happens. But...



The pieces are in place, and my northern fort is complete. Time to begin blood hunting there. Reveler infiltration of Arcoscephale continues. The sacrificial maenad assault is ordered. Next time, things start to happen. Stay tuned!