[Spoilers] Defining the phrase "€˜Hung Like a Horse"€™: Pb & the Kuriotates

[Jabah]

Eh, you still hasn't touched the dungeon 1W of lava !
If you are afraid of bad results, you now have the military to use the chicken way of doing it ...

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 154:

First off, we have some gold juggling to do, so don’t be surprised to see the treasury figure jumping around between now and next turn.
Iskender offered me 100g to pass to Selrahc, I added my 100g and offered 200g to the Illian Chief Advisor.
It hurts to fund a rival (really wish the Somnium competition had been based on the best of three, one game is subject too much to luck), but I’m glad I’m not sending that gold to the Calabim.
I had a sickening feeling after Bob beat me, that I might end up funding his Vampire research.

In the far East, Cull settled his latest city, Vanilla Ice moved due SW and sent Kes out.



Looks like Cull’s fifth city is NW of Khazad, judging from the Workers farming.

More importantly!
The crew of Concepcion girdled their loins and ventured onto the ghost ship.

There they found…



…a treasure map. Oooh!

Like the one that Bob misplaced, it’s located in the central jungle.
However unlike the one that Bob misplaced, I’m going to make sure to claim mine asap!



There are two CAs around Zaonce, Amycus and Agrius.
Agrius can reach the treasure chest this turn, but I also want to claim the xp for killing that Goblin W of the Fort before Sareln does.
That’s made more difficult by the fact that another Goblin has spawned in that same Fort (xp central!), plus there’s a chance of a bad outcome on the treasure chest (trap), in which case Agrius may need backup.

Mulled it over for a while, but the choice was made easier by the Worker, Bobbie Coltrane, having spent last turn roading the Bananas.
That means he completed it this turn, and the second CA can therefore reach the chest too if things don’t go well.
So Agrius cantered off to pop the chest.



Rod of Winds. Bleh.
It’s an equipable item that provides one unit with +1 affinity for Air mana.
That means for each source of Air mana I have, that unit receives +1 str.
…I have zero Air mana, have no intention of getting any, and the only person with Air mana is Iskender, from his Palace.

So not a great item, would have infinitely preferred the Timor mask or a free tech.

For those that are interested, the possible outcomes of casting the “Open Chest” spell are:

• 25% chance to spring a trap:
  • Poison (small damage and Poisoned)
    
  • Fire (moderate damage)
    
  • Spores (temporarily Immobile)
    
  
  
• 75% chance for one of the following:
  • Be empty
    
  • Provide a Free Tech
    
  • Provide Gold
    
  • Provide Healing Salve
    
  • Provide Rod of Winds
    
  • Provide Jade Torc
    
  • Provide Timor Mask
    
  
  

At least it wasn’t a trap.
That frees up Amycus to go get some tasty xp.



Promoting to Combat II after the fight means that not even Sareln’s Hunter will have odds on him, should the Elf feel tempted to declare war.

The most recent Stonewarden out of Caledor has finally reached Reorte, and settles down to a lifetime of preaching the values of coinage.



You can see the trade routes with Iskender are still struggling to recover after the fake war (~30% bonus out of a maximum 150%), so much so that my internal trade routes are worth more.

To help out at Zaonce, I moved one of the CAs in Reorte (Chromis) down.



Switching to 100% research blasted out Mathematics.
Courthouse and the NE completed in KK and Avelorn respectively, as well as the inevitable CA in Kwythellar.
Next up is Taxation, which is a 1.7k beaker tech and should take ~4-5t.
Oh, I offered the first improved Sugar to Iskender also.

Time for a bit of diplo soon.

[pocketbeetle]

Eh, you still hasn't touched the dungeon 1W of lava !
If you are afraid of bad results, you now have the military to use the chicken way of doing it ...

Silence infidel!

In the Kuriotates Empire, we don't do things "the chicken way" nor are we afraid.
We are centaurly and proud of it! And just... a bit overly cautious sometimes.
Make such a suggestion again and you shall be removed from your post as Chief Kurio Defensive Advisor and flogged!

...but you're right.

I've delayed too long opening both that and the shipwreck at Kwythellar.
I want to send the first couple of Raider CAs over to Zaonce/ xp central to start farming some Goblins.
The next bunch will head over to Lave.

It's just that my luck with lairs has been suspiciously good so far. I don't think I've had one negative outcome? (ah, the Lizardman, but that's it.)
As a believer in karma, that naturally makes me very cautious about opening lairs right next to my precious towns.
Shipwrecks on the other side of the continent however, are another matter entirely.



Edit: Cool little story in the FFH2 pedia for founding a Temple:

"It was dusk when the Stonewarden arrived.
Few had ever actually seen one in this small village, but I knew his cause full well. The dwarves all made way for him, a few offering cautious greetings, which he ignored. He stopped in a clearing at the other edge of town and surveyed his surroundings, then sat down and began to chant. Soon the earth began to shake, and a cloud of dust surrounded the Stonewarden. The small dwarf children clung tightly to their mothers as the loud scraping of earth and rock echoed through the village. In minutes it was over, and jagged edges of stone began to peak through as the dust settled. Centered where the Stonewarden had sat now stood a Temple of Kilmorph. When the next disciple of the earth mother arrived in this village, they would find a more than receptive group of followers."

recollections of Marost Dzorad, 43rd Treasurer of the Merchants' Guild of Kazak

[pocketbeetle]

Diplo:

First off a quick apology to Cull:

Hey Cull,

Just wanted to say sorry for my unit, Vanilla Ice, who moved into your territory this turn.
It's not my intention to interfere or snoop, I simply didn't realise you were going to settle where you did and got trapped (congrats on the new city btw).

I'll move him away South next turn, please accept my apologies.

Kind Regards,
Pb, Explorer Boy-King

Unsurprisingly, no response received.

Next up, a buddy buddy message to Iskender.

Hey Iskender,

Just wanted to say thanks for the gold this turn, I've passed it to Selrahc along with my 100.
Also, I completed a Sugar plantation this turn and offered it to you ingame.
Please don't mention to Selrahc that I gave you the first one.

How are things down in the South? And how are you feeling about the Somnium Tournament?
Personally, I'm feeling a little stupid for having just funded one of the leading player's research...

Kind Regards,
Pb, Fishy Boy-King.

No reply back from Iskender either, although he accepted the Sugar next go.
Sigh, these people are hard work! :rolleyes:

Let’s have a chat with our best friend, who sent me a nice note along with the previous turn.

Dye delivered. 15 turns to get the priest to me, although obviously if you get him ready sooner I'd be very appreciative.

I assume that new jungle settlement is what you were alluding to a few emails ago BTW? If so, I've got no problems with it at all. I don't have any ambitions to the jungle beyond what I've already claimed, so as long as we avoid culture brush wars I'm fine with it being there. When you said I might not be pleased with your plan I thought you were going to do a great artist culture bomb in the sugar city or something, which would have been pretty irritating.

I’m having second thoughts about c8.
I don’t want to piss him off, but I do want to plant that settlement sigh.

Hey Selrahc,

Trade accepted!
The next Stonewarden built will get a Mobility promotion and head straight for you.

As for the other topic, not exactly, but I've definitely got no plans for GArt bombing or anything too crazy.
Looks like Sareln is getting busy with his Hunters, saw a Svartalfar Bear and Elephant in Calabim territory this turn.

By the way, was Sareln okay with your Dye city positioning?
Would hate to see you lose it to a quick strike.

Kind Regards,
Pb, Tailor from Panama Boy-King

Selrahc imo has been too comfortable recently, and running a way too low power rating for the number of cities he has.
Time for him to start re-examining his build queues methinks.

Alright, I'll keep an eye out for that stonewarden, and I'd be fine with any plan for the jungle/sugar region short of a great artist, so that should be alright whatever it is.

Sareln wasn't concerned with my city placement. He wouldn't be allowed to attack me if he wasn't, due to our peace treaty, but I've talked with him about it anyway and he at least seems fine and since then we've started opening trade from the location.

Okay, c8 is still on then.

Let’s further explore this interesting relationship between the Illians and Svartalfar.

Hey Selrahc,

That's good to hear - things have been a bit busy recently and I've forgotten half the stuff going on.
I went back and eventually found it - Sareln's not allowed to attack you unless you declare on him or Bob.
Is that correct?

Out of curiosity, what happens to that peace treaty if Bob were to declare on you though?
Is Sareln forced to join in or does he just sit out? (obviously he's not going to fight the Calabim)

On the subject of Bob, I've got an explorer unit in the East.
Turns out the Calabim have expanded all the way up to Cull and stolen their Gems tile from under the Dwarfies nose, I'm sorry to say.
He also has Trade and can research Feudalism, so I guess Vampires are not far away.

How safe are you feeling at the moment?
Because I'm not!

Kind Regards,
Pb, Gossipmonger Boy-King.

Plug plug plug the nasty Vampires.

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 155:

Mathematics splashscreen on loading the save.



Mathematics isn’t a lot of use to me at this time, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that it’s a prereq for Taxation, I wouldn’t have got it.
The Bazaar of Mammon is a sweet sweet national wonder, but it’s not cheap at 402h.
I need to build the Pillar of Chains (and maybe the Guild of the Nine) in Caledor first.

Similarly I’m not interested in Gambling Houses right now - they’re useful but not cheap, costing 134h for only +3 gpt.
If you remember, Markets were 20h vs +3 gpt when I was FIN.
Gambling Houses also increase city maintenance by 10% (not good on this map) and the happiness bonus, while strong, is of lower utility to me at the moment because I’m running binary research.
My break even research point has been rising nicely thanks to increasing unit support/Stonewardens and that Courthouse; I’m almost at 75% science.
So in conclusion, onwards to Taxation.

In between turns, the Goblin in the Fort attacked out.
Amycus took way more damage than he should have, but lived and picked up some more xp.



Also in that screenshot, the first Hippus Horseman I’ve seen has appeared on the border (note the 4 movement and high withdrawal rate), while Sareln seems to have fortified his Hunter.

In the Far East, things are not so good.
Vanilla Ice has left the Dwarven lands, but in the time taken to claim his Healing Salve, Calabim control of the South has strengthened.
I’ll now need to either declare war or sign an OB to pass through, neither of which I want.



Also, mouseover tells me that the odds of Vanilla Ice vs a fortified Lizardman, even with the GC, are only 73%.
That’s too low to risk a GP on, so I’m probably going to fortify Vanilla Ice nearby and either hope to pick up 4xp for another Combat promotion, or give up and send the GC back to KK.

Back over to Zaonce, Agrius claims the Rod of Winds and along with Amycus, retreats back to the city to heal.



Avelorn is now running three priest specialists.
I was out by one turn, it’ll take 11t to pop a GPro (hopefully, ~10% contamination due to +1 GC from NE).



I’m constructing a Tailor in Avelorn not for the commerce, but simply because it’s an incredibly cheap happiness building.
(Tailor: 93h vs 3 happy and +30%c , Public Baths: 100h vs 3 happy -1 health, Carnival: 80h vs 1 happy)



Clicking end turn completed TGL in Caledor…and a CA ofc.
The East section of KK is all farmed now.


Other random stuff:

• Selrahc built a Library in Silent Night.
  Jingle Bells also appears to have whipped something expensive out.
  The buildings in that city don’t seem to have changed, so maybe it was a unit? Can’t see what.
  
  
• Bob seems to be running at break even research, his gold is holding steady at ~120g.
  
  
• The Calabim city of Prespur is now at size 16.
  That’s absurd, he should not be able to compete with my city sizes at this stage.
  Trade screen says the only happiness Bob is picking up from other players is the Gems from Iskender.
  That means the rest of his happiness is coming from self owned resources…yeah. And he’s not even running a religion yet.
  
  
• Iskender appears to be running 100% gold at this time.
  He’s earning 144 gpt, which is pretty good compared to my 230 gpt at 100%, bearing in mind I’m in God-King (+50% gold) and he’s not.
  
  
• Sareln has settled his third city, once again named Thariss.
  
  
• I’ll be aiming to explore the Lizardman ruins near Zaonce pretty soon.
  It’ll be easily cleared by CAs, could give me something nice, and the Forts seem to be doing a much better job of providing me easy xp (Goblins).
  

[Mardoc]

The Calabim city of Prespur is now at size 16.
That’s absurd, he should not be able to compete with my city sizes at this stage.
Trade screen says the only happiness Bob is picking up from other players is the Gems from Iskender.
That means the rest of his happiness is coming from self owned resources…yeah. And he’s not even running a religion yet.

What with Governor's Mansions and nearly to Vampires, he might be running his cities unhappy.

[pocketbeetle]

What with Governor's Mansions and nearly to Vampires, he might be running his cities unhappy.

I considered that.
Sadly I'm not sure it's the case.

Basic city happy (4), palace (+1=5), Public Baths (+3=8 ), Wines (9), Gold (10), Cotton (11), Training Yard (12), Ale (13), Ivory (14) and the Gems from Iskender/which he'll soon have himself, gives a minimum total of 15 happy.
Governor's Mansions add 1 unhappy, so he may just be over.

I think it's also a little too early for Bob to be growing cities unhappy in preparation for Feasting.
Assuming that he's researching Feudalism right now (probably), it's going to take in the region of 10-15t (wild guess, haven't figured it out yet) to gather the necessary 1.5k beakers, and then he still has to build some Vamps, which at the same cost as CAs (80h), will take a few more turns.

Either way, I'm just venting.
I reserve the right to do it occasionally!


Diplo:

Reply from Selrahc to my previous questions:

If Bob were to declare on me Sareln would sit out, we talked about that specifically while we were signing it and Bob knows that too. If me and Bob go to war Sareln is only allowed to join in if I am the aggressor.

I think I can handle Bob. Mages are coming in soon, so I'll have priests and mages working together on defence, supplemented by Ice Elemental summons and endless hordes of slaved bronze warriors. Should be sufficient(hopefully). Surprised to hear that you're worried about them though! I'd have thought Cull or Iskender would be much more likely targets for the Vampires than you or me.

Then I get some bad news:

I've just been informed that Sareln's capital has hit fourth ring and snagged the dye from my borders. I can still supply you with the other source, once my border expands, but with no monument built at my city yet it's going to be a little while before I get them connected(although I'll be slaving a monument out ASAP now). Obviously that means I can't continue with the deal we had for dye until that point. My apologies for that, I had no idea that the culture situation was so imminently relevant.

Anyway, slight unforeseen snag. I hope you're not too put out and I'll try to rectify it as soon as possible.

This clearly calls for some righteous indignation.

WHAT!?!
Forget slaving out MONUMENTS, slave out a freaking ARMY and BURN THAT POXY TOWN TO THE GROUND!

(Or... build some culture if you really really want. )

No worries dude, thanks for letting me know.
I look forward to the problem being solved, doubt it will take too long considering it's his fourth ring vs your primary.

I need to reply to your other email, will try and do it later today.

Hey Selrahc,

This email confused me.
Are you saying that you're going to be relying on Mages for defense, rather than Axe/Swordsmen?
Won't it take a while to research Sorcery?

Bob could have Feudalism within the next 10-15 turns, and his power rating is already pretty high.
With a size 16 capital (he's got so many happy resources he's competing with my limited cities ffs), it won't take the Calabim long to build the first bunch of 100 xp Vamps.
Either way, I'm glad you've thought through the whole Sareln/Bob minefield, but I'm not sure I agree with the last part.

Bob and Iskender have a long peace treaty (T200 or more iirc) while Cull is just not relevant at this time.
Bob has settled all the way up to the central river, 6 tiles away from Cull's capital. (If you need a marker, Bob has claimed the Gems resource just South of Khazad).
So he already has pretty much all of Cull's land, why waste his best window of opportunity on a low value target?
Which just leaves us two...

I'm sorry if I sound a little alarmist, but I am concerned.

Kind Regards,
Pb, Air raid siren Boy-King

The crucial question in the above reply is the second question.
Selrahc says he’s going to have Mages soon; if he’s self-researching it then he almost certainly is going to beat me to Arcane Lore.

I’m still plugging away at how nasty/scary/dangerous/fearsome Vampires are, but he doesn’t seem to be biting.

Mages are due to come online as soon as the tower of divination is finished, which will be within ten turns. And yeah, they'll be the bulk of my active defence forces. I'm going to get some axes and skirmishers too but.. S6 Ice Elementals with the bonuses from Ice terrain should be much more effective city defenders than axes, at least until someone gets assassins. I've got about 12 adepts built so far(I think 1 more came in on the end of turn), of which 5 should be ready for an immediate upgrade to mage. I'll be able to bring in some good support spells (Blinding light, slow, maelstrom) to back up the ice elementals as well. The slingshot into sorcery has been planned for a long time, and was a good part of the reason for the focus on early Tower of Divination.

I think 8 mages/priests within 10t should be a good enough force to defend the empire. If an invasion occurs from Bob, there is only one line of roads to travel along linking the jungle(or now ice forest) settlements closest to him to the Empire proper, which means his raider trait is a lot less useful. By locking him down with mobility affecting spells, and keeping the fighting on ice terrain I'm hoping that the battle would be pretty one sided, even against experienced vampires.

I hope that partially puts your mind at ease that you won't see a quick Illian collapse and a dangerous Calabim neighbour on your doorstep, eyeing up your bookshelves and lawn ornaments. If you've got any defence suggestions for me though, I'm more than happy to hear them.

That’s a lot of information for one reply.
Selrahc is saying that he intends to defend mainly with a force of Mages and their Tier 2 summons, Ice Elementals.
He thinks he’s going to lock them down with Slow (despite the fact that Vampires can cast Haste and easily take the Mobility I promotion) and Blinding Light (good spell, but has a +30% resist chance), doing collateral damage with the Air 2 spell, Maelstrom.

Not sure what I think of that plan.
Could be genius, could be goddamn awful.
He lacks Arcane or Summoner, but does have the Charismatic trait to provide some small synergy, meaning he only needs 8 xp rather than 10 xp for upgrading Adepts to Mages.

It’s worth noting that Selrahc is currently receiving Earth mana from Cull’s Palace.
The Earth 2 spell, Stoneskin, is a temporary buff adding +2 defensive str (0/2), +3 first strikes and +50% resistance to special damage types (fire/holy/death etc) to the casting Mage.
Seems like a pretty essential spell if you’re relying on Mages to do your fighting.

I’m also going to highlight one particular part of that email:

[b]The slingshot into sorcery[/b] has been planned for a long time, and was a good part of the reason for the focus on early Tower of Divination.

Wait a second, is he saying that he’s intending to use a 500+ hammer building to research a 2.1k beaker tech?
A tech that you can potentially get a 1.8x multiplier on?
A hammer to beaker conversion of 1:4 is pretty low for the Tower of Divination, particularly compared to Bob’s scaremongering scenario of Theology (8k b, 1:16).
It would however explain a few things, like why Selrahc has been backfilling techs rather than researching something big (he picked up Archery recently, I thought he might be going for Longbowmen defenders).

It’s something I’ll return to confirm, but more importantly at this time, Selrahc is still acting very unconcerned in the face of all my worst case scenarios.


At this point I’m rerating the chances of a Bob-Selrahc alliance of mutual convenience.
Something along the lines of Bob being allowed to use Illian roads, Bob getting my jungle settlements, Selrahc getting my main cities.

I don’t think it’s a high likelihood (yet), but I’m honestly struggling to understand Selrahc’s laid-back attitude in the face of a waxing Calabim blood moon.

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 156:

No ingame movie for The Great Library, but there’s a neat story for it:

The library's majesty would be a thing of legend.
Sebill's view from the fifth floor spanned from the northern slums out to Nubia's western wall and beyond that to where the countryside was trampled underfoot by mountains. Moving a crate of books, new acquisitions from the latest campaigns, she broke her gaze from the window. She was at odds with herself; technically, she'd achieved her goal and become a chief librarian at the world's greatest library. It was what she had promised her childhood friends she'd do, then they in turn would dream up something they thought was even more fantastic. Yet here she was. Slaving. Forced into her wishes' fulfillment by ravenous men under a new moon.

Her town was alight with burning houses as she woke to the screams. She shook her husband awake, scrambled for her weapon, and used it on the first blood-drenched man who burst into the bedroom. His comrades behind him overpowered her. All she could remember feeling at that moment was insult at the fact that they showed no desire to kill her. Instead, one man constrained her on the bed while they dragged her husband outside. She shrieked and swung her fists, until an attacker brought a torch into the room. In the light the men saw the bedroom and its bookshelf-lined walls. Their faces flushed with joy and they shouted congratulations to each other. That was when they knocked her unconscious.

...there's no noise what's going on? I'm deaf no I'm dead oh good there's noise the chains oh damn me the chains. How dare they keep me down here what did they do to her the next time one of them comes down here I'll wrap these chains around him... Where is everybody I'm alone I'm alone they'll never come for me I'll die here what have they done with her I'll starve here if my heart doesn't explode first I just want to tear them to pieces! Can't stop shaking the walls are too noisy I can't hear myself how can I... Huh? They're coming those are footsteps I'll kill them and I'll get out and find her oh I'll never see her again... One footsteps two feet could it be her they don't sound hard... oh my angel what if it's her she's come to kill me oh my angel it is her!

Sebill hadn't seen her husband since. And now there she was, the woman she'd always wanted to be. Only the library wasn't what she'd hoped for. It was supposed to be a paragon of learning, open to all, with a collection spanning history and all of Erebus. This was a perversion, a library of spoils, built on the sudden whim of that monstrous queen Alexis to actually know something about the people she and her brother were slaughtering. And she'd let Flauros build it! It was a wonder he had any slaves left over to clean up the blood of those who built it. Sebill was horrified to hear that Alexis had been the one to finally build Erebus's greatest library, now known as the Library of Alexis. Sebill never wanted anything to do with it, but now she was its chief archivist. It was more of a wound than a title. Still, she had books. She passed the time by imagining that the library had been built by someone else: perhaps in the Kuriotate lands it would be a bridge across race and politics; in Amurite lands its knowledge would be treated with proper respect.

Books, protected by sturdy leather covers, were durable and could last ages if properly cared for. But books in Erebus were only as permanent as societies allowed. Warring nations expunged conquered peoples' libraries with the rest of their culture. The Age of Ice preserved the previous ages' treasures well, as long as firewood was more plentiful than books. The real damage came with the destruction of literate societies who knew the value of old histories and treatises. Still, Sebill thought, maybe Alexis's collection will serve some good in the long run. Perhaps Sebill's dreams were not totally lost. Spending her days cataloging family histories, journals, folktales, scientific works, philosophies, and everything else brought in from homes and palace libraries gave her faith that one day this could be shared with the world.

She unloaded the books onto the table-They were her books. She stared at them, telling herself that this was inevitable, and yet she was holding the books that belonged to her and her former neighbors. She tried to detach herself, but opening the covers felt like tearing new flesh off wounds. "Is this the last I'll ever see of my life?" she despaired. One book confirmed that it would be: a ledger, a report of the raid on her town.

it's her it's her she came for me she sees me she'll kill me I have to kill her I'm scared I hate her I hate those men that's a sharp knife I'm going to die I should die I'm worthless I'm afraid hate hate them her skin cuts so fine

"Come on you. Drink up."

blood! she's bleeding I can taste it already these chains hurt I want her to notice me let me go I must taste her fingers the cut is so sharp I can feel the cut on my tongue I'm okay I'll be okay she loves me I'm home I'm hers her hand is so soft it could tear me to pieces I want her to she can have me all in little bits she'll protect me my angel my angel I'll climb under her shadow her dress I'll be engulfed in her darkness her peaceful darkness she'll hold me and I'll be okay I'll be hers I'll be nothing in her abyss she loves me she will always protect me...

Sneaking out was unnecessary. Sebill doubted it was because they trusted her; perhaps they were certain they could find her if she ran off. The masters ignored other slaves, but had to address her because of the role they gave her. Eye contact was rare, but they had an odd way of acknowledging her presence by letting her know they were smelling her. Tonight she was betting they wouldn't find her quickly enough.

The ledger had listed the spoils, the "acquisitions." House #6 Contents. Books: 156. Woman: Educated: For especial use, she read. Man: Drunk, superior physical condition: For conscription in Red Barracks. Weapons only other items of value. She knew of the so-called "Red Barracks." Other librarians spoke fearfully, sorrowfully, of their loved ones sent there.

She agonized during the following nights. After her life had been destroyed her only possible comfort was having all the world's books and time enough at last to read. Now that had become her hell. The only truth she wanted was outside the library. She had to find the Red Barracks.

And she did. She was ushered right in through the front doors the moment she was spotted sneaking underneath a window. She protested, feigned ignorance, fought, but was pulled before a woman wrapping her hand in a bandage. Sebill froze; her. Alexis looked at Sebill with a sneer.

"Mistress, we found her snooping. She looks like-"

"I don't care what she is. Come. Bring her." She turned and walked with her saturating, scarlet-bandaged hand at her side.

"Bring her in here."

Sebill was thrown to the floor in a small, windowless room. The light from the room outside shone past her, and onto a man chained to the wall. Sebill bounced to her feet, but was stunned when she saw him.

"Ain! Oh!" she shouted and ran to him. He stared at her without recognition and his lips trembled with senseless mutterings. Alexis entered the room and watched with contempt as Sebill tried to get Ain to look at her. Ain was transfixed by Alexis. Suddenly a look of eagerness showed on his face and he noticed Sebill for the first time.

"Ain! It's me, dear!" She shook Ain and rubbed his cheeks in growing hysteria. Her eyes widened in both fear and hope when Ain looked at her. In him she saw savagery mixed with his eagerness to please. Four eyes with four different emotions looked at each other across the chasm of their broken lives. Ain then looked to Alexis, who remained still and observant in the doorway. She was glad-tonight she had something interesting to give the new recruit. She was losing interest in tossing unsatisfactory guards to these things.

Sebill, nearly sobbing, tried futilely to find her husband in this man. Ain, however, flourished in the queen's attention. Sebill was too confused to react when Ain grabbed her throat and throttled her. He found little resistance from her body as Alexis's blood burned inside him. His wife's essence slipped away and Ain looked to his queen for affirmation.

No TGL for the nasty Calabim this time around!

Had a non-event on loading the save:



The turnlog provides the good news that Selrahc’s GA has ended, although he managed to sneak his second GP, a GSci, out just in time.
Wouldn’t surprise me if it heads over to Chestnut Roast (the city where he built his first Library) to construct an Academy.
I’m just glad that the Illians didn’t get lucky with a GEng at lows odds thanks to the +2 Bone Palace gppt.

Vanilla Ice is going to sit on that hill for a little while, see if I can get a Lizardman spawn (who then chases me and doesn’t move into Calabim territory).
I won’t keep the GC doing nothing for too long though: KK has nearly finished all the current infra builds I want and will start on military units soon, at which point I’ll want a Command Post there.

Moving over to Zaonce, Sareln’s capital has indeed expanded borders, and it’s rather annoying.



Not only has Nameless Tower taken the Dyes from Selrahc in the top right, but its culture has covered the Lizardman ruins, making it so that I’ll either have to Declare War or OB with Sareln to explore it.
More worryingly, Iskender’s Horsemen seem to be heading over there also, although at least he doesn’t have OB with Sareln either.

The CAs have retreated to Zaonce to heal, Bobbie Coltrane is chopping the Bananas jungle, the Eastern Fort has spawned another Goblin.
Sareln’s Hunter seems to be sticking in place.
No, I don’t like it.


On the Hippus border, KK is progressing nicely, Iskender continues to stack Archers.



At first, I thought those Archers West of the Fort were simply reinforcements for Urgortheth.
I realise now that he’s worried about a quick strike on his capital, which is why they’re sitting on the only road to it.
Additionally, that’s why he has his hero Archer and a Catapult or two in the capital.
Smart.

In between turns, I also had a genius idea! (They happen, I promise!)



I’m been trying to decide whether to build an AV or RoK shrine with the next GP.
But it suddenly occurred to me that the AV shrine can be built with a GSci or a GPro.
That means it doesn’t matter what the next GP out of Avelorn is, so long as it’s one of those two.
And if I were to run both priest and scientist specialists in Avelorn…I’ll get a shrine built in half the time!

So without further ado:

If a GSci pops, I’ll found the AV shrine in Avelorn and then use the expanded priest limit (3 -> 5) to pop a GPro next at ~95% odds.
If a GPro pops, I’ll found the RoK shrine in Caledor and continue running both types of specialists to found the AV shrine second.
Win win! And best of all, those scientists are boosted by TGL.

I my GP farm already.



The (hopefully short) loss of the Dyes has reduced my GNP a touch, but I’m still on course for completing Taxation in two more turns.
Losing two happy in Caledor has also put it close to its happy cap (27), so I’ve moved an OO Temple up in the build queue.
Would have preferred not to.

Lastly, Iskender is building up a serious cash reserve:

That makes me suspicious, it’s a lot of gold.
Either he wants to upgrade a lot of units soon, or he’s saving up to research something big.
Will keep an eye on him.

[The Reverend Doctor]

The whole flying a GC on a hawk is a neat trick.... very ingenious.

I'm surprised no terrible black metal bands have even a song named "stigmata on the unborn", I'm definitely rooting for that one being built first.

[Maksim]

Nice catch on the Stigmata available from Great Scientist! Following this logic, can Runes of Kilmorph shrine (Tablets of Bambur, wasn't it?) be built with a Great Merchant?

Why are you so keen on the Stigmata, by the way? Are you planning on raising the Armageddon Counter? Blight is painful when your cities are so large...