The King's Dragoons Ride Again: Let's Play Guns of Infinity!

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Dong Quixote: Oct 3, 2015; Fun Shoe

UrbicaMortis posted:

Kill them all

# ? Dec 17, 2016 15:47

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# ? May 5, 2024 08:34

sullat: Jan 9, 2012

Tierra and victory! Kill them all!

# ? Dec 17, 2016 19:34

vdate: Oct 25, 2010

War crimes ahoy? Rip and tear!

# ? Dec 17, 2016 19:36

Lord Cyrahzax: Oct 11, 2012

quote:

There is no hesitation now. Chivalry or no, the men standing in that corpse-strewn yard are still Church Hussars holding bared steel. When you give the order to fire, your men do not shirk their duty.

The first volley cuts down a third of their number, carbine balls punching through limbs and bodies through the gaps in their incomplete armour at less than fifty paces' range. Sharp shrieks pierce the air as horses are brought down alongside their masters. The remainder bolt towards the familiar opening of the stables, some bleeding freely from wounds in their flanks.

Yet those Hussars that remain do not run; they do not even step back. They simply close their ranks, a bodyguard determined to stay with their charge even when such an act flies in the face of all reasoned thought.

The second volley fells a dozen more. The few that remain still stand, even though almost all of them bleed from ragged red wounds, their arms hanging limp from bullet-shattered shoulders, their legs buckling under their weakening bodies.

They are broken, they are beaten, yet they continue to stand silently before you, defiant. Some of your men flinch when you order a third volley. Perhaps they realise that this has become less a battle than an execution.

Still, they stand. A dozen weather the third volley. You cannot see if any survive the fourth.

quote:

By the time Lefebvre and his grenadiers emerge victorious from the keep, the courtyard is freshly carpeted with the gallant dead, fallen in a tight ring, weapons still gripped defiantly in dead hands.

Forty dead Hussars, and in their midst, the slim, broken body of a single girl, her blonde hair clotted with blood and filth, her red lips parted in her final breath.

quote:

The next moment, grenadiers in burnt orange are securing the yard, relieving your exhausted dragoons near the gate, and herding the remnants of the Hussars towards their own much larger group of prisoners.

You find Lefebvre himself standing with Lady Katarina by Lady Aleksandra's body.

"I must congratulate you, sir," the young Royal Intelligence agent says as she looks down upon the fallen form of a girl not too much younger than herself. "Your men have taken no losses for it? Very good, very cleanly done. With any luck, we have ended the House of Khorobirit right here."

Lefebvre nods approvingly. "If that is so, then we may have ensured the destruction of one of Tierra's worst enemies today." The Grenadier officer bestows upon you the hard slash of a grin. "I must congratulate you, sir."

"The fact that you were responsible for Lady Aleksandra's death will, of course, remain a state secret," Lady Katarina adds. "Despite everything, one would not think that Grenadier Square or the more�inflexible of your colleagues would be much pleased by your actions today. We shall have your subordinates sworn to secrecy, and officially, her death shall be ruled an accident of war." She smiles then, her expression earnest and full of gratitude. "No official blame shall ever come to you for this, I swear it."

"Good. I only did what needed to be done."

"It was not an easy choice to make."

"That is better than I deserve for doing such a monstrous thing."

# ? Dec 18, 2016 08:34

Griefor: Jun 11, 2009

Good.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 08:53

sullat: Jan 9, 2012

Glad to see our 91 ruthlessness rubbed off on the lads. Good.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 09:10

WhiskeyWhiskers: Oct 14, 2013; "هذا ليس عادلاً."
"هذا ليس عادلاً على الإطلاق."
"كان هناك وقت الآن."
(السياق الخفي: للقراءة)

Good.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 09:18

where the red fern gropes: Aug 24, 2011

Griefor posted:

Good.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 11:18

CottonWolf: Jul 20, 2012; Good ideas generator

Griefor posted:

Good.

This series of choices is the one I mentioned earlier as making me feel a bit uncomfortable.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 12:18

JosephWongKS: Apr 4, 2009; by Nyc_Tattoo

Griefor posted:

Good.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 13:05

Crazycryodude: Aug 15, 2015; Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?

Griefor posted:

Good.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 13:51

AJ_Impy: Jun 17, 2007; SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?; Yam Slacker

Came here to warcrime, warcrimed, wiped out a bunch of Church Hussars as a bonus. Blogia my arse, Good riddance.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 14:11

Sjs00: Jun 29, 2013; Yeah Baby Yeah !

50 paces away and we still pumped four volleys into those guys? That just doesn't seem right. Were we aiming for kneecaps?

# ? Dec 18, 2016 15:51

sullat: Jan 9, 2012

Sjs00 posted:

50 paces away and we still pumped four volleys into those guys? That just doesn't seem right. Were we aiming for kneecaps?

Our lads have really bad aim.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 16:14

Dong Quixote: Oct 3, 2015; Fun Shoe

Griefor posted:

Good.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 16:41

Lord Cyrahzax: Oct 11, 2012

Sjs00 posted:

50 paces away and we still pumped four volleys into those guys? That just doesn't seem right. Were we aiming for kneecaps?

You remember the bullet-proof armor knights have? These guys have a slightly less good version of that.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 16:47

Sjs00: Jun 29, 2013; Yeah Baby Yeah !

I see. But my main gripe was how many times we reloaded whilst they 'charged' us. Were the Church Hussars slow or are we gods of the reload time? It was a great scene anyhow; even if it didn't make the most sense. They ditched their horses and lances why :confused:

# ? Dec 18, 2016 18:23

WhiskeyWhiskers: Oct 14, 2013; "هذا ليس عادلاً."
"هذا ليس عادلاً على الإطلاق."
"كان هناك وقت الآن."
(السياق الخفي: للقراءة)

Sjs00 posted:

I see. But my main gripe was how many times we reloaded whilst they 'charged' us. Were the Church Hussars slow or are we gods of the reload time? It was a great scene anyhow; even if it didn't make the most sense. They ditched their horses and lances why

They didn't charge us. Once we shot and killed the princess they formed a wall around the corpse and let us execute them.

e:I just read it over again and realised why you misunderstood it. 'Charge' in this case means, 'a person entrusted to someone's care.'

# ? Dec 18, 2016 18:32

Sylphosaurus: Sep 6, 2007

CottonWolf posted:

This series of choices is the one I mentioned earlier as making me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Well, I have to give the author points for actually letting you go through with some of the more horrible poo poo and have it fully be your decision, insted of taking the morally comfortable route and letting the death of the girl be the result of some other factor.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 19:50

Sjs00: Jun 29, 2013; Yeah Baby Yeah !

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

They didn't charge us. Once we shot and killed the princess they formed a wall around the corpse and let us execute them.

e:I just read it over again and realised why you misunderstood it. 'Charge' in this case means, 'a person entrusted to someone's care.'

Oh wow, rereading it is even more unsettling now. They understood they failed and saw only death as appropriate atonement for failure of duty. That's incredibly : (
I certainly wouldn't have executed them.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 21:14

The Merry Marauder: Apr 4, 2009; "But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."

La garde meurt et ne se rend pas.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 21:23

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

The Merry Marauder posted:

La garde meurt et ne se rend pas.

In the local parlance, G�wno.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 21:32

sullat: Jan 9, 2012

Sjs00 posted:

Oh wow, rereading it is even more unsettling now. They understood they failed and saw only death as appropriate atonement for failure of duty. That's incredibly : (
I certainly wouldn't have executed them.

Given the descriptions of Khorobirit, I doubt they would have much future once their failure became known.

# ? Dec 18, 2016 22:18

Deceitful Penguin: Feb 16, 2011

I'm furious. Warcrimes shouldn't just be done for their own sake; they should be done for fun and profit and we got nothing outta this whole ordeal.

BLEGH

# ? Dec 19, 2016 02:38

Rogue AI Goddess: May 10, 2012; I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.
That was a joke... unless..?

Deceitful Penguin posted:

I'm furious. Warcrimes shouldn't just be done for their own sake; they should be done for fun and profit and we got nothing outta this whole ordeal.

BLEGH

We got ~~laid~~paid in advance.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 07:37

JosephWongKS: Apr 4, 2009; by Nyc_Tattoo

Deceitful Penguin posted:

I'm furious. Warcrimes shouldn't just be done for their own sake; they should be done for fun and profit and we got nothing outta this whole ordeal.

BLEGH

We got the affection and approval of our spy waifu, which is worth a lot, given that she's the heiress to a high noble title and (literal) huge tracts of land.

quote:

"I must congratulate you, sir," the young Royal Intelligence agent says as she looks down upon the fallen form of a girl not too much younger than herself. "Your men have taken no losses for it? Very good, very cleanly done. With any luck, we have ended the House of Khorobirit right here."

Lefebvre nods approvingly. "If that is so, then we may have ensured the destruction of one of Tierra's worst enemies today." The Grenadier officer bestows upon you the hard slash of a grin. "I must congratulate you, sir."

"The fact that you were responsible for Lady Aleksandra's death will, of course, remain a state secret," Lady Katarina adds. "Despite everything, one would not think that Grenadier Square or the more�inflexible of your colleagues would be much pleased by your actions today. We shall have your subordinates sworn to secrecy, and officially, her death shall be ruled an accident of war." She smiles then, her expression earnest and full of gratitude. "No official blame shall ever come to you for this, I swear it."

# ? Dec 19, 2016 08:29

Lord Cyrahzax: Oct 11, 2012

JosephWongKS posted:

We got the affection and approval of our spy waifu, which is worth a lot, given that she's the heiress to a high noble title and (literal) huge tracts of land.

Not necessarily. If Katarina is a spy, then we're basically a Bond girl (and this is a comparison the author himself made).

quote:

"Well said, Major," Lady Katarina replies with a smile, "and what needed to be done, you have done well indeed."

Colonel Lefebvre nods, adding his agreement to the young noblewoman's remarks, but you cannot help but sense a tinge of unease amidst his hard features.

"If you have any second thoughts about the matter, you may state them," the grenadier finally adds. "I understand that your decision must have been a difficult one to carry through with."

You shake your head. "None, sir," you reply, which only seems to make Lefebvre's frown grow deeper.

Lady Katarina, on the other hand, smiles again. "I am glad you do not, sir; that which we have done today shall break the power of the House of Khorobirit for decades, if not forever. In an evening's work, we have not just removed a dagger pointed at Tierra's throat but broken it entirely."

She takes your hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. "You've made the right decision today," she whispers in your ear. Garret finds you on the battlements not half an hour later, as the last grasping rays of the evening sun sink below the western horizon. For a moment, he simply stands beside you, a lit cigarette in one hand.

"I was not sure that you could do it," he finally says.

You turn to him. "I beg your pardon, sir?"

"The girl, Khorobirit's daughter," he replies as coolly as you please. "When you received your orders, I did not think you could bring yourself to deal with her so readily."

Your eyes narrow in suspicion; you never told your lieutenants anything about Lady Katarina's orders. Garret must have some source of his own. He is more dangerous than he looks.

"Orders?" you ask, feigning ignorance. "To hold the courtyard? Those were the only orders I received today."

Garret simply smiles, then takes a drag from his cigarette with an infuriating patience. "That is beside the point, sir. What matters is that both Princess Anna and Lady Aleksandra are dead. You followed through, and those orders are fulfilled, twice over."

He meets your gaze, his eyes dark pits in the waning light. "I must admit, I had not been as confident of your measure as I might have been before today," he says as his smile grows wider but not warmer. "Now I know exactly what kind of man you are."

With that, he turns away, back into the darkened yard, leaving behind only the sweet smell of tobacco and the last rays of the dying sun.

quote:

[i]My Lord Atros d'al City,

I fear that I must once again bring to your attention the issue of your family's financial situation.

House City's obligations to the diverse lending houses to which it is indebted include the maintenance of interest payments on these debts at a rate of four percent per year. While your lord father was nothing if not punctual and regular in the meeting of such demands, his death has left your house without an official head capable of legally delivering payment these last three years. As a result, your family's accounts are now dangerously in arrears.

I have, of course, explained to the men involved that your duty to the King's Army must supersede any matters of finance. However, given recent events, I am almost certain that such explanations shall not delay them for much longer.

As of this writing, your family's creditors have made the demand for the prompt payment of the monies currently owed as interest on your family's current ordinary debt of 12000 crown: a sum amounting to 1440 crown, 2 towers, and 9 pence.

I must urge you upon the strongest terms to return to Tierra without delay and make arrangements for the payment of the amounts owed. I have been advised that failure to do so within the year may result in your house's bankruptcy and the repossession of your family's estates by the aggrieved banking establishments.

I remain as always, your obedient servant,
Master Efraim Saundersley, Solicitor-on-Retainer to the Noble House of City [i]

quote:

You feel yourself tense as you read the letter again, as the numbers written onto the page by your family's lawyer in far-off Aetoria swirl about in your thoughts like leaves in the gusting autumn wind.

You have always known your family to be deep in debt, but you had not known the whole extent of it until you received this letter, not a week before. Then you learned of the immense financial burden which your father, and his father before him, had laboured under: generations upon generations of accumulated debt, condensed into a single great sum. It is a debt which is almost as old as your family, a debt older than the Unified Kingdom itself.

Now, it is your responsibility to see to it, to prune and maintain the colossal obligation that is your legacy; a millstone around your neck, the legacy of your profligate forebears fit to drag you down until the very day you die.

Yet it is the smaller number that grasps your attention the hardest, the sum which you must pay at soonest opportunity, lest the generations-old ancestral properties of your family be subject to the depredations of long-denied financiers.

That amount, at least, is not beyond your means. The sum is far from meagre, but you are not without the funds to see the more pressing debt paid.

With food and board paid for by Grenadier Square during times of war, you have had ample opportunity to save up your pay over the past few years.

Alas, those times are past.

The war is over.

quote:

You were still at Januszkovil, waiting for what you thought was to be an inevitable Antari counter-attack, when the news from the south first trickled in: news of Khorobirit's advance on Kharangia, of a great battle�

�of the greatest victory in the Unified Kingdom's history.

There was little disputing that last claim; for the loss of fifteen hundred wounded and half that number killed, Havenport and the King had shattered Prince Khorobirit's army almost entirely.

Yet the reports claimed that victory had been as much due to the rashness of the Antari prince as it had been the courage of the King's Army; Khorobirit had foolishly flung his army into the jaws of Havenport's waiting defences and the guns of the Tierran warships anchored in Kharangia's harbour. Why he had done such a foolish thing, the men who bring you the news do not know.

But you do.

The thought that your actions had played such a vital part in seeing Khorobirit's army destroyed fills you with a grim satisfaction, yet to the messengers from the south, still flush with fresh hope and victory, you reveal nothing.

quote:

After the victory at what the Aetorian broadsheets are already calling The Second Battle of Kharangia, Antari resistance had effectively collapsed. Much of the war party of the League Congress had been killed or taken prisoner along the banks of the River Kharan. Prince Khorobirit, deprived of his army, most of his political allies, and much of his spirit, had quickly found himself beset not by Tierran bayonets but by his rivals within the League Congress itself; an object lesson in the dangers of overweening ambition.

With the League Congress fighting amongst themselves, the whole of the central plains of Antar was laid open before the King and the Duke of Havenport. One by one, the wheat-growing villages and market towns of the Antari heartland fell. The few settlements which tried to contest the issue were quickly broken, their walls battered down by Tierran cannon, their garrisons swept aside by Tierran bayonets, their populace subjected to the measures of Kharangia as an example to convince the next town of the price of resistance.

You remember the time as an endless procession of scouting missions, advanced patrols, and raids, each time driving further north into the belly of the League of Antar. You and your squadron were worked hard in those great and terrible days, but you were exposed to little risk, save for the occasional skirmish with a hastily mustered peasant levy or brief clash with a partisan band. At times, you did not even feel like you were at war.

Those were your last months with your familiar lieutenants. One by one, they bought their promotions to captain, leaving to take command of squadrons of their own, their places taken by new, unfamiliar faces as unsuited to command as their predecessors had been when you first met them in Noringia all those years ago.

Of the men whom you had shared the burdens of command with at Januszkovil, only Villanueva remained. Promoted to the rank of colour-sergeant following Wagar's retirement, he continued to serve as your senior non-commissioned officer, a rock of certainty among your squadron's staff, even as your lieutenants went on to greater things.

quote:

That winter found you back in Noringia for the long-awaited judgement of Lieutenant-colonel Keane.

In the cold, dying weeks of 611, you were called to take part in a tribunal, alongside the Duke of Cunaris and a staff officer from Grenadier Square, as you met to decide your one-time superior's fate. Though you had not seen the direct consequences of Keane's breakdown, your proximity to him in the weeks prior had apparently made you the one that the other members of the tribunal would turn to for immediate accounts.

Keane himself presented a pathetic sight, a shadow of the melancholy but stern officer who had served Tierra well at Blogia and the two years that followed. Pale and dead-eyed, he refused to defend himself against the accusations brought against him, accepting every charge of cowardice and weakness with an acquiescence that was more resignation than grace.

Perhaps he knew that the match was weighted against him, as you did. The delegate from high command had made it clear that the tribunal was to make examples before your very first session. Though Cunaris had remained undecided in those days, your third fellow, unrestrained by bonds of personal and regimental loyalty, had not spared any measure in accusing your fellow dragoon of the worst possible failings.

As winter came to a close, the three of you finally convened to determine a verdict.

I tried to convince the others to show as much mercy as possible.

Keane deserved sanction but not the destruction of his life; I argued for clemency.

I had no sympathy for cowards; I demanded that we make an example of him.

quote:

As of the Autumn of the 613th year of the Old Imperial Era

Atros d'al City
Age: 25
Rank: Major
Wealth: 1210
Income: 20

Soldiering: 77%
Charisma: 60%
Intellect: 35%
Reputation: 44%
Health: 65%
Idealism: 39% Cynicism: 61%
Ruthlessness: 93% Mercy: 7%

Second Squadron, Royal Dragoons
Senior NCO: Colour-sergeant Villanueva

Discipline: 33%
Morale: 19%
Loyalty: 22%
Strength: 75%

# ? Dec 19, 2016 11:33

JosephWongKS: Apr 4, 2009; by Nyc_Tattoo

I tried to convince the others to show as much mercy as possible.

Let's set a merciful precedent for the inevitable next time when Brave Major City needs to bravely run away and ends up before a jury of his peers again.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 11:42

Runa: Feb 13, 2011

JosephWongKS posted:

I tried to convince the others to show as much mercy as possible.

Let's set a merciful precedent for the inevitable next time when Brave Major City needs to bravely run away and ends up before a jury of his peers again.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 12:24

WhiskeyWhiskers: Oct 14, 2013; "هذا ليس عادلاً."
"هذا ليس عادلاً على الإطلاق."
"كان هناك وقت الآن."
(السياق الخفي: للقراءة)

JosephWongKS posted:

I tried to convince the others to show as much mercy as possible.

Let's set a merciful precedent for the inevitable next time when Brave Major City needs to bravely run away and ends up before a jury of his peers again.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 12:29

where the red fern gropes: Aug 24, 2011

you got caught? shame on you

# ? Dec 19, 2016 12:37

AJ_Impy: Jun 17, 2007; SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?; Yam Slacker

Mercy is for the weak. He's weak, so go easy.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 13:03

Dong Quixote: Oct 3, 2015; Fun Shoe

JosephWongKS posted:

I tried to convince the others to show as much mercy as possible.

Let's set a merciful precedent for the inevitable next time when Brave Major City needs to bravely run away and ends up before a jury of his peers again.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 15:25

sullat: Jan 9, 2012

Our conviction was set aside due to irregularities in the tribunal's proceedings. Let us not have that mistake happen again. No mercy.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 16:44

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

No sympathy for cowards.

# ? Dec 19, 2016 18:13

Xarn: Jun 26, 2015

No mercy

# ? Dec 19, 2016 21:33

Its Rinaldo: Aug 13, 2010; CODS BINCH

JosephWongKS posted:

I tried to convince the others to show as much mercy as possible.

Let's set a merciful precedent for the inevitable next time when Brave Major City needs to bravely run away and ends up before a jury of his peers again.

Coward bros stick together

# ? Dec 19, 2016 23:11

vdate: Oct 25, 2010

JosephWongKS posted:

I tried to convince the others to show as much mercy as possible.

Let's set a merciful precedent for the inevitable next time when Brave Major City needs to bravely run away and ends up before a jury of his peers again.

Prudence is the ever-present ally of any good war criminal. Otherwise, they might get caught.

# ? Dec 20, 2016 16:30

where the red fern gropes: Aug 24, 2011

this is "give a speech instead of looting" all over again

# ? Dec 20, 2016 16:59

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# ? May 5, 2024 08:34

Runa: Feb 13, 2011

I actually kind of like the idea of this guy sometimes being bad at being bad

# ? Dec 20, 2016 17:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The King's Dragoons Ride Again: Let's Play Guns of Infinity!

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