CYOA Tales of Lona

[bestusernameEVER]

What the others said: Ask for more info, discuss strategies, set up a trap, check perimeter by yourself. I recommend checking before setting up the trap.

Also what's that in the shadow of the first picture?

[VintageBass]

Also what's that in the shadow of the first picture?

That'll be Nicky and Etim, hiding away

[coyoteredmoon]

→ Plan to catch a thief. Put on the thief hat, and think how the burglar does.

>Mana decides the best way to catch a thief is to think like one. Though she won’t admit to being a dishonest person, she’s done a bit of sneakery in her time.

>

sneaky.jpg (27.61 KiB) Viewed 2167 times

→ Look around the perimeter. Maybe Mana will see something someone would miss.

> Mana searches the grounds of the mansion and the perimeter wall.
She notices that the wall is well fortified and has many watch towers, but using her thief-ish mindset, Mana determines that it would only take a few moments unnoticed for another Nekomata to clear the wall. So one major weak point identified.
She looks around the grounds for several hours, noticing that many recent fortifications have been added to the house. The exterior doors seems to not match the rest of the house, being much thicker than the door inside and having very expensive looking locks. She might be able to get through them, but it would take her more time than the guard patrols would allow.
Exploring behind the house she notices something particular.
At the back of the house, there’s a fairly significant crack in the wall. Mana calls over one of the guards and asks about it.
“We didn’t think much of, no one could fit in there; it’s way too small.”
Mana thanks the man for his time and allows him to go. She stretches out and removes a few of her hanging articles of clothing, then attempts to squeeze through this hole in the wall.
A few moments of squeezing and wiggling later, Mana falls and lands on a hard stone floor. It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust, but she finds that she has wiggled her way into the wine cellar. That’s a definite breach in security!


→ Stakeout Time!

> After collecting her things, Mana runs back to town to get a hold of some rope to actually hold the thief when she catches it (Rope added, 5 gold removed).
She heads back to the Mansion and explains where she’s going to be to the guards. A few of them volunteer to post outside the cellar tonight and wait for her to call for assistance. With some help in position and a knowledge of a critical weakness in the mansions defenses, Mana finds herself a nice hidden corner within view of the crack and begins the long waiting game.
She spends many hours staring wide eyed at the corner of the room, waiting for the thief to come wiggling through like she had before. Long after the beginning of the stakeout, Mana notices the astounding weight of her own eyelids, not having rested from her journey taking a major effect on her alertness.
As she sits there fighting a losing battle against her own weariness, she hears a quiet set of footsteps come down the stairs and slip in with her in the hiding spot. The visitor hands Mana a mug.
“How’s the stakeout going?”
Mana stifles a yawn and answers. “ I’m not sure if the burglar is coming tonight. It’s getting awfully- “ she yawns fully. “...late.”
“ I think she’s going to show up tonight. Don’t you worry about that.~”
“She? How do you kn--!!” Mana is interrupted by a pair of arms folding around her, a tail twisting around hers, and a generous helping of boob being pressed against the back of her head.

>

hello kitten.jpg (28.18 KiB) Viewed 2167 times

>”Clever place to stakeout, kitten; but I’m a wee bit bigger than you; I’d have a harder time slipping through.” says the cooing voice from behind. “But I prefer to come in through the cistern that is attached to the dungeon… you know, the one with all of the slaves that are clearly outlawed by Stasengate’s laws.”
Mana hadn’t seen any kind of dungeon or sub-basement, but before she can ask the infiltrator anything, the woman volunteers that the entrance to said dungeon is behind the bookcase with all of the antique grimoires.
Mana is woken up by one of the Mansions guards shaking her awake. She rises slowly whinging from a painful lump on the back of her head. Light is softly spilling out through the crack in the wall and the sound of birds softly echos out. ('Slave trade' added)

→ What does Mana do?
> Go investigate the secret basement.
> Go tell the town authorities about the slave basement.
> Confront the mansions owner about this new information.
> Go talk to Ano.
> Go talk to Hiekya.
> Go buy something from the shops (specify).
> Other (Input Action).

[moonblack]

First Go investigate the secret basement, then Go tell the town authorities about it.

If she finds any slaves and reports it to the guards it will help earn their favor.

[VintageBass]

Commentary: That picture with Mana and the other neko... very cute for some odd reason :3

Input: Go investigate the secret basement, then Go tell the town authorities about it.

If this can get on the good side with the Captain, then it's a great bonus to take up!

[Omnimek]

Input> Investigate the secret basement. See if you can do this yourself.

Commentary: A new town, an unknown vagrant, a rich and evil man. If Mana goes for help, the slaves may be moved, Mana could be isolated by corrupt officials and captured, even the authorities she asks for help could be harmed if they are clean. There may be a reason that other neko hasn't called the authorities. If we want to get help talk to Heikya or Ano.

[Vhexo]

Commentary: That picture with Mana and the other neko... very cute for some odd reason :3

Input: Go investigate the secret basement, then Go tell the town authorities about it.

If this can get on the good side with the Captain, then it's a great bonus to take up!

Don't alert the guards in the house while going for the basement, and also make sure the captain can be trusted before we tell him something. Look for any clues that might look like the involvement of the captain and his guards.

[Nevyn]

action: Go talk to Hiekya and ask her about slaves and what she thinks about it and what she thinks about the guard captain, then it might be smart to ask around about odd things in town (disipearing people and such) carefully ofcourse and lastly try to sneak in and scout out the secret basement (if she can get in undetected)


comment: quick question, what do FER stand for? only asking becaues it changes meaning depending on the seting from what I have seen.

[VintageBass]

comment: quick question, what do FER stand for? only asking becaues it changes meaning depending on the seting from what I have seen.

FER is Fertility, if I remember correctly. So Mana is very fertile.

[m3rchant]

Input: First, ask to see a blue print of the mansion and to be shown how the guards patrol the place at all hours of the day, ("the thief may be getting in during the day and hiding out somewhere 'till night to begin stealing!") Check for, and make a mental note of, any telltale signs of places where a room or hallway could or should be, but there isn't one, (large gaps where there's no real reason for one, walls that are a bit thicker than others, etc.) Try to get into the supposed room behind the bookcase without being seen by any one on either side of the entrance. If the whole slave thing is true, grab a few concealable things that could be used, either as proof or for sexy time. Check for any other hidden rooms connecting to this one, like for example, a hallway leading to a secret way both in and out of the mansion. I have more, but I don't want to crowd this post, so I'll save it for another one.

[ThatOldFart]

Comment: Ohgawd. Dat sneaky Mana. Dat slightly concerned Mana. Sofuckin'cute. *cough* Now that I've got THAT outta the way...

Input Action: The Other Neko clearly didn't mean us ALL That much harm, else she'dve sold us to the slavers that apparently use the tunnel. We Do Not want to alert the homeowner to the possibility of this tunnel until we know his stake in it(probably awful) and poking around SHOULD be safe. We'll have more options once we know what the hell's goin' on and keep in mind, Nekos don't -necessarily- think slavery's all that bad. It may make more sense to extort the homeowner and other involved parties or to try to get in on the action as a business partner - more money and power, lower risk of getting enslaved herself.

Additionally, while poking around the rest of the mansion isn't a bad idea, we don't want to raise suspicion until we know more and while Backup would be awesome, Heikya et. al. may be opposed to the slave trade and maaaaaaaay not have our back if we decide to get in on the illegal goodies. Hence sneakily poking around in the daylight - after some milk and tuna, when we're sure that we're not being watched by the guards - should be a priority. And who knows - maybe we can get a discount on our OWN slave army when we set out on our own! Y'know, WITHOUT becoming part of someone else's slave army. >.>

[Nevyn]

comment: quick question, what do FER stand for? only asking becaues it changes meaning depending on the seting from what I have seen.

FER is Fertility, if I remember correctly. So Mana is very fertile.

cheers

and with that I would like to add to my last input: go do small jobs during one half of the day and then the jobs from the notice board the other half of the day (I have a feeling that we might need the gold soon)

[bestusernameEVER]

Commentary: That picture with Mana and the other neko... very cute for some odd reason :3

Input: Go investigate the secret basement, then Go tell the town authorities about it.

If this can get on the good side with the Captain, then it's a great bonus to take up!

+1

She should try to find some proof while she is at it!

[coyoteredmoon]

→Ask to see a blue print of the mansion and to be shown how the guards patrol the place at all hours of the day.

> After recuperating from her brief stint with the business end of a blackjack she asks to see a record of the mansions grounds and maybe a blueprint of the mansions itself. The guards seem a bit apprehensive of this idea at first, even with the cause of using it to potentially plot out the movements of their burglar. A little bit of cooing and eye batting later, though, and the guard gives up his resolve and helps mana find the records in question.
Looking over the schematics is not as successful as hoped though, as there seems to be no other means of entrance for Mana’s assailant. More oddly, there doesn't seems to be a means of the alternative either. No alternate entrance, no entrance to a sub-basement. Hmm...

→ Go investigate the secret basement.

> Mana decides that she’s going to have to go on a little faith for this. She heads to the library, the helpful guard from before keeping her company in her endeavor with the pretense that Mana is looking for potential weaknesses in security. As she searches through the books, she learns two things in particular: this guard is named Sibin and he recently came to work for the mansion owner on recommendation from the guard captain of Stansengate, and that if there’s a case with ‘antique grimoires’ then it probably only exists in the mind of the imagination of the thief.
In her frustration, Mana fumes aloud by mistake.
“Depending on how old, the simply may just be hiding.” Sibin says calmly. “Don’t look outright for them. Peer about and use the corner of your eye while staring forward.”
Mana huffs, and starts looking for the bookcase again.

>

sebinsadvice.jpg (30.23 KiB) Viewed 1913 times

>Mana stops when she spots a case she hadn’t seen before. “OH!” She runs over and looks over the case more thoroughly, quickly finding a lever. She remembers however that Sibin is on the manor’s payroll and quickly turns around and tries to act inconspicuous.
Her acting is unwarranted though. Sibin is nowhere to be seen. ( +1 Spellcraft )
Mana pulls the lever and opens a narrow passage down. She slowly moves down the case, pulling the reciprocating lever to the one that opened the case. As she moves downward, she begins to hear yelling like someone being tortured; the further she goes down, the more convinced that it was yowling not yelling. When she hits a thick wave of pheromone, she decides that the only torture the poor woman below is feeling is deprivation. When she gets to the bottom of the stairs, she finds several cells: each with different types of occupants.
The one housing several Nekomatas has a woman at the cell bars; when she sees Mana she responds “Damn it! I was hoping you were the Equaros… unless you’re hiding a dick… then Hi~”
“ Doubt she is, hun.” says one of the others. “ You looking for Sis? She said you may show up.” This lady lounges across one of the mats set up in the cell. “Think this is enough to blackmail the old codger?” She chuckles out.

>

cells.jpg (46 KiB) Viewed 1913 times

The other three cells contain some knoll men, lapinette ladies, and a mixed batch of humans; none of which are talking.
The calm Neko from before speaks up again: “See why the old man hasn’t got the townie guards to come investigate his burglar? too much at stake for him!” She giggles. “Makes it real easy for Sis to play around.”
“Should I… report this then?” Mana asks apprehensively.
“Up to you, hun~ I’m certain everyone wouldn’t mind getting out and stretching their legs. Either way, I’ll make sure Sis knows you came around looking for her.”

→Return

> Mana moves back up the stairs, and out of the sub-basement. On her way out, she grabs one of the Restraint collars off the wall (Slave Collar added). She finds her way back to an empty library. None of the guards the wiser that she had been snooping.

→ What does Mana do?
> Return to town and report the Mansion owner
> Blackmail the Mansion owner directly. (High Risk)
> Say nothing about the slaves and abandon the job.
> Go talk to Ano.
> Go talk to Hiekya.
> Go buy something from the shops (specify).
> Other (Input Action).

[xeragoth]

blackmail the mansion owner directly. no risk no reward so lets risk it

[Earthsage]

Do not blackmail the mansion owner whatsoever. That is a very risky move.
Instead, meet with the thief again, n the pretense of another capture... Try to do it in a place where she'd find you alone, so you can talk. Maybe get on her good side, so you can get a little bit of help in looting the place... And freeing the prisoners.
And maybe get the Nekomata out of your way as a Race to pleasure, hmmm?

[VintageBass]

Commentary: And the plot thickens...

Input: Do NOT blackmail the mansion owner, whatsoever. Try meeting with the thief again, in the pretense of another capture. Discuss with her in a lonely place, hopefully to get on her good side to get anything out of the manor, freeing the prisoners...

And maybe get Nekos ticked off the list for a good job well done?

[m3rchant]

Commentary: Well here's a twist I didn't see coming! Normally when you think illegal slave trade, you think people in cages that do NOT want to be there, but these ladies seem cool with whatever!

Input: (sorry if it's a little long, my mind tends to work faster then I can type and this is the result.)

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

First, find out how much of a reward there is for turning in anyone in possession of slaves with intent to sell. Next, ask Ano if he could have the guard captain meet us at his place and have both the wizard and Heikya there as you explain what's been going on, letting him know we have a plan to catch the guy red handed and the reason we had him meet us here with witnesses is that; being new here, seeing this slave pit on our second day, knowing it's being guarded by his own men... You can see why we aren't really sure who we can trust.

Once that's done, try meeting up with the thief once more and see if we cant work out the following deal: Both Mana and the thief work together to lure all of the guards outside and the mansion's master to the dungeon entrance. Once there, we knock the man out, steal his keys, tie him up, lock the guards outside, drag the guy down to his own dungeon, free all the slaves, and leave the same way our thief always does!

This is where the guard captain comes in, as once Mana and the slaves have made there way out, the captain can make his way in and arrest not just the guy in the cell, but any guards who make their way down stairs to check on the ladies! (Obviously, if they know about the way down, they probably knew about the goods that were down here.)

Now's the part that would make this all sound good for the Neko robber! Once the captain is gone and busy putting all those guards and one slaver into their own dungeon cells, the mansion would be practically empty for at least 12-24 hours, giving her the perfect chance to pick the entire place clean! Of course, we'd expect a small percentage of whatever she got, but we're not picky about what we get, as long as we make more than turning her in would've gotten us.

[Vhexo]

Input: Try meeting with the thief again, and ask her about any other information. Then talk with Ano & Heikya about this, see what they think.

[bestusernameEVER]

Present the crack in the wall she found earlier as the way the burglar got in and collect the reward. If the mansion owner does not believer her, she should wiggle through again to demonstrate. After all he doesn't know the other Nekomata is too big, right?
Then go to the guard captain and inform him about the slaves.

Do NOT blackmail anybody.