Re: War for the Throne

[Mestovakia]

I renounce my claim anyway and go off to become a nun.

[Eahland]

And on the flip side, if my destined lifespan is long enough that it's possible to trim a third of it off and still have me come out the other side of this war victorious... then I was destined to win the war without the witch's intervention, because that's the only way I live that long, and so accepting her "help" is just cutting off a third of my life for no reason. Even taking it completely at face value, and ignoring the political costs of dealing with dark magic, there is no up side to this deal.

This assumes your lifespan is set in stone or something.

Yes. Having a set "destined" lifespan is the only way that being able to bargain away bits of it makes any sense.

I assume that if we decline the deal then our chances of victory are close to none and we are guaranteed death, we are the third-largest force in the field and I don't trust we all have much idea on how to command a medieval army since this isn't total war.

I'm actually pretty good at medieval tactics, though I'm not a great front-line commander because I have trouble with switching back and forth between the ape brain that's in charge of the talking and the lizard brain where the fighting happens fast enough to be able to give orders in combat. But as an overall commander, where if I'm actually personally killing people something has gone horribly wrong, with sub-commanders who are experienced enough that they don't need micro-managing (kindly granted to us by the scenario), I feel pretty confident in my skills. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

And in a multi-way fight, the actual strengths of the forces involved often matter surprisingly little. I'm pretty good at the, "How about you and him fight? I've got winner," dance.

It's hard to get into any depth given the sparseness of detail in the scenario, but my starter strategy would probably involve trying to team up with the weakest faction, who may not like me but have to be feeling even more vulnerable and in need of allies than I am, and doing what I can to point the two strongest factions at each other. Then we can mop up whoever's left from that, and be ready for the sudden and inevitable betrayal.

Also, try to get the witch on-side without taking that particular deal. I'm willing to grant her influence just to keep her from going to an enemy who may not have thought through the consequences of having me cursed, and if she's got any other assistance she can offer that's not a losing bargain, I will give due consideration to the cost and value of it.

But if we take the Witches deal it guarantees that we will have a lifespan to spare by warrant of winning.

That means that you're actually gaining lifespan from the bargain, which is not what the deal says. "Don't take the deal and lose and die in the next year, or take the deal and win and live another twenty years," is hardly a dilemma, and does not in any way amount to bargaining away a third of your life.