This quest isn't so great.

>>6781003
>I know. But still, it is fun for me to do it on my free nights, and as long as people keep shouting suggestions at me, I see no reason to stop.

"In the unlikely event that you find yourself in need of our assistance, do contact us. And may your future efforts be inevitably successful in all circumstances."

>>6780993
Give him our prayer-mail address in Yu Shan in the event that he should ever want to talk with us quickly.

Why do we have two of Water-Fire Treaty? Can we trade the second one out for another Charm of equivalent XP cost?

>>6781146
>oh. My bad. I forgot you had it once. Yes, swap it out for any charm that Chosen of journeys get. Doesn't matter what so long as you are qualified.

>>6781082
Prayer or that one Sorcery that works like a cell phone?

>>6781104
>Prayer mail? Awesome. Not gonna work, but awesome.

>>6781082
"Oh, don't worry about my successes and failures young Seer. We fail that we might learn to do something even better the next time. And don't worry about if we need to contact you. The Stewards are in more places than you think, and word can travel fast. We'll find you if anything is needed. Now go! You have a long road ahead of you!"

And so you set out from Asherta, having made some powerful new allies. The road to Ciaroscuro was relatively uneventful save for a time bandits attempted to rob you in your camp for the night. They weren't really much of a blip on the radar though. You make it back to the Vermillion Tower in the ruined part of Ciaroscuro before another lunar cycle has passed, and are rapidly ushered in by the hidden gate guard. You are brought up nearly a dozen flights of stairs until you are deposited in a large office. Nazri sits behind the desk of the crystal chamber, paperwork piled on either side of his body.

"Well now. Here you are. I was wondering how long it would take you to arrive back at the Tower."

>>6781146
Maybe Essence Thorns Practice (Thrown Charm) or Flight of Mercury (Martial Arts)? Or the first Lore charm?

>>6781255
> I'm against sorcery for this character personally. But its all up to you anon.

>>6781287
> I remember someone suggested Essence Thorns Practice on the last thread. Anyone opposed to that?

>>6781301
Well, that someone was me, on both this thread and the last one. So I'd be willing to wait for somebody else to confirm.

And yeah, against sorcery. It just takes too freaking long to be useful when you aren't always going to have backup at hand.

>>6781291
I think he was talking about ways Tammuz could get in touch with us.

>>6781338
>Actually, we could do with a thrown charm since we don't have any MA charms as of yet. We need something for combat. Plus, it's combo-OK. I'm switching it to Essence Thorns on my sheet.

>>6781338

I was under the impression that anyone who doesn't take Sorcery is doing it pretty severely wrong. I guess you can get away with it since this is a Quest game, but in tabletop failing to at least pick up Summon Elemental, Stormwind Rider and Infallible Messenger pretty much marks you out for fail tier.

Infallible Messenger is probably less necessary due to Yu-Shan, and Stormwind Rider is maybe too ostentatious for Sidereal liking (though the speed boost would be hugely useful, allowing you to get almost anywhere with merely a day's travel). Summon Elemental... yeah, you can get away with that solely because it's a Quest campaign with a favorable DM. Otherwise you're losing out on the best pocketknife charm in the game.

>>6781259
"As before, I arrive precisely when needed. What missions have you got for me, sir?" (you overbearing, elitist, prick!)

>>6781432
>What can I say? I'm easy. Although you are right, Summon Elemental is always useful.

>>6781259
"I hope we haven't inconvenienced you unduly. The situation proved to be slightly more complex than anticipated."

Give him a mission report. Be circumspect about our coffee klatch with the Lunars; he obviously knows we went, but he presumably has an appreciation for how to cultivate allies, and knows that if there were something vital then we'd tell him regardless of confidences.

>>6781432
Well, taking those at some point might be okay. From how you describe it, those sound like the sort of Sorceries that everybody has even if they otherwise don't bother with anything related to the Occult skill.

But for now, we need that combat charm. And it's Combo-OK!

>>6781447
>>6781471
"No need for the recap. I heard the story from your companions who left town ahead of you. I presume the meeting with the Lunars was just good feelings and thanks being expressed, correct? Good. In that case, onto business. As always, we have more incidents that require investigation than we do agents. I've got a few that you can pick from. Are you interested in some city work or in going right back out to the wilderness?"

>>6781535
"Hmm. Would you mind if we looked at the details a bit more?"

If his anwer is "Yes, no more info, choose now," then I go for city.

>>6781549
"Well the wilderness is something more related to your field, as one of Mercury's Chosen. There is a road being constructed from The Lap to Paragon, which is going to cut directly through a few mountains that block the path and increase travel times by several days. It seems that the petty bureaucrats the Realm put in charge of maintaining the speed of work and procuring labor have been under pressure from some criminal gangs and the Guild, seperately, to cut the labor they are currently using and hire the workers each group wants. This pressure involves violence and intimiation of the workers and destruction of the newly finished work of each day. Normally this isn't an issue involving us, but I've got an order right here from the Convention on Oversight that says the delay in the construction is going to screw up an important event somewhere down the lines. We've got orders to move in and force a settlement one way or another."

Want to know more about the city events?

>>6781432
look at this min-maxing faggot

>>6781610
Yes. Find out the city events before making a decision.

>>6781641
"We've got two from the cities. One is from Gem, another run in with those "Locust men" of theirs. The damned Alchemicals don't know when to leave well enough alone. We can't have Gem getting destroyed *again* so soon. There are certain threads of fate tied to the city that haven't been seen through to the end yet, that we will fight to preserve."

"Report number two is from An-Teng. We've received reports indicitive of the presence of Abyssal Exalted. Walking dead that seem unduly organized and what not. There is also a confirmed report of a singular Infernal as well. According to the minor forest god who made the report, he beat down a Solar Exalted and some Dragon-Blooded he had with him with minimal effort. Then, instead of delivering the finishing blow, he stood above them on a cliff face twirling his moustache and gloating about the absolute genius of the plan he used to lure them into this trap. The group escaped while he was gloating. We've put a high priority on this mission, since a large group of high ranking members of our order are "vactioning" down in the city on sabbatical, and we don't want anything to come to their attention as failures on the part of the Convention. The group is mostly Bronze Faction leaders working one of their endless plans down in the city. If you take this one, they've promised to offer one or more of their members as backup as needed."

So there you go. Selection?

Hmm. Is the geography such that we could do one on the way to one or both of the others?

>>6781763
In particular, can we do the road one on the way to one of the cities? The two city things seem likely to be more plot-relevant, but blowing off an assignment from the Convention on Oversight is probably a very bad idea.

>>6781763
>Not terribly likely. You can get to An-Teng via gates to Yu-Shan. Same with Paragon/The Lap. Gem involves going to a completely different gate, and then hoofing it through the desert. Again.

>>6781780
>Well, not like someone else won't get it done. The one that will be toughest for me to write will probably be An-Teng, since I have to much stuff going on there in my mind. Y'all will love it. It'll get back a bunch of the characters that haven't been seen in a while, and introduce two new ones. Only one is really plot relevant though. The other is just cool.

>>6781610
>>6781730

Well, on the one hand, the An-Teng Quest is going to involve us with two of the big antagonists of the setting, give us a chance to meet up with Red again, and probably also meet up with Iron, his sisters and perhaps even the waifu.

On the other hand, Convention on Oversight wants the road thing dealt with. They are good people to have happy with you. And very bad people to have angry with you.

...Let's do the road thing first, then An-Teng afterwards. Gem will probably keep, and if it doesn't then at least we won't get the blame for it getting blown into the Deep Wyld.

But we are eventually going to Gem, because OP promised an Alchemical version of the Major from GitS:SAC.

>>6781883
>>6781834
In that case, how about we do the road and then Gem? If the An-Teng thing is going to be that in-depth, then we may want to give you the downtime between threads to work it out so that you can write it faster when we get there.

>>6781883
>Alrighty then. Road it is, unless anyone objects. This was meant to really be kind of short. It is for the express purpose of awarding you an item that will be useful later on once you know SMA madness. We might even be able to get it done tonight.

Could you please get the fuck out from my board damn questwankers?

>>6781915
Let's do this. Onward!

You elect to head out and put a stop to the road issues first, since this seems like a much more straightforward bit of work than the others. You deserve a bit of a break after the last mission anyway. It only takes a few minuts to go from Gate 54 to 53 in Paragon. You then catch one quick night of rest in a real bed and then move out the next day on a newly purchased horse. It only takes a few days to pass from the coastal plains into the mountains, and then a few more to find the site of the construction. The camp is placed partway up the mountain, on an area that has been clearly levelled by the machinery they are using to make the treacherous slops more manageable. Nobody pays you any mind as you ride into camp.

There appears to be a large ale hall type building, the ramshackly huts and tents of the workers, and a slightly less ramshackle building devoted to what you assume to be the man un charge around here. Where do you go?

>>6781883
>actually, Gem is what I have least planned out. I actually need to rewatch some episodes of GitS to make sure I don't ruin the Major.

>>6782011
Gather information. Our goal is going to be to set the gangs and Guild against each other, thereby distracting them from the constant sabotage attempts on the road.

If we can get appropriate Resplendent Destinies crafted, that might speed things up a bit.

>>6782033
Well, then we do An-Teng before Gem and after this. The "Locust-men doing shit near Gem" thing is likely to continue for a while, after all.

>>6782078
Also, we should be using Dreaming the Wild Lands to speed work up a bit. See if the nascent god of this road would be willing to put in an appearance so as to provide an explanation for why things are getting done so quickly.

>>6782078
Alright. To avoid having to fuck with the rolls for astrolgy, I'll just say you did prayers on the way here. You gain one more Destiny, The Messenger, with a time of one season and Endurance of two. That will allow you to have some relative anonymity. Where to for info gathering?

>>6782149
>So help speed this up where possible by using Dreaming of the Wild Lands to help knock down rock faces and such, and try to get the competing factions to fight each other?

>>6782151
Ale-hall. Booze is one of our Intimacies, after all. And it's where any workers are likely to be coming to gripe about problems on the job.

>>6782172
Yeah, pretty much.

If it wasn't for the fact that it would presumably screw the actual workers, I'd say just do the whole damn thing ourselves if needs be. Given the description of Dreaming of the Wild Lands, we could technically use that charm to build most of the road in one go.

But screwing the decent workers out of their pay isn't the right thing to do. Besides, if they aren't getting paid, they can't go south and blow their earnings at Las Faegas.

>>6782211
Forgot to add "chat up the god of the road we're building" to this. Never hurts to have another potential contact in Heaven, after all.

>>6782192
Deciding that the best place to gather information likely hasn't changed drastically since you last looked, you make your way into the tavern. It is dim, smoky, and smells of cheap booze. Just like being home! You head over to the rough bar and plop down a few obals on the counter, receiving a large mug of some sort of ale in response. It isn't bad, but after getting delicious Heaven liquor for the last five years it isn't pleasant at all. You cast your eyes about, trying to find someone who looks like the most useful at the moment. There are surly looking workers all over, what you suspect are the members of the Guild sent here to apply pressure, and some unpleasant looking leg breakers of various sorts. The most out of place man is at the bar along with you, albeit at the wrong end. His clothing is far to nice to be a simple worker, and he appears to have enough empty mugs beside him to knock out most men. He must be the man the Realm put in charge.

Which group do you approach to pump for knowledge?

>>6782247
Surly workers, then the unlucky bastard who runs this place.

>>6782272
Runs the road project, not the bar. Although we should also talk to the barkeep, I think.

We'll use the Messenger Destiny when we go and start trolling the Guild and crooks.

>>6782272
You grab your ale and shuffle on up to a group of workers clustered at a nearby table. They eye you warily, but since you are wearing The Messenger as a cloak they just see another poor sod who is in a profession that is more trouble than its worth. It is for this reason they don't utterly clam up when you speak to them.

What do you ask?

>>6782294
So I hear you boys have been having a spot of trouble.

>>6782294
I'm...not quite sure. Probably just plying them with questions about the state of the road, with the overt reason being that as a courier of some sort, we want to know how long before the trip between Paragon and The Lap becomes nice and easy. Use our MERCHANT DIPLOMACY SKILLS to do this in a fashion that doesn't seem suspicious.

>>6782294
"Trouble? Its been nothing but trouble since we got up here. Beyond the usual accidents we get on a mountain job like this, the boss is just letting the Guild and the others that want to control this place walk all over us! You know I've spent the last three days repairing the same stretch of road each day? The next morning there is always something new screwing up our efforts! Rockslide, pits, felled trees. We sit out there doing nothing but wasting our time and risking our lives while making no progress while the man just sits there in fear! Don't talk to me about troubles."

Lovely. This is not the happiest of camps. More questions, or onto some new folks?

>>6782294
"Excuse me gentlemen but I would like to confirm a rumor that I've heard from what I assume to be your coworkers over there" gesture to a cluster of gang members. "Apparently, they claim that once the local bureaucrats finally hire them as workers, they'll offer you fine individuals the position of washerwomen, as a token of goodwill. Is there any truth to this?"

>>6782420
Let's move on to the Guild folks. Then the crooks. Then the drunken bureaucrat nominally in charge of this fiasco.

>>6782421
Actually, we want to quietly tell the crooks this after we talk with the Guild. And pin the Guild as the ones who said it.

>>6782421
Actually I meant to say this to the Guild members. Or vice-versa to the gang members. Either way, the point is to get some animosity between the two.

>>6782462
Well, whichever works. We just want to try to keep the workers from being dragged in once the Guild and the criminals start attacking each other.

>>6782442
"Well boys, enjoy your drinks" You leave the inebriated laborers and stride over to the Guild representatives. They seem more sober and watch you approach somewhat warily. Well, let's see their expressions when you address them in Guild Cant. That'll make them drop those masks of careful indifference.

What do you try to get from the Guild members? You can then deliver that washerwoman line to the thugs after this, I suppose.

>>6782462
>>6782452
>This is far simpler than what I had expected you folks to think up. I was almost afraid of some sort of Machiavellan intrigue that would take the entirity of this and the next thread to pull off. Rumor mongering and slander are much simpler.

>>6782483
"As I was passing by I heard there was a road being constructed in this area. I'm assuming you fine gentlemen are involved?"

>>6782529
Well, one bar room brawl won't solve all our problems so you might still get Machiavellian schemes.

>>6782532
"Well now. A fellow member! Aye, that we'd like. As it is, the camp manager isn't quite seeing eye to eye with us. We're offering labor at perfectly reasonable prices. He just doesn't seem to like the idea of our additional fee for finding the workers for him. But we're working on that."

>>6782483
Try to quietly and carefully bullshit them into thinking that we're somebody vaguely important. Then quietly make them aware of all of the new business opportunities that await them once the road is done, if only those criminal gangs aren't stinking up the place when that happens.

We'll give the same song and dance to the crooks later, but in a more discreet setting; that'll help make our "let's you and him fight" plan less immediately obvious.

>>6782529
I think it's more that the Guild and the criminals probably are close enough to open warfare against each other already that it won't take much of a push to get things going. We only need to be subtle enough that they don't realize that they're being played.

>>6782574
"So, brother, where are you hailing from?"

"Up north, near Whitewall. Actually our superiors sent me on down to check on your progress, and draft you into a new deal we've been working on once you folks finish up your task here. You see, there's going to be this casino down near Gem that we've agreed to a supply deal for. We offer them a cut to our prices, they buy from us exclusively for whatever their needs are. Just let them know that Telan sent you and they'll know that you're our reps down there. But if you aren't quite done here yet, I'll just have to go to this caravan heading out of The Lap. Damn. I might have missed them by now..."

>>6782641

>>6782641
So...now what?

>>6782676
>We're a sidereal. That face is on at all times. It is just usually covered up by a Destiny.

>>6782641
Feels good man

Once we've led them to where we need to go, we should probably talk with Bureaucrat McSloshed. Or at least arrange to have a quiet word with him later. And the criminal gangs that aren't the Guild after that.

On the inside, where nobody else can see, our Trollface is probably in full force at this point.

>>6782691
>sorry. I was making a sandwich. I'm hungry.

>>6782706

The Guild members faces contort in a most comical way as you see surprise and greed warring in almost equal measure. "An exclusive supply deal to an establishment in Gem?! Wonderful. I swear, we'll be on our way there in a few days time. Even if we have to give up the profits from the road, this could be even better!" You have to surpress a large grin at this. But bidding them good luck with their new venture, you decide it is high time that you talk to the man in charge here.

As you head on over to his barstool, you certainly don't develop a favorable impression of him. Short and somewhat round, he blinks blearily at you as you sit down next to him. He makes a move to grab the drink you order for yourself, but you snatch it up before his slow hand makes it. "Hey! Thas' my drin'. 's mine. You can't take it, ye' mean...ugh...brurgle..."

Vomit. Lovely. Just after you'd become used to your sifu not doing this on a regular occasion. At least he missed your shoes. What do you do to the poor drunk?

>>6782746
Pic related. It's our plan.

Moving on, do we have anything that can sober him up?

>>6782777
>Time? Fear? Knowledge that would rend his pitiful drunken mind asunder and shatter his already weakened grasp on reality?

>>6782746
Sober his ass up, by whatever means our own days of drinking have shown to be effective.

Also, new plan on our criminal friends: try to divert them off to Gem as well, preferably to our casino. Then warn our Fae buddies that we've sent some assholes their way (the criminals, not the Guild types) and that they can feel free to make a nasty example of them to discourage other mafiosi from trying to fuck up the casino. Preferably nasty in some way that isn't obviously Fae in nature, but that is both educational and permanent.

>>6782794
Let's go with option 3. Logic bomb him back into sobriety, with a statement that wouldn't be out of place in "The Phantom Tollbooth".

>>6782828
Well, you know you have at least one time tested method of getting a drunk somewhat functional again. Leaning in close to his ear you take a deep breath and bellow as loudly as you can "Oh my gods! If that the Kukla behind you?!"

The pitiful man nearly falls out of his seat in shock and terror. Luckily when he stands up, his robes now smeared with vomit along one side, he seems much more focused although still not sober. "What was the meanin' of tha'? Just sittin' here minding my own drink and then suddenly its Kuklas and vomit everywhere. What is the meaning of this?"

Response?

>>6782746
>You have to surpress a large grin at this.
>>6782676

And a vote for >>6782828. Surely our own days of epic-level drinking have given us some methods of sobering someone up in a hurry? After all, we're Sidereals. We must surely have some way of doing this?

>>6782872
>still not sober.
DO IT AGAIN!

>>6782872
"I have it on good authority that it's 42. Now, perhaps we can take a walk outside to let you clear your head a bit. After you've cleaned yourself up, we can talk in more detail."

>>6782872
"The Kukla you fool! The dragon of earth whose size is beyond the ken of man?! Its right there you fool!" You point dramatically over his shoulder, causing him to whirl and toss up his hands as if to ward off blows. He quickly realizs that there is no threat and then whirls about again.

"That was a mean trick to play on a poor drunk man. I've got enough troubles in my own life. I'd appreciate it if you didn't imagine up even more for me to deal with. Now what do you want?"

>>6782921
"Yes. A walk. That would be good. Clear the head. Maybe not vomit as much. Yes, a walk is what I need."

>>6783021
Accompany the fine gentleman back to his domicile, where we shall endeavor to discern who hated him enough to stick him with this shit sandwich of a job.

>>6783021
So...what do we do with him now?

>>6783160
You lead the wobbling man back to the somewhat fancy house you had seen going in. He needs you help to get up his steps but eventually makes it. You ask him what troubles him such that he's want to retreat into the bottle like that and you get some gibberish that basically covers all the bases you'd assumed. Wasn't trained for this, the Guild is being unreasonable, criminal elements destroying the work but couldn't be found amongst the travellers bringing goods to the camp. The only new bit you learn is that he's here because he managed to screw up majorly in doing something for the Dynasts back on the Blessed Isle. You leave him sitting in one of his chairs and head back to the ale-house. You think its about time that you talked to the last player on this field. Those tough looking thugs from earlier. You approach them with confidence, and they glare at you. There are about eight men in this group. If that were all there were, you could be done your mission and out of here by the morning just by killing them.

What do you say to the toughs?

>>6783220
Do this >>6782828

We can get rid of them and still make them useful to us, without having to actually kill them ourselves.

The other alternative is find out everything of use from them, like where they keep their money and tools, then disrupt their sabotage tonight by burying them with Dreaming of the Wild Lands.

Let's call that "the Hoffa option".

>>6783220
Discretely incite a fight >>6782421

>>6783294
"Gentlemen. I suppose you can guess why I'm here. I was sent by a group with far more money and resources than this simple camp to ensure that this road will be completed in time. You happen to be standing in the way of that. I can't allow that. I'm not going to try to kill you, don't bother with those weapons. I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse...a chance at more wealth doing siple guard work than you'd probably get doing a lifetime of thievery. Will you listen?"

Of course they listened. And were rather impressed. Of course the leader of this group was still unsure. "What's your angle? What are you gettin' out of this by offerin' us a job with this casino thing?"

"Simple. My paycheck. Now do you take the job, or am I going to have to withdraw my offer?"

Of course they take it. They'd be fools not to. And in order to "ensure that they get the spots" you will even write them a "Letter of reccommendation" to the proprietors! It'll be great!

>Congrats, you've defused a volatile situation! You get 21 experience points, and this is a wrap! Alright, you'll get your loot next time. The next thread will probably be on Monday. As always, feel free to post whatever ideas for experience point expenditures you want. I'm also accepting "Don't use them" for tonight, since it won't be long before you see your sifu again. Then you can start learning the SMAs.

>>6783422
Let's wait to get the SMAs.

>>6783438
My opinions as well. The pic probably appeases the inner troll in all of us. For tonight we were a mob boss. We knew what everyone wanted, gave it to them, and made Las Faegas even better off for it.

>>6783422
Well, let's save them. I assume we're going to be heading for An-Teng next, so...

Oh, one long-term thing to work on, maybe when we rack up some downtime XP: the Linguistics Charm Tree. We'll want to be able to do Lover's Oath with the waifu.

And more Craft(Fate) is presumably always a good thing.

>>6783499
Yeah. I've been meaning to put more points into that. We need moar astologies. Just a few destinies? Laaaame. We need a cover for each occasion! One of them needs to be a monk of the Immaculate Order! More cover! More trollan' of the Realm!

>>6783588
Yeah. If anyone but the grand high mucky-mucks who have a use for them remembered them, they'd be labeled as such. As it is, everyone assumes that is what they are anyway when they realize what they are.

>>6783520
Also, we want to eventually have a Destiny or two that we use as our Resplendancy Bitch.