A Simple Transaction I

Smoke And Miren

Miren, the City in the Valley, City of Splendor, Capital of Nilfel and All Lands Surrounding, spread before them as an ocean of gleaming white stone, carven terraces its shoals and looming Temples its crested waves. Cautiously they waded into the shallows of that ocean, leaving Verschlengorge, cloaked in reams of attention-deflecting Shadow, parked just atop the shore.

The porcelain gleam of faultless stone lent the boulevards an air of the fantastical, though the tide of humanity within engaged in affairs no less pedestrian than that of the open-air market. Hunger was impressed by the variety and quality of the goods on display; here were delicacies and sumptuous spreads of seafood that outclassed even the Kaguya's in vivacity and savory appeal. They stopped at Letrizia's insistence before a street-vendor's stall to pick up a local specialty: raw cuts of lightly-marinated fish alongside strips of caramel-brushed dough, individually dip-fried in fragrant oils to a shimmering, bubbling sheen.

Gisena daintily picked a cube of fish off the plate, popping it into her mouth. "Goodness. Perhaps we should conquer this realm as well! Up for it, hun?"

Letrizia nodded enthusiastically as she bit into a dough-strip, tearing it viciously loose. "Mmhm!"

Hunger went back to the vendor for seconds. The man accepted his platinum-based coinage without batting an eye, and they discussed briefly the hawker's life and economic outlook. He'd been a solider in the Royal Guard before retiring from a grievous wound to the knee some six decades ago. Now he ran this stall as a matter of personal enthusiasm, wishing only to bring to the next generation the savory street-fares of his youth. He complained about the haughtiness of the present aristocracy, engorged on pride and war, and bemoaned the imprisonment of their beloved Princess Adorie.

As for Hunger's currency, the man waved off his concerns. Their financial unions offered fee-less conversion of precious metals into credit, and tourists were rare enough nowadays that he didn't mind the hassle.

Sensing slight trepidation behind his air of insouciance, Hunger declined to press the man on political matters of Tower and Princess, instead returning to their table to resume the feast. Despite its position as a vendor stall, the furniture outside was spotlessly clean, tastefully crafted from sturdy white oak, the joints seamlessly locked and all surfaces curiously devoid of imperfections.

"It's enchanted," Gisena said, crossing her legs languidly. "As is most everything in this place! The food is magic, the walls are magic, the ground is magic, even the very air is magic!"

She pouted. "What's a poor Nullity to do? My Bolts won't reach but fifty yards with all this mythos everywhere intervening."

"Um," Aeira smiled encouragingly. "I am sure you will figure something out, Miss Gisena. You are exceptionally capable and adaptable to every situation!"

"Aww," Gisena hugged Aeira tightly. "You're too sweet. With companions so wholesome as this, Hunger might have to lose his perpetual scowl!"

He'd had other companions, once, and sometimes as bright and ebullient. But they had all departed now, and only he remained. Sometimes he wondered at the peculiar timing of it, the lives of his companions spent like ablative armor, even in the absence of the Fates. Had the Tyrant failed to exterminate every remnant, or was that the elusive hand of the Hidden Ones in play?

"Hey, keep eating!" Letrizia stuffed a dough slice into his face. "You paid for it, after all."

He frowned. "This is all going on your bill in the future. I'm simply fronting the currency."

Letrizia blanched as he took a mouthful of dough. "And here I thought you were treating us to a meal... this stuff is kinda expensive, isn't it?"

He finished his food before responding. The texture was astonishing - crisp on the outside, a fluffy interior, yet still with a substantial chew - and complemented perfectly by the flavor of the oils.

Hunger cleared his throat. "Nothing's inexpensive here. Even with our platinum reserves we may start to run low if we spend profligately for a month or two."

"I hope Versch is okay," Letrizia worried her bottom lip. "Usually he at least has some technicians to keep him company. I'm not sure how I feel about leaving him all alone..."

"I could return to check up on him," Aeira volunteered. "It feels... not entirely professional to simply be sitting here and enjoying a meal at your expense while my services are being paid for."

Aobaru continued to eat steadily and without comment, except to remark that the food was really incredibly good. Shameless.

Finally they were all thoroughly satisfied and proceeded with the slow, tenuous work of gathering information without drawing undue attention to themselves. In this they were greatly assisted by Aeira's Element, though she seemed slightly miffed at being confined to the position of support magician alone. Hunger sympathized with her thirst for action but couldn't in good conscience deploy her as an operative against guardsmen trained to Mythic standards.

Further into Miren, it was clear that not all shared the street vendor's Royalist sentiments. The Lord Protector who had decapitated the royal family now held its sole remnant in protective custody, but was still well-respected among large fractions of the populace for his pragmatic cunning and his expansionistic foreign policy. Much land had been won, and new peerages awarded, under his newly-crafted doctrine, and the future promised limitless glory for the core residents of this burgeoning Empire.

Many felt that Nilfel had risen to its furthermost apex under his stewardship, with colonies and tributary states far-flung across the Realm of Myth. One street hawker they spoke to heaped praise on the Lord Protector for finally utilizing the extensively-funded military of the city-state, which for centuries had sat in diligent but wasteful vigilance upon the city's borders. Her son, she noted, had languished under the iron non-aggression of House Mirel, but the Lord Protector's conquests had turned him into a vanquishing captain, and commander of eight reaving-squads. She was but a young grandmother of eighty, with seven full centuries of life before her, but felt that the Protector's reign of a decade had accomplished more than the seven of Mirellian rule before them.

Little was known about the Opalescent Tower, save that it had been erected by the Royal House of Mirel about twenty centuries ago, and had been the subject of much magical experimentation under prior Kings. Most thought of it as a historical monument, a symbol of national pride but with no pragmatic purpose, and were uncertain why the Protector had chosen to house (or imprison) the Princess within.

They reached the foot of one enormous Temple, a trapezoidal slab of dusky stone rising mountainously above the bustling mundanity surrounding. Filthy smoke belched in endless torrents from serried rows of precisely-cut rectangular windows. The building facade was half in the midst of construction, old-fashioned murals and colorful glaze being steadily tiled over by steel-wrought iconography in sepulchral hue. Gray-robed magi manned the scaffolds, examining the newly-imparted cladding, summoning potent divinations with brusque, artless gestures.

"There's supposed to be a library in this place," Gisena mused, consulting a bamboo-bound guidebook she'd picked up at a corner shop. "It should have enough publicly-accessible information to orient ourselves politically on the fallout of destroying the Tower..."

Hunger accosted a man walking by. "What is going on here? This building seems out of place compared to the fine architecture surrounding."

"Ah," The man perked up. "Outsiders, are you? We don't get many who can afford to tour our city these days. Yes, this used to be a Hall of Arulothel, the Patron Spirit of House Mirel. But the Lord Protector's faith is of Claumngor the Grey Shadow, an altogether more productive deity. The Lord of Smoke and Toil rewards his followers well, unlike the useless Patrons of yesteryear! When finished, this site will produce arms and armaments fit to equip ten full legions a year. You're welcome to take a look! All who labor assiduously are welcome in the Halls of Smoke."

"I'll pass," Hunger said. "Sounds too judgmental for me."

The man wished them well and departed cheerfully, smugly shaking his head at their heathen obliviousness. Letrizia looked askance at the renovated Temple. "Is it just me, or does this Lord Protector guy seem kinda... stereotypically evil?"

"It is the Realm of Myth," Hunger observed. "Our storybook cliches may constitute their cycles of history."

"He's probably not all bad," Aobaru protested. "Yeah, it looks ugly, but there's nothing wrong with hard work! If the Hall wasn't doing anything useful, it would be a lot of real estate for the state to simply waste. They've got a nice society, but the overcrowding's pretty bad. Can you imagine living next to here knowing that all this land is being used for a glorified monument? My brothers-"

"Hmph," Letrizia huffed. "So it's true what they say. Where there's smoke, there's fire!"

"You can't condemn a guy just because he seems stereotypically evil," Aobaru frowned. "What about Lord Hunger himself? Is the Power of Ruin something that a classical hero would use?"

"Lord Hunger doesn't seem evil!" Letrizia shouted, arms akimbo. "You take that back!"

"Frankly, I don't care," Hunger said, "Though I'd prefer not to ally with the Lord Protector, either side is fine so long as we get to destroy the Tower. Given his grip on power seems stable, we might have better luck among the Royalists. There's simply more we have to offer them, and they're less likely to be concerned over the Tower's destruction if it means their figurehead's liberation."

---

The winner was [X] Scenic Route.

[ ] A Compact of Kings - It's only natural that one Royal would support the claims of another! Seek out the Royalist Faction and see if they would be willing to part with the Opalescent Tower in exchange for their Princess' liberation. Outnumbered, outgunned, the majority of the population deceived and turned against them - reduced now to a fringe minority - but if the cliches of fable are truly the levers of history here, that simply means their eventual triumph is all but guaranteed!

*Starts the Royalist route. You may change routes when presented with data of sufficient import.
*Should not the House that first shepherded Miren to glory, and reigned in peace for centuries without number, rule rightfully in the city they founded?
*You may need to overcome certain trials in order to be accepted within the counsel of the Royalists. They have been largely driven into the shadows by the Lord Protector's power, and open support is rare even if rebellious sentiment festers in certain provinces.
*+Letrizia Relationship, +Aeira Power

[ ] Work From Within - The Lord Protector commands the near-absolute loyalty of the fearsome Nilfelian military. His influence pervades society on every level, from the (new) priesthood and landed aristocracy to the common man and woman on the street. With such a formidable grip on the Miren populace, this shadowy figure will be difficult to directly challenge, much less dislodge. But he is known as a reasonable man, and there is almost certainly something Hunger could offer him in exchange for the Tower's non-existence.

*Starts the Protectorate route. You may change routes when presented with data of sufficient import.
*A Royal family that grew out of touch with the desires of its populace was overthrown by a calculating demagogue. Such things happen, and not necessarily to a state's detriment. Why not take advantage while you can? You have other concerns, responsibilities in lands far from here.
*An overall more straightforward and less difficult path. All you have to do is gain an audience and offer the Lord Protector something worth more than the Tower. Efficient!
*+Aobaru Relationship, ++Aobaru Power

Regardless of the route chosen, there are many ways to work yourself into a faction's good graces:

[ ] The Martial Way - Hunger will pose as some form of mercenary or traveling vagabond whose craft is violence. With the Royalists heavily outgunned and the Protector's forces engaged in territorial expansion, there is high and present opportunity in Miren society for a strong sword-arm. Challenges are likely to be martial and potentially dangerous.

*Will yield picks from combat if the stakes are sufficiently high. High Experience gain.
*Learn more about the martial composition of the Realms of Myth
*Plays to Hunger's strengths, but companions (excluding Gisena) may find it hard to keep up, though Aobaru's buffs are always helpful.
*Letrizia can pilot Versch, of course! Though whether you'd want to use him in the open is uncertain, given that Hunger is considerably more powerful in a direct fight.

[ ] The Political Way - As the King of a territory with mages in great supply, Hunger has sufficient standing to simply introduce himself as the envoy of the Elixir Kingdom. While this may not guarantee anything like diplomatic immunity, it's likely to shift any challenges towards the social/political arena.

*Take advantage of Hunger's immense CHA and Gisena's adroit skill at social maneuver, though your enemies may be no less capable and experienced than in the Martial Way.
*Less personally risky to Hunger's life and safety. +Gisena.
*Letrizia and Aeira are more able to assist. Letrizia has experience acting as a noble, though less than would be expected for a high-ranking Lady of her age given her mecha-piloting profession, and Aeira is of course an expert in all fields of skullduggery!

[ ] The Esoteric Way - As Gisena said, even the very air is magic here. A Progression-type Cursebearer can flourish in any system and under any challenge. Why not put aside the Blade for a moment and take up the pen? Surely there are magical arts here which could synchronize well with Hunger's existing arsenal, and the services of a powerful magus are if anything even more valuable than those of a physical combatant.

*Hunger will need to design his training regimen such that he isn't handicapped by the Ring.
*Many powerful schools of magic exist in the Realms of Myth, though some (often the mightiest) suffer diminished functionality beyond its Walls.
*Highly versatile magics potentially up for study. You have 1 Arete for such purposes...
*Somewhat unfocused - Hunger has plenty of arts to pursue already, including the Grace Development and the Sword Praxis.

You're pretty much still around 17 Arete, so keep that in mind when making spending plans going forwards.

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