Beneath Yon Burning Star (FFXIV)

[X] Negotiate.

I don't really hold strong opinions on this vote, but I feel it's unlikely that striking the man will lead to pleasant consequences for our protagonist's fate or that it will speak remarkably interesting things about our protagonist's character.

Anger issues are not really amongst the most interesting character traits one could hope to read about, and trying to beat this guy in front of a bunch of other people doesn't speak to someone who can control their temper well.

Negotiation doesn't speak well of our protagonist's willingness to protect his own dignity in the face of an affront, but honestly I think I'd prefer to read about someone who'd sacrifice a measure of their dignity to get the job done than someone who lashes out when faced with (very real) prejudice.

[X] Negotiate.

[X] Negotiate. This is a matter of face, not facts. Offer Soaring Peak some manner of compensation for his losses - personally securing replacement Chocobos while he rests for the morrow, perhaps - and you can still get at least most of what you are owed.

[X] Strike Him

[X] Strike Him. He insults your kin, impugns your name and thinks to cheat you to salve his hurts. You will tolerate none of it, and though you dare not kill him, you will have every coin you are owed even if you must beat it from the squalling brat with your own two hands.

Will this cause problems later? Yes, absolutely. But they might be interesting ones!

Negotiating will earn us nothing, Ul'dah HATES Ala Mihgo for the refugees and nothing will change that besides murdering the Oligarchs so Nanamo can break their power.
It sucks but nothing we do will result in us getting paid, unless we have the contract in writing and can somehow get the the Brass Blades and Flames on our side.

Negotiating will certainly earn something. What it won't earn is the full paycheque the protagonist is owed with his pride and dignity intact.

The vote description itself earns that 'you can still get at least most of what you are owed'. The tradeoff is that the protagonist has to shrug off the comments slung about his nationality without biting or pushing back on the comments, and go on to do extra work to get less pay than he was supposed to in the first place.

He just has to swallow the indignity of knowing that he's having outright racism slung at him to his face, and maintain a veneer of civility despite that so that he can soothe the ruffled feathers of a prick who's choosing to unload on him because he makes a convenient target for the merchant's stress that has very little to do with the protagonist himself.

That's a pretty shite outcome, which puts it roughly in line with punching out a merchant in the middle of a merchant's outpost half a day's ride from Ul'dah itself, or just cutting the cord on multiple days worth of effort and walking away with nothing to show for the time you invested in the job. It's not nothing; it's trading dignity and pushback for the promise of still getting something for your efforts.

[X] Negotiate. This is a matter of face, not facts. Offer Soaring Peak some manner of compensation for his losses - personally securing replacement Chocobos while he rests for the morrow, perhaps - and you can still get at least most of what you are owed.

We're not going to be able to make a meaningful victory in anything but the ultra short term going "fuck you and your rules." Like, okay, we can punch a racist capitalist now, but Ubrent and the other mercenaries are still there and have every reason to side with their employer. We'll probably succeed at getting what we're owed, but the power imbalance isn't that huge right now and we'd be beating our employer described pretty directly as someone very insecure, desperate to maintain face in front of all of his employees. Ultimately, he's firing us because it lets him push the blame for the attack onto an easy scapegoat instead of taking any fault there personally. Yes he's virulently bigoted, but that's why he's picking our PC as an easy scapegoat, not necessarily why he wants one in the first place. Beating him up and taking our pay cuts at the thing he's trying to protect here. He can't let that go the way he might be able to were this to happen less publicly, which means he'll be pressured to escalate in return.

And that threatens to compromise our long-term goals of having enough money and work to be able to eat. The only major cost to negotiating (and saving his face as well as ours) is our pride. We're not protecting someone from dying, we're not saving ourselves from more serious harm, and this isn't the launching ground for revolutionary action. Enduring sucks, but it's the best way to make things go our way in the long run, particularly this early on where we don't have anything (known) in the way of relationships or contacts we can trust as fallbacks if this tanks our ability to find work in the city proper.

[X] Negotiate.

[X] Negotiate.

KleverKil'Vanya said:

Negotiating will earn us nothing, Ul'dah HATES Ala Mihgo for the refugees and nothing will change that besides murdering the Oligarchs so Nanamo can break their power.
It sucks but nothing we do will result in us getting paid, unless we have the contract in writing and can somehow get the the Brass Blades and Flames on our side.

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To be clear, since this is informed by the protagonist's significant experience of living and working within Ul'dah, Negotiate will get you paid. You probably won't get paid as much as you are owed, and getting even that much requires putting in more work on your own initiative, but you will get paid.

This is how Ul'dah works. You cannot easily prevent someone from scamming or exploiting you, because you come from a disadvantaged minority and have no guild or union at your back, and the law and society are structured to disadvantage you at every turn. The "Negotiate" vote means accepting that you will be exploited and leveraging your compliance to get something out of the deal, even if it is less than you ought to.

[X] Strike Him. He insults your kin, impugns your name and thinks to cheat you to salve his hurts. You will tolerate none of it, and though you dare not kill him, you will have every coin you are owed even if you must beat it from the squalling brat with your own two hands.

Maugan Ra said:

To be clear, since this is informed by the protagonist's significant experience of living and working within Ul'dah, Negotiate will get you paid. You probably won't get paid as much as you are owed, and getting even that much requires putting in more work on your own initiative, but you will get paid.

This is how Ul'dah works. You cannot easily prevent someone from scamming or exploiting you, because you come from a disadvantaged minority and have no guild or union at your back, and the law and society are structured to disadvantage you at every turn. The "Negotiate" vote means accepting that you will be exploited and leveraging your compliance to get something out of the deal, even if it is less than you ought to.

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Speaking of guilds, is there a reason for someone like us to not join the Adventurer Guild? We'd have a guild at our back, our skills fit the job, and we're risking our life anyway

Athas said:

Speaking of guilds, is there a reason for someone like us to not join the Adventurer Guild? We'd have a guild at our back, our skills fit the job, and we're risking our life anyway

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I imagine it's down to the difference between "adventuring" and "being a mercenary". One tends to involve more fantastical, dangerous jobs like dungeon delving or hunting giant monsters, while being a mercenary involves more grounded stuff, protecting caravans and the like.

We don't necessarily know our MC is actually interested in the life of an adventurer, even with the aid a guild would provide.

[X] Strike Him. He insults your kin, impugns your name and thinks to cheat you to salve his hurts. You will tolerate none of it, and though you dare not kill him, you will have every coin you are owed even if you must beat it from the squalling brat with your own two hands.

[X] Strike Him. He insults your kin, impugns your name and thinks to cheat you to salve his hurts. You will tolerate none of it, and though you dare not kill him, you will have every coin you are owed even if you must beat it from the squalling brat with your own two hands.

Thought about it for a bit moment. Time to wake up to violence.

Athas said:

Speaking of guilds, is there a reason for someone like us to not join the Adventurer Guild? We'd have a guild at our back, our skills fit the job, and we're risking our life anyway

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The Adventurer's Guild is a bit of a oddity, basically. Where the Weavers Guild formed to protect Ul'dahn weavers from being driven out of business by cheap imported fabrics, and the Miners Guild formed to protect those who worked in mines from exploitation by their employers, the Adventurer's Guild formed in the wake of the first Eorzean Alliance (and expanded after the Calamity) to make sure all these suddenly unemployed soldiers and sellswords didn't turn to banditry. They're a lot closer to an employment agency than a union, existing largely to put adventurers in contact with people who need their services or find a suitable adventurer to solve the problems facing a particular client, rather than guaranteeing contracts or weighing in on labour disputes.

(This incidentally is why the main leaders in the Guild are proprietors of major taverns and inns, with food and drink and places to sleep. It makes it easy to find them, and easy for them to pick up on rumours and gossip.)

Organisations like the Mirage Trust don't generally hire their muscle through the adventurers guild, they hire direct or through their own preferred agents. Amajina & Sons straight up maintain a private army, for example.

[X] Negotiate.

[x] Negotiate.

[x] Negotiate.

I was going to vote for striking him when there was nothing ensuring we would get paid even after trying to negotiate, but since the QM stated we will get at least something, I'm going for negotiating.

[x] Negotiate.

Alright, voting appears to have effectively finished, looks like the winning option is "Strike Him" by a fairly comfortable margin.

Time to beat up a child.

Beating up a scion of the Mirage Trust in the middle of Black Brush Station.

Well, we're in for an interesting life after this.

Fantastic! I'm so excited, enthused even. May we live in interesting times.