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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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FaintlySorcerous said:
If it's a standard shakedown then we should be able to avoid suspicion pretty easily; they're going to look at a bunch of stupid civilians and move on with their lives after taking a bribe. We prepared our cover stories before leaving Leaf, and I'm trusting us not to have been idiots.
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Actually I'm completely wrong since missed these two quotes lol
Velorien said:
Essentially, I know you have very little voting time, so I would leave voting closed, but I thought I would give you the option of making any generic preparations (e.g. grabbing weapons as you leave the cabin, at risk to your disguise). You're safely away from the Water Country, which places you in the north Kaiju Ocean, near Honey.
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Velorien said:
Near the coast.
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Any way since it isn't a shakedown by Mist nin we should def just take control of the ship immediately with extreme violence if any one is fucking with us. No need to play nice since we have overwhelming amounts of force
 
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If we do have to expose ourselves as ninja we should pay this guy to turn the boat around after we fight so he isn't an information leak later
 
FaintlySorcerous said:
[X] Action Plan: Ready for Anything
Word count: <300
  • Random encounter
    • Demand to know why (buy time to plan).
      • Grab concealable weapons (and Satsuko).
    • If we're wanted for combat, have bodyguards handle it: be competent but not superhuman. Others keep in character: complain, demand payment.
    • If someone's asking after us (e.g., inspection) tread carefully. Goal is to avoid suspicion.
      • Provide opportunities for Leaf agents to give codewords.
      • Let Hazo and Kei take point.
        • Dismiss others as dumb muscle/touched in the head (talking to an axe etc.) if anyone goes to interrogate them.
        • Play your parts. Pay bribes, submit to inspection, don't break character.
        • Hazo and Kei play off each other (snooty academics vs. their beleaguered assistant) to control narrative/conversational flow.
    • If things are going sideways, try to get off the boat before exploding into violence.
      • Fake your deaths if there's an opportunity - easiest for Snowflake.
  • Arrival in Neck
    • Avoid suspicion - spend time in town, leave at staggered intervals, head to Island.
      • Make it clear that you're surveying somewhere dangerous - encourage folks to believe you died and they shouldn't pursue you if you don't come back.
    • If authorized, Skywalk to the Island with the Lake (according to our maps).
      • Use altitude to scout the lake - skytowers if not skywalkers.
    • If unauthorized use Mareo's corrections and any comments from Jiraiya's notes to approximate the location.
      • Deploy scout summons to survey nearby area.
    • When the Lake is located, deploy stealth summons to look for other ninja.
      • If given all-clear, establish well-hidden base camp a safe distance from the lake, as it's an exposed position.
    • When camp's established, Summon tracker(s?) to begin the search.
    • Continue preparations for Kei's birthday. Gift idea: all Goketsu businesses implement sane bookkeeping procedures and evangelize throughout Leaf.
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Could it be wise to send SC decoys/Snowflake to see if it's an enemy ambush?Maybe with MARS suicide/attack charges? Or it's too paranoid for the situation?
 
Lord Marshal said:
Could it be wise to send SC decoys/Snowflake to see if it's an enemy ambush?Maybe with MARS suicide/attack charges? Or it's too paranoid for the situation?
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If it's an ambush and they're ready for us they'll have anti-SC contingencies so I doubt it'll make a difference.

If it's an ambush and they're not ready for us, I hope they performed whatever last rites their system of belief recommends because we are certified asskickers.

I think that the risk of having someone see an extra Huzu in addition to the chakra burn required isn't quite worth it. I'm inclined to leave this one more or less in the hands of the characters - I've mentioned it but it's their call. We have too little information, really.
Oneiros said:
Any way since it isn't a shakedown by Mist nin we should def just take control of the ship immediately with extreme violence if any one is fucking with us. No need to play nice since we have overwhelming amounts of force
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This is a super needless risk if we can get out of it without compromising our identities. The characters will all balk at executing the crew (and our fellow travelers) to protect our identity so unless we pull off some real Benny Hill hijinks we'll reveal our power level. Not only do we need to gamble that we can actually bribe the crew and passengers well enough to keep their collective mouths shut for long enough for us to complete the mission and duck any diplomatic consequences, whoever we kill isn't going to make it back for their mission report, raising general suspicion.

If they've been sent after us specifically, gloves off, sure, but 'taking control of the boat' is some feudal lord shit when they'd likely be happy to do as we politely ask and sail away, well-compensated and in once piece, after a ninja fight.
 
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I would argue we should out an Earth Clone, who will blurt out (while pretending to be a ninja pretending to be a traveler) what's going on outside. We can just follow from a distance.
 
FaintlySorcerous said:
This is a super needless risk if we can get out of it without compromising our identities. The characters will all balk at executing the crew (and our fellow travelers) to protect our identity so unless we pull off some real Benny Hill hijinks we'll reveal our power level.
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Shrugs, I don't see any advantage in our fake identities. So completely disagree with your risk assessment. Regardless no matter how we decide to play it this won't be a meaningful challenge so it will be fine
 
People, just don't overeact, here mist have no sensory ninja right now just stick to the roles, after eagle's chapter we panik.
 
Shame Noburi's not here. He could just drain the crew unconscious and we could play cards while we wait for them to wake up and pretend we woke up with them.
 
faflec said:
I would argue we should out an Earth Clone, who will blurt out (while pretending to be a ninja pretending to be a traveler) what's going on outside. We can just follow from a distance.
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Won't the crew notice either the huge shift in our behaviour or that we've added one to our team?

I'm also not sure that Earth Clones are smart enough to provide a stream-of-not-consciousness.
 
FaintlySorcerous said:
Avoid suspicion - spend time in town, leave at staggered intervals, head to island.
  • Spread rumours you're surveying somewhere dangerous. If you don't come back, everyone should believe you died without sending a rescue party.
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That's just going to rise suspicion if we don't actually hire more people. Entering the Town and just doing normal everyday things and then vanishing is probably safer than trying to mislead anyone.

Our original Skyslider security:
eaglejarl said:
Granted, the guards were a dozen spear-armed civilians, with one crippled ninja providing backup. Still. Five of the civilians were stationed around the perimeter while the rest, and the ninja, huddled around the fire at the center of the clearing. A few yards from the fire stood a work table around which a group of men had gathered to shout at one another.
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And Goda had 11 Yakuza dudes:
eaglejarl said:
Let's go back to Goda and his 11 flunkies.
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(+ Two ninja)

People probably suspect that we have at least one ninja with us. Kei bragging about "us" being important also doesn't really help.

In general, we were caught back in Rice and a few times during the chunnin exams. Any decent ninja who's job it is to check for ninja should easily spot us.
 
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ContextBot said:
That's just going to rise suspicion if we don't actually hire more people. Entering the Town and just doing normal everyday things and then vanishing is probably safer than trying to mislead anyone.
[...]
People probably suspect that we have at least one ninja with us. Kei bragging about "us" being important also doesn't really help.
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Fair enough - I've updated the wording a little bit.
 
ContextBot said:
People probably suspect that we have at least one ninja with us. Kei bragging about "us" being important also doesn't really help.
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We could ask Yuno to play the part, maybe? Better than acting like civilian hired muscle. Or maybe its a double bluff? Obvious ninja pretends to be civilian, hiding the fact that we're all ninja?
 
coldcutconvict said:
Summon a Dog to wait in the cabin.
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Done, at Pilot's discretion etc. etc.

Nontrivial plan updates below. @Shrooms is the only one voting for it, so, y'know, take a look and make sure you still like it.

Vote for my plan if you want to leave most of the decisions about what to do up to Pilot with a few good suggestions, and keep doing what we were planning to do once we arrived in Neck in the previous plan.
FaintlySorcerous said:
[X] Action Plan: Ready for Anything
Word count: 299
  • Random encounter
    • Demand to know why (buy time to plan).
      • Grab concealable weapons (MARS, kunai, explosives) and Satsuko.
      • At Pilot's discretion, deploy SCs - useful for distractions or stand-ins. Balance risk of popping/discovery with perceived danger.
      • Also at Pilot's discretion, Summon Dogs/Pangolins and leave in the cabin to emerge on a signal.
        • Only a last-ditch measure: maintain anonymity.
    • Stay in character: bodyguards are competent but not superhuman. Civilians defer to ninja. Tread carefully. Prioritize avoiding suspicion. Pay bribes, submit to inspection, arrogantly dismiss civilian authorities, or whatever makes sense.
    • If confronted…
      • Provide opportunities for Leaf agents to give codewords.
      • Let Hazo and Kei take point.
        • Dismiss others as dumb muscle/touched in the head (talking to an axe etc.) if anyone interrogates them.
          • They read way too much Icha Icha, but they can fight.
        • Hazo and Kei play off each other (snooty academics vs. their beleaguered assistant) to control narrative/conversational flow.
    • If combat happens, fake your deaths given an opportunity - easiest for Snowflake?
      • Pay off the captain/crew/passengers to go on a long voyage.
  • Arrival in Neck
    • Avoid suspicion - spend time in town before heading to the island.
      • Stick to cartography cover story.
      • Ask questions about unmapped areas. As a very small fraction of the questions, probe for information about the island-in-a-lake.
    • If authorized, Skywalk to the scroll's last known location (according to our maps).
      • Use altitude to scout - skytowers if not skywalkers.
    • If unauthorized, use Mareo's corrections and any comments from Jiraiya's notes to approximate the location.
      • Deploy scout summons to survey nearby area.
    • When the lake is located, deploy stealth summons to look for other ninja.
      • If given all-clear, establish well-hidden base camp a safe distance from the lake, as it's an exposed position.
    • When camp's established, Summon tracker(s?) to begin the search.
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Please note that this plan is currently winning with two votes.
 
Hmm now that I think about it, is it even that well known that Hazou is the Dog Summoner? He hasn't attended any zoo rushes or anything. OTOH I think the Dragon crisis was kinda drummed up at AMITY so it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out that he's a Summoner of some kind.
 
[X] Action Plan: Ready for Anything

FaintlySorcerous said:
Ask questions about unmapped areas. As a very small fraction of the questions, probe for information about the island-in-a-lake.
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It's an important border feature:
eaglejarl said:
The meeting went down on a small island in the middle of a lake where Neck and a couple of the other local countries touched. I dunno more specifically."
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And the place where an important person (with a scroll) got killed. (Plus others?)

*shrug*
Maybe we should specify to also ask about the political owner(s) and not just the physical geography? "I don't want to piss of the local head honchos as a foreigner", seems like a smart question.

And "political nobodies" like us probably want to avoid getting dragged into some land dispute between countries/clans.
 
FaintlySorcerous said:
Also at Pilot's discretion, Summon Dogs/Pangolins and leave in the cabin to emerge on a signal.
  • Only a last-ditch measure: maintain anonymity.
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I highly recommend that we summon a Dog or Pangolin tracker/sensor-type capable of determining if additional people are onboard. The fact that we're near the coast makes me think ninja inspectors are nearby.

Related: Hazou has IN memorized how to vomit, and should be ready to make use of this as part of his disguise.
 
Velorien said:
There is already method to my madness.
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Let's see
Velorien said:
Yuno was terrifying the heck out of the sailors by holding long conversations with a half-heartedly disguised "Bosatsuko"
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Hmm, Bosatsuko sounds like a blend of Bosatsu and Satsuko. Bosatsu is the Japanese transliteration of the term Bodhisattva. Maybe there's a Buddhist theme to the names?
Velorien said:
Master Sanzō, your opinion, please.
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Sanzō could be a regular name, but written 三蔵 it would be the Japanese translation of the term Tripiṭaka (the collection of texts constituting the Buddhist canon).
Which would also be the Japanese name of the main character from Journey to the West, a story about a Buddhist monk travelling Central Asia/India in search of Buddhist texts.

During his journey he gathers four friends:
Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing and a horse.

Yuno is called "Sha", so that checks out with Sha Wujing (although he's apparently called "Sa" in Japanese instead).

What about Kei and Snowflake?
Velorien said:
We are the Cho Sisters
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Velorien said:
How curious, Kai
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Velorien said:
Perhaps 70 tonnes lower, Hatsu
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In Japanese Zhu Bajie's name is spelled with the Kanji 猪八戒, where the individual Kanji could be read as "Cho", "Hatsu" and "Kai", so that checks out as well. Incidentially, Sun Wukong uses the spelling 孫悟空, yielding Son Gokū if you did the same. Maybe that would have been Noburi (I miss him already).

What about the White Dragon Horse Bai Long Ma, the main character's legendary steed? Uh, maybe the ship's name?
Velorien said:
Runt O' The Sea
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Ok, maybe not. What about the captain's name?
Velorien said:
Mitsuyu
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密輸 (Mitsuyu): lit. Smuggling :facepalm:
 
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