Which of these are you wanting to share with only the ANBU, out of curiosity? I'm not opposed on general principle but not all secrets are made equal.
Pangolin jutsu - I straight up don't think we can share these without pissing off the pangolins. They're already annoyed that our clan is bigger than they expected.
MARS - I don't want to share this with anyone who isn't Goketsu.
Novel seal designs - I'm not opposed in principle, but what do we have that's worth sharing? We're giving the Tower/ANBU chakdars (the bad version), what else do we have as far as clan-secret seals?
XP lootboxes - I kind of figured we were going to share these with all of Leaf anyways. Heck, we already have with Jiraiya's notes, for the Contest.
Which of these are you wanting to share with only the ANBU, out of curiosity? I'm not opposed on general principle but not all secrets are made equal.
Pangolin jutsu - I straight up don't think we can share these without pissing off the pangolins. They're already annoyed that our clan is bigger than they expected.
MARS - I don't want to share this with anyone who isn't Goketsu.
Novel seal designs - I'm not opposed in principle, but what do we have that's worth sharing? We're giving the Tower/ANBU chakdars (the bad version), what else do we have as far as clan-secret seals?
XP lootboxes - I kind of figured we were going to share these with all of Leaf anyways. Heck, we already have with Jiraiya's notes, for the Contest.
I'unno. Presumably some seal that's a clan secret, but not MARS. That wasn't the point. The point was to show Asuma that this is an immediate win for him.
I'unno. Presumably some seal that's a clan secret, but not MARS. That wasn't the point. The point was to show Asuma that this is an immediate win for him.
I love the fact that our real clan secret isn't even a secret. Everyone knows that we have all the summoning scrolls. Each of which are literally priceless magic artifacts
I love the fact that our real clan secret isn't even a secret. Everyone knows that we have all the summoning scrolls. Each of which are literally priceless magic artifacts
I think we still run into the issue that they don't have human-like hands and thus we need to hack them to be compatible for human use.
Honestly we need a hacker (preferably several) like way more than most Clans, besides maybe the ninjutsu focused ones, just by dint of our summon allies
The Pangolins are a military culture, with the implied organization, have a huge lifespan (Kei's drill sergeant summon is several centuries old, and is described as middle aged), and have had the same Boss for a long time --thus creating social stability. The Pangolins have human-ish hands, and have the institutions in place to preserve and Pangolin Jutsu that have been hacked for human-use.
We don't know much about the Toads, other than Ma and Pa seem to have known the Sage, himself. Though, given that Jiraiya used some of their jutsu (the hair one that the Toads stole from the Porcupines), it may be that the Toads have more jutsu that they'd be willing to trade for. However, the Toads seem largely unimpressed by Noburi (which is fair, considering their last Summoner was an S-ranker).
The Dogs have neither the longevity, nor the institutionalized organization that the Pangolins do. Further, Cannai seems to be relatively young for a Boss (he has limited forbidden lore, learned about Jashin from Hazou, and only picked up the mantle of the Dog Boss ~a century ago, iirc). Kakashi was able to learn Dog Jutsu via Sharingan, but Hazou (and Atomu) lack that.
We know little enough about the culture of the Arachnids, save that artistry and duty are highly valued. We know that Spider Wife is older than Cannai, but not as old as Pantsaa. So it could be that the organizational requirements are there, however, we don't know how long Rock has had the Arachnid Summoning Scroll, and if it was similarly defunct prior to the Hidden Village Era. So it could be that it's been so long that the Arachnid Clan has had a Summoner, that they've forgotten any jutsu they might've once had.
------
Now we just need the Bear Scroll and the Squirrel Scroll.
Speaking of, we should check in on Mareo, just to maintain cordial/friendly/welcoming relations. Hopefully we can get him in Leaf soon enough, if only because the image of Mareo interacting with Honoka is a precious one.
I'unno. Presumably some seal that's a clan secret, but not MARS. That wasn't the point. The point was to show Asuma that this is an immediate win for him.
Here's a few social stunts I ran by Paper, except the last one which is simple enough I didn't feel the need. @eaglejarl@Paperclipped@Velorien
Deceit
The World's a Play
Requirements: Deceit 30
Cost: 50 XP
When playing into an audience's preconceived notions about what you are like (even in disguise), you may make a Maneuver with Deceit to create a scene Aspect (e.g. "That Upstart Gouketsu Clan Lord", "Useless Skinwaste", "Idiot Rural Farmer"), with a tag on it as usual. On any social roll where you tag or invoke this Aspect, you may use your Deceit AB instead of the stat's AB.
Better Lucky Than Good
Requirements: Deceit 40
Cost: 50 XP
The user may conceal relevant talents through advanced subterfuge, though this is very dependent on the credulousness of the audience, and the believability of the deception. A 'civilian' bending down to dodge a thrown kunai is one thing; punching out a kage is another. In spite of the title, this need not be solely the realm of luck; advanced preparations can make these deceptions much more believable.
When making a skill check, you may roll with min(skill level, Deceit). Succeed or fail, if an observer does not beat your roll with an Empathy/Deceit check of their own, they are unaware of your true ability.
Every time this stunt is used in a given scene, add a penalty of -AB to your roll (no penalty at first, then -AB, -2*AB, etc...).
Presence
Speechgiving
Requirements: Presence 40, Leadership-related personal Aspect.
Cost: 75 XP
Normally, it is possible to create a fragile aspect with a maneuver of any given skill.
When speaking to a crowd, you may make a Maneuver using Presence to create a relevant scene Aspect ("Classic Uplift Inspiration", "We're All Gonna Die", "RIOT!").
You gain a tag on this Aspect, but it can be invoked as appropriate by any character in the scene, but only once per character.
As a special case, FP used to invoke this aspect may be refunded if the goal that the recipient of the speech was inspired toward achieves resounding success. This refund is not guaranteed, and is determined largely by QM fiat. Things that go into this consideration include the degree of success, the perceived effectiveness at helping perform the goal, and similar. This is less likely to happen in combat, but still possible.
[There is likely an Intimidation-equivalent of this stunt that does not include the last paragraph.]
Empathy
I've Been There
Requirements: Empathy 30 (base skill), Thousand Yard Stare 5 or higher, a predilection toward openness.
Cost: 25 XP
When talking to someone with whom you can find shared experiences in trauma, you may make a maneuver using Empathy to create a relevant Aspect.
If successful, remember that Aspects are True, and this cuts both ways. This stunt necessarily requires opening up, which may put people off.
I'unno. Presumably some seal that's a clan secret, but not MARS. That wasn't the point. The point was to show Asuma that this is an immediate win for him.
I think we know his full name, it's Hagino Mareo or something like that
The interesting thing is he shares a family name with the previous Arachnid Summoner, which uhhh we've never asked either the Arachnids or Mareo about. It's a fairly common name so it could be coincidence but there was that one random EJ discord comment that indicated it was significant.
We asked about locations he thought could be interesting, these were his suggestions:
"Some suggestions:
* The rift scar on O'uzo Island
* The Akatsuki sealing array on Nagi Island
* The area on the coast of the Land of Honey that Orochimaru's notes say has tons of resources
* The remains of the Liberator village
* The Bear Boss's encampment, to talk to Mareo (Guess what his family name is?)
* The island of Archaeopteryx
* Hornet, because they're interesting
* Kangaroo, because maybe they know where their Scroll is
* The north of Wind where the Otter Scroll might be
* Bear"
When making a skill check, you may roll with min(skill level, Deceit). Succeed or fail, if an observer does not beat your roll with an Empathy/Deceit check of their own, they are unaware of your true ability.
Whether you succeed or fail at the skill that you are concealing, the deceit roll is what determines whether they are made aware of your true skill. Does that help?
Whether you succeed or fail at the skill that you are concealing, the deceit roll is what determines whether they are made aware of your true skill. Does that help?
Hazō didn't run, because that would have been unbecoming of a clan head, even if being late was utterly unacceptable. No, he walked to Orochimaru's compound at a dignified, stately pace, and if Noburi was having trouble keeping up, that just suggested that his brother had been slacking off on his exercise while acting as regent.
"Slow down, Hazō! I know I said we were cutting it too close, but that doesn't mean I want to see him pissed off because we got there half an hour too early!"
Hazō slowed down fractionally—very fractionally, the kind of fraction that was so tiny Kagome-sensei didn't think Honoka was ready to learn about them. Noburi was right, of course. Hazō had spent so much time optimizing for this meeting with Mari and then Kei (whom he'd caught muttering to herself about calderas after he described his ability to stay calm and cordial in front of the man who'd tried to kidnap and vivisect them mere months ago). He couldn't afford to slip up now.
He thought back to the research notes. The odds of Orochimaru caring enough to ask whether Hazō had read them were miniscule, but if he did, then Hazō failing to answer would send his stock plummeting faster than a diving Dragon. The most interesting point to him, and one he felt he could discuss if called upon, was Orochimaru's analysis of the disintegration effect. Orochimaru claimed that it was not a special Dragon power. Instead, after about an hour of arguing with Noburi over the probable meaning of terminology neither of them had ever heard before, followed by ten minutes of supercilious correction by Kei (who didn't know what it meant either, but was capable of providing a detailed list of what it couldn't mean), they concluded that he thought it was a consequence of what the Dragons were, not a natural property. Orochimaru seemed to take it for granted that the foundational laws of matter were somehow local, and speculated that wherever it was the Dragons had originally come from, it was different enough from the Human Path that not all of the same laws applied. Then, when Dragon matter came into contact with Human Path matter, they did not mesh together nicely, and strange things happened at the interface. From Hazō's combined summoner/sealmaster perspective, it sounded a lot like Dragon and normal matter were having a fight over which was more real, and Dragon matter was consistently winning.
-o-
Orochimaru lounged on one side of the coffee table in the parlour of what was once more his compound. Hazō and Noburi sat with spines ramrod-straight on the other. Orochimaru had not offered refreshments, which was just as well since Hazō had no intention of consuming any substance the mad researcher had prepared except at kunai-point.
"Thank you for making time to see us, Lord Orochimaru," Hazō said. "I promise we won't waste any more of it than necessary."
Orochimaru nodded with no particular emotion. Behind him, a labcoat hung off a coat stand, the glint of finely polished metal shining off the tops of several pockets. The fact that it was perfectly clean somehow only made it seem more sinister, as if it were a blank canvas waiting to be painted with Orochimaru's arts.
"You have come for back payment for the Dragon parts," he stated.
"Actually," Hazō said, "that was just a side detail. But you're right, we should take care of that now, before we move on to the main topic."
Orochimaru rose abruptly. Hazō, with the Iron Nerve holding him together, managed not to flinch. Noburi wasn't so lucky.
Orochimaru either didn't notice or didn't care. Instead, he walked over to a cabinet up against the wall, pulled a drawer out seemingly at random, and took out a file. He turned back to them, then paused.
"Kabuto tells me you were able to follow the saline purification theory I used to cure the bulgerat fever epidemic."
"Me?" Noburi asked, reeling back slightly in surprise. "I mean, yes, I did. I… I was very impressed with the way you modified the ritual prayer to moderate the effect of the purgative decoctions."
Orochimaru looked at him for a second, then put the file back and took out a different, thicker one. He tossed it on the table between them.
"Will this suffice?"
Noburi reached over and gingerly picked up the file, then began to leaf through it. After an initial frown of confusion, his eyes slowly lit up. It was as if he'd just been given a favourite author's latest book, and it had miraculously lived up to the hype.
He nodded firmly at Hazō, then reluctantly closed the file.
Orochimaru took his seat again. He looked at Hazō expectantly.
"If I may, then," Hazō said. "Lord Orochimaru, I would like to offer the Gōketsu stock of Dragon parts to you for permanent sale."
The sensation of Orochimaru flashing into alertness nearly made Hazō jump. The man hadn't done anything, merely shifted from lounging back to leaning forward, but to Hazō's subconscious it was like seeing a predator appear out of the bushes—this despite the fact that in this case, the predator had already been in full view.
"Done," Orochimaru said.
"Uh… good," Hazō said, not exactly shocked by Orochimaru's decisiveness (he wouldn't have made the offer if he didn't expect Orochimaru to be interested), but more than a little unnerved. There were other decisions Orochimaru could make in the future, ones a lot less healthy for Hazō or the Gōketsu, and if he made them with the same speed and lack of hesitation…
"There are some things we'd like in return," he went on. "First, could you station a snake in Arachnid territory? I think that if you could see the Great Seal and the Dragons first-hand, it would give you a lot of useful information, and it might make it easier for us to cooperate in dealing with them."
Orochimaru considered.
It was unnerving how long he could go without blinking.
"I will require your full data on the surviving Dragons. You will be responsible for providing any maps required by the Snake side and making any arrangements required on the Arachnid side."
"Of course," Hazō said. "And any insight you have to offer regarding those surviving Dragons would be greatly appreciated. Obviously, when we kill them, we will divide the remains up fairly, and we'll be open to negotiation regarding any that you weren't involved in killing."
Hazō took a moment (but only a moment) to study his interlocutor. Orochimaru wasn't exactly easy to read, but so far his expression was relaxed and he didn't seem to be bored, irritated, or homicidal. Hazō pressed on.
"Next, I'd like to request half an hour of your time."
"Pleasingly specific," Orochimaru noted. "Why?"
Because Orochimaru valued his time more than he valued stacks of research notes capable of revolutionising entire fields or bank accounts bursting with ryō. Mari was certain of it.
"I have some questions for you," Hazō explained. "One of the Gōketsu's biggest weaknesses is access to lore—notably on Dragons and the Great Seal, of course, but we also seek information on the Sage of Six Paths in general, the Akatsuki ritual, and the afterlife, among other interests. We'd like to know what you know on these subjects, but there are probably days' worth of conversation in there, and we respect your time."
"Half an hour…" Orochimaru mused. "Very well. Kabuto did request leave for an errand. However, handing secret lore to dabblers is like handing live explosive tags to an infant, save that infants do not harbour visions of universal revolution. I will decide which subjects are acceptable, and I will dismiss you early if you try my patience or waste my time."
"…understood." It wasn't much of an offer, but frankly, Hazō had spent so long beating his head against the wall of forbidden lore that right now he'd take any solid information from a reliable source that wouldn't care enough to lie. "If you have any notes or writings you're prepared to lend me, that would also be excellent."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "You intend to spend your time on the kind of lore that can be committed to writing?"
Just what kind of information did Orochimaru have access to?
"I'm still finalising the list of questions," Hazō hedged. "The next thing—"
"There's more?" Orochimaru interrupted.
Hazō swallowed. Was it time to back off? But he hadn't actually bartered for much at all yet, and there was no guarantee that Orochimaru wouldn't end up vetoing all the questions Hazō really cared about.
He weighed his desire to get his money's worth for unique, precious research objects bought with the blood (or whatever Hornets had instead of blood) of countless warriors versus his desire not to offend Orochimaru (who would at best turn down the deal, and there wasn't actually anyone else who wanted the Dragon parts).
"Just one more specific request," Hazō said, "and everything else is at your discretion. The trade goods you used before—research notes, money, land, any useful ninjutsu or seals—will all be fine. But I was wondering… do you know any ninjutsu that can reduce the need for sleep? The days are too short, and there's always so much to do, even with shadow clones."
Orochimaru nodded. It might almost have been a gesture of understanding, but Hazō didn't know whether Orochimaru was still capable of such a thing, or whether he'd excised it along with whatever other core elements of humanity he considered to take up too much space.
"There is no ninjutsu with that specific function," Orochimaru said, "and the system is poorly-adapted for subtle body modifications to begin with. I do not…"
He paused, thinking. His eyes briefly ran up and down Hazō's body in a way that would have been embarrassing and alluring coming from an attractive woman, horribly creepy from anyone else, and in this instance made Hazō reflect on how easily a person could be disassembled with the right tools, which was not the kind of thought he ever wanted in his head.
"I do have a bioseal," Orochimaru decided. "It would require invasive surgery, and for you, it would have side effects if misused."
Reduced sleep was actually possible? It wasn't just another dream? He could get the paperwork out of the way at night and actually have time for a life during the day?
Hazō eagerly opened his mouth—
"What kind of side effects?" Noburi asked.
"Various disruptions to the mind, notably influencing cognitive and emotional function, vulnerability to disease spirits of various breeds, and impaired reflexes and coordination, among others," Orochimaru listed. "Naturally, these do not occur if the seal is used correctly."
"We'll get back to you," Noburi said firmly before Hazō could say anything.
"Have your decision ready at the sixth bell tonight," Orochimaru said.
"Why sixth?" Hazō asked.
"It is when you will receive your half hour. I will expect you to have a satisfactory knowledge of basic medical tools and terminology."
"May I ask why?" Hazō asked.
"I should think that would be obvious," Orochimaru told him.
Don't provoke the man capable of showering you with riches or shattering your mind at a whim, Gōketsu Hazō. Just nod and move on.
"So you want me to be here at six?" Hazō asked just in case.
"That is what I said."
"I understand," Hazō lied. "For the rest…"
"Yes, yes," Orochimaru said impatiently. He fished a handful of scrolls out of one of his robe's voluminous sleeves and tossed them carelessly on the table.
"Those will be perfect," Hazō said after a quick scan followed by a decision not to try his luck a second time by asking for more. "It's a pleasure doing business with you, Lord Orochimaru."
"I disdain insincerity," Orochimaru told him without any particular feeling. "Have the parts delivered by the end of the day."
Hazō hoped that was a reference only to the Dragon parts, and not to his own coming at six.
-o-
Part 2 coming this weekend. Contents of the scrolls TBC, but they will be sufficiently valuable to make this more than a fair trade. You may assume that Orochimaru is not going to give you anything that's actionable for the Sunday update, and begin planning now. Your plan should include your response regarding the sleep reduction bioseal.
Edit: Voting is open, and closes on
. Note that this is later than the usual deadline.
He paused, thinking. His eyes briefly ran up and down Hazō's body in a way that would have been embarrassing and alluring coming from an attractive woman, horribly creepy from anyone else, and in this instance made Hazō reflect on how easily a person could be disassembled with the right tools, which was not the kind of thought he ever wanted in his head.
"I do have a bioseal," Orochimaru decided. "It would require invasive surgery, and for you, it would have side effects if misused."
