Enlightenment

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Character Creation 3
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    • [X] Quicksilver Honey - made by prism bees along the mountain flanks of the Sect

    "Quicksilver honey," Yon stated.

    "Quicksilver honey," Va asked with significant disdain.

    "Quicksilver honey," Yon replied with a nod. "Since you are serious about this, I'll show you the Gods damned formula if you don't believe me."

    Va took an obvious effort of will to remain composed and elegant, before she asked, "Okay, so why is the apothecary out?"

    Yon shrugged and said, "It's a bad idea to store it in large amounts, so unless we know we're going to be needing extra soon we just gather it as needed. I was planning to head out in a week or two for my next batch of elixir, but I was still gathering supplies."

    "And you need…?" Va demanded.

    Yon considered how to word his response just long enough for the young lady to know what he was going to say, so she just seethed in as refined a manner as possible as she asked, "Maiden's Musk Nettle?"

    "Yeah…" Yon drawled out guiltily. Prism bees were infamous for, among other things, smelling like sex when they swarmed, which was also when they were docile enough to approach. Sufficiently close imitations of that scent were necessary tools for harvesting their honey.

    "And there's no substitute?" Va demanded to know.

    Yon shook his head vehemently and said, "It's as important as the Dreaming Orchid, maybe moreso. It's absurdly rich in spiritual energy, it introduces mercurial quickening to the draught, and most of all the prism bees are sacred to the Lotus Prince, who governs sublime dissolution and crystalization."

    Desperately trying not to give anything more than a ladylike pout to express her frustration, Va finally surrendered whatever objections she had and said, "The Nettle has been popular as a note in perfumes this season. I will get you my supply but you will get this prepped."

    "Of course Lady Va," Yon replied immediately. "I'll start writing up the order for the apothecary components and get my subordinates working immediately."

    Va paused at that before she asked, "Is that wise?"

    Yon considered it, before he said, "This is a rush order and there is a lot to do. I might even get them to get the honey for me while I focus on the prep work for the other ingredients."

    Va asked, "How much can you do on your own?"

    Yon considered carefully and then replied, "I could do a small batch at best quality on my own if I use up the last of my own supply of elixir. There wouldn't be very much though, and the more help I get the more I can make, and to a certain extent the better it will be."

    "But then there would be more people who would know what is going on, which can lead to trouble" Va pointed out. After a moment's thought she said, "Do what you need to do here, but I would prefer discretion where possible."

    How involved are subordinates? Yon…
    [ ] Works alone​
    [ ] Sends them out to get the honey while he does everything else​​
    [ ] Gets the honey while they do basic prep work before taking over​​​
    [ ] Involves them in the entire process​​​​

    Quantity vs quality​​​​
    [ ] [QA] Maximize quantity​​​​
    [ ] [QA] Optimize quantity​​​​
    [ ] [QA] Optimize quality​​​​
    [ ] [QA] Maximize quality​​​​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Works alone
    [X] [QA] Maximize quality

    The customer wants it discrete and they want it to work for one very important event. Sounds to me like quantity isn't much of a priority in this case.
     
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    [X] Gets the honey while they do basic prep work before taking over

    [X] [QA] Optimize quality

    Minions are for routine grunt work.
     
    [X] Gets the honey while they do basic prep work before taking over
    [X][QA] Optimize quality
     
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    [X] Gets the honey while they do basic prep work before taking over

    [X] [QA] Optimize quality
     
    [X] Works alone
    [X] [QA] Maximize quality

    Discretion is key, potency is everything, and we explicitly can manage this in a hurry albeit only a small quantity and by using resources. But better not to annoy your patrons, no?
     
    [X] Sends them out to get the honey while he does everything else
    [X] [QA] Optimize quality

    Honey is a generic ingredient, gathering it doesn't give that much info about what we're making. Having the assistants handle the basic prep work, if they talk with each other, makes it a lot easier to know what's being made.
     
    [X] Works alone
    [X] Gets the honey while they do basic prep work before taking over
    [X] [QA] Maximize quality
     
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    [X] Gets the honey while they do basic prep work before taking over
    [X] [QA] Maximize quality
     
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    notgreat said:
    Honey is a generic ingredient, gathering it doesn't give that much info about what we're making. Having the assistants handle the basic prep work, if they talk with each other, makes it a lot easier to know what's being made.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I'd actually argue the opposite could be true - the honey is a high-level exotic ingredient that's crucial for this elixir, and while there are probably other uses it can be put to, the fact that it's only collected in small quantities for immediate use combined with the soon-to-arrive Envoy narrows down the possibility space considerably. Meanwhile, basic prep work is basic, meaning it could well be the generic steps that any and all alchemical procedures start with, giving away only that the guy who works in the medical pavilion is about to make something with alchemy (a common occurrance).

    However, judging from the order of the votes given, "make them get the honey" is closer to "works alone", while "have them do the prep work" is closer to "involve them in the whole process", so yes, on that basis the former is probably the more discreet angle.

    Hmm. Optimise vs maximise, meanwhile... again going by order, "maximise quality" probably means the smallest amount but the highest grade, likely only enough for one person.

    I'd say it's probably a good idea to match scope, so either we go for maximum quality and do it all alone, or maximised quantity and involve them in the whole process, etc. And honestly? Despite my cautious instinct to go for the second one down and optimise rather than maximise quality so we have a little bit more... think about it. This is being done to impress the Celestial Envoy. The raw amount is going to matter less than the quality, I think - indeed, a smaller amount of something truly high-grade makes it more valuable. I think we want to be as impressive as possible if we want to get the best possible result here. Thus...

    [ ] Works alone
    [X] [QA] Maximize quality

    Edit: Ah, no - she does say...
    Academia Nut said:
    Va asked, "How much can you do on your own?"

    Yon considered carefully and then replied, "I could do a small batch at best quality on my own if I use up the last of my own supply of elixir."

    "But then there would be more people who would know what is going on," Va pointed out.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Meaning that working alone is less discreet? (@Academia Nut, can you confirm?)

    If so, I'll change to...

    [X] Sends them out to get the honey while he does everything else
     
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    [X] [QA] Maximize quality
    [X] Sends them out to get the honey while he does everything else
     
    [X] [QA] Maximize quality
    [X] Sends them out to get the honey while he does everything else
     
    If getting the honey is dangerous or tricky in a way that hugely alters the final yield then it makes sense to get it ourselves. Otherwise doing the prep (where small differences in skill or care might add up, plus it's likely more secret) is likely more optimal?

    However, a much more compelling argument is that it's fucking boring to vote for stealing honey from magic bees, and then not actually get to steal honey from magic bees!

    [X] Gets the honey while they do basic prep work before taking over
    [X] Works alone
    [X] [QA] Maximize quality

    If we're really trying to maximise quality for the Envoy (or whoever this is for, I'm very unclear on that) then doing everything ourselves is probably best TBH, but I'll approval vote for both.
     
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