Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

Jello_Raptor · Jun 12, 2016

Dictator4Hire said:
What other additions do you have in mind in particular? I think I implemented most of them, I just want to be thorough.

These, I don't want to try to jump ahead to meeting with everyone before having a chance to discuss with those whom we are already friendly.

Jello_Raptor said:
I'd also change the plan to be a bit more incremental/shorter term:

Ask Takahashi for support in meeting with the elders whom we already have good relationships with.

If he doesn't give the support, end update.

If he does, meet with them and lay out the stuff about goals, pelicans, supermajorities, etc..

Treat the current plan as "what we currently want to do with the village at large" and explain it to the relatively friendly elders.

Springing stuff on our allies is a bad idea politically, and I don't think we'd succeed trying to jump to a full council meeting immediately.

Dictator4Hire · Jun 12, 2016

Jello_Raptor said:
The reason I want the time limit is so that we have time for further preparations or politicing. I'm fine with the update ending without everything done, as long as we can recalculate on that timescale.

We've had entire updates which occur in the span of a minute, and updates which took weeks. If there's not much happening before the time-limit hits, the update might have a shorter word count, which is fine. I also think it's hugely unlikely given the sheer size of the plan.

I figure we're much more likely to have the update end with things not done because @eaglejarl doesn't have time to write another 5000 words. Likely this will end much faster than the time limit you ask for.

Your plan is risky, and will not work unless we can take it step by step and recalculate with each error that pops up. As it stands there is no way it can get us to successfully navigating the council meeting because of murphy's law. I much prefer the outcome of a stable independent VHitM that we can use as a resource, but it's difficult to get to in one fell swoop.

Remember, chaotic systems usually come with exponential growth in error. In order to accurately predict how the system will evolve an additional unit of time in the future, you need to multiply the total number of possible paths and outcomes you consider by some constant factor.

Jello_Raptor said:
These, I don't want to try to jump ahead to meeting with everyone before having a chance to discuss with those whom we are already friendly.

Springing stuff on our allies is a bad idea politically, and I don't think we'd succeed trying to jump to a full council meeting immediately.

Okay, how about a slight alteration to the plan then? Instead of meeting with the other elders immediately after, only have a meeting with Takahashi to discuss our desire for the other meetings over the course of one day? The rest of the plan can be an outline of what we want to do and our reasoning for what we want to say to Takahashi, but not revealing all of it in case he is lying to us. If it only takes one day, the team will reconvene so Hazou (us) can give his input to Mari for the following meetings or follow-up meetings with Takahashi.

The other stuff can get started too to see if it can work or if we need to reassess plans for preparing Keiko, escape plans, etc.

Rozencrantz · Jun 12, 2016

[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus

I'd also add the creation of a backpack or similar for the most critical supplies, in the event that storage scrolls won't be available/functional/safe during the trail.

Jello_Raptor · Jun 12, 2016

Dictator4Hire said:
Okay, how about a slight alteration to the plan then? Instead of meeting with the other elders immediately after, only have a meeting with Takahashi to discuss our desire for the other meetings over the course of one day? The rest of the plan can be an outline of what we want to do and our reasoning for what we want to say to Takahashi, but not revealing all of it in case he is lying to us. If it only takes one day, the team will reconvene so Hazou (us) can give his input to Mari for the following meetings or follow-up meetings with Takahashi.

The other stuff can get started too to see if it can work or if we need to reassess plans for preparing Keiko, escape plans, etc.

Yup, that works for me.

Dictator4Hire · Jun 12, 2016

Edit 5:

Dictator4Hire said:
[X] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems

Goals:

Survive

Explain to Takahashi why the village needs us

Talk with our team about convincing the isolationist people at least to not attack us

Fortify the cave first and the old base in the village second as a fallback option

Begin helping out Yuno with her no friends problem

Learn about what exactly the upcoming summoner trial involves and as many of its important nuances as possible

Spend as little amount of time as possible in doing steps 2-6 above (preferably ~~at least 1 week before the vote for Keiko's trial-thing~~ only one day for this update)

Don't needlessly antagonize the isolationists without at least trying to talk things out like adults

How:

Maintain safety protocols when traveling in the village; use the buddy system just like last time.

Kagome has free reign to fortify the cave and old village base we used to live in as he sees fit and can use team members to help him when those members have nothing more important to do.

The updated plan is now to only have one meeting per day/update, starting with Takahashi. The rest of the meeting plans will be talked about with the team for IC suggestions and critiques. Depending on how each meeting goes, we may need a follow-up update/meeting.

Arrange for a talk with Takahashi ASAP and once the meeting is over, have everyone reconvene back at the cave and end the update, please.

Politely ask if his plan is really just to force the Aida or the Inoue into an unfavorable position for his own political gains. We would rather not have to resort to violence if at all possible; too many people have died already and we do not want any more blood on our hands than is absolutely necessary. Is there nothing we can do to convince the isolationists to attempt something new?

Using this analogy as inspiration/baseline (with a more in depth explanation of its intentions here (Inoue can use her discretion whether or not she thinks the analogy is a good idea)), explain to him how his village will never be truly safe from the outside world if they continue their current policy of absolute isolationism.

Takahashi, if your village does not work with us eventually someone stronger than us will show up and conquer all of you; even without the scroll you are a bunch of valuable chakra-using human resources (that's just how it is, sorry).

If you choose to cooperate symbbiotically with us, we can help improve your defenses, strengthen your secrecy, and smuggle in cool stuff/knowledge from the outside.

You give us a sound foundation to build on and it will be the best decision you ever made.

After that speech, politely yet firmly ask for an audience with every elder we have not had an official meeting with yet (the Aida, both of the Azai cousins, and the Inoue). Inform him that we want to have a supermajority of elders in favor of giving us the scroll rather than only a majority for safety's sake and that we want to be present when the vote for allowing Keiko to take the trial is made.

With every elder we can have a meeting (we want to meet with all of them, starting with our closest allies (after Takahashi) and working our way towads the Inoue and the other isolationists) with (~~or for the sake of sanity/brevity, all of the elders can gather for one meeting or divided as you see fit~~ each meeting will now have its own day), politely highlight the following for discussion amongst our team members:

We originally learned of this village due to a rumor of a long lost summoning scroll

We had no idea of the significance of the scroll in your people's culture. We were under the impression that the summoning scroll had been lost to the ages after its owner had vanished and it would be lying forgotten in some ruins or abandoned library. We just wanted to sign the scroll so that we would have a better chance to survive in the cruel outside world. We are impressed that the village has treated it so well and with the respect that it deserves for so many years.

Surprisingly, when we were attacked by a patrol of ninja who had no known affiliation we were intrigued and decided ~~to let the patrol live rather than kill all of them like they were trying to do to us.~~ we were tired of mindless killing and wanted. We wanted to understand who these people were and if these tapirs were the sapient summon animals we had heard about and wanted to sign a contract with.

If we were not missing-nin, a number of us would have been sent back to our home village to gather an invasion force to conquer and forcibly recruit any survivors in this village.

~~Luckily for all of you,~~ We became missing-nin because one of our superiors decided to force us to secede from our our home by lying to us. Consequently, we will not be hypocrites and force you to do something against your core beliefs: even if the majority of the village wants to give us access to the scroll as per Takahashi's instruction, we will not accept until ~~every elder had consented to allowing us to access the scroll.~~ there is a supermajority in favor of allowing us to access the scroll.

We would also appreciate any insight into your culture and lore that you want to give us; Takahashi mentioned something about Ui's heir that sounds important. We do not claim to be his heir, but we would like to know about him and what makes/made him so special.

Mention that we are open to mutually beneficial arrangements with any clan so long as we retain our autonomy; just as we would not expect the village to concede all of their independence to us, so too do we ask politely to retain our freedom.

Given time enough, we would like to temporarily leave the village. When the elders are willing to let that happen we are willing to discuss reasonable conditions to maintain an acceptable level of secrecy for the village.

If they ask if anyone would notice if we never left the village, mention that we know a seal-master summoner who originally pointed us in the direction of Hidden Mountain. If we never return, he may send stronger people here to see what caused our disappearance.

Alternatively, suggest that said summoner might be able to ascertain if anything is wrong with the village's summoning scroll so long as they consent to him examining their most sacred possession.

Conclude each speech with a modest list of our abilities (if pressed, ask them if they would seriously be willing to list all of their most powerful techniques, weapons, bloodlines, etc.) and allow the elders to ask any questions they want while we answer truthfully.

It's time to open up to the village to begin building real trust; the best way to do that is to truthfully explain our backstory in a empathetic way. Cooperation benefits all of us; attempting to snatch the scroll has only a chance of working. I consider having 50+ ninja allied with us better than a chance at a nonfunctional summoning scroll when we can have them hand it over to us of their own free will at a later time when Keiko is more prepared to take whatever it is the trial is supposed to be.

The following steps can occur over the course of the day as applicable. For longer term projects like preparing for the trial or increasing our cave's defenses, an evaluation of each's viability and time until completion would be appreciated.

When Noburi next goes on a date with Yuno, prep him with the following advice (actually, has he even told the team about Yuno's confession? If not have him tell us about it so there are no misunderstandings):

Before Noburi implements the following, have Hazou stress to him that Hazou is only being so insistent because he doesn't want something bad to happen to Noburi if Yuno really is irredeemably crazy.

Yuno has been isolated in a closed society for years; it's not her fault she was forced to become a loner. Our whole team has been cut off from our own friends and family back home ever since we were betrayed by one of our leaders, Shikigami, and we want to help Yuno out in her own home; you can't replace ~~home~~ the past, but you can make a better future. Anyone on our team can sympathize with Yuno's plight and a few of us have more open hearts than others.

Stress that, while we want to help her, we have to keep our team safe so there can be no psychotic outbursts against anyone even if something goes wrong. We want to help her, but only if we can stay safe while doing so.

Don't prove all of her naysayers right by lashing out; rise above their pettiness and make them wish they had befriended you before.

Have Noburi ask Yuno if she wants to be introduced in a relatively public setting to his completely platonic friend Akane to see if the two girls could become friends.

Sell the idea to Yuno that Akane has no family obligations or orders to be her friend and that she will do so because that's just the kind of person Akane is (if anyone on our team can befriend a lonely yandere, it's Akane).

Noburi should also tell Yuno that, even if the engagement doesn't work out due to meddling elders' decisions, he will still be at least her friend "no matter what."

Have Keiko come up with possible escape routes and contingencies in the event we need to leave the village in a hurry, with a new found emphasis based on what Takahashi said might happen shortly before or during the summoner trial.

Akane and Hazou look into what Akane's Mechanical Aptitude can do currently as she shows it off to him... in a completely chaste, innocent way (looking at you, Mari-sensei)

(It gives Akane something to do at night and I really really want to see what she can do with it besides make caltrops).

Hazou creates and infuses as many storage seals as he can in his spare time.

The time frame for this plan should not exceed one ~~week~~ day at the longest, but can be as short as per the QM's discretion. If actions would take longer than one ~~week~~ day, please suspend them or cancel them as necessary until we, the players, can reassess the situation.

Prepare Keiko for the trial. (copied and pasted from @faflec 's plan)

EVERYONE should brainstorm ways that the trial can play out and how they ought to be solved.

We should take cues from the social and cultural dynamics of Hillbilly Mountain: It's completely possible that Akio passed on his values since they would be tested by the summon, and subsequently integrated into the trial.

Hazou should prepare seals:

Storage scrolls with food, water, medicines, wood, blood, straw decoys, and any other essentials Keiko deems possibly useful. One scroll should be empty in case Keiko needs to store something quickly.

Explosive scrolls (as many as Hazou can plausibly make while maintaining some for himself/the rest of the team) for Keiko to put down and/or throw with weapons.

Noburi should build a second 0.5L barrel for Keiko:

The barrel should contain some 25% CP in the water (details to be discussed).

Noburi should hold this barrel with him at all times to ensure no chakra is lost before the trial.

Noburi should give the barrel to Keiko right before she goes to the trial to minimize the loss of chakra in the water.

Noburi should also give medical checkups on Keiko. Make sure she's healthy, not been poisoned or injured...

Akane should prepare traps and other tools for Keiko, to be held in storage scrolls:

Some type of lock picking kit.

Some manner of caltrops or other method of battlefield denial. These can be explosive if desired (work with Hazou)

Easy-to-set-up tripwires.

Chimes (or equivalent) that rattle (and sound differently) when moved and make noise ONLY after being set up.

An entrenching tool or equivalent (if we don't have that as standard equipment).

Kagome should be encouraged to give Keiko some seals for her use:

Implosion seals to break down tough walls standard explosive tags cannot take out.

Barrier Method Formation (lesser) to be used with explosives.

Emergency Force Wall seals in case Keiko needs a defense or durability-bypassing ability (cut enemy on edge).

Inoue-sensei should instruct Keiko on creative applications of her Zephyr's Reach and weapons skill.

Keiko needs to not break a leg, sprain an ankle, or any other bullshit that can weaken her.

Minimize use of her bloodline unless under Takahashi's training.

Take most of the fortnight to relax but make sure to keep her muscles/brain limber.

Suggest setting up obstacle courses for her to train on with her physical skills + Zephyr's Reach.

Commune with Takahashi on the trial, Yuno, angered Gasai/Inoue/Aida, and other events that may affect these things.

Ask Takahashi more on the trial to help with planning stages.

Ask Takahashi more on the prophecy he hinted at in the last update.

Discuss options on Yuno and angered villagers as seen in other stages of the plan.

Ask Takahashi if Inoue-sensei can sit in on the vote like last time.

Prepare contingencies for betrayal and attempted murder: (also from @faflec )

Test general competence of our ninja guard:

Check their rotation across time, any changes between day/night, hours of shift, cave vs. while we hunt...

See if Inoue can manipulate them.

If angry villagers try to attack us in our base:

We should have two genin (not Keiko!!) or Inoue-sensei on guard. At a minimum.

Run. We should have traps everywhere but if they're confident enough to know this it's likely a village-wide assault. We can weather the initial storm but further attacks are gonna be bad.

If angry villagers try to attack us during training/dates/healing/travel:

We run and stall. MEW, scare-you-away explosives...basically any AOE that scares enemies/keeps them from advancing but does not necessarily kill them.

If they escalate so do we. If the whole village seems to be involved (read: >50% of the people) we go all out.

Send up signals (prepared) to alert our team if we're separated.

Get ready to bugger out of the village.

If people try to force us to marry early, attempt to delay/stall using above plans. Run if failure.

If Takahashi does not announce the vote to let Keiko take the trial, prepare to evac and/or steal the scroll.

Scout the temple, asking Takahashi/Yuno for broad ceremony details (time taken, focus needed, general expectations, etc.).

Edits will be in italics, unless I'm on mobile in which case... I'll see what I can do.

first major edits credit to @Jello_Raptor and @Cariyaga

second edit courtesy of @Cariyaga regarding telling Takahashi about wanting a supermajority

third edit based on @faflec 's and others concerns that we were not being respectful enough to the village elders when we were talking about how we first heard about the scroll.

fourth edit mostly cannibalizing parts of Becoming Aristobulus by @faflec because he is better at betrayal prep than me and I am not afraid to admit that. Also, added in a line about insisting to be present to hear the vote for whether Keiko's trial will be officially sanctioned

fifth edit for a shorter update time as per @Jello_Raptor's suggestions

Killer_Whale · Jun 12, 2016

[X] Research Noburi: Vampiric Dew
[X] Training Keiko: Whatever Takahashi Says

Jello_Raptor · Jun 12, 2016

[X] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems

TenebrousDreamer · Jun 12, 2016

zap lunch

Rafin · Jun 12, 2016

[X] Training Keiko : Whatever Takahashi Says
[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus

faflec said:
Fuck it. Fine. I'll add some social stuff to the plan and hope it'll be enough for you madmen.

I actually preferred your plan before. But I'll vote for it anyway because @Dictator4Hire's plan is downright scary. The conservative clans and the general populace shouldn't even know that Keiko acquiring the scroll was ever our idea. For all they know Takahashi approached Keiko about it first.

Still, I don't know why speaking to the elders, let alone all of them, is a good idea. If anything we have spoken too little with the non-elders and people of minor clans in general. You know, people to which speaking to wouldn't be regarded as politicking and who might be more unguarded when it comes to telling us about stuff. Especially religion stuff. I mean there has to be some unguarded village fool with a loose tongue. Preferably more than one though. Do the locals ever go to pubs and drink alcohol?

The only elder I'd want to speak to is Kannagi in order to privately ask him what's up with the betrothal. After all he doesn't know we listened in on the election and we should be wondering why after getting elected he still wants to keep up that charade. And if he actually tells us that he may have changed his mind then we could mention that Noburi doesn't even know anything about his bride's religion and that that is pretty much unacceptable in our own culture.

On that note I want to mention again, why aren't we having Noburi ask Yuno herself about that religion stuff? She trusts him after all and I'm sure he can convince her that that stuff is really important to hm and that it is kind of distressing him that no one in the village wants to tell them anything about it.

This is also the reason why I'd prefer a plan that doesn't last the full 2 weeks. I simply have a feeling that this whole prophecy stuff might be relevant to our long term goals regarding the VHitM.

faflec said:
Pray to Jashin-sama.

This may sound superstitious but can we please remove that from the plan? I know that it's meant as a joke but the QMs might decide to make the joke funny and involving an evil god of evil in funny kinda scares me.

Traiden said:
I don't agree with the current training plans as they don't take into account henge, but don't want to have to try and win everyone over to my side before the vote is over. As it stands I would rather not spend exp for anyone and we will have no time to do any real research with the plan I would like to put my support behind. Next update I will be pushing for more henge though.

You could always vote for a bunch of [] Training Name: Nope. You can even vote for those while voting for your least disliked training plans as well since the game runs on an approval voting system, meaning you can vote for multiple things and have all of your votes count.

Orisha91 · Jun 12, 2016

[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus

Dictator4Hire · Jun 12, 2016

1234qwerty said:
Can't think of how, but it'd be good if the plan somehow addressed Takahashi's request for us to have no more meetings until the trial. It's not a big roadblock, but it's there.

If he makes an ultimatum like that, we can use the next day/update to think of a counter-argument or simply tell him that we are going to meet with the others anyway. Takahashi is not a innocent old man; he coerced Keiko into becoming his apprentice and has held us to that lop-sided agreement ever since.

Rafin said:
I actually preferred your plan before. But I'll vote for it anyway because @Dictator4Hire's plan is downright scary. The conservative clans and the general populace shouldn't even know that Keiko acquiring the scroll was ever our idea. For all they know Takahashi approached Keiko about it first.

Still, I don't know why speaking to the elders, let alone all of them, is a good idea. If anything we have spoken too little with the non-elders and people of minor clans in general. You know, people to which speaking to wouldn't be regarded as politicking and who might be more unguarded when it comes to telling us about stuff. Especially religion stuff. I mean there has to be some unguarded village fool with a loose tongue. Preferably more than one though. Do the locals ever go to pubs and drink alcohol?

The only elder I'd want to speak to is Kannagi in order to privately ask him what's up with the betrothal. After all he doesn't know we listened in on the election and we should be wondering why after getting elected he still wants to keep up that charade. And if he actually tells us that he may have changed his mind then we could mention that Noburi doesn't even know anything about his bride's religion and that that is pretty much unacceptable in our own culture.

On that note I want to mention again, why aren't we having Noburi ask Yuno herself about that religion stuff? She trusts him after all and I'm sure he can convince her that that stuff is really important to hm and that it is kind of distressing him that no one in the village wants to tell them anything about it.

This is also the reason why I'd prefer a plan that doesn't last the full 2 weeks. I simply have a feeling that this whole prophecy stuff might be relevant to our long term goals regarding the VHitM.

The isolationist clans have always been wary of us getting anywhere near their most sacred idol. It would probably be somewhat insulting to them if we didn't want the object they are all obsessed about guarding since it is just that desirable. Also, PPPP has been altered so that it will only last 1 day so that we have time to react to whatever Takahashi and Yuno say. Talking with Kannagi is definitely something we should do, but it should happen in a future update, again after we see how our meeting with Takahashi pans out. I can add a line in about asking Yuno about the religion, but she may take that as a sign Noburi is eager to get the marriage scheduled sooner rather than later. Worth a shot though; I'll add it.

Dictator4Hire · Jun 12, 2016

Edit 6:

Dictator4Hire said:
[X] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems

Goals:

Survive

Explain to Takahashi why the village needs us

Talk with our team about convincing the isolationist people at least to not attack us

Fortify the cave first and the old base in the village second as a fallback option

Begin helping out Yuno with her no friends problem

Learn about what exactly the upcoming summoner trial involves and as many of its important nuances as possible

Spend as little amount of time as possible in doing steps 2-6 above (preferably ~~at least 1 week before the vote for Keiko's trial-thing~~ only one day for this update)

Don't needlessly antagonize the isolationists without at least trying to talk things out like adults

How:

Maintain safety protocols when traveling in the village; use the buddy system just like last time.

Kagome has free reign to fortify the cave and old village base we used to live in as he sees fit and can use team members to help him when those members have nothing more important to do.

The updated plan is now to only have one meeting per day/update, starting with Takahashi. The rest of the meeting plans will be talked about with the team for IC suggestions and critiques. Depending on how each meeting goes, we may need a follow-up update/meeting.

Arrange for a talk with Takahashi ASAP and once the meeting is over, have everyone reconvene back at the cave and end the update, please.

Politely ask if his plan is really just to force the Aida or the Inoue into an unfavorable position for his own political gains. We would rather not have to resort to violence if at all possible; too many people have died already and we do not want any more blood on our hands than is absolutely necessary. Is there nothing we can do to convince the isolationists to attempt something new?

Using this analogy as inspiration/baseline (with a more in depth explanation of its intentions here (Inoue can use her discretion whether or not she thinks the analogy is a good idea)), explain to him how his village will never be truly safe from the outside world if they continue their current policy of absolute isolationism.

Takahashi, if your village does not work with us eventually someone stronger than us will show up and conquer all of you; even without the scroll you are a bunch of valuable chakra-using human resources (that's just how it is, sorry).

If you choose to cooperate symbbiotically with us, we can help improve your defenses, strengthen your secrecy, and smuggle in cool stuff/knowledge from the outside.

You give us a sound foundation to build on and it will be the best decision you ever made.

After that speech, politely yet firmly ask for an audience with every elder we have not had an official meeting with yet (the Aida, both of the Azai cousins, and the Inoue). Inform him that we want to have a supermajority of elders in favor of giving us the scroll rather than only a majority for safety's sake and that we want to be present when the vote for allowing Keiko to take the trial is made.

With every elder we can have a meeting (we want to meet with all of them, starting with our closest allies (after Takahashi) and working our way towads the Inoue and the other isolationists) with (~~or for the sake of sanity/brevity, all of the elders can gather for one meeting or divided as you see fit~~ each meeting will now have its own day), politely highlight the following for discussion amongst our team members:

We originally learned of this village due to a rumor of a long lost summoning scroll

We had no idea of the significance of the scroll in your people's culture. We were under the impression that the summoning scroll had been lost to the ages after its owner had vanished and it would be lying forgotten in some ruins or abandoned library. We just wanted to sign the scroll so that we would have a better chance to survive in the cruel outside world. We are impressed that the village has treated it so well and with the respect that it deserves for so many years.

Surprisingly, when we were attacked by a patrol of ninja who had no known affiliation we were intrigued and decided ~~to let the patrol live rather than kill all of them like they were trying to do to us.~~ we were tired of mindless killing and wanted. We wanted to understand who these people were and if these tapirs were the sapient summon animals we had heard about and wanted to sign a contract with.

If we were not missing-nin, a number of us would have been sent back to our home village to gather an invasion force to conquer and forcibly recruit any survivors in this village.

~~Luckily for all of you,~~ We became missing-nin because one of our superiors decided to force us to secede from our our home by lying to us. Consequently, we will not be hypocrites and force you to do something against your core beliefs: even if the majority of the village wants to give us access to the scroll as per Takahashi's instruction, we will not accept until ~~every elder had consented to allowing us to access the scroll.~~ there is a supermajority in favor of allowing us to access the scroll.

We would also appreciate any insight into your culture and lore that you want to give us; Takahashi mentioned something about Ui's heir that sounds important. We do not claim to be his heir, but we would like to know about him and what makes/made him so special.

Mention that we are open to mutually beneficial arrangements with any clan so long as we retain our autonomy; just as we would not expect the village to concede all of their independence to us, so too do we ask politely to retain our freedom.

Given time enough, we would like to temporarily leave the village. When the elders are willing to let that happen we are willing to discuss reasonable conditions to maintain an acceptable level of secrecy for the village.

If they ask if anyone would notice if we never left the village, mention that we know a seal-master summoner who originally pointed us in the direction of Hidden Mountain. If we never return, he may send stronger people here to see what caused our disappearance.

Alternatively, suggest that said summoner might be able to ascertain if anything is wrong with the village's summoning scroll so long as they consent to him examining their most sacred possession.

Conclude each speech with a modest list of our abilities (if pressed, ask them if they would seriously be willing to list all of their most powerful techniques, weapons, bloodlines, etc.) and allow the elders to ask any questions they want while we answer truthfully.

It's time to open up to the village to begin building real trust; the best way to do that is to truthfully explain our backstory in a empathetic way. Cooperation benefits all of us; attempting to snatch the scroll has only a chance of working. I consider having 50+ ninja allied with us better than a chance at a nonfunctional summoning scroll when we can have them hand it over to us of their own free will at a later time when Keiko is more prepared to take whatever it is the trial is supposed to be.

The following steps can occur over the course of the day as applicable. For longer term projects like preparing for the trial or increasing our cave's defenses, an evaluation of each's viability and time until completion would be appreciated.

When Noburi next goes on a date with Yuno, prep him with the following advice (actually, has he even told the team about Yuno's confession? If not have him tell us about it so there are no misunderstandings):

Before Noburi implements the following, have Hazou stress to him that Hazou is only being so insistent because he doesn't want something bad to happen to Noburi if Yuno really is irredeemably crazy.

Yuno has been isolated in a closed society for years; it's not her fault she was forced to become a loner. Our whole team has been cut off from our own friends and family back home ever since we were betrayed by one of our leaders, Shikigami, and we want to help Yuno out in her own home; you can't replace ~~home~~ the past, but you can make a better future. Anyone on our team can sympathize with Yuno's plight and a few of us have more open hearts than others.

Stress that, while we want to help her, we have to keep our team safe so there can be no psychotic outbursts against anyone even if something goes wrong. We want to help her, but only if we can stay safe while doing so.

Don't prove all of her naysayers right by lashing out; rise above their pettiness and make them wish they had befriended you before.

Have Noburi ask Yuno if she wants to be introduced in a relatively public setting to his completely platonic friend Akane to see if the two girls could become friends.

Sell the idea to Yuno that Akane has no family obligations or orders to be her friend and that she will do so because that's just the kind of person Akane is (if anyone on our team can befriend a lonely yandere, it's Akane).

Noburi should also tell Yuno that, even if the engagement doesn't work out due to meddling elders' decisions, he will still be at least her friend "no matter what."

Ask her about the village's religion as a way to continue the conversation when there is a lull in the conversation.

Have Keiko come up with possible escape routes and contingencies in the event we need to leave the village in a hurry, with a new found emphasis based on what Takahashi said might happen shortly before or during the summoner trial.

Akane and Hazou look into what Akane's Mechanical Aptitude can do currently as she shows it off to him... in a completely chaste, innocent way (looking at you, Mari-sensei)

(It gives Akane something to do at night and I really really want to see what she can do with it besides make caltrops).

Hazou creates and infuses as many storage seals as he can in his spare time.

The time frame for this plan should not exceed one ~~week~~ day at the longest, but can be as short as per the QM's discretion. If actions would take longer than one ~~week~~ day, please suspend them or cancel them as necessary until we, the players, can reassess the situation.

Prepare Keiko for the trial. (copied and pasted from @faflec 's plan)

EVERYONE should brainstorm ways that the trial can play out and how they ought to be solved.

We should take cues from the social and cultural dynamics of Hillbilly Mountain: It's completely possible that Akio passed on his values since they would be tested by the summon, and subsequently integrated into the trial.

Hazou should prepare seals:

Storage scrolls with food, water, medicines, wood, blood, straw decoys, and any other essentials Keiko deems possibly useful. One scroll should be empty in case Keiko needs to store something quickly.

Explosive scrolls (as many as Hazou can plausibly make while maintaining some for himself/the rest of the team) for Keiko to put down and/or throw with weapons.

Noburi should build a second 0.5L barrel for Keiko:

The barrel should contain some 25% CP in the water (details to be discussed).

Noburi should hold this barrel with him at all times to ensure no chakra is lost before the trial.

Noburi should give the barrel to Keiko right before she goes to the trial to minimize the loss of chakra in the water.

Noburi should also give medical checkups on Keiko. Make sure she's healthy, not been poisoned or injured...

Akane should prepare traps and other tools for Keiko, to be held in storage scrolls:

Some type of lock picking kit.

Some manner of caltrops or other method of battlefield denial. These can be explosive if desired (work with Hazou)

Easy-to-set-up tripwires.

Chimes (or equivalent) that rattle (and sound differently) when moved and make noise ONLY after being set up.

An entrenching tool or equivalent (if we don't have that as standard equipment).

Kagome should be encouraged to give Keiko some seals for her use:

Implosion seals to break down tough walls standard explosive tags cannot take out.

Barrier Method Formation (lesser) to be used with explosives.

Emergency Force Wall seals in case Keiko needs a defense or durability-bypassing ability (cut enemy on edge).

Inoue-sensei should instruct Keiko on creative applications of her Zephyr's Reach and weapons skill.

Keiko needs to not break a leg, sprain an ankle, or any other bullshit that can weaken her.

Minimize use of her bloodline unless under Takahashi's training.

Take most of the fortnight to relax but make sure to keep her muscles/brain limber.

Suggest setting up obstacle courses for her to train on with her physical skills + Zephyr's Reach.

Commune with Takahashi on the trial, Yuno, angered Gasai/Inoue/Aida, and other events that may affect these things.

Ask Takahashi more on the trial to help with planning stages.

Ask Takahashi more on the prophecy he hinted at in the last update.

Discuss options on Yuno and angered villagers as seen in other stages of the plan.

Ask Takahashi if Inoue-sensei can sit in on the vote like last time.

Prepare contingencies for betrayal and attempted murder: (also from @faflec )

Test general competence of our ninja guard:

Check their rotation across time, any changes between day/night, hours of shift, cave vs. while we hunt...

See if Inoue can manipulate them.

If angry villagers try to attack us in our base:

We should have two genin (not Keiko!!) or Inoue-sensei on guard. At a minimum.

Run. We should have traps everywhere but if they're confident enough to know this it's likely a village-wide assault. We can weather the initial storm but further attacks are gonna be bad.

If angry villagers try to attack us during training/dates/healing/travel:

We run and stall. MEW, scare-you-away explosives...basically any AOE that scares enemies/keeps them from advancing but does not necessarily kill them.

If they escalate so do we. If the whole village seems to be involved (read: >50% of the people) we go all out.

Send up signals (prepared) to alert our team if we're separated.

Get ready to bugger out of the village.

If people try to force us to marry early, attempt to delay/stall using above plans. Run if failure.

If Takahashi does not announce the vote to let Keiko take the trial, prepare to evac and/or steal the scroll.

Scout the temple, asking Takahashi/Yuno for broad ceremony details (time taken, focus needed, general expectations, etc.).

Edits will be in italics, unless I'm on mobile in which case... I'll see what I can do.

first major edits credit to @Jello_Raptor and @Cariyaga

second edit courtesy of @Cariyaga regarding telling Takahashi about wanting a supermajority

third edit based on @faflec 's and others concerns that we were not being respectful enough to the village elders when we were talking about how we first heard about the scroll.

fourth edit mostly cannibalizing parts of Becoming Aristobulus by @faflec because he is better at betrayal prep than me and I am not afraid to admit that. Also, added in a line about insisting to be present to hear the vote for whether Keiko's trial will be officially sanctioned

fifth edit for a shorter update time as per @Jello_Raptor's suggestions

sixth edit with @Rafin 's note involving learning about the village religion from Yuno

TenebrousDreamer · Jun 12, 2016

zap lunch

Velorien · Jun 12, 2016

Cariyaga said:
Could we Technique Hack that?

Nope. If that were possible, somebody would have done it by now because of the sheer incredible rewards involved. Power-level Technique Hacking, power-level clone techniques, have your own instant Bloodline Limit clan. Fancy Uchiha Itachi with a couple dozen Mangekyō Sharingan clones? Each of whom can use Amaterasu, Susano'o and Izanagi?

Cariyaga said:
By the way, you realize based on the XP changes you've doomed Velorien to extensive plans?

The exact specification was active, well-thought-out plans. Nothing about length in there.

I don't yet know how I can justify, in a fair and rational quest, bad things happening to people who write unmanageably long plans, but if I have to, I will come up with something. Exhaustion penalties from overwork within a short time period, maybe.

The quest needs to be fun for everyone. As soon as the quest stops being fun for the QMs, they get worse at running it, and the updates they write decrease in quality. Then everyone suffers. I'm not saying that to be manipulative, merely to make an objective statement about how people work.

I'm just speaking for myself here, of course. If @eaglejarl has the patience to deal with incredibly long plans, more power to him.

1234qwerty said:
@faflec @eaglejarl @Velorien Would you mind answering a few questions when you can get to them? I don't know if this had been asked before, but can we use substitution through a small peephole giving us line of sight, but not large enough for us to physically fit through? Also, does vampiric dew work faster with more water contact? And would Hazou be able to communicate back with Noburi through draining mist if he used dispel to spike his chakra? Thanks

Substitution is restricted to locations which you could realistically reach through normal movement - for calculations like this, you can think of it as a light speed movement technique that does its own pathing. This is in line with the original concept of the technique:

1) The user dodges to create distance between himself and the spot being targeted.
2) The user places an inanimate object where he was.
3) The attacker's senses are briefly confused by the speed at which this is done, causing them to think that the object is the user right up until the moment the attack connects.

But Kishimoto has his substitutes do things like holding a coherent conversation up until the exact point when they are destroyed by damage and their true nature is revealed. In order for this to make sense, we've interpreted the technique as "the user himself is present until the very last moment, when he uses ninjutsu to move out of the way by instantly swapping places with an inanimate object".

Vampiric Dew does work faster with more water, but you need to scale it up a fair bit - e.g. half or full immersion vs being bound by a Water Whip or some such.

Dispel spikes chakra inside your body, and more specifically your brain, without changing the overall amount. Draining mist does not provide the kind of information Noburi would need to make use of this, only the presence and (at higher levels) vague scale of the chakra.

eaglejarl said:
All five tags are unprotected, actually. Destroying / removing the center one destroys the barrier instantly. Destroying / removing the others weakens it proportionate to the numbers of supporting seals destroyed.

@eaglejarl isn't around to discuss this with right now, but actually the the centre tag benefits from the protection of the technique. The entire point of the technique is to force the enemy to find and destroy as many supporting tags as they can in order to weaken/remove the effect of the central tag.

This may be retconned if @eaglejarl turns up and tells me I've missed something important that causes the above to not make sense.

Rafin said:
This may sound superstitious but can we please remove that from the plan? I know that it's meant as a joke but the QMs might decide to make the joke funny and involving an evil god of evil in funny kinda scares me.

Didn't @eaglejarl just tell you people to stop reading the gorram story notes?

Fun fact: in Japanese, "Jashin" literally means "wicked god", and is a category rather than an individual. In other words, based on the very limited canon evidence we have, Jashin-sama is essentially the anthropomorphic (deimorphic?) representation of evil as interpreted by Hidan, as opposed to a deity with its own mythos and historical roots.

MadScientist · Jun 12, 2016

Okay. Well that's a thing.

Because people have been unvoting Just What the Doctor Ordered when voting for High Sugar level
(shameless plug, by the way:

MadScientist said:
[X] Training Noburi: High Sugar Level

Water Whip 14 [14/16]
Syrup Trap 1 [14.5/16]
Medic Fund +1 [15.5/16]
Another water jutsu 1 if we can't bank half XP (Noburi's choice between the jutsu Mari actually knows and is willing to teach) [16/16]

) the research plan, which has gotten a couple more votes, is now in the lead. It doesn't add anything to our combat ability even if all the tests come up positive (and there's no guaruntee any of them will), given that we currently have no way of generating mist in combat (which we would need to drain chakra as the enemy is forming a technique, unless they and Noburi happen to be ankle-deep in water) and Noburi wasn't going to run out of chakra unless he fought the entire village on his own (he has 241 chakra points!), so these things about draining his own water clones are pretty useless.

I mean, sure. Research it at some point. But right now the Aida are sending assassins after us and we should really focus on our immediate survival.

The research doesn't help there.

Water Whip and Syrup Trap would.

Rafin · Jun 12, 2016

Velorien said:
In other words, based on the very limited canon evidence we have, Jashin-sama is essentially the anthropomorphic (deimorphic?) representation of evil as interpreted by Hidan, as opposed to a deity with its own mythos and historical roots.

Praying to Generikou Evil-sama in a world where things like Sealcrafting is a thing still seems too risky to me when happening in an actual plan. Just too many ways to write that into a story post, even if it's just Keiko witnessing us and mentioning that some otherworldy entity she learned about in training has already left an acausal response to our prayer in an ancient scroll.

It's simple really. In such situations you should just ask yourself "WWKD?".

Muer'ci · Jun 12, 2016

[X] Training Noburi: High Sugar Level
[X] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems

MadScientist · Jun 12, 2016

[X] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems

faflec · Jun 12, 2016

@Muer'ci @MadScientist ARE YOU CRAZY WE'RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEE

HIS PLAN LITERALLY TELLS US TO TELL THE ISOLATIONISTS WE'RE HERE FOR THEIR SCROLL AND AIEEEEEEEEE

Cariyaga · Jun 12, 2016

Velorien said:
I don't yet know how I can justify, in a fair and rational quest, bad things happening to people who write unmanageably long plans, but if I have to, I will come up with something. Exhaustion penalties from overwork within a short time period, maybe.

Oh, no worries, I was teasing. We might have to occasionally give you a long plan, but it won't be a habit.

faflec · Jun 12, 2016

Jello_Raptor said:
@faflec:

I'd like to see both a time limit on your plan ("Please don't let this take more than X days") and asking for an explicit countdown from the QMs as to when the council of elders takes place.

[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus

@Dictator4Hire:

For me to vote for your plan, I'd have to see the suggestions I made earlier and most of sections 2 and 5 from @faflec's plan (prepare keiko, and prepare for betrayal) incorporated into your plan.

Added.

*sighs*

[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus
We have 2 weeks before the shitstorm that is actually getting the summoning scroll. So let's make sure we don't start the shitstorm early, and prepare ourselves fully for the shitstorm and ~~possible~~inevitable betrayals.

Ideally this update should end within a week, at most. If it takes less time, great! End the update early; if it takes a bit more time, that's ok as well.

Goals:

Survive.

Avoid serious village interaction.

Prepare Keiko for the trial.

Figure out how to deal with Yuno.

Try to set up talks with members of the other elder clans.

Prepare contingencies for if Takahashi/Kannagi/others betray us and/or start shit.

Train/research.

Pray to Jashin-sama.

Methods:

Minimize interaction with the village outside of required communications and meetings.

Sustain ourselves fully on hunted meatstuffs, Condense Water + streamwater, and heat from Elemental Mastery + furs + fire.

We should have a metric shitton of this stuff, but if we're low we should stock up.

Whenever Keiko goes to train, she goes with Inoue and Hazou.

Noburi can set time to heal the villagers OR go on a date with Yuno ONLY when Keiko's not doing training. Make sure we have minimum separation of individuals.

Inoue has to (read: pretty please sensei?) tail Noburi with the expectation of a sneak attack from pissed off Gasai or other religious fanatics.

During healing sessions, comment on how nice it is for Keiko to finally have a Wind Release tutor and/or someone else who shares her interests in ninjutsu theory.

If asked, cite paranoia from angry Gasai revenge + desire to avoid another Kouta situation.

Prepare Keiko for the trial.

EVERYONE should brainstorm ways that the trial can play out and how they ought to be solved.

We should take cues from the social and cultural dynamics of Hillbilly Mountain: It's completely possible that Akio passed on his values since they would be tested by the summon, and subsequently integrated into the trial.

Hazou should prepare seals:

Storage scrolls with food, water, medicines, wood, blood, straw decoys, and any other essentials Keiko deems possibly useful. One scroll should be empty in case Keiko needs to store something quickly.

Explosive scrolls (as many as Hazou can plausibly make while maintaining some for himself/the rest of the team) for Keiko to put down and/or throw with weapons.

Noburi should build a second 0.5L barrel for Keiko:

The barrel should contain some 25% CP in the water (details to be discussed).

Noburi should hold this barrel with him at all times to ensure no chakra is lost before the trial.

Noburi should give the barrel to Keiko right before she goes to the trial to minimize the loss of chakra in the water.

Noburi should also give medical checkups on Keiko. Make sure she's healthy, not been poisoned or injured...

Akane should prepare traps and other tools for Keiko, to be held in storage scrolls:

Some type of lock picking kit.

Some manner of caltrops or other method of battlefield denial. These can be explosive if desired (work with Hazou)

Easy-to-set-up tripwires.

Chimes (or equivalent) that rattle (and sound differently) when moved and make noise ONLY after being set up.

An entrenching tool or equivalent (if we don't have that as standard equipment).

A backpack(s) to hold stuff in case storage seals aren't allowed.

Kagome should be encouraged to give Keiko some seals for her use:

Implosion seals to break down tough walls standard explosive tags cannot take out.

Barrier Method Formation (lesser) to be used with explosives.

Emergency Force Wall seals in case Keiko needs a defense or durability-bypassing ability (cut enemy on edge).

Inoue-sensei should instruct Keiko on creative applications of her Zephyr's Reach and weapons skill.

Keiko needs to not break a leg, sprain an ankle, or any other bullshit that can weaken her.

Minimize use of her bloodline unless under Takahashi's training.

Take most of the fortnight to relax but make sure to keep her muscles/brain limber.

Suggest setting up obstacle courses for her to train on with her physical skills + Zephyr's Reach.

Commune with Takahashi on the trial, Yuno, angered Gasai/Inoue/Aida, and other events that may affect these things.

Ask Takahashi more on the trial to help with planning stages.

Ask Takahashi more on the prophecy he hinted at in the last update.

Discuss options on Yuno and angered villagers as seen in other stages of the plan.

Ask Takahashi if Inoue-sensei can sit in on the vote like last time.

Figure out how to deal with Yuno.

Discuss ALL Yuno-based plans with Takahashi and the rest of our team before coming to a concensus. We want minimum bloodshed (as required by Takahashi's agreement).

Discuss the viability of Noburi needing to do something before being allowed to marry:

Kill an enemy combatant (read: ninja) in actual combat (not an execution).

Discuss heavily: Noburi still has to learn the final bits of medical ninjutsu before being officially called a master.

Discuss the viability of Noburi not meeting the requirements of Hillbilly Mountain's culture:

Noburi has shed blood and been stained by blood before. Hillbilly Mountain has a serious hemophobia issue and this may be grounds to cancel the marriage, if Yuno's pariah status is any indication.

Discuss the viability of getting the Kannagi disgraced and forcing them to cancel the marriage.

Discuss the viability of other ways of convincing Kannagi to cancel the marriage himself.

Try to set up talks between Inoue and members of the other elder clans:

We can discuss with Takahashi the merit to doing these things.

Speak with the Inoue/Aida as students wanting to learn from the master (i.e., we want to learn your ways).

We speak under our terms (i.e., we don't go to their house to get poisoned).

Try to placate them and make assurances we're decent people who are gladdened to have the chance to settle with the village (hah).

We would also appreciate any insight into your culture and lore that you want to give us since we're uncultured but willing to learn.

Speak with the Kannagi about Yuno.

Point out that Yuno's behavior and history suggests that she will not respond well to the marriage being cut off.

Emphasize that if you (the Kannagi head) end the marriage she may respond violently to you, which would cast doubt on you if you can't control your own family.

Suggest that if Noburi ends the marriage Yuno's anger will be directed at us, instead; it casts less doubt on your position since all the fault lies on us.

Also suggest that if there is a cultural reason for you to break the marriage that even Yuno can't contest (e.g., Noburi has blood on his hands) the marriage can be ended with risk of violence.

Speak with the Yoshida to apologize.

When we first arrived, Hazou inadvertently insulted the Yoshida by insinuating they didn't know anything about seals. Hazou formally apologizes to the Yoshida clan head for the slight. As apologies Hazou offers to share his knowledge of his storage and explosive seals to the Yoshida, without reservation.

This allows us to keep the Yoshida from hating us (for ignoring/insulting her), offering her seals (but she already knew we have these), and keeping her pacified.

Prepare contingencies for betrayal and attempted murder:

Test general competence of our ninja guard:

Check their rotation across time, any changes between day/night, hours of shift, cave vs. while we hunt...

See if Inoue can manipulate them.

If angry villagers try to attack us in our base:

We should have two genin (not Keiko!!) or Inoue-sensei on guard. At a minimum.

Run. We should have traps everywhere but if they're confident enough to know this it's likely a village-wide assault. We can weather the initial storm but further attacks are gonna be bad.

If angry villagers try to attack us during training/dates/healing/travel:

We run and stall. MEW, scare-you-away explosives...basically any AOE that scares enemies/keeps them from advancing but does not necessarily kill them.

If they escalate so do we. If the whole village seems to be involved (read: >50% of the people) we go all out.

Send up signals (prepared) to alert our team if we're separated.

Get ready to bugger out of the village.

If people try to force us to marry early, attempt to delay/stall using above plans. Run if failure.

If Takahashi does not announce the vote to let Keiko take the trial, prepare to evac and/or steal the scroll.

Scout the temple, asking Takahashi/Yuno for broad ceremony details (time taken, focus needed, general expectations, etc.).

Train/research.

This is a reminder.

Pray to ~~Jashin-sama~~our local deities.

Count down to when the trial is meant to take place.

faflec · Jun 12, 2016

Dictator4Hire said:
He has already made backroom dealings with other elders we were not aware of; Aida Rin even entered to discuss in private with him and forced us to cut our meeting short. All he has to do is tell Keiko "Now is the time for you to complete the trial" and not tell the other council members about his plan to get us the scroll; he could have lied about securing enough votes to pass the motion. He could have told the elders that he has been trying to control our over eager appetite for power by giving us harmless techniques, but he fears that we will soon attempt to steal the scroll in our impatience as barbarians.

We get caught with our hands in the cookie jar, the whole village sees us do it, and we are in a bad position to defend ourselves outside of our cave. It would be the best possible position for them to attack us from.

If he had those backroom dealings why schedule a meeting with Aida Rin so close to our schedule? Surely even she has to acknowledge that it would seem suspicious to let them be seen discussing things in private, and would willingly reschedule to a reasonable time.

Cariyaga · Jun 12, 2016

...Actually, your plan's sufficiently social for me to like it now. Good job on the fusion dance, faflec.

[-] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems
[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus

MadScientist · Jun 12, 2016

Cariyaga said:
...Actually, your plan's sufficiently social for me to like it now. Good job on the fusion dance, faflec.

[-] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems
[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus

Yeah, I had the same problem.

[-] Action Plan: Proper Politics Prevent Problems
[X] Action Plan: Becoming Aristobulus

faflec · Jun 12, 2016

Added this thing to the plan, make sure we don't give people a reason to claim weregild or something:

We make sure our actions aren't seen as insulting, antagonistic, and otherwise putting ourselves in a position where they can make demands of us as according to their culture.

If anyone else has suggestions to add or change please for the love of God tell me. I won't pretend to be good at this.

In fact, I might cannibalize some more parts...

Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Handsome Gentleperson

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