So... ten feathers clearly doesn't like being made to wait and I do think that we should figure out what Diamond is up to so.... lets call in that robbery. When else are we going to use it. As long as she knows what she's walking into. We need a bit more time before they go on alert over there. Maybe acquire a bit more gear first. Figure out what the midnight tales are up to and if it affects Diamond. [x] Save it for when you've got a better target
[x] TEN FEATHERS
PICK ONE
-[x] If you're going to buy them dinner you should find out what they like. Maybe a gift or something will help keep them off your back. -[x] So. That was a thing. They sounded like they'd had partners before? Ask around, find out just how screwed you are.
I am so not sure if we are better off not knowing what happened to Ten Feather's previous partners but Sharell seems too inquisitive to not want to know after they brought it up like they did.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] You've got some of their secrets in a little black book and apparently a mandate from their boss. Demand they tell you everything.
Write-In for Midnight tales
So... we should at least try a little. I do not think that just getting them out of trouble with the despot will complete our bargain. It will let them survive but lets try to go big or go home right? I wonder if we should let them know that Ten Feathers, and by extension the Despot, knows about the even more secret ledgers. Instead of just the secret ledgers. Force them into a bit of daring?
[x] TEN FEATHERS
PICK ONE
-[x] If you're going to buy them dinner you should find out what they like. Maybe a gift or something will help keep them off your back.
-[x] So. That was a thing. They sounded like they'd had partners before? Ask around, find out just how screwed you are.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] You've got some of their secrets in a little black book and apparently a mandate from their boss. Demand they tell you everything.
...hmmm, it made more sense for the Ten Feathers choices to be Pick One when one of the choices was having them murdered. Fair enough on choosing both!
[x] TEN FEATHERS
PICK ONE
-[x] If you're going to buy them dinner you should find out what they like. Maybe a gift or something will help keep them off your back. -[x] So. That was a thing. They sounded like they'd had partners before? Ask around, find out just how screwed you are.
[x] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[x] You've got some of their secrets in a little black book and apparently a mandate from their boss. Demand they tell you everything.
I am not against lighting a bit of fire under their asses and making them work for their survival, only providing the safety net when they are out of options. I am willing to use a favor the Guild owes us, or our audience with Despot to bail them out, but I don't want to commit to it before they had to lift a finger.
I am more conflicted about what Steals should target. On one hand, a bit of recon could make our preparations easier. On another, a paranoid guy like Diamond could take it as a warning sign instead of yet another visit by a thief, and it could complicate our job.
Does anyone have a good idea of what we could do to prepare for the heist? Or even whom we want to tag along?
So I'm thinking Steals can do prep. I am banking a little on that she is as good as she claims she is and they will not notice until we have are going to go by in the morning together with Ten. Lets try and be serious about the partner thing? Unless there is any good reason not to based on what Ten finds out.
If I understand you correctly, you want Steals doing prep on the night of the heist, and you are voting for it this turn. That means that you want to forego preparation and recruiting phase, as those would likely take us at least a day. Not sure I am sold on going in there unprepared.
Or am I misunderstanding something?
My thinking is, we spend the next day on preparation and recruiting (what do we want to prepare for? whom do we want to recruit?), then send her in, then come over ourselves if she didn't get spotted.
...wouldn't Niall's rats be better at the scouting game anyway?
I forgot about that part of the prep. Maybe the ghost speaking would be useful if they have the Yasal crystals in there? However in terms of fighting I am not at all sure how much Sharell could learn about fighting in a short bit of time that would be useful.
Sharell is good with fighting unfairly. Perhaps the Merchant can get another visit. He has an auto-aiming sword, fire daggers that light up on contact, as well as more subtle weapons and implements.
Alternatively, we could bring in a fighting force if we believe conflict is inevitable. Of people who know how to fight, we only know Raicho and... Red, perhaps?
I'd rather we sneak in, disabling the guards along the way, though. Maybe the Merchant has charms to that effect as well...
Sneaking in and disabling guards one by one seems like something we would need a charm for. I do not see is do that on our own. Maybe we are better off making a distraction like an explosion or an interesting altercation to watch. And then doing things in the chaos.
But I removed my vote for sending in our thief now l. You convinced me we might need just a little bit longer.
Feathers 4 (Partners and Gifts 4)
Tales 4 (Everything 3, Everything and Save Them (Guild) 1) Save the Robbery Favor 4
You're woken by someone hammering hard on your front door and you scramble straight for the smoke bomb you kept on the floor by your bed. Or at least where it should be, Leviathan has made a habit of rolling them off into the stack of books you've temporarily inherited and it seems once again the cat has done its mischief while you slept.
Wearing the bedsheets like a cloak you're halfway to your coat when there's the sound of clicking and the door swings open, a familiar figure standing in the doorway with a sinister grin.
You bunch up the bedsheets and give them such a look. "I'm going to get a fire wand specifically so I can shoot you."
Steals Kisses barks a laugh and slips in, pushing the door back behind her.
"The sun's been up a whole hour! I was worried you'd died," she says, completely ignoring the whole bed sheet situation she's caused. "I came out of concern!"
"Or maybe some kind of trained snake. One that both chokes and bites," you say as you finish off tying the sheets, "to occupy you while I beat you with a stick."
"Someone's got awfully lazy now she has a little money," she says with a grin, looking you over, "and now you're wearing fancy dresses too? You've changed, Sharell."
"Like you'd even give me time to change," you huff. "Why are you here Steals? Also make tea. Your penance will be tea."
She doesn't argue, braided hair swishing behind her as she swoops towards the kettle. She stops to glance about, leaning to check under your bed and then peering suspiciously at the big stack of books.
Intelligence 4 + Perception 3 = 5 successes. The wheels are already spinning.
"Looking for something?" you ask innocently as you try to surreptitiously change while she isn't looking.
"Mmm?" Steals says as she goes back to putting the kettle on. "Oh no, nothing. Just you got a lot of new things here"
"So you didn't come all this way just to see my cat?"
She whips round and sweeps her arms out, "Sharell! We're old friends, I would never do such a trivial thing to upset you."
"You taught me that trick the day before yesterday," you say, quite enjoying how she goes from a charming smile to a nervously guilty one. She deserves it for getting you up early.
"Well at least I know I'm a good teacher," she says with a shrug, it's hard to properly shame someone the stars had decided to call 'Steals Kisses'.
"They're in the book stacks, you can get them out of there then you can fuss them all you like. I'm going to get ready for the day, so have fun with it."
...
Drying off your hair from the washbowl, you were about ready to forgive Steals as you watch her fuss over Leviathan, the cat sprawled out on her lap quite enjoying all the attention.
"He saved my life you know?" you say as you grab a seat nearby on the floor. "Or at least made it a lot less trouble for a bit. Ten Feathers nearly ran right over me when I'd rather she didn't and he caused a distraction."
"Good teamwork!" Steals says to the purring heap in her lap. "You do so much better with a partner."
"Trying to recruit me for crimes again?"
"I'm persistent!" Steals says, beaming at you, "I'll wear you down someday, we really did make a good team.."
"Well I am taken," you say, hand to your heart "I have a partner at last."
It takes a lot to get Steal Kisses' attention away from Leviathan but you've managed it, she's all ears.
"It's uh… well also Ten Feathers. We're teaming up."
"Stake me out in the sun if you're not a liar. You and Ten Feathers? How would that even happen?" she says, head cocked to one side leaving her braids free game for Leviathan to try to claw.
"It's true! I said their hair was nice and then we became partners. Somehow. I think I missed a step to it honestly."
She snorts. "You flirted at them so hard they wanted to solve crimes with you?"
"No! It wasn't like that," you say, pausing. Wincing. "Well it was, but I'm pretty sure that's not the actual reason. They're a lot you know?"
Steals nods, "I sure do, they near scared me straight. Speaking of straight, are they? You know?"
"What?"
"Like… what are they?"
You know what she's asking, you just don't have any answers that will satisfy her. You go with, "pretty?"
Steals gives you a very put upon look, but you're too busy blushing.
"You pick the worst people to fall for," Steals says, her head being tugged down by Leviathan who has got his claws in a braid finally and is having a lot of fun pulling on it. Once again saving you from having to confront things you're not sure you want to. "You know the stories about her right? How she's never had a partner longer than a season?"
"I have heard hints, what happens to them?"
"Well they're both a terror for everybody for about a week and then they have a spectacular falling out. I'm talking things on fire and people running and screaming spectacular."
"Ten does do that," you nod. "But why's it always go so bad? I mean beyond them being a little too eager to threaten people with death."
"Well you won't believe this, but I actually was going out with one of her old partners for a while."
"You dated someone who had Ten Feathers as an Ex?"
"Hey you don't get to talk, you're actually doing it!"
"Not a date, partners! Different!"
"Pff, sure it is," Steals says, waving it off and finally managing to disentangle her braid from Leviathan's claws. "Anyway was this big guy called Bronzed Anvil. All muscles, rough and tumble."
"So you, but taller and a guy?"
"Be mean and I won't tell you the story. Anyway he said that they did this whole thing where they'd act more refined around him, like a real fancy noble you know? While he was this big gruff bruiser who did all the thinking with his fists, or at least I think that's what Ten Feathers wanted? They tried to get him to soften up a bit and leave being menacing to them and he bit back and said he was bigger so he should be the one to put the scare on people. Huge blow out from it all, left him tied up half naked on a cart to the Lap and it took him a whole month to get back."
"Half-naked?"
"Yeah I really wanted to know which half but he wouldn't tell me."
"Is that why you broke up?"
"Well that and he was going to figure out I wasn't going to college in my spare time eventually. I broke it off before he tried to break bits of me off. Lawmen, you know."
You shake your head, Steals Kisses' love life was certainly not for the faint-hearted.
"So yeah, anyway they're all kind of like that? Ten Feathers wants it one way, the partner pushes back and then bam! A very entertaining public fight and sometimes they get away with all the hair they started with."
"Ten's going to burn my hair off?"
Steals pats your arm, "if it helps your hair's a mess anyway."
"You woke me up! I'm going to brush it in a bit," you grumble, "so what does Ten like then? I'd like to at least last longer than a week."
"Now that's a good question. I mean the Hound loves picking fights and rubbing people's noses in their own messes."
"I've been in a fight with them, maybe something a little less intense?"
"You are telling me that story after. I don't really know Ten Feathers that well, though? Bronzed Anvil didn't talk about them all that much. I think he mentioned going to a fancy theater?"
You might have enough money to have a nice house now but you cannot afford a highbrow theater habit; it'd be cheaper to start on cocaine. You must be making a face because Steals quickly offers, "I guess I do see them when the puppeteers come by?"
"They like puppets?" you say apprehensively, worried this may open a whole new special layer of terrifying personality traits for Ten Feathers to possess.
"She more glares at the crowd, I don't really get why."
Intelligence 4 + Investigation 4 = 6 successes. You know Ten Feathers a bit too well by now.
"I got to be their partner when they said I should pick my role. Maybe they're only listening to the stories, so they don't need to watch?"
"Puppet stories? I mean they're not half bad, but without the puppets seems a bit lame."
"Well you came here at the break of dawn to pet a cat, people can be lame about the things they enjoy."
"Hey, there's nothing lame about this cat," Steals says, giving Leviathan a tummy rub and getting her arms clawed for her trouble. She takes it pretty well, just bouncing a finger off their nose and baring her teeth before going back to it, Leviathan frozen in shock at the sheer nerve.
"I didn't say the cat was, but thanks. This might have helped?"
"Great! Almost being helpful is what I aspire to," she says, "speaking of, you thought about what you want for that favour?"
"Yeah," you nod, "but give me a little to be sure? I don't want to waste your time."
"Very kind of you, I can wait. But as a penalty for taking so long when you come ask you gotta bring Leviathan."
"Why don't you get your own cat?"
"Because I can bother you all the time to see yours, far more fun," she smirks "And you got to do all the cleaning up after it."
"Clean up after everyone's mess," you grumble. "Leviathan's been the least trouble of the two of you."
It's not just Teleji you're meeting with this time. From the time you tossed the dreamstone onto the table at the Trading House of the Midnight Tales and demanded to know everything until now was something of a whirlwind of activity, and now you're sitting at the head of a long table with men worth more than you'll ever see in a lifetime at your beck and call. Most have cups and the smell of some kind of bitter beverage tickles your nostrils and tired eyes look from you to the dreamstone, now set in a place of honor in front of you.
One of the more bleary-eyed merchants is particularly tetchy about being awoken for an emergency meeting with a small girl in a long coat. "Who the hell are you?"
"Sharell Zenteno. The latest partner to Ten Feathers and the only thing between you and them right now," you say with a satisfied smile as you see the reaction to the name drop ripple out across their ashen faces.
"Your boss gave me a job, after a fashion. To save all of your butts but also to give you back the fire of your forefathers. I have to say, I really have my work cut out for me."
"Why in Ahlat's name should we believe that?"
You pick up the Dream Salesman's dreamstone and spin it like a ball on the table, throwing rainbow lights all over the chamber.
"If you want to ask him, he's only a quick nap away, right? You look like you could use it anyway."
There are grumbles, but this seems like authority enough to give you the floor.
"I'm getting paid a lot for this," they do seem to actually relax at this. It's depressing how they can trust money so much more easily than people but that's hardly an uncommon trait in Gem, "but I have a lot of other plates spinning in the air so I'll only say this once."
You slam your fists down on the table, which makes rather less of a noise than you'd hoped but the quiet of the room makes it sound dramatic anyway. "Tell. Me. Everything."
Manipulation 3 + Presence 1 = 2 successes. We do not learn a lot of irrelevant mercantile details. Maybe a few, though.
"Everything" turns out to be a lot and needs the occasional gentle coaxing from you as you let spill more and more of what you know about the Midnight Tales' shady dealings. The Dream Salesman turns out to be Makarios the Sigil's Dreamer, a fellow that's more than a little notorious in the right circles (which do not involve yours by any stretch of the imagination). An actual demon of hell, but a friendlier one than most of his ilk because he's genuinely fascinated with human dreams and tends to want to trade to acquire them rather than stealing. Still not nice, and the Tales seem more than a little afraid of him on top of all the other forces coming down on them like a hammer, but the fact that he's hired you to save them is a hopeful sign - apparently their other entreaties for aid didn't go so well.
It used to be that the Sigil's Dreamer took dreams by branding people with his sigil, often against their will. But the Midnight Tales had revolutionised the business many years ago by instead branding dreamstones that came back to them with anything Makarios would be interested in. More selective and far less coercive, which meant business was brisker and the money had just piled up when their cult's objectives had finally aligned with the business'. That it was the right thing to do wasn't a reason they had, but you're expecting that by now.
"That's fascinating and all," you say as they start to go into a lengthy description of how they built the business even further, "but let's talk about something relevant to what we're doing. Did you kill Guild Prince Cheshago?"
The sounds of dissent are immediate, you've already got them primed to unload their secrets and now they're just pouring forth.
"No!"
"Of course not!"
"Didn't get the chance!"
"Went and hired the people to make it happen and then he keeled over inside our own house!"
You're thinking about punching the table again. "Wait, wait. So you tried?"
"No, no," one that's thoroughly balding sputters, "it's like when you try to pay off an official, and he says no, it's no harm, no foul. There's no crime called attempted bribery!"
You pinch the bridge of your nose instead, "yes there is, that's still bribery. Also attempted murder is absolutely a crime."
"Not even attempted!" a smaller one pipes up, "it's not a crime to plot to do something like that, right?"
Dragons give you strength. "Let me get this straight. You paid people."
"Yes!"
"To commit a crime for you."
"That's right."
"But it didn't happen."
"Correct."
"But not for lack of trying."
"Yes! See? We're totally blameless in all this."
"No," you stress, "it is in fact a crime to hire people to commit crimes for you, even if it turns out that they didn't successfully commit them." Makarios wants you to turn these people into brave and fiery explorers? You really are going to earn that payment. "Why?"
They look nervously at each other. "He was going to destroy Gem's dreams," comes the consensus after a moment.
"Wait, what? How would he even do that?" you ask, holding back your own suspicions for now. Just like with Ten Feathers you're particularly wary about letting people know about the Vault, the last thing you need is even more people trying to claim it for themselves.
"We don't know, exactly. But we had his dreams about it."
"So what?" This is a headache of a conversation and is only going to get more so the deeper you dig into it. "I've dreamed all kinds of weird stuff, it doesn't mean anything. I think I've dreamed about picking up the volcano and running with it, doesn't mean you need to start strapping down all your vases."
"Ma'am," there's one with thinning black hair who makes the motion of taking off his hat respectfully, even though he is not currently wearing a hat. "We know our dreams. We know the heights and the depths that a person can get to in their imagination. A dream of killing absolutely everyone in the world with a smile on your face and a song in your heart is something we get about once every other week. We don't judge."
"Except this time," you say immediately.
"Except this time," he agrees.
"Okay. That brings us back to: why?"
Another round of glances around the table. "There's a city far to the North, called Paragon."
Intelligence 4 + Lore 3 = 5 successes. Yeah, you've heard of it.
"Yeah it's this kind of magic slave city, right? The ruler found some kind of ancient treasure that binds everybody to his will. Ah, helltits, you're saying Cheshago found something like that?!"
They look at each other with what for the first time looks like approval - apparently they'd thought they'd have to spend a lot more time explaining that particular tangent. "He thought so, at least. Dreamt of seeing every man, woman and child brought to their knees before him. There's a… it's hard to describe in Firetongue. A texture to dreams that a man can make real, a richness to it that the experienced can't miss. A place like Paragon, a place of complete regimented order and servile existence is as dry as the desert for dreams. All people ever aspire to is to live another day no worse than the last and the fears, well, they all only have one fear. Now somewhere like Gem, where you can dream of the highest heights and achieve them, have nightmares of losing everything you have at a moment's notice - a place with enough chaos like this is a paradise for Makarios' business, and ours."
It's understandable, but something rankles you about the idea that Gem and Paragon are really so different. Everyone in Gem lives in fear of the Despot's judgement and he never needed magic to enforce his rule. If the only difference is that you can break the rules for a while until reality catches up with you really enough to make it out to be a paradise? Paragon may have an inescapable law, but in Gem it sneaks up on you eventually.
"There was something else too… we probably shouldn't show you if you're not willing to go as deep as-"
"I said tell me everything. Is this about what's behind your secret door?"
"How do you-" you have managed to befuddle the senior merchants of the Midnight Tales. It's a good sign if you're going to whip them into shape, and in this moment you channel all the Ten Feathers you can and look improbably smug.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm actually rather good at my job. Show me, and just maybe I'll try to dig you out of this deep hole you're so proud of."
...
You had a lot of ideas about what might be behind the secret door in the Trading House of the Midnight Tales. Given what they had just revealed, you were half expecting a door to Hell that demons were going to start pouring through at any second.
What you aren't expecting is an Orrery of Gem, with a ball of dreamstone glittering with bright lights suspended on a golden rail circling a darker cluster of dreamstones. The cluster bleeds the colours out of the room as they roll gently along thin golden wires in a quiet dance with their partners. Gem itself is made up of every other colour, twinkling blues for the cliffs and deep glowing reds for the heart of the mountain with a great market set into the Caldera of swirling greens and vivid purples. It makes your head swim even looking at it, the riot of colours and some strange other unbidden feelings that swirl in your gut intense enough that you have to look away before you completely lose both your balance and your lunch.
"There's a bit of an art to it," Teleji is holding a lantern for you, "to communing with the dreams of a whole city. But you get a feeling for what people are thinking, what they're feeling, even better than they know themselves. We use it to get a feel for heartbeat of Gem and it provides… opportunities."
"You mean you use it to make money," you say. The rainbow lights shining from the Orrery are reflected from the lantern to form an enormous kaleidoscope against the wall - reds, greens, blues, oranges dance like fires. Far less disorientating to look at than the clusters themselves and absolutely breathtaking to watch.
"And warn us about threats, but… yes."
Intelligence 4 + Investigation 4 = 2 successes. Gonna need a little more.
"So why aren't you the secret masters of Gem with this setup, if you can peer into everyone's minds?" You have to admit that if they really tried at it they'd have a better bead on the mood of Gem than the Despot or the Houses could, well, dream of.
"Oh, no, that would be incredibly dangerous!" Teleji looks alarmed at once, "And to what end? A nudge here and nudge there maybe if it's needed to keep the city running, but why would we want to upset everything when it was all working so smoothly. Better for everyone this way."
It's practical, but there's a real lack of ambition there. Is that what Makarios meant? That you should push them to take the mantle? No, probably not. He wanted fire in their bellies, not to throw them head first to their deaths trying to take the city from the grip of the Despot. Dream vision or not, these people just aren't cut out for it, Makarios picked them because they knew how to deliver dreams to him - maybe the problem is they've gotten slack about trying to expand that any further?
"If you can use this display to warn you about threats, why didn't you see this trouble of yours coming?" you ask, watching the lights on the walls and trying to make sense of them. It doesn't seem to follow any kind of logic you can grasp.
"Ah, well, yes, about that, yes, ah. There is, ah, one other complication," he says, and gestures for you to move along, "a slight bit of trouble with doing that even if we wanted to."
Intelligence 4 + Investigation 4 = 2 successes. Nothing comes to mind, but there must be a reason for that.
"...it's broken, isn't it?"
"What? No, that's impossible. For that to happen, well, that would be- yes, a little bit, yes it is. How did you know?"
"I thought about the thing that would be the very most frustrating for me right this second," you say, suddenly clear on why there's nothing to be glimpsed in the riotous displays on the walls.
You're brought to three dreamstones. In the lantern light you see the three of them are absolutely blood red, like the one you have with the weird dream about coins and traitors and meting out Justice. They've very much got a section to themselves now, each other dreamstone placed at least a meter away - and a quick inspection reveals why. Dreamstones adjacent to them are splotched red as well, as though the stones were bleeding their contents into other dreams. There's an empty space for the one they've loaned you.
"We isolated them as soon as we found out, of course. Some people have stronger dreams than others - whoever Cheshago was getting his dreams from by the end had ones so intense they started to contaminate others. It should be impossible, a will so strong that it can displace the dreams of others, yet…"
"So why not just give them to your boss? He'd love something that strong right?" you say, careful to keep clear of touching anything in here. The last thing you want is to lose your dreams to some kind of magical infection.
"We wanted to give them to the Sigil's Dreamer. He could just make them disappear and they'll stop being our problem. But he said they were worthless to him and refused to be drawn any further. They're our problem and we can't let them out, they might infect people's dreams out in the city and then we'd be truly ruined." He coughs, "speaking of which, have you looked at the one I lent you?"
This is… a heck of a lot to take in. You replace the dreamstone where it belongs, suddenly very glad to be rid of it.
"Wait, that one is infected too? Are my dreams poisoned now?" you say,
"Maybe a touch?" he says, then waves his hands at you when he sees the dark look on your face. "You might remember some things you shouldn't, but it can't harm you! … Probably. It's ruined the Orrery sadly, if we use it then it just hungrily digs into our stock. We don't dare turn it on and give it the chance to spoil any more."
Which means that you can't use the Orrery either. This'd be crazy useful for finding things out…
"You haven't tried burying them in the desert?"
"Too risky. There's something with incredible power that Cheshago was prying this information from. Living, dead, animal or something else entirely, we don't know, but whatever knowledge it contains can't be put in the wrong hands."
You would almost miss it if you were paying less attention but… he's talking like he hasn't seen inside it.
"So you had me use it? Without even telling me?" you say, incredulous "And you barely even know me! How did you know I wasn't the wrong hands?"
"Well, uh, I did look into you prior to our meeting on the balcony and frankly, given the choices..." he stumbles and stops looking at you bashfully.
He's not strictly wrong, it's clear that none of the people who work here would be willing to touch this and given the choice between giving great power to Wave Crashes Upon the Rocks, Ten Feathers or a random person you met on the street, that's not as clear-cut a choice as it ought to be. But using you as a test subject?!
It's just too much, the rumbles have been there for some time but now you finally erupt. "You talk like this is all some great and noble thing you're doing, but you're just scared, aren't you? All of you, you've just been running on something bigger than you and now you have to deal with it and you're just terrified, aren't you?"
Teleji just looks to the floor. "Sorry, ma'am."
Essence 1 = 1 success.
"Yeah, well," you look at the four stones, and you can swear you see shimmering red threads in the air between them, "me too." Taken by a sudden burst of inspiration, you draw in a breath and steel yourself. "I'm terrified too," you say, "but that's not going to stop me," and you place your hands over two of the stones and grab. You feel something in you reach out and grab too, and...
The sound of hammers rings through you and shakes your whole world. A continual rhythmic clash of metal on metal that thumps against the insides of your skull and shakes your swimming vision. You let it, for this you need absolute clarity and that has to be dragged slowly from within. It's bright here, painfully bright but the light of the sun is entirely absent and in its place is the orange glow of lava cradling streams of shining gold. You finally find the will to clear your sight and see the waterfall of it pouring down right in front of you. Without hesitation you plunge your hands into it like it's no more dangerous than the cool waters of an oasis. The molten metal molds as you will it to, shaping itself into hands with joints, and arms with joints, and a body with joints, and legs with joints, dozens or hundreds of pieces coming together in an instant around a base of yellow crystal embedded in the chest. You direct your will to something above you and a deluge of water large enough to quench a whole city's thirst engulfs the metal person, throwing off great clouds of steam in every direction. When it is done the soldier stands, eight feet tall and gleaming white and gold. There is no animating force, for the crystal is not yet filled. But it will be. Oh yes, it will be.
"You're really going through with this, huh?" in the shadow of a mighty support beam there's the outline of another person, long legs barely visible in the light. A faint penumbra of silver is lit around the outlines of her body. "We made a kingdom together, united the living and the dead and you're going to throw them all away for slaves of metal. There's really no chance of changing your mind?"
"The Dragons are unreliable servants," you say matter-of-factly, "inclined to insubordination, rebellion, and infighting. Too easily suborned by the Adversary." You wave a hand and an invisible servant carries away the latest construct. "The Dead fall into patterns, unable to truly learn where their loyalties should lie. No more betrayal. The souls of my greatest warriors will be loyal only to me."
The one in the dark sighs, "I've been on your side from the moment this all started, what we built was something to be proud of. Where's my place in this? Where's anyone's place in this? You're building a kingdom you alone can live in."
"So you'll betray me too, as I knew you would in time."
"No, no you idiot. It's not going to be betrayal, never that. You're throwing me away, just like everyone else. I've given my whole life to you and this is what you want to make of it? This?"
You watch as the invisible servant racks the soldier with the rest, as the orange glow glints on the heads of row upon row upon row upon row. All will work according to your design.
"Yes," you say. "Stay, go, it doesn't matter. What this is cannot be stopped. Not by him, not by you, not by anyone."
The hammers ring in time, but your sight is held perfectly still by your will alone. As it should be, as all things will be.
Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.
This time you'll be ready for them.
A day complete! A little lighter, right up until it wasn't. Trying an experiment with marking newly unlocked choices as such!
[ ] DIAMOND'S RUIN - PREPARING FOR WAR
Diamond's compound is about. It'll take some serious doing to crack it open.
-[ ] Recruit: you'll need friends to watch your back, whatever happens.
--[ ] Dreams of Red Sands. The price won't be cheap, see if you can meet it.
--[ ] Mishri and the Old Brothers. For a chance at vengeance and to reclaim what's owed.
--[ ] Misery. She's got some idea of what's going on. Bring her in fully.
--[ ] Niall's Rats. Niall wouldn't want to go personally, but his rats are smart as hell.
--[ ] Steals Kisses. It'd be harder to stop her coming if she finds out, but this is a little bigger than her usual jobs. Maybe you can buy her something that'll give her an edge.
--[*] Ten Feathers. They know most of this already, let's really test this new friendship. (Due to choosing Partnership, getting Feathers to come along is as simple as asking. They'll appear during the role-selection phase of the heist.)
--[ ] Raicho. Convince her your money is worth the risk.
-[ ] Prepare: there's a lot you can do to hone yourself in preparation too. Esoteric and occult power to be grabbed, even by the likes of you. Or maybe even the fabled power of being good at hitting things with sticks.
--[ ] Training. You can't fight, you've never been able to fight. Maybe it's finally time to get someone to teach you.
---[ ] Ten Feathers. The very definition of a crash course.
---[ ] Raicho. She did offer and she probably won't do horrible things to you like Ten Feathers would.
---[ ] Misery. She fights hungry ghosts, people are easy by contrast.
--[ ] Deathspeaking. Plenty of people have died in this Guild War. Some of them might have become ghosts, and some might have information. Get someone to teach you to speak with the dead.
---[ ] Misery. She deals with the dead a lot, she's probably good for the diplomatic and defensive side of ghost-handling.
---[ ] The Old Brothers. This would be more active techniques of dealing with the fallen: calling on them, giving them power, that sort of thing. It's not really necromancy though, right?
--[ ] Gold Lion Key. You're reasonably certain you can unlock the chest with the Gold Lion Key as it is now. There's a faint tingling now as you touch it though - what else could it do if you put the effort into understanding it?
--[ ] The Handsome Merchant didn't seem too appealing when people were only getting dead. But now? His standard wares (if they can be called that) are still available, but now you might need a lot of power in a hurry.
[ ] DIAMOND IN YOUR KNAPSACK
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack and Cheshago had a deal, confront him about it and shake something loose.
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack is at war with Wave Crashes Against the Rocks. Pretend to be on his side, find out what you can.
-[ ] Blackmail him. You have dirt on him, maybe you can force him to cooperate with you fully.
-[ ] You got proof the Guild is surely going beyond what is acceptable. Retrieve the Codebook from its hiding place and figure out if there's a way to alter the proof so that it looks like only Diamond is responsible.
-[ ] Sooner or later, Ten Feathers is coming for him. So make him know it. Make him sweat.
-[ ] The Guild loves money, and that's probably true even in the middle of a civil war. Pay off some of his subordinates for inside information. (This will temporarily use your Resource dot.)
-[ ] Wave Crashes Against the Rocks needs to stop playing it safe, it's time for her to go on the offensive while you pick up the pieces behind her. (This will escalate the Guild war and use your Guild Favour)
[ ] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[ ] *NEW* "Everything" turned out to be quite a bit, but that wasn't everything - you just didn't have time. Work with with Raicho and everyone who was at the Tales the night of the murder to reconstruct exactly what happened to who and when.
-[ ] *NEW* They're not going to like it, but the Orrery is an incredibly powerful tool. Is making use of it worth the price? Have the Tales remove the Dreamer's stones and
--[ ] Bury them in the desert. Short-term, hopefully, before the lions find them. (This will keep you from accessing them for your own purposes.)
--[ ] Keep them with you at all times. You know your own memories well enough that some bleed-over isn't going to kill you.
-[ ] *NEW* You've got a mandate to whip them into shape, now whip them into shape! Maybe a team-building exercise of some kind to start with, just to help you get you a better feel for exactly what you're dealing with and who you can bring in to help that won't kill them after five minutes in the same room together.
-[ ] You've practically got the Tales dead to rights, powerful patron or no. Waves wasn't interested in dealing with them as equals, but maybe she'll be more enthusiastic if she can take all their secrets and subject them to her rule. Makarios shouldn't be a problem - this is what he wanted, right? Well, some of what he wanted.
-[ ] No need to be unpleasant. Waves wasn't interested in dealing with them as equals, but she owes you one. You can make this happen. (This uses your Guild Favour)
[ ] LOST SOUL AT THE SUN MARKET
-[ ] Cheshago's Yasal Crystal must have come from the Far South, as must the ones that were recently stolen. Ask the Handsome Merchant what he knows about that.
-[ ] The Handsome Merchant's wares are still available, for those with the currency to pay.
[ ] OLD BROTHERS
-[ ] *NEW* It's been a little while since you've spoken with them. Help out at their camp and see how things are going.
-[ ] Suspicious. As. Hell. Get Waves to hire some mercenaries to harass their camp, while you take advantage of the distraction to uncover their secrets.
-[ ] A pint of blood can go a long way. Pay Dreams of Red Sands' price (Write in what you ask for).
-[ ] Great wealth, huh? The Guild owes you one, it can pay you so you can pay Red. (Write in what you ask for and go big; this will use your Guild Favor)
[ ] THE DESPOT
-[ ] You got proof the Guild is surely going beyond what he'd find acceptable. Present your findings and let him bring fire and blood.
-[ ] The Despot has a low-key ghost cult operating right under his nose. Is that good? Is that bad? If you wanted to, could you use that to completely ruin their collective days? Do some research with Samet of Iblan and his mountain of legal precedent to find out if that's illegal or not.
-[ ] *NEW* The Midnight Tales are the servants of a demon. If you brought proof to the Despot his response would be swift and… you're not actually sure it would be lethal any more, given the nature of said demon. But the Tales sure wouldn't like it.
-[ ] You've done the Despot a great favor. If you asked for an audience right now you'd get it. This could be your chance to do nearly anything, if he'll agree to it.
--[ ] Ask for the Midnight Tales to be let off the hook
--[ ] Ask to speak with the Imperial Mercenaries
--[ ] Ask for money. It's the lifeblood of Gem, after all.
--[ ] Ask for nothing, see what he offers. Everyone else is doing it.
--[ ] Write in
[ ] THE VAULT
-[ ] It occurs to you that rather than making educated guesses you might want to actually find out where the Old Brothers found the chest. It's way too hot to go roaming in the desert alone; look into hiring one of them as a guide, and bring lots of water.
-[ ] Roaming the desert and collating records of ruins narrowed it down but not a lot. There are plenty of tombs buried in the sands that no one will touch, and now you know someone that's legally allowed to poke about them. Bring Misery and go looking for some super-old Dragon Ghosts.
[ ] TEN FEATHERS
PICK ONE (For real this time)
-[ ] *NEW* You've got some information now on what Feathers might like! Propose an evening outing to:
--[ ] Somewhere in your contacts is probably a ticket scalper - spring for box seats for a fancy theater performance. Nothing but the best for your partner! (This will temporarily expend your Resource dot.)
--[ ] Try to bring them along to a late-night puppet show. Seems a little weird but maybe they're into it.
-[ ] *NEW* Keep digging, there's got to be more things they like than that. Blood sports. Cooking demonstrations. Street surgery. Gem is not lacking for ways to entertain yourself!
[ ] Other
-[ ] Write in (If your write in isn't chosen first time round it'll be added as an option in future investigation rounds to an appropriate category, as long as it still makes sense to pursue.)
As always for night turns, a mandatory choice regarding your sleep options. Now with some extras!
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL
[ ] Sleep with the Dreamer's first stone - the dream of uncovering a traitor - to see if you can get any more out of it.
[ ] Sleep with the Dreamer's second stone - the dream of forging an army - to see if you can get any more out of it.
[ ] Sleep with the Dreamer's third stone - the one you grabbed, but that didn't seem to give you a dream of its own. Maybe it'll be more talkative without its brother present.
[ ] Sleep with the Dreamer's fourth stone - the one you haven't messed with at all yet.
[ ] Contact Makarios through the dream of his bazaar
-[ ] Write-in what you're calling him about
[ ] The Tales will probably lend you the good stuff if you ask. Have a pleasant dream, even if it isn't yours.
[ ] Can't sleep, dream contamination will get me. Stay awake.
[ ] Enough with all this! Just get a good, honest night's rest.
I feel like we would've been better off failing that Essence roll, if I'm being perfectly honest. The memories of an Exalted heavily mired in the Great Curse cannot be good for us.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] *NEW* "Everything" turned out to be quite a bit, but that wasn't everything - you just didn't have time. Work with with Raicho and everyone who was at the Tales the night of the murder to reconstruct exactly what happened to who and when.
-[X] *NEW* You've got a mandate to whip them into shape, now whip them into shape! Maybe a team-building exercise of some kind to start with, just to help you get you a better feel for exactly what you're dealing with and who you can bring in to help that won't kill them after five minutes in the same room together.
[X] DIAMOND'S RUIN - PREPARING FOR WAR
Diamond's compound is about. It'll take some serious doing to crack it open.
-[X] Prepare: there's a lot you can do to hone yourself in preparation too. Esoteric and occult power to be grabbed, even by the likes of you. Or maybe even the fabled power of being good at hitting things with sticks.
--[X] Deathspeaking. Plenty of people have died in this Guild War. Some of them might have become ghosts, and some might have information. Get someone to teach you to speak with the dead.
---[X] Misery. She deals with the dead a lot, she's probably good for the diplomatic and defensive side of ghost-handling.
[X] Sleep with the Dreamer's third stone - the one you grabbed, but that didn't seem to give you a dream of its own. Maybe it'll be more talkative without its brother present.
Want to take a swing at Diamond's Ruin but I got a meeting soon, so no time to hash the plan out.[/B]
Alright, here we go. I'm gonna list out the stuff I've got, and one other thing later.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] *NEW* "Everything" turned out to be quite a bit, but that wasn't everything - you just didn't have time. Work with with Raicho and everyone who was at the Tales the night of the murder to reconstruct exactly what happened to who and when.
-[X] *NEW* You've got a mandate to whip them into shape, now whip them into shape! Maybe a team-building exercise of some kind to start with, just to help you get you a better feel for exactly what you're dealing with and who you can bring in to help that won't kill them after five minutes in the same room together.
-[X] No need to be unpleasant. Waves wasn't interested in dealing with them as equals, but she owes you one. You can make this happen. (This uses your Guild Favour)
This part is important. SOMEONE definitely killed Cheshago, and something weird definitely happened. Finding out what that weird thing was BEFORE it stabs us dozens of times is pretty high on the list. Also, these people desperately need our help. Getting Waves to help is half because I want to pawn some work onto a friend, and half because I want Sharell to complain about how goddamn stupid they are. "There's no crime called attempted bribery" how are they still alive.
[X] TEN FEATHERS
PICK ONE (For real this time)
-[X] *NEW* You've got some information now on what Feathers might like! Propose an evening outing to:
--[X] Write in: Find some form of storytelling, doesn't matter what, as long as it's new. Narrated interpretive dance? Maybe. Elaborate shadowpuppet theater? Sure. A northern skald is in town? Get him singing war-legends. You landed a partnership because you know how to find things, dig up the obscure stuff they wouldn't have ever seen without you.
This one I wrote because Feathers is all about cool stories. It's that Fae blood showing through, and I feel like they know about the local puppet scenes already. Let's try something new. Also, I think you might need to check the section talking with Steals Kisses for the pronouns.
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL
[X] Sleep with the Dreamer's fourth stone - the one you haven't messed with at all yet.
I feel like we would've been better off failing that Essence roll, if I'm being perfectly honest. The memories of an Exalted heavily mired in the Great Curse cannot be good for us.
I was thinking it during the editing phase, but in the end I figured that since it's dialogue it just means that Steals Kisses tends to think of Ten as female or is a bit careless in how she refers to people when they're not sticking flamethrowers in her face (she switches to "they" about halfway through once Sharell uses it). Whether that's a clue as to what lies under the long coat, well, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So while wooing Ten Feathers is amusing I think right now our role here is investigating. Going on a date is something for celebrating when the mystery is solved. (Even though I like the obscure story idea a lot) Additionally I'm not sure we can afford delaying much more on what Diamond is planning.
Also not sure yet on how to go about that ruin. Should that be stealthy or firewands blazing. Based on the mercenaries last time we would need more people for the latter option for sure.
Actually these aren't also imperials right? Not that it changes much about my thoughts but still good to know.
-[X] No need to be unpleasant. Waves wasn't interested in dealing with them as equals, but she owes you one. You can make this happen. (This uses your Guild Favour)
So what are you hoping to achieve with this? Because it would help them probably. But what's the goal here because I'm not sure what to do with them yet aside from pumping them for information.
[X] DIAMOND'S RUIN - PREPARING FOR WAR
Diamond's compound is about. It'll take some serious doing to crack it open.
-[X] Prepare: there's a lot you can do to hone yourself in preparation too. Esoteric and occult power to be grabbed, even by the likes of you. Or maybe even the fabled power of being good at hitting things with sticks.
--[X] Deathspeaking. Plenty of people have died in this Guild War. Some of them might have become ghosts, and some might have information. Get someone to teach you to speak with the dead.
---[X] Misery. She deals with the dead a lot, she's probably good for the diplomatic and defensive side of ghost-handling.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] *NEW* "Everything" turned out to be quite a bit, but that wasn't everything - you just didn't have time. Work with with Raicho and everyone who was at the Tales the night of the murder to reconstruct exactly what happened to who and when.
-[X] *NEW* You've got a mandate to whip them into shape, now whip them into shape! Maybe a team-building exercise of some kind to start with, just to help you get you a better feel for exactly what you're dealing with and who you can bring in to help that won't kill them after five minutes in the same room together.
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL
[X] Enough with all this! Just get a good, honest night's rest.
So while wooing Ten Feathers is amusing I think right now our role here is investigating. Going on a date is something for celebrating when the mystery is solved. (Even though I like the obscure story idea a lot) Additionally I'm not sure we can afford delaying much more on what Diamond is planning.
Also not sure yet on how to go about that ruin. Should that be stealthy or firewands blazing. Based on the mercenaries last time we would need more people for the latter option for sure.
Actually these aren't also imperials right? Not that it changes much about my thoughts but still good to know.
So what are you hoping to achieve with this? Because it would help them probably. But what's the goal here because I'm not sure what to do with them yet aside from pumping them for information.
[X] DIAMOND'S RUIN - PREPARING FOR WAR
Diamond's compound is about. It'll take some serious doing to crack it open.
-[X] Prepare: there's a lot you can do to hone yourself in preparation too. Esoteric and occult power to be grabbed, even by the likes of you. Or maybe even the fabled power of being good at hitting things with sticks.
--[X] Deathspeaking. Plenty of people have died in this Guild War. Some of them might have become ghosts, and some might have information. Get someone to teach you to speak with the dead.
---[X] Misery. She deals with the dead a lot, she's probably good for the diplomatic and defensive side of ghost-handling.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] *NEW* "Everything" turned out to be quite a bit, but that wasn't everything - you just didn't have time. Work with with Raicho and everyone who was at the Tales the night of the murder to reconstruct exactly what happened to who and when.
-[X] *NEW* You've got a mandate to whip them into shape, now whip them into shape! Maybe a team-building exercise of some kind to start with, just to help you get you a better feel for exactly what you're dealing with and who you can bring in to help that won't kill them after five minutes in the same room together.
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL
[X] Enough with all this! Just get a good, honest night's rest.
Steals and Leviathan are officially OTP. I can't believe how we went three entire days without talking to her once. Those were dark times.
Ha, the Tales find a way to subvert the expectations once again! I mused about them paying good money for assisting the killer of Cheshaho in a deniable fashion by lowering the security, and instead they outright hired people to kill him, but were too incompetent to follow through. I contemplated the possibility that the second Dreamstone could hold something unpleasant, but it was the first one, the one Cheshago had, all along! It's like they are mocking me!
I need someone to reiterate the things we've learned. So Tales have an Orrery that lets them take a glimpse into the dreams of Gem itself, and interpret them in a way they can use. Is this where the unaccounted for Dreamstones disappear to? Where do they get them, directly from Makarios?
It used to be that the Sigil's Dreamer took dreams by branding people with his sigil, often against their will. But the Midnight Tales had revolutionised the business many years ago by instead branding dreamstones that came back to them with anything Makarios would be interested in. More selective and far less coercive, which meant business was brisker and the money had just piled up when their cult's objectives had finally aligned with the business'.
What was it about the sigil? What did the demon use to do, and what did the merchants do instead? I do not understand the implications of "branding people with a demon's sigil", nor do I understand how branding dreamstones would work.
I could probably shove it all under "not our problem" pile, if we didn't sell this information to Ten Feathers. The Tales should probably come up with a legend to explain it away.
Oh, and they need to get started on yet another set of black books to satisfy Ten's curiosity.
When did the contamination start? What was the sequence of the events here? Cheshago was commuting with some powerful force that threatened to destroy the dreams of the entire city (have it turned into a Paragon-like city, a rule of some unyeilding order with him at the top? Is it really much different from a rule of chaos with the Despot to overlook it all? Enough for a bunch of fat, docile and incompetent people to want to kill a powerful man?), but...
"We isolated them as soon as we found out, of course. Some people have stronger dreams than others - whoever Cheshago was getting his dreams from by the end had ones so intense they started to contaminate others. It should be impossible, a will so strong that it can displace the dreams of others, yet…"
The Dream was already in the stone, and Cheshago asked for it to be brought to him for the first time that night. Then... are we to understand they didn't come from the same entity? Or did Cheshago get his hands on a contaminated dream before, had his will warped, and sought out another fragment of the memory to unleash whatever dreamed it up upon the world?
Anyway, I think we need to start preparing for the Diamond run. I have a feeling things are going to escalate fast, and we don't have much time before it blows up.
A mind-warping presense makes a lot of sense when it comes to Diamond's motives. He probably didn't even need that strong of a push.
[x] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[x] *NEW* "Everything" turned out to be quite a bit, but that wasn't everything - you just didn't have time. Work with with Raicho and everyone who was at the Tales the night of the murder to reconstruct exactly what happened to who and when.
-[x] *NEW* You've got a mandate to whip them into shape, now whip them into shape! Maybe a team-building exercise of some kind to start with, just to help you get you a better feel for exactly what you're dealing with and who you can bring in to help that won't kill them after five minutes in the same room together.
[x] Sleep with the Dreamer's third stone - the one you grabbed, but that didn't seem to give you a dream of its own. Maybe it'll be more talkative without its brother present.
We should keep digging. Any information on what we may be facing would be helpful.
How does the vote with Diamond's Ruin work? Is it a PICK ONE, as it's far too massive to be done in a single day. Are Prepare and Recruit exclusive? When do we actually DO the run? I am definitely calling Steals' favor the night before we come over.
These are all the things I want to do, but we probably don't have the time for everything and everyone on the list...
[x] DIAMOND'S RUIN - PREPARING FOR WAR
-[ ] Recruit: you'll need friends to watch your back, whatever happens.
--[ ] Misery. She's got some idea of what's going on. Bring her in fully.
--[ ] Niall's Rats. Niall wouldn't want to go personally, but his rats are smart as hell.
--[ ] Steals Kisses. It'd be harder to stop her coming if she finds out, but this is a little bigger than her usual jobs. Maybe you can buy her something that'll give her an edge.
--[ ] Ten Feathers. They know most of this already, let's really test this new friendship. (Due to choosing Partnership, getting Feathers to come along is as simple as asking. They'll appear during the role-selection phase of the heist.)
-[x] Prepare: there's a lot you can do to hone yourself in preparation too. Esoteric and occult power to be grabbed, even by the likes of you. Or maybe even the fabled power of being good at hitting things with sticks.
--[x] Deathspeaking. Plenty of people have died in this Guild War. Some of them might have become ghosts, and some might have information. Get someone to teach you to speak with the dead.
---[x] Misery. She deals with the dead a lot, she's probably good for the diplomatic and defensive side of ghost-handling.
--[ ] The Handsome Merchant didn't seem too appealing when people were only getting dead. But now? His standard wares (if they can be called that) are still available, but now you might need a lot of power in a hurry.
It's implied but not quite stated that they or somewhere in their House is part of the demon's domain, and thus stones can appear and disappear there at his whim. Maybe. The ledgers would indicate that the missing stones go to the orrery or are tithed to Makarios or both. (It's both)
What was it about the sigil? What did the demon used to do, and what did the merchants do instead? I do not understand the implications of "branding people with a demon's sigil", nor do I understand how branding dreamstones would work.
Stealing the dreams of people or stones marked with the sigil is a power more or less unique in the setting to the Sigil's Dreamer, so kinda falls under the heading of Weird Demon Bullshit. A magical brand of that nature is for life (without the intervention of a being of similar power) so using the stones as a middleman both creates a wider variety of dreams and makes the whole affair a lot less invasive.
As for whether or not other supernatural entities can mark you with their own marks, yes, yes they can.
How does the vote with Diamond's Ruin work? Is it a PICK ONE, as it's far too massive to be done in a single day. Are Prepare and Recruit exclusive? When do we actually DO the run?
So! We'll put up the choice to pull the trigger on going in once you guys have done some prep. Committing to starting will then shift us to determining roles and making plans.
As for the prep, nothing is exclusive but everything takes an action. You can get martial training from both Misery and Ten, for example, but that's both your actions. Likewise you can both get Misery to train you in ghost handling and recruit her for the heist, but that is likewise both of your actions.
It is pretty action heavy, but powers carry on and recruits may stay with you (If they don't, y'know, die) for the Vault if it turns out the Vault also needs heisting.
That's not entirely fair! She's got the skills to be a good accountant and purchaser, just the actual bargaining she'd fall a bit short on. She's smart, but even with help from Steals she's still not so good with her words.
It happened a bit before Cheshago turned up at the Tales asking for help. The Orerry is like a giant dreamcatcher for Gem, they don't get to be picky about what ends up in there. Unluckily for them they never anticipated they might catch a dream that'd be trouble for them.
Is there an ELI5 for what we know so far?
I'm super confused as to what all the moving pieces are and what we know/don't know and what others know/don't know. (just venting and if I'm lucky, asking for links to earlier discussion )
Sharell Zenteno and the case so far! This is you! You used to investigate missing person cases for money and did a very good job. Due to owing the Guild a favour you agreed to investigate a murder of one of their own. It has been a real thing. The victim, Guild Prince Cheshago, was killed in...
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It contains case notes up until the last couple of days.
