DEGENERATION THEORY: DEATH, TAXES, SLAVERY
- Thread starter Radiohead
- Start date
- Original Art Quest Sci-Fi Fantasy
FREDDY'S FISH FANATIC FUNDERDOME!
You picked the nicest sword from the bandit boss before you sold the rest of his junk, and the junk of his followers, it's another horse chopper of course. But this one has a nice, refitted blade, instead of an old, refitted blade. Sharpened recently, but still a relic of the old empire. Buying the map, the young man mumbles something about it being a stickman map. Perhaps it'd be smart to transcribe it to your own existing map? Yet, as you approach the drug dealer, he seems to be a bit manic. You wonder if he samples his own supply, but you don't think hash makes you this energized.
fishFreak [FF] activates their face down trap card and ensnares loneWanderer [LW] in a monologue, attacking their attention span directly!
LW: Hey buddy, do you-
FF: Hey! You! You like drugs? You like fish? How about fish laced with drugs? Or what about drugs laced with fish?
LW: I've never touched drugs of any kind, buddy-
FF: Hey, first time! Great! I can tell you all about the benefits of hash! Did you know smoking hash densifies your bones?
LW: Please don't-
FF: Fish will make you live forever! HUNDREDS of years! You'll beg for merciful death! And that's where the drugs come in!
LW: This isn't a good sales pitch-
FF: Hash will make you see the future! See the past! See through the lies of your spouse! See a safe path from the authorities through a swamp!
LW: I don't feel safe. I think I'm going to go-
FF: Let me tell you, I have a LOAD of hash here, ready to sell! A tidy profit can be made by an entrepreneurial salesman!
FF: I got seven thin fish, six dried fish, twenty bricks of sweet sticky succulent hash, six bundles of hemp weed, and...
The fast mouthed shek pauses, lifting his boot to peel a strangled, trampled piece of riceweed from his heel.
FF: Ooone piece of riceweed, nine cats, special discount. Just for you friend.
Why though? It's not like he was gonna be sane anyway if he's selling hash, the fact that he's behaving so thoroughly high means that his stash must be of adequate quality and not poisoned.
Last edited:
jelloloaf
jan Sunuli
[X] Don't buy any hash.
I think that this will go one of two ways. Either the hash here is more expensive because our Shinobi pals have industry contacts for bulk pricing, in which case we would want to wait and buy with them, or it's cheaper here, in which case we can bring them back and improve our reputation with them for helping their profit margin. Also, if it's the exact same price, there's no real benefit to buying now.
I think that this will go one of two ways. Either the hash here is more expensive because our Shinobi pals have industry contacts for bulk pricing, in which case we would want to wait and buy with them, or it's cheaper here, in which case we can bring them back and improve our reputation with them for helping their profit margin. Also, if it's the exact same price, there's no real benefit to buying now.
- Location
- Indonesia
[X] Don't buy any hash.
YOU AIN'T NUTHIN' BUT A HOUND
You copy down the locations of the villages, noting where each of the Western Hive settlements are situated. You count eight in total, five in Vain, and three in Dreg, but you suspect there may be more hiver settlements than that. Ignoring the enthused salesman, you look around the village, aptly named Rot apparently, and realize Suki and Kiyoshi are nowhere to be seen. You did blindly run into the swamp for your life to be fair, you don't know if this village is where you were supposed to be in the first place. From the tricorn hats and tattoos, you think this place belongs to the Hounds.
DIRECTIONS TO PROFIT
You flag down a shek hound, asking if they've seen your friends, giving short descriptions on both Suki and Kiyoshi, trying not to give away that you are a member of the Shinobi Thieves. Thankfully being dressed like a crazed escaped slave comes in as a benefit here, you look like nobody would want you in their organization. The guard has not seen your friends but informs you Rot is just a small village that belongs to the Hounds gang. No, if people were going into the swamp for something important, they're likely gone to Shark. She taps an unmarked part of your map, indicating where the de facto capital of the swamp is located. Its supposedly run by the swampers independently, but she tells you the Hounds really run things.
Kenshi, huh. Well, with a solo chatacter, we should build a few thousand cats' nest egg with safe means like mining, then use the money for food while we run aimlessly around the Hub for a few weeks like an actual maniac to build up our Athletics trying to be sneaky at the same time for some stealth. Then, when we're fast enough, we can relatively safely start considering the Swamp->Flats Lagoon smuggling route for more profits.
Jane Dough
(She/Her)
- Location
- Occupied Cascadia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] ONWARDS! TO SHARK!
LA CREATURA
Following the directions of the Hound, you head straight south, and start to see a village in the distance. Maybe that's Shark? But being so focused on your destination, you run straight into something that slowly lumbers into your path. Stumbling back, you blink at the misshapen creature in front of you. It looks... you don't know how to describe it nicely. Ugly, that's the only word that fits in your mind, as eleven more of them root around the swampland and waddle around their larger parents, who brood over nests of old driftwood and stinking mud. The beast looks quizzically back at you.
MAKING MY WAY MUDTOWN
You book it away from the crooning beasts and their chirping pups, noting there's another village to the east, if you squint through the humid fog of the mid day swampland. But finally, with soaking wet boots, you make it to the village, and look at the sign. Well shit, it doesn't say Shark does it? You look at the guard, big guy for a scorchlander, face obscured by metal scrap plates. He's shifting his weight, reminds you of a gutter about to strike.
twinbladeOnk [TO] eyes up loneWanderer [LW] like a piece of meat - oh no, he's starting to talk to him now!
LW: Sorry, I'll be on my-
TO: Hold on boy, don't be so fast to run now. You want to gamble? Maybe earn some good coin?
LW: My old man told me gambling's how you lose money, not earn it.
TO: No kid, we got a need for good doctors around here. If you're any good at working in a chop shop, its good coin.
LW: You have a hospital down here? Really?
Craning your head, you try to see if there's anything that even resembles a clinic sign in eyesight. But you fail to spot a proper house of healing.
TO: Don't tell me you're one of those fuckin' bleeding hearts. We get enough of that from the anti-slavers, bastards don't even drink or gamble.
LW: Anti-slavers? Who are they?
TO: Jackasses who were supposed to just be passing by, but now they're sticking around for their little merry raids on the empire.
TO: Proper nuisance. If you can get them to leave, I'd personally pay you for it. They buy water and food sure, pay for their lodgings but...
TO: I just hate 'em. Self-righteous pricks acting like they're better than us, it's an irritant.
Last edited:
[X] This seems like a whole can of "None of our damn business". I mean, we were raised by a retired Paladin, so if the slavers find out anything about us they may just kill us on the spot. I say we just ask around the village for where we're trying to go or see if there's a place where we can buy a map of this swamp.
Last edited: