[Exalted] The Dragon's Spite

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[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.
 
[x] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.
 
[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Any chance Rena has of acquiring power is one I'll take. Chance of a kung fu fight in a make believe waystation? Sure, but I'll take the gamble to acquire more power for the pulpy evil sorceress.
 
Oh this is a delightful development! I think it's the first time this quest has dealt with a group of actual Fae, rather than occasional touches of Wyld phenomena encroaching on other locales, and it's cool to see the change it makes in Rena. She's dealt with gods and demons and necromancers, and every time she comes across as someone learned, but not learned about this, forced to rely on educated guesswork. It's honestly kinda great to come across something where she's so purely in her element, faced with a development that's not just magical, but exactly her area of study. That tone of, 'this again, really?' makes me smile.
 
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[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.
 
[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.
 
[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Rena's already got a season of not having to pay for accommodations by saving one member of this family by themselves. How much more can she get by saving two, plus a sandship?
 
[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Inaan may be bratty and disrespectful, but she is still our student and we are duty bound to protect her against wharever terrible torments those fae would inflict upon her.
 
[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

If Rena waits, there will be whispers later on that call her competence into question. And she won't be able to defend her pride without admitting that she chose not to immediately defend the mortals she's travelling with.
 
Altaigne said:
If Rena waits, there will be whispers later on that call her competence into question. And she won't be able to defend her pride without admitting that she chose not to immediately defend the mortals she's travelling with.
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... okay, I must speak up in light of this; guys, why do people seem to think that "demand to speak to the manager" is the heroic option of defending the crew? This is Rena we're talking about. "Making deals with fae and then feeding people to them" has been her whole modus operandi for, like, a century and change. We've literally seen her callously let Sei steal the breath of both her boytoys with her only comment being "don't take enough that they'll notice".

If she demands to see the management, it's not because she's going to protect her people. It's because she wants in on the scam and is demanding to get a share of the loot they're draining from her people's souls. She'll only move to violence if the foxes refuse her that - something she does not want to have to deal with, because that would involve fighting them.

That's literally why I said "play along and wait for Blue". It gives us more leverage when we decide to go Karen(a) and inform the foxes that they're now our allies who will of course be paying us a fair percentage of what they suck out of our gullible mortal companions. Rena's competence is not going to be called into question for "not spotting them sooner" because Rena is not especially inclined to let anyone realise there was a fae lure here in the first place; ideally her crew gets a pleasant day at the bathhouse, the foxes get a tithe of dreams and essence, and then we go on our merry way with some rather more exhausted mortals and a bunch of new fae allies for Rena.

Point is, "demand to see the manager" is not "in order to fight them and rescue everyone from this trap". It's "in order to negotiate terms for them preying on our crew early, but without our main bodyguard present if they refuse". Because I don't know if you've noticed, but Rena is kind of evil.
 
Aleph said:
... okay, I must speak up in light of this; guys, why do people seem to think that "demand to speak to the manager" is the heroic option of defending the crew? This is Rena we're talking about. "Making deals with fae and then feeding people to them" has been her whole modus operandi for, like, a century and change. We've literally seen her callously let Sei steal the breath of both her boytoys with her only comment being "don't take enough that they'll notice".

If she demands to see the management, it's not because she's going to protect her people. It's because she wants in on the scam and is demanding to get a share of the loot they're draining from her people's souls. She'll only move to violence if the foxes refuse her that - something she does not want to have to deal with, because that would involve fighting them.

That's literally why I said "play along and wait for Blue". It gives us more leverage when we decide to go Karen(a) and inform the foxes that they're now our allies who will of course be paying us a fair percentage of what they suck out of our gullible mortal companions. Rena's competence is not going to be called into question for "not spotting them sooner" because Rena is not especially inclined to let anyone realise there was a fae lure here in the first place; ideally her crew gets a pleasant day at the bathhouse, the foxes get a tithe of dreams and essence, and then we go on our merry way with some rather more exhausted mortals and a bunch of new fae allies for Rena.

Point is, "demand to see the manager" is not "in order to fight them and rescue everyone from this trap". It's "in order to negotiate terms for them preying on our crew early, but without our main bodyguard present if they refuse". Because I don't know if you've noticed, but Rena is kind of evil.
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Rena has no idea when Blue's coming back, and he's not bound by regular human issues like needing to eat, drink, or sleep (I think? I'm not that familiar with the setting). In the meanwhile, the fae have free rein to do their stuff to the mortals, which I suspect couldt leave some permanent marks.

If Rena acts now, she preserves her options. She could negotiate the parameters of depredation so that there are no obvious marks. She could potentially negotiate for a better deal if she does it before the fae take some of what they want from the mortals. She could decide that she values the "debt" the Sawahir would owe her more than whatever the fae can offer.

From a more meta perspective, I think choosing to act now will involve Rena charming and bluffing the fae, while choosing to wait involves Rena intimidating the fae with a cataphract-shaped stick. The former sounds more like my cup of tea.
 
Aleph said:
That's literally why I said "play along and wait for Blue". It gives us more leverage when we decide to go Karen(a) and inform the foxes that they're now our allies who will of course be paying us a fair percentage of what they suck out of our gullible mortal companions. Rena's competence is not going to be called into question for "not spotting them sooner" because Rena is not especially inclined to let anyone realise there was a fae lure here in the first place; ideally her crew gets a pleasant day at the bathhouse, the foxes get a tithe of dreams and essence, and then we go on our merry way with some rather more exhausted mortals and a bunch of new fae allies for Rena.
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I don't know that things will go that smoothly. Given Blue's personality, I suspect that his reaction when he comes back will be something more like, "My lady has been captured? I'LL SAVE YOU!" followed by extreme fae-on-fae violence. Not a lot of room for negotiation there. No, I think if Rena wants to come out of this with an advantageous deal, she has to see the manager on her own terms, not Blue's.

[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.

Lets wait until Blue returns and then we can twist some arms, if necessary. As long as the foxes don't eat anybody important to Rena.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.

Touch fluffy tail. Enthrall and mesmerize anyone who thinks touching fluffy tail means you consent to being eaten.
 
[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

I dunno. Something about their Desert Fox Uwu Clan act is grinding my gears. Are they even desert foxes? Or did they just go for the fluffiest and most colourful foxy bits and ignore the entire regional theme.

I feel like Rena has tried subtlety and ingratiation with a lot of people lately and it just keeps causing more irritations, so this time she really should indulge and go for the throat on some overconfident Fae.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.
 
[X] Demand To See The Manager. Look, this is very nice and all, but she wants to find whoever is in charge and have a talk with them. A long talk about the disrespect of them trying to entrap her. It may end in murder. Or in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Yeah there's also points about how making contracts with Fey is what Rena is best at, but what I', interested in is this: This fey-lure is has access to the resources and amenities to be a pleasure den of this caliber, and since Rena isn't seeing though any fake decorations or amenities even though she isn't enchanted that means most of those amenities must actually be real.

Combine that with the fact that the nearest dock wouldn't be for miles, and is probably of very questionable quality, if we manage to cut a deal and help turn this place into an actual waystation for a cut of the profits, imagine how much money we could make.
 
[X] Play Along. For Now. There's no need to act rashly, not in a fae pleasure den with pretty fox-boys. She'll find out their deal, find out how strong there are and how many true fae are here, and then see where it goes. And also take advantage of the services here.

Look, there are fox boys, Rena can't be held responsible for her actions.
 
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