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In the Wake of Monsters - an Advisor's Quest

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[X] keep it all under wraps for the moment and continue investigating

Seems like a good thing to do, for now.
We need to study the book, get more info on others, bury our sins in old paperwork...
 
[X] keep it all under wraps for the moment and continue investigating
An audit takes time like a year to fully realize the breadth and depth of the inner workings of the palace also known as hiding everything that can be used against us.
 
[X] keep it all under wraps for the moment and continue investigating

Maybe see if we can take an action next turn to pin our embezzling on whoever the target of the day turns out to be.
 
[X] keep it all under wraps for the moment and continue investigating

We should change the payment of our clerk to the port lord too.

That mean we have late payment back to us if we do paper work right as we are dutiful clerk that paid the clerk through our pocket first to help the office but we come to collect our late payment now.:p
 
Exmorri said:
I'd like to thank all my players for helping to make this a successful and popular quest; without your support and enthusiasm I don't think I could have put out a small novel's worth of material this fast. Word count for the main threadmarks has now reached 47k in a month, and there's another 3k in the loreposts under Informational.

Here's to the next 50k! :grin:
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I blame you for making me running through Jade Empire for the nth time since childhood. If only I had another wuxia game available on steam.

[X] keep it all under wraps for the moment and continue investigating
 
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Turn 7 Results resume - 772
  • Threadmarks
    • [*] keep it all under wraps for the moment and continue investigating
    And resuming from previous plan:
    [*][Action] Study Smithing. Zara has blessed you with particular competence and understanding here.
    -[*][Free Social] Socialize and build connections with one of the great clans of Silverport. (Bridge)

    One can't spend all day studying budgets forever, even if it is important. Between audits, family duties, religious duties, and other duties, you find the time to socialize a bit, reaching out to the Great House of Bridge, supposedly leaders of the opposition bloc against the Portlord, a large and old and wealthy family.

    [Diplomacy, 34+15=49. Connection established.]

    Your primary point of contact soon turns out to be a man named Bridge Bow. Something of a prodigy, similar to you but a few years older, former member of Clan Bridge's soldiery, served as an officer in the 'First Spiders War' (is it just you or does that name sound pompous?), has now changed his focus to logistics so he can stay in the city and spend more time with his wife.

    He's also almost as good with numbers as you are, which makes him a scintillating conversationalist, at least compared to people whose eyes start to glaze over at the topic.

    Bow laments the complications of supplying a force operating in the forest. You commiserate with him about the Portlord's recalcitrance to properly reinforce the city walls at a time when Tokara might attack. He boasts of his clan's armies, and how they provide the largest number of recruits to the elite of the palace guard.

    You recall rumors and allegations that said armies also provided the largest number of recruits to the impromptu enforcement brigades that Abominations used, supposedly with the clan's cooperation, but bringing that up overtly would probably be a diplomatic misstep. So you try bringing it up discreetly - "Wasn't it terrible when the Abominations were press-ganging soldiers?"

    "Oh yes. Some collaborators even took the mark of the Abominations voluntarily. We got rid of all those, of course."

    "Mark? Like branded cattle?"

    "Supposedly it was more like a magical tattoo, spelling out words in Demonese." Bow shrugs. "Didn't get to see it myself."

    "I hadn't heard of that before."

    "Well, the branded people aren't around to talk any more, now are they? And I imagine their relatives don't talk much about traitors they lost in purges. It's mostly barracks-room rumors by now."

    The conversation moves back to more pleasant and more immediatly relevant matters. You notice surprisingly little hostility here, considering how much the Privy Council has been speaking against Bridge during the meetings you've sat in on. Morning's reports, Ebuskun's complaints, Void's distrust... all seem to have no effect on how you are welcomed and treated as a respected guest of Clan Bridge.
    [Connection gained.]

    ---

    News of war trickles in from the southern front in the 'Second Spiders War'. Silverport's forces have linked up with those of Helmsland and driven the demon spiders back, say the reports, but progress has stalled due to approaching the heart of the infestation. Every rumor seems wilder and less likely than the one before it: spiders the size of men, no, horses, no, boats, no, houses, no, ships! Spiders whose legs are entire trees. Boulders that uncurl into stone-spiders. Infectious spiders whose bite turns men into giant were-spiders. The primordial Ur-Spider, mother of all spiders that are and were and will be, who bleeds more spiders when struck.

    You imagine most of the stories have to be drunken exaggerations, or Silverport's army would surely have been annihilated.

    ---

    Sweet drinks, roast chicken and savory noodles mix their smells at your older son's birthday party. Lucky charms and colorful ribbons adorn the walls, floor, and the handles of various household implements. The squalling of your six-year-old Avalanche Horn and several of his similarly-aged friends (and younger brother Avalanche Furrow) is kept to a minimum by a combination of food and shushing. Only about thirty people were officially invited to the party, but well-wishing distant relatives keep 'dropping in for a moment' and then being asked to stay a little longer.

    As often happens. It's nice to see people care.

    "Next year, when I'm all grown up like Daddy-" announces Horn, and you snicker at the rather compressed perception of time, "I'm going to save money and buy my own ship!"

    "Well then I'll buy TWO ships!" retorts his cousin.

    "I'll buy A HUNDRED ships!" says Horn, demonstrating an excellent early grasp of large numbers.

    "Says who?"

    "Says my hundred money!" He holds up a fistful of the coins he's been given as presents, not amounting to enough to hire a sailor, let alone buy a ship. On second thought, his grasp of large numbers could use some improvement.

    "Unded money." echoes Furrow, also holding up a fist.

    "A ship costs more than one money." you gently interject. "You'll need more time saving money if you want to buy a hundred ships. And more years growing bigger."

    "Awwww. Can I have a hundred noodles then?"

    "Today, you can have as many noodles as you want." you say generously and reach for the noodle pot at the same time as Jade. Your hands bump into each other, and the two of you cooperate to serve Horn another helping of birthday noodles. It's a wonderful day, and nothing will be allowed to ruin it, for you or for your son. Not even the messy slurping sound as he tries to suck up an extra-long noodle in one go, grinning happily.

    ---

    You look to the forges again.

    Your experimental starmetal forge is still burning acids and powders and tinctures with its iron, producing interesting deformations and reactions, but no starmetal yet. Still you live in hope.

    Your less experimental mirrormetal forge is doing marginally, selling enough to cover the wages of your employees minding it and a little more, but it hasn't had the success you hoped for. A commander bought some for more resilient field signaling mirrors, a few socialites bought some for particularly shiny jewelry. Maybe business will pick up once word spreads beyond the novelty value. [+4g]

    And in your training visits to regular forges, you hammer and you pump and you work until you are once again exhausted, Zara's blessing helping to reinforce your body, but still it drives home that you are, compared to a professional blacksmith, simply physically weak.

    [Train Smithing: Martial, 9 + 9 + 10(blessing) = 28. Progress 2/3.]

    Great abstract understanding does not substitute for the persistence and endurance necessary to beat metal into shape while it remains hot, it only tells you just how bad will be the consequences of reheating. But you are learning. Slowly, you grow fitter and stronger.

    ---

    Two other surprising events of note take place in the days that follow:

    First, Wolf Three has adopted Creationism, and it's put a new spring in her step. The palace sage seems happier, brighter, more lively when you see her. She tries to explain the philosophical grounding, but it all goes over your head.

    Second, Jade is pregnant! Congratulations and celebrations resound all around.

    ------

    Voting time:

    Your older son has turned six years of age. It's time to start making decisions about his education beyond the basics of walking, talking and hygiene.
    [] [Son] No special considerations yet. You'll do some teaching whenever you're home, Jade will do some too, the amah will do some, your relatives can chip in when Horn asks them questions. This is common in a large extended family. Your mother supports this option.
    [] [Son] Hire a professional tutor to give your son a bit of an advantage. (-4g/turn) Your father supports this option.
    -[] Favor Stewardship
    -[] Favor another attribute
    [] [Son] Hire multiple tutors to ensure your son's education is extensive and well rounded. (-10g/turn)
    [] [Son] Schooling is usually meant for older youths and full adults, but of late more and more child-oriented schools have started to spring up. Maybe send him to one of those. (-1g/turn)
    [] [Son] Have him accompany you at your job so he can learn to follow in your footsteps.
    [] [Son] Apprenticeship at such a young age is very unusual, but there's no rule against it. Let him start learning a trade.
    [] [Son] Foster him out to a family from one of the Four Great Houses for a few years to build connections. This is an ambitious option that may fail.
    -[] Choose which ones to attempt reaching out to
    [] [Son] Foster him out to a smaller clan that Avalanche has good relations with. Your wife supports this option.
    [] [Son] The GM feels like he's forgotten something obvious, point it out?

    (Choice is not permanent, there will be opportunities to reconsider it as he develops.)

    You have decided not to confront any of the embezzlers and cheaters about what you've discovered along the way. Now it's time to decide what you're going to tell the Portlord about the results of the past few months of work.

    [] [Report] Write in

    Finally, suggest courses of action for the next turn (six months); the Portlord is likely to choose one of them. You can use this to your advantage. One possibility is to suggest things that align with your personal goals, another is to suggest things you can do easily and have plenty of time left over to spend elsewhere. However, if there's a pressing concern the boss has that is not covered by what you put forward, he may 'write in' your orders, and cause a relationship hit due to losing respect for your abilities. Votes for this will be in plan format - the more options you give the Portlord, the greater chance he'll pick one, but the less you can steer his instructions.

    (Looking at the discussion over the past turn, I will say that a one-item plan where you insist on continuing audits is a valid submission.)

    [] Plan name goes here
    -[] The palace budget is almost balanced. Just a little more work and it could pay for itself.
    -[] I need more time to improve the examinations, I feel I'm not done yet.
    -[] Redesigning the examination system is still of finite use, I should establish a Ministry of Exams to solve the problem indefinitely.
    -[] The census is a lot more important than I thought, order me to do that properly.
    -[] The city walls could still use a lot more work to make them even better.
    -[] We need a whole new set of proper fortification walls for the city so we're not scrambling to patch them up next time there's a war.
    -[] Clan Bridge and their allies need to be destroyed. Peacefully and financially, of course.
    -[] Let me continue auditing and hunt down more corruption in the palace.
    -[] Let's invent central banking.
    -[] Other suggestions (write in)

    Former wealth: 107g
    Income: Wages 50g, mirrormetal forge 4g
    Expenditures: Family 5g, shrines 5g, clerks 5g, final debt repayment 69g, experimental forge upkeep 38g
    Current wealth: 39g

    QM Notes:
    -Brand: Fealty-Acknowledging Audience, in case you were wondering.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Exmorri said:
    First, Wolf Three has adopted Creationism, and it's put a new spring in her step. The palace sage seems happier, brighter, more lively when you see her.
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    Well, Abrahamic faiths do tend to be more ... involved then their counterparts. I'm assuming Creationism is Not!Christianity or something along those lines, which could be interesting. Especially if their God is as comparatively active as the ones in Silverport.
     
    Hmm. Hiring a tutor will put us in the negative, income-wise, while sending him to school will make us break even. Of course, neither of these options are sustainable in the long run if we don't raise our income. This is why I pushed for promoting our mirrormetal in the past.
     
    Hm maybe a soldier son if he has any interest in that for our son maybe?

    Probably census , wall and central bank as the task options i guess ? Not sure i want to do more actions on exams but wouldnt hate it that much.

    What about a action to promote mirror metal to make it worth abit more in the future in the next plan people and qm? Since currently we made 1g from our income this turn without embezzeling.
     
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    LonelyWolf999 said:
    Well, Abrahamic faiths do tend to be more ... involved then their counterparts. I'm assuming Creationism is Not!Christianity or something along those lines, which could be interesting. Especially if their God is as comparatively active as the ones in Silverport.
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    Have you considered who created Creation in Exalted?

    (This is purely a troll question to amuse the QM and should not be taken to imply anything about the state of affairs in the quest. :drevil: Because the original canon answer amounts to 'the bosses of the Abominations'.)
     
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    I think we can made son follow our footstep by seeing our work.

    We can begin with question-answer with our son in the mock examination test.
     
    Exmorri said:
    You notice surprisingly little hostility here, considering how much the Privy Council has been speaking against Bridge during the meetings you've sat in on. Morning's reports, Ebuskun's complaints, Void's distrust... all seem to have no effect on how you are welcomed and treated as a respected guest of Clan Bridge.
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    Makes perfect sense. We are The Clerk, an apolitical administrator who happens to work for Bridge's opponent at the present time.

    On second thought, his grasp of large numbers could use some improvement.
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    He is a child, everything except cuteness could do with some improvement.

    Maybe business will pick up once word spreads beyond the novelty value.
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    More likely business will continue to suck until we bother to put some effort into it.

    Progress 2/3
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    We are getting, slowly but surely.

    Wolf Three has adopted Creationism
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    That is a horrible sign.

    For the [Son] options I say with go with Jade's preference.

    For options the audit must continue.
     
    [X] [Son] Hire multiple tutors to ensure your son's education is extensive and well rounded. (-10g/turn)

    [X] [Report] All good
    -[X] Tell him you could use more time to look into the audit. You have fixed some of it already, but more likely can be done.

    [X] plan audit and census
    -[X] The census is a lot more important than I thought, order me to do that properly.
    -[X] Let me continue auditing and hunt down more corruption in the palace.

    Edit, I want the census, so we won't invest many actions to our job. I want to spend 3 actions focused on diplomancing the clans we know.
     
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    [X] [Son] Foster him out to a family from one of the Four Great Houses for a few years to build connections. This is an ambitious option that may fail.
    -[X] Ascension

    [X] [Report] The audits have produced some leads, but more time and investigation is needed before any action can be taken.

    [X] Plan Audit Part II
    -[X] Let me continue auditing and hunt down more corruption in the palace.

    If we're able to do another turn of audits, we can dedicate 2-3 actions on them again, overwork ourself, and then dedicate our remains actions to promoting mirrormetal and socializing with the great houses like a few of us suggested before.
     
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    [X] [Son] Foster him out to a smaller clan that Avalanche has good relations with. Your wife supports this option.

    [X] [Report] Publicly in council: I have discovered some corruption in the lower level staff but I believe there is more to be uncovered.
    -[X] Privately to Void
    --[X] Chancellor Blade has been spending some of his discretionary budget on cloths from tailors with close connections to important people. Whether this is a valid use can be argued either way.
    --[X] Spymaster Morning may be funnelling money to his clan through his spy network but it could just be case of him using people he trusts and spies not keeping their receipts .
    --[X] Sage Three was being under paid at one point, with no apparent explanation.
    --[X] Marshall Ebuskun appears to be scrupulously honest.

    [X] Plan Audit Part II
    -[X] Let me continue auditing and hunt down more corruption in the palace.
     
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