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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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[] Proto-Plan Ideas

Establish a SOP with Granny Karina
(all of this done with the greatest politeness)

1. When we arrive at a location, the group will stop in the street outside. Karina stays in the palanquin.
2. One team member will go in to scout the location for assassins and announce Karina's arrival.
3. The other two stay on guard outside, looking for snipers. (One of them may investigate any suspicious areas where an enemy sniper might be concealed.)
4. Determine if Karina needs to take in a sample case of some sort. If so, then it will be carried either before or after her, but not at the same time.
5. If all seems safe, Karina will exit the palanquin and be escorted inside by all three ninjas. Instruct her that if they call for danger, she is to duck down and huddle on the spot and we will protect her. Running will only expose her to danger.
6. Reverse this procedure upon exiting.

Where are we going?
1. If Karin has no preferences on order, we will go to the up-and-coming business first and then the upmarket area second.
--The logic is that the upmarket area is likely to be where many teams will travel, and we want to have a chance to scout it out before jumping into the mix.
2. During travel, one team member will take to the rooftops so as to have a higher field of vision while the other two patrol near the palanquin.

While at the Shop
1. Inform Karina respectfully that for her safety one member of the team will be going ahead to scout the next location while the other two guard her during the negotiating process.
2. Send one team member (Hazou or Keiko or Noburi?) to the next area by rooftops and to go check out the next location and the path to it, checking out potential ambush spots along the way. Make sure the merchant is there and willing to recieve visitors at ETA
- This is also an opportunity to talk with them in private before Karina's arrival. Take it? Try to get information about other potential markets?
3. While doing this, try to spot other teams, their method of travel, and their merchants while doing so.
4. Find prearranged drop area for communication with other Leaf teams; likely somewhere in merchant area. (Do we need to spend a Fate point for a declaration?)
- In coded message, leave identity and nature of our client, plus her agreement to our housing request. Quickly note down any prominent foreign teams spotted and any clues regarding them. See if the other teams have left a message for us yet.
5. Do assassinations of opportunity if one of the other teams is being careless as they travel?
6. Two members remaining at the shop are to remain on their guard but also observe the negotiating process closely.

That's all I have so far... thoughts and additions?

I am trying hard to think about how we might attempt to hunt down the Lightning Team.
 
Immortal Lurker said:
Smelter. Dump in ore, only emit metal. Might require a redox agent, I know very little about smelting. Requires the ability to selectively release items from the seal, which might be impossible.
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This is another thing I've been pushing for for a while now. We have a seal called Usamatsu's Glorious Life-Saving Purifier, which takes in air of any quality and filters out contaminants to output breathable air. The principles behind that process can theoretically be expanded into another useful kind of filter, such as extracting salt from seawater (salt is pretty valuable in IRL history so may be pretty valuable here too) or, once we've made enough seals of that type to be really good at them, take in rocks and output metals.

Granted, Usamatsu had to brute force his design, testing on lab rats to find which ones didn't die, so Hazou would be doing much the same thing, but applied properly we could even use this as a gateway to more sophisticated chemistry knowledge as we suddenly have ways to get pure samples of various substances with ease.
 
A seal idea that I had is to develop a seal which separates materials into their pure forms, such as separating oxygen from metals. It would simplify the smelting process more than the maceorator seal would with the crushing of rocks to ease the physical labor required in the manufacturing process of metal.
 
Velorien said:
"You may consider yourselves to have been politely greeted," he said reluctantly.

"Thank you," Keiko said coolly. "Please also consider us to have treated you with all the respect you deserve."

The proctor blinked.

"It's good you know your place," he said with a touch of uncertainty.
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Someone needs to invest into his Detect Stealth Insults skill.
 
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Inferno Vulpix said:
This is another thing I've been pushing for for a while now. We have a seal called Usamatsu's Glorious Life-Saving Purifier, which takes in air of any quality and filters out contaminants to output breathable air. The principles behind that process can theoretically be expanded into another useful kind of filter, such as extracting salt from seawater (salt is pretty valuable in IRL history so may be pretty valuable here too) or, once we've made enough seals of that type to be really good at them, take in rocks and output metals.

Granted, Usamatsu had to brute force his design, testing on lab rats to find which ones didn't die, so Hazou would be doing much the same thing, but applied properly we could even use this as a gateway to more sophisticated chemistry knowledge as we suddenly have ways to get pure samples of various substances with ease.
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I wonder if Jiraiya provided us with Usamatsu's Original Research Notes, or just his own? The former would be very useful in figuring things out.
 
Guys, focus. We're in a "need to develop a plan" period of the quest not the "chat about theoretical seals because we're waiting on an update" period.

Like traverseda here... they get it!

traverseda said:
Well, we can't do stealth scouting because of the bananas and no-henge rule. Do we really want to let everyone know where our next location is?
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Not quite true, as we're welcome to do stealth in the "hide behind things" old fashioned way if that's doable. But your point is well taken. Maybe drop the "announce Karina's arrival" part?

I think having one team member scout the route ahead of time is still worth doing, because as I said the merchant quarter is likely to be a hotbed of ninja teams. Having someone put eyes on the area before bringing the client there could be quite valuable.
 
It's basically the rules that were given beforehand, with the only two differences noted below.
The third event [begins] at dawn on November 2. It ends at dawn on November 7.

The event simulates a bodyguard/escort mission for a civilian merchant who is in Mist to conduct business. You will be assigned a proctor who will play the part of your client. The 'client' will have a persona indicating what sort of merchant they are, what contacts they have, etc.. The client will be making all decisions concerning the business and dictating their own travel schedule around town, as well as selecting and paying for room and board for both them and yourselves. It is your job to support these decisions.

As with any escort mission, it is important to make a positive impression so that the merchant is inclined to hire you in the future. At the end of the event you will receive between -20 and +20 points depending on your client's review of your helpfulness, courtesy, and professionalism.

You and your client are playing the part of foreigners. For the duration of the event, teams may not make contact with any of their clan members, personally or through intermediaries. Attempts to do so will result in penalties or disqualification depending on the nature of the violation.

Both you and your client must be visibly wearing these bandanas [proctor indicates the bandanas] around your neck at all times in order to make it clear that you are part of the event. If you remove your bandana, you are disqualified from the event. If you remove another contestant's bandana, or cause it to be removed, you are disqualified from the event.

If you are disqualified then your team will be taken directly to the barracks and confined there for the duration of the event. Your score for the event will be a flat -50 points or whatever score you have earned if it is below -50.

Scoring is as follows:
  1. Teams are scored as a whole. Whatever score your team earns is added to each individual's total.
  2. At the end of the event you will receive 1 point for every 1,000 Mist ryō your client has amassed. You are not permitted to give the client money or its equivalents.
  3. You will be assessed the aforementioned -20 to +20 points based on the client's review.
  4. If your client is 'killed' then you are disqualified from the event and your score for the event is a flat -200 points or whatever score you have earned if it is below -200.
  5. The client will be under the Transformation Technique at all times while performing their role and is considered killed if their disguise is destroyed for any reason.
  6. You will be moving around the village during this event. Collateral damage is not acceptable and must be stringently avoided. In the event of injury or property damage, the consequences will apply to anyone the proctors think may have been directly or indirectly involved, regardless of whether they personally caused the damage or were definitively known to be present.
    1. The penalty for a death is disqualification from the Exams, forfeiture of your village's bond, and all of your village's contestants being sent home immediately. If a Mist contestant is involved in a death then all Mist contestants will be sent to an outpost on the edge of the Land of Water for the duration of the Exams and the Mist bond will be forfeit as per normal Chūnin Exam rules.
    2. The penalty for injuring a proctor or anyone who is not part of the event, even so much as a bruise, is -50 to -1,000 points depending on the severity of the injury. You will also be responsible for the victim's medical fees plus 10,000 ryō; those monies will be paid twice: once from your client's supply and once from your village's bond.
    3. Property damage will be scored as injury to a person—a scorch mark or broken table will cost -50 points and the price of replacement plus 10,000 ryō, paid twice. The costs go up from there depending on the severity of the damage.
    4. Any action intended to cause another team to inflict collateral damage will be treated as your team causing a fatality: disqualification for all teams from your village, forfeiture of your village's bond, and ejection from the Land of Water.
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Alright then yeah, we should be fine to henge as long as we keep the bandana as part of the henge.
 
Briefvoice said:
Guys, focus. We're in a "need to develop a plan" period of the quest not the "chat about theoretical seals because we're waiting on an update" period.

Like traverseda here... they get it!



Not quite true, as we're welcome to do stealth in the "hide behind things" old fashioned way if that's doable. But your point is well taken. Maybe drop the "announce Karina's arrival" part?

I think having one team member scout the route ahead of time is still worth doing, because as I said the merchant quarter is likely to be a hotbed of ninja teams. Having someone put eyes on the area before bringing the client there could be quite valuable.
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As I recall, our stealth is pretty bad. I can imagine Hazou succeeding in social stealth via deception (no, I'm not a contestant, I'm totally just a random person walking around), but that would be nearly impossible because of the bandannas.

Edit:
Unless we want to pretend to be a different contestant? I'm not sure what the point would be though?
 
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Does it matter if Hazou is spotted as long as he spots others?

It may even be to our advantage to have some cautious conversations with other contestants. If we're serious about hunting down the Lightning Team then asking other teams about when would be one way to go.
 
Briefvoice said:
Does it matter if Hazou is spotted as long as he spots others?

It may even be to our advantage to have some cautious conversations with other contestants. If we're serious about hunting down the Lightning Team then asking other teams about when would be one way to go.
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If we do, it should absolutely be under en-bandana'ed henge (perhaps with the bandana on the opposite arm). We don't want word to get to the Lightning team that we'll be hunting them specifically.
 
Briefvoice said:
If all seems safe, Karina will exit the palanquin and be escorted inside by all three ninjas.
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Would it be better to have someone go back outside and patrol after escorting Karina in? They can watch for approaching threats and prevent anyone from messing with the palanquin. If anything goes bad or looks suspicious they can be called inside.

That might leave us too thin after sending a scout to the next location.
 
Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to split our forces. We should always have at minimum two people guarding her.
 
I was thinking about how we should handle attacks against our client. An Earth Dome defends against pretty much everything save for specific earth ninjutsu, but the setup requirements are considerable. In particular, we'd need two people close to the client at all times, as well as enough free space for the dome to form - and to be safe it'd need a radius of 2 metres, which is quite a bit. Not doable indoors or anywhere crowded. Hozuki's Mantle has similar problems, trading less protection for being castable by a dedicated clone.

Not sure how I feel about using our new bodyguard Pangolin. We don't know what she can do or how useful it's going to be for our particular circumstances. Walking around with her would attract tons of attention, and she comes with an opportunity cost of not being able to use Panache as a spotter.

The next best thing is following the normal response protocol - one person grabs the client and runs while the rest of the team engage the attacker. Problem is that Henge is fragile and can pop from the person being handled a bit roughly.

It really sounds like we'll need to do this the old-fashioned way and secure our routes and locations well enough in advance that no one can safely take a shot. Thoughts?
 
Roomba said:
Thoughts?
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Think like ninja. We don't have to say on the ground; we can use buildings to get an aerial vantage point of areas.

On the note of thinking like ninjas: Every one of us needs to check the Palanquin for traps a minimum of three times if it's ever out of our sight, and once if she's off of it, regardless of it being in our sight. That's an easy spot to set traps with, for instance, Zephyr's Reach, which is a technique known to Mist.
 
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