Sure, I'll do the tally for the Conclave plan at 10am London time on Sunday.
[X] [Conclave] The Crimson Sunrise
I think we need to at least somewhat address what just happened, the Rat is obviously going to be curious about what the fuck just happened but I think it'll be easy enough to express "we can't talk about that right now with Pangolins everywhere staring daggers at us."
I think these are simple enough 'safe' enough things we could immediately do to win over at least a few Pangolins and make them hate us less than 100%. I don't think we're winning the Taxiarchos over at this point so we're better off robbing him of as many of his underlings as possible.
My other idea to win some favor is to use the Ben Franklin effect and ask the Pangolins at the Conclave for small favors and to compensate them for it afterwards but I don't have any specific ideas in mind so if that interests you it's an option, but if not it's fine, could use it later.
EDIT: Also, I get that most of them probably aren't going to be at the Conclave where the Pangolins want to show off 100% ideological unity, but we should really look into finding more dissenters. The Naraka rollers are the only group I can think of we've seen that are sort of outside of the military hierarchy and they're sorta a meme. Some of Kei's other summons like Panjandrum seem fairly chill, maybe they could come hang out with us, idk.
That claim was a deliberate and obvious lie by Hazou to deflect where he sourced them, I think it hurts our narrative to do the same thing with the summons when we want them to actually believe in the Dragons.The ES gems did come about as a result of the dragon war, so I'd believe we could attach a certain amount of prestige to them by claiming this.
Hmm, examples? My thinking is there aren't really any missions that can accomplish anything besides getting a massive army and beating the Dragons to a pulpWe could offer Pantsa a certain amount in return for publicly endorsing missions to assist in the Dragon War. It could be a way for Pantsa to get rid of problematic Pangolins and Condors, or as a way to cement or encourage loyalty.
Can the interlude be the sealing exam?I'm fine to write an interlude, if that's what you're asking. Or only the seal exam. That could be fun.
Yes, like this.I'm asking obliquely if we can do the sealing exams (which we've been excited about for a while) and then go back to answer the question at the end of Vel's chapter.
So claim that the Iron Nerve lets us shit sapphires.That claim was a deliberate and obvious lie by Hazou to deflect where he sourced them, I think it hurts our narrative to do the same thing with the summons when we want them to actually believe in the Dragons.
Why are we doing this immediately after the clusterfuck that was the last 10 minutes? Why not wait until the next day?Immediately approach that nearby Rat trade rep with advisor-suggested tributes. Be polite; introduce ourselves.
Personal opinion says that we should establish a more positive rapport with the Rat representative while they are still off-balance, but that's just me.Why are we doing this immediately after the clusterfuck that was the last 10 minutes? Why not wait until the next day?
Yes, exactly! I would really like to be able to figure out what is going on and stop arguing about it.I voted for this because I'm still confused, and would prefer not to be.
I notice that this plan is also a good choice for people who think that the timeline conspiracy is silly! Letting other posters put their suspicions to rest so we can all move on seems very valuable. And we still get to do the sealing exam!
"Using the power of the Iron Nerve, and my extensively trained intestinal muscles, I am able to compress rocks to such a degree—"
We know from Hazou's aside to Gaku that he had some amount of success with the Rats, so I'd be okay with that.Personal opinion says that we should establish a more positive rapport with the Rat representative while they are still off-balance, but that's just me.
What does everyone think?
I'm not talking about approaching the Rats at all. I'm talking about doing it immediately after the last update instead of letting the crowd disperse and trying again in private.We know from Hazou's aside to Gaku that he had some amount of success with the Rats, so I'd be okay with that.
This was delightful! Thank you for writing it. It's got a few places where it wanders from past tense to present tense. If you'll clean those up and put a title on it, I'm happy to threadmark it as an omake.
Done.Hazou, please. With our current build status, each XP brings us that much closer to better social and combat stats.
Welcome! Lovely to have you. How did you find us?
I apologize. I was mostly memeing about the "don't have meetings about meetings" thing and not thinking about the fact that there was actually a plan being discussed, so making the joke meant that I was weighing in on the plan. I really shouldn't have done that.
It's nuanced. When I signed up to write MfD I was expecting to have ninja punching each other with fireballs, with 'build a village' as a framing device around it. That rapidly turned into 'small band of missing-nin', which I was 100% onboard with because fireballs + small cast + high-pressure environment = fun and win. It's not the only way to have fun, but it's a reliable one.For instance, money is quite useful and more or less directly translates to power in the village during peacetime through the mission posting system. A large number of successful organizations have gotten quite far using bribery and other soft power methods.... So it makes sense to maximize money that so you have another tool in your tool box. But this isn't very ninja-ish and can conflict with the desired quest focus.
I'm sure I'm being a cheese brain, but when did QMs say that toilets and skysliders wouldn't move forward without player intervention?Both skysliders and toilets have been pointed out specifically as something that won't move forward without our specific intervention. If I may ask, this seems a strange narrative choice? Do you want an update where we work on them? If not, maybe they should actually go somewhere without a specific plan mentioning them?
Yes, you can vote in the seal exam. I've extended voting a couple hours so you have time if people want it.
Personally I think it would be fine either way. I think there is some cool factor to immediately talking to them after pulling off a rescue mission but next day would be fine too.Personal opinion says that we should establish a more positive rapport with the Rat representative while they are still off-balance, but that's just me.
What does everyone think?
To confirm, we can vote in the sealing exam for Sunday and continue the conversation we left off on in the following update, when we have confirmation on the numbers?Yes, you can vote in the seal exam. I've extended voting a couple hours so you have time if people want it.@eaglejarl, any thoughts on this?
Can the interlude be the sealing exam?I'm fine to write an interlude, if that's what you're asking. Or only the seal exam. That could be fun.
Yes, like this.I'm asking obliquely if we can do the sealing exams (which we've been excited about for a while) and then go back to answer the question at the end of Vel's chapter.
I feel like this is the third time I've answered this and the first two times were pretty clear, but I'll try again.To confirm, we can vote in the sealing exam for Sunday and continue the conversation we left off on in the following update, when we have confirmation on the numbers?