Incidentally
@SoothingCoffee , was this a relatively 'hard' non-Burning Men encounter due to how low the roll was?
They're a relatively hard "weak" encounter. Like you said, they're slightly well-equipped Rats. The Gang Leader might be a bit stronger, but that is that, and this is this. Just as Lily has pointed out, if this was before she got her Fixer's License, she would be the one getting her shit pushed in.
And finally... is the white bar underneath our sanity just a copying error, or does it represent something else?
That's a formatting error. Should be fixed now.
I do kind of wonder how things would have gone if she won the Negotiation checks. Maybe telling the Iron Plate Gang they're messing with the wrong Office? Or maybe offer them a scrap of legitimacy if they let Hailey go?
First one, basically. It would have been difficult, not just because Lily's not particularly good at it, but because the Iron Plate Gang got stakes in this. They just formed their own Gang, and claimed a Street as their territory. It used to be owned by a larger Syndicate, but it's gone, and nobody cares enough to contest their claims. They attacked you for the same reason why Syndicates raid Offices -- Infamy. Fame. Reputation.
Legitimacy. As it is, they're just hobo-punks squatting over the place.
Of course, they're also serious about the money, and you could try to argue which one's more important to them, but they're dead now so /shrug
Such are the challenges of forming a new Syndicate.
The Missing Syndicates of District Eight
Just like Fixer Offices, Syndicates come and go. There's always this metaphorical "bar of entry" for both Fixers, and Syndicates where you got be
this tall to pass. Most couldn't meet that bar. So Syndicates straight up getting destroyed, sometimes even without anybody noticing it, is not something new.
But this is different. Ever since the Pianist Incident, Syndicates have been missing left, and right -- and were they be minor Syndicates, people wouldn't bat an eye. But these also include long-staying Syndicates, old major Syndicates that have been occupying the territories of District 8 for years. Even the Fingers aren't left alone; the Middle's influence growing quiet, and the Index vanishing out of thin air, their white robes can sometimes be seen on the street, covered in dirt, and blood. And from their ashes, come new Syndicates, and they are, if not as bad, then worse.
The Loud Orchestra, a "Syndicate" of maniacs who worshipped the Pianist, turning people into instruments in hopes of recreating the Pianist' discordant sound, their numbers rising to a speculated dozens. There are the
Dreamers, mysterious unknown cannibals who kidnap people into their factories, processing them down until "they're down to their essence".
One-Stroke Gang, a group of Rats turned into roaming Bandits who kill anything that meets their eyes, leaving behind a trail of blood behind them.
And it's like a dam has been broken -- more, and more, newer Syndicates begin to form. They're an inspiration, so to speak, for these newly formed Syndicates. Most of them died quick enough, but some stayed, and they
stayed.
