Dice [Exalted] O Brave New World (OOC)

[Rykon]

I don't mind having it being a source of comedy or drama. I'll try and get an IC post up later today. Got a few things to take care of first.

Glad I gave John favored Brawl in case we lean more on Martial Arts themes.

 

[D. Rex]

And hey! Maybe John can teach Hazel how to whack people with her boomstick.

Ooh! That reminds me, though my next char im planning to use has White Reaper Style... I definitely want to try making someone with Red Locust Swarm style and lob grenades everywhere.

 

[Sherwood]

Sorry I haven't posted more. I've been distracted by some stuff in Real Life. I would like to try and get a better deal for the troops, and guarantees that they will not be used as throw away soldiers.

 

[Psychie]

I've been waiting for the scene with the troops to move forward, since Morrolan is not in the negotiations

 

[Random Word]

No need to apologize! Real Life is important.

So the deal Saiqa is offering gives you very broad latitude as to how to achieve your objectives. You're the officer in command, and you decide how - and if - your soldiers will be deployed. She's offering you money to fight to see shipments of tin to the Principate resumed, and she'll pay you a portion of any tin delivered in tithe over the next season. You could take the money and run; take the money and show up in Kabir, then decide it's too dangerous and run; Win a few battles in and around Kabir then decide the danger to your men is too high and retreat; etc. This is why Saiqa is offering a small down payment, just enough to cover your costs for two months, but a payout on completion that scales with the degree to which you succeed in seeing to it she is delivered tin. If you're fantastically successful and get the mines running at full capacity, the payout is quite large - if you're still in her good graces so you can enter a Principate city to collect it. If you take your downpayment and run, she is out no more silver than she would have been willing to pay you to leave Achaea and you're likely to move on down the Diamond Road as it will be difficult to find further work with a reputation for deserting. To her, she wins either way.

You could push to be paid more in downpayment, though this increases the risk to Saiqa of you simply taking the money and running, so you'd need to provide a compelling reason, and Saiqa isn't in a good mood.

You could push for more aid and support. So far she has offered none, but if she's as powerful and influential as she seems to want you to believe she could probably organize weapons, magical wards, advisors with unique expertise, etc if she were so inclined. She would have presented a choice of such options, but Morrolan and Rogosh have offended her and made her reticent to render aid or provide more information than strictly necessary. This option will be difficult.

You could push for a different incentive structure entirely, like fixed pay for time (a much lower maximum payout, but much more reliable), or a bounty on the Eight-Forged King's head, rather than being paid based on tin shipments, which could face problems beyond your control. Even if you slay all of the Din and the Eight-Forged King, you are no miner, and the mines could fail to produce for any number of reasons. You could argue that even if no tin is delivered she should offer a minimum end of job payment for fighting for some period of time just so you aren't incentivized to take the downpayment and run if you don't think you'll be able to get any tin delivered, etc.

So first up we need to figure out what a better deal means to you - more money up front? A bigger cut of the tin tithe if you succeed? Food and supplies for your journey? A different reward for success? Promises of expert medical attention for your soldiers when you return (the Sorcerer-Princes of Sassarin are famed for the ability to heal even grievous wounds and treat almost any ailment)? etc etc

As to promises they won't be sacrificed needlessly, that's been largely left up to you. Saiqa has given you a very difficult assignment, one she doesn't necessarily believe you can succeed at, but she doesn't expect you to pursue it suicidally. She thinks you are three outcaste Dragonblooded, and so she underestimates what you can accomplish, but still thinks three Terrestrials and 300 soldiers would be an immense boost to the defenses of Kabir.

Once you decide what you want, we can either use the full social influence system (intimacies, instills, persuades, bargains, etc) to see if you can get it, or have an abridged system where you just make one roll and decide if you get the terms you request if you just want to get it over with.

I've been waiting for the scene with the troops to move forward, since Morrolan is not in the negotiations

Oh, sorry! it's totally cool to jump back and forth in time. That's why I set up the scene in the future with Rogosh reporting to Morrolan, just like Hazel had two scenes at different times at once. You can play out that scene at the same time Sherwood is getting down to brass tacks with Saiqa, on the assumption Renna will find a deal she likes eventually. If something in the past invalidates things done in the future, we'll deal with that when it happens. Renna is there in the future, too, of course, and can show up whenever Sherwood would like.

If Renna rejects the job or attacks Saiqa we'll just have to jump back to the present and invalidate that future, but that's not a big deal.

 

[Psychie]

Ok, I'll see what I can come up with for my guy.

 

[Sherwood]

I am not going to make any moves to incite a fight - but I will defend myself if Saiqa makes the first move. I am willing to go with the deal that she's suggesting, as long as she understands that the Red Arms are not a suicide company and we reserve the right to say no to her orders if I feel it will not end well for us.

 

[Random Word]

Any time you feel like you're blocked or waiting on something, and want something for your character to do, just let me know. We can almost certainly figure something out.

I am not going to make any moves to incite a fight - but I will defend myself if Saiqa makes the first move. I am willing to go with the deal that she's suggesting, as long as she understands that the Red Arms are not a suicide company and we reserve the right to say no to her orders if I feel it will not end well for us.

Yeah, absolutely. She does not want to fight you, and will go so far as trying to pay you generously to just go away if you really won't work for her, only using violence as an absolute last resort. She understands you're not suicidal (Mercenaries never are - you can't spent your coin if you're dead), and her only orders are, 'Try to get my tin shipments flowing again. You get a cut if you succeed. Secondarily, try to help the people of Kabir.' She doesn't care how you do it, and isn't even going to be particularly disappointed if you just show up in Kabir and give a good show of trying to help the people but ultimately the enemy is too strong and you can't accomplish much. At least she can point to you trying to help as her fulfilling the treaty obligations.

 

[Sherwood]

I can work with that. Consider a deal made. I will get the tin flowing once more.

 

[Rykon]

Ah right. D. Rex with John largely being stunned and confused regarding the connection, would you prefer to post Hazel's response first?

As I was writing, I realized his reaction wouldn't quite fit if Hazel did tackle him.

 

[D. Rex]

Ah right. D. Rex with John largely being stunned and confused regarding the connection, would you prefer to post Hazel's response first?

As I was writing, I realized his reaction wouldn't quite fit if Hazel did tackle him.

Sure I can post first!

Don't worry. I was exaggerating the tackle. But she will approach and embrace him.

 

[Random Word]

Psychie did you miss the bottom part of this post? O Brave New World - IC
You don't have to be stuck fuming at Saiqa - you have a battle to plan and fight, and an army to feed.

I think Sherwood has wrapped up Renna's negotiations. He can post again in that timeline if he likes, but otherwise you're both jumped forward to preparations for breaking the Siege of Kabir.

 

[Psychie]

Sorry, I did miss that part of the post. I just wanted to make sure that I was staying active in the IC thread. I'll put something up soon to address that.

 

[Random Word]

No worries - now I understand why you didn't have anything for Morrolan to do. I should have highlighted it better and tagged you.

 

[Psychie]

I just missed it, so it is on me.

 

[Random Word]

jaydude So that was Charisma 5 + Presence 4 + Excellency 5 = 14 dice? Obviously you succeeded spectacularly, but just to check:

So Atusa isn't maintaining the 7m indefinite version of Majestic Radiant Presence for the three extra dice? Tiger's Dread Symmetry would toss another free die on there, and you could have awarded yourself a minor stunt for two more. That would have put you all the way up to 20 dice.

 

[jaydude]

jaydude So that was Charisma 5 + Presence 4 + Excellency 5 = 14 dice? Obviously you succeeded spectacularly, but just to check:

So Atusa isn't maintaining the 7m indefinite version of Majestic Radiant Presence for the three extra dice? Tiger's Dread Symmetry would toss another free die on there, and you could have awarded yourself a minor stunt for two more. That would have put you all the way up to 20 dice.

Heh. Thanks for the reminder. I haven't looked at this game for a while, so I might not be aware of everything Atusa can do.

 

[Sherwood]

I have an IC post up to begin moving forward with Renna.

 

[Random Word]

One small piece of bookkeeping: I think Hold/Pass is missing a third flag: Blocked. This one is mostly for players who need something from me to continue their story, and can either be reported in this OoC thread of at the end of an IC post, along with a little note of what's needed if useful. I believe everyone is unblocked right now (do correct me if I'm wrong), but if you ever are in a position where you're in the mood to write a post but can't, let me know.

Blocked is separate from Hold/Pass, so Hold + Blocked is perfectly valid (There's more I want to do in this scene, but I need something from you to do it), and so is Pass + Blocked (I'm done with this scene, but I need you to set up the next one for me, and here's the scene I'd like set up).

 

[jaydude]

From the clues I have, I'm going to say your Goal here is one of, in order of scope:
Peacefully Resolve the Diplomatic Incident
Build Alliances Among the Neighbours of the Hematti (Everyone? Specific Clans?)
Unite the Southern Clans into One Empire

Something along those lines, yes. Other things I was thinking of are: Achieve Independence from the Fayum, Settle an Area of Land (preferably near or over the ruin of an ancient Faqari city), Make the Hematti Prosper there, and perhaps Unify the Faqari against the Ur-Pharaoh (assuming that he's actually a Deathlord and/or is plotting to use the Faqari for some villainous goal).

 

[Random Word]

OOC: Are Bleached Bone attacks common to this part of the network?

When I decided there were going to be several Wyld pockets at major duneway junctions for reasons, I also decided it would be more interesting if they each had a Court. The Court of Bleached Bone is one of many, often mutually antagonistic Faerie Courts. The Raksha you'd expect to be attacking here would be the Court of the Poison Fang, notably led by Apophis, known enemies of the Court of the Storm's Spite. This close to the Maelstrom Raksha attacks are certainly more frequent, but attacks can show up just about anywhere. If prey doesn't come to them Raksha aren't shy about going hunting.

Achieve Independence from the Fayum, Settle an Area of Land (preferably near or over the ruin of an ancient Faqari city), Make the Hematti Prosper there, and perhaps Unify the Faqari against the Ur-Pharaoh

Awesome, just let me know which one you're pursuing at any given moment.

 

[Sherwood]

Random Word I'm not sure what I can post without some input from you as to what we're up against. Some sort of idea on the terrain we have, and the disposition and numbers of the enemy forces would be great.

 

[Psychie]

I am able to do a fly-over of our target in eagle form to get a good idea of the numbers we are looking at.

 

[D. Rex]

I'll try to post soon myself! I had gotten distracted by engorged myself in books studying for an impromptu game I am running.

 

[Random Word]

Sherwood Just checking, did you also miss the bottom part of this post? O Brave New World - IC
It was addressed to Morrolan, since he had bowed out of the previous scene, but there's no reason Renna can't be nearby and listening, or Morrolan could report to her. Wisdom's Star will also have a report from the mounted scouts, but if you have any questions about what Rogosh found while on reconnaissance you can certainly ask him, and Morrolan can certainly fly ahead in bird form to do more scouting. The main decision is whether you want to try to forced march through the night to relieve the city as soon as possible (with everyone, with only part of the company, Exalted only, etc), or wait until morning.

If being able to ask Rogosh questions about his scouting mission isn't enough, let me know what else I can provide.