From Out of a Dream [Quest]

[Mushroom King]

I guess we're ready. Further delays be prevent us from acquiring another potential employer.

...Unless we want to stop by the brothel first, and have Nuo pay for that too.

[The MG]

You’re done preparing. Your stomach is full, and Nuo is sufficiently punished.

[semicasual]

It's funny how Second Breath has people debating the most moral course of action to take while this one has such discussions as "did that water spirit piss us off enough to kill her or just rough her up" and "should we delay just to make a point or delay just to make a point and also make the messenger pay for our food".

(I think a lot of it has to do with how this story is structured. Smiling Layoro is a character the players of Second Breath mostly made up, but Nergüi is already a fully developed character ((albeit one who is opaque to the players at first)). The situations each protagonist gets into differ as well - I have noticed that Second Breath tends to involve making more social choices than tactical. The tone is also pretty different - I think JayTee is aiming for some kind of High Adventure story, whereas I am trying to make something closer to low fantasy ((insofar as that is possible in a setting with magic kung fu)).

In short, there are a lot of factors that are meant to make it easy for you to get into the mindset of a hired killer who is scarily desensitized to violence. I am pleased with your reactions, so far.)

[Zelbinnean]

>You're done preparing. But Nuo seemed to know something about Joy, and her behavior was definitely strange and inhuman. Ask her about Joy as you walk.

[L'het'esh]

Done Preparing. Nuo obviously knows who Joy was (perhaps what is more appropriate) and this is something to ask the Grand Magister. Perhaps the Magister won't throw you out of town and you won't have to make the usual mess.....

[WarDragon]

>You're done preparing. But Nuo seemed to know something about Joy, and her behavior was definitely strange and inhuman. Ask her about Joy as you walk.

I'm more certain than ever she's a Neomah, but it'd be nice to have confirmation.

[Mushroom King]

Gonna guess Fair Folk, personally. She seems obsessed with emotions, experiences, story, and potential.

[Ferryman]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious from the beginning that she was Raksha.

[Kazorh]

The Stone of Making itself is almost surely connected to the Wyld somehow. I mean, when one talks of endless possibilities, there's one obvious link to make.

You’re done preparing.

[wonderandawe]

I'm going against the majority here, but I'll vote we do our shopping now. The Magister obviously wants us for something and the more annoyed the lady is, the more likely she is going to let important information slip.

[Erinys]

Be sure to stay armed. This Magistrate might be upset about killing those guys. You never can be certain when people are going to get upset and try to kick you out of town. Or arrest you and take your stuff.

[L'het'esh]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious from the beginning that she was Raksha.

I shot my mouth off earlier with my instant reaction, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought fair Folk. I mean, Joy of Metamorphosis?

[The MG]

I'm sticking with the Liminal idea, mostly because how does a raksha blacken her teeth with iron? Unless, you know, they're actually black. Or she's faeblooded.

So, yeah, my guns. Sticking to them.

[WarDragon]

Be sure to stay armed. This Magistrate might be upset about killing those guys. You never can be certain when people are going to get upset and try to kick you out of town. Or arrest you and take your stuff.

Don't think anybody's talking about disarming ourselves. I mean come on, that's just crazy talk. Sooner go around without pants than without weapons.

[semicasual]

“No, I’m finished,” you say, rising from your seat. “Let’s get on with it.” Nuo sniffs and stalks away.

Nuo leads the way down Riverside until you’ve passed the edge of Eight Roads. Soon, you see the Upper Green River flowing on its way north. Bargemen congregate on the banks, loading and unloading cargo for trade in town. Farmers wander around their fields on either side of the river, picking vegetables. Nuo relaxes as soon as you are in sight of the water, and she seems to become more composed the longer you walk alongside it.

After you’ve been walking for a while and you think Nuo has cooled off, you ask about what’s been on your mind. “Who is Joy?”

Nuo looks back at you skeptically, then turns away. “You tell me,” she says. “Today was the closest I ever got to her.”

“She works for Himitsu as some kind of advisor… and I don’t think she’s human.”

“I know she’s not human,” Nuo replies with disgust. “Magus Himitsu went abroad a few years ago and brought back that thing with him. Since then, he has been… unreliable.”

“Unreliable how?”

“Himitsu’s chief responsibility is to manage the Grand Magister’s interests in Eight Roads. Put simply, he isn’t doing the job satisfactorily.”

“…That answer bred more questions.”

“If Grand Magister Ayumu wishes you to know more, he will tell you himself.”

“Of course he will. So what about Joy? What is she?”

“She is… a xian of xian jing… one of those magical strangers from beyond the edges of the world.”

“How do you know?”

“Her qi does not flow from the earth. She walks on the land, but she isn’t a part of it like everything else. Confusion and disorder follow in her wake. The five elements are not in balance within her.”

You snort. “What are you, some kind of sage?”

Nuo takes a deep breath before she answers. “I have… an instinct for this kind of thing. It’s a family gift.”

“Oh. Your parents are shamans?”

Nuo stops and turns to look at you again, this time with real confusion. “What? No. Are you… how long have you lived in Eight Roads?”

Now it is your turn to be confused. “Umm… Four years? Maybe five?¹ Why does it matter?^”

“Hmm. Nevermind, it’s not important.”

Your conversation ends there. Nuo says nothing else until you have passed the dragon statues and entered the Ryuunosuke estate.

¹

Before Eight Roads, you spent several years in Pilgrimage, and before that about ten in Exemplar… after a while, the places blur together into a mishmash of fields and huts and people whose names you have forgotten. You always moved when it felt like too many people knew you.

---

The noble riverside mansion is two stories tall and very wide. A raised base of stone supports a house of heavy wooden timbers and fine ceramic shingling. The grounds around the entrance have been shaped into ornamental gardens of flowering trees and stone lanterns. It all looks very impressive, but you can’t help but feel the sprawling estate would be very difficult to defend – too many avenues of attack, and not enough chokepoints. On the other hand, escaping on the river would be easy…

Nuo goes in ahead to announce your arrival. After a short wait, she returns to lead you up to a balcony on the second floor at the back of the house. Ayumu waits there on a canvas stool, looking out over the Upper Green. A jug and two silver drinking bowls sit on the railing in front of him.

Ayumu is short, fat, and bald. A very dark red silk robe wraps around his thick frame. Many gold rings adorn his fingers and his ears. His droopy face is entirely hairless. “Thank you, Nuo,” he says as you approach. “Now go and find this Joy of Metamorphosis. You know what to look for.”

“Yes, sir,” says Nuo automatically. She leaves the two of you alone.

“Have a seat,” says the Grand Magister, gesturing to a stool on his left. You join him in gazing at the river, watching laborers on both sides of the bank scrap a living out of the dirt.

“Now, I understand that you recently retrieved something for the Magus Himitsu,” he says, grabbing the jug and pouring some wine into each bowl. “I would very much like to know what this object was, and I am willing to pay a reasonable sum for whatever you’d like to share.”

He passes one of the bowls to you and takes a sip from the other. “To be perfectly clear, I am not asking you to do any sort of job for me. I only wish to stay informed of my underlings’ business arrangements.”

What do you do?

• Stick to your story. You killed some bandits. You have nothing to say about any delivery.
• Come clean. You delivered a magical stone that he might use to magically create something.
• Try to bargain. You’ll tell the truth, but only for an unreasonable sum.
• Trade information. See if you can find out what Ayumu already knows before you give him everything.
• Lie outrageously. You brought Himitsu… a bag of priceless glassware that no one knows how to make anymore. Valuable, but not special.
• Something else?