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Other: Carts and wagons from the foundry make deliveries or send out for supplies at all hours of the day. If you're quick and clever, you can hitch a ride on the undercarriage of one of these, hanging from the axles with your hands and feet. It's tiring, uncomfortable, and not exactly dry. But the carts do give you some cover and the drivers usually don't do any worse than yell at you if you're caught. You just need to find a vehicle headed the right way...
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On the frontier of the Wild South, there's only one woman with the grit to take on its most dangerous outlaws and bring them Back Alive, or Maybe Dead.
Avatar by K.S. Brenowitz -
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Go by boat.Comment
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I vote for the cart, seems the safest.
If that isn't allowed, run across the roof tops, we probably know it better than the raptor cat; so quick thinking and the right choices could loose the little monster. But get a big stick - worse comes to worst, the raptor cat probably not chase us if it feels we'll put up too much of a fight.Comment
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Carts sound good to me. One with a big load might even have its tailboard lowered! But that's long odds against.Comment
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Ah! That’s right! The Blackhand Foundry sends carts of supplies out at all hours! They’re a huge ironworks, they’re always bringing in carts of iron to melt down and sending out wagons of forged goods to be or sold elsewhere. Usually most of these carts just take the goods to the canal and they’re transported over water…but these days, they’re making a lot of axe and spearheads, and those need assembling before they‘re marketable. If you remember right, they send wagons over to the Cinnabar district to the hop where the handles get added. Getting under a wagon is easy, nobody cares if you hitch a ride so long as the horses are doing the work anyway! The hard part is they’ll be going north a ways and then unhitching the horses and loading the wagon on a pulley cart. The Nighthammer-Cinnabar Line frowns on stowaways who don’t pay for their fare. But it’s raining hard, they won’t want to be out inspecting cargo thoroughly…it’s worth a shot. You like the idea of not having to worry about gangs or slavers or raptor cats or drowning.
You run down the muddy street, duck into an alley, clamber over a garbage pin, climb over a short fence, and arrive on the other side of the Blackhand Foundry. The road is much wider here, and stocky ponies are pulling dozens of wagons and carts. Large wagons are sitting around waiting to be loaded, and lots of men and women are scurrying about carrying crates or managing pulley systems to carry tons of new-forged metal on and off wagons coming up from the docks.
For several minutes you watch, until you spot the right wagon-it’s labelled “Spears.” That’s the one! You can see it’s mostly loaded. People are paying attention to it now. There’s a sweet spot, though-once the loaders are done, they go and tell the driver (who is standing under a dry eave smoking and talking to all the other wagon drivers trying to stay out of the rain) who will then return to the cart. That gives you time to sneak in and cling to the bottom of the wagon. Which you do. One guy gives you a funny look, and you tell him Merchant Puramo sent you to see if his order is loaded yet and he gives you a look of contempt and tells you to tell Puramo loads are ready when they’re ready and sending messengers to pester hardworking people just slows everything down. You nod, recite this back to him, and then wander off behind a wagon. Then you make sure nobody’s looking and hide under the wagon.
…now the boring part. You have to wait several minutes before the driver comes back and the cart starts moving with a lurch. You cling tightly to the undercarriage, squinching your face with displeasure as you get spattered with mud and puddle-water.
About half an hour later, your arms and legs are stiff and screaming from holding yourself under the cart. It’s stopped and started several times due to the vagaries of traffic…but now you can hear the high ringing hum of the pulley car’s endlessly moving cable. The wagon stops, and the driver speaks with someone.
“Load of spearheads from Blackhand Foundry.”
“Great. Pull ‘er up and unhitch the horses. We’ll push the wagon up the ramp for you. You riding along?”
“Nah. Should be a guy at the other end to pick ‘em up. Don’t envy him, we’re running late. Hope he’s got someplace dry to wait.”
“Alright. Cargo rate is-ah, there we go, thanks. Surprised they don’t send you with. I know passenger fare’s pricier, but the foundry’s not worried about somebody intercepting the cargo?”
“You mean are we worried about somebody interfering with a large and regular trade between two established merchant houses?”
“…fair point. Alright, boys, we all ready? One, two, and PUSH!”
With another lurch, the wagon rolls backwards and up a brief slope before banging into something metal that echoes loudly. The impact rattles through your white-clenched fingers and down into the bones of your elbows. You see wet wooden boards below you: the floor of an industrial pulley-cart. A gate shuts, the world lurches slightly as the cart starts moving and the wagon rolls a little bit along the floor of the pulley cart…and you’re moving!
You wait another minute to be sure, and drop to the floor of the pulley-cart, groaning quietly. Gingerly, you stretch out your arms and legs, trying to work out the knots from staying still and tense for so long. You roll out from under the wagon and into a crouch-carefully, you poke your head above the railing of the pulley-cart. There are several stops between here and your destination, and if caught at any of them it’ll be bad. The pulley-cart operator is over at the front of the cart in a metal cage with some levers, and he’s way too busy watching the line ahead of him to make sure the cart doesn’t slam into him to notice you…but when you’re stopped, he might look around. Stowaways tend to get beaten pretty badly if they can’t pay their fare, and sometimes they end up having to pay in teeth or fingers (which have a low market value, so it’s usually a lot of them!) so you usually don’t take the pulley car. It’s nice! It’s slow and steady. You lie back down on the floor, deciding it’s safer to hide under the wagon than inside it-they’re more likely to check it for contraband goods than they are to search under it.
You relax and try not to think about how hungry you are for about an hour. Several times the driver stops the cart to avoid running to carts ahead of you on the line whose passengers have paid to get out along the line. Several times you stop at the big stations, and those times you cling once again to the bottom of the wagon to make sure nobody spots you. Mostly, though, you relax and enjoy the ride. Also, you grab a spearhead and tie it to your forearm with some of your twine so you can hide it inside your sleeve. You've seen Rat hide his knife like that, he says it's what the boys who are in the Sluice Gang do.
Finally, the cart passes through a neighborhood you recognize-it’s in the northern part of the Players’ District. You hop the railing and roll.
Ouch. The roads here are cobblestone, and that cart was moving faster than it felt like. Still…nothing broken. Somebody in one of the pulley carts behind you yells, but by then you’ve dashed down an alley and come out the other side.
You melt into the fringes of the crowd, staying away from the wide roads where important people are driving carts and carriages. The Players’ District is a lot of fun normally, with fire jugglers and sword eaters and speardancers and acrobats on stilts…but today it’s pouring rain, the crowds are thin, and only the performers who are a little bit desperate are out in the rain, along with stalls selling masks and makeup and other costumed finery. You consider snatching something gaudy to sell later, or maybe something warm to bring back to your nest…but you decide against it. Bad idea to show up at the temple asking for food with stolen goods. You can always nab something on the way back home.
Finally, after another hour of walking, you arrive at the Immaculate Temple. It’s huge, with high walls and big wooden gates. The Immaculates are a little weird-unlike all the other temples, they refuse to put up statues of their gods, so the place seems…empty, almost. Stern might be the word for it. The other temples all seem happy or somber or festive or dangerous, depending on what their god looks like out front. The Immaculate Temple just always seems really serious to you.
There’s a line in front of the gate. Lots of beggars like you, standing in the rain waiting for rice. The line is moving pretty slowly. Every minute or so somebody comes back out the gate with a hearty rice ball in his hands. Most of them are stuffing their faces on the way out in the hopes nobody will decide to just mug them rather than waiting in line.
It’s late afternoon. They’re probably not going to stop serving food for another hour or two…but that is a long line. There’s a chance you might not get your turn before they close the gates at dusk. What are you going to do?
The Right Thing: Get in line and wait your turn for food patiently with the others, and offer your thanks to the Monks and short prayer to the Dragons like everybody else is doing.
The Smart Thing: See if you can find someone you know in line and join them or, failing that, see if you can make new friends quickly-cutting in line is super rude, but you can spin it like they were holding a spot for you.
The Strong Thing: You’re here for food, not to get bored and then lectured. It looks like you could skip the line, skip the monks, and just steal a rice ball from someone leaving the monastery. You now have a blade, it'd be simple to mug somebody.
The Clever Thing: At the rate that line is moving, they might close up before you get in and get your rice! But the monks don’t just serve food, they also treat the sick and injured. So if you can just act really really sick, they’ll probably take you inside and give you food! Maybe even some medicine you can pretend to eat and then sell once you’re back out!
The Cruel Thing: You need to get the line shorter to make sure you get your turn. All you have to do is spread the rumor they’re also giving out rice on the Monastery’s West Gate, and the line there is much shorter! Then once people start to leave, you get in line and don’t have to worry about the rice running out.
The Brave Thing: It’s not fair of the monks to keep all that food inside and close the doors at dusk! There’s a lot of people here! Why are we all waiting in line when we could storm the gates and take ALL the rice? You should try to start a riot!
The Wise Thing: The Immaculate Monks always seem to have plenty of rice, and their temple is big and rich and gets lots of donations. It’s not like you get to eat much meat anyway, and you have no idea why the older kids are all so interested in sex…you should try to become an Immaculate Monk! Wait your turn patiently and ask the monk who is serving food about it when you get inside.
The Sneaky Thing: The Immaculate Monks always seem to have plenty of rice, and their temple is big and rich and gets lots of donations. Skip the line, scout the place out, and come nightfall you can climb the wall and steal some food. And you can use your spearhead to chip some of those fancy gold inlays off their walls, maybe a gemstone or two off one of their altars...
The Wyld Thing: You have a better idea!
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Inventory:- Tattered Rags
- Fishhooks (3)
- Rough twine (1 roll)
- Your Lucky Pebble
- Pile of Stolen Clothes (mostly rags)
- Twine Armband
- Spearhead (Mechanically, it's a knife. If you can find a broomhandle and a couple nails, though, you'll have a real spear.)
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You Have Gained:
Attributes: (4/13 Allocated)
Dexterity +1 (Climbing Down Slippery Wall), Strength +1 (Climbing Down Slippery Wall), Stamina +1 (Clinging unmoving to the undercarriage for an hour), Manipulation +1 (Dealing with suspicious Porter)
Abilities: (7/28 Allocated)
Athletics +1 (Climbing Down Slippery Wall)
Occult +1 (Choosing to get food at the Immaculate Temple rather than get food closer to home)
Bureaucracy +1 (Knowing the comings and goings of goods at the Blackhand Foundry)
Socialize +1 (Dealing with suspicious porter)
Stealth +1 (Hiding Under the Wagon)
Larceny +1 (Stealing a Spearhead)
Craft (Weaving) +1 (Making Twine Armband for Spearhead)
Specialties: (0/4 Allocated)Last edited by Wise Old Guru; 08-25-2016, 01:36 PM.
So I'm making God-Kicking Boot, an Exalted webcomic, now. Updates on Sundays. Full-color, mediocre but slowly improving art. It's a thing.
The absence of a monument can, in its own way, be something of a monument also. -Roger ZelaznyComment
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Three meals a day! Let's become a monk!
((Never mind the fasting... and the beatings*... for your own good of course.
))
(( *also known as Martial Arts Lessons))
My second choice is the Smart thing, if the Wise thing isn't winning. Third choice is Clever thing if Wise/Smart Fails.
In summary:
1. Wise
2. Smart
3. CleverLast edited by wonderandawe; 08-25-2016, 03:20 PM.
I write things.Comment
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I doubt The Wise Thing would work out - if any desperate soul off the street could become a monk, most of them would. Also, I don't think we're going to invalidate the title of the quest 4 posts in... but I suppose it does no harm to ask.
>Start off with The Wise/Right Thing, but switch over to The Sneaky Thing the moment you see them start turning people away.
(We are patient, but opportunistic!)Last edited by semicasual; 08-25-2016, 03:01 PM.
On the frontier of the Wild South, there's only one woman with the grit to take on its most dangerous outlaws and bring them Back Alive, or Maybe Dead.
Avatar by K.S. BrenowitzComment
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It should be noted that we are currently in Character Generation. Choices you make will spend your starting points to build your character. Once you've used Stealth to solve a problem three times, you'll be maxed out...and if you keep using Stealth to solve the problem, I'll be spending out of your Bonus Points to raise your Stealth score beyond three, for example.
So you may wish to consider what sort of character you want to play in the future when you are considering how to deal with your present situation. These are formative experiences.
Once you're fully statted up, this Quest will begin in earnest, but the Character Gen/Prologue section of the story is going to take a while. Also, once you're fully statted up, I'll be ROLLING to see whether you succeed at the actions you suggest instead of just running things by narrative.
So I'm making God-Kicking Boot, an Exalted webcomic, now. Updates on Sundays. Full-color, mediocre but slowly improving art. It's a thing.
The absence of a monument can, in its own way, be something of a monument also. -Roger ZelaznyComment
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Do The Wise Thing, but if they close the gates before we can get a turn then try The Sneaky Thing.
If we don't get inside in time it might just be a sign from the dragons that monkhood isn't for us.Comment
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The Wise Thing! It would be a shame to bite the hand that fed us - being in the Sluice Gang when we grow up wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but being a monk would be better. Food and clothing in return for a hard life? Well, we've already got the hard life, so it's a step up.
If they turn us away, of course we can just thank them and be on our way (The Good Thing).Comment
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All hail the dragons and boo to sex! Wise thing.Comment
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