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Thread: [Godbound] Ten Buried Blades IC

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    Default Re: [Godbound] Ten Buried Blades IC

    Spoiler: OOC
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    To anyone reading this thread who is not a player, at this point in time our group has lost Qotho's player. For simplicity's sake, this means that we will retcon out Qotho and his involvement in the story, and have Millie be the one to accompany Rem instead of him.


    As for you, my players, I will rush through the parts that set up the meeting with Zu here, just to ensure that we don't have to split the party for very long once again.


    As you all voice your agreement to go ahead with the plan, Po gives a faint sigh of relief. "Alright then." he says, before gesturing for Rem to come towards him. "You're gonna have to give me your weapons for this to work. I'll tie your arms up, too, but not too hard. You'll be able to slip out easily enough if you need to."

    With no other recourse but to comply should you want your plans to succeed, Rem hands over what little weaponry she has for self-defence, comforted by the knowledge that at least she has her powers and those of Millie to fall back on in the worst case scenario. Afterwards, as required, Po binds her wrists behind her back with a length of rope, though she can feel how loose the bindings really are. From the perspective of everyone else, they look convincing enough at a cursory examination, which should be enough with a person who looks outwardly as frail as Rem does.

    Then, with everything prepared, Rem, Millie and Po head back over to the road and begin their march towards the estate of Big Feet Zu, while Nithrias and Shen move to circle around the compound's back.




    Rem, Millie and Po

    As you approach the front gate and the guards standing there, you are greeted by several sneers and spears lazily pointed in your direction. There is confidence in numbers, it seems. One of the guardsmen, a big fellow with bushy brows, calls out to the one individual among you he knows. "Po, what are you doing here? Who are these women? Brought some entertainers for the night shift?"

    In response, Po gives a rather awkward looking shrug, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, but these are customers. Found them while in Gongfang. They're from Raktia, and the woman in black wants to sell the other one here as a slave." For all his lack of solid acting ability, at least his bluff sounds convincing enough.

    Luckily, given the way that the other bandit smirks at the explanation, it appears that it did the trick. "Hah! That's a fine haul there, Oxhead! The old man will give you a bonus for that. Guess you're not completely useless, huh?" The taunt causes the other men around to chuckle, which Po quickly joins in on, though not without offering the suggestion first that the guardsman should put his own spear somewhere rather inappropriate.

    "Fine, we'll tell him about it." the man says once the laughter has died back down. Then, he points at Millie, or more specifically at the rifle she carries on her back. "You're gonna have to give us that gun, though. Don't want you making any trouble, right?" Knowing full well that you can simply summon your weapon back to your hands at any point in time, there is no reason not to comply. Were Millie not so intrinsically dour, it may even take some effort to suppress a smile as she does.

    As one of the men takes the rifle from her, another quickly hurries inside to set up the meeting with Zu. You wait for a few minutes until he returns, giving confirmation that the crime lord does indeed want to see you. With that, you are lead into the compound and towards the manor. You step past the busily working servants and not so busy guards, quickly entering the opulent house of Zu. The slaves are well out of sight, though you suspect that some of the servants must be here less than willingly. You are led up stairs and through corridors of polished wood, adorned with fittings of gold and pieces of fine art, porcelain vases and statues of Dulimbaian poets. Were it not all surely stolen from other people, it might be pretty impressive.

    Soon, however, you are brought to a little balcony, where Big Feet Zu waits for you along with four of his bandit guards. He sits on the cushioned floor, an elderly man in fine gold-threaded robes, with only a short white beard of hair. Between that and his wrinkles and crooked shape, he must be at the very least in his late seventies. A mouth full of stained yellow teeth smirks at you as you enter, and he turns for a moment to take a deep breath from an opium pipe that is set up next to him. Meanwhile, his eyes examine you with an almost palpable coldness, the way a butcher would look at a dead animal.

    Spoiler: Rem
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    Having spent some time in servitude to a noblewomen, and being as capable in the healing arts as you are, you recognize that Zu's teeth are as crooked as they are due to lifelong abuse of opium and similar drugs. It's quite frankly a miracle he has lived to be as old as he is.


    And there, around his neck, hangs a faintly glowing fragment of a jade circle, the fabled amulet that grants him invulnerability according to Po.

    Except, of course, that's not what it does at all. You are not quite sure how, or why, the knowledge of this enters your heads. It is simply something you become aware of instinctively. That amulet that Zu is wearing around his neck is a Celestial Shard, a broken piece of heaven filled to the brim with divine energy. Just looking at it makes your mouths water, and for a moment you have a hard time concentrating on anything else. With its energy, you could make the impossible possible.

    Of course, in its current form, it has precisely no effect whatsoever. Zu's protective charm is utterly worthless to him.

    Unaware of this revelation, Zu himself proceeds to greet you, his voice sharp and thin, but with a courteous tone. "Well met, my dear guest. Please, have a seat, take a sip from the pipe. From what my servants tell me, you have brought business for us to discuss?"




    Shen and Nithrias

    As the rest of the party heads towards the front gates, you continue sneaking towards the underbrush towards the river. It takes you a bit of time, but a short walk upstream you finally find a grown-over point that you can cross unseen, and a quick leap of the monk god takes you over with no problems.

    From there, you sneak towards the back of the compound, moving up as close as you can. To your annoyance, however, the growth is less thick between where you are hidden and where the wall is. Only a single bandit guards on top, but to jump over you will definitely have to risk exposure to his sight. Still, he is unlikely to be able to do anything about it at that point.

    For now, all that remains is to plot, and to wait.
    Last edited by Theoboldi; 2019-03-23 at 08:42 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by ezekielraiden View Post
    You don't win people over by beating them with facts until they surrender; at best all you've got is a conversion under duress, and at worst you've actively made an enemy of your position.

    You don't convince by proving someone wrong. You convince by showing them a better way to be right. The difference may seem subtle or semantic, but I assure you it matters a lot.