15[19:14] Whew! Xia Lan won her name, and her friends thwarted an assassination. She earned Vladok's respect and the regard of his cohort. Now she and the rest of the circle and kick back and experiment on dogs, content in having solved all their immediate problems. [19:14] 7Experiment on dogs? What's wrong with these people? [19:14] 14We're not keeping the dog in the living area. [19:15] 14Stranger and Xu Sim have set up a space off the sewers for this. [19:15] 14Also, it's a demon assassin. [19:15] 14Come on now. [19:15] 13That's true. I think? Things got pretty hazy there towards the end. Winning feels good, though. [19:17] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven is in the common room, having emerged after a brief sleep, and is putting on some pre-dawn morning tea. [19:18] 14Good morning for some Forest Blackleaf, as always. [19:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar doesn't actually spend that much time off in the hideout. He's well off enough that he's got a nice place near the north end of Sentinel's Hill, where it meets Cinnabar and Nexus proper, and when he isn't patrolling, training, or drinking he's as likely as not to be chilling out there. That said, at any given moment it might be 'as not', which is why he's currently sitting in [19:19] <@Ferrinus> 12the common area of the Floodwater hideout and patiently drawing a grindstone along a straight sword. [19:20] 14Stranger spends maybe three minutes puttering around the kitchen area while Keldar sharpens his sword before asking, "Tea?" [19:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Huh? Oh, yeah. You got lapsang?" [19:21] 14Stranger: "Of course." 14He puts on two kettles instead of one. [19:23] 13Bleary-eyed and dishevelled, still dressed in her outfit from the night of the contest, Xia Lan is out soon after, slumping heavily into her chair. "Mnnnnnh," 13she says, eloquently. [19:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I miss something?" [19:24] 14'Of course' is a bit of a flourish. He's got a relatively small supply of the coarse leaves, and no local supplier as of yet. He's mentally bumped that up the list, though. [19:24] "Good morning, Xia Lan." [19:24] 13Xia Lan: "Mrnnngh." [19:25] 14To Keldar: "Oh, we were out partying. We came home with a dog. A demon, and an assassin. Working, I believe, for some higher patron." [19:25] 7Dawn strolls in to that. "Must have been some party." [19:25] 13Xia Lan: "I won. 'm the best." [19:25] "She's not wrong." [19:26] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar frowns for a moment, thinking. "Oh, was this the... thing?" [19:26] 14The kettles begin to whistle. "We have some new allies. Interesting ones." [19:26] "Lapsang Souchong for Keldar, Forest Blackleaf for myself. Dawn? Xia Lan?" [19:27] 7Dawn shrugs. "I'm not picky." [19:28] 14Stranger: "Fair." 14He'll pour her a cup of the Lapsang, since he'll be drinking more the Blackleaf. [19:28] 13Xia Lan: "Blackleaf, please." 13She lurches out of her chair and towards the kitchen proper to grab a cup. "Do we have any bread?" [19:29] 14Two and two. Perfect. [19:29] 14Stranger: "Yes, I picked up some yesterday morning. In the upper cupboard to your left. It's been kept in its paper." [19:30] 14To Keldar and Dawn: "Are you two doing anything this morning that's absolutely necessary?" [19:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, but it's not absolutely necessary it happen this morning. Whatcha need?" [19:31] 13She grabs at the bread and cuts off the heel, then just eats the slice she cut. She looks slightly better, though still queasy. [19:32] 14Stranger: "I should like for us to do a holistic overview of our current forces -- the ones loyal specifically to Nexus, not any other lord -- in the context of what we need to train, what we need to buy, and what we need to build." [19:32] "We've got very little time." [19:32] 14He looks about the room. "And I should like as many of us as possible to attend this." [19:33] "Xu Sim, of course, is...busy." [19:33] "And Bastian has his own matters to which he's attending." [19:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, well. That's the Guard and the Apples most immediately. There's a few more companies we might have behind us, but that's basically down to various commanders' willingness to give Nexus loans." [19:34] "Indeed." [19:34] 13Xia Lan: "Where'sa dog guy. I didn't imagine that, right?" [19:34] 14To Xia Lan: "You did not. Xu Sim is watching him." [19:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Just how many did she have?" [19:35] 14Stranger: "Enough to win." [19:35] 14To Keldar: "I want us to do an actual headcheck. Not just theory. I want to know where stated loyalties collide with the reality of having to stand against a gentry horde." [19:35] "Five rounds, five bottles. And they had fun little extras, too." 13She sips her tea. "Worth it to win." [19:36] 14Stranger: "I also want the loyalist forces to get used to the idea of answering to us. To you, specifically." [19:36] "A surprise review should make that point." [19:38] 7Dawn: "Isn't that going to piss everyone else off?" [19:38] 14Stranger: "Fuck them." [19:38] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah, then I won't need to make many schedule changes after all. When you ready to leave?" [19:38] 14To Dawn: "I'd like you to accompany us as well. For an outsider's perspective as well as your intuition. Hunters hunt." [19:38] 14To Keldar: "Now." [19:38] "Surely they'll be up early." [19:40] 14To Xia Lan: "We should like your company as well, if you're up to it." [19:40] "Have another cup if you need." [19:41] 13Xia Lan: "I'll - yeah." 13She finishes her first cup and grabs for the bread again. Another plain slice. "Give me a minute." [19:41] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, after a loud slurp. "Right. Well, lemme just kill this mug and we can head out. I need to look in on a few joint training exercises and then we can take a more general headcount." [19:43] 14Stranger: "Sounds good. Myself and Xia Lan have standing to accompany you in this; Dawn might be a harder sell, but Dawn might also have her own ideas about how to proceed here." [19:44] 14Sneaking about and investigating what Keldar, Stranger, and Xia Lan aren't seeing as they hob-nob with commanders and watch parade drills might be useful. [19:47] 14Stranger puts the kettles off to the side of the flame where they'll stay warm, and fetches his walking cane. [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12Once Keldar's finished his drink, sharpened his sword, and put on his armor, he leads his contingent out of the hideout and towards Bastion. There's a quick stopover at the mercenary's own place, though, a nice-looking residential building which no one's actually invited into. When Keldar comes back out approximately five minutes later, he's frowning down at a sheaf of documents in [19:48] <@Ferrinus> 12his hands, flipping from one to the next. [19:48] 14Stranger raises an eyebrow. [19:48] "Anything interesting?" [19:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It appears... well, I've either got fewer stops to make today than I thought, or louder ones." [19:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Guard itself is growing as projected - Pellicia's pulling in anyone willing, and there's plenty who are and never found a company to join for one reason or another. But as to the other actual companies, uh, not a one is going for the joint defense force thing." [19:50] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Looks like with one exception, they're being paid by the Guild to oversee a speedy exit from the city. ...scratch that, no exceptions." [19:50] 14The eyebrows settle, and Stranger's eyes narrow. "One reason or another." [19:50] "Ah." [19:51] 13Once Xia Lan's finished "breakfast" and washed up, you'd be hard-pressed to tell she's still hungover. She's an expert at public image, after all. "That... seems less than ideal." [19:52] "Well. I suggest a two-pronged approach. One prong recruits those who haven't signed on, and instills a civic duty for service that helps increase the native Nexus ranks." [19:53] "The other prong finds a Guild factor and drags him before us to explain." [19:53] "Sounds good to me." [19:57] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Gonna be honest with you, I can see the explanation already: they figure we're likely to lose and are best-served pulling up stakes before it happens." [19:58] 14Stranger: "Just because they can explain it doesn't mean they can justify it." [19:59] "And more important than the information we gain from the Guildsman is the fact of making him answer our questions." [19:59] "With regards to the non-Guild workforce, I suggest a conversation with Udelph the Doctor. Does that sound right to you, Keldar?" [19:59] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We can try and sell 'em on staying, of course. After all, they're wrong - we're gonna win, and then they'll just be dumbasses who pulled all their stock out of the River Province's predominant city for no reason." [20:00] 13Xia Lan: "Can we win without them? It'll be harder, but... rubbing their faces in it sounds satisfying." [20:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "And you've got a point there. Plenty of people around who could stand a career change at the moment." [20:00] 7Dawn: "I don't know if it's worth the chance of losing. Surely some of them will see reason." [20:00] 14Stranger: "Fighting with a handicap seems like egoism we can ill afford at the moment." [20:01] "I think we should do what we can to convince the Guild that the defense of Nexus is in their interests. But they'll need to respect us, first." [20:01] 13Xia Lan: "No, hang on. How many mercenaries are we losing, and how many Nexians are currently unemployed from the other prong of the Guild's pulling out?" [20:01] 14Stranger looks to Keldar. [20:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "A lot, and a lot. And we can make something of the latter, I think. Give me citizens in decent health and I can give you warriors." [20:06] 13She smiles. "I can get the hearts and minds. But -" 13She grows more serious. "Maybe we can bring some of the mercenaries back, or something. Get them away from the Guild? I'm no strategist, but an army of novice soldiers doesn't sound good enough." [20:07] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But first things first, I think we want to head straight for the office of the highest official the local Guild's got left and make our case. Of course, that can take insanely long unless you're willing to drop a lot of silver." [20:07] 14Stranger pauses, thinks, and smiles. "How much silver are you willing to drop?" [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Less than their bullshit 'express processing' fees, but it's not like we've actually got a month." [20:16] 14The silver-haired man nods. "Keep your money ready, then, but we'll see if you have to use it. I've got some insight into how their banks work already." [20:16] "This might be easy; this might be hard. This might be easy with consequences that are hard. When I start the ball rolling, I likely won't be able to stop it. I likely won't care to." [20:17] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well, I know where to start it running. To Nexus." 12He means the Nexus District, of course - the financial and mercantile heart of the city. [20:18] 7Dawn: "I can't really blame 'em if they're just running. But if they're trying to screw over everyone else so they can swoop in afterwards..." [20:19] 13Xia Lan: "I mean, they're screwing over everyone else by running whether or not they're coming back in to pick up the scraps." [20:20] 14Stranger: "Stand together or die apart. It's the same old way across history." 15[20:22] The Guild has a presence in so much of the Nexus that they have their own neighborhood within the neighborhood organized around the single busiest and best-kept street in the city. Managing offices are at the very end of this street, its back to the grand canal, overlooking the same square as the great temples of The Grey and The Dame in Yellow. Stranger and Keldar both know that this is the place to go if you want a face-to-face meeting with the city's real masters. [20:23] 14Ah, but do you walk right in to the lobby? Or do you start the conversation elsewhere, then show up once they're talking about you? [20:23] 14Perhaps the first visit should be to one of the money-houses. [20:24] 14...One of the ones that aren't flooded. 15[20:28] Depends how subtle you want to be, and how much patience you have for the Guild's way of doing things. Stranger can already tell that the average wealth of the people on the street this morning is lower than it would've been this time a month ago; Guildsmen who can afford to must already be leaving. There are other options, however: Stranger can dangle some enormous piece of business in front of a bank (opening a new, huge account; moving an existing one; seeking a titanic loan with commensurate collateral) and get ushered swiftly up the chain. He can lean on his notoriety and standing to suggest mutual aid, in which case his best bet is not the banks or the managing office but the Threshold Company up the street, which contracts mercenaries and oversees manpower. This is who Dawn's meant to report to when she's found Cathak Tsuka. [20:29] 14What's Dawn's preference? [20:30] 14Stranger's would be the Threshold Company. [20:30] 14Promising the Guild business is giving up too much before the negotiations even start. [20:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar just wants something fast. If Stranger can't come up with anything fast and reliable he might actually have to kick down some doors. [20:31] 14Oh, it will be fast. [20:31] 7Dawn isn't sure she should rub the Guild's nose in the fact that's she's basically quitting, but if they're bailing on Nexus it might be a good time. [20:31] 14Threshold Company it is. [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What I could do to get their attention is just the same thing they're doing - threaten to pick up and ship out 'cause I'm not satisfied." 12He pauses. "With regards to my bank account, I mean." [20:32] 14He strokes his chin. "If you want to go make a scene at the bank while I go talk to these go-betweens, we might play off each other well." [20:33] "But your real argument is with the Threshold Company, I think. They are the contractors." [20:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Be awkward if we both succeed. I'll make some noise if you can't get headway." 15[20:39] With grace and a bit of study, Stranger knows that he should be able to swing a meeting with the factor who runs the Threshold Company, the right-hand man of Nexus's overfactor, first among equals among all the Guild's merchant kings, who it's rumored doesn't even exist. [20:39] 14Stranger: "Indeed. Though with the four of us, I don't think it'll be a problem." [20:40] 7Dawn: "This is the place I'm supposed to report to when I find the kid. Normally I'd say that's a problem, but since they're packing up anyway..." [20:41] 14Stranger: "If that's a conversation they want to have with you, it's a conversation they can have with us. Once they know the terms of it." [20:41] "Such are the privileges of organizing." [20:42] 14Stranger walks into the lobby of the Threshold Company and his forehead burns an empty golden circle. "I'm here to speak to the Guildsman in charge about deals." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, known lover of deals, needs no particular introduction. He's flanking Stranger, sword at his side and fully armored, and alternating between idly examining the decor and looking impatiently at the secretary. 15[20:46] Stranger is walk directly to the director's office, answering questions and explaining away forms and fees as he goes. The administrator who nips at his heels runs out of arguments to halt him at the exact moment he reaches the door. How does he knock? 15[20:46] *is able to walk [20:46] 14He just opens the door. 15[20:48] Stranger is staring at a lantern, a map, and a gray cap. The cap is attached to a head bent over the map. The man wearing it looks up, sees Stranger, and then past him to see the others. "...good morning," says the director. "You're here to see me?" 15[20:48] A nameplate on the desk helpfully reads: SYNDIC-OF-TITHES [20:49] 14Stranger: "I am." 14When everyone is inside, he kicks the door shut behind him with his heel. [20:49] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ayep. Few questions." [20:49] 14Stranger: "About procurement." 15[20:50] Syndic motions to chairs around his desk as he begins rolling the map up. "Take a seat. Can we get you anything? Tea? Wine? Opium?" [20:50] 14Stranger: "We won't be long." [20:51] 14Stranger: "I suspect you know why we're here, and that -- really -- it's not about you." [20:51] "As always: it's about who you know." 15[20:52] "What can I do for you?" [20:54] 7Dawn figures it's best to be blunt. She pulls her hat up so her face is clear, and her caste mark illuminates dramatically. "I quit." [20:54] 14Stranger: "And that's just the beginning." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar begins to say something, but pauses here to let that one sink in. Then he takes a breath. "'side from that, I've been taking inventory of Nexus's remaining armed forces and notice that every one organized enough to have a logo is in the process of pulling up stakes." [20:55] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It looks to me like the Guild is fleeing the city and taking half the city's protection with it, which is a losing proposition. I want a word with whoever's responsible." [20:56] 14Stranger: "You could pretend not to know about that, or pretend not to be responsible for it. It would just make this take longer, but it is your right." [20:56] 14He leans forward. "Everyone in this city does so love their rights." 15[20:56] Syndic: "You could have a word with me. Overfactor made that decision." [20:57] 14Stranger: "Then what we want to know is what it will take to reverse it." [20:58] 13Xia Lan smiles without mirth. "Please have a good answer. We're in a bit of a rush." 15[21:00] Syndic: "I can't overrule the Overfactor. The best I can do is stall the withdrawal order on the mercenaries, but I'd get overruled by my counterpart at the market board, who drew up the mercenary contracts to oversee withdrawing capital from the war zone." 15[21:00] "You could make a deal with her, but she's already gone. Out on the first barge." [21:00] 14Stranger: "So how can she overrule you." [21:01] "That would require messengers." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Then get us the Overfactor. This is a top-level decision we're talking about, anyway." [21:04] 14Stranger: "The other way this works is we just start picking off people who serve the ones who left this city to die. Frankly, I don't see that being an unpopular course of action." [21:07] 13Xia Lan: "People generally don't mind when those leaving them to die suffer the consequences." [21:08] 7Dawn: "Seems a little rude though. Better to do it the easy way." [21:11] 14Stranger puts his hands down on the desk and the entire room explodes into golden light around him -- but the corona, the space right behind him, where his shadow would be if you considered him straight on, that's just a void of black. [21:11] "Let me be as clear as I possibly can, Syndic." [21:12] "I want to speak to your manager." [21:12] "Now." 15[21:13] Syndic shields his eyes from the light. "I don't know where he is right now! But wait! Wait! Listen. I can get you a meeting. Three hours." [21:14] 14There's a rushing sound in all their ears, and suddenly Stranger is standing up straight, smiling, limned in nothing more than golden light. "Excellent." [21:14] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I like it." [21:15] 13Xia Lan: "I'm glad we were able to come to an agreement!" 13She smiles again, this time a real smile. [21:17] 14Back at the hideout, waiting for the summons: "I still have some tea on." [21:17] "If anyone wants some." [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "That would be wonderful." 13She grabs her cup from the morning - which she casually left on the table - and moves to pour another cup. "That went well." [21:20] 14Stranger: "I thought so." 14He pours himself a taste of the Blackleaf first to make sure it's not been spoiled somehow -- always have to check when there's a sorcerer in the house -- and then pours Xia Lan her fill in her own cup. [21:20] "There's a certain...liberation to just being able to cut loose like that." [21:20] "You can't do it many places outside of Nexus. And certainly not by yourself." [21:21] 13Xia Lan: "It's -- easier than you'd think, but doing it here is definitely safer." [21:22] 7Dawn: "I haven't much. Makes it pretty hard to stay under the radar." [21:22] 14Stranger grimaces. "Oh, I know how easy it is." [21:22] 14The silver-haired man turns to Dawn. "How long have you been doing this?" [21:23] 13Xia Lan sips at her tea. Mmm. [21:26] 7Dawn: "Hunting for a living, a few years maybe. With this power, a few months." [21:27] 14Stranger nods. "Seven months, maybe, for me." [21:27] "Of course, before that I was...moonlighting as a village elder." [21:27] "Well." [21:27] "Gary was." [21:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's back a little late. He's identifiable first by the clanking of his metal armor, and then, as he approaches, the crunch of the apple he's eating. And, of course, his muttered plans and calculations. "Llana... yeah, big park could serve as a training ground..." [21:29] 14Stranger: "Why's it called that, anyhow?" [21:30] 14The silver-haired man realizes he's never bothered to look that up. [21:30] 13Xia Lan: "Wonder how many others there are out there. All of us within a year, all around Creation. Lot of people out there. How many like us?" [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Dunno. My theory is an ink blotch in the wrong spot." 12Some time passes as he loosens and removes most of his armor, then takes a seat. [21:31] 14Stranger: "Well, we know of at least one other." [21:31] "Mori Nagare, Prince-Regent and Beast of the Highlands is definitely of our particular crest." [21:31] 13She scowls. "That guy." [21:32] *Nogare [21:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That fucker. Probably only here 'cause he sees the fae as competition." [21:33] "This is our main concern with that neokorborus we're keeping locked down in the sewers: he works for some Chosen of the Sun. I want to know if it's the Beast, or if there's another floating about." [21:33] 13Xia Lan: "He doesn't even like Nexus! He's just - urgh!" [21:34] 14Stranger smiles slightly. "He likes Keldar well enough." [21:34] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If it's working for the Beast, it'd actually be the servant of his floating sorcerer, yeah?" [21:34] "I'd bet on another... unless Vladok is more important than I'd guessed. Which, uh, maybe shouldn't have rushed into that one, but it turned out fine." [21:35] "He's loyal to a Chosen. If the sorcerer is his master, then the Beast is two, ah, Solars strong." [21:38] 13Xia Lan: "Still has a posse." [21:38] "One doesn't get asked to meet in the old Deliberative in Firewander on a jape." [21:38] "Generally speaking." [21:38] 12Keldar: "It's pretty obvious what he's about. Kind of a fuck that Dorma's willing to play along, but what can you do." [21:39] 14Stranger sips his tea. "I somewhat prefer him to the Thorns delegation, to be honest." [21:40] "And it's possible we might be friendlier with Dorma. If not for circumstances." [21:40] 12Keldar: "Them I'd expect to snap up the Deliberative thing." [21:41] 13Xia Lan: "You all ever thought about just, living away from society and never interacting with anybody again? Instead of dealing with politics stuff like this?" [21:41] 14Stranger: "Well, of course. They serve the Underworld. It seems fraught, at best, to think we can truly kill them." [21:41] 12Keldar: "No way. Where'd I spend my loot?" [21:42] 14He sighs. "If not for all this Balor nonsense I'd say we should be focusing on kicking those dead men back through their nighttime portals." [21:42] 7Dawn grunts. "I've done it. It's lonely." [21:43] 14Stranger: "It seems so." [21:43] 13Xia Lan: "Not if you do it right." [21:43] 12Keldar: "Could be tricky. Those guys are full-on Anathema, right?" [21:43] 14Stranger: "That's a political distinction." [21:44] 12Keldar: "Also a practical one. Harder to take down than a Dragon-Blood." [21:44] "The big ones, perhaps. But their armies are wet wood." [21:45] "I am not particularly shocked that the Fair Folk advancing on us rolled them up like some strange rainbow tide and spat them back out as foot-soldiers." [21:45] 12Keldar: "That we've seen. You get some pretty alarming stories about the Mask's invasion if you listen. Sijan's no Thorns." [21:45] "I'm more impressed with them toppling the beastmen territories and actual kingdoms of man." [21:46] 14Stranger: "We don't talk about this much because frankly it's unmeet to do so, but: should we do this, should Nexus actually survive this madness -- there will be an emptiness in the politics of three different Directions." [21:47] "There will be opportunities." [21:48] 14He sips his tea. "And should we pull this off and live to tell its tale, we'll have earned the rights to them." [21:48] 13Xia Lan: "Only three? The open sea is out there, too." [21:49] 14Stranger nods. "You're correct. The Folk coming from the west were stopped at the Blessed Isle -- they likely laid waste to all between there and the Realm." [21:50] 12Keldar: "Last Crusade left a lot of opportunities in its wake, too. Of course, one person snapped 'em all up for the most part." [21:51] "...At least I hope they were. We haven't heard about the fall of the Realm." [21:53] 14Stranger leans back into the plush armchair in front of the fire. "So, Keldar. The Guild." [21:53] "It's fair to ask, I think, how far you're willing to go." [21:53] "Not to castigate you. Just to make sure there's no confusion." [21:54] 12Keldar: "Actually becoming an enemy of the Guild's a really bad idea. They span Creation and in many ways have more leverage than the actual Realm." [21:54] 14Stranger: "You're presenting a hypothetical. I'm fairly certain at least two people in this room already are enemies of the Guild." [21:54] "I'm one of them." [21:55] "So in some respects you're telling us something we already know." [21:55] 13Xia Lan: "Having enemies usually means you're doing something right. Or, I mean, very, extremely wrong, but I don't think we're doing that badly." [21:55] 12Keldar: "And, frankly, they're dead useful. They're why we get food from every Direction here, and material, and technology." 12He waves a hand vaguely at Stranger. "The good news is, 'enemy of the Guild' is kind of..." [21:56] "Dead useful, or useful dead?" [21:56] "And you don't get food because of the Guild. You get food because of trade." [21:57] 12Keldar: "It's a lot easier to be an enemy of some specific guy within the Guild whose profit stream you cut into. The Guild itself, though... if there's trade, they can find something to do." [21:58] 14Stranger: "Let's say the Guild leaves Nexus. Even this Overfactor we're to meet soon." [21:58] "And we win." [21:58] "Does that mean, due to normalcy resuming and Nexus's Civilities and so on being followed, that the Guild is naturally entitled to return?" [21:59] 13Xia Lan: "The Nexian People's Liberation Army." 13She sips at her tea dreamily. [21:59] 12Keldar: "That's actually the point I was planning to make to the guy. He's gambling on our losing, and has a shitload to lose if we win." [22:00] 12Keldar: "If the Guild just withdraws every balance and sells every property and whatever they'll have a hell of a time reestabishing themselves and cripple their ability to participate and profit in the city's rebuilding. On the other hand, we lose our connection to their entire trading network. It'll just be harder to get shit." [22:00] 14Stranger: "But does he? If the Guild is synonymous with trade, and every decision the Guild makes is justified by the markets that it controls, can you actually lay any blame on the Guild for running like ignominious cowards, waiting for us to win the day, and then returning like snakes to make their profit?" [22:00] "Why?" [22:01] "Would the people of Nexus not sell to the Guild?" [22:01] "Because the Guild would just send people to hurt or kill them, as they currently do." [22:02] 12Keldar: "Sure they would, but there's still all the overhead and logistics of moving back in, reestablishing office, and suchlike. Plus, the more damaged the city is - cause they made off with whatever percent of our armed forces - the harder it is to return to business as usual." [22:02] 14Stranger: "What if the Guild is willing to eat that loss, gladly and willingly, to maintain their dominance?" [22:03] "They're a masterful affair in every Direction, and they're no slouches in the Realm. They can afford to run at a loss." [22:03] "Especially to crush any upstarts." [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "Monopolies are always profitable." [22:05] 12Keldar: "They could maintain their dominance without eating a loss if they weren't cutting and running here. Hell, it's only if they decamped from the city entirely that there'd even be a window within which some enterprising rival could try to snatch up the profit that'd normally go to them." [22:06] 12Keldar: "And, I mean, COULD we make our own Guild with Gwent and hookers? Probably, but they've really got no shortage of both already and it'd be a waste of time long-term. I say we're best off if the Guild understands that, in basically any situation, we're the horse to bet on." [22:06] 14Stranger: "We are not fucking making our own Guild." [22:06] 12Keldar: "Hell, the simhata to bet on." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "Absolutely not." [22:07] 14Stranger: "And it's telling that your defense of them is couched in frustration with what they should be doing, rather than reckoning with what they actually are." [22:08] 12Keldar: "What defense? The Guild's just here. It might leave in the short term, but that'll leave us worse off than if it didn't." [22:08] 14Stranger: "Will it? Why?" [22:09] 13Xia Lan: "It's not the Guild leaving that does that. It's what they're leaving with." [22:09] "If we killed every Guildsman tonight, what do we lose?" [22:09] "Which is not - necessarily - connected." [22:09] "We don't lose mercenary contracts -- those become open season. We can bring the mercenaries back." [22:09] 12Keldar: "'cause all the cash and troops it takes with us, and 'cause of the long-term trade friction." [22:09] "We lose some infrastructure, right? We lose decision-makers, people who make things happen fast." [22:10] 13Xia Lan: "And a lot of grifters." [22:10] "And then we incur some wrath down the line." [22:10] "When the Guild thinks the situation is controlled enough that they can skulk back into town." [22:10] "They're not going to oppose us while the red star hangs in the sky." [22:10] "It's not a winning proposition." [22:11] 12Keldar: "If every local Guildsman keels over, we still don't actually have the capital to hire on every merc outfit they're leaving with." [22:12] 14Stranger's eyebrows rise. "Is the Nexus treasury that poor?" [22:12] 12Keldar: "It's been fuller." [22:12] "Why is it so poor?" [22:13] "Is it because your city sold itself out to the Guild?" [22:13] "Because this should be a rich and powerful land." [22:13] 13Xia Lan raises an eyebrow. "Grifters found themselves a home, seems like." 13Is there still tea left? She could use another cup. [22:14] 14Stranger put on another kettle. It's a more soothing tea; Yucasan Yellow. [22:15] 12Keldar: "It is a rich and powerful land. But that's because all that wealth is mobile. If people couldn't trust their own silver they wouldn't bring it here at all." [22:15] 14Stranger: "Land isn't mobile." [22:15] 13Not here, anyway. [22:16] "If Nexus's wealth depends only on the kindness of the faraway, then Nexus has nothing." [22:16] 12Keldar: "No, but land claims and real estate contracts can be. Put another way, if you and I and the rest of the Circle weren't here, would I begrudge the Guild pulling out? Hell no, it's the smart move. Part of freedom's being free to opt out." [22:16] 12Keldar: "It's just stupid, given the circumstances. Overfactor's got weak hands." [22:17] 14Stranger: "You can't opt out of the fucking apocalypse." [22:17] 12Keldar: "Sure you can, if it's localized to one city." [22:17] 13Xia Lan: "But it never is. What, do you think they'll stop here?" [22:17] 14The silver-haired man laughs. "You believe that?" [22:18] "You believe that when the armies that storm through all of the Directions of Creation amass here, that they'll stop?" [22:18] "They'll burn the marches of the Wyld like ten thousand brands across this world." [22:18] 12Keldar: "Yeah, maybe. Raksha are weird. Even if they don't, and we weren't here, and they could roll over Nexus... well, they'd be stopped by Lookshy, or Thorns, or if all else fails the Realm." [22:19] 13Xia Lan snickers. [22:19] 12Keldar: "What." [22:19] 14Stranger: "She's laughing because you don't have anything stronger than a 'maybe,' Tiger." [22:20] "'Well, they'd be stopped by Lookshy.' My Sun." [22:20] 12Keldar: "'course they'd be stopped by Lookshy. Place is basically a shogunate Fortress." [22:21] 13Xia Lan: "'Course they'd be stopped by Nexus. Place has a hundred thousand soldiers.'" 13She mimics his voice - it's actually pretty close. Also, please adjust the number to the actual accurate amount. [22:22] 14Stranger: "They've already got a substantial detachment of forces here, their power base will be split, and they'll be facing an army that conquered three different Directions at once and then expanded Firewander into an open wound to start making reinforcements." [22:22] 12Keldar: "If there were no Anathema at all, the way this story ends is that either the four armies descend on Nexus and eat the remains of the Emissary's soul and dissolve into butterflies, or they roll westward and crash against Lookshy, or they roll even farther westward and actually, finally crash against the Realm proper. Either way, Creation takes a hit but the Guild keeps on [22:22] rolling." [22:22] "I'm not hearing any benefit to anyone but the Guild." [22:23] 12Keldar narrows his eyes at Xia Lan. "Place DOESN'T have a hundred thousand soldiers, and even if it did those soldiers wouldn't - normally - be backed by legions of Chosen and, and this part's important, piles and piles of magical artifice." [22:23] 14Stranger: "Are the Guild going to exist when Creation is eaten whole by the Wyld? Are they going to continue to ply their high-skill, high-value trades of 'abusing sex workers' and 'skimming dock profits' when none of these words coherently exist?" [22:24] 12Keldar: "If Creation's going to be eaten whole by the Wyld, it won't be by a couple faerie armies. What we're looking at here represents serious damage to the economic prospects of a Direction, but not the end of the world." [22:24] 12Keldar: "Which is WHY the Guild pulling out of Nexus is perfectly logical... in a world in which we don't exist." [22:24] 14Stranger: "What does a real Faerie threat look like to you, then?" [22:24] "Why doesn't this count?" [22:25] 12Keldar: "The actual Balorian Crusade which came from and to actually every Direction, capital dee, hot on the heels of a disease that wiped out nine tenths of the population." [22:25] "Because my people have lost entire bloodlines and massive territory to them already." [22:25] 14Stranger bursts out laughing. [22:25] "That's it, then!" [22:26] "That's the problem!" [22:26] "It's not as cool as the army that led to the Emissary in the first place!" [22:27] 12Keldar: "Yes, being that it is smaller and weaker. We can definitely stop the Emissary's old flame. We, the five of us, definitely couldn't have stopped the actual Crusade." [22:27] 12Keldar pauses. "Not without pulling the Empress's trick or some equivalent, anyway." [22:28] 14Stranger: "You will note, I hope, that even with the Great Conflagration hobbling Creation there were still greater First Age safeguards in place then than there are now." [22:29] "Creation has not gotten stronger since then." [22:29] 12Keldar: "Which is why we're lucky nothing approximating the circumstances of the actual Crusade is at our doorstep right now. We'd be in real trouble then." [22:30] 14Stranger: "We're in real trouble now." [22:30] "By your own logic, if we weren't, the Guild would still be here." [22:30] 13Xia Lan: "We are still in real trouble! I have every confidence in our ability to turn the tide but - this isn't nothing!" [22:31] 12Keldar: "'cause they have a bad assessment of the situation. If they understood what we were capable of and what we were doing, they'd see that it'd be in their interests to back us rather than abandon us." [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "Their logic is stupid. Their ideals are stupid. They don't actually care about the city or the people in it." [22:32] 14Stranger: "You're pleading for a sale, but the economy won't give you one." [22:32] "You can't hold the simultaneously belief that the Guild are a force nature and fact of civilizational life, and that they're currently completely wrong." [22:32] *simultaneous [22:33] "The laws of the world are never wrong. At least not by their own fault." [22:33] 12Keldar: "Their proximate head guy is... overly cautious." [22:34] 14Contemptuously: "The Sun isn't." [22:34] 12Keldar: "Whatsname, market forces are gonna respond accordingly whichever way he ends up bending." [22:34] "He rises in the sky." [22:34] 13Market forces - do we have any liquor in this place. [22:34] 12Keldar: "Yeah, but that leaves him too busy to do shit for us, don't it?" [22:34] "Our Lord is a force of nature. Luna is a force of nature. Even the shitheads running Heaven are forces of nature." [22:34] 13Stranger, you do the shopping. Have we any hard alcohols. [22:34] "These are bankers." [22:35] "And what has the Guild done for you?" [22:35] 12Keldar: "The usual. Took care of my money, found me clients, sold me services..." [22:36] 14Stranger: "You were one of the weakest motherfuckers in this down before you found our God." [22:36] "It took some damn talking to get you a real contract." [22:36] "The Green Apples are barely shit." [22:36] 13Xia Lan is rummaging through whatever they have that passes for an icebox. If there's no hard liquors here, she will actually just leave to go purchase some. For sanity's sake. [22:36] "The Guild has not treated you well." [22:36] 12Keldar: "'scuse me? I'm Keldar of Nexus. I'd made a name for myself long before I started glowing." [22:36] *in this town [22:37] "And three armies walked on in and smiled at Pellicia asking where they could set up shop as soon as the Emissary vanished for a week." [22:39] 12Keldar: "Yeah, because it took the Emissary to make one lousy city in the whole of this world in which some bastard isn't telling you your god wants you to kiss the ground he walks on." [22:40] 14Stranger: "But it worked out for you fine. If the Lookshyans respected your Apples as a political force, then the Dragonlord's second wouldn't have tried to kill you in that clinic. And you wouldn't have that getup you so cherish, that you didn't get before all of this." [22:40] 13Ah. There is some. Good! Good. Xia Lan upends the whiskey into her tea. [22:40] 13Slurp. [22:41] 12Keldar's standing now. "Where the hell do you get off, pal? Don't confuse yourself with me. Just because you stood for nothing and meant nothing before an astrological accident gave you something to do for yourself doesn't mean that was true for the rest of us." [22:41] 13...Slurp. [22:41] 14Stranger: "And you stood for what?" [22:41] "Making money?" [22:42] 12Keldar: "Yeah! Yeah, I did. That's what I got for being the best damn fighter, part of the best damn company, this side of Meru who didn't actually have an anima. And I couldn't have done it anywhere but here." [22:43] "AND THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU A BAD PERSON!" 14Stranger bellows. "But it doesn't make it right." [22:44] "And you know that if it was right, you wouldn't have needed the godsdamned Sun." [22:44] "The market could have protected this city." [22:44] 12Keldar: "It is." [22:45] "The market views you and everything you care about -- everything you idealize -- as an acceptable loss." [22:45] "And they'll rebuild on your corpse." [22:46] 12Keldar: "Nope. The Apples are still here 'cause we're under contract. We're under contract - me included - because we know we're going to gain from it." [22:46] 12Keldar: "I love this city, but I ain't dyin' for it. I just know we're gonna win." [22:47] 13Xia Lan: "You can't be serious. The Guild will abandon you and everything you care about for a coin and your primary concern is that they aren't evaluating the situation properly?" [22:47] 14Stranger: "And if I had Pellicia release you from your contract?" [22:48] 14The silver-haired man is standing now, too. [22:48] 12Keldar: "The Guild thinks it'll abandon me and everything I care about, but it's making a mistake. Now, maybe the Overfactor can't be talked around, and we'll just have to try to pare back as many of the merc companies they're takin' on an individual basis, and that'll be annoying and wasteful and, basically, stupid." [22:49] 12Keldar: "But, well, that's everyone's loss, I guess. This ain't a perfect world." [22:49] 12Keldar: "And you're not Pellicia's minder or something. Contract's a contract." [22:49] 14Stranger: "THIS IS A PERFECT WORLD." [22:49] 12Keldar barks out a laugh. "Come on." [22:49] 13More whiskey. "Only one we've got." [22:50] 13She is not going to be in shape for that confrontation with the Overfactor. At this point, it's hard to care. [22:50] 14Stranger: "And it's been made less perfect. That's the actual problem here. And don't be obtuse; your contract could be cancelled at anytime. If that meeting in the spire went how Brueghel wanted it to, you'd be out on your ass right now." [22:51] 12Keldar: "Oh, it's got withdrawal clauses and stuff, sure. But you can't 'have' Pellicia release me from my contract because you're just some guy, and you don't need to have Pellicia release me from my contract because I knew what I was signing up for going in." [22:53] 14Stranger: "No, I shouldn't be able to have Pellicia release you from your contract. But I know to manipulate her and the bureaucracy around her, and if I put my mind to it you would be a free agent in hours unless you intervened...with the mandate you've been granted by our Sun. Matching mine." [22:54] "Because we're now the rod and the rule of this world." [22:54] "And that means the Guild isn't." [22:57] 12Keldar: "If I wasn't a free agent, I couldn't go under contract in the first place. Any interference on your part after the fact is just that." [22:59] 13Xia Lan: "I don't... sorry? We're all still talking about how to properly incentivize defending a city instead of just, fucking, doing it." [23:00] 12Keldar: "Anyway, the rod and rule - rod of this world? Is that even - the ruler of this world was the Empress til recently." [23:00] 13This might not be the first time she's cussed. But she does cuss fairly rarely. [23:00] 14Stranger: "She ruled in absentia." [23:00] "We were always the true kings." [23:01] 12Keldar: "Now it ain't. Maybe you think it'll be you in a decade, I dunno. But the Guild was ticking along regardless, because they provide a service and pretty much no matter what you're always gonna get guys who work together to trade more efficiently." [23:02] 12Keldar: "You don't get a name as simple as 'The Guild' unless you're the end result of centuries of consolidation and refinement, really." [23:02] 13Xia Lan practically spits. "'Efficiency.' A city abandoned by its defenders and that's all you've got?" [23:02] 12Keldar: "Like I said, they'd be making the right move if it weren't for us, and our being here in such numbers, and working together, is basically a freak accident." [23:02] 14Stranger: "I provide a service as well. This neighborhood's drains, bridges, and walls work because of me. We know the specifics of the doom coming for us because of me. The Guild didn't serve Floodwater. The Guild didn't serve Bastian's homeland. The Guild hasn't do a thing for us but whine and whine and whine and moan and whine." [23:03] *hasn't done [23:03] 12Keldar: "You didn't do those things either. You just whined and whined until someone else did." [23:03] 14Stranger: "If I was whining then, then you're whining now." [23:04] 13More liquor. [23:04] "And we're just saying whatever we want the words to mean." [23:04] 12Keldar: "No, no, it's fine. That's how things get done. But the Guild's the same way. It's mostly communications." [23:07] 12Keldar: "Which is why I think it's best it serve our purposes. So, SO, we meet this guy, we tell him that he's undervaluing us specifically and that if he knew what was good for him he'd back us." [23:08] 12Keldar: "Then if we can't turn him around, we just try to snipe the best companies out from under him that we can, and I start training regular citizens in any event." [23:08] 14Stranger: "I say we tell him that if he doesn't do what we want, we'll kill him." [23:08] "And frankly, I think both angles work well together." [23:08] "Because if he decides to run, I really think you should fucking kill him. Just for Nexus." [23:09] 12Keldar: "That's... bold, but I don't think it's sustainable. It's not like all the funds in use are personally his, or that there isn't infrastructure in place that keeps working after he loses his head or whatever." [23:10] 12Keldar: "Plus, while you can lop the heads off fat merchants all day, actually demanding that mercs fight for you or else you'll kill them raises a number of logical problems." [23:10] 14Stranger: "We're already doing this because the person that could have been called off by the person we already visited has skipped down. The infrastructure is leaving." [23:10] *town [23:11] 13Xia Lan, loopily: "One of several problems having those not invested locally involved with defense." [23:11] 14Stranger: "We could always just take the Guild's place. To begin with." [23:11] "Think about it." [23:11] "If the Guild structurally has to be a fact of life, as you say -- why not just replace it with our own Guild?" [23:11] 12Keldar: "I brought that up earlier but you were having none of it." [23:12] 14Stranger waves his hand dismissively. "That's because I was angry and it wasn't my idea." [23:12] "That's true. He did say that. But I think it involved more profit motive than we were willing to contenance. Countenance? How do you say that." [23:12] 12Keldar: "That, of course, is the real threat to make if the Guildsman is dead-set on leaving. I don't envy someone actually trying to carry it out, though. Lot of reinvention of the wheel there." [23:14] 14Also, Stranger would want to shut down the Circle's 'Guild' once they'd boxed out the real one and established sufficient protectionism. [23:14] 14But he's learned to keep that point to himself, for now. [23:14] 14Keldar wins the argument. [23:14] 13There is power in a union. 15[23:14] Especially as they're carrying a lot of actual material wealth out of the city. There's probably something to be said for crippling the city's foundries at a time when the city ought to be ordering swords and spears by the hundred. [23:15] 12Sadly, all that iron is their property. [23:15] 14Not for long. [23:15] 13Property is a myth. [23:20] 14Stranger: "That all said, there's someone I think you might wish to meet, Keldar." [23:20] "Before our meeting with the overfactor." [23:20] 12Keldar: "Oh, yeah?" [23:21] 14Stranger: "Exile from House Cathak. Dragon-blooded, with power. Has discipline, and an...attachment to us." [23:21] "Fire aspect." [23:21] 13Xia Lan snickers. [23:23] "He's looking for structure. I think we can provide it." [23:23] 13Xia Lan: "He's very eager." [23:23] 14Stranger sips his tea. [23:23] 12Keldar: "Hmm. Any relation to the outcaste who joined up with the Apples of late?" [23:25] 14Stranger: "...Was this 'outcaste' an angry young man who claimed to be able to throw fire, with a scar across his eye?" [23:26] 12Keldar: "...yeah, it is. Hang on, he's actually from the Isle?" [23:26] 14Stranger laughs. "Yes, he is. This is good; saves half the conversation. You've got someone far more useful on your hands than you knew." [23:27] "Might be wise to let him keep up the outcaste appearances, however." [23:27] "If it's his preference." [23:27] 13Xia Lan: "Oh, gosh, he's been busy, hasn't he?" [23:27] 12Keldar: "Cripes, it might well be. How do you know him?" [23:28] 14Stranger: "He's a good kid." [23:28] "He defended me on-stage from the dog-man that's living in our basement." [23:30] 12Keldar scratches his chin. "Well, if you vouch for him... but what brings him out here?" [23:30] 14To Keldar: "Met him when he accidentally set the Blue Lamp district alight during a dispute with the Guild." [23:30] 12Keldar: "And is there anyone coming after him?" 12He pauses for a moment as wheels turn in his head. "...besides Dawn?" [23:30] "His family." [23:31] 13Xia Lan: "...He never mentioned that." [23:31] "To answer most of your questions." [23:32] 12Keldar: "So hang on, did he do something wrong and run, or get kicked out?" [23:33] 14Stranger: "He got angry at some Guildsmen for beating the hell out of one of the girls at a Blue Lamp establishment. They came after him in the street. He got angry, and when fire aspects get angry, well...the Blue Lamp district is mainly paper, wax, rickety wooden buildings and other flammable things." [23:33] "And he got away?" [23:33] 12Keldar looks mildly perturbed. "Mmm." [23:34] 14Stranger: "Well, he wanted to kill the Guildsmen." [23:34] "And I can't say they wouldn't have deserved it. But I brokered a solution where everyone walked away." [23:35] "As to why he's out here, I haven't pressed. He's proved his moral worth to me." [23:35] 13Xia Lan: "He seems like a good kid. Don't tell him I said that, it'll get his hopes up. But." [23:35] 14Stranger's lips almost imperceptibly flutter into a slight grin. [23:36] 14Maybe a trick of the light. [23:36] 12Keldar: "I see. Well, the practical concern is, obviously, fielding him alongside mortal troops. When Khelendros leads us, his aura only rips up the enemy - we can walk through it just fine. Maybe he can teach Tsuka the same trick." [23:37] 14Stranger: "Entirely possible. Should I set up a meeting? I'm sure he's around." [23:37] "Hell, he might even just be in your barracks." [23:38] 12Keldar: "Probably so, although I'd be surprised if Khelendros hadn't had a word already. The Apples have had a few Chosen and godlings and such over the years." [23:38] 14Stranger is just assuming the Apples have barracks, but it seems like a safe one. [23:39] "With all respect to Khelendros, I want you to meet this kid one on one." 15[23:39] They do have a barracks, though Keldar hasn't actually been in it in years. It's a mark of success and experience for any mercenary that they no longer have to live under their commander's roof. [23:39] 12Most of Nexus's companies have compounds of some sort in Bastion district, and the Apples are no exception. Keldar's ready to lead everyone there if need be. [23:40] 14Stranger's ready to go. [23:40] 13Xia Lan, too, though she'll get some more water and another slice of bread before leaving. [23:42] 14Before they head out, Stranger ensures he and Xia Lan are the last in the common room. Then, casually, as she's finishing the bread and about to ladle out some water: "Xia Lan. You remember that potion Xu Sim made? For the contest, in case you needed it. The drunkeness one." [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "The - oh, yeah. I did fine without it." [23:43] 13She waves drunkenly. "It's good. All've'it." [23:43] 14Stranger: "Of course! But he still prepared some of it, and--let me see--" 14Stranger ducks into his room and returns with a small vial. A very small one. Of the leftover formula that Xu Sim didn't use. [23:43] "It would be terrible for it to go to waste." [23:45] "I guess - it's not for the contest." 13She takes it hesitantly, then downs it like a shot. [23:46] 14Stranger: "No! You should mix it with--" [23:46] "Water." [23:47] 14Hrm. [23:48] 13She grimaces, then turns on Stranger. "You drugged me." [23:48] 14Stranger: "I did." [23:48] "You lied to me." [23:48] 14Stranger: "I did." [23:48] 13Xia Lan: "You - I was - WHERE IS XU SIM." [23:49] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim did as he was told." [23:50] 5 All can hear the barking cackling of an old man. [23:50] 13She looks furious. Not quite blades-out furious but-- "This was a contest! I could - would have - you stole that from me!" [23:50] 14Stranger: "You would have lost!" [23:50] "I'm a fraud! Oh my Sun, you - I cannot BELIEVE this!" [23:51] 14Stranger sweeps a wide arm. "Vladok stacked the venue with his greatest fans! He held court at a venue owned and operated by freeheld demons!" [23:52] "He already had you beat before you stepped into the CIO!" [23:52] 13Xia Lan: "Did you SEE how I handled them? He sucked! All he had was drinking and I am a professional!" [23:52] "He did not SUCK!" [23:52] 12Keldar, re-armored, ducks his head into the other room. "Hey, I'm ready to- uh-" [23:52] 5 Xu Sim emerges, dramatically, from the shadows. He is holding, and petting, the Twice-Refined Princess.  "What chemical can alter the harmonies of your soul?" [23:53] 13Mildly chastised: "Okay, he was just - way worse than me! All he could do was hold his liquor and -" 13She turns. "YOU." [23:53] "He was a master of form and he summoned a soulful prior form to charm the crowd even further!" [23:53] "YOU DRUGGED ME" [23:53] "As a matter of fact, I did the opposite of drugging you." [23:54] 13Xia Lan: "I thought I had accomplished something! I won a contest! I proved my worth! And you just - drugged me into cheating!" [23:54] "I gave you something to make sure none of those creatures would take advantage of you. And, fortunately for you, it worked." [23:54] 13Eyes blazing: "Did you really think - none of you believed in me." [23:54] "You didn't know the rules of the contest when you agreed to it. I don't think there was a rule against drinking anything from the famous Xu Sim." [23:55] "You thought I'd lose." [23:55] 12Keldar: "Hang on, hang on. This demon contest. How magically-enforced were the stakes?" [23:55] 14Stranger: "It wasn't about whether we believed in you." [23:55] "The stakes were bigger than you." [23:55] "You won the contest! You simply had someone on your side balancing out all the cheating they would do, as a pack of untrustworthy Yozi-spawn." [23:56] "The stakes were bigger than your pride." [23:56] 12Keldar: "Okay, but how are they ENFORCED. What I'm asking is, if this comes out - or if Xia Lan just, like, realizes it in her heart of hearts - does she instantly lose her soul or whatever." [23:56] 13Xia Lan: "Here I am, greatest singer in all the land, entering into a contest with - with an oaf, and -- you felt the need to cheat to put me over the top?" [23:56] 12Keldar: "Or is she home free regardless." [23:57] 13To Keldar: "I don't care about that! I made a deal, and it turns out that I cheated, without even knowing about it!" [23:57] 14Stranger, to Keldar: "There's no going back on the contest. What's done is done." [23:57] 12Keldar: "A magic deal, though, right? So you might be in serious trouble here." [23:57] "Where in the rules did it say you couldn't drink anything else?" [23:57] 12Keldar: "Oh, well then." [23:57] 14Stranger: "We're not." [23:57] "We didn't tell her just in case there was a surprise pre-match question, under Oath." [23:58] 13Xia Lan: "I cannot believe this." [23:58] "In that case," 12Keldar continues, "I can't believe you'd cheat on her behalf. For a contest of skill! What else are we abominations good for?" [23:58] 14Stranger: "You shouldn't have bet your name three days into this city." [23:58] "You happen to live under the same roof as one of the most renowned alchemists in all Creation, whose first Rule is to never test his own concoctions. You are surprised when a glass of water is... enhanced?" [23:59] 13Xia Lan: "Technically I bet it way before then because wow I should've read the fine print, but that was my problem! And oh my Sun, do I need to just check every drink I have from now on to make sure you haven't drugged me again?" [23:59] "I thought you were my friends!" [23:59] "You are my friend! Wait until you find out what else that skin cream I gave you is doing..." [00:00] 14Stranger: "You thought correctly." [00:00] 13She gives a wordless shriek and begins scrubbing at her skin. [00:00] 12Keldar: "This is a matter of professional pride, here! She knew what she was signing up for. More or less." [00:00] "But this is bigger than you." [00:00] "We need Vladok and his freed demons. We need anything we can get. We have weeks, here." [00:01] 13Xia Lan: "And you would have had them! But you - for some reason - decided that I wasn't GOOD ENOUGH." [00:01] 14Stranger: "What was the final score." [00:01] 12Keldar: "What was the final score?" [00:01] "Don't you dare." [00:02] 14Stranger: "Then my point is taken." [00:02] "Don't you dare say that - you can't mean that I -" [00:02] 13She's had enough liquor in her tea. There's real tears in her eyes. "Am I just that useless?" [00:02] 14Stranger: "No." [00:03] "I couldn't save her..." [00:03] 14Stranger: "I couldn't save 35 people." [00:03] 5 Xu Sim approaches Xia Lan and looks - up or down(?) right at her forehead.  "You can never give this back," 5 he says, jabbing at her Caste mark, hidden though it may be at the moment. 15[00:03] What the-- did Stranger sneak home the bottle of whiskey that makes everyone relive their greatest regrets? [00:04] 14As well as the one that makes everyone argue about capitalism. [00:04] 13She snaps her head up, and jabs a finger at Xu Sim and Stranger in turn. "You! Or you! One of you is coming back with me!" [00:05] "That part of the Sun is part of you now. Just like it's a part of me, and a part of him. And that means we're all part of something, together." [00:05] "We're doing this properly." [00:05] 14Without hesitation: "I am." [00:05] "I will win. Again. The same way I would have the first time." [00:05] "You will argue for better stipulations this time, I hope." [00:05] 12Keldar's grinning faintly. "You need any backup?" [00:05] "The demon will understand. I'm not sure he'll even fault you for cheating." [00:06] 13Xia Lan: "I win, you never do this to me again. You win, I don't get to doubt your judgement. Uneven, but in your favor, because I would have won." [00:06] 14Stranger: "No." [00:06] "Unless you find a way to gouge the Sun out of your soul - that part of the Sun in me is always going to help you." [00:06] 14Stranger: "No." [00:06] "I refuse your terms." [00:06] "I will always do what I need to do to safeguard Creation." [00:07] "And you should always, always, doubt my judgment." [00:07] 13Xia Lan: "Fuck you. I'm my own person, and I deserve to know when you're tricking me." [00:08] 13Using. That should be "using", not "tricking". [00:08] "Are you your own person now? Is any of us? The Sun is in you now. It is in the rest of us. That makes us one." [00:08] 12Keldar: "I am." [00:09] 14Stranger shakes his head. "You serve the Sun." [00:09] "And if I didn't want you to know about being tricked, I wouldn't have offered you the draught just now." [00:10] "If you doubt the wisdom of the redoubtable Xu Sim - your own physician - you are welcome to challenge him as you desire." [00:10] 13Xia Lan, half-crazed: "I serve the Sun. But I am myself - don't take this away from me! You already did it once!" [00:11] "One of you! I don't even care which! We're doing this again!" [00:11] 14Stranger: "I'm not half the singer Vladok is. But I can drink." [00:11] 12Keldar: "Nah I don't." [00:12] "As an expert in the atemi, none of you can drink the way I can drink. Did you overhear my suggestion to Tohu?" [00:13] 5 Xu Sim begins puttering around in the kitchen. Mortals beware. [00:13] 14To Xu Sim: "You can drink on your own ti--ah, there he goes, to drink on his own time." [00:13] 13Xia Lan: "I don't care how much you can or can't drink. Can you win the Contest. I can. I did, with you cheating for me. I will, without you." 15[00:13] What if they just drug her again? [00:14] 13She will be very upset. 15[00:14] Maybe you can't trust these people at all... [00:15] "You are still young, Xia Lan. You are headstrong, and selfish." 5 Xu Sim keeps puttering. Here we are, powdered horse collagen. [00:15] 13Xia Lan: "FIGHT ME" [00:15] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim, shut up." [00:16] "Will you fight, or will you drink? Perhaps you would do both?" [00:16] 14To Xia Lan: "I've laid out why I did what I did. It was underhanded and unfair, and if I had to I would do it again, because winning is more important than pride. That said, I'm glad that you know now. I accept your challenge." [00:16] 13Stomping her feet furiously: "That's the idea! It's drinking! It's singing! It's both! So which one of you will accept the challenge?!" [00:16] "Oh! Well!" [00:17] "We can do it right here if you wish." [00:17] "Or we can go back to the CIO." [00:17] 12Keldar blinks. "Eh? Obviously you outsing either of these shmoes. This isn't settled unless you beat the demon again, is it?" [00:17] "Or you can choose another venue." [00:17] 14Shut up, Keldar. We're not putting that hard-won alliance on the line again. [00:18] 13She narrows her eyes. "We have something to handle first. Both of us drunk, meeting the Overfactor - no. After that, we can make it happen. Yes?" [00:18] 14Stranger nods. "Of course." [00:18] "And to make it fair:" [00:19] nix that last line, i changed my mind [00:19] 13Xia Lan, to Xu Sim: "If you cheat for him, and I find out: I will cut your throat. I don't know if it will kill you! But I will slit your throat. Fair? I think so." [00:20] 14Stranger: "Ah...well, that would kill him. Fairly certain." [00:20] 13Sweetly: "There's only one way to find out." [00:21] 14To Xu Sim: "I'm fairly certain I don't have to tell you to cheat for me. But I'm going to anyway." [00:22] "Don't be so crass, sweeties," 5 says Xu Sim as he spits in each palm, lays a mint leaf in the crook of each hand, and begins slowly rubbing them together, blowing on them, as the Twice-Refined Princess seizes a series of small bottles in her mouth and drains their contents into his spinning, blowed-upon hands. [00:22] 14Stranger: "...Really?" [00:23] 5 After a few moments, a pair of slimy, bright green orbs - perhaps the size of tangerines - remain. Small white bubbles are visible within each. [00:25] 5 These he makes something of a show to present to Stranger and Xia Lan - before switching them and re-presenting them, with a flourish. "And, there you have it. Have you ever seen such a thing? No, you have not. Another wonder of Xu Sim that will be unremarked-upon." [00:26] 14Stranger: "What are you doing." [00:26] "That's your drink. Eat it. Chewing is unnecessary." [00:26] 13Xia Lan: "I don't think I'll be eating anything you've made for as long as I can avoid it." [00:27] "You saw me make it! You're getting the same as him, besides. What a finnicky person, uninterested in exploration or discovery." [00:27] 14Stranger: "Put them on ice." [00:27] "We've got a meeting first. With the Guild." [00:28] "And unless you want to feed that to the Overfactor, I'm certain we don't want it at the meeting." [00:28] 14He pauses. "Though that's not a bad idea." [00:28] "I didn't see you make it!" 13She looks abruptly furious. "Imagine if you weren't my friend! Imagine I just - ingested some substance!" 13She looks vaguely ill. "I trusted you." [00:29] "A substance that stopped a bunch of Malfean ingrates from drugging you? That instead, helped you keep your wits about you? Imagine, imagine if that had happened." [00:29] 14Stranger: "She's also right." [00:29] "I'm eating all of the blame so that you don't have to feel like an asshole for apologizing, Xu Sim." [00:30] 13Xia Lan's face turns ugly, but she turns away in silence. Unacceptable. [00:30] "So I'm a bit concerned that you're...coming out in favor of drugging, on principle." [00:30] "It's the opposite of drugging, if anything," 5 notes the petulant sorcerer [00:32] 12Keldar: "Yeahhhh, it isn't actually acceptable to slip your buddy something if it's not for a short-term prank or whatever. If you can't tell if your fellows aren't lying to you for what they think is your own good it kills morale." [00:32] 14... [00:32] 12Keldar: "That kind of anything-at-all-to-win talk generally presages someone stabbing you in the back and running off with your share of the take." [00:33] 14Stranger just shakes his head. [00:34] 13Xia Lan: "Every one of you gets to face me, now. All of you! I'll win anyway." [00:34] "No one gets to drug me and pretend it's okay." [00:36] 14To Xia Lan: "I made the decision to ask Xu Sim give you something to make you better at a task at which you had to succeed. It was morally wrong and it demeaned you as a competitor, and I made the call anyway. I don't like the connotations of calling it 'drugging' you, but I understand them, and it's not an incorrect statement to make." [00:36] "So I'll accept the challenge, without...weird potion shots and talk about splits of the take." [00:37] 13Xia Lan: "That was the deal I agreed to. It's the deal you'll agree to. Face me, coward." [00:38] 14This is the third time that Stranger's agreed to-- "I will." [00:38] 13Xia Lan: "Weird potion shots and all." [00:38] 14Stranger sighs. "Xu Sim, make us six rounds of weird shots." [00:39] 13Xia Lan, brightly: "I know some people who can make that happen!" [00:40] 5 Xu Sim gets to work putting some more together. [00:40] 14It's obvious Xu Sim just likes poisoning people. Let him participate. [00:40] 13Want to go for 3 and 3? 3 provided by the originators of the competition, three by Xu Sim. [00:40] 5 When he doesn't ask and gives people something the opposite of poison it's bad. When they ask and he gives them actual poison it's fine. The Exalted. [00:41] 14Sounds good. [00:41] 13Agreeable. [00:41] 14To Xia Lan: "My only stipulation: we do this on a night when there's nothing scheduled the next morning." [00:41] 12That's because everything is good so long as whoever's doing it technically, formally chose to. That's Nexus, baby! [00:41] 13Xia Lan: "I agree. I'm prideful, not stupid." 15[00:42] 10Narrator: [00:42] 14Stranger doesn't contest the claim. [00:42] 13No one asked you, Narrator! 15[00:42] 10You will. 15[00:42] 10By hook or by crook, you will. [00:42] 13Hush. 15[00:43] NEXT TIME: For Love