I'm withdrawing from this game, effective immediately. I want it understood that it's nothing that happened in here, but I don't feel I can continue.
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All right, I'm ba...*Looks around.* what.
Erugh....I think I need to take a few days off. I just read over everything from the start of this arc again and I'm, frankly, confused as all hell as to what's going on. Lousy week, including being sick and having to deal with a bunch of inconsiderate jerks at work.
"Most simply? We're working for people who can shut all this down if they have to." Rosa says. "But that would be messy, so we're asking nicely. You're blackmailing someone, we want the evidence before he does something that could force that issue. Trust me, while Korvosa would probably survive that, and you might, your business here wouldn't."
Rosa takes a deep breath, and not just to emphasize her figure. "I'm sure a man with your tastes..." she glances around meaningfully at the spider's webbing "...can appreciate Korvosa's true nature. This isn't Riddleport, after all. We're not uncivilized about things. All of us are businesspeople here. As long as you pay your taxes, and make sure the connections are right, business stays good." "But. . . we've heard that some of your connections are, in the long run, maybe not in things for the good of the city. They'd like to unravel the web for a silk gown. And really, what good is a silk gown on an ugly southern lady?" A rather lascivious grin follows that. "It'll never work of course, and I'm sure you're aware of it. But with the recent shakeups, playing the edges probably isn't as safe as it once was, if you follow. A simple trade now could leave you in a better position. Nothing to connect you to new trouble the city doesn't need, a quiet favor from people who might keep further issues off your back. . . "
It is something of an irony that the Inquisitor has no infiltration capacity whereas the cleric can at least pull off a decent "Yeah, I'm the cleaning crew" bluff.
Rosa emits a delicious purr and wraps an arm around Absinthe from behind, sliding into the assigned role like a comfortable outfit.
Rosa doesn't miss a beat. "I'm sure we can do quite a bit better if a few more of us are along..."
Rosa thinks for awhile before she just sighs. "This probably isn't the place to discuss this," she finally says.
"Right." Rosa sighs. "Looks like we either pay the tax, or we go with our usual Plan B."
Saying we're here to see him would probably do the trick, especially if we pay off the doorman too. Other than that we can try plans and see if we hear anything about him on the other ships."
Rosa shrugs. "Oh, is that all? I know where he is.". she leads the group back out and a bit away from the boats before speaking further. "This isn't a common criminal, Demitri. I believe Absinthe mentioned already, but he's kind of a big deal around here. He'll be on the Eel's End itself. I thought we were fishing around for a more discreet invitation than announcing ourselves.
Rosa blinks, startled by Demitri's declaration. "Wait, you were just going to talk straight to him? I thought you wanted to check things out first."
"Oh, I don't know..." Rosa smirks. I could stand to see you in much cleaner water than the harbor provides..."
Rosa gives Segang a blank stare for a moment. "...but wouldn't that put the gambling hall last?"
Rosa is clearly eyeing the Clouds as a destination...
Rosa takes her leave (and a new suit of armor that is much more. . . closely tailored) out on the streets near the spider's web to see what she can find out about Barvasi himself, drinking (and buying drinks) freely....
Yeah. Just took me a minute to translate that into something relevant.
Rosa closes her eyes and looks thoughtful. "If you know anyone who's worked near that area, this would be a great time to buy them drinks," she says. "Ask how they've been, how work's been going."
...this campaign keeps bringing out my Shadowrun instincts. Almost told Demitri "well, go dig up your watch contacts for any info, it's not like they're not the Johnson on this one."
Rosa smiles. "Oh, don't worry, I can be persuasive. But it might behoove us to make some discreet inquiries first. Money is the least of the currency we can offer him. If there's something he wants more, we should focus on acquiring that to exchange for our favor."
Rosa sighs in assent to Absinthe's assessment. "Men like this have all the money they desire as part of doing business. They truly value only two currencies - services and information."
Rosa looks at Cressida with a soft frown, mostly of concentration. "So...you want us to ensure the inevitable devils in his closet see the light of day?"
Rosa gives Vencario a broad smile. "It's always a pleasure." Once he's gone, though, she sighs, getting more serious.
Rosa frowns a bit. "You know, do we know that Parns was doing anything other than shoring up Vancascerkin's misguided charity drive?"
Guess that makes Rosa the one to end up in bed with Absinthe...which sort of makes sense, since she'd be the last to sleep (basically nocturnal lifestyle.)
Rosa, strangely, finds herself sitting quietloy and enjoying the songs. Although, perhaps more oddly, she doesn't seem to know the words herself, she does hum - hesitantly - once she gets the melody.
Rosa giggles and leans over the table. "I kinda want to see where this goes."
"...right. Let's get him out of here and back to the carousing for the evening!"
"Personally, I think he's a little past that. I suggested dunking him in the harbor, but no one could afford my rates. Oh, and he's one of Dimitri's workmates...or exworkmates, we never quite got that far before the slipping into a coma bit."
Rosa contemplates for a moment, then sighs. "...what do we do with him, then?"
"Well, short of stripping him to his smallclothes and dunking him in the harbor, I doubt we'll get the answer to that before morning," Rosa quips. "...oh, and that costs extra."
Rosa pauses, then bends over slightly to gently poke at the side of the saergeant's head. "...I think he's passed out."
"On the other hand...the city is also resilient. She came out of worse than this succession of the past few days before. All we can do is ride it out...and watch for signs of what we can do. Enjoy - or hate - the meal, not the chef." Rosa takes a seat, deciding it best to neglect the true nature of that particular turn of phrase.
While Rosa accompanied the group, it was in...considerably less clothing than she wore while expecting trouble. Although at least it isn't bedroom-wear. Probably. The very short miniskirt and tight top are, at least technically, within the bounds of what's permissible under the old regime. She still has her whip, and her holy symbol is displayed prominently. "Ahm, dear, perhaps you've had your share. There's not enough to go around if you keep hogging it all..." A blatant lie, one disproven by simply looking at the bar. But then, drunks will buy the strangest ideas.
Well, in his case it probably wouldn't have involved killing him at all. ...now, Dominating him into working for charity and the bare minimum of food needed to not suffer malnutrition (so he keeps on being forced to watch himself be altruistic from the inside until he dies of natural causes) she'd arrange for.
What, so I don't end up working for the other guy?
Rosa finds herself last to return to her home of several years, a temple near the harbor district that, normally, caters to out of town clients desiring some discretion. Today, however, she seems a bit more in tune with the city's ebb and flow than she has been for some time. Waving off the usual welcoming offers of return to take herself before the true shrine, in the basement. "I have tasted of thy favor these past days, Lady. The man who would dare defile your doorstep is gone, although the one he took...I hope she's happier in your realm than her final days with me were." Rosa chokes up. "...it wasn't enough. I believed I could be satisfied, but I'm not. Did I just not have time to do the job properly? We were in a rush. But. . . no, that's not it, was it?" The girl looks very young for a moment, yet very old in the shadows at the same time. ". . . it wasn't vengeance because he didn't give a damn. We just killed him, we didn't hurt him. He won, because he went to the grave knowing we could never have what he took, and we didn't deprive the old bastard of anything he wanted." "...But, I suppose that need not be the end....one day, I hope You can grant me a way to a small measure of what I hoped for from that night." Her prayers complete, the Calistrian retires to her chambers to change into something far more comfortable. There's a city in need of...consolation, after all.
As for how I see Rosa developing...actually a good question, and there are two things I was going to ask about: 1) If Rosa takes the Versatile Channeling feat, can she apply a Variant Channel only to the negative energy aspect? 2) If that's the case, and I use the Charm domain variant, would it be acceptable to not count it as an attack (Frankly, I'd even drop the damage entirely in this case, because it makes the thing useless if it automatically makes people hostile.)
Gah, thought I could take a break over the weekend with Nomad gone! I'll try to catch up later tonight.
Also, Pathfinder eliminated location-specific Knowledge skills. It also somewhat expanded the definition of Knowledge from "What you know" to "What you know or can find out easily" to account for it - it's not just knowledge of local events but generally who to talk to (and how to phrase things) to get the local pulse quickly and quietly.
Knowledge (Local): +1
Rosa sighs with a shake of her head. "Vancaskerkin was just the patsy for the real crime going on here, and yes I do fully mean worse than desertion. Although I'm not big on legal codes. What would you call 'killing innocent people and selling the bodies as the cut of the day?'"
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