Game: Incubus (Solo)

OOC: make a diplomacy check

She looks unsure and nervous.

I donnae....I have a rep to keep, I don't wanna be known as a thug.. why don't ye just bob someone yerself.. ye don't really nee me!

eh...aight, but you be in charge of taking the jink

she says timidly, then without a word goes back into the alley entrance, back to work.

You stay hidden in the alley, behind a pile of trash, and soon enough, she and another unwitting sod come down into the alley. He pays her, and soon enough, things start getting hot and heavy.

Now's the time to strike.

To say that you caught the two in an awkward situation would be an understatement. The man caught completely unawares is first shocked, then frustrated - but resigns and hands over 30 more jink, then runs away.

Tranchita plays the part well, and hands over her coin to you, but quickly takes it back, and half of the extra that you got from the man.

Total 'profits' from this mugging: 15 jink.

She's intrigued more than anything, and plans to ask you afterwards why this, of all things, you'd do to try and make money.

Stop it ye! She doesn't seem surprised at all that you could change faces, though she's curious.

What.. are ye?

Most cutters wi magic say a bunch ' o barmy before they change inta someone- -there's something differnt bout yeh!

You still can't figure out where she keeps her coin - no telltale bulge, no belt, no pockets - it's almost as if she has an invisible bag of holding.

She smiles coyly. I'll spill if ye spill

She has short brown hair and cheap clothes messily arranged in a semi-seductive manner.

I put her pic up to help you visualize, but I'll give you a hint: ALL personas (not including her) of whom I put a picture up are semi-major- major characters in the story. Keep that in mind. Tranchita may be a major "flavor" character, but in terms of story, she isn't significant.... whereas Firefly, Necravia, and Ventiri...

Oh no, if you like her, then making her a major char is by all means up to you.. she can be your gf, but just don't expect her to battle Glaberizus alongside you... The two of you, could however purchase a nice villa in the Clerk's Ward, and she'd keep the place warm for your infrequent visits, while you fight the good fight.

She shakes her head...

So uh... how much longer are we gonna keep bobbin?

Lol, there is so much innuendo in that.

Belt - I'm not sure... let' s just say it gives you +2 Str. fair?

Aiight, I'm up fer that.

Soon enough, you go through a repeat of what just happened, save the reward this time is 25 jink.

As she hands over the coin to you, she looks deeply into your eyes, with her voice soft - take care cutter, may the Lady's Shadow Pass ye by!

Wondering what she could possibly inform you about: Yeh, sure - where d'ya need tah get going?

No, from what you pick up - it's a more "I'll miss you" look than an "I want to be romantically involved with you look"

We'll make it a +4 Belt

She hides her coin in her cleavage in a way that hides it well and makes her appear more well endowed.

I...I dunno. This is all so quick.. She starts getting really nervous. In her head, she replays some horrible murder scenarios. You gather that she doesn't completely trust you yet.

She starts stuttering: Well.. it's the only thing I got -- I'm not a good basher, don't know how to work fingerpaints*, and not really wiley with the tools...and.. well everyone else just wanted to be in out and on with it - you're really the only cutter who wanted to do something else with me... it's all new.

* In the 'cant, 'fingerpaint' = magic - illusion magic if you want to get really specific, but Tranchita is using the general definition of the word.

Also - if going by that definition of affection (I guess my personal definition was narrow), then yes, definitely there is some affection - you are a novelty amongst the other berks in the Hive who view her as no more than a tool. Certainly you did use her - but you actually cared to speak to her. It's refreshing.

From nervous to merrily comfortable- you manipulate her emotions as if they're made of gelatin.

heheheh! neh, not for me, I would get too scared in front of all the people.

Eh.. it's not that bad - it's the life I'm used to... I don't think I'd have it any other way.. but then again.. i don't know..

Where's yer kip?

Sinker?! Pike it blood! Yer not supposed to rattlin' bout those things! And ne - I don't know any dark about Zakras...? Zackraaiea?

OOC: "Officially" there are no such things as factions after the faction war. Remnants of factions brave (or, perhaps, stupid) enough to stick around afterwards refer to themselves as guilds. Most people (at least in public- for the Lady, though seldom seen, when has been spotted- is exclusively in public streets or plazas) use the term Armorer's Guild. Many don't mind the term "Sinker" or "Doomguard" though Tranchita is a bit paranoid about it - it's a good bet that either she's heard some bad stories about the Lady, or actually seen the Lady.

She starts walking.

Aright, off we r then! What'dya havin mind for finding this basher?

OOC: sorry, I don't understand the question - are you asking her how much she earned so far from prostitution today? If so, the answer is 50 jink, and she tells you so if asked.

So uh. .I've neva been to the Lady's Ward, don really know how t' get ther, but maybe my map'll help.

She pulls out a weathered roll of vellum and dusts off the outside. She unrolls it and shows you a moderately detailed map of the city.

OOC: this is the sigil map on this website

Perusing the map, she frowns a bit, her thin nose crinkling as she does

Ok, so unless ye fancy passin by the Gray District (which I certainly hopes ye don), we'll take Goatswood across the ditch to the Shattered Temple District and beyond?

LOL

I dunnoe, I guess I've always had i' wi' me!

Tranchita provides pleasant companionship on the way. You honestly don't expect a common Hive Harlot to be as humorous and witty (not to mention optimistic and charming) as she is. You learn about how she lives alone in the Chaos district among the howling barmies (the property value is subsequently low, but the only thing she could afford). She takes living in a bleak circumstance all in stride. She recounts to you a time when she accidentally offended a few Xaos thugs - but talked her way out of it (even without offering her services) - by pretending to be a Xaositect herself. It seems she is, after all, better at acting than she initially let on.

After about half an hour, you finally are walking in Goatswood. This quaint community of humans within the border area of the Lower Ward, spireward of the Ditch, has at times in its centuries-long history been swallowed up by the Hive and reclaimed by the Lower Ward innumerable times at the whim of the City Courts and mapmakers of Sigil. The inhabitants hail originally from a dead or dying Prime world named Ranais. Having suffered greatly themselves, they have traditionally been welcoming and respectful to those bashers who have been through strife and persevered. A blood has little to fear treading the streets within this district if he does the inhabitants no harm.

OOC: Just lemme know if you want to stop at a place of interest in Goatswood, or continue past the ditch into the Lower Ward.

Ulick's Bowse: a 12x7 foot stone replica of a giant's tankard. Ulick - a stone giant known for his tolerance to alchohol several centuries ago - was also one of the most successful Bar owners in the history of the Hive. A tribute to his success is all that remains in front of the now defunct, abandoned establishment.

Next Up: The Ditch

Sigil’s only body of water, if one can call it that most of the time, sits at the edge of the Lower Ward and the Hive, serving as a convenient boundary for the two. Refuse is constantly dumped into the waters that range from a bare, sluggish trickle at worst, to a clear running river when some hidden portal to Oceanus opens on random occasion and flushes the stagnant contents.

Normally, however, the ditch is filled with a slow moving, stagnant bilge, bobbing with rotting corpses, kitchen scraps, and all manner of refuse hurled into it for easy disposal by the neighboring residents. Rag pickers and dead collectors hover around the banks nightly to pick through the daily trash left upon the banks or bobbing near the surface in the hopes of making a few copper from some trinket tossed into the mix or sell the bodies to the Mortuary, which still pays a pittance for the dead.

Some have described the Ditch as the concept of a river, some abstraction of the idea of a Prime Material body of flowing water. And being the Outer Planes, who’s to say it’s not correct? What ordinary body of water has mildly to heavily corrosive water five out of every six days, with the sixth day more likely than not being frozen over at the surface? It isn’t ordinary or mundane by any stretch of the imagination. You won’t find a single water genasi lingering around the Ditch either, though they flock like mice to cheese when the portal to Oceanus opens on those rare occasions. Some have postulated that it may be a tributary of the Styx itself, but none have ever reliably claimed to see a marraenoloth plying a skiff on its banks. [Not to say the Styx doesn’t have any tributaries within Sigil, one just has to know where to look. – The Editor] Rumors also hold that each night the dabus congregate upon the banks of the Ditch to push trash and other such detritus into the river to be flushed in the periodic cleansing of the trough. Then, there is the Ditch Beast.

Some say the Ditch Beast is a legend and myth, a creation of the barmies and bubbers on the Hive side of the stinking waters. Others claim to have seen the creature just barely cresting over the water, devouring corpses and dragging in unwary sods, but only in the dim hours before and after anti-peak. Truth be told, the Beast may not exist at all and simply be an illusion, some sort of animated Rebus created by the Dabus who congregate upon its banks at night, all in order to keep locals from interfering with their necessary tasks.

As you begin the cross to the Lower Ward - the Bridge along the Ditch looks completely deserted. It's clear Tranchita is unfamilar with this area, and she is nervous (rightly so).

As he walks over the tenuous old wooden bridge, your suspicions are confirmed. there are several thoughts in the area: all of them have one purpose - to rob you. Within seconds you see a large human right in front of you(who didn't seem to be there before) blocking his path on the bridge. The man wears Dustmen's robes - but it is a pretty good bet that he isn't a real Dustie.

He begins in an unusually high-pitched voice: Ye shouldn't be walking around these parts, cutter, it isn't safe.

He looks up at the both of you with faux pensiveness and a melodramatic furrow in his brow. Without waiting for a response, he continues: Though I can make sure you make it across the bridge..for some jink, of course. You watch my back, and I'll watch yer's.

For the first time, notices three other (human) men in similar dustie garb standing right behind you two on the bridge. You did not hear them walk up.

There is no other avenue across than through these men.

the bridge is 6 feet wide - You can try to make a run for it, but the man ahead is large, and probably would end up tackling you without much trouble.

How much ye got? I ain't a demanding basher - but I gosts t' have something!

You hear chuckles from behind, and the large man in front smiles at your attempt to get out of this one.

Aww... did ye hear that bloods? He says in a mock voice of cuteness, they're hard werkin' bobbers just like us! Oh no cutter, I don't think ye understand ( he takes out a wicked looking longsword, as if to emphasize his point, you also hear the sounds of weapons being drawn behind you) - we're some pretty dangerous bashers ourselves, just tryin' t' make a livin!

Now, ye can give us the jink an' be on yer way.. or..

He leaves the sentence open-ended, to let your imagination fill in the rest.