Talk:Mission 12: A Proper Introduction

Questions

Some questions we may be able to get answers to pre-session, others may require in-session character investigation.

• Do we know where Garis Ling lives? We know the residence of the other two councilors, finding where the third lives is probably necessary.
  • We do, I apologize for omitting this in the original write-up. Garis has two apartments - a small one near Yinhang Square in the Nexus district, and a larger one in Cinnabar, where he lived during his tenure as commander of the Hooded Executioners. These days, he is more often found at the former but visits both locations frequently enough that each has a permanent live-in staff.
• Do we know if any of the three are known Dragon-Bloods or any other form of supernatural being? (God-Blood, Celestial Exalt, etc?)
  • Oron Hazaki is likely a highly accomplished mortal or discrete God-Blood. He is known to have a God-Blooded bodyguard, however. Garis Ling is thought to be God-Blooded, as he has displayed a limited capacity for wielding Essence in combat scenarios (his social grace are adequate for his station but unremarkable). It's also possible that he is a Dragon-Blood who, for some reason, has chosen not to play up this fact. He has not shown power nor ambition characteristic of a Celestial Exalt, so if he is one, he's got something to hide and he's playing the long game. Aleena is totally normal and definitely mortal. There is nothing suspicious about her, her airship, her tendency to convince people of her opinions before she's even done voicing them, her meteoric rise to power in Nexus, the way animals are paralyzed with fear in her presence, her lack of need for sleep, or her dislike of the strategic alliance despite being apathetic about most other issues. Nothing suspicious at all. Gotta just be a mortal.
• Where does Aleena dock her Haslani Airboat?
  • It can often be found docked at the Council's tower, a private dock, during the day. She has made a habit of showing up to work in her airship as a display of power. Her personal residence has a skydock as well, which is the second most common location for the ship. She does occasionally have extremely wealthy Haslanti visitors who dock their boats at her residence, so other ships can occasionally be found there. If Aleena has commerce-related business in the city, she has been known to dock her airship publicly at whatever skydock is nearest, but she usually needs a specific reason to do this. It would not be wrong to suspect that Aleena seems to be uncomfortable ever being too far from her airship; she uses it to traverse distances which are easily crossed on horseback, in a wagon, or even on foot.
  • If there is a public dock it is possible we could disguise The Geronimo as a mundane Haslani vessel as well.
  • What does she typically use the airship for? Does it make regular trading runs to the north/around Creation. Or does it remain docked in Nexus most of the time. Is she the primary captain, or does she have a crew and she is only a passenger when she boards? Is she on board frequently? If she is does she invite guests up there with her?
    • Aleena uses the airship for all manner of things. Often, she uses as a personal ferry to get around Nexus, although even she is aware of how overkill this is. It does make occasional trips back to Crystal both with and without her, although it is not known who crews the ship. Aleena has not displayed much knowledge of nautical matters or aviation, so it is likely that she is not the primary captain (or if she is, she is intentionally obfuscating this fact). She is on board frequently; she does not often invite others aboard, particularly if they are from Nexus. She has invited visiting traders from Crystal aboard her ship.
• Is Garis Ling still active among the mercenaries? (If his guards or the Hooded Executioners were drawn into battle or crisis near him would he involve himself or look out for his own security?)
  • He is not active among the mercenaries in the literal sense. For example, Garis Ling is not actively or personally involved in enforcing the law in Nexus. Formally, he's not even a member of the Hooded Executioners anymore, although he still commands their respect. In fact, Garis holds onto this respect dearly and would endanger himself to preserve it - if the Hooded Executioners were drawn into conflict near him, he would likely plunge into combat along side his former brothers to retain their good favor. Although Garis does have a contingency of bodyguards, Garis himself is also frequently seen practicing at a nearby arena, so it's safe to assume he retains formidable skills in combat.
• What time of year is it? Many parts of Nexus are prone to flooding (and wild fires) which may be an advantage or disadvantage depending on our plan.

It is the height of descending water. Flooding is a real possibility, although the season has been unusually dry. Still decidedly some rain, but less than in a normal year.

Ideas

Some general thoughts on things that might work, or be of use. Some are better/worse than others.

• We may simply be able to poison Oron Hazaki, if his health is believed to be failing and we can use an untraceable poison that will look like illness it would be a simple and elegant solution. Moon and The One-Eyed Queen might be able to help us out with a better poison than we'd be able to manage ourselves. (Also is health might actually be failing and we could just nudge him along.)
• A point of accessibility might be on board Aleena's airship or at the dock. This could depend heavily on how she uses the vessel though. We might be able to gather all 3 councilors on the ship. When on board and up in the air we'll have a certain privacy that we won't have at most places in the City, it might also get us out of the Emissary's jurisdiction (at least a bit) if they are outside of Nexus itself. Obviously some sort of crash here might be convenient...
• If we are looking for a way to gather the 3 of them together we might be able to stage a party or event (perhaps at one of the clubs Oron used to frequent), but that puts a lot of eyes on us to make this look like an accident. A gathering of support against the alliance wouldn't be too hard to stir up I would venture, but what to do from there is a tad more difficult. Would get all three of them in one place where we would have access to them though.
• Depending on where Garis lives, Sentinel Hill probably makes the best district to target, though not near the official government buildings. However the district offers a good blend of factors we could use to our advantage. The government buildings mean that all 3 must frequent the district. There is good inter-district travel with both canals and pulley-car lines in the district. Security is relatively relaxed (outside of government buildings themselves) as it is a low income area and incidents from Firewander have become less frequent. (Also it borders Firewander which might provide excellent cover for a more overt method.) Floods and wild fires are both mentioned as being coming in this district as well.
  • I had the thought of using a wild fire as an excellent means of cover, but it has it's problems. A district wide fire would certainly bring innocents into harms way (though not directly, they could escape) and would draw quite a bit of ire from the Emissary if discovered it was not an accident. (But that is the whole point so he should never know.) The fire burning the bodies would also mean that if we killed people more traditional ways (stabbing) the corpses would not give us away. And with some creative explosives we might just be able to kill the targets with the fire itself anyway and make it really look like a very unfortunate accident. (Lets be honest here, all big medieval cities have a historic fire in their history. This would be one for Nexus.)

Resources

Mesa

• Well known with a large amount of underground contacts in Nexus.
• Large home in Cinnabar District. (The group will be staying here.)
• Hideout in Sentinel Hill District.

Ash

• Ash's connections essentially aline dead on with this mission which should give him some beneficial access and even influence over the parties we are dealing with: High Society (Scavenger Lands), Financial (Scavenger Lands), Government (Scavenger Lands), and Guild. Though Ash's largest connections are probably more Lookshy based, but they would certainly extend heavily into Nexus. (And obviously Guild connections are mostly here.)
• Ash operates a small apothecary shop in The Nighthammer District, near The University of Nexus. This is more of a hub for connections and contacts than a profit center in Ash's business dealings.
  • The apothecary shop has permits to send carts to sell and trade goods in every district of the city, excluding Bastian District.
• Ash has a modest, but luxurious flat in the East Parko neighborhood of The Cinnabar District.