Talk:Mission 5: Ransom for the Impious

How difficult would it be to disguise the Geronimo as a Haslanti vessel, or at least a commercial vessel that frequents the area? Kirkland 22:58, 8 June 2010 (EDT)

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My guess would be not impossible but not easy to disguise it as a Haslanti vessel. That would depend pretty heavily on Dan's feelings on how unique each Hastlani vessel is. The Geronimo isn't significantly larger or made of magic metal and it does have a balloon (that at least appears to function similar to a Hastlanti vessel), but it might still be very tough to pull off. Some additional information that we have on their ships would be solid. Wonder of a Lost Age stats both types of their ships, but doesn't describe how different or unique they are in appearance. Also is The Cicada a variety of one of these ships? Is it some sort of flagship or first-age vessel? Obviously if its carrying our target we can expect it to be armed to the teeth and guarded by other ships as well, but I was curious if there was anything about the particular ship that we'd know ahead of time? We might be able to convince them that it is a foreign Air Ship, but these are incredibly rare and might arouse suspicion all by itself(The Hastlanti League, Lookshy, and The Realm are the only people known to have Air Ships). It should also be noted that the book talks about how the fleet is stretched woefully thin, its very possible that we could slip into Hastlanti territory unnoticed with some good piloting, but chances are that our movement could be semi restricted.

The Grandmothers could be an interesting source of information, but they could also be a dangerous one. They run the most wide-spread intelligence network in the north and it baffles both The Realm and Lookshy. The old ladies certainly know what they're doing, though if we were half honest with them we might be able to trick them. The Grass Spiders do strictly forbid harming people not involved in a hit, as a result they may have no problem letting us operate within their territory. Until they realize of course that for this mission that rule is being waved to at least some extent. I think they should be a secondary source of info only if we need it.

The Gala for visiting traders seems like our best approach at getting some solid info and maybe even having an outside shot at getting what we need. Having two teams for the night of the gala might work. One team to enter the gala socially and find out as much as they can, possibly having one or more members slip out of the public setting to explore while others remain in the public eye.

• My thought would be to have Ash, Fay, and Zealot go to the gala publicly and go as Guild Traders. Zealot would probably be disguised as an aid or assistant of some type to keep attention away from him as well as keep him from being put in an overly public spotlight. Hopefully this would allow Ash and Fay to find out what info they can on a public level while Zealot is mostly left alone and could slip away and try to infiltrate what he can from the inside. This should probably be done with extreme caution as he will be alone for the most part.
• Meanwhile, Opal and Mesa could attempt some sort of infiltration from the outside. Certainly the treasury has more than one entrance, or another one could be made that would lead them down to the vault where it might be stored. Furthermore, I would guess that the catacombs under the treasury run to several other places throughout the city. It may be possible to enter from someplace receiving slightly less attention, like a city hall or something, and then move through the catacombs to the treasury vault.
• It would be ideal if this group could somehow meet with Zealot as he infiltrated from within. Not sure how possible either infiltration attempt will be though. Most likely we'll have to pull out that night and plan to go after the Thousand-Winged Crane another night/time based off what info we collect.

Actually blowing up the treasury and doing a smash and grab might be the most direct route, but I'm thinking that may draw more attention than we want. I know it would be within our mission parameters with the any means necessary clause for this mission. But still, it will likely draw the very angry attention of the entire Hastlanti League, The Infernal Exalt writing it, as well as any Sidereal's operating in the area. Might make the escape more than a little tough, though The Geronimo is likely the faster than the ships in the Hastlani Fleet. I would say this should be left a distant back-up plan at best.

What do you guys think? --FyreFly 17:59, 9 June 2010 (EDT)