How do we start? I think I have a situation handy. Forken Tallan is another of my former characters, a classic chaotic neutral murderhobo I played in Greyhawk. He's a stereotypical Doomguard warrior, a violent fanatic, notoriously breaking the law. Sinkers, as Doomguards are informally called, worship entropy, and Forken serves it in the most obvious, direct way.
Sigil has another faction that will come important here: Mercykillers. Their whole deal is punishing the guilty, and because of that, they run the prison system in the Cage. They are forbidden from arresting those suspected of crimes (that's Harmonium's job), but after they are sentenced, they're fair game. The adventure writes itself: a Mercykiller Justiciar comes to Gorrister, trying to hire him to find his fellow faction member.
Scene 1
The first Hive of Tithing a Justiciar came to my office. He didn't look like one despite his bladed armor and the faction symbol (a red dragon with its wings outspread). He was large, even fat, and bumped into the doorframe when he entered the room.
First things first: Does Markos mind dealing with a knight of the post (Likely)? Yes, he's a little upset. Apparently, people who catch criminals for a living don't like doing business with shady people; who could have known?
Let's figure out what kind of man he is for the Mythic GME Behavior Roll. His Identity is obviously a Justiciar. His Personality is clumsy and jovial, as I decided. His Activity is business-like. Theme, of course, is giving Gorrister the job.
I roll 2d10 for the starting Disposition. Because he doesn't like to deal with criminals, his Identity gives us +2 to the roll. Fortunately, his Personality nullifies it with a -2 modifier. Rolling gives us 3, which means a Passive disposition. When we roll for his Action, he will take the softest approach.
But what action does he take? A roll of 1d10 suggests he'll just continue his last one. As he didn't manage to do anything yet, this means a Theme Action. He'll just give us a job. Nothing weird is going on here.
"Lady's Grace to you, good sir." His booming voice was a little too loud for my small office. "I have an offer for you if you don't mind working with the Mercykillers."
"I don't mind, provided you pay enough." I smiled, rubbing my goatee. "And it's nothing illegal, of course."
He furrowed his brow a little.
I rolled for another action, given that Gorrister may have hit a sore point here. NPC continues, but with a +2 modifier, so Disposition is now at 5. This still means Passive.
"Don't worry, friend, this job will make you rich, or my name isn't Markos," he continued with the same friendly tone, which seemed slippery to me. I know everything about faking, and this Mercykiller was pretty good at it. It was unnerving.
"Tell me," he continued. "Do you know anything about Three Shivs?"
Does Gorrister know Three Shivs? No.
"Never heard of them, no." This didn't seem like a situation where I should pretend to know of them to impress the customer.
"Well, understandable. They're a bunch of knights of cross-trade. Blades for hire, responsible for countless hits and even some murders." Markos looked at the chair next to my desk. "Mind if I sit?"
"Not at all," I said. "They sound like a nasty group of bloods, but what does that have to do with me?"
He plopped on the chair, which fortunately had been made of wrought iron.
"I was just getting to it. See, two of those three were recently arrested by Harmonium. Their hanging is already scheduled, but the factol thinks they would be sad without their companion. Sadly, he's in hiding."
"You want me to catch a hardened killer?" I raised my brows.
"Of course not! Only to find him and let me know where he is. Surely this isn't a problem for a man of your talents?"
Of course, it wasn't, but I didn't want to look too eager before negotiating the price.
"You are aware he's likely no longer in the Cage? Only a complete barmy would stay, being hunted by both Hardheads and the Red Death."
"He is barmy. I bet he's still there" Markos seemed confident.
"But if he isn't?" I pushed. "Am I still getting paid?"
Good question. Will the Mercykillers pay if Tallan escaped, but less (Unlikely)? Yes. They must really want him. Of course, they need to pay enough, considering they want Gorrister to hunt his fellow Sinker.
"The factol authorized me to pay you a hundred jinxes if you ascertain the murderer is no longer in Sigil. If he gets captured, however, it's an additional two hundred."
Does Gorrister realize something's fishy (Intuition: Exceptional vs. Markos' Social Skills: High)? Yes.
"That's... a very generous offer," I said slowly.
"Isn't it?" Markos smiled a toothy grin.
"A little too generous, in fact. Either factol Nilesia has suddenly gone soft, or there's something you didn't tell me about this offer to make sure I'll take it. Please, spare us both time and tell me what it is."
Time for another Behavior roll! The Theme is now "Interrogated about the hidden aspects of the job." Clumsy and jovial doesn't apply anymore, so his Disposition is modified by +2. As an action, he "gives something," which in this case probably means the information we want. But his Disposition jumps by +4 to 9. It's no longer Passive but Moderate.
"Very well." He straightened up and suddenly looked larger, more imposing. "He's a Doomguard, but not an ordinary one. We have every reason to believe he's shielded by factol Pentar or someone in her circle."
"You want me to turn the stag on my own factol? Are you barmy?" I snapped. To say Pentar was intense was to say nothing. I really didn't want to make her angry.
How does he react to refusal? Theme is now "Refused the job, still trying." This means the business-like Activity comes to the fore, giving us further +2 to Disposition. It's still Moderate, but we can fully expect Markos to become more and more threatening. We roll for action, and...
...he "acts out of PC's interest." What? The Meaning Table suggests "Travel Mundane."
"She doesn't need to know and most likely won't. Remember, you only need to find him. I'll be the one to scrag him." The Mercykiller took off his helmet to scratch his balding head.
"No plan is foolproof," I retorted.
"If it comes to the worst, I have contacts who will let you use a portal to Rigus, no question asked. It's not the most pleasant place in the Multiverse, but it's one where Sinkers won't like to come."
I was impressed.
Why is he so generous despite not liking us? Does Markos need this arrest? Exceptional Yes, so his life is on the line. Did he piss off Alisohn Nilesia, his factol (Very Likely)? Yes.
"You need it that much?" I asked.
"I'm in the dead-book if I can't catch him."
"Mercykiller politics?" I already knew the answer. Alisohn Nilesia liked to do occasional purges to keep her underlings loyal.
"Something like that. Do you take the job?"
His desperation convinced me. I could find my mark and then decide how much I really wanted to get paid. He wouldn't be in a position to refuse, after all.
"All right." I decided. "Tell me who it is, and I'll see what can I do."
"His name is Forken Tallan. He's easy to recognize: his skin went gray after spending too much time on Oinos. He fights with two short swords, and he's very keen to use them."
"Is he a planar?"
"A prime, but I don't know how much this is going to help you."
"I don't know too, but every bit of chant helps," I said, shuffling the papers on my desk, hoping to find something useful. "Anything else you could tell me about him?"
Does Markos know anything else? Yes (Hastily Healthy).
The Justiciar thought for a moment.
"He got into a fight with Harmonium officers and got his left leg wounded. I doubt it's completely healed. Magical healing doesn't go well with Sinkers, as I heard."
"If he's one of Pentar's bloods, he'd have refused it anyway. Good chant, I can work with it."
As I talked, I was already thinking about how would I approach this. If Tallan is protected by factol Pentar, the Armory was a good start. Risky, but beats checking every kip in the Hive Ward.
"All right, sir. I think I already know what to do." I smiled.
That ends the scene. Now, the only thing that's left is maintenance.
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