Hidden in the Fine Print?

[Happerry]

[X] You've never seen a spook yourself, but when in the Land of Shrines, doing as the Shrine Maiden says is probably a smart idea. If nothing else, Axe buys into it enough that making good with the Shrine Maiden is probably a good idea. To that end, while you're a mercenary crew that deals in death, this is still a shrine. You've never been that faithful either, but ensuring you don't apparently fuck this up the shrine even worse than you already did is important enough to warrant mobilization of a construction crew. Given the relatively poor economy this place has in general, that's not a light move to make. It'll bite into your wallet, but maybe you should ask about getting a priest on staff or something. Nara might think it's a bit stupid, but getting on with the locals by at least trying to cooperate with their weird-ass personal beliefs is smarter than just spitting on 'em. On top of, you know, getting some answers in general.

Also! Yay! It updated!

 

[CrossyCross]

[X] You've never seen a spook yourself, but when in the Land of Shrines, doing as the Shrine Maiden says is probably a smart idea. If nothing else, Axe buys into it enough that making good with the Shrine Maiden is probably a good idea. To that end, while you're a mercenary crew that deals in death, this is still a shrine. You've never been that faithful either, but ensuring you don't apparently fuck this up the shrine even worse than you already did is important enough to warrant mobilization of a construction crew. Given the relatively poor economy this place has in general, that's not a light move to make. It'll bite into your wallet, but maybe you should ask about getting a priest on staff or something. Nara might think it's a bit stupid, but getting on with the locals by at least trying to cooperate with their weird-ass personal beliefs is smarter than just spitting on 'em. On top of, you know, getting some answers in general.

 

[Biigoh]

[X] You've never seen a spook yourself, but when in the Land of Shrines, doing as the Shrine Maiden says is probably a smart idea. If nothing else, Axe buys into it enough that making good with the Shrine Maiden is probably a good idea. To that end, while you're a mercenary crew that deals in death, this is still a shrine. You've never been that faithful either, but ensuring you don't apparently fuck this up the shrine even worse than you already did is important enough to warrant mobilization of a construction crew. Given the relatively poor economy this place has in general, that's not a light move to make. It'll bite into your wallet, but maybe you should ask about getting a priest on staff or something. Nara might think it's a bit stupid, but getting on with the locals by at least trying to cooperate with their weird-ass personal beliefs is smarter than just spitting on 'em. On top of, you know, getting some answers in general.

 

[NavigatorNobilis]

[X] You've never seen a spook yourself, but when in the Land of Shrines, doing as the Shrine Maiden says is probably a smart idea. If nothing else, Axe buys into it enough that making good with the Shrine Maiden is probably a good idea. To that end, while you're a mercenary crew that deals in death, this is still a shrine. You've never been that faithful either, but ensuring you don't apparently fuck this up the shrine even worse than you already did is important enough to warrant mobilization of a construction crew. Given the relatively poor economy this place has in general, that's not a light move to make. It'll bite into your wallet, but maybe you should ask about getting a priest on staff or something. Nara might think it's a bit stupid, but getting on with the locals by at least trying to cooperate with their weird-ass personal beliefs is smarter than just spitting on 'em. On top of, you know, getting some answers in general.

 

[Vanathor]

[X] You've never seen a spook yourself, but when in the Land of Shrines, doing as the Shrine Maiden says is probably a smart idea. If nothing else, Axe buys into it enough that making good with the Shrine Maiden is probably a good idea. To that end, while you're a mercenary crew that deals in death, this is still a shrine. You've never been that faithful either, but ensuring you don't apparently fuck this up the shrine even worse than you already did is important enough to warrant mobilization of a construction crew. Given the relatively poor economy this place has in general, that's not a light move to make. It'll bite into your wallet, but maybe you should ask about getting a priest on staff or something. Nara might think it's a bit stupid, but getting on with the locals by at least trying to cooperate with their weird-ass personal beliefs is smarter than just spitting on 'em. On top of, you know, getting some answers in general.

 

[Lement]

*looks at votes before last update*

It seems that we have the ball (of conversation). Lets throw it!

Also, I notice they just made haste and poured effort in preventing vengeful spirits at our location while our accommodations for them sucked.
Conceding can be bad, but we may owe them.

[X] Be respectful to local envoys. Thank them for visiting.
[X] You are not a monk yourself, but there is business at hand. Towards that end....
-[X] "We are willing to be reasonable. Thankfully so far we have not encountered any problems either. We hope the future shall be even brighter for both of us."
[X] Accept their knowledge of the local situation as superior. However, while you may owe them for their help, try to avoid anything one-sided for either Village Hidden in Shrines or the visiting clergy.

It pays to make good connections for our permanent base.
Said specific sentence implies mutual cooperation with self-preservation undertones.

 

[The Nobody]

Okay, this is better worded than what I scribbled together.

[X] Be respectful to local envoys. Thank them for visiting.
[X] You are not a monk yourself, but there is business at hand. Towards that end....
-[X] "We are willing to be reasonable. Thankfully so far we have not encountered any problems either. We hope the future shall be even brighter for both of us."
[X] Accept their knowledge of the local situation as superior. However, while you may owe them for their help, try to avoid anything one-sided for either Village Hidden in Shrines or the visiting clergy.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

You've never seen a spook yourself, but to be fair, if you had then it would likely be the last thing that you would ever see.

While Nara is unconvinced, Axe counterbalances him along with literally almost every other ninja here, so you think you're going to be leaving the priestess to do whatever she wants.

What she wants, apparently, is to just remove things. Not valuable things. Religious things. Icons and shrine decorations. It leaves the place even more barren than before, somehow.

"This land remains sacred ground. But not sacred to any specific deity." she claims, as the torii gates out front are refurbished. "The shrine grounds sleep and wait, until a new speaker claims them in the name of a new god."

"And that would happen by...?" you say, leadingly.

She smiles, and takes your question entirely differently than you had intended.

"I do not think it likely to happen." she says. "We will be leaving this offertory chest. It is raw and unsanctified. For appearances alone. After all, I think it to be unlikely that you would be over fond of pilgrims making their way to this secret retreat to seek blessings and benedictions."

"But if, for the sake of argument, I was interested in a... new speaker for the gods, as you said?" you ask.

The head priestess looks extremely nonplussed and caught off guard for a moment.

"... The greatest difficulty in that would arise in that it could not be for the sake of a god which objected to blood for coin." she eventually says. "Not so limited a selection as one might think, even leaving aside such aberrations as the Jashin cult. There then would be the problem of the priests and shrine tenders involved having their own opinions on the matter. Nevertheless... this is not a matter to be considered lightly, and at this time I am only come to ensure that sacred ground is not tainted or corrupted."

Then it's something that will have to wait for you to go out and do official meet-and-greets with other shrines, you suppose.

In any case, it isn't terribly long before the procession finishes their work and leaves as ceremoniously as they first came. Nara's had them watched the whole time, but reports that nothing unusual occurred.

The whole visit really was what it had seemed to be on the face of things, huh?

It's a couple of days after that, as the construction of the Mess Hall winds down, that Nara steps into your cluttered and dusty office.

"Small problem starting to show up, 'Boss'." he says, scratching his beard. "Those containers... the seals on them weren't designed to last indefinitely, so they're starting to degrade. Either they had something else planned for the end destination, or someone would have been able to touch up those seals."

"Well, what's the problem?" you ask.

"We don't have anyone that can do that. Sealing's kind of an esoteric art, once you get beyond storage and explosive tags." Nara says.

"No, not that. I mean... what happens if they fail?" you ask.

"Well, the barrels stop working, but that's about it." Nara says.

That doesn't sound so bad...

"Not a huge problem on the face of it. But unless you've got a plan to deal with eight brats all waking up at once...?" Nara continues.

... That gives you a little more pause. At the very least, that's eight more hungry mouths to feed. The Mess Hall should double how long your stores of food that haven't already been eaten will last, but increasing the number of people eating will cut that down again proportionately... maybe more than that, depending on growth spurts and if there are any big eaters in the lot.

"At this point, I'd suggest instructing myself and Axe to pick an apprentice. At the same time, so that she doesn't get up in arms or cocky about preference given. But that just opens two of the boxes up, and doesn't do anything about the remaining half dozen. As the leader, you're going to have to make a decision about that."

You groan quietly.

"As well as standard activities, of course." Nara says. "Though I think that you've started getting a handle on that."

"Yes, thank you..." you sigh, as the poison-petals girl flops agains you from behind.

"Cuddle meeeee..." she whines, as you try to pry her off without accidentally touching her drool. It doesn't always do things on skin-contact, but the time it did was... an experience.

---

[One turn of food used, 10 remaining]
[Mess Hall completed, food storage and preparation centralized. Turns of food doubled to 20. Morale increased one stage, to 'Average'. Mess Hall may be improved or better staffed.]

Suggest a long-term plan for the kids in barrels?

[ ] ??

Personal Actions: 1

[ ] Design: Basic medical building plans.
[ ] Meet: with nearby temple representatives. (Also select personal guard for travel.)
[ ] Invite: nearby temple representatives to meet with you. (See above, but they come here, more details may be wise.)
[ ] Awaken: Seal-slumbering captives. (Choose to extract 1-8 from containers).
[ ] Mingle: with who? (Write-in)
[ ] ??

Ninja Mission Assignments: 1

[ ] Construct: simple Barracks. (Cost 15K Ryo, build communal shelter. Morale -, Discipline and Camaraderie +) Insufficient Funds
[ ] Raid something?
[ ] ??

 

[Winged One]

It awakens at last...

So, I'm thinking either ransom the kiddies or do that apprenticeship thing. Ransom will require a lot of legwork to find out who's even buying, of course.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

It awakens at last...

So, I'm thinking either ransom the kiddies or do that apprenticeship thing. Ransom will require a lot of legwork to find out who's even buying, of course.

Click to shrink...

OOC? Orochimaru.

Also OOC? He Mad.

 

[HypoSoc]

Oh! This is back!

I should ask the question I was meaning to ask back then:

Has Orochimaru had a proper freak out about the existence of demons yet? Since he too is from Leaf and has left the Land of Fire. Has he encountered these things that actively refuse to be properly scienced? And that would be frustratingly relevant for immortality.

Or is he old enough that he had a close enough source to pre-village shinobi that he knows about Demons unlike the Nara?

I just have this image in my head of the evil mad scientist ninja reacting to out of context problems.

 

[CrossyCross]

OOC? Orochimaru.

Also OOC? He Mad.

Click to shrink...

Oh fucking god.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

Orochimaru: "Demons? Oh, you mean the kind we make Jinchuuriki out of? ... Nooo, the body on my dissection slab is from an exotic bloodline. Yes, I'm sure. Well, I think that I know what I'm talking about more than- hold on, the sedatives are wearing off and I need to put the specimen under again."

 

[Ct613hulu]

I am not sure what I like more about this quote. The fact that Orochimaru has been kidnapping and experimenting on Demons or the fact that he doesn't actually know that they are more than merely possessors of an unusual bloodline.

 

[Winged One]

Also OOC? He Mad.

Click to shrink...

So unfair of him to blame us for the dice fucking him over.

 

[Frakir's brother]

I'm thinking do the apprenticeship thing, send two chunin rumor gathering to get a hold on what's going on in the world. Send the B rank and some chunin 'gathering' wood in The Land Of Bears. Since our part in those would last maybe An hour or two, set poison petals on chakra control exercises in our office so we can glance up every now and then to get her back on task.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

I'm thinking do the apprenticeship thing, send two chunin rumor gathering to get a hold on what's going on in the world. Send the B rank and some chunin 'gathering' wood in The Land Of Bears. Since our part in those would last maybe An hour or two, set poison petals on chakra control exercises in our office so we can glance up every now and then to get her back on task.

Click to shrink...

You'd have to ask what a chakra control exercise is, first. Since the MC isn't a ninja, but a shanghai'd tax-collector that got put in the position of 'leader' since the missing ninja couldn't sit back and let some other ninja take the reins, but also didn't want to do the administrative work.

Also, I'm just now realizing this is in SFW. I guess it's fine, that can change if things go in lewd directions.

 

[Frakir's brother]

You'd have to ask what a chakra control exercise is, first. Since the MC isn't a ninja, but a shanghai'd tax-collector that got put in the position of 'leader' since the missing ninja couldn't sit back and let some other ninja take the reins, but also didn't want to do the administrative work.

Also, I'm just now realizing this is in SFW. I guess it's fine, that can change if things go in lewd directions.

Click to shrink...

So ask Nara for advice on making Poison Petals useful. The first step of curing an addiction is being able to stop. The next is wanting to.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

IIRC, it was Nara's opinion that getting her 'not high on her own internal juices all the time' would take either an older Poison Petals bloodline carrier that knows what they're doing or constant medic-nin supervision.

Though I guess that just stops him, and all the other ninja, from wanting to put personal effort into her.

 

[Frakir's brother]

IIRC, it was Nara's opinion that getting her 'not high on her own internal juices all the time' would take either an older Poison Petals bloodline carrier that knows what they're doing or constant medic-nin supervision.

Though I guess that just stops him, and all the other ninja, from wanting to put personal effort into her.

Click to shrink...

I was thinking more, 'Still high, but you can actually use her for something useful.' Marijuana instead of shrooms. Also, I'm asking for five minutes of a jounin's time theorizing.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

I was thinking more, 'Still high, but you can actually use her for something useful.' Marijuana instead of shrooms. Also, I'm asking for five minutes of a jounin's time theorizing.

Click to shrink...

Kind of depends on the whims of her bloodline, on that front. Sticking leaves to her face or standing in the shower and not getting wet aren't necessarily going to help with that.

Even so, you're nominally in charge, so you can just tell Nara and Axe and the others to do things and they will. Until they get sick of taking orders from a guy they could kill with their pinkie finger in their sleep, anyway. You want to ask about how you'd teach someone ninja things, get chakra control exercises and stuff, Nara'll privately laugh and tell you some options. Not like he's going to be the one who has to supervise this.

 

[Frakir's brother]

Kind of depends on the whims of her bloodline, on that front. Sticking leaves to her face or standing in the shower and not getting wet aren't necessarily going to help with that.

Even so, you're nominally in charge, so you can just tell Nara and Axe and the others to do things and they will. Until they get sick of taking orders from a guy they could kill with their pinkie finger in their sleep, anyway. You want to ask about how you'd teach someone ninja things, get chakra control exercises and stuff, Nara'll privately laugh and tell you some options. Not like he's going to be the one who has to supervise this.

Click to shrink...

Less sticking stuff to her directly, and more 'Control is the foundation of anything worthwhile.' A low-effort long-term plan that pays off eventually. If chakra control proves to help with controlling her bloodline? Great. If not? It isn't like it could hinder her.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

So vote for it?

Poison Petals girl is basically your aide, hangs around nearby you, and does help out when she's not doodling dicks on the margins of her papers or across the walls or curling up on your desk like a cat to nap right in the middle of the way of everything you might want to do that isn't petting her.

If you want to spend some time setting up some kind of plan to have her doing things until it becomes habit to the point that she doesn't forget unless she's really out of it and thinks she's a tree or something, there's write-in options. I'm just pointing out that you'll have to include some things in the write-in because the MC is not a ninja and doesn't actually have the option to teach ninja training techniques out of their experience.

 

[Bobs Beard]

So vote for it?

Poison Petals girl is basically your aide, hangs around nearby you, and does help out when she's not doodling dicks on the margins of her papers or across the walls or curling up on your desk like a cat to nap right in the middle of the way of everything you might want to do that isn't petting her.

If you want to spend some time setting up some kind of plan to have her doing things until it becomes habit to the point that she doesn't forget unless she's really out of it and thinks she's a tree or something, there's write-in options. I'm just pointing out that you'll have to include some things in the write-in because the MC is not a ninja and doesn't actually have the option to teach ninja training techniques out of their experience.

Click to shrink...

Yeah all right, long term investment write-ins then - any problems with this, Chibi-Reaper? I mean, stuff the PC, in character, would think might be a problem? Goal's to just set to it, basically, rather than put anything off.


[X]-Kid Plan: Tear off the band-aid seal. Better to wake them up under circumstances you can set up and somewhat control rather than have it happen whenever the seals fail.
-[X] All ninja present for general safety/just in case style precautions, and so the kids get to know all the faces of note from the get-go.
--[X] Try to orient their awakening around 'this is your home now, may not have chosen it, not all of us did, but we all gotta work to make our home better since, y'know, it's our home and that's in everyone's interest' and 'whatever your old notion of home may be, look at all these reasons it's not so simple as running back to wherever that is, in case that's something you're considering' notions, since those are pretty simple and easy to relate to, for kids or oddballs or whatever. You can worry about tailoring more specific motivational speeches after you actually get to know the kids as something more than 'experiments sealed in barrels'.

[X]-Invest: Pop the experimental kids' seals now rather than wait for failure, and try to turn them - along with your Bloodliner assistant - into the settlement's next bumper crop of ninja. It'll be time and resource demanding, but you'll never have better forces to throw at problems if you don't get started somewhere.
-[X] You've got multiple Jounin in the village, on top of some Chuunin - surely between the lot of them they can rustle up some sort of basic 'here is how to chakra not-terribly and generally not kill yourself in the process of training into not-terribleness' instructional material.
--[X] No need for anyone to make the commitment of picking a disciple/student in an official sense until they have a better sense of the kids and their quirks/talents. So long as the village's ninja are willing to chime in when they see someone doing something wrong/dangerous, you can be the main adult dumping time into trying to keep the group on task since you feel like your assistant will need your oversight anyway.

[X]-Acquisitions: Set the Jounin and Chuunin to quitely stockpiling whatever supplies they think will be needed for the kids, as you hammer out the initial kinks in playing part time teacher to ninja kids on top of running the start-up village.
-[X] Maybe they can keep an eye out for strong teas to help you stay awake? You foresee a lack of sleep in your future, and would appreciate some help with that.


The hope is that the ninja will be appreciative that the PC is taking the brunt of the 'dealing with wierdo kid bullshit' work onto himself, and so be more willing to do the bits he's asked of them... aaaaand will help him be seen as a nurturing parental/teacher adult to the kids. Seems it'd be valuable for a regular human trying to direct murder machines, to seek out ways to engender actual loyalty/devotion, and teaching is one of the classic paths to that.

 

[Winged One]

[X] Go with the apprenticeship idea. Phase them in a few at a time so they don't disrupt things too much.
[X] Awaken: Seal-slumbering captives. (Choose to extract 1-8 from containers).\
-[X] 2
[X] Raid something?
-[X] Steal money somewhere that doesn't border Shrines or Rice.

 

[Frakir's brother]

[X] Go with the apprenticeship idea. Phase them in a few at a time so they don't disrupt things too much.
[X] Awaken: Seal-slumbering captives. (Choose to extract 1-8 from containers).\
-[X] 2
[X] Raid something?
-[X] Steal wood from Bear
[X] Send two chunin info-gathering, we need to keep a finger on the world's pulse.
[X] Get tips on making Poison Petals more useful from Kekkon.

 

[CrossyCross]

Poison Petals girl is basically your aide, hangs around nearby you, and does help out when she's not doodling dicks on the margins of her papers or across the walls or curling up on your desk like a cat to nap right in the middle of the way of everything you might want to do that isn't petting her.

Click to shrink...

...okay, that's funny. Does she have actual cat genes in her or something?

 

[Happerry]

[X] Go with the apprenticeship idea. Phase them in a few at a time so they don't disrupt things too much.
[X] Awaken: Seal-slumbering captives. (Choose to extract 1-8 from containers).\
-[X] 2
[X] Raid something?
-[X] Steal wood from Bear
[X] Send two chunin info-gathering, we need to keep a finger on the world's pulse.
[X] Get tips on making Poison Petals more useful from Kekkon.

 

[Chibi-Reaper]

...okay, that's funny. Does she have actual cat genes in her or something?

Click to shrink...

She is just very drunk and/or high a majority of the time, and does whatever crosses her mind. She might be hallucinating when things cross her mind, but her bloodline is such that 'bad trips' don't happen.

She's also extremely affectionate if you're even slightly anything more than cold to her all the time. She's not exactly shunned, but in this case the ninja try to avoid her as both literal poison that might sneeze on them and get them killed later and as an example of how ninja bloodlines can actually fuck you up and over in the long run. The other non-ninja, the noble cleaning lady that probably isn't ever going to get you a ransom unless, like, the entire rest of the royal family of that area dies somehow... she keeps her distance from the weird, loopy and delirious girl-child to, because she's unsettled by weird ninja things, and on the scale of weird ninja things she's seen, that bloodline's effect on the girl is pretty up there.

Not part of what you asked, but she's a sort of sickly-cute. Bags under her eyes because sometimes what her body produces is stimulants that don't let her sleep so easily and others the self-drugged sleep she has isn't so restful as natural slumber. Skinny, because with the whims of her bloodline she doesn't really have much of an appetite when she isn't suddenly triggered with a powerful case of The Munchies. Slightly 'off' color to her skin. Eyes are often funny, glazed over or red or with spastic pupils. Often drooling a little, which makes her tendencies to be extremely affectionate if you're even a little nice to her... problematic, since you don't really have any drug resistance. But if she accidentally hits you with deadly poison, Kekkon will fix you right up before you die of it.

Probably. Kekkon does like corpses, and you can be replaced.

In any case, I think of her as... kind of like a Gloom gijinka?

 

[CrossyCross]

She is just very drunk and/or high a majority of the time, and does whatever crosses her mind. She might be hallucinating when things cross her mind, but her bloodline is such that 'bad trips' don't happen.

She's also extremely affectionate if you're even slightly anything more than cold to her all the time. She's not exactly shunned, but in this case the ninja try to avoid her as both literal poison that might sneeze on them and get them killed later and as an example of how ninja bloodlines can actually fuck you up and over in the long run. The other non-ninja, the noble cleaning lady that probably isn't ever going to get you a ransom unless, like, the entire rest of the royal family of that area dies somehow... she keeps her distance from the weird, loopy and delirious girl-child to, because she's unsettled by weird ninja things, and on the scale of weird ninja things she's seen, that bloodline's effect on the girl is pretty up there.

Not part of what you asked, but she's a sort of sickly-cute. Bags under her eyes because sometimes what her body produces is stimulants that don't let her sleep so easily and others the self-drugged sleep she has isn't so restful as natural slumber. Skinny, because with the whims of her bloodline she doesn't really have much of an appetite when she isn't suddenly triggered with a powerful case of The Munchies. Eyes are often funny, glazed over or red or with spastic pupils. Often drooling a little, which makes her tendencies to be extremely affectionate if you're even a little nice to her... problematic, since you don't really have any drug resistance. But if she accidentally hits you with deadly poison, Kekkon will fix you right up before you die of it.

Probably. Kekkon does like corpses, and you can be replaced.

In any case, I think of her as... kind of like a Gloom gijinka?

Click to shrink...

Sounds cute. We need to develop poison resistance so we can cuddle with her and then bone her.

*PRIORITIES*