========= ========== summary c03s01e03 - Blood Tills and Food Trucks ========== ========= episode 3 day 11 - water rationing begins Day 14 Late shift ------------ Water Rationing has been in effect the last 3 days. Rioting is not unusual when half the water is gone. Everyone is exhausted, tension is high and conflicts between guilds and unions get hot as they argue over resource management, Often letting muscle decide who's got rights over what's there. Some of the clans aren't strong enough to hold their share of water and have to barter with other clans for any excess shares being held ransom. Yet work must continue, otherwise the beast will steadily heal up and they'll have to peel through it's carapace again to get to the meat and blood... otherwise the community will starve, the beast will rise and everyone is ant-food. Food Trucks at the base of The Site circle up and offer the flesh of the beast that's cleansed and flavored in savory sauces, marinated strips, Slow cooked-- The meat is fucking amazing when a professional is preparing the food. <notation> Contracted workers receive meal tokens for a shift of labor. 2 shifts run for 8 hours between high sun and deep night. Structured society rotates work between shifts so the harvesting remains continuously active. work one shift sleep one shift down times (high sun and deep night: 4 hours each) are free time before and after shifts. except for the Kreen.. they only hibernate 4 hours, which they can do any time they please even in unprotected terrain... They figured out very fast that they can be active for 2 shifts every day... which make kreen strong commodities in a barter economy. Redclaw Kobold's clan has nurtured the Kreen since their arrival 12 years ago, and the 64 working kreen now in the community adds to the kobold's 120 workers.. 64 kreen produce 128 shifts of labor, requiring 64 rations 120 kobolds produce 120 shifts of labor, but only require 60 rations together, the two as a unit are capable of producing 248 units of labor for 124 rations, which allows the allies to fund oblique efforts such as cavity searching, which our heroes have been assigned to perform for the past tenday. </notation> Word got around that the team took down the Hammer Brothers from the Cleaver Guild, so some of them decided payback was in order... a few brutes and a komodo handler picked a fight with the team, quickly got confused about their targeting due to some rhetoric runaround from Rasslin Gary, who we're starting to see earned a notorious reputation by simp;y confusing the fuck out of people and then attacking them from nowhere. GiGz beat Gary to the strike on this one, just wailing into the slack jaw trying to logic through Gary's plausible deniability to some hired thugs who were immediately second guessing their decision to take on the 12th 7th and arguably 1st place winners of the Rankin' Rumbler just 2 Tendays prior. It didn't take long for the team to dust these chumps and search them for anything worth while.. they were Bonecleavers alright. they have the union card and everything. Gigs heads off to the under burroughs while Rasslin Gary fends off the starving homeless from stealing his komodo dog. City urchin snatch up the remaining fallen to be consumed in back alleys while the crowd of onlookers begint to disperse. Gary needs a boneworker-- someone that is skilled in carving splinters from the tarrasque teeth and carapace for weapons and chiselling carapace into armor. the komodo dog is about 60 pountds more than what Gary can haul around... so he offers to feed any urchin that's able to get a bonetender to come cleave off the komodo skull to build into a proper hat. Down hill at the Cleaver guild, Gigz throws the cleaver union cards at the local steward saying "no more" and leaves to the bemusement of those in the hall. The Mantis catches sight of another kreen; Gribs Grabby Hands the 4th.. one of the elder sires of the current kreen klutch... sort of an older cousin. Good at getting his hands on things. he chatters some small talk that there's been rumors of the floaters intentionally being blighted for... reasons? The watertender contract had recently been won by a Ginger Jakib, owner of 6Leg Ferments, a local kank rancher that focuses on kank mead-- the fermented juice of unborn eggs. Just as the rationing began, 6leg put out Blood Mead.. a thicker concentrate that staves off the exhaustion caused by dehydration... it costs 3 times a normal mead, and has been selling like crazy the past few days. Gribs doesn't know if this is a serious issue, or just a coincidence... it takes 60 days to ferment Kank Mead; that would be some serious precognition to have nailed the timing for something like this. The train of thought is disrupted From the food trucks-- a kobold in a grease stained apron wiping spice-speckled blood from his wicked sharp claws creeps over, wary of Rasslin Gary threatening a gaggle of hungry urchin. glancing back at other similar garbed saurans huddled together near the food trucks, watching pensively- the kobold introduces itself as Snaggle Sharptooth-- a shwarma chef represeenting his modest clan's interests... a masked goliath has been stealing racks of flesh and coin from a few of the trucks operated by the Sharptooths... far too dangerous to retaliate against, but the extortion has lasted three days now and is starting to cause other bandits to look for weaknesses as well... surely the surprise champions of the Rankin' Rumble could make a difference to the clansmen working The Site? GiGz bounces back on scene, bargaining a 15% discount for redscale for the next month in return to putting a stop to the masked goliath's extortions. Gary ammends a free month of food for himself to boot... and the sharptooth chefs agree. Good timing, because a hooded goliath was in the process of batting the timid clutch of chefs against a shwarma truck with about 40 pounds of succulent, juicy meat practically falling from the spit draped across the massive shoulder. From atop the foodcourt sundial Gribs points a grabby hand towards the brute as it cuts and runs downslope towards the burroughs. GiGz and The Mantis give chase while Gary brain-freezes another Hin urchin looking to carve at his komodo dinner helmet while trying to explain to others that if they can get a boneworker to come out here he'll give that urchin food... they scatter like rats giggling and knocking each other down as they go. Shwarma-stealing goliath are easy to spot from afar.. but he's fast. and has a head start. He's already down by the blood tills when the two are able to get close-- acidic sludgy blood in open vats burble toxically while the thug clomps across planks bridging the vats-- GiGz deftly scampers in pursuit while The Mantis takes a tumble into the corrossive tarrasque juices (I should have dealt acid damage here but I'm a noob) causing the kreen to fall behind, scooping himself out of the amonia-fumed pit. further down intot he burroughs, GiGz takes a corner and finds the goliath wading through a crowd of rioters that redscale shiledlmen have a plice line pushing them back from the clan's storehouse-- the new alliance has maneuvereed into favorable contracts allowing for newfound wealth drawing attention from the community wanting to get their own piece from a potentially ill-prepared clan from being looted during a water riot. scampering over shoulders of humans, him and saurans GiGz keeps pace while The Mantis follows behind. Gigz finally catches up to the giant theif .. just in time to see him slip his foot into a noose, the rope leading down a bored- out throughfare ment for saurans-- giving the rope a jerk he's pulled prone and rips down the chute, flipping GiGz the bird as he goes. Right-sized for the chute, GiGz gives chase again-- opening into a lower plaza excavated for human-sized residents. a sled of komodo dogs scamper off with a limp rope draggging behind away from the fleet-footed monk, the conspicuous sound of granite scraping shut echoing through the airy cavern. When The Mantis finally catches up, GiGz is considering 4 stone slab doors-- sure one of them is where the culprit has hidden. welcome mats at te foot fo three.. the last looking recently scuffed free of the ever-accumulating dust in the warren. Tapping on the door gets a guttural "go'way" and sounds of sobbing... when the two allies pry the door, it gets caught on a latch . The scent of shwarma wafting from within. a few thunderwave rituals later the door is softened up and GiGz has the idea to unseen servant the latch free and the door clunks open... Constance Hammer sits in a dark candled hovel-- borther Igor laying limp in a wheel barrow, back broken, head at an odd angle being fed chewed bits of flesh. Looks like Igor didn't die from the fall afterall... but the golliath can't afford to feed both himself and his brother during his normal shifts, so he turned to crime. The Mantis give igor a loving coup de grace and orders Constance to spend both his down-times policing the food court for the next month to attone for his shenanigans, and escort the union thug back to the sharptooth with a stammering apology. Finally, a Boneworker - a human named Sam - makes his way to Gary, urchin leading him by the hand. The bonetender is happy to make the skull into a stylish helm for Gary and he's off with the thing's head in hand. Gary offers the lizard to the shwarma chefs.. likely enough meat there itself for 30 days of feeding a Hin like himelf. Day 20 High Sun ----------- Sporting a new komodo helm, Rasslin Gary is looking more and more like a sauran himself every week. Turns out the 15% discount for the shwarma GiGz promised on behalf of Redscale has led to sharptooth relocating a truck dedicated to the allied clans home turf. heavier security, dedicated audience-- evne with the 15% discount, the truck was pulling twice its normal daily revenue from the deal. the thanks has all died down after a week, but the meat is still amazing. One of the Redscal shaman's apprentice named Raik approached the heroes as they feasted on earned flesh. No mincing words... the shaman wants the three of them to investigate the rumors that Gribs keeps professing; that ht efloaters had been poisoned for ill-gains. The apprentice says the request is coming straight from the Sire Longtooth of Redscale. If they're able to prove it, they'll have a seat at the big kids' table with Sire Longtooth RedScale and his shamans for the next tribe gathering dinner as well as a favor by Longtooth himself. Sweet deal. they take the case. First stop-- the blood tills. heightened security around the area has everyone tense, but apparently the Redscale Sire had made the fieldtrip known, and the watertender on staff allowed the team to investigate the area. The team admittedly doesn't know much about flater diseases, and are advised to stay clear ofthem anyway while they're filtering toxins from the tarrasque blood anyway. Aside from less purification, the actual amount of blood collected is less than usual... the team team pokes around the blood sluices and finds clever glamored buckets mounted under small tears in the sluice canals, allowing a subtle stream of blood to accumulate in the veiled buckets .. 7 of them in total are found througnout the facility, and so the alles lie in hiding for whoever to come retrieve the barrels once they are full. Soon enough a few ninja Hin come creeping in to tend to the barrel they've staked out... The Mantis and GiGz holding still hidden in the environment while Gary curls up in the barrel itself, spell power at the ready to brainfreeze anyone acting clever. ... and easy enough the blood bandits fold right away, fiding confession easier than fight or flight. The deal is to load up the buckets into a cart, take the cart to where Glumm D'Bard has tethered his mekillot howdahs in town down towards the side market of the main shopping market... the side market is more a red light district where the merchants are more pimp than retailer.. offering pleasure and debauchery over tangible goods. Out of town Bards of this nature are popular. Even though slavery is illegal in a free town such as this; a blind eye is often turned to prostitution and similar pursuits... the Bard caravans are technically GUests, not Citizens. There in lies the hypocrisy. loading up the barrels ontot the waitig cart pulled by komodo dogs, the tethered animals take the heroes straight to Glumm D'Bards staked territory in the side market. a band performs heavy beated instrumentals while on the side stage two locals attempt to win a jackpot prize from the hosting caravan were in the squared circle, getting their asses kicked by a masked sand squid using its 10 appendages to out-rassle the two hoooligans to everyone's amusement. they're cries of terror as The Violator tormented its prey to the delight of the causal audiences. outside bar, serving girls and boys flouncing about as much eye candy as delivering booze-- a big seller is the local Blood Mead provided by 6Leg Fermenting to serve to the thirsty crowds. One server points towards a 3 story howdah-- the top floor is Glumm's VIP lounge where Glumm does most of his business and caters to his high-end clientelle in town. a stair winded up the structure, crodoned off with a single bouncer keeping the way blocked from casual interest. Gary flashes a "PASS" he conjures to baffle the thug into granting access without reservations. He does give each of them an uexp.aioned prick from a pin that he keeps on his person, but GiGz pickpockets the blood records from the bouncer without his knowledge.. The Mantis simply climbs up the backside to meet the two small allies at the top of the Howdah where red light poors from beaded archwas, a slower, slutry basso tune rolls slowly through the air as the team takes in the sights of pole ancers, both human and hin- perform on bar top and platforms throghout the room. Spacious 40 foot area with a bar, tables, dancing stages and VIP sectinn roped off and guarded by a thick human with baggy pants an dlong curved obsidian sword tucked in silk like folds aorund his aple midsection. the bouncer repels efforts to simply walk past him to confront Glumm immediately-- The Mantis hangs out aloof to the size.. the lone mantis in a room scented of mammal sex has little distractions from the sights.. focusing on the conversation betwee n Glumm and guests... There's 4 of them. - Glumm D'Bard, a dark complected dreadlock human from out of town with a contracted entertainer's certification - Lenard D'Bard, a pastey shadow-skulker of a human more frail than dangerous looking. - Tanis the broody half-elf merchant shaved bald with a dozen earloops per side - Lazerfoot the Hin.. seemingly just a friend to the trio in general. They are talking about slave trading, the commodities of sex, and future plans. Tanis gloats that he's got the inside track to Draam worked out and when he's ready he'll give them a cut of the action Lenard and lazerfoot both scoff at the boast, wagering 40 head each that he doesn't come thruough in the next 30 days. Tanis takes the bets but Glum stands aloof from the shenanigans, eyeing the hin on the bartop pole when Gigs slides in and cold-cocks the leering bard, knocking the scum out. his merchant friends all laugh their asses off when the mantis follows up and dufflebags laserfoot and the other two man-sized slavers. Failing to Toss the sacked merchants over their shoulders, they clumsily drag the merchant slavers out before anyone really snaps out of the reverie and raise alarm. Brushing back the stairs guard the team find the komodo dog cart void of veiled cannisters but plenty of space for them all to load up and GTFO. That's right when an alarm sounds, and all hell starts breaking loose. <end of session 3> Day 20 Late Shift towards Deep Night Now Level 3 Loot Acquired ============= clan discount for sharptooth shwarma free sharptooth shwarma for a month for Rasslin' Gary 4 slavers in a bag.