Back at the brothel:
Everybody has thoughts need voicing. Dearsome Kore is passably angered, telling Zafra she “probably would’ve died if we hadn’t shown up in time,” with which I can’t entirely agree, seeing the almost mindless carnage Zafra was wreaking on her lonesome. So too is Diana angered, admonishing Zafra by recalling how difficult it was to let her come into the Guild’s fold, with an Iron Cartel bounty on her head.
Windress gets the rebound and insists said bounty, which for years now had been suspended, will henceforth most likely be fully enacted anew; “We’ll have to watch our backs,” she adds. As for Hatsuo, Thassia, and cie, they seem of a mind to work—if reluctantly so—with Gregarion, since our goals partially align, at least insofar as concerns this Gray man.
Before we leave the brothel, and considering the most recent events, I have a quick question for Zafra:
…
Back to Greg’s place, then, while I mend my heart.
I thought this was a Blood Pit… but evidently this is an owlery, because what a hoot you are Greg! (god… I hope I’ll eventually get to slap the stupid off his face)
But serious business promptly comes back on the table. And we girls better buy a lot of toilet paper: we’re now on the Iron Cartel’s shit list. Unfortunately, not even Greg can erase our names from said list; fortunately he more or less “got us a pass,” as he claims, which works as long as we stay on his good side. Ugh.
At length the subject most interests me is mentionned: MoonFall’s coming invasion by imperial forces from the mainland.
Huzzah! So there might be a way to prevent the invasion after all, and so too prevent the likely ruinous release of the Prisoner—capital ‘p’—kept chained deep within the Abyss? ‘s worth a try, methinks.
But tell me Greg, this Seafoam Throne, how does it work?
Ooooh, ancient spell. I like the sound of that. What’s more, the chair apparently requires be sat upon it one in whose veins runs the blue blood of the Pirate Kings; but in their time, the latters had so profusely spread their seed over MoonFall’s soil that any native of the island—Gregarion included—is of their haveage. Thus, finding an heir won’t be a problem.
At this point, the game proffers me the option to tell Greg the Seafoam Throne is tied to the Abyss.
“Clearly you have some knowledge about this I’m lacking.” Well, no, that’s the thing. My character is obviously keener than I am, since I, the player, don’t know how the Seafoam Throne is supposedly tied to the Abyss. Did I skip some dialogue, or a quest, or… what am I missing here? Damn, I feel so dumb right now. Is it simply extrapolated from the mention of an ancient spell cast on the island? If so, that seems a rather tenuous link.
But moving on. Multiple pieces were missing from the Seafoam Throne, most of which Greg the wannabe Pirate King and his merry seamen managed to find on their own. Still missing is a sapphire, in whose corundum is engraved “some mumbo-jumbo” as Greg calls it, i.e. some manner of gramarye required for the spell to work properly. Chancely, this sapphire is kept in our Guild’s vault situated under the headquarters; and who better to fetch it than me and mine?
Ok then, to the Guild’s headquarters we go. There, the guy at the information counter is of no help, but I’m more than happy to see this gal:
For the laglasts or simply forgetful of you guys, Dala is one of the prostitutes left to fend for themselves by Tommasi, Gregarion’s troublesome nephew. Last I talked to her, I had given her contact information with the Guild… and there she is now, of health and disposition respectively good and sunny!
She is equally gladdened to see me; and I indulge in some innocent flirting, incorrigible tease I am. But when the flirting ceases to be mere such and opens wide the way to other, more frank opportunities, I firmly decline, not wanting to garner undue attention.
Instead, since she works here now and knows the place better than I do, I mention—in passing, all nonchalant-like—the vault.
Security, she tells me, is apparently mostly handled by one armed guard.
One guard, and not much else. Curiously ominous, yet at once possible portent of an easy heist. As to accessing the vault proper, Dala tells me—like I had suspected—it is off-limits to anyone but members of the Courtesal Council. Suddenly struck by a flash of genius, I ask her an almost rethorical question: is Lady Bathsheva seated on this council? An instant later I call the good Lady, who tells me I’m unlikely to find anything interesting in the vault, only historical baubles.
Still, ultimately she says the following:
Vaultward, girls! In the corridor leading to it, the lone guard does not hail or intercept me in any way, so I ignore him entirely and try the elevator:
Why? I guess because he would escort me down into the vault, and there scrutinise my every movement?
Fine. I talk to the man:
Are you really the only guard?
Oh ok. Right, I get it. If I have to fight him, he’s going to be a steel-thewed and -hearted monster of a man with health points in the hundreds at the least, capable of one-shotting any in my team. Guaranteed.
At this point, the game allows me to attack him outright, which I would rather avoid if possible. Or I can call Dala for some help, probably in distracting him; but I would rather avoid that also and not risk anything befalling the girl. The last option is to simply be truthful, telling him I need access to the vaults, after which he asks if I am authorised to enter them.
For the second time I show my temporary authorisation key to the elevator… and for the second time:
Am I super extra dumb today, denser even than a neutron star, or does this chain of events not make much sense? The guard lets me pass, and I have the authorisation to enter the vault; but the game bull-headedly insists I must distract the man before attempting to steal the sapphire.
I honestly do not understand what is happening. Is the implication indeed that he will follow us down in the vault? But his presence there wouldn’t change much; as he himself says, my temporary authorisation will shut all the security measures down, save for the cameras. So our every movement will still be recorded, regardless of his presence or absence.
I guess once down there, we’ll have to disable the cameras somehow? So if the cameras are disabled, but the guard is watching us, that might complicate things. Then again, between the five of us girls it probably wouldn’t be difficult to distract him during the half-second required to pilfer a sapphire.
As to smuggling said sapphire out, a woman has her own intimate ways. So unless it is big as my head and sharply faceted instead of just big-ish and shaped as a cabochon, I have a ready solution. Against which what might the guard do? Examine the inmost parts of a Guild Facilitator, who has been granted access to the vaults by Lady Bathsheva herself? That would be outrageous.
But fine, fine, whatever. As I don’t want to further involve Dala in this whole thing, the only option available is to kick the guard’s probably overpowered ass. He has a whopping 350HP; natheless Zafra wins the initiative and deals with him with almost insulting ease:
Worthy of the treasures inside the guild vault? That’s a line would more befit the Iron Cartel, not so much the Courtesans’ Guild. And what was it, Lady Bathsheva said? “You’ll have to be creative if you want to sneak something out [of the vaults.]” So much for that, I guess, unless plain old fighting is now considered creative.
But now at least the game allows me use the elevator. Here is what the vault looks like:
Note the complete absence of cameras which I might be able to disable or scramble. So if the guard did not lie and there are indeed cameras watching inside the vaults, I can’t see them, I can’t fiddle with them, and they record everything I do. I actually went back upstairs, to see if I had somehow missed a control or security room; but no such thing. Or maybe there are no cameras at all, and he was bluffing.
Inspecting the busts and every bit of Courtesans’ Guild memorabilia, I fail to discover any sapphire. That is until a careful inspection of the bird statue—Perception check!—allows me descry a cleverly hidden panel, in the base of the statue. Fiddling with the bird itself, simultaneously pressing two particular feathers, a sound is heard, as that of a mechanism triggering, and gears grinding after lifetimes of immobility.
A hidden panel divided in two compartments opens. In one compartment: a sword, Lutra’s Everblade.
Steel Wind and Decapitate. Nice. A new toy for Zafra.
In the other compartment: the object of my quest.
It was set in a bronze plaque, which reads:
The Throne Of Vanity
Crafter by Master Artisan Savov Pike
Built for Reavers and Thieves, the dreg of the oceans
And one of their line
The Whore Queen
Dispossessed and despondent
She will sit the throne in a time of need
The Whore Queen? That can’t be me, right? Queenly I might be, but so much more than a whore.
In any case, gemstone in hand, we quickly go and deliver it unto Gregarion’s eager paws:
Hold on. Greg didn’t know about the Abyss, but somehow he knows about the Chain Lines? Ok, I’m definitely missing or forgetting something here, because it doesn’t make sense to me.
But finally, similarly to Dejah, Gregarion counsels us before we leave:
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