I had earlier received an invitation from Dejah Mars, of the Stormbreakers faction, to come and talk to her in the Commercial district. I make my way there, enter the well-guarded Stormbreakers building, and:
Wow, is that a sort of tachikoma? Oh please tell me I get to see that thing in action at one point. Even if that means it’s fighting me, I’ll bloody the entire Stormbreakers compound to make that happen if need be.
Meeting Dejah, let’s take a short trip to Spoilerland, as she mentions an important plot point from earlier:
The rest is spoiler-free (or at least as spoiler-free as a Let’s Play can be without being one giant spoiler enclosure):
Fine. I guess I can do that, as ingratiating myself to the Stormbreakers might prove useful in the near future.
A quick trek to Dockside, and there I am:
– “I’m looking for the Harbormaster,” I say.
– “Yeah, that’s me. What can I do for ya?”
– “Captain Dejah Mars of the Stormbreakers sent me. Something about you holding some cargo of hers?”
– “Ahh yup, them Stormbreakers boys are late in paying their various freight fees. Gotta get that sorted out before we can unload their gear.”
– “How much are the fees?”
– “All told? Maybe around the neighborhood of 8000 credits.”
8000 credits?
No way can I forward that big a sum. At that point, the game offers me a few options to trick or charm or brute force my way with the Harbormaster; alas my stats don’t quite cut it. So I look around, and—Perception check!—find this:
Most excellent. It was fairly easy to enter the warehouse and retreive the Stormbreakers’ cargo, which had their logo all over it. All in all, the smoothest caper you had the pleasure of participating in. In the end, Dejah was pleased, and that’s good for me.
But back to the Commercial district now, as there I had other matters needed my attention, related to Isutyr.
Outside we go, talk a second about nothing, and agree the city is more or less a shithole. At which point Director “Milk Moustache” Mitty goes on a little exposition soliloquy.
“Furthermore, the entrance to the Abyss is none other than directly below the building I work in. The Traveler’s Mandate has spent decades exploring and mapping the Abyss below this island. This is a secret that very few know. We have bribed, cajoled, and killed to keep this secret. So I want you to understand that is no accident why I’m explaining it to you so casually.
“Miranda has seen you in one of her prophecies. And while I may not trust her, I have little doubt that her visions are very real.”
– I ask the following: “Does this make me some kind of chosen one?”
– “Oh no, you’re a side character in a different story at best. Miranda has seen you in the Blue Chamber Where The Door Lies. Causality demands that in the infinite possibilites spirling [sic] out past this moment, like a ripple in a great, unending ocean, you will find yourself in the Blue Chamber.
“So treat this as a formal invitation. The secrets of the Mandate are open to you, but you must escort Isutyr to the door.”
– “What if I refuse?”
– “You won’t.”
I mean, I can’t exactly say he’s wrong. It was a purely rethorical question; I won’t refuse, and sooner or later I will bring Isutyr to that door to see what’s what.
But that conversation took some time, so I stretch my legs a little by walking around and… nani?
Holy cow, what an udderly beautiful woman! I look around, to see if maybe I can find her again, but no such luck. Instead, I find myself facing a pet shop:
Where I eventually paid 500 credits for a regular-sized cat named Pearl. More pussy for the brothel, is my logic.
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