So what if one of us took the role of lost cousin?
Or could just have the guy "die" and run off as a sailor with his wife and try to convince his son to sell it to afford going to the mage academy. Oh another thing I just realized about Akane, with her DM and incite she could basically use emotional conditioning on the guy to associate anger at the thought of staying and joy at the thought of leaving.
Well I'm assuming the cousin is in fact a named person who lives in the city? If it just says "my cousin" maybe we have a shot. And if we can convince the father and mother to abandon the child that would work, but generally speaking it's easier to get people to do what you want when they don't feel like you're taking advantage of them.
How about we just rob it blind... Then he wouldn't have a choice right.. he has no insurance.. we wont need to worry about cousins or sons what theyre going to do and weather or not any of them live happily ever after. Maybe have some kind of shindig somewhere.. invite them all to it.. find the secret entrance and take everything while they are away, and be gone before they return..
It doesn't even have to be a real shindig.. Just far enough away to get in and then out.. Say "Inviting, whale lovers, sailors and earth magic fanatics alike!"
oh and maybe a contest where they "win enough to fulfill your dreams whatever they are.. " Were expecting quite a turn out what with all the single beefy sailor boys and such that are in town
Simply robbing it blind involves worrying about the law (and bounty hunters). We don't want anyone to know a crime occurred. Thus, we want anyone who might otherwise report the theft in on the plan. Or what they think the plan is. Hence the double scam.
That's an option too. The main reason Dreck would suggest a way about this that leaves the owner and his family happy is not strictly for them to be happy, but rather to make things go more smoothly. If they feel like they've been cheated and their lives have been ruined, they're way more likely to start prying or resisting. If they are getting something they want, they feel like everything is happening according to their plans and not ours.
Obviously just knocking everyone out and stealing everything is an option that'll always be on the table. Maybe we could call that plan B, though.
Epic World! Because seriously! It's the awesome!
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Udo, Acelin and PJ work on the owner (using in particular Acelin's emotion altering effects) to make him as frustrated and unhappy with his current situation as possible. Make his debts seem insurmountable, his life seem wasted, so on so forth. He is a failure, his wife feels like there is no adventure in their life, he can't afford to support his child's dreams.
Near the end of this, MK and I will cross paths with the owner and offer an sympathetic ear. Eventually we will drop the idea that if he fakes his death his problems will all go away: he can take to the seas for a more fulfilling life, pleasing his wife's sailor lust, and his son can attend the Mage's Academy as a ward free o' charge. Since the son will need someone to tend the shop while he is learning how to shoot rocks at people, we'll have Herschell step in for that purpose.
Between the parents faking their death and the child going to the Academy, we rob the hell out of the place.
I like that plan. Only part is Jougo would be of no use in trying to swindle the guy, he has no tact. He would be better served as the one who did the robbing blind portion, or as the guy who helped fake the guys death.
Basically during that point you'd be playing the part of thugs and thieves. He could be the muscle, as it were. Stand there and look scary, make threats and such.
We probably wouldn't even need to have some big event faking the death. They vanish and the place gets picked clean; seems pretty straight forward.
I was working out a plan earlier today at work, but the above plan works.
Some ideas though:
A) I suggest we convince him to legally sign over everything he owns to the government (Or some other reasonable group). Otherwise the debt hunters will go after his son for the money and/or other BS reasons. The actual contract signs everything over to a group that only sounds like the Elexian government (or reasonable group) if you assume that before reading. In reality, it signs everything over to us. We then have him personally give this to the correct legal people. That way, we have no problems even if he decides sailing isn't for him and comes back from the dead. Also cuts out the cousin and anyone else that might step in instead of Herschell.
B) How are we going to fake his death? Also, do we intend for him to really be faking his death or will we convince him to "fake" his death by doing something that will in fact kill him and his wife? For example, we could suggest tying weights to his feet and jumping into the sea and then offer a BS reason as to how he will survive.
If we get him to sign that paper, having him actually fake his death and then making the trail easy to follow might be for the best as that's the sort of thing that will make us practically glow to law enforcement.
Another possibility would be to could pick out a very dangerous foreign country to send him to after the faking that will execute him for having the obviously forged papers we'll give him. Or have him sneak onto a ship known for killing stowaways. Not sure Eizen likes this though. He doesn't do betraying employers, and we would sorta be working for the mark.
A. This seems really good; I agree with this addition plan.
B. We don't actually have to fake anything; actually faking his death would make us have to deal with authorities probably. Basically he and his wife would just vanish into the night.
Ultimately I think we don't want him in a situation where he's going to get killed, the best outcome is a situation where he and his have no reason to come back.
At this point she doesn't really care what she does. She'll do whatever the others want. And how exactly are we getting him to sign these papers. If we are litterally pretending to be the legal people, she will be apart of that group. I think it might be better for the others who will be convincing him to "fake" his death or run away or whatever to meet with the owner first and build the friendship and report that way. Maybe even time it to where they are in the shop when the "government" comes in. He'd be more likely to believe it when they believe it too. "oh man my friend got locked up because of those people, you should really sign it over"
Akane fits best in the area of manipulating the mark, Jougo fits best at not doing that. Probably being intimidating or convincing the guy that some people are problematic because he is "afraid" of them.
It might be good to have Jougo intimidate him and Akane be with the people that are trying to get him to vanish. After all, it will probably be easier to make this guy think he's on the ropes than to get him to commit to starting life anew.
What kinds of intimidation are best suited? Physical threats? Looming unknown psychopath? Also as note, Akane has dyes and stuff to change hair color or create some mark to distance ourselves from the crime.
By the way, I agree with what Udo has been saying. And Akane would definitely be best suited to condition the mark into anger at his bills and happiness at the thought of just pulling up roots and sailing away.
Jougo could almost just loom and be the threatening "this is the guy they are going to send to murder me" guy in the first part of the quest. And yeah, Akane is probably the thing that will make this whole caper possible. She can only be in one part of the scam though; maybe it's best if she was part of the Sail Away section?
Hmm. Her abilities are carried through the air, so she could be there and just manipulating him without him seeing. Just let me know specifically what Jougo should and shouldn't do, because if I go but he cares about, the whole place might become a carnival funhouse with explosions peppering your every move lol.
Oh! If she can do it without being seen then she should definitely use it both times around. I still say the best place for her to make an in-person appearance is the Sail Away team? Mostly because Dreck's appearance lends itself a bit better to threatening him.
Jougo and Dreck could totally be those stereotypical bruiser/enforcers that the mafia (or EW equivalent) would send out to threaten about debts owed and such...hmm but we cant break things as an example...maybe leave him a "special" package that's sure be a "blast" if he decides not to pay up. And yeah, its a DM of Soothe and Cleanse so it sends the gasses out through the air currents to her target. She could totally try to convince him of the sailor life, any ideas on how?
we'd have to massage it. Basically the Sail Away group needs to cross paths with him when he's at his lowest and lend a sympathetic ear. Then they need to work into the conversation how great it would be to just sail away from it all with some sort of whale reference worked in for bonus points. Once he has the flea in his ear, it should start falling together.
Or could just have the guy "die" and run off as a sailor with his wife and try to convince his son to sell it to afford going to the mage academy. Oh another thing I just realized about Akane, with her DM and incite she could basically use emotional conditioning on the guy to associate anger at the thought of staying and joy at the thought of leaving.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Her
Blarg Olcoot
Her
Blarg Olcoot
Her
Blarg Olcoot
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Obviously just knocking everyone out and stealing everything is an option that'll always be on the table. Maybe we could call that plan B, though.
Colt Wyrmbane
Olivar'Romov
Detective Taskmage
Darby, Esteemed Adventurer
Mike, the Situation
Herschell Ratliff, Merchant of Finery
Yaagh, the Pummeler
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Udo, Acelin and PJ work on the owner (using in particular Acelin's emotion altering effects) to make him as frustrated and unhappy with his current situation as possible. Make his debts seem insurmountable, his life seem wasted, so on so forth. He is a failure, his wife feels like there is no adventure in their life, he can't afford to support his child's dreams.
Near the end of this, MK and I will cross paths with the owner and offer an sympathetic ear. Eventually we will drop the idea that if he fakes his death his problems will all go away: he can take to the seas for a more fulfilling life, pleasing his wife's sailor lust, and his son can attend the Mage's Academy as a ward free o' charge. Since the son will need someone to tend the shop while he is learning how to shoot rocks at people, we'll have Herschell step in for that purpose.
Between the parents faking their death and the child going to the Academy, we rob the hell out of the place.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
We probably wouldn't even need to have some big event faking the death. They vanish and the place gets picked clean; seems pretty straight forward.
Some ideas though:
A) I suggest we convince him to legally sign over everything he owns to the government (Or some other reasonable group). Otherwise the debt hunters will go after his son for the money and/or other BS reasons. The actual contract signs everything over to a group that only sounds like the Elexian government (or reasonable group) if you assume that before reading. In reality, it signs everything over to us. We then have him personally give this to the correct legal people. That way, we have no problems even if he decides sailing isn't for him and comes back from the dead. Also cuts out the cousin and anyone else that might step in instead of Herschell.
B) How are we going to fake his death? Also, do we intend for him to really be faking his death or will we convince him to "fake" his death by doing something that will in fact kill him and his wife? For example, we could suggest tying weights to his feet and jumping into the sea and then offer a BS reason as to how he will survive.
If we get him to sign that paper, having him actually fake his death and then making the trail easy to follow might be for the best as that's the sort of thing that will make us practically glow to law enforcement.
Another possibility would be to could pick out a very dangerous foreign country to send him to after the faking that will execute him for having the obviously forged papers we'll give him. Or have him sneak onto a ship known for killing stowaways. Not sure Eizen likes this though. He doesn't do betraying employers, and we would sorta be working for the mark.
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
B. We don't actually have to fake anything; actually faking his death would make us have to deal with authorities probably. Basically he and his wife would just vanish into the night.
Ultimately I think we don't want him in a situation where he's going to get killed, the best outcome is a situation where he and his have no reason to come back.
So, Dreck's plan plus Eizen's "get him to sign his stuff over" addition works for me.
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Her
Blarg Olcoot
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).