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Action Id: 4746 Crisis: Participants: Mirari, Ember, Miraya and Umbroise
Status: Resolved Submitted: Nov. 15, 2023, 9:46 p.m. Public: True GM: Apostate


Action by Mirari

In a previous note, the Leer hinted that business is booming and Ruby would like if it they could kill the Horned God. While, they aren't quite sure they can manage the later yet, what they can do, is make the best of a situation.

If business is booming, it's time to cash in. The Smiling Shadows will do what they do best. But, they are wanting something more. Through setting up contracts and work, they are going to try to put together a running list of who are the bad guys, they need to be aware of. Who is working for whom and what can they piece together on bigger plans. (They'll make a flowchart in the Shadow Walk on the wall).

Depending on the job, they might kill target, they will probably kill both. Just, not before getting paid of course. They way, they are gathering information and getting a better lay of the land, while reducing the body count.


Action by Miraya

Infiltrate the noble house who has been targeted by the Traitor. Whispers at night suggest a powerful head of house might have been killed and replaced with a doppleganger who works for the Traitor. Miraya has a beautiful face and her swordsmanship skills are deadly. She is deceptive and attracts the right kind of attention from the elite with her charm and exceptional manners. She looks incredible on anyone's arm and incites a raw passion from those who watch her wield her sword. She does not give them her real name of course. She is Lady Aurelia Mendaci of Aurumati, a small vassal under Gildan. She poses under the guise of seeking to elevate her family line and expand their land, power, and reach. She wines and dines and obtains contracts, money, lavish gifts, valuable information, secrets and maybe even marriage proposals (she will never honor). She's going to do her best not to kill anyone unless she discovers they are traitorous.


Action by Umbroise

Umbroise, as her first task among the Smiling Shadows, sets about helping with the negotiation of contracts. She uses her charms and wiles to help negotiate the best deals for contracts on the Bad Guys, to earn the most money for the Smiling Shadows while doing the most damage to their targets. She'll focus her attentions on those who likely aren't fettered by Legion's mindless shackles, and instead target her smiles and wiles on anyone who might have a grievance against the Sons of the Centipede or other cults or factions of the Traitor instead. She'll do her best to coerce and 'manage' those people until the most lucrative deals are reached. While she has no skill with a blade herself, she probably could manage to stab someone in the throat with a hairpin if it became required. After all, she does have a very disarming smile, and maybe no one would suspect it of her sweet face. But really, she's all about being the smiling face of the Smiling Shadows, and wouldn't their clients oh so dearly love to be a part of something grand in the name of Freedom for All? All will be sworn to absolute secrecy of course, lest any blabbermouths find their own way to the sad end of a Smiling Shadows knife. Her decidedly pointed canines and glittering black sapphire eyes might be a bit unnerving as she closes deals with /that/ particular smile.


Action by Ember

Ember has more than just the Smiling Shadows to work with. She'll be leveraging her Abyssal stature in other areas to widen the Shadows' net within the scope of the Mourning Isles. If any shav or pirate or random guardsman has a story to tell, especially now that the Despite has been breached, she'll make sure it's heard and accounted for... though obviously, only the leads that seem worth pursuing will be forwarded up to Mirari.


Result

The Flowchart in the Shadow Walk gets rather large.

There's at least two dozen different individuals that had tried to work with the Horned God that the Triarchy wants removed. Most meet their ends at the hands of Mirari, one dies after being bitten by a spider, and Miraya kills two in a rather spectacular swordfight after being confronted during her investigation. But more than the murders, it's really a large compilation of names and contracts, with Ember able to find a number of potential abyssal recruits as they make order out of the chaos. More than once, they do need to kill the person trying to hire the shadows when it turns out that they were just a touch too dangerous to let live, and some targets did manage to get their hands on different curios that could be useful for Abyssal research.

The Leer is very complimentary of their efforts, and other Shadows even more so, though there's a tiny bit of tension with some of the other shadows. It is becoming increasingly clear that out of all of the Smiling Shadows, their particular group is far and away the most successful and effective. There might be some jealousy in the future, and the Leer is not the sort to discourage infighting.