jigokulogs | July 2022 Mini Event

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July 2022 Mini Event

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Tanabata is on the horizon, and the city seems to be recovering well from last month. But there's work to be done, and it's time to get to it...

1. SHUTEN CLAN - THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS

With construction wrapping up, the new Shuten Clan casino will be opening soon. The casino has a number of new staff positions opening. It is a golden opportunity for anyone looking for a cash rich position. The money promised upon assignment to the underground casino is bound to be life-changing. Given the potentials in clientele, Toraguma is expecting the very best. Shutens are to report to the above ground Celestial Phoenix casino for their training.

They will be taught all the traditional casino fare, both Japanese and abroad. This includes being taught how to cheat at these games as well. For example:
Blackjack dealers will learn card count, and how to catch others doing the same.
Roulette attendants will learn both how and when to discreetly adjust the wheel.
Craps and Cee-lo dealers will learn how to feel for loaded dice and how to switch in the house's dice without notice.
Cee-lo dealers are also taught a specific way to line the dice tray to cause more lost throws.
Cho-Han dealers will learn how to distract players as they adjust the dice.
That's not all the Shutens will be learning. The clan needs skilled bouncers as well: people who can handle rowdy customers or haughty celestials. The more tenured Shutens will take up the roles of rude customers and challenge the trainees in how to handle them.

While not everyone will receive employment in the casino, they are all expected to participate in training. Shuten officers are expected to guide and oversee their juniors.

2. TAMAMO CLAN - CHARM SCHOOL

The Tamamo Clan also has preparations to make in anticipation of the underground's opening. The clan is opening their own brothel and cabaret, as well as providing food and drink services to the new Shuten casino.

All Tamamo Clan members must report for training at Mizukume. The lesson of the day is to use one's charisma to secure a huge payout. For example:
Hosts and hostesses will learn the art of schmoozing away clients' money.
Performers will learn more provocative means of soliciting large tips.
Oiran are taught the erotic arts; the perfect balance to both please a client, and how to leave them begging (and paying) for more. There's no technique Tenkohime finds too shameful. Money is power, and power is freedom.
Food service workers are provided master classes in mixology, plating, and how to serve high-profile clients without breaking a sweat.
Each role comes with its own set of pressures, but also the promise of great reward. Everyone is going to get rich, if everyone plays their part well.

Tenured Tamamo are asked to roleplay as clients for the benefit of those Lost Souls new to the work. While not everyone will be selected to work in the Underground, everyone is expected to train for it.

3. SUTOKU ALLIANCE - BLACK MARKETS AND BACK ALLEYS

After months of meetings, it's finally time for some real action. Sutoku Lieutenant Ryouma Sakamoto has made some pretty big commitments on the Alliance's behalf. His temerity comes from his earnest belief in the other Sutoku Lost Souls! No pressure, though!

To succeed, the Alliance must determine who is behind the current black market operation. Ryouma is relying on the Alliance's extensive information network and the hard work of the Lost Souls to make it happen.

This is the work that Ryouma mentioned when he welcomed the new arrivals recently.

This assignment is all about what you know. The Sutoku need to learn more about the competition, through any means necessary. The Alliance wants to know everything about what goods are moving around the city and who is moving it. Time to follow the money. You might even discover an unfulfilled niche in the market through your investigations.

The current influx of Stardust in the city is a great opportunity to investigate the existing dealers and supply lines. The Alliance is gathering Stardust just like everyone else, but it is becoming increasingly scarce as the factions vie for it. The value of this commodity is shooting up every day. Take some cash or other compelling bartering tools with you to grease the palms of a few shady dealers. Try to convince them to be more honest about their supply lines, beyond just the sparkly stuff. Stick the landing, and you might just be closing in on the heart of those shipping loopholes.

This is no easy undertaking. Creativity and tenacity will determine just how far you can go. Be careful not to be too obvious, the threat of unwanted attention will cause your sources to clam up.

4. DEPARTMENT OF THE ENMA - CRACK DOWNS

The Stardust's street presence has shifted naturally over the past few weeks: from an easy resource to simply scoop up in garbage bags overnight to a hot commodity. The street value of the material has increased considerably, and that means that the unaffiliated street gangs are greedy to get in on the action.

Enma officers are called upon to round up any black market dealers of Stardust and confiscate as much of their supply as they can find. This might just bring them into some direct conflict with the Sutoku Alliance members hoping to connect with market insiders. That's just how things boil out sometimes, though.

It is more important to the Department to get Stardust out of the hands of the black marketeers… and into their own lockers.

Officers are given permission to use any amount of force against individual actors, and members of the Law and Records Department are expected to draft up warrants (no matter how doctored) to obtain access to buildings they otherwise would never be allowed into; even Mizukume and the Arena. The Department's orders are clear: if it's not an approved market, shut it down.

This is in the name of maintaining Order, so get out there. Move at least in pairs, or you're likely to meet some serious resistance, and keep an eye out for the newbies.

5. ALL FACTIONS - LUNAR RABBIT RETURNS

It isn't just the factions, dealers, and petty gangs who are interested in the Stardust now that it's a premium item.

A familiar face has resurfaced: the mysterious gyokuto medicine woman and her army of white rabbits. While her little kin have managed to gather a healthy amount of Stardust for her "research", she still needs more. She is willing to pay a huge premium to those who retrieve more materials for her.

She understands that this will require you to either pilfer from one of the factions, or potentially someone even more dangerous. She will be providing samples of one of her drugs, which can grant temporary invisibility in moonlight. Use it for whatever hijinks you want, but she really would prefer if you brought her the goods in the end.

If invisibility doesn't cut if for you, she can provide another sample that provides 10 times your normal strength. While you can KO anyone who gets in your way, it wears off within 5 to 10 seconds. She is very clear that you should not take more than 3 doses of this, or you will very possibly die. Probably. Maybe? It will be unpleasant. So use it only when you need to.

The reward for getting her some Stardust, depending on the amount, can easily pay all a character's expenses for a month, if not longer. The temptation is great, but do you trust this strange rabbit woman?

Welcome to the mini event!

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FOR THE PURPOSES OF REWARDS, since all of these prompts tie into the main plot in some way, we will count all qualified threads in this post as 2 point threads!
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[Well, he didn't sound to be mad at the very least. The shifting of the papers and the seat did help him find a direction to look in, so Cain only hoped he was not staring next to the man's head.]

Sorry to bother you when you seem busy. It was actually a bit about that kind of thing-the word is you are refusing to use dubious methods in order to get people arrested and such. Is that true?

[ So it's not only 'a bit' about that thing, it's about the very thing... But Cain makes it sound like he's not here to complain about it like everyone else had and that alone makes this the much more intriguing visit. ]

It is.

[ Van Zieks leans forward a little, mustering Cain with his piercing gaze. ]

Integrity has traditionally been lacking in the Department, but that is no reason to abandon my personal morals and follow the flow. Any paper that crosses this desk is going to be based on legitimate evidence or it won't leave this office at all.

[Look, he's doing his best. And fortunately the piercing stare was not visible to Cain-not that it would've worked anyway. But Barok would see him visibly relax in relief at his statement.]

Oh, thank the heavens. I thought I was the only one here...

[But no, as much as he wanted to be friendly, he had a job to do.]

I actually spoke to Lord Enma recently, about something different but related. He told me that maintaining order is the highest priority, not whether people viewed us or him in a good light. But I still don't see how they are supposed to trust us, if we lie and cheat like everyone else!

[ Spoke to the Enma...? That's not a privilege granted to just anyone. It gives Cain's presence a weight that his attitude alone would not have been able to. ]

As it turns out, most people are not particularly adept at intuiting when an institution has fallen to corruption. All the Enma would need to do in order to improve image would be to put more effort into lying and concealing. In a perverse way, I am glad he is not invested in doing so.

[ Working here already reminds him enough of the work conditions he's been under at home. Once a Reaper, always a Reaper. That's all he can think when confronted with the shinigami who frequent the building. ]

Keeping that in mind, I will take it one step further. I find myself committed to truth as the highest value even if exposing that truth might lead to the distrust of the public.

[Well it was his promotion and probably the recent tower excursion that got the man to even listen to him, even if it went badly. Cain's still not sure if his reputation is irreparbly damaged, but he didn't have much choice other than to continue.

Still, he was considering Barok's words with a bit of confusion.]

But that's not how that's supposed to work...I mean, when I was with the knights, we always worked hard to ensure the trust of the people we protected. Lying to put up an image would just make that worse when they found out.

[He also was from a country where people were always fairly straightforward compared to others, so in some ways it really didn't make any sense. Though..he can see it being a possiblity.]

You're right that the Lord Enma doesn't seem that type of man, though. But if we continue to let other comrades of ours bend the rules whatever way they can to keep order, then it reflects on everyone. Same with his absence in public spaces.

[Though, he looked up again at where Barok's voice was at the speaking of truth. His commitment was genuine and Cain could only admire it, even if it seemed a bit harsh at times.]

And...I suppose you're right in not keeping secrets from people even if it hurts them, but sometimes it protects people. I just don't want this department to sink into some depraved version of justice.

[ 'How it's supposed to work'... Barok tries to remember the days when he himself had that kind of bright-eyed optimism about the legal system. It feels like several lifetimes ago. And the system he'd idolized back then, the famed most advanced court system in the world, had proven itself to be so weak to rot and corruption...

Barok van Zieks is still proud to be a British prosecutor. He is still proud of the accomplishments of his country. But he will never again put blind faith in the institution itself without holding every individual player under tight scrutiny. ]

Is it not a depraved mockery of justice already?

[ He huffs, darkly amused. ]

But even when it is so, that is no excuse for us to succumb to resignation and let it sink further. The only way to bring about change is to be uncompromising in our values, even as the path it leads us on is not necessarily the one deemed most 'efficient'.

[Cain knew he probably did sound stupidly optimisitic, and he couldn't blame Barok for it. He wanted to believe that people could be fair and kind to each other even if he'd experienced first hand how they weren't. Being a central wizard, it just made him want to work harder to earn everyone's trust.

However, Cain had to hold back a laugh when the man said that about it being a mockery of justice.]

You kinda have a point. And that's funny you say that. When I talked with the Enma, he kinda....well I assume he basically was saying the same thing. "The shape of the world is determined by the strength of those who form it..."

[But now he was serious again, thinking over those words. It was not something he liked to dwell on, despite it being necessary.]

I'm not exactly strong enough to do anything on my own, no matter how hard it pains me to admit it. So I did come here looking to see if you shared a similar mind, so we can possibly make our vision work.

[ That tracks with all Barok imagines the Enma to be. Truthfully, he is a little grateful for it. That self-awareness of not standing for justice but order makes their boss a lot easier to predict and work with than self-delusion would be. ]

Then I hope you approve of what you found.

[ Cain's naïve idealism isn't relatable to Barok but recent events in his own world have taught him that sometimes it is the people least like him who have the capacity to enact change. ]

I do not intend to ever compromise on doing things in a fully comprehensive, evidence-based manner. I am not a trusting man - I do not put faith in others based on their word alone and I do not expect anyone to do it for me. But in time, my doubts should lay doubts about my sincerity to rest.

Edited 2022-08-01 22:35 (UTC)

[Well, he can't say this is a guy who looks like he knows what a break it, but he was indeed completely genuine and serious. And frankly, Cain found that refreshing in a human.]

Well to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure what a lawyer is, but I do. You don't seem like the kind of person to lie and that's pretty rare for humans. And I get that too-I've committed to trying my best to get stronger so the Lord Enma and others can trust me to get everything done. And I hope my actions can prove that to you over time!

[Though for now...that's mostly been the tower excursion, and not much else.]

I'm not that great at paperwork so I've been mostly out in the field breaking up fights with some of our-coworkers? It looks like the easiest way without violence to get the stardust off the common folk is to pay back what amount they turn in. Do you know if there is any sort of budget for that?

[ >not sure what a lawyer is

... well, that hurt a little bit, but of course not every world can be as advanced as to have a court system in place... Anyway. Matters at hand.

Van Zieks frowns. ]

I consider it highly unlikely. For the Department of the Enma to invest money inblack market trade, even if it is to get the material off the streets, would set a difficult precedent.

[Well it's not his fault his world is still stuck on monarchies deciding everything!!! But hmm. This thing with laws and back hand dealings was really more complicated than he could predict.]

I will admit, I've used some of my own money to pay back some of the people relinquishing their stardust. For most of them that is their main concern, even if they believe us on how dangerous it is. It's letting me stop some of the violence, but I don't really know any other way to convince them to hand it over peacefully.

They should not have invested into it in the first place.

[ All else aside, he just has to get that out here. ]

We can't buy it back at market value - that would essentially make the Department an active participant in the business. Customers who have bought some amount of Stardust would not be the only people profiting - we'd essentially be paying the dealers for their trade.

I understand your concern about ending violence, but we cannot lose sight of the big picture.

[Well, he did have a point...but Cain unfortunately was invested in people who made mistakes. They should be given a chance to fix it-but no, Barok has given him more then to think about. First it had been all this deal with the politics and yakuza and how blatently violent these people could be and now...well, the Central kingdom had many issues but drugs was not one of them.]

Would it really look that bad? I mean I know the Lord Enma says image doesn't matter if the job gets done, but that's also not what I meant by it. Have I been making things worse?

[He seems genuinely upset by this, if his expression was any give away. He'd been trying really hard to do things his way, to built up trust and power and apparently-it was still all going to waste.]

This stardust...does it have more negative a reputation than I thought?

[ This is not precisely the attitude he expected from a fellow officer of the Enma, but then again... they really do employ all sorts here. And even van Zieks would be hard-pressed to say that an overeager sense of empathy is a bad quality to have.

He considers his next words a bit more carefully. ]

I wouldn't go that far. In an ideal situation, Stardust trade would not be lucrative to begin with. Working towards those ends, I consider it counterproductive to use up Enma funds to buy the material ourselves - but that doesn't mean that you have been worsening the situation either.

Paying back customers at the original price means that they come out of it completely even - there is no incentive to try and swindle you out of more Enma money unless there is an actual profit to be made from it. [ Which... tbf, people could have been lying about market price, but let's not go there right now. ]

Your method of going about this did prevent violent conflict, that remains commendable. It does not appear that Stardust is inherently dangerous to its consumers either - but any potentially addictive substance can be misused if left to those in the shadows.

It didn't seem addictive when I ate some. I think it was all over the food and I just-

[Well, Barok certainly didn't have to hear about his...exploits in that manner. It seemed like the collapsed star stone which made wizards act funny, but harmless otherwise. That, at least was good news.]

So it is less the product and more the means by which people are making money with it? I do agree at least in that specific situation it was probably the only way to go without it turning into a fight. My uh, coworker was exacerbating the situation....

Do you have any advice on how to proceed, then? It would be hard for people to trust us if we are forced to take it from them for their safety, but...dunno how many other options we might have.

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July 2022 Mini Event

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