Market of the Vanities week 1 summary/week 2 plotting

[powersthatbe]

Bartholomew, Angel of Scorpions, metes out poisonous glares for most and tries to sell wholesale Wrath to Noct. Little wonder, then, that Skamaris, Marquis of Hell’s 66th Legion, calls Bartholomew his favorite angel - when he’s not maintaining the legion’s discipline or trading barbs with the Marshal of the Hailstorm, anyway. Asieriel, when not trading barbs with Skamaris, browses the market and mistakes Ryo for a spying imp. Hunter, Peregrine Prince of the Market (right now), broods and barters over Peregrine freedom. Sahaquiel keeps an eye on things. Anaphiel, Sithen Prince of the Market, deals in exotic goods from mortal life. Micah, Immortali Prince of the Market, engages in idle chit-chat. Senerach is mighty interested in all these new faces. Vulpe, Demon Prince of the Market, isn’t sure he’ll be able to wrangle a second infernal seat on the Market’s oligarchy, but will do his duty.

The Old Man of the Market does not take well to interruptions to his work. Brica forges weapons nearly the equal of Heaven’s, to her ongoing frustration. Barahi seeks to protect the Peregrines. Daneel has a number of unusual customers. Claudia has ever dealt in secrets. Saraiel seeks to make her own deals, even as Bartholomew tries her Patience. Alcuin the Peregrine seeks a taste of life on Earth. Yomi is hiring, particularly Peregrines - and once Naoki de-infiltrates himself, he starts sharing the possibility of getting the Peregrines a second share in the Market with other Investigators. Corvus makes a nuisance of himself. Phillip teaches Gil the facts of afterlife. Zain looks to sell his exquisite art. Aeshma has regrets.

Peter tries to pick a peck of pretty pockets, and only Sahaquiel’s intervention saves him from losing a hand to Bartholomew. Gil, looking quite like himself for once, attracts demonic attention. Monx fits in well enough to do the same. Beatrice (no relation) plays Red-Truth-or-Dare. Shinji has the weirdest form of wealth he’s seen yet. Riddick makes life both easier and more difficult for the angel Rohiel, with his baby on board. Matthew gives Q’uila a crash course in urban sorcery; when they’re done, she seeks a bargain. The Bonfire’s trash is Caleb’s treasure. Jules reacts to being a stone’s throw from Hell predictably. Weiss hates being a snow angel.

Joscelin warns the Investigators not to cross the border into Hell, and takes it upon himself to offer Jules self-defense lessons. Mikasa looks after Ryo, who beat a hasty retreat to Liminal Space after arousing Asieriel’s suspicions. Helena kicks off the check-in proper, and is dismayed by Caleb’s idea of a good cover story. Minako inadvertently commits grand theft canine. Keith struggles to make sense of Traveling’s everything. Yosuke shrewdly updates the jaunt regarding the walkabout.

Next Week: Word has spread that the speculated future value of Sins & Virtues is much lower, leading to hurried large-scale sales of those qualities at discount prices. Misbehavior in the wake of this leads to Dhuosnos banning all Angels & Demons from the Market for the remainder of the Chapter (Month), leading to upset and shady business on the fringes of the market.

Comments

ADDITIONS

[powersthatbe]

Did we miss something important? Let us know here!

AS OF TODAY, HI I'M A SUMMARY HELPER

[otomechapilot]

Noct, for the crime of mouthing off to Bartholomew, was offered an ugly choice; 50 lashes with Bart's scourge, or all the Wrath he could drink. For interfering, Ignis caught one lash across the face. Noct had wisdom enough to take the Lashes.

This has made a lot of people very angry and has widely been considered a bad move.

ETA: I have been informed that Noct actually tried to deck him; still.

[capital_asset]

Not sure how important this will ultimately be, but...

Vulpe happened to spot Gil staring at him while they were both on the hilltop watching the bonfire. Unfortunately for Gil, Vulpe also happened to notice the bond connecting him to Gil, which definitely did not exist before the Jaunt. Further analysis suggests that this bond isn't connected to him, precisely, but rather to something or someone he represents or is congruent with. Needless to say, Vulpe's curiosity is piqued.

(Gil does not as yet know this.)

Re: ADDITIONS

[tobodlygo]

Pinya mouths off to the wrong person but refuses to let him think he's won by bullying her.

WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK

[powersthatbe]

[chalicejoker]

Hajime/Asieriel is getting his ass kicked out of the Market with the other angels and will thusly sort of skulk on the edge of things while being relatively menacing by virtue of existing.

Jules may take advantage of the market crash to try to sell a bit of Glamour, surely nothing could go wrong.

[scarsolderthanyou]

that's gonna make it a lot harder to have their drinks :P should we plan to do that early in the week, or go the indirect route of Skamaris sending his boyfriend with messages? XD (or both?)

[otomechapilot]

After the Lashening, Saraiel wants help from on high thwarting Bart's miscarriages of the cooler Judgement Justice. Or at least reassurance that it's more Just and Kind than Prideful to suggest his actions are such.

I suspect she'll be asking about this with Asieriel and Sahaquiel very soon. Want help from a local making Barts life... miserable, let's go with miserable?

[how_they_shine]

The Old Man is going to be especially cranky this week, but is likely to be out and about some more if Sithen, Immortali and Peregrines wish to speak to him directly or if anyone particularly foolhardy wishes to attempt to get into his tent while he's not there.

Barahi will be suddenly rather grateful to not be an angel at the moment. His shop of protections will still be open! Magical weapons and shields are available for sale as well as protective charms and his own expertise. I don't have any specific plans for him except perhaps to go purchase and trade with Peregrines? Which... may have to primarily be NPCs. He's also probably going to be looking for people who can help him figure out whom a disembodied memory comes from and if that person is still around in Purgatory.

Alcuin is taking the moment to perhaps snitch some things left lying around - though odds are pretty good that he'll be gifting them to Hunter and the other Peregrines since he's got a pretty soft, cushy gig. Looking into cookies and magical weapons and connections to the mortal realms! I am going to try and make a concerted effort to do more Alcuin tags so help in getting motivated would be greatly appreciated.

[otomechapilot]

Barahi is in the market to protect the Peregrines and Saraiel will not be able.

...which means he might be getting such help on high as she can grant, if he’s amenable?

[thornsofmalkav]

He's got a peregrine friend in Briar/Thorne and I'd love to have him and Anaphiel negotiate cookies, since that would give him the excuse to turn into a giant snake to visit the mortal world.

[tookashirototheknee]

Hunter should talk to the Old Man, methinks.

Also Barahi.

[prince_of_pain]

bothers the old man more

[tobodlygo]

Pinya might need to see if Barahi has any painkiller pendants because... well... You Know ;)

[grimjeaper]

Bartholomew is gonna be pissed about being kicked out, but since the Princes get back in it's really not gonna be that noticeable a difference; mostly he's just going to be literally the only Angel in the Market for this week. He is available for regular trade in Sins and Virtues, but he'll be keeping a much closer eye out for potential Ultimate Sin victims now.

Brica is Sithen and thus unaffected, so she might well go scrounging and see if she can't grab any decent metallic shit that got lost in the chaos. Weapons or armour, or anything else she can smelt down.

Gil is just gonna keep fuckin' around, don't mind him.

[capital_asset]

Vulpe will be briefly kicked out of the Market, but as he's one of the Princes of the Market, he can just stroll back in afterwards, which he'll promptly do, thus making him the only(?) Demon around for the rest of the month. As such, he'll be around for trades and deals and the like. Privately, he will continue to roll his eyes at Dhuosnos's idea of a solution to potential deadlocks and the drama surrounding said solution, but also continue to do his job.

He also has a mystery of his own to solve, namely the fact that he suddenly has a bond to a random Immortali (i.e. Gil) he's never met before, who claims he's the spitting image of a Sithen in Melasurei. He'll be wanting to look into that, before he decides what to do with the bond itself, and he'll be checking for any other sudden new bonds as well (which potentially includes Marked Harmony bonds).

Incidentally, if your character has a bond to another character or NPC that they want altered, he can do that, for a price. He might even offer a discount this week. He can also change a character's form "to better match their soul;" if the character is willing, this can be permanent, while if they're not, it will last either until the end of the Jaunt, the character manages to stop being whatever Vulpe changed them into (e.g. a "repulsive toad" or "cowardly worm"), or it's somehow magically reinforced. The last one won't be happening without OOC permission.

Aeshma will be one of the Demons kicked out of the Market and will be deeply annoyed, because she wasn't actually doing anything.

Minako will be dealing with her new Spectral Hound, but beyond that I'm not sure.

Cassandra will also be out and about, because I'm moving her to the Jaunt. She won't be taking part in any looting, but she'll probably find any magical artifacts and/or weapons interesting. Those who pay attention to such things may note that she has a lot of Virtues but also quite a lot of Wrath.

[tookashirototheknee]

Hunter is going to be pulling himself out of his thoughtfulness and more actively trying to go around and talk to people. (Considering there's not a lot of PC Peregrines, he's probably mostly going to be talking to NPCs, and anyone is welcome to drop some eaves into his conversations. He won't pull his sword in the market, he respects the Old Man too much for that.

Helena is going to set up a shop to sell little gadgets and trinkets. They're useful! She'll trade in Virtue or in information.

[thornsofmalkav]

Thorne/Briar will want to talk. They might take a turn carrying the orb one of these weeks if that seems it should be a thing?

[otomechapilot]

Saraiel was serious about wanting to help the Peregrines with her warning, and now more than ever Heaven needs Peregrine eyes and ears. What can she offer Hunter in the name of Peregrine redemption?

(Helena as a cutout for same seems interesting, too!)

[scarsolderthanyou]

Welp, Stone/Skamaris is gonna be kicked out of the Market, but since he has a nice cushy camp full of his demon soldiers that's mostly okay. He may have to rely on his sithen boyfriend to run errands for him tho.

Riddick/Rohiel is also kicked out but much less okay about it. He has a baby to look after, guys! He can't just camp out in the wilderness with her! :< He may petition to be let back in with lots of promises that he'll be good, he swears.

[letsgetdowntobismuth]

I wonder if getting a Sithen to vouch for him would count for anything. Either way Brica would be happy to help run him supplies or anything he needs.

[crouching_sin]

Naoya is going to be attempting to get back into the Market, possibly with some Liminal Masque. He'll still be available to sell things, if your characters want Knowledge Things.

Casper will be trying to find if there's anything useful for him for sale, and doing his best to not get in trouble. ... He's trying, okay.

[dreamsmaycome]

Casper do you need a tiny Sithen to look out for you...

[otomechapilot]

Saraiel has a lot of spare Wrath to get rid of and a cause she hopes is Just: get Bart out of the damn market before he goes off on anyone else he snap judges to be unworthy of redemption.

This involves talking to trustworthy people (so, no Demons) and trading favors to limit Bart's ability to unilaterally be judge, jury, and executioner; and if the Divine decides she's wrong, then she won't regret going Sithen over it. Among other things, she'll maintain her Virtue sales when she can.

Who wants in on her crusade, or to buy some Virtue from her?

[amadine]

Hey, if limiting Bartholomew's power is what she's after, she should definitely talk to Sahaquiel. She's already pretty solidly of the opinion that something has to be done about him, and she'd be game for employing a little judicious larceny to make him much easier to take down a peg.

[awitchdidit]

Beatrice is enough of a businesswoman to know that a selling panic is the perfect time to swoop in and make out like a bandit, and is going to aim to buy a good deal of wholesale Sins and Virtues while it's a buyer's market. She does not have much useful capital here, though, outside of her own devalued moral essences, so she's also probably going to either filch a few cursed items during the confusin, or attempt to sell shares in a moon resort to demons who might actually be able to make that a real thing. If you're dying to get rid of a magic item or bulk Sins or Virtues, let me know.

[amadine]

Sahaquiel has been scoping out the Market for the past week with a Grace that allows her to detect anything locked, sealed, or encrypted if she's in close enough proximity, and is planning on nicking a few interesting locked-away items for Heaven's use. She's mostly looking for powerful weapons and magic, currently in the hands of sithen, demons, or immortali.

She'll gladly take advantage of the chaos of the fire sale - and take more advantage of the fact that she can open and bypass barriers to sneak back into the Market after the angels and demons are chucked out.

If your character might have something interesting that you'd be interested in having go missing, please let me know!

LIMINAL SPACE

[powersthatbii]

So yeah. The rings of molten cheese and the goofy yell are both gone. Liminal Space is now a mountain range of these things, with patent leather scorpions crawling over them.