Quote Originally Posted by Scarlet the Weavile View Post
Leaving the best for the last? How sweet of you sugars. Maybe there's some kind of advantage of getting pretty high.

Search (56) Whitestar Skyscraper
You head south after leaving your apartment at the Redstone Motel, wondering what you might be able to dig up for those Emissaries. You decide to head south, going for the Whitestar Skyscraper, knowing it’s one of the central hubs for the Knaves.

The whole way, the weather is just lousy on many levels. The air quality is stale, hot, and unpleasant while the wind is wild and indecisive with how it wants to behave. One minute, it seems to be coming from the west, but then it suddenly stops and then a minute later, it gusts hard right directly into your face.

You soon cross over the West Exacta Bridge and head toward the Southern Reach. While you keep a watch out for ghouls and anything else lurking around, you don’t see anything or anyone that raises any red flags.

By the East Jadewater Apartment Building, you find the mangled and half-devoured corpse of a Grapploct. You see he tried to fight off as many ghouls as he could, “killing” three of them before there just got to be too many for him to deal with.

It didn’t look like he was armed, but his armor kept him alive for at least a little while. He was also carrying a pack of supplies and money, and while you don’t really care for his personal belongings, you take the sochas, feeling the Emissaries might be able to make good use of that sometime. After taking the armor plating off, it’s a little bloody and beat up, but you figure it still works for the most part. Someone might be able to make use of it, so you take that along, too.

$550 Sochas$ were added to the Team Inventory.

[|DA| Worn Military Plating] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 3 points each time Health damage is taken) was added to the Team Inventory.

After crossing the border, you then head into Knave territory. Though you know the Knaves wouldn’t be too thrilled about Aurorawatch soldiers coming this way, they don’t have a problem with regular mercenaries and scavengers. Here, the Pokémon seem just as normal as the ones across the other side of the river, but they just don’t agree with following Aurorawatch’s orders and Queen Nytalia’s decrees.

You then head over to the Whitestar Skyscraper, which has been repurposed to become the main market hub and place of commerce for the Knaves. As you can easily see, this large light-gray office tower remains as the only skyscraper that hasn’t taken any damage at all in the wake of OMEN and remains in very good condition, offering plenty of safe space for vendors and peddlers to set up places to sell goods and services as well as barter.

You step inside and it seems to be a busy place during the day. You figure if only the Knaves and Aurorawatch could get along, they’d probably be doing much better against the OMEN infected, but their differences and disagreements are just too strong. One side would have to give up something to appease the other and it just seems like neither of them want to do that.

After passing by a few merchant booths selling food, containers, used electronics, and other similar goods, you come across the Desperados for Hire station where mercenaries and bounty hunters tend to gather and post their availability for hire contracts on a recruiting board. You decide to take note of it in case those Emissaries want to hire a few more hands to get more work done.

You track what kinds of contracts are available and what the rates are.

Desperados for Hire

SET DURATION CONTRACTS

  • $[2 Day/4 Cycle Mercenary Contract] 300 Sochas$ (Choose any Pokémon to have as a mercenary for 2 Days/4 Cycles)
  • $[3 Day/6 Cycle Mercenary Contract] 600 Sochas$ (Choose any Pokémon to have as a mercenary for 3 Days/6 Cycles)
  • $[4 Day/8 Cycle Mercenary Contract] 600 Sochas$ (Choose any Pokémon to have as a mercenary for 4 Days/8 Cycles)


OPTIONAL ADDITIONS (APPLIES TO TIME-BASED CONTRACTS)
  • **Mercenary has a Perk of your choosing** - +$100 Sochas$ per contract
  • **Skilled Mercenary (has +2 to Health, Sanity, and Purity)** +$300 Sochas$ per contract
  • ***Veteran Mercenary (has +5 to Health, Sanity, and Purity)** +$600 Sochas$ per contract


PERCENTAGE-BASED CONTRACTS

  • $[40% Income Indefinite Contract]$ *Standard* (Choose any Pokémon to have as a mercenary for 40% of your Sochas earnings)


OPTIONAL ADDITIONS (APPLIES TO PERCENTAGE-BASED CONTRACTS)
  • **Mercenary has a Perk of your choosing** - +10% of earnings demand per contract
  • **Skilled Mercenary (has +2 to Health, Sanity, and Purity)** +15% of earnings demand per contract
  • ***Veteran Mercenary (has +5 to Health, Sanity, and Purity)*** +30% of earnings demand per contract


After getting all that down on paper, you check out some of the other stores around by heading up the stairs to the other floors. Most of the tents and spaces don’t offer too much of what you think the Emissaries will need. Colorful shawls, blankets, and rugs probably wouldn’t do them any good and you don’t think they need extra culinary supplies or children’s toys.

The next floors up offer more places to eat and there’s even a space on the 7th and 8th floor that functions like a miniature inn and tavern. As nice as it is and even after stopping by for a drink, you don’t think the Emissaries would care too much for that.

On the 9th and 10th floors, you find more places for services, offering dentistry, home repair, medical needs, banking, and other similar functions. One place you come across is Navin’s Constructing and Repair Depot with a sizable staff specializing in building and interior designing.

You decide to act on behalf on the Emissaries, asking about what kinds of features they might be able to build at the steel mill. Navin the Chatot seems to know what you’re referring to and still agrees to service clients in the refuge area despite being aligned with the Knaves. It seems he doesn’t really know much at all about the Emissaries, but he’s willing to do the work for the price. You ask the Chatot what his prices and offerings were to include, and he gives you a list of possible options. You take note of which ones would be the most useful and what kinds of steel mill upgrades might be something they’d want to look into.

Navin’s Constructing and Repair Depot
Run by Navin the Chatot

STEEL MILL HIDEOUT UPGRADES
(Builds facilities at the Abandoned Steel Mill. An old facility can be replaced by a new one)

  • $[Upgrade (1) Barracks, Storage, and Living Area to [Advanced Level]] 250 Sochas$ (Rest restores all Health, Sanity, and Purity points.)
  • $[Build Indoor Greenhouse] 500 Sochas$ (creates and adds three random berries and/or seeds each day (beginning of Day cycle) to the Team Inventory. Uses a Facility Slot (1a, 1b, or 1c)
  • $[Build Holy Altar] 500 Sochas$ (Needed for Sin Purge and other Utopia-based actions like imbuing weapons and purifying Abyssal Aspects (needs Utopia Angel found and recruited). Uses a Facility Slot (1a, 1b, or 1c)
  • $[Build Merchant Store] 500 Sochas$ (Allows Emissaries to sell unwanted items to Exacta City civilians for Sochas. Activates “Sell” as a new free action. State “Sell at 75% of value” for a guaranteed sell at 75% of the item(s) base value, or “Sell at 100% of value” for a chance of selling it to a customer for the full value, but has a 30% chance of not working and not finding a willing customer to buy it that cycle. Uses a Facility Slot (1a, 1b, or 1c))
  • $[Build Garage] 500 Sochas$ (Houses 2 vehicles, which are automatically provided. Allows 2 Emissaries (1 per vehicle) to perform 2 Actions per day each) Uses a Facility Slot (1a, 1b, or 1c))
  • $[Build Fitness and Recreational Center] 500 Sochas$. Increases the maximum Health, Sanity, and Purity stats of all Emissaries by 10 for as long as this Facility is active. Uses a Facility Slot (1a, 1b, or 1c)
  • $[Build Weapon, Armor, and Jewelcrafting Workshop] 500 Sochas$ (Allows Emissaries to create their own |AW| Attack Weapon, |DA| Defensive Armor, and |JW| Jewelry Equipment. One Emissary per Cycle can attempt to make a piece of equipment by stating what kind of Equipment piece it is and designing the stats to be whatever they’d like. Equipment with relatively low stats will have a higher chance of success rate than Equipment with many powerful stats. TIP: Use already existing Equipment pieces as a guide to get started!)


You tell Navin you’ll get back to him regarding what the Emissaries plan on doing and that you’ll be in touch.

From there, you move onto the upper floors and you see that many of these places are offering skill training, proficiency-building, and also includes some areas for young children to be educated in reading, arithmetic, and science.

On the 28th floor, you find vendors selling a variety of consumable goods such as groceries, medical equipment, stationary, and the like. One store called Underground Medical is selling prescription medicine without the hassle of an action prescription, almost on a black market level. You’re pretty sure the Emissaries don’t need medications, but the berries for a dirt-cheap price might prove useful. Meanwhile, Kelesi is selling military-grade drones to deliver emergency healing and restoration regardless of location. You imagine she must have had to pull a lot of strings to get a hold of these, but nonetheless, laying down the sochas and not asking questions still gets your paws on these.

Underground Medical
Run by Kelesi the Wartortle

HEALING BERRIES

  • $[Sitrus Berry] 15 Sochas$ (Restores all Health)
  • $[Spelon Berry] 15 Sochas$ (Restores all Sanity)
  • $[Starf Berry] 15 Sochas$ (Restores all Purity)


EMERGENCY MEDICAL DRONES

  • $[Emergency Trauma Care Drone] 150 Sochas$ (Restores all Health of all Emissaries no matter where they are)
  • $[Emergency Cognitive Remediation Drone] 150 Sochas$ (Restores all Sanity of all Emissaries no matter where they are)
  • $[Emergency Spiritual Therapy Drone] 150 Sochas$ (Restores all Purity of all Emissaries no matter where they are)


After that, the remainder of the stores and vendors you find all have their uses, but you don’t think the Emissaries would be all that interested in them. Most of the remining upper floors are empty spaces reserves for future vendors. Heck, from what you can see, just about anyone can suddenly decide to set up a store here on any floor they like. And you imagine the rent, if it’s anything at all, has to be pretty cheap.

You’re about to head back to the refuge area to pass along the goodies you’ve found when you’re approached by a Reuniclus. The green, blob-like Pokémon looks you over, curious at something he’s noticed.

“Say, coming out of Whitestar Skyscraper and not buying anything?” he asks. “Highly unusual. Oh, name’s Daz, rude of me to not introduce myself to you.”

“Just doing a little browsing and recon, hun,” you smile smugly at him. “Got all that I need right here.”

“Browsing and recon for whom?” this Daz asks you. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

You’re almost on the fence about this guy, and while he seems like a bit of a geek, you figure he’s probably not a bad guy. A little nosy and in your face, but not really someone you think might need to have their butt spanked or anything like that.

“A group of folks called Emissaries,” you tell him, thinking there’s probably nothing nefarious he could do with that information anyway. “You probably haven’t heard of them, though.”

“Actually, I have…” Daz informs you, looking a bit interested. “I’ve assessed that they’ve been busy trying to hunt Stalkers. My hypothesis is they’ll most likely get to the bottom of this predicament before anyone else can.”

“Yeah, like I said,” you casually smirk back at him. “Anyway, yeah, that’s what I’m up to. Lending them a hand because, well, I’m bored, looking for action, and you know, they could use the help.”

“I had my doubts at first,” Daz tells you, explaining his observations. “But after talking it over with you, I’ll do the same. It seems prudent that acquiescing to lend some assistance may just be advantageous to us all in the long run. I feel with my brains and your… well, whatever it is you have, we’ll be quite formidable. Though I’m quite dignified and certain my brains will be more helpful in this matter.”

You smirk at the sound of that, looking at Daz out of the corner of your eye.

“Prove it, hun,” you nearly laugh. “I’m already way ahead of you. You’ve got a lot to do before you can even be considered to be trying!”

“You’re clearly underestimating my abilities,” Daz scoffs. “That makes me obligated to prove you completely and utterly wrong!”

Daz the Reuniclus has joined as an NPC Mercenary.

You can honestly say you’re quite motivated to see this self-proclaimed brainiac try to keep up with you... and totally flounder at it.

Scarlet the Weavile (M: Dark/Ice)
Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 20/20
Battle Stance: Heroic