The War for the Rose: Book One Complete

[mellifluousMastermind]

"HIDING SPIRE: ...Unfair."

THIS DOES NOT EVEN BEGIN TO COVER IT.

You introduce, out of the blue, this SUPER AWESOME team of even MORE super secret, even MORE super badass creed killers and we're permanently ineligible from birth.
ALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEX *shakes fist*

>Hiding: Never give up. Prove your brother wrong. Train spiritually in spite of your blood, and become the most powerful assassin priestess known to mankind.


(Also, I have a plan. What if we joined the Masked, but as a spy for the Knives? Or what if we joined the Knives while secretly spying for the Masked? In some ways, we might be able to get the best of both worlds, but only if we're very careful.)

[stagnantAntler]

>Hiding: Never give up. Prove your brother wrong. Train spiritually in spite of your blood, and become the most powerful assassin priestess known to mankind.

I agree. It's the only sensible solution. Oh yeah, and joining either the masked or the knives as a spy from the other sounds like a bad idea, we don't even know if the two groups are very interested in each other and it might lead up to an awkward confrontation. I see no reason why either party should trust you enough at this point, i think it's pretty obviously just a bad excuse. "oh yeah, I'm not refusing your offer, but I'm just gonna go on this super rad mission somewhere else and not leave you a say in the matter" I don't think that's gonna win us anything

Hiding: "theoretically, if I wanted to join the priesthood. Would I even be allowed? I mean after all the things I've done here.

[stagnantAntler]

>Hiding: Never give up. Prove your brother wrong. Train spiritually in spite of your blood, and become the most powerful assassin priestess known to mankind.

I agree. It's the only sensible solution. Oh yeah, and joining either the masked or the knives as a spy from the other sounds like a bad idea, we don't even know if the two groups are very interested in each other and it might lead up to an awkward confrontation. I see no reason why either party should trust you enough at this point, i think it's pretty obviously just a bad excuse. "oh yeah, I'm not refusing your offer, but I'm just gonna go on this super rad mission somewhere else and not leave you a say in the matter" I don't think that's gonna win us anything

Hiding: "theoretically, if I wanted to join the priesthood. Would I even be allowed? I mean after all the things I've done here.

[Cadorean]

Falling has already sad that we can't become more than a mediocre priestess, with zero face slicing to occur. I don't want to read a story about praying, painfully flying a ship, and then not getting laid for it. It's a boring existance, and as magical as we could ever become, we wouldn't be able to weaponize any of it. Priesthood is a no go.

As for going back to the Spires, there's not much incentive. The selling points are familial loyalty, and learning about Momma Spire. I don't much think there's anything worthwhile in that story; it's probably gonna end up being about how some slam piece went around slicing up faces in the name of the family, which we already have done.

If this story is going to be at all interesting, we need to join one of the combat factions. Joining the Masked means that we would essentially have to lose whatever morality and free will we have, in return for protection of the family. Joining the Knives would have us sacrifice our legality and legitimacy for freedom and adventure on our own terms. I personally still think that between the two, the Knives is the better option.

If it was at all a possibility, I think that the most interesting answer would be to gather up a small band of companions (Whispering Dune, Hulta, maybe a priest other than Falling) and flee the city in secret. We'd be able to fulfill a personal agenda of continental domination, and be also rather bad ass. Oh, we'd also hunt for each region's magic liquid, so that Iding can be the ultimate MAGICAL GIRL! ...wait, no, this is stupid. Just stick with the Knives.

[Koffie In Blik]

The thing is, no matter what route we end up sending Hiding down, she'll never actually be free. The Masked have the King handing down orders; the Knives have Ten Knives doing whatever she pleases while every Knife follows or dies; the Spires ultimately answer to Towering Spire.
The difference is the Knives trade honour and family for material wealth and a good measure of personal freedom while the Masked turn Hiding into what is essentially a lifeless tool. The Spires keep her mostly as she is because it's the default faction.
If the Spires will have Hiding slicing faces in the name of the family, the Masked will have her slicing faces in the name of Whitesky and the Knives will have her slicing faces in the name of Ten Knives and whatever machinations she'll undoubtedly come up with.

Hiding will never get to do anything truly on her own terms because she'll always answer to someone, no matter what. Ten Knives might give her free reign on how she does what's expected of her, but so would Towering Spire. So would the Masked, for that matter. What we're to choose is mostly the flavour of the story, only to a lesser extent the kinds of things Hiding will be doing. In this respect, none of the three choices has an advantage over the others.

As for what is and is not interesting or worthwhile, that's personal opinion. None of the options are inherently and universally (un)interesting.

[MagusBlack]

Voting for the Spires.

[absoluteCertainty]

blah blah blah go talk to the masked agents
laughing spire continuing to pardon traitors is going to get him assassinated by the masked and perhaps if hiding joins them it will make the king less likely to stab her brother in the face?
but with our luck it's more likely that she would be the one who assassinated him
i don't want this story to be about the knives :v
and... we can probably find out about hiding's mom and dad through the masked anyway.
so i suppose masked is my vote.

[Cadorean]

we can probably find out about hiding's mom and dad

Don't we, you know, already know about Hiding's dad? Towering Spire, Lord of Tritower and the Spire forces? The brutal murderer of many a Honitian during the Blue Sands War? THAT Hiding's dad?

Also, just to get some perspective up in this bitch, what exactly about the Knives would be so unappealing?

[Cadorean]

we can probably find out about hiding's mom and dad

Don't we, you know, already know about Hiding's dad? Towering Spire, Lord of Tritower and the Spire forces? The brutal murderer of many a Honitian during the Blue Sands War? THAT Hiding's dad?

Also, just to get some perspective up in this bitch, what exactly about the Knives would be so unappealing?

[absoluteCertainty]

Don't we, you know, already know about Hiding's dad? Towering Spire, Lord of Tritower and the Spire forces? The brutal murderer of many a Honitian during the Blue Sands War? THAT Hiding's dad?

Also, just to get some perspective up in this bitch, what exactly about the Knives would be so unappealing?

well towering has presumably done some fucked up shit over the years. hiding could learn all the juicy details rather than "oh he killed all of these people, then some of those..."

and. um. i am assuming that it would be easier for hiding to get killed repeatedly if she was a knife rather than a masked.

sometimes masked have to give up their lives for the sake of their duty but our protagonist only takes negative stats in sanity rather than a full death when that happens.

of course an insane murder machine fits the knives better than the masked but???

being a masked would make the immediate future easier for everyone.

[alexthewhite]

Don't we, you know, already know about Hiding's dad? Towering Spire, Lord of Tritower and the Spire forces? The brutal murderer of many a Honitian during the Blue Sands War? THAT Hiding's dad?

Also, just to get some perspective up in this bitch, what exactly about the Knives would be so unappealing?

Those things about your father aren't true! He didn't "brutally murder" anyone. Matter of fact, he was famous for saving and sparing Honitian civilians. Not all the lords of Whitesky committed atrocities against the Honitians.

You can't say you know your father terribly well, though. He's a very private person; all you know of him is what others told you. He never gave his own actions as examples. He told you what he thought was right, and you listened.

You wonder what he'd tell you to do now. You know he cares deeply about the family, so he would likely tell you to...

Do what you thought was best. That was what your father always told you to do. Do whatever you thought was the right thing. It didn't matter if it was hard or painful, if it had to be done, it had to be done.

You wish it was that easy.

As for joining the Knives, well, you'd be disgracing yourself and your family. You'd never be allowed to return to the life you lived now. You'd be subject to the whims and orders of Ten Knives, and the scorn and steel of her enemies. Eventually, if Ten Knives so chose, you'd be at odds with the Spire family.

That's something you wouldn't have to worry about if you went home, and it probably wouldn't be an issue as a Masked agent. Towering Spire is loyal to the crown, so you don't see Masked agents being dispatched to Tritower anytime soon.

Regardless of what you decide, it has nothing to do with your family. They have always been good to you. Sure, Towering Spire sent you here, to Southflight, but you get why he did it. He probably didn't expect the situation to be half as bad as it was, and you did come out of it (mostly) intact.

blah blah blah go talk to the masked agents

You part with Falling Spire, who goes off to help ease the misery of some other wounded men. The closer you get to Sun and Force, the louder and more obnoxious their argument gets.

SETTING SUN: Correct me if I'm wrong, but was it not your mission to keep those lords alive?

CRUSHING FORCE: Maybe if you hadn't taken your sweet time working your way to the throne room, we wouldn't have had this problem! It was your mission to keep them alive, too.

SETTING SUN: I'm not a Masked agent. I'm allowed to make mistakes.

CRUSHING FORCE: I already fulfilled my primary objective. I can leave this city whenever I want. Matter of fact, I'm going to head back to Skyport tonight. I'm commandeering one of your five ships and a priest.

SETTING SUN: So long as you bring them back in one piece.

Sun storms off to go yell at someone else, leaving Force alone. She has her thick arms crossed and has her eyes closed in thought.

HIDING SPIRE: Crushing Force...?

CRUSHING FORCE: Hmm? Oh, it's you. Something I can help with?

[stagnantAntler]

"I'm still mulling over whether I should join the masked. I get the feeling that whatever I do I'm going to betray someone. If I join them I'll be leaving my family behind and if I don't I'll be going against the crown. I don't want to make enemies, but I don't want to make my family weaker either."

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Falling has already sad that we can't become more than a mediocre priestess, with zero face slicing to occur. I don't want to read a story about praying, painfully flying a ship, and then not getting laid for it. It's a boring existance, and as magical as we could ever become, we wouldn't be able to weaponize any of it. Priesthood is a no go.

I doubt that's what would happen. It's not like alex would turn the story boring just to punish us for making a "boring choice" the story might be reader driven, but its still the authors job to make the story interesting. I imagine he would probably utilize a time-skip if we chose priesthood (something he's likely to do anyhow) and we'd end up in some scenario or other where we will have to fight and kill again.

[Cadorean]

"As a Masked agent yourself, give me good reasons not to join. I can hear stories of the Masked's greatness absolutely anywhere in Whitesky, but it takes someone on the inside to learn of an ogranization's drawbacks."

For anyone who is thinking of joining the armed forces, ask an active duty soldier this same question. Every country on earth recruits through active service members by telling them to talk about all the good things. Any decision worth making should be based on the bad things. Veterans are also great to talk to, because they can teach you how life changes once your tour is over. (So let's chase after Setting Sun once we're done with Crushing Force.)

[alexthewhite]

"I'm still mulling over whether I should join the masked. I get the feeling that whatever I do I'm going to betray someone. If I join them I'll be leaving my family behind and if I don't I'll be going against the crown. I don't want to make enemies, but I don't want to make my family weaker either."

CRUSHING FORCE: I can see how you'd feel that. I can't say that you leaving Tritower would be good for the Spires, because it wouldn't be. However, the Masked need talented young people like you, a lot of them. That's a big reason why I'm taking that Dune boy. He isn't extraordinary, I don't think, but we're a bit desperate.

HIDING SPIRE: Why? Aren't the Masked huge and powerful?

CRUSHING FORCE: Yes, we are. Unfortunately, the Wardens are a good match for us. I've fought and killed a lot of Wardens in my life, and they are very tricky opponents. They're incredibly fast, skilled, and disciplined, and they have no regards for life, including their own. The only reliable method of fighting a Warden is to utilize teamwork, quick thinking, and inventiveness. Those things require numbers to be effective, which is why all Masked agents have standing orders to recruit as much as they can.

HIDING SPIRE: So you're saying the Masked need me more than the Spires do?

CRUSHING FORCE: I am. The Spires will be fine without you; they've got a seasoned and proven lord, a young and hungry warrior to take his place when he passes, a cunning priest who'll advise them both, and a man who was Whitesky's second greatest warrior in his prime. Sun's prime is past, but he's still formidable; I would bet against him in a fight with maybe two dozen people on all the Rose. I'm not one of them.

"As a Masked agent yourself, give me good reasons not to join. I can hear stories of the Masked's greatness absolutely anywhere in Whitesky, but it takes someone on the inside to learn of an ogranization's drawbacks."

CRUSHING FORCE: Very true. I won't lie to you, being a Masked agent is difficult. The training is violent on purpose, to accustom future agents to watching their comrades suffer and die. The job itself is even harder, and failure means death. If you are captured, you are expected to commit suicide as quickly as possible. If you leave the Masked, we will hunt you down and kill you for breaking the oath you made to us.

HIDING SPIRE: Ouch. Why would anyone join?

CRUSHING FORCE: To serve your king and country, that's a big one for the nobles among us. For the rest, it's power. When we're not undercover, inns will give you the best room in the house, shopkeepers will trip over themselves to sell you things at whatever price you think it's worth. Lords will give you gifts, whorehouses will give you their finest concubines free. Actually, you can have most anyone you like, just tell them who you are. We're revered, we're respected, and we're feared. That's what we get for our service.

HIDING SPIRE: You, uh, take advantage of that at all?

CRUSHING FORCE: When I was younger, quite a lot. Course, those benefits don't always apply. You won't see anyone doing anything like that for you in Honit, for instance. People here in Southflight don't much respect the Masked, either. Maybe if they did, the king would've sent more than one agent and half the city wouldn't be dead.

Laughing Spire surfaces from the bowels of the Keep, immediately giving orders to everyone he passes. Striking Shield is at his side, a thin trickle of blood running down his face.

LAUGHING SPIRE: Prep the ships for take-off. I want the Mudmen surrender formalized before sunrise. Then we can smash that fucking wall and get out of this accursed city.

STRIKING SHIELD: Aye.

LAUGHING SPIRE: Somebody get this man a tabard. His got torn in half in the battle.

ANAS: ...

LAUGHING SPIRE: Oh, Hiding Spire. I've decided to send you back to camp along with the rest of the wounded. No use fighting with that broken nose, and this'll be an air battle anyways.

HIDING SPIRE: But-

LAUGHING SPIRE: Whoops, what's that? It's the sound of me not having time to argue. Go get on the medical ship whenever you want. We're leaving in fifteen.

Your brother walks away, continuing to direct his men. Somebody big and awkward runs past him, straight for you.

WHISPERING DUNE: Hiding Spire! Are you alright!

Dune runs over to you and grabs your shoulders, panic in his eyes. There's a pretty big bandage on his right arm, you notice.

HIDING SPIRE: I'm fine, Dune. Thanks for askink.

WHISPERING DUNE: You sound horrible. But I'm glad you're okay.

HIDING SPIRE: You've got a pretty bad-looking cut yourself.

WHISPERING DUNE: What, this? A scratch. I'll be fine.

CRUSHING FORCE: I don't know, boy, looks pretty bad to me. I think you'll be following Hiding Spire and myself back to camp on the medical ship. We're leaving tonight, after all.

WHISPERING DUNE: Oh, um, okay. You alright, Hiding Spire? You seem kind of...upset.

You look over at Setting Sun, who is shouting at a pair of Spiremen about something. He probably wouldn't mind being interrupted. You could stay here and talk to Dune, or anyone else. You might even be able to get Laughing Spire's ear, if you try hard enough.

Or, you suppose, you could curl into a ball on the medical ship and wait for it to take off. That idea sounds okay, too.

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I doubt that's what would happen. It's not like alex would turn the story boring just to punish us for making a "boring choice" the story might be reader driven, but its still the authors job to make the story interesting. I imagine he would probably utilize a time-skip if we chose priesthood (something he's likely to do anyhow) and we'd end up in some scenario or other where we will have to fight and kill again.

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Nope, what Cadorean said is pretty much exactly what will happen. I don't know how to make the point any clearer except to outright state it. Whiteskyan priests live brutal, restrictive, boring, short lives. Their primary ways to occupy their time is to pray and to serve as a living engine. They can't fight, they're chaste, they can't own land, and they tend to die when their airship goes down. If you want the rest of adventure to be that, you can continue to vote for priests. There's a reason I didn't let you guys choose it at the beginning of the adventure. Magic is really, really boring in Whitesky except for those who are amazing at it, and Hiding Spire is physically incapable of being one of them.

I'm not going to tell you to not vote for priests. You can if you want to. I'd take most any command (except for sexual ones, and that was for my own sanity. Book Two will be another story,) if it gets enough support. But nobody else is going to vote for priest, because priest is a bad choice. Hiding Spire becoming a priest is a bit like Luke deciding that this whole rebellion thing is overrated after New Hope, so he goes back to Tattooine to become a moisture farmer. The call to adventure is already in front of you. I don't know why you'd want it to call again in exchange for the ability to levitate stuff (and be able to do literally nothing else while you're levitating stuff because trances are exhausting exercises in concentration that can be fatal if done incorrectly.)

This was done on purpose, by the way. This adventure is inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, and I wanted magic to be a background element here like it is in those amazing novels. Thus, magic in Whitesky and Avalia is boring, magic in Honit and Etonsia is incredibly rare, and magic in Reegus is so prevalent that it's nothing extraordinary at all. People there can talk to animals. Whatever.

I get that a lot of people think magic is awesome, and I'm one of them, but that's not what this story is about. It's about politics, intrigue, grey morality, stabbing, and a concentrated effort to drive a little girl to madness.

[mellifluousMastermind]

Sigh. Alex, you make excellent points. I hope you don't blame us for wanting to be kickass magic warriors, though. ;_;

>Hiding: Ask Dune if you'd still be friends, even if you became a Knife.

[absoluteCertainty]

lol so the only real difference between the knives and the masked is HONOOOOOOOOOOOOR

ALSO setting sun left the masked and he's not dead so you might want to talk to him about that :v

[Askia]

and a concentrated effort to drive a little girl to madness.

I feel like we could have made more progress on this objective tho =/


> curl up in a ball

[001]

Sigh. Alex, you make excellent points. I hope you don't blame us for wanting to be kickass magic warriors, though. ;_;

>Hiding: Ask Dune if you'd still be friends, even if you became a Knife.

Also ask him about how he feels about the Masked recommendation and what he plans to do with the rest of his life.

[alexthewhite]

Also ask him about how he feels about the Masked recommendation and what he plans to do with the rest of his life.

WHISPERING DUNE: I'm going to go with Crushing Force. If I stay in Tritower, I'll be just another knight. I like the Spires, but my duty lies with Whitesky. If I join the Masked, and survive the training, I can do more for the country than I ever could working for your father.

HIDING SPIRE: If you survive the training.

WHISPERING DUNE: I'm a bit worried, but I'm not afraid to die. Also, since you're coming along, we'll be able to watch each other's backs.

HIDING SPIRE: I never said I was coming.

WHISPERING DUNE: I know you aren't sure yet about what you're going to do, but I am.

>Hiding: Ask Dune if you'd still be friends, even if you became a Knife.

Dune looks at you sadly, his mouth drooping.

WHISPERING DUNE: It wouldn't be easy, would it? You'd go south, I'd go north. If we met again, we'd be friends, but...if we were to meet, we'd probably be under orders to kill each other.

HIDING SPIRE: You'd kill me, Dune?

WHISPERING DUNE: I would. Not because I want to, but because it's my duty. That's more important than anything, and that includes our...friendship.

He smiles sheepishly, crossing and uncrossing his legs.

WHISPERING DUNE: I'll be in the medical ship. I wasn't actually supposed to be here right now. I'll see you soon, okay?

HIDING SPIRE: Yeah. Yeah, okay.

ALSO setting sun left the masked and he's not dead so you might want to talk to him about that :v

You walk over to Sun, who has just finished browbeating a pair of Spiremen.

SETTING SUN: If I see either of you taking anything on a dead man again, I'll chop off your hands. These men have got families, and those families are going to want to have something that they can sell so they won't starve now that you've killed their husbands and fathers. Am I clear?

SPIREMEN: Yes, sir!

SETTING SUN: Get out of my face.

The Spiremen scurry off, eager to get away from Sun. He turns to face you, the lines in his forehead even deeper than usual.

HIDING SPIRE: Missed you during the battle.

SETTING SUN: Force is a better silent walker than I am. I was better suited to the fight up here. Doesn't matter, though, we failed. The mission here was to rescue the lords.

HIDING SPIRE: ...I'm sorry.

SETTING SUN: What are you sorry for? You were with thirteen fully grown walkers who are twice as good as you. They're the ones who failed. You're here as an apprentice, to learn things. Have you been learning?

HIDING SPIRE: Yeah. A lot. Can I ask you a question? How did you end up leaving the Masked?

Setting Sun slumps to the floor, pulling his bloodied axe from his back. He sighs heavily.

SETTING SUN: Sit down. It's a long story.

It was near the end of the war. Honitians knew they were losing, so they gathered up what was left of their southern army and launched it straight at us. I had ordered half the agents under my command to go with Crushing Force and assassinate some key Honitians. The rest went with me, because we thought the Rangers were going to do to us what we were about to do to them; assassinate our commander.

The commander had set up camp in this walled Honitian city that had been shelled to pieces. The walls were crumbling, the buildings were burned. Me and six agents arrived at the city to find it was being sieged.

Turns out the Honitians had a reserve of a thousand that none of us saw coming. The commander had sent most of his army to fight Honitian main force, so only about a hundred men were left to hold the city. They had been barely able to keep the first round of Honitian ladders out, and more than half of them were dead. The Honitians were going to attack again, and this time, there wouldn't be any way to repel it.

We got lucky, though. The Honitians were gathering a lightning storm for the coming battle, and the clouds blocked out the sun. It was almost pitch black. I told my men to disperse among the Honitians and start killing, causing chaos, doing whatever they could to slow them down.

In the darkness, me and six others killed...maybe four hundred Honitians altogether. It was a bloodbath. We were in their uniforms, so they couldn't tell who was friend and who was enemy. The others all died, but I made it over the walls and into the city. And before I did, I had grabbed a satchel of this blast powder Rangers use. Really effective stuff, we spent a lot of time trying to replicate the effects, but we've never been able to. I packed it into the weakest section of wall I could find and set it alight.

A third of the wall came down on the Honitian's heads, killing no less than another hundred. The survivors tried to pour into the breach, but the remaining Whiteskyans held them at the pass. We held off two, three, four, five charges. Finally, it was just me, the commander, four knights, and eight men-at-arms against a hundred fifty Honitians. We were all about to die.

But it turns out somebody had figured out what the Honitians were planning. Towering Spire and his personal guard of thirty men had been separated from the main Spire force. They rode in, hitting the Honitians from the rear. By the time the icy bastards knew what was happening, half of them were dead or wounded. I rallied everyone who was left, and we managed to break through the Honitians.

While Towering's cavalry rode down the last few Honitians, Spire told me that we were even now, since I had saved him earlier in the war. The commander was in both of our debts. He granted us both one request to his father, anything we wanted. That's how I got out of the Masked.

HIDING SPIRE: Wait...I thought only the king could pardon someone from the Masked.

Setting Sun grins toothily at you, showing off a deep white scar under his chin.

SETTING SUN: Yep. Which would make the commander the crown prince. Why do you think the Honitians wanted him so badly?

HIDING SPIRE: Good story.

SETTING SUN: Thanks. Any other questions?

[Koffie In Blik]

>Hiding Spire: Ask what Towering requested.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Hiding: "Why did you WANT to leave?"

[alexthewhite]

>Hiding Spire: Ask what Towering requested.

The smile is wiped off Sun's face so fast, you'd think he just smelled something foul. Maybe he did. You're kind of used to the stench of dead bodies at this point; everything in this city smells like them.

SETTING SUN: I can't say. Towering made me swear.

HIDING SPIRE: Not to tell me?

SETTING SUN: Not to tell anyone. If you asked him, he wouldn't tell you.

HIDING SPIRE: Hmm. Who would know?

SETTING SUN: Can't say that, either. Sorry, Hiding Spire. There's a good reason, I promise.

You are really getting sick of everything being treated as this huge damn secret. Every answer you get just opens up more questions. It's starting to wear on you a bit.

>Hiding: "Why did you WANT to leave?"

SETTING SUN: I told you about the village, right? I had no desire to be an agent after that. Well, not exactly. My desire started to diminish once the nightmares started.

HIDING SPIRE: And Towering Spire...?

SETTING SUN: Offered me a way out. "Come work for me," he said. "I need good men like you." I told him I'd consider it, but I knew that I didn't want to be a Masked agent anymore. I spent twenty years doing what I had to do. I was sick of it. Lord Spire's needs are not quite so taxing as the king's. The worst I have to deal with is his children.

HIDING SPIRE: Love you too, sir.

If you still have questions for Setting Sun or anyone else on this rooftop, you have time to ask them. Otherwise, you might want to go to the medical ship to join Crushing Force and Whispering Dune.

[Askia]

> medical ship sounds nice

[Cadorean]

...don't go. It's the Masked Express now. Only head there if you're going to join Crushing and the Mased. We still haven't decided yet what we're doing since we were all but blocked from going the priest route. We don't have a very representative vote now, since so many people were choosing that.

[Koffie In Blik]

It seems to me the medical ship/base camp is the "go here if no more questions" option. I wager the final choice will be made from there.