10-28-2016, 07:52 AM
Whatever priority four was would have to remain a mystery. Soon enough the elevator ride ended, and with Hunt leading the way they stepped out onto Tier 3. "Welcome to the lower levels, hopeful agent," he drawled, waving a hand around nonchalantly. "Still a pretty nice place, all in all, but not as overwhelmingly beautiful and shiny as up top. Or as heavily patrolled, for that matter. And it's not even that bad here. Gets waaaaay worse even just on the next level down." He laughed, continuing to lead the way. "Which, coincidentally, is exactly where we're headed!"
"I guess it makes sense. He wouldn't want to be sticking to where there's people after him hanging around even part of the time." Graowr just nodded, thinking that was the extent of it.
"Well, yeah. He's also got more options to gather allies and underlings down there. Crime gets more and more common the further down you go, but things also get more and more shitty the further down you go. Tier 4 is right in the....well. Let's call it the 'middle ground' for now. Where it's just lawless and crime-ridden enough to make it easy to go about your work, but still just barely respectable enough that if you're careful you can still cultivate some business and partnerships on the higher tiers." Hunt just waved one hand about as he explained, stepping on board another elevator that headed down. "And the Shark is, as has been said, nothing if not careful. He's more cunning than out and out smart or clever, but sometimes you don't have to be smart to be successful. That's what's scary about him, if anything is."
She just slowly nodded, taking all that in and plopping down on the elevator floor to ponder over all this. With what she'd heard about this guy — the Shark, and what a name that was — the more she didn't really like him. He was a thinker, and a schemer, but not a fighter. Back home, even the ones who did all the scheming and thinking and planning and coming up with ideas did some fighting now and then. Usually, they were pretty good at it, too! Had all kinds of crazy techniques and strategies they pulled out of nowhere. They usually weren't as strong in terms of pure strength, but boy did they make up for that. And sometimes, they were actually really, really strong, and really, really good at fighting, because the ones who did all the planning were the leaders. And everyone knew the leader had to be the strongest!
But this guy...he didn't sound like that at all. As they boarded the next elevator to continue heading down, she could help but grumble at the thought of dealing with someone who'd rather run than fight. Not that she didn't understand why. If you were in a fight you couldn't win, then running was probably the smarter option. But it didn't mean she had to like it. Not one bit. And from what she'd heard — and read, though that wasn't really very much at all — the Shark never even let it get to the 'fight' part of all that, much less the 'fight you couldn't win' part. He just ran off before trouble could really catch up to him. And that just made her mad.
"Fourth floor. Neon signs, broken down vehicles, assorted vagrants and discarded detritus," Hunt intoned as the elevator came to a halt, the doors slowly opening. "Let's go, my great blue little leader. We got us a seafaring predator to track down."
Graowr just let the oddity of that comment pass her by as she hopped up to her feet, heading on out into the streets. "Well...here goes nothing," she muttered.
"I guess it makes sense. He wouldn't want to be sticking to where there's people after him hanging around even part of the time." Graowr just nodded, thinking that was the extent of it.
"Well, yeah. He's also got more options to gather allies and underlings down there. Crime gets more and more common the further down you go, but things also get more and more shitty the further down you go. Tier 4 is right in the....well. Let's call it the 'middle ground' for now. Where it's just lawless and crime-ridden enough to make it easy to go about your work, but still just barely respectable enough that if you're careful you can still cultivate some business and partnerships on the higher tiers." Hunt just waved one hand about as he explained, stepping on board another elevator that headed down. "And the Shark is, as has been said, nothing if not careful. He's more cunning than out and out smart or clever, but sometimes you don't have to be smart to be successful. That's what's scary about him, if anything is."
She just slowly nodded, taking all that in and plopping down on the elevator floor to ponder over all this. With what she'd heard about this guy — the Shark, and what a name that was — the more she didn't really like him. He was a thinker, and a schemer, but not a fighter. Back home, even the ones who did all the scheming and thinking and planning and coming up with ideas did some fighting now and then. Usually, they were pretty good at it, too! Had all kinds of crazy techniques and strategies they pulled out of nowhere. They usually weren't as strong in terms of pure strength, but boy did they make up for that. And sometimes, they were actually really, really strong, and really, really good at fighting, because the ones who did all the planning were the leaders. And everyone knew the leader had to be the strongest!
But this guy...he didn't sound like that at all. As they boarded the next elevator to continue heading down, she could help but grumble at the thought of dealing with someone who'd rather run than fight. Not that she didn't understand why. If you were in a fight you couldn't win, then running was probably the smarter option. But it didn't mean she had to like it. Not one bit. And from what she'd heard — and read, though that wasn't really very much at all — the Shark never even let it get to the 'fight' part of all that, much less the 'fight you couldn't win' part. He just ran off before trouble could really catch up to him. And that just made her mad.
"Fourth floor. Neon signs, broken down vehicles, assorted vagrants and discarded detritus," Hunt intoned as the elevator came to a halt, the doors slowly opening. "Let's go, my great blue little leader. We got us a seafaring predator to track down."
Graowr just let the oddity of that comment pass her by as she hopped up to her feet, heading on out into the streets. "Well...here goes nothing," she muttered.
Quote:Hand of the Empire quest progress: 845 + 1043 + 1022 + 1107 + 754 + 661 = 5432 words