The idea was simple: The New Creep was a fresh take with an old vibe. So it inspired a bit of the old hook and ladder from EFU gone by.
James Moriarty was the template - A Scholar of Izdu who believed that all skills and craftsmen had value, including the criminal crafts and the knowledge that was cultivated not in grand halls but in quiet gutters. from the wiki
QuoteIzdu's Dogma:
- Tutor the ignorant; spread the light of wisdom to the dark corners of the world.
- Protect the word; knowledge lost is a grave sin.
Which turned into Spread Civilization to the Dark (Creep) + Protect Knowledge ( Criminal Skills, though unorthodox, are still skills worth being saved and cultivated).
So what would happen if instead of a "Professor of Crime", there existed a Criminal Concierge - A tiny little man in the creepy hotel, in a dapper little suit, offering you anything your heart desired provided you were willing to follow a few simple rules to keep things more professional and civilized. I forged the famous Daoud al-Mazz suit as a disguise. Made some shitty business cards. And got to work.
(https://i.imgur.com/AelIscS.jpeg)
Shifty advocate skimming money off of wildly guilty clients was a delight. Along with countless other schemes and cons. I can't naturally include all the antics undertaken as some still involved PCs who are still ongoing, but it was a delight to splash in the old antics. Like returning to the Sand Lot, or the summer pool with a big ol' Cheeseburger.
It was greasy, it was sleazy, and it felt gooooood. What began as a shady little johnny apple seed throwing around seed money and adventure capital into the varied criminal sundry and outlaw vibes of the time. Knud and his brother Ivar, famous raiders and scoundrels. The Lordcutter. The hustlers. The bustlers. The coat-wearing shit kickers. The outlaws.
It was staggeringly hilarious to get accused of crimes I didn't commit, multiple times, which felt most amusing. I certainly did some crimes and cons, not nearly as many as accusations thrown around, but a few of my favorite ones that came to fruition:
Quote- My first night on the PC lead to a high stakes gambling game wherein a bunch of PCs who I would float around in the orbit of, resulting in securing a nice little DM Ring. Which while it didn't have much bearing on my PC was a fun little showpiece.
- Sponsoring Knud and Ivar, while their bounty was at its peak, with tools and sundries to make the Rose look bad in the Champion's Fight (Baz'eel 4 lyfe). While some PCs made upwards of 13,000 dinar on the fight for my PC, I actually made only like 500 dinar on the fights. It was more about having his fingerprints on handing the Cinquefoil Rose a defeat. Spent a small fortune on potions, drugs, and more to help boost the odds in their favor.
- Real Estate was the name of the game. The Creep Property and Tablet Properties I shifted and shuffled multiple times among multiple people, some lawful, some less than lawful.
- Arrested numerous times (new ashfolk record ayy). The first time for Narcotics, at the time there were licenses still on record as sellable but it lead to a hilarious kerfuffle with some Janissaries taking pay offs to look the other way, others drawing a line and dragging me in. Magistrate was brought in, rule was given, I was released, the next day the Drug Law was changed. Arrested for the robbery of the Prelate, of which I had no idea about. Thoroughly interrogated over the Assassination of Faith when I was in the Trade Hall an hour before she showed up there. Just wrong place, wrong time.
- Helping the Brooker Smiley with ideas how to proliferate the drug trade. For quite a while just throwing the drugs around was working, but then gave him the idea to just put a "Big Ol' Bag of Drugs" within the Drifter's Stockade which inadvertently among other things lead to further Shimmer outlawing. And then Vaskr Farsong's Capital Trial. Of which I was paid to serve as defense. Of which I sold the debt to La Banda Rossa.
- While the plans with Roy Von Elrich and others didn't come to fruition aside from pit-fights there was an idea on the books for pitting Full Death Combat to gamble on at the Creep using all the money I could accumulate to make a fat Purse.
- Lordcutter, while I didn't have as much involvement as I was given blame often times for, I did help with the occasional smuggling bit and meeting coordination. And it was a delight to be arrested for things I didn't do so spending some time in the hoosgow was just good fun.
- As fate would have it, I would actually make most of my money on selling shitty paintings for huge mark up, selling furniture for higher cost, creating wines and candy and pies and things in Cooking for 5 dinar and selling them for 80-150 dinar, and otherwise shady grease.
- A few forged Licenses from my Forger were sold to up and coming criminals, some poisons from the Poisoner Perk, and more.
Ultimately though the experiment began to falter. The proverbial well dried up. The Creep dwindling bit by bit. Investing in PCs lead to some folks unfortunately having RL overtake them, others retired from a life of crime to go to legitimate enterprises in the hub.
I tried to follow suit and move up to the Hub to try and become more involved there. Had some big plans for politics, an app to potentially join the 4th Legion as an Inspector, and more. But after a while it just started to feel like wind being sucked out of the sails and disingenuous to the PC to try and fit a Square Peg into a Round Hole.
Shout out to everyone rocking the bells and shaking the boat. Thanks for keeping EFU vibrant and interesting and putting up with the long downtime between schemes, the quietude of the Creep when things got slow, and the guts to click /c Pvp.
Other Non Spoiler screenies (https://imgur.com/a/AYp51UH)
Total Gold earned, made, and spent over the PC's short crime spree (which I did my best to try and keep tabs of): 105,234 dinar. Which ain't bad considering I started the PC on July 4th lol.
Thanks for facilitating Knud and Ivar during exiled times, allies are few for any exile and they are valueable, especially in the context for providing RP and depth. Great stuff, Sir.
Taken from us too early... Only you can make so much impact in so little time. Amazing work.
Great character.
One of the few I got to spend time with, respect the hustle on the 100k!
Look forward to hopefully seeing your next
Sad to see him go! Greatly enjoyed the near endless schemes cooked up in our time together, and it's always fun to cross paths.