This one has been inspired in about equal parts by the Beeb's telly adaptation of The Turn Of The Screw and some truly odd fever dreams, courtesy of this damn cold.
A little preamble: it is my intention to generally nerf the slavemarket some time soon. Essentially I want to make the replacement rate for slaves a lot slower. This means a) that if the current crop are a bit lacking, you can't just wait a turn and get a full refresh - you'll need to wait until the girls are bought by someone else before they are replaced, and b) that if you buy all the girls one week, they'll be replaced slowly, over the course of several weeks.
Doing this, I hope to increase scarcity, and thereby make the make girls more valuable to the player. It also means that there's a point to events that open access to new markets, or new sources of slaves. For those concerned that such a change is going to somehow spoil the game, there will exist config options to restore the market to its current behavior.
That said...
"One of your squad leaders tells you of a possible business proposition. The manager of the city's bedlam-house is running short of room, and wants to talk to you about possible options for 'care in the community'"
A: Not interested (ENDS)
B: Talk to him
"You agree to a meeting on neutral territory, and are introduced to Doctor Thaddeus Nutt, proprietor of the Crossgate Bedlam Estate, known to your patrons as 'The Nutt House'. Nutt is a coarse, grubby little man, and the prospects of his actually holding a doctorate seem highly unlikely. Nevertheless, having gone this far, it costs nothing to hear the man out"
Nutt: "Evening, your worship. Dunno how much your man here told you, but I'm developing a bit of a crisis in the cash-flow and accommodation areas. All down to the increasing strains of the modern lifestyle, I'm thinking..."
PC: "Get to the
point, Nutt..."
Nutt: "Well, your eminence, I had heard that a man in your line of work was always looking for new talent, so to speak. And I happen to have some charming young ladies what I need to find new homes for. So I thought maybe we might be in a position to do each other a power of good, see?"
PC: "And what is it that you thought I might do with these charming ladies, Nutt?"
Nutt: "Well, I had thought you might be able to sell their bodies, chief. Thing is... "
Nutt looks around furtively and drops his voice "... thing is, our two lines of business has more in common that most people might think. Looking after a house full of headcases don't generate that much in the way of revenue, see? So if some young buck has a highly experimental therapy he wants to perfect, and if he's willing to make a small charitable donation to the running of the estate, then we lets him into the patient's quarters and we leaves them alone for an hour or so.
Nutt: "Purely as a matter of professional courtesy, we doesn't enquire too closely as to the nature of the therapeutic procedure, although from observing the after effects I would be forced to conclude that a great many in the medical profession think highly of the healing effects of sexual stimulation."
OPTIONS:
A: Declare War on the disgusting little toad.
B: Find out more
C: Terminate the discussion, before he contaminates anything.
A: Declare War
PC: "Doctor Nutt, you seem keenly interested in economic theory. Has it occurred to you that prostitution in Crossgate is not
entirely a free market in the classical sense?
Nutt: "Well, about that, your Radiance..."
PC: "... or perhaps it would be more precise to think of it as the ultimate distillation of free market economics. 'The Law Of The Jungle' is a phrase many have found apt. The Invisible Hand (if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor) turns out to be Red In Tooth And Claw. Do you follow me, Nutt?"
OPTION: At this point, if the PC has a seriously badass rep, Nutt will try and cave. If the PC lets him surrender, he gains control of a mental institute outside Crossgate, which will open a new supply of girls, but which may prove a decidedly mixed blessing in the medium to long term.
We continue on the assumption that the PCs rep isn't up the challenge, or that the PC prefers to crush Dr. Nutt like a bug.
Nutt: "Here, I don't think I like how this is going! I came here in good faith thinking we could do business."
PC: "Oh, but we can. I'm looking forward to it. I was thinking 'hostile takeover'. With a distinct emphasis on the 'hostile'."
Nutt:
Backing away hastily "You won't take me down easily! You're not the first to try it on, you know!"
END: Nutt appears as a new (and somewhat underpowered) rival. The Nutt House is built to be defended, and his guards are reasonably well trained, but he is unlikely to cause problems beyond a turn or two. Player acquires control of the Nutt House, with all the pros and cons that entails.
Backing up to "Find Out More"
PC: "An interesting proposal, but I'm not entirely sure I want to enter the world of long term mental healthcare."
Nutt: "Shouldn't be a problem; just treat them like any other slavegirl"
PC: "I believe I must have missed something. '
Slavegirl', Doctor?"
Nutt: "All our inmates are branded when we take charge of them. It's a power of attorney sort of thing. Means they can't raise legal objections to various treatments that while distasteful, may prove essential to the ultimate rehabilitation of the patient."
PC: "That would be 'distasteful' in the narrow, technical sense of 'being gang raped by a half dozen bored dilettantes from up on Nobbs Hill,' I take it?"
Nutt: "Well, I'm not aware of anyone who chooses to frame their research objectives in those precise terms, obviously, although... "
PC: "Skip it, I can imagine. So you're basically a slaver?"
Nutt: "Oh NO, sir! Oh no, no, no, no, no! The slave tattoo is purely a legal formality. As well as providing a useful tracking mechanism, should one of our poor lost lambs manage to stray beyond our walls, of course."
PC: "And if the title to one or more of those lambs should pass to a third party?"
Nutt: "Then I would obviously hope that said party would uphold the ethical responsibilities that go along with the bond of slavery. In the unlikely event that the party chose to ignore those responsibilities and maximally exercise his rights under law, I would obviously be deeply shocked. Shocked and appalled, in fact..."
PC: "... but sadly unable to compel me to honour a contract made with my predecessor in interest that was verbal at best. Is that about the size of it?"
Nutt: "More of an unspoken understanding, if truth be told. That's always assuming that word of the arrangement gets out, sir, which I don't see any reason why it should, if I may say so."
PC: "That's all well and good, but you still haven't addressed the whole 'madder than a box of frogs' aspect of the deal.
Nutt: "Oh, they're gone in the head all right, but that needn't stop you making a profit. Just chain them spread-eagled to the bed and let your patrons get on with it. You might need to stop the gobs on some of them, maybe tie a sack over their heads as well, but at the end of the day, quim is quim sir, as I'm sure you'll agree."
PC: "I'm not going to get many takers for that level of service."
Nutt: "So drop your price and make it up in volume. You'll make your costs back in three months, tops. Plus, you never know when you might need meat to get fucked by a viras plant, or a plaything for your soldiers where it doesn't matter too much if it gets broken ..."
Options:
A: Nutt, you are a loathsome little worm, and it will be my great pleasure to expunge you from existence.
B: Nutt, you are a loathsome little worm, and I want nothing to do with you or your operation.
C: Nutt, you are a loathsome little worm, and I've decided to invest in your business.
D: Nutt, you are a loathsome little worm, and I'm only accepting your offer so I can rehabilitate these poor, suffering creatures.
E: Nutt, you are a loathsome little worm. How soon can I take delivery?
Option A reverts back to the earlier Declare War case.
Option B leaves the door open for the PC to change his mind. In the meantime, Nutt may be expected to do business elsewhere, and the PCs rivals may receive some small bonuses.
Option C costs a lot of cash, but puts the PC in control of the Nutt House with Nutt as managing director. This gets most of the benefits of seizing the place by force, and few of the drawbacks since Nutt is experienced at navigating the political minefield of mental healthcare in Crossgate.
Option D gets the PC major disposition and suss bonuses if done right:
PC: "Nutt, I'm going to take these girls off your hands for no reason other than to see them returned to a state of happiness and sanity"
Nutt: "
Good luck with that *cough*Bless you guv'nor, I knew you was on the side of the angels, right from the start, I did. You is only doing what I would do if only I had the finance for it, and it is a sad, sad indictment on the state of the world today that..."
PC: "Nutt?"
Nutt: "Yes sir?"
PC: "Get out of my sight before I have you castrated."
Nutt: "Yes sir. Getting out now, sir."
Option E sees the PC get a job lot of a half dozen slavegirls at about half the market rate. Subsequent examination will reveal
- They are all at very low health
- They are all badly mentally traumatised. High hate and fear, low spirit, maybe some negative traits.
- They are all pregnant, generally showing and quite far along
- They have disappointingly low looks ratings, but closer examination will show that most of them have medium to high beauty - it's just that their charisma stats are all around zero.
If the deal goes through, further events will occur involving Dr. Nutt. At this point the PC will be free to review the "Declare War" option should he or she so choose.
If dealings are generally successful, Nutt has a cousin who runs a home dedicated to the treatment of ladies of "tainted blood". These are the cases where great grandma was a succubus, but the demonic aspect manifests rarely and unpredictably. Or the offspring of young women raped by tentacle beasts, whose progeny only mostly take after their mother. To say nothing of werewolves, vampires, and other young ladies whose special needs mean that they are best kept out of society as a whole.
Right, glad that's out of my system. Maybe I'll sleep now...
