Gang Warfare, 2008-09-09
From Tourmaline
Having arranged something to get the Doxie's Guild a little assistance (see log), Drake decides it's time to turn his attention to the Crows.
He begins by summoning Rook, the Crows' leader and currently leading contender in the race to be Drake's lieutenant. They discuss the current state of the gang war down in the River Quarter. He finds that it's actually a gang cold war, since the three gangs (Crows, Bastards, and Red Runners) are too evenly balanced for any two of them to risk letting the third take advantage of open violence.
That provides the basics of a plan. Rook reveals that the leader of the Red Runners, Rufo is pretty much a hot head, so most likely to go off half-cocked if something untoward happens. Unfortunately, his second, Twill, is pretty smart, so she tends to keep the Red Runners from doing anything crazy. However, Rufo doesn't listen to Twill as much as he should, and so she's chafing under his rule.
Drake muses that if it's worked right, they might get Twill to abandon the Red Runners for greener pastures, but Rook is pretty set against putting her in his gang (since he also has the "rivals" psych lim). Drake wonders if instigating trouble will be worth it, leading to Rook becoming confused about exactly what Drake is after. Sadly, no one understands poor Drake. Drake assures Rook that he's after all of the usual things, and nothing overly surprising is likely to happen if Rook keeps doing what Drake says. Mollified, Rook grudgingly admits that Twill is smart enough to be useful, so Drake might find some spot for her.
Drake doesn't have any immediate openings if Rook doesn't want her in the Crows however, so that's left aside for the moment.
The plan evolves to: the Crows will invade Red Runner territory and "Cause Trouble". They will be lamely disguised as Bastards by Jenneth and Miles, who work it so that the Red Runners think it's obviously Bastards lamely disguised like Crows ("Fool Some of the People All of the Time"). Before Rufo gets to converse with Twill, a bunch of Doxies' hanging around will act all innocent and say things like, "Oh! I thought this was Red Runner turf. Did that Change? Did Rufo give it away?" and the like to make Rufo look foolish in front of his guys. ("Embarrass Public Figure" for 8s since Rufo isn't so public.) Rufo will then go crazy and attack the Bastards in retribution!
The plan is executed, and it works nigh-perfectly. The Bastards, seeing an unprovoked attack by the Red Runners, go to war.
Rook is pretty sure that in a little while, the Crows will likely be able to expand up to almost half of the turf in the area, since both the RR's and the Bastards will have to pull back and consolidate for defense and because of their losses.
Rook and Drake share a drink to success.
