Sugar Shack 17: Mission Reviews: The Bartender: A Machinist Meets Persephone!
In working with the Chef, I inadvertently killed a couple of The Bartender’s groupies, and the Chef’s missions were never the same afterwards; it seemed like I was working against her in every one of them. So I decided to visit her and see if I could somehow patch things up. She is to be found in Edgewater, tending shop at Club Noir (-1457, -6, -968), looking down on a scarcely populated dance floor from a frame balcony. She seemed nervous, with her rust-orange hair tumbling down over one eye; she never met my gaze, and kept watching the dance floor, as though she expected someone to walk in with a wooden stake. And perhaps she was. As we find out later in her missions, she has a problem with keeping the Merovingian happy.
1. Pickup Green
Naturally, her concerns focus on operations, not things or people. She needs you to make a payment to Endymion (lovely name) for some stock for “special libation”, not for coppertops. Endymion has his own problems who must be removed before he can do business. In the end you have impressed both him and the Bartender, and the rare liquor has been delivered, and both Endymion and the Bartender are developing a good impression of you.
2. The Dionysus Gambit
Some things, though, cannot be bought. A rare wine, Dom Perrineau ’37, is owned by an Exile playboy named Dionysius; the Bartender wants you to liberate the only known bottle for her. Despite your best efforts, though, it is not to be found; her information was apparently off-target. The code of many a thug was spilled in vain.
3. The Dionysus Gambit, Part 2
Never one to give up easily, the Bartender dispatches you to an alternate location for Dionysus where the Dom has been taken, for display along with some other way rare items, adding, “This plan has the upside of making him look like an ass”. You blow through some quite unelegant settings in Edgewater and score the brew. For someone like Dionysus, I was kind of expecting a more upscale setting. An expert cheers (!) when he tests the wine, and you’re done! Turns out this is intended for the Merovingian’s wife, who we meet in…
4. The Dionysus Gambit, Part 3
To renew her liquor license, the Bartender needs the blessing of the Merovingian; you need to deliver the Dom to Persephone!! For a Machinist, these chances are few and far between. The bartender gives a great characterization of her that only excited my interest: “She’s a darling- graceful, poised, and intelligent. She’s also hideously deceitful and manipulative….Do not be lured into any untoward activity.“ Persephone was all that and more. And her parting words to me: “Thank you so much. You must be a very talented operative to have obtained such a treasure for me. And so attractive. Mmmm…” made my Machinist convictions feel weak, and I thought about joining the Sirens. Thank God Gusman and Nosgoul1 were there to strengthen me.
5. Creative License
Here you go and get the license from Flood. His guards insist in a fighting skill demonstration (cheating is allowed). Then you take the license to Bartender, and you’re done; the bartender makes a special trip out of Club Noir to meet you and receive the license. In this conclusion, there is no special item or prize, which disappointed me; I had heard there were such items, and was hoping for a Black Lotus blouse or a Succubus outfit. But I had gone from angering her in my last mish suite to winning her admiration, and that was something.
I like mission arcs which have coherence and consistency. I especially like ones which seem to give some background into the weird world of the Exiles and their interactions. And when I meet a goddess of the matrix like Persephone, well, I’m all set to run through these again and get more screenshots with her! Absolutely worth doing, these are!
The other night, when I ran through these, Nosgoul1 and Gusman from the Collective helped me out tremendously, and not just from their personal charm!
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
