Oden reaches the rooftop garden still hunched beneath Oki Watanabe’s scavenged jacket and false hair. He carries no weapon, while the distant patrol sirens fade below.
Mika Vale pulls aside the irrigation tarps. Fresh rice spills from the golden basket into cracked bowls, bright against damp soil and dead leaves.
Mika Vale
You made it back. The garden stayed quiet, but the patrols are combing the lower blocks.
Several residents wait beside the seed trays, keeping their voices low. Those who remained behind watch the stairwell, while others who accompanied Oden from the warehouse linger near the water drums.
the rooftop resident
Is it real? Can that basket feed everyone, or only the people already standing closest?
Mika Vale
One bowl each first. Then we count what remains. No fighting, no shouting, and nobody carries a handful downstairs alone.
The machine gives a tired metallic cough, and another warm stream of rice slides into the waiting bowls. Every face turns toward Oden, expecting the disguise to explain itself.
✓ Quest Accepted
Ensure every resident receives a fair share of rice
“Oden decides to help distribute rice, his agility and sleight of hand allowing him to help serve those that are unable to travel to get rice. He uses his sneaking to bring rice to houses of the poor, like a grubby Santa Claus. He takes care not to let anyone know or see him doing such things, as he wants to keep people from connecting his exploits with free food. He knows that they will hound him for free food if he is known to carry it around to give away.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled +0)
Oden fills small cloth parcels from the golden basket, then slips from the garden beneath Oki Watanabe’s jacket. He moves across roofs and alleys without a witness.
At the first dark doorway, he leaves rice beside an elderly woman’s water jug, then crosses a broken balcony to reach a feverish neighbor unable to climb.
the elderly woman
Bless whoever remembers the doors at the bottom of the stairs.
He works through the lower blocks like a grubby Santa Claus, feeding shut-ins and exhausted parents while keeping his face turned from every window. The rice reaches them all.
On a rusted fire escape, one parcel catches a nail and spills a bright trail across the metal. Oden gathers most of it, but the clatter carries into the lane.
the rooftop resident
Someone is moving rice down here. I saw a shadow by the old laundry house.
Oden returns before dawn with fewer parcels and a torn jacket sleeve. In the garden, Mika quietly counts the remaining rice while grateful bowls wait below.
“Oden wants to know if there is anyone that needs more rice. He also is going to pull of a daring caper where he feeds the New Shinsengumi and the captured criminal gangs as well. Despite their conflict he wants to feed them as well. But this isn't as magnanimous as it appears, as he has received word of the New Shinsengumi getting hold of a mysterious relic, one that could be used to track down and capture Oden.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled +0)
Oden the Fool
Who needs more rice?
the rooftop resident
The families below the laundry house, the infirmary, and anyone locked up with those gangs. Hunger does not check uniforms.
Mika divides the remaining grain into tight parcels. Oden takes them beneath the torn jacket, following service stairs and drainage shadows toward the New Shinsengumi holding yard.
He leaves rice beside the infirmary door, then slips portions through the gang cells and beneath the officers’ mess shutters. Red Knives, Iron Dogs, and uniformed guards all find food waiting.
Shinzo Abe
Rice in a locked yard? Search every roof. He fed us, which means he wanted us looking somewhere else.
While patrols turn outward, Oden spots a sealed evidence case on Shinzo’s desk, marked with the same unfamiliar symbol described in the warning about the relic that can track him.
The caper succeeds, but a rusted gate tears Oden’s sleeve and scrapes his forearm. He escapes with the rice gone, the officers suspicious, and the relic’s trail confirmed.
Steal the tracking relic
Quest Complete
Ensure every resident receives a fair share of rice
Skill Upgrade: Negotiation Mediocre→Fair