Part 11: Matchmaker

Episode 10: Matchmaker

Previously on Jade Empire, we explored most of Tien's Landing and helped out Baker Bei, who was getting beaten up by the local gang leader's thugs. Turns out said gang leader, Ai Ling, was a childhood friend of Bei's and kinda hung up on Bei telling her back then that he'd marry her eventually. We convinced her that this was extremely stupid and she left Bei alone, but our job isn't quite over yet.



As you can tell from the quest marker, Ai Ling has another quest for us and the name of this update (as well as all the posts since the last update) should make it pretty obvious what we're going to be doing. Before we get to helping her out, let's do a bit of exploring in her boathouse hideout.



I mean, we could just jump over that without even trying. I suppose that might make the thugs a bit annoyed at us, so maybe we'll look for a proper way in.



This proper way involves smashing up a vase and stealing the key that was hidden inside.



Now we can open the gate and enter the main office without anyone bothering us. The security in this gang hideout is not very good.





There are a couple of points of interest in the office. The first one is this scroll that describes the Land of Howling Spirits and has a few words about the Spirit Monks. Hey, that's us! Apparently, this was written before the fall of Dirge and the Emperor stealing the power of the Water Dragon.



The vase in the office contains the Gem of Evil Thought (+2 to Mind and Intuition), a unique essence gem that is always found in a random location. We found it pretty early on here, although we can't make use of it because the gem can only be equipped by a Closed Fist character. Its Open Palm counterpart with the same effects can be found in another random location. We could also help ourselves to the contents of the safe, a handsome 750 silver that nobody will ever notice has gone missing. Of course, we're nice people so obviously we don't do that. No, certainly not. Stealing is wrong, even when it's a criminal gang's ill-earned profits and we're an RPG protagonist. Ahem. Yes.



Now that we're done ransacking exploring the place, we can go talk to Ai Ling. She realizes exactly how dumb that whole thing with Bei was.





I know I was wrong; I admit it. But it doesn't make it hurt any less. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I'm never going to find a husband.

You could still find a husband.

What respectable man would ever want to marry a girl like me? Even the lummoxes in my gang would only do it because they're afraid of me.

People get married for worse reasons than that, so I'm sure Ai Ling still has some hope.



I have a reputation around town, and having my boys beat up Bei didn't help any. Any half-decent man would probably run if they saw me coming.



Well, we've met a few eligible bachelors while exploring the town, so perhaps we can do something about this. Not that most of the guys we met are exactly prizes...



But don't think I'm desperate enough to settle for just anyone. I've got my standards. And I'd have to meet him first, of course.

Tell me about the town's bachelors.

Let's see... there's Ru the Boatswain, but he's nothing but a drunk. My boys have had more than a few run-ins with him over the years. He's definitely out. Hmmm... Chumin the Craftsman is single. I don't know him that well, but he seems like a good man. He has a home in the southwest corner of the town. And then there's Yaoru. He used to be a sailor traveling the Empire, but now he's looking to settle down. He might be a good catch. Spends most of his time in the teahouse.

Anyone else?

Not living in town, and Tien's Landing doesn't get a lot of visitors. But if you find someone looking for a wife, bring him by so I can check him out.

And that leaves us with three candidates: Chumin, Yaoru, and Big Tian. As she brings up Ru the Boatswain as someone who is most definitely out, you might think you can do something to make him a viable option (this is a BioWare RPG after all, and you can convince people to do all kinds of things in these games) but that is not the case. Ru will not become an option for this quest at any point.



If you're playing a male character, you can try to get your on and offer to marry Ai Ling yourself, but she declines because you're clearly not looking to settle down anytime soon. I could swear I picked the "you sure got over Bei pretty quick" option at one point, but it wasn't in the video so I must've forgotten to do it. Ai Ling basically says that she wasn't really all that interested in Bei and snapped because she thought she was losing her only chance to get married. She kinda just reiterates what she said when we talked to her at the start of this update.



Well then, time to get to work. I will be showing off all possible options in a bonus update at some point, but for this "canon" run we'll be choosing the best option. The best choice, of course, is the one that your follower has a comment on.





Before we leave, let's check out one more bookstand near the exit. It's just a bit of lore about horselords, nothing too exciting.



Let's focus-sprint our way to the southwest corner of town and have a chat with our old buddy Chumin.



It's a shame my business is struggling so much. I really am a fine craftsman but I could use someone to help organize things and help me out with some of my jobs.

Well then, I'm sure he'll like this.



You are well informed about our little town, stranger. It's true I've thought about marriage. Sometimes I've even thought a good woman could help me run my business better. Why do you bring this up? Do you know of a suitable young woman who would be willing to marry a simple craftsman like myself?

Do you know Ai Ling?

Ai Ling? The gang leader? She's beautiful, to be sure... but I've heard her beauty is only surpassed by her savage brutality! Why would I want to marry her?



The Intuition check here makes the most sense, obviously.



I guess it couldn't hurt to go talk to her. Come on, let's go see Ai Ling.

The other persuasion options work just as well, as far as I know. Chumin doesn't take much convincing. Let's see how this thing turns out...





Uh. Off to a great start. I think Chumin needs a bit of help here.



I mean, Ai Ling is the leader of the big criminal gang and kind of a rough-hewn sort in general, so we probably shouldn't blame Chumin for getting a case of the nerves in a situation like this.







Again, the only option that makes sense. The first one is obviously a lie, and the last one is kinda harsh even though it's not wrong.





At this point, it doesn't matter which of these options you pick. As the Intuition dialog spells out, these two just needed someone to introduce them to each other, and now that we've done that the rest takes care of itself.





I'll leave you two alone.

You lived up to your part of the bargain and brought me a decent prospect. So I'll live up to mine: Here's the silver I promised you.

I've never seen so much silver before! I've been owed it, but I never managed to collect.

It's 500 silver. We, of course, recently saw a larger sum than that when we... put it back in the safe and most certainly didn't run off with it.





And with that, the matchmaking quest is completed. The boathouse is inaccessible to us from now on, and I'm assuming the gang is going to be disbanded since Ai Ling was saying something to that effect earlier.



Only one area of Tien's Landing left to explore, then. That must be Minister Sheng's office, Hui did mention it was "still smoldering".





Looks to be one of the sailors skulking around, taking an interest to this merchant's wares.





Yeah, we know where this is going, don't we?



All right, let's clobber this idiot and get the sword back and...





Hold on, here's Minister Sheng himself. As you can see, the man absolutely exudes natural authority.



The thief actually puts the sword back down. I can't say I saw that coming.







Fantastic. Can't wait to deal with this guy.



That is what we'll be doing next time. Who knows, maybe we'll get to go close that dam as well! This was a pretty short update, but I just wanted to get that matchmaking quest out of the way before we start the important stuff.

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