A Most Magnificient Mask Shop

In a quiet corner of a market in Chiaroscuro, down an forgotten alley way in Nexus or in the streets of the Imperial City lies a most wonderful shop. To most mortal customers it is simply a shop filled with beautiful masks of all shapes and sizes. Masks of animals, gods and people line the humble shopkeepers shelves and windows.

Each one, as the shopkeeper will mention to the customer in a quiet tone, brings happiness and joy to its wearer for the night its worn. Parties that would have fallen flat are now the talk of the town for months, rumours and whispers about its antics are fondly remembered, such are the powers of these little masks.

If you are more than a mortal though the shopkeeper will take you behind a curtain into a small room where 8 blank masks are hung on the walls. Each mask is a white and featureless but upon wearing it the owner adopts some startling new features. Blatant lies now sound like truth and tall tales seem merely modesty on the part of its owner. A man will gladly give up his house and the clothes on his back to buy that shiny apple from you if you tell him its magical apple.

Wearing one of these masks a man could con a kingdom, but the magic does not last forever, something which the shopkeeper never points out. The night after the mask holder has conned his 8th person the mask shatters and all those he conned now regain their senses. Even the smallest lie will count and if he manages to hold onto the mask for more than a few days the mask will make him lie compulsively until his 8th has been used up.

The shopkeeper loves to see the chaos such simple masks can bring, in particular kingdoms full of the proud and noble. For, unknown to most, he is the celestial god of mischief and loves nothing better than to wind up sidereal exalted who really need to lighten up.

Mortal Mask of Mischief
Drops temperance by 2 for the night it is worn but only at a social event where masks are encouraged.

Magical mask of Mischief
Drops temperance by 2 and makes all manipulation based social attacks succeed unless the target is not mortal in which case they may roll their essence as a defence against the roll the mask wearer would have rolled. The target will believe whatever lies he has been told and the effect lasts until the masks breaks, or until someone uses a suitable charm to remove this supernatural influence (mask owners essence as the difficulty). The mask breaks after the 8th victim and if the mask hasn't been used in (characters temperance) days will force the mask wearer to con the most powerful person within a mile.

Smiling Fox: God of Mischief and Mirth
Originally a fox spirit he conned his way through the celestial bureaucracy to become head of the council of laughter and joyous events which he almost never attends. He is only rarely sighted in yu-shan and only then at parties or other social functions, where make the more serious gods lives a misery. He spends most of his time in creation in his mask shop. He has a particular loathing for bronze faction sidereals who are way too up tight. He will also pick on the serious and proud, but he does have a soft spot for con men, night caste and generally most lunars who aren't brutes.

Stories

• The characters could be trying to pull of the creations most difficult heist and may need an artifact with a little more power.
• They could be sidereals trying to shut down this tricksters when they become victims to it.
• Perhaps they need the gods help in someway and his challenge is to con as much as they can with these masks and get away with it.