Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - piecewise

Pages: 1 ... 43 44 [45] 46 47 ... 1031
661
Roll To Dodge / Re: MOOK: In a while, Crocodile.
« on: May 17, 2020, 11:27:36 am »
Make choking noises and gestures for help and regret my life choices.
"There it is again!  You keep using the name Derp's thralls use!  And threats of violence, and manipulation, too!  Keep digging that hole, drone, I'll gut you and Derp just the same!"

Wilfred edges over to Gabe as he shouts, keeping his rifle trained on Leslie's cover.  He delivers a sharp kick to Burt's shoulder when he gets close enough.  "C'mon man, what's wrong?  You okay?"

"...Did you do this, you fucking thrall?!  You were attempting to clear out the security team, one by one, weren't you?!  Bastard!" He fires a shot over the top of the cover.  "Fuck!  Gabe, damn it--fine!  If you aren't enthralled, toss your gun out of cover, and come fix Gabe!  But don't you fucking try anything, you won't find us easy prey when we're watching.

Yell at Leslie to fix Gabe, telling her to drop that silenced peashooter of hers too.  If she attacks Wilfred, shoot her, but... well, attacking Gabe might be okay.  Medicine looks like that sometimes, and she should get a chance at least.

Spoiler: I love you Omnitech! (click to show/hide)

Leslie's face twists and turns, a nose scrunching up, Omnitech© regulation length eyebrows knitting together on her brow. The thump-thump of a heart-pounding in their head. A hand slowly rolling through knotted up hair until finally. It clicks within the dull brain of a drone, of the misunderstanding before her, a smile beaming slowly across.

A hand dusting themselves off, Leslie lets her cheerful voice, that light disturbing thing ring out from around the corner. Only faintly holding a hint of an apologetic tone.


"Faithful Omnitech employee, Mr.Wilfred, I apologize for the mislabelling of the asset to be retrieved. I am indeed not a thrall to the entity that we both collectively shall call Derp. I apologize sincerely for the improper use of terminology. This faithful employee shall endeavor to follow Omnitech security's instructions for the safety of us all."

Miss Omnitech places her weapon on the floor and moves to try to force Gabe to spit out whatever he is choking on.
"There it is again!  You keep using the name Derp's thralls use!  And threats of violence, and manipulation, too!  Keep digging that hole, drone, I'll gut you and Derp just the same!"

Wilfred edges over to Gabe as he shouts, keeping his rifle trained on Leslie's cover.  He delivers a sharp kick to Burt's shoulder when he gets close enough.  "C'mon man, what's wrong?  You okay?"

"...Did you do this, you fucking thrall?!  You were attempting to clear out the security team, one by one, weren't you?!  Bastard!" He fires a shot over the top of the cover.  "Fuck!  Gabe, damn it--fine!  If you aren't enthralled, toss your gun out of cover, and come fix Gabe!  But don't you fucking try anything, you won't find us easy prey when we're watching.

Yell at Leslie to fix Gabe, telling her to drop that silenced peashooter of hers too.  If she attacks Wilfred, shoot her, but... well, attacking Gabe might be okay.  Medicine looks like that sometimes, and she should get a chance at least.

Spoiler: Sheet (click to show/hide)
Code: [Select]
Sight: Functioning (blindfold readied)
Smell: Nose plugs.
Hearing: Pathos' text-to-speech earplugs
Taste: Cutting out one's tongue seems like too much.  How are we gonna taste him without touching him, anyway?
Touch: Riot armor
Leslie, under duress, attempts to save Gabe from his horrible life decisions. Well, from the consequences of one very specific decision at least.
[3]
Despite her complete lack of medical training, Leslie manages to successfully perform the heimlich maneuver on Gabe. Admittedly she does this by jumping on his stomach...but its overall successful.

Spoiler: Helene Hestia (click to show/hide)

"Seems pretty solid water pipes usually are, this will work wonders so what's with the alligator-wait you're a mechanic how are you a mechanic when you dont have thumbs or hands? Also, can you understand me, nod if yes."

Heleen seems to be both genuinely curious and outraged in equal measure regards to the alligator.

Helene attempts to rips the pipe out of the wall & double-checks the alligator's name tag.
Helene uses the tip of the pipe to turn the alligator's tag so she can read it.

"Bob the Biter".

Yep.

Bob does not like the cold. Bob will 'Fix' that cooler. There's a couple handy corpses nearby to use as tools. The water in here is too shallow for Bob to determine properly if the other Bob can swim or not, so he ignores that question, as well as whatever that other person was saying. Bob is slightly disappointed at the lack of incoming raw chicken, but there are a couple handy corpses nearby (and some ... 'pre-corpses' walking around) to make up for it. Eat some corpse, is what I'm saying here.

Spoiler: Can We Fix It? (click to show/hide)
[8] Bob wanders over to a wall mounted tank of liquid nitrogen and carefully clubs the outlet pipe flat with his tail.  He nods about a job well done before lazily chomping down on the head of one of the corpses and vigorously deathrolling until it tears off and he can swallow it whole.


Angry spider noises at Yagyu's direction. Don't turn on that jammer. I'm in the middle negotiating here.

Quote
I am a man of my word. Though you interest me as to your alternative; what is it you purpose?
Keep talking: "Our primary objective is to capture you alive and return you to OMNITECH custody. However, failing that, our employer will find your termination and the preservation of this facility an acceptable alternative, as long as your termination is deemed accidental and/or unavoidable."

"Frankly, you seem like a... well, not good, but OK-ish person. Not really evil, just a bit of a dick that likes to have fun. On the other hand, most of the people in this company are incompetent, terrible or both.  You had this ability all this time and all you did was found a sex cult. If someone like OMNI managed to get your abilities, even if they don't destroy the world with their incompetence, they are very likely to use it against me. So as a matter of self-preservation, I would prefer to deny them any further chances of studying you."

"I have two options for your consideration. One is to use a cognition copier to transfer your consciousness to another body and present your 'corpse' to OMNITECH while you join our security team taking the pace of one of our dead teammates. If you don't like our little group you can always disappear later; this research complex is quite large, after all. The second is to use the Phase Gate present in this facility to attempt to transport you somewhere else. Neither is an easy option but perhaps you will consider them better than being recaptured. I could also attempt to stage an 'accidental' release after we retrieve you but I can't guarantee your safety from my more paranoid teammates or the automated defence systems."





SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


Code: [Select]
These are interesting options, but I will deny the first outright. I am me, and no duplicate- however sophisticated- can compare. I am this flesh, and with this flesh I will die.

Escape through one of your questionably stable portals is an invigorating idea, but I wonder what you will do to explain it to your superiors?

Turn on the jammer, unless a teammate requests me to wait.

Help ensure Gabe doesn't choke if nobody else does.

If the Gabe situation is under control, then carefully sneak over to the door to sector I, using scanner along the way to avoid ambushes or traps. Once there, weld the door to sector I shut.


"Will, stop harassing the new meat please. Also, building this jammer here took all of my creative juices it seems, so if you want that adaptor you'll have to figure out the needed parts yourself I'm afraid."


Spoiler: Yagyu d'Aubigny (click to show/hide)
Yagyu wanders over to the door to Sector I and welds it shut.  This all goes...remarkably easily honestly. About the most dangerous thing around here is a dead fish or two so...compared to last sector this is a breeze.

"Why did they train an alligator to be a mechanic?"
Search the lab for any loot and maybe a blindfold or something.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Search the lab for anything useful. While everything might be waterlogged, containers will still be helpful and can be filled with more things when needed. Also take some of the fish corpses that aren’t getting eaten
if Gabe dies, take his rifle, baton, and armor.

Otherwise continue to roll along the murderball

Spoiler: Ji (click to show/hide)
Kenneth will look for a weapon, maybe an experimental big gun created by some egghead. Kenneth likes big guns.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Go back and do the thing that helps people choke less to Gabe . Grab some corpses to feed bob with, while I’m at it. Also use my thinking skills to find out what happened in the sector, after looting it.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
[3] Billy Bob discovers a suitable blindfold. He proceeds to take the dead fish to his face.
[3] Tara also returns with an armful of dead fish.
[1] Kenneth staggers around the corner with some kind if giant mollusk clinging to his face and apparently trying to slowly grind his face off with its radula.
[10] Toby returns after searching the area for clues and goodies. He has come to the impression that this is some sort of marine biology lab for offworld fish. Judging by the documents, these creatures were all captured from the deep ice oceans of Europa. In terms of lootable goods, he has found what amounts to an oversized cattle prod. It doesn't look particularly deadly, but it would likely render those jabbed with it out of commission, at least temporarily.




662
Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: The Left-Hand Path
« on: May 14, 2020, 03:31:39 pm »
We should return to the Network with the information we gathered
+1
You somewhat reluctantly agree to return to the city with the information you've gathered; it seems a waste to leave when you're so close...but she makes a good point. You're not strong enough to get in there at the moment and risk the retribution it would bring upon you and your allies. You help Esme pack up the gear, deanimate the bird, and head back.

When you finally get on the train back to the city is somewhere in the very early morning, maybe around 2, and everything is utterly dark and quiet. As soon as you and Esme tip toe to your sleeping car she crawls into bed and passes out. You, after touching the bundle of papers tucked into your coat just to make sure its still there, settle in as well. You cross your arms over your chest, holding the papers tightly, and then tell yourself to sleep for a few hours. Everything goes black and...then you open your eyes. You feel like only seconds have passed and its still totally dark and quiet. You try to move and find yourself somewhat constrained. Something feels odd. Your arms are too long, legs too short. You struggle and burst free from whatever is restraining you; darkness giving way to the dim lights of the railroad carriage. You blink. The carriage is too large. Far too large. It must be...3 or 4 times the size it used to be....But no...Esme is there as well and she's as large as everything else. You whip your head around- further than you think you should be able to- and look for yourself.  There you are, sitting as you left yourself, apparently asleep.

You look down and bring your hands out from your sides to look at them. Feathers. You focus your eyes forward and a beak- blurry from proximity- comes partially into view.  The hawk. It was stuffed into the luggage next to you.  How are you here? Why are you here? You can't make sense of any of this. That hawk was deanimated, it shouldn't be even be able to move.

663
Roll To Dodge / Re: Cabal: Wizard Open World Game
« on: May 14, 2020, 01:31:44 pm »
There is absolutely no way that the seals on the lower labs are perfect. given the amount of time that has passed I'd expect the homeless population to have ransacked them thoroughly unless they are actively guarded.
Inspect the seals on the lower labs. I REALLY have trouble buying that the seals have worked properly this entire time. maybe they've devloped holes, maybe they're bypassable, maybe they missed a spot, but there's no way they all still work. Also keep an eye out for the poor and desperate anywhere near the labs, having been one of them, I know what to look for, and I also know that they're generally more in touch with threats and resources than those with a more stable living situation.

Spoiler: Nina (click to show/hide)
You head into the old labs. The upper levels are just empty rooms, though they're somewhat interesting because they're all made of highly machined metal. Its a quality you just don't see anymore.  You head down to the lower level and immediately see why the people here think the seal hasn't been breached. The door deeper in is about 15 feet tall and made of some kind of black stone like substance. Its so goddamn massive and imposing that you immediately feel like anything that could breach it would probably also completely annihilate the village above in the process. However, there is something wrong. The ground down here is vibrating slightly. And not consistently, it seems to ebb and flow at an erratic rate, like something is grinding around beneath you somewhere.


Woah

After we land I want to take Benedict, the core, and a barrel of magicoal up to visit the magebreaker who paid for the expedition.  The others can guard the loot until I can talk to the auctioneers and figure out where to keep the stuff.

Spoiler: Saeko Hirahara (click to show/hide)
Accompany Sae s'far as I'm able. If someone accosts her before she gets to her destination, flex at them.

Spoiler: Zavi (click to show/hide)

The Moth Flier comes in on a long turn, nosing up as it glides in towards the open fields below. With a tremendous rush and roar of wind  the flier comes to an almost dead stop before lightly dropping down onto its feet. Benedict wriggles back out of the cargo hold and everyone else follows, stretching their legs and looking around at the fields and the distant shapes of very surprised farmers. Saeko and Zavi immediately turn towards the city, intent on delivering the core, and come face to face with about a dozen mage breakers. At the head of the group is the same man who initially contracted Saeko, the one you know only as the Interlocutor.  The Interlocutor gestures to someone behind the two and one of the workers - a well built young man -jogs over to him. The two speak in whispers for a moment [7+2v7] and Saeko can make out that they're talking about the events of the expedition. The Interlocutor digs into his clothing and produces a small sack of coins. He points to the farmers moving towards the landing site and the young man jogs off towards them, apparently ordered to pay them off for the damage to the field.  The Interlocutor finally turns his attention to Saeko and Zavi.

"Pardon the rather aggressive welcome," He says in a complete monotone, "they are simply here to guard the cargo. It would be very unbecoming of us to let it be stolen in the last moments, would it not?"

He turns his attention to Zavi in particular.

"You've done well. We can take it from here. If you would like to return to the Magebreaker HQ, I am sure they are waiting for you."

He turns his attention back to Saeko.

"Now then, if you would, we would like the core."







Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Thank you."
Leave the building and look around for the adventurer I came here with, or the party

You ask around but apparently its already been more than 3 days so they already headed out. They actually haven't returned yet, despite the fact they likely should have. Its a bit...suspicious.

“Thank you. I’m Eve, I get mana by helping spirits. What would be a good indicator of which ones to help and which ones to leave alone?”

"We don't tend to deal with spirits much so can't give you that much advise on that front. I suggest you talk to the priests here to learn more, they are spirit experts. And maybe talk to a magebreaker sometime if you get the chance, they know how to deal with malicious spirits as well. But as a general tip, not smashing open mysterious urns you found in a sealed-off temple until you have an actual idea of what is in it, or at least making solid preparations to reseal it if it's nefarious before releasing it, would be a good start.

Oh, and while it possessed you that spirit killed some people. You might want to see if you can make amends for that. You may not be able to bring them back from the dead, but perhaps you can ensure no destitute widows or orphans are now left behind."

“Thank you. Do you have an idea how long I’ve been possessed for? I went here with an adventurer who mentioned a party coming in a couple days, but I don’t know how long I’ve been possessed. I’ll go to the priests soon. After getting information from them, I’m wondering if I could travel with you?”

"It's a free-ish country, so if you want you can tag along with us. Know however, that we have a specific goal in mind right now and that we will try to prevent further distractions from that goal. You will also need to be able to handle yourself if the going gets tough, and know that we can't absolutely guarantee you a reward at the end. All that said, if you want we could give you a few things to help you on your further journeys."

Gather all those urns very carefully. See if any more of them happen to have a word on them (also show to Ecalir).

Then start preparing for our trip to Ipecacuanha. Buy whatever supplies, gear or tools we'll need to get there. See if we can hire a guide that knows the land well. Then, once we are ready, vamos! On our way there, try to gather wild honey, berries and fruits (for brewing into alcohol) and see if there's some small game we could catch.

Could you perhaps tell me the familial relationship between Telcal and Alizarin?

Finally, you said they tried to kill Alizarin. Are there any details known about how gods can get killed? Do we know of other gods that were killed in the past?



They're all basically duplicates of each other, so sadly no new words.

Telcal is the brother of Kal-Dune, so she is his niece and he is her uncle. You're not really sure on the number of generations between the two.

The priests are strangely reluctant to talk about the methods used to kill a god, but they do say that killing a god and killing a person are not the same. They reference the "Sunken One" and "The Clot in the Earth" as gods that were killed, but state that they're still around. Apparently killing a god doesn't remove them from the world or even completely remove their consciousness or capacity to act, it just changes them in some way. Judging by the stories they tell you, it is almost like killing a god makes them into a natural force instead of a cognizant and personal being.

We'll say you spend 35 gold getting some more food and water, some jungle gear (bug nets, machete, folding canoe, etc) and hiring a guide to take you Ipecacuanha. The route is a difficult one, far less built up than the route up to Kaolin from the east. You take the eastern route back down to Calamine and then follow the River Ink through the valleys of the Philosopher's Teeth mountains past Isinglass  and around until you come out somewhere between the River Kermes and your destination. The Plains are something to see, especially to you two who have been wandering the deserts for this entire time. Green and yellow savana and tall grass dotted with massive umbrella shaped trees. Its cooler too, and in the distance you can see the dense jungle around the Kermes.

The City of Ipecacuanha is one of the oldest, at least of those that still exist. Its passed hands many times, though its goddess remained a constant up until relatively recently in historical terms. The ruins of the snake worshipers that once held the city are still scattered near its current location. Even without looking you can tell this city used to be far larger, now shrunken in on itself, only the former mountain citadel and surrounding buildings remaining. Its built up on top of and into a huge monolithic stone that juts up out of the otherwise flat grassland like a lighthouse in a green sea. Buildings so old that the stone blocks have had their corners eroded smooth from millennia of rain sit next to dilapidated palaces from the height of the age of magic, next to the small and robust buildings of the modern age. Ruins built upon ruins built upon ruins, all being barely held together by the current citizens.  Statues of the Snake Goddess are everywhere, in equally varying states of decay. Its interesting to look at them, to see the passage of civilizations in the different levels of erosion and the different art styles with which she is depicted. One, so ancient and smoothed that it could almost have been a natural formation they pulled from a river, looks like it might even be borderline neolithic.


664
I'm not really following what's happening so well, apparently Rhea isn't a daemonhost?  Whatever.  Go smash the big monster thing with both 'kumos.

I'm not really following what's happening so well, apparently Rhea isn't a daemonhost?  Whatever.  Go smash the big monster thing with both 'kumos.

((I am a demon host right now, a lightning demon))
She's not a demon host.  Never was. I mean she might have become one if she ever did that dive she was planning but luckily this guitar incident happened first. 


[6,7,7,1]
Nyw charges the demonic guitar and swings with both blades, Cleaving downwards in an "X" that hacks the rampaging instrument into four different pieces.  It squirms and writhes about for a few seconds then goes still. Nyw shakes the gore off his blades and returns to his alcohol.

Look for the flying golem I'm currently missing. Try to remember where I last saw it.

If Rhea is no longer mucho demono like I think, quickly go retrieve my stuff from the warehouse, get back to the bore, then use golems 1,6 and 4 to forge myself a superior version to the flying lazer shooting crystal golem (that I just lost). Just make one that's "better", what that means exactly I'll leave up to the Crystal (meaning your imagination).


Spoiler: Clate (click to show/hide)



You attempt to find the golem you're missing...are you missing a golem? You feel like you are but...they're all here...Thats very odd.

[1] The resulting merged form is basically Ramiel but the size of a car instead of the size of a high rise building.

Oh those aren't here. They were being translated in Knot weren't they? We're in Anvil right now.
((No they were being translated in Anvil. The books were sent over for translation right after we finished the relic vision job for the Church in Anvil.))

Recover the books, the original untranslated ones, there should be 34 of them. Also take a look at a few translations for comparison. Check whether they have any additional ancient human books outside of the ones our group brought in for translating.

Return back to the bore once the books have been acquired.

Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)
Huh...Alrighty then.

You get the books. There are a few ancient human books around here that aren't part of your collection. They're pretty well guarded and preserved, apparently being highly valuable as they are said to have come from the actual world above, not retrieved via dives.

You return to the bore.

I can't panic I can't panic I can't panic
"Ony! Keep the strings from vibrating! Put your hand on them to silence them! Ony! Can you hear me? Damn it."

Order Crystal Friend to climb back up. Use my arm and my beak to wedge the rope of my grappling hook to its harness. Then direct it to move around the guitar. This combined with Ony's grappling hook will keep it trapped in place and if I'm lucky the rope will keep the strings from vibrating.



Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)
Try to awaken and not die.

Spoiler: Ony (click to show/hide)

Kara, now free from having to fight, goes over and helps Ony up. By which I mean she slaps him until he wakes up in a pool of dead guitar innards.  Its been a day.

Consume one Worm's Blood. Consume one Silent Night. Dive.

Telazch -> Gesh [Bind Lifething]
sacrifice bone fretted haunted electric guitar
reinforce telazch 4x,  Gesh 8x
Path: 4
reinforcements: 12
total nerve rolls: 16
Final Endurance roll
Final Nerve Roll

Permanently Bind the abominable guitar to (obey) my will.



Ashul collapses on his knees, just a little too slow to begin his dive before Nyw ended the fight. He picks up the chunks of his much desired companion and holds them above his head, crying out in anguish at the partnership that could have been.

"WE COULD HAVE MADE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC TOGETHERRRRRRR"



Quote
Meanwhile Adam finishes getting a quote on the cost of a new drill somewhere in town.
((Welp, guess I'm not on the bore to help with the other monster then, sorry guys.))

Quote
Leon isn't currently available, he's somewhere in the depths, apparently in the unmapped areas near Fire's Blessing. Its unknown when He'll be back. He has left word though, that if you want to speak with someone you should speak with his protege who is supposed to still be in Eclipse.
Could we set up a (preferably secure) call to his protege?

Where do church divers do their big/dangerous dives around here? Since they must also face the issue of possession or other side effects, do they have some sort of reinforced diving vault around here? If yes, could I use/rent it? I'd like to do some dives soon but the bore is a nono and I'd rather not just go diving in an alley.


Quote
Replacing the drill with a new one would cost 300 fathoms for a simple swap.
Can I get a quote on the cost for installing a better drill instead of just replacing our current one? Note that the current 'penetration' value of our drill is 12.

Spoiler: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza (click to show/hide)
Call yes, secure...maybe. You can secure your side but without diving to insulate the call it would depend on his side. Maybe you could talk to him in code of some kind to secure it? Maybe He'd already have a secure line for you. Unknown.

The church tends to do their dives in reinforced catacombs beneath their main building. You, being a member of the church, could probably ask them to use the space. Though they might ask compensation in the form of doing dives for them on top of your personal work.

A better drill would be in the 1K range. Though it would also change the cost of travel so that drilling or following paths are equal in terms of fuel cost.





665
Roll To Dodge / Re: MOOK: THY FLESH CONSUMED
« on: May 13, 2020, 12:08:37 pm »
"Well done gang, that should hold them for a while. Now, let's get out of this godforsaken sector. Oh, and Ji, nice to have you back in one pie-... Well, nice to have you back."

To the next sector! Close the door behind us just in case so no demons can follow us (don't weld it, just regular closing). Make sure to walk in a wide arc around the stranded monster fish, just in case they have some fight left in them.

If I get a chance, try to craft that signal jammer I collected the parts for before, use a toolkit charge. Do not yet enable it so paris can have his bants.


Quote
5. Considered building a wall plug for a military laser. Calculated charge times as somewhere in the "several months" range and decided instead to investigate alternative fuels; an adaptor is a more likely solution.
To build this adaptor, what would we need to scavenge? And where could we find these parts? (assume we'd use a toolkit charge to try and build it)

Spoiler: Yagyu d'Aubigny (click to show/hide)
[5]Yagyu creates his signal jammer out of various garbage! Good for him.
[1] He considers what he would need to create the power adapter. Hmmm. Gallon of milk, loaf of bread, dozen eggs...

@Yagyu: "Note that the signal jammer will only disable micromanagement of enemy units in its radius. Our opponent can still send vague directions to his thralls even without a direct line of communication. Before activating the jammer, would you be willing to attempt to triangulate his position? Though he has shown no indication of lying so far, it is best to be certain we are going the right way. Just because he is a psychopath and a narcissist who thinks he is so much better than us, it doesn't mean he'll keep his word."

Speak to the guy we're supposed to capture some more.
"We are approaching your sector now. Assuming you were truthful in your statement. Will you honor your word and return with us without trouble should we reach you? If not, perhaps you would be open to the discussion of... alternatives?"

Do we have the equipment necessary to track him down based on his transmissions? Just to make sure he is where he says he is. Maybe with a computing cube? Or would we need to find/build specialized tracking equipment?



[11]
Pathos checks the origin of the transmissions. It seems to be coming from where Mr.Friend says he is, at least as close as is possible to tell.

Code: [Select]
I am a man of my word. Though you interest me as to your alternative; what is it you purpose?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Follow Yagyu to the sector
Tara noticed one recruit she’s seen before, and one new one
Hi Leslie, it’s been a while. Hi to the new ones too. My name’s Tara
She turns to the guy who helped her
Thank you for helping heal Ji, I don’t think I got your name. If we find any corpses, I might be able to make blindfolds for you
She then puts on her blindfold for the new sector
Spoiler: I love you Omnitech! (click to show/hide)

Leslies is simply put standing up straight as a board, with a sickeningly saccharine smile, the corporate drone, dear Leslie lets a small flush cross her face, accepting a syringe, just a bit clumsily, gracelessly. Before turning towards the youngling, towards Tara with a nod of the head, hair swaying about, it certainly seemed as if she was happy to see them! Happy to know that one of Omnitechs youngest was still alive and kicking, serving as a true inspiration to them all, of how child labor laws were pointless and unneeded.

Her lips move, barely breaking the somewhat perhaps unnerving almost slasher-Esque cheery smile, to reveal an old voice that hasn't changed a bit, from the bubbly way too cheerful voice she's always had!


"Beloved Omnitech employee Tara! Our youngest little go-getter! It's been a few standard Omnitech cycles indeed! I've been servicing my betters, helping increase company productivity, the like. It's truly wonderful to see today's youth employed at so tender an age.

Would you perhaps like to as all the kids say, hang out at an Omnitech approved location, to improve and create company bonds together, whether through intoxicating beverages or otherwise?

I think it'd be swell~"


Leslie will generally follow along, trying to fill out paperwork, she'll make sure to keep her gun handy and when they enter the room, put her computer away to indeed put on her blindfold, she'll make sure to steal some earplugs off a corpse/hopefully get some from teammate's who are good people if none on corpses and put them in as well, steal some organs off said corpses if easily done.

((And it feels good to be back))
We shall assume that Yagyu gives Leslie a pair of earplugs. Mostly because if he doesn't she'll probably stuff organs in her ears or something similar and that might sent a very dangerous precedent about the use of company property for personal reasons.

[2] Leslie attempts to repossess company property in the form of the organs of currently deceased employees. However, her lack of suitable tools...and knowledge...and time mean that the best she can do is grab a chunk of exposed circulatory system and pop it like a water balloon. She jogs after Yagyu, wiping gore from her hands as she does.

Spoiler: Helene Hestia (click to show/hide)

Helene is talking as if she where a complete loon on drugs for all we know she very well might be thought she did pass a drug test maybe she is just unstable, she sounds way too enthusiastic about the concept of hitting things, she is smiling eyes darting around the room looking at her new fellow help, with her hand holding a null rod in her twitching palm.

Helene examines her syringe and the waifu bot Ji and covers her eyes when she enters a new room gun at the ready, she looks for pipes if she finds any, she attempts to rip it out and take it or a similar object as long as she thinks it won't kill her.

"Huh so this is the type of work we do dangerous how exhilarating...wait did they mention how much we get paid for this?

I forgot oh no matter, there be money to make I'm sure things to bash and a good time. I still miss the farm was wonderful, damn I heard of corporate goons but damn corporate fanatics I...feel my time here will be interesting and hopefully profitable."

Helene examines her syringe. It is...a syringe. It is a small plastic tube with plunger that is used to inject whatever substance is in here into someone. Likely against their will. She has been told it is a tranquilizer. She reflects on the fact that a bullet to the head is also a tranquilizer, of sorts.

[6] She comes across a metal conduit piece that works for her definition of "Pipe". Its about 2 feet long and made of what seems to be tin? Shiny silver metal, like so many others.

Welp, it could be worse.

Pass out zip ties to everyone, get my rifle back from Wilfred, and proceed forward with the rest of the team.

EDIT- It was actually Yagyu who borrowed the rifle, I think.


Spoiler: Ji (click to show/hide)
Ji passes zipties out to everyone. She doesn't specifically state why...so who knows what everyone is gonna make of this weird hand foot robo-lady handing them packing supplies.

Spoiler: Gabe Toots (click to show/hide)
Onward to the next sector! Also, try to eat the zip tie if I have one.
[1]...Gabe apparently takes the gift of a ziptie as some sort of invitation to dinner as he immediately attempts to eat it.  And immediately drops to the ground and starts turning blue as he chokes to death.

I didn't realize Ji gave Wil her rifle, but sure, she can have it back.  As long as it isn't Wil's.

Before I forget, loot that guy who had his circulatory system punched out.  It was just a pistol, toolbox, and some flares.  Then drop the corpse and follow along with the group.  Continue to shoot anything suspicious, continue to mutter about torturing Derp.  Maybe by injecting things into his long bones?

...Mentally debate whether or not the corporate drone that appeared suddenly might be compromised.  If so, emergency cranial lead supplements might need to be administered.

Spoiler: Sheet (click to show/hide)
Code: [Select]
Sight: Functioning (blindfold readied)
Smell: Nose plugs.
Hearing: Pathos' text-to-speech earplugs
Taste: Cutting out one's tongue seems like too much.  How are we gonna taste him without touching him, anyway?
Touch: Riot armor

Yagyu appears to have already looted that body, if memory serves. He seems to have deputized himself as the unofficial storage locker for all the stuff that corpses happen to drop.

[1] Wilfred, without warning, spins on his heel and shouts "DOPPLEGANGER!" at Leslie before opening fire on her for some reason. [10,2v4][1] (reduce use die). Leslie drops into a crouch as the rifle comes to bear and the rounds tear through the space where her head used to be.

"THIS IS GOING ON YOUR PERMANENT DISCIPLINARY RECORD!" She shouts, already typing away on her pad as she commando rolls into cover.

Use maggot demon to check how manifesting a layer of armour over my squishy parts would work.
Also follow Yagyu.



Spoiler: Richter (click to show/hide)
[/b]
[reduce maggot to d6][7]
Richter succeeds on producing thick layers of rubbery maggot flesh over his body by layering the skin of the creature dozens of times and compressing it. It ends up with a consistancy like that of a tire. Its not exactly super great armor, but its definitely better than bare human skin.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Follow Yagyu to the sector
Tara noticed one recruit she’s seen before, and one new one
Hi Leslie, it’s been a while. Hi to the new ones too. My name’s Tara
She turns to the guy who helped her
Thank you for helping heal Ji, I don’t think I got your name. If we find any corpses, I might be able to make blindfolds for you
She then puts on her blindfold for the new sector
Kenneth prepares to repeat the maneuver he used to defeat the Founder as he enters the next sector, Kenneth will call it the Kenneth Underhanded Maneuver.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Sorry about fucking up and putting your limbs back in the wrong place."
Have my gun at the ready and follow the rest of the group into the next section.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Onward! To the next sector or something!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spawn in. wherever seems like interesting. Bite something. I don't care what.

Spoiler: Can We Fix It? (click to show/hide)


The venerable murderball rolls into the next section, presumably leaving behind the man choking to death on packing material and the two teammates attempting to murder each other because of paranoid delusions.  Immediately past the door is something that the murderball almost immediately opens fire on. Its an Aligator; not an uplifted humanoid aligator or something along those lines. Just an aligator. An aligator in the remains of a jump suit, wearing a name tag on his nose that signifies him as "Bob the Biter".  Someone has also helpfully attached a laminated note to his back explaining that this aligator is apparently a liscened mechanic and that his favorite food is raw chicken. Bob the Biter makes some sort of gutteral noise and starts slowly walking off into the sector. The murderball follows, somewhat confused.

This sector appears to have been some kind of aquatic research labratory. All the water that used to be filling it up came from giant tanks that have been smashed open and allowed to flow out into the rest of the sector. Everything is completely ruined, waterlogged and thrown about by the currents. The place is an absolute mess. They find 2 corpses, both of which seem to have drowned. They have the ear bud transmitters just like the others, but they've been ruined by the water.  There are a LOT of dead fish around here. Some still squirming.  None of them are familiar, most look like the sort of "Mother nature on acid" crap that you'd get from early earth. Cambrian explosion sort of stuff.  Judging by the tanks, they're also used to much higher pressures and colder temperatures. There's ice on the inside of the tanks and the cooling systems are still running, filling the entire sector with freezing currents of air, layers of frost, and fragments of ice. The water has almost entirely drained at this point, only remaining about ankle high were it was too low to drain into the previous sector.

666
Roll To Dodge / Re: Cabal: Wizard Open World Game
« on: May 11, 2020, 05:03:43 pm »
Well this is bad. whatever the crystals are supposed to protect against is probably beginning to overwhelm them. I need an information source!
Well what kind of stuff were the labs for at least? are there any operating records of the labs left behind? Did the labs have to negotiate with anyone in order to operate here? who did they have to report to? If I can't get firsthand information maybe I can get secondhand information or records or SOMETHING I can learn about the darn crystals? They're clearly reacting to SOMETHING but I have no clue what that is!
Stay alert to chances to learn from the local spirits.

Spoiler: Nina (click to show/hide)

The labs were used for all manner of things, mostly for golems and thaumic machinery though. You ask about operating records and are told that anything like that is still sealed in the buildings. The upper layers of the labs are open but lower layers were sealed off decades ago. That is apparently where most of the work was done and the original workers feared that the contents of the labs could be misused or cause harm over time. No one really knows much about the organizational structure of the labs, only that they apparently reported back to the capital.  You ask if this sort of thing has happened before and get an interesting response. Apparently, according to older residents, it has. It happens every 7-10 years apparently, though originally it was simply a kind of groaning from the crystals and has been getting more serious ever since.

This makes it seem like whatever the cause of this is, its not local...or at least not constant. Maybe a migration of some kind?

Quote
Wake up
“Where am I? What happened? Who are you?”

"Kaolin. You got possessed. We are the people who got you unpossessed. Try not to touch strange goop in the future if you can help it."

Quote
Alright. [8v5] This seems to be something of a weapons dump. There are other jars like this one buried under the encroaching dirt and grass.
Wait, weapons dump? I thought these were trapped guardian spirits or something. Were these spirits used as weapons in the past? How?

Check around to see if there were more bounties or similar placed for the blobdemon, if so claim them (don't go around shaking people down or anything, mind you).

Then go visit the temple to Alizarin and learn all I can about her, what she likes and dislikes, how to contact her, all that stuff. Also look up info about the sunbro staff, though don't mention to anyone we have it of course.

Oh, and related to that, do we have any idea why those people wanted the sunbro staff to remain separated so badly? Or at least an idea of who they were?



Weapons dump as in "Place where dangerous stuff we no longer need is dumped". These guardians are effectively weapons. They certainly can kill people.

[10v5] You find a few bounties. They aren't specifically for the blob, but judging by what they say, you think the blob was the actual cause. Missing people mostly.  You manage to get an extra 90 gold out of them.

The pertinent stuff you find is as follows:

1. Alizarin apparently looks like a big reptile, if her statues are anything to go by. What kind of reptile varies. The largest statue in her temple depicts her as an oddly sexual crocodile while others show her made of many snakes or as something resembling a reclining monitor lizard.

2. She is one of the daughters of Kal-Dune, long vanished God of Earth and Stone. Described as caring but aloof, and sometimes jealous. Ipecacuanha was apparently a temple city in the old days that was devoted to her. She was a bit more wild than your average forest goddess and rather preferred her domain to be a place where humans had to reshape their actions to survive instead of changing the world around them. Loved natives of her jungles and plains, be they animal or human, and was very suspicious of outsiders.She did enjoy freshly hunted meat, honey, and alcohol. 

3. Her staff was apparently something she granted to the head priest of Ipecacuanha, a fragment of what they refer to the "Dominion of Earth", apparently literal objects which held the powers of the absent Kal-Dune. Hers was called the "Dominion of Green" which held sway over all plants. It was stolen at some point in the past, apparently as part of some kind of attempted Coop. The Head Priest was killed, along with many others, and an attempt was made on Alizarin's life. It failed, but the staff and the Dominion were never recovered.

4. Apparently her existence is what maintains the plains as they are, full of all manner of beasts, including many that are supernatural. As a land its not terribly welcoming to humans and trying to farm or log it always results in death. Those who attempted the Coop were trying to take control of the area for their own desires.  As to what happened to the staff, thats unknown. Its possible they wanted to make another attempt now that Alizarin is far less of a presence than she once was.



Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Go to the priests and ask them the following question about spirits
‘I am a Servant, I help spirits to gain mana. How will I know what spirits to help and what spirits to leave alone?”

They say that spirits are effectively the offspring of gods, though distant in terms of lineage and power. Their nature varies as does the nature of a person. In general if you find a spirit that has been obviously intentionally imprisoned it is a good idea to leave it alone.

Sit down in the grass and pull out my shiny orb. attempt to use it to scry information on our superpredator friend. Hey, it's a magic crystal ball, right? That's how they work, right?


[7v6] -6 mana

Hard to tell if the orb had anything to do with it or if you were just lucky, but your attempt to scry info out of thin air actually works to a degree. It is apparently somewhere in the larger building, contained in an item, and is using someone as a vessel right now. Not unlike your cursed knife but...quite a lot stronger.




Claim some last loot from Gravid. Nothing of... historical importance, preferably nothing dangerous or that I would have difficulty selling. I just want to make some money from the time I spent here.

Spoiler: Zavi (click to show/hide)
We'll say you gathered up 150 Gold worth of jewelry and other small, valuable objects.

Okay, last turn.  As a note, always hold an aristocrat and soldier key from now on.  The only real goal here is to get the thaumic plane thing out of the hangar, so that we have more lifting capacity.  I'm guessing we can't just open the hangar normally, so if Benedict fails to open it...

1.Know roll a solution.  Because that will be a better solution than whatever I can think of.

2.Failing that, destroy whatever locks the door in place, using small targeted banishes or Cloud transmutions (whichever is cheaper).  Hopefully, Benedict can then just force the door open.

3.Use Animate to make the door open itself.

4.If it would be reasonably possible, just open a big hole in the door large enough for the golem to escape from, by either banishing or cloud-transmuting a large segment of the hangar.

5.Contemplate just banishing the entire transport outside.  If it wouldn't be more than d12, somehow, just try it.

6. I've got nothing else.  If we can't get the transport out, then just settle with riding Benedict out.  I don't know if Benedict will even have spare weight, but if he does, the only heavy loot I want to grab consists of robots and golems.  Just tell me how many I can take.  If I *can* get the plane out, and is flyable and everything, see the below spoiler for loot priorities:

Spoiler: Loot (click to show/hide)

7. As for the painting girl, we're leaving her in Gravid, saying that we'll come back to her within a month.  Possibly sooner.  In the meantime we want her to study the ruins more, try and learn more about them.  She can survive off the mana drain leeching the magicoal pile.  Zavi DOES NOT get to take her.

8. Use clockwork to change one of the assembled bots to have an AI that follows orders given to it in our language, but refuses to deal any notable damage to anything unless a specific order is used, and confirms the exact thing to be damaged in a very explicit manner.  It has no directive AI beyond following orders, and in the absence of them will just sit still and do nothing.  Leave this robot with Painting Saeko after powering it up and ensuring it isn't dangerous.  And, uh, remove or disable any weapons it has before powering it up the first time--I forget if they have built-in weapons, but no reason to turn on a potentially hostile killbot while its shotgun is loaded.

9. Leave with Saeko, obviously.  Flying the transport, if it's available.

Spoiler: creepy oracle kid (click to show/hide)
1. Using a chunk of magicoal for power and Benedict for muscle, you get the door to the hanger opened.  [-13 mana] Using banish you succeed on "Pushing" the plane out the doors and the spirit pilot lands it. You don't have to move it far for this to work, so its not terribly expensive. 
7. Okie Dokie, painting girl stays and learns.   
8. [1+5v1] Done. AI is a misnomer but this automata will do as you programmed it to.
9. Done. The transport is big so its gonna eat magicoal. For the trip back it will likely take a few pieces. Let me see if I can measure distances here... 260ish...lets call it 1 for every 50, or 5 for the flight.


Have Benedict pry open that hangar door.  If he can't manage it, try again after a temporary spell to help out.. a Strengthen Grow or just Strengthen to give him more size or muscle.

Ask Painting-Saeko if she'd like to feed the weakened spirits here with mana.  Leave behind one of the barrels of magicoal, and my ghost charm if she agrees to do so.  Give her a soldier's key.

Hide the advanced aristocrat and technician keys in some soldier-locked room.  I don't want to make it permanently impossible for them to be found by taking them away, and the important room to keep safe, the mana room, is secured through other methods.  Keep a second soldier key for myself, and stash at least one spare away somewhere outside where we can give written directions to.

Start loading him up with loot, along with the cargo moth if it should be successfully freed.  Here's the order with which to load him up:

15 of the 16 barrels of magicoal.  Leaving one behind for painting-saeko to feed to any dying spirits.
Minaturized core of the fighter-sparrow.
Hand retrieved gems and jewelry from two passes of the palace and the contents of the core room.
Gold serving dishes and other dining-room loot.
King's wardrobe from the core room.
Full body mirror
Gold wire and thaumic/non-thaumic manufacturing tools from the small laboratory in the core, as well as the gold-laying devices.
The two machine guns.
The special multi-bolt flower petal rifle.
Forty magic rifles, two giant rifles, and the exploding grenades.
All (16) of the force-field rods.
Twenty-four magic sabres
15 suits of the thin, lightweight magic armour
8 sets of silk clothing.
Unidentified manufacturing machinery from forge 8
The 10 pieces of minaturized furnature and art pieces from the Core room.  Do include, as the one not for sale, a statue of or a depiction of the Wind Goddess.

That should be about three or four tons, which is proabably about a fifth of Benedict's weight.

If you don't think it's too much, add on extra art pieces from the palace.

Then, lets go mount everyone up and head back towards the capital, expecting a three-day flight due to Benedict's heavy load, similar to the heavy load of food and water he carried on the way out.


Spoiler: Saeko Hirahara (click to show/hide)
1. Did it without a spell
2. She'll do her best
3. Alright (we'll assume Sy kept his as he wants)
4. Since the giant flier was successfully freed, you can get all that in. And the art pieces. And all the crew.
5.





Everyone piles into the flier, including Saeko and even Benedict; though he has to squeeze to fit. The majority of the flier is hollow, including most of the wings, while the entire head is the cockpit. Its divided into an upper and lower section, with the giant pair of compound eyes (along with an artfully incorperated transparent section between them) making up the windshield. The pilot chair is on the second level and centrally placed, while the rest of the cockpit holds various consoles and stations that appear to either not be functional or at least aren't working right now. Ekrov gives the machine the order to take off and points it in the direction of the capital. With these orders the flier raises itself up on 8 pairs of mechanical limbs and begins moving fowards. It runs in a sort of wave like motion, like a centipede, lifting the paired legs in tandem. It gives the run a forward and back rock, like a ship on the sea.  As it picks up speed the thaumic furnace, located at the bottom of the cockpit, begins to run even hotter. Nodes along the inside and outside of the machine glow faint purple and everyone inside feels lighter and lighter than before. With one last push the machine jumps into the air and suddenly rockets forward with a roar of air that scatters the sand beneath it and throws everyone back off their feet or presses them down in their seats.

The flier gains altitude with surprising speed, faster than Benedict could even unladen. The ground falls away and within seconds the windshield is nothing but a wall of clouds. The ascent becomes more shallow but doesn't stop and they breach the the clouds and continue up. The blue sky darkens above them, the horizon becoming a blurred line of earth and blue sky with star speckled darkness above. Finally the flier levels off and the acceleration halts. Here, in the hazy space between sky and stars, they find far more then they imagined. Hanging here, like motes of dust in a sunbeam,  is an entire country. A smear of floating islands many miles long, an archipeligo in the sky.  You can see buildings spread across these islands, smatterings of white and gray across black stone, and even buildings seemingly floating of their own accord, spiraling very slowly in place. There are ruins here as well, like those you saw below: Smashed chunks of architecture, remains of machines,  mummified bodies, and all manner of random objects afloat in nothing. But there is more as well. Destroyed mechanist warships, combat machines, clouds of oil and gears. And on those islands you can see movement; shining metal glinting as it churns and skitters miles away. Like a cancer some of those islands have great iron masses growing on them, machine hives buzzing with warships.

You see this all for maybe 3 or 4 minutes from a distance, before the flier dips and begins to descend. Within two hours of take off the flier is banking in a wide turn around Alkahest's Volcano, apparently looking for somewhere to land.

667
Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: The Left-Hand Path
« on: May 11, 2020, 11:22:33 am »
lets send our bird and rat out to get an idea of how the prison itself is laid out, but don't do it if we already have a map of it.
Yeah, let's gather some information before committing to a plan.
Don't send the rat though, no reason to risk a high level minion on blind exploration. We could send some simple puppet rats the bird hunts for us instead.

First of all discuss with Esme how likely it is that they have some sort of magical detection/protection method and how likely it is to detect us. Also ask if their network have anyone actually working in the prison or able to provide us with a way to enter it.

We should keep an eye out for any points of interest, like the office of the director of the prison, sewage/rainwater pipes, hospitals, isolation rooms, exercise yards, etc. Maybe ask Esme for ideas about what to look for.

Also, is there any way to reward the rat for a job well done? Maybe feed it some extra energy to let it know it did good.

+1 This is more thought out than my thing.

You talk to Esme about the prison and potentially breaking someone out of it. She basically shoots the idea down from the start.

"A prison like that is gonna have countermeasures. They're designed to keep people with abilities from getting out or breaking in. I don't know if they'll specifically have a Necromancer on site but I bet they'll have something. All we need is one person to see one of your puppets and the entire place goes into lockdown. Maybe they even track it back to you. Place like that HAS to have a high level watcher of some kind stationed there. I think scouting it out, even with a puppet, is too dangerous. We should take the information we have and bring it back to our network. Maybe we can take a run at this from a different angle; like faking a prisoner transport or something to get her out without having to fight. At the very least I think we can get the plans for the prison without filling it with undead rats."

You ask her about people on the inside.

"None that I'm aware of. High level government positions are hard to get spies into with the checks they do. Easier to turn someone who is already in a good position to our cause than get someone into that position. Most of our agents are in inconspicuous places that give them access to important info; like secretaries or general office workers. The kind of jobs that don't get much scrutiny but let them sneak into the boss's office or overhear a conversation. If we're lucky they might have guard in there but...more than likely we'll be using indirect methods."

You ask her about her opinion on how to someone out. She considers it for a while before asking you a question in return.

"Technically, we don't need to get her out. What we need is to learn what she knows. It would be best if we could talk to her but there might be other avenues. We could set up a prison transfer officially, then speak with her in the transport between the two prisons. It would be a lot easier to impersonate some random truck guard than an actual prison guard." She taps her heels against the dirt as she thinks, "Maybe we can somehow speak with her without us physically being there? I doubt she gets mail or anything like that -probably there secretly with no conviction- but there might be something. Maybe someone in the Network has an ability we can use?  Or...Maybe there are transcripts of interrogations? If she told them anything it is probably recorded somewhere."

She pauses for a second and then gestures over the horizon, towards the unseen prison.

"I don't like it. We've tried to hit places like that before. Even if the group got out, they always got tracked down. We've lost whole groups to that sort of thing.  We can't tip them off; we have to handle this like you handled the other jobs....that or you need to figure out how they're tracking escapees and stop it."

668
Roll To Dodge / Re: MOOK: THY FLESH CONSUMED
« on: May 10, 2020, 11:59:45 am »
If/When I get repaired. Try to find enough syringes to give everyone a syringe full of tranquilizers. (Don’t know why I never got around to that before.)

EDIT- make sure whoever repairs me makes use of the toolbox in RC’s inventory.

Spoiler: Ji (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Get to where Ji is and graft an arm and legs in the proper places to her

"I will aid in the mechanical portion of the surgery as I am a helpful person that has been here the entire time."
Aid in the surgical graphing of limbs onto Ji.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[1 6]

The good news is that Ji gets her new limbs grafted on. The bad news is that she has a leg for an arm and two arms for legs. Its very silly...but they're functional enough. Ji sits down and carefully makes the syringes with her foot-hands before distributing them about.


Quote
[6] He believe that every sector should have emergency partitions that could be activated to block off hallways. With the correct usage of these, it should be possible to form a narrow hall from the entrance to the exit of a sector. It would need to be done from the control room though.

Move for the control room. Use scanner to ensure we don't get jumped on our way there, use goop in case nasties get near us anyway.

If we make it there, let one of my more techno-minded teammates work those doors while I stand overwatch with goop gun. If nobody is there to help, just try it myself. Either way make sure all teammates are adequately informed so none of them are stuck on the wrong side of the doors.

Finally, consider whether we could recharge Will's laser. Maybe we could build an adaptor of sorts (using a toolkit charge and maybe some materials we scrounge up) and use that to plug the battery into an outlet somewhere? Alternatively, could we McGiver a new battery for his gun?


Spoiler: Yagyu d'Aubigny (click to show/hide)
Kenneth will follow along till the gang finds a mortally challenged. Kenneth will also hum the Omnitech(TM) Theme Song(TM).
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Ji, you should consider adopting a superior shark body instead of settling for inferior human limbs. Sharks deal extra damage against doors as a racial advantage. Look at Richter, he has the right idea."

Help Yagyu with his computer thingy.

Also help with Ji's surgery if she needs help of the mechanical or computer kind.




”Becuase sharks don’t have tits!”

"Jeez, dude, why are you so dead set on turning yourself into a literal sex object?  I'm not even a woman and I feel a vauge sympathetic shame.  And a sustained hatred of Derp, but that's been there awhile."

Go with Yagyu and Pathos, continuing to follow the very unstealthy plan of shooting everything that could potentially transmit Derp's control.  Also shoot any demons.

Spoiler: Sheet (click to show/hide)
Code: [Select]
Sight: Functioning (blindfold readied)
Smell: Nose plugs.
Hearing: Pathos' text-to-speech earplugs
Taste: Cutting out one's tongue seems like too much.  How are we gonna taste him without touching him, anyway?
Touch: Riot armor
Keep following Yagyu
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Helene Hestia (click to show/hide)

Helene has a naturally gaunt face illuminated by the shadows, a voice comes forth smug as a bug on a rug, a woman who'd obviously always been here, finally making herself known!

Helene walks out of the shadows holding their gun in their right hand, tapping their null rod impatiently against the floor in their left...hopefully she grabbed a blindfold like the others coming down here!

"Who's ready to kick some ass? Personally, I can't wait to get paid, buy me a shovel with that money!"
Spoiler: I love you Omnitech! (click to show/hide)

The soft pitter-patter of boots, the gentle sound of chapped Omnitech© lips. A glint in brown eyes utterly full of life and an empty cup once full of Omnitech brand incredibly recaffinated and stale "Coffe" sailing over her head. It would appear that backup was sent down?

Or

Perhaps Leslie was merely snooping around and making sure these grand Omnitech© owned desks were cleaned off in the meantime, while everyone else did incredibly productive things, good job guys.


Leslie the lovely little corporate drone she is, is back after a while of hanging out with staff upstairs, filling out paperwork, and generally being a creature to loath for anyone who wanted to slack off whatsoever. Leslie hopes she was able to find/acquire some kind of least blindfold before the mission/recently if she is what one could call "Reinforcements."

Either way, Leslie Omnitech@ is here, she's got a big old smile on her face regardless of everyone's injuries and she's ready to help on out however she can!

One of the ways shes doing that is using her personal computer, that wonderful thing to write up reports of deaths and other injury, forge organ donations contracts of the dead and the like, normal Omnitech things.

Accomplishments of the Omnitech Murder ball this turn:

1. Made it to the control room without even getting attacked by demons.
2. Absorbed two new members into their ever growing mass. Namely one "Classic" member named Leslie and one new member named Helene. May they also roll towards victory!
3. Got the partitions set up, forming a path through this sector.
4. Made sure the water was fully drained from the path
5. Considered building a wall plug for a military laser. Calculated charge times as somewhere in the "several months" range and decided instead to investigate alternative fuels; an adaptor is a more likely solution.
6. Got all this done quickly and without stress because the Director is motioning for me to get things moving because apparently this mission is already long enough without any more dilly dallying. He's also pointing a gun at me, but thats just standard action at this point.


669
Open the door, shoot grappling hook at skelton and engage in Molee combat.
Spoiler: Ony (click to show/hide)

[16][18]

Return from the mysterious realm of the conspicuous background characters to help fight the horrors that have made themselves present. Don’t do anything yet, but shoot the guitar-demon if it emerges.

Also, I leveled up, just STR and DEX

Spoiler: Harm (click to show/hide)
[4]
*sigh* "Not again..."

Attach grappling hook to ladder so that I have a quick escape route and order Crystal Friend to wait for me at the bottom. Then set up rifle to shoot at the monstrosity that was once our Roquefort cheese once it emerges.

The plan is to shoot the monster to attract its attention and get it to follow me, slide down the rope to the floor below and then ride Crystal Friend out of the bore. If it follows me outside we'll be able to use more powerful weapons with less fear of collateral damage.




Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)
[15]
Ony stops holding the door shut and instead flings it open and attempts to attack his misguided creation. The thing that flows out of the door looks...well it looks like a guitar made of flesh that overflowed. The body of the guitar is still clearly visible but all manner of entrails, limbs, muscle and bone are extending out of it, dragging it forward and grasping wildly. Ony starts by firing his grappling hook, which results in the hook flying straight past the creature and into the room behind it. He then attempts to use the retraction of that grappling hook to power a flying kick into the creature's vague body. This results in him getting tangled into the flesh and making everyone else's life harder.

Harm fires his pistol at the demonic string instrument and actually manages to hit it a few times. If this does anything to the giant hateful mass of guts then it doesn't show it. Kara fires at the beast as well, but misses.
[16,18,18]
The guitar monster's strings vibrate and a series of tones echos through the surrounding area, a short cord of discordant music. Ony loses consciousness, Harm bleeds from the eyes, and Kara's legs go totally numb and drop out from under her.



"Yet again, a diver becomes a demon.  Pity, this one seemed to have potential."

Nyw sighs, and shakes his head.

"Baxter!  Gus!  Take the new recruits and lead them away, keep them safe!  I will help deal with Rhea's mistake."

Send Gus and Baxter to corral the new recuits somewhere safe.  Then charge Rhea with both murakumos, and hit her until she stops being fucky.  You said dual-wielding would grant two attacks at disadvantage, which I'm eager to try out.

(19 16,6 20 )
((Quick service announcement: since nobody objected, I'll go ahead and put the 1800 fathoms from crystal explo in the team fund. Feel free to claim your 800 fathoms if you were on it. I also added the 700 fathoms from drug bust mission to team fund. Should there be any income from the sales of the papers/chest etc I'll also add those.))

Clate, annoyed and slightly disoriented, gets out his radio
Quote
... . -. -.. / .... .- .-.. .--.
-.. .. ...- . .-. / .- .-- --- .-.. / --- -. / -... --- .-. .

Spoiler: discord (click to show/hide)


"By the depths, will there be no end to these mishaps?

Clate, I have a black flame, which is very adept at banishing these monstrosities. Could one of your crystal compatriots perhaps get close enough to use it? I'm afraid all that lightening could, ah, mess up my hair something fierce let's say."


Give black flame to Clate (or another teammate if they wanna get in close).

If the possessed gall is about to enter our cockpit, take a shot at her with my rifle, try to aim so the shot won't kill the host. If this attracts her attention, leg it!



Spoiler: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza (click to show/hide)
Accept black flame from Adam. Give it to either my flying golem or my snek golem, whichever is faster, and send it to sever the demon link/banish the demon from Rhea.

Spoiler: Clate (click to show/hide)
[2]

Clate and Rhea suddenly notice a noise. Rhea was about to dive but...it seems like a bad idea what with all this demonic music outside.  Clate notices that his flying golem is missing.

Meanwhile Adam finishes getting a quote on the cost of a new drill somewhere in town.

Nyw runs into the bore, still holding a bottle of booze and looking around for the source of all this noise. Its pretty easy to see.






Those books were the ancient human books recovered by Nyw and Drett in the relic vision, they were sent to the Ethral Archive for translating.

Recover the books, the original untranslated ones, though take a look at a few translations for comparison. Check whether they have any additional ancient human books outside of the ones our group brought in for translating.

Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)

Oh those aren't here. They were being translated in Knot weren't they? We're in Anvil right now.

Attempt to get safely off this belt and onto a less threatening one, all the while keeping an eye out for quick loot to stuff in my pockets - nothing basic like screws or buttons. Must be complex or unique enough to be interesting, like a circuit board or magazine or ammunition or a fizzy drink, and must be easily grabbable by a clumsy mutant more focused on not being made into something else.

If AsHul feels his life is in imminent danger, use the convenient IC threat as justification to Dive back to Akhmah so as to be able to assist in eliminating our two young threats to the Bore.


[19] You attempt to carefully leap off the catwalk turned conveyor belt and onto one below. You completely miss the one you're aiming for and instead find yourself falling straight down into a crucible of molten metal. This seems as good a time as any to leave.

You awaken about 20 feet from a demon guitar that apparently has half swallowed your teammate.  You double check and no, you're not still diving, this is the real world. Lovely.

670
Roll To Dodge / Re: Cabal: Wizard Open World Game
« on: May 07, 2020, 11:04:04 am »
I need to find a old-timer or town historian or someone who used to be a part of the industrial process here so I can find out the history behind the crystal. Ask Adam if spirits are active nearby as well, maybe I can get information from them, despite how cryptic they would probably be even with Adam assisting? But I'll be assuming the crystals are buying time for now, and are symptoms of the real problem, not the problem itself.

Spoiler: Nina (click to show/hide)
Adam responds by slamming himself against the ground repeatedly.
[2v6]
Despite your best efforts, it seems like everyone directly involved in the original labs is dead or at the very least no longer here. The people you do talk to that actually seem to know anything about the pillars think they were to prevent some sort of disaster.

Follow 'The Plan'.

Spoiler:  Écalir Speedwagon (click to show/hide)
Ok then, we came up with a plan:

Ecalir tattoos the word, preferably on a patch of his body that'd be somewhat easy to replace if he wants to (so not the face, for example). In the meantime Darwin looks around this room a bit to see if there's other noteworthy things or what the purpose of this place was. Take that jar with us at any rate.

Then we go to the plant sphere. Ecalir will do the first command spell, to get the spirit out of the body (d8 as you said).

If that spells works, he'll hold the jar against the sphere, and Darwin will use sunbro staff to open a small hole at that place (so that the only escape is into the jar). Then Ecalir will use the second command spell (d6) to command it into the jar, then he'll close the jar.

Finally Darwin will open the plant sphere, retrieve the person inside and check her vitals, then we go back to Kaolin proper.



Alright. [8v5] This seems to be something of a weapons dump. There are other jars like this one buried under the encroaching dirt and grass.

[4+2v3][1+2v1]

The actual confrontation is pretty uninteresting. Mostly yelling at the wood ball and then holding a jar over a small hole. The spells work and the goo is constrained to the jar. You two carry the unconscious lady within back up to Kaolin and hand the jar in to the priests. They even give you 50 gold for it. Everything worked out better than expected and faster than expected too!



HEY NATUREGIRL! YOU'RE BACK!

1.Take a guide and maintenance golem, and... add them to the pile of loot we plan to take.

2.Have the work crews collect all the clockwork robots into one room.  All of them.  Take inventory of all the surviving parts, and figure out how many complete bodies could be pieced together from the parts.  Ekrov looted 35 undamaged mainsprings before, so that's the hard cap for how many robots he can repair, but if there's more bodies than that I'd like to know.

3.Could Ekrov use clockwork to enchant a single robot's brain to obey spoken instructions given to it, without ever acting violently towards anyone?  Idea is to leave one robot with Painting Saeko, as a bit of extra muscle.  Maybe she can do some work recovering stuff while we're gone.

4.Assemble five robots (four if one couldn't easily be modified to leave with painting saeko), leaving them complete but without their mainspring power sources.

5. String out some gold wire from the mana catcher, so that it can be drained without entering the magicoal room, even after Saeko's blocked it off with steel.

6. Try to find a water-summoning thaumic item.  A faucet from the king's room, a sprinkler in the farms, wherever--I just figure they must have an item that summons water from magic, and that'd be a nice thing to rip out and loot.

7. Find the biggest thaumic aircraft that's still intact, and preferably close to the exterior surface so that it's easier to get out of the ruins.  Something like a cargo plane, ideally.  Try to talk to its spirit, while holding high ranking keys, and cast a human-based spell to predict whether it'd be dangerous if reactivated.  If both the talking and the spell indicate that it's safe to do so, give it a small amount of coal and reactivate it.

Spoiler: creepy oracle kid (click to show/hide)

1. alright
2. In terms of the full number of bodies you think you can make...17. You MIGHT be able to squeeze that up to 20 if you're really lucky, but those final 3 would be stretching.
3. You could. Though be careful of the wording; it would be interpreting you computer-like and exact.
4. [some rolls] You get 4 out of 5 assembled, the fifth one has some issue you can't place. Probably something dumb like a gear not properly meshed but you can't find the problem.
5. OK.
6. There's a basin in the king's room that creates water using mana. We'll say you take that.
7. The largest you can find is one shaped kind of like a moth: a big pair of wings and relatively stubby body. It looks designed to carry cargo, with space not just in the body but the wings as well. Its mostly intact too, there is some damage to the body but you think it could be patched quickly. The spirit inside is weak, apparently not very smart, but seems capable and safe enough. You give it a piece of coal and check the functions of everything. It seems ready to fly. The only issue is that its at a 45 degree angle in a tilted hangerbay with the doors closed. Need to get those doors open and get the thing "Shot out" of there for it to catch the air and fly. Probably best to get it out, land it, then load and take off.


Last day here, we leave tomorrow.

Ekrov can use the crew today.

Three things on the agenda today.

Use a Strengthen Bird spell to summon a bird with enough intelligence to act as a messenger and return the King's Key to the person I took it from.  Then give the bird the king's key and one lump of magicoal.  Write a short letter thanking the person for the loan, along with, if possible, the commands I've discovered about what the key can be used for.  Include a second letter with information about the upcoming auction.  The bird can either return or go about its business after delivering the stuff for me.

Retry failures.

Second, continue looting the palace.  If that's a dining room, look for cutlery and tableware, plates, cups, tablecloths, etcetera.  These should be very good price-for-weight, and are in more affordable chunks for the individual.  If it's a throne room, find what there is to find.

What I'd like in particular is at least one large mirror, probably for keeping but I'll sell extras if more than one can be found.  Since there were bedrooms and offices, there might be one.  If none is found, more fine clothing is also good.

Thirdly, summon some steel walls.  If I can, top up on mana from the drain point. (been running about four days) Then take up the d10 Wall word from the disassembled force-field projector, and summon some walls to block off and reinforce the mana room.  Use Strengthen Permanent Steel Wall.  Block off the door and drainer..  I don't want the thing to blow up after some kind of gold rush results from us cashing in all this loot in the capital.

If the others make a more permanent arrangement for painting-saeko, integrate their solution.  Block the drainer off if none is made, she can be given additional mana before we leave tomorrow, and we can return via portal to provide a more permanent solution.


Spoiler: Saeko Hirahara (click to show/hide)
1. Ok
2. -4 mana. Done.
3. A lot of the plates were ceramic and now reduced to powder, but you get as much of the golden silverware, serving platters, and other valuables as possible.
4. You find a large stretched oval shape full body mirror made of silvered iron. Its held in a golden frame with designs depicting the wind goddess and clouds.
5. Done. We'll consider that a 40 mana job to just block everything off with big, reinforced walls. I won't bother rolling since you can't crit fail it really, so worst case scenario is a lot of rerolls.


671
Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: The Left-Hand Path
« on: May 07, 2020, 08:17:27 am »
Ahem.

672
Roll To Dodge / Re: DIG: Everybody was kung fu fighting
« on: May 06, 2020, 12:50:20 pm »
Check the Crystal Texts to search for locations of old Bird people settlements (if they even had settlements and they weren't nomadic). See if there's any correlation with modern Corven settlements and sightings of Fire Singers (assuming their existence is something I would know about). I'm interested both in learning about any possible connection and in finding any locations of ancient bird people settlements that could be explored to learn more about them.

Also check the Crystal Texts for references to the Giant Door that makes things behind it very large and that place the explorer's guild wants us to explore to accept us as members.




Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)
Nothing about the door, but you do find some references to the location of bird settlements. The only one you can really make heads or tails of is the one that is "Beyond the great falls" which you take to mean the "Fathomless Falls" near Mistcliff. Whether they're talking about the fault that contains the falls or the ancient cavern system below it, you're not sure. The fault seems the most likely though, since birds would likely be a lot more at home there than in a cavern whose only entrance is beyond miles of flooded caverns.

((If I looked at the map correctly, we used only about 25 fuel, feel free to correct me if I made a dumb. If nobody corrects this I'll deduce fathoms next turn to refuel the bore on the wiki.

Also, drugbust team, did you guys ever decide how much, if any, of the bounty to put into the team fund for bore upgrades and such?

Crystal explo peeps, as far as I know there were 4 of us really active during that mission: Clate, Kara, Rhea and Adam. Is this correct, or am I forgetting someone?))

Make arrangements for a meeting with a church official in the near future, preferably Deepwalker Leon if he is available.

About those crystal tablets we 'borrowed', could Clate create a full copy of the library with crystalshaping in a reasonable time? Alternatively, could we transcribe them in a reasonable timeframe?

Can we get a quote for the following bore repairs (individually please, taking into account the reduction we get in Anvil):
- repairing/replacing the drill
- getting that glass orb 'o doom outta there.

Finally, if we were to sell our warehouse in Anvil, how much would get us?


Spoiler: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza (click to show/hide)
Leon isn't currently available, he's somewhere in the depths, apparently in the unmapped areas near Fire's Blessing. Its unknown when He'll be back. He has left word though, that if you want to speak with someone you should speak with his protege who is supposed to still be in Eclipse.

He could.

Replacing the drill with a new one would cost 300 fathoms for a simple swap. The cost of removing the orb depends on who is doing it. If you bring it to the church, they might pay YOU to take it for themselves. If you ask a normal bore company, something in the 100-150 fathom range.

If you clean it up, patch some of the holes, etc, couple thousand. As is...1-1.5k

Stroll casually and carefully about, examining the passing items for things of interest. In particular, portable musical devices and of course, portable brains or information processing machines.

You move slowly down the catwalk, looking all around you for anything that could be useful to you. After about 5 minutes of fruitless searching you fall on your butt as the floor of the catwalk begins to move under your feet. You look down and find that the catwalk is actually a conveyor belt and you're now being shuttled along. In the distance you see a series of mechanical arms sliding down into place on rails next to the catwalk turned conveyor belt. They don't look friendly.

Alex walk up to Nyw, holding a book in his hand. "Hey Nyw do you know where all the other books are? I'm almost done with my set and I couldn't find the others on the bore."

"...No."

((Nyw carried a bunch of books out of the group dive, but I genuinely do not recall what was done with them.  I probably just threw them at someone who wanted them, but I really wasn't paying much attention.

Edit: I checked, see this post and the following one (from just over a year ago!).  Apparently Nyw dropped his books (twenty-five in total) off at the Ethral archives to be translated with Drett's books.  Looking at it, there seems to have been some confusion--my boldtext implies that they got to keep the books, but I also said it'd be the same deal as Drett got, and Drett's turn says the books would be returned to the warehouse along with translations and a bill for the work done.))

Also, drugbust team, did you guys ever decide how much, if any, of the bounty to put into the team fund for bore upgrades and such?

((Nyw took 800 of the 3000 fathoms as his share.  If Alex also takes 800, that'll leave 1400 for the team fund, but I'unno how much money Hotfire even wants.  Other than the two of us, and the big battle at the end, I think we mostly only had randos popping in for a turn or two.))

The adventure kids get to have the armor, new guns, and black flames.  Two smoke bombs for each too, just in case.

Return the two rifles that the kids had been running around with, and 10 fathoms, to the bore.  (Already edited this into the fund page)

Spend awhile lecturing the new inmates/crew on their new duties.  Specifically, a few of them are now assigned to prepare food for everyone else (they can decide who, Nyw knows nothing about food), the rest get to clean up the bore and warehouse a bit, and then loaf around.  Nyw will watch them go about their duties, making sure nobody flees, and then will spend 20f buying them alcohol once they're done.  To celebrate their recruitment into the crew or something.

Edit: I went searching through the thread for something else, and found a post where someone bought injectible tranquilizers for 3f each, in Anvil.  Nyw's had to restrain a number of people lately, so go buy ten of those.  -30f.

Nyw and his newly upgraded adventure lads oversee the work of the new "hires", mostly sticking outside the bore and directing cleaning and restoration of the warehouse. No one tries to make a run for it, at least not yet. A few still seem to be following the cult's dogma and are being very quiet, while the others range between grumbling about injustice and just being glad to not be in prison.

Most seem to enjoy the booze afterwards though.

((I knew that the books were brought to the archives for translating, I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to mention the books and then reclaim them.))

"Gah! How can they be missing? Where did you even lose them? It can't have been in Chamel, and the only other towns we were at were Anvil and Empyrean. They better not be in Empyrean, the absolute last thing I need to know is that the Church has acquired my books for themselves."

Increase persuasion to 2 and armorsmith to 1. Claim my share of 1500 fathoms, leaving 700 for the rest of the team.

Start the search for the missing books at the Ethral Archive, if anyone knows more about the missing books it's them.

Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)
You'll have to remind me what the "Missing books" are. The other stuff consider done.

Hey Adam, after we've grabbed these repairs what's the plan? There are some ruins near here, know nothing about them but they're really not far away. Other than that I want to grab some material sacrifices for my arm but I need the fathoms, so is there anything you suggest job wise around here?

Attempt again to make a spooky bone guitar using my occult knowledge, then if I succeed at this try a basic spooky music tune.

Spoiler: Ony (click to show/hide)
[20]
Ony runs out of the workshop and slams the door behind him. Something behind the door is banging against it and making a sound like 50 gallons of spaghetti being sucked through a rubber hose.

"ASSISTANCE REQUIRED! MUSIC HAS TOO MUCH SOUL OVER HERE!"

Keep on keeping an eye on Rhea as she dives. Can't let these unsanctioned psykers out of your sight.

Help with tablet translating/transcribing if people come for my help with that sort of thing. While translating, keep an eye out for info pertaining to schlucks, the overmind, and crystal people golem making and stoneforming. Just in case some juicy info comes up.


Spoiler: Clate (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Dive to Konis, because of lightning being weather, then to Jal for shielding. Reinforce Jal 2 times. Purpose of dive is to shield myself from lightning
[14 + 7 + 1 + 13 + 19][4,19]
[18,5]

At the same time Clate gets blasted out a door and bounces down to the level blow, wreathed in electrical discharge. If he was fleshy this would probably be very bad but given that he is literally a rock it only seems to annoy him.  Rhea comes floating out of the room, hovering in a corona of electricity, body bent backwards and limbs contorted as all her muscles tighten and spasm. She opens her mouth and screams a noise like thunder before drifting up towards the cockpit.

 

673
Roll To Dodge / Re: MOOK: THY FLESH CONSUMED
« on: May 06, 2020, 11:01:35 am »
"Noo, dammit! We were so close.

Well, rest in peace for now Anya, at least you're free from this bloody mess for now."


Yagyu walks over to Tara and puts a metallic hand on her shoulder.

"You did the best you could given the situation, don't beat yourself up over this.
Unfortunately, that was also the last of Elen's meds, so we're all out right now. Hopefully we can scavenge some more medical supplies.

Oh, and Will? Excellent shot there, quality work. If that battery is dead though, perhaps I can hook it up to an outlet somewhere to try and recharge it a bit, if you'd like. First we gotta make sure we won't get more of these assholes biting our bums off. "


Try to use my scanner to see if we can locate that python ram thing demon we spotted earlier, and to see if there are more demons still around. Don't run around the whole section though, just see if there's strong HELL signals anywhere near.

Could we perhaps just weld shut all of the side doors and such in sector Q (the one we're in), so that we still have a safe path to travel through from section R to N while locking out any more surprise demon attacks? Assuming we find no evidence that a demon wandered into the previous sector of course (though I think those doors should have been shut normally so hoping not).

Oh, and take Anya's inventory for now I suppose, so we can give it back to her. If people would like to take some of it for use during the mission, let them of course, but make clear she's getting it back afterwards.

By the way, did that lighter get destroyed in the blast before? Cause if not I'd like to retrieve it once we are moving on to the next sector, that lighter did a bang up job.



Spoiler: Yagyu d'Aubigny (click to show/hide)
[5] According to his scans, Yagyu can distinguish 3 more demons nearby. Nearby being probably within a sector or so of distance.

[6] He believe that every sector should have emergency partitions that could be activated to block off hallways. With the correct usage of these, it should be possible to form a narrow hall from the entrance to the exit of a sector. It would need to be done from the control room though.

[1] The lighter was unfortunately atomized, so Yagyu settles for Anya's inventory.


"that was rather tasty, all things considered" Richter muses while picking some demon from between his teeth. "So, what should I call you? We're going to be stuck together for a while, hopefully, so we may as well make this a real symbiosis."

Try to converse with the symbiote

Unmanifest the crocodemon leg replacing my arm right now. Try and get a feel for how fast I can manifest things, to gauge if I should try and manifest parts in advance or if I can do it on the fly in combat

Also try and get a feel wether the manifestations only work for physical attributes of consumed demons, or if I'm also able to manifest special/supernatural powers they had

Also also try and get a feel if I can only manifest the demon bits as they were in life, or if I can reform them. Say turn my arm into a crocodemon tooth macuahuitl or a tyranid teeth demon Deathspitter


Spoiler: Richter (click to show/hide)

[6] Richter attempts to speak with the symbiote but mostly just gets a mental punch in the gut with the desire to murder and eat. It staggers him for several moments.

Richter tests out his manifestations a few times. They can switch pretty fast, about a second of lag as they change. Not fast enough to unleash a flurry of punches with each being a new part but fast enough to switch given a moment.

It seems like as long as as the powers were innate to the flesh being manifested, he can use their powers as well.

It also seems like he can manipulate the flesh to create new forms, but it would eat up more of his reserves than simply forming a normal part.

Hmm. Syv reactivated power to this sector, right? Any chance I could activate some sort of drainage system to remove the water, even if it takes some time to drain? If yes, activate said system then open the door to the next sector and retreat to the ceiling to wait for it to drain.

Also, if I saw that goat demon and can track it with my Omniscience, let the team know where it is.




[6]
Pathos activates the drainage pumps in this sector and then opens the door to the next one, letting water continue flooding in. The entire sector is filled with an enormous amount of sucking and this time it isn't even security team #2 doing it!



"I've totally been here the entire time and know whats going on."
Go loot some rooms and maybe find some money.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"That would be great, Yagyu.  Derp really deserves to be melted by a laser after putting us through... just, all this."

"...Ji?  Ji, don't wander off alone again, you don't even have legs!  Gah, I'm going with you!"


Follow Ji, and help her find new limbs.  Resume shooting any screens, speakers, or demons seen, using the generic rifle.

Spoiler: Sheet (click to show/hide)
Code: [Select]
Sight: Functioning (blindfold readied)
Smell: Nose plugs.
Hearing: Pathos' text-to-speech earplugs
Taste: Cutting out one's tongue seems like too much.  How are we gonna taste him without touching him, anyway?
Touch: Riot armor
((Got a few unrelated things this turn. I’m trying to get all the small stuff that’s been bothering me out of the way, instead of scattering it through multiple posts))

Try to gather enough spare parts (biological, robotic, or otherwise compatible) that somebody would be able to get my body back to a functional humanoid state, if only temporarily.

What exactly it the status of my riot suit and germ suit? If their gone, I’ll try to find more germ suits, as well as a box of syringes.

Spoiler: Ji (click to show/hide)
((They're fine. Technically they're damaged but basically unless I say they get destroyed, assume they're fine for mechanical purposes.))
[2,2,6]
Billy bob and Wilfred find nothing, but the literal torso with one "working" arm manages to discover several cloned limbs that would get her back up and walking!  Now she just needs someone to graft them on!

Damn. Got a rib cage and all for nothing. Grab all the stuff, for safe keeping of course.
”Oh anya, we hardly knew ye.”
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Return to the main group.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"SUCK IT WORLD! KENNETH HAS BECOME DEATH, HARBINGER OF OMNITECH AND DESTROYER OF LESSER BRANDS!"

Kenneth will go along with the squads and prepare to execute the same maneuver he used to lute the statue of Founder Ulysses T. Chillicothe which wasn't accidental or pure luck in any way.


At all.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
These fellows return to Yagyu, who is the acting anchor of "The group" for the moment. Because he's been secretly paying me in bitcoin to retain his position he's an emotional rock and everyone feels safe in his mechanical embrace.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Good thing she has a cognition copier, how does it work? Do we take it out of her corpse to transfer it to a machine? Or is her mi d already being copied to one and removing it would break the process? Ji, would limbs from Anya’s corpse even be able to connect with you? It was her chest that was damaged, so the legs and arms would still be intact
Go wander the sector and search for the demons using my scanner, if I find it/them or if it/they find me, run away from them while shooting foam at them while throwing the barbecue ribs at it, then throwing the empty plate at it/them like how a frisbee would be thrown. Run from them while doing this
[3]
Tara wanders around for a while, plate of ribs in one hand and gun in the other, searching for a demon. For better or worse she fails to find anything but her way back to the group.









As the area drains several more big alien fish things flop out of the next sector and end up caught on doorways or stranded as the water level lowers. They appear to be ordinary animals, not demons.

674
Roll To Dodge / Re: Cabal: Wizard Open World Game
« on: May 04, 2020, 12:52:54 pm »
Sheet

Spoiler: Nina (click to show/hide)

maybe they should just get rid of the crystals? I'm certain I don't want to touch the things anymore. and if they're making people ache then they could be getting more starved and agressive so I need to assuming I'm on a time limit. I need to at the very least make the attempt to get a better ID on these things before giving my advice though, not just suggest getting rid of the things without a positive ID on what they are and what they're doing and why.
[1v1] Lucky.

You're pretty sure these crystals have some sort of mana regulation capacity; sort of like overflow protection. Makes sense considering the powerful magic these labs were involved with. You think the sound and the effects seen in the town are likely the result of them growing and absorbing more mana. As to why that is, you're not sure. However, destroying them might be a dangerous prospect; they might still have functions you don't know of. If these things are drawing more mana, that means they "think" there is more mana around here to draw.  You'll need to find out more about how they work and what could be throwing them off.

If RC's thing with the staff doesn't work, try and use "wood" to grow similar portrusions in an effort to stop the ball. Don't use more than 6 mana though, and only a single try.

Spoiler:  Écalir Speedwagon (click to show/hide)
Use sunbro staff to form a few long wooden spikes out of the plantsphere to stop it from rolling down the mountain (grow more wood if needed, don't wanna reduce the structural integrity of the prison too much).

Should that work out, then try to move to those ruins and look for that urn. Try to decipher the instructions once we find it. Oh, and did those travelers make it out safely?

Also consider if we should say the words while the thing is inside the prison, or should it hear them, or what.

Finally, think about how we should get the spirit, which seems to be kinda liquidy, into that container. Would those prongs still work, or could Darwin perhaps use a short-lived 'vacuum' spell inside the jar to suck it up?



[7v1]
The orb immediately roots itself into the ground and stops rolling. It still shakes as the thing inside tries to escape but doesn't seem able to. After checking the travelers are ok, you check around for the source of this thing. [10v4]

Finding it is easy...there's some sort of magical stream outside it slowly eroding it. Clearly this is the work of another wizard. Inside you find the urn, though its badly damaged. Looks like someone smashed it with a rock. [3+1v5] You can't make out exactly what it says because of the damage. Maybe the priests would have a better idea? You hand it over to Eclair and he immediately recognizes it as a magical symbol, one for "COMMAND".

You think that the magic of "Command" is likely the way to get it in and seal it there.


Stow the city core inside the gold-lined bag prepared for it, and then inside my backpack.

With two days left, there are three things I want to check out today.

1.  Find forge 8, the place the captive sparrow-fighter spirit was made at and can provide directions to.  Recover whatever looks good from it.  Don't examine things too closely or disassemble them yet, not enough time.

2.  Recover one of the precious-metal filled control suits from the control room.  Again, I'll disassemble and check for words later.

3.  The Palace.  Begin exploring it.

Crew is to help recover a control suit and remove valuables from the palace.


Spoiler: Saeko Hirahara (click to show/hide)
1. Forge 8 is one of the already mapped automatic assembly centers. Badly damaged though, signs of combat and explosives being used. You get a small amount of assembled pieces and raw components for fliers.

2. Ok.

3. The palace was once clearly very nice but the crash shattered it and turned it into a series of marble walled sand caves, half flooded with sand and half open. You have to crawl and move carefully to prevent staring cascades of sand or getting sucked into chambers. Its a delicate balance. Many chambers appear to have been bedrooms or offices, heavily decayed by now but there are still valuables to be found. Gold and jewelry mostly. The crew has also started carting out statues and other ornamentation from the rooms. A lot of it is pretty big and heavy though, so benedict wouldn't be ideal as conveyance.  Of importance though is you think you've found either the main dining hall or maybe the throne room. Half buried still, but the tip of what looks like a throne pokes out of the sands.


1.Go around with Painting Saeko and examine the architecture supporting the magicoal storage room, where the magicoal pile is.  Specifically, try and figure out if it could take a whole bunch of additional weight being added--Saeko wants to lock off the room by summoning a giant wall of steel in front of the door, but is worried that this might possibly cause a collapse or something.

2+.As my action last turn said to do: Go look through the golem hangars with painting Saeko, taking inventory of surviving golems and judging their purpose/designs.  Maybe knock some aristocrat keys off of them, or yell at them while waving the keys around.

3+.To add to that, figure out how much power the smaller ones would require for temporary activation.  I'm gonna have to decide which of them (if any) to take next turn, so I'd like to get all necessary information this turn.


4.Since the work crews are done digging, have them collect all the clockwork robots into one room.  All of them.  Take inventory of all the surviving parts, and figure out how many complete bodies could be pieced together from the parts.  Ekrov looted 35 undamaged mainsprings before, so that's the hard cap for how many robots he can repair, but if there's more bodies than that I'd like to know.

5.Can Painting Saeko survive off the mana that's radiated off the magicoal pile?  How about the mana absorber that was set up in there--can she take mana from that, to prolong her existence?

6.Put on one of the control suits.  Power it... however it's supposed to be powered, worst case just jam mana into the gold line that leads to it.  What's it do?  What's it show?

7.Remember the silver antimagic armor?  I want to plate the exterior of Ekrov's exoskeleton with that stuff.  Don't do this if it's exceptionally difficult (d12 or higher), can be done later with better tools.


Spoiler: creepy oracle kid (click to show/hide)
1. The black stone this place is made of seems extremely strong so she thinks so. It survived falling out of the sky remarkably intact so...a bit of extra weight is probably fine.
2. The golems you can find are of the following kinds: Worker, Maintenance, Warrior, and Guide. They're all humanoid through of difference sizes and general appearance. The maintenance is the size of a child  but with long thin limbs and fingers. Appears to have 4 hands instead of 2 hands and 2 feet. The guide looks most like a normal human and is very elegant, with what looks like mother of pearl body, golden mask face and silk robes (now decayed). Worker is the largest, with 3 pairs of arms and 4 legs, but a fairly normal humanoid head, chest and pelvis; though the proportions are swollen. The warrior is the oddest. Second largest, with one arm resembling a segmented scimitar and the other a more normal but asymmetrically large arm.  The head is like a thick and short hexagonal rod, almost like an elongated Bolt. There are what look like vents on its legs and back and its feet are like a wide cone that can either split into 4 segments to form a flat, 4 pointed foot, or hold together to form a spike instead. None of these react, but none are fueled either.
3. The smallest looks like it takes 1 coal in its internal furnace. Judging by the demarcations on a gauge near the furnace, you think that should power it for a week or so.
4. Sorry boss, other boss says we're looting the palace right now.
5. Ambient or concentrated CAN prolong her.
7. If we're just talking about taking the existing armor and cutting or reforming it so it is formed around the suit like a giant set of plate armor, thats fine. Consider it done. Its not complete coverage (joints and such) bit its pretty good.
8. Powering just the suits doesn't do much. The core being gone likely doesn't help.

Have Ek look behind me with his third eye.

Spoiler: Zavi (click to show/hide)
We'll assume you ask him to do this.

675
Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: The Left-Hand Path
« on: May 04, 2020, 10:55:11 am »
Give piecewise a needle or something to stab throughout a fly or other bug's heart with his precision skills. Or use our own necroprecision to do so.
We don't have Piecewise with us, but it's a good idea.

Order ourselves to catch a fly and then drown it, to take advantage of our hyper-precision mode. That way the body should remain intact. Then we can add a small core, maybe a tiny splinter of wood or rock or even a particularly sturdy leaf and send it to act as a tracking beacon for the guard. If it's easy to do and inconspicuous we could even attach them to all of the guards of the night shift so that we can alert the rat if it's about to cross their path. There's always the chance the guards swat the annoying flies and we lose them but it shouldn't matter.

Are there dragonflies in this biome? Would probably be simpler to catch and still not very conspicuous. If it's the right season we could look for water and maybe find one.
Alternatively, this is a little base out in the boonies, so they probably have some crawling things that like to get inside. Could have a birdwise nab one intact and bring it to us.

That's also a good idea, send caterpillars or scarabs or ants or something.

Regardless of if the above works, I say we go ahead with the plan.

Bug spy attempts begin with trying to catch a flying insect. This proves remarkably difficult as even finding a fly or similar insect is hard and when you find one, attempts to capture it are foiled as it simply flies up and out of your reach before you can even get close. There are no bodies of water nearby to hunt for pond skimming insects and though you look for a dead animal to capture flies off of, you cannot find one.  Even with your impossibly precise movement it seems there are limitations to your abilities. Next you focus on some more...accessible creatures. After turning over a few stones and checking under a fallen tree you finally find a nice beetle. You drown it in some of the water you took to camp with- a process which takes a lot longer than you expected- and reanimate it. Rather than using any foreign object as a core, you simply use the beetle's head as the core. The practice of "Organic Coring" was talked about in the necromancy text you read, but was written off as a "Inefficent" practice because organic cores are prone to degradation and easier to damage. For the sake of a disposable spy though, this will likely be fine. You use the remaining part of the day to send the spy beetle in and try to discover the location of the room in question with it. Or rather you send it in and...about 10 minutes later the connection is severed.

You ponder this turn of events while watching the base carefully. No alerts are sounded, the base doesn't go into lockdown...no sign they realized something was wrong. Chances are that someone just saw the beetle and swatted it like they would with any bug.

"That was a lot of effort for no profit eh?" Esme asks from where she's laying next to you.

You make a pained affirmative noise.

"Still going for it tonight?"

You sigh and shimmy back from the edge. You agree that its the best to try it now. Sending down more bugs might just cause people to notice an odd pattern to the insect invasion and get suspicious. Better to strike now while stealth and surprise are still both on your side.

You animate the hawk as a puppet and give it specific instructions to carry the rat down to the roof and then wait there until the rat returns before flying it back up here. The rat you give the more complex orders of finding the right documents and memorizing them. The rat seems to understand.  You wait for the right time in the middle of the night and send your twin spies down. You lose track of them almost immediately in the darkness, only sighting them again briefly as they sail in over the fence and onto the roof. You quickly check the guards reactions but find them to be quietly continuing their normal behavior. At this point all you can do is sit and wait, watching the checkpoint with growing apprehension. You have no way of recalling them or asking how its going, you can only hope things are going well. You can kind of trace their location using the thread connecting them to you, the apparently slow progress of the rat as it scurries about translated into a movement of what looks like inches from this distance. It takes over two hours but finally, the rat's thread overlaps the hawks and together they ascend and move swiftly back toward you. Again you check the site for any signs of alarm and again nothing.

Once the rat returns you get out the paper and pencil and have it start transcribing everything it read. This turns out to be a great deal, as it apparently read through a lot of paperwork before finding exactly what it was after. The rat transcribes until 10:00 or so in the morning before you finally get the pages you were after. You set the extra stuff aside to look at more closely later and check through the prisoner transport logs, looking for the names of Kelley's co-workers. Jennifer Massey, Erin Massey, Thomas Hill, and Paul Van-Horn; you mutter their names to yourself while running your finger over the list. Its not in alphabetical order, its chronological.  You flip through years and years of records until finally stopping. "MASSEY, JENNIFER", transferred to the prison and...not transferred out. You check the death logs and her name doesn't appear there either.  You check the rest of the transfer logs and can't find anyone else, but Jennifer Massey is in that prison. You set the transfer logs aside and start checking the extra paperwork, looking for...you're not sure. Maybe a reason why she's there? She was a direct college of Kelley...If anyone was to know whats going on, it would be her.  Sadly you cannot find anything more on her. At least nothing useful.

You sit back against a tree and consider what to do next. Break her out? Get in to speak with her? Just kill her somehow and eat the memories? She knows things you have to find out.



Pages: 1 ... 43 44 [45] 46 47 ... 1031