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Should Vic agree to see the picture? A. Yes How should Vic follow up on Bill’s information? B. Visit Red Ram
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Jul 25, 2019 20:32
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A B
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Jul 25, 2019 21:12
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sephiRoth IRA posted:Should Vic agree to see the picture? Vote: A. Yes sephiRoth IRA posted:How should Vic follow up on Bill’s information? Vote: B. Visit Red Ram – Vic had visited this winery before; the owner was a pair of fat Oregonians who got a kick out of Vic’s accent. Maybe they know more than they let on? sephiRoth IRA posted:Pardon the new username, everyone, I got drunk and made myself laugh at my own dumb joke enough to spend money on it. I like it. 
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Jul 25, 2019 21:38
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AA Book learnin' what do?
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Jul 25, 2019 22:31
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B. Mom said I shouldn't watch until 35 B. Wine is knowledge
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Jul 26, 2019 00:55
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That American Italian site is like diving back into my childhood. I actually have an uncle like Vic here, a massive slab of man-mountain with a brain to back up his muscle, who acted like a dumb piece of meat because that's what people expected. Now that he's retired he's become quite the patron of the arts.
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Jul 27, 2019 07:14
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There's nothing quite like convincing people to underestimate you. The problem is you're never quite as smart as you think you are. VirtualBasement posted:Should Vic agree to see the picture? 
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Jul 27, 2019 19:45
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1A, 2B. We can do some reading later.
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Jul 28, 2019 01:13
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Deadmeat5150 posted:Now that he's retired he's become quite the patron of the arts. Was he a 'Friend of Ours'?
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Jul 29, 2019 05:41
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CourValant posted:Was he a 'Friend of Ours'? No.
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Jul 29, 2019 08:54
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Vic could count on one hand the number of times where, as an adult, he was truly afraid. He nodded to Bill, his heart thumping against his insides like a spasming fish stranded on the beach. Bill grinned, letting out a whispered “Excellent.” Bill stood on his uneasy legs and used his cane to get to the easel. He threw the tarp away with a flourish. Vic’s bile rose in his throat and he broke into an immediate sweat. A low, dense buzzing filled his head, a swarm of fat, bulbous, pestilent flies attacking the rotting meat of his brain. Five seconds passed, then ten. It took all of Vic’s willpower to turn to Bill, thank him for both the information and the look at the picture, and leave the room. He entered the hotel room and immediately turned the deadbolts. He dragged the dresser in front of the door. Sitting heavily on the bed, he shook, checking the .357 by the bed to ensure it was loaded. The bottle of Jack next to the bed, unaccompanied by glasses, caught and would not release his eye. Wrapping a fist around the neck of the bottle, Vic took a three-second belt, gulping the brown liquor down like there was a hole in his gut. He didn’t even feel the burn. His hand let the bottle slip, falling to the floor and splashing onto the carpet, and Vic began to cry. ----  The next day dawned bright and clear, and Vic was awake to see it. He hadn’t slept. He shrugged back into his wrinkled suit, looking at himself in the grimy mirror. His red-rimmed eyes were wide open and his breath was heavy. He slipped the gun into a shoulder holster and grabbed his keys. It was time to pay Red Ram a visit. The route to the winery was an hour through the Chehalem mountains, one which Vic normally enjoyed. The scenery was full of green trees and pristine hills raising into Bald Peak. It cast a normally pleasant light onto the anticipation of enjoying the local vintages, but today Vic couldn’t be bothered to notice. He ground his hands around the steering wheel of his used Honda, occasionally glancing into the rearview mirror into the empty road behind him. Arriving at Red Ram, Vic was met with an enormous sign featuring the leering face of Baphomet, bright red and running a long tongue over a set of dripping fangs. He threw the car into park on the gravel parking lot and walked into the tasting room. The winery wasn’t busy; it was a Wednesday at mid-day, and while there were a few families walking around and enjoying the sights and smells, reading about the history of the vineyard and buying overpriced glassware, Vic was able to keep mostly to himself. He was able to locate the owners, Pam and Mark Oberman, with relative ease but was wrong-footed when Pam greeted him with a warm hug. “Vic, hello! It’s so great to see you again!” Her arms, pudgy with the fat of good eating and little exercise, enveloped Vic completely. It reminded him for a moment of his mother. “Tanks, Pam, it’s good to see you too. Is Mark around? I had some questions for youse.” “Why sure, Vic, I kind find Mark.” Pam turned to glance at the bar, but not before saying “Have you seen Casper? He said you might be by today.” Vic’s face fell into a thin-lipped grimace that Pam thankfully didn’t see. “Uh, no, is he around too?” Pam didn’t respond, but found Mark in the crowd and waved, stretching on her tiptoes to get his attention. She turned back to Vic. “Casper said you were coming to our party on Friday! I’m glad you’ll be there; it will be so much fun. We’ll be opening one of our new barrels, you’ll love it! I know you like those bold reds.” It was his consummate professionalism that allowed Vic to manage a straight face through the rest of the conversation. Mark came over and after a minute of pleasantries, Vic did his best to plumb for information about Casper and this “party”. Yes, Casper was paying for and hosting a party. Yes, Pam and Mark were going to be there. No, to their knowledge it was not a public event, invite only. Yes, of course Vic’s name was on the invite list, stop being silly! Friday night, ten P.M. Pam and Mark had gone back to the business of bartending, leaving Vic with a bottle of pinot noir. He drank glasses in great gasping gulps. Once the wine was gone, he moved through the tasting room, trying to look for anything that might suggest Casper’s intentions, but of course nothing did. It was oak-paneled, well-lit, and just like every other winery in area. As Vic struggled to get his key into the lock of his Honda, he heard crunching on the stones behind him. He whirled around, hand instinctively going for the piece in his armpit, when he saw that Casper was standing before him, accompanied by three well-muscled goons. “You look like poo poo, Vic. Rough night? You’ve been drinking too much.” How should Vic play this? A. Deferential – Vic’s got the gun, sure, but three on one wasn’t good odds B. Aggro – Vic’s got the gun, period C. Probing – No need to grovel, and maybe Vic can get some information sephiRoth IRA fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Jul 30, 2019 |
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Jul 29, 2019 19:38
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sephiRoth IRA posted:Vic’s bile rose in his throat and he broke into an immediate sweat. A low, dense buzzing filled his head, a swarm of fat, bulbous, pestilent flies attacking the rotting meat of his brain. Five seconds passed, then ten. It took all of Vic’s willpower to turn to Bill, thank him for both the information and the look at the picture, and leave the room. Tubgirl ain't for the faint of heart I'll tell ya what. C, but be ready to waste the goons the second on of them looks like their gonna pull a piece. We can always say we recognised them from the old days and plead self defense to our parole officer.
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Jul 29, 2019 20:53
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sephiRoth IRA posted:Vic’s bile rose in his throat and he broke into an immediate sweat. A low, dense buzzing filled his head, a swarm of fat, bulbous, pestilent flies attacking the rotting meat of his brain. So, are there mechanics to being exposed to Mythos-Things? Are we tracking sanity points? sephiRoth IRA posted:How should Vic play this? Outrail posted:C, but be ready to waste the goons the second on of them looks like their gonna pull a piece. We can always say we recognised them from the old days and plead self defense to our parole officer. Vote: C. Probing – No need to grovel, and maybe Vic can get some information Vic ain't scared of hired muscle; he was the best around, back in the day.
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Jul 29, 2019 21:09
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CourValant posted:So, are there mechanics to being exposed to Mythos-Things? Are we tracking sanity points? Maybe 
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Jul 29, 2019 21:10
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sephiRoth IRA posted:Maybe /ctrl + c
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Jul 29, 2019 21:28
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C. Some insinuations of potential mutilation and forced self-cannibalism at gunpoint might keep them from trying anything. Goons stick around for the cash, they don't like to deal with Truly Scary People.
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Jul 29, 2019 22:10
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C
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Jul 30, 2019 00:59
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C. You're in relatively neutral territory, in public. See what you can pry out of this worm without getting your hands dirty (yet).
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Jul 30, 2019 19:04
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C. What's this mook up to?
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Jul 30, 2019 19:07
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Vic sized up the other mooks. It wouldn’t be a fun fight, but he was pretty sure the young one would buckle in the face of true violence and the older ones wouldn’t put up a fight once their throat was stomped in… not worth it, in his professional opinion. He put his keys back into his pocket and swept his suit coat out, allowing his opponents to catch a glimpse of the wood grip of his gun. This was a move he’d used before, and like before it was effective. Vic caught a shared glimpse between the older two mooks and understand that now everyone knew the score. Vic smiled at Casper, holding his hands out wide. “I didn’t get much sleep, what can I say. Besides, Pammy up tere has a nice new pinot, and I couldn’t resist.” “From what I hear, you’re up hearing looking for more than wine, Vic. Have you been asking around about me?” “Listen, maybe we got off on the wrong foot, eh? I’m just tryin’ to learn more about dis poo poo. It’s a lot for a guy to handle all at once.” Casper’s hard look softened just for a moment, but enough to see that Vic’s capacity for persuasion hadn’t worn down with time. Vic continued talking, trying to pick up momentum. “I asked Bill about Igmem, what it’s all about, ya know? He said you were trowin’ some party up here and I figgered I’d check it out. What’s goin’ on Friday?” “Party. I suppose you could call it that.” Casper smirked at his goons, who gave equally menacing smiles back. “Got some inside joke or sumthin’ I should know about?” Vic raised one quizzical eyebrow. “I’ll tell you what, Vic. Why don’t you come back here Friday night for the party? It’s really more of a celebration combined with some business, but I’ll show you everything.” Casper extended a hand for a shake. Vic paused, eyeing Casper’s hand, before shaking it firmly. “Yeah, dat sounds good, I’ll be dere.” Casper nodded to his goons, who started to slink back towards the tasting room. “Well, I’ve got to take care of some things here. I’ll see you Friday. Sleep well tonight, Vic.” Vic got back into the Honda and drove home. ---- Back in the hotel, Vic figured it was a good time to give Joanie a call. Four, five months back Joanie caused Vic to poo poo a brick when she came through his line at the grocery. “Afternoon, is dis gonna be everyting?” “Vincenzo? Vinnie?!” Vic turned with growing horror to look at the pretty customer before him. Nobody had called him Vinnie in years. It took him a bit, but for a brief second he saw back into the past at the 14-old-girl that inhabited the 50-year-old before him. It broke his heart all over again. It took a coffee during his break and a subsequent dinner to explain everything. Surprisingly, Joanie understood. She knew all about the fall of omerta and how more and more people were flipping on their bosses for moral reasons. Joanie had gotten herself an MFA in English and had settled in nicely as a local investigative journalist. Vic had been capitalizing on Joanie’s skills and contacts as he delved into a world darker even that that of mob hitters. He had done his best to keep Joanie on the outskirts, but their tri-weekly dinners and her toothsome smile turned Vic into the smitten teenage dumbass he’d been thirty-five years ago. He was starting to tell her more about Casper, about the Guide, about everything, and she kept pressuring him for more. ---- “Joanie?” “Yeah, Vinnie, hi! One second, let me get into my office.” Despite emphatically instructing her otherwise, Joanie had not stopped calling him by his Christian name. Vic heard Joanie’s door close and the click of her pen before she came back to the phone with “did you see him?” “Yeah, I saw him. He’s planning sumthin’ big up dere. I dunno what.” “I had him followed.” Vic could hear her grinning on the other side of the phone. “Joanie, dat wasn’t smart. I dunno what Casper’ll do if-“ “Vic, I hired a PI, it wasn’t as if I followed him myself. Besides, I have some good dirt. Besides the winery, Casper’s been mostly hanging out at three other places: his house, Bill’s house, and the home of the Flannery sisters.” “Who are dey?” Joanie gave him the dirt. The Flannery sisters were a pair of spinsters that lived alone in the hills of western Oregon, near the base of Mount Hood. Her PI was able to ascertain that these sisters ran in dark circles and had dodged separate murder and kidnapping raps in years past. “These are not nice women, Vincenzo. They were accused of murdering a renter back in 2015 and kidnapping a local boy two years before that. Avoided both thanks mostly to Dirk Roman and his courtroom magic. Remember me telling you about him? They paid to fly him up from San Francisco and defend their case. They must be enormously wealthy to afford him.” Vic got the address for the sisters and thanked Joanie for helping him out. “Are we on for dinner Friday?” “Eh, I’m gonna have to cancel, sorry Joanie. I’m gonna go poke around at Casper’s party or whatever.” “I’ll come too!” “Hell no you won’t, Joanie. No way.” “It’s a date!” Joanie hung up. ---- What’s Vic’s next move? A. Wait for the party – Vic needed a few night’s good sleep before jumping back into the ring B. Scope out the sisters – They sounded like the crowd Casper ran with; maybe Vic can turn on the charm? C. Bust into Casper’s house for clues – Vic knew the kid lived in the bad part of town… what’s one random break-in?
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Jul 31, 2019 00:38
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Are we accruing horror/insanity points? If so A.
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Jul 31, 2019 13:21
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Outrail posted:Are we accruing horror/insanity points? If so Yeah B sounds like a good plan.
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Jul 31, 2019 15:34
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C.
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Jul 31, 2019 15:41
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sephiRoth IRA posted:What’s Vic’s next move? Vote: B. Scope out the sisters
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Jul 31, 2019 20:09
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A Let's not run this into the ground just yet.
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Aug 8, 2019 01:06
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No, it’s still on! I’ve been traveling for work out of state, I got home like 40 minutes ago. I have a post half written. Sorry everybody!
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Aug 8, 2019 01:12
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I just meant our character's sanity score!
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Aug 8, 2019 01:19
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sephiRoth IRA posted:---- A. Give Vic some time to make preparations, maybe a stakeout of the location, place landmines, etc.
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Aug 8, 2019 16:28
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VirtualBasement posted:A. Give Vic some time to make preparations, maybe a stakeout of the location, place landmines, etc. Landmines? I mean sure, but that escalated quickly.
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Aug 9, 2019 15:10
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I'll be sorely disappointed if one of our old 'cleaner' pals didn't have the nickname "Mafiosoap".
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Aug 9, 2019 18:52
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C. Dropping in on an enlightened person's abode is always the funnest part of a Barron story.
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Aug 11, 2019 05:35
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Outrail posted:Landmines? Is it really cosmic horror if the protagonist isn't hucking around explosives like a new father with a box of cigars?
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Aug 13, 2019 20:33
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VirtualBasement posted:Is it really cosmic horror if the protagonist isn't hucking around explosives like a new father with a box of cigars? Its ONLY pure strain cosmic horror if the protagonist isn't hucking around explosives and dual wielding assault rifles. The narrator didn't have weapons in The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Whisperer in Darkness, Reanimator, etc.
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Aug 13, 2019 21:57
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The hotel room was littered with half-eaten food trays and molding towels and stank of unwashed flesh. Vic hulked over the scratched wooden desk, poring over the Guide for the hundredth (five hundredth?) time. He had been collecting information from various sources for the past 40 hours, cramming the slippery language of warding into his head. He was covered with sweat, grease, and whiskey stains. Everything that he read about rites of rebirth suggested that Casper was either far more powerful than Vic had thought or was punching above his weight class. Igmem was mentioned only in a handful of texts, variously referred to as king of insects, cockroaches, wasps, and a god of carrion. What Vic could comprehend suggested a complicated blood rite that would bring Igmem into physical being. The consequences of his arrival into physical reality were too terrible to even attempt to consider. What Vic concluded from his readings were two main points: Casper and his rite had to be stopped, and Vic had a good chance of dying in the process. On he read, memorizing the twisted hand gestures that might, if he was lucky and good, protect him from the array of spells that Casper and his fellow… cultists had at their disposal. Vic glanced over at the bed. The gun and ammunition glinted dully in the dim light cast by the bedside lamp. He’d spent an agonizing few hours considering a call to former back alley armorers, asking for local connections in Oregon or Washington, but in the end figured he was likely to get shot once the information on his whereabouts was on every two-bit snitch’s tongue. The gun and the hollow-points would have to do. The clock read 5:00PM. Despite his best efforts, he had not talked Joanie out of accompanying him. Only by extracting promises that she would flee if things went pear-shaped did he assent to her presence. They had agreed to get to the winery just ahead of the tasting room closing at 8:00. Vic wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the two hours between close and the start of the party. Vic wasn’t sure about a lot of things. He showered, dressed, packed the gun, and hit the road. ---- The winery was busy. The tasting room was filled to the rafters; Pam and Mark could be seen running back and forth between the bar and the stockroom. As the clock ticked closer to 8:00 PM, Joan picked his brain about anything and everything related to Casper and Igmem. Vic spilled as much as he could, going as far to attempt to teach her the wards only to have her blow him off. She thought she was on an assignment, and there was nothing Vic could do to convince her otherwise. Vic had been eyeing Casper from across the room. He was sipping a red along with the tree trunks from Wednesday, and smirked every time Vic managed to catch his eye. Time dragged, minutes stretching into what felt like hours, until finally Pam locked the doors, leaving about 30 people, Casper and his goons, Vic, and Joanie behind. Casper strode up to Vic’s table. “Hello Vic. I’m glad you could make it! And with a lovely date, no less.” Vic started to speak before Joanie cut in with “You must be Casper. I’m Joan, with the Newberg Graphic. I’d love to ask you some questions about all this, Vic’s told me a bit about your gatherings and I find it fascinating!” She smiled. Casper’s mouth dropped open, followed by a short chuckle. “Aren’t you the inquisitive one?” He glanced at Vic, his familiar smirk returning to his face. “Vic told you some things, did he?” He paused, letting Vic stew. “Well, I’d be happy to tell you everything. Pam and Mark have set up a beautiful table out in their back vineyard. Would you like to walk over with me?” Casper offered an elbow to Joan. She took it, standing and looking back at Vic as Casper’s cronies crowded around her. “Are you coming, Vinnie?” What’s Vic’s move? 1. Stay Cool – Follow Vic and Joan out to the vineyard 2. Joanie stays with Vic – No way in hell Vic’s letting Joanie go with Casper 3. Calculated Risk – Let Joanie be the bait while Vic “uses the bathroom” to check things out ^^^I feel bad enough giving Vic a gun but he's definitely different than most protags. sephiRoth IRA fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Aug 14, 2019 |
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Aug 13, 2019 22:05
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CourValant posted:Its ONLY pure strain cosmic horror if the protagonist isn't hucking around explosives and dual wielding assault rifles. I was joking. As far as Vic, I say Option 2. Casper either has something big up his sleeve or he's stupid enough to go messing with primal powers. And if Casper needs some blood to be spilled to make the bargain with Igmem, there's no way in hell it will be Joan's while Vic is on the scene.
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Aug 13, 2019 22:47
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sephiRoth IRA posted:What’s Vic’s move? Vote: 3. Calculated Risk – Let Joanie be the bait while Vic “uses the bathroom” to check things out Joan asked for this, so, we're dangling her as bait to snoop around while Casper is distracted. sephiRoth IRA posted:^^^I feel bad enough giving Vic a gun but he's definitely different than most protags. It fits with Vic's background. There's no risk of him solving this mystery by shooting his way out. By which I mean, Vic will likely turn the gun on himself once things truly go 'cosmic horror'. VirtualBasement posted:I was joking.
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Aug 14, 2019 00:14
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1. Also, keep eyes open for any loose cushions or pillows. If we can get Casper alone in a room we can do the "Impromptu Suppressor" trick and dome him.
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Aug 14, 2019 14:33
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Tiebreakers? I can also pick my favorite... 
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Aug 17, 2019 20:43
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Aug 17, 2019 21:07
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3 just caught up
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Aug 18, 2019 05:25
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