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Swedish Thaumocracy
Jul 11, 2006

Strength of >800 Men
Honor of 0
Grimey Drawer

Mr. Nemo posted:

When's this thing supposed to gk down? The day after tomorrow?

Swedish Thaumocracy posted:

If you are to believe the prophecy, you have another three days until 'the city is consumed by fire'. Even if you know roughly where everything will go down that still doesn't leave you with that much time to try to prevent it.
You decide the best course of action would be splitting the party, ordering Kvelar and Khami to check out the factory whilst you and Abigail try to find someone in charge.

It is Month 3, Week 1, Day Three. There are three days remaining.


There Bias Two posted:

Couldn't we ask the Quackeen priest 3 sets of true/false questions to determine if any of these people are involved?

There are three tiers of diving the truth in this manner.
The first tier, Divining The Past is relatively easy. This is what you did back at the the Arch Constables place.
It is easy and comparatively cheap because the Past is set.
The second tier, Divining the Present is harder and more expensive. Mostly because the Present is a hot commodity.
The third tier, Diving the Future is next to impossible and likely to fail, for the Future is ever in motion and circumstances are bound to change.
The preparations would take at least a day and the cost is prohibitive for normal every day affairs. Fortunately for you these are pretty serious circumstances, so the city will probably foot the bill.

2: Do you want to perform another Truth Seeking Ritual? If you, what questions do you ask? And what tier of knowledge are you after?
As per the previous requirements, the questions need to be short true/false statements.

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Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
B. Take the day off I have the weight of Toil on my shoulders you trembling shits. Work on your houses or work on your failing marriages or work on the family budget or work on your resumes so that you may work all the more harder as He commands but don't come to work you thickos.

Talk to the guy in charge of the Person Resources department and tell him/her that the dwarves are not having a day off work they are working at not dragging this city into ruin and that deserves compensation. Personal development and factory preservation.

If that doesn't work throw our hands at the sky and take out a full page ad in the city paper detailing how the factory ignored the word of God and is/has been punished.

Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(
I guess we could ask, has Dwarf A/B/C thought about taking over the Automatas at some point in the past? That would nail the culprit if this is a premeditated act. It would be useless if one of them is gonna go mad or something. How much for 3 Past divinations? The city shouldn't mind if it's for the greater good. And maybe someone with more experience on this amtters could think of better questions to ask.

Nyaa
Jan 7, 2010
Like, Nyaa.

:colbert:
1. A: Arrest the dwarf worker. No one will miss him.

1. C: Learn from Chief Engineer and stay with him the whole time

2. Divining the Present on Foreman just in case. Question is: Will the factory comes to harm in the future.

Theantero
Nov 6, 2011

...We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Fester Addams, this Mamushka is for you....
1B with Outrail's reasoning. Also, stay with the engineer as much as possible.

2: "Is the Golem Wrangler the man we seek?"

The wrangler seems fishy, so I say we try to rule him out.

Swedish Thaumocracy
Jul 11, 2006

Strength of >800 Men
Honor of 0
Grimey Drawer
Divining the Truth

I will assume that each question is asked of each suspect in turn, because that just seems reasonable.
In this way the divination ritual will work sort of like a lie detectier test, though one with 100% accuracy of the past and present.

Mr. Nemo posted:

I guess we could ask, has Dwarf A/B/C thought about taking over the Automatas at some point in the past?

Foreman

"Hm? My schedule is full. No time for the wrangling of Golems. Aid in their construction, yes, the rituals required, indeed. But I delegate, have others that handle them for me." FALSE

Engineer


"Every day for the past 24 years." TRUE

Wrangler

"Uh, yeah?I mean, its my job?" TRUE

---

Nyaa posted:

2. Divining the Present on Foreman just in case. Question is: Will the factory comes to harm in the future.

Foreman

"Toil will see us through." FALSE

Engineer

"Listen, this is a factory. Accidents happen all the time." TRUE

Wrangler

"Uhm. I hope not?" TRUE


Theantero posted:

2: "Is the Golem Wrangler the man we seek?"

*Changed to are you presently the man we seek?

Foreman

"No." TRUE

Engineer

"No." TRUE

Wrangler

"Uh, no?" [???]





Well. That was odd. The Quackinite Cleric looks aghast at his broken jar.
What now?

Nyaa
Jan 7, 2010
Like, Nyaa.

:colbert:
We now have prove that the foreman is lying and the jar broke on the Wrangler, so we may as well arrest both of them. Spread the news to the whole factory that the culprit has been caught and whoever is in ledge with him better steps out now to confess to receive a waiver of crime. We understands the you've been forced and we are willing to forgive.

jazzyhattrick
Jul 1, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Don't be too harsh on the wrangler. He's probably a manchurian candidate, and has no idea what he's going to do.

Theantero
Nov 6, 2011

...We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Fester Addams, this Mamushka is for you....

jazzyhattrick posted:

Don't be too harsh on the wrangler. He's probably a manchurian candidate, and has no idea what he's going to do.

Yeah, I feel this is the likely explanation and that some divine prophesy fuckery is going to go down. Explain to him rationally that due to the divination jar shattering he's by far the most suspicious person about, and as such should probably spend the next few days including the day of the prophesy in state custody.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
Or better yet send all three of them on a snipe hunt away from the factory with some friendly but well armed guards.

Wait for Toil to send us another exasperated and hopefully more detailed vision.

Arkanomen
May 6, 2007

All he wants is a hug
Investigate further!

Toil demands we do due diligence and make sure we arrest the right man. Investigate his locker, investigate them all. Pat downs, desk rummages, golem poking!

Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(
So, the foreman is going to hypnotize or use some other kind of ritual or magic to make the wrangler take over the Golems.

[b]Kvelar, Khami, Abigail, what do you think of this theory?
Explain this to the priest, and ask for his opinion. Does he, or anyone else around, know how one could take over someone's mind?/b]

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:

Arkanomen posted:

Investigate further!

Toil demands we do due diligence and make sure we arrest the right man. Investigate his locker, investigate them all. Pat downs, desk rummages, golem poking!

Toil wants us to do the job. The job was to stop the city being destroyed on the given day. Toil understands the importance of sticking to project objectives thankyou very much. And gently caress his cryptic bullshit, should've given us a vision of which dwarf was going to do it. Efficiently doing his job my rear end.

Swedish Thaumocracy
Jul 11, 2006

Strength of >800 Men
Honor of 0
Grimey Drawer
Inquiries

Mr. Nemo posted:

So, the foreman is going to hypnotize or use some other kind of ritual or magic to make the wrangler take over the Golems.

Kvelar, Khami, Abigail, what do you think of this theory?
Explain this to the priest, and ask for his opinion. Does he, or anyone else around, know how one could take over someone's mind?


Party Thoughts
Kvelar: "Nae, the ritual told us the Foreman is innocent, though suspicious he be for his other falsehoods."

Khami: "Hypnosis is a trick for fools, but fools are they who disregard it."

Abigail: "I dunno about mind control, though it sounds pretty cool! But why would they go through all that trouble if they are his bosses anyway, what does he know right? Just give him bad instructions or something."

Priest of Quackeen: "The Ritual tells you the Truth, but the question asked exactly determines what that Truth is. Be not too quick to judge, unless the question is most clear." "As for the question of hypnosis, I do not know." He sighs as he bends down to gather up the debris of his broken jar but is soon shaken from his muttering by the half-burnt parchment that lay among the shards. "Hmm. I believe this is for you, though I know not its significance."

Divining Parchment posted:


d̡̻̹̞̰̈́̾͌̾ͅṛ̡̪̺͈̺̓ͬͦͩͧe̦a̙̼͌ͭ̇̀̌́̕m̳̙̟̰̤͍̳̾̉̐ș̤̤̜̩̤́͘

Grognan
Jan 23, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
ask them to suspend operations for a few days and let's eat a muffin

Waci
May 30, 2011

A boy and his dog.
Cupcake time

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
Pick up the parchment and shake it a bit "Thank you for being so concise!"

Yeah and then eat a cupcake.

We could pretend to be Toil and scare him away from the factory for good.

Outrail fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Jul 5, 2016

Nyaa
Jan 7, 2010
Like, Nyaa.

:colbert:
Cupcake it is.

Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(
Is wasting a cupcake on a "moral task" with no tangible reward worth it? Being an obedient dwarf sucks...

Thogromir or whatever eat the cupcake

Swedish Thaumocracy
Jul 11, 2006

Strength of >800 Men
Honor of 0
Grimey Drawer
Divined Justice

“Khami, you are the Foremans shadow. Take a guard if you have to and make sure he doesn't flee. He might be innocent but this isn't over yet.”
He nods at your request and you continue: “Meanwhile, lets take the Wrangler to a holding cell. There is something fishy going on here, and I intend to get to the bottom with it!”

With only mild protests the Golem-Wrangler (His name is Klaus, you learn later) is led away from the factory, with you, Kvelar and Abigail acting as his hostile escort.
Soon you find yourselves at a nearby guardhouse and you leave the other two overseeing things as you step into an observation room and unpack your tasty desert. Not the usual interrogation then.



On the other side of the slime-covered one-way-glass you see the captured dwarven worker looking distraught, as Abigail and Kvelar enjoy a game of Good Cop, Duck Cop. But soon your meal is all you have eyes for, and soon even that is gone.
[-01 Etheral RimRose Cupcakes]

---



Your vision returns to you 'soon' after. There is no way to really tell how long you where out, but the scene before you is in familiar muted, beige-like tones.
You are floating next to your body where you left it and you can feel the safeness of its tug. You can return to it at any moment. Indeed, you must unless you actively resist.

But you sense something is different. You are not the only one present, as before. In the other room you sense two sources of great warmth. They feel orange and blue. You deduce they correspond with Abigail and Kvelar, though you are not sure which is which.
You sense several other entities nearby. They have no warmth to share. They are excited red. You sense them flit about the other room, orbiting the figure in the corner.

You can see him. Even beyond the wall that you have yet to float through, his presence is palatable. He hasn't noticed you, you aren't sure that he can. He has a light much the same as yours and it clings to his body like it was a beloved treasure.



---

1: You feel you could approach the entities if you wished, but how you do so might greatly affect the outcome. Are you...

A: Inquisitive

B: Hostile

C: Diplomatic

D: Actually, no I want to avoid them.

---

2: There are other figures in the room. You sense you could approach them, if you wished.

E: The Orange Glow

F: The Blue Glow

G: The Glowing figure of Klaus.
You sense that the red entities might interfere.

---

3: Something else?
You feel many lesser warmths (perhaps they are merely further away?) tug at you. They are every which way and in constant movement.
You could travel to them, or somewhere else, but you know that this would tire you out much quicker than simply staying here.

Nyaa
Jan 7, 2010
Like, Nyaa.

:colbert:
AG

Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(
Well, should've brought the Foreman here as well. Too late for that now.

A

Just to check, by "him" you mean Klaus? Who has a presence similar to the one we feel on ourselves? Which somehow feels different from the ones we feel from other people on this "trip" and on previous ones?



The red things are probably some kind of magic or or evil spirit or something.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
A, whatever they are, they could accomplish so much more with us than a factory worker.

Swedish Thaumocracy
Jul 11, 2006

Strength of >800 Men
Honor of 0
Grimey Drawer
Clarification.

Mr. Nemo posted:

Well, should've brought the Foreman here as well. Too late for that now.

As the ritual proved him Innocent, at least according to the question as you posed it, you could not stretch your authority to bring him in for further questioning as well. Especially since his duty is so important to the workings of the factory. However, you sense nothing stopping you from travelling to him from here, in this form, wherever he is. You are reasonably certain you could home in on Khamis warmth and tug, even if you have never tried before

Mr. Nemo posted:

Just to check, by "him" you mean Klaus? Who has a presence similar to the one we feel on ourselves? Which somehow feels different from the ones we feel from other people on this "trip" and on previous ones?

Correct. The only other person you've 'met' in, wherever it is that you are, is Ragnar, and he felt very different. Ragnar looked at once asleep and awake whereas this person is clearly only the latter.

Grognan
Jan 23, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
C and Take a closer look at the red flitting thing that's by, but now around Klaus

Waci
May 30, 2011

A boy and his dog.

Grognan posted:

C and Take a closer look at the red flitting thing that's by, but now around Klaus

+1

Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(
Do we feel anything about "crumbs"? Would we be able to travel to our companions, Tommy, Skavbat? Do we feel this would be more tiring than homing in to the foreman? Do we not feel any tugging from below or any other direction?

We'll totally figure out the cupcake mechanics by the time we are out of them.

Swedish Thaumocracy
Jul 11, 2006

Strength of >800 Men
Honor of 0
Grimey Drawer
Taking Spiritual Inventory

Mr. Nemo posted:

Do we feel anything about "crumbs"? Would we be able to travel to our companions, Tommy, Skavbat? Do we feel this would be more tiring than homing in to the foreman? Do we not feel any tugging from below or any other direction?

We'll totally figure out the cupcake mechanics by the time we are out of them.

You feel Full of Crumbs.

You feel warmth in every direction except up an down. All of varying intensity.

You feel tugs accompanying some of these warmths, yet many remain tugless.

You cannot tell which ones are your companions, save for Abigail and Kvelar.

You think you could find Khamis if you tried, and follow it to him and hopefully the Foreman.
This would take a measure of crumbs, though not all of them.

Though you could attempt to travel to Braav in this form, you sense you do not have the crumbs required.

You sense a Presence nearby. It is Klaus.

You sense excited red nearby. They are currently indifferent to you.

paper bag with a face
Jun 2, 2007

AF

Theantero
Nov 6, 2011

...We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Fester Addams, this Mamushka is for you....

Grognan posted:

C and Take a closer look at the red flitting thing that's by, but now around Klaus

Sure.

Swedish Thaumocracy
Jul 11, 2006

Strength of >800 Men
Honor of 0
Grimey Drawer
Astral? Holding Cell



You move forward with an inquisitive mind. You phase through the wall with almost no effort at all. Klaus moves about as if his entire world was molasses, he is facing the Blue Orb and judging my his contorting face seems to be talking, yet you hear no words escape his mouth.
Almost as soon as you come through an Excited Red detaches from the orbit and, for lack of better word, faces you. It vibrates and swirls, attempts a loop-de-loop in front of you. You examine it for a moment.



You sense it is longing. You sense it desires. You sense it is obsession.
It vibrates in the frequency of molten iron. You are certain.
The others feel different.

You should get some molten iron. You need it.

1: What now?

A: Go back to your body. Find some molten iron.
The factory should be full of it.

B: Continue forward with an Inquisitive mind.
See what the other Excited Red are like.

C: Continue forward with a Diplomatic mind.
Perhaps the Excited Red can be bargained with?

D: Continue forward with a Hostile mind.
You do not want molten iron! That is ridiculous!

E: Ignore the Excited Reds, inspect something else.
The Orange Orb, the Blue Orb or Klaus.

F: Go somewhere else.
Write-in.

You have many crumbs remaining.

Nyaa
Jan 7, 2010
Like, Nyaa.

:colbert:
Ah, so that thing possesed the automada and caused havoc.

A. Grab a molten metal for it to possess, bring it to a temple to exocist it or bury it forever.

paper bag with a face
Jun 2, 2007

B

Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(
B

Maybe we only need to bargain with a few of them to avoid catastrophe. We need to preserve our crumbs.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
B then C

Molten iron? How about down, lots of down.

Grognan
Jan 23, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
B, Something that wants to be in the molten iron is clustering around/possessing the wrangler that could make it happen. We should talk or commune with them to see who/what they are. The gently caress are these spiritual entities? Ok the floaty one wants iron, the others are different

hollylolly
Jun 5, 2009

Do you like superheroes? Check out my CYOA Mutants: Uprising

How about weird historical fiction? Try Vampires of the Caribbean

C - let's be diplomatic!

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
Also: Think about the big bag of fun dist we have. And out FOOF. What does the red dot think about that?

Theantero
Nov 6, 2011

...We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Fester Addams, this Mamushka is for you....

Grognan posted:

B, Something that wants to be in the molten iron is clustering around/possessing the wrangler that could make it happen. We should talk or commune with them to see who/what they are. The gently caress are these spiritual entities? Ok the floaty one wants iron, the others are different

Indeed. B

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Lazaruise
Jan 25, 2009

Grognan posted:

B, Something that wants to be in the molten iron is clustering around/possessing the wrangler that could make it happen. We should talk or commune with them to see who/what they are. The gently caress are these spiritual entities? Ok the floaty one wants iron, the others are different

This

We need to figure out how to go to the cupcake world without the cupcakes, because eventually we are going to run out of them. I suggest we take some time after this mission to figure out how to do that.

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