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1. A 2. abstain 3. I
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Mar 6, 2018 22:16
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Actually, if we go with B, how the hell are we going to pay for college?
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Mar 6, 2018 22:24
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1) CE. Mabin already has enough mundane obligations without picking up more. 2) - 3) HI. It's high time we found some answers. Authorized could be useful for I.
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Mar 6, 2018 22:54
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NinjaPete posted:1. Which Pacts should we take? Descriptions and prices are below. In addition to listened prices Ms. Kind’s price is “A favor that is not to be refused.” Vote for as many as you want, but we’ll take the one with the most votes. C. This pact is a bit different. Tara Andreason has sold herself for intelligence and the skill to be top of her class. This seems to have possibilities. NinjaPete posted:2. Is there anything we need to let them know about before we see them tonight? Moscow Rules. Don't be late. NinjaPete posted:3. What is the plan? Vote for what you want. I. We need a Cover story, but we should just walk in and talk to Moroni. Maybe Alison is a patron of the arts? Just play up the bored rich housewife angle; Allison really likes these sculptures and wants to commission a smaller version for the fountain in front of her house.
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Mar 7, 2018 01:12
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Actually, if we go with B, how the hell are we going to pay for college? 
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Mar 7, 2018 02:34
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Hahaha it's a trap! Going with E then. Unless anyone can think of some enterprising way to raise the funds.
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Mar 7, 2018 03:35
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1C 2 Not really, no 3 I Use Authorised if neccessary, we're an art buyer and Allison is our client who we're taking along for some final purchasing decisions Also, a minor note: it was mentioned earlier, but when we pick up some more pacts later on to strengthen Mabin, let's pick up someone's clothing style, since that seems like a pretty glaring blind spot in our current cover. sheep-dodger fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Mar 7, 2018 |
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Mar 7, 2018 03:39
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1e 2quick rundown of the notacop, saying hi to moroni if we do so 3 i, save authorized for an emergency
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Mar 7, 2018 06:04
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CourValant posted:C. This pact is a bit different. Tara Andreason has sold herself for intelligence and the skill to be top of her class. All this I'm. Not sure bored housewife will work though, we shouldn't be able to get into the building if it's covered. We can use that initial confusion to get in then get demonic though. Also I really like the concept of the law student willingly and knowingly entering into a demonic pact to pass law school. And what she wants just makes her more useful to us. If we play our cards right we could have a junior lawyer at a top tier firm who knows about our nature (sort of) and is an actual Ally. At any rate having a pocket lawyer is useful for all sorts of reasons.
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Mar 7, 2018 20:49
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1 E 2 no opinion 3 I
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Mar 7, 2018 20:53
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“We go in.” “Guns blazing?” Kind asks, semi-hopefully. “No, we don’t know what’s in there yet. I doubt Moroni is the only God Machine asset in that building, do you?” “Right,” Kind says reluctantly. “So how do we get in without being suspicious?” “You’re a rich white woman, you can do whatever you want.” *** “Excuse me, do you know who I am?” Kind says to the poor bastard who wandered into range. Poor Bastard in question was a middle aged doughy-looking man. He was wearing scorched coveralls and grime. He surprisingly didn’t back down from Kind’s Mom Face. “Hey listen lady, I got all kinds of arteests comin’ in and outta here like it’s there goddamn lake cabin. All of them are convinced whatever three garbage cans they’re welding together is worth a coupla’ thousand bucks. I’m still technically the super here, and so I just need to make sure there aren’t any suspicious type.” “And I look suspicious? Do you k-” “Mrs. Baum is a local patron of the arts,” you say holding up a “Due Date” card you took from the library yesterday. As you do so you subtly shift reality around you, the super, and the card. He takes it. To him, it hopefully looks like a rather official business card “I’m her dealer,” wait, that sounds bad. “Her art dealer..not her dru-” “Ms. Pillager here works with Native Images,” Kind says smoothly, shooting you a death glare. “A non profit that helps native artists gain exposure.” “Aint no Indians here.” “I know. Trust me, I know. But we’re hoping to talk with Mr. Moroni as he has several outreach programs, hopefully, he can point us in the right direction.” “You wanna see Mr. Moroni? You got an appointment?” “Not quite, as you can tell, we’re a bit disorganized.” “It’ll only take a moment sir,” you say, recovering from your embarrassment. “And, afterwards, if we have time, I’d like to talk to you about a partnership with this building. Native Images is looking for new space, and this is a beautiful building.” He pauses for a moment, and then hands you back your fake card. “Mr. Moroni is on the 3rd floor, big studio. Don’t bother any of the other tenets.” he then turns and leaves. Once he is out of earshot, Kind turns to you. “Not my drug dealer. Good to know.” “Sorry.” “I suppose we should make sure to specify you’re not a card dealer as well?” “Sorry.” The two of you prowl through the halls. On either side of you are rows and rows of shut doors. Studio spaces, closed off to keep out intruders, Or maybe closed to keep inspiration in. At one point you look into a small window, glimpsing the studio inside. A man with dark curly hair, wearing jeans and a shirt covered with paint faces away from you. He is standing in front of an abstract painting, a series of jagged circles and slashes. He stands unmoving, in contemplation perhaps? “You know much about art?” Kind asks. You shake your head. “I can make picket signs and that’s about it. Mabin’s good on the computer, but not artistic. You?” “I pretend to. In Alison’s circles everyone needs to play art critic. To me it’s just...colors and shapes. I wonder...sometimes..if we are unable to understand art.”  You walk in silence for a few moments, long enough to get to the second floor. Here, a loud banging sounds on the ceiling above. It may have been the protesting of a neighbor, the sound of another artist at work, or the nonsensical rhythm of a madman. You glance into another window. A man with dark curly hair, wearing jeans and a shirt covered with paint faces away from you. He is standing in front of an abstract painting, a series of jagged circles and slashes. He stands unmoving, in contemplation perhaps? Wait. You look again. Same man, same pose. You dart to the studio next to it. Same man, same pose, same art. Not similar, the exact same. As if the first studio has been copied again and again. You point to the two studios. Kind looks in them both, then at you questionly. “Same downstairs too.” “Is this just misdirection?” “No,I heard banging. These guys aren’t moving. Someone is moving around upstairs. We should go.” “Why?” Kind asks. “We haven't done anything odd yet. If that super talks to Moroni he’ll know we bailed. We should at least try to talk to him.” “What if this is a trap though?” “I’ll just kill everyone.” 1. Good time to talk exit strategy! If things go FUBAR, what should we do? A. Try to get out as quickly and painlessly as possible. Forget everyone and everything, keeping our Cover is the important thing. B. Extract ourselves as quickly as possible, but if we have any secondary objectives make sure we take those or complete them. C. Kind wants to kill something, so let’s stand our ground. If we need to fight we’ll end it as quickly as possible. D. Kill everything sounds good. We need to complete the mission E. Something else. “We’ll deal with that when we need to,” you say. You continue through the building, examining the other studios as you go. The doors are not the same, different dents and scraped paints, even looking at the studios, the walls are different. It is only the art and the artist that are replicated. This is alarming, but not as much as it could be. The Machine is everywhere and it’s reach is vast. You and Ms. Kind will have to be cautious here, as you don’t see any defensive Infrastructure, which worries you. The third floor seems to be solely for Moroni. There is a “lobby” area with a mish-mash of worn furniture dotting it. There are also a number of Moroni’s pieces hanging from the wall, or squatly covering various horizontal surfaces. You recognize a few from Moroni’s website, but others are brand new. Each of them are delicate, colorful, and full of life. Very unlike the metal monstrosities along the river. That discrepancy has never bothered you before, why would artist known for working with clay on a small scale build three giant metal abstract sculptures? You are about to mention this to Kind but, as you are turning to speak to her, she is already knocking. 2. How do we deal with Moroni? F. Just turn and leave, we have a bad feeling here. G. Play it cool, get a reading on him using the story we came up with downstairs, and get out. H. Question him about the sculptures specifically. Try to figure out how involved he is. I. He must be a tool of the Machine, question him about it. Violently if needed. J. Let Kind take care of everything.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Obviously, we went in. It won pretty easily. As to our Pacts, C won with one vote. It's a Pact for only a year of service and we can tear it up if we feel icky about it. But we have a cultist. Though..she doesn't know about us yet. So Authorized worked. We still needed a reason for being there so I tried to lie ot the super. Ink is.. Not good at lying so I tried a Legend roll because, really even if Ink is not good, Mabin should be. But I failed the roll and so we’re out an Aether. I got gunshy and used a Willpower on persuading the super to let us in. Character Sheet World Map Dice Rolls Conspiracy/Plot Board 
NinjaPete fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Mar 7, 2018 |
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Mar 7, 2018 21:10
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Outrail posted:I'm. Not sure bored housewife will work though, we shouldn't be able to get into the building if it's covered. We can use that initial confusion to get in then get demonic though. It might be tricky to do this without damaging Mabin's cover, especially as she is really bad at lying and given the concealment it's possible no normal human would enter the building. Our safest play might actually be sneaking in with our invisibility to avoid giving witnesses and cameras a good luck at Mabin's face (though idk if Kind could keep up with this method). Shame we don't have a facade for this (though I'm not clear on how functional they actually are). I hope Kind has a good plan for this given that she seems to have put enough work into her current cover that she wouldn't want to burn it. A lawyer is cool and all but the bigger draw for me is just having anyone to help us with research (we fail so many research rolls), though I'm unsure if a civilian is prepared to be sneaky enough about this that the Machine wouldn't pick up on their work.
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Mar 7, 2018 21:10
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malbogio posted:It might be tricky to do this without damaging Mabin's cover, especially as she is really bad at lying and given the concealment it's possible no normal human would enter the building. Our safest play might actually be sneaking in with our invisibility to avoid giving witnesses and cameras a good luck at Mabin's face (though idk if Kind could keep up with this method). Shame we don't have a facade for this (though I'm not clear on how functional they actually are). I hope Kind has a good plan for this given that she seems to have put enough work into her current cover that she wouldn't want to burn it. If we take the university enrollment pact we'll have plenty of opportunities to meet grad student TAs and make our own agreements. There is no shortage of desperate smart people in university.
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Mar 7, 2018 21:19
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We are so, so bad at lying. We should have tried sneaking instead probably. 1) C. This deep in I'd only expect us to run into Machine agents. 2) IJ. Whether Moroni knows it or not he's clearly a tool of the Machine. Demons recognize linchpins on sight so hopefully we'll have a clear primary target as soon as we get into his studio. I'd prefer to at least make a grab at Moroni and/or the linchpin before considering retreat. Hope we get a chance to refill Aether soon. Given that we're in a Machine controlled building maybe they have some Aether laying around, dunno if we could reasonably tap it in the time available though. Edit: We have plenty of Aether, I can't read. malbogio fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Mar 7, 2018 |
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Mar 7, 2018 21:25
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malbogio posted:I'd prefer to at least make a grab at Moroni and/or the linchpin before considering retreat. Hope we get a chance to refill Aether soon. Given that we're in a Machine controlled building maybe they have some Aether laying around, dunno if we could reasonably tap it in the time available though. We currently have 5 Aether. We could hook up to the building and tap it (probably through an outlet or something) that's easy to do. It's unhooking that get's tricky. It's an extended Wits + Crafts roll requiring four successes (one roll per turn). Mabin would be rolling 4 dice so it's doable, it just might take a bit. Alternatively, we could ask Kind to give us some Aether.
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Mar 7, 2018 21:47
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NinjaPete posted:We currently have 5 Aether. Whew! Pardons, I failed my reading comprehension check, misread "out an Aether" as "out of Aether". Guess we're fine.
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Mar 7, 2018 21:55
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CJ We're horrible at talking, let Kind take the lead
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Mar 7, 2018 22:04
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Are we immune to radiation? Like if we identify him as the lynchpin can we pull some stupidly radioactive poo poo out of our pocket, stick it under his desk and leave, then he dies of radiation poisoning in a day or two?
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Mar 7, 2018 22:14
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Outrail posted:Are we immune to radiation? Like if we identify him as the lynchpin can we pull some stupidly radioactive poo poo out of our pocket, stick it under his desk and leave, then he dies of radiation poisoning in a day or two? We are not immune sadly. Ms. Kind maybe is.
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Mar 7, 2018 22:20
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NinjaPete posted:1. Good time to talk exit strategy! If things go FUBAR, what should we do? A. Try to get out as quickly and painlessly as possible. Forget everyone and everything, keeping our Cover is the important thing. Things have been too 'hot' already over the past few days, lets play it cool for now; plenty of chances to 'go loud' soon. NinjaPete posted:2. How do we deal with Moroni? G. Play it cool, get a reading on him using the story we came up with downstairs, and get out. Play the cover first, we can always turn the volume up depending on the way this goes.
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Mar 7, 2018 23:03
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Oh god why are we so bad at lying? I don't even see it on the character sheet. How are you supposed to be a spy if you can't lie?
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Mar 7, 2018 23:44
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Oh god why are we so bad at lying? I don't even see it on the character sheet. Mabin is a capable ninja. If we stick to physical infiltration rather than social deception we should do fine. She has high Empathy and Persuasion too, which I think means we can read people and talk them into doing what we want, but outright lying would be Subterfuge. So on social situations we're better off being straightforward, every time we try to play dumb we end up rolling Subterfuge and failing. Mechanically to make things happen we're rolling d10s and hoping for dice to come up 8+. With Subterfuge we are rolling 1 die (70% chance of complete failure). With Persuasion I think we're rolling 5+ dice (under 17% chance of complete failure). While I prefer to focus on narrative over mechanics it's worth remembering that if we select a choice for Mabin that involves outright lying we are almost always going to make things worse. malbogio fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Mar 8, 2018 |
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Mar 8, 2018 00:14
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1. C 2. J
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Mar 8, 2018 00:49
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malbogio posted:Mabin is a capable ninja. If we stick to physical infiltration rather than social deception we should do fine. She has high Empathy and Persuasion too, which I think means we can read people and talk them into doing what we want, but outright lying would be Subterfuge. So on social situations we're better off being straightforward, every time we try to play dumb we end up rolling Subterfuge and failing. Roll for lie 'You have to believe me, this gun isn't stolen': Fail Roll for persuasion 'You have to believe me this gun isn't stolen': Success! Grammar.
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Mar 8, 2018 01:07
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1B 2H/J
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Mar 8, 2018 01:08
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BG
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Mar 8, 2018 02:32
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CJ Can we actually be confident we haven't been seen here? We might not get another chance at this.
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Mar 8, 2018 04:28
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24 hourish notice.
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Mar 8, 2018 15:28
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AJ
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Mar 8, 2018 17:05
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After an agonizing minute the door rattles and opens. In another life Aldo Moroni might have been a good-looking man, a healthy complexion, deep laugh-lines, maybe little on the stout side with a frame made possible from leisure and good eating. But, that was not this reality. The Aldo Moroni looking at Ms. Kind is gaunt and pale. He wears clothes too large for him, which are covered in artistic offal. His cheeks, hollow and covered with a film of grizzled hair, are framed by lank black curls crusted with dried clay and paint. The eyes that peer out at you are a touch on the wild side, but no manic. “Yes?” “Mr. Aldo Moroni?” Kind asks. “Yeah that’s--” he stops distracted and turns to yell over his shoulder. “Daisy, check the kiln would you?” He turns back to Lee. “What can I help you with?” “My name is Mrs. Alison Baum, this is my associate, Mabin Pillager. We’d like to talk to you about a possible business partnership that will benefit us both.” “...you seriously expect me to believe that?” Kind laughs. “Sorry, I suppose that was a bit formal. I’m just a rich bored housewife who would rather start some art nonprofits rather than bone the pool boy. I’ve seen your suff, my agent here has researched you, and we’d like to take a few minutes of your time to try to get you on board. Is that a bit more honest?” “Better” Moroni says, and steps back to open the door. The studio is at once spacious and cramped. The actual area is large and open, but Moroni has filled the space with artistic debris. Half-finished sculptures of buildings and people wilt along the walls and across the large table Moroni has set in the middle of a room. An entire cityscape oozes and drips across the surface. The walls are plastered with sketches, pictures, posters, and post-it note reminders. In the back of a studio a young woman fiddles with a large kiln, she shoots a curious glance at you and Ms. Kind from under her multi-colored hair. “Daisy is my assistant, sort of. I don’t know if I can call her that if I don’t pay her..” “I think the PC term is indentured servant.” Daisy grumbles “Well, it’s semantics anyway.” Moroni clears off a section of the table, haphazardly piling papers up. He pulls out a bottle of water from a minfrienge tucked under the table. He offers one to each of you, Ms. Kind politely declines. 1. Do you take the water? A Sure it’s just water. B Nah, not thirsty C Wait, why is this a question in this update?! Moroni settles himself onto a drafting stool and a small cloud of dried clay puffs up around him as he does so. “So, Mrs. Baum, what would you like to know?” “Well, I have to admit that I don’t know much about art, I mean really. But I do know a lot about giving disadvantaged urban youth opportunities.” “Uh-huh.” “I mean, children are our future after all. And I’d like to create a scholarship, or a grant or a whateveryoucallit, for young native artists. A population that, I think, has been underserved.” Alison looks at you for confirmation. Mabin dutifully nods her head once. “And since you have experience with youth collaboration, we’d like to pick your brain. Perhaps given give you a stiped to help set it up.” Moroni sips his water. “I mean, that sounds great. And I’d like to help, but I’m pretty tied up at the moment.” “Oh? Do you have more projects you’re working on? Big ones. Like those metal ones along the river?” “No, not like those. Just some personal projects. Who did you say you were with?” “Mabin is with Native Images, I’m just with myself. Personal projects, like this here?” Kind says, redirecting Moroni, getting him to explain one of his pieces. Interesting. When Kind mentioned the river sculptures, Moroni closed off, physically and emotionally. He had seemed pretty friendly until that moment. He wanted to avoid talking about them. You wonder.... "Those sculptures..." you start. Moroni, Kind, even Daisy, all turn to you. "They are the first pieces of yours I saw. They are really quite striking. What was the inspiration?" "Thanks." Moroni says. "I appreciate it, but they are still a work in progress, and I don't like talking about uncompleted peices." 2. Do we press him on the sculptures? D Yes, if he’s hiding something, all the more reason to press him. Let's try to persuade him. E Yes, but we should get Kind to try it first, she seems to be connecting with him. F No, we don’t want to press him too much. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Short update, but this scene could go a lot of different ways. Also, Mabin is bad at lying, but she is good at reading people! Character Sheet World Map Dice Rolls Conspiracy/Plot Board
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Mar 9, 2018 15:53
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1.B 2. E Of course, we don't take the damned water
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Mar 9, 2018 15:56
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1C Is this a meta joke or is something wrong here? 2E EDIT: "In the heart of the fire holds the key" Get a good look at the kiln and the woman running it.
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Mar 9, 2018 18:38
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1) C. The bottles might be worth inspecting but they’re not the priority. 2) D. I wouldn’t say Moroni and Kind are connecting, we might have more to go on here than Kind does. Nonzero chance Daisy is Moroni’s guard whether he knows it or not. Given Moroni’s appearance he may be under some form of compulsion to stay at work. Drugs in the water? The studio sounds like enough of a mess to hide things, better keep an eye out. Does anything seem off about Daisy’s interactions with the kiln? malbogio fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Mar 9, 2018 |
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Mar 9, 2018 18:40
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BD We're good at just talking to people, right? It's only outright lies we have trouble with, soft interrogations and persuasion are actually something we're really good at. Also, take a good look at the kiln, good catch Kavak
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Mar 9, 2018 18:48
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1. B 2. F I'm also suspicious of Daisy and the kiln. She does sound like she could be some kind of minder. Suspicious that she works for free, double suspicious that she works the kiln. Hopefully we can press more about the sculptures as the conversation continues.
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Mar 9, 2018 19:16
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NinjaPete posted:1. Do you take the water? C Wait, why is this a question in this update?! Are there some 'Angel/Demon' rules we need to know? Kinda like how vampires can't enter a house unless invited? Is there something about accepting hospitality or gifts that fetters us in this situation? NinjaPete posted:2. Do we press him on the sculptures? D Yes, if he’s hiding something, all the more reason to press him. Let's try to persuade him. Get Kind to do it, because we no speak gud. ***** edit: vote change ***** CourValant fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Mar 10, 2018 |
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Mar 9, 2018 20:22
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1. B Keep our hands free. 2. F
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Mar 9, 2018 20:37
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CourValant posted:Get Kind to do it, because we no speak gud. We’re actually good at Persuasion (maybe better than Kind) and Empathy (we’re almost certainly better at reading people than Kind). We’re just bad at coming up with convincing lies. Prodding Moroni to open up about the work remaining on the Infrastructure might be more in our wheelhouse than Kind’s.
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Mar 9, 2018 20:37
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malbogio posted:We’re actually good at Persuasion (maybe better than Kind) and Empathy (we’re almost certainly better at reading people than Kind). We’re just bad at coming up with convincing lies. Prodding Moroni to open up about the work remaining on the Infrastructure might be more in our wheelhouse than Kind’s. Okie Dokie, let's keep pressing then.
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Mar 10, 2018 00:17
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B E Keep an eye on Daisy as we/Kind question Moroni about the sculptures.
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Mar 10, 2018 02:16
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