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 Setting up shop. “It’s okay, I have trained for this!” Sarga says, and slams her hand into the table. As she draws it up she forms a pile of neat coins. Each one has her smiling face in the centre and a ring of eight interlocking tentacles radiating out. ”They want wages, I’ll give them wages. In Sargacoin!” The plan was simple - a company shop where all the money spent would be controlled by her, as she was the only one with a teleportation system, she controlled the imports and exports of this area, and therefore could set the prices. Heading the the dam, she draws herself up her full. Height and puts on her game face. The dam is coming on well, and has already slowed the rate of water. The Beavers have built their lodge to the edge of it, and it looks to be a good size. Sarga is annoyed at the wasted effort, but it’s the price you pay for intelligent minions. The Beaverwoman comes up to Sarga, Head held high, shoulders set. Sarga can see she’s stealing herself for this - they are fighting, but they know they are outmatched. Sarga can work with this. ”Greetings fine workers.” be polite, check, don’t call them minions to their face. Check. ”What seems to be the cause of this unauthorized work stoppage?” - Straight to the point and remind them who is in charge. ”We demand thair pay and the right to continuud work! We’re not mindless sslaves, and we’re dead in thth world alone in these new formths!” Labour union 101 then. Nice and basic - slight hint of reproach that they have been transformed, but an acceptance. This was going to be easier than Sarga thought it would be. Time to end this quickly with an unexpected concession. Make them think they won easily. ”Of course! I cannot expect such fine people as you to work unrewarded! I have here your first weeks pay in the coins of my company. I shall construct a shop at my realm and will supply you with the prices. If you would like to let me know what kind of goods you will be wanting to buy, I shall endeavour to stock them.” Sarga throws the bag of coins onto the floor with enough force to make it split, the coins are very shiny, being magical in origen they shine brighter than even gold and silver would, and Sarga could see the magpie part of the workers brains light up. Behind ehr Seaglass let out a short snort of amusement, she could see how this was going. ”A..and the conhtract?” The beaverwoman stuttered. ”Of course me dear… I’m sorry what is your name?” follow perceived generosity with politeness. ”I was named Herthmionthy. But it is hard to sthay now. I go by Holta.” ”Well Holta. Seaglass will tell you that I have yet to abandon any of my creations - in fact the last lot now have a permanent home in a safe location..” out of the corner of her eye she can see Seaglass nod. ”So you have nothing to worry about. Now, if that is all, please report the status of the works.” and that concludes business. ”Well Missthress. We hath nearly completed the dam. To get it high enougthh to cause damage will take three more weekths, unless we get more workerths. If we were able to get twith the crew, we could be done in a week.” ”I’m a little tapped on Mana at the moment, I may be able to make two more, but I need to have a think. What should we do - A - take the time, a bigger crew is more obvious. B - Speed is of the essence! - capture and create 2 more Beavers (8 per 1 day each.) Once the drat is created, what then? 1 - Unleash it immediately. 2 - Wait for it to fill to its maxium level before releasing its force. 3 - Have the beavers create some funnels downstream to better funnel the waters to the two target villages on the other side of the lake. 4 - 2+3 combined! I assume the plan is to hit the far side of the lake with a tidlewave of beaver created destruction! quote:Mana = 16/45
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May 31, 2018 08:37
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We're on a deadline. And we want a high enough body count. We need more beavers to maximize our Labour's output. And if they have the additional workers, we can look at maximizing the damage we can do to the populace. Therefore, B4 seems to be in our best interests.
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May 31, 2018 09:35
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Dinictus posted:We're on a deadline. And we want a high enough body count. We need more beavers to maximize our Labour's output. And if they have the additional workers, we can look at maximizing the damage we can do to the populace. I concur with plan B4, and furthermore think that Liquid Communism is a darn appropriate username combo for posting in this thread given our
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May 31, 2018 09:52
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How well would our mantis shrimps do in fresh water? Might be worth pulling in some muscle just in case.
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May 31, 2018 11:24
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Dinictus posted:We're on a deadline. And we want a high enough body count. We need more beavers to maximize our Labour's output. And if they have the additional workers, we can look at maximizing the damage we can do to the populace. This makes sense.
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May 31, 2018 11:30
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A4 Send a message to the Rogue, warning him that the king wants him dead and we can help him escape. A simple divination will tell him these statements are true.
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May 31, 2018 22:55
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A4. We're on the clock but we've also got time.
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May 31, 2018 23:26
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A4 
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May 31, 2018 23:30
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B4, our penultimate, suboptimal hope for peace.
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May 31, 2018 23:38
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AJ_Impy posted:B4, our penultimate, suboptimal hope for peace.  very clever
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May 31, 2018 23:44
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AJ_Impy posted:B4, our penultimate, suboptimal hope for peace.
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Jun 1, 2018 00:05
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super sweet best pal posted:A4 We've got some nice cash flow coming in, can we use our resources to pay someone to get the background on the rouge for a few hundred $? If he's of questionable background and morality why don't we just recruit him? We can offer cash if he just fucks off somewhere else, or favorable mutations and offer to give him a letter of good(ill) repute for ongoing hire with the dark isle if he joins out side. Want a poison stinger implanted in your arm? Spit acid? Replace your bones with bendy flexible cartilage? A retractable cockblade? What do humans want anyway?
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Jun 1, 2018 02:41
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+1 retractable cockblade
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Jun 1, 2018 04:02
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Can we at least introduce malaria for funsies?
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Jun 1, 2018 04:37
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Blasphemaster posted:Can we at least introduce malaria for funsies? +1 malarial funtime
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Jun 1, 2018 05:48
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Blasphemaster posted:Can we at least introduce malaria for funsies? I think malarial funtime is inevitable, really. B4 seems like our best option, although I agree that if we can get some background on the Rogue, it'll be to our benefit. After all, such people make enemies, and are likely to be susceptible to both bribery and pressure concerning old misdeeds.
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Jun 1, 2018 05:54
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+1 to Malaria and Paying for Research
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Jun 1, 2018 06:19
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AJ_Impy posted:B4, our penultimate, suboptimal hope for peace. I'd rather just do the job, not go back in time a thousand years and become some other civilization's messiah, thanks. 4, no preference on A vs B, malaria++
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Jun 1, 2018 07:18
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Blasphemaster posted:Can we at least introduce malaria for funsies?
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Jun 1, 2018 07:29
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I don't see the retired Rogue being bought for any amount of gold we have access to, we need to steer well clear of him. We're toiling away in peace and quiet pending that 6th person getting away alive - we should lay low and have some mana ready incase we need to deal with anyone who comes looking. If anything, the Rogue is disarming our traps in the swamp and researching us right now. If we can manage to get through executing our plan we should totally "rescue" the Rogue from the floodwaters and convert him into a more offensive tool.
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Jun 1, 2018 13:22
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We just need to remember the Rogues have low fortitude saves.
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Jun 2, 2018 00:55
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Blasphemaster posted:We just need to remember the Rogues have low fortitude saves. Or lure hi into a 'devious trap' that's just a swarm of leeches
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Jun 2, 2018 02:43
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Dambuilders. ”I’ll get you the extra people.” Sarga says. It’ll cost her, but this is an in and out job. She turns to Seaglass and nods. The Stingray Woman turns and dives into the rapidly lowering water. “I’m going to cook up a little extra, I shall return with your workers in two days.” As she enters her lair, Sarga grabs a book from her shelf “Applied biological warfare, by Sepsis and Grub.” flicking through the pages, she comes upon the spell to build malaria. It’s a common one, but nothing out of the ordinary. She looks at the life cycle and decides it’s a little, tame] so sets to work tweaking the effects. Soon she is happy, and has a small vial packed full of mosquito larvae ready to dump into the water. Soon after, Seaglass returns dragging two more humans. She dumps them in the cells and report in. ”Mistress. They know something is amiss. I took the liberty of interrogating a third prisoner, and they found the corpse of the one I shot. The Rogue is leading people across the waters to search for the monster. They have not thought to look here, but it can only be a matter of time.” ”Curses!” Sarga exclaims. ”Keep watch on them, but do not be seen.for now we must continue on plan! With that, Sarga gets to work, humming a happy tune in time to the screams of her soon to be minions. Two days later, she delivers the Beavers and takes the first orders for the company store - mostly safety equipment like hard hats and a few trinkets. She orders them from the Isle and has then delivered. This costs her fifty gold, but it’s a small price to pay for the happy faces on the Beaverpeople when they get their first gifts. She paid a little extra to have her octocrest embossed on the front of the dark green helmets. She also made sure they looked as intimidating as possible, as the chance the villagers would see them and think they were soldiers was not to be passed up. Two days later, Seaglass returns. ”They have begun to search the swamps. The Rogue is leading them. What shall we do?” A - 1 - Send Seaglass after the rogue. 2 - Send everyone after the humans 3 - let the traps slow them down. B - We will also have to think about our exit strategy, do we - 1 - Blow the dam now. 2 - Hold out for as long as possible 3 - Hold out to the last second, monologue, THEN blow the dam, like a proper supervillan. C - Also, what shall we do about the Beavers. 1 - Leave them to their fates, the unionised fools! 2 - Take them back to the isle and cut them loose. 3 - Keep them on the payroll. They may cost us a bit, but having your own construction company is useful. quote:Mana = 4/45
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Jun 5, 2018 08:57
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Pull the shrimpmen from the mine, abandon the base and pile into the villages while the rogue is gone. Two shrimpmen, a converted hero, and a squidwoman should be more than enough to take out two villages sequentially. Set the beavers on village perimeter duty to kill anyone who gets by. Promise hazard pay + a per-kill bonus. Make good on your promises. Spend some of the time bought by the traps to try to rejigger the drat to also flood our base, or if that's not possible, just rig it full of dynamite or whatever. Rig the base to blow/flood when they get deep into it. Save our mana for evac. Take stock after the village murders and base explosion/flooding before we decide if the rogue's worth going after for the 2000 gold no evidence bonus.
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Jun 5, 2018 09:37
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333. By keeping our people close, we can make sure that attrition and traps take care of exhausting the humans while we prepare our evil speech (we need to put our evil communications classes to good use), blow the dam, and waltz on out of here with our unionised construction crew. The miners are doing good work for us, and we've already made use of a construction company. Why not take good care of our labour force and encourage future minions to work even harder, knowing that while they are a cog in our evil machine, they're valued and won't be tossed aside! e:  For some reason I thought we had a crying Marx, but whatever.
Anticheese fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Jun 5, 2018 |
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Jun 5, 2018 11:49
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A3 - That's what the traps are for. Just don't overestimate how well they'll work, Rouges are slippery. B3 - Slight twist. Never give them the chance to stop you, blow the dam five minutes before they arrive and monologue until the flood hits us all. After all, we can breathe underwater. C3 - Building an army of useful minions makes us able to handle bigger and thus better paying and more prestigious jobs. It's not like we can't afford to pay them after all.
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Jun 5, 2018 12:04
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Liquid Communism posted:B3 - Slight twist. Never give them the chance to stop you, blow the dam five minutes before they arrive and monologue until the flood hits us all. After all, we can breathe underwater.
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Jun 5, 2018 12:57
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333 with the Blew the dam 5 minutes ago we don't need air twist.
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Jun 5, 2018 13:11
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Liquid Communism posted:A3 - That's what the traps are for. Just don't overestimate how well they'll work, Rouges are slippery. Spot on. It would be really nice if we could get that Rogue alive/slightly drowned to convert. Seaglass is a little bit of muscle, but we could use a scalpel to deal with other single-hero situations.
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Jun 5, 2018 13:28
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AJ_Impy posted:333 with the Blew the dam 5 minutes ago we don't need air twist. this and Nephzinho posted:It would be really nice if we could get that Rogue alive/slightly drowned to convert. Seaglass is a little bit of muscle, but we could use a scalpel to deal with other single-hero situations. this
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Jun 5, 2018 13:33
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Liquid Communism posted:A3 - That's what the traps are for. Just don't overestimate how well they'll work, Rouges are slippery.  This right here.
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Jun 5, 2018 13:36
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Liquid Communism posted:A3 - That's what the traps are for. Just don't overestimate how well they'll work, Rouges are slippery. Perfection.
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Jun 5, 2018 14:40
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Release the malaria, blow the fam and pull everyone back to the dark isle/our former base. Wait until they give up looking and start trying to rebuild and then pile back and overwhelm them while they're half dead, sick and trying to build their homes.
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Jun 5, 2018 14:57
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Maximum cool. A evil smile crosses Sarga’s face, then a deep laugh erupts from her. ”Seaglass. Continue to watch them, give me an hours warning before they arrive.” She then returns to her lair and contacts the isle on the scrying orb. One conversation later and she is ready. The Work on the dam speeds up with the new beavers, and the water begins to get higher and higher - the river disappears, and the route to the dam becomes clear. Worldview - Seaglass. Watching the humans blunder into traps is amusing at least, even if there is a hint of pity in the back of her mind. She had been like these people not long ago, and when one of them steps on a pit trap and falls onto spikes, she stifles a laugh, then feels oddly ashamed. They spend an hour trying to get the man from the pit, by that time the poisons have done their work. Several of the group break off and head for home carrying the body. The rest sense the late night and set up camp. This is madness Meche!” one of them says. ”We don’t even know there is anything out here!” ”Aye. Replies the rogue, ”But that trap did not form naturally. I’ll lead the way from here, I’m old, but I have more experience than you lads. The Rogue was tall with long silver hair, there was some elf to him, but no more than a quarter- maybe even an eighth. He looked to be in his fifties (other whatever equivalent there was) and was dressed in black leather armour cut for a younger, slimmer man - though the duel short swords he carried were still in peak condition! Seaglass watches them that night, trying to remember what it was to be human. Trying to decide if she missed it or not. The next morning, when they wake and notice the riverbed and start moving up it, she returns to her mistress. Worldview - Sarga Scrawgill. ”Mistress, the come.” Seaglass reported with a small bow. Excellent. Beavers, clear out your stuff and await me at my lair, we are out of time here, but I am going to make this something special. Sargas begins to cast a spell and prepares the dam for detonation. She has quick word with Seaglass, Then she moves down the river bed to meet the oncoming humans. They have weapons out as the move up the side of the river, the mud slows them down somewhat. They have no bows or crossbows, so Sarga steps up from behind a rotten tree that had until recently laid in the river. This gives he a pleasing height advantage. “Hold fools! I am Sarga Scrawgill, and I am here to destroy you!” She flicks her tentacles randomly, making them into a wrything mass. To her delight everyone but the rogue flinches, and one mad falls into to the deep, stinking mud of the river bed. She thinks another loses control of his bladder for a moment. ”Bow before me and I may yet spare your lives!” ”Never you foul sea hag, What have you been paid to do here?” Meche roars. I am here to destroy your village. I have had my minions build a mighty dam that will sweep them from the face of this earth. THEN!” she flings her arm out with theatrical delight, showing them all a glowing green vial, which she then uncorks. ”Then, I shall unleash a virulent plague upon your villages to lay waste to any survivors. ”Good plan lass.” Merche replies. ”But I’m still young enough to stop you.” he says as he unsheathes his swords. In the background Sargas ears detect a rumbling noise fast approaching, the timing is going to be perfect. ”Who do you think I am? Some villain from one of your bedtime stories? I put my plan into action five minutes ago. You see.” Pause for dramatic effect. ” I can breath under water.” Their eyes widen. They just have time to begin to scream warning before the torrent of water washes over Sarga, silhouetting her for a split second before carrying on down the river destroying everything in its path. Sarga goes with the flow for several seconds before releasing the vial and kicking off into the water. She settles down to the ground as the swell passes her and follows its passage in the new clearing the water is cutting. To her right, Seaglass walks up to her, the unconscious rogue over one shoulder. The village of Sandtide is peaceful. Thankfully most of the inhabitants there had no warning before their village was wiped out by a wall of water. On the opposite coast, the people of Craddak have more time to see the wave approaching across the lake, now full of the remains of Sandtide. Some try to run, some even make it to high ground, but most are smashed amongst the rubble and water. The tides subside, and two villages are no more. ”Did you get that?” Sarga asks. Sure Did! That was excellent, perfect lighting, good monologue - not to long, but snappy. The gem will be with you in a couple of days.” says a voice from the air. The Demon Sarga had hired to record the incident was a expense, but now she had a permanent copy - and several options. I wasn’t planning on two updates in a day, but whee the muse hits - and I doubt anyone was going to top that idea! A - Do we - 1 - Leave now, work complete 2 - Confirm the kill - work on our new captive and make sure the villages are done for. B - We have footage do we 1 - Sell it to a network for cash. (Money!) 2 - Make it viral on youspell? (Fame) 3 - Keep it for ourselves. (Personal Pride) C - What do we make of our new captive, and what do we call him? quote:Mana = 2/45
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Jun 5, 2018 15:34
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A2 : We were hired to stage a massacre. Our reputation isn't going to be worth much if we don't confirm it went to plan, and there's two thousand gold riding on not leaving any witnesses. B3 : That's one for the resume, there. We can't really show it off without making it obvious that we were hired to do the job, which would get in the way of our contract and bonus. C : I'm not sure for this one. Given that he's clever and tricky, I'd be tempted to suggest we give him a few tentacles to play with, but that's a bit close to our own form. Might make him uppity, or give Seaglass the impression that she's not valued, and we really don't want a backstabbing lieutenant...
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Jun 5, 2018 15:53
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A2, always, always finish the job. I'm conflicted about B-- more fame means we can get better jobs in the future, plus I really really want to see the dubstep remixes of Sarga's monologue. But LC is right, the job requires nobody outside us and our boss knowing this was anything other than a catastrophic series of natural disasters, and we're building a reputation as a professional operator. So B3, add it to the portfolio. C, we bind his spirit inside a magical conch shell, astrally sit down with him for the occasional mental torture session, stretch his soul on the rack, pluck out his memories of his children one by one until all that remains is a tortured husk of a man with an encyclopedic knowledge of traps... and then make him our dungeoneering consultant.
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Jun 5, 2018 16:00
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A2 and B3 For C, might I suggest the Stonefish? Colored like rocks, easily camouflaged, super loving poisonous and comes with a built in switchblade face-knife. More ambusher than hunter, but seems to cover most of the bases.
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Jun 5, 2018 16:06
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A2, we need to ensure things get locked down and we need to see our work finished while we take care of the rogue. We're on schedule and under no immediate threat. Let's be efficient here. B2, that kind of boost in fame will give us better leverage in negotiations and may entice people to proactively recruit us for jobs. C, I'm thinking some kind of preying mantis/lobster hybrid? Rogue likes shortswords, so i'm thinking sharp appendages. We want stealthy and capable of action on land to excel where Seaglass has failed. Do we want to get Seaglass' input on this? She appears to be faltering in her faith and this minion is going to be a "partner" for her and may make her feel less alone/missing her life.
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Jun 5, 2018 16:16
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Relentless posted:A2 and B3
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Jun 5, 2018 16:22
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A2 More meat for the grinder. Maybe try stuffing them full of B3 C Chop off his limbs so it's harder for him to escape while you're out. Sand Striker. Pop out of a burrow, shortswords scissor an intruder in half, retreat.
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Jun 5, 2018 16:35
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