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Aperta Ignavus Port Remonstrance The Gilded Rose Aperta shifts uncomfortably from one foot to another, suddenly very much regretting not insisting on being in an unseen supports role for this mission. The priest is his best ceremonial garb for this outing. Long and heavy silk robes died blood red to symbolize holy Mars and the divinity of the Machine obscure most of his form, although what bits of the silver plating on his armor that can be seen gleams gold in the soft yellow light of the room. Finally Aperta carries a tall staff topped with the Mechanicus' cog tooth emblem, his official rod of office marking him as a full fledged Magos of the Priesthood of Mars. Were Aperta a man ruled by his emotions, he might have been tempted to shatter the fragile staff over the head of one of the nobles gathered around him. As it is, he files the idea away under 'in an emergency only'. Cogitatio, too, has been cleaned and polished for the occasion, although the skull sometimes bobbles uncertainly in the air, not yet used to the weight of it's newest upgrade in the form of a miniaturized augury scanner. The scanner's lens bulges from Cogitatio's left eye, the glass smokey and dark in its powered down state. The time for his distraction is coming soon, and he can't activate the servo-skull hidden aboard The Pelecanus discretely enough with so many people focusing their undivided attention on him. Thus far he has tried politely decline and excuse himself, but it isn't working. So Aperta falls back upon a defense the Priests of the Omnissiah have been employing for untold millennia; boring, monotone lecturing. "If you insist then I cannot deny those who thirst for knowledge from drinking of the Machine God's well. On 2477986.M41 I awoke at exactly 0230 hours having slept for exactly 150 minutes. After a prayer period of 35.25 minutes I prepared to receive my daily work duties by activating my cogitator-terminal, which first required the lifting of rosewood incense, although I found my personal terminal's spirit often preferred sandlewood. I then recited the Litany of Spiritual Awakening, followed by the the application of pressure to the activation rune. I then proceeded the Chant of Memory Alignment to ensure my terminal's access to the ship's primary information net would be secure." Aperta continues unceasingly, seemingly without needing to even pause for breath. He could go on for hours, but hoped he wouldn't need to. ____________________ I have no idea what this would be. Possibly a Logic test? Or can I choose to intentionally fail a Fellowships test, maybe?
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Mar 18, 2016 21:59
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Ignatius Malbau The Rookery Party Port Remonstrance Ignatius looked sharp tonight, and he knew it. The iridescent thread used to embroider the brocade on his double-breasted long-tailed jacket made the pattern of stars, comets, tiny planets, and even tinier voidships shimmer slightly as he moved under the fragmented lighting of the crystal chandeliers. The black fabric of the jacket contrasted nicely with the ivory and burgundy secondary colors he'd chosen for his breeches, the cuffs protruding slightly from his jacket sleeves, and the fashionable mandarin collar of his inner vest. He also wore the autopistol openly on a shagreen bandolier across his right hip; a well-worn, practical, embellished firearm that subtly whispered to anyone security-trained on the premises "this is not some idiot noble's fashion piece." His dagger was tucked into the breast of the jacket, along with a few other small items. Tucked under his left arm was a somewhat awkward thick red velvet bag with black, oiled leather handles and little chromed feet. Inside was his party gift for Iseppo, which he'd offer when he had a chance, but also a little device he'd spent the last two days working on. He meant to make an impression, and just now, it seemed like an impression would be required. Looking around, Ignatius spotted a small, tall wooden table - the sort of thing one scatters about a room so that standing guests have a place to set down a drink. Ignatius pushed the two nearly-empty cocktail glasses already occupying the table to the edge against the wall, and then pulled out his little machine and set it down in the middle. He was already attracting the attention of security. Nothing overt, yet, but this had to look a little suspicious. Ignatius smiled, and gave a little bow towards the nearest bruiser, and flicked on the power switch. Immediately, the complicated-looking brass, chrome, and leather device whirred into life. A tiny accordion began to pump, expanding and contracting, sucking in air. Tiny bubbles rose inside an elaborate glass and brass bulb at the center of the machine, showing that the bright pink fluid inside had begun to be used. A couple of bare seconds later, an iridescent, filmy surface began to expand from the round, curly brass horn at the front... slowly at first, but then much faster, it swelled, wobbled, and then broke free... a floating bubble that wafted through the air of the party room! It was immediately followed by another, and then another... within a handful of seconds, a stream of bubbles had begun to swirl and waft about the place, following the eddies and currents of the party's atmosphere. This by itself might have seemed almost infantile - a child's toy. A few bemused party-goers had turned already, looking at Ignatius with a mixture of skepticism and slight disdain. But Ignatius spoke up, making an announcement to whoever was nearby: "Not ordinary bubbles, my friends! Oh no! You simply must try them!" To illustrate, Ignatius tilted his head back, moving quickly to position his face below a fat bubble that was just descending from the swarm. Suddenly going up on his tiptoes, he popped the bubble with the tip of his nose... and to the surprise of those watching, what was now clearly definitely not just air inside the bubble flashed bright pink as it made contact with the air of the room... a little puff of hazy pink gas, which Ignatius heartily inhaled. Landing back on his heels, he held in the breath for a long moment, before jetting two pink tendrils out his nostrils. "Whooooo," he breathed, shaking his head in an exaggerated show. "That's the stuff!" Ignatius has used Tech-Use (35) (plus the help of Aperta, perhaps), to construct a device which blows bubbles full of a drug. He used his Trade (Chymist) talent along with the contact in The Rookery who provides +20 on Requisition tests for chems, drugs, and precursor chemicals, to create the drug inside; it's just a very mild fast-acting vaporized hallucinogen, combined with some stuff to make it turn pink on contact with the oxygen in the air. Another chemical is used to create the surface of the bubbles, which isn't quite as fragile as soap, so that the bubbles can survive mild amounts of contact with chandeliers, clothing, etc. At the moment, he is using Charm (40) to get a large portion of the swarm of nobles to chase after swirling bubbles of fun drugs as a sort of silly game. Instead of leaving things to chance, though, I'll use Sway the Masses to automatically succeed on this Charm test with a number of degrees of success equal to my Willpower bonus (3). Finally, Ignatius has used Deceive (40) to make it look like he's just taken a big huff of the drugs, but he's actually just held it in his mouth and then blown it out his nose, instead of inhaling it into his lungs. In any case, it's supposed to be mild enough that one bubbles' worth shouldn't be impairing. Much. At least to someone experienced with drugs. Which Ignatius definitely is. Ignatius has pre-arranged with Eadian that when Ignatius sets this thing off, Eadian will try to get closer to Iseppo. Ignatius will then join the pair, if he has a chance.
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Mar 22, 2016 00:23
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Eadian Valarius Port Remonstrance The Rookery Party Another bloody party..... Eadian Had been to gatherings like this in his childhood. Growing up planetary nobility meant a great deal of fancy parties, full of rich people congratulating themselves on being rich all the while showing off their most ostentatious possessions and pontificating about the most banal political situations. Lukily though his ability to move through these situations is what had endeared him to the Logis Strageos so much. Anyone with a mind for paying attention to the potential leverage that could be gleaned from these situations had a mind perfectly suited for his old role. Eadian moved through the party having passing conversation with several people ....What a lovely dress!.....Yes, i'm sure these Tariffs HAVE been affecting sales.....we SHOULD make the greenskins pay for the wall!" Typical. He was noticing the poor techpreist attempting to bore the hell out his stalkers, when he noticed the bubbles.... .....Time to make my move ------------------------------------------- Waiting to see what the resolution of Ignatius's actions turns out to be
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Mar 22, 2016 01:45
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Barry "The Bull" Bulworth Lifestyles of the rich and petty, indeed. The party took place in a building almost custom suited to a thrill-seeking noble with more assets then sense. Initial research turned on this place turned up stories of younger nobles, hopped up on drugs and adrenaline who group up and foray into the nearby slums to go beat up homeless and defenseless as a sport. The gangers put up with it if only because if they put any of these nobles in a hospital or worse the Hive Authorities come in with hard crackdowns. Not that it all matters from where I'm standing. I'm playing my role as bodyguard well, armed and armored, with a "new" gizmo we had gotten from a underhanded pawn shop that does under the table deals with some of the local gangers. Apparently they never realized what they had on hand and we picked it up on the cheap. I don't think we're quite welcome back there though, seeing as how we sort of blackmailed them into letting us purchase it. Aperta seemed more than willing to work his wonders on it, considering he viewed the thing like an exquisite piece of art. I arrived with the others just in time to see one of the younger nobles vomiting into a nearby gutter, his lady friend trying desperately to hold him steady and keep his hair pulled back. I ponder a moment at how many others in this party would be like that before the end of the night. Inside was about what you would expect from the sort of venue. Lots of fancy silk, engraved wood, and luxuries you couldn't even begin to afford on the salaries I was use to in my former life. I could of socked away ever throne I earned up until now and never had enough scratch to see the inside of this building. Not that I was excited to be here, quite the opposite. These weren't my kind of people and it was seemingly apparent to everyone around me. One guy in particular holds me in a steely gaze, as if I'm not the only bodyguard in the room not under the Deculon employ. Maybe he pegged me as an impostor. Not that it mattered much for the time being, our distraction was going to start soon. All I need to do is hang out a while and play it cool. In the meantime, after getting Ignatius and Eadian sat down, I head over to the bar and order refreshments from the bartender. To keep up appearances, I order mixed drinks for our "nobles", and sealed bottles of seltzer water for myself and one extra. On the way back, I swing by the guy giving me the stare and pass him the extra Seltzer. "You keep eye-loving me like that, and I'm going to think you want to kiss me.I motion to the sealed bottle in my hand and say "My boss wanted to show his appreciation for all of the guards keeping everyone safe tonight. All the Seltzer for us is on him, enjoy" I pass him the sealed bottle and sway my way through the throng of people moving through the lobby. I take the rest of the tray of drinks over to my companions and wait for the distractions to start. As it so happens the fresh batch of Seltzer that was delivered in the run up to this evenings festivities happened to be tainted to cause mild food poisoning. Not enough to kill someone, but enough to put them on the toilet for a while. The alcohol in the noble's mixed drinks was enough to sterilize the bacteria and make it safe for our gaming friends. For the distraction to look legit and to shift blame away from us, I'm going to have to dose myself to make the deception more palatable. Thankfully, I'm one of the first ones drinking, so I should be able to be the first one in the bathroom before everyone starts getting the shits. --- Taking a Motion Predictor on my autopistol for my free acquisition. It's very rare, but since I'm getting it to install it "myself" *cough*Aperta*cough* it should be a +30 to acquire, putting it in the same range as a regular scarce acquisition. If this is no bueno, let me know and I can change it. My distraction is going to be conveniently left gang signs and tip offs (Common knowledge underworld) to instigate a gang fight outside the game. I figure a gunfight erupting in eyesight of the party would be enough to shift guards to defend from the fight spilling over. My guard distraction is going to be FOOD POISONING. I figure very few people here are going to be drinking non-alcoholic beverages except the guards. Feed them tainted carbonated water to get them intestinal distress. I'll deliberately poison myself in addition if only to make us look like victims of this crime as well instead of the perpetrators. Edit: Motion Predictor install roll 12 vs whatever Aperta's Tech use is at +0 modifier: Pass Toughness roll to avoid getting food poisoning: 60 vs 40 +whatever modifier you deem fit. Ostensibly fails. I'll probably need to excuse myself to the bathroom real quick. DeathSandwich fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Mar 23, 2016 |
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Mar 22, 2016 22:13
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motion predictor is fine - phrasing in the book is ambiguous but i choose to believe a "bonus to Availability" means it actually goes up three ranks in availability, whereas a "bonus to your requisition test" would be, y'know, a bonus to the test. someone's gonna have to give me a +0 Tech-Use test before you can use it though (+0 adjusted availability = +0 bonus). this can be backdated to your three days' preptime. amusingly, as written in the rulebook, you need to do a Trade: Armourer test to attach weapons, and tech use to remove them. this means the Frontier World background bonus, i.e. "+20 bonus to Tech Use rolls when adding weapon mods", is literally useless as written. your goal's to get Iseppo's bodyguards away from him, not the generic house security - i'll go with this if you're happy with it, and have him dismiss them for a minute to see what all the fuss is about, but if you wanna tailor your approach a bit more to specifically target his stupidly-named bodyguards, you'll get more of a bonus e: also maybe say where you got the motion predictor from because christ you don't just pull one of these off the shelves at k-mart Inexplicable Humblebrag fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Mar 23, 2016 |
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Mar 22, 2016 22:32
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'Gamma' The Rookery Party One of Gamma's favorite hobbies has always been watching. People, machines, paint drying, anything. It's probably more than a little creepy, to be honest. She tends to stare. Observing the ebb and flow of the party from the bar gives her an opportunity to notice that more than a few people are nervous. Not the coiled spring anxiety of a waiting assassin, just the everyday existential dread of people who don't know what tomorrow will bring. And look, someone has left a pack of cards here on the bar, what a coincidence. She shuffles them with a practiced hand and begins to lay out the first cards of an Imperial Tarot pattern. It's like a magnet for the troubled and curious, the bored and the believer alike. A young clerk of the Administratum, conspicuously less well attired than most of the crowd, is the first to draw close. "Ma'am, you look as though you could use some advice. For the price of a small drink I'll tell you what the cards say about your future. No sorcery, all sanctioned practices, very respectable!" The disclaimer is an ingrained habit after a disastrous encounter with a preacher several years ago who did not recognize her authorization to practice divination, even in a completely non-psychic sense. The clerk is less fanatical, and after a moment sits opposite Gamma with an expectant look, placing a local coin on the table. "Very kind, ma'am. The first card is the Arbitrator, or Justice. This card suggest that what you most want at this time is for a fair and right outcome whether it concerns relationships or business affairs. You feel that you are in the right and that any decision or agreement to be made should be in your favour." The reading continues, a process of bluff and general life advice, until the client is satisfied and the next curious passer-by takes a seat. So - making a Trade (Soothsayer) roll if necessary to entertain, distract or set the crowd up for a more potent display of prophecy. Went for a red-dot laser for the acquisition, to make it slightly more likely Gamma could shoot someone. Also I wrote down those items discussed in the OOC thread, hope that's OK. Also nb Gamma can use psyniscience as a free action, and will probably be doing so all night in case someone else bought a psyker along. thatbastardken fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Mar 24, 2016 |
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Mar 23, 2016 13:37
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DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:motion predictor is fine - phrasing in the book is ambiguous but i choose to believe a "bonus to Availability" means it actually goes up three ranks in availability, whereas a "bonus to your requisition test" would be, y'know, a bonus to the test. someone's gonna have to give me a +0 Tech-Use test before you can use it though (+0 adjusted availability = +0 bonus). this can be backdated to your three days' preptime. amusingly, as written in the rulebook, you need to do a Trade: Armourer test to attach weapons, and tech use to remove them. this means the Frontier World background bonus, i.e. "+20 bonus to Tech Use rolls when adding weapon mods", is literally useless as written. I'll modify my post here in a bit then and take out the gang fight in lieu of a different scheme. It's taking me a while to come up with an internal distraction for the Deculon house guards to deal with that won't immediately implicate us. DeathSandwich fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Mar 23, 2016 |
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Mar 23, 2016 14:08
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like i say, if you're happy with your current plan then it's perfectly serviceable. no penalties or anything - you can assume that by luck or design you can time it for a particularly tense moment, aggravating Iseppo and making him wave away his guards to go see what the issue is. it's just if you can think of ways to target it a bit more finely you'll get commensurately better results
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Mar 23, 2016 14:55
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Too late! The plan has changed to food poisoning! It'll be a regular poop-a-palooza for the guards by the end of the night.
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Mar 23, 2016 15:32
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Auscultation The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qESekH-Z1E  The Acolytes circulate. Although not all of the team could be considered practised social butterflies, they nevertheless know their task - they have work to do, and no mere trifles along the lines of "stage fright" or "social anxiety" or "a complete inability to understand the motives of people talking to you" will stop them from performing their duties to the Emperor. Aperta's duty to the Emperor, at this moment, appears to be lecturing a gaggle of pimply noble youths on the basics of engine repair. A keener student of human nature might have realised quite what it means to be the person who, on heading to a high-class bar and knocking-shop, gets sidetracked by a techpriest - the group that surround Aperta are destined for the kitchen, in the great party that is their life. They listen, rapt, clustering round closer, as Aperta desperately recounts his latest chores in as dry a manner as possible, occasionally stretching out hands to get a closer look at Cogitatio, who buzzes out of reach or dissuades questing fingers with minimum-power jabs of laser light. After a full quarter-hour, not being used to talking for so long, Aperta is perhaps less careful with his words than he could otherwise be. On making reference to "thus completes the Rite of Ignition", the pack of easily-excited youths get it into their collective heads that they've been instructed on some mystery of the Mechanicus. None of them have the whole story, and even if they did it would be rote information that even the lowliest technomat could regurgitate - nevertheless, it crackles back and forth between the members of the group like a live wire, being added to or corrupted in each misheard phrase. The group adjourn to the bar to argue and discuss, partly out of genuine interest and partly as an attempt to drunkenly puff up the importance of their hob-nobbing, leaving Aperta free to slip away, but in coming days the techpriest may hear his "priceless wisdom" being discussed with a wry smile by more sober members of high society. Bulworth, hardened to eating pretty much whatever's put in front of him, has a fairly philosophical view on digestive systems as a whole. Still.. arranging to have a consignment of tainted drinks delivered to the Gilded Thorn was the easy part. Strong-arming the sous chef into a richer and more sickly menu than usual was a bit trickier. Tamping down on the maelstrom currently building in his guts, though... that'll take some doing. The Arbite's deliberately not eaten anything today, and so is first through the door into the backroom when the gripes take hold after about twenty minutes. There's a hairy moment or two when some group of idiot, bickering morons in ridiculous costumes completely block his escape, but he's able to politely barge past with minimal fuss. They didn't get a look at his face, anyway. Unpleasantness ensues. Pale-faced and gasping, Bulworth finally takes his microbead off mute and figures he's probably got about an hour, hour and a half before everyone else who's drunk the tainted beverage has a similar experience. With grim satisfaction, he notes that there's only a handful of backrooms on the top floor where the gaming night will be held, far fewer than there are bodyguards. His satisfaction vanishes, however, as he notices the bodyguard Thunder standing behind Iseppo with one of the local inland beers in his hand, glass of seltzer untouched beside him. Maybe Eadian or Ignatius can come up with a reason to get that drink down him. Gamma keeps a watchful eye on Aperta's goings-on, as she ensconces herself in a corner booth with a great view of the whole bar. It's also great for foot traffic - she soon draws an appreciative audience, and can pick and choose her clients pretty much at will. More helpfully, Gamma is able to palm the odd card here or there using classic misdirection tricks handed down from soothsayer to con-artist to oracle to racketeer. The psyker fumbles a few cards, but no-one notices given the context of the party, her skill at prevarication, and, to be honest, her slightly unsettling appearance. There's a couple of gamblers watching with amusement, but with no great suspicion - were she to try this at the gambling table proper, she'd likely struggle. A bickering couple leave her table, each attempting to claim the sobriquet "Man of Vision" for themselves after repeated encounters with the Eight of Eyes, as Gamma attempts to contextualise a few choice tidbits of information that she's managed to elicit. A great deal of the concern from the less dissolute members of the party centres around the sheer amount of work that the oncoming Black Ships will generate. The psyker tithe is always merry hell to coordinate, and some of the actual professionals hanging around have been pulling twenty-hour days trying to get the arrangements in order. Interestingly, it looks like the fleet's due to arrive in about five weeks - roughly the same time as the cell's Inquisitor, and about a week after the celebratory Carnivalé kicks off. Warp travel is always fraught with unexpected delays or chronological uncertainties, so presumably all the arrangements have to be done by the seat of the city's collective pants. There's also talk of heightened tensions between the Deculons and what could be termed their main rivals, the Hepaticons. It's all forced smiles and handshakes on the surface, of course, but some of the more hotheaded rakes on both sides have been getting into trouble, drumming up imagined slights and snubs. While all this is going on, of course, Ignatius and Eadian make probably one of the most flamboyant entrances into the Gilded Thorn that the staff can dredge from their short, short memories. The whirring, clanking contraption soon has the crowd absolutely enthralled - they practically stampede away from Iseppo, who is left blinking in a rather nonplussed fashion until he realises what the attraction is and, smiling wryly, ambles over to examine the show. Feathered, painted, or robed, nobles, clientèle and attendants alike alike fall over themselves with laughter, chasing bubbles around the bar, diving towards them with jaws gaping, or wafting them towards those they wish to ingratiate themselves with. Turning his twisted smile towards the pair at the centre of this new attraction, Iseppo limps slightly towards them, leaning heavily on his cane with one hand and extending the other one shakily in greeting. Up close, the noble has a certain presence to him that his lesser peers seem to lack - maybe it's the gravitas of age, maybe it's the attitude that comes with operating at the heart of the dynasty. Apparently unarmed, and with what sounds like genuine, if patronising, cordiality, he addresses the pair of acolytes. "Ah, our out-system friends. I am so glad you've chosen to join our little soirée. How does Remonstrance suit you?" --- thesaurus gettin' some work today aperta gets surrounded by yospos. he basically does what would be a textbook use of the skill Blather from DH1, which has been dropped as being too niche. it's been folded into Deceive, oddly. so what i'll let this one stand as is an opposed +20 Deceive check against INT rather than FEL, with the nobles testing against WP. Aperta is untrained so it pretty much just goes to a straight intelligence vs willpower matchup. 57 (2DoF) vs 21 (X DoS) - the nobles are lapping it up. so you failed this, but no worries - your complication is that noble gossip will be aware of a bunch of idiot nerds who think they've been told great secrets. literally anyone who matters - absolutely anyone - will be aware that there's been no actual secret sharing, so the only actual penalty will be a bit of gentle ribbing and minimal Subtlety loss. as slight recompense, Aperta gets a major bonus to Interaction with nerdy Deculon nobles - nerdbles - when playing up his mechanicus status. operation awkward monotask servo skull is go - you're free to kick that off whenever you like, which will, presumably, be at a suitable climactic point. gamma says sooth. straight-up Trade check against 45 - 34 means 2DoS, so it's comfortably established as a party piece. operation desperate distraction is go - if anything gets out of hand, gamma can fire off some sort of "hey look over here" that will defuse the situation, no roll needed. also a little help with the throng around iseppo, plus some crumbs of info. bulworth gets his gun see'd to. could have installed it himself with that roll. he takes a level of fatigue due to 1) not eating, 2) everting; the "not eating" is a narrative constraint to explain why you don't run off at the same time as everyone else, thus being useless to the "talk to Iseppo" scene. reminder that in DH2 you can take fatigue equal to your characteristic bonuses before it starts being a problem for that characteristic - it's not a flat -10 to all stats anymore. operation tainted fountain is go - the bodyguards will start drifting away at the appropriate time, with the current exception of Thunder. ignatius rolls a lot o' dice and shows up with a poppers machine. fitting for a gambling night! kicks off with Tech-Use - assuming +10 for simple contraption and +10 for skilled help, it's a target number of Int + 20, or 55. diceroll is 44, so that's 2DoS. drug creation is probably Trade - Chymist followed by medicae if you wanted to make it, but in terms of just grabbing the stuff it's straight-up Requisition - TN 61 for +0 Req test and +20 for the buddy, with a roll of 51 giving another 2DoS. crowd control is auto-passed, and finally the Deceive check is 25 vs 65 (45 skill + 20 simple deception), for 4DoS. upshot of this is as follows - 1) your machine's awesome and impresses people (add it to charsheet if you're keeping it, might come in handy for something else another time. one other time.), 2) your drug's awesome and no-one in the crowd has a bad reaction to it, 3) the crowd's eating out of your palm, 4) you can portray yourself as as intoxicated, or not intoxicated, as you like, and 5) due to a string of unmitigated successes Iseppo has, in fact, come over to you. you've pretty much got his attention for a while, and a boost to his Disposition. you're in a big crowd so you can't just go HEY WHERE'S THE ARCHITECT AT, but you can use this opportunity to ingratiate yourself and to try and suss out his Personality. someone with good Scrutiny would be useful here!! remember you got commbeads, too eadian, and only eadian: only Eadian should be reading thisiseppo's limp is being put on, his shaking is a sham, and his cane's thick and heavy enough that it probably conceals a rapier. everyone else here's probably discreetly armed as well, but not many actively hide the fact. the fact that he's representing himself as something he's not may or may not influence how you approach him.
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Mar 25, 2016 00:40
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Ignatius Malbau The Rookery Party Port Remonstrance Finally, Ignatius had Iseppo's full attention. Well, OK, it was split between himself and Eadian, of course, but Ignatius has always worked alone in the past... so he just does what his instincts tell him to do. He accepts Iseppo's proffered hand with a firm but not too firm handshake and a substantial but not too deep bow. He introduces Eadian first, using the man's full family name, and then himself simply as "Ignatius." He elaborately thanks Iseppo for their invitation, complimenting him to excess on the setting in vague but effusive terms. Then he reverses course, eyeballing one or two of the less savory-looking security goons with a raised eyebrow and an offhand comment about the riff-raff. Then he vaguely suggests that he and Iseppo might be fabulously wealthy. Immediately afterwards, he comments on the upcoming games, suggesting without saying so that a big win would be really important to him. Finally, he identifies the most scantily-clad nubile woman in the room and makes an off-color comment about her desirability. None of it is of any substance, and if you asked him later, Ignatius wouldn't have been able to tell you exactly what he said. It wasn't important what he said, what mattered was Iseppo's responses, which Ignatius took very, very careful note of. Ignatius is switching through a set of little probes: sucking up (is Iseppo vain?), being prototypically classist (does Iseppo agree or disapprove of disdain for the poor?), pretending to be very rich (is Iseppo impressed, or unimpressed; is he anticipating winning Ignatius' money, or does he not care at all about it?), pretending to be a degenerate gambler (would Iseppo be happy or annoyed to have someone who has some strong need to win, at his tournament?), pretending to be lecherous (is Iseppo a gentleman or a cad?), and so on. Basically prodding to get a read, but not ever saying anything solid that could permanently color Iseppo's understanding of Ignatius and Eadian's position or habits. So this is probably either Inquiry (40) or Scrutiny (30). If Eadian chimes in, Ignatius will improvise along with him, going for a teamup scrutiny, with Ignatius trying to give Eadian a bonus to his own checks.
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Mar 29, 2016 00:58
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Eadian Valarius Port Remonstrance The Rookery Party After being introduced by Ignatius Eadian jumped into the conversation as well, mostly letting Ignatius talk but interjecting where needed. He too was taking careful note of the situation around him and the response Iseppo was giving. "Throne, I need a new drink! Anyone else require refreshing? I can send my man to the bar for us!" ------------------------ eadian is hoping he can get bulworth or another member of the party alone to pass information along, while also hopefully lending his help to Ignatius rolls
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Apr 1, 2016 01:24
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'Gamma' The Rookery Party "And, that, madam, is why you should be optimistic about your prospect for travel - so long as you are diligent in your duties. That is all for now, thank you. I must refresh myself before giving further readings." Excusing herself from the remaining 'customers' Gamma makes her way to the bar. She in the meager collection of local currency she has acquired for a selection of drinks - for herself, something non-alcoholic, colourful and fruity, for Eadian an upmarket local ale served in a strange tall glass, for Ignatius an amasec derivative of sufficient vintage and cost to make her wince but look authentic. She hesitates...will Iseppo be drinking, will he accept a drink from a stranger? A spacer would never say no - it's all the same water in the ship's recycling system, after all - but a ground-pounder and a noble? Grimacing internally she gestures for the bartender to add a second amasec to the tray. At worst he can decline, and hopefully someone else can cover if there's a faux pas. She cuts through the crowd and up to her comrades, arriving at Eadian's elbow scant moments after he called for a further drink. "Master Valerius, I seem to have arrived at precisely the right moment. Please, sirs, accept this gift of destiny." She offers the tray with one hand, taking her drink with the other and sipping at it nervously. The fortune teller gig is much easier to keep up in a shadowy corner where the patter seems less ridiculous . Hoping to add Gamma's scrutiny/awareness to trying to read Iseppo - the response to an offered drink as a cue if nothing else.
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Apr 1, 2016 07:45
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Barry "The Bull" Bulworth The drinks, both the gamblers and the guards hasn't taken effect yet, but I'm starting to feel it. It's just a matter of time before I'll have to excuse myself. I try to take in any subtle details about our quarry before that time. --- Running a scrutiny check on our Deculon target and his guard giving me the
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Apr 1, 2016 21:44
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Aperta Ignavus Port Remonstrance The Gilded Rose Finally free of the throng that was cornering him, Aperta heads toward a secluded corner of the room nearest the docks. The priest peers out a window toward The Pelicanus and reaches into the folds of his voluminous robes to activate the remote he had hidden on his person. Out in dark he sees a lone light suddenly appear and begin to drift hither and to. If all goes as planned the now active messenger-skull will wander aimlessly until it spots a human, where it will attempt to scan it's face for a recognizable match so it can dispense a very important confidential message. Of course, there was no face to match and no message to deliver, but the floating servitor would dutifully attempt to do both anyway. Ignatius has assured Aperta that this would be "like throwing grox-steak to starved hunting hounds" for gossip-addicted nobles. The priest didn't really understand the idiom, but constructing the servitor had been trivially easy nonetheless. His duty done, he finds an out of the way spot of the room near enough to the others to still clearly hear what is going on. ____________ My part of The Plan is activated, should take just long enough to get noticed and word to spread as needed. Who What Now fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Apr 4, 2016 01:57
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Dubitation The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Zts1OmN8M "The, ah, one in the swan wings, you say?" Drug-producing machine tucked under one arm, Ignatius begins the charm offensive almost immediately. By introducing Eadian by his full name - pausing for breath in the middle - and himself by just his given, the voidborn sets up an implicit unequal power dynamic right from the get go. Which he then mercilessly exploits - Iseppo, no stranger to being schmoozed, is verbally batted back and forth between the two nobles with a remarkable deftness, his genteel evasions giving away more information than the questions he attempts to deflect. Yes, he's vain - no vainer than expected, however. Yes, he sees himself as above the great unwashed masses - he sees the need for them, though. Someone's got to man the fisheries and fill the tithes. He appears to exhibit polite interest but no more in references to money matters - he's never known pecuniary want, after all, so how can he have a reference for this. Iseppo does perk up slightly at the idea of a proper hardened gambler at the tables, although it's uncertain as to whether this is due to expecting a challenge or due to expecting a desperate risktaker who'll be knocked out in the first few rounds. He exhibits polite interest again in the women Ignatius points out, but does share an amused eye-roll with Eadian on this topic - despite housing his gambling event in a cathouse-cum-nightclub, he's apparently not so easily distracted by the attendants on hand, trusting instead for the distractions to lend him an edge at the tables. Ultimately, the impression that Ignatius and Eadian come away with is that of a relatively firm, grounded individual, insofar as an inner-circle member of one of the more important planetary dynasties can be considered "grounded". All the usual associations of nobility attach to the man, but not to excess - no crazed greed, no insane lusts, no desire to stamp on the common man any more than strictly necessary. In fact, arguably the strangest thing about the man is how little he seems to want to give away about himself - the Acolytes are fairly certain they've not caught him in any outright lies, but he does try to play down and deflect any particularly blunt probes for information - mostly successfully. Maybe it's just a life spent wheeling and dealing with fortunes greater than any ordinary citizen would ever see - maybe it's an unwillingness to compromise himself for the game tables. The arrival of Gamma, proffering a drinks tray, causes a microscopic social gaffe, invisible to anyone not paying very close attention to the conversation. Once Eadian and Ignatius have taken their glasses - a tall, dignified, voluted affair for Eadian's ale and a squat, globular, "hilariously" crass glass sculpture for Ignatius - it takes a few seconds for Iseppo to realise the remaining (small, tasteful, bowl-like) glass is being proffered in his direction. Gamma can see the subconscious cogs turn - he's meant to be top dog here, and in an environment where to give gifts creates status, someone's cribbing off of his station. Once the Deculon realises who's offering, though, his doubts evaporate. "A top-up? How kind." Gesturing to Lightning behind him, he points and nods - the bodyguard clumsily drops his own beer on the table and takes the proffered glass, Iseppo smiling tolerantly. Lightning proceeds to pour the new drink into Iseppo's current one - the new amasec mixing visibly with the clearly superior vintage already in the glass. Status is, ostentatiously, restored, although Iseppo does eye Gamma curiously for some moments afterwards. Maybe it's the outfit, or maybe he wants his fortune read. Bulworth keeps a weather eye on proceedings, though, and while Gamma may have been too close to the fray to notice certain details, the Arbite sees all. Coming in close to Eadian to grab his previous, empty glass, Bulworth is also informed of a few nuggets of information that shed further light on what he's seen. Aperta activates his monotask servo skull; a burst of binary static from his implants, modulated through his commbead, and the device will enter through a window at his discretion. Whether the window is currently open or not depends on how much of an entrance the techpriest believes is necessary. It's been a fairly successful evening already, and the Acolytes are reasonably certain they've made a favourable impression on Iseppo. It remains to be seen what he thinks of the group, though - presented with a flamboyant attention-seeking display only to be confronted with a curiously evasive and fluid pair of conversational partners, who hang out with one bodyguard between them, a soothsayer and a fairly confused tech-adept, there may be some curious impressions being formed in his mind. As the attendants announce the start of the evening's gambling, it may well be soon for everyone to lay their cards on the table, in more ways than one. ---- scru-tin-ize! scru-tin-ize! basically, ignatius is trying to get information out of iseppo without looking like an absolute mental case. inquiry is a skill more about asking lots of people things, following up leads, etc. - therefore, i want to say this is more of a Charm test. more to the point, because it's an attempt to charm something out of iseppo - i.e. information - it will be an Opposed charm test, against his Willpower. nobles, while socially adept, are not normally paragons of self-control. ignatius continues a string of great rolls with a 20, which iseppo counters neatly with a 13. if this was straight opposition against human baseline stats, Iseppo'd be the victor and might react badly, but due to reasons of either circumstance, temperament, hilariously low Willpower, or some combination of the above, Ignatius is the winner by 3DoS, bumped up to 4DoS by the implied aid of Eadian. eadian, apparently forgetting his commbead, conveys his Secret Observations to bulworth. DeathSandwich, you can view and act on the information under the spoilers in the previous post. again, it's trivial to go "hey guys he's a (spoiler)disguised Bloodthirster(/spoiler)" into your commbead and let everyone else know, but please don't refer in plaintext to stuff that all characters do not know gamma tries to get a read on Iseppo, and - gamma only - fails with a roll of 69, dudes. you are only left with his reaction as contextual clues; or fate point it if you want, if you reckon it's important enough. aperta kicks off the servo skull plan. i am assuming you want this to happen at a time roughly coincidental with all the guards getting the shits, rather than an hour beforehand to make your distraction entirely worthless, but shout if for some reason you want this to kick off early. bulworth glances. his scrutiny check - Bulworth only - succeeds with 1DoS, enabling you to realise that he's Furtive. this is a personality type and does not necessarily mean he's hiding something specific. although he may be. iseppo's also noticed Gamma's Scrutiny attempt, which will not have knocked off any disposition due to failing, but is unaware of your own - ignore that last roll, i forgot that ignatius and eadian weren't actually scrutinizing also re: the bodyguard eyeing you - Bulworth only again - he's just some rear end in a top hat that'll be dealt with once the gripes hit. your Toughness test was the thing you did to get rid of him. however, Thunder still shows no signs of drinking from his tainted glass, and he's not as bumbling as he seems - both Iseppo's bodyguards reacted subtly, quickly, and effectively to Gamma's approach, taking up postures that appear just shy of insolence yet providing great coverage of the room, easy access to weapons, and easy reach to Iseppo see recruitment thread for next steps!! Inexplicable Humblebrag fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Apr 10, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 22:48
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Prestidigitation The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNQI_SArHxw  Sea-themed playing cards. Realistically, what else were the Acolytes expecting? Iseppo had drifted off shortly after politely wrapping up his short, odd conversation with his off-world guests, leaving the Acolytes to mill around aimlessly until the gong sounded to summon the partying throng upstairs. Throwing back drinks, and performing a few final preparations, the Acolytes filtered upstairs, Bulworth joining them after a short, painful delay. ---- It's kind of crowded up on the top floor. The repurposed banqueting room is rich with gilt and velvet curtains, high-ceilinged and candleabra'd, and crammed with expansive ring-shaped gaming tables and sumptuous recliners - it's clearly set up for spectacle. The actual gamers at a given table take a space on the recliners, while their entourage throngs behind - a mixed pair of attendants occupy the centre of each table, attending to the needs of the game - dealing cards, raking chips, keeping tallies, brokering deals. Mahogany ladders lead up to narrow catwalks that wend and centre on the stage at the far eastern side of the room, necessitating an acrobatic display for any entrance or egress, and providing patrons with an unparalleled, distracting view from below any time new dealers are called. Pneumatic messaging tubes lead down into the centre of the ring-shaped tables, as notes zip to and from each dealer's cubbyhole. Security staff line the walls, and waiting staff wind expertly through the crowds with overburdened trays, converging on dumbwaiters like packs of starving jackals. Iseppo perches awkwardly on a high-backed chair on the table closest to the stage, a concession to his stiffened joints. Surrounding him is, presumably, his inner circle - talented players, but ready to be jovially booted out once a suitable mark or challenger makes their way up from the lower ranks. The game is a curious one - a eclectic hybrid of an archaic pre-Dark Age game known as Prod or something, and of fast-paced negotiation reminiscent of a trading floor. It's a weird mix, but a peculiarly flexible one that's apparently stood the test of time on Ourybia. Those not in it for the money, or those unfamiliar with the rules, can enjoy a slower-paced, more discussion-based game, where the strength of one's bargaining position is enhanced by the power of ones' hand - as experience is gained and the gaming becomes more serious, it soon evolves into quite the opposite, where a weak hand can nevertheless be an overwhelming force when controlled by a player with a strong handle on the negotiations at play, and with a firm understanding of just how the other players will react. Rounds are often over and done with in a matter of minutes, with frequent breaks for refreshment - it can get quite stressful, although aficionados will speak at length of the exhilaration felt when things fall into place and you're able to lock out half the table from their stake in a single swoop. A harrassed-looking clerk hammers away at a cogitator terminal near the western wall, frenetically annointing the main stack from a bottle of oil, keeping track of player positions and expenditures, and noting any particularly impressive losses or gains. The Maître D' works nearby, arranging the crowd and players to his satisfaction - it's a fine balancing act, as by giving his patrons what he wants he maximises their expenditure. Eadian is ensconced in a gambler's couch on one of the starter tables by the attendants, his entourage behind him mingling and discussing the game. It's been made politely yet abundantly clear that discussion of what a given player has in their hand will result in ejection from the premises, and patrons affiliated with a player are discouraged from wandering away from that player's couch, but it's not a hard and fast rule - just a move that'll draw a few frowns and tuts. The Acolytes only have an hour in which to get as high up in the rankings as possible, and so Eadian demolishes the competition at the initial tables as politely as he possibly can. No-one bears him any ill will for this - it's simply a matter of how hard one wants to play, and it seems the off-worlder wants to engage in slightly harder ball than the casual players are willing to put up with. The Acolytes are moved up to the first serious table within a matter of minutes, at the first available break, and are plonked down next to a wizened old woman flanked by Adonis-like bodyguards, a small clutch of cocky, flinty young rakes, three sets of well-coiffed partners that the group mentally file under "generic noble", and a pair of middle-aged, soberly-dressed gentlemen in full facemasks. It's now that things become a little more... heated. --- gamble you've got time to do like ten minutes' worth of stuff before the gamblin' starts, which may include more prodding at iseppo, prodding at the crowd, proposing a toast with Thunder who still ain't drunk his toxic brew, etc. turns out i mixed up which guard hadn't drunk and falsely reported Lightning last time - not like it matters, they're identical, but it's thunder who'll still be kicking around once you start asking iseppo things. so you get to play a weird hybrid of Poker and Azad essentially it's a game of influence, and iseppo's the puppetmaster. the dealer and central coordinator pair both have a surprising amount of influence if they're cunning, which all the dealers here are. so yeah i don't wanna spend very long gambling tbh so everything's getting amalgamated into one roll vs a target number of DoS's. gimme a skill roll for something appropriate. logic will allow you to gamble properly; awareness will protect against card sharps; charm or other social skills will probably have an impact on the dealer, but will be hampered by the fact that you can't really talk to them; anything else i like the sound of will also be good. sleight of hand helps you cheat, no-one has it or is any good at it. aperta: an irritating electrostatic buzz behind your right ear-replacement indicates that the top floor's networked. the clerk's computer is likely on the network, as are the microdot security cams embedded in the ceiling that you can feel broadcasting. there's a jack on the north wall you can probably subtly interface with, but there's a security guard standing right in front of it - you're gonna need to convince him to move. he probably doesn't know exactly what's right behind him but he will be unwilling to budge from his spot unnecessarily - if you don't feel like socialling him with your spergwords, maybe enlist one of the other acolytes to do so. gamma - when eadian moved up a couple of tables initially, you're pretty sure you caught Iseppo glancing over. he's probably had you deliberately placed on the lower tables to see how your group's willing to play. if you feel like being risky, Warp Perception will be able to tell you whether other players believe they have good hands or not, via heart-rate and perspiration. if one of the other players fucks up a roll really badly you can use your pocketed distraction to divert attention from it and allow a reroll, but it's up to you whether you share that with the others now or if you want to save it for later, because it might be useful later. an example of appropriate scale would be a free, guaranteed successful use of Control Flame to make a candelabra crash to the ground, or something. i've also still not added your +5 to your next roll from the intra-party investigation so just use that when you want.. everyone else - play to your strengths, really. ways to encourage advancement are: beat the other players, get the other players removed, spy on the other players without loving up and report back to eadian, persuade the dealers to favour you, persuade the maitre d that you've had a big win on your table, persuade iseppo that something cool's just happened, that sort of thing. shout if uncertain. you've got a target to hit. you miss it badly, you lose influence and issepo-disposition - party decides who eats the hit. you miss it barely, you lose iseppo-disposition. you hit it, you gain iseppo-disposition. you hit it easily, you gain influence and iseppo-disposition - party decides who gets the bonus Inexplicable Humblebrag fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Apr 10, 2016 |
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Apr 10, 2016 20:02
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Barry "The Bull" Bulworth Party pooper Why do I do these things to myself? My stomach growled ferociously as my insides seem to turn themselves outside. I barely had enough time to get situated on the toilet before it hit. Judging by my sudden departure and hurried jog to the bathroom it's apparent to the others there that I may be sick, but they haven't had time to pin it to the tainted seltzer yet. Once I unleash the fury on the unsuspecting toilet, the rest of the stalls in the bathroom clear out, either due to the smell or the unpleasantness of nobility being around a sick person. On the plus side, in the moments when my body is not making disgusting toilet noises it gives me the chance to discuss strategy while nobody is around to hear me talking strategy. I activate the comm bead after a flush and say to the others: "If you guys haven't noticed yet, our guess is armed and not as crippled as he puts himself on to be. He has his bodyguards, but he can probably hold his own in a scrap. I've seen guys like him before, they think they are more clever than they actually are and they always have something to hide. Appeal to his vanity. The fun thing about his sort is he desperately wants you to believe his lies so much that it's easier to tell your own to him. Just don't let him catch you in a lie or you'll loose face to him. I wouldn't piss off his guards either, they are professionals and they look like they've got itchy trigger fingers." After several excruciating moments on the toilet, I feel as though my bowels have nothing left to offer and I'm good to clean up and return to the others. Something was still getting me uneasy though. Our noble host is personally armed even with multiple layers of security and weapons around him. I have to imagine he's expecting trouble of some sort. My investigator senses kick in and I keep a sharp eye out on the comings and goings of the others in the room. --- Using the toilet break to sound off to the party. I would assume this means they can read/act upon my spoiler text but DJF may want to confirm before I tell you to do that. Going be doing awareness checks during the game to keep an eye on the people coming and going and mark out any suspicious people and/or cheating people if I have attention to give to the game. DeathSandwich fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Apr 13, 2016 |
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Apr 13, 2016 18:05
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yeah, party can read Bulworth spoilers and act on them
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Apr 13, 2016 20:06
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Aperta Ignavus Port Remonstrance The Gilded Rose Aperta winces slightly upon entering the gambling room as his electro-senses pick up unshielded data frequencies. Quickly scanning the room the priest spots numerous small cameras along the ceiling as well as the local data network they're linked to. And only a moment later he spots something even more intriguing, an open data-port at floor level. Unfortunately a member of the security staff unwittingly blocks the tech-adept's access. Bowing his head to further obscure his face Aperta comms the other Acolytes. "North-side wall, male security personnel, bald, dark facial hair. Behind him is an interface I can use to gain access to the cameras above us. I believe this will afford us an advantage in our dealings. I merely need the guard to be removed from the area in order to have discreet access." He says quietly. __________________ Everyone can read my spoilers. But the long-short of it is that if someone can go distract a guard away from a data-port I can hopefully look through the cameras along the ceiling and so we can cheat like mad.
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Apr 14, 2016 17:57
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Ignatius Malbau The Rookery Party Port Remonstrance "I'm on it" Ignatius says, close enough and in the general direction of Eadian that a bystander would assume he was addressing that man and not a microbead. Standing up from his spot just behind Eadian, Ignatius wobbles visibly, but then catches himself. Regarding his empty glass with a wry grin, Ignatius weaves a someone circuitous path in the general direction of the north wall. The bald guy isn't especially difficult to spot - Aperta's description is characteristically accurate. Pausing to swipe another drink from a passing servant, Ignatius' eyes wander - he is a fairly inebriated noble scoping out the room, maybe looking for someone in particular, maybe just eyeballing the more exposed cleavage. Certainly he is not paying any particular attention to the guard near the wall. Ignatius is sizing up the guard. Scrutiny (30). He is specifically looking for: any identifying features that would tell him whether this is one of the "house" guards hired by Iseppo, or a personal guard of one of the guests; any indication if the man is a higher-ranking fellow or just bottom-rung muscle; whether it appears the man is clearly stationed here intentionally, or has just chosen a comfortable spot to hang out; and maybe most importantly, if he looks like he could use a drink. Barring any or all of that, I just want a detailed description of the man.
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Apr 16, 2016 21:52
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Prestidigitation, cont. The Rookery Port Remonstrance  Ignatius takes a casual stroll past the the guard by the northern dataport, pausing to compliment the apparent leader of a small group, dressed as a swan and cygnets, on a particularly daring play. Keeping up the polite conversation is fairly trivial, and turning towards each anatidaen face in turn gives ample opportunity to scope out the unluckily-situated security agent. He is, as Aperta reports, bald and bearded. Tanned skin, wiry muscles, standard short-sleeved black outfit as worn by the other venue guards. Minor gang tattoos visible peeking out from under clothing. Currently looking a bit uncomfortable at times, as the internal pressure builds from the tainted seltzer - he'll doubtless join the general exodus in about an hour's time, although that'll be too late for Aperta to perform any useful network magic. He is, pretty much, just one of the house muscle - professional, skilled, but not in command. From a glance at the other guards lining the walls, it seems this guy's just standing here by chance - everyone's evenly spaced out. It's not like he's tied to his post, either, as other guards occasionally drift off to attend to particular issues or errands, returning shortly. It would probably be fairly trivial to get him to wander off for a short while if he's given a suitable excuse. The obvious way to get him to move would be to give him something to do. --- yeah, just a guard standing there - not rolling for that, there's no deception at play and no gameplay reason to give you a chance to fail. deceive him, charm him, intimidate him, stab a waiter, whatever - talk to the maitre d', get him to call the guard over maybe. hell, pretend to be drunk and ask for directions. doing whatever to this guy will, regardless of pass or fail, allow Aperta access to the port - you just need to get him to step away for a second, after which aperta can - narratively stealthily - plug in and then settle down going "omm" or something. it will be assumed that aperta's communing with the machine spirits by people and the guard will be too polite to shift along a mechanicus for pretty much no reason. gamewise, this is to allow your roll and aperta's roll to stand or fail separately, because i'm only wanting one skill roll from each of you to compound into the party result. deathsandwich - if Awareness is the skill you're picking, it'll be a skill roll to contribute to the group result, and potentially other unrelated ones depending on emergent events. specifically watching the crowd for weridness, outside of the group result, will be Scrutiny Inexplicable Humblebrag fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Apr 24, 2016 |
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Apr 19, 2016 17:55
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Yeah, I always figure Awareness specifically to be 'danger sense' and scrutiny to be more of a catchall for more general observations ('this gun's been used recently', 'these guys all have some weird icon and a number of bullet casings on a chain on their person, thats weird', ect ect) kind of like the difference between spot and search in D&D. Since I'm specifically on the look out for party crashers, I figured that falls more in the danger sense side of things. Regardless, I have both scrutiny and Awareness trained at +0 so it's unmodified perception in both cases.
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Apr 19, 2016 18:26
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Ignatius Malbau The Rookery Party Port Remonstrance "Hey," Ignatius addresses the guard. Ignatius wobbles a bit, suddenly 'noticing' the guard standing there. He gives the cygnets a farewell leer and then manages to steer himself over to the bald man, halting well inside any reasonable semblance of ordinary personal space boundaries, staring balefully at a spot two or three inches behind the back of the man's head. "Heyyyyyy, you look uh, piquid. Green around the gills, you know?" Ignatius stares, grinning. "They've got uh, I heard! Hey! They've uh, they've got something for the you know." Ignatius rubs his belly, nodding, giving a very knowing expression to his new best friend and co-conspirator. "The gut fuckery. Badshits. I got some earlier, guy in, in, in, in blue, with the silver trim, downstairs in the fass... fasscil... in the toilet. Clear ya right up!" Ignatius drapes an arm over his pal, this man who has been his confidante and reliable companion for years probably, almost forcibly steering him towards the lifts. "Come on, I'll take ya to him. Need some more myself, you know? Bit ah, bit, too much fish juice in them Flaming Flounders I been drinkin'." Ignatius makes up a lie about someone downstairs with a stomach remedy and then not-quite-forcibly assists the guard in going off to find them. If the guard fights back he'll relent, but it seems like the man will probably cooperate. We'll go wander around drunkenly downstairs where Ignatius will fail to find the man he's looking for, and probably the guard will wind up in the toilet anyway. Call it a Charm or a Deceive or maybe even a Medicae roll, whichever seems most applicable.
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Apr 19, 2016 22:43
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Aperta Ignavus Port Remonstrance The Gilded Rose - Gambling Den The way cleared, Aperta makes his way towards the now unguarded interface port. If there are any looks cast his way the priest either doesn't notice or doesn't care. In position, he reaches deep into his robes for his data-jack, an almost crude seeming thin spike of brass and silver with a cord that runs into the folds of his robe and to the base of spine. Plugging himself into the port the familiar feeling of cold data rushes through his mind. Immediately he begins the process of aligning his thoughts to make sense of the constant stream of information, even using Cogitatio as a buffer for junk data. "I will have access to the buildings info-nets momentarily." He whispers into his vox. _________________ In position. Tech-Use +20 (+10 for Utility Servo-Skull) to get access to the cameras and use them to help see hands, and if possible keep cameras away from the Acolytes. If I fail the roll use a Fate Point to reroll.
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Apr 23, 2016 16:11
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Cachinnation The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quxTnEEETbo  Ignatius' chosen new buddy looks a little alarmed to have a spindly off-world noble come suddenly lurching towards him, and his arm freezes briefly in a way that suggests he has mastered an impulse to go for his weapon. Resigning himself to playing nursemaid for the moment, the guard allows himself to be bundled into the service elevator down to the ground floor - apart from anything else, it gets Ignatius away from any chance at disrupting the game and closer to the doors if he needs to be thrown out. Besides, although drat near anything's available on tap from the attendants, some people don't like paying the markup and resort to other sources. Any unauthorised drug deals on Thorn turf need to be rooted out, so that security can get their cut. Hijinks ensue - steered expertly through the crowd, the guard's resistance is broken down by brayed greeting after brayed greeting as Ignatius shifts his stance subtly and works the room under the guise of looking for his medical friend. Eventually, and much to the guard's frustration, Ignatius leads him to an official Thorn chemist-attendant, who, for a handful of notes, hands over a small vial of luridly-coloured placebos. Wanting to get back to his post, the guard necks a couple, not realising in his haste that the hand from which Ignatius has shaken out the pills is not the one in which he took the vial. A few minutes later, the guard is ensconced in a bathroom stall, and extremely unlikely to care about getting back to his post for the next couple of hours. He can probably think of this as getting in to beat the rush. Aperta, circumnavigating the room in ornate and ostentatious robes, draws a few glances as he makes his way forward. A few of the throng attempt to talk to him, but by the tried and tested method of avoiding eye contact and keeping the hood down, he shuffles on through with minimal interruption. Porting into the building network causes his left leg to buckle momentarily as poorly-optimised networking spirits cause him to thrash and spasm - locking his servos in place and modulating the binary wave through Cogitatio seems to deal with that, though. The spirits chatter and yammer through him like overly enthusiastic hunting dogs, if hunting dogs existed in the noosphere - they're vigilant, but it's been a while since they've had anything other than a cogitator to interface with. After a few false starts, in which the spirits seem confused by Aperta's insistence on referring to the Gilded Thorn as the Gilded Rose, the activation rites engage and the tech-priest gains root access with very little fanfare. It is as if two-score additional eyes have suddenly opened up, as the techpriest's sense of self suddenly swells to encompass the entire building. It would appear that the Thorn rejoices in a surprisingly comprehensive sensor suite, which appears to have been repurposed from an orbital fighter. Not cheap, not common, but effective, unobtrusive, high-resolution, and surprisingly easy for Aperta to interface with. The problem is keeping on top of the morass of data currently routing through his enhanced mind - in a subjective minute or two, the techpriest's probably going to have to dump input from some of these cameras, especially if he wants to ensure that he doesn't appear obnoxious to anyone already monitoring the system... Bulworth shares his info with the rest of the cell, but, possibly due to his recent gastrointestinal maelstrom, finds it hard to concentrate on monitoring the crowd. Faces swim in and out of focus, and, worse, he's worried that his facial expressions on viewing Eadian's cards are passing information to the other players... ---- ignatius continues with a string of depressingly good rolls by getting 10 vs a target of 40 on his Deceive test to portray himself as a drunken noble. it's a decent plan to shift the guard quietly but they are pretty much used to dealing with drunk nobles gracefully, so it's only a +0 test. regardless, that's 4DoS contributed to the party total (1 for passing, 3 for difference in tens digits between 40 and 10). aperta jacks into cyberspace. 17 vs Tech-Use 60 means a frankly disgraceful 6DoS. you can handle any two out of game room cameras, downstairs cameras, bedroom cameras, front-of-house cameras (i.e. street, access corridor), and rear-of-house cameras (i.e. kitchen, rear route round to the boat park). you can also sacrifice DoS to monitor additional cameras - 1DoS equals one additional set, this represents dedicating less attention to the game. i make no promises on whether this will be worth it or useful, but the option is there. bulworth gets 3DoF on his perceptiony-type roll for the team challenge; this doesn't mean you've failed any awareness checks that come up during play though. they will be handled separately. this can be fate-pointed if desired, or you can just let it stand because the others have some pretty good rolls. gamma, eadian, get some fuckin' actions in by weds 27th - even if they're just italics text saying what you want to roll - otherwise you default to 2DoF
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Apr 24, 2016 21:31
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'Gamma' The Rookery Party As the game recommences Gamma finds herself opposite one of the rakes, and well out of her league in terms of raw skill. Wanting to stay relevant to the game long enough to be of some use she reaches to the Warp for an advantage - Prod cards have subtle differences that can't be detected by the naked eye or hand, but could reveal themselves to one with an open mind. Going to use Warp Perception, I'll put the +5 on this roll and spend Fate to avoid obvious perils.
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Apr 26, 2016 13:26
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Eadian Valarius Port Remonstrance The Rookery Party Eadian sit's down to begin the game, and begins talking to the other players and attempting to schmooze any useful info out of them or strategies in casual conversation hoping to gain the feel of the table ---------------------- stupid bad newbie post, i suppose this would be my Peer: Local nobility skill? I kinda just want to get a feel for tell's maybe and the like? As well as any other information or serving as a distraction for any things going on with the cameras or what not.
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Apr 27, 2016 17:01
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Elimination The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzpnWuk3RjU Gameplay continues. Eadian's natural ability for manipulation, coupled with the near-perfect knowledge of his opponent's cards funneled into his ear by Aperta, means his opponents have slim hope of victory. Not that it would be wise to be overt about this - the techpriest appears to be chanting and hissing in binary to any nearby onlookers, and only one equally fluent in the holy binary cant would realise that he's instructing Cognatio to feed back a translation into his commbead link. Similarly, Eadian is deliberately not winning every hand, but rather going out of his way to appear effortless and breezy while simultaneously managing to sweep aside any attempt at a coordinated assault against him. By the end of the round it's patently obvious that he's the superior of the rest of his table, and the Acolytes are discreetly moved up to the next. The same happens again, and again, as Ignatius drifts back upstairs, guard-friend conspicuously absent. On the fourth table, however, things get a little hairy - Eadian's up against seasoned, hardened players by this point, and there's a few angry murmurs as the Strategos fails to handle his crowd effectively and pulls in a much larger jackpot than he actually intended to. In an effort to defuse the situation and to focus attention on his arrogance rather than his apparent supernatural abilities at reading cards backwards, Eadian installs Gamma at the couch for the next few hands, and swans off, Bulworth in tow, to do the rounds of the other noble entourages. This has the happy side-effect of preventing the Arbite from telegraphing any more hands. Blinking in the flinty stares of professional gamblers, the psyker smiles nervously and fidgets, attempting to remember the rules. She may be receiving a string of technical information from Aperta in her ear, but she doesn't quite know what to do with it all. Initial assaults on her are tiny, inquisitive affairs - she is mostly ignored by the other players at the table, who focus on regaining ground lost to Eadian from each other, and the psyker is content to hold her position like this. Eventually a pair of front-runners emerge - a curiously-heavily muscled and tattooed ex-PDF captain and an off-world chartist merchant hailing from a hive world several sectors over. They begin a ruthless all-out assault on Gamma's holdings, stripping a sizeable chunk of fortune from her. In desperation, she invokes her inner third eye and attempts to include the whole of her gaming table into her enhanced senses. Muttering and clutching at charms is not uncommon in a gambling hall, and it draws no particular attention. The room does waver for a second, and she does get a curious nagging sensation - as if she has lost the memory of everyone within the room losing a trivial memory themselves. However, the momentary itch passes, and suddenly she sees the world anew. Gamma may not know exactly what to do in her situation, but by judging heartbeats, tasting perspiration, now she knows what the other players think she should do, and what they hope she will not. Through adroit manipulation and subliminal influence, Gamma manages to win back her losses and then some, seemingly entirely by accident. Accusing stares stab from player to player, as the rest of her table attempts to figure out who could have been so stupid as to allow this. Aperta clicks and whirrs, monitoring the situation, but focusing on no cameras other than the ones in the gaming room. He may be able to leave Cogitatio plugged into this port if he wants to wander around freely, and the skull should be able to wirelessly transmit the feed through their personal noosphere. He's still going to have to make a decision on where to focus his monitoring, though. In the meantime, using spare moments between hands, he begins to draw up a mental map of the building by flicking from camera to camera and gauging room size. ---- Destabilisation The Rookery Port Remonstrance The guards are looking distinctly queasy - around half of them have deserted their posts already, and the rest appear to be minutes from doing so. Eadian by this point is on Iseppo's table, having displaced a particularly servile crony, and, all smiles, the two of them have silently arranged to genteelly flense a pair of particularly chubby fleet-owners of their assets. After a swift whispered conference, the Acolytes agree to put their plan to sequester Iseppo into action. Aperta sends his signal, and the group waits. Gameplay continues for a minute or two, before, with an earsplitting CRASH, an ornate, stained window set high in the southern, street-facing wall is reduced to sparkling shards of glass. Shortly afterwards, a second window shatters and rains down a jagged storm on the noble crowd below, as a loud and ostentatious laudhailer servo skull smashes its way into the building.  ##URGENT MESSAGE FOR RECIPIENT [[ERROR]] FROM PLANETARY GOVERNOR SUPERANCIO## ##URGENT MESSAGE FOR RECIPIENT [[ERROR]] FROM PLANETARY GOVERNOR SUPERANCIO## The general bedlam of the skull's arrival, the confusion caused by its uncertain message, and the apparent disappearance of the entire security staff who could otherwise be looked upon to provide some order to this drunken mob all contribute to a near-riot. A packed, sweltering, noisy room, full of drunks and gambling tables. Sweat coalesces off the velvet drapes as swan masks are trampled and exotic pets tripped over as nobles throng and press to try and get closer to the skull, all certain that its cargo of information is for them alone. Personal bodyguards shove and ram, wholly occupied with keeping their charges safe, as other, more opportunistic individuals look to harvest unattended stacks of chips, or to ostentatiously and heroically prevent others from doing so. In Eurybia's curious world of prestige and obligation, the two activities amount pretty much end up with the same outcome. By this point the acolytes are so chummy with Iseppo that they barely have to persuade him to get up from the gaming table and share a bottle of something iced and ancient in an adjoining room until all the hubbub dies down. Which looks like it will take some time. Winnings are gathered, packed up into carrying cases, and secured; soon, the cell are comfortably ensconced in deep armchairs in a roomy, curtained, private meeting area with Iseppo and Lightning. An old-fashioned bellpull summons cigars, after which the attendant dutifully leaves, closing the door behind her, heels clacking obviously on the marble corridor floor. "So.", the Deculon exhales, face twisted into a wry smile. "What can I do for you?" ----- so the warp in this post is represented by the unusual jazzy time signature. gamma rolls a majestic 88 on her initial warp perception attempt, following it up with a much more respectable 8 on the fatepoint reroll. possible khornate tendancies?? must investigate. so yeah that's like 6DoS added to the party total - there is no reason for gamma to attempt the roll at anything other than psy rating 1, because everyone she wants to sense is within 1 x 10m. therefore, she gets +10 to the roll for going 1 psy rating under her actual psy rating. hurrah. bulworth fatepoints his 3DoF into 2DoF eadian... well, i guess it's Inquiry, if you're looking to subtly get a feel for how the players in the room tend to work? for which you get a 24, giving 3DoS - 1 from passing test, 1 from difference in 10s digit, 1 from Peer: Nobility. if you need help with in-character stuff then post in the recruitment thread, if you're confused on rules things then post in the recruitment thread, and if you need more time to make gamethread posts then post in the recruitment thread. otherwise you'll end up effectively sidelined, which is not ideal. aperta gets floor schematics for the building. these will be revealed if and when they are necessary. if you're hungering for more interparty action, gamma may or may not be pissed off at eadian for effectively being left in the lurch - yes, it was necessary for the cell's task, but it could also be construed as a bit of a dick move. bulworth may or may not be sympathetic. i dunno. make up your own stuff. bulworth - during the game you've noticed some pained chatter among the guards, and a higher proportion of them moving to the front-of-house section of the building than you'd expect under the circumstances. as far as you're aware, there's no bathrooms there. maybe something's going on out front, or maybe they're all piling out to the nearest public latrine so basically you guys got an incredibly disgusting 17DoS on the party challenge. rounding up, this translates to a huge Disposition bonus and a bonus 4 influence points to one member of the party. that's actually a pretty huge amount, and represents the large amount of specie and favours you have accumulated. iseppo has a very very high Disposition. you probably don't need to schmooze him further but can just get to brass tacks. his bodyguard's here but as Iseppo will not object to talking business at this point, this is not a cause for concern. you cannot use commbeads for intraparty communication in here. this isn't a party, it's a quiet, close conversation in a room, and commbead subvocalisation will be really obvious. the randomly-chosen meeting room is on the second floor. you've got the northern, long wall of the gambling room - there's a door off it, which leads to a corridor that runs parallel to the gambling room. this corridor is lined with soundproofed rooms. you are alone and not eavesdropped on, although bugs may need to be swept for if you're super-paranoid. there's a window, but it's a drop of like six metres to the boardwalk below, and you might go right through it. out back of the building is the boat park. diagram can be created on request.
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Apr 27, 2016 22:34
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crosspost from recruitment thread - who what now, in lieu of a comment along the lines of "i am monitoring these particular cameras - X and Y" in your next post, i'm gonna assume aperta dedicated all his attention to mapping and the card game. this will bump you up another 2DoS, taking the final influence bonus to 5. kool-aid servo skull was aperta's distraction to get the noble crowd out the way. presumably it smashed both windows, it's careening around a lot. Inexplicable Humblebrag fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Apr 28, 2016 |
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Apr 28, 2016 18:06
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Aperta Ignavus Port Remonstrance The Gilded THORN - Gambling Den Idly in between hands Aperta flicks through the entirety of the building's camera network, making a mental blueprint of the building but otherwise finds nothing to immediately grab his attention, and so focuses on feeding information to Master Eadian. When he leaves to attend to other affairs the tech-priest feels a brief twinge of empathy for Gamma, who clearly appears to be out of her element. His own understanding of the game is likely as poor as hers, and he can only provide the cold facts of cards in play and probability calculations. ______________ Aperta cannot help but smile as his servo-skull makes its entrance, pride in his handiwork being one of the few vices he allows himself. Cogitatio follows the path of its careening 'brother' like a hunter watching prey scurry in a panic. The entrance is a tad louder than he expected, but given the sub-optimal materials he had on hand and the obvious effectiveness of it the priest still considers it a success. Briefly a shifts his focus back into the data-network and spies the others following Iseppo into another room. Aperta disconnects his data-tether and the long cord snakes its way back into the recesses of his robes, but leaves the data-jack plugged in. "<Cogitatio.>" He bleats in binary, and skull snaps to attention. "<Maintain proximity link with the network interface and noospheric synchronization with me. Await further orders.>" With that Aperta pushes his way through the crowd towards the others, joining up with them shortly. _______________ Focus on the game for those sweet, sweet DoS, and then meet up with the group to chat with Iseppi (can we call him Iseppi)?
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May 2, 2016 18:39
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Barry "The Bull" Bulworth Post-Gambling Something doesn't sit right with me, and it's not the food poisoning. It takes me a minute to notice; the house guards aren't going where I'm expecting them to. Last I thought the front of the building had no bathrooms. These guys are leaving. I turn away from the table and Iseppo's guards and look up at one of the house cameras, hoping that Aperta is manning the cameras. I silently mime the words "Front Door", hoping that he can see what's going on there. Turning back to the table I lock eyes with Iseppo's main guard, Thunder the one who didn't get poisoned. I nod my head towards the house guards filing out and shoot him a concerned look, hoping that he catches on to what's going on without me freaking out the rest of the gamblers unduly. When Iseppo invites us to the private room, I tell them I'll keep watch outside. As soon as the door closes I move myself to see if I can find a window overlooking the front entrance and see where house guards are absconding to. --- I'm going to try to quietly tip off Aperta on the cameras about my spoiler text so he can both tip off the others in their comm-beads and also try to bring on cameras where the guards are. In addition, I'm going to try to clue Iseppo's guard in silently that house guards are leaving since my distraction is suddenly not going to plan. I am not going to be in the private room with Iseppo during the group so that I can try and get some vision on what's going on outside.
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May 2, 2016 21:43
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Ignatius Malbau The Rookery Party Back Room Port Remonstrance Ignatius stretches slightly, allowing the firm yet pliant bolsters of his luxurious lounge chair to envelop his gangly form in a way that reminds him of the high-G crash couches one might find installed in a luxury-class planetary drop shuttle. They creak, and for a moment Ignatius is distracted by the fabric which, now he looks closely, is unmistakably oiled cured sea animal skin. There's a row of beautifully carved suckers adorning the wood(!) accents along the outside edges of the armrests, and the high back of the shagreen chair is encrusted with serrated, triangular teeth set into an intricate pattern. The iced drink in his hand is even more fantastic. Ignatius gestures with it, indicating those of his colleagues present with an alcoholic sweep without even a hint of drunken tilt. In fact, to anyone paying more attention to Ignatius than they ought to have, he's undergone a remarkable sobering in the last fifteen minutes or so. "We," he frowns in exaggerated contrition, "have a confession to make, I'm afraid. I'm terribly sorry, dear fellow, but... as I suspect you've already guessed, our attendance at this simply delightful gathering of yours is not entirely for pleasure." He takes a quick sip, gauging Iseppo's reaction for a moment, but continues before the man has an opportunity to respond. "Happly," Ignatius smiles adroitly "I believe we have an opportunity you'll be interested in... something of mutual benefit to our various interests. Oh, I suppose you must hear such things constantly, no? The sales pitch, from some minor functionary or distant cousin, hoping to climb their way up in the world by attaching themselves to someone more important. Tsk." He shakes his head knowingly. How sad and pathetic, those other people, for doing exactly what he is doing now. "This is different. In truth... and, Iseppo, I mean no disrespect, very honestly I don't. But in truth, what we have to offer is more important, and an opportunity for you - indeed, for your entire family, and for this planet - to climb their way up a little, in the eyes of the Imperium of Man." Ignatius leans forward, now, forgoing the luxury of the recliner in favor of an upright, serious posture. He sets his drink down on the low table to the side of his chair, and regards Iseppo with cool, sober seriousness. "We have evaluated you, Iseppo, and your family, and we feel you may be entrusted. And I hope that you understand, what I will tell you now must be held in the strictest confidentiality, at least for a short while. In a few weeks, the need for secrecy will have passed, and public announcements will be appropriate. But we must get started on the project immediately." Ignatius sits back a little, enjoying the impact of his next statement. "You see, when the Black Fleet arrives, the groundwork must have been laid. Our superiors in the Imperial Navy do not care much for complications. It's not enough to have selected a build site: they will want any bureaucratic obstacles dealt with, the local planetary political issues settled. One clear, undisputed local owner of the project - that's you, you see, Iseppo - with the wherewithal and resources to see it completed swiftly and with careful attention to the details." Ignatius recovers his drink. Takes a sip. Lets things sink in a moment. Holds up a finger to forestall a flood of obvious questions. "Details, yes, of course, all of the details. We, my colleagues and I, will continue to direct and control the project, during these sensitive initial stages. Necessary, for security reasons. When the Black Fleet arrives, we will be contacted, and give a full report of the situation. We'll be leaving shortly thereafter, and less, hmm, specialized officers will be instructed to work with the locals to complete construction. The facility will of course be commanded by a Naval officer... but, doubtless, some half-retired admiral who will treat this duty as an extended vacation on a tropical pleasure-planet, and leave all of the administrative functions to the locally-hired staff." A swirl of the ice, another sip, with an appreciative nod. It really is a fantastic vintage. "We are at war, Iseppo. The Imperium of Man. Ourybia must do its part. For centuries this planet has exported... well, let us be charitable and call it 'seafood,' but the Navy has identified another resource that Ourybia will be privileged to provide. You see... it seems we need your seamen." Someone snickers, drawing a sharp glance from Iseppo, but he misses who it was. "Ahem. Well. There are systems in this sector where we're fighting the Xenos scum, and apparently there's an unusually high number of water planets, and apparently due to some incredibly ancient law, warfighting using watercraft comes under the rubric not of the Astra Militarum, as one might expect, but rather the Holy Fleet. The Navy needs to recruit commissioned officers, and desires in particular recruits with experience operating sea vessels. Ourybia is most fortunate to have an abundance of men and women with the appropriate experience. Therefore, if your family is willing and able, Iseppo, my associates and I propose a joint project to build a magnificent new Imperial Navy recruiting office, right here in Port Remonstrance." Ignatius stands, relinquishing the magnificent comfort of the chair to cross the room to the sidebar. Two cubes of ice clink into his glass ahead of another double-shot of ancient amasec. "It's not only an opportunity to erect an important building, Iseppo. The facility will employ at least two or three hundred civilians... not only clerks, but administrators, managers... accountants. Locally hired staff must be of the proper level of education, must be able to liaise with offworld Navy personnel, and with the Adeptus Administratum. You understand, Iseppo? People of substance. I'm sure you can see the advantage, to yourself, to your family, to be the partner from the outset? You'll be well placed to, ah, make recommendations. Be sure that the most important positions go to the best candidates. What's more, you'll be the first point of contact for the Navy. I doubt a man such as yourself needs to be convinced of the value of having contacts in high places?" "But of course, this opportunity comes with its costs." Ignatius retakes his seat, glancing at the others for a moment. "We have initial funding. Before the Black Fleet arrives, a site must be secured, and we are expected to have a site survey. The Navy will, on approval of the plans, extend additional funding, but the on-world partner is expected to contribute to the finances. Once the facility is completed, ongoing operational costs will be counted against Ourybia's tithe; any rebate against that, you'll have to negotiate with the planetary governor." Ignatius balks, suddenly, a look of concern on his face. "The governor has not been informed of this project, Iseppo. We have strict instructions on this point. I don't know precisely why, that was deemed unimportant for us to know, but I have some hints that he is not considered to be entirely... reliable. In my experience, that means he's likely to bungle things, or perhaps cause undue delay, but in this case I don't know enough about your governor to hazard a guess. Our task is to establish a rapport with a prominent family, initiate the project, and then the Governor will be informed after it is a fait accompli." "My good fellow, I do apologize, this sort of business is hardly appropriate for a party. Eadian and I had thought this merely an opportunity to introduce ourselves, get to know you. But, what with the little... disturbance... going on outside? Why, here we are, might as well get things going, eh? Of course you'll have questions, no doubt, and perhaps you'll need to consider things. Please, do take your time, a day or two if need be. Any longer, though, and, well... we must press forward. We'll have to approach another family, if the Deculons aren't able to commit quickly. I'm sure you can understand?" Okay, whew. Ignatius is telling a whopper, which is assuredly Deceive (40), but hopefully influenced by our very high Influence, plus if applicable, Breeding Counts. Ignatius is also flattering Iseppo and his family, hopefully: that's more Charm (40). I've got Peer [nobility], I forget what that does exactly. And, I'd be delighted if Eadian chimed in to boost my attempt with his own skill checks. My intent is to follow up any questions with the request to use Cisneros - I want Iseppo to think that it's just one detail in a larger plan, albeit one that needs to be worked out quickly. If I have another chance to post before the scene resolves, I'll mention we've identified Cisneros as someone we'd prefer, if that's a possibility. You know, all casual like, like it's no big deal if the answer is 'no'.
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May 3, 2016 01:52
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'Gamma' The Rookery Party Back Room The snicker was Gamma, too distracted by the wealth of sensory information she is still receiving to keep her game face on. She could close the conduit to the warp at any time, but...maybe it will be useful. Iseppo is a skilled negotiator and gambler, being able to read his reactions might be vital information. She didn't learn anything useful earlier, maybe this will be different. Sustaining Warp Perception with a half action - otherwise keeping eyes and ears peeled for useful snippets of information.
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May 3, 2016 07:25
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Fomentation The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2lgy4_Quko "Aperta" Fuckin' Mechanicus. "Aperta!" One of the problems with devoting yourself to the Machine-God and replacing your mouth with a filtration grill, of course, is that you end up putting less of an emphasis on the importance of lips. Specifically, reading the loving things. The Acolytes are processing slowly and sedately to the side room, but unfortunately the tech-priest is wrapped up entirely in parsing the incoming datastream from his skull - he is monitoring the riotous bedlam in the gaming hall to ensure it shows no sign of abating, and appears completely oblivious to any attempt at subtle communication. Rapping on the side of his casing with clenched knuckles might rouse him, but would probably come across as rather a faux pas, if not outright lèse machiné. Catching the machine-man's gaze is by this point impossible without capering madly in front of him, so the Arbite falls back on old habits and attempts to collar him for a quiet word. Amazingly, either Iseppo or his bodyguard manage to turn to glance at the Arbite by chance every single time he approaches, and a single raised eyebrow from the Deculon noble is enough to make him back off. Cursing inwardly, Bulworth takes up station ostentatiously outside of the private room's door, giving off a general bouncer-ish vibe in an attempt to ensure privacy. He flashes some stern eyebrow movements in the direction of Thunder or Lightning or whichever bodyguard hasn't sloped off to the nearest latrine in an attempt to make the guy join him momentarily, hoping to maybe quietly get word to him - perhaps it's the steel in the Arbite's eyes, or the fact that Thunder doesn't rate the remaining members of the party as a threat, but to Bulworth's masked surprise the bodyguard actually takes up station on the other side of the doorway as it clicks shut behind Iseppo and the rest of the Acolytes. Thunder frowns slightly at the news that the house guards have headed out front. After a whispered discussion, the pair of them head back towards the gambling hall - Bulworth hanging back briefly to get comms across to the rest of the cell. The Arbite and the bodyguard skirt the edges of the gaming room's fray, noting the incongruous lump of rockcrete lying in the middle of an abandoned gambling table, and boost themselves up into the high window frames in an effort to see what's going on in the street outside... ----- Iseppo's face is a picture during Ignatius' monologue. It runs the gamut of emotions from weary amusement at the initial tinges of sales pitch, indignant affront at the idea of being "evaluated", disgust at the well-trodden ground of "this isn't like the others", through to astonishment when it transpires that this actually isn't like the others. And, of course, the frown at the "seamen" line. The external signs aren't all that obvious, but whether warp-infused or specially trained, the Acolytes can read him like a book. He does not, in fact, have a great deal to say during the spiel. In fact, he holds himself very still, and, insofar as the Acolytes can judge, appears to be either considering the whole overview or completing a jigsaw puzzle in his head. As Ignatius finishes, the Deculon rises totteringly to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane, and stumps over to the heavily-draped windows to toy fitfully with the velvety ties and sip his mixture of superior and inferior amasec vintages. He hasn't discarded it, even in private company - nor, it seems, has he finished it. "Interesting", he murmurs. Altogether, he has not contributed a great deal to the conversation - it's patently obvious that he's furiously thinking things through. After an interval of a minute or so, he turns, smiling. "So. I can only assume that within a few days, my counterparts in the Hepaticons and Corazons will be entertaining similar delegations. But you fellows appear to have stolen a march. My question to you is quite simple - why?" A pause for a sip, and the absence of a grimace. "What draws you to the Deculon family in particular, ahead of the competition?" The maimed man continues, seemingly unfazed by the requirement of keeping negotiations secret from the Planetary Governor. On some planets, this could in itself be considered treason. On this one, things are either more relaxed, or Iseppo just doesn't care. "A location will be... troublesome. Certainly, we will have land become available after the... Fleet... leaves, once the... holding facilities... are no longer required. Waterfront property will, however, be difficult. The best bet would likely be to create space - we have the dredging capability, although diverting the haulers from their routes will take many months." Evidently thinking aloud by this point, Iseppo taps his cane. "Depending on, ah, funding considerations, we could easily repurpose an orbital lifter for this purpose." Discussions continue... ---- Bulworth peers out through shattered glass into the night, as Thunder does the same from the next window. Aperta eyes the mob inside, while also scattering vidfeed resources around the lower floor and outside in an attempt to scrape together as much context as possible. Altogether, it's a bit of a concerning picture. Fops. Rakes. More nobles. There's a crowd. Richly-dressed, casually armed like many of the attendees already at the party. There's maybe twenty, thirty. It seems they'd like to come in, please, if it's not too much trouble. From this distance, they seem drunk, or drugged, or both. Several of them scratch awkwardly and compulsively at arms, ears, noses, while others abruptly snap their heads up, gaze around as if in surprise, before falling back into a lull. The handful of the security staff not doubled over in the latrines with intestinal cramps are outside attempting to keep the peace. No weapons are drawn, but there's a lot of raised voices, placatory gestures, and bottles being jeeringly hurled against walls. Looks like the culprits for smashing that first window have been found. Bulworth has no idea how to distinguish particular nobles, but Thunder swears in the clipped, staccato fashion that the Arbite is vaguely aware comes from the isolated islands away from the main equatorial strip of archipelagos. "Hepaticons", he spits. ---- i may be totally mad but i could have sworn there was some big chunk of rules for communicating without a common language that i thought i could adapt for lip-reading, but ah well. so we wing it with an array of loosely-related tests, mostly for entertainment purposes - bulworth initially makes a fellowship roll, DoF/S on which translate to a bonus/malus to Aperta's INT test. that's a solid 92 for 7DoF, which under the rules for critical failure means you have spat a deadly insult at aperta. roll for initiative. lipreading is out, so we move onto trying a quiet word. i will assume this is a +40 Stealth test - less subtle than "literally undetectable" word-mouthing, but also far, far easier. thankfully, bulworth knocks it out of the park with a stunning 84, snatching failure from the jaws of victory, and is unable to grab aperta's attention without alerting iseppo/bodyguard. so he doesn't try. should another character be able to assist in this by providing a distraction, it will translate to a success and you'll get another few cameras online at the front of house - however to do this, gamma would need to drop Warp Perception to get the necessary actions, and ignatius would need to pause in his monologue. aperta cannot assist in a test against himself in this way. it's all a bit moot, anyway, because i'm just working through this as a rules exercise - bulworth's staying outside anyway and can just comms in his observations and requests to "please consider looking at the front of house, idiot". does mean that you maybe miss a couple of minutes of what's going on outside, but you can judge how important that was. hint - not important enough to spend fate points on. so anyway, we finish with an untrained Command test to try and get a bodyguard to do the exact opposite of his job description - realistically, you can't command people you don't have authority over, but this has connotations of "do your job drat you" so i'm gonna skin it as that. it doesn't matter anyway because bulworth has to get 10 or less, and the chances of him getting for example a 06 are on the low side. wait gently caress ---- conversation: well, i mean, that's pretty much a plan on a plate. deceive +30 for circumstances, which is an indeterminate number of DoS with a roll of 62. at this point you've done so much groundwork that we're not going to engage in CONTRACT NEGOTIATION 40K: HERESY AND NOVATION IN THE FAR FAR FUTURE, so the questions and stuff that iseppo will pose in the next update are actually means of funnelling you information and plot hooks. i don't really need them to be addressed lowering an orbital craft into the shallows to create land is a hefty investment. gamma: iseppo's heart rate shot up once Ignatius mentioned "black fleet" and "superiors", but started calming down again once it became apparent that this was a building project. he spasms again each time the fleet's mentioned. he's not psychic himself - you'd be able to tell, partly due to psyniscience, partly due to altered perception, partly because he's not throwing thunderbolts at you and shrieking WITCH WITCH. however, he does appear to be privately dreading the arrival of the fleet. he's presumably stayed quiet a lot partly to avoid revealing information during what is essentially the early stages of a negotiation, and partly to frantically figure stuff out. aperta: camera feed from the front of the building is grainy. this is not a real spoiler. it's just to throw other players off. you know, from the fact that you are secretly a heretek about to kill everyone!! that's everyone!!! even the person reading this who shouldn't be!!!! it's time for west side story. or possibly wet side story.
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May 4, 2016 23:09
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Barry "The Bull" Bulworth The tone Thunder took when he said "Hepaticons" was enough to tell me that nothing good was about to come of them showing up here. It was probably time for us to plan our exit before they forced their way in to start a fight. I get on the comm bead, to the others "You guys need to wrap up your business right now, the locals are getting restless and our house guards don't look much the part of holding them off for long." Staying to fight the local yokels was pointless, we need to quit this place as expediently as possible and it would be in our best interest if Iseppo got out with us. I hop down from the window sill and walk over to the bar, talking to Thunder as I walk "Going out the front door is obviously going to be a very bad idea, we need to get out the back. Do you guys have a vehicle handy or are you leaving with us?" As I wait for his answer I dig through the concessions looking for a bottle of one of the noble's potent beverages. I'd almost feel bad for stealing from the bar if they didn't have more pressing concerns at the moment. I pop the lid off the strongest bottle I find and stick a bar rag in it. It's not exactly high tech but anything to create distance can make the difference between leaving on our feet or in a wooden box. --- If this is turning to fight or flight my vote is on Flight. I'm going to guess we're going to want to get Iseppo and his guards out with us and not just leave them to their own devices. I'm under the assumption our boat is moored nearby so long as we can get clear from the riot. I'm going to raid the bar for the strongest bottle of alcohol I can find to make a makeshift molotov cocktail out of it. The intention is specifically for it not to burn dudes up with it, moreso to obstruct and hinder anyone who would chase us through alleyways.
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May 10, 2016 19:57
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Eadian Valarius Port Remonstrance The Rookery Party Eadian follows along with the conversation interjecting where he needs too in order to keep it moving and hopefully assist. In response to Isseppo's most recent question he attempts to put the noble at ease...... Sir, while we can of course not go into lurid detail regarding our place in The God Emperors' holy navy, suffice to say that we do our homework, and we feel that you and yours would be able to assist us most readily. However, you must understand my colleague is correct time is of the essence and we will need to find other avenues if you are not prudent in taking this opportunity! ----------------------------------------------------- This post isn't don'e yet, see my post in the recruitment thread and then i will edit in the last bit as well as this section
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May 11, 2016 02:26
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Fomentation, cont. The Rookery Port Remonstrance Discussions continue. Iseppo works through high-level planning aloud, attempting to wrangle his own agenda into the process. Chief among his concerns is that, as newly appointed de-facto overseers of part of the planet's tithe, he'd like to see the noble classes - men of quality - take a more direct responsibility for assessing and administrating the tribute. Clearly not replacing the Adeptus Ministorum, no no. Simply providing more support - acting as first line of interface for the nutrient shipments, the supply of graduating naval cadets, and, ah, they would hardly be able to shirk their share of the responsibility for handling the psyker round-up. In terms of training regimens - what would the Navy be looking for? As things stand now, the Deculons can easily lay hands on vessels from tugboats to dredgers, and were the Navy after an engineering corps, training could start tomorrow. However, the larger gun vessels remain in control of the PDF, and any variance of this would necessitate formal revision of the planetary governor's mandate to rule, presumably by higher-ranking representatives of the Imperium. Of course, should this occur, the Deculons would be proud to turn out trainees on whatever size and armament of vessel the Navy deems appropriate. While the ships available on Ourybia are tough and universal - vehicles designed along the same venerable principles as embodied in the Leman Russ or Chimera fighting vehicles - the lack of specialist expertise on-planet means that the swifter, more technologically advanced ship patterns found throughout the Imperium - ones based not on universal-fuel arc furnace engines but on long-range, speedier plasma batteries - are unavailable for use, which could form a critical flaw in the training of the touted academy. If the in-system forge-world of Criunix could be persuaded to settle a larger delegation and to step up trade in technological goods and services, then plasma-battery ships of the line and submersibles could easily form part of the curriculum. --- Evacuation The Rookery Port Remonstrance As discussions wrap up, Bulworth's comms message about possibly getting out of the club now chirps in everyone's ears... Thunder grunts warily at the Arbite as they push through the crowded upstairs gaming room, flexing wiry hands and glancing around. "Nuh. Came by watertaxi. Boss said f'him to come back later. Taxi ain't waitin'." The noble's bodyguard skirts a small group of fiercely arguing, shoving nobles. "Hepaticons ain't in the habit of picking direct fights. Fam'lies have been jumpy lately, though. They're prob'ly gonna come up and posture a lot. Shove people around, slap a few faces, get some duels scheduled for next week maybe next. "Sure as hell ain't my scene though. Gonna see what the boss says." Bulworth, prepping his impromptu molotov, has lost eyes on the scene outside. Aperta remains monitoring the situation, albeit without aural pickup. --- ding eadian: iseppo is throwing forward the "we want to control the tithe" as a fairly transparent "we want more power and influence" play. however it seems he doesn't actually care too much about the agri-shipments and the naval graduates - what seems important to him is gaining control of the psyker tithe gamma: iseppo doesn't care much about control of the non-psyker parts of the tithe. Telepathic Link is, incidentally, only a half-action, so although you can't commbead you can still mind-talk to people in the room if you really wanted to ignatius: re: shiptypes, it's a fairly blatant power grab away from the planetary governor - "let the nobles have great big armed dreadnaughts" obviously makes 'em more important. however, iseppo doesn't really care about the power for its own sake - he does, however, seem to genuinely care about getting easier access to the speedier longer-ranged engines and the submersibles aperta: well, no-one's dead outside, but there's a lot of open mouths and pointed gesturing. you've seen a couple of the group of nobles walk a few steps away, as if puzzled, before snapping back and joining the throng outside again. the rest of them appear much as they did earlier, i.e. drunk, vacant, and a bit confused, but they're crowded round the door now rather than just hanging around the street outside Inexplicable Humblebrag fucked around with this message at 22:33 on May 12, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 22:20
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Ignatius Malbau The Rookery Party Back Room Port Remonstrance Ignatius nods along, interjecting neutral noises and noncommittal comments here and there. For the most part it does not matter what advantages Iseppo imagines his family will gain by this fake project that will never actually happen, but there are limits to be imposed; if for no better reason than to try to keep the whole thing from becoming sufficiently public that the lie is impossible to maintain. "Ah, interesting, building new land eh? That sounds... expensive, and time consuming, but I suppose it gets us the ideal footprint for the facility?" Noncommittal. Perhaps steer towards consideration of a site that would not require immediate contracts being signed with heavy orbital lift/drop subcontractors. "Other delegations? Oh, no dear fellow, have no fear. There's only us... we would go to another family if things did not work out with yours, but we are already confident the Deculons are the best option, or we would not have reached out to you first." Noncommittal. Perhaps do not imply there are meetings that Iseppo should try to spy on, just in case he succeeds in discovering there are no meetings. "Criunix-built plasma-battery ships? Fascinating, I'm sure the Navy would be interested in the possibilities. Perhaps a proposal could be drafted, once we have provisional approval of the facility's plan?" Noncommittal. Perhaps do not encourage Iseppo to send a delegation to Criunix that would tell them untrue things about facilities that won't be built on Ourybia. They shouldn't seem too eager, anyway. Iseppo would expect resistance to his more grandiose ideas... if every excess was too easily agreed to, that in itself would be suspicious. But there is the crux of the matter to get to, in the end. A throwaway, not to seem too important. "For the first phase of the project, my dear man, we'd like you to draw upon your family's contacts - quietly, of course, no big announcements - to form a small task force with the expertise we're currently lacking. For site identification and construction, I believe you'd have a geologist and a hydrologist you regularly work with, no? And for initial bureaucratic obstacles, you no doubt have a talented clerk or two? And ah, I believe your family has a famous architect... we were privileged to inspect a recent project of yours, the water treatment facility? If it's possible, perhaps that person could consult, start sketching up some plans based on requirements we will provide for the facility design?" Don't even have to name Cisneros, that might seem too specific. Just give Iseppo an unambiguous cue to identify our target, and a request to get Cisneros directly in contact with us quickly. Assume this takes place just before we are interrupted by Thunder and/or by Bulworth's warning. Ignatius will give no visible indication that he's wearing a com bead until/unless it's necessary. Once Thunder shows up, Ignatius will be in favor of suggesting an immediate departure using our boat, unless Iseppo has some other idea. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 23:41 on May 12, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 23:39
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Evacuation, cont. The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxbfshg2mcI Discussions... continue. Ignatius mostly manages to fend off Iseppo's probes and negotiation tactics, aided by the occasional murmured interjection by Eadian. A few pearls of information are forthcoming from the Deculon: "Staff, you say?" waving a languous hand. "Certainly, Borsia's team have just completed survey of the inland canal system, and Cisneros has been chewing my ear off, desperate for something suitably complex to spend her talents on. Clerks, we've got them by the score. Naturally, it's so hard to retain skilled professionals these days, as I'm sure you're aware real estate development can be rather a cut-throat business, but I shall make a mental note to arrange with their security details for you to meet them." In the midst of this, the team receive the news that unrest gathers outside of the Gilded Thorn, but it is only as Lightning wrenches open the door to the private room, Bulworth in tow, that they are informed of its nature. Aperta may have guessed that the potential interlopers are more richly dressed than the average street thug could hope to manage, but it is only with the added context of Lightning's information that the right connexions are made as to who exactly they are. "Boss. Mob o' Hepaticons, right outside. No-one's got handsy yet but there's a lotta shoutin' and I gotta say, I don't think we got much time before someone slugs someone. Suggest we get moving. Whaddaya say?" The bodyguard has made no move to loosen weapons in their holsters or to limber up for combat, but he's clearly pretty tense. Iseppo digests this information for a beat or two, and speaks, amasec glass swirling idly in one hand: "Ah, I had been wondering where you'd run off to.". He fixes Ignatius and Eadian with a sly smile as he continues. "Surely the house security will be more than enough to deal with a few sotted Hepaticon idiots, no? And yourself and your brother have done a sterling job of keeping my person safe from the night's depredations? No, no, I rather think we ought to continue our discussions right here. Tell me," - this directed at the Acolytes - "are you quite sure there is such limited enthusiasm for submersibles among your superiors? I would have thought the Navy would feel a certain kinship with them." Lightning looks like he's about to thump the wall, but manages to bite his tongue. "Wh- right, boss. 'Pr's teeth. Gonna go find Thunder. Stay here till we're back." The bodyguard ducks off down the corridor again, out into the scrum of the main gaming room, presumably down to the club floor below. Iseppo, having just had urgency used to goad him on, has with a gambler's flair now turned things around. Perhaps somewhat recklessly, he is using the crowd outside as leverage to make the Acolytes buckle under. If initial negotiations can be done under conditions of stress, Iseppo is confident that his greater experience in this sort of thing - gained at the card table, honed in the boardroom - will help carry the day in his favour. It is a risky, but potentially lucrative gamble... ------ Abomination The Rookery Port Remonstrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIMlGbv9K9w  ...that has just fallen through, spectacularly. Midway through an otherwise innocuous sentence on plasma engines, a queasy, greasy moment passes. It is Aperta that sees it first - like two badly-spliced snippets of vidfeed, poorly merged together by an apprentice technomat. The crowd outside - at one glance, they are by turns sneering, posturing, and dazed. At the second, they are stricken, staggered, mortified. At the third, they are raging, snarling, bloodied. There is no hint of mercy in the assault; it is a savagery seen only in the most desperate of combat, entirely at odds with the casual, cheerful villainy usually on display in this part of town. The few guards out front are unceremoniously shredded - outright rent limb from limb by hands more used to grasping dice or courtesan than blade or firearm. The screams are audible. Through the hubbub of a Rookery night; through the bedlam downstairs and the chaos upstairs; from the other side of the building entirely, the screams are audible. Blood drips from masks, dresses, ornate waistcoats; smears on shattered doorframes; pools on shaggy, velveteen carpets. Some Hepaticon invaders disperse at this point, pushing around the sides of the building and into the night; the majority begin to force their way up the entrance corridor. Into the heart of the Gilded Thorn, towards the crowded downstairs bars. ----- movin' right along. basically you plopped urgency in front of Iseppo ("take your time" being an obvious, transparent filthy lie), then acted all non-committal and cockteasy. still, with a heftily-bonused deceive roll coming back in the single-digits, it doesn't really matter and he's still totally, utterly hooked. i will assume the deceive roll encompasses "don't visibly react to being told there's a mob outside", so that's fine cisneros has been mentioned. the acolytes have an in. you may, however, need to ensure the guy who's going to arrange your meeting actually survives. you can get stuff done in either of the two scenes above. you can still gently stroke iseppo for info, and you have like two minutes in which to do stuff - ready weapons, communicate, have a quick shifty behind the bar, whatever. your winnings are recorded on the central cogitator bank of this place; short of the building being razed or burnt to the ground, they won't be forgotten. try not to get the place burnt to the ground. your locations are pretty much up to you - you can start the Abomination scene in the discussion room, in the gaming room, or even downstairs if you're feeling particularly suicidal. you can try and do stuff to iseppo to get him to start somewhere else as well. tell me what you want to know, cockstains. i figure a floorplan may be needed shortly, but we ain't in structured time yet. here is a plan of the ground floor. mob's just kicked in the door after beating on some guards, basically. i ain't done the upstairs yet, nor any of the service areas or round the back, this is just for illustration. gamma: you didn't pass the previous psyniscience test for the guys outside, but holy hell did you feel that one just now. one level of fatigue taken. whatever's been linked to the crowd outside has just snapped its connection like a torn tendon - probably fatally if you're any judge. backlash scores across your mind, and you feel the echo of amplified anger, rage, regret and fear. you're getting the overbleed, but whoever it was connected to has probably just had the full force dumped into their cortex. the crowd are probably no longer sane in any meaningful way, and will be liable to Frenzy at pretty much the slightest provocation. there is no point in looking to take prisoners or anything else heroic, but if, later, you want to find out what happened, you should probably try and trace their movements tonight. bulworth: there's a pump-action shotgun under the bar that you found while making your firebomb. not locked up or anything. you can snag it along with your firebomb if you choose but i'll need a +20 Stealth roll if you want to lift it before the screaming starts downstairs. failure just means a guard is all "hey what the hell dude" and takes it from you. lifting it after the screaming starts means you start the second scene explicitly in the game room house guards are gonna start emerging soon; the downstairs crowd is partly armed; the upstairs crowd is partly armed. the one guy who you've got a lead on Cisneros from, is ensconced in the top floor, and he walks with a cane. have fun.
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May 16, 2016 23:20
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