|
Same routine
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 11:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 14:17 |
|
|
Toughy posted:Same routine This will bring your Stress level to 10. Do you still want to proceed?
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 15:51
|
|
|
AFancyQuestionMark posted:This will bring your Stress level to 10. Do you still want to proceed? So we need a bigger destresser? Talking with Cecilia?
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 19:58
|
|
|
All of the free time options for this month and their impact on stress are identical to last time and can be found in the previous update. If you want to spend time with Emily or Cecilia, please provide some conversation topics or questions you haven't already gone over with them.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 20:10
|
|
|
Well let's not max out the stress meter. That'll probably be a bad thing. Edit: I wrote up a page summarizing the time management part of the game: http://overseer-cyoa.wikia.com/wiki/Time_Management So looking over our character sheet, I notice that Veruna is near the first threshold for Artificial Construct. Making that our Secondary activity will put it at 5 points, and will give her 1 point in both the Physical and Conceptual aspects. It's probably worth doing. The Move Small Objects ability could also be studied directly, and if we made it the Primary activity we'd push it to 5 points as well. Veruna would get 1 point in the Physical aspect from that. Resting during this month's Free Time period is a safe bet. So that's my vote: Primary: Move Small Objects Secondary: Artificial Construct Free Time: Rest John_A_Tallon fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Apr 30, 2018 |
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2018 00:53
|
|
|
Most of this month looks like the last, as you focus even more intently on matching the pace set by the ever escalating series of challenges the Overseer comes up with to help you refine your control over the movements of small objects. Unfortunately, her investigation seems to take up even more of her time and effort since your arrival in Rehksin, so she has less and less time to devote to your training. Aside from the weekly evaluations of your progress, which is also when she comes up with your next set of challenges (seemingly on a whim), you have very few opportunities to talk with her. Nevertheless, you mostly manage to meet (and occasionally exceed) her expectations. Your showy feats include: forming the letters of your name with a piece of string hanging in the air, locking and unlocking your door, constructing a crude structure out of some pebbles outside and opening a window on the other side of town. All without any physical contact. At this point, you feel like you definitely have a handle on manipulating the web of translucent strings tying all objects together. You gain 3 points in Move Small Objects, raising the total to 5 and advancing to the next rank! This means you also gain 1 point in the Physical Aspect, raising the total to 8. The rest of your training time is spent on a task you set for yourself after consulting the Overseer – building a new “mind” for your sculpture from scratch, entirely separate from the one created by Overseer Evelyn and extensively (if far less elegantly) modified by you. This self-inflicted challenge quickly proves difficult and fraught with false turns and dead ends. However, by using Overseer Evelyn’s work as reference, you are able to create a different, cruder version of the same conceptual mechanism. It isn’t nearly as useful, lacking the sublimely crafted extensible behavior features of the original, but you are now easily able to switch between the two versions at will. You gain 2 points in Artificial Construct, raising the total to 5 and advancing to the next rank! This means you also gain 1 point in the Physical Aspect and 1 point in the Conceptual Aspect, raising the total to 9 and 18 respectively. You spend what little free time you have on resting in your room at the inn and taking short walks outside under the close watch of Cecilia. The town of Rehksin has a very calm and solitary atmosphere, so your walks are very relaxing. You get the impression that this town has more buildings than people. All Stress from your training is negated by resting, which means the overall Stress level remains at 6. *** One morning, as the month is nearing its end, you are woken by a bird flying through the window and landing on your bed. You hear Cecilia open the door a crack, only to close it again after a few moments, satisfied that the inside of the room is exactly as she expects it to be. When you turn your head to look at the bird, you see the Overseer sitting on the edge of your bed. “Sorry to interrupt your sleep – I know you need it the most out of all of us, given your harsh schedule - but, my investigation is done and I would rather not waste any more time here.” “You… know who the traffickers are?” you ask, shaking off the last remnants of your dream, which showed you the enormous crab flying through the sky again. “Naturally. More than that, I have everything I need to be done with this today. If we hurry, we could even be done before sundown! Emily is waiting in the same place we left her when we arrived, and I’ve already briefed her on your destination – Sehrvann, a major port city. You should have no trouble traveling on your own.” “You aren’t coming with us?” you ask, confused. “I’ll get there ahead of you - I fly faster on my own, and there are some preparations I need to weigh in on. Have a safe trip!” Before you can react, she changes into her bird form and flies out of the window with a speed you, as a student of the Natural Sciences, wouldn’t have thought possible. It takes you a few moments to collect yourself. You quickly shoot up from your bed and get ready for whatever this day may throw at you… *** After a short three hours of travel, a city appears on the horizon. As Bruno circles it in search of a landing spot on the outskirts, two things immediately make a strong impression on you: the breathtaking sight of more than thrice the number of different ships you have ever witnessed in your life lined up at the massive harbor, and the literally breathtaking smoke rising from the factories below, which sears your nostrils and the inside of your throat, bringing back a memory of the fire two months ago… You forcefully bring yourself back into the present. If you ever want to live up to the expectations of the other Overseers, you have to be able to keep a clear focus on the task at hand. “Well, this smell is awful. I can’t imagine how people live here long-term.” observes Emily, with her eyes still closed as she searches for a landing spot. “Maybe its better on the ground?” you offer. “I doubt it. This is not the kind of smoke that dissipates into the air.” You nod before remembering she can’t see you. “It seems so.” After a few minutes, she finds a suitable location and the beetle begins its descent. You can’t help but wonder what the Overseer has planned in this realm of ships and dirty air. *** “…Maintain a short distance behind our group at all times. Stay close to Cecilia. Instantly follow any commands from me. Can you do that?” You nod firmly. The Overseer, who waited for you outside the city, has led the two of you to a small house on the coast where she now briefs you on the way you should behave as you observe the operation. About a dozen people in plain looking uniforms are also present, some holding rifles and others brandishing thick metal rods. They don’t seem to speak Viurian. “Cecilia, I am putting my trust in you. Can you keep her safe?” “Without a doubt. You can give your full attention to the operation itself.” Cecilia answers, in her usual professional tone. “Then let’s not linger here any longer. Follow us.” She says a couple of words in Finvarian with a strongly confident sounding tone. The people around her respond with boisterous calls. She motions them and moves for the exit, and all of them go with her, forming a sort of semi-circle with her at the center. You follow them as they cross the street and enter a maze of filthy alleys. As you walk, you notice that some heavy looking boxes slide themselves into position behind you, sealing the way in. Soon, the group turns a corner and comes face to face with three heavyset men loitering near a door. “Halt!” the Overseer commands in Finvarian. The men move. Suddenly, the wooden pistols they have apparently been carrying at their sides jump high into the air and disappear somewhere behind you, as if someone threw them with force. Some of her uniformed companions rush up to the men, who are somehow already lying on the ground, as if someone struck them from behind. The door flies off its hinges as the Overseer approaches, flanked by two of her people. You hear several loud shots from inside, but the only result seems to be several pieces of metal rolling across the floor. She issues what sounds like several commands in Finvarian, and several of her people pour into the building, clutching their weapons. A few seconds pass. One of the people who went ahead returns and says something to the Overseer. She nods and walks in, motioning you to follow. You comply. As you go down the corridor, it opens into a medium-sized warehouse area. Eight men lie on the floor, tied down by rope. The Overseer throws a few Finvarian sentences into the air, and one of the people in plain uniforms – a woman – responds in a quiet voice. She leads the three of you to a far away corner of the room. There, surrounded by a few tall boxes, sit several women. Most of them look to be about your age. They are wearing poorly fitting clothes and terrified expressions. Some are huddled together, looking up at your group with apprehension, and some are sitting apart, hugging their knees. One of them simply stares at the wall, seemingly oblivious to your presence. The Overseer starts speaking in Finvarian, with a clear yet gentle tone, but quickly stops herself. “Hello, my name is Nadine.” she says in Viurian, “I am an Overseer. I am here to get you out of this place.” Several of the women’s faces show signs of hope, while others stare in disbelief. “Those who want to stay in this country, go with her.” she points at the woman in uniform, “Those who want to return to Colvir, follow me. If you aren’t sure what you want to do, follow me. Whatever you decide, you will be taken care of.” A few minutes pass in silence, as the women stare at her. Only a few slowly begin to get up, as if waking from a daze. “You should hurry. It isn’t safe here.” she says in a firmer tone. That’s a lie, of course. From what you’ve just seen, there are few places safer than the Overseer’s immediate vicinity. Nevertheless, the words seem to have the desired effect as most of the women shoot up to their feet and stumble up to the person they are supposed to follow. You are surprised to see that, while most seem to want to return to their homeland, there is a sizable minority of women who apparently want to stay in Finvaria. Only one woman remains on the floor, still staring at the wall. “You shouldn’t stay here for long. You’ll catch a cold.” says the Overseer in the most neutral tone you’ve heard from her so far. In response, the woman reluctantly climbs to her feet and clambers in the Overseer’s direction. “Well, shall we go?” the Overseer asks you. “…Yes, of course.” you say absentmindedly as everyone goes back towards the entrance. You haven’t finished processing everything that happened in the last half hour yet. It feels more like a wild dream than the reality you’ve come to be familiar with, even the reality of the last year. But you’ll process it eventually – the full extent of your new life as an Overseer. *** I want two things from you. First, any questions you might have for the Overseer following this operation. Second, the usual selection of main and secondary activities, as well as free time. Once again, the free time options are identical to last time and can be found at the bottom of the update before last.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 21:22
|
|
|
Questions following the operation: I imagine what Veruna knows about criminal investigation comes from dime store detective novels, so a question along the lines of How does one even start to conduct an investigation like this? makes perfect sense as does How did you know the right thing to say to get that last woman to act? While I bet the Supporters' Guild will play a part for the people returning to Colvir, Veruna's got to be wondering, How do we help people who've been so terrorized and victimized return to normal life? Veruna's familiar with the basics of manipulating small objects, so asking How did you detect and react so quickly to the bullets? makes more sense than asking how she stopped them. I suspect the answer is going to be something like the Enhanced Senses ability, but maybe she's got some other approach. And speaking of Enhanced Senses, we should work on that. Veruna could even use the bronze cat figurine for her initial experiments with how the perceptual interface interacts with the conceptual mind she installed. While I feel that Move Small Objects is generally flexible and useful in many situations, and that Veruna should continue to work on it, I'd much rather double down on Enhanced Senses this month. It should jump right to the Limited rank with focus. For Free Time, I propose talking to Cecilia about how we'd help her if she were injured (damaged?) in the course of her bodyguard duties. Evelyn would be the go to person in that situation of course, but Cecilia probably knows something about her own repair and maintenance. If there's anything special that needs to be done either while getting her to Evelyn or while doing repairs ourselves, it'd be good to know about beforehand. We learned a fair bit about Cecilia's nature and dedication the last time we had a series of conversations with her, but I don't think we learned how old she is. I'd like to know what it was like for her when Evelyn was finished putting her together and started giving her jobs. I'm hoping others have some topics they can toss into the hat too. Primary: Enhanced Senses Secondary: Enhanced Senses Free Time: Talk to Cecilia
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 02:18
|
|
|
Not being able to quickly alt tab back and forth to use specific points in the update or previous stuff makes formulating questions of a salient nature quite tough so I'll leave that in other hands for now. But, Everything JAT said Also, nice work on the wiki, John. The op was great, very atmospheric. Sorry for the short shitpost but I'm still enjoying your thread, AFQM
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 02:26
|
|
|
John_A_Tallon posted:
When I wrote "can't gain more than 5 points" in an ability before meeting its requirements, I meant that you would also remain at the initial rank. So, since Veruna has yet to reach the Significant rank in the Perceptual Aspect, you won't be able to advance to Limited in Enhanced Senses. I am sorry for the misunderstanding - I can see how you would get that from what I wrote. I changed the stats post to say that more explicitly. Do you want to change your activity votes now?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 14:47
|
|
|
Oh, ok. Let's see then. Looking over the sheet, we'll need to put at least a couple of months worth of effort in the Perceptual aspect to get it to the point where Veruna can use Enhanced Senses. If we worked on Targeted Illusion as the secondary, we'd be able to rank that up to Limited and gain 1 point in Perceptual incidentally. So what we could do is focus on Perceptual this month, and next month practice Perceptual and Targeted Illusion and that would leave Veruna set up to start on Enhanced Senses. Although by then we'll need to start looking at scheduling an extra rest period so that we can knock stress back down before it hits 10... So with all that in mind, my revised vote is: Primary: Perceptual Secondary: Perceptual Free Time: Talk to Cecilia
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 15:29
|
|
|
Doubling down on Perceptual sounds just fine to me.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 19:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 14:17 |
|
|
Hexenritter posted:Doubling down on Perceptual sounds just fine to me. Ditto
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 23:30
|
|