It's a bit hard to concentrate with all this excitement. You try to summon your dolls for a long while but only a lifeless piece of cloth appears. ((Seriously, Random.org doesn't want you to summon this doll. I rolled multiple times and the results were [2], [2], [2], [3].))
Jack eventually gets tired of waiting and just heads towards the bar. Some time after he leaves, you finally manage to summon a single doll. You try to modify it to make it transparent, which works perfectly. Hm. Now that Jack is gone your ability is starting to cooperate again. You keep working and manage to summon 3 more transparent dolls. You walk around while inspecting the area, leaving a doll wherever looks important. (You'd make them walk there but with their tiny legs it would take forever to get them anywhere.)
The southern booths don't look that important. There's some lockboxes for keeping valuables, but that's pretty much it. The receptionist booth has a lot of clothes and also some handguns, all secured in behind locked containers. The restaurants are linked to a common service area with fridges and other storage areas. There's a service door and a garage door there, probably used to dispose trash and receive goods. The northern booths are connected to a much larger service area. There are lockers, a garage door, a small cafeteria and... that's as far as your dolls can go on foot. The rest of the northern section is behind a security door with no gap for the dolls to fit under. There's a man sitting on a desk besides the door, distracting himself with his cell phone. He's got a gun and a radio and wearing a bulletproof vest with the words "Bishop Security" on it.
♚The Doll Prince: Going Diagonally With The Bishop♚
((The audacity of the Random Number God to deny the Doll Prince his successes! He will acquiesce to the demands of his better or suffer the consequences!))
Peering at the security door, Napoleon surmised that the vault could be some way behind it. However, he knew too little of the section's layout, nevermind who else could be waiting on the other side. Having cameras on the other end can be useful but if something goes wrong the two of them may need to get out of here in a hurry. Of course he could simply summon a large group of dolls and swarm the security guard with them. However, though he is capable of taking down armed muggers in a similar fashion, he doubt that even he could deal with highly trained officers just as easily.
"Raison avant la violence," he muttered to himself before taking a walk.
Napoleon will walk around the casino, searching for a surveillance room or at the very least indication of its location. He will continue to listen in with the dolls in hopes of picking up valuable information that could aid them in bypassing security and accessing the vault.
Well, the most reasonable location for a security room would be in a secure area... like behind a locked security door that has a guard stationed nearby.
Also, you want to go outside? What exit will you take? The same one you used to come in?
As for useful information, let's see...
Many people are idly wasting their time on slot machines. One of them is cursing his machine quite harshly, accusing it of cheating but continues playing on it nevertheless.
Someone is trying to cash in an enormous amount of chips. The girl in the booth is apologizing, saying that they don't have that much cash in the booth but the man insists that he be paid in cash instead of a cheque. You'd guess money laundering.
Many people are congregating around the bar. They seem excited for tonight's big event, which should be starting pretty soon. From what you gather there's going to be a boxing match that's expected to be quite the show. Some are bragging about their exorbitant bets, others are merely looking forward to it.
Someone in a tacky leather jacket and cowboy hat is bragging about his new enormous hunting revolver, custom made to look just like the one he had in his last movie. He sounds so excited about it you'd think he'd marry it.
A posh old woman is asking her assistant for her eye drops but she says she left them on her coat which is with the receptionist. The old woman is berating her quite severely.
Maximus: Central Fore Way Station
"INCOMING FIRE!"
Jump back behind this wreckage piece as cover. See if I can upscale this cutting laser into something weapons grade? Or can the power source be used on my rifle?
The chemical mix in the welder is nowhere near capable of supplying the power necessary to run your rifle.
Right now the welder is mostly generating unfocused light, which requires it to be placed quite close to whatever it needs to cut or weld. By focusing the beam you could turn it into a decent weapon. Unfortunately you're too busy dodging to manage to summon anything.
Brian Hoss, Maximus: Central Fore Way Station
Keep my eyes on the exoseleton's gun, and keep my body away from wherever it's pointing.
It's a bit too far away at the moment, so you just put your eyes between you and it and get to cover.
Kosak Durar:
"Gah!"
Kosak hunkers down behind some wreckage. After the shot, if he can see the enemy, he grabs a small chunk of wreckage and throws it at the enemy.
You double your cover bonus and gain immunity to critical hits, but reduce sight radius.
The beam hits close to where John was a few seconds ago. You can't see the beam hit but you can hear it clap like thunder and you can see its effects. Pieces of metal glitter for a moment and then explode into smoke. Larger, more resilient pieces of debris sag as holes are drilled into them, the force of the ablating metal sending them spiraling out of the way. The beam lasts for about a second but you're certain that if something fleshy got in its way it wouldn't last a tenth of that time.
Kosak retaliates, throwing a large-ish piece of debris at the approaching exoskeleton. It's gotten closer now but it's still some distance away. Still, with the speed it's going it will be hard for it to dodge. The exoskeleton responds by flipping around to take cover behind the container it's carrying, leaving only its legs dangling underneath it. It charges another shot, this time aimed at Kosak.
Campaign: On Road
See Tiruin's part for a map.
((Thanks, you two, that really does help a lot!))
Campaign, Ike!
Right! Report all that I've seen (and found!) to Irine and take a quick inventory of what all we've got that'd be useful in resurrecting Alan sometime soon.
Well, let's take it one by one:
First of all you would need an object to act as a focus for his soul. The eyes will do nicely but any other objects or people related to him would certainly help.
All of your group participating would probably fulfill that criteria, since you're the ones that know Alan best on this planet. You could also throw his plant in there for good measure, that might have a connection with him.
He says that in order to gather his dissolved essence you would need a powerful Dark mage. Grim says he's never attempted such a Dark spell before, but he'd be willing to try. A sacrifice would certainly help add to the spell's dark power.
River is supposed to be able to use some Dark magic, but you wouldn't call him a powerful mage. He's more of the physically powerful variety. As for sacrifices... Well, you did just capture some POWs...
You'd also need a powerful Order mage to help rearrange his flows and help put him back together correctly.
Irine's Sword is supposed to be powerful in Order magic and it obeys her commands so that's probably a good fit.
It would be best for the revival to be performed close to a Nexus of Water magic flows or at least close to a powerful Water focusing Crystal or other Artifact.
One of the water mages has a Water Crystal but it's not very powerful. You'd be better off gathering all the water mages around some sort of water magic source. The wells of towns are usually somewhat strong in Water magic.
A ritual similar to the one that caused the dissolution would also help.
You're not sure where you could find a syringe, some kool aid and a magical bowl and water. You guess the water mages could provide some of their meditation aids. Then again, maybe it would be best to not copy the ritual exactly. You'd need something that promotes stability, something similar but also somehow inverse. You're not really sure how to achieve that, Alan set the bar for that pretty high.
Even with all that he's not certain if this could work. Something like this has never been attempted before as far as he knows. In the end it might come down to luck.
With Alan involved you got the luck aspect covered as well. It will either be a great success or a spectacular failure.
Nikolai, heavy artillery
Simply let them go.
-into Theri's choice? 
On the prisoners: Don't let them go yet; treat them well, we need information. We're not part of this war though.
Theri: Goes to heal off the everyone, and helps alongside getting information from the prisoners. BUT priority goes to the people; console them with words, direct those in shock, focus on healing magic.
Have we gotten any word back from Theri's group?
"A fine day we're having, Irine," Theri said as she walked up to her good friend. "No losses on my part, and I do hope the same here."
((What's the status on this campaign in relation to this war again? I forgot and/or lost where the posts are, sorry! 
))
The POWs aren't keen on speaking. One of the mercenaries is so brazen as to insult you, despite being at you mercy. River growls angrily at him. You'd probably need to put in some time and/or effort to get them to talk.
It is startling how much danger and loss transforms people. And how much a kind word or deed means to them when they're in such darkness. Those that have been hurt the worst (either physically or psychologically) find it difficult to speak but you can still see their gratitude in how they look into your eyes or how they grasp your hand.
Most of the area east of The Hills of Midnight is under Sovereignty occupation. You don't know their exact locations but they are bound to be occupying most major settlement and patrolling the roads. Many of the people living there have fled to escape the turmoil and the constant harrasment by Sovereignty soldiers. There's supposed to be a number of resistance fighters opposing the Sovereignty, however you don't know where they are beyond some rumors that they're hiding somewhere in the north.
((@Tiruin: That wasn't about letting your prisoners go. That was about letting these people run away.))As the fog clears you notice 4 beastmen making a run for it. They probably realized they have no chance of winning and are running away. You could try to do something about them or simply let them go.
"You did good Lune. Really saved us when the trigger was stuck. I was right to take you as my squire. Low lets go drink!"
Drink with the recruits. Toast to the ones who died. No tsar booze this time though, don't want everyone too hungover. Make sure Lune's help during the fight is known.
Lune looks really proud in response to your praise but tries to downplay his part.
"It was nothing really. I just helped you push and..."
His hand reflexively moves to cover his chest, the wounds still visible underneath his damaged armour.
"Distracted those monsters. Anyone could had done that."
With no catacombs to provide a proper burial, the dead are carried back to camp where those that knew them say their last goodbyes. Their corpses are ceremoniously burned after getting covered with some sort of oil derived from a flower. Their remains are placed in a small mound and with a group effort the recruits place several large stones upon it to prevent the animals and the elements from unearthing them. Upon the largest stone are etched a few simple words to remind those passing through here of those that fell in defense of their land. In contrast, the enemy soldiers are left to rot and be feasted upon by the Blood Vultures, the beastmen and monsters not warranting the same attention as their fellow humans. Except for the alchemist, she appears quite interested in them, gathering bones and internal organs with a giant saw.
In sombre mood a good part of the camp gathers around, cup in hand to toast to the dead, for sacrificing themselves for those still alive. And then toast and cheer the heroes of the battle, to Nikolai, Ahos and Theri- and Lune, Nikolai reminds them. And then toast to all those that fought bravely. And then toast to victory and vengeance. And then to the gods. And then to glory and riches. And then to good meal and even better drink. And then to pretty girls waiting for them back home. And then... who cares? By that point everyone is having fun and/or too drunk to give a damn. At least you can be certain that no animals will dare approach the camp tonight with all the noise they're making, singing and shouting and dancing and banging their cups. Guess you were right. All they needed was to get back on camp and be with others. At least for now.
It's good to see Lune has benefited greatly from today's events. You know he was having trouble with some of the other recruits but now there are many talking to him, asking him to tell the story of the battle from his perspective, looking amazed as they hear about your and Lune's actions. While he starts timidly, by the end he is so intoxicated by the alcohol and the praise that he is shouting as he acts out the details of the battle, proudly displaying his scratched shield and bloody spear. Displaying things certainly seems to be the theme of tonight. With potions resulting in near-instant healing for minor wounds, many have taken to displaying their injuries like medals, bragging about their deeds. This has certainly made the rest of the recruits eager to prove themselves.
Campaign: Nether Pass
Alan, Ultimate Milkshake Delivery Guy
”Open wide ma, I got that order you wanted!”
Unleash the milkshake! Aim it towards Ammie’s face so she can just open wide and gobble it down.
She opens wide. Really wide. Its largest mouth splits in half, displaying rows upon rows of wiggling teeth-limbs. You raise your arm. Arcane symbols burst from it, forming fractal sigils that burn themselves into the air. There is a flash of light and the next moment there is a milkshake slightly smaller than you flying towards her wide open mouth. She catches it and crushes it, goo escaping and dripping down her body, the little teeth and limbs picking up and guiding the pieces around. Not one of your best works. You're certain you could had made it much larger, but those teeth kinda distracted you.
Some time later, some of her servants descend from above, bringing in new friends. The most promising ones, the ones reserved for her. They scream and try to escape, shouting something about monsters or their family or something. What monsters? You don't see any monsters around here.
Poll
15 (42.9%)
Author
Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1127237 times)