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Author Topic: The Left-Hand Path  (Read 118970 times)

Egan_BW

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1200 on: April 30, 2020, 11:07:32 am »

Are there dragonflies in this biome? Would probably be simpler to catch and still not very conspicuous. If it's the right season we could look for water and maybe find one.
Alternatively, this is a little base out in the boonies, so they probably have some crawling things that like to get inside. Could have a birdwise nab one intact and bring it to us.
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Parisbre56

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1201 on: April 30, 2020, 11:11:41 am »

Give piecewise a needle or something to stab throughout a fly or other bug's heart with his precision skills. Or use our own necroprecision to do so.
We don't have Piecewise with us, but it's a good idea.

Order ourselves to catch a fly and then drown it, to take advantage of our hyper-precision mode. That way the body should remain intact. Then we can add a small core, maybe a tiny splinter of wood or rock or even a particularly sturdy leaf and send it to act as a tracking beacon for the guard. If it's easy to do and inconspicuous we could even attach them to all of the guards of the night shift so that we can alert the rat if it's about to cross their path. There's always the chance the guards swat the annoying flies and we lose them but it shouldn't matter.

Are there dragonflies in this biome? Would probably be simpler to catch and still not very conspicuous. If it's the right season we could look for water and maybe find one.
Alternatively, this is a little base out in the boonies, so they probably have some crawling things that like to get inside. Could have a birdwise nab one intact and bring it to us.

That's also a good idea, send caterpillars or scarabs or ants or something.

Regardless of if the above works, I say we go ahead with the plan.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2020, 11:14:35 am by Parisbre56 »
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1202 on: May 01, 2020, 04:41:11 am »

+1 To the following fly plan.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
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piecewise

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1203 on: May 04, 2020, 10:55:11 am »

Give piecewise a needle or something to stab throughout a fly or other bug's heart with his precision skills. Or use our own necroprecision to do so.
We don't have Piecewise with us, but it's a good idea.

Order ourselves to catch a fly and then drown it, to take advantage of our hyper-precision mode. That way the body should remain intact. Then we can add a small core, maybe a tiny splinter of wood or rock or even a particularly sturdy leaf and send it to act as a tracking beacon for the guard. If it's easy to do and inconspicuous we could even attach them to all of the guards of the night shift so that we can alert the rat if it's about to cross their path. There's always the chance the guards swat the annoying flies and we lose them but it shouldn't matter.

Are there dragonflies in this biome? Would probably be simpler to catch and still not very conspicuous. If it's the right season we could look for water and maybe find one.
Alternatively, this is a little base out in the boonies, so they probably have some crawling things that like to get inside. Could have a birdwise nab one intact and bring it to us.

That's also a good idea, send caterpillars or scarabs or ants or something.

Regardless of if the above works, I say we go ahead with the plan.

Bug spy attempts begin with trying to catch a flying insect. This proves remarkably difficult as even finding a fly or similar insect is hard and when you find one, attempts to capture it are foiled as it simply flies up and out of your reach before you can even get close. There are no bodies of water nearby to hunt for pond skimming insects and though you look for a dead animal to capture flies off of, you cannot find one.  Even with your impossibly precise movement it seems there are limitations to your abilities. Next you focus on some more...accessible creatures. After turning over a few stones and checking under a fallen tree you finally find a nice beetle. You drown it in some of the water you took to camp with- a process which takes a lot longer than you expected- and reanimate it. Rather than using any foreign object as a core, you simply use the beetle's head as the core. The practice of "Organic Coring" was talked about in the necromancy text you read, but was written off as a "Inefficent" practice because organic cores are prone to degradation and easier to damage. For the sake of a disposable spy though, this will likely be fine. You use the remaining part of the day to send the spy beetle in and try to discover the location of the room in question with it. Or rather you send it in and...about 10 minutes later the connection is severed.

You ponder this turn of events while watching the base carefully. No alerts are sounded, the base doesn't go into lockdown...no sign they realized something was wrong. Chances are that someone just saw the beetle and swatted it like they would with any bug.

"That was a lot of effort for no profit eh?" Esme asks from where she's laying next to you.

You make a pained affirmative noise.

"Still going for it tonight?"

You sigh and shimmy back from the edge. You agree that its the best to try it now. Sending down more bugs might just cause people to notice an odd pattern to the insect invasion and get suspicious. Better to strike now while stealth and surprise are still both on your side.

You animate the hawk as a puppet and give it specific instructions to carry the rat down to the roof and then wait there until the rat returns before flying it back up here. The rat you give the more complex orders of finding the right documents and memorizing them. The rat seems to understand.  You wait for the right time in the middle of the night and send your twin spies down. You lose track of them almost immediately in the darkness, only sighting them again briefly as they sail in over the fence and onto the roof. You quickly check the guards reactions but find them to be quietly continuing their normal behavior. At this point all you can do is sit and wait, watching the checkpoint with growing apprehension. You have no way of recalling them or asking how its going, you can only hope things are going well. You can kind of trace their location using the thread connecting them to you, the apparently slow progress of the rat as it scurries about translated into a movement of what looks like inches from this distance. It takes over two hours but finally, the rat's thread overlaps the hawks and together they ascend and move swiftly back toward you. Again you check the site for any signs of alarm and again nothing.

Once the rat returns you get out the paper and pencil and have it start transcribing everything it read. This turns out to be a great deal, as it apparently read through a lot of paperwork before finding exactly what it was after. The rat transcribes until 10:00 or so in the morning before you finally get the pages you were after. You set the extra stuff aside to look at more closely later and check through the prisoner transport logs, looking for the names of Kelley's co-workers. Jennifer Massey, Erin Massey, Thomas Hill, and Paul Van-Horn; you mutter their names to yourself while running your finger over the list. Its not in alphabetical order, its chronological.  You flip through years and years of records until finally stopping. "MASSEY, JENNIFER", transferred to the prison and...not transferred out. You check the death logs and her name doesn't appear there either.  You check the rest of the transfer logs and can't find anyone else, but Jennifer Massey is in that prison. You set the transfer logs aside and start checking the extra paperwork, looking for...you're not sure. Maybe a reason why she's there? She was a direct college of Kelley...If anyone was to know whats going on, it would be her.  Sadly you cannot find anything more on her. At least nothing useful.

You sit back against a tree and consider what to do next. Break her out? Get in to speak with her? Just kill her somehow and eat the memories? She knows things you have to find out.


Naturegirl1999

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1204 on: May 04, 2020, 11:08:06 am »

We could try breaking her out or trying to talk with her,  let’s not kill her
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1205 on: May 05, 2020, 06:44:08 am »

Do we have any idea how many guards are at the prison itself, and what the layout of the prison is like?

Also if she dies during whatever plan we go with the should eat her memories.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

piecewise

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1206 on: May 07, 2020, 08:17:27 am »

Ahem.

King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1207 on: May 07, 2020, 08:27:31 am »

lets send our bird and rat out to get an idea of how the prison itself is laid out, but don't do it if we already have a map of it.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Dunamisdeos

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1208 on: May 08, 2020, 02:14:47 pm »

lets send our bird and rat out to get an idea of how the prison itself is laid out, but don't do it if we already have a map of it.

Time to gather intel for a PRISON BREAK HEIST.

+1
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Parisbre56

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1209 on: May 10, 2020, 04:02:15 pm »

lets send our bird and rat out to get an idea of how the prison itself is laid out, but don't do it if we already have a map of it.
Yeah, let's gather some information before committing to a plan.
Don't send the rat though, no reason to risk a high level minion on blind exploration. We could send some simple puppet rats the bird hunts for us instead.

First of all discuss with Esme how likely it is that they have some sort of magical detection/protection method and how likely it is to detect us. Also ask if their network have anyone actually working in the prison or able to provide us with a way to enter it.

We should keep an eye out for any points of interest, like the office of the director of the prison, sewage/rainwater pipes, hospitals, isolation rooms, exercise yards, etc. Maybe ask Esme for ideas about what to look for.

Also, is there any way to reward the rat for a job well done? Maybe feed it some extra energy to let it know it did good.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2020, 04:04:10 pm by Parisbre56 »
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1210 on: May 11, 2020, 07:24:47 am »

lets send our bird and rat out to get an idea of how the prison itself is laid out, but don't do it if we already have a map of it.
Yeah, let's gather some information before committing to a plan.
Don't send the rat though, no reason to risk a high level minion on blind exploration. We could send some simple puppet rats the bird hunts for us instead.

First of all discuss with Esme how likely it is that they have some sort of magical detection/protection method and how likely it is to detect us. Also ask if their network have anyone actually working in the prison or able to provide us with a way to enter it.

We should keep an eye out for any points of interest, like the office of the director of the prison, sewage/rainwater pipes, hospitals, isolation rooms, exercise yards, etc. Maybe ask Esme for ideas about what to look for.

Also, is there any way to reward the rat for a job well done? Maybe feed it some extra energy to let it know it did good.

+1 This is more thought out than my thing.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

piecewise

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1211 on: May 11, 2020, 11:22:33 am »

lets send our bird and rat out to get an idea of how the prison itself is laid out, but don't do it if we already have a map of it.
Yeah, let's gather some information before committing to a plan.
Don't send the rat though, no reason to risk a high level minion on blind exploration. We could send some simple puppet rats the bird hunts for us instead.

First of all discuss with Esme how likely it is that they have some sort of magical detection/protection method and how likely it is to detect us. Also ask if their network have anyone actually working in the prison or able to provide us with a way to enter it.

We should keep an eye out for any points of interest, like the office of the director of the prison, sewage/rainwater pipes, hospitals, isolation rooms, exercise yards, etc. Maybe ask Esme for ideas about what to look for.

Also, is there any way to reward the rat for a job well done? Maybe feed it some extra energy to let it know it did good.

+1 This is more thought out than my thing.

You talk to Esme about the prison and potentially breaking someone out of it. She basically shoots the idea down from the start.

"A prison like that is gonna have countermeasures. They're designed to keep people with abilities from getting out or breaking in. I don't know if they'll specifically have a Necromancer on site but I bet they'll have something. All we need is one person to see one of your puppets and the entire place goes into lockdown. Maybe they even track it back to you. Place like that HAS to have a high level watcher of some kind stationed there. I think scouting it out, even with a puppet, is too dangerous. We should take the information we have and bring it back to our network. Maybe we can take a run at this from a different angle; like faking a prisoner transport or something to get her out without having to fight. At the very least I think we can get the plans for the prison without filling it with undead rats."

You ask her about people on the inside.

"None that I'm aware of. High level government positions are hard to get spies into with the checks they do. Easier to turn someone who is already in a good position to our cause than get someone into that position. Most of our agents are in inconspicuous places that give them access to important info; like secretaries or general office workers. The kind of jobs that don't get much scrutiny but let them sneak into the boss's office or overhear a conversation. If we're lucky they might have guard in there but...more than likely we'll be using indirect methods."

You ask her about her opinion on how to someone out. She considers it for a while before asking you a question in return.

"Technically, we don't need to get her out. What we need is to learn what she knows. It would be best if we could talk to her but there might be other avenues. We could set up a prison transfer officially, then speak with her in the transport between the two prisons. It would be a lot easier to impersonate some random truck guard than an actual prison guard." She taps her heels against the dirt as she thinks, "Maybe we can somehow speak with her without us physically being there? I doubt she gets mail or anything like that -probably there secretly with no conviction- but there might be something. Maybe someone in the Network has an ability we can use?  Or...Maybe there are transcripts of interrogations? If she told them anything it is probably recorded somewhere."

She pauses for a second and then gestures over the horizon, towards the unseen prison.

"I don't like it. We've tried to hit places like that before. Even if the group got out, they always got tracked down. We've lost whole groups to that sort of thing.  We can't tip them off; we have to handle this like you handled the other jobs....that or you need to figure out how they're tracking escapees and stop it."

Egan_BW

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1212 on: May 11, 2020, 11:51:46 am »

Cleanest way? Sneak in, kill her, make it look like an accident or suicide, take her memories.
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1213 on: May 11, 2020, 11:58:12 am »

We should return to the Network with the information we gathered
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1214 on: May 12, 2020, 03:23:45 am »

We should return to the Network with the information we gathered
+1
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?
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