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Author Topic: The Left-Hand Path  (Read 116417 times)

Naturegirl1999

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1365 on: July 07, 2020, 11:03:12 am »

We’re here
Cafeterias tend to involve conversations, is it normal for guards to talk about their work? Maybe we can learn who works at Ward A
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1366 on: July 08, 2020, 03:21:25 am »

I don't see why guards wouldn't be able to talk to each other, so yeah lets go talk to people there.
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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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Parisbre56

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1367 on: July 08, 2020, 04:54:13 pm »

Go spend some time near the anima lens. Maybe we can figure who operates it and when and if there's any part of it that could be used to disable it without making it obvious that it's disabled. Then again, if it lets them see the little anima creatures it might not be possible to do so. But either way we'll need to find a way to disable it or know the times when it's safe to operate. Maybe we can animate something nearby to cause an accident? Maybe we can unplug something? Maybe we can send a bug to cause a short circuit?

Oh, idea! Maybe we can animate a part of the lens itself or put a small undead creature in/near it and then deanimate it? That way when we want to disable it we just telerot there and do the deed.

Also, do non-puppet undead (the ones controlled by the little creatures) also have an anima link to us?
« Last Edit: July 09, 2020, 05:38:06 am by Parisbre56 »
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1368 on: July 09, 2020, 04:32:11 am »

+1 To the above.

Also what weapons do we have access to?
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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 #1369 on: July 10, 2020, 10:50:22 am »

Go spend some time near the anima lens. Maybe we can figure who operates it and when and if there's any part of it that could be used to disable it without making it obvious that it's disabled. Then again, if it lets them see the little anima creatures it might not be possible to do so. But either way we'll need to find a way to disable it or know the times when it's safe to operate. Maybe we can animate something nearby to cause an accident? Maybe we can unplug something? Maybe we can send a bug to cause a short circuit?

Oh, idea! Maybe we can animate a part of the lens itself or put a small undead creature in/near it and then deanimate it? That way when we want to disable it we just telerot there and do the deed.

Also, do non-puppet undead (the ones controlled by the little creatures) also have an anima link to us?

You check your duty belt before continuing. You've got...a baton and a handgun as weapons. The guards up on the catwalks of the admin building and the outer walls have rifles and the armory has rifles as well.

Non-puppet undead, as well as the puppet undead, do not HAVE to have a link to you. But that link is how you control them, so without it they would either just go comatose or begin behaving however they desired.

You head up to the roof of the admin building, moving as though you have a definite purpose and drawing no suspicion as far as you can tell. Its near sunset by the time you reach the lens and there's no one around in this very top section of the building; though there are guards on duty directly below. The lens  and its housing area remind you of a lighthouse; the lens is a large thing, a metal tube maybe a foot and a half long held in a roof mounted frame. The outer casing has handles on it and it seems like it can be pointed up or down as well as rotated in place. Inside the tube itself is what appears to be a long piece of glass cut to fit the frame. Its so thick that the view through it is highly distorted and foggy, though not impossible to understand. Like looking at the world through murky, moving water.  From one side you can't see anything special, but when you move to the other side the anima is visible through the lens. You had wondered what you would see, since the anima is always visible to you, but through the lens it is something else entirely.

The anima you see is somewhat hazy and translucent, almost as though made of condensed and solidified steam. The anima through this lens is living neon fire; vibrantly bright and multicolored in a way you never saw. Every creature that swims above has its own colors and patterns, all of them almost blindingly brilliant. The anima itself is like a flowing sea of blue-purple silk, nearby creatures like living jewels, polished metal, carved stone, and even ghostly light. Its very beautiful.  And unlike the hazy mundane world, the anima is perfectly clear and sharply defined. You can even see straight through the buildings and walls, the projections of the anima that mark living things standing out through concrete and steel like sunlight through cheese cloth.

You look for a clue as to how it works, and perhaps a way to sabotage it, but both remain completely beyond your gasp. To you this nothing but a large glass lens in a metal casing; there are no obvious mechanisms by which it works. And as such no obvious way to sabotage it without...well...getting extremely blunt about it. As you crouch to look at the underside of the casing, hoping to find the secret down there, someone steps up onto the platform with you. You both freeze for a moment as you notice each other. You note quickly that he's got a pack of cigarettes and lighter in his right hand and was digging through the pack.

"Whatcha doing there?" He asks. Its not accusatory, not yet at least, more just curious or confused.

Parisbre56

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1370 on: July 10, 2020, 11:29:08 am »

Hmm. That's very interesting. I wonder if we can trigger that sort of vision mode. If not, it would be nice to see if we can get some sort of anima monocle. Also makes me wonder if a normal human would see the same thing or if this is caused by the anima lens amplifying our regular anime vision. Has the guy whose body we're currently in ever looked through the lens before? Does he remember what he saw? Is it like what we saw? Or is what we saw a result of the lens augmenting our natural sight?

Did we see anything that looked necromantic or otherwise weird while looking around? Maybe there's a way to determine if someone has mana or magical ability by looking at the anima?

Anyway, I think it might be best to just be truthful and say that we're curious. I'm pretty sure that regular people don't have regular contact with magic, so being curious about it and wanting to see it once in their life wouldn't be that absurd. From what I understand there isn't any rule that prohibits us from coming up here. Maybe if we strike up a conversation with this guy he can tell us more about it.

EDIT: We could also reverse the question to get him talking, something like "Oh, I was just curious about this thing. You come here often?" The more he talks the better. Maybe we could even try to bum a smoke, assuming our lungs work.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2020, 05:33:28 am by Parisbre56 »
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Eschar

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1371 on: July 10, 2020, 11:34:05 am »

"anime vision"

If this guy looks like a guard or other mundane worker, +1 to saying we were just curious, as it looks like he had that same motive (cigarettes and lighter seem casual, perhaps he comes up here to relax and sneak a glimpse of the anima.) Take a moment to see what he looks like first.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2020, 11:36:19 am by Eschar »
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1372 on: July 10, 2020, 12:17:23 pm »

“I was just curious what anima looks like.”
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Egan_BW

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1373 on: July 10, 2020, 04:36:40 pm »

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
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King Zultan

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1374 on: July 11, 2020, 04:39:01 am »

+1 Telling the guy we were curious and talking to him.
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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?

Parisbre56

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1375 on: July 11, 2020, 05:40:20 am »

As for the "bugging the lens" plan, we could easily place two bugs beneath it and nobody would be able to notice them (unless they looked under the lens, of course, but they'd probably think they're just bugs attracted by the light and kill em). But from what I understand that would only help us detect when someone is using the thing, I don't see how we can use them to disable it. We could turn the lens' base into a golem but golems deanimate quickly, so that would only be useful once we have a plan.

Dunamisdeos

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1376 on: July 11, 2020, 11:16:07 am »

Yo doesn't every single thing we create have some kind of detectable tether?
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Parisbre56

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1377 on: July 11, 2020, 11:40:16 am »

A. Not necessarily, the tether is just there to allow us to know their status and control them. If we cut their tether they'll be left without commands, meaning they'll either go comatose in case of puppets or start acting out their base instincts in case of ghosts (killing people for sustenance, essentially zombies).
B. The lens can only see what's in front of it. By placing the bugs under it or behind it we can ensure they won't be immediately detectable. Furthermore, if there two bugs are dead but ready to be animated, we can telerot into one and animate the other. Since both are attached to the bottom of the lens, even if the lens is in use and the time, the user won't be able to detect us since we'll always be below the lens. Then, once the lens is no longer in use, we can just telerot to our bird and have it do whatever we want it to do. The moment we detect movement through our bug we can deanimate it and choose what to do next.

Of course, now that I think about it, that's too complicated for too little gain. If we can figure out when the lens is operated, we can just schedule our puppets' actions accordingly. The only reason to keep something up there is to break it or steal it as part of an escape plan.

Hmm. Unless we have it pointing straight down and leave a puppet in it. If puppets can see and understand what they're seeing through the lens we could have one alert us when something is approaching us while we're snaking around the administrative wing.

Egan_BW

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1378 on: July 11, 2020, 04:52:24 pm »

Hmm. If we were still alone, I'd make a single puppet and have it look through the lens at us, and then ask it to indicate yes/no if we look any different through it than a human, discounting the visible tether. Probably not a good idea to do that test right this second.
Casually, try not to walk past the viewing side of the lens while he's here. We're not sure if we look weird to close inspection.

Hey, while we're boldtexting, try to think of ways to murder important people using only this body while making the death look like an accident. We could also discard this body and steal theirs, so long as we make this body's death look like an accident.
Also also, estimate how long we have in this body before decay will become obvious.
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: The Left-Hand Path
« Reply #1379 on: July 11, 2020, 05:45:41 pm »

We are not alone yet
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