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Author Topic: They told me I could be anything...  (Read 79163 times)

Strange guy

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #315 on: July 05, 2010, 04:00:19 pm »

While we probably have the skill for gun-crafting/improving we don't have the materials or tools. While we could probably scavenge, steal or buy them we don't really have that much time or money to spare, with the Enlightened seeking us and Anne not to mention the other mysteries like the scarecrow. Checking out the technomancers would probably be a good idea- most of our current problems are more mystical in nature after all. We could get some very useful info.
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Silleh Boy

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #316 on: July 05, 2010, 05:14:40 pm »

You made your way along the riverside path through the fog that shrouded everything in a blanket of white. Your every footfall confident as your body language made it clear that attempting to mug you would be a mistake that the would be opportunist would not live to make again. You were armed with your weapon of choice, a weapon that you could use to literally stop a man dead in his tracks with a bullet between the eyes in the time it took him to make a threatening guesture.

You didn't forsee the need for such extreme force at this moment however, no need to do more than send a clear warning with your body language. It never hurt however, to make it clear in an area as rough as this that you were not a good target, that you the worst nightmare of any fool that did such. Thinking about it in this manners had you feel powerful, a god amongst the lesser men of this place, able to choose who lived and died.

It was a passing thought, as that was the type of idle though that did not sit well with you.

You had always been benevolent, you had always been one who preferred to help usher in times of prosperity. You preferred to make the common man's life better, rather than to take it from him. Even the fog did little to slow you, failing to have you wander from your planned route as you made your way to the bridge across the river, to the part of the city across the river that housed the guilds headquarters.

As you made your way through the fog, through the more upmarket sections of the city you could see the occasional green glow piercing the heavy fog, the clanking of heavy footsteps as mechanical men patrolled the streets. The numbers were greater than usual you took note, likely in response to the heavy fog as a precautionary measure given that anything attacking in this weather would be harder to spot.

Occasionally they seemed to pause as they looked at you, whirring sounds coming from them as they seemed to size you up, before they continued on their way. Were they able to detect the residual taint that clung to you from Anne's corrupted blood?

If they could, it seemed that they at least required close proximity to be able to accomplish such a task.

As you reached the square that the two guild houses faced onto you turned, heading in the direction that you recalled the Technomancers one had been in. Though your experience with them so far had been to bear witness to them blowing the doors off their guild house, you knew that they were the types to tinker and experiment, to use alchemy and technology.

They were those that sought to make technology so fantastic it seemed like magic.

Surely, they would have some insight as such into things that truely were more extraordinary, given that the study of such would likely fascinate them. As you reached the guild house you paused to check the blackened plaque that was bolted to the wall. You didn't even pause to read it, the fact that it was in that state told you beyond a doubt that you were at the right building.

You swung the doors to the guildhouse open as you strode into the reception room, wisps of fog trailing in after you as your footfalls echoed loudly, as you breathed in the scents of progress. You could smell many acrid scents you couldn't place, the scents of burning, the stenches of the chemical compounds that they experimented with. The doors slammed shut behind you as you strode with regal stature across the room towards the reception desk, while the man behind it gave you an awed look.

There was recognition in his eyes.

"Please... Wait here Sir, I will be go and fetch my superior for you." the man almost stammered as he hopped over the desk and made his way into a nearby office. Figuring now was as good a moment as any, you started to look around the reception room.

Compared to the Clockworker's and their shining marble hall this one was unimpressive. It was made of a heavy yet polished stone, that bore score marks and residues from many accidents. Instead of graceful columns supporting the roof, there were sturdy granite pillars. Any banners that had once flown here with their symbol emblazoned upon it had long since been taken down or destroyed.

The sound of that office door opening once more, with a voice scolding the secretary that had come to disturb him drew your attention away from the room that you were examining. "Honestly, disturbing me because the 'man from the painting' showed up. You're going to have to appologise to him for making a scene and... and... Good lord, you're..."

"Eurochkoles." you stated, finishing the mans sentence as he looked you over carefully. You could see the shock written all over his face as he hurried towards you, circling you as he shook his head in disbelief. "It can't be, that painting is over four hundred years old." He murmered as he stepped back, putting a respectable distance between you and himself.

"I do apologise for the fuss sir, you truely do bear more than just a passing resemblance to that man. Is there anything that we can do for you?" he asked, his current state of suprise and curiosity one that you knew you could use to your advantage. The question was, in what manner?

penguify

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #317 on: July 05, 2010, 05:35:03 pm »

Direct approach:
We try to convince him that we're immortal, and use our status (or his curiosity in us) as one to help force our way in as a member.

Indifferent approach:
We tell him it's a coincidence (or just ignore it entirely), and that we're here to join the guild or whatever. This will use his curiosity against him in a less direct way than the direct approach, but we'll still have a better chance of getting in than Joe-genius who walks in off the street.

Overly direct approach:
The painting probably shows us as an invincible warrior (based on the dream-sequence-like bits). We declare this and threaten the organization or the guy for information or resources. (This is a very bad idea, obviously)

There are probably other ways to do this, but I haven't thought of them yet.
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Labs

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #318 on: July 05, 2010, 05:35:04 pm »

Join the Technomancers. Learn their ways.
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I like to slip into bear caves around midnight and gently caress the carnivore inside before leaving a small cut of fresh fish and sneaking out.

sonerohi

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #319 on: July 05, 2010, 06:07:09 pm »

Join the Technomancers. Doo eeeeet.
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I picked up the stone and carved my name into the wind.

dragnar

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #320 on: July 05, 2010, 06:11:02 pm »

Ask about what they do here, and what sort of tests are required to join, also ask for a tour(to look for that painting). Ignore any mention of the painting, acting as if he hadn't said anything at all. We will hold their attention without directly confirming his suspicions.

in short: penguify's indifferent plan.
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From this thread, I learned that video cameras have a dangerosity of 60 kiloswords per second.  Thanks again, Mad Max.

Toaster

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #321 on: July 05, 2010, 07:37:23 pm »

Ask about what they do here, and what sort of tests are required to join, also ask for a tour(to look for that painting). Ignore any mention of the painting, acting as if he hadn't said anything at all. We will hold their attention without directly confirming his suspicions.

in short: penguify's indifferent plan.

+1
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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
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maxicaxi

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #322 on: July 05, 2010, 09:56:22 pm »

Ask about what they do here, and what sort of tests are required to join, also ask for a tour(to look for that painting). Ignore any mention of the painting, acting as if he hadn't said anything at all. We will hold their attention without directly confirming his suspicions.

in short: penguify's indifferent plan.

+1
thiiiiiiiiis
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I have absolutely no idea what's going on in this fort any more. Migrants arrive, they die for some reason, the fort is flooded for another reason, then dwarves go mad, more dwarves die and I'm just laughing in my distress.
you cannot defeat the potato.

penguify

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #323 on: July 05, 2010, 10:01:01 pm »

Ask about what they do here, and what sort of tests are required to join, also ask for a tour(to look for that painting). Ignore any mention of the painting, acting as if he hadn't said anything at all. We will hold their attention without directly confirming his suspicions.

in short: penguify's indifferent plan.

+1
thiiiiiiiiis
I, too, support this course of action.
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Osmosis Jones

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #324 on: July 05, 2010, 10:12:40 pm »

Yeah, might as well. BUT if you see any fancy glowy crystals etc that could be useful, nick a small sample :P
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penguify

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #325 on: July 05, 2010, 10:17:24 pm »

I don't think anything glowy in this place would be wise to touch. They're probably like that scp-409 and kill you and everything you touch in a slow and painful manner, or something.
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Osmosis Jones

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #326 on: July 05, 2010, 10:19:28 pm »

But think of the weaponisation possibilities!
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The Marx generator will produce Engels-waves which should allow the inherently unstable isotope of Leninium to undergo a rapid Stalinisation in mere trockoseconds.

Silleh Boy

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #327 on: July 06, 2010, 11:27:01 am »

You knew that outright claiming that you were that man, easy as it may be, true as it may be would not be a wise thing to do at this moment. You'd have given away your big advantage in confirming this mans curiosity so readily. No, you needed to let it weigh on his mind, you needed to let it trouble him as he was no doubt naturally curious if he was one working for a group who played with the elements so readily.

It wasn't wise to go around telling everybody that you were immortal either. You knew that some people would feel threatened or resentful, that others would expect you to share some kind of power with them that you did not possess, that others would become barely loyal hangers on waiting for some form of reward for their so called devotion.

You knew people.

Not everybody would believe that you were what you claimed to be either, not everybody believed that immortals, as rare as they were actually existed. Some people didn't like to believe in that what threatened what they saw to be their humanity, some were just plain ignorant.

You did wonder if you could turn this situation further to your advantage, make a few insightful comments about the work that they did here if you could get them to take you on a tour. It wouldn't hurt to try suggesting such a thing to them, make it clear that you knew a thing or two about their methods here. The more you mulled over that idea, the more you liked it. It was simple, it was without risk of them believing that they had been played by someone who knew about the painting and came here pretending to be that man.

You didn't recall having such a painting of yourself done, yet, it couldn't possibly be anybody but you, could it?

"I did come here with the intent of learning a little more about your methods, to join you potentially. Would a tour be too much to ask?" You shifted slightly as you spoke, your body language now used to suggest a very friendly warmth. You wanted to make the very thought of saying no to this something that the man would feel bad over.

"Well... We do not normally carry out such tours, but, in these circumstances I see no reason why not." The man responded, though you could feel just how weak the excuse he was using was. You could practically feel his curiosity to see you side by side with that painting.

The tour was one that started off fairly unimpressive. Most of the interesting area's in the labs you were taken to see were off limits to it due to the inherent danger of some of the substances that they worked with. This didn't however, stop you from impressing the man as you talked about how you understood that beyond explosions, that there was always hazardous gasses and the like to worry about too. You could see him tempted to sneak you in however, just to see if something interesting was going on there that he could show you.

From the off limits labs, you travelled to the workshops. The only part of the workshops he couldn't show you directly were the forges, though he was able to show you them from one of the walkways that stretched out above them. From the forges you were taken to see the workshops where the actual components were assembled, while being told about how the Technomancers made some of the more exotic parts for the Clockworkers mechanical men, including their weapons.

This caught your interest, though your inquiries into them yeilded little more than the types of weapons they were outfitted with and nothing on their design. Some had fuel tanks and the means to ignite a controlled stream of fire with them, some could discharge energy from their internal power source through their hands, some carried modern weapons that had been scaled up for their use.

One of the worshops you saw was filled with partially assembled weapons of this nature, weapons that had you mention in passing that you had ideas for weapons of your own that you would like to attempt the construction of some day.

From the workshops you were taken to the the research area, a place filled with vast libraries of books, a place filled with people researching and conceptualising new and improbable inventions. This was also the only part of the building that seemed to really bear any decorations. While this place in itself wasn't as interesting given that the only visible activity here was people reading and writing, studying and drawing, you knew that it was a good place for anybody that wished to learn. The vast number of books and their varied subject matter was something that had you realise that this was what you'd needed all along. You could learn to create weapons here, you could research alchemy, you could unravel the secrets of the world about you little by little.

It wasn't long however before you were taken in the direction of the gallery.

You were shown various portraits of important figures from the guild over the years as well as portraits that had been aquired from famed artists. Every portrait had a small plaque beneath it declaring who it was, along with other details where relevant. That was, every one but your own.

"And, this is..." the man started as he lead you to it, pausing as he looked between you and the portrait. You could feel the shock as he saw all the more clearly now that you were truely identical to the figure portrayed in that painting. You stepped towards it, paying no attention to the man as you glanced briefly at the plaque beneath the painting.

Your one simply read unknown man, unknown artist.

A face framed by dark hair looked back at you from that painting, pale with piercing blue eyes. A face that was youthful yet troubled, their expression showing experience beyond their years despite how flawlessly smooth their complexion was. Compared to the average man, when you were unblemished by injury you almost bore an unearthly beauty.

"Since when did we open this gallery to the public, Mister Smith?" Came a booming voice from behind you as you examined the picture before you, causing the man beside you to jump as he turned to stammer an excuse towards what you assumed was a high ranking member.

You turned to face the man, your gaze intensely locked on his face as you looked into his eyes. The man faltered as he saw your face then trembled as he saw those eyes, seeing the depthless nature of eternity echoed behind them. The man went from haughty to humbled as he realised what was stood before him better than the clearly less perceptive man who had given you the tour through this facility.

"I appologise sir, I did not realise that we had somebody of your great nature here!" He stated as he bowed before you deeply, straightening his attire as he did his best to collect himself as he did his best to hide how your presence had him flustered.

"What may we, humble as we are do for a great one such as yourself?" The man asked, prompting a small smile from you. You liked this feeling of respect that you got from the man of science before you, that made you wonder just what you could get away with asking for him to do for you.

penguify

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #328 on: July 06, 2010, 11:43:04 am »

They know about the Enlightened, right? We need something that will revoke their immortality, or at least slow their regeneration.

Also, we might be able to join them, depending on their policy towards the Enlightened: I don't recall whether they're enemies or not. If they're allies, we can't join them yet but we could use them as a proxy for negotiation. If they're enemies, we could join them given that we could keep them from learning about or attacking Anne. If they're neutral, there's no reason not to join them. If we do join them, we could use their resources to find some sort of solution to the problems with the Enlightened (a useful weapon against them, most likely).
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Armok

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Re: They told me I could be anything...
« Reply #329 on: July 06, 2010, 12:47:19 pm »

Say that we wish to join them so that we may learn.
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So says Armok, God of blood.
Sszsszssoo...
Sszsszssaaayysss...
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