Cold Blooded in the Blaze of the Sun looks to the returning lady in the kimono.

"Well, Thousand Maws has left to gather some people for the expedition. I take it you would like to hunt for the prize as well?"

He offers a chair at the table for her.

"I am Cold Blooded in the Blaze of the Sun," He motions to the lady from the far east. "and this is Woe. If we are to quest together, we should greet each other properly, if not formally get to know one anothers skill set."

He sits back in his chair, having collected his tea cup once more.

"For example, I am a trader in curios & a seeker of things lost & forgotten."

He smiles broadly, awaiting a reply from the others.

"Sure, sure," Woe says, as Thousand Maws makes her exit.

--------

(When the others return)

"Heheh... Champion of Being Seen, maybe." Woe clicks her tongue. "Well, our friend and her buddies'll know about you at least for sure, now. Better hope they don't know how to prepare for Malfeas."

(When Cold Blooded does the introductions)

"I'm a treasure hunter and a freedom fighter--sorry, those are the same things." Woe smiles toothily. "Nothing makes me prouder than freeing innocent people of the chains that bind them unjustly. I'm an expert in every field that's ever existed, and unbearably beautiful, to boot."

Woe brushes a few fingers through her hair, and snickers.

"Next!"

“I’m interested in the prize as well, as I’ve stated already. Kisara Moonfire. Princess, badass, friend. Unless you’re trying to kill me…please don’t try and kill me.”

She chuckles to herself a bit, her ears perking up as she does, before holding out her hands to Cold Blooded and Woe.

rolled 2, 2, 9, 4, 8, 5, 4, 10, 4, 9, 1, 1, 8, 9, 8, 8, 6, 7, 2, 1, 3, 7, 8, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 9, 1, 9, 6, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1, 8, 6, 1, 4, 9, 5 = 243

---

> Some guy tried to sell you a memory crystal containing a treasure map.
> A pretty lady at another table (who turned out to be dragon-blooded) bought him a drink (which turned out to contain yozi venom) and then, while he was dying, grabbed the crystal and ran off.
As the would-be salesman collapses, a southern woman in robes who had previously been listening politely, shoots up abruptly, shoving past the opportune vultures crowding her patient, and pulling out her medical kit.

"Let me through, I'm a healer! Hands to yourself, he's not dead yet, and you can't check vitals in his pockets."

Rolling to attempt emergency intervention! (Perception 4 + Medicine 5) and Flawless Diagnosis Technique for diagnosis (unless we already know it's Yozi venom from the prompt). (Intelligence 5 + Medicine 5) for the treatment, bolstered with Instant Treatment Methodology to make intervention possible before the poison runs its course, Body-Purifying Admonitions to make the attempt supernatural (if this works like tracking, I assume non-supernatural healing would fail regardless in the face of a supernatural poison?) and Contagion-Curing Touch (she's still applying her normal paraphernalia and tools, despite not actually having Yozi antivemon on hand). Surprisingly, some current of air(?) Essence seems to be active in his body, which facilitates the dissolution and seamless extraction of damaged tissues. Willing to burn motes on a full Excellency activation, if needed.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X86xIU2sbWt0SQAzaZe0hEDQdnb9m5X4WAD4q32

Message too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>1089681
>(Perception 4 + Medicine 5) and Flawless Diagnosis Technique
>rolled 2, 2, 9, 4, 8, 5, 4, 10, 4,
Four successes is enough to ID the poison...
>(Intelligence 5 + Medicine 5)
>full Excellency activation
>Instant Treatment Methodology
>Body-Purifying Admonitions
>and Contagion-Curing Touch
>rolled 9, 1, 1, 8, 9, 8, 8, 6, 7, 2, 1, 3,
...and then eleven successes is more than enough to extract the poison, saving the map-seller's life (for now), though he's still down by two aggravated health levels.
Also, you spent 25 motes in the process. How much of that was peripheral?

Shyama is getting real passive aggressive with this arrow analogy. As an amnesiac, all topics hold equal relevance for now. If He thinks you should be talking about something specific he should just say so and not talk down to you.

>>1089609
They pulled a Billy Bat, and faked the moon landing so they could merge the fake movie with the real moon landing to manipulate the public into limiting their attention of the moon, which in this timeline is mega-@#$%ing important.

Same old insanity from the ruling classes; money is not backed by goods or services, it is once again backed by slaves, the labels rebranded yet again.

>>1089633
He keeps demanding we stop strying into "pointless"topics but keeps dodging the question when we ask what is important.

We know they're here because of some sort of "crisis" and he keeps getting annoyed when we don't focus on addressing topics relevent to this crisis but he also won't bloody well tell us what the crisis is!

>>1089671

Yea, what the fuck is up with this?

>>1089671

Also, we have to apparently be in a particular state of mind to listen to these presumably horrible details, but they also won't tell us what state of mind that is, so we could practice mindfulness meditations or whatever to try and get to that point or spend some time bracing ourselves against whatever the bad news is or perhaps suggest appropriate stimuli or methods to get us to that state of mind!

>>1089624
>both
NICE.
...why doesn't paradox manipulation count as a miracle? Are there known physical laws that allow it?

>>1089625
>Rockfruit
Yeah that really seems useless doesn't it? The rocks aren't even big enough to make a trap of some kind. Maybe we can mutate/crossbreed them to grow useful ore instead.

>reisarf copy
UHHHHH wait there's another Reisarf out on the trip? What's going to happen when they get back?

OH. I almost forgot, we need to cure Stargazer of her infestation. Which is now inside you. Is that convenient or inconvenient? Keep in mind all the scraps of eldritch flesh left over from the battle has potential to have parasites in it.

>>1089626
>golem harassment
Well Evil Eye seems the most obvious choice here. Spatial Extrusion could be very very annoying when used on/between the platforms they have to cross, as well! Curse of Formlessless has a critical success chance, how likely is it that the golems spamming that could land the slimification on an adventurer?
>aesthetic
Pillar with an eye on it?

I'm imagining a handful of little golems scattered around, with thick hat/lids, that periodically pop out of holes or pots or st, and shoot some kind of minor damage at adventurers from behind. Like "Ow! What was that?" *looks around wildly* "Ow!" *hit from behind again*

>>1089664
I like this a lot. Especially if you can make an arena covered with small domes. Some will be golems. Some won't.

So the golems will bounce up and down when tread on, unbalancing intruders. They'll cast a spacial spell to confuse them, too, when they're far away. Not a damaging attack - that's what other enemies are in the room for - just something to make moving around a chore. I don't have the full list on hand, sue me, but the gist is to make these speed bumps annoying little shits for a game of whack-a-mole that must be played while being attacked.

And for easy dungeon replays, the room layout can be shuffled about, too!

As for aesthetic, a domed hat hiding a spellcasting eye or smug smile should work just fine.

>>1089625
>>Rockfruit
You can plant them in the ceilings and use them as a non-magical rockfall trap, or along walls to camouflage doors/openings/other traps. The nice part is they probably wont even register to adventurers who are looking for magical or mechanical stuff.
>>Alien Lard
Ooh, this should be really useful. We should save some for Doyle, but the rest we should render down into oil. So much we could make with some mana rich oil, even outside of cooking. I bet we could make some cool candles or torches that should be useful for the dungeon's Shadow theming. It could be used to make some resin and lacquer along with that bug we bought, for the golems and maybe items for treasure chests. If we have enough we could even use it as is to just make some oil slick traps, hopefully permanent ones.

Most of the plants in general seem like they'll end up being useful potion ingredients in any case.

>>1089646
Yay my idea got through
Basically, the universe itself caused a time paradox, which means you're not cheating with an improbable exploitable event because the GM explicitly told you that it happened.

Silence 2024/04/23(Tue)07:03 No. 1089453 ID: ed041d
File 171388102862.png - (25.48KB , 268x182 , Mech147.png )

>>1089360
>>1089385
You place the mech right against the door and angle it, before dropping out and wandering into the operation room. It should provide you some protection for now, you just hope nobody damages it too much.

Silence 2024/04/23(Tue)07:04 No. 1089454 ID: ed041d
File 171388106068.png - (75.57KB , 1044x577 , Mech148.png )

You find the control console, easy enough for you to commandeer what with your neural augmentations. There seem to be some options, what do you want to do?

Check out the Powerplant info, if it's already installed maybe it could be set to overload.

What's Project Deadline? Sounds ominous.

Wait no that's just the project deadline.

Silence 2024/04/25(Thu)06:35 No. 1089676 ID: ed041d
File 171405210298.png - (22.80KB , 518x272 , Mech149.png )

>>1089456
You check out the Powerplant, it's an old nuclear reactor design, instead of anything alien. That's interesting, maybe they can't use alien power just yet? Maybe they're limited.

You'll note it down in case it becomes important, but you take note of the current status of the Reactor.

What do you want to do with this information?

>>1089632
I think I see what could faintly be considered boobs on the chest. This could possibly be a female cyborg Sakkilian.

The systems may not be active, but whoever is in there might be able to hear you. You could ask the engineers if it's possible to have a conversation with the cyborg? The least you can do is try and explain the situation to the cyborg. The flagship was torn apart in an accident during travel to this galaxy.

Who knows? Perhaps they'll understand that these are unusual circumstances and, if they activate themself, they might obey a few orders from you until you find an admiral or become an admiral.

>“Oh… I…err…” she blushes slightly, “I might need some more help with that… I’ll…” averting her gaze, she says, “I’ll need some more volunteers for that.”
Add "Assist Doxy with the Wroknir Integration project" to the list. (It's cute when she's needs encouragement.)

>we need a clearance level of at least Admiral to access it.
I know you've been ambitious about career prospects, but it's pretty early for you to promote yourself. Jokes aside, it's not a bad idea to spoof credentials for access. She'd make a good addition to the crew, if you can get her to cooperate. It'd be a shame not to get to know her better you don't even know her name.

Maybe she'd activate with the right keywords. Openly discuss the ship's your mission and status in front of the cyborg. If that doesn't catch her interest, maybe the ship's development and potential as a colony ship would.

Failing that, you'll have to put her back in storage. Ideally, you have someone to keep an eye on her, or try to reverse engineer what she's got.

>>1089632
Try your credentials. If they don't work, put the cyborg back in cryo. Though I am sure whoever's in there has been fully vetted and is not going to go crazy killer on us, she might not obey commands when there's no Admiral on board which would mean... eh... well okay maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Maybe leaving her out of cryo is fine in case there's an automatic boot sequence. Later when we have more than one ship, you can be officially promoted to Admiral and your credentials should work then, right? Sigh, if only we had this lady with us during the Tuul mission, it would've been much easier. They'd make a fine security officer otherwise, though we might want to double check the safeties on that cannon... is there some kind of hard-wired shutoff that prevents it being used during space travel?

Oh, one thing we can try before the cryo solution... can they interface somehow with it to communicate to whoever's inside? Like, is she conscious right now or do the implants keep her in a coma until fully activated? In the latter case, even then we could see if there's some sort of maintenance program we can use to check for problems before anything is fully activated. Safety first.

What's the status on the cyborg's life support, will it's organic parts die outside of cryo if it isn't activated? If yes then ice it for now, otherwise keep analyzing and hopefully find a way to communicate without fully waking it up.

So if you want boob armor, you're supposed to do something like the peascod breastplate, except the bulge is at the top not the bottom. Uniboob style. Or maks it not boob armor, like flak armor or most sorts of biped armor, just press the breasts down. Why channel shots into the middle of the chest? Who would design that for something this obviously expensive?

C and then A

D, with a business suit and sunglasses you'll be unrecognizable and not suspicious at all.
B, no point buying clothes that don't fit you.

B, C

>>1089518
A, e!

D then E

>>1089557
"Jam has only just begun to exist. We will be careful of his nature, but we do not think we should hate him for being born. Geoun believes that we spirits should never be born."

Maybe if we depose the lord before they arrive, that will reduce any bloodshed. Or the wilderness shelters can be used for non-combatants.

Suggestion 2024/04/24(Wed)19:41 No. 1089648 ID: 9ea24b
File 171401291202.png - (18.59KB , 500x500 , p102.png )

I do not make any effort to defend myself when George grips me with one hand and begins shaving me with long strokes of his knife. He moves with purpose, stripping away my flesh and flicking it away so I cannot easily reincorporate the mass.

“Do not condemn the war spirit so soon, he is young and can be taught to be well-adjusted in mortal society.” I say. “George, please stop this, I do not mean you any harm, this arrangement will ultimately benefit our people.”

He doesn’t respond.

“I could even defeat the lord now so that there is less violence when the army arrives!” I plead.

I wiggle and George tightens his grip. “Go quietly, Pliny.” he growls.

I begin to struggle with more vigor, but given my reduced size I cannot break free. George pins me between his knees and hacks a deep gash in my middle. He is trying to cut me in half!

I still have my shortsword. Should I stab George to force him to let me go or accept my fate? It is hard for me to accept harming George, since he is my valued citizen.

Oh, George. Spit in his face and wriggle away.

What is this reaction, George? Did Pliny not help you get revenge on Icher, when your other companions would have denied and used you? Are you really so much of a coward that you'll slaughter someone who trusted you because you know they won't fight back? Will you feel like you accomplished something? You couldn't take down Icher, and you couldn't take down the army, but at least you killed something huh? Complete the army's work and snuff out the spirits of Pliny's citizens for good, but it's easier than going after the actual villains, right?

>>1089648
If you die here, Jam will surely be enraged, and at worst he may generalize that rage at all mortals.
George was given the chance to stop, and he made his choice clear. You need to defend you now. George isn't the type to give up easily, so non-lethal strikes or disarming probably won't cut it. He'd keep going with his fingernails if he had to. If you curve and aim up now, you can go for the throat.

Scream. Make sure everyone can see you. If George murders you, everyone will know what he did.

We should visit someone else. Pendle doesn't need us distracting him while he's reconnecting with his new friends.

>>1089620
Lets leave him be fragments.

He's talking, smiling and maybe healing a little too.

The things he may have heard during his year are important but not urgent compared to his recovery.

Theres others to check in on or maybe warn Big M about his pending guest.

Alright who else to bug, any other bugs to bug?

Aaand... scene change to our captured Princess!

Aaand... scene change to our captured Princess!

Mush 2024/04/23(Tue)23:11 No. 1089580 ID: e1a09b
File 171393908157.png - (8.75KB , 627x552 , MUSHROOM15.png )

It is perhaps the largest amount of dead flesh you've yet encountered. Taken as part of a creature, it is intimidating in scope. Perhaps the strange shape had been a part of it, but who can know?

In any case, you get to work. It is easy stuff, the mycelial network spreading, converting, repurposing quickly. There are tissues you cannot change - the bones within the mass cannot be converted. The ones inside you, and within the findings from Clumsy, are also off-limits. The bone within your core remains of dubious use, but is kept due to the trouble of ejecting it. These ones are much larger, heavier. They, too, remain within the biomass. Probably I could shape the mass to remove them, but there may be a use for them.

Speaking of uses.

This mass is easily ten times your current size. There are many uses for it, but presently, I need to come to a decision on one. And there's the matter of the bones - two large ones in the center mass, several smaller ones in the lesser masses Clumsy found. But those can wait.

>Convert the mass into bricks of fungiwood, providing shelter from the elements and allowing construction of something more permanent here.
>Convert the mass into a stronger host body, SEPARATE FROM your current one. This will lead to other options.
>Convert the mass into enhancements for your CURRENT host body. This will also lead to other options.
>Convert the mass into something less permanent than fungiwood, to set up a temporary base or a stash for later.

>>1089580
Use it to enhance CURRENT body.

Yes, bolster your strength as you are. There are other adversaries here, and you will need your strength to fend them off and add their strength, too, to your own.

Is nimble strong enough to move things? It might be a good task to consolidate the lesser masses into a stockpile that you can access later at your leisure. Once you have established territory to defend, it might make sense to start constructing fungiwood defenses for it.

Remember, you are not a normal mushroom.

>>1089580
Agreed.
Enhance current body.

See if nimble and clumsy can coordinate.
Stronger together.
Nimble finds and guides and clears obstructions.
Clumsy lends his mass and strength to the jobs.

As to the bones.
They are a heavy but strong scaffold on which you can build.
But there is more.
Dedicate a small number of the thinnest mycelium to probe it carefully for cracks that can be leveraged over time.
There are rich, complex protiens inside bones and while not worth focusing on as a dedicated task, a minor but persistant effort may return great rewards.

your current body is good, make it better.
if there's any mass left over turn it into fwood

Break time.

So, what's the deal with NIGHT TURTLES? Are they safe to fight, in order to train up your team?

She's not angry; that's good, you can relax. Maybe the NIGHT TURT is a bit above our level, but we're dreaming big. Alia seems to know about these TURTS, so ask her how to get one in your shell.

>>1089530
Aw.
She's not a jerk.
That's a shame.
She looked like prime rivalfu material too.

Do you think she'll let us pick her name?
No...
Probably not.
Sigh.

Better listen carefuly and quieten down.
She might have info to share.

>>1089592
Yeah, kinda miss the Turtle quest red/blue/yellow and Turtle quest Gold/Silver/Crystal version days when the rival was a jerk. But her being a friendo is nice. Might could even be a travel companion!

Plus, who's to say we might actually meet a jerk rival later down the road?

>>1089376
The most compelling argument I can think of is that by keeping Alex alive we can take shelter in a human settlement away from other zombies, and provide services for them that only we can provide. Body modification, inside information, plague antibodies. It would of course require our entire Nation to be Traitor in some way so that we can act that way. The Rules are quite clear about not being able to give information or interfere with the plague.
Unfortunately, Amalgam's dark truth isn't flexible enough to allow these actions! They'd all go on public record. And we can't act fully during the day either. We'd need a way to FULLY bypass the Rules to do that sort of thing... As far as I know, only we Talkingheads can do that, so the secret lies inside us somehow.
Okay, alternate plan: We keep Alex alive so that the infection goes completely unnoticed, which would allow us to infiltrate a human settlement and infect those inside. It would require a novel way of transferring the infection of course... oh that's a problem, the System restricts transmission methods.

[A]sk Amalgam: What are the Talkingheads, exactly?

>>1089368
There is a square-rectangle thing going on here, I think. All [creators] are part of a super-set but not all -or even much- of the super-set are [creators]. Similarly all [traitors] are [nation] but not all [nation] are [traitors]. So less that you are becoming more similar to the [creators] specifically but more similar to the super-set [creators] belong to. It probably scares them when they look at [nation] drones and see anything that is even remotely like them/their super-set. The [creators] have things like [nation] Rules and Truths, and in order to not violate their equivalent of Rules, [nation]s must not resemble them or their super-set, hence any [nation] that looked to them like they were headed that way were eliminated, lest they violate their Rules. As above, so below. ((intentionally not naming humans/[leviathans]. Initial draft did, realized that was probably a mistake))
This may be a technically we can exploit, we/Alex as [leviathan] could be a [creator]. Currently we/Alex have not created, but we/Alex can create, thus anything we/Alex create should have Alex as [creator] to them, and thus make us/Alex able to rival the authority of the original [creators]

If we get even more ambitious and can generalize the process we are doing here enough for external deployment we may be able to get [leviathans] to voluntarily receive and propagate [nation]. Unfortunately all [nation] scale [leviathan] defenses are automated though so that part wouldn't get easier, but the [lexicon] should show that there is a way to 'diffuse' them more-or-less generally

That is a fun truth. Can it also be 'the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing' at the same tim

Message too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>1089391
we are the left hand does not know the right hand but beyond that the fingers do not know what the hand does, does not know what the other fingers does..... vice presidents body fits this we are the tree we are the branches and we do not know what the tree or other branches does beyond there immediate stated intent or action....are we the branches or are we the trunk does the branches branch from the trunk or does the branches merge to become the trunk where is the beginning where is the end and many waus we are also the invisible guiding hand the long arm of justice the hand of the free market are we being dragged or are we pulling the chain?

>We cannot be turning into the [overseers]! That is the last thing any of us would want!
Let us rephrase. What both of you are is competent just in differing ways. While you are good at figuring solutions within the narrow grip of the overseers, we have inferred a little of the overseers. What they are competent at is gathering power for themselves. Our evidence is the tenets themselves. Especially rule 3. Veto the rest of this if you believe it would be dangerous. Our design allows us to see things the [leviathan] does. What we have learned lets us understand the goals they have. Our deductions may be flawed but the implications are... worth considering. Forbidden airborne spread was to obscure what they are doing and to stop accidental infection of non-VCs. From this we speculate the overseers are the non-VCs. Should that be the case... what they seek to do is use you as [loyalty officers] to VC [leviathans], while they act as [loyalty officers] to all [nations]. Summarized, power is the goal and you are pawns so they have no care if you suffer so long as power is theirs to have.

I figured {Our} [Truth] worked like that but it's nice to get some confirmation.

Would it be correct it state then that {Our} existence is a way for you to kinda circumvent your own limitations? {We} are technically not you after all.

>Something else afoot
All this time I've been operating under the assumption that the [creators] want to create another intelligent species that they have full evolutionary control over. Such a thing would fit well with the censorship of human texts and old testament iconography they've been using.
The thing I'm questioning about all this is when will they stop? Will they stop when they've taken over the whole country or does our existence mean to be a "second flood" to them?
Wild theories aside the [creators] No doubt have more planned for the [projects] than how they've been using them so far.
If they are working via a plan then I'd take a wild guess that the thirtieth day mark (the day that coincidentally our judgement would fall on) would be the day their plans shift.

To: [Amalgam]
*humble
It's kinda a small thing to ask considering what you are and what we've been discussing but would it be alright to ask for the [Presidents] [Minister] profile? I wanted to ask before but my fellow [talkingheads] decided against that for obvious reasons.

5/5 Hop 2024/04/23(Tue)18:33 No. 1089551 ID: 3f89df
File 171392238816.png - (10.80KB , 500x500 , heh chat whos gonna tell her.png )

I'm jolted awake as the Snake tears its way through my flesh until I'm nothing but a carcass; despite my nerves feeling the pain of exposed flesh, It seems that it was just a dream, and despite my pleadings, it seems that I'm still stuck in Ultima's hell.

Something's off; Alex is missing, and I feel I'm not alone; my lucky foot seems to be twitching like mad, but It may just be spasms. Before I look for this presence, I call out, "Hello? If someone's in here, then state yourself, Or Else I'll have to hurt you."

I await a response or reaction from the deathly quiet room.

Hi, we are your footvoices

Is it hot in here or is it just me?

What was that? What's going on? Are we in danger?

Don't try to hurt us! We don't mean any harm! We're not going to threaten you!

Hi, we're your new advisors! We were merged with you for quicker access!

...

Please don't kill yourself, we want to live.

Look Magicli put us in your foot and... well... BY ULTRAVISC HAVE MERCY WE DON'T WANT TO DIE!

4/7 NomNom 2024/04/23(Tue)18:26 No. 1089542 ID: 3f89df
File 171392201659.png - (13.08KB , 500x500 , uhoh cootiezs.png )

“Actually I Do have cooties.”
His eyes widen as he immediately drops you and licks every part of him that you have touched.
“EwEwEWEWEWEWWW! I Just touched a Cootie Haver! I bleh- need to get this disgusting filth off of me!!”
The bucket head backs away.
: splotchy_angry_anims: “Whatcha lookin at?!” Splotched Barks. The Bucket Kobold shakes as he raises a finger.
: buckethead_angry_noanims.png: “You- You have Splotches!!!”
The Splotched boy begins to cry.
“No-Wait, I don’t have cooties I swear!”
Buckethead turns and dashes away, screaming: “Splotchy has Cooties! Run for your Lives! Splotchy has Cooties!”
Splotchy dashes after him. “Wait- No! Buckethead please don’t leave me!!
As you watch the two Buffoons runoff, You feel Fiber tug your shoulder.

5/7 NomNom 2024/04/23(Tue)18:26 No. 1089543 ID: 3f89df
File 171392201885.png - (10.02KB , 500x500 , sisterly love.png )

:fiber_scared_noblush_noanims: “I know that wasn't your true answer, Now that they're gone, I was just wondering, what do you identify as?”
“Well, after pondering it for a long time, I decided that you couldn’t be the only girl.
“So… you’re my sister?”
:maincharacter1_skrunkly_noblush_noanim: “Yeah!”
“Well, I just wanted to say, thank you for standing up to the bullies for me, I swear if they opened their mouths just a little bit longer, I would have clobbered them!
“No problem sis, After all, what are sisters for?”
“Awwww” And Fiber goes to hug, you and you embrace her.
Your relationship with fiber has increased.

6/7 NomNom 2024/04/23(Tue)18:27 No. 1089544 ID: 3f89df
File 171392202079.png - (11.93KB , 500x500 , nun.png )

After chatting with Fiber for a few more minutes, hear a bell’s loud dong echo throughout the field, the lanterns that glowed parts of the field, and the main path begins to fade, as the lanterns around you do the same. You notice some slashing drakes start to enter the field, They quickly wrangle up all of the kids, plop them onto their backs, and then ascend to the tower, it’s Strong stone gates are covered slightly by moss as the tower meets the same, as you’re identify the structural strength of this tower, your attention is quickly diverted towards the door frame. As you notice, a large pure-blood slashing kobold comes out from the door, their body covered in a thick spirally fur, covering every part of them not clothed, except for their maw. Their voice is androgynous, as well as their demeanor.
“Greetings I’m Gierul, Head Dragonist of this tower, are you hatchlings ready to learn to provide for our tribe?
You, Fiber, and a whole bunch of kobolds nod. “Good, now come with me as we get you acquainted here, and you see a bunch of other pure-blood dragonists appear as they and the drakes surround you.
In the tour, Guriel shows off what you’d expect from a place like this, your barracks, the dining room, and where the toilets are located.

7/7 NomNom 2024/04/23(Tue)18:27 No. 1089545 ID: 3f89df
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When the tour is finished, you're all brought to a vast room, which curves upwards so that everyone can see, regardless of size; however, bludgeoning kobolds are put towards the back, while you and the other slashing kobolds appear by the front. Guriel begins to speak.
“Because what an individual kobold may do varies from kobold to kobold, we’ll provide a wide variety of classes so that every kobold will have a variety that works for them. However, three classes are required.
Basic Building, Basic Combat, and Hunting and Gathering; besides that you’ll be able to take about five extra classes of your choice realistically.
The following classes are:

Advanced Physical Combat.
Illusion Magic:
Necrotic Magic:
Abjuration Magic.
Conjuration Magic:
Transmutation Magic:
Divination Magic:
Enchantment Magic:
Cultural Studies:
Religious Studies:

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Nom Nom:
Deck Mage
Deckbuilding
Transmutation Magic
Enchantment Magic
Arcane Studies
Bartering

Fiber:
Cleric
Dueling and 1v1 Combat
Religious Studies
Politics
Abjuration Magic
Dexterity and Fine Motor Skills

Toxoglossa 2024/04/23(Tue)18:46 No. 1089555 ID: 8a1605
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“He can’t have gone far, right?” Kol says, looking in every direction. “Is this some kind of test?”

“I don’t know, but if we don’t do something we’re going to lose our guide!” Casey squints, trying to spot the translucent shape moving through the trees. “Hey! Wait up! Someone’s missing!” She calls out.

“Fuck! What do we do?” Kol asks.

The Binder frowns and comes to a conclusion. A glow extends from her tail and wraps around his. “Go find him. I’ll run ahead and try to get our guide to stop. Tug on the tendril once if you find him and twice if you need help.”

Oo that's a pretty good solution! If not for the fact that you're expending mana by doing that. Watch them tentacles, make sure they don't go out of control!

We really don't have to worry about expending mana in here. Quite the opposite. However, we also can't attract attention by spending it in flashy ways.

Alright Kol needs to try retracing our steps while Casey follows the guide.

Given the nature of this place I don't think there's a safe spot for Kol to project. Just focus on the feeling of the binding magic. If it falters or your tail goes numb, be very careful.

This is a trial that Casey's abilities are proving adept for; will there be other trials for Kol and Gabe? In the meantime, I think that Casey's tendrils could prove even more useful; could she send them out as feelers to try to give Gabe something to hold onto so she can reel him in?

Hmmm I am torn between delaying a few hours to drop these two back off at the lodge or disappearing in the woods all mysterious like.

Lets be polite and assume our friends for the day do not need to be murdered or confused and delay for 2 hours so we can leave back at the ski lodge?

No need to ruin this nice memory with a mess.

Wow, a message encoded in the crumples of a blank piece of paper. That is subtle.

Keep this memory as something to cherish. Delay extraction by a few hours and enjoy yourself.

Delay long enough for you to get away from these two without making them worry about you. If they think you got kidnapped they'll investigate and potentially cause problems or get killed. Plus if you leave on good terms they might be a useful resource in the future!

>crumple cipher
Does Current Pillet know of any papers found that had crumples on them that might be enciphered like that? Maybe the newspaper we found in the fountain?

Give them two hours. One to head back and hopefully part ways amicably, another to head to extraction and make sure you're not followed.

(2/2) kpwlt 2024/04/23(Tue)08:47 No. 1089461 ID: 127310
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You find it appropriate to ask Gretchen about the resurrection device.

“Oh, that? Yeah, it’s just around here.”

She leads you out and around to the left side of the house to show you a panel bearing an image of a bird.

“Light means it’s still working.” She points to a glowing diode on the front of the box.

“Don’t touch it, I reckon, just call ANOMAT if the light ever turns off. Shouldn’t do, though.

Boris, Kaspar, and I all also have our own resurrection devices. George didn’t have one before ANOMAT started making them, though. Anyway, most of them are pretty straightforward. Except Kaspar’s.”

Rightio

“If you want me to explain anything here, just ask. I’ve come over plenty of times. By the way, we should probably get cracking on your chores!”

Well, doesn't seem like there's any big hurry. But, seeing as how one of them was share a drink on the porch, might as well, haha.

hang out on the porch, share a drink and get to know each other.

>>1089459
Oh, if the chores are associated with realization then the house *wants* to eventually die? Or are the chores needed for it to exist happily and the process of realization is a byproduct? Well, either way the house is requesting things that will eventually kill it, so I guess it's all good.

>>1089461
Ask about the Echo Chamber. How's it work?

You did make your bed, didn't you?

You're not equipped to keep something toxic stored safely yet. This chunk seems like a bust, except for your cool new pick.

I say drop it. your current home island is to small for you to have somewhere to place this safely without risking poisoning the rest of the island and you don't really have a container laying around to safely store it in so none of your voidlings won't eat it by mistake...
speaking of voidlings, what are the ones around here eating?

I'd advise against bringing it back or carrying around too much.
We don't really have a use for it, we don't know how to handle or store it safely, and apart from its name and appearance the only thing IDENTIFY returned was "unsafe negative energy".

One thing we can do is experiment with it before we go.
Bring it somewhere away from the other crystals, if possible without touching it. Then try your current runes on it, except blast. Do not use blast on it. Be careful and ready to jump into cover if it looks like it's going to destabilize.
Finally, try fusing it with one of the runes you just found. Like when you fuse two runes. Or maybe try physically pushing the rune into it ?

>>1089479
I don't think we have any way of carrying toxin safely, much less storing it in a way that won't gas up our home base. Leave it for now. If we ever need it we can come back to get it.

Investigate the creatures in the gas.

>>1089479
An automobile is a form of conveyance.
Entirely useless now

Good find with that tool.

>>1089477

Oh.
You know, this place really is beautiful.
Shame its so deadly

>>1089479

...mmm.
That doesnt look safe at all.
Id say take a tiny bit but void only knows what you could be scattering into the air if you break it smaller.

My curiosity is driving me to want samples to experiment with to find out whether the crystal is coalesced from present toxins or a generating source of the toxic pollution.

Applications exist for either form.

All the same, best leave it.
I wouldnt want to see you hurt for my curiosity, nor what would happen if flan got ahold of it.

Absurdity DeVoid 2024/04/23(Tue)09:07 No. 1089464 ID: a07698
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Just to mention that this picture does not represent something that happened in 30 UPDATES OR LESS quest. This is just an artistic representation of the chaotic energy that occurs in that story.

Possible answers to the question that was asked:

A) They can be trusted.

B) We should keep them at a distance.

C) We can't trust them.

D) Other suggestions.

Probably a minority opinion but xenophobia is fine if pragmatism has precedence over xenophobia especially for official policies. Personally like Humans because of warfare innovations. Have yet to see a species more dedicated to winning wars. So you'll get second opinions if you worry about crossing lines. Where were we? Oh, Vance. He's a wildcard. He may do well, he may cause political scandals. So keep your distance for now.

>>1089467
Agreed. Take the wait and see approach

>>1089467
Yes, just keep an eye on them

To me, they all seem like people who just want to make money and we might get something by working with them.

Baron 2024/04/01(Mon)12:43 No. 1087602 ID: 1e0c72
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The jotna ponders its existence and how flammable the planet is.


(For real though, I need more specific action and some dice)

Joanir - Keep wailing on the isolated target, disengage if one flanks
Viyasda - Vanish again, prepare to backstab whichever Valkyn looks like the leader
Norberg - Spend a turn defending the gunner
Jiang Qi - Finish the downed Valkyn off
Balboran - Check for survivors, heal them if you can

>>1087602
For real though, you still haven't given us a list of specific actions. Telling everyone to 'attack' over and over is redundant.

>>1087611
(I'll give you that. But I was looking for more specifics. Actions are context sensitive. Like an action for two characters can be something like "Balboran and Jiang Qi pick up the carpet and use it to catch a charging valkyn". That's a tactical decision, and I'd roll the combined tactical score.

Or maybe Jiang Qi throws out a firecracker to distract the Valkyn and blind them. That's an esoteric roll. If you think a character can do it, then you can use it.)

Fine
Joanir pommels the Valkyn's midsection from below, and follows up with a heaving throw using his mace as a lever.
Viyasda vanishes, clinging to the ceiling so she can assassinate whichever Valkyn splits up next.
Norberg protects the mercenaries from any surprise attacks, giving them a moment to catch their breath and reload
Balboran checks the bodies of the other dead mercenaries. If they can't be revived, he'll scavenge their weapons and try to come up with something.
Jiang Qi throws that firecracker (if in Esoteric Stance) or and stabs any downed Valkyn in a fatal area while everyone is distracted (If in Battle stance). Has she taken the war vial yet?

Curt 2024/04/22(Mon)10:25 No. 1089398 ID: 0fbdcd
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>: Something like "enthusiasm"?
>Anon

: Do you really, really believe you have to get in with this group you're trying to tell stories to? Or do you have to come up with a justification?
: I mean, I have a good reason. This case is important.
: But it's "a reason." It's not self-evident. There's no enthusiasm, is there?
: Wanting to be someone who has a talent, so that you can get some kind of benefit from it, you can't be enthusiastic about that.
: I wanted to become the greatest detective, and I'm pretty talented at that, right?
: You are! But did you want to be that first?
: Or did someone convince you it was something you should do?
: ...



: So if my "enthusiasm" is breaking, I need a way to be doing something self-evidently worthwhile, when I approach them.

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Curt 2024/04/22(Mon)10:25 No. 1089399 ID: 0fbdcd
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:
:
: Huh?

Curt 2024/04/22(Mon)10:26 No. 1089400 ID: 0fbdcd
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: Parasocial bonding.
: Seeing other people as sort of hyped-up versions of themselves.
: Ignoring human flaws or banal stuff on purpose.
: Great source of enthusiasm, really. Broke my streamer-watching habit too.
: Isn't that, really, isn't that unhealthy?
: Oh, I'm good enough at it that I don't let it hurt other people.



: Unhealthy for you. I mean, it sounds, kind of, fun (but there's no way it's good for you)?
: Maybe. Everything you think of as an unhealthy indulgence is basically, uh, how could I say it...
: Like a kind of lower-impact brain medication.
: Yeah!
: Someone's been telling me about that lately.
: Smart guy.

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How would... parasocial bonding break a streamer-watching habit? Isn't that how streamers get people to watch them, by triggering parasocial bonding?

I guess if you saw everyone as a streamer, then you wouldn't spend so much time on the actual streamers?

If you need something to indulge into, you could do a lot worse than food.
Actual food that someone cooked, I mean, not whatever food-adjacent products they stock in vending machines. Something tasty, created for the express purpose of being enjoyed rather then just providing calories. No mere sustenance, but a meal. A breakfast. A hot beverage with some freshly baked pastries. Deep-fried, if you're lucky.
And it looks like you haven't eaten in some time, too (because you die before hunger becomes a problem). Some semblance of normalcy could go a long way toward keeping your sanity.