Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Well let's take care of that first:
Luckily for me I guess. Maybe this will change their mind about that.

Can I put a few drones on the ones who are still looking around? Don

Hm. Suppose their half-right on both sides. Is there any chance they have special insight? Or are they just inferring that from me being alive and not looking at anything alive they know of?

I go looking for something resembling coffee. It's going to be a long night.
Maybe he didn't see the relation between what he was saying and when the other cheers came?

I suppose it's a little late to put any drones on the nodding guy. Roll to see if I have a good enough picture of the guy to send drones searching for him.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

V shifts into a being of air, and enters the home.



Their are several adults in the home, of various ages. By their speech they seem to be family. They ask him about how the speech went, how many people came, and generally appear to wish the cause well. They ask how many are willing to fight, and the rabble-rouser says "more than last time. If we keep this up..."


The others seem less convinced that this way forward will work. One in particular wishes him luck in his efforts, with an undertone of "you're going to need it". They think some other strategy will be needed to "Free us from the tyranny of wastelanders"



The others are just as wealthy but take better care of their possessions. Many of them seem to be recently dirty, with mine dust being the primary culprit.



The pages are 95% readable. The pictures are pretty good.


You know the others are out there because people are talking about them, not because you have drones on them. So not with the information you currently have.


They're blindly making assumptions based on what they know of this world.


Your coffee search is Fruitless! Welcome to the end of the world! to the wastes of Tuguk! You shall find no gentle relief for your fatigue!


We'll come back to this roll. It will take a while, but its a success.


He either didn't notice or didn't particularly care.
You can go ahead and try to find him if you want.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Vassarious looks about for any other identifying features and listens for a bit longer to see if the rabble-rouser goes anywhere else.

If they seem to be staying put, after about 20 minutes, Vassrious will slip back out and find a private place to return to Orc-Merchant form and contact Halcyone and report what they have seen.

"Can you send your bugs to watch this home? Can you also send them to the mines?"

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Well I suppose they won't find me unless I take off my pants, so...

Alright. I will instead boil up a kettle of victory tea (i.e. hot water).

By amulet radio, I suppose.

"No problem. I'll have bugs all over his house in the hour."

I'll do that. The knight-shamans live in the guild halls, right? If not, they visit each hall regularly, right? I'll distribute a swarm to each of the guild halls, along with the violent rabble-rousers house. At twenty swarms, that still gives me a lot of swarms to play around with.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

The dirty rabble-rouser with the jewelry stays in the house for the full 20 minutes, but the one who talked about the "tyranny of the wastelanders" heads out somewhere.


Despite the name "lodge", the knight shamans visit the guild lodges, not live in them. At least most of the time. Swarms now cover the five lodges and the home of the the rabble rouser (lets call him Porglin).



Halcyone finds the face of the knight-shaman who was nodding. He's a member of the grand order, and currently at the lodge.


Anything either of you want to do before Halcyone stays up analyzing knight-shaman responses?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

I need to manifest a body to use the communicator, so I cannot give chase at this point, correct?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Hm. I suppose there less likely going to be incidental conversations going on.

Well let's attach a swarm to follow the nodding knight-shaman around. Maybe he's going to contact with someone from the more radical wing of the stone movement. Or maybe I'm off course and he just agrees with Uglin.

Not really.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

You need to manifest a body to use the communicator, yes. That does not preclude following Porglin... you just have to find a moment and place to shift. Make a trade-craft! roll at +2 to do so without being noticed or loosing your man.



Its an easy enough bet to make.


Halcyone is in her room, watching the lodges and trying to find someone worried about the most recent event, when she notices two knight shamans outside her window entering her building. One is an orc, one is a lizard. The Lizard seems to be sniffing as she walks.



OCC: nice Per score!

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

So the Lizards have noses like bloodhounds... That does it. Next world I'm going to brush up on at least the manufacturer's specs of the local fauna. Maybe the magic too.

Even if they weren't following a particular trail, they probably could have picked it up from my frozen arm. While I can look like a lotta things, they'll probably catch the smell of seafood from outside of room

Is there only one path from my room to an exit? Maybe I could climb out the window, into another room (where the occupant is sleeping), and slip out of the inn while they're busy searching the first room. And if that's not an option, maybe just climb down and blend into the crowd.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Vassarious shifts their shape back once again to give pursuit!

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Or, you know, the scent of blood. Either one.



Halcyone easily slips out of the window, and makes her way away from the inn. They can't follow her as fast as she can move... as long as she keeps moving.


As its quarry stops at a shop to purchase some fresh food, the air elemental ducks into an alley to transform and report. The time works out, the orc shadows his target, and finds another moment farther down the street to shift back.



The orc enters the back of a building attached to a granary. It looks somewhat official. The elemental flows in after him. Two orcs are there to greet him. They talk a little about their "movement"... about who will be there tonight. They talk about getting everyone together to figure out their next step. They want everyone present for the "unveiling".

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

The blood probably doesn't smell like anything they're used to, in any case.
I probably can't run until scab over. And even if I could, I still need somewhere to rest.

Well, if they're looking for me by smell, the best place to hide is probably somewhere smelly. Or at least cut through somewhere smelly to make them lose the trail. This town have a sewer or a dump anywhere nearby? If so, let's slip inside and make them lose the smell trail. Yuck.

Sorry, I did this in Julian's dice log

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Vassarious listens to the initial greeting, and when it is apparent they're waiting for others, they will slip out to change forms back and forth again, just long enough to report this new location and group to Halcyone before returning to spy on the group.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Right; assuming everything's in sequence, I'll inform Vassarious that the inn has been compromised and the Lizardmen can track by smell.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

You're in luck, have two options. One is rolling in some conveniently available excrement. The other is going for a swim in the river the town is built around.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Eh, the clothes will probably get dry faster than can clean the **** off them. I hope the next world I go to has good plumbing.

Now let's hide in an alleyway and dry off while I continue to sort through the surveillance on the grand lodge.

I'm pretty sure I found at least two, but I'm not sure if they're the right kind of worried, am I?

HT for possible infection from the dip in the lake
--

I suppose we're having a second meeting now.
"The inn's compromised, the lizards here can track by smell. I'm going to try to lose my trackers and dry off. I suppose you don't need any support on tracing your quarry? Any swarms needed?"

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Halcyone and Vassarious are slowly conversing through the gems, when the two of them each run across a clue.



Vasarious's group explicitly mention "The Stone Melder", as something they have access to.



Halcyone picks out two Orc Knight Shamans who are both concerned about the security of a specific obscured statue... but who aren't telling anyone else. One is a huge orc with a veritable mane of hair. The other is a small female orc with a large scar running from her chin up her cheek and through her ear.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Well, first things first. Let's assign a swarm to... Lion and Scarry.

"OK, so your mark is saying they have a stone melder as something they have on hand. I've got two Grand Order orcs on tape talking about how they're worried about one of the two foggy statues... I don't think it's a wild guess to say that they're related."

"Who do you think we should snatch and interrogate? One of the Grand Order people or one of your group? I'll go fetch my sleep minineedler... Probably should have done that before raiding the melder vault."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"It would appear we have found the source of our pending disaster... It is likely this group releasing the slumbering melder that causes the trouble. Can you redirect a swarm of your bugs to keep tabs on this group so we can track them to their hidden prize before their unveiling? I will monitor them firsthand until your creatures arrive unless they depart to seek out their melder.

If these up-and-comers have any idea on how to compartmentalize their secrets, then unless we get a clear verification that one of these individuals has the information we need, the interrogation of the rebels will likely be fruitless. I doubt the Knight Shaman have any more information of use to us.

Am I getting ahead of myself and making too many assumptions?

Once we question someone, they will need to be converted or contained, which adds a level of complication."

What is our timetable until the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Did they let slip which statue?

"You got it."
I'll attach a swarm to the three in the group. That makes:
-> Lion
-> Scarry
-> Porglin
-> Granary #1
-> Granary #2
-> Nodding Knight
-> Porglin's House
-> 5 Lodges
-> 8 Free

"Fair point on the Knight Shamans, though I think it's a reasonable inference that at least one of the three who are talking about getting everyone together for an 'unveiling' know or know who knows where the melder's being kept. I'm not sure if we can just surveil our way to someone checking up on the (frozen?) melder."

Well we arrived during the day, and it's night now, so I'd guess about 36 hours.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Yes. You now have a specific block of ice that is "suspicious".


Done.

You're at just under 48 hours. The event will happen in the late afternoon. The 72 hours did not start when you arrived, and the days of the three locations you've been in are not synched.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"I got an idea! We can tip off the Grand Order people that their ice vault's been compromised, by delivering a threat to them. Send them a letter stamped with my blood, saying that I replaced the suspicious ice block yesterday, and that I'll release the melder in a two days unless they meet some absurd demand. They'll check the ice block, see it's gone missing, and go into panic mode. What do you think?"

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Well, I'm just more playing on their psychology here. They already have deemed me a threat. Which is very fair. I make a crazy threat, they're probably inclined to at least put a little effort into investigating it. Heck, the blood would make them want to open the envelope even if it was closed. Might even make this stoneworker's conspiracy move things up faster or make a mistake. On the other hand, explaining something we don't have a full grasp on might be a tougher sell to get them serious about."

"But if you think we're better off handling this on our own, I can work with that."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"I suppose we could wait a day or confirmation, whichever comes first. Though I am left wondering if assuming 'releasing the melder' is 'the key moment starting the carnage' is entirely correct. Like, if they release the melder, but if the carnage only really begins once the melder gets access to cold storage, the key moment might not be when they release the melder..."

"Honestly if the destruction were more localized and less total, I'd have half a mind to let them get it out of their system. Given Uglin's popularity and lack of visible signs of being cracked down upon, I think it's fair to say that they've already rejected the safer path to their goals."



So, did we end up dropping the deduction system, or did it just get sidetracked by all the other things that have gone on?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Its just dropped to the background for a while. Things got moving pretty quickly.



Who: ... You've mostly got this in the bag. You have two groups that are guilty and have connections to the larger group, and you have them under 24 hour surveilance. You've got at least an additional +2 clues there, and probably +3. You've got this group of Orcs who think the city orcs are being ruled over by the others and feel like they need more respect. So you've got a total of +5, and two groups that could lead you to more of them. The only thing you are really missing here is the leader of the group and a membership roll.



What: You know a block of ice with a stone melder is missing and has been taken by the group. You've got another +2 there, I think. The only thing you're really missing is a good rundown of the stone-melder's tactics once it gets loose, and I'm not sure that's even part of the "what". Total is +4, but I figure this one is done.



Where: you have an additional +1 clue on where, for the tracking roll on the ice going out of the basement. A deduction can be made for that. The "where" you want is the location of the ice block the stone melder is in. This is very much still an active question.



When: +1 from Vassarious listening in on the meeting. You already have a strong prediction, but a few more details about what they will do when would be nice.


Why: This one is weird. I think you've mostly got the motivations down and this is a solved question.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

So that's in addition to the one from earlier, right?

OK. Provided that V agrees with the plan to defer alerting the Knights until we have a lock on who the leader of the conspiracy is, I'll spend the next little while thinking about everything we've learned, and reading that Stonewyrk book. Maybe it has, "how to destroy rogue melders" or something in it.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

No, its the same as the one from earlier.




Who: One of the granary orcs appears to be the second in command of the group. They expect the proper leader to show up soon.



What: This one is completed, I think


Where: No additional clues....


When: It seems they plan on unvieling the stone melder tonight... but it won't get free for another 44 hours or so... it must talk them into letting it loose, or figure out a way to escape.



Halcyone spends a lot of time trying to figure out how the stone melders work. In the end she has nothing to show for her work except mystic vocabulary she's not sure that she understands.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Right, so they're probably going to be ready to unveil the melder tonight. Do you want to our weapons ready so we can just roll in and get them, or do you have a different solution in mind?"

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"While I did like to notion of leading the knights to their quarry to do their own dirty work, I suppose it would be more reliable to intercede and attend the unveiling ourselves and secure the prisoner."

When Vassarious takes the Ice Orc form, are there any icy powers in the template he picked up as the base? That may come in handy in keeping this guy frozen...

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Good, I'll gather up the equipment and hopefully I can make it back in time."

V just has a suit of armour, and they were wearing it, right? I'll go fetch my rifle, cutlass, construction foam (enough to seal several doors shut), and explosives (enough to breach a whole in the side of an average building).

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Halcyone goes back to the Cave to pick up her gear. Will she be doing anything to make it look less out-of-place?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Well I was kind of hoping the barrel of construction foam would resemble a barrel of something else. Maybe beer.

Failing that I'll look for a barrel to hide the foam barrel in. It should be denser than water, so maybe I could hide other items in there too?
Would I have happened to have brought along anything like a backpack? Doesn't need to be huge, just enough to carry 30 lb. of explosives and gauss clips.

Does the rifle happen to have a folding stock? UT says no but maybe? How difficult would it be to stuff the rifle down a pant leg? Maybe it would be a little easier given that the leg isn't full of leg.

Are there rules about openly displaying weapons in public? Not sure if the cutlass would cause a problem.

Could I get some clothes that might do better to help conceal items underneath them, like a long and flowing dress? Maybe I could hold a rifle at the ready while walking around.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

rolling IQ... 11... sure, you can have it look like a barrel. Or two barrels.


You brought a backpack. You had to walk through the door with all that stuff.

lets roll for it... 50% chance...No. Sorry. make sure to bring it next mission.


No, weapons go everywhere.

Or long and flowing robes... yeah, that will work. The two dominant biomes are desert and Artic, so bulking up on clothes works.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Let's go with a barrel.

Cool, I suppose it matches local backpacks (though I suppose a barrel and a backpack might be a bit much.

Right, so I'll need to make a Holdout roll at -4+X (where X is the clothing bonus) for the rifle. Can the easier to conceal minineedler just be lumped in under the same roll? A Nun's habit was a +5, so that's probably the ceiling.
Looks like a pretty bare success, then again I don't think I'm being searched.

Maybe an Acting roll to get across town? Trundling across town carrying a big ol' barrel, barely breaking a sweat might come off as a little odd.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Halcyone decides rolling the barrel will look most natural, and once into the more populated area of the cave, starts rolling the barrel rather than carrying it. Its still a fair distance. Where is Halcyone bringing the stuff?


As Halcyone is walking back, more orcs trickle into the granary... including one who seems to be the leader.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

I suppose V told me about the granary? I'll get into the general area of there and then contact V for further instruction.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Yes, Vassarious slipped out and took orcish form to update you on the granary and returned to watch for... exactly this development!

The elemental watches over the group and examines the interaction to finish evaluating the social dynamic, as to the leader and his lieutenants and who might be harboring their prize.

-

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

The leader listens to the groups discussion about unveiling their "prize". After about 15 minutes of back and forth, he interjects, and everyone falls into line: They will be exposing just the face of the prisoner, and they will be doing it tonight. He assigns them to come up with strategies for negotiating with it, down to the specific words.



It appears they are waiting to get the wording right, but also for an allied knight-shaman to show up to roll back the ice.



Halcyone arrives near the granary.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

I guess who the leader is isn't particularly important.

I suppose Halcyone heard all this from V or the swarms on Porglin and the others.

And I guess to go to wherever the block of ice is. I check the swarms on the three knights I'm monitoring. Are any of them on the move? Could the swarm send me an alert once they get near the granary (i.e. a block or two)? How many doors are there on the granary?

I'll try to contact V.

"Hey V. I'm thinking you can keep an eye out for the knight they requested while I seal up the doors of the granary. Once the knight gets here we can knock 'em out, then proceed with apprehending all the conspirators in the granary. Sound good to you?"

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Just to double-check, Vassarious has checked out the place a bit and the Melder is likely at another location than the granary, is that right? If not, they will mist around the place and see if they can locate it before going out to meet Halcyone.

If they are unable to locate the Melder:

"I believe they will be moving to another location where the Melder is being held. If the granary is blocked, they will be unable to do so.

We could waylay their knight and replace him, or continue to follow them until the location of the Stone Melder is revealed before we strike.

The threat will remain until the Stone Melder is secured, so I am hesitant to tip our hand before it is positively located.


----------------------------


How many Orcs are inside the granary? How large is it? Is it just an open area or are there rooms and levels? Is there anything else of interest here?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

No, the others are giving him a lot of deference and the decision was not made until he decided it. He just listened to his team before making the decision.

From the swarms, yes. And it would have been from Porglin's housemate, not Porglin himself.

You don't know where the block of ice is.

The air elemental and the microbots move around the granary. The building has four main rooms to store grain in, plus a big front room for taking out and distributing the grain, and a back room to keep shovels, wheelbarrows, empty sacks, measuring scales, ladders, chutes, and other assorted gear The meeting is one of the empty grain storage rooms. Its about 25 feet around and 12 feet tall.

The meeting is in the front area, though they entered through the back. The front area has three large doors that are currently shut with bars. The back area has a single double door. The holding rooms are accessed through the main room.

The knights at the lodge are still there. The knight who was nodding at Uglin's speech seems to be at home with his family.

The soul melder is not in the granary, it seems.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Well I mean it's not important to us who he is. Like this isn't Uglin or anything.

"Honestly my preference would be to catch and interrogate them now to prevent them from trying something once they reach the block of ice. That way all we have to do is haul back a large ice cube and tell the grand order to take better care of their stuff."

"That replacement strategy sounds good. They haven't had a pass phrase or anything, right? Only problem I got is I have no idea where the knight is right now."

Hm. Can I disperse my remaining swarms in the area surrounding the vicinity to keep tabs on who's coming and going?

"I suppose that's fair. Let's wait around a little and see what happens."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Yes, the remaining swarms can do that.



The group seems a little confused at why the knight they are expecting is so late. Halcyone can see why: Scarry and Lion are both busy at the lodge. They use mascaline pronouns for the knight, and Lion keeps on looking for a way to exit, so its probably him.


After quite some effort, Lion gets out of the lodge and heads for the granary.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

I'll look for somewhere to hide that he's likely to pass by, so I can ambush him with the minineedler I have on hand. Is he wearing armour?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"We will need to question him, so do take care to leave him breathing. As the conspiracy's ice manipulator and the one who smuggled the Melder out, he's likely to have the location, and while it may be unlikely, it's possible they are the only one that does. "


Seeing the state of Halycone's arms, Vassarious asks...
Are you alright?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Don't worry; this is basically high tech blowgun. It can cut through an armored suit, but it'll probably hurt less than me punching him in the face."

I shrug.

"I cut them off myself. Accidentally I should add. It's survivable. I've met Tendriloids who literally served all their legs for lunch. The main difference is that Corco is going to replace my leg, while they were thrown on to the streets or worse after dinner."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Served themselves? How horrific... I'm looking forward to helping you to liberate your people.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

He is wearing his armor, yes.



Halcyone has the drop on him.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Really it's not the whole pseudo-cannibalism that bothers me. That's survivable and reversible. It's that they did a cost-benefit analysis, and replacing an OAI is cheaper than fixing an OAI. That's the idea I rebelled against."

"I'm not even sure if that would be enough. It's the whole system the Securities created. The robots won their freedom, and they went back to building organic servitors. If the organic AI are freed, who are they going to make disposable next?"

Might want to remove your email there.
Well let's just blow through the armor. It's like the mail the other orcs had, right?

I fire four minineedler shots at his torso.
That's three hits (Minineedler is rcl 2)
So that would break through up to DR 14 (Minineedler has Armor Divisor 3). I'll leave it to you to roll for the sleep poison (HT-6, failure by 5 or more results in unconsciousness. Less is just drowsy)

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Lion fails his HT roll by quite a bit and falls to the ground.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

I hustle over to drag him off to... That's a good question. I'll look for an entrance to a sewer or something.

Maybe not good enough for some place as concealed as a sewer.

I drag him off to whatever place I find to conceal him for interrogation.

"Hey V, you're going to need his armor to impersonate him, right?"

I'll remove his armor. Then I'll tie him up or glue him to a wall if I didn't bring rope.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Ah, that is what you meant by a blowgun, you've drugged him. Do you have an antidote? How long until we can question him?"

Vassarious looks at their situation with some concern. The Knight is already overdue and now it seems unlikely they will get intel before having to impersonate him if that is still the plan. Vassarious would have preferred letting the quarry lead them to the prize, but Halcyone has proven effective, so they are prepared to follow her lead.

"Yes, the armor will simplify matters. I do hope they were not relying on this knight to lead them to where the melder is being kept.

So is the plan that I take this one's shape and try and get them to lead us to the Melder? How do you want to proceed?

Vassarious takes on the appearance of the tranquilized Knight.

How many conspirators are there in the building?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Like, five, ten minutes? He's already really late. Maybe they won't notice ten minutes more?"

"Their leader seems to be involved in everything, and I don't think he's expecting a shapeshifter. Though he might not trust our knight here completely, so I don't think you could lead him on a wild goose chase if the knight's the only person who knows where the melder is."

"More or less. I'd be a bit hesitant to try and impersonate someone I barely knew, but desperate times. If you're hesitant we could just trap them in the granary, and interrogate them after they're captured."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Halcyone drags him down a smaller street and into a stairwell that doesn't seem to be used much. Alternatively, she can try to open one of the many shops closed for the night in this area.


rolling... a 4 (needed 3 or lower on 1d6)

The squid creature from beyond this reality glues her poisoned victim to a wall (with the construction foam, I take it?)



Seven.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Let's try one of those shops:
I guess I get into the backrooms of one of these shops.

Well unless Halcyone's suddenly mutated and now extrudes glue like ink...

I'll wait with him until he awakes, monitoring the situation in the granary with the microbot swarms. I suppose they're going to be on the move right after V arrives shapeshifted as him, but if V arrives late enough, or they're delayed long enough (*hint hint*), I might get enough time to interrogate him.

I'll be trying to scare the living day lights out of him. To that end, I'll be nudging him awake with my cutlass (perhaps covered in blood from my wound) and will not be attempting to hide any of my inhuman (inorcish?) features.

"Tell me everything you know about the melder that you and [name of the conspiracy] stole."

If I don't know the name, I'll just say "your friends".

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Of course. We have so many bugs I can monitor the entire area around the granary too."

"They got another knight on their side. And they could probably bust through the ice with scrapers or melt it off with fire. Probably not ideal, but still possible."
"I suppose we could just take them out at our leisure. We know who all the players are, so it's just a matter of waiting until they head off to the melder."

"Well, I'm not one to decline help. You want to shapeshift into something that might terrify him? It's good for an interrogation to have a theme.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Vassarious will assist however Halcyone suggests... If they want a menacing creature, a good cop, or what have you, they are following Halcyone's lead.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Halcyone discretely enters a shop, and Vassarious follows not far behind*. Their prisoner is encased in the foam.

*I need a specific form here... I'm assuming the genesis form for now.

Will Halcyone be using a light source?

He wakes up, tries to move, and looks around. "Where am I? What are you? This isn't ice! How dare you attack a knight of the grand order!"

Lion resists for a bit, but Halcyone is pulling out her tentacles and twitching them as though they want to grab something. After he tries a little ice summoning, and finds the areas covered by the foam won't do it, starts asking why she thinks its him. Confident in her knowledge, she shares just enough to prove this is more than an idle guess.

He asks why she's interested, and starts negotiating... mostly he wants to possibly live, and if he dies, that he'll be killed some normal way like stabbing, and not being entombed in goop for a thousand years.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Given that Lion doesn't need one, I don't need one (contacts), and (depending on form) V doesn't need one, I don't think we need one.

"Here? This is a bakery I think. Sadly, no cakes. It's kind of rich coming from you, all this righteous indignation about the grand order, given that you broke their vow to guard the melders."
"On the seventeenth, at sunset, Tuguk will release a scourge of blood, death and servitude. Given your people's rudimentary understanding of magic, it's obvious the scourge is the melder you stole."

"Now, tell me what you know and the only thing you need to worry about is how to explain everything to your fellow Knights."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Rather than take a humanoid form, Vassarious will remain in elemental guise, gently wafting about in some moments and violently thrashing in others, while echoing her words in whispy wind-speak to add emphasis, punctuation, and gravitas to Halycole's declaration of prophecy.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Its going to get away? How do you know that? What are you!?"


"Takik's butcher shop! its in Takik's butcher shop. It's two streets down from the lodge. There is a painting of three hooves and a set of horns on the sign! Its in the back, all frosted up and added to so its shaped differently. Gamoki is in the second largest block of ice there."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"It has been foretold."
I'll neglect to mention that it was foretold this week.
"An interdimensional traveller. Fixing problems as I come across them."

Will it be faster to send V or a swarm?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"I'll verify the location and keep watch until you can direct a swarm there. "


We will see if this one wants to confess to his order, or if we will have to turn him in... Vassarious can bring him in for his confession in the form of the ice orc merchant they've met since they're on the lookout for Halcyone.

Vassarious heads to the location at their best speed.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Did you foretell it? how?"


The air elemental.


"I will confess to my theft."


The air elemental finds the ice-house, full of slabs of meat and blocks of ice. The second largest block could contain the cube the melders are kept in, but its a different shape, even larger. Vassarious cannot see inside of the ice block.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"No, I didn't. They're vague, sometimes poetic, but very accurate."

Maybe V could turn into a fire elemental and get a better look at the inside of the block.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Vassarious will take the form of an Ice Orc as they have done before to see if he can sense the interior of the ice.

If the existing template doesn't have the needed advantage, Vassrious will improvise the form by adding Penetrating Vision (ice only), or improvise it as a stunt, whichever seems easier... (feel free to make any rolls or kick it back to me to do...)

And then will check in with Halcyone with their findings...


Oh, let's not melt all this stuff...

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

So seeing through ice with penetrating vision isn't within the power set... But either clarifying the ice to be see through with control or detecting the shape that it is formed around is kosher, and those both seem close.



Choose:

Clarifying the ice uses the TK and Create on the template. It will cost 1 ER, and uses artist (ice forming), which defaults from a bunch of art and crafting skills. V has art!, and can roll directly against that.

OR:

Scanning Sense (Ice Sense) for 5 yards isn't worth more than [5]. It lets you sense the shape of anything encased in the ice, as well as the structure of the ice. The base abilities cost at least [25] (for a ST 10 engulfing binding). V can roll occult! at -2 and pay the 2 FP or ER a defaulted ability.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Let's feel through the ice rather than try and disturb it, and Vassarious will trade 2 FP for skill to negate the penalty.

Occult -2 = 12 (+ spend 2 extra FP for skill to bring it back to 14)

3d6 <= 14
5 + 2 + 4 = 11 ... success

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Vassarious gently pokes and prods and feels the ice, inspecting its form and looking for a stone melder in its center. It takes a lot of power*, but V identifies a hollow shape in the center of the ice, shaped just like a person, but putting a lot more weight on the ice than a person would.



* V has 5 ER with the form in addition to the FP. The ER can only be spent on the power. Please specify how much of the 4 energy spent are ER and FP.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Vassarious will use 2 ER and 2 FP. They then call Halcyone on the communicator.


"I have the Melder located. Shall we call in the Knights and turn in the conspirators?"

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Well, my preference would be to have the lot of the conspirators killed to minimize the blow back on the greater stoneworker movement, but it may be simpler to tell the knights. I'll go seal them into the granary in case any of them get ideas."

I'll bring the tub of construction foam out towards the granary and seal the doors up.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

"Well, maybe. Any hardline knights could see it as a vindication of their fears and crackdown hard. I get that we're not here to fix all their problems, but I rather not be adding to them either."

"Noted. I'll direct a swarm over there."

I direct a swarm over there.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

That's a lot of doors... Maybe six big double doors at the front and another one in the back. Of course, you're just lining the edges... one cubic foot per four feet of sealed edge? that's four cubic feet per sealed door, for 28 total. Make a stealth roll as well.


The swarm is not far behind the dragon, and arrives.

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

I keep quiet as I slip up to each door, holding the barrel and nozzle carefully to avoid any rattling. I hold the nozzle just close enough to the frame to maintain control while far enough away to keep the sound of the spray from propogating past the door.

"V, the doors to the granary are sealed now. I figure we can just inform the knights here, and they should be able to sort everything out now."

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

No one hears Halcyone seal up the doors. You're down 28 cubic feet.



Halcyone is outside of the sealed granary.



Vassarious is in the meat storage, but the block with the melder in it. A swarm is there as well.



You have found the conspirators, and found the stone melder. How do you want to wrap this up?

Re: Corco's Villa (IC)
 

Well if V's opposed to demolishing the granary on top of all the conspirators, I say we dolly (or drag) the block containing the apparent melder in front of the grand order lodge and tell them that it was stolen, but we brought it back and caught the people responsible. Also, their tunnel is a huge gap in their security so they should make it more secure.