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Not Quite Lovecraft

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She Knows
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    • "Alright." You took a deep breath. "Guess the next thing to do would be to talk to the waitress."

    "Hope she knows." Robert rubbed at his arm before settling again. "We need to stop this."

    You walked back down to the dining car and checked around until you found the small compartment set aside for the staff. The waitress was resting in there and looked up. Something flashed across her face before it cleared into a pleasant smile. "Hi, can I help you?"

    You waved Robert back to block the doorway. The waitress tensed nervously. "We were hoping you might have some answers for some of the odd things we've seen."

    "Odd things?" she parroted.

    You nodded. "Like Robert's gem being stolen."

    She stood up. "There's been a theft? We should alert the guard." She started forward but you stopped her. "We did that before, it didn't help."

    The waitress frowned. "Ah." She didn't question your comment, or ask what you were talking about. She knew.

    "How is time repeating?"

    The waitress grinned, more bold now that her cover was blown. "Does it matter? It's not going to stop."

    "No, it will," Robert said slowly. "It only goes five times, doesn't it?"

    "That's all we need." The waitress shrugged.

    "So who's your accomplice? Where are they?" you demanded.

    "Safe where they can't be interrupted," she said happily.

    [ ]Search the waitress for anything useful
    [ ]Try to charm her to talk, talk up the cleverness of it
    [ ]Try to intimidate her into talking, mention how you've faced these things before
    [ ]Break into the luggage car
    [ ]Write-in
     
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    • We should smell her, with Nemo's nose. She's been near who we're looking for.

    Also, she's selling pretty arrogant. I favor the charming approach.

    However, most importantly, I think she's remembering the route, so whatever we do, she'll react immediately at the start of the next loop. This could include setting the train staff against us.
     
    Well I'm vindicated!
    So we have the waitress and at least one passenger in on it.
    Not sure if smell will help. The waitress has been near a lot of people. Maybe if we can sense any lingering supernatural traces?

    I'm hoping the guard isn't in on it, otherwise we would have noticed something in their reactions.

    I favor the charming approach too. Let her talk. Play dumb. Maybe even let her think she is convincing us.

    [X]Try to charm her to talk, talk up the cleverness of it
     
    @Mystic Pentagram Thank you so much for your plan, we finally have a concrete lead! I was so worried we wouldn't be making any progress in this loop..

    [X]Try to intimidate her into talking, mention how you've faced these things before. And..
    -[X] Take off your locket, let her see you as you truly are. Channel Nemo's eyes into yours as you peer onto hers.
    -[X] Tell her she is a fool. Once the Gateway is opened, every single soul in this train is going to be devoured by Yog-Sogoth.
    -    [X] She has no idea what she's toying with, now tell them everything if she doesn't want us all to suffer a fate worse than death.

    We are short on time, so I propose we try leverage the darker side of Oliver's social prowess. Take a chance?
     
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    I'm going to suggest not going for intimidation first. If a softer approach fails we can go for it. But ideally she will start next loop thinking we are a potential ally or something. That way she doesn't immediately act against us, and is caught by surprise when we act.

    Well that or... I wonder if anyone on this train has sleeping pills. The scrawls said not to sleep after all. I wonder if sleeping means you don't remember the loop or something. (Or maybe something worse)
     
    If we go for a softer touch first, then urging the direness of the situation - authenticity in the next attempt suffers. Right now she's seeing Oliver as an unassuming nobody easy to be underestimated. An eldritch display from a hardened veteran coupled with the fear of god Yog-Sogoth might get her to change tracks.

    Praising her plans isn't going bring her over to our cause next loop. Might give us some clues about the Grey haired cultist, but if we instead can get her to stop cooperating with them next loop this would be a major victory against the unseen foes.
     
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    _brightwing said:
    If we go for a softer touch first, then urging the direness of the situation - authenticity in the next attempt suffers. Right now she's seeing Oliver as an unassuming nobody easy to be underestimated. An eldritch display from a hardened veteran coupled with the fear of god Yog-Sogoth might get her to change tracks.

    Praising her plans isn't going bring her over to our cause next loop. Might give us some clues about the Grey haired cultist, but if we instead can get her to stop cooperating with them next loop this would be a major victory against the unseen foes.
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    Bringing her over to our side was never the point. In all likelihood she is committed. I really doubt it being possible, not without a much better understanding of why she is doing what she is doing. The point is to make her think we are on her side.

    If we really need to put the fear of eldritch into her then the sudden whiplash of us going from nobody to nightmare should more then do the job for us.
     
    She's an unwitting accomplice based on my read of her. Combined with Oliver's social prowess and warning her the true nature of the occult - name dropping the gateway and the outer god might be sufficient to panic her into abandoning things. Touch of Occult as we know has profound effects on mundanes. I really think this could work.

    If she's a practitioner, then we'll know about their capabilities and battle it out. Relying on our rolls for the villain monologue is a hit or miss..

    Edit: Anyways, if you guys want to go the charm route at least add some tactics. This is a pretty critical moment before the final loop.
     
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    • Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on Jan 14, 2024 at 2:06 PM, finished with 10 posts and 5 votes.
    • [X]Try to charm her to talk, talk up the cleverness of it
      [X]Break into the luggage car
      [X]Try to intimidate her into talking, mention how you've faced these things before. And..
      -[X] Take off your locket, let her see you as you truly are. Channel Nemo's eyes into yours as you peer onto hers.
      -[X] Tell her she is a fool. Once the Gateway is opened, every single soul in this train is going to be devoured by Yog-Sogoth.
      -[X] She has no idea what she's toying with, now tell them everything if she doesn't want us all to suffer a fate worse than death.
    Click to expand...
     
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    • Waitress Confession
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    • "It's quite the accomplishment you've managed," you said. "Managing to open the gates between worlds."

    "It will be our crowning achievement," the waitress said happily.

    "What do you plan to have happen when Yog-Sogoth arrives?"

    "Well, he'll share his knowledge with us, and bring the world to a new age of enlightenment."

    "Did your partner tell you that?"

    The waitress hesitated before nodding.

    You nodded. "Hopefully he doesn't decide to change his mind at the last moment. He's the one performing the ritual after all, and you're out here."

    "I play an important part," she protested.

    "Keeping an eye out for possible interruptions? It's a time loop, it's not going to change without us doing something. And you've seen how ineffective we've been so far." You gestured to Robert.

    "I also took the guard's keys," she pointed out. "No access to the other places on the train."

    [ ]Ask for the keys
    [ ]Threaten her for the keys
    [ ]Take the keys by force
    [ ]Reveal Yog-Sogoth will destroy the world on arrival
    [ ]Write-in
     
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    • [X]Reveal Yog-Sogoth will destroy the world on arrival. And..
    -[X] Take off your locket, let her see you as you truly are. Channel Nemo's eyes into yours as you peer onto hers.
    -[X] Tell her she is a fool. Once the Gateway is opened, every single soul in this train is going to be devoured by Yog-Sogoth. A fate worse than mere death. She has not seen the true face of the Occult, faced down gods.
    -[X] "He whispers promises, but ask yourself.. Where is the knowledge he claims to share? The revolutions in math, science, philosophy? He knows well this world. He need not to be in here in the flesh. No.. he waits because he cannot feast until he crosses the threshold."
    -[X] Tell her she is at a crossroads, a choice to make. Does she want to make a difference for once in her life?
     
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    [:V] "Give key. Receive not having your soul mangled."

    [] _brightwing

    [X] JayTar
     
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    [X]Reveal Yog-Sogoth will destroy the world on arrival. And..

    @_brightwing

    Might add something like:
    "Yog-sogoth is clearly already in communication with this world. Where's all the knowledge that he's shared? He doesn't need to be here for revolutions in math, science, or philosophy. What's more likely, that he won't share until he's here in person because he cares and loves us so much or because he can't eat until he's here in person?"

    Sigh, there's a sucker born every minute
     
    Does taking off our locket pause the effect? Or does it continue to function so long as it isn't opened? Because opening it is rather irreversible and I would much rather not.
    If nothing else we wear the locket for a very good reason. (Avoid attention from the King in Yellow) So I'm not sure taking it off is worth it just for the dramatic point. We could just show off some ability or something like claws.
     
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    The locket explicitly masks all Oliver's eldritchness making him appear a baseline human pre lighthouse, that's what we have functionally right now. I'm not sure if we have the other effects - the devouring flower can see us for instance. Maybe we need to work on it more? Invest greater workings on it for powers.

    There shouldn't be issues dropping the effect. With the locket on she might be inclined to rationalize it as the trick of the light or something.

    @Tascion Good idea, I'll see about including the dialogue in cohesively. Give me a moment.

    Edit:

    He whispers promises, but ask yourself.. Where is the knowledge he claims to share? The revolutions in math, science, philosophy? He knows well this world. He need not to be in here in the flesh. No.. he waits because he cannot feast until he crosses the threshold.
     
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    I mean, our intent when we made it was to make something to hide us from supernatural pursuit. So it would be rather bad if the locket didn't do that.
    I assume that it protects us in sort of a Clark Kent way. Any attempts to track down "Oliver the supernatural problem solver" will fail as no such person is currently available. Only "Oliver the perfectly normal painter".

    Also... would removing the locket even do anything right now? We don't have a massive overwhelming supernatural presence, and from the sound of it this person isn't highly informed. "Did your partner tell you that?"
    So would they even have a highly refined supernatural sense?

    Anyway the point of us having met the descendant, of Yog-Sogoth is a good point. It gives us credibility. Lemme throw out a plan:

    [X] Plan Soft approach
    -[X] Reveal that you have met a descendant of Yog-Sogoth before to build credibility. Describing them in detail if necessary to prove it.
    -[X] Say that as a knowledgeable in these matters you have concerns. Suggest that she tell you more and give you the key as you can help.

    If this fails we can get to trying to threaten or scare her. But an extra minute of conversation costs practically nothing.
     
    Blacksheep said:
    I would point out you've met a child, or descendant, of Yog-Sogoth before, who was working in robotics
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    I feel remarkably weird debating with the QM, but...

    The sins of the father are visited upon the son, but that does not make the son culpable for the actions of the father.

    Just because Yog-Sogoth had some kids that turned out alright doesn't make him a good or trustworthy person. I'd also expect that which aspect is focused on during his summoning could play a significant role as well. Maybe Yog-Sogoth can have kids in this world is because some or all of his more consuming nature is locked out of expressing itself in this world by the gem.

    As another example, maybe the outcome for kids is irrelevant to Yog-Sogoth and all that matters to him is that they exist such that he can orient on this speck of a world in the vastness of full reality. Whether or not a kid is good doesn't stop them from being useful targeting flares for Yog-Sogoth, and them being his kids might not even stop him from eating them. Maybe we stop Yog-Sogoth from coming into our realm this week and next week we stop the death of an innocent targeted just because their blood makes calling collect to Yog-Sogoth easier.
     
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