Abrogation (Steampunk)

[Alivaril]

[X] Go find an inn or tavern, order a meal, and cheerfully eavesdrop on those inside. News of your exploits shouldn't have reached this town yet, but if it has, that means the opposition has a method of communication capable of traveling faster than you. If it still hasn't, you can still learn what on Earth is going on
[X] [Name] Name your horse. "Neighilist"

The good news: People barely give you a second glance. Neighilist is snoozing away in the stable behind the inn, the food is honestly better than you'd expected from peasant fare, and the smog seems to clear up a little when you go indoors. The innkeeper for The Blackened Hammer inn is is brisk, but not exactly impolite. Factory workers seem to come here to gossip, drink, and socialize after work hours, which you fall solidly in.

The bad: You seem to have overestimated the usefulness of eavesdropping. Yes, thank you, you already knew factory workers are more likely to suffer from black lungs; hearing that the friend of a stranger has them isn't at all surprising or informative. Broken factory components? Again, unsurprising; you get what you pay for. Complaints about long hours? Still nothing new. Hearing about unusually low taxes is a surprise, but considering the air quality here, you're guessing it's necessary to keep people from outright leaving.

Really, perhaps the only thing worth your time is the severe lack of people talking about Inspired, nobility, or even any form of a town guard. Taxes are collected, so they have to have something, but they don't seem to be intrusive enough for anyone to complain about them. At least, not within the sample size you acquired.

You're also noticing a severe gender disparity in the room. There are about two dozen males and one female: You. At least they seem well-behaved. If anything, those present seem to be deliberately avoiding eye contact.

...Upon reflection, you vaguely realize there is one other job involving wrapped parcels, traveling, and an independent lifestyle. Namely, being an Empowered. You're not sure that's why the workers seem to be avoiding eye contact, but it's as good a theory as any other you can conjure up on short notice.

---

See QM's Note below before voting.​

[] Bribe Generously tip the innkeeper and ask him if there's any news relevant to someone traveling through the area. You can afford it.
-[] And if he knows of any job openings for a non-Inspired mechanical artisan.
-[] Who's in charge of this city, anyway?

[] Continue on your way. That was a waste of a perfectly good hour.
-[] ...AFTER staying the night in the inn. You shouldn't be riding after sundown anyway.

[] Wander around the city, keeping your eyes out for anything interesting or useful.

[] Stand up and announce that no, in fact, you are not an Empowered. Such a specific denial will likely solidify their belief in that particular theory, but you can work with that.

[] Write-in

---

Since this worked pretty well for Fragmentation: Please provide even a little reasoning (not as part of the [X]'d IC vote itself) for why you vote a specific way, even if it's just a sentence or two. What you're hoping to accomplish by voting that way, why it seems like a good idea, something else along those lines. Your vote will not be counted otherwise.

Spoiler: Reminder: Empowered Term

Also under "Informational" threadmarks.

Those who saw the light of Inspiration and chose to devour it whole, Empowered can receive temporary physical enhancements when they experience sufficiently strong emotions. A disturbing number of Empowered seem to consider it their duty to kill Inspired whenever they get the opportunity, probably because their own "gift" becomes stronger with each Inspired slain. Ignorant heathens.

It isn't particularly difficult for an Inspired to create an Empowered. It is, however, considered to be a suicidally stupid plan. Biological creations are notoriously finicky to begin with. Intelligent ones, especially ones which were once human? Ones who directly benefit from killing you? So very much worse.

Just like Inspired, the Empowered cannot automatically recognize Inspired or other Empowered.[/spoiler]

 

[Alivaril]

Well, an unexpected Windows update just ate my character sheet update. A brief summary: You have about two pounds of coins divided into two containers. One, a rainproof leather coin pouch, you're using for normal purchases. The other is a wooden jewelry box and contains the vast majority of your funds.

200 of the coins are gold 4-gram coins; you believe one of them might be paid to a factory worker for around forty hours of work, but you're honestly a little fuzzy on that. There might be an extra zero in there or something else along those lines.

You also have a healthy number of smaller (1g) silver coins and you've exclusively used that kind to pay for goods and services thus far.

In its closest modern equivalent: You believe you're carrying about 200,000 USD, 99% of which is in conspicuously large coins. Spending them is probably going to be a pain.

Because when you're running away from home, why should you do a poor job of it?

 

[Alivaril]

[x] Bribe Generously tip the innkeeper and ask him if there's any news relevant to someone traveling through the area. You can afford it.
-[X] Who's in charge of this city, anyway?
-[x] What news does he have of the region/surrounding territory?
--[x] Specifically, what can one expect to find traveling further west?

The half-giant of an innkeeper seems slightly less subdued than he was the last time you hailed him. All you got back then were simple grunts and nods, to the point where you'd started to suspect he was mute or dumb. Now one could almost think he wasn't serving alcohol to a room half-full of loud peasants.

"Aye?"

It takes an effort of will to keep surprise from your face. It's a rather odd thing to focus on, but you think this might be the first time you've ever heard anyone with an actual accent. You'd started to suspect that the peasantry went through speaking lessons similar to the ones you went through.

Eventually, you realize you'd been staring for entirely too long and shake your head. You raise a pair of small silver coins atop one palm.

"Do you have time to talk?"

The coins are retrieved and hidden inside one fist almost immediately. Despite this, the innkeeper looks somewhat uneasy.

"Name's Vincent, if ye at all care. Despite what th' stories say, the staff o' inns ain't omni..." His forehead wrinkles. "We don't know everything. You'd be better askin' someone willin' to badmouth others."

You quickly wave the idea away.

"I'm not asking you to betray any confidences or secrets, I'm just in a bit of a hurry." You pat Skybreaker's coverings with one hand. "Inspired are unstable even when they're in a good mood. I'd rather not be later than they'd expect if I can at all help it."

The innkeeper raises both eyebrows and sits across from you. His decision to tale a seat seems to earn some outright incomprehensible calls from other workers, but for whatever reason, they just laugh and quiet down when he waves one middle finger at them. Vincent doesn't even look the slightest bit ashamed of using such a rude gesture as he turns back to you.

"First off, ye should know that word is a bit of a touchy subject 'round here. Nine times outta ten, Inspired are selfish little buggers willing to burn down the world just because they can. The stronger they are, the worse it gets. Avoid tellin' anyone else you're working for 'em."

You nod, carefully keeping a polite smile fixed on your face. Why is testing inventions supposed to be such a problem, exactly? So long as one avoids targeting people, anything that is destroyed can be rebuilt better. It's their own fault if they drive off or kill an Inspired before they can reach the rebuilding phase, isn't it?

"How in the world do you avoid invasion if Inspired are hated so much?"

Vincent chuckles and shakes his head.

"Did ye just ride here without knowing a thing?"

The polite smile momentarily drops from your face.

"Yes," you respond flatly. "My job relies on completing tasks within a set period of time and your average person is notoriously unreliable when it comes to knowledge of other areas, especially ones they may have gone to war with at some point. Aristocrats may know, but are they really going to spend time on me?"

If they knew who you were, the answer to that question would be a loud "Yes." You don't intend to tell him that, though. You've had enough of parties and currying favor for one lifetime, thank you very much. It didn't help that your parents seemed hellbent on making sure people knew you were an Inspired too weak to finish anything, nothing to worry about, yes it is a shame, isn't it?

Vincent looks appropriately chagrined and scratches the back of his head with one hand.

"Right. Well, Stehauslen is jus' a wee place, but we're one o' the bigger exporters of new, uh..." Vincent trails off and clicks his teeth with impatience. "There's a word for it, I know. Metal combinations?"

"Alloys," you provide helpfully.

Vincent snaps his fingers and nods.

"Sounds 'bout right. We provide the alloys an' some parts. Others shape it into something useful, includin' weapons. Our lil' League stays free by workin' together while the Inspired are off actin' like a swarm o' snakes. Inspired are still human; a bullet to the brain kills 'em same as anyone else. If they're not complete fools and wear armor, a Kingslayer — Empowered, that is — takes care of 'em soon enough."

You're about to ask for elaboration on certain points when you're interrupted by one of the other customers.

"Vincent, someone stole all my ale! Help?"

The request is echoed by a half-dozen other men and Vincent sighs. Oddly enough, the innkeeper seems to be the only person with anything you'd recognize as an accent. You'd been under the impression people tended to assimilate the speech patterns of those around them after enough time.

"I be back in a minute."

You're guessing it's closer to two, but since Vincent takes the opportunity to refill some half-empty mugs while he's at it, you aren't too worried. What you are worried about is the existence of what would appear to be a state-sponsored group of Empowered, AKA ignorant homicidal maniacs who deliberately chose brute force over knowledge.

Once he's sure everyone is taken care of, he returns to his seat and plants one elbow on the table to support his chin. You reflexively lean away and avoid commenting on the poor manners; frankly, if he chews with his mouth shut, he'll likely know more than half the savages here.

"Right, where were we?"

"How you haven't gotten conquered yet?" you prompt.

Vincent nods, deliberately producing an air of wisdom you doubt he possesses.

"Right, right. Inspired ain't supposed to take on a nation of Empowered and win, now are they? That's why God gave 'em to us in the first place. Now, we may not be a nation of Empowered despite the best tries o' the few good Inspired we got, but a good army an' the Kingslayers be a good replacement. If they're prepared for an army, a few Kingslayers will go over and stab 'em. If they're ready for the Kingslayers, they're crushed by the army. If they try to get ready for both, one of their rivals stabs 'em in the back while they're distracted."

Vincent drums his fingers against the table before shaking his head.

"That's really everythin' important, but you jus' care about delays and dangers to you, right? I be a bit o' a gossip sometimes, I know."

You quickly shake your head and smile. Every bit of information helps just a little bit more, especially when the person you're speaking with might be wrong. The powers of propaganda are well-documented.

"I didn't mind. But yes, knowing of those would be helpful."

Vincent stares blankly for a conspicuously long time, removes his arm from the table, and straightens up. You're not entirely sure why, nor do you know why his accent seems to become somewhat less pronounced. You're starting to suspect it might be deliberate.

"Expect some questions about yer hair if you're headed further into the League. Ignore 'em; crossbreeds are everywhere no matter what the bigots wish. Don't admit yer workin' for an Inspired unless you're sure they work for the League. Don't follow strange men anywhere, especially if they insist it's for a good cause, and don't volunteer as an 'assistant' or 'volunteer' to Inspired no matter how much they offer. Don't trust anyone with a badge unless they let you fail to scratch it with somethin' metal; imitating a state servant is a hangin' offense, but a new idjit is born every day. Uh..."

The innkeeper scratches at the back of his neck and shrugs.

"Careful o' water near the cities. Burnin' coal is carried on the winds and goes further than you'd expect. Don't drink from wells an invading Inspired just passed by, they're fond of leaving poisons behind. Avoid camps o' brown an' yellow tents 'lest ye want to be fingered as a spy. Stick to th' roads, the wilds ain't good for horses. There's no such thing as a 'foreigner tax' an' threaten to report anyone who claims otherwise. If ye could pay a toll usin' silver, they're overchargin' ye. If a Kingslayer tries to recruit ye, take a good, long look at yer life before sayin' yes; it ain't a job for gentler folk an' some even claim ye need to kill an Inspired to fully become one o' them. Few places in the League allow horseback ridin' inside the walls, so be sure to lead yours on foot if ye don't want a fine or worse."

Vincent wrinkles his nose and goes silent. Eventually, he shakes his head.

"Can't really think o' more right now."

You grace him with another smile, something you suspect he appreciates more than he really should. He looks like he's almost a decade your senior and you wouldn't be at all surprised if he's already married.

"That's fine, it's honestly more than I expected. But if you don't mind, who's in charge of this city, and do I need to worry about being arrested by them?"

The grin Vincent gives you is oddly discomforting.

"Now that's a good question, ainnit?" After a small lapse, the grin weakens. "Er, who's in charge, not if ye are likely to get arrested. Doubt that's somethin' worth worryin' about. See, a pair of our Inspired were both supported for being our governors, supposedly so they could help us avoid 'weak metal' an' such. Everyone seemed to think they were good 'uns, but now each hired a ton of foreign killers and are going at it somewhere around here. Better than using us, I'll admit, but they're still violating one o' the King's Decrees: No Inspired is to have an army that answers only to them."

At the mention of a monarch, you can't help but address a certain inconsistency.

"You have a group called the Kingslayers and a king?"

"Only if he behaves," Vincent says with entirely too much cheer. "Good rulers for the most part, our royals, but they have a tendency to go completely mad in their older years. Havin' the Kingslayers around to forcefully dethrone 'em seems to slow that down a bit."

And isn't that a disturbing bit of information? Traditionally, the strongest Inspired will eventually come to rule the land — provided they actually want to do so, of course. The monarch would be able to devote vast amounts of resources toward various projects beneficial to the nation while also dangling the threat of destruction over any Inspired arrogant enough to challenge them. Meanwhile, an Empowered monarch wouldn't be much of a threat; even if they're personally powerful, that wouldn't do them much good when their castle is brought down on top of them.

These Kingslayers seem to have settled on the most disturbing possibility of all. The monarch won't dare to constrain them for fear of death, the Empowered are free to grow in strength by killing nearby Inspired, and foreign rulers can be assured the nation isn't ruled by a homicidal maniac. Honestly, you're surprised nobody ever warned you about this place or even discussed its existence. If there was ever a threat to all Inspired, this League is it. You doubt it will just go away if you leave it alone, so why is everyone ignoring it?

Vincent coughs lightly and drags your attention back to the outside world.

"If yer headed further West, could ye tell someone important 'bout our two would-be governors? They'll talk their way out of trouble soon 'nuff, but the sooner they quit fightin', the less chance we have of them ruining our home in their pissing contest. Someone should've already told the folks over in Thorstead, but if they had, we would've had help arrive days ago."

---

[] You can make no promises, but you can try.

[] Ask more questions.
-[] Seriously, what's with the fake accent? Nobody else has it, so what's the point?
-[] If the Inspired you're delivering to does want to come to the League, should you warn them off or is there something for them to do here?
-[] Write-in

[] Thank Vincent for his time.
-[] Go to bed.
--[] Leave and continue west the following day.
-[] Go outside and explore the city.

[] Write-in

---

EDIT: Please provide even a little reasoning (not as part of the [X]'d IC vote itself) for why you vote a specific way, even if it's just a sentence or two. What you're hoping to accomplish by voting that way, why it seems like a good idea, something else along those lines. Your vote will not be counted otherwise, although if there are some initial voters that don't do so, I will remind them since this was something I forgot to include for ten minutes.

 

[Alivaril]

[x] You can make no promises, but you can try.
-[x] Can Vincent tell you where their bases are? Might speed things up.

"I can't make any promises, but I can at least try. Do you happen to know where their bases are or where they're likely to gather? It might make things easier for whoever is on the other end."

Vincent shakes his head before you're even halfway finished speaking. At this point, his accent has all-but vanished. You're really not sure why he bothered with it in the first place.

"'East' is the best I can say. They both have workshops in one o' the inner cities, same as every other Inspired in our fair League, but they ain't really bases. Everyone knows the more fortified territory an Inspired can claim as their own, the madder they get. It can't be too difficult to find 'em; their armies are each a thousand strong with plenty of factory warclocks to back 'em up."

While the term isn't one you've heard before, you must admit it's somewhat better than just referring to all automatons as 'clockwork.' Not all clockwork creations are capable of independent movement. Still, what do they call the others? Peaceclocks? No, that just sounds moronic.

And for something "everyone knows," the part about territory is news to you. You're inclined to ignore it.

[x] Thank Vincent for his time.

You get to your feet and immediately have to squash an instinctive curtsy. You're wearing trousers right now; how are you supposed to curtsy without even a small skirt? It just wouldn't work even if it would be in character, which you're not sure it would. Bowing your head will just have to do.

"Well, either way, you've been a much bigger help than I expected. Thank you for your time."

Vincent gives you a sheepish smile and gets to his feet. After wiping his hands on his apron, he appears to hesitate before clasping both hands behind his back.

"Happy to help. Good night, Miss...?"

You give him an apologetic smile and shake your head.

"I must apologize; I don't believe it's a good idea for us to get better acquainted. I travel too much to maintain effective relationships with others."

Vincent's monstrously large eyebrows rise to join his hairline.

"You can never have too many friends."

You shake your head, still carefully maintaining your polite smile.

"I most certainly can when I'm risking my life on a weekly basis. Friends can only die once while concern and regret are eternal."

Turning on one heel and walking away should've been enough to let you have the last word, especially with the volume necessary to shout across the room. That doesn't seem to stop the determined innkeeper, who seems to have completely lost his 'accent.'

"That really isn't a healthy mindset!"

It is when a powerless uninspired is more likely to be a victim than a player.

"Good night, Vincent."


-[x] Go to bed.

[X] Get a sandwich or something for the road and depart.
-[x] Take care of your horse, too.

Vincent isn't maintaining the inn the following morning. Instead, you're faced with a black-haired dwarf who looks nothing like his so-called "brother." No matter how hard you try, you can't find any features common to each of them. At least none of the other customers object, and unless a half-dozen people were planted just to avoid suspicions, you're willing to acknowledge the idea of adoption or the meddling of Inspired.

Either way, Jeremiah is happy to give you something for the road. It's plain fare, certainly, but it's warm and thus automatically an improvement over your usual rations.



[X] Start building yourself a mobile fortress. Flying would be ideal, but crawling would be a good way to get started.
-[x] You're going to need parts for this. Conveniently, there are a couple of morons nearby with enough material to make poor choices. "Someone important", then, is you.
-[x] Find out where your targets are and head for one of them.
--[X] If you didn't get anything from Vincent, head back to the site of yesterday's battle to get information and maybe (if you're lucky) materials for another Surge.
-[X] Be careful. Keep an eye out, scout using high-altitude linked portals, etc. Use Skybreaker to make sure nobody can follow you, change direction so nobody can predict your course, etc. Surprise isn't totally necessary but it'd be very useful.

You exit Stehauslen by its westernmost gate, wrinkling your nose as you pass over the tar-black moat surrounding the town. It may not smell any worse than the rest of the city, true, but does anyone care about what that has to be doing to any natural sources of water in the city proper? You weren't even sure it was possible for water to turn that color without liberal use of dye.

After looping back to the east and getting a half-hour of distance between you and Stehauslen, you unwrap Skybreaker and begin some basic tests with it. Sure, you could keep all the batteries filled in case of an emergency, but that seems like a waste of perfectly good time and power generation.

Strangely enough, it seems Skybreaker's rifts will always be opened either horizontally or vertically, never diagonally no matter how you swipe Skybreaker. They'll also always open to face you, but you knew that part.

Rifts aren't perfect spheres; instead, they seem to be closer in shape to your own eyes, or ovals with two pointed ends. You hope you can change that at some point. When a rift is about to close, the edges begin to wobble precariously before the entire thing snaps shut. A long stick you'd held in one isn't cut in half like you'd expected, but crushed until the two ends separated.

Size has arguably the largest effect on power with the way you plan on using it, but to your own surprise, its cost scaling seems to follow a relatively simple formula. A linear formula, even. Opening a rift around 100 centimeters from tip to tip only costs about twice as much as the smallest rifts you can make, ones thirty centimeters large. Your best guess is that rifts have a startup cost of approximately sixty or seventy centimeters, a hypothesis which gains more evidence when you compare costs with the 450-cm rifts you've been opening for your horse and yourself. As expected, they cost a bit more than three times as much as a 100-cm rift pair.

Meanwhile, distance seems to multiply the cost based on how far from you a linked rift is opened. Two linked rifts consumed approximately four times as much as two similarly-sized rifts opened right next to you, but only around two and two-thirds as much when compared to a pair with one rift next to you and one at your maximum range.

Your careful tests show that rifts to the Void don't care about distance from you, only size. However, their starting cost is similar to a pair of linked rifts of similar size despite the fact that only one rift is opened. Overall, the lack of distance concerns still makes them significantly cheaper.

You can't open a rift through another rift, for both meanings of the word "through;" you can neither cross rifts nor extend your range with them. Trying just increases the size of the first pair without affecting the duration at all.

Spoiler: Skybreaker Estimates

Rift Costs (Estimation)​

Total cost: ( (Approximately 60 to 70) + (rift length from tip to tip in CM) ) x Distance Modifier.

Minimum rift size: 30 CM.

Distance Multipliers (Estimation)​

• x1 for two rifts located next to you.
• x1 for rifts opened to the Void regardless of distance.
• x1.5 for one rift next to you and its partner three kilometers in one direction.
• x4 for two rifts located relatively close to one another, but three kilometers away from you.
• x8 for a linked pair with each three kilometers away from you and six kilometers from each other.

Overall, you feel your experimentation gained you some valuable knowledge while only costing you one battery and some change. You burn the remainder of your second battery on another ten horse-sized travel portals, effectively crossing thirty kilometers in five minutes. Based on that information, you're guessing you can get around thirteen or fourteen travel pairs per battery. With about three batteries charging every day, that's somewhere around 90 "free" kilometers daily, which is just plain ridiculous.

Inspiration is surprisingly quiet for the duration of your testing. You'd expected some kind of feedback or assistance, but all you receive is a vague sense of happy drowsiness. You can't even tell if it's from you or it.

You open a 20-cm rift pair every fifteen minutes or so to check on the path ahead, a precaution you're rather glad you took. Around two hours after you left Stehauslen, you spot a conspicuously large column of troops approaching from the east. Too large, in fact. They're too far away for you to get a good look at them, but judging by the differently-colored warclocks on the road ahead, you think the two pathetic Inspired may very well have joined forces. They're even marching under the same brown and yellow banners. You'd applaud their surprising display of intelligence if it didn't present such an irritating problem.

(Current Skybreaker Capacity: 2.9/5 Batteries)​

Inspiration finally stirs when you consider continuing your charge toward them. If you could make another device on the same level as Skybreaker...

Inspired Mechanics. Human Biology. Ballistics. Human Medicine.

It's the work of moments to browse and translate the suspiciously specific content your gift decided to share.

I am a squishy human until and unless I get their minds thinking along the right tracks?

You're about seventy percent certain the subsequent concern you feel is not entirely your own.

I'll take that as a yes.

---

[] Turn around and head west, further into the League.
-[] Burn a Skybreaker battery on getting some distance between you and the now-merged armies.
--[] And then burn a second to cut through Stehauslen and a healthy distance out the other side.
-[] Once you reach the next major town or city, locate the nearest major civic building and carry out your pseudo-promise to Vincent.
-[] Try to find out if they have any sort of newspaper or papers you could grab. Surely even this strange land finds the work of Inspired interesting?

[] Decide the entire League is entirely more trouble than it's worth; go off the roads and into the wilds. You wanted someplace relatively abandoned, not a land that may very well be the biggest threat in the world.
-[] North.
-[] South.

[] Write-in

You may move to cow the populace, but you'll need a plan first.

---

Please provide even a little reasoning (not as part of the [X]'d IC vote itself) for why you vote a specific way, even if it's just a sentence or two. What you're hoping to accomplish by voting that way, why it seems like a good idea, something else along those lines. Your vote will not be counted otherwise.

 

[Alivaril]

@Alivaril How good are communication and mobility for the non-Inspired population? Is it more medieval in that people are born and die in the same town of 300 people, or can people pack up and move to a more economically successful area? How fast does information generally travel? How much information generally travels? Are we talking "every three years a missive arrives from the King instating a new tax" or "traveling merchants come through about once a month carrying news from the capital"?

Click to shrink...

To the best of your knowledge, roads tend to be fairly well-maintained. The League is practically a ghostland compared to what you're used to; you should be stumbling over a town of a couple thousand every fifteen kilometers and pass through twice as many villages on your way. You're genuinely hoping it gets more populated as you head further into the League since the alternative is both creepy and arguably unsustainable.

You're a bit fuzzy on the distribution of news, but you think peasants tend to be rather xenophobic. They may be surprisingly well-informed regarding events in their own countries, courtesy of newspapers brought by travelers, but their view of other countries leans from "merely inaccurate" to "foreigners eat children" depending on how recently they've been at war.

You also know there are plenty of people moving from farming villages into various towns, assuming said cities will have fairly well-paying factory jobs. Even if they do, you know it's practically blood money made from their own blood; conditions range from merely "Risky" to "The gases you inhale are toxic and you're literally reducing your lifespan every day you work there." So you believe peasants probably could move to better areas without very much trouble at all, but if all they can do is act as unskilled labor, would those areas be better for them?

(If that did not answer your questions, feel free to repeat any missed ones.)

 

[Alivaril]

You know, if we're going for a flying machine, we should power it with an Aether engine, like what Skybreaker uses. Seeing as that thing's damn close to being a perpetual motion machine.

Click to shrink...

Most of that is due to how Skybreaker was made. A pliable audience doesn't let you make more advanced technology, but it does let you permanently tweak certain properties of your creation. In the case of your power generation, fuel that can eternally burn without being burned (used).

 

[Alivaril]

[x] Abduct a scout-warclock pair.
-[x] Take the scout first. Open a portal behind them, bag their head to keep them quiet and disoriented, get Skybreaker around their neck, and pull them back through while choking them out and letting Skybreaker bite. Close the portal as soon as the scout is on your side.
-[x] Once the scout is out, open up another portal and take the warclock.
-[x] Retreat to a distance to avoid other scouts. Try to avoid leaving tracks that suggest portal shenanigans; no suddenly-cut-off drag marks, for one. Doing this on rocks would be a bonus.

Although your aim with Skybreaker isn't quite as good as you thought it was, it's still more than enough to get you close to the scout. Six steps isn't too much when they're as blatantly incompetent as these idiots. You're starting to suspect these mercenaries might be the dregs of their trade. Maybe they were on the losing side of a war between Inspired? Desperation can drive people to some pretty stupid things and you can't think of anything dumber than deliberately joining wars between Inspired as a powerless uninspired.

Disabling the scout is both easier and quieter than you'd expected; he doesn't even scream, although it does take a few seconds for him to stop struggling. Honestly, the scout is much weaker than you'd expected, even if he is around your own age. The slumped bronze Warclock doesn't seem to care about the attack on its handler and simply follows after you.

The trio of loud screams from the other side of the forest also helps quite a bit. Honestly, you're a little unnerved by the timing. Days without any such sounds followed by three right when you move to attack someone? They truly do scream of interference. Still, you're not going to complain if someone decided to either help you or take advantage of your presence. Either they're friendly and you don't need to know about them or they're hostile and you can't do anything about them anyway. Because your paranoia really needed more fuel. Hooray.

Still, going through an extra travel-portal will probably keep you safe from any maybe-friends-maybe-hostiles either way. The Warclock seems to have a small amount of trouble navigating the rift, but it's able to go through without too much trouble.

You use some of your spare clothes as improvised bindings and make a mental note to pick up better rope in the next town. You rejected it last time due to excessive weight, but maybe you can find something better without too much work?


-[x] Maintain anonymity.
--[x] Quickly fabricate a voice-changer from the warclock's corpse. No surge.
--[x] Keep the bag over the scout's head and stay behind him so you don't have to worry about your appearance.
-[x] Standard questions: Who, what, when, where, why.
-[x] Specific:
--[x] They're mercenaries, right? Short description of the company and its history.
--[x] What was up with that battle?
--[x] What is their current goal?
--[x] Anything he has about the strength, specialties, and gear of the Inspired.

Material resonance.

Stealing the iron remote from your prisoner was remarkably easy, him being unconscious and all. A single "Shutdown" order was enough to render it completely inert while you methodically dismantled the Warclock and organized your newfound loot.

The voice reception mechanism is quickly repurposed as the core of your voice changer. You need a bit of help from Inspiration to actually create something capable of properly distorting your voice, but even that is relatively easy. The whole thing will tear itself apart in a matter of hours if you haven't dismantled it by then. You intend to.

(Basic Bronze Clockwork Components Acquired [Approximately 200 Ounces])

(Basic Voice Changer Built)​

Once you're reasonably confident your creation is safe, you fit the clockwork mask over the lower half of your face and whisper into it.

"Test one, two, three, four, five."

Your voice is significantly higher than you'd prefer it to be. Assuming the scout is even remotely intelligent, he should be able to figure out it's artificial. At least there will be no way of telling what it started as.

Good enough.

The longest part proves to be waiting for your prisoner to wake up. About fifteen minutes after you first forced him into unconsciousness, the scout wakes up with a visible jolt. You nudge him with one foot.

"I have questions. If you answer them truthfully, I will return your freedom and let you live. Understand?"

If anything, the scout relaxes when he hears your voice. You're not sure what to make of that.

"Perfectly. I'm just a scout, not an officer, but I'll do my best. Whad'ya need?"

"Assuming you are mercenaries, company history?"

A muffled bark of a laugh is your prompt response.

"God only knows how many companies they hired, Sir. I'm not among their number; I just had too many drinks and agreed to something I'm regretting. I can tell you two lunatic Inspired hired us to settle their pissing match. Something about making the best use of limited resources, which somehow led to us killing others one day and marching next to them the next."

There's a slight pause before the scout hastily adds "Sir."

"Why the change in diplomatic relations?"

"Another Inspired, Sir. A girl, even. She showed up in the middle of their biggest battle so far, one actually worthy of being called such instead of all these bloody skirmishes, and supposedly started singing about limitations set down by gods and how she intended to cheerfully ignore them."

While that isn't quite the impression you were hoping to deliver with your performance, it's better than you'd expected.

"You weren't there?"

"Nossir. A couple other blokes and I were busy setting fire to the then-enemy coal stocks. Credit where it's due, the shirt in charge refused to admit who he'd sent even in the face of a pissed Inspired. Sure, it was a League one and they're supposed to be a lot more relaxed, but — my apologies, Sir, the mind wandered. What else would you like to know, Sir?"

"What's your current goal?"

"Escort the Inspired back home and get paid. The one with the shambling Warclocks conceded whatever they were fighting over, Sir. Said their bickering is foolish when there are bigger wolves lurking by the borders. Or did you want to know what I'm going to do, Sir?"

Don't be foolish.

"Not particularly. What of the Inspired themselves? What can you tell me about them?"

"Little, Sir. The Inspired who 'won' is supposed to be good at securing manmade structures against anything polite enough to announce its presence. His opponent is better at improving existing tools — water filters, mining equipment, factory machines, beer kegs, you name it. Both are supposed to be pretty strong, Sir, but I'm not too impressed. They seem to spend most of their time building..."

The scout hesitates and tilts his head slightly forward.

"...May I call it 'junk,' Sir? Don't get me wrong, I can't make head nor tails of all the gears and such, but I've seen a strong Inspired. I even got conscripted to fight for one, Sir. He had a cannon that shot short-lived snakes of pure fire, ones that burned whole lines of men at a time. The best these guys have just makes a really big 'boom,' Sir. They do have a lot of stuff like that, sure, but if they're just gonna build better versions of what normal people can make, why did they get to become Inspired at all?"

A pang of sympathy cheerfully backstabs you. While this particular uninspired isn't trying to uncover new knowledge for humanity, he does seem to have better taste than the genuine Inspired nearby. That honestly doesn't seem at all fair to you.

Well?

Inspiration's only input is a flash either shame or regret. You're not sure which.

---

[] Continue to speak with the scout.
-[] Ask for his name. He's been too helpful for you to continue thinking of him as 'the scout' or 'your prisoner.'
-[] What would he make if he had the chance?
-[] Tell him your original Inspiration was caused by a lightning rod, the invention of an uninspired. They can tame the heavens if they put their minds to it.
-[] Relay anything Inspiration wishes to convey.
-[] Write-in more questions

[] Shock the scout into unconsciousness again, retrieve your belongings, and continue on your way.
-[] Return him near the road, close to where the army will be by the time he awakens. You don't have any adequate reason to abandon him in the middle of nowhere.
-[] Head further into the League.
--[] On your way, experimentally ask for your assistants to reveal themselves. Coincidence? You think not.

[] Write-in

---

Spoiler: Personal Knowledge: Inspiration

Attempting to manually force Inspiration in someone is widely considered to be a waste of time. Some have even theorized that trying to do so decreases the chances of anyone so helped, although you don't believe that. Noble parents successfully induce the correct mindset all the time.

Please provide even a little reasoning (not as part of the [X]'d IC vote itself) for why you vote a specific way, even if it's just a sentence or two. What you're hoping to accomplish by voting that way, why it seems like a good idea, something else along those lines. Your vote will not be counted otherwise.

 

[Alivaril]

QM's Note: Why was everything IRL on fire

---

[X] Continue to speak with the scout.
-[X] Ask for his name. He's been too helpful for you to continue thinking of him as 'the scout' or 'your prisoner.'
-[X] What would he make if he had the chance?

"What's your name? You don't deserve to merely be called 'the scout' or 'my prisoner.'"

"Franz Baumgartner," he answers immediately. He's either too smart to lie to you or has had that one prepared.

"What would you make if you had the chance?"

Franz leans back as far as he possibly can. You hadn't really expected an immediate answer, but you still find yourself dissatisfied by the sheer amount of time it takes him to answer. Minutes at the very least.

"Dragons," Franz says eventually. "Dragons and any other mythological creatures the world is currently lacking. Viable species, not just lone experiments like so many others have made before. Creativity dies just a little more every time a child learns something doesn't exist."

You resist the urge to roll your eyes. Contrary to what Franz seems to believe, constructs capable of breeding have been made numerous times. They have a tendency to escape the control of their creator and kill everyone nearby.

"Anything else?"

Franz shrugs.

"From my perspective, Inspired beat the world into submission every time they Surge, Sir. I can't imagine what I don't know. Once I know what I could do, then I'd know what I should make."

Any trace of guilt vanishes from Inspiration, replaced by vague discontent and scorn. Inspiration already has knowledge; what it needs is imagination and innovation. If Franz can't conjure either, it's no surprise he never joined the ranks of Inspired.

---

[] Continue speaking with Franz.

-[] Ask about his time working for that Inspired he spoke of, the strong one. He appears to be surprisingly at ease right now.
-[] Ask about League Inspired, how do they differ from normal, what their role is in the League, do they take freelancers?
-[] Inform him that his mindset is likely why he never experienced Inspiration. Imagination is the mother of invention; if he doesn't possess the former, he won't ever be able to manage the latter.
-[] Write-in


[] Move on.
-[] Head back north, out of the League. You'd prefer powerful Inspired over murderous Empowered.
-[] Head west, further into the League. Empowered won't threaten you until and unless they learn you're Inspired.
-[] Free your prisoner.
--[] Drop Franz ahead of the army after forcing him back into unconsciousness.
--[] Leave him near the road, but leave him conscious and simply threaten him with death if he turns around before several minutes have passed. He should know better than to challenge your threat.

[] Write-in

 

[Alivaril]

[x] Continue speaking with Franz.
-[x] Ask about his time working for that Inspired he spoke of, the strong one. He appears to be surprisingly at ease right now.
-[x] Ask him to describe the two Inspired of this army and how to identify them. Also ask him to describe and identify who's in charge of the mercenaries.
-[X] Ask about League Inspired, how do they differ from normal, what their role is in the League?

"What can you tell me about your time working for the strong Inspired mentioned earlier?"

Franz shrugs.

"Not a whole lot to tell, Sir. My father and I were conscripted, he got killed, and I was considered quick enough on my feet to be dedicated toward sabotage. I had some nice gear to play with, but the Count was more focused on burning his enemies than fireproofing his own belongings. Long story short? One of his toys exploded, he got a face full of burning steel shards, and some of the other conscripts decided it'd be a good time to kill the bastard."

Franz produces a disgusted noise from the back of his throat.

"Idiots. His safe was trapped to Hell and back, and without its contents, we were left in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with no money to rebuild our lives. As you can see, Sir, I'm not supposed to be a scout. I think the right term is 'sapper?' At any rate, I just burned what I was told and ran away, Sir. Terrifying as Hell and I've seen things I'd rather not, but it's better than being cannoneer fodder. The League is supposed to keep their Inspiirrreed — uh, forget I said anything, Sir."

"I was going to ask about that either way. How do League Inspired differ from those in the rest of the world? How do they fit in? Do be so kind as to answer honestly, I don't harm the messengers."

Unless, of course, those messengers are also assassins. Inspired are excessively fond of that trick, something which has made the entire trade far riskier than it really needs to be.

Franz swallows and shifts uncomfortably.

"They're... constrained, Sir. Most people know to eat the light if they ever see it, but even then, the League still gets its fair share of Inspired. Some of 'em try to hide, but that fails spectacularly the first time they wander across one of the famous inner city fountains and Surge from the sight. After that, Inspired are given three choices: Join the Enlightened, leave the League, or continue roaming free until one of their inventions inevitably causes serious involuntary property damage or injures someone else. Even then, the League only really allow the third choice if one of the Inspired's construction philosophies would make regulation cause more problems than it solved. Uh, Sir, the Enlightened are the League's official Inspired organization. The League's full name is even supposed to be either 'The League of the Enlightened' or 'The Enlightened League' depending on who you ask."

"Define 'involuntary property damage.'"

"Something the owner didn't agree to," Franz answers promptly. "Demolition and reconstruction is fine provided you get them to agree with it first. Not everyone wants their home to turn into a clockwork fortress that'll spray superheated steam in their face if they ever forget one of seven hundred complicated steps to be taken daily."

You suppress an unladylike snort with the ease of long practice. If you're going to make something for Uninspired to use, always assume they're going to be dumber than you are.

"What do 'Enlightened' do?"

Franz visibly straightens. You're not entirely sure why.

"It's supposed to actually be pretty reasonable, Sir. They get a lab, an abundance of materials, and the occasional goal to work toward. Only caveat is that they need to give the League anything they can't carry on their person without any sort of assistance, including artificial changes to their own body, and they aren't allowed to leave the Enlightened until they pay off whatever they use. And that carrying thing is supposed to be for 'at the same time' so they can't just stock up on lighter stuff like grenades. The League doesn't pull that horseshit some landowners pull with overpriced materials and underpriced inventions, either; everyone agrees they're pretty fair about it and most Enlightened could leave if they actually wanted to, Sir."

Franz appears to consider his words before visibly wincing.

"Of course, some Inspired feel like their inventions are underappreciated and, uh, make their displeasure known pretty quickly, Sir. And they only get paid a small difference in their favor if they do decide to leave. It's not a perfect system, but it's better than the alternative, Sir. The League even has the occasional Inspired come in from outside to join up, usually those on the losing end of a war or fleeing from one of those homicidal Blackburn people. I guess that's practically the same thing when you think about it."

"The Blackburns don't just follow?"

Franz shakes his head.

"It seems to be the one rejection they'll actually respect, Sir. Rumors say they think 'the entire League is going to burn with cobalt flame' sooner or later and they don't want to be anywhere near it. Other rumors say they just don't want to get anywhere near the Kingslayers. I can't really say which is true, Sir."

If any. Don't assume one of your choices has to be correct just because they're there.

"Describe those in charge of the army, including the Inspired."

Franz visibly flinches.

"Sir, those are the same people. They don't really seem to like having people who'll tell them something is a bloody stupid idea. But beyond that? I don't know, Sir. Neither is a crossbreed and both have brown hair, but so does half the country. I think one of them is fooling around in one of the supply wagons while the other is on horseback? They're arrogant, too, but you can't really tell unless you get close. I think they're trying to avoid being sniped by the fair-skinned Lady of Blasphemy?"

That's the second time you've heard the term 'crossbreed' since yesterday morning. Somehow, you doubt he's referring to half-cat half-horse abominations of science.

"What does 'crossbreed' mean in this context?"

Franz shifts uncomfortably.

"Oh. Uh, I think it's Fused who were modified by Inspired, right? Crossbreeds are those who weren't personally altered, but still got some parts from Fused parents. I think. I might be wrong and thinking of Hybrids, Sir. I can't remember which is supposed to be made from Constructs and who just had Fused parents."

You frown as your mask makes a somewhat ominous grinding noise before continuing its normal click-click-click-click-click. You should probably wrap this up soon; it doesn't seem your voice changer will last as long as you thought it would.

---

[] Ask Franz a few final questions.
-[] Write-in

[] Move on.
-[] Head back north, out of the League. You'd prefer powerful Inspired over murderous Empowered.
-[] Head west, further into the League.
-[] Free your prisoner.
--[] Drop Franz ahead of the army after forcing him back into unconsciousness.
--[] Leave him near the road, but leave him conscious and simply threaten him with death if he turns around before several minutes have passed. He should know better than to challenge your threat.

[] Write-in

 

[Alivaril]

QM's Note: This update was brought away from you by my discovery of Fire Emblem: Heroes.

---

[x] Ask Franz a few final questions.
-[x] Intel on the Lady of Blasphemy.

"Who and what is the 'Lady of Blasphemy?'"

Franz inhales through his teeth.

"The female Inspired I mentioned earlier, Sir? She was supposed to be cursing at the gods with such vitriol that warclocks started breaking down. 'Our Fair Lady of Blasphemy' seems like an appropriate nickname after that."

[x] Move on.
-[x] Free your prisoner.
--[x] Drop Franz ahead of the army after forcing him back into unconsciousness.
---[x] Apologetically.

"So noted. For what it's worth, I am sorry about this. It looks like it'll sting a lot."

You jam one end of Skybreaker against Franz's chest before he can properly object. Unlike a few other Inspired, you don't really like causing pain. At any rate, the scout manages to release a muffled mixture of a scream and gargling before going still. You check to make sure he's still breathing anyway. While you could fix his heart, it would probably be a pain in your back. Fortunately, it doesn't look like it'll be necessary.



[x] Start picking off warclocks. Leave the scouts in the woods where they'll be found.
-[x] Use the bulk metal to make yourself some armor.
-[x] Stockpile the smaller and better parts. If necessary, steal/fabricate saddlebags.
-[x] Spread it out to build anxiety.
[x] Whenever you're ambushing a scout, keep the portal between you and the army in case one of the Inspired takes a potshot at a scream.
[x] Try to identify your hypothetical stalker.

As you slowly pick off the various scouts — merely knocking them out is much easier than abducting them — you can't help but notice a rather disturbing trend. Namely, that your stalker seems to be keeping such a close eye on you that they're capable of coordinating their attacks to strike within seconds of your own. You try to keep an eye out for any... Spyclocks? Anything that could be monitoring you, really. You even scan the skies and the grass surrounding you. No dice; whatever it is, it's good enough to hide from you. Provided, that's probably not very hard, but you think it'll be a lot trickier to stealthily transmit whatever it sees.

As if to add insult to injury, you find a simple smiley face carved into a nearby tree when you look up from dismantling your third Warclock.

"I don't suppose you're willing to show yourself?"

No reply is forthcoming. You hadn't really expected one.

(Basic Bronze Clockwork Components Acquired [Approximately 600 Ounces])

(Basic Iron Clockwork Components Acquired [Approximately 250 Ounces])

(Ordinary Bituminous Coal Acquired [Approximately 175 Ounces])

(1 Skybreaker Battery Remaining)​

Noon has come and gone by the time you begin approaching Neighilist's comfortable weight limits, courtesy of another five Warclocks. You're guessing your horse could carry more, but if you ambush more Warclocks, it'll begin seriously cutting into your travel time. Not to mention the part where the scouts have gone from traveling solo to going in groups of three.

Your tentative plans are, of course, interrupted by Inspiration, which seems to find your armor designs personally offensive.

Non-Ferrous Magnetism.

You don't have enough information to actually build what Inspiration proposes, but you suppose that's the point. You're pretty sure it wants to effectively deflect any rapidly-moving lead projectiles that come close enough to your body. The device in question will consume a truly ridiculous amount of coal as fuel, but it won't be as conspicuous as a suit of armor would be. Armor implies you aren't already invulnerable, which is a counterproductive train of thought to send people down.

At the rate the army is currently traveling, they shouldn't reach civilization until midday tomorrow. Assuming they don't do a forced march through the night, of course, but that's not likely. These are mercenaries, not conscripted peasants too terrified to disobey.

---

[] Go along with the Surge. Even if it means delaying your attack on the army, you really should have proper protection.

[] Avoid Surging and just make your stupid armor. It only needs to be good enough to block a bullet or two.

[] Write-in

---

EDIT: Please provide even a little reasoning (not as part of the [X]'d IC vote itself) for why you vote a specific way, even if it's just a sentence or two. What you're hoping to accomplish by voting that way, why it seems like a good idea, something else along those lines. Your vote will not be counted otherwise.