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Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 9: Icon’s Idiosyncrasies Incite Irritating Inquisition

Doomlord9 said:
I just want those Roll Checks and an omake to get done. As of right now, both Performance and Beautiful 4 are over the purchase limit(16 votes IIRC).

With both passing and if we don't have enough by the time the vote closes, Grom might just flip a coin to decide which one to buy. Or not, I dunno.

Now, I'm heading to bed and we better have at least 2 more XP earned by the time I wake up or......I got nothing, I'm fucking tired.
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Alright, alright. I'll get on it. :p
 
Jinnt said:
No I understand that I'm saying if we hit clarity 5 I'd want Taylor IC thinking that she needs to disable SOPA to prevent it from influencing her mind without our further intervention.
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Edit:

Looking over the vote count, I thought you were voting/arguing for the one day in three plan. I'm not as welded to the choice in the other vote, though I do think it may be a mistake. So I'm just going to stop debating here.
 
Jinnt said:
Again Taylor is not an idiot. It's not about immediately disabling the charm the second we hit 5, obviously we'd resolve the situation that caused our clarity gain first and then when it's reasonable to she'd disable the charm to facilitate coming down off clarity.

It's much more reasonable then deciding to leave the mind-influencing charm on all the time simply because it's useful, damn the effect it has on us.
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I made an edit to my post, as I mistakenly thought you were voting for the one day in three plan that was at the beginning.

I disagree, but I don't disagree strongly enough to continue debating since we've already made our points and I don't think it would be utterly crippling, just a possible mistake.
 
sainen said:
not really 3-5 will power to turn it off at high Clarity(5-9) followed by a temperance roll every 5 hours to every hour, of which we'll fail 1 in 3(i think those were the numbers).
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We fail one in three if we can't stunt the roll.
 
Much Ado About SoPA: Whoops!
[X] My Little Controller (Friendship Is OBEY): It wants to help! Keep it on all the time, because it loves us and wants to bring Order to the world.

The Word Is Out: Dragon and Legend know a lot more about us now, and the former is definitely going to be inquiring more soon - not to mention Chevalier and our new boss, Director Uriel. How do we want to handle things?
[X] Positions of Trust: Tell only the Wards and superiors we trust without reservation. Vista, Chevalier, Miss Militia and Armsmaster come to mind.


[X] 2 XP - Integrity (Mental Trauma ●○○)
[X] 4 XP - Performance ●○○○○
 
uju32 said:
Nope.
If you check the math, it now costs a minimum of 1 WP to turn off SoPA at any given time.
More often 2 WP+, since you will start out each day with 1 temp Clarity.
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Look again.
The "Administration Isn't Micro-Management" option only calls for turning SoPA off when Clarity gets pretty high. In those situations, 1+Clarity/2 is definitely less than Clarity.
 
Anyone call for a roll check? As always, I likely missed some/got some wrong, but I hope I got enough right.
Philadelphia Road Trip: The Last Leg
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Legend, unfortunately, technically outranks Glenn, and thus must be given priority over duplicating old costumes for the PRT museum.
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Bureaucracy?
"You… repaired it?"

*snip*

A brief snort of humor from Legend prefaces his voice regaining its confidence and casual sincerity.
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Presence, and maybe Craft as well.
"Improvements? You're saying you could have improved Hero's armor in only a few hours?"

*snip*

Legend is silent for nearly seventeen seconds before exhaling a long, heavy sigh. Placing his hand flat against the chestpiece, a wistful smile slowly overtakes the morose frown before he nods in satisfaction.
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A series of Craft rolls, maybe a Presence roll towards the end of this section.
"I've kept Director Swanson from breaking down your door for an explanation, but I can only hold him back so long."

*snip*
still looking on from her position in the workstation's computer monitor, Dragon closes her digital avatar's eyes and gives a silent sigh before nodding solemnly.
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Presence rolls, perhaps a Bureaucracy roll or two, and maybe an Investigation roll in here as well (reflecting on what caused the freakout).
Rotating his gaze to stare silently past your head for one-point-seven minutes, you are unable to see anything noteworthy outside your window with your own peripheral vision and swarm-enhanced senses. When he speaks again, it is again with the kind, sympathetic tone you recall from his earlier parting statement.
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Awareness.
Disagreeing with the implication that you should possibly be barred from future Endbringer fights, you wave off the idea with a swift sideways cut with your right hand.

"Control over emotional vulnerabilities restored. Improved understanding of mental resource limitations. Probability of future incidents significantly reduced."
Once again you are surprised by the wide range of emotion Dragon's wireframe avatar is capable of displaying, though you should have expected her disbelief of your claim. Legend, too, appears to be giving you an incredulous look if his quirked frown and exasperated tone are any indication.

"Now there's an argument I hear often enough - though that phrasing is certainly new."
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Presence rolls against both Legend and Dragon. Likely not successes.
"Outstanding hypothesis: current understanding of Charms, Alchemical Exaltation capabilities incomplete, resulting in decreased effectiveness, instability. Meditation, re-evaluation: priority objective."

*snip*

"'Great Maker', Weaver?"
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Presence.
While Dragon has thus far proven trustworthy enough to receive the partial explanation you have prepared, your minds have only just now come to a similar consensus on Legend after both your earlier conversation and his clearly-genuine concern for both your well-being and privacy.

*snip*

"Ess- wait, no, we're getting off track," Legend sighs while holding out his arms, briefly, before folding them again against his chest. You can tell his gaze is focused on your own eyes, even through the opaque, over-the-head visor covering everything above his nose, so you do not blink as he appears to struggle with his next question.
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A number of rolls here, I think. Temperance and/or Bureacuracy, Presence, Awareness, maybe an Occult roll or two.
"So… you're saying you were created, then? You're an artificial intelligence?"

*snip*

This elicits simultaneous grimaces from the two experienced heroes as each quickly realize the environment from which you were saved. A heavy silence reigns in the room for several seconds before Legend's shoulders sag lightly in a weary sigh. Moving to the padded stool-chair at your workbench, the world-famous hero shows
more of his age in his movements than ever before as he settles into a thinking position.
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Definitely Presence and Occult here.
"Taylor, why didn't you tell any of this to Director Piggot? Or Armsmaster and Miss Militia?"

*snip*

Legend, on the other hand, seems to fill with renewed purpose and energy - his former weariness a mere memory. Standing, he only requires a single confident stride to come close enough to place his hand on your left shoulder.
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Presence. Maybe Investigation for determining the best way to proceed.
"I know trust is a hard thing to rebuild, Taylor, but I want you to know how much it means to me that you're willing to risk yourself like this after everything you've been through. ..."

*snip*

"Please. Call me Peter."
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Presence. Maybe a Compassion roll as well?
You cordon off the wasteful thoughts and feelings of wonder at what just happened until they run their course, then re-focus all your attentions back on the task at-hand. You are thankful for Dragon's return to silent observation, though you detect occasional signs hinting that she is withholding herself from interrogating you further.
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Possible Temeprance or Compassion roll. Also, an Awareness or Investigation roll.
Despite the occasional bout of feelings creeping into your thought process again - generally thoughts of embarrassment or horror about your actions today - you finally manage to piece together everything and store it in the no-longer-irradiated crate after extruding it from your Elsewhere pocket. As there were only twelve costumes this time around, and the delay provided by Legend and Dragon allowed for your lower-level anima to dissipate entirely, you manage to avoid invoking your fear-inducing anima effect when you finish extruding the last few costumes to place alongside their new duplicates in the crate.

After saying your farewells to Dragon, you move to your oversized bed and absorb your costume. Opting to forego extruding your pajamas so as to avoid elevating your anima even further, you climb into bed and deactivate your Incomparable Efficiency Upgrade charm.
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Craft rolls. Also, possible Occult roll at the end of this section.
"That's for fuckin' scarin' the shit outta us and then fuckin' bailing!"

Your various visual augments coming online at the same time as the usual rush of your swarm's senses, you eventually narrow your eyes at Who's costumed form... after regaining the ability to use your diaphragm to speak.

"Repeat application of fear effect requested?"

"No!" comes Vista's panicked exclamation from your living room, followed quickly by her sudden appearance next to Who. "No, she is not requesting another application!"
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*facepalm* Temperance failure. Perhaps a Presence failure as well.
Is this… something you can control? Closing your eyes (more as mnemonic device than any way to block out your vision) and focusing on the thought of returning to your 'plain' form, you feel a subtle tugging sensation in the three problematic locations. The bewildered double-takes from the two younger Wards several feet away serve as verification enough that the process is complete.
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Occult roll?
By the time you reach the vans it appears you missed most of the speech from Prism and Legend, though you catch parts of it through the handful of insects in the parking structure - a somewhat generic, if well-spoken, reminder that the Wards, Protectorate, and PRT are here to help in any way they can. You suspect Legend allowed you to sleep in and miss the most of the speech due to having given you a similar one last night, which is reinforced by the knowing nod he gives you as you approach the group.
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Awareness and/or Investigation.
After settling into your seat and allowing for the customary silent period (seven-point-five) that begins all road trips, you propose your meditation request to Battery. In return, she tilts her head in confusion while briefly humming at your request.
"That sounds… fine? I don't see why you need to ask me for permission, though."

*snip*

The firm tone in the latter half of her statement is more indicative of an order than a reassurance, but you nod in agreement all the same, causing Battery to pull her arm back and leave you to your introspection.
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A Bureaucracy roll to start off (asking Battery for permission)? Presence and/or Occult rolls afterwards.
Settling in your seat you begin going through your active charms, one-by-one, and disabling them; after disabling your Visual Enhancements and Industrial Survival Frame, you pause briefly to consider leaving Incomparable Efficiency Upgrade online - due to its potential usefulness in this process - before ultimately deciding that you should start from as baseline a state as possible for this meditation.

*snip*

Thankful that your other sensory and mental enhancement augmentations are disabled as the dizzying effect quickly fades, you start again from the top of your breathing cycle and begin to work your way down, while reviewing the names listed in Iris' primer on essence and your own exaltation…
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Integrity rolls. Maybe an Occult roll or two as well.
Charm Modules Meditation
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ALL THE OCCULT ROLLS! @_@ Maybe some Investigation rolls as well.
A shifting sea of gears, wires, pistons and servos stretches out beyond the visible horizon, undulating with a rhythm indicative of a… pulse. Mundane and magical materials course through ocean of metallic flesh, the radiating a rainbow hue of essence even in this lightless void of Elsewhere.
*snip*

A planet covered in jungles and canyons upon which evolved a dozen species of enormous, tribal insects bursts apart from the inside, launching massive creatures of formless flesh in their search for a new planet…
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An Occult roll near the start of this section perhaps.
Jerking awake, you desperately attempt to control your racing heartbeat as your breath hitches in your chest and refuses to obey your diaphragm.
*snip*
Your lungs managing to pump air again, you dutifully follow Battery's instructions and cycle through some of your low-rhythm breathing exercises as your heartbeat slowly stops beating a cannonade in your eardrums.
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Integrity.
Just… what was that? Was that - is that - massive mechanical creature your… Shard of Perfect Administration? Was it talking to you? Not directly, at least - it almost felt like it was trying to use a mixture of sounds from your own memory to piece together words and sensations like speech…

*snip*

Despite the proximity to lunch time, you no longer possess an appetite.
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Investigation rolls here, I think.
 
[x] Write-In: Administration Isn't Micro-Management: Keep the Shard of Perfect Administration on, unless Clarity is high. When we're starting to feel the effects of Clarity, and are not immediately threatened, turn the Shard off for a day or two, until we're back down to normal.
[x] Positions of Trust: Tell only the Wards and superiors we trust without reservation. Vista, Chevalier, Miss Militia and Armsmaster come to mind.
 
Much Ado About SoPA: Whoops!
[X] My Little Controller (Friendship Is OBEY): It wants to help! Keep it on all the time, because it loves us and wants to bring Order to the world.

The Word Is Out: Dragon and Legend know a lot more about us now, and the former is definitely going to be inquiring more soon - not to mention Chevalier and our new boss, Director Uriel. How do we want to handle things?
[X] Positions of Trust: Tell only the Wards and superiors we trust without reservation. Vista, Chevalier, Miss Militia and Armsmaster come to mind.

[X] 2 XP - Integrity (Mental Trauma ●○○)
[X] 4 XP - Performance ●○○○○
 
GeneralChaos said:
Much Ado About SoPA: Whoops!
[] My Little Controller (Friendship Is OBEY): It wants to help! Keep it on all the time, because it loves us and wants to bring Order to the world.

The Word Is Out: Dragon and Legend know a lot more about us now, and the former is definitely going to be inquiring more soon - not to mention Chevalier and our new boss, Director Uriel. How do we want to handle things?
[] Positions of Trust: Tell only the Wards and superiors we trust without reservation. Vista, Chevalier, Miss Militia and Armsmaster come to mind.

[] 2 XP - Integrity (Mental Trauma ●○○)
[] 4 XP - Performance ●○○○○
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Place X's in the boxes to have your vote count.
 
Jinnt said:
If we are outside the base we are generally going to have it on and being overly paranoid is a bad habit SB gets in during quests.

Who cares if it's sapient if it's messing with our head. It's not like turning it off kills it or anything we just stop listening to it.
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How is "This charm has saved our life three times. It's better to keep it on unless we say otherwise." paranoid? Cause just sounds lik pattern recognition to me.
 
Jinnt said:
If we are outside the base we are generally going to have it on and being overly paranoid is a bad habit SB gets in during quests.

Who cares if it's sapient if it's messing with our head. It's not like turning it off kills it or anything we just stop listening to it.
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Sensory Deprivation is a thing Jinnt.
 
Watching Uju, Landcollector and Sun Tzu spaz out at Jinnt makes me so glad I've got him on my ignore list.
 
Jinnt said:
It only even might of saved us against Coil all it did for Danny was let us see him coming sooner.

This vote IS NOT saying leave it off in combat or on patrols or in any dangerous situation. It is paranoia to believe we will be attacked in the middle of a base surrounded by other capes armed guards and force fields.
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I know right? It's not like that exact circumstance happened already!

Oh wait.

It did.

Behemoth was a total surprise when we thought we were safe. The Slaughterhouse Nine is likely to be the same. Your argument is invalid.

Even more so because seeing the threat "sooner" is a pretty important part of surviving an assassination attempt.

Oh yeah, Saint probably has it out for us too now if he is eavesdropping on Dragon so that's another thing to watch out for.
 
Jinnt said:
Go reread the attack the sirens went off WAY before we noticed Behemoth with our swarm so no it didn't save us from some surprise attack from him.
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Aha.

No, you go reread the attack. Behemoth killed our shell fish and we noticed him. If we hadn't, he would have incinerated us from inside his total control range, instantly.

The alarm gave us about a seconds warning. Warning that we won't necessarily get for things like the Slaughterhouse Nine, who are very very good at staying undercover.

Or another Endbringer attack, because the 'prediction' system is by no means assured..
 
Jinnt said:
We aren't going to be cautious of it look at the phrasing of friendship Taylor is going to think it's only trying to help and even if that's true it's "help" could easily be to our detriment even outside of clarity if it has the ability to influence us like it did as a shard.
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You call us paranoid for wanting to keep a charm on that saved us from three separate assassination attempts and then you state that said charm is going to actively sabotage us despite us knowing the mechanical limits of it and knowing that it did not do so in canon.

The only evidence we have for shards sabotaging people is when they don't use their power for conflict. That is not a problem for us.
 
Jinnt said:
I never used the word sabotage I used influence not the same thing the shard has it's own way of seeing the world and it is feeding that to us. It's possible it's not as bad as in Canon since it's a charm now but if it is it can fuck with Taylor's head slowly but surely just like it did in Canon. Unless we don't let it.
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The other way also works as well. As it may influence us, we may also influence it.
 
Much Ado About SoPA: Whoops!
[X] My Little Controller (Friendship Is OBEY): It wants to help! Keep it on all the time, because it loves us and wants to bring Order to the world.

The Word Is Out: Dragon and Legend know a lot more about us now, and the former is definitely going to be inquiring more soon - not to mention Chevalier and our new boss, Director Uriel. How do we want to handle things?
[X] Positions of Trust: Tell only the Wards and superiors we trust without reservation. Vista, Chevalier, Miss Militia and Armsmaster come to mind.

[X] 2 XP - Integrity (Mental Trauma ●○○)
[X] 4 XP - Performance ●○○○○
 
Jinnt said:
I never used the word sabotage I used influence not the same thing the shard has it's own way of seeing the world and it is feeding that to us. It's possible it's not as bad as in Canon since it's a charm now but if it is it can fuck with Taylor's head slowly but surely just like it did in Canon. Unless we don't let it.
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Did you read the same story I did? Shard's have some influence, sure, but not that much. Scion looked at Jack Slash and said "Hey, his shard is not that aggressive normally. What the fuck happened here?" because the human was very much in control.

The human host has a great deal of latitude, the powers are where the Shard expresses itself mostly. We're not just a human, we're an Exalt. You are screaming on about how the Shard will "Influence" us if we leave it on for a single story post more than in the other option.

Look at the consequences and the benefits here.

In your vote we sacrifice protection from assassination in order to get a minor amount of protection from a vague threat that probably isn't even a threat.

In ours, we retain the ability to shut off the charm when necessary, but don't place ourselves at risk of assassination without a conscious choice on the players part.

There's a difference between these two options and you really should really consider it before you reply again.

You don't want to take the "Risk" of the Charm having a small amount of influence on us, but you're perfectly wiling to take the risk of getting assassinated when it has been attempted three times in the quest already.
 
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