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Closing votes in 48 hours. You guys didn't formulate the plans you said you'd formulate yet, so I'll give extra time.
 
[X] get yourself ready..... avoid being directly in front of the entity, same with ifrit, don't make the first move, wait for them to make the first move and proceed from there without letting your guard down

Fuck it I've never made my own plan before so I'm just modifying one but no one else has a plan I trust to work on Forsaken Murderer so here we are
 
[X] get yourself ready..... avoid being directly in front of the entity, same with ifrit, don't make the first move, wait for them to make the first move and proceed from there without letting your guard down
 
Why is it so hard to make a plan for this?

Is it because we're not sure what to expect? What our objectives are?

This is the first time we are dealing with an Abnormality by itself.

Breaking it down, our goals are:

1) Acquire information on Forsaken Murderer's presence here, both on how he got here and what his plan is.
2) Protect Ifrit. Ensure both physical and mental well-being.

Our methods are:
a) Engage in Diplomacy. Hopefully to avoid a fight and establish a working relationship.
b) Violence.

We know his story. We just heard it. We can use that.

[X] First Hearing
- Greet him. It's only polite.
-- Ask if he would like some light and warmth. See if Ifrit can get a fire going.
— Ask how he came to be here and why.
- Get ready to move. Grab Ifrit out of the way if necessary. Those shaking straps are a bad sign.
- If it comes to combat, don't restrain or restrict his movements. It won't hold him down. Instead cut him so he bleeds. The fear the doctors instilled in him will be heavier than any chain.

Is this okay? Any improvements? I'm welcome to advice.
 
Is this okay? Any improvements? I'm welcome to advice.
I'd vote for that plan. It's much more coherent than the ones we've had so far at least.

As for why making a plan is so hard for this one, it's because Forsaken Murderer isn't acting the way we expect them to, and we're in a unfamiliar area and situation so we don't have much to work with for now. First step is clearing things up so we know what we're dealing with.
 
[X] First Hearing
- Greet him. It's only polite.
-- Ask if he would like some light and warmth. See if Ifrit can get a fire going.
— Ask how he came to be here and why.
- Get ready to move. Grab Ifrit out of the way if necessary. Those shaking straps are a bad sign.
- If it comes to combat, don't restrain or restrict his movements. It won't hold him down. Instead cut him so he bleeds. The fear the doctors instilled in him will be heavier than any chain.
 
Vote closed
Scheduled vote count started by thenew on Jun 22, 2024 at 8:11 PM, finished with 40 posts and 10 votes.

  • [X] First Hearing
    [X] get yourself ready..... avoid being directly in front of the entity, same with ifrit, check our pockets see if there's anything edible.... hopefully the tail isn't the only gift dreaming current has available in a realm of mind, if so we offer it.... guy seems like he could use something OTHER than the lousy food of a demented hospital
    [X] This might turn ugly, but you need to talk to them, standard negotiation tactics should be good enough. Understand what they want, what they need, why are they doing this? And you can get some Information as well, like how did they get here etc. You will probably need to keep a handle on the kid as well, Don't want her to stir up any problems when you are trying to remove a problem from her head. Can you remove them? You might as well find some ways to do so once you get out of here, this connection thing you can do will probably be pretty handy.
    -[X] And if talking doesn't work well... Well you hope and you pray that fighting in this mind space doesn't cause some permanent mental damage.
    [X] get yourself ready..... avoid being directly in front of the entity, same with ifrit, don't make the first move, wait for them to make the first move and proceed from there without letting your guard down
 
Interlude: Never Frozen Bottom Flows
"Beating Heart" / The Heart of Immortality


"We cannot know how much time we have left. But we always need more."
- The Heart of Immortality's Entry​

The Heart of Immortality is a biometallic heart suspended by numerous opaque tubes, which connect to the room's ceiling. It constantly, if faintly, beats. While it is in its activated state, zooming into the containment cell will cause the window/screen to pulsate faintly, and a heartbeat to be heard in the background.

Subject Number: T-04-98
Risk Level: ALEPH
QC: 7

Ability

The Heart of Immortality's ability is unlocked when an employee interacts with it. This will take 10 seconds. When that happens, the Qliphoth Counter will decrease by 1 and the employee will be marked (shown as a metallic heart icon on their chest and next to their HP bar), receiving continuous healing of 10 HP and SP per second. After this, the Qliphoth Counter will break, becoming impossible to be seen. Further employees can be sent after this point, but they will not decrease it further.

The current Counter can be monitored by paying attention to the heartbeat. The weaker and the more irregular the sound, the lower the Counter. At 8, it sounds like a normal heart. At 1, it is barely a gasp.

The HP healing is mostly cosmetic, as a "marked" employee cannot die (though they can still enter Panic, defaulting to Wandering). However, a hidden timer will be started for the employee. Every 130 seconds (a timer that runs independently for each mark), the marked employee will take 100 Black damage and the counter will decrease by 2.

Working with the Heart takes 10 seconds, and immediately pauses the timer for the given employee, but does not increase the Counter. After working, the employee will have their SP fully healed and the timer will reset.

Should the counter reach 0, the Heart will inflict Panic to all marked employees, remove the marks and breach.




Breach

When the Heart's QC reaches 0, it will breach. Marked employees will lose the Mark and panic, and the Heart's pipes will spread over the Department (and after 40 seconds, the entire facility), with 6-8 pipes bursting out of the walls to attack employees (whacking them for 10-15 Red damage). The heartbeat will grow loud enough to be heard at all times, and the screen will begin to shake, causing 15 Red damage to a random number of employees in the facility between 5 and 10 every 5 seconds. The employees with the lowest absolute HP will be prioritized for this.

The pipes have a random amount of HP from 200 to 1000 each and have Normal (1.0) defenses against all damage types but Black, to which they are Weak (1.2), and Pale, to which they are Vulnerable (2.0). Should one be defeated, another will spawn in 20 seconds.

The Heart will not leave its containment room, where it will spawn 4 pipes (those respawn thrice as slowly). It possesses 6000 HP and is Weak (1.2) to all damage types but Black and Pale, to which it is Vulnerable (2.0). Once every 40 seconds, it will "falter," meaning all the pipes will cease moving for 3-5 seconds, the beat and the shaking will stop (also resetting the damage timer). As it falters, the Heart also loses 400 HP. It only possesses one "attack," where it explodes one of the pipes connected to it, releasing black liquid that deals 50 Black Damage in an AoE area. This has a 60 second cooldown and a long wind-up, allowing employees to leave the room as it prepares.

Suppressing the Heart of Immortality will grant its E.G.O Weapon and give the employee that dealt the final blow and E.G.O Gift.



Weapon: Immortality
Grade: ALEPH
Cost: N/A
Max Amount: 1
Damage: PALE (12-24)
Attack Speed: Medium
Range: Short
Weapon Type: Sword
Appearance: A silver executioner's axe with an organic appearance. The valves of a heart peek through the metal.
Special Properties: Requires Fortitude V. Damage resistance increases (up to 30% reduction in damage) if the user's HP is above 50%. Attack Speed increases if the user's HP is below 50% (up to 200% attack speed increase at 10% HP, stacking multiplicatively with current Justice.).

Life is a wonderful, wonderful thing. An yet it is so fleeting.

Gift: Immortality
HP +24
Slot: Chest
Appearance: It looks like the giftee's chest has been torn open. Their heart is nowhere to be seen.



Flavor Text

[Interacting for the first time]

"[name] feels their heart beat faster."
"The Heart of Immortality grants its blessings."
"May you live a long, and rewarding life."
"[name] shivers as a pulse passes through their flesh."
"We decay. We rot. We stave off the end."

[Successive visits]
"[name]'s feet move alongside the beat of the Heart of Immortality."
"We love life. Why should it end?"
"Life is all we have."
"We give men all we have, and yet still they die."
"[name] shudders as another pulse washes over their body."



Log and Method

Interaction AmountLogMethod
70 seconds"A curious work of biology and machinery. Said to have been constructed by a king who sought to live forever.""Those who interact with the Heart of Immortality will be continuously healed."
140 seconds"The Heart gives of life. The Heart has so much life to give. And we drink deeply of the fountain, thirsty as we are.""In addition to this, an employee that is being healed by the Heart of Immortality cannot die."
210 seconds"The Heart drinks of life from the bottom of the well. The blood of the heart is life- thought, hope and despair. It flows through veins that stretch forward infinitely.""In order to mantain this effect, regular re-applying is necessary. When employees failed to re-apply regularly, the Qliphoth Counter decreased."
280 seconds"The world awaits the blessings of the Heart. Once they beat with renewed strength, it will surely bring a new age.""It is not possible to see the Heart's Qliphoth Counter after it is used for the first time. The Manager must discern its current state by ear."
350 seconds"May the Heart never stop beating. Immortality is for all.""If the heartbeat stops entirely, the Heart will breach and all healed employees will panic."
Defeated it once, 777 total seconds"Some say immortality is for the few. This is untrue. Immortality is for none at all.""Dividing the Heart's blessings is not recommended."
 
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It's always interesting to remember how the original Lobotomy Corporation was so heavily inspired by the SCP-verse, given how the Project Moon franchise has sprawled in so many ways since then.
 
An Abnormal representing the eternal yet futile search for immortality?

Mmm, yeah. That meshes with Parvis.

Ugh, it reminds of a less finicky Train.
At least you can ignore this thing from the start.
 
Curious little abno...parvis certainly has some rather interesting tools at his disposal. Though it's looking less and less likely that he is even gonna be dignified with a decent death after this, considering the nature of those tools.
Welp! Can't wait for the pipe nightmare! It sounds cool. Possibly annoying to manage in a real lobcorp game, but at least kinda cool.
 
I've been rereading this fic since forever, I even have every single page of this thread in reader mode on my phone

Do I have a problem?
 
Looking it over...

This thing's range is the entire facility?
It focuses on the weakest character?

Yeugh.

But it loses health over time...we could potentially outlast it.

It's weak to Black and Pale damage...Do we have anything like that? Something that corrodes/rots and targets souls?

It panics everyone it gave healing to... Who's on that list? Do we have any White damage to restore sanity?

Oh. Parvis is flat-out immortal. Welp.
 
Curious little abno...parvis certainly has some rather interesting tools at his disposal. Though it's looking less and less likely that he is even gonna be dignified with a decent death after this, considering the nature of those tools.
Welp! Can't wait for the pipe nightmare! It sounds cool. Possibly annoying to manage in a real lobcorp game, but at least kinda cool.
Abno makes him panic, which makes him fall down a really tall flight of stairs, and his death pose is the peter griffin meme
 
Apologies for the chapter delay. My computer broke and I am currently searching for a new one.
 
New Interlude Vote
Alright so: my computer's still broken. It was a 10 year old laptop and the part that broke is basically not replaceable anymore. I can't access my notes, so no chapter until the new computer arrives.

However, I can manage an Interlude with what I have. Not a "major" Interlude, but something more lower-stakes: some sidestory about the other characters who haven't been too relevant to the plot currently. So, same deal as before: the two highest get written, plus one secret very plot relevant interlude!

[ ] Interlude: Showdown

"Do you even know how to play this game?"

"Malkuth."

"Stop eating the pieces."

"Malkuth."


[ ] Interlude: Entries 237-269

Can't those wolves just fucking die already?

I have it in good authority that they can't.

Hush, let him learn by himself, Agenir. He won't accept it otherwise.


[ ] Interlude: The Life of a Fixer III

"People have been calling it the Bleeding Heart Forest. It has been designated an Urban Nightmare- but that's only because it's in the corner of the Backstreets, and the scouts' reports haven't made their way through Hana's system yet. It's going to be a Star very, very soon. Don't worry- I've already bought our train tickets."

[ ] Interlude: Records III

"Jawohl, Herr Feldwebel! Ah, that was a good spar. Say, girl. Girlie. Could I call you Amiya? Would you like to learn a technique of my own? Well, not entirely of my own- let's say it belonged to an old friend."

[ ] Interlude: Blacksteel

"H, I'm a big fan of yours, but are you really, really sure we can carry all those guns all the way to Columbia?"

"да."

"Laterano's not going to be happy... Eh, fuck it. We signed up for a life of crime anyway- what's one more enemy."


[ ] Interlude: Demise

"The machines are strong. But that is all that they are. Their hatred gives them strength- do not give them yours! The walls will hold!"

[ ] Interlude: Silent Ensemble

"Kreide, do not trust the clown."

"You wound me. I am completely trustworthy."

"Do not trust the Sankta either."

"What are you, racist? Arturia is trustworthy too. Come on, tell them, Arturia."

"Why yes, I am a very trustworthy person."

"Much like I! Now, can you let your giant robot grandfather get out of the way, so we can have a polite conversation?"


[ ] Interlude: Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

"Talulah. I need you to buy me five seconds."
 
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