QM's Note: Congratulations on finding your first long-term goal! Anyways, here's a question for you all - Would you like a moratorium on these planning votes? This'll only apply once you exit the prologue, but I'm curious as to see what people would prefer.
My hope is that a whole day of exploration will net us at least a few biomass. Possibly with an additional day after specifically for collecting biomass (Maybe dumpster diving? Rotten and moldy food is likely fine for us.). So if say the next two days get us at least three biomass then we will only have lost out on 2/7th of a biomass from recycling the Kudzu.
Then we recycle them back off the super spy to make a really good Kudzu with 5+ keywords. Something that produces biomass on a timescale useful to us.
I like this plan, my only concern is that it puts all our biomass in one basket for now. Still, going out without a disguise is probably more dangerous. We should talk with Sabrina later and ask her if she knows about the conglomerate of infinite disdain, but we have already spent a lot of actions on that recently so it can wait.
I like this plan, my only concern is that it puts all our biomass in one basket for now. Still, going out without a disguise is probably more dangerous. We should talk with Sabrina later and ask her if she knows about the conglomerate of infinite disdain, but we have already spent a lot of actions on that recently so it can wait.
Keywords determine power. The more keywords something has, the more powerful (or talented/experienced) it is. Something with only Claws or Toxins will be around the same level of power as something with only the keyword of Psychic - But in different ways.
All together we will have 8 keywords on the super spy which should make it formidable. Shielded will make us hard to hurt. Fast will make us hard to catch. And the various stealth upgrades will mean we will likely be able to avoid notice in the first place.
My only serious concern would be if we chanced across someone in need of help due to acute physical danger. That is, we find someone we need to rescue.
Hmm. Thinking about it, if nobody objects I will add the rat poison on to the plan. It probably won't matter, but having an emergency weapon just in case could make us a little safer.
Hmm. Thinking about it, if nobody objects I will add the rat poison on to the plan. It probably won't matter, but having an emergency weapon just in case could make us a little safer.
Scheduled vote count started by TheMaskedReader on Jan 21, 2023 at 5:55 PM, finished with 11 posts and 4 votes.
[X] Plan Get some biomass
-[X] Recycle the Kudzu
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Scavenger
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Subtle
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Snake Skin (Refresh)
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Rat Poison (Poison)
-[X] Have super spy explore the street outside.
[X] Plan Get some biomass
-[X] Recycle the Kudzu
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Scavenger
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Subtle
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Snake Skin (Refresh)
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Rat Poison (Poison)
-[X] Have super spy explore the street outside.
With the new purpose flooding into your head after your experience with the Poster, you waste no time. You'll need an excellent tool for dealing with this, and that means you don't have time for waiting around. Your Kudzu is reabsorbed, and you get to work on further improvements to the Super Spy, integrating more and more into it from the lessons you've learned thus far.
From the Kudzu, you take the snake-skin gently - Its essence will let the Super Spy shed part of yourself to escape from difficult situations, and regrow whatever you lose, if slowly. The wood is less dead now, with the amount of work you've put into the Super Spy - Even if it is lost, instead of mere flesh, you will still regrow and refresh yourself. This aids you in of itself - The wood is spongier, harder to distinguish from the flesh growing around it. Not impossible, but certainly far more subtle than you were before, given Mrs. Johnson's reaction. You even manage to infuse some of the cloth with it, ensuring that it won't look dusty or faded - Though people may notice you always wear the same outfit, unless you acquire new clothes. The rest of the biomass flows into you, providing more flexibility to work with.
Then, you outfit it with something you had put on the backburner, when you transferred Super Spy into the doll's body. Mouths. More mouths, more storage. Muscle is thinned and refined, space is found for additional eyes. You will not hesitate to scavenge whatever you need, and these additional refinements will ensure you can do so without fear of being discovered hunched over some particularly strange meal, mouth dripping red. However, you do integrate one last thing, for safety's sake. You remember how Sabrina said that some people might want to hurt you. And you resolve to not let yourself be hurt, not until that thing is closed for good. Some minor alterations will ensure the poison is not fatal - Merely…paralytic. You hide it in sacs, within the doll - Beneath freshly grown teeth and nails you painstakingly place in perfect harmony with the existing ones, designed to be able to inject it with a scratch or bite.
Creation Report Updated!
Name: Super Spy!
Keywords: Disguise, Fast, Perceptive, False Humanoid, Shield, Scavenger, Subtle, Refresh, Poison
Description: The third major upgrade to Super Spy is complete! You've refined everything you want out of it, and it is now truly a multi-purpose vessel of your will. Equipped with self-defense weapons, plenty of storage, and an exterior hard to distinguish from a normal human without significant investigation, your vessel will certainly suffice for whatever you need it to do! From the speed it can leap with, to the ease with which it can shed or spread parts of itself, and the clever subtle disguise it maintains, the Super Spy can do just about anything you can think of - So long as it doesn't require too much strength or any exotic skills.
With that done, you move up to the lobby and start to debarricade the door, which only takes about an hour or two with Super Spy's flexible hands at work. With that done…you step out into the sunlight.
This part of the city is quiet, at this time of day. Your eyes dart around. Children do not play in the street - School must still be in session. A few young people linger at a street corner, all huddled together on their knees, playing some sort of dice game. Another young person walks down the street alone, holding a purse in an almost defensive manner, clutched tight to themselves. For all that you can see that this is perhaps not the nicest neighborhood, perhaps not the kindest - You feel a warmth in yourself, regardless, at the sight of people.
As you stride forward from the doors of your home, you hear shouts from down an alleyway, and turn your eyes toward it - You're tempted to rush towards it, thinking of possibly helping someone or saving someone, but alas, your perceptive nature dispels such illusions before they can even be born. They are shouts of triumph and excitement, or disappointment and rage - Not shouts of fear or panic. Whatever is going on down there is not some assault, but something that is getting the blood of some group of people pumping. (The Alleyways discovered)
Surrounding you are more buildings akin to your own, which must be more apartment buildings. You listen carefully, your ears and eyes and noses catching thousands of little things. Laundry, hung on a fire escape. The sound of radio swirling from an open window. A yelling match between a younger masculine voice and an older feminine voice. You even fancy that you can hear Sabrina, slightly, though of course it is too soft to make out. There are a thousand stories (though quite a lot less actual stories) to be found in those apartments, and you're sure you'll find someone to help if you just start knocking on their doors. (The Apartments discovered)
And finally, as you glance up and down the street, you see a building unlike the others - Merely two, or perhaps at most three, stories, in comparison to the relatively towering five and six stories of those around it. The overhang is painted a bright green, and it has long windows showing off an enticing display of goods, with bright paint declaring it "JEREMY'S GENERAL GROCERIES". Bins of fruits and vegetables sit in front of it, prices visible despite your distance, and you can feel yourself growing hungrier at the sight. But you have no money…yet. Perhaps you could try your luck at bartering? Or…well, you'd need to get a measure of what sort of person this Jeremy is, before you think about whether it would be ethical to take some of his groceries without paying. (Jeremy's General Groceries discovered)
You're so busy looking around that you almost bump into someone hastily moving down the sidewalk, their face buried in a newspaper. You step back, though, the eyes in the back of your head giving you plenty of warning, and they continue walking past with no sign of acknowledging your existence. You frown to yourself and step forward again, tapping on their shoulder. They glance up. "Hm? Yes? Can I do something for you, miss?" Their voice appears to be masculine, and they're wearing a business suit - Your senses tell you it's not fresh, but not well-worn, either. A recent promotion? A recent hiring? Who can say? They can't be older than twenty-five, though.
"Pardon me, but would you mind if I just took a brief look at your newspaper?" They blink, then offer it to you. You take a second to scan the front page.
(If the image doesn't work for you - Have a link, instead.)
You hand it back to the person, satisfied. "Thank you…sir?" He nods. "No problem, ma'am. Uh…have a nice day." He returns to his reading as he keeps walking. You think for a second. "Oh, sir - Watch out for people as you walk! You almost bumped into me, earlier." He pauses, further down the sidewalk, then folds his newspaper in half, stuffing it under his arm. His face is a bit flushed. "Oh, I'm quite sorry - Thank you for the advice, miss. Have a good day!" He strides off even faster than before…did he not want to hear that? Perhaps he was just embarrassed to have almost run into you.
The young people playing dice on the street corner exchange chuckles at your exchange, though, for whatever reason - So you choose to stride up to them, next. "Pardon me, but may I join in?" They stare up at you, more than a bit surprised that you'd choose to approach them. "Uh…sure. You know how to play Sixes?" You shake your head, and one of them sighs - A young man (at this point, you think you've got a decent enough grasp on gender presentation to make educated guesses) in overalls and a cap. "Lady, you wanna play and you've never even heard of Sixes? Gonna get taken out real quick. But, hey - If you say so." He hands you six six-sided dice, and points to them. "Everyone bets an amount of dice, they roll 'em all - Highest combo wins - We'll tell you what the combos are if you get them, but it's, you know, three of a kind, two of a kind, all in a row, that sorta thing. Highest combo takes all the dice put into the pot. Ties split 'em between 'em." You nod.
"Alright, then. Everyone, pick your dice!" And thus begins a round of Sixes! You lose. Quite badly. But Frederick (the young man who explained the rules to you) is kind enough to keep including you in the game, teaching you some of the tricks and tips of playing. You wind up whittling away time with the dice players, and eventually wind up holding your own - Though you're yet to win a game, even after they switch away from Sixes. Eventually, people start to drift away from the game as the light starts to fade, and once a certain threshold is met, though you're not sure what the criteria is for that, the game seems to be over. You drift away, having had quite a bit of fun and content to keep exploring the street, until Frederick catches up to you. "Hey, lady - Always good to see a new face at the games, even the casual ones. You seem to have a bit of a talent for it - Not bad for a newcomer, you know?" You smile. "That's so nice of you to say! I'm glad you think so, I thought I did pretty poorly, myself!" He chuckles. "Don't worry 'bout it. Hey, if you ever feel like trying again, I work as a dealer at a little games parlor - Try it out sometime, yaknow?" He slips a card out of his sleeve, a trick you wouldn't have caught if you didn't have an eye staring directly at it from a hidden joint in your arm.
You take the card, and examine it - Several of the other players had them, you recall, tucked into pockets or hands. Was he handing them out? It advertises for 'Carl's Parlor of Dice and Cards - Perfect Entertainment For The Young Man Or Lady', and gives you an address that…if your hazy memory is correct, must only be a few blocks away. "Thank you, Frederick! Have a good night, and be safe!" He tips his cap to you, then jogs off into the rapidly darkening night. You glance around and decide to head back in as well - You think you've gotten a good idea of the street, for now.
It is March 25th, 1923. You have no current passive gains. Your current goals are to find someone who needs help, and help them and to close the Poster Portal (Time Limit: Ten Years). Your current Available Biomass is 0.
Your Current Assets Are: 1x Super Spy
Your Current Resources Are:
1x Broken Toy (Keyword: Split)
Your fully explored areas: Your Home!
(Sub-Areas of Interest: The Lobby, Empty Apartments, Mossbed, Roof)
You know of the following unexplored areas: The Street Outside
(Sub-Areas: Jeremy's General Groceries, The Alleyways, The Apartments, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???)
The Rooftops
(Sub-Areas: ???)
Asset Situations
Explore [Sub-Area] with [Asset]
Explore a newly discovered location or sub-area! Make sure to specify which asset is exploring - This will have an impact on what may or may not be discovered! Feel free to include write-in instructions if you so desire.
Patrol [Fully Explored Area] with [Asset]
Sometimes, you need to play defense - Or simply linger in an area you've been before! This means patrolling that area and finding out what's changed about it, or if it's going to change in the future.
Visit Carl's Parlor of Dice and Cards
Frederick was such a nice young man, you feel at least a little obligated to visit! Sure, you don't have any money, but you're sure you can talk your way into it, to at least watch or something. And maybe you'll even see Frederick again!
Note: Visiting here will unlock a new Location/Sub-Area. You can assume this of most 'visit' actions.
Visit Namreh's Theater of the Soul
Frederick's card reminded you of the other card you have, for Namreh's Theater of the Soul! You…also don't have any money. Or tickets. But visiting it might still be interesting!
Visit Sabrina
You can visit Sabrina whenever you want, if you need her help with something, or if you just want to hang out! Make sure to write-in what you're visiting her about if you so desire.
Deal With The Poster
You need to deal with the Poster, and there's only one way to find out how - Experimentation. Throw something at the poster and see what happens. Note: This may cause damage to whatever assets you throw at the Poster.
Biomass Options
Create an Asset.
Create an asset and pick as many keywords as you'd like for them, so long as you have the Biomass!
Recycle An Asset
Recyle an asset or parts of an asset. Make sure to specify which asset and/or which keywords. Important Note: This can be done in the same 'turn' in which you create a new asset with the biomass from the old asset!
Modify Yourself
You currently have the Immutable Keywords of Magical Biohorror, Broadcaster, Immobile, and Idealist. You may add keywords to this, which will not be immutable and can be recycled and changed as you wish!
They glance up. "Hm? Yes? Can I do something for you, miss?" Their voice appears to be masculine, and they're wearing a business suit - Your senses tell you it's not fresh, but not well-worn, either. A recent promotion? A recent hiring? Who can say? They can't be older than twenty-five, though.
"Pardon me, but would you mind if I just took a brief look at your newspaper?" They blink, then offer it to you. You take a second to scan the front page.
Speaking of genders, our spy seem to look like a woman, because this guy didn't hesitate to call us ma'am, but how do we look more specifically, are we adult, teen or younger? do we have hair, if so what color.
When making it she mentioned making a lot for mouths, but it seems to be capable of passing for human, do we look like some kind of abuhuman and just can't recognize it as flesh monsters?
Speaking of genders, our spy seem to look like a woman, because this guy didn't hesitate to call us ma'am, but how do we look more specifically, are we adult, teen or younger? do we have hair, if so what color.
there is a perfectly preserved wooden doll of a human in the fourth floor of this apartment building, abandoned to the elements. You reach out and touch all over it, setting down all of your cargo, trying to determine what it must have been used for. You see grooves and openings on its back, and slide into it, feeling your way around the complex internal structure, making the arms lift and the legs move. This is a work of art that someone made, and then, what, chose to abandon here? It can't have been here for long, given the state that the clothes are in - It's dressed in a simple white blouse and long blue skirt, pristine in their simplicity. Well, you're not going to let it go to waste. It's much bigger than most anything else you've grabbed thus far, and you struggle a bit with the weight, but this will definitely be worth it. (Gain Doll - Keyword: False Humanoid)
When making it she mentioned making a lot for mouths, but it seems to be capable of passing for human, do we look like some kind of abuhuman and just can't recognize it as flesh monsters?
At the core of your wonderful new body remains the same old tentacled Super Spy, of course, and those tentacles can serve as extenders for your new appendages!
You've got plenty of space that can be utilized to store these sorts of things without making them obvious...until you need to send those mouths out, of course, but that's life. Judging from Sabrina's reaction, Super Spy without any kind of disguise/subtlety would probably be considered on the 'very far end' of 'Abhuman' rather than automatically 'this is some kind of horrific monstrosity' (once you talk, at least). Your main body...eh, not so much.
You've got plenty of space that can be utilized to store these sorts of things without making them obvious...until you need to send those mouths out, of course, but that's life. Judging from Sabrina's reaction, Super Spy without any kind of disguise/subtlety would probably be considered on the 'very far end' of 'Abhuman' rather than 'this is some kind of horrific monstrosity'. Your main body...eh, not so much.
Hmm our new unit is pretty great. Shame it's so expensive.
The grocery looks like it would be a place we can exchange money for biomass. Unfortunately we don't have any money.
Maybe we could save some money by buying expired or rotten food? Might raise some eyebrows. Swap a keyword to "Thrifty" before we go.
The dice parlor, if we swap in the keywords "Lucky" and maybe "Smart" we could probably make a good deal of money. But that may draw attention too, and I'm not sure it would be ethical.
Alternatively we could explore the apartments or the alleyways in look of someone to help. It is one of our current missions, and if the person we help is thankful it might lead to some sort of reward.
Hmm how about this:
[X] Plan Get some biomass, items, and or money
-[X] Recycle Fast from the Super Spy
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Lucky
-[X] Have super spy explore the Alleyways
--[X] Do some scavenging
Using supernatural luck to cheat in gambling is ethically dubious, but using it to look for forgotten or discarded stuff is not. One human's trash is another bio-horror's treasure.
[X] Plan Gathering Info and maybe a job
-[X] Visit Carl's Parlor of Dice and Cards with Super Spy
-[X] Talk to people, maybe someone is looking to hire us for something, maybe someone needs help!
-[X] Are people talking about the riots?
The dice parlor, if we swap in the keywords "Lucky" and maybe "Smart" we could probably make a good deal of money. But that may draw attention too, and I'm not sure it would be ethical.
Looking at the newspaper we have:
A heist. The paper calls it a bank robbery but the title is slightly misleading. Really it was a courier plane for a bank associated with the United Steel Corporation. Considering they are the ones behind the poster (or perhaps the poster is the ones behind them) the perpetrators may be heroic. We should ask Sabrina about the UFM when we have a chance.
Then there are factory riots, including clashes with corporate mages and the guard (which USCA was noted to fund). On the side of the so called rioters it was noted were magical girls and boys, which considering the title of the quest may bear attention.
Then there are talks over an important canal. It sort of ties into the explanation Sabrina gave but seems a little too big picture for us right now.
Overall the thing to focus on right now would be the riots. They seem both interesting, important, and time sensitive.
Anyway, mid term planning. It's March 25th. We last met Sabrina on the 22nd. We should probably visit Sabrina before the 29th so we aren't out of contact for more then a week.
That gives us the next few days to explore and build up.
[X] Plan Gathering Info and maybe a job
-[X] Visit Carl's Parlor of Dice and Cards with Super Spy
-[X] Talk to people, maybe someone is looking to hire us for something, maybe someone needs help!
We could play the other end, try to get hired as a dealer and make sure other people don't cheat? We are pretty perceptive.
Hmm, maybe. I'm a bit nervous about interacting with people too much right now given how much common knowledge we don't know. We don't know any of the games they are playing or the common tricks people use to cheat at them for example. We can learn quick, but unless we have some more social keywords I'm not sure we could talk our way into a job immediately.
[x] Plan: Girls Night!
-[x] Visit Sabrina
-[x] Ask if she has any clothes with longer sleeves, or gloves, so your chance of passing as non-abhuman is better
-[x] Ask her if she knows about/her opinion on Carl's Parlor of Dice and Cards
-[x] Ask her if she wants to come along
--[x] Go play cards and dice with Sabrina at the parlor
A heist. The paper calls it a bank robbery but the title is slightly misleading. Really it was a courier plane for a bank associated with the United Steel Corporation. Considering they are the ones behind the poster (or perhaps the poster is the ones behind them) the perpetrators may be heroic. We should ask Sabrina about the UFM when we have a chance.
If we want to rob someone for money, United Steel or one of its subsidiaries is probably a good target, anything that slows their work on the portals is probably a good thing.
Overall the thing to focus on right now would be the riots. They seem both interesting, important, and time sensitive.
Anyway, mid term planning. It's March 25th. We last met Sabrina on the 22nd. We should probably visit Sabrina before the 29th so we aren't out of contact for more then a week.
That gives us the next few days to explore and build up.
Hmm, maybe. I'm a bit nervous about interacting with people too much right now given how much common knowledge we don't know. We don't know any of the games they are playing or the common tricks people use to cheat at them for example. We can learn quick, but unless we have some more social keywords I'm not sure we could talk our way into a job immediately.
We should probably observe some more before we go for the card job, yeah.
Maybe we can find a job moving boxes or washing dishes or something first? On the other hand, we don't actually need to eat, so perhaps soaking up more of that common knowledge is a better us of our time?
[X] Plan Get some biomass, items, and or money
-[X] Recycle Fast from the Super Spy
-[X] Modify Super Spy: Lucky
-[X] Have super spy explore the Alleyways
--[X] Do some scavenging
I'm iffy about losing fast in case we need to escape quickly, but I suppose lucky is a suitable replacement.
To advocate for my plan a little:
The sooner we get a few more biomass the sooner we can set up a proper Kudzu producing more for us.
I figure we can shake 3 or so biomass off of our super spy without compromising it's ability to explore or visit Sabrina. So if we can find another two biomass or so we can make a Kudzu with 5 biomass.
Five biomass would be enough for say: Photosynthetic, Productive, Growing, Rapid, Mimicry. (And refresh from the snakeskin). That should net us a good biomass income which we can then invest back into improving our super spy, the kudzu, or making more units.
And with Lucky, Scavenger, and Perceptive we are pretty much guaranteed to find something while scavenging. I'm hoping the alleyways have dumpsters and trash bins and the like. You can find all sorts of neat stuff in the trash even if you don't have extra luck. Perfectly good food. Fixable appliances and electronics. Even jewelry apparently.
Considering we are a good deal less picky with our food then any human would be we can probably get a bunch of biomass from dumpster diving.
If we want to rob someone for money, United Steel or one of its subsidiaries is probably a good target, anything that slows their work on the portals is probably a good thing.
We should probably observe some more before we go for the card job, yeah.
Maybe we can find a job moving boxes or washing dishes or something first? On the other hand, we don't actually need to eat, so perhaps soaking up more of that common knowledge is a better us of our time?
Once we have some money we can have an excuse to hang around and learn things. But once we have money we probably won't need the job. Bit of a catch 22.
Maybe a simple job. I'm not sure I like the idea of tying up so much of our biomass and human-interaction ability for so long though. Maybe when we have more to go around? We aren't exactly well suited for holding down a 9-5.
Thing is with our crazy versatility there isn't much we really need money for like most people do. We won't starve as you say and in the (hopefully near) future we will be producing our own biomass. And with enough biomass we can do almost anything.
A few keywords for perusal after finding this quest (before I go to sleep)
[ ] Vantablack: shade of black so intense it absorbs all light (possibly useful for kudzu)
[ ] Empowering: we want to be a Magical Girl but we can theoretically be able to double as a Mascot (probably need to add cute for that as well)
[ ] Lunacy: again for the Mascot/Magical Girl Vessel (the moon is a classic for Magical Girls)
[ ] Combat Ribbons: much better than tentacles (more tools for Magical Girl Moons Presence)
what do you think of these TheMaskedReader? Combat Ribbons may be pushing it but if I remember right Concepts with two words are still okay
edit: meant to type Lunacy and/or Lunatic
I really like "Empowering" as an idea. One of our biggest strengths is that we can basically do anything, but our weakness is that we only have limited biomass to allocate at once. If we can figure out how to say, permanently empower or enhance other people then we could use a ton of biomass to make a really good empowerment creature, and then recycle the biomass when we are done preforming the enhancements.
Well, my mind went to a more biological sort of enhancements first. But magical empowerment would probably be easier for people to accept. Maybe we can thank Sabrina for her help by giving her a session with a "Cute, Magical, Empowering, Enhancing, Refining, Augmenting" creature.
Here are some of my (admittedly strange) keyword ideas:
- Forgettable: Slightly different form of nondescript
- Antimemetic: Be like SCP-055
- Hypnotic: Could be useful to get out of sticky situations
- Endearing: Good social keyword perhaps?
- Acausal: Let's mess with time
- Epistemically Impossible: Be something that should not exist. Nothing bad could possibly happen if we add this!
Yeah, two words are fine, so long as they aren't absurdly long/detailed. Anyways, all of those look good to me (except Lucacy, since I can't find a meaning for it - I think it must be a mispelling of something to do with lunar, given context clues, hah)!
- Forgettable: Slightly different form of nondescript
- Antimemetic: Be like SCP-055
- Hypnotic: Could be useful to get out of sticky situations
- Endearing: Good social keyword perhaps?
- Acausal: Let's mess with time
- Epistemically Impossible: Be something that should not exist. Nothing bad could possibly happen if we add this!
And all of these, too, for good measure! I will always encourage people to experiment with keywords, the system's designed for it, after all! Don't be afraid to synergize them together, too!
I really like "Empowering" as an idea. One of our biggest strengths is that we can basically do anything, but our weakness is that we only have limited biomass to allocate at once. If we can figure out how to say, permanently empower or enhance other people then we could use a ton of biomass to make a really good empowerment creature, and then recycle the biomass when we are done preforming the enhancements.
.
