I note we've moved to -1 net Mundane income, so we're back to needing to keep an eye on that. On the plus side, we just got a bunch more Mundane so we should be set for a bit unless the building upgrade eats it all.
Magical Girl Home Base Quest
- Thread starter 7734
- Start date
- Original
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
Imma disagree on two points, because irradiating the building would be much worse then killing someone, because at that point the building is done, we can't use it anymore. All the time, effort and attention that's been paid to this thing is now worthless. It'd also probably kill Joselyn, because we can't move her body right now. Second, there's no reason we know of that it can't explode while irradiating the building that we know about, thus killing Medicine Boy outright and leaving it to T&E to clear everyone else before they start growing extra heads.
I'm playing this firmly on the better safe then sorry side.
I suspect Joselyn was partly looking to make Medicine Boy feel safe by offering him a lot of control over her, and mostly because she didn't give a fuck. A lot of her behavior has indicated she doesn't have much of a will to live left. If you don't care about your life, what's it matter if someone else can control it?
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7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Well, yeah. You eat a -1 Mundane cost per week per staff member in the building.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
[x] [WORK] No, you want to work on your building instead
[x] [CHRIS] Something smells fishy about this; reserve a final decision on the matter until you meet her yourself and send some backup with Mistletoe to go get her.
Between the mythological hints and the reminders that Sofia is really bad at infosec, I'm willing to state there's enough cause for Concern to go with Medicine Boy's gut.
[x] [CHRIS] Something smells fishy about this; reserve a final decision on the matter until you meet her yourself and send some backup with Mistletoe to go get her.
Between the mythological hints and the reminders that Sofia is really bad at infosec, I'm willing to state there's enough cause for Concern to go with Medicine Boy's gut.
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- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
I'm not really seeing a reason why we should suspect mythological hints for anything here. Like just because Loki used Mistletoe to kill Balder doesn't mean a bad guy is going to use Mistletoe to kill one of our allies. Like I joked about it earlier but by the same "Mistletoe was used to do evil=Sofia will be used by evil" logic we should be worried about Homer yeeting Sofia at someone to accidentally kill them because Mistletoe was thrown by a blind man to kill Balder.
- Location
- Plato's Cave
It just seems like if the only myth being referenced was "weakness exploited" her name could be "Silver Bullet" or something. It didn't occur to me before now, but a name that evokes Loki, causer of Ragnarok, is... not unconcerning. I wouldn't worry about it, but we do have a crisis approaching about which we know essentially nothing at all.
As far as I'm aware you can't irradiate a building.
Radioactive dust can settle on or in buildings, but radiation itself does not soak into a structure.
So technically working within a lead-cloth lined (or just numerous bags filled with water) clean-room, would nullify any danger to the building or its inhabitants.
Anyone working on it however? Do not touch without a healing item or a myriad of potions.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
I mean, I figure somewhere in the setting is some kind of weird corrupting magical artifact that actually 'radiates' some kind of weird magical energy that's bad for you. It wouldn't be unprecedented, and I wasn't sure if you were describing that or "radiates 500 mSv per hour."
...
On reflection, this raises problems with using it to heal Jocelyn's body or whatever is left of it. Depending on how well it works, we may end up giving her a body that functions fine for six months and then dies of terminal cancer of all of the everything.
THIS. This this this.
I don't think the girlfriend herself is a problem (except maybe in a 'time bomb' sense that turns into a purification story arc for the girls). I think the problem of Mistletoe being very bad at infosec and the implication that the girlfriend is in custody implies risk.
Besides, if we can wheedle, say, Trompdoy into coming along this gets a LOT easier, because it is almost certainly WAY easier to sneak a teenage girl out of a government foster care facility if you have an illusionist helping out.
I mean it can, but only under extreme circumstances.
The problem is that as a practical matter, our hobo-tier equipment and crudely improvised shop is nowhere near adequate to protect us from serious radiation hazards.
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
Kinda sorta. The metals in the support structure will pick up some, and gamma radiation loves any kind of organic compound. Any wood in the walls and finishing will soak it up, same for the paper on the drywall. But that's besides the point, as I don't really think the Kolobok will explode if mishandled. It's more likely to cause a gamma burst if we poke it wrong, or cuase out of control cell mitosis if the healing part goes wrong, basically giving off magical cancer. If it's like the item in the game it comes from, then it also might regress into an endless chemical reaction, turning into a ball of endless acid that burns out of the workshop and all the way through the building before exiting out the foundation.
So there's a lot of ways this could go wrong and be bad, hence why I want the workshop set up to handle it.
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
... Out of curiosity, do we know any telekinetics? A glob of endlessly corrosive acid could be a pretty sweet weapon.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Some of the girls might, but we don't. Aside from crafting magical equipment, MB has no magical powers.
Uh no, the full story is:
-Baldr was safe from everything because his mom went and got individual pacts out of every significant plant, animal and mineral to never hurt him. Overlooking Mistletoe because it was weak.
-Loki made the Mistletoe into a dart.
-Loki gave Mistletoe to the trusting blind god Hodr and told him he could participate in the regular event of throwing stuff at Baldr to see it bounce off.
-Hodr kills Baldr with the Mistletoe when he threw. Neither Hodr, Baldr nor the Mistletoe intended this.
The specific mythology trope is not Silver Bullet.
Its Blind Trust.
Incidentally we have a blind dude in house which some people want to kill. People good at name magic.
pantherasapiens
you were always my best friend
- Location
- somewhere over your shoulder
But the blind dude doesn't die. He's the one who unwittingly sets the mistletoe on its way to kill the actual target. So we need to watch out for Mistletoe getting too close to Homer, and for anybody worming their way into Homer's trust.
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
Sorry, I meant people with telekinesis.
So the goal would be to craft a glove trinket that allows MedB to use telekinesis?
I think the idea would be to get him to burn his bridges so they have a shot at him outside of a building with enough magical girls to fight a small army of demons and win.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
That would be useful.
- Location
- ?
Personally, I just think that there's no real danger with Mistletoe herself or her girlfriend,it's just that Mistletoe has been very bad at keeping up infosec( as in not hiding True Names and possibly just explaining her personal situation in detail to basically anyone.)and when it comes to Chris, that can very easily be used against her. That's the possible danger for her. Not any supposed 'hint' based off mythological stuff that may or may not apply. And I think the people trying to imply something with Homer of all people is really stretching it.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
I think to some extent people are just joking around with the mythological allusions. Or speculating that there may be some sort of greater Cosmic Plot Arc thing going on.
Mistletoe's nom de guerre is very explicitly a reference to how the god Baldr could only be harmed by mistletoe, because our magical girl Mistletoe's power is to make an enemy super-duper-vulnerable to a single specific stirike or threat. However, that reference doesn't necessarily fold inwards to point at our circle of crafters/magical girls/etc. Not necessarily.
But since we DO have a blind guy on staff... well, it's the kind of thing that would be fan speculation if this whole thing were an anime.
Mistletoe's nom de guerre is very explicitly a reference to how the god Baldr could only be harmed by mistletoe, because our magical girl Mistletoe's power is to make an enemy super-duper-vulnerable to a single specific stirike or threat. However, that reference doesn't necessarily fold inwards to point at our circle of crafters/magical girls/etc. Not necessarily.
But since we DO have a blind guy on staff... well, it's the kind of thing that would be fan speculation if this whole thing were an anime.
- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
Is she really that bad at infosec though? Like sure she's been practically telling everyone at base about it but maybe that's just because she's relaxed in a safe place and she's better at the job? Cause that's pretty plausible and unless the enemy has wire taps in our base her telling people her and her friend's real names shouldn't be that big of an issue.
Also I brought up the Homer yeeting Mistletoe thing to highlight how absurd it is to try and use the myth to predict things when any connection is going to be super bare bones. That people are taking it seriously is concerning me
We know a crisis is coming and have basically zero details about it. It's not so much taking it seriously as Wild Ass Guessing.
I'd say casual divulgence of critical information that can be used to not just kill, but maybe even enslave someone, or force them to do whatever while at a safe distance to the target falls under that.
It doesn't really matter who might hear it now, as much as who can repeat it later on... like a captured MG that would do anything to escape with her life, or an unwilling mind probe.
Loose lips
- Location
- ?
She has consistently slipped up on not mentioning true names around us because she's new to MG business. The problem is that the consequences for someone knowing you're true name have always been hinted to be very,very bad. It would the equivalent of running around and telling people your credit card information or social security number.
So I don't think it's a stretch that she would slip up elsewhere that someone unsavory could potentially catch it. Besides,we're talking about magic here,so they probably wouldn't need to use tech to bug the place. What if there's some kind of magic that can track or scry a person once you know their true name? And once you have that a person that an MG cares about could be easily used as bait. And I'm not saying it's a certainty,but it's a fair possibility that shouldn't be ignored either.
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- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is the definition of bad infosec, for multiple reasons.
First, every MG that knows Mistletoe or her girlfriend's true name is someone who can be then forced to give that name up if captured - and who knows how effective magical interrogations are.
Second, how the hell do we know that every magical girl is loyal? Even if all of them are good people, there's no guarantee against one of the girls getting blackmailed, or having someone taken hostage to force their cooperation. For that matter, the girls are all dirt poor (still don't really understand that). Officials who take bribes often turn out to have sold out their loyalty for disappointingly little money.
Third, why *wouldn't* the witches have us wiretapped, magically or otherwise? We have the absolute minimum of a functional workshop and have devoted all our efforts to frantically making magic items. I certainly don't remember making magical counter- surveillance.
Infosec is based on the premise of harm reduction. Trust is risky - the more you trust someone with, the more potential they have to harm you and the less likely you are to suspect it. So good infosec formalizes procedures so that no one is given more trust than they absolutely need, minimizing such risk. In this setting, "no true names" is the equivalent of not writing your bank PIN on a sticky note on your monitor.