cryptoam
building an 1980s encrypted protocol
- Location
- in lockdown waiting and bored...
Hey @eaglejarl , don't forget to do one for the500th threadmark(Server error). Everyone does 404 but no one has done 500 yet.
Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
-
- Tags
- naruto rationalist romance armageddon is looking better and better damn you kishimoto explosions everywhere explosives solve everyone if in doubt surrender to the mercy of zabuza it seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a really bad case of being a jōnin my god. where does the lore end? precommitting is the winning plan screaming in kagome screw the rules i have explosives something bad might still happen sometimes you gotta sociopath stabby zabby subsection c of paragraph 9 should include we can weaponize this so hard
Xilentxium
Existential Crisis Management
- Location
- Temperate Regions
Damned sealing failures
- Location
- Under a Rock
Well, in a rom com, such as marked for death, a meet cute would be when the romantic leads meet under cute circumstances. Like they were both hired to assassinate the same target but didn't know that. They initially fight to establish mutual respect, but then work together to establish trust.
I hope the meet-cute was followed up successfully! Good luck!
Emstar
The Shining One
- Location
- Trapped in an extradimensional rift.
- Pronouns
- She/They
- Location
- Europe
Of course? I am suprised you didn't know:
- Location
- Yes.
It's only official if it coincides with [CENSORED].
- Location
- The Deep Blue Sea
The callout post was not necessary EJ
- Location
- Pacific standard
So, the voting period ends in 2020. Truly, a cursed update
- Location
- Hiding
The power of nominative determinism strikes again!
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
Now that we're in a new cycle, I'll draw on my previous effortpost to make some meaningful votes for our SOP and other FOOM plans.
[] Overcharging: No
[X] Overcharging: Yes
Next off, we need to decide what to do with Akane's training. We have enough XP to get her to 5 clones, which she can support normally, or 6 clones, which she can only support with overcharging. However, Akane does not have the skill columns to support moving Resolve up to 30, so we cannot yet afford to bring her to the six clone mark. Therefore, the current meaningful options are to bring her to 5 clones or to leave her where she is for now. I won't get into it here, but if anyone else wants to make a different plan that clears the way for Resolve 30, they're more than welcome to.
[] Training Akane: None
[X] Training Akane: 5 clones
Resolve 24 --> 27 (78 XP)
Save 97 XP
Finally, we need to figure out Keiko's plan. Unlike Akane, she can support Resolve 30 with her columns, and she has a few options. She can stay at 4 clones, which she can support normally. She can move to 5 clones, which she can support on her own only with refills, or she can push all the way up to 7 clones by taking advantage of the current state of koi refills. Well, almost. She's just a couple dozen XP short of 7 clones, but we can push to 6 here and now and polish off 7 in a future cycle. The koi are only active for the next six weeks before they breed, but the extra clones should make up for the inefficiency of pushing SC 40 back. (see the effortpost for the full math). Note that the 5-clone path is dependent on the result of the overcharging vote, so keep an eye out to make sure we don't mismatch them.
[] Training Keiko: None
[] Training Keiko: 5 clones
Resolve 24 --> 27 (78 XP)
Save 155 XP
[X] Training Keiko: 6 clones
Resolve 24 --> 30 (165 XP)
Save 68 XP
P.S. Hazou is only 9 XP away from SC 30, so we'll soon be starting him on FOOM as well, but we're not quite ready to make a training plan for him this cycle. Maybe we'll finish that bit off at the same time as we get Keiko up to 7 clones.
Starting off, we need to figure out if we want to do light overcharging when it helps us cast another clone. Reminder: overcharging lets us boost our effective chakra capacity by 5% but we need to visit Noburi to do it. This will be an alteration to the general-purpose SOP for the indefinite future.
[] Overcharging: No
[X] Overcharging: Yes
Next off, we need to decide what to do with Akane's training. We have enough XP to get her to 5 clones, which she can support normally, or 6 clones, which she can only support with overcharging. However, Akane does not have the skill columns to support moving Resolve up to 30, so we cannot yet afford to bring her to the six clone mark. Therefore, the current meaningful options are to bring her to 5 clones or to leave her where she is for now. I won't get into it here, but if anyone else wants to make a different plan that clears the way for Resolve 30, they're more than welcome to.
[] Training Akane: None
[X] Training Akane: 5 clones
Resolve 24 --> 27 (78 XP)
Save 97 XP
Finally, we need to figure out Keiko's plan. Unlike Akane, she can support Resolve 30 with her columns, and she has a few options. She can stay at 4 clones, which she can support normally. She can move to 5 clones, which she can support on her own only with refills, or she can push all the way up to 7 clones by taking advantage of the current state of koi refills. Well, almost. She's just a couple dozen XP short of 7 clones, but we can push to 6 here and now and polish off 7 in a future cycle. The koi are only active for the next six weeks before they breed, but the extra clones should make up for the inefficiency of pushing SC 40 back. (see the effortpost for the full math). Note that the 5-clone path is dependent on the result of the overcharging vote, so keep an eye out to make sure we don't mismatch them.
[] Training Keiko: None
[] Training Keiko: 5 clones
Resolve 24 --> 27 (78 XP)
Save 155 XP
[X] Training Keiko: 6 clones
Resolve 24 --> 30 (165 XP)
Save 68 XP
P.S. Hazou is only 9 XP away from SC 30, so we'll soon be starting him on FOOM as well, but we're not quite ready to make a training plan for him this cycle. Maybe we'll finish that bit off at the same time as we get Keiko up to 7 clones.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Overcharging: Yes
[X] Training Akane: 5 clones
[X] Training Keiko: 6 clones
[X] Training Akane: 5 clones
[X] Training Keiko: 6 clones
Chapter 404: Fast-Forwarding the Dull Bits
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Good morning, My Lord. How are you this morning?"
"Morning, Gaku. I'm not dead yet, so I guess that's good."
"Slept poorly again, sir?"
"I was a little restless." It had been a highlights book: The Sunset Racer, Hidan's butchery of the village, and the never-actually-seen deaths of Jiraiya and Shinji...who for some reason had died fighting back to back against swarms of Zabuzas with whirling red eyes and an army of demons. And then Jiraiya, Shinji, and Zabuza melded together into a six-armed, six-eyed monstrosity that towered into the sky and laughed down at Hazō, telling him how worthless he was and unworthy to wield the power he had been given.
"There is mint tea in the seal to your left and a light breakfast on your right."
"Thank you, Gaku. Don't know what I'd do without you." He took a moment to open the seal and take a bite of the bread, cheese, and grapes that Gaku had thoughtfully assembled. He sipped his tea and rubbed his face. "Okay, let's do this. Things that I need you to know:
"First, I'm thinking about paying off all civilian debt in Leaf. Check into that and see how it would stack up against our treasury, okay?"
"...Sir?"
"Hm? What? This cheese is amazing."
"Thank you, sir. Did you say that you want to pay off all civilian debt in Leaf?"
"Yes?"
The older man sat mute, blinking in shock. After a moment, he rallied. "I mean...we can certainly do it, sir. I doubt we have the actual ryō on hand, but our scrip is as good as ryō at nearly all merchants in Leaf. I'll have the printers set up another run."
"Great, thanks. Next thing: Birthdays. Birthdays were always a big deal for Team Uplift, and I plan on making them a big deal for Clan Gōketsu. I'm struggling with what to get Mari, but I've got two ideas. First, I'm going to make her a seal."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. It's going to make bubbles."
"...Bubbles, sir?"
"For her bath. I'll line a tub with them. They'll blow puffs of warm air in, and that will make bubbles. It'll be relaxing. It shouldn't be too hard...it's really just a modification of the Tunneler's Friend. Of course, then I'll need to figure out how to waterproof them. It's one thing to waterproof an explosive seal, you can just wrap them up in wax. Something that emits air will need to be exposed to its environment so that the air can get out. Don't want it getting wet because only the ancestors know what happens when an activated seal gets wet, but I'll figure something out. Not really sure how, but maybe...I'm babbling again, aren't I?"
"Not at all, sir."
"Sorry. Anyway, just in case I can't get that done in time I'm going to make her a book containing nice things that people have said about her."
"Excellent idea, sir. It will pair nicely with the one that Lord Noburi and Lady Nara are working on."
"...The what now?"
One eyebrow rose. "The Footsteps of Lady Gōketsu, sir? They've been working on it for at least a year now, although I gather it's going slowly since it requires working around a great deal of classified information while still maintaining a degree of coherence and accuracy."
"Oh."
"If it helps, I do not believe they plan to use it as this year's gift. Still, you might give some thought to the physical appearance of the two books. Perhaps they could be designed to be physically complementary...'bookends', if you will."
"Huh. That's a good idea. Thank you, Gaku. Now, the question of the day: What's your birthday? And don't give me any of that wishy-washy 'aw, shucks' stuff. Your Clan Lord commands you: Reveal your secrets!"
The older man chuckled. "August third, My Lord."
"Excellent. Thank you, Gaku. Okay, that's all I've got. Hit me with the briefing."
"Yes, My Lord. First..."
o-o-o-o
Takuo paused, leaning on his shovel for a moment to wipe the sweat off his face. He likely wouldn't have dared do such a thing back when he was a day laborer; most taskmasters didn't appreciate seeing their workers lazing about. The Gōketsu were much more tolerant and a little bit of indulgence could be risked. Also, come dark or death, he could not ignore what was happening in front of him. He leaned on his shovel and tapped Rik on the shoulder.
"What's going on there?" he asked his brother, pointing discreetly to where Lord Gōketsu was walking from the House to the path that lead to the seal research area. His torso was encircled in a rope harness and a dog was yanking on the other end of the rope, pulling in unpredictable directions and at unpredictable times. Lord Gōketsu was obviously trying to not be obvious about the effort he was expending on resisting this.
Rikiya glanced over and shrugged helplessly. "It's probably another of his weird training ideas?"
"Rik! Don't call him weird!"
"What?" his brother said, lowering his voice and leaning closer. "I wasn't calling him weird, I was calling the idea weird. And it is. You never see any other ninja doing that kind of stuff, do you?"
"Of course not! They aren't smart enough to think of such things!"
"Well, duh. That doesn't mean they aren't weird. In fact, that's pretty much exactly what 'weird' means. It's different from the norm. An...an outlier. That was the word. I think." He thought about that for a minute, then shrugged.
Takuo gazed narrow-eyed at his younger brother. "That school is doing things to your head, Rik. You're talking fancy, like some kind of noble or something. All your 'norm' and 'outlier' stuff—what if someone hears you? They'll think you're putting on airs."
"I dunno, Tak. So far everyone at the school has been really nice about it. The teachers seem impressed that I want to learn this stuff."
"But all the time you're spending with your nose in those scrolls...you aren't working as much as you should, Rik. It dishonors the clan. What if they decide you're not worth the food you eat and they kick us out? Or worse."
"I don't think they will. They seem to really mean all this stuff. I think...I think that studying like this is honoring the clan. It seems to be what Lord Gōketsu wants. If it isn't, why did he make the school and insist we all go?"
"How should I know?! He's the weird one, according to you!"
Rik's eyes went wide. "Tak! Don't say such things! What if someone heard you?!"
o-o-o-o
"I will need to engage in a bit of business when we first arrive," Cannai said.
"Oh?" Hazō prompted, conserving his breath for running. The run from the Grassy Hills pack's territory to that of the Wide River pack was long and exhausting. Cannai had asked, with exquisite manners and not at all laughing behind his paw about it, whether Hazō would prefer to simply go home and be reverse-summoned when the dogs arrived at their destination. Hazō's pride as a man, a ninja, a Gōketsu Clan ninja, a Summoner, and a Clan Lord had, obviously, demanded that he brush the idea off and insist on coming along. Which he had done, with Cannai's twinkly-eyed yet solemn acceptance. Canduman had griped not so quietly about how Hazō would just slow them down, leaving Hazō no choice but to keep up without complaining. It was requiring everything he had in him, and he had the sneaking suspicion that Cannai was still holding the pace down for his benefit.
"Indeed," Cannai said. "Oh, there's a rocky patch up ahead. Hard to see under the grass. Mind your footing."
Hazō gritted his teeth and said nothing. No one had told him to mind his footing since he entered the Academy. No one had needed to.
"As I was saying, there will be some business when I get there. One of the young adults attempted to run off with his lady love instead of undergoing the proper pair bonding rituals. I shall need to officially censure him before the pack and explain why we can't have that sort of thing."
"Why?" Hazō asked, timing the word around his footsteps and keeping it short so as to conserve breath. Simultaneously, he was watching his footing. Cannai was right, there were a lot of fist-sized rocks here for some reason and he had nearly turned an ankle twice.
Cannai ruminated on that for a mile and a half. The dogs that accompanied their Alpha and their Summoner—Canduman, Cannon, and Candoru—kept their mouths shut and waited, ears perked.
"Culture is a delicate balance between unity and freedom," the Boss Alpha said at last. "The members of the pack must care about the whole and must be willing to sacrifice for it when necessary for the good of all. Foreoffpaw, the pack exists to benefit the dogs, not the dogs to benefit the pack. If the demands of the pack become too onerous it will fracture. Its members will scatter, at best. At worst they will actually fight. There is nothing more shameful to the Dog Clan than for one dog to bleed under the teeth of another." He paused and huffed a doggy laugh. "Yes, Candoru? You had something to say?"
"What? No, Alpha! I didn't say nothing!"
"Well, perhaps a bit of blood is acceptable, in proper settings. Appropriate discipline, sparring, that sort of thing. Shame comes when it is spilled with intent, shall we say?"
"Thank you, Alpha."
"You are welcome. In any case: As I was saying, Summoner, when a pack fractures it is a fraught time. If the members fight, that is tragedy atop tragedy. If they don't, it's worse." He went silent again for half a mile before resuming. "Eighty years ago, the Steel Hills pack fractured. Steel Hills had been one of the largest and strongest packs in the clan. They had a proud history; they conquered a swath of what was then Leopard territory and defended it for two hundred years, parent and pup. They invented two new schools of poetry, laid the first river painting, and drew the first star charts. They gave birth to dozen of bards—indeed, the first Night Chorus was composed by a Steel Hills bard. They were a proud pack, and they earned every drop of that pride with blood, and loyalty, and honor.
"But, they weren't perfect. There were undercurrents of strife among the pack, and had been since its founding. The details don't matter, but the key point is that the conflict had been brewing for generations and it was never addressed. Most members of the pack swept it under the rug, as Kakashi used to say. Addressing it would be too difficult, and so no one did. Eventually, it broke out into actual fighting, and several pack members were killed. I put a stop to the actual bloodshed, but it was too late. The survivors no longer recognized one another as members of Steel Hills, or even as worthy of respect. Both sides laid claim to the name and neither would yield. And thus I declared the Steel Hills pack extinct. I divided them up, took the ones that were not beyond saving and spread them out as widely as possible among the other packs. Those who were deepest in their fervor I formed into a single new pack and gave them precise boundaries, with explicit orders to never cross those boundaries. It has served to contain their poison, for now, but it lingers in my mind. It is a delay, not a solution.
"That is the ground beneath the scent of your question. The more immediate answer is that culture is what binds a pack together, and culture is based on expectations and manners."
"Manners?" Hazō demanded.
"Yes, Summoner. Manners. Manners are codified expectations. As such they are the clearest way to signal your feelings towards another dog. Normal communication can be hard to follow but the codified behaviors we call 'manners' are standardized so that we can all understand what is being said. When you offer to share your kill are you sincere? Perfunctory? Willing? If you are casual about it, does your tone suggest that is it because you are among friends and there is no need, or because you are deliberately offering disrespect?" He tossed his head. "Nothing between two individuals is ever completely transparent, but standardized forms help."
"Silly way to say it, if you ask me," Canduman griped. "Pair bonding rituals are important because it's how we honor each other and the joining we have chosen. If the two of you just run off then what's the point? That's not a pair bond, that's a fling."
"And thus I am schooled on brevity," Cannai rumbled, tongue lolling in amusement. "Very well. If a pair wishes to depart their pack for another, or even to simply roam, that is perfectly acceptable...so long as they have the good manners to notify their packs, to attest that she is not gravid, to arrange for care of their pups, and so on."
"Care of the pups is just basic canine decency," Canduman grumbled under his breath.
"Canduman, as grateful as I am to be the recipient of your wisdom, is it possible that you could speak up when you share it? I should hate to miss any of the subtleties."
"Sorry, Alpha."
"Let me make sure I have this right," Hazō said, timing his breathing and words. "Two dogs tried to run off instead of getting married."
"Pair bonded. It's not precisely the same. But yes, close enough."
"And you are censuring one of them?"
"Yes. The young man came onto the territory of another pack unannounced and attempted to wheedle his lover into departing without word to her family." Cannai huffed in amusement. "I suspect that we shall find the young lady had been stepping over to the Fallen Stones pack with a similar lack of announcement. However, it appears that he is the one who first raised the possibility of absconding."
"I see." He thought about it for a while. "Could I come?"
"To what?"
"The trial."
"It's not precisely a trial. They have committed no crime, merely a breach of manners. I will ask questions, yes, but there is none of the folderol with which humans complicate their lives. But, if you wish it then yes, you may walk beside me when I go to censure Cantelope."
o-o-o-o
Jacuzzi seals emits a series of puffs of warm air. They are a minor modification on the Tunneler's Friend seal, which emits a steady stream of cool-ish air. The difficulty is low enough that Hazō doesn't bother spending time on prep days.
Sealing TN: ?
Calligraphy TN: ?
Calligraphy: 17 - 9 (dice) (-1FP to reroll!)
Calligraphy: 17 - 3
Sealing: 36 - 12 (dice) (-1FP to reroll!)
Sealing: 36 -3 (dice) = 33
Calligraphy: 17 - 6 (dice) (-1FP to reroll!)
Calligraphy: 17 + 9
Sealing: 36 + 3 (dice) = 39
Calligraphy: 17 + 9
Sealing: 36 + 3 (dice) = 39
Success! And yes, you got identical rolls on the last two days of research. Note: Some of those rerolls might or might not have been essential. My policy is that rolls of -9 or less always get rerolled unless Hazō is certain that it didn't matter, and rolls of -6 get rerolled under most circumstances. Long story short: If you had higher Calligraphy then Hazō would have been comfortable using more of the blanks that weren't his absolute best work (i.e. where he rolled poorly) and it would have saved you 2 FP.
Sealing TN: ?
Calligraphy TN: ?
Calligraphy: 17 - 3
Sealing: 36 -3 (dice) = 33
Calligraphy: 17 + 9
Sealing: 36 + 3 (dice) = 39
Calligraphy: 17 + 9
Sealing: 36 + 3 (dice) = 39
Success! And yes, you got identical rolls on the last two days of research. Note: Some of those rerolls might or might not have been essential. My policy is that rolls of -9 or less always get rerolled unless Hazō is certain that it didn't matter, and rolls of -6 get rerolled under most circumstances. Long story short: If you had higher Calligraphy then Hazō would have been comfortable using more of the blanks that weren't his absolute best work (i.e. where he rolled poorly) and it would have saved you 2 FP.
This update covered 4 days: 3 of research, one spent traveling with Cannai et al. @Velorien will be writing the Akane scene, although I'm not clear when.
XP AWARD: 8
Brevity XP: 4
Ami-style training XP: 3 (Only able to do training during the research days)
"GM had fun" XP: -4
- -4 (4 days x 4 scenes total...honestly, this plan could easily have had far more than 4 scenes, but let's go with 4)
It is now midafternoon and you have arrived at the current lie-up of the Wide River pack. @Velorien will take over from here. He did say that I should open voting, so I'm not sure if he intends to write the dog scenes.
Vote time! What to do now?
Voting ends on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, at 12pm London time.
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- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
No no no no no WHAT?!! That didn't just happen. We didn't just massively inflate our scrip for no reason. We didn't just kick off a financial crisis that will cost us everything we own plus our reputation forever. Holy god damn please...
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Plan called for a sanity check from both Mari and Gaku, I think it'll be okay.
[X] Continue Previous Plan
Last edited:
- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
Do those two even know anything at all about the intricate functionality of fiat currency? Because IRL multiple nations did not until shit hit the fan. Massively.
...We are soooo fucked.
- Location
- France
Incidentally, don't many Leaf clans maintain their influence over civilian businesses through ownership of their debts? This could be interpreted as a direct attack against every single other clan in Leaf, which is a problem I'd expect Mari to spot. And that I should have thought of while reading the plan in the first place, but whatever.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Dunno but considering Mari is in the process of just absorbing all of Leaf's economy for fun, I think she knows a thing or two, or could at least suspect something like that could happen
- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
How the hell did that part even sneak into the plan?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean, it was literally at the top of the plan, not exactly hidden, and there was even discussion over whether it should include clanless ninja or not
- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
No. Because Walpole pretty much also tried exactly that in England in a very similar way IIRC. It was not good for England and Walpole was lucky that England's King wasn't as savvy or as supernaturally powerful as Asuma.