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Voracity (Worm Case 53 Quest)

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FunkyEntropy said:
All he needs to do is increase scrutiny. I mean, if he needs plausible deniability he can just ask her right after he gets off of patrol (or right before) and use the excuse that his detector is always on. He's a busy man, he's not going to unsuit just to ask someone a question.
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Sophia is also not so dumb as to just reveal it that way, even with the lie detector. Just give him her usual grumpy disrespect.
 
"The eatings shall continue until morale improves." Brilliant.

Hey, Lyova how many times are you going to say "No" to fixficing before you take away the Thinker powers?
 
Avian Overlord said:
"The eatings shall continue until morale improves." Brilliant.

Hey, Lyova how many times are you going to say "No" to fixficing before you take away the Thinker powers?
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Lyova won't need to, because we'll spout out a half-assed plan and expect Sky to make things work out only for the plot to get darker because we had no idea what we were doing.
 
[X] Move your patrol to the Docks district, because it's a well-known hotspot for criminal activity and a breeding ground for mooks, gangmembers and henchmen in the Bay, which means it's always worth keeping an eye on it. Plus, if you and Armsmaster encounter more trouble than you can handle, both of you have what you need to make a quick getaway, thanks to Armsmaster's Bike and your flying capabilities.


I don't expect any canon events...but this seems more interesting than Armsmaster's idea. Though that seems better than getting a hunch and going after the Undersiders all of a sudden.

I might switch to Armsmaster's plan depending on the tally.
 
Avian Overlord said:
Hey, Lyova how many times are you going to say "No" to fixficing before you take away the Thinker powers?
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I won't. :) I don't mind the attempts at all, I just write whatever outcome seems most believable and realistic to me, and sometimes that means the write-in doesn't work out.

For the Sophia one, it's important to realize Armsmaster didn't keep Skye's hunches off the record because he's nice. He did it, in part, to take credit for them. His subordinate (who has no career prospects anyway) gets her secrecy, he gets potential accomplishments, pure win-win.

Shadow Stalker though? Armsmaster sees no gain there. A PR setback did cross his mind, but he's been reading reports that say she's been behaving, and of all the Protectorate members, he's the one who knows her situation best. Discipline issues, yes, but overall she's playing ball. He has no reason to anticipate a major issue, and really, Shadow Stalker wouldn't be stupid enough to risk violating her probation. (Here Armsmaster's empathy issues come into play, making erroneous assumptions.)

Skye, for her part, doesn't really know Shadow Stalker, so her assessment is largely the same: it's probably not catastrophic if I leave this alone. It's why she doesn't really push.

Also, vote called!
[X] Armsmaster's plan is fine, you guess? Patrol the hotel area, on the fringe of downtown. Avalon is the priority anyway.
No. of Votes: 16
Jaedwiga Loffersdottir
Anachronous
AramilOniasha
Avian Overlord
Volkogluk
Xidas
Silver719
Lostgamer64
Frescopino
Markala
Night_stalker
Portec
PsyFarrow
Sivantic
the swarm
Undead bear

===

[X] In the eastern part of the Docks, about twenty minutes' walk from the old ferry is an old red-brick factory labeled 'Redmond Welding'. You have a sneaking suspicion that some criminals are based there.
No. of Votes: 13
Kyakan
Akatsunami
cezyou
Dumah
errantllama
MugaSofer
Pita
serg0
Waerloga
Caerwen
NIV3K
profDEADPOOL
Shaseyu

[X] Move your patrol to the Docks district, because it's a well-known hotspot for criminal activity and a breeding ground for mooks, gangmembers and henchmen in the Bay, which means it's always worth keeping an eye on it. Plus, if you and Armsmaster encounter more trouble than you can handle, both of you have what you need to make a quick getaway, thanks to Armsmaster's Bike and your flying capabilities.
No. of Votes: 7
Promenius
Briefvoice
CouncilOfShadows
Gingganz
spudman
StellarMonarch
veekie

- [x] You don't feel like munching. If a fight seems inevitable, try to stun your opponents with your warm smile of acceptance and friendliness. If it doesn't work you can always try to hug!
No. of Votes: 4
Frescopino
Markala
Night_stalker
the swarm

[X] Eat a refreshing, lightly tossed HALBERD SALAD.
No. of Votes: 1
frustratedFreeboota

[X] Now that you've got the hunch crap out of the way, you should talk shop with the boss. Ask about what sort of items he could add to your space, add in that since everything in your inventory exists in a vacuum (even free from gravity, a lack of air, or probably damage FROM air) Tinker tech stored there should be able to remain in prime condition almost indefinitely.
No. of Votes: 1
Silver719

[X]Push Armsmaster to check Sophia's phone, even if the contents aren't legally admissible.
No. of Votes: 1
MugaSofer

Too bad, @Kyakan, your bomb was short a few votes. :p Maybe next time though...
 
So, opinion on metagaming the bank heist?

We could give the Mayor's niece a piece of portal to keep, that when she gets abducted we can slip a tracker through.

Reason I don't want to stop the bank robbery outright is that we need the actual abduction to happen as evidence of Coil's upfuckworthiness, so we need to get to a point where Coil splits the timeline after the abduction. Basically turn Dinah into a time delayed poison pill.

Maybe give her a piece of jewelry or armband with a small portal inside? Reason for the indirection is that we can make one without bothering the PRT bureaucracy which'll keep Calvert from noticing as well as not require us to justify ourselves.

[edit] Just leave it lying on her windowsill with a note saying "Hang on to this. PS: Probability it will help you?"

[edit] Do we know why and when Dinah triggers?

Also, can we pass portals through portals? Making a portal on top of another portal makes the cut permanent, but I don't know if we tried passing existing portals through other portals. [edit] If we can, we can unfold a small portal into a big one. Pass a thin portal lengthwise, that gives you space for a circular one.

[edit] According to the wiki, Dinah has probably already triggered or will trigger as before - none of the causes of that seem likely to have been butterflied. The bank heist is at April 14, 2011 in the canon timeline.

"Dinah had missed several weeks of classes with crippling headaches in the months before her disappearance." This should be checkable.

[edit] If Dinah already has her power, and we can get her to believe it'll be useful, we can just nibble the sole of her feet. NOT CREEPY, it's simply a place with good odds of not being checked.

Okay, it's maybe a little creepy.
 
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FeepingCreature said:
Also, can we pass portals through portals?
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Yes, but piling up too many portals will give the author Skye a headache. :p

FeepingCreature said:
According to the wiki, Dinah has probably already triggered or will trigger as before - none of the causes of that seem likely to have been butterflied. The bank heist is at April 14, 2011 in the canon timeline.
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Dinah has her power already, yep. Wouldn't be too confident she'll be grabbed on exactly the same day though, considering Undersider butterflies.
 
If we can pass portals through portals, and we can make elliptical portals, it's easy to unfold a small portal into a big one. Just bite a pencil lengthwise, then bite a baseball, then bite a basketball, then bite a ... uh ... large ellipsoid thing. Then you can pass people through it.

Whatever method we use, it is vital that we strike at once in both timelines. As such, we need to commit to a time upfront and stick to it.

Now the hard part: how to sell all this to the PRT?

[edit] Oh! Once Dinah does get abducted, everyone will be so impressed with our precog they should trust us on it!

So the two big "outside context knowledge" pieces of info we need to get in is "secretly give Dinah a small portal to keep with her, hidden" and then, "it is vital that attacks on Coil happen at a fixed time."
 
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FeepingCreature said:
If we can pass portals through portals, and we can make elliptical portals, it's easy to unfold a small portal into a big one. Just bite a pencil lengthwise, then bite a baseball, then bite a basketball, then bite a ... uh ... large ellipsoid thing. Then you can pass people through it.
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To clarify this:

First portal is long but thin. You pass a large, flat portal through that slot. Then you pass a larger portal through that portal. Then you repeat until you've gotten a portal through large enough for people to fit in.
 
By the way: purely out of interest, what happens if we bite a frisbee or something hollow? Do we get a ring-shaped portal or a circular one?

[edit] Pretty much has to be circular, nevermind I guess.
 
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FeepingCreature said:
By the way: purely out of interest, what happens if we bite a frisbee or something hollow? Do we get a ring-shaped portal or a circular one?

[edit] Pretty much has to be circular, nevermind I guess.
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Depends on the surface we leave behind; if we bite it into a ring, it'll be a ring shaped portal, but if we bite it into a flatter disc it'll be a circle shaped portal.
 
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March Patrol 1b
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    • [X] Armsmaster's plan is fine, you guess? Patrol the hotel area, on the fringe of downtown. Avalon is the priority anyway.

    "Getting nothing," you admit. "Maybe your plan was best? If you were trying to draw out a hunch, I guess that's not how it works. Sorry."

    "It was worth testing," Armsmaster says with easy acceptance. "We'll try again later. It's possible there was nothing for your power to register just now."

    Armsmaster's machine rumbles as he drives off. With an elegant spin, you launch yourself upward, following behind your boss.

    About an hour into the patrol, it's starting to seem like Armsmaster was right about there being nothing to detect. It's a quiet evening, peaceful. Hardly something to complain about as a conscientious squid of justice, but it does make it hard to narrow down the mechanics of your Thinker power. You'd be okay with something happening.

    … but, on a nice night like this, what could possibly go wrong?

    You snap your head left and right. Buildings, streets, cars, no movement on the horizon. No? Nothing going wrong? Okay then. Uneventful patrol continues.

    Ten minutes later, a midair silhouette appears against the backdrop of one of the area's taller buildings, the glint of metal blinking in the dim city fog. Cape? Cape! A flier? No, they're falling straight down... disappearing, then reappearing elsewhere. Only one cape fits that weird movement.

    "Armsmaster?" you hail him. "I think I spotted that Achilles guy. Coming sort-of this way." You focus to catch details – you can see armor of pale leather and gleaming steel, not much coverage, more for the image than actual protection. Figures he'd be out and about. He's an out-of-towner, visiting because his fans crowdfunded him to beat up some white supremacists – he wouldn't sit around in his hotel room all day.

    "He doesn't warrant our attention." Armsmaster cruises on.

    "Maybe us staying in the area was about him? Shouldn't we at least say hi?" It's polite! And you kinda wanna see if he'll get spooked and fight you. For some reason, 'invulnerability' doesn't register as anything other than a challenge. You wanna steal his heel.

    After glancing at you, Armsmaster steers into a side street, effortlessly moving away from Achilles. "I'd rather not give exposure and publicity to an independent who treats heroism like sport. I won't forbid it if you want to greet him, just be careful. You're both capes with some degree of exposure on the internet."

    Your exposure belongs to Skye, not Cirrata, but eh. No sense making a stand on that here and now. "Hmm. I guess it's fine then. Never mind."

    Armsmaster doesn't reply, but you get the sense he approves.



    Another thirty minutes of dull patrol leaves you with your torso wide open. Not to insert criminals, but out of boredom. It is a yawn. Sadly, the gaping of your spine-lined chest cavity doesn't quite convey that image, and Armsmaster never asks. You sigh. Your boss is cool, resourceful, and heckin' dependable, but he's not the most attentive or comfortable company. Though you're sure people have thought the same about you.

    Still, the console's alert is a blessing.

    "Console to Armsmaster and Cirrata," says the operator, someone you don't recognize by voice. "Crime in progress, cape situation at the Ruby Dreams casino. Confirmed presence of Hellhound and Grue of the Undersiders."

    "Damnation. That's on the other side of downtown." Armsmaster's bike makes a sharp turn. Ha! Turning, something you're better at. "Cirrata, your speed?"

    "No new changes." You fly down toward Armsmaster. "Gonna need a ride if you're going much faster than thirty."

    "Considerably."

    You latch onto Armsmaster's back and cling to him, carefully positioning tentacles so they won't get hurt between the seams of his armor. Even though you're flying, not actually sitting on the bike, the intensifying grumble of its engines vibrates through Armsmaster's armor, into your body. It's a half-second of warning before the acceleration really kicks in.

    Rushing wind, blurring scenery, corners taken so sharply you're almost slung into streetlights and posts and traffic signs. It births a feeling in the hollowness of your chest – it takes some effort to suppress your giddy laughter. It's in various ways unprofessional to order your boss to violate speed limits harder, but you sort of want to.

    "The Undersiders," you shout over the wind. "They're thieves right? Thought they were small fry." And now they're robbing a casino? Or its clients?

    "They are," Armsmaster affirms, voice emerging clearly from your earbud. "Or rather, before today the assessment wasn't wrong. But they've started to pull higher-profile jobs lately. This would be the third, and that makes a pattern. They're getting greedier. More ambitious."

    "Any reason why?" You cling to Armsmaster closer – you're probably looking like a balloon trailing behind a car as it is. It'll be embarrassing to see photos of it afterwards.

    "Nothing specific, but this isn't uncommon. Villains who avoid capture tend to start testing their boundaries. Let's hope they've overestimated themselves."

    The rest of the ride is only speed and wind.

    ===

    "The Protectorate has left the area."

    "Commence assault."

    ===

    Immediately after you arrive at the casino, Armsmaster sends you into the air to check for anything unusual. The weirdness is just around the casino though. Back down you go.

    The Ruby Dreams casino is a large ostentatious building, all flashing lights and bright primary colors. It makes it easy to spot the lingering clouds of darkness around the place. Grue's power is not a complete unknown, and it looks more or less how you pictured, but it's clearly darkness, not just black smoke. Leaving the questioning-people thing to Armsmaster, you approach a lone, dissipating patch of darkness.

    … nom! And also slurp!

    The darkness is transferred into your storage, because you totally needed more darkness in there, just ask the Teeth. It doesn't register as anything in specific, just smoke that your power can't quite make sense of, disappearing with every passing second. It doesn't feel impossible to grasp, to figure out, but the solution is just out of reach. Maybe when you get better at this?

    You slowly hover over the people outside the casino, moving slowly, deliberately, trying not to spook anyone. Your tentacles are restrained and curled inward, making you seem smaller than your wingspan usually does. You're about as successful as person-sized spider who promises to not divebomb you from the ceiling.

    "… gone," you catch from the male civilian Armsmaster is talking to. "Felt their monsters run, tremors through the ground, yeah?"

    "How long ago did they leave?"

    "Minutes. Five? Ten? I dunno man, hard to say."

    "Thank you." Armsmaster nods to the civilian and turns around, a smooth and compact movement despite the armor. He looks at you, tilts his head a little and steps away from the civilians. Hmm? You glide closer. From what little you can see, there's some definite tension in his jaw. "Seems your power didn't decide to mention this robbery."

    He's not blaming you for that, is he? You told him your power probably doesn't work that way. Besides, it's not like anyone got killed or anything.

    "The police and PRT should be converging on this location," Armsmaster continues. "They may see Hellhound's dogs or traces of Grue's darkness. Nothing from the sky?"

    "Just the darkness around here."

    Armsmaster looks toward the casino entrance. "Damn. Okay. We'll take some more statements, gather intel, hope Hellhound is sighted. The Undersiders operate out of the Docks, but it's a vast area. We'd need at least some direction. Unless your power's suggesting we pursue blindly?"

    You frown, not that it shows on your face. There's something... skeptical in his voice. Putting less stock in your power than he did before, which wasn't terribly much in the first place. And you suppose you don't blame him.

    ===

    Suggestion?

    [ ] You're not confident, but why not try chasing the baddies? If she's sighted, you'll be closer. The police and PRT can take statements.

    [ ] Unfortunately, they're long gone. Gathering information here sounds good. There might be some clues?

    [ ] Write-in

    ===

    Things happening! As an aside, this is why I excluded the speedsters from your teammate choice. Tattletale wouldn't rob some place on a day Dauntless is flying around. :p

    And aagh, Armsy. Mucho srs business with him. Not much believable wiggle room for jokes or fun, sorry. :[
     
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    • Lyova said:
    From what little you can see, there's some definite tension in his jaw. "Seems your power didn't decide to mention this robbery."
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    I tried, ok!

    Cross-posting my vote again:
    [ ] In the eastern part of the Docks, about twenty minutes' walk from the old ferry is an old red-brick factory labeled 'Redmond Welding'. You have a sneaking suspicion that some criminals are based there.
     
    [x] You're not confident, but why not try chasing the baddies? If she's sighted, you'll be closer. The police and PRT can take statements.
     
    [ ] In the eastern part of the Docks, about twenty minutes' walk from the old ferry is an old red-brick factory labeled 'Redmond Welding'. You have a sneaking suspicion the absolute certainty that some criminals the Undersiders are based there.
    [ ] This robbery was either a show of force, or a distraction for another crime. Relay that people should keep an eye out for anything that coincides with the robbery, such as disappearances.

    Probably won't win, but tossing this out there for the sake of it.
     
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    [X] The Undersiders are based in old brick factory, Redmond Welding. That is on the Eastern part of the Docks. They have no backup site.
    -[X] This is a distraction. There is no one watching our former location anymore. I suspect Coil is planning something.
     
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