Choice of the Deathless: Old lawyers never die, they just become skeletons

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Choice of the Deathless: Old lawyers never die, they just become skeletons

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ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

# ? Aug 12, 2018 23:11

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# ? May 3, 2024 09:01

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

You're welcome to join my friends and I for dinner

Very least it lets us see what diva girl wants and if she gets aggy we can always team up wtih our firends against her. And shemight be possible future meatshield/minion so no sense in applying Exterminatus yet

# ? Aug 13, 2018 06:30

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

Join us!

Or die.

Or and die.

Or don't

Y'know, we're good with whatever really.

# ? Aug 13, 2018 09:59

someone awful.: Sep 7, 2007

Natural 20 posted:

Join us!

Or die.

Or and die.

Or don't

Y'know, we're good with whatever really.

I like the way you think.

# ? Aug 13, 2018 10:05

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

Let's try to be nice and offer her to join us...

quote:

"Flattering," Wakefield says. "Much as I would relish being immersed in your social pool," and from her tone of voice you can tell she means the shallow kind with cattails around the edge, a vague green scum on top, and an unpleasant stench hanging about, "I shall keep my own company. Another time, perhaps."

"Another time," you say, and escort her to the door.

You arrive at the Horseshoe a few minutes after seven, and shoulder your way through the barside crowd past the hostess's stand into the dining area. Fortunately, you see Cass before the hostess catches up with you. She half-stands, waves, and smiles.

Pat turns too, and smiles even broader, but he doesn't stand, doesn't wave. He's a big guy, a slow-mover, but smart. Older than you and Cass, too, old for an associate. Dignified: short curly hair, dark skin, Iskari cuffs on his pressed shirts. He has a family, even, from what you've heard. A wife at home, and a kid on the way.

The waitress swings by. "What'll you have?"

1. Beer.
2. Wine.
3. Whiskey, straight up.
4. The manliest cocktail your bartender can man up to make.
5. An appletini.
6. Tea.

The option to take the manliest cocktail is tempting, but we're a woman of class and taste. Tea would be more fitting for our heritage.

quote:

"I'll get right on that."

You drink, and eat, and talk, and before long the conversation turns, as it always does, to work. This time, the subject is goals, and specifically Cass Chen's lack of them.

"I don't know," she says. "Working for the firm develops skills, and connections, and all that. But in the end, so much of what we do is abstract thaumaturgics. It doesn't connect to people. To human lives. What does it matter if a Concern recognizes an extra percent of profit?"

"To the many who work for that Concern," Pat Ngabe replies, "an extra percent of profit, or a fraction of it, might matter a great deal. And regardless, we must think of our own lives and careers before we ponder abstract injustice. It is enough, I think, to care for our families, and for those close to us."

"When the world's suffering?" Chen shakes her head. "What do you think, Liang? What do you want out of your work with the firm?"

1. "I want to make partner."
2. "I'd like to give something back to the world. If I can."
3. "As long as they keep giving me interesting work, I'll do it."
4. "I don't know about you, but I always wanted to amass infinite power and laugh over the corpses of my enemies."

Liang Wen's Stats posted:

Charm: 19%
Craft: 52%
Cunning: 41%
Determination: 20%

Sleep: 99%
Gunner/Socialite: 60%/40%

Soul: 2490
Debt: 100000

Relationships posted:

Cassowary Chen: 46%
Ashleigh Wakefield: 49%
Pat Ngabe: 30%

Pooncha fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Aug 14, 2018

# ? Aug 14, 2018 18:11

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

4. We will make them pay, in the future, maybe. If that was the future.

Edit: Also Wakefield likes us, yay.

Natural 20 fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Aug 14, 2018

# ? Aug 14, 2018 20:29

someone awful.: Sep 7, 2007

Of course we'll say we want infinite power.

# ? Aug 14, 2018 20:46

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

The fun response (#4).

# ? Aug 14, 2018 21:20

namehereguy: Nov 24, 2017

Infinite Power!

This game and its sequel introduced me to the Craft setting and I now own all the books.

# ? Aug 14, 2018 23:44

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

I suppose in hindsight that choice was obvious. :v:

quote:

"A traditionalist," says Pat, with a wide smile.

"I'm not joking," Chen says.

"Neither am I." You try to keep a straight face, but can't manage for long.

She wads a napkin up and throws it at you.

"I, "Pat says, "will make partner. Once I have established a place for myself and my family in this city, then my children can concern themselves with personal gratification, not to mention this nebulous 'giving something back' with which Cassowary seems so concerned."

"Now you're just being mean," Cass says. "And it's not like I don't want to succeed. I just think there's more we're supposed to do here than try to get as big as we can until we explode."

Pat raises his beer in a salute. "Bigger is better."

"You know what I mean," Cass says.

"Not really."

The conversation spins on for a while, but time's wasting and you're all more than fashionably late already. You get the check, and head out to Casino Night!

We're the one paying? Can't we just split the bill? No? :argh:

quote:

Varkath Nebuchadnezzar, Kelethres Albrecht & Ao, and a few other firms have rented out a swanky waterfront restaurant. A chandelier dangles from thin gold chains over a room swarming with Craftsmen and Craftswomen clad in pinstripes and slick silk. Cocktail glasses clink. Dice thud and roll over green felt tables. Everywhere you hear the flushed-bird sound of shuffled cards.

Outside and overhead, a few stars have survived the onslaught of city lights. They glitter over the black waters of the lake.

You wander the floor for a moment to take everything in, and score a drink from the bar. When you turn back, you take inventory of the room. The ever-practical Pat Ngabe is playing blackjack--the best odds on the floor given perfect play. Cass Chen flits from conversation to conversation; she's on her second cocktail of the night, not counting her dinner's drinks. This may not end well for her.

Ashleigh Wakefield should be milling with the rest of the KAA crowd, standoffish and superior as always, but she's not. You find her at one of the poker tables, seated next to...Oh. Gods.

That skeleton in green, with the hands of cold iron and the glyphs burning on the pate of his bared skull, and the mask of cured leather--that's Golan Varkath. As in, the named partner Golan Varkath. You've seen his portrait, but you've never seen him in person before.

So, what do you do next?

1. Mill around for a while. Talk to people.
2. Try to network with senior partners.
3. I want to win all the souls I can.
4. Find a true test of my mental fortitude.
5. I head straight for the poker table.

Option #5 proceeds with the plot, but there's really no drawback to picking the other options in sequence, so let's do that.

Talking to people posted:

You wander for the duration of a drink, chatting with coworkers and advisors. You exchange a few pleasant words with Vega, a senior associate on the fast track to promotion or destruction, between throws of craps. You catch up with Cass briefly, before she whisks off on her own version of the social dance. Before long you can sense the beating heart of the party, under the decor and elegance. There are real people here. Which is nice.

Network with senior partners posted:

There are plenty of impressive people at this party, and you do manage to exchange a few words with some of them, but most are talking with other impressive people. Most of the higher-up guests seem more interested in mingling than gaming. Perhaps this entire casino night concept was a ploy to draw Varkath out of his sanctum for once.

Pat notices you orbiting a conversation in which Angelica Nebuchadnezzar is arguing about the proper preconditions for the resurrection of a dead god with a partner from KAA you don't recognize. Pat raises a glass to you in salute--recognizing a fellow traveler. You salute back, notice your drink's empty, and retreat to the bar.

Win all the souls posted:

You close your eyes and scan the room. In the dark beyond your eyelids, the games appear as glowing webs woven by drunk spiders and blown by a strong wind: the transfer of soul to soul from casino to players and from one player to the next. Webs of transactions, bound by the rules of the game--gambling's like a smaller-scale version of the Craft. No wonder so many in your line of work are drawn to it, though Craftsmen and Craftswomen aren't known for their general attraction to risk.

The many lesser games pale when set beside the poker table where Varkath plays. It folds and collapses upon itself, erupting into the darkness of your mind.

1. That's it. That's the one I want.
2. Later. Let me see more of the party first.

Wanting to win souls and the option to look for a challenge both pressure us to head straight for Varkath's table, which proceeds with the plot as before. But we still haven't checked out if there's anything intellectually stimulating...

Test of mental fortitude posted:

Roulette, craps, several variations of blackjack, Tarocco, sparrows, and of course poker. Let's rule out roulette first, as a game of pure chance with odds in the house's favor. It's only here because people like the sound of the wheel. Craps, arcane betting aside, is less a game of the mind than a game of the dice. Blackjack has structure, and one can win, but over a long period of time, and then only if one is quite careful.

Tarocco--well, you don't have that kind of time. You never learned sparrows, though from what you're given to understand it's something like gin, only with tiles. Which brings you back to poker. And Varkath. And Wakefield.

Oh well. Stealing their souls probably won't get you in too much trouble at work.

Probably.

1. Go straight to the poker table.
2. I'm not done with the rest of the party.

We've exhausted our options, so let's check out that poker table. Hopefully we didn't take too long.

quote:

You join Varkath, Wakefield, and a few other monsters at the table. The goddess of the game hovers above the felt, shifting and glorious, calling each player in turn to his or her destruction.

No sense waiting. You sit down.

Wakefield looks up from the cards. "Decided to button up your trousers and play in the big leagues?"

1. "Shame you can't play as good a game as you talk."
2. "I wanted to give you a head start. And a chance."
3. To the rest of the table: "Has she been this bad all night?"
4. I say nothing and let the dealer deal me in.

Liang Wen's Stats posted:

Charm: 41%
Craft: 63%
Cunning: 46%
Determination: 28%

Sleep: 99%
Gunner/Socialite: 58%/42%

Soul: 2440
Debt: 100000

Relationships posted:

Cassowary Chen: 54%
Ashleigh Wakefield: 49%
Pat Ngabe: 46%

# ? Aug 17, 2018 08:32

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

2. Ideally with the biggest grin possible.

# ? Aug 17, 2018 09:38

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

Natural 20 posted:

2. Ideally with the biggest grin possible.

A chance smaller than the marriage of Jim Carrey and Lauren Hollly lasting, but still a chance.

# ? Aug 17, 2018 11:58

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

Natural 20 posted:

2. Ideally with the biggest grin possible.

# ? Aug 17, 2018 14:49

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

The narration doesn't mention a grin, but let's assume we're packing a pretty poo poo-eating one.

quote:

Varkath says nothing; neither does anyone else. The big blind this deal is a Craftswoman who's replaced her skin with scales, and the little blind's Varkath. You glance at your cards when the bet comes around to you, and raise.

What's your plan for the evening?

1. I want to win. Why else would I be here?
2. I'm here to talk, more than to play.
3. I want to get Wakefield. I don't care about the rest of the game.
4. I want to beat Varkath.
5. I want to taste as many souls as I can, and see what I can learn.

# ? Aug 19, 2018 08:34

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

#5. What can we learn?

# ? Aug 19, 2018 09:17

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

# ? Aug 19, 2018 16:12

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

achtungnight posted:

#5. What can we learn?

On one hand, I feel like beating Wakefield will make her like us more.

But on the other hand.

SCIENCE

5,

# ? Aug 19, 2018 16:27

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

3

Come on Wakefield, Wake up!

She's rich. She has money.

That can be OUR money.

# ? Aug 20, 2018 04:40

a computing pun: Jan 1, 2013

#3

In all of Wakefield's interactions with us, she's been kind of haughty if not outright contemptful, but despite this she doesn't come off as a horrible person. She offered us a dinner invitation out of what appeared to be purely friendly motives.

But we'll never really be her friend so long as she keeps thinking of us as her inferior. We need to show her that she underestimated us.

If I thought we had any chance of beating Varkath, I'd say go for that instead - it'd possibly accomplish the same result while also being significantly more daring. But... come on. Even he wasn't legitimately better than us by virtue of his experience, importance, and power, we're playing poker and the guy's a freaking skeleton. What are we supposed to do, read his facial expressions?

# ? Aug 20, 2018 15:25

Sticky Fingers: Jul 18, 2011; by Nyc_Tattoo

#1

If we are gonna play, let's play to win.

# ? Aug 21, 2018 04:50

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

We rejected Wakefield's offer of dinner. Now we're beating her up and taking her lunch money. In poker. Metaphorically speaking.

All's fair in cards and Craft, I suppose.

quote:

The game continues. You watch for your opening, playing slow and tight and watching Wakefield until you think you have her figured out. You chase a few hands that don't make sense, and you think she gets the point.

So, the next time Wakefield pulls a good hand, you make the same outsized raise you've made three times previously when chasing a flush. Even though you have three of a kind.

You and Wakefield raise one another back around the board. Others drop out. The goddess of the game swells, proud and hungry, over the table. Your soul joins with Wakefield's inside the goddess; you live outside yourself.

And when the time comes, Wakefield calls.

You flip your cards over, and show the three of a kind.

Wakefield blinks, and her face goes slack. She slides her cards into the center of the table, face down.

"You're too clever by half," she says.

"That's the idea," you say, before the goddess smiles on you and you lose yourself in a wash of soul.

Wen: 1
Wakefield: 0

:smuggo:

...Oh, wait, there's other players.

quote:

That's the play of the night, for you. Unfortunately, to set Wakefield up, you had to lose almost as much soul as you won. You're a little ahead for the evening, but when the game breaks and the goddess dissolves back into the players from whose souls she was formed, you find yourself about even.

The game breaks by unseen agreement, and the goddess returns your souls. The dance of cards is done. You rise, stretching against tense muscles, and stagger off to the bar for a drink.

Before you travel far, though, you hear a voice behind you, harsh and melodic in weird directions, like a house key scraped over a violin string.

"Ms. Wen. A pleasure to play with you."

You turn, and see Varkath.

"Sir."

His mask is painted to resemble a young man's face. Perhaps his, from a long-vanished youth. You think the mask's made of cowhide. You fervently hope it's made of cowhide.

"You got what you wanted. But you lost on the game, overall. That's rarely a good plan."

1. "I'll remember that, sir."
2. "I got what I wanted."
3. "Some people are never happy."
4. "What were you hoping to see?"

Liang Wen's Stats posted:

Charm: 41%
Craft: 63%
Cunning: 56%
Determination: 28%

Sleep: 99%
Gunner/Socialite: 58%/42%

Soul: 2540
Debt: 100000

Relationships posted:

Cassowary Chen: 54%
Ashleigh Wakefield: 49%
Pat Ngabe: 46%

Golan Varkath: 20%

Pooncha fucked around with this message at 07:16 on Aug 21, 2018

# ? Aug 21, 2018 07:13

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

2. I got what I wanted

Our goal for the game was setting up Wakefield and showing her what we were capable of. the game was a means to an end to achieve the objective. we hopefully left an impression upon her by playing her. We might not have won the game (it was highly unlikely we would have given the variety of players). We take small objecives, accomplish them, and build our schemes upon them.

# ? Aug 21, 2018 07:20

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

I got what I wanted, hope it�s enough.

# ? Aug 21, 2018 09:42

Double Plus Undead: Dec 24, 2010

What were you hoping for?

# ? Aug 21, 2018 13:15

namehereguy: Nov 24, 2017

I'll remember that terrifying skeleton boss.

# ? Aug 21, 2018 14:22

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

2. We may have lost the battle, but this is war.

# ? Aug 21, 2018 14:56

a computing pun: Jan 1, 2013

Let's not talk back to the Big Scary Name Partner Skeleton.

I'll remember that

# ? Aug 21, 2018 15:23

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

a computing pun posted:

Let's not talk back to the Big Scary Name Partner Skeleton.

I'll remember that

This.

Mainly because option 2 sounds really doofy.

:choco:

"You got what you wanted. But you lost the game overall, that's rarely a good plan."

:downs:

"I got what I wanted."

:choco:

"..err, yes, I said that."

:downs:

"I know"

"Get out of my company."

# ? Aug 21, 2018 15:40

Sticky Fingers: Jul 18, 2011; by Nyc_Tattoo

a computing pun posted:

Let's not talk back to the Big Scary Name Partner Skeleton.

I'll remember that

This.

# ? Aug 22, 2018 00:34

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

Let's not get too sassy towards Precursor James' cousin in law.

quote:

Hard to read the expression on that mask--if there is any expression for you to read at all.

He turns away.

You feel exhausted. Long day, long night, and more long days to come. Many more of them, if this life works out the way you've planned.

Chen and Pat are talking at the edge of the dance floor. They look like they're ready to go. Meanwhile, the dance itself is heating up, and you see some people there you wouldn't mind heating up as well. And there is always the bar. Not to mention your bed, though it seems so far away now.

1. I catch up to Chen and Ngabe, and walk them to the trolley.
2. The night is young! I try to drag Chen and Ngabe out for drinks.
3. Let's see what we can do on that dance floor, shall we?
4. I need to get some rest.

# ? Aug 23, 2018 06:12

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

1

They invited us to dinner, least we can do is walk them out. We're the 'scheme and mean' type, not so much the 'flirt and dirt' type.

# ? Aug 23, 2018 06:23

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

wedgekree posted:

1

They invited us to dinner, least we can do is walk them out. We're the 'scheme and mean' type, not so much the 'flirt and dirt' type.

agreed

# ? Aug 23, 2018 06:24

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

Let's be a proper lady and escort our inebriated friends.

quote:

You walk your fellow associates to the trolley. Pat won a decent amount of soul at blackjack, and while Cass didn't gamble, she's a bit out of it from the booze. You part at Hub Station, friends under the streetlights. And when you finally reach your apartment, you fall into bed like a piece of broken glass, a memory, tumbling, spinning forever in the night.

The image slips and fades but the blood remains. You are more than you were. Or at least, you remember more than you once remembered.

You're still falling, in pieces, in this darkness from which you cannot return. More sparks and slivers of falling memory tumble around you.

You grope still for memories, for changes. You passed your first year at the firm. Little decisions altered your world, day by day.

What changes do you grab out of the cascading broken mirrors?

So that's the first chapter over! Between chapters, we'll be having an interlude period where we can choose to change our lodgings or spending habits, for better or worse.

Currently, we're moderate on our lodgings and spending. But if you want to invest less or more in either, or keep things as they are, feel free to post as such. Next chapter will be up Sunday evening (PST).

Liang Wen's Stats posted:

Charm: 46%
Craft: 63%
Cunning: 56%
Determination: 28%

Sleep: 99%
Gunner/Socialite: 58%/42%

Soul: 2540
Debt: 100000

Relationships posted:

Cassowary Chen: 58%
Ashleigh Wakefield: 49%
Pat Ngabe: 51%

Golan Varkath: 30%

Pooncha fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Aug 25, 2018

# ? Aug 25, 2018 08:03

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

No changes in first year.

# ? Aug 25, 2018 12:27

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

achtungnight posted:

No changes in first year.

Nah no changes. I'd like to go up but seems a little silly to change straight away.

# ? Aug 25, 2018 13:40

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

achtungnight posted:

No changes in first year.

# ? Aug 25, 2018 17:02

Pooncha: Feb 15, 2014; Making the impossible possumable

Good point. I'll put up the chapter text now. Update Monday evening.

quote:

And so you reach for another shard of your spinning mind, another reflection of a screaming face you barely recognize as your own�

You stand in a dark room, inside a glowing pentacle, and hold a knife of lightning to your wrist.

Somewhere a clock strikes midnight.

It's time to work. As always.

You press the knife point into your skin. A drop of blood wells up. You pull the blade away, and the blood drop falls, round and reflective, to the floor. And when it splashes there, you fall, too.

You fall into the world of gods.

The material realm breaks around you, and for a moment you feel yourself a gnat passing through a beam of light, revealed to enormous beings who normally would not notice something so small. But in this instant of exposure they might well reach out and destroy you, for their own amusement or only to pass the time.

You leave the light and find your destination. You hover before a wall woven by spiders out of silver webs. Most of the patterns are abstract, but a few resemble faces, the faces of people you know, screaming.

This has been the last three months of your life. Transdimensional Thaumaturgics, your client, contracted with the demonic consortium of Akargath to build an enormous hydro project in the Southern Kathic jungle. The demons then claimed the project was as much their property as TT's, which would give them a foothold in your world, a territory through which they could pass at will from their reality to yours, unlimited by the bonds of a summoning contract. They would stride across the earth like gods.

Obviously, this is a bad outcome.

You've been tasked with document review, and minor ward maintenance. How have you been handling these responsibilities?

1. I've worked late every day, on my own.
2. I've searched for patterns in the demons' strategy, trying to work smarter.
3. I've created an elaborate piece of Craft to do most of the work for me.
4. I'm working in a team with my colleagues.

Liang Wen's Stats posted:

Charm: 46%
Craft: 63%
Cunning: 56%
Determination: 28%

Sleep: 90%
Gunner/Socialite: 58%/42%

Soul: 3240
Debt: 79000

No change in relationships yet.

# ? Aug 25, 2018 21:00

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

Exploit enemy weaknesses, work smarter not harder. #2.

# ? Aug 25, 2018 21:21

wedgekree: Feb 20, 2013

Craft's our big thing - do we want t try and boost that as much as possible or go for cunning?

# ? Aug 26, 2018 04:53

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# ? May 3, 2024 09:01

namehereguy: Nov 24, 2017

Elaborate Craft. Fulfill our job description!

# ? Aug 26, 2018 04:56

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Choice of the Deathless: Old lawyers never die, they just become skeletons

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