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Cloacamazing! posted:The twist is that both Thanes were fake Thanes. The actual Thane died years ago and has since then been replaced by a long string of increasingly less competent idiots who manage to bumble their way into killing the previous Thane. The Duat noticed like five seconds in, but don't care, as it makes things harder to track by the police. We lost another one? Darn. Oh well, the next one will get him.
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Aug 1, 2023 17:19
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| # ? May 16, 2024 14:45 |
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Marluxia posted:I'm choosing to believe that every time Thane takes an assassination request, they are killed on that mission and the target takes up their mantle. There is no real Thane. Hasn't been for a long time. No one knows, but their targets keep disappearing so the Duats figures it's working out. 
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Aug 1, 2023 17:33
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 [BGM: Challenger]  There's nothing like sitting on the toilet, with nothing but a stomach ache. It was... almost nostalgic. It certainly brought back memories. Not good memories, mind you, but those are hard to come by anyways. The point is, it's a familiar feeling. Which is weird, because I definitely have never been in a situation like this. Why was I getting nervous? After some of the poo poo I've seen, this was nothing. Was it just because of the environment? Fancy parties never did sit right with me. Hell, if we're speaking of bad memories... ...But no, that's almost certainly not it. So then, why? Ugh. I wasn't good at this self-diagnosis thing. I spent so much time in my own head, but I could hardly understand it. My moods often felt arbitrary. And, maybe that's what this was. An arbitrary mood. Not a helpful one, but since when had moods been helpful? Sometimes you'd walk into a room and forget why you came. Your body, your mind, it could just be cruel. So... what to do? I focused back on my counting. Three hundred and nineteen. Three hundred and eighteen. Three hundred and seventeen. Three hundred and sixteen. Three hundred and fifteen. What was so calming about counting? Was it the fact that it was rhythmic? Was it the fact that it was simple? Whatever it was, it did bring me back down to earth. I had been waiting in the restroom for long enough. The gala was in full swing outside. It was almost time to play my part. ...Okay. Get it together, body. Standing up... any second now... Any second... My body seemed to resist the impulse to stand up for as long as it possibly could. However, after enough urging, I got to my feet. I left the stall. I began to exit the restroom. ...And it was at this point that the door swung open. ...Ah, poo poo.   Hey, what are you doing here? I, um...I struggled to meet Secretary Gani's gaze. Even if I didn't know where this conversation was going, I could recognize that tone. Nothing good came from that tone. In my position, it was best to just keep my head down and stay silent. Are you the same guy who came down here, like, ten minutes ago? Don't think I didn't see that. I... Well? Yes, yes sir, that's me.Gani chuckled to himself, as if surprised by my gall. Then, his face tightened. Wow. I mean, just, wow. I get you might have to take a big poo poo, but unless you got, like, serious medical issues or something, there's no way in hell you should be here this long. Seems to me you're just bailing on your duties. That's not wh– Hey, yo, did I finish talking? N-no sir.I was glad I was wearing a mask, or he would've been able to see my face turning completely red. Man, where do you punks get off? What, do you just think that because I'm doing things, I don't have my eyes open? Do you think you can get away with it because, what, I'm dumb or something? Not at all. Tch. You know, I know how I look. But you don't get to be the right hand of one of the most influential people in Panthea by being an idiot. Of course, sir. Whatever, I shouldn't be wasting more of your time. Just get back to work, 'kay? I will. Once again, the secretary shook his head bewilderedly. Don't play a player, man. I've slacked off long enough to spot a slacker.Without another word, he walked past me into one of the stalls. I, awkwardly, just resumed washing my hands. Keeping my count while holding my own in that conversation was tricky. I don't know why I got flustered by him so easily. It's not like he really mattered. As I reached for the soap, I thought I heard the sound of a lighter. … This moron was really going to light a joint here of all places? I mean, I knew he was basically always high, but this was just ridiculous. Well, I encouraged it. The more blazed he is, the more likely he wouldn't remember this interaction. And that would be a win in my book. After drying off my hands, I put back on my gloves. Because those were so vital to doing my job right. This mask itched. As much as I hated to say it, Governor Aija was a little eccentric for making the staff all wear this getup. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about it. But it gave me a natural reason to hide my face. So I saw that as a plus. Finally, I made my way out of the restroom and into the hallway. On the other side of the hallway was the door to the boiler room. I wasn't an architect, but this struck me as a bit of an odd layout. Well... what did I know? As I walked down the hallway back into the gala, I got back into the groove. I'm a waiter. Right now, I just have to do my job. Two hundred fifty seven. Two hundred fifty six. Two hundred fifty five.  As I entered the gala's main room, once again I took a second to admire the opulence of it all. It's not like I had never been in a fancy place before or anything... but it had been a while. The band was in full swing. The music playing wasn't exactly to my taste, but I could certainly appreciate its quality. The guests were all dressed to the nines. All oozed style and class. If you sold this group's wardrobe, you could probably house and feed a family for a year, at minimum. ...Years? I was bad with calculating money. Point was, it was a lot. The food and drinks all sported impressive price tags. Their taste probably matched. Or... did they? A question crossed my mind. Was this any better than any other party? Did the spacious area really add anything? Was the music more worthwhile than some typical EDM? These expensive outfits looked less comfortable than casual clothes. Some people say that when you're dancing, you're really happy. It didn't take a mathematician to calculate that less people were dancing at this party than at some rave. So... was it worth it? ...Probably. I was pretty dumb, especially about things like this. On the other hand, rich people tended to be pretty intelligent. They knew more than me. They could do whatever they wanted, and they chose to do things like this. They had for centuries. So, even though from my perspective the whole thing felt a bit excessive, I was sure I was just missing something. Still, some part of me couldn't help but wonder. Pretty much every person of decent wealth in Panthea stood in this room. The party wasn't particularly cramped. ...Well, there was probably a reason for it. This sort of thinking was beyond me. I was better for much more simple things. Things like serving drinks. I grabbed a tray and got to work.  As I made my way through the crowd, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on a particularly loud conversation between two well-dressed ladies.  So, how are you enjoying the gala so far? It's fine. I can't help but feel like Aija's done better in the past. Well, that goes without saying. Considering everything else about her, it makes sense her parties would also be in decline. Ha! Too true. But, perhaps that's not her fault. It's been incredibly dull so far. Usually there's some drama. Where's the drama? Wait for some of these men to get more drinks in, then we'll see this party's real worth. Cheers to that!They clinked their drinks. [BGM: The Gungniri]  Honestly, does Aija really need to hold these fundraisers? Rumor has it she's already been getting plenty of funding. Besides, it's been over a decade since anyone ever really gave her a run for her money. Oh, you haven't heard? There's a new candidate for this election. Do tell? Yes, it's some real folksy type. A “man of the people”. Again? Whatever whips up the masses. At any rate, I've heard he's amassed a reasonable amount of support so far. Is he particularly impressive? Not by my measure, but then again, I suppose he's not trying to rally to me. Really, he's run more of an offensive campaign thus far. He's been pointing out Aija's inadequacies. How those filthy Duats have still been unchallenged. How it's never been worse for small business owners. How the only policies Aija ever seems to bother passing makes Panthea more isolationist and self-sufficient. Really going for the jugular, eh? Apparently! And power to him, someone needs to say it. Aija's been getting far too self-assured for my liking. Indeed. Honestly, I don't think she's even a very good politician at all. And as a person? So pretentious. Seriously, I'm thanking my lucky stars that she hasn't come over to us yet to try and schmooze. ...That said, you're still going to donate a token amount ot her, right? Naturally. Pay your dues and such. It's not worth the hassle doing otherwise. What we put up with. Hear hear! Another cheers, in but so many seconds. Listening in on this whole exchange, all I could do was bite my tongue. Forget it. Let's walk away. Honestly, I didn't have time to waste with such petty eavesdropping. ...Oh, over there. Art was talking with Odin. It was in a hushed tone, but still loud enough for me to easily overhear the conversation.   I'm just saying, this might be an ideal time for you to... you know... Retire? I'm not trying to be forceful. Oh, just say it, you pansy. I don't recall raising a weakass. Well, I do recall you raising a workaholic. I'm well aware of your philosophy regarding a man's worth, Odin. Which is why I know that I might be coming across as insensitive. You're not coming across as insensitive, you dolt. You're coming across as calculating. You just want me completely out of the picture. And you know me! I respect calculating. God knows your siblings could've used more of that gene.  But I've no intention on completely bowing out of the company. Why would I? Well, if you listened– I know your damned sales pitch, it'll be all the typical talking points. I'm already relaxing most of the time. I'm pretty much retired already, only with the bonus of poking my nose into affairs when I want to. So you know, I don't think there's any sense in me giving up my 25% share of the company.Art sighed heavily. He was well aware of how obstinate Odin could get. I'd be much more understanding if I could get a better sense of where some of your ideas have been coming from. They just don't make sense to me. And that's the problem, isn't it? As good as you are at the details, you've always been completely abysmal at the bigger picture. So then, help me see. Is that how this family has ever handled things? … You want to know what motivates me? I've given you all the clues. You want to seek the Trimurti, be my guest. But it's just like everything else. I'm not going to hand that out to you. Especially not that. So you're saying that you do have some sort of agenda? You tell me.There was definitely something more to that story. However, this was neither the time nor the place to look into that. And, to be frank, it was probably best to just not look into Deisma business at all. On the other side of the table, Polly was drinking by himself. It was painfully apparent that he had been drinking for a while. Typical. I could work with that. A few tables away sat Cyrene. She also seemed to be a bit tipsy, but clearly in higher spirits. She was in a particularly lively conversation with her... boyfriend? I was going to guess boyfriend. Most notably, she had an oversized purse hung on the back of her chair. I could see her phone in it from here. This wasn't luck, though. This specific opportunity presenting itself? Sure, that's lucky. But I was on the lookout for opportunities. And the odds that something like this came up was actually pretty high. I made my way by her table. A tray of wine glasses occupied one of my hands... which left one free to swipe the phone in a clean, practiced motion while I passed by. In the corner of my eye, I noticed it was still unlocked, left on some sort of social media. Cyrene was the type of sociopath to not lock her phone the moment she was done with it. Excellent. Now this was lucky. I continued to wander for a little bit, putting on airs. But for this to work, the timing had to be pretty precise. When I got an opportunity, I stopped, placed the tray down on a nearby table, and stood by the wall. It was a perfect, unassuming moment for a waiter to be checking his phone. ...Only, it wasn't his phone. Or, uh, my phone. It was Cyrene's. ...As much as I'd love to snoop... Professional. I'm a professional. I opened a messaging app. Quickly, I found Polly's contact. Their last texts were... more recent than I would've expected. To double check, I looked over. Sure enough, both Cyrene and Polly's tables were on this side of the room. So this would work. Judging by Polly's state of sobriety (or lack thereof), it wouldn't take a lot. Something short, sweet, and inciting. With a slight smirk, I typed up something quick. “Your brother has a bigger dick than you.” That'd do it.  All right. Sixty eight. Sixty seven. It was time. I picked back up the wine tray with one of my arms. I had the phone in my other hand. My thumb hovered right over the 'send' button. But not yet. Patience. Take things step by step. I moved past table after table. ...There, there was Cyrene's. I pressed the send button and, a second later, dropped the phone back in her purse. I didn't even bother looking back. If she noticed this little sleight of hand, I was already hosed. ...But she didn't. Because I was a professional. Fifty nine. Fifty eight. ...Yeah, like I thought. She hadn't noticed poo poo. But... someone else had.  The gently caress's this about?!There you go, Polly. Make an rear end of yourself. Again, I didn't need to turn around to know what was happening. The completely inebriated jackass that he was, Polly was not going to take that last message lying down. Cyrene and Polly's on (and mostly off) again relationship was incredibly volatile. This wouldn't be the first screaming match the two would get in. This would just be the most public. And the most useful. Now came the main event. On the other side of the room, I saw him. If you had seen him, you knew what to look for. At a very even keel, I made my way over to him. ...No, not directly over to him. I planned my moves a few steps ahead. I moved, circling towards him. He would be on my arc, but not my final destination. ...That's how it would appear to the common observer, at any rate. This all sounds awfully technical and highbrow for just walking to a person. But I had to put a lot of thought into these minor things. It was the minor things that made or broke these operations. [BGM: The Pistol]  As I began approaching, I held the tray with the wine glasses closer to my body. I couldn't make this a major incident. It needed to be nothing more than a minor hiccup. Closer... closer... As I got right next to him, I carefully tripped over Mr. Athen's foot. With a deft hand, I directed the spilling glass right at the side of his coat. The whole thing panned out... perfectly. Most importantly, Polly's freak out was drawing everyone's attention. The following interaction... would be between Mr. Athen and myself. Excellent. As soon as the old man realized what had happened, his face turned to a scowl.  I say! Is this the type of service I should expect? I'm so sorry sir, please, let me help you out! I would think so!Honestly, I was surprised at how tame his response was. I thought he'd be even more of a dick. Still, I needed to play the panicked, nervous waiter. I placed the tray on a nearby empty table. Then I took out a rag and began drying off the spill on Mr. Athen. Some people would probably bristle at this gesture. They'd think it too much. But not Mr. Athen. To him, it made sense that someone else would fix their mess. That someone else would clean him up. Was it a little much to bank on his arrogance? Maybe. But I had a backup. This was just the best case outcome. Because as I was drying him off... it was the perfect opportunity to plant it.  The suit Mr. Athen was wearing had a big, obvious front pocket. It was practically begging me to slip something in there. And, sure enough, I slipped my prepared rag into that pocket. He'd probably notice it before too long... so the plan was that he wouldn't have too long to notice it. The rag was just the opening volley. The real key of this act was the ice cube. Mr. Athen wouldn't be distracted for long. But the old coot was well past his prime. He wasn't the attentive type. A real magician would have an absolute field day with him. And so... this next move took very little effort. I palmed the ice cube that had been slowly melting in my pocket. Honestly, I'm surprised it was still mostly intact. When preparing it in the bathroom, I was worried that it would melt very quickly. I guess ice keeps its form a lot longer than I expected. Very subtly, I slipped it into the glass of wine Mr. Athen was drinking from. When I knocked into him, he had – very reasonably – placed it on the table. ...Placed it in a prime position for me to drop the poisoned ice cube. I didn't even look at the glass, I just maintained eye contact. Made sure Mr. Athen didn't notice. ...He didn't. And, just like that, this old man's fate was sealed. Sometimes, when I did my job, I'd feel the need to apologize. Not to the person themselves, but just to somebody. Looking at this man's face, however, I didn't waver for a moment. He brought this on himself. He dreamed bigger than he should have. Fought nastier than he should have. The man had a very simple, very basic job. Even I couldn't gently caress it up. But, for whatever reason, Athen couldn't just do the bare minimum. He strove for more, when he had it all. That's something the universe always tends to punish. Thirty three. Thirty two. Thirty one. Again, so sorry. I bowed, and began to put some distance between the two of us. However, before I got too far, I took one last item out of my pocket. A crumpled up page of the Bible. I had highlighted a specific verse from the book of Psalms. The one I highlighted didn't really matter, it just felt like something fittingly ominous. The page itself, however, carried quite a lot of meaning. When I first read Cock Robin, I was sort of stunned. I didn't particularly like the poem. Much the opposite, it sounded like complete nonsense. I read it four times, and still didn't understand it. But I didn't understand a lot of poems. They tended to be too abstract, and they'd often go above my head. So I tried looking up the meaning online, hoping someone on the internet would know what the hell the poem was talking about. Turns out the internet was just as torn as I was. Some guy said that it was trying to talk about the fall of some British dude called Robert Walpole. Robert, Robin. Someone else said it was a parody of the death of King William II. He got killed by an arrow? I guess? Or maybe it was telling the story of the murder of the Norse god Baldr. Or perhaps, the death of the Celtic God Lugh. Theory after theory, each as threadbare as the last. I came away from the poem thinking that it was really completely meaningless. That I was only recommended it because it was a clear, methodical list of distinctive things. Well... fair enough. The poem might not have meaning now. That just meant I'd be the one to give it meaning. The note was right by the base of the table. That was close enough. Now, I could make my escape. I took three steps away from Mr. Athen. And then, a thought crossed my head. I turned back to the old man. Before I knew what I was doing... I spoke. Enjoy the party. After all, you never know if it'll be your last. ...Party, that is. The last party you attend, to be specific....Without a further moment of clarification, I immediately turned away before I could see the old man's reaction, incredibly embarrassed. “Add a bit more pizzazz.” Add a bit more pizzazz my rear end. How the hell was this supposed to make things any better? ...Whatever. Job complete.  Twenty one. Twenty. Nineteen. I needed to get out of here. I made my way to the exit. There was nobody in the way. Look casual, act casual. By the entrance, one of the waiters that was logging people in the guest list was standing casually. That's expected. That's good, honestly. But it might pose a tiny bit of an issue. ...No, no, that's only if I let it. I just decided to walk by him. Just gave him a solid nod. It was a matter of confidence. If I just walked out like I was meant to–  Hey man, where are you going?poo poo. Just, you know... smoke break. Ah. All right, cool.Oh thank god, I thought that was going to be a bigger issue. I opened the door, walked through. And, like that... I had fled the premises. I was out of the building now, so counting was irrelevant. Still, it was good practice to see how accurate I was. I had given myself ten seconds of wiggle room. That's about how close I could cut it before risking that the target would collapse before the lights went out. And that... was the absolute worst-case scenario. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Fiv– I heard some shouting. Ah... that must have been it, then. [BGM: The Bomb]  People were panicking, because the lights went out unexpectedly. That made sense. That was the sort of emotional reaction I could track. ...Well, hold on. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe that old coot collapsed early. Maybe that's what the shouting was in reference to. To double check, I decided to look under the door. ...Sure enough, I didn't see any light coming out from under it. Things had gone really well. But I couldn't just zone out now. I needed to remember I was still a few feet away from a dead body. I would be powerless, useless, if I was in jail. Couldn't let that happen. So now, time to clean up loose ends. ...Wait, no. That made it sound like I was just beginning to clean up loose ends. That's what this whole thing was about. It was best to keep moving now, while adrenaline was working in my favor. Obviously, my first instinct was to try and put as much distance between this building and myself as possible. Part of being a professional... was to ignore those first instincts. I couldn't flee before removing my little friend in the boiler room. Theoretically, there was nothing about it that could link back to me. Still, its presence would give a lot of the game away. It was worth the risk to go remove it.  I sprinted around the west side of the building, trying to circle the venue. It.. was really dark out. Even the light on the side of the building was out. Probably my fault. Oh well. I had done my homework. I could circle this building blindfolded. Before long, I was on the other side, where I spotted a small open window. Dangling out of it was a small rope. I grabbed it and gave it a yank. For a moment, I was worried that only the rope would follow. Luckily, the crude mechanical device I had left in the boiler room was successfully fished out of the crime scene. I grabbed it and briefly admired my handiwork. A lot of people in my position would have connections that could craft things like this for them. I wasn't so lucky. Instead, I had to build it myself, without much knowledge of how to make something like this. But... I had time. I had patience. I had resources. I could do this much by myself. I mean, all it did was fry a simple circuit board. Not much to it. Anyways, now that I had retrieved my tool, I didn't want to leave the window open. That was a sure sign of my guilt. The window was a little too high for me to reach without assistance. Luckily, as I said, I had done my homework. I grabbed a second rope, this one attached to the back of the window, and yanked it down. Sure enough, the window fell to a close. I pulled the rope harder, and with some resistance it detached from the window. There. With a little ingenuity, I had erased my presence from the scene. Not hard at all. Now I could get started on that whole 'escape' idea. The fastest way to flee would be with a car down the road. I could be miles away in a matter of minutes. Luckily, I wasn't an amateur. That sort of escape was the type police studied. The type that would leave a trace. That would eventually get me caught. I remembered my mission statement: when I did my job right, it was like I was never there. I was just... a non-entity. A hypothetical, third party killer, with no evidence to prove or disprove me. I had turned my lack of presence into a weapon. So then, an escape via car was out. What about by bike? Scooter? What if I just... sprinted down the road? That wouldn't work, either. Again, it wasn't the car that was the problem, it was the roads. I should take advantage of my strengths. Usually, when people think about a killer, they think they've got some life they need to return to. Since I didn't have that, I should abuse that. My only goal was to escape detection. Speed wasn't an issue. So then, not the roads. The forest.  I made my way into the forest, in the direction of the seaside. I knew where I was going. So I began my trek in the dark and the silence. I still felt the need to put as much distance between myself and the crime scene. But, again, professionals ignored their instincts. I needed to be better. Really, once you got a few feet into the forest, most people wouldn't be able to spot you unless they went into the forest themselves. And that would only happen if they were looking for someone who had left the venue. If things had gone well, that wouldn't be the case. Remember, speed isn't important. Avoiding detection is important. I needed to make sure I wasn't leaving a trace. Light feet, careful feet. No footsteps, no trail of broken twigs. It was impossible to not alter anything, but it was also impossible to tell light traces of a human apart from the general chaos of a forest floor. I just needed to make sure I wasn't overt. Slowly, methodically, blindly. Move forwards. My destination wasn't close... but that was fine. Speed isn't the issue. Forwards, forwards. My mind drifted to the scene I left. At this point, the police were almost certainly there, discovering my work. Good. Discover my work. Be misled. Be preoccupied. Search for the killer in the gala, not the forest. Forwards. Step by step. Calmly. ...Was I going in the right direction? ...No, there was only one direction to go. It's not like I could get lost. But... did I go the right direction to begin with? ...Of course I did. I'd practiced this. These nerves were... natural. Expected. After all, it had been... hours? Hard to tell, but it would be hours before I reached my destination. With that sort of time commitment, it's expected that I'd doubt myself. But doubting isn't important. What's important is moving forwards. Step by step. Not a trace. ...At this point, the caution was probably unnecessary. If I had done my job up until now, it's not like they could find my trail in the middle of the forest. But it was the principle of the thing. Why risk it? Even if doing a job worse had 0% chance of having repercussions, you'd still be doing it worse. And you don't do a worse job if you want to be a winner. After what felt like ages, the tree line finally began to give way. Good. But don't rush to the edge, caught up in the moment. Step by step. As I looked out, I could see the sea. The moon looked beautiful reflected upon the rocky waves. But, obviously, I'd find the see if I poked out on this side of the forest. Did I reach the place where I was meant to be? I scanned the seaside. ...There. Found it.  A sad little dock, without much advertising... without a clear way to get to it... without any big or extravagant boats attached. I wasn't looking for an extravagant boat. I was looking for the small, pitiful boat moored to the pier.... and I found it. Before exiting the forest, I quickly scanned the area once more. This time, I was on the lookout for witnesses. There was no good reason for someone to be here at this time of night. But... I was here, wasn't I? The world was small, and there were a lot of people living in it. Fortunately, fate was still on my side. Great. I carefully made my way down to the dock... then, the boat. I didn't even know who owned this thing. Doubt they'd used it in months. Not that it mattered. I began taking off all the clothes that placed me as a member of the gala. I stuffed it into a bag I'd left on the boat, tied the bag shut, then tossed it into the ocean. I had debated whether it was better to hide these clothes in the ocean or in the middle of the forest. Ultimately, I decided that both options resulted in near-impossible chance of the evidence ever being found. Now I looked just like any other homeless person. So it made sense that I'd lie down in this random boat. Made sense I'd kick my legs out. This was where I was going to spend the night. The next day, I'd make plans for getting back to my actual residence. Was this a touch excessive? Maybe. But boy, were investigators vicious. They spent days upon days trying to snag the smallest thread you leave dangling for them. One of their first methods they jumped to was tracking people's locations. Not a chance in hell they could do that with me.  I made myself comfortable in the boat. For the first time tonight, I could finally take a nice, long breath out. For the first time tonight, I could lie back without the expectation to jump back to attention at a moment's notice. For the first time tonight, I could stop playing out scenario after scenario in my head. For the first time tonight, I could relax. ...Of course, that didn't mean I was going to relax. I probably hadn't truly relaxed in... My face soured. I couldn't exactly place a point in time where I'd call myself truly relaxed. But... that might just be a matter of semantics. Trying to define what was truly relaxing was like trying to define what was true happiness. A question for better philosophers than me. I suspected this was another one of those 'trouble thoughts'. The ones that would just send me into another spiral. The point was, lying in the darkness, I could feel... Content. Yes, that was the word. Content. As far as I was concerned, that was the most admirable thing to strive for. If everybody could just find their lot in life, and be content, the world would be a fine place. And because people couldn't... well, that's why I was in a job in the first place, now wasn't it? ...Yes, this was nice. I had done my job, and I had done it well. Honestly, this whole plan was a lot more elaborate than I was used to. There were a lot of ways things could have gone wrong. 'Why go through all this trouble?', I wondered. Maybe I was just tired of the same standard methods. Everybody wants to try challenging themselves. Try to spread their wings, show their full potential. But... that wasn't it, not really. Honestly speaking, this was the most straightforward way of achieving the optional objective that I could think of. For a question without a simple answer, this was as straightforward as I could get. Now, when the police arrived, they'd undoubtedly come to the wrong conclusion that the killer was somebody on the inside of the party. They might even be bold enough to make an accusation. That'd be the ideal case. However it plays out, they'll eventually figure out how misguided they are. And when the frame attempt on the gala gets revealed, the media'll have a field day with it. The next step will be super easy to complete. ...Apparently. I never really got the grander aspects of this job. I just killed who needed to be killed. More importantly, there was nothing that could lead back to me at the scene. They wouldn't catch me for this murder. ...Well, if they did, it wouldn't be for any mistakes I made this time. This would be the time that some would become panic-stricken. They'd start worriedly thinking over every step or movement they took, wondering if there were any loose ends. But I knew better. I knew that I didn't leave any loose ends. By all means, it was a perfect job done perfectly. And that was why I could lay back and be content. That's why I could enjoy the silence and the darkness. Who cared if the floor I lay on was hard and dirty? Who cared if it rocked unevenly? I knew better than anybody how phony luxury was. A man can be content lying on an expensive bed or on the ground's dirt. It's simply a matter of attitude. ...The bugs were loud. ...A perfect job done perfectly. [BGM: The Wire]  … Is that what I did? By my standards, I certainly had. By every metric I judged my jobs by, I had. What was wrong? What went bad? Someone died. Isn't that sorta bad? ...I scowled to myself. Seriously? I'm an assassin. If someone dies, that means my job went well. ...Well, that's a pretty sad job to have, then. Who would be weeping over Athen? He was, by every metric, the perfect target. Not a single friend. No family, either. No one would miss him. That can't be true. There's nobody in the world that wouldn't be missed if gone. Ha! Now there's a joke. Maybe I am funny, after all. Athen would miss himself. You can't miss yourself if you're dead. I ended a man's happiness. How could that not be bad? Athen deserved it. He wasn't a good man. He was a bad man. A traitor, a snake, a rat. Was that any better than my boss? What really made him playing the game any worse than anybody else? In fact, some people might call what he intended to do noble, if a skewed sort. Put that aside, then. I did my research. I knew Athen's history. He had been a sinner for a long time. So then, had he forfeited his life? Because he made mistakes, he wasn't entitled to live? That didn't seem right. If that was the metric to go by, I wouldn't be entitled to live. Nobody is entitled to live. Millions of people die in cruel and irrational ways every day. The only thing that stops us from keeling over at any minute is luck. What's one more death? That's faulty reasoning. Just because bad things happen in other places, that doesn't make the bad things I did any less bad. Everybody deserves to die. Humans are evil at their core. God kills countless people with no regards to morality or utility. How then am I any different? Plenty of people curse God to the bottom of their heart. And did I really think of myself as a god? ...I didn't. I didn't think myself a saint, either. I didn't care about the morality of it all. Then why was I having this conversation at all? I'm not having a conversation. I'm just tormenting myself. And it wasn't healthy.  Ugh, even though I tried not to, I ended up spiraling again. At least I caught myself this time before I got too deep. Nothing good could come of questioning things like that. I'd just be making myself sad. Nothing else would change. It's not like this job was making my life empty. My life was empty before I started this job. Like I usually did when I got ungrateful, I thought about my lowest point. When I had just lost the little purpose I had in life. When I was truly in an abyss. Moving from day to day to day to day to day to day to day to day to day without the slightest bit of life in my eyes. Days where I wouldn't think a single productive thought. Days that would pass where I didn't say a single word. Days where I didn't do a single thing in my free time. I just stewed in guilt and anger and sorrow. Pathetic. Powerless. If we're talking about people who didn't deserve to live, well, never was there a more prime example than myself at that time. There was nothing for me, other than to question how I had gotten to this point. But, as empty of a life as I was living, I was still living life. I still had to go from day to day to day to day to day to day to day to day to day to day to day. Often I would try to drown it all in alcohol. And while drinking alone was enticing, it required the forethought to buy beer ahead of time. That was the type of forethought I didn't tend to have back then.  So many nights, I'd go out to a bar. Panthea had plenty of them... not that I really ever made a choice between them. Whatever was closest. In some ways, I preferred bars to drinking alone. On some level, I appreciated seeing other broken people like me. Made me a bit less lonely, I guess? But there was one problem with that. You... really don't want to interact with people as broken as yourself. God. That dipshit. I didn't want anything to do with him. I literally said nothing. I can't remember what got him started. The memories are too blurry. But I knew it wasn't worth anything. The guy must have just been looking for a fight. Most people would've pushed back at some point. There weren't many people who would just sit there, in silence, taking his drunken abuse. But... I was different than most drunks. I knew patience. I knew how to tolerate abuse. I behaved in a way nobody could fault that night when I was in the bar. When I was out of the bar? I mean... who can fault me? How much of an rear end in a top hat do you have to be to literally follow someone out of a bar, just to be a dick to them? I mean, I had absolutely nothing going on in my life, and even I thought that was pretty pathetic. It was the middle of the night. There was literally nobody else around. The sad thing – I literally can't remember his face. I couldn't tell you his hair color, his eye color, anything about him. He's a blur. There's just one thing I remember. His voice. 'Pathetic.' I'm sure there was some context to that word. Some insult attached to the front or back of it. But that's the only word I remember. It's the thing that set me off. I had forgotten... just how strong I was. And I was too drunk to control myself. It was a sad story. But an incredibly common one. The amount of times this exact thing happened was honestly kind of shocking. I was just the next scumbag drunk who went too far. Who forgot how fragile people were around concrete. By all means, that should've been the end of things.  I took another sigh out, then stretched out my arms. ...I was lucky. That wasn't the end for me. That was the start. If it weren't for that, I would have had a worthless life. I would've lived life powerless. Sad. Pathetic. And eventually... dead. But look at me now! I was happy. No... not happy. Never happy. But content. Where I was now, was content. Yes... yes. Why was I questioning things like that? This was surely better than before. This was a worthwhile life. After so much reminiscing, it was clear I wouldn't be getting sleep any time soon. So, instead, I sat up in the boat and pulled out my burner phone. Seemed like now was as good a time as ever to think about my next target. I still had an “optional” target on the docket. Optional targets were basically low-priority ones. They didn't need to die, at least not any time soon, but they were still better off dead. They were contracts I'd get paid for if I chose to take them in my spare time. ...I didn't really care about the pay, though. I just liked to be thorough. If someone was better off dead, better to end them sooner than later. It was that sort of service that made me so valuable. I looked over the file started on the optional target. It was... pretty threadbare. Still, I didn't think I'd have a problem with this one. She was pretty easy to find. I studied the blurry photo provided. The woman had long, dark brown hair and distinctive silver eyes. ...God, this picture was from a pretty bad angle. How was this the best shot we had of her? ...Whatever. It was enough. I'd make a meeting with her soon enough. And I'd make sure to make her another verse. Laverna. I'd be meeting with you soon enough. … [BGM: Silence]   Hey, you. Yes, you. Ever heard of a little something called... utilitarianism? Yes. I thought you might have. So... do you believe in it? As, like... a guiding philosophy. No. Really? Huh, okay. Maybe you're a step ahead of me. You see, I used to think utilitarianism was, like, the ideal philosophy. Not for me, of course, but in the eyes of the public, why wouldn't that be just the thing? Like, boom, philosophy solved. ...And yet, philosophy is notably not solved. What's up with that? Are people just dumb, and that's prolonged an easy debate this long? I wouldn't put it past humanity. But... no, I've had some more time to reflect on it, and I think I've come to a different conclusion. Utilitarianism is the perfect theoretical philosophy, at least for the purposes of the public. But that's the thing... it's the perfect theoretical philosophy. And the only people who care about theoretical philosophies are philosophers. If you're looking for practical philosophies, ones you can actually put into action, utilitarianism suddenly gets riddled with holes. See, how can you tell what's going to bring about the most good? No human can, not really. A genius would struggle with that, not to mention the amount of idiots there are going around. So here's the kicker: does the belief in utilitarianism, ironically enough, produce more bad in the world? Because, as a guiding philosophy... it's a lot easier to do bad with utilitarianism. There's kind of a maximum cap on the harm a strict Kantian can do. Situations where not murdering someone is going to result in major harm do happen, but they're kind of few and far between. But a utilitarian? A utilitarian will watch the world burn with a smile on their face if they think it's for the best. Now, I'm still not coming down hard against utilitarianism. It has its pros – very obvious pros. But if we're talking in the practical sense, it certainly isn't the runaway choice. ...Just a little something that's been on my mind. Next update, it's back to Laverna.
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Aug 1, 2023 23:32
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Well that was... something. And we've come full circle. No bets this time either, all narration.
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Aug 1, 2023 23:42
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I'm going to make a little habit of checking in every time we hit the gap between Devon's stack and Laverna's, just to act as a barometer of what people think. Who are you the most interested in of all 7 perspectives-Laverna, Lock, Vels, Olif, Mercury, "Thane", and Devon? Any connections you've made? Any theories you have? What's your overall sense of the plot so far?
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Aug 1, 2023 23:54
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Junpei posted:Who are you the most interested in of all 7 perspectives-Laverna, Lock, Vels, Olif, Mercury, "Thane", and Devon? I think a problem here with the huge number of PCs is that they kind of blend together in my head. It’s hard to write that many protags at once, you know? Like, Olif stands out for being godawful, but at this moment I couldn’t tell you who Mercury was without rereading (the street fighter or the guy getting hunted on a boat?) their entire bit. Some of them have really distinctive voices for good or ill (Laverna being aggressively flairful, Olif sucking hard, “Thane’s” perpetual oh god oh gently caress, Devon’s analytical mind) but the rest feel very similar. And for most of them, I’d say their setup is really what makes them interesting. Nothing wrong with that, though. I think the Laverna vs Devon thing is interesting as hell, and Fake Thane is a really cool setup.
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Aug 2, 2023 01:28
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BassMug posted:I think a problem here with the huge number of PCs is that they kind of blend together in my head. It’s hard to write that many protags at once, you know? Like, Olif stands out for being godawful, but at this moment I couldn’t tell you who Mercury was without rereading (the street fighter or the guy getting hunted on a boat?) their entire bit. Some of them have really distinctive voices for good or ill (Laverna being aggressively flairful, Olif sucking hard, “Thane’s” perpetual oh god oh gently caress, Devon’s analytical mind) but the rest feel very similar. Mercury is on the boat. He’s the one I’m most interested in at the moment, as it happens! Really the only two I have mixed up are Lock and Vels. One’s a gambler, one’s a fighter… who was who, again?
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Aug 2, 2023 01:44
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Lock is the gambler Vels is the one who fought some thugs at a restaurant Right now I’m most interested in ‘Thane’, it’s a setup that surprised me and could end up spiralling out of control in a couple of different directions. Olif stands out as the worst perspective. Firstly because the character is just... obnoxious. Secondly because there’s no real hook. He was poo poo posting on the internet “for the lulz” and accidentally made some connections that are offering secret info. Most of the other perspectives are dealing with matters of life and death so in comparison there’s just nothing happening here. And I think it is possible to write a jaded netizen perspective, but they need to have more going on than trolling for the sake of their own amusement. Also interesting to note that Devon doesn’t mention killing the person outside the Gala. And it seems like the Cock Robin motif was his idea. So either a) he killed Max before killing Athen, or b) someone else killed Max and dropped an item to match the cock robin motif. Also weird that Devon thinks of himself as dumb when he seems kind of smart. (Although his last party quip is godawful)
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Aug 2, 2023 02:22
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AweStriker posted:Mercury is on the boat. He’s the one I’m most interested in at the moment, as it happens! We don't even know what gender Mercury and Olif are, since during their entire perspective they don't interact with anyone who would have referred to them with a gendered pronoun.
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Aug 2, 2023 05:03
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Yeah, Max dying is unexplained so far, and I like how well Laverna has done with her deductions. Characters: Laverna, Lock, Vels, Olif, Mercury, "Thane", and Devon Most interesting: Laverna Most boring: Vels Laverna has an over-the-top detective personality. Her route seems to have the most interactions with major NPCs and is associated with Devon, so she's caught my interest the most. Vels is trying to reject the plot hooks, and the route has been driven by Krish so far. Boring. Best NPC: Kane Kane is the most well-developed of the NPCs so far and has connected the most with the 7 PCs.
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Aug 2, 2023 07:40
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oh dear, this viewpoint doesnt know. posted:On the other hand, rich people tended to be pretty intelligent.
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Aug 3, 2023 03:55
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Lock's the gambler because he's the sleazy, silver-tonged Loki (or at least named for him). Vels, uh, I got nothing. Same with Olif, unless there's a god of internet trolls. Laverna, oddly enough, is a goddess of cheats and the underworld. Kind of fitting for a consulting detective, I guess. And Mercury is Mercury, and we don't know "Thane"'s real name.A thane is a Scottish noble title (see: Macbeth, thane of Glamis and Cawdor), which makes sense if he's serving his "king" Marduk. I'm jealous I didn't think of "modern setting where everyone has somewhat-appropriate mythological names" first  It appeals directly to my special interests...hence the effortpostedit: oh and Devon just makes me think of Devon ham. Sorry, Devon. mycelia fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Aug 3, 2023 |
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Aug 3, 2023 06:56
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Devon is kinda funny to me because i started playing this around the same time that Power Rangers: Beast Morphers was added to Netflix and Devon is the name of the Red Ranger of that season and they're so very very different stories.
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Aug 3, 2023 07:03
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mycelia posted:edit: oh and Devon just makes me think of Devon ham. Sorry, Devon. Makes me think of cream tea, mmm.
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Aug 3, 2023 07:17
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mycelia posted:we don't know "Thane"'s real name I suspect his alias is derived from THANatos.
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Aug 3, 2023 08:16
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mycelia posted:Lock's the gambler because he's the sleazy, silver-tonged Loki (or at least named for him). Vels, uh, I got nothing. Same with Olif, unless there's a god of internet trolls. Not sure if it's up your (or Mix's) alley, but Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is an upcoming game (it has a demo) that features murder mysteries! People with similar names to gods! Choices! Musicals! Dropping the trailer because it might interest people.
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Aug 3, 2023 09:04
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 [BGM: Silence]  Man. That was a high building. Highest in Panthea, probably. Whenever I saw massive skyscrapers like that, one question always entered my mind. 'Do they really need all that space?' It always feels to me that there's no way that a business actually needs to use up all of that space. ...Well, I was no business manager, and I was bad at conceptualizing big things, so it was probably justified. And if it was justified for any company, it definitely would be Olympo. With how many pies they had their fingers in, it's no wonder that they'd need a lot of space to house their workers. What definitely didn't feel necessary was how much space they took up of this urban area of Panthea. How much of that was just empty space – reserved for aesthetics? Well, it made the area stand out, at any rate. ...Anyways, time to enter the building. [BGM: Stand]  I had been in this lobby before, but I still took a moment to take in the scene. The place had a wide receptionist area, restrooms, multiple waiting spots, and even a breakfast cafeteria in-house. Anything you could reasonably want. Only the best for Olympo, I supposed. I could respect that, on some level. I approached the receptionist.  Greetings. I am Laverna, the detective. It is my understanding that your business is in need of my services? Worry not – I'll be happy to dispense my aid however necessary. And, a chance to pursue the truth is the only payment I require! ...Though, of course, a healthy check certainly would not dull my spirits. Regardless, be sure to inform your masters of my arrival. In the meantime, I shall be lounging in one of your plentiful waiting areas. No need to direct me to one, I am familiar with this floor's layout.And just like that, I turned away. There was no need to have her actually respond. I'd leave a more striking impression on her this way. So I circled the reception desk and walked over to a waiting room.  I expected the wait to be dull. ...No, perhaps dull was the wrong word – uneventful. One that would let me collect my thoughts, perhaps waste some time on my phone. But instead, the waiting room was occupied by two familiar faces.  Lav! You're k-kidding.I held similar sentiments to Seth. What were the odds? Still, Baldera rushed over to give me a hug, and I felt compelled to reciprocate. Honestly, maybe it wasn't that big a coincidence to run into each other. There was a lot of overlap between private investigators and police, after all. [BGM: The Poison]  Last time we had met was when investigating the murders at Governor Aija's private gala. Unfortunately, that ended up at a dead end. Despite our best efforts, we were never able to find any evidence leading back to the killer. Ultimately, while there was still an investigation, the unknown third party had come and gone without leaving any trace we could find. The unexpected second body didn't end up giving us any hints. Later forensic evidence did reveal a few interesting details about the case. Apparently, when we found the body, he had been dead for several hours. He had originally been killed with a blow to the back of the head, around the time that the gala was starting up and people were still making their way in. Forensic scientists were also able to tell that, as expected, the bell was not the murder weapon. However, the real murder weapon was unable to be located. Most curious was the fact that Maximillian Collins wasn't actually on the invite list to Aija's gala, despite the decent amount of clout he possessed. That raised the question of what he was even doing there. Well, as the nephew of the late Veronica Collins, he had some connections, so perhaps he meant to meet, or confront, a guest of the gala. Veronica Collins, while still alive, was one of the few non-family members known to be close to Odin Deisma, the miracle man. It felt likely that, somehow, this connection was what got Maximillian killed. But... while correlation seemed apparent, the exact causation completely eluded us. Ultimately, as there was no forensic pieces of evidence that Maximillian's case led to, the double murders were 'still under investigation'... under investigation, without much hope of being solved without a new breakthrough. That was disappointing, but life– and crimes– waited for nobody. So... when I was contacted to help investigate a case of corporate theft at the Olympo Corporation, naturally I jumped at the chance to help out. [BGM: Stand]   What are you doing here? For the same reasons you're here, I presume. T-The Deismas hit you up, too? I must've left an impression upon them during our last encounter. Oh, I don't, uh, doubt that much. Seth, eccentricity appeals to eccentrics. Eccentric? Is that how you see yourself? People are multi-faceted. Trying to condense an existence within a singular adjecti- *cough cough cough* I broke into a coughing fit. God, my throat was hoarse. Luckily, there was a water cooler nearby. I walked over and poured myself a cup. You okay there, Lav? Oh, I'm fine. My throat must be a touch strained from karaoke last night. You went karaokeing? Jealous! Why didn't you give me a call? Oh, don't take it as a slight, Baldera. I was performing solo. Wait, so, so you went to a karaoke bar by yourself? Indeed – spectacular listening comprehension, Seth. You see, if you go by yourself, you don't have to waste time listening to others, and instead can spend the entire time singing yourself. Pretty brilliant, no? If you say so.Seth had been holding his tongue more often as of late.  Anyways, I'm surprised it is just the two of you joining me this fine day. I would expect, at the very least, Arrianne to be in your stead. No, I'm afraid it's just us today. And thank god for that. Seth! Wh-what, I'm just saying it how it is! I do my work better when I don't have that cyborg breathing down my neck. Arrianne is perfectly nice. She just seems off putting because she's not, you know, the best with social cues and all. I'm sure that's true, t-totally, I just don't know her well enough. So then you can get to know her better through investigations! Yeah, no, see, uh, I think that's the problem. I kinda doubt I'm going to get anywhere with her during investigations. Baldera turned to me, clearly wanting to move on. Unfortunately, Arrianne couldn't swing by here – we're pulled a little thin at the moment. Just shooting straight with you... a possible robbery of personal property isn't really that big of a deal. I mean, it's a case f-for Olympo, a pretty big and powerful group, but we're supposed to not factor in things like that.  And when you consider that on the other side of town, there's a recent assault case that Pandora was the first on the scene to, Arrianne thought it'd be smart to head over there instead of here.Probably the right choice from Arrianne, there. Uh, um, I assume you are here for the theft case thing? Why else would I be in a building like this if not for business? Just making sure. I walked over and took a seat next to the windows. Cool, so it looks like we're going to be working together again. Fun! Yeah, fun. But why did Olympo contact a private investigator when we haven't even been able to take a look around? Do they think that little of us? It's a mere formality, I'm sure, Seth. This is Olympo we're speaking of. They like to be thorough. I guess...My vision wandered. I ended up looking out the window, aimlessly. Around this side of the building was a fairly extensive water feature. It connected right next to the wall, and had several little fountains. I had previously derided the space this place took up as excessive, and that was likely an accurate assessment of the facts... but it was a little hard to stay angry at that when looking at a nice installation like this. Maybe dismissing it as useless was small-minded. Perhaps the effect it had on morale was worthwhile in itself. What do you think, Lav?I turned back to the two. Oh, my apologies. Were you laboring under the misunderstanding that I was paying attention for the last minute? To be honest I tuned out a decent bit ago...Seth had to reign in a chuckle, while Baldera put on a pouty face.  Really, Lav? You're gonna do me like that? Look, it's a matter of efficiency. There is but so much idle chitter-chatter I can intake before my mind swaps from investigative mode to a more casual one – a casual one, mind you, which has no place in an investigation. My tuning out was a deliberate attempt to prevent that occurrence. Well, that's a new one.This exchange was likely to continue for quite a bit. However, it was at this moment that we had a visitor who clearly didn't spend much time in such waiting lounges. Art had entered the room. He was quite well dressed – his outfit was nearly indistinguishable from what he'd worn at the gala. I don't know if that spoke to how fancy he dressed at work, or how casual he dressed at the gala, but either way it was impressive. Regardless, it was an undeniable fact that the outfit suited him. If I didn't know better, I'd even consider him quite handsome. [BGM: Ante Up]   Apologies on keeping you waiting. Running a company like Olympo is a taxing endeavor – I'm sure you can imagine. When I heard you'd arrived, I made sure to come down and personally greet you just as soon as I finished the matter that was at hand. I'd like to thank you for–Art had gotten this far into his explanation before he stopped to look at me. He probably had been aware that I was in the room, but he must've written me off as just some other visitor, one of the likely dozens that went in and out of this room every day. To me, this said that I hadn't left a strong enough impression during our meeting at the gala. I couldn't tell if that was good or bad; regardless, he recognized me now... and with that recognition came a flare of annoyance. You. What exact business do you have here? Well, let me turn the question on you, to test your aptitude for this profession. I'm a world-class detective, and a busy one at that. Is there anything to your knowledge that may have summoned me to this room? Art sighed, heavily. I assume you're referencing the theft? Aha! Perhaps we should switch jobs. Perhaps not. To rephrase my question: why are you here for the theft investigation? You doubt my bona fides? My, this is surprising. I find that oddly insulting. Well, I have a website I can direct you to if you wish. It lists my past achievements quite plainly. Peruse that, and you'll see that I am more than appropriate here. No, I'd prefer not to. Again, it is not the qualifications which give me pause. It is the fact that you were not hired for this job. Wait, Lav, you weren't? Oh, you've gotta be k-kidding me... Naturally, I was hired. I can assure you that you weren't. I can assure you that she was. Odin!Art jumped up, startled. Fair enough – I too had barely noticed Odin slink his way into the room, mischievous smile on his face. For such an imposing figure, he sure knew how to step silently. Ah, you're getting sloppy, Art.Odin smacked him on the back of the head. His face was friendly, but the sound of the impact sounded like it hurt. There was a time I wasn't able to get the jump on you like this. Wh-what are you doing here, Odin? I was getting hungry. I decided it was time for a meal, so I was leaving for a nearby restaurant. I know you didn't want anybody on the Restricted Floor to leave, what with the whole incident and whatnot... but I assume that I'm exempt from suspicion in this whole affair. Of course. Of course you are. And what exactly makes that the case?I decided to interject.  An axiom of investigation: those eager to exit a crime scene are oft the cause of said crime scene in the first place.Art shot me an incredibly dirty look. However, Odin began to laugh. How true! There is no good reason that I should be exempt from suspicion. It's pleasing to see at least one among you has the stones to speak their mind. See, this is why I hired you. Wait, Odin, you hired her? Of course I did. I couldn't exactly trust the police with a job like this, and the fact that you did proves you're still too naive to be without my supervision. After the job she did at the gala, I thought it'd be fun to invite Ms. Laverna here – I thought she'd prove useful. ...Or, failing that, entertaining. I shall aim to do both. Prioritize useful, please. Seriously? Her? Some unknown private investigator – we're going to let her simply waltz all around the vault of this company? Oh, don't be such a dullard, Art. Honestly, it is such a nuisance that you ended up being the least charismatic child. That...I expected that statement to flare Art up. Instead, he seemed to deflate. Then he gritted his teeth and turned to me. Fine. If my father has already purchased your services, it would be foolish not to make the most of you while you're here. I'll do my best to perform above your expectations. That won't be difficult. Excellent, excellent. Glad to see that this has sorted itself out. Well, my hunger hasn't gone away... I expect this matter to be settled by the time I return, Art. O-Of course, Odin. Fantastic.And, with no other remarks, Odin turned around and exited the scene. He had conveniently dodged the question I raised about him being a suspect, but now wasn't the time to push my luck. Besides, he wasn't the thief.  Well then. It appears you three will have to suffice. Don't worry, I can attest to the quality of both Baldera and Seth. They make for excellent grunt workers, perfectly suited for aiding my investigations. …Good to hear. Well, I suppose we should just get a move on.And like that, Art also turned and began to leave the room. With a single wave of his arm, he gestured for us to follow him. The four of us made our way back around the receptionist's desk, this time walking to the other side of it. Further beyond the desk was a hallway which led to a set of sleek marble elevators. Art pressed a button, and without a moment's hesitation the left door opened up. Ladies first.Art gestured into the elevator. Baldera and I entered, followed by Seth, with Art taking up the rear. The elevator had a whole tower of buttons. Art took out a white and gold keycard, placing it to a sensor on the elevator. Then, he pressed a button with a star indicator next to it. The restricted floor, it would seem. A few seconds later, the doors opened once more, and we found ourselves on a new, pristine floor. Instantly, the fancy flooring gave off the indication that this was a place for the elite. ...Well, I could already guess that much. Before we could go anywhere, however, we had to deal with security.  This, um, is this necessary? Wow. It's like that time I went to the airport!Indeed, the scene was akin to airport security. A large metal detector took up the center of the hallway. To the right of it was a metal desk that slid across either side of it. And to the left, a tough looking security guard stood motionless. This...Art waved his arms at the obvious display before us. ...is the restricted floor's security. The thing meant to try and stop incidents like this from happening. This here is Zethe. Say hi, Zethe. Hi. Hi, Zethe! How are you doing on this fine day? Not particularly well. Aw... and why's that? A theft happened on my watch. Oh yeah, that's gotta put a damper in your step. Well, hey, cheer up – things'll get better.To this, Zethe just gave a small nod. Whenever anyone enters or leaves the floor, they have to go through the metal detector. Any metal objects on them, or any personal belongings, they're put on the desk and inspected by Zethe. Well, um, I'll give you this: it's certainly thorough. Thoroughness is a motto of Olympo. 'A motto'? How many mottos do you have at Olympo? And... thoroughness isn't really a motto, it's just a mere one-word value.If Art had heard a single word I'd said, he didn't let on. [BGM: Raise]  But, uh, is this really necessary? Seems like a lot just to have at work. I assure you, it is more than necessary. Given what's on this floor, we need to take such precautions. Some of the decorations on this floor, especially in my office and the meeting rooms, are worth enough to consider stealing. More important, of course, is all the information and data up here that is central to our business. At Olympo's level, corporate espionage is a major concern. Which is why we are taking the current situation so seriously. Company property must be protected – not to mention, company personnel. Now, who even has access to this floor is already strictly monitored... still, you can never tell what will be too much for somebody. I fear the day when some vengeful employee will try and take a stab at me or someone else on this floor. Vengeful employees, hm? Would you happen to know of anything that you've done which would engender such strong feelings? Any specific employees that come to mind? … Of course, I simply ask because I feel it may be a potential motive for the current caper we find ourselves in the midst of. Given the nature of this case, I very much doubt revenge is the catalyst. Could we just keep on m-moving, please?On Seth's behest, we made our way forwards. Luckily, we didn't have to be subjected to the usual scrutiny of the security measures. Instead, we could walk right ahead, down the hallway, through the restricted floor.  Art, could you be a doll and give us a bit of a rundown about what's on this floor? Might be useful for our investigation. Certainly. As you can see, there are a number of important rooms around here. These doors that we're passing? The ones on the left house important paper records. Business deals, contracts, that sort of thing. The ones on the right house Olympo's servers. Important doors indeed. Not to this case. They're so important that the doors to those rooms have an added layer of security – you need to scan a keycard to open them. Those keycards require the highest level of clearance, and also log all entries in a highly encrypted third party server. And they haven't been accessed today. Good to get, uh, get that out of the way then. To the right are a number of offices for our higher-level members. However, our destination is to the left. We followed him down the winding hallway. Here to the left and the right are some high-end meeting rooms.Further down the hallway were two doors to rather large offices with glass walls. The office on the left had shut blinds all the way down. The office on the right had the blinds at the top; it was quite messy, with documents strewn all about. At present, a certain pink-haired employee was typing something on a laptop. The room to the left is my office, and the one to the right is my brother's. ...Oh, and farther down the hallway is the restrooms, if that becomes an issue. Wow, I'm surprised the CEO of the company has the same office as a Chief Director. Not my idea. Odin made it that way so that Polly wouldn't throw a fit... and Polly liked that we'd be right across from each other. ...He soon soured on that idea when he realized that it let me see just how often he wasn't working.If Polly really cared about that, why didn't he have his blinds down like you, Art? ...though I kept that thought to myself.  Art opened the door to the left office and ushered us in. Even though it had similar architecture as the other office, there was clearly a world of difference. Everything was nice and orderly, clean, in its proper place. The contrast – and its meaning – couldn't be more on the nose. Art walked over to the other side of his desk and sat down in his chair. Baldera, Seth, and I just stayed standing. Nice, um, place you got here. Indeed. I appreciate the minimalism present. I, too, indulge in the philosophy. My apartment contains no clutter whatsoever. This is only my office. I can assure you, my penthouse is quite lavishly decorated. However, such aesthetics would only serve to distract me during work time. ...We've already wasted far too much time on pleasantries. Let me cut to the chase. Yes, let's. …Ooh, Art did not like me. I swear I wasn't doing this on purpose. Okay then. Cutting to it.[BGM: Dealing Hands]  It is, on paper, a fairly simple case of company property being stolen. A laptop, to be specific. It was used for several important business transactions, and it has a lot of valuable information on it. I know it was on this floor this morning... because I used it this morning. I left it in a cabinet attached to the table in one of our meeting rooms; I will take you to said location momentarily. The important part is that, many hours later, when I went to use the laptop again, it was completely missing. I have had this entire floor searched, top to bottom, every nook and cranny, and the laptop has not shown up. These searches will continue, but at this point I can only assume that the laptop, and the information on it, has been stolen. If that information ends up in the hands of one of our business rivals, it will damage our prospects quite severely. Between the time I last used it and the time I discovered it missing, a total of three employees exited this floor. However, each went through the security procedure I have already explained, and all passed without any alerts. I have called those employees back, and they are waiting in a nearby room; your job is to ascertain which, if any, of these employees is responsible for the theft. If it is one of them, I would appreciate if you could make it clear how exactly they got the laptop past our security detail. If it is not one of them, I would then like the true culprit to be made clear, and for the location of the laptop to be revealed. All right, seems simple enough. R-Really? Because, uh, kind of seems a bit...Seth hesitated, realizing who he was standing in front of. Impossible? In a sense, it is. However, that adds to the intrigue. Impossible crimes are the most interesting. At their heart is a contradiction, a false assumption, an illusion to the eye. These are the greatest truths to uncover! Does... she always act like this? Yep. My sympathies. I'm familiar with how draining it can be to work with these types. There's a reason that she's not actually a cop. And that reason is that I shan't be shackled! Um, well, should we get started, then? The scene from which the laptop was stolen was the meeting room on the other side of the hall. You three can go look around there while I prepare things for you.Prepare things for us? I raised a slight eyebrow at that, but... I've been poking the bear a bit too frequently. Instead, I just followed Seth and Baldera out the door and over to the other meeting room.
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Aug 4, 2023 00:41
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Laverna is a lot more fun than some of our last few perspectives. I think what really helps is having more NPCs to bounce off of, plus unlike Vels, she's an actually active participant.
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Aug 4, 2023 02:16
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Yes, Laverna is great. So far, she's "Rooster" of this game: annoying in a good way My initial guess is that Art's laptop escaped the building by being dropped out of a window, perhaps via a bathroom or office. Alternatively, Odin is interfering because he thinks Art was behind the disappearance, and Laverna is about to expose Art's deceit. Both would be fun outcomes. After Devon's perspective, it was looking unlikely that Max died after Athen, and this section confirmed that Max died at the start of the party (i.e., before Athen). I thought Ez would interrupt and point out we'd lost the bet, but nothing happened.
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Aug 4, 2023 07:10
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quote:Later forensic evidence did reveal a few interesting details about the case. Apparently, when we found the body, he had been dead for several hours. He had originally been killed with a blow to the back of the head, around the time that the gala was starting up and people were still making their way in. Whoops! Well I still think Athen dying first was the most reasonable guess even if it ended up being wrong. This way it means like 20 people entering the gala missed a dead body on their way in. quote:At present, a certain pink-haired employee was typing something on a laptop. This is almost certainly FuschiaDemon from Olif’s perspective. Who’s also a prime suspect for the theft. As to what happened to the laptop I’m betting it’s still hidden on the floor somewhere. What’s valuable is the information on the laptop rather than the device itself so they don’t need to sneak it past the metal detectors they just need to find an opportunity to extract the data. It could even be the laptop she’s using right there if Olympo is particularly dumb. quote:Art:I assure you, it is more than necessary. Given what's on this floor, we need to take such precautions. Some of the decorations on this floor, especially in my office and the meeting rooms, are worth enough to consider stealing quote:Art: This is only my office. I can assure you, my penthouse is quite lavishly decorated. However, such aesthetics would only serve to distract me during work time. Bit inconsistent here. Art says his office has super expensive decorations, then it turns out he has a minimalist office because decorations would distract him.
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Aug 4, 2023 09:16
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Elite posted:Bit inconsistent here. Art says his office has super expensive decorations, then it turns out he has a minimalist office because decorations would distract him. Could be a mistake, or it could be that he's the type that spouts BS out of a sense of self-importance. Or maybe when he says "my office has expensive decorations" he means "my father's office". Early call is that it's Odin trying to teach him a lesson of some kind.
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Aug 4, 2023 14:28
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 [BGM: Dealing Hands]  It looked quite nice. On the end of the room opposite from the door, there were big wall-sized windows, and on the wall next to the door was a big TV mounted on the wall; below it, a fancy cabinet with a number of drawers. It looked like they were all slightly jutting out. Was that a thing with fancy cabinets? Seems more annoying than anything else. On the other walls were a number of still-life photographs of predatory animals that had been hung up. In the center of the room was a long, oval-shaped table, with a dozen chairs sat by it. Lovely little place. It's nice, I guess. Would you ever want to be the head of a big corporation like this, Lav? Why would a god cover a crown of man? Well, that's a new one. Over in the corner of the room, there was a little trash bin. I decided to walk over and give it a little look. At the bottom of the bin was a discarded coffee cup. So, what are we looking for? B-Beats me. I don't think we're going to find much of use. Ah, how limited your reach is. You got any bright ideas? Several. … Oh, you mean in regards to this case?Seth just sighed. Meanwhile, I took a seat at the opposite end of the table. Well, we have to do something. Just then, a familiar face walked in. Oh! Uh, Zethe, was it? Yes, that's right. Nice to see you again. What are you doing here? I was instructed to enter and aid with the investigation. I was the one who conducted the security checks of the suspects who left; Art thought I might be useful to have on hand when conducting the interviews. ...Oh, but don't worry about me not being at my post. Art thought of that too – he got another guard to take up my shift. Some sense in that, I guess. Interviewing the suspects, eh? On that note, I have an important question for you. Very leisurely, I kicked back and placed my feet on the table. What rules you out as a possible suspect? It appears to me the simplest answer to how the thief scaled the wall was if the wall was, in fact, the thief. Uh... Why can we trust you, Zethe? There's a camera by the security station. It'll show that I was at my station the whole time. Tsk, tsk, tsk... A decent rebuttal, I must admit – however, you may not have been the active conspirator, but, what say... an accomplice? ...Er... What if you were working with the thief? That's– Not likely.[BGM: Ante Up]  Art had walked into the room not dissimilar to how his father had earlier. Our security guards, above all employees, are screened and trained to the highest scrutiny. I am certain that Zethe doesn't have a disloyal bone in his body. Thank you, sir. You can trust his account. I'm only willing to consider suspecting him when all other avenues have been exhausted, and seeing as how you haven't yet interviewed any suspects I assume that is not yet the case. Well then, bring us the suspects!Art smiled. I'll do just that. Percy! Get in here. U-uh, sure th-thing. Into the room rushed a fairly young-looking office worker. Judging by his visible pit stains, this whole 'being a suspect' thing was weighing on him. He nervously drummed his fingers across a leather briefcase he held. H-h-hi, um, I'm Percy. I guess I'm a suspect? Heh, heh, heh... Apologies for his hapless behavior. No need. Percy, just calm down. Nothing bad is gonna happen – we're just going to be asking some standard questions.I slammed my fist down onto the table. Tell us why you did it, Percy! Why'd you throw away your freedom? Why don't you want to see your mother anymore? Was it worth it? Was it worth it, Percy?! Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-w- Laverna, what the hell? Lav, go easy on the kid. He's clearly having a rough time of it. I sighed heavily. Well, way to ruin my 'blitz confession' strategy, you two. Now we'll have to do things the old fashioned way. Out of curiosity, does that tactic ever work? To prove it didn't would require testing it on every person on earth. Percy, could you just tell us what you did? I-I don't know what to say. I needed some f-files that a colleague who's out sick had left on their desk. Percy doesn't usually work on the restricted floor. His office is on one of the lower levels. Right, so, um, I got permission to come up, and I went to my colleague's office. It took me a bit to find, but once I did, I just left and went back to work. When the laptop was discovered as stolen, and I began looking into suspects, Percy here was still working at his desk. Numerous other coworkers can attest he never went anywhere after returning. Anything suspicious about what he brought up or down? Both entering and exiting he brought a briefcase, but I put it through the metal detector and then checked it both times – didn't trigger anything, didn't see anything suspicious inside. Is it the same briefcase as the one you're holding right now, Percy? Um, s-sure, here you go.Percy held the briefcase out, and Seth began rummaging through it. Is that all the pertinent information? Indeed. To be honest, Percy is the one I suspect the least... however, I am nothing if not thorough. One of your mottos. Indeed. Well, I g-got nothing in the suitcase. Far as I see it, Percy, you're free to go. ...For now.I put two of my fingers to my face, then moved them to his. Go and tell Herc to enter, okay Percy?Percy timidly nodded, then swiftly exited the room. It was only a couple moments later when an older man dressed similarly to the first entered. Despite being at least in his 60s, I could tell he had a good bit of muscle on him.   Hey y'all, nice to be here. Gentlemen, ladies.Herc gave a brief bow. Herc's testimony is going to be quite important. Treat it with as much scrutiny as you wish. Uh, are you sure it's a good idea to say that in front of the suspect? Oh, I don't mind it none. I welcome a challenge. Bring it on. Got no secrets to hide, my life's an open book. All right then, 'Herc', if that is your name, mind telling us exactly what you did during the timeframe when the laptop was stolen? Why, I was in this very room. Really? 'Course, not the whole time. Think I entered a bit after Art left. But I spent a good bit of the day cooped up in here. Left once to use the restroom, then left again shortly after that to get a nice refill on my morning cup o' joe. I'll tell you, I coulda sworn I had only drunk a sip of it, and next thing ya know, it's empty. Really gotta cut back on the stuff, think I might have a wee problem with it. I blame this one for that.Herc thumbed at Art. Shouldn't have put that cafe on the first floor. I strive to improve my employee's morale. So, Herc w-was here when you went to check for the laptop? He was. So that narrows the time frames when the laptop could have been stolen a fair bit, don't you think? Say, when exactly did Percy come up to look for the documents? Unfortunately for him, midway through his search, Herc decided to use the restroom, robbing him of an alibi. What can I say, when nature calls. Zethe, was there anything unordinary with Herc when he tried to go through the security detail? There was. Herc can't go through the metal detector without setting it off. Is that right? Yeah – dental work, I'm afraid. Real pain in the rear end; bothers me every time I come here for work. Luckily, me and Zethe have worked out a workaround. And that is? Herc puts his body through the metal detector while keeping his head stuck out. Then he walks around it. Seriously? It's effective. So you're saying Herc's head isn't checked in the metal detector? Hey, if you wanna accuse me of smuggling out a laptop in my mouth, by all means, be my guest.I didn't have a clever comeback to that. Any other questions? Yeah, I have one. What w-were you doing in this room in the first place? I thought this was a meeting room. What can I say, I like my space. This room's airy; the office, stuffy. Figured nobody's using it today, might as well do my work in here. Which, I may add, is against company policy. Ya got me, chief. This'll be the last day I do it. See to it that that is the case.  While you're at it, go grab Darda for us. On it. Hold on a moment. You don't get to dismiss our suspects, we dismiss them when we're good and ready. … You are dismissed.With a half-cocked smile, Herc turned around and left the room. ' A bit of information about our next suspect: this is the only person who actually left the building during the time frame of the theft. This gives her ample opportunity. Ah, I'm catching your drift. So, this is our prime suspect? Judge for yourself.And, as if it were timed out perfectly, just then a blond woman wearing black clothes and sunglasses entered. Nice style. The woman walked further into the room and pulled out a chair, then sat down and crossed her legs.   Well, you have me. I was called back from a pressing prior engagement, so this had better be worth it. And that engagement was...? Is that pertinent to your investigation? It might be. Well, if it is, then I'll tell you. Up until that point, I'll keep it to myself. So, you just w-waltzed out of the building in the middle of the day? I had clearance for it. Everything was totally standard. Darda, would you mind just walking us through your day? Not much to walk through. I came in on time. Did my job in my actual office, on this floor. Left in the middle of the day... and later received a call that I had to return because some idiot thought it would be a good idea to steal a laptop in broad daylight. I assume she left after, uh, Herc's trips away from the room? Of course. Zethe, my man, you know what I'm after – hit me up with those security deets. She passed the metal detector, easily. Entering and exiting, she slid a book down the metal desk. 'Tangled Trysts' – hardback edition. I like to keep up to date on new releases in the literature world. Ooh, romance? Mystery, actually. Although, I'm beginning to fear it might not be a particularly good one.[BGM: Trick Score]  I did my due diligence. Flipped through the pages, made sure there wasn't anything else in the book... and there wasn't. Well, there you have it. I couldn't have taken the laptop. And, if you ask me... the laptop hasn't left the floor, it's probably just hidden somewhere that we haven't found yet. I didn't bring you in for the running commentary, Darda. Then can I leave? I can't imagine there's anything else I could be of use for. Yes, yes, retreat to your cave.Instead of responding to that, Darda simply stood up, turned around, and walked out.  Well, what do you make of it? You know, it certainly is a headscratcher. Not really a clear answer present. If there were a clear answer, I would not have involved the police. I vastly prefer using our in-house security team whenever possible. Truly an impressive caper. If I didn't know better, I'd say a theft of this beauty was the work of the Auto Larcenist. Well, let's get thinking. Is there any way any of those three could've smuggled the laptop past security? I don't think so, but let's try putting our heads together on this one...
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Aug 8, 2023 00:55
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Man, Laverna and her audience are really highlighting why those last couple of characters fell a little flat for me. Instead of one character expositing giant paragraphs at me we've got mysteries inc hamming it up together.
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Aug 8, 2023 04:31
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That's right! My laptop defenestrated theory holds strong, though Laverna and co do not seem to be pursuing this line of inquiry. 
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Aug 8, 2023 04:39
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Laverna posted:Truly an impressive caper. If I didn't know better, I'd say a theft of this beauty was the work of the Auto Larcenist. Laverna’s fought Doug Judy?
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Aug 8, 2023 05:15
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Percy: Perseus (or Percival, but I don't think King Arthur quite qualifies as 'mythology' yet.) Herc: Hercules. No clue on Darda, though.
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Aug 8, 2023 05:26
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The only one I could think of is Dardanus, one of Zeus's offspring and the founder of a major city in Troy, but he's not exactly the most thrilling mythological figure to reference
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Aug 8, 2023 13:12
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Mix. posted:Over in the corner of the room, there was a little trash bin. I decided to walk over and give it a little look. At the bottom of the bin was a discarded coffee cup. quote:
A-ha! Clearly the original coffee was drugged, making Herc fall asleep while the laptop was stolen! The thief then flushed the remaining coffee down the toilet to get rid of the evidence!
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Aug 8, 2023 14:04
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Cloacamazing! posted:A-ha! The issue with that, of course, is that the guy said he wanted a REFILL, which necessarily implies reusing the cup, or else he would say he went to get a new cup.
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Aug 8, 2023 14:08
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So you think the laptop might be hidden under the coffee cup then? (I do think the coffee cup thing will turn out to have some relation, because otherwise why call attention to it, but I can't really figure out in what way)
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Aug 8, 2023 17:57
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My first thought was that the sudden depletion of the coffee meant someone else had come in and drunk it while he was in the restroom. As for getting things past the scanner, one option would be to act while the guard was busy flipping through the pages of the romance novel and therefore not looking. Or quote:the laptop hasn't left the floor, it's probably just hidden somewhere that we haven't found yet. Have we looked UNDER the security desk?
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Aug 8, 2023 21:09
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There's also the option that whatever data the thief was after was copied to a USB stick and smuggled out by the suspect who's head can't be scanned, but that leaves the question why they allowed the laptop to be noticed as missing if they didn't need to steal it. Maybe the thief was about to put it back when the theft was noticed?
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Aug 9, 2023 16:58
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 [BGM: Dealing Hands]  I got off my seat and began to pace. Time to put my brain into action. Obviously, I already knew how part of it happened, but I was completely in the dark on a bunch of details. And until I had explanations for those details, I didn't feel confident speaking up. Baldera sighed and looked to the floor. Man, it's a real bummer. It's times like these I miss Isa. He would've known what to do – he was great with things like that. Hey hey hey, what did we say about this? We shouldn't even talk about him, it's not healthy.Seth looked even more uncomfortable than usual. I looked over, out the large window to the side. Below was the rather large water feature. ...You know, from this height and perspective, it didn't quite look as impressive. I tried to open the window; however, as soon as I pushed it up, a loud noise began to blare through the room. Baldera and Seth both put their hands to their ears. Art, on the other hand, looked irritated and pulled out his phone. With a few taps of the screen, the noise died down. What in the blazes was that? A facet of our security system... although, usually it just logs the event. It only set off an alarm because I set things to 'Red Alert' mode ever since the theft. Whenever a window is opened, it passes by a sensor. See, right there. Art pointed, and sure enough, there was a discrete sensor at the side of the windowsill. Th-that's probably how you know the windows weren't used in this, right? Naturally.Hmmm... I looked closer at the sensor. At first glance, indeed, it looked like opening the window would trigger it. However, that wasn't... technically true. The sensor was placed about half an inch above where the window would begin to slide open. Too thin for a laptop, sure, but still... Now I understood. Meanwhile, while I was looking at this, Baldera and Seth had been theorizing without me. What about Percy? I didn't like the look of that guy. Wh-what, why d-didn't you like the look of him? Squirrelly fellow, too nervous for his own good. Are we sure that briefcase didn't have some hidey-hole for storing things, maybe one lined with something to evade a metal detector? I looked over the briefcase myself and, and, I didn't find anything like that. You looked over this briefcase. But remember, he went back down to his office on the lower floors a while ago. He could've switched the cases. Didn't his coworkers say that he stayed at his office the whole time? Where'd the swapped case go? More importantly, you're not thinking about the important parts. Remember the time frame. Herc went to the restroom after Percy entered the floor. He couldn't have counted on, uh, on Herc leaving like that. The frame's too tight. You can't use that as evidence. After all, Percy also couldn't have counted on Herc showing up in that room in the first place. Sounded to me like that was just a whim. So if you're factoring in bad luck for the thief, you can also factor in good luck. That just balances it out. I don't think it works like that. At any rate, I think we can safely rule Herc out. What culprit would reduce the suspect pool like that? Seems like a really dumb idea to me. So, what, the culprit's Darda by default? I mean, she did leave the building – she easily could've dumped the thing while she was gone. But how would she get past the security detail? I don't know, that's the whole problem with this thing! Ugh, this whole mess's too confusing for me. Are we sure that the laptop even left? Fancy place like this, I wouldn't be surprised if there were, like, super secret hidey holes for stashing secrets. Somebody could've just hidden the laptop there. To what end? I don't know, to cause a stir? I don't see how that helps anyone. Seth, some people just want to watch the world burn, and there's nothing ordinary folks like you and me can do about that.[BGM: Double Down]  Wait. Say that again. ...I d-don't see how that helps anyone. You don't need to see it, just do it! Um, it'll cause a stir? Before that! You've, uh, lost me Laverna. I'll be honest, I don't remember that far back. Super secret hidey hole? Yes! Thank you, human stenographer! Stenographers are already human. Hence, human stenographer. Anyways, Eureka!I rushed over to the other side of the room. There, I grabbed hold of the cabinet and began to yank off the drawers.  Hey, woah, what on earth are you doing? That's mahogany! That cabinet is priceless! The only only thing that is priceless is the truth! ...Besides, this cabinet is the type where you can slide the drawers off. That's... correct. How do you know that? Because... the culprit had to place them back after storing this! Triumphantly, I reached forwards and grabbed the computer from the back of the dresser. I displayed it with a grand smile. What the... Lav?! Woah, hey, what's that d-doing there? Lav, how'd you find this?? The drawers jutting out like that struck me as odd from the moment I walked into this room. However, when you spoke of hidey holes, I realized that was not a design choice – that was a metaphorical telltale heart our culprit had left under the floorboards! ...Or, in this case, behind the drawers. Still, to, uh, hide a computer in a place like this... I didn't think that was possible. It's actually a semi-common hiding spot. Plenty of closets are built like that – with a bit of wiggle room behind the drawers. Sort of like a false bottom. Yes, except in this case the false bottom is often unintentional. I'm surprised, Art. I wouldn't have taken you for a man who knew terms like that. Ah, well, you know, if your brother wants to be a magician for a few years, you end up picking up a few things along the way. Really? Polly never did strike me as the 'magical' type. Hm?Art looked confused. Uh, Polly, your younger brother? You just said he wanted to be a magician? Oh, right. Yes. Yes, he, uh, never had the right stage presence for it.…Another time. I sat the laptop on the table and opened it. When I opened it, the insides were stained with coffee. It stayed firmly turned off as I began pressing buttons.  Just as I suspected. You did? I think the case of events here is painfully simple. The culprit made their move when Herc went to the restroom. He said he didn't remember drinking all his coffee... and I think he was correct. The culprit opened the computer, did their dastardly deed, then poured the coffee all over the laptop, rendering it useless. Then, they decided to dispose of the 'corpse' in this very room – and they must've thought of the old drawer trick, perhaps even scoped that out in advance. And... then they left. Simple as that. Amazing! No, not amazing, and not simple as that. What's the point? I mean, if they're trying to steal the data off the laptop, it feels like the thief failed. I clicked my tongue. Oh poor, naive Seth. This is the modern era – there is more than one way to transport data. The thief likely opened the laptop and transferred all the relevant data to an easy-to-conceal flash drive. With that, no need for the actual computer. Okay, m-m-maybe so, but in that case, why bother hiding the computer? If the culprit made it look like the actual computer was gone, that would limit how it could have been smuggled out of the building – and narrow the suspects. It would throw off the investigation, leading us to make bad assumptions like the ones we've been making. But why make it a case at all? Couldn't they have just left the laptop in the drawer and nobody'd be any the wiser about the robbery? Well, once Art came and found the laptop covered in coffee, the fact that it'd been tampered with would already become obvious. But why throw coffee on it, then? That... That, I couldn't answer. It was a critical question. It was why this whole thing even became an incident, but despite how much I knew I didn't have a clue. To my surprise, it was Art that spoke up. I have an idea... the thief must have triggered the Meluzine software security.Then, realizing we had no clue what that meant, he took a second to explain. Basically, it's something on the laptop that would keep a log of actions – sort of a secondary security system. At this point, surely it's tertiary. Perhaps. Regardless, if they became wise to that, they'd realize that whenever the laptop was next checked, I'd be able to tell it was altered. At that point, I'd probably already suspect the theft. So why not make it look like a physical job? As Laverna wisely pointed out, it would thoroughly mislead us. All right, so that means we're not looking for somebody who stole a laptop, we're looking for somebody who stole a flash drive. That changes things! Oh, uh, wait, what about that Darda lady? She had the book, right? You can hide a flash drive in a book. No, didn't Zethe say he flipped through that? In my opinion, the one that's suddenly got a lot more suspicious is Herc. He'd said to 'try and prove that he fit a laptop in his mouth'. Well, he might not be able to fit a laptop in his mouth, but I think a flash drive he could muster. Really? You think he could carry a conversation with a flash drive in his mouth? Did he have a conversation? And... whatever, even if he did, I say you can talk and hide a flash drive. Honestly, w-with this I'm not sure we can even limit the suspects to those three anymore. I mean, uh, Laverna here just proved that there are still possible hiding spots left to be discovered. And I think it's a l-lot easier to hide a flash drive than a laptop, so the possibility someone stored it away for later has risen a lot.… [BGM: Ante Up]  X + Y + X + Y + X + Y + X + Y + X. [X] - The culprit broke the laptop. - The culprit wanted to frame someone here. - The culprit noticed the digital security system. - The culprit smuggled it out the window. - They downloaded the data on a USB. [Y] - because - or - so - and Solution: The culprit broke the laptop because the culprit noticed the digital security system or the culprit wanted to frame someone here so they downloaded the data on a USB and the culprit smuggled it out the window. [You won 7 chips!] [BGM: Double Down]  I walked over to the window and chuckled. Oh, you guys. You never truly can see the larger picture. Why wait, when there's a perfectly good escape hatch right here?I knocked on the glass, gently. Ms. Laverna, I did already speak to you about the security system, did I not? You did. However, I'm afraid your system isn't quite as secure as you may believe, Mr. Deisma. You see, I believe I can raise this window about a half inch before the sensors go off. That may not be much... but with the many ways you can store technology nowadays, I'm fully sure you could find something to fit through that crack.While I was talking, Baldera walked over beside me.  But hold on a second, Lav, isn't there a problem here? Look down below, there's the big water feature right on this side of the building. If you dropped something down there, wouldn't it get soaked? I d-don't think you can get enough momentum through that small crack to send the flash drive past the water feature. And, uh, I think the fall might also be a bit of an issue. So then, simply don't have the flash drive fall into the water. You keep saying these things without explaining yourself... Baldera, you remember the waiting room on the first floor, how lovely it was.Baldera's face sparked with recognition. How it was right next to the water feature! By Jove, I think she's got it! I propose this was a two-person job. One was somebody with access to this floor – though I couldn't say who. As far as I see it, anybody who was present when Herc went to the restroom, as well as Herc himself – they are all possible suspects. Though... if I were to guess, after the gambit the thief pulled, I imagine they'd try to cover their image by not leaving the floor. Whoever it is, they conspired with a partner who played the part of visitor and went to that waiting room. The two communicated via text, and at the right time the visitor opened the waiting room's window and caught the falling flashdrive. And just like that, the Olympo Heist is complete!And with this, I gave a large bow. To my surprise, it was Art who first began with some golf claps. [BGM: Silence]  My, my. I must admit, Ms. Laverna, it appears I judged you too harshly. I'm a big enough man to admit when I'm misguided; it appears you are, in fact, quite competent – eccentricities aside. I only try my best. So hold on, shouldn't we go to the front desk right now? Like, maybe we can't figure out the culprit from the people on this floor, but now we've got a whole second avenue to pursue! Don't waste the front desk's time. I've got a better idea. Come, follow me.Art left the room, and we followed him. He made his way back to his office. There, he pulled up his laptop and began furiously typing. Finally, he pushed the laptop in the direction of Baldera. [BGM: Trick Score]  There you go. Look away. Why, don't mind if I do.With a smirk, Baldera took a seat and began going to work. I could see from this angle that it was some sort of security footage. So, uh, Mr. Deisma, you think we're going to get a lead with that? To be honest, I somewhat doubt it. I mean, so many people come in every day. That waiting lobby has dozens upon dozens of visitors on a daily basis. And unfortunately, we don't have an angle that actually showcases the window, where we could see someone try and catch that flashdrive. But, you know, I had the technology, I guess I felt this was a chance to try and get some use out of it. Uh, Lav...Baldera's tone was extremely hesitant. Yes? What's this about?Baldera pointed to the screen with a worried look on her face. I leaned in closer, then recoiled. What the... how the hell was I seeing this?? Meanwhile, Art continued rambling. You see, this Meluzine security system is really thorough. For instance, there are decoy security cameras... and there are also a bunch of hidden real ones. This one, for instance, is in a picture hanging on the wall in the waiting lobby.The screen... there was a figure wearing a dark green hoodie and sunglasses. But their face, it was unmistakeable.  It was mine. While I had been looking at this, Seth also came to see what was going on. After seeing the screen, he looked to me and spoke in a deadly serious voice. Laverna... what is this?I sighed. I... really didn't want to go here. … I suppose my twin sister is due a call.… [BGM: Silence]   Twins? Really? Boo! What a hack! Although, I do appreciate the irony of having the detective character break Knox's Tenth. ...Still, you hate to see a twin in a work of mystery. At this point I'm tempted to write off every modern tale involving a twin as trash, context be damned. Because at this point, it's just a sign of laziness. A crutch, if anything. Oh well. Not much we can do. After all, these are real events, not just a script. Believe me, I'd omit all this had it not actually happened, and even now I'm still tempted. At the very least, I'm grateful it wasn't used for a twist. Now that would be bullshit. But learning about it now, it's like, 'okay, there's a twin', we know that, it's logged. Hey, there was more to this scene than the last few moments, wasn't there? Sorry, that twin reveal completely knocked off my train of thought. ...Well, in my defense, it's not like the other stuff was all that interesting. Corporate espionage, whoop dee doo. If we're discussing mystery rules, Van Dine's Seventh applies pretty keenly right about now, I think. If it's not a murder, I don't give a poo poo. I kinda doubt this 'stolen USB' poo poo is going to have any real effect on things. Why couldn't we do more with the Cock Robin Killings? ..Oh, speaking of! Did you catch at the start of the scene? We got an answer to our bet! Autopsies revealed that Max died roughly when the party was getting started! Or in other words... way before Athen apparently died. Now, I guess this isn't, like, airtight. Maybe the autopsy's faked! Maybe Athen died earlier, and the person at the party was a body double. Maybe some third, weird poo poo. But, for now, I'm just gonna call it, and if anything else comes up then I'll reverse the bet. For now, though... I'm afraid I'm ruling the bet in my favor, and thusly the chips stay with me. So sorry. Perhaps you'll have better luck next time? Anyways, I could talk more about this scene, I guess... but I'm not particularly inclined to, and I never want our chats to feel like a drag. So then, I guess I'll be out of your hair. Next update, it's back to Lock.
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Aug 10, 2023 00:26
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Mix. posted:
Well, this is gonna be a problem... 
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Aug 10, 2023 06:03
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Yay for data defenestration! Laverna has a twin. From the "false bottom" conversation, could we infer that Art and Polly also have a long-lost or deceased sibling? Perhaps Art was not Odin's first choice of successor.
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Aug 10, 2023 06:34
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Knox's Ten Commandments, for the unaware, were a guideline the mystery writer Ronald Knox gave for writing a fair-play mystery (one the reader could solve once all the clues had been put on the board, possibly before the actual reveals happened). They were: 1: The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow. 2: All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course. 3: Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable, and such a passage may only be in a house or building for which it is appropriate by age or purpose. 4: No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end. 5: No Chinaman must figure in the story. 6: No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right. 7: The detective must not himself commit the crime. 8: The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader. 9: The stupid friend of the detective, the "Watson", must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader. 10: Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them. Most of these have been tweaked as the years go on-2 and 4 are usually seen as fair game as long as any important sci-fi or fantasy elements are clearly explained and considered natural in the setting, and if you're worried about 5, it was an admonishment of something considered racist and cliche even at the time, the dodgy Chinese character common in crime fiction-see: Fu Manchu. The modern equivalent would be something to the effect of the Middle Eastern character either being the culprit or a constant red herring. Van Dine's rules, meanwhile, are more general mystery writing stuff. There is some overlap, admittedly, and I won't list the whole here because the individual entries are quite lengthy, but the relevant rule mentioned (the Seventh) goes thus: "There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much bother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader’s trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded. Americans are essentially humane, and therefore a tiptop murder arouses their sense of vengeance and horror. They wish to bring the perpetrator to justice; and when “murder most foul, as in the best it is,” has been committed, the chase is on with all the righteous enthusiasm of which the thrice gentle reader is capable."
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Aug 10, 2023 07:05
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To expand on five, it was basically "the crime cannot have been committed for inscrutable cultural reasons." It was meant to avoid cases of lazy writing where a character's nationality was used in place of giving a proper motive, and usually used with cultures the reader would consider "exotic."
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Aug 10, 2023 13:50
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 [BGM: Trick Score]  There he was. Sitting by himself in the bar of an underground casino, Bach Underwood was nursing a drink by himself. It was an odd look, most certainly. Most wouldn't picture a political candidate spending their night in a place like this. If a picture of him in this area got out, it'd probably be a (very minor) scandal. Thank God Kane already left, I guess. Most would wonder why Bach was slumming it up in places like this... but I understood the impulse. I understood a lot about Bach Underwood. I always made sure to do my research. He was a Panthean local, a “man of the people”. Up until this election, he had a managerial job at Olympo... no significant other, no close family... no real aspirations, no particular talents... His years were passing him by without him even noticing. Had things continued in this direction, he was likely to live a completely unremarkable life and eventually die alone... until, one day, for no apparent reason, he had had enough. He decided 'what the hell, I should run for governor'. It was a surprising move, for sure. Even more surprising... was the fact that it partially worked. I mean, somehow he won the primaries. Turns out the man had a decent head on him after all, and more of a talent for public speaking than he had even known himself. He had been angling this election as an 'anti-Aija' election; probably the smartest move to take, and it had carried him this far. However, the election was turning from a far-off hypothetical to a looming reality. And, despite his best efforts, it didn't look like things were going to be working out for him. From what I could tell, the man was starting to fall into a minor depression. He had really put his everything into this election – lost his job because of it. Now... it looked like that was all for naught. His one real shot at something, and he had been unable to grasp it with his own hands. Probably sent him spiraling... probably sent him to a familiar place, a place like this, where he used to frequent after long, stressful days. Probably made him vulnerable... which worked for me. [BGM: Bidding]  I began walking up to the bar where he sat. I took a seat right next to him. However... I didn't immediately jump into conversation. This had to be practiced. I nonchalantly placed my order with Ossa... then, I caught a look at him in the corner of my eye. I looked pensive for a second. Now I could turn over to him.  Hey... you wouldn't happen to be Bach, would you? Bach Underwood?  It seems you're familiar. Oh, cool! I'm actually a fan. I mean... maybe fan's the wrong word. Supporter, I guess. Is that so? Well, that means a lot to hear; after all, I'd be nothing without people like you. I don't know about that...I feigned sheepishness. So what's your name, young man? Me? I'm Lock. Lock... Just Lock is fine. Lock it is. Bach held out his hand, and I grabbed it and gave it a nice handshake. The man had a surprisingly firm grip. Did he practice shaking people's hands? I'm surprised I didn't recognize you sooner. Well, with the lighting and all, it can be a little hard to make people out. Although in your case, you should see that as something of a blessing – it means you won't have to look at this old mug too closely while drinking.I gave the man's poor attempt at a joke a hearty laugh. Establishing rapport early on was critical. You know, I have to say, I'm surprised to see you in a place like this. I mean, no offense or anything, I just thought you'd be bigger than slumming it in a pit like this. None taken. Oh, Ossa, you baby. This place is literally a pit. And “slumming it”? That's, you know... ...You weren't the one asked a question, you know. Bach gave a little chuckle at this exchange. I actually used to spend a lot of time down here before I became a politician. No kidding? Bach here was a pretty regular customer. I liked his type. Tipped well. Didn't stir trouble. It's why it was such a shame when I saw that Bach entered the race. Because he'd be spending less time down here? Because I didn't want to watch him be crushed.To this, Bach gave out a sad little chuckle... but his eyes betrayed his attempt at mirth.  How rude, Ossa. Have a little faith.Ossa just grunted and returned to his job of cleaning glasses. [BGM: Dummy]  Still, even if you used to go to this place a lot, I'm surprised you're down here now. Don't you figure it'd be some bad press if you were caught entering a place like this? Is it?The way Bach said it, it almost sounded like he hadn't thought about this angle at all. Ah, well. I aim to be a man of the people, Lock. Now if Governor Aija was seen down here... that'd be one thing. It'd go against people's perception of her. But there's nothing inconsistent with a guy like me spending his time here. It's consistent with my brand. Huh. Guess I didn't think about it that way. Pretty smart, pretty smart. Guess you'd have to be, to run a campaign and all. Mmm. Bach didn't say much to this, just took a sip of his drink. I followed his lead and drank some more from my own glass. It was still too soon to make any moves. We had just gotten past the very basic first introduction. Quite a bit more ice needed to be broken before I pushed ahead. Well... that was fine. I could do small talk for as long as it took. Man, it's really a crazy world out there today. Did you hear about those murders out in the woods? Scary stuff. I did. I did hear about that story. Can't say I'm too sympathetic. Really?Bach looked surprised at this. Well, from what I heard the victims were these super elite, wealthy assholes. When I hear news of people like that passing, my first instinct is to pop open a beer instead of mourning. I, uh, don't know if I can agree with that. Sure, I can understand the resentment you can have towards those types; I'd say that's natural.  But still, when somebody dies – when anybody dies – I think you owe them some respect. Ultimately it's a human dying, you know? No no, don't get me wrong. I'm perfectly aware that the morally correct response would be to respectfully wish the dead well. I'd never say what I just said to, say, the victim's grieving relatives or something. But hey, can't help what I feel, ya know?Bach nodded sagely at this. That much is true. Well, so long as you're aware not to express such sentiments to the grieving, then I think that's fine. Maybe this is slightly blasphemous, but I don't really think it makes much difference to the dead whether you mourn or celebrate their passing. Exactly! You get it. Anyways, I heard about those murders in a completely different context. Oh? I mean, the murders happened at a gala for Governor Aija. A gala meant to help her fundraising, fundraising for a political campaign – a political campaign that I'm her rival for. The pieces are there. Hold on, you're saying some people seriously think you had anything to do with those deaths? Not me personally; thankfully, I was publically accounted for during the time of the murders. But you know how gossipers get. The idea that, somehow, I was connected to the incident is too enticing. That's crazy! It's understandable. Everybody loves a good political thriller, eh? It's a much more fun explanation than the – likely dull – answer. At any rate, I'm pretty sure very few people legitimately believe that conspiracy nonsense. Though those few have been awfully vocal towards me. Jeez. That's gotta be really rough. Part of the hassle that comes with running a political campaign. I guess. At any rate, if I did that to try and help my political campaign, it certainly backfired. Frankly, I think the publicity that event has garnered Aija outweighs the potential donations she might've received from those two.Bach sighed and went back to drinking. All right... now we had talked for a while. Time to start steering the conversation in the right direction. Let's talk about something lighter... this place, for instance. Nohoi's Nest. What about it? You ever try gambling here? Huh? I mean, if you were looking for a bar, there are plenty more convenient spots. You go to Nohoi's Nest to gamble. Not always. You're saying you never gambled here? Never said that. Back in the day when I was still working at Olympo, I'd do a bit of gambling every now and then, time to time. I was actually pretty good at that, if you'd believe that. You don't say? No, seriously, I played with my bonuses and usually got a decent cut for my troubles. Helps that I can handle my alcohol better than most of the drunks here. And I'm not, like, a genius or something, but I'd like to think of myself as pretty decent with numbers. I used to do statistical risk analysis for Olympo. That's basically a form of gambling. Wow, I wouldn't have expected that from you. Should I take that as a slight? No no, not at all! Man, Bach Underwood, gambling. That'd be a sight. Trust me, it was pretty average. Well, why not prove it for me? Huh? I mean, we're at a place for gambling. Why not indulge in some old sins? That's... ah, I shouldn't. No? No no, I really shouldn't. I came here to relive the old days, not my old vices. I think there's a distinction between a politician drinking in an underground casino and them actually gambling in one. Oh, but I thought you were a real man of the people? 'Man of the people' has its limits. I suppose, I suppose.Feign like I'm losing interest in the topic, and take another sip of my beer. I don't know, I just thought it'd be fun to gamble against a guy like you. Ah, well...Bach floundered for words. Of course he did. I threw out a comment without an elegant response.  Sure you're not willing to change your mind? I mean, I'm just not in the mood for it. Not in the mood to make a bit of cash?Bach's eyes lit up. I'd be willing to put down some serious coin for a private gamble. You might be a hotshot politician, but it couldn't hurt to get some extra moolah. Ah, but there's the rub. I also have a chance of losing... 'some serious coin', as you put it. Hmm... True enough. Okay then, we can even the playing field. I will pay... twice whatever I lose in the bet. Seriously? I mean, it only seems fair. I want to play it straight with you – I'm something of a gambler myself. And, if you take me up on this offer, I'd ideally like to play a custom gamble that I've played two or three times, and I suspect you'd have never played. That gives me an edge, and that edge should be balanced out. ...'Course, considering how luck based the game is, paying twice as much out seems excessive... but it's a clean number, and I'm the one asking, so let's just call it that.This was... a bit of a risky play. Being this generous in my offer should have been a sure tipoff to anyone savvy enough to definitely not accept my deal. But the read I was getting on this guy told me that unless I sweetened the pot a bit, he wouldn't bite. And my research on Bach said that he wasn't as savvy as he liked to make himself out to be. Despite that, Bach still hesitated, taking another long sip of his drink.  Still feeling sheepish, huh? … All right, how 'bout this?I put an arm on one of his shoulders and leaned in slightly. I spoke at a slightly quieter volume for this, but not to a noticeable extent. If, by some fluke chance, you end up owing more than you have on you right now as a result of the bet, then we'll just call it at that. That's...Bach continued to hesitate. I pretended to recoil back. You're kidding me! Are you saying that the Bach Underwood can't afford to spend what's in his wallet? My friend, how strapped for cash are you? Now, now, hold on. Don't put words in my mouth. I held back a smirk. There – I had him from all sides. Psychologically, he was incentivized to accept the gamble for a number of reasons. I had led with the nostalgia angle, which made him genuinely want to relive the gambling experience deep down. Then, I threw in how I thought it would be fun, so he had the pressure of not wanting to let a fan down. The 'paying double' clause appealed to Bach's inherent greed, and the 'only what you have on you' clause appealed to Bach's nervous, loss-avoidance prone sensibilities. To top it off, with my last statements, refusing the gamble would make it look like he was admitting that he couldn't afford to spend what was in his wallet. That was a challenge to his pride. All those factors combined to push Bach to accept a deal his smarter side knew he shouldn't take. This is why building up the rapport and the character of this Bach fan was so important before I began. It was only because of that that the second and the last factor actually mattered. And it was because of that that I was able to believably present the first factor, and that the fourth seemed credible. You know what? What the hell? The night's still young, why not have some good ol' fun. That's the spirit! Trust me, this is going to be a blast.[BGM: Raise]  The two of us finished our drinks, then got up from the bar. So, you mentioned that you had a gamble in mind? Right, yes, I did say that, didn't I? Let's go over to a private table, and we can get things started.I walked right on over to the table where I had just gambled with Kane. Standing on the other side of the table, I noticed Bach already beginning to sweat a little bit. Feeling nervous, buddy? Little bit, I must admit. It's been a while since I did some earnest gambling. Thought you said you were a pro! I said I made a bit of cash. Big difference between the two. Look, just relax, this is going to be a friendly game for the sake of competition. If you want, we can take out the 'gambling' element entirely. No, no, keep the gambling in. A game only counts if there's something on the line. There! That's that gambling spirit I love to see. Yo, Ossa!I called over to him. Come over here to officiate! I'm tending bar. Get one of the casino dealers to officiate, that's what they're paid for. Oh come on, nobody's there now. ...Fine. I suspected Ossa gave in only because he knew I'd pester him more if he didn't. Uh, do we really need an 'officiator' for a friendly game? Not really, but I like an audience. And Ossa needs a break, this is the only way he's gonna give himself one. Wow, how thoughtful of you.How bullshit, more like. This guy was seriously taking all of this bait? What a rube. All right then, let me declare the rules of the gamble. Let it be known, the rules are being laid. Love it, love that ominous poo poo, keep it up Ossa. So, the name of the game we're gonna be duking it out in is called... 'Battle Blackjack'. Battle Blackjack? You mean, competitive blackjack? Got it in one, Bach. That's weird. Blackjack always struck me as more of a single player game. Well, that's why this is a custom creation. Now it's a two-player game.I picked up one of the sealed decks these private tables had. Then, I opened it up, and slid a number of cards out of it. Afterwards, I passed the card over to Bach, to let him examine them. We're gonna be using a totally normal deck, minus the Jokers and the Clubs suit. The Jokers I get, but why nix the Clubs? 'Cuz the Clubs are my least favorite suit. I actually like the Clubs. But I mean, why cut a suit altogether? Trust me, game takes too long with all four suits. Fair enough. So, at the start of the game, we both draw 13 cards from that collective deck... it'll be shuffled first, of course. Then, we start the first round. Every round, there will be three 'battlefields'.I slapped three spaces in the center of the table to demonstrate my point. Starting with the person who lost more battles last round, we take turns placing cards facedown in the battlefields. Lost more battles? Bach, Bach, buddy, I'm getting there. Don't be one of those people who keeps snipping in halfway through my rules explanations. Sorry, just trying to keep a handle on these rules. Well just hear me out, then you can take questions. So yeah, we take turns every round. You can either place a card or pass. When you place a card, you can choose any card in your hand and place it facedown on any of the 'battlefields'. When you pass, you're saying you have no more desire to fight on any of the battlefields. Once both players pass back to back, the round enters the 'war' phase. This is when the battlefields are evaluated. The player who placed the last card on a battlefield is the one who 'owns' it. During the war phase, the cards in each battlefield are turned face up and the points are tallied up, using blackjack rules. Number cards worth their value, face cards worth 10, Aces worth 1 or 11, whichever helps. If the collective total of the stack is 21 or less, then the player who 'owns' the battlefield wins the stack. On the other hand, if the collective total is more than 21, then the player who 'owns' the battlefield loses the stack. Okay, I think I'm beginning to see the picture here. It's like a psychological battle. You want to be the last person to play a card on a stack, but you need to make sure the stack is 21 or below. Hey, now you're getting it! The winner of a stack pushes it to their side of the table. The stacks are kept separate from each other – each stack counts as a point. ...Actually, you know what? Let's just really define this point. A stack is a vertical pile of cards won in the battle phase that can't be split up or altered in any way. Anyways, then both players draw cards back up to 13, with the person who lost more battlefields in the last round drawing first. The deck is not reshuffled at any point – the cards in it are a finite resource. After all, in a battle, careful ammo management is key! As it is in war, so it is in politics. Too true, I guess. Point is, if you're below 13 cards, but there's no more cards to draw, tough luck – you're in the endgame now. The game continues until a round starts and neither player has any more cards to play or draw. At that point, someone should declare 'The War is Over'. The moment that happens, the game ends, and we're in the scoring phase. The person who won the most stacks over the course of the game is the winner of the gamble. And... I let a slight mischievous smile cross my face.  For every card on the loser's side of the table once the scoring phase begins, the loser has to pay the winner a white chip.I noticed Bach recoil a little bit. The white chip was the most expensive chip in Nohoi's Nest. It was an unorthodox price – not a multiple of ten – but that's just another remnant of Ossa's odd whims. The thin black line drawn across the table indicated the specifics of what I meant by the 'sides' comment. White chips? Oh, come on, it's just a little heat. Remember, it's just for every card on your side of the table. Which means as the loser, the less stacks you win, the less you have to pay out. And the smaller stacks you win, the less you have to payout. Hm. I suppose a rule like that does make things interesting. It gets to the heart of gambling, adding an element of risk reduction for those who want to play it safer. Right, right, you're catching my drift. Still, are white chips really necessary? Man, don't you remember our conversation? This is to your benefit. ...True, true.Bach seemed to be having some second thoughts at this point. Come on, don't back out on me now, man... we've come this far. Just accept it... Okay then, I guess that all sounds good.Yes!  Though I have to say, you almost certainly are at something of an advantage here. You know the rules quite well, whereas I still just barely understand them. Yeah, well, luckily for you the game goes on for a couple of rounds. You'll be able to get into the swing of things before too long. Once you do, the game really just becomes a game of who can read the other person better... and that's not something you can buy with experience.A lie. Quite right. Soooo, that's pretty much all the rules to 'Battle Blackjack'. Do you have any further questions? Clarifications, objections, anything of the sort?Bach actually took a second to consider the question. Then, he shook his head. No no, I think it all tracks. Excellent! So let it be known, the rules have been laid out and accepted. I gave a side look to Ossa. A sort of, 'you got all that?' Ossa's unamused expression gave me the response I was looking for. 'I got that, all right'. From the look of it, Ossa was wise to what I was trying to pull here... but Ossa also looked like he wasn't quite close enough to Bach to break precedent and interfere. He'd do his job as an impartial referee and impartial enforcer. All right then, enough pussyfooting around, let's get this party started, huh?
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Aug 11, 2023 19:47
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There is a number of ways to cheese the poo poo out of it, some more absurd than others. For example, there is no rule that you can't just push all your stacks to the loser, once you win, to make them pay more. Also no rule that you can't steal their stacks. (the only rule is that stacks cannot be altered or split) That same rule, i think, also precludes checking the stack afterwards, since that would require altering it? That's some weird-rear end gamble there, tho i like the basic premise. Regallion fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Aug 11, 2023 |
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Aug 11, 2023 20:50
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Laverna is still the best perspective so far, but at least Lock keeps things interesting, this is pretty similar to Dog's route from the first game. Helps that he's also chatty enough to prevent internal monologues from being too dull.
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Aug 11, 2023 21:20
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