>>5393091
>Snoop around the production trucks and see what's there.
>Other
Send Gartoum backstage to see if anything stands out in particular.

>>5393091
>>5393093

>>5393091
>>5393093
Needed to refresh the catalog a bit after the last thread slipped. I thought you wouldn't post today boss
Anyway supportan

>>5393097
I have not been feeling good today, no. I took some pills for it and I'm sleepy as all getout. Figured I should at least start a thread, though.

Running again, howdy all. Snooping it is.
---------------------------

>>5393093
>>5393094
>>5393097

Well, first thing’s first, you call out Gartoum after taking a bit of a hide behind one of the trucks. He’s…huh. Humanoid today. Devilish, almost. “Like the look?” he asks, spreading his arms wide. A bit gaunt for you, and too tall, but whatever.

“It’ll work for this. Long story short, we’re on a game show lot. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind getting a peek at the backstage area- I’m trying to find out exactly what’s coming up on the contests, and if there’s anything else particularly interesting backstage over there so I can make sure my client’s kid wins the whole deal.” You point at the stage area where you figure the whole works are. “Sound easy enough?”

“If they’re lacking in any alarm systems, sounds like a snap,” he says, grinning, and before long he’s melted into the shadows and away from you.

As for your own snooping, you walk calmly yet with purpose towards the production trucks. There’s not many around there, but ideally you’ll make sure that any security doesn’t question your presence. Let’s see…there’s three trucks nearby. Time to see what’s happening and what isn’t.

>Roll 1d20, best of three.

>There’s a truck that’s got two big warty monsters near it, talking to each other. You don’t know if they’re waiting or guarding, but might be good for info.
>One of them has the back open, though you can’t see much from this angle, you’ll have to walk around. Still, looks like an easy score.
>The furthest away is closed, but you can see someone toss a clipboard in the cab. As he jogs away. It didn’t look like he locked it, either.
>Other

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>5393858
>There’s a truck that’s got two big warty monsters near it, talking to each other. You don’t know if they’re waiting or guarding, but might be good for info.

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>5393858
Hey, Handler! Didn't realize you made a new thread.

>>5393858
>There’s a truck that’s got two big warty monsters near it, talking to each other. You don’t know if they’re waiting or guarding, but might be good for info.

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>5393858
Aw sheit forgot me roll
Time to put those acting xp to the test

>>5393863
Forgot my choice.
>There’s a truck that’s got two big warty monsters near it, talking to each other. You don’t know if they’re waiting or guarding, but might be good for info.

>>5393858
>>5393861
>>5393863
>>5393866
>>5393868
>>5393876
The truck with the two big fellows nearby might be worth a looksee. Whatever they’re talking about, hopefully, is relevant. As you walk closer, trying to keep from their immediate field of view, you can hear them talking…

“...nothing like it, I’m tellin’ you. Better than being in the ass end of nowhere,” the one on the left says. “Space’ll do you wonders.”

“Bah, mebbe,” the other says. “Still got time on this contract, though, no sense in it. Speakin’ of, what’s supposed to get set up again soonish?” Aha, lovely.

“Somethin’ about speed scarin’, I forget,” he mentions. “I think it was the obstacle course. That, aaaaand…oh, yeah, they’re doin’ the Jump n’ Scream game this year! That one’s my fav..”

“I never got why you’re so big on that,” his partner responds.

“Because EVERYONE’S gotta bounce on that big trampoline. Includin’ the ladies…” there’s a perverted sound at the end that disgusts you, but you get the drift. And they're so involved in their conversation, they don't notice you. Right, then.

>Continue to listen in.
>Move elsewhere.
>Other

>>5393890
>Continue to listen in.

>>5393890
>Move elsewhere.
I'm half tempted to glue these creeps in the truck so they miss it, but that would break our cover.
Also, make a note about getting Jazzi something to minimize... that.

>>5393890
>Move elsewhere.
Looks like these are grunts, we already got what we came for.
I want to at least catch some lines with goo mom before things get speedy, we're supposed to get close to her for the deal.

>>5393890
Do we have gadgets for eavesdropping?

>>5393899
No, but we did forget that we have a spell to hear better!

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117 KB PNG

>>5393899
We have a hearing boost spell and we've brought a Vanishing Sigil Plate with us

>>5393890
>>5393893
>>5393894
Considering he’s not back yet, you suspect you’ve got a bit more time before Gartoum gets you the information from backstage, whatever it might be. That gives you some time to head elsewhere. The question is, where? Or to do what?

Drela was near the stage if you wanted to try to catch her before the show starts, but you’re not sure if you’ll get caught by anyone else. Still might be worth approaching her. Or for that matter, anyone else if you’re feeling so inclined. Now that you know a bit more about what’s happening, you might be able to find a way to influence one or more people to lose, whether it’s before or during the show.

Then again, might be better to just forewarn Jazzi about the situation and allow her to prepare well in advance. Mentally, if nothing else. Any advantage is a good one, really. So long as you're not caught out and THROWN out. That wouldn't make your mission impossible, but it would make it markedly more difficult.

>Try to head elsewhere to figure out more about this gameshow. (where?).
>Go to find Jazzi and talk with her.
>Go to find Drela and talk(?) with her.
>Other

>>5393908
>Go to find Drela and talk(?) with her.
How do we make an impression that we're more than just a weeny witch?
That Veilspeaker's Foresight perk was very helpful before, we can try that again.
Plus we have that VIP card right? Maybe playing a curious rich kid will work, she should be more familiar with those types.

>>5393908
>Go to find Drela and talk(?) with her.
Can we search the Intersection's version of the internet to pull up a Youtube video, or a webpage? I'd suggest finding a video of an interview with Valure, or perhaps of a few sports personalities talking about a major game she won. Something that will perk up Drela's ears, but not make her think she's been enslaved by the Othersiders.

>>5393908
>Go to find Drela and talk(?) with her.
>>5393915
Well, we could take off the Bowtie - that would increase our Intimidation stat and reduce our Plainness

>>5393919
Hmmmm good idea, but I want to save that for the grand reveal. Need to make it extra cinematic.

>>5393918

Sort of. Remember, in areas/dimensions/planes that have it, the FutureSight CAN connect to the internet and function as a smartphone does. I should've reminded you of that earlier.

>>5393923
Like, I called it a PDA earlier, but that's really just an early smartphone, so. About the same thing.

>>5393923
Wait what
So it can pull vids off Intersection YouTube while out on a job? That's bonkers

>>5393926
More like a shitton of 'offline accessible' pages. If you were here, remember the Weird West job way back? The crazy lady who got her hands on one? How do you think she got THAT kind of information?

>>5393927
..that's including a cached version of Intersection Youtube right?
I've never known, this brings out a lot of new tactics.

>>5393929
Cached, yes, that's the word. Fuck, I couldn't remember that term. Thank you.

File: 300 Large.jpg (52 KB, 1610x242)

52 KB JPG

>>5393899
Oh right, FutureSight can also record sound from a distance - Lori managed to eavesdrop on our targets back in the MGR crossover. While she was outside the building they were in.
>>5393923
What CAN'T it do?! And why are we learning these things so late?
>>5393922
...I don't get it. What big reveal? We've got to look presentable and serious if we're going to approach Drela and start talking about such a difficult topic.
This job didn't turn out to be a 'vacation' like some anons wanted - so let's treat it like a 300 Lotes job.

>>5393929
So there's a chance we've got a video of our game against the Intersection All Stars, then?

Gotta get that video loaded up and find the timestamp for Gellure's introduction, maybe even some news articles of her if we were keeping up with Roller Derby teams.

>>5393932
>What big reveal?
Maybe the moment when we have to kick someone's ass when they try to screw around with Jazzi in game? The moment when Jazzi's mom tries to screw us on our paycheck?

>>5393933
We should, in fact getting any info or footage of her will be much easier than getting OURS. She's a star sport player that has been active for a while.

>>5393934
Why would we need to take off the bowtie in those cases? And why can't we do it now? We can always take off clothes and put them back whenever we want.

>>5393936
>Why would we need to take off the bowtie in those cases?
So we don't get blood on it, of course! Along with our good coat and bowler hat.

I'm coming at it from an in-universe, "Time to beat the tar out of someone" view, not a "Time to alter our social stats" view. I dunno why eqIltpEd wants to do it.

File: first impression matters.jpg (59 KB, 1615x267)

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>>5393922
>>5393934
>>5393936
In fact, doing a 'big reveal' might be more impactful without lowering our Plainness
>http://pastebin.com/8unLWUjF
>Plainness: surprisingly, being plain can be useful in jobs such as yours. The higher this rank, the more a nobody you seem to be. People won't engage you in conversation as often or even really be willing to talk to you for very long. In fights it will be near impossible for anyone to take you seriously, but similar to the humor stat, be wary of getting too loose with your power when you have this high... there may be unexpected consequences.
IMO high Intimidation matters more for the first impression - which would be more useful if we're going to approach Drela. And our client is giving us shit exactly because she expected someone more imposing.

>>5393908
>>5393915
>>5393918
>>5393919
Well, Drela’s probably your best bet in regards to immediate influence with the competition. HOW, exactly, will depend on how you approach your talk with her, but still very likely your best bet nonetheless.

Heading back to the stage lot, you can see that setup is just about finished, and there’s a sign nearby noting ‘10 minutes to showtime!’ Huh. At least they’re letting everyone know before it all begins. You suppose that gives folks time to do some last minute whatevers before they’re all expected to stay in their seats and all that. Well, it works for you too, after all. Now, the question is, where’s Drela? She’s not present where she was- you suppose whatever talk she had was done.

Glancing around, you can’t find anyone present who’d- wait. Maybe this fin-eared schlub. He seems like he’d know, and isn’t anyone important, considering he’s just hanging around near the entrance, listening to some music in one earbud. “Pardon, did you see where Ms. Gellure went?” you ask simply and in a confident tone of voice.

He glances at you, glances down at your VIP badge, and thumbs around back. “Saw her headed ‘round behind the stage.” And with that he’s clearly done talking to you. Fine with you.

As you head around back, you can see that there’s a number of people going to and fro, but your target in particular is dressed in a (somewhat loose fitting) suit top and pencil skirt bottom as on a cell phone, talking to someone. “No. No, that’s fine, just make sure it’s not anything you didn’t already sign off on.” Her voice is surprisingly…solid. Mature. You’re not sure what you expected. “Ask Nebby, she how it usually goes. Okay? Okay. Relax, most of these kids are new to this, I’ll be fine. Alright? Alright, bye.” She hangs up, dropping it into a pouch on her person.

Alright. What’s your opening shot, then?

>Try to be aggressive. Directly mention her relationship with Velure, and see how she reacts.
>Try to be casually inquisitive. Dress it up as you’re interested in her history and what she plans on doing as Fright Master.
>Other

Gonna leave it here. I will be running earlier tomorrow. Also, I'm expecting more ideas than the two I gave, being honest.

>>5393945
>Try to be casually inquisitive. Dress it up as you’re interested in her history and what she plans on doing as Fright Master.
>Other
We require a hook to pique her interest in us. Something about Othersiders perhaps. We're studying them and we think we're on the verge of a (maybe) historic breakthrough, and we need her advices.

>>5393945
She's not noticed us yet, so let's take it off now. That should pique her interest - I doubt she'd pay too much attention to someone so Plain-looking.
>Take off the Big and Very proper Bowtie
>Try to be casually inquisitive. Dress it up as you’re interested in her history and what she plans on doing as Fright Master.
Was hoping the Meditation Room Bonus would trigger. If we're interested in bringing her to the Intersection then there's no point in talking about 'othersiders' and maybe we should mention 'portals' instead.

>>5393945
The best idea I've got is to make a Youtube playlist of some Valure related content regarding her Roller Derby career and put it into a file along with a note telling her to call our FutureSight, steal her phone, make it download the file and put it on her homescreen with a really obvious file name, then put it back on her person and wait for the call...

Does our futuresight have heat sensing tech? Could use it to see what her screen lock is.

>>5393953
>>5393945
Right, take it off then.
>>5393954
I agree with leaving SOMETHING after for further enticements. Miranda however, shouldn't have a good enough sleight of hand to do so.
Gartoum is still busy. Hope he comes back before we finishes our talk.

>>5393945
>>5393953
Oh!
We can slip that we can track these 'portals'. We need her to take a look at them the next time we sense a batch. Leave a number.
That way, we can lure her to a private spot so we can finally unveil.

>>5393955
Really, I don't think she's that good at tech, either.

We could go up to either boss lady or Erik, ask them to bring us to a printer, then print out what we've downloaded. Or tell boss lady to send the videos to Gellure via a text message on her phone or a burner, if she can bother to stop looking down her nose at us, the miserable, traumatized, self absorbed bougie bitch.

So how are we presenting this case to her? We've only met Velure once and know very little about her personality. We don't know if she actually wants to meet them again - even though it's an extremely rare privilege for someone meet people from the same plane of existence. And I'm sure neither Drela nor Velure would appreciate if we admit that this is all about helping some spoiled kid win a competition. If she's coming to the Intersection then she's going to remember everything we told her and tell her daughter about it. We're dealing with ex-politician and her sports-star daughter - we wouldn't want a hit on our image in the Intersection, right?
I think we shouldn't lie and make up stuff and instead use truths and half-truths to get our message across.
>>5393961
They're already teleporting folks in and out of the 'otherside', so lying about 'tracking portals' won't work imo. But we could tip her about the 'anomalies' - and we might know a place where people might appear in such cases.

>>5393967
Trickeries are fair games since we're only doing so to get her to a private meeting place. Once that's done, we'll be truthful. Hell, I have an idea of pinging Sal to call us out when we start negotiating so we don't accidentally step on an unknown grey line. Don't want some Shoggoth lawyers knocking down on our HQ.

I have a few scenarios in my head. We can connect ourselves to the incident years ago too, since we know the truth. There's a possibility that she can do some searches about us in the local database though, I still don't have a clue for a counter to that.

>>5393976
And we can do some research on Velure as well right after this. Just dig through some articles/vids/interviews to gauge her mood whenever some keywords (mother, family, home world, etc..) come up. We have the entire Internet in our pocket after all.

>>5393967
*we'd be dealing with an ex-politician and her sports-star daughter
And possibly her elder and middle daughters. Anything we do and say could bite us in the ass later on.
>>5393976
Why should we connect ourselves to a messy case that we had nothing to do with? How does this help us?! There's only downsides - not only are we lying, we're also going to get associated with 'Reformationsits' (whoever they are).
We can just say that we know about the incident. Drela might've gone into politics so she could send search parties to the otherside to look for her daughter. So we can tell her that the portal was an anomaly - it didn't lead to the otherside but somewhere else.

>>5393985
It's just a passing thought. I did say it was a less-than-stellar idea.

>>5393945
>>5393953
>>5393955
So maybe we can go with something like this:
1) Ask about her history and her plans - to confirm if she wants to use her weight in politics to send search parties to find her daughter or to get back at the Reformationists
2) Ask about her family - to learn how many people we might have to invite to the Intersection (daughters, siblings, husband?) and to segue into the portal incident
3) Call that portal incident an anomaly - we KNOW it didn't lead to the 'otherside'. Tell her that we might have a good idea where her daughter resides now. Might as well drop some info that we know about Velure here

>>5393945
>>5393995
The third part's too big to fit into this; we only have 10 minutes of chatting. Also, the helicopter mommy said that Grela simply refuses to answer questions about the incident or her missing youngest, so we might have to win a roll.

How about we back off in the middle by saying that we have a hunch that we know where Velure is (we are doing research on our own about the incident) and trade numbers with her? That way, we have a hook.

We still need to do some research on Velure to see if she still wants to see her family. That's why I don't want to drop the juicy parts on her just yet.

I swear I'm not making this up but I can't type long. My hand's killing me because I fucked up and pinched a nerve in the left one. Will post, for sure, but maybe just the one. I'll try to post during the week in exchange.

Damn, this stings. Peck typing sucks.

>>5393945
>>5393953
>>5393955
Well, you might need a bit of intimidation for this…or at least a bit more than you thought you would. Let’s see, how to go about this…ah. Well, for one the bowtie should probably come off, that’ll give you a touch extra notice.

For two…you need to be careful on your approach. You can’t say that she won’t be paranoid or aggressive or anything. Which means that your best option is probably to portray yourself as someone interested in her. Get her talking about herself, somehow. But you DO need to start talking, at least. “Pardon me? Are you Drela Gellure?” Your Futuresight should have a recording feature, and taking it out in front of her shouldn’t mark you as anything but paparazzi in her eyes, you hope.

The lady in question twists around, frown on her face. “Yes? And who may I ask is speaking?” Hm. She seems guarded. You suspect she’s had more than one approach in this manner from people with particular intent. “Are you new press? You don’t look familiar.”

Ah. “Name’s Morgana. Just someone who was interested in your work. I do a lot of independent study.”

“My work, huh?” she asks, skeptically. “Why so?” <blue>You don’t think she’s buying your reasons, but she’s entertaining it anyway.</blue>

“Well, considering the body of your work,” you mention, “You’re a pretty big name around the city. I’m just curious what your plans are as Fright Master once you make it there.”

She undulates slightly, before responding. “Reorganizing the Scarer system to be more comprehensive and detailed. Adjusting assignment areas to cover more areas, possibly with a team system, and increasing the range of educational scaring tools and facilities, among other things,” she says rather crisply for a goo-person. “Why do you ask? What’s your angle?”

> “My angle is I’m wondering if you’re doing this for your lost daughter or not, if you must know.”
> “No angle, just plain curiosity for my report, ma’am. Sorry if I’m being too forward.”
> "...look, perhaps we could meet privately? I might have info about a...certain incident."
> Maybe you should try a different tack… (what?)

Okay, maybe it's not like a pinched nerve, I'm not sure, it just stings when I move it wrong and it sucks. I know it'll fade, I just don't know how long it'll take.

>>5394717
>"As I said before, a lot of independent study. What I'm focusing on right now is the possibility of other realms beside ours and the Otherside."
>"If this brings back unpleasant memories, I apologize, but *that* Gateway incident is what sparked this. Like you, I'm sure, I'm looking into the truth as well."
>"I have solid reasons and theories to believe that the youngest Gellure is still very much alive, and we haven't found her yet because she's simply outside of known realms. Confirmations are needed, for example, on whether or not that Gateway was an anomaly. I'm very close madam, and I ask you for another meeting after today's show, privately."

>>5394717
>"As I said before, a lot of independent study. What I'm focusing on right now is the possibility of other realms beside ours and the Otherside."
>"If this brings back unpleasant memories, I apologize, but *that* Gateway incident is what sparked this. Like you, I'm sure, I'm looking into the truth as well."
>"My angle is regarding certain individuals who have gone through transdimentional portals into and/or past the Otherside, legally or otherwise."

>>5394717
>Covering more areas and sending more people, uh-huh.
>>5394729

>>5394717
>>5394729
>>5394732
Could not put it better myself

>>5394717
>>5394733
>>5394732
>"My angle is regarding certain individuals who have gone through transdimentional portals into and/or past the Otherside, legally or otherwise."

Also, before I forget... Load up one of those interviews with Valure yesterday. If Drela makes it offstage without hearing her kid's voice, we've boned up.

>>5394749
That can be our final solution if this doesn't go as planned. One last push.

>>5394717
>>5394729
>>5394732
>>5394738
>>5394748
No reason to antagonist her just yet- but you might want to drop a bit of a hint towards things. “As I said before, a lot of independent study. What I'm focusing on right now is the possibility of other realms beside ours and the Otherside." Ah, good. Most everyone’s cleared out. Whether it’s to avoid potential press stuff or they’re just finished, that just helps you out.

Drela scoffs at this. “Really? Folktales and superstition? We all know that there’s no way to prove that other realms exist even if they were out there. You’re wasting your time- and mine.”

"I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss that, Ms. Gellure,” you insist. “The reason being WHY I pursue this.” She starts to turn away, and you realize you’re going to need to start feeding her now before this goes more south. “Look, if this brings back unpleasant memories, I apologize, but *that* Gateway incident is what sparked this.” The freeze in her motions tells you you’ve gotten her interest, if reluctantly. “Yes, I’m aware of what people say, but like you, I'm sure, I'm looking into the truth as well. I-"

“The incident was resolved the best it could be, and that’s all I have to say about that,” she says firmly without looking back.

“I don’t think it is,” you press. "I have solid reasons and theories to believe that the youngest Gellure is still very much alive-”

“Shut up.” Her response is short, clipped, and severe. “You’re treading very thin ground, Ms. Morgana, on idiotic summations and long dead hopes. You should know what they say about leaving old ghosts alone.” Hm. She’s at least still passionate about the situation, that much is clear. “I suggest you abandon this topic.”

Hm… *Sal?* you ask. *Can I give a hint or two?*

*Mmmm…I suppoooose,* he responds. *Not like you’re telling her anything expliiiiiicit. But do be…judiciiiious in your revelations, hm? Better to not haaaave to imply at all, really.*

> Insist that you’re positive about ‘outer realms’ and want to confirm some things privately. You don’t want to mention too much, and this’ll be a tightrope walk, but ideally she’ll come around herself.
> Back off, but point out that you absolutely know something about Vellure that she doesn’t. Try and get her to come to you via simple temptation and perhaps hearing more about her lost daughter.
> Look up a video of Velure in action to show her. That’s going to probably get a heckuva reaction out of her, and you’re not sure what kind, but…it’s gonna be SOMETHING at least, you’re all but positive.
>Other


fuck this stings. I got one more in me tonight and after that I'm done.

>>5394755
>Other
Load up an AUDIO interview that has transcriptions. Make sure it doesn't namedrop the Intersection or anything important.
This is safer than a video.

>>5394762
I don't think we've got enough time to be picky, anon.

>>5394755
> Look up a video of Velure in action to show her. That’s going to probably get a heckuva reaction out of her, and you’re not sure what kind, but…it’s gonna be SOMETHING at least, you’re all but positive.

>>5394755
>>5394762
>>5394769
>>5394772
We don't need to show her a video, we just need to look up one of Velure's vids, turn up the volume, get her to hear a snippet and then turn it off. Give her the biggest carrot on a stick we have.

>"You are right, there’s no way to prove that other realms exist, until my findings that is."
>"I don't just have reasons and theories, I have cold, hard evidence as well. Right in this PDA."
>turn the volume on and give her a brief
>"This is historic, madam. Obviously, revelations like this aren't to be shared in a public place."

>>5394774
What's wrong with showing her a video

>>5394781
Dropping it too early and hard I guess. Showing a local a video taken in the Intersection is definitely a gray area when it comes to respecting the masquerade.
With Sal's warning, I want to play it safe. Audio only, just enough to tempt her.

>>5394784
How is audio better? If anything it might be better to mute the video until the part where Velure speaks.
Also would translation enchantment even work on a audio/video? She might not even comprehend the language anyone is speaking except for Velure.

>>5394787
I have to assume that she'll understand since Handler did give us that option.
Audio is better in the sense that we'll give her the whole cake if she agrees to a meeting.
And besides, just outright showing a video of the city to a local civ is just plain unprofessional imo. Sal's watching and rating.

Seems like there's no consensus, so I'll try to post tomorrow and hope my hand's feeling better.

>>5394792
> Look up a video of Velure in action to show her.
it's a video of the stadium, not the city
>I have to assume that she'll understand since Handler did give us that option.
He gave us an option of showing a video, it doesn't need a translation to get our message across
>Sal's watching and rating.
He wasn't watching until we called him, and we know that he stops stretching his words when he's actually ranting
>a video of the city to a local civ is just plain unprofessional imo
I see no difference between this and playing an audio

How about we turn invisible with our sigil plate, play the audio for a few seconds, then pop up again when she tries to find out where the source is? Could also pull out a few things from nowhere, like the memodoll, to let her see we know what we're talking about.

>>5394803 (I'm phoneposting)

>>5394805
>>5394792
Another problem about audio-only - how can we prove this wasn't taken somewhere else. She might think it was taken long time ago, when Velure was hanging out with Reformationists or we're some agent from otherside and it was recorded while she's held captive in some shady facility. Either way it would seem we're trying to bait her without concrete, 110% solid evidence.

>>5394805
We gave the doll to Jessica I think..
Either way, we don't know about Velure enough to use the memodoll and there is also no point in Grela using it.

>>5394814
It's fine if you don't agree with me. I agree that we'll ace any checks if we show her a video, but I still think being more subtle works out better for us in the long run.

Take it this way, when Sal writes the recommendation letter for our A rank ascension, the judges are going to find out that we showed a local footages of the city very recently. There's no defense against that, we'll lose a lot of points.

>>5394814
That's a fair point, I'm just suggesting the invisibility sigil as a way to prove that we know what we're talking about without pulling a gun out from thin air or putting a barrier up to keep her from leaving. We need something cool to show her to get her off balance, something no-one in this place has or can do, but we have to keep it from seeming like a threat to her safety. Thus, using the invisibility sigil or the memodoll.

>>5394820
Nope. We got the doll from Lorelei after we visited and told her about Izumi's new friend. It's still in our inventory.

>>5394814
>>5394820
I feel like you're doing it for extra drama and style points and want to drag this out. Which is opposite of the professionalism you've suddenly decided to bring up. We have half a dozen other contestants to deal with. And reuniting a family is good PR regardless of how we did it.
Man, you KNOW it's more efficent to show her a video, you've said it yourself.
Also we gave Jessica the music box, the doll is still with us. And it works on user's (the one who holds it at the moment) perception of that person, not the owner's.>>5394805

>>5394825
Playing it safe is professional. My suggestion is just to give her enough of a bait. Prolonging this is just unnecessary, but there can't be a way to finish this in just one meeting. There's no flair involved here, whether we give her a video or just audio, because dragging it out is the default floor option.
Again, this can hurt us right at our peak in the long run. I intend to turn this potential minus on our résumé into something more impressive.

>>5394837
How is 'audio-only' going to differ from 'showing video' in the report? It's going to look roughly the same for whoever judges us on A-rank evaluation.
Like I've said earlier - Drela could only conclude that we have a recording of Velure's voice, which could've been made at any point of time and location. This doesn't prove anything about our case that there are other planes of existence or that Velure is still alive right now. We need to show her a proof of that, otherwise she's going to draw wrong conclusions - we've already seen how defensive she is about this topic and how hard she's trying to dismiss everything we say. Half-measures won't work here.
If you're worried about overplaying our hand, that Drela might be satisfied with a confirmation that her daughter is alive and will continue to participate in the contest - we're talking about a person who's changed her career, no, her entire life because of this incident. We've already got a confirmation from her that she intends to send more people through the portal and cover more ground, among other things.

>>5394755
>>5394774
Alright, switching to
>show her a video
with my write-ins.

BUT
>have Sal call us out if we're showing too much
Big enough oophm, and Sal should be able to tell when we're overplaying our hand because he knows much more about this than we do.

>>5394824
I like the way you're thinking, but would people from a world with ghost, ghoulies and witches be really impressed by a witch showing a living puppet or going invisible? We can at least test this by using a Vanishing Plate to disappear from the scene after we're done talking in order to set some groundwork for our next meeting.
How can we impress supernatural beings with supernatural trinkets? We really have no idea what kind of things are considered 'unnatural' and 'otherworldly' by the locals. The only stuff that would for certain fit that description is something extremely high-tech.

>>5394878
While normally I would agree with you that using magic to impress wouldn’t be as effective against the supernatural, we’ve seen a lot more tech being used in this world than magic. There’s laptops, cars, CDs and television cameras being used by monsters here in order to scare people, like in Monsters INC. Thus, why I’m considering using unusual magic in this situation rather than technology.

>>5395001
Yeah, there's something suspicious about this. We haven't seen a speck of sorcery since we've arrived. It could be an Urban Fantasy setting with low magic, because clearly witches and the arcane exist. That Monsters INC comparison is spot on.

>>5395016
Keep in mind, there's still witches in this world, so we need to check in with someone more informed about what the baseline abilities of standard witchery and warlocking are, in order to scare the pants off the locals when things get serious. I'm thinking there's probably some basic hexing, alchemy, standard animal familiars and fortune reading. Might have to get Gartoum out a bit more to act as muscle if we can't blast a hole in something or pull out our "magic wand" ie rapier to stab a dude.

>>5395605
Also, anyone else hoping for that moment where the client realizes "Oh... so what the manager meant by 'scariest associate' was that her power level exceeds everyone else in the city, and that she's completely willing to murder the other contestants in cold blood, regardless of whether I asked her to or not..." like what happened with the Shining Heart's sponsor?

>>5394755
that took long enough
Going with>>5394876 if you guys dont have anything else

>>5395620
Will be helpful that we are not TOO plain either. While it would be amusing to try and play it like Hitman, we probably can't get declared winner by default

Hey, Handler? You okay?

Not dead, just swamped. Likely this weekend.

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>>5404295

>>5395605
>>5395016
>We haven't seen a speck of sorcery since we've arrived.
It's been over a month IRL since we've arrived, no wonder people are already starting to forget things - we literally saw our client summon stuff out of thin air:
>“Ah. I take it you’re the outsourced reassurance? Excellent, have a seat.” With a twirl of her hand, ruby red smoke comes out of it, swirling and morphing into what seems to be a basic red chair.
Considering how few runs we had over the past two months, I'd recommend everyone to reread this and the last thread and also check the Mission Log page in the spreadsheet doc
>>5393091
>MGFH Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H43OFoxE9QyMgIqBg_YdPO7IPn7_ES6iST7Xnv9Ou7Q/edit#gid=0

People here tonight? Hope so. Run begins in about 30.

>>5407091
Braced for impact, Boss!

>>5394755
>>5407091
>>5407123
>>5394876
>>5394803
>>5394774

(Seems like ‘show her a video’ was the winning idea, if I read those posts wrong, lemme know.)

Let’s see…you’ve got a perfect way to show that she’s alive, at least. The question is, how do you know that you can get a video that shows that without her saying anything incriminating about The Intersection? Maybe something just generally about her, or…hm.

“What are you trying to do?” Drela asks in clear annoyance. “Let me guess, you have some sort of blurry photograph?”

There has to be something on the offline available pages. She’s a fairly famous individual in sports. Which is why you thumb through it as you talk to her. "You’re right, there’s no way to prove that other realms exist- until my findings, that is.” …aha! This is…well, it’s not much, but it should work enough for your purposes. ‘Velure Gellure skatepark practice MV’. It’s really more of a music video, not much voice, mostly music, but it does show pictures of her and, from the looks of it with a bit of scrubbing, videos of her messing around in, indeed, a skatepark. That should be subtle enough, right? "I don't just have reasons and theories, I have cold, hard evidence as well. Right in this PDA."

She looks at you hard. “Stop this RIGHT now, you incessant-”

You hit play.

“Heeeeey!” Velure’s voice comes out of the PDA, clear as a bell, if low volume. The video shows her at a skatepark, giving the peace sign and looking into the camera with a wide smile, before it shakes and she gets VERY close in a hurry. “Whoa! Don’t trip, babe, you’re gonna miss it!”

Drela goes stone still. If she wasn’t a slime creature, you would’ve thought she was stone, instead.

“Miss what?” comes an offscreen voice, and then the music starts as you turn the PDA towards her.

>Roll 1d100+50. Yup. 40. No guesses as to why.

Rolled 1 + 50 (1d100 + 50)

>>5407154
Gigantic.
So is that a +50 or +40?

Rolled 79 + 50 (1d100 + 50)

>>5407154

Rolled 50 + 50 (1d100 + 50)

>>5407154
>>5407156
Wew

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>>5407156
>Rolled 1

Rolled 28 + 50 (1d100 + 50)

>>5407154
...fuckit, couldn't hurt to roll too.

I'm glad this didn't blow up.

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>>5407156

>>5407156
That's supposed to be 50, I mistyped.

Also lol.

>>5407157
Congrats. You made her cry.

She's not 'I will do anything tell me RIGHT NOW just give me my baby back', which is what 140+ would've gotten you, but still pretty good and will help your purposes.

Writing.

>>5407170
It appears that she will miss the opening ceremony.
Let's say we should throw out our contact numbers before making an exit.

>>5407170
Guys think we can nudge it towards the 140 goal by giving her the Memodoll?

>>5407154
>>5407156
>>5407157
>>5407158
“...” For a moment, you wonder what kind of reaction you’re going to get out of her once it registers. You can’t help but notice that Velure’s pretty good, honestly- she can semi-solidify like her mother, it seems. Maybe the nickname and behavior on the track is just for branding purposes? She seems a lot more…chilled out here; performing tricks and stunts set to a rock beat while grandstanding for the camera without losing a drop of slime. She does a handstand without any difficulty in one shot, even throwing up a hand sign with the other to the camera practically in her face.

Speaking of faces…you turn to the mother, and she’s…oh.

You’re about 90% sure those are tears. Globby and obviously not clear, and…well, it reminds you more of light purple sweat, honestly, but the way she’s shaking makes you pretty sure those are gooperson tears. “My baby…” she murmurs. “H-how? Why…?” she stops, shakes her head, looks at you with astonished eyes. “Where is this? How did you get this video? What is- she looks like she’s okay, but- who do you-?”

There’s a sudden alarm- and both of you jump. “T-That’s the signal! I-I need to get to the stage!” She glances at you, and you realize that this has disoriented her something fierce.

So do you, actually. Well, if you had any parting words, now’s the time.

> “If you want to know more? I suggest you don’t try too hard in this competition.”
> “We can discuss this later. Perhaps at your place?”
> “Your daughter is beyond your grasp. For now."
> Other

>>5407206
> “We can discuss this later. Perhaps at your place?”

Also, now that we've got her attention, what should be our riddle to her?

How about,
> "If you figure out the exact coordinates your daughter was sent to and ensure no-one else knows, I'll let you through the front door"?

It should distract her enough from the game to throw it a bit, and gives her an excuse to forfeit if she wants to.

>>5407206
>leave our contact numbers
>"Arrange a private meeting place as soon as possible, and make sure to keep this between us only."
>"I also suggest you don’t try too hard in this competition. You'll know why when we meet again."

>>5407206
>Do you? This is more important than some competition.
>Can we discuss it later? I won't be staying here long and I don't know when I'll be available next time. Your participation in this show doesn't fit my timetable.
>Use Vanishing Plate to disappear out of her sight and put the bowtie back on once we're done talking.

>>5407223
even though she's disoriented at the moment, telling not to try hard might be too on the nose - that's why I'm suggesting this excuse

Writing. Seems we're going to try to pursue this more personally.

>>5407206
>>5407212
>>5407222
>>5407223
“That’s fine,” you allow. There’s plenty of time in the competition. “We can discuss this later. Perhaps at your place? Privately?”

“I- yes, of course. I’ll be certain to expect you,” she agrees. With that, she quickly takes off, and you do as well- the same location, but different directions. You make it in, taking a seat not long after the bright lights and sign for ‘Fright to the Finish’ suddenly take off, and the crowd starts cheering. A jaunty, surprisingly upbeat tune starts up.

‘Finally,’ comes a voice in your head- ah, Gartoum. ‘I found out a couple of interesting little tidbits about what’s on the docket in this so-called ‘trial’,’ he explains. ‘And frankly, it all seems a little farcical to me, but what do I know, I’m just an ancient shadow demon with-’

‘Hold that thought,’ you mentally interrupt as several lights seem to come out of nowhere. Together, they coalesce, and setting down right on the stage, before bursting into small motes (the non-currency kind, sadly) of light, revealing that moth woman in the red cape from before, arms wide in a grand gesture. “Helllooooo, and welcome, boys and ghouls!” She’s got a megawatt smile as she gestures to the crowd and cameras. “I welcome you all to another year’s contest, where we find out who’s got the will, the skill, the chops and the chomps! It’s just about time for another Fright Master to be named, but in order to get that illustrious position, they’re going to have to-”

“FRIGHT! TO THE FINIIIIISH!” the crowd responded. Ugh. This is…well, actually, no. It’s not even close to the worst thing you’ve had to endure.

“And I am She who Creeps, the Lady Halovia, at your service, and your most illumination Mistress of Ceremonies, as usual!” the moth-hybrid lady introduces, taking a bow. “This year, we’ve got a few returnees, and a few new faces! A great mix for all you watching out there! Maybe you’ll enjoy the antics of an old favorite, or find someone new to cheer on! And speaking of that- without further ado, let’s introduce our competitors!” There’s applause as she sweeps her hand aside to gesture at the stage- and to your surprise there’s a flash of light, before Ray Howlsy is standing there in a sudden burst. “Introducing an old ‘favorite’-” she holds back a chuckle at that. “The returning Ray Howsly! I’m sure people know you well enough, but for the new viewers, why don’t you state who you are and your reason for competing? Why try to become the Fright Master?”

“Aha! Well, m’name’s Ray, as she said,” he notes. “An’ well, if’n I win and become Fright Master, I’m gonna make sure everyone kin’ get a chance to scare as many humans as possible! Be a real bonanza!”

(cont)

>>5407299
Ah. Introductions. For the most part, considering they’re all obstacles, you could probably just half listen. ‘Go ahead, Gartoum,’ you remind the shadow as the introductions continue.

‘Ah, right. So, the first one is called ‘Sonic Scare-Time’, and apparently it’s about flash scaring as many humans as possible within a given time limit. They’ve got some sort of rotating portal system prepared, methinks.’ Huh. That sounded weird. ‘The second on the docket for the day is called ‘Hunger Pangs’, and it’s some kind of collecting game, but-’

“BOOOOOO!” Suddenly, a cacophony of boos rain down around you, shaking you out of his report as you refocus on the stage show for the moment. There’s a good number of cheers as well, but those are much further away. You look to see Dreja Raze standing forward, arms spread as though taunting ‘What, you want to try me?’

Without warning, she raises her hands, crossing her middle and ring fingers in apparently some kind of symbol. “BE THE NEW ERA!” she yells. “SHED THE FEAR! NO SPACE, NO SHAME, NO STOPPING NEW TERRA!”

More boos, and stronger cheers from her section. “Seems like the crowd is…divisive on this one!” Halovia says diplomatically with a wry grin. “Moving on!”

…huh. Wonder what THAT was all about. '...keep going?'

You can practically hear him rolling his eyes. 'Riiiiight. Well, Hunger Pangs is about food collection in some maze space, but it's more like...you can eat it or save it and that gets you more points? Foolishness, to me. And the last of the day is 'Blackout Beast', which involves snuffing out a lot of lamps before anyone else, come this evening.'

...That's silly. But, at least you have an idea of what to do.

Then, you notice that it's Jazzi's turn to speak. "Heeeeey! Soo, I'm Jezibelle, call me Jazzi! Aaaand...well, I guess if I soooomehow become Fright Master, I'll...honestly, probably ask mom for help a bunch," she laughs, shrugging. "But I guess maybe try to free up time for folks in the whole scaring business? There's a lotta folks that gotta work long, and that's no cool, soo..."

(cont 2.)

>>5407325
"Lovely!" Halovia says, giving a small golf clap. "Now then! Let's have a look at the first challenge for our competitors! This year's first trial will beeeeee...!" she raises a clawed hand, and points towards the sign, which flips over to form a sign with a racing, slanted text saying... "SONIC SCARE-TIME! That's right, our hopefuls will be starting this competition testing their scare speed! In three minutes, all of our contestants will have to rush into several specially prepared doors, and do their best to quickly frighten the lovely bedded inhabitants! The individual with the highest total at the end of the sprint wins the point!" she exclaims. "And for those that don't realize, we only count 'scared' as having a scream of over one second- and we'll be timing it closely! But! Before we get started, a quick word from our sponsors!"

Of course. The sign goes up, saying '2:30'- likely before the show comes back. If you were going to do anything...

>Time to get backstage.
>You'll sit this one out. Too soon.
>Other

>>5407328
>Other
Try to do more research on Velure, dig through some articles/vids/interviews and gauge her mood whenever some keywords (mother, family, home world, etc..) come up.

>>5407328
>Time to get backstage.
Let's make a good impression on Mommy Dearest.

>>5407328
>>Time to get backstage.
Well, thanks to our boasting at the start of the mission Jazzi has to beat a few records - or else our paycheck take a hit.
Besides, our client has warned us that other contestants have skeletons in their closets. They could've hired extra help as well. Even if there's no opportunities to help her then we must at least make sure no one else is trying to cheat.

>>5407328
>Time to get backstage
Would be funny if we never find out about the clients name

>>5407328
>>5407343
Oh right
>Ask Gartoum about what he's managed to find

>>5407357
..oh wait, I misread the post. he's already told us everything about this one

>>5407328
>>5407341
>>5407343
>>5407353
Time to get moving. You hop off the stands, joining the few others that wandered off for likely a small potty break or the like. When you get outside, you slip behind a dumpster, and decide that it might be time to use one of your items- the Vanishing Plate seems like it’ll be getting some good use for a while. Fortunately, it’s not excessively big, and you hold onto it tightly, before there’s a slight glow, and…well, you feel something around you, so presumably it worked. You even step right in front of someone, and they don’t seem to register your presence, casually twisting a tentacled limb around while they wait for the porta-potty. Fantastic.

You quickly jog behind the stage- and you’re in luck; there’s a number of portable…well, portals, all getting ready to be wheeled in, the rollers all of two individuals- that for a moment, talk to each other, and both rush off. Maybe they forgot something? Either way, you’ve got a moment alone. There’s also a sheet of paper on a clipboard and a pen sitting on a nearby outdoor table, as well- glancing at it, it seems like it’s a table of…frequencies? Ah, no, coordinates. For the contestants, no doubt. Hmmm… Double number notation. 14.13, 96.54, and the sort. There’s names at the top that indicate who gets what column. Meaning that if you wanted, you could choose to sabotage a specific contestant’s coordinates and possibly send them either somewhere invalid, dangerous, or anywhere else. Very useful. But also easily changed if anyone double checks the list before they go up.

On the other hand, you COULD try to sabotage one of the portals themselves, looking at the wiring and basic connectors…that’d take them out of commission for good, if it broke down at the wrong time. But that’d be a lot harder and you’d run a higher risk of getting caught, that’s for sure.

>Try to reassign a coordinate or two.
>Try to detach one or more of the wires on the portals themselves.
>No, no, this isn’t worth risking cover. Maybe later.
>Other

>>5407378
>>Take out the Mana Spyder to try to detach one or more of the wires on the portals themselves remotely

>>5407378
Woah there. I have to warn you guys, if people actually start dying then there's a good chance they'll shut down the competition due to safety concerns, which means we won't succeed in our task.
Think wisely before comitting.

We have only one buff and one debuff techniques - Megaphone and Tongue-tie. However we do have 3 little helpers - Gartoum (don't forget about the Shadow Crystal boost>>5393901), Pecker (we could use the Mirror from the dragon-girl job to see stuff from his perspective) and Mana Spyder (has visual feeds and can be remote controlled). It would be stupid not to use all the tools that we've brought with us, although that's a lot of micro-management - should've really brought someone with us to lighten the load.
>Sonic Scare-Time
Already started. Could plant Mana Spyder near the coordinate console to fix any changes if anyone else comes here instead.
>Hunger Pangs
Could boost Gartoum so that he could sneak into the maze and hide the collectibles or place them near Jazzi.
>Blackout Beast
Not sure what can be done with our tools and skillset here

>>5407394
Well, taking out the portal seems way safer than teleporting someone into a wall.

>>5407397
*Could plant Mana Spyder near the clipboard with coordinates

>>5407378
Let's leave BOTH the mana spyder and Gartoum behind to try to catch things, the more hands and eyes the better.

>>5407415
The spyder should also have a recording feature right? We can even have people disqualified or blackmailed if we can connect the dots.

>>5407385
>Mana Spyder Mark 2
>This device of Nura’s creation is meant to be part spy drone, part mana battery. The creature can be remotely controlled via an armbrace, and even has visual feeds. It’s fueled by mana crystals, and can climb all but the sheerest and slipperiest of surfaces. It can also discharge mana in bursts for self defense, or for other purposes if need be. At least, it is stated to be such intent.
In fact, it could do get deeper inside those portals and break something less obvious

>>5407415
So are you suggesting that we shouldn't sabotage anything?

>>5407421
I want to play it safe the first day and leaving the spyder on recording mode to catch peeps in the backstage is just that. If there are other people playing dirty like our helicopter mom then we can catch them in the act.
And I want to at least confirm Drela's full assistance before getting more adventurous.

going to be cause tired. Will run tomorrow earlier because this was fun getting back into it.

>>5407429
We could play it safe this round, but we certainly have to show our client *some* results. Doing absolutely nothing the entire day would be a really bad idea.
>confirm Drela's full assistance
She only agreed to meet us later, nothing else. She won't be assisting us today.
Also I think we can get away with sabotaging one or two contestants in this contest right now. Rex Grogar is a businessman who own several repair shop stores - surely he has some competitors in the business world. Dreja Raze is a controversial Reformationist - we already know the general public doesn't have a high opinion of them.
>>5407394
>if people actually start dying then there's a good chance they'll shut down the competition due to safety concerns
Sure, killing contestants on the first day would be too risky. But if we catch any saboteurs we can do whatever we want with them since they weren't meant to be here in the first place. Murder is fair game here.

>>5407429
>>5407465
Also Gartoum is a perfect choice for the next round and the guy can be active only for a limited amount of time per day, so I'd like to save him for that moment. We can stay near the room with the clipboard while we remote control the Mana Spyder - if anyone comes here we'll be able to react immediately.

>>5407465
Yes, she won't be helping us, which is one of the reasons I'm trying to be cautious. And we've already achieved some notable successes, winning over the biggest player. Wait until the client realizes that we accomplished it in a single day without her assistance after she has already dismissed us.
I don't want to cause (much)trouble right now because I want to identify the next greatest obstacles after Drela so that we can concentrate on them rather than snooping around and risk getting caught.

If we kill the saboteurs then who's going to lead us to their employers? My plan is IF there are any at all, we bonk them, get them to lead us to the offending competitor and then begin the blackmailing.
>>5407415
Retracting my vote to leave Gartoum behind, we're only using the Mana Spyder.

>>5407505
>If we kill the saboteurs then who's going to lead us to their employers?
I mean, we can kill them after interrogating them. And threatening their employer later could be enough to blackmail them.
To be frank, the vote options didn't mention how many teleporters are we planning to sabotage. Messing with one or maybe two could be written off as an accident.

>>5407505
>>5407537
Not saying that we *have* to kill them, just pointing out this is still a valid option.
>Wait until the client realizes that we accomplished it in a single day without her assistance after she has already dismissed us.
>Without her assistance
The only help we got from our client was the info on Drela and we got the chance to approach her thanks to the VIP pass that she got for us. I don't think she'd be that impressed but instead take it for granted.
>accomplished it in a single day
We haven't won Drela over yet and the day isn't over either - there's still plenty of time to fuck things up.
The primary goal is to help Jazzi win, setting a few new records along the way. Which won't happen without providing some direct assistance. There's no guarantee that anyone else might try something on the first round at all - making this a missed opportunity to assist Jazzi. And the saboteur might not even be hired by other contestant but instead by someone who's not taking part in it at all.
But I know that there's merit in keeping our involvement secret and the Spyder can zap anyone trying to mess with Jazzi's portal, so the two of us will have to wait for other anons to break the tie.

>>5407378
>>5407385 (You)
>>5407505
So the plan so far is:
>Stay near the room with the clipboard
>Take out the Mana Spyder and lead it to the portals
then either
>Sabotage one or two portals - Rex's, Dreja's or both
or
>Keep it there to protect Jazzi's portal and record anyone trying to mess with other portals

Audience Check. If no or few are here in 30 minutes from this post, I'll check back in 3 hours.

>>5408093
Yep. Might be posting from a different location in about 90 minutes, though.

>>5407328
Also, I guess I'll agree to plan Mana Spyder, albeit with a few dabs of sticky mana bomb near the bottom corner of the doors as well. If there's any thugs coming into the room, we can disable them with a quick explosion by their feet after they pull some shenanigans with the settings.

Alrighty, I'm gonna go ahead and write. Gameplan is Mana Spyder, but there'll be a follow-up vote shortly.

>>5407378
>>5407385
>>5407649
>>5408106
Thinking about it, you’ve got a good idea for this. You don’t even have to be present for the situation, and you can operate on a few levels; you can just leave one of Owlia’s gadgets here and handle that for you. If this thing is deft enough to do a bit of work, too, then you can probably at least have it do some surveillance just in case your client isn’t the only one that has the idea of sabotage. You DO have to think about exactly WHO it’s going to keep an eye on, however. As for your OWN sabotage, you have to think fast on who you’re going to sabotage, IF you’re going to sabotage anyone at all.

Sabotaging Drela probably isn’t the best usage since you’ve already got her rattled. As for anyone else…

>Change the coordinates?
>Break a portal?

And if so, who's portal?

>Dreja Raze
>Ray Howsly
>Trinity LaCross
>Rex Grogar
>Verdun Cress
>Dreja Raze
>Redwall Pherson
>None, just plant the spyder.

Please link your final decisions to this post, makes it a ton easier on me.

>>5408252
>Break a portal?
>>Dreja Raze

>>5408252
>None, just plant the spyder.
Still keeping mine. Don't want to use our surprise shot to basically blindfire. They'll raise up security for sure, and then we won't be able to walk around as freely.

>>5408252
>None, just plant the spyder
I think we can afford to be cautious right now, might get a look see at any other saboteurs too. If we can nab them instead that might be a better way to go about it.

>>5408252
>None, just plant the spyder.
Whats your mental image/inspiration for the spyder boss?

Writing. We out.

>>5408292
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/jamesbond/images/d/dc/EoN_-_Q-Spider.png/revision/latest?cb=20160402103818

>>5408252
>>5408277
>>5408290
>>5408292
No need to get too deep into things right this second- you’ll just plant the spyder and get out. Fortunately, it’s small enough that it’s unlikely that people will notice- especially because its coloration is similar enough to the rest of the portals that it’ll likely be mistaken for a part of the machinery. You set it up right on the back; there’s enough small wires and plating that unless someone’s looking for it, they shouldn’t notice. And from there, you slip back to somewhere quiet so that you can decloak.

Fortunately, coming back, you’re not missed. Seems like the contestants were talking amongst themselves- you notice Rex talking with Jazzi about something you can’t overhear, but she seems amused in that sort of ‘I don’t really care about it but I’ll humor you to not be a jerk’ way. She glances over to you, and smiles and waves happily as they're told to get into positions. You can see that the workers are pushing the portals into position- a semi-circular shape, and all of them surrounding the contestants.

“Aaaand welcome back to Fright to the Finish!” Lady Halovia announced after the timer went off. “We have our contestants, and to recap, we’re about to begin our first challenge- Sonic Scare-Time! 3 minutes, 9 portals, and as many screams as they can manage! Brace yourselves, because we’re about to get right into it! Are you all ready?” she asked, turning to the players. They all gave the okay. “Then let’s get the countdown started!” She raised a hand. “Five!” The audience (minus you) counted down the rest.

“Four!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

A horn blared, the portals lit up, and everyone charged through; the screams started early.

>Roll 1d100+10, best of three.

Rolled 74 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>5408354

Rolled 58 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>5408354

Rolled 56 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>5408354

84. Hey, she did pretty solid!

Writing!

>>5408354
>>5408357
>>5408361
>>5408366
It seems like the method of keeping track of them is cameras that are active only when going inside the portals. It’s kinda hard to keep track for laymen (or rather, laymonsters) you think; very much a ‘run in screaming’ kinda thing for many like Ray, who’s relying on his speed and strength to carry the day. Drela seems to adopt a lower ‘jump and scare’ technique, which isn’t as fast but for sure gets results of screaming kids. Dreja (boy, those names are similar) is doing something similar, though she it’s very much less ‘frightening’ and shooting more for ‘sudden’, which is still enough to get the screams across- though she has trouble with one of the older boys that she has to abandon. He wasn’t scared at all, to put it mildly.

Trinity, Rex, and Verdun similarly have some issues thanks to their less than threatening appearances or unlucky choices of victim. Jazzi, though…

Interestingly, she seems to be just on the side of ‘inhuman’ enough to really cause some freakouts, and she’s surprisingly quick on the in and out. It’s clear she doesn’t need much help in that respect. You take the time to check your spider readout, but it’s clear that there was nothing amiss in the recording. Might want to retrieve that thing sooner than later.

Redwall comes barging in like a brute similarly to Ray, but he’s not even targeting the kids- he’s targeting things around the kids, slamming walls and inflicting physical damage on some objects, though he makes sure to keep it light and no major identifying marks. You’d think that that would be illegal, but no fuss is made about it by the emcee as she hypes up the proceedings.

When everything’s said and done, it’s Redwall who comes in first, followed by Ray, and Jazzi in a respectable 3rd. Drela in 4th, Dreja in 5th, and Rex, Trinity, and Verdun follow in order.

“And that’s that for the first round, folks!” she announces. “First point goes to Redwall Pherson!” The individual in question preens, brushing off his shoulders like it was easy. “But don’t get too confident just yet! We’ll be prepping for our next contest in just a moment! But let’s take the time to get to know our competitors a little better, shall we?” Ah. Another one of these. However, the lights cut out, and they quickly make mention “We’re moving outside, people! To the fields if you wanna see! Fifteen minutes!”

Oh, well that’s something. Seems like the maze is going to be outside, then. In that case…

>You should get moving so you can prepare your own assistance.
>You should try to get some face time with another contestant real quick.
>Other

>>5408430
>>You should get moving so you can prepare your own assistance.

>>5408430
>You should get moving so you can prepare your own assistance.
It appears that nobody wanted to pull a fast one.
Can someone link the general monster types of all the contestants? Since this one is about food scavenging, someone more animalistic will have the advantage. In that case, Gartoum will have priority targets.

Actually gonna call it here. Friend thing happening in a bit. Will try to update during the week.

>>5408430
>You should get moving so you can prepare your own assistance.
Man, it's going to really suck for Jazzi if she figures out she could have made the winner's podium fair and square if her mother didn't put her thumb on the scale.

>>5408430
>You should get moving so you can prepare your own assistance.
>>5408442
I'm sure she's used to the overbearing parenting by now. Plus we can say we were brought in to help her succeed betterer.

>>5408438
>Redwall Pherson
>a red-furred creature with a bony head, four eyes, and he looks rather top heavy

>Ray Howsly,
>a werewolf, and seems to have been 3rd both prior times. He’s apparently pretty good at the athletic competitions, but not so great at anything cerebral.

>Trinity LaCross.
>A two-headed cyclops

>Rex Grogar
>he’s a big, fuzzy newcomer to it all, and seems pleasant enough

>Verdun Cress
>they’re apparently a living ‘rabbit’ doll (a patchwork one, almost) that’s joined mostly to test their own ability, or so the brief interview says. Supposedly, they came from a factory that shut down ages ago, and…well, there’s not a whole lot else there.

>Dreja Raze
>you have to admit, she’s…‘curvaceous’, is the word that pops to mind. But that seems to be part of the act, considering how she’s flaunting it via the skintight suit. She’s big eyed, with bright pink pupils, and humanoid, but with long, long pointed ears that stretch down to her waist, and rich green skin.

>Drela Gellure
>a somewhat older whitish purple goo-lady

>>5408445
I dunno, I'm getting a real Varsity Blues Scandal vibes from how her mother's acting.

>>5408452
Well.. yea. She hired us. Will be a bummer for Jazz if/when she finds out but that's not our problem.

>>5408438
>>5408447
>Well, Hunger Pangs is about food collection in some maze space, but it's more like...you can eat it or save it and that gets you more points? Foolishness, to me.
So, seems like Ray the werewolf would be one of those priority targets. However, contestants get bonus points for keeping the food and Verdun Cress is a living doll - I don't think this one would eat anything.
Directly helping Jazzi with finding and collecting food might be a good idea as well - she has four arms and could carry more stuff to the finish.

>>5408447
>Trinity
>>A two-headed cyclops
Bet there is a third ghost head as well
>>5408462
I am fairly sure we are not allowed to lend her the bag of holding, and if Gartoum is running interference what did you have in mind for helping with storage? I don't think Jazz would accept our direct help either.

File: 1661018926230340.webm (2.19 MB, 386x432)

2.19 MB WEBM

>>5408462
>>5408430
Ah, I think I get the gist of this game now.

You can keep the food and carry it with you to the finish line, but doing so will slow you down considerably and set you up for a nice target should others decide to play dirty.
Alternately, you can eat them. Doesn't give as many points, but your limbs will be free.

>>5408464
Only the owner can use the bag of holding, it has to be attuned to the user
>’Big Times’ Storage Bag- 3 Motes (Large): A simple, purple looking drawstring bag, claimed to be able to hold any number of things. It requires a small portion of mana to ‘attune’ yourself to it, and after that, you simply reach in and desire what you want. The bag can hold anything that can fit in the opening, which has a roughly one and a half foot diameter.
As for what I meant for direct help - he could subtly help her navigate the maze and lead her towards the food. He doesn't need to meet her face to face and ask her acceptance to do this, come on anon.
>>5408467
Yeah, even if the organizers are going to hand out special bags for storing the food, having extra limbs would allow her to carry more than can fit into the bag and could come in extra handy in case if she has to protect her food.

>>5408464
>>5408476
Alternatively Gartoum could run interference while we try to help Jazzi navigate the maze and collect food ourselves (the Vanishing Plate works as long as the user has mana and if we use Levitation Crystal then we'd be able to move around without making any sound or leaving footprints>>5393901). Plus we could step in and protect her if anyone tries anything dirty.

It might be possible that some of the contestants could've gotten a copy of the map and learned the layout of the maze and location of the food before the event. If we spot anyone gaining speed in a maze when they think that other contestants don't see them or if they try to look for food in the exact spot where it used to be then we can confirm that they are cheating.
That Redwall guy knew exactly what tricks are allowed in the first round, and he's old money too. I think he should be a priority target.

Will post today, but last week was hell at work and I needed to decompress. I was hoping to feel better by today, but really I'm not feeling it. Apologies.

>>5415695
No worries boss, hope you feel better soon!

Writing in about an hour. Got up late.

>>5408430
And back. Also a slightly early spoiler, but >>5408467 pretty much had the right of it. Think of it like a hardcore version of Supermarket Sweep. The rules will be explained shortly anyway.

------------

You quickly step out yet again- you’re going to need to make some preparations of your own. If you’re going to help her out at all in this competition, it seems like you’re going to need to be particularly clever, and take advantage of every opportunity you have. You’re just glad that no one seems to have had the same idea so far- though that can change, clearly. Everyone’s moving towards a lawn area further away, closer to that castle. Maybe you can utilize Gartoum to conduct a bit of sabotage, if you don’t want to risk it yourself.

Ah, you’re going to have to get your little spying friend from the portals first, at least. Fortunately, it shouldn’t be hard to get it away, since they’re likely going to have to store the things quickly. The maze at least seems put up entirely, so that’s good…though you notice that though the audience and whatnot are moving towards it, the actual contestants aren’t. Maybe getting ready backstage?

>Roll 1d20.

>Send Gartoum.
>Look for a way to insert yourself into the proceedings in the maze itself.
>Try to find one of the contestants and see if you can give them personal attention.
>Other

>>5408433
>>5408442
>>5408445
>>5408438
Forgot to link to you.

>>5421988
>Use Rune of Shadows to boost Gartoum
>>Send Gartoum.
>Look for a way to insert yourself into the proceedings in the maze itself.
Don't see why we wouldn't be able to do both. We have to set at least one record today and the next challenge seems trickier.

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>5421988
>>5421992
forgot my roll

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>5421988

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>5421988
>>5421992
Welp heres hoping I can save this

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>5421988

>>5421993
>>5421994
>>5421998
good thing the roll for our attempt comes later

>>5421988
>>5421992
Don't have anything else with me at the moment.
Although, how do we prevent ourselves from being caught on camera?

Ah, too bad. Writing!

>>5422005
We have invisibility sigil plate - been using it the entire time

>>5422008
It was a good call to grab that when we were in sortie then.

>>5421988
>>5421988
>>5421992
>>5421993
>>5421994
>>5421998
You look around, but you see nothing or no one that might implicate you. Good- you’re alone.
“Alright, Gartoum,” you decide. “We’re going to double-team this. Try to slip in yourself and we’ll coordinate to make SURE Jazzi wins this one.”

“Sounds fine to me!” Gartoum cheers. “I’ve done some of my best work under an audience’s nose, after all.” With that, he slips out again, and you’re left to figure out how best to guarantee that you’ll be preventing any of her rivals from making off with first place. Honestly, the best option is likely more usage of your plate and careful steps. This whole thing will be under cameras, and while you strongly doubt they’ve got infrared or anything of the sort, any obvious movements will still be noticed. You’ll have to step carefully, and most importantly, that doesn’t mean that you can just waltz in.

You can see people walking in this distance- bringing food from a nearby portable cooler setup, it seems, it looks like. Maybe that’s your angle? Follow them in and sabotage or or two food depots, depending. Alternately, you could attempt to simply slip in and play spoiler to whomever you want. Unless something else strikes you, that is. Sometimes that happens.

>Try to make sure Jazzi’s the only one to get any good food.
>Directly try to cause a few ‘accidents’ throughout the event- ala a roaming, invisible hazard.
>Maybe you can interfere with the maze itself somehow…
>Other

>>5422057
>Try to make sure Jazzi’s the only one to get any good food.
Well, this round is about collecting food - so tampering with their snacks now could increase the chances of them eating the stuff they're meant to collect in the maze.

>>5422057
>Try to make sure Jazzi’s the only one to get any good food.
Well, there's only so much food in the maze. This will strike two birds with one stone.

>>5422061
>eating the stuff they're meant to collect in the maze
which means they're less likely to get any bonus points>>5408467

>>5422057
>Try to make sure Jazzi’s the only one to get any good food.>>5422057

>>5422057
>>5422061
>>5422063
>>5422081
Probably for the better you try to make sure that Jazzi’s the only one to get any good food. That’ll generally have to consist of making some good choices regarding Gartoum’s own efforts as well as picking to make sure that anything that the others get is either lesser in value (if that’s even a thing) or bad quality. You’ve still got about 10 or so minutes; you’ll have to see how exactly you want to play this out.

You’ll need to sneak over to the big cooler first, though. Fortunately, that’s not too hard while under the effects of invisibility- the grass is long enough that any obvious footsteps should be hidden, and yet short enough that big enough strides help with the displacement some. That, plus…well, no one’s looking, anyway at the moment, seems this group is just about finished. Is that really all, thoug-

“How many more?” one of them asks. You carefully tiptoe around to get a better look at the cooler itself.

“Still need sites 8 through 19,” comes the response. “Hurry it up or they’re going to have to stretch for time!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” the worker says, scurrying off. That gives you a small window, at least. Now, let’s see…ah! Huh, so that’s how it goes.

They’re separated by a couple labels. On the left, there’s a label with ‘Starter Packs’ and that section seems to have a number of pre-bagged foods, each with a player’s name on them. In the middle is a mass of groceries divided by point cost, it seems- the numbers 100, 75, 50, 25, are in big black marker, taped to the sides, and…huh. That’s something. There’s another section off to the right side with what looks to be a random assortment from all of them. In much smaller writing is ‘extRa’. Weird way to write it, but your years of experience tells you something’s off, there.

Regardless, you can at least use this moment to tamper with whatever you please

>Roll 1d20, best of three.

How will you tamper with these?
>Use your mana somehow to ruin some of these Starter Packs
>Mess with the high point foods subtly.
>Whatever this ‘extRa’ food is…well, it might behoove you to take that away as an option.
>Other

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>5422214
>>Whatever this ‘extRa’ food is…well, it might behoove you to take that away as an option.
going with the gut feeling

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>5422214
>Whatever this ‘extRa’ food is…well, it might behoove you to take that away as an option.
Yoinking that into our bag for later.

>In much smaller writing is ‘extRa’. Weird way to write it, but your years of experience tells you something’s off, there.
>extRa
might be a stretch, but we have several contestants whose name/surname starts with 'R'
>Dreja Raze
>Ray Howsly
>Rex Grogar
>Redwall Pherson

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>5422214

File: 1533306838940.jpg (39 KB, 639x484)

39 KB JPG

>>5422222
>A get on a crit fail.
Figures.

>>5422214
Goin' with the weird pack

>>5422214
>>5422220
>>5422222
>>5422225
>>5422232
>>5422225
Well, this ‘extRa’ food seems suspect- the way it’s all set up is hard to tell, but you can at least see a way or two to screw with it quickly. Namely, that a lot of it on the top is meats and whatnot here, some cartons of juice or loose foods there…in short, things that can be injected, spilled or perhaps splashed with a little something here and there to make consumption far less palatable, if not outright impossible.

You don’t exactly have a baster or anything of the sort, but you DO have a finger that can shoot a decent laser that can spill a bit of juice here, spoiling some bread there, and really, that by itself is a lovely failure cascade. It’s hardly 30 seconds, which is good because the workers are already on their way back. You don’t know what the response will be when they discover it, but hopefully they’ll just decide that the show must go on. It would look like something just fell and burst by pretty much all but the most thorough investigation, and they’d have to operate without them.

As you step away quickly, you stay at a distance, and… “Fuck!” you hear from one of the workers. “Fuck, fuck fuck fuck!” he swears as he gets someone else’s attention. “R-rations are fucked. Get the boss,” you hear.

“Shit,” the other worker says. “That was Red’s right?” The informer nods. “Fuck. Tell madam. Can’t replace those.” Oho? Well, THAT sounds interesting.

>Follow them to the madam. You want to see/hear who that is and what they have to say.
>You don’t want to be considered a possible suspect. Time to retreat and make an alibi.
>Other

>>5422286
>>Follow them to the madam. You want to see/hear who that is and what they have to say.
Of course it's for Redwall, the guy from old money family. Probably has part of the staff on their payroll.
>‘Sonic Scare-Time’
>Redwall comes barging in like a brute similarly to Ray, but he’s not even targeting the kids- he’s targeting things around the kids, slamming walls and inflicting physical damage on some objects, though he makes sure to keep it light and no major identifying marks. You’d think that that would be illegal, but no fuss is made about it by the emcee as she hypes up the proceedings.

>>5422286
>Other
Inject a small amount of explosive sticky mana into the rations, then keep an eye on the show so you can detonate them when Red gets ahold of them.

>>5422291
*certainly has part of the staff on their payroll.

>>5422293
Nevermind, guess we can't risk letting the cheating preppy lose a hand on live TV.

>>5422286
>Follow them to the madam. You want to see/hear who that is and what they have to say.

>>5422286
>Follow them to the madam. You want to see/hear who that is and what they have to say.
Nice things are picking up finally

>>5422286
>>5422291
>>5422298
>>5422313
Right. You’re going to want to follow them. Seems like there IS some foul play going on here- if Redwall has paid off the show, then that’ll make him a priority target. But you need to see just how severe this is- it clearly at least is going up a couple rungs.

You trail them off to a nearby trailer; no points for guessing who’s it is, considering that it’s the biggest of the lot; Lady Halovia is already walking out as the worker (and yourself, obviously) approach. “Pardon me, madam? Urgent news!”

“What, what, what?” she says irritatedly. “The show’s back on in 5, HOW urgent is it?”

“Some of the, uh, ‘extra’ provisions have popped and they’re all spoiled now, ma’am!” he reports. “They’re pretty much all unusable now!”

A brief pause. “...well, damnit. The old guy won’t like that, especially if he gets third or worse. We might have to fudge things a tad,” she decides. “Snip a few bits off of sites…5, 8, 13, and 16, and shove them into sites 7, 9, 15, and 18. Those are the ones we earmarked for him, right?” He nods. “Good. You better remember that. I’m going run interference.” She begins to powerwalk off in a different direction. Interesting. So Redwall- or at least his father- is paying off the studio to win. Wonder what, if anything, you could do with that?

>Find Redwall. Maybe you’ll be able to follow and sabotage him further?
>Follow Halovia. You might get some more insider information.
>Maybe you can heads up Jazzi somehow?
>Other

Off to bed. run tomorrow.

>>5422335
>Call the Mana Spyder out from where we put it, we're going to need to have it's recording ability soon for evidence gathering.
>Follow Halovia. You might get some more insider information.

Also, not a major bit of sabotage, but if there's going to be another interview section or a quiz section, I figure we can use Tongue Tie to screw up Red's answers and rattle him on the next part.

>>5422335
>Inform Gartoum about the staff involvement and the tampered sites (5, 8, 13, 16 - reduced value; 7, 9, 15, 18 - meant for Redwall)
>Follow Halovia. You might get some more insider information.
Gartoum should have this round in the bag, so let's follow the organizer. We did activate the Rune of Shadows, right?

>>5422340
We could record on our Future Sight, no need to grab the spyder for now. Gartoum, on the other hand, is already inside the maze and the information on food sites and staff would be extremely important.

>>5422335
>>5422344
>>5422340
Right, use the FutureSight to record if needed and ping Gartoum.

Speaking of the Mana Spyder, anywhere we can send it to?

>>5422353
>Speaking of the Mana Spyder, anywhere we can send it to?
Dunno, can it get out of the portal room by itself without being noticed in the first place?

>>5422344
>5, 8, 13, 16 - reduced value; 7, 9, 15, 18 - meant for Redwall
Not sure if we should direct Jazz to the other sites as well, there are a fair few of them so probably not worth it but eh
>1 - 4, 6, 10 - 12, 14, 17, 19 are currently untampered with

Wait, do we still have the Seither pellet gun on us?! We could just put a few pellets (or grind up a pill) into some of the food for Red and get him high on magic meth if he eats them!

>>5422725
He'd likely die from Seither overload instead, the dose in those pellets is high enough to kill a normal person.

>>5422979
From what I remember, that's only with non-magical humans. There might be a better chance of recovery if it's used on magic users who can burn off the excess. Then again, Red seems to be more of a physical sort...

>>5422998
#76
>Seither is...something that apparently is still a bit of an unknown. There’s still a lot of science going on about it, but it allegedly gives people that can absorb and process trace amounts ‘superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, and occasionally other effects’. It can (and is) used as a power source, much like electricity, and can show up in crystal and gaseous form. However, the amount humans can withstand being introduced to their bodily system is limited, although varied depending on the person. Too much leads to something called Seither Overflow, the symptoms of which are apparently ‘reddened eyes, visibly red vein bulges, headaches, elevated heart rate, muscle tearing, and death’. Sounds a lot like mana, really…
>‘superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, and occasionally other effects’
Sorry, but I don't want to boost the guy by accident. Swapping food on the sites he's supposed to go through with low-score packages should get the guy waaay bellow 3rd place.

Writing.

>>5422335
>>5422340
>>5422344
>>5422353
Right, no sense in letting THIS potential blackmail go to waste. With your Spyder recalled, you can reuse it here- once you can bring it back. In the meantime, you’re following the host. Seems like whatever she’s doing, it’s not in the direction of the set, which is good. If anyone notices you, hopefully you can brush them off.

It’s not long before you can see where she’s headed- a production trailer a bit of a distance from the field, looks like. Seems like she’s planning on causing a little interference. Or at least some type of delay. There’s no guards outside here, at least, and your boosted hearing allows you to listen in on their conversation…

“Just make sure to replay the interviews, alright?” Oh, she’s got a sweet voice on now. “I know you boys are overworked, so we can take this time to remind the folks at home and give you all a little break.”

“You sure that’ll go over alright with the network?” someone asks.

“We’re one of their biggest shows going- they’ll deal with it,” she reassures. “Sound good?”

“If you say so, ma’am,” is the response.

“Great! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a quick call to make.” Ah, she’s excusing herself, where to…hm. Seems like she just might be trying to find somewhere quiet. While she’s doing that, you mentally ring Gartoum.

“Hey, news,” you lead off. “Seems like Halovia and a bunch of the staff are on the take. Redwall’s father or someone related to him is paying off most of them to make sure he wins.”

“Well, now,” Gartoum tuts. “Isn’t that just naughty? Are you planning to do anything about it?”

“Already have,” you assert. “But I could do with a bit more. See to food sites 7, 9, 15, and 18. Seems like Redwall’s expecting an optimum supply in those, or something akin.” If anything, you might be able to get it to someone else.

“Hmmm…I have an idea, then! Yes…I shouldn’t be seen in particular if I’m careful, either- or at least lucky. Just going to make things look a touch…ripe.” Ripe? How can he pull that off, you wonder. Well, you’ll leave that to him. For now…

>Roll 2d20, best of three. (Listening in on interesting things, Gartoum’s sabotage.)

Rolled 4, 17 = 21 (2d20)

>>5423047

Rolled 16, 19 = 35 (2d20)

>>5423047
we did activate the Rune of Shadows, right? >>5421992 >>5421998 >>5422005
>Obtained: Rune of Shadows- Holding this rune on or near your person can amplify the holder’s shadow magic greatly. (+15 to any rolls involving Gartoum’s magic.)

Rolled 17, 2 = 19 (2d20)

>>5423047
Wew
Letsee if I can score a 20

>>5423054
Yes. It was given to him earlier. Thought I wrote that, but if I didn't, I'm saying it happened now.

>>5423047
>>5423050
>>5423054
>>5423055

When you catch up to her, around the side of one of the buildings, it seems like she’s indeed on the phone, pacing. You’re quick to take out your FutureSight and start recording. “...just an unfortunate happenstance. It’s nothing to fret about, Mr. Pherson. He might not get first this round, but the next series of games are going to be allll him, don’t worry. Got the castle prepped and everything- it's all set.”

“...better be,” you hear a low grumbling, even from this distance. “This fool game show isn’t half as good a metric as the old days, but it oughta at least get a Pherson back in the seat. Now get moving! My grandson doesn’t win this, and by next year the only thing YOU’LL be hosting is children’s birthday parties in a clownsuit!” He hangs up, and she frowns at the phone.

“That’s what YOU think, you old broken-horned fart…” she grumbles, before taking a deep breath. “Alright, okay. Focus, Halo. It’s showtime!” You have to dive around the following corner and behind a dumpster before she sees you, but she marches right on past your hiding place, heading towards the maze arena…

(Still writing, but wanted to get this to you since it's two events anyway.)

>>5423096
You manage to get back into your seat just as they signal that the show’s back on. There’s a view elevated screens showing the various contestants ready in the maze, each of them with a bag. Halovia hops onto the stage, grandly gesturing to the crowd, the massive maze behind her. “Hellooooooo, my lovely audience!” she croons. “We are finally BACK, and we are STARVING for some action! Fortunately for our contestants, the next contest is. ‘Hunger Pangs’!” she announces, to applause. “The rules are as follows- our contestants MUST traverse this maze, making sure to snag as many edible goodies as possible from our predetermined collection areas, and bring them to the finish! However, there’s only so much food they can carry at a time, right? So our contestants are faced with a dilemma. Option 1! They can either pack their bag and arms full with as much as they can carry, and do their best to struggle throughout the maze! Of course, that’ll leave them at the mercy of any other…enterprising connoisseurs that might have a little extra arm space,” she said, chuckling. “And Option 2? Use those fangs! Fill that gullet! Chowing down’ll rob anyone else of the food, after all! It’ll be up to them whether it’s feast or famine! But no more standing around! It’s tiiiiiime to deal with Hunger Paaaaangs!”

Cheers went up as her spiel finished. “Contestants ready?!” To a one, they all signaled their readiness. You can’t help but notice that Redwall is looking a bit…disgruntled.

And the whistle blows, and off they go! It’s…

…

…honestly, you’re not very interested in the particulars, really. You’re more focused on how Jazzi’s doing, and how Redwall seems to be doing. And from the looks of things, the answer is ‘Good, and Very Poorly’ respectively. Jazzi almost seems to be guided prenaturally (Gartoum’s influence, no doubt) as sometimes a piece of food rolls off the small table and into her view; she notices, picks it up, and keeps moving. Naturally having four arms is a major plus, it seems.

Meanwhile, Redwall is grabbing at anything he can find- and noticing that several fruits seem to be oddly rotten, squishing when he grabs them, or otherwise spilling, rupturing, or just crumbling. Even a cookie bag isn’t spared his impossible strength, seemingly turning them to dust almost immediately. “What the-” he nearly swears, before he catches himself.

Several players seem to be willing to get physical, too- Rex slams into Rey and gobbles a few apple-like fruits, Dreja tries to snip a few things from Verdun, who’s rather small, yet somehow seems to be doing just fine carrying his load, thanks to floating. The living doll doesn’t fall for it, however, quickly escaping. The rest of the match is a similar back and forth and not quite combat, but something close to it.

It’s clear that Gartoum’s tampering isn’t affecting JUST Redwall, either. When they at last manage to all escape the maze, the sun is setting over the horizon. The scores are tallied…

(cont.)

>>5423129
“Aaaaand our winner! Jezibelle ‘Jazzi’ Gorgos!” Oh, THAT’S her last name. Huh. Really should’ve paid attention earlier. It seems like Redwall came in THIRD, with Drela in second. Dreja Raze is in fourth.

“Oh! Ohmagoodness!” Jazzi says, clearly flustered. “Uhhhh…whatdoIdo?!”

“Bask in it, honey!” Halovia suggests, grinning. “Who knows! Might be the last time you win! Better stay sharp!” It’s clearly meant to be a bit of playful needling, but you know the real meaning underneath. “We’ll continue onto the next competition shortly! For now, however, let’s talk a bit about the history of this amazing show!” For a second you wonder if she’s going to talk about a lecture- but no. It’s a commercial. And it’s clear that you have another bit of time before they say you’re back. Though only 10 minutes this time, that might be enough as you see the contestants ushered off elsewhere- and the host quickly darts off in another direction, towards the studio lot itself.

The next challenge was…snuffing out torches, you think? Wait, no, lamps.

> Maybe you can follow her again? She might say something else.
> No, stick with the crowd. Gartoum can follow up in this next one, too.
> Other

(Oh god I'm fading bad. I have to stop for the night, this whole thing was almost word salad.)

>>5423131
> Maybe you can follow her again? She might say something else.
Time to steal Halovia's phone... and laptop, wardrobe, purse, jewelry, company flashdrives and handbag, complete with small yappy doglike monster we can blackmail it's safety with.

>>5423131
> Maybe you can follow her again? She might say something else.
Oh crap, did she not get a record score? That was our best shot for today and the next round seems way trickier.
Anyway, the tally for now is:
>Jazzi: 3rd, 1st
>Redwall: 1st, 3rd
>Ray: 2nd, ???
>Drela: 4th, 2nd
>Dreja: 5th, 4th
>Rex: 6th, ???
>Trinity: 7th, ???
>Verdun: 8th, ???

>>5423131
> Maybe you can follow her again? She might say something else.
This is a far stretch, but maybe we can present this case well enough in front of mommy Gorgos.
Then we can promise protection to Halovia, in exchange for what Redwall's getting but only for us.

>>5423131
>Maybe you can follow her again? She might say something else.

Will try to run today. My job has me and my department working overtime a lot, and I enjoy sleeping.

These two things are in direct conflict with each other.

Guess sleep won this round.

This is my one for the day.

>>5423131
>>5423136
>>5423137
>>5423236
>>5428829
Well, now you’re wondering how deep this goes. Might be a good idea to trail her a second time and see what comes of it. You have to admit, being a plain Jane is awfully useful in situations like these. So long as you don’t do anything obviously weird like walk hunched over or anything, people don’t question you at all. They just assume you’re meant to be there.

Which is why you make it to the studio lot without issue, and see her dipping around the corner back to her trailer. She steps in, and though you have to duck behind a wall to prevent her looking around and seeing you, you make sure to try to listen in more carefully on just what the local emcee has to say to whoever she’s speaking to as you strain your hearing (and turn on your FutureSight’s recording).

“…yeah, no yeah. Gonna have to thread the needle with this…no, no, just make sure the castle’s prepped. Once we go in we’re in it for the long haul. No leaving, but a lot more privacy to maneuver, yeah.” Hmmm. Interesting. “Yeah, no one else, just you and Softy on it. No extra help. Rules mean no one else should see unless they’re cheating anyway so that’s a safety net. Be quick.”

>Roll 1d20

>Stick around for longer. Wonder if there’s anything else she might spill?
>You have names, and you have a location. You can get a head start, perhaps..
>Maybe you can wring something out of her with this knowledge. Or out of someone else…
>Other.

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>5430254

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>5430254
Thats a long nap
>You have names, and you have a location. You can get a head start, perhaps..
Goin with this, we only have 10 mins

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>5430254
>You have names, and you have a location. You can get a head start, perhaps..

>>5430254
>>You have names, and you have a location. You can get a head start, perhaps..
So, what's our plan? Should we even help Jazzi win this round? They're going to notice that she's getting help if she gets the first place here. We could instead just shit on Redwall so that his overall score would be lower than Jazzi's>>5423137. Or we could just catch his little helpers, interrogate and then just get rid of them.

>>5430641
We can clonk them when they're about to go in, just be on the lookout for a sussy pair nearby when things are about to start (we even have a name). No killing here, we want to keep things PG-13 - and it might prompt them to do something like postponing or canceling the games for security reasons.
Or we can do so when this game phase is ongoing, when there is much less chance of being caught. Gartoum has plenty of rooms to work with, so he should have no trouble knocking them out.

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135 KB JPG

>>5431472
Hmm, maybe instead of conking them out we could just block their access to the tower or get them stuck somewhere - it would be less obvious that someone is actually acting against them than directly assaulting them.

Run begins in about 2 hours. Early, but it's the time I got.

Okay, a bit late, but still will be here. Some stuff's taking longer than I expected.

>>5430254
>>5430263
>>5430341
>>5430381
>>5430641
You have names, and you have a location. You can get a head start, perhaps. (9, while you arrive there, you find difficulties in gaining access. You’ll need to find a way in.)

Alright. You’ve got an idea of where the next set of games will be, and names for conspirators. You might be best served going up there early and seeing what’s in store. “Gartoum,” you whisper as you scamper off. “I’m headed up to the castle. Seems like that’s where the next set of games are going to be, and they’re trying to rig the works early. I’m going to intercept them.” You’re not sure what, exactly, they’re trying to do, but you’ll just have to be quick in finding out.

It’ll leave Jazzi alone in effort for the time being, but better to be cautious about this, though you have to remember that she’ll be needing to set a record or two in an upcoming event. Can’t forget that.

Reaching the castle isn’t too tough, fortunately. Just a matter of taking the ‘long’ way around…but that also means that you can’t just approach via the front door. No big deal…at least, at first. But as you take cover behind what looks like some sort of old, decrepit warehouse, there’s clearly a few guards around the place; two at what’s an obvious back door. You can’t just knock them out or kill them like normal. Maybe there’s another way inside…

>You’ll have to see if you can find another entry point. Maybe around the side of the building…
>Perhaps there’s a way to distract them and sneak inside…
>Other

>>5435664
>Activate the Vanishing Sigil Plate
>You’ll have to see if you can find another entry point. Maybe around the side of the building…

>>5435664
We can check for areas with no/low presences and just noclip in with Gartoum

>>5435699
OH wait he's busy atm
Let's just do this then>>5435686
>>5435664

>>5435700
>>5435664
What is he busy with anyway?

Writing!

>>5435664
>>5435686
>>5435700
>>5435707
You’ll have to see if you can find another entry point. Maybe around the side of the building, or something akin. Well, you’re getting a lot of money’s worth out of that sigil plate, that’s for sure. But that’s only half the problem, of course. As you walk around, you notice that there’s a massive…backyard? Sideyard? Whatever you should call it, it’s there, with a large garden as well as a hedgemaze within it; there’s a large hedge sculpture in the center of what looks like some sort of barrel chested devil-like being with their fist raised high. No clue who, what, or how, but it serves as a useful waypoint.

At the very least, you can have a look around back here and see if there’s anything that might get you into the building…

Fortunately, you do manage to see something:

>A single open window on the third floor, on a terrace. You have no clue where it leads, but it’ll be good to start from the top down, you think- as long as you’re careful about not making TOO much noise.
>A cellar door next to the building that’s open for now as a few porters step out of it. That’ll likely get you in, and right in the thick of things, but it’s also obvious. If you’re not quick, you’re going to have to do a lot of weaving between workers, you suspect.
>There’s a greenhouse on the far side, which connects to the castle itself…and there’s no one in there. Would be ideal, but for whatever reason, it’s barred off with security tape. You’re unsure why, but…does it matter?

>>5435707
I was under the impression the players wanted him to keep an eye on Jazzi. Is that not the case? If not, you can recall him.

>>5435740
>>A cellar door next to the building that’s open for now as a few porters step out of it. That’ll likely get you in, and right in the thick of things, but it’s also obvious. If you’re not quick, you’re going to have to do a lot of weaving between workers, you suspect.
>Use Low Quickening endomagic technique to get there faster

>>5435740
>>5435748
+ and go invis

>>5435740
>There’s a greenhouse on the far side, which connects to the castle itself…and there’s no one in there. Would be ideal, but for whatever reason, it’s barred off with security tape. You’re unsure why, but…does it matter?
Let’s grab a couple of mushrooms for Mewla and seed packets for Jessica.

>>5435740
>A cellar door next to the building that’s open for now as a few porters step out of it. That’ll likely get you in, and right in the thick of things, but it’s also obvious. If you’re not quick, you’re going to have to do a lot of weaving between workers, you suspect.
I don't see how we can't pass this easily with the plate and Quickening.
I want to get this cour over with already so we can get to the juicy part - negotiating with the slime lady.

Cellar it is. Writing.

>>5435740
>>5435748
>>5435762
>>5435779
The cellar door next to the building seems the obvious route. You’re not going to waste any time at all- and with that in mind alongside your continuing invisibility, you know just how to make certain you’re not getting caught. That old Low Quickening spell should do you wonders here…now, if you remember how to use it correctly, it should go a little something like…ah.

>Current Mana: 11,300/11,500

Your vision sharpens and your breath quickens- as do your steps as you burst out of cover- you don’t think anyone heard the ruffling of leaves or the shimmer or air or anything, at least, but if nothing else the steps might cause a bit of concern. Shouldn’t matter so long as you get in there quick- you can see several methods of evading detection should it come to it. There’s hiding spots…

…but you don’t need them. You’re quick enough to dart into the cellar- revealing a number of MASSIVE kegs, presumably of wine?- without anyone noticing. You rocket across the large stone floor barely paying a thought to the massive containers, before racing up another set of stairs leading to and through another open door. You’re met with a large room, a kitchen, looks like. Makes sense. Most importantly?

You’re in.

To the immediate left is a door. It seems to have sounds of laughter and talking coming from a distance. To the right and straight ahead, however, are smaller hallways, both with the sounds of construction, if in different manners. There’s a fair bit of rumbling happening off to the right, while straight ahead seems like there’s something being hammered into place. Guess they’re in a hurry, whatever they’re doing. As you take a peek outside into the hallway, you see that further to the left is a spiraling staircase leading to the upper level.

>Follow the sounds of talking.
>Follow the rumbling.
>Follow the hammering.
>Forget all of that, head to the upper level.
>Ignore all of these, try to explore the first floor a bit more.
>Other

>>5435831
>Follow the sounds of talking.
While I'd love to head upstairs, we might want to figure out the inner workings of this game phase. Then we can replay to Gartoum.

>>5435831
>Follow the hammering.
The moth lady told hem to be quick

>>5435831
>Follow the sounds of talking.

>>5435831
>Follow the sounds of talking.

Talking it is! Writing!

>>5435831
>>5435843
>>5435858
>>5435869
Whoever’s talking, it’s probably good for some kind of intel…if you’re lucky, at least. There’s no reason to not give them a little bit of a look, at least.

It’s not hard to sneak up to the door, at least, and put an ear to it. The acoustics here are actually very good, which means hearing what they’re saying isn’t remotely difficult. Initially a lot of laughing and cheering. Some drinking as well, is your guess. “Chug, chug, chug, chug!” Ah. Well, that explains that. “Woooo!” Seems like they’re either just having a party, or celebrating. Maybe this was just-

“Hey, good stuff with getting us this gig,” someone says. “Didn’t think you were any useful!”

“Aw, you doubt my velvet tongue?” A somewhat high-pitched voice gives. “I toldja this was gonna set us on Easy Street! We fix up a couple doodads, shine up a couple suits of armor, renovate a couple rooms, and bam! The old guy shells out beaucoup bucks!” Huh. Old guy? Not company? “Sure, we gotta share space with some other construction losers, but it’s not like they’re doin’ anything important!”

Okay, maybe there’s something to it.

“Hey, when you’re right, you’re right. Some of it was legit hard, though. I mean, that trapdoor in the armory? I was digging for a whole day for that!” another one complains.

“Hey, hey!” the second one complains. “All you hadta do was dig. I’m the one what had to set up all those creepy swallowin’ traps in the east hall. You think that was easy? Especially when they kept swallowin’ ME?”

“Easier than setting up a buncha invisible beartraps in the library without steppin’ on one by accident! You’d think what they were tryin’ to exterminate here was some sorta monster Slimezard!” says a fourth. You don’t know what a slimezard is, but it sounds bad. Still, it’s good information to have. Especially the invisible stuff. Although it seems like there was something behind the show’s back, maybe? You’re uncertain.

“Well, we’re just about done, yeah?” the first speaker notes. “All we got left is to reinstall the sprinkler system in the greenhouse so that can keep the roper plants docile, and that’s about it.”

“Eeeugh,” the second guy says. “Hate those things. I dunno why someone would keep those around and honestly, I don’t WANNA know.”

Ah. That explains the taped off part of things.

“Well, hopefully we won’t haveta mess with them since the pipes are all outside of the greenhouse anyway,” the third notes. “And even then, you got the sprayable stuff, right?”

“Yup!" Confirms the second. "Couple barrels right outside.” You didn’t see any, but maybe you missed them? “C’mon, we still got 15 minutes for break! I bet you can’t break your record for downing an Omega Beast Burger!” Well, that sounds like the interesting bit’s over…

>Wait around here until they leave, and see if there’s anything interesting in the room they’re in.
>Continue on elsewhere. You’ve heard enough here, and know a bit more about the place now.
>Other

>>5435917
>>Continue on elsewhere. You’ve heard enough here, and know a bit more about the place now.
>Report our findings to Gartoum, the 'castle' was turned into a hazard course

>>5435917
>Report our findings to Gartoum, the 'castle' was turned into a hazard course
>Continue on elsewhere. You’ve heard enough here, and know a bit more about the place now.
>Other
Tip Jez about the traps in a subtle way (Watch your footsteps). We do have her number right?

Also where should we go next?